The Libertarian Institute

Trump is posting like the Strait of Hormuz is a light switch he controls, but the shipping data, tanker seizures, and oil price spikes point to something far more dangerous: a grinding maritime confrontation that can escalate by accident. We sit down with journalist Dave DeCamp to separate online bravado from real U.S. Navy posture, and to ask what a “ceasefire” even means when a blockade and interdictions continue.

We walk through the competing narratives around Iran’s decision-making and why claims of a divided leadership don’t match the public timeline of conditions, statemen...

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Scott interviews Larry Johnson about where things stand with Trump’s war on Iran. The two dig into the cards each side holds as this ceasefire limps along, reflect on the troubling lack of rationality in US policy towards Iran and debunk some common lies and misunderstandings circulating about the conflict.

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Larry C. Johnson is a former CIA officer and intelligence analyst, and a former planner and ad...

The Strait of Hormuz is the kind of choke point people talk about in theory, right up until it closes and the whole global economy starts to feel it. We’re joined by Ambassador Chas Freeman, a veteran American diplomat, to make sense of the US-Iran ceasefire drama and the bigger reality underneath it: Iran is not looking for a new ultimatum, and Washington is struggling to offer anything that resembles real negotiations.

We dig into why “maximum pressure” often produces the opposite of its stated goals, including the risk that repeated attacks convince Tehran it nee...

A single image can crack a political storyline wide open. We start with the viral clip of an Israeli soldier smashing a Jesus statue and follow the uncomfortable question it forces for many American Christians: what does “shared values” mean when Christians in Jerusalem report harassment and holy sites face restrictions? With Larry Johnson, we pull apart the gap between religious branding and real-world treatment, and why that gap is changing the tone of U.S. conservative support.

Then the focus turns to the Israel Iran war and the American messaging machine around it. Trump says...

We dive into the refutations by Saint Hilarion of socialism

The hits have just kept on coming! (And not in a good way.)

For anyone who cares and/or is curious why CJ has been mostly incommunicado the past 2 months (other than angrily ranting against the insanity of current events on Twitter): In this special DHP episode he gives an update on the most recent trials & tribulations he & his family have been through, including (but not limited to) his wife being hospitalized twice, another major death in the family, & finally, CJ himself being hospitalized for almost a full week while being the sickest & in the worst pain...

The headlines move fast, but the stakes underneath them move faster. When political leaders say the Strait of Hormuz is “open” and diplomacy is “wrapping up,” we slow the tape and ask the only question that matters: who actually has leverage right now, and what price is being paid off-camera?

We’re joined by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson to unpack Iran’s position in the Strait of Hormuz, why transit fees and control of passage can matter more than press statements, and how “victory” framing can blur the reality of a stalemate. We also dig into a major geopolit...

A ceasefire can be the start of peace, or it can be the quiet moment when both sides reload. That’s the question driving my return conversation with Professor Glenn Diesen as we dissect the US-Iran negotiations, the sudden focus on a short extension, and the strategic shockwave created when Iran seizes leverage around the Strait of Hormuz.

We dig into why force movements matter more than press releases, from carrier deployments to the logic of “locked and loaded” threats against dual-use infrastructure. Glenn explains why a temporary truce may simply create the breathing room needed...

U.S. troops are training for chemical and nuclear fallout while fresh forces and warships surge toward the Middle East, and I can’t shake the feeling that those “routine drills” are happening for a reason. We walk through what the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s radiation preparedness could mean in the context of reports that the U.S. is weighing major escalation options against Iran, including strikes on critical infrastructure and the far more dangerous scenario: a special operation aimed at securing Iran’s 60% enriched uranium stockpile. If that material has been moved, buried, or sits inside damaged tunnel net...

A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz sounds like a clean, decisive move until you run it through the real world: geography, international law, ship insurance, and the uncomfortable question of what happens when the other side shoots back. We sit down with Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski to parse Trump’s threat to interdict ships tied to Iranian oil and why “the greatest navy in the world” is not the same thing as a navy that can safely enforce a blockade in a narrow, heavily contested chokepoint.

We dig into the operational side of maritime power, from U...

John and I continue the reading and commentary on Rules for Radicals

My good friend Paisios Wainwright joins me to discuss his struggles and path to Orthodoxy.

Wainwright Ceramics



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Scott interviews author and journalist Michele McPhee about the extensive research she’s done on the Boston Marathon Bombing that happened exactly thirteen years ago this week. Scott and McPhee dig into the background of the Tsarnaev brothers, the holes in the story that they carried out the bombing entirely on their own, how the Russians warned the FBI about the brothers before the attack, the broader political and geopolitical context that the Tsarnaevs and the US and Russian governments were navigating at the time and much more.

Discussed on the sh...