Mask or vaxx – put up or shut up

Posted on 2021-05-16 by TPOL Nathan

Take your pick:

  1. The Godfather, Uncle Joe, has spoken. Obey or die. (The die is cast, it is time to march across the river, for America’s Master is now in control. All hail!
  2. Biden’s puppet masters are “laying down the law” – as in the government is your master: obey or die. (It is all in those top-secret executive orders he signed back on 20 JAN.)
  3. The dementia is in control – and the nurses lost control. He’s got his phone! Oh no!
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Stupid people OR stupid government?

Posted on 2021-05-14 by TPOL Nathan

Readers know TPOL frequently points out stupid government tricks at all levels in all lands. But it is not only governments who are stupid. American societies (like the rest of the world) have our share of stupid people. As this commentary will again remind us all.

The meme is a simple one: it is really stupid to put gasoline in plastic bags. Really.  Really stupid.  At first glance, then you would think that it is really stupid for a government agency to TELL people it is really stupid to do that.  From Mercury News: CPSC warning: ‘Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline’  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday warned Americans to not fill plastic bags with gasoline as fuel shortages worsened on the sixth day of a pipeline outage and consumers raced to secure supplies. “Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline” the agency said on Twitter, followed by “Use only containers approved for fuel.” The story goes on to explain: A ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline last week halted 2.5 million barrels per day of fuel shipments. On Wednesday, fuel shortages worsened in the southeastern United States, as gasoline stations ran out of supply in some cities. 

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Are we ready? (A Baker’s Dozen ™ ways society can collapse)

Posted on 2021-05-12 by TPOL Nathan

As we ponder such modern societal memes as “May the Fourth” and “Cinco de Mayo” and even May Day itself, we may contemplate the idea that all societies, all civilizations, have a shelf-life. It isn’t conveniently printed on the label: No “Use by 31 DEC 2021” or “Sell by 25 December 2022” but still, no society has lasted all that long, compared to human history.

The more complex the society, the more fragile it might be. Despite (or because of) our great technological advancements, damage the network and it will go down. A complex system of interlocking, interdependent parts can become a spider web, trapping the hapless inhabitants. Leaving us unable to obtain (and provide) what we need. An entire civilization, or major society, may not collapse completely, but an entire urban area, or an entire (sometimes vast) rural area, CAN drop into chaos.

See the source image

Here are some thoughts on what can cause a society – over a large area, generally – can collapse. Perhaps we’ve even seen some in the last few decades that this has happened to. The first few are natural disasters – NOT manmade, but perhaps man-augmented by choices individuals in the society have made. Then we get to the nastier, manmade disasters.

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Primitive – and why? America in space

Posted on 2021-05-11 by TPOL Nathan

The recent business concerning the reentry of the Chinese Long March 5B booster over the weekend (no deaths, no known damage) triggers some further thoughts about space. (Especially since I failed to comment on the 60th Anniversary of Gagarin’s magnificent flight on 12 April 1961.)

When it comes to space exploration and the final frontier, government STINKS.

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The bizarre Chinese rocket mystery

Posted on 2021-05-10 by TPOL Nathan

Chicken Little is famous for racing around screaming “We’re all gonna die,” because “The sky is falling.” Because a leaf fell on her.

She has nothing on modern media outlets, writers and the twittersphere.

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A fair warning? Or panic screamed out?

Posted on 2021-05-06 by TPOL Nathan

We always must judge the source, as well as the content, of political writings, especially those that seek to warn us of threats. It is far too easy to exaggerate the danger, AND the probability, of something coming after us or those whom we cherish.

But at the same time, just because it hasn’t happened yet is no reason to completely ignore warnings of danger. We always face hazards, and must act (just to live our lives) while taking risks to us and others into account.

This is true, as we know, in everyday life: do I travel in this snow on icy, windy roads? Do I risk tearing off that old roof to replace it despite the forecast? Do I burn that pile of weeds today or hope the wind will be less tomorrow? Do I go ahead and get that shot, with its risks, or NOT get the vaccine and risk something differently?

But when it comes to political threats and threats of violence and other aggression against us because of our skin color, our heritage, or our political views? We find it much harder to accurately assess the risks, to clearly identify the hazards.

James Bovard has recently penned a warning that the Feds are after libertarians.

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Biden the showman? or the godfather?

Posted on 2021-05-04 by TPOL Nathan

It is even more common today than before the 2020 Election to portray Joe Biden as Sleepy Joe, rapidly descending into the abyss of dementia, and nothing but a tool and front of a cabal of uber-leftists and enemies of liberty.

Biden about to throw rubber chicken into the ring ...
Clown or….
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/8yPFY6s2c1kLHvmgsHgQC9iR4Rp2rOMV4x4bSq5tSwhTr9WioVr2j0MRHX37betpH1s22rvczn6S154lS5JIjozVw6QpJO4Aciyh5CuQYznhEJxxA5aVrxVe1akB8srTP_7b_2RyGU9efSaHGqJ6A3i3gH7Vrufd9VlYAGeA-CijuhH7IIoW6w=w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu
Godfather?

His recent guest performance (basically a cameo appearance) on the reality show “FedGov Today” as a speechgiver emphasizes that perception.

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Political correctness gone rancid

Posted on 2021-05-03 by TPOL Nathan

Let’s face the truth. All of us practice political correctness to some degree. For example, we generally are smart enough to “not tick off the doc” (paraphrasing Tom Knapp’s recent comment). We don’t tell the M.D. that the chiropractors and holistic medicine people have it right and the MDs are a bunch of egotistical money-hogs. Even if we think they are. And I am constantly amazed at the number of people who call us “native Americans” instead of by our tribal affiliation and ancestry (or just by our NAMES). Even though they know better.

But political correctness is one of the banes of modern life – especially here in the Fifty States. We’ve put up with an ever more virulent strain of it for decades. And it is not just the “progressives” (regressives) and liberals and social justice warriors that demand it, promote it, and try to enforce it in various ways. Political Libertarians have increasingly been infected by it.

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Starvation and famine in our future?

Posted on 2021-05-02 by TPOL Nathan

To listen to and read many pundits, you might think so. Although I disagree, there are serious problems with the food supply around that world.

Deutche Welle had an article a few months back, about the rise in food prices, worldwide. They are the highest in six years, with six months of steady increases (and more since then). DW, like the governments (and no doubt other media), says this is due to the coronavirus pandemic.

They are wrong. The root problem is government actions.

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Worshipping the “State”

Posted on 2021-05-01 by TPOL Nathan

Peter stood up with the others and told the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than man.”

Joshua ben Nun addressed the entire assembly of Israel, and told them, “Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Yes, these two statements are from that horrible publication, the Bible. For me, they are the basis of why I am a lover of liberty, a “libertarian” and a “Libertarian,” a free-market anarchist. I am far from alone in this, although many so-called libertarians spurn those of us who are religious – especially those of us who are followers of the Messiah.

Many of those non-religious libertarians (including some who truly are lovers and liberty and not just some sort of limited-government advocate) are disgusted by “believers” who support the “State” and often advocate government mandates of morality and other issues.

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