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Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 340.
Below is the video of the speech by PFS stalwart Saifedean Ammous: “Rothbard on Palestine,” at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026). See Cataláxia Editora Rothbard 100 Youtube playlist.
Transcript and summary below.
See Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account.
Reginald Godwyn, “The Jury’s Ancient Power: Why Every Englishman Should Know About Jury Nullification,” Libertarian Alliance (UK) (July 29, 2026).
Reginald Godwyn • July 29, 2026
This article is concerned exclusively with the constitutional history and legal status of trial by jury in England and Wales. It is not intended to influence the outcome of any criminal proceedings currently before the courts, nor to encourage any juror in any pending case to reach a verdict other than in accordance with his oath and his own conscientious assessment of the evidence. The discussion is directed solely to matters of constitutional principle and to the proper scope of public debate concerning the future of jury trial.
There are few institutions in England older than trial by jury. There are fewer still that continue to exercise a genuine restraint on the power of the State. Parliament may pass whatever laws it pleases. Governments may prosecute whom they choose. Judges may explain the law in whatever terms they consider correct. Yet in every Crown Court where a jury is empanelled, twelve ordinary citizens retain the power to refuse conviction—even where the evidence appears overwhelming and the judge has directed that the law points only one way. [continue reading…]
From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, with two articles, “No Time for Pessimism” and “Kingdom Come: The Politics of the Millennium,” and three Reflections in Liberty (January 1989). The Reflections and first article are covered here; the second article will be covered in a second post.
Gerald P. O’Driscoll, “Hayek’s System of Principles,” The Libertarian Review (October 1978): pp. 39–41, reviewing Friedrich Hayek, New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics and the History of Ideas (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1978. This review of Hayek is well worth reading.
O’Driscoll writes: “Hayek is no conservative. He is the preeminent liberal of his day.” Well. Is is true he was not exactly a conservative, except for his opposition to change evolved orders:
One source of such confusion has been Hayek’s emphasis on the importance of traditions and custom. But this emphasis is part of his critique of a rationalism that values only designed orders and institutions. Such an attitude overlooks both the importance of undesigned order (of which the price system, money, and, indeed, the whole market are instances), and the knowledge that comes only through experience and trial-and-error procedures. Hayek has long emphasized this nonrational element in law, harking back to the Roman private and English common law traditions, in which law is discovered not made: good law is old law; new law is impossible. Though for his own reasons he chooses not to emphasize it, Hayek’ s approach can be broadly interpreted as being in the Natural Law tradition. In this vein, he cites Cicero (quoting Cato) on the superiority of Roman law, which “was based upon the genius, not of one man, but of many: it was founded, not in one generation, but in a long period of several centuries and many ages of men. For, said he, there never has lived a man possessed of so great a genius that nothing could escape him, nor could the combined powers of all men living at one time possibly make all the provisions for the future without the aid of actual experience and the test of time.” This argument is essentially the same as the argument for decentralized rather than centralized planning in economics.
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, “On War, Democratic Peace, and Reeducation: The “German Experience” in Reactionary Perspective,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 28, 2026).
This is based on Hoppe, “On War, Democratic Peace, and Reeducation: The “German Experience” in Reactionary Perspective,” which was supposed to be forthcoming in a book based on the Mises Institute’s Revisionist History of War Conference, May 15, 2025—May 17, 2025, which seems unlikely at the present time.
It also served as the basis for Professor Hoppe’s talk PFP307 | Hans-Hermann Hoppe: Democratic Peace and Re-Education: The German Experience (PFS 2025). See also PFP290 | Hoppe: Considerations and Reflections of a Veteran Reactionary Libertarian (AERC 2025), Professor Hoppe’s 2025 AERC speech in which he talked a bit about what he was planning to do in in his PFS 2025 talk.
From the Vault: “Vortrag von Professor Hoppe in der „Akademie Modelhof“: „Privatrechtsgesellschaft ohne Staat““, Mises Institut Deutschland (Jan. 16, 2013) (“Lecture by Professor Hoppe at the Modelhof Academy: “Private law society without a state”). See also Modelhof Akademie; Vortrag von Professor Hoppe in der “Akademie Modelhof”: “Privatrechtsgesellschaft ohne Staat,” HansHoppe.com
January 16, 2013 – On November 23, 2012, Prof. Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe spoke at the “Akademie Modelhof” (Müllheim, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland) on the topic of “Private law society without a state”.
In his lecture, Prof. Hoppe demonstrates that competition in today’s party democracy – a competition in lying and profiteering, in deception and camouflage – cannot produce good results.
As an alternative, he offers a private-law society, based on self-determination and voluntariness. In this system, conflicts are resolved neutrally.
Prof. Hoppe also points out that the model of a private law society is not a utopia, but rather rigorously thought out, realistic, and, upon closer inspection, even self-evident.
We thank the “Akademie Modelhof” for permission to publish the videos.
Andreas Marquart
The videos are below. English translations TBD. (Vimeo versions: Lecture; Q&A)
Cristiano Fiori Chiocca, “Rothbard’s 100th birthday celebration in Porto – and the libertarian cause was the one who received the gift,” Instituto Rothbard (20/07/2026)
[Google translation]
This year, 2026, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Murray Rothbard, an economist, philosopher, activist, intellectual, and professor with encyclopedic knowledge on such a vast range of subjects that he is one of the few people in history who can boast the title of polymath.
By definition, a polymath is someone who has in-depth knowledge of a wide range of subjects, and Rothbard, in addition to perfectly fitting the definition, had the clarity to express this knowledge as another remarkable quality. [continue reading…]
[StephanKinsella.com cross-post]
Principled libertarians are anti-state because they favor property rights and oppose aggression.1 This does not mean respect for rights, or the non-aggression principled is our “only,” or even the “highest,” “value”;2 nor that we believe in “absolute” property rights, whatever that means.3 It only means that we have a principled case for property rights and we oppose aggression; we recognize that it is impossible to justify aggression.4
And for these reasons we oppose both private crime or aggression, and institutionalized aggression by the state, including taxation and other forms of institutionalized theft by the state—such as eminent domain, conscription, intellectual property law,5 and so on (as well as many other types of aggression).6 [continue reading…]
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, “My Discovery of Human Action and of Mises as a Philosopher,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 27, 2026); also in The Influence and Significance of Human Action After 75 Years, Joseph T. Salerno, ed. (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, 2025), presented at the Human Action Conference, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, AL, May 16, 2024. Now finally available online. Who knows when Hoppe’s “On War, Democratic Peace, and Reeducation: The “German Experience” in Reactionary Perspective” will ever be published (it was supposed to be forthcoming in a book based on the Mises Institute’s Revisionist History of War Conference, May 15, 2025—May 17, 2025). [continue reading…]
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Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 339.
Below is the video of the speech by Professor Anxo Bastos at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026), “Rothbard’s Contributions to the Austrian School.” See Cataláxia Editora Rothbard 100 Youtube playlist. Transcript and summary below. The speech and youtube video are in Portuguese and Spanish (I think). This podcast episode features an AI narration of the English translation (below), prepared by Jorge Besada.
See Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account. See also Miguel Anxo Bastos Boubeta, Nation, Secession, and Freedom (pp 27–35), in The Emergence of a Tradition: Essays in Honor of Jesús Huerta de Soto, Volume II, David Howden and Philipp Bagus, eds. (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan / Springer, 2023). [continue reading…]
From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, “Loathing the Fear in New York, New York,” , Liberty (November, 1989): 29–32. And one Reflection: “Two cheers for Webster” (p. 7).
Also in this issue: Hoppe, “Intimidation by Argument—Once Again” (Nov. 1989; also in EEPP, Appendix).
“Two cheers for Webster” (p. 7): Grok summary:
Rothbard gives qualified support (“two cheers”) to the Supreme Court’s Webster decision. He argues it largely preserves the core right to abortion choice established in Roe v. Wade, making only a marginal restriction: states may require viability testing earlier in the second trimester (up to about the 20th week). He notes this limit already existed in Roe itself, which never recognized an absolute right of privacy or bodily self-ownership across all trimesters—only in the first, after which “state interest” could regulate or ban abortion. [continue reading…]
Originally published at The Rude Awakening.
The Rude Awakening (June 25, 2026)
I never thought Marc Andreessen would make me laugh, but his X post was a masterclass in head-smacking, jaw-dropping disbelief.
“Every day I see something I am convinced I hallucinated.”
He was quoting a local news story from Oakland, California. KTVU, a Fox affiliate, reported that car break-ins across the city had declined. A rare public safety win! Fewer victims. Fewer shattered windows. Fewer mornings ruined.
Then came the kicker. [continue reading…]
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Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 338.
Below is the video and text of the speech by PFS member Fernando Chiocca of Instituto Rothbard (Brazil/Brasil) at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026): “Rothbardianism at Rothbard’s Centenary.”1 See also Chiocca’s Prezi presentation. The speech and youtube video are in Brazilian Portuguese. This podcast episode features an AI narration of the English translation, prepared by Jorge Besada.
See Cataláxia Editora Rothbard 100 Youtube playlist. For further information, photos, and so on, see Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account.
Anti-Iran War Spain’s defeat of Milei’s pro-war Argentina in the World Cup. Pastor Chuck Baldwin explains.
After nearly five months since the start of the U.S. initiated 2026 Straight of Hormuz Crisis it should be clear that bombing, blockades, and rhetorical bluster cannot compel the flow of commerce through the region. Since February 28, 2026, the movement of crude oil and other commodities remains at a standstill.
Former Navy SEAL, apocalyptic novelist, and social commentator, Matt Bracken highlights the impossibility U.S. forces controlling Iran’s coastal islands, Kharg and Qeshm. His X, Gab and Substack accounts are worth following. Aside from the World Trade Organization data on crude oil movement, all of the graphics in this post are Bracken’s creations. [continue reading…]
From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, “My Break With Branden and the Rand Cult,” Liberty (September 1988): 27–32. This issue also contains Rothbard’s entries in the Reflections section:
The Mises Institute used to have a very useful feature, the Mises Wiki (archive), but like many aspects of Mises.org since Jeff Tucker and Doug French left, it has fallen into desuetude.1
As noted in this Facebook post (and LinkedIn post), David Veksler has revived it at his site, freecapitalists.org, as The Austrian Economics Wiki: “A free encyclopedia of Austrian economics and the libertarian tradition.” Heroic!
Submitted to and actually published in Bryan’s school magazine
Artificial intelligence has become the latest object of fashionable anxiety. Politicians warn of disappearing jobs. Journalists speculate about permanent unemployment. Every week produces another prediction that algorithms will soon replace lawyers, accountants, teachers, computer programmers and anyone else whose work consists largely of processing information. The implication is that this must be a disaster. An economy in which fewer people are employed, we are invited to believe, is necessarily an economy in decline. [continue reading…]
Fernando Chiocca, From Let Trannies Compete in Women’s Sports, Instituto Rothbard (12/01/2024) (Google translation)
One of the most imbecile topics that has occupied the public debate in recent years is transgenderism, or more precisely, gender ideology. Men who feel better acting and living like women, and vice versa, are nothing new. And this is all what transgenderism is, something that has always occurred to a tiny percentage of individuals in all human societies, as the writings of early civilizations and the studies of anthropologists show. When discussing the sexual division of labor of pre-Columbian peoples, Alexander Goldenweiser notes that: [continue reading…]
From Lipton Matthews, “Individualism, Not Just IQ: The Overlooked Driver of the Great Divergence,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 23, 2026)
Lipton Matthews, “Individualism, Not Just IQ: The Overlooked Driver of the Great Divergence,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 23, 2026)
Why did Europe, and not China, become the dominant power of the modern world? It is a question that has kept historians arguing for decades, and for good reason. Around 1000 CE, China was arguably the more advanced civilization, with better engineering, a more sophisticated bureaucracy, and larger cities than anything Europe had to offer. And it was not just China. Japan and Korea also had relatively high human capital levels during the pre-industrial era and by several modern measures East Asians score higher on IQ tests than Europeans do. So if raw brain power explained who ends up on top, the map of scientific and industrial achievement today would look quite different. [continue reading…]
From @conza and conza.au, an online version of Mises Made Easier: Percy L. Greaves Jr.’s glossary for Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action — 670 terms, from a posteriori to Zwangswirtschaft, each with Greaves’s page citations to Mises’s works.
[Cross-posted at HansHoppe.com]
On Sept. 17–18, 2005, Professors Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Guido Hülsmann presented a two-day 11-lecture series, “Weekend Seminar in Austrian Economics,” in Klampenborg (just north of Copenhagen, Denmark), under the auspices of the Copenhagen Institute and Liberator. Program (local, and at right). See also Copenhagen Institute hosts Hoppe and Hülsmann, Mises Economics Blog (Sept. 1, 2005).
The entire series runs for roughly 10–12 hours and are collected on a PFS Playlist1 and also embedded below, along with a bonus video collecting clips from the lectures on the nature of money. They will all be podcast at the Property and Freedom Podcast in upcoming weeks. [continue reading…]
From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, two entries in the Reflections section (pp. 7–8, 9–10), Liberty (July 1989).
Why not feel sorry for Exxon? – To say that the oil spill has been blown up to hysterical dimensions is a grave understatement. Hysteria abounds everywhere, and everywhere the term “disaster” is freely used. Even Pat Buchanan, who of all the media commentators I thought would be most resistant to the wiles of environmentalism, used that term. The Idiotic Overstatement Award of the Year goes to Alaska Judge Kenneth Rohl, who opined about the oil spill, “We have a man-made destruction that has not been equalled, probably, since Hiroshima.” [continue reading…]
From Ayn Rand, R.I.P. by William F. Buckley Jr.:
Miss Rand was going on about something or other at which point Mises told her to be quiet and that she was being very foolish. The lady who could account for all her emotions at that point burst out into tears and complained, “You are treating me like a poor, ignorant little Jewish girl!” Mr. Hazlitt, attempting to bring serenity to his table, leaned over and said: “There, there, Ayn, that isn’t at all what Ludwig was suggesting.” But this attempt at conciliation was ruined when Mises jumped up and said: “That iss eggsactly what you ahrr!” Since all three participants were Jewish, this was not a racist slur. This story was mortal to her reputation as the lady of total self-control.
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Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 337.
This is the speech by Yorick De Mombynes at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026): Rothbard & Bitcoin.
Powerpoint (.pptx), transcript and summary below.
See also Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account, and the Cataláxia Editora Rothbard 100 Youtube playlist.
From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, “Eyeing the Top of the Pyramid: Mr. Friedman at the Apex” (pp. 33–34) and various entries in the Reflections section (pp. 7–8, 11, 12–13), Liberty (May 1989).
Rothbard’s article is a response to Jeffrey Friedman’s article “The End of Political Activism” from the previous issue (March 1989), critiquing aspects of Rothbard’s approach to libertarian strategy and ideology, and also includes R.W. Bradford’s response, “What’s Wrong with Friedman’s Pyramid” (p. 34–36). [continue reading…]
As noted here, the 2026 Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society will be held from Thursday, September 17, 2026 to Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
*
PFS Members/Attendees may sign up to the PFS-Announce Google Group or email Stephan Kinsella ([email protected]).
Rothbard at 100 is in production! As you can see, the books are printed in premium hardcover with gold foil stamping, and then they will be covered with a dust jacket. Also available as an audiobook and eBook. Preorder your copy now: https://t.co/iaEh0bk5G0 pic.twitter.com/bapPGmhFHb
— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) June 22, 2026
To donate with BITCOIN please use the address below. If you would like us to credit your payment (for dues, conference fees, etc.) please email Stephan Kinsella ([email protected]) when you make the bitcoin payment.
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“Property does not exist because there are laws, but laws exist because there is property.” — Frédéric Bastiat
“Because the concept of property, for instance, is so basic that everyone seems to have some immediate understanding of it, most people never think about it carefully and can, as a consequence, produce at best a very vague definition. But starting from imprecisely stated or assumed definitions and building a complex network of thought upon them can lead only to intellectual disaster. For the original imprecisions and loopholes will then pervade and distort everything derived from them. To avoid this, the concept of property must first be clarified.” —Hans-Hermann Hoppe, TSC, ch. 2
The Property and Freedom Society (PFS; Facebook) stands for an uncompromising intellectual radicalism: for justly acquired private property, freedom of contract, freedom of association—which logically implies the right to not associate with, or to discriminate against—anyone in one's personal and business relations—and unconditional free trade. It condemns imperialism and militarism and their fomenters, and champions peace. It rejects positivism, relativism, and egalitarianism in any form, whether of "outcome" or "opportunity," and it has an outspoken distaste for politics and politicians. As such it seeks to avoid any association with the policies and proponents of interventionism, which Ludwig von Mises identified in 1946 as the fatal flaw in the plan of the many earlier and contemporary attempts by intellectuals alarmed by the rising tide of socialism and totalitarianism to found an anti-socialist ideological movement. Mises wrote: "What these frightened intellectuals did not comprehend was that all those measures of government interference with business which they advocated are abortive. ... There is no middle way. Either the consumers are supreme or the government."
(A more complete statement of our Principles can be found here.)
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