Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons

Author of Thomas Paine: A Lifetime of Radicalism and two other books. I run Liberty Vault on YouTube and contribute to @mises and @TenthAmendment.

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

The mega-talented @tsidpod at @DissidentMedia just put together a podcast intro for me that surpassed my WILDEST expectations.

Totally blown away. This man could make a gym sock look awesome. He is by far one of the most overlooked visionaries in the libertarian world.

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

Happy secession Saturday.

Liberty is always called treason by those in power.

Might as well make the most of the treason!

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

8 Facts about the Declaration of Independence you probably didn't know:

-The document did not establish a universal date at which point independence was secured for all of the states. In fact, several states, such as Virginia and Rhode Island, announced their independence prior to the passage of the Richard Henry Lee Resolution and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

-The Declaration of Independence endured two days of editing by the convention at large, making changes that Jefferson resented. Key among them was a scathing passage that condemned Britain for establishing and continuing the slave trade, where Jefferson opined that George III “has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him.”

-The adoption of the Declaration of Independence in no way signified the birth of a singular nation. On the contrary, it professed that the states were free and independent, had all of the same powers as foreign countries (including the “state of Great Britain”), and held that people have a right to alter or abolish their government when it failed to serve the purpose of protecting natural rights. It respected the establishment of 13 countries, not a singular national state. No republican union was created in the United States until the Articles of Confederation was ratified in 1781.

-John Adams wrote that Thomas Jefferson was selected to write the document because he was a Virginian, because Adams considered himself to be obnoxious and unpopular, and because Jefferson’s natural talent for writing was demonstrated in his 1774 pamphlet A Summary View of the Rights of British America. While Adams was the committee chairman tasked with overseeing the document’s creation, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston also served on the committee.

-For many years, July 4 was a partisan holiday celebrated by Jefferson Republicans, who cherished decentralized government. Federalists tended to celebrate George Washington's birthday instead.

-New York abstained from voting on the Richard Henry Lee Amendment of July 2, as its state legislature refused to give it explicit instructions to vote in favor of the proposition. Ultimately, the state gave its delegates permission to vote in favor a week later.

-There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that John Hancock created a large and flamboyant signature so that George III could see his name without spectacles. In reality, John Hancock signed many other documents in the same way, including writings such as the Olive Branch Petition, which sought an amiable resolution to the imperial crisis.

-While some have suggested the document was signed on July 4th, in truth, it was not signed by the delegates until August 2 of the same year. Prior to that, it appears that only John Hancock had signed as the President of the Continental Congress. Also, Thomas McKean's signature was not found on a January, 1777 version of the document, but it is present today. This means he either signed after that date, or the printer made a mistake by omitting his name.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

In 2023, "US Senator" Ted Cruz "of Texas" went online on July 4, mentioned the American holiday in passing, in the most cursory way possible, then got to his real purpose: heaping praise on Israel and the IDF and urging everyone to spend July 4 reflecting on its greatness.🇮🇱

[Tom Woods @ThomasEWoods]

This post is so deliciously deranged I have to repost it every year

This is a United States senator

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Everyone already knows this.

That's one of many reasons why it's so sinister and dangerous to consolidate all sorts of massive domestic and war-fighting power in his hands and Palantir's.

[Dave DeCamp @DecampDave]

Hey @JDVance I don't think you were supposed to say this out loud

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

💯

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

@LibertyLockPod @beinlibertarian Antisemitism! You don’t know what Mike Huckabee knows!

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

@grok Gasp, is this true? Or is this an antisemitic conspiracy theory?

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

The last time a peacekeeping effort was convened in Doha…well…Israel bombed it.

[The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetter]

BREAKING: Axios claims the US and Iran have agreed to stop attacking each other and meet this week in Doha, Qatar.

Of course, this comes just 1 hour before the US stock market futures open.

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

@RealCalebMaupin @pslnational @RageAgainstWar_ @RealCPIUSA Sounds about right. Some “libertarian” sects showed equal cowardice.

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

We already know.

[Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer]

I completely support what happened in Gaza.

Just want to put that on the record.

[Voluntaryist Keith @an_capitalist]

64 Arguments Against Democratic Socialism

Timestamps:
0:00 Definitions
2:28 Hyper-individualism
5:44 Universality
9:30 He Who Pays the Piper, Calls the Tune
12:37 Welfare State Turns Humans From Assets to Liabilities
15:18 Against Me
16:25 Trump Test
18:29 Zero Sum Thinking
21:05 Forcible Depravation
22:46 Monopoly Contradiction
25:27 Vilifying Producers
28:03 Competition Protects People
32:03 The Secret to Mass Consumption = Mass Production
34:30 Decreasing Prices in the Private Sector & Potential Competition
39:35 The Myth of the Rational Voter: Fake Power vs. Real Power
50:02 Social Contract Myth
53:29 "Which Happens First?"
58:45 Static Thinking Fallacy
1:03:20 Metrics for Standard of Living & Time Prices
1:07:58 Humans Are Inherently Self Interested
1:12:53 Recognizing Rights as Reciprocal
1:14:49 We Are Not the Government
1:17:29 More Power = Better Outcome Assumption
1:21:19 The Myth of "Free"
1:23:50 Iron Law of Oligarchy
1:26:50 Praxeology
1:37:55 Inequality & Trickle Down Economics
1:44:41 Domestic Imperialism
1:48:56 Regulatory Capture
1:50:48 Abolish the Police
1:53:02 The Empirical Case
1:54:08 "Me Being X Doesn't Affect You"
1:56:01 Material Mindset
1:59:16 Capital Financing Shift
2:00:30 The Value of the Capitalist
2:03:47 Opposition to Voluntary Solutions
2:07:45 Apartheid Entitlement
2:14:36 Democracy and Delegating Rights
2:17:02 The Expert Problem
2:23:45 Capitalist Time Preference
2:31:41 Capitalist Productivity
2:34:15 Self-Ownership
2:38:15 Who Defines What "Service X" is?
2:41:57 Inevitability of Scarcity
2:46:35 The Angel Argument
2:49:04 The Crimes of the 99%
2:51:09 "Poverty Causes Crime"
2:53:04 Intentions Over Results
2:57:41 Free Association = The Ultimate "Check and Balance"
3:00:31 Surplus Value
3:04:39 Firms Reduce Transaction Costs
3:08:21 Collective Action Problem
3:10:09 Empiricism, the High Cost of Experimentation, and the Difficulty in Isolating Variables
3:12:46 Each According to Their Ability? Need?
3:15:51 Disparities Prove Discrimination
3:23:58 Comparing Theory to Reality
3:31:42 Nirvana Fallacy
3:34:41 Which Collective?
3:39:20 Argument From Tolerance
3:39:50 Prices: Signal & Incentive
3:42:58 Catastrophizing
3:46:43 Stock Diversification
3:48:17 Press Conference Bias
3:50:20 Divorce and Discrimination
3:53:38 Discouraging Savings

[Joe Kent @joekent16jan19]

Our bases in the Middle East are strategic liabilities not strategic assets.

Less bases = less targets for Iran to shoot at and that = less leverage for Iran.

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

@RealCalebMaupin @RageAgainstWar_ Thank you for being on the virtuous side if the antiwar coalition.

[Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal]

Sold-out Lebanese authorities have given the green light to Israel to extend its invasion of the country’s south, validating its ethnic cleansing of Shia citizens

Behind them is Rubio, a pet project of the Israel lobby, delivering a hammer blow to the MOU, and shivving JD Vance

[Dave Benner, Nemesis of Neocons @dbenner83]

💯

[System Update @systemupdate_]

🚨 "Why do WE care so much about Israel?" Glenn Greenwald asks.

"Because it is shaping and DOMINATING our foreign policy—and our country—in so many different ways."

(1) "We're in the middle of a MAJOR WAR AGAINST IRAN," all for the benefit of Israel;

(2) "We've spent the last two and a half years financing and diplomatically protecting one of the MOST CRIMINAL atrocities of my lifetime";

(3) "We have one interest group, AIPAC, that does not have the lives and interests of American citizens" at the core of its mission;

It's not that Israel matters to the American people because they have some fixation or obsession with the Jewish State. It's that the political elite's "radical neglect" of Americans for the interests of a foreign country has become a proxy for many of their grievances.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

John Bolton once called for Edward Snowden's execution. He even fantasized how, saying Snowden "ought to swing from a tall oak tree."

Bolton is now a convicted felon for mishandling classified information: not to inform the public but to profit off a book. Get the noose.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

You must believe in Santa Claus if you think countries will freely give $300 billion to Iran to rebuild things we bombed, to stop a war we started.

We’ll give those countries foreign aid, military assistance & tariff waivers, with an agreement that they’ll forward funds to Iran.