(My Eastern New Mexico News column for February 3, 2021)
Politics has a strange effect on people.
I’m stunned at how many people can’t let go of Donald Trump. They cling to him like a life raft in an ocean of uncertainty.
I’m not talking about Trump’…
On his first partial day as president, Joe Biden issued 17 “executive orders, memorandums and proclamations” — two more than America’s first five presidents issued over their 36 years in office.
As I write this, the Capitol Hill riot of January 6 is enjoying its extended 15 minutes of fame, complete with straight-faced comparisons to December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001.
Episode 439 welcomes Patrick Smith to the podcast to chat with Skyler on the following topics: growing up in the Dallas area, his Corvette and run-ins with cops; training to be a voluntary police officer in order to keep the cops off his back, and learning on ride-alongs that cops mostly just harass peaceful people all day long; studying the American founding fathers to answer the question of authority; delving deeper into Judge Napolitano and (old) Stefan Molyneux; his Not Governor campaign; creating Peaceful Parenting University; why communism even at the home/family level doesn’t work; why child dependency on their parents creates a positive obligation; spanking as a protective use of force; Walter Block’s evictionism theory of abortion; his search for practical peaceful parenting tools; was homeschooled for a year as a youth and always wanted that for his own kids; how he “unschooled” himself after hours as a youth; his unique experiences of raising separate sets of kids both traditionally and peacefully; responding to tantrums; how authoritarian parenting creates the expectation of authoritarianism; and more.
The Chinese Coronavirus (COVID-19) hit American shores — officially, anyway, there is significant evidence that it arrived earlier — in late January 2020. The American public was then told that a two-week shutdown of the economy would “flatten the curve,” relieving the pressure on hospital intensive care units and saving lives in the long run. The average American, including conservatives,…
This year, the words of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation ring especially true: “I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to [God] for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged …” It’s been a rough year, hasn’t it?
Episode 428 welcomes back Alex R. Knight III to chat with Skyler on the following topics: finally making the connection between his former alcoholism and trauma he experienced in childhood and adolescence; accepting failure as okay, and not as shameful; post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by both of them; family disfunction and divorce; the roots of authoritarianism in violent (physically and psychologically/emotionally) parenting; laws against spanking; the effects of prolonged brain exposure to stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline; stress in infancy, such as “cry-it-out”; evolutionary reasons why kids protest bedtime; Skyler’s family bedroom; and more.
Until I heard Professor Ryan, I was in danger of mislabeling myself. For the past year, I have been confused because I have not been aware of failing to be a voluntaryist, many longtime friends seemed to be going down a garden path, and by implication I was being called unpleasant things since I was taking care of myself. In other words, I was wearing a mask when it seemed prudent.
Episode 396 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics from r/blackpeopletwitter and r/whitepeopletwitter: the problem with determining how long police officers should be trained before given a badge and gun; Donald Trump dying and haunting the White House along with the ghosts of the slaves who built it; Monica Lewinsky’s willingness to “take one for the team” and give Trump a blowjob in the Oval Office; Booger says “To hell with [Trump] and all those who enable him.” and I agree; why only a fusion movement can stop authoritarianism, and why that’s a bigger problem than white supremacy.
As far as I know, intolerant, thin-skinned, anti-intellectual educators have been around for… well, forever. What has changed is the Orwellian nature of their reaction to dissent.