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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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"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.

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The $1200 "stimulus"

Don't assume everyone you know suddenly has an extra $1200. Some don't.

Receiving that money from Uncle Scam is contingent upon meeting certain conditions which many people, for one reason or another, do not meet.

I'm noticing an economic fact I hadn't considered before. If the "supply" of fiat money instantly goes up, but a few people are left out, it's like those people suddenly lost ground. Yes, I expect everyone else to catch up (catch down?) eventually when the piper must be paid, so the situation will be temporary.

That is, the pain won't always be limited to those who didn't get the money-- I expect the economic pain to hit everyone before this is all over. Those who didn't get the payoff will just be hit twice because they will still have to suffer the effects of the payoff without getting the payoff. Does that seem right to you?

I don't want that to happen-- I'd much rather the painful effects be limited to as few as possible since the payoffs are already a done deal. But you and I, not being fake economists, know that's not going to be the way this goes.

If you are one of those who received "stimulus money", I recommend spending it all on guns, ammo, and survival foods if you don't need it for more immediate necessities. It would be a good way to make that money last a bit longer and benefit you in the long run. Guns and ammo, in particular, are always a good digitus impudicus aimed at the State. Use it well.

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Government-supremacist

A government-supremacist is an extreme statist. Not just someone who acts as though they believe governing others to be a legitimate human endeavor but someone whose behavior demonstrates the assumption that political government is superior to and naturally above society and the individuals in a society.

In fact, by their words, they apparently almost always conflate the State and society, even though those are opposites.

The government-supremacist uses phrases like "our/my president", "our government", "our military", and advocates that everything should be decided and controlled in some way by the State. They seem to believe government should always have a say and a plan. There is probably no aspect of life a government-supremacist would believe is always off-limits to government intervention or oversight.

A government-supremacist never expresses real doubt as to the legitimacy of the State even if questioning whether it sometimes goes too far in specific instances.

In any discussion of politics, government, legislation, or society, government-supremacists have the lowest possible amount of credibility. Their opinions can be dismissed-- other than taking note of them as a warning of what they'd allow government to do to society... and to you.

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Politicians are NOT leaders

Hearing someone refer to politicians as "leaders" is like fingernails clawing at a chalkboard. It grates on my nerves.

I have written about why this description is wrong in the past. Some people who agree they are not leaders still balk at calling them what they actually are: rulers. I've never seen a reasonable objection to this characterization, but perhaps there is one out there somewhere.

Still, they are not, and never have been, leaders. Unless you follow them.

If you are dumb enough to allow yourself to be led by a politician you shouldn't complain about where it leads you.

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Don't need rescue from everything

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 11, 2020)

I'm surprised at how seriously people are taking the coronavirus. I'm even more surprised at how many believe government can save them from it, or that it's even government's job to do so.

This is the same sort of thinking which has led to the recent plague of "red flag" legislation.

If you believe you need politicians to save you from a virus or from someone's gun, then you'll keep handing control of your life over to anyone who promises to rescue you. Whether they actually can or not.

It's not only diseases and guns. It seems almost everyone wants to be saved from something. Maybe they fear immigrants who don't comply with unconstitutional anti-immigration legislation. Or maybe they want to be rescued from "inequality", whatever they imagine it to be.

Others may want to be saved from weather, poverty, different political ideologies or other religions they don't follow, or from rich people. Some beg to be rescued from their student loan debt or their own bad choices.

Drugs, other drivers, people who might appear to be smoking but aren't, messy yards, backyard chickens, loud parties, tall grass, and more are all things someone out there wants government to save them from.

If this seems like a long list, you are right. Yet it barely scratches the surface. There appears to be no end to the number of things you could list which some people, somewhere at some time, have begged government to save them from.

Government encourages this pandemic of cowardice.

H. L. Mencken, a favorite writer of mine from early in the 20th Century, noticed this and called it out. He wrote: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

He's right, and it's working.

Were your hobgoblins listed above or are yours something else entirely?

It's not that these things don't exist, but making them into hobgoblins you fear irrationally is a path to slavery. You become so desperate to be saved you'll accept those fanning the flames of fear as your self-proclaimed saviors.

Fear is the reaction to feeling you won't be able to cope; of suspecting you aren't enough. It's a lie. You are enough. You don't need to be rescued from every little thing. I know you can do it without depending on government or its legislation. To conquer fear, get busy doing what needs to be done.

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Essential people and their essential jobs

You are essential.

Your job or career is essential. (As long as you aren't a politician or a politician's hired thug, anyway.) If it weren't, you couldn't afford to do it because no one would pay you to. Every job in the market is essential to someone.

Never let useless government tools tell you you aren't essential. They are lying-- it's what government does best. (Even better than murdering, stealing, kidnapping, etc.)

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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

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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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Costs of government action on coronavirus

Some whiny statists are complaining that not everyone is embracing the measures being imposed by government to "deal with" the coronapocalypse. It is claimed that they are endangering lives by "downplaying" the risk.

No, they are not endangering society, nor will they be the cause of millions (or even dozens) of extra deaths. People who are "downplaying" coronavirus are serving an important purpose. Besides disarming the panic-bomb, I mean.

What they are doing is acting as a drag chute to slow down runaway government overreach.

This is essential.

Those who object to the "downplayers" aren't adequately (or even minimally) considering the costs of government intervention. You've seen this happen in other topics as well, such as with AGCC/"climate change".

Government-supremacists are pushing the narrative that not taking the actions government promotes will cause deaths, but are ignoring the deaths which will result from doing the wrong thing, or even too much of the "right thing". They are not considering the costs and benefits of both courses.

Maybe doing nothing about COVID 19 would kill more people. Of course, you have the option of doing everything you ought to do without government mandating anything. Doing something doesn't require anything being done by government. That is a bad assumption to make. But, I will concede that ignoring the problem would probably result in some unnecessary deaths.

However...

Damaging the economy-- as government is actively doing-- will also kill people. For certain. It may, in the long run, kill more people than the coronavirus would have even if no one had done anything about it-- but we don't know. We won't know. There is no way to know because you can't rewind history and change what was done.

Yes, some people caution against comparing how many deaths are resulting now and comparing that to the total deaths in previous plagues after they were over. That makes sense. However, you can compare death rates in the midst of the event-- which is something government-supremacists don't seem to like for anyone to do. It gets in the way of the narrative they prefer.

This is why we need brakes on the speeding car of statism. Those who "downplay" the danger are those brakes. They complete the costs vs. benefits big picture for the situation. Without them you only get one side, advocating only one path. Objecting to the balance they provide is not productive or smart.

(I added a "coronavirus" tag to the blog so you can follow what I've said about this from the beginning, if you care.)

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