You can't debate a belch

I don't debate postmodernists. I can't because there's nothing to debate. They are content-free. It's like arguing with a worm. Or debating a sour belch from a bloated stomach.

Recently some guy didn't like my assertion that something was a natural human right. So I nicely explained it to him again, more carefully, and he didn't like that either.

He then demanded I prove that natural human rights exist, along with a whole laundry list of other demands.

Nope. Not gonna do that. If a person is too dumb to actually debate, why try?

I know-- that's not very nice of me.

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Racino shouldn't be up to majority

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 31, 2018)

Come election day, those who play politics are asking people to vote for or against the "racino". Some say it will help the economy. Others say it will bankrupt people, both morally and financially. I say such things should never be up to government control.

Nor should it be subject to majority opinion. People need to grow beyond this notion that they have a right to control what other people do on their own property with their own money. They don't, even though politics gives them the illusion that they do

This venture shouldn't be subject to a license or any other kind of government regulation. It shouldn't be rationed by a "racing commission". These matters should be left up to those who have the only possible right to decide: the property owners and those who want to build the racino.

Admittedly, this wouldn't please governments or the people who feel powerful because they are on the racing commission, nor those who want to use politics to control other people and stop them from doing something they enjoy. Getting government out of it would please me.

I'm not in favor of gambling, nor am I against it. I simply understand it is none of my business what other people choose to do with their time and money. I see plenty of people doing things I think are a waste of time and money, but I don't imagine it's any of my business, and I would never use the power of government to force my will on them. I'm not that antisocial.

There are many vices out there. Not one of them is legitimately subject to majority opinion nor should a single one of them be subject to laws and punishment. If the vice is really bad it will bring its own punishment. If you don't like it, don't participate. Yes, you really do have a choice.

The only reason for an election would be as feedback to measure whether there are enough potential customers in the area to make it worthwhile. A vote should never be binding on whether someone is allowed to open a business of any kind, or do anything else.

The only other time a vote on something of this sort could possibly be legitimate is when tax money will be used. In such cases, those who vote in favor should be the only ones who pay any additional tax. Those who vote "no" should be completely off the hook.

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Scars of statism

Everyone has some kind of scars. I have a scar on my shoulder from an encounter with an armadillo, and many scars on my left hand due to knives held in my right hand.

I would imagine everyone also has psychological scars. Including scars from statism in our pasts.

Most of us were statist to some degree at some time in our lives. Some more than others. And everyone has been exposed to statism. Like any trauma, this leaves scars which are sometimes noticeable to observers.

You can't be involved in a cult, or exposed to it continually, without taking some damage to your psyche.

I can sometimes notice my own scars of statism, and it's even easier to see them in others.

Mine show up in kneejerk emotional reactions. I recently felt one scar when I went into the library and was once again overcome with the desire to wrap my hands around the throat of the evil little loser who shot it up last year, killing one of my friends. I'm opposed to imprisonment, but I still feel the desire to make that little vermin suffer. Even if it's in a way I oppose but can't abolish. I realize that's one of my statist scars showing up.

Of course, I'd rather they set him free and let everyone know who he is, what he did, and let nature take its course-- I wouldn't participate, but I wouldn't help him. But it is what it is, and none of it is in my control, anyway. Other than my reaction, which isn't good.

I do my best to not focus on the scars, mine or other peoples', but to see how the person has managed to overcome and grow, in spite of the scars. Everyone is scarred; no one has to spend their life dwelling on it.

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The magic of statist projection

Isn't it odd how some people take your responsible commitment to defend yourself and your property as a threat to their safety?

It makes it pretty clear what they intend to do to you. Either in person, or with government "laws".

Then they'll say that since you threatened them, they are justified in attacking you first-- in "defense".

The threatener poses as a victim, and then uses their imaginary victimhood as justification to victimize you, when all you intended was to defend yourself from any archators.

This is where political government comes from.

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Wilson's pop-up camper incident

Not the actual camper

After "Wilson" moved out of the house without heat, he and his elderly black chow (I'm blanking on the dog's name) moved into a pop-up camper he had bought.

He moved it frequently to avoid "imperial entanglements". This meant I saw him less often, and I don't even know where he was parked most of the time. I never was invited out to his camper; he probably didn't want anyone to know where he was parked. He was probably on Bureau of Land Management land-- it was all around us and I knew several people who lived on it.

He still stopped by the shop in town to visit during working hours, or dropped by my campfire if I was home.

One day he came to the shop very agitated. Almost explosive with anger.

He told me he had gone out for a hike and when he returned he saw a couple of people fleeing his camper, which had been vandalized. All the canvas around the door had been shredded. He was really angry, and I was sympathetic. After all, it was his home. He wasn't sure it could be (affordably and sufficiently) repaired. At least his dog was OK.

He was going to track the vandals down, and... what? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't have wanted to be them. So with grim determination, he took off again.

I felt really bad about his situation, but he wasn't usually open to accepting help.

I didn't see him for a couple of days, but when I did he was acting strangely sheepish. He needed to tell me something, and I could tell it was really bothering him.

He made sure no one could hear us and admitted there had been no vandals. His chow had ripped up the canvas to escape the camper, possibly intending to follow him on his hike. The dog was old and arthritic, and he had left him behind so he could get where he was going faster, and with less trouble. The dog wasn't too bright and constantly caused problems, on the trail and off. So the dog ripped up the canvas to escape, but ended up hanging around the camper anyway.

He seemed a little less excitable after this incident. I didn't hold it against him, even though I didn't really understand why he made up the story in the first place. That's the only time I know of that he wasn't truthful. This wasn't too long before he vanished from the area without a word.

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Note: I've added the tag "Wilson" since it looks like I may keep posting of his escapades, if people ask for more. I'll post something about the highway patrol encounter next time.

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Playing "grown-up"

You are not having an adult conversation if you are talking about "foreign policy", "tax policy", or "immigration policy". Not if you are talking about what "laws" need to be passed or enforced. Not if you honestly believe other people should be governed by states.

At best you are having a Middle School conversation. More suitable for the Jerry Springer Show than for anywhere else.

It's just like thinking the world revolves around who likes whom, who got invited to which party, or having the "right" brand of clothes-- and bullying based on all that silliness.

Feel free to focus your attention on those things if you enjoy it, but don't fool yourself into believing they are signs of an adult worldview, no matter how grave those discussing the matters appear to be. And no matter how much power they may have. No matter the fineness of their suits, ties, and shoes. It's just a costume designed to make you believe the matters have weight.

It reminds me of how cussing is referred to as "adult language". I always thought that was ridiculous. I consider it Middle School language. That's about the time of "peak cussing" in my observation-- although I probably peaked in 5th grade. Most people grow out of it to some extent as they mature. But at least cussing doesn't actually harm anyone; cuss all you want. The pro-government childishness can't make the same claim.

"Adult", when applied to these childish things, is inaccurate. You can take something seriously, but if it advocates theft or aggression it's adolescent behavior, no matter how old its advocates are.

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"Our president"

Does it grate on you when some government extremist utters the silly phrase "our president"? It annoys me a bit. It's the same when they say "our government", "our congress", "our schools", or any similar thing.

It bothers me because I don't have one. I can't have one. I don't want one or need one. Don't superimpose your weakness onto me. It doesn't fit.

It doesn't matter who the current president is or isn't. I will never have a president for the exact same reason I will never have a Grand Wizard or a Pope. I am not a participant in that particular religion or club. That you have one is your problem, not mine. It's your responsibility. If you try to act as though your social club offices and rituals apply to me, you are being rude and presumptuous. Or worse.

Yes, I realize the Believers will say I have a president whether or not I acknowledge one. In that case, they have a pope and a Grand Wizard whether they accept him or not. If I'm in any way responsible for a president, then they are responsible for the office holders in the clubs they reject as well.
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"Not my problem. It's socialized!"

I've recently seen an advertisement for the New Mexico "healthcare [sic] exchange" (ObamaCare's legacy). In it a spokesactress talks about health insurance-- and getting financial assistance for it-- while her "kid" seemingly runs off multiple times to engage in dangerous and impulsive behavior around her. Behavior that she doesn't have to worry about him engaging in because he's insured. Probably at your expense.

And this is one of the best arguments against socialized medicine.

Why should anyone subsidize her self-destructive crotch-fruit so that he doesn't have to be smart?

Makes me want to punch her.

Now, if there were no socialism involved, I wouldn't even see his behavior as all that bad. It's just normal young male behavior, I guess. Thrill-seeking, with little thought for consequences. But it's the thought that everyone else, who has no say in how he acts, is on the hook so that his "mom" can just shrug it off.

I'm thinking the ad didn't have the desired effect on me.
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Best to be smart about social media

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 24, 2018)

Social media gets a lot of well-deserved criticism. It's presented as a service, but with the vast majority of social media platforms, you and your information are the products being sold.

Even worse than selling your information to advertisers, it opens its back door to government spies so they can come in, snoop around, steal your data, and watch everything you do. Definitely not the behavior of someone who's on your side. When they say "your privacy matters" they are lying. They may as well be saying "your life matters" while dumping plutonium into your drinking water.

You might insist "If you're doing nothing wrong, what do you have to hide?" but this puts the burden on you to prove your innocence and that's not how it works. Your privacy matters more than government interests. Your butler can't be allowed to spy on you, not even "for your own good" or to further the butler's agenda.

Recently we've also seen how social media manipulates opinions by what it allows you to see; promoting its own biased views as news, and any opposing views as "fake news" to be suppressed and banned.

Yet social media isn't all bad. It deserves a little praise, at least on a couple of things.

Social media helps people reconnect with those they once knew, and stay in touch with friends they no longer live near. In today's highly mobile society this is a valuable human service.

Another small thing I really appreciate is when it helps find lost pets so they and their owners can be reunited.

I appreciate how it helps people advertise yard sales, services, and social events. This is the free market in action. And it helps people organize.

Social media users frequently shut government and its laws out of the loop. To a point. You'll still usually be prohibited, for example, from the perfectly ethical act of using these platforms to sell a gun to someone who wants to buy it. And if your group is planning something the politicians have made up rules against, regardless of whether it's actually wrong, someone may report you to the political authorities. Yet there are still ways around almost all these barriers.

It's not necessary to shun social media; just be smart. Don't offer too much unnecessary information which the bad guys can use against you, but take advantage of the opportunities it presents. Opportunities beyond any the world has ever seen.

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Holy Papers

One thing which seems really strange to me is how many supposed libertarians put faith in government documentation.

Whether it's constitutions, driver's licenses, or permission to pass between tax farms.

If you believe there's legitimacy in government paperwork, any legitimacy at all, why pretend to believe in anything other than government opinions?

Liberty or privileges? Your choice.

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Wilson and the USPS

Here's the next installment of The Wilson Files.

This is all second hand, from "Wilson" himself, so it may have been embellished. He was keeping me informed almost hour-by-hour during the events, rather than dropping by my fire to tell me the story after it was all over, so I suspect it's close to the truth. (Although a later incident did show he could lie-- even if he soon came clean due to guilt. More about that another time, maybe.)

He wasn't getting some things in the mail he was expecting. Like the catalog he had requested from a freeze-dried survival food outfit in Utah. In fact, he wasn't getting any mail at all. He wouldn't use the internet, so catalogs in the mail were very important to him. Then his mom said she'd sent him something, but he never got that, either. He was getting pretty upset, and I didn't blame him.

We didn't get home delivery, but had multi-box units along the highway. (The picture above, courtesy Google Street View, is the actual bank of mailboxes in the story.) He saw the mail carrier stuffing mail in the boxes and stopped to ask her about his missing mail. I wasn't there, so I really don't know what was said, or how he said it. He could be a little intense. He suspected she was stealing his mail, and he probably said as much.

Then when he didn't get a satisfactory answer from the carrier, if I remember correctly, he went to the post office in town and complained about his missing mail.

A couple of hours later a pair of cops or deputies (he didn't live in town, but town cops often left town to spread their "service") came to his house to talk to him. His door was slightly ajar, so the cops just pushed it a little more and stuck their heads in the house while calling his name. Of course, their guns were unholstered "just in case". Wilson was familiar to them.

Wilson could be a little twitchy, and always open carried. This could have gone really badly, but he saw the cops before they saw him, and carefully placed his gun out of sight, but where he could grab it. (I was treated to a dramatic re-enactment at the scene later that day.)

They said the mail carrier claimed he had threatened her. He said he was just asking where his mail was going. The cops said threatening a postal employee was a federal crime. He said he made no threats, he just wanted his missing mail.

The cops told him to watch what he said to the carrier, and that it would be best if he didn't speak to her again or approach her while she put mail in the boxes.

Everyone survived the encounter, and Wilson wasn't arrested.

Funny thing was, the next day he started getting mail.

I can't remember if he ever got the item his mom had sent, or the catalog of survival foods. But that seemed to be the end of his missing mail problem.

To Wilson (and to me) this seemed to confirm his suspicions that the carrier was responsible for his missing mail. You aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you.

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"It's alive! Be amazed as I kill it!"

One thing you can credit the "Secure the borders"/"anti-illegal immigration"[sic] folks with is that they are invariably masters of the straw man.

They are Dr. Frankenstein, but instead of corpses, they build their monster out of straw, then they don't wait for the villagers to rally with pitchforks and torches; they burn their own creation themselves and pretend to be the hero.

I recognize the straw man for what it is, of course. But if you point it out, they just build another and another and another. They are experts and building and burning them. And they impress themselves very much.

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Happy Thanksgiving

For the past 3 years, Thanksgiving has been kind of a chore for me. It hurts to celebrate it. I have to try to make myself feel it, with varying degrees of success.

But I am thankful. For many things and for several people.

I'm thankful to you and for you.

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Bill Nye, the "science" guy on Mars

Poor old Bill Nye the non-scientist guy. He's a laughingstock and doesn't realize it.

He is completely, absolutely, 100% certain that humans have accidentally altered the Earth's atmosphere, causing climate change (AGCC). He's positive this change, if real, is harmful-- and government edicts are needed to solve it.
But he says it's not possible for humans to go to Mars and intentionally, with planned purpose, alter Mars' atmosphere to change the Martian climate for the better (for Earth life, anyway).

Make up your mind, Billy.

Of course, the best explanation of why he doesn't believe this is that he doesn't want to believe it.

Believing this would knock the air out of his doom and gloom climate disaster scenario, and make his preferred program of government supremacy unnecessary.

If we can intentionally change planetary climates, then we could fix Earth without adopting his communistic government supremacism. And we can spread out and move to Mars, almost doubling the land surface humans could live on. This would also reduce human impact without increasing government control and power. It's apparently not what he wants. It looks like he only wants the problem solved his way.

He's either stupid or dishonest.

h/t: Claire Wolfe. Thanks for the laugh!

ADDED: It has been pointed out (on Patreon) that Bill is probably right and I am probably wrong. Mars probably can't be terraformed due to its lack of a magnetosphere-- any atmosphere just blows away in the solar wind. Personally I believe this is a problem which will be solved because we humans have to solve it or die out sooner than we otherwise would.
Also, yes, I realize the lower gravity will have negative health effects, but I think this will be less of a problem than you might imagine. I tend to lift whatever I can lift-- in Mars' gravity I'd just be lifting and moving around larger things.
There are also other problems, including increased radiation.
But, I accept that I could be completely wrong about all this.
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Rep(rehensible) Eric Swalwell

That congressvermin who said that if you think you should keep your guns to fight tyranny, it would be a short fight because the government has nukes...

Yeah, he was probably "joking". So? It shows how he "thinks". It shows him as a government supremacist at the very least.

If the tables had been turned and someone joked about nuking congress-- or his personal house while he and his family (if any) were in it-- do you think he would have found it hilarious? Do you think he would have accepted it as nothing but a sarcastic joke?

You know he wouldn't have. His life is too valuable to take the chance. You are the expendable one to this parasite.

Anti-gun bigots are disgusting. That one would sarcastically "joke" about nuking Americans just because we value our natural rights over his mass-murderous opinions shows this without a doubt.
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Badge doesn't grant extra rights

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 17, 2018)

A badge doesn't grant extra rights. When the law acts as though it does by treating people differently based on whether or not they wear a badge, the law undermines its appearance of legitimacy.

No job can grant extra rights because there's no such thing as an "extra right". All humans have equal and identical rights, whether or not the local law respects those rights equally and identically for all people.

If one person is given a pass because of his job, then everyone must be given the same pass. When police are allowed to do something you or I would be punished for doing you have a police state.

Police are simply paid to do things we all have a natural right to do, but may not want to be bothered with. If we don't have the right, neither do they.

The one thing which does come with a badge is extra responsibilities; a limit on what someone can do which doesn't apply to those without the badge. For one, it means if you wear a badge you must know every jot and tittle of the law forward and backward and upside down-- and follow it exactly. You shouldn't enforce something you don't fully understand. If you claim it's not possible to know the laws this well, this means the law is illegitimate and needs to be done away with.

Some might insist you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but sewage isn't bathwater, and that's no baby floating in it. Throw it out.

Often the legal standard is completely disconnected from right or wrong. Clear cases of defense are criminalized while clear cases of murder are excused; weighed differently based on the shooter's job. Sometimes, too, both sides are wrong, and when they collide, someone dies.

If someone is an immediate threat to your life or safety, you have the right to use deadly force to stop their attack. If they are running away from you, any danger has passed and to shoot them anyway is clearly murder.

If its wrong for me to shoot a thief after he has abandoned the stolen property and is running away, then it's wrong for anyone to do it, regardless of my feelings.

On the other hand, I wish every thief would die in the act of stealing. Every last one. Theft is a disgusting act. I'll never feel sympathy for a dead thief. The law doesn't necessarily agree with my wishes.

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Politics = lies

I dislike dishonesty, particularly when it is used to harm people who aren't doing anything to deserve the harm. This is why I dislike politics-- beyond the institutional theft and aggression, that is.

I dislike the lies the political Left tells against the political Right.
I dislike the lies the political Right tells against the political Left.
Not because either of those statist sides is innocent, but because it seems like liberty is always caught in the middle.

The political Left lies and says that respecting the right of a business owner to choose to not bake a cake is hate which violates the rights of someone to buy a cake from someone who doesn't want to bake one for them. They blame the political Right for this outrage.

The political Right lies and says that anyone breaking a counterfeit "law" they agree with, such as "immigration laws" is a bad guy by definition. They blame the political Left for encouraging this criminality.

The political Left lies and says that if you don't want to ban guns you hate children and don't care if they die.

The political Right lies and says if you don't support the War on Drugs you want everyone to be addicted and on welfare.

The political Left lies and says that socialism isn't suicide.
The political Right lies and says cops are good guys.

The political Left lies about what Trump says and does in a way to rile up their side, and the political Right lies about what Trump says and does in a way to rile up their side.

Most of all, I dislike the lies the political Left and the political Right tell against those of us who don't buy into their lies.

Lies to the Left and lies to the Right. And I'm not on their spectrum at all.
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Winning isn't permitted under their rules

You have probably noticed this, but in case you haven't: you can't win.

No matter what you talk about someone will say you are using the word wrong; even that you are a fool or a tool for using the word as you do.

From freedom and liberty, to government and state, anarchist and statist, and beyond. I've found this to be the case anytime I discuss a topic which is important and controversial (along the statist/anarchist divide, especially).

Which is why I try to make sure to explain how I use a word, and why I use it the way I'm using it.

But you still can't win. Because then you'll be accused of making words mean what you want them to mean instead of what they "really" mean. Even worse is the crime of coining your own words.

But, I don't care.

You can't win... if you play by their rules.

To me, winning is living in liberty. At least as much as possible when surrounded by people who believe in, and support, aggressive institutions which insist you aren't allowed to opt out. They are the real losers, no matter what they believe about themselves.

The fact that they try to redefine "winning" so it's exclusive to them doesn't change that.

--

I'm taking tomorrow off for personal reasons.



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Wilson, the stubborn

I had a friend-- I'll call him "Wilson"-- who was... interesting.

He was a bit of a conspiracy nut, more than a little paranoid, hated government, was good at outdoor survival skills, had questionable taste in women, and was very stubborn.

Yes, he had his flaws (as do we all) but all-in-all he was a decent guy. I always enjoyed hanging out with him.

Here's one tale about him:

One winter his woodstove was not safe and he couldn't use it. The stove pipe was messed up somewhere above the ceiling. His landlord refused to repair the stove pipe so a fire could be lit. This was the only heat in the house, and it was already winter near Gunnison, Colorado.

He told his landlord that he would fix the stove pipe himself and deduct the cost from his rent. The landlord said "no". Wilson wasn't the kind of person to just bite the bullet and fix it at his own expense. So after a bit more arguing over it, Wilson simply stopped paying rent. And the landlord never tried to kick him out.

He spent the winter in an unheated house-- which obviously meant he had no running water, either.

He was lucky-- I don't think the temperature ever got much colder than 20° below 0 (°F) that winter. He lived diagonally across the river from me, and I went to visit him a few times over the winter. His house was about the same temperature inside as the outdoors. He wore his coat all the time.

He slept in one of those "100 below" mummy-type sleeping bags, inside a pup tent, in his bedroom. He said it was warm enough. His house would warm up a little if he cooked something, but that didn't last long and I don't think he cooked much.

I offered to let him hang out at my house some, but he didn't want to. He said he didn't want to get used to heat. He would sit at my campfire out by the wikiup with me, though.

That was his last winter in the area.

After a few other incidents, Wilson suddenly vanished. Years later I ran into him far from home, while I was on a vacation. He was working in a resort town in New Mexico and I bumped into him on the street. We caught up a little; he told me of more recent incidents, and I got his (general delivery) address. I mailed him a few times, but eventually my letters came back as "undeliverable".

I might relate some other Wilson stories another time. There are a lot of them to tell: his clash with the post office, his clash with the sheriff, the time he became convinced I was working with the cops against him, his clash with the forest circus (his term), why he wouldn't use the internet (he would know this is about him, but I know he'll never see it), his pop-up camper incident, his clash with the highway patrol... I notice a pattern here. But not all fit the pattern. If any of those pique your interest, let me know and I'll write it up for another day.
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The enemy of liberty

This local town government is anti-liberty, as has been whatever government any town I've ever lived in or near suffered under.

The Texas and New Mexico governments are anti-liberty. So was every state government I have been bothered with.

The U.S. government is anti-liberty. That's the only national government I've had any experience with, but I'd be willing to be all the others are anti-liberty to some extent.

A world government would be anti-liberty.

What's the common thread? Government.

Government is anti-liberty.

Liberty is the enemy of tyranny. Governments (or their supporters) seem to take this personally. So, of course, all governments are going to be against liberty to some extent. If they want to consider me their enemy because of this, that's fine with me.
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