Bretigne Shaffer's Truth and Fiction

Fiction and commentary about the beauty of civilization and the evils of the coercive state
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  • Bretigne Shaffer

Douglas Adams and the Vogons at my School Nov 12, 2015

I discovered The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy around the time that I was suspended from school for going to get my lunch before the bell rang.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote16 7

Kunta Kinte Had it Coming Nov 4, 2015

And I guess they're right. If you don't want to get beaten up or killed by big guys wearing uniforms, then you should keep your mouth shut and always do everything they say. Just like Kunta Kinte should have kept his mouth shut and stopped trying to run away if he didn't want to keep getting beaten and have body parts cut off. Only that's not the world I want to live in. I don't want to live in a society where a group of people gets to demand obedience from another group of people, and gets to beat them...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote39 20

Happy Halloween from Anarcho Soccer Mom (Again) Oct 26, 2015

"All year long, we worry about the scary things. We watch the news and we see the shootings, and the bombings... But one night of every year we all experience what they don't show us on the news: That the people around us are basically good and decent. That the world is not as scary as we sometimes think it is."

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote7 2

The Rhinoceros in the Yoga Studio Oct 1, 2015

It is time for those who profess to care about human suffering to start being honest about this. If we are truly going to take a stand for peaceful coexistence and non-harming, then we can no longer remain oblivious to the violent implications of the government acts that many of us support: from immigration restrictions to anti-trust law, mandatory GMO labeling to medical licensing, environmental and workplace regulation to taxes on cigarettes ...or indeed to taxation itself.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote32 12

“What the Government Costs You” Data Point of the Day: Oct 1, 2015

You know what? People should just be able to walk into a store and buy the fucking medication they need. Or want. Or think they want. The discussion (and the phone calls and the emails and sometimes the faxes) should just end there. But it doesn't. Because Statism.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote9 0

Bernie Sanders Endorses Free Markets! Sep 29, 2015

As the Fraser Institute found for the - I don’t know, billionth? - time in its annual survey comparing freer economies with less free ones, even the poorest residents of countries with a high degree of economic freedom are far better off than even the average person living in the least free countries. Says their most recent report: “the average income of the poorest 10% in the most economically free nations is about 50% greater than the overall average income in the least free nations.” (Emphasis mine.) And life expectancy in the most free countries is seventeen years higher than...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote12 7

Team Bernie Tries to Ply Me with Gifts Sep 23, 2015

I have to say, I’m flattered that you’re all so eager to keep up our communication - but I should make clear that I was only away because I had some important family stuff to attend to. My absence was not in the least a sign of waning interest in our ongoing conversation. In fact, I’m a little embarrassed that you reacted this way. Yes, we have developed a certain rapport, but I think the offer of gifts was a bit excessive.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote11 4

Massoud Sep 19, 2015

When we got to the top of the stairs, we saw two policemen asking to see Alien Registration cards. "Oh what Bullshit!" Said Jody, "come on!" She led us around the policemen before they had a chance to stop us. From across the street, we looked back. Massoud stood there as the police went through his things, searching his pockets and his bag. "They think he's got drugs," said Jody. They asked Andrew for his Registration card. He showed it, and they waved him on. "Should we stay?" Asked Nuri. "No, we can't do anything," she said. "Ah, he'll be...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote1 0

In Which I Do a Really Crappy Job of Ignoring the Campaign Sep 16, 2015

If you learned nothing else from the 20th century’s disastrous experiments with socialism, please learn this: CENTRAL PLANNING DOES NOT WORK. And by “does not work” I mean creates poverty, waste and, if allowed to continue long enough, lots and lots of death and destruction. Please stop supporting it.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote12 5

My Correspondence with Team Bernie Continues Sep 12, 2015

If you've been following my attempts to unsubscribe from Bernie Sanders' mailing list, you should know that it was a nail-biting 48 hours as I waited to hear back from his team after my last missive on Thursday. So many thoughts went through my mind: Maybe they were tired of hearing from me; Maybe they weren't interested in what I had to say at all, maybe they had just been pretending all along; Maybe they were busy - we all get busy, right?; Or maybe they were all lying in a ditch somewhere! So it was with great relief that...

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote19 5

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