Dear All,
This week’s digest turns its gaze to philosophy, propaganda, economic reality, and artificial intelligence. We open with a major philosophical announcement by Stephan Kinsella, and continue through Bryan Mercadente’s latest vinegar-fuelled tirade against ugliness and dirt, Walter Block on de-banking, and Alan Bickley warning once again that Britain is not a serious country. There’s a good deal of clarity and, as usual, some black humour. Whether reviewing Hoppe’s bleak view of history or dissecting the AI discourse, our writers remain determined to offend the right people.

Please read, share, and republish as you wish—and don’t forget to subscribe.

Yours in Liberty,

Sean Gabb
Political Philosophy

Announcing The Universal Principles of Liberty
Author: Stephan Kinsella
Kinsella introduces a set of foundational libertarian principles that challenge widespread acceptance of state authority. Drawing on Bastiat, Oppenheimer, and Rothbard, he lays out a vision of peaceful cooperation, voluntary interaction, and a moral framework grounded in natural rights. The project is ambitious: to consolidate and propagate a libertarian ethos to guide future political development.

Hoppe’s Lost Civilisation: A Review of A Short History of Man: Progress and Decline
Author: Sebastian Wang
Wang reviews Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s pessimistic account of civilisational rise and fall. Hoppe argues that private property and patriarchal authority allowed progress, and democracy has undone both. The book is philosophical and historical, presenting decline as voluntary self-sabotage. Wang praises Hoppe’s clarity while questioning whether his pessimism is final or a call to arms.

Why the Remnant Must Not Go Silent
Author: Juan I. Núñez
Núñez revisits Albert Jay Nock’s distinction between the mass and the remnant. Libertarians, he argues, must keep writing, teaching, and living according to truth—even when ignored. Echoing Rothbard and Hess, he frames resistance to state power as both moral and essential. The fight for liberty begins in the soul, not the ballot box.
Politics

Capitalising “Black” but Not “White”: The Atomisation of Britain
Author: Alan Bickley
This critique argues that rules on racial capitalisation are not about fairness but control. “Black” is capitalised, “white” is not—creating a linguistic imbalance that disarms resistance. Bickley sees this as part of a wider elite strategy: divide the population, dismantle national identity, and manage them through state services and guilt.

Donald Trump’s Second Term: The Controlled Demolition of American Populism
Author: Len D. Pozeram
Pozeram returns with a denunciation of Trump’s second presidency. Far from defying the deep state, Trump has embraced its priorities. Populism is neutralised, not triumphant. Trump is portrayed as a clownish Judas goat—used to herd the right into political irrelevance. A must-read for anyone still harbouring 2024 illusions.

Resignation from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany
Author: Collective
This short but pointed article outlines why most of the Scientific Advisory Board resigned after the Mises Institute Germany unilaterally announced a prize for Javier Milei. The resignation letter stresses that the award was neither discussed nor approved by the board. The affair is presented as a violation of intellectual independence.

University: How and Why Not to Waste Your Youth
Author: Bryan Mercadente
Mercadente delivers a brutal takedown of university life. He calls it time-wasting and mentally corrupting—designed to fleece the middle class while filling young minds with poison. Citing peer-reviewed uselessness and bloated bureaucracy, he offers alternatives: work, build, read, train, and get smart without begging for papers from failed academics.
War/Foreign Policy

Whistling up Armageddon
Author: Alan Bickley
A grim warning that Britain’s elites are sleepwalking into war with Russia. Bickley mocks the delusion that this hollowed-out military could mount serious resistance. He sees war rhetoric as theatre—used to distract from domestic decline and rally waning legitimacy. The conclusion: the Empire is over, and pretending otherwise is dangerous.

The Ukraine War: An Orthodox View
Author: Michael Wood
Wood offers a religious perspective on the Ukraine conflict, likening it to biblical struggles. He argues that modern Ukraine has become a corrupted proxy of Western secularism. Russia’s response is framed as divine justice. The piece blends theology and geopolitics, suggesting that sacred identity is worth more than treaties.
Economics

Fiat-Currency-Backed Stablecoins Are an Inflationary Time Bomb
Author: Thorsten Polleit
Polleit explains how fiat-backed stablecoins do not eliminate inflation—they magnify it. By tying themselves to central-bank money, stablecoins reinforce the monetary rot at the heart of modern economies. He warns libertarians not to trust tech solutions that are still rooted in broken systems.

Considerations on De-Banking
Author: Walter Block
Block comments on the growing trend of political discrimination by banks. Anyone who veers from progressive orthodoxy risks losing their account. Even Donald Trump was targeted while out of office. Block calls for legal reform, competition, and the revival of property rights as the antidote.
Technology
Minds, Means and Machines – The Ominous Conclusion?
Author: Duncan Whitmore
Whitmore urges caution—not about machines becoming conscious, but about humans giving up decision-making to them. AI won’t kill us; we will kill our autonomy. He dissects the cultural seduction of automation and asks what happens when moral judgment is outsourced to code.

The Blessings of AI, and the Problem of the Surplus Fool
Author: Bryan Mercadente
Mercadente praises AI as a great filter: smart people use it wisely, fools use it fatally. He’s gleeful about the consequences. Misinformation? Great—let idiots believe it. Errors? Wonderful—let them pay. In this cheerful techno-Malthusianism, AI becomes a libertarian god of natural selection.
Health/Medicine

Reply to “Sierra-Jane Mitchell”
Author: Bryan Mercadente
This is Mercadente in full war paint. He mocks a classmate’s body-positivity essay and explains why vinegar, not Lynx, keeps him clean. The piece is unapologetic, and brutally funny. Under the sarcasm lies a real point: health isn’t a slogan—it’s sweat and discipline, plus daily anointment with white vinegar.

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