Welcome to the War Zone

Posted on 2017-04-19 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Is it soup yet?  Are we there yet?  Are we at war yet?

Of course, we ARE at war and have been, pretty much continuously since about 1940 or so. (Yes, I realize that Congress did not declare war until 8 DEC 1941, but the US had been a de-facto ally and co-belligerent of the British Empire for some time.)  We are fighting in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Yemen, and probably in Libya, South Sudan, Ukraine, and maybe a few other places that we might not find out about for years, if ever.  (By “we” I mean the Fed Gov, and those of the Fifty States (most, as I understand it) who gladly send their own troops (National Guard) to those places.

But there is war, and there is war.  Even (despite their names) the then-United States really was not significantly in harm’s way in the Great War (World War I) or the Second World War -that mixture of the Great Pacific War and the Second Great War (and a few others). Neither Hawaii nor Alaska – the only states in which there was actual combat in WW2 – were part of the Union then.  And a few saboteurs, fire balloons, and sub-sightings do NOT constitute what anyone would call war.  Instead, we sent millions of people and billions in treasure  – the fruits of the labors of tens of millions and the resources (vegetable, animal, and mineral) of our continent around the world to be destroyed and destroy.

But at home, what?  The major source of deaths in the Forty-eight States at the time were in military training accidents and industrial accidents.  Virtually NO one was killed here as a direct result of enemy action. Continue reading →

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More “Borg” Thinking

Posted on 2017-04-18 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

More BORG thinking and rationalization. It’s not elites vs. populists. It’s cities vs. the countryside.

“In the low-density and underdeveloped countryside, people live in much closer proximity to nature, surrounded by forces human beings only marginally control. In that context, individuals, families, and communities tend to feel smaller, less omnipotent, more vulnerable.”

Utter nonsense. Written, obviously, by someone who knows nothing about human nature – or anything in nature. His bias for the big city is very evident, but I doubt he even understands city people very well.

This insane idea that, somehow, everyone must live the same way, value the same things, be “controlled” –  yet each faction so often demands everyone else become what THEY are, what they want, no matter what force or fraud or lies are used to get there. That includes ALL political parties and factions, all of those who are ready to riot and burn things to maintain their PC privileged positions.

Luckily for everyone, they’ll never agree on what everyone should be, and will continue to fight each other tooth and nail.

So few people seem to even consider that individuals can be equal in liberty, have very different views and priorities, yet live cooperatively in voluntary association – or be free NOT to associate if they wish.

Oh no… somehow the “will of the majority” – a real joke, actually – and whoever has the most money/power/influence is supposed to somehow overpower all individuality and create a BORG… hive mind, a population of powerless slaves.

Resistance is NOT futile.  Resist!

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Stress, anxiety and depression

Posted on 2017-04-17 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

In the “news” today I found this article, and I can’t help but comment. More Americans suffering from stress, anxiety and depression, study finds…

The author dances around a number of things that could contribute to the problems, but no mention is made of the most logical and obvious.

The core problem is Cognitive dissonance: Mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time.

Included are the things so many have been taught to believe that are simply not part of reality. Some of these things are the false “rights” to control other people and their property – for example, a “right” to a certain job, wage, living conditions, etc. All of the things some people believe they can somehow force everyone else to think and do. The current wars, political power fights, and the PC insanity about race and sex lead that parade.

When  you believe something, yet see clear proof that it is not true or right, you have some choices… You can accept the reality and seek to learn the truth, releasing the false belief. Or you eventually break down into this “mental illness” which so often leads to self destruction or violence against others.

The desire to control others, the lust for power and the willingness to destroy both themselves and others in order to gain that power… This is the root of the evil, and the worst addiction in the world. And, in the end, no amount of “insurance” or mental health “help” will make any difference until that addiction is both recognized and relinquished.

Think about it.

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Priorities?

Posted on 2017-04-16 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Is this not a dangerous precedent?  They tried to escape, but were recaptured!  And yet, they are being pensioned off to go live in the lap of luxury and NOT perform the service that they were destined to all their lives!  Before we know it, the streets and roads of St. Louis will be filled with sacred cows, just like the streets of Indian towns and villages – wandering around, pooping where ever they do it, and eating people’s roses and lawns, scaring children and cats and dogs, and periodically dashing out into traffic and destroying a vehicle.

Several weeks ago, St. Louis Today reported that several head of cattle, which escaped from a St. Louis meat-packing plant (tastelessly called a “slaughterhouse” in the story), were rounded up by the cops and are being transported to an animal “retirement farm” where they can live out their lives and die, presumably to be buried on the place, and not even rendered for by-products and leather.  Apparently a lot of people with more money than brains are donating funds to support these beasts.

Meanwhile, according to other reports (or at least claims) thousands of St. Louis area children continue to go to be hungry each night.  Homeless shelters and food banks are in need of food to distribute to the poor and needy. Continue reading →

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The Myth of the Constitution

Posted on 2017-04-16 by MamaLiberty

By Butler Shaffer

In case any reader still clings to the platitude that the American political system is based on the proposition that ours is “a society of laws, and not of men,” I urge you to pay close attention to the events of recent years. Political behavior does not exist in abstractions, such as the “state,” or the “government,” or a “constitution,” but is activity engaged in by such men and women who find the machinery of state power a useful device for accomplishing ends that they value. Those who desire to control others through access to the tools of violence that define the state, have rationales to convince their intended victims of the “rightness” of their rule. From explanations such as “God’s will” to the “divine right of kings,” the authority of some to enjoy coercive power over others — along with their subjects’ duty of obedience — is so engrained into the minds of people as to seem as self-evident as the forces of gravity.

Read the rest at the Mises Institute

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United and the free market

Posted on 2017-04-14 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Seems that folks are ticked at United Airlines.  Dragging passengers off, overbooking and refusing to let passengers be passengers (by overbooking), and all kinds of other things have people posting and tweeting and more against United.

And, as always, there is the “there-oughta-be-a-law” crowd right out there screaming with the rest of them.  And some of THAT crowd include the lawmakers itching to… well, to make more laws!  They want the government to get involved to make sure that United doesn’t mistreat more customers, and of course, that the other dozen or so airlines serving the Fifty States don’t get any ideas from United. They are screaming for “Action Now.”

In essence, what these people are saying is that they do not want the free market to work – or even exist.  They want someone with a gun (or who has a guy with a gun at his beck-and-call) to get on that plane (figuratively or literally) and tell that pilot and those flight attendants how to do their job and what they can and cannot do to and with passengers.  And they want other people with guns to interfere with private contracts and tell people what they can and cannot buy. Continue reading →

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Is this crazy or am I?

Posted on 2017-04-13 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Not sure who Logan Marie Glitterbomb is (I suspect an alias), but this idea is nuts.

I’ve been involved with the libertarian movement since the formal organization of the Libertarian Party in 1973, and knew people who had been libertarians (even if they didn’t use the name) for several decades before that time. NONE of them ever claimed that the “roots of libertarianism are anti-fascist.” Classical liberalism, which became libertarianism, existed long before there was anything that could be, much less accepted, the label of “fascism.”

Reclaiming the anti-fascist roots of libertarianism is found at the Center for a Stateless Society, by Logan Marie Glitterbomb. And it just doesn’t make sense.

Logan writes: “Let’s face it — the libertarian movement’s flirtations with paleoconservatives over the years have put us in the situation we are in today. Alt-righters and other self-proclaimed fascists, white nationalists, and racial separatists feel that they can use the libertarian movement as an effective recruiting ground: despite their willingness to crush individual liberties in order to achieve their goals. However, the roots of libertarianism are anti-fascist. We should continue to take a strong anti-fascist stance if we are to be consistent and true to our movement’s lineage.”

It does not make sense – I must be crazy. Continue reading →

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Protect? Serve? or Serve up?

Posted on 2017-04-12 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

I was a bit surprised to not find one of Freedom Net Daily’s usual pointed or sarcastic headlines this morning on a story from the San Francisco Chronicle about an East Bay traffic stop that led to the seizure of 300 pounds of cannabis and $1 million cash.

“A traffic stop by law enforcement officers in the East Bay led to the seizure of more than 300 pounds of marijuana and more than $1 million in cash, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said Monday. The drug bust began when a California Highway Patrol officer spotted a driver on Saturday operating a van while talking on a cell phone, officials say. The CHP officer attempted to pull the van over on Interstate 580 in Castro Valley to cite the driver for a cell phone violation, officials said. While the van was stopped, a sedan pulled up and cut off the CHP car, enabling the van to flee the scene, officials said. Both cars raced away, but were stopped in Castro Valley, and the two drivers were arrested. Officers soon learned why the suspects tried to get away. The sedan contained eight pounds of marijuana and the van had another 200 pounds of weed packed inside, officials said.” Continue reading →

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Killing people in the Fifty States

Posted on 2017-04-05 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Are we really one of  the most violent societies on earth?  Are we a bloodsoaked culture? According to some, the Fifty States are.  But lets look at the reality.

To me, one of the more interesting webzines today is Gun Culture 2.0, which has a recent article on understanding averages in gun culture statistics.

This article is particularly useful for defenders of our right self defense because it addresses the difference between “gun deaths” and “gun homicides” and “unintentional gun deaths” – the major being that suicide with guns results in twice as many deaths as homicides.

In that article, David Yamane returns to a frequent theme: there is no one who lives in the “United States.” Rather, we live in fifty different states and a few special territories.  And even within those states, there is a never a homogeneous society and culture.  And never has been. This is an important fact.

So, he points out from the Guardian, of the 13,000 gun homicides in 2015 in the Fifty States, almost HALF occured in just 127 cities, which include almost a quarter of the population of the Fifty States. So the established (and high, by First World standards) homicide rate of 3.3 per 100,000 for all Fifty States (and the territories such as DC), really (for those 127 cities) is more like 6.6 per hundred thousand, but for the other 230 million of us, it is just 1.5 per 100,000. Lower than many “peaceful” First World societies. Continue reading →

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Public-private partnerships?

Posted on 2017-04-03 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

One of the many ways in which people seek to “reduce” the corrupt power of government is to restrain government agencies by reducing their workload through contracting out, thus reducing government direct employment.  It sounds good, but its a nasty business.

A basic “biblical” principle of “be not unequally yoked” is generally applied to marriage.  But the concept seems equally applicable to business relationships (partnerships, employment, and clients and customers).  And especially to political and governmental relations. Although this is a religious concept, does it not apply as well to lovers of liberty? I submit to my readers that indeed it does.

Consider, for example, the very popular idea of “public-private partnerships” in which various government entities and agencies enter into agreements, (short or long term) relationships with one or more private business entities (usually but not always corporations or limited-liability companies of some sort). Continue reading →

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