“Me Too” is a Branch Issue, and a Distraction

My first reaction to this campaign was a bit of umbrage on the part of lumping the many degrees of sexual harassment in with the many degrees of sexual assault. They aren’t the same. I shared that first reaction on Facebook in a couple of places and got some interesting discussion going. But as I thought about it some more, I realized what was going on here.

Bump Stocks: What To Do About These Frightening Implements of Death?

Someone murdered a lot of people in Las Vegas recently. I’m not going to name the suspect, because I support limiting notoriety for mass killers, as a step toward discouraging future copycats. I won’t question whether the suspect had the tradecraft skills and physical capacity to pull off the murders as stated in the MSM. I won’t question whether he acted alone, or whether the killer/s actually used the weapons and accessories in the official story. Rather, I’ll discuss first the accessories that were ostensibly used, then I’ll consider the reactions to this mass murder as they relate especially to those accessories, and finally I’ll discuss appropriate policies on those accessories.

Excessive: Bail Isn’t Meant to Enable the Holding of Political Prisoners

The US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment forbids “excessive bail” in criminal prosecutions. That prohibition seems somewhat vague. I guess we’re just expected to know excessive bail when we see it. Two current cases demonstrate not just excessive bail, but abuse of the whole idea of bail for the purpose of holding un-convicted defendants as political prisoners.

Statist Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm syndrome is a psychological condition of traumatic bonding in which a victim comes to empathize with an abuser so much that they will identify with and defend them. It is evident in many who consider themselves compassionate and patriotic, as evidenced by the following statist hogwash I recently saw going around social media.

Voluntary Law and Order

People are not all the same, and they make different choices because they have different values, circumstances, and levels of understanding. Sometimes those choices are peaceful and wise; sometimes they are not. So what are the best ways to promote good choices and cooperation while preventing and providing resolution for conflict?

What the American Flag Means to Me

The American flag, the “star-spangled banner” is one of those things whose meaning to me has changed significantly over the course of my life. Once upon a time it meant being a winning nation, the best the world had ever seen in terms of righteousness, justice, freedom, and opportunity. When I saw the flag, those are the ideas that were brought to mind, ideas that I value, and produced the warm and fuzzies deep inside. I admired and waved the stars and stripes with a sense of pride. What the American flag means to me today is very different than what it meant to me as recently as 10 years ago.