More choices than Red or Blue

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 24, 2023)

Politics changes hearts and minds. Not in a good way. The more partisan the politics, the worse the obvious damage.

Politics brainwashes people. It drives reasoned thought right out of the human brain. Being too political doesn't do good things to your emotions, either. I try to warn people of this danger, whether they want to hear it or not. They usually don't want to.

A mind damaged by politics can lead the victim to say things like "If you don't support my politician you support this other politician". Maybe they'll substitute political parties for individual politicians. It's a logical error either way. It requires ignoring the fact that there are almost always more than two choices. Don't let anyone force you into a false choice. You don't have to choose between cyanide and arsenic; anyone who tells you otherwise is not looking out for your best interests. They are trying to manipulate you by limiting the options you can see. Look past them.

Some people really don't want to hear it, but their favorite politician is not God. I know this truth hurts some feelings, but it needs to be said anyway. All humans have flaws; politicians have the most dangerous human flaw of all-- they seek the power to govern other people. Good people don't do this. If a good person starts trying to govern others, they cease to be a good person. I would never encourage anyone I liked or respected  to seek political office. In fact, I have tried to talk people out of it. I don't want to see their goodness destroyed.

I have no respect for political parties or politicians; liberty is my only concern. There is no respect for liberty in a mind possessed by political thinking. Regardless of any misguided accusations, I am not a Democrat or Republican. I'm the opposite.

Once someone becomes politically partisan, they've joined a team. They'll usually support their chosen team in spite of all evidence they should bail out. The more obvious the evidence becomes to outsiders, the more they'll dig in to support their team. When someone points out this strange behavior to you, it isn't a sign they support the other team. Only a person blinded by politics could imagine it is.

Again, reality isn't a forced choice between Team Blue and Team Red. If you believe it is, you've been brainwashed. I want you to heal from the damage.

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It’s always something— with updates!

I’m on my way for an emergency visit to the Big City due to a detached retina. Ugh.

Update 4:21 pm: Surgery is done and my retina is hopefully repaired. Have to spend the night in town because the doctor doesn’t want me traveling that far. And I have a follow up appointment first thing in the morning. 

The surgery wasn’t as bad as I feared. Not that I want to do this again.

I’ll update again later.

UPDATE 10/28 12:14pm: I had my appointment at 6:00 am because the surgeon was heading out of town. The eyepatch was removed. He seemed satisfied with his work. I still have to spend the day face down. Tomorrow I can walk normally.

I can’t see anything other than light and shadows out of my left eye. He said that’s normal and my vision will return once my eye refills with vitreous humor. (I guess my eye is a gas balloon for now.)

I got home just after 8 this morning- in time to feed the porch kittens and give one of my indoor cats his hyperthyroidism medicine on schedule. The inside cats are happy to have me home. 

I’ve got 3 weeks of light duty ahead. 

“Should everyone carry a gun for self-defense at all times?”

Everyone? Probably not.

Toddlers (and those younger) are generally too weak to accurately aim and cycle the trigger.

Someone who is scared of guns or ignorant of how to properly use one shouldn’t carry a gun until shown how to correctly use one- which should happen immediately.

People in an MRI shouldn’t be carrying a gun.

Police and other government employees should not carry guns while on the job- if they need a gun, an armed bystander can step in to handle the situation.

Everyone else should be carrying at least one gun for self-defense at all times.

(I've had a hard day and I’m miserable, so I just copied a question and my answer from Quora. It seemed timely after the evil loser in Maine. Sorry for being lazy.)

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Firewood disaster averted

I mentioned earlier that I'm low on firewood and looking to get stocked up. Well, sometimes that doesn't go as planned.

I thought I'd found a seller of firewood, based on the recommendation of someone I don't know. The price was good, it was good wood, already split, and the price included delivery. It was half the price of the firewood business in the area.

I have to admit that it all worked together to make me slightly suspicious-- "too good to be true".

Then the next red flags popped up. The guy wanted to be paid through a payment app before he delivered. He gave a couple of app choices, none of which I use. The kicker? He also turned down an offer of cash upon delivery.

That's when I was no longer suspicious; I knew it was a scam. No thanks. Buyer beware-- at least I didn't fall for it.

So, I'm going in the next couple of days to get some wood from the tree-service guy I don't like buying wood from. The wood is junk that stinks when it burns (mostly Siberian elm-- the ubiquitous tree around here), I have to wait for him to find it in his dump lot after I get there, and it is usually a bunch of knots and forks; hard to cut and split. I have to pick it up it and load it myself, on his schedule. But he's cheap. I'm not thrilled, though.

Next year, I'll try to save up enough to buy from the reputable place that has the good stuff. But that's what I said last year.

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The bad guys are in denial

Government is directly and indirectly responsible for a vast amount of history-- the bad parts. 

The good parts didn't require government, just cooperation. The bad parts couldn't be sustained without being committed by actual governments (States) or government-like gangs of bad guys (usually in cahoots with government).

Torture, inquisitions and "witch" burning, genocide, democide, slavery, starvation, censorship, holding back the advancement of human knowledge, etc., including plain old governing… and they don’t realize they’re the bad guys?

Either they don't realize it, or they are lying to keep you ignorant of their true nature.

Remind them they're the bad guys, every chance you get. They'll know you know, even if they want to keep deluding themselves with The Big(gest) Lie.

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"Licenses", for safetyness

The regulatory bureaucracy relies on gullible people falling for its lies about "safety" and so forth. I've never seen a licensing scheme that made real sense outside such conditioning.

On a video about SpaceX's Starship, and the months of delays due to government dragging its feet to issue a "launch license", I commented: 
"Imagine thinking you have a right to force people/businesses to get licenses from your gang…" 

A gullible statist-- possibly an employee of one of those agencies threatening the future of our species-- replied: "So they don't drop their giant rockets on anyone's head? Yup." 

I responded with what should be obvious to anyone not in thrall to the regulatory state: "It wouldn't be in SpaceX's interest to do so. I have more trust in their ability to avoid that outcome on their own than in allowing an incompetent, corrupt gang to 'oversee' them."

Are these people really gullible enough to imagine that licensing-- from government-- is what keeps us safe? Yes, I'm afraid they really are that gullible.

Only a business protected from consequences by a "special relationship" with government that comes with "benefits" could expect to harm people without being held accountable. Just like the gang which issues such licenses does regularly.

Licensing is a type of enhanced tax; it's just a scheme to steal money while asserting illegitimate control over things government shouldn't be controlling in the first place.

Anyone who imagines that government issues licenses to protect us all, and that without such a licensing scheme businesses would happily kill us without accountability, is part of the problem. They are why we can't have nice things.

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Real liberty is really offensive

Liberty is offensive-- at least some aspects of liberty will always offend some people. The more you adhere to the principles of liberty, the more people you will offend. That's too bad, but it's just how it is. No point in getting too worked up over it.

I was inadvertently subjected to some television "news" the other day. Every political tragedy, political disaster, and political comedy (which statists treated with Gravitas rather than seeing it realistically) they were reporting on could be traced back to government violating someone's liberty. Sometimes multiple governments violating liberty from a variety of angles.

I could clearly see how liberty could have solved, or at least mitigated, the problems they were yammering on about.

To propose how liberty could make these issues go away is going to offend people who love their pain.

To point out that States aren't the only governments, but that mafias, Hamas, cartels, etc. are also governments will offend people who hallucinate a difference where there is none. To point out that some of these governments may, at times, be worse than others doesn't mean any of them are good is going to be offensive to those brainwashed by statism.

To propose to do away with governments and their disastrous anti-liberty rules will scare and offend lots of people. But it's the only real solution, whether they want to face it or not. And they don't-- they'd rather keep playing musical chairs on the submerging deck of the Titanic as the frigid water swirls around their waists.

You can't keep "reforming" and tweaking a criminal gang and expect it to stop behaving like a criminal gang. That's crazy. 

The sane solution-- even if it's unpopular to face-- is to abolish (by withdrawing support) the criminal gang and replace it with nothing. Those who want to keep living in pain, and sharing this pain with you, will say this would only create a vacuum that something will have to fill-- and they'll only accept more of the same in that vacuum rather than a real solution. Don't fall into their trap. 

Let any resultant vacuum be filled with freedom tempered with responsibility; Liberty. Nothing less will suffice. Certainly not some other flavor of slavery.

If that's offensive, you're probably on the wrong side.

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Doing wrong thing worse than nothing

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 17, 2023)

Political crimes aren't like ordinary crimes. They are worse.

They are also outside the "innocent until proven guilty" standard which applies to most other crimes; crimes committed by people without political power.

With an ordinary crime, you often have to figure out whether any crime was committed at all. Maybe it was an accident or a natural occurrence. Then, if it is discovered there was a crime, you have to try to find out who committed it.

This isn't how political crimes work. Most political crimes are committed in public, in front of cameras, with the guilty party bragging afterward about what they've done. There is no "allegedly" there.

Suppose some definitely-not-based-on-a-real-person hypothetical politician went in front of the public and announced she intended to commit the crime of Deprivation of Rights under Color of Law (TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242) by suspending the US Constitution-- specifically the Second Amendment-- for at least thirty days in one particular county. This is a crime against every resident and visitor affected, and the crime is committed openly, in public. There's no question of guilt.

The penalty for this specific crime can include the death penalty if anyone dies because they were unable to protect themselves from a freelance criminal while complying with the edict.

Our imaginary politician might admit she knows criminals won't comply (because they won't) but she feels the need to "do something". Doing the wrong thing is worse than doing nothing, and she's doing the exact opposite of what should be done. Feelings over thought.

In such a case, I would consider any law enforcement representative present while she committed her crime guilty of dereliction of duty for not immediately placing her under arrest as she spoke. Any law enforcement then conspiring with her to enforce her rules should be her co-defendants.

Some have claimed this imaginary politician would have to be impeached and removed from office before she could be arrested. This is ridiculous, but if true, get on with it. Impeach her.

If you're concerned about the hypothetical politician's welfare, don't be. She's safe from legal consequences as long as she's on the side with the political power, doing things other political criminals in state and federal government positions want done to the people. They'll protect her. It's so rare for anything to come of such crimes that the risk can be ignored.

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Belief in government is stupid and dangerous

Stupid and dangerous. That's what believing government has the right or the "authority" to do anything is.

So many troubles would evaporate into nothingness if most people accepted this reality.

You wouldn't have "drug crime", cartels, or things like that if enough people would stop pretending government has the right or the totally imaginary "authority" to impose prohibition.

There wouldn't be any reason to worry about what anti-weapon/anti-defense rules will be imposed next-- or whether the Supreme Courtjesters will throw out those evil rules or embrace failure by rubber-stamping them-- if people would admit that government has no legitimate say over weapons or who owns and carries them. None whatsoever.

You'd be able to keep your money to pay for services you actually want if "the public" would stop accepting theft under the guise of "taxation". You wouldn't be in danger of losing your home-- to the criminal gang some shriveled minds believe are the only thing keeping your property from being stolen-- if people stopped tolerating the yearly ransom called "property taxes". Letting thieves rob you so they'll protect your property from other thieves is really, really dumb.

Anything short of complete acceptance of these truths is extending the damage done by that archaic institution. It's piling more bodies on the altar; stealing the potential of the future.

Of course, government doesn't do any of these things. It can't do anything because it isn't a real thing. It is people infected with the belief in government who are responsible for all these crimes.

Yes, the belief in government is dangerous to human liberty. Government is a mind virus that causes people to behave in stupid and dangerous ways. It has no external reality-- the belief has consequences and one of those consequences is that people build actual physical things (with stolen money) that they can point to as proof that government is a real thing. Idols. That's all those are, and the worshipers themselves are the source of the theft, slavery, death, and destruction.

That includes those who believe a better system of government is possible and put lots of time and effort into polishing that juicy turd. They aren't helping.

I feel bad for those who believe government is essential, necessary, or inevitable. Or exists in any physical way. I shouldn't have my life diminished on the basis of their lack of ethics or weak thinking ability. Yet here we are.

Stupid (and/or unethical) people exist and always will. There's no way to eliminate them, especially when they want to continue wallowing in their stupidity. That doesn't mean you and I have to coddle them.

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Here we go again?

Ammo shortages, I mean. Thanks, stupid, evil governments and other worthless archators.

I'm glad I've made it a habit to never go to The Big City* without buying at least one box of 5.56-- more if I can afford it. And that I made a point to replace anything I used ASAP (even though I hadn't finished recovering from that last range day yet. Oops!)

I wish I had more, but I'm glad I've got what I've got. (I don't have enough because there's no such thing as "enough".)

The same goes for my stockpile of 9mm. And everything else. I'd much rather have it and not need it.

There were times I was tempted to skip grabbing what I could "just this one time". But, other than a couple of times when I had absolutely no money to spare, I didn't skip picking something up. Sometimes it hurt to part with the money, but I sure don't regret it now.

I can leave what's on the shelf for you without it hurting me. You're welcome.

*I would buy ammo locally if I were able to pay 2 or 3 times the price. I can't.

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Reasons for... or against?

Someone listed two reasons why "we need" a Speaker of the House to be chosen as soon as possible. 

1) So that the feds can send "aid packages" (political payoffs or bribes) to Ukraine and Israel, and
2) to avoid the scheduled (and entirely fake) "government shutdown" by passing a budget.

Hmmm. Both of those sound like excellent arguments against ever again filling that phony position. They'll have to do better if they intend to convince me I need a Speaker of the House.

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This is the way. In Israel and everywhere.

I don't necessarily believe "the news" even when it's something I desperately want to be true. 

Case in point: An example of armed defense-- not offense-- when the invaders attacked Israel. And the defenders won. 

If this is true it illustrates perfectly what I've been saying about how you can defeat a gang of bad guys without becoming a bad guy yourself. 

If it isn't true, it's still an illustration of how it would be done. This is the way.

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Passive statism

There are those who don't hold government "jobs", who don't necessarily believe government is essential to life, and who don't support everything government does, but who don't entirely reject the idea of governing others, either. 

These are the passive statists.

They are not nearly as harmful to society as those who take an active role in imposing government on the rest of us. But they aren't harmless, either.

The religious cult of statism requires a large number of people to just go along with it, even if they don't do much to support it. At least they aren't openly defying or ignoring it. And there are an awful lot of them! They are uncritically accepting many of its lies and "the narrative" because it's just easier.

And it is easier. It takes work to think for yourself and to buck the trends. It can make you unpopular to rock the boat. I think it's worth the extra effort because I think liberty is more valuable than anything any government could possibly provide. Most are unwilling to put in the extra effort, especially at the risk of getting on government's-- and your neighbors'-- bad side.

I guess I can't really blame them, even as I wish they'd make different choices.

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Letting devils control you

I suppose if my neighbor's teenage son attacks my daughter it would be OK for me to burn the neighbor's house to the ground and kill everyone inside. What else can I do? He was using his mom and younger siblings (and perhaps a hostage) as human shields; maybe he even had them locked in a closet so they couldn't get away, so their blood is on his hands. I'm the good guy here.

He's a bad guy-- no question about it. If his family didn't kick him out or kill him, then they are complicit in his crimes. They are fair game at that point. He made me do it by his actions.

I'm blameless. Right?

Wrong. So wrong.

Revenge is wrong, even if you call it "war" and say it's for "national security". Even if bad guys come from somewhere you can identify and then target. Revenge-- punishment-- is not justice, but the opposite of justice. 

Bad guys exist. You are within your rights to use violence in defense against them. You are not within your rights to become bad guys because they were bad first-- even if that's what happened.

It would have been ethical for a sniper to have taken out Hitler because he was an ongoing credible threat.
It was evil to firebomb Dresden or to nuke Japan.

I don't support any state or any government military. It amazes me that anyone does, when I would think they would know better. But people do. Just like they support The Blue Line Mafia against their own interests. Do you realize how much theft, slavery, and other archation is required to even keep a government military operational? I can't support that, even if they somehow managed to refrain from doing anything evil in other countries. 

Most people seem to kind of like war. At least as long as they aren't personally fighting in it. It gives them a team to cheer, villains to jeer, and a Grand Purpose to get behind. It's exciting. I don't have that reaction at all.

I support the victims, not the perpetrators. On all sides. I hate the perpetrators-- the bad guys-- on all sides. And there are plenty of them to go around.

It's rough to stand firm when the world around you is half-crazed with militaristic statism. It makes me feel like an outcast. An outcast who is watching otherwise normal people go nuts, "The Purge"-style, doing and supporting evil while saying I am wrong if I don't join in the human sacrifice.

It would be so much easier for me to just "Rah-rah Israel!" just as it would have been easier to have said, "I stand with Ukraine". I could do so, but I would be lying and I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Is it principles? Is it naivety-- "Sometimes you have to do things like this in the real world."? 

Well, if supporting evil is a requirement for living in "the real world" then I'm simply not interested. You go ahead, though.

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Collective punishment of the innocent

If anyone comes to my town and bulldozes my house, or my neighbors' houses, shoots at us, or otherwise archates against us because of something the US government and its military did to them, they are bad guys. There's no wiggle room.

Even though the US government and its military are unequivocal bad guys who always do horrible things worldwide. They deserve whatever they get, but they are not us. I don't support them or their actions. Don't clump me in with them.

This kind of destructive invasion would be just as wrong as me going in and leveling Washington DC and killing every resident and visitor because of the evil the politicians and bureaucrats ensconced therein commit. The guilty individuals don't make everyone in their vicinity guilty by proximity. Claiming otherwise is a sign you're thinking politically, which has inevitably made you stupid (and evil). Every villain in history has claimed his victims made him do it.

It's wrong-- it's evil-- to behave in that way even if you don't see any other option. Doing the wrong thing doesn't become right just because you can't think of any other way of getting what you need.

This applies to everyone everywhere.

I suspect nearly all passive statism is based on "But what else can we do?" There are always options to committing evil.

Now, if you've decided you "have to" invade, raid, murder, and destroy, and you're OK with being considered a bad guy for doing so, then that's on you. It's your choice. I probably can't stop you or change your mind. I won't feel bad about anything that happens to you at that point. 

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Be neighborly in wake of blaze

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 10, 2023)

I saw firsthand the fear and confusion some employees of the Clovis Walmart felt after their store burned. These are our friends, family, and neighbors just trying to earn money to pay their bills; suddenly the rug was pulled out from under them through no fault of their own.

The company has stepped up, under difficult circumstances, to do what they can for the employees. This is appreciated.

My family, like so many others in the area, has been directly affected by this fire. Most people around here will eventually be affected one way or another. A few local businesses will probably benefit, as will Amazon.com.

It's popular to criticize corporations. I do it, too, though for a different reason than most.

I consider corporations either a branch of government or a too-willing lever government uses against individual liberty. Still, I would never wish destruction on any business I can choose to either patronize or avoid. As long as I am not coerced into using and paying for their services, the way government forces all its "services" on everyone, I don't consider them the enemy.

Some people criticize corporations like Walmart as a drain on the local economy, but this is short-sighted. The employees earn money which ends up being spent at businesses all around town and beyond. Without those jobs, there would be less money available to spend at all the small local businesses. It's a net positive. Businesses that understand what a store such as Walmart can and can't do can thrive even in its shadow.

I know this because I've worked for those businesses much of my life. We would send customers to Walmart for the things we couldn't compete with on price, and we focused on meeting the niche needs Walmart couldn't or wouldn't serve. It doesn't have to be a war; there are ways to coexist. In the future, understanding this will become even more crucial.

For now, be grateful that no one was physically hurt in the fire. Think of the displaced employees. Take a moment to appreciate the convenience we took for granted before it was lost. Finally, as is thoughtful, considerate, and neighborly even if there had been no fire, see if anyone you know needs you to pick something up from the store when you're heading that way.

I look forward to the store rising from the ashes as soon as possible.

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Is prepping getting a little more attention again?

Once again, events have brought prepping to the minds of people who don't generally think much about it. I'm seeing more videos on the topic again, and seeing it mentioned more in other places online.

I pretty much never stop thinking about prepping, although sometimes personal problems push it down the priority pole a bit.

I encourage everyone I know to “prep”. I always have. Getting people to listen when things don't seem pressing has been the biggest problem. With most people, anyway.

It’s always been an uphill struggle for me where my relatives are concerned, largely because of their somewhat apocalyptic religious views (especially anytime Israel is involved). But, over the years I have made some headway.

I've gotten my parents to store water, and they've always had loads of stored food. So they're probably more prepared than most. Plus, they are only slightly more than a half mile from me. I can get to them (or bring them to me) in case of emergency. I've walked to their house against 75+ MPH headwinds (it wasn't pleasant, but I made it), so I can probably get there in any situation I'm likely to face. Anything short of murderous hordes, anyway.

Several years ago, my dad asked to reborrow a gun he had given me to use as his carry gun. I wish he'd carry something more effective, but he's recoil-shy. At least he finally sees the wisdom in having something available.

The rest of the extended family, including ex-wife #1, is about the same. I encourage them to prep, but it's hard to get them to take it too seriously. Even after the Covid drama. They said at the time they should have listened to me, but the lesson faded as soon as normalcy returned. It's easier to ignore than prepare. "We made it through that, so I guess we'll be OK next time." Some of them "joke" they'll just come stay with me if anything happens. I've discouraged that plan.

I considered Covid a dress rehearsal after I saw it for what it really was. It could have been a lot worse-- if the disease had been as bad as they wanted us to believe, for example. Or, if something more dangerous threatened our existence.

You can't prepare for everything, but you can prepare for most of the more likely things. Do that. Then, for fun, you can prepare for Zombies and get yourself a little further down the road to being prepared for "everything".

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Self-Defense Awareness Day

If a particular group of nasties can declare this a "Global Day of Jihad" I guess the rest of us could declare it "Self-Defense Awareness Day".

Stay situationally aware, especially if you will be in any populated area that might look like an inviting target to evil losers of any variety. Which means, as is always wise, avoid liberty-free zones.

And if they were misquoted or mistranslated, no harm done, since you should be practicing anyway.

Don't start trouble, there won't be trouble. Right?

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War is crime

I oppose war. 

I support the natural human right of defense. 

If a government military is involved, it's not defense. Same thing if a quasi-government-like military is involved. 

If your forces are going into other people's towns, neighborhoods, and homes, to kill them and destroy things, you are not a good guy. You are doing things you don't have a right to do. The residents there have the fundamental human right to kill you in the act, no matter how evil they might otherwise be in other situations.

I get that you may be doing this in response to others doing things they had no right to do. Two wrongs don't make a right. It looks more like revenge-- "punishment"-- and I consider revenge to always be wrong (even though I totally understand the drive).

I'm no pacifist. Not even close. If you're familiar with this blog, you already know that.

There's an ethical way to respond to archators-- see the above about the natural human right of defense.

I know this opinion is about as popular as a scared, leaky skunk in an elevator. If opposing war gets me "canceled", it's worth it.

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A simple concept

What do you call a politician who makes up legislation that violates natural human rights?

A criminal.

What do you call a cop who enforces legislation that violates natural human rights?

A criminal.

What do you call a judge who upholds legislation that violates natural human rights?

A criminal.

It's not a difficult concept. They are all criminals, the same as a mugger, a rapist, a murderer, a burglar, a kidnapper, or any other criminal.

No, I take that back-- they are worse than any of those freelancers because they have the power to prevent you from doing anything to stop them. And their brainwashed minions are among us fawning over them and treating them like gods.

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Intelligence vs trainability

Intelligence is not the same thing as trainability. Trainability masquerades as intelligence, or is mistaken for intelligence. 

Both have their place.

"Getting good grades" is a sign of trainability.
Doing tricks to amaze or amuse the humans is trainability.

A minimal amount of intelligence is necessary to be trainable-- you can't train a sponge-- but people seem to be more impressed, in general, by trainability than by actual intelligence.

Those who submit to training are rewarded and praised. Those who outsmart the ones who want to train them are often not appreciated. Or even punished.

I'm usually much more impressed by intelligence than by trainability. Even though I'd appreciate it if I were able to train my cats a little more.

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Large scale archation

I don't support archators. Not if those archators are a State, not if they are a political group that acts like a State, not if they are lone archators. All of those archators are bad guys. All of them.

It doesn't matter if those archators call themselves "Hamas", "Israel", or anything else.

If the archation harms the innocent-- on any "side"-- those who committed the acts of archation are the enemy of liberty and humanity (really, that's the same thing).

It doesn't change anything if the acts are in revenge for something someone else did in the past. No harm to the innocent. Period.

If a politician (or other archator) who is individually responsible for ongoing harm is taken out, that's great. That's always an ethical option. But harming people-- who were just going about their lives-- because of something politicians are doing? Unforgivable. Hold the politicians or the individual followers accountable, don't target anyone else.

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Government no good for worst times

(FYI- This was blog post #7000, and September 3. 2023 also marked the 17th anniversary of this blog. 

Imagine that. 

My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 3, 2023)

When it’s important, when it's life and death, when it matters most— that’s precisely when you don’t need government involved. This is when you don’t need politicians and bureaucrats dictating a one-size-fits-all standard, backed with the threat of violence. This is when government power is most dangerous to society.

I'm not only talking about unusual or emergency situations. The same applies to ordinary everyday matters which are important for your health, safety, and general welfare.

Unfortunately, these are exactly the situations in which politicians and bureaucrats are most likely to demand you give them control. These are the times when it's easiest for them to convince gullible people to give them power and then go along with whatever they are told.

I believe the residents of Maui found this out the hard way. Will you learn from their tragic example without waiting to experience something similar for yourself?

Not only will the political parasites (who hope you think of them as leaders) take advantage of bad situations, they will magnify small problems and manufacture imaginary problems to this same end.

If you've been paying attention, especially for the past few years, you've probably noticed this happening

A few people are never inclined to obey authoritarians. They see political power realistically and don't fall for the cozy lies it tells.

Some people noticed the deceptive excuses the politicians and bureaucrats overused and abused to seize control, and they won't be fooled again.

Others clamor to bring back the feeling of Big Mommy Government making all the uncomfortable decisions for them; giving them the illusion they are being protected from every "owie" and unpleasant feeling. These people will sell you out in a heartbeat, right along with any liberty you have left. They are government's favorite people.

If you make your own decisions and things go badly, accept responsibility, learn, and move on. Try to do better the next time a crisis comes along.

If you blindly obey someone who imagines they have a political quality they call "authority" and things go wrong, remember to hold them fully accountable. And don't make the same mistake twice.

I saw someone say we are in the midst of the longest, saddest, most excruciating and unsatisfying "I told you so" in the history of the world. Let's make sure to at least learn something useful from it. Such as this: if it's important, it's too important for government to touch.

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Don't let politics make you evil

Politics makes people stupid. Stupid enough to support actual evil. Sometimes, stupid enough to commit evil. In such cases, politics not only makes people stupid, it makes people evil.

If you believe I'm exaggerating, take a minute to look around. Look at politicians and those who support them. Look at the rules and policies being imposed and enforced. Look at how politics is used as an excuse to target and harass people with different preferences-- including throwing them in prison when they are on the side with less power.

If you don't see politics causing stupidity leading to evil you're not looking close enough. 

It's not a matter of different opinions leading to different paths taken. You can take a different path without forcing others along your path at bayonet point.

That would be the "different opinion" path. What's happening in the world around us isn't that path-- it's the path of coercion. The path paved with politics, making followers stupid and causing them to support and commit evil in support of their team.

I've never seen any individual made better by politics, but the examples of those made worse are endless.

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Preps and falling down on the job

Prepping never takes a break, but sometimes I let things slide longer than I should. Firewood being this year's pressing issue.

No, I don't heat the house with wood, but I like to have a supply just in case. Winter can be unpredictable. Plus, the cats (and I) really enjoy a fire now and then.

I did sweep the chimney a few weeks ago so that part is ready.

Stocking up on firewood isn't as fun as keeping my ammunition stockpile up to date (which reminds me...), but it has a bigger chance of being essential to my immediate survival. 

Unfortunately, this isn't an area where you can just run into the woods and cut trees-- there are no woods, and nearly every tree in the region was intentionally planted by someone for some reason. If you see a grove of trees, there is either a house in the middle of them or there used to be. People would get twitchy about someone harvesting firewood from those trees, plus, they are invariably the species of tree I'm not willing to work too hard for.

I do often get scrap firewood that comes from people cutting down trees that are unwanted or dead. Usually dead. That's normally Siberian elm; historically the most often planted tree around here. I dislike Siberian elm. It stinks when it burns, is difficult to split, and has sharp spikes under the bark that rip my hands open when I handle it. But it's cheap and sometimes free. This year I didn't manage to get any yet. Mostly because I was holding out hope for something better.

There are people around who sell piñon firewood they import from the mountains. I have bought some in the past and I got some as a birthday gift once. It sure smells wonderful.

I still have a little firewood left over from last year, but I feel I let my preps slide more than I like, so finding or buying firewood in the next month or so will be a priority. More of a priority than replacing the ammo I shot up last weekend.

Do you ever discover you have let some aspect of your preps slide more than you realized? It's hard to keep up with everything, but that's exactly what is needed.

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Plotting to Control is planning to fail

On a recent Scott Adams livestream he reacted to someone suggesting it would be smart to legalize drugs. In response, he gave the least credible justification for prohibition I've ever heard, but it's typical.

He immediately pivoted away from actually ending the stupid and evil War on Politically Incorrect Drugs to some system whereby government gives "free" regulated drugs to people. No one had suggested that.

As usual, he had changed the subject away from the actual argument to make a point he preferred to focus on. It's a typical government supremacist response to getting government out of any facet of life. Also known as a "straw man".

He said this version of "legalization" won't work because addicts always want "more". That's not even part of the conversation, nor should it be. It's only something that a person who still assumes government Control of the supply (and the addicts) would bring up.

Letting a government employee Control and ration something isn't the same as getting government out of the market for that thing. It's the opposite. You can't say "legalization" will fail by using the opposite as evidence unless you are being dishonest.

He said the rationed, free handout drugs which he pretended were part of the argument wouldn't be enough, so addicts would still go buy "illegal" drugs, too. Not if there's no such thing as "illegal" drugs, they won't. How hard is this to understand? That's what ending prohibition means!

He did this all under the pretense that he understands people, addicts in particular. It doesn't look as though he does. It just looks like he's grasping to justify government maintaining Control so that any solution is forbidden.

Would addicts die? Yes. They already do. Would more die than under the current system? I don't know and neither does anyone else. But, it's a fundamental human right to destroy yourself. It's tragic, and I would rather people didn't, but they will, and "laws" don't prevent it from happening. 

In fact, enforcing the prohibition "laws" destroys many lives that would have otherwise not been destroyed. Much of the harm from drug abuse and almost all of the harm from drug use comes not from the drugs but from the anti-drug rules and policies.

Regardless of anything else, responsibility doesn't go away just because you were on drugs. That's a completely separate issue, one that prohibition hasn't come close to solving.

You can't say liberty won't work by using examples where you keep someone in Control.  Liberty won't fail, but it isn't given a chance.

It's one of those things that makes me want to scream and give up on brainwashed people like this.

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Education matters

Here's an education question for all my readers. 

First, a little context. I think one good quality I possess is the ability to adapt. When I think "there's got to be a better way" I don't mind changing things around to try to find that better way. I see it as a survival skill, and it has served me well many times.

Well, I'm shifting gears on how I'm educating my daughter and I'd love some input. I'm hoping for good, well-thought-out answers.

What knowledge do you believe a young person should know when they leave high school and/or start living independently? What knowledge is essential in order to be prepared for life? Beyond the obvious.

I have my own thoughts on the matter, but I want to hear yours. I really want to hear yours, so don't hold back, even if you've never posted a comment before. Please, and thank you!

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The Market

"The market" means voluntary trade without coercion. 

It is an example of spontaneous order through the action of independent individuals. An emergent property.

Government "laws" make a market impossible-- although you can still create a sort of quasi-market through the Black (or Gray) Market.

I don't usually say "free market" anymore because if it's not free, it's not the market.

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How to fix* Congress

The best way to fix Congress is to disband it entirely and replace it with nothing-- which is the best way to fix all political institutions. I'm sure you have great ideas as to how this could be accomplished expeditiously.

However, if someone needs to be weaned off of being governed, I have a gentle suggestion as to how that could be done gradually. A simple two-step process. In fact, I would apply this to every political office in the world, but let's pretend I'm limiting this solution to Congress for the moment.

1- Don't hold elections anymore-- what you've got is what you've got. No cheating by holding a special election to elect young people before this takes effect, either.

2- Don't replace those who die off, get arrested, resign, or retire. Let attrition do its work.
Then each empty seat counts as an automatic "No" v*te on every bill that would increase or maintain government power, or a "Yea" on any bill that would disband, defund, or disempower any government agency or function (we can dream that those ever get proposed). 

That means, next time the budget comes up, every empty seat is counted as a v*te against approving the budget. Every empty seat counts as a v*te against every steaming lump of legislation that any legislator drops in front of Congress.

As soon as empty seats make up at least 50% of the seats, there would be no more point in even gathering the political criminals to go through the motions anymore. Then liberty could flourish.

Yes, shut it down.

    *Fix it like you'd fix a stray that you don't want breeding ever again.

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