Back in the sa... soft, cushy chair

I am untethered! And sore! But freedom from the catheter is worth the increased soreness I got from the car trip. I'm actually now the most sore I've been since the day after the surgery. It'll get better.

I'm SO GLAD this isn't a week ago!

So, where was I?

I didn't pay much attention to things going on in the world over the past week, unless I saw it on Twitter-- and I doubt most of that. But, if half of what I saw is even partly true, the world got lots closer to utter insanity while I was mentally away. I guess that's the case in any random week, it's just more obvious to me, having been checked out for a bit.

What is there to say about any of it? I don't know. I'm sure I'll have something to say, though.

It's good to be back.

-

Help me recover from the expense of the surgery. Share wherever you can.

I’m home

I’m home resting, but also trying to walk to get rid of the laparoscopic gases that are causing most of my pain. In my shoulders.

The surgical area is sore but not so bad. 

The catheter is a major pain and annoyance, but I have prior experience- which is why it freaked me out so bad when I was told I would have to have one for a few days. 

Anyway, here I am. I may or may not post for a few days, other than the newspaper column on Sunday.

Thank you all for your support and concern. It makes a difference.

Update 2

 I should be discharged today. Here’s hoping. I’ll have to come back Monday to see the urologist and get the catheter out, which is annoying. If I lived closer it would be much less inconvenient, but I don’t like big cities.

I’m doing really well. I did get some pain meds today (so excuse me if I sound stoned), but it’s for my back which started hurting early this morning. The surgery site doesn’t hurt much. The pain in my shoulders from the laparoscopic gases is pretty intense. But only if I use my arms. 

The nursing staff here has been awesome. It’s been like a vacation where someone sticks you with a needle every couple of hours.

.

Left versus right rivalry political lie

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 5, 2023)

The whole "conservative" versus "liberal", "Left" versus "Right", rivalry is a lie.

In the ridiculous political world where most people view each idea as either "conservative" or "liberal" (or whichever word the political left prefers at the moment), those who love liberty confuse everyone.

In the real world, though, there is only liberty versus authoritarianism. The rest is a diversion.

Often one part of the political divide supports me on one topic while disagreeing with me on another. As a consequence, I continually get slandered as both a "far-right extremist" and a "bleeding heart liberal". Often on the same day. Yes, it's a crazy world.

The reaction depends entirely on the views of the person who is trying to discredit me. When you see everything through the distorting lens of politics, you aren't seeing clearly and will misjudge what you think you are seeing.

I value liberty, so I oppose anything which chips away at it. Some of those things are endorsed by conservatives while others are favored by liberals. 

The supporters and detractors may switch sides from one topic to the next, but I won't participate in silent acceptance of any sort of authoritarianism. This confuses people.

I don't believe government has any political authority to ban or regulate anything-- not guns, drugs, speech, or anything else. I consider corporations to be inseparable from government-- not "private companies" as some characterize them. So censorship, from a corporation or government, is something I will always oppose.

Yet, those on the Left have accused me of thinking corporations should run the world since I deny the authority of government to do anything. It's a delusional misrepresentation.

In a similar way, the Right accuses me of neglecting private property rights and the right to lock the doors on your own home when I point out that government has no ethical or constitutional authority to control the movement of people across imaginary government borders-- called "immigration" by politically brainwashed people. Again, this characterization isn't even close to true.

People who have been trained to only see things in the dim light of Left or Right are missing most of reality. Instead of reflexively siding with their team, they would benefit from thinking for themselves. If you treasure liberty and respect the right of everyone to do whatever doesn't violate the equal and identical rights of anyone else, you'll free yourself of the political blinders.

This is what liberty looks like.

-

Consider subscribing or donating.

I couldn't do this without your support.

Update 1

Things went pretty well and I’m not even in much pain. They say the only pain meds I’ve gotten were those they gave me during the surgery. I feel loopy, but that might be due to lack of sleep. Had the leave the house at 3:45 this morning to make the appointment so I got about 2 hours of sleep after two months of not sleeping well at all.

I’m going back to sleep now.

(Posted poorly from my phone)

Today's the day

I'll do my best to let you know how it went as soon as I can.

-

Help

It's the day of the surgery.

Not really fine

Tomorrow is the day.

I feel like the "This is fine" dog... if he was in a state of panic.
Hopefully, the flames are an illusion and this really is fine, or will be if I stop panicking.

-

Help

Tomorrow's the surgery.

Panic and pain

Today's visit to the urologist who is assisting in the surgery (complications due to a childhood injury) was one of the worst, most painful experiences of my life. It brought the childhood injury back to mind and triggered my phobia etc.

I just don't know how I'm going to get through this.

.

Stopping ALL mass shootings

Assume "they" got rid of every semi-automatic weapon and every firearm that was owned by someone who isn't a government employee who is armed as a condition of his "job". (Impossible, but let's pretend.)

Even all cops are only armed with revolvers or pump-action shotguns.

Would that stop mass shootings?

Nope.

One cop who snapped could kill dozens of unarmed people with his revolver, because who could do anything about it? You think that wouldn't happen? How cute.

There is no way to completely end mass shootings. The best approach is to make certain any potential mass shooter faces armed resistance. And, again, anyone who can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted around children.

-

Help

I'm in the last week before the surgery.

Acts of an evil loser... Same song, different verse

The response to the evil loser in Nashville has been predictable in just about every way.

Including the observation that the only way to stop these things in their tracks is armed people among the things you want to protect. Children and employees, in this case.

And the outcry from the anti-gun bigots is the same as always. "A gun did this and you want more guns? You want to arm teachers instead of taking the guns away from everyone?"

I'll just say what I've said in response: If you don't trust someone with a gun, you shouldn't trust them with your children.

If I don't trust someone with a gun, I don't trust them. Period.

-

Help

I'm in the last week before the surgery.

Prohibition fails every time it's tried

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 26, 2023)

Drug abuse is stupid, but prohibition is evil.

The surest way to guarantee a market will become dominated by criminals who are willing to steal, kidnap, and murder to protect their market share is to criminalize a product.

You saw what happened with toilet paper and eggs when they became harder to buy. Why would you imagine the same economic factors don't apply to substances you don't want people to have access to?

Yet, toilet paper and eggs were temporary shortages, not permanent government-imposed shortages. No one believed toilet paper and eggs were going to have to become black market items. What do you think would have happened if everyone did believe this, or if government had actually banned those products? Soon the market for those items would have looked exactly like the market for politically incorrect chemicals-- it would have been violent and dangerous to the customers and innocent bystanders.

I understand-- you don't think people should be "allowed" to abuse drugs. Maybe you don't believe people should even have access to them at all, regardless of whether they will use them responsibly or abuse them. You might even be under the illusion that it's not possible to responsibly use the drugs you want banned. You'd be demonstrably wrong, but it doesn't matter.

Plus, in the case of drugs, prohibition guarantees the product gets smaller and easier to hide over time-- this means it is stronger. It's easier to transport a soda can-sized package containing thousands of doses of fentanyl than to hide the same number of doses of cocaine. So guess which one is safer to ship into enemy territory where your customers live. Guess which one it is then easier to fatally overdose on.

Drug prohibition has been the excuse used for most of the worst violations of our liberty since the end of the most violent parts of alcohol prohibition. Liberty isn't a decorative trinket to be ripped off and thrown away just because it tolerates some things you don't like. It is the foundation of any worthwhile civilization, to be protected from all who would chip away at it, no matter what you think it costs.

Do I want people to abuse drugs? No. I lost a daughter to someone who did. My personal pain doesn't change reality. Prohibition not only fails every time it is tried, it makes things worse. Prohibition is evil.

-

Consider subscribing or donating.

I couldn't do this without your support.

How my doctor appointment went

Not as well as I would have liked. That seems to be the theme.

I learned I have to go to another appointment-- another 180+ mile round trip-- on Friday, to meet with a doctor who will be assisting the main surgeon (due to a unique medical history complication). I begged for an alternative. There is none I can live with.

This trip was a monumental mess. I N-10-slee dislike medical stuff, and I hate bureaucracy-- maybe nearly as much. Tuesday was a glorious mix of the two-- I felt like Philip J. Fry swimming in Chunks, the 2-headed goat's, pool. 

And, of course, now the insurance problems begin. I'll see if they get resolved or get worse.

I'm terribly frustrated right now. I'm (unwisely?) taking some of my frustration out on Twitter-- if it doesn't get me banned. I won't be surprised if it happens this time.

Thank you for sticking with me through this. I know this isn't what you come here to read about.

-

Help

I'm in the last week before the surgery.

Define "exciting"...

Today I'm heading to the hospital for my pre-registration stuff. 

With all the recent and current stressors, I didn't come up with anything topical to write. Not even with the Nashville evil loser's mass murder event.

I'll do better.

-

Help

I'm in the last week before the surgery.

RIP Kirby

Kirby and Tobbles

Kirby, last summer's rescue kitten, and friend of Tobbles, lost his battle with FeLV today. 

He would have turned 1 on April 7, 2023-- just a week and a half from now.

He had a rocky, hopeless start. I did all I could, but the deck was stacked against him. At least I hope he was happy and comfortable most of the time he lived with me.

I buried him under the redbud tree next to his friend Tobbles, who I buried there last July 3.

.

Ban TikTok?

I do not believe government should ban TikTok. Government has no rights and shouldn't have the power. That would be censorship. 

Yes, even if it comes down to one government banning another government's app.

I also don't believe anyone should have TikTok on their phone, or use TikTok. I've never used TikTok, so I freely admit I hate it out of ignorance. 

However, from the outside looking in, TikTok is obviously harmful. It brainwashes the young and the weak-minded into beliefs that hurt them and, when used to influence politics, it hurts all of us. But censorship hurts us all, too.

All social media is harmful in the same way, to lesser or greater extents. Don't ban any of them.

I understand the arguments for banning it, I just don't agree.

-

Help

I'm in the last few days before pre-payments are due.

Statism is dumb... even if some statists aren't

Seeing all the really dumb stuff justified by one brand of statist or another, I think it can be said with certainty that statism has jumped the shark, nuked the fridge, AND nuked the shark. Probably jumped the fridge, too.

Some days I don't even know what to say-- the statist stupidity from every direction just seems so ridiculous all I can do is shake my head and (try to) put it out of my mind.

I never thought statists were statists because they are "so smart"-- I realize some are smart; their evil overtakes their smarts, but I just don't see it in most of them. 

But even if some statists are smart, statism itself is still dumb. It's like a genius who arranges his life according to a horoscope.

But most statists aren't evil geniuses. Just evil imbeciles.

Most don't seem able to add 2 and 2 without trying to find a political angle that supports their preferred kind of slavery.

It doesn't matter, I suppose. Stupid or evil, the results are the same. Be ready to defy and avoid.

-

Help

I'm in the last week before pre-payments are due.

Things everyone should respect

People get rights mixed up with things the Constitution forbids government to do. Rights are things everyone should respect, whether or not the Constitution or any rules apply to them.

This idea that only government needs to respect your right to speak freely is kind of weird. Yes, they are the only ones specifically forbidden to censor you, but anyone who censors others is a bad guy. A jerk.

There's nothing special or magic about the Constitution. Documents don't create rights-- rights have existed exactly the same throughout history and prehistory; thousands of years before the Constitution was written. Bad people have always looked for ways to violate those rights. That's what defines a bad guy. The Constitution did nothing but lay out a roadmap telling government what rights it was forbidden to interfere with. (And it has been ignored, so the experiment failed.)

The right way to fight lies and "harmful" speech is with more speech, not censorship. Or, ignore it. If you censor (or demand someone else censor on your behalf), you've already lost the argument.

Someone might be able to tell you not to speak freely while on their personal property-- but in most cases I'll consider them a jerk for doing so. No, this doesn't mean I would use government or legislation to force them to let someone speak, just that in my own mind I will put them in the "censor" category and have no respect for them on this issue. 

I respect your right to speak freely, and I respect it hard. No exceptions. I am a free-speech absolutist.

Again, if you don't like what someone says, say something better to counter it. Don't try to forcibly silence them. It's a bad look.

-

Help

I'm in the last week before pre-payments are due.

'Legal' not the same as 'ethical'

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 19, 2023)

You may think I only object when it's government doing the bad things. Nope. An act isn't wrong or right based only on who's doing it.

Theft is wrong no matter whether you're a burglar, a mugger, or a government tax collector "just doing his job". To imagine it's only wrong if it's done by the government revenue employee is as crazy as saying it's right because it's called "taxation". The act is wrong in itself and no rules can make it right. Not even if those rules have been around for thousands of years. Time doesn't magically change wrong into right.

The difference between a regular criminal and a government is an imaginary difference instilled in us from birth. This doesn't make it true.

If it's wrong for me to do it to my neighbor, it's wrong for someone else to do it even if it's in their job description.

I have no right to tell my neighbors what they can grow in their gardens or how darkly they can tint their car windows. I can't hire someone to do things I have no right-- as an individual-- to do. A right doesn't spring into existence if I gather a crowd who wants the power to do the same thing. My neighbors have the right to defend themselves if I try to force my will on them in this way.

Most people don't like this reality. They want to justify violating others if they feel it is necessary. Especially if they can say it's not up to them, but it's "the law".

Once upon a time, it was legal to act as though you owned another human being. People were legally required to kidnap an individual who escaped and return him to the person who pretended to own him. The law-- written and enforced by people who had no right to do so-- said this was right, but it never was.

Later, "the law" required businesses to serve people differently according to their "race". They had to separate customers by skin color. It was "the law" and again, it was wrong to require this.

"Legal" never has meant "ethical". What unethical things do you support today just because they are legal and you like them? Would you feel the same if the person committing the act wasn't acting on behalf of government? Or, do you oppose wrong things being done no matter who is doing them?

-

Consider subscribing or donating.

I couldn't do this without your support.

Dominoes are toppling, but...

I'm glad that judges across the country are throwing out so many anti-gun rules.

However, it's ridiculous to imagine anyone has to wait for a judge to throw out an unethical rule before they ignore it. That's as bad as imagining slaves had to comply with their enslavement until slavery was declared illegal. 

It's also ridiculous that the anti-gun political monsters are allowed to keep violating natural human rights and fighting to keep their anti-human rules while they beg the courts to agree with them. And they are allowed to keep making up new rules every time they get smacked down. It should be "You were scolded for your misbehavior and now you're done. Go home and never molest anyone ever again."

That it doesn't work that way illustrates how illegitimate all legislation, politicians, the court system, and the entirety of the whole mess truly are.

If I weren't in the midst of my troubles I'd buy a Polymer80 kit, just to have on hand to finish at my leisure. But, maybe, there's no need to rush now.

-

Help

I'm entering the last week before pre-payments are due.

Force-- Violence or aggression

Violence is force, which is ethically neutral. 

Aggression is initiated force, which is something I promise not to use against you. 

If you use aggression against me, I may use violence in defense. 

Also, I’m skeptical of “proportional response” because it’s subjective.

-

Help

And a HUGE thanks to all those who already have.