Ironic doesn’t quite cover this business of Donald Trump menacing what he styles “drug dealers” with the death penalty, if he is ever in a position to impose it. This from the man who pushes drugs – the so-called “vaccines” – on people in a way that no drug dealer ever has.
The difference between dealing – and pushing – being decisive as regards the question of morality. And thus, the moral legitimacy of punishment.
Why should anyone who merely deals drugs be punished? A dealer offers what people are free to not buy. He does not force anyone to buy his drugs. Nor is anyone punished for not using them.
Contrast the dealer with the pusher.
Government being the ultimate pusher. It was Donald Trump’s government that pushed the drugs styled “vaccines,” all-but-actually-forcing millions of people to take them. Forced all of us (who pay taxes, anyhow) to pay the manufacturers of them, something no one who deals pot or any other arbitrarily illegal drug has ever been in a position to do.
Technically, people weren’t forced to take these drugs styled “vaccines.” They were free to lose their jobs – and along with them, their ability to pay their bills. Some faced loss of career – as in the case of people in the military.
It was Trump who pushed the dangerous drugs styled “vaccines” through the approval process, by all-but-eliminating the requirements previously in place that had to be met prior to obtaining approval. The result of that “warp speeding” has been the fast-tracking of thousands – possibly tens, even hundreds of thousands – into an early grave.
People who take drugs often suffer this fate. But those who took them freely have the cold comfort of knowing they have only themselves to blame. No one is forced to take Fentanyl, for instance. There are no pushers of this drug. There are merely dealers.
Only government has the power to push drugs.
And now we have the irony of the man who pushed some of the most dangerous drugs yet known on an entire country urging that “dealers” be put to death as expeditiously as possible.
What should be done with pushers such as the Orange Man?
I long ago realized the dangerousness of such men. The kinds of men who don’t understand the difference between dealing and pushing. Usually, they are very pushy, themselves.
It was this realization that baptized me as a conscious libertarian more than 30 years ago – when I was a 19-year-old college student who got arrested for what was styled “intent to distribute” marijuana, man.
How the armed government workers who arrested me, man, knew my intentions is something I have never been able to divine. In fact, my intention was to grow pot plants and smoke them. The leafs and buds to be distributed – freely – among my friends and perhaps others who might freely wish to buy some from me.
I was a “dealer,” in other words. But I pushed nothing on anyone. Just as no dealer ever pushed anything on me. I sometimes bought pot from them. They never threatened to take away my job if I didn’t take what they were offering. They certainly had no power to so threaten.
Well, I was arrested – and put into a cage – notwithstanding I’d never “pushed” anything on anyone. I could have been sent off to a prison for several years, which would have meant the end of my employability as a “convicted felon” and probably never been in a position to write the column you are reading now.
Fortunately, I wasn’t imprisoned – and the charges later reduced to a trivial misdemeanor, that of “possession” – though how “possessing” anything constitutes a crime in other than a mechanically legalistic sense baffles me. And I was able to carry on.
How many others weren’t?
I thought about that a lot. I still think about it, a lot. About the millions of people, not as fortunate as I was, who did go to prison. Who had their lives wrecked, their futures abrogated. To satiate the strange desires of men like the Orange Man. Who is the inheritor of a tradition that goes back to Nixon – and beyond. It is a tradition of arbitrariness and cruelty, couched in loathsome etymology.
Such as styling the imposition of government – by Lincoln – as “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” And styling those who merely offer a thing for sale as pushers when they merely deal. The ones so styling often being pushers, themselves.
Such as the Orange Man.
. . .
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the official bat germ narrative was it came from a bat mating with an armadillo in a wet market….lol
At least one politician didn’t believe it or couldn’t be bought off…
a real man, not a crooked, bribed, woke, wimp, stealing everything like all other politicians.
On 16 March 2020, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, dismissed the threat of coronavirus and encouraged working in fields and driving tractors as a way of overcoming the pandemic: “You just have to work, especially now, in a village, there, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone.”
In his further comments on the pandemic, the Belarusian leader referred to it as “psychosis”, and on 28 March he played a game of hockey, later stating in an interview “it is better to die on our feet, than live on your knees, sport, especially on ice, is better than any antiviral medication, it is the real thing”.
Alexander Lukashenko, has the best medical advice for preventing viral infections: sauna and vodka.
Either his medical advice works far better than any quarantine measures or the exploding number of COVID-19 infections reported elsewhere is manufactured.
lockdowns are profitable
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said last year via Belarusian Telegraph Agency, BelTA., that World Bank and IMF offered him a bribe of $940 million USD in the form of “Covid Relief Aid.” In exchange for $940 million USD, the World Bank and IMF demanded that the
President of Belarus: ( he refused it, he has more ethics than these other leaders).
• imposed “extreme lockdown on his people”
• force them to wear face masks
• impose very strict curfews
• impose a police state
• crash the economy
Overall, the Belarussian approach has been the least authoritarian in Europe. Belarussian football went ahead as normal and fans were allowed to continue attending games. Theatres, cafes, restaurants and other social events continued and there was no shutdown of the economy. Victory Day Parades also went ahead on the 9th May.
England and wales who had lockdowns had more excess deaths per million population than belarus, so belarus had a better outcome without lockdowns.
Meanwhile in countries with crooked leaders who took the billion dollar plus bribes, all the citizens are screwed, waiting for their forced experimental gene therapy extermination injection. (but the leaders have very fat offshore bank accounts).
They don’t care about the useless eaters on the bottom being exterminated, for they say: the good of the new cult GAIA religion/climate change eugenics/satanic depopulation/sacrifice agenda. and of course the huge bribes….lol
Liberty is what it is. That’s why so many of us are difficult purists. We give no quarter to tyranny in any form. Unfortunately, humans in general love for someone to tell them what to do. It’s a true test of a weak mind. Liberty lives within. God gives me free will, not some pedo grifters in suits.
Live as free as you can whilst avoiding their cages.
Well-said, Local –
And: I am a guy who understands that the better is preferable to the worse – but that doesn’t mean I will excuse-away the terrible. An Trump’s ongoing pushing of these dangerous drugs styled “vaccines” is exactly that.
Beautifully and succinctly stated, Local-A!
THAT is the very essence of libertarianism. Let the salves quibble over who shepherds the tyranny- it doesn’t matter- all one gets is more tyranny. Rather than give our consent to that (Because it makes absolutely no difference anyway) we should just be concerned with resisting tyranny and living rightly and freely- and THAt option is never on the tanble when it comes to voting.
I live it. I managed to escape the uber-tyranny of NYC 21 years ago, and now live in a very rural place in KY, and as I’ve seen the already insane tyranny of NY increase even more exponentially in the intervening 21 years since I’ve left, I am living more freely now than was possible in NY even 50 years ago.
Eric – one thing I find interesting about you is when you got done for having some weed you saw the light and were “baptised a libertarian”. My observation has been that most who go down your route, the well to do upper middle class kid in Uni who gets done for weed and then gets off because of a good lawyer – they all end up going the exact opposite – full blown communist Corbynista (at least in Britain). They instead dont realise the state and its tentacles are the problem, but look to it to find more solutions for their (and others) problems, and encourage more power to the government at all levels….. I never understand how it works that way…
Hi Nasir!
Well, I got to thinking… why have I been arrested? What have I done, exactly? I “broke the law.” Ok, but what is this law? It is a say-so issued by this thing styled “government.” But is it right – or wrong? Or “just because”? I suppose I was a libertarian even earlier because, as a child, I had to know why. If I was told I had to do “x” – or wasn’t allowed to do “y” – I wanted to know why. If a good – a logical and reasonable – answer was not forthcoming, I dismissed the telling me I must do “x” or not do “y” as an arbitrary order and so of no weight. If I could “get away” with not obeying, I would.
The pot thing grew this thing inside me. I asked an even more important question that demanded an answer: Who have I harmed by growing (or smoking or even selling) pot? Since the answer was no one, I objected to being punished. Rather, I rejected being punished, as something I deserved. I saw it for what it was: punishment, for no reason other than to establish Who’s Boss and you’d better obey. Well, who must I obey? What is the “government”…? Of course, it is just the people who operate it, who can “pass laws” – and inflict punishment. It often (it usually) has nothing to do with right or wrong or harm caused. and much to do with establishing a dominance hierarchy. Well, screw that! I do not wish to be part of a wolf pack. Even if I were to be the head wolf. Left – or right – they are all “wolves.” And so it makes no sense to support one rather than the other – as opposed to objecting to both!
Hey Nasir & Eric!
Great observation!
My friend/client used to employ many druggies/felons. They were a perfect example of what you are referring to- i.e. the non-libertarian attitude. They didn’t hate cops or authority, because they saw themselves as breakers of ‘the law’ and thus concluded that the ‘authoritehs’ were just doing their job and were in the right.
In some cases, their attitude was justified- e.g. when it came to certain things, such as stealing- but the problem with such non-libertarians is that they carried that same attitude over to victimless ‘crimes’ such as drug possession, or speeding.
Ultimately, I think the problem with such people is that they are not concerned with justice- be it in regards to others (stealing) or even with regard to themselves (They didn’t think it unjust when punished for the victimless ‘crimes’, since they were ‘breaking the law’). It seems to be a common trait in most humans: Put ’em in a maze, and dictate rules for the use of the maze, and ultimately they just care about finding the cheese rather than the exit- and even the ones who are willing to break the rules of the maze, see those rules as necessary and just, because they are not concerned with liberty or justice.
I think a big part of libertarianism ultimately stems from a love of justice.
Yeah the TDS is real. The derangement of these gay-triot trumpies who think he’s some kind of savior who’s gonna promote freedom. Pfizer Donnie’s gonna get the deep state you just wait and see! Guuuhhhh! He never forced anyone to take the Vax he just said it was awesome and everybody should do it
He really appears to be the good cop in the non-vax sales pitchn while pedo-joe i is the bad cop. Still unwilling to admit that the Vax was at best pointless and ineffective, at worst a culling of hundreds of thousands if not millions in the long term we’re only what, a year into adverse reactions?
What the hell ever happened to Robert Kennedy being appointed to investigate Vax autism correlation?
Yeah, if I had a thousandth of the influence Trump had and led that many people who trusted me to take some experimental clot shot I’d be complicit in their decision to possibly ruin their health even though ultimately they were dumb or scared enough to do it. This shouldn’t be hard to understand
And lets not forget that Trumps threat of using the military to “distribute” the vaccine, was nothing less than a soft threat, leaving people to conclude that men (and dykes) with rifles will be compelling people to “accept” the vaccine, so “We may as well just take it up the arm”.
Hi Sicilian,
I’ve been an adamant and relentless critic of “masking” since the beginning. I think people who still “mask” are sad fools at best while those who urge people to wear them are much worse. What is Trump? He still pushes “vaccines” – which makes him, at best, a sad fool. But he is arguably something much worse, for he has huge influence and he is arguably among the people most directly responsible for this “vaccine” fiasco.
Well,,, my comment is awaiting moderation… First time I have ever seen that on this site. Oh well,,, I appreciate what time I had.
Hear, hear, Eric!
Also, MOST drugs don’t have the propensity to cause you debilitating problems, or death, months or years after you take a dose or two. A fentanyl overdose will either kill you on the spot, or perhaps, you can be given Narcan and survive. No such remedy for the Covid jabs.
Also note: Fentanyl wouldn’t be seeing such widespread use were it not for prohibition. It is one of the most powerful drugs known by weight, which greatly facilitates its ability to be smuggled. Thus, it was drug prohibition that has artificially selected fentanyl as the drug of choice.
ban the legal drugs they kill 10x more people….
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 100,000 Americans die from reactions to legal prescription drugs each year, making this the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.
The death toll from ILLEGAL drugs stands at 10,000.
Big pharma, the occult satanic connection:
Paracelsus is the founder of our modern allopathic medicine, he is big pharma’s hero.
Did you know that the “father” of modern allopathic medicine was an occultist?
He was a worshiper of Satan, he is also a hero in the church of satan.
paracelsus founded our modern allopathic medicine practiced everywhere today. It is based on using poisonous drugs and injections.
pharmacon = poison, pharmakeia = sorcery, witch craft, witches
pharmaceutical = drugs made from petrochemicals (oil).
This system of administering poisonous drugs worldwide is a trillion dollar industry and the medical merchants of the earth profit greatly from it. They love the money it produces and ignore the many lives it destroys. Millions worship this satanic medical system.
In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, authors said that in looking over records that spanned from 1976 to 2006 they found that out of 62 million death certificates, 25 million deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.
The total number of deaths due to the American modern medical system of drugging, unnecessary surgeries, infections, medical errors, etc., is nearly 800,000 people per year!
This is more than people who die from heart disease with over 600,000 deaths per year and cancer with over 500,000 deaths per year. – articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/ archive/2003/11/26/death-by-medicine-part-one.aspx
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 100,000 Americans die from reactions to prescription drugs each year, making this the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.
The death toll from ILLEGAL drugs stands at 10,000.
Kennedy quote on big pharma
He mentioned another reason not to trust blindly any company currently producing vaccines in the United States. Each one of the four vaccine producers “is a convicted serial felon: Glaxo, Sanofi, Pfizer, Merck.”
“In the past 10 years, just in the last decade, those companies have paid 35 billion dollars in criminal penalties, damages, fines, for lying to doctors, for defrauding science, for falsifying science, for killing hundreds of thousands of Americans knowingly.”
“It requires a cognitive dissonance,” Kennedy commented, “for people who understand the criminal corporate cultures of these four companies to believe that they’re doing this in every other product that they have, but they’re not doing it with vaccines.”
Knowing this why would you inject yourself with their deadly injections or take their poisonous drugs?
they go on and on 24/7 about illegal drug deaths to distract you from the elephant in the room, deaths from legal drugs…… but now they are getting even more deaths from the forced nazi needle….a huge satanic death cult…….
Very good essay Eric and I agree with what you say 100%. Here is the video that sums it all up, it was rated #1 a few years back:
Message to the Voting Cattle – Larken Rose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5FNDRgPOLs
Trump is a dangerous demagogue, and his rhetoric about killing drug dealers is what they do in Thailand and maybe some Muslim countries.
Now if you want to move and grow some pot come on down to Orygun, cause it is legal.
—————–
I often tell people who are these people who think they have a God given right to tell you what you can smoke. Who put these control freaks in charge of me, because I sure as hell never voted or consented or signed any contract giving the government the right to control me.
I’ve written extensively on this “mentality” to control others. I have said if you want freedom, let others be free, including animals. What right do we have to create domesticated pets and then put them in cages?
In Oregon, there is a common bumper sticker, “Leave Bigfoot Alone”. My sentiments exactly.
Thanks, Yukon!
The “drugs” business often trips up conservatives especially.I ask them how they can be opposed to government asserting control over their affairs when they approve government asserting control over other people’s affairs. Maybe it isn’t the best decision to take a “drug.” But which drug? Lots of perfectly legal drugs are misused by millions of people yet those people aren’t criminalized. And millions of people have used various illegal drugs without any terrible result to themselves and none to others – yet they are (technically) criminals.
No man has the right to tell another man what he may put into his body – nor with whom he may (and may not) engage in voluntary free exchange. If this axiom isn’t accepted, the foundation for human liberty stands on extremely shaky ground, for the doctrine of “but” – that is, of exceptions, always arbitrary and always based on someone else’s feelings – has been introduced and it is inevitable exceptions will be made that chip away at and eventually destroy liberty, in the name of the “but”…
The big problem for liberty is the belief that you can initiate the use of force if you are morally correct.
With religious people who follow a holy book, if the god of the holy book says persecute non-believers, then believers will initiate the use of force against those who don’t believe their god, or what clothes that god tells them to wear, or what foods you are allowed to eat.
Real evil can be found in countries where holy book rules are enforced. For instance, a woman in Muslim country decides not to wear a burka, she can be beat or even put to death.
In political circles, much evil can be enforced by beliefs, say in climate change. It does not matter if such a belief is scientifically correct, because they simply say it is correct, and the science is settled.
So what this means, under the belief system of little fascist Greta Thunberg, you can be told not to drive a gasoline automobile or even put to death for emitting carbon dioxide. Ayn Rand used to say, behind every law, no matter how trivial, is the deadly use of force.
You might say it will never get to that, but I would disagree and point out 300 years of witch trials, or the forced conversion of the entire European continent to Christianity. How many of our ancestors were put on the rack, beheaded, or burned at the stake for not believing in the Bible god?
In the modern world, imagine if you do not wear a helmet where required while riding a motorcycle. It’s your head, afterall, where did they get permission to tell you that you must wear a helmet for your head?
If you choose to resist, you will be chased after and even gunned down for non compliance. That is the nature of the law. It is a curse caused by religious belief, as law is the entity created by belief in a higher power, ie god, and the Bible says God establishes governments.
Any thinking Libertarian needs to just read Romans 13 to understand who is putting this law shit on us. The simple fact of the matter is religion is incompatible with freedom and liberty.
Who is in charge of you? Church? State? God?
If you say none of the above, well, you are surely the enemy of the state/church which uses the god meme to rule over us. Like I always say, on the pyramid of power, the king has the priest on one side and the army commander on his other side.
Those 3 institutions rule over us. The priest’s job is to sell you the holy book’s authority, the military commander is to use force if you don’t believe and comply. And these pricks have a tool which is worse than death, they have hell holes called prisons for anyone who doesn’t play along with their evil.
Hi Yukon,
I’d slightly modify what you said in re: “The big problem for liberty is the belief that you can initiate the use of force if you are morally correct.”
I’d add “… if you believe you are morally correct.”
I think it is this belief (not the actual fact) that rabidizies these (as Mencken styled them) “uplifters.”
True dat, funny how the “my body my choice” crowd is silent about this aspect.
Death to vaccine pushers! Give them some of their own medicine!
You can’t believe a word any of them say from Orange Doofus to Black Biden, all lies and obfuscation.
I have some good sound advice as to how to adjudicate the entire motley crew, and we know who they are.
Starting with Trump, why not? String him up by his balls.
Then string Hillary up by her balls, then Bill, if he has any left, then to Nancy, string her up by her balls, then Schumer minus his schmuck, then a lot more of them, whoever they are.
The Brennan freak, string him up by his balls.
String them all up by their balls with a long rope and pour sand up their asses until the rope breaks. Twice if necessary.
It is going to solve a few problems nobody wants to deal with.
I could be wrong, but not too far from wrong. har
Of course, you have to give them a choice, guilty or not, then mete out the special just punishment. It’s all about choices, buy the ticket, take the ride. If it’s the road to hell, too bad.
Give them the Little Bighorn treatment, make Custers out of every last one of them. I dunno. Something, anything.
Add more insult to injury.
It is going to work wonders.
It’s a good thing Ursula van der Leyen’s in charge in Europe. Germans can bask in her brilliance this winter. When you start to shiver, just hold that thought close to your bosom and you’ll find warmth in her wisdom. With that and your Greta Thunberg poster, old man winter doesn’t stand a chance.
Just know that the good folks around Lake Geneva will turn their thermostats — scratch that, the help will turn their thermostats — extra high in support of your great sacrifice for Mother Earth.
It’s been reported that Klaus Schwab will read “The Night Before Christmas” in traditional German to warm you and your family at your Christmas hearth.
If you don’t have a hearth, well, that’s too bad, but not to worry: you will receive a WEF Christmas card signed by Owl Gore wishing freezing Germans a very Merry Christmas from Malibu. And remember … “the surf’s up.”
That should warm your cockles on those blistering cold Bavarian nights.
Wake up folks, they mean to kill you and that ain’t no joke.
— StanH, internet forum post, Sep 6, 2022
Or, conversely, one of my favorite stories will be the alternative — The Little Matchstick Girl. Except now, all the Europeons are the impoverished girl selling matchsticks. They can peer through the window at the people they elected, that told them how important all this was and see how their abundance will not be coming to an end.
They can light their sticks of wood, in the bitter cold and watch and dream of how wonderful it must be to have the abundance that was stolen from them. And dream of how Oma used to bake delicious treats at Christmas, as they fall into their last sleep.
I hear death by hypothermia isn’t that bad after the initial bitter cold “goes away”.
We’re all Californicators now, comrades:
‘Californians, you’ve stepped up to help in a big way to keep the lights on so far.
‘The risk for outages is real and it’s immediate.
‘Everyone has to do their part to help step up for just a few more days.’
https://youtu.be/c-cm_IE_rDc
What do them silver bears on Gavin’s midnight black hat and shirt signify?
Market crash dead ahead.
‘When the music’s over, turn out the lights.‘ — The Doors
https://newtube.app/TonyHeller/wSAwuuO
From the video:
‘California has shut down all of their coal-fired power plants, and they’re also shutting down their nuclear power plants.’
All for the greater good:
‘2023 is going to be the beginning of several ‘Build Back Better’ decades where the ownership of material things disappears. When your wages are focused on sustaining yourself with housing, food and energy, all of those other purchases become mere indulgences.
‘Sustainable life in equity with the needs of the planet means returning to the era when you received an orange or a piece of chocolate as a Christmas gift, and you are thankful.
‘Cars, appliances, phones and other types of luxury durable goods are indulgences which become out of reach for the worker class. Thus, removing smelters, iron works, factories and other heavy industrial machines only makes sense.’ — Sundance
Did you read the article on ZH about the Antwerp mayor describing their situation in Belgium?
Reminds me of a snarky comment that I read on ZH a while back:
The Five Stages of Grief:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Payment in Rubles
However, I think that needs a little revision because the original denial was a bit more than anticipated. So now, in my estimation, it’s more like this:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance that Ukraine will capitulate, recover no territory, be lucky to even have a country and that all of Europe collapses into the second dark ages.
‘a tradition that goes back to Nixon – and beyond. It is a tradition of arbitrariness and cruelty.’ — eric
Presidents, with their multiplying executive orders, don’t even make a pretense of government by the people anymore. “Biden,” with the stroke of a pen, is about to actualize what Eric has predicted for years:
‘Over the next 12 months, the administration is expected to announce federal policies speeding up emissions reductions from both vehicles and power plants.
‘Last year the Biden administration decided to restore tougher vehicle emissions standards weakened under former President Donald Trump. But that only covered vehicles made prior to 2027. Now the administration is looking to set standards into the 2030s, with a decision expected early next year.
‘To achieve a 50 percent reduction in emissions, the U.S. economy would need [a] rapid expansion of electric vehicle sales, which accounted for less than 3 percent of all car sales last year.
‘Activists are pressuring administration officials to set a standard rigorous enough to effectively ban the production of internal combustion engines.‘
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/With-climate-legislation-complete-Biden-looks-to-17419208.php
As Europe slides into a full-blown energy crisis this week after Russia shut off gas pipelines indefinitely, the climate crazies only double down:
“The regulations [Biden] would be pursuing make it even less economic for utilities to open new fossil fuel power plants,” said Matthew Davis at the League of Conservation Voters.
“Biden” is hell-bent on starving Americans of hydrocarbon fuels, even as Europeans freeze in the dark this winter thanks to Green extremism. He intends to ‘push’ EeeVees on unwilling buyers at gunpoint, by eliminating the ICE vehicles preferred by 97%.
“Biden’s” notorious Sep 9, 2021 executive order mandating ‘vaccines,’ which probably has killed 200,000 Americans by conservative estimates, is to be amplified by ‘climate change’ executive orders that ultimately will kill millions.
This an all-out war on humanity fronted by a senile old sock puppet. Tear the rubber mask off “Biden’s” face, and you’d see hollow-eyed Death staring back at you, tightening his grip on the grim scythe.
Hi Jim
95.1% of all electrical energy comes from so called dirty non green sources
(green source solar and wind supply 4.9%)….
The 4.9% green isn’t green…….lol
solar panels, lithium batteries and wind turbines are all catching fire, they are very dangerous…
Solar panels:
The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicone dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.
Solar panels can’t be recycled…..what will they do with them (and wind turbine blades)? throw them down old mine shafts like nuclear waste?…..lol..
solar panels are toxic. They sterilize the ground they sit on. Birds that fly over a solar farm are roasted mid-flight.
Have you researched the temperature directly above a solar farm?? These farms have been accused of creating warming in the regions around them.
The alarmists will always show you pictures of solar panels on green grass – which have to taken as soon as the panels are installed. They leach cadmium and other toxic chemicals and sterilize the soil. Just try to find anything growing under a solar farm that has stood for a few years.
And the landmass that both wind and solar take up will take up most of the farmland in America. Right now we’re not even at 3% electrical production of both. We’re going down a doomed path!
Wind turbines
Wind turbines are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades. Sadly, both solar arrays and windmills kill birds, bats, sea life, and migratory insects.
Wind turbines are junk energy yes the cost is enormous! They have a lifespan of roughly maybe 20 years and to decommission one costs $500,000! And the landmass that both wind and solar take up will take up most of the farmland in America. Right now we’re not even at 3% electrical production of both. We’re going down a doomed path!
Used wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds, they are made from fiberglass.
The average wind farm has 150 turbines. Each wind turbine requires 80 gallons of oil for lubrication, and this isn’t vegetable oil; this is a PAO synthetic oil based on crude… 12,000 gallons. Once a year, that oil must be replenished.
they leak oil from their motors. They cannot be recycled so they are buried in Landfills. They use more electricity than they create. They can fling ice for hundreds of meters. They kill large predatory birds, bats and insects. Their infrasound negatively affect the hearts of humans and animals that live near them. The huge cement footings damage aquifers.
But truly, there is no making sense of these people anymore.
They are ready to shell out hundreds of billions to take over arable acreage with solar panels even as we face a food crisis, and festoon the countryside with bird-slaughtering windmills rather than permit more pipelines and refineries to open.
https://www.truth11.com/content/images/2022/07/5F4EEBF7-CFDB-4DC0-8406-D8B485529046.jpeg
It’s fascinating watching certain individuals attempt to formulate an argument. The basis of Eric’s point is the hypocrisy of Trump relative to the “pushing/dealing” of drugs. The lethality of certain drugs, the number of criminals pardoned, or whether he is guilty of TDS, is completely irrelevant to his point. Also, this issue is clearly relevant if one supposes Trump makes a return to the ticket in 2024.
So, if you want to refute the position Eric took in his article, have at it, but please stop with the strawman and red herring arguments.
This article presents another illustration of why there truly is no “lesser evil” when one engages in voting for who gets to shepherd the tyranny, and why in the likely coming civil war, there is no side for those of us who just want to be left alone as long as we leave others alone. The lines that have been drawn/are being drawn are just a matter of whose brand of tyranny will prevail. There are too few of us who resist all tyranny, to matter; there are tens of millions who embrace tyranny A and tyranny B (Or more appropriately D & R) and we are the enemies of both.
I voted twice for that Orange fucker. Screw him. The man accomplished dick even when he had both sides of Congress when first selected. His embrace of Big Harma seals the deal. He’s a murdering prick. Not an ounce of guilt over presiding over this democide???
He’s clearly a willing part of the establishment that created this nightmare. The only alternative to that to explain his behavior would be if he or his family was threatened. That’s clearly not the case as a man with his means would have disappeared after senile Joe’s selection.
And if it’s not crystal clear by now, THERE ARE NO ELECTIONS, ONLY SELECTIONS.
Hi David,
That’s my view, too. I also voted for the Orange Fail twice. I will not vote for him again – unless he admits his mistake (if it was one, rather than an act of deliberate complicity) about the “vaccines.” If not, I’m done with him.
I mention this as often as I can, Trump was booed at his Cullman, Alabama rally when he bragged about the vax. He quickly pivoted saying it was an individual’s choice. Bullshit. It was a Hobson’s choice –take the clot shot or be fired; take the clot shot or be denied a heart transplant; take the clot shot or get dishonorably discharged; take the clot shot or .
I’m with Eric, if Trump admitted he was fooled or fucked up then, okay. Otherwise, it’s unforgivable. It’s the same reason I will not vote for Governor Mee-Maw here in Alabama. Her “pandemic of the unvaccinated” bullshit trumps (see the pun?) any good she’s done.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the back-up! I am surprised that Griff accused me of “derangement” for making factual observations about Trump and the “vaccines.” I have an old friend who similarly defends Trump, irrespective of the facts. It is almost like the people who continue to defend “masks.”
Except in the case of these “vaccines,” people have been killed – and many more injured. That Trump refuses to acknowledge these facts and at least express misgivings about the “vaccines” speaks very poorly of him.
“No one is forced to take Fentanyl”
But since other drugs are “illegal”, there is nothing preventing one from taking fentanyl without one’s knowledge. Which I understand is quite common in illegal drugs. Because they are illegal.
Eric,
Your Trump Derangement Syndrome is flaring up again
The Orange is wrong about the jab, but never advocated mandating it’s use. The mandates were implemented by pedo-fuhrer Darth Brandon and the numerous communist governors supported by the fascist big pharma, big tech, big health care and big media corporate technocrats.
Drug laws are unfair and need a complete overhaul, but marijuana and cocaine should not be confused with the substances like fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines. The former are much like alcohol that are not physically addictive for most people, but the latter are incredibly physically addictive and will ruin your life, destroy your family and most likely end up killing you. Big difference.
Hi Griff,
I supported Trump until he became a shill for “vaccines.” I could forgive this if he were to apologize. Admit he was wrong/fooled – whatever. But he continues to tout the “vaccines.” It is unforgivable.
If that makes me “deranged,” then I welcome the title.
I wouldn’t characterize you as “afflicted” with TDS, Eric. You legitimately criticize him for his failings from a Libertarian perspective, but, to be fair, Ron De Santis or almost ANY GOPer would be subject to the same criticism. It’s part of the reason the LP even exists, else we’d be a faction of the GOP, as is Ron Paul and son Rand. I had concerns some four or so years ago when OM went on the warpath re: “Opioids”, and this had a direct effect on yours truly, as my Kaiser doc has to jump through bureaucratic hoops to keep me in the pain meds which help me manage my arthritis. I guess a 63-year old man is just expected to “suffer” and “tough it out” when the arthritis is so bad I can hardly type or drive.
But we have to ask ourselves, which is the GREATER threat? Clearly, we’ve experienced it since 20 Jan 2021; and arguably back in November when the election was blatantly fixed and STOLEN. We know “Brandon” isn’t really in charge, but a cabal of leftists and corporatists, and likely it’s Obama who’s really “running” things, or at least the cognizant stooge. There IS a clear difference between Trump and Biden! Now, if someone ELSE comes along, so that Trump is no longer needed, fine, I don’t care to be part of OM’s personality cult, AFAIK, akin to how Recruit/PFC/Corporal/Sergeant/Lieutenant Johnny Rico was given his position in the Mobile Infantry…”you’re the one, until you’re dead or I find someone BETTER.” I’d seriously consider DeSantis, for, if nothing else, he’s THIRTY-ONE years YOUNGER than OM! Sure, I’d like a “purely” Libertarian candidate, as was the late Harry Browne, but in order to actually gain electoral votes, which is how the game is played, you have to have someone that has more than cult appeal! Arguably, had Gary Johnson in 2016 run a more focused campaign to get electoral votes in the Intermountain West, he might have gotten enough to at least play the role of “kingmaker”. The essence of it is, no one BETTER than Trump has come forth to slay the Deep State dragon, so I’ll vote for him if the alternative is to give in and let these leftist-corporatist demagogues continue to run the country into the ground for THEIR benefit, certainly not OURS.
As for your “pinch” back in your college days, that was a common tactic in the so-called “War on Drugs”, which started with Nixon and went “warp speed” under Reagan, especially with his astrology-believing wife Nancy and her “just say ‘no’ ” mantra. Truth is, in those days, if you had two joints, you could have been charged with possession with intent to distribute in most states, a FELONY in them all, and also a Federal rap. Cops and DAs commonly “over-charged” as a bullying tactic, which also subjected you to higher bail amounts, else, you had to cop to a juicy plea (for them) and a bad criminal record in order to simply win your freedom and get your life back! If indeed you had money, or at least your family did, you could get bailed out, and if that’s what happened with you, that’s why the DA “folded” and you got offered a simple possession charge, a minor misdemeanor, which, once you completed your probation successfully, you could get expunged. It was and still is complete horseshit, as some college kid growing a few plants in his apartment or dorm to smoke up and/or share with friends is hardly a threat to society. If indeed there was a reason to go after the “kingpins”, which, as you can argue, are simply satisfying a demand that their customers VOLUNTARILY make, this wasn’t the way to do it. All it did was feed the “prison-industrial complex”, i.e., make criminals out of stupid kids, more cops, more jails, drug “counselors”, and so on, when the job market is more than adequate to weed out the morons that ruin their lives with their respective drug habits.
OM, being that he’s 75, was simply raised in a time where the “hophead” was considered the lowest possible scum, so naturally he’d see the criminal justice system as the remedy. Don’t hold that too much against him, anymore than some 90-year old guy that uses the term “Negro” to refer to an “Afro-American”.
Hi Douglas,
Yes, agreed – on pretty much all points. But – for me – this “vaccine” business is intolerable. I can’t abide it. Until Trump shuts up – at least – I am done with him, except as a pinata that needs a beating!
Eric, didn’t it bother you a bit when the orange bastard used Julian Assange during his election, but then denied even knowing about him? He’s just a judas bastard and I hope the fucker lands in prison.
Hi Gopher
Yes, it bothered me. Also Trump’s dumping of RFK, Jr. Many other things, too. But like many others, I was convinced Trump was a better option than the alternative. I do not see him that way any longer. He sometimes says things that sound good. But rarely does he speak in terms of principles and he almost never follows through on them. This “vaccine” stuff was the final straw for me.
Eric,
I too voted for OM-never again! While he may not have mandated the shot, he provided it and thus opened the door for Creepy Joe to mandate it. Even if he made a mistake (a questionable assertion), he’s too much of a narcissist with too big an ego to admit it.
Hey MarkyMark!
What you described about Trump seems to be a recurring pattern. The R’s play good cop by speaking the words that the saner crowd want to hear, but ultimately set things up for the next round of D’s by such things as expanding the military and bolstering the multi-nationals, so that when the D’s are in, they can use those things without taking heat for having done the things which make it possible for them to use those very tools.
This seems to be the exact M.O. of the uni-party, and why despite a long history of shared power, we keep seeing the same results- and all the while it keeps the people complacent and participating, and unaware that no matter who they vote for they ultimately get the very same things.
Nunzio,
I think that Ben Garrison’s cartoon, “March to Tyranny” sums up the dynamic perfectly…
Hi Griff,
It is true he didn’t “mandate” the “vaccines.” But he did “warp speed” them. He did legitimize them. He also did nothing to prevent corporations from requiring them as a condition of being allowed to work – enabling him to deny it was he who forced people to get “vaccinated.” And he left matters such that Brandon could “mandate” them. He set an incredibly dangerous precedent – this business of government openly colluding with the pharma cartels to all-but-gunpoint their drugs into people’s bodies. The suspension of basic liberties, by declaring an “emergency” that still hasn’t officially ended. Why didn’t he end it when he had the power to do so? Why did he give Fauci legitimacy? He may not have been able to fire him. But why did he stand beside him for months on end, essentially legitimizing the creepy little bastard?
He also did nothing to prevent or stall the weaponization of hypochondria – the “masking” and related idiocies – that led to the “vaccinating,” as I and a few others predicted it would more than two goddamn years ago.
This guy is bad news. He is either a titanically obtuse narcissistic ignoramus – or he is a willing tool. Can you give me a single other credible explanation for his “vaccine” peddling?
And: Why would you ever trust this serial failure again?
Eric,
“He may not have been able to fire him”
The POTUS can fire anyone in the executive branch, period. Which Fauci was.
Save for the FBI director. Which I don’t understand why it’s a law at all…clearly, if the Founders had intended for there to be an FBI agency at all, and someone like “J Edna” Hoover to run it, they’d have put it in the Constituiton.
Eric,
I won’t defend Trump’s actions after January 2020. He was surrounded by deep state players that hated him and in the end he choked, caved, blew it, spit the bit, etc, etc.
Yes, he was/is a narcissist, clown, buffoon, low IQ, and whatever other derogatory adjectives you chose, but in January 2020 the country was in better economic and social condition than it is now. You are not going to be “left alone” and the “lessor of two evils” is actually less evil, which until the second coming is about as good as it’s going to get. So remember, vote early and vote often.
Griff
Shame me once,,, your fault. Shame me twice,,, my fault. Continually voting for the lessor of evil gets you…. evil. If voting worked, I guarantee you they would stop it instantly.
Haven’t voted in years and will not under any circumstance vote for anyone that 1) hates me 2) hates the constitution 3) are evil bastards straight from hell 4) are useless and provide no benefits to any society.
By voting you are giving them your placard of approval. I took an oath to defend the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. This oath had no expiration and no other requirements. By not voting I am doing what I can at this precise moment to defend the shredded document.
IMO most on the hill need arrested, tried and fried. The rest outside the beltway including the media,,, life. As an ex-Marine I was shameful of the idiots standing behind the wannabee fuhrer. They are an insult to those that served before them. May this new group rot in hell,,, orders or no orders.
Griff, when it comes to the principle, there is no difference. Either I have the right to decide for myself what I buy and consume or I don’t. Drug laws based on the degree of harmfulness of a substance guarantee endless squabbles and a lot of damaging incarceration that benefits no one. There are lots of people (Tucker Carlson comes to mind) who would argue that marijuana and cocaine are very harmful too. And funny you should mention alcohol. Its abuse undeniably brings much misery, but we all know how Prohibition worked out.
Amen, Roland –
The arbitrary illegalization of some “drugs” set the precedent for government deciding what we may and may not put into our own bodies. This arguably set the precedent for government decreeing what we are obliged to put into our bodies.
If I am a sovereign man, if I own myself, then no other man has the slightest right to dictate to me what I may and may not put into my body. Or tell me what I must put in it.
Fish heads, old and rank, to all who think otherwise.
Griff,
So you will decide which drugs should, or should not be available or illegal? Are you likewise an “expert” or “authority”? The very thing that makes many “illegal” drugs dangerous is that they ARE illegal. If I buy a bottle of liquor, I can be relatively confident the label is giving me an accurate assessment of how much alcohol it contains. Not so much with illegal drugs, which by many accounts are “boosted” with other drugs, like fentanyl or meth, unbeknownst to the buyer. As somewhat of an “expert”, having tried many drugs, I can speak with authority. Nicotine is by far the most addictive. Perhaps because of the effect research discovered in one of the Scandinavian countries long ago. It makes your brain work better. Not faster, better. An effect I’ve personally noticed, and a hard thing to give up.
In any case, if you proclaim yourself the arbiter of which are OK, and which are pure evil, you stand on no ground higher than “vaccine” pushers.
H Griff,
In re: “marijuana and cocaine should not be confused with the substances like fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines.”
Who is doing any such thing?
And who shall decide which “drugs” are permissible for other human beings to buy – or use? If it is not the individual in question, freely deciding for himself, it means some other person is deciding. And that deciding comes with punishing. What gives anyone the moral right to punish someone else for putting anything he likes into his own body? Or selling something to someone? If there are exceptions to this then the principle that we own ourselves has been ceded and – inevitably – we find ourselves owned, entirely.
Eric,
If an adult gets addicted to heroin or oxy or meth or fentanyl, they will have to live with that decision. People screw up their lives all kinds of ways.
But children are different. If some turd sells your child a brain killing drug, are you just supposed to shrug and say “Oh well, my 13 year old should have known better.”? Every parent knows 13 year olds are morons and need to be protected from themselves. No drug laws, then be ready for vigilante justice. Is “eye for an eye” one of the Libertarian principles?
I don’t know where you live, but in my entire near 50 years on this planet, nobody has ever offered me any substance, legal or otherwise, that I wasn’t looking for. Have you ever bought “drugs”? The people that sell them usually enjoy them as well or are strictly involved for profits. Dead or maimed customers isn’t good for business. Just like any other business. IMHO, the notion of “pushers”, especially in the context of black markets, is some kind of conservatard confabulation, usually involving “the chilluns” as victims for effect. An excuse for police state overreach. Un-American, in the original sense. Pairs well with Orange Fail as savior delusions. Funny if it wasn’t so pathetic and dangerous.
Regarding fentanyl specifically, I posted a link to Jon Rappoport in a reply to John Kable below. You should check it out to find out who’s “pushing” it to who and why.
I am older than Funk and did smoke a little weed back in the 60s. It was groovy man.
There are laws against underage use of alcohol, smoking and driving a car, but access to hard drugs by children should be legal? If you think drug laws are an excuse for “police state overreach” it’s no wonder Libertarians are politically irrelevant.
Sorry, Griff. You’re a prison-happy evil hugging ignorant slut.
‘The Conservative Drug War Creeds’
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/06/laurence-m-vance/the-conservative-drug-war-creed/
Do Libertarians always default to name calling when they lose an argument?
“name calling” you say? Psft.
I do declare, I Taut I Taw a Puddy-Tat! The, “You’re a prison-happy evil hugging” part was a descriptive adjetive.
The last part, the ignorant slut part, just seems ta show ya got No sense of humor, at all.
‘Weekend Update: Jane, You Ignorant Slut – SNL’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c91XUyg9iWM
Hi Griff,
We were in principle discussing free exchange between consenting adults. I hold that no man has any moral right to tell another man he may not sell (or buy) anything he likes from another man who wishes to sell it to him. If you say otherwise, then you have accepted the idea that what some men think all men ought not to be permitted to buy or sell is a legitimate idea and thereby you have legitimated the idea of authoritarian collectivism, in principle. At first, it may not be a problem. It is illegal to sell an A-Bomb, say. But that principle sets a precedent and the precedent is always expanded. This seems to me inarguable.
As far as “drugs.” I don’t use any besides marijuana but I would never presume to tell another man he may not use – or buy – whatever drug he wishes to use for it is none of my business. This includes dangerous legal drugs, by the way. It is no more my business than it is his what drugs I choose to use – or whether I eat my vegetables, either. If you disagree, you have accepted the premise that some people’s personal dislike of a “drug” and condemnation of its use empowers them to tell other people not only that they may not use (and buy or sell) it but that they will be punished if caught doing so. Having accepted that evil premise, you have empowered the busybodies to find other things they do not like – and to criminalize and punish them.
And look where that got us…
But these “drugs” are dangerous! Says who? And even if hypothetically so, is that a matter for the law – assuming no one except the adult individual involved is harmed by his freely made choice? If you say it is, then have you not opened the door for busybodies to say that people’s dietary and lifestyle habits are also a matter of “public concern”? If not, why not? The principle – we must protect people from danger! – is the same, is it not?
I say let people make their own decisions and be accountable for them. This leaves people free. It does not mean free to cause harm to others. That is a false equivalence. It is the false tautology used by some to impugn gun ownership, for instance. Or opening the doors of their stores during a “pandemic.”
Leave adults free to make their own choices. If they cause harm to others – then hold them accountable. Do not hold “accountable” people who caused no harm, except perhaps to themselves – because someone worries they might.
And let parents take care of their kids.
Amen, Doctor –
I’m a Gen X guy, so I grew up at a time when arbitrarily illegal “drugs” were readily available from junior high forward. No one ever “pushed” anything on me. Those who wanted “x” would find a dealer who would sell it to them. There was never any coercion and no one did anything they weren’t free to not do.
When I grew pot back in the day, it was primarily for my own enjoyment with the side benefit of having enough extra to share with my friends and to sell, occasionally, to make a few bucks on the side. How is this any different than raising tomatoes and offering/selling some to those who want them?
But tomatoes are good for you! They don’t get you “high,” man. And?
How is that anyone’s business except those involved in the transaction?
I despise busybodies. Their blinkered hypocrisy (most drink, all do or don’t do something that someone else could legitimately say is “not good for you”) and petty control freakism embodies some of the worst attributes of humanity.
To paraphrase a Mises quote, if you allow a government to regulate what substances people put into their bodies you open up the door for regulation of what they put into their minds. I used to think that was some crazy shit, impossible. However it is becoming apparent that this is the logical conclusion of applying the law to what might happen and is the cornerstone of the total tyranny that is very close to being consolidated today. As an example, there is a recent EffBeeEye bulletin describing an-caps as potential “domestic violent extremists” for merely suggesting that certain aspects of societal interaction could be accomplished in the absence of “government.” Ideas are more powerful and dangerous than any drugs and they know it.
Exactly, Doctor –
Principles matter for they set precedents, inevitable used as the basis for expanding upon the principle. Seatbelt (and helmet) laws are a good example. Seems innocuous. Just “buckle up” – it’s for “safety.” Well, if “safety” – the assertion that doing (or not doing) “x” – is sufficient warrant for punishing people who do not obey, then you have established the principle that “safety” justifies further restrictions – and punishments.
It seems to me that the only moral basis for punishing anyone is by holding them responsible for harms they have caused others. This is an objective standard that has the additional appeal of being inarguable. You ran into someone. You actually damaged their car – and perhaps the people within. You are responsible for that. I “speed” – but have not damaged anyone’s car – nor harmed anyone else in any measurable way.
Ergo, I have the right to be left in peace.
The usual response is: Well, but what about the . . . insert extreme case here. Well, hold them responsible!
And leave me the fuck alone!
Amen, Eric!
I’ve never used drugs of any variety- but back in the 70’s they were readily available even at the junior high school I went to in extremely white (at the time) Long Island (Including from the long-haired 13 year-old son of a cop)- but NO ONE ever “pushed” any drug on me or anyone else- and it would have been a very poor business decision if they had, ’cause I had no money (Not to mention that I would have run for the hills at the mere suggestion of using a drug!); and since I was well parented, I could not even conceal a pack of cigarettes without being found-out.
As a grown old fart, I wouldn’t to this day know where or how to buy drugs even if I were so inclined……
I don’t like druggies…but it’s easy enough to choose not to be around people who use drugs…no one forces them on ya, so they don’t tend to bother me. On the other hand, I truly hate people who would cage, perpetrate violence against, and destroy the lives of others simply because they choose to use, make/grow or sell a certain intoxicant which someone has decreed to be “illegal”-and THOSE people do force themselves on us- even if we don’t use drugs, in their never-ending crusade to apprehend all of the drug users and sellers (Except for the chosen few…like the brother of the former local sheriff when he was still the sheriff [for 20 years] who had a lucrative dealing career and amazingly was never apprehended…while virtually all of his competitors were…)
Right-o, Nunz!
I eat pot gummies occasionally, chiefly because they help me sleep and ease my aches. I do this roughly once every three weeks. I have noticed no ill effects and much that is good (i.e., my body aches less and I can sleep). I consider this a harmless palliative. Certainly no one else’s business. Especially not the government’s!
Eric, whether it’s to ease your pain and help you sleep, or just for fun…it’s no one else’s bidness but yours. Those who seek to make it their business, are claiming a right over you which no other man legitimately has, and they are thus THE problem.
God frowns upon drunkenness, yet He nowhere ever gave any man the right to punish another man for imbibing, and even promises to bless the vineyards of those who obey Him, because how (and how much) one uses that wine is entirely up to the drinker.
Amen, Nunz –
I don’t take pot to render myself “stoned” so much as relaxed as I am wound pretty tight and it helps me unwind. But – as you say – even if I got “stoned” out of my mind every day, it is my mind. My body. And no one else has any right to interfere with my (or your or anyone else’s) choices to do as they like with their body and mind. For if they do, then you are their property. That is called slavery – and anyone who so asserts wishes to be your master.
Exactly, Eric! Pretty much any time one sees someone advocating legislation for the sake of “safety”, it is just a cloak for their wanting to advance authority while hiding the fact that the intent and or actual result is to take away the individual’s ability to make their own choice/choose the level of risk they are comfortable with, limit their actions; control their response to a given circumstance, or demand that they “believe” in some narrative, such as what may be put forth as “science” -thus truly enslaving entire populations by controlling their actions, thoughts and responses, while the author of the legislation is hailed as a ‘benefactor’ rather than a tyrant/slave master.
And you’ve said it on here many times…. Beware the nanny state!
All one needs to do is look at someone like Ralph Nader, who has long used a false concern for ‘safety’ as a means to further his communistic desires.
We, on the other hand, believe in true benevolence, in that we advocate letting others live their lives as they see fit, which sometimes may entail the reaping of unwanted or negative consequences, but to live in such a manner is an essential part of being human and learning and growing, as opposed to living like a trained/captive animal whose actions are controlled so as to render them usable to those who keep them, but good for little else- much less what they were created for.
Hi Eric, et al,
The people supporting the so-called “War on Drugs” are unconsciously or not supporting a level of tyranny at the federal level that matches any tyranny in the history books. The underlying concept is that citizens are actually serfs, at least, and more accurately outright slaves. This is the Hamiltonian side of the debate writ large. From a practical standpoint, the PtB should have realized what a disaster the prohibition of alcohol was (in fact probably did) in terms of lives destroyed and empowerment of the Mafia. The modern version has likewise destroyed lives and empowered the drug cartels and their minions. We can observe how the market reacted to alcohol prohibition because the rates of alcohol consumption actually shot up, predictably and actually decreased somewhat after prohibition ended. The mere act of consumption of any substance while harming no other individual should never be banned. The destructive to others behavior is a separate issue…..and can only rationally be judged as such….for instance stating that speed made a user commit crimes begs the question…the kind of individual who commits violence under the influence is guilty of the behavior. In any case, WRT, DJT…..an unmitigated disaster. That being said, Biden attempting to brand anybody supporting him as a domestic terrorist or such seems ironic at least and laughable for sure. It seems to me that the people most in favor of reduction in individual freedom and outright genocide are currently in power. Of course the “political process” and democracy are just phrases used to obfuscate where the real power lies….in the bureaucratic state supported by oligarchical external actors……this situation is so similar to post Weimar Germany that it’s astounding…..man of manischewitz.
WRT pot consumption……a lot of advocates of current pot production claim that it’s much stronger than back in the day….I believe that is incorrect IME….what a real free market in places like Colorado, Oregon etc. in the states gives you is something that is dependably and accurately labelled. Also, I remember back in the 80s going to the coffee bars in Amsterdam where pot consumption was perfectly legal. The good thing about that scene and the current one in some states (hooray for nullification) today is that one can also consume the product in edible form which, IMHO is far superior in terms of dosage control and not having to inhale smoke into one’s lungs to get a buzz.
Finally, Eric, I continue to appreciate your consistent and articulate presentation of libertarian principles. I’d like to set up a regular donation but I abhor Paypal….any chance you’d consider Subscribestar?
Griff, if you’re kid has the money, willingness, ability and autonomy to buy and use drugs, then it is your fault, not anyone else’s. The childproofing of the whole world is despicable, and has achieved nothing other than furthering tyranny. Have to show an ID to buy cigarettes, alcohol, cold medicine[sic]…at an age determined by pontificating tyrant. Can’t send junior to the store to buy a pack of cigs for Grandpa, ’cause the clerk’ll get in trouble for selling them to him; the state determines when and under what conditions your kid may drive…now some places mandate that they must stay in school in order to drive.
One size fits all….strangers make decisions for you and youir family…can’t let junior buy a pack of cigarettes at 18, but he can legally ride a motorcycle…. but make sure he’s wearing his seatbelt while riding in the car with you, or you’ll have to pay the state a fine……
The safety cult is bad enough- but children’s “advocacy” has truly been our undoing.
Nunzio,
I don’t think stealing a smoke from Grandma’s purse or a beer from fridge is equivalent to the poison that’s coming over the border from China.
There needs to be personal responsibility, but to be trapped into a lifetime of addiction for a foolish mistake is a high price to pay. No laws are as destructive as bad laws.
**”There needs to be personal responsibility, but to be trapped into a lifetime of addiction for a foolish mistake is a high price to pay. No laws are as destructive as bad laws.”**
EXACTLY, Griff! So why are we arguing?
Personal responsibility = You are responsible for yourself and the oversight and moral conditioning of your children. How many 16 year-olds have been involved in crippling/life-changing/fatal horrific car crashes because they made “one foolish mistake”? Yet we don’t presume to outlaw driving for everyone, nor even all 16 year-olds…..
How many lives of both drug users and non-drug users have been destroyed, not because of drugs or because of any mistake made by the drug user or non-drug-user, but because of the “War On Drugs”? How much crime has been enabled because of drug prohibition (Make addictive drugs extremely expensive due to the risks involved with selling them, so that their users must resort to crime in order to pay for them).
How did alochol prohibition work out? Notice how alcohol-related crime became virtually nill once Prohibition was ended? Yet did Prohibition solve the problems of any alcoholic? Nay- it made them worse- while also dragging even non-drinkers or merely social drinkers into the foray created by those bad laws.
How has the War On Drugs been working out? Seeing as how it’s been raging for nearly 50 years now, and yet more people seem to be using drugs now than ever, and anyone who wants to use drugs can get them- or even worse, has to use an even more dangerous alternative such as meth, which was created only because of the Drug War- I’d say that the War has been a total failure, with countless casualties of both innocents…and yet your kid still has easy access to many drugs if he is so inclined.
So all that drug prohibition has accomplished is to enable more tyranny- and meanwhile, if your kid wants to get high, he can just huff some paint… (Oh wait…in many places now you have to show ID to buy a can of spray paint!)
Raise your kid right and there’s a good chance he will reject the tyranny of drugs and of the state. Raise him right or raise him wrong, he may still embrace either or both tyrannies, but if that prospect justifies the establishment and legitimizing of tyranny in order to reform the morals of an errant person, then we are all condemned to perpetiual tyranny because there will always exist such errant souls, and it should be obvious by NOW that that tyranny will still not reform the errant soul (Contrary to the ideas of the Puritans, who established much of the infrastructure and institutions of the state based on the very philosophy that such would reform men! Rather than reforming men, the state now corrupts many much more so than they ever would have been if left to their own devices and to receive the natural consequences or rewards of their actions).
Brilliantly said, Nunz – thank you!
This “but the children” stuff is a key mechanism by which our liberty as adults has been vitiated. Your kids are not my problem. It sounds cold – to an emotionally incontinent person. But it is no less valid for being so. Raise – and keep track of your kids. Leave other adults – and their kids – out of it. If my kid is responsible enough to drive at 15 – to the store, to pick me up some booze – then that is my business to decide. If your kid is immature and cannot be trusted unsupervised, that is your business – not mine.
Etc.
Eric, Nunzio, et al,
I really do wish I lived in the world you describe. The Libertarian promised land, heaven on earth, a paradise, where the men live by their own devices guided by some mysterious internal moral compass to create a perfect world of peace and harmony. That sound like “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”, and just as the Communist collectivist vison for utopia creates the hellish dystopia of totalitarianism, the Libertarian vison of total freedom would create an anarchy of survival of the fittest. Libertarians are just the flip side of Communists.
I no longer dream of utopias, I’m just a pragmatist willing to choose the “lesser of two evils”.
Hi Griff,
I’m not someone who rejects the good because it’s not perfect. But when an important principle is on the line then I stand opposed to countenancing its evisceration.
If you countenance criminalizing personal use/possession and free exchange of a “drug” between consenting adults then you have acceded to the principle that “safety” (or whatever the excuse is) can be trotted out to criminalize the personal use/possession and free exchange of any “drug.” Indeed, of any thing – because anything might affect “safety” somehow.
I think it is utopian to insist upon striving for a risk-free word as opposed to accepting the possibility of risk in exchange for the certainty of freedom to live.
I’m not exactly sure what it means to be a “lesser of two evils pragmatist.” However, regarding the charge of “utopianism”…
“The libertarian is also eminently realistic because he alone understands fully the nature of the State and its thrust for power. In contrast, it is the seemingly far more realistic conservative believer in “limited government” who is the truly impractical utopian. This conservative keeps repeating the litany that the central government should be severely limited by a constitution…. The idea of a strictly limited constitutional State was a noble experiment that failed, even under the most favorable and propitious circumstances….No, it is the conservative laissez-fairist, the man who puts all the guns and all the decision-making power into the hands of the central government and then says, “Limit yourself”; it is he who is truly the impractical utopian.” – Murray Rothbard
… “Liberty is not built on value-free economics; free markets are not sustained in a value-free society. There is no “value-free” anything. Liberty is built on a specific ethic, and that ethic is natural law.
For those interested in my long answer, here you go:” …
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/09/bionic-mosquito/an-attempt-at-neutrality/
Hey, Griff,
I have no illusions that such a paradise will ever exist, human nature being what it is- but the thing is that not only will it also not exist if some seek to implement it by enacting endless laws to “protect” us, but that our situation will be much worse under such a scenario, as the same vices will not only continue, but actually be made worse, and we all lose our liberty and even our ability to resist many of the very evils we are supposedly being “protected from”.
The idea of making the whole world childproof- that you should be able to turn your kid loose in a world where he is guaranteed to be protected from any potential harm because others are so highly regulated- THAT is a fantasy- and that fantasy is responsible for a good deal of the tyranny we suffer.
Look at the Amish- Their kids escape all of the vices; are responsible at a young age, and are not harmed, regardless of the political schemes and general society around them, because THEY take their responsibility to raise and shepherd their kids very seriously and do not entrust them to the world nor delegate their parental responsibilities to strangers.
You reap what you sow in this life, and no political scheme/law/tyranny can change that- it just makes it worse, and usually results in hindering those who sow good things from reaping their full (or sometimes any) reward, while rewarding the sowers of bad things and lessening the consequences of their actions or even rewarding them- and even at the expense of the sowers of good things.
Remember, an 18 year old isn’t mentally mature enough to make the decision to smoke or drink but, they are mature enough to sign a piece of paper and GovCo will give them a machine gun and send them around the world to kill somebody.
Oh, and don’t forget, 7 year olds are mature enough to decide what sex they want to be but, a 17 year old isn’t mature enough to decide to have sex with.
RE: “Is “eye for an eye” one of the Libertarian principles?”
See, Clover: that’s you’re ignorant slut side showing, you should be mindful of that. It’s unattractive, to say the least.
You’ve made it this far, perhaps consider checking this out?:
‘What Libertarianism Is, and Isn’t’
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/03/lew-rockwell/what-libertarianism-is-and-isnt/
Eric,
I adore you and your writing, but Griff has a point. The TDS is expanding. Trump is not even in office.
I hate to defend the guy again (because I really don’t want to) but look at what Trump does vs what Trump says. Trump pardoned more inmates from jail that were convicted of drug charges than any other President. Desiree Perez, Alice Johnson, Michael Tedesco, Otis Gordon, Weldon Angelos…shall I continue?
The guy is sprouting off at the mouth. He says what he believes people want to hear. Yes, Trump did remove the regulations for allowing the vaccines to be pushed but the vaccines were already here. MRNA is not new. This is not something the pharmaceuticals were making in March 2020; they were already made. They needed an egotistical puppet. They got one. In the White House currently they have another puppet he just doesn’t remember what he says or signs.
Trump’s thugs never showed up on my doorstep to demand I take a vax, but how many doctors pushed it? How many threats did Biden make for those that refused to raise their sleeve and inject themselves with poison? How about the constant phone calls from the county health departments demanding those that tested positive for Convid provide them a list of the people that they lived and worked with?
As for the biggest drug dealers I would string up the doctors first. They sell more drugs than any dealer.
But I think we are being naive if we don’t believe dealers push drugs onto children. We are not talking about a couple Mary Jane dealers who are selling to 20 year olds. Also, drugs in this day and age will kill you. These are not our parents’ drugs of the 1960s. What the drug cartel is being over the border and China is shipping overseas is a bit more than just a bit of coke. Not to mention the addiction and the hell that it brings. I know way too many people that have died of overdoses. I watch them destroy their relationships with their spouses, their children, lose their jobs, become paranoid, have had them steal from me and mine, threaten those around them, and even murder.
The Courts do nothing. The rehab facilities do nothing. All we wait for is the final OD that Narcan can’t save.
Trumps unforgivable sin is politicizing the FDA. Regardless of whether one believes there should be an FDA or whether one believes it carries out its core mission properly, the fact remains that it is the one major impediment to marketing dangerous chemicals and biologicals absent testing and review. In this case, Trump arm twisted (politicized) what should be a politically independent agency for his election points – to warp speed something that should take 10 to 17 years. That should never have happened and we see why that is so. He wanted a political victory over covid to stroke his ego and to show how good old American innovation can save the world (MAGA!). This caused the FDA to grant emergency authorization for limited use in a small age group, which quickly transmogrified into vaccines into everyone. This laid the precedent necessary for all that followed. It’s not derangement. He’s an accomplice.
Hi BAC,
The FDA has been politicized forever, just like the FBI and CIA have. You might also want to have a look at Fauci’s history in the so-called AIDS epidemic. That seems to have been a test case for this whole line of government interference into the market. Fauci backed Robert Gallo and crushed Peter Duesberg thus leading to over a million deaths due to the use of AZT on the mostly gay population that was effected. In any case, these shenanigans have been going on for a long, long, long time…..I happen to remember being blown away at the time (early 80s) at how openly corrupt the whole process was.
RG,
“These are not our parents’ drugs of the 1960s.” No they aren’t. Meth is a thing because safer drugs are illegal, so they are expensive. Meth can be made in the kitchen. Fentanyl is a thing because its an approved prescription drug, so somebody is always making more of it. About a year ago, I read that there were more opiate (fentanyl, oxycontin) prescriptions in an Alabama county than there were people living there.
My point being, making particular drugs illegal makes them less likely to be what you thought you were getting, and more expensive. Making other drugs “legal” does not prevent them from making their way to the illegal market. Drug laws don’t work. In fact they make matters worse. I have known a number of fully functional heroin addicts, just like I’ve known a number of functional alcoholics. Perhaps the greatest sin of “illegal” drug enforcement is the abundance of no knock SWAT raids to confiscate drugs “before they can flush them”. Raids that get people killed much faster than drugs. The one and ONLY reason for such a raid is a hostage situation.
End of rant.
Jon Rappoport on fentanyl…
https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2021/06/01/wuhan-the-lab-no-the-other-wuhan-nobody-is-talking-about-opioid-trafficking-hq/
Spoiler alert: it’s intimately tied to the phony pandemic over the fake virus. Used as sedative for folks put on ventilators.
Rant, part II
If drug laws worked, we wouldn’t have a drug problem. Except for Pharma and the FDA and the CDC.
The free market at work. When it comes to a mind-altering substance, the variety and selection will become greater over time. Beer is beer, 4 basic substances, yet there are thousands of brands. We’re seeing the same thing with legal marijuana, including different ways to consume it.
John,
Right on the button. The War on {whatever} always amounts to a power grab by the very institutions that should never possess a single iota of power. They are simply indefensible from a libertarian PoV.
If there is one consolation in all of this, it is illustrated in this comment section, to wit: No matter what side we may be on with regard to usage of drugs, the comments here illustrate the integrity and soundness of thought of the libertarian philosophy, in that most of us can agree that regardless of our personal feelings about drugs, we agree that what a person chooses to do with regards to their own body and offspring is entirely their own responsibility and right, and should not be interfered with by any other man- md that, my friends, is the essence of liberty.
You lost me at, “Griff has a point”.
Have. You. Lost. Your. Ever. Freaking. Mind!?
‘The Drug War: A Roller-Coaster To Hell’
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/01/john-grant/the-drug-war-a-roller-coaster-tohell/
Helot,
Reread my post. I agreed with Griff regarding the current amount of TDS people are suffering from. Stop taking my words out of context. Doctors have killed more people than any drug dealer.
Hi RG!
If the worst case scenarios play out – and hundreds of thousands die as a result of being “vaccinated”- it is the Orange Man who bears most of the blame for this atrocity. For it was he who “warp speeded” these dangerous drugs into existence. It was he who enabled the subsequent “mandating” of them. That Darth Biden actually mandated is immaterial. It was Orange Man who set the whole awful business in motion. And he continues to advocate the “vaccines” as beneficent and takes personal credit for – his words -“saving millions of lives.”
If I am deranged for despising the man for this, so be it. I consider it an honorable title.
Hi Eric,
But, the manufacturer bears no responsibility? I am not disagreeing with you that Trump (and Biden) shouldn’t be held liable, but there are those behind the scenes whose intentions were even more sinister.
We also need to consider personal responsibility. The people that took the jabs did so knowing that these were experimental. They signed a paper before the poison was injected. Why should the rest of us be held liable when the risk was known? Because that is what will happen. Lawyers in future years will sue anyone and everyone with the dreams of winning a settlement. Biden, Trump, Fauci will all be long gone. The taxpayers who didn’t take it will bear the costs and additional taxes that will be enforced on us.
If Trump apologized nothing will change. What good is “ I am sorry” when the damage has been done? If someone comes up and slaps you and then turns around and says “Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean it.” Do you forgive them? I sure as hell wouldn’t, but at the same time we can’t let anger eat away at us. It is an emotion that doesn’t allow us to see the full picture objectively. The emotion of love does the same thing. It is normal for us to want to protect those around us who have been hurt. A spouse protects a mate, a parent protects a child, and a friend protects a friend. The anger at Trump isn’t worth your time. Don’t let him live rent free in your head. He won’t care or change and it will only eat you up inside, which then will be reflected toward those on the outside.
To quote Mark Twain: Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything in which it is poured.
Don’t make me break out my Buddhism quotes. I could be here all day. 😉
Hi RG,
I don’t disagree with any of what you have written. But – that said – Orange Man is a bad man for continuing to trumpet the “vaccines” rather than acknowledge this whole business is a disaster. And – so is he – for not acknowledging it. He has become complicit. Part of it. As such, I want to hear nothing more from the Orange Man.
RE: “Reread my post.”
Gotchya. Yup, ok. The rooftop felt like 100 degrees that day, perhaps I should refrain from commenting in the evening?
Good to see you know about the ‘Doctors’.
“Suppose you learned that a single source in the US, every year, like clockwork, kills 225,000 people. That would be 2.25 million killings per decade.
Wouldn’t you think we’d hear about it? Wouldn’t public health agencies make a big, bigger, biggest deal about it? Wouldn’t they call it a pandemic to end all pandemics?” …
https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/2015/11/25/dr-starfields-revelations-shock-of-shocks/
Outside of healthcare, the increasingly leftist-leaning corporate C suites deserve the lion’s share of the blame for pushing the jabs on their employees.
The Orange Man certainly applied a hard sell, but he didn’t issue mandates and had no plan to do so. The eventual mandates handed down by the Hairplugged One were just cover for something that Corporate America planned to do anyway to curry favor with the new regime.
I had a friend whose wife is in HR at a major manufacturing company tell me, “It is their livelihoods at stake.”
Sure, their $300k+/year (minimum) livelihoods.
Now you’re guilty of an intent to distribute truth.
As you say, Eric, it goes waaaay back. And, it covers all political stripes except libertarians, of which there are virtually none holding any office of any significance. Kamala Harris wringing her hands over some dribbler in a Russian jail. Obama laughing on national teevee about “doing blow” in college. Bush the Lesser and his nose candy problems…along with alkyhall. Clinton’s coke consumption, which he probably got mostly from HWBush’s drug running ops from Central America to Mena, AR, aka Iran/Contra while Bubba was Guv’nr.
Re-legalization is the only viable solution but, will never see the light of day.
Search J. Orlin Grabbe
‘The End of Ordinary Money”