shopify analytics tool

Defining conservatives

A conservative tends to value economic freedom over personal freedom. Usually this means removing government obstacles to business while advocating a common moral belief system to join people together, even if someone has to sacrifice in the name of that system. In it's more extreme forms, that can mean dictating the personal behavior (and occasionally beliefs) of individuals through government actions. The bottom line and results take precedence over feelings.
— NeoWayland, Pagan•Vigil FAQ
Comments

NeoNote – “What I do is not up to you.”

Not what they wear, not who they live with, not what they eat, not what happens in the bedroom, not what they read, not how they do it, and not who they do it with.

Read More...
Comments

“Coolness was never conservative.”

Coolness was never conservative.

It grew out of the jazz age and into the Las Vegas and West Coast aesthetic personified by Hefner, Sinatra, and Bruce. It was always about pushing the envelope with just a touch of rebellion. It was always about the show over substance and the deeds better left unmentioned.
— NeoWayland
Comments

Monday roundup

Youngest kids in class may be over-diagnosed with ADHD



Destroyed for Nothing

“The closing of GM’s Detroit plant—erected at the expense of a vibrant urban neighborhood—is a final twist of the knife in a tale of displacement and destruction.”

Exclusive: Google Employees Debated Burying Conservative Media In Search

You can be an advocate or you can be a search engine. You can't honestly be both.

Obama Tells Wall Street to Thank him for Making Them so Much Money



The work-from-home doctor will see you now



The Ignored Legacy of George H.W. Bush: War Crimes, Racism, and Obstruction of Justice



The Forgotten Legacy of George H.W. Bush That the Media Won’t Tell You About



Post Office Has Boom Year: Loses More Money Than Ever



San Francisco's Wealthy Leftists Are Making Homelessness Worse



G20 Summit, Top Agenda Item: Bye-Bye American Empire



Texas Bill Would Set Foundation for a “Gun Rights Sanctuary State”



Landlord Tells Harvard Student to Move Out Over Legally Owned Guns



Supreme Court Deals Unanimous, Welcome Blow to Administrative State in Frog Case



Curtains for the Clintons



The Cities That Amazon HQ2 Left Behind

“Amazon’s yearlong search for the location of its second headquarters was billed as a chance to transform an American city. In reality, it made plain an economic system that increases inequality, monopoly power, and political polarization.”
Comments

Libertarians believe

The FedGovs.

Read More...
Comments

“#DeepStateUnmasked: IRS Officials "You Should Give Increased Scrutiny" to Conservatives”

“I don’t give a s**t if that is a crime.”

Read More...
Comments

Monday extra-big roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry


Top 3% of U.S. Taxpayers Paid Majority of Income Taxes in 2016

How about that? They paid more than their fair share.

Gore: Jet Stream 'Getting Loopier and Wavier,' So 'We Have a Global Emergency'

Al Gore is capitalizing on the news and fear. The jet stream hasn't changed.

Trump snubs Feinstein, Harris to nominate conservative judges to liberal 9th Circuit



Mary Robinson on climate change: ‘Feeling “This is too big for me” is no use to anybody’



Italian Interior Minister prepares legislature for self-defence: “No trial for those who defend their property”



‘Bitcoin and Guns, That’s the Only Way to Save This Country’

From the Ukraine

Libertarian and Police Accountability Pages Deleted in Facebook Purge

Golly gee whilikers, could Facebook have an agenda?

Facebook has lost 30% of its value since July



500,000 Afghan migrants are ready to enter Europe via unprotected Turkish-Greek border area

Technically, isn't that an invasion?

Bear spray, bloody brawls at Patriot Prayer 'law and order' march in Portland



Dozens of Witches Gather to Place Public Hex on Brett Kavanaugh

They have decided that he is guilty and they are going to be very public about it

Black Man Cuffed on His Own Property While Moving Into New Home



Venezuela Has Lost 13% of its Population in a Mass Exodus from Socialism



Fight Fizzles Before Police Arrive; Cops Start Tasing and Arresting People Anyway



Violence, Public Anger Erupts In China As Home Prices Slide



Lawsuit: KSP trooper attacks man after Facebook post

Strange doings in Kentucky



Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson in 'real legal jeopardy', GOP investigator says



Toronto's Sick Kids hospital preparing policy for euthanasia for youth over 18 that could one day apply to minors



Human 2.0 Is Almost Here: The Transhumanism Agenda Just Went Mainstream



The view from Saudi Arabia as world holds its breath

“With Saudi Arabia one of Britain's closest allies, diplomats are treating the alleged death of Jamal Khashoggi very carefully.”

Thousands line up for zero-down-payment, subprime mortgages

This won't end well

How the Heir of the White Nationalist Movement Learned to Let Go of Hatred



Congress Can’t Create an Independent and Unaccountable New Branch of Government

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was designed to be unaccountable.

Comments

Monday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Read More...
Comments

NeoNote — Online monopolies

No, they are not monopolies.

When I sit down at a computer, I don't have to go through Facebook to check the weather or see what is happening at this site. If I wanted to message someone on my iPod or iPad, I don't have to use Twitter.

With AT&T, if you were in an area covered you had no choice. It was your regional Bell company and AT&T or nothing. The breakup fixed that, you could choose your phone company. And today, if I am not in range of the right cell tower, my phone still works as long as I am in range of a cell tower.

Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, all got big by offering something the competition did not have. No one was forced. Competition is the only way to reduce their hold. And the competition, like all competition, has to offer something more than "just as good as."

For a while, iOS and macOSX had software hooks so that Facebook and Twitter had easier access. That's no longer necessarily true, some of Apple's customers didn't want their data shared by companies that weren't trustworthy.

Government intervention is the last thing we need. There are already politicos who complain about "fake news" that isn't fake, it's just not what the politicos want you to think about. From the news in the last couple of days, it seems Twitter is going after conservative and libertarian users. Do we really want a world where government decides what may and may not be said?

Oh, one other thing. Monopolies rely on government support and intervention. Start regulating and you just planted a monopoly.



I agree it's a mess.

To get a site, you have to register a domain name. Then you have to get server space. If you use a company like Wordpress, you agree to carry their ads on your site in exchange for a reduced rate or free use on their server space. If you go on your own, you find a web host (like MacHighway) and you have more control over the site and advertising.

Think of it like a storefront that you have to rent. Depending on the terms of the lease, that is how much service your "landlord" provides and how much you provide to your visitors.

If Twitter provides the ability to block people you don't like, I agree that it should be available to ALL users. But the platform is not public property. The "landlord" can block out who they want when they want. But they shouldn't be shielded from the consequences of their actions. They are liable if they provide different services and benefits to their users. If it's a "free" service, then all "free" users should have the same benefits as all other "free" users. The "landlord" can ban conservatives, but if they allow conservatives (or one specific high profile conservative), then that person should have the same rights and benefits.

ETA: The real question is if the platform should ban offensive content and how that should be defined.
NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

Comments

NeoNote — Demonizing the press

Pardon, but the media set the stage for their own demonization well before Trump's election. No, not everyone of them and not most of them. But the shift from news to liberal-opinon-passed-off-as-news has been going on for decades now. In the mission to present "THE truth," the media has forgotten that there is often more than one truth and that truth needs something more than passionate writing.

Anyone remember supply-side economics? The common narrative is that it was a product of the Reagan administration and that it was a catastrophic failure. But truth shows that Kennedy tried reducing taxes and regulations first. And under both Kennedy and Reagan, it boosted the economy. But that is not what the media says.

The common narrative is that people of faith demand that minorities be suppressed. Unless of course you are a minority person of faith who depends on government protection. But truth shows that Christians (yes, Christians) made American pluralism possible and even to this day are among the strongest defenders of religious freedom. In some minority communities, local churches are bedrock. Good luck finding that in the news today.

The common narrative is that conservatives mistreat and suppress women. But one truth that #MeToo has demonstrated is that certain (scumbag) high profile liberal politicos and celebrities gave lip-service to feminism so they could take sexual advantage. Many more liberals than conservatives in fact. But the stories that we get are that liberals Are Taking Steps while conservatives could care less.

In all these cases and many more, conservatives and conservative ideas are disparaged while the press presents liberal ideas as the Only Practical Solution. Never mind that many of those liberal ideas don't work and make things worse. After seeing that happen again and again, conservatives naturally distrust the media. They don't see the stories where their ideas and beliefs are celebrated. Those stories with a NEUTRAL bias are hardly ever there. The press passes itself off as mainstream when it isn't, and goes out of it's way to avoid stories that show conservatism in a good light.

As for libertarianism (CLASSIC liberalism), we get labeled as the kookiest of the those scary alt-right types. Never mind that isn't who we are. Never mind the merit of our ideas. No, we're the dangerous nutcases that you dare not listen to.

When the press shows that it can't be trusted with even some truths, why should the press be trusted? They demonized themselves long before Trump did.
NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

Comments

Wednesday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Read More...
Comments

Thursday supersized roundup

Survey Says: Politicized Sports, Entertainment Driving Viewers Away

But some progressives have been saying it doesn't make a make a significant difference

Digitalships and Double-Standards



Document drop: Another fatal FBI fumble in Florida

What happens when diversity is more important than public safety

The Schooling of David Hogg

Public spectacle doesn't mean you'll get respect. See also Dear David Hogg, You’re a Lying, Opportunistic, Insufferable Little Toe Rag


California judge holds climate change ‘tutorial’ ahead of landmark case against oil companies

This alone should be enough to show the judge's bias

NOAA Data Tampering Approaching 2.5 Degrees

Completely rewriting climate history

EU reveals a digital tax plan that could penalize Google, Amazon and Facebook

The important thing is NOT that the EU is going after these companies. The important thing is that "traditional businesses" pay 23.2% in taxes.

Why Trump Is Right to Reject the Paris Climate Agreement

It was never about reducing CO2. It was about the United States paying through the nose.

The Problem With Social Justice Today -- Dividing Rather than Unifying

Labels, pronouns, and power over speech.

Trump is right: The special counsel should never have been appointed

I still think the Obama and Clinton Russian connections should be investigated.

Congress Is Still Ignoring Its Spending Problem as Deadline Looms for $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill

“Four out of five voters agree that Washington has a spending problem, but a new omnibus spending bill will add yet more to the national debt.”

Freedom-Loving Parents, Rejoice: Utah Approves Free-Range Kids Bill

Let kids be kids

The sad hysteria of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Targeting conservative people and groups

Elizabeth Warren’s Unaccountable Federal Agency Backfires on Her: New at Reason

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional. All government agencies should answer to Congress.

More California Cities Seek to Defy ‘Sanctuary State’ as Revolt Spreads

This could make the succession movement very interesting

France: Toward Total Submission to Islam, Destruction of Free Speech

All other things being equal, the side that can't stand dissent is usually wrong.

Syrup Smugglers Take on the Maple Mafia

The free market is economic activity between consenting adults. Funny how governments don't like that, "for your own good" of course.

CalPERS retirees are suddenly worried about their pensions. What happened?

Government took too much power and mismanaged the assets

Fired FBI official authorized criminal probe of Sessions, sources say

I'm not even sure this is legal against a sitting Attorney General

FOSTA Passes Senate, Making Prostitution Ads a Federal Crime Against Objections from DOJ and Trafficking Victims

Another headline grab for politicos

Comments

NeoNote — SPLC

No one person and no one group has all the answers. No one group should be vested with THE moral authority to decide who is and is not a hate group.

The SPLC needs competition.

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — news bias and agendas

I reserve the right to tie anyone in semantic knots if I can do it with truth.

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — the best tyranny

Once you start using force and the rule of law to go after your "enemies," what's to stop you from going after us next?

Read More...
Comments

Wednesday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Read More...
Comments

Fake news checking

Google’s New ‘Fact-Checker’ Is Partisan Garbage

Now, you may believe that conservatives are hopeless liars in need of relentless correcting, so I’ll concede the point for argument’s sake. Even then, you’d have to admit it’s a small miracle that, according to Google’s search engine, not a single prominent liberal or mainstream site in the entire universe has ever uttered a dubious or questionable claim.
     — David Harsanyi
Comments

Friday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Read More...
Comments

The stack is still there

Older headlines that don't merit their own entry

Read More...
Comments

Label

It's not liberalism, it's the label. And it doesn't matter if the label is progressive, conservative, Christian, atheist, or United States Senator. The label has no virtue or vice, no morality, and no inherent worth. It's the individual that owns the outcome of their thoughts, words, and deeds. It's the individual and the individual alone who can take responsibility.
     — NeoWayland
Comments

Speech wars

The internet is the last, best hope for freedom.

Read More...
Comments

from crux № 18 — choice and consequence

Our problem is that we excuse people from the consequences.

Read More...
Comments

Won't knife you in the back

In my experience, conservatives won't knife you in the back. They'll scream in your face, they'll tell you that you're wrong, but they're usually facing you.

Certain progressives will trot you out for the dog-&-pony show, drape an arm over your shoulder, smile for the cameras, and then slide the knife in so smoothly you never feel it until after you start bleeding and they've moved away.
     — NeoWayland
Comments

NeoNotes — scapegoating "whites"

And yet scapegoating is alive and well.



Pardon, but for all the talk about what Trump and his supporters did against "minorities," there was much more done against Trump's supporters.



I am not conservative. I am also not a liberal.

I am a writer.

I'm the guy who wrote “We need solutions that don't exile people politically.”

And “When it comes to religion becoming the law of the land, the devout don't need it, the non-believers don't want it, and the politicos will corrupt it.”

And I wrote this:

You are not entitled



I didn't say anyone here now shamed me, I said I wrote that.

I don't know what you did or did not do as an editor, I have only your say so for that. Until I have reason to disbelieve, I'll take your word for it. What I do know is that you were lecturing about the failures of "Whites" above. I am not defending anyone. No one group and certainly no "race" is without scoundrels, and no group is composed of saints.

As it happens, I believe in many American ideals and I think on the whole we get more right than we get wrong. I don't need to defend those ideas, they speak for themselves. I will say that not all ideas labeled "American" have much to do with liberty.

I started on this thread by writing about scapegoating. From what I see, this article does that.



"Control of the system" IS the problem. Fighting for "control of the system" is also the problem. The only known practical solution is to make government smaller than absolutely necessary.

Zinn's book is seriously flawed and way overhyped.



I'm not complaining about skin color. I'm complaining about being blamed for things that happened to people long dead long before I was born because of skin color. And I am complaining about the "sins" of one skin color used to explain All That Is Truly Wrong In The World.

I've said it before and I will stand by it. There's only one "race" and it's human.

I've got something I call the Practical Grudge Limit. It’s not practical to hold someone responsible unless they were there, of age, and participating. I'm responsible for what I've done and what I've said. No more, no less.



“…we have to create a system that is not about trying to control things and keep the controlling the hands of the wealthy and powerful.”

You can't have a system that is about not controlling and controlling. You want to make the distinction between the rich and the poor, but in the past it's been skin color, gender, religion, and ancestry.

Any system that sets up an inequality will always be exploited. And I am not talking about the inequality between rich and poor. You spoke of payback before. Any exploitive system will be about control and payback.

Unless it's inherited, one acquires wealth by exploiting people OR providing value to one's neighbors. There are other ways, but they are minute examples. If someone earned wealth by providing value to neighbors, that means they are doing something right. Especially if happens over time. You don't want to use a plumber who cheats you, or a grocer who sells spoiled food, or a bank that charges negative interest on your accounts.

That's when wealth can reflect character and commitment and honor.

If someone is in business, if they provide what was promised at a fair price, if they pay for their purchases as expected, if they treat people well, all of that makes a pretty decent measure of character.

That's what the Founders were interested in. Not a government of the rich for the rich, but a society of people with proven character.

Let's take a modern example. Before the law was changed, you could only finance a house by coming up with a down payment, usually ten percent of the price. This wasn't done to keep the poor unhoused. It was because you wanted people buying houses if they could afford it and were willing to work for it. The down payment also represented character and commitment.

When the law was changed for "compassionate" reasons, people could buy a house without "skin in the game." If someone couldn't pay their mortgage, the bank would take it back without any risk to the buyer. Since the mortgage payments were usually less than rent, there was no incentive to keep the house if that someone couldn't pay.

Meanwhile, banks and loan companies couldn't profit. People didn't put in down payments and walked away. Housing prices skyrocketed even as there was a glut of housing. So their solution (made with government encouragement) was to split the loans into what was paid and what was owed. Whoever got stuck with what was owed without any income lost big time. But banks got "too big to fail."

So a change in law to benefit the poor actually made things worse for nearly everyone. All because the rule of law was no longer uniform. It could be exploited. And it was.

It wasn't because of the divide between rich and poor. It was because politicos saw something they could tell voters was a Major Problem. It was because the changed law no longer rewarded character and hard work.



I have to point out that many of the people screaming about race relations are profiting either in terms of money or power. Not all and not most, but a significant number are making noise because they benefit from the problem and can't allow it to be solved.

I really don't want to start another long involved conversation about guns. I will say that libertarians call gun control victim disarmament and leave it at that.

Did you know that many housing projects were a direct result of Great Society programs? Those same programs encouraged the destruction of existing buildings (with low crime rates) so the projects could be built. Most of these projects were dilapidated and crime ridden within a decade or so. Some were rebuilt two or three times with the same results. I have to wonder how many of those problems were caused by the projects and the public housing policies that made them possible. Differences and problems may have been made worse by government action.

It wasn't skin color that gave the ghettos their reputation. It was crime. And the crimes may have had roots in government compassion.
NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.
Comments

“Black, Millennial, Female and… Conservative” from Prager University

“Antonia Okafor, a young, single, black woman, recently discoveblurb that's she's a racist, sexist, misogynist. How in the world did this happen? None other than Antonia Okafor explains.”

Read More...
Comments

from crux № 11 — Ultimate truth

I've seen the arguments in enough other contexts to distrust anyone who claims rationality prevents any opposing view. Even more so when they dismiss any other possibility unheard because they have the Ultimate Truth That Must Not Be Questioned.
     — NeoWayland
Read More...
Comments

from crux № 9 — Testing ideas

“People of Color: You Are Not Oppressed”

Read More...
Comments

from crux № 1 — hate crimes

I've never agreed with the “hate crime" nonsense.

Read More...
Comments

from crux № 10 — the system

Another classic that I've used in the sidebar for years.

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — Pardon…

It would not honor my faith, and it dishonors the Divine as I perceive it. It would require me to break oaths & promises that are at least as important to me as yours are to you.

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — Liberty should be the goal

We need solutions that don't exile people politically.

Read More...
Comments

Mixing science and politics

“The Real War on Science”

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — People. Are. Pissed. Off.

People had their trust stolen and now they are almost ready to smash.

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — The real "for their own good"

I'm libertarian. If I had my way, the government would be much smaller and not pushing either a progressive agenda or a conservative one. I'm convinced that a big reason WHY this is happening now is because conservatives built the Big Institutions to keep things working Their Way™ and progressives took them over for the exact same reason.

I don't believe the answer is in who gets to call the shots.

I think the solution is stopping people from meddling with other people's lives so that those other people HAVE to take responsibility for their own choices.

Because that's the real 'for their own good.' class="ghoster">

NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

Comments

NeoNotes — Political fringe and crazy ideas

The only point in taking over the world is to make sure people make their own choices

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes — Dangerous beast

Perhaps the biggest difference between libertarians and conservatives/progressives is that conservatives and progressives view government as a Way To Get Things Done.

Libertarians see government as an extremely dangerous beast that if kept at all, must be severely hobbled and and three-quarters starved.

For the safety of the community. class="ghoster">

NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

Comments

Twitterfied - updated

But here’s the thing. They make no secret of their opinion. If they think I am wrong, they tell me and they tell me why.

Read More...
Comments

Leap of faith

My goal isn’t winning internet arguments, it’s freedom.

Read More...
Comments

NeoNotes - Choose your right

I believe that economics and morality should be based in free choice.

Read More...
Comments

Why I MARGINALLY prefer
conservatives over liberals

Despite the "push for impeachment," it is not one individual or party we should be worried about

Read More...
Comments

Pagan•Vigil FAQ

Just the FAQs about my Vigil

Read More...
Comments
2019       2018       2017       2016       2015       2014       2011       2010       2009       2008       2007       2006       2005