Jim

Reg,

Trump’s tarriffs and the reaction of both domestic and foreign markets to them are definitely a problem. They don’t even make sense from Trump’s own brain salad/word salad pseudo-thinking (e.g. he’s wanting high tariffs of, if I recall, 25 percent on Canada and Mexico over allowing Fentanyl to cross the border, yet Trump only wants to tax…[Read more]

Jake,

It is so natural to lash out at the morons. lately i have been feeling that for the lefty’s. I just don’t know other than a coterie of thinkers who is not stupid. To me intelligence is critical thinking. Math, music, mechanical aptitudes are talents. Not same as general intelligence. Beliefs interfere with reason. Beliefs are the death of…

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@jakelafort – Feel free to add to this post, if you want.

Looks interesting.

Thanks Reg.

I have recently read both of these books and I would recommend them:

The Knowledge Machine – Michael Strevens. Link.

and

Free Thinking – Simon McCarthy Jones. Link.

Second act of Trump is even more chaotic and mind bending than i would have thought. As things unravel i am very curious to find out whether hard core Trump cultists alter their position from at his feet to at his throat.

It is so natural to lash out at the morons. lately i have been feeling that for the lefty’s. I just don’t know other than a…[Read more]

Recent cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have significantly affected American farmers. In January 2025, the Trump administration ordered a near-total freeze on foreign aid, leading to a halt in USAID’s procurement of U.S.-grown crops for international food assistance programs. This abrupt cessation has disrupted a vital…[Read more]

I shall continue to watch Tesla in silence.

Unseen wrote:
Focusing on the economy (“It’s the economy, stupid”) wouldn’t have worked because The Orange One’s attack on the Democrats’ economy was only one of several potent tools he had: immigrants raping and murdering, immigrants bringing in fentanyl, immigrants stealing jobs in the country while Dems were allowing jobs to migrate out…

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Focusing on the economy (“It’s the economy, stupid”) wouldn’t have worked because The Orange One’s attack on the Democrats’ economy was only one of several potent tools he had: immigrants raping and murdering, immigrants bringing in fentanyl, immigrants stealing jobs in the country while Dems were allowing jobs to migrate outside the country, Dem…[Read more]

Reg,

I misspoke too. The Neisei were second-generation Japanese-Americans. Which made their internment all the more nonsensical.

It’s a mistake to think that FDR and JFK fit into the category of Classical Liberalism.

Yes, after 2 seconds thinking about it, I fully agree. Neither were classical liberals in the tradition of Locke or Adam Smith. Both expanded federal power.  FDR and the NEW Deal was to tie down the economy in red tape and JFK  expanded a “Big Brother ” sur…[Read more]

Reg,

Traditional liberalism (rooted in John Stuart Mill, FDR, and JFK) emphasized individual rights, free speech, economic fairness, and civil liberties. Today, parts of the Democratic Party have embraced “woke” politics, which prioritize group identity, intersectionality, and equity over classical liberal principles like universalism and mer…

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Here is another review of the Sunday book recommendation.

Unseen wrote:
Her pretty face kept her in the news cycle.

It was the sensationalism of the case that kept it in the news cycle, together with her being British, one of our own.  Murder, sex, drugs, pretty girls, Africans, Italians – it had it all.

@ Reg

Yes, the truth is always more complicated than can be summed up in one sentence. All the things you detailed were true, but it was her good looks more than anything else that saved her. Her pretty face kept her in the news cycle.

@Unseen – Yes, a lot more than just the economy.

Project 2025 ‘is the agenda’ for Trump’s second term and they admitted it the day after the election.  The thing with the lies is that there were so many of them and fired from various sources simultaneously. There was too much to unpick. By the time people got over the “Eating the dogs and eating…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
The Democrats should have reused the brilliantly simple political messaging strategy that helped Bill Clinton defeat George H.W. Bush in 1992.  James Carville’s famous phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” was a reminder to the Clinton campaign to stay focused on what truly mattered to voters: economic issues. Yes, Har…

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Reg,

Great job dismantling fine tuning. Very analytical.

I knew about Uti Possidetus Juris as it applies to Israel. Learned from the article that the Turks during their hegemony over the region limited number of Jews who were permitted. I don’t give two cents for international law. The UN, Amnesty or any of it. It is all lying racist political…[Read more]

Reg,

There are, of course, other reasons to question “fine-tuning” for life.

For example, if another Element could take the place of Carbon as a hub for other Elements to bond and form self-sustaining, replicating bodies, then life may not have to be Carbon-based. If so, then Life, the Universe, ad Everything is not so “fine-tuned” as the…[Read more]