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Economics, Featured Articles - Apr 12, 2022

Abolish Society Security

ssc

Social Security is the compulsory government retirement program Americans are required to pay into for as long as they are employed. All revenue which is used to pay for Social Security is acquired through payroll taxes. More specifically, it is acquired through Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes, which also fund Medicare and Social Security disability benefits. A specific portion of these taxes then pay for the benefits received by retired Social Security beneficiaries, currently a pension averaging $1,657 per month which is eligible to individuals over the age of 62. In...

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| 5 min read

Blog - Feb 10, 2022

U.S. Inflation Climbs To 7.5%

2022 02 10 08 21

Rents rose 0.5% last month in another of a series of sharp increases since last summer. The cost of rent — the biggest expense for many households —has jumped almost 4% in the past year. Food prices also increased again, up almost 1% in January. The cost of groceries have climbed 7.4% in the last 12 months — a 14-year high. Dairy and fruit showed the biggest increases last month. Energy prices rose almost 1% last month due to a large spike in the cost of electricity. Cold weather also boosted demand. Gas and natural gas prices fell slightly, but the respite for consumers probably won’t...

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| 1 min read

Criminal Justice, Featured Articles - Mar 9, 2021

SWAT Destroys Innocent Woman’s Home, Sends Her the Bill

swat team

In July of last year, Vicki Baker, 75, was excited to move on to the next chapter of her life in Montana by selling her home she owned for 12 years in McKinney, Texas. That sale would never take place on schedule, however, because the day before she was supposed to close, a SWAT team destroyed it. Baker was out of town on July 25 of last year but her daughter was home when a distraught construction worker — who had worked on the home before — decided to invade the home. Wesley Little, 50, had holed up in the home along with a 15-year-old girl he had abducted. When he came in the home,...

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| 4 min read

Criminal Justice, Featured Articles - Feb 15, 2021

Idaho Cop Arrested For Repeatedly Raping Immobile Cancer Patient

rapist cop

In one of the most disturbing instances of police sexual misconduct we’ve reported here at the Free Thought Project a retired police corporal was arrested this week for repeatedly raping a woman so sick with cancer that she couldn’t fight back. Scott Wayne McMikle, 58, turned himself at the Ada County Jail Wednesday night and has been charged with nine counts of rape. The alleged rapes happened over ten years ago, when McMikle was still gainfully employed as a police officer, according to prosecutor Brittany Ford. Ford explained that police launched an investigation in December after...

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| 4 min read

Blog - Sep 26, 2020

Exile For James Comey

Comey, McCabe, Strozk, Page, Brennan, Clapper, Mueller, Rosenstein, Weissman and all their families should be stripped of their property and banished from the United States of America forever for their treason against the American people and U.S. Constitution. (Don't give me Lysander Spooner, these men all did owe allegiance.) The Federalist: ‘Trump Was Right’: Explosive New FBI Texts Detail Internal Furor Over Handling Of ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ Investigation Newly disclosed internal FBI notes and text messages detail the extent of the FBI's desire to take down Trump and his associates at...

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| 3 min read

Featured Articles - May 19, 2020

Pennsylvanians Pushback Against Overbearing Coronavirus Lockdown

Tom Wolf Governor Portrait 2019

As in the rest of the country, life in Pennsylvania has been greatly disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the chaos that has resulted from the state government’s attempts to handle the situation. On March 16, Governor Wolf ordered that all “nonessential” businesses be closed for at least two weeks. They are still closed today, and as a result, 1.8 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment. At the end of December of last year, the state estimated that there were roughly 6 million employed persons in Pennsylvania. If we set aside all the workers whose incomes have been reduced...

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| 7 min read

Economics, Featured Articles - Apr 19, 2020

Pandemic Hospital Layoffs Reveal the Prevalence of Wasteful Healthcare Spending

Aside from a few hotspots like New York City or Detroit, hospitals across the country are at such low capacities that many are laying off staff and seeing their bottom lines threatened during the current coronavirus pandemic. For instance, in my home state of North Carolina it was reported “After hospitals and doctor’s offices across North Carolina canceled nonessential procedures and in-person appointments because of the coronavirus pandemic, many nurses and medical staff were laid off or had their hours reduced.” “It’s definitely not the situation you might think would happen during a...

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| 5 min read

Featured Articles - Mar 26, 2020

States Lifting Regulations to Help Business During COVID-19 Shows How Useless These Laws Are

Screen Shot 2020 03 26 At 9.59.05 Pm

From the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, state and local governments responded in various ways from issuing emergency orders⁠—citywide shutdowns⁠ to school closures and beyond⁠—but it’s the suspension of various laws and regulations that is exposing the unnecessary regulatory web that burdens businesses. As often happens during emergencies, governors and mayors across the country have used executive power to waive laws and bypass regulations. This allows goods to get to the public quicker at lower cost, more service providers to enter struggling industries, and the...

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| 3 min read

Economics, Featured Articles, Libertarianism - Jan 26, 2020

My Path to Patient in a Direct Primary Care (DPC) Practice

I recently wrote about my new Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis, the quest for affordable meds and supplies, and the subsequent financial savings found through transparent pricing outside of my insurance plan. I summarized that health care “coverage” is very expensive, whereas medical services may be found much more affordably. My next step was to establish an ongoing primary care physician relationship. I contacted one of the large medical groups that my insurance plan covers and found that before meeting with the internal medicine physician, I would be required to have two visits with a...

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| 5 min read

Economics, Featured Articles - Dec 6, 2019

6 Things We Learned from Prohibition

Just over 100 years ago (October 28, 1919), the National Prohibition Act became law. Better known as the Volstead Act, it outlawed the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Prohibition failed to end alcohol consumption and was repealed on December 5, 1933. In a book on prohibitions, John Meadowcroft of King’s College in London offers several “generic lessons and implications.” The United States’ experience with Prohibition illustrates them all. 1. Interest Groups Are Crucial to Prohibition There was no great clamor for Prohibition. Instead, it...

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| 6 min read

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News

News Roundup 8/11/2022

US News Advisers at 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade racked up at least 60 misconduct offenses, including incidents with alcohol, drugs and adultery; a battalion commander was fired; members of one advising team are facing punishment for their behavior in...

White House Considering Reducing or Increasing Tariffs on China

Reuters reports President Joe Biden is considering a range of options of what to do with the current tariffs on China. For months, the administration has considered cutting tariffs on Beijing to relieve inflation in the US. However, Biden is considering new tariffs as...

News Roundup 8/10/2022

US News The Biden administration yesterday urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the ban on gun possession by medical marijuana users, saying that law is consistent with a long tradition of firearm regulation in the United States. Reason The U.S....

Blog

RIP Michael Badnarik

I am told this morning that Michael Badnarik died in his sleep of heart failure last night. Michael was a great believer in and defender of freedom and the United States of America and its Constitution. He represented the Libertarian Party as presidential candidate...

KPFA Saturday Evening News–How Violence Breeds Violence

Short contribution of Laurie Calhoun to the KPFA Saturday Evening News on August 6, 2022, with David Rosenberg about drone assassination and the logic of “violence breeds violence”. This three-minute exchange spans 5:10-8:15. Many other foreign policy topics are also...

Drone Assassination: Inconvenient Facts

On the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri by U.S. drone in Kabul (from Accuracy.org): [Laurie Calhoun] said today: “President Biden has pivoted from the multiple crises of his administration — inflation, heightened tensions with China and Iran, and even the very real...

The Scott Horton Show

Conflicts of Interest

COI #308: Moving Closer to Nuclear War

On COI #308, Kyle Anzalone discusses warnings that the world is close to annihilation. Odysee Rumble  Donate LBRY Credits bTTEiLoteVdMbLS7YqDVSZyjEY1eMgW7CP Donate Bitcoin 36PP4kT28jjUZcL44dXDonFwrVVDHntsrk Donate Bitcoin Cash...

Don't Tread on Anyone

The Utilitarian Case for Voluntaryism

https://youtu.be/mO0Wi-elguk If I try to take something from you, you will resist, imposing costs on both of us in the form of property damage and bodily harm, in addition to the cost of security you may incur to prevent future acts of coercion. It’s not just that...

The State is the Health of War

https://youtu.be/WnvtYw_QKQE Critics often dismiss private law by alleging that disputes between enforcement agencies would lead to combat — even though this happens between governments all the time! In truth, the incentives for peaceful resolution of disputes would...

Who Was Tony Timpa?

https://youtu.be/zQiIPeHLQp4 “Unless it be to do justice on an offender,” Locke continued, no one may “take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.” Long traces out a key implication of...

Liberty Weekly Podcast

Pelosi’s Pickled Provocation Ep. 227

https://youtu.be/6t0w03HduRI In the last two weeks, I spent a great deal of time covering Nancy Pelosi's reckless diplomatic visit to Taiwan. As a part of my coverage, I made a panel appearance on Around the Empire with JoAnne Leon and was glad to be a guest on It's...

Lies, Damned Lies, & War Propaganda ft. Prof CJ Ep. 226

  https://youtu.be/Qp4xpGlxsx8 In this week's episode, I invited Prof. CJ of the Dangerous History Podcast on to talk about Part I of his current podcast series. In Part I, Prof. CJ explores the "massive British propaganda operation in the US that ran from...

The Danger of the Fake China Threat ft. Joseph Solis-Mullen Ep. 225

https://youtu.be/OEcx1yQn6ic This week, I invited Joseph Solis-Mullen on the show to discuss his most recent article published at the Libertarian Institute. The article, entitled "The Fake China Threat and Its Very Real Danger" does an excellent job of demonstrating...

Year Zero

Tim Pool is Wrong About China w/ Patrick MacFarlane

Patrick is back, and this time we’re discussing how and why Tim Pool is wrong about China. Liberty Weekly Patrick Twitter Discord Libertarian Institute 19 Skills Pdf Autonomy Course Critical Thinking Course Donate Patreon RyanBunting.com

BTC Vs ESG w/Car

Car from TLE joined me again. This time I wanted Car to address my Concerns about ESG, and how he thought BTC was the answer. Timeline Earth Who is Car Timeline Earth Discord Libertarian Institute 19 Skills Pdf Autonomy Course Critical Thinking Course Donate Patreon...

Origins and Myths w/Adam Patrick

Adam Patrick is back to discuss the roots of metaphysical thought and language. Discord Libertarian Institute 19 Skills Pdf Autonomy Course Critical Thinking Course Donate Patreon RyanBunting.com

46 & 2, Tool, the Shadow, and Jung w/Jon Hartmann

I asked my good friend Jon Hartmann to come back on the show to discuss Tool’s 46 & 2 and Jung’s concept of the Shadow. Jon Twitter Jon Instagram Discord Libertarian Institute 19 Skills Pdf Autonomy Course Critical Thinking Course Donate Patreon...

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