Author Archives: Joe

It Was the Voter’s Fault

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Who would have guessed lying about Biden’s cognitive health for 2 yrs, refusing to do an open convention for a new nominee, never mentioning public healthcare & embracing fracking, the Cheneys & a yr long slaughter of children in Gaza wouldn’t be a winning strategy?

Anyone with half a brain? But I thought liberals’ whole thing is being smart? It’s not? They actually just blindly cheer the parade of rickety optics wrapped up in New York Times fonts that is the modern Dem Party?

Well at least it’s time for the dusty hacks & careerists to spread their feathers wide post election and blame Russia and third party candidates. That should fix things.

Adam McKay @ZombiePanther2
Posted on X, November 5, 2024

This was a large donor to the Democrat party. I find this guy most interesting. His take on things, at best half right, at least puts the blame on Harris and the Democrat party.

I find it very telling that all the other whining I see on the web about Harris’s loss is based on introspection. It does not include asking republicans why they voted the way they did. And, one would think, they should especially be asking people who usually vote for democrats why they voted for Trump in this election.

I see, again and again, insistence the voters are sexist, racist, white nationalist, and/or fascist. Nevermind that black men, and all Latinos voted for Trump in greater numbers than in 2020. And in some counties a larger fraction of blacks voted Republican this year than they have since the 1870s! Nevermind these evil voters wouldn’t be pushing lawsuits through the courts that make it easier for individuals own guns and training them on how to defend themselves from the likes of the KKK, men who women, and a fascist government.

Their mindset is it always someone else’s fault. The problem is not they are trying to sell an inferior product. The problem is the people are too stupid and/or evil to buy it. In an individual, this sort of reasoning is a strong indicator of mental illness. It can be argued it means the same thing in a group.

We are in a High-Risk Environment

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There were two attempts on Trump with a Secret Service detail protecting him. Individual are going to be much easier targets.

Prepare and respond appropriately.

A Chilling Effect

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While it’s not always possible to evade government mandates, registering your guns just puts them on a shopping list for sticky-fingered officials. That’s true of registering anything that you value and that powerful people might fear or covet.

Even more concerning, though, is the prospect of governments in supposedly free societies conducting intelligence operations against their people and punishing those who hold disapproved ideas. That’s a great argument for getting rid of the need for government permission to go about our lives. Politicians will never approve of those who disagree with them, but we shouldn’t need their approval.

J.D. Tuccille
October 25, 2024
New Zealand Government Punishes Gun Owners for Their Political Beliefs

Way back when I started getting into guns, I thought everyone was in agreement that free speech was a good thing. While considered extremely bad form, it was legal for Nazis to have a peaceful march through Jewish neighborhoods. As near as I can recall, 30 years ago there wasn’t any real consequences to not believing the 16th Amendment was properly ratified, or that the moon landings were faked.

That is not the case anymore. New York passed a law (recently thrown out by the courts) requiring people to hand over your social media accounts to the government before you can get a concealed carry license. People have lost their jobs at Facebook for donating a couple thousand dollars to President Trump’s campaign. Others have lost their jobs for saying men, in general, were better at certain things and women were better at other things.

There currently is a deliberate chilling effect on the exercise of fundamental rights. There is some push back, as in the repeal of the New York law, but it is going to take a lot more time and resources to restore the free exercise of our rights to where they should be.

A Low Bar

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You could create a website of only censored articles and it would be the most accurate news outlet in the world

Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec
Tweeted on May 20, 2022

I rate this as true. But a large part of that is because the threshold for being the most accurate news outlet is very low. It sets a low bar.

Great Question–I’ve Got Answers

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If “extremists” use objective facts, state and federal law, lower court rulings, the Constitution, and Supreme Court decisions; what is a good, succinct term for folks like Terrence Cummings who actively reject all that, and prefer falsehoods and feelz?

Carl Bussjaeger
September 29, 2022
Achievement Unlocked! | The Zelman Partisans

How about one or more of these?

Hitler or Stalin?

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The Harris side tells us that Trump is a fascist.

The Trump side tells us that Harris is a communist.

Hence, this year a case can be made that most voters are making a choice between Hitler and Stalin.

I am voting for an underground bunker in Idaho.

Unencumbered by Rational Thoughts

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It’s nobody’s business that you have a tiny cock, but if you keep dropping clues with AR15s, punisher skulls and the like, we’re all going to realize that your cock is extremely small.

NotRonzilla @NotW1970
Tweeted June 25, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

And it takes nothing further from him for the rest of us to realize he is unencumbered by rational thoughts*.

* On Saturday I had lunch with my friend Elizabeth and she used the phrase “unencumbered by a high IQ”. I thought it was wonderfully funny and have adapted and adopted it.

Huffman’s First Rule of Recreational Explosives Violation

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My first rule of recreational explosives use was violated.

Huffman’s First Rule of Recreational Explosives:

Never put anything between your body and the explosives which may require a surgeon to remove.

Fifth Amendment for AI

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If a personalized AI becomes an extension of yourself and gains privileged and confidential knowledge about your life, it should be illegal to compel that AI to give incriminating testimony about yourself if seized or interrogated by the government.

Fifth Amendment for AI.

Andrew Côté @Andercot
Posted on X on Novermber 2, 2024

Interesting. It would be just like the government being unable to compel your spouse, doctor, or religious confident to testify against you.

Of course, the government will claim it is more like seizing your computer, papers in your desk, or your bank records.

I’m all for ruling that the AI is not only considered off limits for compelled testimony but is prone to hallucinations. Hence, even if it did testify, it cannot be trusted to be truthful.

Plus, there should always be a thumb on the scale of power toward liberty. If there is some doubt about whether the government should have some power, the default answer should always be, “NO!”

Via a post on X by Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras

Freedom From Fear–NOT!

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“Freedom from fear” offers freedom from everything except the government. Anyone who sounds the alarm about excessive government power will automatically be guilty of subverting freedom from fear. Presumably,the fewer inviolable rights the citizen has, the better government will treat him. But as John Locke warned more than 300 years ago, “I have no reason to suppose, that he, who would take away my Liberty, would not when he had me in his Power, take away everything else.”

Why not simply offer voters “freedom from the Constitution”? “Freedom from fear” means security via mass delusions about the nature of political power. Painting the motto “freedom from fear” on shackles won’t make them easier to bear. Perhaps our ruling class should be honest and replace the Bill of Rights with a new motto: “Political buncombe will make you free.”

Jim Bovard
October 23, 2024
The “Freedom From Fear” Ticket for Tyranny | The Libertarian Institute

I have nothing to add.

News You Can Use

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Privacy experts say disabling or deleting your device’s MAID will have no effect on how your phone operates, except that you may begin to see far less targeted ads on that device.

Any Android apps with permission to use your location should appear when you navigate to the Settings app, Location, and then App Permissions. “Allowed all the time” is the most permissive setting, followed by “Allowed only while in use,” “Ask every time,” and “Not allowed.”

Android users can delete their ad ID permanently, by opening the Settings app and navigating to Privacy > Ads. Tap “Delete advertising ID,” then tap it again on the next page to confirm. According to the EFF, this will prevent any app on your phone from accessing the ad ID in the future. Google’s documentation on this is here.

By default, Apple’s iOS requires apps to ask permission before they can access your device’s IDFA. When you install a new app, it may ask for permission to track you. When prompted to do so by an app, select the “Ask App Not to Track” option. Apple users also can set the “Allow apps to request to track” switch to the “off” position, which will block apps from asking to track you.

Apple also has its own targeted advertising system which is separate from third-party tracking enabled by the IDFA. To disable it, go to Settings, Privacy, and Apple Advertising, and ensure that the “Personalized Ads” setting is set to “off.”

Finally, if you’re the type of reader who’s the default IT support person for a small group of family or friends (bless your heart), it would be a good idea to set their devices not to track them, and to disable any apps that may have location data sharing turned on 24/7.

There is a dual benefit to this altruism, which is clearly in the device owner’s best interests. Because while your device may not be directly trackable via advertising data, making sure they’re opted out of said tracking also can reduce the likelihood that you are trackable simply by being physically close to those who are.

Brian Krebs
October 23, 2024
The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data – Krebs on Security

Getting recent location information on a person given just a few bits of data was not the original intent. But it isn’t that hard to do with the Mobile Advertising ID:

The Mobile Advertising ID or MAID — the unique alphanumeric identifier assigned to each mobile device — was originally envisioned as a way to distinguish individual mobile customers without relying on personally identifiable information such as phone numbers or email addresses.

However, there is now a robust industry of marketing and advertising companies that specialize in assembling enormous lists of MAIDs that are “enriched” with historical and personal information about the individual behind each MAID.

I protested a similar loophole when I was working on the location services for Windows Phone 7 at Microsoft. People didn’t see the problem with a phone being assigned unique random number for each phone and tracking it. I had to explain it to them:

Supposed I know where my Ex works (or picks up her mail) and where our kids go to school. I search the tracking data for the sets of IDs which visit both locations. Even if there are a dozen of them, I can find out where each of those phones spend their night. I can then easily visit each of those locations to find which one is my Ex.

If I only have one location for my Ex I still find the home of my Ex. I isolate a sibling/parent/close friend of hers. I use that ID to see if it meets with one of the IDs from my Ex’s work/school.

They seemed understand the problem, but the corporate utility of having the tracking ID seemed to outweigh user risk. I don’t remember what ultimately happened with that.

I know there was similar location tracking risk to users that I called out and they went ahead with. About a month before it was released there was a bit of a scandal with Google’s Android phones. Google was doing almost exactly the same thing as what MS was about to release. The same manager who insisted I make the enabling code change changed his mind. It was with great pleasure that I backed out my code changes.

Smart phones are awesome tools. Smart phone users have a huge advantage over others who don’t have one or don’t use their full potential. But as you can imagine, and as surviving Hezbollah members can attest, in certain situations even a pager is risky.

What About a Zero Inflation Target?

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I recently finished Judy Shelton’s book Good as Gold. Today I ran across this article about her: Trump’s former pick to join the Federal Reserve has proposed a radical solution to solve inflation (msn.com).

I have never even taken an economics class, but I found her book ideas interesting. Among other things it outlined a way for the U.S. and the entire world to ease into a gold standard. Since gold reached a new all-time high today.* The idea of returning to a gold standard has more than a little bit of attraction.

As the article points out she is also an advocate for a target of zero inflation. The article is more than a bit down on that idea. But if I were President Trump, I would set up a debate. The debate would be between Shelton and a couple opponents of her zero-inflation suggestion. A compromise of a target of 1% inflation would still be beneficial. It would provide useful data about the utility of zero or near zero inflation.

* Or, the dollar hit a new all-time low.

Racial Minorities Voting for a White Supremacist?

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In other words the entire event despite its marathon length and hodgepodge of z-list speakers, delivered over and over again a very focused message. The Trump campaign is about retribution and revenge. It is about the white supremacist desire to purge America of all their neighbors of different colors and beliefs. It is about Trump’s desire to seek out his enemies and punish them. And over the course of its Wagnerian length (and resonances) it single out group after group that would be deported or punished.

From a political perspective the strategy is pure suicide. The rally will almost certainly alienate more voters who might have voted for Trump and it is hard to imagine it has earned him one single new vote. (Unless there is a Franz Liebkind somewhere who has been too busy writing “Springtime for Hitler” to have paid attention to the campaign until now.) It was a play to the base when the biggest problem Trump has in this election is breaking through his rock solid ceiling of around 47 percent of the electorate.

David Rothkopf
October 27, 2024
Opinion: Donald Trump’s Racist NYC Rally Was Vile. It Was Also Political Suicide

I found these claims very interesting. How do we reconcile Rothkopf’s white supremacist and Hitler assertions with:

Do these increasing numbers of non-whites want a white supremacist in the White House?

And on the gun control issue Kamala Harris has far better alignment with Hitler than Donald Trump.

The only way I can resolve the issue is to conclude is that either in Rothkopf’s universe the sky is a different color, or he is deliberately lying.

Expectations

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Eight years later, after being dragged from courthouse to courthouse, two assassination attempts and being labeled a “fascist” by his opponents daily, Trump has a real chance at another victory against long odds. The Daily Caller spoke to various experts across the political landscape about what to expect if that happens. From violence in the streets, to Democrats’ plans to contest a Trump win, to the media meltdown, to election lawfare from Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias, they all predicted a much more dangerous and extreme response this time around if the “threat to democracy” is democratically elected.

McGinniss told the Caller he is preparing for unrest across the country that will be more intense than what was seen in 2016. He says nearly a decade of persistent anti-Trump messaging will be an accelerant for extremism.

“[We’ve been] told that, effectively, our country is going to be under a dictatorship if Trump wins,” McGinniss told the Caller.

He predicted that violent activists throughout the country would target the nearest avatar of the government they could find, whether that be federal courthouses or police precincts.

Julio Rosas, a national correspondent for The Blaze who has years of experience covering riots and social unrest, had a similar prediction, adding that migrants who have been let into the country under the Biden-Harris administration may join in big cities such as New York and Chicago. Above all, Rosas said protests can be expected because violent demonstrators have never learned their lesson.

Reagan Reese
October 27, 2024
What Happens If Trump Wins? (msn.com)

Expectations by other people are similar.

I don’t want to be in the city for the next few months. Unfortunately, my employer insists we be in the office four days a week. And, I don’t have an underground bunker in Idaho to live in. It is a lot of work to keep my small camping trailer there livable in the winter. And with two people in it, it is miserable to live in for extended periods.

Proof of Inability to Think Clearly

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I just have to shake my head at things like this:

An Arizona prosecutor said the man arrested in the three-time shooting of a Democratic National Committee office in suburban Phoenix had more than 120 guns and over 250,000 rounds of ammunition in his home, leading law enforcement to believe he may have been planning a mass casualty event.

How it the world can someone extrapolate from the given data to the stated conclusion? How many guns and rounds of ammo can someone utilize in “a mass casualty event”?

I could see two or maybe three guns. And what, perhaps 300 rounds of ammunition? If you are shooting a rifle quickly, you should let the barrel cool down. Do this every minute or so. So, switch guns for a minute and then continue with first gun. A third gun in case one of your guns gets a jam. After a couple hundred rounds your kill zone is almost for certain going to be empty.

My assertion is that most gun owners can supply the needs of a near maximal “mass causality event”. And they would not have to buy more than one or two extra boxes of ammo to do it.

120 guns and 250,000 rounds of ammunition is evidence of something much different than a “mass casualty event.” It could be any number of things. However, the prosecutor’s hypothesis doesn’t even get on the bottom of that very long list.

The only thing the prosecutor has done with this claim is provide proof she is unable to think clearly.

Bezos Clarifies and Becomes a Heretic

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Four days ago, I posted about the Washington Post not endorsing a candidate for U.S. President. I had a firm idea on why they decided to do that. But as near as I can tell, 100% of Kamala Harris supporters had another opinion.

Last night Jeff Bezos clarified the reason:

In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.

Let me give an analogy. Voting machines must meet two requirements. They must count the vote accurately, and people must believe they count the vote accurately. The second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.

Likewise with newspapers. We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion.

I found his opinion peace straightforward, candid, and believable. His reference to reality echos my frequent references to some people. I imagine these people must have a different color of sky in their universe.

Bezos goes on to say the people who believe the decision was in fear of Trump retaliation are mistaken:

I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here. Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally.

But that is not what the “journalists” and subscribers want to hear. They insist they need to be told to do what they already planned to do. And if Bezos’ newspaper is not going to do that, then they are going to stomp their feet and pout:

NPR reported Tuesday that The Post has shed more than a whopping 250,000 subscribers since it revealed its editorial board would not formally endorse Vice President Kamala Harris after it had planned to do so. 

…

A veteran Washington Post insider tells Fox News Digital that Monday’s initial NPR report noting the massive drop in subscribers was “the talk of the newsroom.”

“People are outraged at such a boneheaded decision,” the insider said.

This is further evidence of the emotional basis of their belief system. Their belief system is not based on facts and rational thought. If it were, they would not require the opinion writers of a newspaper to reinforce their faith. They need a power figure to maintain that faith. That their faith leader failed to do this is heretical.

See also Jeff Bezos speaks on WaPo drama: We have to ‘increase our credibility’ (msn.com).

Bezos should be careful. Heretics/traitors are considered worse than simple non-believers.

What is the Margin of Fraud This Year?

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I received the following text message exchange regarding the election in Pennsylvania. One person lives in Idaho. The other is in Pennsylvania. Make what you will of it.

ID: Monday, Sep 9 · 7:25 AM
I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a lobbyist here in Idaho and she’s been hanging out with DC people who say that PA is the key to the election. So who’s going to win?

ID: 7:26 AM ·SMS You’re state

PA: Monday, Sep 9 · 9:06 AM
I can’t imagine Harris winning Pennsylvania but they sure ha e been hanging out here a lot
Latest poll shows Harris up +0.2 which means it’s even. The Dems will pull out all stops and cheat their way to victory. The repubs have to cheat also to overcome the Dems cheating

ID: Monday, Sep 9 · 2:22 PM
Mail in ballots are a gift if you want to cheat

PA: Monday, Sep 9 · 5:08 PM
The Repubs totally screwed up allowing those things
I worked the 2020 election and every morning the election commission staff would come to work with fists filled with ballots. Old ladies in the neighborhood they would say. Fair enough except it was illegal
Multiply that by how many precincts? We’re fucked.

ID: Yea

PA: Repubs have to cheat even then the Democrats will out cheat them by a lot in the big cities.

Communism is no Longer an Economic Theory

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So the idea here is that the dominance in the Academy of skeptical and irrationalist epistemologies provides the academic Left with a new strategy. Confronted by ruthless logic, harsh evidence, they have a solution: “That’s only logic and evidence. Logic and evidence are subjective. You can’t really PROVE anything. FEELINGS are deeper than logic, and my feelings say Socialism.”

That’s my second hypothesis about the origins of Postmodernism. I call it the Kierkegaardian hypothesis, that Postmodernism is the crisis of faith of the academic Left. Its epistemology justifies taking a personal leap of faith in continuing to believe your Socialist ideals.

Communism is no longer an economic theory. It has failed utterly at that. It’s now a religion. And it’s proselytized in our education systems.

Kevin
October 23, 2024
More Quora Content – The Smallest Minority

Unfortunately, I am of the opinion this change does little, if anything, to make it less destructive. Politics have been an emotional team sport for a long time. Team communism will lose a few supporters, but they will pick up others. And those they pick up will be the type of people who thrive on strong emotions. Seeing those that opposed them piled up in a ditch will only give them a thrill and the wish to see more dead non-believers.

A Markley’s Law Troll

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If you want to use Guns join the military and fight the Russians, if you limp dick ammosexuals aren’t too cowardly!

Only soldiers and cops need guns. No one else can be trusted.

Cussing-Chan @SwearingSama
Posted on October 23, 2024 on X.

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here) … or a troll.

I’m about 75% convinced it is a troll. The claim that cops can be trusted was their first tell. Their bio was the second:

Are you reading this to see if you’re being trolled/mocked or not?

Probably yes.

For doing such a great job of creating uncertainty as to the proper interpretation of their posting I moved them to the head of the Markley’s Law Monday queue.

Wildlife Pictures

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These pictures were taken in the last two weeks from my property in Idaho.

Elk:

This was the first time I have ever got a picture of a woodpecker: They tend to be very shy birds. It is just stretching its wing. There is nothing wrong with it:

I didn’t even know there were raccoons in the area:

Mostly unrelated, but early this morning I saw the Northern Lights for the first time ever. This picture was taken from the door of my camping trailer in Idaho. The lights were too far away to be very impressive, but still, I saw them: