Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2247

Scarier Than John Bolton

The musical chairs playing out among the senior officials that make up the President Donald Trump White House team would be amusing to watch but for the genuine damage that it is doing to the United States. The lack of any coherence in policy means that the State Department now has diplomats that do not believe in diplomacy and environment agency heads that do not believe in protecting the environment. It also means that well-funded and disciplined lobbies and pressure groups are having a fie...

Educational Fraud Is Rampant

Earlier this month, the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress, aka The Nation’s Report Card, was released. It’s not a pretty story. Only 37 percent of 12th-graders tested proficient or better in reading, and only 25 percent did so in math. Among black students, only 17 percent tested proficient or better in reading, and just 7 percent reached at least a proficient level in math.

The atrocious NAEP performance is only a fraction of the bad news. Nationally, our high school graduatio...

It Used To Be Easy To Change Your Car’s Oil

Oil changes are still pretty simple. But easy is another thing. If you haven’t done one in awhile – to a new car – you might be surprised by how much more complicated the process has become.

First, it’s gotten harder to get underneath new cars. Or rather, to get them up in the air, so you can get at things.

Driving them up on ramps – as was common back in the day – is often not possible today because the front end of many new cars will push the ramps forward as you try to drive up and on. Or...

I’m Concerned About Samsung Hypnotizing People

Samsung’s Swedish site recently revealed a new program that offers hypnosis so that you can erase your memories and re watch your favourite shows for the first time. The program is called Unspoil Me and it’s comprised of 23 minutes of swirling patterns, mesmerizing music and a hypnotherapist directing your thoughts and attention in order to erase your memory.

Now, here’s the kicker, this is not a joke. This is totally real, and the implications of what this technology could really do are conc...

An Illinois County Just Voted To Become a Sanctuary

An Illinois County board just voted to become a sanctuary county for gun owners.  That would entail not enforcing laws that prohibit the basic fundamental human right of self-defense.

The Effingham County Board approved the resolution 8-1 on Monday which declares that they will not enforce gun laws that “unconstitutionally restrict the Second Amendment.” (Of course, that’s all gun laws based on the Constitution.)  Board members said they felt it was necessary to “take a stand” against the imm...

A Lie Too Far?

On 4 March 2018 it was a nice day in southern England, and the MI6 Russian spy Sergei Viktorovich Skripal and his daughter Yulia stepped out for a stroll, stopped at the local pub in Salisbury, went to lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then took a walk in the park where they collapsed on a park bench. What had happened to them? Did they suffer from food poisoning? Or was Sergei Skripal involved in some dark affaire and the object of a hit by persons unknown, his daughter being an accidental v...

Man’s Enemy, and God’s

The devotion with which statists implore their only saving state is often reminiscent of religious rituals of faith. When people keep saying that a world without a state is simply not possible, it almost sounds like the Catholic creed, albeit in small nuances: “I believe in the State, the holder of the monopoly on the use of force, the creator of the laws over us all, and in its government here below, its only legitimate representative, our master…”

The strategy is obvious. The people’s age-o...

The Biological Rhythm Reset Button

The human body and all living creatures for that matter have a biological clock entranced and synchronized by day and night (light and dark) cycles, what is called the 24-hour circadian rhythm.  As humans age their inability to maintain synchronous sleep/wake cycles shortens lifespan.  It is no surprise then to learn that with advancing age those individuals who retain uninterrupted nighttime sleep cycles tend to live longer.

Likewise, exposure of animals to artificially short or long light/...

The Return of the Stoics

“Aphorisms,” wrote James Geary, “are like particle accelerators for the mind.” When particles collide inside an accelerator, new ones are formed as the energy of the crash is converted into matter. Inside an aphorism, it is minds that collide, and what spins out is that most slippery of things, wisdom.

Jordan Peterson, whose 12 Rules for Life has been a runaway hit, has given us a good example of this strange reaction. The problem is, as Peterson is discovering, the weird particles that are s...

Mindful of Gratitude

Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, edited by Jörg Guido Hülsmann and Stephan Kinsella.

Hans-Hermann Hoppe is one of the most important scholars of our time.

So write the editors of this volume in the introduction.  Regular readers here know that I wholeheartedly agree.

The book is a collection of essays written in honor of, in tribute to, and in the spirit of Hoppe. The book is divided into five parts, with a total of thirty five essays.  I will not examine...