When we look back on the future history of freedom, I think last weekend’s “tear down the Barrycades” march in DC will be remembered as a watershed. A few thousand veterans and friends (including Oath Keepers members) not only ripped down those absurd metal walls while DC and Park Service cops stood by, but they delivered them right to the heavily guarded, paranoia-enhanced White House fence: Return to Sender. And nobody even tried to stop them. Yes, the march was a political event with neocon figureheads like (ugh) Sarah Palin. Yes, it’s probably also true that if George W. Bush…
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
A fellow blogger said something very kind the other day. After noting that he was trying to stay offline to avoid “outrage fatigue,” he mentioned that he saw me as somebody who could descend to into that state, then pull myself back up and “return to humanity from perfectly natural, periodic sorties of indignation and disgust.” It was kind. I think he’s that sort of person, too. But I wish it weren’t true. I wish I never, ever had to go into that place, only to drag my butt (and my brain) back out of it, time and again. I…
I’m working on one of those Big Idea blogs. Not sure how long it’ll take to bring form out of the void. In the meantime, here’s some cheer. All these are related to the piece I’m working on. The first three images I stole from Ragnar’s Freedom Outlaw page — the only thing on Facebook worth bothering with. Next, here’s one from Random Acts of Patriotism. I never visited that site before, so I can’t vouch for its POV. But it did win my favor by linking to this article noting that v*ters have a higher opinion of hemorrhoids than…
Seattle police continue to adapt well to cannabis legalization. (Though you may have to read carefully all the way through to hear their quiet chuckling.) I don’t know how good this “uncrackable” texting app is. I do know it’s yet another great sign that the tech world will smack down the NSA. (Tip o’ hat to MJR) And this is great, too. Kicking the No Such Agency and defending the Fourth while doing good deeds. In public. Here’s one I’ve been meaning to write a longer screed on but just haven’t been able to get to: the difference between knowing…
Among the 3,874 reasons I’m not rich and famous is this: I believed in talent and inspiration. Yeah, and I’d have to put that somewhere near the top of thousands of reasons. That is, I thought that to be a really good artist or writer, all I had to do was a) be born with the ability and b) waft gracefully about (preferably wearing black) until Capital-I Inspiration struck. Then — voila! — without effort, the poem would write itself, the art would art itself, the Great American novel would spin itself out with no more than a little typing…
“Dogs are people, too.” At least in their abilities to feel and anticipate — something that will come as no surprise to anybody who’s lived with them, but is apparently news in neuroscience. (Tip o’ hat to MLS) Federal theater of the absurd. (I also agree with Carl that the Crazy Horse monument is so superior to Mt. Rushmore in every way that even after the silly feddies remove the barriers I’d still just drive on past and watch free enterprise at work a few miles down the road.) Erm … I don’t usually read Glamour. But I found this…
Well, that was a pleasant little sanity break. Followed by the mini-Apocalypse. Followed by a deadlining break. Followed by a car-problems break. Which is why I should need no excuse for not popping back in earlier. I have been thinkin’ aboutcha, though, and have pages of incoherent notes to run past you. Starting with this one: —– The difference between us … I mean some of us … well, I really mean me … and the devil-may-care types is that for us, life is always “just one more thing.” For example, I find myself the possessor of a woodstove for…
Ever since Pamela Jones shut down Groklaw and announced she was not only abandoning the site but quitting the Internet entirely in light of the Edward Snowden revelations, I’ve been thinking about this. At the time, though I found her reasons poignant and pertinent, I thought she was overreacting. Now, I don’t know. Personally, I’m not on the verge of quitting. A big part of my life is here. And all of my career (such as it is) is here. That’s been true since 1986 when a client bought me my first 300-baud modem and set it up so I…
Mark Steyn on America as a banana republic. Political views mess up your ability to do math. Probably other things, too. Fascinating study but not surprising. Another example of confirmation bias in action. Do you get junk emails from your acquaintances urging you to connect with them on LinkedIn? I used to get a fair number of those and thought, “Wow, for people who supposedly know me, these guys are sure idiots.” Like I’m ever going to join LinkedIn. Like I think it’s just wonderful for acquaintances to give my address to all and sundry. Then I got a fervently…
You’ve heard of the non-aggression principle, otherwise known as the ZAP or the NAP. A lot of freedomistas regard it as the golden rule for a free society. Well, Michael W. Dean and Neema Vedadi have now coined a phrase to define its opposite: The aggression principle. That’s the rule behind all government, of every type, everywhere. We all know what it is. We’ve been talking about it for a long time. Why hasn’t anybody ever named it? (Michael and Neema call this podcast “one for the ages.”)