It is with mixed emotions we celebrate CopBlock‘s 3rd anniversary of educating people that “badges don’t grant extra rights”.

• On the one hand, it’s encouraging to see how many people have been reading CopBlock and how it has grown.
• On the other hand, as Pete Eyre would say, we would rather a day come when this type of public spotlight and activism is no longer needed.

So it is with optimism and sadness that CopBlock must continue on.

CopBlock Analytics

Right now the site is averaging about 4,500 visits per day. We hate doing the whole begging for money thing but just remember that keeping a site with this amount of traffic up-and-running,  loading quick, and secure from attacks is expensive in both time and money. If you place value on our impact please support us.

We believe in this so much that we do this whether the community support it or not but it sure makes it easier when we aren’t alone.

CopBlock Groups

There are also dozens of CopBlock sub groups that have sprung up.

CopBlock 2010 – 2013

View all of Archive.org’s CopBlock snapshots

• CopBlock.org
• Become a fan of CopBlock on Facebook
• Follow CopBlock on Twitter
• Subscribe to CopBlock on YouTube
• Support CopBlock by buying merchandise and donating

As part of marking our 3 year  Anniversary, please stop by our post on Liberty Web Alliance and leave a comment about how CopBlock has impacted you or others

Thanks for reading. CopBlock Hits 3 Year Anniversary is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

We just finished an overhaul of the site and added some very easy ways you can now support Liberty Web Alliance.

They are all viewable on our new Support page.

You can now easily give us a one-time gift or sign-up to automatically support us with a credit card payment of $5, $10, or $20 / month that goes towards our hosting costs.

We are currently about $60/month shy of breaking even. If you want to be part of our impact, please consider helping us out.

(don’t want to use credit card or FRNs? We appreciate silver, gold, bitcoins, and most any generally used medium of exchange)

Thanks for reading. New ways to support us! is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

Our star organization was on a Stossel show once again. Keep up the great work guys!

Thanks for reading. CopBlock On John Stossel’s Illegal Everything is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

LWA welcomes Hans Economics on board as our 22nd member.  The intellectual foundation behind much of the ideas of liberty comes from the Austrian School of Economics with economists like Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and Hans Sennholz (after whom this site is named)

Hans Economics is a terrific new blog that focuses on the Austrian arguments for economics. We’re very glad they are joining us and can’t wait to see more great content.

(this interview was conducted with Nick Freiling of Hans Economics and r0thbard of LWA)

Site: HansEconomics.com

Who are you?

We are four students of Austrian economics seeking to defend the discipline from bad logic, fallacious claims, and outright lies. Currently, our team includes myself (Nick Freiling), Ryan Budny, Caleb Fuller, and Kyle Latham. We all go to Grove City College.

What led you to the ideas of liberty?

We all have different stories about how we ‘discovered’ the philosophy of liberty, and we all hold differing views about how to best seek its preservation and advancement in the modern context.

But one thing we all have in common is the economics department at Grove City College. Through the tutelage of Drs. Herbener, Ritenour, Miller, and Hendrickson, we have all come to more fully understand the tenets of Austrian/free market economics and the importance of liberty in allowing for economic progress.

On what do you write?

We write about economics. At this point, every single one of our articles is a response to an article from some other source that contains some sort of error or fallacious claim about economics.

For whom are you writing?

We are writing for anyone interested in discerning fact from fiction with regards to economics.

Why the Austrian school of economics?

The Austrian school of economics is, as far as I can tell, the only school of economics that takes into full account the self-evidently true conclusions of praxeology. This–coupled with the fact that Austrian theory has been vindicated by historical experience–makes it a worthy object of study and something the world simply cannot do without. I can’t speak for my colleagues at Hans, but I am certain they would agree.

Where do you see the Austrian movement going in the next few years?

I prefer not to think of it as a ‘movement’, per se. Austrian economics is a school of thought. Yes, there has been a resurgence of interest in Austrian economics over the past few years, but there is nothing about Austrian theory that requires a concerted effort on the part of it’s adherents to bring about any sort of political or social change.

I do believe that the Austrian school will continue to see more interest among the larger public, but only by ensuring more and more people have a thorough understanding of Austrian theory will it ever become a mainstream–or the mainstream–school of economics.

If you had 3 dream writers to (dead or alive) to bring on to your team, who would they be?

Henry Hazlitt because of his journalistic dexterity in illustrating free market principles for both scholarly and popular audiences alike.

Murray Rothbard because of his exhaustive knowledge of Austrian economics and succinct manner of explicating Austrian theory.

Peter Schiff because he is a great communicator and an expert refuter of Keynesians!

In 3 years from now, where do you hope to see your website?

Ideally I’d make a living being the executive editor of Hans Economics full time. We would be a well-known online magazine with a strong reputation as a go-to reference for individuals interested in examining the accuracy of the many attacks on Austrian theory as well as questionable claims about economics in general.

Any favorite blogs or sites that you’d like to give a shout-out to?

All of our writers derive an incredible amount of inspiration and enlightenment from the scholars at the Mises Institute, so Mises.org is one I highly recommend.

LewRockwell.com is also visited almost daily by all of our writers.

Others include Liberty Fund, the Acton Institute, and the Foundation for Economic Education. They all have great websites with awesome (and free) resources helpful to anyone interested in discovering more about Austrian/free market economic theory.

Check out some of their recent posts:

• Huffington Post Takes a Shot at Austrians
• Slate Gets it Wrong on Austrian Economics
• Romney is Wrong on Minimum Wage
• Did The Economist Present Austrian Theory Accurately?
• Debt Mythology

Thanks for reading. New Member: Hans Economics is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

This is a great time to be an advocate of Liberty.

Our ideas are being vindicated.

The state is being revealed to be the fraud and drunken bully that it is. Statists have no viable solutions, they have no answers as to why the economy flounders and worsens. They try one thing and then another, but they are all statist solutions that only beget more problems.

But… the libertarians, market-anarchists, voluntaryists, know why they fail. We have logic, reason, empirical data, history, the present… all on our side!

Not only do we know why the economy sinks deeper and our freedoms are stripped but more importantly and positively, we see the potential for human freedom being expanded, people learning to live in peace and harmony, individuals from their own creativity creating value and wealth…it is these beneficial byproducts of the ideas of liberty that motivate us to shape a better world for those who follow.

Be encouraged, now is an ideal time to persuade people away from the evil of statism. The deleterious effects of the state are felt severely as the thorn they are.  The blessings of liberty are a banner of hope.

Out of chaos comes opportunity.

Please support the organizations working hard to spread these ideals that uphold our humanity. Also please consider helping us out, we have very high hosting costs that we absorb for our 20+ member sites.

Time, talent, money, they all help power us.

Thanks for reading. Why the Liberty Movement Should be Encouraged is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

(this interview was conducted with Ryan Day Thompson of Flagless and r0thbard of LWA)

We are very excited to have Flagless joining us as our 18th member organization. We believe strongly in what they are endeavoring to do by reaching the Christian community with the truth about statism.

If you are a Christian, start following their content. If you aren’t, then pass this on to any friends who are Christians. So often, Christians think that statism is Biblical and that a stateless society must be immoral. Many non-Christians also see Christianity as a worldview contrary to liberty. I think Flagless is doing an excellent job showing the truth of the matter.

Site:  www.flaglesscoop.com

Who are you? (your team)

There’s a link for that :-)  (Our Contributors)

We’re a group of Christians who met via social media and through watching each other on Facebook came to realize we virtually believed the same thing: the state is an evil coercive monster that does nothing if it is not in the protection of its own corrupted interests and, conversely, Jesus is the righteous and sovereign King who does everything for His own interests but whose greatest interests just also happen to be our greatest interests.

I pitched the idea for our website after a year of banging my head against a wall because I’m only one person with a limited amount of time and a lot of things to explain publicly.  I mean, “I’m an Anarchist,” makes for a lot of questions.  (Or demands…sometimes they feel like demands because, for the moment, the burden of proof is on us and most of our friends are ticked off.)

The rest of the group, David McElroy, James and Tammie Libertas, and David Reynolds humored me and we got started.

We’re blessed (or lucky, depending on whether you’re a Naturalist or a Theist!) because we have a professional writer and former political consultant, a full time philanthropist and major gift fundraiser, a mother and deeply educated academic, an everyday guy who’s just tired of coercing and being coerced, and a hot-headed kid with a bachelor’s degree, a whole lot of reading, and a dream.  What a group!

Who is your audience?

We have a pretty diverse group of people reading us right now.  I’ve heard, both positively and negatively, from Atheists, Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats, other Christians, Agnostics, Pantheists, and so on.

I originally intended this to be a project that addressed Evangelicals, the group that is guilty almost across the board of unquestioningly allowing themselves to be absorbed into the system of injustice in which we reside.

After a phone conversation with David McElroy I realized that we’d probably be “barking up the wrong tree” if we did that so I think we’ve decided that we’re mainly aimed at people within Christianity and on the outer edges of state-oriented Libertarianism who are already disillusioned by the system in which we reside and just need to hear a dissenting view presented with coherence and vehemence.  Seriously, walk into most theologically conservative churches and you’re likely to hear plenty of soldier worship, flag waving, Constitution lauding, and patriot talk.  For some people that is just plain uncomfortable, though they don’t entirely know why.  We’re here to help them understand why that makes them uncomfortable.

What led you to the ideas of liberty?

I can’t really speak for every member of the group but I’ll give my take on it.

The Bible.  First, read that book with a hermeneutic that considers context and you’re going to realize very quickly that God doesn’t like it when unjust states oppress innocents.  At all.  In fact, it makes him so furious that, “the cup in [His] right hand,” is cyclically and routinely “brought around to [them,]” (Hab. 2:16).  Second, in Genesis you find out that humans were created in the very image of God (Gen. 1:26-27.)  This gives them worth, value, and an inherent right to life and liberty.  This image is incessantly trampled upon by anti-human states which are inherently unjust structures.  Finally, when you read Jesus and take seriously the fact that the “law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2) is a spiritual law, intended for an otherworldly kingdom (Jn. 18:36,) that is essentially non-coercive, you have to start believing that people are free to believe and do what they see fit to do and believe.  I, personally, came to realize that our job as Christians is to proclaim the gospel and not legislatively or militarily coerce people into a moral program that may or may not even be in the Bible.

Also, I actually ran into a well dressed guy who introduced himself as an Anarchist during a birth class my wife and I attended in preparation for the birth of our son.  I asked him, “Soooo, you’re dressed really well for an Anarchist.  Shouldn’t you be dressed in all black and bombing things?”  I was essentially a Neo-Con at the time so you can guess how that conversation went.  From him I learned about Mises and Rothbard and from them, well, you know how the floodgates open once you read them.  That Anarchist and I ended up great friends and do some activism together now.

Why is liberty important to you?

Personally, and I mean this, liberty for me isn’t that important.  It’s liberty for others that concerns me most.  I am driven by the motivation and belief that people have an inherent right to make whatever decisions they choose to make, regardless of the eternal standing I believe some of those decisions put them in with God.  People have a right to life and freedom, morally, religiously, and economically and when I see that right trampled on by moralistic majoritarian Christians and statist human-hating politicians, I get a little bit worked up.

Liberty is important to me because it is important to the God of the Bible.  And I believe in the inerrance, infallibility, and authority of the Bible.  (Note:  Just because I do doesn’t mean you have to!)

If you had 3 dream bloggers (dead or alive) to bring on to your writing team, who would they be?

Rothbard, Jacques Ellul, and Tolstoy (and maybe Justin Taylor and Greg Boyd…but that’s five, isn’t it?)

In 3 years from now where do you hope to see your group/site?

Together?  We haven’t thought that far ahead!  But seriously, as long as we DO exist we want to be glorifying God in whatever we do.  I think we would like this site to become ultimately unnecessary because Christians give up endorsing bloodthirsty tyrants and recognize the futility of state idolatry.  If they did that we wouldn’t have much to write about!

Any favorite blogs or sites that you’d like to give a shout-out to?

Facebook?  Liberty Web Alliance!?  But, seriously, sites like CopBlock, C4SS and Jesus Radicals continue to shape and sharpen our thinking and individual efforts from the likes of Brad Spangler, George Donnelly, Greg Boyd, Tripp York, Gary Chartier, and the so-called “Kevin Carson” attract our intellects on a consistent basis.

Check out the Flagless archives, follow them on Twitter, and fan them on Facebook!

Here are a few of their posts

• Flagless: An Introductory Post
• Christians & Anarchists?
• Has the American State Become Your Religion?
• Logic and the foundation of the non-aggression axiom
• Who are the utopians? And who are the realists?

Thanks for reading. New Member: Flagless, A Christian Anarchist Cooperative is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

Liberty Web Alliance has been hard at work. We just went live with a brand spanking new store for our favorite Police accountability and activist group, CopBlock.

This lets people easily get some great CopBlock branded gear and donate to support these hardworking guys and gals. Choose from a bunch of options to donate and get…

Police abuse, brutality, and corruption are at an all-time high. The CopBlock network has risen to the need for the Police to be put into the truth-telling lens of the camera and kept accountable.

In addition to CopBlock’s main site… there are now decentralized regional chapters springing up: Ohio, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and while under the CopWatch name, Orlando.

We affirm their message that…

Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights!

Thanks for reading. Support CopBlock Activism! New Storefront, Easy Donations is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

Miller’s blog has perhaps one of the catchiest names I have ever come across – and it is apt! Besides the wit, what you can enjoy most about this blog is, well, the genuineness of Miller’s drafts.

In a media world ridden with lies, and a blogosphere overwhelmed by all sorts of content, it is hard to come across good and truthful content. Here at Liberty Web Alliance, we help with that. Miller’s blog not only has a wealth of information but incredibly detailed analysis that is hard to find in many places.

But you’ll get to know that as your read his blog.

So let me tell you about Miller. I had the opportunity to work with Miller this summer. He worked with my organization through IHS - so as for credentials he’s got the backing of one of the premiere liberty-friendly organizations in the nation.

I can tell you all the good stuff about him – that he’s humble and honest and so on… but that’s just half the story. So, let’s get to the interesting stuff.

Miller drives one of the lousiest cars in the world (I think he’ll agree). I once invited him and other friends over for drinks and as his car ambled up my driveway I noticed he had the largest collection of the most vociferous liberty bumper stickers I had ever seen. He advertised everything from the Ron Paul Revolution to Rothbard to Radicals for Rand (yes, I made that last one up).

Now you know this guy is serious about his passion and will let you know – GENUINELY!

Liberty Web Alliance welcomes Miller’s Genuine Draft as our 14th member!

Thanks for reading. New Member: Miller’s Genuine Draft is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

LWA doesn’t really get much into politics but we thought this should be brought to light.

NBC placed a CSS max-width limit on a bar chart that dramatically skewed how the results should actually be visualized.

This was either poor attention to detail by the web development team at NBC or it is just yet another in a long line of deceit and lies the MSM has perpetrated on Ron Paul.

While LWA members have differing views on supporting politicians at any point no matter how principled, this is outrageous.

Ron Paul is by far the most principled and liberty-oriented candidate. He has done more to spread the ideas of Liberty in the past two decades than anyone. It is naive to think that getting any man into office is going to solve the economic and political woes of the country.  However, we applaud Paul for being such a bold champion for the cause of Liberty.

The reality is… they are trying (and failing) to so desperately hide is that he has gained support and is electable.

The poll (if still live) is here on NBC.

(Inspired by this article on the Daily Paul) (get Firebug for Firefox)

 Please share on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc!

Thanks for reading. Ron Paul NBC Poll – Deceptively Skewed Bar Chart is a post from Liberty Web Alliance

Many congrats to CopBlock for coming in at #30 on the DBKP Report’s Libertarian 50 ranking.  Joining it are such powerhouses as LewRockwell, the Mises Institute, and Reason.

This ranking uses Alexa’s ranking number which tends to be a bit of an unpredictable measure of traffic. In addition if they also used Compete’s ranking numbers that would help this be more useful.

Liberty Web Alliance would like to compile a more accurate ranking. The best way would be for site admins to add us to their analytics accounts as viewers or to send us a 3 month traffic report. If there is interest, we will pursue compiling this tool.  Nothing like a little friendly competition and ego puffing to encourage good content! :)

Thanks for reading. Member Site, CopBlock Makes it into Top 50 Libertarian Sites is a post from Liberty Web Alliance