Marty,
You don’t specify which “specious brazen imbecilic dumb” (not “idiotic, moronic, and shameless”? LOL…) “propaganda” about Vladimir Putin you wonder whether I’ve “swallowed hook line and sinker”(!). However I am aware of the following facts about the Russian dictator which are more than enough to convince me that he is a villain who more appropriately belongs behind bars than in the Kremlin:
• He is a former officer of the KGB (the Soviet secret police) during the communist era
• He has called the disintegration of the Soviet Union the greatest tragedy of the 20th century(!)
• He brutally repressed an independence movement in Chechnya
• He has presided over a regime widely regarded as “kleptocratic”, in which billionaires who appropriated state assets of the former U.S.S.R. have been largely allowed to keep their ill-gotten wealth
• He has spoken positively of, and tried to rehabilitate, Joseph Stalin, one of the biggest mass-murderers in history
• He has blatantly and repeatedly violated the agreement under which Ukraine agreed to transfer the nuclear weapons on its territory to Russia after the fall of the U.S.S.R. in exchange for a Russian guarantee to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity
• He heads a regime that has made it a criminal offense to publicly promote homosexuality, and whose police have often attacked and beaten LGBTQ protesters
• He has launched an unprovoked war with a full-out invasion of Ukraine, in which Russian soldiers have again been widely and credibly accused of human rights abuses
• Last and from your point of view possibly not least, his party supports criminalizing nudity (see e.g. Putin's United Russia Party Uses LiveJournal to Threaten Closure of Moscow's Only Nude Beach | Complex)
Contrarian views certainly can be intelligent, literate, thoughtful, etc., but this isn’t necessarily true, as I’m sure you as a self-professed careful user of words must realize: The word “contrarian” is not a synonym for any of those other terms.
A slightly longer version of the Adams quote you reference:
"Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.” [from https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/jqadams.htm]
So in the spirt of this quote, let our hearts be with the Ukrainians and wish them well in resisting the Putin regime’s aggression, which all who value freedom and justice should condemn, and not let our opposition to U.S. government funding blind us to the right, just, and deserving nature of the Ukrainian cause.
I think I do have a fairly good understanding – even if I don’t wholly embrace – what John Quincy Adams and other founders of the U.S. stood for, as I presume is true of yourself as well. Although he was commendably an opponent of chattel slavery at a time when many others supported it, JQA was sadly on the statist side of many of the other political controversies of his day (e.g. supporting a national bank and high tariffs). He also cut his political teeth serving his father on a diplomatic mission to France, seeking (somewhat ironically, in light of his famous quote against extra-national military intervention) military help from the French monarchy for the American war of independence from Britain.
To address your question about possible activism at the Pink Triangle media event, I assume you’re referring to the annual ceremony unveiling the hillside display on Twin Peaks of a pink triangle for Pride Month in June (see https://www.thepinktriangle.com/). The hillside pink triangle display – there is also a small year-round memorial in the Castro – is meant to commemorate the Nazi persecution of gays, forcing them to wear pink triangles before sending them to concentration camps to serve as slave labor and in some cases be murdered (see Pink Triangle Park - Wikipedia).
Given that this ceremony marks the persecution of gays by the Nazis – a historical abuse of a tyrannical regime to which libertarians obviously stand in strong opposition – disrupting it with some kind of protest had not occurred to me, and I would frankly question the value to our cause of doing so at this particular event rather than some other less likely to give people the wrong idea about us. But as you say, there will undoubtedly be lots of VIPs and media there. If you can think of some kind of activism that would not be misunderstood or seen as opposing the concept behind the ceremony itself, I’m open to considering it.
In the meantime, there are other activist opportunities, such as in support of our opposition to Prop. H, the attempted recall of pro-civil-liberties SF district attorney Chesa Boudin (I plan to do some precinct-walking this evening and wiIl be posting another message about that shortly).
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
P.S. – I hope you acknowledge me as an actual (not merely “purported”) libertarian, and that you do not think my pointing these things out constitutes a “meltdown” or that it is indicative of me being a “snowflake”.
···
On May 19, 2022, at 8:29 AM, iMRMosLV! via LPSF Forum noreply@forum.lpsf.org wrote:
FRNP https://forum.lpsf.org/u/frnp
May 19
Dear Starchild,TYPOS aside, I’m a (humbler than most) Ivy Leaguer & Lit major. I use language very strategically & intentionally. Even My newfound FREErangeSFnudistPIONEER Pals have figured out it’s better NEVER to take My bait & just stay cool, & never get personally offended, because I enjoy having fun with words as with most things in Life that amuse & tickle Me.
What You call “contrarian” We Ivy Leaguers simply call being “smart,” “intelligent,” “literate,” “numerate,” “thoughtful,” & Most of Us are well schooled & equipped for being attacked & ridiculed by “the other 99.98%” of college grads & the legions more of non-college grads ( most of whom are nonetheless, wonderful & lovely human beings ). “#SticksAndStones…”
Regardless, when I do engage with purported libertarians & Libertarians ( who I hope are above being snow•flakes having daily meltdowns, à la liberals & even gopers taking things way too personally & triggered by garbage they see on teevee ), I expect them to be both LITERATE & NUMERATE & at least understand, if not embrace, everything the flawed yet heroic founders of Our Nation were at least half-heartedly trying to establish.
As John Quincy Adams heroically stated https://twitter.com/Shawington/status/1357035021937217537, at the top of His lungs & more calmly in writing ( as the founders were known to be quite shrill & loud, out of frustration ), which I am sure You remember, as an unimpeachable principle:
“Americans should not go abroad to slay dragons that they do not understand in the name of spreading democracy!”
That applies so obviously to the recent fleecing of US$40Billions for fraudulent purposes as any other #USgovt fraud. If You have swallowed hook line & sinker, the specious brazen imbecilic dumb propaganda about Monsieur Putin — or previously Monsieurs Gaddafi Hussein … even Hitler ( who in his entire career NEVER had at his disposal the ANNUAL bloody murderous budget slimy Uncles Joe Trump #OBOMBA #GeoWarmongerBush used at their fingertips ) — is some kind of a hydra that could hold a candle to hundreds of years of #USgovt bloody aggression still currently in full effect ( albeit accelerated to a jaw-dropping degree ), then You are operating from different Libertarian Playbook than I & Ron Paul & Doug Casey & Jake Hornberger et al & You are not obviously not familiar with how fine Chefs are able to boil fresh live Grenouille https://www.regions-of-france.com/regions/paris_ile_de_france/food-gastronomy/frogs-legs-cuisses-grenouilles without making a MESS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog#:~:text=The%20term%20"boiling%20frog%20syndrome,severity%20until%20reaching%20catastrophic%20proportions..https://forum.lpsf.org/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e6df3ef87a591ef071d0293651b8f700a3ef8ae9.jpeg
https://forum.lpsf.org/uploads/default/original/2X/8/853c99bcb1829034c06bf7f6dab761275058f9aa.jpeg
https://forum.lpsf.org/uploads/default/original/1X/ec4a4a2b83c06b9e29b6e433d586c50a86b699b6.jpeg
https://forum.lpsf.org/uploads/default/original/2X/d/df26a01b846e7ba5ffd8aae9abad7661062e315e.jpeg
All that NONSENSE aside ( & since I, with some regret & shame, brought Hitler into this conversation ) I was wondering if You are planning to do any Libertarian activism during the rarely seen annual full ring cast of Circus Clowns assembling for the upcoming local meaningless vapid charade Pink Triangle https://www.thepinktriangle.com/ MEDIA FRENZY coming up on Wednesday June 1 since upstaging the clowns — even from the cordoned off side lines — should garner more attention & acclaim than most of the activism I have seen You note on this platform.
Have a blessed day!
— MartyVisit Topic https://forum.lpsf.org/t/double-bigl-living-freely-v-groveling-crawling-begging-to-certified-sociopaths/21663/10 or reply to this email to respond.
Previous Replies
Starchild https://forum.lpsf.org/u/starchild
May 19
Marty,Please don’t put words in my mouth. Your post wasn’t complaining about U.S. government spending on the military industrial complex generally. If you had made such a general statement, I wouldn’t have responded by saying that wasn’t near the top of my list of government actions to oppose.
What you complained about was much more specific – military aid to Ukraine. That narrow category of spending – a tiny portion of overall U.S. government military spending – is what I said is not near the top of my personal list of U.S. government spending to oppose, given the far worse aggression of the Putin regime that it is meant to counter.
I did not say I support that spending; I simply oppose it far less than I oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I would hope the same is true for you.
Not sure to what the rest of your post is responding. Did someone tell you that you should beg someone to do what is right? Did someone say you haven’t done anything to advance the cause of freedom? If so, it wasn’t me, and I don’t recall reading anything like that here.
Love & Liberty,((( starchild )))
FRNP https://forum.lpsf.org/u/frnp
May 17
Starchild,I don’t beg anyone to do what it right ( as if they do not know better ). As the STILL most popular by-vote Libertarian in the Nation’s Capital ever ( more popular there than Gov Gary Johnson & even, among his tribe, record-breaker Trump who had a 10,000+ times larger voting & financial GOP base in DC back then ), my political activism engagement & success — without spending a #USgovt red cent ( 1¢ despite its negative value ) — speak for themselves & are unimpeachable & unmatched by most — even Thou.
As libertarian economist @realDougCasey @intlmandotcom just noted in his latest, 16 May 2022, epistle https://twitter.com/intlmandotcom/status/1526217963849785345, among many brilliant reasonable & SOBER strategies to bring down an Empire ( not just tinker around the edges with stunts or debasing oneSelf getting down on one’s hands & knees to beg others to do what is obviously right ):
Each individual, essentially, has three choices:
He can either go along with those lesser beings who seek to control his life, or
He can rebel and possibly be incarcerated for his efforts, or
He can become creative and recognize that the laws and regulations of his country are a confused mess, written by incompetent people, and do all he can to assert his independence, “legally.”https://forum.lpsf.org/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce53899cca7b250e878107aa26fc85aba8b66445.jpeg
In addition, if the unprecedented — in the history of the world, criminally fraudulent #USgovt spending on the #militaryindustrialcomplex & the oceans of innocent human blood it is still creating is “not personally near the top of YOUR list”; you are out of step with the majority of Libertarians & others who made @RonPaul’s peerless campaigns so successful.
#CheckTheRecord https://youtu.be/nkkkfv5RZA0,
— Martyhttps://forum.lpsf.org/uploads/default/original/1X/ec4a4a2b83c06b9e29b6e433d586c50a86b699b6.jpeg
Starchild https://forum.lpsf.org/u/starchild
May 17
Thanks for the report, Jeff! Yeah, the clear bag thing really is “security theater”, especially since people can easily access the crowds at anywhere along the route, without ever going near the starting point of the run. I floated at least one idea for an LPSF themed contingent in the past – what it was escapes me now, I’ll have to try to find it in my archived emails at some point. If there was enough activist interest it would be great to do something like that.
Love & Liberty,((( starchild )))
··· (click for more details) https://forum.lpsf.org/t/double-bigl-living-freely-v-groveling-crawling-begging-to-certified-sociopaths/21663/7
Starchild https://forum.lpsf.org/u/starchild
May 17
Martin,You quite enjoy being contrarian, don’t you? It is a common trait among libertarians.
I believe there has been a national LP statement against U.S. government sending aid to the Ukrainian government (although of all the things they spend stolen tax money on, that’s not personally near the top of my list to oppose), but don’t quote me on that. Not sure about nudity. Have you contacted Whitney or other LNC or national staff members and asked them to issue such a statement? An even stronger statement could be to simply show up at the convention in the nude. It could be a welcome distraction from caucus-related drama, as well as helping reveal who really stands for freedom and who not so much. But even sex-positive Libertarians are more likely to explicitly advocate for the right to go clothes-free in public when they see people who obviously care about and want to exercise that right.
Love & Liberty,((( starchild )))
··· (click for more details) https://forum.lpsf.org/t/double-bigl-living-freely-v-groveling-crawling-begging-to-certified-sociopaths/21663/6
jeff https://forum.lpsf.org/u/jeff
May 17
It seemed like a relatively mellow crowd this year. From what I could tell, police were hands off, nobody got confrontational, and even the people with the posters listing everyone going to hell slept in. I didn’t notice any costumes or posters raising awareness about Ukraine, inflation, abortion, or the shootings, but I may have missed them. There was no covid-related enforcement, although some of the old security theater was still in place. For example, only clear bags were allowed in at the start, so I put my opaque bag inside a clear bag to do my part in fighting terrorism.It was a lot of fun! People were happy to be back together! Maybe LPSF can make a team next year!
I’m sorry to have missed the monthly meeting! I’ll reach out to you about meeting up before I leave.
Live free,
JeffVisit Topic https://forum.lpsf.org/t/double-bigl-living-freely-v-groveling-crawling-begging-to-certified-sociopaths/21663/10 or reply to this email to respond.
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