It's very considerate of the idiots and fans of mass-murder to self identify as such by calling for more anti-gun legislation after an evil idiot (who didn't let legislation or laws get in his way) murders some people in a "gun-free" zone, such as a kinderprison, again. Otherwise how would we know who they are? Idiots.

Embrace the Omicronians...

... but don't install them as your overlords.

I was glad to see I wasn't the only person to be amused by the Omicron variant. Or, its name.

I went online soon after hearing about it, specifically as it relates to "Lrrr, ruler of Omicron Persei 8", and discovered that plenty of others had already made the connection. Warped minds think alike--isn't that the saying?

And yes, I think it is appropriate to ridicule this whole ridiculous mess. 

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Another Covid hallucination

I heard a Covid fetishist saying that it is selfish to not get the shots; that both the "vaccinated" and "unvaccinated" are trying to control the other side. Not controlling others in this situation isn't even possible. The "unvaccinated" aren't leaving the "vaccinated" alone while demanding they, themselves, be left alone.

The reasoning being that those who won't comply are the reason things can't go "back to normal", so "we" are imposing on the "vaccinated". I've talked about people who hallucinate this kind of thing before. Short version: that's completely wrong and is simply something control freaks tell themselves so they don't feel evil.

This also makes the wild assumption that political criminals would ever voluntarily allow things to go back to normal even if 100% of the people get the shots. They won't. To believe they would is delusional and shows a stupendous ignorance of politics. (I don't believe "normal" as it once was is even possible-- the past is gone.)

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Your employer's property

I can't imagine being an employee of a business and just allowing shoplifters to run rampant in "my" store. And mobs of looters? Nope.

I get it, this is mainly happening in California-- a place where self-defense is a criminal act, and defense of property is probably considered domestic terrorism and genocide. But I couldn't work there under those conditions.

I would rather act and get fired-- or even get arrested-- than to stand aside and let thieves do whatever they want. I realize criminals might even kill me for standing in their way, even though I'd be armed. It is what it is, but I can't be part of the problem by letting them steal and destroy.

If I work for you, I'm serious about taking care of your property. I feel the same about protecting my co-workers-- even the ones I don't especially get along with (yes, I've had a few of those, but very few). That's how I've always felt.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the smart thing to do is to let insurance (if any) cover the losses. But that's not me. I don't know how those California employees can handle it.

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Education must be separate from state

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 27, 2021)

I am a fan of education. If there were such a thing as public education, I'd be a supporter. Unfortunately, what exists instead is "public schooling". By "public", they mean government controlled, and by "schooling" they mean indoctrination. Schooling is not the same as education, but its opposite.

I oppose socialist, tax-funded government indoctrination and the compulsory day-prisons for children where it occurs. It's no wonder socialist and Marxist ideas sneak in to the curriculum.

I understand some parents need daycare for their kids, but that's a separate issue. Or should be. It also shouldn't be compulsory or tax funded.

Any education which occurs in these institutions is accidental. Kids are learning machines and it's nearly impossible to keep them from learning. After a century and a half, though, government schools are getting dangerously close to eradicating the childhood hunger to learn.

It's not most teachers' fault. My family is full of current and former schoolteachers, and one former principal. They are crippled by a system which shouldn't exist.

Another problem arises when government decides what it will indoctrinate the kids to believe this year, which may change again next year. Government usually sets itself up as the hero of the story-- if not the hero of the past, then of the present by acknowledging the wrongs its predecessors committed, while pretending it isn't even worse today.

The issue raised its head recently when residents of Portales became aware of the New Mexico Public Education Department’s newly proposed social studies standards.

The mask slipped, but the ugliness has always been there. Social studies is always the worst offender.

The current issue concerns the Marxist conspiracy theory called "Critical Race Theory", and its twin lies of "identity" and "equity". It's the latest example of the toxic indoctrination government schools have always spoon-fed their inmates. I understand some may think these concepts will make the world nicer, but one look at actual history and you'll know it doesn't work that way.

Government always hides and changes the history presented in schools to suit its interests and to sell a particular version of the present. Critical Race Theory is simply the latest lie used to give government illegitimate power over your life.

Education needs to be freed from government control-- federal, state, and local-- forever. The solution has always been a complete separation of education and state. Education is much too important to let government handle.

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The mandate pushers

The forcible-penetrationists and the maskerbators say anyone who refuses to comply with their agenda is the problem. That those who resist are the unreasonable ones.

If you don't participate in the Branch Covidian rituals, you are the reason "things" can't go back to normal, even though "normal" isn't even on the table. When was anything like this never-ending sickness theater "normal"? ... and I include the TSA's nonsensical "security" kabuki.

The mandate pushers are insane, evil, or both.

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The Aspen Institute wants to fight "information disorder". I've pointed out in the past that too much order is as deadly as too much chaos. If this group of authoritarian monsters succeeds, this would be an example of too much order.

Sometimes it feels like a problem to be able to see more than one side of an issue. It would be easier to only be able to see one side.

Holiday sale on Bitcoin! If I had money to spare I'd be getting more.

I'm too ignorant to have a good opinion

I saw enough "news" about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial that I had a firm opinion as to the correct verdict. I don't feel I had seen enough about the Ahmaud Arbery killing to form an opinion as to how that trial should have gone. Nor do I trust media sources to get the story right (which includes everything I heard about the Rittenhouse case, too).

I've heard two very different versions of the Arbery case. Depending on which one is closer to the truth, I could go either way.

I heard that the killers were trying to make a citizens' arrest and Arbery resisted. If cops can do it, so can anyone. If it's not OK for any goober off the streets to do it, it's not OK for cops to do it. That includes killing someone for "resisting arrest". That's just how it is. Cops can't have extra rights. So, if* it's valid for a cop to arrest someone or kill them while trying, you and I have the exact same right to do so regardless of the opinions of political criminals. (*That's a big "if".)

But, I also think everyone has the natural right to fight a kidnapping, even if you call it an "arrest". By anyone for any reason. Yes, it might be unwise to do so, especially if you're outgunned, but that's a separate issue.

And, I still think both sides in any altercation have the right to use whatever force they feel is necessary to keep from being harmed-- yes, even the clear bad guy. I just hope the bad guy loses every time without fail.

I also think people have a right to defend their property-- and their neighbors' property with their neighbors' permission-- from thieves and other violators. One version of the story I heard seems to show this right being exercised.

Otherwise, I don't really like convictions, just on principle. It feels like letting government win. So there's that. 

Nor do I like everything being sold as being about "race" and I don't like when the racists win.

So I admit I'm too ignorant about this case to form a good opinion as to how I think it should have gone. 

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Happy Thanksgiving

 

Those rights you defend

I'll bet you've heard the claim that "you only have those rights you defend", or similarly that you don't have the right to do "X" because government prevents you from exercising it.

This is wrong.

That's because rights mostly revolve around what others have no right to do.

Even if others enslave you-- which no one has a right to do-- it doesn't mean you have no right to not be enslaved. You have this right, but others chose to violate it.

You have the right to fight off slavers. You might win and you might lose, but your rights don't change, only your situation does.

Mostly, of course, I see this argument used to explain, in a statist way ("statesplaining"?), why your rights are routinely violated by political criminals. "It's your fault because you didn't defend your rights hard enough." Nice victim-blaming there. No, it's the violator's fault. Every time, without exception.

You have rights because no one has the right to violate you. That's all you need to know. I hope you'll do whatever it takes to defend your rights, and if you need my help, let me know. But you can't "lose" a right just because some thug chooses to violate it.

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Balanced living

I've said before that libertarianism is the balanced position. Various facets of libertarianism-- anarchy and responsibility, among them-- are the balance between the dangerous extremes of decadence and authoritarianism, deadly chaos and deadly order, and between nihilism and fascism.

One of the clearest illustrations of this has been visible in the reactions to the Rittenhouse case and verdict.

Only the libertarians get it. Again.

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Actions have natural consequences

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 20, 2021)

Actions have consequences. I can disagree with what someone does, and even believe they should face consequences for their actions, without believing government should hand out those consequences. Government isn't the proper place to look for solutions.

Natural and social consequences are unavoidable; consequences from government are arbitrary.

I don't believe government authority has any legitimacy. It looks to me like any other superstitious belief lots of people share. It's just astrology with a lot of guns and bombs and offices.

Consequences shouldn't necessarily be legal consequences, anyway. Social consequences don't require government, and often government steps in to save bad guys from any real social consequences their behavior earned them. This rewards antisocial behavior and encourages more of it.

Murder is wrong regardless of the opinions of politicians. The murders they approve of or call something other than "murder", are exactly as wrong as those they weep and wail and hold press events over. Government or legislation is not the proper way to deal with murder.

I believe the corporate social media empires should face consequences for censoring speech on their sites; I don't believe government is the proper institution to hand out those consequences. Getting government involved would likely make the situation worse; the censorship would only increase. Especially since so much of the censoring is aimed at silencing those who question the sketchy government story.

If someone has violated the life, liberty, or property of another, they owe restitution as a result. This is justice; anything else isn't. Government courts don't deal in justice, even when it's in their name. They deal in punishment, which is revenge. This is only going to make things worse in the long run, as should be obvious by now.

But without government, how would you collect the restitution you are owed as the victim of a crime? You'd better find a way which doesn't involve government unless you want to be on the wrong side. Using government to collect your restitution from the violator means you now owe restitution to those who were taxed-- robbed-- to fund the government you used. It's a destructive cycle which solves nothing.

There are better, consensual ways, to do everything you have a right to do. Find them.

All actions, good and bad, have consequences. Whether anyone believes they should happen or not, they will happen with or without government stepping in. Let them happen naturally.

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Truth is "hate speech" in a society of lies.

A system built on thuggery and cheating

I don't believe you can build a legitimate or credible "system" using illegitimate or non-credible parts. This is why no political government (or any piece thereof) looks legitimate or credible to me. It is based on politics and is political throughout. Politics is cheating.

Even if such a "system" gets something right on occasion, I see this as an accident, not as proof of legitimacy.

And, in the case of the Rittenhouse trial, the jury got it right, not the "system". The "system" allowed there to be a trial-- an attempt to punish a victim (an unlikeable victim, in my opinion) while portraying his attackers as victims. There's nothing legitimate about that.

Now, the prosecutor and arresting officers (if there were any) need to pay restitution. They wouldn't be able to afford the amount I would suggest they owe. I'd also shun them to death. But that's just me, and seems to be a reasonable consequence of being part of an evil, illegitimate "system".

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Politics is for the gullible.

What is wrong with some people?

I've got a friend of a couple of decades who is in a potentially dangerous situation with her roommate, and she's probably making it worse by dispensing with civility. They both have done so. It's a cold war on the verge of going hot. 

She's not worried about any consequences because she's cocky and because she keeps knives in her room.

She doesn't believe the potentially dangerous person or her friends can do anything to her. So she keeps antagonizing her, and the roommate is doing the same. 

To be clear, neither is innocent in my opinion. Both are doing all they can to poke at the other, making the other person as miserable as possible. The roommate has been using, breaking, and throwing away my friend's property, and picking locks to access my friend's bathroom for her constant stream of visitors to use, and her bedroom to get to kitchen utensils my friend bought and hid to keep from being damaged. 

The other girl has done things unilaterally to raise the rent, and my friend is refusing to pay the higher rent. But also refusing to discuss it or even tell the roommate she's refusing to pay the higher rent. And, still, looking for ways to anger the roommate. Any communication is through passive-aggressive notes left-- and ignored-- around the apartment.

They are refusing to even speak to each other anymore, letting their behavior speak for them. 

I see this leading to a bad situation, maybe even-- I hate to think this way-- murder. And I've warned her. Do you think she listens? Ha. It's almost as though she is enjoying this situation; it seems to energize her. Who knows what the roommate thinks.

She lives hundreds of miles away and there's nothing I can physically do.

I've been in enough sketchy situations over the years that I'm not cocky. I don't try to intentionally antagonize anyone, especially without a clear path away from the situation. I'm not going to assume the other person isn't going to snap if pushed too far. I don't assume they aren't sneaky enough to get the drop on me. I assume they could well have friends who wouldn't draw the line at physical violence they believe would help their friend.

But, it seems some people are dedicated to being stubborn. As happens all the time, I ask myself what is wrong with some people?

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Dr. Phil and all those court shows are porn for people who pretend to be offended by porn.

Would this solve inflation? Abolish all political government at every level, then burn/delete any FRNs or digital money in the possession of government. (Then open Fort Knox and let's see if there's anything left in there to be handed out to the people in restitution.)

Time's Up flag listing... fixed?

I just discovered that my Time's Up flags, which I thought were available for sale for the past month, weren't. I had paid for an entire month of "pause and build" instead of having them for sale. I think that is fixed now.

So, here again, is the listing. (Probably twice, as it tends to do.)

Don't you dare take your safety equipment with you

Demanding that someone leave their gun behind when they are going to where there is trouble is like demanding someone unhook their seatbelt if they see an out-of-control car heading toward them. It's like demanding they throw out their fire extinguishers if they smell smoke.

What kind of evil idiot would demand you get rid of your safety equipment at the moment when you most need it? Political idiots, that's who.

Anyone who holds this opinion wants you to die.

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The barbarism of the Branch Covidians

Someone I know made a stupid TikTok video (aren't they all?) with the song "Take this mask and shove it", and the comments were overwhelmingly negative. Most were along the lines of "I hope you catch Covid and die" (some hoping her child dies of Covid, too), and others were more focused on hating Texas and the Texas governor.

She deleted them all. 

I would have left them and ridiculed all the superstitious commenters. I would have laughed at their religion and its unscientific belief requirements. But this is because I don't ever delete comments (other than those from spammers, but those don't count). The only comment I ever intentionally deleted was one where the commenter threw a fit and demanded I delete his comment immediately. And I once accidentally deleted a comment when I was trying to read it from my phone.

The crazed, frothing hatred from the Branch Covidians is insane. And seems to be growing as their "pandemic" narrative fades. (The pandemic is over; it's now endemic and just something to live with. Note I said "live with", not "continue to panic about".)

Even a prepper blog I read has gone over to the crazy side. He basically sees Covid as an existential threat and he believes all the government's numbers and claims about it. Remember, if two people are in a room and one of them sees a unicorn in the room and the other doesn't, the one who sees the unicorn is probably the one who's hallucinating. In fact, the same is true even if the animal in question is only a zebra.  Or a horse.

Opposing mandates isn't the same as trying to forbid you from getting a "vaccine" or wearing a mask. Do what you feel is best. But the Branch Covidians are trying to convince you it is the same. And they want you to know they feel you are a murderer for opposing mandates. All over a silly overreaction to a virus. Some people don't even believe the virus exists.

I doubt it's all made up-- I think there probably is a new variety of cold virus out there, but I have no proof and no way to know without taking someone else's word. But I know for sure that the way the Branch Covidians-- in and out of political power-- are behaving about it is wrong. They are becoming barbarians. Make sure it doesn't end the way they'd prefer.

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A state government isn't the cure for authoritarianism-- it is a feature of it.

Six years. Every day it seems so much longer than that, and also like it was only yesterday.

"The science" is anti-scientific; superstition, science-denial. Anyone who uses the term either doesn't understand what science is or is trying to manipulate you with lies.

"Justice" or "fairness"?

Dishonest or ignorant people are actively trying to conflate "justice" and "fairness". That's not what "justice" means. 

Worse, "fairness" isn't even a real thing, but is a concept "invented so children and idiots could feel like they are participating in conversation".

But fooling people into believing the words "justice" and "fairness" mean the same thing is useful for brainwashing them into accepting injustice by calling it "fairness" and tying it to "justice". Who could admit to being against justice? 

Of course, most people would also say "Who could be against fairness?" I'm not against it; I just recognize it is so totally subjective as to be useless and ultimately imaginary. What I would see as "fair" another might see as "unfair"-- and might also call "injustice" if they confuse those concepts.

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It is NOT wrong to go boldly into a dangerous place in defense of life, liberty, or property, carrying effective weapons (it would be foolish to do so without weapons). To demonize someone who carries a gun when they go among aggressors-- and who only uses these weapons in actual defense-- is to side with evil. Pacifism isn't noble; non-aggression is.

Self-defense isn't a crime

If Kyle Rittenhouse had been a "black", trans, communist Biden fan who showed up to support Antifa, I would still see what he did as self-defense. The person and his beliefs are irrelevant to me in such a case. Those who try to make this about the person are trying to mislead you down a deadly path to right where they want you.

He was where he had a right to be, doing what he had a right to do. He was armed, as was his natural human right. He was being pursued by people who were a credible threat to his life. He did just enough to end that threat-- he didn't keep firing into the aggressors once the threat was ended (which would have been understandable under the circumstances, with stress and all).

Do I agree with his opinions? Nope. He's a copsucker and apparently a Trump fan. I probably wouldn't like him in person. It doesn't matter. Do I think it's smart to go to a riot, even in defense of strangers' property? Probably not, but I would hope strangers would help me if it were my property in danger, so I'm not too set on that. Either way, it was still self-defense each time he pulled the trigger. 

If I were on the jury I would refuse to find him guilty of anything, no matter how trivial. Just because they were arrogant enough to put him on trial. And I wouldn't budge. This is a line in the sand.

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Cannabis licensing smacks of scam

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 13, 2021)

If government claims it will finally allow you-- after you buy a license-- to do something you've always had a natural human right to do, but makes the rules for getting the license so burdensome, complex, annoying, and expensive that few will jump through the hoops, what was really accomplished? Was your freedom increased or was it a scam?

The New Mexico Cannabis business licensing scheme looks like one such example to me.

Some licensing schemes are concerned with controlling business to keep free enterprise from existing while others are aimed at rationing other natural human rights government refuses to recognize. Concealed carry permits and driver's licenses being prime examples of violating a right, then selling a license so the right will be seen as a privilege.

These types of programs allow government officials to claim they've given you an opportunity, and it's your fault if you don't follow through. Of course, if you dare exercise your right without the license, they'll call you a criminal and use government violence against you. What a racket. I'll bet other crime syndicates wish they could get away with criminal behavior this bold-- with the approval of most of their victims.

If government were serious about respecting human rights-- one of which is the right to trade without government interference-- it would simply get out of the way. No excuses and no licenses.

If anyone demands you buy a license for anything, they have no intention of respecting your rights.

Years ago, in another state, I tried to get a license I needed to expand my business and was given the run-around by every government employee I contacted. Including the one whose job it was to sell me the license. It wasn't that they openly denied my request, they just ignored me over and over and did nothing for months until I gave up.

When I see the ridiculous rules and requirements which have been imposed surrounding Cannabis businesses, I see the same sort of government scam.

Yet, those interested in running such a business dare not criticize the scheme. Doing so would probably guarantee they'd be put on a list of people who will never be allowed a license for a Cannabis business. So I don't expect any of them to publicly agree with me and potentially derail their dreams. I'll speak up for them since I'm not interested in opening a Cannabis business.

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Protesting "vaccine" tantrums doesn't make one an "anti-vaxxer" and pretending it does is stupid. I saw two posts online where people who were protesting specific government Covid policies were called anti-vaxxers, and one thumbnail on YouTube where one fake news outlet said another fake news outlet's hosts were hypocrites for opposing "vaccine mandates" while being, personally, "vaccinated". The Branch Covidians are just stupid... or lying.

"Just freakin' OBSERVE!"

I was trying to put something back together and having no luck-- it just wouldn't screw together. No matter how carefully I aligned the sides, the threads wouldn't catch. I decided the threads must be stripped out. I was in a bit of a hurry so I put it aside to see what I could do later when I had more time. 

Later, I tried screwing it together and still had no luck, so I (belatedly) decided to actually look at it. To observe, as I constantly remind myself to do. 

Looking closely, I noticed it had reverse threads-- "Lefty, tighty". After making that observation, it went back together easily. I can't see any rational reason for the threading to be backwards, but it is. Why did it take me so long to pause and observe?

How many other times have I blundered through life, working off of wrong assumptions, not pausing to make a necessary observation, and wondering why it's not working? Plenty!

I think a lot of the world's problems are caused by this exact thing. It's why people see corruption in political systems which are working exactly as designed. It's why their great idea to control and coerce people-- ignoring human nature-- backfires. They didn't bother to observe, they just assumed. And it is working just as you'd expect.

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The problem-- the enemy-- isn't liberalism/progressivism or conservatism. It is authoritarianism. Government-supremacism. The variety you embrace is just as monstrous as the variety you hate.

It's obviously not that

They can call the Covid shots "vaccines" all they want, but that's not what they look like to me.

A cheesecake is, to me, obviously not a cake, but a pie.

And no matter what you call it, punishment looks to me like revenge, not justice. A lot of people-- even libertarians-- are very fond of punishment. They'll do anything to not let go of it.

I completely understand the primal desire for punishment. I've felt it myself. I get all the justifications for punishment. I just think they are wrong.

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Speak now or forever hold your peace

If there is any interest in getting a Time's Up flag, let me know soon. The time for my decision on whether to keep the flags for sale or not is fast approaching.

Marty McFly improved his 1985 at the cost of destroying our 2021. It's why "hoverboards" have wheels in this timeline.

Leave the garbage in the trash pit

Migrants who bring bad ideas with them, into any new place which still tolerates politics, almost always try to turn their refuge into a sewer. 

Whether they are migrants from California who turn Colorado into a mirror of what they fled, or people from Middle East theocracies who want to impose the same failed brutal systems they felt the need to escape onto their new neighbors, it happens time after time.

I doubt they realize what they are doing. I'd bet they are just craving the familiar.

If the backward superstitions of democracy and political "authority" didn't already enslave the population, there wouldn't be a danger. It probably wouldn't be possible to accomplish. Even those who hate democracy (but still believe in politics) see how useful democracy can be to achieve the dystopia they crave. If all you have to do is out-v*te someone else, you can enslave them however you want.

If you try to remake your new home into a version of the old place you had to escape, you're a moron. If you work to impose it on others, you're committing evil.

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Happy Armistice Day

That's something worth celebrating in some way.

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Why cave in to their tantrums?

A commenter told me the proper word for "mandate" is "dictate". I like that. Even though I don't see any positive side to "mandate", "dictate" is even more assertively negative. Good. Brush aside those cozy euphemisms. 

I'd go even further. Any mandate or policy or legislation is a tantrum. A bully's tantrum. "You do what I want or I'll make you suffer!" I've encountered enough bullies to recognize them by their behavior.

Bullies are stunted in their maturation process. Who would let nasty, demanding children-- spoiled toddlers with guns-- run their lives? Often, "children" who've never done anything productive and are now old and wrinkled, physically and spiritually. Bullying is all they know.

I hate bullies-- they are all political whether they are governmental or freelance. And I hate their tantrums. I have no intention of changing my behavior based on their tantrums. 

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I firmly believe that if someone doesn't want to be shot in the act of attacking someone, the responsibility to not be an attacker is theirs. Regardless of the beliefs of the person forced into the position of defending himself. Only a corrupt, broken system deserving of abolition would ever prosecute the defender. In case you misunderstand, I'm not only speaking of one case that's currently in the public eye, either.

Some people are... what's the word?

You just can't protect people from themselves. Some people seem determined to do stupid things. You can give them tools to protect themselves from their own inclinations, but they won't use them. Then they'll be angry when you don't (or can't) drop everything and come rescue them from a situation you've done all you can to help them prevent, but they didn't do anything to avoid.

There's one person in my life who is this way, and no matter how I work to make it so that this person doesn't get into these situations, my efforts are pointless. 

Not only that, when something along these lines happens, it's somehow my fault. "You know I..." ...do this thing I've told them over and over again is a bad idea. But they do it anyway and get angry if I warn against doing it, and get mad at me when the thing I've warned against happens-- as it always does. And Heaven help me if I mention this after it happens!

I know part of it is that this person likes to disrupt the lives of others. It makes them the center of attention. It may not even be a conscious thing. They are also the least self-aware person I've ever met.

They are simply a garden-variety statist-- the standard statist irresponsibility and all that.

It's just a frustrating thing.

I must remind myself "Be like water. Flow around the obstacles."

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Political opinions can be irrelevant, if you let them be

I follow some preppers on YouTube who have opinions-- political opinions-- I don't agree with. 

I still respect their other opinions-- their opinions on prepping-- because they don't try to force those weird political opinions on anyone else. Thus, those warped opinions are irrelevant. Their other opinions are still worthwhile.

There are others I generally respect who can't let go of some really dumb beliefs that make me occasionally pause and reconsider their beliefs on other topics. But, yeah, they can be super smart in some ways while having blind spots in other places.

That's how it is with those in my personal sphere who have political opinions but don't try to impose them on anyone. They may believe bizarre nonsense, but it doesn't matter if they don't use those beliefs against others.

No matter how toxic someone's opinions may be, as long as they keep them personal and don't try to force others to live according to them, I can ignore them (but not forget they exist-- that would be dangerous).

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Best to let people try different things

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 6, 2021)

The best survival strategy for a society, a civilization, or a species is to let individuals try different things. Get out of their way, even when you believe their choice will lead to certain doom. The only legitimate limit is when an action would violate the life, liberty, or property of another. In that case, the intended victim has the right to stop the violator, but otherwise, step aside.

Every choice is a fork in the road. You can't see what's ahead along either path. You may strongly believe one thing is, others may just as strongly believe something else is. It's wisest to let everyone choose their own path.

The fork usually has more than two options and no expert can know which is the best path. In fact, what would be trouble for some might be perfect for you. Don't let political authorities dictate your choice. Yes, you may choose poorly. Others will make a different choice which works out well. The more free we are to choose, the better our species will fare.

So, let some get vaccinated and let others decline to do so. Let some wear masks, let others breathe free.

Let some people use Bitcoin, let others trade in precious metals, let others trust government fiat money, while others diversify.

Let some people work with solar energy, let others provide petroleum, and let others develop Generation IV nuclear energy.

Let those who embrace risk emigrate to Mars and let others stay on Earth.

The more variety in the paths taken, the better off we'll all be.

One size does not fit all. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Let people choose what they believe is the best path, even when you're sure they are wrong. Feel free to give them your reasons and then step away and don't force them to do what you believe is best. You could be wrong. I could be wrong. It's not good to make everyone do the exact same thing.

This is why government legislation is such a bad idea for humanity as a whole. It limits options and forces everyone down a funnel which might lead to a really bad outcome. Even if it allows a couple of choices, those choices are artificially limited to the ones politicians like. Do you trust politicians to run your life? I don't. Just as I don't trust myself to run your life.

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Dark humor?

I drove past this accident about 5 or 10 minutes after it happened yesterday. I found perverse humor in the billboards above one of the wrecked vehicles. 

I was relieved to find out no one was killed, because I figured someone died at the scene (the other wrecked pickup was a little farther down the road and was pretty much destroyed).

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"Any encounter you have with an armed gang member has the potential to turn deadly -- sometimes accidentally. You don't have to be an idiot who demonizes all MS-13 members for the abuses of some to understand this."
Oh, wait, she was speaking in support of cops, not MS-13. ALL cops are evil scum. (Yes, that one, too.) Recognizing this truth doesn't make one an idiot. Trying to justify cops, because you are too cowardly to live without them, just might.

Pouring water into a full cup

If you have a cup that is filled to the brim with good water, have you gained anything by pouring in another cup full of water? Well, as my daughter pointed out, you've gained a mess.

In reality, there's nothing worthwhile to gain by adding more to that full cup. 

What if you aren't even the one choosing what will be poured into your full cup? Can you trust the one adding something to your cup? If what is poured in is not what you want in your cup, there's still a way to lose but no way to gain.

If having caught and survived Covid filled your bodily "cup" with antibodies-- natural immunity-- does a "vaccine" add anything helpful? Is "more" better? Not if you are already filled to the brim. 

Plus, you've added the risk of something you might not want ending up in you since you have no control of what's being added.

You do what you want, but that's just something to think about.

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Hail to the teapot

There are plenty of bad things you can say about Joe Biden, but at least he's made it obvious (to anyone who didn't already get it) that the presidency is pointless and unnecessary. If he can hold the job, anything can. 

Any mystique is gone. It's just a figurehead; a placeholder. A face for the bureaucratic tyranny and for the "authority" worshipers to focus on. Any face would do; alive or not. For that matter, a teapot would probably do.

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Silence-- the best policy?

I probably get a stupid look on my face.

When? Any time someone starts telling me some "wonderful" thing a politician they like is doing. Chances are, I don't think it's wonderful. I probably don't like their politician, either.

It happens pretty often.

One topic from this category I encounter often is people gushing over border control.

I got an email from someone just a couple of days ago. He invited me to join his trip to the border to thank the border control agents, the National Guard, and the sheriffs for "keeping us safe". I'm not going to do that. I'm against Big Government every time.

Why would I thank the jailers who are keeping the cell doors locked? Which side of the cell do these borderists imagine they are on?

Then, just a day or so later, I was treated to a glowing report of some politician-- the Texas governor-- taking it into his own hands to build a border wall without the US feral government's help, and against their wishes.

Look, I get why people want borders, I just don't agree with them anymore.

Those aren't the only topics. I've had the same reaction to government-supremacists talking about schools, gun legislation, cops, drugs, taxes, social media, property codes, and just about everything else governments screw up.

Anyway, at times like those I've found it's best to just not respond. At all. Or change the subject. They aren't going to listen to the other side-- even from someone who was once on the other side. So, I probably sit there with a blank expression for a while, until the topic changes to something more civilized. Silence is (or can be) golden.

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When the criminals run the show

A local doctor has been sentenced for "parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building" in Washington, District of Crooks, on this past January 6th. (Notice, no charges for "insurrection".)

I would probably disagree with him on just about every contentious topic that forms an excuse for committing political acts against others, but he had more right to be in that building than the vile congressvermin who cowered under their chairs that day. The building belongs to him, not to government employees.

He is not the criminal; those punishing him are criminals.

If I couldn't side with people I (probably, or for sure) disagree with when they are victimized by thugs, my principles would be worthless. What use are worthless principles? Why bother?

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In most cases, it seems as pointless to say "the government" as it does to say "the cancer". The disease is bigger than an individual case. It's not enough to cure one specific instance, you want to cure the whole category so it doesn't come back. If one person has cancer wouldn't they prefer all versions be cured so they don't get a different one later?

They could have solved politics

I know it's dangerous to say this, but the only way the US Constitution wouldn't have been a failure from the very beginning is if it had made the assassination of politicians explicitly permissible for any reason.

Yes, there are rare cases where that would be a clear violation of the ZAP, but so is establishing a state. If they can do one, they can do both.

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Ignorance as social lubricant

When I was a kid and teen, I pretended to not know a lot of things I knew. I did this in self-defense. 

I had figured out at an early age that people didn't like it when I knew things they didn't know. Especially people who were older than me and thought of themselves as "authority". So I feigned ignorance a lot to survive socially. 

It was a hard habit to break, even once I stopped caring so much about what others thought. I still sometimes catch myself self-censoring for the same reason. 

I've also learned that it can be fun watching someone digging themselves into a deep hole. And, I'll admit I sometimes toss a little fuel on the fire by pretending to not know something, asking strange questions, and seeing where they go with it. We all need hobbies, right?

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