Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

In this issue, L. Neil reviews some classic science fiction TV shows. These days, you can watch many of them at your leisure — as long as the Zuckerborg doesn’t take them down. Fortunately there are industrious programmers who produce programs like yt-dlp, and hard drives are cheap enough that you can create your own local library before those shows go away.

And for folks who have Debian or Ubuntu Linux, yt-dlp is a mere “apt-get install yt-dlp” away.

Also fortunately, we no longer need to send letters to the Federal Communications Commissars or to sponsors. Instead, just find another web site. (Letters?, you young whippersnappers ask. Think slow emails on paper, OK?)

But here’s a ray of optimism: rotten institutions like broadcast TV are rotting and falling all around us — and most people don’t even notice. I find that encouraging.

In This Issue

Neil reviews some science fiction TV shows of the day. And what replaced them. Yuucchh!

Winston Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government in the world — except for all the others. L. Reichard White takes exception to Churchill’s dictum in the first of a new series.

Every time there’s a banking crisis, the government adds yet another fix to the economy. How well, asks Brendan Brown, is that really working?

Last but not least, Harding McFadden wants to read stories that were written solely (wait for it) … to entertain! Oh! He’ll never make it to the woke rainbow paradise with that attitude!

Events

On August 16 – 19, 2023 Liberty International will host the 37th edition of the annual Liberty International World Conference in Madrid, Spain. This year’s main theme is “Prosperity and Longevity Through Liberty” and will encompass discussions on the past, present, and future challenges faced by the freedom movement and its evolution over time.

This year’s conference will reunite 200+ attendees and 10+ pro-liberty organizations from all around the world in the heart of Madrid at Ateneo de Madrid. The conference´s agenda will include keynote sessions, panel discussions, debates, film screenings and other entertaining activities. In addition, we will have two days of cultural tours around Madrid!

The World Science Fiction Society will meet at its annual shindig, Worldcon, October 18-22, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. And apparently the Prometheus Society isn’t going.

Your event here? Let your editor know!

Links! Have we got Links!

Prometheus Award winners announced: Australian Dave Freer wins for Best Novel for Cloud-Castles, and Robert Heinlein novelette “Free Men” inducted into Hall of Fame. And, contrary to previous expectations, the awards will be presented in an on line ceremony in August, date to be announced.

John Ruddick MLC – Inaugural Speech – NSW Parliament A libertarian MP gives his maiden speech, and, among other things, endorses Rothbardian anarcho-capitalism with grace and humor. Mr. Ruddick’s Facebook page. It gets better. Lib Dem party founder John Humphreys posted the official video on Youtube. Youtube quickly yanked it, claiming that it violated Youtube’s ‘medical misinformation policy’, which is basically to not allow any medical information on Covid-19 not approved by the Holy Church, er, sorry, World Health Organization. Since then, the Lib Dems have posted the video on their official page. The Streisand Effect has kicked in, and Ruddick and the Lib Dems are getting favorable attention world wide. At the Brownstone Institute, Rebekah Barnett details the whole flap.

In case you thought that the recent Supreme Court cases on affirmative action ended the question, no, they did not. Educators think that they are above the Supreme Court, except, of course, when they agree with it. California Passed an Anti-Affirmative Action Law, and Colleges Ignored It

Meanwhile, “A little more than half of Americans — 52% — approve of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on restricting the use of race as a factor in college admissions, while 32% disapprove and 16% saying they don’t know.” Most Americans approve of Supreme Court decision restricting use of race in college admissions: POLL

And now college admissions educrats change their minds (again) on just how much race makes a difference in admissions. Jonathan Turley on The Affirmative Aftermath: Schools Now Insist that Race had a Major Impact in Admissions

Causes for Action to create a new state: The Republic for El Dorado State. They want to secede from California. I wish the United States would secede from California.

Russia brags about taking 700,000 children from Ukraine to Russia. Moscow says 700,000 children from Ukraine conflict zones now in Russia A war zone that Russia created. International law prohibits imprisoning civilians, including, presumably, children. Given the problems that some parents have had recovering their children from the Russians, and given that incorporating conquered children into one’s tribe is an ancient method of conquest (the Mongols made an art of it, as did some North American tribes), just how many of those children will ever be repatriated to their parents? Arrest warrants from the ICCnotwithstanding.

Daisy Luther on The American Dunning-Kruger Epidemic (Or Why Ignorant People Are So Sure They’re Right)