KN@PPSTER @ Liberty.me

Actually, one thing the eyes don't have, yet, is glaucoma.The initial "puff of air" test apparently gave an even higher than usual result than usual (it's usually "high normal"), into the glaucoma range, so I had to go through the whole thing with anesthetic drops and a more direct pressure test, dilation of the eyes and looking at them with a microscope, etc. "High normal," not glaucoma, no damage to the optic nerve, as always.No diabetic retinopathy, either.And, heck, not even any significant change in my prescription. Tiny change in one eye, but the doctor said not big enough that...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

... I'm hateful.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Brittany Hunter has a cool piece at FEE today on medical tourism.Here's what I'm thinking:The cost differential between medical care here in the US and elsewhere in reasonably touristy locales (I've known people who've gone to Mexico and to the Bahamas for procedures to save money, cash on the barrelhead) looks like an opportunity to me.My impression is that most "insurance companies" here in the US are actually "pre-paid health care" companies (nearly everything is covered, but you pay a lot), not insurance companies (a lower cost hedged bet against an unlikely but catastrophic illness or injury), and that they...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

... says Paul Jacob. Me, too.Paul has a great poster for sale -- I've got it hanging over my desk and you can too. Click the graphic to order.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

... on, among other things, my goal of posting to this blog at least once a day.And other things, too. Like counting the Garrison Center's media pickups for May (the count stands at 140, but I'm only about 2/3 of the way through the month).I really am busy, but I can understand why it might look like I'm just taking it easy. I'll try to catch up, and keep up, but realistically it will probably be in July after this Libertarian Party national convention stuff wraps up.I did take the first step (a domain name purchase) today toward getting together...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

They're still abducting and caging peaceful travelers who cross the ruling gang's turf lines ("borders") without permission from the gang. I'm not particularly impressed that they're now going to cage them together as families instead of spiriting the kids away to separate locations.But, there is an up side. The whole thing proves that Donald Trump does at least occasionally respond to public and political pressure when it's brought to bear heavily enough on one of his hare-brained schemes.On the other hand, it's possible that that pressure only works if it gets his wife and his daughter on his case about the issue in...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Newsweek reports that Nebraska Antifa tweets that an Internet hero has produced a handy list, including photos, of known members of one of America's most dangerous criminal gangs.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

If you willingly conspire toward or participate in mass child abduction schemes like this one, you are a violent criminal of the worst sort.No one should shed a tear for you if one of your actual or prospective victims, or someone acting behalf of those victims, puts you down like a rabid dog and leaves your body lying in the street to be consumed by non-rabid dogs.At the very least you should find yourself roundly ostracized by all decent human beings, unable to rent an apartment, get a table at a restaurant, buy groceries at a market, or be served communion...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 2

Jonah Goldberg compares Singapore to Munich and Trump to Chamberlain.Such comparisons are almost always unadulterated bullshit, but this one particularly so.Hitler's foreign policy was always clearly expansionist, and his goal at Munich was to make sure he could occupy the Czech Sudetenland without facing a war with the UK.North Korea's foreign policy has always been isolationist, and Kim's goal at Singapore seems to have been merely to get the US to at least temporarily suspend its provocative (to North Korea) and expensive and tactically useless (to the US) demonstrations of military power on North Korea's border and off North Korea's...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

After ZenCash suffered a 51% attack last week, I was impressed by their quick handling and proposed future solutions. And since there was a price drop, I wanted to "buy the dip" and convert my meager cryptocurrency holdings from (almost entirely) Bitcoin Cash to (almost entirely) ZenCash. I'm not much of a speculator, and certainly nothing like a day trader, but it looked like a decent bet that ZenCash would recover fast and continue rising versus other cryptocurrencies, and since I had been mildly interested in ZenCash anyway ...Shapeshift doesn't handle ZenCash.Neither does Changelly (even though there was a story...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 1

From the Queens Examiner and seven other newspapers in the same chain (hat tip -- Joel Schlosberg):Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

When I sought appointment to the Libertarian Party's 2018 platform committee, I made a few commitments. The three that come to mind are these:To seek a committee recommendation that the Libertarian Party delete the final sentence of Plank 3.4, "Free Trade and Migration," as follows: "We support the removal of governmental impediments to free trade. Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders. However, we support control over the entry into...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

"I don't do propaganda for anyone." -- Ralph PetersLike KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Thing One -- Peter Beinart, at The Atlantic, on sanctions versus Iran:Far from promoting liberal democracy, sanctions tend to make the countries subject to them more authoritarian and repressive. ... The reason is that sanctions shift the balance of power in a society in the regime’s favor. As sanctions make resources harder to find, authoritarian regimes hoard them. They make the population more dependent on their largesse, and withhold resources from those who might threaten their rule.Thing Two -- A. Barton Hinkle, at Reason:Sanctions such as these will hurt Iran, the administration and others argue, by depriving it not just of...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

I noticed the origins of this story some time back, but hadn't really thought through the implications until the SCOTUS ruling broke:The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lower court’s decision that allowed an undocumented immigrant teenager to obtain an abortion over the protests of the Trump administration. ... The Trump administration has enacted a policy of preventing access to abortion services -- even though the government is not asked to pay for the procedure -- for pregnant teens held in government-funded centers after crossing the border illegally.So essentially the Trump administration is so pro-"anchor baby" that they insist on...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

After Scooter Libby (perjury), Joe Arpaio (criminal contempt), Dinesh D'Souza (illegal campaign contributions) and now prospectively Martha Stewart (lying to the feds) and Rod Blagojevich (public corruption), we have the answer. And it is:Exactly the same thing, but you aren't famous enough to get pardoned or have your sentence commuted later.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

I haven't seen Solo: A Star Wars Story yet. No surprise there, as 1) it's not very often I catch a film on the big screen and 2) the only Star Wars film I've really, really, really liked since Return of the Jedi has been Rogue One (which I didn't expect to like and thus missed on the big screen).I'm actually a fan of the idea of a Hans Solo spinoff. I might have to get out and see this one. But the point here is that I have a theory about why I'm seeing all these stories about it bombing at the box office. The...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 1

From my spam folder:From: "Christopher A. wray" To: [address elided] Subject: Federal Bureau of Investigation HeadquartersFederal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters935 Pennsylvania Ave NW COMPENSATION SETTLEMENT OF ESCROW ACCOUNTS US$6,000,000.00 Attn:Beneficiary,It is a pleasure to write you that we have reconciled with our logistic department on the reimbursement of some fund spent by you during the cause of your inadequate dealings with some imposters who claim to be staff in banks and other regional payment centers.Our reconciliation teams with the prospectus instrument of the United Nations after freezing suspected imposters account. This support was fully effective with the help of World...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

No general comment (other than to note that some of it is, well, stupid) on Casey Chalk's piece, "Public School Sex-Ed’s Descent Into Madness," at The American Conservative. But I did find one of Chalk's complaints -- that a sex-ed curriculum "excis[es] clergy from a list of 'trusted adults,' interesting. My comment (awaiting moderation at TAC):"excising clergy from a list of 'trusted adults.'"That seems fair -- although, for the same reason, other authority figures (teachers, coaches, cops, etc.) should likewise be excised.Authority attracts people who abuse authority.That's not to say that all religious leaders, or even most religious leaders, abuse...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

A century ago, give or take, it took allegations of rape and rumors that the rape involved a champagne bottle to destroy a big actor's career or knock a successful show off the screen (big screen back then, smaller as time went on).Now it takes a few hours of outrage over a Twitter rant.Nope, didn't read the tweet or tweets.Nope, haven't watched the Roseanne reboot.Nope, don't need to do either of those things to say this:Roseanne Barr has built an entire career on wandering back and forth across the thin line that separates "merely very abrasive" from "seemingly batshit insane." I...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

The Eyes Have It Jun 23, 2018

In Addition to Being Wrong … Jun 23, 2018

Yet Another Startup Idea I am Completely Unqualified (and Unfinanced) to Pursue Jun 22, 2018

Happy Birthday, Edward Snowden … Jun 22, 2018

Well, I am Waaaay Behind … Jun 21, 2018

An Up Side to the “Family Separation” Kerfuffle Jun 21, 2018

Forewarned is Forearmed! Jun 21, 2018

Let me be a Little More Blunt than Usual Jun 16, 2018

Old and Busted … Jun 14, 2018

Some Cryptocurrency Things Are Still a PITA Jun 11, 2018

Dog Bites Man! Film at 11! Jun 11, 2018

Brief Platform Committee Update Jun 8, 2018

Morning Laugh Jun 7, 2018

Two Things Jun 6, 2018

Who Knew? Jun 5, 2018

“If They Can Do That to X, What Can They Do to Me?” Jun 5, 2018

Film Theory Jun 4, 2018

What a Fun Take on the Nigerian Prince Scam! Jun 4, 2018

All Is Not Madness Jun 1, 2018

Oh, For Crying Out Loud May 30, 2018