Russell Madden

I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong... OR I’m not arguing. I’m just explaining why I’m right... OR I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken... & “There are some ideas so absurd [or stupid] that only an intellectual could believe them.” (faux Orwell quote)

You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. A mixed economy is unstable. The only choices are: freedom or slavery? Given the state of our society, it’s obvious which decision most people have made. It’s gonna be a rocky road... Buckle up.

Reality always has the last word. A is A.

@gunrights …gets…

For defense or not, no government—at any level—has a proper authority to ban body armor (or any product, for that matter). THIS is what happens when folks’ understanding of rights get bastardized and citizens lose sight of the ONLY legitimate, proper purpose of government: to defend our rights from criminals, foreign or domestic: including politicians…

New York is currently arguing that body armor is not protected under the 2A. They argue it is never used for self-defense, portray it as exceptionally dangerous, and describe it as something that “terrifies the public.” It is a piece of equipment used exclusively for defense.

The State can go fuck itself.

"The Technocracy Myth" Robots and tech ain’t gonna save us... open.substack.com/pub/russellmad…

@gunrights 👍🏻

"They're banned because they are not in common use. They're not in common use because they're banned!" Exhausting.

Well, yeah. But it used SCOTUS’s “reasoning”: common use. Or are you trying to tell me that such language was purely coincidental? I was making the broader point about the utter failure of “common use” as a moral or legal “principle” and how it is ultimately an utter failure at protecting our rights and liberty.

@maddrus @gunpolicy That was not a SCOTUS ruling bit was an district court

The Eleventh Circuit ruled today that "machineguns are not protected by the Second Amendment as weapons in common use for lawful purposes". You can read the opinion here: media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/f…

@PalantirTech #6… Evil people. Evil ideas. Fuck. Them.

Because we get asked a lot. The Technological Republic, in brief. 1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation. 2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible. 3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public. 4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software. 5. The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose. Our adversaries will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications. They will proceed. 6. National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost. 7. If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software. We should as a country be capable of continuing a debate about the appropriateness of military action abroad while remaining unflinching in our commitment to those we have asked to step into harm’s way. 8. Public servants need not be our priests. Any business that compensated its employees in the way that the federal government compensates public servants would struggle to survive. 9. We should show far more grace towards those who have subjected themselves to public life. The eradication of any space for forgiveness—a jettisoning of any tolerance for the complexities and contradictions of the human psyche—may leave us with a cast of characters at the helm we will grow to regret. 10. The psychologization of modern politics is leading us astray. Those who look to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self, who rely too heavily on their internal life finding expression in people they may never meet, will be left disappointed. 11. Our society has grown too eager to hasten, and is often gleeful at, the demise of its enemies. The vanquishing of an opponent is a moment to pause, not rejoice. 12. The atomic age is ending. One age of deterrence, the atomic age, is ending, and a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin. 13. No other country in the history of the world has advanced progressive values more than this one. The United States is far from perfect. But it is easy to forget how much more opportunity exists in this country for those who are not hereditary elites than in any other nation on the planet. 14. American power has made possible an extraordinarily long peace. Too many have forgotten or perhaps take for granted that nearly a century of some version of peace has prevailed in the world without a great power military conflict. At least three generations — billions of people and their children and now grandchildren — have never known a world war. 15. The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone. The defanging of Germany was an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price. A similar and highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism will, if maintained, also threaten to shift the balance of power in Asia. 16. We should applaud those who attempt to build where the market has failed to act. The culture almost snickers at Musk’s interest in grand narrative, as if billionaires ought to simply stay in their lane of enriching themselves . . . . Any curiosity or genuine interest in the value of what he has created is essentially dismissed, or perhaps lurks from beneath a thinly veiled scorn. 17. Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime. Many politicians across the United States have essentially shrugged when it comes to violent crime, abandoning any serious efforts to address the problem or take on any risk with their constituencies or donors in coming up with solutions and experiments in what should be a desperate bid to save lives. 18. The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service. The public arena—and the shallow and petty assaults against those who dare to do something other than enrich themselves—has become so unforgiving that the republic is left with a significant roster of ineffectual, empty vessels whose ambition one would forgive if there were any genuine belief structure lurking within. 19. The caution in public life that we unwittingly encourage is corrosive. Those who say nothing wrong often say nothing much at all. 20. The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted. The elite’s intolerance of religious belief is perhaps one of the most telling signs that its political project constitutes a less open intellectual movement than many within it would claim. 21. Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful. 22. We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what? Excerpts from the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, by Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska techrepublicbook.com

More often than not, SCOTUS is as big a threat to our rights and freedom as is any slimy politician or criminal.

@JohnStossel Americans give lip service to freedom, but they oppose it when their favorite hobby horses are on the line. Freedom is all or nothing. Once you’ve welcomed the noose around your neck, everything is just a matter of time and degree.

What do the Great Depression and the Great Recession have in common? Government “solutions." “The more we abandon free markets, “ says Economist Don Boudreaux, "the worse things become.” The Depression and Great Recession are examples:

A 1700 word essay analyzing the erroneous concept of “gun violence.” Those promoting such an idea seek to attack freedom by disguising the essential role of human choice and agency in many of the bad things that happen in society. It is easier to talk about “gun” control than it is “people” control. But for anti-liberty zealots, the latter is the goal that they will do just about anything to obtain. Published in 2000. amazon.com/dp/B0106RGV6S

This is an interesting question. I think it comes down to two related things. 1. The anti-gun side has very successfully brainwashed the public to think that guns are the problem. I had a guy ask me recently "So what is your solution for gun violence?" That question falsely assumes that the "gun" qualifier has anything to do with the actual problem. It doesn't. It's not the gun, it's the person. But then you have to confront the actual question of why people do evil things, so it's much easier to blame the gun. Even people who believe in the Second Amendment have the idea deeply rooted in their subconscious that gun control aids public safety. Want to test it? See how many pro-gun people hesitate at the idea of removing background checks. The Supreme Court justices are products not just of society but of law school, where the typical lowkey Communistic indoctrination is dialed up to 1000. Even the pro-gun justices couldn't have been unaffected. 2. In light of all of that, most of the justices lack political courage. They follow culture, they don't lead it - and they're typically a couple of decades behind. Dobbs would never have happened 20 years ago, even with the exact same court. Bruen would not have happened without half of the country already being ahead of them with Constitutional Carry. Some of this timidity comes from a legitimate desire to be apolitical and protect institutions - part of which means change should normally be slow. I'm actually extremely sympathetic to that desire. It's just that if the founders put it in the Bill of Rights, that's about as traditional and institutional as it gets.

@XFreeze @elonmusk He needs a new hobby horse. This obsessive evasion of reality is getting old.

Elon Musk on the rapid advancement of AI and robotics "I'm confident that if AI and robotics continue to advance which they are advancing very rapidly working will be optional, and people will have any goods and services that they want" AI and robotics are advancing so fast that, eventually, they could satisfy nearly every human need. At that point, abundance becomes the default, and the real question is no longer about production, but purpose "There is a limit people can only eat so much food. But I think if you can think of it, you can have it in the future"

We got here because most people want “exceptions” for their pet causes. Even Stossel has pushed for “necessary” government actions that violate our rights. Reap as you sow. Unfortunately, the rest of us are left paying the price for these affronts to our rights and our freedom.

Government forces people to get vaccinated, and requires licenses to braid hair, go hunting, buy a gun. Politicians say they're "protecting" us. "It's the excuse given by people who want to take away our freedom" says @TimothySandefur of @GoldwaterInst. More here:

@cb_doge @elonmusk Yeah. Right. Anything you say…

"Things will just be free in the future. Sounds nuts, but if you've got an AI or robotics economy that is anywhere close to million times the size of the current Earth economy, literally any need you possibly want can be met. If you can think of it, you can have it" 一 Elon Musk

“If you can think of it, you can have it.” Oh, reeaallyyy…??? I want a 100,000 square foot house. On a beach in Florida. With no neighbors within two miles. And no mortgage. I want a jet pack that can fly me across the country and protect me from bad weather. I want the smartest, most beautiful woman in the world to be my best friend. I want every movie and television show and radio program ever made instantly available to me no matter where I am. I want my own personal rocket to the moon. And Mars. And all the planets. That can get me there in a few days. Without radiation frying my ass. Oh! Oh! I want superluminal travel to the stars! Or to travel through wormholes. I never want to age. In fact, I want my 30 year old body again. And I never want to get sick. Or die in an accident. I can gladly go on… Bullshit words and phrases: “If” “Literally” “Any” “Could possibly want” “If you can think of it, you can have it.” NO, YOU CAN’T!!! EVERYTHING is delimited. EVERYTHING is bounded. EVERYTHING exists in a context. SCARCITY is an ironclad economic and metaphysical REALITY. TANSTAAFL. “IF…a million times the current economy.” Not in the lifetime of anyone existing. I doubt it anytime in the coming centuries. This kind of wildly irrational fantasizing that ignores the contexts of history, politics, economics, philosophy, reality, and morality is dangerously delusional. It doesn’t just SOUND nuts. It IS nuts. I think someone needs to check his premises. Stat. I don’t know what Musk is really up to, but he is teetering on the brink of la-la land.

Never…

Remembering the Waco massacre, April 19, 1993. And the fact that none of the scumbag FBI criminals who murdered innocent men, women, and children were ever brought to justice. Fuck Janet Reno and Bill Clinton.

Happy Patriots’ Day…for those few who still remember and understand what actual freedom means...