A pet peeve

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ clipping ∙ skimmed ∙ John Flint ∙ Sonny Perdue ∙ Weston ∙ Florida ∙ Oliver Porter ∙ Sandy Sprints ∙ Georgia ∙ competition ∙ provide services

A pet peeve

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ ozone ∙ EPA ∙ Jeffrey R. Holmstead ∙ clipping ∙ skimmed ∙ cap-and-trade ∙ Bush administration

Computer security expert switches his company from Windows to Macintosh

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ clipping ∙ skimmed ∙ Financial Times ∙ Microsoft ∙ China ∙ censorship

“Scientists Create World’s First ‘Molecular Robot’ Capable Of Building Molecules”

Tags: skimmed ∙ clipping ∙ nanotech ∙ molecular robot ∙ David Leigh ∙ guest content ∙ science

Radley Balko makes a better case for free markets

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ clipping ∙ guest content ∙ skimmed ∙ Radley Balko ∙ TheAgitator

“Small Town Gives Dogs Their Own Pool Day”

Tags: Allentown ∙ Pennsylvania ∙ dogs ∙ clipping ∙ skimmed

J Scott Armstrong: Fewer Than 1 Percent Of Papers in Scientific Journals Follow Scientific Method

❝❝According to Armstrong, very little of the forecasting in climate change debate adheres to these criteria. “For example, for disclosure, we were working on polar bear [population] forecasts, and we were asked to review the government’s polar bear forecast. We asked, ‘could you send us the data’ and they said ‘No’… So we had to do it without knowing what the data were.”

According to Armstrong, forecasts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) violate all eight criteria.

“Why is this all happening? Nobody asks them!” said Armstrong, who says that people who submit papers to journals are not required to follow the scientific method. “You send something to a journal and they don’t tell you what you have to do. They don’t say ‘here’s what science is, here’s how to do it.'”

Digging deeper into their motivations, Armstrong pointed to the wealth of incentives for publishing papers with politically convenient rather than scientific conclusions.

“They’re rewarded for doing non-scientific research. One of my favourite examples is testing statistical significance – that’s invalid. It’s been over 100 years we’ve been fighting the fight against that. Even its inventor thought it wasn’t going to amount to anything. You can be rewarded then, for following an invalid [method].”

“They cheat. If you don’t get statistically significant results, then you throw out variables, add variables, [and] eventually you get what you want.”

“My big thing is advocacy. People are asked to come up with certain answers, and in our whole field that’s been a general movement ever since I’ve been here, and it just gets worse every year. And the reason is funded research.”❞❞
     — Allum Bokhari

Tags: skimmed ∙ clipping ∙ J. Scott Armstrong ∙ Allum Bokhari ∙ climate change ∙ forecast ∙ scientific method ∙ incentives ∙ politically convenient ∙ non-scientific research

Maine is poised to make it a lot harder for police to steal your stuff

❝❝Civil asset forfeiture is a national problem, and a big one. In 2014, for the first time in recorded history, police in the United States seized more money and property through civil asset forfeiture than all burglars and thieves combined. Making matters worse, civil asset forfeiture has been known to disproportionately impact African Americans and Latinos, creating significant barriers to opportunity in their communities. According to a study in Oklahoma, nearly two thirds of seizures come from racial minorities, representing a significant disparity.❞❞
     — Payton Alexander

Tags: skimmed ∙ clipping ∙ Payton Alexander ∙ civil forfeiture

Rep. Mo Brooks files bill to repeal Obamacare

❝❝Effective as of Dec. 31, 2017, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.❞❞
     — U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks

Tags: skimmed ∙ clipping ∙ Obamacare ∙ Mo Brooks ∙ House Freedom Caucus ∙ American Health Care Act ∙ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

“There's No Other Way to Say It: Minimum Wage Laws Are Racist"

Read More...

Tags: skimmed ∙ minimum wage ∙ racist ∙ clipping ∙ African-Americans

Comments

“We’re Under Attack"

Tags: skimmed ∙ blacklist ∙ Naked Capitalism ∙ Yves Smith ∙ clipping

Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group

Tags: skimmed ∙ Ben Norton ∙ Glenn Greenwald ∙ Washington Post ∙ Russian disinformation ∙ WikiLeaks ∙ Drudge Report ∙ Truthout ∙ Black Agenda Repor ∙ Truthdig ∙ Naked Capitalism ∙ Antiwar.com ∙ Ron Paul Institute ∙ blacklist ∙ clipping

“Leaked Documents Reveal Expansive Soros Funding to Manipulate Federal Elections”

Tags: George Soros ∙ League of Women Voters. ∙ New York Times ∙ J. Christian Adams ∙ skimmed ∙ clipping

“Scott and Shackleton logbooks prove Antarctic sea ice is not shrinking… ”

Tags: environmental crusade ∙ global warming ∙ Anartic ice ∙ skimmed ∙ clipping

Dear Media: Please Stop Normalizing the Alt-Right

❝❝For Jew-hating racists, the attention means they can playact as a viable and popular movement with pull in Washington. In return, many in the media get to confirm their own biases and treat white supremacy as if it were the secret ingredient to Republican success.

Meanwhile, this obsessive coverage of the alt-right not only helps mainstream a small movement but it's also exactly what the bigots need and want to grow.

Check out the coverage of this weekend's National Policy Institute conference in Washington. As far as I can tell, these pseudointellectual xenophobic bull sessions have been going on for years, featuring many of the same names. These people have generally been given the attention they deserve, which is to say exceptionally little. If you read this week's headlines, though, you would have thought the German American Bund had packed 22,000 cheering fascists into the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.❞❞

Tags: skimmed ∙ alt-right ∙ racists ∙ media failure ∙ clipping

Buying Reform

❝❝Charged with promoting campaign-finance reform when he joined Pew in the mid-1990s, Treglia came up with a three-pronged strategy: 1) pursue an expansive agenda through incremental reforms, 2) pay for a handful of "experts" all over the country with foundation money and 3) create fake business, minority and religious groups to pound the table for reform.

"The target audience for all this activity was 535 people in Washington," Treglia says — 100 in the Senate, 435 in the House. "The idea was to create an impression that a mass movement was afoot — that everywhere they looked, in academic institutions, in the business community, in religious groups, in ethnic groups, everywhere, people were talking about reform."

It's a stark admission, but perhaps Treglia should be thanked for his candor.

>snip<

But this money didn't come from little old ladies making do with cat food so they could send a $20 check to Common Cause. The vast majority of this money — $123 million, 88 percent of the total — came from just eight liberal foundations.

These foundations were: the Pew Charitable Trusts ($40.1 million), the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy ($17.6 million), the Carnegie Corporation of New York ($14.1 million), the Joyce Foundation ($13.5 million), George Soros' Open Society Institute ($12.6 million), the Jerome Kohlberg Trust ($11.3 million), the Ford Foundation ($8.8 million) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ($5.2 million).

Not exactly all household names, but the left-wing groups that these foundations support may be more familiar: the Earth Action Network, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the Public Citizen Foundation, the Feminist Majority Foundation . . .

What did this liberal foundation crowd buy with its $123 million?

For starters, a stable of supposedly independent pro-reform groups, with Orwellian names you may have heard in the press: the Center for Public Integrity, the William J. Brennan Center for Justice, Democracy 21 and so on.

Plus, favorable press coverage. Here, the story — as laid out in the Political Money Line report — gets really ugly.❞❞

Tags: skimmed ∙ 2005 ∙ Sean Treglia ∙ campaign finance reform ∙ Watch List ∙ Congress ∙ Pew Charitable Trusts ∙ Schumann Center for Media and Democracy ∙ Carnegie Corporation of New York ∙ Joyce Foundation ∙ George Soros ∙ Open Society Institute ∙ Jerome Kohlberg Trust ∙ Ford Foundation ∙ John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ∙ Earth Action Network ∙ NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund ∙ People for the American Way ∙ Planned Parenthood ∙ ublic Citizen Foundation ∙ Feminist Majority Foundation ∙ Center for Public Integrity ∙ William J. Brennan Center for Justice ∙ Democracy 21 ∙ clipping

“A libertarian tech revolt”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Sam Rolley ∙ political correctness ∙ YouTube ∙ Twitter ∙ censorship ∙ clipping

“The Real War on Science”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Left ∙ Right ∙ mixing science and politics ∙ conservative ∙ Friedrich Hayek ∙ fatal conceit ∙ central planners ∙ traditional institutions ∙ natural rights ∙ power of the state ∙ scientific socialism ∙ Herbert Croly ∙ eugenics movement ∙ Theodore Roosevelt ∙ Woodrow Wilson ∙ Margaret Sanger ∙ clipping

“America Called Bullshit on the Cult of Clinton”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Brendan O'Neill ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Clinton cult ∙ true believers ∙ Trump supporters ∙ Lena Dunham ∙ Virginia Heffernan ∙ Athena ∙ clipping

“Fashion Designers Are Boycotting Melania Trump. Shouldn't Bakers and Florists Have the Same Right?”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Stephanie Slade ∙ boycott ∙ associational freedom ∙ Sophie Theallet ∙ Melania Trump ∙ Michelle Obama ∙ bakery owners ∙ photographers ∙ wedding vendors ∙ Barronelle Stutzman ∙ Arlene's Flowers ∙ Washington state ∙ short ∙ clipping

“Hate Crimes, Hoaxes, and Hyperbole”

Tags: Elizabeth Nolan Brown ∙ violence ∙ Trump supporters ∙ LGBT ∙ Jewish ∙ misinformation ∙ Southern Poverty Law Center ∙ America ∙ skimmed ∙ short ∙ clipping

‟Ignore the Mob—Long Live the Electoral College”

Tags: skimmed ∙ David Harsanyi ∙ electoral college ∙ President ∙ Vice President ∙ politicos ∙ scaremonger ∙ Senate ∙ Congress ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Donald Trump ∙ clipping

“You Are Still Crying Wolf”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Scott Alexander ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Republican ∙ catastrophic distraction ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Satanist ∙ clipping

There's no incentive to make it better

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

“The Trouble with the Electoral College”

Tags: skimmed ∙ liberal exodus ∙ Character ∙ short ∙ celebrity ∙ Whoopi Goldberg ∙ Miley Cyrus ∙ Cher ∙ George Lopez ∙ Chelsea Handler ∙ Samuel L. Jackson ∙ follow up

I've every reason to fight religious discrimination.

Tags: Reason Online ∙ California ∙ secession ∙ #CalExit ∙ state government ∙ skimmed ∙ clipping

My choice was None Of The Above.

Tags: skimmed ∙ liberal exodus ∙ Amy Schumer ∙ Character ∙ short ∙ celebrity ∙ follow up

Tiny Homes Banned in U.S. at Increasing Rate as Govt Criminalizes Sustainable Living

❝❝As the corporatocracy tightens its grip on the masses – finding ever more ways to funnel wealth to the top – humanity responds in a number of ways, including the rising popularity of tiny houses.

These dwellings, typically defined as less than 500 square feet, are a way for people to break free of mortgages, taxes, utility bills and the general trappings of “stuff.” They’re especially attractive to millennials and retirees, or those seeking to live off-grid.

But government and corporations depend on rampant consumerism and people being connected to the grid.

Seeking actual freedom through minimalist living should seem like a natural fit for the American dream, but the reality is that many governments around the country either ban tiny homes or force them to be connected to the utility grid.❞❞

Tags: skimmed ∙ sustainable ∙ tiny houses ∙ government ∙ corporatism ∙ consumerism ∙ grid ∙ stupid laws ∙ minimalist ∙ freedom ∙ clipping

Memo To The Next President: We Can Grow A Lot Faster

❝❝The idea that there is some kind of inevitable decline in productivity, he says, is nonsense: "Experience and formal analysis tell us clearly that innovation and productivity happen where there is rule of law, simple and predictable regulation, property rights, reasonable taxation, an open and competitive economy, and decent public infrastructure," Cochrane wrote recently. "These politicians do have ample control over, and ample opportunity to screw up."

Presidents, working with Congress, can have an enormous impact on the things that matter.

So what matters? A kind of consensus is emerging among some economists that significant barriers to growth exist — and that they can be swept away. Doing so could push the long-term growth path back above 3% -- creating millions of new jobs and higher incomes at the same time.❞❞

Tags: skimmed ∙ decline ∙ productivity ∙ innovation ∙ productivity ∙ rule of law ∙ regulation ∙ property rights ∙ taxation ∙ President ∙ Congress ∙ clipping

“Alt-Right Nativists Launch Witch Hunt Against Chobani Yogurt Founder For Helping Refugees”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Chobani Yogurt ∙ Hamdi Ulukaya ∙ refugee ∙ migrants ∙ immigrants ∙ immigration ∙ Syria ∙ immigrant success story ∙ feta cheese ∙ kosher yogurt ∙ Long Island ∙ New York ∙ Twin Falls ∙ Idaho ∙ Syracuse ∙ Colgate University ∙ clipping

Entirely too funny.

Tags: skimmed ∙ migrants ∙ immigration ∙ WWII ∙ Scandinavian ∙ Sweden ∙ police resignations ∙ asylum ∙ refugee ∙ crime ∙ sex assaults ∙ drug dealing ∙ children carrying weapons ∙ clipping

Entirely too funny.

Tags: skimmed ∙ Forbes ∙ Institute For Justice ∙ Med-West Distribution ∙ California ∙ Nick Sibilla ∙ San Diego ∙ civil forfeiture ∙ DEA ∙ medical marijuana ∙ James Slatic ∙ clipping

This classic 1867 piece has lessons for today.

For length reasons, this entry has it's own page.

Tags: The Last Ditch ∙ Tom Paine ∙ Brexit ∙ UK ∙ Parliament ∙ skimmed ∙ clipping

“The Russian Bogeyman”

Tags: skimmed ∙ parents ∙ daughter ∙ police ∙ criminal prosecution ∙ evidence ∙ clipping

“German Streets Descend into Lawlessness”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Ivanka Trump ∙ Nordstrom ∙ Donald Trump ∙ political correctness ∙ enlightenment ∙ election ∙ clipping

“Wind Farms Cause Sleep Loss, Stress and Anxiety, Government Review Finds”

Tags: skimmed ∙ wind farms ∙ turbine ∙ clipping

“…Like Soviet-Era Bullies”

Tags: skimmed ∙ Russia ∙ Syria ∙ America ∙ zero-sum ∙ bombing ∙ Vladimir Putin ∙ clipping

She doesn’t think the law should apply to her.

Tags: skimmed ∙ immigration ∙ migrants ∙ Germany ∙ violent crime ∙ rape ∙ assault ∙ stabbing ∙ home invasion ∙ robbery ∙ burglary ∙ drug trafficking ∙ Angela Merkel ∙ Africa ∙ Asia ∙ Middle East ∙ vetted ∙ clipping

“…Like Soviet-Era Bullies”

Tags: skimmed ∙ LGBT ∙ gay ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Cincinnati ∙ thought police ∙ election ∙ clipping

Rigged? In What Way Is This Election NOT Rigged?

❝❝The political and media elites are outraged beyond measure by Donald Trump’s charge that the election could be rigged. How dare he suggest such a thing, they say, for the system is as honest as the day is long!

It shows he knows he is going to lose, they say. It shows that he has no faith in the American system, and is really a fascist at heart.

In reality, it shows no such thing, but it does show that a conversation about whether this election -- and the political system in general -- is rigged is one that the elites most desperately do not want to have.

And that is why we must have it.

And, if we’re going to have it in an honest fashion, the question should be framed not as “Is the system rigged?” but as “In what way is the system not rigged?”❞❞

HT Bookworm.

Tags: election ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ rigged ∙ elites ∙ skimmed ∙ Democrat ∙ Republican ∙ clipping

❝❝...On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."

"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

"I did," said Ford. "It is."

"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"

"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."❞❞

Tags: election ∙ Douglas Adams ∙ So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish ∙ skimmed ∙ Wendy McElroy

Freedom loving YouTube channel

Tags: betrayal ∙ Ute ∙ Navajo ∙ skimmed ∙ Utah ∙ H.R.5780 ∙ Rob Bishop ∙ Jason Chaffetz ∙ Mike Lee ∙ Shaun Chapoose ∙ Utah Navajo Trust Fund ∙ Davis Filfred ∙ Republic ∙ clipping

I don't like either candidate. I don't trust either candidate. And I definitely don't trust the two major parties.

Tags: Donald Trump ∙ skimmed ∙ American Thinker ∙ Clinton email ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Project Veritas ∙ NOTA ∙ DNC ∙ CGP Grey ∙ election

Just a picture taken in Phoenix.

Tags: Bill Whittle ∙ Prisoner’s Dilemma ∙ virtues ∙ tit for tat ∙ honor ∙ Screw the Other Guy ∙ Always Cooperate With The Other Guy ∙ Robert Axelrod ∙ Nice ∙ Retaliating ∙ Forgiving ∙ Non-Envious ∙ Third World ∙ Mexico ∙ cooperation ∙ Courage ∙ Character ∙ leverage ∙ Steven Pressfield ∙ Old Breed ∙ Pierre Bouelle ∙ skimmed ∙ Remnant ∙ guest content

The Scouts do it for all the national hollidays

Tags: skimmed ∙ skin color ∙ black lives matter

❝A century ago in the U.S., government at all levels took up about 8 percent of the economy. Now it takes up about 40 percent. It regulates everything from the size of beverage containers to what questions must not be asked in job interviews.

How can people be expected to keep up with it all?

Seavey points out that it's backward to expect them to try. Instead of just looking at the complicated mess government makes, we need to review the basic rules that got us here.

Instead of the rule being "government knows best" or "vote for the best leader," says Seavey, what if the basic legal rules were just: no assault, no theft, no fraud? Then most waste and bureaucracy that we fight about year after year wouldn't exist in the first place.

To most people, it sounds easier to leave big policy decisions—about complex things like wages, food production and roads—to government. Having to make our own decisions about everything and trade for everything in the marketplace sounds complicated.❞

Both the review and the book are worth your time.

Tags: skimmed ∙ liberty argument ∙ clipping ∙ John Stossel

Maybe it's not about making Americans safer.

Tags: Brexit ∙ free trade ∙ Warren Meyer ∙ racism ∙ skimmed ∙ UK ∙ clipping

““The sky is not falling, and when the dust settles, Britain's decision may very well prove to be a pivotal event in the reshaping of global relationships and trade that will, in the final analysis, benefit all of us.””
     — Gary Johnson, You Can Look at Brexit as a ‘Catastrophe’ or an ‘Opportunity’

Tags: Brexit ∙ libertarian ∙ Gary Johnson ∙ free trade ∙ skimmed ∙ UK ∙ clipping

Large companies shift power and responsibility away from local operations

Tags: thou shalt not dissent ∙ environmental crusade ∙ skimmed ∙ blasphemy ∙ attorney general ∙ subpoena ∙ clipping

❝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

Keep law simple and absolute.

Tags: technology ∙ John Gruber ∙ Matt Rosoff ∙ cable service ∙ internet services ∙ short ∙ skimmed

John Kerry and the State Department do a semantic shell game to avoid the law.

Tags: Imperious Leader ∙ John Kerry ∙ skimmed ∙ Iran

““In the sixty years since the Civil Rights movement, the Left has entirely perverted the whole notion of civil rights. Civil Rights as the Founders intended meant the right of all citizens, regardless of race, color, religion, sexual, gender, etc., to be free of government constraints (although the government’s police powers certainly required the government to protect citizens when others amongst them worked to injure them or constrain their basic freedoms). Civil Rights as the Left demands it has become an all powerful government that is responsible for redistribution wealth, property, access to government and even happiness, from whites to blacks.””
     — Bookworm, American Christians are the new blacks; and Leftists own the new Jim Crow movement

Tags: Bookworm ∙ skimmed ∙ Jim Crow ∙ civil rights

“CNN ATTACKS Duke basketball coach for NOT speaking out against new Indiana Religious Freedom law”

“Everybody's Lost Their Goddamn Mind Over Religious Freedom”

“The overblown hypocrisy of Tim Cook's business boycott of Indiana”

“Sounds like Apple’s CEO needs to disable the ‘hypocrite’ app on his iPhone”

Tags: parity test ∙ religious freedom ∙ Mike Krzyzewski ∙ Duke ∙ Carol Costello ∙ Jack Phillips ∙ Masterpiece Cakeshop ∙ discriminate ∙ free market ∙ skimmed ∙ Tim Cook ∙ Indiana ∙ Apple ∙ discrimination ∙ watching the headlines

The official titles don’t matter, aunts and grandmothers hold a community together.

Tags: China ∙ community ∙ aunts & grandmothers ∙ dance ∙ skimmed

You should read it all, it’s very good.

Tags: climate change ∙ science ∙ skimmed ∙ Patrick Moore ∙ Greenpeace ∙ Vikings ∙ carbon dioxide ∙ Greenland ∙ Little Ice Age ∙ Medieval Warm Period ∙ Newfoundland ∙ Roman times ∙ fossil fuels ∙ civilization

Over the past few years I’ve been accused of white privilege and male privilege.

I’ve been told that my ideas reveal my unconscious bias.

I’ve been told that simply by living my life as I choose, I force others into a world that isn’t fair.

I’ve been told that I can’t quote people if they don’t match my skin color.

I’ve been told that my ideas of justice are antiquated.

I’ve been told that my words are code words for other ideas.

I’ve been told that I must watch carefully lest I hurt someone.

I think those people lied.

I think that by limiting the topics we discuss, those people seek power.

I think that’s why they choose the words we’re “allowed” to say.

I think that’s why they redefine the words as needed.

I think that’s why they pick the people who are allowed to talk.

I am tired of it.

Chris Hernandez had a great piece at The Federalist.

““Yes, f*** your trauma. My sympathy for your suffering, whether that suffering was real or imaginary, ended when you demanded I change my life to avoid bringing up your bad memories. You don’t seem to have figured this out, but there is no “I must never be reminded of a negative experience” expectation in any culture anywhere on earth.

If your psyche is so fragile you fall apart when someone inadvertently reminds you of “trauma,” especially if that trauma consisted of you overreacting to a self-interpreted racial slur, you need therapy. You belong on a psychiatrist’s couch, not in college dictating what the rest of society can’t do, say, or think. Get your own head right before you try to run other people’s lives. If you expect everyone around you to cater to your neurosis, forever, you’re what I’d call a “failure at life,” doomed to perpetual disappointment.

Oh, I should add: f** my trauma, too. I must be old-fashioned, but I always thought coming to terms with pain was part of growing up. I’ve never expected anyone to not knock on my door because it reminds me of that terrifying morning decades ago. I’ve never blown up at anyone for startling me with a camera flash (I’ve never even mentioned it to anyone who did). I’ve never expected anyone to not talk about Iraq or Afghanistan around me, even though some memories still hurt. I don’t need trigger warnings because a book might remind me of a murder victim I’ve seen.””

So I am going to call those folks on their victimhood. And I am not going to be nice.

I’m not responsible for their trigger moments. I won’t guard their safe spaces.

It’s time for people to grow up and take responsibility.

Or die waiting for someone to take care of them out of pity.

Power by victimhood depends on the other guy’s guilt.

I thought I had a lot more to say on this. But it’s pretty simple really.

I won’t feed the victimhood anymore.

Tags: victimhood ∙ power over ∙ trauma ∙ growing up ∙ privilege ∙ skimmed ∙ Chris Hernandez ∙ The Federalist Papers ∙ speech wars ∙ clipping ∙ white privilege ∙ male privilege ∙ unconscious bias

Certain fundamentalists trot out the scare tactics again

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ classic ∙ ritual crime ∙ approved faiths ∙ skimmed ∙ Christianity ∙ rItual occult symbols ∙ crime ∙ poseur ∙ sexual predator

Nothing to do with morality and everything to do with vote pandering

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ classic ∙ Prohibition ∙ Great Depression ∙ income tax ∙ skimmed ∙ War on Drugs ∙ taxes

America’s internet doesn’t have the problem you think.

Tags: skimmed ∙ internet ∙ competition ∙ "last mile"

Hat tip Cafe Hayek.

Tags: internet ∙ FCC ∙ short ∙ skimmed ∙ video

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C149884619/E668386334

This is awfully familiar. The U.S. has been accused of human rights abuses before

““As usual, individuals with no responsibility in the matter, their humanitarian impulses outraged by conditions that were frequently beyond help, began carrying to America tales of indifference, negligence, and callousness on the part of the troops.  Generally these stories were lies.  The thousands of men assigned to the job of rescuing the DPs and organizing relief for them were Americans.  They were given every facility and assistance the Army could provide, and they were genuinely concerned in doing their utmost for these unfortunate of the earth.  But because perfection could not be achieved some so-called investigators saw a golden chance for personal publicity.  They did so at the expense of great numbers of Americans who labored night and day to alleviate the average lot of people who had suffered so much that they seemed at times beyond suffering.””
     — General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe

Hat tip to William Katz at FrontPageMagazine.com

Posted: Mon - June 13, 2005 at 05:48 AM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ humor ∙ Eisenhower ∙ human rights ∙ skimmed ∙ short

Douglas Adams Passing Day

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ John Kerry ∙ Iraq ∙ short ∙ skimmed ∙ clipping

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C149884619/E656387568

Did you hear what you thought you heard?

““Again and again in recent years, the filibuster has been the shame of the Senate and the last resort of special interest groups. Too often, it has enabled a small minority of the Senate to prevent a strong majority from working its will and serving the public interest.””
     — Senator Edward Kennedy, 1975

Just remember what he said then and what he says now. Then ask yourself what the difference is.

Posted: Fri - May 27, 2005 at 08:33 AM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ Ted Kennedy ∙ filibuster ∙ Senate ∙ short ∙ skimmed

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C149884619/E102079043

'Isms' are not good

““It's not that I condone fascism....or any 'ism' for that matter.  'Isms' in my opinion are not good.  A person should not believe in an 'ism', they should believe in themselves.  I quote John Lennon, 'I don't believe in Beatles...I just believe in me.'  A good point there.  After all, he was the walrus.  I could be the walrus, I'd still have to bum rides off of people!””
     — Ferris Bueller's Day Off

One of the great all time arguments against isms of any kind.

Posted: Sat - May 21, 2005 at 02:45 PM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ Ferris Bueller ∙ isms ∙ humor ∙ short ∙ skimmed

Douglas Adams Passing Day

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ humor ∙ Douglas Adams ∙ towels ∙ short ∙ skimmed ∙ passing day ∙ calendars

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C149884619/E916169645

Daniel Webster on those who want to rule

““In every generation there are those who want to rule well - but they mean to rule. They promise to be good masters - but they mean to be masters.””
     — Daniel Webster

And of course, they only promise to do it for "your own good."

Posted: Mon - May 9, 2005 at 09:15 PM

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ short ∙ Daniel Webster ∙ skimmed ∙ rulers&masters ∙ "your own good"