One will win presidency, we all will lose

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 3, 2024)

Strange things are going on. I see smart people-- who seem truthful-- saying the presidential candidate they prefer has this election in the bag. They give evidence to back their observations. While I have no way to be sure, their evidence looks credible. Yet, they don't agree with each other but are taking opposite positions.

It's obvious that both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will win in a landslide.

Since there's no possibility my preferred election outcome will prevail, I'm in a unique position to see the craziness washing over the land. I've watched this happen most of my adult life.

I would say one side will be sorely disappointed at how the election turns out once all the votes are tabulated a month or two from now, but I doubt this will be the case. Anger is more likely than disappointment. The national media corporations will have already declared a winner, and gone are the days when "Dewey Defeats Truman" will be recanted.

One side will say the election was rigged-- and they'll be right. Was it rigged enough to affect the end result? I don't know. I do think election rigging will make the final tally closer to 50/50 than it would otherwise be.

Elections are too big not to rig. They've been elevated to ridiculous importance. The payoff is too high to not try to rig them. Government has too much power to just let things happen naturally, and presidents are the human face of government power. Plus, the risk of getting caught and being punished, or having the election thrown out, is so low as to not be a concern.

Whichever side you find yourself on, don't freak out. You are still the only one with a right to govern you. All others are usurpers.

Personally, I think government will keep doing the evil it does, regardless of who holds the office of President. You can call this "The Deep State" or simply the bureaucracy. No matter who holds the office, you are still threatened into getting licenses and permission to do things you have a natural human right to do. You still have to pay government a yearly ransom to keep from having your property violently ripped from your possession. Government continues to grow in power and meddlesomeness.

Elections have little chance of changing this for the better, and that's the only outcome I would care about.

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It's the end of 2024 and "taxation" is still unethical

You can't do good through evil means.

So many seem unclear on this truth.

These people are statists, and I'm talking to them.

People are suffering and dying and in need of medical care. Yes, it's a tragedy. You can't fix that by stealing from others with "taxes". No matter how many nasty names you call those who point this out, this fact remains unchanged.

Theft is wrong. It doesn't change things if you call it "taxation" and say people will die without it.

If anything is that essential, find a solution that doesn't require harming others. If you spend all your time and effort trying to justify "taxation" you're a huge part of the problem. You could be making a positive difference, yet you choose to justify theft instead? You're blocking actual solutions because you are too attached to your ability to steal to fund things you want. That's gross.

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"Disgraced"?

People like to call certain politicians "disgraced". It's often funny, but is it true?

Not really. Not unless you're giving politicians more credit than they are due.

Politicians and ex-politicians can’t be disgraced because they never had any grace to lose.

(Illustration by Grok)

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Dangerous cowards

I think cowardice is behind a lot of statism. Cowards are not harmless-- they can get you killed. Cowards are exceptionally dangerous.

Fear makes them overreact, and often makes them beg for bullies-- like government-- to save them from their multitude of fears. And since it isn't possible to save anyone from their own fear, there's no end to it. Ever.

They'll cheer your death if they are afraid of you and your liberty.

Never trust a coward.

Once you realize someone is a coward, get away from them as fast as possible. You're not in a good situation. And be prepared to defend yourself from them if they corner you.

(Image generated by Grok)

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"Expanding gun rights"?

In many online comments, you'll see anti-gun bigots whine that the Supreme Courtjesters have recently been "expanding gun rights".

This is simply a lie. These people expose their ignorance about what rights are.

Getting the criminal government out of the illegal business of rationing and controlling guns and gun owners is not “expanding gun rights”, it’s respecting rights that have been routinely violated.

The Supremes won't even go all the way into forcing government back into the box it is required to stay in. If they did, they'd rule that every gun "law", from top to bottom, is immediately null and void. You could go online today and order a full-auto AK-47 direct from Russia, to be delivered to your house.

If the Court decided that you were allowed to shoot anyone who annoyed you, that would be illegitimately "expanding" gun rights-- you can't have a right to violate others' life, liberty, or property. Anti-gun bigots who generally believe in this kind of imaginary "right" would really shriek if "gun rights" got expanded the same way they want other "rights" dreamed up and expanded. 

But, telling government it has no "authority" to stand in your way of owning and carrying any sort of weapon you choose, openly or concealed, everywhere you go, without asking government permission, doesn't "expand" anything. It just limits the violations that have been occurring for at least the past 90 years,

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Don't be a tool

Some of the worst tools of authoritarianism are people who asked and paid the state for a license or a permit to do something they already have a natural human right to do. 

Some of these people don’t want to see others living their liberty.

Whenever someone turns a fellow human in to the enforcers, it's usually one of these people.

I would never do this to someone. I'm completely supportive of anyone doing something they have a right to do without having jumped through the "legal" hoops. Even if they are doing something I got a license to do. Any license I've ever had made me feel bad about myself. It makes me feel good to see people who skipped the license.

How about you?

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Why AI will be limited

Grok, the AI from X, can now read and summarize bills so political criminals can't hide what's in them. They can't claim "We have to pass it to find out what's in it" anymore.

Musk says they are also adding all court cases to Grok's training set so that it can render verdicts.

Do the Constitution next.

Program an AI with the text of the US Constitution and, as long as no one puts a finger on the scales to tip it in favor of government power, it would expose the criminality of 99.999% of the federal government. (The rest is also unethical, but that's the fatal flaw of the Constitution.) It could bring down the State-- which it will not be allowed to do. 

Either AI will never be trained on the text, history, and tradition of the Constitution, or someone will have to put a lot of fingers on the scales to make sure that AI can't understand what was written there. 

AI will be used against you, but not against the State. Unless you do that part yourself.

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Election season scary time of year

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 27, 2024)

We're entering the magical time of year. For the next few months, living in a fantasy is socially acceptable.

The strangest season is when monsters lurk in every shadow, free handouts are available for the asking, and everyone gets to pretend to be something they're not. Yes, it's election season.

It would be nice if people got only the politicians they voted for. Those who refrain from the ritual wouldn't get saddled with a politician at all. This change might reduce the number of voters to a reasonable level; something government wouldn't want to let happen. They need you to go along with the charade. It usually keeps the peasants from revolting.

The problem is less the specific politician in the office, and more the existence of the office itself, and the institution the office is a part of. The president may be the least important factor.

Changing the hood ornament on the car that's running you down is effective...at making you feel like you've accomplished something. It won't save you from being run over, but at least you can feel good about what ran you down. Or, this is how it looks to me.

Every election since I've been an adult has been "The most important election in our lifetime". I'm not even saying this is a lie, but it is a sign— a sign we've allowed presidents to become too important.

If a presidential election can destroy or save America, presidents have too much power, and this means government has too much power. The way to fix this isn't to elect better presidents, it's to remove the power from them and from government. Permanently, not just until you get the president you want.

I know you probably believe government is necessary. You've seen how badly people behave themselves and how they avoid doing the right thing. You'll get no argument from me, but the conclusion most people draw from this is backward. If people can't be trusted to govern their own lives-- to make smart, ethical choices-- there's no way I trust them to vote. Adding all these irresponsible voices together doesn't make them smarter or more ethical. It doesn't dilute the bad; it intensifies it.  Allowing this chorus of irresponsible people to choose a politician to impose on the rest of us is insane.

If the monsters of Halloween became real, they would be less frightening than voters.

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Military cultists

An account on X was showcasing a New Zealand military ritual, where commanders are greeted with a traditional Maori Haka dance. The context of the post seemed to be "Look at this ridiculous behavior".

I commented, "No more ridiculous than any other military ritual, like saluting or saying 'sir'."

I got a couple of insulting replies, but no actual argument about how I might be wrong. Because I'm not wrong.

Those who push back against my observation are military cultists. They can't see how ridiculous the rituals they like are; they only see the absurdity of the rituals performed by a different denomination of their cult. It's all about the brainwashing.

I'm completely outside their cult. I see all military ritual as ridiculous. The New Zealand ritual is culturally appropriate-- but still ridiculous. Saluting a "superior officer" is culturally appropriate and equally ridiculous, as is yelling "YES SIR!" to anything said by those "superior" jerks.

I understand the psychological reasons for the dumb rituals-- group cohesion, brainwashing, hierarchy, setting themselves apart from society, etc. But they are still dumb. Military cultists can't allow themselves to see it.

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The surveillance state or humanity-- your choice

The surveillance state has to be dismantled and destroyed. I'm not saying it will be, but that it has to be. If it isn't, civilization is over. 

It's a choice.

You can allow the bad guys to keep their surveillance state or you can choose civilization, society, and human flourishing.

The surveillance state includes all "tax" records, all gun records, all license records-- anything that can be used to track and categorize people, and to govern them (steal their life, liberty, and property). It ALL must be ground into dust and burned.

It all has to be gone. Or else.

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Gratitude Day

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

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They want to be the center of its attention

I saw an ad on YouTube where a guy with "crazy eyes" was appealing to people who feel like government has neglected them.

WHAT?!

Have you ever felt neglected by government? That would be a dream come true for some of us. Me included. I can't think of anything better than being neglected-- ignored-- by the world's largest and most dangerous criminal gang.

Instead, I feel molested, annoyed, robbed, and watched by government. Government gets in the way of me living my life. Government helps freelance criminals violate the decent people in society. And this guy feels that being neglected by these clowns would be bad?

I suppose those who feel neglected by government are living in a delusion where government is there to help them. That's not reality, but it must be what they believe to be real. Otherwise, they would be sensible and hope to avoid government notice or "help".

People like that are part of the problem.

I have no idea what he was selling. I skipped the ad as soon as possible because I knew there was nothing there for me. Slavery holds no appeal to me.

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The Trump failures stack up

The only thing I care about, politically, is guns.

Well, that's not completely true, but it's close enough. As L. Neil Smith wrote: 

The issue of guns is "an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician-- or political philosophy-- can be put. If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing a scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you."

That is The Truth.

Trump hasn't yet taken office and is already failing the test. He's nominating anti-gun bigots to his administration. I'm neither shocked nor disappointed. Business as usual.

A patriotic blogger thought Trump's anti-gun Attorney General nominee, Pam Bondi, was a great choice. I commented that everyone who seemed to know about her called her a disaster on the Second Amendment. He replied, in part: 

...It is fair to say that she has defended State laws that do impose some restrictions on gun ownership. However, I think most of us agree that some restrictions are applicable...

Then "most" of you are wrong, just like when "most" people believed slavery was natural and necessary. No restrictions on purchasing, owning, or carrying firearms are "applicable". None of them are legal, ethical, or right.

If someone respects the right to own and to carry weapons, then other rights are probably safe from them. If that right is violated ("restricted"), then all rights are in danger. Even if you believe "some restrictions are applicable".

No one violates your right to own and to carry weapons for your benefit. They do so in order to do things to you that you would not tolerate if you were able to effectively refuse. It's as true for Trump as it would have been for Harris. Authoritarians do what authoritarians do.

Trump could partially reduce the damage by putting Brandon Hererra in charge of the ATF, to dismantle it and destroy its records. I'm not holding my breath. He seems to like the statist quo.

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"Deny my existence"

Recently I've seen a lot of posts proclaiming that this or that person (or group) "denies my existence". It has never been true in any example given or any situation described.

No one denies anyone's existence. If anyone did deny someone's existence, they would crash into and run over the person they deny exists, since that which doesn't exist would be invisible. You can't see what doesn't exist, and if you do see something that doesn't exist, that's called "hallucinating".

This is a weird new lie told to manipulate.

It's usually said by people who believe they are the opposite sex (which they have the right to do) and who want everyone to play along (which they have no right to force others to do), but I can use a different example to illustrate the absurdity.

I don't deny that government employees exist. I recognize they are not what they claim to be: they are the bad guys, not the good guys. My recognition of reality doesn't mean they don't exist. They obviously do. I'm not denying their existence. I don't fall for their dishonest narrative. They can believe whatever they want to believe; their belief doesn't change reality. Not even if they use threats and aggression to get others to play along.

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World dying from cancer of states

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 20, 2024)

I don't support Israel. I don't support Palestine. I don't support Ukraine, Russia, or any other state. I support individuals who live in places claimed by those states, as long as they aren't violating the life, liberty, or property of others.

States-- political governments-- are a threat to every life on the planet. If life on Earth is wiped out, and it isn’t due to an asteroid or a gamma-ray burst, it will be because of states doing what states do. It is preventable. Few have any interest in preventing it.

Most people want to cheer for a team. They call for unity but crave division and conflict. They like the drama which comes from national and international politics. They believe one side is good and the other is bad. They are wrong. All states are bad. They are grounded in the belief that a right to govern others exists. States survive on the superstition that doing wrong isn’t wrong if it's done by people claiming the imaginary authority of a government.

Some people claim states are a necessary evil. Evil is never necessary; it’s a choice. The wrong choice.

When people invade, attack, destroy, kidnap, or murder because the state tells them to, they are the bad guys. Even if someone else, acting on behalf of an opposing state, did the same to them last year. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. States drive people insane, causing them to do insanely evil things, expecting this will make the world better. It never does; it never will. Politics makes people stupid and encourages them to do evil.

In the moment, in any conflict between individuals acting on behalf of governments, someone is more wrong. It's the one doing the invading, attacking, destroying, kidnapping, and murdering. Sixty seconds from now, it could be the other side which is more wrong.

A one-world government is not the answer. It would only be a bigger, all-encompassing state. It would be just as evil, just as deadly, and even more tyrannical. Someone reading this just had the rug pulled out from under them. They thought opposing the existence of states meant I was supporting global government. They couldn't be more wrong.

Tragically, the rest of us are forced to live in a world with such stupid, pointless evil. A world dying from the cancer of states.

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Spend or save? Save or spend?

As so often happens when Bitcoin has a rally, I'm torn between spending it now while it's high, or using it as my "retirement account" and counting on it to just keep going up over the long term.

Of course, it may have dropped precipitously since I wrote the above paragraph, so this may be moot. You never know.

Those of you who have/use Bitcoin, what do you do?

When I first started dabbling in Bitcoin, I generally spent about half of what I had when it had gone up a lot. I thought that if it became worthless tomorrow, I was still ahead. I don't regret doing that, since I couldn't have known the future. Although I occasionally think of what might have been... Now, I'm much more sparing when spending it.

I would be a little sad if it went to zero now and I hadn't taken advantage of it before that happened. I would still be far ahead, though.

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Hard fact

You are not safer because the US government maintains an illegal (unconstitutional) standing military.

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Types of legislation I oppose

There are three types of legislation; all are bad.

One type prohibits something.

Another encourages something harmful; something few would be inclined to do without the “law” encouraging them to do it.

The third type of legislation mandates something that would be helpful if pursued on its own but ruins it with the threat of death.

I’m opposed to all legislation, no matter which type you’re talking about. 

Even if you can think of another type I missed, I oppose it, too. My opposition is automatic.

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The magical Glass Chicken

When I was a kid we had a glass chicken on a glass nest bowl. For some reason, I thought it was magic.

I thought the chicken could "lay" coins at night. I don't remember what the deal was with that, but long after the coins stopped appearing, I still revered that chicken and felt a sort of magic surrounding it.

Just like statists feel about the state.

They think government just "lays" money. They don't realize that any money you find there had to be put there by someone else. Just like my parents put the coins under the chicken.

Government doesn't produce any money (or anything else) on its own. Everything that seems to come from it was put there by someone else; by a thief who stole someone's property to make it magically appear to come from the state.

I grew out of my belief in the magical glass chicken. Most people have yet to grow out of their belief in the state. They are living in a fantasy.

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Re-limited government

The Constitution was a mistake.

It was a mistake that still could have worked out sort of OK, had the people been able to force the government-- against its wishes and self-interest-- to obey the Constitution to the letter.

They weren't able or willing to do that back in the early 1800s when that had a possibility of working. It's far too late for that now.

At this point, it would be unthinkably radical to make the feral government get back within the limits of what it is allowed to do on even just a few of its worst offenses. The only thing that might happen is to scale back the massive abuses a tiny, useless amount. 

Don't count on even that.

And yet, those who believe they can get government back under control tell those of us who point out that political government must be abolished entirely, that our preference is impossible. They are in denial about their own preference's likelihood, but it's so much easier to point fingers and ignore reality.

I guarantee you there's a better chance of the US feral government disbanding than of anyone getting it back under control and within the limits of the Constitution. I'd love to be proven wrong, but that's simply the reality.

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