The world seems like it has gone mad, but everyone stays busy, busy, busy in their little insulated American bubble. Lucky for you The Morning Roar is here to burst the bubble. Jump on board and ride the liberty train on this Tuesday morning!Krugman Calls Libertarianism A FantasyPaul Krugman, columnist for The New York Times and all around coercion-loving madman, wrote an op-ed in the NYT yesterday where he mocked libertarianism as a “foolish fantasy.” Krugman pulled out a few common strawman arguments in order to fortify his position as a believer that governments can only work when they operate without the consent of the people they govern.Krugman used government regulations on phosphorus that are intended to prevent water contamination as an example that he claims proves unequivocally the need for intrusive, coercive government.Paul Krugman on phosphorus and freedom in The New York Times:

… But I’d like to ask a different question: Is libertarian economics at all realistic?

The answer is no. And the reason can be summed up in one word: phosphorus.

As you’ve probably heard, the City of Toledo recently warned its residents not to drink the water. Why? Contamination from toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie, largely caused by the runoff of phosphorus from farms.

When I read about that, it rang a bell. Last week many Republican heavy hitters spoke at a conference sponsored by the blog Red State — and I remembered an antigovernment rant a few years back from Erick Erickson, the blog’s founder. Mr. Erickson suggested that oppressive government regulation had reached the point where citizens might want to “march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp.” And the source of his rage? A ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergent. After all, why would government officials want to do such a thing?...

… The point is that before you rage against unwarranted government interference in your life, you might want to ask why the government is interfering. Often — not always, of course, but far more often than the free-market faithful would have you believe — there is, in fact, a good reason for the government to get involved. Pollution controls are the simplest example, but not unique.

Krugman conveniently forgets to mention property rights in his assault on libertarianism. He does not mention the word property even one time. Krugman attempts to discredit libertarianism without even mentioning the basic tenet upon which a libertarian society would be built. Property rights would regulate and prevent contamination of the water supply in a more free society.Often pollution occurs to our waterways as a result of the government overriding the property rights of landowners and allowing crony corporations to pollute up to a standard level determined by government bureaucrats.The government violates the property of landowners by basically legalizing pollution of waterways to a certain degree, without gaining the consent of individuals that could be impacted by the contaminated water.In a more free society, polluting another individual’s property would be a violation of the non-aggression principle and the damaged party could raise a grievance that could be arbitrated in court. Additionally, individuals in a region would be free to form their own rules for halting water contamination, as long as all parties consented to the rules. There would be nothing stopping individuals from enacting common sense rules with the purpose of keeping pollutants out of the water.Contrary to what Paul Krugman tells you, libertarianism is not a fantasy. The real fantasy is that government can effectively prevent all pollution, without the consent of the people, by setting arbitrary limits on pollutants.Teacher’s Union President Threatens To Punch Common Core OpponentsUnited Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew threatened violence to those that oppose Common Core standards while speaking during a debate at July’s American Federation of Teachers convention in Los Angeles.Before he launched into a defense of “standards” he made sure to sympathize with teachers around the country that struggled with the rollout of Common Core. He proceeded to launch into his tirade after assuring the audience that, “Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Joel Klein and a flying saucer full of Martians” did not design Common Core to brainwash everyone.Mulgrew stated:

What bothers me more than anything is the idea is that the American Federation of Teachers would back down from a fight. The standards are ours. Tests are ours. We are fighting now because they took tests away from them to bring them back to us. You don’t back down from a fight. They took our standards away from us, we’re going to take them back from them because that is our tool. We are the teachers. They are not the teachers. It is our profession.

And continued...

So I stand here in support of this for one simple reason: if someone takes something from me, I’m gonna rip it right back out of their cold, twisted, sick hands and say it is mine. You do not take what is mine. And I’m gonna punch you in the face and push you in the dirt because this is the teachers, these are our tools and you sick people need to deal with us and the children that we teach. Thank you very much.

Mulgrew should be embarrassed by his behavior, as should every attendee that cheered the vitriol pouring from his mouth. It is ironic that a man who claims to be an advocate for education stoops to name calling and raising his voice to make his point. One would think the UFT would want an articulate President that eloquently defends the mission of teachers, but instead they chose a foul-mouthed thug to pimp universal standards.The full video can be seen below (h/t to BennSwann.com.)http://youtu.be/ToNEs-C9HCUI encourage you to watch the entire video to hear arguments from those both opposed to the resolution and in favor of it. You’ll notice that each speaker is in favor of universal standards regardless of their stance on Common Core or the resolution being debated. One speaker goes as far to say that he should be able to pull his kid out of school in New York and enroll him in a school in California and the two schools, on opposite coasts, should be teaching the exact same thing so his child does not miss a beat.It is utter insanity to be teaching all children across the country the same topics, at the same pace. Children learn at different speeds and achieve varying results based on their learning environment. Standardized testing can harm a child’s psyche by making them feel that they are not as smart as their classmates. This could result in unnecessary stress for both child and parents. The stress could be all for naught because the child’s true talents may be in area not captured by a standardized test, or more likely the standardized test does not stimulate the creative mind of a child.St. Louis Tattoo Store Owners Guard Business With GunsI can’t help but be reminded of the LA Riots in 1992 when watching the looting and destruction caused by rioters in Ferguson, Missouri. Like LA, the Ferguson rioters have left their moral compass at home and proceeded to partake in a disgusting display of thievery and destruction of property.The two episodes of mayhem have a common origin in perceived police brutality. The ’92 riots were set off by the acquittal of officers on trial for the videotaped beating of Rodney King. The unrest in Ferguson began as peaceful protests after a police officer allegedly shot an unarmed black man eight times. The man and an accomplice apparently got into a confrontation with the officer and tried to grab his gun. The officer fired one round in his vehicle during a struggle and then shot the unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown eight times. The protest turned into full-blown riots over the weekend, with rioters burning a QuickTrip to the ground after it was looted.The riots have another common thread. Store owners in both riots, more than twenty years apart, were able to use assault rifles to deter riot participants from attempting to loot their businesses. In LA, Korean store owners walked the roof of their business armed with semi-automatic rifles. In Missouri, two businesses that share a storefront, a tattoo shop and a gun store, combined forces to protect their businesses and prevent would be looters from potentially gaining access to stolen fire arms.From Riverfront Times:

After hearing of the roving bands of looters, Mike Gutierrez knew he had to protect his tattoo shop. He brought a posse with him, including Adam Weinstein, owner of County Guns, who was acutely worried about criminals getting their hands on his merchandise."We didn't want them coming in here and then running around with a bunch of free guns," Weinstein told Daily RFT when we arrive at the store around 12:30 a.m. this morning. Weinstein was outfitted with an assault rifle, pistol and tactical vest. Gutierrez cradled his own rifle in his hands.Gutierrez, Weinstein and their group arrived to find thieves tearing through a Dollar General in the same strip mall that houses their business. Weinstein says the looters attempted moving toward the shop, but were scared off by the guns. Then the police arrived.

As can be seen by the images and video from Ferguson, one event can be the catalyst that can cause a town to devolve into chaos overnight. The police were not equipped to stop the riot and protect property.The events in Ferguson reinforce the essential need to protect the right to bear arms. Having the freedom to own guns and protect life and property is crucial to maintaining order in a society.Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & GoogleReceive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!