Hide yer face from facial recognition

I have no financial interest in this, but I did give her permission to use the design:

Kinda cool, for any occasion, doncha think? Here's the link if you want to outfit the whole family: Time's Up neck gaiters

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Licenses don't impress me

Licenses are BS. Yes, all of them.

I don't care whether you have a license; I care that you can do whatever you claim you can do.

I have nothing against training, certifications, endorsements, etc. I might even be impressed if you can show me credible proof of such training.

But licensing is none of that.

Licensing doesn't mean you are capable; it means you have gained the approval-- the permission-- of some political gang. It means you have paid the gang for that approval and permission, and in exchange, the gang won't (might not) murder you for doing what the license allows you to do-- something you probably already have a natural human right to do.

For some pitiful people, a license means they believe the gang is a legitimate source of competence. Either by feeling proud of their license, or concerning themselves over the licensing of others. That's not how I see it at all. A license will never impress me-- competence will.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

'Papers, please' now our reality

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 1, 2020)

I'm not happy with the petty tyrants who have done away with any pretense of respecting the rights of Americans. They are using this pandemic as an excuse to twist the police state tighter around our necks. I'm angry about it.

I'm not generally an angry person, but violating the life, liberty, or property of my fellow humans will make me angry every time. I don't care how necessary they pretend it is. I will not comply when their orders conflict with liberty, nor will I tattle on anyone else.

I'm not saying they can't offer suggestions. People may be confused about what to do in the midst of a panic. Some will foolishly look to government for guidance rather than seeking credible sources. It's not their fault; it's what they've been trained to do.

However, when guidance becomes orders, the politicians become everything America stands against. This isn't North Korea. This isn't how America works. I'm far from alone in feeling this way.

When local businesses find it necessary to issue travel papers in an attempt to protect their employees from potential assault by roving gangs of government's hired guns the last straw has dropped.

How many of the current rights violations-- restrictions on travel and assembly, price controls, fascistic business closures-- are trial balloons to see what they can get away with if they scare people badly enough?

Well, the scheme didn't work. I'm not scared. I'm mad and I'm watching them.

I'm also watching as they destroy the economy with their "stimulus", and I'll know exactly who's to blame when the bill comes due.
 
The sad thing is, this tyranny is completely unnecessary.

I am not going to intentionally put my health, or the health of others, at risk. I plan to do what I have to do to stay safe and healthy. I'm not exposing myself or others unless it is unavoidable-- regardless of what I am ordered to do. If I need to ignore the orders of politicians, so be it. When the politicians become a greater danger than any microbe, who could still respect them? I can't.

When I was a kid, "Papers, please" was held up as evidence that foreign authoritarian regimes were evil. Now it's the American reality. I won't put up with it. Will you? Politicians have picked sides, and they chose to side with the virus and other deadly threats to society. They've shown themselves to be society's enemy. I propose we believe them.

-
Thank you for helping support KentforLiberty.com

Expectations create your subjective reality

The mind can play tricks. Your expectations can alter the way you experience reality.

Years ago I experienced this effect and have never forgotten the lesson it taught me.

In the pet store where I worked, my boss had placed a solid air freshener in the hallway. We were always doing this to fight the smells that some customers find objectionable, even in a clean pet shop.

As I walked by the new air freshener I picked it up to smell it. The waxy material inside was a nice creamy off-white color. I lifted it to my nose and took a whiff and smelled the most delicious vanilla scent. Then I looked at the label. It said "unscented". No, it couldn't be. I smelled vanilla. I was positive.

I sniffed it again, but this time the vanilla scent wasn't there. There was no detectable scent at all. The vanilla had been all in my mind, just because the color had made me expect to smell vanilla-- or, that's my theory.

This experience has made me question how I experience reality. If I expect something, I often question whether my expectation is coloring what I experience-- I try to recognize my expectations and guard against them. I know it's probably not possible to completely rid myself of expectations and false experience, but I do believe I'm better at it than I was before I was punched in the face with that wake-up call.

So, when people expect government to be a credible source, I understand why they experience it as one. Even though the scent of credibility is all in their imagination. That's the only place where political "authority" resides.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Firemaking: Yucca fire roll

A semi-primitive skill. You can use primitive materials rather than milled lumber, but I used what I had on hand.

I had a tough time editing this video because YT got rid of their video editing features. So there are some problems with it. Since YT doesn't allow me to monetize my videos anyway, I'm not going to worry too much about the amateurishness. I could have even screamed "Coronavirus!" over and over while I made the video and it wouldn't have gotten me demonetized.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Trump-triggered

If you're criticizing or ridiculing Trump because you realize you don't need a president of any sort and you want the office abolished, I'm right there with you.

If, however, you're criticizing or ridiculing Trump just because you'd prefer the "Democrat" side to be "in charge" and imagine they would be better, I can't support you. In fact, I find your complaints tedious and when you lie about the situation to try to prop up "the other side" by making Trump look worse, you'll get nothing but an eye-roll from me.

I don't support Trump, but I would NOT prefer someone else (like Rapey Joe?) in that office... because I want the office abolished. If you're criticizing Trump from the same perspective, great. But if it's just to get some other political monster into that illegitimate office, you're on your own and I'm tired of hearing it. Stop letting Trump control your mind. Find another hobby, please!

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

The moving goal

The graphic is my attempt to illustrate why government handouts don't fix anyone's economic condition. Not in the long run.

I've tried to explain it several times in words but decided to give an illustration the chance.

It would be nice if this were wrong, I suppose. But that's not the world we live in, even if people with fake economic credentials believe it is. Government can't create real wealth (or even real money) out of fantasy and wishful thinking. Believing it can only leads to more problems in the long run.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

What is a "slippery slope"?

If you listen to Scott Adams, the next time you hear him railing against "the slippery slope", saying it's "magical thinking" to believe in such a thing, and you want to understand (or explain to him) why he's wrong, this is for you.

Basically, it's a definition problem. He is defining the term differently than most people would, apparently in order to reach a particular conclusion in which government actions are excused.

He portrays the idea of "the slippery slope" as a magical belief in a law of physics that says once something starts going in one direction, it will continue to do so forever, unstoppable. He says nothing is unstoppable; it only continues until something stops it. Like inertia? But of course, inertia doesn't apply to human behavior, only to physical objects.

What does apply to behavior in a manner very much like inertia is that once you've been able to get away with acting in a certain way, you are more likely to do it again. And go a little further next time, always testing your boundaries. How much can you get away with?

Because the first legislator who proposed the first anti-gun legislation wasn't half-hanged, then drawn and quartered immediately after he proposed that abomination, as he should have been, others were emboldened to follow in his footsteps, until your natural human right to own and to carry any weapon you wish, openly or concealed, everywhere you go is now routinely violated.

He claims that those who point out that something is a slippery slope ignore that it can be stopped. That's not a true claim. No one actually believes something on a slippery slope can't be stopped or reversed. If it couldn't be stopped, why even point out that it's a slippery slope? The warning is an attempt to stop it. It's just that once it starts down that slippery slope you've got more ground to recover before you're back to square one. It's better to not take that first step into tyranny than to have to scale it back after it has been allowed to grow.

You can call it a slippery slope, "precedent", or a natural expression of human nature, but the result is the same. It's not magic, it is a universal feature of human nature.

To discount this very real effect is to deny reality in favor of some fantasy world where laws of human behavior don't apply. Where effect is totally unrelated to cause. It's loserthink.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Thank you, Covid-19

The coronapocalypse couldn't have come at a more convenient time. At least in one personal respect.

I developed something somewhat medical, unsightly and gross but temporary, on my face. (See me trying to avoid "TMI"?) Yet, I have a perfect excuse in the coronapanic to wear a face mask in public to hide it. It's almost as though the Universe was looking out for me.

In other coronavirus news-- A household member was sent from work to the hospital to be tested for coronavirus this morning due to fever and coughing-- no return to work for at least 5 days, and that's if the test comes back negative. So I may be exposed. Yay. Of course, I may have already had it back in February.  Or not.

Also, if you are interested, here's a live map to track the officially logged cases: Covid19Map.us

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Secondary legislation

(I have the weirdest thoughts while doing mindless tasks I dislike, sometimes spawned by things I've heard or read recently. Many of them become blog posts-- such as this one.)

Primary legislation affects your rights-- your life, liberty, and property-- directly.

Secondary legislation affects other legislation and can either make that legislation worse or it can make it less harmful. Secondary legislation doesn't usually affect you directly; it affects how primary legislation affects you.

I'm always against primary legislation, even if it codifies natural law.

I support secondary legislation if, and only if. it defangs or abolishes primary legislation. I'd rather it be made unnecessary.

It's a sign of a broken, illegitimate "system" when you have to write secondary legislation to reverse the rights violations of primary legislation instead of just throwing out the bad primary legislation without fanfare and ritual. Legislators would call this a feature, but it's a bug. As are legislators. Worse than cockroaches, in fact.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Government more deadly virus

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 25, 2020)

Do you know what I'd rather not think about? The coronavirus panic. Do you know what it seems no one, including me, is thinking about? Anything other than the coronapocalypse.

People think about the things which catch their attention. That's normal. The changes which have been forced on society over the past couple of weeks are huge. It's no wonder people can't stop thinking about this.

It's wise to take things seriously, but not to let them cause panic.

Here are some other things which might be important to learn from this:

- If you're sick, stay home!

- If you are waiting to see if government can save you, you're barking up the wrong flag pole. You have the most influence over your own life and health. Use it.

- Don't stay submerged in coronavirus hysteria. You can leave the cell phone in your pocket and take a walk. Let the sunlight and fresh air work their healthy magic.

- The time to stockpile supplies is before a crisis occurs. Otherwise you help cause shortages and increase the possibility of violence. Maybe less so here than in urban areas, but it's a danger everywhere.

- There's no such thing as "price gouging". Higher prices during greater demand make sure the stores don't run out. Government's unwise intervention, imposing socialist economic policies, guarantees empty shelves, whether it happens in America or Venezuela. I'd rather pay a higher price for something I need than to not be able to get it at any price because stores weren't allowed to charge higher prices during increased demand.

- When government bungles the response-- often by responding at all-- and then tries to cover up the bungling with heavy-handed police state tactics as is happening now, things get worse than they otherwise would.

This is also an opportunity for personal growth.

There are people in high-risk groups who probably shouldn't be going into public to shop. If you aren't in this group, why not ask them what they need, and go get it for them? Compete with your friends and see who can help the most people. Make it a sport.

No one knows what the coming weeks will bring. I believe the virus itself is less dangerous than the social effects of the panic and the anti-social power-grabs by various governments.

You will suffer in the coming months. It's not going to be the fault of any biological virus, but of an institutional one. Political government is the deadly virus most in need of extinction.

-
Thank you for helping support KentforLiberty.com

Understanding statism

Libertarians understand statists (and their positions) better than statists understand libertarians (and better than statists understand statists). I believe that's always going to be the case.

If you pay any attention and have any familiarity with libertarians and statists and their interactions, you're going to see it, too.

Partly, it's because we may have once had statist leanings ourselves, and also because we are constantly exposed to and immersed in statist ideology (and superstition). We can't escape it. We have no "silo" to hide in. Not that most of us would want to hide since exposing and ridiculing statism is so much fun-- although little vacations into such a silo could be relaxing.

It's also because libertarians are simply better, more clear thinkers than statists. It sounds arrogant and rude to say so, but that doesn't alter the facts. That doesn't mean we are never wrong; just that we are wrong much less often, and in smaller ways, than statists.

Statists are just wrong piled on top of wrong; they are usually even wrong about where/how they might be wrong. They simply don't understand at all, even while imagining they do.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Failing in a crisis-- and all the time

Government-supremacists are desperately trying to interpret government's actions during the pandemic in such a way to make them seem smart-- or at least honest. And they are failing. Hard.

As I have said before, political government is never a credible source. If your argument depends on government being a credible source you've set yourself up to fail before you began. You've hitched your wagon to a mirage and kicked off down a steep, winding trail full of big rocks, potholes, and ditches. Things can only get worse from there.

Don't take medical advice from government without checking credible sources first. Government is not your doctor, and any doctors working for government have rejected medicine for politics. You can't mix medicine and politics without contaminating the medicine to the point of uselessness at best, and lethality at worst.

Don't take government's claims of scientific accuracy without checking credible sources first. Government is not a scientist. Any scientists working for government gave up real science when they became political. For that matter, any scientist promoting a political agenda has betrayed the scientific method for politics and scientific thought for superstition. That's not science.

Government is not an economist, a charitable organization, your parent, your master, your superior, your servant, a protector of rights, or a promoter of liberty. Government is not a safety team and is not on your side.

Government is a gang of thieves that uses initiated force to make you treat it as though it is all the good and helpful things it claims to be.

Government will not save you from the pandemic. Not even under the best-case scenario where they were right about the risks, did the right things at the right time, and didn't do anything to make things worse.

This truth is something government-supremacists can't take when it doesn't align with "their side"-- which it never will. It doesn't matter whether they are the government-supremacists who support what was done or the government-supremacists who say government should have done something different. The truth is not with them. And they just keep digging themselves in deeper, to their discredit.

But it can be sort of fun to watch them flailing and failing-- if you can ignore the fact that they are harming you with everything they advocate.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Protesting the protestors who are protesting tyranny

It seems that the protests against the coronavirus shut-downs are really upsetting government-supremacists around the world; turning them into protestor-haters.

They frequently lie about the reasons they imagine the protests are occurring, saying the protestors believe the virus is a hoax or a conspiracy, or are "Trump supporters", although a few admit they don't understand the protestors.

I'm not a protestor, personally, and although I believe there is a virus-- why wouldn't there be?-- I believe the government response to it is harmful. I believe the response has the potential to cause more harm than the virus. But even if that doesn't happen (or can't be proved) government has no right to tell businesses to close, or to order people to stay in their homes. None. Zero.

Government can recommend and suggest all they want, but they have no right to give orders because political "authority" doesn't exist in any way, shape, or form, beyond being the most dangerous superstitious belief. Also, the Constitution doesn't allow it, if you care about such things.

Many of the protestor-haters say they want government to shut-down the protests, which they mischaracterize as "endangering us all".

It's like they simply can't believe that someone might not trust governmedia to be completely honest about the risks and that they therefore might not want to follow what governmedia says to do.

I guess they don't notice that government "experts" have lied about this pandemic from the beginning-- the face mask lies were some of the most obvious early ones. I suspect there are lots more lies they told about the situation that I'm not even aware of.

Those who fear the protestors ignore the lives that will be lost due to economic disruption. The protestor-haters are perfectly free to sequester themselves for as long as they want-- years if that's what they feel they should do. They don't have any right to demand everyone else do the same. As is so often the case with government-supremacists, they aren't content doing what they believe to be best, but they demand to have their choices imposed on others at the barrel of a gun. That's not very nice (or civilized) of them.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Governing right up to the line

All political governments are the ethical equivalent of the 9/11 terrorists. Or, probably, worse.

Since 9/11, airplane passengers-- at least in America-- know they have nothing to lose by fighting back against hijackers as hard as they can. Even if it means they die in the fight. Those hijackers ruined it for all the disgusting hijackers who come after them.

Since the coronapocalypse, some people may be realizing the same thing about political government.

Governments need to be careful to grab as much power as they can get away with, but not so much that the people decide they have nothing to lose by decorating lamp posts and barbed wire fences with the remains of the oppressors.

They have to be very careful to not make governing impossibly dangerous for those who come after them and from now on. I think it's a finer line than they realize.

Truthfully, I kind of hope they fail, even though it would mean some hard choices in the immediate future. I'm tired of tolerating the intolerable and would rather not leave that kind of world for my descendants.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Another liberty holiday: 4-20

I have never really celebrated "4/20", not even when I occasionally enjoyed burning the herb. And that was a long time ago. The memory brings a smile to my face and makes me think appreciatively of a long-lost girlfriend.

Where was I...?

Oh, yeah... 4-20. And this is a special 4-20 since it's 4-20-2020. That's a lot of 20!

I'm happy that smoking the stuff is the closest to not being a "crime" that I have ever seen. Although I would still rather it be "illegal" than have all the conditions and exceptions various governments seem driven to attach to its use. I'm not sure the trade-off is worth it.

The arrogance of believing that you are entitled to make a plant-- and using it non-aggressively-- a "crime" bewilders me. What kind of broken soul would follow such a path? No one I need around me, that's for sure.

Anyway, if you smoke (or otherwise consume) it, enjoy the excuse to do so-- as if you need one.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Keep healthy habits, help others

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 18, 2020)

How will you spend your time now that civilization has been canceled by executive command? Is it time to brush up on your stone-age skills?

This would be a good time to familiarize yourself with the edible wild plants growing in your yard and to learn the natural substitutes for toilet paper.

Learn to make and use an atlatl and stone-tipped spears in case you need to bring down a mammoth. Pool cues might be a good raw material for this sort of thing. Of course, the recent scarcity of mammoths could put a kink in this plan.

A bonfire in the backyard for roasting your kill would probably attract the wrong kind of attention anyway. This should be a last resort.

Perhaps you could choose to go to the opposite extreme and retreat to a virtual world for a fortnight or two, where your biggest dangers are ransom-ware and scammers promising eternal love in exchange for airfare to America.

Or will you ignore the hoopla?

I'm always in favor of taking precautions against unnecessary risks, but people can go overboard. There are times precaution gets replaced by panic. Politicians love taking advantage of panic since they rarely pay a price for being wrong. They claim the credit if people believe they got it right, but you pay the price every time they are wrong.

I'm going to hope you're a regular reader of this column and as such you've listened to my frequent suggestions to be a "prepper" and stock up on essential supplies in case of unforeseen circumstances. This means you were already prepared and didn't get caught up in the last-minute scramble for essentials... or for the luxuries some people consider essential.

Aren't you glad you listened?

The phrase "May you live in interesting times" is said to be a curse. I'm not certain it is. Would you rather be bored to death? Times can be interesting, but-- when you're ready for whatever life throws at you-- not cursed.

This too will pass. You'll be fine when all is said and done. There are lessons in all this. Smart people will learn and remember these lessons; others will stay clueless.

Don't let the hand-wringers and fear-mongers upset you. Do things you already know will help you stay healthy. Healthy habits haven't suddenly become dangerous. Lend a hand to those who, due to age or health conditions, may be more at risk. Together, but maybe not within coughing distance, we will get through this.

-
Thank you for helping support KentforLiberty.com

Patriots' Day- 4/19/2020

I've previously mentioned my skepticism about patriotism. Looking into the origins and uses of the word, I'm not the only one who has my doubts about its goodness.

However, there is a generally-ignored holiday called Patriots' Day which I've mentioned in the past, and it happens to be today-- "4-19" every year. As far as semi-political holidays go, it's not so awful.

Ammo.com has a little write-up about it you might enjoy. It's history, so you probably ought to familiarize yourself just a little so you don't accidentally end up celebrating the wholly statist, government-worshiping "Patriots' Day" (Blowback Day/Consequences Day) on September 11th of every year.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

Viral thuggery

There's a phrase I've seen making the rounds recently: "No one has the right to infect others."

Sounds good on the surface.

But...

What does that even mean?

Beyond justifying coronapocalypse tyranny, that is.

For you to not have the right to do something means you are violating the rights of someone else if you do it. The above assertion doesn't distinguish between knowing you are doing it or not. It leaves no room for biological reality and "stuff happens". Nope. If you transmit a pathogen of any sort you have violated someone's rights. Nonsense.

This is almost like saying you have no right to breathe out carbon dioxide-- like certain segments of the population would claim.

If you KNOW you are contagious, you need to try your best to not infect other people. Don't grab someone by the ears and cough in their face. Don't sneeze on them or throw snotty rags at them. Don't spit in their food. Stay away from others as much as you reasonably can, take precautions, and be mindful of what you're doing at all times (something everyone should be doing regardless). Maybe even warn people to stay back if you believe that will help.

But to claim you are violating someone's rights simply by going about your business in a generally responsible way?

No one has a right to use force against you if they are just worried you might be infectious. Or, just because you aren't obeying the ignorant orders of known liars and power-hungry monsters.

And it seems that's what most of those who say you have no right to infect others are actually advocating. Not responsibility from you, but irresponsibility from others.

In making this claim they are supporting mandatory lock-downs, mandatory vaccinations, business closures, and antisocial nannying. They would use the force of the State against those who aren't following the edicts of the State, regardless of whether they are obviously sick or not, for a disease which seems to be much less deadly than government would like us to fear.

Plus, if someone doesn't want to get infected, they are free to sequester themselves in isolation from all humans. That's how to avoid being infected without violating the rights of anyone else. I'll even do what I can to help deliver supplies to anyone in my sphere who takes this approach (as I'm already doing) if they want. How they deal with what I deliver, such as disinfecting what I bring, is up to them at that point.

Please, don't act like the statists by cowering in fear that someone, somewhere, might have a virus you don't want, and that they are violating you by not pre-emptively dying in a deep hole for your convenience and safetyness.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.

"Good" intentions propped up with archation

If your "good intentions" involve violating the life, liberty, or property of other people-- either through your own actions or by using or supporting political government-- you're not the good guy.

Not even a little.

If you imagine you can beat a pandemic by forcibly vaccinating people, by forcing their businesses to close, by forcing them to stay in their own homes (and sending members of the Blue Line Gang after those who refuse), or by promoting and supporting anyone who tries to do these things, you are part of the problem. I don't care who you are or how many people you've fooled.

-

Writing to promote liberty is my job.
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support.