Pharmaceutical Companies and Doctors make Millions for doing what would put you in Jail

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Tom Liberman

If you fear that I’ll grow tired of railing against the failed and incredibly destructive War on Drugs then you can rest easy. The War on Drugs has been a total disaster for the vast majority of people in the world and I’m going to tell you why yet again. I’ll also use a news story that is in all the headlines to illustrate my point.

The War on Drugs was designed to stop illegal drug use and make illegal drugs harder to get. From a purely practical perspective it has failed completely. More people use drugs than ever before and they are more readily available than ever before despite flashy news stories about huge drug busts.

Our government has locked up huge numbers of adults for voluntarily purchasing drugs or selling drugs to an eager and willing market. Meanwhile doctors and pharmaceutical companies are doing exactly the same thing and making millions, nah, billions of dollars. More people die overdosing prescriptions drugs than illegal drugs.

Our police officers have been turned from heroes of the community into jackbooted thugs because of The War on Drugs. They tear families apart and terrorize the citizens of their communities. They degrade themselves. They subject themselves to horrible dangers and not infrequently die or suffer terrible injuries that need never have happened. The War on Drugs has not only torn apart the community but the entire police force. The police are forced by City Hall to rely on seized money to fund themselves. This too is a product of the War on Drugs. Police officers no longer say they “Protect and Serve” but merely they “Uphold the Law”. That’s bad for the community and horrible for the officers.

I speak out against the War on Drugs on the behalf of officers. If only they could go back to Protecting and Serving. They would be all the better and so would we.

And while all this horror is going on the doctors and pharmaceutical companies get rich. Rich! Stinking rich. Doing what? Selling drugs that are exactly the same chemically as those arbitrarily made illegal and sold at a huge markup to willing and eager customers. I want law enforcement officers to think about that. You police officers out there who are inclined to get angry at me for my rantings against the War on Drugs. Think about that. The government is using you to suppress competition for doctors and pharmaceutical companies from cheap alternatives to their cash cows. And it’s killing you. Killing your friends. Killing them!

While you’re risking your life to increase the profit of a pharmaceutical company the executives are dining at fancy restaurants and laughing at you. Ask yourself, brave and dedicated officers, why aren’t you busting doctors for selling far more of the exact same drug than any street dealer you will ever encounter? Why are you risking your life for them? Because only when we the people, and that includes you officers, decide that enough is enough will it stop.

We must end the War on Drugs. What an adult does with her or his body is up to them. Perhaps it is detrimental. Perhaps it is stupid. Perhaps it is deadly. But it is their decision.

There is no justification for what is happening and this story illustrates the point yet again.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Why is Christian McCaffrey Skipping the Sun Bowl?

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Tom Liberman

There’s a big story in the sports world and it’s generating a lot of passion on both sides of the proverbial ball. One of the top college running backs, Christian McCaffrey of Stanford, has decided not to play in the Sun Bowl. People seem to be of two minds and both express their point of view with vigor.

One side seems to think that McCaffrey has betrayed his teammates, his fans, his coaches, and the people who will attend the game, for which he was a star attraction. The other expresses the idea that a large payday awaits him in the NFL and avoiding injury in the game could potentially save him a lot of money. I think both sides have their merits but what I’d like to discuss first is the reason McCaffrey has chosen this course of action.

The root of the issue is certainly money. Many players have been injured in such games in the past, this is fact. The position you are drafted when entering the NFL greatly effects the amount of money you make. A first five picks gets a contract worth approximately $8 million more than someone taken eight picks later. That’s a lot of money. That’s what is driving McCaffrey’s decision. If he gets even modestly hurt at the Sun Bowl he could easily drop that many places in the draft. If severely hurt it could be much more.

McCaffrey is enumerated nothing for his participation in the Sun Bowl which pays the participating schools over $4 million. That money comes from television contracts, ticket sales, sponsorship, and other sources. During the week of the game players for both sides will participate in many events which generate money for various establishments in the region. They will sit at tables where people have paid large amounts to be seated near them. They will sign memorabilia that is auctioned for more money. They will be paid nothing for all of this.

This stark contrast in the amount of money McCaffrey gets at college as compared to what he gets after college drives his decision; for good or ill. We cannot ignore the reality of the world. Whether we like these facts or not is irrelevant. Perhaps we think professional players get too much money. Maybe we think college players should get more.

I am not in disagreement with either side of this debate. Leaving his teammates, coaches, and fans without his services in this final game is not a nice thing to do. Risking $8 million or more to play in a game that gives you nothing except potentially negatives consequences seems like a darned bad idea.

What I know as a Libertarian is that McCaffrey is the one who gets to make the decision. Not me. He should do what is best for him. As should we all.

I leave with a final poll. Think about it for a moment before answering.

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Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Is Your Grocer Stealing from You? Probably.

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Tom Liberman

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that she’s been weighing her food of late and noticed a trend. Certain grocers systematically short you on weight. Let’s say you purchase a pound of turkey but when you put it on the scale it is .97 lbs. While .03 lbs is a small amount, it adds up over thousands and millions of purchases.

The state of New York recently fined Whole Foods for this practice. The behavior essentially steals a few pennies from consumers each time they make a purchase. If the mistake is random and sometimes the weight is over and sometimes it is under then it should all balance out in the end. However, if the mistake is systematically lower, then consumers are being charged for a huge amount of product they have not purchased. This is stealing. Plain and simple.

If the weight is short again and it again it proves the butcher or whichever employee or machine is doing the packaging is fully capable of measuring accurately and chooses to put in less. This is a conscious and measured decision to steal with the hope that no one will really care enough about the tiny difference to complain. There is no excuse for this behavior. It is illegal and fines of $500,000 like that which the state of New York imposed on Whole Foods is one way to stop it. This method relies on a state that is willing to prosecute. This is a big assumption. Rather than change their practices it might well be in the financial interest of the grocer to simply give out piles of money to politicians in the hopes of garnering favor. It happens all the time.

Another way, a better way, a more Libertarian way, would be to file charges against the person, not the corporate entity, who packaged the meat or the person who programmed the machine that is packaging the item. If that person is found guilty of theft then I find it reasonable to assume that all the other people who are engaging in this practice will stop. I think even just the act of filing charges against individuals would be enough to change the practice nationwide. A few dozen cases of consumers taking matters into their own hands would have a profound effect.

What individual is willing to risk prison for so little personal gain? I do not deny this path is more difficult than relying on the state. We have to hire a lawyer. We have to go through a time-consuming process. But I think the solution is better for everyone. Honest grocers. People buying and packaging.

This is my interpretation of what it means to be a Libertarian in a nutshell. Don’t rely on an inherently unreliable state to protect you. Don’t sue your grocery store. Charge the person who is stealing from you. The person who perpetrated the crime. Not the faceless corporation. This forces personal responsibility upon society. And that is a good thing.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Pizzagate, Media Accountability, Personal Responsibility

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Tom Liberman

Twitter, Fake News, Facebook, Mainstream Media, Conspiracy Theory, Alt-Right, BLM, Obama, Trump, and on and on. What is real news? What is fake news? What is partially real news? What is mostly real news with a few fake facts. What is a mistake? What is mostly fake news with a few real facts?

Crazy people do violent things based on false news.

What can be done about all this fake news? I’ll tell you what can be done about it but you’re not going to like the answer.

Nothing.

There is nothing to be done about people who spread false information, people who lie. There has never been anything to do about them. Because of enormous advances in the ability of people to communicate with one another using social media; the limitations to disseminating information are largely gone. Anyone can say anything and broadcast the message anywhere instantly. That cat is out of the proverbially bag, if there ever was a bag.

So are we doomed to an endless series of people acting on false information to hurt and even kill innocents? Probably but not necessarily.

There is a solution. It doesn’t involve jailing people who lie or controlling the media. It’s actually relatively simple. Teach children to think critically. Make people understand that facts are important. Teach everyone that you cannot just believe whatever theory you come across because it matches your political ideology.

If you are a critical thinker that is not enough. When one of your friends or relatives puts out false information call them on it. I’ve done so and I’ve been unfriended on Facebook for it. I’ve been attacked. Vilified. I’ve been called all sorts of names, mostly involving my intellectual abilities or lack thereof. So be it.

I give out this warning to all my friends. All my family. All my social media acquaintances. If you say something stupid I’m going to point out the stupidity of your post with arguments. If you post false news stories I’m going to reply with facts. If you don’t like it … well … don’t get mad at me. Get mad at yourself. Or, get mad at me, I don’t care. The only person I can control is myself. I will do so zealously. You’ve been warned.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Tim Tebow and the Power of Self-Delusion

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Tom Liberman

There’s an interesting story in the sports world about a fellow named Tim Tebow that is drawing a considerable amount of attention.

First a little background. Tebow was a star quarterback in college although his skills did not translate very well to the NFL. Many people predicted that, for various reasons, he would never make it as a quarterback in that league.

He was drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos well above where scouts had rated him to be picked. His performance with the Broncos was statistically poor although the team won games with him at the helm and went to the playoffs. Eventually he was replaced by Peyton Manning and tried to gain employment with various other teams. It is this part of his story that garners my interest. Tebow was eventually signed by the New England Patriots who are quarterbacked by Tom Brady. Brady is considered by many as one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history.

In excerpts from his soon to be released novel Tebow expresses the idea that he thought he was going to be the quarterback of the future with New England. That he would learn from Brady, take over the team, and lead them to Super Bowl championships. Most people who watched Tebow play and practice consider this opinion delusional. By almost all standards of evidence they were correct. Tebow was cut by the Patriots in the preseason proving those doubters correct. But there’s more to it than that, I think. That’s what I want to examine. Is there something to be said for boundless optimism even if the evidence strongly negates hope?

It’s good to be confident in your abilities and to take on challenges that seem beyond your current skills. People who have this delusional belief in self often end up succeeding where those of a more grounded nature, me for example, would never even make the attempt. Of course, they end up failing spectacularly as well. That is the more general result of taking on a challenge that is beyond your skills.

It’s clear Tebow’s dreams of becoming a great quarterback and winning Super Bowls, just as his chances of being a major league baseball player, were and are extremely unlikely. But the idea of being a player in the NFL was not. He was a player in the NFL. He had high goals but went about achieving them by working at lower level goals. Making the team. Learning the offense. He’s a hard worker. He doesn’t quit easily.

I write my novels and I work hard at it. I’ve written nine. I dream of my books selling millions of copies. I dream of movies and television shows being fashioned from them. Those dreams are about as likely as Tebow’s Super Bowl dreams. But I won’t quite writing. I’ll keep trying to become a better writer. I’ll try to write better novels. I’ll try to promote my novels and my blog.

Dream high but act realistically. Work hard but have alternate plans in case of failure. People who have delusions about their own abilities often succeed beyond all realistic expectations.

You never know, sometimes that self-delusion might somehow result in amazing success. Some of the greatest stories in history were made by people who were more than a bit self-delusional about their abilities.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

The End of Money

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Tom Liberman

Yesterday I explained why I dream of a world with 100% unemployment and today I plan to explain how the End of Money will play a part in this process.

First it’s relatively important to understand the concept of money. Basically we use money in three ways.

As a Medium of Exchange, as a Unit of Account, and as a Store of Value

In essence we can trade things that are largely valueless for things with value. A piece of paper, a coin made of a metallic material, whatever, for things of intrinsic value like food and supplies. We can measure our wealth with stored assets, the worth of our business, etc.

It’s my opinion that eventually there will be no need for money. There will come a point when energy is largely limitless and free and with that comes the ability to manufacture and produce for a drastically lower price. When we can grow endless crops and transport them all around the world for virtually nothing there is no need to have a price on food. When fabricators in your house can create virtually any item you might want quickly and with only the need for raw materials there is no need for shopping or for goods at all for that matter.

Yes, I’m a Utopian.

The point is once we don’t need to buy things, when things are readily available for everyone, then there is no need for money. As a Randian Libertarian I’m of the opinion that money has served a valuable purpose in advancing society to the point where it no longer needs money. Money is one of the rewards for achievement and we want to encourage achievement. Eventually it will be an obsolete reward. The reward for achievement will simply be the great joy it brings us. When we accomplish we feel good about ourselves.

Some people will have robots to tend their perfect lawns and others will work on their gardens themselves simply for the great satisfaction they get from doing so. I will write my books not to make millions but to bring myself happiness and hopefully to entertain others. I will create and play in role-playing games for the enjoyment of doing so, not any financial gain.

This is a truer ideal than doing something for money. Money is certainly necessary today when there isn’t the abundance that is coming. Money is not evil or wrong. It’s just not the point. It’s ancillary to why we do things, why we achieve.

Imagine a world in which people can largely have whatever they want. Some people will want yachts and fancy houses but those are merely manifestations of the accumulation of wealth. When we no longer need wealth, we will be free to focus on the things that are truly important. When we have true and simple comfort then fancy becomes less valuable. We will focus on relationships with family, friends, and lovers. We will strive for achievement because we know it will bring us happiness. That will be a world indeed.

I suspect I won’t be alive to see it. But it’s coming.

Tom Liberman

My Goal is 100% Unemployment

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Tom Liberman

Yep. That’s the world I want to live in. A world where no one has to work.

Now it’s important to define what I mean by work. Work is what we do to make money. Not labor we perform. I’m a big believer in doing things, achieving things, building things, and general accomplishment. I think those are the things that make us happy. That being said; I think the general idea of unemployment is completely backwards. Economists, real ones and the armchair version that posts on Facebook and comments sections of news articles, are all wrong. Completely and totally wrong.

100% unemployment is the goal we need to seek, not 5% or whatever economists call healthy. We need machines to do all the work. We should be thrilled when they take away our jobs.

Imagine a world in which machines do all the labor and people are free to do as they please, that you have eighteen hours a day to be with your family, to be with your friends, to pursue your hobbies. What would you do? Work? No. Achieve at a never before seen level? Yes.

Again, it’s important to distinguish the idea of work from the idea of accomplishment. If I didn’t have to work I wouldn’t sit idly eating food. I’d go to the gym more often. I’d write more novels. I’d play more video games. I’d play more Dungeon and Dragons with my friends.

The question on your lips is one with which I’m familiar. Who would make the video games? Who would get the food?

It would be a combination of automated robots and people who like doing those things. There are many tens of thousands of people out there working on video game projects because they enjoy it. They release them as Open Source Freeware. Just as my novels would be free for all to enjoy. Farmers largely enjoy their labors. They love growing the food and knowing it is feeding people. It gives them great fulfillment, as well it should. Sure robots would do a lot of that but there are plenty of people in this world who love doing things. Not necessarily working but achieving.

When people are free to achieve all day long why would you imagine productivity would go down? I’m going to write about the End of Money tomorrow but for the moment imagine you don’t have to make money to survive. Would you just sit around all day doing nothing? Perhaps a few among us would do so but I think the vast majority would use that free time to pursue productive ends. They would learn new languages, gather with friends to make music, improve their bodies and minds.

Imagine a world with 100% unemployment. I do.

Tom Liberman

What the word Fart has to Say about Your Integrity

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Tom Liberman

There’s a silly news story making the rounds that gives me an opportunity to ask you a question, so I’m going to do it.

Politician Michelle Rempel said the word “fart” in regards to how the province of Alberta was being treated by the Canadian Parliament. The leader of the opposition party, Elizabeth May, thought the word lacked decorum and called out Rempel. A war of words ensued.

What I want to examine is the idea that the word itself has no meaning at all to most people. It is the person who says it. Let’s pretend you have no idea what political parties Rempel and May represent. You simply know Rempel said the word fart in a place where normally one uses decorum.

I want you to think introspectively about yourself and your past behavior when answering this poll. Don’t immediately answer. Think about it. Then give me an answer.

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It’s my opinion that the vast majority of people are totally influenced by party affiliation. Which side they take on this issue has nothing to do with the word itself but the party affiliation of the person who said it. I’m also of the opinion that most people who answer this poll will deny that. They will answer that party affiliation has nothing to do with their answer.

Thus, I guess I’m saying most people I know will lie in order to support their political agenda. And they will do it with little awareness they are lying. They will tell their lie and believe they are telling the truth. Worse even than the means justify the ends. Lying supports the party I like and therefore it is the truth.

It’s my opinion this is where we are as a country, not just in Canada.

Finally I will discuss my opinion on the controversy although I hope you answer the poll before reading.

Rempel was in violation of simple decorum but not enormously, it was an impassioned speech. May was out of line in publically attacking Rempel. She should have simply pulled her aside quietly and suggested that such language is probably not best in parliament. Perhaps Rempel might have stood up the next day and explained that her passion carried her away and that she is sorry for her choice of words if not for the message. Maybe even have thanked May for pointing it out. Then May might have reciprocated explaining that she understood and heard Rempel’s message. That they might try to work together to solve the problem.

But then again, I’m just a silly dreamer who thinks we are headed toward Utopia.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

The Duterte Blueprint to Ensure a Terrorist State

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Tom Liberman

There’s a politically fascinating situation going on in the Philippines that I find instructive in the nature of the state in regards to freedom and safety.

A fellow named Rodrigo Duterte was elected as president of the Philippines on a platform of eradicating drug users and dealers on the island. As mayor he at least allowed, if not aided, vigilante groups in beating and murdering drug dealers and users, including children. As president he has continued those policies nationwide. He has also largely banned smoking in the Philippines. In his latest speech he promised to suspend legal protections if terrorist activities continue on the island. That’s what I find so interesting.

Duterte is applauded by those who wish to fight terrorism and drug abuse. They love a “hard-line” policy where those who are suspected of such crimes are arrested and punished severely, often times suspending laws designed to protect citizens in order to do so. We see a similar attitude the world over. Kill the drug dealers that are preying on our children. Kill anyone we suspect of terrorist ties regardless of legal protections. The normal rules do not apply. We must suspend the laws in order to promote our safety.

As a Libertarian I am amused.

Duterte’s actions not only fail to protect the people of the Philippines from drugs and terrorists but actively make the problems worse. This is a counter-intuitive concept to be certain. How can locking up suspected drug dealers, users, and terrorists encourage them? Easy. The laws we have that protect the few who might well be guilty of being drug users and terrorists also protect the many who are not. When we suspend those laws people who are not terrorists, not drug dealers, and not drug users are imprisoned indiscriminately by government agents. Those people have friends and families. When the legal protections are removed we empower sadistic government employees who use their unfettered power to punish their personal and business foes. It is inevitable.

For every drug dealer Duterte orders killed there is an innocent who suffers the same fate. The people of a nation begin to realize they have no legal protections. That the government can and will take what they want, when they want, from whomever they want. It starts with the poor who have no advocates but it always spreads. Soon the government is taking over businesses for the money they will generate. Soon they are imprisoning political enemies.

When the people have no legal recourse they resort to illegal methods. Terrorism.

This is the juxtaposition between advocating tough laws and the reality such legislation creates.

If the people continue to allows such behavior from their political leaders then the nation will inevitably slide toward dictatorship. As more and more people clamor against an oppressive government, said government resorts to more extreme measures to put them down, thus creating more dissidents.

Only when people have real freedom does government for the people and by the people function properly.

Freedom is free, it’s just not safe. Terrorists and drug dealers must be afforded the same protections we demand for law-abiding citizens. That means bad things sometimes happen. The alternative is that worse things happen.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

We will soon be Immortal Giants Astride the Galaxy

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Tom Liberman

With the recent election finally ending I wanted to interject a note of madness into the many and strident conversations taking place. It just doesn’t matter. Clinton or Trump or Johnson. None can stop the storm that is coming. I see the future so clearly.

The day will soon be here when advances in medicine will make people all but immortal. Anything broken will be fixed with genetic repair done by fantastical repair cells or even more marvelous nanorobots.

Technological breakthroughs will clean the water and air.

Transportations breakthroughs will take us around the globe in a few hours.

Enormous amounts of energy will be all but free and thus the world will be green. There will be more than enough food and water for everyone. Energy not a problem? Two hydrogens and an oxygen and the world is green. No more hunger or thirst.

The religion/nation state? Gone. It’s in the last paroxysms of life. Cling to it all you want but it is a dead thing.

With abundant energy, food, and limitless health people will be free. Free to focus on their passions. Building model trains. Playing dungeons and dragons. Watching an endless stream of entertainment created by an equally endless stream of entertainers. All empowered by technology.

When no one is hungry. When no one is without shelter. When no one is mentally ill. There will be no one to hate. There will be no nations. Just groups of friends doing things they enjoy with each other.

There will be no one to build things you claim? Ha. We love to build. We love nothing more than to create and to accomplish. That is what brings us happiness. It will be a unimaginable age.

A Utopia so grand it is beyond my imagination and yet I see it. Coming, inexorably. It cannot be stopped.

We will be immortal giants astride the galaxy.

The pain you feel at an election loss is a grain of sand in your shoe. The joy you feel at an election win is a pleasant wind on a warm day. They are nothing. Soon you will see. Soon you will know.

Your children will laugh at your foolishness but love you all the same.

Tom Liberman

Clown Ban in Kemper County Mississippi

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Tom Liberman

Sometimes it’s just too much and a Libertarian wants to throw his arms up in the air and scream, “Take it. Take this country and do what you will. You’ll be begging for help not long after I get out of your way and let you have what you want. Take it! Take it all.”

Clowns. Clowns! For the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Clowns!!

I suppose not everyone has heard about the rash of clown sightings sweeping the western world. People dressed in clown costumes have apparently committed a few crimes and sightings of many more scary clowns have been reported although not substantiated.

Salem Witch Trials?

Mindless fear?

Legislation that prevents people from wearing a costume?

Sheer idiocy replacing any sense of rational thought, reason, the Constitution of the United States.

Freedom. Anyone heard of it?

Target has the right to stop selling clown suits, it’s their business, it’s stupid but they can do as they want. When there are actual laws against dressing in a clown suit then something is seriously wrong with this world.

Rant, rant, rant, rant, rant. Who cares. No one is listening. Safety has surpassed freedom. People will give up big freedoms and little ones for the illusion of safety. We’ll see how safe you are when you get what you want. Don’t come crying to me.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Britney Spears Getting it Together

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Tom Liberman

About the only place I get entertainment news is when I’m watching television at the gym and for the second time I’ve got a heartening Britney Spears story to talk about.

To put the news fully into perspective I think it’s important to know a little bit of history about Spears. She earned great success at 18 years of age with the hit song … Baby One More Time. This success brought her fame and fortune and all the good and bad attendant in those double-edged blades. By the age of 26 her life was beginning to unravel in a number of ways including drug addiction.

I’m not big on passing judgment. We’re all adults and responsible for our actions. Money and fame at a young age is not always easy to handle and many succumb to various temptations. Many are never able to recover. Spears made a mess of her life and she is responsible. Eventually her father took control of her finances and various other aspects of her life.

She is now performing in Las Vegas on a regular basis and that’s what this story is all about.

Spears suffered what is now called a wardrobe malfunction. Her top all but came off. It is quite likely there were many people in the audience who came to Las Vegas specifically to see Spears sing. Losing your top on stage in front of a large audience cannot be called anything other than traumatic. Spears handled it like a seasoned professional. She clutched her top to her chest and kept singing. Two of her dancers helped her button back up. The top malfunctioned again. Spears again went on with the show while a backup singer literally gave her the shirt off her back. She continued to sing throughout.

Now I’m sure many people will point out backup music was likely playing and Spears could probably have stopped for a moment with no serious repercussions. That’s certainly true but it makes no difference to my eyes.

She knew there were people in the audience who paid their money to see her. They traveled great distances to see her and she wasn’t going to let them down, even if it meant they got to see a little more of her than decorum would normally dictate.

I’m not a big fan of popular music but her spirit of professionalism is a shining example to everyone in all walks of life. The show must go on. Well done, young lady. Well done, indeed.

Tom Liberman

Friendship vs Politics

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Tom Liberman

It’s been a rather awful political season and I’ve seen any number of friendships tested because of political differences. I’m a Libertarian so that means most of my friends think I’m an idiot. And, obviously, most of my friends actually are idiots! 😉

So I’m pondering the nature of friendship.

It’s one of the most important concepts in human history. It is friendship that binds people together. Friends find one another and choose to stay together. You are born to a family but you pick your friends. You pick them. Over the course of your life you keep some and lose others. In this modern age of communication it’s possible to maintain friendships with no concern for physical proximity.

These good friends will be with you for the bulk of your life. They help you overcome adversity. They go forth on adventures with you. They work with you and help you succeed in every aspect of life. In many ways they are more important than family. I think it can be argued that your friends are the most valued and treasured things in your life. More than anything else.

Aside from physics and a bit of biology; friendship built this world upon which you reside. Friendship created virtually every thing you value. Friendship.

Politics? Whatever.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Sotomayor and Scalia Misleading Headline

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Tom Liberman

Ah, one has to love those misleading headlines. This one involves Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and former Justice Antonin Scalia who passed away early in 2016.

The headline intimates that Sotomayor was so angry at Scalia that she wanted to hit him with a baseball bat. Those are the words she uses but the full quote gives a very different impression.

Here it is: I’ve told people there are things he said on the bench when if I had a baseball bat, I might have used it, but when you work so intimately with people, you get to know the really personal good side of them.

Essentially she is saying despite differences they grew to respect and like each other. Or at least she him although I suspect the feeling was mutual. Certainly the friendship between Scalia and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was well documented. They might disagree, vehemently, on a position but they didn’t let that get in the way of their personal relationships.

Reading the comments there are two themes. One that someone should take a baseball bat to Sotomayor. The other that Sotmayor should have actually taken the bat to Scalia. Both are commentaries about We the People. How we handle disagreement. It’s a shame so few of us can behave like Sotomayor, Scalia, Bader Ginsburg and their colleagues.

This willingness to take political and ideological differences into a deeply personal and hate fueled realm does not bode well for the future of the Grand Experiment.

We are, the all of us, in this together. So few seem to recognize it anymore.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

What is Loyalty?

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Tom Liberman

The 2016 presidential election in the United State is certainly a depressing, if blog generating, affair. The latest turn has Donald Trump accusing Republicans like Paul Ryan of being disloyal. Loyalty is a topic that I examine thoroughly in several of my novels including The Broken Throne and The Gray Horn.

I can unequivocally state that loyalty is a quality that we should all admire. The dictionary definition of loyalty does not truly convey what the word means. It is one of the things that holds the fabric of society together.

The state or quality of being loyal; faithfulness to commitments or obligations.

Loyalty takes on many forms but at its essence it means that we trust and support people in our lives. It is being there when friends are in need. It is understanding that we can have disagreements but still be there. It is sacrificing our own well-being to ensure that those we love are safe or have things they need. It can be loyalty to a nation, to an idea, to a group, and to an individual.

I consider myself loyal to my Libertarian ideology. I take abuse for my thoughts. Quite a number of people who I consider friends have called me stupid to my face for such beliefs. I don’t hate them for it. I’m angry but if they needed my help I’d be there regardless. I’m loyal to the ideas of the United States even when things like the Patriot Act are part of that nation. I don’t agree. I fight against such things but I remain loyal to the ideas of the nation.

Loyalty is a good thing and we should surround ourselves with people who respect the idea. Who practice the idea. But we must be careful of those who speak most strenuously of loyalty and yet do not show any themselves. They are the thugs of the world who use words like loyalty and honor to manipulate those of us who respect such ideas into doing their bidding while in turn showing no such traits themselves.

In my novel The Sword of Water Jon Gray speaks rather directly to this idea in an important speech. I won’t repeat it here. Buy the book and read it. But the idea of his speech is very important.

There are certain people in this world who have no honor, no loyalty, who betray, back stab, and destroy anyone at anytime in order to further their own selfish ends. Thugs. They are to be particularly noted in that they condemn anyone who makes even the slightest objection to their rise as not having such traits. They understand the honorable and loyal will fall on the sword so to speak. That’s what good people do. Thugs manipulate that idea for their own gain.

I imagine you can see where I’m going with this. Donald Trump is the most disloyal human I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t pay his bills, he attacks former allies at the drop of a hat, he sues anyone at any time. He fires off hate filled diatribes at the slightest insult.

I understand there are many loyal people out there who defend Trump because they support the Republican Party or they support one or more causes in which they align with Trump. That’s fine. That’s your business. Vote for who you will.

I can only tell you one thing. Don’t expect that loyalty to be returned.

Tom Liberman

What is Locker Room Talk and What isn’t

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Tom Liberman

I don’t have to tell you what today’s blog is all about. Back in 2005 at the youthful age of 58, Donald Trump made some claims about how he behaves with women that are dominating the news cycle.

He has excused his words as Locker Room banter.

As many of my readers know I love sports but most are probably not aware that I played sports. I started at the age of 10 playing baseball and I was in locker rooms pretty consistently until I graduated college. I was no star but I can safely say I know a thing or two about locker rooms.

The following language is going to be harsh. If you are easily offended, triggered, or do not like vulgar talk then you should turn around and leave right now.

Locker room talk is largely men talking dirty about women. About what we’d like to do to a particular woman. I’m going to give some examples.

Example: “Did you see that bitch hanging out of her sweater in the front row? Tits as big as my head. I’d fuck her on the floor of a gas station bathroom.”

Response: “She was fine. Hellz ya.”

Example: “My wife is a dirty whore who sucks like a vacuum cleaner.”

Response: “Lucky bastard.” “Does she have any sisters?”

It is less often about actual activity but can be.

Example: “See that ho in green? I met her last night if you know what I mean.”

Response: “Damn, brother. You best be careful where you put your horse cock or that thing might fall off.”

If is often filthy jokes that have no basis in reality.

Example: “That bitch was so loose I fell in and got lost. Luckily I found a McDonald’s in there.”

Response: “Har har.”

Locker room talk is vulgar. It’s rude. It’s almost universally not meant to be taken seriously. The details of what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom.

What Donald Trump said is not the kind of Locker Room talk with which I’m familiar. The locker rooms I frequented did not tolerate talking about other people’s wives, girlfriends, or sisters. It did not include bragging about actual acts of physical aggression toward women. The lockers rooms I spent much of youth in did not take lightly talk of assaulting women. The men in there have mothers and sisters. Anyone making the statements that Trump made would likely have found their head in the toilet.

To be very clear here. Locker rooms are filled with good looking, charismatic men, they often had sexual encounters with beautiful women. Only rarely did I hear even vague details about actual encounters. “Yeah, I made out with Karen last night.” Even telling other guys that you had sex with a particular girl was generally considered out of line. A real man doesn’t kiss and tell.

There is an enormous difference between, “I’d like to get my head between those legs” and “I grabbed her pussy. Because I’m rich, ha ha, she couldn’t stop me.”

Maybe those were just the locker rooms I was in. Maybe Trump was in different ones although I can find no record of him playing athletics at all.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Regulation Quagmire of EpiPen

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Tom Liberman

EpiPen is in the news and many people are angry.

There is, in fact, quite a lot to be angry about. The government encouraged the entire thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not absolving Mylan and CEO Heather Bresch of wrongdoing. They took advantages of a system to steal perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars from both the government and average people. But the system is all but designed to be abused.

EpiPen is a medical device that injects a measured dose of epinephrine. It was brought to market in 1987 after approval from the FDA. Things get quite complicated from there and I’ll try to summarize as best I can. If you want to know the entire sordid story read the Wiki article.

Basically the manufacturer of the device changed hands many times. Each time the new company aggressively sought to protect their patent, buy out competitors, and maximize their profit. The most recent company to acquire EpiPen is named Mylan.

The United States government helped Mylan greatly with draconian patent laws. In addition the FDA makes it extremely difficult and expensive to introduce competitive drugs to the market. Using these two factors to their advantage EpiPen managed to control a monopoly on the drug.

Price Gouging is largely not illegal so EpiPen can charge whatever they want for their product, and they did. However, if getting competitive products to the market was not so difficult, if the government did not tacitly help Mylan maintain their dominance in the market, bargain price manufacturers would certainly have undercut Mylan and restored the market to an equilibrium. In a word, capitalism.

In addition Mylan used a private non-profit called the National Association of State Boards of Education to influence, read bribe, state and local governments to pass laws protecting schools from all liability when using EpiPens. This meant schools across the nation purchased that particular product because it was legally, thanks to state government, less risky. The close ties between Mylan executives and the NASBE, Heather Bresch’s mother is the president having been appointed after large donations from Mylan, is disturbing if not illegal.

Into this mix comes Medicare. Medicare is an enormous government agency designed to make sure elderly people don’t go without medical care. Among their many regulations are different fees for generic and brand-name drugs. Generic drugs pay a significantly smaller rebate. Mylan listed the EpiPen as generic when it was clearly brand-name. This meant they didn’t rebate the government as much for purchases, to the tune of about $100 million. I can only guess agents in charge were bribed to ignore the listing.

How was all of this possible? I’ll tell you. Because the government is overly involved in business. If the government didn’t help Mylan get the monopoly in the first place the price issue wouldn’t exist. If the government didn’t have an insanely complex regulatory system associated with Medicare then taxpayers wouldn’t have paid Myland tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions for EpiPens. If state and local governments didn’t incentivize schools to purchase EpiPens in enormous numbers they wouldn’t have done so.

There aren’t simple answers to these problems. I don’t pretend there are. But I wouldn’t mind if people took note of the complicity of government in the EpiPen mess. In government’s integral role in the fraud. Mylan used the government but the government is designed to be used. It begs unscrupulous business owners to join the party.

Tom Liberman

Lessons from Trump Taxes

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Tom Liberman

There’s an interesting story in the news about Donald Trump and his various corporations paying no taxes. Some people are outraged and others think he’s a genius. Those are not the conclusion I draw from the story.

I’ve written about this before but I’ll go over it again.

The current tax rate on corporations in the United States is 35%. Many people argue, correctly, that this is far too high but somehow nothing ever gets done. Even when Republicans are in charge of Congress and the Executive Branch the rate stays the same despite all the complaining. Why is that?

Simple. Enterprise Businesses and rich people pay comparatively very little in taxes in relation to their percentage of wealth. The actual paid rate for corporate taxes amounts to about 11%. Why is that? Because Enterprise Businesses have access to an army of tax lawyers to find shelters. They pay little or nothing in taxes for the most part. Just like Donald Trump. Trump isn’t a genius, he’s an average wealthy person with a business and good tax lawyers. None of them pay much in taxes and that’s why they love the current system. That’s why it doesn’t change. Lobbyists from Enterprise Businesses and wealthy people ensure that it won’t change.

So who is paying taxes? Small and Medium businesses, you and me. We don’t have access to high-powered tax attorneys. We don’t have access to offshore shelters. We pay the huge rate. There’s a reason why a higher and higher percentage of all business earnings and employers are from Enterprise Businesses. The system is set up to give them an advantage and they love it.

The more complex the tax code the more the person who doesn’t have access to tax lawyers pays. The more the code is designed to stop the wealthy and powerful from paying the more it actually benefits them. They find the loopholes in the increasingly complex system that the small business owners and regular people cannot.

People argue against a Flat Tax because the perception is that it will cost regular people more. On paper this is true. Paper isn’t reality. In reality if the tax code was simplified the wealthy and powerful would pay more even as their supposed tax rate goes down. It’s all a shell game of deceit. The wealthy and powerful love the tax code that supposedly has them paying high taxes.

Simplify the code. That’s the lesson to be learned.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

97 to 1 Must be Bad Suing Foreign Nations JASTA

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Tom Liberman

The United States Senate just voted 97 – 1 to override a presidential veto of JASTA and that can only mean one thing. The legislation being proposed is either useless and/or dangerously stupid but helps the senators get elected.

In 2011 terrorists hijacked and piloted plans into several targets in the United States murdering thousands of innocent civilians. A heinous act of stupidity touching off events that ended up killing hundreds of thousands of people in Arab counties, who presumably were to benefit from the attack. So, utter failure.

The legislation in question is Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. It allows United States citizens to sue other nations when they have provided material support directly or indirectly to people who engage in terrorist acts against people of the United States. It excludes any act of war.

First off JASTA is probably a violation of our existing U.S. laws. That’s well and good but the real problem is something called comity.

Basically, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If U.S. citizens can sue foreign nations in our courts then we must certainly allow foreign citizens to sue the U.S. in their courts. Members of Congress acknowledge this fact readily enough and yet vote yes anyway, sigh. Bob Corker, a senator from Tennessee sums up what a lot of others who voted for this nonsense are saying: …concerns about what this bill’s going to mean to America.

What JASTA is going to mean for America is a big giant legal mess. Not only will the United States be liable for a drone strike that killed a civilian but so will everyone indirectly involved. Boeing and my friends and relatives who work at Boeing.

Hundreds of thousands of lawsuits will follow. Not that any of them have a chance of success but they’ll need to be dealt with in a real way.

And of course there’s that zero chance of success business. U.S. citizens can sue Saudi Arabia or another other country all they want. They aren’t getting a dime. It’s completely and utterly useless. I wouldn’t mind useless. When our politicians do useless things it keeps them occupied from doing damaging things. The problem is that this isn’t just useless. It’s damaging. It damages our ability to deal with other countries after we inevitably deny their legal claims against us.

This is our country. Short sighted and willing to propose and enact legislation that we know is bad simply to pander for votes.

Anytime I see a piece of legislation get a 97 – 1 vote I know it must be awful. Harry Reid of Nevada. Kudos to you, sir. A lone voice of reason.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Gray Horn
Next Release: For the Gray

Tom Liberman

Tales of Corland

Author Archives: Tom Liberman

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Is Your Grocer Stealing from You? Probably.

Tim Tebow and the Power of Self-Delusion

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My Goal is 100% Unemployment

What the word Fart has to Say about Your Integrity

The Duterte Blueprint to Ensure a Terrorist State

We will soon be Immortal Giants Astride the Galaxy

Clown Ban in Kemper County Mississippi

Britney Spears Getting it Together

Friendship vs Politics

Sotomayor and Scalia Misleading Headline

What is Loyalty?

What is Locker Room Talk and What isn’t

Regulation Quagmire of EpiPen

Lessons from Trump Taxes

97 to 1 Must be Bad Suing Foreign Nations JASTA