Reason takes a look back at Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose TV series, which was at that time a lone voice in the wind making the case for human liberty. “Forty years ago, PBS (of all networks) gave the libertarian economist Milton Friedman hours in prime time for Free To Choose, an unapologetic defense of why capitalism was both morally and pragmatically superior to socialism. Over the course of 10 hour-long episodes, the Nobel Prize winner laid out the pitfalls of protectionism, espoused the virtues of school choice, and explained why spending, not taxes, is the real measure of the burden that governments put on their citizens.” The entire Free to Choose series is now free online.
News
Tony Bobulinski Interview Quietly Shoved Under Rug
I watched the Tucker Carlson interview of Biden family business associate Tony Bobulinski, and it had the feeling of an historic moment, like being there when the first thread of Watergate was unraveled. I naively thought that this would be all over the news the next day — it’s just too big to not be talked about. Bobulinski credibly, and with evidence, revealed that the Biden family and Joe Biden himself was deeply involved in selling political favors to foreign powers, a charge that would make a president Biden compromised to put it mildly. The insurgent right-wing media is talking about this revelation, but the MSM, with familiar consistency seemingly almost coordinated, has shoved it under the rug. The video below is a portion of the 45-minute interview.
Update: Documents supporting Bobulinkski testimony seized in transit
Update: Fox News kept a copy of documents
Hillary Clinton’s Sunset Boulevard
Lisa Nova of the website Funny or Die does an outstanding interpretation of Hillary Clinton, post election…as Norma Desmond in the final scene from the classic film Sunset Boulevard. The video was disappeared from the internet shortly after it was released some years ago, but has resurfaced. This one is too good to hold down.
Tuttle Twins TV: A Libertarian Show For Kids
The makers of the Tuttle Twins books — which teach kids about free-markets, rule of law, etc. — are raising funds to produce a TV show based on the books. They’ve already raised nearly $800K, but they’re still looking for more investors. Details here. Where else are kids going to hear about Frédéric Bastiat and see kids lead a rebellion against bad laws? This looks pretty awesome.
Bombshell “Plot” Documentary Now On Amazon Prime
The just-released documentary The Plot Against the President is now available on Amazon Prime streaming service. “Russian collusion in the 2016 election, once called the biggest political scandal in US history, turns out to be just a loose thread in something much larger and more sinister — an attempted coup.”
Socialism Doesn’t Even Work For Mice
The Foundation for Education (FEE) recently published a fascinating article about John B. Calhoun’s famed “mouse utopia experiment,” in which mice were given a kind of rodent welfare state that provided every need in unlimited supply — food, nesting quarters, even medical care. He then simply observed what happened over a long period of time.
“At first, the mice did well. Their numbers doubled every 55 days. But after 600 days, with enough space to accommodate as many as another 1,600 rodents, the population peaked at 2,200 and began to decline precipitously—straight down to the extinction of the entire colony—in spite of their material needs being met with no effort required on the part of any mouse. The turning point in this mouse utopia, Calhoun observed, occurred on Day 315 when the first signs appeared of a breakdown in social norms and structure. Aberrations included the following: females abandoning their young; males no longer defending their territory; and both sexes becoming more violent and aggressive. Deviant behavior, sexual and social, mounted with each passing day. The last thousand mice to be born tended to avoid stressful activity and focused their attention increasingly on themselves.” Does any of this sound familiar?
At the time, the failure of the mouse utopia was attributed simply to overpopulation, a bugaboo of the 1960s that social scientists thought needed to be addressed with radical measures. But after decades of experience with modern welfare states — and oddly parallel experience among humans — some are looking at this rather as the ultimate proof that animals, including humans, have not just physical needs but a need for challenge, work, and meaning…all of which the welfare state kills.
There is a good documentary on this, Work & Happiness: The Human Cost Of Welfare.