Yup, and this is why he wins. Human's are not wired for "rugged individualism" we are wired for community. People who can't see that and speak to that will keep losing to people who can.
A rant about it -> https://hannahmr.com/a-libertarians-guide-to-understanding-the-popularity-of-socialism/
I agree. I believe the term “rugged individualism” is a misnomer for something more captured by a term like “decentralized and voluntary community hubs” (I’m not tied to that language but something along those lines seems a better fit).
The sovereignty I seek is one free of top down control, with actual free markets without oligarchy and monopoly, with free association and cooperation.
Mahmdani’s language appeals to people, unfortunately, because we fail to communicate that you do not have to seek sovereignty as a lone wolf. But his language and intentions are not what I would view as something to aspire to.
The agency is there though. Depends on how you act on it.
I have no source for this other than a tour guide I once had in New Orleans. He said that certain slave owners started allowing one day a week where the slaves went into town, and sold things they made at the market, and they were “allowed” to keep the income. And then some of these slaves “bought” themselves out of slavery and became successful businessmen.
The premise that you could buy your own freedom back is fucked up in and of itself. Whether true or not, it illustrates that there’s actions and options to free ourselves, even within that fucked up and unjust system. We have to opt out in anyway we can find.
I want to say it’s a 1:1 ratio. If they make you work 6 months of the year to pay the piper, you’re at 50% servitude. Then another part wants me to say if you don’t control the entirety of your income, no matter what percentage, you’re at 100% servitude.
Taxation is theft is perceived as a snarky little quip to most ears. It’s bound to appeal to emotionality in either direction without proper qualification. If you witness that statement draw out an emotional trigger in someone, qualify the statement around consent.
Taxation is, and only can be, qualified as theft, precisely because I do not consent to it.
You may say that you do consent. But within the state apparatus, you have no option to withdraw your consent, at least not without perceived penalty.
You do have agency though. You can opt out of the state apparatus in multiple ways, major and minor.
The premise that taxation is theft is always true then. Whether you’d like to argue that it’s justified theft, well I suppose that’s your right. Just know you’re standing on shaky ground with that premise.
There are sovereign actions within your reach right now. You do not need permission.
Well said. We have agency, just need to demonstrate it to others that they do too.
The past few years have taught me that labelling a year bad or good just doesn’t cut it. 2024 was one of my most challenging years, but I also had a shit ton of amazing experiences. In 2025 I accomplished a major goal of mine, and reduced my stress levels tremendously because of it.
Yet, there’s still an overarching life goal that has not yet been attained. I’ll keep working towards it, using my agency to change my circumstances.
It’s good to reflect on life, that’s not what I’m saying. Just know that you don’t have to accept the framing that a set of 12 months should be labelled good or bad. It’s just life, I guess.
Sometimes good, sometimes shit.
GM HNY
Stayed up past midnight for the first time in years, thanks to the neighbourhood kids and their firecrackers, and non-stop fireworks. 😄
“Screw your freedom”
- Arnold, 2020
But I get, and agree with your sentiment.
Hot knives in the kitchen. Got all me good butter knives ruint.
If you’re in North America and want to go to bed early tonight, just find a countdown from Newfoundland and then call it a night. It will be midnight there at 9:30pm here. I get to keep my regular bedtime.
Are they funny reels though?
I’ve been using nostr:nprofile1qqsdy27dk8f9qk7qvrm94pkdtus9xtk970jpcp4w48k6cw0khfm06mspzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtcpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7kdsa32 as my default AI access point. The other day I needed to look up some sentences in Spanish, and used the audio playback to hear the rough pronunciation. Pretty hilarious to hear nostr:nprofile1qqstnem9g6aqv3tw6vqaneftcj06frns56lj9q470gdww228vysz8hqpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejsz9rhwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxzmt4wvhxjmcpqenm4 speaking back to me en español 😂.
I refuse to believe the Silver vs Hershey’s chocolate bar people are real.
I’ve been thinking of this in the context of old social media accounts. I have an old centralized account that I don’t post on anymore. But it’s there, and I sometimes scroll through it. And I think about deleting it, but I worry about losing those “connections”.
But many of those relationships represent an old era of my life, with old goals, old dreams.
In many cases, I have mourned those dreams, but the ghosts of them linger in every scroll of that old friend group.
I think to truly grow into the new, I need to delete it. There’s a few people I’d keep in touch with, but there’s no need to see those faces anymore. To relive that era indefinitely would only stifle me.
Yes, but if you continue to replace them you’ll continue to receive a lump of shit. Eventually you grow out of diapers and deal with your own shit like a sovereign adult.
In 2025, I set a major goal for myself. I took a risk, left a “comfortable” job, albeit a soul crushing one. I manifested a place for myself within a group of mission driven people. Were there things that didn’t go my way this past year? Absolutely.
But this thing I set out to do, I did. It feels good.
I have a new main goal for 2026 and I intend to manifest that into my life as well.
I also intend to put much more energy into Nostr.
You can just do shit.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Feliz Navidad 🎄
Exactly. Skateboarding was the thing that bonded a lot of us early on. Then covid was the great divider. Recently I’ve tried to see past the differences and come together around skateboarding. But that’s really hard for me to do if they think this is funny. It just creates even more division.
Go wherever you want and do whatever you want. How good is being alive
https://blossom.primal.net/d91fa21d78e126481a3c7ddd1e4c481bde1131b1d1fcd58e67ef389137758753.mov
Spent 5-6 days in Budapest last year and the architecture was definitely the highlight. Every corner I turned had a new beautiful building waiting. Enjoy just walking around and taking it in.
Anyone have any opinions on Libre Office privacy/safety? I used to use it years ago but haven’t paid much attention recently.
Kinda feeling that too today.
Bitcoin has allowed me to know that I’m flowing to where I’m supposed to go.
The Newfies knew:
“The Newfoundland experience well into the nineteenth century was not that of lawful colonists building up the civic institutions of a state, but one of rugged individualists, shy of all civic authority. Even in the 1930s, the Englishmen on the Amulree Royal Commission who were sent out from London to determine the political and financial circumstances of the island were shocked to find hardly any municipal government outside the city of St. John’s”
- Don’t Tell The Newfoundlanders:
The True Story of Newfoundland’s Confederation With Canada
By Greg Malone
#Newfoundland
#sovereignty
You might call this faith.
There’s a delicate balance to be found between certainty and cognitive flexibility. The ability to change your mind in light of new information is important. But the ability to have some level of certainty about your models facilitates agency.
Yeah, you have a choice, but usually that means them purposely delaying you so you miss your flight because they’re mad you took the other option. You can opt out of the scanners too. But they’ll be dicks about it.
The government endorsed it!? Phew. That’ll let ya sleep well at night.
Had a discussion with a friend this evening. He was peripherally involved in “crypto” some years ago. His impression is that Bitcoin has failed. That it’s been captured.
It occurred to me that it very likely looks like if your contact with Bitcoin is snippets of MSNBC clips of Saylor, or Pomp, or treasury company announcements, ETFs etc.
You gotta be in the trenches to see that the revolution is still happening.
It’s not promised. We need to steward it. But I’ll be damned if I’m giving up on it now.
It’s a sentiment I’ve heard before from friends. It’s failed, so just give up.
No. Fuck that.
I guess I needed a reminder about how much I despise fiat. Wise just flagged a transfer to another bank account of mine because I used the company that paid me as a reference. This company has been paying me for years into this Wise account and all of a sudden their name is a red flag. Boy, I sure do feel protected.
Fuck banks.
The funny thing about banning cash transactions above 10K is that soon that will be the cost of a few weekly errands in Canada.
GM Nostr
Bitcoin Lake, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.
Stay humble. Zap sats.
