A quick summary from 90 Miles From Tyranny says it all: Among the persistent problems the nation will face during the second Trump Administration is a sort of cognitive inertia: the tendency to go on believing that some information sources are inherently trustworthy, even though they’ve been spewing provably false statements for four …
Category: early-morning thoughts
Dec 23 2024
Leadership, 21st Century Edition
“To lead people, walk beside them … As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” – …
Dec 20 2024
Choosing The Lesser Evil
With governments, everything is a matter of choosing the lesser evil. (Until you resolve to abolish them, that is.) Consider the following statistics: Charlie Kirk is generally reliable, so I’m disposed to accept his numbers. His point is obvious: the great majority of federal “workers” are not working, by the standards that would …
Dec 13 2024
An Era For Great Men
If you’re around my age, I pity you… no, wait, strike that; it’s not what I was thinking a moment ago. If you’re around my age, you probably received something that resembles an education in the history of the West: i.e., Europe and the Americas. Among the things to which you were probably exposed …
Dec 06 2024
This Might Not Qualify As A “Thought”
…but it is so beautiful, and so inspiring, that I simply must post it. From the great Andrea Shea King: I only wish I could have said something that wonderful, just once in my long and generally misapplied years.
Nov 30 2024
Who Decides?
Just a quick thought this morning, as I’m still on a backup computer with no software except Windows, Kindle PC, and Notepad. I’ve been reading — and am greatly impressed by — Henry Brown’s six-volume Paradox series, the core motif of which is a “multiverse” caused by the invention of a space-time “warp …
Nov 25 2024
A Surfeit Of Pain
I’ve been spending some time on X, lately. The praise heaped on it since Elon Musk bought it persuaded me to give it a try. I’ve found the exchanges there free-wheeling enough to give it sustained attention. But I have another property of the site in mind at the moment. For those unfamiliar …
Nov 20 2024
A Morning For Epiphany
“Discovery of my task is my task. It is like that with us higher life forms.” – Robert Sheckley, “Tripout” Epiphanies can’t be scheduled. They choose their own moments. (And I think that will go into the LIS Codex once I’ve finished this piece.) Say, did you know that blogs – “weblogs,” …
Nov 14 2024
I Don’t Care Whether She’s Got ANY Degrees
Melania Knauss Trump is head and shoulders above “Dr.” Jill Biden: “After receiving the horrific news of the tragedy in Pennsylvania, Jill Biden took the initiative to contact me directly. I do not know, however, if her concern was genuine, since, just days before, she had called my husband “evil” and a “liar.” …
Nov 14 2024
When They Speak Dismissively…
…it’s even money or better that they’re actually terrified: U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., described President-elect Trump’s choice of Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as his next attorney general as a “God tier kind of trolling.” […] “It’s just kind of like a God tier kind of trolling just to trigger …
Nov 11 2024
The Scapegoat Tarantella
Like I tell my boys at the J.O.B.: if’n ya fuck up, OWN IT. Shit’s gonna suck for a bit, but the respect you gain by owning up to it will balance in the end. (so long as no one died, right?) I’ve seen time and time again since I started paying attention to …
Nov 05 2024
A Day Without News
Do you know what day of the year – well, of the years, actually – is most frustrating to a public-affairs commentator? Election Day. *** The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the …
Nov 04 2024
Patriots For Peanut And Fred
The heartless seizure and slaughter of Peanut and Fred from the caring home of Mark Longo is the World Wide Web today. No other single topic has nearly as much clout. That deserves some thought. Go to Mike Miles’ place and savor the memes. He’s collected a fine bunch, as always. They deserve …
Oct 27 2024
A Questionable Closing
I often find that I agree with a commentator’s main point but am puzzled by one of his assertions. This is most often the case when the assertion at issue is about “us:” the American people. We’re a variegated bunch. Generalizations about us tend to be rather weak and fraught with important exceptions. Part …
Oct 21 2024
Every So Often, Someone Asks The Right Question
And here he is: Well, yes! Is there anything else you want to know?
Oct 21 2024
Thinking Ahead
Roger Kimball is confident. That cheers me quite a lot. Kimball is my current favorite among commentator-prognosticators, as he has a habit of being correct. (He’s also a terrific writer: always both graceful and clear.) That doesn’t mean Trump supporters can relax, of course. It’s still necessary to vote, and to get the vote …
Oct 20 2024
Boredom: A Brief Appreciation
“I want to live my own life, sleep in my own bed—and not be bothered!” — Robert A. Heinlein Is your life exciting? If not, would you like it to be? If so, how much sleep do you get, on average? A lot of people seem to desire excitement. Whether it’s the …
Oct 07 2024
Monday Mornings Are Tough All Over
…which has made me wonder more than once why we still have them in the calendar. But they’re fertile soil for silly thoughts. Over at IOTWReport, commenters are suggesting bad movies that should be remade, because they had good stories buried in them. Some of the suggestions puzzled me: Battlefield Earth, The Prince …
Oct 03 2024
“What Do You Mean By That?”
That is the question every aspirant to public office ought to face every time he opens his mouth before a microphone. Yet it almost never happens. When some naïve citizen tries to press the question home, bodyguards appear out of the shadows and hustle him off to a locale less threatening to their client. …
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