Aug 17

Major science journal publishes article blacklisting climate skeptics

The journal Nature previously enjoyed great prestige among science journals.

In recent years, however, Nature‘s editors have heavily promoted climate doomsday messaging.

Now the journal has published a study purporting to show that climate change “contrarians” are overrepresented in media discussions of climate science.

The study first gathered a large list of known “contrarians” taken from anti-skeptic websites such as Desmogblog.com. This list included a number of celebrity non-scientist commentators such as Mark Steyn and Marc Morano.

Then the study trashes the contrarians as (generally) undercredentialled–and then compares the contrarians’ alleged media popularity with that of another list of recognized ‘consensus’-repeating university climate scientists.

The ‘study’ concludes that ‘contrarians’ tend to get attention and coverage vastly greater than they deserve.

The clear message behind the study is that observers and journalists should endeavor to ignore, marginalize or blacklist those voices on the contrarian list.

A number of scholars have already debunked the study. Contrarians are already suppressed in most mainstream venues.

Another scholar looked into the data sources behind the study and found many to be missing or nonexistent. Moreover, much of the commentary about those on the contrarian list is quite negative. See here.

And the list of ‘climate consensus’ names (which supposedly shows that highly-credentialed scientists are being suppressed under the media notoriety of contrarians) does not include noteworthy nonscientist celebrities such as Al Gore or Leonardo DiCraprio.

Aug 17

Another teen arrested for “threatening” federal agents–over social media posts

Every government that ever existed sought to equate criticism of government with ‘terrorism,’ ‘treason’ or threats.

Prior to the American Revolution, Brits could be criminally prosecuted for merely imagining the death of the king. (Numerous figures in English history were executed for merely imagining the death of the king in poetry or prose.)

In the United States the First Amendment has provided something of a barrier to such prosecutions. The Supreme Court, in Brandenburg v. Ohio (and many other cases) held that no American can be prosecuted for his speech unless such speech calls for imminent lawless violence.

Nonetheless, countless cops and prosecutors have pursued criminal charges against people who merely mention violent ideas about government agents.

During the second Nevada Bundy trial in 2017, federal prosecutors actually suggested that defendant Eric Parker committed the crime of “threatening federal officers” by simply bobbing his head up and down from behind a Jersey barrier.

Now an Ohio teen is being prosecuted for threatening federal agents for posting a light-hearted remark suggesting people should “shoot every federal agent on sight” in an online discussion about the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas.

The teen is also alleged to have posted “don’t comply with gun laws, stock up on stuff they could ban.” “In fact, go out of your way to break these laws, they’re (expletive) stupid.” See here.

Aug 14

As tax complexity increases, “tax manager” is now the hottest career

The United States grew from a poor fledgling nation in 1789 to become the earth’s most powerful country by the twentieth century.

It got there with no income taxes and a very low level of regulatory burdens.

But by 2019, the United States is drowning in violent police, regulations, and taxation levels which hover around 50 percent (depending on the state).

The poor are increasingly immobilized due to licensing requirements and burdensome regulations.

Now, a Marketwatch study has found that “tax manager” is now the hottest career in America. “Tax managers have the strongest career opportunities rating, according to employees in this position. They had a median base salary of $112,021 a year.”

Aug 14

It has never been harder for the poor to strike it rich

Government regulations are increasingly imprisoning the poor in cages from which there is no escape.

An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has found that the likelihood of a household rising into the top 10 percent U.S. income bracket from lower brackets has BEEN CUT IN HALF in just the past few years.

New business formation is gradually drying up as government’s regulatory role increases.

Aug 14

U.S. Postal Service on Pace to Lose $8 Billion in 2019

The U.S. Postal Service enjoys every advantage in the marketplace. It pays no property, income, or corporate taxes. It owns and occupies some of the world’s most strategic and prestigious real estate It has an unconstitutional monopoly on first-class letter delivery.

(By contrast, its package-delivery competitor FedEx pays billions annually in taxes.)

(To put these numbers in perspective, the budget for the entire State of Montana is about $5 billion annually.)

Despite its advantages, the U.S. Postal Service is on pace to lose $9 billion this year. The inefficient government agency has lost almost $30 billion over the past 6 years and lost more than $70 billion since 2007. This is greater than the GDP of many entire nations.

Aug 06

Governments worldwide erupt in orgies of violence against their own subjects

Indonesia: Undercover religious/government cops are roving the landscape searching for minor violations of Sharia-like moral codes.

Hundreds of Indonesians have been arrested, imprisoned and publicly flogged and whipped for appearing affectionate to the opposite sex. Both men and women have been whipped for smooching or holding hands.

In case anyone wonders what happens to those who disagree when socialists take over a society, Venezuelan death troops have now massacred many thousands of dissidents.

Millions more have fled the starving socialist hellhole for neighboring countries.

Perhaps a million more have died of hunger, disease and starvation.

In Russia, a thousand anti-government protesters have been violently jailed.

In the United States, police forces have killed about a thousand citizens annually for a decade. Many videos capturing these homicides are uploaded to Youtube. Some police forces have been captured on video raping citizens on the sides of highways after police claim to smell drugs.

Still, almost nowhere have police budgets or authority been cut—even where lawmakers have been elected promising to limit government.

Aug 06

Join us for Citizen Glaciology, September 13th, 2019 at Glacier National Park!

Join Lysander Spooner University on our 5th annual Citizen Glaciology conference/hike/festival in East Glacier, Montana. We will again meet in the lobby of the beautiful East Glacier Lodge (also known as the Glacier Park Resort) September 13, 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.ish.

Depending on numbers, we hope to have several groups hike into glacier areas of Glacier National Park and surrounding areas and photograph the glaciers at their lowest point of the year.

This will be a great opportunity to meet fun people and exchange ideas and information about government claims, the state of the environment, and life.

Glaciers in Glacier National Park generally grow for about 9 months and melt for 3 months. It is only at summer’s end that one can assess whether the glaciers are growing or shrinking.

Lysander Spooner University is developing a photo archive of glaciers taken at similar locations and dates. There are several glaciers we have never seen as they are located many miles into rugged terrain. WE NEED STRONG HIKERS!

Also, please bring your passport if you have one, as there are several trails that can only be accessed from the Canadian side.

Please contact Roger Roots at [email protected] if you can stay additional days, if you can camp or if you can stay at one of the area’s great lodges. 775-764-9347.

We are also hoping to put on a speakers’ event and conference. STAY TUNED!

Jul 28

Puerto Rico continues descent into socialist misery

Puerto Ricans enjoy many benefits from being associated with the United States. Puerto Rico’s residents are U.S. citizens and may freely move to the U.S. mainland. For years, the most productive Puerto Ricans have done so, leaving hundreds of thousands of nonworkers to pay the Island’s exorbitant tax rates.

The Island’s remaining voters have voted so constantly for pro-government, socialist politicians that the Island is now mired in hopeless desperation and misery.

While U.S. GDP has generally grown by two or three percentage points over the past two years, Puerto Rico’s per-capita GDP has actually gone down.

Now, after weeks of mass protests in the streets, socialist governor Ricardo Rossello has announced his resignation.

Jul 27

“Fake News, Real Consequences” Conference to Shake up West Yellowstone August 9

Join Lysander Spooner University in West Yellowstone, Montana on Friday, August 9, 2019.

Our one-day conference, “Fake News, Real Consequences: Journalist Ethics in the New West,” will take place at the West Yellowstone Visitors Center from 3 pm to 8 pm.

Public invited. Free! (Hat may be passed.)

Evol Love of Justice Travelers:
“Justice and Journalism: a Story of Redemption”

Ron Vandevender, Libertarian activist, candidate for Montana Governor,
“Fighting Montana’s Deep State”

Dr. Roger I. Roots,
“Mainstream News: Government Supported, Government Supporting”

Keturah Lamb, author, blogger,
“What Silence Do You Speak”

John Lamb, Professor of Journalism,
“When the Truth Died in Mainstream News.”

Jul 25

“Mainstream” “news” continues to plunge in readership

More readers are reading more information than ever before; and more wealthy advertisers are seeking places to advertise. But increasingly, people aren’t reading “legacy” newspapers, and advertisers (knowing fewer Americans are reading mainstream news) are spending their ad dollars elsewhere.

Join Lysander Spooner University at West Yellowstone, Montana on Aug. 9, 2019, where Dr. Roger Roots will show that “mainstream” news has a single definition: government supported and government supporting. The designation certainly has little to do with readership or circulation, according to Roots, as so-called alternative sources now gather far more traffic than most legacy news institutions.

According to a new report by the Pew Research Center, newspaper ad revenue plunged 13% between 2017 and 2018. Circulation is now down to levels last seen in the early 1940s (although U.S. reading-age population has essentially tripled). Mainstream news jobs have decreased by 1/4 in just 10 years even though major government-supporting universities are churning out more journalism degrees than ever.

According to the Pew study, digital ad spending goes overwhelmingly to just two websites, Google and Facebook. And as both Google and Facebook are fast becoming identified with the type of pro-government content found in ‘mainstream’ sources, viewers and readers are likely to look farther afield for reliable news and information.