Promises of politicians impossible

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 2, 2022)

Politicians are always promising to do things politicians can't do. Either they believe they are magic, or they want you to believe they are.

Sometimes they promise things they can't legally do-- things which violate the Constitution-- and other times they promise to do things which aren't possible within the laws of physics in our Universe. Do they believe you are gullible enough to fall for it? Probably.

Often they promise to violate economic reality, which is nearly as immutable as the laws of physics.

I've seen them promise to cap medication prices. I saw one suggestion that the cap for the price of insulin should be $0. Who did she think would continue to make insulin for free? Who would they enslave to do the work without being paid? Who will they steal the raw ingredients and facility from?

Did she mean everyone except the person getting the insulin will be forced to pay for it? This is usually what politicians mean by "free".

Economic ignorance is common in politicians, but it's not the only domain where they fail.

They are never good with scientific reality, as shown by "Save the planet", "Save the climate". and "End fossil fuels".

The Constitution is a frequent target of their delusions of power. Regardless of what the Constitution allows or forbids, they promise to secure the border.

With zero understanding of human nature, they believe legislation and cruel enforcement can end drug abuse.

They promise to ban an imaginary category of firearms: the "assault weapon". A name they made up so they could put anything they don't like into the meaningless category. It's still a lie, and they've been corrected enough times to know it by now. If they banned everything they label an "assault weapon" it would increase crime in a very real way. Prohibition always does.

The promises they make never end. Fortunately for us, they rarely get fulfilled. To a politician with ambitions to rule, reality is inconvenient to their goals and gets ignored as much as possible. Politicians can choose to ignore reality, but reality won't be cheated. The piper will be paid and gravity will pull them back down.

If you keep falling for political promises, you deserve what you get. My hope is that you'll see through their lies and avoid the pain which comes from trying to cheat reality to get what you want. Magic isn't real, and politicians are never Dumbledore.

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What liberty means to me

I wouldn't write about liberty if it didn't matter to me-- if I didn't have a passion for it. 

Liberty is the key to everything good. Even things you may think are unrelated to liberty. They aren't. 

Without liberty, there's nothing that can't be taken from you. Liberty helps protect your body, your faith, your family, your property, and your life. Anyone who doesn't want you to exercise your liberty to the fullest is not on your side.

There is no legitimate compromise that can be made when liberty is on the table-- it should never be on the table.

You can't give up liberty for the greater good because liberty is the greatest good. Never budge an inch!

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"Hey, Look at this other shiny thing over here..."

In the hours leading up to the story about Twitter's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story I watched those on the BiDenmocrat side panicking and trying to redirect focus to what Trumpublicans (or those associated with that side) did or might have done.

Boring.

Yes, yes, all politicians are crooked and everyone associated with them probably is, too. But trying to divert attention from the ethical crimes of those trying hard to protect your guy by pointing out the crimes of someone else's guy probably isn't going to work with anyone who isn't already on your team... or totally apathetic. 

Unfortunately, the Leftstream media is mostly on your team and will be helping hide the truth. Again. This is how this situation was created in the first place-- so I guess you didn't learn. Or maybe you did learn that it works well enough. (I would count all their work on behalf of Biden as a campaign contribution, because it is one.)

To me, your panic mode makes it look more like you think Daddy Joe "The Big Guy" Biden is guilty than if you just shut your yaps. 

Let the info on Twitter's suppression of the laptop news come out and take your lumps. This is about Twitter's dishonest behavior, not about the Biden family's crimes, anyway. And, it seems like Twitter's BiDenmocrat partisans thought the Bidens did something they needed to help hide, whether or not that is what happened.

If you think anyone other than your team is going to decide to care more about old news than current events... well, since politics makes people stupid, you might be right. Nothing will really change, anyway (I would love to be proven wrong about that).

Watching the reactions on Twitter for a couple of hours shows one thing: this is a perfect example of people seeing what they want to see. Maybe what they are primed to see. 

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Be aware, not w0ke

Being "woke", or as I prefer to spell it, "w0ke", seems a rather low bar. As long as you aren't actually unconscious, I suppose you are awake-- "w0ke".

I prefer being aware to being merely "w0ke".

Fictional zombies are minimally awake but aren't aware. Not on any mental level beyond instinct. Most of the political w0ke seem about the same-- which is why I sometimes refer to them as xombies.

Most of these xombies would argue that being w0ke means they are aware. They are mistaken. I'm certain they probably feel they are aware. They mistake the feeling of awareness for awareness.

It's not that they are always automatically wrong about everything. It is good to rise above silly things like racism, sexism, nationalism, etc. That is a sign that you may be aware, but if you dive too deep you'll lose awareness and replace it with w0keness, and that's a giant step backward.

Most w0keness will advocate violating liberty in some way; often in multiple major ways. The w0ke might claim they don't trust the state or corporations, but then they are thrilled when the state/corporation imposes their w0ke policies. Often they encourage the state and the quasi-state (corporations) to impose and enforce their w0ke agenda under threat of violence or cancellation. 

This demonstrates a lack of awareness of the consequences they are setting in motion. Which isn't exactly surprising. W0ke people seem the least aware of anyone, or at least equally unaware as the political reactionaries who oppose them with their own anti-liberty political agenda. Politics makes people stupid, after all.

Be aware, not w0ke.

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Getting comfortable in your chains

When I lived in Colorado I noticed that I burned as much firewood before Thanksgiving as I did the entire rest of the season. Once I got used to the colder weather I didn't need as much firewood to stay comfortable.

Your comfort level adapts to the circumstances. That's great for some things, but...

I never want to get comfortable enough with tyrants trying to violate my rights that I don't resist by living free in spite of them.

This is what I see from people who live in some other countries (or states, even). They've gotten too comfortable with being violated, and they get mad when others don't accept the same violations. They do all they can to convince you to accept what they've accepted.

It's just not going to happen.

If they are content with their situation, that's fine for them. Not for me. 

I value liberty above everything, so I'm not going to willingly give it away in exchange for convenience, comfort, or "safety". Not "for the children", because I know the children would benefit more from liberty than from your pretend safety. No argument will make any difference to me. I can't be "shamed" into accepting the chains you offer. I'm not getting on that bandwagon. Go in peace, but go.

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Unsolicited Hollywood advice

As a little bonus, I decided to wade in where I have no experience and am probably unwelcome. I'm going to give Hollywood some advice.

No, not the kind they really need, about dropping w0keness like a red-hot coal, but about a missed creative opportunity.

I always liked the Addams Family. I liked the comics when I saw them (which wasn't often) and I really liked the old TV series. I always thought they were much better than the Munsters (which seemed like it was trying too hard). The Netflix series Wednesday is also mildly amusing.

The movies from the '90s were OK, but not great. One thing I think they screwed up on was by portraying Thing as just a severed hand. The new Netflix series fell into the same lack of creativity by copying this vision of Thing. Too bad.

In the TV series Thing had some arm attached and didn't end at the wrist. So being a severed hand just didn't work for me. I get that it required Thing to move like a spider in order to get around, which I suppose is creepy for some people, but it didn't add anything to the character. In fact, it kind of took away some of Thing's potential-- I mean, everyone can visualize a simple severed hand. Even a severed hand crawling around with a mind of its own. That movie trope has been done to death.

So I drew how I would have designed the character instead, even including a couple of possible variations. 

Enjoy:

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Are some people "stopped clocks"?

There are several people who, when they disagree with me, cause me to stop and reconsider my position. It doesn't mean I'll change my mind, but a disagreement is a clear warning sign that I should consider whether I'm wrong.

There are more people who have no credibility on certain topics, and when they disagree with me on one of those topics I barely even notice. I realize this shouldn't be the case. I ought to pay attention to anyone who disagrees; give them a chance to make a point (not merely a claim). I could learn something I don't know. After all, you know what they say about stopped clocks.

One example: David Hogg is a liar and/or an idiot when it comes to guns and rights. But, he did tweet in favor of doing away with Daylight "Saving" Time, so he's obviously not automatically wrong about everything. It's possible-- though unlikely-- he might one day say something smart or honest about guns. So should I pay attention to his opinions?

The problem is, life is too short to pay unlimited attention to every opinionizer on every topic. This means that you'll save some time at the risk of missing the occasional diamond. Everything is a trade-off.

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"Rights have to change with the times"

Rights can't be created or destroyed. They remain the same throughout time.

Documents don't create rights, and even if they were intended to protect rights, they don't. That's a failed idea-- maybe one that seemed like something to try once or twice, but one that fails every single time.

Rights are more about what you can't do to others without being the bad guy than about what you can do. All rights are "negative rights" and this is a positive thing.

New situations or technology can't change rights. They can't create new rights or destroy old ones.

The right to speak freely didn't change when email was invented, or even when writing was invented. Because the right to speak freely only means no one has the right to silence you; to stop you from sharing your thoughts, nor do they have the right to prevent others who want the free exchange of ideas from hearing yours.

The right to defend yourself and your property from aggressors and thieves doesn't depend on the tools you use. It doesn't matter what tools are invented in the future. This is something you always have a right to do and no one has the "right" to meddle.

Slavery was always wrong, even when it was accepted. No one has the right to pretend to own another person. Slavery is always a violation of rights, even if you think of ways to justify it. Rights didn't change and suddenly take away an imaginary "right" to own slaves, or create a right to not be enslaved. The rights were always the same, even as acceptance and recognition of those rights shifted with time.

Theft didn't become OK when thieves started calling it "taxation" and the "right" to tax has never existed and never will.

Rights don't change or go away because of someone's feelings or fear. If you don't "believe in" rights, imagine a society-- or even two people meeting-- without rights.

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Swapping politicians pointless change

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 26, 2022)

It might surprise you to learn this, but I don't like change. Well, that's not completely accurate: I don't like pointless change.

I have tolerated uncomfortable situations simply to avoid the pain of going through a change I couldn't see as improving anything.

However, if something is broken and I can see a solution, I want to change it. This is why I try to save people from their addiction to political government and all its various manifestations, such as police, taxation, various prohibitions, and so forth. This would be a useful change.

The kind of change I don't like is trying to vote yourself free by selecting a different political criminal to replace the previous political criminal. Even if the new boss (who is supposed to be the servant) respects rights that were being violated before, you can be positive he's going to violate liberty in other ways. The nature of politics is to ratchet up the control.

Swapping out politicians is as useless as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic after it sank.

This kind of pointless change is never a net gain.

However, I agree that sometimes any change can provide temporary relief. If a headache can make you forget about your broken toe for a while, I see how some people might choose the headache. The problem with politics is there will always be those who'd prefer the pain of the broken toe over the headache, so they aren't going to appreciate your preference being forced on them.

This winner-takes-all approach is why politics is so toxic to society. It's like voting on which church everyone is required to attend and fund for the next four years. This would cause religious wars, as history demonstrates. Political government isn't special. Don't ignore this effect just so you can govern others the way you want for a while.

To back a change I have to see how it could make things better than they are, or better than they seem to be heading.

The fewer people who take politics seriously, the better. Focus on your life-- govern yourself. Don't try to impose politicians or legislation on others to govern them. No one has the right to do so. Not even if you call it "democracy" or pretend a "right to vote" exists. Growing past this worn-out superstition would be a positive change I could support.

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Trying to spread the liberty virus

I just helped advise a couple of Hillary-loving, unwavering Democrat-v*ting Lefties on buying a handgun (I really dislike the term "handgun" for some reason-- it seems to have anti-gun bigotry baked in, but that's an irrelevant tangent).

It wasn't my idea, but they did ask for my advice and recommendations, and then asked what I thought about the gun store's offerings and suggestions.

They have never quite been anti-gun bigots, but they have been politically suspicious of guns. They actually gave me a .22 rifle a few years ago. It had been passed down to them and they had no use for it; they knew I'd be responsible and appreciate it. And I do.

The past few years (including suffering through a bad case of MSNBC-induced TDS) caused them to decide they might ought to consider at least having a pistol at home, but I haven't won them over to daily carry. Yet.

I will work with them to help them with safe handling, care, use, cleaning, ammo selection, and skills, and I and my son will take them to the range.

I really think that familiarity with firearms will go far toward extinguishing fear. If I can chip away at the fear, maybe the anti-gunners will have lost a little support. Those who I see make the biggest anti-gun claims are always* speaking from a position of ignorance. Every time. Even the ex-military people you might reasonably assume would know better. But, Nope. They don't.

*(It's ignorance in every case even when it isn't also seasoned with a big helping of open dishonesty.)

I don't expect this pair to overcome their Democrat beliefs, but even a taste of liberty could be a foot (or a toe) in the door. Even if they never get past their belief in a Loving Parent Government, they've taken a small step on the road to personal responsibility. It feels like a win to me.

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Goose attacks occur where there are geese

I've noticed that when you point out that evil losers in America tend to murder people with guns because that's the tool available, and evil losers in other countries tend to murder people with different tools if guns aren't available, anti-gun bigots don't like this.

As I recently pointed out, goose attacks happen where geese are, not where they aren't.

But, just because you didn't get attacked by a goose doesn't mean you weren't attacked by something else.

An anti-gun bigot demanded I provide evidence-- with references from a source acceptable to them-- for this observation. When I asked who they would find acceptable, the question was deflected. They wanted me to do the work to provide evidence for something which is actually self-evident, and then they were going to reject the evidence because it didn't come from a source they trusted, which they didn't want to name ahead of time.

There was a time I would have done it anyway. That time isn't today.

Besides, it's irrelevant. Liberty is the greatest good and "safety" is usually slavery painted in cute colors.

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Happy Thanksgiving Day

I feel gratitude for all you outlaws and troublemakers who keep visiting my blog. 

I am especially grateful for the seven of you who subscribe (and sometimes also donate above and beyond that) and for the others who are occasional donors. You know who you are.

Together we are making the world a little bit better, in spite of the best efforts of the government supremacists and other bad guys.

Go do something enjoyable and I'll see you on the other side of the holiday.

Now, I'll get back to making food, including the cornbread above, which is going into my dressing.

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Thanks

Be ed-jikated

Anti-gun bigots hallucinate that the "AR" in AR-15 stands for "assault rifle". We all know how stupid that is.

Gun people are always saying it stands for "Armalite Rifle". Well, it could...

Those of us who really know, know it's this way:

Educate the anti-gun bigots. They'll appreciate it.

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Does politics improve anything?

Politics ruins everything it gets mixed in with. I've said it many, many times before, but I don't think it has really sunk in.

Medicine + politics is no longer medicine, but is only politics. Same with science. This is how you get mandates and power-hungry people declaring themselves to be "The Science". It becomes the opposite of what it claims.

Education mixed with politics becomes gov-school, which is anti-education.

Economics + politics becomes Keynesian "economics"; fake economics. This is how you destroy an economy.

Religion with a little added politics becomes theocracy. If you want to completely discredit your religion, this is a quick way to do so.

If you add politics to a region (or to governance) you get a State, which is going to be spending most of its time and energy violating natural human liberty. This results in destroying property lines by mixing in politics so that they are replaced by "borders".

And libertarianism mixed with politics turns into political libertarianism. Then you get people stamping their feet and insisting that "anarchism is NOT libertarianism" because "true libertarianism" embraces the State, but wants it kept "small".

Even if politics was part of the original mix, you improve a thing by distilling away the politics. Remove the contaminant and you've got something better. (According to everyone who isn't invested in promoting the dross, anyway.)

Politics seems to be the one thing that is always bad to add; never an improvement or an essential ingredient for making a superior alloy. 

I've been pondering for days whether there is anything that gets better if you mix a little politics into it, and have come up empty. Maybe I'm missing something that you can think of. And I guess it would depend on your definition of "better".

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Prohibition has opposite effect

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 19, 2022)

Isn't it better to not create a problem in the first place than to try to fix it after it happens?

I appreciate those organizing a trash pick-up day, and those who took time out of their week to participate. I appreciate the people who don't toss their trash around in the first place. and those who regularly pick up litter whenever they see it, even more.

If there is a pre-existing problem, make sure any solution you try isn't going to have the unintended consequence of making things worse. In some cases, much worse. Such as what has happened with the War on Politically Incorrect Drugs.

I understand the desire to try to stop people from abusing, and dying of, dangerous drugs like Fentanyl. However, it would have been better to have never started down the doomed path of prohibition which made Fentanyl (and the stronger drugs which will replace it) inevitable.

With litter and prohibition, irresponsible people made a mess and the rest of us have to deal with it. But picking up trash doesn't make litter worse, while prohibition does make drug abuse much worse.

Trash is the easier problem to deal with because no one attacks you for picking up litter, but if you try to help get rid of trashy "mala prohibita" laws-- counterfeit "laws" which make crimes of things which aren't wrong, only forbidden-- such as drug laws, you risk being harmed by those whose jobs depend on those fake crimes being treated as though they are real. In a strange upside-down way, you're treated like the bad guy.

So many of the problems society faces were created or made worse by someone-- possibly with good intentions-- deciding to use political government to address an issue.

The war on poverty, waged with handouts of money confiscated from workers, trapped many people into generational poverty which is nearly impossible to escape.

Laws mandating safety have made people helpless to use judgment to keep themselves from being injured.

Legislation against guns has made everyone more vulnerable to bad people who have no intention of following the rules anyway.

These "cures" were worse than the disease.

Keep doing the same dumb things and you'll keep getting the same bad results. It's so much better to stop creating these problems out of situations which could have been easy to handle if you hadn't fertilized them and made them grow.

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Don't trust the title

Did you realize there are people out there who still don't know that legislative bills are deceptively named? And that they all get filled with junk that has nothing to do with the titular topic, but can make the whole thing a really bad idea to approve?

They believe that the Patriot Act was actually patriotic, that the "Safer communities" acts make communities safer, and a Respect for Marriage Act would somehow codify "respect" for marriage. Instead of the opposite. And they believe that's all those bills would do.

If it's a bill, you can know it will be given a name that is the opposite of what it embodies, and it will be filled with irrelevant, harmful legislative trash. If congressvermin have any shred of ethics left they will v*te against every bill every time.

Even if a bill has some good stuff in it, it should be v*ted down anyway just because no more legislation is needed, and it all needs to be abolished.

Government licenses are among the most useless and harmful things I can imagine.

Are you operating your vehicle in a reasonable manner? If so, I respect your driving abilities and no government needs to get involved to either "respect" or sanction your driving with a license or recognition of your license from another state. No government involvement is wanted or needed.

You tell me you're married? That's good enough for me. I consider you married. I don't need to go ask a government bureaucrat whether or not I should "respect" your marriage. I have never once asked someone if they are "really married-- like, does the government say you're married?" As if that matters to me.

And, obviously, since I don't want government to meddle in your life, I don't want them to use your marriage status-- married or not--  as an excuse to molest you or reward you. Your rights don't depend on your relationships with other people. 

"But what about contract disputes?" If the two (or more) of you are splitting up and have a dispute, find arbitration-- the state isn't necessary for this either.

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Political libertarianism

It seems to me that political libertarianism is a separate thing from libertarianism. There is obviously a lot of overlap, and there's a load of friction where that overlap occurs. Friction can be good or bad-- it can wear away rough spots that need to be removed. But the friction in this case seems mostly destructive.

What do I mean by "political libertarianism"? Political libertarianism is concerned with pragmatism, politics, government, v*ting, the LP (and party politics in general), and not "scaring the women and children" with harsh truths. It seems to hate something external to itself more than it loves liberty.

I've watched political libertarianism used to justify police, "borders", war, taxation, and many other statist problems.

I think all libertarians slip into political libertarianism sometimes-- it has happened to me-- but some choose to wallow in it. I don't think anything beyond a quick dip is healthy-- and I'm not sure how healthy even the quickest splash really is.

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Getting what others deserve

I approve of Trump running for president again. 

Not because I want him to be president (I really don't care either way and I don't need a president), but because he breaks the brains of those who hate him. That does amuse me somewhat.

No, I'm not going to v*te for him. Nor for one of his opponents. But if I'm going to be subjected to political drama, it might as well be entertaining in some way.

I had supposed that once Trump was out of office the TDS would subside and its sufferers would shut their pieholes about him and move on to some other topic. But, no. I was wrong. They can't let him go (they are much more attached to him than even his supporters). If I'm going to have to listen to it anyway, it might as well be for something real-- an actual sitting president that makes them crazy, not an irrelevant former president they can't get over.

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You do you, but...

You might have the desire to v*te. You might have the ability, the opportunity, and the power to v*te. One thing you don't have is the "right" to v*te.

That's because such a right can't exist-- the very idea is in conflict with rights. To imagine you have the "right" to impose government or politicians or legislation on others is to deny the existence of rights.

If you are in a situation where you believe you need to v*te in self-defense, there are other, more effective ways to defend yourself. Ways that don't guarantee "collateral damage".

V*ting in "self-defense" is like firing randomly into a crowd and hoping you hit the bad guy who is violating you. Sure, it's possible you might get him, but the odds are overwhelmingly against it. If enough people join you in firing randomly into the crowd, your chances of success go up. So do your chances of harming the innocent.

Yes, if you know your target-- say a bad ballot proposal that threatens to violate your liberty-- and enough of you get together to v*te against that one thing and all of you leave the rest of the ballot blank, you could credibly claim that you v*ted in self-defense. 

But what if your side loses? Will you comply? If not, why not skip the unnecessary step?

You are almost always going to be outnumbered because [Unfortunate Truth #1]. People respond to promises that they won't have to be responsible. And bad guys run the election system from top to bottom and they count the v*tes. The game is rigged and by now you ought to know it.

I get it. I used to think liberty might be won-- or protected-- by v*ting for the less bad candidate, too. But then I observed and learned from my observations. That new information caused me to change my mind.

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I'd like more details

Go figure that this would be my most popular ever comment on (this account on) Twitter. It would be nice if that translated into actual beliefs regarding "government officials", rather than people thinking I was joking.

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Excluding "illegal immigrants"

If you don't want an "illegal immigrant" on your private property, that's your right. You can exclude anyone just like you can invite anyone (including those government forbids you to invite). 

I'll never understand how anyone imagines they can tell someone's "legal status" without checking the government paperwork and being a lawyer, but whatever. 

I may think you're a jerk, depending on your choices, but I'm not going to try to force you to allow just anyone into your home. You have every right to be an unpleasant hermit.

If, however, you have a store that is open to the public and you say "illegal immigrants" aren't welcome, I think you're in the wrong in more ways than one. Maybe you don't understand what "the public" is. If you have a store that is open to the public, there's a presumption baked in that people don't have to wait around outside your door to find out what exceptions you impose.

If you want to exclude some people, based on anything other than archation being committed right now or the credible threat of it being committed while they are in your store then don't invite the public. 

If, instead of being open to the public, you want to have a "buyer's club" sort of thing and access is granted to members only, and you choose who is allowed to be a member and who isn't, that's acceptable. I doubt I'd join, but you do whatever makes you happy.

That's different than letting someone force you to provide a service you don't offer. I don't think it's right (or sane) to force someone to "bake the cake". Who would be stupid enough to consume food or drinks prepared by someone who is doing so against their wishes? Not me! That's completely different than buying a sock from someone who doesn't like you.

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Don't care about fake laws, crimes

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 12, 2022)

Being political leads to unfortunate outcomes. Politics never makes people act smart.

I don't think federal agents-- FBI or anyone else-- have any business digging for things over which to prosecute Hunter Biden. I don't find federal agents credible.

When someone is targeted for political reasons, whether Donald Trump or Hunter Biden, it makes those targeting them look unintelligent and corrupt. Maybe because they are unintelligent and corrupt-- as bad as their target, or worse. All politically connected people have done things truly wrong, so why do their opponents choose to be political, too?

Because it's easier.

I don't care about Hunter Biden's so-called tax crimes or gun crimes, no matter how clear the evidence may be. I have no love for the Bidens, but I don't believe there is even one legitimate tax or anti-gun rule. Not one. Accusing someone of breaking one of those fake laws is completely pointless.

The same would go for charging him with drug crimes for the things he was seen doing on video.

People want to see those connected with the other side get what's coming. The Trump-obsessed anti-Trumpers want to see Donald Trump hurt, just like the reactionary anti-Biden faction would love to see Biden hurt by targeting his son. Leave me out of your political circus.

The thing is, I only care about real crimes-- where an individual's life, liberty, or property has been violated. Trump, Biden, and every other former and future politician violates everyone in some way. Yes, even the president you like the best. If you're going to go after them for something, look at these real crimes.

No, having "classified documents" isn't real either, since government shouldn't keep any secrets from its bosses.

I don't care even a little what such laws say. Even if I wouldn't do what someone else does, if the legislation is illegitimate-- as is all gun, drug, and tax legislation-- then I am not in favor of using it against anyone. Not even someone I think is clearly a bad person. If you can't find a real crime with an individual victim, then back off. I'm not interested in using fake laws against anyone.

The root problem is allowing anyone to hold the office of President of the United States, or any political office, and wield its political power. Strike at the root instead of thrashing at the twigs by prosecuting illegitimate "crimes".

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I need a lift

I need my spirits lifted. I don't know if it's just because November 17th is approaching, all the medical crap that is looming in a couple of months, other things that have been going on forever, or whatever. My financial circumstances certainly aren't helping. Maybe it's the combination. But whatever the reason, I'm in a dark pit. If you can tell me something that might be uplifting, I need it.

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Government supremacists embrace freedom

Government supremacists who don't understand liberty seem to be big on talking up freedom. They use this as a way to justify liberty-crushing things they want the freedom to do to you.

They'll honor government troops for dying for freedom. They'll v*te, rally, and protest for freedom. No one advocates liberty.

Freedom has become almost as distasteful to me as democracy. That's because people who focus on freedom too much always seem to want the freedom to violate others.

If banning guns is what you want to do, you want the freedom to do so.
If you want the freedom to lock down the "border" that's what you'll focus on. 

Never mind that you don't have any right to do those things-- they are anti-liberty-- but if you want to do them, you'll want the freedom to do them.

(And everyone seems to want the freedom to impose their ideas on abortion on everyone else, which is a whole other mess and seems to have been the driving force behind the recent election outcome.)

Government supremacists like freedom, but not responsible freedom (liberty). They don't seem to understand or want liberty, since liberty would limit their freedom to violate other people's life, liberty, and property in ways they want to get away with, but which are irresponsible.

Let freedom ring? No. Let liberty ring, instead. It's better in every way!

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Getting away with murder

If I decided to commit some horrible crime, perhaps a murder, and I publicly announce what I'm going to do, and to whom, but I say the victim will just have to let the courts decide afterward whether it was wrong or not (and I personally face no consequences either way), wouldn't that be premeditation at least? Wouldn't I be clearly making a credible threat, making self-defense against me ethical?

It is obvious that this is the case.

It's not hypothetical; it matters in the real world because this is exactly what anti-gun politicians do every day. 

Yet there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it until after the damage has been done because of the rules of the system, even though the bigots give plenty of warning of what they are planning to do (making credible threats), and it's already known to be a crime. 

Could no one intervene and say, "No, that's not OK. We've warned you not to murder anyone and if you attempt to do so you will be stopped, using whatever amount of violence it requires, before you can harm the victim in any way"?

Everyone is supposed to just sit and watch (and comply or be punished) until it crawls back through the court system again, just so the decision can be ignored by these same criminals in the same way again later when they impose their next legislative crime? Is there no way to shut them down "legally" once and for all?

If that's your system, screw your system!

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Welcome to the Politics Cafe

Still, people keep filing in to sit at the table and place their orders.
Then, they complain about what they are served and what it costs.

Of course, the sad truth is that even if you refuse to participate, you'll be held down and force-fed the majority's choice, and you'll be charged for the "pleasure" too. Politely declining the "meal" isn't allowed and fighting back is seen as "wrong", even by most people who don't want to eat the meal. 

And yet some people still don't see politics as the evil it is.

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Election thoughts

I don't v*te. I don't believe there's any such thing as a "legitimate election". Majority opinion-- even when supposedly constrained by a constitution-- gives no one any "right" to govern others in any way.

I don't want Republicans (or Libertarians) to have political power, but... 

I never ever from now until the end of time want any Democrat to have even the slightest amount of political power ever again. Not until and unless they reject and repudiate w0keness in all its forms completely and without reservation. The past few years have convinced me of that.

Political power is never ethical. But, to use political power to try to impose a denial of reality on a population, and to punish those who refuse to say there are "five lights"... may even be more evil than anti-gun bigotry (which Republican political criminals also suffer from).

I don't want Republicans to win, but I want Democrats to lose HARD. 

No crushing loss would be decisive enough to satisfy me, so I already know I will be disappointed. I also know that caring at all is something I should purge from myself. Politicians and their "laws" shouldn't even matter to me. I'm already OK with living as an outlaw, so why would it matter?

Of course, v*tes don't count; only counting v*tes counts. The fix is probably already in; Democrat spokescritters are already signaling that election results will take a longer time than v*ters expect, which seems almost as good as an admission that results won't be "official" until they are what those in power want. 

Will liberty get chipped away at slowly for a few more years, or will it be crushed quickly under the thumb of toxic w0keness? 

Or is all this just a reflection of how I'm feeling about everything recently?

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Musk wields the ban-hammer now

I've had my criticisms of Elon Musk in the past. He's smart enough that he ought to "get" liberty, but it may be in his financial interests not to.

However, I have to admit I'm enjoying the way he is antagonizing the Left-statists on Twitter.

I disagree with him permanently banning anyone, ever. No matter how twisted and evil they may be. That's always my position, regardless of anything else. But, if he would use a temporary ban just to make them flip out, then reinstate them after a few hours of tantruming (I know, not a word), it would just be funny.

It's like everything he does is done to poke them just enough to make them act really stupid in response. Planned or not, it's amusing.

It's even more hilarious seeing them contradicting themselves when it's their own side facing the axe instead of their opposition-- only months ago so many were cheering the "other side" getting treated the same way-- or even worse. Especially since I think Musk is joking and the previous Twits were clearly not.

Again, I don't want anyone banned ever for any reason. Free speech is non-negotiable and I want evil people to feel free to express their evil so the rest of us know who they are and what they are thinking. It's just a personal flaw of mine that makes me enjoy seeing them melt down over being treated the way they've been treating others for years.

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Be glad about what's not going wrong

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 5, 2022)

It's easy to focus on our problems; on what's going wrong. It's harder to notice what's not going wrong right now. It's good to find a balance between the two.

I'm thankful we didn't have a devastating hurricane blow through this area last week. I'm also glad we aren't in the middle of a violent war, trying to defend our homes from the military of an invading government from a neighboring country. Not everyone in the world can say the same. Shouldn't we be grateful for the problems we don't have?

Nothing is perfect. If you look hard enough you can find things to worry about anywhere. In this region, we are vulnerable to an uncertain water supply, made worse by an unending drought, but nothing immediate is threatening us right now.

We all have our individual day-to-day troubles. We'd still have those even if some horrible external event were affecting us, too. Maybe even if it were crowding our personal problems from our minds. In that case, we'd have all our mundane problems made worse by some life-threatening threat piled on top. As it is, you have the opportunity to face your individual trouble without the distractions of civilization crumbling around you. Take advantage of this chance. It may not last forever.

This is one reason I think it's a good idea to be a prepper: it relieves some of the pressure so you can focus on the things we all face daily without having to worry about some big "what if" sneaking up on you. If you don't have to worry about running out of food, water, or toilet paper you can spend more time thinking about how to improve your health or your relationships. Or working on a hobby you enjoy.

I'm not suggesting you bury your head in the sand or ignore potential threats until it's too late. Pay attention, but don't let yourself be distracted from living your life. Again, finding the right balance is the key.

We are at the mercy of nature and politics. You can't control hurricanes or wars. You can be prepared for things outside of your control so they don't cause as much harm as they might otherwise.

Be happy when those things you can't control aren't wrecking your life. Let yourself enjoy whatever you can. Occasionally stop and be glad about the things that aren't going wrong.

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Poor Dull'Hawk's Almanac

Early to bed and early to rise probably means that the stupidity called Daylight "Saving" Time ended today.

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Government supremacists sabotage liberty

I've written about this before, but I keep seeing more and more people making these dumb arguments, so I guess my work isn't done.

Defunding (on the road to abolishing) the police is the right thing to do. Yes, really. 

However... the places most likely to defund the police are also the places most likely to violate the natural human right to own and to carry weapons without permission, and most likely to criminalize defending life, liberty, and property with those effective weapons. They planned to fail.

It is stupid beyond measure to defund the police and then use counterfeit rules to empower criminals to make it appear that police are necessary.

If crime increases after the Blue Line Gang has been reined in a little, it doesn't mean you need police; it means you need to be responsible for your own defense. Any political criminals trying to prevent you from doing so are a big part of the problem. It doesn't mean you shouldn't defund the police, it means they sabotaged the plan. It wouldn't surprise me if police, with the support of police unions, are a source of at least a significant chunk of the additional crime, just to show the serfs "why they need us".

It's the same sort of nonsense you'll hear from borderists who say you can't have "open borders" and a welfare system. They are right, but the correct, ethical solution is to get rid of the socialism problem-- welfare-- not to allow government to enforce socialized immigration controls until they decide to get rid of the socialized welfare (which they never will if you give them a choice).

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Dead former mayors and migrant farm workers

I was visiting with someone yesterday when the topic of the town's previous mayor came up on the occasion of his transformation into a good politician. The guy's funeral was underway at that moment.

I disliked the guy because he was a politician. He was an authoritarian who I wrote against a time or two before I gave up on trying to write for the small weekly paper here in town.

The person I was visiting with didn't even think about the actual authoritarianism of the guy. No, his complaint was that this mayor had "allowed" someone to house "illegals" [sic] in town.

A farmer owns a house in town and he lets the workers who need a place to live stay in it while they work for him for a month or so a couple of times each year. Seems perfectly consensual to me. Where's the problem?

Of course, there is no evidence the fellows who stay in the house in question are "illegal" [sic]; they are simply migrant agricultural workers from Mexico. Why assume they are breaking even a counterfeit "immigration law"? But this is the assumption many people here make. I am nearly alone in not caring about it at all. As long as you don't violate any individual's life, liberty, or property that's what matters to me.

As far as I can tell, they never cause trouble. There is no crime wave in town while they are here to work. The guys are friendly and wave and say "Hi" when I walk past. It would never occur to me to inquire as to what government permissions they have to be here. 

Some people based their complaint on the fact that several adult men stay in the house-- it's not a "family unit". The formerly living former mayor said there was no law requiring a landlord to only rent to a family unit, which angered the borderists in town. They wanted him to "do something" about it. They were just looking for any "legal" means to stop the property owner from using his property and from hiring people willing to work for him. They wanted more socialism. In that case, the mayor said "No".

Even a politician I dislike can sometimes do the right thing and stay out of people's business.

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S&W serial number question

If anyone out there has a copy of the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson, I have a request.

I have a Smith & Wesson Model 37 Airweight which I would like to find out the manufacture date. Can anyone help? The internet has been spectacularly unhelpful.

Serial number is AAR9xxx.

I also have another S&W (actually, in my dad's possession) that I would like to see if the book has some info on, but it's more complicated-- by the apparent presence of multiple serial numbers-- and I will discuss that in the comments if anyone has the book and is able to help.

I can't see spending the money on a book just to look up two dates. But if someone already has it...

Thanks!

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