Bill Blake

https://liberdon.com/@billblake2018

I'm an #Objectivist who has "shrugged". It's time to look for exits.

Twitter: billblake2018
Email: [email protected]
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/billblake2018.bsky.social

Public Key

npub1hdlckw045jw28f5yepn3kkkzjpdnfd0r3d7mzhlcrnzx6yzmk68s8d6str

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqstklut8866f89r56zvsecmttpfqke5kh3ckld3tlupe3rdzpdmdrcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsf6xyc3

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1hdlckw045jw28f5yepn3kkkzjpdnfd0r3d7mzhlcrnzx6yzmk68s8d6str

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Last Notes

2025-10-19 21:19:13 UTC

For anyone who cares: This site has become infested with bots and disinformation accounts and the admin apparently does not care. It's no longer worth my time. So I'm outta here--I'm not deleting my account but I'm no longer going to read. Find me on twitter, bluesky, facebook, reddit, email, or discord--same username.

2025-09-30 07:04:48 UTC

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I can always get a translate if something looks vaguely interesting. But Russian propaganda is not worth my time. Of course I blocked them, though not for the language.

2025-09-29 19:44:01 UTC

The "opinion" account that showed up today is a Czech language Russian disinformation outlet. Also a spammer.

2025-08-24 20:24:03 UTC

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A lot more reliable--at this point anyone relying on AI for law is going to get his ass handed to him pretty quickly.

2025-08-18 17:39:53 UTC

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Remove the stuff at and after the ? and it will work.

2025-05-27 10:37:14 UTC

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I've been saying for years that The Second Coming is the poem for this age. And Jackson Browne's "Before the Deluge" captures another aspect. On the surface, it's about a failed response to a coming eco-catastrophe. But every time I hear it, I think of libertarians and their failed response to coming tyranny.

2025-05-21 11:26:27 UTC

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Another goodie is Kipling's "Macdonough's Song".

2025-04-29 16:09:22 UTC

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Not ICE scream trucks? :)

2025-04-26 00:43:23 UTC

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No question.

2025-04-25 19:01:28 UTC

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I was prepared to read that article in that way, but after reading it, it looks like the judge actually did violate the law. Of course, the time will come when judges are arrested for their legal rulings.....

2025-04-11 19:15:16 UTC

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I've seen a fair amount of leftie noise on Bluesky about Musk's--and thus Trump's--access to personal data. But it's libertarianish institutions that seem to be in the vanguard of attacking it.

2025-04-11 06:59:56 UTC

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Harris was, by my analysis, by far the lesser evil. Events have proven it right: Harris would have meant the continued slow degradation of the American polity in the ways that Objectivists recognize. Trump is its near immediate destruction, replacing a semi-republican government with a gangster government based on might makes right. America has become a rogue state, run by a soon-to-be dictator who is systematically cowing or destroying all opposition.

2025-04-07 12:46:07 UTC

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From the one that Peikoff--and many other Objectivists--see when they shut their eyes. I've had to block several "Objectivists" on twitter who *still* warp their own thinking in order to support Trump.

2025-04-07 12:39:35 UTC

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Yeah, the typical Objectivist screeching fear of Democrats blinded him to Trump's nature.

2025-04-07 12:29:31 UTC

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I have tweets from as far back as 2018--basically, the year I first started on social media--warning of Trump's danger. So far, nobody's done the "when did you start caring" thing to me.

2025-04-07 12:17:40 UTC

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That, and arguing for Trump. Objectivists of all people should understand that one cannot have lawlessness in a government, no matter how bad the alternative is.

2025-04-03 18:57:42 UTC

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The writer of that piece was not discussing Objectivism at all. How much of what he relates is true is unknown, but on its face he is describing a human tragedy that only incidentally relates to Objectivism.

2025-04-03 15:27:35 UTC

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Where they are finding actual flaws. But, in general, those who *hate* Objectivism burn straw men and provide no useful criticisms.

2025-03-27 16:11:46 UTC

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I was able to post a comment, so perhaps they just dumped the old block file.

2025-03-27 15:42:18 UTC

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And with rather more powerful law enforcement, military, and technology.

2025-03-27 15:39:02 UTC

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"Former LP" -> "Former libertarian". To be charitable.

2025-03-24 03:26:44 UTC

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I suppose it's possible. But they've shown themselves to be incompetent for many years, so it could just be more of the same.

2025-03-22 18:04:39 UTC

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You might have noticed the lefties on bluesky waving the Canadian flag as a protest to Trump and his mafia. The ironies are delicious.

2025-03-13 11:57:10 UTC

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Good point. And it reminds me: Twitter now says it may delete your account if it's not used for, I think, 6 months, so it's a good idea to log in periodically in order to maintain it.

2025-03-12 23:10:57 UTC

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Twitter notifications are not reliable, so no surprise there. Also, if you just want the messages and don't care about anyone seeing them, you could download an archive of your data and then delete the account. I do that regularly just in case twitter gets mad at me and deletes my account.

2025-03-12 13:14:51 UTC

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They could honesty say that it's redundant, that it's an example of the very waste that the right claims they're trying to root out. But in reality, it's pure tribalism--the right is for it, so they're against.

2025-03-11 14:37:02 UTC

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Like Musk has *any* knowledge of the law? Or would let it stop him from saying absurd things if he did?

2025-03-10 14:26:03 UTC

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And people are still unwilling to accept that we're witnessing the fall of the American republic.

2025-03-09 12:54:42 UTC

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What's going on is the media being fundamentally unable to challenge the narratives put out by government officials. It's the mythical "objectivity" and "view from nowhere" nonsense and it keeps them from stating the obvious whenever they feel that someone might criticize them for not being "objective".

2025-03-07 12:30:45 UTC

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I'm not sure I agree. They're talking about AI tools to support moderators, rather than offloading all moderation to AIs, and apparently allowing each community its own standards. Also, some of the latest AI is no worse than humans when it comes to "understanding". Of course, they might not be using the latest.....

2025-03-04 17:18:50 UTC

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Also, this from Bezos last Sunday, on twitter: "We do NOT have free markets today and have not had them for a very long time. In general, corporate subsidies and special interest tax breaks are great examples of where government interferes with free markets."

2025-02-27 20:14:41 UTC

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Welcome to the club!

2025-02-27 12:25:58 UTC

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I assume that his statement is code for, "I'm sucking up to Trump".

2025-02-19 19:57:44 UTC

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No. They're still pretending that we have a free society. They are so committed to that notion that they'll be arguing liberty with their compatriots as they're being herded into the cattle cars.

2025-02-19 19:37:06 UTC

"You fucking morons, you are not going to shift public opinion toward liberty. You are just going to continue your circle jerks while the world burns." Words I didn't quite have the guts to post on twitter, in response to a bunch of lunatics who think they can talk their way out of the coming tyranny.

2025-02-17 17:53:44 UTC

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I have had what I suspect is that very thought.

2025-01-29 19:32:15 UTC

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Neither monarchy nor fascism are oligarchy. And, in any case, we don't have *any* of them. Yet.
Hell, we could get a Nehemiah Scudder and end up with a theocracy.....

2025-01-28 23:50:05 UTC

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Or fascism.

2025-01-27 13:30:08 UTC

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Most of this sort of thinking has both parts--the government is run by oligarchs and the public is comprised of sheeple--except, of course, the enlightened who see through all the conspiracies and brainwashing. Conspiracy thinking is a mental disorder with distinctive characteristics.

2025-01-27 13:19:51 UTC

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There is that.
Though it is supposed to be able to "reason" better than other models, it replied to my discussion of axiomatic concepts with variations on, "people disagree so there is no such thing". Nothing I said budged it. I dumped it; I'll stick with llama models unless I find something better.

2025-01-27 12:06:22 UTC

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That's the second person I've heard do that. America needs more people like them, especially this guy, who seems to have really done a lot of growing.

2025-01-27 11:58:22 UTC

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LOL, did you know that DeepThink R1--from a Chinese entity--refuses to answer questions about Mao's murders, Tienenman square, and Winnie-the-Pooh?

2025-01-27 11:54:05 UTC

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I'd say that it comes from the fact that our national government seems to run itself independently of what people think it will or should do. If it isn't doing what it is supposed to, "of course" some sinister masterminds must be running the show.

2025-01-23 15:52:29 UTC

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Apparently it's more than just the one sub. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77r1p887e5o

2025-01-23 13:01:05 UTC

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LOL, I got banned there for calling out the outright lies of some trumpettes. Oh well, there are plenty of other Objectivism-related subreddits if I get the urge.

2025-01-15 05:42:18 UTC

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"I know nothing!"
:)

2025-01-09 08:22:27 UTC

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The last time I was asked my preference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, I replied that that was like asking me whether I prefer the water I'm to be drowned in to be rose scented or lemon scented.

2025-01-01 07:10:32 UTC

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That's the "A is A" crowd. As an actual Objectivist, I can spot those fakes a mile away. There is one on twitter that actually calls himself "Ayn Rand Cultist"! But my favorite "OMG that's an Objectivist?!?" is a guy who runs an Objectivist forum who is an outright MAGAt and conspiracy thinker.

2024-12-17 18:27:29 UTC

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Big Apple Is Watching!

2024-12-05 19:15:43 UTC

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Why not? And if Trump is not that evil (I don't think he is), someone will, sooner or later. That's why I say that that ruling spelled the end of the American republic.

2024-12-05 11:13:34 UTC

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As the joke goes: "What did socialists use before candles?" "Electricity."

2024-11-27 19:47:16 UTC

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My feed is nearly empty, primarily because I haven't gone looking off liberdon and most of liberdon is....unsavory. I'd probably be more active on Mastodon were it not for the UI; it's just too much of a pain to get off one's server.

2024-11-06 21:44:11 UTC

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That's what I figure; there's no other way I can think of that that text would appear in the metadata and not have been in the article at some time. Somebody needs to tell them to fix their metadata when they stealth edit. :)

2024-11-05 07:28:47 UTC

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Unless it's intended as a vote against Harris, as the lesser of two evils. I think she is the lesser evil, but the lesser evil is still evil.

2024-10-16 22:18:39 UTC

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When a future historian gives a timeline of the American republic, they will cite that immunity ruling as its end. There is now nothing short of violence to stop a clever and evil president from becoming a dictator. (Fortunately, neither Trump nor Harris are clever.....)

2024-10-14 17:55:43 UTC

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I run multiple browsers for just that reason. If some site wants an anti-security feature enabled, I start a fresh browser, do what I need to do, then toss the fresh browser.

2024-10-05 19:22:41 UTC

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I'd add "revulsion" to that.

2024-10-04 22:17:49 UTC

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It's a silly question, since on the premise of supernaturalism, evidence does not exist. It's like asking, "If there was a square circle would you worship it?"

2024-10-02 11:59:01 UTC

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Not to mention what will likely be many thousands of actual American citizens who will be threatened with deportation or actually deported.

2024-10-01 08:24:07 UTC

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Every once in awhile, I find myself nodding in near complete agreement with Freddie DeBoer, an avowed Marxist.

2024-09-29 07:32:48 UTC

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I gave up on them long ago.

2024-09-07 01:26:30 UTC

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"Its not a First Amendment violation as such for a Senator to ask a private organization to suspend someones account".
I think it should be. No action by a government official that affects rights should evade due process. And there is no meaningful way to distinguish the official's public and private self in that circumstance.