Some ammo for the next time some statist tells you that laws should be obeyed just because they’re there. Give ’em something to think about. This has been around a few months, but it’s pretty interesting if accurate: “Real-Life Rearden Metal?” A Lyttony of bad writing: Every winner of the Edward Bulwer-Lytton contest, 1983 to the present. That’s the contest where entrants write just the opening paragraph of a really, really, really bad novel. (Thank heaven that’s as far as they go!) Speaking of really bad, these guys (source) look like like something from the opening scene of a really…
Category: Resistance
Sometimes you need to say “no” to Big Brother
From Just Waiting in a recent comment section: You made your money writing books about freedom and revolution, now you’re proud to declare you’re hiding in your cave once it begins? For someone who promotes freedom, you’re more condescending and dismissive than the Fox News puppets about the Occupy movement. Theatrics and a yeah, good luck with that? People are living in the streets to protest for your, mine our freedom. And you’re in a cave. Good luck with that too. I’m not an anarchist or utopian dreamer, I’m a realist and a staunch supporter of my and others’ self-sovereignty.…
Everybody, but everybody, wants to get in on the Occupy Wall Street act. Since the leaderless, focusless band of creative protestors began getting media coverage, all manner of commentators have commentated. Multitudes claim to know what OWS really is or really ought to be. Political people who may have something or nothing in common with the vague aims of OWS or the vague band of jugglers, gypsies, drummers, retro-hippies, sincere-if-ignorant fogheads, and genuinely angry activists are cautiously trying to bend OWS to their own purposes. The third-biggest bonehead ever to win a Nobel Prize, Paul Krugman, demonstrates what an old…
A good man died last week. Al Woodbridge. Although he was only one of many abused by the ATF in the 90s (and by federal kangaroo courts), he was one of the toughest. H/T to JJ. I really like the way James Altucher thinks. This guy, on the other hand is edging toward the real answer but is still way sidetracked. Will he ever get the Real Clue, do you think? (But Occupy Wall Street is seriously interesting, isn’t it?) Common sense and enlightenment raise their battered heads once again in the world of mind-altering drugs. A good article on…
A while back we talked about “it” — The Day, The Moment, the trigger event, the one unmistakable signal that the house of cards is really, truly commencing to fall. Will there ever be such a moment? If so, will we recognize it when it happens or only spot it in retrospect? Or will there be no “it” — just be a dreary slide? Jim B. points out that Rome didn’t collapse in a day. Ellendra asks, apropos of nothing and everything whether politicians joking (?) about suspending elections might qualify as a sign. I don’t know whether we’ll ever…
One of my old, old articles that still draws occasional questions is one I wrote back in the golden (so it now seems) pre-Patriot Act days — an article about working without a social security number. The questions always carry a tone of desperation. They’re from people trying to do the right thing for themselves and their families and feeling increasingly pressured. I have no good answers. So many doors have closed in the last 10 years. Here’s the latest such letter. My response, such as it is, is below. If you have anything better, fire away in the comments…
First, to assist with your Monday morning work avoidance: Jake MacGregor posted three new chapters last week, beginning with Chapter 25 in which Our Intrepid Hero … dons a dress and discovers why it really isn’t his style. “The Five Stages of Awakening.” Dog helps rape victims in court and provokes controversy. This is most absolutely definitely not safe for work. And Felonious Munk’s grasp of economics might not rise to Misean levels. Still. a pretty good rant. States rights isn’t only a “right-wing” position. More in the common-ground department. Blueberry season! It feels as if summer has barely begun.…
“Three deputies equals one SWAT team.” A memory from reader ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ (a former LEO) of a moment at the dawn of the “bad new days” of total militarization. Russian villagers defend their town. (Tip o’ hat to Matt, another.) A thorough history of “The Nixon Shock: How Nixon stopped backing the dollar with gold and changed global finance, a 40-year-old decision that still echoes in Greece, Ireland, and the U.S.” And a perfect example of how sloppily the most momentous decisions get made by Our Masters. AntiSec. Revenge of the nerds. Raising a fist to death in the Warsaw Ghetto.…
Three new chapters this week in Jake MacGregor’s novel The Advisor. Chapter 19 and 20 on Tuesday. Chapter 21 last night. Good news from the lemonade wars. Well, if anything can be considered good news in this business of cops and code authoritah shutting down kids’ front-yard ventures. Can you imagine the kind of person who would — with “official” blessing — go out of his way to yell at little girls for selling lemonade? The mind boggles. But then, I suppose we’re supposed to be grateful that the criminal little lemonade pushers weren’t beaten and tasered to death. (NOTE:…
August 20 is Lemonade Freedom Day. “Because selling lemonade is not a crime. (H/T C^2) The Farmer Veteran Coalition. Beats the heck out of them coming back and joining the LAPD or the Podunkville “finest of the finest” SWAT team. (Thanking J. for this one) Yes, your dog really is reading your mind. (P 🙂 ) Are you the addictive type? Sez here you might be leadership material. From Ellendra in a recent comment section who says, (finally) “even the Wall Street Journal is starting to notice” that there are too many federal laws and regulations. And that the feds…