KOL462 | CouchStreams After Hours on Break the Cycle with Joshua Smith (2021): Hoppe’s Michael Malice Helicopter Photo, Scooter Rides with Sammeroff, Mises Caucus Hopes, the Loser Brigade
Apr 23, 2025
25:44
Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 462.
I previously appeared on Joshua Smith's Break the Cycle, in July 2021 (KOL349 | CouchStreams Ep 58 on Break the Cycle with Joshua Smith). I had forgotten but we also did a short "CouchStreams After Hours" segment for subscribers which was, and still is, behind a paywall. We discussed various things—my scooter ride with Antony Sammeroff in Austin and travels with Sammeroff the previous months (see KOL330 | Lift Talks #2 With Kinsella & Sammeroff and KOL329 | Lift Talks #1 With Kinsella & Sammeroff), skiing accidents while skiing with Sammeroff, my joining the Libertarian Party, the Mises Caucus, loser brigade libertarians and the Hoppe photo with Michael Malice's helicopter gift (see below), when I was offered a job at Cato, when I was Disinvited From Cato, and so on. I had forgotten about this but stumbled across the file on my computer looking for something else, so decided to upload and podcast it. It's been long enough. Youtube transcript and Grok shownotes below.
https://youtu.be/9IHdN-_arsg
Paywalled version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4qMNDBOtE
Facebook post about the helicopter. See also KOL244 | "YOUR WELCOME" with Michael Malice Ep. 001: Intellectual Property, Prostate Cancer
Even my buddy Tucker didn't like it! (we've made up, no worries)
If you think political violence is hilarious, and post pics with plastic helicopters to show it, you might examine your conscience.
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) October 8, 2017
Hoppe Helicopter Controversy of 2017 - Stephan Kinsella responds:
https://youtu.be/rqipQNFSOEQ?si=skq0FFFwt5xSwhry&t=1
Grok Summary
Show Notes Summary
Video: "Break The Cycle w/ Joshua Smith" (https://youtu.be/9IHdN-_arsg) Podcast Episode: "KOL462 | Couchstreams After Hours: Break The Cycle with Joshua Smith" (https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol462-couchstreams-after-hours-break-cycle-joshua-smith/)
Introduction and Libertarian Messaging (0:16 - 0:35)
Discussion on using popular culture and trolling to spread libertarian ideas, emphasizing the goal of abolishing restrictive systems and breaking the cycle of statism.
Scooter Adventures with Samuroff (1:04 - 3:13)
Stephan recounts his spontaneous travels with Samuroff, including scooter rides in various cities and skiing in Telluride, which led to multiple shoulder injuries, humorously reflecting on his balance issues.
Lift Talks and Skiing Experiences (3:29 - 4:49)
Stephan and Samuroff recorded libertarian discussions on ski lifts in Colorado, dubbed "Lift Talks," published as podcasts; Joshua shares his snowboarding background and contrasts skiing experiences.
Confronting the "Loser Brigade" and Hans-Hermann Hoppe (5:44 - 8:38)
Stephan discusses a controversial photo with Hans-Hermann Hoppe holding a toy helicopter, sparking outrage among some libertarians; he dismisses virtue-signaling critics and defends his independence from think tanks.
Mises Caucus and Libertarian Party Dynamics (9:42 - 18:36)
Stephan and Joshua discuss their support for the Mises Caucus, aiming to steer the Libertarian Party toward radical, Rothbardian principles, and critique past candidates like Gary Johnson for lacking libertarian conviction.
Cato Institute and Cancel Culture (19:34 - 21:12)
Stephan shares a story of being disinvited from a Cato Institute IP debate, highlighting their reluctance to engage with Mises-aligned libertarians, and notes Cato's payment to reimburse his ticket as a form of preemptive cancellation.
Closing and Contact Information (24:54 - 25:42)
Stephan thanks Joshua for the interview, mentions joining his Patreon, and provides his website (stephankinsella.com) and social media handles (nskinsella) for further engagement.
Transcript
0:16
much success turning people into
0:17
libertarians by by trolling them If we
0:20
can bring the message of liberty through
0:22
what's popular why wouldn't we be doing
0:25
that we are simply free I want the whole
0:27
thing abolished If I have to take all
0:29
the heat to open the floodgates I'm
0:30
going to [ __ ] do it Rent and property
0:33
are not that Fight the death box Don't
0:35
forget to break the cycle
0:44
Hello hello hello and welcome to Couch
0:46
Streams after hours where we give you
0:48
all the cool content that you have to
0:50
pay for Uh then we leave all the the
0:53
virgin nonsubscribers out of the
0:55
exclusives Uh I'm here with Stephan
0:57
Cassell who we just had an awesome live
0:59
stream Learned a lot about IP tonight
1:02
Stephan people want to know about this
1:04
this uh the scooter ride Can you hear me
1:07
can you hear me
1:08
People want to know about this scooter
1:10
ride with Samar man What's What's this
1:12
all about what what do people keep
1:13
talking about i mean the scooter ride
1:15
was not the highlight of the whole thing
1:16
but u so Samur I had done Samur's show a
1:20
couple a couple times last year Scottish
1:23
Liberty podcast and u he was going to be
1:26
in Houston for a few weeks vagabonding
1:28
around the world and so earlier this
1:30
year I think it was March he said hey
1:32
Canella I'm in Houston so I I picked him
1:35
up we went to have coffee and I said hey
1:37
I'm going to go to the Mises Institute
1:39
next this coming weekend for a Mises
1:41
thing do you want to come he goes hell
1:43
yeah So he went with us and we had a
1:44
blast On the way back home I said "Um
1:47
you know I'm going to go to Tellide
1:48
skiing next week You don't happen to ski
1:50
do you?" He goes "Yeah my dad told me to
1:51
ski." So he went to Tellide with me We
1:53
had a blast We ended up going I don't
1:55
know several cities together Um or
1:58
meeting each other coincidentally like
2:01
twice like in Portland and in some other
2:04
city And in some of those cities they
2:06
have these scooters everywhere which I
2:07
you know that's a thing now and I had
2:09
never tried them but I started getting
2:11
the the ebikes and the the scooters And
2:13
so we just started riding scooters
2:15
around I think in Austin we did it and
2:18
uh in in um in uh some other cities too
2:21
So we just had a blast and we I took
2:23
some videos of it So that was where the
2:25
scooter story came from But um I will
2:27
tell you that when I when I got home in
2:30
March um I love the scooter I bought one
2:32
of the bird the bird air scooters and
2:36
and I had already hurt my shoulder from
2:38
four I went skiing twice and I fell
2:41
twice in February when I went with the
2:43
Juan Carpio and then I fell two more
2:46
times with Samuroff in Telluride and my
2:48
shoulder was hurting pretty bad and when
2:50
I got got home I had my scooter and I
2:51
flipped over in my driveway and landed
2:53
on I really hurt my shoulder So I've
2:54
hurt my shoulder five freaking times
2:56
this year I was with a physical
2:57
therapist this morning and she was
3:00
listening She goes "Do you have balance
3:03
problems?" Like she was wondering if I
3:05
have a problem I said "No I just had
3:07
five unlucky breaks this year." So my my
3:10
scooter adventures did lead me to almost
3:11
break my shoulder somehow but that's the
3:13
that's the scooter Okay I see I see So
3:15
lots of lots of pain there I get that I
3:18
I do I do have balance problems I have a
3:20
vertigo issue So uh you think I'd you
3:22
think I'd hurt myself a lot more but
3:23
once you've lived with vertigo for as
3:25
long as I have you get used to it So you
3:27
don't you know to overcompensate you
3:28
know what I mean
3:29
it's a little rocket I'm okay I'm going
3:31
to make it you know Uh I I don't really
3:32
get I don't really get super nauseous
3:34
from it anymore thankfully But uh and it
3:36
comes in it comes in waves I'll have it
3:38
for a couple weeks and then I won't have
3:39
it for a year and then it comes back It
3:40
sucks I think it's uh whatever they call
3:42
that inner ear disease or something I I
3:45
haven't really been checked for too much
3:46
Or it could be a brain tumor Who knows
3:47
who knows you know but what we did with
3:50
it was so what we what we did that was
3:52
more fun was in Colorado we decided to
3:54
because I knew what was going to happen
3:55
And I knew we were going to get on the
3:56
ski lifts and we were going to be
3:58
jabbering jabbering jabbering about
4:00
[ __ ] and about libertarian stuff So
4:02
I decided to record it and we and so I
4:05
recorded it for about 3 days all of our
4:08
lifts and we called it lift talks and so
