Meandering Thoughts

Food is one of the most important parts of culture. Obviously, we need it to survive, but it's more than that. Long lasting relationships are forged over food; business deals are made; people from seemingly incompatible cultures can come together over a good meal. With that in mind, two Portland, Oregon women, Liz Connelly and Kali Wilgus decided to start a little restaurant that specialized in a dish they both really enjoyed: burritos. Before opening though, they decided to learn as much as they could about making an essential ingrediant: tortillas. Connelly and Wilgus packed their bags and headed south...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

There's nothing like a little military action in a war-torn region to get everybody riled up. Now unless you live under a rock, there's been some happenings in Syria over the past few days. Earlier in the week upwards of 80 people died in rural Idlib province from exposure to a chemical agent. Almost immediately, Western governments, and the likes of CNN et al jumped to the conclusion that it was all Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fault. Two days ago the US responded with a highly ineffective cruise missile attack on the Syrian Shayrat Air Base. How ineffective was this...

By Dominic Schmid Vote4 2

"X is good. Therefore, we (the government) should fund X. If X is not funded, then X will not exist." As somebody who has several friends and colleagues in the artistic world, I see this argument constantly as a justification for continued government funding of the arts. To them, the National Endowment for the Arts is of the utmost holiness and should not ever be touched, even if it has long outlived any sort of usefulness it may have had. I on the other hand do not consider it to be holy, and in its current form, the National Endowment...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

Any parent of a toddler is very familiar with the word "no." Sometimes it's cute, and other times it can be aggravating– perhaps the family is going to visit relatives, and said child has decided that she doesn't want to go into the car. I certainly had my fair share of "nos" when I was that age! However, saying "no" is very important: it shows independence. By saying no, it shows that you can determine if something is valuable to you or not. For some people, giving no as an answer is very hard to do. They have a desire...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

"It's a travesty!" "The arts are doomed!" "The National Endowment for the Arts makes up a tiny fraction of the federal budget!" Whew! Everybody, take a deep breath; let's not have a panic attack just yet. The arts are an important part of any culture. They inspire, they motivate, they provide a method of transcending cultural and linguistic barriers, that no political entity could ever hope to come close to. In fact, for all intents and purposes, political entities are good at causing divisions between people. Because of that, the arts would be better served if the government would remove...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

In light of recent events that transpired at the International Students for Liberty Conference, I think it's time we all sat down and had a bit of a talk. First though, a primer on what happened. A certain group called the "Hans Herman Hoppe Caucus" decided to host an impromptu "break-out session" with a certain character by the name of Richard Spencer. If you don't recall, Spencer was caught on video at the end of a speech proclaiming "Hail Trump! Hail our leader!" Well, I mean "Heil Trump, Sieg Heil" would have been a little too obvious. Anyways, Jeffrey Tucker...

By Dominic Schmid Vote3 1

There is a case for saying that libertarians agree on over 90 percent of issues, yet spend at least 90 percent of their time time arguing with one another over what they don't agree on. The latest? Donald Trump's "Yuuge" border wall, and whether or not there should be an increase in government control over immigration. Let's begin down this little rabbit hole! We'll give the closed border libertarians the first crack at the bat. Their argument is as follows: in a truly private property society, no one would allow anyone to just enter their property at will. Furthermore, we...

By Dominic Schmid Vote3 0

For the past thirteen and a half years, a massive war has taken place in the heart of the Middle East. A multi sided conflict was initiated, after the United States of America decided it was a "good idea" to "liberate" Iraq from Saddam Hussein (who on a side note was originally backed by the United States in the 1980s, and was a truly horrible person.) Spurred on by false intelligence about "Weapons of Mass Distruction," the civilian "leadership" in Mordor on the Potomac convinced the military that if America didn't overthrow Saddam "Adolf Hitler" Hussein, he would unite "the forces...

By Dominic Schmid Vote3 0

Dear Progressives: Tuesday’s Presidential Elections result has many of you in shock. “How could this have happened,” you asked yourself. For sure, it seems quite perplexing that someone as polarizing as Donald Trump could have possibly been elected. It seemed like Trump was running a campaign based solely on trolling other people, and despite some of his rhetoric, and seemingly convoluted speeches, you openly chose to ignore all the warning signs that were pointing in his favor. The Economic Factor Eight years ago when Barack Obama was elected President, one of the primary reasons people flocked to him was due...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 1

Libya is often mentioned as the worst foreign policy disaster of the Obama Administration. There's a good case for that, as Libya went from having the highest standard of living in Africa, to a disaster essentially ran by Al Qaeda militants. However, there is a far worse disaster that the US government has helped to facilitate in Yemen, and they've refused to admit playing a part in it. For more than 500 days the US government has participated in a shameful war of aggression against one of the poorest countries on the planet. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabian military forces...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

There is an interesting phenomenon in American electoral politics (and other countries for that matter) known as "voting for the lesser of two evils." It goes like this: "candidate A is really horrible, but candidate B is so bad, that I am going to vote for A because B scares me too much." The script is then flipped for those who support candidate B. Of course, this view is completely absurd; evil is evil, no matter what kind of positive light you try to spin it in. By voting for the lesser evil, all you are doing is simply...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 1

My oh my, was it a busy week. First FBI Director James Comey announced that Hillary Clinton would not be recommended for charges for violating multiple sections of US. Code Title 18 because "some animals are more equal than other animals." Then, two black men are killed by police officers in extremely suspicious circumstances. In the case of Philando Castille, in front of his girlfriend and her four year old daughter. Then to top it all off, fifteen police officers get shot in Dallas Thursday Night. Hillary Clinton being let off scott free when many others wouldn't is wrong. The deaths...

By Dominic Schmid Vote2 0

Rape is one of the most horrifying acts a person can go through. Sometimes that rape results in pregnancy. Often times, a pregnant rape victim will opt for an abortion, hoping that the horrible memories will go away. However, one Alabama teenage rape victim decided that the life of a child, her child outweighed its father’s crime. Things were progressing along, and soon a healthy baby boy was born. The mother opted for a natural birth and not to mutilate here baby’s genitals. Everyone thought that they could go home soon, but they were mistaken. Two days later, another nightmare...

By Dominic Schmid Vote2 2

The past few days have been a bit of a roller coaster. First, multiple media outlets declared Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee before all the primaries had finished. You had to remind everyone that the fight was still on until the old man sang. As the results came in though, your hearts began to sink as Hillary "ongoing FBI investigation" Clinton proceeded to win multiple states, including California. Now I know what you're saying "Super Delegates don't vote until July 25th," but do you really think Democratic party insiders would suddenly decide to have a change of heart? You know...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 0

Human beings can be incredibly confusing. On one end, we can be incredibly hateful towards our fellow man, yet on the other be incredibly kind. We will collectivize whole groups based on the actions of a few, viewing them as vile savages, with far too often horrific results. Yet some decide to not hate those who don't think like them, look like them, talk like them, or act like them. Asad Shah was one man who fit into the later category. Until this morning, I had never heard of the man, until an article about him popped up in my...

By Dominic Schmid Vote0 0

Note: This piece is satire and should not be taken seriously. *The left to right writing system oppresses me! I, as a left handed person have a very difficult time with the western writing system. As I right, I have to contort my body to get the right angle and form the words. It hurts my hand,my neck, and my back. Cursive is impossible, as I can never get the letters quite right, never mind actually reading what I wrote. Dry erase markers can burn in hell. Fountain pens are impossible to use and should be outlawed. Whenever I see...

By Dominic Schmid Vote0 1

It's no secret that millions of Americans are completely fed up with the current establishment and its (mis)management of pretty much everything. Fifteen long years of war, massive bank bailouts, infringement on civil liberties, and crumbling infrastructure to name a few have led to millions of Americans flocking to yet more political messiahs. Cue the freak show! On the Left you have Bernie Sanders claiming that he will be able to solve all of the nation's problems by taxing "The 1%." Now I will admit that I believed this was a good idea four years ago, but fortunately I grew...

By Dominic Schmid Vote1 1

The nearly five year long war in Syria has cost over a quarter million lives and led to millions more being displaced. Complicating things is the fact that it is hard to determine who exactly backs whom. So I thought I'd clear things up. On one side you have those who back the government of Bashar Al-Assad, namely Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, as well as pro government militias. Fairly cut and dry. On the other side you have all the various rebel groups: the various flavors of "Islamic" Jihad, the Free "Syrian" Army, the Kurdish YPG, who recently have been fighting...

By Dominic Schmid Vote4 0

Today after doing a little research on the current situation outside of Burns, Oregon, I came across a US Geological Report on the mineral deposits in Harney County. Now, you may be wondering why this would have anything to do with what's going on over here, but it does. Since the 1970s the BLM and other alphabet soup agencies have been pressuring ranchers to sell their land, often for pennies on the dollar. In one case, ranches were deliberately flooded to force them to sell. The US government wants the land not because they care about endangered species, but so...

By Dominic Schmid Vote0 2

In just a few weeks, I will be the magical age of 21. According to the wise and wonderful government, I will be able to consume, purchase, produce, and even sell alcoholic beverages, provided of course that I have "magical pieces of paper." For most of the rest of the world, I could have been legally drinking for a few years now. Take for example Germany where Beer and Wine are legal at 16 and liquor at 18, and everyone is just fine. In America this is seen as insane, but America's absurd drinking age causes far more problems than...

By Dominic Schmid Vote2 2

You Can’t Do That May 30, 2017

Yes, I’m Anti-War Apr 9, 2017

Evolving Arts Funding Mar 25, 2017

Knowing When To Say “No” Mar 21, 2017

Government Hurts the Arts Feb 23, 2017

Dear Libertarians Feb 19, 2017

Down the Rabbit Hole Border I Go Feb 4, 2017

The Syraqian Mess Dec 14, 2016

A Letter to Progressives Nov 12, 2016

Yemen: The US Government’s Shameful War Aug 13, 2016

Rejecting The Ideology of Fear Aug 5, 2016

Dear Black Lives Matter Jul 8, 2016

Alabama CPS Kidnaps A Rape Victim’s Child Jun 16, 2016

A Letter To My Bernie Sanders Friends Jun 8, 2016

True Freedom Mar 26, 2016

Stop Left-Handed Oppression! Mar 11, 2016

So You Want Change? Mar 10, 2016

Who’s Backing Who in Syria, For Dummies Feb 17, 2016

There’s Gold In Them Thar Hills! Jan 5, 2016

Abolish The Drinking Age! Jan 3, 2016