Politicians and their drooling groupies have, through constant repetition, programmed most people to fear liberty. This isn't good for civilization. It's easy and popular to say anti- liberty things, but it's wrong to impose them.

Is living in a backwater good or bad?

I live in an insignificant town in the middle of nowhere. 

Sure, this is the county seat, even though it is on the very edge of the county (on the state line) and there's a much bigger town in the center of the county that many feel would make more sense as the county seat. This town's county seat designation is a relic left over from soon after the turn of the last century; one I think it should happily give up. 

Regardless, I doubt invading troops-- whether foreign or US-- will ever march down our local streets unless they've already completely defeated the places that matter to them.

So, no matter how well armed I and my neighbors are, would it really make a difference? Would it be too late to turn the tide by the time any invaders (other than the embedded local government employees) got here? I suspect so.

I'll stay ready, willing, and able anyway.

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How to win any argument, no matter how badly you're doing

When you're scared you might be losing an argument, just reference the Dunning-Kruger Effect and say the other person is an example of it. This will show everyone how smart you are and scare away anyone who might have been inclined to disagree with your stunning intellect. 

I can't tell you how many times I've been put in my place by people using this technique.

They might even be right-- how would I know?

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More gun thoughts

• Gun owners hurt for the innocent victims of evil losers, but then we have to brace for the political criminals (and their ignorant supporters) who immediately start attacking us and plotting to enslave everyone with new illegal legislation. I'm sick of it.
  
  
• Demanding more anti-gun legislation after a mass murder is like hitting the gas instead of the brakes when parking in front of a convenience store, then being shocked when you crash through the front window. You're doing the opposite of anything that will help anyone.
  
  
• Texas is a constitutional carry state... except in those places allowed to violate the Constitution and prohibit guns anyway. Guess where the evil losers choose to strike.
  
  
• Even if some new anti-gun legislation prevented one murder or mass murder, it's going to cause others. It's inevitable and is not a net gain. The "if it saves one life" excuse is a lie.I don't care how popular the anti-gun bigots are, they are wrong, and they are the mass murderers' best friends.
  
  
• I hate anti-gun bigots and their orgasmic delight in mass murder-- and the legislation they plot which will inevitably make things worse. With a white hot passion. They want you to have to stand by, helpless, while evil losers kill the innocent. No!
  
  
• An anti-gun bigot whines to me that you can't be bigoted against an object. Sure you can! I'm bigoted against loud cars. The difference is that I don't hallucinate that I have the right to forbid people from owning them.

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Censorship not the answer to evil

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 25, 2022)

People like the murderer in the Buffalo, New York grocery store will always find justification to be evil losers. He would have found some excuse even if no one had ever suspected that government is trying, for political purposes, to dilute the culture with those who don't share it.

The way to fight such ideas is to openly discuss them, not censorship. If you choose to censor ideas, I'll think you have no argument against them...read the rest...

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A reminder

Anytime and every time you see a sign anywhere that says "no guns", what it is telling you is this:

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The statist obsession with control

There's another way of statist-think that I hadn't encountered.

I was familiar with the "You won't let me control you so you're controlling me" tactic. but now I've been confronted with the "You don't want to control other people so you're apathetic" angle.

What is it with these people and their obsession with control? Do they really imagine they are helping anyone?

You control you, even if you don't do it well. I'll do the same for myself. If you need help, ask. Anything else is uncivilized.

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On a completely different tangent... If I had the money and the temperament for it, which I don't, I would start a cat rescue in the area. So many strays and so many kittens doomed to a hard feral life. It really bothers me. There's a litter of 6-week-old kittens and their mom on my porch and one of the kittens is sick. But I just couldn't handle it emotionally, even if I could afford to rescue and try to find homes for them all. There is no rescue group in town-- the local cop will come pick up strays and destroy them if someone calls. I'm not doing that. Ever. But my heart hurts for them.

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"Common sense" is vulgar reasoning

So many people seem to imagine some legislation is "common sense". It "makes sense" to them, and they believe it "makes sense" to most others-- in common-- too. 

Which raises the question, what is "sense" in this context? Well, checking the dictionary, it means "what is reasonable". So, if it "makes sense" to them, they imagine it aligns with what is reasonable. In this case, common sense would mean a majority of people (or maybe, just v*ters) imagines something is what is reasonable.

Does it really seem reasonable to use legislative violence to violate natural rights? Yes, unfortunately, to most people it probably seems like it is reasonable. If they are scared of some rights and wish they'd go away, it makes sense to them to use government to violate those rights. 

It can't make it right, though.

It is never right to violate natural human rights-- not as an individual nor as a corporation/government.

Maintaining the "institution" of slavery was once "common sense". Most people believed it was reasonable to do so. Many couldn't imagine doing without it.

But it was never the right thing to do. Just as it is not the right thing to do to go with "common sense" to justify violating natural human rights today, no matter how many people might agree with it.

"Common sense" just means the common, ignorant, unethical majority believes it is reasonable. It's no coincidence that a synonym for "common" is "vulgar". Imagine being so evil you'd pander to that demographic to maintain power.

So, the next time some political criminal says "common sense", hear "vulgar reasoning". That is what they're talking about.

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Tolerance pushers most intolerant

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 20, 2022)

Tolerance has a proper time and place, but this time and place isn't all the time nor is it everywhere. Nor does everything have to be tolerated. Even the most tolerant person won't tolerate everything.

I was always a fairly tolerant person. I was never too interested in making someone conform to what I thought they "should" do. As long as they didn't try to force their ways on me or on my friends, I didn't try to stop them from doing whatever they were doing even if I thought it was "icky".

As I've gotten older, I've grown even more tolerant. "You do you"... as long as you give others the same respect.

And this is where I draw the line: "as long as you give others the same respect". Those who won't respect others won't consider me very tolerant.

There are certain things which shouldn't be tolerated; things which are wrong to tolerate. Violations of life, liberty, and property are behaviors I am unwilling to tolerate no matter who is committing them.

As I've aged. I've grown more tolerant of most things but less tolerant of some others. With each passing year, I grow less and less tolerant of those who bully others with any form of violence or threats of violence, including threatening others with government and its legislation. I simply have no use for such people. Trying to control the peaceful, mutually consensual behavior of others is a disgusting habit.

This bullying includes censorship, whether committed by government, corporations, or an individual. To me, freedom of speech is non-negotiable. The freedom to learn from unpopular speech is why speech must be free. The censors can spout all the justifications they want, but limiting what people are allowed to read or hear isn't a noble thing to do.

The strangest thing I see about tolerance these days is how those who push for tolerance the loudest are the most intolerant. Not intolerant of things which actually harm others-- things no one should tolerate-- but intolerant of mere opinions they don't like. They commonly use threats and censorship to prevent anyone from hearing opinions or facts they don't like. This is how you know they know they are wrong. They can't allow the other side to be heard or their narrative collapses. Censorship exposes the weakness of their position and they seem to believe you won't notice. But you will now.

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Too w0ke to survive?

I like electric cars. I always have. I still don't hallucinate that they solve all environmental problems (or even any of them).

But that's basically what some people have been claiming for decades.

Then, suddenly, the most successful electric car company ever is their enemy. Just because the guy who started the company stood up for free speech and then said some (truthful) things they don't like to hear.

Imagine being so partisan and blind that you'd reject what you've been declaring to be the solution to what you've been claiming is the biggest problem ever just because the entrepreneur isn't w0ke enough for your tastes.

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My response to the WHO pandemic response (whichever pandemic they see) is the same as my response to any cry for safety because "people will DIE!": Liberty is more important than life.

Adjusting to supply and demand

"Price gouging" is what the economically ignorant call it when the price adjusts to higher demand and lower supply.

To oppose this means you're OK with the first person who comes along buying it all at an artificially low price.

Or worse, that you'd have government set limits on how much people can buy.

Either way, no. Let the price move to reflect the relationship between supply and demand (and don't let government manipulate those, either).

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Unanimous consent vs. coercion

If you want socialism (and it doesn't matter how you define it) by unanimous consent, I don't care. Not even a little. Want to organize your family socialistically and everyone involved or affected agrees, then go for it!

If, however, you impose socialism through coercion-- which means you do it politically-- then I will oppose you no matter what your goals are said to be.

I'd oppose any coercive system.

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Gun thoughts

It seems to be a very scary world for those who aren't responsible enough to live armed and ready. Why should I let that be my problem?

Over and over I've seen them talking about feeling they are in danger all the time; the fear that they might get shot while just going about their lives. They live in fear that those around them might be armed-- regardless of the intentions and actions of those around them. They have many different "reasons"-- they live in a big city, or a small town, or wherever. Their reasons are conflicting, but they feel them deeply. Apparently. 

And it's why they want everyone else disarmed by legislation and draconian enforcement.

I can't possibly understand how they feel... and I've tried. 

Years ago-- just before the Klinton presidency-- I gave the anti-gun position serious consideration (bet you never saw that coming). I was tired of being on the unpopular side that seemed to be losing ground with each passing year. I decided to try on the idea that gun ownership was bad; that maybe they were right to want guns forbidden. I gave it my best shot for a year or so and every time I tried to defend the position to myself it just crumbled into nothing as soon as I engaged my brain. It just wouldn't hold up under scrutiny and rational thought. I couldn't be dumb enough to keep believing it.

It's when I realized I'd rather be correct than popular or to be thought well of by people I couldn't respect even a little.

I take responsibility for my own safety and for the safety of those around me. I'd rather die, fighting back with proper tools, than live in fear all the time because of hatred for tools and the fear that someone else may have them. That's a pathetic way to live (and die).

The fact that in Buffalo the armed guard was shot and killed when he confronted the evil loser doesn't mean that armed good guys are useless. He probably saved lives by distracting and delaying the evil loser.

One armed guard in a place is like one sip of water in a desert. It's better than nothing, but not sufficient. Just like you need an oasis full of fresh, clean water and a gentle, general rainfall in the desert, you need a universally armed population before there are enough people to engage any evil loser who decides to murder people. Even if cops were good guys, they aren't enough. You need to step up, too.

Any time some evil loser shoots people, the anti-gun bigots go nuts for a while, screaming for more of what caused the massacre in the first place (anti-defense rules). They want to punish the only people who could possibly stand between an evil loser and any innocent people he intends to harm. Anti-gun bigots aren't too bright, are they? Unless they are lying about their reasons. Either they are ignorant or they are evil-- or both.

I've seen a resurrection of the "I'm a military vet who owns guns, and I say no one needs an AR-15..." posts. If these are the people supposedly "fighting for our freedom" it's no wonder we have so little freedom left. Domestic enemies, one and all.

Whatever happens, it has gotten to the point where you have to choose between complying with bad rules or ignoring them and doing the right thing. Good, responsible people are going to have to be outlaws. Not violators of the ZAP, but violators of counterfeit rules that violate the ZAP. Personally, I think that's been the situation all my life, but it's getting worse. Getting more dangerous to be right. Are you up to the task? I hope I am.

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Anything designed to protect the state and its interests is harmful to you and to society.

Disinformation board is Orwellian

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 18, 2022)

The federal government's hastily thrown together Disinformation Governance Board was a predictable reaction to the "threat" this government sees in freer speech on social media.

Of course, free speech is not a threat to anyone who doesn't depend on censorship and lies, without opposition, to fool the public...read the rest...

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Too much specialness

"It does no good to be special if no one wants your particular manner of specialness."

That's a sentence I just read from the book, Everyone is an Entrepreneur: Selling Economic Self-Determination in a Post-Soviet World by Gregory Diehl

It struck close to home. That's because it has been the story of my life. 

I have no passion for "normal" things. That means everything I am interested in enough to put forth the effort to do is too "special" to be popular, with the result that (almost) no one wants it enough to pay for it.

I'm very grateful for the exceptions who do pay for it-- and if you get anything out of my writing you should thank them, as well.

Over the past several years I've tried to branch out and find something less "special" I can do that more people might want enough to pay for, but with very little success. I'll keep trying, because what else am I going to do?

Anyway, I do recommend the book I mentioned. It has inspired me to try some new things. It gives me new angles to see things from, and maybe it can help me find a way to deal with inflation a little better before the cats starve.

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If your solution is a political solution, you aren't really advocating a solution. Politics is never a good solution.

Predictable

The Supreme Courtjesters may be poised to rule on some gun-related cases soon, and many people have been saying it doesn't look good for the anti-gun bigots. 

That's how you know there was going to be at least one high-profile mass murder happening soon. The blood dancers needed fresh blood to dance in, and they always get it when they need it.

Coincidence or staged for political reasons? By "staged", I don't mean it wasn't a real event, I mean was the guy a puppet of some government anti-liberty agency rather than just an independent evil loser? Some of those who have watched his video say it appears he had professional shooting-on-the-move training. I don't know because I don't watch that sort of video. But would it surprise you?

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Freelance Buffalo soldiers needed

I don't know a lot about the evil loser in Buffalo who murdered 10 people. I see that the corporate media is calling him a "white supremacist". 

If he really believed others to be inferior (based on any arbitrary criteria), why would he have decided to murder them? All that did is prove he is the inferior one. An evil loser worthy of only scorn and ridicule.

I consider all of New York state to be a slaughterhouse zone, even though I know most places aren't quite as bad as NYC. Make it less likely that the good people will be armed and you're just encouraging evil losers to strike.

I sure wish someone there had ignored the anti-liberty rules and had ended his tantrum early. But that's what I always wish.

If you really believe you are superior to other people, act like it and prove that you are. Don't lower yourself and become a lowly evil loser.

And don't become a loser politician (a redundant term) by calling for more of the anti-liberty rules that protect scum such as this from their intended victims time after time.

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Liberty remains essential principle

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 13, 2022)

Liberty, as a principle, will always prove true. Respecting liberty always works, violating it always hurts. The truth doesn't care whether you like this or not.

Government's very existence violates liberty by interfering in your natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Some people claim government protects your liberty or "gives you freedom", but this is as nonsensical as claiming arsonists are protecting your property by burning down your house.

Anyone who limits your individual liberty, using any excuse, is your enemy. It works the same whether it's a kidnapper with a knife or a politician using legislation.

Liberty is freedom tempered with responsibility; the freedom to do everything you have a right to do. The principle of liberty is that there is no right, nor imaginary political authority, to forbid you from doing what you have a natural human right to do; whatever doesn't violate the equal and identical rights of any other person.

Your liberty can be violated without you being caged.

A government creating money out of nothing and causing inflation, imposing anti-gun legislation which always results in harm, or committing war violates your liberty every time, regardless of the justification.

When government counterfeits money through the Federal Reserve or steals it through taxation, it is violating your property rights. Your property is being taken; your wealth is being destroyed. This is a rejection of the principle of liberty; it harms the country.

A new wrinkle on the "tax the rich" scam is the plot to tax money people didn't actually make-- taxation proponents call these "unrealized gains". This is a crooked scheme; if it is unrealized, it wasn't a gain. This could hasten economic collapse. Politicians are counting on this collapse happening after they are gone so it can be blamed on future politicians.

And recent events in Ukraine demonstrate why the entire population must always be armed with the most effective weapons. You know, the kind of weapons President Biden says you don't need for deer hunting. It's not about deer, Joe, it's about being able to fight off people who want to violate your liberty in ways you wouldn't allow if you were adequately armed. It doesn't matter whether the enemies you need to fend off are foreign or domestic-- from Moscow, Washington DC, or your hometown-- your life may someday depend on you being able to defeat them.

No matter the issue, liberty remains an essential principle.

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Tunnel vision

In spite of what I said in yesterday's post, here's something I keep reminding myself: Whatever you see coming won't be what happens, or if it is, it won't be the important thing that happens. That, you'll never see coming.

You'll be watching the train coming down the tracks at you, and a bear will grab you from behind.

Don't forget to glance around.

  

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Dementia Economics says things are great. Never better.

I saw a tweet from the White House account praising Biden for how great the economy is. I called it Dementia Economics.

A couple of little things I buy regularly illustrate what is really going on with the economy. 

The price of one has recently gone from $1 to $1.70. The price of the other has gone from $3.50 to $4.25. This is just in the past few months. 

Those items are nothing special-- until I can't afford them anymore. 

One is something I need for one of the cats and isn't something I've stockpiled because it wasn't regularly needed until recently.
The other is something I do have a small stockpile of, but I like to replace it as I use it so that my stockpile doesn't shrink. If I buy no more, I probably have a couple of years' worth-- if I'm careful. Is that enough?

Those are just items I buy as a single purchase often enough that I know what the price has been. Are the prices of other things doing the same?

You know what the price of gasoline has done. And it looks like diesel may skyrocket... if it remains available at all.

Prices are rising, but my income isn't. It's not ideal.

Hold on to your hat. Unless something unexpectedly great happens, things may get rough.

 

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Shredding an anti-gun bigot's proposal

It's been a while since I gave "the treatment" to some authoritarian's steaming pile of editorial BS. It's time.

This time I'll dissect this "guest editorial": Firearms have no place in civilized society. We should repeal the 2nd Amendment by Paul Shriver 

"Constitutional Carry": What a euphemistic, "newspeak" concept! 

There's no euphemism (perhaps you don't know what the word means) and it's not newspeak. The Constitution doesn't allow government to forbid (or vet or license) the carrying (or ownership) of personal weapons. At all. In fact, it explicitly forbids government to have any say about weapons whatsoever (which is what you have a problem with). Making government obey the rules which apply to it is just the way it is, like it or not. 

True Constitutional Carry would remove ALL government oversight and control. Every speck of it. It does no good for you to lie about it just because you don't like it.

Passed to the governor for signature a day ahead of the announced schedule, depending largely on his political ambitions, not merit or lack, for passage. Next probable and equally "logical" step: Unregulated firearm ownership for every man, woman and child in America. 

I doubt the Indiana governor is honest or ethical enough to do what you pretend to fear he'll do next. I'm sure he's an anti-gun bigot, too, just like all politicians. He's just not quite as fearful and bigoted as you, and that upsets you.

Yes, unregulated firearm ownership is logical, and-- as with all rights-- applies to every man, woman, and child able to exercise that right responsibly and accept the consequences. Every human alive has equal and identical rights. Sadly for you, it's not up to you or any politicians to decide who is responsible and thus violate their rights based on your flawed opinion. Not even if you're a credentialed "expert".

Already, neighborhood and school shootings are "commonplace;" "ghost" gun kits and plastic, 3-D copier "homemades" are becoming ubiquitous; and "doorbuster" big box rushes follow every histrionic media saturation of mass firearm attacks and the Indiana Legislature wants gun ownership to be unregulated. 

Neighborhood shootings are only commonplace in those neighborhoods which seek to violate the right of the residents to defend themselves and their property. School shootings are rare. Very rare. But they are more common than they would be, due to dangerously ignorant anti-gun policies, like those you apparently support, which make sure that they are slaughterhouses full of unarmed inmates where bad guys can kill without fear of being stopped. 

"Ghost guns" are just guns; made the way all guns were historically made: without government tracking numbers and fees paid-- by individual craftsmen. It's what all guns used to be, and what all guns should still be. 3D-printed guns are the same: homemade, non-commercial firearms. It's not evil to make things yourself, but it is evil to try to forbid it.

The media (and anti-liberty bigots like you) feed the fear and demand disarmament which creates the environment and conditions for mass shootings to happen. If you don't like the inevitable reaction, why set it in motion?

Just because politicians don't want to regulate firearms (and thus be guilty of conspiracy to commit crimes) to the same insane extent you wish they would isn't the same as letting guns be unregulated. You're lying again.

Biden and anti-gun lobbyists "pussyfoot" around the only real issue — the "right" itself —while insanities are amok and lunatics run the asylum. We seem precariously balanced on a fragile tipping point. The time seems right and essential for a total reboot as the only sensible solution to the gun violence problem. (Gun violence being a redundancy).

 

The first part of your paragraph doesn't even make sense; it's what is referred to as "word salad". I guess "you had to be there" inside your cramped little brain to get the point you thought you were making.

Tell me, when is the time right-- when does it make sense to you-- to enslave the population? This is what you are proposing.

There is no such thing as a "gun violence problem". There is an aggression problem; the tools used are irrelevant. And violence, with the tools used still being irrelevant, can be the solution to aggression. Self-defense often solves the problem of aggression. If you don't like "gun violence" would you be happier if the aggressors used machetes? If not, why whine about guns? Because it fits your anti-liberty agenda and you hate or fear guns. You don't like people being able to defend life (their own and that of others), liberty (I think you don't know what liberty is and wouldn't approve if you did), and property (it's obvious from this whole editorial that you don't respect property rights) with tools you fear. Maybe this hints at your inclinations.

Firearm use is by definition a violent act (homicide when a human is the recipient) and has no place in civilized society. Nothing ever invented is easier to obtain or more lethal with less effort than a firearm. No reasonable person could possibly imagine that expressing one's feelings or opinions with a bullet could be equivalent to "free speech" or even exist as a "right" on the same piece of paper.

 

Violence isn't aggression. Violence (the use of physical force) is ethically neutral; aggression (the initiation of physical force) is ethically wrong. Most forms of work are violent acts. Homicide, when the dead person was the aggressor, is a good, ethical outcome. Or did you believe "homicide" was interchangeable with "murder", you silly illiterate moron?

Guns are easy to obtain? Have you bought a firearm recently? Not counting the expense, you've got to go through the criminal government's vetting process to be allowed to do something you have a natural human right to do. 

Cars kill with little effort. Drugs kill with little effort. No, government has zero right to regulate those things, either. The amount of effort isn't a real issue. If someone is being attacked by an aggressor, ease of use and lethality is a feature, not a bug.

No reasonable person imagines that shooting a gun is a way to express feelings or opinions. It is a serious matter to defend life, liberty, or property. You don't do it based on feelings or opinions, but on credible threats.

And yes, the right to own and to carry any type of weapon everywhere you go, openly or concealed, without asking government's permission, is a natural human right. No other right is more important, nor is any other right less important. Rights are just rights. I'm guessing you have a problem understanding what a right is.

The only real solution must begin with the repeal of the 2nd Amendment in its entirety and without delay. It might then be re-written in clear language as a privilege to be strictly regulated — the details to be worked out later by usual democratic means. This would include specifics as to legal and reasonable legitimacy of uses, manufacture, sales, types, and related products. 

Repeal the Second Amendment? Go ahead. The right to own and to carry weapons won't go away. It won't even change. Well, it might change to be stronger. The only reason the US exists at all is that the Bill of Rights-- all of it-- was added to the Constitution. It was a package deal. Alter the deal and the deal is OFF. I'm fine with that. Are you?

It's not the Bill of Privileges. It is a list of things the government is absolutely prohibited from doing because they are rights, which means it is wrong to violate them. They do it anyway, so some might say they've already broken the deal.

There's nothing good or civilized in allowing the mob, through democratic means or otherwise, to decide which rights to violate. Bigots like you often fetishize democracy (when it goes their way). 

In the interim, of course, all guns in current ownership, manufacture, storage, etc., would need to be recalled, and if not "re-legalized," eliminated. Some current types and uses, would be restored, regulated and licensed as appropriate with little real inconvenience. Thus, this idea is not anti-gun per se, nor in any sense extreme. 

This is where you expose your willingness to steal property from others. Just like any common crook. It's not about inconvenience-- it's about rights. It's not about what bigots like you feel is appropriate. It's simply not up to you or those like you. Yes, your proposal is anti-gun. Worse, it is anti-gun-owner and anti-liberty, anti-life, and anti-property. Nothing is more extreme than advocating a mass violation of human rights by an authoritarian government, even if it is empowered by mob rule (democracy).

Personally, I would not recommend self-defense either by pre-emptive or counter attack as an appropriate use, as there are many effective and less lethal options. Of course, under the new laws, it would still be true that if (some) guns are outlawed, only outlaws would have guns, but non-compliance would make (possibly) you, (former law-abiding citizen) one of them, now wouldn't it? (And good luck with that.) 

If you don't like self-defense, it makes me believe you want to be able to be the aggressor without risk of being stopped by your intended victim or a rescuer. What "effective" options do you approve of? Do they take physical handicaps into account? Is a quill and ink bottle an effective alternative to modern communication methods? Will you decide it is safer for people like you if you get to choose what tools they will be allowed to use?

I would gladly be an outlaw in your gun ban Utopia. If you make me live as an outlaw, what's the downside of embracing it fully? I'd never become a parasite like you, but I might stop caring about obeying "laws" that protect bad guys from the rightful consequences of their behavior. If enough come to the same conclusion, things would become very bad for people like you, really fast.

In closing, I remind the reader of the playwright Chekov's quote: "If, in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired." Also: "He who lives by the (sword) ... etc." Meanwhile, I and my personal gun: Locked, no bullets, single action, and not very accurate (and therefore little threat) remain very truly yours for peace, good will, and universal disarmament in our times.

Firing a pistol isn't a bad thing. It can be if the one firing it is a bad guy intent on aggression. If it is fired in defense, it is a good thing. Even something to celebrate when it keeps the innocent alive. If it is fired in sport, then great! Do more of that. Don't be ashamed of firing that pistol.

Having, or using, a gun in defense is not "living by" the gun. Do you "live by" the shoe because you wear shoes? You're a dishonest idiot.

If you believe a gun that is "not very accurate" is "little threat", you show why no sensible person would ever listen to your ignorant, vapid opinions on gun-related matters. Nothing is more dangerous than an inaccurate gun, unless it is a haughty anti-gun bigot who hallucinates the moral superiority to lecture his intellectual betters about guns and rights.

Universal disarmament will never happen. Humans have never been totally unarmed and never will be. Even if you magically eliminated every firearm on the planet, people would find or invent new weapons, or they'd pick up sticks and stones to use as weapons. Weapons are a necessity of life. The attempt to eliminate guns or weapons will never result in peace or good will. The opposite would happen. I hope my kids and grandkids are never unfortunate enough to live in your authoritarian "Utopia". 

You are an ignorant, dishonest monster of the worst kind.

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I hope the waiting is the worst part

As of yesterday morning, all the medical tests for my possible problem are done. Unless they find something troubling in the test results and order more tests. 

I hope they don't!

The doctor told me Monday that she suspects I have a benign genetic condition that shows up as a problem in blood tests. But one which doesn't require treatment because it doesn't cause actual trouble (beyond the trouble it has recently caused with the tests and such). Wouldn't be the first time I've been a medical oddity. Anyway, that was hopeful news to me.

Now I just have to wait for the results. I have a follow-up appointment early next month. I hope I don't have to wait that long to hear something. The waiting is the worst... unless you get bad news.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

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Neither side correct on court leak

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 11, 2022)

The recent Supreme Court leak is all over the media. People on both sides feel compelled to speak out loudly and passionately for whichever side they support. There is no debate; just a fight. For days it was as though hyperbole had become America's official language...read the rest...

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The rotting corpse of America

In most people's minds, America-- as the original concept meant-- no longer exists. Liberty has been replaced by permission, which can be denied. Every area of life is now subject to government oversight and control. And background checks and licenses. Things intolerable in a free society.

This happened because the concept of America was replaced by a state-- a political government that destroyed the liberty that defined the idea of America. It happened with the adoption of the Constitution, if not earlier.

"The United States" replaced America; took its place. You could say The United States is the rotting corpse that is left for all to look upon. The dead remains of what was once America; still a physical thing, but not what it once was. Not what it could have been.

When you hear "The United States", think: "The rotting corpse". Saying "The United States of America" just refers to "the rotting corpse of America".

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My "new normal"

The "new normal"-- the only one which really matters-- is that all my patience for control freaks has been used up. Whether governmental/corporate or private/individual. You're done.

I'm guessing that's not what they hoped for or intended.

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Texas marijuana laws are failure

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 6, 2022)

An excellent measure of whether a "law" is good or bad is to see if it prohibits something that isn't prohibited elsewhere-- especially, right next door. If something is clearly bad enough for there to be unanimous agreement it should be prohibited, I might give the argument in favor of prohibition some thought. Otherwise, the law is trash, unworthy of a moment's consideration or my support.

By this measure, Texas' marijuana "laws" fail. Hard.

The Eastern New Mexico News reported last week that Texas DPS spokesman Sgt. Johnny Bures warned, “I would caution folks about what they bring back from New Mexico and all states in general...Just because something is legal in one state does not mean it is legal in Texas”.

Bures admitted he was talking about more than marijuana; things such as firearms, fireworks, and other items governments have no legitimate say in controlling-- or are constitutionally prohibited from controlling.

I would add, as a counterpoint to his assertion, that just because something is illegal doesn't mean possessing it is actually wrong.

He is openly admitting to being involved in a conspiracy to violate your natural human rights based on the opinions of a handful of politicians. Or maybe, based on the opinions of an uninformed majority of voters. Either way, it's not the right thing to do.

These backward "laws", and those willing to enforce them, are what keep Texas from being the beacon of liberty it could be.

Unfortunately, New Mexico is no better. All political governments are involved in similar rights violations, based on whatever the political criminals with power believe they can get away with.

Simple possession of anything can never be a real crime since crime requires actual damage-- harm-- to a specific individual victim's life, liberty, or property. Any legislation prohibiting something is a bad "law". Enforcing it is wrong, even if you can get away with it for now. Eventually, you're going to look just as bad as the federal agents enforcing prohibition in the 1920s, and those enforcing runaway slave acts before that, look now. To some of us, that's what you already look like.

Do I think it's always smart to use Cannabis? No. Abuse of anything is stupid. Prohibition is legislation abuse and is worse than any substance abuse. In fact, prohibition isn't just stupid, it's evil. I never side with those who hallucinate the political authority to prohibit anything.

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I'm sorry if I'm not as cheery as usual. Medical stuff is looming so I'm really miserable.

Ministry of what?

Calling Biden's new "Disinformation Governance Board" the "Ministry of Truth" works if enough people know the book 1984. Which I somewhat doubt is the case in the year 2022.

Otherwise, it may sound like a good thing to the masses. I mean, Ministry of TRUTH? Great, we need more truth. Right?

But of course, that's not what its real job will be. 

There are more accurate names for it. Such as the Disinformation Dissemination Board, the Disinformation Protection Board, or my personal favorite: The Department of Lies.

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We're number 6!

The newspaper reports that the local area-- on the other side of the state line-- ranks sixth in New Mexico for recreational Cannabis sales.

Considering the lack of local recreational opportunities-- at least those that don't charge a fee and can be pursued without paternalistic oversight-- it's surprising it only ranks sixth. 

First wouldn't have surprised me at all.

Much of the lack of recreation is no one's fault. We have no mountains, no forests, no canyons, no rivers, no beaches, no lakes, and no wilderness locally. Just endless farmland and feedlots and dairies-- which, obviously, you can't wander on.

Other things are the fault of those who made up legislation to make sure people weren't free to do things they didn't want people doing. Along with the cops who've worked hard to drive any local bars out of business.

It's the number one complaint I've heard from those who have lived here for years and those who get stationed here at the air base. Nothing to do.

If you're interested in team sports (in season), government, or church, you can find things to do. I'm not, and it seems many others aren't either. Some of those have found a new pastime.

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Shirking responsibility

If you think something is wrong, YOU deal with it. Personally.

Don't send government to deal with it on your behalf. Government that those who disagree with you are forced-- at gunpoint-- to fund, against their own interests. 

Using government violence to impose your wishes on others is twisted.

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Embryo Wars

I've always hated the topic of abortion. I see it as mainly a way to divide people and make them fight (and act as though they hate each other... assuming they don't), even when they agree on just about everything else. 

On Twitter, over the past couple of days, I watched as a religious war raged between those who treat abortion as their religion and those who treat embryos as gods. I'm not impressed; it makes me question the future of the species.

The issue is perfectly crafted to enhance statism's power.

Both sides are political about it.
Both sides say it's The Most Important Issue EVER!
Both sides seem to be trying to drive me to support the opposite side as hard as they can, with each argument they make.
Both sides seem dishonest to me.
Then both sides blame me for not siding with them.

I can't. Both make me sick.

Someone who kept making bad arguments to convince me his side is correct asked if this meant I'm contrarian or just a fence sitter. I could be both. But I can't come down on his side of the fence based on that interaction.

It's why I'm totally pro-liberty.

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Musk may help end liberal narrative

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for May 4, 2022)

My Twitter account was shut down during the dark days of censorship, but I made a new account a month or so ago. Just in time to see all the fun and drama over Elon Musk's buyout of the platform.

The celebrations on multiple sides, and the meltdowns on one side, were entertaining. The melodramatic handwringing-- over fears of Musk doing to "their side" what they've supported doing to everyone else for years-- was great comedy..read the rest...

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When I say I dislike both sides of the abortion fight, I'm not talking about individuals with opinions. I'm speaking of the activists and the advocacy groups, and the arguments they use. Both sides.

I dislike both sides in the abortion fight very VERY much. My dislike grows stronger every year.

(part 2 here)

Keep your power

Donald Trump is an authoritarian who shouldn't have any power over your life. Surely that's not news to anyone, even those who liked him as president. Obviously the same goes for Joe Biden.

But...

None of the politicians who say things you like should have any power over your life, either. They are also all authoritarians. That includes libertarian (and Libertarian) politicians. 

No libertarian should have power over your life,
No anarchist should have power over your life.
No one should have power over your life...

With one notable exception: YOU should have power over your life, no matter whether you're an authoritarian, a libertarian, an anarchist, or anything else. You're the only one who should. You're the most qualified for the job, even if you're an idiot. You're still a better choice for the job than any politician.

If you force someone to defend themselves or their property from you, you're giving someone else power over your life. Don't be dumb-- don't do that.

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Don't cheat yourself out of liberty

Liberty is freedom tempered with responsibility. This means irresponsible people never experience liberty. Freedom, maybe, but not liberty.

They can't.

It's not that anyone violates their liberty more than anyone else's liberty is violated, but that the irresponsible people prevent themselves from experiencing liberty. 

By doing things they have no right to do-- things which violate the equal and identical rights of others-- which is a big part of irresponsible behavior, they are cheating themselves out of the best thing about being human. They are cheating themselves out of living in liberty for a little temporary freedom.

That's pitiable.

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Govern yourself so you violate no one else

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 30, 2022)

Life is too short to waste it trying to govern other people. If you're honest you'll admit you have enough to keep you busy just controlling-- governing-- yourself. Even if you have it all worked out and you are perfect, your perfection collapses the moment you try to govern someone besides yourself.

It's your responsibility to govern yourself. It's not your responsibility to govern anyone else. In fact, governing others is something no one has the right to do. Nor can you delegate to someone else a right you don't have. Being in the majority doesn't change this. A mob by any other name is the same.

Sure, you have the right to defend yourself and others from all violators. Governing others isn't the same thing.

We all know how others should live. They also know how we should live. Those visions don't often agree.

I'll give my opinion, obviously, but anyone is free to take it or ignore it. My only non-negotiable stand is that they keep their hands off my life, liberty, and property-- and off of everyone else, as well. Otherwise, they are setting themselves up to be the focus of defensive force. I'm not so self-centered as to imagine only my rights matter.

Long ago, when I was young and foolish, I thought it was a great idea to use government violence to impose my opinions on others. I supported legislation to punish-- and police officers (and a military) to fight-- whatever I thought was wrong.

I knew drug abuse was stupid, so I approved of having legislation to authorize government aggression against those who abused drugs. I thought it was a good idea to fight their stupidity with evil.

There were so many similar issues where I didn't like something, so I thought it was justifiable to force others to go along. I came to my senses eventually. It's called growing up.

My own life got so much better once I got over the idea that I should try to make others live as I knew they should. It's just another form of bullying, including when it is accomplished by voting for certain legislation or politicians.

Govern yourself so that you violate no one else, stand up for those being violated, and leave others to peacefully live as they see fit. Government and freelance crooks can't abide by this. I never expected they would. It doesn't excuse their behavior.

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Past time for an improvement

I feel uneasy about the future. About my future.

Maybe it's my upcoming medical tests-- I've been dreading May. Maybe it's the possibility of escalating problems with Russia and the supply chain. Maybe it's the lack of rain in this area. Maybe it's because everything I've tried to accomplish recently has ended in disaster. Maybe it's other things. Maybe it's a combination of multiple things.

Whatever it is, it's getting to me.

I'm about as prepped as I can be with the funds I have available. I still haven't gotten my garden going-- we had some late freezes that delayed me past the time I was gung-ho to get going. My fault, I know.

I'm stocked up on food and other necessities and conveniences. I'm somewhat stocked up on pet foods-- I could do better on that. The supply chain (and Russia-- short of nuking me) won't have an immediate effect on my quality of life. They could make things interesting in a non-optimal sort of way.

The medical stuff, I don't really know how to be prepared for that. If civilization collapses in the next couple of weeks, at least that will be off the table. A bright silver lining...

The lack of rain here is an ongoing problem. This is always a dry area, but it does seem worse than I've seen it. My parents had small sand dunes developing on their front porch last week. I haven't looked for them on my property, but they are probably starting to grow here, too. Most days the weather around here is either "Partly smoky" or "Mostly dirt". This evening we supposedly have a chance at "severe storms"-- with more strong winds, of course. The last time the weather forecast called for thunderstorms, we didn't get a drop-- they all developed east of here. That's typical.

Anyway, I hope I start feeling better about things soon. This isn't fun. 

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When you don't appreciate your "betters"

That sounds exactly like the justification that was used for not abolishing slavery sooner.
But go on; strut that wise superiority, John.

Also, this doesn't match my experience with cats at all. 

But then I respect cats and I respect their independence, I don't abuse or molest them, I don't try to control them arbitrarily. If I were abusive to them, I wouldn't expect them to thank me for it.

Maybe his opinion says more about him than he intended.

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I'm happy to see you happy

Some people only seem to find happiness-- or something they mistake for happiness-- by making others miserable or at least by seeing others in misery. They enjoy seeing others suffer, but can't share in the joy or successes of others. That's sad.

I've never understood those people, and I've known too many over the years.

Now, I don't want to see someone find happiness through harming others, but otherwise... be happy with whatever you can.

I like for people to have nice things happen to them-- as long as it doesn't come at the expense of others.

And if it does come at the expense of others...
Since I'm not a fan of punishment/revenge I'm not really interested in seeing those who enjoy hurting others suffer. Unless that's what it takes to make them stop. If their actions lead to their suffering-- they spun the wheel and won the prize. That's why I don't care when a cop shoots and kills an actual bad guy in the act, nor when a cop is shot and killed while enforcing unethical legislation. They both knew what they were getting into. It was a choice.

Not caring isn't the same as making me happy, though. I'd be happier if people didn't choose to be thugs or scum. If they'd choose a voluntary life, I'd love to see it work out and make them happy. I want more happy people in the world. There's no way that wouldn't be better for everyone.

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I'm not really a supporter of the Second Amendment. Government has ignored it to the point where it is mostly irrelevant, and it didn't "give" anyone any rights; it forbade government to touch the people's guns (and defense rights), but they do it anyway. However, if it can be used as a tool against political criminals, I'll happily use it.