The Humble Libertarian original

From Engadget: 'While patrolling the halls of the CHI 2013 Human Factors in Computing conference in Paris, we spied a research project from MIT's Media Lab called "Smarter Objects" that turns Minority Report tech on its head. The researchers figured out a way to map software functionality onto tangible objects like a radio, light switch or door lock through an iPad interface and a simple processor / WiFi transceiver in the object. Researcher Valentin Huen explains that "graphical user interfaces are perfect for modifying systems," but operating them on a day-to-day basis is much easier using tangible objects.' Just so cool.

At the center of corruption is the Federal Reserve who has gained enormous amounts of control over America’s economy, with disastrous effects beginning to show. Standing opposite, is the band of Rebels who have vowed to take back the freedom they once knew… and they won’t go down without a fight. Monetary mayhem. Explosions. Romance. Silver Circle plans to take indie animation to a whole other level. David Morgan of Silver-Investor.com will be helping put on a one-night event to remember at the Magic Lantern Theater in downtown Spokane.

With a title like that, how could I resist watching this lecture by Professor James Mills at Gresham College? And Mills did not disappoint! Curiously enough, it would seem that the public campaign against marijuana and its eventual prohibition in Britain closely mirror the perverse incentives and series of events that led to the plant's prohibition in America. Overview: "In 1800 cannabis preparations were almost entirely unknown in Britain as only the medical men of the period had any interest in them and few had access to samples of the plant. However, by the 1840s cannabis was being touted as one of the wonder-drugs of the age, as doctors out in the Empire reported excitedly that it was a ‘powerful and valuable remedy in hydrophobia, tetanus, cholera and many convulsive disorders’. The Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal seized on these reports and devoted its front-page to the new medicine, and in subsequent decades the plant was used to treat everything from tetanu

CISPA Lobbyists are easily startled, but they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers.

A former libertarian abandons his dream of a voluntary world and explains the potential worse case scenario after the overnight disappearance of government. The ending will SHOCK you! Via: School Sucks Project . Fist bump: Anthony Gregory .

Oh yeah. You read that headline right. Bet you never thought you'd read a headline like that. Judge tells the police to give a man his weed back: Joseph L. Robertson's Marijuana Will Be Returned By Cops Who Seized It, Judge Orders TACOMA, Wash. -- Police in Tacoma could soon be in real trouble over pot. The department could be found in contempt if they continue to refuse to return a small amount of marijuana seized from a man after a traffic stop. Municipal Court Judge Jack Emery repeated an order to police Thursday to return the drug to Joseph L. Robertson within seven days or they could be found in contempt. "Appeal or comply," Emery told assistant city attorney John Walker. "Or next week, show up, and I would advise you to bring counsel." The judge first ordered police to return the drug on Feb. 28, but they have refused, The News Tribune reported Friday (http://bit.ly/10hwiD9). It was seized in May of last year when an officer pulled over

"I'm going to grab your baby, and don't resist, and don't fight me, okay?" Imagine a mother hearing these words from an armed stranger. How would you react? This is your government. Look at it: Part I: Part II: Via: MoxNews . Fist bump: reader, Heath. And now, your moment of Zen: Text Summary of news segment: SACRAMENTO, CA - A Sacramento family was torn apart after a 5-month-old baby boy was taken from his parents following a visit to the doctor. The young couple thought their problems were behind them after their son had a scare at the hospital, but once they got home their problems got even worse. It all began nearly two weeks ago, when Anna Nikolayev and her husband Alex took their 5-month-old boy Sammy to Sutter Memorial Hospital to be treated for flu symptoms, but they didn't like the care Sammy was getting. UPDATE: Couple still unclear why CPS took their baby For example, one day Anna asked why a nurse was giving her so

This is a super entertaining and educational video about the nature and origins of fiat money. Excellent for libertarians to share with monetary policy n00bs; still fun for seasoned veterans of the information war.

Unionized Hot Dog Stand vs. Right to Work Hot Dog Stand = Very funny student activism video from Young Americans for Liberty :

For several decades the Republican Party has posed as a beacon of conservatism and constitutional government while in reality being the largest obstacle to those very ideas. If we want smaller government and more liberty, we must first defeat frauds running the GOP before we attack the Dems. After RNC Chairman Reince Priebus unveiled the Republican Party’s  Growth and Opportunity Project  last month, conservatives were hopeful this marked a fundamental change in the direction of the party. The 100-page document’s emphasis on engaging the grassroots and broadening party appeal seemed to indicate GOP leaders were looking to make amends with their base. Less than a month later however, the RNC renounced these claims and once again revealed the greatest hindrance to the GOP’s success: the party itself.  Read the full article here at United Liberty.

" If two criminals can bring an entire city to its knees like this with the help of the state, then terrorism truly is a winning strategy." -Anthony Gregory On his Facebook Wall, Gregory made the above statement in a lengthy and absolutely spot-on analysis of the police response to the Boston Marathon bombing. Over at The Independent Institute, he shared his concerns in greater depth in " What Is The Threshold for Martial Law? " Yesterday, Students for Liberty's blog carried a guest submission critical of Gregory's perspective on the issue entitled, " Civil Libertarians Overreact to Boston Police ." Highlights from the critique: 'Civil libertarians need to avoid the knee jerk reaction to police action. They should see it as their obligation to make sure society does not forget individual liberty in times of crisis, but looking critically at police action is not the same thing as looking constructively at police action. ... Wha

And is she involved in Washington-led operations to arm Syrian rebel groups that include radical Islamic Jihadists, even members of Al Qaeda? Bruce Majors does some deep digging into this story at The Insomniac Libertarian. Check it out .

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Phone Script [Be polite, friendly, and passionate]: Capitol Operator: How may I direct your call? Patriot: Hi, I'm calling regarding CISPA. Could I please get Senator [Your Senator's Name]'s office? ( Probably Underpaid ) Intern: Hello. How can I help you? Patriot: [Say quickly, clearly, and with conviction] Hi! I'm calling about CISPA. I'm a resident of [City] and a [Occupation]. I just want to urge the Senator to vote "No" when CISPA reaches the Senate in order to protect the 1st and 4th Amendments of the Constitution, to protect the freedom of American citizens, and to send a clear message to the terrorists of the world that we will not let terror change our form of government and the liberties we enjoy. Thank you!

Every time Ron Paul "sings" in this auto-tuned comedy video, I can't help myself but laugh. This is so funny: ...and so awesome. The War on Drugs IS a failure. If you disagree, you're unaware of or uninterested in facts. Ron Paul did say in an interview once, btw, that his real dream had always been to be a singer. Well, it's not quite the same, but I hope someone's shared this video with the good doctor from Texas. (It's right at the end of the interview below.) Lyrics, The War on Drugs is a Failure We need to repeal the whole war on drugs It isn't working We don't have to have more courts and more prisons This has to change This has to change Prohibition didn't work Prohibition on drugs doesn't work We have spent over 400 billion dollars It's a waste of money We need to come to our senses Let's put down the guns and unclench the fists We need to come to our senses Yeah, we don't treat alcoholics l

Today being Earth Day, I wanted to share some libertarian perspectives and resources on the environment. You might be likely to encounter conversations about Earth Day and the environment at the workplace, around the dinner table, or when you're out and about today and for the rest of this week. Don't be caught unprepared with libertarian arguments : 1. Remind people first of all, that the worst polluter in the world is the United States government . Even if every last U.S. citizen aggressively reduced their use of energy and water, started recycling and reusing, and became just the most hardcore environmentalist in their personal lives that they possible could, it wouldn't make a dent in the amount of pollution in our world because state and county governments, and the federal government ( especially the Department of Defense), pollute so much. Any earnest, intelligent, and effective effort to reduce pollution and environmental impacts MUST begin with rolling back t

This is by far, the most massive update of the Top 100 Libertarian Blogs and Websites list here at The Humble Libertarian. A Robust Top 100 List I can't decided if I'm more embarrassed that the list was in such disrepair that it required such a massive overhaul, or more excited that the list is now so incredibly robust --better than ever before. I'm probably most excited that the libertarian presence on the World Wide Web is now stronger than it has ever been. When I first made this list in 2009, I extensively researched what was out there, and I'm telling you, there are so many new blogs and websites, so many fantastic resources. We've come a long way in four years. How did I find room for forty-four new libertarian blogs and websites? I removed any blogs or websites that were no longer updating. There were a few of these. Sorry. I won't let this list get that dated again. I also removed several entries that allowed an organization to "double

We're going to get there . You're living in the future now.

What? Bomb sniffing dogs at a major public event in a big city with so many people? Is it inconceivable that there would have been security at a big event because... there's often security at big events? If there was a bomb explosion at an airport, would the conspiracy-obsessed among us point out that the TSA was there when it happened, and say that it stinks of a false flag attack because of this, as they have been doing with the Boston Marathon bombing? Silly. The sad part is the real story with this observation isn't that it's evidence of an inside job. It's that it's evidence of police incompetence. The state can't keep you safe. At least it can't guarantee your safety. You can spend yourself into poverty to pay for the security state; you can give up your last liberty for some security; you can panic yourself into a state of paralyzed terror of living in a world where you just might die sooner than you'd hoped; and in the end, you just might

RNC locks out 50+ conservative activists for nearly an hour as we attempted to deliver an open letter describing our grievances with their rule changes last year as well as a petition with over 12,000 signatures demanding they be overturned. Eventually, Jackie Bodnar of FreedomWorks was allowed inside with the documents and reappeared some 20 minutes later telling the crowd they must make an appointment and come back. This is only days after the GOP allegedly determined the party must reach out more to the grassroots and become a more bottom-up institution in their 100 page report entitled The Growth and Opportunity Project . While we were waiting and demanding to be heard, several individuals were sporadically allowed inside the building as they continued to ignore us. Read more here at my blog The Conservative Individualist Also see this write up  from   Roll Call

Orwell was so very astute in his understanding of the total state, yet the most visible mechanism of state control in 1984 , cameras everywhere, has turned out in the 21st century to be one of the most useful checks against state control. Observe this video from Adam Kokesh , posted to YouTube yesterday: Best part (2:05): "They're filming on the sidewalk. And they're filming on the sidewalk. And that guy's filming on the sidewalk. And that guy's filming on the sidewalk." The police don't want Kokesh to film on the sidewalk because it's part of a "commercial operation" and requires a license from the National Park Service. The quotation above and its concurrent video footage show how antiquated the government's understanding of cameras and information is. People are all over the sidewalk filming with their digital cameras and smartphones. The problem with Kokesh's camera then, is that it's too big and nice. Pretty soon,

Jesse Walker has some words of wisdom for us at Reason. These ideas are relevant in the aftermath of any terrible tragedy as it becomes a media spectacle: 'As soon as those two explosions tore through the Boston Marathon yesterday, dubious rumors and other false reports started surfacing in the press and in social media. So here's three tips for following stories like this one—lessons to keep in mind not just as events in Boston unfold, but the next time something this terrible happens...' Read the rest at Reason.

Look, I normally wouldn't draw attention to something like this, because this debate was embarrassing and frustrating beyond words to listen to, not the kind of thing I want to shed light on as representative of the best we libertarians have to offer. But with this thing front-paging The Daily Paul on Friday, I've decided I just have to speak up, because now it's received plenty of exposure, and commentary about it all over the place except for Reddit and on the YouTube video of the debate itself, is making me wonder what planet the commentators were on while they were listening to this. To clarify my opening remarks, my primary problem was with Robert Wenzel's presentation, not with Stephan Kinsella . G B Shaw reportedly once said, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." Kinsella definitely got dirty and Wenzel definitely liked it. I've got to give Kinsella credit for remaining as patient

Some great publicity for Silver Circle at The Washington Post: 'Pasha Roberts, who grew up in McLean with a DARPA dad and who himself has a degree in financial engineering from MIT, has something of a built-in audience for his feature film debut. Three, actually, he thinks: libertarians, animation buffs and “the precious-metal coin collectors are really into this, too.” “Silver Circle” is an animated love story/hyperinflation dystopia set at the Federal Reserve. It had its Washington-area premiere this weekend: one screen, one theater, a one-week run at the Regal theater in the Ballston Common mall. “Did somebody find a money clip?” a man, one of about 40 people in attendance, hollers into the darkness just before the film began Friday evening. “Wait, is there free money here?” someone asks. “It’s Federal Reserve money,” a third person responds. “Not worth anything anyway.” “Silver Circle” is that kind of movie. Made for around $2 million, funded primarily by Roberts’

a box of chocolates... Worst box of chocolates ever.

Milton Friedman talking common sense about drug policy before it was cool. When he mentions that he was a teenager during alcohol prohibition, I can't decide how old that makes him seem, or how recent that makes alcohol prohibition seem. Lessons forgotten so quickly...

"A new audit (pdf) from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has found significant weaknesses in the oversight intended to keep the Pentagon from giving contracts to Taliban and other insurgent factions. ... The conclusion is that the Pentagon has ended up contracting out to insurgents in the past, but even more frighteningly that it is almost certainly still doing so unwittingly, with Inspector Sopko urging Centcom to implement additional controls to examine contracts already given, and any future ones." Source: AntiWar.com Your tax dollars at work. Washington is taking your money from you, and giving it to terrorists, using it to pay people who are attacking and killing your sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, moms, and dads. Why isn't this a front page story? Who do we get to charge with aiding the enemy for this?

Scientists have come up with a way to make whole brains transparent, so they can be labelled with molecular markers and imaged using a light microscope. The technique, called CLARITY, enabled its creators to produce the detailed 3D visualisations you see in this video. It works in mouse brains and human brains; here the team use it to look into the brain of a 7-year-old boy who had autism. This is just-- so cool.

We need guns that just go "pew." Not "pew pew pew" So funny.

Exciting news for the peace and liberty movement! First, the Ron Paul homeschool curriculum , now this. The press release: The Neo-Conservative Era Is Dead Former Congressman Ron Paul will hold a press conference this Wednesday to launch his next big project: the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. After decades in and out of the US House of Representatives leading the call for a non-interventionist foreign policy and the protection of civil liberties, Dr. Paul is launching a revolutionary new vehicle to expand his efforts. The Institute will serve as the focal point of a new coalition that crosses political, ideological, and party lines. The Ron Paul Institute will focus on the two issues most important to Dr. Paul, education and coming generations. It will fill the growing demand for information on foreign affairs from a non-interventionist perspective through a lively and diverse website, and will provide unique educational opportunities to university students and

Birth Control, a local Nashville goth band has a slick album with seven tracks, each about something spooky, including it would seem, one about the global financial and political establishment. Good stuff. Lyrics below. Old Boys Club by Birth Control It's a slow world, afraid of change so we're here to facilitate an old boys club just layin' low cuz we dont want the world to know we got bankers, business, kings and queens we just wanna have a word in peace we aren't trying to hurt anyone just as long as we get what we want Closed doors and open minds we won't leave anyone behind just as long as you're rich and white then everything's gonna be all right we got bankers, business, kings and queens we just wanna have a word in peace we aren't trying to hurt anyone just as long as we get what we want bankers, business, kings and queens we just wanna have a word in peace we aren't trying to hurt anyone just as long as we get

Marijuana Policy Project Press Release: MONTPELIER – The Vermont House of Representatives approved a bill 98-44 Friday that would decriminalize possession of limited amounts of marijuana. The bill is scheduled for another House vote next week before moving forward to the Senate. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell and Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn testified in favor of the bill, and Gov. Peter Shumlin has also expressed support for such a proposal. "Vermont is another step closer to adopting a more sensible approach to marijuana policy," said Matt Simon, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project. "The support demonstrated by members of the House reflects that of the state's top law enforcement officials and the voters." H. 200, introduced by Rep. Christopher Pearson (P-Burlington) with a tripartisan group of 38 co-sponsors, would remove criminal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace

Alternate headline: Hey Washington, even California 's getting sick of you! Ha ha ha. The Daily Caller reports : 'California lawmakers are pushing a bill that would exempt the state from federal laws authorizing indefinite detention of citizens. The California Public Safety Committee voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of the California Liberty Preservation Act, which was introduced by Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly. The bill passed the Democrat-controlled committee 6-0 with the support of a wide-ranging coalition that included the American Civil Liberties Union, Tenth Amendment Center, San Francisco 99% Coalition, San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Libertarian Party of California. The legislation is designed to free California from having to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012, which does nothing to prevent the potential seizure and indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. The California bill declares such federal power unc

Ben Swann's segment starts at 53 mins into Alex's show on the embedded YouTube video below. There are no big revelations about Swann's plans, but he does reveal that he does have some offers (I'd love to know from whom), might take those offers, might go independent, or might do a combination of these two, remaining independent, but working with some of the outlets that are courting him presently. Defining quote from the interview: "I believe the majority of Americans who don't know what the liberty movement is or the liberty message is, if you articulate it to them, they'll say, 'Yeah, that's me.'" -Ben Swann Fist bump: Daily Paul

Great work at BuzzFeed. After a quick look at the above, you might be interested in the following audio lecture on the Fascists and Fabians from the Mises Institute's excellent Robert LeFebre commentaries . The maneuvering described in the BuzzFeed piece is a classic Fabian "incrementalist socialism" tactic. They've been doing it to us for decades. We're fool enough to let them.

Senator Rand Paul knows real gun control means hitting your target:

Come on, Congress. You got to read the bills. Headline from National Review : "Lee: ‘Not a Single Senator Has Been Provided the Legislative Text’ of Gun-Control Bill" These become laws that affect our lives. You do know that, right? I mean I know you're above the law and everything, so it's hard to imagine, but we little munchkin people in Central Time can go to jail for not complying with all this stuff, so could you take a moment and know what you're voting on when you vote on it? Remember practically two days ago when some of you were embarrassed that you passed the "Monsanto Protection Act" because you didn't know it was in there? Can some renegade libertarian staffer in the Capitol please start waging guerrilla warfare on these clowns and insert language into every bill abolishing the TSA, repealing The Patriot Act, ending foreign aid to Pakistan, and putting ObamaCare out of our misery? No, seriously.

One set of rules for small business owners. Another set of rules for the people who make the rules. How many more examples are we going to need?

When his parents found this sentence scrawled onto a piece of paper in their 4th grader's backpack, they could not believe their eyes: "I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure." The boy's classmates confirmed to his dad that they were instructed by the teacher to write this sentence, though the teacher is playing dumb and saying that the boy wrote this himself. Yeah right. I'm sure he'd think of that himself. The real irony is that most public school teachers are Democrats. This reads like something Dick Cheney would make school children write. Then again, this happened in Florida , land of Jeb Bush. Still I wonder if the teacher would have given this assignment to the students in 2004. And I don't wonder at all whether the progressive media and blogosphere would have jumped all over this in 2004; and I don't wonder at all whether they will now. Can you hear the silence on civil liber

Ethan at HackThings writes: "I went digging on Thingiverse, Shapeways and Ponoko to see if there was anything I’d actually make, and what I found surprised me. Set aside art and jewelry, if you enjoy making things there are plenty of practical, every-day creations to justify the purchase. Especially when you can get a decent 3D printer for $450. Now, having done the research, I have to swallow some of my skepticism. I’m buying a 3d printer. Here are ten practical things I want to make." Read the list here . The one that excited me most was actually the least practical item on the list-- Legos. Just imagine, any possible Lego shape you can think of. zomg!!

Such an interesting interview on Stefan Molyneux's Freedomain Radio with Dr. Stuart Shanker. Key takeaways: Babies are born with all their neurons, but few connections. The stimuli they experience helps grow the connections and wire the circuitry of their brain. Their interaction with their parents is crucially important in helping them to grow well-ordered circuitry so they develop into successful children and adults. Specifically, soothing behavior from the parents helps teach them to grow connections that allow them to "self-soothe" and properly deal with stress and pain as they become more independent. Arousal and aversion are two reactions babies have to stimuli. Arousal is a response to stimulating factors and helps them develop curiosity and engagement with their environment. Aversion is a response to painful over-stimulation. Both of these reactions require a liberal amount of nurturing interaction with the parent to grow the baby's brain circuitry

What a snotty little pompous hypocrite. This isn't about controlling guns. This is about controlling the 99%. Somebody call OWS. James O'Keefe on Alex Jones discussing Piers Morgan's ugly, soft-bellied, good-for-nothing hypocrisy on guns: Alex also does an interesting little aside near the end about Glenn Beck. tl;dw? (Short version is: Beck just copied my story again without attribution, but I'm glad he's doing it. I'm a little miffed, but whatever, he's spreading the message.)

Grab a cup of coffee, you're in for some deep digging into the philosophy of liberty and the non-aggression principle: I'll let Matt Zwolinski make his own point in his piece, "Six Reasons Libertarians Should Reject The Non-Aggression Principle." You can read it here. Thoughts as I'm reading this: I. I do appreciate Bryan Caplan's sentiments, in this piece, which Matt Z links to in the article above: But in any case, all this talk violates the fundamental rule of philosophical reasoning (indeed, all reasoning): You don't use the obscure to argue for the obvious. It's silly to say, "Murder violates man's nature, so murder is wrong," when you can just say, "Murder is wrong." Rothbard's at his strongest when he points out that governments habitually perform actions which almost everyone would admit were wrong if they were committed by a private individual. This , in my view, is real moral reasoning - inste

Friends, I'm really not trying to bash Biblical Christianity here. I'm really not. I do struggle though, with how this collection of books doesn't merely document, but approves of and even requires some kinds of marriage that make little sense to me, seem unfair and preposterous and barbaric to me, make far less sense than the homosexuality that the same collection of writings so strongly disapproves of. Here's a great post I read recently that makes the point well at a blog called Post Traumatic God Disorder. Incidentally, reading the About Me section on the blog, my heart goes out this individual. Radical paradigm and worldview shifts are incredibly uncomfortable to say the least.

"Imagine living in a home that costs you nothing to heat or cool. Imagine building this home yourself. Imagine growing your own vegetables year-round in this home. Imagine no utility bills. Imagine easily available, limitless natural [and salvaged] resources to build this home..." Expect to start hearing more survivalists ( like this one ) talk about earthships. These are just way too cool. I want one:

This is classic. Jeff Berwick, of the Dollar Vigilante , is cut off by a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio host when he starts revealing the true nature of fiat currency to the show's listeners. The show is also a good look at how the mainstream media and its audiences are perceiving and grappling with alternative crypto-currencies like Bitcoin. NB: they don't understand it and find it really scary. Boo! Listen here .

Give me a gun and I can rob a bank. Give me a bank and I can rob the whole world.

This is the third Glenn Beck show I've watched in a few days, and I've got to say I'm having trouble with why any libertarian doesn't like what's going on here. Penn Jillette, as always, is one of the best advocates of libertarianism and atheism I've ever heard speak. His approach is so imminently reasonable and so gentle . Enjoy: Discuss:

Weekly Standard reported yesterday that a loooong list of rappers, celebrities, and community leaders have penned an open letter to President Obama asking for drug and prison policy reform. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Rand Paul is getting applause breaks at a mostly-Democratic historically black college for supporting just such reforms. Real question is, how are Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg not on this list? Who rocks harder? Drug policy open letter signatory P. Diddy? Or two men with a serious stake in libertized drug policy?