Happy Tuesday! Tuesdays are my non-essay day, where I share a hit-and-run assortment of amplifying other people’s work, quick comments on current events/news, or “In Case You Missed It”-ing my own stuff.
I had already planned my links for the day when I got a new subscriber: Spike Cohen, 2020 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate (also, my good friend). Yesterday he was on a podcast and afterwards there was an afterparty on Clubhouse (yes I’m on that now) where we both dove into concepts related to selling libertarian ideas to “normal people”.
I was already planning on sharing a few links of his stuff today, and then he inspired me on some ICYMI content, so it’s a full newsletter today!
And no, I don’t normally call out my new followers, but Spike is great and I’m glad to have him here. You should all go follow him on all the social media platforms if you want to hear compassionate, intelligent, relevant commentary about liberty (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube). He’s probably the best communicator of our subject matter of anyone I know.
To the linkage!
1,186,000
That’s the number of US military personnel who have died at war. A conservative estimate, based on the lowest possible number of Civil War deaths.
Memorial Day was yesterday, and like each year I say the best way to honor our fallen dead is to stop making more of them by sending soldiers to war. End the wars.
Spike Cohen had a great Twitter Thread on this topic, which I encourage you to read all of: linked here.
2 Whites Dead In Race Riot: Oh AND 300 black people.
AND AGAIN, linking to a thread of Spike’s, as May 31/June 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Last year I helped write a speech for Jo Jorgensen for the anniversary while she was in Tulsa. Spike’s thread hits on the whole story, which is worth checking out (here’s a Wikipedia article as well), but here’s the wild thing: White townspeople rioted, aided by the government, massacred 300 black Tulsa residents, caused more than a million dollars worth of property damage (in 1921 dollars) and the newspaper headline said:
I hope you’re as disturbed about it as I am.
8 minutes, 46 seconds
Last week also marked the death of George Floyd, as officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. This is a reminder that the “Justice In Policing Act” is a watered down bill that doesn’t even end qualified immunity.
Spreading Ideas of Liberty
Back in 2017, I had the pleasure of sharing a keynote talk with Naomi Brockwell on the topic of Spreading the Ideas of Liberty at the Friedman Conference in Sydney, Australia.
I was reminded of it yesterday during our Clubhouse chat, and figured it was worth a reshare. On a similar note, if you’re ever looking for my speeches, interviews, or other video content, I’ve collected it all on YouTube here.
How Land Use Regulation Undermines Affordable Housing
This has to be the driest article title ever but seriously every year this 2015 paper from Mercatus crosses across my Facebook memories and it’s SO IMPORTANT for understanding WHY housing costs are skyrocketing. I recommend taking a look at the summary article and then reading the whole 31 page paper if you’re as much of a nerd as I am.
Freedom Fest 2021!
I’m confirmed as a speaker at Freedom Fest 2021! I’ve been attending Freedom Fest since 2012 (it’s actually where I first met Judd in person - he was speaking and I was an attendee). It’s usually in Las Vegas, but this year they moved it to Mount Rushmore, South Dakota (not my ideal situation but I’m open to new experiences). I’m speaking, taking photos, am on a few panels AND I’m hosting Friday night karaoke. We’ve got a great Feminists for Liberty panel as well! It’s all happening on July 21-24th in Rapid City. Tickets are available here and for $50 off, use the code Avens50. :)
In Case You Missed It
Each week I get a handful of new signups for this newsletter, and I’m tremendously grateful for them (you!). I often do not know if they went through the archives to check out my previous essays, and I’d rather not bother them (and some of you since the beginning might miss an essay here or there!), so this subsection each week will be at the end of my non-Thursday post, so you can skip it if you’ve already seen it or read them all, but will present the long-form essays with a single sentence description in case you missed something and wanted to check it out.
Lead With Gratitude- I explain the game plan with this blog, and thank you for your support.
Choose The Better Story - My life philosophy about building your personal story and making choices.
Judge & Prepare To Be Judged - How “Judgement” does not equal condemnation, and being a discerning person isn’t actually a bad thing, but you should also know who you’re judging for.
Look Beyond Representation - Talking about “representation” as a woman - how its purpose is to eventually render itself irrelevant - let there be so much representation that nobody represents us, because we’re individuals.
Count It All Joy - Remembering a long lost friend, and how she taught me to love by letting go.
Appreciate the Mothers In Your Life - A collection of stories of my own mother.
Ask Yourself What You’d Kill For - Expanding on two concepts that explain my perspective on government & politics.
Lemon Tek Your Mushrooms - An essay about mushroom trips, and how to make them the very best.
Be Kind - An essay about how 30 minutes of my day saved someone’s life, and how I learned about it 2 years later.
That’s the link drop for this week. Memorial Day weekend always has a lot of memories for me - in 2010 I moved from Boston to Los Angeles over Memorial Day weekend, and it’s the best choice I ever made, but it was crazy to move 3000 miles away from everyone I knew, to a city where I knew THREE people. That’s another, longer story sometime.
Quick family update for those who’ve paid attention: my little 11 year old cousin Erin is HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL FINALLY after over a month. Thank you for your good thoughts, prayers, and wishes for my family.
Things have been crazy busy on the work front in a wonderful, productive, and hopefully soon lucrative way. I’m not sleeping enough and I need to remedy that.
In the meantime, I finished 4 seasons of The Crown and I remain convinced that the Queen has resolved to outlive Charles. Judd & I started watching The Deuce on HBO this week and damn it’s good so far. Also really sexually explicit. It follows a large cast working in New York City nightlife - prostitutes, bartenders, pimps, pornographers, cops and more in 1971. I’m enjoying it.
See you Thursday!