https://www.unz.com/article/war-making-apes/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect

what is capital?

In which a kitty fedposts

https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/tear-up-the-npt-we-need-a-nuclear-pro-proliferation-treaty/

growth at all costs is life

"The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance."

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229

I think this (news link below) is bad

Maybe I have drawn too much hope from the rhetoric of Vivek & other Trump associates

But it seems to me that a real 'America First' presidency would stop spending tax dollars on foreign propaganda entirely

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-appoints-former-fox-anchor-kari-lake-lead-voice-america

It depends what you mean by government and regulation.

If by "government" you mean a coercive entity which imposes arbitrary rules not rooted in property rights, this is the antithesis of the free market. Absolutely a free market can exist without this and has (eg Cospaia, medieval Ireland, Somalia during its stateless period).

If by "government" you mean some enforcer of common law, I don't believe a free market can exist without this (except perhaps in groups below Dunbar's number, in which everyone personally knows everyone else).

https://www.unz.com/ghood/what-is-the-woke-right/

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=VLbWnJGlyMU&nojs=1

https://viroliegy.com/

I've become convinced the whole field of virology is psuedoscience

The origin of vaccination is clearly psuedoscience: literally stabbing healthy people and smearing disease material from a sick person or animal into the wound

The DNA sequencing: shreds mammal DNA into tiny pieces and then a computer program stitches those tiny pieces into what a virus might look like

The electron microscope images: random subcellular junk that's never been shown to be an infectious agent

I think the motivation was noblesse oblige, but the effect is bait

In Youtube comment sections probably 95% of comments are supportive of the killer

The healthcare CEO murder is huge Fed-posting bait

Also the "Kaladesh" content came out years ago and nobody was mad about it

Magic the Gathering decided to change the name of one of their worlds from "Kaladesh" to "Avishkar" because "Kala" means "Black" in some obscure Hindi dialect and as we all know the Blacks are too horrible to mention (even inadvertently in an obscure dialect).

However, Avishkar is already the name of an Indian film about an unhappy marriage.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/avishkar-why-we-changed-the-name-of-a-plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avishkaar

For me drones are only one factor.

I see the future battlefield as being dominated by 4 factors:

1) Can you avoid being overrun? Do you have the anti-maneuver assets (missile batteries, squad special weapons) to stop a rapid advance?

2) Can you withstand enemy bombardment? Do you have the fortifications (tunnels, trenches, bunkers) or stealth (submarines, camouflage, anti-satellite weapons) required for your assets to survive long enough to do anything?

3) Can you identify targets whose destruction will advance your goals? (satellites, reconnaissance planes)

4) Can you project force to destroy a target? (drones, artillery, missiles, etc)

I think current trends are against heavy mechanized combat involving aircraft, armored vehicles, or surface ships. The weapons that destroy these machines simply cost much less than these machines.

This really puts into perspective the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality of the baby boomers

The economy they inherited hadn't disintegrated yet - when you can cover rent with just a couple days work it seems like resources are abundant

But when you put the assumption of plenty into government policy and private social structures, that plenty disappears over time

One analogy: a farmer in a hard winter can eat his seeds for the next year, resulting in immediate "prosperity" but ultimate ruin.

The US since default on gold obligations has been wearing down the plant, equipment and infrastructure of prior generations. Americans enjoy the benefits of inherited capital, but as they consume rather than maintain, replace and extend this capital they will leave future generations impoverished.

Good article framing cost in terms of hours worked rather than relying on some government formula to back out inflation

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/big-shining-lie-were-better-now

I'll add that to the long list of things that Bitcoin aren't

I think genuine support for free speech is quite rare.

But to actually answer your question, I think the question of what your principles are / should be is meant to be related to self-interest.

It's not that you can't have principles, it's that you shouldn't blindly accept the principles of others / tradition.