Believe Them

Quote of the Day

In a world full of structural
R@cism
Sexism
H0m0phonia
Transph0bia
And millions of cishet gendered Facists burning thru our limited resources, well Death kinda makes sense , doancha think?

JFKY
Vassar graduate
VP Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
Major Merchant Venture Bank
September 21, 2025
Comment to Instapundit » Blog Archive » FOR THE LEFT VIOLENCE IS BAKED IN:  Death is the Solution to all Problems.

When someone tells you they want you dead, believe them.

Further evidence from the same comment thread:

Not MY death, but a culling of undesirables….undeisarables as it were

Prepare appropriately.

Update: I have been reliably informed that it is a parody account. See the comments below for details.

Food for Thought

Quote of the Day

I can’t remember ever hearing of any teachers or school administrators, anywhere, picketing in favor of a free market.

Lyle
November 15, 2005
Comment to Solving the world’s problems

This observation is applicable to many other products and services provided by the government. And I’m certain the reason is something other than the quality and total cost of the products.

My hypothesis is that it is because the costs are hidden. You do not easily see the costs at the individual level. The product appears to be “free.” And when you chose a free-market alternative you do not receive the savings of not paying for the government product.

An Evolutionary Shift Like Never Before

Quote of the Day

If human survival and well-being increasingly depend on the cultural systems around us, what happens to individual genetic evolution? Will we see a future where humanity evolves not as a collection of genetically distinct individuals, but as a cooperative, culturally shaped superorganism?

The idea is that just as ants or bees operate as superorganisms, humans may one day operate similarly, with survival and reproduction dependent on the health of the cultural systems that define our societies.

Tibi Puiu
September 18, 2025
Researchers Say Humans Are In the Midst of an Evolutionary Shift Like Never Before

It would seem to me that we have been evolving via cultural systems for thousands of years. Didn’t that begin with specialization and small groups/tribes? Perhaps even earlier with sexual differentiation with males generally being stronger and females better able to care for their young?

Sure, with the technologies in the transportation, farming, communication, and sanitation areas cities could develop. And those cities developed new cultures which then evolved even more. But it is not anything really new.

Now, perhaps the claim is that the technology/culture evolution is proceeding at a far faster rate than before. In centuries past it might be claimed that genetic and cultural evolution were comparable in contribution to human changes. And now, the technology/culture change is so much faster that the genetic changes are irrelevant. Maybe.

What I expect is that instead of genetic changes being irrelevant is that the ant/bee superorganism will not come about in humans because human genetics will be a barrier to such systems.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a what, back on the farm, my family viewed as “city folk” thinking. Basically, a bias of thinking their way of life is superior to the country life. There certainly are far more “cultural” options available in cities and those cultures (fads, as we thought of them) change much faster than the changes you see in the country.

Death is the Solution to all Problems

Quote of the Day

Death is the solution to all problems. No man – no problem.

Joseph Stalin
See Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, 2003, p. 41. Also appears in The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), edited by Fred R. Shapiro.

I cannot help but think of this quote in the context of the shootings and planned shootings of various prominent Republicans such as House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, three Supreme Court Justices, the two attempts at killing Donald Trump, and of course the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Leftist and political violence seem to be strongly correlated*.

You also see this in the expression of political will. The number and magnitude of riots, the level of violence, looting, and arson of the political left dwarfs that of the political right in this country. I have to wonder are they inspired by Stalin and others of his ilk? Or is it a natural result of their political posture?

The political right seems to be far less inclined to use violence means to achieve their political goals. I’m not saying they are entirely ethical, honest, or consistent. But violence does not seem to be one of the primary tools in their toolbox.


* Yes, there is evidence the 2025 shootings of Minnesota legislators were politically motivated. But I don’t see Republicans excusing the murders or claiming the victims brought it on themselves.

Evidence of His Real Goal

David Hogg Calls for Gun Control After Kirk’s Death.

Of course he does. Because he needs a wedge against possession of hunting rifles if his goal of the confiscating all guns is to be realized. This is just one more piece of evidence of his evil intent.

We Are Not the Same

Quote of the Day

Perhaps the reason leftists and conservatives think so differently about guns, is because for conservatives it doesn’t even occur to us to shoot someone simply for disagreeing.

The response to Charlie’s assassination revealed that it occurs to the left all the time.

Nick Freitas @NickJFreitas
Posted on X, September 16, 2025

Via daughter Jaime.

And from the same thread we have this:

A Gift for my Underground Bunker

Last weekend I received a gift for my underground bunker. I only had to pick it up. It was a 2 hour and 40-minute drive each way. But it was well worth it. The giver no longer had a use for it and wanted it to have a good home.

This is just the base, motor, shell plate, die holder, and a few other things. All the other parts were included plus lots of spare parts. I have the rest of it in water and dust proof storage bins.

I look forward to getting it fully assembled and having it do what it does so well.

I’m not going to say exactly what it is, but the model is an Evolution Pro. It is just what I need to keep me busy for the dark and cold nights of the coming nuclear winter.

Her Cause is Hopeless

Quote of the Day

The gun-friendly Court has made a near-impossible feat Sisyphean. We have a Republican Congress utterly unwilling to pass meaningful legislation to stem the scourge of gun violence, backstopped by a Supreme Court that sees the Second Amendment as untouchable.

Still, dropping the subject cedes significant ground to the right. The United States is not the only country with hyper-partisanship and an irresponsible, bloodlusty leader. It’s the guns.

Kate Riga
September 11, 2025
We Don’t Even Talk About the Guns Anymore

Riga is delusional and/or stupid if she really thinks it is the guns rather than the culture and/or people. But that may be giving her too much credit.

At this point I don’t much care. She has an opinion that is just so much dust being swept into the dustbin of history. I’m just happy to see the acknowledgement that her desire to enable tyranny anytime soon is hopeless.

Blasphemy is still a crime

Quote of the Day

Blasphemy is still a crime, but you see, the Gods, they have changed.

friedcheese
September 17, 2025
Comment to JUST ANOTHER CLASS OF “EXPERTS” TO IGNORE

Whether the gods are spiritual, tyrants, or political beliefs it probably always has been a crime in one form or another. And as demonstrated last week, it carries a death penalty in certain social circles.

People do not like having their most cherished beliefs challenged. Especially when the challenger is correct.

This is why we have the First Amendment.

You Only Need One Recipe

Via Fair Dinkum @Fair_Dinkum

That looks like reasonable solution.

Personally, I would go for something that would serve a few more guests than that. But that should satiate them enough to enable you to find something else to feed them.

Controlling Your Crazies

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

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

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

Quote of the Day

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

Quote of the Day

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

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

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

Quote of the Day

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?

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

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.