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Europe Has no Freedom But to Choose “Freedom Gas”
Original article "The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently renamed US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “freedom gas.” But freedom for who? For Europe who already has a cheap and reliable source of natural gas, but is being forced to switch over to more expensive US gas under the threat of sanctions? Certainly not. Or freedom for Russia who supplies Europe with much of its natural gas to compete openly and fairly with the United States? Most definitely not. Or is it freedom from...
Same Problem, Different Day: Government Accountability Office Updates Its Review of FBI’s Use of Face Recognition—and It’s Still Terrible
Original article "This week the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued an update to its 2016 report on the FBI’s use of face recognition. The takeaway, which they also shared during a Congressional House Oversight Committee hearing: the FBI now has access to 641 million photos—including driver’s license and ID photos—but it still refuses to assess the accuracy of its systems."
Citizens Disobey New Zealand Gun Ban, Only 530 of 300,000 People Turned Guns In
Original article "In March, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the 'first tranche' in a number of moves to restrict the rights of New Zealand citizens to protect themselves with firearms. This move was in direct response to the horrific murders that unfolded on March 15. Coincidentally, this is the exact move the terrorist who carried out these attacks had hoped for and predicted. The good news is, however, that most citizens are refusing to turn in their guns."
Presidential Hopeful Kamala Harris Wants To Change Federal Gun Laws “BY Presidential Fiat”
Original article "A California Democrat and presidential hopeful, Kamala Harris is vowing to change the federal guns law by 'presidential fiat' if Congress won’t trample all over your rights. The authoritarian senator claims she could impose 'near-universal background checks' and close the 'boyfriend loophole' without new legislation."
Julian Assange Writes A Letter To Supporters From British Prison, Here Is What He Said
Original article "Julian Assange is seriously ill as he awaits extradition for charges that could land him in jail for the rest of his life. According to reports from the Swedish and Danish speaking press last week, Assange is currently being held in the hospital ward of 'Belmarsh,' the UK’s most notorious prison. Belmarsh has been called 'Britain’s Guantanamo Bay,' since prisoners accused of terrorism are typically sent there."
Mesa Police Chief Tried to Curb Horrific Brutality Problem, So 95% of Dept. Voted to Remove Him
Original article "The Mesa police department held a vote this week in which 95 percent of the entire department voted to remove chief Ramon Batista for no confidence. Batista wasn’t caught molesting kids, or driving drunk, or abusing his power. This police chief was trying to hold violent problem cops within the department accountable, and for this, he is being outed."
You’re Under Arrest: How the Police State Muzzles Our Right to Speak Truth to Power
Original article "What the First Amendment protects—and a healthy constitutional republic requires—are citizens who routinely exercise their right to speak truth to power. What the architects of the police state want are submissive, compliant, cooperative, obedient, meek citizens who don’t talk back, don’t challenge government authority, don’t speak out against government misconduct, and don’t step out of line. For those who refuse to meekly accept the heavy-...
More Than 4 Million Venezuelans Have Now Fled The Country
Original article "Ah, the joys of socialism. Amidst a growing political and economic crisis, 4 million citizens have now fled Venezuela. According to a new report by the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration, the pace at which citizens are leaving the country has been 'staggering', rising from 695,000 people in 2015 to over 1 million people since November 2018. The countries surrounding Venezuela have been forced to put regulatory measures in place to stop the flow...
U.S. Employment Growth Just Plunged To The Lowest Level In 9 Years
Original article "If the U.S. economy was heading into a recession, we would expect to see a slowdown in the employment numbers, and that is precisely what is happening.  According to payroll processing firm ADP, the U.S. economy only added 27,000 new jobs in May, and that is way below the number that is needed just to keep up with population growth.  Of course some in the mainstream media are attempting to put a positive spin on this, but there really is no denying that this is a truly awful...
Stop Digging! The Benefits of No-Till and Cover Crops
Original article "Consider this research as one more nail in the coffin of tilling and double digging. Scientists at UC Davis took a look at how no-till practices combined with cover crops foster a diverse fungi community that 'play important roles in nutrient mobilization, organic matter decomposition, carbon cycling and creation of soil structure.' While their research looked at commercial agriculture I think it’s safe to extrapolate their results to home vegetable gardens"
How to Build Hugelkultur Beds and Why You Need Them
Original article "The concept of a permaculture garden is to provide long-term solutions that maximize outputs and minimize inputs, while cycling energy and resources through the system. This creates closed-loop efficiency within your system and prevents excess waste. In fact, one of permaculture’s most favored sayings is ‘there’s no such thing as waste, just things in the wrong place’. Hugelkultur is a great example of recycling resources on your site to create long-term...
How to Make a Tincture
Original article "Plants are powerful medicine. Herbs in particular tend to have loads of minerals and vital properties that can help alleviate health conditions and promote better daily health. Making teas, using herbs in cooking, and adding them to salads are simple ways to increase your herbal intake at home. Sometimes, though, drinking herbal tea is not sufficient to extract all the beneficial plant properties. Additionally, some plants lose their potency quickly after being dried, and many plants...
How To Make Charcoal At Home
Original article "Charcoaling concentrates wood’s heating value, making a purer fuel, lighter in weight and easier to transport, that burns without smoke. Charcoal in its natural form, as produced in the pit oven or steer kiln, bears little resemblance to the commercial counterpart bagged for sale at the local market. Briquettes are made of pulverized charcoal, bound with various chemical glues into the conventional pillow shape. The smoking, the problems with ignition, and the characteristic...
Neil Hutchinson
Original article A Photo Blog
Panarchy: The Utility of Personal Experience
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Paul Bonneau 2017-12-08 09:56
Column by Paul Bonneau. Exclusive to STR During an earlier political incarnation of myself, when I was more a leftist, my wife and I had attended a seminar in the local community college on the Mondragon cooperatives. I got excited about this, and we (mostly me) were inspired to try a farm co-op--despite the limited connection this idea might have with Mondragon. At the time we owned a run-down...
Striking the Root of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission
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Robert L. Johnson 2017-12-06 10:00
Column by Robert L. Johnson. Exclusive to STR Today (December 5, 2017) the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case. The legal issue in question is: Does a business owner have the legal right to refuse business from certain people for certain events. In this case a bakery owner, Jack Phillips, refused to bake a wedding cake for a...
Are You a Precious Snowflake? Or Old Dinosaur? Understanding the Slight Cultural Differences to Lessen the Great Divide
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Douglas Herman 2017-10-05 09:29
Column by Doug Herman. Exclusive to STR Some snowflakes are directly related to old dinosaurs. Strange as it seems, some actually live under the same roof! Not sure how that is possible, what with global warming and climate change, but they do. Are YOU a snowflake? Or perhaps you’re an old dinosaur, whose extinction is long awaited by his heirs – I mean snowflake relatives. Consider...
The Question, the Answer, the Result
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Paul Hein 2017-09-29 12:59
Column by Paul Hein. Exclusive to STR It has often been pointed out that the “masses,” the “public,” obtain wealth in several ways: most usually by earning it, or, less commonly, receiving it as a gift or inheritance. For most of us, this means yielding about 40 hours of our lives weekly to obtain what we need or want. A different way of acquiring wealth is practiced by...
Releasing the Kraken of Political Power
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Lawrence Samuels 2017-09-19 08:27
Column by Lawrence Samuels. Exclusive to STR What to make of Trump? Never has someone with so little political experience offended so many with so few words. This has aggravated almost everyone, but especially those who did not even vote for him. For instance, the founder of antiwar.com in San Francisco recently remarked that after he told his left-wing friends that he had voted for Gary Johnson...
Conscription
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Paul Hein 2017-08-29 08:06
Column by Paul Hein. Exclusive to STR From time to time our Rulers, and the individuals and firms with whom they have a close financial relationship, find it necessary to threaten, or even employ, force to protect their interests and further their objectives. If the situation warrants it, they are willing to fight. Their importance precludes their doing the actual fighting themselves, but they...
The Higgs Boson Article
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Alex R. Knight III 2017-08-29 07:49
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR A very short piece by Robert Higgs, recently published on Everything Voluntary, caught my attention in a big way, and you can read it here. The key sentence therein that caught my eye was this: “Except for a tiny minority, avowals of the love of liberty are little more than hot air. Given a choice, people choose something else.” To...
Bureaucrits
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Alex R. Knight III 2017-08-24 08:40
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR It's an all-too typical condition among those calling themselves Government: Do as I say, not as I do. Most members of the public seem to be so conditioned to the notion of it that they tolerate it with almost total obliviousness. And the government apologists are even more dismissive of such callous hypocrisy. They seem to feel, at least...
Fear
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Paul Hein 2017-08-08 09:12
Column by Paul Hein. Exclusive to STR Back in the Christian era, one sometimes encountered the phrase “fear of the Lord.” The fear referred to was not so much a fear of punishment at the hands of powerful but capricious and spiteful gods, but rather a sense of awe and respect towards someone you loved, not feared. It was the “fear” that you might feel for neglecting a...
Demand and Supply
0
Alex R. Knight III 2017-07-20 08:45
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR Much has been made in the press recently about former Texas Governor turned Trump's Energy Secretary Rick Perry's economic statement: "Here's a little economics lesson: supply and demand. You put the supply out there and the demand will follow.” To be sure, at first assessment, this statement seems counter-intuitively inverted...
Does the American Empire Deserve to Die?
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Douglas Herman 2009-11-01 17:00
 Exclusive to STR November 2, 2009 I’m halfway through a reflective book written by an old curmudgeon. Part patriot, part historian, all gadfly, Gore Vidal wrote Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia in 2004, just before the upcoming national elections. Almost a time capsule coupled with dire prophecy, the book is a sober,...
Voting Sophisms
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Mike Powers 2008-11-03 04:00
 Exclusive to STR   With Election Day looming, Americans are constantly being reminded about the importance of voting.  Politicians, news media, celebrities, and talk show hosts alike wax poetic about this hallowed institution we call democracy and how crucial it is for voters to cast their ballot.    Rock the Vote!  Vote for Change!  ...
Do It. Vote. MUST READ
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strike 2001-12-31 04:00
They Hate Us Because of Our Freedom
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Alfred A. Hambi... 2004-04-19 00:00
Whenever I hear 'they hate us because of our freedom' or "because they hate our way of life" or some other such drivel, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. If real people didn't suffer the consequences of it, such ignorance would be amusing. But another annoying thing about statements like these is that they perpetuate the myth that we live in a land of freedom. The sad fact is, we are not...
Let Us Awake Now
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B.R. Merrick 2009-06-04 03:00
Exclusive to STR On May 30, 1962, a modern musical masterpiece premiered in England ’s newest cathedral, built next to the remains of the cathedral that was destroyed when the Nazis bombed Coventry .  Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" combines two choirs, two orchestras, three vocal soloists, and the Latin religious funeral text with...
The Abolitionist Argument in 35 Seconds MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2010-06-21 03:00
Exclusive to STR   -1- ". . . a power too great and terrible to imagine."   The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released on Blu-Ray in April, which reminded me that I hadn't seen the first installment, The Fellowship of the Ring, since its theatrical release in 2001. While watching the film again I was struck anew with its abolitionist message – a message...
Who Is Afraid of a Real Inquiry?
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Uri Avnery 2010-06-21 03:00
  If a real Commission of Inquiry had been set up (instead of the pathetic excuse for a commission), here are some of the questions it should have addressed:   1. What is the real aim of the Gaza Strip blockade?   2. If the aim is to prevent the flow of arms into the Strip, why are only 100 products allowed in (as compared to the more than 12 thousand products in an average Israeli...
Public vs. Private
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Paul Hein 2010-07-19 03:00
By Paul Hein.   Exclusive to STR     The two terms have always confused me. In general, public means the people considered as a whole, the populace, the citizenry, etc. Private, on the other hand, refers to particular individuals. So public ownership means ownership by everyone, which is a bewildering concept, to say the least. Private ownership, on the other hand, is...
Had Enough Government 'Regulation' Yet? MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2010-08-19 03:00
By Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR    - 1 - The Blessings of True Regulation in a Civil Society   Many things should be regulated – for health and safety, for protection against fraud, and for other reasons.   Regulation is a normal function of civil society. We don't want to get electrocuted when we touch a toaster or vacuum cleaner, for example, and the makers of...
Blame Wikileaks?
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Patrick Coleman 2010-08-27 03:00
By Patrick Coleman.   Exclusive to STR   The media controversy concerning the recent leak of over 91,000 military reports, termed the “Afghan war diary,” by Wikileaks.org has focused very much around the supposed moral culpability of Wikileaks as an organization, its founder, Julian Assange, as well as the accused leaker, Bradley Manning, who now faces 52 years in prison for...
Do We Need a Vaccine for Hubris? MUST READ
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D. Saul Weiner 2015-02-13 09:13
Column by D. Saul Weiner. Exclusive to STR There are a lot of heated exchanges going on right now in social media related to vaccination. Many people have become convinced that parents who do not vaccinate are jeopardizing the health of others and that vaccines for children should be mandated. Politicians who are expected to run for president in 2016 are starting to weigh in on the topic and some...
'Obamacare Nightmare Edition' of Ringo's Law and the Healthcare System of Doom MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2013-10-30 08:02
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR Introduction for this 2013 Edition As I write this – October 28, 2013, more than four years after the column below was posted (here with minor edits; see the original at this link if you wish) – NBC News is reporting that the Obama administration “knew millions could not keep their health insurance" under Obamacare, and has known...
An Armed March on Washington? MUST READ
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Alex R. Knight III 2013-05-07 06:52
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR Perhaps never before have I encountered a proposal within Liberty Movement circles that has generated more controversy faster and further than Adam Kokesh’s planned July 4th march on Washington, District of Criminals, in which he states that himself and the other participants “will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to...
The Orwellian Paradigm--Killing You, For Your Own Safety MUST READ
9.625
fmoghul 2013-04-10 08:12
Column by Faisal Moghul. Exclusive to STR Almost 30 years ago, cultural critic Neil Postman argued in Amusing Ourselves to Death that television’s gradual replacement of the printing press has created a dumbed-down culture driven by mindless entertainment. In this context, Postman claimed that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World correctly foresaw our dystopian future, as opposed to George...
Frameworks, Virtual Reality and Civil Society: A Manifesto for the Doctrine of Love and Freedom MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2012-12-06 08:44
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR Perhaps I should say this paradigm shift is resuming. The healthier incoming paradigm is a modern, more accurate, better-supported, and better-understood version of one that began the shift towards a free, healthy, and prosperous world more than three centuries ago and which informed the creation of the United States itself: Classical Liberalism. - 1...
Timeline of a World-Killing Paradigm Shift MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2012-05-14 00:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR   Part 3 of "Could the Non-Aggression Principle Stop the Sixth Great Extinction?"   Part One of this series discussed the Non-Aggression principle, calling it "the libertarian half of the Golden Rule" (compassion being the other half) and describing the function of aggression in creating not only tyranny and war but also...
Terrorist Alert: Government Extremists Threaten Americans MUST READ
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Glen Allport 2012-03-26 00:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR   Question: are you more terrified by Muslim extremists, by "domestic terrorists" – or by your own government? Which group is more likely to assault you? To kill you? To unjustly imprison and even torture you?   The U.S. federal government has ALREADY:   Built and is staffing a huge gulag of concentration camps [...
The State Is a Firing Squad MUST READ
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JGVibes 2012-02-17 01:00
Column by JGVibes.   Exclusive to STR   Although the common perception of human nature is very negative, the truth is that most people who aren’t mentally ill have a very difficult time committing acts of violence. Usually it takes a sizeable payment and a fair amount of manipulation to convince someone to act violently, and even then a tremendous amount of guilt typically...
How the 1% Took America's Wealth--and How to Get It Back MUST READ
9.25
Glen Allport 2011-12-01 01:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR  - 1 - Plundering Wealth vs Producing Wealth   In recent decades, the rich have gathered an increasing share of the total wealth in the United States. As this wealth disparity grows and especially as large numbers of the formerly middle class fall into poverty and even into homelessness, this flow of wealth from main street (from anyone not...
'Anarchy or Minarchy' Is Only Half the Question, Part 2 MUST READ
9.5
Glen Allport 2011-04-13 03:00
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR  This is Part 2 of a response to a column by Wesley Messamore. Last week's Part One of this column discussed the following:   ·      Minarchy: Lighting a Match to the Fuse of Tyranny ·      Anarchy: By Itself, Yang without Yin ·      The Missing Key...
Great Fictions Recommended
9.33333
Jim Davies 2010-09-10 03:00
By Jim Davies.   Exclusive to STR   Is the state a fiction, a myth? How in either case does it compare to a business company, also sometimes called a fictional entity? Or to a religion?   I'm using "state" not so much to mean a particular political organization like the State of New Hampshire, but more in the sense used by Oppenheimer in The State, or by Bastiat in his...
The Fake TV Challenge Recommended
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B.R. Merrick 2010-09-02 03:00
By B.R. Merrick   Exclusive to STR   In spite of my opposition to The War on Certain Kinds of Drugs, I wish to inaugurate a new war against another one. I have good reasons for doing so. This drug is cheap. It is everywhere. It is insidious. Once it is in your bloodstream, it is nearly impossible to extricate. It becomes infused with the cells of your body...
Why People Believe Government Is Here to Help Us Recommended
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Paul Bonneau 2010-08-27 03:00
By Paul Bonneau.   Exclusive to STR     The tenacity of the meme, that government is here to help us and protect us, is hard to understand. All evidence throughout history points in the opposite direction--that government is here to prey on us, and that if there is anything we need protection from, it is our own governments. Why do people cling to this harmful meme?   A...
The Path Is (The Destination Is the Path) Recommended
8.71429
tzo 2010-08-17 03:00
Column by tzo.   Exclusive to STR     Voluntaryists are by definition in favor of the elimination of the State. This is all well and good, but who will eliminate it, and by what method? It makes sense that the Voluntaryist himself must actively participate in the process, as those who are not with him are against him and are resistant to the idea of a Stateless society. But by what...
The Myth of Public Goods Recommended
9.5
Mark Davis 2010-06-25 03:00
By Mark Davis   Exclusive to STR     The myth of public goods is based on the belief that there are special things that everybody needs, but nobody will pay for. The priests perpetuating this myth include self-interested professors who spend a lifetime informing young, bright-eyed students about the magical qualities of these special goods that can only be provided by popular...
The Great White Lie Recommended
9.33333
B.R. Merrick 2010-06-23 03:00
By B.R. Merrick   Exclusive to STR   Like most good anarchists, I read Antiwar.com on a regular basis. They are to be commended for the outstanding work they do, and for the fact that they do it with such consistency. Recently, James Bovard posted an entry in the blog concerning the Obama Administration's refusal to permit discovery in the case of Maher Arar, a man who was...
Resist the Collectivist View of History Recommended
8.5
Roger Young 2010-06-14 03:00
Exclusive to STR   After reading Anna Morgenstern’s Memorial Day: Remembering the Dead, I was struck by a common (though understandable) error that even the most ardent anarchists and voluntaryists make. Though Anna’s description and analysis of war gangsterism is dead on accurate, I find her views on the (misnamed) Civil War and WWII surprisingly statist.    I...

 

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