politics on Peterhiltz.com

Red Card to America From Australia

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:18:19 -0400

The following take-down by an Australian is unfortunately too true. And will be ignored by the right. Sigh. Red card. A birthday message from Australia to America (by Andrew Brown, Michael West Media) As Belgium responded to the corruption of Trump and Infantino in the best way possible by thumping the US soccer team, Andrew Brown sends birthday greetings to a foundering empire. Dear America, Happy 250th, mate. Quarter of a millennium.

Lip Service Thanks Rant

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:18:19 -0400

We just had Veterans Day in the US (honoring those who served in the US armed forces) which is not the same as Memorial Day (honoring those who died in the service of the US armed forces). That means we get to watch more lip service “Thank you for your service” statements performance theater. You don’t see these people giving those thanks to visibly disabled former service personnel. You don’t see these people giving condolences to families who lost family members in the service.

The DIE World View

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:18:19 -0400

Lynn Ungar posted a really interesting note on substack talking about what she refers to as the Dominion, Individualism and Extraction (DIE) worldview. “Dominion is belief that a) you are superior and b) that your superiority entitles you to exert control over others who are inferior.” “Individualism: Not to be confused with individuality, which celebrates the ways that each person is unique, individualism refuses to see the infinite, complex ways that systems are connected.

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:18:19 -0400

Techdirt just published a blog post entitiled Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog - Whether We Like It Or Not. Techdirt has been a blog for 27 years dealing with the intersection of technology and policy, often targeting copyright, patents, censorship and privacy issues. They are now asking the question “But what happens when the fundamental systems that make all of those conversations possible start breaking down? When the people dismantling those systems aren’t even pretending to replace them with something better?

Move Fast and Break Things

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 14:18:19 -0400

I heard a news interviewer asking someone about how they felt about Elon Musk’s applying normal business methods, specifically “move fast and break things” to the US Federal government and really wanted to be the one to answer the question. The question demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding that must be corrected. “Move Fast and Break Things” is not a business method, it is a Venture Capitalist approach to businesses.

Media Literacy Index

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 14:18:19 -0400

The Open Society Institute attempted to develop a predictor of media literacy in 2019 here. The intent was to develop ideas for resiliency against fake news, post-truth, etc and offset the diminishing public trust and severely polarized politics. It’s an interesting idea but I think it needs more development. This post is a summary of my overthinking of their predicator. CAUTION: Long (About 8,200 words). No, I don’t expect anyone to read it.

Defending the Innocent

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 14:18:19 -0400

It is a sad commentary on media and the species that so many things are seen only in binary. We are told we are on one side or the other whether we want to be or not - You are with us or you are against us. Either you support X or Y, the A or the B! The innocent noncombatants are conflated with one combatant or the other and then dehumanized and erased from existence.

What is Human?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I’ve been reading some of the attempts on the anti-abortion side to avoid tying themselves into knots with respect to the definition of when something is a person. This is similar, but not exactly the same as the Cartesian duality question of whether mind and body are separate. In a religious sense it also seems to touch on when a soul is attached to a body. Obviously they can’t say “soul” in the United States due to separation of church and state, but they can use “personhood” as a substitute.

Reposting a Lynn Ungar Post

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:18:19 -0400

After the leaked draft of the US Supreme Court decision yesterday, I decided to share this post from Lynn Ungar, a UU minister. Source: https://www.facebook.com/shirley.worth/posts/10159952661629483 OK, this is going to take a minute, but hear me out. I am pro-religion. I’ve been an ordained minister for 30 years, and not the kind of ordination you buy online. I believe in people coming together in community, being accountable to one another, and to something that is larger than our individual whiny selves.

Lies and Silence

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I recently saw someone post a quote that reads as follows: “If you have something to say, then silence is a lie.” I couldn’t help myself and responded “But what if what you have to say is a lie?” I was immediately downvoted because the participants thought I was commenting on the author (who I will leave unnamed) rather than the quote itself. I think that speaks to the sorry state of affairs and the unwillingness to actually engage.

Motte and Bailey

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I have run into an argumentation tactic several times in the last few years and I finally discovered that it has an actual name. Consider the following: You and I are arguing over something which has a common usage understanding. I can’t convince you and then I insist that we are arguing over something using a technical definition different than common usage. I can prove my point using that definition. Have I won the original point?

Joscha Bach on Political Opinions

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 14:18:19 -0400

I like this comment from Joscha Bach, a German cognitive scientist: “Political opinions are unlike other kinds of opinions: they appear to be without alternative to the one who has them. ‘This protest is invalid, because the people who participate in it are wrong.’ = ‘These people have political opinions that are different from mine.'” I sometimes need to remind myself that other people’s ways of looking at things may or may not be better than how I look at things.

Upcculfity

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I was watching a youtube video on Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity and reading the comments left me thinking about the many feet of lumber in both the eyes of the commenters and myself. I’m going to somewhat change the terminology used because it is rather loaded with dog whistles and use a made-up word “upcculf” or “upcculfity”, which I will define as a state of conciousness of a true believer in X (left wing, right wing, multi-level marketing, crypto currencies, anti-vax, blind intellectualism, … [insert name your belief to which you have become a convert]).

False Equivalences

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I don’t know about you, but I often see exchanges of the following type (replace “murder” with any of a thousand different behaviors which are unkind to other people): Team Humanity member: “Murder is wrong. Gang A and Gang B murder people. Stop it.” Gang A member: “That is false equivalence. Gang B murders more people and more enthusiastically than we do.” Team Humanity member: “Stop murdering people.

Retired One Year and No Regrets

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 14:18:19 -0400

So, one year into retirement and so far no regrets. I could rant at the abyss about the global state of affairs, but I know exactly how much attention the abyss would pay. Several people asked me if I was behind the Twitter feed @GoodTaxTakes. The answer is no, but I agree with probably 90% of it. Click on the title of this post for some thoughts about the current state of affairs in international tax which I can get away with because I don’t represent anyone anymore.

Covid and Police

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Per the Officer Down Memorial page, so far 243 police officers have died in the line of duty in 2021 and of those deaths, 132 are from COVID-19. So more deaths from Covid than every other cause combined. Remind me why police unions are opposed to masks and vaccination? Seriously, I don’t get it.

Do People Actually Want Solutions?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 14:18:19 -0400

It seems like a lot of people would have no meaning to life if they didn’t have someone to hate. Fortunately I hate everyone so a lot of targets would have to go away. From time to time friends in the international tax arena call and update me on the latest goings on. Usually it is fairly clear that most of the parties at the table are engaged in political posturing but do not actually seem to want to resolve the issues.

More Deaths by Pens than by Guns?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I’ve been hearing horror stories from friends in the medical field about COVID deniers even as they are gasping for breath. Many of these people (and their families) simultaneously deny the existence of COVID and insist that the doctors gave it to them to get more money. How did this happen? Because people told them lies. Children are taught the saying “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Spherical Cow or Assume a Can Opener?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I was told yesterday that business people don’t cheat or cut corners because if they did, investors would punish them and that if I had studied finance I would understand that. It was all I could do to avoid just responding with maniacal laughter. Last year I had an economics professor tell me that Google and Amazon are not profit maximizing companies because they do not operate the way that microeconomic theory says that they will.

Lets Talk About Bitcoin

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Bitcoin is another example of the gig economy - outsourcing business costs to someone else who may or may not recover their costs. In addition, there is the question of its impact on the environment. Let’s spend a minute thinking about what bitcoin really is. Bitcoin is a let’s pretend commodity, limited by contract to 21 million bitcoins. Simplifying greatly, bitcoins are supposed to be a way to exchange value and anonymously with the transaction guaranteed by cryptoanalysis.

Nothing is that Simple

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Sometimes (some people would say often) I feel the need to flag some study in an area I am completely unqualified to comment on the substance. I am, however, really good at pulling apart logic, generalizations and over-broad journalistic pronouncements, however, so I feel completely at ease in doing that. What else is the internet for? WARNING: Long read. Cambridge University researchers just came out with a study entitled The cognitive and perceptual correlates of ideological attitudes: a data-driven approach with a rather astounding claim in the abstract: “[W]e uncovered the specific psychological signatures of political, nationalistic, religious and dogmatic beliefs.

Definition Oriented v. Culture Oriented

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Shirley pointed me towards an interesting article entitled Why You Can’t Understand Conservative Rhetoric. I’ll change the terminology slightly to “Definition Oriented People” and “Culture Oriented People”. Think of the word “red” as in the color. A physicist or a graphic designer may have an exact definition of what that word means. I can point to something and say it is red and something else is not red (examples), but I wouldn’t be able to actually define “red”.

Britain takes lead in shellfish conservation!

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Britain has taken the lead in shellfish conservation and restoration! By accident. EU health and safety rules have long required shellfish to be purified and processed and any shellfish brought into the EU must have been purified and processed before entry. While Britain has a shellfish industry, all the purification and processing has been done on the continent. Can you see where this is going? Yeah. Until Britain builds a shellfish purification and processing plant, the entire British shellfish industry is practically shutdown because almost all their sales were to the continent.

My Sympathies for Ghana

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

As far as I can tell, Ghana is getting hammered by Brexit. Huh? What? Yes, 40% of Ghana’s banana crop is sold to the UK. Now that the UK is no longer part of the EU and therefore the trade agreement which would have applied no longer exists, Ghana’s bananas are subject to tariffs on import. One UK importer indicated it was 20k pounds a week in increased tariffs, not counting the additional red tape.

Amanda Gorman - Inaugural Poem - The Hill We Climb

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I thought I would just put Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Poem “The Hill We Climb” here. I have no idea where line breaks should be. Note to self - there are poetry readings on Youtube, but check out the ones by the poet, not by actors reading the poetry. Do poets do poetry readings on Zoom? “Mr President, Dr Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr Emhoff, Americans and the world: when day comes we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

Is Media Emotionally Abusing its Viewers?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Someone on Reddit made a comment about fear driving the extreme ends of the political spectrum and that the media drives that fear because it creates addiction and keeps their viewers/listeners and enables their market. That leads me to the question of whether the media (at least at the extremes) could be viewed as emotionally abusing their viewers or listeners. Thoughts? As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link.

Unity Requires Shared Reality

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

I spent my career finding ways to thread through conflicting laws and priorities in multiple countries. Once you found a way to thread through the conflicts, you could pull it together in a way that made sense and reduce the conflicts. The most difficult situations were when governments were intentionally writing rules that favored their national interests and penalized other countries' businesses. Sometimes the public and private rhetoric was different. This generally happened only when you had achieved a respectful relationship with the government officials - they still wouldn’t change their positions, but they would admit to the politics involved rather than the logic.

Hanlon's Razor and Useful Idiots

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

While lots of social media focused on videos of individual Capitol Police being “friendly” to the rioters I want to focus on Capitol Police leadership. If you might recall, I mentioned “Hanlon’s Razor” in an earlier post. Hanlon’s razor says that you should never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence or stupidity. I also mentioned that malice is often assumed to be someone being out to get you, but more often the person is just out for themselves and you are collateral damage (roadkill).

Children's Crusade or Bay of Pigs or ???

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

President Trump told attendees at the political rally earlier in the day to “take back our country”. Rudy Giuliani told the same crowd at the rally “If we are wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we’re right a lot of them will go to jail. So let’s have trial by combat.trial by combat” and is now condemning the assault on the Capitol as shameful. I’ve been watching interviews of reporters who talked to the mob that rushed the Capitol yesterday.

What Can I Say?

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

Ok. My December 20 post Case Nightmare Orange was wrong. It considered whether President Trump might try to use Homeland Security forces to disrupt the Congressional certification of the Electoral College results. There was, however, a distinct lack of police manpower to deal with protests that everyone saw coming. Looking at this video, there was no way those four police officers could deal with that mob. It didn’t look like much more manpower than normal around the Capitol building.

Happy? Brexit UK - Now About the Paperwork

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 14:18:19 -0400

So today the initial transition period for the UK leaving the EU is over and the next stage of transition periods begin. Since the UK government did sod all to actually prepare, at 11PM on Dec 31 the government issued notices saying, among other things, that shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland don’t need export paperwork for another 12 months (because no one knows what the paperwork should look like).

Case Nightmare Orange

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Suppose, in some far off land, there lived a president and his inner circle who had gaslit themselves into believing that an election had been stolen rather than lost. That somehow or other the opposition who couldn’t organize themselves out of a paper bag had convinced the deep state and all the judges and republican owned voting machine manufacturers to change just the presidential votes. Now suppose my post about Your Brain on Grievances has some validity and they decide on one more attempt to retain power when the Congress goes to count the votes.

Your Brain on Grievances

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is an interesting article on Politico about Grievance Addiction focusing on Donald Trump. The author is James Kimmel, Jr., a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale Med School and he notes that “your brain on grievances looks a lot like your brain on drugs. In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.”

Talking Past Each Other We Are

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I was reading a discussion on social media about a request for a book recommendation and, after awhile, thought maybe I should be diagramming arguments. The request was for science fiction book recommendations from a conservative, non-libertarian view. The person submitting the request specifically asked for books where “the central tenets of conservatism - tradition, hierarchy and authority - are working for humanity; where tradition is used to help, guide and comfort people rather than cynically used as a tool to keep people down.

Senator Tillis, I Don't Understand

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Senator Thom Tillis is angry that Twitter is not sending a witness to an Anti-Piracy hearing he is holding in December. Setting aside the question of why the Senator is actually holding a hearing in December, I’m puzzled why the Senator thinks Twitter is a giant avenue of piracy. Lies and deceit, yes, but piracy? The Senator’s letter to Twitter claims that “[Twitter] continues to host and permit rampant infringement of music files on its platform” and that it hasn’t taken any “meaningful steps to address the scale of the problem.

Update on Kentucky Police Training - Warrior or Guardian

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

An update on an earlier post about a training deck used by the Kentucky State Police urging cadets to be ruthless killers and quoting Hitler advocating violence. At the time that story broke on Oct 30, the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet claimed the material had been removed in 2013. Since that date, state police have not replied to subsequent records requests. Maybe that particular slide deck was removed in 2013, but the Lexington Herald Leader reported today, confirmed by the Governor and the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet that another training video had been approved for training use in September of this year that featured Nazi symbols.

Thank You Aaron Van Langevelde

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Thank you Aaron Van Langevelde, the Republican member of the Michigan board of state canvassers who said “We must not attempt to exercise power we simply don’t have. As John Adams once said, ‘We are a government of laws, not men.’ This board needs to adhere to that principle here today. This board must do its part to uphold the rule of law and comply with our legal duty to certify this election.

We need a new enemy

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Given the degree of polarization in the US, I don’t see both sides making nice. The obvious answer is to stop trying to shove the two magnets together and get them both focused on a new common enemy. I’d prefer the common enemy to be COVID or climate change, but such a large percentage of the US is anti-science that those would just feed the current polarization. The only thought I’ve been able to come up with so far is anti-corruption, and it needs to be targeted at both in business and government.

Sound Familiar? Extracts from Guards, Guards

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

These are extracts from Guards, Guards, a fantasy novel written by the late Terry Pratchett in 1989. Sound familiar to any current events? Historical events? The Supreme Grand Master “What a shower, he told himself. A bunch of incompetents no other secret society would touch with a ten-foot Sceptre of Authority. The sort to dislocate their fingers with even the simplest secret handshake. But incompetents with possibilities, nevertheless. Let the other societies take the skilled, the hopefuls, the ambitious, the self-confident.

I've put myself in your shoes. You're still wrong

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

A lot of times I find myself telling people that I don’t disagree with them BUT… Everyone’s ears and brain immediately shut down at the word “But”. I know it, and still can’t help myself. The word “AND"works much better. The point that I am often trying to make is asking the person whether they are actually trying to accomplish something or just rant. To change a situation, you either need enough force to override the other side or you need to change minds on the other side.

Where is Peru's President?

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

As a distraction from US politics, where is Peru’s president? Let’s set the scene. More than half of the members of Congress are currently under investigation for corruption. Congress removed the popular former President Martín Vizcarra on Nov 9 claiming he had mismanaged the COVID situation and claiming he had taken bribes while as a regional governor years ago. The head of Congress, Manuel Merino, took over as President and faced immediate huge protests, leading to police killing two protestors and injuring dozens of others on Saturday.

Disorganization?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Just out of curiosity, I looked back at my phone and text messages over the course of the election season. I had two phone calls from campaigners before actual voting was possible and none after that. I counted 34 text messages from different groups campaigning for a democrat candidate, 32 of them for Biden, 27 of which thought I was someone named Sarah. I responded to each one, pointing out (1) I wasn’t Sarah; (2) I’ve had my cellphone number since 2006 so this is not likely some change of number faux pas; and (3) I had already voted on the first possible day by dropping of my ballot at the City Clerk’s office.

Adding Insult to Self Inflicted Injury

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

As you know, the UK is leaving the European Union by choice (aka Brexit) regardless of the economic damage that is expected to cause. As a result, the UK will now have to setup customs import and export locations for goods getting shipped to and from the EU. As part of that project, they are building a 27 acre lorry (truck for the Americans) parking lot in Kent to handle backups from the port in Dover.

Guardian or Warrior?

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

A high school newspaper in Kentucky broke a story on October 30 about a training slideshow used by the Kentucky State Police urging cadets to be “ruthless killers[s]” and quoting Hitler advocating violence. By 4:15 PM that day, the Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear responded with the following statement: “This is absolutely unacceptable. It is further unacceptable that I just learned about this through social media. We will collect all the facts and take immediate corrective action.

Enough With the Name Calling

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 14:18:19 -0400

All the jokes and insults about the other side just make the polarization worse. So stop it. We are wired differently, we think differently we respond to different motivations. For example, one study Political Ideology and the Perceived Impact of Coronavirus Prevention Behaviors for the Self and Others indicates that conservatives apparently are more likely to wear masks if you point out it keeps them safer and less likely to wear masks if you point out it keeps others safer.

Tax Law Changes Won't Bring Back Jobs

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I’m trying to stay away from taxes on this blog, but I was just asked again whether Biden’s tax plan would bring back manufacturing jobs to the US. I’m always a little disappointed when someone asks this question and particularly disappointed if that person is in the Federal government. It indicates that the person asking the question is so fixated on “taxes” that they have not stopped to think about all the other aspects and will be spectacularly unsuccessful.

Most Dangerous Jobs in the US and Where Do Those Numbers Come From?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

This blog is eclectic because I can get sidetracked by lots of different things. Yesterday was the origin of the word “scientist”. Today it is data sourcing and analysis. WARNING: This is a data analysis rat hole expedition. Someone made a comment to me that police were the 22nd most dangerous job in the US which triggered some recollection in my brain that I had seen a report where they were 16th.

Gender and the Origin of 'Scientist'

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

There is general agreement that the word “scientist” was coined by William Whewell (May 24, 1794 - March 6, 1866), a carpenter’s son who won a scholarship to Trinity College and eventually became the Master of Trinity College. He was a polymath and John Herschel described him as “… a more wonderful variety and amount of knowledge in almost every department of human inquiry was perhaps never in the same interval of time accumulated by any man.

Happy Anniversary Treaty of Westphalia - You Founding Myth

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

The “Treaty of Westphalia” aka “Peace of Westphalia” is the combination of treaties signed in October 1648 in Osnabruck and Munster ending the Thirty Years War which had killed eight million people, including 30% of the population of what is now Germany. To give an idea of how complicated the political situation was, there were 109 different delegations represented. Some sources claim the peace conference had thousands of ancillary diplomats and support staff who needed housing and food despite the famine all around them caused by the war.

What Data do Companies Collect on You?

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

One of the many cultural differences between the US and Europe seems to be that Americans don’t trust the government collecting data about themselves but seem to find it acceptable that companies collect data and Europe seems to be the reverse. The American idea becomes an exercise in futility as soon as you understand that the government buys data from companies if it can’t collect the data directly. But what about other geographies and what data is getting collected about you anyway?

Stop Comparing COVID-19 Death Rates

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I really get tired of people comparing death rates from COVID-19 v. XYZ and thinking that is the end of the story - it isn’t so bad. NO. As the Mayo Clinic says, most people who have it recovery completely within a few weeks. But many people end up with lingering problems because it damages the lung and other organs. Organ damage caused by COVID-19 Organs that may be affected by COVID-19 include:

Government Obligations?

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

For any of you small government types reading this, the following applies to state and local governments as well as the Federal govt. The Supreme Court has held that the government (police or social services) does not have a duty to protect individuals from harm, even when they know harm will occur. See DeShaney vs. Winnebago 489 U.S. 189 (1989) and Town of Castle Rock vs. Gonzales. See also Warren v.

What do Peace and Liberty Mean?

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Mike Lee, US Senator from Utah tweeted the following on Oct 7, 2020: “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.” Subsequent tweets included “We’re not a democracy”, Government is the official use of coercive force-nothing more and nothing less. The Constitution protects us by limiting the use of government force" and “The word ‘democracy’ appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy.

Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste - Part Two

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I can’t possibly express the anger I feel at the irresponsibility of a tweet saying don’t fear COVID. As of Oct 6, there have been 1,038,534 COVID deaths globally and 208,433 COVID deaths in the US. https://covid19.who.int/ There have been 35 million globally confirmed cases, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people who survived, but have respiratory and other problems caused by COVID. There is a reason to fear COVID but as I have expressed before - I can’t make people care about other people.

Use the Right Tool For the Job

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

When all you know is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In the most recent case, the UK managed to drop almost 16,000 COVID-19 cases from their result compilation because they were using Excel in the data gathering process. Excel has a limit on the number of rows or columns and apparently the amount of data exceeded one or the other of those limits. A BBC Report claims that the row limit was breached because someone chose to use a very old file format.

Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste - Part One

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

This post will likely get deleted as things progress, but my innate cynicism is too strong to keep quiet right now. So, I just saw the news that President Trump tweeted that he had tested positive for COVID-19. It is interesting that it happened the same day that a Cornell study claimed the President was the single greatest source of covid disinformation. This also has national security implications. See a twitter thread from Sam Vinograd, a national security expert, written before the news but after a White House Staffer tested positive.

Adding Injury to Injury - Ransomware Victims That Pay May Be Penalized By The Government

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Suppose you are a business that has been hacked and discover that all your files are locked and you will need to pay some unknown X to get them unlocked. Not Fun. Paying ransoms just make it more enticing to criminals and fund future attacks, but not paying may cause your business to fail. The US Treasury now says if you pay and the unknown person is subject to US sanctions, then you and everyone involved in the payments may be committing a crime.

Read the words

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Trying to have a rational conversation is difficult enough without people fixating on a single word in a sentence and then letting their lizard hind brain take control. A recent case in point was an article in the Washington Post about political scientists and sociologists concerned that the US is backsliding into autocracy. Link. One of the people commenting immediately started saying that this was sensationalist nonsense to sell papers - the President does not have autocratic power and the people around him are managing him very well so as to ensure that he never gets that power.

If We Close Our Eyes - Libertarian Edition

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I was browsing some libertarian social media sites trying to understand the different variations of libertarians and I was struck by the similarity with religious converts. If you believe in the invisible market hand, then everything will be fine is the same as if you believe in my version of God, then everything will be fine. When asking about exploitation, I was pointed to this quote: “With the State - biggest, baddest exploiter of all time - out of the picture, exploitation, in terms of aggression, would all but vanish.

Its not Capitalism v. Communism, Its Corruption v. Everyone

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

It is painful to watch the echo chambers missing what is happening right in front of their faces because they are so fixated on the enemy they have been brought up to hate. Is it that corruption is okay if its the guys behind our cheerleaders engaged in the corruption? I see people point to the problems in Venezuela as demonstrating the evils of socialism. No, the problems in Venezuela demonstrate the evils of corruption.

Woe is You

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 19 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Terry Pratchett once said “Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it’s not satire, it’s bullying.” I absolutely agree. At the same time, I want you to think about the phrase “people who are hurting”. Let’s assume that someone is hurting but it is not “justifiable” in your mind. Have you now decided that they aren’t really hurting? There seems to be a tendency by both parties to a disagreement to deny the reality of any hurt feelings by the other side and claim that they are the only side that has the right to feel hurt.

RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Peter Hiltz — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:18:19 -0400

RIP Justice Ginsburg. From a pure power politics perspective I can understand why the Republicans said that they will bring the next nominee to a vote before the US election. I can’t make people care about other people. But don’t for a second believe that there are any morals or ethics left in the bloody carcass of a once respectable party. As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link.

When The Disgusted Have Left

Peter Hiltz — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Apparently there is an old French proverb that says “When the disgusted have left, only the disgusting remain”. Painful, but true. There does become a point where leaving someplace because you cannot continue to work there and keep your integrity creates the danger that the place will get worse. However, if you have been sidelined and are no longer effective in trying to keep some integrity, morals, ethics there, then staying doesn’t help and maybe society is better placed for change from the outside.

Oh Look, A Squirrel! Christopher Columbus Edition

Peter Hiltz — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

Introduction (because this will be long) There is an old proverb that you should never meet your heroes or heroines. If you do, you will see their feet of clay. How you do react? If you have idolized and attached a sense of yourself to the hero or heroine, people often either hide the issues and double down on the hero/heroine worship or they are so upset they throw away the good with the bad.

Counting Coup in an Echo Chamber and Other Wastes of Time

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:18:19 -0400

I watched Ed Miliband’s speech in the UK Parliament and then watched all the social media posts from the “Remainders” congratulating each other. A typical title started “Boris Johnson’s humiliation by Ed Miliband…”. The same thing happens on the other side. It doesn’t matter whether it is in the UK, the US, India or elsewhere and it doesn’t matter what the subject is so long as there are at least two extremes on the position.

Beliefs, Opinions and Personalities

Peter Hiltz — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 06:18:19 -0400

I will posit this as my opinion - it is easier to change opinions than it is to change beliefs. The line drawing between opinions and beliefs is probably fuzzy, however. I would also suggest that your own personality will affect whether seeing facts contrary to your own opinion will cause you to change that opinion. I think this opinion of mine gets some support in a recent paper (abstract published at Close Minded Cognition).

That paper determined that people scoring high in the desire for order, structure and preservation of social norms tend to be less successful at correcting erroneous beliefs when confronted by new information. For those people, a close-minded cognitive style negatively influences belief updating. (click on the title to see more)

Ghosts of Westminster

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

There is a difference between politician: “one engaged in party
politics, especially as a trade; one who promotes the interests of a
political party, one concerned with public affairs for the sake of
profit or of a clique.” and statesman: “enlightened, disinterested,
and high-minded service to the state or the people of the state”.

We usually have too many politicians and not enough statesmen.

Give Me a Reason

Peter Hiltz — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

For my daughter when she was in junior high school. If you insisted on
a rule and justified it because the authority figure said so, you
guaranteed a fight. If you gave reasonable reasons for the rule, there
wouldn’t be any problem. I’ve seen reports that up to 30% of any human
population consists of authoritarians. Those in power want mindless
obedience. Even those not in positions of power want to be
thoughtlessly led and will insist on mindless obedience to authority
and punishment otherwise.

What Will Happen to Magic

Peter Hiltz — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

There is a place for warriors. There is a place for story
tellers. Sometimes both groups forget there is a need for the other.

History Cycles

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you wonder if the human race will ever stop the fighting.

I Remember Back

Peter Hiltz — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you wonder if the human race will ever stop the fighting.