Category: Scarred Brain murmurings

But not a traditional faith.

I’ve kind of been in a vacuum all week between physical therapy and a class I needed to take for work.

For too many of my acquaintances, it’s faith in one particular slice of a particular political persuasion.

Kind of coming out of my hole, and consuming information that’s been consistently accurate.

Where is that? Reason. their coverage of the authoritarian the Democrats picked as Officer Harris’s VP has been outstanding. So, too, has been their coverage on Venezuela.

My takes on the various topics?

Venezuela, and the rest of South America. I haven’t checked a lot of real news aside from a lot of derision from the world about the “election.”

That the ruling party, but the count presented by the government agency he controls, said that he got almost exactly 51% of the vote, when there’s other observers who say that the opposition got something like 70%. Even the rulers in the US have questioned the official result.

So have many of the other, even more left-leaning, South American leaders. But there’s not going to be any deep examination of that because there’s a genocide happening in Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry.

But they’ve been right about everything all the time.

And they’re doing incredibly well because of the amount of petroleum they’ve got.

That pretty much only places that don’t care about the environment will burn.

Argentina seems to be getting lost in the blurbs about Venezuela and Brazil. Milei has kind of come out against dollarization. I do kind of understand his reticence on this. The US dollar, in spite of the stupid spending coming from the other side of the Potomac, is still relatively stable. El Salvador, Panama, et. al., have all kind of stabilized on USD. Chile, with its Chicago School-educated politicians, and many other countries have chosen a different strategy.

The Canuckistania have based their currency on a variety of other currencies, and the price of petroleum. That oil is still going down in price. OPEC has cut production how many times in the past two years?

Bubuhbut, PETRODOLLAR~~`~

You can take a bunch of it out of the ground, but it’s not being bought and burned, it doesn’t matter.

The USD has value for a variety of reasons. Convertibility to either gold or petroleum really isn’t the big reason anymore. Maybe it was different in 1976, but….

I guess I understand the energy behind the attraction to the Austrian School, but, the hard realities of international relations, and running a country, have slapped him in the face hard.

But let’s run stories about how the Peronist who was there before Fernandez wriggled her way back in was chatting on his wife.

So he’s a piece of garbage, but at least he didn’t try to get the economy back on solid footing.

The past few days, the folks who’ve destroyed the Libertarian Party, reached an agreement with reached some sort of funds-sharing agreement with RFKJ.

Um.

And some notable public people have now endorsed RFKJ.

Okay, Rogan. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

The polls don’t really clearly show what kind of effect RFKJ’s candidacy is going to have on the election.

i really do wonder what the vote totals are going to look like. The more I see, the mor I’m seeing signals of 1992.

I don’t have a good segue way to American politics, unfortunately. Robby Soave, and others, over at Reason have pretty convincingly brought out his glaring weaknesses.

For the record

• He retired as an E-8.
• He didn’t finish the school he needed to be a CSM.
• He was popped for a DUI in 1994. That sort of conviction would have pretty much killed any career you’d have had as an active duty enlistee.
• His inaction during the riots was incredibly apalling
• that COVID hotline.

So, kind of disgusted by everything at this point.

I’m not sleeping well again. This might be a symptom of MS, or it might be something else, entirely.

Katie Herzog posted an unpublished story to Blocked & Reported about how she has trouble seeing things in her mind’s eye (Link, but it is behind a paywall). “aphantasia“

She talked about something that’s an identified condition for people who have no “mind’s eye.”

I had one. As I’ve approached legal-blindness, I note that the things I see in my dreams have largely decreased with my vision-level awake.

It’s a fascinating concept. A lot of Katie’s research was from Digg^H^H^H^H^HReddit. I emailed it to my doc to discuss later this week.

I should go try to sleep some more.

But of the Army sort. Credit to discussion on this on Substack.

I did listen to the Charli XCX album on Apple Music. Emphatic “meh.” I do kinda enjoy some of her other music.

Obviously, the previous entry was written before Joey Bideness (Say that like you’re from Brooklyn; h/t Chris) was told to decided to go back to the duPont mansion or his beach condo in Rehoboth permanently.

I’d planned to vote for Joe, but it’s probably not going to matter at this point. Maybe I’ll do it anyway, along with Jersey Dave Smith as VP. (And that one’s because the Mises Caucus destroyed the Libertarian Party…)

I had a ton of stuff I wanted to write about, but I’m actually trying to do the work, and stay away from that compulsion.

But I still find my mind wander to what I’m going to do this fall/winter.

Can it be football season, already?

Glance to see if there’s anything interesting in DC that month, and not seeing anything.

Yes, the Liz Phair concert was really the highlight of last year.

A lot of stuff on my mind.

After nearly a week in the other swamp of the Southern Landmass.

Not as markedly different a world as it was during the lockdowns, but, in a way, refreshing getting away from the Beltway Swamp.

Some discussion of future plans. These aren’t easy discussions; but, it is somewhat comforting that guideposts are better set.

There are some similarities to Hillbilly Elegy, which I did just finish listening to, but the realities aren’t the same with my family, and my parents’ upbringing in Mississippi. (And I reflexively anticipate preening that I listened to it…..but I am nearly fucking blind….not that that matters in the least. I’m supposed to just sit on the public dole and vote for the Party of President Biden’s friend, Jim Eastland, until I die…)

Few people dictating how people should behave live really don’t have any connection to life outside affluent areas.

One of the things I was dealing with the past couple of days was something that wouldn’t even be a question in a DC suburb. The subdivision looks vaguely like something you’d see anywhere near one of the major East Coast metro areas. There’s a tool used to build a business, and it’s slightly unsightly. Can’t have that in our pristine neighborhood that was a swamp four years ago.

I could attribute it to happenstance that I’ve been listening to an awful lot of Bill Cunningham lately.

I am not terribly familiar with Cincinnati, but I think I have a lot more in common with them than the people who’ve been ensconced in the major metro areas for their entire lives.

“Where’d you go to school?”

“CNU.”

“What’s that?”

Even in Virginia, I get that a lot. Our most notable alumnus is probably the guy who came up with XKCD.

Though I was definitely experiencing some pretty significant effects of my condition when I was an ROTC cadet there, I was completely out-of-place amongst the cadets from William and Mary. I remember being on an FTX at Ft. AP Hill where they were discussing the boarding schools they’d attended.

I went to three high schools, graduating from Menchville. Bad Newz repruhshent. (Yes, I did see Michael Vick play high school football after I’d graduated.)

But I really find myself recoiling from the prescriptive attitudes that seem to permeate. We are the experts. We are THE SCIENCE. Thou shalt not do anything we don’t like. Unless, of course, it allows us to continue paying less for the behemoth of government we’ve created.

But do I see Vance as an Ivy Leaguer? Not so much. I see him as what he became to get out of Southern Ohio/Kentucky — A Marine.

That would probably draw more derision from the scolding class than anything else. Why would you go do that when you can party for years on someone else’s dime?

Apologies, naturally, for the disjointedness here. You can blame MS brain fog, but I’m also juggling back-and-forth among several foci.

So, back to the discussion on The Fifth Column Substack. And the overwhelming desire for Cincinnati Chili for dinner has subsided.

Do I agree with Senator Vance’s (and Donald Trump’s) fixes?

Um.

No.

As I wrote in a recent entry, I’m still kind of the you-broke-it-you-bought-it mindset. And there probably won’t even be a Libertarian on the Virginia ballot.

The only thing I’m looking forward to in November is being able to cast a ballot for the Swabbie pilot running against Antifa Dad.

Not going to really elaborate on what’s going on, but I’m not in my normal place this morning.

I still stand by what I last wrote; I think the party in power deserves full credit for the impending problems.

That an ActBlue donor might have disrupted that yesterday doesn’t do a lot to change my take.

You broke it, you bought it.

The shooter was twenty years old, and a registered Republican. I don’t know a ton about the politics in Western Pennsylvania, but it might be a case of you really need to be a member of the dominant party to vote in the party’s primary. I live in a city in Virginia that’s been Blue since the Northern Aggressors left in 1877. All of the local elections are basically the Democrat Primary.

But rest assured I’m going to look askance at you if I know you ever donated a penny to ActBlue.

After seeing more political bits:

• The government is too big to fail

This was a big SCOTUS ruling at the end of last week after the President’s epic debate performance. The decision overturning “Chevron Deference.”

So much of what happened under Obama and Trump was based on the idea that the regulatory agencies can make whatever rule they wan;t. the bureaucrats are the experts.

I really wonder how much of the out-of-control Federal spending is directly-related to agencies spending stolen money to enforce whatever expert rules they crafted. The experts say you can’t have a gas stove. It is, after all, bad for children’s health, AND it belches carbon into Gaia’s atmosphere.

I really don’t know how much of the agencies’ budgets are dedicated to enforcement of whatever regulations THE EXPERTS have invented.

I know, I know, I haven’t bought the credentials to question their conclusions. Moreover, how dare I think that everything should expire at some point?

Are you an anti-government extremist?

Given my very-skeptical past with religion, being called a “Christian Nationalist” doesn’t really work, either.

• You broke it, you bought it

Despite many accusations from extended friends and family, I never voted for President Trump. Not once. The only time it’s ever really crossed my mind was following the conviction in Alvin Bragg’s show trial in Manhattan. That almost made me forget his deranged speech to the LP National Convention.

There really isn’t anything there worth considering, though. Even that absolute miscarriage of the legal system might well be tainted by inclusion of testimony protected by Presidential immunity. Credit to the Al Frankel network for hitting on this.

I don’t know what evidence, exactly, was presented at trial, but if any of it was actually protected by EP, the verdict has to be vacated. There’s still disagreement about this. I do think the interpretation the New York statute probably conflicts I kind of suspect that a non-unanimous verdict is at odds with Ramos, but, again, it’ll have to snake through years of appeals before we’ll ever know.

The inflation in prices should be expected. Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden have absolutely exploded spending based on interest rates that don’t even cover, you know, food, fuel, housing, and equities.

Spending, since Y2K, has massively outpaced tax revenues.

It has to stop; the math just doesn’t work. Boomer largesse is coming to its messy end.

So, I support Biden and/or Harris. They’re responsible for this, and I’d rather see them in office as at all collapses. Yes, it might be easier to blame Trump, but there’s thirty years’-worth of politicians who deserve the scorn.

Might as well be Joe.

It’s not like there’s anyone with voting for from the LP.

Something my brother said I should listen to. What following is a redacted bit that I’d sent my work colleagues:

---

instead of doing what I planned for this weekend, I got the audio book version of that.  (Instead of doing what my original intention was….and finally fulfilling my nerd requirements of the various Star Wars movies…)

Interesting. I have a college friend who worked at 18F, now USGS, after a stint at Google. I absolutely agree with her takeaways on the tech, but I do disagree with some of her conclusions.  (My friend is now at Apple, having tired of the DC climate, and the annoyances of working in government…)

**snip**

I do recommend the book, even if I don’t entirely agree with some of her priors.

I started writing something about the “debate” on Thursday, but kept getting sidetracked. I took yesterday off, but really couldn’t focus on much.

So, what did I end up doing after listening to the endless reactions?

Trying, again, to work through the various Star Wars things on Hulu before I look to toss that to the side as under=used.

Of course, a lot of this was flavored by South Park.

I think I got about 90 minutes into The Phantom Menace before my wife came home, and I went on to other things.

The Bear is back, so I guess I’ll watch that, too.

Keep getting interrupted, too, by my wheezing equipment.

Do I need to be able to switch among so many systems?

Yep.

Own PC, work PC one, work PC two, various personal laptops…..

Take your own damn advice, dude, and just spend the money to get something that works well.

Hmmmm.

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So, the debate…

I took Friday off not because of the debate Thursday night, but it was a nice happenstance.

I really don’t have words.

The President was nearly as incomprehensible at times as my mother can be, and, well, Trump was Trump.

That there’s not a Libertarian on the ballot, kind of takes that option off the plate.

I actually sent Liz a personal email after reading this to say “thank you.”

Absolute disaster.

While I don’t think they’re going to reach the Mises Caucus’s goal of garnering fewer votes than Andre Marrou got in 1992, just with the growth in the US population, watching the immolation is simultaneously dismaying adn satisfying.

Bummer of the weekend was Martin Mull‘s death. I was tempted to tweetpost that he’s in a batter place, maybe he’ll see Jim Brown, but then I remembered that he was one of the steadfast atheists in hollywood.

I absolutely respect that. I don’t share the same respect for agnostics. You can make a determination on the evidence you’ve collected. If later you change your conclusion, that’s fine. But YOU have the ability ot make a pronouncement.

Unwillingness to make a pronouncement shows me one thing. I will keep that to myself, but understand that I do judge you based on that.

I could write for hours, but I need to go take this month’s shot.

I will guiltily admit that my initial reaction to Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun charges related to his drug use.

Cue the Nelson Ha-Ha!

Cynically, I could say that this is a travesty of justice, robbing children of their father, and depriving the world of his work as an artist.

What did he do? He liked about being addicted to drugs.

What did that law intend to prevent? Crack-whacked maniac from opening up with a gun on innocent people.

The sort of thing that his dad made a political career fighting agains.

Guns are bad, but everything’s worse when the person with the gun is taking illegal drugs.

But turn it around.

How many people has this background check saved preventing people from executing their constitutional right to have a firearm?

You, Mister Politician, claimed that this would prevent something. Provide a few examples of specific instances where it worked as intended.

Similarly, what is the age of the law upon which he was convicted. That Hunter didn’t have something making the penalty stronger?

The Brady Bill expired for a reason. Every single law should expire. Unless a law is explicitly to protect life, liberty, or property, it should expire.

The same goes for the regulations tracing to those laws.

But I’m not going to be worried about Hunter having a pistol. I’m also not going to worry about him smoking crack.

But, it’s important to know, that his dad is proud of him.

Incredibly busy week. Early in the week. In addition to new fires to fight at work, I went to a physical therapy appointment.

It was with a doc from the same med group that includes Georgetown. Try and stay in-network as much as possible, and this was branded as from that group. great.

Paratransit out wasn’t a real big deal, but I got there very early because of the way that they schedule the rides. The appointment went well enough, I suppose. The therapist was very nice, and I was looking forward to the prospect of working with her.

When I set up the appointment, it looked like it was gonna be ten bucks per session. So, ten for the time there, and whatever it’s going to cost me to get to and from.

Towards the end of the appointment, the administrator came in and said that, no, it wouldn’t be ten bucks, but forty.

Still doable. Rides would add another ten, but whatever. They do have late-in0the-day appointments.

No, she wants to do twice-per-week. Fine. Whatever. I’ll do it. I want to live a bit more like a normal person. Agree to a preliminary schedule, and set out for home, which took nearly two hours.

Um.

Yeah, this probably isn’t going to work.

*STFW*

Okay, there’s this other place that’s close. Like if the weather is okay for me, or just about any day for a normal person, it’s walkable. I should be able to swing an hour session without too much trouble, and not miss too much work.

the therapist for this one is a Tidewater girl. York Co. K-12. ODU for undergrad. It’s close enough that my wife can get me there most days.

Still expensive, but I guess I’m ready to go.

She recommended the type of cane I should get next, and recommended a walker. Um.

I’d pushed back on the walker so long as I’m working. Want me with a walker, or in a chair? Okay. then I’m finished working.

I could hang it up pretty much anytime I choose, but I think I still have a few things I can do.

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Still thinking of what’s transpired with the politics stuff. The Mises-fied LP candidate could be someone I hold my nose and vote for if it looks like the Duopoly have the Commonwealth locked-up. (“Locked-up” is a phrase both the President and Vice President really, really, really like….)

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A couple of Honestly episodes really got me, too.

The first being the interview with Javier Milei.

The second was with A.H. Ali.

Both of those really hammer home how incredibly wrong the NeoHippies are about a number of issues.

Maybe one of Rechtenwald’s gummies would make me feel better.