Living Freedom

This time, it might really be different

Published January 29, 2021 12:05 pm by Silver

A remarkable series of events culminated in at least one major Wall Street hedge fund on the verge of insolvency and widespread anxiety and even panic from the titans of the financial system.
— Glenn Greenwald

—–

Silver here. Claire asked me to comment on the GameStop short squeeze debacle.

It’s early, what’s happening is complex, and there are multiple players and multiple levels. These are my first impressions, but the rebellion of small investors against hedge fund billionaires could be a milestone in the rebirth of freedom.

9 Comments

50,000th

Published January 25, 2021 9:32 am by Claire

And prolific Commentariat member Comrade X posts the 50,000th comment received on this blog. Congratulations to Comrade and thank you to the world’s best Commentariat.

9 Comments

Where there’s Internet, there’s hope
(plus an invitation)

Published January 21, 2021 11:25 am by Claire

The news is dire, depressing, infuriating, terrifying, ominous, twisted, biased, and generally panic-inducing. As always. Okay, it’s more than usually ominous lately, what with the country rather suddenly being ruled by a coalition of pandering post-Alzheimers proponents of the old order and a whole new class of juvenile Masters of the Universe. The flick-of-a-switch “disappearing” of Parler and our then-present president from the ‘Net finally rattled us in a way that previous censorship, deplatforming, demonetizing, Twitter mobs, and disappearances of lesser ‘Net operations could not. Scary, scary, scary, scary, scary. BUT. Have you noticed that activist ‘Netizens (that good old…

48 Comments

One Million Pageviews

Published January 19, 2021 8:49 am by Silver

Silver here.

Today is a special day. Today the Living Freedom blog has logged

One Million pageviews.

27 Comments

Communications in the Purge

Published January 10, 2021 8:41 am by Claire

This morning. I hung up from a long phone call with a friend in which we talked (among other security-related issues) about alternative communications for these censorious, tech-whim times. I poured myself a new cup of tea, hit the button to download mail, and in comes a message from another friend with the above subject line: “Communications in the Purge.” The entire (bcc broadcast) message was nothing but alternate email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses that could be used to reach him if our tech overlords switch off standard avenues of communication. We’ve gotten so used to the Gods…

35 Comments

The Quality of a Free Man

Published December 21, 2020 4:32 am by Claire

This is a reprint of an article I wrote back in the late 90s or early oughts. It’s part one of a four-part series, all of which are available to full members of The Living Freedom Forums. Despite being some of my best writing and thinking, neither this piece nor the series, called Sustainable Freedom, ever received much circulation or comment. I’m resurrecting it because it matters to me and to some of the most important people in my life — and still matters more than ever in reality. Also because my friend “Tex” referred to it in his quotes…

7 Comments

IN PRAISE OF MEN, Part IV
A Good Man

Published December 18, 2020 4:09 am by Claire

Parts I, II, and III here. —– “To be a good man is to struggle every day.” So says my good male friend “Tex.” Earlier in my life, I might have responded (thinking about the struggles of my own sex such as pregnancy, childbirth, the aptly named “curse,” lower status, household drudgery, learned helplessness, and endless restrictions), “You think you struggle? You ain’t seen nothin’!” For sure, both sexes and all genders have their burdens. And none should go flaunting the superiority of their sufferings over others’. Ultimately, we’re all in this difficult sentient-mammalian life together. Dividing into hostile camps…

8 Comments

IN PRAISE OF MEN, Part III
Testosterone — The Elephant in the Room

Published December 3, 2020 2:30 pm by Claire

I intended this to be part IV, but it demanded to be written before “A Good Man.” So here you go. And my continuing apologies to the two men who are still patiently waiting for me to get around to using the interviews they gave me. —– It begins with testosterone. That’s an oversimplication, of course. It begins there but doesn’t even remotely end there. You have testosterone. I have testosterone. Everybody has testosterone. We all also have some share of other male and female hormones. That doesn’t erase the dominantly binary expression of sex and sexuality. Can’t discount all…

29 Comments

A brief interruption in the proceedings

Published November 20, 2020 2:20 pm by Claire

I’d hoped to have the next installment of “In Praise of Men” for you by now. But this has been a week of catastrophe. The days haven’t lent themselves to hours of calm contemplative thought. I’m fine, in case you’re about to ask. The greatest catastrophe struck someone else, but one of its ripple effects is that I must now travel for the first time in five or six years and don’t know when I’ll return. The good news for you faithful (and patient!) readers is that I’ll very likely have time on my travels to write the next bit…

22 Comments

IN PRAISE OF MEN, PART II
Evolution and Protection

Published November 12, 2020 9:22 am by Claire

Note: I’ll be speaking of averages and generalities as I go along. Nothing I write should be taken to mean that I believe individuals should be wedged to fit stereotypes. Far from it. Averages and generalities can be anywhere from useless to downright destructive when applied to individuals. BUT they’re very useful when talking about the whole — of civilization or of the human race. See Part I here, which mostly lays out other premises. —– Evolution and civilization Civilization as we know it was largely designed (by chance and nature more than by intent) to protect women and children.…

36 Comments

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