Padding the pandemic statistics

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To block is to admit the facts don't support you

Have you ever noticed how fast statists are to block anyone who questions their toxic, childish world-view?

I have and I find it amusing. They have no real arguments to support their beliefs, so they block. If they can block all other voices, they can feel safe (and confident) in their delusion for another day.

My first experience of this was some guy-- who portrayed himself as quite the "progressive" journalist-- who wrote a post calling libertarians racists and "white separatists". I politely pointed out how that wasn't accurate, giving examples and showing how racism, as he described it, would violate libertarian principles. He reacted by throwing a fit in comment form and then blocking me. Not long after this, his entire blog vanished entirely. So much for his journalistic career (I've searched for him over the years and never found a trace online).

I've had disagreements with lots of people (shocking, I know!) but only those disagreements which were due to me pointing out the error of statism to a statist resulted in me being blocked. To me, it shows their weakness and exposes that they know their position is weak.

I have never blocked anyone on my blog. No matter what they said about me, or how nasty they were toward me. And certainly never due to them having a difference of opinion or saying I'm wrong.

Statists are too insecure to do the same. This indicates they know they are wrong-- perhaps only subconsciously. Statism is a weak position, even if it's popular.

(I have deleted 2 non-spam comments over the years-- once when the commenter demanded I delete his comment after he posted it and once by accident while trying to read the comments from my phone.)

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Government-supremacist assumptions

You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes with a magnifying glass. Government-supremacists are easy to spot by the bad assumptions they naturally make and wave around in public.

They've always argued over how to spend "tax" money; they won't consider the fact that "taxation" is theft.

They've argued over what should be taught in government schools, but never questioned government control over (and destruction of) education.

And now they argue over whether it was the right move to issue stay-at-home orders and cripple the economy, but they never consider that no one has the right to do so.

It's not government's place to decide to shutter the economy to "save" lives from coronavirus or anything else. They don't have that right and they shouldn't be allowed to have the power.

It's never an "adult decision" to govern other people (the political means) rather than letting them work it out for themselves (the economic means/the market). It's the most childish thing anyone can do. No one should be allowed to make those decisions and decide for you what you will be permitted to do with your own life.

They also substitute government-supremacism for thinking in other ways.

If you are making the dishonest argument that to fail to sufficiently cripple the economy on account of the coronapocalypse is going to kill 50,000 additional people (or whatever your number might be), without taking into account those who will die because the economy is being destroyed, you aren't contributing anything useful.

You can't know how many the virus will kill, nor do you know how many will die from the effects of a shut-down. The number of dead from the shut-down could well vastly outnumber those who die from the virus, making the "net deaths from coronavirus" being tossed around a completely fake number. Any discussion of "net deaths from coronavirus" without taking those a shut-down will kill into account is-- as of now-- a lie calculated to limit the discussion to government-supremacist answers.

To pretend that someone has sufficient information to make such a decision, or the right to impose it, is to be dishonest. It's what makes one a government-supremacist.

Government edicts and orders are the opposite of responsibility. You have the responsibility to not violate the life, liberty, or property of anyone else. Government-supremacy is explicit irresponsibility and is shameful. No matter who exhibits it or what excuse they grasp at to justify their violations. I have no respect for government-supremacists; they deserve none. They've worked hard to prove that.

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Reject Hate

Government is a hate group.

If there's any such thing as a "hate crime", supporting government-- in any way, shape, or form, at any level-- has to be the main one. Anything else pales by comparison.

Reject hate. Reject political government.

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You'll have to stop them

At some point, it always comes down to people having to use violence in self-defense against those seeking to violate their life, liberty, and property.

This is a reality that can not be changed. I wish it could. But if you intend to keep your life, liberty, and property-- and if you live long enough-- you will eventually be forced to fight those who want to violate you. Most of those will probably have badges and/or government titles.

It seems that government-supremacists are trying to rush that day. They imagine they'll be on the winning side. I suspect no one will really win. I just hope the oppressors lose harder.

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Hysterics are usually wrong

Image credit

When one side of an issue is hysterical or panicked and the other side isn't too upset, the side that's not hysterical is almost always correct.

This is true even if I'm the hysterical one.

There will be rare times which are the exception. You won't know ahead of time-- or even during the event-- whether this time is the exception or not. How's that for a nice bit of news?

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Glad someone finally said 'enough'

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 4, 2020)

As much as I appreciate sheriffs who refuse to enforce the latest blatant violation of the Constitution-- so-called "red flag" legislation-- I wonder where their courage to not do the wrong thing has been hiding until now.

Unconstitutional gun legislation-- which includes every "law" concerning guns-- has been enforced by those in these same offices since 1934. This newest violation isn't worse than the others. This is an arbitrary, theatrical line-in-the-sand.

If they have ever arrested someone for carrying a concealed firearm without a license, or insisted a gun shop needs permission from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives before selling guns, then they've broken the law which applies to their job by enforcing legislation which was illegal to impose or enforce.

If they would help arrest someone for mailing a gun, after selling it through an advertisement on the internet, to someone in another state who lacks the "proper license", they have violated the Constitution in the exact same way they now say they won't do.

If they would arrest someone for possessing or selling a fully automatic firearm without the government paperwork, they're willing to violate the Constitution. As they are if they'd enforce the rules against shotguns with barrels declared "too short" or against safety equipment like suppressors (incorrectly called "silencers").

How can anyone take these scofflaws at their word?

Even the Supreme Court ironically recognized the right to ignore unconstitutional "laws"-- which they declared to not be laws at all-- in the same ruling in which they unconstitutionally decided they have the final say on what the Constitution means: the Marbury v. Madison ruling in 1803.

Neither the Supreme Court nor anyone else associated with the Federal government has the right to decide what the Constitution means. The same is true of state officials deciding what the state constitution allows them to do to the people. This would make no sense. You can't let someone decide how the rules which limit their job's power will be applied or what they mean. It's like letting the accused murderer dictate how his trial will be carried out and what evidence to allow.

Speaking of trials, the federal government won't allow the Second Amendment to be used as an argument in favor of the accused when there is a "gun offense" in question-- yet it is the only relevant factor.

I'm glad someone stood up and said "Enough!" I'd be more impressed if they'd be consistent and stop breaking the law entirely.

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Don't be controlled by government

I drink water. I've done so all my life. If government passed legislation today ordering me to continue to drink water, would I stop drinking water just because they ordered me to drink it? No.

Would it be hypocritical of me to continue to drink water while pointing out that the new legislation was evil? No.

I would be smart to be suspicious of the reasons behind any legislation ordering me to drink water, and perhaps I would seek out my own sources. I'd wonder what they had put in it if they were ordering me to drink it (I know some people already do).

But water, and drinking it, doesn't suddenly change into the wrong thing to do just because government orders it.

Well, trying to avoid exposing yourself or vulnerable people to a potentially harmful disease-- even when you don't know the true risks-- is the same thing. It's strange that I feel the need to point that out, but some people actually don't understand that reality.

If you stop doing something you've been doing just because government tells you to do it, you are letting government control you every bit as much as if you stop doing something you know is right just because government makes it "illegal". Don't do that.

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The cowardocracy

More and more I'm seeing all statists-- those who believe governing others to be a legitimate human endeavor-- as cowards.

This coronapanic has exposed them better than anything in recent memory. Probably better than anything since the Blowback Attacks of 2001-- which, I admit, almost drew me in.

Cowards always want someone to save them from dangers they exaggerate.

It's not about your risk of getting coronavirus-- you'll probably get sick with something in the next few months regardless-- it's about your chances; your risk of dying from the illness. No one is being honest about that risk, because they don't know what it is and won't admit they don't know.

But cowards don't care, they want reassurance and they want someone else to take care of them. Even if what is being done is the wrong thing-- possibly making things worse. Even if they are being lied to. As long as someone else seems like they are taking charge.

And you and I are paying for their cowardice.

Depending on someone else to hold your hand through the pandemic is probably not the healthiest way to respond. Allowing someone else to herd you like cattle is the worst way to respond. Life shouldn't stop just because you don't know what's happening or what will happen next. If you think you know what the future holds, at any time, you're fooling yourself anyway.

A police state is a symptom of widespread cowardice.

But I know you aren't the one who's the problem. The problem is those people who only watch MSNBC, CNN, or FOX news. They are being misinformed and it is making them cowards (if they weren't before). It's absurd. But they v*te. And they "support" the Blue Line Gang's villainy. And they bleat and plead for government to "do something".

Why should cowards control society? Why should they have power over your life just because of their superior numbers? You know the answer: they shouldn't.

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Another voice of calm in the midst of this panicdemic is that of Jim Davies over at "the anarchist alternative", with his Wuhan Bug Blog. Check it out.

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Superstition + Pathogen = Disaster

Political "authority" is the Most Dangerous Superstition, and the State is the Most Deadly Pathogen (and this pandemic began 5000+ years ago).

When the two combine the result is something indescribably destructive. When this resulting force of evil possesses a human mind, it turns its victim into a monster.

But there is a cure. And all it takes is seeing the truth. It happens, even though it is rare.

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"In-group morality" is the opposite of libertarianism

Do you get tired of people lying about libertarians? I know I do.

I was watching a video the other day where this guy was talking about "in-group morality" which he described as "... a system which constrains any and all ethical obligations solely to the members of the group to which one belongs."

As he said this, an on-screen note conflated conservatism and libertarianism, suggesting both as groups who exhibit this trait.

Does that sound like libertarians to you? Does that sound like me?

I've never advocated anything close to that, nor do I know any libertarians who do. That assertion is just not true of libertarians.

It's like claiming "Vegetarians eat only meat". It's either a flat out lie or is so ignorant of the facts that the person making this claim ought to be embarrassed for not knowing what he's talking about.

I can't speak for conservatives because I am not one. They'll have to take it up with him on their own.

I think ethics is the same no matter your morality. Wrong is wrong. It is not right for me to steal, trespass, enslave, govern, kidnap, murder, rape, punch, or otherwise archate against any other person, no matter who they are, what group they belong to, or what they believe. It is also right for me to defend myself and others (of any group) against such acts, also no matter what the one committing those acts may believe. It's universal, not applicable to only "my" in-group.

Libertarianism is the opposite of an "in-group morality".

I'm also tired of Left-Statists trying to say libertarians and conservatives are the same-- just like I'm tired of Right-Statists who say libertarians and "liberals/progressives" are the same. They. Are. Not.

I get tired of people lying about things like this and getting no push-back. So, I push back, for all the good it does-- which is close to none, as far as I can tell.

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How can I trust reports of a virus pandemic?

We are all acting on an assumption, no matter how we are responding to the reports of a pandemic.

Is there really a coronavirus pandemic? How can I know? I can't trust the governmedia. I don't personally know anyone who is sick-- and even if I did, I have no way to independently confirm what they are sick with-- I don't have a lab or the proper training to uncover their pathogens.

All I have are reports and stories from other people-- and most of those other people work for government and are in a position to personally benefit from a panic, or they work for mass media and are also in a position to personally benefit from a panic.

To believe there's a pandemic going on I have to trust someone else to tell the truth, and not just "the truth as they see it", but to accurately report reality.

So, while I suspect there is probably a pandemic caused by coronavirus, it's only because I generally believe that the reports are directionally accurate. Even though I also believe the virus itself is less dangerous/deadly than we are being led to believe.

The panic, though, is dangerous. It's the panicdemic. Like an old, sweaty stick of dynamite; ready to explode if bumped the wrong way. Maybe it will and maybe it won't. But you never know which little bump will set it off, and it's getting bumped a lot. Every new tyrannical order is another bump. Tick tock, tick tock...

But I'm already seeing signs that people are getting tired of the high anxiety panic drama. It's hard to stay panicked for a long time. It gets old and tiresome. They start to ignore the calls to continue to panic. They get used to the situation. Will people tire of the panic and return to "normal" activities before the panic explodes into something worse? How will government respond if no one is still paying attention to their proclamations? Stay tuned...

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Different kinds of problems

Do you know what's crazy?

I am not even annoyed by the pandemic*, but I am at my wit's end over a dead refrigerator. One situation I can handle and even enjoy, the other has turned my house into a wreck and made me miserable.

Does that seem right?

It doesn't to me, either.

But, for me, it's easier to prepare for TSHTF than to prepare for an extra expense.

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*I'm highly annoyed-- angry, even-- over the panic and the tyrannical "response" to the virus by government parasites. But I wouldn't even notice the pandemic if not for governmedia "informing" me about it. I'll have more to say about that soon.

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Panic not a good survival strategy

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 26, 2020)

Here comes Coronavirus; the threat of the month. How scared are you? How scared should I be? I'm not scared or even worried.

When Coronavirus hit the news I did some research on it at some reputable, non-sensationalist medical websites and decided it wasn't anything to hyperventilate over. In fact, they classified it not as influenza, but as a cold virus. A virus everyone will come down with at some point during our lives. This variety may be worse than the usual strains, but I'm not going to freak out.

I've been around long enough to see scare after scare come to nothing.

The Y2K thing fizzled, Ebola dropped from the news, and Hillary wasn't elected president. Life on planet Earth goes on pretty much the way it has-- but with more robots, rockets, and batteries.

There are still looming shadows on the horizon: human-caused climate disaster, failure of the power grid, a robot apocalypse, and more. These are all things people can panic over. Then they can make foolish decisions because of the panic. Foolish decisions such as saying "There ought to be a law". Decisions which will have worse consequences for more people than the original threat-- a threat which may be real or may be a figment of the imagination.

Someday a real pandemic or widespread disaster will happen... and be worse than we were warned it would be. Won't I look silly, then? But so far, not allowing myself to be panicked has worked out really well.

Do you really want to spend your life bouncing from one threat of disaster to the next, or are you willing to learn from the past?

Sure, there are occasional school shootings, impaired drivers, disease, and other human tragedies. That's life. But the track record of global doom and gloom scenarios should inspire optimism if you're paying attention.

It can be fun and exciting to prepare for the worst-case scenario. I do it, too-- in ways more fun than frightening. Panic is not a good survival strategy, even if something bad is going to happen. A panicked person doesn't think straight or behave rationally. They are more likely to make fatal mistakes. Don't let anyone cause you to panic... unless panicking is what you want to do.

In that case, I won't try to stop you, but please don't allow your panic to affect my life, liberty, or property, or that of my friends and family.

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My plea

I'm just going to lay this out there: I need more monthly subscribers.

I also need some donations. Very much!

I think I provide a perspective you can't get anywhere else. I know this is a rough time for everyone's finances, but I hope I provide insight and opinions you consider worth supporting, even if you don't always agree with me. If so, would you be willing to help?

I've mentioned that the household income has dropped recently. And, yesterday the refrigerator died.

I did everything I could to get it running again-- watching lots of YouTube videos and reading lots of appliance repair sites, and nothing I was able to do worked. I either need to get it professionally repaired or buy a replacement. And the appliance repair folks are shockingly unwilling to come work on anything at this time. Which meant they were more willing than usual to give advice and suggestions.

Usually, I would see if my parents could squeeze my refrigerated (and frozen) items into their refrigerators, but with the current pandemic, and with them trying to self-quarantine due to their ages, I am not comfortable asking them for space. So, in a matter of hours, even with coolers and ice, I'm going to lose a refrigerator/freezer full of food.

I know everyone has their own problems and that times are hard right now. I don't want the "regulars" to chip in-- you've already done enough; more than I have any right to expect. But if you're a reader and have thought about subscribing or donating and just haven't gotten around to it, please take this opportunity to get around to it. And, share this with anyone you think might be willing and able to help. Please!

And, thank you.

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Coronapanic and hospital capacity

Supposedly, hospital capacity is being strained by the coronavirus... in a way yearly flus don't do. I suspect if it is happening, it's due more to the coronapanic than to the virus itself.

I'll repeat that:
If hospital capacity is really being stained by coronavirus patients, it's not necessarily due to the virus. It may be mainly due to the panic caused by the media and government ("governmedia"?). The reason-- if it's true-- that this virus is putting more people in the hospital than the regular annual viruses may be largely due to its publicity and the panic this creates.

If you make people afraid of a cough or a sniffle, you're going to have more of them get tested. The more tests that are done, the more cases will be found. Then, some number of those people will end up in a hospital rather than riding it out at home like they would have done under normal circumstances. Plus, making them scared isn't going to help their health even a little.

I'm still seeing "smart people" confusing numbers of deaths with the mortality rate. It's an important distinction, but one which gets glossed over and ignored. And, unless you can find out the total number of people who contracted the virus you can NEVER know the mortality rate. Never. And you'll never know how many people caught this virus because many of them (most of them?) never went to a doctor for it.

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"Papers, please" is now reality

Even more than it has been, I mean.

And how much do you want to bet the "please" is a lie?

Local employers are now giving employees "travel papers" so they can prove to cops who might stop them for being out on the road that they are traveling "legitimately". I personally know that Walmart, Family Dollar, a cattle feed producer, and other businesses have issued such papers. Probably everyone whose business is deemed "essential" enough to be allowed to stay in business is doing the same.

So far, only the New Mexico parasites have clamped down on the right to travel, but the Texas employers around here are also issuing the papers because many people cross the state line, in both directions, for work.

How long until some Blue Line Gang scum murders someone for being on the road without permission?

Some statists seem shocked by this Nazi-ish turn of events. Yet it's their fault! Totally! Their ongoing support of the state, for their whole lives in most cases, has led directly and inevitably to this.

Who are these political thugs to decide which jobs are essential? They wouldn't recognize something essential if they stepped in it.

Every job is essential to those who perform it, and to those who rely on it.

The ONLY "jobs" which are non-essential are government "jobs"-- because they aren't actual jobs. Some of those "jobs" are even worse than non-essential; they are actively harmful. Keep these people off the roads if you have to keep anyone off.

Police officers, specifically-- your "job" is not essential by any stretch of the imagination. It is harmful and parasitical. You are a drain on society. The same goes for every bureaucrat, politician, and whatnot. YOU are the vermin who need to be out of a "job", now and forever. Let the productive people work while you rot in a hole in the ground.

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As government becomes more and more evil...

All political government is unethical. All of it, without a single exception. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.

Democracy is particularly disgusting because it fools otherwise sensible, ethical people into believing government can be good and that there's a "right way" to govern other people. It fools them into believing the lie "the government is the people".

Representative [sic] republicanism is no better, since it always goes through a stage of democracy as it rots from the inside out.

Once you accept the lies that government can be good or can be done right or that "the government is you and me", you've crossed the line to statism. Welcome to government-supremacism.

If you've been supporting government in the decades leading up to the current situation, the evil now being committed by government is partly your fault. If this has snapped you out of it, then that's wonderful! Welcome to the good side. Now be ready to fight for your liberty, since it looks as though the fight may be forced on us. Soon.

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I'm a horrible person

I hate to admit it-- it probably means I'm a horrible person-- but I'm having fun. I'm enjoying the coronapocalypse. Just a little.

Yes, I feel a bit guilty for enjoying this as much as I am. I also know the enjoyment will fade the longer this goes on.

I feel bad for people who are really hurting and suffering. I feel awful for those who have lost loved ones. I have empathy for those who are scared. But this is the sort of thing I thrive on-- at least for a while. It's what I've prepared for... for decades.

Plus, I've been doing all I can for many years to tell people to prepare for this sort of thing. If they refused to listen...

I consider this a practice run for a real breakdown. I'm taking notes so I'll be even more prepared next time. Yeah, I know every event will be different, but I still plan on learning from this one.

I'm doing what I can to keep my family members safe and healthy. Nothing is guaranteed, obviously. But that's the case every day. I've had the rug pulled out from under me before.

My parents, who didn't take the virus at all seriously at first-- have gone into full-blown quarantine lock-down mode. I drop supplies and their mail for them in their garage and they go get it after I've left. I'm wondering if they are decontaminating it. As long as the electricity flows they aren't going to be running out of food for a very long time, having multiple freezers and refrigerators. And quite the pantry, as well. I enjoy doing what I can to help them. My mom is sewing masks for the family and my dad is watching Hallmark Channel Christmas movies that he has recorded, I suspect they are both kind of enjoying this, too.

I'm fine on food and supplies for a long time-- even if I couldn't buy anything new. But I can, even though the food aisles have gone eerily empty. People might not be able to buy what they wanted, but there is something available. My yard-- and every other yard in town-- is chock full of edible "weeds". No one will starve unless they choose to.

I'm taking long daily walks around town (as long a walk as I can take in this town-- I zig-zag a lot) in the sun and fresh air.

Money has gotten tighter-- your donations and subscriptions have become even more important than in the past (I also know some of you are probably losing income, too). I will get through this one way or another. Except in the unlikely event that the virus gets me-- which I highly doubt it can.

I feel as though I am in my element-- which is rare. I might as well have fun while I can.

Are any of you as awful as I am? Feel free to judge me.

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The good kind of "crime"

If you have a meth lab, I offer a suggestion: switch to making hydroxychloroquine. You'll get rich.

Yeah, it's probably just as "illegal", but it's more helpful. If you're going to violate prohibition anyway, why not be an outlaw hero?

(And if you think I'm joking, I'm not.)

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