KN@PPSTER @ Liberty.me

Some pieces age better than others. Unfortunately, the evil-doer featured in this one -- originally published in 1999 at the now-defunct SpinTech web zine -- died of natural causes before she could be brought to justice. And it was written before I went full-on anarchist, when I still had some misplaced faith in the possibility of "reforming the system." But, seeing as how it's the 25th anniversary of the Waco massacre (and, to the minute, the time the first flames became visible from outside), I'm still going to re-post it. Enjoy.The Other House on Garibaldi StreetThe Israeli government took sixteen...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

L. Neil Smith:"[T]he one and only reason politicians, bureaucrats, and policemen want to take your weapons away from you is so that they can do things to you that they couldn't do if you still had your weapons."Me:"The one and only reason politicians, bureaucrats, and policemen want to hobble encryption and cryptocurrency is so that they can find out things about, and steal wealth from, you that they couldn't find out and steal if you still had strong encryption."Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

You've probably heard the old legend about the invention of chess: A king was so impressed with it that he offered its inventor anything he wanted, and the inventor said he wanted a grain of wheat on one square of the board, doubled on the second square, and doubled each square until all 64 squares were filled.In some versions of the story, the king does the math, tells the inventor he can't do that but makes him a trusted advisor, etc. In other versions, the king starts having the request fulfilled and, when he realizes where it's heading (all the...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 2

One group of enemies of freedom -- likely a few dozen racist idiots -- intends to hold a rally there on April 21st. I'll be greatly surprised if they number as many as 1% of the town's population.I'm more concerned by the size and agenda of another group of enemies of freedom: So far, nearly 50,000 people (more people than actually live in Newnan!) have signed a petition demanding that the city government of Newnan ignore the First Amendment and suppress the rally because they don't want racist idiots to be allowed to spout racist idiocy.The only difference between these...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 1

Nobody who pays attention to trivia like relationships within the anarchist and libertarian movements will mistake me for a fan of William Gillis or vice versa. In my opinion he's either one of the dumbest guys on the planet or an infiltrator/agent provocateur, as evidenced by his advocacy of piss-poor decision-making and/or downright evil posturing at the Center for a Stateless Society, where he is now director.Of course, as a former media director and fellow at the Center, I do try to keep up with their content and do what I can to promote the good stuff (occasionally some good...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

I've been (alliteration alert!) commenting on the cluelessness of congresscritters concerning Facebook a bit. Christopher Burg has as well. Reading his comments finally switched on the light bulb in my head that should have been burning bright the whole time.Burg: "This is part of the reason why political solutions always fail. There is no requirement that the politicians understand the problem to which they’re providing a solution."Me:Oh, but the politicians do understand the problem.The problem is always that the politicians don’t have enough power.And the solution is always the politicians awarding themselves some more power.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

“The Constitution vests the power of declaring War with Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject, and authorised such a measure.”—George Washington— Justin Amash (@justinamash) April 9, 2018There is No congressional authorization to strike the government of Syria. #Constitution— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 8, 2018The AUMF we're operating under now passed the week after September 11 ... No amount of creative lawyering, in my view, can stretch it to cover intervention in Syria. -- US Senator Angus King (I-ME)To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Over the last few months, I've noticed a trend on e.g. talk radio. Many people are beginning every (or nearly every) answer to any (or almost any) question with the word "so."Q: What's your name?A: So, it's Bob.Q: What do you do for a living?A: So, I am an Uber driver.Q: What kind of car do you drive?A: So, I have a Mazda.If this took place in my physical presence, I would have to mightily resist an urge to start slapping the "every answer must start with so" person around the room.Usually in Word PSA posts, I include the relevant...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 1

Thing OneSeveral times (to the best of my recollection) during yesterday's Senate hearings, Senators asked Mark Zuckerberg questions pertaining to how Facebook sells user data to advertisers.Each time, Zuckerberg was very careful to include in his answer a claim that Facebook doesn't sell user data to advertisers.Which, unless Facebook has been lying all along, to everyone, about everything, is true.Facebook sells targeted advertising. An advertiser tells Facebook "I want to reach males in Maine who are interested in magic," and Facebook shows that advertiser's ads to (as best it can tell from the user data it gathers) males in Maine...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

Wilhelm Hohenzollern II let himself believe that Russia wouldn't go to war for Serbia, that Belgium wouldn't go to war for its neutrality, and that England wouldn't go to war for France, and we got World War One.Adolf Hitler let himself believe that France and England wouldn't go to war for Poland, and we got World War Two.Donald Trump seems to be letting himself believe that Russia won't go to war for Syria.I'd be inclined to suggest that it's 25th Amendment time, if not for the fact that he's surrounded himself with VP, staff, and cabinet seemingly as divorced from...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Just my opinion, of course, but I think this is the important part (per WaPo):The raids [on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office, home, and hotel room] -- part of an investigation referred by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to federal prosecutors in New York ...Like WC Fields said, "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."Mueller keeps coming up empty-handed on the former vis a vis the subject of "collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and the Russian regime to screw up the 2016 presidential election," so he has to constantly resort to the latter (taking...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 1

... to enable publishing that cannot be taken down, and to do so in a way that is easily accessed by the public and does not leave anyone in control of what is published?I'm asking because of FOSTA/SESTA, the continuing federal witch hunt versus Backpage, etc.I'm thinking in terms of e.g. P2P file sharing, torrents, blockchains and so forth.What I would like to see is a "classified ads site" that can't be stopped, blocked, frozen, taken down, seized, etc., and that in fact, once set in motion is not under anyone's control in the sense of "being a publisher." And...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Virtually every Senator questioning Mark Zuckerberg so far is going through a sort of smirky "we'd hate to have to order you to suppress content we don't like, so you probably ought to voluntarily suppress content we don't like (wink, wink)."The ones who aren't taking that tack are just coming right out and saying "we're going to regulate you, how about you tell us what kind of regulation you'd like" (Lindsey Graham appears to like the EU model of time-sensitive censorship and got Zuck to admit to kind of liking it too).One of "my" Senators, Bill Nelson, seemed gobsmacked by the bizarre idea...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

US Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) is very clear in the Zuckerberg hearing that affirmative consent should be required before gathering or using any information about anyone. He has a bill in process with just such a requirement.So there goes the NSA, CIA, IRS, Social Security System, Census Bureau, TSA ... heck, pretty much the entire federal government.Yes, I'm kidding. I'm sure he plans to exempt himself and his cronies. Laws are just for the productive class, not the political class.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Yes, I was AWOL for the whole first week of April. It was one of those weeks.On March 31st, Tamara's car took a sh*t and died.There's actually a silver lining.The car was a 2001 Subaru Forester that she paid $1500 for. She loved the car. I had been hectoring her to put some money into it if she really liked it and planned to keep it. The seller had cautioned her that it would need wheel bearings in the not too distant future, the CV joint was popping, and new tires would have been a smart buy.She put those things...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

That's how it feels, anyway.A few months ago, I stopped getting most updates on e.g. most groups I belonged to, discussion threads I was participating in, etc. So far as I can tell, I didn't change any settings. Facebook notifications just suddenly dwindled from hundreds a day to near zero.Simultaneously with that, I noticed that I wasn't getting as many likes, shares, etc. of my posts. I assumed that this was because the same thing was happening to other people as was happening to me. That is, they weren't getting SHOWN my posts, by email notifications or in their timelines. I...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

... in case anyone wants to hook up.I'll be arriving in Springfield, Missouri on the afternoon of Thursday, May 10. That gives me not quite a day and a half in town. Of course, I will be wanting to spend most of that with family, but I can probably shake an hour free to meet with a friend.At 12:01 am on May 12, I'll be getting on a Greyhound in Springfield. There's a half-hour layover in St. Louis from 3:30 to 4am, when you should be asleep and not at a bus station, then it's on to ...Columbus, Ohio, arriving...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Thing One:It would have been completely irrational for Vladimir Putin (or one of his underlings in Russian intelligence) to order the assassination of Sergei Skripal using novichok.For one thing, Skripal was part of a sort of protected class: A spy for the west who was caught, tried, and sentenced to prison in Russia, then exchanged for Russian spies who had been caught, tried, and sentenced to prison in the US. The thing about prison exchanges is that if one of the exchanging parties comes back and starts killing the spies they exchanged, such exchanges will grind to a halt.Which means...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Because, well, it's over 10,000.My doctor is always after me to exercise, and my problem with exercise is this: I go at it aggressively, I make real improvements in strength, endurance, blood glucose level, blood pressure, weight loss ...... but then when something knocks me out of my aggressive routine -- a cold snap, for example -- there's about a 50/50 chance that I will stay knocked off of it for weeks or months. I was riding the bicycle 10 miles a day, etc. for about a month starting in late November. IIRC, I did a 20-miler on Christmas Eve,...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

gunplain, v. To whine about guns, gun owners and gun rights.gunsplain, v. To inconvenience a gunplainer with facts that make it clear he has no idea what he's talking about and is thus not entitled to have his opinion respected by anyone who cares about the truth.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

From 1999: The Other House on Garibaldi Street Apr 20, 2018

A Second Application of an Important Truth Apr 17, 2018

The Missing Element in the “Doubling Every Day” Story Apr 16, 2018

The Population of Newnan, Georgia is Somewhere Around 35,000 Apr 16, 2018

Um, No Apr 16, 2018

Understanding the Problem Apr 12, 2018

Everything You Need to Know About the Coming US Strike on Syria Apr 11, 2018

Word PSA Apr 11, 2018

Two Things About Zuckerberg’s Testimony Apr 11, 2018

Donald Hohenzitler? Apr 11, 2018

What the Cohen Raids Mean Apr 10, 2018

Is It Possible … Apr 10, 2018

Mid-Stream Impressions of Zuckerberg’s Senate Testimony Apr 10, 2018

Way to go, Senator Markey! Apr 10, 2018

A Long Early April Apr 9, 2018

I Didn’t Leave Facebook. Facebook Left Me. Apr 9, 2018

Travel Plans … Apr 9, 2018

Just Because Something’s Irrational Doesn’t Mean it Didn’t Happen Apr 9, 2018

It’s Over 9,000! Mar 31, 2018

One Letter, a World of Difference Mar 27, 2018