What is this official-ish envelope? UPDATED

Guess who got a jury summons (on October 9th).

Me.

Yeah, I know that even if they don't extort a plea deal, and the case actually goes to trial, I have zero chance of being seated on a jury. Probably not anywhere, but definitely not around here. I've been told some of these government people read my newspaper columns. They will not risk having me on a jury-- any jury. Not if they want the near-guarantee of a conviction that they seek. I would do the right thing, not the political thing.

I'd love the chance to participate, but that bridge has been burned. Honestly, I'm surprised they even left my name in the rotation. The list must be "untouched by human hands" and unseen by human eyes.

The last time I got one of these I was picked in the initial selection, but kicked out of the pool in the first round of jury stacking. That was over 20 years ago and in another state.

If you haven't been as visible as I have, you may still have a chance to monkeywrench the plans of the US police state through jury nullification when appropriate. Please exercise it when you get the opportunity.


UPDATE: Trial canceled-- settled before it went to court.

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skule vs Education

For a sizeable percentage of people, school doesn't "work". Not if you expect it to result in education, anyway.

I've mentioned before that many of my relatives work at government schools. One has recently retired, but has shifted into being a "substitute teacher". His recent experiences are enlightening.

This past week he was substituting in a class of 8th graders-- I don't know how many kids are in the class, but average class size around here seems to be around 25 inmates. For the past 2 weeks they have been studying some particular math concept. Friday they were being tested on the concepts they had been exposed to. The test consisted of 5 different tables, each with 3 or 4 math problems. The kids were to go from table to table doing the problems.

Out of the entire class, only 3 even bothered to participate. The rest ignored the assignment (and the "teacher") and sat and talked. The 3 who took the test all made 0%.

Now, maybe this isn't typical. But even if it isn't it seems obvious that to confuse schooling for education puts you on the wrong track.

Probably, the more important (to the criminals who control the schools, anyway) task of training people to think in terms of "authority"-- even when the "authority" is defied-- is taking root. I see that as harmful, and as yet another strike against kinderprison. "Authority" junkies would disagree.

And, I guess it's also welfare daycare. To keep the little angels caged, and out of trouble to some extent.

But "education"?
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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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"I do the job... I get paid."

"Give me liberty or give me death!" Wait, what?

"Give me liberty or give me death!" is a stirring sentiment, but it's wrong.

No one can "give" liberty to another. They can respect it or violate it, but it's up to you to live it for yourself.

And if someone doesn't respect your liberty, but chooses to violate it, why give them the option of killing you as an easy out? How is that good for you?

My cry would be: Respect my liberty or face the consequences.

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Reminder: I know everyone is tired of hearing it, but I'm still in trouble and could really use some help.

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Hard to believe in 'accusation market'

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 26, 2018)

I don't want to be cynical, but the emergence of a market in politically convenient accusations of sexual misconduct, made at just the right moment, is making me cynical.

It's as though people collect and save these accusations in hopes that someday the person they are prepared to accuse will seek a political position, when the accusation can be whipped out, shined up, and presented as a tactic to derail the ambition. If the accuser and accused support different wings of the political vulture, anyway.

I assume anyone inclined to seek political power is probably more likely than the average person to have bad behavior skeletons in their closet, but it all seems too predictable, too convenient, and too politically one-sided as well.

This "accusation market" makes me hesitant to believe any such accusations, regardless of who makes them against whom. And that's a shame. I know there are predatory creeps out there. I believe they should be exposed. But the timing of the accusations-- often decades old-- makes me suspicious.

It also makes me suspect many of these accusations are likely fictitious, created and released to prevent the other political side from getting more power. The passage of so many years makes false memories a near certainty, even if honesty is the goal. And when the game is politics, honesty is never the goal.

Before you accuse me of picking a side, let me remind you where I stand: I don't want any political side to have any power. I would be fine with it if everyone who seeks a political position or office were found unfit for the job. I don't believe anyone is suited to wield political power over others; least of all those who want this power.

It doesn't matter if I don't like most of the people who are targets of these politically convenient accusations. I also don't care much for accusers who stayed quiet and, if their accusations are true, allowed the predators they knew of to continue to victimize others for years or even decades.

Once upon a time, I thought "where there's smoke, there's fire"; when someone was accused of something of this nature. I assumed it was probably at least partly true. I'm less sure today. Today it just looks like the newest way to play politics and force your way on others. Is this where they really want to go from here? How is any of this a good thing for actual victims?

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"Guilty" of possession?

Mere possession of anything can't be a krime. There must be possession plus... something. What "something"? To be a krime there has to be possession plus archation--possession plus an act which violates someone, and mere possession doesn't. It can't.

Possession is passive. Believing this violates someone is basically the same as believing offending someone violates them-- it's like believing in "microaggressions". No one has a right to not be offended, and no one has the right to prohibit mere possession of something.

This was the realization which long ago ended my support of the War on Drugs; which made me realize it was really the stupid and evil War on Politically Incorrect Drugs.

But then I thought and considered this from every angle for a decade or two and finally came to realize it didn't end there. Mere possession of anything doesn't violate anyone, ever. I keep trying to think of a way to passively archate-- violate someone in some real way without acting-- and I haven't yet.

For possession of anything anywhere to be archation you have to have possession plus. Plus a credible threat to archate. Plus aggression. Plus theft. Plus radiation or some other active dispersal of something physically harmful onto another person or their private property. Plus something. Because mere possession isn't a violation of anyone's rights.

Just one example, concerning a hypothetical freedom of religion scenario:
You can possess any religious beliefs you want. You can possess those beliefs wherever you go, even when on the private property of someone with different religious beliefs. This is passive. No one can possibly be violated by your religion-- no matter what it is-- until you put your beliefs into action by actually doing something; by no longer passively possessing those beliefs, but by acting them out. By whipping them out and waving them around, as it were. You can be banned from performing rituals on someone else's property, but they can't reasonably (or ethically) ban you from passively possessing religious beliefs they oppose while on their property. It's just none of their business.
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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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Lies of omission

There is a disturbing trend in government schools and other youth indoctrination institutions to teach kids how to survive an unwelcome encounter with a cop. (And notice that comments are disabled on the video example-- truth offends these monsters. And the number of downvotes is also hidden from view.)

This "information" is, unfortunately, helpful. But it stops short.

You don't teach kids how to survive encounters with fast food counterpersons. Or even with other government employees like theft-funded librarians. Only cops.

Teaching kids how to survive encounters with cops is incomplete without the information that the cops are bad guys committing acts of enforcement-- krimes.

I know that since government indoctrination camps, kinderprisons, are on the same team as the badged vermin that's not going to happen. But by excluding that bit of reality, kids are being lied to. They are being trained that if they don't survive a roadside molestation it's their own fault for making the bad guy feel unsafe. The problem is giving the power of life and death to unaccountable paid cowards, not how compliant and nonthreatening you make yourself appear to those parasites. Never a hint that the bad guy is a bad guy.

Lies of omission are still lies.
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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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This blog is my job.
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A smackdown would amuse me

This is the one and only reason I hope the left-statists lose hard on election day:

The arrogance, smugness, and entitlement they demonstrate are illustrated so well by this Wall Street Journal photo from October 20, 2016. I didn't see it until a few months after publication-- it was in a stack of fireplace fodder a neighbor gave me. But I actually laughed out loud when I saw it the first time. And political stuff never has that effect on me.

Now, I don't like right-statists at all. They are enemies of liberty. All statists are: right, left, independent, or whatever. But I don't think the left-statists have quite learned their lesson yet. So, under those conditions, I would still rather the left-statists not "win".

Sure, I would love it if no one showed up to v*te for any of these clowns. Or, if only anti-state candidates ran.

I probably still wouldn't v*te, but it would be an interesting and encouraging development.

But that's not going to happen this year. After election day there will either be a glut of left-statists or right-statists, contributing to the overall glut of statists seeking the opportunity to molest you and me.

I don't care about politicians. I don't want any of them to win and rule. But I still want the left-statists knocked down at least one more time. Just because they are so elitist, arrogant, and think they are so smart.
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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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Just leave your leg in the car

• Your artificial hip.
• A thought in your head.
• A letter in your pocket.
• A phone on your belt.
• A pacemaker in your chest.
• Your hearing aid.
• Your tattoos.
• A gun in your pants.
• Your cane or walker.
• Glasses on your face or contact lenses on your cornea.
• Dye on your hair.
• Fillings in your teeth.

None of those things are any of my business, and if I invite you onto my property I won't make the ridiculous demand that you leave any of them behind.

Even if I imagine I have the "right" to do so, doing so would still make me a self-centered, property rights violating jerk.

I know there are environmental conditions, such as artificially strong magnetic fields and radio signals, which could make it necessary to either leave certain things behind, or which make it dangerous for people with those things to be in certain places. Like how neckties aren't safe to wear around certain spinning equipment. That's not what we're talking about here.

My rights end where yours begin, and yours begin-- at the very minimum-- at the surface of your clothing/possessions or skin. My rights can't penetrate beyond that level; inside your personal space. That's the absolutely essential kernel from which all property rights grow.

If I'm not willing to respect all your rights I am not obligated to allow you on my property, but if I do allow or invite you onto my property, I am obligated to respect your rights. All of them. If I demand you strip naked and submit yourself to being raped as a condition of coming onto my property, that would make me a rights-violating jerk. Some might imagine I would be within my rights to set that condition, but I don't. To me, that's utterly ridiculous.

You may have a different opinion. If so, fine. I don't demand you surgically excise your differing opinion and leave it behind as a condition of coming onto my property. Because I don't imagine that anything you aren't using to actually initiate force or to damage my property or take it from me is violating my property rights in any way.

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Twinsies!

I see the left-statists whining that the "NPC" thing is "alt-right", but it works equally well both ways. Don't you think so?

It's hard to "dehumanize" someone who has dehumanized themselves. And nothing is more dehumanizing than collectivism. Of any variety.
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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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Well, maybe a slight exaggeration

I need to be a better person; more ethical. The more ethical I am, the more libertarian I will be. The more libertarian I am, the more anarchist I become. It's a process.

My newspaper editor says, with obvious hyperbole, "...Kent McManigal... is the standard by which all libertarians are measured. McManigal has zero use for government. He thinks we can resolve all issues one on one, that individual freedom trumps majority rules every time."

It's in the newspaper; it must be true! 😉

In spite of his confidence in me, I know I'm not there yet (and never will be). But I'll keep working at it. That's a promise I make daily to myself.
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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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This blog is my job.
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Actions matter more than identity

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 19, 2018)

Instead of worrying about who someone is, it seems smarter to focus on what they do. Anything other than their actions is none of your business and can't harm you, and not many of their actions are your business, either.

The color of someone's skin isn't my concern, nor is the language they speak. Who you love is between you and those you love, and your religious beliefs don't involve me.

I'm not worried about where someone was born or what government permission slips they may lack.

What people do is all that can matter.

I would hope people don't harbor beliefs which they use to justify violence, including the violence of laws, against those who aren't harming anyone else. Yet, unless they take action, not even those twisted beliefs can hurt anyone.

If you aren't creating a victim through your actions-- and being offended isn't being victimized-- those who oppose you are wrong.

What you wear, what you carry, what you ingest, what you do in your own home-- none of those things could possibly be any of my business unless it harms others or makes a credible threat to do so.

If you aren't complying with zoning laws, property codes, licensing schemes, or other illegitimate laws, I'm on your side.

Why would I care if you break laws as long as there is no individual victim; not an imaginary victim like "society" or the state? And, although I don't want you to harm yourself and would do what I can to help, no one has the right to violently intervene to stop you.

Those who worry about who someone is rather than what they do often complain about government until they can use it against someone they don't like, especially if they notice their target ignoring an illegitimate law. Suddenly, they are in favor of government violence. If they weren't against the person, they wouldn't care about the law. Hypocrisy is ugly.

But what if you fervently believe you need to meddle in someone else's life? Do I care why you do the wrong thing? No. I only care that you act to violate someone's life, liberty, or property. Your excuses don't matter.

Whoever you are is fine with me. Anything you do is OK with me as long as you aren't harming someone, even if I don't understand it. It's a waste of time to fret over shallow things which can't possibly matter. You be you; that's good enough.

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Assume government?

When someone asks what government ("The State") "thinks" on some issue-- what the "law" says or what the general statist thinking [sic] is-- my first thought is always along the lines of "Who gives a ...?"

And I'm not only talking about whether or not something is "illegal".

So many people assume government. I assume liberty.

They can't imagine liberty, so they obsess over this or that justification for governing others. They feel the need to know what George Washington said about some subject before they can form an opinion about it. They worry over what the Constitution says. They can't consider anything outside the box of what some long-dead statist molester believed.

They act as though they believe government is to be considered first. Anything else comes later, if there's still room. They pretend discussing government is the adult thing to do. They are misguided.

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Reminder: I could really use some help.

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Fauxcahontas, Grey Owl, and Dull 'Hawk

So, professional archator Elizabeth Warren may have a trace of Native DNA-- assuming the expert who interpreted the results of her DNA test isn't politically motivated to confirm (however trivially) her claims. A trace doesn't make her Native.

If it was an honest mistake on her part, that's easy to understand.

If it was an intentional lie, it was worse than that of Grey Owl. Much worse.

She used the claim, whether an honest mistake or a lie, as some sort of entitlement to govern people other than herself. That's wrong on every level.

My mountainman name, Dull 'Hawk, has been mistaken for an "indian name", but I've never claimed it is. It's just the mountainman style. I have a respect for many Native things, while not idealizing them in any way.

I had been told my whole life that I had Native ancestry. From both sides. My dad's adoption paperwork even said so. But a couple of years ago, both my parents had DNA analysis done, and there's not a trace from either of them. (So much for government record inerrancy.)

I was surprised, but it really made no difference.

I am curious whether, had our DNA samples been somehow mixed up, the expert who examined and interpreted Ms. Warren's DNA would have found evidence of Native ancestry in a sample of my DNA which he thought was hers.

When I believed I had Native ancestry I didn't use that belief as an excuse to bully, boss, or otherwise govern anyone. I didn't use that belief for gain. I had Native friends who opened their arms to me, asking unprompted if I had Native blood, and I said I thought I had a little, but that wasn't the basis of our friendship. Two of them have said I have a "Native Spirit". Not that I believe in such things, but I accept the compliment in the spirit in which it was offered.

Yes, I like wearing buckskin and bone (or dentalium) chokers, but I've never claimed it was for any reason but that I liked them and it was a mountainman style. Same with my long hair. And, if asked now whether I have any Native blood, I would say "no". But I'm still me, and since I never tried to use it to my advantage or as an excuse to get anything from anyone, my conscience is clear. I was mistaken; now I know better. No harm done.

I wonder how Ms. Warren's conscience feels, assuming a professional archator has one which functions.
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"Proportionality"

--This post is necessitated by this and this. It expresses my feelings, not rights nor right and wrong. Just human feelings and emotions. I am probably wrong for how I feel, but it doesn't change how I feel.--

I have never been a fan of "proportionality", and have mentioned this many times over the years in this blog.

It is easy for critics to cry "proportionality" after the fact, when they weren't there for the violation and weren't the victim. It is also a wonderful hiding place for violators.

If someone shoots you and you shoot back, but after the dust has settled it turns out his bullet "only" grazed your arm while yours ventilated his cranium, that wasn't proportional. Shame on you for not aiming to graze. Right?

Or, he could shoot at you and if he has time before you shoot back, he could claim he didn't kill you so you had better make sure to only do proportional damage to his body.

Obviously, a kid stealing candy from a store isn't as bad as an adult stealing your car or backing a trailer up to your door and cleaning out your house. Yet, at heart, the acts are the same; it's just a matter of degree. The kid needs to understand the seriousness of what he did so he might decide to never do it again. If you pat him on the head and say "It's OK" you are not doing him any favors. Each situation will be different, including whether he actually understands that he stole the candy. But there needs to be some awareness instilled in the kid.

Because, yes, if someone is in the process of stealing your car I do think shooting him is perfectly proportional, whether anyone agrees or not. I don't want the child thief to grow up and become an adolescent or adult thief, because then I believe it would be a great service for someone to kill him. I would like to avoid that outcome.

To me, once someone has demonstrated a total lack of concern for your life (including taking your property, which you traded your life for) they have shown that you shouldn't concern yourself too much with their well-being. Your mileage may vary.
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Killing thieves

Is theft worth a death penalty?

I bring this up because it's related to my newspaper column from yesterday.

The only legitimate death penalty is carried out at the scene of the attack by the victim or a rescuer. Anything later-- including anything done by government employees-- is revenge. And murder.

Back in the old days, horse theft was a capital offense. However, unless they shot the guy in the act, it was murder (ethically, if not "legally"). For example, if they "strung him up" later.

The reason horse theft was treated so seriously was that horses were essential. Horses were a matter of life and death. You lose your horse and you may die because of it. Today cars take the place of horses for most Americans.

I think you are completely within your rights to shoot a car thief to stop your car from being stolen, even if "the law" disagrees. Probably not right to chase down a guy you know to be a car thief and hang him.

If it's a kid stealing candy from a store, then I wouldn't be in favor of shooting him. Same with a starving man in the wilderness stealing food from a cabin-- as long as he doesn't do unnecessary damage and tries to pay restitution.

But then, I'll never grieve a dead thief no matter what he steals, and not even if I consider his death to have been murder. I can separate my feelings from what I think is right.

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- I don't really believe in proportionality very strongly. I'll say more about that in tomorrow's post.

But maybe I'm just overly emotional about thieves at the moment.

Just a few weeks ago my mom's last remaining uncle-- the last of that generation of the family, at 94 years old-- had everything stolen from his house. Everything. Inside and outside. He has been living with his daughter since his wife died and only going out to his house once a week or so to check on things. Someone knew and used the opportunity to clean him out. Would I have shot the thief had I caught him in the act?

Fortunately for my mom's uncle, upon finding out about the theft, his granddaughter decided to cruise through a trashy part of town along the main road from his house. Over a fence as she drove along, she recognized her grandfather's pickup. Looking over the fence, she also saw his lawnmower and other stuff. She called the cops and they all went inside and found all his possessions (along with a lot of other people's stuff, too). They didn't find anyone there, but they took all the surveillance cameras (he had many of them watching every bit of his property) and got video of the thief bringing the stolen items to the house (not the sharpest guy, apparently). The cops know who the guy is, and said he's on probation. Do you think I would be sad if someone killed this guy, whether or not it was defense? As long as he lives, he's going to be a thief. He needs to be dead.

But, would it be right to kill him? Not unless he's caught in the act, and some would say, not for "only stealing". I suppose there's room for debate.
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Reaching out-- with updates

Lots of recent medical bills mean I'm severely short of money*.

I realize no one wants to hear that.

If you can't help, or don't care, or don't want to help, etc. then I'm not talking to you. Go in peace.

If you want to help and can help, then I would sure appreciate it.

However, I would rather not be the helped by the same people who are the ones who always rise to the occasion. I would prefer they sit this one out, even if it means no one helps this time.

Anyway, I hesitate to even mention how much I need, but it's around $500. Even more would be better, but anything would help some. And, at this time, Paypal is probably more helpful than anything else. Here's my link: PayPal.Me/Dullhawk

Thank you.

*Update: And I just lost $50 per month from another source, unrelated to the blog. This is getting disastrous. This will be an ongoing problem until that money is replaced from another source. Please subscribe.

*Update again: I just found out I will no longer be paid for the lawn work I do for my parents. There's another decrease in my income. Yay. I guess we can just assume this trend will continue.

Income always seems to decrease, while expenses always seem to increase. How is that even possible?

I sharpen knives locally-- that's the only thing I really feel like I do well. I'm not comfortable shipping knives, so that's why I don't offer that service online.
I sell things on eBay. Not enough to really help, though.
I also do some lawn work. (Which, as noted above, I found out I will no longer be paid for.)
I'm not just sitting around. But things are getting worse and worse, financially. I know I'm not the only one-- almost everyone who has canceled their subscriptions and given a reason has said it was because their financial situation got worse.

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What does "race" have to do with it?

There are a lot of things called "racism" that I don't think qualify. Such as the recognition that some cultures are "better" than others, or that people should be rewarded for their merits and abilities.

But there are some things not necessarily considered racism that sure seem like it to me.

Such as... I don't understand unnecessarily bringing "race" into conversations where it is irrelevant. Like if someone is saying: "This Black guy at work gave me half of his hamburger..." or something like that. Why mention "Black" at all? What does it matter to the story? It almost never does.

Now, if you are trying to help someone identify an individual, I can see the point. "Look for the Black guy wearing the fedora" makes sense. Just like if you had said "look for the guy with the big nose and long red hair". That is a basic description to help you know who you are talking about. It's useful information.

It probably doesn't really matter, it's just something I notice, especially when it comes from people very proud of their post-rascism.

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That's not a duck

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if something doesn't fit the minimum definition, then it isn't the thing being discussed. No matter how much someone might invoke the "No true Scotsman" fallacy to try to make you ashamed of noticing.

Ducks are not mammals, even if one type of mammal has a bill and lays eggs.

A knife is not a dill pickle, even though I can imagine ways to make a knife out of a dill pickle.

And people who don't at least reject the initiation of force (more generally: archation) are not libertarians.

This includes those initiations of force and property rights violations they really like and support. Things like "taxes", "tax farm borders", and other property violations; arrests, imprisonment, and other forms of aggression.

They might be really close to being a libertarian in most ways, but just like an ichthyosaur was really close to being a dolphin in a lot of ways, the differences blow the comparison to pieces. The differences break the definition.

Yes, I know recognizing this is intolerant of me. I'm not saying I can't work with them where we agree, even while pointing out why they aren't what they claim to be.

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High court's power unconstitutional

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 12, 2018)

Every time there's an open spot on the Supreme Court, a political free-for-all erupts to fill it. Those who believe they have a claim on your life, liberty, and property take the nomination of a Supreme Court justice very seriously, indeed. It's no wonder, given the power those calling themselves "government" currently enjoy.

Almost none of this power is constitutional; even less is legitimate.

In the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court decided to steal for itself a power not granted by the U.S. Constitution: to be the final arbiter on what the Constitution allows government to do. They stole this power so long ago that almost no one even realizes the coup took place.

That was the end of the Constitution as the operating manual for the U.S. government. The brakes on government were disabled, and now almost every part of your life is under some form of government control. Everything not prohibited is mandatory.

For any branch of a government to decide how far that government is allowed to control or meddle in your life is a conflict of interest. No one working for government should ever have this power.

The people are supposed to have power over government, not the other way around. As has been said many ways, by various people: when government fears the people there is liberty; when people fear government there is tyranny. If you have ever stopped to wonder whether something you were about to do was legal or not, though it would harm no person or private property, you've felt the birth of tyranny.

How did we get here?

Constitutionality isn't difficult to judge. The Constitution wasn't written for lawyers, but for average people. It's not up for interpretation or "judicial review", it says what it means. If a law limits what government can do, it is probably constitutional. If it limits what you can do, or would force you to do anything, it is almost certainly unconstitutional. Read the Constitution yourself if you have doubts.

Only the Supreme Court, acting outside what it was allowed to do, could have misinterpreted the document so badly, leading to a government which is at least 95% unconstitutional, and laws which are approaching 99% unconstitutional. Just kidding-- it's much worse than that but few would believe the truth.

Under these conditions, you don't have to wonder about the hysteria surrounding a Supreme Court nomination. It's a consequence of the power the Supreme Court has but was never intended to possess.

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Do you care if someone benefits "unfairly"?

A lot of people are very concerned with making sure no one gets anything for free. Very concerned with not allowing anyone to have the opportunity to be a "free rider".

This confuses and amuses me.

I do lawn care, with another person, for my parents. As part of that, we mow and trim the alley behind their house. I also trim around the dumpster my parents use. It isn't exactly in their part of the alley but is next door, adjacent to their part. No one else trims around it. But since my parents use it, and they both worry excessively about snakes, I take a few seconds and keep the grass and weeds in front of the dumpster cleared away.

Yes, I know this act benefits others who haven't paid to get the benefit; I don't care. But it annoys my assistant that I do this. Badly. She says that's "not our job". She doesn't want other people to benefit in any way from our work.

That's how the statist mind works. It's sad.

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Government is creepy

Feel free to ignore the LP plug on the bottom; it doesn't change the truth of the rest.

So, imagine you were in a relationship with someone and they gave you this note. 

Imagine it was an arranged "marriage" set up long before you were born, by superstitious ancestors. 

What if the "partner" also refused to abide by the conditions that were put on them at the time this arranged "marriage" was written up?

Would you feel obligated to abide by these rules? 

Would you love the one who imposed these conditions on you?

How could anyone see this as anything other than maximum creepiness?

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Dishonesty and double standards

There's a mistake I run into a lot, in completely unrelated places. People labeling non-governmental aggression as "anarchy". And only non-governmental aggression.

Aggression isn't anarchy; it is archation. It's unrelated to anarchy.

Aggression is aggression, and it doesn't matter whether it is freelance or justified by "law". You have no right to commit aggression or other forms of archation. Period. Nothing can create that imaginary right.

If there is looting after a hurricane or after a sportsballing ritual, that's not anarchy. It is archation.

If a cop "arrests" a person at a checkpoint for "drug possession" or for having a gun, that's aggression resulting in a kidnapping. Nothing can make it right. Not your fear, not "laws", and not "safety". This is every bit as much archation as the looting. But even worse.

If one were "anarchy", the other would also be "anarchy"-- but neither is. They are archation.

Aggression performed by freelance idiots isn't somehow worse than aggression committed by armed government employee idiots. Archation isn't made better or worse depending on whether a "law" allows it or not.

Is this dishonesty, or a double standard, or is it both?

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Your rights end where the rights of others begin

You have the right to an education. You do not have the right to rob people, or force them to ransom their property, so you can have a "public" school.

You have the right to health care. You do not have the right to rob people, or force them to serve you, so you can have "free, universal" health care.

You have the right to control your property. You do not have the right to rob people, or control their property and consensual trade arrangements, so you can have "secure borders" and unconstitutional "immigration control". Other people's property is not yours to control, not "even" if you call yourself government.

You have the right to own and to carry a weapon. You do not have the right to rob people, or force them to give you the gun you want, so you can exercise your right without cost. It's funny that those who want to enslave others for "positive rights" always seem to overlook this identical argument.

The ONLY responsibility others have with regards to your rights is to not violate them. To not ban books, to not declare a War on Politically Incorrect Drugs, or establish medical licensing or an FDA, to respect private property, and to not make up anti-gun "laws" of any kind. If they are doing something which actually interferes with your rights, they are the bad guys. If you expect others to be enslaved so you can have what you want, then the bad guy is you.

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"Why bother?"

The argument that it's useless to abolish government ("The State") because someone will just come along and establish another one is very weak. And irrelevant.

Someday you are going to die. Does this mean there's no point in defending yourself from some evil loser who wants to murder you? Does this mean it would be pointless for me to step in to save you if you were hanging to the edge of a cliff?

Illness and pain are a fact of life. Does this mean you should never bother taking a painkiller or trying to medicate your way back to health? Maybe you shouldn't even bother trying to avoid getting sick or needlessly injuring yourself.

Government is death and illness in a (largely) self-imposed form. You don't need it. It's holding you back and making you weak.

Sure, some moron would probably try to set up another government if there were none. So? It's still better to kill off the superstition now and then deal with any remission later.

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Government and astrology

Government (by which I actually mean The State) is "real" in the same way astrology is "real".

They both exist as a collection of related beliefs. No one can doubt that the beliefs exist and this belief has effects. People truly believe in them and will argue about their "reality". They can point to the horoscopes in the newspaper or online, to the jewelry created in the form of the various astrological signs, to the "laws", and monuments, and giant buildings full of people. But those are just indications that people believe in these things and act on their belief, not that there's any concrete reality beneath the beliefs.

People actually alter their behavior based on their beliefs in these things. People choose who to date based on astrology and choose people to kidnap, rob, and murder based on government. But the beliefs are equally stupid.

In the end, you have nothing but beliefs and people willing to do things based on that belief, but nothing real holding up those beliefs.

Aren't you glad you aren't superstitious like those people?

That being said, sometimes it is necessary, when you are speaking to the believers, to refer to the thing as if it's real in order to point out the flaws in that system of belief. This way you can show that it doesn't actually work as advertised-- although they probably won't listen.

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Enough problems without government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 5, 2018)

If you build a house in certain neighborhoods in Hawaii, you run the risk of having your house swallowed by lava. Along most coasts, hurricanes and tsunamis are looming dangers. In mountains, avalanches and landslides are seasonal threats. If you choose to build in Moore, Oklahoma, remember that tornadoes seem to enjoy the local scenery, and build below ground.

Pick your spot, then deal with the risks which come with it.

Unfortunately, no matter where you choose to live on this planet, political government-- imposed on you by a ruling class or by your friends, family, and neighbors-- is a constant threat to your life, liberty, and property.

While the other risks are natural, the threat posed by government is completely artificial and unnecessary. People chose to create it, then struggle to maintain it in their minds; the only place it really exists. The government buildings (and the employees who inhabit them) are things the believers will point to as proof of government's reality, yet those physical things are nothing more than idols built to the idea-- concrete monuments to a figment of the imagination.

Frequently, the natural disasters are made worse by relying on this figment. A news story about the people of Puerto Rico, who were still without power or fresh water months after their devastating hurricanes, said they were questioning whether the U. S. government cares about their survival.

It doesn't. Government cares about its own survival. As long as your survival doesn't get in government's way, it is content for you to survive. Your survival takes a back seat, though. This is why the U. S. government has a plan for "continuity of government" in case of a civilization-ending disaster, but no plan to save America's productive people. Those who are the embodiment of government believe their survival is more important than the survival of the rest of the world.

You might claim having government around protects you from some bad things. Burning your house down prevents bedbugs in the same way, but seems similarly drastic.

The threat posed by belief in government is greater in some areas but seems unavoidable everywhere, and that's insane. Getting away from government is part of the reason the frontier has been historically popular, and without a frontier or other state-free spaces, there's a ticking time bomb which can't be defused. Society will eventually pay a price it can't afford.

The world has enough trouble. Why create and perpetuate a completely unnecessary problem?

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Should women be believed?

Well, sure. If there's reason to believe them. Not as a collective, but as individuals. And not automatically just because they are women. No one should be believed automatically, especially without good reason.

All women sometimes lie because all humans sometimes lie.

To believe someone just because they're a woman is sexist. You have to have a better reason than that, no matter what they are claiming.

Some women have falsely accused me of things in the past; claims they made as a way to try to get some sort of power over me. Most women haven't done that. I know which ones were lying; other people have no way to know. It would be ridiculous to consider me guilty just because someone says something about me.

And, yes, just like in all cases, I believe it's better that one hundred guilty people "get away with" something than to have one innocent person punished. But that's just me and my bias against punishment/revenge.

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If guns were banned

If you managed to ban guns, you haven't made any good people safer. You've only made lesser weapons in the hands of evil losers deadlier. Since anything is a weapon when used as a weapon, you can't get rid of weapons without removing everyone's brain.

Against a good guy with a gun, a 2x4 isn't terribly dangerous. Take away the good guy's gun, and unless he has something at least equal to the 2x4, and the will and skill to wield it, he's in serious trouble.

Remember too that evil losers have often trained their whole lives to aggress against others; most good people don't have that much commitment to learning to be defensively violent.

And that's assuming you were able to get the guns away from the evil losers, which is a fantasy. So the actual situation would be much worse: evil losers with guns against unarmed, or insufficiently armed, good guys. And anti-gun bigots are OK with that. They are your enemy.

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Politics is a symptom

If someone uses politics to force their will on you (or anyone) they have something wrong with them. Something's not right inside.

Pity them, but don't let them hurt you.

It's OK to defend yourself from them. Really. It may not be "legal", but it can't be wrong.

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I aim to misbehave

Click to magnify

Because doing the right thing, and refusing to do the wrong thing, are so often "illegal", I'm glad to be an outlaw.

How about you?

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Other people's emotions

I mentioned my own emotional reaction when exposed to nasty anti-liberty ideas, but there's another kind of idea which can cause a negative reaction.

Some people get angry when exposed to the truth. Angry enough they advocate using government violence to make people shut up. If you speak a truth these people don't want to hear, they want to make sure you suffer for it. That's evil and stupid.

If you make it painful for people to speak the truth, you will get more lies.

Some truth is ugly. It's not how you want to believe reality is. Something else would be nicer. Seeing truth of this sort can make you mad, but being mad about it won't make the truth stop being true. Maybe you can change the truth if you are motivated enough, and if it's a truth which can be changed (many can't).

People can also get angry when they don't like something poking holes in their beliefs. Even, or especially, when it's true.

So I can understand why the truth would sometimes cause a negative emotional reaction. But that doesn't make it less true.

If the truth makes you mad, you might want to figure out why.

Are you more attached to the belief than to reality?

Does letting go of one bad belief take out a critical piece of support for other beliefs you want to protect?

Of course, you might try to find a way to keep believing that the truth is a lie. A lot of people choose this path-- it's easy and feels safe.

The truth doesn't care how you feel about it. It is what it is, for good or bad.

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Sabotaged by emotions

Sometimes I really hate having emotions. Hating emotions? How's that for irony?

I often get angry when people around me express statist, sexist, racist, nationalist opinions. I don't want anger to be my reaction. I want to be able to laugh them off as fools, then (if necessary) wipe the floor with them using well thought out truth presented without emotion.

If nothing else, it would be better to annoy them with Socratic questions.

Anger gets in the way of that. It sabotages me.

So, recognizing this, I try really hard to get over my emotional reaction before I respond to nasty ideas. That's easier when writing than when face-to-face.

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