J. D. Stembal

Jeff, this is an amazing podcast! I publicly linked it on Facebook, and Tweeted it.

I began smoking again when I was thinking about writing my deFOO letter. You helped me spot the connection. Thank you. I was quit for about eight months. I'm still in the clear with regard to other recreational drugs and, in particular, alcohol, which is spectacular because I've almost reached a full year of sobriety. I've also had many anxiety attacks in my life time, which I had previously attributed to years of drug and alcohol abuse. I wonder if they had more to do with my parents than being high or drunk. That's wonderful that you sent the letter! Be prepared for a response, though, if your family has your return address, which it sounds like they have. I want to share with you my personal experience with defooing. I am troubled with the lack of emotion in my voice during the reading of my father's letter. My voice is often sterile and monotone, and I sometimes have to make a conscious effort to modulate my tone. I am fairly certain that it is my father's voice speaking through me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMs95r6WdVY

I haven't seen the movie in question, but I generally do not have negative reactions to women (or men) who are cast for attractiveness. As Better Future hinted, this phenomenon makes perfectly sound financial sense from a casting and movie production perspective. Scarlet Johansson and Bradley Cooper are bankable names in Hollywood mainly for their attractiveness in my estimation. Marilyn Monroe was a deeply troubled addict, and nearly impossible to work with as an actress, but her fans and the popular media worshiped her like a Greek goddess, and therefore she was the biggest female name in Hollywood at the time. I'd like to pose a question. Are you more frustrated that attractive women are irresponsible with their sexuality and eggs rather than that they won't give you access to them? I would argue that most 9s and 10s are shallow people and the fact that they are repulsed by you - if they are repulsed by you - is a benefit to you in the long run. As a footnote, I don't follow the logic you presented that attractive women were nurtured in their childhood. If this were true, why would they fall on superficial props to induce men to like them? A child that was properly nurtured and had their needs consistently met would not want to attract the attention of superficial people.

I never said that the assessed value of goods was not subjective. You are creating a strawman. I said fiat currency has no value in itself, thus no intrinsic value. The fee.org link is broken. Who cares if having idle resources does not produce anything? By saving, you are foregoing the current use of those resources for the future use of those resources. I was asking you what is paradoxical about thrift. You whipped it out at the end of a reply as if it was an important point. I didn't see the connection. A Mike Maloney video from three weeks ago...

As far as I'm aware, the number of pre-marriage sexual partners is only relevant for the female. The data say nothing about men at this time. According to evolutionary biology, simply getting laid is all the male really cares about. It's up to the female to restrict his access if need be. The only reason pick-up artistry works is because women have lost the ability or desire to withhold sex except from the most suitable mate. Men are not the gatekeepers of sex, and therefore, are not responsible to women, just themselves. Women are ultimately responsible for defining human sexual relationships, according to Briffault's Law. I used to live with a single mother, and she once told me how much she wanted another child. I asked her with whom she would have the child, and she replied, "Oh, it doesn't matter, I'll find somebody." Ugh...

I'm going to pull a tenuous theory out of my behind and suggest that this is a tip of the hat to federal decriminalization and taxation, just as Tucker indicates, but it's wrapped up as a race and police enforcement issue, which is the media topic du jour. Obama did say the word, libertarian, and I thought he was going to describe the NAP for a moment, but he is not arriving at this conclusion about the dismal results of drug enforcement though a reasoned or logical approach, otherwise he would have to comment on the oppression of federal taxation. With another election fast approaching, this is a popularity play for the Dems. It did not escape my notice that Simon mentioned ex-convicts not being allowed to vote. How difficult is it to imagine Americans puffing away on their vaporizers in a bid to keep paying the interest on the National Debt, thus keeping our country's AAA credit rating afloat? Smoke Freedom Brand! Considering that the show in question is set in Baltimore, which is currently swallowed by riots, it may enlighten us to take a look at some facts behind Baltimore's long tradition of Leftism. http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/whats-really-burning-in-baltimore-50-years-of-liberal-welfare-state-policies/

The investor is receiving compensation for allowing access to his funds in the institution. Generally, the less liquid the investment vehicle, the more interest it earns. It's not money, by the way. It's fiat currency. Money has inherent value in itself, and little green pieces of paper do not have much inherent value. Perhaps we could fold origami animals with the children when it is no longer good for buying anything. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=dollar%20origami Stashing cash is still saving, but you are foregoing the interest you could have earned elsewhere for the assurance that the money will be there tomorrow. An all digital currency with negative interest rates is a terrible idea, because no one in their right mind would ever save for anything in that paradigm. What is paradoxical about being thrifty? If I want to buy butter, I can pay $5.39 for it at one store, or I can get it for $3.69 at another store down the street a bit. Guess which place I buy the butter?

The eggs still look fresh, but then why is she wearing three layers of war paint? No mortal man is going to pursue her for her beauty. In this video, she strikes me as a bit older than her 25 years, perhaps 28-30. I don't know if it is because her face is primped up for the interview or in spite of it. Maybe it is her demeanor, and not her appearance. A whole hour...? Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhh!

Total American Debt is actually much higher. You are only considering the National Debt in that figure. America is 61.6 Trillion Dollars in debt... http://www.usdebtclock.org/ On the bright side, we are paying down our credit cards. You are describing the Mandrake Mechanism of fractional reserve banking. Mike Maloney does a decent job of explaining how it works at the Federal level is this video.

Thank you for the insights about your brother, father and mother, Kerou. It is clear that your parents have been very positively influential in your life with regard to education and career, but why do you think that the area of sexual relations was specifically neglected? Does your brother also have trouble dating? My sexual education was my mother throwing a library book at me and running out of the room while I was busy doing homework. I have a theory that the reason my parents couldn't talk to me about sex was because they mutilated my genitals when I was too young to give consent, which philosophically, I find to be no different from criminal sexual child abuse.

What about another option instead of looking at voluntarism and presenting it as a false dichotomy? We are considering almost a two generation time span. A lot can happen between tomorrow, and fifty years from now.

You mentioned briefly that the accusation of Mama's Boy isn't true. How would you describe your relationship with your mother? I believe her influence would have a lot more bearing on your decision to marry a manipulative woman. What did your mother explicitly say about your ex-fiancee?

Nearly one year ago, I gave up drugs and alcohol after listening to the Asshole Proximity Disorder show. It turns out that I was indeed surrounded by assholes, and they have long since stopped calling on me. It really is a relief to know that they did not appreciate the real me, and liked the drunk better. Obviously, I did not have quality people in my life. As yet, I do not have quality replacements, but I'm sure I will attract them as I progress further with IFS therapy. I left a sexually and emotionally abusive woman who did not care about me, and frequently challenged my sobriety because it was forcing her to examine her own substance abuse, and the destructive people close to her. If I recall correctly, she invited me to go out to a bar for karaoke with her and her friends the very same week she congratulated me for giving up drinking. Wow... I'm still shaking my head over this perfect example of lack of empathy. Let's celebrate your new sobriety by going out and getting ripped! Owing to spending a year sober after twenty years of alcoholism, I have been able to (re)discover my real passions - fitness and nutrition. I am in the best physical condition of my life and I am inspired to help others live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives. I have cut off all contact with my family, as I never wish to see or speak with them again.

That should read 8,300,000 (I neglected to mention 6 zeros) ounces, but then you would be moving into a secret underwater lair, perhaps in the Puget Sound.

Keynesian spotted! With cash, all you need to do is devalue the currency as has happened nearly completely in the past 102 years in the U.S. In this span of time the purchasing power of U.S. Dollar has declined by at least 96%. http://www.comparegoldandsilverprices.com/dollar-devaluation-since-1913/ Check this out: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/report-jp-morgan-chase-prepares-for-crisis-by-stockpiling-silver-an-exceptionally-large-amount_04242015 J. P Morgan Chase purchases 8.3 million ounces of silver in the past two weeks at Comex while changing its policy on accepting cash, and prohibiting it from being stored in safe deposit boxes.

Fuck, what will we do without roads? Harris has me at a loss, I have to admit. (Of course, what he's really asking is who will pay for the roads and how? He likes how it is now where even people that do not drive are forced to pay for them.) Oh, wait... What are these two long appendages growing out of my ass? I seem to be able to move them in an alternating fashion, thus creating biological locomotion. Zounds, I've invented a new form of transportation! Take that, Harris! My ass just pulled a free market solution to your statist problem out of itself.

The end run on the dollar and the rise of precious metals (as well any other commodity not bolted down) may have already begun. J. P. Morgan Chase has acquired 8.3 ounces of silver in the past two weeks alone. http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/report-jp-morgan-chase-prepares-for-crisis-by-stockpiling-silver-an-exceptionally-large-amount_04242015

Schiff contends that the $70,000 minimum salary story is a publicity stunt to expand the company's client base, but in the long run when the novelty wears off, all the previous sub-$70,000 employees will eventually be outsourced or automated.

Just like Ferguson, we will probably find out afterwards that looters and rioters were bused into the city to raze it.

If you hardly speak with someone, why is he requesting you be the Best Man at his wedding? If it was me, I would politely refuse. You have to speak about the bride and groom at the wedding reception. Standing before all of their friends and family and endorsing the new couple as "people who are neither bad or dumb" does not sound like a particularly grand endorsement. If you gifted one book on peaceful parenting, do you think at least one of the couple would read it? If not, then don't bother because it will collect dust. It would probably be of more use if you read it, and you got them a Kitchen Aid mixer instead. I don't have any recommendations because I do not read parenting books, but the bible on the effects of corporal punishment is The Primordial Violence by Murray Straus. http://www.amazon.com/The-Primordial-Violence-Psychological-Development/dp/1848729537

I'll answer in reverse order. Yes, killing another person is immoral. Killing a non-human has no moral component because non-humans cannot be moral actors. It cannot be universalized. It took us until about 1800 A.D. to hit the first billion people worldwide. The Quaternary extinction has been going on for tens of thousands of years back when humans were a handful of scattered tribes. Explain to me how we extincted the mammoth. How do you know it wasn't the sabre-toothed tigers that did it? I'll concede that the mammoth held out in remote niches, but what does that prove? It was still around when humans developed agriculture. Where is the evidence that we caused its extinction? Agriculture developed at different times on different continents due to the receding of the polar ice caps, and warming of the global climate. The first example of agriculture comes from about 15,000 years ago in either Africa or Asia. I forget where I read that, but I can find the citation if it's that crucial to the discussion.

Isn't the use of the phrase, religious freedom, a bit of a misnomer? Who frees a child from the burden of being brainwashed by his family's religion? That would be real religious freedom; the privilege of growing up free from irrational people.

You are a braver man than I, Joel. I saw something like this happen at Goodwill last summer. A father was snapping at his young daughter while he pushed her in a shopping cart. He kept snarling, "Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" under his breath but loud enough to hear. He walked past me and I was considering saying something to him, but another man beat me to it. They nearly ended up getting physical and one of the employees had to come over to break them up while they yelled in the other's face. I hesitated for a reason. The man was obviously volatile, but the man who approached him was even more hostile in his response.

More women abuse children than men, and that's a fact. You wouldn't know it by simply reading headlines.

Ideally, yes, a woman does need to earn a man's affections, but feminine charms and fertility carry a lot of weight with men. Marriage mainly benefited the woman in the heterosexual union because the man was legally obligated to stay married to his wife, and support her even though her charm and fertility had worn off long ago. With the power of the gun of the State, women no longer need marriage to protect their interests after fertility wanes. Thus, men as husbands are now completely and utterly disposable. It's no wonder mothers are openly propagandizing their sons to serve women and make the world better for them. It's all out in the open now. Men are slaves to women, little more than serfs or well-trained dogs fetching food the family for hundreds of thousands of years before the women's rights movement.