NM fumbled on legal marijuana

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for April 7, 2021)

Leave it to government to fumble a chance to do the right thing.

New Mexico has finally decided to legalize Cannabis. This could have been a win for liberty, but they did it wrong. Instead of letting the market handle it, as they should have, they wanted to get their fingers in as deep as possible.

It's good when a government backs off on violating natural human rights, but the state never had the right to criminalize or control Cannabis to begin with. Neither did the federal government, since no constitutional amendment was ever ratified to give them this power.

Cannabis should only be as controlled as parsley; neither should be controlled at all. Plants-- and who grows, sells, possesses, or consumes them-- are not government's business. Quality issues and fraud are the business of the market, and that's where this should be handled.

This change is driven by a hunger for more money rather than any new respect for human rights. Greedy governments get excited over any new source of money. Taxing Cannabis, or anything else, is wrong because taxation is always theft. I don't want Cannabis taxes to help pay for more government-- we already have far more government than any civilized society would put up with.

Like other states which legalized marijuana, New Mexico's government is sneaky. They legalized the plant while setting so many traps with new rules that the chances of committing a crime under the new system will increase. Marijuana will be "legal"-- if you dot all the "i"s, cross all the "t"s, jump through every arbitrary hoop, and hold your mouth just right while hopping on one foot.

In other states where similar plans have been put in place, people have noticed it was less legally risky to use Cannabis before it was legalized, regulated, and taxed.

On the prohibitionist side, there's the fear of more impaired drivers on the road. A reasonable fear, but unnecessary.

If you harm someone's person or property in an accident it doesn't matter if it was because you were drunk or stoned, sleepy, texting, or speeding to the scene of an accident. The responsibility is still completely yours. No regulation is needed to make you extra responsible.

I wish, instead of finding new ways to have more control, government could keep its hands off our lives for a change. This was a chance to lead the way, and it was squandered on politics.

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The evil stupidity of government "authority"

Politics makes people stupid. Government "jobs" that come with any "authority" will make them evil.

An early event that drove this home to me was when I was attending a mountainman rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains years ago. It had been a dry year, so the forest was under a burn ban. No fires for cooking, warmth, blacksmithing, or anything. 

Now, I understand the danger of fire in a tinder-dry forest. I understand that some people are irresponsible with fire (and everything else). I am not opposed to reminding people of dangers inherent in such situations, even though I don't support edicts and mandates.

But, a few days before the rendezvous began it started to rain. And rain and rain. Like it couldn't stop.

The Forest Circus goons invaded our camp, wading through standing water and mud in their uniforms, to remind us that the burn ban was still in effect.  Threatening "legal" action if anyone dared light a fire.

There was no way to start a forest fire under those conditions without a nuclear bomb. Only the best woodsman would have been able to make a campfire anyway. It was the first (and only) time I ever actually slept in standing water. Thank goodness for wool blankets!

A few days later the goons relented a little, allowing the blacksmith to light his forge for a certain number of hours per day, and allowing some cooking fires, but for me, it was too late. My wife-at-the-time demanded we leave.

A little bit of imaginary "authority" ruined rendezvous that year for me and for a lot of others; more than any amount of rain could have done. Political stupidity plus political "authority" equals government evil.

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Statists' imaginary friend

For a lot of people, government is their imaginary friend. In more ways than one.

"The Government", as many people seem to think of it, is imaginary. It is not something above and beyond the sick people who populate its buildings and agencies. It is no more powerful than the gang of people who work for it. It is not wise. It is not helpful. It is not one monumental block.

Also, it's an imaginary friend because it is not your friend. If you act as though it is, you're going to be taken advantage of and you will be hurt. It doesn't care about you. It cares about its own power and position over you. The individuals who make up government are more concerned with keeping their paycheck coming than with doing the right thing. Keeping that paycheck coming means keeping government running, which means violating you in whatever way is necessary to that end. It means "nice" government employees will kill you to protect government.

Government is the imaginary friend it's most harmful to believe in. It's long past time to grow up and stop believing in it. You don't need it like you may have when you were immature.

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Non-political politics?

Can there be any such thing as politics that is divorced from the political means? How would that work, if possible?

I get it that many people really like politics. Some feel the need to participate, rather than just observe. Some of these believe they are being self-defensively political. But is that really a thing? Isn't that like setting off a bomb in a crowded store and saying it was in self-defense?

I get protesting against some anti-liberty scheme. But is v*ting ever really a purely defensive protest?

How can you "be political" without violating the life, liberty, or property of anyone else in any way-- without archating?

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A debt you don't owe

What do humans owe each other? Lots of clashing claims get thrown around, but most of them are complete nonsense.

You don't automatically owe others housing, medical care, safety, or food. Not without a prior, mutually consensual, agreement.

Recently, I've seen more and more claims saying "we" also owe each other respect.

There is only one kind of respect you owe others, and it is very specific.

You are obligated-- you owe it-- to respect the natural, equal, and identical human rights of every individual. Not a generalized "respect". You can't owe something that hasn't been earned by a consensual agreement or by a debt your actions created.

You owe it to others to not violate their life, liberty, or property-- including by trying to prevent them from securing those things for themselves. Your primary responsibility is, always has been and always will be, to not archate-- this is how you show the respect you actually owe to others. You owe it to them to not stand in their way of providing housing, medical care, safety, food, or respect for themselves.

But respect for their opinions? Nope.
Respect based on the color of their skin, their sex, their sexual proclivities, their culture, or their political/religious beliefs? Nope, again.

You owe others respect for their human right to be who they are, as long as they don't seek to use government violence to impose themselves and their opinions on you. 

The quickest way to show yourself unworthy of even that level of respect is to try to force others to give you "respect"-- or else the State will use violence against them on your behalf.

Don't be guilted into taking on a debt that isn't yours. You owe what you owe, and not a bit more.

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Just crazy enough it might work

Hey, here's a great idea! Let's form a gang! Only, we'll call it something nicer than a "gang". A "safetisnug", maybe. That sounds nice, right?

We'll claim we have recently discovered (through revelation) that we have the right to tell others how they are allowed to live, and the right to take a cut of their property so we can afford to keep telling them how they are allowed to live. And we have the right to beat up, rob, cage, or kill anyone who resists our help. But it's to keep them safe and snug from other dangers out there, so it's better than the alternative.

If anyone objects, we can say "Yoda said we have to do this or you'll live wrong because you are evil and stupid, and we aren't because He guides us with his infinite wisdom". 

Or, we can just write a document saying we are going to do this, claim that everyone says it's OK if we do, and point to it as proof that we have a right to do this. 

If anyone knows what rights are and points out that we can't have such a right, we'll just make up some magical quality with a new name-- I propose "powerness" -- that would lead to the same result. "You are obligated to comply with my document-sanctioned (and society-approved) requests or I have the powerness to rob, cage, or kill you!" See how that would work?

Yeah, it might be hard to talk people into going along with this crazy new idea. People aren't just going to roll over and give up their lives to a gang that says they have to.
Maybe that's why no one has thought of doing anything like this before.

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Rebel, but make it responsible

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 31, 2021)

This past year has been hard on liberty.

It started with world-wide government overreaction to a pandemic. This was still going strong when some focus shifted to choosing a politician to run your life. 

Recently, as the pandemic hype began to fizzle in many places and after most of the post-election drama had faded, the push to further violate your natural human right to own and to carry weapons was triggered by the horrible crimes of a few evil losers. Making good people helpless won't make bad people harmless.

If it wasn't one thing it was another.

This has probably always been the case, but sometimes it feels worse. This has been one of those times.

Did the past year signal the end of liberty, or just put a few more nails in its coffin?  Is liberty under a greater threat these days or is it only a matter of perception? I hope it's the latter, even though I suspect it's the former. I plan to pry some of those coffin nails out before it's too late to salvage what we're losing. I hope you'll help.

The question is, how can this problem be fixed?

Most people don't think about liberty very often. It may even scare them if they do. They won't miss it until it's so far gone it will be hard to win back.

Liberty is responsibility and people don't like responsibility. Too many people want to believe someone else is protecting them and doing the thinking so they won't have to. I hope you're not among those who want to be treated like a child, needing 'round-the-clock supervision and care. But if so, government is happy to oblige.

It's easier to control a population of people who won't think for themselves and who feel dependent on you. Those who don't want to be shielded from the real world are a danger to those whose plans require mindless compliance.

Most people comply too quickly.

It's going to take commitment to win back the liberty which has been lost. Part of that commitment will involve standing against politicians and the legislation they impose.

Rebel, but rebel responsibly. Good people never intentionally harm another's life, liberty, or property as a way to show they can think and act for themselves. They rebel only as a way to responsibly exercise their rightful liberty. Do you have it in you to stand for liberty?

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Don't follow the crowd unless you really think they're right

One thing that DemoCRAPublicans commonly do is to follow "their" crowd no matter how dumb the position is. In my experience, libertarians are less likely to do this. 

This is why you'll find libertarians disagreeing so strongly over certain issues.

Sometimes, there is a way to see something from multiple angles that seem incompatible with each other, and a good case to be made from multiple sides.

I have no doubt that consistent, smart libertarians can be on both sides (or perpendicular to those sides) of the abortion debate, because I've talked with them. 

Some think of "maximum liberty" as only achievable with a "night watchman" state; others think any state is necessarily less liberty than is optimal. 

Some think liberty relies on morality, some think it only requires individual ethics in those willing to live by them.

Other topics are much the same. 

Yes, sometimes someone is wrong and someone is right-- and you can't tell by which side has more popular support. Sometimes there's no way to know for sure which is which, and sometimes there is. As long as we don't sink to using (or threatening to use) government violence on each other over differing opinions, I think we'll work it out eventually. Or, keep arguing over it into the distant future. That still seems better to me than some elite declaring "The science is settled!" as if that makes it so and delegitimizes further discussion.

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Sacrificing the innocent for "safety"

Why is it that the first reaction of government-supremacists when there's any real or potential danger is to violate natural human rights-- to violate liberty-- in the name of "safety" and saving lives?

Are they really this clueless and ignorant of history.

Yes. Yes, they are.

Violating liberty never saves lives in the long run. Not ever. It always ends up costing lives-- more lives than are lost by respecting liberty completely. Liberty is messy-- but violating liberty is evil.

To violate liberty for "safety", saying it is because you want to save lives, is one of the dumbest public positions you can take. This is what anti-gun bigots are doing with their calls for "gun control" and "common-sense gun reform" or whatever new anti-gun owner scheme they are pushing.

It's never going to increase safety-- except in the short term, for bad guys like thieves, politicians, rapists, kidnappers, and murderers. Why make them safer? Why sacrifice innocent people for the sake of the bad guys? Makes no sense to me. But, then, I'm not political.

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Painful truth about police

"Police officer" isn't an occupation; it's a gang affiliation. 

They are automatically guilty just by joining such a gang, even before they use this gang membership as justification to violate life, liberty, or property-- which happens as soon as they get their first paycheck, if not before that when issued theft-funded equipment that the population fleeced to support them isn't "allowed" to own and carry and use in the way they are.

Yes, that's a very unpopular truth that those who imagine cops to be "necessary" or even the good guys don't want to hear. And they'll shriek about it, doing all sorts of mental gymnastics to counter it.

It's still the truth.

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The Chauvin verdict

As you might have guessed since I didn't rush to post this, I was neither upset nor happy about the Chauvin guilty verdict. I don't really care one way or the other.

As I explained earlier, I'm completely hostile to both sides. I consider police to be the worst criminal gang there is and consider them guilty of evil behavior from the moment they take that "job", but I don't like to see the prosecution "win", either. This was just one evil creep vs. an evil "system"-- I wish there were a way both could lose hard.

I don't believe in imprisonment, or even punishment. I prefer justice, and that was never on the table. (It never is in government courts.)

Let the guy run free among people who know who he is and let him live with the consequences of his actions.

I see some copsuckers worrying that this accountability will cause people to reconsider becoming cops. If so, maybe there could be a positive from all this monkey-business.

PS: If it is being reported accurately, and if the situation was as it seems to have been (all big "ifs", as you know) the Columbus, Ohio shooting death of the girl-- who is on video attacking another girl with a knife when she was shot-- is an example of a justified shooting. No matter who pulled the trigger it was a good shooting. That shooting probably saved an innocent life or two. If you make the choice to archate, whatever happens due to that choice is on you. Trying to make it fit the "racist" narrative and make the attacker out to be a victim is just dumb. Do you think the girl who was being attacked believes it was a racist shooting?

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The Canary in the coal mine

Why do I care so much about guns and the right to own and to carry them? 

Because I see it as liberty's canary in the coal mine. It's one of the first things evil control freaks want to control, and it's one of the easiest things to brainwash non-aware people into going along with... "for safety".

If gun ownership weren't singled out so often by evil people I wouldn't single it out either. I don't think it is inherently more important than any other natural human right, but other natural human rights aren't as often targeted for destruction. That makes gun rights special.

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Advice to one faction of The Dark Side

I'm not on the side of any branch of the DemoCRAPublicans, but I'll send this warning to the Democrats: It's almost surreal watching you become what you claim (or imagine yourselves) to be fighting. 

In their zeal to rout all vestiges of Trump and his supporters, they are acting like Nazis. They are also working to rig the system so they'll never again lose power, and not even hiding it. 

It's interesting to watch them self-destruct. I've never seen any group doubling down on its own doom so hard-- and I've watched Republicans doing their best to do the same. 

I'm sure the Democrats believe they are winning since they seem to have all the power at the moment. They have control of almost all media, corporations, and universities. Even most of the most vocal public...for now. They'll lose it all if they don't wise up fast. 

Hopefully, they don't change course, and hopefully, the Republicans follow in their footsteps right over the cliff. 

The tighter you squeeze your fist, the more of us will slip through your fingers.

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Never give anything to government

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 24, 2021)

It is disappointing to read that the Bill Dalley windmill collection-- which had been entrusted to the Roosevelt County government-- is being split up. Let this be a lesson: if you want something protected and preserved for the future, don't give it to a government.

I spent some time exploring those windmills several years ago. I love the ingenuity shown by their various designs. I like seeing mechanical devices, especially if they still work and work well. I also appreciate the history they represent, and the years of love, expense, and effort which went into collecting and restoring them.

I wish they were still in the hands of someone who appreciated them as much as Bill Dalley obviously did.

You can't take it with you when you go, but if you want it preserved for posterity it would be better to hand it over to someone who values it as much as you once did. At least those windmills scheduled to be auctioned off may end up in good hands.

Never give anything to government. Government owns-- legitimately-- very little. Nearly everything government has was bought with money stolen by a taxing agency or counterfeited by the Federal Reserve-- if the property wasn't flat-out stolen from the rightful owner in the first place. This case is the exception since the collection was donated in good faith. The faith was misplaced.

I would rather see the windmills in private hands, even charging admission to see them, than under the control of some institution which didn't care enough to take care of them. I'll gladly pay a little to see things I'm interested in, while I don't want a single cent taxed from anyone else to fund things they might not appreciate as much as I do.

Anything voluntarily handed to government should come with strings attached. If it isn't properly taken care of or it is going to be discarded, ownership automatically reverts to the donor or their heirs, or someone else of their choosing-- unless they clearly say they don't want it back. Then it should be offered, without cost, to anyone who'll take it. Even if the new owner uses it for scrap, this is better than leaving it in government's hands.

Whether it is your windmill collection, your security, or your liberty, never entrust anything you value to government. They will never take care of it as well as you did.

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"He had a gun!"

Even supposedly gun-friendly Republicans have a large anti-gun blindspot. And it's where their idolatry comes into play: cops.

They'll frequently excuse a murder-by-cop by saying "Well, the guy had (or the cop imagined he had) a gun!"

That's no justification for murdering someone... unless cops would like all of us to adopt the same standard with regard to them. "I had to shoot the cop. I saw he had a gun and I feared for my life!" If it wouldn't work for you or me, it doesn't work for them.

If you're a cop and you believe that seeing a gun justifies shooting the person, you need to be locked in a padded room without access to any sharp objects. You are unfit to live among the rest of us.

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Balanced and fair?

Believe it or not, I would have been about the best juror possible on the Derek Chauvin trial.

On one hand, I have zero respect for members of the Blue Line Gang. I want them held totally accountable for everything they do, and I am not deluded into imagining that a badge grants "extra rights".

On the other hand, I don't like the prosecution winning, ever. It always feels like a win for the state. My automatic bias is to declare "not guilty" in every case so as to not reward the state.

In other words, I would be completely hostile to both sides. That's about as balanced as anyone could be.

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Keeping a cool head in a deadly situation

How many of you can keep your cool and stay perfectly rational in a sudden life and death emergency? Knowing the exact right thing to say and do?

Some people can, especially if they've been trained on what to do in such situations until it's automatic. But the vast majority of people can't. It's a shame, but that's just how it is. I've seen people fall apart under situations that I didn't even see as dangerous. Normal people who function perfectly well in everyday situations, unable to handle something slightly different and (to them) scary.

How scary is an unwanted encounter with an armed, aggressive gang member who you realize can kill you and most likely get away with it? Knowing that even if you survive, you're going to be poorer because he's allowed to rob you at gunpoint. Isn't that scary enough to make most people do unwise things?

If your criticism of people who get murdered by cops is that "They were acting stupid, or they wouldn't have been killed" I guess if a grizzly bear suddenly attacks you while you're minding your own business taking your trash out at night, you'll act the exact right way to defuse the situation so you can both survive.

If not, shut up. You're just being a stupid copsucker (but I repeat myself).

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Comedy break

 

Breaking comedy news:

It started with a tweet and an unwise reply to that tweet by the guy exposed above.

I've written before how some people simply can't let go of Trump. Well, you're about to meet one of the faithful.

After he replied in a ridiculous way, I quote-tweeted his reply just because it was so incredibly dumb that it surprised me. I thought others should have the chance to enjoy it as much as I did.

It went on from there. I screen-shot all the replies because I thought he would eventually realize what he was doing to himself. Nope. Anyway, I redacted other participants, but if you follow the links above you can see the whole thing... until he deletes his embarrassing tweets, anyway. It takes a "special" kind of person to double down on their stupidity once it gets called out. 

So, as you can see, these people really do exist. They are just as deluded as you'd imagine. Just as immune to reality. I may update this later with new silliness he posts in reply, but only if it adds to the hilarity. Otherwise, follow the links.

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Use the new rules to your advantage

I'm against all forms of government ID.
I'm against v*ting, democracy, and political government of any sort.

I don't believe there's anything legitimate about any election, no matter who v*tes, where, or how many times. The last thing I'd want to do is make it easier for the mob to gang up on my liberty. Don't encourage that kind of bad behavior.

But... I see how the pro-ID people could use this development. If there is no ID requirement to v*te, why not embrace it? Why not take advantage of that for your side? What's stopping you? A superstitious belief that it's legitimate if done by the "rules"? It's not. And if the rules change, in spite of your warnings, you might as well go along to your advantage.

It seems that the people who want v*ter ID to be required could just decide to overwhelm the "system" with their... enthusiastic agreement to the terms... until the other side changes their minds.

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Seeing the police brutality problem wrong

Anyone who believes the police brutality problem is a sign of racism isn't seeing the root cause and therefore won't have an actual solution.

If it were racism, you wouldn't have black cops violating black victims, you wouldn't have white cops violating white victims, and you wouldn't have Latino cops violating Latino victims-- unless they were self-loathing. Cops would mostly target their abuse on people of whatever "race" they happen to hate. This doesn't seem to be what's happening.

Are some cops racist? Of course. Do all racist cops murder people? Nope. Is every murderous cop committing his act due to racism? Nope. I doubt many are.

So what is the underlying factor? The problem with cops is that they are cops. They imagine they have "authority", and they are cowards who see any hesitation in complying with their arbitrary demands as a threat to their "authority" and life.

How do you survive an encounter with a cop? The same way you survive an encounter with a rapist:
Be overly polite.
Don't make the cop or rapist afraid.
Comply immediately and completely-- if you feel you're being violated, grit your teeth and comply anyway so you survive the encounter and can take your attacker to court later. 

Scott Adams suggests that the way to survive an encounter with a cop is to recite this: "Officer, how can I keep you safe-- and me, too?" I'm betting that would work with rapists, too-- just substitute "Sir" for "Officer". This assumes your death isn't what either of them want-- not necessarily a safe bet, although the cop might be slightly less likely to want that, what with all the paperwork (if anyone is aware he is interacting with you).

The only real difference is that many people have been conditioned to believe one category of violator is somehow legitimate and the other isn't. Neither is more legitimate than the other. Neither is a good person, although either might be "nice" as long as he isn't currently violating you.

People who imagine cops are necessary (or good) will have a problem with everything I've written. I've lost close friends over this bitter pill of reality. Although, one did apologize years later after he'd had some encounters with police that didn't go the way he'd been brainwashed to expect, and which he could probably have avoided had he listened to me. His eyes were opened and he didn't like it, but he was big enough to admit it to me. Like it or not, it's still true.

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Nothing is off the table

Let's say, one day while minding your own business, you see a cop jump a guy for not wearing a mask. Let's say the guy was struggling against his attacker and more cops showed up and joined in the beating.

Would it be ethically wrong to use whatever force was required to make the cops stop, possibly saving their victim's life in the process? What if deadly force was what it took-- whether intentional or just as a consequence of the violent circumstances?

Someone I was talking to earlier initially said it would be OK to struggle with the cops, but not OK to employ hidden snipers on standby to save such victims.

He said it has to be up-close force from bystanders. He also admitted that filming cops hasn't done much to stop their attacks.

When I pointed out that using any physical force against the cops would result in your probable death-- at least your arrest-- he changed his angle somewhat. He shifted to recommending that bystanders yell at the cops and tell them they don't like what they are doing. (Didn't that happen with the George Floyd event? What did it accomplish?)

He says what needs to happen is that people like me need to get the message out to the public about how bad cops are. He claimed that the "public" needs to be convinced that cops are not the good guys so they would shout them down in the event of any such attack-- shaming them into quitting the attack or even quitting their illegitimate "job".

I think that deserves a place in the arsenal of protecting society from roving police gangs, but that you can't rely on that as your only course of action.

I think that automatically dismissing any tactic is letting the bad guys know they can get away with whatever they want to do. If you say "You'd better stop molesting and killing people or I will call you names and yell at you, but don't worry-- I won't touch you", you're telling them they can do whatever they want.

If they were that worried about "public opinion" they wouldn't do what they do.

I'm in favor of avoiding violence-- even in self-defense when possible. But I also recognize that some aggressors aren't going to stop aggressing until met with sufficient force to stop them. It's not always going to work to talk a rapist out of raping someone-- sometimes you just have to end him. Unless you're OK with him continuing to violate people into the future.

Cops are a very large gang, with almost endless numbers of gang members and supporters. Yes, by all means, whittle away at their support-- undermine the argument that they are in any way good guys. But, also, be mentally prepared to defend yourself and others from their attacks-- in a way which allows you to protect yourself from their retribution whenever possible. I don't need more martyrs for my inspiration.

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Gun owners' rights in danger

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 17, 2021-- Just to be clear, in spite of the headline, no one's rights are in danger; everyone's liberty [the freedom to exercise our rights] is in danger. Rights exist no matter what.)

Congress has begun another epic crime spree: they are passing new anti-gun legislation and plotting more in the near future. If any of this legislation passes, President Biden will sign it-- he's been bigoted against gun owners his whole political career.

More dangerous than the legislation itself is how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE)-- a bureau which violates the Constitution by existing-- may interpret and enforce it.

One of the new proposals is to make every gun "transfer" subject to an FBI background check. The BATFE could then decide this means if you let a friend hold your gun you are both criminals unless you pay for a background check. Ridiculous? Yes, but this is the same agency which, in September 2004, declared a shoelace a "machine gun" for the purposes of punishing a gun owner.

The Second Amendment doesn't say which guns or gun accessories the people are allowed to own, how many, or with whose permission-- rather, it makes it a crime to pass or enforce any legislation concerning weapons. The Second Amendment doesn't address the people at all; it prohibits government actions. It is an expression of natural law, above any and all legislation.

Even without the Second Amendment, the natural human right to own and to carry weapons would still exist just the same as it has since humans first walked the Earth. Nothing can make a right go away or be subject to the opinions of politicians or their enforcers.

The Constitution also forbids the states to violate the rights of the people. There is no wiggle-room on this issue.

In a country where government respected and followed real law, those who pass, sign, or enforce anti-gun legislation would be headed straight to prison. Especially since they are committing these crimes more or less in the open without denying it. There's no question of their guilt.

This is what I feared would come with a Biden administration. It's why I would have preferred Trump to win, even though he was no friend of gun owners-- or of liberty in general.

You can have an opinion about the relative badness of competing politicians without supporting either one. Biden is proving my suspicions as to his shady character. I thought he would be a terrible danger to American liberty and he is.

It's coming; you've been warned. If you value liberty, you're in the crosshairs.

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Waiting for cops to do the right thing?

People really want to believe in the basic goodness and humanity of others. Even of those who have sold out and rejected their goodness and humanity in exchange for a paycheck and power. A paycheck funded by theft. This includes everyone who lives by the political means, but specifically cops.

They will keep enforcing evil legislation. They will keep stealing, murdering, raping, kidnapping, violating, and whatever else their "job" allows them to get away with, or requires them to do.

They aren't going to rise up and refuse to carry out the schemes of politicians. Not this time; not next time. They will enforce gun confiscations when they are told to do so. They already do this every single day, all over America.

Still, in many people, hope springs nearly eternal. Just the other day, someone said to me:

"I have this fantasy that, at the right time, the cops will wake up. But they won't, will they."

I'm sorry to tell you, but no, they won't. They've had plenty of chances and haven't yet. It's not going to happen. If you were counting on this happening, it's time to make alternate plans.

Those who had any ethics have already quit. The only "good cop" is a former cop.

I've known and had long discussions with cops, former cops, and cops-to-be. Only the former cops have ethics worth anything; frequently making me look like a fawning copsucker by comparison-- they hate what police have become. At least the ones I talked with did.

People who say "Don't tread on me" but who also support "law enforcement" are delusional. They are recognizing the disease while promoting its major fatal symptom. They might as well be saying "Never again!" while praising Hitler, building death camps, and flying the swastika flag.

It may be getting a bit late to change sides. Do you support liberty, or do you support those whose whole career centers around annihilating it? You can't have it both ways. This fence is no longer a comfortable place to sit. Someone is going to topple you from your precarious perch. Which side will you end up on? The cops' side, or the right side?

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Fact checking a "fact check" on a fact check

Joe Biden said you can buy any gun you want at a gun show without a background check.

Fact checkers say Biden's wrong because dealers are still required to do unconstitutional (illegal) FBI background checks on all the guns they sell at a gun show.

Scott Adams "fact checks" the fact checkers by making the claim that Biden was right-- you can buy any gun you want at a gun show just by finding a private individual who is selling the exact gun you want. No background check.

Here's why Adams is-- yet again-- wrong on guns.

Do you know what kind of guns you can't generally get in a private sale at a gun show (or anywhere)? The newest gun model, in brand new unfired condition. 

You can get almost anything as long as you don't mind a used gun. You might even luck out and find an older gun in like-new, unfired condition, or a brand new model that someone bought but decided to not keep after firing a box or two of ammunition through it. But the chance of finding a brand new, unfired example of the newest thing is going to be as likely as finding a unicorn.

Do you know what other guns you can't get in a "background-checkless" private sale at a gun show? Anything illegally rationed by the 1934 NFA.

So, no, you can't buy any gun you want, at a gun show, without a background check. Joe Biden and Scott Adams were both utterly and completely wrong. Again. As anti-gun bigots and government-supremacists almost always are.

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Ol' Joe Bad'un's "executive actions" against gun owners

Domestic enemy and anti-gun bigot criminal Joe Biden (probably under the control of his emotional support pig*) has announced "executive actions" on guns. 

He lies and says it's about "gun violence". It's not-- it's about violating every ethical gun owner.

He lies and says this doesn't violate the Second Amendment; that no amendment is absolute-- what he means is that he believes no right is absolute. He's wrong. 

The truth is, rights can either be respected or violated, there is no third option. You can't really get more absolute than that. Whether or not a right is explicitly listed in a constitutional amendment is irrelevant (the Ninth Amendment covers all those, anyway). 

Yes, all rights come with responsibility, but he can't choose (or add on to) what that responsibility will entail. The responsibility remains the same, always: the responsibility to not archate. Nothing he can say or do can change this in the slightest way, and in fact, by doing what he is doing he has grievously violated his responsibility. He is stepping beyond what he has a right to do. He has become (well, he has been for decades) the aggressor. The bad guy. Much worse than any mass shooter or freelance murderer. 

He is taking sides with the mass murderers and freelance murderers who will be empowered by his actions. At your expense. This will cost innocent lives.

Remember, executive actions are not executive orders, executive orders are not legislation, legislation isn't law, and law can never violate a natural human right, such as the right to own and to carry weapons. If it violates a natural human right, it isn't law.

Not only that, he put a monstrous anti-gun bigot, with the blood of Waco on its filthy claws, in charge of the unconstitutional, unethical, and criminal BATFEces gang. This feels like a declaration of war to me.

You aren't obligated to comply with any of this, and you have the ethical right to defend yourself from those who try to impose it on you. No, it won't be safe or easy-- doing the right thing rarely is.

If you hold out hope that "good cops" will refuse to enforce his evil will, you are out of touch with reality. 

A better hope may come from the record number of new, first-time gun owners that have been created in the past year or so. I have my doubts that they just spent all that money to give away their new guns if/when ordered to do so. But you never know. 

This could be the dusk of some coming dark times, or it could be the dark before the storm that washes away evil parasites like Joe Biden. The way this goes is up to you and me.

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*I apologize to the intelligent swine of the non-human variety. I am not the one who began the tradition of calling cops "pigs". Maybe I should have called her his emotional support Reptilian, instead. But, again, I prefer reptiles to things of her sort.

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Rights are individual

In the near future, it may become essential to understand this: Governments/corporations have no rights. None. Zero. Only individuals have rights.

The individuals in corporations/government have rights, but they have no right to violate your rights for the sake of their government/corporation (collective). 

Joining forces with other like-minded individuals who also want to violate your rights for their purposes doesn't manufacture this imaginary collective "right". Rights aren't additive-- two people don't have more rights than one has. That would just be an example of "Might makes right"-- might through superior numbers. Also known as democracy or mob rule.

This results in taxation, eminent domain, property codes, licensing/permit schemes ("vaccine passports"?), censorship, mask mandates, business shutdowns, or whatever some collective wants to do to you "for your own good" or for "the common good". None of it is even slightly legitimate.

This doesn't mean it's a good idea to give government the power to control corporations. It's not, just as it's not a good idea to let corporations control government. But I'd rather they be adversaries trying to control each other than allies conspiring to control me. I'd be content to watch them destroy each other. Yes, I realize the hardships that might create. I don't care.

When they join forces you get economic fascism. You get "private-public partnerships". You get cronyism. You get legislation that protects incumbents, the mega-corporations, and "the system" from anyone who might threaten their supremacy. You get corporations that cater more to the state than to the people who are their supposed customers. You get governments that favor the imaginary "rights" of corporations over the actual rights of the people. They both know who really butters their bread, and it isn't you and me.

Anyone saying "corporations have a right to..." or "government has the right to..." doesn't understand what a right is.

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I won't accept a "vaccine passport"

I'm already opposed to all forms of government ID. Why wouldn't I oppose "vaccine passports", too?

I realize that no one who makes these decisions is going to listen to a nobody like me. I'm not a government-supremacist so they wouldn't take me seriously even if they knew I exist and I agreed with them.

I wasn't around when most government "papers" were first issued, so there wasn't a lot I could do. They had already been accepted by most people and entrenched in the way things work long before I was born. Although it has gotten a lot worse during my lifetime.

But there aren't widespread vaccine passports yet, and I plan to be as non-compliant and obstinate as I can. And I plan to encourage non-compliance from others, as well. This seems the best opportunity for a clear line in the sand that I've seen.

Maybe, together, we can throw wooden shoes in the cogs. Even if we fail, at least we didn't go quietly.

If you have your reasons for supporting vaccine passports, I would like to hear them. 

I know some people are more afraid of Covid than I am, and there's nothing I can do about that. If someone doesn't see by now that the fearmongering was overblown, there's nothing I can say to convince them. 

But I am not obligated to arrange my life around their fears. Nor am I obligated to quietly comply with new government demands that violate my basic liberty. Not even through some imaginary "social contract" that seems to say anyone can do anything they want to me as long as they call themselves political "authority" and claim they are doing the bidding of society.

For a while at least, maybe vaccine passports won't be necessary when ordering groceries online for contactless drop-off. After the "Unclean" are no longer allowed in stores. So you won't be reliant on some passported person to bring you food. Yet. But eventually, that won't be good enough. They'll want to hurt those who don't comply. What then?

I've said for a long time that libertarians may be headed for a fate of being second-class residents, as the tracking demands get more numerous and more rigid, to a point where more of us simply can't comply. This is just another move in that direction. What are you going to do about it?

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Where property rights begin

Since the subject has been brought up again...

1- Things you might possess while in my house-- at my invitation-- that are none of my business unless you choose to make them so (regardless of whether or not I would approve of them if I knew they were there):

• Bad unspoken thoughts.
• Your pink thong underwear hidden beneath your pants.
• The tattoo on your upper back, under your shirt, praising Satan or Jesus.
• Your pocket Mein Kampf, Communist Manifesto, or US Constitution that stays in your pocket.
• A non-contagious medical condition (broken rib, pacemaker, colostomy, etc.).
• A baggie of weed in your back pocket.
• Etc.

2- Things you might possess while in my house-- at my invitation-- that are my business (separate from the issue of whether or not I approve of them):

• A sermon you feel the need to preach in my living room.
• An Antifa shirt.
• An unshielded vial of plutonium.
• A parrot or monkey on your shoulder. 
• A contagious disease.
• The Cannabis you are currently smoking.
• Etc.

Your bodily autonomy-- no matter where you stand-- is the beginning of property rights, but not necessarily the end. Hopefully, your property rights don't end there, but for some people, they do. These are the only property rights everyone has in absolutely equal measure. As with all other rights, they will either be respected or violated.

Sure, it is a bubble, but it is no more "magic" than the bubble of property rights surrounding your home and land or your private business. To seek to violate this right, on any pretext, is to enslave someone-- as happens to prisoners in government custody. Without these rights, there would be no such thing as "property rights" of any sort to be respected or violated.

You are perfectly within your rights to refuse access to your property if you can't respect the equal and identical rights of those you invite onto it to be secure and whole in their person.

If I invite you onto my property, I invite you with all your rights completely intact, no exceptions. No matter how many people disagree.

I'm not looking for approval or agreement; just explaining my view of the subject. Your view may, obviously, differ.

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You'll always offend someone

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 10, 2021)

The Righteous and Holy Arbiters of What is Acceptable now seek to cancel Dr. Seuss. This may be my final last straw with "cancel culture".

Yes, some of Dr. Seuss's illustrations look insensitive today because he and his drawings aren't from today, but from an earlier time. I seriously doubt he would draw them the same if he were drawing today. Even then, someone would be offended. 

His illustrations make everyone look ridiculous in one way or another. Even animals, plants, and gadgets. Most playful portrayals of people are inaccurate and silly. People have traits which will be exaggerated for effect, and people do dumb things which seem funny. Otherwise, what would distinguish anyone from the crowd? Why draw them?

If you eliminate all representations of people of other races (and cultures) which might offend someone, you can't complain if only one bland race is represented everywhere from now on.

Should we get rid of everything which doesn't fit how we imagine people should be portrayed? How rude will current illustrations and writings look in a few decades or centuries? Should they then get rid of everything from our era which doesn't live up to their new standards? Standards which may or may not be better? Do you believe hiding the past is ever a good idea?

When you're offended by something, it says more about you than about the person who did whatever offended you. Everyone is offended by something.

I'm a bit offended by statues of politicians or military figures, but I think it's important to not erase the signs of the past. The next generation could grow up imagining the past was exactly like the present, except for fuzzy notions of old technology. Why bother striving to improve if you can't see proof humans have improved throughout history?

I also find these calls to ban certain Dr. Seuss books offensive-- but since I'm an adult, I don't imagine I have a right to not be offended. Such a right can't exist. Everything is going to be offensive to someone.

I stand with Dr. Seuss. I stand with Lenny Bruce, Colin Kaepernick, Jordan B. Peterson, and even politicians who have offended someone at some time. To do otherwise will cripple civilization and paralyze us into inaction for fear that someone, somewhere, will be offended. Get over it and get on with life. Do something worthwhile. You'll offend someone. Do it anyway.

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Cops are dangerous drivers

A couple of weeks ago as I was taking my daily walkabout around this town, I came across a guy trimming a bush and I offered to help him carry the branches to the dumpster.

As we worked he mentioned that the police chief had told him to trim the bush because one of his officers (there are one or two-- I can't keep up) had almost had an accident coming out of the alley beside the bush-- it was blocking his view.

Maybe...

More than once I've almost been hit by a cop car zooming out of the alleys around town. I've had to slam on my brakes to avoid an accident. In places where there was nothing obstructing the view. This has happened when I've been a passenger, too. The cops believe they own the streets and they drive like it.

I believe the cops simply don't want to be held responsible for driving like angry drunks. Probably a cop nearly hit someone and chose to blame the guy's bush instead of his own bad driving.

I could be wrong, but from what I've seen, I doubt that I am.

Cops lie-- it's just what they do. Cops are scum; not the good kind ("rebel scum"), but authoritarian scum.

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Kinderprison blues

My daughter is fighting to go back to kinderprison next year. 

She wants to be a part of the middle school girl drama that caused her so many problems over the past couple of years before Covid gave me the excuse to withdraw her from that mess. (Well, it gave her mom the excuse to finally agree to it.)

I've told her there are plenty of ways to get caught up in drama without being in kinderprison, but apparently, she also misses the lack of education that occurs there. It's easier to get by without even pretending to learn anything in the classroom than it is at home.

Somehow, 2 hours or so per day-- beginning at 10 AM or later-- spent on education is more burdensome than being dragged out of bed-- tired and groggy-- at 7 every morning to spend 8 or so hours on schooling. Something she has always hated and not been shy about saying so.

But now that seems better to her than the way she's been doing it?

It's frustrating.

Her mental and emotional health has improved dramatically since she got out. Of course, she gravitates toward online "friends" who bring heaps of drama of their own sort. Middle school girls are a big mess of toxic social contagions. But at least there doesn't seem to have been any bullying.

I'm opposed to simply saying "Because I'm the parent, that's why!" In this case, it's tempting. 

I've been considering some sort of binding deal to offer her. I still have time to work something out. I just hope it's something that doesn't make things worse.

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When "libertarian" gets tossed aside

It seems to me that whenever a person makes the decision to "identify" as a "right libertarian" or as a "left libertarian", their loyalty is never to the libertarian part.

I've watched it happen time after time.

As soon as they are forced to make a choice, the "libertarian" gets tossed aside in favor of the "left" or "right" statist or "social" position.

That seems completely backwards to me. Why keep the trash and toss out the treasure?

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Opposition, not fear

People-- smart people, especially-- can oppose something without being afraid of it. Fear doesn't have to be a factor.

I'm not afraid of anti-gun legislation, but I oppose it because it violates human rights.

I'm not afraid of vaccine passports (or driver's licenses), but I oppose them because they violate human rights.

I'm not afraid of snakes, but I oppose putting them in other people's houses without their consent because that would violate their rights. The people, not the snakes.

To imagine that opposition to something must be based in fear is rather ignorant. It may even be a case of projection.

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