Blog 88 | The Libertarian Institute

The Gov’t Sterilized the “Feebleminded” in My Hometown

by Patrick Macfarlane | Aug 15, 2023 | Blog

When I was in middle school, the bus route would take us past a mysterious, old campus with an array of decaying brick buildings.

I always thought it was dark and ominous looking.

Little did I know, a century prior, hundreds of people had been committed and sterilized there.

See, back in the Progressive Era, the campus was known as “the Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded.” Indeed, it was just one of many facilities like it across the United States.

These facilities were the policy of Progressive Era eugenicists who, in a practically religious way, saw the State as being the primary vehicle of social reform.

Their version of social reform, however, was to eliminate the “indigent, insane, epileptic and idiotic” from society by making sure they couldn’t “further their kind.”

For the victims, just dancing at the bar could earn you a sentence in one of these facilities.

I’ve been fascinated with this place ever since the days I watched it go by outside the school bus window.

Just what was it? What happened to people there? Why was it made? Why did folks think this was OK?

All these questions swirled around my head every time I saw it.

So, two years ago, I decided to get as many answers as I could, and told anyone and everyone this story.

In this newsletter, we’ve been talking about how to find “what they’re not tellin’ you” out for yourself. There may not be a better example of it than the episode I ended up making.

Watch it today for free, below.

This article first appeared as an email to Patrick MacFarlane’s newsletter. If you liked it, be sure to subscribe here.

The Trinity Test Killed Babies…Yeah, You Read that Right

by Patrick Macfarlane | Aug 14, 2023 | Blog

The wanton and reckless disregard for human life shown by the Manhattan Project boggles the mind.

Despite my criticism of the Christopher Nolan Film “Oppenheimer,” it did include the infamous fact that Manhattan Project scientists believed there was a chance that the first nuclear bomb would ignite the Earth’s atmosphere and end all known life.

Of course, they pressed the button anyways.

If that bothers you, just wait, the hits keep on coming—even eighty years later.

Earlier this year, scientists from Princeton University and the University of Colorado at Boulder conducted a study of the radioactivity emitted by the Trinity Test.

It’s findings were sobering: the Trinity Test spread radiation across 46 US States, and parts of Canada and Mexico.

So, please continue to tell us more about how nuking Japan was necessary to save American lives.

If you want to know more about this study, my Libertarian Institute colleague, Connor Freeman wrote it up a couple weeks ago.

His article includes the lesser-known fact that child mortality in New Mexico increased by 56% the year after the Trinity Test.

I am sure the increase in child mortality was simply a coincidence. If not, I am sure we can just say “the price was worth it” and wash our hands of it.

I also made a little Tiktok of the shocking study. If you’re on TikTok, give me a follow.

This article first appeared as an email to Patrick MacFarlane’s newsletter. If you liked it, be sure to subscribe here.

@patmacfarlane_

Trinity Test Killed BABIES #oppenheimer #oppenheimermovie #trinitytest #christophernolan #christophernolanfilm

♬ original sound – Patrick MacFarlane

Tom Woods Show Episode 2378: Contradictions and Stupidities of Public Health

by Laurie Calhoun | Aug 14, 2023 | Blog

Tom Woods and I recently discussed the Coronapocalypse and Questioning the Company Line: Critical Thinking in Hysterical Times:

The Tom Woods Show Episode 2378: Contradictions and Stupidities of Public Health

The Army Panicked When it Discovered This Shocking Fact

by Patrick Macfarlane | Aug 13, 2023 | Blog

In 1947, Brigadier General SLA Marshall made an announcement that shocked the military world and changed combat forever.

The startling news came when Marshall published “Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command,” a study that he conducted during his service as a military historian during WWII.

The study’s bombshell finding was that, in any given engagement with the enemy, only 25% of US servicemen fired their weapons.

Marshall made this conclusion after conducting a survey of individual soldiers soon after returning from combat. The results were uniform across hundreds of combat units.

Was there something unique about American GIs that their firing rates were so low?

Indeed, not.

After military tacticians the world over began to review Marshall’s observations, they found a bevy of historical evidence corroborated him.

So what did the US Military do?

Everything it could to get firing rates up—and it worked.

In this newsletter, we have been learning about ways to discover “what they’re not tellin’ you.” One way is to indulge your own curiosity!

When I first heard of Marshall’s study, I just had to figure out why most soldiers, despite their training, just would not fire their weapons in combat.

When I found out, I produced a short documentary film presenting what I’d found. Watch it below.

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You’ll Never Believe this Fact About Dr. Seuss

by Patrick Macfarlane | Aug 10, 2023 | Blog

During WWII, a children’s author and cartoonist smeared American’s largest political organization opposing US involvement in WWII.

It may surprise you that this children’s author was none other than Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss.

But just what was this group Dr. Seuss was smearing? And why was he smearing it?

The American First Committee brought together a broad coalition of different political groups. Because local chapters had a great deal of autonomy, it was difficult for the higherups to vet who was being admitted. This resulted in a number of members joining the American First Committee because they supported international fascism or communism.

The below image is an example of one of Dr. Seuss’ cartoons painting the entire America First Committee as fascists and communists for the presence of these members in the movement, either desired or undesired by the whole.

To those of us who oppose US involvement in Ukraine and point out American actions that provoked Russia’s invasion, this treatment should be familiar. Especially after the Rage Against the War Machine rally this Spring.

This smearing persists despite the fact that explaining why something happened is not the same as justifying it.

Ironically, in crushing the America First Committee, Dr. Seuss aided and abetted the rise of the American fascistic war state.

If you want to hear more of this fascinating story, and how it relates to today, Brandan Buck joins us in next week’s episode of Vital Dissent. Brandan is a contributor to the Libertarian Institute and Responsible Statecraft. He is a PhD candidate in History at George Mason University.

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This Superpower Will Give You An Advantage Over Almost Everyone

by Patrick Macfarlane | Aug 9, 2023 | Blog

In 1987, a columnist at a small New Mexico newspaper discovered a story that would win her the 1994 Pulitzer Prize.

How did she do this? She had a superpower. She actually read things.

But, Patrick, you’re thinking to yourself, almost everyone can read.

Yes, but do they actually do it?

In 1987, Eileen Welsome was reading an otherwise boring report on the Air Force’s effort to clean up its nuclear waste sites. While reading, she discovered an inventory list of radioactive materials buried at Kirkland Air Force Base. The list included animal carcasses.

This discovery made her wonder why the animal carcasses were radioactive. To find out, she called the records custodian at Kirkland. He assembled a stack of reports about the experiments and welcomed her to come on base to read them.

When she read the reports, she discovered, buried in a footnote, that the experiments included not just animal, but also human experimentation. The footnote described a specific set of experiments where government scientists injected humans with Plutonium, in most cases without their knowledge or consent.

Ms. Welsome spent the next several years reading and researching. Through her work, she was able to track down and identify individual test subjects, despite the fact that government documents chillingly identified them as “HP,” for “Human Product.”

Now, I am citing Ms. Welsome’s work to make my documentary series “The Truth About Oppenheimer.”

In this Newsletter, we will be studying ways to uncover dark history and geopolitics—and discovering interesting stuff along the way.

The very first lesson that I can teach you, is to actually read things. Like Ms. Welsome, you’d be surprised where this will take you.

For instance, I cannot tell you how many times lawyers assume that a law or procedure is the way it is because that is the impression they have.

Two days ago, Supporting Members got early access to my latest episode of Vital Dissent, “How to Stop Your Ex from Vaxxing the Kids.” In it, I describe how I won a vaccine custody case because I read the case law and the other lawyer did not.

So yes, you can turn a skill as mundane as the commitment to ACTUALLY READ THINGS into a superpower.

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This HORRIFYING Film is Exactly What the World Needs To See Right Now

by Patrick Macfarlane | Aug 8, 2023 | Blog

Last night, I finally got around to watching the terrifying 1984 film “Threads” by Barry Hines and Mick Jackson. The film was a straight-to-TV production that punches way beyond its £400,000 budget.

In short, this British film is an ultra-realistic depiction of what nuclear Armageddon would look and feel like.

Through the lens of the film, it is easy to see how the spiraling escalation over Ukraine could reach its final destination. It makes this worst case scenario look plausible.

In the film, the Soviet Union invades Northern Iran in response to a US-backed coup. The US reacts by occupying the South. Spiraling escalation culminates with a tactical nuclear exchange after the Soviets allegedly destroy an American submarine.

The potential similarity between this and the crisis in Ukraine should already be obvious to the reader.

Much like real life, the film’s geopolitical escalation takes place in the background of daily life via news broadcasts and headlines. The citizens of Sheffield, UK, where the film takes place, at first try to ignore the crisis, but begin to panic when the Soviets break an American ultimatum—reminiscent of the UK’s own declaration of war against Germany in WWII.

During this time, antiwar and antinuclear activists demonstrate in the streets, but are shouted down as Soviet apologists. Soon after, the missiles rain down.

Many people assume that everyone within a certain radius of a nuclear explosion would instantly die. As the film realistically demonstrates, this is not true. Many people in Sheffield survive for days with grotesque blast burns. They suffer horribly from radiation sickness.

This depiction, which includes civil unrest and irradiated drinking water, was scientifically accurate.

The latter half of the film realistically depicts the effects of nuclear winter. World population and conditions are reduced to the sub-medieval. Even the survivors’ language devolves to the point of being unrecognizable.

Ultimately, the film is a disturbing reminder of just how bad things could get. The comments are full of Brits recounting how they were made to watch it in school—perhaps we should all be watching it? What do you think?

As people opposed to nuclear escalation, I think we can learn something from the activists who made this film. It’s clearly an effective piece of media.

How can we use tone and revulsion in our own work, to propagate a pro-peace message? God knows the other side is using it for war.

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