patrick.net

HeadSet says

Because one of the Libertarian tenets is the free flow of people and capital across borders.

Correct.

"I'll shoot you if you enter my private property border, which is an abstract concept guaranteed by governance, but I don't recognize national borders, which is also an abstract concept..."

Libertarians seem to lack the concept of civic virtue.

Patrick says

Libertarians seem to lack the concept of civic virtue.

Life experience taught me that libertarians are just people who believe in freedom when it benefits them, and not at all when there is no benefit. Being for free trade is great when you get cheap labor from overseas but sell in US at higher prices. They aren't too crazy about you buying stuff from China directly without them as a middle man... suddenly needs regulation. I don't see libertarians any different than anyone else.

Everything is so manipulated, I don't even know what the truth is anymore. Liberals used to be for freedom, now are like zombies on a farm repeating whatever left wing propaganda about illegals being more important than the rest of us. Conservatives basically were assholes who loved money and big corporate donors while hating working man, that is still there, but kinda mixed with Trump populism. I don't know it anymore.

Fortwaye says

Conservatives basically were assholes who loved money and big corporate donors while hating working man

That is a left-wing caricature of a Conservative. What you are actually describing is the elite, which is what today's Dems have evolved into.

https://www.oftwominds.com/

Wealthiest counties in the US by median household income:

Loudoun County, Virginia $178,707
Santa Clara County, California $159,674
San Mateo County, California $156,000
Falls Church, Virginia $154,734
Fairfax County, Virginia $150,113
Howard County, Maryland $146,982
Douglas County, Colorado $145,737
Nassau County, New York $143,408
Los Alamos County, New Mexico $143,188
Marin County, California $142,785

4/10 are in the DC area.

Why are they so rich? It's not because they have a lot of entrepreneurs who have found ways to serve their fellow man.

Patrick says

Wealthiest counties in the US by median household income:

Loudoun County, Virginia $178,707
Santa Clara County, California $159,674
San Mateo County, California $156,000
Falls Church, Virginia $154,734

Falls Church is not a county. I presume they included Falls Church because in Virginia, cities and counties are completely separate. No city in VA is part of any county.

I asked AI about that:

Falls Church is not a county but an independent city in Virginia with county-level governance. In the U.S., some cities, like Falls Church, function as county equivalents for statistical and administrative purposes, separate from surrounding counties (in this case, Fairfax County). This explains why it appears in lists of "wealthiest counties" despite being a city.

https://billionairepsycho.substack.com/p/soviet-america

Today’s Soviet America has been objectively worse than many sci-fi dystopian movies. Because cinema needs to entertain an audience — narratives require dramatic suspense, wish fulfillment, and a charismatic hero. Real life, in contrast, has no such requirement to elevate heroism above the sordid slums of the favela. Many aspects of modern American life resemble the opaque bureaucracy of a Kafka novel, but in this absurdist and hyperreal version of America, the tangled maze of circuitous, redundant, and arbitrary paperwork is a ritual humiliation staffed by obese black women who mock their own customers.

A recent Frontier Airlines incident, captured in a viral video, involved a
passenger being refused check-in and taunted by staff after being hit with a
$25 fee. The situation escalated, leading to the termination of the employees
involved.

A passenger, flying from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) to Boston,
arrived 50 minutes before his flight but hadn't checked in online.

He was informed that he would need to pay a $25 fee to check in at the counter
because he missed the airline's 60-minute check-in deadline.

The passenger was then allegedly refused service and taunted by Frontier Airlines
employees.

A viral video captured the heated exchange, showing the employees arguing with the
passenger and refusing to let him check in.

Frontier Airlines confirmed the individuals in question, who work for a third-party
contractor, were no longer associated with the airline account, according to ABC11 News.

The incident highlights potential issues with Frontier Airlines' check-in policies and
customer service training, as well as the agency's reliance on third-party
contractors.

This video shows the Frontier Airlines agents taunting a passenger...

Patrick says

Many aspects of modern American life resemble the opaque bureaucracy of a Kafka novel, but in this absurdist and hyperreal version of America, the tangled maze of circuitous, redundant, and arbitrary paperwork is a ritual humiliation staffed by obese black women who mock their own customers

Haha perfectly said!

Thomas Jefferson “believed that the sole function of government was to protect citizens in the enjoyment of their lawfully acquired rights and goods, and that when it had gone so far it should shut down. But today its field of operation has been immensely widened, and its principal aim, in nearly all the great countries of the world, is to maintain itself in power by transferring rights and goods from those who oppose it to those who support it. The object vended is always somebody else’s property. The consideration is votes.”

H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe