Semester3383

Assuming that your backup isn't also infected.

Doesn't have to be in the bank either; if you're traveling with your life savings in cash, then if you get pulled over cops are likely to seize that money. Just because fuck you, that's why.

I opt for bitcoin because it has more utility value for me.

My bank makes it an enormous pain in my ass to buy things from overseas vendors; they won't process any payments that are going outside of the US border. The rationale is 'fraud', even when you're dealing with well-known and trusted vendors. Even when I try calling my banks and telling them to pre-authorize the charges, they won't go through. The only way I can get around that within the established financial system is by using a 3rd party payment service; those 3rd party services make their money by lopping off a percentage of that purchase. E.g., if I'm buying something for $1000 from China (and we're going to ignore tariffs, duties, taxes, and shipping costs for the moment), then I may have to pay $1040 for it, because of the fees that are taken out. On the other hand, if I'm buying from a trusted vendor, and I use bitcoin, I can just send it to them. Bitcoin doesn't care where it's going, and--assuming you don't care about speed of confirmations--transaction fees can be quite a bit lower than using any other payment system. (And, BTW, transaction fees are built into all payment processing systems; it's just not apparent to individuals on the purchasing end. That means that if something costs .001btc, then I have to send, say, .0010001btc to the vendor, but then the)

Speculation doesn't play a role in it for me.

I have no direct use for gold; I can't plate connectors.

Or get a Dillon XL 750, a few pounds of Accurate 2230, and load your own while listening to The Tiger Bloc Podcast.

Not significantly, as long as you aren't buying ammo that's remanufactured, or is some Russian brand (Wolf, Silver Bear, etc.)/Turkish, etc. A bigger issue is going to be the twist rate of your barrel and the weight of the bullet, but even that's not going to be a big issue unless you're trying to get your rifle down to 1 MOA accuracy.

I've read the background on that case, and it's all kinds of fucked. Like, the person that had been convicted under the law--and was thus arguing against it--didn't even have representation show up in court, because he'd had to go into hiding. And the person that had convicted him knew that would be the case. Without anyone to even argue his side, it was practically a foregone conclusion that the court was going to reach a decision that the gov't supported.

The tax was intended to be so high that no normal person could afford it. You could apply the same logic to free speech rights, and say that you have to pay a tax of $10,000 is you want to criticize Israel's genocide in Gaza. It's obviously intended to prevent the free exercise of the right.

Yes.

But many people--and I'm not saying you do this--but many people get gold, silver, and diamonds confused, and think that their intrinsic value is linked to their perceived value. does that make sense?

If that's the case, then surely there's nothing wrong with police have military weapons and using military tactics, right?

...And they were absolutely wrong to do so then. Thankfully the Revolt at Cincinnati got them on the correct track of championing the individual right to keep and bear arms, as the constitution clearly intended, and as was understood for over a century. Then Wayne LaPierre called fibbies jack-booted thugs (which is true) shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing, and Bush very publicly resigned his lifetime membership. LaPierre caved, apologized, and now the NRA is a bunch of bootlickers.

There really aren't any groups with the power of the NRA that are truly, deeply committed to the idea that the right to keep and bear arms is a right for everyone. And that's unfortunate. Especially now.

...Except that gold, like the dollar, and like bitcoin, has the value it does because people believe it does. Sure, gold's a great semiconductor. But if that was all we used it for, the price of gold would be a tine fraction of what it is. Diamonds are great as abrasives and in certain cutting applications, but that's all synthetic now. Natural diamonds only have high value because of artificial scarcity and advertising.

You cant deal with or compromise with them

You kind of have to, since government relies on the consent of the governed. When enough of them will no longer consent to being governed, your government will fail. But if you really want to address that problem, you look at the reasons why people turn to fascism; it's not something that happens in a vacuum.

In this case, the dems are handling it badly; they're trying to move to the right in order to give the fascists the things that they say they want. But what they say they want isn't really the root issue, which means that dems can never go far enough right to win their vote.

They are absolutely civilians, although they no longer believe they are. Technically the military is supposed to be under civilian control as well (e.g., the governor is supposed to have control of the national guard in their state, the president is supposed to control the six branches of the military).

Look at it this way: the military is not supposed to be used for civilian law enforcement. That very, very strongly implies that police are not military, and are hence civilian.