Pots and kettles

One of the most common flaws humans exhibit is criticizing someone for doing something we are also doing.

This is easy to see in others; harder to see in ourselves. I'm sure I do it, even though I don't often notice.

One example I run across all the time is on Scott Adams' live stream. Anytime he doesn't like someone else's point, which he can say is based on trying to win with a definition, he calls out their "word-thinking". Then he usually immediately does the exact same thing. But it's OK then, because he's making a point he likes. It's glaring to me when this happens.

I've seen him do this with the words "war", "woman", and others, where he criticizes the word as used by others, saying it doesn't mean anything; it's just a definition. And then he'll define some related word to make his own point. Recently he was harping on the word "war" and then, in trying to brush aside any comments using that word, used another word that his argument hinged on. (Sorry I don't remember the specifics at the moment.)

And I'm sure he doesn't realize what he's done and would block anyone who pointed it out.

Knowing I'm human and flawed is one reason I don't block people for pointing out my flaws and errors.

It does make me wonder though, I think in words. Sometimes supplemented with mental images, but always with words. Yes, I have an internal dialog that never shuts down; it's how I think. 

Do others not do the same? Is there any other kind of human thought that doesn't rely heavily on words and what they mean?

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Why complicate matters?

Going back to yesterday's post, I believe people complicate things when they don't want a solution.

The solution would either bring about an outcome they are opposed to, or it would eliminate the excuse for their "job".

Either way, they are desperate to not find a solution, no matter how simple or obvious it might be to the rest of us.

So here we are. Thanks to people addicted to the political means; people who should never have any say in anything society does, or any power over the rights of others.

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Is it constitutional?

To decide whether a gun “law” is or is not Constitutional is a very simple, two-step process.

1. Is the “law”, rule, or policy made up by, or enforced in any way by, employees/cronies of government?
2. If so, does the rule apply to weapons in any way?

If so, it is unconstitutional.

That’s it. There is nothing more to consider.

It doesn’t matter if the Supreme Court tries to complicate the matter or is scared to do the right thing. If they decide in any other way, using any other criteria, they are wrong. Since they probably know better, they are lying.

Why do they try so hard to confuse the issue? Because they are crooked.

This is why you never trust your rights to anyone affiliated with any government. Never!

But it doesn't matter to the big picture: No one has the right to disarm anyone who isn't a current credible threat or committing archation. Such a right doesn't exist and can't be created. The natural human right to own and to carry weapons isn't subject to the opinions and wishes of politicians, and can't be eliminated by ignoring or abolishing any part of any document.

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Government shutdown imaginary threat

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 8, 2023)

Someone recently asked me if the "government shutdown" had happened yet, and I didn't know. I didn't care enough to find out at the time.

Later I learned, purely by accident, that Congress had delayed it for a month and a half with some procedural hi-jinks. Instead of doing the responsible thing and shutting it all down, they kicked the can down the road.

Calling it a "shutdown" is dishonest, anyway. The truly harmful parts of the federal government-- the FBI, CIA, BATFE, TSA, Congress, etc.-- will keep on doing the anti-American things they always do. There's no shutdown there because no one would complain if life kept going as usual but free of the interference of those gangs. If you believed the lie about "safety" you've played right into their hands.

I suspect that if you can feel an imaginary government shutdown affecting your life, you've allowed government to have too much influence over you. If you waste any time worrying about whether a promised government shutdown will happen, you need to distance yourself from anything which would hurt you if it shuts down.

This may be hard. The shutdowns are more like a hostage situation than a real shutdown. The only things the federal government will stop doing are things it hopes will make you uncomfortable enough to complain. They want the shutdown to hurt you so you'll be fine with them passing more rules (hidden in the spending bill) you otherwise wouldn't want them passing. They are trying to hold you hostage so you'll let them get away with things they shouldn't be doing.

It's why they shut down things they hope will inconvenience you. Maybe you won't get checks. Maybe you won't get government permission to do something you already have a right to do, but which government likes to ration. Often they shut down places you want to go-- like forests and restrooms. Why anyone asks government permission to go into a forest baffles me, and anyone can relieve themselves responsibly in forests and other wild areas without federal help. I neither need to be babysat nor to have them provide toilet facilities.

Don't play their game by their rules.

The best response to government shutdown theater? Call their bluff. Tell them you're okay with shutting the whole thing down and you hope they never open again. I can say this and I wouldn't be lying.

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Justifying present wrongs with past wrongs

Everyone wants to justify the archation that they do (things they have no right to do) by pointing to what someone else did in the past.

That's such a bad idea.

You can only judge current rightness or wrongness by the present. 

You can't demand reparations for historical wrongs. Those you'd steal the money from didn't commit the wrongs and you weren't the victim.

You can't justify a war by what "the other side" did in the past. (I don't think you can ever justify a war where you are doing more than killing individual invaders and the politicians who sent them, but that's a separate issue.)

I can't hunt down my second ex-wife because of the things she did to me at the end of our time together.  

If you go back through the past to look for ways to justify your current actions, you'll always be able to find something. History is a neverending story of who did what to whom. How about you just do what you have a right to do now and leave the past in the past.

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Garbage in, garbage out

When I was a kid, the most common excuse to explain why so many computer answers were useless was "Garbage in, garbage out". This referred to informational garbage (bad data) not useful organic garbage that can be used for good.

That doesn't only apply to old computers.

It's why AI may never be as useful as it could have been. Biased humans will train it with their political garbage (flawed date), so what do you expect to come out of it?

But the same is true of students who've gone through gov-schooling (including statist universities). Garbage is put into their heads, so garbage is what their words and actions are once they are out in the real world.

Then too many of these garbage-filled drones go into that other dispenser of garbage: government. 

Political government has nothing but garbage going in-- beginning with the flawed ideas that create and justify it-- so garbage is the natural output. Garbage in, garbage out.

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Legalize everything

I've realized why I don't care as much as others seem to when things I think are wrong get "legalized".

Making something "illegal" only provides a path for government to punish those doing it. Making it "legal" again only removes (or alters) that power. It can't change something wrong into something right, nor something right into something wrong. It's all about the ability to use government to punish. I think punishment-- revenge-- is wrong. I know political government is illegitimate.

If you are doing something I believe is wrong, I will change my behavior toward you. I may shun you or tell others why I think you're a bad person. I may have to defend myself or others from you. What I'm not interested in doing is using government violence to punish you for what you do. If a bad guy is victimizing someone, no "law" is required to create-- and no "law" can take away-- the natural human right to defend self and others as you see fit.

Of course, this also explains my thoughts when something everyone has a right to do gets made "illegal". What bothers me about that isn't the "illegal" part, it's the punishments attached. You're still not doing wrong if you "break the law", even if government catches and punishes you.

The opinion of politicians is worthless because they don't understand right and wrong-- if they did they probably wouldn't be politicians. And they certainly wouldn't be making up legislation.

(Added: "Legalize", decriminalize-- what I want is everything removed from government's purview, however you want to say it.)

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Liars hang together

All my adult life I've recognized the existence of "fake news" and misinformation. I saw it everywhere all the time when watching television or encountering "news". I've never once seen accurate reporting of a single "news" event of which I had first-hand knowledge. And all political "news" is a lie, and probably always has been, because politics is a lie.

Now, fake news and misinformation are being pushed as a major problem.

Look who is most concerned about the issue. In the past few years, all of a sudden, the issue became important to those who, to me, seemed the source of the fake news and misinformation most of my life.

Why? 

Was it because fake news and misinformation magically appeared out of nowhere and threatened society? Nope. It was probably because their fake news and information was finally being exposed and called out. They didn't expect this to happen and they don't like it one little bit, and they've got to put a stop to it. Using the violence of government if possible.

Is everything counter to the "mainstream" narrative true? No. There's enough fake news and misinformation to go around. But for the hypocrites who've been pushing their lies unopposed for all my life to suddenly get up in arms because someone else is doing the same, or worse-- exposing the lies we've been fed for decades-- is kind of delicious.

Of course they're running to the biggest liar-- government-- to silence their competition. I wouldn't expect professional liars to do anything else.

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Deranged evil losers are ready. Are you?

Thanks to Steven Crowder we finally got a look at the deranged Nashville evil loser's written rant. Some call it a "manifesto". Looks to me like the ravings of a mentally ill loser whose brain was hijacked by w0keness, but whatever.

In it, she wrote that she was ready-- to murder innocent people. And she hoped her "victums" weren't ready. They weren't.

Evil losers get to choose the time and place of the attack. They are not surprised when the shooting starts. But their victims are, since they were just going about their normal daily life, not planning to commit evil acts.

BE READY! Everywhere, all the time. Regardless of policies, rules, or counterfeit legislation. Yes, it can "happen here", wherever "here" is. 

Be ready! "Ready" doesn't automatically imply that you have a firearm, but that is the general meaning. That's how you can be ready most effectively. But you can always be ready, somehow.

The evil losers are hoping you aren't ready for them. Disappoint them.

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Rising from the ashes

Saturday-- two months and one day after it burned-- the local Walmart reopened. It's open in a limited capacity until March or so, but more is open than I expected. And faster. The grocery department is complete and full-size; every other department is smaller.

I foolishly went to check it out. Due to being blind on my left side for now, I did have one small mishap when I got caught on an empty hook and knocked it off. My greatest accomplishment is that I didn't crash into any people, though.

Perhaps the shopping public will be happier now. And the employees of the other stores, as well.

I had imagined that other local businesses would enjoy the boost in sales they'd get while their big competitor was closed. How silly of me.

Everyone complained about the larger crowds in the other stores. They couldn't wait for Walmart to reopen so all those "Walmart people" would be out of their hair. Not just the shoppers expressed this opinion, but the employees of the other stores did too. Yes, things were crowded and shelves were often empty, but that's what happens when the largest retailer in the area closes-- the people have to go somewhere.

Now that the store is back they'll probably go back to complaining that Walmart is taking their business. You can't make people happy.

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Don't tolerate government meddling

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 1, 2023)

I value liberty-- the freedom to exercise my rights-- enough to leave you alone to exercise your rights. I respect your liberty as much as I value my own. It shocks me to realize how many people don't do the same.

Instead, I see people who want so badly to control what other people are allowed to do that they eagerly sacrifice their own liberty in order to give government the power to govern others. To me, this seems insane and self-destructive.

How can people be so afraid of freedom?

It didn't happen naturally. They've been conditioned to be afraid.

I hear people point to cases where government backed off a little from violating one right and things didn't go well. One example commonly used is California. The state backed off on punishing drug use and theft and now they have dirty needles and human waste littering the streets and mobs of coordinated thieves cleaning out stores.

Well, yes, when you stop violating the right to put whatever you wish into your own body, but continue to violate the fundamental human right to defend yourself and your property from all attackers, it's not going to work well. You're going to get California every time you do this.

You can't "defund the police" yet continue to impose anti-gun rules and punish those who act in defense and expect things to improve. Liberty is a package deal, and trying to split it up means you have planned to fail. Liberty didn't fail; it was never given a chance.

Government depends on you believing liberty can't work. If you ever saw the truth you'd never tolerate government meddling in any important matter again. It would put a lot of newly unemployed former government employees in a position of having to find productive work. They'll do everything possible to prevent this from happening. It means they'll continue to do things designed to fail to prove how much you need them. It's a lie.

The next time you believe respecting human rights didn't turn out well, step back and think about why it seems that way. Was the outcome rigged to fail from the beginning? By whom? Who benefits? Which rights did they continue to violate to orchestrate the failure? What fears are they hoping to generate and use? What expanded power are they trying to get? Why would you let them get away with it?

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Things I think about while half blind

For the next couple of weeks, at least, I’m functionally blind on my left side. Since I can only see to the right it seems natural that I should be getting more “conservative”, but no. 

I still see police as the vile mafia they are; I see “border control” as a violation of property rights, movement, and the right of association; and I still can’t agree with “enforce the gun laws on the books instead of passing new gun laws”, and I still oppose ALL prohibition for any reason. 

There goes that hypothesis down the drain.

No, I'm not serious since I think "right" and "left" is a dumb way to talk about the desire to molest your neighbors.

However...

Since my left eye sees nothing but indistinct lights and shadows, it often fills in the blank with things that aren’t really there. Kind of like the effect politics has on people.

This is giving me a new perspective. It’s amusing in its own way since I expect it to be temporary.

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Regulating the danger away

National Embarrassment Biden intends to have his gang regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI). Of course, the sickness he suffers from manifests by causing a desire to regulate everything.

An article about his regulatory cravings said, “The developers of future advanced AI models will have to submit safety test results to Uncle Sam to prove they are not a public threat.”

Great idea. Now let's subject government to the same safety test. It would fail. Every test, every time, unless the test was rigged.

Do I trust AI? Nope. But I trust government even less than I trust AI. Experience will do that.

I don't know how dangerous AI might turn out to be, but government has thousands of years of tragedy and disaster to show exactly how dangerous it already is. If I had to choose which of the two to eliminate with a snap of my fingers, government would already be gone.

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I hate to ask...

Help!

I was trying to get through this recent medical emergency without asking for extra donations, but things went critical this morning. 

I had some charges deducted automatically that, in the confusion, I had forgotten were coming up. I tried to cancel but it was too late. And now I'm overdrawn, which will result in additional charges if I don't cover the expense really fast. Plus, I need a tank of gas in the next day or so.

I've already had someone step in with a donation the day of the surgery, so if that was you please ignore the request-- you've done enough.

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Curing a sick society

Society is suffering from an extreme case of parasitosis-- it is critically infested with parasites.

To get rid of parasites and get healthy sometimes takes harsh measures. You've got to poison the parasites and expel them without killing the host. That's often rather unpleasant to the host. If you've ever wormed a dog that had a bad infestation you know what I mean.

It's essential anyway.

How do you "worm" a society to get rid of politicians, bureaucrats, and enforcers? How do you convince people it's necessary when they are afraid of the unpleasantness of the process? Because it IS necessary, and (for some) it WILL be unpleasant.

(Posting may be sporadic. I'm struggling to see the laptop screen in my one-eyed condition [apparently I can't see well out of my good eye, either. and need both]. I can see and use my phone better, but I'm not accustomed to writing walls of text on it. We'll see how it goes.)

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A little update on the eye

I’m having a tough time using the computer- or doing most other things- at the moment, with my one functional eye.

Even thinking seems impaired right now. I’m wondering if I’m using more of my brain just trying to navigate the world, leaving less available for deeper things.

But I’m seeing the signs the surgeon told me I’d see on my way to seeing out of that eye again. That’s a good sign that my eye is refilling with vitreous humor so I’ll be able to see more than colored lights and shadows out of it. 

And I’m feeling pretty good. No pain or anything like that. The surgical soreness only lasted a couple of days.

I made the mistake of looking at that eye in the mirror- there’s something creepy about it.

I’ll be back soon, but not as soon as I’d like.

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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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