State-Smashing

Bitcoin and the New Fourth Estate: An Interview with Cop Block

"In a world where the flow of money can be so easily controlled by a government that has vested interests at odds with the good of the people, Bitcoin begins to show its true usefulness. Bitcoin was a lifeline to Wikileaks and may be a lifeline to Edward Snowden; and moving forward there is little doubt we will have to help other organizations and individuals who have transgressed the government in our name. I have recently had the pleasure of talking with Pete Eyre of Cop Block, an organization dedicated to exposing and reigning in the abuses of our state and local police forces. Cop Block accepts Bitcoin donations." Continue reading →

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Ladar Levison’s Lesson

"Bureaucrats, inspectors, cops, and soldiers have guns. All of them, whether they realize it or not, have the power to damage and even ruin lives. When that happens, some maintain they're just following orders. Instead, I want them to have a crisis of conscience. I want them to learn Ladar Levison's lesson and declare, 'I don’t want to become complicit in crimes against the American people.' Right now, there’s a vast and growing body of evidence that the police are not here to protect and serve. They’re being given unlawful or immoral orders. Yet they’re NOT responding with Ladar Levison's words." Continue reading →

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Decline and Fall: The Second Stage is Anger

"Not too long ago, I predicted that if I live to the average American male lifespan of 76 — I’m 46 now — I’ll have outlived the United States as we know it. At the time, I feared I was being over-optimistic, but lately I’m leaning the other way and thinking that my timetable may have been unduly timid. The recent temper tantrums of the American political class and its toadies abroad bring to mind an old saying (incorrectly attributed to Gandhi) — 'first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win' — and the Kubler-Ross model of grief. Our would-be masters appear to have moved forward from 'denial' to 'anger' in a big way." Continue reading →

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78 Reasons Every American Should Wish Ron Paul a Happy Birthday

"1. He favors sound money. 2. He doesn't care what the legal driving age is. 3. He's a celebrity. 4. He crushes baseballs while wearing a retro Houston Astros uniform. 5. He's not afraid to call Rick Santorum a 'fake' to his face. 6. He thumbs his nose at the establishment. 7. He's suave. 8. He's serious. 9. He enjoys a good laugh. Either that, or he just won the Showcase Showdown. 10. He's for peace, not war. 11. He served in the military, unlike most warmongering politicians. 12. He doesn't go to parties. The parties go to him. 13. He's the only septuagenarian who can pull off the backwards hat look. [..]" Continue reading →

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Colorado county puts seceding to form 51st state on November ballot

"Residents in one rural Colorado county will get an opportunity to decide in November if they want to break away and form the 51st state. In an unanimous vote on Monday, commissioners in Weld County voted to include the initiative on November’s ballot. Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway (R) said that more than 85 percent of residents support the effort to break away a create a state called 'North Colorado.' Cheyenne, Sedgwick and Yuma counties have already put similar initiatives on their ballots. Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, and Washington counties have also held discussions about joining the new state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingColorado county puts seceding to form 51st state on November ballot

A Colonial Gatekeeper That Hillary Would’ve Approved Of

"The year was 1998, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke on The Drudge Report. Hillary Clinton famously lamented that the Internet lacked a 'gatekeeping function'. This mentality is nothing new. Here's a quote from way back in 1671, from Colonial Virginia. The Governor at the time was Sir William Berkeley, and he reported back to the British Crown: 'Thank God, there are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects in the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both!'" Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker: How Bitcoin is Reinventing The Monetary System

"'We're talking about reinventing the world's monetary system...from the ground up,' says Jeffrey Tucker, executive editor of Laissez Faire Books, and an enthusiastic proponent of the open source peer-to-peer currency system Bitcoin. After participating in a panel discussion on Bitcoin at Freedom Fest, Tucker sat down with Reason Magazine's Matt Welch to explain why he believes Bitcoin is an example of a new enterprise that can help create 'a new world of liberty, despite the existence of the leviathan state.'" Continue reading →

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How to Fight the Modern State

"An inventory of all public buildings, and on the local level that is not that much — schools, fire, police station, courthouses, roads, and so forth — and then property shares or stock should be distributed to the local private property owners in accordance with the total lifetime amount of taxes — property taxes —that these people have paid. After all, it is theirs, they paid for these things … Without local enforcement, by compliant local authorities, the will of the central government is not much more than hot air. Yet this local support and cooperation is precisely what needs to be missing." Continue reading →

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The Ron Paul Channel: libertarianism ‘unfiltered and uninterrupted’

"Filmed in the little town of Clute, Texas, and Los Angeles, the Ron Paul Channel will publish three 30-minute shows per week. Its slogan: 'Turn Off Your TV. Turn On the Truth' suggests a combative tone, while those behind it say there has been an 'outpouring of interest' in the first few days. It's Paul's first major initiative since retiring from Congress in January. He told the Guardian that he opted for a news channel 'because the mainstream media is not telling the stories that Americans really need to know'." Continue reading →

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Shares in Incorporated Co-op Cities Might Be the Next Big Thing

"Those who own property in a city—houses and businesses, say—probably come the closest to qualifying as its shareholders, but they do not own undivided interests in the city as a whole. Perhaps then we should not be surprised that, like unowned property everywhere, many cities suffer looting, abuse, and neglect. How can we improve this state of affairs? Here, as elsewhere, the public sector can learn from the private sector about how to tap the power of shared equity. Two lessons, in particular, bear our attention: Workplaces resemble cities and worker-owned businesses thrive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShares in Incorporated Co-op Cities Might Be the Next Big Thing