Author Archives: Joe

Controlling Your Crazies

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Quote of the Day

Party politics has always had this weird aspect where the party that had a better handle on controlling its own crazies, usually captured the middle and won elections. The DEMs have been imploding since about 2017, and today the whole party almost sounds fringe. If the GOP wants to avoid the same fate, they have work to do.

Don Kilmer @donkilmer
Posted on X, September 16, 2025

The context in which he said this is important. It was this post on X:

Interesting assertion by Kilmer. I had not thought of it that way. Even after thinking about it some, I’m not sure I agree. But as I think of myself as more of an observer of the two major parties than a member of either, I may not be a “normal” person. The Libertarian party platform is a far better match for my understanding of the U.S. constitution. But it has an asymptotic close to zero chance of getting someone into national office. Hence, “winning an election” is an alien concept to me.

It is true that the Democrats have been riding the crazy train for many years now and do seem to have imploded. But I don’t have to do much more than close my eyes and point at a random Republican to see more crazy than I want in a national office holder.

For example, I’m flabbergasted that the AG of the U.S. in the video above did not know that “hate speech” is not a legal thing. That was crazy talk.

The political left could not prosecute people for it and the Republicans have no legal authority to “go after” speech that is not inciting violence or threatening imminent danger of permanent injury or death. It took some significant blowback before she “clarified her remarks“:

Still, it is always good advice to control your crazies.

FYI, I made this post and put it in the queue about an hour before I read Rolf’s comment on the same topic.

I Had Enough of His Hatred

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As I expected, the number of data points and the error bands are narrowing with each passing day:

‘I had enough of his hatred’: Charlie Kirk suspect’s texts with roommate shed light on motive

Prosecutors shared new details about the attack in an information document – a formal accusation filed by a prosecutor – including the alleged text exchanges between Robinson and his roommate, which shed light on a possible motive.

On September 10, the roommate received a text from Robinson which said, “drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard,” according to the documents.

The note allegedly stated: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Prosecutors shared the following text exchange that allegedly took place:

After reading the note, the roommate replied: “What?????????????? You’re joking, right????”

Robinson: I am still ok my love, but am stuck in orem for a little while longer yet. Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.

Roommate: you weren’t the one who did it right????

Robinson: I am, I’m sorry

Roommate: I thought they caught the person?

Robinson: no, they grabbed some crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing. I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. Its quiet, almost enough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering.

Roommate: Why?

Robinson: Why did I do it?

Roommate: Yeah

Robinson: I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.

Roommate: How long have you been planning this?

Robinson: a bit over a week I believe. I can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don’t wanna chance it

Robinson: I’m wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle. … I’m worried what my old man would do if I didn’t bring back grandpas rifle … idek if it had a serial number, but it wouldn’t trace to me. I worry about prints I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits. didn’t have the ability or time to bring it with. … I might have to abandon it and hope they don’t find prints. how the f*** will I explain losing it to my old man. …only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel. … remember how I was engraving bullets? The f***in messages are mostly a big meme, if I see “notices bulge uwu” on fox new I might have a stroke alright im gonna have to leave it, that really f***ing sucks. …judging from today I’d say grandpas gun does just fine idk. I think that was a $2k scope ;-;

Robinson: delete this exchange

Robinson: my dad wants photos of the rifle … he says grandpa wants to know who has what, the feds released a photo of the rifle, and it is very unique. Hes calling me rn, not answering.

Robinson: since trump got into office [my dad] has been pretty diehard maga.

Robinson: Im gonna turn myself in willingly, one of my neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff.

Robinson: you are all I worry about love

Roommate: I’m much more worried about you

Robinson: don’t talk to the media please. don’t take any interviews or make any comments. … if any police ask you questions ask for a lawyer and stay silent

The information document provides the most insight into the suspect’s alleged motive yet, and details how Robinson had “started to lean to the left,” according to his mother.

His mom told investigators that Robinson had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights orientated” in recent years and that he had began to date his roommate, “a biological male who was transitioning genders,” the document states.

It resulted in “discussions” with family members, “especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views.”

“In one conversation before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Charlie Kirk would be holding an event at UVU, which Robinson said was a ‘stupid venue’ for the event,” the document states. “Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate.”

As a manhunt was underway, Robinson’s parents recognized their son in the surveillance images circulated by the FBI. The suspect’s father believed the rifle used in the shooting matched a weapon that was given to his son as a gift.

He texted his son and asked him to send him a photo of the rifle, the document said. When Robinson did not respond, his father spoke to him over the phone where his son allegedly “implied that he planned to take his own life.”

His parents persuaded their son to meet at their home, where “Robinson implied he was the shooter and stated that he couldn’t go to jail and just wanted to end it,” prosecutors allege.

“When asked why he did it, Robinson explained there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate,” the document states.

“Too much evil and …. too much hate”? That is an interesting claim from Robinson. I have not spent more than a minute or two of listening to and/or reading Kirk’s works. But the evidence clearly shows Robinson has the unsurmountable lead on evil and hate in the Kirk v. Robinson contest.

Projection and insults is the best they have so it is not surprising as they are losing political power, they crank the dial up on the only tools they know how to use.

I would like to think that the error bands are tightening on the range of viable conspiracy theories. But my experience is the crazies can always escape the constraints of reality.

Psychologists Will Disappoint You on This

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Quote of the Day

As a reminder, the field of psychology cannot predict homicidal likelihood well at all. The base rate is so low, it is an extremely difficult prediction.

If you are looking to us to predict who should not be allowed to own a gun, you are going to be disappointed. I don’t know.

Nicole Prause @NicoleRPrause
Posted on X, September 12, 2025

Prause is a research psychologist. Although she seems to be generally opposed to private gun ownership, I believe her to be reasonable honest following where the data leads.

There are other reasons not to expect psychologists to do a good job on determining the fitness of someone to own a gun. It would be extremely generous to call it an inexact science. Hence, when confronted with the responsibility to make that type of decision they would probably error on the side of “public safety” and deny far more people the right of gun ownership than is appropriate.

The appropriate way to address this is to remove guns from the question. The appropriate question to ask is, “Is this person a threat to themselves or others?” And if so, the response should be involuntary confinement at state expense with appropriate, if any, treatment.

None of this is Agency

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I’m seeing a lot of us vs them rhetoric right now.

A man was shot and the timelines lit up with tribal chest beating.

There’s a sort of engineered frenzy that tells millions of strangers to feel attacked on cue and to answer with collective blame.

People graft their sense of self onto a mass identity because it is easier than standing alone. I get it. The group supplies ready-made meaning, ready-made enemies, and ready-made scripts for grief and anger.

When something happens to a figure near that group, the borrowed self experiences it as a personal wound. The nervous system fires as if family was hit. The algorithm notices, pours gasoline, and a person forgets they are a person.

They become a role. They perform the role loudly because the role rewards them with belonging. This is how the individual dissolves.

Parasocial attachment finishes the job. A commentator speaks into your head for years and your mind, built for villages, mistakes proximity for kinship. Suddenly the stranger is “ours,” and the event is “about me,” and the most primitive circuitry takes the wheel.

Outrage feels like virtue. Blanket blame feels like clarity. Calls for payback feel like strength. None of that is agency.

Power feeds on exactly this. Political machines live on attention, emotion, and fear. They need you sorted into blocs, preferably angry ones, because angry blocs are easy to mobilize and easy to tax.

The chant writes itself: “This proves everything I already believed!”

Notice how perfect that is. One incident becomes a voucher for every preloaded narrative. Nothing new is learned, but the leash is tightened.

The class that benefits is the same class that always benefits, and it is not you.

Dylan Allman @dylanmallman
Posted on X, September 10, 2025

I’ve always liked psychology and sociology.

This seems plausible.

A Simple Truth

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It’s two days out. We don’t know shit. The internet is undefeated in getting it wrong to begin with.

Bill Maher
September 13, 2025
Bill Maher Decries Political Responses After Charlie Kirk’s Death: ‘Let’s Not Debate About Who’s Worse’

Truth.

Billions of People Must be Delusional

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While belatedly* responding to comments I was able to articulate something I think is important. I am making it a post to get wider attention:

I don’t see delusions about someone believing they are a god as significantly different than someone having the delusion gods exist or do not exist. There are billions of people that must be delusional on this topic. I don’t know for certain which ones are truly delusional, and which have it close to right. Everyone could have it wrong and are delusional.

* The comments I was responding to were posted when I was in Idaho working with extremely limited time to get some things done on my underground bunker.

The Meaning of I Couldn’t Care Less

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Context is everything. Watch and listen to this video and think about what the phrase “I couldn’t care less” is referring to.

The transcript of the important part is:

EARHARDT: We have radicals on the right as well. How do we fix this country?

TRUMP: I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble but I couldn’t care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem.

Those on the political left interpret this as President Trump does not want to fix the country. Or, one person I know think he was answering the question, “Who could fix this country?”

I interpret him as saying he couldn’t care less about getting in trouble for saying the following words.

I will grant that I can see it being misinterpreted you only hear the first sentence as the complete response to the question. But in the full context it seems very close to unambiguous. Is this just my bias?

Yet, I see instance after instance of emphasis on the first sentence:

Do they honestly believe that is a truthful interpretation of what he said? Are they all deliberately lying? I find both conclusions inconceivable.

More than ever, I just want to be left alone in my underground bunker in Idaho. People have gone nuts.

This Time the Biggest Legal Gun in the Nation is on Our Side

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We have the United States Department of Justice not only filing an amici brief on behalf of the challenges to the Illinois gun ban, they have asked for time to come in and argue the government’s position.

Todd Vandermyde
September 12, 2025
DOJ arguing against Illinois’ gun ban ‘monumental,’ advocate says

It is rare but not unheard of for the Feds to support the 2nd Amendment. See the DOJ amicus brief: Office of the Solicitor General | District of Columbia v. Heller – Amicus (Merits) | United States Department of Justice.

Still, it is definitely a worth celebrating when you find that you have the biggest legal gun in the nation on your side.

An End to Tiresome Speculation?

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Via Andy Ngo:

Charlie Kirk Assassin Suspect Appears to Have Killed for Antifa, Confirmed Rifle Cartridge Messages Show

At a Friday morning press conference announcing the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox revealed new details about evidence collected at the scene of the shooting.

There had been confusion after the New York Times cited an unnamed law enforcement source countering reporting by The Wall Street Journal and Steven Crowder (via his ATF source) about Antifa and trans phrases on rifle cartridges. Gov. Cox’s remarks now confirm that Antifa phrases were indeed found.

According to Cox, one cartridge was inscribed with: “Hey fascist! Catch!” Another read: “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao.”

…

The governor noted that other casings read: “If you read this you are gay lmao” and “Notices, bulges OWO what’s this?” The latter appears to be a reference to a furry online meme.

Cox’s clarification narrows the speculation: the casings bear clear Antifa references but, at this stage, do not appear to contain any direct mention of trans ideology.

Via MSN:

Tyler Robinson, 22, facing capital murder and weapons charges: Details emerge about alleged Charlie Kirk assassin

A suspect in the assassination of conservative activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced on Friday.

“We got him,” Cox said at a news conference to announce the arrest of Robinson who was taken into custody Thursday on suspicion of capital murder, weapons and obstruction offenses.

…

The suspect is said to be listed as politically “unaffiliated,” although both his parents are believed to be Republicans.

Cox said the suspect arrived on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday at 8:29 a.m. in a gray Dodge Challenger. He was wearing a plain maroon t-shirt, light shorts, and a black hat with a white logo, as seen in surveillance videos. He wore the same clothes when he was arrested on Thursday night.

Robinson was not a student at the Utah Valley University, where the shooting happened.

“He was living, and had lived for a long time, with his family in Washington County,” Cox said.

Utah voting information seen by The Independent shows his voter status is “inactive,” meaning he has not voted in the last two general elections or responded to notices sent by a county clerk. His party affiliation is listed as “unaffiliated.”

However, family members said Robinson had become “more political in recent years,” expressed negative views of Kirk and told family members he believed the Turning Point USA founder was “full of hate and spreading hate,” Cox said.

He revealed that the family member told investigators that at a recent family dinner, Robinson had mentioned Kirk’s upcoming Utah Valley event, and “they talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had.”

After the shooting, Cox said Robinson’s father recognized his son in photos that law enforcement released and reached out to a family friend, who happened to be a minster, to encourage Robinson to turn himself in.

My hope is this will end the tiresome speculation I have been reading in various places. It was obvious to me there was far too little information to make nearly all the conclusions asserted.

Years ago, I decided I did not have the time to correct everyone on the Internet, or even in the comments to my blog, that is wrong. Yes, many speculations were decent hypothesis, but as one of my physics professors once said, “We need lots of data with narrow error bands or else the theorists will drive trucks through them.” Decades later I still remember the three data points with error bands on the blackboard and the set of squiggly lines he drew through them.

We now have many more data points with much tighter error bands. The set of squiggly lines than can be fit through those error bands just became far fewer in number and significantly less squiggly.

But, as I have come to discover, people will vehemently believe what they want to believe. Or, as Paul Simon sang:

All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

<heavy sigh>

Advocating for Personal Safety

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Quote of the Day

The first time I went to a shooting range I was shaking so bad I couldn’t even write my simple five letter name on the forms and I almost threw up in the waiting area.

Now I am a second amendment advocate.

I do not advocate for violence. It is never the answer. But evil exists and it is up to us to protect ourselves. In fact, one of the first things you learn in a gun safety class is that you never want to pull out the gun unless you absolutely have to. Your wallet, watch, jewelry, phone, car, whatever are not worth taking someone’s life. I want to make that clear.

I also want to make it clear that if you are not comfortable around guns or in using one, then make that a top priority now. Start small. Get comfortable. Get trained. This is especially directed at women! If you aren’t comfortable with a gun please consider other options for personal safety. I am a runner. I have MACE and even a taser that I carry whenever I’m running alone. I’ve heard too many stories.

This is in no way advocating for violence. What it is though is advocating for personal safety. It is us against evil and no one is coming to save us. It is your right to protect yourself and your family.

sarah @swkyhokie
Posted on X, September 11, 2025

This is about 1/3 of her post. Most of the rest is her Virginia Tech mass shooting story. She was unhurt but blamed guns for many years. Eventually she thought it through and realized she had it wrong.

Via a post from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

Mistake or Intentional? Leftist Speech or False Flag?

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we all deserve gun safety. Gun violence is too prevalent in America.

Washington State Democratic Party
September 10, 2025
Washington state elected officials react to fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk | The Daily Chronicle

This seemed a little off and I wanted to verify the exact details. As this was posted on Bluesk I had to create an account and search from probably close to an hour before I finally found it. The text searches did not find it because the words were in an image:

That is interesting. Do you see the difference? It still throws in the idea that the assassination is a gun problem rather than a people or rhetoric problem. But it is not the primary point.

The article was written by Paige Cornwell at the Seattle Times. But it was picked up and posted elsewhere:

No one, apparently, noticed the error in the quote.

If you haven’t noticed the difference, I’ll point it out for you. Ms. Cornwell substituted “we all deserve gun safety” for “we all deserve safety.”

Perhaps I am hypersensitive to the phrase “gun safety.” Or perhaps Ms. Cornwell mistyped the quote in a hurry to get the article finished. Or the Washington State Democrats changed their post after Cornwell grabbed the quote. But a case can be made she did this intentionally. Copilot could not find any history of reporting on gun ownership in any form and tends toward it being an inadvertent error.

I have sent Ms. Page an email about the error. If I get a response, I will edit this post.

In related news, there are both Democrats and the Republicans jumping to conclusions about the motive of the shooter without evidence to support their beliefs. Some Rs claim the Ds are terrorists and should be hunted down and held responsible. Some Ds claim it was a false flag operation to distract from Trump’s involvement with Epstein and/or to justify the creation of a fascist state.

Having just finished Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State” (a good book, BTW), I can easily see the parallels to Nazis using political assassinations as justification for extermination of minorities/political-opponents. And, of course, the political left has a tendency to view violence as just another form of speech.

I’m going to wait for evidence before expressing an opinion. However, it is full speed ahead on getting the underground bunker in Idaho livable.

Update: It has been almost 24 hours since I sent her an email asking if it was intentional or not. I have not received a response.

Draw your own conclusions.

A Magnet for Criminals

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Quote of the Day

Gun control doesn’t stop bad guys. It’s a magnet for criminals.

Erich Pratt
Senior Vice President
Gun Owners of America
September 9, 2025

I really admire the ability to succinctly express powerful ideas.

Realistically Throwing Orgies

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When ppl imagine dating me (a promiscuous poly woman) I think they probably are imagining me leaving them at home while I go off and get railed.

But realistically it also includes me recommending u to other girls and throwing orgies that I invite you to. It’s hot when u get laid.

Aella @Aella_Girl
Posted on Twitter, February 14, 2023

There are alternate realities that one would think are impractical or even impossible. Yet, the evidence seems convincing they do exist and are at least somewhat practical.

Negative Activity

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We are funding non-profits and public health to pass out foil, meth pipes, other paraphernalia – I question what harm is being reduced by that, by helping people get high?

Sara Nelson
Seattle City Council President
September 3, 2025
‘Bouts of negative activity’ lead to temporary closure of 3 Seattle parks

This was prompted by the city park department fencing off and temporarily closing three parks then saying:

We recognize that this park has been impacted by bouts of negative park activity, and we will continue to work to ensure that all parks are clean, safe, and welcoming.

I’m more that a little surprised that someone on the Seattle City Council would say something that reasonable. In contrast, the “negative park activity” statement is entirely in character with what I would expect.

The use of euphemisms and outright lie to gloss over gross acts of neglect and enablement which what one can only conclude are deliberate acts of societal destruction are what I have come to expect.

Perhaps times are changing, and City Council President Nelson can lead that change. Seattle used to be beautiful and safe. It would be nice if they can fix the damage done by all the leftist politics of the last several decades.

I am generally an optimist. But I suspect the Marxists who have been running Seattle into the ground still have a power base enabling the continuation of their destruction.

A Marxist Tell

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Gun makers are increasingly competing for a decreasing market share. That’s why you see this push for an aggressive deregulatory agenda … That’s what animates this attack on the NFA.

 Hudson Munoz
Executive director of Guns Down America
September 5, 2025
Inside the gun absolutists’ bold plot to repeal one of America’s strongest firearms laws

What you see is here is a very strong indicator of a Marxist. The attribution of something they see as bad in the world as due to “corporate greed”, “capitalism”, etc. You used to hear organizations like the Brady Campaign insist that gun manufactures were “flooding the streets” with guns.

It seems beyond their comprehension that markets drive the direction of corporations. Apparently, in their minds, people do not have free will or ability to decide for themselves what they want to spend their own money on. And that extends to people pushing legislators to pass, or repeal, laws that further the interests of individuals. Do they think corporations vote instead of individuals?

And if you doubt this organization has an evil agenda, check out this line from their website:

Gun violence can’t happen where there aren’t guns, and guns are not inevitable.

The organization is probably just one person, Igor Volsky, and is only of significance because it demonstrates the Marxist tell in how they frame the view of gun owners being allowed to purchase gun accessories with fewer restrictions.

Seriously Unconstitutional or Trolling?

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Gun owners already know what it’s like for the government to penalize them for crimes they did not commit.  We shouldn’t even consider such an extreme response to heinous act committed by one disturbed individual, much less implement it, no matter how horrible the crime. The deranged Minneapolis killer is no longer a threat to anybody, and we needn’t make scapegoats of others who had nothing to do with that outrage, just to create the impression something is being done.

The ironic aspect of this controversy is that some in the liberal media are suddenly supporting gun rights because somebody in the Trump administration is talking about restricting transgenders from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Perhaps they will learn something from this.

The government, no matter who is in charge, must understand that enumerated rights protected by the Constitution cannot be stripped away for what amounts to a publicity stunt. If we allow that to happen to one minority group, it could happen to another group, and then another, until the right becomes a distant memory, especially for those of us who have worked so hard to protect it. This is a bad idea, and it needs to go away immediately.

Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA Chairman
September 5, 2025
CCRKBA: DOJ SHOULDN’T BAN GUNS FOR TRANS PEOPLE OVER INDIVIDUAL CRIMES | Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

Mark Smith has a different take, which I think is more likely. And I would not be surprised if Gottlieb also is inclined to believe Mark’s take but plays it straight to score points with the rights are for everyone concept.

The TL;DR; version from Mark is that Trump is trolling the political left to get them to proclaim gun rights are for people of all sexual orientation and the Trump administration is going to violate the constitutional rights of an oppressed minority.

Assuming Mark has the correct angle on this, I could see this causing a few heads to “explode”. If it doesn’t, it was still a good try.

Fear of Success?

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I think they are afraid that people will see what can be done if politicians commit to taking action and really want to make a difference. That’s really the only reason I can think of because otherwise, it makes no sense. And if you look at what Mayor Muriel Bowser has done in D.C. – she’s embraced it and it’s made a huge difference. I wish they would learn from her.

Jody Weis
Former head of the Chicago Police Department
September 2, 2025
‘Afraid’: Ex-Chicago police leader criticizes Dems for rejecting federal crime aid

There are other plausible explanations:

  • The politicians want people to be victims, so the politicians have that as an issue to campaign on. To be fair, this could be an implementation detail of the reason Weis is suggesting.
  • If successful, it will implicitly be giving credit to Republicans and diminish the likelihood of Democrats being returned to office.
  • They are sadists and enjoy seeing the death and destruction of others with no serious risk to themselves.
  • Trump Derangement Syndrome, TDS. We have an epidemic of it in this country.

And, of course, we should always consider embracing the healing power of AND.

If You Begin with Talking About Honesty, You Probably are Dishonest

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You have to be honest, and say what will actually work, which is what nobody wants to hear, which is that there are just simply way too many firearms, and they are way too accessible.

And they’re too powerful, even handguns too, again, that’s why in Australia … It doesn’t matter if it’s not politically acceptable to say it. I’m not here as a politician or anyone who works in politics. I’m a journalist. Whether or not you like it, the only thing that really works, if you really wanted to bring down gun violence, was to do what Australia did and to do what many other countries in Europe do.

Mike Spies
Senior Staff Writer The Trace
August 27, 2025
Corporate Media Outlets Only Too Happy to Help Regurgitate Michael Bloomberg’s Anti-Gun Agitprop – Shooting News Weekly

Whenever someone starts a conversation with something to the effect of, “I’m going to be honest with you…” Then that, almost for certain, means their normal state is dishonesty. Furthermore, they are being dishonest now and trying to convince you to believe their lies. Here, Spies* is demonstrating a minor variation on that maxim.

Heinlein once made a similar observation with, “Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash.”

Also, never let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

* One has to wonder, is his dishonesty so embedded in his ancestor’s behavior that they were given this as a family name?

Reality Versus Conspiracy Theories: Let the Games Begin!

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This will be interesting:

Epstein Files Drop: The Left’s Trump Smear Campaign Just Collapsed – PJ Media

Democrats and Republicans have spent weeks demanding the release of the Epstein files. Well, now they’ve got them. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer confirmed that the long-awaited document dump is officially underway, pledging unprecedented transparency and accountability.

“Just to give a quick update: I think everyone knows who we’ve subpoenaed thus far in the initial batch,” Comer said. “We subpoenaed six former Attorneys General as well as Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.”

Comer confirmed that the scope has since expanded to include former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who oversaw a controversial plea deal for Epstein years ago. “Acosta is coming in, I believe, September the 16th or 19th,” Comer said. “We’ve got that date down. I know that we’ll have a lot of questions for him with respect to an earlier Epstein prosecution that he was involved in when he was U.S. Attorney.”

The chairman also revealed that tens of thousands of pages of records are now in the committee’s possession. “We have the documents — the initial batch that had been sent by the White House. As you know, we also subpoenaed Pam Bondi for those documents. The White House is working with us — I want to publicly thank the White House for turning over so many documents thus far,” he explained.

“We’re in the process of uploading those documents for full transparency, so everyone in America can see them,” Comer said. “As quick as we can get them uploaded — as the Speaker said, there are 34,000 pages — we’re doing everything we can to get those uploaded. We want those to be public as soon as possible.”

I expect there are going to be a lot of people disappointed their most hated politician is not going to be caught with their pants down and a swarm of underage kids in bed with them.

And, furthermore, I expect some of those same people will claim the documents were “cleaned up.” It is just the way these things go. People are never satisfied with the evidence when they have had a lot of time to speculate. Of course, they could be right. And after all this time it will be virtually impossible to conclusively prove them wrong.

Game Theory of Police Interrogation

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got a call from a criminal defendant I believe is innocent. Before calling me, he voluntarily participated in a police interrogation for several hours. He believed that “I have nothing to hide” and that he could explain to the police why they had the wrong guy.

Defense attorneys might call this naïve, but look at the responses to Fleishman’s OP. Even high-IQ people really believe this is how law enforcement works.

Here’s the problem. When you agree to a police interrogation, you and the police are playing two different games.

As the suspect, you believe you are playing a multiplayer, collaborative game.

But the police aren’t even playing a multiplayer game. They’re playing a one-player game, like Tetris.

As the suspect, you’re not a player in the game. You’re more like the game environment, producing falling blocks for the player—the police.

The police play this game by collecting your statements like blocks and fitting them into a picture that incriminates you. When enough blocks have fit together, the police have won the game and refer the case to a prosecutor.

You believe that, once you convince the police that you are innocent, you will all win. But that’s not a real outcome of the game. “Evidence that I am innocent” is not even a game element. From the cops’ perspective, if they fail to assemble the blocks into an incriminating picture, they have lost the game.

Suspects who think “I have nothing to hide” are always surprised when the interrogation lasts several hours. “I’ve already explained everything – why am I still here?” they think.

That’s because the longer the game goes on, the more falling blocks the police have to assemble their case. It’s in their interests to keep the game going long past what your game required.

All suspects eventually sense this on some gut level and become frustrated. You think: “Wait a minute, – all of their questions are subtly premised on my guilt! But I can prove to them that I’m not guilty. I need to appeal to them to really hear me out.”

I.e., “Let’s start over with a different game where we can all work together.”

But even as you’re trying to change the game, you are speaking and therefore generating more blocks.

Here’s the only solution. The moment you have any reason to believe you’re a suspect, exit the game. Politely ask if you are free to leave. If they say “no,” calmly tell them “I invoke my right to remain silent and my right to counsel.”

If you’re in custody when you say this, the cops will actually physically stand up and leave the room as if you’ve just uttered a magic incantation.

Ian Huyett @IanHuyett
Posted on X, September 1, 2025

I have never heard it explained like this before. This is awesome!

I have had similar thoughts, but I had no idea how to explain it so well. And my thoughts were more based on the assumption that the police were outright evil. It goes like this…

Every bit of information I give the police could be used to construct evidence and motivations that is consistent with my alibi and innocent reasons for my actions such that my alibi and reasons are neutralized.

Exercise your Fifth Amendment rights. Do not talk to the police if you might be a suspect in a crime.