https://youtu.be/9R2PnjfhCLo Looking at facts without the guidance of theory in their selection is virtually impossible. Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics, p. 120 ... I see history as centrally a race and conflict between “social power” — the productive consequence of voluntary interactions among men — and state power. In those eras of history when liberty — social power — has managed to race ahead of state power and control, the country and even mankind have flourished. In those eras when state power has managed to catch up with or surpass social power, mankind...
Pearl Harbor
9/11/20 Josiah Lippincott on the Wholesale Slaughter of Japanese Civilians in WWII
Scott interviews Josiah Lippincott about the conventional narrative surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The common argument, says Lippincott, is that the U.S. had no real choice but to drop the bombs, since the alternative would have been a ground invasion that ultimately would have cost many more lives. In reality, he explains, the Japanese had been willing to negotiate for months, but the American government, insisting on an unconditional surrender, wouldn't concede Japan's only demand, which was to let the emperor remain on the throne. Ironically,...
Pearl Harbor – The Truth Finally Revealed
https://youtu.be/cznizQNnb-4 In very few cases have these anti-interventionists favored literal “isolation”: what they have generally favored is political nonintervention in the affairs of other countries, coupled with economic and cultural internationalism in the sense of peaceful freedom of trade, investment, and interchange between the citizens of all countries. And this is the essence of the libertarian position as well. Murray N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty, p. 330 ... interventionism is not only immoral and aggressive; it doesn’t work. We must regain liberty at home, end all...
Blowback: Saudi Soldier Shoots Up Florida Airbase
On FPF #427, I explain how the shooting at the US base in Flordia was a part of the war the US is fighting in the Middle East. The shooter was a Saudi officer who was training at the base. Before the shooting, the Saudi posted about American crimes against Muslims being the motivation for his attack. While in the US, this will be presented as an act of terror only preventable by killing more Muslims in the Middle East, the reality is more war in the Middle East will only create more terror attacks in the US. Links The charges against journalist Max Blumenthal have been dropped. He was...
News Roundup 12/5/19
US News A US sailor killed two civilians Department of Defense employees before killing himself at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard. [Link] The New York Times publishes drawings by CIA torture victim Abu Zubaydah of the abuse inflicted on him. [Link] The Mexican President meets with AG Barr and says he will work with the US to prevent the flow of weapons into Mexico, but would not permit another operation like fast and furious. [Link] NATO Trump and Canada’s prime minster clash at the NATO conference. Trump called Trudeau two-faced and complained Canada is not meeting the 2% defense spending...
12/10/18 David Swanson on the Pearl Harbor Attack
David Swanson discusses Pearl Harbor with Scott, an event that has become sanctified as a U.S. holiday, and, worse than that, is used as part of the perpetual narrative that America is always the victim and every war we fight is just. Swanson unveils some of the true history of the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning with the fact that Roosevelt's administration had numerous warnings and lots of intelligence that the Japanese were planning an attack. Newspapers in Hawaii were even predicting it several days in advance, and yet little was done to prepare. Swanson believes this is evidence...
12/7/18 Sheldon Richman on Pearl Harbor and Avoiding War with Russia
Sheldon Richman comes back on the show to talk about his recent article on Ukraine, and another recent Libertarian Institute article on Pearl Harbor. He outlines some of the history of FDR's involvement in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, explaining how much evidence there is for the fact that his administration was looking for a way to get the United States involved in the war, and only chose Japan after failed attempts to provoke an attack by Germany. Many claim that U.S. intervention in World War II was critical in preventing Japan from occupying all of East Asia, and Germany...
Ralph Raico Therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj2sy0WXNIk "For the first time Americans are now paying attention to foreign policy and they say, 'Wow, there are such crazy people in the world. Here we were minding our own business... we were on a picnic when the thing happened, and here these crazy people want to attack us.' Go figure, human nature, 'Americans are the most peaceful, sweetest, most generous people in the world, people who love their children...' basically good guys, and here these people are trying to attack us." A little sarcasm to cure my Pearl Harbor blues. The Japanese didn't...
Pearl Harbor, Truth, And Government
Did FDR "do" Pearl Harbor? Is Global Warming "fake"? Big complicated ideas can be easily framed to one side or another through sophistry. But what is "truth"? I have been a "obviously the Roosevelt administration sought a policy of provoking Japan into war, but Bob Stinnett's conspiracy theory that FDR specifically knew about Pearl Harbor ahead of time is full of holes" guy for the past couple of years. I've dipped my head down into this rabbit hole again recently, and have realized something. Evidence - as such - is garbage. Here's what I mean - if you can control evidence, you...
Is Trump Normal or Abnormal?
Democrats, establishment Republicans, the media, and the intelligentsia think that Trump is a crude-and-rude nut-job who doesn’t have what it takes to be president or even a Chicago alderman. Libertarians think that Trump is similar to most politicians: egotistical, amoral, and a control freak addicted to power and adulation. He just doesn’t mask his pathologies as experienced politicians do. Based on hundreds of biographies of politicians and other powerful people, as well as on my own experience, libertarians are right. I’ve had the misfortune of knowing a lot of powerful people in...