[Chapter 1 from Against the State, first published 2014 by LewRockwell.com.]

On April 14, 1912, at 11:40 pm, the Titanic—the legendary passenger ship regarded as unsinkable—tore open its hull on an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. The watertight compartments filled with water, and—just 2 hours and 40 minutes later—the ship sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Approximately 1,517 people lost their lives—not least because the Titanic did not carry enough lifeboats and the crew failed to summon help by radio in time.

Just a few months ago, next to no one in the general public was talking about Kevin Warsh. But today, he takes the podium for his first press conference as Chair of the Federal Reserve.

Last Friday, SpaceX went public and began offering shares on the NASDAQ. It was the largest IPO in history, which generated a lot of buzz and attention. But one of the more dramatic angles of SpaceX going public concerned Elon Musk, the company’s chairman, CEO, and chief technical officer.

When the BLS released its May employment report earlier this month, one component of the report that raised concerns was the measure of average hourly earnings. In May, the year-over-year change for earnings was at the lowest level measured in nearly five years. Yet, growth was still more than zero, coming in at 3.4 percent. The real problem became more apparent a few days later when the BLS released its May report on price inflation.

Congress accidentally protected the American people’s liberty this week when it failed to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign citizens. However, it has been “interpreted” by the FISA court to allow US intelligence agencies to wiretap conversations between a US citizen and a foreign target of Section 702 surveillance. The intelligence agencies can then conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans who communicate with that American.

According to the legacy media, the May employment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were a “blowout jobs report.” That is, according to CBS, the May report showed “resilience” in the job market, and the latest report “follows two months of strong payroll gains.” Yet, at the same time, the unemployment rate has not budged for three months, and remains at 4.3 percent. Moreover, the labor force participation rate remains near a five-year low.

Forty years ago, I attended the annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington and my sanity never recovered. Or at least that is what therapists presume based on my writings about their endless fabrication of bogus mental illnesses.

I was attending as a journalist to find grist for my weekly Detroit News column. That conference spurred zesty protests by Scientologists, feminists, and folks who never forgave the Electric Shock Therapy they endured.

Recently, I noticed that Lew’s 2014 book Against the State was not available among our many free books at mises.org. The book has always been available as a hard copy for purchase in the bookstore, but oddly, this one title by Lew hadn’t found its way into the free online library.