History, sort of
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Godwin’s Law 2026
“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Republicans, MAGA, or Trump approaches one.” Even earlier is the Reduction ad Hitlerum fallacy, a Leo Strauss creation from 1953. It’s a description of an attempt to counter an argument by claiming the same notion can be attributed to Hitler or Nazis. As… Continue reading
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The rat in the house
“January 6, 2021 was the most shameful day in American history. It should live in infamy, as should the traitor who refused to accept the election results and incited the attack on the U.S. Capitol — Donald J. Trump.“ Continue reading
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About prepping
“Prepping” is a trendy meme, and it seems to usually means preparing a backpack with stuff you’ll need when you leave the city or town and go live a life of brave, individual survivalism in the woods. That is delusional; a fantasy that comes from watching too many movies. A lot of aspects of our… Continue reading
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To Anxious Friends
The editorial below was written by William Allen White on July 27, 1922. The disorder of the day, which he mentions, was a nationwide railroad strike. In 1922, railroads were critical infrastructure — they still are, but in 1922 there were no alternatives. White was the editor of the Emporia Gazette of Emporia, Kansas, where… Continue reading
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Symiliptic Report Aigust 23
I was thinking this morning about how the fourth republic fell, and how the real world people finally decided to be done with the scum once and for all. And not a single shot was fired. it was all done with social media, which the scum have always been surprisingly compliant with. Suggest (or “influence,”… Continue reading
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The fire next time
Eighty years ago today, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. More than most events in recent history, this must be remembered. One of the things that’s always said about terrible events is “it must never happen again.” But of course this did happen again, just three days later when the US dropped… Continue reading
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The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions
“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” – Abraham Lincoln Lincoln’s words come from the Lyceum Address, more formally titledThe Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions:Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, IllinoisJanuary 27,… Continue reading
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And then…
The orange baby is coming to the end of its life. Maybe not immediately, but it’s an elderly white male that reportedly makes bad diet and exercise choices, and although it’s secretive, it’s in the public eye enough for people to spot warning signs. It has repeatedly dangled the possibility of “a third term,” but… Continue reading
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History continues
I had never heard of Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas before, but what’s going on there is yet another case of large scale immorality and incompetence. In this case by the regime of the orange baby, but it’s been going on a lot longer. In the linked article, Haines Eason asks: “Can you name… Continue reading
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And yet again…
Sarah Taber, who describes herself as a small farmer, crop scientist, & ex-farm worker & crop scientist (and was a candidate for Agriculture Commissioner in North Carolina) wrote this on Mastodon. It’s worth a look. Mastodon, by the way, is a web-based tweeting system that works on the basis of lots of small, local or… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer (among other things) located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. No surprise, she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity. You can also find some of my minor software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly write tiny utilities in Python.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!