KN@PPSTER @ Liberty.me

I guess it has. Doesn't feel like it. Between Tamara traveling to Miami for work (she got home last night) and me getting ready to head for Wisconsin tomorrow, with other minor emergencies and regular work stuff interspersed, that's what got put off.But I need 33 posts this month to make my "one post per day on average" goal for the year, so ... make that 32, and I'll try to get with it a little.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Suppose you (a US citizen) visited Mexico.And suppose that while you were visiting Mexico, you got arrested and told you would be extradited to China.For violating Beijing's trade sanctions on Rwanda.That's how ridiculous this is.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

It's something I've complained about right here on the blog before (but not so much that it's worth finding and linking to).Please sign my petition urging Netflix to release the "Gore" biopic that they produced then put on the shelf because Kevin Spacey took a massive fall.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

A sudden decision, partially driven by the $35 air fare each way:I'll be visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Racine, Wisconsin (flying in and out of Milwaukee) from December 8th-15th. They just bought a house so hey, why not help them move in?If you're in that area and would like to grab coffee -- or if there happens to be e.g. a libertarian movement event I could drop in on -- please let me know (contact form is here). The 8th and the 15th will both be mostly travel days (getting in on the evening of the 8th, leaving the...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Immigration authoritarians -- including US president Donald Trump -- urge us to think of the "caravan" now trying to get its members across the gang turf line ("border") as an "invasion."That's a very common argument from immigration authoritarians about immigration in general, and of course it's bullshit. Some guy trying to get from Juarez to Topeka to get a job plucking poultry isn't an "invader." Neither are 5,000 of them an "invasion." They're not looking for a fight and they're not trying to seize territory. They're doing the same thing you're doing if you travel from Nashville to New York...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

If immigration is indeed "invasion," then US law enforcement committed a war crime at the juncture of gang turf lines ("US-Mexico border") yesterday.But who can bring the perpetrators to jusice?Presumably the US regime would exercise its veto power over any UN Security Council resolution holding it accountable.However ...While the stories I'm reading on the war crimes (use of chemical weapons) aren't specific enough to tell for sure, it seems that the US regime thugs sent their CS canisters flying over to the Mexican side of the turf line.Mexico is signatory to the Rome Statute, which brings war crimes committed on its claimed...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Continuing from ...I will admit that my timeline for re-categorizing people, on an individual basis, from "libertarian in error" to "knows better and doesn't care" is getting shorter and shorter.The Trump era is certainly proving consequential within the libertarian movement.His presidential campaign and the 2016 election moved some fairly recent "authoritarian, but 'libertarian' sounds really cool, sooo ..." arrivals to the movement to out themselves, either by admitting they weren't really on board with libertarianism and departing, or engaging in pathetic attempts to Trumpalize the movement.His focus on immigration is also bringing the "libertarians in error" versus "knows better but doesn't...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

Even since leaving Reason and ending up at the Washington Post, he's given fair, balanced, and attentive coverage to the Libertarian Party and its candidates. Not fawning/saccharine coverage, mind you. He's neither fool nor flack. But it's nice to have a journalist of stature sweep his spotlight across our poorly-covered and seldom-covered niche now and again for some purpose other than giggles.Maybe he's just a good guy, or maybe he has that gift so coveted by salesmen and politicians as well as journalists. He remembers people. I probably spent a grand total of five minutes around him and two minutes talking with...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

I just have to wonder what the hell Mississippi governor Phil Bryant was thinking when he appointed Cindy Hyde-Smith to the US Senate to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Thad Cochran.Thinking strategically, when a governor has a special election coming up to fill a vacancy, he presumably wants to temporarily appoint the person who already has the best prospects of winning that special election for his party, so as to add the advantages of incumbency to that candidate's prospects.So who did Bryant appoint? A candidate who seems custom-made to piss off Republicans and Democrats more or less...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

In early November, US president Trump raved about the "beautiful barbed wire" going up to protect MURKA from the evil furriners.I pointed out (somewhere, I don't remember where) that it wasn't really barbed wire but concertina wire. Nasty stuff. Instead of little barbs, it's festooned with razor blades. It will cut your ass right up. When I was in Saudi Arabia, a Marine in my company stepped off a bus without looking and right into concertina. IIRC, he was cut up badly enough that he got sent home rather than returned to duty in country.Anyway, Eric Boehm points out at Reason that...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

At Guitar Strings For Life, you can get "free" guitar strings. They're actually $2.98 "shipping and handling," but not a bad price. I've purchased two sets. Unfortunately, I haven't had a need to use them yet and so I can't review them. But I'm a cheap strings kinda guy, and I expect that they'll be perfectly good cheap strings. They also run a raffle that you can enter once a day. The drawing is every few months. The prize is a $100 (IIRC) Guitar Center gift card.Udemy is an online course provider. They're running a $9.99 "Black Friday" type sale right...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Resolved, that "opposition to freedom of migration" is a specific instance of the more general class "support for war."Discuss.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Earlier this week, I moved as much as possible of my (pitifully small) cryptocurency holdings into Bitcoin Cash (BCH), in anticipation of the announced "hard fork" (what was Bitcoin Cash is now Bitcoin ABC, still with the BCH ticker on most exchanges).At present, my particular wallet (Coinomi) still has BCH transactions in suspension and I haven't heard when (if?) they will end that suspension and add the new fork-generated coin (Bitcoin SV, ticker apparently BSV), of which I should enjoy an equal balance.In the meantime, cryptocurrency in general took a beating yesterday. Wrecked Bitcoin (BTC) is down to less than...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

I usually think of my time with The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper as having begun on December 23, 2002, which is when the first edition of Rational Review News Digest came out with me as "publisher." So 16 years next month.At the same time, I date the publication back to 1991 by incorporation/descent (in the beginning there was Libernet, which became Freedom News Daily, which went out of business spawning Rational Review News Digest, which then came back and incorporated a resurrected RRND).But I'm pretty sure my time with the publication actually exceeds 20 years. I don't remember offhand when...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

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By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Today, a newspaper editor responded to an email he received "from" me:This invoice GUU_59636372, and our October invoice are both extremely overdue.Please can you conform a payment date and get this cleared urgently to avoid us having to proceed with legal action.Thank you for your business - we appreciate it very much.Thomas Knapp675-548-7736868-079-3136 faxE-Mail:media@thegarrisoncenter.orgThat email address is my email address at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism.Of course, The Garrison Center doesn't charge newspapers for op-eds. They're free. Heck,they're immediately put in the public domain precisely so that editors and publishers will know they don't -- can't...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

18 U.S. Code § 241 - Conspiracy against rights:If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same .... They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

So, a federal judge has ordered Jim Acosta's White House "hard pass" temporarily restored, pending resolution of CNN's frivolous lawsuit claiming that the First and Fifth Amendments require the Trump regime to give unfettered White House access to Very Special Important People Who Are Affiliated with Very Special Important Organizations.So he gets to go sit in the White House press room again.Where he will be ignored.Neither Sarah Huckabee Sanders nor anyone else speaking from the White House press room platform will recognize him when he wants to ask a question.The interns who hand out the microphone will have strict orders...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

I keep getting emails urging me to donate to Florida "recount funds."Some of the emails are from Republican outfits and/or Rick Scott's US Senate campaign. Some are from Democratic outfits and/or Bill Nelson's US Senate campaign. Some are from or name-check Andrew Gillum's campaign for governor. To the best of my recollection, I haven't heard from Ron DeSantis, but I may have.The thing is, these aren't "recount funds." The costs of the recount itself are already fully covered by Florida's taxpayers.I'm being asked to donate to cover the two parties' costs of public relations and litigation, not the costs of...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

It's a given that when an election runs even a little close, one side will demand a recount and the other side will pull out all stops to prevent a recount. Especially in Florida.But this year, there's an added reason why Republicans are especially desperate to hold on to the governorship, and to have two Republican Senators who won't be inclined to intercede with, say, the US Department of Justice on certain matters.That reason is Amendment 4. It passed with 64.5% of the vote and it restores the vote to convicted felons (excluding, for some reason, those convicted of murder or...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Wow … It’s Been More Than a Week Since Last I Blogged? Dec 7, 2018

Food for Thought Dec 7, 2018

Yeah, I’m Doing the Petition Thing Again … Nov 29, 2018

Do I Have Any Readers in the Racine or Milwaukee Areas? Nov 29, 2018

OK, so Let’s Say it IS an “Invasion” Nov 27, 2018

Really, It’s Long Past Leg Iron and Orange Coverall Time for These Thugs Nov 27, 2018

An Up Side to Trumpism? Nov 26, 2018

Let’s Do a Listicle! or, Five Things I Like about @DaveWeigel Nov 21, 2018

Some Electoral Strategies are so Dumb You Assume You’re Reading Fiction Nov 21, 2018

Concertina Theater Nov 20, 2018

These Aren’t Affiliate Links, But They’re Still Pretty Cool Nov 20, 2018

A Proposition Nov 20, 2018

The Waiting is the Hardest Part Nov 20, 2018

Something I Just Realized Nov 19, 2018

My New Public Key Nov 16, 2018

Conspiracy-Minded Me, For a Moment Nov 16, 2018

There Seems to Be a Loophole in the Law … Nov 16, 2018

Some Quick Acosta Predictions Nov 16, 2018

More Stupid Email That I Get Nov 15, 2018

An Angle to the Florida Election Fight That Most People Don’t Seem to Notice Nov 15, 2018