If you’ve ever tried to line up a pool shot, you know that at the end of all your mental calculations, it comes down to a guess. Even the greatest minds can’t create all the angles down to the tiniest fraction in order for the shot to be dead perfect. It comes down to trust at the end of it all unless you want to break out the electron microscope just to win that bar bet of a draught Schlitz. It’s the same with politics in that you never truly know if your line is spot on.
After every Presidential election, I find myself tuning out of politics for a couple months. There is only so much a gaijin can take of your shitshow that you call politics. Whether it’s 2004, ’08 or even 2016, I need to bail for a while and recalibrate my shot and so I go to the people I trust to give me theory. I realize it was dirty pool to call this “The Nature of the State” and then not answer the question, but I’d rather lose the bet if it means you are more willing to answer the question yourself. My goal is solely to have people put down the distraction of the daily news cycle for a little bit and ask themselves:
- What do you believe the state is?
- Why do you believe that?
- Does your particular circumstance influence your objectivity?
- What is your weak point and what have you done to take that into account?
- Why were you drawn to that particular belief in the first place?
- Are the people you currently believe to be your enemies the real enemies?
Personally, I have an irrational hatred of the state which is constantly reaffirmed by a rational assessment of what the state is doing. After the elections, I go to Rothbard (https://mises.org/library/anatomy-state), Bastiat (http://bastiat.org/en/government.html) and even Ayn Rand (https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-nature-of-government/) to align my next shot. If I’m really feeling tolerant, I’ll go to Jonathan Haidt (https://onbeing.org/programs/jonathan-haidt-the-psychology-of-self-righteousness-oct2017/) to be extra careful that I’m not becoming a zealot.
None of us knows enough to know exactly what we should do in this world with the limited time we have. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to have a grand piano fall on your head, but many of us will come to the end of this ride with tubes shoved up our noses as we take our dying breaths. Contemplating theory before that Steinway slips from the mover’s hands and crushes you outside a brownstone is vital. Minutiae matters, but understanding why it matters is the real question that needs to be answered. So, I ask again, what is the nature of the state?
L’etat c’est moi.
Because I own myself.
Of course it does.
My weak point is empathy. I’m not the best at comforting those who made bad decisions and expect to be coddled for it.
I started as a generic republican, after finding that smaller government didn’t extend to self-ownership, and exposure to Heinlein, I expanded to libertarianism. I’m on the fence now if I’ve made the jump to full an-cap or not.
I was drawn it it because it was personal responsibility and self-ownership. Being raised Catholic, and having issues with that in my teens made me open to other options. I enjoy arguments based on reason and starting principles. I have several friends who are still Catholics who I will argue theology with because we both understand we’re arguing in good faith, and to find weaknesses in the thought process. Again, if anyone was a link to a good scholarly take down of Bastiat, I would really appreciate it,
My enemies are anyone who claims to have control or ownership of me that I didn’t agree to. I hope those are the “right” enemies.
I’m on the fence now if I’ve made the jump to full an-cap or not.
See, this is why you should stay up drinking until 3 AM on the weekend happy hours with Straff and BP and you will figure it out. (BP really got pissed off at my guitar playing ?)
Thanks, Neph. Good answer. I haven’t been able to make the full jump to minarchist.
Figure a good post deserves a good answer. And an honest one.
It’s a hard jump for me to make internally, because I like to believe that most people are acting in the best interest of others.
Okay, I should add in, another weak point is watching (undeserving) people getting taken advantage of by a scam. I can appreciate a well run con, mainly because it’s clear early.
If something is too good to be true…
I am a solid minarchist. I want there to be cops and courts and a military. Problem is, those are all ran by the douchebags. That’s why I want a strong limitation on said douchebags. I’d have liked to have thought the US constitution would have been that limitation, but clearly it has failed. I’m not sure if anything can save this experiment now. Despite it having been a raging success. It worked so well, it provided the wealth and prosperity to fuel it’s own demise. Meanwhile, we have bred and trained any semblance of desire for freedom out of the whole generation. Apathy doesn’t really help to preserve liberty. If you don’t really care, there’s plenty of people willing to subjugate you and they will without hesitation. That seems to be where are now. The selfish and power mad are greedily soaking up what’s left of the greatest nation ever to exist.
I am a minarchist as well, but I will quibble with you a bit. I would say that, far from failing, the Constitution has succeeded. It is but a symbol, and symbols serve as guides, not gods, and if we compare ourselves to those other nations that derive their law and culture from the same source as ours (the other Anglo-founded nations – UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) it is clear that our guide has steered us closer the correct course than those nations which lacked such a guide. Free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and even the right to bear arms are all much better protected here than in the sibling nations that did not have such a Constitution. But of course, we are now steering away from the guide, but this is the common pattern of man, it seems, that sound ideas are abandoned in favor of unsound ideas, and lessons learned are lost to time, only to be relearned again. The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
“Because I own myself.”
I’d like to think that. I really do. It is a fine starting principle. But it fails on so many levels
The state has already decided for you what you can or cannot ingest.
It has already decided for you that if you don’t pay the yearly vig on your property (house, car, land) that you don’t really own it. It will gladly steal it and sell it to someone else. Ohh you made your house nicer? That’s going to raise the value and thus your taxes.
The state has decided what work you can do. Work in a certain profession? Well you need permission from the state (a license).
Want to have chickens in your backyard? Well you need a permit and an inspection.
We are nothing but slaves, and I am pissed off about it.
^^^This. I say this a lot, but it’s one of my favorite examples. Think you live in a free country? Try going into a privately owned bar and lighting up a cigarette. You’ll find out how free you are.
And while it’s true, “freer than Australia” isn’t much comfort to me.
What do you believe the state is?
Dictatorship of the busybody mob.
Well since it’s just us here Brooks, I feel I can provide a music link.
LIEEEEEZZZZ!!!!!
/looks at time stamps
/looks at empty cans in the recycle bins
I stand by my statement.
Just because I didn’t have any on-topic rambles during the moratorium period doesn’t mean I wasn’ here.
Evidently this was the question that drives us away.
I’m just not that into philosophizing.
Back atcha Neph
/raises glass at P Brooks
/looks forward to Viva this year
The government is force. It has nothing to give away that has not been taken from a productive person.
Throw in Henry Hazlitt and David Friedman for help.
Returning to Viet Nam (’71) for a second vacation had me start questioning the motives and the results. Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Westmoreland always saw light at the end of the tunnel.
I felt something was wrong but I didn’t/couldn’t put my finger on it .
We’ve had Clinton, G. Bush (and his side kick, Cheney), Trump and Biden, all of whom successfully used deferment to avoid military service as Commanders-in Chief.
Nothing pisses me off more than seeing these clowns give a military salute when coming off of Helo #1.
Nice and pithy. I like it.
Exactly my thiughtX, Rhy. And of course, much thanks to fourscore for distilling the thought.
Going to copy to a note on my phone.
“…these clowns give a military salute when coming off of Helo #1.”
I met a fella who was crew chief for Helo #1 during the Obama years. He had several photos on his phone of the Obamas (which is supposedly a career-limiting-move).
He had not much good to say about either Mr. or Mrs.
Last I heard he was tending bar up on the Iron Range*. Good kid, had potential, permanently scarred by the Marines, though.
*pronounced Arn Range or simply Da Range.
I knew a guy who was in a president-facing role in the WH during Obama and Trump. He said Barack didn’t even know his name after 8 years of seeing him and interacting with him multiple times per week. He said that Michelle and the kids were nice enough. He never particularly addressed Trump because he was in office at the time, but it was implied that he was better to work for.
God help the president in the modern era who doesn’t return the salute.
I blame Nixon and his love of pomp.
Well George at least spent enough time in the military to learn to fly a fighter jet which, I assume, takes some brains and courage. His “brilliant” successor in the WH apparently couldn’t even write one decent law article while becoming a “constitutional scholar.”
Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to have a grand piano fall on your head….
As I was finally removing the alternator from my POS car yesterday I pondered if the jack stand gave way and the car crushed my head would it be a good or bad thing?
To answer the proposed question, the nature of the state is to control, kill, force, steal, enslave and make you fear you will be killed or imprisoned unless you don’t comply. The state is too big and has grown beyond any sort of republican form of governance.
Always a bad thing.
I’ve had too much to drink tonight to go down that path.
unless= ifThe state is just the stuff and rights that we steal from others, together. If only we’d have nipped it in the bud like the founding documents planned. BTW, life is always worth living. There’s plenty of Russians who got jacked worse than we ever will who kept pushing on. You just gotta keep on smiling!
Russians and Cubans and Vietnamese and Chinese and et cetera.
Sure keep on smiling , but when the time comes go down swinging.
Depends if you’re singing with St Pete or Agent Schiavo after the crush.
I am a big ole softy. My wife mention it was June 6 and I about lost it. Fuck I hate that we have these dates for when I we sent our boys over there to endure the most unimaginable bullshit.
Was looking for the movie all over the tube. Not a sign of it anywhere.
Says something about the current state of affairs, doesn’t it?
I thought for sure at least TCM would be showing The Longest Day. Were you thinking of that one? Or Saving Private Ryan?
Then you run into some snotty Frenchman and wonder if they know they’d be speaking German except for those American boys who gave up all their tomorrows so said snotty Frenchman can look down on the barbarian American tourists.
I have all these half-formed metaphors involving critical mass, metastasis, mitosis, parasitic relationships. State big. State no need people say okay. State do what state do.
I recognize and appreciate Rothbard’s analysis, but it has always struck me as a bit facile. It was interesting and valuable to my thoughts on the state to read Terry Pratchett’s Nation. Yes, there’s a certain “we’ve always done it this way” about it, but there’s also the reality that the natural tendency of groups to organize.
People in groups self-organize. Ultimately, this is both unavoidable and the birth of something like a localized state. How we keep it from growing out of control, metastasizing, while resisting the depredations from ‘the outside’, ‘the other’, is a core problem. Arguably, it’s the core problem.
I’m no longer convinced the an caps have solved it, but nor have I.
Regardless of the ‘best’ solution, any reduction in the power of today’s state, at any and every level, is called for, and is long overdue.
I don’t think there is a solution. I’m leaning more towards believing the idea of isolated areas, burcblaves, and arocolgies are going to be the best answer.
Your tongue is strange to my ears. A foreign cadence of syllabic concatenations most unsympathetic to grace in their construction. Such are the pronouncements of a man struck acutely with the falling sickness, or an apoplexy most severe.
But at some point things begin to fall apart, to disintegrate. When the pot holes can’t/won’t be fixed it’s too late and a dictator comes on board.
We’re nearing that point. There are some that believe the military will support the people but I disagree. Soldiers take orders.
As someone who lives in Los Angeles, it’s a really long time after they stop fixing potholes. There’s always resistance along the way. Most people around here just ignore the laws they don’t like. Probably the same anywhere, I’d guess.
Btw, I agree about the military/cops. They just want the butter for their bread and they get that from the government, not us.
Anarchy fails for the simple fact that people require dispute resolution, they demand justice. Justice is an inherently coercive exercise (how frequently does an offender willingly submit to trial or punishment?), so by nature, as soon as there is an irreconcilable difference, there will be calls for a state. For what is a state, except the final arbiter in a jurisdiction? As people are inherently fractious creatures, it is inevitable that disputes will arise, and in their settling it is inevitable that a state will arise. As disputes need settling, and justice needs serving, I would argue that a state is not only inevitable but a moral necessity as well. The problem, the unsolvable problem, is that any entity which can serve as final arbiter can serve injustice just as easily as it can serve justice. And so my position is that the state is a necessary evil, it must exist but must be limited and always treated with suspicion. But in the end it seems that no system is stable, and generally all societies trend towards authoritarianism, with the occasional paroxysm of rebellion leading to a temporary respite of freedom.
Shootin’ Dirty Pool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfpEvJQ3V3k
Note to self – always travel off season.
The damn tourists made it impossible to get out and explore the area. Too much traffic, too many crowds. I practically had a nervous breakdown and ended up hiding in my hotel room for half of the one full day I have in town.
How the fuck can people stand crowds? Too many people…
That’s why we are glibs and can only stand each other online or very small groups.
I think my limit is five people. That’s about where I start to shut down and disengage from the conversation.
We had about 10 last year for Honey Harvest but hardly anyone talked to each other
/sarc
I have no problem with most crowds. ?♂️
Glibs contain multitudes.
Our name is Legion?
My neighbor and I went for a motorcycle ride last weekend. It was her second ride in 15 years (her son became paralyzed after a motorcycle crash 25 years ago, he just died last year.)
We went up the North Shore of Lake Superior, laughing at all the oncoming traffic that was moving slowly. I should have realized what goes up must come down. On the way back we hit an even longer traffic jam. We basically walked our bikes for 4 miles from the tunnel to Two Harbors.
Gorram tourists!
One thing Cali gets right is lane splitting laws. I hate sitting behind all those cars when I’m in AZ, especially when it’s 100+ degrees out.
Speaking of lane splitting, a biker scared the shit out of me yesterday. We were on the highway doing 75 and hit some traffic that slowed down to 45 or 50. As we were braking, I heard a roar and saw a flash of motion in my peripheral as the biker kept going 75, lane splitting between the cars.
I’ve experienced lane splitting when traffic is settled down and doing like 30 and the biker is doing 45, but never had a biker go shooting past me as I was braking from full speed like that. Is that within the normal “lane splitting” definition? It felt a bit unsafe, to say the least.
You can only really determine what’s safe behind the bars of the bike in question. Sometimes, your skill level allows more risky moves. I sometimes ride with guys who are that level. I can do it, but alone, I try not to take those kind’s of risks. I said “try!”
A friend and I did an Iron Butt (1000 miles in less than 24 hours) from Wichita, KS to Tucumcari, NM and back. We could not believe the speeds on New Mexican Interstates. We were doing 90-95 miles per hour and we got passed by everything, including the NM state patrol.
I’ve been from Tuscon to Tucumcari.
Seriously, Ironbutt challenges are cool. My record is 850 in one trip. I realized on that trip that all the suffering is between 600 and 700 miles. It’s not a lot of fun going more than 600, but after 700, you could just keep going. I was tempted to get a pin, but never really got around to it.
Damn my linking skills!
Missouri is a lane-splitting state. I’ve done it a few times. Don’t care much for it because you never know what cage-driving douchebag is going to see you coming and open his door.
I have no idea if MA is a lane-splitting state. I think not. I just start riding around cars five seconds after the traffic stops. Hey, I’m not the model citizen following all the laws, rules, edicts and protocols.
Years ago we took Mrs Fourscore’s nephew to the North shore, OK going north, we planned on getting a motel in Two Harbors. They just laughed, then we decided we’d go south, stopped at every motel, got to Dulut, no room at the inn(s). Drove back home, 2 hours at night, I’m tired and surly. Every time since we go during the week. Been a few years now since I’ve been back. Need to stop at Split Rock, listen to Gordon Lightfoot.
Years ago, my best friend and I had two lovely ladies on a double date. After a delicious 6:00 meal in Doloot, we decided to find a campsite up the Shore. We ended up in Isabella, MN pitching tents at 10:30 pm. The ladies were so pissed off that they took one tent for themselves, leaving my friend and I with blue balls in the other tent.
Interestingly, my date is the mother to my daughter’s boyfriend. Small world.
I had to laugh, sometimes what sounds like a good idea ends up in downtown Isabella
What’s worse than people who say, “They oughtta”?
People who say “WE oughtta” and then set about re-making the world as they wish it were.
Which is never the way I wish it to be.
What’s worse is anyone who makes a “there outta” argument and then uses borrowed government guns to enact their whims.
Or “you oughtta”.
Just catching up with the old threads from today, and came across this:
Toxteth O’Grady on June 6, 2021 at 5:04 pm
I’ve always wanted an old-country nonna or Oma though.
One of my absolute proudest moments in my culinary exploits – I was with my wife at her German Oma’s house, and they were preparing the Sunday afternoon meal. It was going to be schnitzel that day, and her Oma handed me the cuts of meat she had procured from the butcher and rummaged through a drawer to get the meat tenderizing hammer. She motioned to me (she didn’t speak any English, and I while I can understand High German, I was baffled by Schwäbisch) to pound the meat out. I took the hammer from her, looked at it with a puzzled expression, and set it aside. Took a piece of plastic wrap, wrapped up the meat, and began pounding it out with my fist.
(and yes, I’m just waiting for the comments on that)
My wife’s Oma looked at me, smiled, and gave me a single nod. Wife later confirmed that it was in fact a test, and that I had passed with flying colors. Really do wish I could have understood them more – I would have loved to get cooking tips from her Oma, and I would have loved to hear her Opa’s stories (he was in the German army in WWII, but spent most of the war in a Russian POW camp, and then spent the next two years after the war ended walking back to Germany from the camp that was just outside of Tashkent, Uzbekistan).
“Tests” like that make me dislike the tester. And it doesn’t make sense to boot.
I didn’t know TOG was married.
The state is the inevitable outcome of force running the world and that some people are willing to take advantage of that and act on it.
It sounds about right.
Of course, how could it not?
That I haven’t considered that I have a weak point, Which also answer the second part of that question
Pessimism and misanthropy
I don’t don’t accept that people I disagree with are my enemies, they at most are merely assholes.
I’ve gotten to the ripe old age of 47 without ever experiencing depression.
Now I’m starting to wonder. What have I accomplished? Why am I still here? What am I supposed to do with whatever life remains in me?
I don’t know if that is normal occasional melancholy or clinical depression.
I think I need to go cut some roses from the yard and bring them in. No practical purpose, just bringing some beauty into the house.
This is why I grow flowers.
I have a tendency to cause plants to wither when I want them to succeed, and thrive when I try to rid myself of them.
The only time they thrive is when I try to use this ability to my benefit.
I am the world’s laziest gardener when it comes to the landscaping. I don’t fertilize or water. If something thrives, I plant more, if it doesn’t, it gets replaced. As a result, I have flowers from March to November and all I do is weeding.
If I had a lawn, I might try that approach. But I have a tendency to become discouraged by failure.
I water trees and bushes when they are young and still not recovered from having been rootbound and overwatered.
At some point they are expected to survive without supplemental water.
“This is why I grow flowers.”
This is why I drink.
Normal midlife reflection. Grow flowers. Then blow them up.
Seriously, you’ve been through a lot of shit recently. It’s okay if it gets to you every now and then. That’s human.
It’s normal to wonder about this stuff. Life is worth living, even absent some unknowable higher purpose. Even people who have revolutionized man’s plight most often never understood that they had done so. We’re all gonna wake up tomorrow and apple pie is still going to taste good.
Sorry, done messed up the tags
You guys are giving good answers. Thanks.
Talked to an old friend in TX this afternoon.
His oldest grand daughter has some difficulties and lived with Rich for a few years after her mother died. After high school (a year or two ago) she decided she wanted to go to Cosmetology School in .Scottsdale. Grandpa picked up the tab, 6K. She lasted 2 months, moved back to Houston and now has some sort of menial job. Needless to say the grandparents aren’t too happy.
Sounds like my daughter…
She lasted 2 months, moved back to Houston and now has some sort of menial job.
Fool grandpa once, shame on you. Fool grandpa twice, and..um…uh… we won’t be fooled again.
*dons sunglasses*
Yeaaaaaaaaah!
Meet the new cosmetologist, same as the old…
Obligatory.
Ugh, wife has Trey Gowdy on again.
In good grief.
Attenborough just said that covid 19 overwhelmed our health systems and that it was the unhealthy “environment” that allowed this devastating virus to enter the human sphere.
They are asserting as fact that our abuse of the planet allowed Covid to wreck havoc. No mention of the Covid panic being the real problem.
Now rhey are saying that if we can prevent this 1.5 degrees temp rise, the planet will be ok.
I am weary of changing one mind at a time when even “non political” (snark) documentaries steer thinking that we need ZERO carbon emissions.
I wish they would take the same option as the proponents of single use plastic bag bans.
You can carbon-date an Attenborough documentary by how woke it is.
Any mention of the fact that all the pie-in-the-sky fantasies put together would result in preventing at most a 0.1 degree or so rise? In addition to, you know, throwing the world’s population into grinding poverty.
The vid, under no reasonable measure, overwhelmed our health system. The fear of the vid, overwhelmed the minds of the sheep. In the US, our massively inflated death toll amounts to just over 1/8th of one percent of the general population. If we can’t deal with that, we are even more screwed than we actually are.
I am weary of changing one mind at a time when even “non political” (snark) documentaries steer thinking that we need ZERO carbon emissions.
I feel this is a good opportunity to pimp my Glibs article about the Paris Agreement, wherein it is observed that it doesn’t much matter how much the “enlightened” world hates carbon dioxide, the CO2 is increasing no matter what we do (because the other guys realize it’s the byproduct of some really useful things – China alone accounts for ~1/3rd of all CO2 emissions now).
So, I ask again, what is the nature of the state?
The nature of the state is to expand until all resources and all behavior is within its purview.
Not to belabor the point that AlexInCT makes almost every morning, but once you realize that agents of the state are scarcely able to keep their own lives in order, much less run mine, the easier it is to ignore them — or at least keep your head down and hope they don’t notice you.
I believe it’s cyclical in nature. It has no incentive but to grow. It grows until it’s denizens come to hate it enough to overthrow it. A new one begins and the cycle repeats. The US is close enough to this point, now.
https://youtu.be/QoGxz7Tsmxo
“He can’t even run his own life, I’ll be damned if he runs mine.”
What is the state? <emThe lowest common denominator of mankind. And by that I mean it's man trying to weasel out of his responsibilities.
Why do you believe that? Decades of watching politics.
Does your particular circumstance influence your objectivity? Yes, as it shows me how easy it is to fall for many of the offerings
What is your weak point and what have you done to take that into account? My wife, and her perceived needs. And I think I am very smart. To take both of those into account, I read voraciously, attempt to think from both sides, and I write to help form my opinions.
Why were you drawn to that particular belief in the first place? Oldest tale in the book; one conservative parent, one liberal.
Are the people you currently believe to be your enemies the real enemies? I don’t think “enemy” is a particularly helpful term. In my eyes, there are people and they have interests that run counter to my interests. That doesn’t make them enemies, nor does it make them friends. They are simply actors.
What do you believe the state is?
It’s whatever the government is. Throughout most of human history it was some sort of monarchy (chief, emperor, pharaoh, warlord, whatever), and any sort of collective or representative government is rather new. Not that I’m any sort of neo-reactionary, that’s simply history.
Why do you believe that?
It’s true. I don’t think there has ever been a society since agriculture, that didn’t have some sort of state.
Does your particular circumstance influence your objectivity?
I’m sure it does.
What is your weak point and what have you done to take that into account?
That I’m lazy? All things considered, most people in the U.S. don’t realize how good they have it compared to most of the world.
Why were you drawn to that particular belief in the first place?
I guess my more philosophical belief for and against the state is from reading Locke. I know many are against the idea of a “social contract” because they were born into it, rather than voluntarily agreeing to it (which doesn’t apply to immigrants who chose to come here). However, I look at as an ethical limit on the state, not a justification for it. The people can’t give the state the power to do anything they couldn’t do themselves if there were no government because they don’t have that power to give it the first place. So what the state can do becomes a question of what could I do ethically if there were no state.
Are the people you currently believe to be your enemies the real enemies?
Who wants to know? Seriously, though, I don’t believe my real enemies are people. They’re just the hardware — same flesh, blood, and soul, as me. The problem is software. Bad ideas are the enemy. Which is why out of all the bad things, censorship is the worst.
I would go way further back than that.
Hours and hours of watching nature shows recently has taught me that there’s almost always a rigid hierarchy where the Top. Animal. gets all the food/females/whatever and everyone else is treated like shit.
Sounds like a state to me.
It provides an evolutionary advantage by demonstrating which individuals are best adapted, and sewing procreation towards those provides for a higher survival rate for the species at large.
It’s in our selfish genes.
OK, then maybe a workable distinction between “state” and “head monke in charge” is between property ownership and gene propagation.
Yup.
I’m also struck with wonder at the idea that anyone could watch this stuff and come away with any conclusion other than life is “nasty, brutish, and short”. Attenborough drones on and on about how wonderful it all is and I’m thinking, “Are you even watching this? It absolutely sucks out there for the vast majority of these unfortunate creatures.”
So much this. I get the love of nature and appreciation of its beauty. But so many of these shows skip right past the cost of it happening.
I let my cats out. Apparently, only bad people do this.
It absolutely sucks out there for the vast majority of these unfortunate creatures.”
I have heard, although I do not know if it is strictly factual, that 90% of all living creatures end their life by being eaten alive. Given how much of “living creatures” is bugs and fish, and how many bugs and fish do in fact get eaten alive, by dint of being at the bottom of the food chain, I tend to believe it.
Hail Lobster!
Oops. Forgot to add my meme to the page.
https://i.imgflip.com/5cc6xk.jpg
The state is violence meted out by hirelings paid by the victims of said violence.
Yes.
Thanks straff. I’m with fourscore above. What I think interesting is that you write this where the views of a liberal Confucian state are radically different from our Team Blue here.
That’s still not going to give you a good answer to your question, however.
OT: this crossed my YouTube feed
https://youtu.be/_NqpL-pUUfo
Thanks. That got followed up with this-
https://youtu.be/wO3DGH6DLCU
In this case it’s native speakers along with subtitles.
Nice! Thanks!
This Wiki chart will be your friend for any dialect videos.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Ja_da_ya.png
Chart is missing だ+だ+だ
The state is one or more people who assert partial or full ownership of everyone in a certain geographic area, with enough weapon toting minions to at least partially succeed in said enslavement.
I’ve served in the belly of the beast, and ran for political office, and observed what happened.
According to my wife, my gender and ethnicity make it impossible to be objective about the state. I disagree with that assessment.
I’d say my weak point is being raised by authoritarian parents, which bred a contempt for authority I haven’t consented to. Being married to someone with opposite political views keeps me out of the echo chamber.
I’m pretty sure the people I’ve observed coercing me are my enemies. I’m 100% sure there are others coercing me without me knowing who exactly they are, ala the NSA prior to Snowden pointing out some of what they are up to.
According to my wife, my gender and ethnicity make it impossible to be objective about the state. I disagree with that assessment.
I think you are right to disagree, considering that there have been a multitude of states run by every ethnicity and they all behave essentially the same. Now, assuming you are a man, she might be able to make a stand on the gender thing, since we have so little data on states run by women, but in the rare instance a woman is at the top of the state pyramid she does tend to behave in a similar manner to a man, so I would say gender as well does not play a part.
“Trust no one! The minute God crapped out the third caveman, a conspiracy was hatched against one of them!”
Trust no one over thirty!
Wait I’m definitely over thirty…
Over thirty are cynics. Under thirty are idealists. Neither should be trusted.
The state is Don Fanucci. Everyone “loves” him, but he steals from them and spits in their faces.
I’m convinced there is no state that doesn’t become a mafia over time.
Our state in action.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/outrage-after-fbi-subpoenaed-all-ip-addresses-individuals-who-accessed-public-article
I saw that a few days ago.
They dropped it.
I didn’t think it was possible to shame the FBI.
What drew me to this set of beliefs?
The government has been right up in my face fucking with me non stop from the very beginning. Every good thing I have, I got from ignoring them. Literally since early childhood. I was either going to become a libertarian or a hardened criminal. Either way, it was clear the government was my enemy.
Just leave me the Fuck Alone, I’m already alone, leave me be Thanks,
If only…
All that money I saved by opting to vacation in Biddeford instead of Kinnebunkport just got dumped into plastic crack.
At least I’d already budgetted for burning the lot of it.
Crack is whack UCS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nYvmm0Ofmc
*hisses, clutches boxes of unassembled minis protectively*
Wait, so you bought a sex robot? I would say, don’t burn it. That’s just creepy.
???
I don’t understand you.
Still doesn’t add up.
Y’all need our help. It’s just that our messaging has been a little off and you don’t understand it yet. We’re working on that and will of necessity have to increase your taxes to achieve it, for your own good. /your benevolent betters
Have we hung chipmunk face Fauci and every member of the woke media, in public, yet? I mean, I get we can’t nuke Shanghai yet. But I’m OK with waiting a little time before we can hunt down emperor Xi and impale him. But if one more person asks me if I’ve gotten my vaccine yet, you might not hear from me, since I’ll be in prison for murder.
When they seem to giving you what you want, they usually are not. I don’t trust the whole, “hang Fauchi” movement. There’s more to it. I want to cheer his demise, I just can’t help but wonder what this is distracting me from.
Yep, I’m not sure why fauci is persona non grata so suddenly. Are they trying to tie a little bow on covid and get focused on ramping up consumer spending? It would only make sense to go after him if he won’t willingly step out of the limelight.
He’s just the tip of the iceberg of corruption and lies. But it’s a start.
This. The timid questioning of Fauci tells me there’s way worse still buried.
They managed to allow Hildog to cackle and swill down numerous boxes of cheap wine, long after it was clear she belonged in prison. Same with Hunter. Obama should have been massively disgraced at minimum for screwing over the incoming president so badly. For one reason or another, they want us to hang Fauchi for far less. They could have let it slide. Why?
Because the shit with China is getting real. The midget is an excellent scapegoat for when we go to war.
“swill down numerous boxes of cheap wine”
I’m sure it was expensive bottles.
First we create a problem, let’s call it Covid 19. Then we create the solution.
Masks, social distancing, testing, quarantine, close commerce, big cash, and the grand finale, vaccines.
One by one these have been proven to be wrong but we still have the pandemic that kills .2 of a % and can’t shake off all the BS.
There are now many celebrities trying to convince us to get a vaccine for a disease that mostly only kills seniors with other serious problems. Hard to believe anyone can trust the government and the lackeys
they want us to hang Fauchi for far less
Because Fauci is not the president, nor favored by him. It’s good to be the king.
OT: Anyone notice anything odd about our latest protests?
FWIW, this is (or was, I guess) a very tony area.
When does this blow up? Minnesota nice only goes so far, right?
That train has sailed. We have all kinds of bad shit happening daily. I think we’re at 35 homicides and god knows how many car jackings. Pretty fucked up.
This protest is weird because it’s in hipster land and appears not to involve any POC.
Also looks industrial, almost, West Lake Street before the lake previously known as Calhoun.
It’s Occupy Wall Street’s little, more violent brother hitching itself to George Floyd’s wagon.
Needs more trail of destruction, Imma guess.
Is it within walking distance of anything?
Here in NYC they start at some central location and march around until they find, say, some hipster outdoor diners they can harass. Saw the same in Rochester.
“”We’re gonna need some muscle over here”
White college kids don’t quite cut it
Underneath
https://twitter.com/emiann1115/status/1401716543507943426?s=20
Do click to her history. It’s exactly as predicted.
Her bio is ridiculous enough.
“Humanitarian.”
OFFS get over yourself.
Wow.
I’ll bet she’s lonely.
I’m skipping that bet.
Please please please let Mayweather turn Logan Paul into hamburger.
+1
Floyd’ll keep him around for as many rounds as he needs to in order to justify the idiots paying to watch it. This is a complete joke.
I’ve been around professional boxing since I was a kid living in the shadow of Vinny Paz’s gym on the corner of Laurel Hill Ave and Laban Street.
Logan Paul has absolutely no business being in that ring with Floyd. No amateur has any chance against a real professional boxer in the ring. None.
Logan Paul has the same odds of beating Floyd as he would of beating Michael Jordan 1 on 1 or Tiger in golf – even when Jordan was with the Wizards and Tiger was a shell of himself.
But boxing is so corrupt that Floyd will let him hang around so as not to show the world how farcical this is.
Farcical is fine, just don’t call it fake.
https://youtu.be/zrX9Ca7LSyQ
I kinda want to see Floyd get smacked a little at least. Logan isn’t as bad as his bro, but still a jerk. Double KO works for me.
Oh shit, I thought he was his brother. I didn’t realize there was two.
Just watched a few rounds of it. Clinch fest, but not too different than what Tyson Fury does to all his opponents. Logan did fine.
Even the NYT appears to be shitting on the ACLU.
Once a Bastion of Free Speech, the A.C.L.U. Faces an Identity Crisis
I’ve linked this before, but it’s just so perfect. Roger Nash Baldwin was one of the co-founders of the ACLU, they started life as the legal defense wing of the CPUSA. Here is what Baldwin wrote for Ramparts Magazine in 1934 –
https://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/blog/baldwin.pdf
The ACLU can dry up and blow away.
lol
Now here’s a band I can get behind!
But wait, there’s more! How did I miss hearing about this band? Musta been too local at the time.
I shouldn’t admit this, but this is the song of theirs that I remember from the days when my oldest sister was listening to Top 40 radio nonstop waiting for the next Bobby Sherman song to come on.
And if I’d hit “Play” on your second link, I’d have known it was the first song on that video. 🙂
Yeah, there’s much of them I don’t like, but they have a few good songs. They seem at their best in garage band mode. I like that the one chick is playing slide guitar, that’s cool.
What do you believe the state is? The State is a construct used by those who crave power over others to justify their desires to rule the ignorant, the apathetic, and the patriotic.
Why do you believe that? Because I’ve lived it.
Does your particular circumstance influence your objectivity? I don’t really believe in “objectivity” anymore.
What is your weak point and what have you done to take that into account? My weak point is my patriotism and fidelity to the best attempt ever made to limit the power of govt over the people it supposedly represents. i.e. The US Constitution.
Why were you drawn to that particular belief in the first place? That’s too long a story.
Are the people you currently believe to be your enemies the real enemies? No one is the enemy; we’re all just mirrors for each other. The problem with The State is that it attracts those who want power over others because of their own lack of self-control. The bromide that “it’s all Progjection” is correct, if oversimplified. Ever notice that the people advocating for gun control are the people who know nothing about them? Most have never owned one and are terrified of them because of their lack of trust in themselves. They see the world filled with people who are going to go on shooting sprees because that’s what they might do given that power. You can apply this to any of the various Prohibitionists and control freaks.
My buddy has a great story about this. When he was 11 or 12, he and some friends rode their bikes to the hardware store for something. Their one friend, who was a known thief, was horrified when they all just dumped their bikes – without locking them – to go into the store. Their friend, the thief, started railing about how their stuff would get stolen and they all looked at each other quizzically. Of course he saw the world that way.
Those who crave power over others are attracted to various pieces of the State in exactly the way that they fear and want to exercise that control over others. I don’t know that there’s a solution to the “problem” beyond the cycle of increasing oppression until the freedom-lovers eventually crack and decide they’d rather die than live on bended knee.
Let me add this to it, as well: Ozy’s Iron Rule is that There’s Only One Way We Learn – the Hard Way. No child ever resisted touching the hot stove after their parents said not to. We all have to do it, have to find out ourselves, burnt hand be damned. It’s the same with socialism, with Prohibition, with War, and on and on. We “never learn” because we just don’t believe other people when they tell us: we have to touch that fucking stove and find out for ourselves.
It’s the same with socialism, with Prohibition, with War, and on and on.
The thing is, these are not all hot stoves to everyone. In each of these cases, winners are made as well as losers. And those who win, will be incentivized to keep going.
Interesting choice of weak point. As a tool, the constitution performed its function very well, until…
I mean that it’s a weak point because it made me so angry for so long that I and my friends bought the whole schtick… and many went willingly to death for… what?
Obamacare? Bwahahahahaha….!!!
It took a nervous breakdown and a whole lot of reconstructing myself to finally come to peace with all of it, including the ones who have control.
Can’t imagine what I’d think if I had paid such a high price for something only to figure out later it wasn’t what I thought I had bought.
There is no solution because it’s all just dumb human shit.
Humans behave the way they do because it’s all they’re capable of. Expecting humans to “do better” or learn a damn thing is expecting too much because we’re just dumb fucking animals. Being constantly disappointed by humans not living up to some imagined standard is a sign of emotional immaturity. The default state of humanity is misery, ignorance, penury and superstition; anything outside of that is the exception.
https://archive.li/Cby3q/e35d0f2956c18a7d8d0274c0f96eba0859bd9591.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/TXgq7/c8b8f4237b9d0ea29f8c4d84a6db25d96d66fd68.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/4D9qv/f4c7f222600ddf557e71a8f23d06e3353dccfde1.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.li/W2Nhi/baf33e87dccf9976e6eb4083e28fb3cef9d7e6a0.jpg
NSFW.
send her over my place
Clearly the Straffinrun-san special. I am willing to let any and all of them govern me.
Stupid Dallas Mavericks.
Luka showed up and the rest sucked. Porzingus couldn’t find the hole doing cunnilingus.
Hardaway and KP 1/14 from 3pt land. Dismantle this team.
sadly KP salary makes him unmovable at how hes playing. Hardaway I believe is a free agent
What do you believe the state is? – an organization that holds final authority over a given territory
Why do you believe that? – because it is objectively a fact
Does your particular circumstance influence your objectivity? – everyone’s do
What is your weak point and what have you done to take that into account? – n/a
Why were you drawn to that particular belief in the first place? – it is not a belief
Are the people you currently believe to be your enemies the real enemies? – yes
I like the cut of your jib. And I believe your definition of the state is the most correct.
“If you’ve ever tried to line up a pool shot, you know that at the end of all your mental calculations, it comes down to a guess”
Maybe to people who don’t know how to play pool. When I’m in practice, I see everything. If you can’t, I’d suggest playing while tripping twenty years ago- it’s not that complicated.
Gah!! Why do I have to log in to Glibs a dozen times a day?
Did I do something bad in a past life ?!??!
Signs point to yes
Lol. It’s probably my browser. Brace browser on an iPhone.
It’s not too bad except when it happens in mid-comment.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy
https://twitter.com/mrandyngo/status/1401268165364137987?s=21
31 years old and can’t figure out why he got fired.
It was probably the haircut.
“I tell the world I’m a violent extremist. Why are they taking me at my word??”
https://twitter.com/cozca503/status/1401244340479881218?s=21
Felony arrest? Red Flag law? Involuntary psychiatric hold? I’ll take fair odds on any of them.
Paging Pie… Good news! Don’t have to a visa anymore to visit Glib Central.
https://www.romania-insider.com/romanians-us-mexico-border-2017
After all the effort don’t send them back
Don’t need to go through Mexico either!
https://www.columbian.com/news/2021/may/25/border-patrol-arrests-6-romanian-nationals-after-alleged-illegal-crossing-into-whatcom/
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/border-patrol-agents-north-dakota-arrest-romanian-border-crossers
But the food is better than Canada
I though North Dakota food was bland as hell. The spiciest thing they use is mayonnaise, isn’t it?
Wait… NoDak isn’t in Canada?
Good night, folks! I’m off to audiobook land.
I thoroughly enjoying the “sleep” timer on audible so I don’t have to rewind too far to continue the next day.
“Rewind”. Like “dialing” or “hanging up” a phone. 🙂
Hello Glibs, I’m back from the dead, it seems I may have created a new set of problems for myself, I’ll just have to wait and see,
Covfefe!
Morning Yusef.
Hello Sean,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vzWbCD67YFY
?
That’ll buff right out.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dF7C8dFse0Y
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/southeastern-pa/2-vehicles-involved-in-violent-wreck-on-route-663-near-turnpike/article_f5e104ee-c76c-11eb-8cc6-f3e7af186fee.html
Someone better get a broom.
This is why I stopped coming around, Why seek out gloom and doom first thing in the morning?
Pathetic,
Cat & pheasant
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hEugmHze-QA
Buster’s like Meh,
Well, I’ve been up since 4:46 now. Filled the tank on my car. Sat there for 25 minutes. I’m still waiting for the hotel breakfast so I don’t have to spend any more money on my way out of town. (Not that I’m thrilled at the thought of a hotel breakfast, it’s at least paid for).
Saw a raven, but it flew off before I could line up the shot.
Saw the reddest, most brilliant cardinal I’ve seen so far, but it flew off before I even got the camera bag open.
Saw a wild ass, and he parked in my spot when I went to get gas.
Got out my laptop so I could fill the time until breakfast.
keep your camera around your neck if you want to get good pics, they won’t wait on your camera bag, this is a no brainer,
I’d just finished driving. I was still in my car in the hotel parking lot. I was lucky I even had the camera at hand.
Well, time to get downstairs and eat.
Then I’ll be packing up and hitting the road.
Will see you lot after noon sometime.
I hope that your trip was somewhat restorative, Friend.
suh’ fam ?
whaddup doh ?
I realized if I leave now I’ll end up at one of my planned stops more than an hour before they actually open.
Plus my left leg hurts because I slept on it all night. I guess my normal insomniac shifting has benefits that I’m deprived of when I sleep through the night. I had been debating replacing my mattress, but if that will put me in dnager of deep vein thrombosis, I’m disinclined to.
Screw it, I’m skipping that stop. I’m too cranky to sit around for over an hour either here or in their parking lot.
Later, glibs. Packing up the laptop.
Good morning, homey! Back to the ol’ day job after our marvelous weekend getaway. Have a bit of a busy week ahead even after work every day ,- should be able to get back to my Butts & Guts class tomorrow evening, Wednesday the old band starts rehearsing for our friend’s cancer treatment benefit in early July, and Thursday we have another Dragons game. (This time, we’re back to our usual seats!)
Im shipping Jugsy off tomorrow, and I think Im off Wednesday night. I need to remind myself to attend the mid-week d̶r̶u̶n̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶s̶a̶u̶s̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶f̶e̶s̶t̶ ZoomCall.
I’ve an arm bruise to rival your bum one. Friday night was not good…
Is it always this swampy up here? I’m swimmin’ I tells ya!
Its not even really humid yet. You get kinda a break for being a touch more north.
While not quite Houston, Central Tejas, or even Kuwait, SW Ohio can be quite oppresive in summer.
Im not used to it at all, at least we have a lake breeze, kinda gross, I need AC,
To me it’s not the Nature of the State that has changed but the rhetoric. Some of these people well and truly want me dead just for being what I am. My ideas about philosophy and politics are certainly poisonous to them. What the fuck is wrong with everyone minding their own damn business? 13 years seems like a lifetime ago.
Taj Mahal covering Hank Williams – what could be better? And a great sentiment to boot!
Dandy tune! Thanks and ‘Mornin’ Red!
Boy oh boy… we have an in-store advert running as part of the rotation on the sound system that touts the fact that alphabet people helm some of the companies that manufacture our groceries. I truly, madly, deeply, don’t care one whit about the sexual proclivities of the folk who make the yoghurt and the peanut butter (2 products singled out in the ad). I care if the food is delicious, made in a hygienic facility, and affordable; that’s it. The sexual proclivities of the boys at the peanut butter works are, rightly, the business of the boys at the peanut butter works. I don’t think anyone’s love of Sodomy or lappin’ clam is germane to my grocery shopping experience.
Yeah, I don’t want to spread that brand of “peanut butter” on my morning toast, thanks.
WRT to “Aint that Peculiar” by “Fanny”.
Pretty sure Ive linked it here before.
So there.
My weak point? Unintentional social anxiety. That and a tendency to be self indulgent. I drink a lot but I won’t go out in the yard because the neighbor doesn’t like me much. Easier to hide inside. I need to get past that.
That’s why my politics are firmly rooted in PatrioPsychotic-AnarchoMaterialism – Every Yard A Kingdom, Every Dog And Child A Serf!
That yard is yours sir, lord over it as you see fit.
I just need to build a fence to avoid the stink-eye.
You need to assert yourself. Go take a piss on his rose bush.
It’s a her and she’s my youngest Step-Daughter’s husband’s Step-step Mother. We are connected. If she were a stranger I’d leave a burning paper bag on her steps. She’s also friendly with Judi (mostly).
The nature of the state, or what the nature of it should be?
The nature of the state is power over individuals, that is, an infringement on self-ownership. It should be simply self-owning individuals pooling resources and efforts to do things beyond what any individual can do alone.
Our founders were wise and experienced enough to realize that if you concentrate power to ‘get things done’ the worst kinds of individuals will be drawn to that power like moths to the flame. Their solution was to disperse power as much as possible and set those kinds of shitbirds against each other. I am not sure it has been a success. I look at politics today and it looks like the worst kinds of people have found a way around that. I would say that at least 90% of what the govt does is illegitimate.
The powers that be want us sucking at the teat. 90% are more than happy to do so without a thought. We really are the outliers and rebels on sites like this.
We have more milkweed in the yard than ever before, yet not an egg, larva, cat, or chrysalis has been seen despite lots of monarchs fly about. WTF, flutterbys?!?
Klimate Krisis!!!!!