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

I was recently on the Classical Liberal podcast with Alex Shaw. Make sure to check out his podcast on any podcatcher.

Are we seeing the final throes of the drug war in America? What's in the News with stories on an update to Charlie Gard, mandatory vaccines, life imitating satire, the Nevada Governor must be high, Big Brother is garbage, eugenics, and civil asset forfeiture is expanding. A New Hampshire, It's Like This Too segment on the many wins we've had so far, and a Herding Cats segment on the Freecoast Festival. This episode is brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party.

Incredibly, we are now faced with a US state that could potentially be ending the war on drugs as we know it. 

The Oregon Legislature passed a bill Thursday decriminalizing small amounts of six hard drugs, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ecstasy.

The bill, HB 2355, will now go to Governor Kate Brown's desk. She said she is looking forward to signing this bill into law. It decriminalizes possession of the drugs so long as the offender has neither a felony nor more than two prior drug convictions on record.

First of all, I want to apologize for this episode being late. I have been exceptionally busy the last few weeks, but I'm back on track now and should be able to get this podcast back to its regularly scheduled time on the next episode. And, keep an ear out for news about a brand new podcast coming up on the Pax Libertas Productions network very soon!

In universal health care update, 11 month-old terminal ill Charlie Gard in the United Kingdom is still struggling to survive despite the British courts condemning him to death, and now, a new development makes things even more complex.

In government force news, France took a bold step and made vaccinations mandatory starting in 2018 to combat anti-vaxxers. 

In life imitating satire news, it appears that Frederic Bastiat's brilliant satirical essay, "Candlestick Makers' Petition," is coming true.

"Candlestick Maker's Petition"

In the Nevada governor is high news, Gov. Brian Sandoval declared a state of emergency after stores that sell recreational marijuana reported that their supply is running out just less than two weeks after the drug went on sale legally.

In Big Brother news, garbage men are now being trained to spy on their customers.  

In eugenics news, a county in Tennessee is offering free vasectomies to male inmates in exchange for a whole 30 days removed from their sentence. Not to be left out, women can also receive time off if they receive a Nexplanon implant in their arm which will prevent pregnancies for up to four years.

In civil asset forfeiture news, Attorney General Jeff Sessions plans to increase one of the least democratic powers of law enforcement - civil asset forfeiture.

What a year New Hampshire has had already. Not only have we had three state legislators switch their party affiliation to Libertarian, making New Hampshire the state with more Libertarian legislators than all the other 49 states combined and giving us the only Libertaricaucussus in a state house in the country, but we have had so many other wins this year that it's damn near impossible to keep up. Let's talk about those wins

And, speaking of New Hampshire, you don't want to miss the upcoming Freecoast Festival from Friday, September 8th - Sunday September 10th. My wife and I are again working on this event as volunteer coordinators, and we are super excited for you to come!

The Freecoast Festival is an opportunity for our local liberty community to come together and for prospective movers to see what life is really like on New Hampshire's Seacoast. The theme this year is "Living a Voluntary Life Today!"

So, what are you waiting for? See you on the Freecoast! 

Happy Independence Day! We look at what universal health care actually looks like, and it is grim. What's in the News with stories on government theft, nanny state, unintended consequences, charitable giving, and government waste. We also have an Ancap App segment on Heleum, an app that accelerates your savings. And, How to Live a LAVA Lifestyle on celebrating our independence. This episode is brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party.

There are few things that piss me off more than children being harmed, as you likely heard on my last episode where I talked about children being tortured in public schools. This week, a case that I've watched for a few weeks came to a heartbreaking end, and it has me really pissed off.

Charlie Gard is a 10-month-old baby who suffers from a rare genetic disorder called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. It’s a horrendous condition that leads to organ malfunction, brain damage, and other symptoms. The hospital that had been treating the boy, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, made the determination that nothing more can be done for him and he must be taken off of life support. He should “die with dignity,” they said. The parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, disagreed.

This is the very crucial thing to understand: they are not insisting that Great Ormond Street Hospital be forced to keep Charlie on life support. Rather, they want to take him out of the hospital and to America to undergo a form of experimental therapy that a doctor here had already agreed to administer. Chris and Connie raised over $1.6 million to fund this last-ditch effort to save their child’s life. All they needed the British hospital to do was release their child into their care, which doesn’t seem like a terribly burdensome request. They would then leave the country and try their luck with treatment here. However slim the chance of success may have been, it was better than just sitting by and watching their baby die.

Here’s where things get truly insane and barbaric. The hospital refused to give Charlie back to his parents. The matter ended up in the courts, and, finally, in the last few days, the European Court of “Human Rights” ruled that the parents should be barred from taking their son to the United States for treatment. According to the “human rights” court, it is Charlie’s human right that he expire in his hospital bed in London. The parents are not allowed to try and save his life. It is “in his best interest” to simply die, they ruled.

In government theft news, a new federal bill seeks to track your money and assets incessantly, will enjoin any business with government ties to act as a de facto arm of DHS, and would steal all of your assets — including Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — should you fail to report funds when traveling with over $10,000.

In asshats using the nanny state news, Parents Against Underage Smartphones is collecting signatures to get Initiative 29 on the Colorado 2018 ballot to stop the sale of smartphones for use by children younger than 13 years old.

In unintended consequences news, Seattle's first-in-the-nation $15 per hour minimum wage law is hurting the workers it aimed to help, a new study has found.

In without the government news, charitable giving in the U.S. topped $390 billion in 2016, up nearly 3 percent from 2015. I wonder how high this would have been without the government stealing large portions of our paychecks?

In government waste news, the money they steal from you can't even be used efficiently. The Pentagon overspent between $26 and $28 million on useless camouflage for the Afghan National Army (ANA), a government watchdog study found.

There's a new app coming that you want to be a part of. I've been in the beta program for this app for a few months now and it is genius, and the beta will be ending soon. I want you to be a part of this and to get in on the beta before it ends.

The app is called Heleum (H-E-L-E-U-M) and it's a way to accelerate your savings. It works very simply, but the back-end code is brilliant.

Heleum is an automated app that grows your money by letting it float into rising currencies. First, you create and add money to an account on Uphold.com. Uphold is an online wallet that helps you store your money in many different currencies. Then, you allow Heleum to access your account. Heleum will instruct Uphold to trade bits of your money into other currencies. Heleum later converts your money back into dollars, plus whatever gains it has earned for you.

Check it out at thelavaflow.com/savings and accelerate your savings today!

On July 4, 1776, fifty-six representatives from the British colonies in America signed the Declaration of Independence. With their signatures, the British colonies in America dissolved their relationship with England completely. The document they signed said the following…

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

But, as much as these words are beautiful and correct, how did the founders live up to these words?

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Ian Freeman and Mark Edge on Free Talk Live for a full hour at Shire Fest prior to PorcFest. Thank you for joining me on the forty-third episode of The LAVA Spurt, Rodger on Free Talk Live. This episode is brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party. 

Kids being tortured in government indoctrination centers is rustling my jimmies this episode. What's in the News with stories on cannabis DUIs, Bitcoin regulation in New Hampshire, and government inefficiency. This episode is brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party. Also brought to you by Wry Guys t-shirts, the makers of all of the Pax Libertas Productions t-shirts, including for this show. A wry wit for today's shit.

There are few things that rustle my jimmies more than people who harm kids, so when listener and supporter of the show, Link, sent me this article, I knew I had to talk about it, even though the article is three years old. The article is titled, "Violent and Legal: The Shocking Ways School Kids are Being Pinned Down, Isolated Against Thier Will" and it was published in June of 2014. It tells horrific stories of children being abused in school to a degree I never knew happened. I highly recommend everyone read this article.

This will be a bit of an abbreviated episode since I'm at PorcFest as this is released and have been super busy working on the planning for that event with my awesome wife. I hope to see you guys at PorcFest this week. If you're a listener of this show and you're at PorcFest this week, please find me and say hi! I want my picture taken with you, as many of you as I can! 

In cannabis news, a landmark Arizona court ruling says that THC in your blood is not sufficient ground to charge you with a DUI. 

In speaking of Swarm City news, I had the honor of attending the launch party for Swarm City's phase two product called Boardwalk last week. And this week, at PorcFest, I will have the ability to actually test out the product by seeking rides from the Swarm City golf cart around the campgrounds using the hashtag "needaride." You can check out the full video from the live stream of the launch event.

In New Hampshire news, New Hampshire’s governor Chris Sununu signed a bill, HB 436, which makes NH the first state to explicitly protect cryptocurrency like Bitcoin from regulation. 

“Freedom in the 50 States” study

In government inefficiency news, the federal government is finally getting out of the Y2K bug preparation business, seventeen years after the bug came and went. 

Marc Clair invited me to be on the Lions of Liberty podcast, "Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor" with John Odermatt of Felony Friday and Chris Spangle of We are Libertarians. I opened a bottle of Johnny Walker Double Black and went to school on Chris! This is one you don't want to miss. Thank you for joining me on the forty-second episode of The LAVA Spurt, Debating on Lions of Liberty. This episode is brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party. Also brought to you by Wry Guys t-shirts, the makers of all of the Pax Libertas Productions t-shirts, including for this show. A wry wit for today's shit.

What can you do to help you live a voluntary life today? I talk to Jake Desyllas from The Voluntary Life podcast about just that. Thank you for joining me on the forty-first episode of The LAVA Spurt, Living a Voluntary Life Today. This episode is brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party. Also brought to you by Wry Guys t-shirts, the makers of all of the Pax Libertas Productions t-shirts, including for this show. A wry wit for today's shit.

In my role as one of the several organizers for the upcoming Freecoast Festival from September 8th - 10th, I had an amazing opportunity to interview and be interviewed by a podcaster I've followed for many years, Jake Desyllas from The Voluntary Life podcast. He and his wife, Hannah, will be our keynote speakers for the festival this year and I wanted to talk to him about some of the things that he does that lead to us choosing him for the keynote.

After selling his business, in 2010, Jake quit the rat race to live job free at the age of 38. He wanted maximum freedom and the chance to spend every day doing only things that he loves. So far, that has included publishing two books, becoming a perpetual traveler, going minimalist, playing in a band, and doing his podcast.

Should you or your kids register for the draft or dodge the draft? Find out what the implications are. News with stories on kids needing licenses to mow, 900 kids being illegally searched, Ross Ulbricht, and jury nullification, and an Ancap Apps segment on Swarm City. This episode is brought to you by Praxis, where you can get a full-time job in nine months making $50,000 a year with no college degree. Also brought to you by Swarm City, a decentralized commerce meta-platform that allows people to participate in commerce without interference from a third party.

In my formerly conservative days, I was proud to sign up for the draft through the selective service program. At the time, I didn't understand fully the implications of that decision. Looking back on it now, I wish I had more information on it. From a government that tells me I am not smart enough to use alcohol until I'm 21 years old, or that I'm never smart enough to use many other drugs, it is the height of hypocrisy for them to force an even more difficult decision like this on 18-year-old boys.

And this is not just an intellectual exercise for me. I have two boys, 11 and 9, who, much sooner than I want, will be facing this exact decision. I want to prepare them for this decision much better than my parents prepared me, which was exactly zero preparation. 

I have to start out with the caveat that I am not a lawyer and nothing you'll ever hear me say is legal advice. 

The Draft is Slavery

I'm a Free Man Resisting Slavery 

The Center on Conscience and War

In barriers to work news, Gardendale, Alabama is now requiring kids in the town to pay $110 to buy a business license if they want to make a few extra bucks over the summer mowing lawns. Teenagers have actually been threatened by officials and other lawn services to show their city-issued license before cutting a person’s lawn for extra summer cash.

In other state vs. kids news, in Worth County, Georgia, violated children and furious parents have just filed a massive lawsuit after the Worth County Sheriff’s office conducted an illegal search of 900 students — in the name of the war on drugs.

In big brother is always watching news, the FBI has illegally shared raw intelligence about Americans with unauthorized third parties and violated other constitutional privacy protections, according to newly declassified government documents.

In Ross Ulbricht news, the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld the conviction and sentencing of Ross Ulbricht for life without parole based on crimes associated with launching and operating the Silk Road website, a site where people could buy and sell items anonymously, including illegal drugs.

In low information jurors news, jurors in Mecosta County, Michigan, have convicted a man for telling potential jurors that they don't have to convict people.

Do I have an interesting treat for you guys today! If you've been listening to me for a while, you know that I've talked about Arcade City quite a lot in the past, and not in a good way. I liked the original concept behind Arcade City, but I had massive issues with the implementation by Christopher David. My first Ancap Apps segment on Arcade City was way back in March of last year where I was talking about the very beginnings of the great idea and how excited I was for it. You can listen to that episode at thelavaflow.com/33. Then, in September of last year, when things started looking bad for the implementation of Arcade City, I did a Jimmies called The Gamification of Arcade City. You can get to that one by going to thelavaflow.com/45. I followed that one up in November with Arcade City 2.0 where I talked about the huge changes in Arcade City when Christopher David stepped down and left the operations of Arcade City to the development team that became involved in the project. You can get that one at thelavaflow.com/50. Finally, I did a spurt episode called Arcade City vs. Swarm City Hard Fork, where the dev team went even further to distance themselves from Chris by changing the brand completely to Swarm City. That one is at thelavaflow.com/tls28. 

I haven't talked much about them since, but I've been watching closely, and I've been very pleased with what I've seen. So pleased, even, that I spend some money and purchased some Swarm City tokens, the same tokens that were once called Arcade City tokens that I told everyone to stay the hell away from. And, the newest advertiser for this show is Swarm City! This is how much things have changed. And, today, I have an interview with Matt Carano, a musician, voluntaryist, entrepreneur, marketer, and organizer who is currently running a communications hive in Swarm City. Matt is also a personal friend of mine and a co-host with me on the Freecoast Freecast podcast. You can follow Matt on Twitter @matthewcarano. I want to thank Matt for coming on and I want to thank Swarm City for being a sponsor of The LAVA Flow! You can follow Swarm City on Twitter @SwarmCityDApp. To get involved please find Swarm City on Slack at https://swarm-slack-invite.herokuapp.com. Yes, that address is a pain in the ass, so you can also get to it by going to thelavaflow.com/swarmcity. 

A man plowed his own field, and now the US Attorney's Office is trying to fine him $2.8 million. What the actual fuck? Thank you for joining me on the fortieth episode of The LAVA Spurt, Plowed by the Feds? This episode is brought to you by Praxis, where you can get a full-time job in nine months making $50,000 a year with no college degree. Also brought to you by Wry Guys t-shirts, the makers of all of the Pax Libertas Productions t-shirts, including for this show. A wry wit for today's shit.

A farmer faces trial in federal court this summer and a $2.8 million fine for failing to get a permit to plow his field and plant wheat in Tehama County.

A lawyer for Duarte Nursery said the case is important because it could set a precedent requiring other farmers to obtain costly, time-consuming permits just to plow.

Anthony Francois, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian-leaning nonprofit that fights for private property rights and limited government, said, “The case is the first time that we’re aware of that says you need to get a (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) permit to plow to grow crops. We’re not going to produce much food under those kinds of regulations."

However, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller agreed with the Army Corps in a judgment issued in June. A trial, in which the U.S. Attorney’s Office asks for $2.8 million in civil penalties, is set for August.

The case began in 2012 when John Duarte, who owns Duarte Nursery near Modesto, Calif., bought 450 acres about 10 miles south of Red Bluff. Duarte was planning to grow wheat on his property. 

It looks like the US is going to be more involved in Syria under Trump. I am not at war. What's in the News with stories on government indoctrination centers, government ignoring the Constitution, closing asset forfeiture loopholes, political correctness police with teeth, and secession in the US. And, a Muh Roads segment on counties in Oregon shutting down government services. This episode is brought to you by Praxis, where you can get a full-time job in nine months making $50,000 a year with no college degree. Also brought to you by Wry Guys t-shirts, the makers of all of the Pax Libertas Productions t-shirts, including for this show. Awry wit for today's shit.

I don't talk a lot about foreign policy and war on this show for several reasons. First of all, there are far better libertarians at giving you the scoop on that, such as Scott Horton and the teams at Anti-War.com and The Libertarian Institute. Secondly, though, I try to focus this show on topics that affect us directly as much as possible so that we can try and find solutions to helping us live that voluntary lifestyle today. However, when I hear the beating drums of war like I did this week, I feel like I have to talk about it.

Apparently, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Obama who escalated our involvement in Syria was only a drop in the bucket in that country. Now, President Trump is going to escalate things even more by instructing the Pentagon to "annihilate" the Islamic State in Syria in a bid to prevent escaped foreign fighters from returning home.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that the president has "directed a tactical shift from shoving ISIS out of safe locations in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate ISIS. The intent is to prevent the return home of escaped foreign fighters."

Interestingly enough, though, ISIS in Syria and the US government both seem to have the same end game in Syria in mind, which is a removal of Bashar al-Assad as the head of the Syrian government. The US government wants to put up their hand-picked puppet ruler while ISIS wants to do the same. 

What's worse is who is poised to take control if the US gets its way and takes out both ISIS and Assad in Syria. Based on commentary provided by David Nelson of The Libertarian Institute, it seems pretty clear that the group that has the strength to take over Syria if the US removed Assad would be al-Qaeda.

In government indoctrination center news, a Trenton, Ohio middle school student was suspended after liking a photo of a gun on Instagram.

In unfit to exist news, apparently, the First Amendment protections of the freedom of the press mean exactly nothing in the West Virginia capitol building.

In legalized theft news, the Colorado legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that would take a huge step towards closing a federal asset forfeiture loophole. 

In I can't make this shit up news, a Scottish YouTuber comedian Markus Meechan, AKA Count Dankula, is facing up to a year in prison for teaching his girlfriend's pug to be a Nazi.

In secession news, conservatives in Washington have about had it with the state’s rampant Marxism, and are now taking matters into their own hand to reclaim their independence.Republican lawmakers in the state have filed a bill to secede from Washington and create a new state called Liberty.

People are getting fed up with high taxes, but most people will still vote for every tax increase that comes before them "for the good of society," even at the detriment of their own family's budget. This is evident around the country, and the question most often asked is, "without the government, who will build my favorite pet project or provide for my favorite service?" 

But, in some places, people have had enough. They are no longer voting for tax increases to fund unnecessary services and projects, and are instead finding out that they can easily do without them. Take Douglas County, Oregon, for example. Inside a big wood-paneled downtown library there, a sign spells out the future in four words. Come June 1, “All services will cease.”

Last fall, Douglas County residents voted down a ballot measure that would have added about $6 a month to the tax bill on a median-priced home and save the libraries from a funding crisis. So, this spring the library system's 11 branches have slowly been closing. Roseburg's central library will be the last to go.