Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2405

The Evil Alexander Hamilton

Steve Bannon’s September 10, 2017 60 Minutes sparked considerable discussion among both the left and the right. Bannon is always good for that.

After Charlie Rose insisted that immigration built America, Bannon retorted that he was wrong and then seemingly reinforced the idea that “nationalism” has defined American history:

“You couldn’t be more dead wrong. America was built on her citizens. … Look at the 19th century. What built America’s called the American system, from Hamilton to Polk to...

Weird Odyssey

The weird odyssey of President Donald Trump’s travel bans continues. The original ban, signed as an executive order Jan. 27, barred absolutely all immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The countries had actually been chosen by the State Department of former President Barack Obama. Obama never signed a ban, but Trump did.

The first travel ban never took effect, as the federal courts in Brooklyn, Seattle and Honolulu in which it was challenged by people from the aff...

6 Essential Lessons From Hurricane Harvey

The latest reports put the death toll from Hurricane Harvey at 70. While the count is likely to rise further, mostly this will be from bodies revealed by receding water. Most deaths from hurricanes and floods happen while the storm is still in the area.

Yet, the one million people who have been displaced and others effected by the storm will still face many challenges. Roughly 200,000 homes have been damaged.

House destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, August 28, 2017.

Also, the financial t...

If Your Identity Is Stolen

I told you last week about the massive security breach at Equifax and offered some tips on what to do if you found out you had been impacted by the breach.  We know that roughly half of us have our info floating around on the sinister “dark web”, the place where identities are sold in bulk.  I was impacted along with 143 million other lucky Americans, and all thanks to Equifax.

First Steps

Here are some important first steps for you should you discover that you have indeed had your identity...

Giddyap!

Seemingly simple, yet oh so significant – the stirrup is an invention that changed the history of the world. The emergence of the stirrup revolutionized the way horses were ridden and consequently re-shaped transportation. In fact, this invention played an important role in some key historical events and empire building.

This simple device consists of a pair of frames or rings attached to the saddle of a horse (or other equine animals) via straps, and served to hold a rider’s feet in place. A...

More Holes in Russia-gate Narrative

It is no secret that our July 24 VIPS Memorandum for the President, entitled “Was the ‘Russian Hack’ an Inside Job?,” gave rise to some questioning and controversy – nor was it a surprise that it was met with almost total silence in the mainstream media.

The ongoing U.S. media campaign against Russia has been so effective that otherwise intelligent people have been unable even to entertain the notion that they may have been totally misled by the intelligence community. The last time this happ...

Credit Rating Agencies Can’t Be Trusted

The upgrade of Russia’s sovereign credit rating by the Fitch agency has raised questions over the fairness of previous downgrades. The ‘Big Three’ have repeatedly been accused by Russian authorities of deliberately underestimating the country’s economy.

RT talked to investing guru and financial commentator Jim Rogers who said the American rating agencies are incompetent and have “made a lot mistakes in the past decades.”

“They’ve been so wrong so many times in the past. They are totally incom...

More on Imran Awan

I wrote an article on the strange case of Imran Awan about two months ago. To summarize it briefly, Awan, his two brothers and wife, naturalized U.S. citizens born in Pakistan living in the Washington DC area, found employment as IT administrators in the House of Representatives working for as many as 80 Democratic Party congressmen. Even though they may have had little actual training in IT, they insinuated themselves into the system and were paid in excess of $5 million over the course of t...

The Agony of the Welfare State

The title of this post—minus the reference to Finland—is shamelessly copped from a prescient essay that Ludwig von Mises wrote in 1953.  In his article Mises pointed out that in Great Britain and Europe, the system of progressive taxation was already confiscating nearly the entire  “surplus” incomes of the successful capitalists and entrepreneurs, meaning that higher tax rates would no longer produce additional funds to finance these countries’ ever-expanding welfare states.  “Henceforth,” Mi...

Washington Has Initiated Military Conflict With Russia

Russia has provided evidence that Washington is collaborating with ISIS in attacks on Russian forces.

In one Washington-directed attack, ISIS tried to capture 29 Russian military policemen. However, Russian special forces entered the fray, and the result was spectacular losses for ISIS.

In another attack Washington-directed attack, Russian General Valery Asapov and two Russian colonels were killed in an attack that violated agreements.

Sooner or later it will dawn on the Russian government th...