I have a scar on my shoulder from a scuffle with an armadillo I had chased down. I have a long scar on my wrist from a cat who suddenly decided she needed to be on the other side of the house immediately and lept from my lap. I had scars from animal bites, but most have faded.
I have many scars on my left hand- because the knife was always in my right hand.
I have scars from getting injured while doing worthwhile things, like building stuff, exploring, and having fun.
I don't try to hide my scars, not that most would notice them anyway.
These are my battle scars; signs I didn't just sit in a padded room dreaming of what I could be doing instead.
I also have psychological scars, but we won't talk about those.
If I drove a Tesla Cybertruck (or a lesser, pointless Tesla), I wouldn't have it refinished if it got scratched by members of the Mental Illness Drama Club acting out their issues and delusions.
I would leave the scratched in swastikas, insults, and lines. If it got dents from being rammed with a scooter or kicked, they can stay. If it got set on fire but not destroyed, I would repair just enough to get it functional again, but I'd leave the scars. They are earned.
Those scars would be battle scars in the battle between the Far Left and literally everyone else. They would testify against those who believe it's OK to damage other people's property because the corporate media gave them their marching orders. NPCs carrying out their programming because they can't do otherwise. They are losers of the most useless sort.
Once again, it is being hammered into my brain that defending liberty means defending scoundrels and people I don’t like, who are doing things I don't like, but that violate no one's life, liberty, or property.
Then there are those who are violating others, and demand I defend their "right" to do so. That's not going to happen.
I shot less ammo than I had planned due to working with him; that just means there's less that I need to replace. Gotta keep the stockpile growing.
Today would have been my daughter Cheyenne's 34th birthday (the tenth anniversary of the last birthday she had), so I'm having less of a good time with that.
That's because-- "Left" or "Right"-- they are in my face more these days.
Just keep that nasty stuff out of my life; keep your filthy government off me, my family, and my stuff, and we'll be fine.
But, nope. It's simple courtesy and they can't do this. They want to show you how awful they are and all the ways they demand you be violated. Plus, they dream up exciting new ways to violate people when the traditional ways aren't bad enough.
Statism is disgusting, and it is too bold. Imagine wanting to show the world that you're a creep. Wanting to display it in public.
Let them. Not my circus; not my monkeys. But I still have to dodge the flung feces-- even if they are mostly aiming at each other-- and it's getting irritating.
It doesn't.
If you act as though police have "extra rights", you're creating a police state.
Cops walk right past "No guns" signs at the post office without taking off their guns. Yet they would kidnap or murder me if I did so openly. They believe they have "extra rights".
They drive past my house every day-- in a "school zone"-- "speeding", running the stop sign, and looking at their laptop to see if it gives them hints at who to molest. I've watched them stop and rob people for doing less. They believe they have "extra rights".
These are two examples out of dozens. Maybe hundreds.
Cops ignore private property, they lie to entrap people, they value their own life above the lives of anyone they are afraid of and will shoot someone in the back if that person chooses to walk away from them against their orders. Cops are scum.
There is no such thing as an "extra right". Every human alive has equal and identical rights. If anything, their "job" gives them extra responsibility, which means they may have to not exercise some of their rights while on the "job". Their responsibility it to die before they violate anyone's rights.
It astounds me that some people who claim to value liberty drool all over themselves to express their appreciation for police. Is it Stockholm Syndrome or something even worse?
If you believe cops are good guys, or believe you "need" police and can't protect yourself, I don't even know what to say. It's just sad.
I know of a situation where the manager of a convenience store is incompetent and is doing unethical (and illegal) things to hide his incompetence-- and trying to intimidate the employees into also doing things to help hide the fact he is doing this sort of thing.
The company is aware of the situation, but instead of doing anything about the dishonest bully of a manager, they are transferring the employee who brought his dishonesty and bullying to their attention.
They can't (or won't) touch the bad manager because of his "race". Even though it is hurting the company. Holding him accountable might hurt the company even worse if he complained and cried "racism".
Which he would do because he's already tried to use this against the employee who refused to do the unethical things he was trying to get her to join in on. She won't do the unethical (and illegal) things he wants her to do because she's "racist", according to him. She's not.
Knowledge of the situation is spreading through the company among the other managers of other locations. Apparently, everyone also understands why this manager is allowed to keep doing what he's doing without losing his position. If anyone takes the fall, it will be the peons under him.
I don't know if the guy is a DEI hire, but DEI or something like it is now keeping him in his job. It's certainly not his job performance.
The business can do what the executives believe is in the company's best interests. Even if others disagree and believe they are shooting themselves in the foot. Time will tell. I hope their blatant racism comes back to bite them. (And, no, the employee who is being transferred hasn't said it's due to racism, even though it clearly is. She only mentioned the "racism" angle when saying he'd thrown that in her face.)
I wouldn't want to work for a company that I know does something like this. I wouldn't want to trade with this company, knowing it keeps managers who are doing things that could potentially give customers food poisoning, just to keep a crooked manager from running to a lawyer, crying "Wa! Wa! Boohoo! I'm a victim of racism!" No, sir; you've been shielded from the consequences of your actions by racism. You're a beneficiary of racism, not its victim.
Racism is usually (these days) political, and politics makes people stupid, and usually a bit evil, too.
We don't all use the same transparency.
For example, in one corner of the reality diagram, there's the observation "Humans are prone to seek to rule or be ruled". No wishful thinking will change this, but the transparency you place over it affects how you handle it.
Most people-- being statists-- would place a transparency over this that expresses their opinions as to who should rule or how they should rule. Much fighting goes on over different ideas of who should rule and how they should rule. This explains most of the statist infighting.
My transparency would observe that "There is no such thing as a right to archate; everyone has a right to defend themselves from archation".
No one has the right to rule another, and everyone has the right to refuse to comply-- and resist-- if the rules/rulers are intolerable and violate their natural human rights. Besides overlaying the part that says "Humans are prone to seek to rule or be ruled", that corner of my transparency would also cover "Humans tend to take property from others", "Some humans murder", and so forth. It's really all the same thing, just framed differently. Liberty covers it all.
Statist transparencies automatically lead to arguments and to wars. They lead to theft, kidnapping, murder, and governing. They are deceptive and harmful to humanity. You can acknowledge they exist, but give them no further attention.
This Liberty Transparency is more congruent with the underlying reality and with human nature than the various versions of statist transparencies; there's less conflict and none of the heavy-handed trying to force things to fit.
The first thing is to not care about their opinions. Remember, they've formed their opinions out of the lies they listen to and tell each other. You don't have to pretend their opinions are valid when they aren't valid.
Yes, they'll base legislation or "extra-legal" attacks aimed at us on their bad opinions, and you can care about that, and take steps to defend your life, liberty, and property from them, but their opinions are not worth fighting.
If they could be reasoned out of statism, they wouldn't be statists. Statism is absurd and ridiculous; they've been shown the disproofs of the superstition they choose to stick with. They've rejected the truth multiple times because it's not what they want to hear. Their choice. You've got better, more important things to do.
Here's the nice thing: You can be a good, responsible person without their cooperation. It's what's great about the ZAP: it doesn't require the cooperation of the bad guys. It's all you. They can try to argue against it. No dice. They can try to dream up hypothetical exceptions. Wishful thinking. They can try to force you to go along- which means they've lost.
Don't comply if you don't have to. If you're looking down the barrel of their gun, do what you have to, but don't let them think you agree with them in any way when you don't. "Under duress" cheapens their victory, even if they pretend otherwise. And they can't watch you and me all the time. The more they tighten their grip, etc.
You can keep prepping, so as to be an asset and not a burden. Let the statists shirk their responsibility and be a burden if TSHTF. You'd think the lessons of 2020 would have stuck, but it seems like most of them had already forgotten before 2021. You can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn. If it means more of them die because they counted on Daddy Government to save them, well, maybe that increases liberty somewhat. Again, it's a choice they've made. You aren't responsible for them all.
If you're able to gather a few friends who know which way's up, all the better. It helps mentally and emotionally, if nothing else. And other people will always have strengths you lack; you don't have every piece of the puzzle.
Don't be too quick to trust too deeply, though. There will always be snakes in the grass who empower the enemy because of their cowardice, weakness, or ethical shortcomings. Don't rely on them and don't keep them in your circle once they've shown who they are.
I keep suspecting that harder times are coming. It can be depressing if you don't remember that we have strengths that are completely inaccessible to statists. The truth is on our side.
Are they that gullible? Are they brain-damaged? Do they want those things to be true so badly that they choose to believe them?
I don't know. Maybe it's a combination of things. I mean, there are smart statists and dumb statists, so there's bound to be differences in why they wallow in the lies.
It can be amusing to observe statists wallowing in lies and seeing the smarter ones pretending they don't notice.
The scary thing is to think they may not be pretending!
On a post arguing against boys in girls' sports and on girls' teams, I made the suggestion:
"If they divided sports by strength, weight, and ability it would probably still work and be safe for girls. You'd have weak, scrawny boys on the same team with strong, capable girls. Regular guys would just be on teams with other guys."
Liberty is under attack from every direction and someone is cheering for every violation, no matter how horrible.
Life, liberty, and property are all in danger, often from "both sides" [sic]. The attacks seem to be ramping up.
It’s crazy. Or is it?
Is it possible the few who care are the crazy ones?
I don't think so, but I wouldn't, would I?
If she weren't someone I feel somewhat responsible for, in a convoluted way, I wouldn't care that she lives in a complete fantasy world, hiding from anything real. As it is, I feel bad that there's no way to get through to her. Any attempt is instantly shut down with "I don't care about that".
Which might explain why she believes it's "too easy" to buy and carry a gun because there are "no laws" regulating it, why she's confident she can defeat any attackers with only her keys (while walking in Condition White, listening to headphones blasting angry music), and why she has fallen for all manner of things the w0ke want everyone to believe. Really harmful, ridiculous stuff. Because she doesn't like the real world.
Reality wasn't kind to her. She grew up in an abusive, neglectful home. Spent all her time playing video games and being angry and resentful. She hasn't really grown past that, even though she's nearing 40.
In the past I've tried to get her interested in real world stuff that she might find interesting. She won't even give any of it a try. She'd rather submerge herself in Marvel characters and obsessively collect their Disney merchandise. And watch gruesome, brutal horror movies-- she likes cinematic cruelty. She also dives into her job, which is good, except that she overestimated her competence (and dominance)-- and this is now coming back to bite her. She has run full-speed into painful reality.
I won't write her off, but I also know I've tried and been rebuffed. People are ultimately responsible for themselves, even if they've had a rough past. Often, caring isn't enough.
I can understand why someone might not like reality. But it's there to affect you whether you pay attention to it or not. And, by not paying attention to it, you're going to get hit harder than if you see it coming and prepare. Or at least duck. But, if you refuse to acknowledge reality, how can you realize this?
Seeing what people online believe makes me think this may be a lot more common than I wish it were. Gird your loins. It's going to get worse before it gets better-- if it ever does.
When it fails, it fails big.
Although, sometimes the way it works is worse than if it hadn't worked at all.
Government was supposed to protect the rights of the people, yet it became the primary threat to those rights. No freelance serial killer or mass murderer could even come close to government's body count. No cruel slavemaster in history approached the indifferent cruelty of government toward those it acts as though it owns.
Government makes up rules it claims will protect people from criminals, but those rules make people powerless against criminals.
It says it is protecting the environment, but remains the worst despoiler of the natural world that the world has ever seen.
It "protects" private property from crooks by stealing a percentage of our private property- and ALL of our property if we fail to pay the entire amount of the extortion.
It makes up rules to "protect" children; rules which hand them over to their worst enemies to do with as they please.
It "protects" us by making sure there's nothing left to protect.
We would all be better off without this sort of "help".
As with all such examples, a comprehensive list would be endless.
Government is literally the WORST. No one needs it except the criminals who are too cowardly to go freelance.
They were never really stranded or abandoned; their plans changed.
They were rolled into "Crew 9" months ago and are being replaced by "Crew 10"-- to come home soon-- as has been scheduled for months now.
I have very little (if any) respect for NASA and the MIC clods of Boeing. But this "stranded" and "rescued" business is just dumb.
Now, it's possible there were some off-the-record discussions-- and probably some sneakiness and politics (but I repeat myself)-- but you and I will never hear the truth about all that. None of this is the breaking news it is being framed as.
Nothing new is happening that wasn't planned for and publicly discussed months ago. Only people who don't keep up with such things-- such as the media-- could think otherwise.
In my family, the TDS sufferers have mostly withdrawn into their own pod, probably due to how emboldened the Trumpies in the family have become.
The Trumpies are even trying to "gotcha" me with things that don't apply to me- "straw men".
I still try to mind my own business.
DemoCRAPublicans are right when they are right and wrong the rest of the time. It doesn't matter which government-supremacist pod they belong to. When they are on the side of individual rights and liberty, they are on the good side, no matter their other beliefs.
Remind me again why I don't live in a cave in the wilderness. Because this youthful wish of mine keeps looking like it would have been the wiser choice. Even though I would be dead if not for modern medical procedures.
I guess I need to find a wilderness cave to retreat to occasionally. Or dig my own.
I had some of those methanol food warmers and went to use one to heat some water and discovered they were all dry. No biggie-- I stuffed one with cotton, filled it with 91% rubbing alcohol... and discovered it had a leak in the bottom from a tiny hole. I switched the alcohol-soaked cotton to a second one that was also dry, but didn't seem to have a hole, and got a kettle of water boiling with it in seven and a half minutes.
Of course, I also discovered that the improvised stand I place over the warmers to set cups or pans on is missing, so I had to make another. No clue where it went since I always keep it with the warmers and candles. It just wasn't there. I suspect that someone else in the house didn't know what it was for and moved it or got rid of it.
Everything else worked as I wanted. It's good to have a "prepper's drill" from time to time. My daughter found out she can survive without electronics-- but she doesn't enjoy it.
I would have been content to have the power stay off a while longer.
During the height of the storm, I ventured forth into the brown, gravelly wind to get the mail and check on my parents-- we also had no cell service. While I was there, a trampoline came over a fence into the alley. It later disappeared without ending up in my parents' yard.
There's plenty of damage around town. I had to chain a neighbor's gate in place before the wind beat it to pieces (it had already destroyed the latch)-- and I notice her shed roof is ripping off. My parents lost a section of rain gutter. I saw a trailer house that was losing its siding, exposing the insulation and studs. And a car port roof that broke apart and fell on the car parked under it. I saw a lot more damage.
I'm hoping I don't have any roof damage. (I'm not seeing any, but it's hard to see with the sand blowing in my eyes.)
The wind is still howling as I write this Friday evening. The house is creaking and the cats are upset- one keeps throwing up and I think it's from nerves. This isn't the worst wind we've gone through here, though.
I've seen 3 people reporting on X that they've been "swatted" in just the past couple of days. All of them on the "conservative" side.
Since their side is more likely to be licking the jackboots of the cops who do the swatting, it's tempting to say they shouldn't complain. But they do, and I don't blame them a bit. You don't do that to anyone. Not ever.
Calling the cops on someone means you're OK with them being murdered. Whether it's a "Swatting" or a "wellness check". Ignorance or desperation often leads to wellness check tragedies, but intentional evil leads to "Swattings".
Yes, "conservatives" are also doing evil things and encouraging evil policies. They are also sending legislation enforcers after people, risking their lives. Two wrongs don't make a right, and "swatting" someone is evil in the extreme. Politics makes people stupid, and often evil as well.
If you think it's a good idea to "SWAT" someone, it means you know you can't win as long as those on the other side are alive and free to speak. It's an admission of your failure as a human being. It's an admission of the failure of the ideas you espouse. It's the act of embracing evil.
"Swatting" someone-- attempting to have them murdered-- also means they have the right to defend themselves from the credible threat you pose to their life, liberty, and property. If you then reap the consequences of your actions, no one will grieve.
Advice on how to fix things is usually appreciated. You are trying to replace a defective whatchamacallit on your widget, and you're stuck. Online videos haven't helped. So, you reach out and people offer suggestions on how to fix it. Either it works, or it doesn't. It's either within your ability, or you know to pay a more experienced person to do it for you.
But, when things are messed up in your life, most of the advice isn't that helpful, even when well-meaning. Unlike a widget- the exact specs of which are known, or accessible, to many- there are circumstances about your life you haven't made public. What works for one person in a different situation may be impossible for you to do under your individual circumstances.
I think this is one difference in how statists see libertarian solutions.
We know the solutions will work if put into play. Repecting liberty always works. We are offering advice on how to fix a broken widget (a system).
Statists believe we are telling them how to fix themselves.
Sometimes this is because they are so invested in the broken widget that they feel it is a part of themselves. They want a government to work because they identify with it. "Our country", "my president", "our government", and other not-so-subtle hints will expose this feeling they have.
It's hard to get someone like this to admit there's a deeper problem than just having the wrong politicians in power today. They feel like you're telling them there's a problem with themselves.
Yes, I know they are ugly-- to me, that's part of the appeal: the Mad Max factor.
I also know politically addled stupid people are attacking Cybertrucks around the country. I don't think anyone around here would do so. I think it would be a mistake on their part to mess with anyone's vehicles of any type in this region during daylight, with cameras rolling. I think they would be cured of their stupidity real quick. It could be interesting, though.
I've heard people say Cybertrucks seem cheaply made. Is this real, or just an anti-Elon hoax? I'd say it's likely to be true. But if I had that much money, I would buy one to try anyway.
Mostly, I'm very curious about their durability, with regards to zombie hordes. It seems the opportunity to test them has now presented itself, and they seem to be holding up well, from what I've seen. Plus, the Brandon Herrera modification appeals to me very much.
I also have gotten to the point where it doesn't matter to me whether that individual said that exact thing or not. If it's true and smart, someone either said it or wrote it, because I'm reading it. It doesn't matter to me who that someone was.
Whether it's the alleged quote from a Japanese admiral about the impossibility of invading America because there would be a "rifle behind every blade of grass", which has been fact-checked to death as not a real quote, or Lincoln's quoted warning to not believe everything you read on the internet, which is obviously real.
Truth is truth, wherever it comes from. Wisdom is wise whoever says it. Keep the truth and wisdom; put less weight on where it came from. Because that part doesn't even matter.
It's completely true, and the faster you learn it, the faster you can avoid problems. Those caused by others or yourself.
No matter the topic, the people trying the hardest to make it political are invariably the ones who are most incorrect. And they are almost always advocating evil.
So, it you want to have the worst possible take on any subject, or if you want to seem like a supervillain, make it political and you'll be most of the way there.
Government needs to experience even more RUDs. If it is to be successful, that’s what DOGE will do- help government RUD.
It is essential for humans to become multiplanetary if the species is to survive. For that to happen, government must be stopped from having the power to keep us trapped on earth.
If anyone feels led to help with the expense, I would appreciate it. If not, that's fine.
Thanks.
UPDATE: She’s having dental surgery on Thursday. They gave her long lasting antibiotic and steroid shots. Her age makes anesthesia more dangerous, but it’s worth the risk to fix her mouth.
UPDATE 2: She's home and feeling pretty good. She was very happy to see us when we picked her up this afternoon. She had 6 teeth left; 4 of those were removed. She only has her top canines left-- and I kind of wish they'd removed those, too. just to prevent future problems. She has another dose of transdermal pain medication for tomorrow afternoon.
The aborted insult of "You're just a communist because you don't support my political party", when thrown my way by someone literally talking about "my country" or "our government" while advocating for government power, is too funny for me to feel insulted.
Then they claim I'm wanting Utopia while telling me "we" can only be saved by v*ting for their preferred political criminals.
These people have zero self-awareness.
I had one the other day ask what problems his party had caused in the past 150 years. So I gave him the first example I could think of. He then said it was really the fault of the other party's policies.
So I gave him a third example. He claimed it only became a problem once the other party was in power and started abusing it.
Then he started repeatedly demanding I give him specific examples to back my claims-- studiously pretending I hadn't already given multiple specific examples. And, of course, saying I'm a statist and a communist because if I don't v*te for his party I'm guaranteeing the other party will gain power.
He can't see that both "sides" work together against the people. This is just how it works.
I told him I've had the exact same conversation with people in his opposition party. Over and over again. And it was no more convincing when they did it. So he called me a communist again.
I muted the conversation at that point. Not playing pigeon chess with him any more.
Zero self awareness whatsoever.
These things are beyond your control, and none is better than any other. Praising (or rewarding) anyone for something like that is dumb.
Also, what you do with your genitalia is not something to be praised, as long as you aren't violating anyone else with what you do.
This brings up what is worthy of praise-- not violating the rights of others. When you don't stand in the way of their liberty. Regardless of the excuse you use, including if you use "race" or sex as your justification. This is usually better than "helping" them.
You can still speak out when you think (or know) they are doing something that will result in them hurting themselves. You can tell them, ridicule them, or beg them. Those things are within your rights, even if they don't like it. You simply have no right to initiate force to stop them. "Force" includes legislation; the threat to kill them with government.
