Actions have natural consequences

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 20, 2021)

Actions have consequences. I can disagree with what someone does, and even believe they should face consequences for their actions, without believing government should hand out those consequences. Government isn't the proper place to look for solutions.

Natural and social consequences are unavoidable; consequences from government are arbitrary.

I don't believe government authority has any legitimacy. It looks to me like any other superstitious belief lots of people share. It's just astrology with a lot of guns and bombs and offices.

Consequences shouldn't necessarily be legal consequences, anyway. Social consequences don't require government, and often government steps in to save bad guys from any real social consequences their behavior earned them. This rewards antisocial behavior and encourages more of it.

Murder is wrong regardless of the opinions of politicians. The murders they approve of or call something other than "murder", are exactly as wrong as those they weep and wail and hold press events over. Government or legislation is not the proper way to deal with murder.

I believe the corporate social media empires should face consequences for censoring speech on their sites; I don't believe government is the proper institution to hand out those consequences. Getting government involved would likely make the situation worse; the censorship would only increase. Especially since so much of the censoring is aimed at silencing those who question the sketchy government story.

If someone has violated the life, liberty, or property of another, they owe restitution as a result. This is justice; anything else isn't. Government courts don't deal in justice, even when it's in their name. They deal in punishment, which is revenge. This is only going to make things worse in the long run, as should be obvious by now.

But without government, how would you collect the restitution you are owed as the victim of a crime? You'd better find a way which doesn't involve government unless you want to be on the wrong side. Using government to collect your restitution from the violator means you now owe restitution to those who were taxed-- robbed-- to fund the government you used. It's a destructive cycle which solves nothing.

There are better, consensual ways, to do everything you have a right to do. Find them.

All actions, good and bad, have consequences. Whether anyone believes they should happen or not, they will happen with or without government stepping in. Let them happen naturally.

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Truth is "hate speech" in a society of lies.

A system built on thuggery and cheating

I don't believe you can build a legitimate or credible "system" using illegitimate or non-credible parts. This is why no political government (or any piece thereof) looks legitimate or credible to me. It is based on politics and is political throughout. Politics is cheating.

Even if such a "system" gets something right on occasion, I see this as an accident, not as proof of legitimacy.

And, in the case of the Rittenhouse trial, the jury got it right, not the "system". The "system" allowed there to be a trial-- an attempt to punish a victim (an unlikeable victim, in my opinion) while portraying his attackers as victims. There's nothing legitimate about that.

Now, the prosecutor and arresting officers (if there were any) need to pay restitution. They wouldn't be able to afford the amount I would suggest they owe. I'd also shun them to death. But that's just me, and seems to be a reasonable consequence of being part of an evil, illegitimate "system".

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Politics is for the gullible.

What is wrong with some people?

I've got a friend of a couple of decades who is in a potentially dangerous situation with her roommate, and she's probably making it worse by dispensing with civility. They both have done so. It's a cold war on the verge of going hot. 

She's not worried about any consequences because she's cocky and because she keeps knives in her room.

She doesn't believe the potentially dangerous person or her friends can do anything to her. So she keeps antagonizing her, and the roommate is doing the same. 

To be clear, neither is innocent in my opinion. Both are doing all they can to poke at the other, making the other person as miserable as possible. The roommate has been using, breaking, and throwing away my friend's property, and picking locks to access my friend's bathroom for her constant stream of visitors to use, and her bedroom to get to kitchen utensils my friend bought and hid to keep from being damaged. 

The other girl has done things unilaterally to raise the rent, and my friend is refusing to pay the higher rent. But also refusing to discuss it or even tell the roommate she's refusing to pay the higher rent. And, still, looking for ways to anger the roommate. Any communication is through passive-aggressive notes left-- and ignored-- around the apartment.

They are refusing to even speak to each other anymore, letting their behavior speak for them. 

I see this leading to a bad situation, maybe even-- I hate to think this way-- murder. And I've warned her. Do you think she listens? Ha. It's almost as though she is enjoying this situation; it seems to energize her. Who knows what the roommate thinks.

She lives hundreds of miles away and there's nothing I can physically do.

I've been in enough sketchy situations over the years that I'm not cocky. I don't try to intentionally antagonize anyone, especially without a clear path away from the situation. I'm not going to assume the other person isn't going to snap if pushed too far. I don't assume they aren't sneaky enough to get the drop on me. I assume they could well have friends who wouldn't draw the line at physical violence they believe would help their friend.

But, it seems some people are dedicated to being stubborn. As happens all the time, I ask myself what is wrong with some people?

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Dr. Phil and all those court shows are porn for people who pretend to be offended by porn.

Would this solve inflation? Abolish all political government at every level, then burn/delete any FRNs or digital money in the possession of government. (Then open Fort Knox and let's see if there's anything left in there to be handed out to the people in restitution.)

Time's Up flag listing... fixed?

I just discovered that my Time's Up flags, which I thought were available for sale for the past month, weren't. I had paid for an entire month of "pause and build" instead of having them for sale. I think that is fixed now.

So, here again, is the listing. (Probably twice, as it tends to do.)

Don't you dare take your safety equipment with you

Demanding that someone leave their gun behind when they are going to where there is trouble is like demanding someone unhook their seatbelt if they see an out-of-control car heading toward them. It's like demanding they throw out their fire extinguishers if they smell smoke.

What kind of evil idiot would demand you get rid of your safety equipment at the moment when you most need it? Political idiots, that's who.

Anyone who holds this opinion wants you to die.

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The barbarism of the Branch Covidians

Someone I know made a stupid TikTok video (aren't they all?) with the song "Take this mask and shove it", and the comments were overwhelmingly negative. Most were along the lines of "I hope you catch Covid and die" (some hoping her child dies of Covid, too), and others were more focused on hating Texas and the Texas governor.

She deleted them all. 

I would have left them and ridiculed all the superstitious commenters. I would have laughed at their religion and its unscientific belief requirements. But this is because I don't ever delete comments (other than those from spammers, but those don't count). The only comment I ever intentionally deleted was one where the commenter threw a fit and demanded I delete his comment immediately. And I once accidentally deleted a comment when I was trying to read it from my phone.

The crazed, frothing hatred from the Branch Covidians is insane. And seems to be growing as their "pandemic" narrative fades. (The pandemic is over; it's now endemic and just something to live with. Note I said "live with", not "continue to panic about".)

Even a prepper blog I read has gone over to the crazy side. He basically sees Covid as an existential threat and he believes all the government's numbers and claims about it. Remember, if two people are in a room and one of them sees a unicorn in the room and the other doesn't, the one who sees the unicorn is probably the one who's hallucinating. In fact, the same is true even if the animal in question is only a zebra.  Or a horse.

Opposing mandates isn't the same as trying to forbid you from getting a "vaccine" or wearing a mask. Do what you feel is best. But the Branch Covidians are trying to convince you it is the same. And they want you to know they feel you are a murderer for opposing mandates. All over a silly overreaction to a virus. Some people don't even believe the virus exists.

I doubt it's all made up-- I think there probably is a new variety of cold virus out there, but I have no proof and no way to know without taking someone else's word. But I know for sure that the way the Branch Covidians-- in and out of political power-- are behaving about it is wrong. They are becoming barbarians. Make sure it doesn't end the way they'd prefer.

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A state government isn't the cure for authoritarianism-- it is a feature of it.

Six years. Every day it seems so much longer than that, and also like it was only yesterday.

"The science" is anti-scientific; superstition, science-denial. Anyone who uses the term either doesn't understand what science is or is trying to manipulate you with lies.

"Justice" or "fairness"?

Dishonest or ignorant people are actively trying to conflate "justice" and "fairness". That's not what "justice" means. 

Worse, "fairness" isn't even a real thing, but is a concept "invented so children and idiots could feel like they are participating in conversation".

But fooling people into believing the words "justice" and "fairness" mean the same thing is useful for brainwashing them into accepting injustice by calling it "fairness" and tying it to "justice". Who could admit to being against justice? 

Of course, most people would also say "Who could be against fairness?" I'm not against it; I just recognize it is so totally subjective as to be useless and ultimately imaginary. What I would see as "fair" another might see as "unfair"-- and might also call "injustice" if they confuse those concepts.

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It is NOT wrong to go boldly into a dangerous place in defense of life, liberty, or property, carrying effective weapons (it would be foolish to do so without weapons). To demonize someone who carries a gun when they go among aggressors-- and who only uses these weapons in actual defense-- is to side with evil. Pacifism isn't noble; non-aggression is.

Self-defense isn't a crime

If Kyle Rittenhouse had been a "black", trans, communist Biden fan who showed up to support Antifa, I would still see what he did as self-defense. The person and his beliefs are irrelevant to me in such a case. Those who try to make this about the person are trying to mislead you down a deadly path to right where they want you.

He was where he had a right to be, doing what he had a right to do. He was armed, as was his natural human right. He was being pursued by people who were a credible threat to his life. He did just enough to end that threat-- he didn't keep firing into the aggressors once the threat was ended (which would have been understandable under the circumstances, with stress and all).

Do I agree with his opinions? Nope. He's a copsucker and apparently a Trump fan. I probably wouldn't like him in person. It doesn't matter. Do I think it's smart to go to a riot, even in defense of strangers' property? Probably not, but I would hope strangers would help me if it were my property in danger, so I'm not too set on that. Either way, it was still self-defense each time he pulled the trigger. 

If I were on the jury I would refuse to find him guilty of anything, no matter how trivial. Just because they were arrogant enough to put him on trial. And I wouldn't budge. This is a line in the sand.

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Cannabis licensing smacks of scam

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 13, 2021)

If government claims it will finally allow you-- after you buy a license-- to do something you've always had a natural human right to do, but makes the rules for getting the license so burdensome, complex, annoying, and expensive that few will jump through the hoops, what was really accomplished? Was your freedom increased or was it a scam?

The New Mexico Cannabis business licensing scheme looks like one such example to me.

Some licensing schemes are concerned with controlling business to keep free enterprise from existing while others are aimed at rationing other natural human rights government refuses to recognize. Concealed carry permits and driver's licenses being prime examples of violating a right, then selling a license so the right will be seen as a privilege.

These types of programs allow government officials to claim they've given you an opportunity, and it's your fault if you don't follow through. Of course, if you dare exercise your right without the license, they'll call you a criminal and use government violence against you. What a racket. I'll bet other crime syndicates wish they could get away with criminal behavior this bold-- with the approval of most of their victims.

If government were serious about respecting human rights-- one of which is the right to trade without government interference-- it would simply get out of the way. No excuses and no licenses.

If anyone demands you buy a license for anything, they have no intention of respecting your rights.

Years ago, in another state, I tried to get a license I needed to expand my business and was given the run-around by every government employee I contacted. Including the one whose job it was to sell me the license. It wasn't that they openly denied my request, they just ignored me over and over and did nothing for months until I gave up.

When I see the ridiculous rules and requirements which have been imposed surrounding Cannabis businesses, I see the same sort of government scam.

Yet, those interested in running such a business dare not criticize the scheme. Doing so would probably guarantee they'd be put on a list of people who will never be allowed a license for a Cannabis business. So I don't expect any of them to publicly agree with me and potentially derail their dreams. I'll speak up for them since I'm not interested in opening a Cannabis business.

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Protesting "vaccine" tantrums doesn't make one an "anti-vaxxer" and pretending it does is stupid. I saw two posts online where people who were protesting specific government Covid policies were called anti-vaxxers, and one thumbnail on YouTube where one fake news outlet said another fake news outlet's hosts were hypocrites for opposing "vaccine mandates" while being, personally, "vaccinated". The Branch Covidians are just stupid... or lying.

"Just freakin' OBSERVE!"

I was trying to put something back together and having no luck-- it just wouldn't screw together. No matter how carefully I aligned the sides, the threads wouldn't catch. I decided the threads must be stripped out. I was in a bit of a hurry so I put it aside to see what I could do later when I had more time. 

Later, I tried screwing it together and still had no luck, so I (belatedly) decided to actually look at it. To observe, as I constantly remind myself to do. 

Looking closely, I noticed it had reverse threads-- "Lefty, tighty". After making that observation, it went back together easily. I can't see any rational reason for the threading to be backwards, but it is. Why did it take me so long to pause and observe?

How many other times have I blundered through life, working off of wrong assumptions, not pausing to make a necessary observation, and wondering why it's not working? Plenty!

I think a lot of the world's problems are caused by this exact thing. It's why people see corruption in political systems which are working exactly as designed. It's why their great idea to control and coerce people-- ignoring human nature-- backfires. They didn't bother to observe, they just assumed. And it is working just as you'd expect.

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The problem-- the enemy-- isn't liberalism/progressivism or conservatism. It is authoritarianism. Government-supremacism. The variety you embrace is just as monstrous as the variety you hate.

It's obviously not that

They can call the Covid shots "vaccines" all they want, but that's not what they look like to me.

A cheesecake is, to me, obviously not a cake, but a pie.

And no matter what you call it, punishment looks to me like revenge, not justice. A lot of people-- even libertarians-- are very fond of punishment. They'll do anything to not let go of it.

I completely understand the primal desire for punishment. I've felt it myself. I get all the justifications for punishment. I just think they are wrong.

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Speak now or forever hold your peace

If there is any interest in getting a Time's Up flag, let me know soon. The time for my decision on whether to keep the flags for sale or not is fast approaching.

Marty McFly improved his 1985 at the cost of destroying our 2021. It's why "hoverboards" have wheels in this timeline.

Leave the garbage in the trash pit

Migrants who bring bad ideas with them, into any new place which still tolerates politics, almost always try to turn their refuge into a sewer. 

Whether they are migrants from California who turn Colorado into a mirror of what they fled, or people from Middle East theocracies who want to impose the same failed brutal systems they felt the need to escape onto their new neighbors, it happens time after time.

I doubt they realize what they are doing. I'd bet they are just craving the familiar.

If the backward superstitions of democracy and political "authority" didn't already enslave the population, there wouldn't be a danger. It probably wouldn't be possible to accomplish. Even those who hate democracy (but still believe in politics) see how useful democracy can be to achieve the dystopia they crave. If all you have to do is out-v*te someone else, you can enslave them however you want.

If you try to remake your new home into a version of the old place you had to escape, you're a moron. If you work to impose it on others, you're committing evil.

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Happy Armistice Day

That's something worth celebrating in some way.

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Why cave in to their tantrums?

A commenter told me the proper word for "mandate" is "dictate". I like that. Even though I don't see any positive side to "mandate", "dictate" is even more assertively negative. Good. Brush aside those cozy euphemisms. 

I'd go even further. Any mandate or policy or legislation is a tantrum. A bully's tantrum. "You do what I want or I'll make you suffer!" I've encountered enough bullies to recognize them by their behavior.

Bullies are stunted in their maturation process. Who would let nasty, demanding children-- spoiled toddlers with guns-- run their lives? Often, "children" who've never done anything productive and are now old and wrinkled, physically and spiritually. Bullying is all they know.

I hate bullies-- they are all political whether they are governmental or freelance. And I hate their tantrums. I have no intention of changing my behavior based on their tantrums. 

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I firmly believe that if someone doesn't want to be shot in the act of attacking someone, the responsibility to not be an attacker is theirs. Regardless of the beliefs of the person forced into the position of defending himself. Only a corrupt, broken system deserving of abolition would ever prosecute the defender. In case you misunderstand, I'm not only speaking of one case that's currently in the public eye, either.

Some people are... what's the word?

You just can't protect people from themselves. Some people seem determined to do stupid things. You can give them tools to protect themselves from their own inclinations, but they won't use them. Then they'll be angry when you don't (or can't) drop everything and come rescue them from a situation you've done all you can to help them prevent, but they didn't do anything to avoid.

There's one person in my life who is this way, and no matter how I work to make it so that this person doesn't get into these situations, my efforts are pointless. 

Not only that, when something along these lines happens, it's somehow my fault. "You know I..." ...do this thing I've told them over and over again is a bad idea. But they do it anyway and get angry if I warn against doing it, and get mad at me when the thing I've warned against happens-- as it always does. And Heaven help me if I mention this after it happens!

I know part of it is that this person likes to disrupt the lives of others. It makes them the center of attention. It may not even be a conscious thing. They are also the least self-aware person I've ever met.

They are simply a garden-variety statist-- the standard statist irresponsibility and all that.

It's just a frustrating thing.

I must remind myself "Be like water. Flow around the obstacles."

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Political opinions can be irrelevant, if you let them be

I follow some preppers on YouTube who have opinions-- political opinions-- I don't agree with. 

I still respect their other opinions-- their opinions on prepping-- because they don't try to force those weird political opinions on anyone else. Thus, those warped opinions are irrelevant. Their other opinions are still worthwhile.

There are others I generally respect who can't let go of some really dumb beliefs that make me occasionally pause and reconsider their beliefs on other topics. But, yeah, they can be super smart in some ways while having blind spots in other places.

That's how it is with those in my personal sphere who have political opinions but don't try to impose them on anyone. They may believe bizarre nonsense, but it doesn't matter if they don't use those beliefs against others.

No matter how toxic someone's opinions may be, as long as they keep them personal and don't try to force others to live according to them, I can ignore them (but not forget they exist-- that would be dangerous).

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Best to let people try different things

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 6, 2021)

The best survival strategy for a society, a civilization, or a species is to let individuals try different things. Get out of their way, even when you believe their choice will lead to certain doom. The only legitimate limit is when an action would violate the life, liberty, or property of another. In that case, the intended victim has the right to stop the violator, but otherwise, step aside.

Every choice is a fork in the road. You can't see what's ahead along either path. You may strongly believe one thing is, others may just as strongly believe something else is. It's wisest to let everyone choose their own path.

The fork usually has more than two options and no expert can know which is the best path. In fact, what would be trouble for some might be perfect for you. Don't let political authorities dictate your choice. Yes, you may choose poorly. Others will make a different choice which works out well. The more free we are to choose, the better our species will fare.

So, let some get vaccinated and let others decline to do so. Let some wear masks, let others breathe free.

Let some people use Bitcoin, let others trade in precious metals, let others trust government fiat money, while others diversify.

Let some people work with solar energy, let others provide petroleum, and let others develop Generation IV nuclear energy.

Let those who embrace risk emigrate to Mars and let others stay on Earth.

The more variety in the paths taken, the better off we'll all be.

One size does not fit all. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Let people choose what they believe is the best path, even when you're sure they are wrong. Feel free to give them your reasons and then step away and don't force them to do what you believe is best. You could be wrong. I could be wrong. It's not good to make everyone do the exact same thing.

This is why government legislation is such a bad idea for humanity as a whole. It limits options and forces everyone down a funnel which might lead to a really bad outcome. Even if it allows a couple of choices, those choices are artificially limited to the ones politicians like. Do you trust politicians to run your life? I don't. Just as I don't trust myself to run your life.

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Dark humor?

I drove past this accident about 5 or 10 minutes after it happened yesterday. I found perverse humor in the billboards above one of the wrecked vehicles. 

I was relieved to find out no one was killed, because I figured someone died at the scene (the other wrecked pickup was a little farther down the road and was pretty much destroyed).

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"Any encounter you have with an armed gang member has the potential to turn deadly -- sometimes accidentally. You don't have to be an idiot who demonizes all MS-13 members for the abuses of some to understand this."
Oh, wait, she was speaking in support of cops, not MS-13. ALL cops are evil scum. (Yes, that one, too.) Recognizing this truth doesn't make one an idiot. Trying to justify cops, because you are too cowardly to live without them, just might.

Pouring water into a full cup

If you have a cup that is filled to the brim with good water, have you gained anything by pouring in another cup full of water? Well, as my daughter pointed out, you've gained a mess.

In reality, there's nothing worthwhile to gain by adding more to that full cup. 

What if you aren't even the one choosing what will be poured into your full cup? Can you trust the one adding something to your cup? If what is poured in is not what you want in your cup, there's still a way to lose but no way to gain.

If having caught and survived Covid filled your bodily "cup" with antibodies-- natural immunity-- does a "vaccine" add anything helpful? Is "more" better? Not if you are already filled to the brim. 

Plus, you've added the risk of something you might not want ending up in you since you have no control of what's being added.

You do what you want, but that's just something to think about.

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Hail to the teapot

There are plenty of bad things you can say about Joe Biden, but at least he's made it obvious (to anyone who didn't already get it) that the presidency is pointless and unnecessary. If he can hold the job, anything can. 

Any mystique is gone. It's just a figurehead; a placeholder. A face for the bureaucratic tyranny and for the "authority" worshipers to focus on. Any face would do; alive or not. For that matter, a teapot would probably do.

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Silence-- the best policy?

I probably get a stupid look on my face.

When? Any time someone starts telling me some "wonderful" thing a politician they like is doing. Chances are, I don't think it's wonderful. I probably don't like their politician, either.

It happens pretty often.

One topic from this category I encounter often is people gushing over border control.

I got an email from someone just a couple of days ago. He invited me to join his trip to the border to thank the border control agents, the National Guard, and the sheriffs for "keeping us safe". I'm not going to do that. I'm against Big Government every time.

Why would I thank the jailers who are keeping the cell doors locked? Which side of the cell do these borderists imagine they are on?

Then, just a day or so later, I was treated to a glowing report of some politician-- the Texas governor-- taking it into his own hands to build a border wall without the US feral government's help, and against their wishes.

Look, I get why people want borders, I just don't agree with them anymore.

Those aren't the only topics. I've had the same reaction to government-supremacists talking about schools, gun legislation, cops, drugs, taxes, social media, property codes, and just about everything else governments screw up.

Anyway, at times like those I've found it's best to just not respond. At all. Or change the subject. They aren't going to listen to the other side-- even from someone who was once on the other side. So, I probably sit there with a blank expression for a while, until the topic changes to something more civilized. Silence is (or can be) golden.

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When the criminals run the show

A local doctor has been sentenced for "parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building" in Washington, District of Crooks, on this past January 6th. (Notice, no charges for "insurrection".)

I would probably disagree with him on just about every contentious topic that forms an excuse for committing political acts against others, but he had more right to be in that building than the vile congressvermin who cowered under their chairs that day. The building belongs to him, not to government employees.

He is not the criminal; those punishing him are criminals.

If I couldn't side with people I (probably, or for sure) disagree with when they are victimized by thugs, my principles would be worthless. What use are worthless principles? Why bother?

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In most cases, it seems as pointless to say "the government" as it does to say "the cancer". The disease is bigger than an individual case. It's not enough to cure one specific instance, you want to cure the whole category so it doesn't come back. If one person has cancer wouldn't they prefer all versions be cured so they don't get a different one later?

They could have solved politics

I know it's dangerous to say this, but the only way the US Constitution wouldn't have been a failure from the very beginning is if it had made the assassination of politicians explicitly permissible for any reason.

Yes, there are rare cases where that would be a clear violation of the ZAP, but so is establishing a state. If they can do one, they can do both.

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Ignorance as social lubricant

When I was a kid and teen, I pretended to not know a lot of things I knew. I did this in self-defense. 

I had figured out at an early age that people didn't like it when I knew things they didn't know. Especially people who were older than me and thought of themselves as "authority". So I feigned ignorance a lot to survive socially. 

It was a hard habit to break, even once I stopped caring so much about what others thought. I still sometimes catch myself self-censoring for the same reason. 

I've also learned that it can be fun watching someone digging themselves into a deep hole. And, I'll admit I sometimes toss a little fuel on the fire by pretending to not know something, asking strange questions, and seeing where they go with it. We all need hobbies, right?

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Try for a normal without tyrants

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 29, 2021)

Are you enjoying this "new normal"?

Neither am I. What can be done about it?

Consider:

Those who gained power or prestige by using the Covid panic will not willingly go back to the way life was before. They will have to be forced out. They'll probably make this a crime before you get the chance. Try anyway.

Even if you do successfully force them out, things can never go back to exactly the way they were before.

Covid-19 is a new cold virus, added to over two hundred cold viruses-- rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, and others-- which are already out there. You could get lifetime immunity from each cold virus you catch (as is usually the case) and still get two colds every year if you lived to be one hundred years old. Future generations-- until every cold virus is cured-- probably won't know or care which specific cold virus they caught.

Another change which will probably be permanent is how many people lost trust in "experts". My trust in the medical profession has been almost completely destroyed by the events of the past year and a half and I'm not the only one.

Some of your neighbors have also been inspired to become snitches or enforcers for the state-- enforcing the opinions of politicians against their fellow humans, both as business owners and as freelance "Karens". Will they go back to a healthy way of interacting with others once the silliness ends? Don't count on it.

Governments also got new visions of what is possible; more understanding of what the population will allow them to do. They will take advantage of this at every opportunity.

Things change. You can never go back to the way things were in the past. However, you don't have to allow bad changes to stand unchallenged; you can turn them into opportunities to change things for the better. You can now see cracks in the wall of political authority. Grab a crowbar and sledgehammer and get to work. This wall, like the Berlin Wall before it, can-- and should-- be brought down.

Yes, we will settle into a new normal, different from the one we lived before. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The "new normal" doesn't have to be the one authoritarian politicians want. It can be a normal where tyrants have no place among those who choose society over politics. It's up to you.

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Halloween fiction: The mutants are coming!

I'm hiding in the corner of an old dusty barn. Trying to be as quiet as possible while breathing hard from running. I wipe some blood out of my eyes; don't worry, it's not mine. My heart is pounding in my ears, and I need to calm it if I am to hear anything coming.

Feeling around to see how much ammo I still have with me; wondering if it will be enough. I couldn't possibly carry as much ammunition as I'd like, to use against what I'll face when I do make a run for it.

I've got my AR-15 with a full magazine; two more full magazines and a "partial" in my bag. I just counted what was left-- nineteen in that partial magazine. I swapped it out for a full magazine after the last encounter a couple of hours ago, just in case. Could I have fired fewer shots than I did last time? Did I waste ammo? It's a nagging question I'll never know the answer to.

I also have my 9mm handgun, with a full 10-round magazine in it and two 15-round magazines in the bag, besides the 12-rounder clipped inside my waistband. I haven't fired this gun since I ran-- fortunately, I've kept all encounters to a distance.

And that's all I've got as far as guns go... unless you count the .22 LR mini-revolver I always have as a last resort, which I don't.

Are the guns pointless, though?

I'm not even sure where to run. 

The towns and cities are obviously not safe, but neither is the wilderness. Not the mountains, the plains, the deserts, or the oceans. Sure, the places farther from concentrations of people-- or where concentrations of people used to live when this hit-- are slightly less dangerous. But any difference is small and shrinking fast. They are spreading faster than seems possible.

How did the world get into this mess?

A few years ago most people all over the world got a new vaccine. A different sort of vaccine against a disease that in hindsight was a picnic compared to... well, what the vaccine has wrought.

It didn't seem that dangerous at the time, but I didn't really see the need so I didn't bother getting vaccinated.

As it turns out, not getting the vaccine made no difference to my safety. It only bought me a little time. But for what?

Even months later there weren't that many serious side effects. Anyone who had decided against the vaccine was ridiculed and often shunned because it was "obviously safe". That was then. 

Later everyone stopped caring either way, and it was too late.

Before everything shut down it had become apparent that this vaccine, by getting into the recipient's DNA, made it possible for the genes of unrelated mammals to merge if they mated, resulting in hybrid offspring. No matter that they had different numbers of chromosomes or previously had immune responses to each other to prevent crossbreeding. I don't know the exact explanation of how it did what it did, and I guess explanations are pointless now. Who would I explain it to even if I knew?

If this had been the whole story, it wouldn't have been a huge issue outside some backward communities. 

Unfortunately, it also turned out that in a small, but still too large, percentage of the population-- both human and non-human-- this change coincided with the total elimination of any reluctance to mate with anything of any species. Worse, the offspring aren't sterile and can-- and will, with enthusiasm-- breed with each other, passing along the worst traits of the line. Now it's hard to guess what the parentage of the... thing.. about to rape or eat you (not even sure which fate is worse) might have been.

These things have higher intelligence than the animal part of them would have had (the ones which have some human in them, anyway), more stamina, and higher aggression than any normal lifeform. And most of them have shorter gestation periods and mature in only a year or so. Some mature in weeks-- thanks, mouse DNA. Plus, they all have the survival skills and abilities of the wildlife genes they contain. And their appearance. I promise-- you don't want to see them. They are like walking cancer made up of the worst sick taxidermy you can imagine, multiplied by infinity.

It's like some perfect nightmare. I wonder if my horror-fan friends are enjoying this-- if they are still alive.

Now I feel like it's time to run again. I'm as rested as I'm going to get. I need to find somewhere to sleep for a little while, but there's no bank safe handy to lock myself in to feel protected enough to sleep. 

Some food would be nice, too, but honestly, I'm scared to eat one of those things. Would cooking really destroy the DNA enough to make me safe? And what about handling the raw meat and blood while butchering the things? I do have a few nitrile gloves I shoved in my bag as I fled my house just as something with giant curled horns blasted through my back door, but would I trust them? I don't know. 

But I'm getting hungry enough that I'm caring less. I mean, yes, a few hours ago I did make the mistake of shooting that hairy winged thing as it swooped toward me, and a little blood sprayed down on me as it fell to the ground. Just a little splatter. And I feel fine. Great, in fact. Stronger than ever. But hungry.

I'm starting to feel like I don't even need the guns. 

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Happy Halloween!

Supply chain failure-- the common denominator

For weeks-- maybe months-- now, I've been hearing people giving the reason behind the supply chain failure. But I'm hearing many different reasons, not one. All of them sound plausible, even when they are different.

Ordinarily this would indicate that they are all probably wrong.

But not this time. Not if you dig a little deeper.

Every reason I've heard comes down, at its root, to government caused this problem. 

It's been a long time coming, but the Covid overreaction brought it to a head.

Regulations, rationing, licensing, legislation, handouts... they all came together to cause this mess. It won't be solved by mixing in more of the same. Getting government out of the way is the only permanent solution, but it's one you'll not hear from the mainstream or from government (but I repeat myself).

I hate to sound like a parrot, repeating the only phrase he knows. But, yes, government caused this problem. Government is the problem so often it can't be coincidence.

(After writing this, I decided I might expand it and turn it into a newspaper column. If so, I apologize for the repeat.)

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The problem may be theirs

How rude!

Thinking back on a previous post, I got to remembering how many times in my life I've been called "rude" or something similarly negative because I asserted my autonomy. And it's a lot!

One person has repeatedly told me that by not allowing them to control me, I am forcing my will on them. I am being rude and should be ashamed.

Once I was working for a staffing service-- which was my actual boss-- when the job-site boss told me to move a stack of long metal poles from one location to another, outdoors, in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. Following the staffing service's explicit directions to not do anything I considered dangerous, I refused. I explained why I couldn't do that. I was kicked off the job after being screamed at for being lazy and useless. The staffing service supported my decision, though.

Because I don't fawn over police and military-- I don't thank them for their service when I encounter them in the wild-- I am told I am rude. I don't slam doors in their faces, spit on them, or even give them the evil eye. As long as they aren't actively doing wrong right now, I treat them as I would treat any other random stranger. But neglecting to fawn over them is "rude".

I don't often give anything to panhandlers, nor take flyers from anyone handing them out. If I say anything, I keep it to "No thanks". There have been a couple of occasions where the person wouldn't take "No" for an answer and I was more assertive, but I only push back as hard as I have to. I won't be bullied. I've been told this, too, is "rude".

I've been called "rude" for ignoring statist rituals to worship Holy Pole Quilt. So be it.

I have no respect for your favorite politician or bureaucrat. I'm not going to fake that I do. Don't press me to give my opinion unless you're strong enough to hear it. And don't call me "rude" if you don't like what you hear; what I didn't want to say in the first place.

I prefer to be civil. I like to be nice. But not at the expense of liberty or truth. You've got to have a line-in-the-sand somewhere. A line no one can push you across, using your desire to be nice as a weapon against you. If standing up for yourself (or someone else) makes you "rude" in another's eyes, the problem is theirs.

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Suddenly YouTube is suggesting lots of videos for me on stupid people (their terms)-- what makes them stupid, why facts don't convince them, and why they don't know they are stupid. I didn't go searching for these and it makes me wonder if the Googleverse is trying to tell me something.

Time keeps rolling on

My mom's last uncle-- the last of a set of 11 couples (my grandmother was in a big family)-- died Monday. He was married to one of my maternal grandmother's many sisters. 

I've mentioned him here a couple of times; when his house got robbed (I believe, 3 times), vandalized, and then set on fire by a worthless dirtbag (that's the one dumb enough to get caught). 

Uncle Jay was distantly related to Daniel Boone (not a direct descendant) and looked like an old cowboy. Especially in his hat.

I have to admit, it was time for him to go. He hasn't been doing well for the past year, mentally or physically. I wasn't especially close to him most of my life, but did spend more time with him in the last 5 or so years. I'm not terribly broken up over his death. Still, it is the end of an era. 

Today would have been his 98th birthday. 

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All it took was for an outspoken anti-gun bigot to "accidentally" shoot and kill someone (the gun "went off") for all the people who know nothing about guns to start giving their ignorant opinions with grandiosity. I've never heard so much gun ignorance in my life-- and I'm accustomed to hearing a lot of it.

"Not guilty" should be the default

Someone in my family got a jury duty notice again, but the trial was canceled before they met. But this is a good time for a reminder.

If you were a juror and had a bad feeling about the accused, but the government didn't prove its case against him, what would you do?

You should render a verdict of "not guilty" anyway.

"Not guilty" should always be the default. It's the government's "job" to prove their case to move you away from that position, but you aren't obligated to move an inch.

"Not guilty" doesn't mean you're sure he didn't do it. It doesn't mean you think he's a great guy. It doesn't mean you don't believe he's ever done anything else wrong. It just means the government didn't prove its case to your satisfaction-- or that the legislation he's accused of violating in this instance is counterfeit.

I could be on a jury and say "not guilty" but still feel the accused isn't trustworthy. I might still warn people to stay away from him because I think he's a slimeball. But I'm not going to hand the government a "win" based on my feelings and suspicions. Especially if they don't prove their case or are trying to enforce counterfeit "laws". It's your responsibility to hold them to a higher standard when you have the power to do so.

Besides, court isn't real life. It's just a ritual. Your life decisions shouldn't hinge on what happens in a court. If you don't trust someone, don't take a court verdict into account when considering whether you might be wrong about them.

There are people on death row (often for killing home-invading cops) I would gladly hang out with and there are people who have been acquitted that I would only be in the same room with if I were pointing a gun at them.

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"That was rude!"

Saturday my daughter and I went to a pet expo over in New Mexico territory. One of the booths was the local city animal shelter. As I passed, they asked if I would sign a petition to have the city "improve" the shelter.

My signature wouldn't have been valid, since I'm not a resident of the state, and I don't think government should be running animal shelters anyway. I've repeated over the years that nothing should be "tax" funded, not even if I like it.

So I said, "No, thanks".

The shocked faces should have been a warning. My daughter tells me that a kid in the booth said "That was rude" as we walked away, and someone else said "Wow!".

I was told by someone in my family that I should have just signed. 

I never claimed to have the best social skills, but I don't like being deceptive. I suppose I could have gotten into a conversation to explain my choice. I could have pointed to the cat my daughter was carrying and told them the story of his rescue, as evidence that I love animals. Would it have made a difference in their opinion of me? Does their opinion matter? 

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Taxing rich discourages productivity

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 22, 2021)

Tax the rich? It sounds like a great idea... to people without a grasp of economic reality. For the rest of us, it looks like national economic suicide.

If you punish people for being productive, you'll discourage productivity. Yes, there are some people who would keep working hard to create value even if the IRS keeps stealing it, but many would throw in the towel and live on the bare minimum they are allowed to keep. They wouldn't start businesses to benefit society or to employ people. They wouldn't buy luxuries that people create, build, and sell to rich people. There's no faster way to cripple the economy-- other than a pandemic shutdown.

You could confiscate all the wealth of every rich person in the country, even redefining "rich" so you can take more, and it wouldn't put a dent in the debt Congress has racked up. A debt they pretend is yours to pay. "National debt" is a lie.

If Elon Musk had most of his wealth confiscated to fund government, the future of space travel would be in peril. In fact, it would probably be crippled for the next generation or two, at least in America. It's too great a risk.

Even the rich people I don't like have a right to keep the money they or their parents earned. The only people who don't have the right to keep "their" money are those who get money from politics or other criminal behavior. That money should be returned to the victims, not handed to government.

"Tax the rich" is a trendy thing to say. It demonstrates how "woke" you are. As with most "wokeness" it also declares your ignorance in a loud voice.

I don't want rich people taxed for the same reason I don't want poor people taxed. It's unethical to take money which doesn't belong to you, no matter your justification. Taxation is theft, even if you would rather pretend it isn't. If your plan relies on theft, It needs to be scrapped.

Plus, I don't want government to have money. I'd rather shut off the supply and starve the beast. Taxation is apparently not even necessary for government finances since government has shown it will print whatever money it wants. Yes, this will eventually destroy the economy, but so will taxing the rich. If they are going to destroy the economy anyway, I'd rather they do so without taxation.

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Beware statist rule-breakers

Being an outlaw is a noble thing. An outlaw, not a criminal. But there is a risk.

No one is "law-abiding", and especially not those who claim to be. They simply ignore and don't count that legislation they don't agree with. I do the same.

However, statists who break the rules are happy to report your rule-breaking because somehow theirs doesn't count. But yours counts... to them. Reporting you may even-- in their imaginations-- make up for their own rule-breaking. Like a serial killer turning in a jaywalker.

I don't care if someone is breaking the rules as long as their act doesn't violate someone else. I'd never report someone for breaking such a rule. But then I'm not a statist.

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Excuses are easy to find

With all that's been going on, I skipped my daily walk twice in a row. I haven't done that since I started walking for "exercise" a few years ago. I have skipped a day here and there if I was doing something else laborious that day, but never twice in a row-- or even twice in one week.

I wasn't feeling too guilty about skipping the walk, but then I realized it's just an excuse.

I still could have walked, and I should have walked. But excuses are so easy to find... or dream up.

It's the same way with statism.

It's so easy to think of excuses. 

"If people aren't forced to do that good thing, they won't." 

"If you don't forbid people to do that bad thing, and threaten punishment if they do it anyway, they will keep doing it."

"It's for their own good."
"We know what's good for them."
"This is too big for people to do without government."
"They won't be responsible unless you make them."

The excuses flow like a flood. Excuses are easy, principles are hard. But they are worth it anyway.

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Ever notice how people who hate guns are generally the least able to act responsibly? It's almost as if there's a connection...

In other news... (with an update)

The past 24+ hours I've been struggling to take care of a very sick 9-year-old cat (Butterscotch), and I'm too tired and emotionally drained to write anything, much less anything smart, for automatic posting tomorrow morning. 

She's had a relapse of a problem she had a little over 3 years ago when we nearly lost her. She has a vet appointment for first thing in the morning. I'm trying to prepare my daughter for what may come.

UPDATE: Butters has a chronic kidney issue (which was the problem before). The vet put her on a few medications to get her over the crisis, and she already seems to feel a bit better. I caught the problem earlier this time so she wasn't as sick. Hard to believe, as sick as she was. I just have to stay vigilant and make sure she doesn't stop eating or drinking for even a day.
As an aside-- the vet looks like Molly Quinn from Castle.

For your favorite miscreants

 I'm offering Time's Up flags again for a while. In time for holiday gifts if you order early enough.

NPCs in action

The small local park is often the target of destructive people. Largely people from a specific demographic.

I don't want government taking people's money and using it for parks or park equipment, but I also think vandalism is one of the most stupid things supposed humans can do.

If you destroy something that "belongs" to government (but isn't otherwise violating anyone the way a police car, for example, does), you gained nothing. More money will be stolen to repair or replace it. Even if you imagine the taxes will be paid by someone else, you still end up paying through higher prices on everything you buy because someone is paying those taxes.

This table has been a recent focus of vandalism. The concrete pad under the table is inscribed with someone's initials and the year "1951", but for the past year, there has been a concerted effort by certain "people" to destroy the table. It has been repeatedly attacked.

Why? I don't get it.

Do these people imagine their life would somehow be better if they just tear down everything until nothing is left? Or are they counting on others to keep replacing what is destroyed with new stuff for them to destroy? What are they thinking?

Therein lies the answer and the problem.

The people who do things like this aren't actually thinking. They don't think of consequences or of the future beyond what they feel at this moment. They act on impulse. They are programmed-- by their empty culture-- to carry out certain actions and are powerless to resist. Thinking would get in the way, so it is avoided. If they are even capable of thinking. And perhaps they aren't. Maybe the capacity for independent thought was never part of their program. It sure looks as though that's the case.

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