Do You Hate the State - TLF067

The LAVA Flow | Libertarian | Anarcho-capitalist | Voluntaryist | Agorist

Charlie Gard has died, and it is the state's fault. Do you hate the state yet? What's in the News with stories on losing the right to freedom of speech and guns, paying child support for someone who is not your child, e-cigarette regulations update, and Trump on police brutality. Also, and Ancap App segment on an update on Swarm City and a The Next Generation segment on homeschool savings, but not for homeschoolers. This episode is brought to you by Tom Woods's Liberty Classroom, helping you to become a smarter and more informed libertarian than ever before, for just 24 cents a day.

WHAT’S RUSTLING MY JIMMIES

In a Charlie Gard update, sadly, Charlie has died, just days before his first birthday. Charlie’s mother, Connie Yates, said simply: “Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you, Charlie.”

And, based on every available account, it didn't have to be this way. An American doctor at Columbia University Medical Center has agreed to help this baby, and the family raised more than $1.6 million to take him there and have him treated. But, a British High Court judge ruled that the doctors could turn off Charlie's life support, because apparently the judge, in his infinite wisdom, knew that death was better for Charlie than the chance to live.

But what chance did Charlie really have if he had received this treatment in America? According to Charlie's mother, "We want people to realize that we have been speaking to parents whose children were just like Charlie before starting treatment and now some of them are walking around like normal children. We wanted Charlie to have that chance too."

The Independent Payment Advisory Board

As Murray Rothbard so famously asked in his article in the Libertarian Forum in July of 1977, "Do You Hate the State?"

WHAT'S IN THE NEWS

In unfit to exist news, a group of 43 US Senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — want to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine.

In come and get them news, 3D-printed gun designs are selling on the dark web for only $12.

In what the actual fuck news, a Texas man has been ordered to come up with more than $60,000 in back child support for a girl he did not biologically father and met only once in his life.

In smoke 'em if you've got 'em news, the FDA has given the e-cigarette industry a regulatory reprieve, for now.

In come and get them again news, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) violated the gun rights of foster parents.

In finally, some good news, President Trump's administration, on orders to kill two regulations for every new one, ripped up the playbook during its first six months, eliminating 16 old rules for every new one, according to top officials.

ANCAP APPS

What a wild ride it's been for Swarm City. First, I was bullish on Arcade City when it was first announced, then after several delays and very damning information came out about the founder, Christopher David, I became much more skeptical. Then, Swarm City takes over, gets rid of Christopher David, and makes some huge strides, so I was bullish all over again! They even sponsored ads on my show and I bought a bunch os Swarm City tokens. And, while I'm still bullish on Swarm City, I am a bit cautiously concerned after the latest hump on the roller coaster ride that is decentralized, crypto-backed peer-to-peer trading.

In case you haven't heard, Swarm City was involved in an exploit, called the Parity Multisig Wallet Exploit, that cleaned out their primarily Etherum wallet where they held their operating funds for developing Swarm City. This was the money they made from their token sale last year and this was the money they used to pay for developers, marketing, and the like. The total amount taken was 44,055 Ether, worth, at the time of the theft, $9 million. In total, over 150,000 Ether was stolen from three different companies using these multi-sig wallets. What a multi-sig wallet does is it requires multiple people to sign off before any funds are removed from the wallet to keep the funds safe. This prevents any one person from taking all of the funds. Well, unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way.

THE NEXT GENERATION

As you guys know by now, my wife and I have homeschooled our children since birth. We've been fortunate that my 9 and 11-year-old sons have never spent a day in government indoctrination centers, much to the chagrin of my public-school teacher mother-in-law. But, we don't regret a single minute of it, and we are thrilled to be setting our children up for the future by teaching them things they really need in the real world, like entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, how to find the answer instead of telling them the answer, and a love of learning.

Who knew, though, that while doing this I was saving the state money, which is a fucking shame since I am still paying the same amount in taxes as people who send their kids to public school.

Apparently, those savings are pretty large too. For example, based on state spending per student multiplied by the approximate number of homeschoolers in each state, California is saving $1.8 billion a year thanks to homeschool families, and yet that state is still in massive debt. Go figure. Other notable states include North Carolina at $1 billion, New York at $1.7 billion, Texas at $1.2 billion, Florida at $729.8 million, and Illinois at $798.6 million. Even little bitty New Hampshire is saving $80.7 million per year.