❝❝Rather than citing examples of "rightness" being a mental illness, I think I will just cite the old idiom Moderation in all things.

I will say that from my perspective it's not "right" or "left" that is wrong per se, but the desire to control others while avoiding the consequences of your own actions. The reasons and the justifications change, not the actions.

---

Just where do you think the "left" learned the self-righteous, sanctimonious posturing?

Frankly, I don't care who did it first, second, or most recently. Or what the scoreboard says.

You're playing the game, perpetuating the problem. And I have absolutely no assurance that if "your guys" win, my life will be better. Just your promises, which are worth exactly nothing based on past experience.

After all, you've just admitted that you can't stand dissent and disagreement.

---

If I've no investment in the ideology and your side "breaks the rules" to suppress dissent, then there is no benefit for me to support "the system" no matter which side "wins."

I'd be better off bringing down the whole mess and helping people pick up the pieces afterwards.

That's the stakes you're playing for. Not if your side wins, but if there will be a game left to play, or even if there will be recognizable sides.

So thought experiments aside, are you willing to play with these stakes?

---

The rules of the game mean you can't win. Neither can they. Oh, each side trades advantage with the other, but the conflict goes on and feeds on itself.

That's not being heroic, that's being damn stupid. What good does it do to protect the widows and orphans when there is no safe place to go?

---

Of course there are rules of the game, number one being winner take all. Number two being that the "truth" of the argument is determined by the winner of the conflict. Number three is that winning the conflict grants the power to silence dissent. Number four is that the conflict is far too important to allow ordinary people to ask questions.

This isn't Darwin, this isn't the nature of man, this is an artificial construct.

Should I go on?

I never claimed that I didn't answer. I implied you were asking the wrong questions. When anyone reduces things to an either/or premise, that is usually the case.

---

There you go again, assuming the only response is either/or.

You think winning is the answer.

I want to remove the possibility of either side winning and starting the conflict all over again.

Because after you win, after you put down your sword and gun, after you take a deep breath on the field of battle, I and those like me will be there.

Pointing at you.

Laughing.

And you won't be able to touch us.

Sometimes you don't have to win. Sometimes it's enough to keep the other guys from crossing the finish line and claiming their bloodstained glory.

---

If you think the socialists winning means that the President, Congress, and the courts have unrestrained power, then you already lost.

And they have exactly as much power over you as you choose to give them.

---

Either/or is a self-imposed trap. It presupposes that there are two and only two alternatives.

The greatest single expansion of the Deep State was signed into law by a Republican.

---

Would it help you understand my point if I (truthfully) told you that since a month or two after the handoff, I've said that Hong Kong will be remembered in history as the City That Ate A Country?

---

It's not a matter of free market DNA. It's the fact that Hong Kong has the most capitalist and competitive society on the face of the planet.

I agree we're talking at cross purposes. You see it as all wrapped up and I see a Gordian knot. In the case of Hong Kong, a free Hong Kong has a greater value than the Chinese military.

But for now, let's agree that we do disagree and move on.

---

And that is when you change the game.

---

Did you accept the rule set before you started playing?

---

Well, that is a interesting philosophical premise.

I'd agree that for most purposes, there appears to be an objective reality. From my purely subjective perspective of course. But pursuing that goes way beyond our conversation here.

Are the units autonomous? Well, that's another philosophical bit. For example, is the planet aware? Restricting our conversation to humans, are humans autonomous? I'd have to say that most individuals are not. No matter what the politics.

Are humans and specifically "leftists" dangerous? They can be, and mostly want to be. Are they more dangerous than "rightists?"

No.

As I said political orientation isn't the problem. Politics is.

---

I prefer Nolan's chart to the right-left dichotomy.

Politics is controlling the other.

I've spent a lifetime dealing with those who want to control others. Some do in the name of environmentalism, some do in the name of Divine moral authority, some do it for the "greater good." The justification changes, but the methods don't.

---

One of my biggest frustrations in today's politics is that people overlook what "their" side does even as they denounce the "other" side for doing the exact same thing.

We've reached the point where what is done is not nearly as important as who did it.

Meanwhile liberty takes a hit.

---

*shrugs*

My problem here is once you've won, then what? Especially if in victory you claim power and authority that you never should have had.

Earlier you told me that if the socialists won in 2020, I'll personally lose. My response was to point out that if the EEEEEVVVIIILLLL forces of government already had power to screw me on some technocrat's or politico's whim, then there is no point in me supporting your side because freedom is already gone.

Sure, you promise to fix it, you promise to Do The Right Thing, and I should believe that why?

““The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.””

— H.L. Mencken

---

Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan between them escalated the "War On Drugs" and enabled the narco-state. Mandatory minimum sentences were made possible by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Wide scale civil forfeiture including sharing funds and proceeds with local police agencies was made legal by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The 1208 program and the militarization of local police dates to 1990, although it was changed to the 1033 program and was expanded in 1996. The USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law by Bush League.

This is only a small portion of things that have happened on a Federal level.

I ask for nothing except the freedom to live my life as I choose while accepting responsibility for my choices.

Who is the "right" to deny me those things?

---

I'm going to point out again that you're willing to overlook the abuses of "your guys" while going after the "other guys."

I want less government than absolutely necessary. What I see is a long history of Republicans and conservatives who want to expand government, regulation, and spending. The Deep State owes just as much to Republicans than to Democrats.

I don't care who is "in charge." I don't care who is to blame.

I want less government than absolutely necessary.

---

I gave specific examples of Republicans abusing power in ways that rival anything that Democrats have done or will do.

You are stuck on the label when you should be looking at the institution.

---

“Nothing R's have done in your lifetime can compare to the damage of the D's.”

Watergate.

Ford's pardoning of Nixon.

Ford's "Hail Mary" pass to save the CIA and his nomination of George H.W. Bush to director. Since it was before my birth, we'll ignore the rumors about Bush's CIA related activities between 1959 and 1964. Also before my time but I'm doing extra credit, the question remains why Bush was pretty much the one American in his generation who could not "remember" where he was on November 22, 1963.

Iran-Contra.

Changing of banking laws and regulations during the early 1980s, leading to the savings and loan crisis, the eradication of regional banks, and the consolidation of American banks and investment firms into selected giants.

The USA PATRIOT Act, literally the climax of decades old Deep State wet dreams. Start with Inslaw and PROMIS, look at the Danny Casolaro murder, and then look at what has happened the last twenty years.

I could go on and on. I haven't even touched on what happened with the Contract With America, or how the leaders of both major parties colluded and conspired against the Tea Party.

The vice or virtue is not in the label. Democrats and the left are not especially evil. Republicans and conservatives don't get a free pass because they are doing the wrong thing for the "right" reasons.

I wanted to make this about government, the abuse of power and politics in general. You were the one making the case that Democrats and the left were irredeemably evil while Republicans and conservatives were mostly good.

---

First, stop blaming "leftists" for the evils of government.

Second, accept that the label Republican, conservative, or "rightist" doesn't make you saints or even the best qualified.

When you've done that, I'm ready to talk about the next bit.

---

I gave you examples, including Republicans who actively broke the law.

As for Republicans being the lesser evil, is there a one of them since Eisenhower who did anything other than go through the motions?

---

Start by admitting it is a government problem and not a Republican or Democrat situation.

Stop making excuses because some of your interests happen to line up at the time.

Until you do that, you're not ready to have this conversation.

---

You're treating a premise as an Article of Faith Not To Be Questioned.

As long as you hold onto that, you won't believe what I say or accept any solution that I propose. Because under that premise, it's absolute nonsense and can't possibly be anything else.

Or the premise is invalid.

---

That is not true.

There has to be a commonality to build on, especially for deeply held beliefs.

For example, I don't think humans need to be saved. So talking to me about a guy nailed to a cross isn't really going to resonate. Likewise, unless you accept anthropogenic climate change, the notion of a climate crisis won't make sense.

As for giving my views and the solutions, I have.

---

“There has to be rationality.”

Since when? Empires have risen and fallen without rationality. Trade agreements have been negotiated without rationality. Probably fewer than ten percent of Americans living right now are rational by any definition except they obey the rules they've been given.

Just to point it out again, I have stated the problem and the solution repeatedly. You reject the premise and therefore don't believe me. Government is the problem, even if it is a "friendly" government controlled by people you like. As long as you look to government for solutions, you make the problem worse.

Case in point, you've mentioned several times that we need to remove the left ideology from public schools and universities. Our public school system was created in part so that government could control what was taught. Did it never occur to you that as long as schools were publicly funded and government controlled, you can never remove the ideas that you don't like? Rather than taking control of schools and universities, maybe the answer is let the schools compete in a free market. The schools that can deliver value will thrive, the others won't. It's worked for everything from rye flour to smartphones, there is no reason to think it wouldn't work incredibly well for schools.

---

I haven't said anything about moral equivalence.

I just don't think that we should trust politicos to store and transport nuclear sludge in Hefty bags.

Don't tell me about the "virtues" of Republicans. Tell me why, despite their claimed support of smaller government, they haven't done anything substantial since JFK.

And he was a Democrat.

---

You've been telling me how virtuous the Republicans are. I'm telling you that based on their behavior, they aren't. There's less than a handful of effective Republican politicos on a national level who demonstrate honor and character. It's not because they are Republicans, it's because they have honor and character.

I gave you specific, catastrophic, and freedom destroying examples of highly placed Republicans turning government against the people. Some were felonies, and some weren't felonies only because no one had enacted laws against them yet.

I have offered solutions, you just don't like what I offered since it doesn't give conservatives legal and "moral" advantages that can be exploited against "leftists" because they are leftists.

“Just as we don't want other ideals imposed on us, we shouldn't impose our ideals on others. No matter how convinced we are that we are right.”

“The only thing they are really giving up is the power to compel behavior in others.”

You can't depend on government to do it for you.

---

Before Trump, who was doing it?

After Trump, who will continue doing it?

And that is assuming that Trump is a net benefit, something I do not believe.

All I've said is that Republicans aren't saints or "the better choice" because they are Republicans. The evidence supports my claims.

You've said that Democrats are more inherently more evil than Republicans. The evidence doesn't support your claims.

Show me people of honor and character and I will consider supporting them.

Show me Republicans and I will insist on honor and character. Show me Democrats and I will insist on honor and character. The label doesn't get a pass.

A man is measured in the lives he touched.

---

BTW, mandatory minimums, civil forfeiture of property without criminal convictions, and the militarization of police are hardly minor, superficial issues.

---

Your entire argument boils down to government is worse with Democrats in charge.

My argument is that government threatens liberty and rights no matter who is "calling the shots."

I gave you specific examples during Republican presidencies that have led to massive abuse of power.

I am not saying that Republicans are as bad as Democrats. I am saying that government is bad and it's time we reduced it's power and scope.

Otherwise we're fighting over who gets to be in charge with no evidence that Republicans are better or Democrats are better.

---

As long as we have government, let's make it too small to screw up our lives.

We have conditioned generations to believe that government is all wise and mostly benevolent. That government is the first, best, and last solution. That any problem can be fixed with more money and government expertise.

Provided no one asks inconvenient questions.

Me, I think government is radioactive and corrosive. I think it is occasionally useful in extreme circumstances but only if it is behind thirteen layers of protection. I think the risks of invoking government outweigh the benefits by several orders of magnitude.

And I do not trust anyone to use it wisely.

As far as the criminal abuse of the alphabet agencies, why do you think it began with Obama against Trump?❞❞

Tags: maxims ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ right ∙ Left ∙ game ∙ ideology ∙ break the rules ∙ Hong Kong ∙ City That Ate A Country ∙ objective ∙ subjective ∙ H.L. Mencken ∙ Richard Nixon ∙ Ronald Reagan ∙ War on Drugs ∙ narco-state ∙ mandatory minimum sentences ∙ Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 ∙ civil forfeiture ∙ Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 ∙ 1208 program ∙ militarize police ∙ 1033 program ∙ your guys ∙ other guy ∙ label ∙ institutions ∙ Gerald Ford ∙ CIA ∙ George H. W. Bush ∙ USAPATRIOT ∙ Iran-Contra ∙ Inslaw ∙ PROMIS ∙ Danny Casolaro ∙ vice ∙ virtue ∙ public schools ∙ universities ∙ politicos ∙ Donald Trump ∙ good ∙ evil

❝❝There is an assumption underlying American politics and to a certain extent our discussions here. In order for you to win, in order for you to benefit, someone else if not everyone else must lose. Some call it dualism, some call it either/or, and some call it IS or IS NOT. It's The Law of the Excluded Middle (more or less) and it's usually a false premise.

Something doesn't have to be black OR white. Sometimes it can be sour. Or fuzzy. Or octagonal. By accepting two and only two qualifying conditions, you eliminate all other possibilities, even if those other possibilities may serve your needs better.

For example, Sarah Waggoner is very much caught up in dualism. Any criticism of Democrats means she must attack Trump or Republicans in general. The idea that someone can be critical of Democrats without being a Republican is outside her expectations and almost outside her world view.

Meanwhile, from my perspective the problem isn't Democrats or Republicans. Accepting either premise ignores the obvious (to me), that too much government is the core problem. As long as the discussion is about either Party Red or Party Blue, we don't talk about an ever expanding technocracy that consumes more and more even as it restricts freedom. You can't talk about the dangers of government until you stop talking about the misdeeds of whichever party. Dealing only with Republicans or Democrats means you never look too closely at the system.

By design

---

Still, your first reaction to any criticism of Democrats is to attack Trump or Republicans.

You've never seen me "discuss" things like religion, sex, or crony capitalism with Republicans. Not to mention the occasional person who insists that their morality must displace all other choices.

My default is KYFHO. Keep Your F…ing Hands Off!

The fact is (and one of your major issues) that I assume that most people are perfectly capable of making their own choices. I don't think that government should be involved in most things. I don't think that government is first, best, and last solution. I do not trust in the wisdom of government.

Outside of sex and top-down morality, yes, that matches the mainstream "Republican" position. More accurately, the mainstream "Republican" position matches some of the classic liberal position. And yes, there is a vast difference between modern liberals and classic liberals. As I've said, my opinions on religion, sex and top-down morality (and what is dooming our culture) put me outside the Republican mainstream and squarely in with what might be called Democrat positions. Again, more accurately the Democrat positions match some of classic liberal position positions. And since classic liberals had those positions first, well, the Republicans and Democrats stole from their betters.

I could give you a hundred and thirteen things that Trump has done wrong. But I don't see Trump as significantly worse (or better) than his predecessors. At the end of the day (or term), we still have an ever expanding government that is destroying liberty. I don't think we should have a country whose liberty depends on the whims of those "in charge" this week.

Meanwhile Republicans and Democrats both want to expand government, only with their people in charge. The goal is not the government. The goal is not the system. The goal is liberty. Everything else is extra.❞❞

Tags: philosophy ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ dualism ∙ Donald Trump ∙ goverment ∙ system

❝❝HRC was not that likable as a candidate. The image of HRC appealed more than the actuality. She's many things, but she's not appealing, probably because she doesn't seem to connect on a personal level. That was something that Bill Clinton excelled at, and the lack in HRC just came off as disappointing.

---

My claim was that people relied on the polls so much that they couldn't be bothered to double check what was happening.

The election of HRC was already in confusion, not in the least because she manipulated the rules to deny anyone else the nomination. It wasn't the first time that people decided they didn't want her as a candidate. Even her election to the Senate wasn't so much winning as controlling the process to get her a Senate seat as a power base. Without that and without a big push from her husband, she couldn't make it as a candidate. As Bill Clinton's legacy became tainted and Democrats started avoiding him, HRC's "star power" faded.

I don't know why she avoided so many public appearances in 2016, although I suspect it's health issues that she never told people about. That certainly didn't help her.

You can blame Comey, you can blame the LEAKED emails, but HRC was never a strong candidate. She didn't even want to go up against Gore. She didn't dare go up against Bush League in 2004 because she was afraid she be washed up if she lost. In 2007, she got sold out by the Democrat leadership because they didn't want her in the White House. In thirty years, her reasons for running for President was that she was a woman, and it was time. Her whole strategy centered on victimhood while implying that she was owed the Presidency because Bill and others had done her wrong.❞❞

Tags: Hillary Clinton ∙ 2016 election ∙ Bill Clinton ∙ James Comey ∙ Al Gore ∙ George W Bush ∙ Bush League ∙ White House ∙ Democrats

❝❝Abortion is not about women's rights.

Yes, I know most here do not agree. But there are two things you must consider. First, it's not a right unless the other person has it too. Which means that "reproductive rights" just excluded half the population. Now, that doesn't mean I am saying no abortions. I'm just pointing out that abortion is not a right, any more than designer shoes.

Second, not all women think that abortion is a right. You can denounce them, you call call them misguided, but they don't agree that abortion is a right.

Finally, before you complain about judicial decisions, remember that Roe vs. Wade was a judicial decision that circumvented existing law.

---

And as I told you before, "these people" see it as a matter of preserving human life. The "opening bid" was Roe vs. Wade. I don't agree with them on everything, but let's get the timeline right.

Like it or not, the rights of the fetus are a part of the discussion. As are the rights of the father. Reproductive "rights" can't trump that, but reproductive privilege certainly does.

If this were a matter of rape, you might have a point. But sex is still (mostly) a consensual activity.

---

Their passions and their beliefs are just as strong as yours are. They aren't going to accept defeat quietly, anymore than you would.

While neither you nor they will admit it, the other side has some truth.

And in case you hadn't noticed, you have damn little power over your health care now. The left isn't blameless and totally virtuous in this matter, and I wish we would stop pretending that they are. Government is government and power over is power over. No matter how noble the motives, no matter how much it's for the common good, it still takes away choice.

---

Practically every reason that healthcare is messed up is because of government interference. Whether it is special perks and privileges extended to major pharma firms, or the approval period for new drugs and procedures, or Medicare and Medicaid setting prices for procedures and treatment while exploding costs far beyond inflation, or the active suppression of nurse practitioners, or screwing up insurance so badly that people have no idea what they are paying for or if it would be cheaper not to go through their insurance, the list goes on and on.

It doesn't help that every government fix involves more government.

And why do people keep raising the issue of rape when it comes to women's medical care?

Just to point out the obvious, both Republicans and Democrats have turned women's bodies into battlegrounds where there can be no compromise.

---

*sighs* The original stat for American women was one in five women will be sexually abused in their lifetime. Abused, not necessarily raped. It's also not accurate.

I don't accept your premise of either/or.

Nor do I accept that sex and abortion are tied to rape. Funny, I don't think that most relationships have to be about who has the power.

If you don't think that Democrats exploit women's bodies, then why is it so important to denounce the women who don't agree?

---

The original study was the 2007 Campus Sexual Assault study conducted by the National Institute of Justice, a division of the Justice Department. Here's what two of the authors had to say:

““As two of the researchers who conducted the Campus Sexual Assault Study from which this number was derived, we feel we need to set the record straight. Although we used the best methodology available to us at the time, there are caveats that make it inappropriate to use the 1-in-5 number in the way it’s being used today, as a baseline or the only statistic when discussing our country’s problem with rape and sexual assault on campus.

Second, the 1-in-5 statistic includes victims of both rape and other forms of sexual assault, such as forced kissing or unwanted groping of sexual body parts—acts that can legally constitute sexual battery and are crimes. To limit the statistic to include rape only, meaning unwanted sexual penetration, the prevalence for senior undergraduate women drops to 14.3%, or 1 in 7 (again, limited to the two universities we studied).””

— timeDOTcom/3633903/campus-rape-1-in-5-sexual-assault-setting-record-straight/

Until someone else mentioned it, I deliberately avoided mentioning rape. I specifically talked about sex, responsibility, and abortion. A casual reading of some of the other responses here (including yours) would seem to excuse a woman's responsibility before the fact because of, you know, rape. Maybe I'm just being extra dense here, but it seems like the only reason rape is introduced into the discussion mentioned is to specifically excuse women from responsibility.

When someone starts offering two and only two alternatives, that's the cue to look for the fourth, fifth, and sixth choices.

There are conservative women who disagree with you on abortion. Why aren't they a part of the discussion?

Why should your morality and choices govern the actions of another? Isn't that what you say would happen if conservatives "win?"

One other thing. Roe vs. Wade. Decided by eight old, rich white dudes and one rich, old black dude.

---

“You can't circumvent the topic of rape when discussing abortion.”

Why not? Are all or most women raped? Do all or most abortions happen because of rape? Why is it so very very necessary to make this part of the discussion when rape is not usually the reason for abortion?

Again, I am not saying that abortion should be illegal. I am saying that it is more than just the woman involved. I am not arguing over the definition of life. I am not dragging out charts and pictures to show a fetal heartbeat or how it responds to touch at what point in the pregnancy. I am saying that abortion is not a right when it excludes the man. And at a certain point (which I have no idea what is), the fetus.

If you want men to act responsibly, that means their sex partners should too. That means that yeah, women should think about consequences before sex. That means that if abortion is an option, it should happen before the last trimester and probably before the second. And yes, that means that the man should be involved in the decision. If they aren't, then men are just being encouraged to be irresponsible.

Just like what is happening now.

The default is for the man NOT to be involved. The default is for the man to ignore the consequences. Claim that only the woman can choose, and the man doesn't have to choose.

That's why abortion as it is now is not a right.

---

I am not denying that rape happens, although I do not think it is nearly as common in America as some claim.

I just think that always discussing rape when talking about abortion doesn't do your argument any good. As it is, based on what you say abortions should be performed if the woman was raped and never for any other reason.

Yes, I am arguing. I am saying that abortion isn't a right if even the discussion doesn't have to include the man. And the man is not usually or even mostly a rapist.

That's it.

Everything else is something that others have tried to hang on me.

---

*shrugs* Your choice has reduced this to either/or.

Here's the inevitable result. You can imprison them and/or kill them, or they can imprison/kill you. Force rules. Might makes right. Submission must happen. Power over, now and forever.

Is that what you want?

---

*shrugs*

Like I said, reproductive privilege excludes the man. And if a woman excludes the man from the choice, then he has no reason to be responsible. “He is literally just a donor of genetic material…”

---

Who said I didn't consider women as human beings?

I'm a guy who believes the aunts and grandmothers theory of history.

I seek the Divine in every lady I meet. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes not. Sometimes it's my fault, sometimes not. I knew my first strong woman from before I was born. She learned it from her grandmother, the strongest woman I've ever known (www.neowaylandDOTcom/files/StrongWoman170330.html).

Why do you assume that because I dissent on some things I would throw you to the Christian patriarchy?

Why are you measuring somebody's strength by something granted by politicos?

Again, I haven't said no abortions. I've just said that if it's only the woman's choice, then it's not a right.

---

For the last fifty years or so, American men have lost rights when it comes to children. Somehow the discussion about abortion always includes vague allegations of rape and domestic violence as if most men did terrible things to women.

Most men don't do these things. We're not guilty, we shouldn't be blamed for what we didn't do and are not likely to do. The presumption of guilt should not shape relationships and sex.

Even now, you are escalating. The discussion started about abortion. Then domestic violence got added. Then rape. And now you added murder.

Everybody shares a right. Privileges exclude people. Only some get privileges. Privileges are not rights, and rights are not privileges.

Now I am not talking about rape, I am not talking about domestic violence. I am not talking about what happened 100 years ago or last week in France.

What I am saying is that if the baseline of social behavior now means that a man will not be involved the decision to have an abortion, then it is a privilege, not a right

---

You keep assuming that I have their beliefs.

I don't.

I'm saying that it is not about rights when only one person is allowed to decide.

---

Then if the man's desires don't count, does that mean they don't owe child support?

---

"Want" doesn't have anything to do with it.

Accepting responsibility does.

But not if they are denied the choice.

---

Then give me numbers instead of allegations.

At the same time, I'll point out that by excluding men from the decision, they never have to be responsible. Under the circumstances, the surprise is not that some men flake out. It's that others don't.

---

It's not just "men" who have this opinion. That's the point. Women don't all agree with you and it's foolish to pretend that they do.

My first sex rule is "Consenting adults only.". The first derivation of that is "Your desire does not control another's choice."

I absolutely agree that children need happy families. I also think they need male and female role models, but that is another discussion.

I think the power and the responsibility doesn't just lie with men.

---

I do know that for a while, CA had a law that if the mother published the name of a man she claimed was the father a certain number of times, that man was obligated to pay support even if genetic testing showed there was no relationship. I know a few guys who got caught in that trap.

---

I am not saying most women are irresponsible.

I am saying that having sex without considering the consequences with your partner is irresponsible.

I'm saying that our "system" of excluding men from the decision about abortion encourages men to be irresponsible and guilt free.

Do I think that birth control is a good thing? Yes.

Do I think that abortion is a right? No, not if it doesn't include the man.

Do I think that late term abortion is a good thing? Definitely not in the third trimester and I would question any that happen in the second.

Do I think that men can be unfeeling jerks more concerned with their own pleasure than their partner's feelings? Yes, especially if they are not held responsible for their actions. If the man isn't allowed to talk about abortion with his partner, why should he care? That is the society we live in. He's encouraged to think it's the woman's fault if she gets pregnant.

The hook-up culture certainly hasn't helped. If the guy doesn't have to work at seduction, why should he pay attention to her feelings?

I still don't think that rape should be part of the discussion about abortion because most abortions happen without rape. The only reason I can see for treating rape as the norm for abortions is to silence criticism about abortion.

If you want to shut people out of the conversation for whatever reason, that is your choice. Just don't expect them to accept your "rights."

If you want to blame all of this on men, that's your choice too. But most of them will resent you for it because they didn't do what you are accusing them of.

So that's where we are. Because I said abortion wasn't a right, you've said I am anti-woman and a bad Pagan and a bad person. But I've not prevented abortions. I've not voted against abortion. I'm not arguing against abortion. All I've said is that abortion is not a right. I haven't tried to turn back the clock.

If you really want to fight what's happening in these states, you're going to have to find a justification other than the "right to an abortion." I'm being honest with you. I'm not attacking you and I am certainly not attacking women as a group. I am telling truth. It's what I do.❞❞

Tags: abortion ∙ reproductive rights ∙ privilege ∙ women ∙ fetus ∙ man ∙ rape ∙ health care ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ sex ∙ Roe vs. Wade ∙ Christian ∙ patriarchy ∙ American ∙ presumed guilty ∙ domestic violence ∙ murder ∙ sex rules

❝❝Pardon, but attacking their compassion may not be the best way to go.

I don't have an answer either, but I think if you asked most conservatives if abortion was more compassionate than taking care of unwanted and/or disabled babies, they would laugh in your face. You would hand them both the issue and the moral high ground.

---

First, those are different issues. Conservatives aren't a monolithic block. Not every conservative has issues with vaccines, and not every conservative thinks that autism is worse than death. I've not run the numbers, but I suspect the crossover with the pro-life crowd is pretty small.

Second, I'm not the one you'll have to convince. I have mixed feelings myself and it's one of those issues where I can see more than one side depending on circumstance. But when you tell most conservatives that "killing babies" is more compassionate, you've lost the argument with them and they will fight you to the end. It doesn't help that Democrats have defined abortion as their primary issue and practically THE only standard that matters for a Supreme Court justice. It doesn't help that Roe vs. Wade has no constitutional precedent and would be inevitably challenged as soon as the balance on the court changed.

This has always been a divisive issue. When conservatives look at Virginia, they see it as a call to action. This "slaughter of innocents" is something that they've been forced to accept for almost 50 years, and they are ready to fight back hard.

---

By your standards.

By their standards of compassion, they are saving babies.

And that "they" includes many women who do not believe that feminists, liberals, and Democrats speak for them. You can't win this issue if you dismiss those women as objects who can't think on their own and must be "saved" from the evil patriarchy.

---

I've my own issues with Christians.

But…

How is what they do that much different from what you just did? You just described a "come to Jesus" moment only with a different premise.

If faith means anything at all, it has to be freely chosen. That means that people are going to make choices that you don't like, don't understand, and don't approve of. You are no more entitled to judge their creed for them than they are entitled to judge yours for you. You can't win a battle of faith. Neither can they.

If you tell them that they are ignorant and living in fear and that everything they believe about their god is wrong, they have no reason to listen. All you are doing is feeding their perceived persecution. They don't believe they are victimized.

And not all of them are.

---

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that they are right. And I am certainly not defending them. My own feelings on the subject are way too conflicted.

What I am saying is that in this case the liberal/progressive ideas of compassion and sympathy are completely different from the conservative ideas. You're using the same words but you are having completely different conversations. Attack them in the name of compassion and in their minds you just made their case for them and without realizing it.

The assumptions and perspectives are completely different. Your logic won't work for them, just as theirs won't work for you. Both of you are starting from absolutes for one thing, even if those absolutes are mostly opposite.

---

As a libertarian, I want less government than absolutely necessary. I'm not thrilled with idea of restricting rights, but I'm also not thrilled with the idea of government "picking up the slack" so to speak. And I oppose government interference with sex. But that doesn't mean I'm completely with the "left" on sex either. I don't think there should be government funding for private charities or other organizations. Which means Planned Parenthood shouldn't be getting grants or funding.

Or to cut through all the verbiage, rights good, government meddling bad.

I don't trust in the wisdom of government to "do the right thing."

---

See, my problem is that I see both major parties using government to interfere and push their own agendas. "For Your Own Good!" "For The Greater Good!" "Think Of The Children!"

Sex is mostly a voluntary act. I see abortion mostly and commonly used as the "contraception of last resort." A hook-up and regret after a drunken encounter is not the same thing as rape or incest. I think a case can be made for abortion because of rape or incest provided we accept that a case can be made for adoption as well.

We forget that charity used to happen outside of government. Marvin Olasky wrote The Tragedy of American Compassion. Although I don't agree with all of his conclusions, Olasky does point out that charity used to be a short-term thing, privately and locally administered, and above all intended to get people on their feet and responsible for their own choices. Instead of a faceless bureaucracy that measures it's "success" by "clients" processed and money spent, private charity measures it's success differently.

If people had to take responsibility, maybe abortion wouldn't be casual.

---

I'm not asking you to do anything else. I am saying that they have their own reasons which make sense to them. Their reasons are just as important to them as yours are to you.

Stars above, I get so very tired of the either/or dualism. It's never going to be winner take all. The longer we pretend that one side can decisively win, the longer the struggle will last. The people pushing hardest for either/or don't care which side wins as long as both sides are so blinded by the "righteousness" of their own cause that the never realize just how much they are surrendering to the "system."

All because somebody has to be in charge. All because we have to meddle in the lives and choices of others. All because we can't trust each other to make the "right choice" and take responsibility for that choice.

I'm not conservative. I'm not defending their position. I am not asking you to accept them on faith or anything else.

I'm saying that to really resolve this, we're going to have to sit down and talk through our differences. Smashing heads, pointing guns, and using the rule of law to declare one morality supreme above all isn't going to do anything for the long term. It will always be a holding pattern until the other side gets an advantage.

Think about all the passion we're giving away. There has got to be a better way.

ETA: I don't care who did it first. I don't care who did it more. I just want the whole mess over.

---

Pardon, but the liberal party also regularly proclaims that they are for the children. The last Democrat nominee ran as the "women and children" candidate. In 1996 a Democrat president proclaimed that the era of big government was over.

I don't think that government is the first, best, and last solution to our problems. I don't think politicos are qualified to decide what should be taught in schools, sex ed or not.

And here's the opinion that is not going to make me popular. If you can't afford children, you should rethink sex. People keep throwing in things like rape and incest, but most sex in this country is consensual. Mixing rape, incest, and consensual sex objectifies the woman and makes her not responsible for her own choices.

No, I am not ignoring the man in these cases. I am saying that rape and incest are the exception to the rule. Even under the ever changing definition of rate in today's culture, where some women do believe that regret equals rape.

At the moment, we're in a mess with both major parties wanting control over sex. You can blame the Republicans all you want, but thanks to #MeToo it's not the "patriarchy" that is collapsing, it's how we deal with one another and how we share sex.

I'm not going to make the conservative arguments for them. I'm telling you how they feel and how they are going to react.

Kavanaugh was asked about abortion. Most of the articles about Gorsuch speculated on how he might rule in abortion cases. And most of the concern about Trump picking judges gets coached in the impact it will have on abortion cases. Like it or not, this has become the standard.

The natural conclusion to the argument that if only a woman has the right to decide, then the man has no financial obligation to ending the abortion or paying child support.

Personally I don't think that tax dollars should go to any organization providing services, medical or otherwise. But that's not the conservative argument. I'll also point out what any accountant can tell you, if government pays for a certain class of services, that frees up funding for other things.

Government involvement in health care (all types) has raised the cost of "essential services." It's no accident that health care prices have skyrocketed since Medicare and Medicaid became law, boosted by every attempt to "control costs." It doesn't help that since health insurance became an employee benefit, people don't know what they are paying for.

If we're really going to have this discussion about solutions, one thing that has got to be on the table is removing government intervention. Yes, that means no government restrictions on abortion, but that also means no government (taxpayer) funded healthcare.

---

“The difference here being that Democrats support policies that help women, children, and families of all demographics.”

I'm sorry, but that is not true. For much of my life I've lived next to the Diné and Hopi. Democrat policies are very selective as to which groups get "helped" under which circumstances. I am not saying that the Republicans are better. I am saying that "public solutions" to social problems don't usually work, especially when they are administered hundreds or thousands of miles away from the actual problem. There are other reasons of course. Words matter, actions matter more, intentions don't.

Politicians are not qualified to determine curriculum, but neither are technocrats who don't live near the school and whose kids don't go to the school. Problems get solved when the people responsible for solving the problems have "skin in the game." Look at this. I say I don't believe that government is the first, last, and best solution and you're telling me why the Democrat experts are better. I'm not praising the Republicans. I'm criticizing the assumption that any Federal experts are better equipped to solve problems because they are Official and sanctioned by the appropriate authorities.

Responsibility for what one chooses to do is conservative? I know that is not what you meant, but it comes off as sex without consequences. Responsibility is important, and as long as sex is voluntary and consensual it's only adult to consider the consequences. Just as it's adult to consider before driving drunk, or stealing a protest sign that you don't agree with. Actions have consequences, the mark of an adult is the ability to make the right choice despite the threat of punishment.

Now I am not talking about not punishing people for their crimes or bad behavior. I'm saying that PIV sex is usually a choice and that, protected or not, might result in pregnancy. If you don't want kids, if you can't afford kids, the best time to think about that is before the moment when the hormones start carbonating.

I've never disputed that women have human rights. What I pointed out was the standard for a Federal judge has become their opinion on abortion. That's become one cornerstone of Democrat policy. Regardless of if I personally believe if abortion is right or wrong or if a women's choice should govern if abortion happens, I do find myself agreeing with those who say that the only way abortion could be made legal nationwide is through judicial declaration and not through the democratic process. Small d there. Throw in public monies and suddenly a right becomes a privilege.

I'm pointing out the logical fallacy of claiming it's a "woman's right" until it comes time to pay the bill. Choice without responsibility usually gives us spoiled brats, no matter what the gender or orientation.

The unregulated world is a charitable one. It's when charity becomes part of government that it becomes Somebody Else's Problem and Americans stop paying attention to what is needed. Americans voluntarily give more to charity than anyone else on the planet. Whether it's a child fallen down a well or a hurricane flooding New Orleans, we're there. More times than not, it's the Official™ charity and relief that gets in the way.

There's a good reason for that, and It is something I touched on earlier. Charity is supposed to be short term. When you tell someone that they will have government health care no matter what or that they will have financial aid to help pay the monthly bills no matter what, what incentive do they have to do for themselves? When you say someone needs government help, aren't you really saying that they are not good enough to do it on their own?

I'm not the first one to point out that the rising costs in heath care drastically outpaced inflation starting right after Medicare and Medicaid became law. Or that continued attempts to "fix healthcare" keep causing prices to go up and availability to go down. Think about it. The relative costs of Happy Meals, pocket calculators, cell phones, and bathroom towels have decreased while the availability and selection has gone up. That's not true with medical care, one of the most regulated industries out there. The disparity in pharmaceutical costs alone should make you wonder.

Removing government from the solution does work even if the government experts and the experts who depend on government tell you it won't. There's a couple of dozen special interest groups right there, all of them greedy for power and money. Somehow the accepted solution is always more government.❞❞

Tags: Christians ∙ compassion ∙ conservatives ∙ moral authority ∙ vaccine ∙ autism ∙ abortion ∙ Democrats ∙ Roe vs. Wade ∙ Virginia ∙ feminist ∙ liberals ∙ patriarchy ∙ faith

❝❝Democrats have been fear mongering too. Especially since Trump announced.

I'm not going to say who is right or wrong, but I am going to point out that both major parties have done fear mongering over decades. If that is one behavior you're questioning, you should ask why is it bad when "They" do it and good when "We" do it?

I too get tired of the dualism. But I don't see it limited to one party.

My blocked follower on this site would tell you that I am oversimplifying. I don't think I am. Both parties do it. Both parties are contributing to the problem. Both have media allies who sing their praises.❞❞

— NeoWayland, comments from Pagan Community Notes: Religious harassment at Florida Gathering, Calif. school removes Bible verse, and more!

Tags: maxims ∙ fear ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ Donald Trump ∙ right ∙ wrong ∙ They ∙ We ∙ dualism ∙ media allies

❝❝I'm going to say this again. If the Democrats are afraid of what Republicans do with government power…

…if Republicans are are afraid of what Democrats do with government power…

…if independents don't trust either the Democrats or the Republicans with government power…

…and if libertarians don't trust government power…

…maybe, just maybe, the government has too much power.❞❞

— NeoWayland, comments from Leaks and Barr

Tags: maxims ∙ government power ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ independents ∙ libertarians

❝❝The perception and focus of the Democrat party is that there are groups who have been disenfranchised by society at large and that it is time to "get theirs." It's not about rights, it's about the politics of victimhood. Interests aren't addressed, certainly not in a larger context of all rights for all people. It's about slights and injustices, even if those have to be manufactured.

Say what you want about Republicans (and I often say a lot), at least they don't define rights in terms of politically approved sub-groups to exploit victimhood and the divisions between people.❞❞

— NeoWayland, comments from That time when Democrats were responsible for low Black unemployment

Tags: maxims ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ disenfranchising ∙ rights ∙ victimhood ∙ injustice

❝❝I'm not going to talk about Trump and his failings or if he is substantially worse than the other presidents.

What I am going to talk about (again) is that all these efforts to nail Trump show that the Federal government has too much power and that rogue elements and actors are not held accountable.

Yes, Trump's office was bugged. But that is just part of a surveillance state that has been in turbo boost since 9-11. And 9-11 isn't a good excuse, it just codified and focused secret plans that had been drifting around since the 1970s.

The issue is not Trump. The issue is not the Republicans. The issue is not the Democrats. These ongoing struggles over which party is on the side of the angels and public perception over crimes and misdeeds, that's just the distraction. While we're arguing over who did what, there are unelected and unaccountable elements in government and high finance who are taking power and freedom away from you.

No, you didn't win. The game hasn't stopped. We are still being screwed. And the next bit will make this look like robbing a kid's lemonade stand.❞❞

Tags: maxims ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Federal government ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ distraction ∙ tweeted

❝❝Are you going to insist that Democrats are Democratic again?

---

Actually given the actions of the Democrat party leadership over the last century or so, Democratic is the last thing they should be called. It's always been about establishing an elite outside of the laws and rules that apply to everyone else. Often with veto power over the words and actions of others.

One recent example are the superdelegates. That is about as anti-democratic as you can get.

Just Newspeak in action. Again.

---

And you clearly didn't get my reference to Newspeak.

It's a brand name. It's no more democratic than Acme Company is "the best there is." Progressives and Democrats have a long undeniable history of coopting words into something that means the exact opposite. "Liberal" used to mean what we Americans call "libertarian" today.

---

And there we go. That's Democrat Tactic #45, Alinsky #13, and PeePeeTape #4.

Shift the focus away from the argument and towards the person who made the argument.

---

As I said, "with veto power over the words and actions of others."

Tell you what. I'll call them Brand D. That way you can ever so conveniently ignore the attempts to usurp language without being too obvious about it.

---

Do you really think you have the power to dictate my actions or words?

Do you really think that there is one person reading this site that will have any doubt whatsoever just which group I mean?

Brand D it is then.❞❞

Tags: Democrats ∙ democratic ∙ maxims ∙ elite ∙ laws and rules ∙ veto power ∙ words ∙ actions ∙ anti-democratic ∙ Newspeak ∙ brand name ∙ Brand D

❝❝As far as I am concerned, you have no business going after Republicans until you at least acknowledge that Democrats aren't perfect and are just as good at messing things up.❞❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ Barack Obama ∙ White House ∙ Trump Tower ∙ mainstream media ∙ trust ∙ overlook ∙ maxims

❝❝To me, the interesting thing is that most of the mainstream media is willing to ignore things like this so long as it's a Democrat doing it to a Republican.❞❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: Obama Administration ∙ Trump Tower ∙ wiretap ∙ Barack Obama ∙ incompetent ∙ liar ∙ Donald Trump ∙ mainstream media ∙ ignore ∙ rule of law ∙ abuse of power ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ good ∙ evil ∙ greater harm ∙ maxims

❝❝I think that for the politicos it was never about saving humans or the planet, it was always the justification for shifting massive amounts of power and cash without accountability.

Ocasio-Cortez is an idiot and a very noisy distraction.

What is going to hit next is The Compromise®. There will be some very well respected and high profile Democrats who will publicly proclaim that of course the Green New Deal goes too far. But maybe we should consider some of the proposals. Carefully. After all, people are scared.

And if the "reasonable" Democrats don't get The Compromise®, they can always throw their weight behind Ocasio-Cortez.

I suspect that "no planes" means no air travel unless it's Absolutely Necessary. With the Democrats deciding what is and is not necessary. Look for that in all the new proposals. That will be part of The Compromise® and how it will be sold to the public.❞❞

Tags: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ∙ green new deal ∙ environmental crusade ∙ Democrats ∙ The Compromise® ∙ it's Absolutely Necessary ∙ exceptions

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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84% of 18-24 year olds don’t know how to change a light bulb… but they think they can run the economy?

Entrepreneurship Lifts Cambodia from the Clutches of Extreme Poverty in a Single Generation

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Roger Stone faces a gag order. He has a plan to resist it.

The Unseen Costs of Humanitarian Intervention

Rep. Ilhan Omar calls for sharp tax increases on the wealthy: 'We've had it as high as 90 percent'

Tags: humanitarian ∙ interventionism ∙ Cambodia ∙ entrepreneurship ∙ spies ∙ gun control ∙ Houston ∙ police ∙ Facebook ∙ iPhone ∙ Apple ∙ EU ∙ Brexit ∙ Theresa May ∙ FBI ∙ Roger Stone ∙ Howard Schultz ∙ Elizabeth Warren ∙ France ∙ red scarves ∙ theft ∙ South Carolina ∙ civil asset forfeiture ∙ Europe ∙ climate change ∙ water ∙ power ∙ trash ∙ sugar ∙ subsidies ∙ Ted Yoho ∙ Democrats ∙ Medicare ∙ vote fraud ∙ Pennsylvania ∙ Texas ∙ Nancy Pelosi ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Virgina ∙ late term ∙ abortion ∙ VA ∙ private providers ∙ Venezuela ∙ bitcoin ∙ currency ∙ John Bogle ∙ Robert Mueller ∙ gag order ∙ no-knock raids ∙ 16th Amendment ∙ income tax ∙ Ron DeSantis ∙ Florida ∙ Common Core ∙ Pete Buttigieg ∙ South Bend ∙ endless war ∙ Bill Nye ∙ cIimate panic ∙ renewable ∙ fossil fuels ∙ nuclear power ∙ severe winter

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The shutdown’s real lesson: Government has taken hostage too much of the economy

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California prohibits gender-based auto insurance: report

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Second Thoughts On Pot

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US approved thousands of child bride requests

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5 reasons why there’s still no end to the shutdown

The only acceptable answer: “None of your f(ornicating) business!”

Who gave National Review the power to excommunicate?

Employee at Ford Office Fired After Disagreeing With Transgender Post

Majority Preservation Act

Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize

This Reporter Took a Deep Look Into the Science of Smoking Pot. What He Found Is Scary.

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Cory Doctorow: Disruption for Thee, But Not for Me

Tags: mobile carriers ∙ Nobel Prize ∙ Barack Obama ∙ gun control ∙ NSA ∙ recession ∙ Gab ∙ bitcoin ∙ Facebook ∙ war against men ∙ Catholic Church ∙ Philadelphia ∙ soda tax ∙ Hispanic Caucus ∙ Puerto Rico ∙ Democrats ∙ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ∙ cannabis ∙ Donald Trump ∙ victimhood ∙ privacy ∙ Fourth Amendment ∙ deep state ∙ RussiaGate ∙ FBI ∙ government shutdown ∙ Europe ∙ Davos

❝❝Unscientific test.

Two video monitors of equal size. A dozen people, some of who were Democrats. Both videos played side by side with the volume turned down. All but one person thought that Trump came across stronger, more confident, better body language, and more convincingly. One guy said that Pelosi and Schumer looked like high school student council candidates.

Again, I don't like Trump and I don't trust Trump. But compared to the Democrat leadership, well, there's no comparison.

Is anyone else reminded of the Kennedy-Nixon debate?❞❞

❝❝Kennedy vs. Nixon.

Regardless of what was said, visually Trump came across looking very well. Pelosi and Schumer came across looking like two high schoolers running for student council. That observation isn't mine, but I am caging it anyway. Why in the World were they sharing a lectern?

Trump came across as an executive with pictures of his loved ones in the background. And with only one American flag. Pelosi and Schumer looked like they got kicked out of the cafeteria and they dragged in flags to make the walls look good.

As an aside, the trend of using multiple flags behind you to show your patriotism is stupid.

Kennedy vs. Nixon.

---

If you'll remember, I told you before you need to focus on the things that Trump does that are actually wrong. I specifically mentioned his misuse of eminent domain in the past. Lo and behold, the key part of his emergency plan is eminent domain.

Peepers, you focus on the wrong things when you attack Trump. You have from the very first. And you continually mistake my not agreeing with you as support of Trump.

Trump has been making Democrats look bad since he announced. It doesn't help when Democrats continually underestimate him. Even if they ignore everything that Trump did before, there's not a one of the Democrat Congressional leadership who has ever negotiated anything outside government. Trump is playing this exactly right and the optics reflect that.

You want to take Trump down? I'll tell you what to focus on. Eminent domain. The volatility of the stock market. Not the direction, but how fast and how far it changes direction. There's some major instability there. His treatment of the EU, particularly downgrading the ambassador. National security, particularly spying on Americans. Healthcare. War on drugs. Prescription drugs and self medication. The Second Amendment. Social Security and pensions. The national debt. Military spending and accountability. Free speech. Protectionism. Start with those.

You can't treat him as a Republican politico because he isn't one. And don't forget that this man has been dragging his fights and negotiations through the press for forty years. Remember that exchange from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie about the worst pirate. Trump doesn't care if the press is good or bad, he just wants the press.

---

This came from an unscientific experiment that some friends and I did. And yes, some of them were Democrats. We ran the videos side by side on two monitors with the sound turned off.

Trump looked like he belonged. Pelosi and Schumer didn't. Their body language showed that they were unhappy, probably because they were sharing a lectern and neither wanted to share the spotlight. Pay attention to their hands specifically. Trump looked friendly, Pelosi and Schumer looked like they wanted to strangle someone.

I never have liked the multiple American flag thing, not even when it started with Bush League. I think it was him, he was the one I noticed using it first. Certainly the Democrats of that time were doing it. I think it is purposely distracting. Come to think of it, that's when I remember multiple Democrats sharing a lectern. Or at least all standing behind one person at the lectern.

As for the Z group, I adjusted my tactics accordingly. They wanted to ignore the political implications when those same implications were central to the argument, whether they wished to acknowledge that or not.

You on the other hand don't like to deal when facts or actions don't fit your script. You think that opposing someone means throwing every insult and accusation possible at them in the hope that something sticks. You're not willing to look the person's history and adjust accordingly. You let the labels control your expectations and then get frustrated when things don't turn out the way you want.

I was never against criticizing Trump. I was against criticizing Trump stupidly foolishly in ways that would make him look stronger and better. Throwing insults at him doesn't work, he just pushes back. Treating him as the typical Republican politico who will back down out of civility or for the greater good doesn't work because that is not what he does.

It's not that I support Trump. I just think you are attacking him in very stupid and amazingly ineffective ways.❞❞

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ Democrats ∙ Nancy Pelosi ∙ Chuck Schumer ∙ Kennedy-Nixion debate ∙ multiple flags ∙ eminent domain ∙ underestimating ∙ negptiate ∙ stock market ∙ volatility ∙ EU ∙ ambassador ∙ national security ∙ spying on Americans ∙ health care ∙ War on Drugs ∙ prescription drugs ∙ self medication ∙ Second Amendment ∙ Social Security ∙ pensions ∙ national debt ∙ military spending ∙ accountability ∙ protectionism ∙ Republican ∙ politicos ∙ press ∙ political opinions ∙ insult ∙ label

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: ICE ∙ sex offenders ∙ homicide ∙ Mike Lee ∙ Congress ∙ public lands ∙ Utah ∙ national monuments ∙ Barack Obama ∙ email probe ∙ Matthew Whitaker ∙ recuse ∙ House of Representatives ∙ border security ∙ PewDiePie ∙ internet ∙ Senate ∙ Democrats ∙ Donald Trump ∙ border wall ∙ UK ∙ Brexit ∙ EU ∙ Spaniish Civil War ∙ anarchists ∙ private property ∙ individual rights ∙ eminent domain ∙ small business ∙ Al Gore ∙ green energy ∙ gamble

As long as you buy into the idea that one side is marginally better, the circus continues and you are cut out of the decisions.

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ Democrats ∙ false choice ∙ rigged ∙ distraction

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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The Amazon Deal Shows Why We Must End Corporate Welfare

Top Ecuadorian Diplomat Destroys Guardian's Claim That Manafort Visited Assange

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Paris protests reveal fracture between France’s haves and have-nots

Miseducated or Stupid?

I quit Instagram and Facebook and it made me a lot happier — and that's a big problem for social media companies

Is the FBI Raiding Whistleblowers' Homes to Protect Robert Mueller?

I deleted my Twitter account. It's a breeding ground for thoughtlessness and contempt.

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When they have eliminated superdelegates, they will have earned the designation.

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In Democratic circles, anti-Semitism is becoming normal

The ACLU Condemns DeVos's Title IX Reforms, Says These Due Process Safeguards 'Inappropriately Favor the Accused'

Household debt hit a record high of $13.5 trillion last quarter

A Warm-Up For 2020: Arizona’s Maricopa County Just Stole The Senate Election

GOP Audits Elections Office In County That Swung To Democrats

Hanging On: Republican Congresswoman Mia Love Is Now Favored To Prevail In Tight Re-Election Bid

Stacey Abrams Acknowledges Loss In Georgia Governor's Race

Is an ‘Internet of Ears’ the next big thing for smart homes?

SAF, NRA File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Initiative 1639

Kansas City Health Department pours bleach on food meant for homeless people

Debra Messing Joins Alyssa Milano, Condemns Anti-Semitic Women's March Leaders

Gridlocked, in Fair Weather and Foul

Bubble Trouble: Seattle-Bellevue Metro Housing Market Goes South

Democrats’ Way Back: Is the Resistance rooted in reality?

Identity Politics and American anti-Semitism

Brenda Snipes submits resignation as Broward elections supervisor

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Liberal Scorned: The Media Turns on Facebook and Google

Trump backs sentencing reform bill he says will give ex-inmates 'a second chance at life'

The Institutionalization of Social Justice

There's a Good Reason Many Women Make Less Than Men

Loggers support Trump's claim that wildfires caused by 'poor forest management'

Global warming alarmists pissed off by Canadian gov’t report that nukes their narrative about polar bears

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Pelosi On Broward County: ‘There Is No Election Fraud,’ Just ‘An Honest Count Of The Vote’

Arizona Democrat's Lead Now 'Insurmountable'

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

This is What Retail Investors Did with GE This Year as it Plunged

Google’s Highly Cited Scholar Wants a ‘Farewell to Free Speech’

Lhamon’s Confession: She Gamed The Narrative

God and Guns in the Synagogue

Understanding the Global Recession of 2019

Former Hillary Adviser: “Hillary will run again”

‘None of the above’ tops list of potential 2020 Dems, poll shows

Alabama Voters Pass Amendment to Display Ten Commandments at Public Schools

Should We Abolish the Electoral College?

Judicial Watch sues for records on overlooked House IT scandal

Tags: Nancy Pelosi ∙ election ∙ Broward County ∙ Florida ∙ General Electric ∙ Google ∙ Title IX ∙ Catherine Lhamon ∙ guns ∙ synagogue ∙ recession ∙ 2019 ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ none of the above ∙ Democrats ∙ Decalogue ∙ Alabama ∙ public schools ∙ electoral college ∙ Judicial Watch ∙ House of Representatives ∙ scandal

Poll – Dem Choice For 2020 POTUS Race: None Of The Above

Newly Unsealed Documents Show Top FDIC Officials Running Operation Choke Point

U.S. Secret Service Warns ID Thieves are Abusing USPS’s Mail Scanning Service

The DEA and ICE are hiding surveillance cameras in streetlights

Florida Sec. of State Orders Recount for Both Senate and Governor’s Races

Are We Becoming a Victimocracy?

Proof positive that these Dems were against Jeff Sessions before they were for him

Feinstein Urged Obama To Use Presidential Power To Limit Immigration: ‘No Legislation Necessary’

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Illegal Migrants Boast of Aiding Democrats’ Campaigns

Three European Countries Block Tax on Tech Giants

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Invasion

America Goes to War

Fmr Assistant Secretary of Treasury Explains What The Mid-Term Elections Are Really About

Hillary Clinton remains the Democrats best chance to defeat Trump in 2020

Right-wing activist group films undercover video of Kyrsten Sinema, staffers

Police decrypt 258,000 messages after breaking pricey IronChat crypto app

6 Questions About The Huge CIA Blunder That Allowed Enemies To Kill 70 U.S. Spies

CIA's ‘surveillance state’ is operating against us all

This Ousted Judge Just Released All the Juvenile Defendants Who Promised Him They Wouldn't Kill Anybody

Cannabis Industry Cheers Sessions' Departure at DOJ

3 Ways to Make the Post-Election World Better

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It's going to be tight.

Tags: Democrats ∙ U.S. House ∙ Florida ∙ Ron DeSantis ∙ felon voting rights ∙ AZ Prop 126 ∙ Doug Ducey ∙ Martha McSally ∙ Kyrsten Sinema

If money was really speech, there would be no legal limit to campaign donations.

Tags: convention of states ∙ Constitution ∙ amendment ∙ New York ∙ Democrats ∙ guns ∙ Jamal Khashoggi ∙ dollar ∙ global reserve ∙ currency ∙ Common Core ∙ public schools ∙ small business owners ∙ hatefest ∙ Pittsburgh ∙ shakedown ∙ Portland ∙ Facebook ∙ Maine ∙ Paul LePage ∙ caravan

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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❝❝No news source is going to be unbiased. Everybody has a narrative they believe in and everybody is the hero of their own story. I've no problem with people advocating for what they believe in. I have every problem with one side presented as THE Only Acceptable Solution and all other sides demonized. I also have problems when one side is presented as nearly saints and people looking the other way when it comes to the flaws of their champions.

As a rule, absolutes don't.

No one person and certainly no group has all the answers. The Christians aren't all wholesome, but neither are the pagans. The Republicans aren't all righteous, but neither are the Democrats. The labels have no vice or virtue. Only individuals can take responsibility for the consequences. The answers lie somewhere in the middle where we meet and work out how to live without killing each other.

I'd be worried if I agreed with everything written here. That would mean that there is no room left for growth on any side. That would mean that we have silenced the magick for political expediency. It would mean that perception was more important than change.

There's good work here. Sometimes that means telling people what they do not want to hear. ❞❞

Tags: unbiased ∙ narrative ∙ hero ∙ Story ∙ demonized ∙ saints ∙ champions ∙ as a rule absolutes don't ∙ answers ∙ Christians ∙ pagans ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ perception ∙ political expediency

Changing the Rules

Why Is Social Media So Toxic?

Have we really wiped out half of all animals?

If Dems win the House, ‘climate committee’ will return – seeking energy taxes

Napolitano Teaches Basic Civics to Desperate ‘Fox & Friends’ Hosts

We Need a #MeToo Movement for Political Consent

How Trump Is Winning The Midterm Elections

Pakistan acquits Christian woman on death row

Surveillance Cameras Can Identify Anyone by “Talking to Their Cellphones”

Everything you need to know about economics you can learn in the pet food aisle

'Stalked within your own home': Woman says abusive ex used smart home technology against her

If You Liked 'Axis of Evil,' You're Gonna Love 'Troika of Tyranny'

Foxconn: Failure & Fraud

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Tags: video ∙ guest content ∙ immigration ∙ PragerU ∙ Tucker Carlson ∙ Democrats ∙ open borders

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

An exclusive look at Cory Booker’s plan to fight wealth inequality: give poor kids money

A Law Intended to Protect Crime Victims Is Being Used to Shield the Identities of Police Officers

Dear Resistance, listen to my lived totalitarian experience – you have no effing idea what you’re talking about

Politico Report Says Russiagaters Should Prepare To Kiss My Ass

Methods and Tricks Used to Create and Perpetuate the Human-caused Global Warming Deception

Divided Democrats struggle to answer Trump's claims on migrant caravan

Watching a Country Make a Fool of Itself

Saudi dissidents fear 'long arm' of state after Khashoggi murder

A Texas Police Officer Is Charged After Mishandling 130 Sex Crime Cases

Georgia Mayor Has Plan To Round Up Town's Sex Offenders on Halloween

California company that hires protesters is accused of extortion

Previously Deported Illegal Aliens Join Caravan: ‘It’s Time for Me to Go Back’

Judge bars New Hampshire proof of residency requirement for new voters

Tags: Cory Booker ∙ wealth inequality ∙ police ∙ shield ∙ unintended consequences ∙ authority ∙ resistance ∙ RussiaGate ∙ global warming ∙ deception ∙ Democrats ∙ caravan ∙ Brexit ∙ Georgia ∙ sex offenders ∙ Halloween ∙ protesters

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

The truth about electric cars

When a DNA Test Reveals Your Daughter Is Not Your Biological Child

Will U.S. Success In Cutting Greenhouse Gases Kill The Paris Climate Deal?

Honduras's paid caravan 'refugees' exposed as frauds by Venezuela's real refugees

Emails Show Obama FDIC Struggled With Legal Basis For Operation Choke Point

Texas Democrats Caught Mailing Pre-Filled Voter Registrations To Non-Citizens

Elizabeth Warren's Other Cherokee Scandal: Her Fight Against Tribal Sovereignty

Khashoggi misinformation highlights a growing number of fake fact-checkers

Migrant caravan clashes with Mexican police, waits on bridge at Guatemalan-Mexican border

Black Trump Supporters Declare Their Independence From The Democratic Party

Tags: electric cars ∙ DNA test ∙ greenhouse gases ∙ Paris Climate Agreement ∙ Venezuela ∙ Honduras ∙ refugee ∙ Obama Administration ∙ FDIC ∙ Operation Choke Point ∙ email ∙ Democrats ∙ voter fraud ∙ Elizabeth Warren ∙ Cherokee ∙ tribal sovereignty ∙ caravan ∙ Mexico

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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I've said it before.

Many many, times.

It doesn't stop it from being true.

I'm not fond of the Republicans or the Democrats. But right now, the Republicans aren't demanding that we break the system and submit to their demands.

So here it is, plain and simple.

If you advocate violence, if you aren't willing to work within the system, you aren't entitled. You don't get respect unless you are willing to give respect.

I don't care what you feel. I don't care how right you believe you are. No one person has all the answers. No group has all the solutions.

And NO ONE has the right to impose their views by force. We agree on the rules or we have nothing.

There's no reason to respect you unless you respect others.

Even the ones you disagree with.

Pinned to the top until further notice.

Tags: truth ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ violence ∙ within the system ∙ respect ∙ answers ∙ solutions ∙ disagree

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Do Half of All Marriages Really End in Divorce?

NATO to Deploy 45,000 Troops Near Russian Border—Calling it a “Defensive” Move

China confirms detention of former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei

U.S. not invited to Canada’s upcoming trade meeting — only ‘like minded’ nations allowed

How the mushroom dream of a ‘long-haired hippie’ could help save the world’s bees

ACLU's Opposition to Kavanaugh Sounds Its Death Knell

BOMBSHELL: audit of global warming data finds it riddled with errors

Politico: 'After Failing to Stop Kavanaugh, Dems Wonder If It's Time to Be More Ruthless'

Former Google boss launches scathing Silicon Valley attack urging tech giants to end the delusion that it's making the world a better place

Trump Isn’t a Self-Made Man. His Wealth Is the Product of Years of Government Subsidies.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'Eliminate' Electoral College, It 'Undermines' Democracy

IPCC Report Reaches Dire Conclusions Based on Models that Overstate Rate of Warming

The Democrats' Complaints About the Senate Being Undemocratic Are Pure Whining and Excuse-Making: Here's Why

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❝❝That is a phenomenally inaccurate and simplistic view.

---

"Run by blacks…"

They are run by Democrats who have spent the last 50+ years telling minority groups that they are victims and don't have to be responsible.

Gods, the absolute last last thing you should do is blame skin color.

Do you want to make things worse?

---

Of course you're blaming skin color.

Those "heritable characteristics" vanish when you start adjusting for quality of education, early childhood environment, and family support.

Next time read the disclaimers and qualitifications qualifications.

---

Yes, yes they do. Check the studies again. Better yet, follow it to the inevitable conclusion. If the "heritable characteristics" exist and are not modified by environmental factors, then by your logic "blacks" are inherently inferior.

Think about that very carefully.

---

The fact that you are relying on IQ tells me quite a bit.

The IQ tests are culturally biased. What's more, studies from the late 1970s forward have shown that the tests are sub-culturally biased. Those scores are significantly linked to quality of education, early childhood environment, and family support.

Yes, those things I mentioned earlier.

What's more, there's evidence of an inner-city sub-culture that is adamantly against doing well in school or on tests.

---

Look, here's the problem.

You're defining people by skin color, no matter what their individual accomplishments.

Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Daniel Hale Williams , Booker T. Washington, James West, John J. Jasper, Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., Thomas Sowell, Huey P. Newton, Carter G. Woodson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, those are just some of the remarkable American men I remember off the top of my head.

---

Those averages only matter if you've allowed for all other factors.

For example, how many sub-Sararan sub-Saharan nations have a free market based economy? How many recognize the rights of the individual?

I already told you a third theory. There are significant cultural and environmental differences. What's more, put any skin color in unfavorable circumstances and watch how fast the "average" drops.

---

Unless a government recognizes & defends individual rights, corruption follows as surely as night follows day.

Those white South Africans you mention had special privilege and exploited people because they had the power to do so. When things changed, there was no living memory of anything except special privileges. The corruption stayed and the exploited targets changed.

A version of the same problem is happening in those Democrat controlled cities that you incorrectly insist on labeling "black run." Recognized rights have long given way to special privilege, and no one remembers anything else.

---

I didn't say anything about it not being their fault. I specifically said Democrats "have spent the last 50+ years telling minority groups that they are victims and don't have to be responsible."

Not so long ago, the Republican idea of race relations was to get out of the way and tell people to take responsibility. That's no longer the case.

I don't care about blame. I just care about fixing the problem. And you are making things worse.

You're making the Democrat case for them. You're saying that "blacks" will fail if left to themselves.

---

You mean other than the examples I gave you?

If you are interested in statistics, try the upward mobility of "blacks" between 1900 and 1960, before government interfered. The welfare statistics and the rise of single mother families are particularly telling. These have been well documented.

On the whole, two parent households do better over time. When the immediate cost of having children is reduced by government intervention, then a single parent household is less likely to move up the economic ladder.

---

I told you some of what was necessary for a society's success. Recognition and protection of individual rights. A free market economy. Those things are rare.

Those things are also not dependent on skin color.

I don't recognize "black" societies, I recognize human societies. Almost every single time when someone talks about "black" societies or "black"nations or "black" cities, it's about racism.

There's one race and it's human.

---

I said no such thing.

I talked about political systems designed to exploit victimhood and grant privilege.

That has almost nothing to do with skin color and everything to do with denying rights.

---

People designed those systems. Generations of people over centuries, trading, interacting, arguing, fighting, failing, and trying again. It wasn't because of one skin color even if you could define "white."

---

Because I said that people designed the systems, for good or ill?

Because I pointed out that it took generations?

Because I pointed out that you can't define "white" anymore than you can define "black?"

You lost this one the second you used skin color as a substitute for individual merit.

---

You haven't managed to identify any significant differences that aren't environmental in nature.

Instead, you keep focusing on skin color, a poor indicator under the best of circumstances.

There are hundreds of other factors, starting with how many parents the child has and if the child is raised in a loving environment. That doesn't even include the social factors I've already touched on.

As long as you focus on skin color, you're just perpetuating the problems.

The only way the question is reduced to a binary condition is by focusing on insignificant measurements such as skin color.

---

We've already established that IQ is culturally biased. There are also strong indications that IQ is sub-culturally biased as well. That means that part of what IQ measures is cultural conformity.

That's assuming that IQ is a relevant measure of intelligence to begin with. There are theories that one measurement of intelligence isn't nearly enough.

Like it or not, you have to allow for environmental and cultural factors in IQ scores.

---

Me and about two thirds of the researchers studying the possibility.

I suggest you do a web search for IQ cultural bias.

---

First, it's not the "warrior gene." A variant is popularly (and inaccurately) referred to as the "warrior gene." Technically the variant produces less MAMO MAOA .

Second, the evidences seems to show that the people with a low level of MAMO MAOA show higher levels of aggression when faced with social stressors such as ostracism, exclusion, or overwhelming loss.

You know, environmental factors.

ETA: Sorry about that, spell check fixed something I didn't want fixed.

---

With environmental factors, yes.

Would you like a list of genetic variations that are activated by environmental stressors?

---

I don't lie.

You keep stressing differences that derive from environmental factors.

Yet you keep blaming skin color.

---

Remember when I mentioned "family support?" Have you accounted for the incredible cultural pressure to succeed at schools and testing?

---

Yep, Obama was all about skin color. And his solutions worked out just so well for everyone, right?

There's a line I've been throwing around for a couple years now.

❝There were so many patting themselves on the back and proud that a black man had been elected President that no one bothered to ask if a good man had been elected President.❞

---

The politics are a much bigger part of the problem than the skin color.

It's the politics I blame.

---

And there's your problem.

You think it's about America.

It's about freedom.

---

Who said anything about pretending it's not there?

I'm disputing why it is there.

---

Actually I did. I talked briefly about incentivizing single parenthood and telling minorities that they are perpetual victims and how they don't have to take responsibility.

---

No, it wasn't the same environment.

I specified "telling minorities."

Politics are bad enough, but the politics are of victimhood are just despicable.

---

Because they don't have the same incentives.

Do you have any idea how much has been written and spoken about this over the last sixty years?

You might start with Goldwater's objections to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

---

I believe they are indoctrinated to believe that they could only be victims no matter what.

---

Talked with more than a few. Slept with a couple.

I'm a bilagáana born on the res. I grew up next to the Diné, the Hopi, and the Havasupai. Spent a lot of time in Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, and Albuquerque.

Still want to lecture me on the "races?"

---

Gods, you really are so ignorant that you can't be bothered to do a web search.

Roughly translated, bilagáana means "white man." There's more to it than that, especially for one born on the reservation. I'm what happens when Louisiana farming stock takes root in the Four Corners region.

---

Check again.

I never denied cultural differences, I just pointed out that they alone don't determine IQ or aggression.

---

I don't think I've done it in this thread, but I have pointed out that there is one race and it's human.

"Peoples" is a completely different concept and doesn't usually rest on minor genetic differences. The term is slightly more accurate than tribes.

Go back and reread what I wrote on this thread. I started by pointing out that what was being passed off as racial and genetic differences were actually due to environmental and cultural factors.

---

Ah, someone is making the right points.

First, IQ is not an objective measurement. One of my favorite examples is the Diné, their culture doesn't recognize time and distance as linear. With the possibility of multiple intelligences, things get more complicated. Gross motor coordination doesn't translate to spatial mathematical. Yes, I know the theory has problems like leaving out fine motor control, but this isn't the place.

We've not defined intelligence very well. There's a difference between following a recipe and walking in a kitchen just to whip up amazing food. IQ tests look for proven solutions, not for that creative spark. Sometimes that mostly works, sometimes not.

One set of parents can produce a musical genius, a good accountant, and a total slacker. It's impossible to say if a specific genetic line might produce. We know from domesticated animals that some traits will probably breed true, but we have to allow for environment and chance. We can't say that this family always produces good Rotarians and never any gamers. We can't say that every puppy from that Labrador will be good with kids. If you expand it to a group, the uncertainty grows too.

---

Interesting. You get to keep your preconceptions but I have to give mine up.

Okay, let's go back to basics. Part of science is eliminating variables.

The people we're comparing, are they on the same economic level? Did they have the same number of parents? Did they attend the same or comparable schools? Are they married? Do they have the same number of kids? Is their debt level the same? Is their education level the same? Do they live in the same or comparable neighborhoods?

We know that every single one of these environmental factors can influence someone's mental abilities, their tastes, their chosen activities, and their obligations.

And these are just the big ones.

Otherwise you're comparing apples from last year to next year's bananas. There's no way to establish a baseline.

There's no real comparison until you can account for most of the major variables.

---

I'm telling you (again) that until you can account for environmental differences, your measurements are useless.

There's a difference between a Walmart special and a finely made bookshelf. You can't just say that the one that is forty-one inches wide is better than the thirty-five inch one. You don't have enough information to judge.

---

It's a trick question.

It presupposes that there aren't any other variables that matter.

At the very least, acknowledge that the quality of schools makes a difference.

Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bullshit question.

D.A. Jim Trotter: Does that mean that you can't answer it?

Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bullshit question, it's impossible to answer.

D.A. Jim Trotter: Impossible because you don't know the answer!

Mona Lisa Vito: Nobody could answer that question!

D.A. Jim Trotter: Your Honor, I move to disqualify Ms. Vito as a "expert witness"!

Judge Chamberlain Haller: Can you answer the question?

Mona Lisa Vito: No, it is a trick question!
     — My Cousin Vinny

---

From my second response to you on this thread, I've pointed out again and again that you can not eliminate cultural and environmental factors.

The differences that you chose to highlight directly resulted in part from the culture and environment.

These are facts that we know and can easily be verified through a web search.

Children from single parent households tend to do worse at school and hold lower paying jobs.

Children from abusive households tend to do worse at school and hold lower paying jobs.

Single parent households tend to stay at lower income levels.

Some schools fail so much that most of their students can't read, write, or do basic math.

If children don't have enough to eat, they don't do well in school.

If people don't have shelter, they tend to have more health problems.

How much did environment and culture play a part? There is no way to know unless you can eliminate variables.

There's no comparison unless you can account for most of the major variables. This is true in science. This is true in statistics. This is true in life.

Your question makes no sense because there can be no comparison.

---

But you haven't presented evidence.

You've gone out of your way to dismiss the very idea that the culture and environment can have any possible influence on the differences you chose to highlight.

All you've done is lay out a premise that presupposes that no other factors can change what you choose to measure.

It's not science. It's not statistics. It's not even logically verifiable.

It's just prejudice.

---

You don't have evidence. You have observation, but you haven't shown cause or correlation because you have not allowed for environmental and cultural factors.

It's not even a matter of "interpretation." You've deliberately chosen one measurement and claimed that it defines the whole discussion. Can you say selection bias?

---

You can put tomato seeds in a salt shaker for nine months. That doesn't mean you'll be harvesting.

---

But I don't blame skin color at all. That's when I talk about this at all. Most people don't want to deal with uncomfortable truths.

I talk about politics, history, and the lies of government. Also basic economics and self-ownership.

---

Self-ownership and responsibility are a big part of what I write and talk about.

I also talk about strategy that exploits the politics of victimhood. I point out that the people who don't accept those lies from politicos and technocrats do better over time. Usually better than their parents. Which used to be a measurement of success in this nation.

A significant number of politicos (easily more than half) use the message that people are victims and their friend, the government, can help.

I tell people that government is not your friend, no matter how much the politicos say that it is.

That's not making excuses. That's showing that most politicos want problems they can stage manage. The politicos can't do that by solving problems.

---

It's a loaded question.

The premise is insufficient.

---

Neighbor, you're telling me that I am dealing in absolutes when I just listed seven major variables that we know affect intelligence and ability. These variables change everybody no matter what their skin color, nationality, sex, or ice cream preference.

---

I can stop you with nothing more than a few words.

Think about it. You're taking offense at what I write on a website when all I am really saying is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…"

You would deny that?

---

I'm not defending today's mess.

I've written against it.

But (and this is the important bit), you're still defining people by skin color instead of what they are individually.

There's a phrase about "content of their character" that comes to mind.

---

I know, you keep defining people by skin color.

---

Tell me, what nationality are "blacks?"

If a "Chinese" has been granted American citizenship, when does he stop being "Chinese?" Three seconds after? Three generations? When he changes his name to Jones?

If Jesus Fernandez was born in Michigan and barely speaks Spanish, is he "Mexican?"

Or American?

---

I didn't say anything about stopping the Left with words.

I said I could stop you.

And I have.

---

Think you so?

Look at what's happened.

I've held my own against you and your "friend." Along the way, we've discussed history, psychology, morality, biology, and ethics. We've done it in real time for a few hours, and right now you are focused on taking me down, not in proving that "blacks" are inferior.

And all you can do is tell me that I don't deserve my citizenship.

You got stopped.

---

"The fact that blacks are not us."

Pretty sure my neighbors would disagree. Pretty sure your neighbors would too.

---

"Wait until your neighbors are Hindus, Muslims, Mexicans, or Asians."

Um, they are.

---

I could ask my across-the-street neighbor, but I'm pretty sure she's happy with her husband. I don't know their kids that well.

---

Because they are us.

The commonalities outweigh the differences.

These barriers, these labels that people like you keep using, they separate us. The labels keep us apart.

❝Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.❞
     — Sojourner Truth

---

The Hopi are surrounded by all sides by the Diné. Can you tell me the genetic differences between the Hopi and the Diné? Good luck, because they've been intermarrying for a long time.

So what are their national characteristics?

As I said, I'm an American. I'm a mix. Part of my ancestry is Irish, part of it is English, part of it is Creole, part of it is German, part of it is Russian, and there's probably stuff on both sides of the bed that isn't officially acknowledged.

What are my national genetic characteristics?

I'm pretty sure I could father a child with any fertile human female if we tried hard enough. That's sort of how the species works.

And that's the important thing. We're one species, one "race." Throw us together and those distinctions fade. We get down and funky. We rut. We mix our genes.

It doesn't stop there. Ideas mix too. We argue with each other. We try to one up each other. We try. We look at what the other guy is doing. We borrow what works and tweak it a bit.

Synchronicity and syncretism happen, no matter how much you want "purity."

---

I'm not trying to change the labels.

I'm pointing out the truths.

Those labels are controlling your life.

---

"Truth and lies don't miscegenate."

Miscegenation has nothing to do with truth and lies and everything to do with sex and children.

Truth is subject to change. There was a time when people thought the speed of light was infinite. Now we know it's about 186,000 miles per second. In a vacuum. Put it through an atmosphere or water and it's something else.

We're human. That humanity matters more than any "racial" difference. It's why there are children of "mixed race." As time and people go on, the differences fade.

Until we meet a new population and it starts all over again.

I don't lie. I serve veritas.❞❞

Tags: Democrats ∙ minorities ∙ victims ∙ responsibility ∙ skin color ∙ cyberscare ∙ heritable characteristics ∙ MAOA ∙ cultural differences ∙ intelligence ∙ environment ∙ IQ ∙ culturally biased ∙ education ∙ family ∙ individual rights ∙ schools ∙ Republican ∙ two parent households ∙ single mother households ∙ human ∙ race ∙ racial discrimination ∙ racial identity

People can do most things on their own without government help, direction, or control.

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ trust ∙ none of the above ∙ disrupt ∙ press ∙ publicity ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ progressives ∙ talking points

❝❝Ever notice when someone picks a scapegoat, it's because they think the scapegoat can't fight back?

---

I agree with you that politics is a source of great evil in the World.

I disagree that the Trump and the Republicans are the cause. Or even most of the cause.

One annoying thing about politics is that people are willing to overlook the misconduct of "their" side even while slinging wild accusations against the Enemy. The accusations may or may not be accurate. But you can count on the Enemy not being quite the Ultimate Horror Unleashed on Mankind. And you can count that your side is not quite the paragon of virtue and self-sacrifice that they claim.

Politics is about controlling the other. Never you, always the other. When government is involved politics is about control backed by force.

Politicians are never on your side. Even as they stand wrapped in the flag clutching holy writ promising that they will be your bestest friend ever no matter what.

---

I'm sorry, but I can't agree. Obama used the IRS and Justice Department against his enemies, among other things. And the Democrats looked the other way.

Rather than get into a long and pointless discussion of who did what worse, I want to point out something that most people overlook.

The politicos NEED you to blame the other party and never question the wisdom of your party's decisions. It's always the other party that is doing things Too Terrible and always your own party that promises to Save The Day. When you buy into that, you perpetuate the system. You're always going to be victimized and you're never ever going to be saved. If you were saved, you'd have no reason to vote the party line.

---

I know I have my political critics on this site, but believe me when I tell you that there are conservatives who are just as threatened by the Democrat leadership as you are by Trump.

Too often today, people make excuses for what their side does by trotting out the disasters from the other side.

I want less government. I think government is a terrible danger to liberty. I think politicos and technocrats complicate things because they don't want you asking questions and they don't want you changing the status quo. They don't want you understanding what they do.

So when I see someone insisting that this flavor of politico is slightly less objectionable, I tell them they are wrong.

---

Accurate, as far as it goes.

*sighs* Look, I know that other pagans think I am simplistic and partisan when it comes to politics. And believe me, I realize how ironic it is for me to denounce mixing paganism with politics while having a political blog called Pagan Vigil.

Politics is one of my darker passions. I'm better at it than any amateur has any right to be. I understand the temptations and lusts because those are my temptations, my lusts, but for a bit of discipline and some promises I made. There's a line from Doctor Who, “Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.” These days I try to use my abilities and urges in a good cause. Mostly I succeed.

I've said that politics is about controlling the other. It's literally "power over." All the processes, all the carefully defined rules to protect democracy, all the blame exists SOLEY to keep people from looking too carefully at "the sausage being made." To keep people from asking how much freedom they are "supposed" to sacrifice for "the Greater Good." To keep them from asking themselves why expecting the other guy to sacrifice and compromise is GOOD but they themselves aren't supposed to sacrifice and compromise. To keep them from accepting that POWER OVER for their principles just might not be as as effective as power with based on things we all share.

Smashing the opposition just makes more pieces that can regrow.❞❞

Tags: scapegoating ∙ World ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Republicans ∙ control ∙ politicos ∙ Barack Obama ∙ IRS ∙ Justice Department ∙ party politics ∙ Democrats ∙ government ∙ technocrats ∙ political flavor ∙ pagans ∙ simplistic ∙ partisan ∙ blog ∙ darker passions ∙ temptation ∙ lust ∙ amateur ∙ discipline ∙ promises ∙ Doctor Who ∙ power with vs power over

Democrats are remarkable at ignoring bad law if a Democrat is President.

Tags: maxims ∙ bad choices ∙ Democrats

❝❝Pitting Republicans against Democrats or the "right" against the "left" is the distraction. It gives people someone to blame without solving the problem. And it certainly doesn't help that it's selectively reported, depending on which party holds the Presidency.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ right ∙ left ∙ blame ∙ distraction ∙ Presidency ∙ problems ∙ reported

❝❝I've been telling politicos for years that they've been stupid about immigration. The Democrats want to pretend that the law doesn't exist and the Republicans want to use it selectively.

A nation should protect it's borders. No one has a "right" to immigrate. That being said, the whole idea of so many allowed from this country and none allowed from that country is idiotic.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ immigration ∙ Democrats ∙ Republican ∙ pretend ∙ selectively ∙ borders

We're so conditioned to accept public schools as a Good Thing™ that we resist looking at options.

Tags: public schools ∙ politicos ∙ technocrats ∙ private alternative ∙ private sector ∙ competition ∙ school year ∙ internet ∙ education ∙ quality of life ∙ Alexis de Tocqueville ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ Clinton administration ∙ Obama administration ∙ affordability ∙ private companies ∙ choice ∙ truth

““More DOJ norms being eroded. Trump-a SUBJECT of the investigation-wants access to material related to the inquiry. His Congressional supporters want evidence connected to an ongoing investigation. Time for DOJ/FBI to simply say no-protect the institutions and time tested norms."””
     — Eric Holder tweet reported at Holder urges DOJ/FBI to unconstitutionally defy President: 'Protect the institutions'

Federal agencies and Federal agents serve at the pleasure of the President and Congress. That is directly from the Constitution. No institution may trump the Constitution. Democrats wouldn't stand for it if it were happening to a Democrat president or a Democrat Congress. There's more than a little hypocrisy here.

Tags: Eric Holder ∙ FedGovs ∙ institutions ∙ President ∙ Congress ∙ Democrats

“Mueller Investigating Trump Over $150K Donation From Ukrainian Who Gave Clintons $13 Million”

Tags: special prosecutor ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Ukraine

We'll start with basics. The game is not what you think it is.

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ racism ∙ alt-right ∙ DNC ∙ GOP ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ Colin Kaepernick ∙ LBJ ∙ Strom Thurmond ∙ Bill Clinton ∙ Barack Obama ∙ projects ∙ aid for families dependent children ∙ privilege ∙ civil rights ∙ legacy

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Hillary Clinton ∙ Democrats ∙ budget deficits ∙ corruption ∙ cops ∙ Stephen Hawking ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Donald Trump ∙ corporatist ∙ Ava DuVernay ∙ Adam Schiff ∙ Sara Haines ∙ trade defictis ∙ kids ∙ Theranos ∙ blood testing ∙ local government

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: election ∙ Pennsylvania ∙ Iran ∙ non-citizens ∙ authority ∙ drain the swamp ∙ school shooting ∙ FBI ∙ FEC ∙ bad cops ∙ seizing guns ∙ Antifa ∙ semi-automatic weapons ∙ State Department ∙ troll farm ∙ Democrats ∙ mental illness ∙ San Francisco ∙ landlords

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Federal Reserve ∙ memo ∙ FBI ∙ Barack Obama ∙ gun ownership ∙ California ∙ Democrats ∙ Marvin Goodfriend ∙ NRA ∙ virtue signaling ∙ government accountability ∙ Parkland ∙ school shooting ∙ gun rights ∙ human rights ∙ Florida

Tags: Border Patrol ∙ warrant ∙ search ∙ Barack Obama ∙ presidental library ∙ torture ∙ media bias ∙ Nancy Pelosi ∙ merits ∙ Democrats ∙ US Army ∙ recruits ∙ entitled ∙ Louisiana ∙ bookstore ∙ scandal ∙ James Comey ∙ Obama administration ∙ White House ∙ DACA ∙ Wired ∙ Bill Gates ∙ tech companies ∙ government ∙ regulation ∙ civil rights ∙ Martin Luther King ∙ common ground

I remind you that no American political fact for the last two years has been easily ascertained. Or static.

Tags: Sweden ∙ culture ∙ DACA ∙ Democrats ∙ Donald Trump ∙ woke police ∙ smart house ∙ Newsweek ∙ grid girls ∙ Clarence Thomas ∙ commerce clause ∙ Internet of things ∙ IRS ∙ blockchain ∙ bad cops ∙ rape

Rand Paul is right

““When Rand Paul took control of the Senate floor just before 6 p.m. Eastern, virtually every one of his Republican colleagues grimaced. Five years ago, they would have cheered him.

Paul's speech, which slowed attempts to pass a massive budget deal before the government shuts down at midnight, was a savaging of his party -- a party that appears to have turned 180 degrees from the deficit hawks of the mid 2010s who insisted that government spending was ballooning out of control and was crippling the country.

"When the Democrats are in power, Republicans appear to be the conservative party," Paul said at one point. "But when Republicans are in power, it seems there is no conservative party. The hypocrisy hangs in the air and chokes anyone with a sense of decency or intellectual honesty."

He is 100% right.

The simple fact is that Republicans in the Obama era defined themselves primarily as committed to reducing government spending and shrinking the nation's debt. The ur-document of that age was Paul Ryan's budget, in which he proudly touted the need to confront entitlement spending and make the hard cuts necessary to keep the country solvent for the foreseeable future.””
     — Chris Cillizza

Tags: Chris Cillizza ∙ clipping ∙ guest content ∙ Rand Paul ∙ CNN ∙ budget process ∙ Senate ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: surveillance ∙ Section 702 ∙ solar panel ∙ Kentucky ∙ Imodium ∙ FDA ∙ immigration ∙ Democrats ∙ dogmatic ∙ Facebook ∙ Mark Zuckerberg ∙ ethanol ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Taliban ∙ Robert Menendez ∙ propaganda

Tags: Bill Nye ∙ science ∙ Amazon ∙ Democrats ∙ Real ID ∙ White House ∙ Nunes Memo ∙ Dreamers ∙ CDC ∙ Berkshire Hathaway ∙ JP Morgan Chase ∙ unemployment ∙ Donald Trump ∙ State Of The Union Address ∙ FCC ∙ 5G network ∙ healthcare

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: privilege ∙ virtue signaling ∙ London ∙ real estate ∙ Barack Obama ∙ FBI ∙ Turpin family ∙ Democrats ∙ Ronald Reagan ∙ LBJ ∙ DACA ∙ immigration reform ∙ Donald Trump ∙ home schooling ∙ Missouri ∙ abortion ∙ anti-Semitism ∙ Disney ∙ JP Morgan Chase ∙ bonus ∙ tax reform

Tags: climate change ∙ Miami ∙ United Nations ∙ Security Council ∙ Trump administration ∙ illegal immigrants ∙ Jerusalem ∙ United States ∙ men ∙ women ∙ #MeToo ∙ trust ∙ Robert Mueller ∙ FBI ∙ Democrats ∙ weaponize ∙ sexual assault ∙ Masterpiece Cakeshop ∙ Mark Zuckerberg ∙ ISP ∙ red light cameras ∙ national security ∙ religion ∙ Donald Trump ∙ social trust ∙ Massachusetts ∙ California ∙ livestock ∙ Navajo Nation ∙ Wells Fargo ∙ net neutrality

The FCC sneaks in the back door on the cable companies

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ Stephen Colber ∙ Congress ∙ Truman Committee ∙ immigration reform ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans

Great quote that's right on the money

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ pure democracy ∙ unconditional surrender ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ progressives ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ misogynist ∙ racists ∙ sore losers ∙ ever expanding ∙ goverment ∙ self apponted ∙ elites ∙ demonized ∙ protesters ∙ positive changes ∙ sacrificing freedom ∙ smash storefronts ∙ we're here now

Older headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ looted ∙ Antifa ∙ Samantha Power ∙ unmasking ∙ Princeton ∙ campus newspaper ∙ editorial board ∙ dissent ∙ climate change ∙ Florida ∙ solar power ∙ crony capitalism ∙ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ∙ slush fund ∙ Congress ∙ President ∙ taxpayers ∙ Jeff Sessions ∙ fearmongering ∙ stingray ∙ warrant ∙ rental ∙ vacancy ∙ Elizabeth Warren

Older headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Older headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Jeff Sessions ∙ Hurricane Harvey ∙ militarize police ∙ Columbus ∙ statues ∙ Bass Pro Shops ∙ violence ∙ Berkeley ∙ Democrats ∙ warrant ∙ stingray ∙ Houston ∙ school meals ∙ Southern Poverty Law Center ∙ Watch List ∙ flood ∙ Chick-fil-A ∙ rescue ∙ James Comey ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Mark Zuckerberg ∙ Priscilla Chan ∙ marry children ∙ loopholes ∙ Nazism ∙ sex ∙ Google ∙ diet ∙ Hurricane Harvey ∙ climate change ∙ Antifa ∙ DHS ∙ Bronx ∙ cigarettes ∙ black market ∙ ATF ∙ Kid Rock ∙ Trevor Noah

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Podesta Group ∙ Russia ∙ Democrats ∙ Antifa ∙ Gary Cohn ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Charlottesville ∙ school choice ∙ Colorado ∙ marijuana ∙ Tenth Amendment ∙ Germany ∙ website ∙ Google ∙ YouTube ∙ extremist ∙ guns ∙ Debbie Wasserman Schultz ∙ Hurricane Harvey ∙ bitcoin ∙ Venezuela

Never slaves & never Nazis

Tags: memes ∙ slavery ∙ Nazism ∙ Confederacy ∙ Democrats ∙ Donald Trump

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: speech wars ∙ Google ∙ Afghanistan ∙ Thomas Massie‏ ∙ Democrats ∙ IT scandal

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Charlottesville ∙ Unite the Right ∙ Occupy Wall St. Activist ∙ Antifa ∙ authoritarianism ∙ Alabama ∙ Roy Moore ∙ Confederacy ∙ Democrats ∙ racism ∙ Jim Crow ∙ KKK ∙ speech wars

Competition drives the free market, to keep customers companies have to make things better than their rivals and better than what they themselves did yesterday.

Competition is what the "single payer" eliminates in the name of efficiency, yet over time competition means that products and services will be better, faster, and cheaper.

There is no incentive to improve under a government controlled system. There is overwhelming incentive to pay off legislators and technocrats for favorable treatment.

---

I'm usually correct.

Except when I'm wrong… *grins*

Jokes aside, you probably agree with me on economics, smaller government and (most) individual rights. We won't agree on religion, personal morality, and sexuality. I hope we can agree on honor.

I hang out here to keep me honest and so I can see how conservatives think. And occasionally to keep you honest *wink* and keep you from taking yourself too seriously.

---

I just get very tired of watching people who should know better lump all members of a group into a monolithic block who is out to destroy their way of life and must be Stopped for the Good of Humanity™

The ironic thing is many of the people who complain loudest about it being done to them are only too willing to turn around and do it to someone else.

I've seen pagans do it to Christians, "blacks" do it to "Hispanics," Republicans do it to Democrats, and women doing it to men.

And vice versa.

You know what? It's not the label shouting and doing things, it's the individual person. Until you deal them as individuals rather than as a subset of a label, you have walled yourself off.

Not them. You.

---

Thinking about it just now, that raises a fascinating question.

Which is worth more, a moral code handed to you or one earned through personal experience?

---

I'm not asking you to follow my code.

I'm not even asking you to allow me to follow my code.

I'm telling you that I won't follow your code just as you would tell me that you won't follow mine.

Now we could find what we agree on and work from there, or you could spend effort telling me why your enlightenment requires my sacrifice.

I think the former would be more productive, but I would enjoy your frustration at the latter too.

Tags: competition ∙ make things better ∙ rivals ∙ yesterday ∙ incentives ∙ government ∙ economics ∙ smaller government ∙ individual rights ∙ religion ∙ personal morality ∙ sexuality ∙ honor ∙ honest ∙ conservatives ∙ monolithic block ∙ Christians ∙ pagans ∙ blacks ∙ Hispanics ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ women ∙ men ∙ moral code ∙ enlightenment ∙ sacrifice ∙ Crux Files

“The south used to vote Democrat. Now it votes Republican. Why the switch? Was it, as some people say, because the GOP decided to appeal to racist whites? Carol Swain, Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, explains.”

Tags: PragerU ∙ Carol Swain ∙ Republicans ∙ Democrats ∙ racism ∙ myth ∙ guest content ∙ video

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: John McCain ∙ brain tumor ∙ government ∙ Left ∙ words ∙ medical autonomy ∙ rights ∙ Muslim ∙ Jeff Flake ∙ Clinton campaign ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ 2016 election ∙ Russ Roberts ∙ George Soros ∙ climate change ∙ campaign finance reform ∙ ICO ∙ Initial Coin Offerings

I pointed out before that dismissing arguments unheard and without even a cursory search to see if there is any validity just makes you look foolish and uninformed.

Tags: Trump supporters ∙ David Wilcox ∙ Chicago ∙ Mitchell Mormon Jr. ∙ Atlanta ∙ Rockville, Maryland ∙ San Jose ∙ protesters ∙ Eric Clanton ∙ Berkeley ∙ Democrats ∙ virtue ∙ Republicans ∙ villains ∙ media ∙ universities ∙ public schools ∙ thou shalt not dissent ∙ double check ∙ cheap shot

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

Tags: Democrats ∙ Trump campaign ∙ Russia ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Barack Obama ∙ New York Times ∙ lLibya ∙ terrorism ∙ Arizona ∙ hospital ∙ levy ∙ taxes ∙ superfoods ∙ Donald Trump Jr ∙ climate alarmist ∙ Michael Mann ∙ Bruce Raune ∙ Michael Frerichs

Tags: Congress ∙ Amazon ∙ food security ∙ Fedal subsidies ∙ Iqaluit ∙ Walmart ∙ John McCain ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Russia ∙ New York Times ∙ media ∙ Vladimir Putin ∙ Cash for Clunkers ∙ liberal ∙ Rust Belt ∙ Democrats ∙ California ∙ unions ∙ phone numbers ∙ addresses

Tags: net neutrality ∙ Drudge Report ∙ Lois Lerner ∙ IRS ∙ Tea Party ∙ Barack Obama ∙ election ∙ hack ∙ Russia ∙ Congress ∙ budget process ∙ tolerance ∙ Kathy Griffin ∙ consequences ∙ Democrats ∙ Syria

“Democrats Ask Teachers To Destroy Books Written By ‘Climate Deniers’”

Tags: Andrew Follett ∙ Daily Caller ∙ Heartland Institute ∙ thou shalt not dissent ∙ Democrats ∙ Bobby Scott ∙ Raúl M. Grijalva ∙ Eddie Bernice Johnson ∙ trash the book ∙ Craig D. Idso ∙ Robert M. Carter ∙ Fred Singer ∙ clipping

We pagans have become the worst that we saw in the People of the Book.

Tags: pagan news ∙ cross posted ∙ Donald Trump ∙ virtue signaling ∙ binding spell ∙ witchcraft ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Chas. S. Clifton

There's no incentive to make it better

Tags: electoral college ∙ Democrats ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Clinton supporters ∙ harass ∙ skimmed ∙ clipping

The last couple of days I've been analyzing both parties and their leadership.

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ DNC ∙ RNC ∙ election

We can argue whether the law is morally right or not.

Tags: immigration ∙ rule of law ∙ election ∙ government ∙ Democrats ∙ Republicans ∙ short

❝John Hackmann, a Fairview Heights, Ill., retiree, labeled it a “Washington cartel.”

“They just let the government do whatever they want,” said Jim Walker, an Arnold, Mo., businessman.

What is the establishment? Nationally, eight in 10 people told a McClatchy-Morning Consult poll this month it includes members of Congress. Similar numbers cited the Democratic and Republican parties, political donors, Wall Street bankers and the mainstream media.

They split on whether Trump, a billionaire real estate developer who’s thrived in the New York business world, was part of the establishment, but seven in 10 said Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was.

In essence, the establishment lives and thrives in a small world that lives and works in New York and Washington, on Wall Street, in Big Media, and in Politics, connected by the high-speed Acela corridor and often by mutual self interest.

Many, perhaps most, do care deeply about the common good though they are anything but common themselves. They hire each other and each other’s children. They huddle at the same white tie and black tie dinners. And, they sometimes attend each other’s weddings.❞

Make your choice.

Tags: skimmed ∙ establishment ∙ free market rebellion ∙ freely chosen ∙ institutions ∙ Congress ∙ Democrats ∙ Republican

❝❝Actually there is very little difference between the "leaders" of either party. They don't object to stuff being done, they object to the other "guy" doing it and getting the cblurbit.❞❞

Tags: Republican ∙ Democrats ∙ statist ∙ numbers game ∙ not your friend ∙ commenting ∙ technocrats ∙ politicos