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What really mattered to him was reaching stranded people and saving them, like the Good Shepherd who leaves the flock to save one lost sheep. Then, as today, this kind of logic and conduct can be shocking, it provokes angry mutterings from
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“It is interesting to note that St. Augustine began to document the identity of its landladies and the location of its brothels only when it enacted its first ordinances outlawing prostitution in the late 1800s. Up until that time, prostitution and brothels were simply “business as usual” in the city and deemed invisible to polite society. Even after passage of laws making the businesses illegal, law enforcement took the stance that brothels were to be raided now and then to assure the public that the city was enforcing the laws, but as was true in the cases against Blanche Altavilla, very few convictions were sustained and no brothels were actually shut down. After all, the judges, the sheriffs and the men who constituted the juries were mostly longtime customers.”
― Wicked St. Augustine
― Wicked St. Augustine
“But there is a long history within the far right of right-wing media positioning itself as the only true and honest media. To promote a world viewpoint distinct from that shared by the majority, it was critical to assert that everyone else simply didn’t have the correct information on which to base decisions. That is a far easier task than accusing most of the country of being crazy.”
― It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump
― It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump
“Statesmen may plot and plan. Learned men may calculate and conclude. Diplomats may debate and prevaricate. But chance rules the immediate affairs of humankind.”
― Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors
― Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors
“Surprisingly, a number of old-timers from distinguished families had a different opinion. Under the landladies’ control (and with the cooperation of city and county government), prostitution had been properly regulated. The girls were healthy, received regular medical attention and had few illegitimate births resulting from their work. St. Augustine residents who were interviewed in the late 1970s and early 1980s said the girls who worked in these brothels were mostly well mannered and well dressed and were not considered “low-class.” With the closing of the brothels, however, prostitution moved into the streets, well outside of the city proper and its environs. It became associated with drug use, violent crime, increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and increased numbers of children born out of wedlock. In the opinion of one matron, closing the brothels was the worst thing that ever happened to the moral and social condition of St. Augustine. The rejoicing that came with the end of that form of immorality came at a high cost.”
― Wicked St. Augustine
― Wicked St. Augustine
“One of St. Augustine’s most famous rumrunners was William McCoy, who was also the purported inventor of the ham sack. McCoy operated a boat taxi service for the Jacksonville–St. Augustine area and a boatyard where he built yachts for Andrew Carnegie, the Vanderbilts and others. When Prohibition hit, he recognized the opportunity for a new, more lucrative business enterprise. He sold the taxi service and the boatyard and bought a schooner, which he named Tomoka. McCoy would sail Tomoka (and later six additional vessels added to his fleet) to the Bahamas, fill it with the best rye, Irish, and Canadian whiskey he could purchase and then sail back to St. Augustine and anchor just outside the three-mile limit. The locals would then sail their own vessels out to the Tomoka and purchase what they needed, a perfectly legal transaction on McCoy’s part. Bill McCoy became famous for the quality of his product and the fact that he never “cut,” or diluted his liquor. When you bought from Bill, you were getting the “Real McCoy,” and that is how we remember him today.”
― Wicked St. Augustine
― Wicked St. Augustine
We Are Libertarians Book Club
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This is the official book club for the We Are Libertarians podcast. Get informed the same way the hosts and researchers do by educating yourself and c ...more
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Study and discussion of the important questions of ethical and political philosophy from Confucius and Socrates to the present. Rules (see also the ...more
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Sharpening the mind, softening the heart, opposing the state.
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Chris’s 2025 Year in Books
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