Author Archives: JL

What GMOs are Really About

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Happy Sukkoth! Forgive the clickbait title, I couldnt think of a better way to phrase it.

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Norman Borlaug

GMO companies are trying to create a reduced gluten wheat, something that existed and was common until Norman Borlaug created a new type of wheat that increased yields (and gluten levels), but decreased nutritional value. Borlaug is frequently cited as a GMO success story for “saving a billion lives” despite the fact that he neither used genetic engineering nor did he save a billion lives. Malnourishment has remained roughly the same nominally for the past 40 years. Why do we need to create something that has already existed for 10,000 years?

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Boxed Capitalism Mix in Rural Alaska

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Krusteaz is the best btw

Capitalism is fascinating. The different preferences of over seven billion people can only be reconciled by the price system and private risk taking. Central planners would never know that while the vast majority of America is running away from heavily processed box cake mixes like Betty Crocker, in remote parts of Alaska, its a slice of heaven. What we can get for 99c, costs them almost $5, even with the heavily subsidized shipping. And yet they still want it, and they innovate a lot of ways to make it, using mayonnaise for eggs, and sprite instead of milk.

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Hurricanes Have Nothing to do with “Climate Change”

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Irma

As Harvey and Irma battered Texas and Florida respectively, climate change hoax promoters have been screaming that this is proof. Yes, the first major hurricanes in nearly a decade prove we are causing the climate to change. Even if you believe in human caused climate change, you have to find these claims beyond absurd and completely divorced from science.

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I Know What Its Like To Be Afraid of Guns

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Growing up in New Jersey, the only time I ever saw a gun was attached to a police officer. It wasnt even until I was working in a store, that I noticed cash logistics companies (eg Garda, Loomis, etc) were allowed to open carry. Even then, one of the employees was complaining about all the months of training and licensing he has to go thru. While training is likely in any state for insurance purposes, at least in some states, he does not need a license. Thus, I never had much experience around guns until a summer not too long ago, when I shot a Ruger 1022 rifle on my cousins multiacre forest spread. It was an experience, for certain.

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Surviving a Week Without News

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rsz_110712_fb_napAbout a month ago, I took a trip with my sister to Chicago and New Orleans by train. It was a fun trip, and we learned a lot about each other by being packed into a box effectively for nearly a day thrice, and then the cheap airbnbs we stayed in. Away from our lives and our mother. Since my laptop died November 2015, I have been reliant on a smartphone mainly for internet access, and starting a few months after that, a desktop computer. That means no more laptop on the road. You can do almost anything on a modern smartphone that you can on a computer; its just more difficult. Because of this, and not wanting to get bogged down reading the dozens of articles from Drudge and elsewhere that I usually do, rather than enjoy my trip, I simply gave up. I read a few things here and there, but mostly focused on the trip and my journal.

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How To Travel Amtrak

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City of New Orleans, Southbound, Memphis

Over the past few years, as the TSA has gotten more and more aggressive without any security improvements, many libertarians and normies have turned to alternatives of the airlines. Whether its by car, bus, or train, its easy to avoid being pornoscanned, patted down, or put thru a simulated Holocaust experience. On top of there being little or no security, these other forms are usually more comfortable and flexible.

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PorcFest (and SomaliaFest) 2017

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Burning. Thats the smell of PorcFest (and SomaliaFest). Burning wood, burning cannabis, burning tobacco. The scents are constant, but mixed and layered in varying proportions across Rogers Campground in Lancaster, New Hampshire. They linger in your mind a few days afterward, unmistakably reminding you of the great fun you had last week. I decided somewhat at the last minute to go, after joining the boycott last year in response to the banning of Ian Freeman, the controversial activist host of Free Talk Live. Attendance declined sharply that year, and continues to remain down this year. Where there used to be nearly a dozen pancake vendors strewn about the camp, there are now only a few. Most of the campground used to be filled with EZUPs, tents, and RVs; now its more sparse.

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There Is No Need to Ban Travel to North Korea

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Otto Warmbier, at trial

Why does everything need to be banned? Whenever there is a problem, however big or small, the immediate thought is to ban it. Even libertarians joke about how X or Y activity or thing should be banned. With the recent death of Otto Warmbier, an American who was kidnapped and thrown in a cage for a 15 year term starting last year in North Korea, there is growing talk of the US government restricting travel to North Korea. Is there such a pressing number of Americans going over there that the government needs to spend time stopping people from putting themselves in harms way? The results of travel to North Korea seem to speak for themselves. While its only been a few people, the proportion of tourists being kidnapped in North Korea seems to be the highest in the world. The only places more dangerous might be Afghanistan or Daesh Islamic State.

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Most Minimum Wage Studies Are Wrong

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rsz_fightfor15_600pxWith more and more activists pushing for a $15 minimum wage, and more and more states heading in that direction, research is being done to prove or disprove whether higher minimum wages have negative effects. Of course, research is not supposed to be done to prove either way; its supposed to see what the effects are, not focus on good or bad. In any case, studies have been conflicted for years, which has given both sides ammunition, and new research out of Seattle, which recently began raising its minimum wage to $15 has just added to this. One study shows no ill effects, another shows some workers are losing pay and hours (PDF). The reason for all this uncertainty is there are so many variables involved.

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If We Are Removing Statues of “Evil” Men, Why Not Lenin?

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Robert E Lee Memorial, New Orleans

After the 2015 shooting of several members of a black church in South Carolina, there have been calls to completely purge the United States of anything Confederate. From the flag atop the South Carolina statehouse to statues across southern cities, there has been mostly success. Unfortunately for supporters, cities these days are dominated by minorities and liberal whites, who want nothing to do with the Confederacy. In a sense, why should there be any memorials to failed secessionists? Do other countries have any of this? The answers are probably mixed. Ireland and Scotland still have their defeated heroes remembered, but England tends to mock Catholic pretenders like Bonnie Prince Charles. On the other hand, the Sov…I mean Russians still maintain some Soviet memorabilia despite its complete rejection. In fairness, Stalin does maintain a popularity in the country that Jefferson Davis does not.

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