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

What is this Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency thing you've been hearing about? Find out here. What's in the News with stories on death row, Free State Project crypto news, gun registry, taxation is theft, government cereal regulations, and Starbucks barred from closing stores. Also, a Herding Cats segment on Liberty Forum with a discount code for you, and a Statists Gonna State segment on a charity frozen by the government. 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. Also brought to you by NordVPN, the fastest, easiest to use service to protect your online presence that I've ever seen.

Bitcoin is in the news big time right now thanks to its meteoric rise over the last couple of months. But, if you've been listening to this show for any amount of time, you know I've been recommending buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies essentially since the genesis of this show three years ago. The week I started this show, Bitcoin was at $280 per coin. Now it is sitting at nearly $16,000 per coin. This is over a 5600% increase in price in three years. And the highs we've seen very recently are even higher than that. And now, since it's big news all of a sudden, you have some libertarian podcasters acting like they know some shit about it and telling you what cryptocurrencies to buy. These same podcasters have made fun of cryptocurrencies in the past and have never owned a single cryptocurrency until this month. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. I think my crypto-cred is pretty solid. I've been telling you to invest for three years and I've been an investor, and more importantly a user, of cryptocurrencies for many years. Here in New Hampshire, crypto actually has utility in my everyday life, as you'll hear more about in the What's in the News segment later in the show. Hell, even my kids have crypto wallets where they accept crypto for their small businesses. 

I know many of my listeners are already on the crypto train, and I appreciate that. I've had dozens of you use my Coinbase affiliate link to get started in crypto and get a free $10 in Bitcoin for both of us. That link is at thelavaflow.com/coinbase if you're interested. Once you buy $100 in crypto through that link, we both get free money. Pretty cool.

I also know that I have a lot of listeners who still aren't' into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin yet. Well, like I have said for a long time, the best time to get into Bitcoin was in 2009. The second best time is NOW. This segment will help you with that, I hope. And, I'm more than willing to help anyone out who may have questions or need help with this if you're stuck.

Also, make sure to go to thelavaflow.com/savings to check out Heleum today.

In the state is deadly news, an Ohio man who became the third U.S. death row inmate in seven decades to survive his own execution filed a new appeal for mercy, arguing that Ohio’s lethal injection protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because one of its drugs may not work properly.

In Free State Project crypto news, Bitcoin.com put out an article detailing six of the world's most Bitcoin-friendly neighborhoods. Number one on the list, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the home of the Free State Bitcoin Shoppe opened and run by two friends of mine, Derrick J. Freeman and Steven Zeiler.

In why we don't want a gun registry news, Hawaii is one of 29 states that allow medical use of marijuana, but it is the only state that requires registration of all firearms. Now, they are using both of these laws to disarm patients who use medical marijuana for their illnesses.  

In the tentacled arms of the IRS news, Meghan Markle May Become a Princess by Marrying Prince Harry, but the IRS Will Want Its Share of the Royal Jewels.

In ridiculous government rules news, Kellogg's has been accused of a "weasly" attempt to get around child obesity sugar rules after re-branding Frosties as an adult cereal to avoid the nanny state telling it how much sugar to use in its products.

In the government owns your business news, an Indiana judge has taken an unusual step and temporarily barred Starbucks from closing 77 failing Teavana stores in Simon Property Group malls because the real estate giant was less able to handle the financial pain.

Boy, do I have some news for you about Liberty Forum this year! First of all, I've been asked to moderate two panels of podcasters at Liberty Forum. The first panel will be Jack Spirko from The Survival Podcast, Vin Armani from the Vin Armani show, and Lou Perez from the Unsafe Space podcast. All three of these guys are dynamic podcasters who bring a lot to the table and I expect this to be an amazing panel. 

The second panel I'mm be moderating will be a New Hampshire media panel with New Hampshire podcasters Brian Sovryn from Sovryn Tech, Stephanie Murphy from Sex and Science Hour, Brett Venoitte from School Sucks Podcast, and Tom Hudson from the UpRev Ninja podcast

And, I have a coupon code you can use to save 10% off of your tickets! If you use the code "lava10" at checkout, you will get that 10% off automatically. So, go to nhlibertyforum.com today and use coupon code "lava10" to save 10%!

Never, ever expect the government to give a good goddamn about you trying to help others, as a Maryland church found out after they were fined $12,000 for providing shelter to homeless individuals living in the community. 

We did it! You helped me hit my next goal of $250 per episode! And on the day of Thanksgiving! I have yet another reason to be thankful now. This is episode fifty-four of The LAVA Spurt, Thankful 2.0.

Thank you so much, guys! You helped me hit my next financial goal for the show of $250 per episode! And, ironically enough, the one that put me over the line was an upgrade of an existing supporter on Thanksgiving Day! Brian B, one of my best friends in the world, upgraded from $10 per episode to $25 per episode using Bitcoin! This put me up to $259 per episode. Thanks, Brian!

I started this show 35 months ago, just short of three years. I am still amazed at the growth the show has seen over those 35 months, and I am in awe of the love and support the show has brought in from people I know, and people I've never met in my life.

So, as you guys know, this means I am going to give you twice The LAVA Flow that you already get. I will take this bi-weekly show and give it to you every single week. Fifty-two episodes a year! Since it's the holidays, and I have a ton of stuff going on for the holidays right now, I will actually start this weekly show the last week of December.

So now, we have a brand new goal to reach. The next goal for the show is at the $500 per episode level. When I hit this goal, I will take the 30 minute per week show and double it again, to bring you a full hour show each and every week! We're already half-way there, guys! We can do this!

Happy Thanksgiving Week! I'm thankful for you, my awesome listeners, but I'm also thankful for so much more. What's in the News with stories on Bill Weld, debtors prison, fake news news, big brother, Sessions being sued, AUMF, busted for hibiscus, victimless crimes, and libertarian charity. And, and Ancap Apps segment on the best VPN service I've ever used!

It's Thanksgiving week in the United States, and I realized while trying to decide what I was going to talk about in this segment that this segment is usually very negative in nature. So, today, I wanted to do something a bit differently. With all of the bullshit going on in the world, it is always healthy to take a step back and realize that we still have a lot to be thankful for.

And I am so fortunate to have tons to be thankful for, and I want to share that with you today.

In O.G. Libertarian news, Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee, Bill Weld, acts like he's still bullish for the LP just shortly after helping raise tons of money for Republicans in Massachusetts. And, of course, overly pragmatic Reason Magazine is eating up the horse shit he feeds them. 

In debtors prison news, a Colorado Springs woman who has a newborn child was jailed for 27 days because she couldn’t pay an unrelated pretrial court processing fee of $55 despite a judge’s order that she be released on her own recognizance, a civil lawsuit says.

In debtors prison news, a Colorado Springs woman who has a newborn child was jailed for 27 days because she couldn’t pay an unrelated pretrial court processing fee of $55 despite a judge’s order that she be released on her own recognizance, a civil lawsuit says.

In big brother news, The House Judiciary Committee has approved (27 to 8) the USA Liberty Act, which reforms as it reauthorizes Sec. 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes the surveillance of communications from non-U.S. residents. Next stop is a vote on the House floor.

The US Senate proposed a similar USA Liberty Act as well. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced the Liberty Act bill which will reauthorize the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This gives US intelligence agencies permission to spy on and store internet metadata and communications of foreign people living outside the US, along with communications of US citizens which get “swept up” in the data collection

In cannabis news, a 12-year-old girl in Colorado is suing Attorney General Jeff Sessions over what the lawsuit claims is an unconstitutional federal prohibition on medical marijuana. Alexis Bortell, who uses a strain of cannabis oil called Haleigh's Hope to keep seizures at bay, said that she hopes the lawsuit will at least normalize medical marijuana. Her best hope, she said, is that it will legalize it nationwide.

In war is hell news, in a rare exercise of its war-making role, the House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed a resolution explicitly stating that U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen is not authorized under legislation passed by Congress to fight terrorism or invade Iraq.

In not-cannabis news, Audrey and Edward Cramer, of Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania, were reported to police by their Nationwide insurance agent for allegedly having marijuana plants on their property. The couple says that on Sept. 20 police stormed their house, harassed them, took their plants and arrested them, while Audrey Cramer was still in her underwear. The problem for police is that the plants they confiscated were Kenaf hibiscus plants, not marijuana.

In even more victimless crime news, a single mother of 6 from the notoriously poor city of Stockton, California recently made headlines after selling an undercover agent… a $12 plate of ceviche, Mexican food.

In Pax Libertas Productions news, I have a huge favor to ask of you guys. Brian McQuade, the host of Resist the Empire, and I are trying to raise $1,000 for the charity Starlight Children's Foundation, and we could use your help! 

For years I've recommended Private Internet Access to people who wanted a private VPN service to protect their data and traffic on the internet. PIA is a good service, and I used it for many years, but I have found one that is even better and offers better privacy and services. 

NordVPN is a VPN service that has all of the features of PIA, plus many more. First, you can pay for NordVPN using Bitcoin for some added protection of your privacy.  PIA allowed for this also, so this is a plus. Some of the features of NordVPN are just awesome though.

Skyler J. Collins had the temerity to have me on his podcast, Everything Voluntary.  What happens when two radically unschooling, peaceful parenting, voluntaryist podcasters get together for a chat? This is episode fifty-three of The LAVA Spurt, Rodger on Everything Voluntary.

"Give me a lawyer dog" apparently refers to some strange animal only found in Louisiana that has four legs, wags it's tail, and has a law degree. What's in the News with stories on prostitution, a Catalonia update, my October Contest Winners, a nurse Wubbels update, Trump's Twitter, DUI on a horse, and free-market vs. government. Also, and Ancap App segment with updates on Open Bazaar and Signal. And, a Burning Books segment on Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. 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.

In one of the most egregious examples of justice being denied I have ever seen, this one really rustled my jimmies. 

The courts in Louisiana have shown utter disregard for reason, logic, rationality, and common sense in the case of Warren Demesme, who was 22 at the time of his arrest.  Warren was being interrogated by New Orleans police in October 2015 after two young girls claimed he had sexually assaulted them. It was the second time he’d been brought in, and he was getting a little frustrated, court records show. He had repeatedly denied the crime.

Finally, Demesme told the detectives:

“This is how I feel, if y’all think I did it, I know that I didn’t do it so why don’t you just give me a lawyer dog ’cause this is not what’s up.”

Sometime after this, Demesme made admissions to the crime, prosecutors said, and was charged with aggravated rape and indecent behavior with a juvenile. He is being held in the Orleans Parish jail awaiting trial.

The punctuation and spelling, arguably critical to Demesme’s use of the nickname “dog,” was provided by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office in a brief, and then adopted by Louisiana Associate Supreme Court Justice Scott J. Crichton. The sentence in question is officially in the brief as "give me my lawyer dog" with no comma between the words lawyer and dog and with the word dog spelled d-o-g.

In the war on prostitution news, a federal court heard arguments recently challenging California's criminalization of prostitution, in a case that could have implications for sex work laws across the nation.

In a Catalan independence update, Spanish officials moved in to arrest the Catalan government's leadership last week. President Carles Puigdemont and a number of members of the cabinet fled to Brussels, Belgium. Spain then issued an international arrest warrant for Puigdemont and a Madrid High Court judge asked Belgium to arrest Puigdemont and four associates after they ignored a court order to return to Spain.

In a nurse Wubbels update, as I expected, the taxpayers are the losers in this situation. University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels has agreed to a $500,000 payment to settle a dispute over her arrest by a Salt Lake City police officer after she barred him from drawing blood from an unconscious patient, her attorney said Tuesday.

In national security news, apparently, a rogue employee of Twitter shut down President Trump's account on his last day on the job. The deactivation Thursday sparked deep and troubling questions about who has access to the president's personal account, @realDonaldTrump, and the power that access holds.

In it's about your safety news, a 53-year-old woman was arrested and charged with driving drunk while riding a horse down a busy Florida highway -- and yes, you hear that shit that right.

In free markets for the win news, Tesla has used its solar panels and batteries to restore reliable electricity at San Juan's Hospital del Niño (Children's Hospital), in what company founder Elon Musk calls "the first of many solar+battery Tesla projects going live in Puerto Rico."

And, finally, in some show news, we've created a Facebook group for Pax Libertas Productions for all of you to interact with all of the PLP podcast hosts. I'm in there, of course, as is Brian McQuade from Resist the Empire, and Scott McDonald and Adam Brown from Ancap Barber Shop.

Two apps that have been featured in this segment in the past have had some significant updates that I want to let you know about.

First, OpenBazaar, the free online marketplace with no platform fees and no restrictions has just released their 2.0 version. OpenBazaar is a different way to do online commerce. It’s a peer to peer application that doesn’t require middlemen, which means no fees & no restrictions. OpenBazaar connects people directly via a peer to peer network. Data is distributed across the network instead of storing it in a central database.

Version 2.0 is a completely new network, separate from the earlier version of the OpenBazaar network. They learned a lot from the 1.0 version, and with this information, they've made the new OpenBazaar one of the most user-friendly decentralized applications ever built. They've added lots of highly requested features as well.

The other product with an update is one that I use almost daily. The Signal encrypted messaging app now has a full desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux. The previously had a Google Chrome app for the product that they'be now replaced with the full desktop version, so if you previously had the Chrome version, you will need to install this new desktop version.

I heard about this book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, when the author, Johann Hari, was on episode 86 of Felony Friday with John Odermatt as part of the Lions of Liberty network. A few weeks later, it was on sale on Audible for $4.99, so I picked it up and listened to it. 

What's the latest on Catalonian Independence? Get all the details here. This is episode fifty-two of The LAVA Spurt, Catalonia Update.

Things have been really heating up in Spain over the independence referendum passed by Catalonia's people nearly a month ago. The president of Catalonia both declared that Catalonia had the right to secede from Spain and then immediately made it clear that he wouldn’t actually be seceding. Instead, he asked to negotiate with the Spanish central government “to arrive at an agreed solution to advance with the demands of the people of Catalonia" before demanding independence.

Trump has used his powers for good, finally, but has he gone far enough? What's in the News with stories on healthcare rationing in the U.K., officer Payne is fired, TSA security theater, FDA condom regulations, bump stock ban coming, and the NYPD needs IT help. And, a Statists Gonna State segment on real slavery happening in America today. 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.

Love him or hate him, Trump is not a libertarian and never will be, no matter how many libertarians supported him. However, even presidents like Bush, Obama, and Trump can accidentally do things that are good for the free market and for people. Such is the case with Trump on healthcare.

Trump has signed an executive order last week making some major and sweeping changes to health care in this country. Apparently, he took lessons from Obama on how to dictate health care through executive order, but at least Trump's order is better for the free market.

Let's talk about what this executive order actually does and see what those implications are.

In speaking of healthcare news, to save money, the U.K. single-payer National Health Service recently announced it will ban obese patients from many surgeries for up to a year. Such rationing is apparently standard in single-payer healthcare systems.

In unicorn news, the unusual has happened, a police officer was actually fired for his actions on duty. Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown has fired one officer and demoted another in response to the July 26 arrest of University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels, according to records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.

In security theater news, the Transportation Security Administration is enacting some new programs by further clamping down at airport security checkpoints around the U.S.

In government regulates everything news, the Food and Drug Administration apparently controls even the size of condoms in this country.

In never let a tragedy go to waste news, a bipartisan measure that would ban bump stocks was introduced in the US House of Representatives by 10 members of the Republican party and 10 members of the Democrat party.

In what the actual f* news, the New York Police Department apparently does not back up its evidence database, at all. 

Judges around the country are sentencing defendants to slavery instead of prison under the guise of rehab. And, they're getting away with it, even though slavery is still illegal in this country, thanks to corruption, cronyism, and politics. 

Secession is in the news again, and more than just Catalonia. Why is this good news? What's in the News with stories on a new libertarian country idea, police union outrage, Free Ross news, Equifax gets a government contract, Bill Weld shows his true colors, and body camera footage kept in the dark. Also, a Statists Gonna State segment on guns in America and a Herding Cats segment on two upcoming libertarian events. 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.

After Brexit, there have been several secession movements pop up and several have actually made strides at breaking off from other countries. Sure, you've seen the news and the videos about the independence efforts in Catalonia, but have you heard about the recent movements in Cameroon and Kurdistan? Let's talk secession!

In the new world news, Bitcoin Jesus, Roger Ver, is partnering with Olivier Janssens to create a new country, the world’s first sovereign voluntaryist country. They have titled the project Free Society, and are looking to join forces with a willing government and purchase the territory from them. According to Jansenns, they have amassed over $100,000,000 dollars to create the country.

In cockroaches hate the light news, the head of the Salt Lake Police Association has watched the country's outrage over the videos showing a nurse getting arrested for refusing to draw a man's blood without a warrant and has decided the correct response is to complain that the public got to see what its officers did.

As an aside, sadly, William Gray, the truck driver who nurse Wubbels was protecting in this incident dies from the injuries he suffered in the crash.

In Free Ross news, Ross Ulbricht has surrendered his claim to 144,336 BitCoins, or what amounts to $48 million to the Federal government through their civil asset forfeiture program.

In I couldn't make this shit up news, the IRS will pay Equifax $7.25 million to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud under a no-bid contract issued last week, even as lawmakers lash the embattled company about a massive security breach that exposed personal information of as many as 145.5 million Americans.

In I told you so news, lifetime member of the Libertarian Party and the OG libertarian (according to Gary Johnson anyway) Bill Weld will be heading up a big fundraising event in Cambridge, MA for... the state Republican Party. And he is throwing his support to GOP US Senate candidate Beth Lindstrom and Governor Charlie Baker in the 2018 election. He will join Baker, Mitt Romney, and Jane Swift as the featured draw by the state Republican Party, which is looking to use its former leaders to raise money.

In watching the watchers news, North Carolina lawmakers have made is much more difficult to investigate our rulers by passing a bill exempting body camera footage from public records requests. The law put law enforcement agencies and judges in charge of deciding what footage may be released.

As you're all aware, there was another horrific mass shooting recently, this time in Las Vegas that took the lives of 59 people. I honestly have no desire to go over the specifics of this situation because there are plenty of shows that have discussed it and there is so much news out about it. However, as usual, there were immediate calls for banning guns when this happened. 

Hillary Clinton blamed silencers yet no silencers were used. Everyone screamed to ban automatic rifles although those have been banned for decades and there also was no automatic weapon used in this case. Washington state is proposing a bill that would ban most purchases of military-style weapons — such as semi-automatic AR-15 rifles — and outlaw large capacity magazines. Magazines would be limited to 10 rounds of ammunition or less. Even in New Hampshire, a Democratic representative is calling for banning bump stocks. 

So, let's look at some hard facts about guns in America.

Two awesome liberty events are coming up in February almost back to back, including one of my favorite liberty events of the year.

Marc Clair from Lions of Liberty, Chris Spangle from We are Libertarians, and Johnny Adams from Johnny Rocket Launch Pad joined me to form the League of Liberty, a new monthly podcast exclusively for our supporters. Here is a little taste of that awesomeness!

Essential Libertarianism is the latest podcast project from Pax Libertas Productions. Learn all about it in this episode. This is episode fifty of The LAVA Spurt. 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.

Essential Libertarianism is a new podcast project I am doing for Pax Libertas Productions. This is going to be a really cool project with information and content that I think you guys will absolutely want to hear!

When I was working on this project I created a trailer and an introduction for it giving more information. In my last The LAVA Flow episode, I released the trailer for you guys. If you missed that, go to thelavaflow.com/71 and hear it, or just go to essentiallibertarianism.com. 

Also, make sure to sign up in the new October The LAVA Flow contest at http://thelavaflow.com/email.