Author Archives: Joe

Democratic Western Countries Will Become Fascist Dictatorships

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Over the next decade, it is quite likely that most democratic Western countries will become fascist dictatorships – this is not a tail risk, but the most likely overall outcome. Politics is not a typical LessWrong topic, and for good reason:

  1. it tends to impair clear thinking;
  2. most well-known political issues are not neglected;
  3. most political “debates” are simply people yelling at each other online; neither saying anything new, nor even really trying to persuade the opposition.

However, like the COVID pandemic, it seems like this particular trend will be so impactful and so disruptive to ordinary Western life that it will be important to be aware of it, factor it into plans, and try our best to mitigate or work around the effects.

alyssavance
June 10, 2023
The Dictatorship Problem

I remain unconvinced. There were some interesting trend lines which made for interesting reading and possibly good discussions. But some claims were almost certainly wrong and there was not a set of evidence which I found convincing.

@theDeuceCuatro has mental problems

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It’s insane. Tiny-dicked “patriots” need to feel safe while children are terrified to get an education, go to movies, go to church, go grocery shopping, go dancing, go to concerts, go anywhere.

The DeuceCuatro, Anti-fascist, PhD @theDeuceCuatro
Tweeted on February 22, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

This so claimed “PhD” not only thinks there is a correlation between gun ownership and penis size but thinks people own firearms to “feel safe”. I find it very telling they believe they know the contents of other people’s minds. Belief in mind reading is a sign of certain mental disorders. And they claim gun owners are insane.

Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.

Alberta to Vote on Joining the U.S.

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Many conservatives who live in Alberta, Canada, have had a gutful of what they say is their government’s heavy-handed policies and are backing an effort to secede.

They want to carve out a new border and become the 51st of the United States of America.

…

A vote on the referendum in Alberta is set for June 30.

John Thompson
June 10, 2023
Canadian Conservatives Have Had Enough: Alberta To Vote On Becoming 51st US State

The referendum is unlikely to pass. But if they reach the point where secession is viable I think the U.S. should give it serious consideration.

Defiance

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ATF Says a Quarter Million Guns Registered Under Pistol-Brace Ban

The ATF told The Reload on Friday it has received just over a quarter million applications to register pistol-brace-equipped firearms. Registering the affected guns was one path toward avoiding possible criminal punishment for possessing the guns under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) after the agency implemented a rule reclassifying the firearms as subject to NFA restrictions. The ATF waived the tax requirement for registration to encourage owners to comply before the deadline.

“The final rule provided possessors of such firearms the option to comply with the registration requirements of the National Firearms Act through a tax-free process using either the ATF eForms System or a paper application process with a deadline for such applications of 11:59 PM (ET) on May 31, 2023,” Erik Longnecker, Deputy Chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division, told The Reload. “As of June 1, 2023, ATF received 255,162 applications for tax-free registration.”

That number represents just a fraction of the braced guns believed to have been sold in the decade since the ATF first classified a version as outside the scope of the NFA. In the impact assessment for the rule, the ATF estimated that three to seven million devices exist. However, the Congressional Research Service puts the number much higher at somewhere between 10 and 40 million.

That puts the registration rate for pistol-brace-equipped guns at between 0.6 percent and eight percent.

I’m surprised it is this high. The compliance rate for “assault weapon” bans and registrations is in the two to five percent range. And the pistol brace issues is just as bogus and without a serial number on the brace it is much more difficult to track down those who don’t comply.

Had people been able to wait until the court case they could have avoided registration and/or loss of their brace by joining SAF and/or FPC (see here).

Bullets HITTING Bullets

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Via email from Rolf:

/p>

I geeked out over this. Very cool.

Declare Gun Owners Terrorists and Send Them to Gitmo

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Should the government declare gun owners as terrorists and send them to Gitmo so that way guns can be banned without violating the Second Amendment?

Braydon Page
Question added on May 5, 2023

Trolls can be entertaining. But sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between those entertaining themselves and people who are completely serious.

Orwellian Freedom

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I’m proposing the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution to help end our nation’s gun violence crisis.

The American people are sick of Congress’ inaction.

The 28th will enshrine 4 widely supported gun safety freedoms — while leaving the 2nd Amendment intact:

1) Raising the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21

2) Universal background checks

3) A reasonable waiting period for gun purchases

4) Banning the civilian purchase of assault weapons

Gavin Newson @GavinNewson
Tweeted on June 8, 2023

Emphasis added.

“Gun safety freedoms”? This is classic Democrat Orwellian speak. It ranks right up there when Democrats demanded freedom — to own slaves. And it deserves the same amount of respect.

See also what CCRKBA has to say about this.

I hope he enjoys his trial.

Change Your Voicemail Password

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The bad guys have found a way to exploit people who have not changed their default cell phone password.

  1. Verify the default password works with your voicemail.
  2. Wait for your phone to be turned off (late at night, while you are on a plane, etc.)
  3. Use “call me with a one time password” for password reset on your bank account (or other website).
  4. The one time password goes to voicemail.
  5. They get the one time password from voicemail.
  6. Your bank account belongs to them.

Lesson… never use the default password for something exposed to the public.

No Confusion

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For state legislators trying to respond to constituents’ concerns about rising rates of gun violence and mass shootings, this historical test — and the subjective manner in which judges deploy it — makes it difficult to determine which laws are constitutional and which ones are not.

Paul Blumenthal
June 7, 2023
The Supreme Court’s Gun Rights Decision Is Causing Confusion In State Legislatures

The only confusion is in their simple minds. And I have doubt about that. I think a strong case can be made that they know perfectly well what the Second Amendment and SCOTUS say.

It’s very simple. Shall. Not. Be. Infringed.

Only in Hindsight

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There used to be a meme in the prepper community to the effect of “How will we know when the SHTF?” How will we know when we are truly in the soup? The best answer I ever heard was from a man I met at Auschwitz in Poland, a man who had survived the hellish nightmare of the Balkan genocide. Couldn’t you tell, I asked him?

“Hindsight,” he said. “You can only tell in hindsight.”

Michael Bane
June 6, 2023
The End of the World as We Know It…and We’re Not Fine

I have nothing to add.

Tractor Beam In Development

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I love living in the future.

Scientists Are Actively Building a Real-Life Tractor Beam. Seriously.

    • Scientists are working on bringing a tractor beam from science fiction to reality.
    • The researchers are planning to use beams of electrons to create opposite charges and attract object to the beam for manipulation.
    • The goal is to find a safe and effective way to pare down the ever-growing field of space junk orbiting our planet.

Oath of Office is Not a Trivial Inconvenience

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The Courts will indeed decide this issue, and in the meantime things like an Oath of Office appear to be nothing more than a trivial inconvenience, as it certainly is not adhered to as a rule here in Vermont.

Chris Bradley
President Vermont’s Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs
June 2, 2023
Vermont governor doubted gun control bill was constitutional, but he just allowed it to take effect

It certainly isn’t limited to Vermont. I would claim that 99.9% of all politicians in the country give it less thought than the Vermont governor. And it is not a trivial inconvenience to any of them. They do not even consider it.

There needs to a be a multitude of trials.

Top Gun Rights Organization Membership Salesmen

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Interest in SAF membership has been simply stunning. In our 49 years of existence, we have never experienced such a spontaneous organic groundswell of public interest, from all over the country. Not only does this show the importance of fighting these legal battles on behalf of our members, and American gun owners in general, it also underscores the degree of public interest in the arm brace issue. We are both proud and humbled by the surge in memberships from people who see SAF as leading the charge against the ATF’s flip on pistol braces.

Alan M. Gottlieb
SAF founder and Executive Vice President
June 5, 2023
SAF MEMBERSHIP SURGES AFTER JUDGE CLARIFIES SCOPE OF ARM BRACE INJUNCTION

Gun banners always make the best gun and gun rights organization membership salesmen.

Firearms Policy Coalition members also have immunity from prosecution for owning a pistol stabilizing brace.

Become members of both, just to make sure.

Can’t wait for a civil war

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No, it’s about a well regulated militia. That would be our military. You idiots that walk around with assault weapons either have really tiny penises or are cowards or both. I can’t wait until you idiots try and start a civil war. It will be OUR MILITARY that quells it.

Penelope Jane (Formerly LOVER OF DEMOCRACY) @PenneyJane2022
Tweeted on February 7, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

I think she will be “disappointed” should there be a civil war. I’ll bet she doesn’t even know what the phrase total warfare means and that it is more likely to occur in Ideological or religious conflicts,

Imagine the Other Side

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Many ppl can’t imagine what it’s like to be the opposing side; you subconsciously imagine the other people must ‘feel’ evil or not ‘really’ believe what they claim, and since you yourself *don’t* feel evil and *do* feel genuine belief, this is quiet proof that you must be right.

Aella (@Aella_Girl)
Tweeted on May 31, 2023

Did Hitler, Stalin, and their followers think they were evil? If not, then how do you know that you are not evil? Perhaps opposition to one and/or both of national socialism and world socialism is evil. Perhaps support of one and/or both is evil. How do you know?

How do you determine truth from falsity?

Philosophy. Who Needs it?

All interesting stuff.

First, Second, Fifth, and now Sixth Amendment

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Call it the long game. ‘gun control’ isn’t satisfied with attacking Second Amendment rights, or even First Amendment rights. Now, they’re targeting Sixth Amendment rights too. That’s the amendment that guarantees the right to be represented by legal counsel.

Giffords Courage to Fight Gun Violence and March for Our Lives, ‘gun control’ groups headed by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and antigun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, respectively, are canvassing campuses to convince law students to sign a pledge they won’t represent the firearm industry or firearm owners when it comes to protecting and preserving Second Amendment rights. The ‘gun control’ groups’ pledge peddles verifiably false claims to convince the aspiring lawyers that the firearm industry is responsible for violent crime in America.

Larry Keane
May 23, 2023
GUN CONTROL LOOKS TO DRY UP LEGAL TALENT FOR GUN INDUSTRY

The First, Second, Fifth (lack of due process with “red flag” laws, and now Sixth Amendment. Why not just openly declare they are opposed to all human rights and want us in chains, in jail, or dead? We all know it is true.

These People are Evil

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People think this is moral and/or legal?

The state-level trial court sided with the union, finding that the Garmon precedent shielded the Teamsters from state tort liability for intentional destruction of property.

The Washington Court of Appeals reversed that opinion, finding that “the intentional destruction of property during a lawful work stoppage is not protected activity” under the NLRA.

But the Washington Supreme Court overturned that ruling, reinstating the trial court’s dismissal of the company’s lawsuit. It held that the union’s intentional destruction of company property was a “legitimate bargaining tactic” that trumps the state law’s interest in protecting property.

If the legal system in Washington state is that far gone I need to retire to my underground bunker in Idaho. I knew they completely ignore the Washington State constitution’s protection of the right to keep and bear arms. But their distain for property rights extends to thinking striking workers can deliberately damage employer property? Wow!

These people are evil.

Thinking Critically is Obsolete

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We no longer know how to think critically. Subjectivity and nihilism rule supreme: the deranged, post-modernist woke cargo cult claims that there no longer is truth, just our truths. Ideas are at best positional goods, fashion statements and markers of social hierarchy, and at worst tools of oppression.

Allister Heath
May 31, 2023
The idiot West is sleeping as the end of the world draws near

Rational thought is a relatively recent innovation in humans and is nothing but a thin dressing over a mixed fruit salad of emotions. And as I have pointed out even that thin dressing could be said to be lacking in many, perhaps most, people today:

As I have said before:

We do not share a common basis for communication or for determining reality. We share the same planet but they are in a different world. So of course they get angry with us. In their minds we are aliens in a turf war with them.

Write in a Computer Language for Best Results

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For it to replace you, you have to communicate requirements which are not possible in native English. That’s why we invented programming languages,

Syed Ghazanfer
May 29, 2023
Lawyer uses ChatGPT in court and now ‘greatly regrets’ it

This is what I was coming up with when I tried to use Bing Chat to write code. It would write code which, if you squinted and looked at it sideways, you might believe it had written the code I asked for. But it wasn’t really what I wanted. As I repeatedly reworded the requests I found I could not be specific enough to get it to understand what I wanted. I concluded it was easier to just write the code myself except in some very specific cases.

Solar Power From Space

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I have a bias toward space-based solar power. I wrote a paper on it while I was in college on alternate energy source. Hence, articles like this get my attention:

Japan to try beaming solar power from space in mid-decade

A new global race is heating up to develop technology for transmitting solar power collected in space to Earth, with a Japanese public-private partnership aiming to run a trial around fiscal 2025.

Space-based solar power was proposed by an American physicist in 1968. The concept is to launch solar panels into space to generate electricity at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers.

At this time I’m inclined to believe it will not be competitive with other sources. The greater availability of solar and higher intensity of the solar energy in space does not appear adequate to compensate for the higher conversion and transmission losses compared to land based solar. And that doesn’t even compare it to the best terrestrial sources such as nuclear and hydroelectric power.

Still, I’m interested to see the results. Perhaps it will be useful in some special cases such as quickly getting power to remote locations.