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Tuesday, September 19

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Ken Kraska is the guest editor today.

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photo courtesy of Trey Ratcliff
Releasing the Kraken of Political Power
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, the Libertarian Party candidate for President, he was treated like a leper. The same goes for the...
Powerless to Protect You, But Not to Punish You...cont'd
Original article Police arrested suspected London fire bomb attacker just two weeks ago, but released him to his foster parents, cuz "reasons" man. Like London Mayor Khan said, terrorism is just gonna be a fact of modern life from now on, so just deal with it!
Government Agencies Newest Silencing Tactic: Suing People for Making FOIA Requests
Original article "Government bodies are increasingly turning the tables on citizens who seek public records that might be embarrassing or legally sensitive. Instead of granting or denying their requests, a growing number of school districts, municipalities and state agencies have filed lawsuits against people making the requests — taxpayers, government watchdogs and journalists who must then pursue the records in court at their own expense."
Hollywood Actress Slammed When She Admits at Emmys Red Carpet Interview: "I don't own a TV, I read books instead".
Original article Even though Shailene Woodley is  kind of a lefty dope, I still like her atitude. However what I really enjoy is the Hollywood crowd's outrage about her comments. It's like the Marlboro Man admitting HE doesn't smoke, he's just trying to get YOU suckers to. There's a lesson here for those who can see it.
Do You Like Chocolate? Then You're Supporting Environmental Destruction!
Original article So Says the HuffPo anyhow. Environmentalist hysterics like those featured in the article are the natural world's worst enemies.
You Can Say Anything on CNN but the Truth, Cuz That Makes Some People Mad
Original article Curt Schilling calls Jemele Hill ‘racist’ in heated CNN interview. However, if Schilling's opinions are so offensive, why have him on at all then? Hint: All about dem clicks.
Retro-Fitting Obama-Era EPA Approved Gasoline Containers So they Work Again
Original article WTF were they thinking when they outlawed air flow vents and bottlenecked the spouts?  You end up spilling MORE than you save. Some cheap, simple fixes so they work again. (video)
The Beginner's Guide to Foraging
Original article Actually it's a PBS documentary rather than an "How-To" video, but it's informative and entertaining and it's a good intro on finding edibles in the natural world.
The Boonies
Original article The Boonie is a reality TV show on the National Geographic channel that focuses on people that are trying to rewild themselves in various natural environments. One guy lives in a cave in the Ozarks, another is a couple living in a treehouse in Washington state, one is a Mountain Man in Idaho, and another guy who lives on an island in Lake Michigan. Kind of larpy in some ways, but it show how couples and individuals trying to blend into a natural environment without going full-on primitivist. I...
Can An Individual Still Resist The Spread of Technology?
Original article "Few of us would be willing to give up modern shelter, food, clothing, medicine, entertainment or transportation. Most of us would say the trade-offs are more than worth it. But they happen whether they are worth it or not, and the individual has little power to resist. Technological innovation is a one-way street. Once you enter it, you are obligated to proceed, even if it leads someplace you would not have chosen to go." Ok, but how much of that stuff you we really NEED though?
The Real Story About Area 51
Original article It's not about hiding space aliens and offworld technology from the public (probably). It's more about keeping the military's secrets secret by getting the public asking the wrong questions, because then the answers don't matter.
STR Blog
Original article
Cameron Raises the 'Barr' on Free State Project
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Retta Fontana 2016-06-30 23:12
Column by Retta Fontana. Exclusive to STR I love to see a young man follow his heart, especially when it is for such a noble concept like freedom. It takes courage and tenacity. So few people do it these days. I met Cameron Barr back in Detroit a few years ago at the Statist Recovery House, one of my favorite haunts. He impressed me as a good, intelligent young man who was thoroughly disgusted...
Trump in Anaheim
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Kevin M. Patten 2016-06-30 06:26
Column by Kevin M. Patten. Exclusive to STR It was only a few weeks ago that I finally made up my mind about the candidacy of Donald J. Trump. Since a third partier would not become the 45th POTUS, I must again renew the dreadful philosophical subscription of “lesser evilism.” This doesn’t mean that I would be voting for him; sitting the election out is, as Konkin maintains,...
A Monster in the White House
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Harry Goslin 2016-06-12 23:37
Column by Harry Goslin. Exclusive to STR A recent article by Eric Posner, “And If Elected: What President Trump Could or Couldn’t Do,” begs the question of why any American should be concerned with what a President Trump can or can’t do. The expansive executive actions of Presidents Bush and Obama over the last 16 years make a response to this inquiry fairly obvious:...
Self Interest
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Paul Bonneau 2016-06-10 08:06
Column by Paul Bonneau. Exclusive to STR It took me a long, long time to figure out how important self interest was, in motivating people. It’s essentially all there is. Humans do not appear to have much of a natural in-born tendency toward virtues such as truth or decency. As a parent, I try to warn my son about this; but he thinks I am being too cynical. I suspect that, even though we...
The Greater Evil
9.5
Retta Fontana 2016-06-01 08:16
Column by Retta Fontana. Exclusive to STR What to do when someone you love is hopelessly embedded in the political system? You meet someone. You’re very attracted to them. They may be intelligent, kind, good-looking, considerate, funny, generous--maybe even health conscious. They may owns firearms--a huge plus in my book and I’m guessing for a lot of STR readers as well. Like most...
Into the Wild
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Retta Fontana 2016-05-27 08:38
Column by Retta Fontana. Exclusive to STR This recent Netflix release was an engaging, thought-provoking journey of reckless youth against a backdrop of breathtaking beauty. The cinematography is also excellent. Even a Western scene with run-down motor homes selling flea market junk, complete with trash lying around has such blindingly bright sunlight that the contrast is visually intriguing. The...
Social Justice Warriors Are Assholes
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Paul Bonneau 2016-05-20 08:16
Column by Paul Bonneau. Exclusive to STR The Social Justice Warrior (SJW) phenomenon has gotten a lot of discussion lately. There is more to it than first appears. SJWs operate primarily through social disapproval, although like almost any interest group they also enlist government in their cause, if they can. An example of the latter is telling landlords who they must rent to. Of course there...
A Vital Religion: Automatic Voter Registration in Vermont
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Alex R. Knight III 2016-05-19 08:04
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR Recently joining the proud tax farms of Oregon, Commiefornia, and West Virginia, bureaucrats of Vermont, desperate to muster support for the continuation of the statist cause, recently enacted a measure that will automatically register all “eligible” applicants for driver’s licenses (a government tracking and identification device...
10,000 Miles Alone Around America by Bicycle
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Douglas Herman 2016-05-19 07:28
Column by Douglas Herman. Exclusive to STR “A voice said to him, Why do you stay here and live this mean, moiling life, when a glorious existence is possible for you?” ~ Henry David Thoreau   Imagine taking a 10,000 mile bicycle trip around North America today without a cellphone, credit cards or keys. No sponsors or support vehicles either, and never more than $100 in cash....
Rich: A State of Mind
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Paul Hein 2016-05-18 08:23
Column by Paul Hein. Exclusive to STR Many years ago, when I was young and foolish enough to believe that the truth mattered, I would lecture interested groups about our money, or, rather, what passes for money today. In the question and answer period following my remarks, one of the attendees would invariably raise the question: What does it matter what we use for money? The other attendee,...
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...
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...
Declare 9-11 'Government Blowback Day'
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Lawrence M. Ludlow 2010-08-31 03:00
By Lawrence M. Ludlow.   Exclusive to STR   This September 11, let’s help to change the “meme” that has been used by the U.S. government to terrorize Americans into submission and to cynically manipulate the grief of those who lost loved ones in the 9-11 attack of 2001. This year in your community, join hands with others who understand the meaning of the event. Carry...
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...
Aristophanes' Law MUST READ
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tzo 2010-09-24 03:00
Column by tzo.   Exclusive to STR   Some 2,400 years ago, the Greek playwright Aristophanes put forth an idea in one of his plays that I would like to codify into a law of human behavior. Here are the pertinent lines from his play "The Frogs":   The course our city runs is the same towards men and money. She has true and worthy sons. She has fine new gold and ancient...
The Census Taker's Gun
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B.R. Merrick 2010-09-24 03:00
Column by B.R. Merrick.   Exclusive to STR   “A Census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” ~ Hannibal Lecter, “The Silence of the Lambs”   Okay, so a while ago, I had to go to a specialist to get something cleared up. Quite mild, all taken care of. It reminded me of how nice it is to have a...
Education for the Individual
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Michael Kleen 2010-10-11 03:00
Column by Michael Kleen.   Exclusive to STR   Previously, in “Education and the Individual,” I discussed how the two competing educational methods in the public education system in the United States both presuppose a State monopoly on education, and how both seek to impose a uniform purpose and set of standards for all children. In this article, I will lay out the...
The Failed Theory of Relativity
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tzo 2010-10-14 03:00
Column by tzo.   Exclusive to STR   Voluntaryism is, primarily, an ethical philosophy applied to the organization of society. Most of the common modern social organization theories (e.g., “democracy”) focus on organizing society based upon what the majority feels is right and always with an eye toward the utilitarian target that is the greatest good for the greatest number....
Our Moral Duty to Pay Taxes
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Guest 2010-10-14 03:00
Column by Jake Roundtree.   Exclusive to STR   The view of the government as the savior of mankind, the organizer of society and the progenitor of morality, is in present times “profoundly integrated into the depths of our consciousness” (Ellul, 216). Keen observers, since Nietzsche, have recognized the overwhelming degree to which citizens of the West are afflicted...
Just Say No!
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Paul Hein 2010-10-19 03:00
Column by Paul Hein. Exclusive to STR   It is interesting to read what St. Augustine had to say about what we now call government: A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention. If this villainy wins so many recruits from the ranks of the demoralized that it acquires...
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...
Chaos Gets a Bad Rap: Importance of Chaology to Liberty Recommended
9.75
Lawrence Samuels 2015-02-18 08:43
Column by L.K. Samuels. Exclusive to STR Chaos gets a bad rap—from the academic and scientific world, even from some uninformed libertarians. Few people realize that without the dynamics of chaos, order would not exist. In fact, nothing would exist. Without chaos there would be no creation, no structure and no existence. After all, order is merely the repetition of patterns; chaos is the...
An Apostate From the Government Religion Recommended
9.66667
Paul Bonneau 2013-10-23 08:00
Column by Paul Bonneau. Exclusive to STR I was reading an article about Roger Williams. The more I learn about him, the more impressed I become. "Roger Williams was not a man out of time. He belonged to the 17th Century and to Puritans in that century. Yet he was also one of the most remarkable men of his or any century. With absolute faith in the literal truth of the Bible and in his...
Murray's Missing Plan Recommended
9.66667
Jim Davies 2013-10-07 08:37
Column by Jim Davies. Exclusive to STR I've been continuing to read the fascinating story of the modern libertarian movement's early years, as told in the Libertarian Forum, edited and often written by Murray Rothbard. It's vast, but very worthwhile – warmly recommended. I've supplemented it recently with a re-read of parts of Justin Raimondo's excellent biography of him...
Left-Libertarians and the Ring of Power Recommended
9.5
Glen Allport 2013-10-01 08:32
Column by Glen Allport. Exclusive to STR Whoever cannot hit the nail on the head should please, not hit it at all. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche Image of The Ring of Power from Wikimedia Commons – 1 – If I had the Ring of Power, I would only use it for GOOD!   Recently, I was reminded that to at least some extent, left-leaning libertarians and anarchists do not understand that...
Government Denial Recommended
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Alex R. Knight III 2013-07-31 08:31
Column by Alex R. Knight III. Exclusive to STR During my years as a practicing alcoholic, I employed any number of tactics to avoid the ultimately invariable conclusion that in order to solve my numerous problems, I needed to stop drinking altogether. Even long after I had made the inner admission that I was, in all likelihood, suffering from the disease – and I knew or understood very...
The Licensing Effect Recommended
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Lawrence Samuels 2013-05-10 08:28
The article below contains excerpts from L.K. Samuels’ new book, In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action. Column by L.K. Samuels. Exclusive to STR Good intentions rarely make good laws. Those who do evil almost always think they are doing good for goodness’ sake. Nobody sees himself as evil. As Will Smith, the American actor, once quipped, “...
The Pugsley Plan Recommended
8.5
Jim Davies 2013-01-14 08:46
Column by Jim Davies. Exclusive to STR Prior to Harry Browne's first run for US President in 1996, his friend John Pugsley wrote him a passionate “open letter” urging him not to. As far as I know, Harry didn't reply, but he did continue his campaign – and repeated it four years later. He got few votes more than the LP normally receives, but his platform and campaign were...
Ed Schultz and His Alleged Middle Class Heroes Recommended
8.5
Greg Haley 2013-01-04 01:00
Column by Greg Haley. Exclusive to STR Ed Schultz has set quite the task out for himself. On his New Year’s Eve broadcast on MSNBC, he announced who his “Middle Class Heroes of 2012” are. Schultz is a self-styled liberal, so his recipients of the title “Middle Class Hero” are predictable and worthy of a certain amount of eye rolling. The general reverence for...
The Trials Recommended
8.33333
tzo 2012-12-11 08:49
Column by tzo. Exclusive to STR To anyone who has seen or read The Reader (a synopsis of the relevant part of the story is here), one of the main questions raised in the story is, "What should be done with Hanna?" Was she responsible for her actions even if she was so thoroughly indoctrinated so as to be completely confused by the charges against her? She asked more than once, while...
464 Lost Years Recommended
8.25
Jim Davies 2012-12-10 08:48
Column by Jim Davies. Exclusive to STR Recently I re-read part of that seminal essay, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Etienne de la Boëtie, written in 1548, or 464 years ago. He said that if you want to topple a tyrant, all you need to do is to withdraw support. No violence, no sweat, just stop helping him. Yet 24 years later there was a massacre of Huguenot Protestants, indicating that...

 

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