The grief entitlement

Residents of Maui are telling visitors to stay away, "with one angry resident telling the BBC she saw visitors swimming in the water that 'our people just died in three days ago'.” [link]

You don’t get to shut down the world because "someone died".

It would have been unreasonable of me to demand that the section of road where my daughter died be shut down for a month or so to keep people from going anywhere they might have enjoyed. I didn't have that right.

It's unreasonable for anti-gun bigots to demand new gun rules because some evil loser used a gun to murder people. They have no such right.

Your pain and grief doesn't give you the right to shut down the world. It doesn't give you the right to control others. It just doesn't.

I can understand if locals tell visitors they'd rather they not come now. Or warn them of the situation and how amenities may be unavailable. I could even see locals simply refusing to do business with visitors, and instead focusing on their neighbors. But, you don't control others. You can refuse service, but to scold them for being in the ocean, when they were apparently already on the island, is too far.

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Seeing a difference where none exists

If a mob boss controls an area, extorting "protection" money in exchange for not burning down a business and breaking the owner's legs, I think anyone in that area would be completely within their rights to sneak up behind the mob boss and shoot him in the head. Even as he sits "peaceably" in a theater. 

Even though the mob boss may never do any of his thuggish activity himself, employing underlings to carry out his will. He is still the aggressor, right at this moment. Shooting him is an act of self-defense, not revenge. 

It may or may not be smart to shoot him. It could well be a suicide mission. But it isn't unethical to do so. 

His continued existence in that "job" is harming the shooter's life, liberty, and property in the current moment and into the future as long as he continues to do what he does. 

Obviously, the mob will say you aren't allowed to kill mob bosses, and it will punish those who try.

Will shooting one mob boss, while the mob continues to exist, make any real difference? No. He'll just be replaced by the next in line. So it's pointless and dangerous to do so. But it can't be wrong.

Some people see politicians as somehow meaningfully different from mob bosses. Those people aren't me.

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The Greatest Evil

Government isn’t just evil, it’s evil beyond anything you can comprehend. Worse than whatever or whoever comes to mind when you try to picture the greatest evil you can imagine. Picturing something evil? Yes, worse than even that.

How could anyone still support it?

Maybe you still believe government is established as a protector of natural human rights. If so it has proved itself utterly incapable of fulfilling that responsibility. It has become the primary violator of human rights. Clinging to the hope that government can somehow protect rights (and has any interest in doing so) is the most Utopian wish possible.

You can have liberty or you can have government; you can't have both since they are mutually exclusive. They don't mix any better than matter and anti-matter.

"But, if only we can root out the corruption."

Government’s not corrupt, since it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do. It's just evil. Those who established government were either delusional or lying if they claimed it would protect your rights. Don't fall for the lie, and see for yourself the reality of how government works.

"But the government is us; we the people".

If so, you are committing wrong. You have the right to govern yourself-- your own individual life-- and not one other person. You can't delegate a right you don't have to someone else. That's not a thing-- it's a superstition.

One thing I find interesting, that I’m seeing a lot, is conservatives trying desperately to hang onto their belief in government. The way they are twisting in the wind, recognizing the evil of political government, while doing their best to not give it up. I'm guessing it's just because they don't want to be associated with the word "anarchist".

That's understandable since government (and its useful tools) have made anarchism out to be something it's not. Nihilistic socialists (self-proclaimed "anarchists" [sic] who are totally in favor of government they control) are doing the same. Have they fallen for the lies?

That or conservatives are just hoping the tide will turn and they'll find themselves in power again, so they can do evil things to those they don't like who have been doing evil things to those of us they don't like. Liberty-destroying things. Similar things to, but mirror images of, the evil things the "other side" has been doing while they have the power.

If you don't want to support evil, you can't be a supporter of political government. If you don't like the word "anarchist", have never heard the word "voluntaryist", think "libertarian" is a political party, or have never considered yourself an "abolitionist", call yourself what you like. Just as long as you don't support, or make excuses for, political government.

Government won't save you. It doesn't protect you. Not from crime, disease, invaders, or Hawaiian wildfires. It's much more likely to forbid you from taking the responsible actions necessary to protect yourself. It gets in your way and endangers your life, liberty, and property.

Separate yourself from government in every way possible. It will be an improvement.

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Good people don't violate others

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 9, 2023)

Sometimes the ignorance and childishness of those living among us shocks me. It probably shouldn't after this many years of life, but it still can.

I don't believe the phrase "hate crime" has any real meaning. It means whatever those who use it want it to mean; to serve a purpose they want served. It's a government fiction used to justify extra punishments-- in other words, additional revenge. Some things called "hate crimes" aren't even actual crimes at all. An act has to be a violation of life, liberty, or property to qualify as a real crime, government opinions notwithstanding.

When a crime is committed I only care that someone has been violated, not why the bad guys chose to do what they did. Anyone who violates another person is a real-life villain, regardless of how they'd like to see themselves.

Plus, I seriously doubt any crimes are committed out of love, or even ambivalence. Even if they were, they would be just as evil as acts motivated by hatred. The reasons don't matter, only the actions do. Nor should the motivation affect the consequences. Full restitution is owed when someone has been violated; nothing less and nothing more.

Those who vandalized the Portales Islamic Center trespassed and damaged property. That's enough for me to stand against them and stand up for their victims. Decent people simply don't violate property rights. No one has the right to do so for any reason.

Maybe they vandalized the property for religious reasons. Maybe they didn't and only wanted it to look like this was their reason. Either way, they owe restitution.

If they were decent people who had an ethical lapse in spite of being raised right and being given a good moral foundation, they would come forward, apologize, and set up a payment plan. If they don't, then they are on the wrong side.

It doesn't matter which religion you follow, good people don't violate others. If this is something your religion excuses or encourages, it's not worth following. You can do better.

If this is something your religion would disavow, you are smearing your faith and your fellow believers by your actions when you behave this way. Should you be doing such things? Of course not!

I'll be watching to see if the vandals grow some worthwhile "ethics" and come forward to do the right thing. But I won't be holding my breath.

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Vipers among us

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What's so bad about government supremacists and other statists?

Well...

Government supremacists constantly say "our" (democracy, elections, borders, president, government, laws. etc.) when talking about things I am not responsible for and want no share of the blame in. They are collectivists in the worst way possible.

Government supremacists worry endlessly about what is "legal". They confuse "legal" for what's right.

Government supremacists pretend that government has rights and political "authority". This means they don't understand rights or authority-- not even a little.

Government supremacists won't recognize that politicians are always the ones throwing the first punch by being a politician; by governing and imposing legislation. Anything a resident does to a politician is self-defensive. John Wilkes Booth was right. If politicians don't like this they always have the option to stop being the bad guy and quit politics. But then who would government supremacists have to worship?

No matter how seriously they take themselves and the spoiled toddlers' game they play, government supremacists are buffoons. Just know they'll act as it is their nature to act, don't trust them to respect your rights, and keep them at arm's length so you don't get bitten by their venomous cult.

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A "low opinion" doesn't begin to describe it

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Every time a politician proposes new legislation, or encourages others to propose new legislation on his/her behalf, or allows a bureaucracy to make a new rule that will be enforced as if it were legislation, that politician is making a credible threat to murder you and your family. Every time.

You might claim some new "tax", licensing scheme, or prohibition isn't a threat to commit murder, but if that were your claim you would be wrong.

And, of course, it is "illegal" to defend yourself from those posing this kind of threat-- or to even declare your intention to do so. Because the bad guys control what is and isn't "illegal".

Yet, some people still have the gall to pretend to be confused over my opposition to government. However low you believe my opinion of political government to be, I assure you it's lower than that. Probably much lower.

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Statists aren't flies, but they are attracted to the same thing

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If you're doing the unthinkable and telling someone a harsh truth they don't want to hear, you may be told "You'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar". 

It's true I've never seen flies drawn to vinegar, but I've never seen them attracted to honey. either. Generally, when I've encountered a congress of flies, they were either convening around something dead and rotting or a smelly pile of politician paste.

Also, I've rarely been interested in catching or attracting flies, anyway. I prefer to kill them. Shooting them with rubber bands being my favorite method of dispatching the little nuisances.

When you shock a government supremacist with the harsh news that he or she is advocating evil, you aren't offering them honey or vinegar. Neither are you offering them what flies want. Nothing you offer is going to appeal to them because nothing can compete, in their mind, with the evil they want to keep supporting. 

You have no bait because you can't ethically offer them the filth that attracts them.

Still, they imagine they need it, and they think they are entitled to force it on you.

So, you might as well tell them the bitter truth. At least, that way won't be able to say they weren't warned if they force you to act in defense as a response to their political abominations.

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When "the system" is wrong

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When the system is wrong— when it is the problem— you have no obligation to work within the system. 

You can, if you believe there's a chance it will work, but that's up to you. You certainly aren't obligated to work within it. You aren't wrong to discard it and work against it if that's what you think you need to do to make real progress on solving an issue.

If you've figured out that the system isn't going to solve anything, or will continue making it worse, make the smart move and stop trying to work within the system or to preserve it.

Government is such a system. As is every piece of it-- legislation creation and enforcement, courts, "national defense", and even its record-keeping "services". There is none of it worth saving or keeping.

You could do better without this broken system-- a system that is wrong from top to bottom-- holding you down.

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It's your responsibility

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If "average people" aren't interested in liberty because it requires responsibility, I can't help but wonder if they think responsibility is harder than it is.

What do you consider your responsibility?

I would say your responsibility is to not violate any other person’s rights; to not interfere with their liberty in any way. Really, nothing could be simpler.

A statist might believe your responsibility is to obey the government and its “laws”. Regardless of whether they are right. This is upside down. 

If government and its legislation are wrong, it is your responsibility to ignore them; to break those "laws" and thumb your nose at government's opinion. Especially if by obeying them you would violate another person's rights and thus their liberty.

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I love (actual) science

From Bryan Hyde

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I absolutely love science. I always have. I had a reputation as a mad scientist when I was in school-- I'm not sure if it was deserved, but I did love experimenting (and I don't mean with drugs).

But, this thing being called "science" today isn't science.

Science isn't written on stone tablets. It doesn't get handed down from On High. It isn't based on a person, or even on a particular result. It isn't consensus and it doesn't discourage inquiry. Questioning the current theory is how it advances. Science is never settled, even if some ideas have been so thoroughly falsified it's probably a waste of time to keep trying to make them fit the facts. Or force the facts to fit your wishes. That doesn't mean you can't tweak the ideas that are left after you discard what definitely isn't true if it keeps getting you closer to fitting your good observations. 

Science isn't imposed on anyone and no one gets punished (by anything other than reality) if they don't "believe in" science. You don't have to believe in gravity for it to work on you and cause you to suffer the consequences if you ignore it. No "Bureau of Gravitation" is necessary to punish non-believers.

Science is the process. It is the exploration; the experiments. It is designed to get you closer to understanding reality. It doesn't dictate reality.

Carl Sagan warned us of this type of thing before he died. I suspect he was sure the threat would come from the Right-statists, but it didn't. Not this time. But, again, once you mix in politics of any variety, science is destroyed. His biases prevented even him from thinking clearly about politics.

Just like everything else, once you mix politics with science you no longer have science. You only have politics at that point.

Sometimes if I'm in the library I'll pick up a science magazine; the quality of which has suffered greatly in the past several years. Now politics infuses nearly every article. To the detriment of science.

"Everything is political" only if you foolishly make everything political.

Please don't confuse politics for science. That's how science dies. And that wouldn't be good for any of us in the long run.

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Liberty missing from July 4 holiday

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for July 2, 2023)

I miss Independence Day.

Independence Day was once a celebration of liberty; a tribute to revolution, insurrection, and secession. It has mutated into a day to worship government and its employees. It has become a parody of itself.

Maybe this is why it is more commonly known today as "the Fourth of July". This downplays its anti-government roots and dismisses independence.

Of course, most of this happened before I was born, so what I miss is the idea of an Independence Day I've never really known, at least not in mainstream society. One I celebrate by myself if no one else joins me.

For a watered-down Fourth of July we are distracted with firework displays presented by government, and often told we aren't allowed to independently shoot off fireworks.

We are encouraged to celebrate government employees rather than the people who declared independence by violently defying government and its employees.

Where is liberty in this holiday? It's missing.

No one even notices liberty isn't welcome at the celebration. Perhaps this is because people neither understand nor want liberty.

Why wouldn't people want liberty?

I suspect it's because they are satisfied with freedom. It may also be because responsibility is half of liberty and they aren't interested in that part.

Freedom means doing what you want. If what you want to do fits within what government allows, you are free enough-- you may even incorrectly imagine you are enjoying liberty.

Liberty is the freedom to do everything you have a right to do, regardless of government's opinions on the matter. Liberty is freedom tempered with responsibility-- you only have the responsibility to not violate other people's rights.

Government wants your freedom limited by its rules, instead. This isn't liberty, but is more like being a pet; dependent on the kindness and tolerance of your master. Living only at his whim.

Are most people so attached to government that they aren't interested in liberty? It seems so. Liberty and political government are completely incompatible. Government can allow a certain amount of freedom to exist, but liberty is an all-or-nothing deal. Liberty can't be restrained by government rules without being destroyed. There is no liberty when government is allowed to exist. Most people apparently love Big Brother and his false promise of safety more than liberty.

Not me. I have no use for Big Brother. I love liberty and I miss Independence Day.

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Real "Gun crimes" are committed by government

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Every single gun "law" is unconstitutional. Every one of them, from 1934's National Firearms Act, to the Gun Control Act of 1968, to whatever new rule gets imposed next year. Or 100 years from now. They are all unconstitutional in every detail.

Examples? Rules against machine guns, rules imposing background check requirements and Form 4473, forcing gun sellers to get government Federal Firearms Licenses and keep records of sales, saying who can (and can't) manufacture weapons or what kind, any rule that allows a cop to take your gun when others wouldn't have the right to do so. No one has the right to disarm anyone who isn't posing a credible threat at this moment. There is no such thing as a constitutional "law" concerning restricting weapons for individuals. Not even one example. 

Either the courts agree or the courts are wrong. That's just the way it is.

Maybe the "justices" are cowards or maybe they are crooks who want to ensure government power, but either way, they are wrong. The same goes for the quisling surrender-monkeys of the NRA who repeatedly sell out gun owners in exchange for a place at the table and a pat on the head by the political criminals (including police) they fawn over.

The right to own and to carry weapons doesn't come from the Constitution-- the Constitution simply recognizes a right that has always existed everywhere and made it a crime to violate that right.

The Second Amendment doesn't "apply" to guns; it restricts what government is allowed to do. And restricting guns or other weapons in any way is completely off the table. Long guns, short guns, sawed-off guns, braced pistols, semi-automatic, fully-automatic, metal projectile or plasma blast, suppressed, with any attachment, in any configuration. Bullet types, feeding device capacity or function, caliber, construction method or material. detectability or invisibility, "silencers", or any alteration to any of the same. Government is prohibited from expressing an opinion, in legislation or by rule, on weapons owned and/or carried by the population. Including inside government facilities. Point to where the Second Amendment makes an exception when some government employee somewhere is scared or thinks it is a "common sense" policy.

If the courts allow any such anti-gun rule to stand, the courts are wrong.

There is no wiggle room. There are no exceptions. There is no justification that survives scrutiny. None.

And, as always, natural human rights are superior to any document. Such as the natural human right to own and to carry weapons of any kind, everywhere, without asking government permission, or even letting government know. 

If the Constitution actually permitted any government anti-gun rule (which it doesn't) the Constitution would be wrong. Just as it is wrong when it "authorizes" taxation. Government can't be "authorized" to violate rights. No one, and no collective, can be.

The anti-gun bigots (in government, in government's corporate media, or freelance) will lie, argue, and try to shame us, They will make up historical "facts" to prove their case. They are forced to lie to prop up their side because the truth isn't with them. They will cherry-pick statistics, or point to what other governments have done and gotten away with. They will cry and get melodramatic over the innocent deaths their anti-gun/anti-defense policies guarantee, and try to blame the people who didn't do it. Their crocodile tears don't sway me. They are the villains. No matter if they have good intentions and really believe they are right. It is never right to violate the rights of individuals. I don't care about a villain's opinion on what I should be "allowed" to do. I am not government property. The lowest individual is superior to any government employee or agent. Governments have no rights; only individuals do. And the "right" to violate the rights of individuals doesn't exist... it can't exist. Government thugs can believe otherwise, but it won't change the truth.

The power to commit evil and get away with it doesn't prove the evildoer is in the right. It just proves that sometimes evil has power.

If you run across any anti-gun bigot doing what they tend to do, feel free to copy and paste any part of this to tell her to jump in a lake. It won't change her mind, but maybe some onlookers will see it and be empowered to resist her lies and calls for enslavement.

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Liberty under attack

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What particular facet of liberty is most under attack right now?

It's hard to say. I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Censorship is rampant, although it has largely been handed off to government's corporate co-conspirators. Plausible deniability and all that.

Taxation is out of control— property rights of all kinds are unpopular with the governing crowd. And "taxation" includes the counterfeiting operation at the Federal Reserve that steals your money through inflation.

It's hard to think of any human right that isn't being regulated, licensed, and prohibited to the point where you risk your life exercising it-- and the ability to exercise your rights (all of them) is the essence of liberty.

Statists HATE (and fear) liberty and those who understand and value it.

Still, if you’ve seen even a fraction of the stuff government is pulling to try to disarm you and me you’ll understand why I think the natural human right to own and to carry weapons may be the liberty most under assault in today’s authoritarian world. It-- along with the liberty to speak freely-- is probably the right that scares authoritarian rulers the most. Speech, though, is no real threat to their power if no one has the power to do anything about it other than talk. They no longer care if you know they are crooks and tell others. Why would they? What they fear is that someone might actually do something to knock over their pedestal.

So, the crooks sneak anti-gun rules into "must pass" bills. Ignoring that there's no such thing as a bill that "must pass". They must all fail if liberty is to survive. 

They get their henchmen-- both government employed and freelance-- to parrot their latest narrative about how bad guns are, and how they are too dangerous to allow mere people to have them. 

They allow the criminals of the BATFE to make up new rules which clearly and obviously violate the Second Amendment and violate the natural human right to own and to carry weapons in various ways. 

When the rules are struck down, they just impose a new one that does the same thing and enforce it until it gets tossed out, too. And there are no consequences for doing so. Things that humans have always had a right to do-- such as build your own weapons, sell, and trade weapons, carry weapons, and modify your weapons-- are turned into "crimes" for the benefit of the crooked thugs with power.

I don't think there is anything that illustrates how much government hates liberty as the desperation with which they are trying to get your guns. Guns seem to be the canary in the coal mine, and the older I get the more I see it.

It won't be easy to change course, but it is essential.

The BATFE must be destroyed. The NFA, GCA (including "The Hughes Amendment") must be burned to ashes. The FBI needs to be stomped to dust. Every single government rule concerning weapons must die a painful death. Otherwise, liberty is probably done. "The public" won't care and will probably cheer because only people with bad intent care about liberty and their rights. And the NRA will just keep saying you need to donate to them so they can keep up a fight they apparently don't care to win.

It's frustrating if I let myself dwell on it.

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"Justice system" blowing on their own house of cards

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I DO NOT support anti-gun bigot politician Donald Trump. Do you want to tempt me to support him? Keep trying to get him.

As much as I hate Hilary Clinton personally I would see anyone indicting her over and over as a crooked idiot. (But she's an Untouchable, so this will never happen in the real world.) I would be tired of the nonsense and I would want it to stop. This kind of vendetta would just make me hate the prosecutors as much as I hate her (which is an immeasurably high amount).

If Charles Manson had been found "not guilty", and a determined prosecutor kept finding new charges to bring against him because he "had to" be found guilty so he could be locked up forever, I would feel the same way. Being crooked for a "good reason" is still wrong.

The Department of Justice is the villain; a bigger threat than any individual bad guy.

I realize the motivation in this specific case is to stop Trump from becoming president again, and they don't think they can prevent it without doing this sort of thing (cheating) to tip the scales in their favor. When you don't have a candidate you think can win without tilting the playing field, you tilt the playing field. However you can.

I don't think they realize-- but maybe they do-- that they are making Trump's fans rally behind him with this constant legalistic harassment. They make him look like a victim of a corrupt system. Which he is, but so is everyone else and this just shows how corrupt the system has become. Long term, it's going to hurt the supposed credibility of their corrupt system. Maybe more than it can recover from.

So on second thought, maybe this is just what is needed to collapse the whole house of cards and get everyone to see how illegitimate it really is. In that case, make Trump a martyr and keep on trying to get him. It would be worth it.

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They HATE liberty and they are plotting against you

Somehow-- and I suppose it's because my email address appears with each of my newspaper columns-- I got on the press release email list for regional journalists. The press releases these various groups choose to send to journalists shock me with their intense evil.
And they are apparently proud of what they are advocating!

Never do I get a press release from one of these groups defending liberty. Not from "the Left" nor "the Right". Nope. It's all about how their group is plotting to violate someone's rights in some way. And they are looking for co-conspirators to stand with them.

At this time, or maybe it's because the majority of these press releases come from New Mexico groups, it's mostly Left-statists doing the plotting. Although, the vast majority of the press releases I get from Texas are also from Left-statists plotting to violate someone somehow. I'm a little surprised by that.

I also get press releases from "official" state offices. I just got one such press release from the official prohibitionist ("Regulation and Licensing Department") in New Mexico announcing that they have, under threat of violence, shut down a Cannabis store for selling products imported from another tax farm and manufacturing extracts without the "proper license".
Against my better judgment, this time I sent a reply simply telling them they are evil.

I have removed myself from some of the lists, but not all of them. It's good to know what the enemies of liberty are plotting, but too many such emails gets overwhelming. And depressing.

They HATE your liberty. They are plotting to take it from you, whatever it takes.

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Hatred and bigotry based on nothing

One thing I've encountered on the alternative social media sites that I didn't see on TwiXer is real bigotry against Jews and black people. I mean, some really nasty stuff; similar to what I saw against gun owners from the anti-gun bigots on TwiXer. Some from people using (and soiling) the name "libertarian". I guess I have led a sheltered existence since I really haven't been exposed to this sort of thing.

I just don't get hatred against people based on their circumstances of birth.

If you're going to hate someone, hate those who deserve it: people who make a choice to violate others. Hate what someone does, not who they were born.

It's ridiculous to hate Jews, blacks, or Russians since they aren't doing anything to you by existing. They were merely born, and that tells you nothing about what each of them, as an individual, is doing. They couldn't change who they are if they wanted to, and why would they?

Rapists, police, and muggers, on the other hand, are in the group they are in by choice-- a group categorized by the things they do. Things they continue to do. They could make the choice to stop and make amends for their past violations, but they rarely do. 

If you need to direct hate at someone, they are begging for it by choosing to violate others. Still, hate their actions, not who they otherwise are.

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Cops-- Worse than useless and only wanted by the irresponsible

Police are worse than useless in a society of responsible people. Only the grossly irresponsible see a need for police, since they've been convinced they can't handle situations themselves. 

Of course, the argument could be made that we live in a failed society populated with grossly irresponsible people. I wouldn't disagree too hard. The acceptance of cops among us makes the point.

Cops encourage this lack of thinking-- it secures their theft-funded "jobs". It's why they are enthusiastic to molest people who've dealt with bad guys themselves. "Job" security for a "job" that has no business existing.

Even if there were no police, only private security, I probably wouldn't hire them anyway. I have never seen a use for them. They only make bad situations worse by their presence. Investigators are a completely different situation. Give me a Sherlock Holmes, not a Lestrade-- and let me hire one for myself if I need one.

You can hire as many as you want and can afford-- just don't expect your neighbors to foot the bill for something they have no desire for and decide they can't afford.

However, there would be one huge improvement if society made the switch to private security-- I doubt that private "cops" would lurk around looking to cause trouble like real, government-employed cops do today.

If your job has to be funded coercively-- through taxation-- it's not an ethical job. Ethical people (who've realized the situation) don't accept such jobs.

I do my best to avoid places where cops are loitering, watching everyone and looking to start something. I found myself in such a place over the weekend, and I didn't stay long. I have no desire to be around loitering gangs of Blue Line Mafia thugs.

Almost worse than the cops are the people who fawn over them. What are they lacking that they feel the need to lick the boots? Sick, sick people.

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Or PayPal?

Thank you!

Bad guys shouldn't ruin our fun

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for June 25, 2023)

It frustrates me that we so often allow the worst people among us to dictate how we live our lives. We arrange society according to their whims and behavior. I'm not only speaking of traditional politicians but of freelance bad guys like those who caused the Draggin’ Main “Saturday Night Cruise” event to shut down early.

Recently, a shooting incident between motorcycle gang criminals in Red River, New Mexico caused officials there to end their Memorial Day weekend Motorcycle Rally early as well. They later announced the incident has put a permanent end to the event.

It's time to stop letting bad guys steal our fun, whoever they are and however they interfere. Shutting down events because people who won't control themselves cause problems lets them "win". It doesn't stop them from doing the things they do. They are who they are and they don't change to suit you. Catering to their lack of civility only interferes with everyone else's plans and enjoyment.

Enough!

You are allowing them to rule you as surely as if they were holding an elected office.

I'm still convinced good people vastly outnumber bad people. Stop letting a disgusting-- and frankly, worthless-- minority direct society and establish which rules the rest of us will be subjected to.

I get it, though. Officials are probably scared. Scared of what might happen once you've been reminded that bad things happen randomly and arbitrarily. They're afraid to not be seen taking decisive action of some sort-- even it it's utterly useless. Canceling events won't prevent bad things from happening. It's always too late to shut the barn door by the time something has happened. It's pointless anyway.

Neither is this a justification for not scheduling events at all.

If you are an official, don't end the whole event for everyone. Don't surrender to your knee-jerk reaction to shut things down at the first sign of trouble. Those who are scared are free to leave. Give those who aren't frightened away the option of going on with it. Yes, it's "at your own risk", but that's true for everything about life. Some of us only pretend otherwise until we are reminded.

Each of us is always, one hundred percent of the time, completely responsible for our own safety. Nothing can change this apparently uncomfortable truth. It's an inescapable part of being human. Embrace it and move forward with life.

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The cheap substitute for Liberty

I prefer authentic Liberty over Stars and Stripes© Brand artificially-flavored, reduced-calorie Freedom™.

I always have and I always will.

If you don't understand the difference you may be confused by that statement. 

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Or PayPal?

Thank you!

"Wait 'til Mom and Dad hear about this!"

I know Twitter wasn't watching everything I posted, waiting for an excuse to ban me. That means some Twitter user had to report me to Twitter so they'd notice and ban me. What kind of person does that?

Can you imagine being so weak and useless that you'd run to tattle on someone for something you read online?

I'll bet you can't. Neither can I.

I have never reported anyone for something they wrote. Not once. I've never been tempted to-- not even as a joke over some politician's online threats to use government violence against innocent people. I can't even imagine being that pathetic.

But there must be a lot of those useless people out there.

Moving on.

I have joined Gab and Truth Social. No promises on how active I will be, or if they'll fall by the wayside like so many other social media groups I'm an inactive member of.

That will depend on how easy they are to use, how much engagement I get and give, and whether they can grab my interest.

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Could I get some love for my surgery fund? 

Or PayPal?

Thank you!