https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/ Politics & Philosophy by Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq. Podcast Generator 2.5 - http://podcastgen.sourceforge.net Sun, 19 Jan 2025 06:04:03 -0800 en © Martin Hash 2016 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/images/itunes_image.jpg https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/ Politics & Philosophy by Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq. Dr. Martin Hash Podcast Martin Hash Martin Hash Martin@Hash.com no Politics & Philosophy Who knew there could be so many unique & original ideas you had never heard before? Let's review: 1. Anyone who says they can predict the future is lying to get control over you. 2. When the inevitably economic collapse comes, America can use the upheaval to make some needed changes to its Constitution. 3. Climate-denial is a tactic whose intent is to stymie forces using the alarm for socialist subterfuge. 4. Public Transportation outside of metropolitan areas is part of the Poor People industry, and could be better performed with modern technologies. 5. Cap & Trade is a socialist scheme meant to redistribute Wealth from the U.S. to the Third World. 6. Nuclear energy is the scientific solution to the energy problem; any other proposed solution is political. 7. The value of space exploration is to spark the imagination & interest of budding scientists & engineers. 8. China is a Communist nation that uses Capitalism as a weapon against Capitalists. 9. Modern, supposedly non- profit charities are little more than usurious rackets. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_180_new_concepts_vol_16.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_180_new_concepts_vol_16.mp3 2:18 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 17 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy No concept has been quite so distorted, exploited & co-opted as charity, wrapped up as it is in religion, morals, paternalism, indoctrination, shunning, guilt & sympathy. Modern charitable organizations are mostly irredeemable, cynically used to cover for those whose intent is to extract wealth & self-esteem from others for themselves, and any intended beneficiaries assume a secondary role. There is no justification that allows 90% of donated funds to go into overhead, whatever scheme is being proposed or defended is de facto dishonest. Charity has become an industry as usurious as the worst mafia extortion racket. Worst of all, charity has become a method of control, both of the recipients & of the donors. Charities have no claim on you: they are simply someone else trying to impose their value system onto you. The worst kind claim their moral legitimacy overrides market forces feedback. They want to get paid the same as the private sector, advertise like the private sector, even raise money through the markets but without any form of oversight. And they use insult & derision as leverage, publicly calling people who don't contribute “cheap.” Hey, person of suspect motives, I respect you if you volunteer for your cause, but if you're under the false assumption that what you do is important to anyone else but yourself then that's all hubris on your part. Really, charity should be provided by retired people & people with underutilized skills. It shouldn't be a mechanism for conniving people to gain control over others or to set the agenda of what they consider important. I have no greater disdain than for sanctimonious twits who know-better-n-me. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_179_usurious_charities.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_179_usurious_charities.mp3 2:47 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash usurious, charity, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 15 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Market purists aren't sure what to make of China: on-the-one-hand, it's a Communist nation, but-on-the-other, they are cutthroat, no-holds-barred Capitalists using Market Theory to drag their multi-billion human nation from the Dark Ages into the forefront of modernity. Socialists are also in a quandary: on-the-one-hand, it's a Communist nation which is a positive for them, but-on-the-other, there is vast income disparity & inequality. Neither of the two extremes care much about liberty nor Civil Rights, so China usually escapes international censure when there's a Tiananmen Square incident. China also throws the “Free” Traders for a loop because they exploit the greed of the West without reciprocation. For example, China doesn't allow foreign companies to own control of their subsidiaries in China; China doesn't allow foreign powers to own their nation's natural resources; Chinese goods are always cheaper through currency manipulation; and Chinese consumers are indoctrinated to buy only Chinese goods. Also, China is effectively a World Power through trade without having to commit its blood or gold to foreign adventures. They eschew the role of World policeman, gladly leaving America stranded in that quagmire, and proving a nation need not look beyond its own borders for dominion nor feel concerned about the affairs of people's not its own. And if they want something like the South China Sea, they just take it. Who's going to stop them? China is a World Power without even trying. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_178_china.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_178_china.mp3 2:24 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash China, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The U.S. put a man on the moon from nothing in 1961 to "before the end of the decade" in 1969, less than 10 years, but it's been estimated it would take 10-15 years to put a man on the moon today because of safety, or whatever, I'm not quite sure? You'd think all the specialization & fixation on perfection would payoff somehow in space but we've become a society of automatons, our imagination captured by videogames & unemployment, everyone thinking someone else is doing better than they are. In fact, space has been co-opted by The Rich & private interests who want to make it into a tourist attraction. Imagination has value, mostly entertainment but it is also an important part of problem solving. Obviously age-appropriate imagination must be fostered & encouraged in children that naturally leads them into a career path they would find enjoyable. There's a reason police, fireman & astronauts have traditionally been America's go-to childhood heroes, way more positive role-models than athletes or entertainers, but the “social networking” generation is getting behind the curve. Every 8th-grader has a YouTube channel with 100,000 subscribers, and the last guy in space retired when he came home. Russia, China, Japan & India all seem to be keeping their meager Space programs alive but America is having trouble convincing its leaders that exploration into space provides its own reasons, the most important of which is in the imagination of those same 8th-graders. Right now, the mainstream media steers every kid towards being famous; instead let's go to mars and create 100,000 new scientists & engineers. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_177_space_exploration.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_177_space_exploration.mp3 2:33 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash space exploration, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 11 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy My generation of Americans was absolutely traumatized by the word “nuclear.” As a grade-schooler in Nevada, we practiced “duck-and-cover” several times a year which was supposed to protect us from earthquakes and atomic bombs. Even though our teachers reassured us the possibility of either was remote, impressionable young children cannot make such sophisticated distinctions, so we lived in constant fear of dying a horrible death from invisible rays that rotted our bodies from the inside. Consequently, my generation has an instilled fear of anything nuclear clear out of rational perspective of the facts. The ridiculous result is that we would rather burn our natural resources, pouring millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, leading to a nightmare scenario very similar to the one we feared as children from nuclear. Large power grids of wires running across the countryside seem so 20th Century. When the crunch comes, Middle Class people will spend what it takes to create & store their own power, probably via solar, but what about all the people in the cities, and those who can't afford to be their own energy barons? If the Climate Change alarmists are right, burning hydrocarbons is no longer a solution, but third-generation small, buried, single-purpose degradable nuclear reactors certainly are. As it stands, we can't even have the discussion even though it's the perfect solution for developing nations, and even though advanced nations like France have already been successful with old-style nukes. Nuclear-fearmongers seem to have a lot in common with terrorism-fearmongers, and both ill serve the nation & the World. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_176_nuclear_energy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_176_nuclear_energy.mp3 2:44 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash nuclear power, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 09 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Always be suspicious when apocalyptic predictions come out of no where that require the whole world to get involved or some unconscionable calamity will occur. Climate Change is the current bug-a-boo, but other common themes are epidemics, the population explosion, asteroids, genetically modified insects, or any number of nightmare scenarios that require Americans to give up their liberty and let some over-arching World authority take over for the good of everyone. Be especially careful of solutions that involve ill-defined goals based on debatable, emotionally-charged, uncontrollable factors, which is where Cap & Trade comes under consideration. Cap & Trade creates an artificial, labyrinthine complex, so-called “market” in emission credits to limit greenhouse gases, but in reality it limits nothing, but instead is a wealth transfer from rich nations to poor. Cap & Trade was created by bureaucrats for bureaucrats a couple decades ago, and was even adopted for a short period by some countries, such as Australia, that quickly abandoned the whole enterprise when its predictable flaws became woefully obvious. Worldwide Cap & Trade would be prone to exploitation at best, but most probably would result in criminality, outrage, and increased human discord. Whatever Cap & Trade’s intended purposes are for saving the world, it's more likely an engineering nightmare and political cancer. Whatever solution Americans finally adopted to limit greenhouse gases, the inevitable tax money it generates should stay here, not financing some Third World dictator's lifestyle. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_175_cap__trade.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-12_175_cap__trade.mp3 2:37 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash cap & trade, cap and trade, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 07 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The argument against driverless cars is similar to protectionism arguments: what about the jobs? And the foes are also similar too: unions, environmentalists who don't like cars in the first place, and socialists who want all people treated the same which is code for mass transit. Foes also include conservatives & other Luddites who are afraid of advancing technology & would rather it happened after they were dead. However, nothing is going to stop the coming of driveless cars because they make sense for a multitude of reasons: they will reduce commuter traffic congestion & improve safety with better driving. Also, driverless cars can replace mass transit because they are more convenient, secure, and they pickup & deliver on target which is better for the handicapped & elderly. Special Interests are going to be dogging every State legislature & City council against driverless cars. It's going to take some federal level action to break status quo., and in fact, a $60 million prize is waiting for the city that designs the best plan for driverless cars, after which the Dept of Transportation will subsidize other cities across the nation to adopt it. 78 cities participated in the contest: for example, Columbus, Ohio’s plan is to build a network of on-demand driverless shuttles for seniors and the disabled, WiFi kiosks would check routes and take fares, transmitters would be installed on thousands of city owned vehicles to automatically route around traffic incidents and major events, and it would gradually expand to include all potential commuters who would find things easier, more convenient & cheaper to simple indicate their travel plans on a smart-phone app and let technology do the rest. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_174_driverless_cars.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_174_driverless_cars.mp3 2:34 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash driverless cars, self-driving vehicles, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 05 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Outside of the major metropolitan areas, the real reason there is a constituency for mass transit is the “poor people” industry: poor people can’t afford cars, old people can’t drive, cars are unsafe, travel distinguishes class, and other subliminal motives. Stripped of self-righteous evangelical fervor, pro-mass transit arguments collapse. Most people are willing to subsidize some amount of public transportation for humanitarian reasons but socialist types argue that the public is entitled to transportation, arrogant “urban planners” say they know what is best for us, and the public employee unions protect their own selfish interests: all of which ultimately cause the concept of public transportation to lose any moral legitimacy. Big buses driving fixed routes is out-of-date, inefficient, ineffective & expensive. It's an anachronism that should be completely dismantled as there are other solutions that solve the problems that mass transit is purported to serve. For example, Smart-phone Ride Apps like Uber & Lyft are available right now & low-income riders could be given a subsidy. The driver would be paid & passengers would have the convenience of being picked up in front of their home & being dropped off exactly where they want to go. At peak times, many drivers would make themselves available because of the work opportunity, while during slow times there would be no high cost infrastructure to support, all due to the magic of Free Markets. Unfortunately, entrenched Special Interests like unions, especially the Public Transportation Union, will adamantly oppose a private sector solution, but the writing is on the wall. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_173_public_transportation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_173_public_transportation.mp3 2:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash public transportation, mass transit, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 03 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Climate Change denial is a sophisticated tactical position: Climate-deniers don't actually believe their arguments, they simply don't want any of the proposed "solutions" imposed on America, all of which are insidious wealth redistribution schemes. It's easier to deny the whole thing, and it gets an Environmentalist's goat too, which Climate-deniers see as an especially savory benefit. If the debate changed to "prepare for the results of climate change" rather than "America's redistribution responsibility," then the Climate-deniers would probably go along. It's blatantly clear that the Climate-changers are using alarmism for dubious reasons, that the ulterior motive behind the Global Warming movement is a transparent power grab. Much of The World wants their vision to be the archetype: that borders are open, and all nations share in the chaos. Americans don't get it because only a subset of us have socialist leanings, so the majority of us are not aware of the subtext of what The World is proposing: that America should not be a liberty nation, and instead we must do-the-most-good-for-the-most-people. By denying Climate Change the deniers keep a stalemate going with little downside risk to their eyes: if the world is going to die, what can humans do about it? Of course, there is some sincere disbelief that the climate is changing or that humans caused it but that view belongs in the same realm of conspiracy theories. Climate-deniers are simply engaging in Amercain-style leverage politics. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_172_climate-deniers.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_172_climate-deniers.mp3 2:29 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash climate change, climate deniers, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 01 Jan 2025 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy America seems to be teetering on economic collapse: a large portion of the population feels disaffected, there is ever-increasing wealth disparity, grid-locked politics, Crony Capitalism, Climate Change, 10s of millions of people chronically unemployed, National Debt, and most importantly, people simply expect it because everyone has a natural tendency towards pessimism, it's probably evolutionary, and Doom-saying has been a staple in religion for millennia. From the macro perspective, hard times are coming but at the micro perspective, personal satisfaction and happiness with life won’t change too much. Extended families will have to live together with only one car and one “data” cell-phone plan; vacations will just be to Uncle Joe’s house on the river; fraternal and civic organizations will supplant private club memberships; and hollow pretensions will notably disappear. Certainly, science, education, sports, family, community and all the things that affect you personally; those things aren’t going to change in nature, only in specifics. Look how communities reacted during The Depression & WWII. If people are already settled in & mostly homogeneous, getting through very difficult financial times is workable & non-violent. You won't be buying kiwi & "gluten free" food, fewer trips to Jazzercize, only 5 pairs of shoes in the closet, & you'll have to cut down on the double-shot lattes, but medicine, basic food stocks & most institutions, public & private, will continue without much change. Certainly the Internet will exist, along with connectivity enough for social networks. The plain fact is, we need to discard the old ways because our problems are systemic. Nobody wants to give up what they got: the entrenched winners, especially those who are retired & no longer productive to society, have all the power now, and that has to change. When The Collapse comes there will be a chance to reorient.We'll pull through it, and the catastrophe will allow us to have a Constitutional Convention and change a few things. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_171_the_collapse.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_171_the_collapse.mp3 3:06 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash collapse, depression, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 30 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy There are a lot of people who are certain they can predict the future. Demagogues are particularly guilty of this personality trait: they make pronouncements about what will happen with no sense of humility nor doubt, constantly claiming some kind of special inborn ability to read people's minds, dissemble hidden motives & project the past into the present, because they want to be the seers & revelators that we all look to for leadership & advice. Politicians, especially, think they can predict the future. They have to because Top-down management only works if you have complete knowledge & know what's going to happen ahead of time, and preemptive war definitely requires being able to predict the future. Since these people think they are the only ones who can do that, it gives them control over the rest of us. The whole Climate-Changer strategy is an example: big emergency that only a special group of people at the top can predict; must implement now; do-as-we-say-because-we-know-best. Socialism rests on the concept of “the common good,” but what is good for one person may not be for another, and those who decide must be able to predict the future. But there is no one who-knows-better-than-you about what you want; there is no one who can make the calculus of “most good to the most people.” What makes liberty great is that we don't depend on others to predict our future. Every person is an expert on themselves and can make the best choice for themselves. Government's job is to facilitate & regulate that process, and keep the dictators off our backs. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_170_predicting_the_future.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_170_predicting_the_future.mp3 2:31 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash predicting, the future, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 28 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review another batch of original concepts guaranteed to make you sound provocative at a party: 1. Gay marriage is a matter of the law but what you do in your own church is your business. 2. A Liberal Arts education is important to prepare for college but is probably not a sound investment in your career. 3. Prestige degrees exploit the primitive desire for status, and distort the value of a real education. 4. Prohibition against illegal drugs has no rational explanation but ignorance & greed. 5. Prostitution would be legal if it simply had a constituency speaking on its behalf. 6. Medicine is more mysticism than science, and diversity is making it more so. 7. Doctors are no more exceptional than any skilled mechanic. 8. Most prescription drugs are ineffective; simply a racket perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry. 9. A more apt name for ObamaCare is Obamasurance, and the best that can be said for it is that it was a step in the right direction. 10. Anti-vaccine people are trying to make the world about them. 11. Mental illness is no more prevalent than it ever was but society has become more strict towards its manifestations. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_169_new_concepts_vol_15.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-11_169_new_concepts_vol_15.mp3 2:38 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 26 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy People are no different now than they ever have been, but back-in-the-day, if someone was bipolar or subject to depression, their small community knew about it & would make allowances, and taking care of children or working in the fields was hardly affected by non-physical maladies. In fact, many famous figures in history probably owe their exceptional achievements to mild forms of autism: for example, Thomas Jefferson was thought to have Asperger's, and bipolar people have always been common. A cocaine high is probably the closest feeling to the mania a bipolar person experiences and look how much people are willing to pay to use it. Unfortunately, bipolars have commensurate debilitating depressive episodes which our modern society will not accept. Now-a-days, people are answering product support calls, running tech, or overseeing construction: the same amount of out-of-society's-norm behavior is not possible because it may impact something important. Society's constraints have become very stringent and this has caused the definition of “mental illness” to expand such that a larger portion is now diagnosed as “mentally ill.” 10% of the entire U.S. population is taking some kind of psych drug, and a quarter of all women 40-60 years old are prescribed anti-depressives. Additionally, people can gain control by claiming a mental debilitation: they get sympathy, concern & often monetary reward, the expectations placed on them are reduced & they are not held responsible for their actions, up to & including murder. Combine this with increased anonymity from public censor and the rewards of claiming mental illness outweigh the penalties. Plus, the pharmaceutical industry perceives mental illness as a goldmine: patients must take expensive drugs for life, usually at government expense, even though most drugs don't work for most people. Doctors recognize this trend: the current mental disorder manual had its adoption delayed for years because they thought its description of autism & other vague diagnosis were too broad. Obviously, mental illness is both subjective & relative. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_168_mental_illness.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_168_mental_illness.mp3 3:09 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash mental illness, DSM, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 24 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Everyone wants control, and leveraging society's reverence towards children is a common method to grab it. Combine that with sanctimonious posturing & conspiracy theories and the anti-vaccine movement explains itself. The attraction to pseudoscience is also easy to understand because people want to think they know special information that gives them an advantage, and true science is difficult with lots of people having superior knowledge. Pseudoscience evens the playing field by making it subjective thereby preempting expertise. There are many unsubstantiated claims as to why someone would deny their children the protection of vaccination but the most influential was the totally bogus connection of vaccinations & autism. The fact is, the charlatan doctor who provided the cover for that belief has been censured: not only was his research a complete fraud but he had a company that was supposed to offer an alternative to vaccines so discrediting them would have made him a rich man. He's not a doctor now, got his license stripped, and his paper was the only one ever to be removed from publication. There are seemingly more autistic children now because they live longer, we don't institutionalize them anymore, they are mixing more in the mainstream & society is simply narrowing its definition of what's "normal." The other specious claim, that vaccines aren't 100% safe is also baldly aggressive: the fact is almost all drugs are less "safe" than vaccinations. People claim that forced vaccinations violates their liberty and they are correct but medical treatment is one of the socialist capitulations that overrides liberty. Statistically, a certain percentage of people are required to be vaccinated for it to work for everybody. Unfortunately, some parents think their precious little Johnny is so special that they won't even take the trivial chance of vaccinations: let other less important children do it. The center-of-the-universe aspect of that position is its own mental illness. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_167_anti-vaxx.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_167_anti-vaxx.mp3 3:13 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash anti-vaxx, vaccines, anti-vaccines, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 22 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy ObamaCare is the nickname given the Affordable Care Act but a more appropriate nickname would be “Obamasurance” because it does not provide healthcare, only insurance, and only through private companies, and only to those people who can navigate the relatively difficult steps to obtain it. Not only that, the Affordable Care Act is anything but affordable and does nothing to bring down the costs of healthcare. In fact, by putting a Third Party, the private insurance companies, into the middle, it guarantees healthcare will be even more expensive in the future. What we call "health insurance" today, even the Silver plans, would have been called "catastrophic insurance" 20 years ago because it only applied to very unlikely events. Today's Silver plan deductions are the same as the catastrophic plans of old. Essentially, someone has to spend $5000 before any "insurance" kicks in at all. Consider that a 2-earner Middle Class 3-children family earning $80K a year doesn't qualify for a subsidy, and after a couple years with healthcare's ever increasing costs, insurance will approach $3K/mo with $1000 deductible. With no company footing most of the bill, they simply can't afford it. And those healthcare costs will continue to increase since there is no cost containment. And there's the people against any kind of socialized healthcare. They disingenuously shout "Death Panels," and how doctors don't get paid enough, and how the U.S. leads the world in medicine. All lies & distortions to maintain the status quo, because these are the same people with retirement benefits, Medicare & the VA, so more patients are going to put pressure on their medical resources. They are the ultimate "screw you, I got mine" voting contingent. There is actually less Middle Class healthcare now than before Obamasurance because it costs so much, but the hospital business is booming, the insurance business is booming, and the pharmaceutical & medical supply business are booming: ObamaCare is not socialized healthcare, it's crony capitalism for insurance companies. Insurance & healthcare lobbyists are some of the most powerful Special Interests there are. Whether there's ObamaCare or not, healthcare is going to be out of the reach of most people: it's only a matter of time... Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_166_obamacare.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_166_obamacare.mp3 3:38 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Obamacare, ACA, Affordable Care Act, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 20 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy No industry has so completely captured its regulators as the pharmaceutical companies. Hidden agendas are in every public pronouncement: drugs need to be expensive to fund research into new ones, foreign drugs can't be trusted, drug trials must be large & time-consuming, government cannot negotiate drug prices, patents may be allowed for drug tweaks, and other subtle monopolistic manipulations. No drug regulation exists except to make pharmaceutical companies wealthier, that's why they are the most profitable business sector this century, and they use the tools of modern marketing to make it that way. In fact, most of what American pharmaceutical companies say is misleading or outright lies: they are not the world-leading innovators they claim to be. 2 of the top 3 largest drug companies are Swiss, half of the top 10 are from countries with socialized medicine, and foreign drug companies spend significantly more on R&D. The sorry situation is that the U.S. is one of the only nations that allow drug advertising, 25% of their revenue, twice the amount they spend on R&D, and mostly they don't even do their own research, instead buying patents from the universities & start-ups. Pharmaceutical companies can get away with this outrage because America accepts marketing, encourages business & is given the panacea of generic drugs to offset the commercialism. For example: Liptor is $194 but its generic is only $16; Plavic is $205 verses $13 for the generic; and the common antibiotic, Cipro, goes from $52 to $7. But generic drugs are mostly a smokescreen: pharmaceuticals simply pay the generic manufacturers not to make drugs. Also, drug lobbyists have corrupted congress to bar import of generics from Europe; even Canadian generics are prohibited. Further legislative corruption actually forbids government from negotiating lower prices for U.S. drugs via normal volume purchases that all other countries benefit from. Even more insidious: since a one-time treatment that cures a patient is not very profitable, drug companies want people to take the drugs more often, preferable forever. Pharmaceutical-financed medical studies have been methodically lowering treatment thresholds in an attempt to include more-n-more people in the lifetime prescription market. Regulatory oversight is captured such that drugs do not need to exhibit any efficacy, and their price is hidden because the hospitals are given steeply discounted versions but the patient's insurance is expected to pay the full premium. And all of this overlooks the fact that most, if not the vast majority, of drugs don't work for most people. There are efficacious drugs, it's better now than the Dark Ages, but mostly what we're getting is a placebo with side-effects. We all want to live forever & will believe anything to do so, especially if we never see the bill. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_165_prescription_drugs.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_165_prescription_drugs.mp3 4:53 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash prescription drugs, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 18 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Medicine is a taught skill, not rocket science, and learning medicine needs a total rework. People get into medicine by taking a series of very difficult timed memory tests, exactly the kind of short-term, plastic memory that human beings start losing at about the age 18, and by 35 it is obviously apparent they no longer have: by 50, everyone is stupid if you use a timed memory exam to determine their intelligence. Your 40-year old doctor who went through pre-med & graduated med school at 25 may be a total idiot now because their qualifications are not like other professions that test true intelligence. There are many good doctors because the field attracts intelligent people in the first place, but the adulation that physicians receive is misplaced: if you're going to idolize intelligence then look for a Ph.D. in the hard sciences. Secondly, why are our doctors treated like rockstars? Only North America requires physicians to have a Doctorate degree, and only North American have such outrageous education costs. Other countries start their medical training at 17 when students graduate Secondary School, and most publically sponsor medical education as a public good. Subsequently, their medical graduates don’t require such inflated payment just to pay off loans, nor are valuable potential engineers veered into medicine because of the pay & prestige. The NHS, Great Britain's socialized medicine, and most of the rest of the World, teach promising high school students to be doctors, guarantee them residency & pay them about $150K/year plus bonuses & specialty premiums. The so-called shortage of doctors is also manufactured. Other "professional" licenses are odious but nothing compares to medicine for bureaucratic grandstanding & sanctimonious gate-keeping: the AMA lobby specializes in preventing more physicians from entering the field. A further artificial limitation is the number of residencies, which is part of the Medicare appropriation from congress and hasn't changed since 1998. Over 16,000 graduated doctors were left unmatched to a residency this year, and without a residency they cannot license, and without a license they can only become cabdrivers. It will take at least a generation to reset expectations & rechannel America's love-affair with doctors to something more appropriate with reality. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_164_doctors.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_164_doctors.mp3 3:49 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash doctors, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 16 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Medicine is not a science. Medicine has components of science, and the people involved are smugly certain what they know is proven, but in fact, at least half of what they call “evidence-based medicine” is bunk, and almost all of the purveyors of alternative medicine are little more than witch-doctors & shaman. Your personal doctor is little better, he, and more often now, she, is guessing. They're prescribing drugs that don't do anything, and they're diagnosing based on intuition. Most of the remedies rely more on placebo effect than efficaciousness. Unless you're going to the hospital for a broken arm or to get your gall-bladder removed, most of what goes on there is voodoo. The U.S. trails every other advanced nation in medical outcome, yet it spends by far the most as % of GNP. Some people get great service, have their every whim catered to, but as a nation, our healthcare is hit-or-miss. Hospitals are little fiefdoms run by doctors for doctors, where the inefficiency is astounding, Nurses Unions are a nightmare, and everything is expensive for no good reason. They are chrome & glass palaces, more akin to monuments than functional buildings: nothing is standardized & there is resistance to automation. Computers could replace diagnosticians which may be why doctors are now trained as much in “empathy” as they are anatomy. Empathy is the reversing of control to the patient, with the doctor assuming a role similar to a masseuse at the spa: from respected patriarchy to service-provider. Medicine has entered the realm of popular culture with all the sensationalism, vapid argument & petty jealousies that entails. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_163_medicine.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-10_163_medicine.mp3 2:49 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash medicine, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 14 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The stricture against prostitution originated in religion but now its continuance is more momentum & conservatism. There seems to be no rational reason to restrict prosetituion other than the obvious government regulation that any personal service business would enjoy. The condemnation seems to be a subtle manifestation of female jealousy, in the same realm as infidelity except many customers of prostitution have no relationship entanglements? In polling, half the population is for legalizing prostitution. If it had a constituency like Gay Marriage, legalizing prostitution would be a no-brainer, but whereas Gays have successful representatives in business, politics, and most importantly, the media; prostitutes are depicted as victims & hapless, degraded losers. Plus, the feminist movement, rather than applauding the empowerment of women, instead blames men for their primal biological imperative. With all the propaganda decrying prostitution & trumpeting its evils, it's easily disproved by the simple fact that prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, not to mention Nevada. The fact that the same acts not involving money is not illegal seems to escape the logic of restrictionists, and ignoring the prevalence of internet porn, almost 40% of all broadband traffic, and baldly advertised “escort services” in every local newspaper also appears to be voluntary-ignorance & inexplicable. Certainly prostitution is something that should be immediately legalized because any prohibition that turns 10s of millions of people into criminals is a bad idea, with all the usual consequences of selective enforcement, exploitation & true criminal activity. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_162_prostitution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_162_prostitution.mp3 2:41 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash prostitution, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 12 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The simplest of all societal axioms is: for rules to work, people have to want to obey them. There is no better example of this fundamental concept than the failure of prohibition in the gangster-ridden 1930s, and now, the so-called “War on Drugs,” in all its abysmal failure, worse than a failure, it is a stake in the heart of our whole judicial system. 20 million Americans used illegal drugs last month, and that doesn't include marijuana. Approximately a quarter of the penal system in the United States is clogged with drug offenders. Drug prohibition incites violence here, and especially abroad, because America essentially exports its prohibition violence to Mexico & other poor nations. Let’s face it, our country’s self-righteous attitude towards victimless crimes is unconscionable. If someone wants to risk ruining their life and going to prison for the feeling of euphoria and escape that comes from using drugs then nothing short of execution is going to “cure” the problem. Who are the drug laws for anyway, the people who use them or the people who don’t? Telling 10s of millions of people that they all belong in jail should make you ill, and the fact that someone thinks these symptoms, plus all the criminality that goes along with illegal distribution, are acceptable, is appalling. Frankly, self-righteous moralizers are more abhorrent than the junkies. Ignoring or intentionally violating an irrational law breeds contempt for all laws, and enforcing unjust laws adds suspicion that all enforcement is unjust. Simply stated, the drug laws in this country are eroding civility, not protecting it. The solution is simple: make drugs legal but regulated: people who want the recreational attributes of drugs can be assured of quality, safety, and price, which will monopolize 99% of the market. This is a case where a monopoly works towards the good of society. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_161_illegal_drugs.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_161_illegal_drugs.mp3 3:24 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash illegal drugs, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 10 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy In topsy-turvy, status-conscious America, a degree in B-B stacking from Yale has more cachet than an Engineering degree from Podunk University, and people are often hired simply because they are Ivy League graduates. This is discrimination at its most insidious, and a prime reason why higher education is failing America. It's also the major indication of America's de facto Class system: the elite prestige schools are reserved for the Nouveau Aristocracy with just a smidgen of integration of the lower classes for cover. Lavish campuses, high tuition, and huge undergraduate debt loads have become the norm, and the competition for affluent, high-scoring students causes even second-tier schools to seek higher prestige by aping the same superficial characteristics. They spend on the things that the ranking magazine “U.S. News” measures, and pay for them via student loans which the school rankings don’t care about. But after all that, education has actually become less effective, with fewer and fewer courses taught by tenured professors, and increasing class sizes, all due to an artificial shortage of an imaginary commodity whose only value is a market distorted by prestige-seekers. America is not alone in this, other countries are also obsessed with prestige: British students dream about getting into Oxford or Cambridge; for French students, it's the grandes écoles; South Koreans compete for the Seoul National, or Yonsei; and Japanese hope to get into Todai or Keio. Only the German higher education system seems immune to this totally destructive concept of elitism. They have no exclusive group of universities that will break your career if you cannot get in, and all that's required to attend any university is earning good grades in Secondary school. Subsequently, Germany has a more affordable education system: almost all German universities are public, with students paying only $300 per semester. And German university graduates are considered some of the best in the world. American parents & students are focusing on the wrong thing. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_160_prestige_universities.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_160_prestige_universities.mp3 3:23 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash education, universities, prestige, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 08 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The liberal arts are: literature, history, philosophy & the sciences. In classical antiquity these subjects were “worthy of a free person,” the Latin word liberalis. Liberals participated in public debate, on juries, and military service, as well as art, music & astronomy. America inherited this Old World education tradition and has been mostly successful when focusing on a liberal arts ciricullum for its Primary & Secondary schooling, but we seem to have overplayed that commitment in our colleges, which are churning out more-n-more Liberal Arts graduates prepared for nothing more than waiting tables or selling insurance. More Americans receive a Liberal Arts education now than ever before, with an average growth rate nearing 5% annually. The total number of Liberal Arts degrees awarded a year grew from 100,000 to 350,000 in 25 years, nearly 40% of all associate degrees, but during the same time, the share of professional degrees fell 10%. A liberal education certainly prepares our youth for life but it is only a springboard to more technical & challenging pursuits required by our modern society. We need engineers & scientists, managers & technitions, all building on the foundation of a Liberal Arts education, not pre-empted by one. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_159_liberal_arts_education.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-08_159_liberal_arts_education.mp3 2:27 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash liberal arts, education, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 06 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Married couples have special inheritance, medical, retirement, and childcare benefits & responsibilities. The law considers the married partner as having a vested interest in the well-being of the other partner, and there are volumes of case law defining & protecting that arrangement. So, from a legal point-of-view, “gay marriage” actually strengthens the concept of marriage, overwhelming any societal past-predilections against it. As a society, our definition of “marriage” is evolving, and we are using democracy to determine it as a subjective issue rather than a scientific or legal one. And the Supreme Court has thrown its considerable weight behind gay marriage too. It is not disrespectful to say that what is important to your concept of marriage is not necessarily mine. In a question of liberty, we are all allowed to believe what we want as long as it does not affect other people’s liberty. Gay marriage may make you uncomfortable but that is not reason enough to dictate the personal lives of others. Marriage has moved beyond tradition, and religious objections to same-sex marriage are subsumed by Rule of Law. It seems likely that future generations will look back on the Gay Marriage controversy in America as a kind of primitiveness, similar to how we look back on slavery. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_158_gay_marriage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_158_gay_marriage.mp3 2:27 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash gay marriage, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 04 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review an eclectic range of original concepts & new ideas, new to you anyway: 1. Constitutional plain language requires people to be mind-readers of dead folks. 2. Patents are justified rent-seeking but Copyright is hero worship. 3. Bankruptcy is how individuals escape indentured servitude but it is slipping away. 4. Balanced Budget Amendment requires taxes to be raised automatically to fully cover government expenditures. 5. A Debit Economy disallows government borrowing. 6. The Sharing Economy breaks the power of the rent-seekers & gate-keepers. 7. Freedom of Religion inspired & maintains America's reverence for liberty. 8. Morals & values are someone else's method of controlling you. 9. Atheism has become its own religion. 10. The real debate is where evolution crosses from science into speculation. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_157_new_concepts_vol_14.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_157_new_concepts_vol_14.mp3 2:19 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 02 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Do you want to be the center of attention at a dinner party? Simply say you don’t believe in evolution: nothing gets the modern elite indignant faster than rejection of their group geist. Be careful though because no amount of backpedaling or explanation on your part will ever remove the taint of suspicion about your intelligence. In the future, whenever you see people whispering, it’s about you. Evolution is science but people are turning it into a religion. If you should choose shunning over bad science, you can still be an atheist because though the evolutionists won’t admit it, there are possibilities of where you came from other than divine intervention, and all have some modicum of respectability: time travel, alien visitors, reincarnation, learned inheritance, DNA on an asteroid, or you’re simply all a figment of my imagination. While I certainly agree that we should teach only science in schools, there are still giant holes in the theory of evolution. Specifically, the calculations seem inadequate: for example, evolutionist theory says there have been 300,000 generations from that first inkling of "homo" to homo sapiens. There must have been myriad changes per generation, however there have been no changes to humans in 300 generations, as evidenced by genetic studies of 5,000 year old corpses, so making that the step size leaves only 1,000 iterations to get from protomen to us? And why is there only one homo species after expected billions of permutations? Not to mention the whole irreducible complexity aspect of the problem. Obviously there are some essential questions to be answered for evolution to be more than a curious, alluring theory. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_156_evolution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_156_evolution.mp3 2:48 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash evolution, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 30 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Though there are religionists who try and deny it, Freedom of Religion includes freedom from religion. Some people try to associate that Right with atheism but in recent times, atheism has become its own religion: they proselytize, they have believe-it-or-else evolutionist dogma, and they simply rely on faith that there is no god. And the Atheists who vehemently deny Atheism is a religion act just like religious zealots: rushing in to espouse their religion to anyone within earshot, claiming only they know the truth & they are transcendent with a smug certainty that everyone else is misinformed or stupid, so how can anyone tell the difference? Something that you cannot discern from a religion is as good as one. I'd be an Atheist but I find evolution equally improbable, and though I'm not an Atheist, I applaud their tactics of forcing people to examine the irony & hypocrisy of deeply indoctrinated preconceptions by putting up statues of Satan next to statues of Jesus, and having a booth at the Christmas bazaar. Hopefully, that's all tongue-in-cheek, otherwise I'd rather take the invisible-man-in-the-sky explanation any day. Unfortunately, there's no debating Atheists, like there's no debating Creationists; everyone's an expert and there's no give. The interesting thing is that a Creationist will simply smile as you walk away, but you have to physically wrestle down an Atheist and break their middle-finger to escape. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_155_atheism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-07_155_atheism.mp3 2:23 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash atheism, religion, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy There are few things in political debate as abused and fraught with hypocrisy as the citation of moral values as the reason to do something. Not only does self-righteous indignation germinate from the feeling of grandiose moral superiority, both detestable qualities, but nothing is more subjective. We did not grow up in the same neighborhoods, attend the same churches, nor even go to schools that uniformly espoused a consistent set of morals. If you believe you have been wronged, or someone else needs protection from whatever degradation, injustice, attack, or deprivation, seek recompense in the law, that is what it is there for. An entire constitutionally provided for and universally applied judicial system has been constructed to determine what is “moral” so you don’t have to. Other than the Rights guaranteed in the Constitution, and those that derive from it, you have no further responsibilities placed on you unless you have explicitly accepted an obligation. That means you have no legal responsibility to feed the hungry, nor shelter the homeless, nor provide jobs to the populace. As a society, we may choose to provide some minimum of these things, but you, as an individual, have no such obligation. If others declare self-righteously that you indeed do owe these things, and attempt to use shame & ridicule to force you into providing them, those people are trying to impose their will on you, they are attempting to control you their own interpretation of morals & values. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_154_morals__values.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_154_morals__values.mp3 2:33 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash morals, values, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 26 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy It's fair to say America was founded on religion. Early settlers didn't come here for opportunity so much as to escape oppression, often religious oppression. The liberty they were lusting after was the liberty to believe crazy stuff without being persecuted by those who thought everyone should believe some other crazy stuff. It's also fair to say that this was the seed from which America's liberty focus grew whereas it wilted & died in the rest of the world. Tolerance of different religions makes Americans less judgmental but it also makes them more accepting of mysticism in place of science, sham medicine being the worst. Quackery, cults & prophets are commonly on display in America, and the disdain for critical thinking bleeds into our political discourse. Liberty is indeed a unique gift but the catalyst that brought it to us tends to also hold us back. To the rest of the World America appears immature & barbaric, probably because religion comes from those Medieval times. If society in Europe is any guide to the future then the waves of religion will eventually dissipate against the shores of logic. We might even be seeing this now in the Millennial generation: more modernity in their thinking, less adherence to dogma & taboo. In reality, there is little downside to having a religious nation: the morals & values of religion effectively hold back the libertarian tide until a new social consciousness can emerge. A nation of laws we may be but the unenforced tenants of religion make us the honest & sincere people that we are. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_153_religion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_153_religion.mp3 2:25 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash religion, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 24 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Every competent person has some under-utilized talent or capacity locked away, unable to perform due to society's impossibly rigged game. The so-called, “Sharing Economy,” gives those people an opportunity to capitalize on their resources, which is why it is anathema to rent-seekers, gate-keepers & restrictive unionists of all kinds who use artificial scarcity & extortion to overvalue their own skills by locking other people out. The Sharing Economy is made possible through smart-phone Apps like Uber that turn anyone with a car & good driving record into a ride service, or Yerdle for second-hand goods, ParkAtMyHouse, Vayable to be a local tour guide, DogVacay for pet-setting, Spinlister for renting your unused sport gear, LeftoverSwap for unused food, HomeDine to invite dining guests to your house, GetAround lets someone rent your car, Zaarly to be a handyman, Lending Club to loan money, Fon to rent your WiFi, Poshmark to sell your used clothing, Postmates to be a local courier & Instacart to deliver someone's groceries. But even if you make some money through your own effort & resources, you're definitely not an employee & probably don't want to be one, you just need enough money to engage in your Millennial lifestyle of room-sharing, video-gaming, outdooring & bar-hopping. Unfortunately, your meager effort to make a little dough is totally undermined by our corrupt tax system, especially with the increasing income & wealth inequality, and embattled Middle Class. Right now, if you make $2000/month income for your participation in the Sharing Economy, over 15% of the very first dollar you earn is taken for Social Security & Medicare. Add to that your normal “poor” person base tax-rate of 10% & you're paying over $5000/year in taxes, primarily to support people better off than you are. So the Sharing Economy gives you a chance to work but you're also going to need to vote to keep others from taking it from you. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_152_the_sharing_economy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_152_the_sharing_economy.mp3 3:16 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash sharing economy, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 22 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The U.S. has had an ever increasing National Debt for most of its recent history, to the point of no return, and there’s no reason to think politics can ever be fiscally responsible. Debit cards have become the solution for private people who have a tendency to go into debt and not be able to pay it back, so let's extend that idea into the public sphere. Cut up the credit card: America needs to become a Debit Economy. A Debit Economy is not intended to decrease Government spending: we only need consider our standard-of-living, our science, our sophistication, and our ever accelerating level of comfort, to prove that Government spending is a good thing. A Debit Economy would force fiscal responsibility while still advancing a civil society, and consists of three parts: first, a Spend-n-Tax paradigm where the money Government spends is fully returned by the people who ended up with it. Secondly, a Balanced Budget Amendment to disallow Government borrowing. And thirdly, privatizing government services to discourage bureaucracy & encourage innovation. How much Government spends is the debate between Liberals and Conservatives, but regardless of the ideology, in a Debit Economy, the battle between the Politics-of-Envy and the Politics-of-Greed would be out in the open for all to see and confront. We would stop planting a timebomb of future debt, and halt the building resentment between those who are employed by government & those who have to pay for them. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_151_debit_economy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-06_151_debit_economy.mp3 2:32 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash economy, debit, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 20 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Article I, Section 8, Clause 2 of the Constitution grants to the U.S. Congress the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States. In 1798, a decade after adoption of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.” A Balanced Budget Amendment is a constitutional rule requiring that the nation cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government. Other countries, like Germany, Hong Kong, and the Swiss have balanced budget requirements in their Constitutions. In 1985 & 1987 U.S. legislation attempted to curb government borrowing, and in 1983, an effort to add a Balanced Budget Amendment passed in 32 of the 34 States required to trigger a Constitutional Convention. All failed. The fact is, having a federal debt has substantially helped everyday Americans because the yearly Budget Deficits are mostly to cover social programs, so the problem isn't spending on things that The People want, the problem is paying for it. Understandably, human nature is such that people don't like paying taxes and the people who would pay the most, The Rich, have tremendous amounts of money fighting against taxes, so it seems unlikely a Balanced Budget Amendment will occur, but even if it does, the solution is not to cap spending, or even borrowing, the solution is much more fundamental & simple than that. Firstly, the focus must be on revenue: Government must raise taxes to equal The People-approved spending. Secondly, Government cannot accrue future financial obligations, which means no pensions, no bonds, and no “trust” funds. That's it, that's the Balanced Budget Amendment. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_150_balanced_budget_amendment.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_150_balanced_budget_amendment.mp3 2:56 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash balanced budget amendment, constitution, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 18 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Alleviating unsustainable debts that trap people for life was so important to the writers of the U.S. Constitution that they included bankruptcy as a basic right, part of the core guarantees. Why? Because people that are forced into debt service, or worse, Debtors Prisons, are little more than slaves, which makes it creepily ironic that slavery itself was not also abolished in the original Constitution. It's also ironic that the only debts Americans can't bankrupt out of are School Loans, Taxes & Child Support, meaning kids, education & government are the only financial obligations that are considered important enough to destroy your life. Bankruptcies are recognized as essential because they provide a formal mechanism for readjustment of circumstances. Bankruptcy is there because it works. Whenever bankruptcy is circumvented through government bailouts, social strictures or pandering to Special Interests, that's when long-term problems occur. Of course bankruptcy is exploited by the unscrupulous, same as any fundamental Right can be leveraged into something unintended by those who enumerated our Rights, but rather than penalizing the many for the actions of a tainted few, we must simply account for them: businesses that loan money certainly do. Ending on yet another irony, Debtor Prison does indeed exist in America even though bankruptcy was intended to eliminate it. For example, men behind in child support make-up 1/8th of the inmate population in South Carolina, 7 million students have defaulted on loans so cannot move on with their lives & the I.R.S. imprisons 4 out of 5 people convicted, costing more than $200 million a year. Where's bankruptcy when you need it? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_149_bankruptcy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_149_bankruptcy.mp3 2:44 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash bankruptcy, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 16 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Thomas Jefferson himself was the main proponent of the whole idea of patents, even becoming head of the first U.S. Patent Office. He fancied himself an inventor, which were the Rock Stars of the age, and of course everybody wants to be a Rock Star. The trade off is: you explain in detail how do something technical, and for a limited time government will give you exclusive right to the rewards of that design. Patents require extreme scrutiny, disclosure, and involve something new & unique. Works pretty good: intellectual pursuits are encouraged & the nation benefits with progress. However, nothing exemplifies how government's regulatory capacity has been captured like copyright. Us humans are entertained by performance & the exhibition of unique skills, and we become enamored to people who seem to create currents of notoriety around themselves. People in Congress are just as susceptible to being starstruck, probably more so since fame attracts them to become candidates in the first place. There is no reason Mickey Mouse should still be under copyright, trademark covers him, and there is certainly no reason for copyright to be longer than patents, over 120 years, applies to any mundane thing, and is totally subjective, plus the penalties for violating a copyright are draconian. If a rapper samples five notes off of a '70s Pop song, he owes royalties on the copyright, but the guy who designed broadcast TV gets diddlysquat from his patent now. And copyright has put an absolute blanket on the Internet, causing untold noise, confusion & expense to prevent something that obviously benefits society. Time for copyright to go, and for patents to be reexamined too, so that pharmaceutical companies can't monopolize life-saving drugs. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_148_patents__copyright.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_148_patents__copyright.mp3 2:56 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash patents, copyright, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 14 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Being an interpreter has a power all its own: whatever you say goes. It's one of the oldest methods of control: priests would talk to God, shamans would predict the future from mouse bones, even anthropologists today can tell you how humans supposedly lived 25,000 years ago. To gain interpreter control, people try to insinuate themselves between you & the source of information: of course, with the irrefutably of the U.S. Constitution, it is a prime target, and erstwhile interpreters insist only they know what it really means, that they have a special kind of deductive power that lets them know what the original intent for every word written was meant to be. James Madison, author of the Constitution, was 36 years old when he wrote it. Does this not give the interpreters pause? The fallibility of any man is a forgone conclusion, and only time & absence can add the kind of majesty required to turn them into gods. However much I admire James Madison, The Constitution, or America; modern wisdom & judgment are the only restrictions that apply now. “Plain language,” “textualism,” “original intent,” all evoke interpreters but no interpreter can really tell us what some young dead guy was thinking 250 years ago, even if it was 100% correct. The Constitution is obviously not absolute, see Prohibition, not to mention the Three-fifths clause which bursts any misconceptions that the Constitution is a holy document as believed by Mormons. Canada got it right, their Constitution follows the "living tree doctrine” that says that a constitution is organic and must be read in a broad and progressive manner so as to adapt it to the changing times. In the U.S. we call this concept loose constructionism, or “Living Constitution,” but a conservative justice gives plain language precedence while a liberal judge goes with constructionism, so depending on the mix of The Court, different opinions can be reached from the same sentence. Obviously, since Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president, and have a lifetime tenure, the Constitution is as much a political document as a legal one, and reflects the political schisms in this country as much as any campaigning gladhander. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_147_constitutional_plain_language.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-05_147_constitutional_plain_language.mp3 3:38 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash constitution, plain language, living constitution, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 12 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy This last group of episodes was an original & unique examination of pure politics: 1. The crowning achievement of internecine politics is to prevent revolution. 2. The young are not the servants of the old. 3. Everyone avails themselves of social programs at sometime during their life. 4. Republicans attract people with old-fashioned conceptions of society. 5. Democrats attract people who would benefit from a disruption of the status quo. 6. Libertarianism is a small slice view of a very large pie. 7. Liberals are moderate libertarians & Progressives are moderate socialists. 8. Third Parties are nothing but spoilers. 9. Party Loyalty is a sign of foolishness. 10. An oral illusion is the practice of tricking the listener into a misapplication of logic. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_146_new_concepts_vol_13.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_146_new_concepts_vol_13.mp3 2:05 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 10 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Words are symbolic metaphors that convey a tremendous amount of information. Because a word evokes existing preconceptions, clever manipulation of the word, coupled with intentional misleading, is an “oral illusion.” Politics is the expert practice of oral illusions because politicians recognize that they can plumb the wellspring of deep-seated human emotions by distorting the meaning of words. For example, “compassion” is one of those oral illusions: everyone assumes compassion is admirable, from wanting to help stranded puppies to comforting a friend’s bereavement, but in politics, the word “compassion” is used as cover for envy. It is manipulated and propagandized. The Left is often guilty of oral illusions, as evidences by political linguists, like Noam Chomsky & George Lakoff, whose whole careers centered around the power of words, often providing cover for an irrational & dishonest Equalist ideology. When logic is defeating them, they inject the discussion with confusion by assigning new definitions to words, and using circular logic. Their expertise makes them almost impossible to defeat in live debate, but close examination of their written words exposes the deception. The solution is to simplify all issues down to yes-or-no answers, like we do here in these discussions, then when an oral illusionist appears, you cannot be fooled. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_145_oral_illusion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_145_oral_illusion.mp3 2:37 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash oral illusion, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 08 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Democracy is more a sport than a method of rational governance. In fact, people have much more loyalty to a Party than they do to the ideology of the Party, and perversity & spite play a bigger role in politics than either logic or merit, or even self-interest. “Voting the ticket” is Party-speak for this kind of selfish hackery where an otherwise reasonable person will vote for a dog before they will vote for a competent, qualified, and effective candidate from the opposition because the penalty for not following the herd is shunning, and shrill, self-righteous accusations of disloyalty from the Party faithful. This exhibition of mindless devotion is more mystical than rational. A close examination of the people who actually exhibit this behavior is alarming: many Party loyalists find little power in their own lives and so they substitute the collective power of others who are similarly ignored & discounted in real life. All the weaklings, tired of a lifetime of bullying, join together to impose their foolish wills on others by leveraging the power of exploiting the weaknesses of democracy, where small numbers of voters can control the agenda for the large numbers of non-voters. Of course, this description doesn't account for everyone, and if you are part of the wise few who actually treat politics in a rational & logical manner, then when there is no discernible quality difference between competing candidates, support your Party, but when a clearly high-caliber candidate from any Party appears, voting for that person should transcend petty loyalties. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_144_party_loyalty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_144_party_loyalty.mp3 2:35 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash party loyalty, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 06 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Teddy Roosevelt proved that the most popular man in the world can't win as a Third Party. There are endless papers on Third Parties: without proportional representation, like a parliament that most modern day democracy's have, Third parties are simply spoilers. Think about it for a minute: you don't want to vote for one of the Majors because you disagree with some part of their platform, so that Party loses your vote and the other Party wins: now, rather than getting some platform agreement, you get none, a case study in irrationality. Al Gore would have won except for the people who voted for Ralph Nader. Bush Sr. would have been president but for Ross Perot. And even if by some miracle a Third Party candidate wins at the national level, they have no bench. Unless some billionaires want to finance a slate of thousands of good candidates throughout the country to support the leadership, no Third Party is on the horizon. The U.S. is not a parliamentary system, we don't have dozens of ideologies represented in our decision-making. Instead our ideological battles occurred during the Primaries when minority thinking was filtered out. That makes votes in the legislature a homogeneous choice between two distinct ideologies, usually giving one Party a free hand to move the country in their direction, good or bad depending on your pov. So far, it's worked: America is the only superpower because of its cultural & economic dominance, much of that due to our political system which reflects a focus on liberty with its stark yes-or-no choices. There are no third options. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_143_third_parties.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-04_143_third_parties.mp3 2:43 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash third party, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 04 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Liberals are moderate libertarians & Progressives are moderate socialists; overlapping but coming from different directions, and because they sound the same on many issues, most people are unsure of the difference, but Liberals, as in “liberty,” put the individual before the group, personal accountability, rewards commensurate with effort, while Progressives place the group before the individual, often citing the “common good.” This, of course, has a paternalistic flavor of the we-know-better-n-you kind but, frankly, they do know-better-n-half the population, the incompetent half. Sometimes telling the difference between Liberals & Progressives is quite difficult because many people don't even know themselves: they call themselves “Progressives” because they don't like the connotations that the word “liberal” brings: you can thank Republicans for that. The Democratic Party, at least in its platform, is not progressive nor socialist, but because we are a 2-Party system, there is no place else for Progressives to go. But it's an insidious, oil-and-water combination because socialism has the inherit problem of conflicting with the U.S. Constitution. As our society matures, it certainly accepts more and bigger socialistic manifestations. It's possible that eventually the individualism underpinnings of American society will be replaced by collectivism via fiat, because life, liberty & pursuit of happiness are relative. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_142_liberals_v_progressives.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_142_liberals_v_progressives.mp3 2:35 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash liberals, progressives, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 02 Nov 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Libertarians are diametrically opposite of socialists: they are only concerned with individual liberty. Period. They advocate a minimalist enlightened government, maybe even a philosopher king, that takes care of life's drudgery so that they can exercise their ambitions without halter nor fetter: run free wild spirit, achieve your maximum potential. Frankly, if it would work, I’d love to live a Libertarian’s dream: only concerned about what I want, living without obligations or dependencies, it's an Utopian ideal for competent people. Libertarians don't recognize that society's primary goal is to perpetuate itself: this changes the dynamic because without concern for posterity, Libertarins have no need for constraints on liberty. The question is no longer a choice between individual wants & society needs, it's only what the individual wants. They couch this concept in words like meritocracy & rewards, and ignore the parts others in society played in their success & in their opportunity for success. Libertarians are under the misconception that their outcome in life was due to their own efforts, not as a lucky combination of events: just because you didn't see the trashman doesn't mean you picked up the garbage yourself. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_141_libertarians.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_141_libertarians.mp3 2:21 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash libertarians, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 31 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor We need to review what a woman is: 1. It’s men who are the prize. 2. The people who don’t know what a woman is don’t want the obligations. 3. Feminism & homemaking are oil & water. 4. Families of the future will include AI robots. 5. To be equal, women must be prepared to do violence. 6. OnlyFans serves an important need but it takes maturity to fit into it. 7. God as been replaced by Gaia. 8. Gnostics want the world to conform to them, not the other way around. 9. Doomers may not go quietly. You may get your news someplace else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-15_1450_female_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-15_1450_female_concepts.mp3 2:03 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash woman, family, men, children no Tue, 29 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Two generations from now, most of the social problems due to decadence the West is experiencing, will be gone, not because we actively solved them, but because the people who caused them, the doomers, will be old or dead and don’t procreate; it’s natural selection in action. Democracy is the problem because people who believe like this are in the majority. Luckily, in only a few generations, the people who don’t want to have kids will naturally disappear, and only those with the mindset of having families will remain. However, the transition might be challenging. Unfortunately, due to the need to be right by getting others to agree, childless people won’t go away quietly, or give up easily; they will try to infect the children of those who did reproduce with their mind virus via the institutions they control: education, entertainment & government. Nowadays, committed parents are aware of the tactic, and try to protect their kids via home-schooling, religious counter-programming, and vigilance against the brainwashing. They will still lose some of their offspring to the doomers, mostly girls because of feminism, but overall they should successfully allow Western liberalism, as defined traditionally, to continue. If not, if the doomers are vindictive & perverse enough that they would rather see everything implode, the families that do survive up in the hills will have a long road back. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-15_1449_doomers.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-15_1449_doomers.mp3 2:41 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash doomers, doomer, families, children no Sun, 27 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Gnosticism is the belief that society is a construct that everyone subconsciously molds themselves into, and gnostics reject the brainwashing to be more in control of their lives. This sense of superiority is narcissistic; everyone considers themselves the center of the universe, and are resentful of anyone else who seems to be more center than they are. Gnosticism has been around for thousands of years because resentful people throughout time have used it to feel intellectually superior to their betters. Feminism is gnostic, as is transism. Feminists believe they were given inferior bodies without their permission, and men have been exploiting their testosterone advantage while mothers have had to take care of the children. These feminist gnostics demand equality, deriding the patriarchy by subsuming it. Trans people take gnosticism a step further; they believe they were thrown into bodies that don’t match their soul. They demand that regardless of what others may think, they must kowtow to wishes & whims of those that have been oppressed. In both cases, feminist, trans, and the perverse wokesters that support them, these modern gnostics are creating their own brainwashing. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-14_1448_gnosticism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-14_1448_gnosticism.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Gnosticism, Gnostics, feminism, trans no Fri, 25 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Everyone starts life from a perspective of helplessness; children require their parents for guidance, their parents look up to their elders for direction, and the elders rely on God to be the inspiration & arbiter in chief. In the past, things were so difficult that only belief in a force greater than oneself, God, was needed to provide an even playing field, where everyone was essentially equal, and they lived lives of contentment & happiness because their expectations were relative to the reality around them, but at this point on the prosperity curve, life doesn’t seem like it’s getting substantially better. After washing machines, fast food, working inside with lots of time off & abundant forms of entertainment, life ahead just isn’t inspirational enough; since people couldn’t change, God had to. God is now decidedly female to the youth raised under the geis of environmentalism, now the strongest religion in Western culture, a creed ideologically-adjacent to Wokeness & feminism. Their catechism is “I believe in manmade global warming;” their sacrament is vegan; their churches are public schools; their theologians are climate scientists & duplicitous politicians; their parishioners are NPCs; and their Vatican lies in the rain forests. They are no less devout than NAZIs, and more terrifyingly tyrannical. Elites embrace this religion because it leaves them with all their power at the low cost of virtue signaling, and the masses go along because they’ve lost the will & desire to manage their own lives. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-14_1447_praise_gaia.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-14_1447_praise_gaia.mp3 2:45 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Gaia, God, environmentalism, feminism, woke no Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor OnlyFans, regular women being provocative online, who make money from the tips their viewers leave them, or from regular subscribers who pay a monthly fee, gives the women who do it a questionable reputation, but it shouldn’t. Almost all women have gone skinny-dipping, and a lot have been to a nude beach or at least exposed their breasts publicly on a dare. There’s nothing morally wrong with nudity nor titillation, and there’s nothing to be ashamed about the naked human form; painters have immortalized its beauty for centuries; it’s not “sex work” to display it for money or admiration. Considering the minimal outrage, society also mostly accepts OnlyFans; in fact, it seems more like a solution; the perfect match for subservient males and narcissistic females. Contrary to what most people assume, the vast majority of OnlyFans subscribers are married men. Apparently, those husbands aren’t getting what the want from their wives, which is also a natural, to be expected, situation. Just because a man watches porn or pays to see an OnlyFans model expose her breasts, doesn’t mean his marriage is on the rocks; the contrary even. It’s more difficult to justify OnlyFans channels that are true pornography, but the same arguments apply. It’s also important that the women involved have the maturity to know the social trade-offs. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-13_1446_onlyfans.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-13_1446_onlyfans.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash nudity, OnlyFans no Mon, 21 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Societies have always valued women but it wasn’t until modern times that women were put on a pedestal, even being allowed to choose their own mate. This dispensation quickly morphed into allowing women to have the same rights & opportunities as men, most notably suffrage, voting rights, but without the responsibilities. Society, as measured by it’s primary goal of reproduction, has been in decline ever sense, all due to women abandoning patriarchal values, to be replaced by matriarchal ones, except for the glaringly fact that females are not subject to a military draft. Even if women eventually do have to register for the selective service, it’s highly unlikely any female will ever be drafted, and the ones that enlist are given special treatment with lowered standards as compared to their male counterparts. Biologically, not forcing women onto the battlefield, but instead expecting them to stay home raising children, makes sense, but with almost half of women projected to be alone & childless in less than a decade, politically it won’t fly; the push for female equality, which is in essence superiority, will eventually cause pushback by men. The matriarchy must agree to contribute equally to the violence that will result from abandoning the patriarchy. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-13_1445_equality_includes_violence.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-13_1445_equality_includes_violence.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash draft, the draft, violence, feminism, patriarchy no Sat, 19 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The unattractiveness of modern marriage is society’s fault, particularly feminism, because people who have never been parents don’t know the sense of accomplishment & fulfillment that raising children brings. Regardless of what they think, society’s primary objective is to perpetuate itself, so encouraging families, which perforce includes marriage, is essential. Here are some low-hanging fruit: tax subsidies, childcare subsidies, homeschooling, and most importantly, propaganda that counteracts feminism. Home Economics needs to be taught in school like it used to be, and other gender-affirming instruction, all the things that testosterone gives an advantage in, like shop class and sports for boys. Interestingly, the declining birth rate comes right at the time of the meteoric rise of AI & domestic robots. It seems almost mystical that the sophistication needed for these two developments coincides with a society to which a traditional family structure is no longer appealing. As the population collapses, primarily the people who lack the motivation to reproduce, normal evolutionary reaction will revert to sustainabile family units, however those will be comprised in the future, probably even containing AI & robots. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-12_1444_encouraging_marriage__families.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-12_1444_encouraging_marriage__families.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash family, marriage, society no Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:51:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Feminism has gone so far that they find traditional homemakers despicable, and to be subservient to a man is anathema to them. It seems that they still want a man, but in a supporting role rather than the other way around. Ideally, child-rearing in their minds would be completely performed by the state, no parental rights or responsibilities. Most people are too young to know that was the Soviet strategy; the Nazis tried it too. It’s unclear what the long-term outcome would have been because systems that promote communalism inevitably collapse. Feminists view traditionally-minded wives as traitors to the sisterhood, like scabs to a union. Unfortunately, their illiberal ideology won’t allow opinions & attitudes that differ from their own so they will use the tools at their disposal: the legal system, democratically-passed prohibitions, and outright personal violence to breakdown and discourage families, and like the Soviets & Nazis, they will be successful for a time. Obviously, humanity can’t continue as it has with these countervailing forces, but they are self-defeating; feminism must per force eventually go extinct. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-12_1443_homemaking_is_antifeminism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-12_1443_homemaking_is_antifeminism.mp3 2:18 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash feminism, housewife, homemaker, homemaking no Tue, 15 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Perhaps the most important question this century is “What is a woman?” The fact that this is a question is what makes it so; it means the very foundation of society is being undermined; it means people have lost any grounding to truth; that they were unanchored to reality. Interestingly, one side of the debate, the traditionalists, can easily define what a woman is: sexually, females have 2 X-chromosomes, and doctors should treat them as such for their own safety. Gender-wise, women exhibit the attributes of feminism, though there are rare instances where there is a medical or mental condition that makes gender ambiguous, those people are considered androgynous, and society deals with them as a special case. The reason the “What is a woman?” question exists is because some men demand to be treated & referred to as women, a transwoman; someone with a dick. In the case of transwomen, straight & gay men alike can easily define what a woman is: a person without a dick. The side who won’t accept any definition of “woman” is disingenuous; they simply don’t want to be held to any common standard that includes implicit expectations & obligations they don’t want to meet; for example, a lot of females would be terrible women if it’s defined as femininity, and don’t want to be judged, hence they deny any standard exists. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-11_1442_what_is_a_woman.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-11_1442_what_is_a_woman.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash what, woman, what is a woman no Sun, 13 Oct 2024 05:32:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Men in a marriage require sex & servitude. They can survive for a few years on sex alone, but a masculine man must be on top of his family’s dominance hierarchy. Feminist women won’t take orders and won’t serve, so the marriage is ultimately doomed. Modern females put their job first. For their part, traditional women required masculinity for protection & comfort, including providership for raising children. Feminists denigrate masculinity and provide for themselves. Feminism killed marriage; the statistics point to a complete collapse of society if relationships don’t return to their evolutionary-determined roles. Though feminists have a firm control of the narrative, the inclination of women to prefer masculinity & dominance has caused a reversion, at least by some, to traditional role models. More-and-more, brave women are rejecting the feminist propaganda that they emulate masculinity, and instead embrace their femininity. Instead of claiming they are the prize, they recognize that it’s the men who are the prize, and are again beginning to advertise what they are bringing to the table; they frankly admit that they want a husband and are offering the 3 Cs: cook, clean & conceive. Men are predisposed to then let the woman control the household, and will accept their place in the arrangement. Husbands put their wife first, then kids then job then themselves, in contrast to wives putting their kids first, then themselves then their husband; this asymmetrical ranking is actually equality in the grander scheme of things. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-11_1441_return_of_marriage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-11_1441_return_of_marriage.mp3 2:52 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash marriage, traditional no Fri, 11 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Everybody likes to talk about money: 1. Most monetary theories work differently in practice. 2. Votes are counted in dollars. 3. Money always ends up somewhere. 4. The total amount of money can change up or down instantaneously. 5. The U.S. has a fiat-digital currency war on its hands. 6. Paper millionaires are only temporary. 7. The Left is using the weaknesses of Capitalism to destroy it. 8. Money is violence. 9. People idealize pirates… Because that turned out so well. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-10_1440_monetarism_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-10_1440_monetarism_concepts.mp3 2:04 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash monetarism concepts no Wed, 09 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Some people think anarchy is a good alternative to Capitalism, but they’re not clear about what that means, making it sound like everyone would live in harmony if they were just left alone. Caribbean pirates might be the best example of anarchy; eat what you kill, sleep in the bed you made, everyone else can worry about themselves, but when a merchant ship ripe for looting is on the horizon, all hands are on deck. Pirate society has a few downsides, however: all the women were prostitutes, and children grew up ignorant of producing anything but death & destruction. That kind of society would seemingly have a short half-life, and it did, especially once the societies that had real governments that produced things that were on those galleons decided to do something about it. Still, if the inequality of capitalism is unbearable, it could be a good life stealing from & murdering people who actually produced something. On the down side, it doesn’t seem likely that a pirate society could accomplished anything that required systematic organization like landing a man on the moon. Probably only capitalists or authoritarian governments like Commies, Fascists or Theists could do that. We should ask some Somalis? sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-10_1439_pirate_society.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-10_1439_pirate_society.mp3 2:19 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash pirate, society, anarchy no Mon, 07 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Before money, the distribution of wealth was determined by strength & avarice; a high level of both was empire building. When democracy entered the equation, where physical strength, force, was voluntarily ceded to government, the abstraction of money & avarice determined who gets what. Underlying both of these social frameworks is the same level of violence, it’s just more concealed by money. Add onto this concept personal autonomy & liberty, where people make decisions for themselves and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of their actions, and society will stratify into those who have it all, a tiny fraction, and everyone else. At least where strength was the medium of exchange, most people had some value for whatever strength they added to a group, be it spear carrying, childbearing, or merit of some kind. In the case of money, people have no perceived value except as slaves to serve the whims of the wealthy, who by-in-large did not get that way via merit, but were instead lucky or unscrupulous. Initially, there was a rough correspondence between wealth and merit but as generations pass, that connection has been lost. For every Elon Musk, there are thousands of heirs of billionaires, bandits & bullshitters. It’s to the point that strength will again replace money. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-09_1438_money_vs_strength.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-09_1438_money_vs_strength.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash money, force, strength no Sat, 05 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Laissez-faire Capitalism, where there are no government rules and companies are not held to account, is rightly rejected by most people, though there is a contingent of Ayn Rand-style libertarians who still preach it. But even the rules under which Capitalism operates, there is a lot of room for quasi-legal chicanery because corporations have tremendous power over average people’s lives while still denying they are Fascists. Traditionally, before the MAGA movement, corporations represented the Right, and all that was wrong with it. However, the Left has completely co-opted this power, and now wield it to promote their feminist woke agenda. The court decision, Citizens United, allowed unlimited so-called “dark money” to be injected into politics, ensuring that no candidate can get elected unless they do the bidding of shadowy special interests. As exemplified by the Leftist billionaire, George Soros, who finances the campaigns of Leftist district attorneys & judges at the local level, people who can persecute a former president with lawfare & impunity. The Left has purchased all news & entertainment outlets to promote their narrative, distorting facts, and even blatantly lying to sway public opinion without consequences, under the guise of them being private businesses. An even more powerful capitalistic exploit are hedge funds, which get the stock votes of the investors, so the politics of the manager of the hedge fund can dictate to the companies they invest in regardless of fiduciary responsibility; in fact, in spite of it, instead promoting ESG, Environmental, Social & Governance goals that have nothing to do with business. All of these problems with Capitialism invading the political sphere have solutions but it’s the politicians who benefit from it happening, so nothing will change. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-09_1437_destroying_capitalism_with_capitalism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-09_1437_destroying_capitalism_with_capitalism.mp3 3:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Capitalism, George Soros, Left, Right no Thu, 03 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor How many baby boomers who bought a modest house 30 years ago, and have their pension in a stock fund, are millionaires? Most of them probably. There are certainly some millionaires that would remain so if the stock market crashed, but paper millionaires will be wiped out. It won’t be the catastrophe it might seem because most of those people weren’t spending their pretend fortune anyway, and as long as they weren’t in debt, could make due with Social Security and whatever’s left. The ultra rich people won’t be overly affected either, and the young Bitcoin millionaires half expect their fortune to fall as fast as it rose. This scenario is perfect for an economic crash to get the nation’s finances back on a sustainable track so that struggling younger generations aren’t paying for the excesses of the profligate generations. Of course, there will be a lot of complaining by oldsters but that will dampen down as the years go by, they get accustomed to frugality, and eventually die off. The half of the population that pays no taxes will continue without interruption, as always working the jobs that have to be done. One big cultural change after the cush money goes away is that most women will marry and become stay-at-home moms. Traditional values will also make a comeback when regular people again have purpose in their lives, if all that means is trying to stay alive. MAGA would return but probably not like its supporters envision it. As odd as it is to think, a major economic crash is just the thing to revitalize the nation. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-08_1436_paper_millionaires.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-08_1436_paper_millionaires.mp3 2:40 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash economic crash, profligate, generations, millionaires no Tue, 01 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor From an autistic point-of-view, digital currency seems like a good idea. Known colloquially as “cryptocurency,” there are many private issuers. Speculators are “investing” in them, gambling that their value will go up indefinitely. In reality, all of them are simply Ponzi schemes but few people, and certainly not the government, are identifying them as such. In fact, governments want to get in on the deal. Replacing the dollar as the world’s fiat currency is the CBDC, the Central Bank Digital Currency, which is currently being introduced through some of the world’s largest banks. The difference between the CBDC and other digital currencies, most famous of which is Bitcoin, is that CBDC will be overseen by government, so much of the privacy advantage is lost, but presumably government force will be used to ensure CBDC’s continued existence, whereas Bitcoin could simply be a footnote in history if government decides it won’t be allowed to exist any longer. It’s suspected by conspiracy theorists that CBDC is intended to be used to wipe out the U.S. National Debt by replacing the previous imaginary money with this new digital currency that they can create out of nowhere. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-08_1435_digital_currency.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-08_1435_digital_currency.mp3 2:30 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash cryptocurrency, CBDC, Bitcoin no Sun, 29 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Money can appear or disappear at any time because it’s only a matter of accounting. For example, if you bought a share of GameStop stock for $1 and it went up to $300, that $299 gain materialized from nowhere; nobody put $299 into the market for your share, they bought someone else’s share for the $300, bits in a computer twiddled, and now everyone assumes your share is worth $300 too. It’s not just your share that went from $1 to $300, it was all shares. The same thing works in reverse; obviously, there’s nothing like the physics of Conservation Of Energy, where the total remains constant, for money. Similarly, the Fed makes money appear & disappear; for example, quantitative easing, where they transfer an asset out of a bank’s accounting into their own, then the bank twiddles the bits to show they now have money instead. Most of the assets the Fed appropriates in this manner disappear. Capitalism relies on this imaginary nature of money, an illusion that everyone is willing to believe, even idealize. The danger is that people who produce nothing except manipulate the artificialness of money are admired & emulated. It only works because everyone wishes it was them who owned GameStop. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-07_1434_disappearing_money.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-07_1434_disappearing_money.mp3 2:35 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash money, humor, politics, social science no Fri, 27 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Money is increasing at a much faster rate than the amount of real things to purchase with it. Money concentrates into the hands of a few, so all of the newly created money, trillions & trillions of dollars, needs to go somewhere; the stock market is perfect. Ostensibly, stocks are supposed to be a representation of the underlying value of a company, and in the vast majority of the cases, they do, but there is a class of stock, a meme stock, that is simply a way to store the vast amount of imaginary money. Stock Market indexes, like the DOW & NASDAQ, are mostly composed of meme stocks, which is why they increase at the same rate as the national debt. Since many retirement funds are invested in the stock indexes, and the indexes keep going up due to the high deficits, people in those funds think the economy is great, at least the imaginary part they’re sharing in, and as long as the government can run up the debt without penalty, this illusion is a reality. Because of this, average people and the ultra wealthy alike, at least share one thing, even if it’s a delusion. The question is: how long can deficits continue, and what happens when they stop? sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-07_1433_deficits_increase_stock_market.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-07_1433_deficits_increase_stock_market.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash meme stock, stock market, deficits, national debt, humor, politics, social science no Wed, 25 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor There’s always a lot of talk about “democracy” when in comes to who controls government, but fundamentally it’s money that controls government. Billionaires such as Jeff Bezos who owns the Washington Post, and Rupert Murdoch who owns Fox News, or Steve Job’s widow who owns the Atlantic, the list goes on-and-on; they are the real government. For example, the Trans movement is almost entirely financed by the heirs of one billionaire, Homer Stryker. Billionaires are completely transforming society. Everything that is counter-intuitive and doesn’t make sense can be traced to a billionaire with a personal agenda, the primary example being George Soros, the man behind increasing crime, deteriorating race relations, overseas military escapades, and virtually every negative thing happening to the U.S. Other countries get in on the money-is-democracy pipeline; every member of the U.S. House of Representatives has an AIPAC, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, member assigned to their staff that reminds them where their campaign contributions come from. It’s so blatant that the Israeli prime minister brags about how Israel dictates American foreign policy. That explains the invasion of Iraq, Syria & Iran, because those nations are competitors with Israel for control of the Middle East. There is a way out; Matt Gaetz, the only House member not infiltrated by AIPAC, notably advocates for legislators not to be able to trade individual stocks, not be able to lobby after they leave office, and most importantly, not take money from lobbyists & PACS. Add term limits to that, and maybe money wouldn’t equal democracy. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-06_1432_money_is_democracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-06_1432_money_is_democracy.mp3 3:04 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash democracy, money is democracy, humor, politics, social science no Mon, 23 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) was hypothesized in the beginning of the last century; it’s the idea that a government can print an infinite amount of money without adverse effects, and is the basis of Bidenomics. Not considering the side effects, the theory seems sound; creating an economy through stimulus where production adjusts to equal consumption via market forces. As needed, if demand increases, production can be increased through technology & automation, creating a demand for training the next generation of scientists & engineers. MMT is a win-win situation but it has two insidious problems. First, money is a stand-in for real things; people don’t earn money for money’s sake, they accumulate it for what they can exchange it for. Capitalism guarantees money will concentrate into the hands of a very few; at some point, these elite individuals are going to want to convert their money into things. There may be infinite money but there’s not infinite things, so eventually, prices will rise as the monied oligarchs try to buy everything with their limitless money, just like we’re seeing now. Secondly, people are vain and controlling, especially ultra wealthy ones, and since money equals democracy, the causes & narratives they champion are the ones that drive the nation, not The People. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-06_1431_modern_monetary_theory_fails.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-06_1431_modern_monetary_theory_fails.mp3 2:34 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, humor, politics, social science no Sat, 21 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor There’s a lot to review on the subject of social decay: 1. There’s an epidemic of narcissism but people are too narcissistic to notice. 2. The success of one inspires the resentment of many. 3. Responsibility is the foundation of society. 4. The culture war is only one step away from real war. 5. If demographics is destiny, humanity’s appears bleak. 6. Woke is short for narcissist. 7. Hate is stronger motivation than hope. 8. Liberals have become illiberal. 9. Civil war results from a lack of civility. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-05_1430_social_decay_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-05_1430_social_decay_concepts.mp3 2:04 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash social decay, humor, politics, social science no Thu, 19 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The often-mentioned “civil war” is bigger than the United States, it’s worldwide, though primarily in the West where feminism has had time to metastasize. It began in earnest in the last decade when strict adherence to woke orthodoxy was enforced through canceling, censorship, debanking & preferential treatment. The cause of the civil war is resentment-fueled grievances, the environmentalism & wokeness religions, forced equity, and demands for reparations; each championed by some contingent of the ultra wealthy. The evangelists are primarily women: widows, ex-wives, daughters & female heirs of vast fortunes. Most people still mistake the problem as cultural, or economic or religious, but those are only the battlefronts; the real war is between men and women. It’s the first civil war in history that pits the sexes against each other; though women are winning now because men refuse to acknowledge what’s happening, no father wants to be in a war with their wife and daughters, eventually men will have to stand up or society will be lost; already marriages and childbirth have sunk to all-time lows. If it is allowed to continue, it will be the most destructive war of all because it kills humanity from the inside. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-05_1429_worldwide_civil_war.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-05_1429_worldwide_civil_war.mp3 2:29 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash civil war, humor, politics, social science no Tue, 17 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Back-in-the-day, there were conservatives vs. liberals, defined by the 2 parties. Liberals were dedicated to free speech & personal autonomy; doing your own thing. Conservatives were mostly religious, with prohibitions against saying curse words, and enforcing morals on others via shaming & shunning. They were also censorious, banning information that did not fit their view of life. Young people were attracted to liberalism as both a form of rebellion and an independence conceptualization for how to live their own individual lives. Liberalism expanded to perfectly fit into the natural inclination for people to think they are the center of the universe. This self-centeredness, however, requires wisdom & maturity, and certainly self-awareness that though it may seem everything is about you, you know it isn’t. Unfortunately, the mechanisms to gain wisdom have been subverted by control-seekers who don’t find it conducive to their own self-centered narrative. Those people still carry the “liberal” label even though their actions have become decidedly illiberal: they’re the ones that prohibit certain words, and maintain allegiance via canceling; they even justify censorship. Ironically, it’s the new conservatives, people who like to keep what works, which was traditional liberalism, that uphold liberal values. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-04_1428_illiberal.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-04_1428_illiberal.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash liberal, liberalism, illiberal, humor, politics, social science no Sun, 15 Sep 2024 06:05:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor There are several models of how civilizations go through cycles; each has its own reasoning, often technical, but the fundamental problem is always the same: there aren’t enough people who work to maintain a society's basic needs. There are a lot of reasons for this: war, disease, catastrophe, but the one the West is experiencing is purely psychological in nature: resentment leading to nihilism leading to malevolence. Revolutions or collapse are the only two outcomes if society is too far gone. One of the ways to determine that is how many people say they hate America; when everyone knows at least one person who expresses negative feelings, the pitchforks aren’t far behind. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with America; there isn’t despite what gaslighters insist, but resentment created by the perception of others are doing better, primarily because of social media, is increasing, as are feelings of anger & hopelessness due to unrealistic expectations. At this point, it’s so bad that most of today’s policies only make sense if viewed from a perverse viewpoint; not caring if the situation devolves, as long as the envied people are being hurt too. The hating is especially vehement among the young, who in two generations have gone from saying “don’t trust anyone over 30,” to “burn it all down.” sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-04_1427_hate_america.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-04_1427_hate_america.mp3 2:30 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash hate America, humor, politics, social science no Fri, 13 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Wokeism is fostered by women, along with an inkling of beta males. young women are becoming increasingly woke at the same time as young men are becoming more conservative. It’s a result of women’s resentment towards men, combined with the natural inclination of women being the center of attention since they were girls multiplied by the focus of social media, and has resulted in an epidemic of narcissism. No one wants to admit they are a narcissists, instead, they camouflage their selfishness as altruism. Narcissism has some clearly observable symptoms: a sense of entitlement, a lack of self-awareness, demanding of obedience, resistance to accountability, manipulative, and most telling, uses projection against enemies, which means claiming their opponents of doing whatever they’re already guilty of or planning to do. Feminists and their minority allies control all the institutions of power, and are in a democratic majority, so unless men push back against the narcissism using their testosterone advantage, wokeness will become the game we all have to play. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-03_1426_wokeism_is_narcissistic.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-03_1426_wokeism_is_narcissistic.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash woke, wokeism, wokism, wokeness, humor, politics, social science no Wed, 11 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor There are several thought-provoking predictions about what's going to happen to the West population-wise. Simply extending the current situation out a century results in an 80% reduction, and lots of people think that's a good thing. It’s not a new phenomenon, historically, as societies mature, they become decadent and start to decline faster & faster until they collapse. This time, there might be several reasons why this situation came to be, most notably, feminism; the defeat of the patriarchy broke down the traditional family structure; or it could be due to decreasing testosterone in men from environmental contamination; there’s also the cult of environmentalism that advocates for drastic reductions in humanity, even extinction for the sake of the planet. Whatever the reason, it’s certain that without people, society cannot keep operating at this level. Who’s going to keep the infrastructure going? Who’s going to take care of the large number of elderly from previous generations? Who’s going to protect against foreign invasion? Plausibly, robots & AI will replace the tasks that all those other humans used to do, and the people remaining will be genetically engineered to have longer lifespans. In the long run, it seems likely that non-Western civilizations that have maintained their replacement rate will flow into the empty spaces, and the cycle will start anew. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-03_1425_demographics.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-03_1425_demographics.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash population, demographics, humor, politics, social science no Mon, 09 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Through Affirmative Action, Black women with sharp elbows have infiltrated all of society’s influential institutions. These aren’t people who revere America’s culture, customs & traditions; in fact, they despise them, blame them for ills in the Black community, and will do what it takes to tear them down. In their quest, Black women have successfully co-opted feminism & sexual deviants to their side, a triumvirate of evil. Those people too would like to see male-dominated hierarchies dismantled, no matter the cost, up to and including America’s complete collapse. This is the operative meaning of the word “radical.” Ironically, the radicals call the MAGA movement, whose intent is to regain and maintain societal cohesion & stability, “radical.” That’s not the only example; virtually everything the true radicals say is projection, meaning they are already doing or plan to do what they accuse of their enemies. To facilitate their plan, they want a complete change of culture so that they are in control, deciding what is good and who is problematic. Unfortunately, they have already projected how they intend to exercise this control, and our side needs to start fighting back or we won’t have a culture. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-02_1424_culture_war.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-02_1424_culture_war.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash culture war, culture, humor, politics, social science no Sat, 07 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Industriousness emerges when it is required for survival, or from ambition. Ambition is one of the aspects of testosterone, so males naturally assume responsibility. Lower testosterone individuals, primarily females but also effeminate males, delude themselves that they are responsible but it’s mostly just virtue signaling. Modernity allows people in the West to live lives of indulgence, where every need is met without effort, living off the contributions of others. The reality is that only responsible people, primarily men, are held responsible, while the irresponsible are excused using the rhetoric of oppression. As it is now, shirking responsibility is incentivized because attending to obligations is costly, and there is no penalty for neglecting them. The Right, conservatives, understand that conscientiousness is essential for survival, so they instill duty & commitment into their offspring, but the Left cynically adopted the egalitarian attitude that those with plenty must share with those who need help. Their motivations are envy, resentment, laziness & selfishness, and their excuse is that they have no control anyway. This is where the ideological difference about accountability between Right and Left are in stark contrast: the Right cares about family, society & nation, things that an individual can actually change and be responsible for. Contrarily, the Left cares about big things that individuals have no control over, like the world and everything in it, and hence only feel an amorphous responsibility that they then assign to others. As less-and-less people act responsible, and more-and-more people shirk theirs, society will inevitably capsize. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-02_1423_shirking_responsibility.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-02_1423_shirking_responsibility.mp3 2:59 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash responsibility, humor, politics, social science no Thu, 05 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Average people are easily made to feel inadequate, inferior & insecure by more achievement-oriented people, which leads to an ever-building subconscious resentment. They want to escape this feeling, not by increasing their own accomplishes which they may not be capable of, but by penalizing the so-called, tall poppies. In the religious past, there was a power stronger than any individual: God. No one was greater than God; if they pretended to be, God via the church, would call them vainglorious & prideful, penalize them, and the envious & spiteful among the parishioners facilitated the cutting down of tall poppies, even though they were quashing the most productive & creative people in society. Children need to be taught to deal with disappointment & defeat because that is much more common than always getting your way; it’s part of maturity. When God is replaced by democracy, and values are no longer propagated, eventually perversity is in the majority because there are more relative losers than winners, and they vote for equity, ensuring there are no losers by having no winners, even if it threatens the living standards & livelihoods of all. This perversity intends to calm feelings of inadequacy, inferiority & insecurity via schadenfreude, authoritarianism & tyranny. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-01_1422_inadequate__inferior__insecure.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-01_1422_inadequate__inferior__insecure.mp3 2:27 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash masochism, narcissism, humor, politics, social science no Tue, 03 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor As illogical as it may seem, evolution has programmed a lot of people to receive a psychologically-induced hit of dopamine when they are degraded or even tortured, called masochism. Masochism isn’t modern, religious devotees have long endured self-inflicted pain as a sign of piousness. In the past, people were doing all they could to survive; their everyday lives were defined by constant want & degradation, which is probably why the dopamine reward evolved, because those that got it survived while most of the other downtrodden did not. However, as society has progressed & matured, making things easier, providing excess time & comfort, it allows people to have luxury beliefs, and their underlying narcissistic tendencies & self-indulgence take over; release of dopamine becomes the goal. Masochism is an easy way to generate it because feeling guilt is up to the individual: people want to feel bad about the past indiscretions of their forefathers; they want to feel conflicted about being alive, that their presence is harming the earth; they want the worry & anxiety that their comfort is at the expense of the less fortunate; they want to feel undeserving, and will focus on anything negative that generates the sense of dopamine euphoria, their brains literally wallowing in neuropeptides, a biochemistry-driven combination of hubris, narcissism & masochism. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-01_1421_narcissistic_masochism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-01_1421_narcissistic_masochism.mp3 2:34 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash masochism, narcissism, humor, politics, social science no Sun, 01 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The reactions to modernity are worth reviewing: 1. Liberal + Christianity = Liberty 2. If there weren’t trumped-up charges, there wouldn’t be any at all. 3. Elon Musk saved Free Speech. 4. It’s no longer one-man-one-vote, but instead who has the best ballot harvesting. 5. Unchecked mass migration doesn’t have to be that way. 6. It’s real that Israel gets what it wants. 7. The Ukraine war is for idiots. 8. Everyone wants Taiwan. 9. People trust their plumber more than their doctor. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-30_1420_reactionary_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-30_1420_reactionary_concepts.mp3 2:09 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash reactionary, humor, politics, social science no Fri, 30 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor An important part of liberalism, as it was developed in the eighteenth century, was the scientific method, a way to dispassionately determine “truth” that specifically barred faith from the evaluation. Science successfully propelled progress & enlightenment, creating the future we live in today. Unfortunately, like all established institutions, science too has been compromised & corrupted to serve the political goals of the elites. Academics now must parrot the accepted narrative to be published, to get a teaching position, tenure, awards, appointments, and most importantly, government grants. Instead of thorough experimentation, science is now a matter of concocted consensus; for example, fallacious claims that 97% of scientists believe in climate change. COVID was another glaring example; there were many skeptical doctors but they were ignored because they wouldn’t go along. Contrarily, in science a theory must be 100% true or it remains a hypothesis. Continuing the list: the biased mainstream media often quotes anonymous experts to support their phony positions, censoring dissenting voices; and there’s an endless stream of lying by the so-called intelligence community; for example, to undermine President Trump’s reelection. After all the lies, nobody trusts experts anymore, not even when they’re right. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-30_1419_untrustworthy_experts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-30_1419_untrustworthy_experts.mp3 2:40 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Scientific Method, untrustworthy, experts, humor, politics, social science no Wed, 28 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The U.S. is poised to go to war with China because they both want Taiwan. When the U.S. established relations with China decades ago, they did so by adopting the One-China policy, which formerly recognized Taiwan as part of China, if not actually in practice. Since Taiwan is the only place in the world that can manufacture the ICs that run A.I., the U.S. has exhibited a schizophrenic foreign policy; saying one thing to China but promising privately to protect Taiwan, and all 3 nations simply overlook the dichotomy. Half the Taiwanese population would prefer to be part of China but the other half wants independence. For its part, China has constructed artificial islands in a bid for conquest by occupation. They consider all of the South China Sea as under their rule, regardless of what their neighbors think, up to and including violent confrontation. In times past, when the U.S. was the sole superpower, they dictated a country’s borders, but it’s a multi-polar world now. Even though America has not yet accepted that fact, they better because China has announced that by 2040, Taiwan will be fully integrated, and the U.S. isn’t going to be able to stop it. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-29_1418_taiwant.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-29_1418_taiwant.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Tiawan, China, One China policy, humor, politics, social science no Mon, 26 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Ukraine must be spending a ton of money to bribe the U.S. & Europe into supporting them because otherwise the war there makes no sense. If the U.S. stopped backing Ukraine, the fighting would end immediately; Ukraine would be a smaller size geographically but it’s in Russia’s interest to keep them a viable country that can run on its own, albeit with a Kremlin-sympathetic government. It almost happened already at the beginning of the invasion but the U.S. squelched the deal, explaining that we are willing to prosecute the war until the death of the last Ukrainian; possibly the most immoral & hubris-filled statement ever voiced by one nation about the citizens of another. The people in the U.S. who continue to support this travesty of death of young Ukrainian men, and young Ukrainian women for that matter, have been lied to, are fools, or don’t actually exist; they’re all bots. In fact, there’s a good chance that virtually all the Ukraine support poured into the media is phony; simply manufactured propaganda; it’s amazing what a few billion dollars will do. The only group that does support the war are the NeoCons, those people who think might-makes-right, and the-ends-justify-the-means. All of them are getting a few of those billions of dollars too, so maybe no one actually supports the war? sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-29_1417_ukrainiots.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-29_1417_ukrainiots.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Ukraine, war, humor, politics, social science no Sat, 24 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The true power of the Israeli lobby in the U.S. is on display as Jews genocide Palestinians in the West Bank without restraint even though the rest of the world is against it. The justification is a combination of “God gave it to us” and “It’s us or them.” Jews say there is simply no possible way for there to be a 2-state solution, but that’s only from their myopic perspective. Outside of Jewish and fundamentalist Christian influence, the solution is obvious, but narcissism, self-interest, and the hubris of might-makes-right, explains why America alone is going in entirely the opposite direction. Just examining the facts, ignoring what happened in the past and what’s happening now, taking away all the emotion and looking at the situation dispassionately as if it was a chess match, if the U.S. wasn’t backing Israel with its threat of military response, Israel has so inflamed Islamic sentiment that at least 100 million Muslims would be willing to go to war to defeat Israel; they would forcefully impose a 2-state solution, and the problem would be over. The U.S. wouldn’t have to do anything, all they would have to do is nothing and the problem would take care of itself. There would still be an Israel, and holy sites, and homeland claims; it would still exist, but that’s not what the Israeli lobby wants, and what the Israeli lobby wants, it gets. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-28_1416_itsreal.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-28_1416_itsreal.mp3 2:35 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash genocide, Israel, Palestine, humor, politics, social science no Thu, 22 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor From “illegal aliens” to “illegal immigrants” to “migrants,” the identification of people who enter a country without proper oversight has been decriminalized. There’s several explanations for why this is being encouraged by political elites, from vote harvesting to cheap labor, but the underlying reason overwhelming numbers of foreign nationals are allowed in is because women control the government, especially women predisposed to egalitarian impulses; the Communist manifesto: from those according to their ability, to those according to their need, where fairness preys on merit. When the patriarchy finally returns to power, the river of people from other countries will slow back down to the million or so a year that it was before the open border policies. It’s not difficult to stop them, as proven by Trump’s border oversight: first, deny them entry; second, revoke any NGO charter that encourages it; go after the organizers and confiscate their funds on subversion and espionage charges. Also, pay Mexico to deport them before they try and cross the U.S. border. There are lots of non-lethal solutions, and it needs to stay that way because people should want to immigrate to America, it just need to be manageable and to the country’s benefit. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-28_1415_migrants.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-28_1415_migrants.mp3 2:21 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash migrants, illegal immigrants, humor, politics, social science no Tue, 20 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Mail-in ballots were the wild-card that allowed the 2020 election to be stolen from Donald Trump, but it doesn’t have to be that way; we've had mail-in ballots where I live for over a decade and it seems honest, but we don't allow ballot harvesting. In those big cities, they had millions of people who had never bothered to vote before because it was too inconvenient, but mail-ins allowed organized efforts to get every ballot for Biden. They pick & choose to only collect ballots that support them, delivering impossible odds, 99:1, bags of votes for their candidate. And because obligatory verification policies were ignored, probably a lot of those votes were phony. Politeness, courtesy, and the aversion to conflict keep most people from saying the obvious; that anyone for ballot harvesting and against voter ID laws are liars who intend to cheat in elections. Those people are insulting you with their obviously vapid & vacuous arguments; they don’t expect you to have the backbone to contradict them, they think your mental prowess is below their own, and they know you have none of the institutions that will protect your right to have an alternative opinion. Unfortunately, that last assumption is true. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-27_1414_ballot_harvesting.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-27_1414_ballot_harvesting.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash ballot harvesting, humor, politics, social science no Sun, 18 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor When history looks back at this time, Elon Musk will be considered a larger than life figure due to all of his accomplishments, but the biggest will only be a footnote: saving Free Speech. Musk’s purchase of Twitter was the single most important event in liberty’s recovery. America, the entire West in fact, was that one single purchase away from 1984-style tyranny. Musk immediately lost half of his investment because his enemies, both governmental & special interests, orchestrated a boycott of advertising revenue. They also put a tremendous drag on his other endeavors because the people who find free speech & liberty an inconvenience, are the same people who have maneuvered themselves into positions of power, enveloping almost all the established institutions. It was Twitter’s purchase that uncovered the Fascist state-corporation conspiracy to control the population; it was Twitter’s purchase that allowed patriots to have a place to coalesce; it was Twitter’s purchase that disseminated the truth, and not the manufactured narrative of those that would do anything to get power, and the worst things imaginable to retain it. Why Musk did it was equally praiseworthy, the Spiderman curse: those with great power have great responsibility. Luckily, TwitterX users have responded by supporting TwitterX with blue checkmark fees and advertising of their own. It was a case of the saved recognizing their savior. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-27_1413_twitterx.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-27_1413_twitterx.mp3 2:39 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Twitter, TwitterX, X, humor, politics, social science no Fri, 16 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor President Donald J. Trump was impeached in the U.S. House on trumped-up charges, convicted in civil court of trumped-up charges, and convicted of federal trumped-up charges. It’s easy to predict that future generations will think the common-usage term “trumped-up charges” was derived from Trump. That’s entertaining but the actual situation is that at least half the nation no longer believes in America’s method of jurisprudence, and without faith in that, the country cannot hold together; some kind of separation between the two sides is inevitable. Most knowledgeable people recognize this but there is a lot of argument as to who the two sides are: a lot say it’s Democrats vs. Republicans, others say it’s urban vs. rural, but the blunt reality is that it’s men vs. women. It’s a historical precedence that all civilizations rise then fall as their society shifts from patriarchy to matriarchy; how long that takes varies but in modern times, where everyone’s vote counts, even noncitizens’, it’ll be around 250 years; the only question remaining is how that fall will occur? Watching the transition will be like watching trials based on Trumped-up charges. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-26_1412_convicting_trump.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-26_1412_convicting_trump.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Trump, lawfare, jurisprudence, national divorce, civil war, patriarchy, matriarchy, humor, politics, social science no Wed, 14 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The Abrahamic religions have endured for 1000s of years because they simultaneously satisfy 2 imperatives: 1) that individuals are personally linked to God, making them the primary actor in their own play, and 2) that God is personally watching over them and, more importantly, judging their actions. This keeps every person the center of their own universe, while also keeping their negative proclivities at bay. Liberty is supported by these concepts; it cannot survive unless everyone respects the liberty of others by not exploiting transient advantages, nor impinging on the opportunities of others, inhibiting their liberty. This engenders trust in one another, leading to prosperity. Atheism takes away that something that you would consider bigger than yourself, removing any metaphysical restraint. You are no longer in control of your life, the elites are, and no one enforces morals on themselves because there is no penalty, and often there are rewards for violating the liberty of others. People don’t trust one another because there is no overarching power holding them in check, only corruptible human hierarchy. Other religions don’t have the values that support liberty which is why it never rose anyplace else in the world in history, only when liberalism & Christianity met in America. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-03_1411_liberty__christianity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-07-03_1411_liberty__christianity.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash liberty, Christianity, humor, politics, social science no Mon, 12 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Let’s review the challenges of modernity: 1. Stupidity isn’t artificial. 2. No one can predict the future but you can predict probabilities. 3. Memory makes a person who they are today. 4. Socialization is the biggest reason to get education out of the hands of government. 5. With robots coming, fame is one of the only things left. 6. Drugs defeat merit. 7. A swat now means no SWAT later. 8. COVID was an epidemic of mental illness. 9. Time online can be beneficial or detrimental. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1410_modernity_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1410_modernity_concepts.mp3 2:08 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash idioms, sayings, humor, politics, social science no Sat, 10 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor Describing online activities needs subtler definitions. For example, if someone told you they spent 6 hr/day in a classroom, that’s impressive, but to say you spend that much time on your phone, that’s a wasteful addiction, the equivalent of online sloth. Of course, there’s plenty of ways to waste time on the Internet: social media, videogames, movies, porn; but watching YouTube history channels, political commentary, or how to fix your washing machine, are much more beneficial than doing many things that don’t involve a Wi-Fi connection. Exercise, cooking or gardening don’t have the long-term value of getting an online degree; those are the equivalent of offline sloth. Unfortunately, online viewing statistics point to time-wasting sites like TikTok & Instagram, and online porn is notorious for the amount of bandwidth it consumes, somewhere around a third. Popular YouTube channels are personality driven rather than informative; time & money spent playing videogames are the largest entertainment industry. It seems that most of the people spending vast amounts of time in cyberspace are indeed wasting it, but there are those that are getting ahead in life, all because of what’s productive online. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1409_online_sloth.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1409_online_sloth.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash online, sloth, humor, politics, social science no Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor It’s been years since the COVID craziness, the Shamdemic, where people were locked in their homes, forced to wear ineffective masks & get unproven drugs injected into their bodies. Remember, the government fired workers who wouldn’t conform, and the military kicked out thousands of loyal service members. Corporations, under government instruction, also enforced mandates via firings, including airline pilots and other vital infrastructure workers. When government and business work in concert to force the populace to do things it doesn’t want, that is the very definition of Fascism. Even after the lies have been revealed, even after the medical claims have been debunked, even after all of the evidence has piled up that the whole thing was a cynical grab for raw power, violating everything the Constitution guarantees, to the detriment of all society for at least a generation, and has been proved as such, the people who fervently followed the scare narrative, the true-believers, still won’t let go. Even now, there are people wearing masks; everyone who demanded that those around them get the vaxx still feel that way; there’s a whole political party full of them; at least they show who among us is crazy & Fascistic. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1408_shamdemic_true-believers.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1408_shamdemic_true-believers.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash COVID, shamdemic, pandemic, humor, politics, social science no Tue, 06 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor At some point, cuffing a child, a light tap on the face, back of the hand or buttocks, has not only become unfashionable, the WHO considers it a crime! It’s a sign of the feminization of the West; corporal punishment is condemned because it makes the child momentarily anxious and uncomfortable, and women tend to evade accountability. That huge issue aside, that stance is also incredibly short-sighted; how does any animal learn if not through trial & error? The quick verbal & physical rebuff of a child playing in a light socket will modify the behavior without any detrimental side effects, whereas allowing the behavior to continue will only exacerbate it, if not being downright dangerous. Men live in a male dominance hierarchy where there is threat of physical repercussions; boys don’t do things that will tempt stronger boys to violence. Girls live in a world of words, and as the old idiom goes: sticks & stones may break my bone but words will never hurt me. However, boys know that words trigger sticks & stones. It’s the reason that in a traditional family setting, fathers are the disciplinarians; mothers don’t like conflict: “wait until your father gets home.” Without corporal punishment, the kids turn out poorly, the men are emasculated, and the women are disappointed in their mating opportunities. Of course, some people will claim they never punished their kids; yeah, we can tell. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1407_corporal_punishment.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-25_1407_corporal_punishment.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash corporal punishment, humor, politics, social science no Sun, 04 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor For a while now, there has been a growing discrepancy between the SAT scores of students who get prep classes and normal students, so-much-so that high scores are more an indication of wealth than of intelligence. It’s allowed because it cannot be prevented, but it makes standardized testing almost useless to rank a mixed cohort of people. Things got worse since the introduction of concentration & stamina-inducing drugs, like Ritalin & Adderall, even cocaine. and now actual intelligence-enhancing psychoactives such as mushrooms. For example, working women have routinely begun to use microdosing of psilocybin every day. People who don’t use these drugs are at a distinct disadvantage, for the same reason that performance-enhancing drugs are barred from organized sports competition. Unfortunately, whether illegal or not, the benefits are so big and the penalty so little, that ambitious people would be foolish not to engage. It’s become a 2-tiered society: natural vs. enhanced. There’s not much hope for those who don’t want to compete against drugged-up superstars; the only option is to opt out. Ironically, that’s also a hard pill to swallow. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-18_1406_competing_against_drugs.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-18_1406_competing_against_drugs.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash psilocybin, microdosing, Ritalin, Adderall, psychoactives, humor, politics, social science no Fri, 02 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor 86% of high schoolers want to be TikTok stars, more so even than wanting to be a professional athlete or pop star, because it doesn’t take anything special to do it. It’s passe for older generations to point out that becoming a fireman, teacher or businessman would be a better goal, and it falls on deaf ears. To a kid who has had pictures taken of them their whole lives, and are inundated with other kid’s pictures, they naturally assume that their level of fame among family & friends expands outward into the world via social media. In a sense, it’s only a phase, something that kids grow out of or something more glamorous takes its place, but it’s hard to think what that might be; what’s more alluring than being the center of attention simply by being alive? Young women are especially susceptible to this because young men are too immature, or too overconfident, to know their supplicant remarks on Instagram are simply one among thousands. The dopamine that a beautiful woman gets just by looking at her Likes in the morning is at cocaine highs; who would want to go to a job if posting provocative photos will bring in dates and money; but even if they receive neither, everyone wants to be famous regardless if it doesn’t pay the bills. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-18_1405_tiktok_star.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-18_1405_tiktok_star.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash TikTok, TikTok star, humor, politics, social science no Wed, 31 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The much-touted socialization component of public schools actually caused society’s social decay. Public schooling places innocent, naive, immature children into the orbit of incorrigible, sexualized, frankly stupid people, which includes the teachers. And because there is only 1 adult per 30 children, with little interaction, it means the children are using other children as their role models; children teaching social skills to children. That’s the reason home-schooled children are so much more polite, better adapted and socially mature. Home-schooling is more personalized, adaptive, promotes wholesome values, and provides a measurably better education. With the advent of A.I. teachers, combined with online self-paced learning, in conjunction with inter-homeschool field trips, sports programs and other kinds of after-school activities, all supervised by caring adults, will more than acclimate children into society. In contrast, the socialization offered by public schools is worse than none at all. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-17_1404_failing_socialization.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-17_1404_failing_socialization.mp3 2:07 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash homeschooling, home school, socialization, humor, politics, social science no Mon, 29 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor The common myth of a man losing his memory of the past so lives a life of innocence & contentment into the future is an appealing one, but it does reveal an unpleasant truth: memories are what make people unhappy. It’s the opposite of how memories are presented in tradition & cultural, where old people die comforted by the families they’ve raised and the lives they’ve lived. Instead, many people dwell on the negative things that they’ve done or have happened in their lives. Certainly, there must have been good things too, but the human psyche seems to fixate on gloom. Maybe it’s because regret seems perpetual while satisfaction is fleeting; good feelings expire while bad ones get endlessly regurgitated. Back to the myth: would you really be happy if you woke up not remembering anything? Would it make you naive & sincere? If they could, might some people choose to lose all their past memories? There are plenty of examples: Alzheimer’s & dementia are cases of people forgetting the past, and it doesn’t seem like a life worth living There’s also alcoholics & drug addicts who drown themselves in forgetfulness. What did they do in their past that they can’t live with the memory? Was it something heinous, or simply irreconcilable regret? There is also the ironic issue of, if a man doesn’t remember a crime he committed; should he be punished? Do memories make the man or break him? sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-17_1403_memories.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-17_1403_memories.mp3 2:39 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash memories, memory, humor, politics, social science no Sat, 27 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor One of the things we are guaranteed by statistics is that everyone is average in most things; it’s determining the things you’re exceptional at that’s difficult. Using statistical terms, the spread of all people on any general item is called a distribution; most things follow a standard distribution, meaning there are as many people above the median, the center line, as below. By definition, 95% of everyone is within two deviations of that median, which includes you. Even the number of things that make you unique enough to fall outside the deviation are on a distribution, which means almost everything you do, say, and think, are what everybody else does, says, and thinks. Another way of stating that reality is that there are only 5% of things, 1 in 20, where you are special. You can use this mathematical fact to make informed guess; for example, if your spouse seems to be treating you badly, chances are that’s how all spouses act, so you can find advice on how to deal with it. The predictions can be even more personal: if you’re dissatisfied with your job, you can bet almost everyone else is too. Generalizations like this are unfashionable because everyone wants to believe they are special & unique; that they have free will, and are unpredictable; yeah, 5% of the time they are, but all the rest of the time, they’re little more than automatons. Perhaps only 5% of you understand this, but odds are everyone does. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-17_1402_standard_distribution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-17_1402_standard_distribution.mp3 2:42 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash standard distribution, distribution, deviation humor, politics, social science no Thu, 25 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 sociology, politics & humor We are in another era of snake oil salesmen, most notable is the artificial intelligence craze. The hype has reached historic proportions of claims of it being an existential threat, approaching the heights of climate alarmism. The nature of the danger, we’re told, is that A.I.s will soon become smarter than humans, then take over the world. However, the dystopian, science fiction sounding claim is highly improbable because A.I.s have no intelligence, they simply repeat the most common thing everyone says. For example, people assume A.I.s can write but A.I.s can only do tropes, meaning they can only parrot back what already exists, with variations on the theme; they have no intuition nor creativity. Writing A.I.s have no chance of reaching the level of an engaging author because the quality of the data they’re built from is average at best. Even if only good writers are sampled, assuming there’s enough available, one of the elements of good fiction is originality, and by its very nature, A.I.s cannot be original, only derivative. Similarly, A.I.s can’t do research so their non-fiction writing would just be a rehash of existing work. On the plus side, art-generation A.I.s, perform well because the images they learn from are photographs, and talented artists; and most-importantly, subjective. A.I.s can do rote tasks, like driving cars, sorting parts, or packing boxes. They might even be able to do yard work or harvest crops. It’s unclear if A.I.s can serve in the role of doctors because doctors have entered the realm of social workers, where person-to-person contact is the product, again the exact opposite of an A.I. Maybe A.I. “intelligence” can rise to the level of being a companion to the lonely because most people communicate in drivel, just like A.I.s. sociology, politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-14_1401_artificial_stupidity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2024-06-14_1401_artificial_stupidity.mp3 3:07 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash A.I., AI, artificial intelligence, humor, politics, social science no Tue, 23 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy 31% of American voters identify as Democrats. They are an amalgam of old-style Liberals, Progressives, unions, environmentalists, feminists, and the catchall for every other Special Interest group. They tend to be more idealistic, younger, more demonstrative, more ethnic, more culturally diverse, more agnostic, more union, more educated, more public services & more female. Just because someone is a Democrat doesn't make them liberal because the Democratric Party are where the socialists lie-in-wait, people who would benefit “from those according to their ability, to those according to their need.” The Democratic Party has recently been clucking on how they're losing more-n-more of the White Male vote, but that is actually a passive-aggressive way of advertising to non-Old White Guys because to many within the Party, White Males are the boogeyman. Gun ownership is a White Male thing, and gun demonization is intended to drive a wedge between OWG Democrats and the Progressives/socialists. The face of the Democratic Party has become the League of Women Voters, Public Employee Unions & Black-Lives-Matter. Basically, everybody who is intentionally & unintentionally excluded from the Republican Party and the spoils of entrenched interests. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_140_democrats.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_140_democrats.mp3 2:12 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash democrats, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 21 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Republicans are just a Party, and there are only two Parties that count so a host of ideologies find themselves under the same umbrella: old-fashioned GOP stalwarts, Tea Partiers & Libertarians. Their only common trait is a belief that you are responsible for yourself & nobody else is responsible for you. There's also varying degrees of “great man” admiration & a fundamental economics misunderstand that compares a nation's finances to how they spend money in their own homes. Only 29% of America voters identify as Republican but so-called “Undecideds” lean Republican. Most people are the Party of their parents, which is to be expected considering the indoctrination & conditioning children are subject to. The Party creates the person as much as the religion the child was born into. In fact, Republicans have a component called the “Religious Right” that heavily influences the Republican Platform, but religion doesn't determine Republicanism, and neither does the other oft-quoted identify factor, conservativism. Since Parties are nothing more than teams, looking at who is attracted by the team would be the best way of describing Republicans. So compared to the rest of America, what traits & tactics distinguish modern Republicans? Reverance towards authority, courtesy, morals-values conscious, punishment oriented, conservative, religious, military idealization, older, better informed, mature & rural. Their tactics are organized, friendly, sincere & naive. And Republicans have a cynical view of democracy. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_139_republicans.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_139_republicans.mp3 2:41 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash republicans, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 19 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy What do people think of when you say “social programs”? Welfare? Social Security & Medicare? Child Care? Maternity Leave? Caring for those that cannot care for themselves? These are services that private charities did in the past but we are an evolving, mutable society, and placing the burden for our well-being on other individuals violates their liberty as well as our own. The charities that provided clearly essential services were haphazardly funded, inadequately staffed & at the mercy of circumstance. In modern times, those functions need to come under the jurisdiction of government to provide consistency, management & longevity. Combining the State's duty to propagate itself with its duty to take care of you when you are ill, social programs assume some of the responsible for raising the next generation, as well as nursing the last. We can Depend on Market Forces to drive most of the economy: the competent top quarter of the population will keep the plates spinning & our smart-phones improving, but the majority of Americans need the benefits that society-sponsored social programs can provide, and these needs wax & wane while people are getting started, during their child-rearing years & post-retirement. Even the go-getter, make-things-happen part of your life is limited to perhaps three decades. Social programs are the foundation upon which everyone stands to provide a pyramid of shoulders so the ones at the top can reach for the stars. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_138_social_programs.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_138_social_programs.mp3 2:26 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash social programs, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 17 Jul 2024 09:12:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Democracy is the biggest danger to liberty. As soon as a large enough constituency develops, it votes in its own self-interest, and if combined with no associated responsibility, the exploitation is especially heinous. A pernicious myth in America, in most of the Western World actually, is that a significant portion of the population can be totally consumptive without stalling the gravy-train. As America's retired population approaches critical mass, the reality of the situation will become clear over the next few decades. No, in fact, the young are not beholden to the old, and will not allow themselves to be callously enslaved at the ballot box forever. My aged father literally says that he only cares about what he gets because he's going die soon & it will be the kid's problem. Even those elders who claim to have saved for their own retirement and are not at government's teat, the fact is life is a lucktocracy, and only the vagaries of history allowed them to be able to accumulate an imaginary nest-egg. It's a hubris built on incomprehension of their true place in society, one of parasitism. Age also provides immunity against the Political Correctness juggernaut. In fact, censor will be aimed at me for stating these obvious facts, such is the irrational, topsy-turvy world we live in where the weak gain control via the innocent mechanisms of liberty. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_137_retirees.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-03_137_retirees.mp3 2:22 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash retirees, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy I was often accused of being naive about politics and I plead guilty. I simply believed the specious descriptions of the American experience I was taught in grade school, secondary school, college, church, civic holidays, media, peers, and all the other venues where the mythology of political idealism is propagated. The political system, it was implied, can be dirty but everyone has America’s best interest at heart. Well, I have now been in the political maelstrom long enough to re-calibrate: politics is a spoils system, nothing more. It is surrounded with pretensions, enveloped by ideology, and shrouded in patriotism, but the reality is infinitely baser: politics is vanity mixed with selfish profiteering. Historically, politics in the U.S. was unabashedly corrupt, each Party vying for control to exploit the system. Over time, however, reformers have forced corruption into the shadows, such that only glimpses of the underbelly hit our newsfeeds. Ironically, a Party's triumph is its own downfall. When a group prevails, it carves up and distributes the rewards to its self-interested constituents. Soon afterwards the veil is lifted and public envy & resentment causes the tide to turn to the other Party, so that power is never quite consolidated. In fact, it seems the actual achievement of politics is not to provide efficient and honest government, but to prevent armed revolution. That alone is worth the trouble. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_136_politics.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_136_politics.mp3 2:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 13 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy That last batch was the closest grouping of controversial concepts we've had so far but with an original take: 1. The Constitution puts liberty first, making the United States the only liberty nation. 2. The success of America's Free Market is primarily a result of carefully crafted regulations. 3. New Rights reverse responsibility. 4. Mandatory voting is in direct violation of liberty, the responsibility to make your own decisions. 5. Free Speech is under attack from the cynically offended trying to wrest control for themselves. 6. Freedom of Movement is under pressure from rent-seekers & urban planners. 7. Right to Privacy is a modern contrivance to which the State now only pays lip-service. 8. Protection from search & seizure has been almost completely lost. 9. Abortion is a battle between those-who-know-better-than-you & women. 10. There is no more personal right than the Right to Die. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_135_new_concepts_vol_12.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_135_new_concepts_vol_12.mp3 2:27 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 11 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The ultimate in liberty is choosing whether to end your own life. There are all manner of dogmatic reasons that other people use who would like to take this liberty from you: religion, paternalism & selfishness, but that does not assuage the theft of your choice. A handful of States now allow physician-assisted suicide, called “death with dignity,” and several countries have been successfully practicing it for over a decade. Physician-assisted suicide is always at the request and with the consent of the patient, since he or she self-administers the means of death. There's a lot of oversight & built-in protections so the number is only in the 100s per year where it's available but it's gaining acceptance. The safeguards against illogical or irrational suicide are many-fold: the patient must have a psychiatric evaluation, personal physician & attorney, but you're never going to really prevent a committed person from taking their own life, as evidenced by over 40,000 suicides each year, and almost half a million attempted suicides, at a cost of approximately $45 billion. It's not really what you think about grandma's choice, it's about her & she'll make her own decisions. And if Uncle Roy chooses to check-out for whatever reason, you're not going to stop him by putting the people who helped him in prison. The Right to Die is the most personal Right of all, and only religious conservatism keeps everyone from having it. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_134_right_to_die.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_134_right_to_die.mp3 2:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash right to die, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 09 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Our society assigns relative values to life, liberty & property, and it uses democracy & The Courts to do it, but there are folks who think their value system supersedes the liberty of others. Specifically I'm referring to the unquenchable hysteria surrounding abortion. Since 2% of women of child-bearing age have abortions every year, it's certainly of immense importance, but the wisdom of letting the people bearing the burden of pregnancy make the decision is lost on the zealots. Our judicial system has said that life begins with breath: this is a somewhat subjective call but it's the best we can do in a liberty society. Unfortunately, indoctrination is almost impossible to break, especially religious dogma. Logic & rationality are easily defeated by faith, and no amount of argument or evidence can change a closed mind. If you can get people to die for an invisible man in the sky, then when there's actual evidence of life, like a fetus, the rhetoric gets very heated indeed. Emancipation used similar arguments & reasoning, and when viewed in that context, the anti-abortion folks have a point, which is what makes the conflict so vicious, because the sides are equally matched. The line between where one person's liberty ends, and another's begins can be very fine, and simply looking at it from a different angle may make it shift a little, just enough to push it onto the other side. Abortion may be the closest example of an issue like that: add a wee bit of religion, and it seems wrong, but take away the sanctimony, and clearly it's no harder choice to make than letting a million poor children die in Africa when all you had to do was send them malaria medicine. The answer is always the same in a liberty society, when in doubt, give the choice to the responsible individual. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_133_abortion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_133_abortion.mp3 3:11 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash abortion, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 07 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The 4th Amendment of the Constitution states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” Thomas Paine said a patriot was “a citizen who protects his country from his government." Americans do not trust government to be benevolent nor should they. This was the reason the Constitution was written in the first place but it doesn't seem to be working in the case of the 4th Amendment: how can confiscation of your property by government, where your property has to prove it is innocent, not be a violation against seizure. And when a shadowy government organization, the NSA, peruses everything on you computer, is that not a search? This is an example of how not fervently defending a Right allows it to atrophy out of existence. More than 300 federal statutes authorize government agencies to issue "administrative subpoenas" unilaterally, bypassing neutral judges & probable cause, letting government agencies obtain private records of individuals & businesses. Police were looking at the personal data & pictures on people's cell phones before The Supreme Court stopped them. Snowden's release of secret documents showed they are making full scans of people's computers, but that will only stop after it too is adjudicated before the Supreme Court, and even then I've lost faith that law enforcement can be trusted to show proper respect for the 4th Amendment. Is there really any protection from Search & Seizure? Why do we let them? Almost 50,000 people die of prescription opiate overdoses a year, but we let terrorist killing of even a handful of people stampede us away from a Right actually enumerated in the Constitution. We are cowards, not deserving of our liberty. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_132_protection_from_search__seizure.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_132_protection_from_search__seizure.mp3 3:19 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash search, seizure, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 05 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Right to Privacy is an implied guarantee, not in the Constitution per se. It's one of those derived Rights cobbled together by The Courts from various whimsical passages & obscure references. The reverence people put on privacy is misplaced because it's not about privacy: like all Rights it's a control issue, and privacy is so intimate & personal that it offers lots of opportunity to impose your subjectivity on others because only you can say rather your privacy is violated. Frankly, I don't even know what privacy is because it doesn't get any more intimate than the NSA tracking your porn sites. Truth is, throughout all of human history there has never been any privacy, there simply wasn't the means to enforce it, and the concept was rather alien, otherwise it would have showed up in Common Law. Privacy can only be accommodated in advanced, productive societies where goods & opportunities are so plentiful that we can all own & do everything. Compared to the past, we have unlimited living space & the ability to cloister ourselves away from the rest of the world. Privacy is self-involvement, the ultimate manifestation of the solipsism that only you exist & everyone else is a figment of your imagination. The age of privacy may have only existed for the brief few decades after it was manufactured out of thin air in 1965, up until the Patriot Act in 2001. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_131_right_to_privacy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-02_131_right_to_privacy.mp3 2:44 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash right to privacy, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 03 Jul 2024 08:36:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Freedom of Movement is not in the Constitution per se, it's a derived guarantee, meaning The Courts made it up. It bars needing “papers” to move, or denying benefits based on location, gives access to public beaches, and pretty much built the freeway system. It was also used to justify the Disability Act, and is always in the back of the minds of erstwhile urban planners as leverage to force everyone into their public transportation fantasies. For half of the population, Freedom of Movement means cars, but for the other half it means mass transit. We can’t have a one-sided, rich-people view of our transportation needs, but and it’s also unclear what amount of transportation people are owed? If the debate was about the concept of free movement rather than specific implementations, like Light Rail, other solutions that involve the private sector seem the most promising, especially utilizing today’s information technology. One particularly venal restriction of Freedom of Movement is tolling, especially tolling of bridge crossings, another is the privatization of roadways. These are egregious examples of how The Rich exploit everyone else: The Rich pay relatively low tolls for fast access on roadways subsidized by all the people packed onto the public lanes, and bridge tolling is primarily a mechanism for city planners to put their populace under the control of bureaucratic elites. Freedom of Movement facilitates Capitalism because it allows the best allocation of underutilized human capital to migrate to burgeoning job centers. This concept clashes with socialists who do not like the responsibility of pursuing their own careers but think society owes them the contentment of staying in one place their whole lives. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-01_130_freedom_of_movement.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-01_130_freedom_of_movement.mp3 2:50 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash freedom of movement, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 01 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy There are many examples of people trying to gain control by making an issue about themselves, only the “I'm offended” crowd is the most spectacularly obvious about it. It's a highly effective tactic that immediately coarsens communication because the accused must either go silent, which is of course what the attacker wants, or must fight back, and that takes enormous self-confidence to do, especially in public. The “I'm offended” attack is exploiting other people's courtesy, and relies on our passive natures when in comes to confrontation. Most of us would rather not engage in nor witness a acrimonious verbal exchange so the momentum is all on the side of the attacker. As children we were conditioned to succumb to an “I'm offended” attack by adults who took great sanctimonious pleasure in vocally condemning our use of “dirty” words, and the indoctrination remains strong into adulthood. That's why the offended attack, represented by the college campus euphemism, “Safe Space,” is so attractive to & effective on young people. But Race-Baiters and victims of all kinds are profligate users of offense as cause celeb. Religions are also purveyors of the offended attack, and unfortunately, the bad judgment inherent in religion can actually result in physical violence against the perceived offenders, squelching Free Speech with a Kalashnikov. There are people whose job requires them to run afoul of zealotry, such as the French satirist magazine Charlie Hebdo, that were killed by offended Muslims. Unbelievable as it seems, there are actually “enlightened” Westerners claiming Charlie Hebdo deserved what they got?! Firefighters can never be blamed for dying in fires. I don't admire people who go around bashing religions, setting up conferences to bash religions, or attending religion bashing events, however, I support those people's Rights & ability to do so, whatever the consequences may be. Limiting Free Speech because somebody might be offended, and in response capture some poor Japanese missionary in Syria and behead them is the kind of logic that clearly points to a coward & ingrate not worthy of having liberty. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-01_129_free_speech.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-04-01_129_free_speech.mp3 3:29 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash free speech, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 29 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Socialist-type thinkers live in a delusion that most people are egalitarian & altruistic, and that a small group of mean & selfish people have co-opted democracy by making the rest of us think voting isn't worth it, so paternalism naturally leads them to think we should be forced to vote for our best interests, because they know what is best for us. Supporting this argument is that authoritarians on the other side actual promote disenfranchisement through onerous voter ID laws, short voting hours, old-technology & the like, because they want to strengthen their elitist advantage. So Mandatory Voting is an attempt to push-back against this weaknesses of democracy. By forcing people to vote, like they do in Australia, Mandatory Voting advocates hope to diminish the power of the small Special Interest groups of people who do vote, such as the elderly, however this is America and we are taught to make our own choices, one one which is to vote or not. 300 million people have been indoctrinated since childhood to think this way, and we have a Constitution that espouses it, so as good as an idea of forced voting might be to blunt the power of an elite aristocracy, it diametrically conflicts with liberty, and should not be adopted. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_128_mandatory_voting.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_128_mandatory_voting.mp3 2:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash mandatory voting, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 27 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Control is about what other people owe you which is why there is always clamor for some new entitlement or Right. For example, if charity was a Right, you would owe them, it wouldn't be your choice. That's why the battle over Rights is so ferocious: if someone can gain the claim to a new Right, power would have to realign to accommodate the new control. This has happened many times in the past, usually through The Courts. There are already many Rights that are not explicitly enumerated in the U.S. Constitution: Right to Privacy, Freedom of movement, Right to Die, Right to an Abortion, Gay Marriage, even Right to Vote. Without these constructed Rights, America would not be the success it is today, but notice how each each new Right moved control from the group to the individual, which is a good thing if liberty is your ideology. Rights, however, are not entirely carte blanche towards liberty. This is not a libertarian society: you only have rights because other people let you have them, otherwise it would not be democracy. At some point the desires of the majority will be counter to your own self-interest, and you may be forced to pay for a group function, like defense, healthcare, education or social entitlements. If you disagree then you must argue through The Courts to see if your personal desires supersede the desires of everyone else, and sometimes they do. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_127_rights.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_127_rights.mp3 2:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash rights, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 25 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy One of the Right's whipping boys is “too many government regulations” but their arguments against regulations are unsophisticated & non-specific. The fact is that the success of America's Free Market commerce is primarily a result of carefully crafted regulations. For example, products & services with a high sensitivity to failure or monopolization require regulation, and abuse of resources important to us as a nation need regulations. Regulations are the rules-of-the-game, specifying the boundaries in which to play. If people have some kind of threat over their heads, even if it is unlikely they will ever get caught, most will not act illegally. Of course, there will always be crooks but by-in-large, people will mostly remain honest in the face of stricture, and will turn-in those they discover breaking the rules, whereas they would remain silent if the suspect act is not considered illegal. Regulations are too prone to exploitation to be enforced by the private sector which is why they're under government auspices. Unfortunately, people in government are as tempted by power & money as everyone else, and the regulators can be captured, meaning they work for interests of the businesses they are supposedly regulating. They do this by imposing regulations not to protect the public but instead to protect the vested interests of the industry. They do this by making the barrier to entry into a market so high that struggling entrepreneurs are at a distinct disadvantage or blocked out completely by onerous requirements, extended review procedures & deniable neglect. But even with these deficiencies, regulations are absolutely required for a functioning democratic society, however there is definitely a fine line between persuasion & a boot-on-your-neck. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_126_regulations.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_126_regulations.mp3 3:02 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash regulations, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 23 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Our country was founded on the concepts of freedom & liberty: every person can do whatever they please as long as it does not affect another person, and if it does then the conflict goes to the Courts. Total freedom & liberty, however, means every man is an island, without much hope of rebelling against a troop of Girl Scouts, let alone Great Britain, so we added an exception to “total freedom & liberty” and begrudgingly accepted a weak representative form of central government based on democracy. Unfortunately, exceptions invite exploitation: in the case of democracy, the majority could simply vote to take all the minority’s stuff. Hence, to prevent exploitative democracy, we protect the minority with a guarantee called the “Constitution.” The U.S. Constitution was the first one, and as great a concept as it is, there were flaws: Blacks were equivalent to 3/5ths of a White; women couldn't vote; the Vice President was the 2nd place presidential candidate; Senators were appointed, etc. Even in the beginning, the Amendments were a sign of this, they were added to fix the original document. Over the years it's gotten better, and sometimes worse, for example, Prohibition. Our republican form might be a bit dated, and economics, science, and law have certainly advanced beyond what John Lock, the philosopher who's ideas were incorporated into the Constitution, was thinking, but mostly the new Amendments have kept up. The U.S. Constitution makes "liberty" the primary goal, where liberty is defined as the rights of the individual come first unless due process of law. Other cultures are socialist, where the rights of the group outweigh the wants of individuals. If you're a "liberty" person, those other documents may seem inadequate. It was only chance that America ended up with a "liberty" constitution. That would not have been possible if Blacks and women were able to vote at the time. Liberty, personal empowerment, is much better for the advantaged, which is good for you & me but not so appealing to a slave, either in chains or in the kitchen. We were and are very lucky, there won’t be anymore modern day “liberty” constitutions. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_125_the_constitution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-31_125_the_constitution.mp3 3:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash the constitution, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 21 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy We had an eclectic mix of new concepts this time, let's review: 1. America's schizophrenic involvement in Syria's Civil War is a result of pressures from Israel, Saudia Arabia & Turkey. 2. ISIL's aspirations of establishment of a religious Caliphate is equivalent to Zionism. 3. A nation has no obligation to accept refugees. 4. Immigration brings entrepreneurs to America but it drains their home country of valuable human capital. 5. Illegal Immigration is facilitated by a cabal of Marxists, exploiters & self-interested Racists. 6. One of a nation's prerogatives is to control its borders & that might entail building a fence. 7. Luckily the average American is unaware of the rampant anti-Americanism of the European elite. 8. American has a history of Isolationism, and seems to be turning again in that direction. 9. The values & goals of Millennials have been shaped by their lack of career opportunities combined with a relaxed attitude towards traditional goals. 10. A National Dividend would make someone else responsible for you. 11. Student Loans indenture naive students & provide no Constitutionally guaranteed bankruptcy. 12 .Marriage is a State function with State goals. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_124_new_concepts_vol_11.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_124_new_concepts_vol_11.mp3 2:58 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 19 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Liberty is doing what you want unless The Law says differently. Legal prohibitions to various things must pass different levels of hurdles, and marriage is "strict scrutiny,” the highest hurdle. Without taking emotions & conservatism into account, restricting marriage, such as between same sex partners, related partners, or even multiple partners does not pass strict scrutiny, and using the word "legal" implies The Courts which implies the power of the State. Marriage is of interest to the State because married couples have special inheritance, medical, retirement, childcare benefits & responsibilities. The law considers the married partner as having a vested interest in the well-being of the other partner, and there are many volumes of case law defining & protecting that arrangement. When a person is in the hospital, or dies, or gifts, or is held responsible for some action, their marital status is very important because the law provides guidance for what to do. Even if the formalities of marriage have not occurred, the law still applies if the relationship meets the definition of a marriage. Marriage is not a religious issue & it is not a private issue, it is a State issue. Churches & private agreements can say whatever they want but The State overrides them when there is a discrepancy. Some people complain that opening the legal definition of marriage could lead to nonconformity with modern practices, but historical norms have other examples of expanded marriage options. One of government's three basic responsibilities is to provide contract enforcement and, in fact, right now a group of people could sit down and execute a contract for a polygamous relationship, and most States already have no problem with incestuous marriage. Marriage is an evolving issue that a democratic society will define as it sees fit. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_123_marriage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_123_marriage.mp3 3:00 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash marriage, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 17 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy There's a compelling & pervasive mythology in this country that every person must go to college, and there's' not much stipulation about what they learn. This narrative plays well into the educational industrial complex & the political machinations appeal to the socialist mentality & ambitions of students. Therefore, government felt compelled to distort traditional Market Forces by guaranteeing any student who wanted a loan, and going to the anti-Constitutional extreme of suspending their Right to bankruptcy. Now students who normally wouldn't have been able to get a loan without that bizarre exception are lured into having their life & career scarred by the naive exchange of a questionable education for a mountain of debt. The result is that tuition has gone up 1,100% since 1978, and 40 million students, almost 70% of graduates, owe $1.2 trillion. In fact, $200,000 in student debt at graduation is not uncommon: that's a repayment of $1,500 a month, about 40% of entry-level take-home pay, and because the loans have high interest rates, the amount owed is compounding wildly. Also, violating Free Market forces has influenced the cost of an education. The is partly through a lack of an adversarial relationship: students who by definition don't yet have wisdom are agreeing to lifelong servitude in exchange for exaggerated promises & misleading advice, and are artificially driving up the cost of college by increasing demand for the limited number of seats in brick-n-mortar didactic teaching institutions. And the educational industrial complex exploits its position via rent-seeking, gate-keeping, job pretension & degree inflation. Combined with tenure, public employee unions & ridiculous restrictions & morals, those institutions can't be pressured to change, so they fester & metastasize into the economy writ large. Worse, lots of "students" live off their student loans & never had any intention of getting a degree but simply work the system like people are wont to do if not scrutinized. However, unlike credit card abusers, these young people cannot declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is in the Constitution for an important reason: because Fascists use debt as a way to control the masses. And they're the only loans that can't be refinanced: so that 9% interest is forever. The whole Student Loan shtick was a cynical ploy to create indentured servants. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_122_student_loans.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_122_student_loans.mp3 3:57 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash student loans, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 15 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy When robots do most menial labor and computers do the rest, the hypothesis is that society will give people the opportunity to pursue more enlightened goals, better entertainment & contentment, by providing a monthly stipend, euphemistically called “National Dividend.” These folks suggest that if citizens had a baseline income then they wouldn't be forced into taking low-paying jobs & employers would have to raise wages. They claim that a National Dividend will stabilize communities because people wouldn't have to leave to find a job. Advocates also say a National Dividend would allow both parents to stay home with the children, touted as “putting families first.” The problems with this Utopian concept are threefold: first, there are a lot of folks, especially Millennials, who assign no value, maybe even negative value, to Work Ethic. A nation needs citizens to be productive rather than consumptive or the whole economy would collapse from the weight of Free-Ridership. Secondly, a National Dividend would be a Right, which impinges on the liberty of others because they would become responsible for providing the Free Money. And without Market Forces, who decides which National Dividendees are more equal than others, and perhaps need more money so that they can "do something that makes a difference"? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_121_national_dividend.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-30_121_national_dividend.mp3 2:32 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash national dividend, dole, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Only 10% of Millennials, those born roughly between 1980-2000, have completed the Big 5 Goals In Life, which are: spouse, career, children, house & education by the time they are 30, verses 70% for Gen-Xers, the previous generation. If you talk to many Millennials, the reason why is obvious, those things aren't what's important to them, maybe because they seem unobtainable to most Millennials, or maybe because they are not being forced by circumstances to dedicate their lives to making a living. In fact, the values of the previous generation may not even apply: Millennials may not want to be the economic powerhouse of the World, nor the World's policeman. Many would be satisfied with a National Stipend that would take care of basic needs so that they never had to work. Millennials want self-actualization & to think what they're doing "makes a difference." They travel, do extreme sports & gather together multiple nights per week to hang out. Entertainment is made by them & tailored for them. The new “family unit" seems very similar to the family unit of old: a couple generations living together, or multiple Millennials all sharing the same living space & costs. Millenials live where they want, do what they want, many do not get married, and only a faction have children of their own. Millennials are ideally positioned to take the pleasures from life, not spend the majority of their time chasing ephemeral goals. I sometimes wonder if I would have pursued my life as single-mindedly had I that option, or would I have simply opted out, like Millennials do? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_120_millennials.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_120_millennials.mp3 2:46 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash millennials, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 11 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Liberty is the concept that you are an island unto yourself, only subject to contracts you voluntarily engage in, while socialism is implied obligations, and Marxists explicitly say that you are responsible for the actions of others. People raised in America, the only Liberty nation, are caught off-guard in a socialist setting where others are tacitly waiting for them to act. Liberalists aren't looking for nor aware of the social clues of obligation, and are embarrassed & confused when comforted about their perceived inaction. This fundamental difference in ideologies makes engagement between the two groups, liberalists & socialists, fraught with angst & anger. In fact, less contact may be for the best. Certainly one side trying to impose their ideology on the other is distinctly illiberal. This goes for all forced value systems whether they be political, religious or commerce: friction is inevitable. Over-arching para-national organizations like the UN are especially pernicious, but "Free" Trade has the most at home impact, exploiting as it does destitute labor in other countries only to impoverish our own, to the benefit of a small Nouveau Aristocracy. But worse, ceding of our sovereignty to international courts, trade tribunals, and military pacts is extremely anti-democratic & certainly not in the best interests of private individuals, violating as it does the very essence of liberty. America was founded on an expectation of isolationism, its people are comfortable with isolationism, and there are numerous examples of America suffering after compromising that standard. China is isolationist, Russia is isolationist, most other nations are successfully isolationist within their own sphere of influence. America has been successfully isolationist before & should move that direction again in the name of liberty. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_119_isolationism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_119_isolationism.mp3 3:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash isolationism, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 09 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy In foreign European-influenced countries, the adults of my generation demean everything about America: our manufacturing, our intelligence, even our military, but they still have enough memory of America’s generosity to trigger some modicum of objectivity, and they mostly act civil to tourists & travelers. Unfortunately, the children of those people, the Millennials and younger, have no such positive counterbalance. These young people hold an opinion of America spoon-fed by their anti-American elders & foreign media, resulting in disdain, scorn, and ridicule. To the rest of the world, Americans are “The Simpsons.” There is no repairing that perception & America shouldn't even try: if other people's opinions change your actions then they are in control. Another equally important concern is what typical Americans think of other countries. Currently, most Americans are guilty of benign neglect, blissfully unaware of the contempt in which they are held by foreigners. But people don’t like people who don’t like them, so if the general American public ever becomes aware of the odious regard of their worldly counterparts, American foreign policy will be radically realigned. America has a long history of isolationism, expect those feelings to reemerge with a vengeance if or when we start paying attention to who has the knife in our backs. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_118_anti-americanism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_118_anti-americanism.mp3 2:35 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash anti-Americanism, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 07 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy How or even rather to maintain a country's borders is hotley contested. Because we are a Liberty nation, subjective questions are decided by Rule of Law, so until it's changed through democracy, Americans deserve & expect at least practical enforcement of their immigration policy, which would include border control if for no other reason than safety. Practically, border control from Canada has not been an issue, but the border with Mexico has a long history of abuse, and a physical barrier is needed, but there are constituencies who do not want to do so: Marxists want open borders so that all people get a chance to share equally in America's bounty; many Hispanics have family members & loved ones who would like to join them in America; cheap-labor-exploiters, such as farmers & contractors, certainly don't want a Fence for profit motives; and there are even some cynical Democratic strategists that want the potential votes & populism of new immigrants. But is that a majority of Americans? No, as demonstrated by the political popularity of controlling the border. There are other advantages of building a Border Fence: by stemming the tide of Illegal Immigrants, there will be a political opportunity to give the existing ones citizenship. Also, many of the problems in the Inner-City cannot be solved until the constant influx of poor immigrants is stopped. Plus, building & manning a Border Fence is a great infrastructure Make-Work program, and only a little prescience is required to guess that Climate Change will cause massive refugees, and we'll certainly need a Border Fence before that. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_117_border_fence.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-29_117_border_fence.mp3 2:53 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash border fence, border wall, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 05 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy From my indoctrinated-since-childhood position, I think everyone in the world would want to immigrate to the United States. Liberty is a wonderful thing: look at all we have. The U.S. already allows by far the most legal immigrants of any nation on earth, and the problem of Illegal Immigrants is easy to understand but it conflicts with the liberty of our current citizens because those other people are doing things that impact us. How much & what those impacts are is up for debate but border control is one of a nation's main prerogatives. It's our nation, we decide what we want, and outsiders' opinions have no bearing. However, even with these convictions, our country’s cynical reliance on Illegal Immigration, and our political capitulation to immigration Special Interests, is criminal. The major instigating factor is jobs: Illegal Immigrants are willing to work the low-prestige jobs at low wages, and they are great employees: no Minimum Wage, child labor, poor living conditions, sexual exploitation, everything you would expect of an unprotected underclass. And it has giant scope: the collaborators are more numerous than the 10-25 million Illegals. We're talking Underground Railroad levels of collaboration, as dedicated to Illegal Immigration as any anti-slavery group was 150 years ago. No solution could possibly involve deporting whole communities, or keeping them in perpetual servitude & fear, so the only solution is citizenship. It might even be as easy as simply waiting for the next generation of birth citizenship to naturally take care of the problem, and as long as the borders are secure to stop the inflow of Illegal Immigrants into this country, that's the easiest answer. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_116_illegal_immigration.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_116_illegal_immigration.mp3 2:57 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash illegal immigration, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 03 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy America is a liberal nation with a lot of legal immigrants: the equivalent of what Europe & Russia combined allow in a normal year. We are a nation that welcomes immigrants because we all decended from immigrants. It's taught in our schools & the image of the hardworking immigrant gets reinforced every time we meet one because there are no greater advocates of the American ideal of free enterprise than newly arrived, hopeful, enthusiastic, optimistic immigrants. Almost all immigrants are hardworking, loyal, thankful, and conscientious. In fact, without immigrants, “The American Way” would probably collapse since so much of our innovation & productivity comes from a small segment of our population, and many immigrants are among them. But even with those positive feelings towards immigrants, we set the limit at 675K legal immigrants a year, mostly only the cream of the crop but 70K of them are refugees and 55K come through a lottery. We set limits because as a nation that's what we want. We'll vote if we want to increase immigration, no sanctimonious, self-righteous, my-values-are-paramount immigration advocates can override it. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_115_immigration.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_115_immigration.mp3 2:20 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash immigration, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 01 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Any discussion of refugees is a cesspool of sanctimonious scolding & moral posturing. Europe will take millions of refugees rather than do something about ISIL. Germany lets refugees rape their women & blames the women. On this issue, the U.S. has more in common with Russia & China. Frankly, I don't understand The West's willingness to be manipulated? Especially by legality arguments from non-lawyers, and the "treaties" that get mentioned anytime there's a discussion about refugees are meaningless. The U.S. was not even a signatory on the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” and the “Declaration on Territorial Asylum” was simply political, just fuzzy moral principles of the kind the U.N. is always promulgating. If these things ever got on the floor of the U.S. House, they'd get smashed. Even socialist Europe doesn't turn them into real law. In comparison to refugees, immigrants are the cream-of-the-crop: they deplete their home country of valuable human capital to our benefit so it's a positive transaction. Refugees, however, bring all of the incompetents along too. No one blames the refugees for wanting to emigrate: we'd all be refugees too in similar circumstances, but the answer is simply to side with liberty, which means that a nation's people make the decision if they want to admit refugees & how many. There's no moral, value, ethic or law that overrides The People's will. I'm curious how long the current refugee crisis goes on & how it finally resolves because it's a preview of the looming Climate Change refugees problem. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_114_refugees.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_114_refugees.mp3 3:01 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash refugees, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 30 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy There's a familiar ring to an ancient religion returning to occupy lands in the Middle East after a millennium, using terror as necessary, not allowing the indigenous people the same rights as the occupier, and absolute certitude their cause is God's will. Israel did it, and ISIL is just trying to do the same thing: establish a foretold Caliphate in lands that God promised to them. It's a kind of fundamentalism that satisfies the very basis of their religion: Christians cheer on Zionists, and Muslims cheer on the Caliphate. ISIL took advantage of the sectarianship & power vacuum in both Iraq & Syria with secret support from Turkey & other parts of Islam. The U.S. caused it to happen by creating suitable conditions for the Caliphate to emerge, but rather than get involved in the Middle East yet again, this time America needs to stay away & take a wait-n-see attitude: first, will ISIL succeed in an area already filled with Caliphate-like nations? Are they an imminent threat to the West any more than the Zionists are? Wait to see if they've cooled off after a generation or two. If there is reason enough, America took out Iraq's ability to wage war in 4 days & they could do the same to the Caliphate. Plus, Iran in now out of their box & they have the power to impose order on the region. It's not all the beheadings that got war-weary Americans in a lather, it was ISIL destroying ancient artifacts in Palmyra. But that's nothing new, in the pyramids all the hieroglyphics as far up as a man can reach were chiseled off by 16th & 17th-century Muslims as sacrilegious. But is it really any of our business? Europe doesn't seem to care & they've got terrorists shooting up concert halls & immigrating by the millions. Mostly ISIL is just words & sensationalism: if Russia & the U.S. actually worked together, let Assad alone & kill bad guys with drones, ISIL would be wrapped up in a few years. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_113_isil.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_113_isil.mp3 3:21 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash ISIL, ISIS, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 28 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy It's interesting & concerning to witness the propaganda machine begin an indoctrination cycle on the American people on what we should think of foreign nations: first it was Iraq, then Iran, and now Syria. It beggars the question of why all of these countries are in the Middle East, no other parts of the world get demonization of their leaders in quite the same way? Oil is cynically touted as the root cause but oil comes from all over the world, no, these smear campaigns & interventions have a more diabolical origin & superb organization behind them. Who are these loud "invade Syria" warmongers, the shadowy figures standing behind John McCain & Lindsey Graham when they prattle incoherently about military action? Those are the true culprits. I have my money on Israel because there are dozens of other examples of Israel-shilling from those two & other Israel-first people. And the entire U.S. anti-Assad stance seems to be nothing more than doing Israel/Turkey/Saudi Arabia's bidding. Why is the U.S. is involved in Syria but letting Palestinians suck wind? And why aren't we fomenting unrest in Saudi Arabia, the nation that flew airplanes into the Twin Towers, and how can ISIL be less important than Syria? I've never been one for conspiracies but the whole "invade Syria" narrative is not getting enough investigative reporting. We can barely get a discussion going on the topic because no one knows anything, just vague “chemical weapons” & “barrel bombs” charges. Why is the U.S. backing the overthrow of a sovereign nation, especially since it seems like ISIL are the ones who want to do the overthrowing? Don't we ever learn our lesson about interfering in the affairs of other countries? Thank goodness Putin pulled Obama's butt outta the fire before we put "troops on the ground." Let Assad be, ally with Syria & Russia to defeat ISIL, make some kind of deal then get out. Europe, who obviously will do nothing else, can take all the refugees. Problem solved. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_112_syria.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_112_syria.mp3 3:22 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash Syria, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 26 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The new concepts & original ideas just keep coming, let's review: 1. The Military is the greatest U.S. Jobs Program ever. 2. Physical prowess is used to demean women in the military but the real concern is runaway pregnancy. 3. A forced military draft is little more than enslavement. 4. The best Foreign Policy is targeted airstrikes followed by “good luck to the new guy.” 5. The Military Industrial Complex is the closest thing to an American oligopoly. 6. NATO is an anachronistic remnant of preening technocrats. 7. The EU is Germany's attempt to subjugate Europe without firing a shot. 8. The UN provides a semblance of democracy to relieve building international political pressures. 9. Much of the Religious Right supports Israel over our own government because they think Jesus will come back sooner. 10. Palestinian apartheid should get the international condemnation & censure it deserves. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_111_new_concepts_vol_10.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-28_111_new_concepts_vol_10.mp3 2:31 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 24 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The biggest problem with Zionism, the gathering of the special people to the special land before the end of the world, is what to do with the people who were already there. Palestinians are named after the land “Palestine” that existed before Israel took it over claiming historical birthright. Obviously the indigenous Palestinians who had lived there for Millennium yet now can't even buy nor lease land didn't quite see it the same way, otherwise Jewish "settlers" probably wouldn't be getting randomly stabbed. As a solution, Israel's foreign minister has suggested that disloyal Palestinians should be beheaded. American Zionists don't dance around the issue either: their proposed solution is forced expatriation of Palestinians to other Arab nations or outright genocide. Pushing the Palestinians into the sea is perfectly acceptable to these people because then Jesus will come. There's been cycles of almost peace then new settlements, or fence, or no voting Rights, or bulldozing neighborhoods, or pulling up 500-year old olive groves, or embargo, or non-recognition of elected officials, blah, blah, blah... Some Palestinians throw rocks, or scream hate chants, or fire off some homemade rockets, but somehow Zionists claim it's the Palestinians fault? The problem can be solved if the World recognizes Palestine, forces Israel to dismantle the Zionist settlements, give Palestinians the same Rights as Jews, and the U.S. stops allowing its foreign policy to be dictated by a religion. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-27_110_palestinians.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-27_110_palestinians.mp3 2:42 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash palestinians, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 22 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Israel was created in 1948 as a result of terrorism by newly immigrant Jews against the British, forcing many native Palestinians out as refugees into surrounding countries. Israel then expanded its boundaries through force in a surprise 1967 war with its neighbors, intentionally attempted to sink the U.S.S. Liberty, a U.S. spy ship, to keep it from warning others, and Israel continues to expand into Palestinian territory through illegal settlements. In the U.N., Israel is universally condemned for its actions, and is only supported by the U.S., yet it makes threats when Palestine also tries to join the U.N. And if it's suggested that perhaps Israel is responsible for their own actions, in fly the apologists claiming anyone who doesn't support Zionism is an anti-Semite. It's pretty clear that Israel's self-interest runs counter to what most people in the world think is fair, but so does America's. A Foreign Policy that primarily consists of might-makes-right is okay as along as it is rational but Jews & American Christians, think the Right of Jews to occupy Israel comes from God, called Zionism. Zionism is fundamentalism, just as ISIL is, and for the same reasons: thinking you are God’s chosen people and superior to everyone else always causes otherwise intelligent and admirable folks to act like aggressive, self-righteous fools. The irony is that the Zionist's treatment of Palestinians is eerily like how the Jews were treated in Nazi Germany. If Israel wants peace with its neighbors, it will have to negotiate one because dictating isn't going to work. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-27_109_israel.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-27_109_israel.mp3 2:59 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash israel, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 20 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy There are 193 nations in the United Nations, headquartered in New York. It was established right after WWII in an attempt to prevent future wars. Its operations are financed by assessments on member nations according to their GNP with the U.S., of course, being the largest at over $3 billion a year, a quarter of the total budget: reasonable as long as it serves America's best interests but that's often questionable because no where do ideological differences so stymie productive action than in the United Nations because global socialists are intent on wealth redistribution from America to rest of the World. The U.N. also wraps an aura of legitimacy around clearly Marxian thoughts & goals that are not amenable to liberty. Plus, responsibilities are often thrust onto the U.S., a common socialist tactic. At its worst, the U.N. serves as a platform for preening, grandstanding & disingenuous behavior, and the relationships between countries is a queer mixture of paternalism & sycophants. But at its best, the U.N. satisfactorily embraces tribalism, giving all the nations a forum in which to speak, thereby serving as a pressure-relief valve, and indeed there has been no large-scale warfare since its inception, and it was integral to the Cold War winding down peacefully. Just in that ombudsman capacity, the U.N. seems a worthwhile investment as long as America does not capitulate its own sovereignty over to it as some kind of World Overlord. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_108_the_un.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_108_the_un.mp3 2:39 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash the UN, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 18 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Combining small self-governing countries into a larger omnipotent organization using a common currency is not appropriate for culturally divergent societies because cultures with vastly different goals & work ethics inevitable exploit one another. Plus a country that loses control of its currency, loses its ability to inflate away government debt. Only multinational corporations are pushing for reduced sovereignty, and since their goal is economic advantage, their rules are too. I don't have a whole lot of sympathy or concern for the profits of corporations and, frankly I don't know anyone who does, so I'm at a loss at how the EU snookered so many presumably rational nations to join? Perhaps socialist types like monolithic nations for reasons of equality & paternalism. In an equality mindset, the concept of responsibility for your own actions is not a strong one. The people of small nations like Greece see the affluence of larger, more modern European countries, like Germany, and say "I want that." They were admitted to the EU primarily for geographic & historical reasons, and then borrow huge amounts of money, mostly for healthcare & pensions; this goes on for a decade-or-so then they need multiple angst-generating bailouts. There is & never was any way they could have ever paid back the loans to the foreign banks who encouraged them to borrow the money, their culture simply isn't productive enough, and the EU knew that when they granted membership, resulting in an odd if-you-owe-enough-to-the-bank-the-bank-works-for-you kind of situation. Is a United States of Europe even possible? It all comes down to German voters who will be footing the bill for the weaker countries for the foreseeable future. If they truly believe in their socialist ideals, the norm will be for Germany's workers to support less productive nations, plus the big nations that collapse, plus all the immigrants, and all the new EU petitioners looking for such a great deal. But there are lots of socialists in Europe so democracy explains it, unless the EU is simply Germany's way of finally conquering Europe without firing a shot. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_107_the_eu.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_107_the_eu.mp3 3:28 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash The EU, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 16 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy NATO is the very definition of an anachronism: it's conspicuously old-fashioned, from another time when the empire it was intended to confront has not been in existence for over a quarter-century. It's unclear whether NATO even serves U.S. purposes. NATO isn't about Europe and they know it, so they exploit the relationship. NATO-Europe contributes well short of the 2% promise that all NATO members were supposed to adhere to as gentlemen. In fact, while European membership in NATO has nearly doubled since 1990, defense spending by Europeans has gone down by 28%. The Europeans don’t contribute because they don’t want to, and don’t have to because the U.S. will simply bear the full burden of cost without them. NATO is from the days of paternalism, and most Western Europeans see it as nothing but American finger-in-the-pie. The ostensible NATO enemy is Russia, which most Western Europeans don't see as relevant to their security. The NATO nations demanding NATO intervention are Estonia & Latvia whom, combined, contribute only 11,000 troops. Ukraine & Georgia now want to join NATO: these nations were not only part of the Soviet Union but were also historically part of the Russian Empire. Bringing them into NATO is equivalent to Mexico & Canada joining Russia. Are Americans and Europeans expected to risk nuclear war over pissant countries? And why does that chance even exist? NATO is long past its reason to exist, and is nothing more than a dangerous war trigger that also happens to sap American resources for things not in America's interest. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_106_nato.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_106_nato.mp3 3:01 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash NATO, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 14 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy In President Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address he presciently warned Americans of an imminent danger, he said, “we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex.” Military spending accounts for over half of all federal discretionary spending, almost $600 billion, and almost 40% of the world total. The U.S. spent more on its military than the next 13 nations combined. There are almost 2000 private companies working on counter-terrorism, homeland security, and intelligence, and over 50 federal organizations and military commands tracking the flow of money in terrorist networks. The MIC is definitely the “jobs” part of the greatest Jobs Program in the world. It is obviously unwise to have those with a vested interest in war seeking to advise and influence U.S. foreign policy but this largest, most powerful Special Interest group pressures presidential candidates into supporting military adventurism with large political contributions. They also have a tight monetary relationship with legislators, write laws & even specify political appointments. The MIC is the closest thing to an American oligopoly. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_105_mic.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-26_105_mic.mp3 2:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash military industrial complex, MIC, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 12 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Back-in-the-day, America's interactions with the rest of the World were called foreign “adventures” or “entanglements” which are great words to describe our clumsy, lumbering foreign policy. Societies are complicated. We American's have no understanding of why people in far away lands are seemingly indiscriminately killing each other? But someone from there would understand so let the problems of other nations work themselves out until equilibrium is reached. Our presence in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Japan & Germany for-that-matter, are unsustainable because those places aren't America. As for America's interests: if something is big enough and bad enough that we need to invest blood & treasure, we have ample proof that we can do it from 30,000 feet & 5,000 miles away, then "good luck to the new guy." There's no “winning” the kinds of conflicts we've been getting into. We can't win because we have a superiority complex: we think democracy should be spread around the world, or women should be able to drive, or drug use can be stopped. If people in the armpit of the world massacre each other, we think it’s our job to straighten things out, as if we know better. If there's going to be foreign entanglements, we should do it with money or with drones, and if it gets really bad... Nukes. Soldiers are for short-term-overwhelming-force-mopping-up-then-gone action. Otherwise, keep away from the hornet's nest, and spend dollars like we print the things. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_104_foreign_policy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_104_foreign_policy.mp3 2:43 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash foreign policy, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 10 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The military is an admirable career for those who want it, and absolutely essential, but it is not a religion. There is a contingent in America that insists the military also embodies other obligations & benefits; they use words like “patriotism,” “duty” & “building character” to insist that everyone should be forced to enlist. Ignoring the obvious mystical aspects of that assertion, the impact on liberty essentially amounts to enslavement. A draft is only acceptable as a method of last resort under the most dire of exigent threats to the existence of our society. The single biggest thing someone has to give to be part of society is their life & their children's lives in defense of the collective. That's their big chip, and if they don't like how society is working out for them, they can opt out of the "life" part. Therefore it behooves policy-makers to be inclusive in their legislation: the best for everyone includes keeping the masses of prospective soldiers amendable to the idea of joining the military. And the military also has to respond when enlistment is voluntary: if it's too onerous, pays to little or is not accommodating to families, it will be unable to attract recruits. An all-volunteer military is the very essence of liberty. And certainly if there does have to be a draft, it cannot be limited by sex, race or religion. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_103_the_draft.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_103_the_draft.mp3 2:32 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash the draft, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 08 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The issue of women in the military immediately goes to how many push-ups a female can do verses a male, which is a specious argument because if physical prowess is truly essential to the functioning of a soldier, the defining factor between success & failure in a mission, then we have technology & pharmacology to improve that for both sexes. But soldiers in the military aren't on forced regimes of steroids & amphetamines, so that's not the reason. No, the resistance to women in the military is almost entirely conservative reticence based on custom, tradition, and the ritual role of women in society. We all know the whole “hiking 10 days with an 80-pound pack on your back” argument is a debating trick used to obscure the real compromise. Women have been in the military for decades now and we know what the problem is, however, the real issue crashes up against both political correctness & Protestant sensibilities: namely that 11% of all female soldiers have unplanned pregnancies at any one time, and the number of women who get pregnant during enlistment is over 20%. Plus, almost half of women leave the military before their enlistment is over. The problem, if it really is one, isn't how much a gal can carry on her back, the problem is laying on it. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_102_women_in_the_military.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_102_women_in_the_military.mp3 2:20 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash women in the military, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 06 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The military is the greatest jobs program in America. It employees many, many people who would not otherwise be employed, it teaches them to be responsible for themselves & how to follow authority, it gives them pride in themselves & their country, and it gives them role models & maturity. Some people complain that minorities are over-represented in the military but that's simply a sign that it's working, especially with All-Volunteer recruitment. The military also serves as an example of successful socialist totalitarianism, not something to be emulated in other parts of government but it does provide useful perspective. Military expenditures are also a Keynesian wet-dream: train people to design bombs, train people to build bombs, train people to drop bombs, bombs explode, repeat. Plus, there's no competition with the private sector, no supplanting private employment production opportunities with public employment consumption. The Military Industrial Complex is probably the best kind of stimulus spending there is because all education & income levels are represented. This is contrary to something like the Space Program or basic medical research, which have laudable goals & fill a public need, but only employ people that could just as easily be in the private sector because they are so highly trained. Lastly, and most importantly, the military does serve the very important function of protecting us from the tribe across the hill. Every nation needs Eisenhowers to protect its Einsteins. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_101_military.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-25_101_military.mp3 2:42 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash military, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 04 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy For this special 100th episode, we answer the question: why me? What makes Marty Hash so special? What kind of hubris does it take for a guy to claim to be the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld? Well, I wanted to pick a goal where the bar wasn't very high. For whatever reason, there seems to be a whole lot more confidence than there is wisdom in the world, and I have enough wisdom to know that I don’t know much, but I still have a legitimate claim to the Wysest-Myn-in-the-Wyrld title per the specifications laid out on my website “Renaissance Myn,” where wisdom is defined as an amalgam of 8 specialties: Science, Law, Medicine, Business, Art, Philosophy, Sport & Travel, and where my achievement in each can be considered expert. Wyest Myn in the Wyrld: yeah, the title is tongue-in-cheek, but the intention comes from the heart. Why can people say they want to be the “fastest man in the world,” or “best bridge player in the world,” or “eat the most hotdogs in the world,” but striving for wysdom is somehow egotistical? I suspect there’s some false modesty vs. substancial envy there. However, if you think yourself or anybody you know is wiser than I am then let's have a “Wyse Off.” Go to the Renaissance Myn website and score yourself: if you turn out to be wyser than me, you can do these podcasts. BTW, we're not comparing IQs or arcane knowledge about radioisotopes: I claim to be wyse, not smart, and certainly not fashionable. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_100_wysest_myn_in_the_wyrld.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_100_wysest_myn_in_the_wyrld.mp3 3:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash wisdom, wisest man, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 02 May 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy So far since the beginning we have brilliantly covered over four-score original ideas & exciting concepts that explain politics, science, religion & philosophy. Let's review the last batch as we round-out the first 100 episodes. 1. Prisons cost too much & do too little: most criminals only need 24-hr monitoring. 2. Human behavior can be modified via immediate minor punishment. 3. Left vs. Right is really a combination of liberty vs. socialism & with change vs. status quo. 4. This Supermajority Congress has gone from a 51% democracy to a 60% to win democracy. 5. The modern information echochamber has morphed into a virtual Civil War. 6. Guns are an integral part of American culture & adored by those who own them. 7. Gun Control is the between people who enjoy their Right to bear arms vs. those who think their own serenity comes first. 8. Progress is liberty's way of proving it is the most effective political ideology. 9. Science & Engineering must be inspired & maintained by a grand vision of the future. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_99_new_concepts_vol_9.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_99_new_concepts_vol_9.mp3 2:38 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 30 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy A society's progress can be measured by the number of scientists & engineers, and the only education that makes any real difference to a society's economy is Science & Engineering, but our society assigns relatively little value to these disciplines in comparison to glamorous occupations like athletes, doctors, lawyers & entertainers. Considering how difficult & selective science is, the pay is relatively low, and there is almost no status, and most importantly, there is no inspiration. The most effective way Government can encourage more scientists & engineers is by capturing their imagination with a the grand vision of future progress but Government is awash in parochial thinking & science xenophobia. Pseudoscience & sham-medicine is popularized while real science is demonized: GMO & nuclear power are out, naturopathy & windmills are in. The previous generation of aspiring engineers was inspired by landing on the moon & Cold War military innovation, and this generation of engineers come from the computer boom but it is a very limited demographic. Some people complain that women & minorities are not equally represented in science & engineering but that's easily predictable: the path to success in this fields requires both the highest caliber of intellect plus a steady controlled path to graduation: any deviation and it's just too difficult to complete. Women & minorities who have both ingredients usually chose to pursue a more fashionable career that pays more. If society wants scientists & engineers, especially if an eclectic mix is important, then it has to pay for them. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_98_science__engineering.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_98_science__engineering.mp3 2:50 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash science, engineering, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 28 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Progress is a word so overused that it has lost its meaning but technological advancements that increase a society's maturity, wisdom & understanding will suffice. Progress has little to do with happiness and everything to do with understanding what makes people happy. 16th-Century philosopher Thomas Hobbes' famous proclamation, “the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish & short,” is what progress works to alleviate. Progress is another manifestation of liberty's dichotomy because it often brings individual rights into conflict with the collective. Progress causes dramatic changes in the status quo, so if a political system is focused on the group, and since most people are naturally resistant to change, they will hinder and stifle progress. Socialism demands that science must not upset the interests of the community or jobs that were once useful become obsolete, people that were once knowledgeable become naïve, and carefully balanced command economies collapse. Conservative forces also oppose progress but for a different reason: progress brings change that may conflict with mystic beliefs, traditions, or disrupt social hierarchies. However, in America's liberty society, individuals are the catalysts of progress, so it happens automatically. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_97_progress.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_97_progress.mp3 2:24 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash progress, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 26 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Half the nation loves their guns: they feel empowered, and they take great pleasure from gun ownership. Yet there is a component of this nation that wants to take that sense of satisfaction and enjoyment away. These gun control people say they're the ones who would feel better, a myopic sanctimonious selfishness. The Gun-Grabbers think that their comfort overrides someone else's pleasure. Gun Control arguments taken in their own context are impressively unconvincing: Gun-Grabbers often point to some statistic that could be reduced if there were no guns, but that whole line of argument is only a distraction because most Americans like their guns. Guns are a big part of our culture, our Constitution guarantees them, and guns are no more dangerous than driving or smoking. For the people who own guns, the positives far outweigh the negatives. In fact, after every mass gun killing, gun sales in the area increased dramatically because people want guns to feel safer and more in control of their lives. Whether these new guns actually offer protection is less important, it is the sense of doing something to protect yourself, and the feeling of security that is paramount. I’m usually the first guy to reject conspiracy theories but the constant call for gun control from the Left may have sinister implications: The Left, especially the Progressive-Marxist thinkers, would like to impose their beliefs on everyone else. As long as citizens own guns, there will never be enough police to make the populace do something they don't want to do, but eliminating guns eliminates that problem. Otherwise, I see no rational reason for more gun control laws, simply enforce the ones we have now, and let The People revel in their gun ownership. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_96_gun_control.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_96_gun_control.mp3 3:12 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash gun control, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 24 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Maybe because I grew up in the culture, or maybe because I'm a guy, or maybe because my family is into guns even though I don't personally own a gun, I understand Gun-Worshipers. I can maintain my interested face when people ennumerate in loving description what kinds of guns they own, the gun's most effective mode of killing, how they obtained the gun & any trivia they think I might need to know about a particular gun. It's a common theme in America, as common as football, and difficult to simply dismiss as mental illness or fanaticism. People speak of their guns much more often than their automobiles or children. It's telling that there are more private guns in the U.S. than people. Gun-worshipers come in three flavors: those who enjoy the whole idea of guns, how they're made, their historical significance, their specations, the supporting equipment, et al., as much as any hobbyist-sportsmen in any other field. Then there are the people who think of guns as personal protection. They want to arm teachers to protect against school attacks, as well as convenience stores & gas stations. To them, it seems there's no place that having guns wouldn't help. There is also the fringe element who anticipate going to war against what they think is an oppressive Government, but in a liberty nation, how a person thinks is not a crime, even though it may be kooky. After all the controversary about guns, people should know that the issue has already been decided. The Right to own guns has been ruled on in the lower courts numerous times, and SCOTUS has ruled on it twice: District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, and McDonald et al. v. City of Chicago in 2010. They said, "[T]he Second Amendment protects a personal right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, most notably for self-defense within the home." I'm not sure how much clearer it can be? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_95_guns.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-24_95_guns.mp3 3:14 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash guns, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy For democracy to work there needs to be a significant overlapping of shared values & expectations. Compromise is possible because the extremes of the spectrum aren't that far apart but when they extend too far apart, that eventually leads to Civil War. When The South seceded, they were physically separated & contiguous, and could execute physical war but that will never be repeated. Geography is no longer important. The new South is virtual and this metaphorical Civil War is virtual too, and it's happening right now in our echo-chamber news reporting, Social Network culture, reality TV hero worship, and omni-information gathering. If you don't like "feminist" news, filter it from your news-feed, only watch Fox, live in the bubble. Same with the socialists: if you don't like “guns,” claim you have moral authority, watch MSNBC, set Huffington Post as your main page, listen only to other sanctimonious blather that demonizes the Right & casts them as less than human. This conflict can be described in modern terms as a virtual Civil War. An indication that we are in a virtual Civil War and have diverged as a nation is the total polarization of congress such that they operate out on the extreme boundaries of the rules: The Patriot Act, Judicial fiat, and presidential proclamations; with the FCC, Supreme Court and other rule-making institutions as the battlegrounds: climate-deniers, the NSA, militarized police, budget cliffs, government deficits, almost the entire range of government services under attack, and lots of cover from lawmakers, economists, and judges, the foot-soldiers in the virtual Civil War. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_94_virtual_civil_war.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_94_virtual_civil_war.mp3 3:03 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash virtual civil war, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 20 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Our nation chose democracy to make decisions among ourselves because democracy most closely represents liberty: one man one vote. Maximum liberty is when everybody's vote is worth the same, where one person's vote can cancel the vote of another, and a third person makes the difference. Unfortunately, those who find democracy does not lead to the outcomes that they want are posing a new threat to our liberty, the supermajority requirement. This Supermajority Congress has gone from a 51% democracy to a 60% democracy by utilizing the filibuster. There's even an emerging two-thirds supermajority requirement when the opposing Party president leverages the law by vetoing until a Bill he wants crosses his desk. Typically, supermajorities are used by conservatives because, by definition, they resist change but since political extortion has become the new norm, votes are now split along Party lines with little compromise. For example, during Obama's presidency, Republicans blocked virtually everything, no matter what, making them the most despised congress in history but then they were rewarded at the polls with landslide victories: America's version of cognitive dissonance. How does this compare to partisanship of the past? Certainly it's the worst since Franklin Roosevelt: he had a lot of shenanigans going on to get the New Deal going, and it was this bad when The South seceded but that's not exactly comforting either. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_93_supermajority_democracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_93_supermajority_democracy.mp3 2:34 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash supermajority, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The traditional political spectrum of Left vs. Right is misleading because it inappropriately gets confused with Liberal vs. Conservative, which isn't even a true dichotomy because there are certainly lots of conservative liberals. There are actually two proper Left vs. Right comparisons: first there is the socialism vs. liberty distinction with most people in-between: Liberals moderate liberty and Progressives are moderate socialists. The goals of Liberals & Progressives often overlap even though their fundamental ideologies completely oppose each other. The second important comparison is change vs. status quo, with the Left having more inclination towards change and the Right being fans of the status quo. Entrenched winners are usual to the Right for this reason, and the economic losers are Left because change would usually be in their best interests. Ironically, the Right often cites "liberty" as their primary goal but, in fact, they often advocate illiberal positions: for example, they're often for religious mandates like prayer, ecclesiastic authority & scripture; and they advocate societal restrictions like family obligations, etiquette & traditions. And the Right is full of imagined patriotism: spouting oaths, claims of loyalty & deification of military service. The Right also admires corporate rules like ethics requirements & class hierarchies. But these things are not ideological so much as a simple desire for things to stay the same. A more insidious concern exists among the ranks of the Left: America is founded on liberty, and socialism is the opposite of liberty, but America's Progressives are socialists, so the dissonance of their position forces them to torture the language and distort definitions so that somehow liberty is socialism in their vernacular. Asking them to read the dictionary is futile because they're all linguists at heart, experts at circular debates. Whatever? A socialist fantasy government would be just as totalitarian as a conservative one. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_92_left_v_right.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_92_left_v_right.mp3 3:35 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash the left, the right, left vs right, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy People act in predictable ways that can be traced to basic instinctual motivations: envy, greed, avarice. Enlightened people hope they can rise above such base & selfish behaviors, but intellectual honesty demands we accept that we are all predictably flawed. Indoctrination in our youth makes most of us subject to minor enumerated penalties to control our behavior: sanctions, fines, and even incarceration; but some people are immune to these kind of ephemeral persuasions. When people have nothing to lose, no esoteric threat will consciously deter them from acting out, and penalties that seem reasonable to suburbanites are not effective on folks who ignore summonses & blow-off community service. Tickets certainly don't prevent irresponsible people from acting irresponsibly & imprisonment doesn't enter their thinking. Even draconian penalties don't accomplish anything but satisfy our own desire for vengeance & control. However, the silver-lining to this minimalist view of psychology is that simple triggers work both ways. Pavlovian response is well understood and people exhibit it too. A little bit of pain will train away inappropriate behavior, and there's lots of research that says that an immediate, low-grade shock is enough to acclimatize miscreants. It’s the timing of the punishment, not the severity. If wrong-doers are tasered when apprehended then you would begin to see changes in attitude & performance, and minor infractions require only a minor stimulus: steal a candy bar, zap; cut in line at the movie theater, zap; speed, zap. Your dog won’t bite if you lightly switch it every time it tries. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_91_modifying_behavior.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_91_modifying_behavior.mp3 2:57 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash behavior modification, modifying behavior, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 14 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 25% of the World's prisoners, more than all the European nations & Russia combined. Almost 25 million people have been incarcerated in America & over 2.3 million people are in jail right now. In 20 years correction expenditures rose over 350%. It's been proven that draconian penalties do not dissuade crime, we incarcerate people more out of vengeance than anything else. Terms are too long, cost too much, and dis-proportionally punish the Lower Class. And why are the penalties so arbitrary, for example, why is there is a distinction made between holding a gun or not during a robbery? And why aren't crooked "investment advisers" and other scammers just as guilty? The idea of "Prison Reform" is to only use physical jailing to protect us from people that are a threat to society, otherwise use technology to keep track of the bottom-feeders. Violent folks still need to be locked up until their testosterone subsides, but habitual offenders just need 24-hour electronic monitoring that can immediately shock them when they act out, like training an animal. Plus, paying $100K/year for each miscreant when we won't pay for your kid's college is criminal in its own right. And lastly, without the moral issues involved, logically we should simply execute people who are never getting out of prison. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_90_prison_reform.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_90_prison_reform.mp3 2:45 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash prison reform, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 12 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy New Concepts Vol 8 Let's review another batch of new & exciting original concepts: 1. Liability is a justiceless lottery that preys on greed while suppressing innovation. 2. If an enfranchised nation wants families it will have to pay for them. 3. Integration makes for a cohesive society but diversity tears it apart. 4. Everyone thinks they are being discriminated against at some point. 5. Political Correctness is a rude attempt to usurp power from the courteous. 6. The irrational rewards of victimhood have made it desirable. 7. The only thing equal about people is equality under The Law. 8. Equal-pay-for-equal-work is a cynical slogan that does not mean same-pay-for-same-work, but instead is a subtle attempt at imposing Marxism. 9. There is no systemic discrimination against women in the modern workplace. 10. Testosterone is the difference between men & women. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_89_new_concepts_vol_8.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-22_89_new_concepts_vol_8.mp3 2:11 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 10 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Testosterone is the single most-defining component of maleness. In fact, it's testosterone that turns a fetus into a male, and it was essential to our evolution: humans climbed down from the trees because men had testosterone. Testosterone makes men and women competitive: both in personal achievement & desiring public accolades. At puberty, men start getting large amounts of testosterone while women get monthly doses of estrogen, both steroids. That's why men do well at jobs that have an element of competitiveness: for example, computer programming. Women can program just as well as men but in the philosophy of "drink Coke, sleep under your desk," the average woman just doesn't have as much drive, just as the average man doesn't have the instinctual desire to nuture relationships. Testosterone also makes men aggressive which provides advantages that can roughly be measured by what in America we call "success." Aggression leads men to seek out a clear winner because that provides a lot of positive feedback about who is Alpha, causing them to continue being aggressive. The difference between men & women in society is fundamental: men get intiated into maturity via a mechanism that involves dominance by aggressive Alpha males, but females have different methods of initiation into maturity based on relationships with other women that involve emotional blackmail & control. These are visceral rights of passage, not cultural. In the end, men will hit & women will betray. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_88_testosterone.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_88_testosterone.mp3 2:44 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash testosterone, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Some people disenginuously use the fact that women and men do not participate in equal numbers in some fields as de facto discrimination, even though that claim has been categorically debunked through extensive study & investigation. It's a proven fact that there is no overt gender-based discrimination minus the child bearing & rearing aspects of motherhood. Quite to the contrary, in graduate programs across the country, two-thirds of the students are female, and Law & Medical Schools use Affirmative Action selection criteria to limit female admissions to only 60%. A second, more insidious group of schemers, use ostensible discrimination & Women's Rights arguments to promote extraordinary Rights & special treatment: these females are specifically not looking for equality, and no amount of number-crunching will change their minds. They are essentially of the opinion that women are better than men, that men have been on top long enough, and now it's their turn. They think fecund females should get preferential treatment in society because it is society's duty to propagate itself. Well then, if the needs of society override liberty like these women advocate then there also needs to be a mechanism to decide who gets to bear children for the best benefit of society. And all women who are going to take advantage of the special treatment must be willing & available to bear children. Plus, there is clear medical evidence of the age range when women should become pregnant so it is essential that society also determine when a woman is to have children. There are some secondary factors too: determining diet, such as prohibiting alcohol, and enforced breast-feeding which is important to the childs' early health. In this best-for-society reasoning, it also makes sense to dictate where in the country the child should be raised, and rather exceptional children should be removed from the home and raised by the State so that society obtains the most benefit from them. Or we could just stick with liberty. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_87_discrimnation_against_women.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_87_discrimnation_against_women.mp3 3:12 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash discrimination against women, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 06 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy “Equal Pay for Equal Work's” meaning is not what you first intuit because “equal” is not the same as “same.” They don't say “same pay for same work.” Proponents of “equal pay” use lawsuits as their weapon and make arguments based on statistics. In fact, there is no modern evidence of women getting paid less than men. The entire specious argument comes from the fact that the average pay of all women is not the same as the average pay of all men. Why? Because many women choose to raise families and want the flexibility of shorter hours & long work hiatus, while some men gravitate towards owning their own business or something based on individual performance that knows no clock. In Europe, where this has gotten totally out-of-hand due to their socialist thinking, they say it's society's duty to make pay equal, so they force men to take paternity leave so that they don't get ahead of the women. Also, employers often pay people who do the same job differently, called "seniority" or market pressure or "he's my cousin." Why should a woman get equal pay when men don't? It would be cool if women could force equal pay then all the guys who weren't college sports stars, short, didn't go to Ivy League schools, have no seniority, aren't related, and don't do coke will get equalized pay too. However, “Equal Pay” in this context has some unique connotations: vis-a-vi "nurses are equal to engineers" and should get "equal" pay, which is also not the same as "same pay" because "equal pay" includes years that may have been taken out of their careers to raise children, which they say is "equal" to actually working during those years. So listen closely when the Equalists are speaking or you may not hear what they're actually saying. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_86_equal_pay_for_equal_work.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_86_equal_pay_for_equal_work.mp3 3:20 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash equal pay for equal work, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The word “equal” in a slogan immediately signals that somebody has a selfish agenda they want to hide behind seemingly sincere rhetoric. There's a whole political philosophy based on equality called "social justice.“ Their idea of equal is to reverse control by putting the decision of what is “fair” into their hands with the species idea that hard work & effort always result in success, but in America, Market Forces & luck determine what you're worth. Equalists dislike that concept, they want people to get paid for their effort, not their results. The Equalists go even further, postulating that all people deserve to share in all things equally, that the upper half should contribute to the lower half until everybody is equal, Soviet style. The fact is, we are not equal: liberty allows people to benefit unequally as a result of their own effort. Nothing about the lucktocracy is equal except that we’re all equal in the eyes of The Law. Since liberty trumps equality in America, the equality folks need stealth and subterfuge to accomplish their goals. The prey on people's envy, spite & perversity; they evoke “fairness” & torture the language; they exploit the political process and the civil judicial system. In other countries, these people have another name for themselves: Marxists. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_85_equality.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_85_equality.mp3 2:35 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash equality, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 02 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy As an adjundt to Political Correctness, and with a lot of the same actors, America has developed a reverence for victimhood, so-much-so that we have shrouded victims in words like “brave” & “enduring.” The cult of victimhood is a bizzare overreaction by people who use it to mollify their own sense of sympathy & poor self-worth. These people are the enablers of victims. Plus we incentivize this culture of blame & perverse behavior, primarily as a result of our unfettered liability industry. To be a victim is to claim preferential treatment, monetary rewards, scantimonious posturing & ancedotal expertise. Also claiming victimhood is a common tactic of The Left to get control and reverse responsibility: instead of liberty where people are responsible for their own actions, victims can claim someone else is responsible and therefore society owes them. Most people choose to be victims: disabled people aren't victims, handicaped people don't want to be seen as victims, mentally ill people certainly aren't victims, people who grew up in a in less than optimal environment aren't victims, war vetrans aren't victims, neither are survivors of a castotrophy: in fact, the only real victims are those whose trust is violated & courtesy exploited by others claiming victimhood. That makes us all victims. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_84_victimhood.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_84_victimhood.mp3 2:31 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash victimhood, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 31 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Language has always been a technique used by the weak to gain control, as well as making themselves feel superior, smug, self-satisfied & they revel in the deep satisfaction of moral outrage. They also use shunning, shaming & ridicule as their weapons, and even legal intimidation to gain advantage over others. Political Correctness is a way to enforce rules on society outside of the Rule of Law, and caters to a paternalistic totalitarian attitude, a tyranny by the minority. PCers take a fascist glee in their containment of free speech, and rule over the collective, which is how they see society. PCers also attack cultural memory: jokes, old adages, stories & descriptive terms. They do it by redefining words & giving the ownership of some words to specific groups: for example, only Blacks can say “nigger” and only women can say “cunt,” and the word “hate” has entered the lexicon as reason enough to imprison people for thought crimes. Listen for the code phrase “raising awareness” whenever some educational institution is about to publish a banned words list that can result in a student getting expelled. Actually, Political Correctness has been used throughout history, is totally predictable and has only gotten out of hand because we have let it due to our liberty-based live-n-let-live attitude. We wish to be let alone in return for leaving others alone, but the PCers have abused our trust. Political Correctness is a nightmarish scourge and should be treated like any threat to our Rights: college administrators who allow “no say” words should be reprimanded, public officials who offer moral condemnations should be sanctioned, and elected representatives playing the PC card should be confronted using the same tactics as the purveyors of this nonsense use: derogatory signs, boisterous interruption & constant look-at-me tactics. Political Correctness tears at the very fabric of a free society & its acolytes should be held accountable for their actions just like any criminal. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_83_political_correctness.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_83_political_correctness.mp3 3:39 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash political correctness, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 29 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Most people have no personal experience with real discrimination, they've only read about it, seen it in the media & heard stories, but people often think they are being discriminated against: teachers pick on them, referees call unwarranted fouls & even waiters seem to take a personal interest in disrespecting them. A lot of what people think is discrimination is part discourtesy, part self-interest, but mostly a sense of persecution. But also, if history is to be believed, every immigrant wave into America has had a serious headwind of discrimination impinging their liberty, so there is undeniably also something real. Discrimination is everywhere if you are looking for it: you have a Right of Association so you can discriminate who your friends are, you have the Freedom of Movement so you can discriminate where you live, anti-monopoly laws give you discrimination in commerce, and you certainly have the Right to indiscriminately say anything you please. Discrimination is one of the benefits of a liberal society, however, our right to discriminate is being co-opted by people who seek control through victimhood. They mix everyday discrimination with the rare liberty-abusing kind in an attempt to bolster their case for special treatment. The advantages of victimhood plus people's natural tendency to blame others for their own problems has made the claim of discrimination a popular one. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_82_discrimination.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_82_discrimination.mp3 2:45 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash discrimination, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy A country's strength is measured by its homogeneity, with just a dash of local custom & cultural color. A common belief in liberty is mandatory, as is not impinging on other peoples' liberty, plus a common language, education, the recognition of the value of work ethic, and a common overall direction for society. A mishmash of countries like the EU fails all of these things, so any unified world order is completely out of the question. New immigrants by the millions have come to America, learned the language, absorbed the culture, and become acclimated to the American way of thinking & doing things. In fact, it used to be so prevalent an attitude & process that America was called the Melting Pot, but that is now coming under attack. When people seek control, they use language and social pressure to turn their desires into a mandate. Because diversity has a casual appeal, and because much of the public educational structure promotes diversity as part of a Liberal Arts education, there is an attempt to usurp control by exploiting courtesy, White liberal guilt & governmental power. The forces promoting diversity are tearing America's homogeneity apart: they want their own languages, their own vacation days, their own laws even, and they're by-n-large socialists. Integration, not diversity, is the secret to America's future success, just as it was in the past. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_81_diversity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-20_81_diversity.mp3 2:43 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash diversity, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Nothing is more central to the perpetuation of society than families, in truth, society exists for families. Our tax code justifiably subsidizes families & though single people resent that advantage, the fact is single people are drones & their liberty & self-interest become secondary from a society perspective. But children are expensive & certainly limit the lifestyle options of the parents, so given a rational choice, without a predilection towards motherhood, without the biological imperative, without religious indoctrination, it seems likely the natural course would be for a society to slowly die-out, which is happening now in many of the advanced nations. This trend is entirely due to the empowerment of women in the modern world & puts them in de facto control of society. The Scandinavian countries have recognized this so they pay for children directly. Whether the incentive is perverse or not depends on your point-of-view, which is affected by your own self interest which is tied to your gender. Traditional Americans like to think that fathers are an essential part of families but that is probably a values question because successful single-motherhood proves fathers are simply sperm-donors. As society capitulates to the cult of motherhood where women are in control then gender equality, public-provided daycare & early schooling all come into focus. These issues have tremendous impact & basically pit women's interests against men's. Somebody has to give. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_80_families.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_80_families.mp3 2:47 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash families, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 23 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Liability is about making the injured party whole: sounds fair & egalitarian, I feel sorry for injured people. But what if the injured party is struck by lightening? What if the responsible party is not insured & has no money? What if the injured party causes their own injury? People have terribly disappointing & debilitating things happen to them all the time: they could lose a foot due to diabetes, or their mother dies in a car accident; they could get leukemia, or their child may need special help; there may be a hurricane, or the love of their life doesn't love them anymore. Almost all disappointments have no monetary remuneration, and to turn disability, mental or physical, into a jackpot makes us a nation of erstwhile victims. Also, the single biggest cause of irrational business decisions is the threat of liability litigation. Liability: civil lawsuits aimed at transferring money from those deemed “perpetrators” to those deemed “victims” causes the most egregious distortions of rational behavior. All because of stifling blame, accusations, lawsuits, and the emotional distress instigated by liability. Liability is like a singularity in space that causes everything else to distort around it. How many scientific advancements are not made? How many playgrounds, theaters, and public venues are not available? How many services are not rendered? What business concepts are abandoned out of frustration simply because there is a nebulous threat of liability? Liability must change dramatically. Once again, like universal healthcare, Britain shows us the way: award caps, loser pays, no jury trials in Civil court, and no contingency fees. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_79_liability.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_79_liability.mp3 3:15 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash liability, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 21 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Let's review another new batch of original ideas you have heard: 1. Government only owes its citizens protection, education, husbandry of natural resources, contract enforcement & healthcare: everything else is charity. 2. Business must be kept in an adversarial relationship with Government. 3. Money is imaginary, and all money is Government money. 4. The Stock Market is a Ponzi scheme fueled by retirement fund money. 5. The National Debt is the result of insufficient taxes but everyone still benefiting from Government largess. 6. America maintains its standard of living by collecting tribute from the World. 7. All Government spending is stimulus spending: a person's ideology determines what the money should be spent on. 8. The productivity of America results in a rising Standard of Living though the distribution skews towards the wealthy. 9. Increasing Income Inequality distorts the perception of work ethic & engenders distrust. 10. Wealth Redistribution can only be accomplished with taxation. 11. Inflation will eventually pay America's debts. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_78_new_concepts_vol_7.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_78_new_concepts_vol_7.mp3 2:46 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy U.S. government debt cannot be reconciled. The Debt itself, ~$18 trillion, isn’t nearly as impossible as government pension obligations which are $24 trillion, Medicare which is $42 trillion, and Social Security, another $21 trillion. There are 116 million American households and about half pay taxes so each taxpaying household is on the hook for approximately $2 million dollars, a lifetime of earnings for most people. The only obvious solution is inflation: 1000% over 3 years, about 7% per month, and if it was a gradual increase, it wouldn't catch people by surprise. Also, during that time of upheaval would be an opportunity for political action, including a Balanced-Budget Amendment, and making taxes more progressive. Who gets hurt by high inflation? Companies that loan money, high-end pensioners, and people with cash in the bank. Inflation is essentially a transfer of wealth from those who lend money to those who borrow it, while the poor are mostly unaffected. Social Security & healthcare are indexed to inflation, so those people will be safe. Retirees would be the biggest losers but by definition, they consume more than they produce, and retirees are usually the people who benefited from the debt in the first place so inflation consuming their savings is somewhat karmic. America has many mechanisms to delay the onset of inflation, but it's not a matter of if, only a matter of when? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_77_inflation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_77_inflation.mp3 2:42 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash inflation, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 17 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The increasing wealth accumulation of the Nouveau Aristocracy has created a wealth inequality in this country that threatens the very concept of liberty because wealth gets inordinate access to power, primarily through co-opting the media & compromising politicians, thereby decreasing the personal liberty & opportunity of everyone else, and this will only get worse as the lucktocracy consolidates over generations and a de facto class system emerges, as it is doing now. The wealthiest 1% of the U.S. Population own 40% of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 80% of the population only own 7%. The disparity is increasing & the Middle Class is shrinking: this cannot continue. Ever-increasing compounding of wealth is simple mathematics, not the result of exceptional skill or merit. Anyone who has every played the game Monopoly knows that eventually one player owns everything while everyone else gradually diminishes to bankruptcy, but the entrenched winners will, of course, predictably ague in their self-interested reasons why they somehow deserved their dynastic status. Our Liberty society can accommodate selfish consumption & accumulation of wealth if it is periodically redistributed, but creates dissatisfaction & socialism if it isn't. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_76_wealth_redistribution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_76_wealth_redistribution.mp3 2:30 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash wealth redistribution, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy More than half of Americans make less than $30K/yr. Income Inequality, the difference between the highest paid 1% in this nation and the majority of wage-earners, is usually debated as “fairness,”and even liberty-abiding people are cannot fully excuse the ridiculous disparity of income for jobs that many people could do if given the chance. A lucktocracy creates extreme winners: in the last century, high marginal tax rates discouraged greed, but a Baby-Boom Conservative-voting demographic allowed Ronald Reagan to lower marginal tax rates, which were further reduced by Bill Clinton, and suddenly greed was rewarded and it made sense to leverage for as much salary as possible because you got to keep most of it no matter how much.Increasing Income Inequality creates a de facto Class system, and violates the social contract of “I'll obey your laws & let my children fight in your wars as long as you maintain the promise of equal opportunity & equal protection under the law.” At some point the 1% became special, distorted caricatures of conspicuous consumption & ostentatious wealth that normal people correctly interpreted as totally disproportionate to the amount of effort to get it. The skews the perception of work ethic, engenders distrust & reinforces the idea of a lucktocracy; worse yet, it creates an atmosphere of extreme dog-eat-dog, second-place-is-the-first-loser competitive mentality that leaves nothing for anyone else. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_75_income_inequality.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_75_income_inequality.mp3 2:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash income inequality, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 13 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Now is the best time to be alive, and a minute from now will be even better, and the hour after that gets better too. Market Forces-based economies relying on the fundamental human motivations of greed, avarice, vanity & envy require no outside coercsive force, and seem to be the secret to an ever increasing standard of living. There are ideologs that argue for simplier times but their basic premise that there was some imagined better time than this is fundamentally wrong. And, of course, by trying to force their vision on the world, they violate the liberty of everyone else. It's the same old, know-better-n-you paternalistic, self-conceited blather that socialists always bring to a debate.Standard of Living is entirely the result of productivity. The reason people are better off is because America produces $16 trillion of goods & services every year and spread it around. The .01% UberRich keep $4 trillion, which they mostly invest, and everyone else basically spends theirs to keep afloat, but at ever increasing standards of living. The old "a rising tide lifts all ships" adage obviously has its upside, but make no mistake, without wealth redistribution there is also a mathematical certainty of a rising Nouveau Aristocracy. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_74_rising_standard_of_living.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_74_rising_standard_of_living.mp3 2:37 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash standard of living, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The disconnect between how economics really works and how most people think it works is astonishing, frustrating, and sad. You cannot judge Government spending based on how a family would manage its own money because economics is not the same as budgets. Governments make an economy, Government money needs no source, and it doesn't matter what Government spends money on, it's all stimulus: Public Works are stimulus, Military spending is stimulus, even Welfare is stimulus. All Government spending is stimulus but a person's ideology determines how they want to spend the "stimulus." Milton Friedman thought dropping buckets of money from helicopters is the ideal solution, and John Maynard Keynes thought people getting paid for digging holes & filling them in again is as good as any government employment. Your ideology may vary.Like any system, an economy requires feedback for stability: proper accounting would be stimulus out equal taxes in. Over history, such as now, that's not always the case. If people don't think the system is stable, they mistrust it or exploit the instability, both lead to the system crashing. Since the concept of fiat currency, imaginary money, first appeared in France in the 1600s, unstable monetary systems have been crashing with some regularity due to lack of feedback. People resist feedback because, by definition, some amount of what they have is fed back into the system, and the exploiters resist feedback because they benefit from the instability. That's why artifical constraints are put on monetary supplies, like a gold standard or borrowing caps were put in place. These things aren't required for an economy, they are substitutes for feedback. Of course, feedback is the perfect solution but people don't want to pay their feedback taxes. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_73_stimulus_spending.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_73_stimulus_spending.mp3 3:16 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash stimulus spending, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 09 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Does America's $18 trillion National Debt ever have to be paid back? The short answer is no. America can run Trade & Budget deficits indefinitely on the backs of foreign "investment." The U.S. is subsidized by the rest of the world via Treasuries, and we have no intention to ever pay them back, our nation depends on the money. We can do this because of our economic power, so essentially the rest of the world is "taxed” to maintain the American standard of living.This could perhaps go on forever if the $ remains the World's de facto reserve currency because what else are foreigners going to do with $ after running up stock prices & buying expensive apartments in NYC? If the citizens of those nations truly knew the facts, the Ponzi scheme would collapse, not because it doesn't work, but because people are resentful, envious & perverse, and don't like seeing others benefiting at their expense, especially not Americans. At some point, for the same reason people resent the 1% even though their own lives are immeasurably good, the World will probably discontinue enabling the U.S. debt-mongers, and I wouldn't blame them. But even if other nations do become aware of the situation, how would they change it? It's one of the perks of being the World's only Superpower, we deserve to receive our hegemonic tribute, they're only the spoils of empire returning to Rome. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_72_tribute_economics.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_72_tribute_economics.mp3 2:44 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash tribute economics, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 07 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Currently, the U.S National Debt is $18 trillion, that's larger than the GNP, equivalent to over $150,000 owed per taxpayer. The reason is that Americans live as if there are no budget constraints: The Rich continue not paying enough taxes to cover the yearly national budget deficit, and beneficiaries of Government largess continue to receive their bounty. The National Debt is simply a 35 year accumulation of the Budget Deficit, and there's no end in sight. In years past severe angst & much gnashing of teeth accompanied any discussion of a National Debt: many doomsayers predicted ruin, gold shot up in value, and essentially nothing happened. That isn't to say there won't be a reckoning eventually but what form it may take is unknown: we certainly cannot predict the future by looking at the past.Treasury Bonds last > 10 years, and many, like EE, last 20-30 years. Debt with that kind of maturity is essentially passing the bill to the next generation. Also, older people tend to be the ones that have accrued enough money that they can buy Treasury Bonds, and a large percentage of them will have died during the 10-30 year period, making some portion of their debt subject to Estate Tax, thereby further reducing the obligation. Inflation over 20 years is also a significant reduction, especially if the Bonds are very low yield, as they are now, which are essentially at zero. And as a final resort, the U.S. government could simply print its way out of debt, so in reality the U.S. has no apocalyptic debt burden. The goal should be to keep people employed, prevent shortages, and let Market Forces take care of the rest. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_71_national_debt.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-19_71_national_debt.mp3 3:01 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash national debt, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 05 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy It's been said so often nobody listens anymore but the most honest description of the Stock Market is a casino. Even a cursory look at the numbers underline that fact: an investment should be worth the amount of money it returned over its holding but a share of stock is priced much, much higher than that, way more than the stock would ever return. If you get caught holding it when the music stops, your money is gone, but its even worse than that: the value of the underlying company the stock is supposedly based on, that too is almost whimsy, and will evaporate quickly.This stocks deception is accepted without criticism because everyone else seems to be ignoring it, and there's the constant drumbeat of investment “advice” from an entire industry that makes its living from it. Because the Stock Market seems to make money for some people, it is touted as an investment, but it is more a Ponzi scheme, and acts like one. Casinos are mathematically constructed to skim a small percentage off the gross with the rest of the customer's money returned as winnings, a zero sum gain reshuffling with the winners equaling the losers, but Ponzi schemes give most of the customer's money to the insiders. At least Vegas offers entertainment while you're getting fleeced.The vast majority of people have no stocks except in the form of Retirement. In fact, the entire stock Ponzi scheme leverages off the trillions of dollars of retirement money that is basically hidden from view. Promised benefits to existing retirees are way over what the funds can sustain so the fund must get income somewhere but nothing pays the 10% they need except the Ponzi scheme junk bonds & hedge funds. And there lies the truth of the entire market: some time in the future those promised pensions you were depending on, well that money's gone to create the empire of the Nouveau Aristocracy. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_70_stock_market.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_70_stock_market.mp3 3:02 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash stock market, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 03 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy If someone who has corn doesn't want to trade for your shoes but he'll take a chicken, and another guy has a chicken and will take your shoes, you could make it work, but then another guy comes along and he'll dig ditches for some shoes but you need chickens, hmmm, this gets complicated very quickly, which is why creative humans came up with the imaginary concept of money, which sure beats chickens. Money is imaginary because everyone has to make-believe it's worth something. It doesn't have to be backed with anything tangible: no gold, no stocks, and certainly no crypto-data-mining. The only thing needed to ensure money has value is threat of violence in case your greed overwhelms your imagination. Only governments have the force to maintain the illusion of money, which is why all money is government money.One of the remarkable things about money is that the amount is elastic: increasing & disappearing almost miraculously as needed. Banks are an example of this: for every dollar a bank gets it can imaginarilly create thirty more dollars, and the stock market can multiply a single dollar by the thousands using financial instruments called derivatives. Conveniently, when all this expanded imaginary money is no longer needed, it simply disappears...Nothing is as ephemeral as money which is why it is such a powerful concept, and dangerous. Governments, being the purveyors of money, can take advantage of their power to manipulate it for political interests, lowering its value & thereby violating Government's explicit guarantee to protect the property of individuals. The stodgy old idea of a Gold Standard is meant to prevent Government's abuse of money by artificially limiting the amount, but shackling money is much more a hindrance to liberty than protection. Also, Government has other obligations to its citizenry that may override property, requiring it to manipulate money. The line between exercise & exploitation of money is fine indeed. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_69_money.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_69_money.mp3 3:16 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash money, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The 5th and 14th Amendments of The Constitution promise to defend life, liberty & property, but what exactly that means is the source of much debate. Philosopher John Locke, the 17th century originator of the terms, had rather parochial definitions; he thought of life in its prosaic sense, of simply one's organic life; but America's founders took the definition of “life” beyond face value, to mean no caste system, no indentured servitude or Debtors prisons, so people could live their own lives. “Property” means Real Estate in law; peons in the 17th Century couldn’t own property, but Locke intended the term to include all things people can possess. Locke uses “liberty” as a synonym for freedom but the American definition is vastly expanded and means personal autonomy; people making decisions for themselves, and reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences of their own actions; bounded only by the liberty of others. The Preamble of The Constitution supports this expanded definition by stating, “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” At least these are the definitions recognized in American jurisprudence, which is all that matters, really. There are a lot of people who confuse the constitutional guarantees of life, liberty & property with a similar phrase found in the Declaration of Independence guaranteeing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: America does not promise happiness; no nation could; happiness is subjective and the responsibility of the individual, not The State; but The Declaration is not legal canon, and understanding what “pursuit of happiness” means would require reading Benjamin Franklin’s mind, the person who edited it into the document. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2020-09-03_922_life__liberty__property.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2020-09-03_922_life__liberty__property.mp3 2:53 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, life, liberty, property, pursuit of happiness no Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Market forces work because the granularity of decision making is very small, down to a single customer choosing the best solution at that very instant with the best available information specific to that person. Then business responds to the demand for products, less here, more there, faster, slower, an impossibly unplanable choreography: intricate order emerging from infinite chaos. But good & bountiful products are only a side effect of the real motive of business, which is to make money. Because Liberty is no-holds-barred unless you're not impinging on others, business requires oversight & enforcement of the rules, both of which come from government. Obviously, like any negotiation, business & Government must be in an adversarial relationship, with no collusion, no partnerships, no lobbying & no regulatory capture. So far, so bad. No one likes their profit opportunities thwarted so there is intense backlash from business towards any perceived interference from government; in fact, be very suspicious if there is no conflict. It's entirely within business' prerogative to make whatever effort necessary to gain profit, and often this conflicts with the wishes or best interests of others. Enforcement of rules & contracts is one of government's three primary purposes: without it there are no markets, there is no profit, and there is no business. Business and government are amoral in their relationship: government is expected to play the game without preconception, personalization or preference, while business cannot lobby, insult, threaten, hamper, bribe or extort without penalization. How could any game possibly be played otherwise? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_68_business_v_government.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_68_business_v_government.mp3 2:57 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash business, government, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy America is the only Liberty-first nation. Liberty means that the individual comes before the group unless due process of law. A Socialist nation puts the group before the individual, and in fact, we have many socialist institutions in the U.S. because that happens to be the best approach for some things, the biggest being the military. However, our biggest socialist institution is government. It has to be: a government is supposed to think of everybody when it makes a decision. In fact, we The People hate it when someone gets special treatment.Modern government gave us the Industrial revolution, lengthened our lifespans, and protects our good life because we made a deal with each other to watch our back. Government’s role is to do the things private enterprise cannot do: protection, welfare, healthcare, environment & education, because those functions are both essential & vulnerable to exploitation. However, these are the only things Government owes its citizens. That's the difference between a liberty nation and a socialist nation: Government does not guarantee you a house, a job, or even food. Americans assume you are responsible for yourself, and if you can't make it then maybe we will provide some charity.I need Government to protect me from the tribe across the hill, enforce my contracts & my will, and take care of me when I'm ill. Anything else is up for debate, but those three things are pretty much mandatory. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_67_government.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_67_government.mp3 2:43 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash government, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 27 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review another new batch of original ideas you have heard: 1. Free Trade is the most expensive trade on the planet. 2. There has to be a reason not to be on Welfare. 3. Charity is not an obligation: it's the giver's choice, not the recepient's Right. 4. Homeless people don't need homes, they need institutionalized & assisted living shelters. 5. Instilling a Work Ethic is in our nation's best interest. 6. Entitlements are what Americans want & it doesn't make any difference how they're paid for. 7. Tax Reform is code for stopping the wealth redistribution to the Middle Class. 8. Flat Tax is the idea that the Poor & Middle Class don't pay enough taxes. 9. People must be indoctrinated to accept tax increases. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_66_new_concepts_vol_6.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_66_new_concepts_vol_6.mp3 2:21 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 25 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Taxpayers have no real connection or input into the budget process, or where the money goes, or what the priorities are. They assume that increased taxes goes into government pensions, weapons, or given away to foreign countries. This makes taxes politically dangerous & encourages asinine demagoguery from people who disingenuously promise not to raise taxes, or that somehow taxes will be paid by other people, or through some magic process such as growth, spending cuts, or closing loopholes. But human nature isn't going to change, and people aren't going to give up government services, and taxes aren't going to pay themselves.Simply using the political correctness solution of renaming tax increases to something more palatable like “revenue enhancements” or “increased inflows,” only inspires more contempt & misunderstanding. The real solution is obvious but never mentioned: indoctrination & advertising. Now, all most children ever hear about taxes is their own negative experience with Sales Tax, and the impressions they get from their tax-hating parents. Taxes need to be taught to students as part of math, and discussed more in social studies. Their role as the only tool that government has needs to be clarified & lauded. Then as adults, taxes need to be explained in glossy advertising campaigns just like teeth whiteners & erectile dysfunction drugs. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_65_tax_increases.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_65_tax_increases.mp3 2:44 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash tax increases, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 23 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Often the sycophants of the Nouveau Aristocracy disingenuously propose a “flat” tax, couched in the guise of simplicity & fairness to hide their true intent which is to cut taxes for the wealthy. They say “simple” but it's simple now: computers do it. In fact computers don't care how complex the tax code is, so whatever arcanery is needed to serve the American people, no problem. And fair? Math doesn't care about fairness & these people obvious don't possess even simple math skills because then they would know that since 20% of wealthy taxpayers pay 80% of total taxes, therefore for every 1% taxes go down for the wealthy, they go up 4% for everyone else. So for a rich person's 35% tax rate to go down to 30%, a poor person's 10% tax rate would have to go up to the 30% Flat Tax. Essentially, Flat-Taxers are saying that poor people don't pay enough taxes.When confronted with these facts, Flat-Taxers admit that their real goal is of the starve-the-beast variety, to force a reduction in Government spending by cutting off their revenue. Obviously, they intend to fool you with the feint... How do you feel about that? Being misled? The whole Flat Tax fallacy is actually an insidious attack on government subsidies to families & the Middle Class. It's all about lowering taxes on The Rich so they can get rich faster, and have more with which to start a new dynasty for their bloodline. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_64_flat_tax.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_64_flat_tax.mp3 2:40 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash flat tax, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 21 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Tax Reform is one of those cheap political pandering tactics that makes honest debate about the real issue impossible. It is a Trojan horse to obscure the pro-socialization agenda of the Left or the anti-government agenda of the Right, depending on which side you are on. I used to be surprised every time there was a new call for “tax reform,” I could not understand why the conditions that require changes in taxes could not be predicted and accounted for, especially considering Government’s many decades of experience in taxation, and the sheer volume of modern tax law covering every possible contingency. Now it's clear to me that the people advocating these reforms are being duplicitous: The Right claims they can lower tax rates by getting rid of "loopholes," especially the ones that the Middle Class benefits from, like mortgage interest & home property taxes, medical expenses, education credits, retirement accounts, "green" subsidies, and the other goodies that redistribute income from the wealthy to the rest of us. Only the Middle Class benefits from Itemized Deductions because those phase out at higher income levels. On-the-other-hand, Depletion Allowance & Depreciation are tax evasion vehicles of The Rich. But that's not where the real money is: the real rip-off of Americans is the special treatment of Capital Gains, which only The Rich benefit from, and the Middle Class pay for. Here's how the Capital Gains Tax Cuts scam works: the Nouveau Aristocracy has convinced you that their money has more merit than yours so they don’t have to pay as much. They think that economic activity most efficiently trickles down from the top, and that you should be grateful to them for their rare & astute business acumen. Horse-pucky.We have decided as a society that we want people to own houses. We want them to send their kids to college, and even go themselves. We want them to save money to retire, reduce their carbon footprint, and take care of their parents who have moved in due to old age. We want it, we vote & there's a lot of us. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_63_tax_reform.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_63_tax_reform.mp3 3:24 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash tax reform, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 19 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy People like the idea of entitlements because it puts control in their hands. Entitlements are a contractual obligation for government to perform for the benefit of all the people, which explains the popularity of entitlements among an overwhelming portion of the population. Social Security & Medicare are the entitlements that have the most impact on the greatest number of people. Both of those entitlements were promoted under false pretenses in order to be put into law, making recipients think they earned them in some way, but in reality, they are simply government-sponsored Ponzi schemes. However, because of the way economics works, it doesn't really make any difference, any problems will take care of themselves in the future.When politicians talk about cutting services, entitlements, whatever, under the mistaken belief that some catastrophic budgetary time-bomb must be prevented, they seem to forget that the nation adopted those things for its citizens. Democracy comes first, so The People can decide what they want and how they want to pay for it. If that means tax The Rich or inflation then that's the choice they make. Entitlements are a fundamental part of making the rest of us care what happens to America because folks will take pride in something they have a stake in, and encourage their children to defend the nation they feel part of. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_62_entitlements.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_62_entitlements.mp3 2:21 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash entitlements, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 17 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy It seems obvious that a nation must produce more than it consumes, so it's in a nation's self-interest to encourage work ethic, or at the very least, not discourage it. Workless Welfare is dangerous because it sets people's expectations to be only consumers. Unfortunately, work ethic is at the mercy of both the liberty vs. socialism ideological conflict & the fact that lots of people simply would not work if not forced to. The very essence of civilization hinges on whether a society thinks that work ethic is one its most important ingredients. There are many reasons for lack of jobs but the one consistent fact is that people need income to live. We could either give them free money with no obligations attached or require some kind of Make-Work to remind them that they are impinging upon the courtesy, good will & charity of others, as well as to maintain their work ethic. It would be nice if the Make-Work were more than simply digging-holes-n-filling-them but from a purely practical view, for many chronically unemployed people, the "jobs" provided must be much more like the military, because these people need discipline & structure. In fact, most of this Make-Work will take more management than they will produce but at least people will be working, and some will be able to move on into regular employment. And like any job, there will be lots of difficulty, nastiness, dishonesty, lying, cheating, stealing, etc., so the public's expectations must be kept to ethic first & job training second.Also, to create Make-Work jobs, the public employee unions will have to be confronted. Public Employee unions have provisions in their contracts preventing Government from creating any "Community Service" jobs. Public Employee unions want any jobs to be under their union, paying into their retirement scams, but Make-Work must be subsistence only to discourage long-term reliance on it, certainly no cushy union rules, collective bargaining, or career rah-rah, otherwise people with real jobs would want those plum public employee jobs. The fact is, with the Public Employee unions on one side, and the "I deserve free money" folks on the other, it seems unlikely any Community Service Make-Work job program is possible, but as a nation we have to recognize what we're giving up by not instilling work ethic in our citizens. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_61_work_ethic.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-18_61_work_ethic.mp3 3:53 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash work ethic, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 15 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy I've worked in the "homeless" environment, both as a lawyer and as a doctor in E. Oakland, Harlem & S. Miami. There are about 100,000 hardcore, no solution street people out there. These are not able-bodied folks who are just down on their luck, the vast majority of these people can't do any jobs, and no amount of education or retraining is going to fix them. Blame Political Correctness for taking away the descriptive terms for the real problem population, words like "bums," "winos" & "panhandlers.” These aren't people you want to associate with outside a charitable capacity, and they need constant supervision just to eat.And how is it our public spaces get consumed by these people? Because Do-Gooders are under the misimpression that everyone is rational, competent & able to make logical decisions, and all the homeless need is a “home,” but a home is the last thing they need. Instead, many need to be put in mental health facilities but that costs big money. Alcoholics are the most expensive, and schizophrenics are the scariest, but the majority are just plain stupid: not drunks, not mentally ill, just incapable of doing anything productive, and certainly can't have any responsibility of any kind. Assisted living shelters is all that works for them.For folks who just need a job, a Jobs Program would be a far better investment than a mishmash of safety nets, charities, group homes, soup kitchens & the like, and there's no reason to mix competent people in with the rif-raf. Combine Housing Apps, like AirBnB, with some government assistance, and the couple folks just down on their luck can stay at my house. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_60_homelessness.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_60_homelessness.mp3 3:04 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash homelessness, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 13 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Liberty means you are responsible for your own actions, no one else is, and if people want to help you, it's called charity. Charity puts the control on the side of the individual providing the charity, but since every person seeks control, the recipients of that charity try instead to insist that it is their Right to receive it, thereby they gain control. They essentially want everyone else working for them, as do we all.In the battle between liberty & socialism, individual verses group, the same questions always emerge: who is responsible, who decides, and what & how much are we responsible for? With liberty, you are responsible for yourself, but socialists, and especially Marxists, are constantly trying to reverse the obligation, thereby reversing control. If the obligation is that you are responsible for yourself, and I am providing you charity then I may ask that you rhetorically dig-holes-and- fill-them-back-in as a sign that you at least have the commitment to help yourself by exhibiting your work ethic & understanding of your own responsibility in The Deal which we call society. However, on the opposing side, the reversing-responsibility people attempt to gain control by insisting the beneficiaries of charity have a Right to receive it, and they want to dictate what the rest of us owe them, which of course is the opposite of liberty. Charity verses obligation is perhaps the most contentious battlefront in the liberty verses socialism war. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_59_charity_v_obligation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_59_charity_v_obligation.mp3 2:50 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash charity, obligation, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 11 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy When liberty-people hear the word, “fairness,” they're thinking that the rules of the game must be the same for everyone, but socialists use “fairness” as a weasel-word to imply new Rights. There is no Right to a decent life: no one is owed a house, a car, or even food. In America, life is a liberty culture, and you are responsible for both the rewards & consequences of your life: fairness does not play a part in it. However, our human motivations of pity & charity prompt us to provide a societal safety net for unfortunate people, called Welfare. Unfortunately the supporting argument for providing a social safety net is undermined by those who abuse it: Welfare may be prevalent but it should not be popular.Welfare is difficult to fit into an ideology. Socialists, of course, believe that those who have more should be forced to give to those who don't. And Conservatives, for the most part, have religious teachings advocating helping those less fortunate than themselves. Because both groups kind of agree on something, and since out-of-sight-out-of-mind is also a motivation, the implementation of our charitable inclinations can be captured & leveraged by Special Interests who exploit the largely unsupervised expenditures from the public coffers. They insist their compassion is the correct model because they know-better-n-than-you, and often personally benefit from the public's largess.Welfare is accepted by most Americans as a short term solution to some problems, and only long term for the most egregiously incompetent, but it is our charity, not our obligation, to provide it. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_58_welfare.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_58_welfare.mp3 2:56 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash welfare, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 09 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy When I was young, I was a Free Trader because it seemed like the sophisticated thing to be. Free Trade does offer an alternative to dealing with exploitative unions in the U.S., plus it prevents the Black Marketeering resulting from tariffs and other import restrictions. But after considering the ramifications of Free Trade for the past two decades, I have changed my mind. The reason: market economies like ours seek out the lowest costs, and more and more often, the lowest costs are not in our country.As it turns out, America is having done to it what it did to Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Back then our labor and productivity was better than the nations we were selling to because we were developing: now new developing nations do the same thing to us. A job that pays the rent, values your expertise and reliability, and is plentiful enough to quit, most likely involves manufacturing. We don’t have many of those kind of jobs anymore: we sent them overseas so that The Rich could get richer and things are cheaper. This undermining goes under the title of “Free Trade.” Unfortunately, we have a huge portion of our population whose capabilities are limited to the kind of jobs that we are losing, so we end up supporting them via the social safety net. Free Trade is definitely not free.The trade-off is owning more stuff or employment. If given the chance to choose, most working Americans would choose employment but the “Free” Trade purveyors have some persuasive arguments why workers in other countries should benefit from American largess, and that new jobs are created back home due to “Free” Trade, even though for any job created, many more have been lost. America is not one-with-the-World: we are our own economic system, our people are ambitious, and our culture is different. We’re certainly willing to work with the World but not to our detriment. So, if the goal is “jobs,” then we know where to get them: take them back from the foreigners we gave them to. Get rid of Minimum Wage & restrictive union rules, and redistribute the wealth from the Nouveau Aristocracy via subsidies to people making less than it costs to live. It would no longer be cheaper for a business to off-shore, so the people who make all the money from off-shoring would redistribute to the low wage workers, and rest of us would still get all the cost benefits that off-shoring brings. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_57_free_trade.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_57_free_trade.mp3 4:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash free trade, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 07 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review the new batch of original ideas you have heard since the last time: Business's only business is to make money. A business's primary goal is to become a monopoly, and it's government's job to stop them. America can trace its success directly to entrepreneurs. Government should keep close watch on Big Business & leave Small Business alone. Taxes should be on people, not business. Employees are not partners in business, they're allies. Minimum Wage is at the expense of jobs. A Liberty society cannot force individuals to give what others consider a Living Wage. Jobs have an implict value to society: productivity, quality of life, even defense. There are no mystical “job creators” but government can help create them. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_56_new_concepts_vol_5.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-17_56_new_concepts_vol_5.mp3 2:18 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 05 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Our liberty society uses Market Forces to create most jobs because Market Forces improve efficiency & productivity through a random process euphemistically called Creative Destruction or Reallocation of Resources, but the fact is millions of jobs go away every year and approximately the same number are created. In good times, more are created, and less in a recession, but there’s always more folks wanting jobs then jobs available, even in good times. 60-70 million people in the U.S. are unemployed, perhaps as many as 30 million of those people are out-of-work-but-would-work-if-they-could-get-it, and most of those people are incompetent to do anything but sew garments or hoe tomatoes. You can't "train" them out of the situation they're in, and lowering the standard of living for people on government assistance isn't the answer.Some people, conscious of their own entrenched self-interest, claim that jobs come from mystical job-creators, and if government just removed regulations & allowed those special people to do as they please, there would be plenty of jobs... And unicorns too. We could probably slow the job exodus if we turned back the clock on wages, safety, monopolies, education, environment & all the things that society wants, I assume that’s what Conservatives are advocating, but our liberty nation decides what we want through democracy, and our citizens think those protected things are important, so business will simply have to accommodate the rules we set. Job creation is going to need to be a combination of Market Forces, regulations & government stimulus. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_55_job_creation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_55_job_creation.mp3 2:51 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash job creation, jobs, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 03 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The word “job” carries a lot of intangibles: income, security, pride, identity, retirement & healthcare. There is the myth that once Americans worked most of their careers at a single employer, lived comfortably Middle Class, and retired with a gold watch while still admiring their boss. Whether that's true or not, it glamorized work ethic & increased productivity. Work ethic is important on several fronts: as a natural resource, to minimize resentment from those who do work & to economically balance consumption with production.During most of America’s history, tariffs, quotas, and some kind of trade balancing was maintained. However, job flight occurred when those barriers were removed in the mid-1990s, along with deregulation. The benefits being cheaper & cheaper goods paying lower & lower wages, called “the race to the bottom.” How many people do you know today who are willing to pay more for a shirt made in the U.S. versus a significantly cheaper one made in Vietnam? As Steve Jobs famously said, “those jobs ain't comin' back.”But the jobs issue is much, much bigger than who's out of work today because ever increasing automation will continue to eliminate low-skilled jobs, regardless. A huge unemployed leisure class seems impossible to maintain for long if people become consumptive without also learning to be productive, so some kind of paradigm shift that focuses on keeping people working must occur. Though it seems obvious, public works projects would do the trick: old-time pyramid building, aqueduct construction, Appian roads & moon landings would keep everyone employed who wanted to be, and all the ephemeral things that go with having a job. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_54_jobs.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_54_jobs.mp3 3:02 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash jobs, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 01 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy There's a huge difference between Minimum Wage and Living Wage but Living Wage promoters intentionally confuse their intentions with the much easier to defend Minimum Wage argument. In the case of Minimum Wage, you rely on people's sense of outrage & rejection of extreme exploitation, but Living Wage is a liberty verses socialism argument that would normally only be accepted by a small segment of the population. Minimum Wage people are thinking “enough money to buy lunch,” but Living Wage champions espouse “human dignity,” which usually involves a nice place to live, wi-fi, privacy, clothes, transportation, and other things they deem important to a person's self-esteme. Of course, it's totally subjective: what's one person's essentials is another person's luxory.Living Wage is another attempt to switch government's responsibility onto business. Market Forces are a proven method of solving complex interactions like wages, especially when combined with Welfare since the cost of Welfare comes out of General Tax receipts, meaning that The Rich pay to help The Poor, rather than the Middle Class who would normally have to shoulder the burden of artificially high wages. Market Forces will beat a Top-Down-Grand-Design every time. Also, government is a terrible teacher, mentor, or life coach. It would be better if there were more entry level jobs, and the subsequent "real world" aspects they bring. However, even with these unassialable arguments, a Europe-like “Living Wage” political majority probably will emerge over time: the concept is just too sensitive to demogogery. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_53_living_wage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_53_living_wage.mp3 2:43 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash living wage, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 30 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The politics behind Minimum Wage is intentionally confused & emotionally charged, touching as it does on people's outrage, chartible inclinations, resentment towards business, and savior complex. Appealing to people's sensibilities, the basic argument is that an hour's work should be at least enough to buy a meal at Taco Bell. In a narrow context, that's a pretty compelling argment, even to a liberty ideolog. And it would take extraordinary leverage to get someone to take a job that pays less than that because truly poor people can get government assistance, though thoughts of exploiting the plight of illegal immigrants come to mind.Minimum Wage has a pedestrian appeal that is quite difficult to refute because the ramifications of a Minimum Wage are also quite fuzzy: most people can't comprehend that there are some jobs that simply are not worth the cost of paying someone to do. In a liberty society, government can’t force a customer to pay more than the market will bear for goods and services without grossly distorting and eventually ruining the economy. There are plenty of examples of protectionism in history & in Europe today to prove this assertion, and we need only look back to the 1970s Price Controls in America to see a homegrown example.If the choice is between employers paying the low wage the job is worth & letting government assistance cover the difference, or not having the job at all, keeping the job is clear to calculate: an unemployed person would get more government assistance than an employed person, plus the training, plus the work ethic, plus the fitting into society. Also, Minimum Wage forces people into the underground economy where there is no Minimum Wage, no withholding & no worker protections. Plus it inspires a contempt for government & people-who-know-better-than-you. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_52_minimum_wage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_52_minimum_wage.mp3 2:54 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash minimum wage, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 28 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Though some employees are entrepreneurs just waiting for their chance, most people are not cut out to run a business: way too much work, stress, risk & a high chance of failure. And there's a fundamental ideological difference between entrepreneurs & employees, a liberty vs. socialism schism, because socialists see the employees of a business as partners, while entrepreneurs interpret the relationship as allies. Plus, socialists see employees as having some kind of Right to their job but business owners aren't looking for a random partner when they hire someone. In fact, if a machine can do the job, all the better. It's the old are you responsible for yourself or is someone else responsible for you question.For example: there are persistent calls by socialist thinkers to make business your nanny, but owners are not responsible for your well-being, that's Government's job. Business executives don't want to worry about your child care, or your healthcare, or whether you vote. Those are all important functions of society totally within the purview of Government. Want public childcare? Subsidize it. No time to vote? Vote-by-mail. Same with the employer's contribution to Social Security & Medicare: those simply put the burden on business for something that is a public concern. Social Security & healthcare should come out of General tax receipts because we all benefit from the spoils of a vibrant society & commerce, so let those who benefit the most, The Rich, bear the lion's share of the cost. Right now it is the Middle Class who ends up paying when the burden is on business.Democracy is how we settle this, but the danger of democracy is socialism, and since entrepreneurship is relatively rare, employees definitely are in the majority. And people are motivated by the basest of emotions, envy being a big one, and resentment against "The Boss" is granddaddy of them all, but luckily, the American Dream that anyone can get rich, and the fact that we all have Smartphones, keeps most employees allied with business, just like liberty wants them to be. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_51_employees.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-16_51_employees.mp3 3:15 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash employees, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Some things are so familiar we overlook their elegance: case-in-point, business is the perfect economic machine. Business allows for commerce to flourish, creates jobs, inspires innovations, and fuels an economy. The more productive business is, the better off society is. However, business is also an easy target for politicians & demogogues. It's mostly immune to attack, and doesn't fight back on a personal level but it doesn’t make sense for government to tax business, putting a damper on the engine that keeps it all going.Since taxing business is counter-productive, instead tax the people who own the business, not some imaginative legal construction that enhances our lives. Make businesses pay all yearly profit to their owners then tax the owners with a progressive Income Tax. As usual for pass-through taxes, use quarterly withholding so that the income cannot escape the country to foreign owners. Additionally, businesses don't need to accumulate money, they can operate from bank line-of-credit, use private loans, or sell stock. It's good for the banking system, and business can't hide their income in tax havens overseas. It also gets rid of the ridiculous double-taxation on dividends.Taxes should be on people because people ultimately get the benefit, and businesses certainly are not people. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_50_no_business_taxes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_50_no_business_taxes.mp3 2:34 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash business taxes, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 24 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Big business is differentiated from small business by its offloading of risk to public investors. The stock market is open to everyone, and as democratic as the proposition seems, where everyone has an equal chance to participate in the capitalist dream, in reality it results in a giant lottery where total novices are regularly fleeced by knowledgeable insiders. Big business has their investors and their employees at the complete mercy of management, and their shareholders are powerless, ripe for exploitation & abuse, exactly the kind of protections which governments are supposed to provide.Owning a small business is the American dream. Fortunately, Americans are optimistic people because odds are their small business is in for tough times. Every politician talks about encouraging small business but almost no politicians know what they are talking about. Let me break the news to them: small businesses fail. Even the “successful” ones are failures if you divide the profit by the time, money & commitment the owners put into them. Most long-term profit that small business owners take when they retire is simply the accumulated cash value of the tens of thousands of unpaid hours sunk into the business over decades of unrewarded labor. My favorite small business saying is, "I only make a buck an hour but I make up for it in hours.”Ultimately, government has little place in small business, but it is definitely needed to provide protection of stockholders and workers in big business. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_49_big_business_v_small_business.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_49_big_business_v_small_business.mp3 2:31 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash big business, small business, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Ambition is the alchemy of greed , vanity & pride, the basic fuel society runs on. America's liberty environment nurtures the desire to start your own business, build it, wallow in its success, despair in its failure. It becomes job, hobby, entertainment & identify. The lowliest street vendor finds more satisfaction in their career than anyone working in a cubical. Entrepreneurship is the catalyst of small & large business alike. Immigrants come from all around the world in pursue of it. Nothing defines the American Dream more than a striving entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs also have an overabundant helping of naive optimism, otherwise they would never even pursue their dream against such long odds. Their hope overcomes history & facts. They work at levels of productivity that no employer would ever attain from a captive workforce. That's why most entrepreneurs are young, because the innocent eagerness hasn't been beaten out of them yet, and their focus still has not been captured by other aspects of society like family & reputation. America's success rests on the backs of entrepreneurs, young & old, clever & perseverant, colorblind & tone deaf.There is a significant component of the Left, the strong socialists bordering on Marxists, who denigrate entrepreneurship. They associate it with selfishness, competitiveness & aggression, which is true because those are the ingredients of any good entrepreneur, but the naysayers are simply expressing their own envy, spite & resentment. On-the-other-hand, many of these same anti-entrepreneurs have a place in their heart for food carts, small-scale organic growers & folk jewelry-makers who are obviously entrepreneurs. Interestingly, today's modern entrepreneurs & anti-entrepreneurs alike congregate together in the great Western port cities of Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco & San Diego in a vibrant cultural mishmash, but entrepreneurs are everywhere if you just look for them. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_48_entrepreneurship.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_48_entrepreneurship.mp3 3:16 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash entrepreneurship, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 20 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The implicit goal of every business is to become a monopoly: they can't be faulted for it because their obligation is to maximize profits and a monopoly is the premiere agency to do so. Collusion & complicity among businesses are essentially monopolies, and some things, like health care, are natural monopolies. Monopolies are the Achilles heel of Capitalism because monopolies stifle Market Forces & distort the customer-business negotiation relationship. It takes government intervention to prevent them.At the end of the 19th Century, monopolies nearly turned America into an oligarchy, but right-person-at-the-right-time Teddy Roosevelt became the premiere “Trust Buster,” anti-monopolist. Since then, business has slowly compromised the regulatory agencies & public opinion, so monopolies, in the guise of telecoms, Main-Stream-Media, and too-big-to-fail institutions, have crept back, to the detriment of the American people. The oligarchy is returning: it is time to reassert government's role of reigning in the monopolies. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_47_monopolies.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_47_monopolies.mp3 2:06 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash monopolies, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 18 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy With liberty, what you do is your own business, and when you do that with other people, we call that “business” too. If you own a business, you are a Capitalist, and the rewards of your business go to you, and naturally tend to accumulate because that's what you want. This self-perpetuating self-interest is why Capitalism is a good match for liberty. And since business also provides jobs for those who are not Capitalists, it works for everybody. Business also provides other benefits, like technology, identity, and efficiency. Indeed, anything that unduly hinders business is bad for America.Businesses rely of the Rule Of Law which sets expectations. It essentially guarantees those going into business will be held to a detailed set of rules that can be adjudicated in Court, and those rules can only change through the democratic process. There are no additional subjective moral, ethical, or parochial obligations that would have unknown impact on business, and the only goal of business is to make money for the owners, which is why Government is in an adversarial relationship with business, to ensure that business serves the nation, not the other way around. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_46_business.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-15_46_business.mp3 2:14 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash business, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 16 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review more original ideas you have heard listening to me since the last time we reviewed: Health insurance is not healthcare & healthcare is a natural monopoly because it does not respond to Market Forces A nation's natural resources are too important to leave in the hands of self-interested, short-sighted private interests. Conservation puts people first while Environmentalism is mysticism. Climate Change politics is a bid for socialist control. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Political Parties try to benefit from their leverage as much as any private business does. The 2-Party system is primitive & unreprentative. Conservatives are typically the entrenched winners & liberals often only want change for personal gain. Simple majority voting is the closest thing to liberty & also liberty's greatest threat. Only people should be able to give campaign contributions. By their very nature, Special Interests oppose liberty. Half of us are incompentent & only a minority of the population pull everyone else along. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_45_new_concepts_vol_4.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_45_new_concepts_vol_4.mp3 2:30 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 14 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The fact that over half of Americans receive some kind of government assistance is prima facie evidence that people of average intelligence can't survive without help; not to mention the people receiving assistance from their family or church, or aren't on assistance but should be. We have to be aware that many, many people are incompetent to compete in our modern technological society. Back-in-the-day when there were unskilled jobs, low technology & paternalism, more folks would have blended in but not now. Worse, even a high-IQ child raised in a low-IQ home will be dysfunctional. Add to that the large component of the population that is underage, taking psych meds, disabled, incarcerated, traumatized, etc., and it's a shitshow where a minority of the population basically carry the rest on their backs. I know this concept isn't palatable to many people's internal narrative but that doesn't change the fact that lots of folks have economic, medical or social difficulties, or all three. These people don't have bank accounts & couldn't write a check if they did, and they have to use debit cards, if they can even get one. Their financial manager is the cashier at the Payday loan place. Plus, most are overweight, and have other health problems, and a lot are estranged from their family, and their only friends are bartenders & smoke-buddies. They can't make anything like a rational decision: it's stream-of-consciousness living. This estimate doesn't even include the irrational & ill-informed or those with the Millennial-generation mindset of no Life Goals that will "only do something meaningful.” And often people that seem to have it together are actually in trouble with one or more aspects of their life but they have the money to hire the necessary expertise to cover the deficit. Examine anyone too closely & you'll find one or two major faux pas: medical, finances, legal, that if not handled adequately is going to ruin a person's life. People without the same economic means to handle complicated situations in their life should be able to get some help but we can't train personal responsibility, independence or competence. Who does the training? What if the training fails? What is the training? This is a problem of tremendous magnitude. I'm not speaking from contempt, I'm just laying out the groundwork for the situation our country has to deal with and doesn't because, really, the only solution is government intervention, and before you knee-jerk that it's not government's job to be every citizen's wingman, remember that they're here too and there's a lot more of them than there are of you. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_44_incompetence.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_44_incompetence.mp3 3:52 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash incompetence, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 12 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Governments are by definition, socialist, meaning their obligation is to do what is best for everybody. Special Interests are by definition, selfish, meaning they seek to promote particular issues regardless of their effects. It seems bizzare & ironic that the two are in such close proximity, or that Government would even allow itself to be compromised by such obvious conflicts, but governments are run by people, and people are grasping opportunists.Special Interests use the fact that deciding what is "best for everybody" is done a small cadre of elites that can, unfortunately, be relatively easily captured because only those few people need to be corrupted. This is especially true when they are lobbied by former insiders: people who are owed favors & know where all the bodies are buried.Special Interests also control which candidates end up on the General ballot because of their power to deliver a block of votes, essentially making their candidate unassialable in the Primary election when turnout is low & small numbers are statistically important. And Special Interests dominate the political Parties, controlling the flow of information, mentoring, connections & money. An aspirating candidate, no matter how independent, capable or experienced, is no candidate at all really if they can't get elected.In every election cycle there is an outcry by aspiring candidates against “special interests,” but for most candidates either their complaint is simply melodramatics or they are hypocritically uninformed because it is easy to tell which Special Interests that candidate represent: simply look at their endorsement & contributor lists. Only the incredibly naïve would not think that every endorser expects to get something in return for their endorsement. In fact, every endorsement was gained by the candidate tacitly agreeing to the terms of the Special Interest because almost all Special Interests require questionnaires to be filled out to the endorser’s satisfaction. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_43_special_interests.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_43_special_interests.mp3 3:10 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash special interests, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 10 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Campaign finance has a consequence vs. causation aspect about it: do candidates win because they get lots of money, or do winning candidates get lots of money? At the national level, it certainly seems to be the latter because many, many candidates spend vasts amount of money for seemingly inconsequential elections which they then lose. However, it is true that candidates who are unknown with no resources have little chance of convincing people to vote for them.It is important to know who “owns” a candidate, so mandating disclosing of who gives what to whom is clearly valuable to our democracy: we need to know if foreign nationals are supporting particular candidates with possibly nefarious motives. And businesses should not be able to contribute to campaigns at all: if the owners of a business wish to own candidates that promote their business, they should have to support them under their real name.The specious argument that businesses have Free Speech needs to be definitively counteracted with legislation since the Supreme Court seems unable to do so. Only people are people: the fictional device our country uses to facilitate commerce, business, has no Rights, is not protected by The Constitution, and has no place in politics. On-the-other-hand, putting campaign contribution caps on private individuals is a limitation of Free Speech. Democracy is constantly threatened by Marxism, and in the absence of debate, the poor many will vote to take the rich few's stuff. Campaign donation caps laws are intended to mute the rich, clearly a violation of their liberty. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_42_c_aign_finance.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-14_42_c_aign_finance.mp3 2:10 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash campaign finance, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 08 Jan 2024 16:52:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Voting holds almost mystical reverence among seekers of liberty but there is no Right to vote, only injunctions against discrimination if there happens to be a vote. Since the manipulation of voters & the mechanics of voting offers control, it is under constant pressure from vested interests. Intentional voter suppression hides behind Voter ID laws, redistricting & old technology. Conservatives want voter restrictions because more voters, especially new voters, could change the status quo. In contrast, the Left often proposes Mandatory voting for everyone under the guise of “civic duty.”Demagogues, both Left & Right, emanate a strong paternalistic undercurrent, where the idea of a democracy is besmirched by comparisons of voters to “the great unwashed,” that your vote doesn't mean anything, and there is a deep suspicion that the other side has rigged the process somehow. They point out the problems of voting, that there are a lot of people who do not have the capacity to make good decisions: the young, feeble, mentally ill & stupid. And there is a large portion of Americans who don't much like democracy: they would prefer the proles were ruled by a knowledgeable elite class. To these people, and there are a lot of them, democracy seems like irresponsible selfish people getting away with their hedonistic ways.Voting can be adulterated, making it less democratic: for example, there are some decisions that require a super-majority, like two-thirds of the vote, but the further the needed majority is from 50%, the further it is from liberty. And there are often calls to tie voting to military or public service thereby limiting enfranchisement. Special Interests are often so sure of their crusades that they propose that only “informed” citizens can vote, assuming that informed voters would vote their way. Some people want to put the cost of voting on business, as if business is responsible for the proper functioning of society rather than Government.Given these disincentives, indoctrination of our youth to the advantages of liberty, democracy, and voting seems to be the primarily method of maintaining American ideology. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_41_voting.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_41_voting.mp3 3:35 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash voting, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 06 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Liberal in one dictionary sense means empowerment, often through a broad education but also by expanding one's sophistication & self-actualization. Conservative is simply the word that means comfortable & familiar, leading to a reticence towards change. Self-interest is the motivating factor of both & certainly people can be both liberal & conservative in different aspects of their life. Measuring someone's general acceptance of change determines what label best applies to them. In general, a conservative is simply a person who finds it in their best interest to maintain the status quo, usually as an entrenched winner who has more chance of their position being eroded than enhanced, while a liberal perceives change as an opportunity to improve their station in life, and is therefore willing to take more chances, which is why “change” is always a prominent word of the liberal's lexicon. The other definition of “liberal” means liberty but conservatives can believe in liberty just as fervently so we will leave that out of this particular discussion.There may even be an evolutionary component of conservative verses liberal behavior. One could imagine a variety of narratives that could support such an argument but no need to add mystic thinking to an already self-explanatory reason: potential gain verses potential loss, and once someone is in the conservative mindset then momentum, tradition & custom are logic enough for them to refuse to consider any other alternatives. Similarly, liberal thinkers tend to go overboard in their denial of past attitudes, methods & motivations of doing things. If you do not want to be trapped by either extreme, a simple rule-of-thumb is: be conservative when things are working & liberal when they're not. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_40_liberal_v_conservative.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_40_liberal_v_conservative.mp3 3:00 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash liberal, conservative, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 04 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy America initiated the modern nation Democracy business, and its founders warned against and disdained political parties but it wasn't long before pragmatism set in and Thomas Jefferson himself co-founded the Democratic Party. Because America was first, and because there was no thought nor experience of political parties, the natural course of events was a winner-takes-all default 2-Party system. This is the simplist of solutions but has the glaring defect that second-place-is-the-first-loser & so nobody but the people in power get much of a say. For a country founded on representation, we sure didn't end up with much. But since elections in the U.S. tend to be a lottery, and as lotteries go the Party in power tends to change a lot so people have been mollified.Because of our lame 2-Party system, strange bedfellows are forced upon us since every person must be wedged into one of the two Parties whether their ideas coincide or not. The Parties can't even be divided liberal vs. conservative because they have changed over time: a 150 years ago, Democrats used to be the conservatives, and Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, was a raging liberal. It's virtually impossible to be elected without a "D" or "R" next to your name, so "independents" declare they are in one of the two Parties, however, the Party power structure does not support them: no money, no help, no organization, and tries to defeat them with a Party stalwart in the Primary.Most nations that formed into democracies after America instituted various forms of more inclusive representation, such as a parlimentary system, but the U.S. has the advantage of being the only liberity nation, so people are less affected by the decisions of a handful of elites at the top than socialist-leaning nations experience. Also our clear winner has a dictator-like ability to control the direction America is going, at least until the next clear winner is elected. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_39_2-party_system.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_39_2-party_system.mp3 3:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash 2-party system, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 02 Jan 2024 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Political Parties are semi-private organizations that are only interested in the self-centered desires of their rulers, just like any other private organization, regardless of their portrayal of themselves wrapped in an American flag. Their goals are selfish, the methods they practice are dishonest, and the candidates they run are compromised. I know lots of people have always suspected this but I’ve been idealistic, and thought the problem was that just not enough “good” people were getting involved, so I got involved: political Parties do not want “good” people, they want their people.And it gets scarier: candidates keep campaign donations. I always wondered how part-time State legislators earning $35K/yr ended up retiring with millions? Every dollar some poor slob who barely makes the mortgage is wheedled into giving to a candidate is a transfer of wealth from the poor to the soon-to-be rich. As for business campaign contributions, that's out-and-out bribery: business is in business to make money, period, and a business pays a political candidate to do what they want, also period. And to top it all off: slander, libel & privacy laws don't apply to political candidates. That means the opposing side can say whatever they want to discredit a rival. "Thief!" "Liar!" "Child molester!" And these accusations can come from secret sources paid for by secret money. It's open season on folks who would otherwise be your doctor, lawyer or accountant, and now want to represent you in congress. How can any kind of professional in your community survive those kinds of unsubstantiated stains on their reputations? At the beginning of America, political Parties were thought to be the scourge of partisanship & self-dealing, and they certainly live up to the expectation. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_38_political_parties.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_38_political_parties.mp3 2:58 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash political parties, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 31 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The term “Social Security” has entered that realm of preconception and symbolism that defies rational logic. The very mention of the word evokes fear in some, antagonism is others, and all feel a vague sense of unease. Almost no day goes by without some mention of Social Security: either in the newspaper, on television, a brochure in the mail, or a political event. Politicians especially abuse the feelings and imagery of the term, most often misleadingly, sometimes lying, always exploitive. That is what makes it difficult for a real message to get out there, because everything has been said, and there seems to be nothing new to offer. However, here is a fact I have never heard mentioned…We are told that the Baby-Boomers are going to need an exorbitant amount of Social Security, so the deduction has been raised, and supposedly put in a “Social Security Trust Fund.” This is blatantly misleading, almost a lie. Instead, the extra money is spent as part of the General disbursements. Treasury Bonds are then issued purporting to represent the fund but they are just words, there is no money. When the Baby-Boomers need the money, it will not be available. The U.S. budget is already in a huge deficit so new taxes will need to be imposed to raise the money to cover cashing in those bonds. What that means is that people are paying twice for the same thing: first they paid into the “trust” fund then pay again to cover cashing the bonds.What makes it more horrendous is that Social Security is subtracted from subsistence level paychecks. In fact, Medicare is subtracted from the first dollar someone earns. There are no Social Security exemptions, no brackets, and no refunds. The poorest of the working poor pay Social Security, yet people in the highest monetary echelons of society can draw it. They use it to pay their golf fees, and tip the doorman. Also, well-paid people have a cap on how much they have to pay every year. The reason for this travesty is that Social Security is really socialized retirement but it is not truthfully presented as such. People are told the money they pay into Social Security is theirs, that the government is just holding it until they get old. Everybody is hurt by this misrepresentation. Right now we put people who use drugs in jail but not the liars who are destroying the public’s image and faith in what should be the great benefit of financial security in old age. The solution is to fully socialize Social Security so only the people who need it get it, called Means Testing, pay out of General Tax receipts, and especially stop First Dollar withholding. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_37_social_security.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_37_social_security.mp3 4:05 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash social security, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 29 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy I am of the certain opinion that we at least ought to have contingency plans in case the climate changes for the worse. There is sufficient scientific evidence that the earth goes through frequent, in geological time, episodes of warming or cooling, that it is now in a warming cycle, and that the onset is being accelerated by human pollution. What to do & whether to do it & who has to do it are the real questions behind the political reality of Climate Change. The political demagoguery that we are experiencing is suspect because the people pushing for change have exhibited corrupt motivations & dubious intellectual honesty, especially at the international level. The rest of the world wants America muzzled, mostly due to reasons of envy, resentment, and socialist zeal, and if we let their apologists in America triumph, the specter of Climate Change will be the club used to beat us down.And the homegrown Climate Changers tend to be an eclectic group of people-who-know-better-n-me: there's folks who want to stop ranching, and folks against cars, and folks against single-family dwellings, and folks against ornamental yards, and folks who want to put it to business, and folks who want to open the borders to refugees, and folks who just want to redistribute American wealth... But folks who plan for the supposed coming apocalypse? Not so much.Even though I've been convinced that there will probably be substantial changes in the climate in at least parts of the U.S. during my lifetime, what do we do? First, determine what damage Climate Change is going to bring to America. Do populations need to migrate? Do pipelines need to be built? Does energy need to become self-sufficient? My informed opinion is that monitoring with adaptation as needed is the best Climate Change course of action rather than trying to predict the future, and there is the very real possibility that there is nothing we can do will stop what's coming, which also supports the "adapt" argument, rather than submitting to an overarching Climate Change World Authority. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_36_climate_change.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_36_climate_change.mp3 3:09 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash climate change, global warming, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 27 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy As a person who cares about the environment more than sport or short-term monetary gain, I consider myself a “conservationist.” That was the name applied to my beliefs when instilled as a child, and as yet hasn’t changed in meaning. The seminal guardian angel of nature in the United States was Theodore Roosevelt, a man of particular turn-of-the-last-century destiny. Not only did Teddy establish the Forest Service, and make “Conservation as a National Duty” part of his presidential platform, he actually created the political climate that allowed him to do those things by founding the Boone & Crockett Club, which was instrumental in preparing and getting conservation legislation passed. Roosevelt, as well, piqued the public's imagination through prodigious conservation writings in books and magazines. No person has had a more thorough belief in the importance of nature, its value, and its future, combined the political expertise, will-power, and perseverance to protect it, saying "conservation means not only preservation of natural resources, but the prevention of the monopoly of natural resources, so they should inhere in the people as a whole." However, there is a distinct difference between Teddy’s “conservationist” and today’s “environmentalist.” Wikipedia is the best source of the popular notion of environmentalism: “Environmentalism as a movement covers broad areas of institutional oppression.” Theodore Roosevelt's name is never mentioned. On the other hand, going to Wikipedia again, we find a definition of “conservation” that Teddy and I would agree with: “Chiefly in the United States, conservation is seen as differing from environmentalism in that it aims to preserve natural resources expressly for their continued sustainable use by humans.” And BTW, Theodore Roosevelt is prominently mentioned. That pretty much sums it up: conservationism is respectful of liberty while environmentalism is socialist claptrap. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_35_conservation_v_environmentalism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_35_conservation_v_environmentalism.mp3 3:18 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash conservationist, environmentalism, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 25 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy We are at the mercy of our environment: no water, no air, no food, no us. These particular things can all be leveraged, exploited & abused if owned by private interests, which makes the environment a socialized function, meaning the needs of the group supercede the wants of an individual. Other natural resources, the ones responsible for maintaining our computer-lifestyle, may be privately owned but they must be closely regulated by government to monitor the effects on the biosphere, from such things as mining, harvesting, pesticides, and the other social costs of procurement. Benefits cannot accure to the individual at the cost to society.On-the-other-hand, the environment is not mystical but something to benefit humans. When the debate wanders into topics like “organic,” “animal Rights” or “it's for the children,” beware self-righteous exclamations of outrage & calls for protection. People as a group aren't motivated to act by the effemeral needs & desires of somebody else's grandkids, and sanctimonious bleating about what is good for the future is nothing more than self-delusion & an attempt at control. Unfortunately, any discussion of the environment often comes up in this context. No species has a need to exist for any other reason than that humans are reassured when they do. The outdoors is not reserved for anything but humans, and other creatures are nothing more than organic robots & have no Rights nor are humans responsible to them. It's only our live-n-let-live liberal ideology & the concept of conservation that have any claim on us at all. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_34_the_environment.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-13_34_the_environment.mp3 2:34 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash government, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 23 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy One of the reasons people join a tribe is to be taken care of if they are sick or injured. Healthcare for its citizens at the national level was first introduced in 19th Century Germany, and in fact, during the early 20th Century in the United States one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Party platforms was universal healthcare. Slowly, the advanced nations of the world stumbled into universal healthcare over the next century, most after the Second World War, but America waited until recently to provide not healthcare, but health insurance, to its citizens.The distinction between healthcare & health insurance is an important one because the only people without universal healthcare in America is the Middle Class: the “poor” have it, the rich have it, public employees have it, the military & veterans have it, the elderly have it, even prisoners have it. Only wage-earners must pay monthly premiums & after a high deduction, insurance will cover the cost of catastrophic healthcare. It's more a lottery than healthcare, and makes little sense except in political terms. There were simply too many players: doctors, insurers, lawyers, administrators & entrepreneurs who are complicit in the status quo.Socializing healthcare would be the best solution, where healthcare costs are paid out of regular taxes with no insurance middle-man. This works in other countries but Americans are suspicious of socialism & prefer a Market Forces solution. However, Market Forces only work when there is an adversarial relationship among all the parties involved: workers, owners, customers, to keep each other in check. A Market solution for healthcare has not been forthcoming for the simple reason that healthcare is not a voluntary commodity: you will pay any amount of money if your son is going to lose his eye. And the knowledge required to make informed, considered choices is extraordinarily arcane, not to mention that medicine is all mixed up with mysticism, making healthcare choices highly subjective and subject to exploitation.Liability issues in healthcare are also unreasonably avaricious because of the emotions involved, and healthcare union workers use the same exploitative rhetoric. The stakes are so high and the players so entrenched that healthcare is a virtual trust, impossible to break, and also impossible to ignore. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-11_33_healthcare.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-11_33_healthcare.mp3 3:56 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash health care, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 21 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review another batch of original ideas: Unions should not be exempt from anti-monopoly laws. Public Employee unions are against the public interest. The Teachers Union puts teachers before students. “Personalized Education” options focus on the student, not the teacher. School Vouchers are the first step to education reform. Charter Schools are liberty-centric because they offer choice. Home-Schooling should be integrated into public education. Self-Paced Online learning will allow students to achieve remarkable heights of knowledge. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-11_32_even_more_new_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-11_32_even_more_new_concepts.mp3 2:00 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash education reform, vouchers, school, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 19 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Learning comes from within: students "teach" themselves, at their own rate, which is completely the opposite the concept of teachers. At some point in most people's lives there is a yearning for learning but it gets snuffed out by the inhumanity of didactic education where students are grouped by age, subject to calendar years, and sit at a desk in a common physical location pretending to listen to droning lectures. Self-paced learning, at home or in a common space, using the best interactive materials and prompted by facilitators would be best method of learning for the majority of students of all ages. With self-paced learning, they can study as short or as long as they like, whereever they like. If their home environment is not conducive to learning then they can go the public school grounds or somewhere else: no clocks, calendars, due dates, or test dates, and assessments are integrated into the lessons. It is irrational to think you have ever had a single teacher of better quality than the very best on the Internet. Self-paced learning also has low per student cost, and the savings can be alloted to students having difficulty. Teaching recent immigrants & poor children might need more help but lots of "poor" children would excel in self-paced, especially if not forced into a public school environment, and the State's requirements can be satisfied from what student's are actually interested in.All the tools are in place for public access to self-paced Internet-based learning. There are some major programs building up from MIT & elsewhere, but for now the Teacher's unions, conservative thought & political correctness are major obstacles in the way of self-pace learning. If our goal is to see the American Dream in full force, take off the binders and talented kids will burst into the stratosphere, no matter what their background is. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-11_31_self-paced_learning.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-11_31_self-paced_learning.mp3 3:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash self-paced learning, education reform, vouchers, school, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 17 Dec 2023 08:17:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Home-schooling has great potential to cure part of the education conundrum and it should be integrated into the public education system. Home-schooling also proves that teachers are not needed for learning because moms aren't credentialed teachers, they're facilitators, but their kids by-n-large, turn out just fine. Home-schooled kids are typically kindergarten to 8th grade, learn any way they want which might mean nothing formal, and often it's entirely self-paced, showing that young children are just as amenable to self-paced learning as older kids.Home-Schooling has the disadvantage that some kids will get no sex education or not do organized sports. The truly egregious examples would be the ultra-religious, Moses on a dinosaur, mysticism-before-science dogma presented as fact to a child who is extremely vulnerable to indoctrination. Still, a lot of subjects are the same, and most other home-schoolers, the ones who simply don't like public schools, just need their Tiger-Moms to know what the public goals are, and they'll make sure their kids are ready & waiting. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-10_30_home-schooling.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-10_30_home-schooling.mp3 1:58 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash home-school, education reform, vouchers, school, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 12 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy The argument for Charter Schools has lots of liberty-sounding rhetoric but it's actually an attempt to bypass the Teachers & other public employee unions. In reality, Charter Schools are no better as learning institutions than public schools because they still use the same traditional didactic teaching techniques of fixed time & place, orator & audience, with similar results. Public education proponents use this fact to point at Charter Schools and gleefully proclaim Charter Schools are a failure but they're missing the point, which is the opportunity for choice: parents & students have the choice of whether to attend a Charter School, for whatever private reasons they want. Choice is control, a very valuable human commodity indeed.Charter Schools do gain an amount of management & financial flexibility by escaping the union straight-jacket but for-profit Charter Schools leverage that flexibility to make money, and non-profit Charter Schools are overwhelmed with the same poor-performing students that overwhelm poorly-performing public schools. Also, Charter Schools often can't withstand the scrutiny attracted by the political grandstanding used to get them going. On-the-other-hand, the circle-the-wagons attitude of public schools & their School Board toadies preys on conservative fears in the local community, exploiting the reputation, respect & reverence that citizens hold for education. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-08_29_charter_schools.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-08_29_charter_schools.mp3 2:30 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash charter schools, education reform, education, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 10 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy As a society we have chosen to educate all of our children, everybody’s children, regardless of whose they are but we are failing: the current education system needs radical change. Markets respond to change by giving people a choice, and letting the optimum solutions evolve. In the education debate, “choice” is synonymous with vouchers but, unfortunately, the word “vouchers” has been poisoned to mean just another teacher droning in another school somewhere different in the city, and lots of people see vouchers as taxpayers funding private schools. The real value of Vouchers is the opportunity to completely change education as we know it, and “choice” is the first step.There are already a myriad of proven learning techniques that have evolved over the past decades: Montessori, Kaplan, Home-Schooling, Special Ed, vocational-training & Internet-based-self-paced-study are already out there, they only need to be integrated into a public framework so that public criteria & oversight are enforced. So long as a student can perform to a predefined standard, there's no reason government should demand a lot of control over how that education is provided, instead Government contracts should be written to specify educational standards & outcome then they pick bids, not based on dollars-per-student but education-per-student, so that if one technique or supplier doesn't work for your child, try another regardless of cost, your voucher is for an education: the one that works for you. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-06_28_school_vouchers.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-06_28_school_vouchers.mp3 2:32 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash education reform, vouchers, school, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 08 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Didactic education, a teacher standing in front of a room of stationary students all intent on the teacher's every word, may be exhilarating to the teacher, but the concept is from the 15th Century, back when there was only one hand-written copy of a book & only a “teacher” could read it. Times have changed, the printing press was invented, videogames & the Internet provide access for everybody to everything. We need to move beyond providing Welfare to buggy-whip makers, and drag education kicking-and-screaming into the modern era.Education has public goals but one size does not fit all, that's why we need to open it up, we need private actors providing more options. The rise of the Western World wasn't a fluke, Market Forces work, and if we let them, Market Forces can determine the proper way to educate different kinds of students. What's needed is to break education out of the hands of Teachers Unions and put it into Market-Driven alternatives that offer a wide range of choices: self-paced, Kaplan, Montessori, Home Schooling, Socratic, vocational, Internet-based, and anything else creative entrepreneurs come up with, all integrated under one set of final objectives. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-04_27_education_reform.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-04_27_education_reform.mp3 2:04 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash education reform, education, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 06 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy No public employee union can compete with the Teachers Union in notoriety, prestige & raw power. The Teachers Union is everywhere in relatively large numbers, are socially integrated into the community, and have a direct connection to every family with children and every property owner who has to pay taxes for schools. Their voter turnout guarantees every school bond levee is passed, and if it does not pass the first time, they have the clout to resubmit it over & over until the opposition simply gives up. There is no other example of cynical power like that anywhere. And, of course, the only oversight is a token School Board, where the members are usually the parents of students, and totally in the thrall of Teachers Union. No arm of public employee power is more exemplary of the abuse & exploiting of the lack of negotiating power as the Teachers Union. Just consider the fact that even though Public Employees are barred by law from striking, the Teachers Union has no scruples in doing so, and without ramifications if the do. Teachers Unions have a fiduciary responsibility to utilize their leverage to maximum potential to promote the agenda of teachers, and they do: teachers unions are about teachers.But all of that is secondary to the stranglehold Teachers unions have on learning. For education in this country to advance out of the Dark Ages we need other options besides 15th Century sophistry, but Teachers Unions fight tooth & nail against anything that doesn't center around them. Home Schooling should be integrated into the public system, and there are a plethora of innovative educating techniques just waiting to get the opportunity to prove or disprove their viability, but teachers are against any other form of education that does not include “teachers,” and even teacher-based Charter schools face tremendous opposition from Teachers unions because they are marginally subject to Negotiation, such as opposing sides, feedback via accountability, and an adversarial relationship. In that environment, teachers can prove how much they're really worth.Teaching is the focus of the didactic type of learning, where one person controls the actions of many, which is obviously the opposite of liberty. It would be wonderful if we had a choice in how we & our children are educated. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-02_26_teachers_union.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-03-02_26_teachers_union.mp3 3:39 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash unions, teachers, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.” - August 16, 1937, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the strongest union supporting president of all time.Obviously, intense & incessant lobbying overcame President Roosevelt's sage observations, and the nation is now in the seemingly inextricable grasp of public employee unions. If there is oligarchy in the U.S., the public employee unions would certainly be counted among them. They surely rank ahead of even large corporations in the public extortion racket. There's a huge difference between private sector & public employee unions, mostly to do with the lack of negotiating ability: there are no opposing party, there's no feedback mechanism, and there is no adversarial relationship because a Third Party, the taxpayer, bears the burden of the cost.Negotiation is not possible because Government is us, so who is the opposing party? The People? Elected officials? Appointed government employees? What is the feedback mechanism? Elections? Reneging on public debt? Bad press? And the contracts amount to little more than collusion against unrepresented taxpayers. What Public Employee unions call negotiation is little more than public employees debating other public employees about how much interest their retirement accounts should grow every year.Public Employee Unions have been able to exploit the special government bookkeeping to hide their true cost in outrageous unfunded future obligations, for which ultimately taxpayers will suffer the consequences. The perks are substantial: guaranteed hefty government pensions, job security, no one paying attention to what they do, and who's going to fire a public employee that is under-performing? What's the upside for the person doing the firing? No private business could participate in such a one-sided relationship because if they did, they wouldn't remain in business for long.But getting rid of Public Employee unions isn't to save money, it's to pull down the wall they've put up around education, parks, transportation projects, and every other thing they control with an iron grip. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-29_25_public_employee_unions.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-29_25_public_employee_unions.mp3 4:11 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash public employee union, unions, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 02 Dec 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Many years ago unions were created to counteract uncontested employer exploitation. Private business is Capitalism with its focus on profits, so workers united as the only defense against the employer's might, and it worked. In fact, the Trade Unions were so successful at equalizing the playing field, both in a legal sense & in the public consciousness, that private union membership has been in decline ever since, because who wants to pay dues or have another level of management if they don't have to? But have no doubt, unions will come roaring back if the pendulum shifts off center.Americans support private unions, and most private unions get a pass from me because they are in an adversarial relationship with business: sometimes I'm on their side, sometimes I'm not, but que sera sera. Employees are no less subject to the base motives of resentment, envy & control than the managers at the companies they work for, so there's no side-of-the-angels here: either management or labor can be trying to exploit the other which is understandable, and as long as the negotiations are honest attempts, it's simply part of the Market Forces that keeps America advancing.Unions are exempted from anti-monopoly laws which is a disgrace because, unfortunately, some unions, like at the ports & railroads, often seem to be trying to leverage their monopolistic advantage. People don't like monopolies, so another generation of youth end up forming negative impressions of unions because of a few unscrupulous bad actors. Also, unions often try to justify their grabs for more power by complaining about the unequal power of business, and they have a point with some of the recent Supreme Court decisions, but the solution is not to make unions stronger, imposing even more liberty burden on private citizens, instead the focus should be on reducing the power of business. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-27_24_unions.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-27_24_unions.mp3 3:27 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash unions, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 30 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review another batch of original ideas that you've probably never heard before: We have a Spend-n-Tax economy: taxes must repaid by the people who ended up with the loan money. High marginal tax rates inhibit extreme income inequality. Success in life is primarily a result of a lucktocracy. If nothing is done to stop it, wealth accumulates exponentially into the hands of the Nouveau Aristocracy. 100% Inheritance Tax gives budding entrepreneurs a chance & prevents a Nouveau Aristocracy. Negotiation requires 3 parts: opposing sides, feedback & an adversarial relationship Privatize all government services but oversight & those that only the State can perform. The 5 Socialized Government functions are defense, the environment, the law, healthcare & the social safety net. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-26_23_more_new_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-26_23_more_new_concepts.mp3 2:14 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash new concepts, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 28 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Government's function is leadership & oversight, and nothing makes people more unhappy then when Government seems to give preference to one person or group over another, therefore, by definition, Government is socialist because it must look out for the best interests of everyone. In contrast, during everyday American life, because we are a Liberty nation any question of priority always defaults to individual first. Not only were we raised with that ideology but it seems to work remarkably well in almost all circumstances, but there are a handful of activities that are important to the citizens of our nation that are best socialized, meaning the needs of the group supersede the wants of the individual.There are activities performed by government that could theoretically be privatized, but for some reason should not be. The most obvious activity socialized by government is, of course, defense. I can think of nothing more dangerous to a country's survival as a democracy than a private military. Then there are some things that simply cannot be left in private hands because the survival of all of us depend on them, like the environment. And there is the American mythology that we should all get equal opportunity, making us believe that everyone should access to & equal treatment under The Law. Healthcare is a natural monopoly because people don't have a legitimate Market Choice whether to receive it not, how much, which, when, or what. And no natural Market Forces exist to maintain a social safety net, that is almost purely a charitable function that The People of America have chosen to do, and so Government has to do itThe number of things socialized should remain small & must meet the stringent requirement of not being subject to normal market pressures. Indeed, socialism is a slippery slope because any amount of socialism encourages control-seekers to propose more. The last thing I want is confused people to use limited socialism as an excuse to decide what is best for me, therefore government expansion must be highly scrutinized, and not allowed into areas that could be performed by the private sector. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-23_22_socialized_functions.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-23_22_socialized_functions.mp3 3:25 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash socialized functions, government, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 26 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Before Teddy Roosevelt was president, he was key in the enactment of Civil Service exams and meritorious hiring of public employees. Before him State-run services were inefficient & corrupt because every time a new Party took office, they fired everyone from the old Party and hired based on patronage. Now, however, the problem is entrenched Public Employee unions. There is no way to treat government agencies like private entrepreneurship due to lack of a negotiating position. Government jobs are spectacular in their inefficiency, inertia & lack of innovation. The simplest solution is to privatize most government services, and let Government's role be one of specification & oversight. Government should only perform services like watchdog, defense & the courts.Without proper negotiation, an organization cannot balance, it will get heavier & heavier on the side of self-dealing until it collapses. The U.S. is crumbling from the inside: those who get money from Government vs. those who pay for it. Over the long term, this self-dealing is the most dangerous threat to America: just the promised but unfunded public employee retirement obligations would turn taxpayers into serfs. Let private companies negotiate with their employees with collective bargaining, and if one side beats the other too far into failure then Government simply takes the next bidder in line. Privatization is not exactly the same as a Market Forces solution because there is no profit component, instead those companies that most closely match the specified objectives can procure a contractual relationship with government. Politicians define what those objectives are but businesses implement them. The advantage is that government remains flexible: they can experiment with alternative methods for education, policing, fire protection & safety, incarceration, public transportation, licensing & maintaining public areas. Methods & people that don't work out would be replaced by ones that do. There should certainly be no janitors, food servers, gardeners, or other Market Forces-driven sector of the private economy working directly for government because government should not be involved in true Markets at all. And since the private sector's focus is the wants of the few while government's job is the needs of the many, an adversarial relationship applies, making negotiation between them possible. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-21_21_privatize_government_services.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-21_21_privatize_government_services.mp3 3:36 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash privatize, government services, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 24 Nov 2023 08:25:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Negotiation requires three things: clearly articulated opposing positions where each side gains only at the expense of the other; feedback to monitor the outcome to check for adherence & adjust as necessary; and an adversarial relationship to ensure that there is no collusion against a poorly represented Third Party.Every negotiation requires diametrically opposed sides using their leverage for maximum return, and in this way the most efficient equilibrium is maintained. For example, “Mom lets one child cut the slices from a cake and lets the other child pick which slice.”Feedback is also a requirement for stability, because no circuit is simple enough that it can run unsupervised. Adjustments are spelled out in the contract, and post hoc excuses are not allowed.There is an obvious adversarial relationship between business & customers, employers & employees, Liberty & Autocracy. And always be suspicious of any negotiations that are not subject to an adversarial relationship: Public Employee unions being the most egregious, but so-called "public-private partnerships" are next on the list, followed closely by “tax incentives” and “Affirmative Action.”Negotiators have a fiduciary responsibility to act for maximum gain for the Party they represent, but if the mechanism penalizing compromised negotiators is weak then they may prosper more from betraying their clients than suffering the consequences: School Boards, regulatory agencies & other mechanisms of pseudo-public oversight fall into this category. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-19_20_negotiation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-19_20_negotiation.mp3 2:40 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash negotiation, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 22 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy In America you have the right to accumulate as much money as you possible can during your lifetime. You can spend it as frivolously, as consumptively, or as benevolently as you want. But you do not have the right to create a fiefdom for your heirs. If your sons & daughters have the merit to rebuild on your remaining empire after you're gone then all power to them, but they’re going to have to be almost as good or lucky as you were. Redistribution of wealth through inheritance taxes is not an ethical issue, it is essential to the stable continuation of this nation. It’s a matter of economics and predictable human response, not socialist moralizing.100% inheritance tax is the answer... Well, almost, you do have a reasonable expectation to give your immediate descendants a leg up on life, part of the lucktocracy, but that number would be a conscientious amount, enough that the heir would not have to work during their lifetime if they didn't want to. And the remaining money should not to go to government, but it does need to be redistributed to make way for the next generation of entrepreneurs, so let the decedent give away all their money in relatively small chunks to whoever they want, it was their money after all. For some wealthy people, that could be random, like all graduating students from MIT get a million dollars, or everybody named after the decedent has a reason to be happy about the legacy. How many kids named “Bill Gates” do you think would be born next year if that were the case? Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-17_19_inheritance_taxes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-17_19_inheritance_taxes.mp3 2:37 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash inheritance taxes, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 20 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Every kid played Monopoly until they learned that somebody always got everything and they ended up out of the game. Real life is very similar, if the wealth is not redistributed it will accumulate in ever increasing amounts in the hands of the very few who have it. It’s a mathematical certainty that if you have a 1% advantage at a casino, eventually you’re going to own the house, but there are people in this country who are born blessed with much more than a 1% advantage. The top 1% already own almost 40% of the wealth, and since math hasn’t changed, those people, the Nouveau Aristocracy, are going to own even more in the future barring some kind of redistribution.I was propagandized from childhood to reject an aristocracy, inherited wealth & power, the establishment dynasties, but there is still a substantial portion of the population that longs after a royal line. They act as water-carriers & defenders of the Nouveau Aristocracy, and the entrenched winners protect their wealth through government capture, misdirection, inciting human disdain & secrecy. The narrative they promote is only they can actually be successful in business, and their defenders treat them like Rock Stars, defend their Nouveau Aristocracy, and claim that America's success trickles down from them. I think more like a quarter of the population would make great entrepreneurs, and perhaps 10-15% could be at the very top of success if they could get a little air. In my experience, the aspiring multimillionaires are much more committed and productive than those who have already pulled the gold ring. Just think what America’s economy would be like if 15% of the population were at the super-achiever level! Unfortunately, business is nearly a zero-sum game: the winners take it all while everyone else sucks wind. In America, Second Place is the first loser. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-15_18_nouveau_aristocracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-15_18_nouveau_aristocracy.mp3 3:03 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash aristocracy, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 18 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy One of the great American myths, perhaps the biggest of them all is, if you work hard, you can get rich. There's no sugar-coating that, it's as greed-based as it gets, and there's nothing wrong with letting natural human motives be the basis of a vibrant society, in fact, it's easier & more predictable that way, probably more efficient too. What's not right is that people want to attach a kind of reverse logic to the narrative: if you're rich, you must have worked hard. That's not only demonstrably not true in many cases but it also puts the emphasis on the wrong factor because financial success is one part capability, two parts effort & eight parts luck. There are lots-n-lots of people out there with skill & perseverance but only a tiny few get the brass ring because America is a lucktocracy more than anything else.Nobody is really too concerned about America being a lucktocracy, as long as the game ain't rigged. They want the same chance playing Lotto with their dollar as anyone else's dollar. Skill & perseverance adds to the number of tickets you can buy but people are okay with that too: no one really begrudges a couple in Philly who won a hundred million on a Daily Double, and athletes, entertainers, businessmen, prospectors, gamblers of all sorts are welcome to the American roulette wheel. We're still envious & resentful, and probably never want to see the lucky uncle ever again, but that's overcome with naive optimism, and a smug satisfaction that at least somebody won.The only problem is that people presume that someone else's lack of luck is condemnation of their work ethic, skill set, or lack of moral principles. Also luck includes being born smart, or athletic, or into a good family, or simply not getting caught when you do something stupid. No matter how good you are at something, there's a thousand other people just as good but they weren't lucky enough to get on the news, or have a catchy name, or be the flavor-of-the-week. Anyone could be replaced by someone else, it's only a matter of getting the situation right. People who are lucky need to recognize that, and people who are unlucky need to continue to hope for a change in their luck. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-13_17_lucktocracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-13_17_lucktocracy.mp3 3:05 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash lucktocracy, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 16 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Taxation is not a matter of liberty, or fairness, or principle, or class, or any philosophical babble: it is accounting. Every dime Government spends is a loan from the American people, and it needs to be paid back by the individuals who ended up with it. When Willie Sutton, a famous bandit, was asked why he robbed banks, he said, "because that's where the money is." The Poor can't pay any taxes, the Middle Class have deductions, and The Rich are coddled with magical Capital Gains welfare, so no one is paying back the money loaned to them by all the other citizens of America, which is why our National Debt is almost $20 trillion.The Reagan Tax Cuts were the biggest in history up to that time then Bush Jr passed the new largest tax cuts in history. The cuts are working great for The Rich, as demonstrated by the vast accumulation of wealth of the 0.01%. Lowered taxes also explains the astronomical increase in executive pay, sports prizes, and other highly-selective remuneration that would never have happened in bygone days when top tax rates were 90%. Executives used to forgo big salaries because they didn't want the government to get it all, and they didn't quit or work less as a result.The Rich get that way by taking a larger piece of the pie. Taxing low & middle income Americans is “regressive” taxation, because The Rich then take their larger piece. The most regressive tax of all is Social Security & Medicare, and Sales Tax is also terribly regressive. The Rich have the game rigged to accumulate wealth. “Progressive” taxation, increasing rates at higher incomes, is the best method of slowing this accumulation. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-11_16_taxes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-11_16_taxes.mp3 2:50 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash taxes, politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:45:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy There's an almost total misunderstanding of federal-level economics among the general population. Conservatives keep comparing it to home budgets, and Progressives get it mixed up with Marxism.Money is imaginary, only made possible through Government. Would you really accept pieces of paper, or worse, computer numbers, if there wasn't an enforcement mechanism? Imaginary money is why you don't have to carry chickens around, and the machinations that a government can do to stimulate an economy is why those computers even exist. From this perspective, all money is government money.I know Conservatives use the term "Tax & Spend" to deride modern economic theory: they confuse economics with how they balance their own budgets: get money, spend it; and they try to apply this misconception to a national economy, a total incomprehension, but they did almost get the name right: the correct order is actually "Spend & Tax" economics; governments SPEND money then TAX it back at the end of the year. It seems obvious that the two numbers should match.The concept of Spend & Tax economics is actually quite easy to explain:First step: Every dime spent by Government is a loan to America and it doesn't make any difference what the money is spent on. Money doesn't know who's spending it nor what it's buying.Middle step: The only two inviolable rules are: production must exceed consumption, and the cycle cannot be broken; (for example, no Trade Deficit).Final step: Every dime eventually ends up in somebody's bank account, so it's easy to identify who has to pay back the loan. The people who have the money.Spend & Tax economics is a matter of simple accounting. Sometimes classically trained economists tout complex theories that sound enticingly plausible, and spout them with such conviction we all nod our heads in numbed agreement. But no matter how these fantastic constructions justify the wealthy accumulating all the money, or the lazy consuming it at other’s expense, I always remember the fundamental truism: you can fool me but you can't fool math. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-09_15_economics.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-09_15_economics.mp3 3:19 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 12 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Let's review the 10 original ideas you have heard so far: Any question of politics can be boiled down to a simple yes or no answer. Wisdom is understanding human motivations. Naive optimism is the catalyst of human achievement. People seek control through claims of victimhood. Liberty is the primary determining factor of ideology. Democracy produces socialism if the American Dream is not maintained. There are no implicit society-wide values on individuals, only the law. No one knows better than you about what you want. Marxism reverses the responsibilities of your neighbor onto you. Science is the basis of knowledge, everything else is self-delusion and control-seeking. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-07_14_new_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-07_14_new_concepts.mp3 2:19 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 10 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Knowledge can come from facts or it can be fictional. It can derive from science which is based on facts, or mysticism which is based on nothing. Science is belief in things that can be proven while mysticism is the belief in things that can't. Viewed in the harsh light of healthy skepticism, the hold mysticism has on people seems irrational, but humans are nothing if not gullible, and they can be programmed relatively easily, as proven by the success of propaganda. Indoctrination, especially while young, is almost impossible to break, which is why something as nonsensical as religion is still so popular in America: trusted parents start telling their impressionable children that an invisible man lives in the sky, listens to their thoughts, grants their wishes, and comforts them when they die.Pop culture is also infiltrated with a litany of mystical beliefs in important fields like medicine & history. For example, quack remedies are everywhere and there was never an arc. There's also unhealthy thinking manifested as conspiracy theories, like 9/11 was committed by the Government, or the moon landing was a hoax. Deceit within the ranks of science is also common, and every supposed discovery must be tested and retested to ensure that the new knowledge is valid. View all new information with a large dose of skepticism, and only add it to your personal knowledge base when science proves it. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-05_13_science_v_mysticism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-05_13_science_v_mysticism.mp3 2:39 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 08 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Karl Marx is considered one of the most influential men of the last millennium, and obviously ideologies are separated by strong feelings, so the ideas of Marx are much maligned in the U.S., for good reason since they entirely conflict with liberty, but the interesting & often unknown fact is that Marx thought all nations must go through a stage of Capitalism to build the proper foundation before reaching his Utopian fantasy. Also interesting is that the fundamental premise of Marxism that so conflicts with liberty, “from those according to their ability, to those according to their need,” did not originate with Marx, though he popularized it and his name is synonymous with it, so we will use the term “Marxism to refer to this particularly odious belief.From those according to their ability, to those according to their need,”completely reverses the role of responsibility such that people are made responsible not for themselves, but for ot hers. A Marxist essentially believes that you suffer the consequences for other people's actions, and other people are benefited by the rewards of your own. This ideology exploits the base human motives of envy, spite, resentment & perversity. As proven in the modern day experiments in all the communist nations on the earth, it does not work because it goes against the natural human motives of avarice, vanity, pride & control upon which Market Forces economics depend. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-03_12_marxism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-03_12_marxism.mp3 2:18 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 06 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0800 Politics & Philosophy Capitalism often evokes images of OWGs rubbing their hands together, making millions without ever working a day in their life just because they had money to start with. While indeed that is the endpoint if wealth is not redistributed, a modern capitalist is actually more likely to be someone with skill, perseverance & luck that works very hard & long for the rewards they receive. That's not to say that 100 other people didn't work just as hard & long, Capitalism is still at its core a lucktocracy, but it's the lottery-like aspect of capitalism, the idea that you or your children may become rich through self-effort, that makes it so appealing to people whose ideology is liberty. As long as we all know someone who has “made it,” as long as we have one potentially successful kid or cousin, even if the numbers are small we're okay with capitalism, love it even, dream about it. Also the game can't seem to be rigged, and we all have to benefit through the axiom that “a raising tide lifts all ships” for Capitalism to maintain its place as the most efficient mechanism to create wealth. The fact that Capitalism is based on the human motivations of envy, avarice & vanity also means we're going with nature's flow.Due to the power of leverage, even with the creative disruption that Capitalism engenders, wealth accumulates, and in a purely Capitalistic society, it accumulates rather quickly. Vast accumulation of wealth inevitably becomes an aristocracy, the opposite of liberty. Other ideologies, such as socialism, recognize Capitalism for its efficiency and wealth creation capabilities, but do not like Capitalism in its pure form. And other collectivists, like Marxists, find Capitalism truly disturbing, even corrupt. One of the tactics of those who attack Capitalism is to exploit the human emotions of envy, resentment, pity & charity, but the fact remains that Capitalism is society's adrenaline. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-01_11_capitalism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-02-01_11_capitalism.mp3 3:01 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 04 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Most nations use markets: I make shoes & trade them to you for corn because that's what I want, and you want shoes. Markets work well with liberty because it's you deciding what to exchange for, from who & rather it's worth making the exchange at all. Markets depend on an adversarial relationship, each side trying to maximize their leverage for the maximum personal gain, which turns out to be a net increase for both sides or the exchange would not occur.Market economies are very efficient: goods & services go to wherever there's the best return, and additional goods become available quickly to fill any unmet need. Similarly, if some product falls out of demand, production shifts to other goods whose demand is raising, or that can be poached from less-efficient producers, so that efficiency is also ever increasing. Unfortunately, markets are easily compromised by non-marketplace leverage from government, activists, collusion, monopoly & crime.Supply & demand seems simple enough & markets certainly benefit both producers & consumers and efficiency is forced to improve: what's there not to like? Well, markets are uncompromising & brutal, if those are words that concern you. Inefficient people are abandoned even quicker than inefficient products, and some people have a lot more choices than others.In a socialist society, this conflicts with the imperative of “most good to the most people,” so there is pressure to allocate goods and resources more “fairly.” Also, markets are subject to disruption where old products & industries are displaced new ones. To minimize this tendency, the socialist “efficiency” prerogative tends towards a command economy where people-who-know-better-than-me take my shoes and give me what they think I need in a fairer, more efficient manner, according to them anyway. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-30_10_market_forces_v_command_economy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-30_10_market_forces_v_command_economy.mp3 2:57 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 02 Nov 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Kings used to rule, or the church. Laws could be arbitrary & often were with no input from the people they affected. Often the rules were said to come from God, or through God's oracle, and there is no arguing with God. America explicitly rejected the rules of kings in the Declaration of Independence, and our concept of “separation of church & state” rejects rules from God. Instead The People make their own laws through representatives in congress.Also, none of us can be strictly held to any standard other than the ones specifically worded in the law. There are no publicly enforced unwritten rules & implicit obligations, so-called morals and ethics. The words of old dead men have no power over us. We are only subject to the Rule Of Law. Minus a contract in law, no one is entitled to anything, nor can people be obligated to do anything without explicit acceptance on their part.The source of authority of all of our laws is the Constitution, which was an agreement written at a time in history when events were ripe for its emergence. The Constitution was influenced by history up until that time and it has been modified by subsequent events. If you were born here, the contract embodied by the Constitution and laws that emerge from it are implicit, meaning you, personally, didn’t agree to abide by them, but your parents did, and by remaining in America, you are subject to the rule of law too. On-the-other-hand, immigrants to this country explicitly agree to abide by the laws of the United States, in fact, they swear to it. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-28_9_rule-of-law_v_values.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-28_9_rule-of-law_v_values.mp3 2:43 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy There are myriad ways a nation could make decisions: proclamation by an authority called autocracy, a lottery, an algorithm, scripture-based theocracy and, of course, democracy. Democracy isn't necessarily the best or most efficient way of making decisions but if everyone is an island of liberty then everyone wants to have an opinion, whether they know anything about the issue or not. Hopefully, statistically, there is always enough information & integrity that a majority can come to the “best” decisions.In the perfect democracy, everyone has complete knowledge, all vote, and the side with one vote more wins. But, of course, that's not even remotely possible, so at the beginning of our nation's history we substituted something that has the aspect of democracy but establishes a special class, the representative method. Not ideal but workable if the representatives are truly representative of the people they are supposedly representing. Unfortunately, these elite people can be captured by Special Interests. Combine that with pandering, apathy & voter suppression, and democracy delivers the same results as an autocracy.Democracy also is a two-edged sword in its relationship to liberty: everybody gets to make their own decisions but they also pledge to abide by the decisions of the majority, which may actually decide to reduce the liberty of the individual. The Constitution limits how much liberty can be taken away but the Constitution paints Rights in broad strokes with lots of room for interpretation, and as the Supreme Court has demonstrated in decisions like Obamacare, the leeway can be substantial indeed. Knowing that people act in their own self-interest, the choice between envy & hope is the main support for liberty, so The American Dream, which offers a chance of a better life vs. a mediocre one, is all that keeps a democratic nation from slipping into socialism. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-26_8_democracy_v_autocracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-26_8_democracy_v_autocracy.mp3 2:57 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sun, 29 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Liberty is self-determination, and reaping the rewards & consequences of one's own actions. The United States is the only Liberty nation: its laws default to liberty, its youth is indoctrinated to liberty, liberty is a major part of the American narrative. If you were born here, our way of life seems natural and you are prepared how to think and what your reactions will be when other people exercise their own liberty. You are taught to control your envy & resentment towards those that have more than you.However, the rest of the World equates liberty with selfishness. No other nation espouses that you are responsible for yourself and no one else is responsible for you. No other nation claims that whether a person benefits or suffers is a combination of effort & luck and you keep what you kill. No other nation defaults to the wants of the individual override the needs of the many.Socialism is the opposite of liberty. Socialists believe the needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few. Since individuals cannot be trusted to decide what that is, socialists have an elite ruling body which claims to know-what-is-better-for-everyone and forces you to do as they say. They claim fairness & efficiency is enough reason to subsume your liberty. Unfortunately, complete knowledge & presience is required to make such determinations, and since complex systems like life are essentially chaos, and no one can tell the future, socialism fails to be either fair or efficient. It simply placates the base emotions of envy & resentment of its suboptimal members at the expense of its exceptional members. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-24_7_liberty_v_socialism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-24_7_liberty_v_socialism.mp3 2:41 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Fri, 27 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy To counter the litany of negative base human emotions, there is an overpowering positive one: naive optimism. Naive optimism is the most precious of human foibles because it irrationally overlooks the impossibilities of life & sees only the possibilities. It's the counterbalance to hopelessness, discouragement & depression, and the reason people continue to strive against tremendous odds. The other uplifting emotions, serenity, humor & love, come at its behest. People without naive optimism are dangerous because they have nothing to lose: to them a suicide vest seems like a good idea. Also mental illness & depression that sublimate a person's naive optimism is the most cruel disability of all.In real life, sophisticated people often exploit the optimism of the naive, in business, in sex & in politics. A wise person would play this game delicately because no one is a worse enemy than one who thinks they were lied to, and whose pride & self-respect is degraded & abused. However, for a vibrant society, naive optimism is the elixir that makes it all happen. Naive optimism only works if the possibility of success actually exists, however small. Being rewarded, even if only in the abstract, will keep naive optimism alive. I, myself, the Wyest Myn in the Wyrld, is motivated by naive optimism. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-22_6_naive_optimism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-22_6_naive_optimism.mp3 2:22 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Control is the most insidious human motivation. The fundamental goal of all people, either consciously or unconsciously, is to be in control. The simple fact is that you are the center of your universe, as are we all, and we all wish to control our universes. Any personal action fundamentally boils down to whether we gain more control, or escape the control of others. This is why, deep down, people despise any kind of authority because by definition, being managed by others is lack of control.There are three things that immediately affect our control: first, there’s social hierarchy, like government: it's something we accept but we don't like it. Then there's change: anything new has the inherent defect that it is unfamiliar, hence, unknown and threatening to our control. This is the basis of conservatism and popularity of tradition. Finally, knowledge is power, and if someone else is more knowledgeable than you, they threaten your control. No one can know everything, so we can choose to accept our lack of knowledge or we can ignore things we don't know: this is the motivation behind science denial & mysticism. Political ideologies are all about control: for example, socialists demand the individual must bear the yoke of society, while libertarians claim that society must submit to individuals first.Always there are some people eager to gain control over others. They are always testing for ways to exercise control. In fact, society has implicit rules, like courtesy, that can be leveraged to give people control. Beggars exploit courtesy, as do all the self-centered vegans, gluten-freers, allergies, and every other kind of courtesy free-rider. What those people are really doing is imposing their desires on you, they are exerting control. Similarly, claiming victimhood, historical adversity or disability is an attempt at control. Another manifestation of seeking control is to consciously be illogical & act irrationally: these people are intentionally exploiting the base reactions of those around them: pity, charity, fear & cowardliness. However, the most common method of imposing control is claiming mystical beliefs. This justification is enshrined in America's "religious freedom" mythology, which seems persuasive to inattentive, unsophisticated & in individuals lacking wisdom. If you are not vigilant, you can easily fall under the control of one of these tactics.We may verbalize some other, more socially acceptable reason for seeking control, like duty or honor or, my favorite, efficiency, but the real goal is apparent for anyone looking to see it. Personally, I have no problem with everyone owning their own universe, as long as it doesn’t affect me, which is why liberty is so appealing. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-20_5_control.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-20_5_control.mp3 4:12 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Mon, 23 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Wisdom is about people & people are the result of their motives, hence wisdom is about human motives. Everything you think you know about human feelings & motives is wrong. If you're like me, you initially learned most of what you know about the motives of people from fairy-tales & television written for entertainment, not representations of real life. In real life, people are base & self-serving, not the logical, rational & socially sophisticated icons they are portrayed in stories. Pragmatically speaking, people lie, cheat, steal & act in their own best interest, but that isn't what we are told at home, or in Sunday School, or from politicians. Nor is it socially acceptable to intimate that people's motives aren't anything but pure & honest. One thing Catholicism got right is that behind the eyes of the person you're negotiating with is envy, avarice, lust, vanity, greed & resentment. Even love is selfish and jealous. And every reaction is tinged with spite, perversity, vindictiveness & passive-aggressiveness. I'm using my wysdom credentials when making these claims. You can believe your church or your congressman or your guru, or you can keep listening to these podcasts if you want the truth. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-18_4_human_motives.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-18_4_human_motives.mp3 2:10 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Sat, 21 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy Every complex decision begins by answering the most fundamental question, one on which all subsequent answers depend. The fundamental question has a special word assigned to it, liberty: do individuals make their own decisions or are they told what to do? Your ideology derives from how you answer this question because almost all other parts of governance, society, commerce, economy & knowledge depend on it.Governance divides between democracy, where everyone gets to decide who leads us, or leaders are selected for us.In a society, are there implicit obligations on people, called morals & values, or do people choose what they will be responsible for, called rule-of-law.Commerce utilizes market-forces, individual actors making decisions for themselves, but a few times in our history there have been price controls and rationing, a top-down, command approach.The choice of economy, Capitalist vs. Marxian, decides whether the focus is on owners or workers?And is knowledge can be based on science which can be tested by anyone, or mysticism where proclamations are made & not questioned. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-17_3_ideology_mixed.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-17_3_ideology_mixed.mp3 1:51 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy The U.S. congress has an approval rating in the single digits because our representatives are often in gridlock, which leads to frustration, inaction, and inevitable public disenchantment. How is it that people who are seemingly, in a world view, so much alike but have so much difficulty coming to a conclusion? The primary blame lies on those people’s inability to objectively make decisions. In science and engineering, a programming analysis always results in an objective answer, but in subjective real-life, like politics, answers don’t have to be rational to still be logical given the true, unvoiced human motives. And sometimes, due to diametrically opposed self-interests, there is no reason to discuss the issue further until something changes: different demographics, different demagogues, different demands, before wasting anymore time & energy. Another big problem is that politicians intentionally obfuscate their goals because they know if their true intentions or allegiances were known, their treachery would be exposed. Playing 20-questions will more quickly identify their mendacity, and pinpoint where they are trying to mislead you. It won’t cure their dishonesty but it will allow us to walk away faster. Politics & Philosophy https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-17_2_decision_making_mixed.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-17_2_decision_making_mixed.mp3 1:54 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, philosophy, Martin Hash no Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 Politics & Philosophy by Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq. When I was growing up, I felt like I was only one who didn't know what was going on, everything was confusing, life seemed too complex to understand. I wanted to know. Now, after an expansive education, after multiple careers, after a lifetime of searching for wisdom, I've finally figured it out, and I've codified it, and I'm going to give the Secret-of-the-Universe to you. I'll start with the observation that it is probable that computers will one day mimic humans, and since computers only use binary logic, that proves that any decision can be derived from a series of yes-no questions, regardless how complicated or seemingly intractable the problem is. Intuitively, anybody who played 20-Questions as a kid knows that you always start with the question that eliminates the most possibilities, and each subsequent question should narrow the options more and more until there is only one possible outcome. In fact, it’s not the answers that are difficult, it’s the questions. Therefore the Secret-of-the-Universe is to determine what questions to ask, and in what order to ask them. There are no gray areas, and the answers will have the unequivocal certainty of deductive logic. These podcasts will be short, a few minutes at most, one idea at a time, each building on top of the other. Politics & Philosophy by Dr. Martin D. Hash, Esq. https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-17_1_introduction_mixed.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2016-01-17_1_introduction_mixed.mp3 2:07 Martin@Hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, philosophy, Martin Hash, humor no Sun, 15 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Advice is easy to come by but wisdom is a difficult concept: 1. There can be no rational debate if one side loses and the other side wins. 2. Blocking trolls will make your online experience much more pleasurable. 3. Live in your Calm Sphere and let everyone else live in theirs. 4. Accept your loses but remain optimistic to the end. 5. You’ll never be happy if you don’t have personal goals to satisfy. 6. Collecting is one of life’s little enjoyments that too many people don’t take advantage of. 7. Going retro can create a personality for yourself. 8. Faith in leadership has never been so low, and deservedly so. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1400_advice__wisdom_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1400_advice__wisdom_concepts.mp3 2:17 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, advice, wisdom no Fri, 13 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Faith in leadership is at an all-time historical low, primarily because most people are more comfortable with decisions they make for themselves over others that want to make decisions for them. This is especially true in a Liberty society but even in totalitarian nations, the general populace is at least sophisticated enough to know there’s no elite class that has their best interests at heart and are intelligent & prescient enough to do what’s best for everybody, whatever the propaganda says. In the past, and even now, many people have faith there is a supernatural source so that their leadership will perform admirably most of the time. Their confidence is misguided and often dangerous; oversight, accountability, and “trust but verify” attitudes are mandatory. There’s even the question of whether leadership is required at all. A bureaucratic state, with thousands of individual decision-makers, can function without a leader if the goals are clearly stipulated. To a Libertarian, this even seems like the ideal form of government, but that’s also its weakness: it’s an ideal, not reality. In the real world, people contrive, manipulate & exploit for their own best interests and the power of their group. Their goal is control of everyone, and they’ll use the bureaucratic mechanism to do that. At least with a leader, elected or not, there’s a chance that they are wise & altruistic enough to punish such overreach. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any leaders like that for a long time. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1399_faith_in_leadership.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1399_faith_in_leadership.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, leadership no Wed, 11 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Retro is usually considered to be the style you went through puberty with: the clothes, furniture, entertainment. Going retro is a good way of reliving that time, presumably you have mostly good memories from when you were a kid, just before becoming an adult with the maturity & responsibility that comes with it. If you take pride in your retromania, other people will respect & admire you for it. Not all, of course, the ones that get their value from the cost of their purse or car certainly won’t take any notice of you, but they weren’t going to anyway. Dressing retro, wearing retro jewelry & listening to music from your era is only a little step. There is also the option of decorating your dwelling appropriate to that time period. People who visit will either recognize & appreciate your style or think you’re a hipster; at worst is maybe they’ll think you’re a little eccentric, which is a good way of projecting your unique personality. The next level of retro is to have a record turntable, maybe even a VHS recorder or DVD player, and it’s become very fashionable to own old videogame consoles from your era; an Atari 2600 with games will gets lots of ohs & ahs. Another good thing about retro is that you can do it on the cheap or spend as much money as you want and nobody can tell. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1398_retro.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1398_retro.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, retro no Mon, 09 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Collecting things, whatever they may be: physical as in coins, temporal goals, or ephemeral experiences, allows people to control their lives. This leads to a sense of satisfaction which is a major component of happiness. Collecting need not be intentional, and often isn’t, but if you want to consciously use collecting as a mechanism of control, collect something that you enjoy collecting; don't make it a job. You should be entertained by your collecting when you’re engaged in it, and proud of the accumulation the rest of the time. Life is for your entertainment; if you’re entertained by collecting and take pride in it, that's a lot better than spending money & time on drinks and trendy food. Collecting things provides focus & fixation, escaping outside stress by dominating your thoughts with esoterica. It’s also a kind of sport, and just like practice, playing & winning, the resulting dopamine relieves anxiety. Collecting doesn’t have to be anything more than that but it can even be a form of investing; most "investing" is just inflation, and collectibles can do that. Unfortunately, adding this element, though adding to the satisfaction, may subtract from the relaxation. Some people become obsessive compulsive about their collecting, and that’s a warning sign of depression or perhaps a tinge of autism. Don’t worry unless it starts to affect their lives negatively. Collecting even leads to respect & admiration from others who see your collections. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1397_collecting.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-15_1397_collecting.mp3 2:29 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, collecting no Sat, 07 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor People are mostly happy; that’s how evolution made us, optimistic; those who weren’t didn’t survive, or they had no self-awareness, like animals, but when asked, people admit that things could be better. They’re not sure what the things are that would make them happy but money is certainly #1 on their list because the perception is that money can cure all ills. Contrary to what most Advice columnists say, that’s true, money is the cure to almost everything because money provides opportunity, and opportunity is one of the 2 components of liberty, and liberty makes people happy, or at least satisfied. Liberty-centric people are also wise enough to know that happiness is transitory: here now, gone later, hopefully to return, though not in the same way. What makes this analysis provocative is that money is imaginary and only has value as a mechanism of achieving your personal goals. What are your personal goals? Certainly not just the accumulation of money for bragging rights only. What about achievements like getting an education or excelling in your career? Or accomplishments like maintaining your health & traveling the world? Personal goals don’t count if they’re assigned to you by society: morals & values are not goals, egalitarianism is not personal, and recognition by your peers puts control over your life into somebody else’s hands. Certainly, Personal goals are facilitated by money, merit & luck. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1396_personal_goals.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1396_personal_goals.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, goals, happiness no Thu, 05 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor I've already accepted that American-style liberty has lost and the next step is to be like Europe. I've already accepted that if there is a backlash, it will be from the Fascists, not the defenders of liberty. I've already accepted that there's no place to run because the infection will spread from those trying to escape. I’ve already accepted that my children, and certainly my grandchildren, are highly influenced by the ideals, goals & manipulation of feminists, minorities & weirdos. I’ve already accepted that there’s no coming back in a democracy because the other side has all the institutions of indoctrination. Even though I’ve already accepted these things, there are things that I haven’t accepted. I won't accept we should do what is best-for-everyone rather than take care of ourselves. I still believe that MAGA was the best time to be alive. I still believe in the heroes of my youth: scientists & engineers that went to the moon, sincere politicians that inspired the country to do so, and religions that held the envy, resentment & insecurity at bay. I still believe in myself, and how well my own children turned out under the old regime; and I still believe I have the wisdom to know that optimism & hope must triumph for a happy & fulfilling life. So even though I’ve accepted the worst, I still wish for the best. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1395_ive_already_accepted.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1395_ive_already_accepted.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, accepted, MAGA no Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor I sometimes imagine that I’m surrounded by a transparent sphere, almost a forcefield, that protects me from the craziness, because just on the other side the world seems to be in chaos, from my perspective at least. I call it my “calm sphere,” and recommend it to my friends & family. We all have an idealized version of our life that everything would be perfect if just a few things were fixed, so except for those things, our life is calm. However, from the outside, from other people’s points-of-view, those few things, when added to the few things of everybody else, makes everything look nuts: marriages, children, jobs, politics, debt, mental illness, etc., surround us, only held out by your imaginary calm sphere. The important thing about your calm sphere is that you have to believe in it; not like make believe, but you have to know to take care of your own few problems, and don’t let anymore in. Here’s an example: you walk into a grocery store but there’s some gal in a mask wiping down her cart in the doorway, wait, wait, finally she moves enough you can sneak through, your calm sphere protects you from frustration. Inside the store, there are carts going slowly and on the wrong side that you have to maneuver around, and long lines you have to negotiate, so busy yourself inside your calm sphere looking at the magazines or reading your phone, then pay & get out as fast as you can without knocking people over. Shopping is just a metaphor for how to protect all aspects of your life by ensconcing yourself in a calm sphere. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1394_calm_sphere.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1394_calm_sphere.mp3 2:48 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, calm sphere, frustration no Sun, 01 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Blocking Whenever someone speaks up to support traditional American values, they are shouted down in every conversational sphere, mainstream media & social media. The speakers are gaslighted, brigaded, and suffer an endless stream of vituperative & insults. Any serious discussion is ruined, no chance to maintain any coherent train of thought. It is especially egregious online, where the tactic of heckler’s veto is overwhelming successful as censorship. Rights are not incontrovertible so if one side doesn’t act in good faith then neither should the other; both sides need to be playing by the same rules. Rather than being a victim to people who don’t respect free speech, censor them back via Blocking. Block people online who are rude & unreasonable, reciting talking points, name-calling, endlessly repeating the same thing; people who are impervious to logic and even facts. It’s probable that those voices are focused attacks by trolls, maybe even bots? You’ll find that you don't have to Block very many before a sincere conversation can emerge as they are eliminated. Try it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1393_blocking.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1393_blocking.mp3 2:05 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, free speech, blocking no Fri, 29 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Older people still expect arguments, especially political ones, to be between people who generally want the same thing but differ on how to achieve it, but that only works in a homogeneous society, one with optimism where envy, resentment & perversity are discouraged. All people wanted to be happy, to make something of themselves, to build a life and leave something to their families. Mental illness, insecurity & fear weren’t encouraged. Only psychopaths wanted to burn it all down. Back-in-the-day, we mixed a little socialism with a lot of Capitalism, a little authoritarianism with a lot of freedom, a little feminism with a lot of traditional family values, but in our now diverse society, there are entire groups of people who want things that are opposite of what we want. There is no mixture of Marxism and liberty, period; there is no mixture of racism and ignoring race; there is no mixture of freedom and slavery. In fact, the other side wants you dead, if for nothing else, to save the environment. They disrespect, hates & find you so contemptible that they will lie, cheat, gaslight, and celebrate when you die. There is certainly no rational debate. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1392_no_rational_debate.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-14_1392_no_rational_debate.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, debate no Wed, 27 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Everyone likes to talk about money & wealth: 1. Life Insurance is the ultimate altruism because you don’t get any benefit. 2. As the dollar devalues, real things increase in value. 3. A new reserve currency would really put pressure on the old reserve currency. 4. Money has less real value than glitter. 5. Hyperinflation is inflation’s inflation. 6. Capitalism needs people who are rich on paper. 7. It’s what’s after UBI that should make you afraid. 8. Hoarding wealth is hoarding liberty. 9. Who it is that redistributes wealth makes all the difference. 10. The Income Gap was caused by a focus on investment rather than productivity. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1391_money__wealth_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1391_money__wealth_concepts.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, money, wealth no Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor When I got married, we were both going to college while working part-time. We had a cheap car, cheap apartment, and still went to Europe for a month. Then we bought a house at 21% interest, a car, and had 3 kids who needed baby-sitting, all on the income of entry-level jobs with no help from anywhere, and both of us still going to school part time for another degree. Can't do that now. Over the decades interest rates went down to 3%, though most people didn’t notice. However, what that did was jack up the stock market, jack up housing prices, jack up car prices, jack up the price of everything that people borrow money for because they could afford to finance higher prices. At the same time, Government has been adding dramatic amounts of imaginary money into the economy, and because of the fundamentals of Capitalism, all that money has concentrated, and it's been happening for decades, such that now the gap between what used to be a normal income is so large as to create a de facto aristocracy, with a small portion of the salary pool riding high while everyone else still lives like teenagers. The solution is, unfortunately, wage inflation, which will contribute to overall inflation, but eventually regular people can buy houses & cars again, hopefully closing the income gap. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1390_income_gap.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1390_income_gap.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, income gap no Sat, 23 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It’s the distribution of wealth that makes redistributing it an imperative. If 1% of the population own a third of the real wealth, especially if they can pass it down through the generations, that’s simply an aristocracy without titles. The people who have the wealth, of course, like it like that but as history shows, if wealth distribution doesn’t somehow align with people’s expectations in benign ways, eventually it will be redistributed in violent ways. Wealth redistribution is a divisive topic because the majority of people will benefit at the minority of people’s expense. In a pure democracy, that would have already happened. Luckily for the wealthy, there are Constitutional guarantees but these are interpreted by the courts, who are aware of the people’s predilections, so the motive for redistribution is very important. The distinction between wealth redistribution as maintenance verses redistributing out of envy is a subtle one; you can tell the real motive by who’s redistributed from, and who’s redistributed to: from the Middle Class to the Rich: that’s the Conservatives; and from the Middle Class to the Poor: that’s the Progressives; and from the Rich to the Middle Class: those are Liberals; and from nobody to nobody is a Libertarian fantasy. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1389_wealth_distribution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1389_wealth_distribution.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, wealth, redistribution no Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The idea of Scrooge McDuck sitting atop a pyramid of gold is part of the American zeitgeist; nobody really asks why, it’s just assumed that’s the pinnacle of happiness. It takes too much self-awareness & introspection to determine that wealth does not equate to happiness, or even knowing if you’re happy. If there was a spiritual guide who could help you determine such things, they would say that you only need enough wealth to make you happy; after that it’s simply a hobby. The most conflicted people are the ones who say wealth would let them obtain fancy cars, homes & sex, but then choose to instead keep their wealth rather than to pursue such things. Then there are those who have dozens of cars, homes & concubines, more than they could ever use. Both groups are hoarding wealth that results in nothing. Then there’s the half of Americans who consume more than they produce, and another quarter are incompetent for one reason or another, but that still leaves 24% of Americans who are in the grind while 1% have a third of all wealth. Granted, a lot of that wealth is tied up in businesses but it’s possible that a single person could get gigantic banks loans to buy all the gold in the world, form it into a pyramid, and sit on top. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1388_hoarding_wealth.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1388_hoarding_wealth.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, hoard wealth no Tue, 19 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor I used to think the anti-tax but pro-UBI position was ironic, similar to "keep government’s hands off my social security," but my sense of humor is being crushed by self-interest, illogic & irrationality. A coming Universal Basic Income, UBI, is almost a certainty, assuming the economy lasts long enough to implement it. It already exists for a large part of society: 19% on welfare, 13% disabled, 12% on social security, and 22% are children. That leaves only a third of Americans who still work for a living. It would be awesome if people didn't have to work so that they could do something meaningful: join an ashram, chant their mantra, make the world to be a better place full of goodness & light. I personally don't know anybody who would work if they didn't have to, I wouldn't have at 18; I would have been down at the beach writing in a dairy about my great life while drinking margaritas someone else paid for. It was later on in life, with experience I was forced to endure, when I finally produced more than I consumed, and I liked it. I’m sure it’s similar for everyone else, if given a chance, no one would learn to work, nor learn to enjoy their work, meaning they wouldn’t have contributed to the design of the robots who presumably are going to be doing all the working in the future. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1387_fear_ubi.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1387_fear_ubi.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, UBI, universal basic income no Sun, 17 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Business is good for society; in fact, the most important aspect of a Liberty society is business, especially creating & running your own. Because liberty facilitates inequality, a large portion of the population who is intimidated by the success of others, even the perception that someone else is achieving something, often want to penalize the people who make them feel inadequate, most often directed at billionaires. There’s also the mistaken belief that billionaires have huge amounts of money at their personal disposal with which to pay taxes. To say a multi-billionaire’s net worth has increased by billions obscures the fact that they don’t personally get that money, it’s just imaginary. It makes sense that the imaginary-billionaire, who doesn’t actually take possession of the profit their company generates, should instead be able to reinvest it back into the company without taxation, even though it does increase their imaginary net worth, because they’re only getting richer on paper. However, if at some point the billionaire draws cash out of their company for their own gratification then tax it, and certainly redistribute the billionaire’s assets at their death so that the wealth doesn’t remain concentrated, even if it is only on paper. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1386_rich_on_paper.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-13_1386_rich_on_paper.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, rich, wealth, tax no Fri, 15 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The difference between inflation and hyperinflation is important because the former can go on indefinitely, though inconveniently, while the latter indicates the end of an economy. Hyperinflation is accelerating inflation. There’s also the smokescreen that the government uses to cover for inflation: for the past couple of decades, they show that the inflation rate has hovered around 2%, which it has for the things most people think of as everyday purchases. However, stocks have inflated tremendously because borrowing money was so cheap, but most people aren’t affected by the stock market. Big ticket items like houses & cars, have also been inflating at the same rate; now they're so expensive that people with normal incomes can't afford them. Wage inflation is required to catch up, combined with high interest rates. There are differing narratives of what causes inflation but the simplest is when there’s so much imaginary money, almost $400 trillion, but only $100 trillion of real things to buy. It’s not just a 4:1 ratio because most people who have something real aren’t going to exchange it for something imaginary, so all that money chases the few things that are for sale, resulting in hyperinflation. It still has to be triggered to start people, companies & countries into panic-buying, and in that respect, the world’s economy, America’s specifically, has been remarkably resilient against hyperinflation, so-much-so that even Lockdowns didn’t trigger it. Perhaps the war in Ukraine will be the catalyst, or the next thing that comes along, but when hyperinflation is the only solution, it eventually will be the solution. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1385_hyperinflation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1385_hyperinflation.mp3 2:53 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, inflation, hyperinflation no Wed, 13 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Money is imaginary but nobody notices; it’s an illusion, like a magic trick, based on the audience’s preconceptions of what’s going to happen. However, if you know how the trick works, it’s easy to see it happening. To get past your conditioning, every time you think about money, picture glitter in your mind: beautiful in its reflectivity, seemingly complex, it arouses your avarice. We live in the delusion that people with lots of glitter never have to work, that saving glitter is worthwhile, and that watching glitter accumulate is somehow productive. Now imagine you’re picking up a handful of the glitter, feeling its lightness, and throw it into the air to scatter in the wind, and recall that it’s money. It’s amazing that glitter has become so all-powerful! In the distant past, raiders on horseback didn’t care how much glitter a city had, only what they could carry off. A rich trader was no better slave than a peasant girl, less so even. A king could not offer glitter to the Genghis Khan and expect to live; no, it would have to be grain & horses. As time went by and there was no longer the threat of violence, glitter was able to substitute for reality, so much so that there is 100 times more glitter than things to buy, and people deal only in glitter, get wealthy from glitter, become aristocrats by inheriting glitter. Glitter is replacing reality but you can’t eat glitter. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1384_glitter.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1384_glitter.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, money no Mon, 11 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor America’s military might is formidable but that’s not what gives the United States control of the world, for that they use finances. Since money is imaginary, if two countries trade with each other, how do they transfer from one imaginary currency to the other? Behind most international money and security transfers is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, called SWIFT in the vernacular. SWIFT is the messaging network of all financial institutions. Without SWIFT, businesses can’t do business, and SWIFT is denominated in U.S. dollars. If that wasn’t enough, all Oil payments in the world are denominated in U.S. dollars. This makes the U.S. dollar the de facto world currency, the so-called reserve currency. The power of controlling the only reserve currency is immense; so big in fact, that it was the primary weapon used against Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Russia could no longer do business with the world because they were blocked out of SWIFT. It almost worked but Russia, along with other major countries that did not want to be under the thumb of fickle American political machinations, is trying to create their own reserve currency. Russia, China & India trade among themselves without SWIFT now, and Saudi Arabia has begun selling oil in other currencies. This will create a competing international banking system, which is good, because there needs to be an alternative when, for example, Canada froze the bank accounts of the truckers protesting against vaxx mandates. Government won’t be able to shut down competing voices by isolating them from money if there is a new reserve currency to go to. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1383_new_reserve_currency.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1383_new_reserve_currency.mp3 3:05 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, SWIFT, reserve currency no Sat, 09 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor America alone has printed more money in the last few years than the world has ever seen, and that’s only part of the money-printing worldwide. Milton Friedman economists used to insist that printing money was the source of inflation, and hence devaluation of the dollar, but several decades of huge deficits and zero inflation proved them wrong, the value of the U.S. dollar stayed strong. On the other side are the Modern Monetary Theorists who insist the U.S. can print itself out of any financial problem, and for the most part they’re correct because money is imaginary and most financial problems are too; it’s not like a bank going broke stops chickens laying eggs. However, there is a direct connection between money and reality: inflation is caused scarcity. If there’s need for a dozen eggs but there are only 11, the cost of the 12th egg will be whatever the richest person will spend on it. Before endless money, prices could only go up so much, but with vast amounts of concentrated imaginary money and insane wealth inequality, the price of things is immaterial and can raise stratospherically, devaluing the dollar to almost nothing, taking a wheelbarrow full just to buy a loaf of bread, just like when this happened all the other times before. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1382_dollar_devaluation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1382_dollar_devaluation.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, devaluation, scarcity no Thu, 07 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Life insurance, unlike most insurance, is guaranteed to payout. Whether Life insurance pays more than you paid into it is another question, and in the case of Term Life, if you don’t die during the term, it’s just as worthless as any other insurance. Whole Life is the one that doesn’t go away and you can borrow from it. In modern times, where men are no longer the only breadwinner, and half the women will be single & childless by 2030, which implies half the men won’t be in relationships either, Life insurance doesn’t make sense. A person’s goal shouldn’t be to enrich others after their death as some kind of virtue signal. Life insurance does have the interesting side effect of indicating death quantity anomalies; for example, after COVID vaccines began being administered en masse, there was an unpredicted increase in the deaths of young, healthy people. Why? Suicides? Overdoses? Lockdown lethargy? There are lots of possibilities suggested by those who will admit it’s even happening but any speculation it might be directly related to The Jab will get a researcher Cancelled. The most insidious & evil excuse would be for the Life insurance companies to take advantage of the hysteria by raising rates, a situation that only life insurance agent’s look forward to. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1381_life_insurance.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-12_1381_life_insurance.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, life insurance no Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review the concepts of taxes & jobs: 1. Death taxes are the only bulwark against a rising aristocracy. 2. Consumption taxes are the worst kind of taxes. 3. How will we know when an economic crash finally comes? 4. Credit Default Swaps intentionally move risk onto gamblers who don’t care who they hurt if they go broke. 5. The Robot Age always seems to be a decade away. 6. A shortened work week only sounds good if you have something else to do. 7. Internships are more nepotism than experience. 8. Being lucky is more important than being productive but being both is phenomenal. 9. Farmland determines whether a nation can support itself. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1380_taxes__jobs_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1380_taxes__jobs_concepts.mp3 2:21 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, taxes, jobs no Sun, 03 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There’s a romance about farmland that affects all parts of culture; from the organic growers to the industrial combines. There’s a wholesomeness that surrounds farmland, even when it’s commercialized, because we’re reminded of farms every time we go into a grocery store; and the beauty of fruits & vegetables also has a lot to do with it. Disconcertingly, many children have never even visited a farm, and the only farm animals they’ve ever seen were in a petting zoo. They haven’t ever seen fields of corn or wheat except on television. This disconnect between where we live and what we eat has led to the last few generations wanting to put farmland into nature conservancies to protect the environment. Farming is existential: without it, most people die; certainly civilizations fall, as they have throughout history when the rains didn’t fall, or the harvest failed. In fact, in the United States and elsewhere, farmland is considered of strategic importance which shouldn’t be subject to normal Capitalist upheaval. That’s why government maintains the resource with heavy subsidies even during times of plenty: “garmers get paid not to grow food,” comes from this phenomenon. Unfortunately, farmland requires farmers, and those are raised, not made. With less-and-less people not growing up on farms and instead becoming environmentalists, this may become a problem? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1379_farmland.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1379_farmland.mp3 2:21 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, farmland no Fri, 01 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The most productive, hard-working, intelligent guy in the world can’t produce 20 times more than another productive, hard-working, intelligent guy. Anything more than that is simply a jackpot. Jeff Bezos isn’t smarter, wiser, or more experienced than me, and he didn’t work harder or longer. In fact, I wrote a White paper in 1993 while at Microsoft, titled “Buying Blue Jeans on the Internet.” It was ignored to Microsoft’s discredit because they could have been Amazon. It was chance that Bezos got a Vulture Capitalist who recognized his concept and had endlessly deep pockets to finance the company for 20 years while losing money to discourage competition; in fact, Amazon’s the worst kind of predatory Capitalism. Bezos gets credit for the part of his success that wasn’t luck but that doesn’t make him better than a million other people who could have done the same thing given the circumstances. Some percentage of capable & productive people also get fabulously lucky, and their liberty means the rewards are theirs during their lifetime, but our understanding, respect & forbearance ends with them, not their heirs. Don’t enshrine luck into an aristocracy with unfettered inheritance. If a lucky-productive person acts nepotistic during their lifetime, that’s bad enough, taking opportunity from more meritorious candidates, but extending luck & nepotism into infinite generations is society-destroying. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1378_productivity_vs_luck.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1378_productivity_vs_luck.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Bezos, inheritance no Wed, 30 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Internships are lauded at prestigious businesses, though less common in mundane, non-elitist enterprises. It’s implied & assumed that interns are selected via merit but nepotism plays a much bigger role, and for those that aren’t connected, many of the best internships are actually paid for by the parents or someone. A lot of jobs are like that too, especially writing jobs at magazines, or some form of media or entertainment. Internships on movie sets are highly sought after and you can bet there’s money being passed under the table, that or something less savory. Such shenanigans continue after the internship is over. There is such a tremendous amount of money concentrated in the Top 1% that what their children do is totally fabricated. There are more children of wealthy people than there are prestigious jobs. In many cases a job is created especially for them, but for the richest & most nepotistic, whole companies are created and kept afloat just for the benefit of offspring, who then project control & influence far beyond anything they could do themselves. In many esoteric businesses, things only make financial sense when you find out who the people involved were related to. Internships are simply the first step to an artificial career. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1377_internship.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1377_internship.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, internship no Mon, 28 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Given that productivity, especially due to mechanization, will continue to increase, how many employees would forego part of their salary if they were able to work shorter hours? The top 20% income earners can choose to work part-time but most people have to do their 40 hours to make the mortgage & utilities, and raising a family is 2 full-time jobs. Productivity would have to be much greater than it is today for those folks to have the basics and still only work part-time but it seems inevitable that it will be. The question still remains: how many would? Some countries have mandated shortened work weeks: workers in the Netherlands work 29.5 hours per week, and several other countries are in the low 30s. How would it work? Would employers offer a salary for a job that is split among multiple employees who choose to work only part time? Many people, it seems, would want the full salary and work the entire time. Would the strategy be that they would have to be paid overtime on anything over the shortened work week, like now? That’s definitely a worker-centric attitude rather than one promoting free agency & efficiency because it means that a person who wanted to work extra hours would have to get another job, perhaps several, like they do now. Some employers want the reduced benefits costs that come from fewer employees, so that would need to be addressed; healthcare being the biggest expense. Would there be shortages? Other things may still cause shortages, such as transportation disruptions or political policies, but Americans not being able to produce enough for other Americans, even the whole world, working less hours is not one of them. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1376_shorter_work_week.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1376_shorter_work_week.mp3 2:39 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, shorter work week no Sat, 26 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There’s no problem with productivity in American, especially considering the upcoming Robot Age: robots driving cars, robots cleaning houses, robots growing & preparing food, robots doing all the clerking tasks, even robots tending children; it will be just like the science fiction stories. Robots imply less work for the same Quality-of-Life, so presumably a huge chunk of the population could live a physically satisfactory life with less expenditure of effort. This is presumably a good thing… Or is it? The question becomes: what will people do? Most people aren’t creative and even if they were trained to be passable draftsmen, art quickly becomes mundane, and anyway, robots could do it better. Most people don’t take care of their bodies, most people don’t participate in sports nor go on adventures. With the robots doing all the work, most people would simply have no role in life. There’s already an epidemic of mental illness, the Robot Age promises to increase that, but at least everyone will be well-fed and have a place to sleep, at least until they commit suicide. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1375_robot_age.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1375_robot_age.mp3 2:02 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, robots, mental illness no Thu, 24 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Credit Default Swaps, or CDSs, caused the 2008 Lehman Bros economic emergency. CDSs are one of the oft-referenced “derivatives” the financial system is so enamored with. Derivatives aren’t real investments, they’re bets on investments hiding under the guise of insurance but real insurance is a one-to-one ratio, where the payout is limited to the loss, but there can be an infinite number of CDSs issued on the same investment so the loss is multiplied a thousandfold, bankrupting the greedy bank that issued the CDSs under the intentionally naive impression that there was no risk. Of course, the salesmen who issued the CDSs and the managers who got the bonuses all get to keep their ill-gotten gains while the public absorbs the loss for Too Big To Fail institutions, and no one goes to jail. This has occurred multiple times in America’s history; the government even made the equivalent of CDSs illegal after a similar exploitation at the very end of the 19th century. Government also used to prevent banks from investing depositor’s money; government used to require banks to have high reserves; and Freddy May & Fanny Mac used to be under regulatory scrutiny, but all those safe-guards were removed by deregulation, and history predictably repeated itself in 2008, now, and will again next time. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1374_credit_default_swap.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-11_1374_credit_default_swap.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, CDS, credit default swap no Tue, 22 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The economy hasn't crashed in anyone's lifetime: 1978? 1987? 2008? Really? When the economy finally does crash, Great Depression like, the problem will be that consumption exceeds production but the Lockdowns proved we have way, way more production capacity than we need. Something really big, like energy blackouts, could slow things down, but there's no immediate evidence of that. Anyway, so what if a hipster can't get 12 varieties of avocados? That’s why all the doom & gloom predictions by the “experts” on YouTube seem so hyperbolic: we’ve been told for over a decade that 30 days from now, or by Christmas, or a year from now, the SHTF, and it never does. However, don’t be a Crash denier, it will happen. There are forces, organizations in the world, that want it to happen for their own nefarious reasons, the WEF being the most prominent example right now, exploiting the rubric of environmentalism and the existential threat of Climate Alarmism. Unfortunately, when the economic crash does hit, there won't be any competent leadership to fall back on. Every institution has been undermined: medicine, judiciary, media, business & certainly politics. Most people on the Right know of no one they would trust to take commands or advice from. Perhaps that will change; competence does tend to rise to the top in an emergency, but the decadence & dystopia of society today makes that seem less likely than other time in history. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-10_1373_economic_crash.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-10_1373_economic_crash.mp3 2:40 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, economic crash no Sun, 20 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Taxes should not be a drag on commerce, the worst being Sales tax. A Sales tax is counterproductive in 3 ways: it requires effort to collect, report & oversee; it reduces purchasing power; and it’s regressive, meaning that it essential takes from everyone and gives to the Rich. The simple fact is that a robust economy wants people to consume; that’s where jobs come from. Unfortunately, there’s an almost inexplicable contrary view that regards consumption as something to be discouraged? Nothing really explains the Consumption tax fetishers except perhaps misplaced ecopiety, envy of those consuming, or a complete lack of economic competence? The only thing the Consumption tax people get right is that they want it to be progressive: the more someone spends, the higher the tax. This positive aspect is accidental since their goal is to discourage consumption rather than redistribute wealth. A graduated tax would be progressive, meaning it redistributes wealth from the Rich to the State. However, the best argument against a progressive Consumption tax would be to imagine the accounting shenanigans it would foster. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-10_1372_consumption_taxes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-10_1372_consumption_taxes.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, consumption taxes, sale tax no Fri, 18 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Money is imaginary. It was imagined into existence & and it should be imagined away after the game’s over. Somebody who did nothing during their life but manipulate imaginary money isn’t a role-model, they aren’t people to be admired, and only need be tolerated until they’re dead. Their descendants certainly shouldn’t be made into aristocrats. Without so-called Death taxes, wealth continues to concentration into fewer and fewer hands. They have so much money they can buy everything: media, entertainment, politics; all the levers of power, because they are immune to market forces. They can own every magazine, every news outlet, every studio, thousands of square miles of land that no one else can go into or buy a part of. Until Bush Jr.’s anti-inheritance taxes, Estate taxes were 55%, and Inheritance taxes were 20%; the exclusion was only $1 million. In the grand scheme of things, government income from Death taxes was inconsequential but it did slow the arising aristocracy & insane wealth disparity, which was their intention. Detractors always mention farm families, but farming is corporate now, and anyway, farmland is specifically excluded from Death taxes, and has been for a long time, but it shouldn’t be! What makes a farmer special? Why should the landed gentry get to remain the lords? It’s not a coincidence that MAGA and Death taxes ended at the same time. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-10_1371_death_taxes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-10_1371_death_taxes.mp3 2:37 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Death taxes, inheritance taxes, no Wed, 16 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Ideology is conceptual so let’s review it: 1. The center of a circle has a lot more enemies than the middle of a line. 2. A test for Libertarianism works for Libertyists too if some questions are left out. 3. Post Modernism is the opposite of Modernism, not better than. 4. The slogan “You’ll own nothing & be happy” pretty much lets the cat out of the bag. 5. People chose the ideology that benefits them and won’t change unless the benefits change. 6. We are in the midst of ideological subversion and the only people who care are the ones doing the subverting. 7. It becomes Us vs. Them when compromise is impossible. 8. Democracy puts the Constitution in peril like nothing else. 9. National ideologies have flip-flopped and Libertyists are being forced to the other side. 10. It’s easy to define MAGA but may be impossible to get it back. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1370_ideology_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1370_ideology_concepts.mp3 2:29 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, ideology no Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor MAGA simply means Make America Great Again, and that time period is easily recognizable: from Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981 to 9-11 in 2001, 20 great years. MAGA is not Republican, it just wears that mantle since in a 2-party system, they’re the only opposition that can fight back, but establishment Republicans are almost as bad as Democrats, and NeoCons are worse. That makes MAGA essentially liberal, the Old-School kind, because that time period had a lot of liberal positions, for example: free speech, protecting jobs with tariffs, freedom of expression in universities, encouraging families with tax credits, anti-monopoly enforcement, and no one was discriminated against based on race, sex or creed because meritocracy is MAGA. During MAGA, women were in the workforce but still traditional when it came to family formation & patriarchy. Inheritance taxes were MAGA. MAGA is liberal traditionalism but going back to those idyllic times is not possible because the world has moved on. Recognizing & re-implementing traditional things to work in the new paradigm is MAGA now. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1369_maga_defined.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1369_maga_defined.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, MAGA no Sat, 12 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It’s bizarre to think that here in America we live on the side that has been co-opted by egalitarianism & collectivism, the hallmarks of Communism, and that Russia is the one with more traditional values, even more freedoms. What’s really happening, of course, is that it’s the nations that haven’t succumbed to feminism that are fighting back: that’s the determining factor, not ideology, economics or nationalism. Russia is certainly not a bastion of liberty but it’s not a hotbed of democracy either, “democracy” being a dog whistle for feminism. You would think the non-Communist sympathizers in the United States, specifically Republicans, would be the champions of liberty but they too have succumbed to feminism, which at its core is feminine superiority, which requires authoritarianism to maintain control. Establishment Republicans are also Globalists, which are the ultimate authoritarians. If the only choices are authoritarian, Russia’s Old School patriarchy is preferable, which is why people are being forced to their side. However, joining Russia is not a solution, but having the option to do so provides leverage against the Globalists and a hedge against the feminists. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1368_being_forced_to_the_other_side.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1368_being_forced_to_the_other_side.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, democracy, feminism no Thu, 10 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor America is Constitution-based, meaning it relies on a written document that specifies the things that can’t be taken away by democracy, gun rights being the most exemplary, but there are other foundational rights such as freedom of speech and personal autonomy in the form of liberty. These 3 things alone are anathema to egalitarianism and the authoritarianism it requires to be implemented. This is particularly important to feminists, minorities & weirdos who are a voting majority, and getting more so. The last thing that prevents them from taking over the United States via federal power is the Constitution, so expect that to be their focus whether they admit it or not. The new slogan of the Democrat party is "save democracy," which is code for putting the Constitution in peril. What they really mean is that they want to curtail the rights it guarantees. Since the Constitution relies on a republican form of government not to be changed by a simple plurality of cosmopolitan voters, the idea of saving democracy is to get rid of republicanism, perhaps by packing the Supreme Court, or states simply ignoring its edicts. A Constitutional Convention is the specified method of change but isn’t viable because feminists, minorities & weirdos, however numerous, don’t control a super-majority of the states… Yet. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1367_constitution_in_peril.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-04_1367_constitution_in_peril.mp3 2:17 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Constitution no Tue, 08 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Everyone sees that America has become two ideologically different countries sharing the same geographic space. There have always been differences in politics since a minute after the country was founded but people could still negotiate with each other. Not anymore. Roughly, the Left is egalitarian and the Right is liberty, and they approach problems from completely different points of reference. The reason the two sides can’t communicate, and the reason they get so frustrated, is because each seems illogical to the other. They keep repeating themselves assuming the other side didn’t listen to their argument or didn’t understand, but the other side did listen, they just weren’t convinced because their values are so opposite. The biggest one being that egalitarians don’t account for merit. The Right assumes that 2 people are equal if they get the same pay: for example, if the pay is $20/hr, and one guy works 10 hrs and another works 5, they would get $200 and $100 respectively, but egalitarians are focused on the outcome being the same, so both workers should get $150. Another fundamental difference is “inclusion.” Liberty’s goal is access to opportunity be the same for everyone, regardless of race, but the Left believes in restricting opportunity based on race until the inclusion is the same. Issue after issue is unresolvable because of this fundamental ideological difference, always resulting in us vs. them with no way to compromise. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1366_us_vs_them.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1366_us_vs_them.mp3 2:40 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, egalitarian, liberty no Sun, 06 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Marxist ideology: equality, equity & inclusion, are not a new phenomenon; these concepts were practiced around half the world in the middle of the last century, known as Communism. The reasons for its downfall are legion but those reasons have been forgotten and Communism is almost in control again though hiding under the guise of Wokeness & Climate Alarmism. Communism, in whatever form, cannot become the dominate paradigm unless the liberal Western ideologies, those coming from the Enlightenment era, are subverted. Rather than argue the issues honestly, because egalitarian ideas fail in a practical analysis, instead they subvert the existing ones, such as liberty, freedom & democracy, with linguistic tricks & oral illusions. Ideological Subversion is the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of the populace, and Communist-thinkers are very experienced with the practice & techniques involved. During the struggle between the East and the West in the last century, the former head of the Soviet KGB, comrade Andropov, called ideological subversion, “the final struggle for the minds and hearts of the people” He outlined a strategy of demoralization & destabilization of the West, and though the Soviet Union fell before he could realize his intentions, this century would have made him proud. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1365_ideological_subversion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1365_ideological_subversion.mp3 2:27 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Communism, subversion no Fri, 04 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor People don’t want a new ideology when theirs fails. The same triggers that make them a Marxist: envy, resentment, inadequacy, are still there, so they blame the implementation: “Marxism has never really been tried,” is their excuse. They really have no other option; to admit defeat would be to question their ideology, the one they hope will increase their wealth & status, and be forced to adopt one that leaves them alone, destitute & a loser. If the only way to increase one’s position in life is to force other people to act in a way that does that, then their only hope is force. Same thing with Fascists: they’re not going to back off their feudalistic ideas just because the majority of the population are left out: “a rising tide lifts all boats,” they parrot. The “entitlement” that Marxists are so resentful of is this grasp on opportunity, resources, connections and special knowledge that nepotism provides, and they use force to keep it. However, there is one circumstance where people will change their ideology, and it used to be a lot more common back-in-the-day when there was more social & economic mobility, and that’s when their own rising best-interests are compromised by their old ideology while being benefited from the new one. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1364_no_one_switches_ideologies.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1364_no_one_switches_ideologies.mp3 2:11 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, ideology no Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor By this time, anybody who cares has heard the refrain from the WEF consortium of “you’ll own nothing & you’ll be happy.” It sounds appalling & abhorrent to Americans but Europe had an aristocracy for centuries, and that’s normal to them. In fact, the Scandinavian nations have the biggest wealth disparity in the world because only a small handful of people own everything even though the rest of their people are relatively well off. For example, in much of Eastern Europe, all the land is owned by the oligarchs: all the houses & apartments that they purchased way over market value but they don’t care because they have so much money and never intend to sell. They rent the properties to the regular people for cheap so no one complains except that they can’t afford to own anything themselves. The problem with vast amounts of imaginary money, many times more that all the real things there are to buy, is that it overwhelms traditional market forces: the wealth is so concentrated that the tiny amount of people who control it can buy everything, and they are. This is how “You’ll own nothing and be happy” is actually implemented. Of course, they pass all this wealth to their heirs, establishing a Nouveau Aristocracy. Fascists like it this way because they strive for concentrated private ownership, and Marxists like the idea too, with the only difference being The State owns everything. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1363_youll_own_nothing__youll_be_happy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1363_youll_own_nothing__youll_be_happy.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, WEF no Mon, 31 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Though definitions are fluid, especially in philosophic circles, "Modernism" came from the Enlightenment, and is defined by what used to be called liberal tenets, though now the word “liberal” has been vilified by the very people who follow them. Linguistically, “Post Modernism” is what came next. It’s purpose was to undermine modernity by being in opposition to notions of certainty of knowledge and the stability of meaning, and emphasizes the role of ideology in maintaining systems of sociopolitical power. Its current embodiment, globalist organizations such as the World Economic Forum, has expanded to wanting control of economic power too. This has attracted NeoCons to Post Modernism’s ranks, uniting the Left and the Right, making it extremely difficult to stop. Post Modernism can be identified by the subversion of existing norms & values, an elitist political class, and the assumption that what other people think should control your life. Its newest manifestation is Wokeism. Obviously, our society has become decidedly Post Modern, and it’s not a new phenomenon because it was implemented in the last century as Communism, whose tenets resoundingly failed, but memory across generations is called history, and people today are resistant to learning it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1362_post_modernism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1362_post_modernism.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Modernism, Post Modernism no Sat, 29 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It seems like any so-called “Libertarian test” can determine everyone’s a libertarian except Commies but there are a number of common questions: • Do you agree with the concept of “To Big To Fail”? • Do you believe in licenses? • Do you support the Gig Economy? • Do you think there are too many people incarcerated? • Do you support the FDA? • Should the U.S. get involved in foreign conflicts? • Should government have the ability to censor the Internet? • Should marijuana be legal? • Should law enforcement have access to private information on your computer? What’s not asked is “Do you believe a private business should be able to force all of their employees to get the vaxx?” because a true libertarian would say it’s a private business so they can do what they want, they’re Fascists, believers in private authoritarianism, so even though all the other questions show you may believe in liberty, personal autonomy & free will, you’re not a Libertarian if you disagree with the concentration of wealth & inherited aristocracies. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1361_libertarian_test.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-03_1361_libertarian_test.mp3 2:10 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash no Thu, 27 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Since the metaphors of Right and Left are so common in political parlance, many people who claim to be neither naturally say they’re in the middle, whatever that means. When asked, people point out the worst attributes of the extremes and deny being part of that, but they still maintain the same metaphor of there being a linear spectrum that somehow passes through them: pro-guns but pro-abortion, pro-mandates but anti-taxes, goes to church but believes in evolution, etc. Because the mix & matches are infinite, the middle is undefinable, and there is no political party that represents them. Another way of identifying one’s political self is by joining the “center.” The center’s metaphor is a circle and has only one ideological dichotomy: at the center is personal autonomy, making choices for yourself, surrounded all around by authoritarianism, people telling you what to do. We're individuals in the center of the circle surrounded by Marxists, Socialists, Fascists, Theists, even Libertarians are de facto authoritarians because their beliefs end up supporting Fascism. There aren’t a lot of people at the center, probably because there's not a lot of room to stand. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1360_middle_vs_center.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1360_middle_vs_center.mp3 2:17 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, political spectrum, the center no Tue, 25 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The concept of Fascism has changed: 1. Socialism ostracizes the individual to pursue the needs of the collective. 2. Communism lasts until their society fails. 3. The true Right are as authoritarian as the Left. 4. Republicans don’t admit they’re Fascists like Democrats don’t admit they’re Communists. 5. “The Great Reset” is Marxism’s new slogan. 6. Nepotism is in integral part of Fascism, otherwise how could private elites maintain their authority. 7. Recriminations are coming after the vaxx. 8. Environmentalism & Wokeness are State religions. 9. A lot of people have apocalyptic fantasies, and it’s up to the rest of us to defeat them. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1359_fascism_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1359_fascism_concepts.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Fascism no Sun, 23 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There’s a definite shift in society’s perception of itself, from optimism to pessimism. It’s the result of too much success, and other societies in the past have purportedly suffered the same symptoms. It’s caused when a significant portion of people become resentful, morose & perverse, want to bring the whole thing down, and the rest don’t care. It began when the institutions were overrun with feminists, minorities & weirdos, while men, white men in particular, were demonized and male children neutered emotionally and even physically. Jordan Peterson has said it’s too late now for humanity, citing “apocalyptic fantasies.” Others have called it a “death cult” or "mass suicide pact." Look at the popularity of End-of-the-world stories. Consider the Leftist refrain: “Let it all burn.” And there’s an acceptance that billions of people need to die, probably of contrived starvation, so that the world may be saved. Climate Alarmism is the instrument of our death; people have been conditioned to think nothing is more important than the earth so they will sacrifice themselves, their families, and much of modernity on that virtuous alter. If destruction of mankind is the goal, the side of optimism really is fighting against ultimate evil. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1358_apocalyptic_fantasies.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1358_apocalyptic_fantasies.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, apocalypse no Fri, 21 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor One of the fundamental aspects of the American experiment, even though it wasn’t explicit, was no State religion. It may seem odd to modern minds but that concept was revolutionary for its time; even today there are still countries with state religions, like Islam, which is essentially forced on everyone with multiple times per day Call to Prayer, Muslim tenets enshrined in their laws, and ostracization of nonbelievers. Everybody has a concept of what a religion is, and something doesn’t have to include the rituals & dogma to be one. In fact, there are religions with no religiosity, atheism being a case in point. There are movements that have all the component parts of a religion but aren’t generally referred to as such; the biggest examples today being environmentalism, whose tenets are wrapped up in Climate Alarmism, and Wokeness, a religion based on current racism justified by past racism. The adherence to both of these modern state religions is alarming, and seems unquestioned by most of the population. Through the public education system, the state literally imposes, even compels, belief. In the case of Climate Alarmism, they claim it’s science-based but suppress any scientific theories or investigations that conflict with the narrative. Wokeness is even more evil; it’s an attempt to exploit the courtesy, compassion & sense of guilt of everyday, socially-compliant citizens to advantage an elite class, the very antithesis of the American experiment, and perhaps its end? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1357_forced_religion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1357_forced_religion.mp3 2:35 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, state religion, environmentalism, Wokeness no Wed, 19 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The 2 absolutely damning vaxx facts are that overall deaths with COVID did not exceed projections without COVID; in fact, there’s a new concern referred to as “excess deaths” that is an actual increase in non-COVID related deaths. The second disturbing fact is that one of the 5 coroner-designated causes of death, “undetermined,” has gone from last place to near the top, #1 in some cases. It’s so bad that the CDC, which has become a clown show, now designates healthy people, usually young, who die for no reason as “Unknown Cause of Death,” and the WHO calls it “Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.” Both of these terms sound like satire, if not downright mocking, and are intentionally vague with no intention to explain because anyone with any kind of deductive reasoning ability can see the connection with the vaxx mandates. It gets worse: there’s evidence emerging that the mRNA spike proteins which are responsible for the dramatically increased myocarditis in young men are being integrating into liver cell DNA, and even being passed in breast milk. Everybody who got vaxxed, especially those who were coerced into it, should be mad as hell because their life is now threatened forever. Who's responsible for this travesty? Is it the MSM? NIH? CDC? WHO? Dr. Fauci? 75% of all ad revenue for broadcast television is from BigPharma: that’d be the first place to look, especially when you learn their mark-up for the vaxx is over 10,000% to private health insurers. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1356_after_the_vaxx.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-02_1356_after_the_vaxx.mp3 2:58 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, COVID, vaxx, vaccination mandates no Mon, 17 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Fascism is authoritarianism by private interests, usually in concert with government. Corporations are the faceless manifestation of Fascism: get this untested vaxx or be fired, live by our morals or be fired, basically, do as we say or be fired. However, behind every corporation are people whose main goal is to continue their legacy because that’s the driving force of evolution. It takes little contemplation to understand that one of the defining components of Fascism is nepotism, preferential treatment of people related in some way: blood, jobs, opportunities, experiences, and of course, inheritance. Meritocracy, the essence of liberty, plays only a secondary role. An interesting observation of Fascists is if their uncle lines them up for a primo job but another better-connected guy gets it, they just shrug their shoulders, best nepotism wins; but if some dude from nowhere gets the job because they’re better qualified, Fascists can’t stand that. Liberty is simply not compatible with Fascism. It used to be that liberty was the purview of liberals but the meaning of “liberal” has morphed into Leftism, which is public authoritarianism: do as we say or get killed for the good of everyone. Leftists put egalitarianism & bureaucracy over meritocracy, and are even more antithetical to liberty than the nepotistic Fascists. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-01_1355_fascism_includes_nepotism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-01_1355_fascism_includes_nepotism.mp3 2:39 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, nepotism, Fascism no Sat, 15 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Whether there is a great conspiracy to control the world gets new traction every few decades. The last time was “The New World Order” proposed by then-president Bush Sr. By that, it turned out he meant Globalism, but it was just the start. The U.S. used its hegemonic power to create the conditions, political & business environments needed for Globalism to develop, and it did quite successfully; it’s no coincidence that MAGA occurred during that time period. However, as all things have, there were unintended consequences. Having centralized control was vulnerable to who had the control. This sets the stage for the emergence of the World Economic Forum and its exploitation of environmentalism to get control of the world, whose plan is called “The Great Reset,” and whose slogan is, “you will own nothing and be happy.” This sounds eerily familiar to past revolutions such as The Cultural Revolution or The Great Leap Forward, both egalitarian based, just like environmentalism is. In fact, the similarities are so strong we could look to those revolutions as models & predictors of what is to come, meaning 10s of millions, maybe billions of deaths, mostly through famine but also through direct sentencing by sanctimonious, virtue-enriched acolytes of the new democracy-based religions of Wokeness & Climate Change. These people who profess so much empathy will inevitable show, as exhibited in the slogan of the egalitarian Khmer Rouge: “to destroy you is no loss, to preserve you is no gain,” which destroyed a quarter of its population under the banner of “what’s best for everyone.” politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-01_1354_the_great_reset.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-01_1354_the_great_reset.mp3 2:59 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, WEF, The Great Reset no Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Fascism is authoritarianism by private elites, usually corporations, overseen by government, who by definition must also be Fascists; therefore, establishment Republicans proved they were Fascists when they didn’t pushback, often even encouraged, forced vaccination mandates. Their easy capitulation is partly a natural consequence of a conservative belief in religion because theocracy is authoritarianism by private elites who purport to talk to God. It seems that all of the constituents of the establishment Republican party are Fascists, even the MAGA wing are probably Fascists but MAGAists outside the Republican party still focus on personal autonomy & freedom. In a voting situation, if the choice is between public-elites authoritarianism that bases advancement on inherit physical attributes like skin color or sex, or private-elites authoritarianism where nepotism is the only path to advancement, why would anyone change their mind? It all comes down to the number of votes each side can muster. The socialist Democrats have feminists, minorities & weirdos, and the Fascist Republicans have old white guys, and some of their families. Right now, the socialists have the numbers but the Fascists are having the kids, with MAGA being the wildcard. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-01_1353_republicans_are_fascists.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-12-01_1353_republicans_are_fascists.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Republicans, Fascists, MAGA no Tue, 11 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The political dichotomy of Left vs. Right has become so confused that the labels are almost useless. Even Nazis, traditionally considered the Right, are difficult to place on the scale because the closest thing to Nazis in practice are the Progressives on the Far Left. Yet there are still 2 relatively the same size voting blocks that each call the other side “Left” & “Right.” If the true Left are Marxist-leaning, Fascists/Progressives then what is the true Right? The definition of true Right could be derived through observing who benefits the most then going from there, which would indicate that the true Far Right are the ultra-wealthy. It doesn’t make any difference what their ideology may be, the fact is that they intend and actually promulgate their retention of power to themselves and their families. It’s not just the wealthy, nepotism and cronyism on the true Right has reached unprecedented proportions in America, and that’s where they get their voting numbers. Concentrated wealth in America is literally off the charts but the true Right claim those are good things because they deserve it. The true Right hate Teddy Roosevelt for bringing down the Robber Barons. The people on the true Right believe they are superior, and the true Right agrees that aristocracy is not such a bad thing. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-30_1352_the_true_right.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-30_1352_the_true_right.mp3 2:21 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, politics, far right no Sun, 09 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Communism differs slightly from Marxism because the latter is a theory and the former tries to implement it in practice. People don’t work against their self-interest unless forced to so Communism requires authoritarianism; a police state that includes turning friends & neighbors into informers & snitches. Marxism’s primary tenet, “from each according to their ability to each according to their need,” divides the population exactly in half, so in the short term, half the people will benefit from Communism while the other half will be at their disposal. Due to momentum, coercion & intimidation, this situation can continue for at least one generation but as the productive members of society retire & die, those coming up have no lingering habits to be any more motivated than they absolutely have to be; in fact, the perverse incentive of the situation is to be on the receiving end of redistribution. Children that have been raised under these auspices can be somewhat indoctrinated to work hard but there will be no highly-ambitious, no effort spared, 24/7 workaholics that Capitalist societies create. Communism can only last until everything deteriorates so much that the vast majority of people can clearly see it’s in their best self-interest to stop, which is about 3 generations. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-30_1351_how_long_can_communism_last.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-30_1351_how_long_can_communism_last.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Communism no Fri, 07 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Everybody makes choices that benefit their own self-interest, regardless of whatever explicit or implicit virtue they may be signaling. People who prefer socialism are the ones who would directly benefit from forced sharing. There are others who prefer socialism due to some kind of masochism, self-loathing or guilt. Defining exactly what socialism is, however, has become problematic; apparently the people who would prefer it want it to be what they personally imagine it to be. In fact, over the years, the Wikipedia definition has changed a number of times: recently, it said: "There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them, though social ownership is the common element shared by its various forms." But even that distinction is not universal because Western European-style socialism doesn’t include so-called “social ownership.” In it’s most fundamental form, socialism is the needs of the group supersede the wants of the individual, the opposite of American-style liberty. Die-hard socialists don’t recognize that definition because they think it’s evil; they don’t condone a society based on personal autonomy, and aren’t shy about condemning it. Therefore, Socialists only want to debate about society’s goals after settling on the needs of the group come first. Freedom-centric societies, on the other hand, can adopt socialist, group-first policies when in pursuit of liberty; after all, government itself is based on doing what’s best for everybody. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-30_1350_what_is_socialism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-30_1350_what_is_socialism.mp3 2:34 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, socialism no Wed, 05 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The concept of liberty needs to be reviewed: 1. Liberty = Freedom X Opportunity 2. It’s difficult to say which states are more or less free but some are worse than others. 3. There’s an archetype for the enemies of liberty. 4. It’s always time for liberty. 5. The next civil war will be Equality vs. Liberty. 6. There doesn’t seem to be many liberty true-believers around? 7. Liberty can be defined by what it’s not. 8. The U.S. has squandered its influence abroad. 9. Kneeling during National Anthem is virtueless virtue signaling. 10. If no one’s mind is changed, it’s only a Pyrrhic victory. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1349_liberty_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1349_liberty_concepts.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Mon, 03 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor YouTubers, as well-qualified, insightful & informed they may be, have to come up with a show every day, or at least every week, so they tend to repeat themselves. Plus, the algorithm that shows suggestions in your feed picks similar things. After a while, all the stories sound the same, especially if there’s something you’re anticipating, like the end of the world, or society’s return to traditional values. Unfortunately, after a while of hearing how “this will change everything,” yet nothing ever changes, you become skeptical and then cynical that anything has truly changed at all: the people in control are still in control, the banks are still being bailed out, and women still ignore 80% of men on dating apps. The wins are not made-up: they did find the evidence that Biden was elected fraudulently, the data does show the vaccine is worse than the COVID, Russia is winning the war in Ukraine, but these are Pyrrhic victories because the vast majority of people never change their mind nor admit they were wrong. No one will accept that feminists, minorities & weirdos are the enemy even though they see the correlation on the news every night. How effective is the truth if only few dozen misfit guys on the Internet will even acknowledge it? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1348_pyrrhic_victory.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1348_pyrrhic_victory.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, news no Sat, 01 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Many people in America are self-loathing, especially White women, but young people in general. This is a result of a sense of inadequacy, feeling inferior inside but wanting to signal virtue & significance on the outside. Because most of the real social problems in America were solved at least a generation ago, coming up with ways to demonstrate false bravado is becoming increasing extreme & radical, often based on false narratives with questionable motives, and kneeling during the National Anthem is the most hapless. Kneelers mostly kneel because of peer pressure but they do need a talking point for their parents & themselves, so they defend their actions by claiming Free Speech. They use the false equivalency of letting Nazis talk is the same as kneeling, but Nazis aren't talking at somebody else's expense while exploiting society's courtesy. People aren’t forced to listen to Nazis; they didn’t pay to see Nazis, they can choose not to see Nazis, but they are forced to see kneelers. Personally, I’d rather the kneelers moon the audience; at least that shows some true commitment. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1347_kneeling_during_national_anthem.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1347_kneeling_during_national_anthem.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, kneeling no Thu, 29 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor For more than half a century, the United States was the world’s undisputed leader. Mostly through diplomacy but often under threat, what the U.S. wanted, the U.S. got, and no country was willing to say otherwise, and the one that did, the Soviet Union, was completely crushed for doing so. But things have changed: America is no longer king of the hill. This decline in gratitude, trust & influence has been increasing since the U.S. involvement in Iraq, and a series of increasingly bizarre social & political changes. For example, more than half the world has refused to be coerced by the U.S. into Russia sanctions. In fact, the BRICS block has become an economic competitor to end-run the Reserve currency status of the dollar. The Solomon Islands have barred U.S. warships but allow Chinese ones. Africa is in the Chinese orbit. South Americans follow Chinese news, and these are just the surface cracks; underneath, the rest of the world gleefully anticipates America’s demise. The U.S. lost its world status by becoming the opposite of what they were. It’s dystopian now and other countries can see it, especially how feminists have limited sex for men and destroyed traditional families. Muslim nations aren’t going to side with the West; they’ll want traditional Patriarchy. China is racist so Wokeism repels them. Ironically, Russia is regaining its Soviet Union-level influence & leadership while the U.S. is becoming the Communist menace. It’s a role-reversal but neither side champions liberty this time. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1346_us_influence_abroad.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1346_us_influence_abroad.mp3 2:49 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, U.S. influence, foreign affairs no Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Because it’s not taught in school anymore, there’s a lot of confusion about what liberty is? It’s gotten to the point where saying what liberty isn’t might be the best way to explain it. People often confuse freedom for liberty; anarchy is absolute freedom but that’s not liberty: liberty isn’t chaos & disobedience. Feminism isn’t liberty: women aren’t equal to men but their liberty is the same. There’s no liberty in preferential hiring nor nepotism: liberty is merit-based. Unbankruptable Student loans aren’t liberty: liberty isn’t drowning in worthless degrees. Victimhood certainly isn’t liberty: life is unfair, liberty would be using the advantages you have to their fullest. And Government isn’t liberty; it’s primary goal is to increase liberty, and if it fails at that, it’s illegitimate. Liberty is making decisions for yourself and accepting the consequences. It’s a combination of freedom & opportunity. Do you have the opportunity to start your own business? Do you have the freedoms that would make it easy? Liberty is the ability to buy your own home, drive your own car, raise your children as you see fit. Liberty lets you think what you want, say what you want, do what you want up to the point where you’re affecting the liberty of others. Interestingly, even though other people aren’t liberty, without them you wouldn’t have any. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1345_thats_not_liberty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1345_thats_not_liberty.mp3 2:35 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Sun, 25 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Not long ago, 2 decades perhaps, politics was dominated by men: Republican men were Fascists, meaning they were dominated by authoritarian corporate interests, and Democrat men fought against them for more liberty, tinged with authoritarian-leaning socialist ideas, but then as women took over the Democrat party, it became just as authoritarian, to the point of the battle being the private elites vs. the public elites, and liberty’s really not part of the dialog. This happened because democracy became the primary imperative, and democracy reflects people’s immediate interests rather than what’s best over the long term. The fact is, liberty only indirectly benefits everyone, and only a minority of people benefit directly, certainly not enough to win elections. In the past, students chanted about liberty in the Pledge of Allegiance and had to memorize the Preamble of the Constitution that codifies liberty as America’s primary goal, but where do children learn about it today? Now liberty is conflated with freedom, and freedom is defined as being able to do whatever you want with no regard to responsibility, and low expectations of achievement. Anarchists & nihilists of every kind have plenty of liberty by that definition, which forces Old School libertyists to watch from the sidelines as the authoritarians battle it out among themselves. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1344_does_anyone_really_believe_in_liberty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-29_1344_does_anyone_really_believe_in_liberty.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Fri, 23 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Violence, specifically civil war, is almost guaranteed in America. Neither side, equality vs. liberty, is going to settle for less than their ideology, and both would prefer the world burn rather than the other side win. Since equality is inimical to liberty, they are essentially mutually exclusive, zero-sum gain, whatever one side wins the other side loses. In a political sense, it's Egalitarianism verses Constitutionalism, with one side following the Communist credo of "from each according to their ability to each according to their need," and liberty is protected by a guaranteed list of personal rights that cannot be infringed by democracy. Unfortunately, equalists want to use democracy to curtail the Constitution and could get the majority needed to do so. We’re probably in the civil war now: it's feminists, minorities & weirdos, FMWs, against The Patriarchy. The FMWs have almost all the levers of power which they obtained through democratic means, while The Patriarchy has testosterone and everything that brings with it. Their weakness is that wives control their husband's vote. The one bright note is that since so many men & women are going their own way, fewer women have 2 votes. Also, FMWs tend to cull themselves from the gene pool but in the interim, if they win, Communism will be back with all the death & desperation it entails. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1343_equality_vs__liberty_war.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1343_equality_vs__liberty_war.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, egalitarian, Constitutionalism no Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor At the time of America’s adoption of liberty, the rest of the world was an aristocracy, which begs the question: when & what are the requirements for liberty? Do people have to be male? When America was founded, that’s how it was, and whites were by far the ethnicity of voters but since owning land was the actual requirement, other races were at least ostensibly included. How much credit do we give those factors for the existence of liberty? Maybe it was the funny wigs? Maybe the funny clothes or the funny way they talked & wrote? It’s impossible to say exactly, but seemingly, the way you get liberty is when a bunch of like-minded men, because men are ambitious, aggressive & violent, are given guns and told they can direct their own lives if they fight for it. It wasn't a handful of privileged Elites firing back at the British, it was little plot farmers who didn't even have enough to eat; they wouldn't have been there without the liberty dream. These men, with some notable women, were more hungry to make decisions for themselves and reap the rewards of their own actions. They weren’t even the majority, most colonials either still supported the crown or were ambivalent towards the revolution. The reason we have to know this is that America needs these ingredients again to reinvigorate liberty. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1342_when_liberty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1342_when_liberty.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Mon, 19 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Identifying feminists, minorities & weirdos as liberty’s enemy and that their motives are resentment, envy & malevolence expressed as vengeance, spite & perversity, still doesn’t let you pick one out of a crowd, though the blue hair often gives it away. Another way is to describe our antagonists by stereotype: archetypally speaking, they have no mate, will not procreate, embrace the concept of communal living, and feel superior to everyone who doesn’t accept the imperative of Climate Alarmism, their existential threat du jour, a Trojan Horse filled with Marxists. They are the opposite of science, exploration & discovery, having no goals nor ambitions that liberty people would recognize as valid. We used to dismiss these people as an aberration but they are deadly serious, and seemingly in the majority; plus they have control of our educational system, media & society in general. If not you personally, they want your type dead if you don’t join them, thinking that would also be good for the planet. They wrap themselves in the rhetoric of democracy, calling anything that threatens their ambitions as a “threat to democracy,” and any attempt to pushback as some kind of ism. With this detailed description, maybe now you’ll be able to identify the enemy. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1341_the_enemy_archetype.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1341_the_enemy_archetype.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Sat, 17 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Cato Institute, named after “Cato’s letters,” written in the 1700s that expressed the ideas of Libertarianism. is a think tank for policy debates, and is an important counterweight to the collectivist narratives that purport to rank ideas like “freedom” from their egalitarian povs. Cato did a ranking of the U.S. states by personal freedoms. They use 3 metrics: fiscal, personal & regulatory. For example, Hawaii is #49 overall, not in a good way: they’re #50 fiscally, #46 for personal freedom, and #45 for regulations; a ranking which hasn’t changed since 2016. Of course, California is #48 and New York is #50; it’s easy to see the theme of this rating: the more Democrat, the more Leftist, those states scrape the bottom of the barrel for personal freedom. My own state, Washington, even without an income tax and criminal justice polices being among the best in the nation, is a lowly #39 and feels that way. Cato recommends strict budget restrictions, protecting property rights, and support home-schooling. You’d think those would be easy things to accomplish? When I moved here in 1980, it was much more freedom-oriented but has gradually succumbed to feminism, the scourge of liberty. However, our bordering state, only a few miles from me, is Oregon, #46 on the list: there’s a reason they call this the Left Coast. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1340_state_freedom_ranking.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1340_state_freedom_ranking.mp3 2:54 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, freedom ranking, freedom no Thu, 15 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor A Liberty society doesn’t even pretend to make claims of omniscience; it simply relies on the theory of Emergent Order, like birds flying in a coordinated flock without any central guidance. Liberty works as an ideology because the innumerable interactions of people, places, times & things cannot be calculated beforehand but can self-determine into at least a momentary and ever-changing equilibrium, a beautiful, complicated & intricate dance that is indeed a special snowflake in that no instant can be exactly repeated. This strategy of letting liberty solve our problems for us requires that we have as much as possible. Luckily, liberty can be objectively measured to see how public policies are affecting it. Specifically, liberty equals freedom times opportunity. Knowing that Marxism restricts freedom and Fascism restricts opportunity, we should watch for signs of the emergence of those two ideologies. For example, concentration of wealth is a measurement of Fascism, and equality is a measurement of Marxism, and both foster a sense of elite authoritarianism, where somebody is telling others what to do. The most liberty, of course, is obtained when the most people have as much as they can get and leave everyone else alone to do the same. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1339_measuring_liberty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-28_1339_measuring_liberty.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Tue, 13 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Nothing is more divisive than discussing guns & abortion with SJWs: 1. Fact-Checkers can be Fact-Liars because who checks? 2. The new town square has to be virtual because nobody goes outside anymore. 3. How did it happen that the most legitimate news sources are now in somebody’s basement? 4. People are learning to mistrust & fear the new Yellow Journalism. 5. There are serious examples of why democracy doesn’t work but luckily it can work. 6. The phrase “threat to democracy” is a dog whistle for threat to feminism. 7. Irish democracy hopefully doesn’t just work for the Irish. 8. The secret’s out of how Biden’s election was rigged. 9. Tech feudalism is a thing because anyone with power wants to be a lord. 10. If the Internet goes down so does the world. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1338_news__democracy_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1338_news__democracy_concepts.mp3 2:27 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, democracy, news no Sun, 11 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor To say the world’s population is subject to the fluctuation of energy is well understood, many battles have been fought about it, but imagine what it will be like if the Internet goes down due to war or catastrophe? That would be true disruption; virtually everything is connected via the Internet nowadays, intentionally so. Remember the decade past “Internet of Things,” well that happened though not in the refrigerator tells you you’re out of eggs kind of way; more like all security systems, store purchases and getting where you’re going. Worse, if the Internet goes down for even a short while, there’s at least 2 generations that won’t be able to function; they’ll shamble around like zombies not knowing what to do next since they’re so addicted to social media and multi-player videogames. Right now, when you look around, half of the people you see are looking at their phones, and the other half will be shortly; 4 minutes is the average time between checking. This addiction is the worst ever; nothing has changed the mental development of a population so much, and their dependence upon it: people would go without food in exchange for data service. You can be certain that in the next world conflict, the first thing the enemy will try to do is take out our Internet; not only will it shut down commerce & production, but it will debilitate the populace into stunned ineffectiveness. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1337_if_the_internet_goes_down.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1337_if_the_internet_goes_down.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Internet, data service no Fri, 09 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Tech giants: Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc., make money by encouraging colonization of their dataspace by settlers & entrepreneurs then taxing them or exploiting them in some way, often by mining for their personal habits. Unfortunately, like feudal lords, if Tech doesn't like an immigrant, they can simply banish them, regardless of their investment in time & money. The similarity with the robber barons of America’s past is eerie and mired in politics; no one in government seems to want to do anything about it. Back then, labor unions were established as a countermeasure, but there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent online. The supporters of Fascist Tech’s most common refrains are, “it’s a private business,” and “you can build your own,” but obstacles are set up to circumvent already existing regulations and to prevent competition they don’t like. The biggest reason this tyranny has been allowed is that it serves the goals of whoever it is that sets the national & worldwide narratives: want a war in Ukraine, or coup a president, or eliminate yourselves of a troublesome Middle Class, there is no better mechanism than to monopolize access to information. Censorship, misinformation & ostracization have always been the most effective tools of authoritarians, and many of the Tech aristocracy want their own fiefdoms. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1336_tech_feudalism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1336_tech_feudalism.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Tech, censorship no Wed, 07 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor When Trump became president in 2016, he did so through the Electoral College rather than the popular vote. He won by taking the previously Democrat-leaning states of WI, MI, PA & GA. By all statistical indications, ignoring falsified polling, he was on track to do it again but then while comfortably ahead in all of these states, the vote counting was inexplicably stopped, and we all woke up in the morning to find that Biden had made a miraculous comeback to win the presidency by just enough votes in each of the swing states to assure his victory but not so much as make the fraud too obvious. The MSM and Big Tech then censored any investigation and dismissed those outraged as conspiracists. The question wasn’t if but only how was it done? The documentary film, “2000 Mules,” decisively solved that mystery. The scam uses real mail-in ballots, it's the controls that insure the ballot validity that they exploit: sloppily monitored drop boxes, no supervision of who actually marks the ballots, and the so-called "mules" who take them to the drop boxes. The tactic is called “ballot harvesting” and is illegal in those swing states. They picked the largest Democrat county in each and stuffed the drop boxes. That's why those places had 99:1 Biden mail-in voting and counting stopped early, so they could figure out how many fraudulent votes were needed. It didn't make any difference what that number was, they had an unlimited supply. It didn't make any difference what else was happening: the Hunter's laptop news would have made no impact. The fact that Republicans are silent about "2000 Mules" implies it'll happen again. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1335_how_bidens_election_was_rigged.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1335_how_bidens_election_was_rigged.mp3 2:54 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, 2000 Mules, fraudulent 2020 no Mon, 05 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor During the long years that Ireland was under the boot of the British Empire, it didn’t have the means for a full-fledged revolution like what happened in America under similar circumstances, so they had to resort to what is now called “Irish democracy,” an ironic term because it’s actually the forsaking of the veneer of democracy imposed by a tyrannical elite who hide behind the concept of democracy. Irish democracy is not an organized conspiracy, though it is a conspiracy of everyone who participates in silent resistance, withdrawal & truculence against an oppressive regime, rules, or ideology. It forsakes the usual trappings of revolution: no marches, no outrage, no rioting mobs, just simple pervasive passive disobedience & resistance. There are several instances today that require the adoption of Irish democracy, the biggest & most obvious being draconian COVID restrictions, mandates & lockdowns. The powers that be certainly would have kept up the charade indefinitely except for widespread apathy & resistance. Wokism is still a challenge, and certainly a threat to liberty and the American way of life, that seemingly only Irish democracy can get rid of. However, Climate Alarmism is the most pernicious threat since it has co-opted the youth for several generations; there just may not be the breath of nonsupport that Irish democracy requires to be successful. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1334_irish_democracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-27_1334_irish_democracy.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Irish democracy no Sat, 03 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Left is enamored with the word “democracy.” I used to think it was because democracy is their greatest weapon but the ubiquitous use of the word has gotten me thinking it’s a stand-in for egalitarianism, and by extension, feminism. When they say “threat to democracy,” they mean anything that slows their quest for equality, or in reality, superiority, because they don’t seem to care about equality in labor-intensive work, only white-collar & prestigious jobs. It’s not about voting at all except as a way to achieve their goals: if the majority goes against them, that’s a threat to democracy; Trump is a threat to democracy; populism is a threat to democracy; what they mean is it’s a threat to feminism. Authoritarian countries like China and the former Soviet Union are big on democracy too because democracy is a big part of Communism: the U.S.S.R. had 97% turnout, and China has over 90% turn-out for their elections; in fact, voting is mandatory there. Democracy-advocates conveniently forget about those sterling examples of fully-embraced democracy, or dismiss them as shams, but how are their shamlections any different than the 2020 presidential Shamlection in the Unites States? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1333_democracy__feminism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1333_democracy__feminism.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, democracy, feminism, egalitarianism no Thu, 01 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Democracy doesn't work and anybody who thinks it does is deluded. Our Republic at least has the Constitution laying out the ground rules but look at the total tools who get elected; it's a complete joke all the way down to school board level. This condemnation is often blamed on our 2-Party system which makes a voter declare their party before voting in the Primaries, leaving only the most extreme candidates. Mail-in and Top-2 voting is being tried in a number of states but the results haven’t been any better. Even the much-heralded Ranked-Choice Voting got a try but its flaws became starkly visible in an Alaskan election when Republicans didn’t put a 2nd choice on their ballots. The fundamentals of democracy are dangerous, only a step above mob rule. By-in-large, people aren’t thoughtful & discerning, they’re vengeful & perverse; they aren’t informed & egalitarian, they’re ignorant & selfish. Most aren’t even self-aware, and the ones that run for office are exactly who shouldn’t be: they’re vain & controlling, many are narcissistic. With all this working against democracy, it’s actually quite remarkable that it’s worked out this long. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1332_democracy_doesnt_work.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1332_democracy_doesnt_work.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, democracy no Tue, 30 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Up until the mid-Twentieth century, "Yellow Journalism" was unabashedly partisan news. In the 1940s, Edward R. Murrow, a renown broadcast journalist and head of CBS News, made news unbiased; schools were even named after him for that contribution. News mostly remained that way until British newspaper mogul, Rupert Murdoch, founded Fox News in 1996 and essentially brought back Yellow Journalism. Granted, it wasn’t as blatant as times past but it was extremely profitable so enticed the straight-arrow news outlets to follow suit, especially the cable-based networks, and their biases weren’t as circumspect: full Yellow Journalism is again predominate. People watched Fox News because they had a perspective that was being ignored by the other news sources. Its success was bold & encouraging but frightening & embarrassing at the same time; its average viewer is a 68-yo male, which makes the cutesy female anchors a kind of perverted sex fantasy. Fox News was taken over by Murdoch’s Left-leaning son, James, in 2019 which aliened loyal Right-leaning viewers who remained only to watch the immensely popular Tucker Carlson. There’s still real news out there but you have to watch independent-creators on YouTube to find it. Young people have learned this, which has resulted in pseudo-journalists with an iPhone drawing more viewers than establishment news shows. The encouraging but embarrassing nature of news continues. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1331_fear_yellow_journalism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1331_fear_yellow_journalism.mp3 2:39 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, news, Yellow Journalism no Sun, 28 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The news media has become thoroughly left-biased, a combination of Leftist corporation boards and Lefty-proclivity of the people who work in the news industry. Now all sources deliver a common narrative, rather it be conspiracies, insurrections, wars, pandemics, etc. There are essentially no right-wing news sources in the mainstream. Though Fox News is often pointed out, it only delivers a different flavor of the same narrative: Sean Hannity and Mark Levin are straight-up NeoCons who only differ from NeoLiberals by party affiliation. However, Tucker Carlson is so popular he could run for president but his reluctance to support Trump, and by extension, MAGA, has left him in the unmoored middle-ground, which for a purportedly unbiased newscaster is probably a good thing. Conservatives, who tend to be older, have no leaders and no legitimate news source to hear them even if they did because they don’t access the mainly online alternative news. Unfortunately, the most popular of those don’t stray too far from the status quo either: Ben Shapiro, Scott Adams & Tim Pool still won’t say the 2020 presidential election was a fraud even though they’ve all presumably seen “2000 Mules,” so either they’re stupid, not really pulling for MAGA, or they stick to the mainstream narrative so as to not get deplatformed. As strange as it may seem, the least-biased, most adept news coverage comes from a smattering of small groups & individuals on YouTube & other social media platforms. These people are true experts at gathering, distilling & disseminating information on a daily basis. They may not be legitimate news sources in the traditional sense but they sure provide legitimate news. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1330_legitimate_news_source.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1330_legitimate_news_source.mp3 2:53 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, news, legitimate no Fri, 26 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Whether it’s good for the country or not, the social media app, Twitter, has become the virtual town square. Unfortunately, at first Twitter had a hard Left bias and censored opposition voices, including the former president of the United States, which distorted civic dialog and sowed civil discontent rather than alleviating it. There are laws that should have prevented Twitter from that kind of distortion but they were not enforced for political reasons. Free Speech got the reputation it has because until now, America has been able to maintain a dialog among widely disparate ideologies. Collectivism, the antithesis of liberty, was mostly held at bay because the arguments against it was so overwhelming. However, when those debates were censored, the natural attractiveness of altruistic ideas was not counteracted by facts and history. Elon Musk recognized Twitter is too important to society to be promoting a one-sided agenda and changed it to neutral, but how long will that last? Twitter can remain privately owned, as can all the social media platforms, if their protected 230 status was simply revoked. This would make them susceptible to lawsuits and prosecution for any editorializing or censorship they do, hopefully dampening their censorious proclivities. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1329_virtual_town_square.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1329_virtual_town_square.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Twitter, Virtual Town Square no Wed, 24 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor We’ve always mistrusted politicians so when so-called “fact checkers” appeared on the scene, it was appropriate, even a relief, to have somewhere to go to find the truth of the situation. Fact-checking urban myths had been a thing for some time and had been remarkably informative & entertaining. They entered the political arena with a lot of public good will, that’s why it took so long to determine that instead of being accurate & unbiased, they instead supported the political narrative of the Left. For example, during the provenly fraudulent Russian-Collision investigation, Republicans were judged liars 7 times as much as Democrats. Trump was obviously targeted with too many misrepresentations to count. In the case of fact-checkers, it’s informative to follow the money: FactCheck.org is funded by the Annenberg Foundation, a public policy institute tied to Democrats; Fact Checker is a subsidiary of the Washington Post, that paragon of Democrat talking points; and PolitiFact.com is a consortium of Left-leaning newspapers. Private, previously benign, urban legend debunkers like Snopes & TruthOrFiction have gotten into untrustworthy fact-checking, extending their werewolf siting experience into public policy. Even Wikipedia has gotten into the game; a once admirable attempt at democratizing information that has succumbed to the weakness of democracy: mob rule. It’s gotten to the point where the public trusts the fact-checkers the same as they trust politicians. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1328_fact-checkers.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-26_1328_fact-checkers.mp3 2:47 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, fact-checkers no Mon, 22 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Nothing is more divisive than discussing guns & abortion with SJWs: 1. Gun-grabbers mostly do it for how it makes their opponents feel. 2. Preventing the mentally ill from owning guns depends on the definition. 3. The NRA has been corrupted but there’s no one to take their place. 4. Abortion has become a weighing of mother’s vs. child’s liberty. 5. Abortion is now surrounded by more confusion than ever. 6. Without society, the bigger dog usually wins. 7. Inclusivity is state-implemented egalitarianism. 8. Saturday morning cartoons were the impetus for the Woke religion. 9. ESG is the manifestation of the WEF’s goals. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1327_guns__abortion__sjws_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1327_guns__abortion__sjws_concepts.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, guns, abortion, SJW no Sat, 20 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor A cancer has infected corporate America, ESG initiatives, supposedly to improve Environment, Social, and Government. It spread amazingly quickly and has crept into even small companies. There are many followers of the Woke religion but not enough to explain ESGs quick ascension. Journeyman hedge fund manager, Vivek Ramaswamy, says it all started with the massive hedge funds BlackRock, the largest equity investor in the world, and Vanguard, who between them control over $15 trillion in assets, 70% of the U.S.A.’s GDP. It's they who insist ESG be installed into the companies they invest in. The problem with having so much imaginary money in the world, all of it concentrated in just a few hands, is that they own everything so they control the Boards of everything, so if they want Wokeness or SJW religions, or ESG, they just say so. Worse, it’s the wives of billionaires doing it: Zuckerberg’s wife was behind the Shamlection, Job’s widow is behind BLM, Bezo’s ex-wife is behind the Washington Post, and Lori Fink, wife of BlackRock’s CEO, is the ESG propagator. It seems too conspiratorial to think the WEF ties them all together, but wouldn’t that be a deliciously simple answer to who exactly the enemy is and what they want. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1326_esg.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1326_esg.mp3 2:41 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, ESG no Thu, 18 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Though higher education is often blamed for the rise in Wokeism, those students who are converted were already primed. Movies from the 1990s often used “White Supremacists” as their antagonists, always very generic with no nuance nor anything but stereotypical, clearly evil motivations. Even cartoons cast older white men in the role of badguy. We liked those shows at the time and saw nothing wrong but in retrospect, they were the harbinger. The stage was being set for Wokeness but we were blissfully unaware of being conditioned. That was the beginning of the Wokeness trope, that white males are the problem and without them, there wouldn’t be any, at least to juvenile minds, especially girls, since it was almost always men who were cast as the enemy. After a while only white characters, usually with snow white hair, were the visual representation. Those children became the Millennials, the first wave of Wokers. What is happening now for new generations to be setup to hate twenty years from now? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1325_how_did_wokeness_start.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1325_how_did_wokeness_start.mp3 2:07 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, woke, wokeness no Tue, 16 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Meritocracy is one of the defining features of a liberty society, where people make decisions for themselves and reap their rewards, and there will be a natural stratification of certain groups over others due to many factors. Mature, self-aware people will recognize the foundational strength of this ideology, and accept their place in it but the vast majority of people are neither mature nor self-aware; in fact, they border on narcissism, putting their feelings before facts. This has led them to a new paradigm where merit is suppressed in the name of “inclusivity.” That one multi-syllable word represents a complete overturning of existing culture, customs & traditions, not only for Americans but all the peoples throughout the world. It’s the idea that society has to ensure that whatever benefits & opportunities are there must be afforded to all its members regardless of competency or inclination. No one must be left behind or excluded due to differences, whatever they may be, instead everyone is accorded the same as everyone else and treated the same way, which is a manifestation of egalitarianism. Of course, justification of this concept is the old socialist refrain, “for the benefit of everyone,” but the reality is that it only benefits the artificially included. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1324_inclusivity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-25_1324_inclusivity.mp3 2:21 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, inclusive, inclusivity no Sun, 14 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Humanity's basic instinct is that bigger dog wins. We try and suppress that in the youth so that societies can form, otherwise the strongest will always prevail in the short term at the expense of future possibilities. Luckily, stronger people were convinced, mostly through indoctrination, to surrender their strength and with further indoctrination, they even became enlightened to personal autonomy, the ideal of liberty, which for some is the pinnacle of human social achievement. All would seem good, except that an even larger number of people, a plurality even, view liberty as the opposite of the social ideal. Egalitarians are under the false premise that everyone is equal and should be treated equally but that's contrary to reality where bigger dog wins. Rather than accept this fact, egalitarians instead try to become the bigger dog themselves by usurping the power that the big dogs surrendered to live without big dogism. The circumstance may have changed but the big dogs are still winning. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-24_1323_bigger_dog_wins.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-24_1323_bigger_dog_wins.mp3 2:03 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, big dog no Fri, 12 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The fact that abortion has been determined not to be a Constitutional right hasn’t solved any of the issues surrounding it. First off, since each state, presumably, gets to make its own definition for the beginning of life; can a person under the jurisdiction of one state be held accountable to the laws of another? Secondly, abortion is a feminist issue in a gynocentric society where “father's rights” are a forbidden topic: that needs to be addressed. Half of all abortions are to black women: explain that. Women who terminate their pregnancy during the first 2 months by taking the drug, RU486, should not be called “abortion,” and the states that make abortion illegal should remove RU486 from the prescription schedule. And finally, does not being able to politically determine the definition of “woman” affect abortion? There’s also a lot of propaganda & conditioning that needs to be undone. For example, the reality is that children are amazingly resilient, and mostly unaffected by the circumstances of their birth; and contrary to the perception of “unwanted” children, the exact opposite is true, there’s a shortage of adoptable babies. Most concerning is finding out how much of the stigma against pregnancy is ecopiety virtue signaling. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-24_1322_abortion_confusion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-24_1322_abortion_confusion.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, abortion no Wed, 10 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Morals are not an argument against abortion because morals impinge on personal autonomy which is a more important standard, so the argument against abortion needs to be a liberty-based one. Half a century ago the argument would have been different; at the time of Roe, children out of wedlock stigmatized the mother, state assistance for children was stingy, orphanages were suspect, birth control was rare, incubators were new, and there wasn't anything like the “Morning After” drug or RU486, the abortion drug. In the measurement of mother's liberty vs. child's liberty, as in minors law today, the adult took precedence, but the world has changed dramatically in those respects such that now the child's liberty overrides the hardship imposed on the birthmother, at least after RU486 is no longer an option. The only examples of justifiable abortion in this analysis would be a severe genetic flawed fetus that would never be able to exercise their liberty, or extreme danger to the mother whose liberty would be taken from her. Liberty allows people to select their own ideology depending on their local customs, culture & traditions, and the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that each state can decide for themselves based on those. Even then, considering the ease of travel, social media appeals, online charity, etc., if one state outlaws abortion, the expectant mother can go to another that does, despite the liberty of the child. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-24_1321_abortion_vs_liberty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-24_1321_abortion_vs_liberty.mp3 2:34 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, abortion no Mon, 08 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The NRA, the National Rifle Association, a non-profit organization, has been a political lightning rod for several decades. It was founded two centuries ago as a way to encourage marksmanship & gun safety but in modern times it’s been a political advocate for the Second Amendment, boasting 5 million members. Their power to sway legislation and keep gun-grabbers at bay has encouraged a loyal following, justifiably so, but as all good things tend to do, the power corrupted absolutely. Long time NRA CEO Waynne LaPierre, who started with a modest salary, now earns from $1 to $5 million per year. During the same time he has cut spending on firearms training and frozen pension benefits for employees. The famous Iran-Contra figure, Oliver North, was made president of the board of the NRA, and in 2019, supported by the NRA’s public relations firm, began making inquires into apparent financial mismanagement & conflict of interest allegations by LaPierre. For example, personal clothing & travel expenses of over half a million dollars. There were also $24 million in legal bills. For his concern, North was ousted. Under intense pressure, LaPierre & his cronies tried to declare bankruptcy in NY and move to TX but the ruse failed. Hopefully, honest hands will someday again assume control of the NRA. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-22_1320_nra.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-22_1320_nra.mp3 2:46 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, NRA, guns no Sat, 06 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Most mass gun killings in the U.S. are committed by people who are diagnosably mentally ill so why isn’t the focus on them? Checking for a history of mental illness would be the most obvious background check but gun-grabbers want to take guns from everyone rather than put mentally ill people on a registry. However, the argument against it is a good one: the Right To Privacy; but that’s an implied right constructed in a flimsy but important U.S. Supreme Court ruling, while the Right To Bear Arms is an enumerated right so should easily take precedence. As for implementation, the Second Amendment is unequivocal, making no mention about who should be barred from owning a gun. Even if some court somewhere did make a prohibition against the mentally ill, how would it be determined? Especially when the definition is so fluid: what was considered odd just a couple generations ago is now considered autistic, and there’s no reason that autistic people should be denied their Constitutional Rights. Even schizophrenic people are “normal” when they’re on their meds. It’s no more justified to bar the mentally ill from owning guns than it is to bar anyone. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-22_1319_mentally_ill_owning_guns.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-22_1319_mentally_ill_owning_guns.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, guns, mentally ill no Thu, 04 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Gun-grabbers have no evidence that restrictive gun laws would have any effect on gun violence, as evidenced by the violent places that have such restrictions; no, it’s simply a case of one side wanting to force their beliefs onto the other. The reason that the arguments for gun control seem so vacuous & illogical is because gun confiscation debate is disenginuous. By-in-large, Lefties are people who are weaklings & cowards, but democracy allows them to be bullies, and their best revenge is to take away what they think their tormentors value, which is guns. So gun-grabbers have two motivations: (1) to irritate & ankle-bite the people who they hold a grudge against, and (2) to disarm those who would use guns against such tyranny. Gun-grabbers are perturbed that they can’t get their way via democracy because Gun Rights are Constitutional, not some whimsical thing like drinking alcohol or getting a driver's license. However, these are the same kind of people that had alcohol made illegal via the Constitution so it’s not like they don’t have a mechanism to confiscate guns, it’s just a drastic one. But even the alcohol ban was eventually repealed after the violence of turning half the nation into scofflaws got worse than the drunkards. Turning gun-owners into criminals will result in a much worse outcome. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-22_1318_gun-grabbers.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-22_1318_gun-grabbers.mp3 2:38 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, gun control no Tue, 02 May 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review some politics: 1. Democratic Multiculturalism is incompatible with a Constitutional Republic. 2. Is the Leftist takeover of America just in the cities or is it the same everywhere? 3. Election audits unequivocally show the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. 4. It’s apropos that the worst president ever was fraudulently elected. 5. Does there need to be a test to be called a Republican? 6. So-called “Liberals” are now in opposition to the tenets of liberalism. 7. Belief in Original Sin will indicate a person’s politics. 8. It’s informative to know who the NeoCons are. 9. Intersectionality is Marxism by another name. 10. Affirmative Action sowed the seeds of America’s failure. 11. Reverse racism is more real than racism. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1317_politics_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1317_politics_concepts.mp3 2:29 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, politics no Sun, 30 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor For whatever reason, even though I've lived in places with diverse makeups, I've never had a racial confrontation nor even witnessed one. When I was a kid, I thought the racists on TV were somewhere far away, fantasy places. In reality, I didn't think racism, the kind that results in actual discrimination, existed even after I entered the workforce as an adult. But times have changed and now I have seen racism and it does exist... Against white people: straight males in particular. The true racists are the BLM types that demonize & discriminate against whites, even so far as to bar them from job applications, which is not the same thing as preferential hiring. The “we apologize, we’ll do better” solution for racism isn’t enough for the racists, who want white people to also experience racism. Not only that, they want white people to offer reparations for past racism, and even more so, they want better opportunities than whites have going into the future. The solution to racism, they say, is more racism. As illogical as that seems, reverse racism is the only option America is offered right now. If these race hustlers hadn't have gotten involved, racism, actual discrimination of people based on the color of their skin, would be gone. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1316_reverse_racism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1316_reverse_racism.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, racism, reverse racism no Fri, 28 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor After 70 years of Affirmative Action, the preferential hiring of minorities, blacks in particular, whatever good it was going to do has stagnated; in fact, it has created the culture of Victimhood & Government Dependence; worse, it has established a Grievance Industry and all the vested interests that implies. Jews were able to establish themselves as high achievers even multiple generations downstream of their ambitious immigrant ancestors, and still do for the most part; and many of the descendants of Asians will follow the path of their ambitious immigrant parents: it's cultural, not racial. Affirmative Action was a crock and a failure at its intended purpose, but what it actually did was infiltrate people who despised what America is, labeling it “White Supremacy,” and coordinating together to destroy America from the inside. All of these people who were inserted into the power structure were united together due to the color of their skin rather than the content of their character, and work in concert to make that the model of all hiring, abandoning meritocracy. America planted the seeds of its own destruction under the rubric of egalitarianism, which were given water & sunlight by the guilt of white women. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1315_affimative_action.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1315_affimative_action.mp3 2:19 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Affirmative Action no Wed, 26 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Often you can tell the bs level of an ideology from the words used: for example, intersectionality is defined as “a feministsociologicalmethodology (all one word) of studying the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of socialrelationships (one word) and subject formations.” Obviously, it takes a specialist to decipher what that’s supposed to mean, which is exactly what they want. If anyone takes the bait and assumes that gobbledygook is an honest attempt at explaining something important, an expert in intersectionality will swoop in and take control of the narrative because they’re the only ones who know the language. In a nutshell, Intersectionality is Communism. Intesectionalists vilify the concept of privilege. They claim that things could be equal if the privileged people would just give up their privileges: forcefully if not voluntarily. Take from one and give to the other according to the inequality; not just money, goods or housing, but the redistribution of all things: jobs, careers, lives. Intersectionality has its own power hierarchy: a short, fat, black, homosexual female deserves reparations from a tall, thin, white, straight male; and he is morally obligated to provide them to her. However, Transism, the concept that anybody can claim they’re anything at any time it’s profitable to do so, has thrown a wrench into the Intersectionality grift machine. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1314_intersectionality.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-20_1314_intersectionality.mp3 2:44 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, intersectionality no Mon, 24 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The terms “NeoCon” and “NeoLiberal” differ only whether it’s corporate authoritarianism vs. state authoritarians, both typically foreign interventionists. In fact, many early Republican NeoCons were transplants from the Democrat Party. For a better understanding, it helps to know who is considered a NeoCon: Max Boot, Fred Barnes, Paul Bremer, David Brooks, Newt Gingrich, Henry Kissinger, Charles Krauthammer, “Scooter” Libby, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Novak, Karl Rove, Richard Scaife, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Liz Chaney, Dick Chaney, George H. W. Bush & George W. Bush. There’s actually a NeoCon club, with a magazine, “The Weekly Standard,” and membership in the “Project for the New American Century:” Francis Fukuyama, Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, Richard Perle, Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz & Donald Rumsfeld. Another thing all these people have in common is Never-Trumpism, exemplified by “The Lincoln Project,” self-proclaimed Republicans that promote & vote for Democrats. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-18_1313_who_are_the_neocons.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-18_1313_who_are_the_neocons.mp3 2:18 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, NeoCon, NeoLiberal no Sat, 22 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Original Sin is the Catholic idea that babies are born evil and must accept Jesus Christ as their savior, which means to follow Christ's example to overcome their evil ways so that they can be allowed into the Kingdom of Heaven. It sounds mystical but that's because it's viewed through the lens of religion rather than as symbolic of how people actually act. In reality, without indoctrination, people default to sins of envy, resentment, greed, avarice, selfishness, malevolence, spite & perversity. Conservatives believe society should attempt to overcome those predilections, always on the precipice of failure. However, that understanding is directly opposite the beliefs of egalitarians who insist people are born good, only to be dragged down by the negative-expectations of conservatives. In fact, the Left goes so far as to blame the Right as evil for doing this. For their part, the Right believes the Left is naive, and can be convinced of the reality of human nature if just presented with enough evidence. The Left then views the procurement of that evidence as reinforcing the evil. There’s no compromise when it comes to Original Sin. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-18_1312_original_sin.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-18_1312_original_sin.mp3 2:10 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, sin, Original Sin no Thu, 20 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Enlightenment defined the tenets of liberalism: innocent until proven guilty, freedom of speech, ownership of land, sons are not responsible for the sins of their father, equality under the law, responsibility for your own actions, religious tolerance, self-determination, no caste system, meritocracy, science & empiricism, no racial discrimination, public education, rule of law, free markets, rehabilitation of criminals, and democracy. Both political parties in the U.S. used to champion liberalism, they only differed on the implementation, but now NeoCons have devolved into Fascism, and Democrats into Marxism. If anything, we are now the opposite of liberal tenets: men are assumed to be rapists, online censorship & heckler’s veto, real estate is being accumulated by corporations, reparations are demanded for the deeds of past generations, courts act out of ideology & lawfare is used against political opposition, blame-mongering, environmentalism is the State religion, victimhood, preferential treatment due to identity & linage, nepotism & preferential hiring, science has been politicized, there’s discrimination against whites & men, propagandistic education, decriminalization of theft, monopolies, mass incarceration, and vote harvesting. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-18_1311_liberal_tenets.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-18_1311_liberal_tenets.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberal tenets. liberalism no Tue, 18 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Now that party labels have become so fluid; for example, what used to be a Democrat is now a Communist, and NeoCons are Fascists; to tell a real Republican there needs to be a questionnaire identifying who is not: 1. Are you a Vaxxer? 2. Should fireworks be outlawed because they bother pets? 3. Do you support lockdowns? 4. Do you fear militias? 5. Do you hate Trump? 6. Do you want to go to war with Russia? 7. Do other Republicans call you a RINO? 8. Are you Pro Choice? 9. Are you Pro Tax? 10. Are you for open borders? You know how a real Republican would answer all of those. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-16_1310_republican_test.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-16_1310_republican_test.mp3 1:44 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Republican no Sun, 16 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Looking back at all the presidents in the history of the United States, Joe Biden is clearly the worst. There may even be other presidents who were fraudulently elected but that combined with dementia and the threat of starting a world war makes him the clear winner in the loser department. His poll numbers are not indicative of just how bad he is because the partisanship in America exceeds concerns about the country. However, a financial collapse was going to happen no matter who was president, though Biden seems to be hurrying it along, and will get the blame because it happened on his watch. Regardless if the MSM is covering for him, why aren’t the Republicans at least calling for his resignation en mass? Why aren’t all the Republican governors ignoring his edicts. Where’s the opposition? Why is there silence? Republican leadership is little more than NPCs who keep their positions because most of the Republican representatives are NPCs themselves, so Biden has the company of the worst congress ever. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-16_1309_worst_president_ever.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-16_1309_worst_president_ever.mp3 2:02 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, worst president no Fri, 14 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor When all was said & done with the AZ audit of the 2020 presidential election, it indicated that Trump won, at least if the invalid ballots were eliminated. Apparently 50,000 votes shouldn’t have been certified. What makes it weird is that number probably would have been much higher except they didn’t audit the signature matching as part of the agreement to get the audit. There was also a complaint that the voting machines showed statistical anomalies and should be investigated but access was not granted. The MSM mentioned none of this, instead portraying the audit as, "the hand count showed the machines did not add or subtract votes," but that wasn’t part of the audit. Even with the information gleaned, no cases ever got into court due to technicalities. However, AZ was just a distraction; voting machines were a distraction; compromised foreign servers were a distraction; as were all the other vague, conspiratorial, evidence-lacking theories put forward by clueless attorneys. The distractions were intentional because the real fraud was provable: vote harvesting in the 4 battleground states of: MI, WI, PA & GA, that changed the outcome of the election. If those clearly identifiable & provable claims had ever been audited, Trump would have to be declared the winner. The only remaining question is: how did the fraudsters get the other 10 million votes from other states? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-16_1308_2020_election_audits.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-16_1308_2020_election_audits.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, 2020 election audit, vote harvesting no Wed, 12 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Is the propaganda different depending on where you live? Do Red states experience the same kind of focus on environmentalism & Wokeness, or is it unique to Leftist strongholds? The supposition is that Leftism is contained to certain geographic areas and the rest of the country is different. However, because of universal interconnectivity, media conglomerates & public education, it seems more likely that geography is no longer the dominate factor. Most people’s only news sources come from the MSM and Big Tech; that’s why people are the same wherever they live. Conservative voting districts simply mean lower taxes & abortion restrictions, otherwise the politicians are no different than anywhere else when it comes to Trump, COVID, Ukraine, Critical Race Theory, and every other government-sponsored narrative. The side of liberty feels itself isolated & alone which is why nobody will do anything to stand up against the lies & liars, and anybody who does is gaslighted, meaning their opinion is discredited by being calling them crazy or racists or conspiracists. It’s the same everywhere. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1307_is_it_the_same_everywhere.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1307_is_it_the_same_everywhere.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Leftism, liberty, politics no Mon, 10 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Many people, especially those that stay abreast of politics, think a civil war is coming, not just in America but in the whole world, between those who believe in liberty & freedom and those who want equality. Democratic multiculturalism is rule by the mob of ethnic-centric groups that share no values other than resentment of the status quo, particularly white people. Unfortunately, those they elect are too perverse & spite-driven to possess the altruistic requirements needed for governing everybody, which is ironic because that’s how egalitarians think of themselves. For example, Canada is dominated by Democratic Multiculturalism that prioritizes the wants of the state, as determined by Leftist voting & deep-seated bureaucracy, while the U.S. is a Constitutional Republic that ostensibly puts the individual first, though in modern reality, elites & intellectuals are very condescending, even antithetical, towards personal autonomy. It’s the socialism vs. liberty divide and Democratic Multiculturalism is winning, yet every time in history when socialists have gotten in control, not only is society destroyed, but millions of people’s lives are lost. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1306_constitutional_republic_vs_democratic_multiculturalism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1306_constitutional_republic_vs_democratic_multiculturalism.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Constitutional Republic, Democratic Multiculturalism, no Sat, 08 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review some concepts about fame & education: 1. Like almost everything, getting famous is lucky too. 2. What society considers an accomplishment may not be what you do. 3. People want control to assuage their guilt. 4. It’s difficult to identify true narcissism using self-testing. 5. Lefties can be identified by their perversity. 6. School boards are little more than extensions of teachers unions. 7. It’s obscene that everyone gets paid but student athletes. 8. A GED is a better indication of educational attainment than a high school diploma. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1305_fame__education_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1305_fame__education_concepts.mp3 2:02 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, fame, education no Thu, 06 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor In 1942, U.S. armed forces developed a General Educational Development test, or GED, to measure the acceptability of recruits who had not completed high school. Since then it has been adopted worldwide as a high school diploma equivalency exam. A candidate must be 17 years of age and a resident of the state. It consists of 4 parts that can be passed separately: language arts, mathematics, science & social studies. For each part, the score varies from 100 to 200, with 200 meaning the student is in the top 1% of high school seniors. It takes an average score of 580 out of 800 to pass, and it’s difficult. In fact, very year actual graduates are sample tested, of which 30% fail. The GED was last updated in 2014. The idea of the GED foreshadows self-paced online learning, especially since it also shows the weakness of a traditional classroom-taught diploma, a large number who graduated simply haven’t achieved a minimum level of knowledge. Schools should offer the GED to all their students, regardless of age, to see which can move on to higher levels of education; and a GED-equivalent should be created for some degrees, similar to testing for certification. How the current university paradigm has persisted so long even with the GED as a precedence must be social & political because it certainly isn’t logical. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1304_ged.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-14_1304_ged.mp3 2:27 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, GED no Tue, 04 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Whatever universities are supposed to be, they’re not intended to be athlete factories, but the reality is that the big institutions are exactly that when it comes to popular, broadcast television income-producing sports. What makes it truly obscene is that the school administration gets money, the vendors get money, the coaches get money, but the players don’t get anything. The most productive part of their sports career is over and all they got was a pretend education with room & board, many don’t even graduate. The claim is made that the sports department is essential to finance the school but if that’s so, how do other non-sports public universities operate? Certainly government institutions should not be money-making enterprises. The excuse they use is that “amateur” means free, but what’s free about paying coaches millions of dollars while the players get nothing? Nor is the selfish desire of fans to be entertained justification for such exploitation. Either make sports truly amateur, redistribute the income and pay coaches like teachers, or make them pro, pay the players and split away from education involvement. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-12_1303_pay_student_athletes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-12_1303_pay_student_athletes.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, student athletes no Sun, 02 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The idea of elected school boards overseeing the administration of public schools sounds reasonable in theory, but in practice it’s simple self-dealing. Like so much of democracy is, the people who are supposedly the oversightees elect the oversightors. Voters don’t know who they’re voting for, most people don’t even know what school district they’re in, so whoever the Teacher’s Union backs, that’s who wins. Unless the candidate has a built-in constituency, a church congregation for example, there’s no way to defeat them. That’s why most school boards are made up of special interest groups intent on indoctrinating students with political & social ideology like Critical Race Theory, or pseudo-religions like Environmentalism. Private schools don’t have school boards so are not exposed to this kind of takeover which is why there is so much resistance towards them. Hiding behind the facade of school boards education remains stuck in the eighteen century; they’re why new learning techniques utilizing new technology are not adopted, and why teachers still control the system, not parents. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-12_1302_school_boards.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-12_1302_school_boards.mp3 2:08 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, school boards no Fri, 31 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor People are irrational: no matter how good we live, if we see someone who we perceive lives better than us, we envy & resent them. Because of human intellect, we will abide some amount of inequality but in the final analysis the dark emotions will manifest in spiteful & vindictive ways. We all experience this personally but it also occurs at a society level, enabled by democracy. Since the Left & Right divide roughly along their attitudes toward achievement & success: one side simmering in self-loathing & malicious intent, while the other is blithely unaware that they are not only struggling against the vagaries of the world but also against their fellow citizens. By-in-large, Lefties are people who are weaklings & cowards. Democracy allows them to be bullies, and their best revenge is to take away what they think their tormentors value, one of which is guns, so whatever other ulterior claims they may make, gungrabbers have two real motivations: (1) to take as much power as possible away from the strong, and (2) to irritate and ankle-bite the people who they hold a grudge against, even though this kind of discourse is divisive, harming both sides. In fact, most political issues have the same perverse motivation, so there's probably some evolutionary theory that can explain it, but you don't need to know why, you only need to be able to predict it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-12_1301_perverse_lefties.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-12_1301_perverse_lefties.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash no Wed, 29 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor A narcissism test fails at three levels: first, narcissism is colloquially confused with a strong sense of self-worth; secondly, true narcissists don’t have the self-awareness to answer honestly; and thirdly, narcissism can’t be cured; but for purely entertainment value, here’s a common online test: 1. I have a natural talent for influencing people. (This question exposes a manipulative personality.) 2. I would do almost anything on a dare. (This is exhibitionism.) 3. If I ruled the world, it would be a better place. (This is a sense of superiority.) 4. I don’t like to depend on other people. (This implies lack of accountability.) 5. I can make anybody believe anything I want them to. (This is an oblique way of admitting to lying.) 6. People should notice my abilities. (This signals entitlement.) 7. It’s best when I make the plans. (Which is overconfidence.) 8. People often compliment me. (That’s grandiosity.) 9. People always seem to recognize my authority. (Self-importance.) And the most important sign: 10. People are jealous of my abilities and try to thwart me. (Which is projection.) politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1300_narcissism_test.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1300_narcissism_test.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, narcissism no Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor People act out of reasons that are not always clear. The most subtle & common motivator is to reduce the anxiety one feels. One cause of anxiety is guilt, which is often vague, and difficult to identify the cause of because it may be due to a sense of inadequacy, or that one is a fraud; even something as dire & inexplicable as self-loathing is a source of guilt. These are all very personal & difficult to articulate reasons but they still motivate people to reduce them, which naturally leads people wanting control to force the world around them into submission, rather than adjust themselves. Frankly put, people trying to assuage their guilt are doing it for selfish reasons, not for the benefit of others. Wokeness is the most obvious example of this: where a small group of highly-motivated unscrupulous activists, who have no sense of obligation or shared identity with other members of society, have manipulated the guilt of primarily white women, the ones most susceptible to psychiatric maladies, who then demand that all other people share in alleviating their anxiety, and they use whatever control they have, which is cumulatively substantial, to do it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1299_guilt_wants_control.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1299_guilt_wants_control.mp3 2:05 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, guilt, control no Sat, 25 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor If you were to score the accomplishments in your life, how would you do? That’s a tough question because in today’s political & social climate, it’s unclear what even counts or who does the counting? To maintain at least a shred of your self-esteem, it should be you who determines what is important to you, and you should be the one who keeps score. From that point-of-view, how would you do? Would you look in your bank account to see if you were successful or not? How about how many bedrooms your house had or the prestige of your cars? While those things do count somewhat, at least in how they make you feel: satisfied, smug, superior; they’re not accomplishments per se. Focus on values like honesty, integrity, perseverance & ambition. Count the things that caused you to gain wisdom & self-awareness: do you live by a consistent philosophy? Do you set goals for yourself that have a clear path and achievable milestones? Do you do things & go places to never stop accumulating knowledge. For accomplishments, live by the adage of regretting the things you’ve done rather than what you haven’t, and certainly count your spouse, children and the number of your grandkids. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1298_accomplishments.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1298_accomplishments.mp3 2:07 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, accomplishments no Thu, 23 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Everyone wants to be famous, at least in their head. Not many, but some people actually achieve true fame but it’s not something you can control, unless your intent is to be infamous, for example, aspiring actresses making “stolen” sex videos. Some careers are very popular because they lead to fame, and in the Social Media age, getting a lot of Followers/Subscribers can make you semi-famous, but for the most part, fame is random. If you wish for fame, all you can do is prepare for it’s longevity if you happen to become famous, because the depth of fame is additive: if someone gets famous when a meteor crashes through their roof, and when the news looks into it they find a number of impressive achievements, then the fame is compounded by that number; for example, if that meteor-famous person crosses the Atlantic ocean in a rowboat, their fame increases. Unlike achievements, which can be planned for, fame does not cause resentment in other people because everyone subconsciously recognizes that fame is unobtainable except through luck, hence it causes no sense of inadequacy, inferiority or insecurity; just a wish to congratulate the newly famous person, and perhaps benefit themselves in some way. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1297_fame_is_lucky.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-10_1297_fame_is_lucky.mp3 2:11 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, fame, luck no Tue, 21 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review some concepts about the family: 1. Momentum is the secret of surviving marriage. 2. Marriage Compatibility tests are only for amusement. 3. Polygamy & OnlyFans are the solutions to feminist’s high standards & men’s involuntary celibacy. 4. Traditional wives are rarest & most valuable to men. 5. Transgenderism is what happens when all the other ways to rebel are passe’. 6. A Russian bride isn’t better than no bride at all. 7. Sex crimes are the least applicable across different cultures. 8. Boomers were blinded by their luck and their advice falls on the deaf ears of Millennials. 9. There’s now multiple generations of children who don’t go outside. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1296_family_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1296_family_concepts.mp3 2:03 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, family, transgender, feminism no Sun, 19 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Anybody who grew up in a previous generation must be asking themselves: “Where are the young people?” They’re not in places one would traditionally be expected to see them: parks & fairs are mostly empty, and movie theaters, restaurants & music venues are filled with old people, there’s hardly a youngster in sight. Even traveling around, the dearth of children seems almost apocalyptic. Not just kids, but so-called adults, people into their thirties. For a couple decades, the time schedules simply didn’t match: older people were going home for the night just as the young were arriving but even that no longer seems the case. Census figures say people under-30 exist in large numbers so they must be someplace else, but where? Two things coincided that may explain the mystery: first, social media & videogames are becoming more & more popular, especially among the youth, and starting at very young ages. Secondly, the pandemic of fear and associated Lockdowns. Young people in the prime of their developmental life were indoctrinated & enticed to stay indoors. A decade ago we used to joke about the public service announcements on television encouraging parents to make their kids go outside at least 30 minutes a day, and now those kids have grown up, and they’re never leaving their rooms. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1295_where_are_the_young_people.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1295_where_are_the_young_people.mp3 2:18 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, young people, kids, videogames no Fri, 17 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Each preceding generation imagines they are leading the next generation into success. However, it’s not difficult to predict that the values of the succeeding generations won’t match with their elders, especially when life is mostly a combination of illusion & delusion. For example, like all lucky people, Boomers thought their success was skill, but the reality was that there was a gravy train going by and all they had to do was climb aboard. But Boomers were blind to that, instead offering their children platitudes involving commitment, merit & hard work, not knowing it was more about the connections & opportunity. Also, Boomers could borrow as much as they wanted because the debt was covered by the coming generations. Those were idyllic years, benefiting from unique circumstances such as globalization that will not reoccur, and are petering out. Coming generations, especially Millennials, don’t have an ever-increasing investment portfolio to comfort them. None of the predictions of their elders came true for them so they stopped listening, turning a deaf ear on encouragement & criticism alike. In retrospect, who can blame them? They got to see the promised land through the back window of the car, and turning around is impossible. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1294_blind_leading_the_deaf.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1294_blind_leading_the_deaf.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Boomers, Millennials no Wed, 15 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Values change: 12-years olds used to be adults and what’s a sex crime today was a way to advance yourself a couple centuries ago. We now find that abhorrent but there are still 12-year olds out there who are as physically & mentally mature as many adults ever get. If the goal is to let people make their own choices, those preternaturally adult children may decide that the sex trade is their best opportunity. That seems obscene to those of us who only have contact with people who remain stubbornly juvenile into their twenties but that’s because today’s parenting and societal coddling allows it. Since we’re products of Western conditioning, those who are not robustly traveled would be appalled at what’s acceptable in other parts of the world: children acting in decidedly unchildish ways, and women forced into sex. We are immediately tempted to “save” them but that’s another manifestation of our West-induced Savior complex. We wonder why there aren’t laws to prevent such exploitation, and why the perpetrators aren’t arrested and prosecuted? The fact is, these activities are so widespread, and so prevalent in those societies, that a large portion of the population would be considered criminals. Since sex is a transitory physical act, if the psyche of those involved doesn’t make it psychologically damaging, it isn’t. A sex crime is only a crime if everybody thinks it is. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1293_sex_crimes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-08_1293_sex_crimes.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, sex crimes no Mon, 13 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Many American men who desire a traditional family, one with a submissive wife who wants to stay home and raise children, are encouraged to go abroad to find such a woman, particularly to Asia & the Philippines. There they find a pre-Woke culture that produces a female archetype more familiar in the last century in the West. Concernedly, these aspiring husbands are warned not to bring their new wife back home but instead stay in her country where she has family and it’s cheaper to live, plus the danger that she will be negatively influenced by feminist culture in the West, perhaps becoming one herself and ruining the whole strategy. Unfortunately, there is another significant downside if the groom intends to return to the U.S., and most of these “mail order brides” companies require a return, particularly Russian brides. What results is so cynical and exploitative, and so common, that it has become an epidemic: the Russian or Eastern European brides get married to a lonely, socially-awkward American guy, come to the States, have a child, claim domestic violence then use the American legal system to put the man into an economic servitude via alimony & child support. The guys who are the targets of this scam are perfect marks, some of the most pitiful even dream of getting back together with their conniving spouse who’ve already moved on to American men they’re really attracted to. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-06_1292_russian_brides.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-06_1292_russian_brides.mp3 2:35 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, mail order brides, foreign brides, Russian brides no Sat, 11 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor One of the big complaints of Millennial women, the straight ones anyway, is that there aren't any men that are good husband material. The reasons are cultural, Wokeness in particular winnows the dating pool of masculine men, but culture is also a potential solution: transgender men are the perfect match for Woke women. It’s surprising this obvious observation hasn’t entered the mainstream yet, especially considering the fact that 20% of Generation Z report being the wrong sexuality or gender. Unfortunately, the transgender situation also includes the recalcitrant issue of biological men not wanting to have sex with transgender women: no matter how much they’re shamed, they’re just not interested in what is essentially homosexuality. This isn’t as big a problem for young transgenders who date each other so sexuality doesn’t change anything, while also allowing for transitory transgenderism that is simply going through a phase. There’s also the oddity, perhaps intentional, of a female transgender in a “lesbian” relationship. That’s a case where nothing changes: not appearance, not perception, and their sexuality remains the same. This seems the ideal subterfuge to avoid getting drafted. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-06_1291_the_advantage_of_transgenders.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-06_1291_the_advantage_of_transgenders.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, transgender no Thu, 09 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor You guys that got traditional wives, ones that wanted to be your ally & raise your children; you guys are soooo lucky; count your blessings. Consider all the guys out there looking for that but can’t find anything even though they’re willing to commit it all. There just aren’t enough traditional women to go around for the traditional men. Even when a woman is raised traditionally, once they are exposed to feminism, they’re ruined. Feminist women want partners whereas traditional women want leaders & providers in their husbands. Traditional men, which are by far the majority of men, don’t want partners either, they want loyal acolytes & supporters. There’s also the problem of modern divorce. As feminism emerged, so did the idea of no-fault divorce and community property. Even if a woman is what would be considered traditional, in many states the allure of getting half the family assets, monthly alimony & child support, custody & the house, without having to be subject to the husband who provides those things, is simply too much to resist. Now in divorce, the man still has to provide his side but the woman no longer has to live up to her obligations in the marriage. Considering that many, if not most, marriages are ones of convenience & momentum, especially in such a narcissistic society, why would a woman, traditional or not, not get a divorce? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-06_1290_traditional_wives.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-06_1290_traditional_wives.mp3 2:37 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, traditional wives, marriage no Tue, 07 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The institution of marriage has declined dramatically for socio-economic reasons that can’t be stopped nor the clock turned back. Old ideas and expectations are no longer appropriate so if marriage is going to continue, the implementations around it have to change. First, there has to be a recognition that perhaps half of the population will never get married. In the case of men, the obvious solution is OnlyFans-type situations where dozens of men consider the woman on their computer screen exposing herself and asking for money is their girlfriend. Guys who do this often sponsor more than one “model,” imagining they have a harem. The lack of self-awareness is epic but the relationship seems workable. The flip side of this that appeals to the hypergamous nature of women is allowing nontraditional forms of committed relationships, specifically polygamy. Data shows that 80% of women are only attracted to 5% of so-called “high value males,” and settling for anything less is not an option. If the men in these situations were allowed, even encouraged, to accept multiple wives, it would do a lot to fulfill the demand of uncompromising women. Polygamy has been practiced for thousands of years, it’s still practiced in some societies, so there’s lots of information on how to manage it. Of course, modern divorce laws would also have to be changed. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-04_1289_polygamy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-04_1289_polygamy.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, polygamy, marriage, OnlyFans no Sun, 05 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor To help identify couples who have the best chance of matching due to shared interests, personal views, preferences & philosophy, there’s the Marriage Compatibility test. 1. What is your relationship? Intelligent, Organized, Fun-loving, Passionate. 2. How do you spend your leisure time? We spend that time together, We have both shared and individual interests, We have our individual interests, We spend it with other people. 3. How often do you talk about your future together? Often, A few times; Rarely. 4. Do you agree on family finances? Always, Most of the time, Not so much, We are polar opposites. 5. Do you get along with each other’s friends? Really well, We don’t hang out very much, Not really, Never met. 6. Do you visit family on the holidays? We invite both families over, One in the morning the other in the evening, Our families don’t really get along, We don’t bother visiting either of our families. 7. How do you decide on a restaurant? We love the same restaurants, We pick a restaurant at random, We alternate who gets to choose the restaurant, We eat fast food. 8. Do your religious views come together? Yes, We respect the other’s religion, We practice different religions and often disagree. 9. Do your political views align with those of your partner? Yes, Mostly, No. And the big question: 10. Do you agree on the subject of kids? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-04_1288_marriage_compatibility_test.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-04_1288_marriage_compatibility_test.mp3 2:34 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, marriage compatibility no Fri, 03 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Marriage is in steep decline in America, and half of those that get married are getting divorced. A lot of this has to do with how late in life people are getting married: rather than young immature couples growing up together and are therefore conforming to each other, now by the time they decide they want to get married, they’ve already developed full personalities & proclivities that usually aren’t going to change. The best strategy in such cases is to do a better job of matching to begin with but even then marriages change over time: what used to align will ebb & flow. The idea of throw-away marriages is abhorrent. As difficult as it was to find a partner the first time, it’s much more difficult as you get older. The chance of finding someone who is both compatible & attractive is very low, and made worse by dating apps that promise endless options but in reality offer few at all, if any. The best advice is to survive the marriage you’re in but it seems a lot of people don’t know that the secret of a successful longterm marriage is to make adjustments and wait it out, which sometimes last for years: the stress children, middle-aged crazies, affair temptations, evolving sex-drive, etc. Let the momentum of your marriage carry you through these times. The only legitimate reason to divorce is if your spouse finds you contemptible or vice versa, other than that, any storm can be weathered. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-04_1287_surviving_marriage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-04_1287_surviving_marriage.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, marriage no Wed, 01 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Let’s review some aspects of psychology: 1. Instincts are something you have to overcome to be a good person. 2. Lazy people are too lazy to take a Laziness Test. 3. A feeling of inadequacy becomes resentment which becomes malevolence which results in perversity. 4. Don’t underestimate good fortune but it’s not something you can control. 5. Mass Formation Psychosis is a new name for mobs. 6. There’s an epidemic of narcissism and nothing can be done about it. 7. Like the printing press, the Internet changed the world. 8. Passivity ultimately causes the downfall of liberty. 9. A society must protect against people who are born feeling superior to others. 10. The question has become: where should children learn socialization? 11. Your personality changes with your circumstances. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-02_1286_psychology_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-02_1286_psychology_concepts.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, psychology no Mon, 27 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor People’s personalities change over time. The most obvious is awkward adolescence: older than a boy but not yet a man; a lack of confidence in social situations apparent to anyone, your maturity still developing. For some people, that stage of their life doesn’t get over with until late into their 20s but then comes another personality change in their 30s. Hopefully, a relationship with a spouse, possibly kids, the recognition that there’s something more important in the world than yourself. The middling maturity of their 30s transitions into Middle-aged crazies; the recognition that you’ll never be a sports star, stellar entrepreneur, nor even admired by other people. If you’re lucky enough to have children, at least there’s someone who looks up to you. In your 50s, the kids are gone, emotionally if not physically. Your wife goes through menopause, causing romance to decline; your own attractiveness needs help from hair dye, strict diet & the gym. Whatever narcissistic traits you still exhibit are forcefully vacated because it’s clear the generation under you has taken over. After your 60s, you find you’re invisible, and people only listen to your opinion out of courtesy. The facade of masculinity is completely dropped: you don’t even compete in the male dominance hierarchy any longer. Along this arduous way, your personality must change from being no one to being someone back to being no one again. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-02_1285_changing_personality.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-02_1285_changing_personality.mp3 2:30 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, personality, maturity no Sat, 25 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Public schools have failed in every major way except to socialize children, but even that has degraded into creating automatons who can’t think for themselves and don’t comprehend the benefits or responsibilities that come with liberty. Public schools are where the egalitarians indoctrinate children with propaganda and the state-sponsored religion of Climate Alarmism. Public schools are where most children come into contact with people they will never encounter again in real life, many of which are disturbing and psychologically damaging. Public schools are where an activist minority can determine the direction of our culture, customs & traditions. However, if there wasn’t public school, how would children assimilate into society? Without socialization, there would be an epidemic of self-absorbed, narcissists that had no self-awareness, internal nor external. Social media has started to fill that void and perhaps it can completely replace the social skills that are learned ad hoc at public schools. If that’s true, it undermines the last contribution of public schools except as baby-sitters, and they’re not very good at that either. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-02_1284_socialization.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-11-02_1284_socialization.mp3 2:10 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, socialization, public school no Thu, 23 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Your own experience combined with the anecdotal experiences you’ve personally witnessed would make you agree that most everybody thinks they're superior to someone else in some way or another. This would be harmless, and even preferred if it was true, but with an aristocracy, superior-feeling people have the power to act superior. Worse, second generation aristocrats automatically think they're superior to everyone not born into wealth, status & prestige. How can they not, they're surrounded by people who think the same way. With such tremendous amounts of wealth in the U.S., where 10 people have as much money as 100 million, those 10 can do whatever they want; they aren't bound by market forces. If a bunch of ex-wives & widows of billionaires want Marxism, they can have Marxism. Unfortunately, they didn’t gain the wisdom that came from actually earning the money in the first place, only the virtue signaling that excuses their privileged lives. When there’s no connection between merit and power, feeling superior is the natural consequence. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-31_1283_superior.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-31_1283_superior.mp3 2:01 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, superior no Tue, 21 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Christianity teaches passivity in the face of insult: turn the other cheek, swords into plowshares, the meek shall inherit the earth, etc. The justification for this view of life rests on the concept of fate, that some overwhelming force controls your life, not you, and resistance is futile so don’t even try. The feeling of helplessness & hopelessness these admonitions foster turned out to be very appealing & supportive of kings who wished to retain control of their realms against peasants who could overwhelm & overthrow them if they weren’t passive. The Enlightenment was the rejection of fate: the idea that we control our own destinies, or at least have a rudder against the winds of luck. The Enlightenment, at least in America, is about liberty: individual wants over the needs of the group. Enlightened people aren't expected to turn the other cheek. Unfortunately, passivity is back in a big way, not because people again believe in fate, but because they are complacent & aging; at the end of their privileged lives, just wanting things to stay the same long enough before they die. It’s a short-sighted selfishness, understandable in an age of plenty, especially when everything is so delicately balanced that acting in any way could cause the whole system to come crashing down. Passivity is the natural result of apprehension, acquiescence & fear. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-31_1282_passivity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-31_1282_passivity.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, passivity no Sun, 19 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The exclamation that something “changed the world” is far too commonly used. No matter how revolutionary something is, things don’t change that much generation to generation. Even something as big as electricity or the Bomb didn’t fundamental alter individuals. However, a case could be made that the printing press changed the world because it fostered people's imaginations: they wanted to get the freedom to do all the things they were reading about. That wasn’t a one-time thing; books were the motivating factor that sent many a child out of the orbit of their parents. Newspapers, radio & television are simply an extension of that, not world-changing events. Other than wars which change the world through trauma, there’s not a lot of candidates, but one does stand out: the Internet. At first that wasn’t the case, the Internet was essentially a mobile encyclopedia and postal service, but with the advent of social media, it quickly jumped into first place world changing. Older generations can’t relate to nor even recognize the generations raised under the addictive properties of gender-bending, mind-altering, testosterone-reducing, attention-mongering, society-collapsing Internet. Whereas the printing press inspired personal autonomy, ambition, exploration & quest for freedom, the Internet changed the world because it invoked people's envy, resentment & sense of inadequacy, so they want less of all those things. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-31_1281_changed_the_world.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-31_1281_changed_the_world.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, world changing, internet no Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The colloquial meaning of “narcissist” is someone who’s proud of themselves and heaven forbid, they talk about it, then the envy, resentment & insecurity will manifest against them. However, that’s not the psychiatric definition of “narcissism:” narcissism is a total lack of self-awareness that instead is replaced by self-interest. The formal criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, NPD, is somewhat vague but can be succinctly described as manipulative, controlling & projection. Of all the deficits of human nature, narcissism is the most odious to be around. What’s most troubling is that it seems to be more a result of nurture rather than nature: narcissists are made not born, and it’s happening in alarming proportions, especially among young women. When women got control of society, they made it all about them: equality, #metoo, Believe Women, Girl Power, The Force is Female, It's Our Turn Now, etc., especially on Social Media like Tinder, Instagram, OnlyFans, TikTok, and other look-at-me platforms. This has resulted in the creation of an entire generation of women who have NPD: they are clinically mentally ill. Not only that, their frustration of not being the center of attention leads to depression, which now affects half of some female demographics. That's what the world is dealing with right now, an epidemic of narcissism, and unfortunately, the prognosis of a cure is poor. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-29_1280_epidemic_of_narcissism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-29_1280_epidemic_of_narcissism.mp3 2:42 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder no Wed, 15 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Mass Formation Psychosis, also know as “madness of crowds,” is a new pop-psychology term that was created to describe what’s happening today as a result of social media saturation, MSM narratives & political maneuvering. It’s not a new phenomenon, there are examples throughout history, but it has become more prevalent and definitely more widespread, spanning nations, continents, and even the world; clear examples being TDS, COVID hysteria & Climate Alarmism. Psychosis is losing contact with reality so mass formation psychosis is when a large part of a society focuses its attention on an issue that defies logical analysis, inspiring cognitive dissonance, resulting in a kind of real hypnosis. The 4 components needed to create mass formation psychosis are: (1) decoupling of societal connections, (2) inaccurate or nonsensical information, (3) anxiety, and (4) psychological discontent. These ingredients combine to create a general sense of uneasiness that is focused on a target specified by the purveyors of the psychosis. Though not yet formally recognized by the psychiatric community, the clinical symptoms are easy to identify, and there’s a strong correlation among the people who exhibit it, justifying pharmaceutical intervention, and a lot of it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-29_1279_mass_formation_psychosis.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-29_1279_mass_formation_psychosis.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Mass Formation Psychosis no Mon, 13 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Congratulations to anyone who has had the good fortune to successfully climb the economic ladder, whether through merit or luck, most often a combination of both. The old adage that “when I got rich, I didn’t change but everyone else did,” seems funny but it’s true. A person who finally looks up from their pursuit of financial freedom will discover they are in a different world: it’s as if all the people they used to know have been taken over. The simple explanation is envy & avarice. People will automatically assume they should share in any good fortune of your life. Worse, if they feel you owe them for even the most trivial matters; this expectation of your largess will quickly turn into resentment when you do not fulfill your side of the obligation. Indeed, you will need to either lavishly share most of what you’ve made with your old relations, or make new friends who are at the same status level as you. Interestingly, the “fortune” half of good fortune is noteworthy because these feelings of greed are not inspired by people who have simply gotten famous without gaining money: just knowing a famous person and being able to brag about it is payment enough. Therefore it’s better to be famous than rich if keeping old relationships is important to you. Good fortune may not be so good after all. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-29_1278_good_fortune.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-29_1278_good_fortune.mp3 2:21 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, good fortune no Sat, 11 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Psychologists have identified several psychological progressions, though they’re obvious to any self-aware person. For example, if something or someone makes a person feel inadequate, they first respond with admiration but that quickly turns to resentment. The resentment simmers to the point where it turns into malevolence, which because most people don’t have an opportunity to be aggressive, women especially, manifests as perversity instead. This is the natural psychological progression for humans in the lower levels of the male dominance hierarchy, and most women. Perversity is the intentional undermining of another individual even at the cost to oneself. Societies, particularly religions, recognized how destructive perversity was so taught children against it, but the opposite reigns now due to democracy, where the majority voters can express their perversity en mass. Another progression is from frustration to depression in women, or in men, the more dangerous, frustration to anger which eventually leads to aggression. The most common example of this is sexual frustration: currently, 30% of males under 30 are celibate, involuntarily so, derided in social vernacular by the term “incel;” and 50% of all men haven’t had sex in a year. This situation is also a culprit of democracy. State repression has kept the lid on this boiling pot for now but for how long? When will all that sexual frustration boil over into anger, and ultimately aggression? Young men will voluntarily go to war for access to women. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-27_1277_psychological_progression.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-27_1277_psychological_progression.mp3 2:47 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, perversity, psychological progression no Thu, 09 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Laziness is nonproductive, a modern phenomena, because in the past, without productivity, people simply died. Most lazy people don’t consider themselves lazy, so if you’ve ever wondered there’s a test you can take on the Internet with a list of questions & answers: 1. What are you up to now? Working, with friends, on social media, watching TV, or laying on the couch. 2. What do you do when you wake up? Shower, check phone, or go back to sleep. 3. Do you procrastinate? Yes or no. 4. How often do you clean your room? Weekly? Monthly? Yearly? Never. 5. Do you play sports? Yes or no. 6. What do you think about lazy people? They’re annoying, they’re boring, or you understand them. 7. How many hours of sleep do you get? Less than 4, 4-6, 6-8, or 8+. 8. Do you exercise? Yes or no. 9. How do you spend your day? Vigorously or calm; and... 10. Has anyone ever said you were lazy? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2023-02-07_1276_laziness_test.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2023-02-07_1276_laziness_test.mp3 2:05 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, laziness, lazy no Tue, 07 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Instincts come from deep inside the psyche, and though we can overcome our base motives with self-awareness & intelligence, in reality we are not able to subsume them all the time, and many people have difficulty controlling their primeval thoughts at all. One thing Catholicism got right is that behind the eyes of the person you're negotiating with are the sins of envy, avarice, lust, vanity, greed & resentment. Every human interaction is tinged with spite, perversity, vindictiveness & passive-aggressiveness; even love is selfish & jealous. All of this is controlled through chemicals in your body: serotonin, norepinephrine, oxytocin, dopamine; to name some of the most well known. The amounts are determined by evolutionary needs, those so-called instincts. However, they change slowly as the needs change; prehistoric instincts certainly aren’t what’s required now, and in fact, are conflicting with modernity. In the past, all those sins helped humans procreate and populate the earth but now Western civilization is in a steep demographic decline, and instincts aren’t helping. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-27_1275_instincts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-27_1275_instincts.mp3 2:07 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, instincts, sins no Sun, 05 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Let’s review how feminism affects men: 1. Women maintain control over society by exploiting the vulnerabilities of men. 2. Any test for masculinity involves violence. 3. Young people are no longer introduced to the world through music. 4. Bullying is the catalyst that turns boys into men. 5. There’s an epidemic of Momma’s boys that nothing but masculine men can fix. 6. The Internet: videogames for boys, social media for girls, has irrevocably changed society. 7. Feminists don’t like men going their own way because then they’re not going women’s way. 8. White women are the enemy of liberty whether they admit it or not. 9. Either women have always been crazy or feminism is causing it. 10. The Temperance Ladies have always been in control. 11. Women don’t realize that respect isn’t optional. 12. College has become something for women not men. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1274_men__feminism_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1274_men__feminism_concepts.mp3 2:34 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, feminism, men no Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor In 1970, 58% of college students were men, but by 1980 the gender gap in college enrollment favored women. In 2010, it was 57%, and now it’s 60% women to 40% men. And it gets worse: graduation is 50% of the women and 40% of the men, for a total 36 women for every 16 men, a 225% difference. It’s worse for advanced degrees: there are 10 men for every 24 women graduating with a Masters, and the discrepancy is even greater for doctorates. These numbers are only going to deteriorate further as there are 1.5 million fewer students compared with 5 years ago, with men accounting for 71% of the decline. These numbers are both causative & correlative: women have been enticed to go to college as the “strong, independent woman who don’t need no man” narrative. At the same time, men have been demeaned, chastised, called “toxic,” and in general, are unwelcome on campus. Considering that STEM is still vastly male, the kinds of degrees these entitled women are getting is alarming, and the government-backed school loan program is political in nature, not educational, and bailouts are clearly over-benefiting women, the most affluent women at that, especially White women. University has become a sexist scam. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1273_women_vs_men_in_university.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1273_women_vs_men_in_university.mp3 2:35 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, women in college, women in university no Wed, 01 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Life is not fair and it’s not equal: some people simply have significant advantages over other people, and could easily take everything if they didn’t voluntarily share. Unfortunately, egalitarians erroneously think that sharing is inherently human, and those that don’t share are sociopaths, but that’s more religion than fact. Society is primarily people who work with other people for progress & security, and intelligent people share so that they can have an even better life. In reality, people would fully exercise their advantages in some things if not for another party agreeing not to exploit their own advantage in others: that’s a civil society; and it's greased by courtesy & respect for your neighbor's talents & threats. In this important sense, it’s men who make these trade-offs because they’re the ones who traditionally have limited their violence for the good of the tribe. Women were never a party to this agreement: they’re under the impression that courtesy is mandatory and respect is optional. They indoctrinate children with flawed concepts, of which democracy is the most dangerous: two weaklings can’t tell a strong man what to do without his consent, which he certainly won’t give without receiving respect in return. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1272_respect_isnt_optional.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1272_respect_isnt_optional.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, respect, society, sharing no Mon, 30 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor There’s no clearer example of the power that women have in America than the “Temperance Ladies,” the ones who championed and pushed through the 18th Amendment, the prohibition against selling alcohol. What makes this so astonishing is that it was a men’s issue that women decided, yet this was even before they could vote, which didn’t come until the 19th Amendment. The Temperance Ladies are unstoppable because who was going to stop them? Certainly not men who are held in their thrall, and have been throughout history. For all the indignant claims of ours being a patriarchal society, men only do what women let them. In fact, from a democratic point of view, it’s a matriarchal society. Women’s issues are society’s issues: security, child rearing, education & conformity primarily benefit women. Work used to be a men’s issue but even that is becoming a women’s issue. Everything except war is a women’s issue now. The Temperance Ladies control men because they control the thing most important to men: sex. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1271_temperance_ladies.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-25_1271_temperance_ladies.mp3 2:05 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Temperance Ladies no Sat, 28 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Mental illness is now the defining aspect of our society: a quarter of all women have taken psych drugs plus the ones that aren’t diagnosed yet, and depression among women is the #1 cause of illness & disability. Either a plurality of women have been mentally ill throughout history or it’s a new phenomenon? If of recent origin, what has changed for women that would drive them nuts? The obvious answer is feminism, that boils down to women wanting to be like men, but that comes with the pressures that men endure, which are considerable. It’s said men lead lives of quiet desperation but they’re prepared for it biologically & socially, women aren’t. Women have always been protected from mental stress by the Patriarchy which feminism has eroded so much that it is no longer a barrier. Unless women want to continue in their mental anguish, they would have to reinvigorate the Patriarchy but they won’t do that: no group ever gives up control voluntarily. Instead, using their democratic majority, they will try to enact laws to relieve the pressures they feel but the world is a hard place, half-measures won’t be enough, the end result will end up being full totalitarianism where women force men to take care of them. It won’t cure the mental illness but it’s where we’re going. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-24_1270_feminism_causes_mental_illness.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-24_1270_feminism_causes_mental_illness.mp3 2:30 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, mental illness, feminism no Thu, 26 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Liberty is under extreme threat: fingers are pointed everywhere with lots of plausible sounding explanations but the one common factor, obvious if you’re looking for it, is that the forces against us are primarily women, specifically White women, under the guise of feminism, which are a voting majority in much of the country. In the best interpretation of how they’re acting, it’s from naivete and lack of self-awareness, but from the venom of their rhetoric, it’s most probably evil intentioned: women want men to fail, and if society has to go down with them then sobeit. Most men are still traditional, and they do have allies: Asians of both sexes are on their side, Hispanics tend their way, and Black men are indistinguishable from White men when it comes to men's issues. Many Black women viciously claw after what they want but they aren't self-loathing nor perverse like White women. This analysis is racist & sexist & cynical just like the enemy is racist, sexist & cynical… And they’re White women. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-24_1269_white_women_are_the_enemy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-24_1269_white_women_are_the_enemy.mp3 2:06 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, feminism no Tue, 24 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor MGTOW stands for Men Going Their Own Way. It’s an acronym used in the Manosphere, the conglomeration of online men’s self-improvement channels that focus on men’s needs and warn about the pitfalls of relationships with modern women. However, counter to being misogynistic, the Manosphere focuses on how a man can get a woman but with the caveat that many never will so they also offer alternatives, mostly centered around taking care of themselves. This is where MGTOW comes in conflict with feminism. It’s because, other than the misandrous, man-hating feminists, most women do want a man but can’t find one that meets their delusional standards, and the men that do exploit their exalted status or want traditional wives. In fact, a nonfeminist woman doesn’t have much difficulty finding a man to settle down and have a family with. However, rather than change or leave MGTOWs alone, feminists insist men improve themselves and accept feminist values for the good of everyone. Obviously, the problem will solve itself because the population will return back to traditionalists; after all, those are the only ones having children. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-24_1268_feminists_dont_like_mgtow.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-24_1268_feminists_dont_like_mgtow.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, MGTOW, feminism no Sun, 22 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Society changed when nobody was looking because they couldn’t see it happening. Children, boys especially, became enamored with online videogames, not only because they’re entertaining, but because they shield them from the difficulties of real life. Online anybody can be anyone anywhere, and change on a whim to go someplace else. Looks aren’t important, neither is physical prowess, communication ability nor social interaction: people can pretend to be whoever they want. Videogames are not a fad but are actually a replacement for real life. Physically exploring the world, meeting up with friends & playing sports, have all declined and been replaced by their virtual equivalents. This change is visibly apparent by just looking around: all the places that used to be full of young people are empty. Old people are everywhere; there are still families, but young singles, even women, have disappeared from public view. Some of the females are also playing videogames, but the popularity of social media and streaming channels filled with content for women indicate they are also spending their time online. It seems so odd that all the things Boomers thought were indicative of a well-rounded life are now inconsequential to the Zoomers: that real-life to them is videogames. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-22_1267_videogames_have_changed_society.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-22_1267_videogames_have_changed_society.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, videogames no Fri, 20 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Testosterone production has a strong social component; that’s why Momma’s Boys are usually pussies: no hair on their faces & chests, lack of musculature, and their features remain soft. They don’t take risks nor assume leadership roles, and are subservient, doing what their mommas want like their sisters do. The feminization of boys has always been an issue but with the rise of single-motherhood & gynocentricity, it has reached epidemic levels, partly because women want it that way. The idea of “toxic masculinity,” meaning traditional masculinity, is anathema to maturing men but a major component of Wokeness. In fact, 20% of Gen-Zers think they’re a different biologic sex, and 80% of those are boys that think they’re girls. At puberty boys start producing cortisol when they’re bullied by the Male Dominance Hierarchy. That in combination with adrenaline would normally trigger testosterone production but if their mommas protect them from that stress, they stay boys into their early-20s. They never learn to think for themselves but instead require approval from their mom, and never mature mentally into men that would attract a mate because women don’t want Momma’s Boys. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-22_1266_mommas_boys.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-22_1266_mommas_boys.mp3 2:19 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Momma's Boys, feminization, gynocentric, masculinity no Wed, 18 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Traditional male-style bullying has been demonized, nearly criminalized in the West, by women with no regard to the damage that causes society because they have no idea what it is? Mother’s think their boys are being picked on by the larger kids, and that’s the end of their analysis, but bullying is part of the transition of boys into men: it’s essential for testosterone production, and the masculinity that comes from that. Women don’t understand how lack of bullying at puberty creates wusses. In fact, most people don’t understand the connection because they don’t want to, especially in a gynocentric society. Puberty is the time when boys can physically start creating testosterone but it needs to be triggered by stress. Stress in the medical sense, meaning cortisol production which coincidences with adrenaline production which triggers testosterone production. In the past this stress could come from hunting, and in modern times it can come from physical sports, but for most boys, it comes from bullying, which any man knows is highly stressful: fear & anxiety produce adrenaline. It starts young, shepherding physical maturity until the bullied become the bullies; not the stereotypical comic book ruffian, but the induction into manhood-guidance kind, but the threat does have to be there to induce stress. Worse, without bullying, boys don’t learn how to respond to bullying, which is going to happen eventually, and men bullying men who don’t know how to defend themselves always turns out badly. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-22_1265_bullying.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-22_1265_bullying.mp3 2:38 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, bully, bullying no Mon, 16 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The music of today is for pussies compared to the Rock era. Songs & bands used to be frightening to prepubescent boys, and girls didn’t even listen to them. Musicians had long hair & huge beards; they were unkempt & wore strange clothes. Grunge came along, and it was very dark: many of the lead singers of that era OD’ed or committed suicide. But Hip-hop isn’t scary, not even Rap, and today’s Pop music is inclusive & coddling. Rock-N-Roll died because now kids are too scared to listen to it. But that’s not enough of an explanation because there’s been a decline in music in general. Streaming & Internet piracy can be blamed for some of that but the issue runs even more deeply. In the past, music expanded listeners experiences, as did cars & sports. People went outside and attended events because there was nothing to do at home, and music was a huge part of that. Nowadays, young people, the ones thirsting for companionship & new experiences, have social media & videogaming. The only music they like is the music that’s incorporated into their virtual environment. This is the same reason young people seem to be missing from society at large: it’s because they’re in their own society online. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-20_1264_the_decline_of_music.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-20_1264_the_decline_of_music.mp3 2:22 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, rock music no Sat, 14 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The stereotype of masculinity is demonstrated by an online self-test of 10 questions, beginning with. “What do you do if you’re punched?” followed by 3 choices: Start crying and run away, turn the other cheek or fight back. The second question is: “Probability of you crying during a movie?” gauged on a 1 to 10 scale. The third is: “You have a girlfriend but a very attractive girl makes a pass?” is answered by clicking among face icons: frown, irritated, ho-hum, oh yeah, ready to get down. “Your house is a mess and friends are coming over, what do you do?” Clean up, pile things in a back room, no big deal. “What do you do after a first date?” Call her back, add her to the rotation, ghost her. “What if you’re drunk & feeling sad?” Do you go to bed, call your ex or get in a fight? “You’re in an auto accident and a musclebound guy gets out of the other car: what do you do?” Lock your doors, laugh nervously, get out & resolve the issue. “What do you do first at the gym?” Work out, sip a smoothie, take a mirror selfie. Then answer “How do you feel after eating 2 Big Macs, large fries & 32 oz. Coke?” with 1 to 5 stars. The last question is to choose among 3 pictures: a beautiful woman, a mountain bike or a masculine-looking male. How would you score? Personally, I think it was more of test for autism. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-20_1263_masculinity_test.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-20_1263_masculinity_test.mp3 2:49 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, masculinity test no Thu, 12 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Women have recognized that they are in control of the world. This has not led to a safer more understanding planet, the opposite instead: run away inflation, homelessness & internal discord. The political process has completely broken down, as has the separation of powers. Crime is no longer under control, education is more indoctrination than training young people how to improve themselves, climate cultism has become the new religion, and there’s even contemplation of a nuclear world war. How did this happen? How did the Matriarchy overcome the Patriarchy? Because of testosterone women cannot compete head-to-head with men so they have to stab through the cracks in men’s armor, which are: (1) democracy, the idea that 2 weak women can tell a strong man what to do; (2) exploit men’s courtesy & natural reticence to conflict with women; and (3) men will submit to women to get sex. All of these vulnerabilities are self-inflicted, and men could get back in control using their testosterone as their superpower, but that’s also been reduced so much that many men think they’re women, expanding their vulnerabilities even more. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-20_1262_mens_vulnerabilities.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-20_1262_mens_vulnerabilities.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, men's vulnerabilities no Tue, 10 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Let’s review our civics roundup: 1. The elimination of Capital Punishment in a society is the first precursor of its decline. 2. The sides are clear for a new civil war but its not so clear how it ends? 3. Whichever side wins politically, the losing side will start a rebellion. 4. The die has been cast how male Supreme Court nominees will be treated from now on. 5. Nepotism is the end of traditional liberalism. 6. Emigration does more to degrade the world than any other thing. 7. Leaving the U.S. for someplace with more freedom is no longer unimaginable. 8. The best recruits no longer enlist in the military. 9. Genocide works which is why people have to be repelled by the very thought. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1261_civics_roundup_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1261_civics_roundup_concepts.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, civil war, civics no Sun, 08 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The word "genocide” generates a visceral reaction in people. That aversion to the concept is intentionally taught because, frankly, genocide, mass indiscriminate killing, works, and is too easy to implement. Many of history’s most troublesome people problems were solved by simply mass eliminating the people. Occupying armies killed everyone in a village if there was an act of rebellion by even one member. History is full of holdouts, disliked populations, whole regions defying authority, and when enough of them were killed, sometimes all, they gave up. This reluctance to use genocide is a modern day phenomenon, only 70 years ago we did it: 2 nukes to stop imperial Japan, and Germany's civilian population was intentionally fire-bombed. We're too civilized to even consider those measures today so the threat is no longer palpable, but if we banish it from possibility then we give the enemy a big advantage. That’s not acceptable, so the West plays poker with the world after hiding the genocide aces under the table & pretending they don't exist, mostly in secret labs and submarines. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1260_genocide.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1260_genocide.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, genocide no Fri, 06 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor It used to be that along with fireman & police, “soldier” was something children said they wanted to be when they grew up. Toy guns were very popular with boys, and everyone admired the military and those who served in it. When having a strong military was essential for national security, this reverence was required: most parents will only allow their young men to fight & die in wars for hearth & home. Unfortunately, just two generations after America became the undisputed military world leader, no longer under threat from anybody, the military has lost most of its luster, and all of its credibility. Leftists question its existence or even outright condemn it, and their abhorrence of guns is legendary. Today’s military is now about something else entirely, something not even related to the military’s intended purpose which was to protect America from foreign threats. The senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Human Capital said the need for diversity, equity and inclusion is now part of all decisions in the military. Notably, the infamous “My 2 Mommies” army recruitment advertisement is a stunning example of this: a cartoon of a little girl raised by lesbians who cares for the environment & marches for equality. At the same time, the existing army has been purged of many experienced veterans as potential “domestic terrorists.” The result is that the young people the military used to rely on for recruitment, the most capable & patriotic, are now shunning it, such that military enlistment has completely collapsed, and if there’s a draft, unwilling men can evade it by claiming to be transwomen. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1259_military_enlistment.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1259_military_enlistment.mp3 2:59 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, military enlistment no Wed, 04 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor There are walled enclaves in Panama and other places filled with American expatriates. Some do it because they can live there for less, others do it to escape American taxes, but more & more are doing it because as hard as it is to believe, a compound in Central America is better than living in the U.S. This is a relatively new phenomena, initiated by the COVID overreaction, but that hysteria has migrated into politics, and morphed into something dystopian that can only lead to some kind of new civil war. Consider the current war on men: not only are they turning boys into girls, they denigrate masculinity and the pride one should feel for one’s accomplishments. The media continually says derogatory things about traditional culture, customs & traditions; and there’s contempt from Millennials towards Boomers, and vice versa. It’s gotten worse & worse as Wokeism consumes every niche of life. Many old white men have to rethink staying in the U.S. to escape how uncomfortable everyday life has become, or possibly even for their very own safety. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1258_leaving_the_us.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-18_1258_leaving_the_us.mp3 2:09 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, emigration from U.S., expatriots no Mon, 02 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Those who look to eugenics to confirm their world view that some races are inferior, point to the backwards and often failed nations in Africa and the Third World. What they don’t take into account is that these places do indeed produce exceptional people: the distribution may not be as high as in the West but there are certainly enough to drag their nations out of poverty & lawlessness. In fact, there was a time about half-a-century ago, when that was happening. The Third World standard-of-living was substantially increasing because high caliber students from those countries were educated by the West then they went home to act as leaders and organizers, but that was before Globalization, and the idea of open borders it fosters. Now the U.S. and other Western nations take all trained nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs & anyone of high caliber, stripping the emigrating nation of their rawest of raw materials. It may be good for West but it’s terrible for the nation that loses the flower of its people, yet the moralists say nothing because America benefits by degrading the of the rest of the world, as usual. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-16_1257_emigration_degradation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-16_1257_emigration_degradation.mp3 2:03 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, emigration degradation no Sat, 31 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Liberalism was the idea that merit should be the determining factor when selecting from job & college applicants. Before that, the class someone was born into determined those things. Nepotism, familial relationships & fraternal connections, played the biggest part of who got what. Without government holding back the gatekeepers, merit would mean nothing because all the opportunity would be hoarded by nepotistic interests. Until relatively recently, admittance into university required connections & cash, but with government founding of State universities, which admitted based purely on merit and at low cost, enrollment soared. Similarly, previous generations couldn’t get a good job without knowing someone but government espoused the idea of merit to counteract discrimination and big business followed. Even starting a business without nepotism used to be almost impossible but liberalism led to companies using a merit criteria, and supply chains were no longer exclusive to special interests. The influence of nepotism was lessened for a few generations but, unfortunately, with the advent of Affirmative Action, preferential hiring, Wokeism and a dramatic stratification of wealth, the nepotists are back. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-16_1256_nepotism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-16_1256_nepotism.mp3 2:15 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, nepotism, government no Thu, 29 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor When Democrats nominated Ketanji Jackson to become the newest justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, her House hearings & Senate confirmation sailed through without a hitch even though she couldn’t define what a “woman” was. (She said she’s not a biologist.) However, when Republicans nominate a justice, it’s a theater of histrionics & lies. It started 4 decades ago with “Borking,” when Robert Bork was not confirmed because the ruckus was too much for Republicans to endure, but it’s gone way beyond that. For male nominees, Democrats have a "Rapist" folder waiting. They get a woman to make unfounded accusations, as was the case with Clarence Thomas. His accuser, Anita Hill, was turned into a millionaire celebrity. Brent Kavanaugh had to endure the most strident Witch Hunt ever, showing if 1 woman isn’t enough, they’ll get 2, 3, however many it takes to thoroughly destroy a male Republican nominee’s reputation. There won’t be any more male nominees from the Democrats: Biden stated he would only select Black females. For their part, Republicans successfully held up Merrick Garland’s confirmation, thank goodness, because when he was subsequently appointed U.S. Attorney General he showed his partisan spots, including weaponizing the Justice Department, particularly the FBI. The Supreme Court is just politics obscured under black robes. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-16_1255_supreme_court_nominees.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-16_1255_supreme_court_nominees.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, supreme court nominees no Tue, 27 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor America has divided into two very opposing camps, both of which could spark a rebellion. As of now, the Left has been steadily gaining ground for a multitude of reasons, but demographics is the biggest: young people have been co-opted. These youngsters want to establish a new set of values that overshadow liberty & freedom, and if they don’t get their way, as we’ve already seen, they will riot in the streets. Finally, those that value our existing customs, culture & traditions have started to push back, which will cause more riots, and calls for authoritarianism, which will lead to calls for a rebellion from the rest of us. There are 2 possible outcomes: the Patriarchy falls or the Patriarchy dominates, getting back control of education & media to bring young people back to liberty-based thinking. Most likely though, rather than a rebellion, it will be a shambellion that makes money for the elites who are actually in charge, and they will dictate our new lifestyles to benefit themselves. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-14_1254_rebellion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-14_1254_rebellion.mp3 2:01 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, freedom, rebellion no Sun, 25 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor There’s no doubt the United States is united in name only. We no longer share common values, in fact, we have starkly opposing foundational ideology that cannot be compromised away. Half are Covidians & Climate Alarmists; they don’t think Biden’s election was fraudulent; they faithfully follow the MSM narrative; and they don’t want anyone thinking differently from them. America as we knew it is over; obviously, some kind of new civil war is coming. Most likely, it will be virtual, each side only interacting with themselves both online and IRL. The fact that you can’t be fired for pulling your dick out in a women’s restroom but can for following Trump on social media, and that a white guy in Buffalo Lodge hat, his face painted red, white & blue is an “insurrectionist” while black balaclava-wearing, Molotov cocktail-throwing Millennials are just LARPing, indicates that the other side controls all the levers of power. However, should real fighting actually occur, how would that come out? The military is mostly made of Red State folks, 80% Conservative. The National Guards are controlled by the Conservative States, and Conservatives own the majority of private firearms, 300 million, and most are trained to use them. BLM, Wokesters, environmentalists, anarchists, whoever thinks the Feds are going to be running the show in a revolution are absolutely kidding themselves. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-14_1253_sides_in_the_new_civil_war.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-14_1253_sides_in_the_new_civil_war.mp3 2:46 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, civil war, revolution no Fri, 23 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The American prison system is a sad, ridiculous gulag. The worst part is that it cures nothing: recidivism is expected so its primary purpose is vengance and to keep dangerous people away from the rest of us. Many prisoners who in the past were executed for their heinous acts, are now housed at tremendous expense for the rest of their lives, serving as inspiration & mentors to young inmates. The solution, of course, is to go back to capital punishment, however, the democratic process has made that virtually impossible. Why? Is it because people believe any life is better than the alternative? Human life is not the primary importance: if it was we wouldn't send soldiers to die for political objectives, we wouldn't allow people to smoke for private profit, and we wouldn't allow people to drink alcohol for recreation; even convenience is more important to us than life, as evidenced by letting people drive automobiles. There’s also direct killing such as abortion, ending life support, and assisted suicide, yet none of those people are a threat to the rest of us like hardened psychopaths who are warehoused rather than permanently removed as a threat. Heaven forbid what will happen if civilization completely breaks down and the jail cells are opened. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-14_1252_capital_punishment.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-14_1252_capital_punishment.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, capital punishment, death penalty no Wed, 21 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Let’s review how the law affects society: 1. Forensic accounting is for people who want to solve crimes without leaving their desk. 2. Vaccine mandates showed just how fragile the support for liberty is in America. 3. If government can’t get its way, it forms a fascist cabal with business. 4. Patenting DNA is essentially patenting God’s work. 5. The Administrative State is the authoritarian fourth branch of government. 6. Society is so broken there isn’t any way to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. 7. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps assumes you have some. 8. The Left has co-opted existing institutions rather than making their own. 9. It’s too late for depopulation control because the population control people got there first. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1251_law__society_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1251_law__society_concepts.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, society no Mon, 19 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Modern secular societies like in the West aren’t sustainable because they simply don’t produce the one thing that every successful society must have: children. Feminism is the culprit but it didn’t become apparent until it was too late: the indoctrination needed to convince young people to marry and have kids had to start 30 years ago. In previous societies of the past, the rulers recognized that women bearing children was more important than them working so they created religions that purported to give justification of this edict from God. Who else could convince a woman to take on such a heavy burden rather than commit infanticide. Given the choice, most women think most men are unattractive as a mate, and for the few men who can attract a mate, modern societies put most of the financial responsibility of marriage on them, so now they hesitate to make that commitment. The result is, in aggregate, modern women don’t have enough children for simple population replacement. There’s also practical limitations: with high-density urbanization, there simply is no physical room for children. Also, Climate Alarmism casts children, especially the offspring of white people, as a negative. But it’s not going to be the environment, or an asteroid, or nuclear war that destroys modernity, it will be empty wombs. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1250_depopulation_control.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1250_depopulation_control.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, society, population control no Sat, 17 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The Left is claiming the Right is trying to tear down institutions & overthrow democracy, and the Right thinks it’s the exact opposite, but it’s actually a matter of perspective. From the Right’s point of view, they cherish the institutions as they used to be, but not as they are now. While the traditionalists were not paying attention, the Left subverted everything to support their new value system, and it’s almost a complete takeover, so the Left is correct, it’s the Right who want to break media, education & judiciary’s hold on America. Using democracy, the Left successfully infiltrated all the institutions. It was a loosely coordinated operation that began in the 1960s and finished during Obama’s presidency. It happened because we allowed the narrative to make democracy America's primary imperative rather than liberty. When the Right finally objected, the Left logically see them as trying to subvert democracy. The Right must fight back but understand they’re the bad guys here, and they’re the minority. However, the American revolutionaries were also in a minority when they fought for liberty & freedom. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1249_tearing_down_institutions.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1249_tearing_down_institutions.mp3 2:10 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, institutions no Thu, 15 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor When I was young, society formed my expectations, and those things were reasonably achieved. My wife & I, both in our early 20s, got 4-year college degrees while working part-time. We lived on our own with no family help, raised 3 kids, bought a house and a car. We didn’t have much leftover money for entertainment so once a week we went to the cheapo theater and ate at Taco Bell. It was called “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” which means you can raise yourself without help from anything or anybody. That was certainly MAGA. What the hell happened? If I was 20 now, I'd be pissed too: no spouse, no career, no future; compounded by the fact that people’s expectations far exceed what society can deliver. Nowadays, everyone wants to be rich & famous, and they don’t have the self-awareness to know it’s just wishful thinking. Then after a few years of not achieving their unrealistic goals, they get resentful & perverse, which doesn’t lead to anyplace good, like where we are now. Entire cities are filled with people who don’t even have bootstraps. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1248_bootstraps.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-12_1248_bootstraps.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, bootstraps, society no Tue, 13 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor For most of its history, American society preached self-determination & personal autonomy. You don’t consider your fellow society members as partners but you see them as allies. You don't have to like your allies, you don't even have to respect them, you only have to live up to your half of the agreement, and they theirs. This liberty-based ideology results in wildly disparate outcomes because we each benefit from or suffer the consequences of our own actions. Unfortunately, a complete society only works if we all think that way, or at least a majority do. Global connectedness brought along with it a lot perversity: immature people who would sacrifice their own well being as long as those they resent are chasened too. They want successful people to be penalized rather than try to improve their own well-being. Scarily, there’s enough of them, and they are disolute enough, that they riot in the streets if they don’t get their way, and are seemingly above the law. When someone in a black balaclava openly threatens you, that’s the very definition of a broken society. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-10_1247_broken_society.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-10_1247_broken_society.mp3 2:11 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, society, broken no Sun, 11 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The Constitution set up 3 branches of government: executive, legislative & judicial; the idea being that they were in an adversarial relationship with each other, meaning each was the other’s watchdog, and all at the mercy of democracy. Authoritarians don’t operate well in plain sight so a forth branch of government was haphazardly created of career bureaucrats & administrators, the so-called “Deep State.” These people have no oversight, can not be fired, and are not subject to election outcomes. They can write regulations under the facade of law, oversee and enforce them, including draconian penalties, and there is no real appeal: the cost of pursuing a judicial remedy is simply too time consuming & expensive. Luckily, a TV host hedge fund manager with an ego to match, George Jarkesy Jr., did pursue an unjust judgment against him through serpentine court hearings, and the 5th Circuit. They found for all three points: the Legislative branch can't transfer their duties, all defendants can demand a jury trial, and the Administrative branch is indeed subject to the Executive branch. The result means the end of the Administrative State and they’ll want their unfettered power back so expect Deep State retaliation. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-10_1246_administrative_state.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-10_1246_administrative_state.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, administrative state no Fri, 09 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Patents, especially where it’s health related, have always been problematic, but in the case of patenting genes it’s obscene. Patents aren’t supposed to be granted to discovery: if something exists in nature, the medicinal properties of a plant for example, maybe the special preparation of the medicine can be patented but not the ingredient derived from the plant. Other people can prepare it in another way. In the case of DNA, however, patents have been allowed for identifying specific genes, essentially prohibiting other business interests that could take advantage of that information for their own products. Consider the gene sequence that’s predictive of breast cancer, BRAC. The researchers who identified the connection were granted a patent on it. How can anybody else work on cures for breast cancer if BRAC belongs to somebody? For example, if a company developed a treatment such as a nanobot gene-splicer that targeted BRAC and repaired it, they would have to pay the patent holder, or even worse, not be allowed to market their solution. Today, thousands of human genes have been patented, including those associated with Alzheimer's disease, colon cancer & asthma. The nightmare scenario is that the people who sequenced someone’s personal human genome get the patent on everyone’s. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-10_1245_patenting_dna.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-10_1245_patenting_dna.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, patenting DNA no Wed, 07 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The sorry state of liberty in America was exhibited by its easy submission to vaccine mandates which showed the stark divide between the authoritarian and liberty factions. Interestingly, the authoritarians included mainstream Republicans as well as all Democrats. It’s not that mandatory vaccinations are necessarily a bad thing but they should be judicially ascertained under Strict Scrutiny because they have a direct impact on liberty so can only be justified by meeting a specific important need: unless the job requires vaccination due to some real and immediate danger, liberty should win out: the forklift operator at a hospital better be doing heart transplants on the side if he must get the injections. Some countries, like Canada, New Zealand & China, don’t emphasize liberty like we do in America, and mandate even visitors to their country get vaxxed, and these restrictions are applauded by their populations. Tyranny of majority easily overwhelms liberty. Considering how overwhelmed libertyists were, it’s remarkable they were able to ultimately prevail against this momentum. Unfortunately, there’s still the public school system which is totally dominated by authoritarians, and at least 2 grade levels of kids who have COVID PTSD that they’ll never get over. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-08_1244_vaccine_mandates.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-08_1244_vaccine_mandates.mp3 2:20 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, COVID, mandates no Mon, 05 Dec 2022 06:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Socialism’s primary fault is that it assumes prescient elites can predict a future that’s best for everyone. This quickly devolves to authoritarianism by whoever is in political power at the moment. A good example is vaxx mandates for public employees. Luckily, the courts took the side of liberty but it only protected public employees. Unfortunately, private businesses were not subject to the court rulings and were able to fire tens of thousands of employees who would not yield their freedom to make choices for themselves. Private employers have carte blanche over their employees except in a few instances; for example, company communes were found to be unduly controlling, labor unions can’t be prohibited, and pregnant women can’t be forced to endanger their fetus. There are also safety regulations and discrimination issues but otherwise a company can be as petty & manipulative as it wants because private employees are hired “at will” so can be fired for any reason at any time. The Constitution protects us from government authoritarianism but it hasn’t been much help limiting government’s fascist cabal with business authoritarianism. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-08_1243_fascist_cabal.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-08_1243_fascist_cabal.mp3 2:08 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty no Sat, 03 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Forensic counting is a combination of auditing & investigating, and entails tracing funds, asset identification & recovery. The specialty was created to put Al Capone in Alcatraz but it has many uses in the world of business both legit & illegal. Uncovering fraud is forensic accounting’s most popular appeal; for example, Ponzi schemes such as Bernie Madoff’s. It’s also used less glamorously by insurance companies to establish damages from claims, and searching for hidden assets in divorce cases. Forensic accountants calculate economic damages from tort actions & breach of contract, post acquisition disputes such as earn-outs or breach of warranty, bankruptcy, reorganization, business evaluation, and in the computer age: e-discovery. There’s securities & tax fraud to find, and money laundering, of course. More esoteric pursuits include investigating construction claims, expropriations, product liability, trademark & patent infringement; even something as mundane as the breach of a nondisclosure or non-compete agreement. Forensic accounting has recently branched into psychology, incentive effects & behavioral characteristics, specifically defining the “fraud triangle,” which classifies the three elements of fraud as opportunity, need & rationalization. They use predictive factors like narcissism and adultery as common traits of fraud perpetrators. First there’s a suspect, usually a tip from disgruntled family member, government or criminal enterprise, then the forensic accountants are let loose. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-08_1242_forensic_accounting.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-08_1242_forensic_accounting.mp3 2:41 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, forensic accounting no Thu, 01 Dec 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Let’s review what’s happening in other countries: 1. It’s only a matter of time before there’s another U.S.-backed coup in Venezuela. 2. The tyranny in Canada has reached Soviet Union proportions. 3. Ukraine was partitioned and all the West could offer was hoaxes. 4. If Russia hadn’t have went first, Ukraine would have invaded itself. 5. Russia recovered from its oligarchs but it’s questionable if America will? 6. Russian sanctions were supposed to collapse Russia’s economy but it backfired. 7. Saudi Arabia somehow evades being designated a “terrorist State.” 8. The U.S. occupies Syria just like Russia occupies Ukraine. 9. How would conflicts start without False Flags? You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1241_countries_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1241_countries_concepts.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Syria, Ukraine, Cananda, Saudi Arabia no Tue, 29 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor A false flag is a horrific event covertly staged by one side but attributed to the other to justify some kind of intervention. There have been some famous false flags in American history: the sinking of the Maine that started the Spanish-American war, the Gulf of Tonkin incident that started the Vietnam war, and history has shined a light on dozens of other such events in the Middle East, Central America, and throughout the world. It’s possible that false flags are the primary impetus of many conflicts, and this makes sense. In most situations, one side is confident it will win, and the other is especially careful to keep that from happening, so why would they initiate a provocation? They wouldn’t which is why a false flag event is staged by the true aggressor. For example, how many times does the Poison Gas narrative get used but it’s always questionable where it came from, or even if there is any, and why does the U.S. care about that but not about drones blowing up weddings? The infamous “weapons of mass destruction” didn’t even require any action on Iraq’s part to start a false flag-induced war. After so much experience, you’d think Americans could recognize when they’re being manipulated, and they probably do but we’d rather have the facade of moral justification than simply display our naked power-mongering for what it is. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1240_false_flags.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1240_false_flags.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, false flags no Sun, 27 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor U.S. foreign policy is more hypocrisy than logic: at the same time as it condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on territorial grounds, it does exactly the same thing in Syria. Currently, U.S. forces occupy about one-third of the country including most of its oil wealth, and has no intention of returning it. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has pointed out incontestably that foreign troops are in Syria “without our invitation or consultation or permission.” Operating out of 10 bases in the east, the U.S. intends an indefinite military occupation, including its own soldiers plus an additional number of uncounted Special Operations personnel, as well as troops assigned to classified missions, and they’re establishing local governments to run the occupied territory’s affairs, using Kurdish fighters to handle policing. Bereft of its petroleum resources, and deprived of its best farmland, Syria is having difficulty but when they tried to recuperate a critical gas plant, they were repulsed by a U.S. airstrike. The Syrian government has stated invasion & occupation of eastern Syria is “a blatant interference, a flagrant violation of the UN Charter’s principles and an unjustified aggression on the sovereignty and independence of Syria.” If that sounds familiar, it should, just as Russia is unwelcome in Ukraine, the U.S. invasion and occupation of Syria is illegal, anti-democratic, plunderous, and should be opposed & ended. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1239_syria_occupation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1239_syria_occupation.mp3 2:45 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Syria, occupation no Fri, 25 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Saudi Arabia has only been a nation since 1932, and is the source of Wahhabism, the impetus behind jihadism. They were never held accountable in any way for being the country most responsible for orchestrating & financing 9-11. Why? Because the Saudis have the money to buy the best PR and Bush Jr., the American president at the time, considered the royal family his personal friends. 40% of Saudi Arabia’s inhabitants are migrants who can’t vote. Since 2015, the first time women could vote, there hasn’t been any more elections. Saudi Arabia borders Yemen. In 2014, an ethnic faction, the Houthis, deposed the president. Saudi Arabia got involved even though the conflict was internal to Yemen, and began an air campaign & naval blockade, contributing 100 warplanes and 150,000 soldiers to a war which killed over 130,000 people. In a show of allegiance, the U.S. designated the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization.” This led to Yemen being termed a "humanitarian catastrophe" by Amnesty International. Even with all of this, the Saudi forces were roundly defeated, even including the destruction of 4 Abrams tanks and the abandonment of more, after which in 2022, the Saudis withdrew. Saudi Arabia has recently reaffirmed its commitment to Russia despite the Ukrainian invasion. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1238_saudi_arabia.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-06_1238_saudi_arabia.mp3 2:42 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Saudi Arabia no Wed, 23 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Russia is Europe’s energy supplier. In a vain & misconceived attempt to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, the EU decided to sanction it economically. In their hubris, they thought the weak Russian economy would crumble in a couple months, and even serve to bring down Vladimir Putin. But rather than that happening, instead the EU itself began suffering the ramifications, especially in the energy sector: no Russian natural gas, no Russian oil & no fertilizer from Belarus, the world’s largest producer. Germany was particularly impacted, losing the source of 80% of their fossil fuel energy. When Europe finally decided to allow this vital resource, Russia required they pay in rubles because the sanctions wouldn’t allow payment in any other currency, essentially giving away the products for free. The outraged Europeans hypocritically claimed the Russians were engaging in economic warfare. If that wasn’t delusional enough, they continued to predict Russian’s capitulation due to the economic warfare against them. The fact is, Russia was totally ready for the Ukrainian invasion, having prepared since 2014 when the duly-elected Russian-friendly president was toppled, instigated by the U.S. In reality, Russia was made a much more dangerous enemy with sanctions: they have no more to lose economically, their people coalesce around the adversity, and they became self-sufficient & immune to Western pressure. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1237_russian_sanctions.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1237_russian_sanctions.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Russian sanctions no Mon, 21 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor For 4 decades, the Soviet Union was America’s main rival, so when it collapsed in 1990, rather than help them recover economically like they did for Europe after WW2, the U.N. proposed a plan to give an equal share of Russia’s net worth to everybody who lived there. Sounds egalitarian but practically starving people sold their share to whoever was buying, and organized crime were the only survivors of the collapse: that’s where the oligarchs came from. Afterwards, Russia was much worse off than it was under Communism so a democratically elected strongman like Putin, who promised to reign in the oligarchs, came into power. International relations settled and the world seemed like it was going to be a somewhat peaceful place for awhile. However, Russia never really lost its bogeyman status, and when candidate Trump stated his intention to normalize relations with them, the Deep State went into full panic, even casting president Trump as a Russian agent with completely phony evidence that was promoted by the MSM, DOJ & Democrat-controlled investigations, so-much-so that the majority of Democrats today don’t know that it was all a hoax. Russia went from being America’s erstwhile friend to the New World Order’s most-hated enemy. This was obviously intentional because Russia was not succumbing to the new social order of Wokeness, and everything that goes along with it, not the least of which is the West’s own rising oligarchs. What is truly ironic is that Russia in now more of a defender of traditional American values than America is. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1236_russia.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1236_russia.mp3 2:47 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Russia, oligarchs no Sat, 19 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The West’s media coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was hoaxes from beginning to end. It started with the Snake Island soldiers fighting to the death - not; a beautiful Amazon fighter pic which is a fashion model holding an Airsoft; The “Ghost of Kyiv” fighter Ace was fictional; and the young girl’s note is from 2017 in Israel. The fact that American media repeated all of these hoaxes gleefully without question means we’ve learned nothing from Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan & a list of other contrived conflicts. The people who propagate these lies sound stupid, their arguments are stupid, and their outrage is stupid. A voters map of Ukraine shows the reality of public opinion: eastern Ukraine is Russian-speaking Russian ex-pats who were being discriminated against by the Ukrainian government in the East. The obvious solution would have been for Ukraine to negotiate with the separatists, ending up with a West Ukraine and an East Ukraine but closer to each other than the East becoming part of Russia. In fact, Ukraine had negotiated that kind of deal early in the war but NATO wants Russia weakened so that it can be forced into the Globalist world order, so bribed Ukraine to continue the conflict. The fact is, the West, specifically the United States operating through its NATO catspaw, caused Russia to invade Ukraine, and rather than surrender for the sake of everyday Ukrainians, instead insisted on fighting to the bitter end, thereby losing all the most important parts of the country: the wheat harvest, the natural gas fields, the industrial heartland & the seaports, leaving nothing but the hoaxes. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1235_ukraine_hoaxes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1235_ukraine_hoaxes.mp3 2:52 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Ukraine, hoaxes, invasion no Thu, 17 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor The U.S. predicted Russia would invade Ukraine but the reason they knew was never explained. Imagine Mexico's democratically-elected president wanted closer ties with America but a Russian-backed faction overthrew him and tried to form closer ties with Russia: how would America respond? Well, that’s how Russia responded in the opposite circumstances. Ukraine’s Russian-sympathizing western provinces didn’t like the coup & tried to break-away. Since 2014 they had been getting shelled daily by Nazi-sympathizing Ukraine forces; over 6 million refugees had already fled the area. In February 2022, the Ukrainian military was massing on the border of the region and was imminently going to go on the offensive against what they considered a rebellion so Russia invaded first to protect what they considered their people, which is opposite the false narrative that the Ukrainians were simply responding to Russian troop movements. Then, as Russian forces occupied a city, militia battalions of technically Ukrainian-nationality but Russian-patriots would quickly assemble and continue the march west. Russia actually became more powerful as the war dragged on. There was simply no hope for Ukraine, and the time for a ceasefire passed. Worse, the extremely biased, censored and completely propagandized war reporting has not relayed any of these stark facts to the world at large. If only words were as effective as artillery? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1234_ukraine_invasion.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-10-04_1234_ukraine_invasion.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Ukraine, Russian invasion no Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor It’s easy to see that Canada is where America is going, politics-wise, economic-wise & else-wise: a cynical dictatorship that relies on the tyranny of democracy to crush liberty. For example, their Bill C-25 imposes “diversity” on all corporations with financial penalties for those that don’t comply, including teams of “inspectors” to surveil them from within. Like the old Soviet Union, they encourage internal spying to report equity, speech & inclusion violations. Paralegal bodies known as “Human Rights Tribunals” are the judges with the power to shut down business, impose prison time, and compel “re-education” of offenders. There’s also Bill S-202 which amends the Criminal Code to outlaw “Conversion Therapy,” criminalizing parents, lawyers, physicians & church leaders who object to state-compelled hormone-drugging & genital mutilation procedures. There’s more: Bill C-76 imposes restrictions on third-party speech during extended election periods, and there’s a proposal requiring all news creators to procure a license for approved content. Canada has no term limit on the office of prime minister so Justin Trudeau may be in power for years to come. The only opposition, The People’s Party of Canada, was wiped out at the polls. How did this happen to our once freedom-loving northern neighbor? Democracy happened: Canada has an even higher plurality of feminists, minorities & weirdos than the U.S., and their media is even more censored; plus emigration from the U.S. by people with the worst of those attributes. However, the bright spot is that Climate Change will be awesome for Canada. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1233_canada_tyranny.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1233_canada_tyranny.mp3 3:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Canada, tyranny no Sun, 13 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor There's a Leftist narrative that Venezuela's problems are all caused by the U.S., and there’s some truth to that even though socialism could do the job by itself. In 2020, the U.S. was even accused of plotting a coup against the Maduro government when speedboats carrying 50 mercenaries, some of which were American, were intercepted by the Venezuelan military. Though the U.S. denies it, USAID allocated $42 million to support the competing political party, another $20 million to a “democratic transition” fund, and an addition $2 million in bribes to set up opposition negotiations with the government. The U.S. also placed a $15 million bounty on Maduro, accusing him of narcoterrorism. Russia, for its part, has 400 mercenaries of its own in Venezuela, and there are hundreds of Cuban intelligence officers supporting the government. All of this espionage and intrigue from the major powers for a small country in South America may seem silly until considering the fact that Venezuela’s proven oil reserves are the largest in the world. Though Capitalists would like Venezuela to have a leader more aligned with their interests, the citizens of Venezuela support their government to take care of their needs first, even if it is incompetent & corrupt. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1232_venezuela.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1232_venezuela.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Venezuela no Fri, 11 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Let’s review which foreign affairs are happening today: 1. A multipolar world will provide a much needed adversarial relationship. 2. Only Muslims can stop jihadism. 3. China will not collapse quietly. 4. If there’s a best country, you should move there. 5. Afghanistan fell because the young Afghani men were expected to fight for feminism. 6. Today’s energy shortages are intentional towards the goal of changing the world. 7. Six million is as good a number as any because any is too much. 8. The U.S.S. Liberty attack by Israel should be taught in schools alongside Zionism. 9. State-sponsored terrorism is only applicable to other nations. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1231_foreign_affairs_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1231_foreign_affairs_concepts.mp3 2:17 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, foreign affairs no Wed, 09 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor According to government experts, states can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to: funding terrorist organizations, providing training, supplying weapons, providing other logistical & intelligence assistance, and hosting groups within their borders. This definition easily describes the United States’ current relationship in Ukraine & Syria, and in the past with Cuba and a host of others before that. Hypocrisy aside, Iran has been deemed to provide state-sponsored terrorism, and now the U.S. also suggests Russia should be labeled as such. Apparently, any nation that engages in covert or overt operations for their own best interests are sponsoring terrorism, except America of course. What’s ironic is that most acts of what normal people consider terrorism, like the 9/11 attacks that changed the world, even though they were financed and planned by Saudi Arabia, it was not considered the sponsoring state. Instead, Iraq & Afghanistan were the nations chosen for that label, neither of which had anything to do with it, and Obama Bin Laden was assassinated while being protected by the Pakistan military. “Terrorism” is one of those words that carry a visceral meaning that people are repelled by, and anyone or any place designated as one are reviled and can be unquestioningly dealt with. That’s what has prompted the overuse of the term to the point of irrelevance, even if it really is state-sponsored. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-25_1230_state-sponsored_terrorism.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-25_1230_state-sponsored_terrorism.mp3 2:40 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism no Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0800 politics & humor Using today’s standards of censorship, obfuscation, and outright misinformation, it’s difficult to tell if history is true, but knowing that the winners write the history, and that narratives must be maintained at all cost, sometimes allows you to discern the truth for yourself. One of the most provocative myths is the Jewish conquest of Palestine, turning it into Israel. It seems any straying from the “facts” leads to being called a “Holocaust denier,” and persecution by the Jewish Defense League. One such story could aptly be called “Liberty denier.” Israel initiated the 1967 War with its Arab neighbors for their own nationalistic reasons. To insure their sneak attack would remain secret, the Israeli air force tried to sink a U.S. navy spy ship in the Mediterranean, the U.S.S. Liberty, that could have given the alarm since the Americans weren’t on-board with the invasion. The first wave of planes tried to take out the ship’s communications and was mostly successful, destroying all but 1 of the antennas, but that was enough for the Liberty to send out a distress call. Therefore, to complete the cover-up, the ship was attacked with the intention of sinking it. Israel's influence on the U.S. was so total that when a U.S. aircraft carrier that heard the SOS went to save the Liberty, the president of Israel called the U.S. president, Lyndon Johnson, and asked him to order back the carrier: amazingly, he did. Luckily, the captain of the ship ignored the order and saved the Liberty so we have the story today. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-25_1229_uss_liberty_attack.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-25_1229_uss_liberty_attack.mp3 2:47 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, U.S.S. Liberty, Israel no Sat, 05 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Without reservation, people accept there were 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis: why wouldn't they? They were taught that as a child, and teachers only teach things that are true, don't they? As far as "The Holocaust" goes, there's a ton of seeming fabrication used for political motives, mostly as a lever to establish Israel. Congratulations, it worked, and the propaganda was admirably done. However, where did that number come from? The concentration camps only accounted for a small fraction. For example, something over 50,000 prisoners total died at Buchenwald, the largest concentration camp, most from exhaustion, starvation & disease, only a fraction of which were Jewish. Even if multiplying that number by the number of camps, it’s be far short of even a million of anybody, let alone Jews. Turns out, the 6 million is derived from the census of how many Jews there were in Germany before the war vs. the census after the war: 6 million Jews lived in Germany in 1933; none afterwards, as if a post-war Jew would admit they were on a public census. Tenuous proof indeed but justifiable. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-23_1228_6_million_jews.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-23_1228_6_million_jews.mp3 2:10 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, the Holocaust no Thu, 03 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There’s a world energy shortage and its intentional. Climate alarmists want to reduce energy consumption by reducing the supply. They have been brainwashed to prefer the promise of an ecotopia fantasy over continuing progress. They want to limit consumption of oil, natural gas, and even water. If it takes an economic collapse, and dramatic fall in the standard of living to do it, even the cost of millions of human lives, that’s just the price everyone in the world has to pay. They don’t consider that large groups of people don’t share their metaphysical values & beliefs, but remain smug in their hubris and cocoons of imagined virtue. The State religion of environmentalism has convinced generations of youth to consider carbon emissions an existential threat which must be reduced for the good of everybody. Little do they know that their paternalistic efforts will instead result in violence, probably even invasion, from those they oppress through suppression of their energy supplies. Populations that used to have no inclination to go to war, scoffing at the very idea, will mobilize when their children are freezing and there’s little to eat. The honest fact is, there is no world energy shortage, there’s only deluded & self-loathing people who want one, many of which won’t be affected by it because they’re part of the elite. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-23_1227_world_energy_shortage.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-23_1227_world_energy_shortage.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, climate alarmism, energy shortage no Tue, 01 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Why any modern country would want to involve itself in nation-building smacks of condescending hubris, but both Russia and the U.S. gave it a try in Afghanistan, both to ignominious failure. It was unclear why the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, and frustratingly incomprehensible to most people why it remained there for two decades? A reason that matches the facts better than any other explanation: it was to spread feminism. Behind the scenes, the West focused on "save the girls:" educated them into strong, independent women who don’t need no man, and that’s why a quarter-million man U.S.-trained & equipped Afghan military folded in the time it took the Taliban to drive across the country. The most important thing to men is sex which is why the Afghani forces capitulated to easily. While the West had occupied Afghanistan, they protected women, and during that time Afghani men had become Incels, involuntarily celibate, just like in the West where 30% of under-30 men are virgins. The Taliban offered a wife to every Iraqi soldier who would join their side and they all did. For the same reason armies of young men have always invaded mud-brick villages & impoverished cities, it isn't about gold, it's for the pussy. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-21_1226_failure_in_afghanistan.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-21_1226_failure_in_afghanistan.mp3 2:41 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Afghanistan, feminism no Sun, 30 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor A woman who had heard about my world travels asked me which was the best country to retire in, but when I said the U.S., she was incredulous. I asked if she’d ever lived anywhere else: she hadn’t. I told her Americans take the fruits of White Supremacy for granted: they just expect other people to be conscientious, honest, industrious & courteous, but that’s the exception, and why the West is exceptional. Many Americans condemn the Patriarchy yet they would most certainly be appalled if they had to live in countries without it. Americans value punctuality; they expect a good faith estimate, professional decorum, high standards & quality workmanship. They feel secure in their person because they can depend on others being law-abiding. That eliminates most of the world unless they retire to walled expat compounds. If you value your personal independence, specifically liberty, there’s no place else on earth that enshrines that concept in their constitution like the United States. There are lots & lots of socialist-leaning, even Marxist, people who would think some other country would be better to live in than the U.S. The solution is obvious but instead those people insist on changing America rather than moving. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-21_1225_best_country.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-21_1225_best_country.mp3 2:17 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, patriarchy, white supremacy, no Fri, 28 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It’s predicted that the world’s next big economic crisis will be China. Their debt is almost four times their gross domestic product, three times more than the equivalent U.S. debt. Their housing sector accounts for a third of their GDP, twice the U.S., and people have quit paying mortgages on houses that haven’t even been built yet. 40% of Chinese real estate investment companies are facing bankruptcy forcing banks to close, and signaling possible bank runs. The government of China is literally driving out foreign companies, even foreign individuals. The once touted centrally-controlled economy is imploding: there really is no compromise between Marxism & Capitalism. But China isn’t going to go down quietly: they’re actually calling the downturn the “New Cultural Revolution.” There are daily Emergency Alert messages on everyone’s phone accusing the West of orchestrating their problems and calling for rearming. Military training is mandatory in schools. They are belligerent to Taiwan and India, and are joining forces with Russia for another Cold War. China’s totalitarian president Xi, like Mao & Stalin before him, are true believers, so if worse comes to worse, they’re going to need a scapegoat, which is why they’ve been prepped, specifically against the U.S. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-19_1224_china_collapsing.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-19_1224_china_collapsing.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, China collapse no Wed, 26 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and it’s estimated that perhaps a half-percent of them are jihadists: in American eyes, that’s 8 million potential terrorists, way more than the amount of Transgenders yet we’re changing our entire social & legal system to accommodate their predilections. No wonder so many Americans are Islamophobic, especially when there are so few positive role models of them in media or in real life. It’s interesting that white Western women are most accepting of mass immigration because Islamic culture is so antithetical to feminism, yet there is cause for such fear. Most people are secretly resentful & perverse, and cheer inwardly when their team makes a big play: 9-11 was a win in the Muslim world; plus the ingredients for extremism are embedded in the Koran. Even if only a quarter of Muslims have hidden sympathies for jihadism, that’s 4 billion people so we have to treat the situation as if they all do. Nazi Germany only had 18 million soldiers total, and only a couple million at the beginning of WW2. With the right circumstances & coaxing, Islam would be on the other side in WW3, and frankly, they’re more committed than us. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1223_islamophobia.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-27_1223_islamophobia.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Islamophobia no Mon, 24 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Since the fall of the Soviet Union three decades ago, the world has been dominated by the West, specifically the United States. It was a unipolar world trending in the direction of globalism. Unfortunately, an adversarial relationship is always required to prevent monopoly and all the problems that come with it. Globalism was a de facto monopoly but it served liberty well until the levers of central power were gradually usurped by socialists, both Communists that represent control by state interests, and Fascists like the World Economic Forum who represent the so-called “stakeholders,” meaning rich private interests. Liberty was slowing being strangled out as these groups inexorably became stronger & stronger via their monopoly powers. That all changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the West’s sanctions against it. Several powerful nations had resented the U.S.’s overarching control of all modernity, primarily through military, internet & the banking system, but the cost & impetus to compete with the established framework was too high. However, they had no choice due to sanctions so they took the opportunity that had been in preparation for so long, and combined into a competing world order known as BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but is expanding to include Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Argentina & Iran. At first glance, this formidable competition might seem threatening to American hegemony, but if viewed from the perspective of the benefits gained by having market options, a multipolar world is a good thing. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-17_1222_multipolar_world.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-17_1222_multipolar_world.mp3 3:01 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, unipolar world, multipolar world no Sat, 22 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review what’s happened so far during the revolution: 1. “Insurrection” has been redefined to mean a pushback against what feminists, minorities & weirdos want. 2. The goal of any revolution is to obtain power by the revolutionaries. 3. The list of who’s behind the revolution is long, all with grievance in common. 4. The Matriarchy revolution is self-financed. 5. The U.S. can only stay together if control is again vested in the states as specified in the Constitution. 6. You know the enemy by how they spell “freedumb.” 7. WW3 is happening in the home. 8. What can you do to foment revolution? 9. 5th Columners are enemies who pretend to be on your side. 10. Everyone who’s not a Leftist is being defined a “domestic terrorist.” You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-17_1221_revolution_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-17_1221_revolution_concepts.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, revolution no Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The definition of “terrorism” has been contorted. As of 2021, the Department of Homeland Security considers white supremacists as the top domestic terrorist threat, at the same level as ISIS, explaining that far-right terrorism is motivated by nationalism and anti-government patriot beliefs. Essentially, patriotism is now terrorism. Bizarrely, “fiery but peaceful” Antifa is not on the list, but concerned parents at local school board meetings trying to keep Critical Race Theory out of the classrooms were considered “domestic terrorists.” The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act has proposed legislation that would create offices within the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI to combat far-right violence, though there’s no mention of far-left violence. Apparently, holding traditional American values, the ones currently being denigrated in schools and state as racism, is now terrorism. It’s probable that soon MAGA “extremists” will be labeled as domestic terrorists. There are already calls for the internment of Republicans, and the execution of President Trump. Now that does sound a lot like domestic terrorism. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-17_1220_domestic_terrorist.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-17_1220_domestic_terrorist.mp3 2:29 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, domestic terrorist no Tue, 18 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor 5th Columners are enemies pretending to be friends; secret opposition sympathizers who undermine an ideological group from within. The term comes from real-life examples in war but it has been adopted virtually online. These people join forums on social media under the pretense of sharing common values, ostensibly posting in good faith, but are actually disingenuous to the point of obfuscating the issue entirely, intentionally so. They are most successful at disassembling the group’s objective, clarity & cohesiveness. One type of 5th Column is "glowies,” federal agents instigating false flag operations via dupes, but it’s much larger than that. How many of the people who act irrational, mentally ill even, are pretending to be on a side simply to distract others who are sincere from discussing issues salient to the group’s intention? It seems to be a tactic primarily used against the Right who feel compelled to allow Free Speech whereas the Left will efficiently censor such attempts. It doesn’t take long for a Right-leaning forum to succumb to 5th Column infiltration, causing cynicism and disintegration of any common goal. What makes it so insidious is that it’s the government sponsoring it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-15_1219_5th_columners.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-15_1219_5th_columners.mp3 2:18 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, 5th Column, glowies no Sun, 16 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The division between the two factions in the United States, traditional Americans vs. the egalitarians, has become frightening. All the values we once had in common are now completely opposing, and it’s common practice to call traditionalists names & openly vilify them, and try subjugate them. To even support MAGA, the idea that America used to be a better place to live, causes suspicion, fear and contempt. The reason for the vituperation is obvious: demonizing the enemy is the first step to destroying them. The question is, what can you do stop it, or at least slow it down? What can you do to foment revolution? The strategy is simple passive aggressiveness; be nonpassive in passive ways, and it only requires fortitude on your part. For example, during mandates, masking or lockdowns: don’t. Don’t use forced pronouns; claim that Biden was fraudulently elected; and Antifa uses terrorism. Insist that the media outright lies, that censorship is a big problem, and point out any other examples of the book “1984” happening today. The boldness of your defiance squelches the subjugators and encourages the resistance. If you get Canceled, take it as an honor. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-15_1218_fomenting_revolution.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-15_1218_fomenting_revolution.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, revolution no Fri, 14 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor WW3 is going on right now: it’s worldwide, it’s for complete dominance, it’s depopulating, and it’s happening inside every society. The combatants are women vs. men. The weapon of women is democracy and the weapon of men is testosterone. The results so far is that 30% of men under 30 are virgins and half of all men haven’t had sexual relations in the past year, marriage is at an all time low, as is childbirth, and educated women instigate 9 out of 10 divorces. Obviously, women are winning and have been for decades, mostly because men still haven’t started fighting back because they haven’t yet been radicalized like women have been. Radicalization is good because it defines the sides: no more complacency & wishful thinking. If only one side is radicalized then it wins without a battle due to lack of battle lines. Hopefully, concepts like MGTOW, Men Going Their Own Way, and Red Pill, the realization that society is gynocentric and actively works against men, continue to gain steam. Fortunately, even if we are outnumbered and far behind, our side can still win because we’re all individual strategists who can work alone behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, that in many cases turns out to be our own homes. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-13_1217_ww3_at_home.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-13_1217_ww3_at_home.mp3 2:37 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, WW3, feminism no Wed, 12 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Freedom Convoy was Canadian truckers’ attempt to squelch the vaxx mandates. The truckers initially said that was their goal but it wasn’t popular, Canadians overwhelmingly want mandates, so the truckers strategically branded it “freedom” which had broader appeal. and was somewhat successful. But pushback from the elites & media was intense. The CBC said Russia was behind the convoy, and called for “boots on the grounds, guns on the hip.” The police attacked the completely peaceful protesters at night with tear gas & rubber bullets. When that didn’t work, they rode over the crowd with horses, even trampling some. “Freedumb,” spelled d, u, m, b, became the operative pejorative from the establishment, and it was smeared everywhere. What better example proving that it’s freedom itself that these people want extinguished. America tried its own trucker convoy: it was much larger than the Canadian one but was totally blacked out by the mainstream media. It didn’t seem possible the government could get away with that level of suppression but there’s a lot of people out there with their hands over their eyes & ears. Then, too coincidentally, Russia invaded Ukraine on the same day the convoy were entering Washington, D.C., completely neutralizing it. The most important accomplishment of the Freedom Convoy was to show all the people on the verge of resisting that they’re not alone. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-13_1216_freedom_convoy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-13_1216_freedom_convoy.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, freedom convoy, Canadian truckers no Mon, 10 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Social media has allowed groups of people to coalesce en masse so that now even the most fringe opinions have a large impact on the political scene. .01% of 330 million people can still seem like everyone so if that number was 1% or 10%, that’s a cohort that rivals the population size of many nations. If those people are politically active while everyone else remains docile, they’re going to be in control, especially in cities where it only takes small numbers to be a majority. Trying to pushback in such situations hasn’t gotten any better; if anything, it’s worse because they have achieved critical mass. America’s only hope is to do as the Constitution originally intended and send power back to the states rather than an all-powerful federal government controlled by special interests. For example, states recently got back the ability to determine their own abortion laws. States also need to dominate the large corporations as Florida did to Disney, and States must take control of education away from the teacher’s unions. There could still be a United States but federal power would need to be significantly weakened so that feminists, minorities & weirdos couldn’t dictate from D.C. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-11_1215_winning_at_the_state_level.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-11_1215_winning_at_the_state_level.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, federalism, abortion, state's rights no Sat, 08 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Leftist takeover of the U.S. was not accidental: it was great strategy, planning & organization. The biggest question is: where did they get all the money to do it? Some say China, and billionaire elites also get a lot of the blame, but the real answer is that they don’t need much money. Feminists, minorities & weirdos, FMWs, that believe in the cause will do it for free. There are millions of FMWs everywhere holding strategic levers of power all the way up & down the command structure. They make what they want happen, and what they don’t want, not happen; they even control all the oversight so there is no checks & balances. Democracy is their most powerful weapon but the judiciary is their ace in the hole. For example, say a voter fraud case comes up: if it's an FMW judge who gets it, they just throw it out, and if it gets past the first court, they squelch it at a higher one. Places like Washington D.C. are totally compromised: guilty people get let off and innocent people are imprisoned depending on their politics. The most massive display of their power was the fraudulent election of Biden. As demonstrated in the documentary movie “2000 Mules,” unlimited money, man-power & organization passed through multiple levels of oversight both before and during the election, and the clamps are even tighter now after the subterfuge has been exposed. That takes tremendous infiltration: every committee, every elected official, every judge in the path. Apparently, there wasn’t a single person with the ability to stop it and would have at any stage of the process. It’s breathtaking in its completeness, and the FMWs all help pay for it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-11_1214_whos_paying_for_it.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-11_1214_whos_paying_for_it.mp3 3:01 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Leftism, election fraud, FMW no Thu, 06 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Who is it that is taking over society, demonizing existing precepts, and destroying what used to be considered American values? What group is so prevalent that they are in control of everything? It’s a coalition of those that feel inferior, intimidated & left out by the status quo, primarily feminists, minorities & weirdos; there’s also young people who always tend towards whatever is opposite their elder’s sensibilities & goals; and there’s the environmentalists that want the world to stop; there’s NeoCons who believe might makes right and not taking the opportunity to dominate & subjugate is an opportunity lost; there’s the brainwashed who have no power of critical thinking themselves so imbibe whatever the mainstream media is shilling; and there’s foreign governments who are simply acting in the best interests of their own country. However, the most insidious are the people who simply want to “burn it all down.” How is it that these groups are winning so completely? Because they control the narrative. Why can’t normal people simply ignore them? Because democracy favors them: there are many more losers than winners in a merit-based society; and at the top of every organization are their supporters who would fire or arrest anyone pushing back. They're fighting harder now because men have finally caught on but the feminists, minorities & weirdos haven't lost any ground yet: all those who were in power are still in power, censorship is worse than ever, authoritarianism remains high, and the coming economic difficulty & shortages will only make them stronger because fear favors the despicable. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-09_1213_who_is_it.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-09_1213_who_is_it.mp3 3:04 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, feminists, minorities, weirdos, control no Tue, 04 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There’s an all-out war on the tenets of liberalism in this Information Age: tearing down custom, culture & traditions; attacking liberty & freedom of speech, and canceling of the national identity; it’s truly WW3. Like all wars, it’s the result of long-simmering resentments, wanting to settle old scores, vengeance, and an effort to seize power & control. Their slogan is, “It’s our turn now.” The goal is clear, they mention it all the time: it’s to usurp the privilege that white males possess as a result of whiteness & maleness. That can only be accomplished by condemning those traits, holding them back, discriminating against them in business, government & law, because otherwise men would easily win based on merit. There are also people who through fear, perversity or masochism, want there to be fewer humans consuming less things, and a cap on progress. To subjugate the populations of the world, they create existential threats like climate alarmism, an improbable catastrophe of some sort, or a foreign military invasion, to force their agenda of deconstruction, depopulation & deindustrialization, primarily by the means of reducing the supply of energy. They literally want you dead. It sounds crazy because these people are crazy: over half are diagnosed and take psych meds, and another large portion should be. They aren’t capable of running their own lives and they don’t want you to run yours either. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-09_1212_whats_the_goal.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-09_1212_whats_the_goal.mp3 2:41 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, WW3, white male privilege no Sun, 02 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The U.S. has suffered a weaponization of the legal system, the FBI in particular; from the enduring Russian Collusion Hoax to the obviously fabricated January 6th insurrection narrative with its prime time hearings and complete kangaroo court atmosphere. Many pundits are observing that whatever false accusations against the Right that the Left makes are likely to be what the Left is actually doing so if they are claiming insurrection by their opponents then that’s what they plan themselves. The “fiery but peaceful” riots that killed dozens and destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars of private property are ignored yet January sixth, whose only true casualty was an unarmed woman shot by Capital police, is the focus of attention. Perpetrators of heinous acts during the riots were rarely identified, let alone held responsible, yet January 6th protesters were relentlessly tracked down and held in prison without bail for years. Retired generals say if Republicans take control of congress, there will be an insurrection. It’s the height of fear-mongering & perverse extortion. There will certainly be an insurrection if the Left loses power because, apparently, an “insurrection” is them not being in control. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-07_1211_insurrection.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-07_1211_insurrection.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, insurrection, January 6th no Fri, 30 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review what’s happening during the collapse & virtual civil war: 1. The End of the World isn’t going to be as bad as it sounds. 2. You’re actually prepping for people who want your supplies more than you. 3. What if a crash happens and nobody notices? 4. If there’s a collapse, the National Guard gots this. 5. Any threat to the food supply is intentional. 6. When Communist revolutions are fomenting, all that prevents them is helicopters. 7. The Matriarchy revolution doesn’t need a leader because it’s organic. 8. There’s no winning strategy for the Patriarchy to defend against the Matriarchy. 9. One side is going to have to completely win the next civil war. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-07_1210_collapse__virtual_civil_war_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-07_1210_collapse__virtual_civil_war_concepts.mp3 2:12 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, collapse, virtual civil war, civil war no Wed, 28 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It seems likely the United States will endure a second civil war; in fact, it’s underway right now, a virtual civil war where the two sides don’t share enough values to agree on anything nor even have the ability to communicate. The Patriarchy, so-called “White culture,” is a result of the Enlightenment that occurred in seventeenth century Europe, and subsequently adopted by the fledgling United States, when liberal tenets like innocent until proven guilty, children are not responsible for the actions of their parents, equal protection under the law & Rule of Law were developed. This was a time of Protestant Work Ethic and supposed meritocracy, when people advanced their station in life more through their own actions rather than inheritance. Personal autonomy, the concept of people making decisions for themselves, was also an important ingredient. Now a large portion of the population have denounced Enlightenment values, and have adopted the opposite: Believe Women without evidence, Whites are responsible for the deeds of their ancestors, legal persecution to destroy their enemy, and giving preferential treatment for birth traits. Working is discouraged by proposing a Universal Basic Income. Obviously, with antithetical positions like these, there is no compromising: one side must lose completely and have values forced upon them just as in the first civil war. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-07_1209_whats_after_the_next_civil_war.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-07_1209_whats_after_the_next_civil_war.mp3 2:33 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, civil war, enlightenment no Mon, 26 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Not just the United States, the whole world is currently in a virtual civil war: not with other nations, though it may turn into World War 3 in real life, but instead ideological conflict between people within their own nations. The two sides are the Patriarchy and the Matriarchy, which makes drawing battle-lines impossible because they’re in the households and bedrooms of families. Men are evolved not to fight with women, so the Patriarchy has no winning strategy, only capitulation, which is what has been happening for the past few decades until now we’re at a tipping point, maybe even over it. Authoritarianism is dominant because old men won’t step up because they want to rest on their laurels, living in an effort-free wonderland contemplating retirement, selfishly defending their personal interests, and accept tyranny to keep their idyllic life-style intact: they even condemn those who do act. The only glimmer of hope is that the older generation will eventually die off, and the younger generations that did have families in this anti-family environment are on the Patriarchy’s side. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-05_1208_no_winning_strategy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-05_1208_no_winning_strategy.mp3 2:13 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, virtual civil war, patriarchy, matriarchy no Sat, 24 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Patriarchy is surely losing to the Matriarchy but anyone who says so is called a conspiracy theorist, claiming that there’s no organized battle, and never admitting the sublime effort going on everywhere behind the scenes. Over the past few decades, FMWs, feminists, minorities & weirdos got into strategic positions in business & society via Affirmative Action, preferential hiring & “diversity,” and then social media came along which enabled them to coalesce in the background. They’re also very cynical, a side-effect of their special treatment, knowing they didn’t achieve their positions through merit, so they have more allegiance to what got them there than they are to their place of employment, their country, or even their families. FMWs don’t have a central authority: not the Democrat party, not the media, not the court system nor schools, but they control all of those things like cells in a clandestine revolution, each working independently of each other but all recognizing what's happening and pushing towards their goal. It’s an organic conspiracy, a good example of emergent order. The fact that no one is pushing back supports this conclusion because men are accustomed to being subservient to women at home and in society at large. The “privilege” that the Matriarchy claim men have is only one of projection; it’s they who really have most of the privileges, and now they want them all. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-05_1207_organic_conspiracy.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-05_1207_organic_conspiracy.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, conspiracy no Thu, 22 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The specter of tossing hooded Communists out of helicopters into the sea is an enduring one. First practiced by France during the Malagasy Uprising, then the “Dirty War” in Argentina, and the Bougainville Civil War in Papua New Guinea. But “death flights” really entered the public consciousness as a staple of the Chilean regime of Augusto Pinochet. Helicopters have been associated with dictators ever since. What’s most notable is that it appears to have been effective. In most cases, Communist take-overs are successful because their most fervent supporters are fully committed to the ideology, and there is an immense army of the disaffected who will join the ranks given the chance. Sometimes the takeovers involve violence but in the modern era, democracy is enough: egalitarians always eventually get a voting majority because the allure of “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need,” causes the majority of people to immediately improve their lives even though it’s a totally bankrupt concept in the long run. With that kind of support working against free enterprise, it’s remarkable the U.S. hadn’t turned Communist before. In fact, it was close a couple times but greed won out over resentment. However, the threat of socialism is stronger now: Marxism or Fascism seems to be the world’s future. There are people, mostly Republicans, who still think America can be recovered, but democracy is the culprit not the solution: helicopters is seemingly all that works. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-03_1206_helicopters.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-03_1206_helicopters.mp3 2:42 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, communists, death flights, helicopters no Tue, 20 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It’s impossible to know exactly when The Collapse will occur but a decreasing selection of competing products will be the first sign that there's a problem, along with a complete lack of the more exotic ones or specialty items. Interstate transportation will be disrupted: a solo truckdriver going cross country won't be possible, trucks will need to travel in armed convoys, and if law & order cannot be established along the entire route then even that won't be possible. Luckily, many people have already shifted to eating locally grown food but growing things takes time and several seasons to increase the supply of fresh food enough to match the demand. Fresh meat will become especially expensive because it will be in such short supply which the people who caused The Collapse will revel in. There will be plenty of something to eat: dried & canned goods, probably even canned meats. In reality, unless there’s a complete breakdown, which seems highly unlikely, there will be plenty of food of some kind or another at a reasonable price. The old Soviet Union is a good example of a Marxist supply chain: the people didn’t go hungry, they just had to wait for hours in line to buy a small selection of items. Unless the people who caused The Collapse get full control, it won’t be that bad. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-03_1205_food_supply.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-03_1205_food_supply.mp3 2:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, food supply, collapse no Sun, 18 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Rather than civil war caused by differing ideologies, it's more likely the U.S. will collapse due to economics. People have been predicting this will occur for decades now, and the hysteria has really built up since the Lockdown, so it’s fun to speculate what will happen when it does. By looking around the neighborhood and knowing that many of the houses you see have guns, it’s likely the first thing people would do is form little local militias. That will pretty much insure safety in rural areas and the suburbs: families being protected by their family members and neighbors. However, the National Guard will need to be called out for the cities. It will take a while for citizen-soldiers to muster, be equipped and given orders, but within the first month, they’ll be the ones taking over from the militias to protect neighborhoods, mostly from people fleeing the cities, and it will be them that sets up temporary camps for the refugees. The National Guard protects other families like they want their own families to be protected so things will soon become calm & secure, and life will slowly return to normal. After 6 months, the DHS will take over management of the camps and the National Guard will go home, except perhaps from the cities. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-01_1204_national_guard_during_the_collapse.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-01_1204_national_guard_during_the_collapse.mp3 2:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, National Guard, collapse no Fri, 16 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor I got married in 1979 during record inflation. We were both in college working part-time to completely support ourselves since we had no student loans, no scholarships and no help from family. We lived in a cheap apartment and drove an old car, had no loans and paid all our bills, yet we saved up enough to tour Europe for a month before moving out of state for my entry-level job as an engineer. My wife worked part time as a clerk, had a kid with no Family Leave nor any kind of financial help yet we were able to buy a house at 10% down and 22% interest. Two more kids soon followed yet we bought a new car. Nothing going on in the economy made any difference to our quality of life. Same with the 1989 and 2008 crashes. The upcoming crash is set up to be worse but will it affect me or mine? Probably only tangentially. The fact is, I don’t think anyone will be affected in a real way: if you lose a lot of savings, so what, by definition you didn’t need that money anyway. It’s true that the best things in life are free, and kids don’t know that they’re poor. This only applies to people who live conscientious lives: folks out at the extremes may have to reel in their excesses, but even that isn’t clear because the concept of accountability is gone so they’ll probably get to keep their cake and eat it too. With student loan forgiveness, stimulus checks, bankruptcy, eviction prohibition & Basic Income, everybody be chillin’. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-01_1203_chillin_the_crash.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-09-01_1203_chillin_the_crash.mp3 2:47 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, collapse, crash no Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor “Prepping,” the idea that someone can prepare for coming hard times & lawlessness by stockpiling food & ammunition, comes from the realm of entertainment: books, movies, etc. that idolize those with foresight & self-reliance; not to mention the sense of superiority that comes from thinking they’re going to live while everyone else dies. Some preppers advocate escaping into the mountains with a bug-out bag, but most simply have large pantries and raise gardens. There is a sense of security that comes from these things but in the end, the preparation will be worthless if you consider the likely scenario. It won't take full-blown collapse, just the homeless roaming around would be a threat. They'll walk right into your garden and take what they want, they're used to that already, or they'll knock on your door asking for food; so will some of your neighbors. What are you going to do, shoot them? You're going to have to be secretive about what you have because there will be community meetings where they insist everyone has to share. The equality folks, egalitarians who think their feelings supersede your selfishness, will really be pushing that, and they control most of the levers of power: Blue states will probably even send jackboots to take your stuff for the good of everyone. You’re just prepping for someone else. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-08-30_1202_prepping_is_worthless.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-08-30_1202_prepping_is_worthless.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, prepping, preppers no Mon, 12 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The End of Times is upon us, at least our times. It will take a while before entrepreneurship becomes impossible, forcing more & more people onto Welfare or choosing Basic Income, until finally consumption exceeds production and all of society comes tumbling down. However, many of us were indoctrinated with a belief in liberty & self-reliance so there's at least 20% of the population that aren't complete incompetents, and could possibly bring society back. Plus, all this coming to a boil can actually be a good thing if we can also shuck off the smear merchants, race hustlers & communists. It would also be a good time to reign in predatory businesses like banking, broadband & pharmaceuticals. The change in comfort, convenience & expectations will lead to massive social upheaval, primarily against feminism, which is the ultimate cause of the whole situation since it advocates the dismantling of the Patriarchy, defined as the Western values of integrity, conscientiousness, honesty, meritocracy & work ethic. There will be a return to traditional family values because the opposition will disappear due to a lack of procreation because they think they’re saving the climate. The End of Times will be the beginning of old times. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-08-30_1201_end_of_times.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2022-08-30_1201_end_of_times.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, end of times, feminism no Sat, 10 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review more ideology & revolution concepts: 1. David Hume was in the right place at the right time with the right belief that people are motivated by biology. 2. Nietzsche has so many insightful quotes that it’s probable you haven’t heard them all. 3. It’s much more important that you have a diversity of societies than diversity within a society. 4. God’s Will didn’t go anywhere, just the people who play the part changed. 5. Joseph Smith’s Articles Of Faith include important civil values that make his believers good citizens. 6. The ideology within scripture conflicts with individualism. 7. America failed because its institutions failed. 8. Left vs. Right boils down to egalitarians vs. feudalists. 9. Liberty descends from the Age of Enlightenment. 10. The New Terror makes everywhere a gulag. 11. Malevolence is encouraged by passivity. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1200_ideology__revolution_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1200_ideology__revolution_concepts.mp3 2:48 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, ideology, revolution no Thu, 08 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor There's a large portion of the population that hates America for the same reasons people hate anything: envy, resentment & a feeling of inadequacy; and it expresses itself as malevolence. This isn't a new phenomena, it's human nature; the difference now is democracy lets these dangerous individuals act as a group to enact their spite, perversity & sadism. And none of that is surprising either, democracy’s greatest weakness is tyranny of the majority: what’s surprising is the passivity of men in the face of this development. Men, apparently, choose not to believe what's happening, or simply capitulate rather than risk their complacency. Perhaps since women, feminists especially, are by-in-large propagators of the malevolence, consciously or not, and men, by their nature, subjugate themselves to their wives, that’s why there’s been no pushback, or it may even be that most men are content to let it happen because they too harbor envy, resentment & a sense of inadequacy, and want to experience the spite, perversity & sadism for themselves. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1199_malevolence_vs__passivity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1199_malevolence_vs__passivity.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, malevolence, passivity no Tue, 06 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The stereotypical fate of a Communist dissident was to be awakened out of bed at 4 am and hauled away to a re-education camp for decades of hard labor: think Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who famously refused to repeat lies for personal gain or to even save himself from internment. He also wouldn’t allow repetition of propaganda. Those are laudable goals and worth mimicking; however, in an online environment where no one is held accountable for lying, and even if they are proven wrong, won’t rescind their statements but instead constantly repeat misinformation over-and-over, obliterating the truth. There is no defense except to Block them and delete their messages, citing Solzhenitsyn. Unfortunately, others will disagree, and by way of denigrating the intention, instead scoff at the specter of concentration camps and the old days of terror, not recognizing that there’s a new terror: now dissidents get #metooed, Trust Womened, gas-lighted, declared Right Wing, called racist, get discriminated against because they’re male or white; and ultimately, get Cancelled. The penalties may have changed but the intentions of the propagandists has not. Only public gun ownership has prevented the New Terror from morphing into the old Terror. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1198_the_new_terror.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1198_the_new_terror.mp3 2:25 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Solzhenitsyn, terror no Sun, 04 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor It’s hard to believe because Americans take it for granted, but liberty is a relatively recent phenomena; only developed in what’s now called “The Age of Enlightenment,” originating in a single small country, Scotland, by 18 men in the 18th century. It was a flash-point in history like no other and probably won’t be repeated again after liberty is lost because liberty is a fragile thing, only kept alive by nurturing a society’s youth to its ideals, who otherwise default to some form of authoritarian oversight. In his famous 1784 essay “Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?” philosopher Immanuel Kant said: “Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. ‘Have the courage to use your own understanding,’ is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.” Though Kant didn’t exactly express the American understanding of liberty, reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences of your own decisions, he did describe the anti-authoritarianism required to get there. In fact, American-style liberty is even more fragile and is under heavy assault by egalitarianism, seemingly certain to succumb to it, with no other source of liberty in sight. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1197_the_source_of_liberty.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1197_the_source_of_liberty.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, liberty, Age of Enlightenment no Fri, 02 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor As difficult as predicting when the new American revolution will come is trying to determine exactly what the sides are? Liberty, which is anti-authoritarian, has already been defeated so the question is which of the authoritarian interests will represent the two sides: collectivist or corporations. Simply using the label Left vs. Right doesn’t convey the true intentions of each side, and saying the obvious, that the sides are Marxists vs. Fascists fails because those words have extensive baggage that everyone denies. Therefore, the rhetorical differentiation needs words that have a meaning that matches the ideology but without the negative connotations. Since Marxists show pride in their egalitarian tendencies, the concepts of equality & equity; and Fascists can't deny that there are modern-day feudal lords, The 1% virtually enshrined as an aristocracy who pay less taxes and aren’t for the most part productive, instead depending on hourly workers to actually create things; perhaps a more acceptable delineation is egalitarians vs. feudalists. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1196_egalitarians_vs_feudalists.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1196_egalitarians_vs_feudalists.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Feudalism, egalitarians, Fascists, Marxists no Wed, 31 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The U.S. is in an existential crisis, worse even than the Civil War because that wasn’t a complete deconstruction of everything America was built on. You know how bad it is by how many once-trusted institutions have failed us; even work against us. The most glaring example was the fraudulent Biden election, a literal soft coup implemented by a shady cabal of business & politicians of both parties who brag about their success. The FBI, CIA & other 3-letter agencies are completely compromised and no longer serve the public’s best interests. The judiciary can’t be trusted: biased judges & juries who convict police officers but not criminals. There’s constant attacks on gun rights; capriciously enforced laws; discrimination based on skin color or sex; hoaxes & bogus impeachments; not to mention the manipulated Stock Markets complete with insider-trading by elected & appointed officials. Possibly the worst though is the indoctrination of our youth by public education. But those aren’t all we’re talking about, there’s also the prosaic institutions like dictionaries that redefine words so that only whites can be “racists” or that “protests” include violence & destruction; universities that bar conservative speakers; Tech monopolies that censor speech based on political bias; and Lockdowns that bankrupt small businesses & prevent parishioners from attending services. There was no 4th of July celebration in the U.S. Capital, instead people were encouraged to attend BLM rallies which vandalized historic statues and officially-sanctioned painting of “BLM” on public streets. Of course, none of this would be possible without the totally biased, coordinated news media owned by Chinese. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1195_institutions_that_failed_us.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1195_institutions_that_failed_us.mp3 3:23 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, failed institutions no Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Considering the collectivist ideology expressed in the New Testament, it’s a wonder America became a nation of individualism: “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.” - Mark 12:17 "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave." - Matthew 20:27 “Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." - Luke 18:25 “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” - Acts 2:44-45 “Bear one another's burdens.” - Galatians 6:2 “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” - Galatians 5:13 “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” - Matthew 25:40 “They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain.” - Titus 1:11 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” - Matthew 5:5 It’s bad but The Golden Rule still makes sense: Luke 6:31 - "Do to others as you would have them do to you" politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1194_scripture__ideology.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1194_scripture__ideology.mp3 2:36 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, scripture, ideology no Sat, 27 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Growing up Mormon, as children we memorized “The Articles of Faith” written in 1842 by the religion’s founder, Joseph Smith. Mostly they were just run-of the-mill religious beliefs definitely falling into the “faith” category, however the last 3 articles are secular: 11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. 12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. 13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men. While the faith parts faded away as I matured, the secular admonitions have stayed with me and most present & past Mormons, which is why they make good citizens and employees. Other religions taught similar things in Sunday school but civil discourse in public schooling has disintegrated to the point where they are no longer able of instilling these important values, so as religion decreases, and more-and-more children are not raised with these guiding principles, the future of civil responsibility is in dire question. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1193_articles_of_faith.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1193_articles_of_faith.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Mormons, Articles of Faith, civil responsibility no Thu, 25 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor “God’s will” was certainly a convenient explanation for the arbitrary nature of life: Zeus himself was subject to fate. Fate is the belief that luck is controlled by an outside force. Fate was the accepted explanation for the vagaries of existence until The Enlightenment and the Modern concept of free agency & personal autonomy, which requires that people feel their decisions are their own and not preordained, nor a matter of otherworldly intervention. The ultimate maturation of this line of thinking, that everyone should control their own lives, was in the United States where individuals reaped the rewards or suffered the consequences of their own actions, and it was wildly successful for all as compared to anytime before such thinking, though not equally so. Unfortunately, Post Modern thought is that equality is the true goal, and predestination is back. However, instead of fate being the operative force, it’s a totalitarian state commanding outcomes, whose narcissistic elites act in the role of God’s will. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1192_gods_will.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1192_gods_will.mp3 2:18 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, fate, God's will, self determination no Tue, 23 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor How diverse can a society be? Can it simultaneously contain completely abhorrent fundamental beliefs and remain intact? If half the members of society believe in slavery and the other half doesn’t, can that society remain cohesive? Can democracy solve the problem? What if the majority want slavery? Or to prohibit religious worship? Or randomly kill its citizens? Rome was a society based on slavery and it lasted a thousand years. The Soviet Union was forcibly secular. The mesoamerican societies were based on blood sacrifice. So yes. But can a society serve opposing ideologies? For example, can it put the needs of the group over the wants of individuals yet still allow personal autonomy? Obviously, yes, as demonstrated by the various levels of socialism in countries all around the world, but there is a point where the individual is completely subsumed into the group as with Marxism, where equality is the goal, which is at complete odds with liberty: individuals reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences of their own actions, because that causes inequality. So no, opposite ideologies cannot exist in a single society but it can someplace else, so it’s not diversity within a society that’s good, it’s a diversity of societies, then you can get out of the blood sacrifice one and go someplace else. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1191_society_diversity.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1191_society_diversity.mp3 2:48 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, society diversity no Sun, 21 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The tortured soul that Friedrich Nietzsche was, never-the-less showed instances of great insight. Of the many quotes he’s famous for, here are some less renown: • A matter that becomes clear ceases to concern us. • A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies. • A thought comes when it will, not when I will. • He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. • In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. • Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen. • People are always angry at anyone who chooses very individual standards for his life; because of the extraordinary treatment which that man grants to himself, they feel degraded, like ordinary beings. • To sin against the earth is now the most dreadful thing. And we cannot leave out Nietzsche’s famous prediction that human’s will evolve into something much better: • What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1190_other_nietzsche_quotes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1190_other_nietzsche_quotes.mp3 2:52 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Friedrich Nietzsche no Fri, 19 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Of the 18 key figures that created The Enlightenment, the ideology that underpins Western society, David Hume, who explained that passion rather than reason governs human behavior, is the most insightful. Obviously, wise thinkers throughout history had recognized this most basic fact of psychology but it was Hume’s placement in Scotland during the 18th century that made him stand out. Modern science has supported his hypothesis with the discovery of chemicals in the brain that are the source of motivation: dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, etc. This was a highly controversial position at the time; even now because it’s counter to altruistic or theological explanations, and puts homo sapiens on the same level with all living creatures. Hume’s ideas also put him at odds with other prominent figures like Voltaire & Rousseau, who thought that knowledge could be derived by reason alone without experiment or experience. However, Hume did find common cause with John Locke, another towering Enlightenment contributor, and others. What makes this ironic is that Hume made his scientific observations without the tools of science because it was The Enlightenment that developed science. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1189_david_hume.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-26_1189_david_hume.mp3 2:27 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, David Hume no Wed, 17 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review more politics & guns concepts: 1. Candidates get voluntarily conned. 2. Biden’s election made democracy illegitimate. 3. Teddy Roosevelt was one of history’s megastars. 4. Republicans let themselves be cucked for low taxes. 5. JFK would be run out of today's Democrat Party. 6. Ranked-Choice Voting is a long-needed fix to 2-party democracy. 7. The only logic in gun restrictions is illogic. 8. Gun confiscation has been the prelude to 50 million murders. 9. Banning guns for safety is unsafe. 10. Background checks create more crime than they prevent. 11. Just wearing a Guy Fawkes mask can make you a criminal. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1188_politics__guns_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1188_politics__guns_concepts.mp3 2:37 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, politics, guns no Mon, 15 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Famous revolutionaries from other countries include Che, who is the most famous, but Lenin is a close second. However, Great Britain gives celebrity to Guy Fawkes, famous for the “Gunpowder Plot” to blow up the British House of Lords in 1605. Adding to the legend, after he was sentenced to being hanged, drawn & quartered, just before his execution, he fell off the scaffold and died from a broken neck. There's even a Guy Fawkes day in Great Britain, November 5th, Bonfire Night, where in the past, children would make effigies of Guy Fawkes and roll them around in wheelbarrows asking neighbors: “penny for the guy,” then buy fireworks and throw the effigies on a bonfire. In 1982, the graphic novel "V is for Vendetta" by Alan Moore popularized the Guy Fawkes mask: the iconic smiling mustache & goatee. In the book and subsequent movie, the mask was dawned by the populace as part of their rebellion against tyranny. The mask was also adopted by the famously anti-authoritarian hacker group, Anonymous. From there it naturally became the de rigueur costume of anti-state repression demonstrators in Canada, so-much-so that in 2013 the Canadian parliament passed Bill C-309 which specifically made wearing the mask in such a setting a criminal offense: the same Canada that makes wearing a COVID mask mandatory: you can smell the irony from Guy Fawkes’ grave. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1187_guy_fawkes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1187_guy_fawkes.mp3 2:52 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Guy Fawkes no Sat, 13 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The national instant background check system, NICS, conducts background checks on people who want to buy a firearm from a Federal Firearms Licensee, like Walmart. So far in its history, the NICS has examined 40 million transactions: out of that there were 300,000 people who were prevented from buying a firearm. Out of those there were 2 thousand prosecutions. Out of that there were 44 convictions. That means 299,956 honest citizens were falsely accused. It’s obvious that criminals don’t buy their guns at Walmart: only honest people buy them there, and then wait 10 days. Criminals don’t wait, nor are they limited to one gun a month. Who exactly is the NICS affecting? And how detrimental to society is that compared to so many false accusations? Background checks are obviously a bad law because they can’t be justified by the results, are invasive to privacy, and have no value other than political grandstanding. Why is there still a NICS? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1186_background_checks.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1186_background_checks.mp3 2:32 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, NICS, background checks no Thu, 11 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Nothing identifies The Left like being anti-gun. It’s never clear what the anti-gunners argument is: something to do with safety. However, a firearm is only used by violent criminals about 8% of the time, yet it’s estimated that honest citizens use a firearm for self-defense over a half-million times a year, with over 70,000 prevented sexual assaults. People are thousands of times more likely to use a firearm in self-defense than to be a victim of a violent criminal who uses a gun. If safety is indeed the issue, it’s probably more productive for all those safety-first people to get on the banning Driver’s licenses bandwagon. Even though they personally might be good drivers, they’ll ostensibly get the bad driver’s as well. However, there’s 11 million people that drive without a license now, so as usual, only the law-abiding will suffer under the banning Driver's licenses strategy. This is obviously why banning Driver’s licenses is not a credible idea for saving lives. I wonder why The Left doesn’t think the same logic applies to guns? It must be something else they’re really after besides safety. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1185_banning_guns_for_safety.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1185_banning_guns_for_safety.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, gun restrictions, gun-grabbers no Tue, 09 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor In 1911, Turkey confiscated guns, and 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated. In 1929, the Soviet Union confiscated guns, and 20 million dissidents were exterminated. 1935: China confiscated guns. 20 million “enemies” were exterminated. 1938: Germany confiscated guns. 13 million “undesirables” were exterminated. 1959: Cuba confiscated guns. 11,000 “opposition” were exterminated. 1956: Cambodia confiscated guns. 1 million “educated” were exterminated. 1964: Guatemala confiscated guns. 100,000 Mayan Indians were exterminated. 1970: Uganda confiscated guns. 300,000 Christians were exterminated. The conventional excuse for gun confiscation is “don’t worry, the government will protect you.” Unfortunately, over 50 million defenseless people didn’t get the message. And waiting for the other shoe to drop: 1996 Australia, 2013 Venezuela & 2021 Afghanistan confiscated guns. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1184_gun_confiscation.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1184_gun_confiscation.mp3 2:30 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, gun confiscation no Sun, 07 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor One of the more insidious strategies of gun-grabbers is to force gun owners to buy gun insurance. The first question is: how would insurance reduce whatever it is the gun-grabbers want to reduce? It doesn’t, of course, it just discourages gun ownership, or more likely, makes the vast majority of gun owners into criminals who can be prosecuted arbitrarily. Then there’s gun purchase age requirements: why 21? Why not 25 or even 100? What if there were a law that prevented Freedom of Speech until 21? Or 25? Or 100? Gun-grabbers point to cigarette age restrictions but smoking isn’t a constitutionally guaranteed right, and kids still smoke & drink anyway. Then there’s the gun-grabbing strategy of making guns a public health issue under the control of the CDC? Should the CDC be dictating the rules for guns? Or automobiles? Or sports? Or bathtubs? A strategy against proposed gun-grabber legislation would be to take the text of their new law, change only enough wording to turn the penalties & responsibilities back onto them, then introduce it simultaneously. For example, isn’t a gun already insurance? Shouldn’t people who don’t own guns have to buy cash insurance to match it? And with age requirements: if someone isn’t mature enough to own a gun until they’re 21, shouldn’t they be prohibited from joining the military or voting until that age? Gun restrictions are simply to get people used to the idea of gun confiscation. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1183_gun_restrictions.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-25_1183_gun_restrictions.mp3 3:00 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, gun restrictions, gun-grabbers no Fri, 05 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor People are starting to accept the fact that strict majority-outcome democracy has some major flaws, particularly in the situation where the vote is split among conservative candidates but not for the liberal candidate so that even though the district is majority conservative, the liberal wins; or vice versa. One possible solution that is actually being implemented in some places is Ranked-Choice Voting, or RCV. The idea is that voters pick a second choice candidate too and the votes are calculated at least twice to see who wins. The biggest advantage of RCV is that it would allow Third Parties to actually compete. For example, a liberal-leaning voter could give their first vote to the candidate they liked the best, and the second vote to the establishment party: people would be unafraid of wasting their vote and candidates could be a much better fit for the jurisdiction. Unfortunately, like the Electoral College, RCV could have multiple winners, and it’s complicated by the different implementations, sometimes even multiple rounds of voting: that wouldn’t go over well. And does RCV really solve anything when one person is supposed to represent millions? Democracy has probably reached its expiration date regardless of how it’s done. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1182_ranked-choice_voting.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1182_ranked-choice_voting.mp3 2:26 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Ranked-Choice Voting, RCV no Wed, 03 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor John F. Kennedy, JFK, was considered the ideal president in the last century. He was the youngest president too, and photogenic, which contributed to the fairytale quality of his administration, so-much-so that it was called “Camelot.” But he was also at the center of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 13 days in 1962: if that Russian submarine commander with the nuclear missile onboard had contacted his chain-of-command instead of surfacing, it could have been the end of everything. Then there was JFK’s Russian-sympathizer assassin, possibly orchestrated by the mob. All of that is certainly noteworthy enough to secure JFK’s place in history, but not his place in the Democrat party. Consider the time: JFK was liberty-centric & anti-Communist. The 4 collectivist programs he supported: military, judiciary, Welfare & Social security, was as far left as the old Dems used to go. Compared to Republicans and most Democrats of the time, he was downright revolutionary but today he would be considered a RINO. JFK wouldn’t be accepted by today’s Cultural Marxists. In fact, he almost blew the world up to stop the Commies, who the Democrats now aspire to be. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1181_jfk.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1181_jfk.mp3 2:28 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, JFK no Mon, 01 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Republicans have no ideology, nor anyone to promote it. No taxes; no abortion; is the only thing that separates them from Democrats. They don't have a plan to fight back against the encroachment of egalitarianism, nor do they even seem to be looking for one. The Republican party apparatus has a heavy NeoCon component that prefers authoritarianism, even Fascism; it needs to realign to support MAGA. Republicans also have no civilian organizations acting in their behalf, neither overtly nor covertly. Where’s their Antifa or BLM or Davos or SPLC or “fact checkers” or anything? They’ve completely lost the media, even letting Fox News go over to the other side. The election was a fraud yet where were the majority of Republicans in those States calling it out? Republicans lost the Senate because they drove off the Trumpers. At least half of Republicans are Covidians. There’s no charitable way to say this: Republicans are cucks. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1180_republican_cucks.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1180_republican_cucks.mp3 2:14 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Republicans no Sat, 30 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor President Theodore Roosevelt is my personal role model but he could never have been elected today. It's hard to go back 100 years and figure out the wisdom of Americans: read Teddy Roosevelt's biography, it's like something alien. At the time he was the most famous man in the world: riding up San Juan Hill with a troop he assembled and led in the only successful cavalry charge in history against an entrenched position with guns, his horse was shot out from under him, and both men to either side were killed. TR lost and buried his son while in Ecuador searching for the source of the Amazon, and ultimately died of the Yellow Fever he contracted there. Teddy’s progressive 10-point political platform from his Bull Moose days has since been fully adopted in the U.S. His hunting collection was the start of the Museum of Natural History. He established, organized, and funded the Conservation movement. His face is on Mt. Rushmore. What more proof do you need? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1179_teddy_roosevelt.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1179_teddy_roosevelt.mp3 2:11 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, Teddy Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt no Thu, 28 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Joe Biden is not a legitimate president because his election was illegitimate. Trump lost by election fraud supported by constant MSM propaganda causing TDS in the majority of the population so that they chose to look the other way while the Never-Trumpers, Tech & The Swamp ignored the evidence. They only needed to target 4 counties to get the Electoral College, 4 States that Trump WON the 1st time. It’s pretty clear now that was the intent of “mail in” votes; they need votes, mail them in. Just look at the votes mysteriously dropped in the wee hours of the morning: Trump was ahead by 800K, 300K & 100K, and coincidentally, in each State Biden got just the number he needed. In fact, it was close to 100% votes for Biden; not even any write-ins candidates got votes, which is impossible. And GA had 40K ballots by 16-year olds, and another 160K by felons, 100-year olds, PO boxes, late registration & out-of-State votes. Amazingly, after the successful soft coup Time magazine admitted there was “a vast, cross-partisan campaign to protect the election - an extraordinary shadow effort [that] touched every aspect of the election. They got states to change voting systems and laws and helped secure hundreds of millions in public and private funding. They fended off lawsuits, recruited armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time.” Trump got more votes than any sitting president in history yet we are to believe that a demented old fool with his hand in the cookie jar with empty rallies and an inability to speak got 10 million more than that? Credit to the CIA, or whoever rigged this thing: well done. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1178_biden_illegitimate.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1178_biden_illegitimate.mp3 3:24 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, election fraud, illegitimate, Biden no Tue, 26 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Elections are won by whoever has the largest constituency: their experience & resume is immaterial. The candidate has to belong to a large church, ethnic group, or some other dependable voting block. That’s the obvious side of elections but the underbelly is that the candidate’s primary role is to raise money for the party: no one ever asks, or even wants to know, what their position is on anything. Whether they win is not the most important thing. Political parties have a lot of expenses and make most of the cost to cover theses things by exploiting money out of naive, narcissistic, first-time candidates, going so far as to pressure them to borrow from their family & friends. The parties then attach huge costs to the campaign which the candidate is expected to pay for: managers, voting software, organization efforts, offices, the list is long. It’s a fortune even before promotional costs. The dismal fact is that nobody wins the first time they run, so the system embarrasses & bankrupts an endless stream of hopeful but futile once-and-outers. The corruption is so insidious that only former candidates know about it. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1177_getting_elected.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1177_getting_elected.mp3 2:16 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, candidates no Sun, 24 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Let’s review some social justice concepts: 1. Honesty in news reporting was lost when the Fairness Doctrine was abandoned. 2. Communists in pre-war Germany would have instantly recognized Wokeness as Marxism. 3. Black Nationalism is no better nor worse than White Nationalism. 4. Being “black” or “white” is no longer an issue of race. 5. Anti-anti doesn’t make a positive. 6. Men don’t want to be at war with women so they surrendered. 7. Women no longer understand subservience but men still do. 8. Bezmenov predicted everything that’s happening in America today because he helped light the fuse. 9. Joseph Stalin was a sincere sociopath with unlimited power: the worst kind. 10. The Left intends to flip everything on its head. 11. Democrat OWGs must want to be dupes. You may get your news somewhere else but take your advice from me, the Wysest Myn in the Wyrld. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1176_social_justice_concepts.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1176_social_justice_concepts.mp3 2:41 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, social justice no Fri, 22 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor The Left has no use for old white guys, OWGs, except to use them as dupes, especially when it comes to obfuscating the true intentions of Leftism: for example, Gun Control is an obvious cover for gun confiscation but the OWGs in the Democrat party continually deny it. Another example: feminists are pretty honest about their intentions to assume superiority but for tactical reasons they let their OWGs be duplicitous about equality. Same thing with Critical Race Theory, Marxism, and hoaxes like Climate Alarmism & Lockdowns: it's always the Democrat OWGs running interference. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to admit to themselves what Leftism’s true intentions are? Or perhaps they’re motivated by mischief, malevolence, or even masochism? Do they know that if they win, OWGs are going to be the losers no matter what their past actions were: toadies will be shackled right along with everyone else. It’s been pointed out to them time-and-again that they’re dupes but they must like it that way? politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1175_owg_dupes.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1175_owg_dupes.mp3 2:19 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, OWG, old white guys no Wed, 20 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Though both the Left and the Right are authoritarian, they are generally distinguishable as the losers or the winners in society: the status quo vs. those who want to be. The Right is normally in control because feudalism works; however, when inequality gets bad enough, resentment & despair will swell the ranks of the Left until they threaten the established order, eventually toppling it, but only lasting until the fundamental weakness of their egalitarian ideology causes an inevitable disintegration of society, which is then again picked back up by the Right. In the meantime, while the Left is making their play for power, all values are turned upside-down. It’s the Left vs. the Constitution: constrained speech; the Left vs. medicine: sex is a social construct; the Left vs. merit: diversity hiring; the Left vs. Science: censor conflicting facts; the Left vs. progress: environmental alarmism; the Left vs. math: 2 + 2 = 5; the Left vs. personal responsibility: the state provides; the Left vs. men: toxic masculinity; the Left vs. religion: denigrate morals. Basically, it’s the Left vs. everything. politics & humor https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1174_the_left_vs_everything.mp3 https://www.martinhash.com/podcast/?name=2021-11-24_1174_the_left_vs_everything.mp3 2:31 martin@hash.com (Martin Hash) Martin Hash politics, humor, the left no Mon, 18 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0700 politics & humor Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He rose to power by ruthlessly exploiting his bureaucratic role as secretary of the Bolshevik party, where he was in charge of record keeping & correspondence. He used that power to control the party and eliminate his competition. Stalin was of average intelligence, and had the sociopathy of an Asperger’s. He was certainly a fo