Wisdom from Nock

From excellent his essay, “The Criminality of the State”:

“So it strikes me that instead of sweating blood over the iniquity of foreign states, my fellow citizens would do a great deal better by themselves to make sure that the American State is not strong enough to carry out the like iniquities here. The stronger the American State is allowed to grow, the higher its record of criminality will grow, according to its opportunities and temptations. If, then, instead of devoting energy, time, and money to warding off wholly imaginary and fanciful dangers from criminals thousands of miles away, our people turn their patriotic fervor loose on the only source from which danger can proceed, they will be doing their full duty by their country.”

Code Pink protests George W. Bush’s ghoulish, Boeing-sponsored exhibit of his paintings of Iraq War veterans

G.W.B.’s art display of his paintings of veterans/victims of his murderous, unnecessary regime-change war he began sounds like a puzzle for Freud or Hannibal Lecter to solve. Adding another layer is the fact that Boeing has sponsored the exhibit.

Isn’t this the type of behavior that serial killers indulge in? Code Pink has it right: “Why are we celebrating the guy who took these people to war?”

Trump’s “come home now” method of ending a war is the only way to do it

Amazingly, he tweeted:

“Very smart not to be involved in the intense fighting along the Turkish Border, for a change. Those that mistakenly got us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight. They have no idea what a bad decision they have made. Why are they not asking for a Declaration of War?”

That is an astounding statement from anyone in power, much less a sitting President. The troop withdrawal from Syria amounts to just 1,000 troops, but the language Trump uses to defend the decision is important. There is no pretty way to end a war, or the case of the United States, a series of occupations where US soldiers are performing police duties on the other side of the planet. The only way to withdraw is to mirror the way the war began, as Ron Paul said: “Just come home. We just went in, and we can just come home.”

Fort Worth cop murders woman while standing outside her window

Fort Worth PD has a Barney Fife with Punisher delusions, apparently, and it has now cost a woman her life. The woman had been playing a video game with her 8-year old nephew when they heard a noise coming from outside the home. The noise turned out to be a badged psychopath who began screaming at the woman, who was still inside her home, just before opening fire through the window, killing her. Now the boy will grow up with this hideous experience in the midst of the national pastime of rampant cop worship.

US diplomat’s wife kills kid on UK road, claims diplomatic immunity, flees the country

19-year old Harry Dunn was driving his motorcycle near a military base on August 27th when he was struck head-on by Anne Sacoolas, wife of a US diplomat, killing him. Because Sacoolas is American, and was probably drunk, she had been driving on the wrong side of the road at the time. She claimed diplomatic immunity and fled the country in an act of abject cowardice. It has now become an international incident, with Dunn’s parents unrelenting in their pursuit of justice for their boy. It has become an international incident, with the British public as well as many in the US demanding justice for Dunn. England now says that Sacoolas’ return to the UK is “non-negotiable‘, as her diplomatic immunity privileges have been revoked, but should never have been invoked as a shield against the consequences of killing someone in the first place.

The arrogance of the Political Class is on display here. Sacoolas believed she could get away with the killing by using her credentials as a member of the political establishment. Dragging her back to England to face justice would at least remind others in a similar station that they are not above the law.

One more point: some have said that the guilt and grief felt by Sacoolas will haunt her for the rest of her life, and will be punishment in and of itself. I disagree. I don’t know Sacoolas, but I’ve known people who have no capacity to feel guilt, remorse, or grief. Most of us have probably been acquainted with someone at one point in our lives who clearly has only their own interests at heart, and would sleep well regardless of whatever atrocity they inadvertently caused that day. These people are preternaturally skilled at making convincing displays of guilt and remorse once they’ve been caught, but only then. If they can get away with it, then they go on as if nothing has happened. Just look at OJ Simpson, who appears well-fed and well-rested and with untroubled mind every time he appears in public. No person with functioning emotional capacity could endure the ensuing inner darkness after committing such an act.

 

Why not allow Sacoolas to be extradited and tried in England? If found guilty, as she would certainly be, why not toss her in an English prison for a year or two? It would be long enough to ponder the meaning of her actions, to think upon the death that she caused.

Gaps in the vaccine mystique

A core tenet of the vaccine orthodoxy is that we would be overrun by medieval disease were it not for the heroic efforts of the vaccine schedule, and of the upstanding citizens who go under the needle for the sake of herd immunity. If that is the case, what about all the infectious diseases for which no vaccine exists? Why don’t we feel for scarlet fever the same superstitious fear that smallpox and polio conjure in the public mind? Scarlet fever racked up a body count far higher than both smallpox and polio before the end of the 19th century, at which time mortality an complications from the disease suddenly and dramatically declined. Without the aid of a vaccine, too, which is fundamental to understanding the deception behind modern vaccine orthodoxy.

The deception is this: that vaccines have anything at all to do with “herd immunity”. If they were society’s sole bulwark against infectious disease, we’d have been overrun long ago. There exist far more dangerous infections that we presently have a vaccine for, yet we aren’t constantly victimized by pandemics.

At best, vaccines are conferring little to no immunity to the recipient. At worst, vaccines are condemning children to living with a wrecked immune system, as the inoculation tricks the body into manufacturing antibodies against proteins that are widespread throughout the itself. All in the service of a false ideology.

A relatively plain truth is that if vaccines were safe and effective, no mandate would be necessary. People would sign up without any cajoling, shaming, or bullying. Only dangerous, defective products need expensive propaganda campaigns to trick the public into making a purchase, and the public quickly realizes they’ve been scammed. Of course, that is when coercion enters the picture. Government mandates are then rolled out, drafting the public into a domestic campaign that few, if any, have any faith in. Rather than abandoning the misbegotten policy, government doubles down, because they’ve got too much riding on the enterprise for it to fail.

The introduction of coercion is an admission of failure, whether in a war abroad or a domestic public policy. If the public will only participate when they’re looking down a barrel, it’s time to cut your losses.