cannabis

And let us acknowledge that DC is unceded land of Congress and that we must respect their ways. Many traditional practices exist such as the ritual of an oversight board, cutoff of subsidies, and agencies being moved to districts where congressmen hope to win the respect of their followers. The elders of Congress are especially fearsome and can show their displeasure in many subtle ways. We must strive to live in harmony with the Congress and not antagonize them. They made this land what it is and know its ways far more than we do. And as many newcomers have sparked conflict by not policing their criminals (such as in Australia), let us avoid the wrath of Congress by ensuring our criminals do not cause them problems and that we are not a burden to them. We can all prosper as long as we remember how to live in peace.

Whale populations are unstable. Krill issue.

Evil exists. We saw evil when Hamas massacred civilians on October 7th. In the most extreme arguments, one could imagine attacks on IDF personnel as justified but there is no logically consistent way to justify the murder of civilian party-goers. But the bloodless lives of sheltered people forget the choices Hamas had and turn their eyes from the evil. The next day, the DSA announced their support for Hamas. They treat the murderous hate of Hamas as an abstraction. They treat the victims with either uncomfortable silence or glee as they fail to conceal their sadism. They point to security measures Israel implemented that isolated Gaza while ignoring the fact that Israel withdrew from Gaza and only gradually built walls (which induce complacency) after the many terrorist attacks when Hamas took over. Evil is not new. Sadism is not new. Bored rich kids indulging in adulation for sadistic murderers are not new. It is why Noam Chomsky lied to protect the Khmer Rouge. It is why Sendero Luminoso still has defenders. But what we have now is vastly more footage of atrocities that makes the moral divide starker. It is undeniable that Hamas murdered civilians as part of their goals and it is undeniable that many people defend Hamas because of those murders. The victory over totalitarianism requires memory. It requires the memory of the possibility of civilized life (why all totalitarian movements rush to destroy reminders of life before their rule). It requires memory of the choices (why all totalitarian movements rush to false dichotomies). It requires memory of the success of the non-totalitarian way of life (why excuses are critical to the everyday functioning of totalitarian regimes). We must remember what Hamas did so that we are not blind to the moral character of those who defend Hamas. And those who take glee in murdering random civilians will not hesitate to harm others. It won't stop at Jews, it will only spread via the excuses people make. They had choices and chose badly. We have choices and must remember in order to choose right. https://www.hamas-massacre.net/content/partygoers-being-hunt-down-and-killed-by-hamas-terrorists

It's time for everybody's favorite fun. What does game theory predict about the incentives of an autocratic regime noted for internal assassinations, recklessness, and corruption when it might result in retaliation from the rest of the world? Does the central government decide to continue an increasingly implausible charade and hope it works? Does the interests of local civilians override the reputation management by program officials and maybe the central government? (Hey, sometimes it happens.) Do foreign countries manage to find plausible threats that will make the central government less likely to risk spillover? And this time, the generational divide on the relative success of coverups is probably going to be significant and yet utterly ignored by political scientists. Yuen Foong Khong is forgotten.

I have @#$%ing had it. People have known about soviet efforts to engineer antibiotic resistant strains of plague (yersinia pestis) for generations. To compare them with natural plague is grossly dishonest. The rational response when a worker in a plague institute dies from a broken vial is alarm, not complacency. Lab leaks happen and Biopreparat was sloppy in how they dispersed their samples. Nobody should be cavalier about such strains getting released even if they would probably kill fast enough that they don't become pandemics. But there is no excuse for someone who claims to be compassionate to conflate natural cases with what the soviets designed.

The reason for concern is not just that pneumonic plague (a form of yersinia pestis incubated in the lungs) is terrifying, it is that the Soviet bioweapons program experimented with it and was not completely shut down. There are stockpiles of its products left around and lab leaks happen. Autocratic regimes have incentives to lie, cover up problems, and those tend to turn controllable leaks into uncontrollable ones. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/10/possible-plague-crisis-siberia-five-hospitals-placed-under/

Those who desire peace must prepare for war. Because if intimidation becomes a reliable path for getting what one wants, intimidation will become routine. We have let criminals use intimidation to extract wealth and comfort from the people, the people must hold firm to stop it.

Technological changes do not eliminate roles, they change the mix of them. Rapid armored movements still have a place in war, the conditions under which they take place change. Cost-effective delivery of explosives, ability to monitor, ability to strike deep, and ability to secure infrastructure are all roles that will continue whatever the technology. The value for the future is understanding what is dependent what rather than throwing one's hands up and saying one doesn't have the tools because "drones make everything obsolete".

I hope this trove of documents can be analyzed to see just how the legal, ideological, and psychological forces have kept an economically stagnant regime in power. Regime enforcement is the core infrastructure of a totalitarian regime and must be targeted first.