Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2366

Conservatives and Libertarians for Higher Taxes

Why do some conservatives and libertarians want some Americans to pay more in taxes?

Oh, they don’t actually come out and say that. Then they would sound like Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.

What they do say is that certain tax deductions are “loopholes” that need to be “closed” because they “distort” the tax code, “subsidize” high-income taxpayers, and encourage people to make “economically unwise decisions.” Although most of them also add that the increased government revenue that would...

Life at the Top for 66 Years

Today, Tony Bennett will be publicly receive the Gershwin Prize in Popular Song. It is granted annually by the Library of Congress. He is 91 years old.

The previous winners were Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, song writing team Burt Bacharach and the Hal David, Carole King, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, and Smokey Robinson. Here is what is unique about Bennett: the previous winners got their breakthroughs in the mid-1960’s or the 1970’s. Bennett got his in 1951. He has never looke...

Never Be Without Fire

ReadyNutrition Readers, this piece is a reiteration of fire-starting basics in terms of materials to stockpile for yourselves, for your winter-fires or for a grid-down/collapse event.  You can place these materials in your home, in your “Bug-Out” bag, your vehicle, and in your work locations.  Sometimes the Zippo lighter is not enough, and you need a little more material in order to “kick start” your fires.  Let’s cover some of them as well as simple procedures to keep them waterproof.

1. Sto...

Invited To Shoot Clay Pigeons?

Target shooting has been around for over 100 years. In its earliest forms, enthusiasts stuffed glass balls with feathers and then waited as their friends tossed them in the air to be blown apart mid-flight. Since then, it has evolved from a leisurely day of hunting practice to a highly competitive international sport. Unfortunately, the feather-filled balls are a thing of the past. Now, clay pigeons are the preferred target.

Resembling a pigeon about as much as a cat resembles a TV, clay pig...

Soros Manipulation: The US State Department’s New Program

Hypocrisy may be the only consistent guiding principle of US foreign policy. Here’s a prime example of the “do as we say, not as we do” that is the core of how Washington does business overseas: In the same week that the the US Justice Department demanded that the Russian-backed RT America network register as a foreign propaganda entity or face arrest, the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DNL) has announced that it is launching a program to massively interfer...

Old Tech Is Cool Again

They were the must-have item of the 90s, and now, it seems cassettes are cool again.

The surge in popularity for the device has led to a shortage of magnetic tape.

National Audio, the only company in the US that produces cassette tapes, says it has less than a year’s supply left.

Now, its co-owner and president Steve Stepp says he is planning to build the US’ first high-grade tape manufacturing line in decades to help meet demand.

Experts from National Audio are developing new ways to make ma...

Forget the Bogus GOP Reform

The point is to end the current system in which billionaires get all the privileges and financial benefits of owning assets in the U.S. but don’t pay taxes that are proportional to the benefits they extract.

As has been widely noted, the Republicans’ proposed “tax reform” is not only just more BAU (business as usual, i.e. cut taxes for the wealthy), it’s also not real reform. At best, it’s just another iteration of D.C. policy tweaks packaged for PR purposes as “reform.”

You want real tax ref...

‘This Is Crazy’

As we’ve pointed out, the supervolcano phenomenon is hardly unique to Yellowstone National Park, where a long dormant volcano with the potential to cause a devastating eruption has been rumbling since mid-summer, making some scientists uneasy.

Surprisingly active supervolcanos have been documented in Italy, North Korea and, now, Antarctica after scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have found new evidence to support a theory that the breakup of Antarctic ice may be caused in p...

The US Fifth Column

America has a fifth column. A fifth column is a “group of people who undermine a larger group from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or nation.” The fifth column in this case consists of all those in the deep state and elsewhere such as academia, politics, and the media who have worked for a soft coup against Trump, who have spread falsehoods to undermine his presidency, and who are actively working to impeach him or invoke the 25th Amendment on specious grounds. The fifth column aim...

Will America Survive Washington?

In recent columns posted on my website, I brought attention to two dramatic and dangerous developments between the two major nuclear powers.

One was the public statement of the deputy commander of the Russian military’s Operation Command at a recent Moscow security conference. Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznihir, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, stated at the Moscow International Security Conference that the Operations Command of the Russian General Staff has...