From The Left Hand of Darkness (1969):
It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Holly O is one of the best writers and stylists on the internet. Here she laments the fate of her country, continent, and what remains of Western Civilization. From theburningplatform.com:
There we were, having a good time, making money, making love and good music, bringing beauty into the world, building new things and Bang! we awakened to find totalitarian assholes in charge via some back door we were too busy, too happy and too satisfied to keep an eye on. The bill for those good times has now been delivered to our table and via some arcane calculus it appears we are presently held to account for all the bad in the world. It is time to pay up and pay up and pay up again until the parasites at last kill off their host and then I expect we will be blamed for desertion as well.
I was fined Ten Thousand Pounds Sterling for three essays I wrote last year. I like to think they may have been the most expensive essays anyone has ever paid to publish—cold comfort but I am willing to settle for it. All this left me in a bit of a strop so I flounced off for Points More Free, though so far my quest has proved fruitless; simply stated, for my kind—white and English-speaking—there appears to be nowhere left to run.
Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Culture, Governments, Immigration, Law, Philosophy, Politics, race relations, Religion, Society
Tagged Great Britain, Visegard Group, Monarchy
Just because you put the word “Democratic” in front of socialism doesn’t make socialism any better than the failure it has repeatedly been. From John Stossel at theburningplatform.com:
Socialism is hot.
Famous actors recently made a commercial proclaiming that “democratic socialism” creates some of the best parts of America. It’s “your kids’ public school” (says Susan Sarandon), the “interstate highway system” (Rosario Dawson), “public libraries” (Jay Ferguson), “EMTs” (Ethan Embry), “workers who plow our streets” (Max Carver) and “scientists” (Danny DeVito).
Wow. I guess every popular thing government does is socialism.
The celebrities conclude: “We can do better when we do them together.”
There is sometimes truth to that, but the movie stars don’t know that America’s first highways were built by capitalist contractors. They also probably didn’t notice that the more popular parts of government — public schools, EMTs, snow plowing, libraries, etc. — are largely locally funded.
Posted in Business, Capitalism, Government, Horseshit, Philosophy, Politics
Tagged Democratic Socialism, Denmark, failure, Socialism
When was the last time you slugged someone? For most of us the answer is probably years, if not decades. From Daisy Luther at theorganicprepper.com:
If you were to read about the United States of America from someplace else, you’d probably think it was a nation full of people who are gearing up to go to war. Anyone would think the same thing from what they saw in the media. You would see hysterical rage fueling terrible acts. You’d see the intense hatred between people who belong to different political parties. You’d believe this is nationwide.
But it’s not. Sure, there’s some tension if you talk politics, but in most places, it isn’t crazy in a life-threatening kind of way. Mostly, it’s pretty friendly.
Posted in Crime, Horseshit, Morality, Philosophy, Politics, race relations, Society
Tagged Cohesiveness, Kindness, Rage, Sociability
One town in Mexico is making something that looks suspiciously like libertarianism work. From Jeff Thomas at internationalman.com:
The sign above is located in the state of Chiapas in Mexico. In English, it says, “You are in the territory of Zapatista in Rebellion. Here, the people give the orders and the government obeys.”
Well, of course, what that really means is that the Zapatistas give the orders, not the people as a whole. Still, the people generally regard the Zapatistas as being more representative of their wishes (and less parasitical) than the government.
Posted in Capitalism, Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Government, Insurrection, Philosophy, Politics
Tagged Cheran, libertarianism
A political victory only, not a stand on principle.
No lion, tiger, bear, or wolf would, if it could choose, give up its claws or fangs. No poisonous snake or spider would surrender its venom. Only humans voluntarily abandon their means of survival.
Reason is humans’ tool of survival and separates them from the other animals. The Oxford Dictionary defines reason as: “the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.” Ayn Rand had it right when she warned that reason was under sustained attack. It has only intensified since her death in 1982.
Anybody can accuse anybody of committing a crime. The longstanding legal presumption is that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. Given a guilty judgment’s consequences, the burden necessarily falls on accusers to prove guilt. If it did not, mere accusation would be a verdict leading to punishment of the accused, or Salem Witch Trial justice.
Kavanaugh, as his supporters endlessly point out, is well within the judicial mainstream. What that means is that he’s comfortable ensconced in the cohort that has read the Constitution out of the Constitution and has given carte blanche to the swamp dwellers. From Luis P. Almeida at lewrockwell.com:
Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice perhaps as soon as the end of this week. The Republicans have the votes and it is highly likely that at least two Democratic Senators from Red states will cross the aisle and vote in favor of confirming him. All of the antics we witnessed in Washington D.C. over the past few weeks have been nothing but political mise en scene, the Republicans always had the votes and it should have been evident to everyone that the Democrats were simply delaying the inevitable in an effort to rally their base.
It is quite a shame that the country was torn apart during the process around allegations that happened three decades ago when the nation could have been debating topics of real substance. Topics that actually reflect on how Kavanaugh will perform his duties on the nation’s highest court. Information such as the fact that he leaked information regarding Grand Jury proceedings during the Vince Foster investigation and that he in effect helped cover up Vince Foster’s murder. Leaking information on a secret judicial process or aiding and abetting criminals is infinitely more relevant than his high school drinking habits, yet we heard almost nothing about it over the past few weeks.
Posted in Civil Liberties, Government, Law, Philosophy, Politics
Tagged Brett Kavanaugh, Democrats, Patriot Act, Vincent Foster, Warantless Wiretapping
