The Invisible Obvious
Do Not Subpoena Dr. Jill
Congressional hearings are a chance for politicians to show the folks back home that they are actually doing their job. It is not enough to bring some money back to their fiefdoms for some obscure museum.
The optics of Jill Biden sitting in front of a group of legislators with a box of Kleenex to wipe away the tears are not going to help Republicans in the midterm elections.
Among the revelations of this week’s episode that were entirely predictable when you think about it: “Lucretia” was a child TV star in Mason City, Iowa, on the local non-PBS kid’s show “Bart’s Clubhouse“; John Yoo confesses he was bad at sports as a schoolkid; and as everyone can guess, in childhood Steve merely aspired to be a walking historical analogy when he grew up. Meanwhile, poor Phil Munoz, last week’s drive-by guest, is still in therapy. . .
Lucretia’s set up for this week’s episode
Hardly a week passes without an event happening that compels one to wonder what it means for the contemporary right. It just so happens that this week, Matt Continetti, author of the indispensable book about the right, is able to join us to discuss the latest intraparty quarrels over Jeffrey Epstein, the One Big Beautiful Bill, foreign wars, and the domestic cultural kind.
Plus, John Yoo joins James and Steve in the co-host panel for a chat on the defunding of NPR and PBS, McMahon v. New York, migraine-inducing pop references, and the social uplift of fat-shaming.
Tempting the Enemy with Milkshakes: Starbucks at the DMZ
If you’re an introvert and find yourself living in another country, you make “foreigner friends.” These are generally people you have nothing in common with, except that you are foreigners. Of course, it’s pretty easy to suss out most of the foreigners in a place like Korea.
So, there’s a lot of give and take in these occasional meetups. Your circumstances may vary widely: age, marital status, hobbies, food preferences, etc. You find something to grab onto, like we used to do in elementary school. Hey, you like chocolate? I like chocolate! Let’s be friends!
Israel prevents genocide in Syria
How many times have we been told that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza? Quite often, despite the fact that Israel spends enormous effort to inform civilians in Gaza when military operations will be directed at where they are located.
Hamas hides behind civilians in order to increase the civilian death toll. Israel tries to keep the civilian death toll down, while still trying to accomplish their military objectives.
The Magic of Writing
Ever since I was a child, there was something magical about writing. The magic persisted as I devoured my childhood books, like the Oz books and the Happy Hollisters. I was enchanted by these people who could find just the right words to describe an emotion, a story, a character. Where did their words come from?
Eventually I decided to see if I could discover the words that would allow me to express a part of myself that was usually silent. That writing was only for me. I began with writing in a diary, and I still remember the brown, leather-like cover with a gold stencil, and of course, a lock and key that went with it. The key required some mastery on my part, whether I was trying to lock or unlock the diary. I finally got the hang of it, and was relieved that no one could spy on the depths of my soul.
Liars One and All
Facts are hard….From The City Journal:
Last week, former Treasury secretary Larry Summers published an article in the New York Times entitled “This Law Made Me Ashamed of My Country.” While he had previously covered the dangers of deficits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), Summers wrote, he had only recently come to appreciate the “human brutality” of its Medicaid cuts.
Celebrate America250: Rhode Island’s Royal Charter
WINNING: $9 Billion DOGE cuts bill heading to Trump’s desk and pen
FINALLY, after the Senate managed to eke it out yesterday (thanks to a couple of needed tie-breaking votes from VP Vance along the way, in order to overcome the nay votes of the usual suspects, McConnell, Collins, and Murkowski), the House squeezed it out shortly after midnight this morning, on a 216 – 213 vote (2 nay R votes: Turner (OH) and Fitzpatrick (PA)). PBS, NPR, and USAID hardest hit.
Another Questionable Ranking of the States
I came across this CNBC article when I saw a headline elsewhere, saying that Tennessee ranks dead last in quality of life. I was somewhat surprised by that, as I moved to Tennessee a little more than three years ago and love it here. Even if I had $4 million fall out of the sky and we could afford to move anywhere, I wouldn’t want to move to any other town. So what’s up with that ranking?
Coincidentally, there seems to be a strong correlation between political orientation and their rankings. I can’t seem to find where in the CNBC article it has the rankings for all 50 states, but the Yahoo News article that pointed to CNBC lists the top and bottom ten.
How Big, Bad, or Beautiful?
Donald Trump never does anything in a small way, and, with a bit of cajoling of his conservative flank and utter indifference to his Democratic opposition, Trump’s new tax bill of undisputed bigness but debatable beauty has become law. The general classical liberal response to all tax challenges is to prefer low, flat, and broad taxation, with a balanced budget. The logic here is simple: flat taxes for general revenues tend to minimize the distortions that any tax system necessarily imposes on the productive economy. Favor one set of activities or one set of taxpayers, and those activities or persons who once competed at parity in a non-tax world will take the hit; the tax skew allows an inefficient competitor armed with a tax subsidy to outdo a more efficient rival burdened with heavier taxes. And, yes, the correct mix is to keep tax rates low and use the proceeds of taxes only to fund standard public goods, since the effective tax burden of these expenditures is zero if the tax expenditures generate benefits for each party taxed that exceed the cost of the taxes imposed. Keeping the budget balanced prevents passing the taxes on to future generations that do not share in the short-term consumption gains created. Thus, one preliminary estimate that lost tax revenues could reach $4.0 trillion over the next ten years on top of today’s rising budget deficits, which according to the Congressional Budget Office, will increase from $1.6 trillion, or 5.6 percent of GDP, in fiscal year 2024 to $2.6 trillion, or 6.1 percent of GDP, in 2034.
Even with these negatives, the most important features of the current legislation are the two bad progressive ideas that the new legislation wisely ignores. During the Biden years, the major structural reform proposals were two. First, a wealth tax on people, say, with over $50 million in assets, that would extract some fixed percentage of that wealth, say between three and six percent annually, regardless of whether the taxpayer had any income during that year: pure confiscation of dubious constitutionality. The second was to keep the progressive income tax and impose it on the unrealized appreciation of all assets, or more modestly all publicly-traded stock, which would require forced liquidations of productive assets in prosperous years, but which might not generate a government refund from them in years, like 2022, where there was unrealized depreciation. The debate over these items was deflected in the Supreme Court in Moore v. United States (2024). Keeping both items off the table introduces a measure of stability into the system, at least until the progressive forces regroup to reintroduce them as part of their ongoing campaign to undermine the institution of private property.
A Confession, Tolstoy
I ran into this book again on Jordan Peterson’s recommended list. Unlike a lot of Tolstoy, it is short, 119 pages. It covers Tolstoy’s struggle with the primary existential dilemma of human life: Why do I exist, and is this all there is?
Tolstoy led a fairly privileged life, attaining literary fame in his 20s and circulating among the literati of his time. He was born into a Russian Orthodox family, but as with many intelligent, educated young people, he pursued ambition, love of power, covetousness, lasciviousness, pride, anger and revenge…which his social circle agreed with.
It’s Christmas in July and Dennis Kneale has his own list and it’s a naughty one. On the top of it is Communist China and the people who make deals with them to the detriment of America. And then there’s the list, the Epstein List and the way it’s been buried by the last two Administrations.
Then we welcome in old friend Kristen Shaughnessy for the latest update on shady dealings on Wall Street.
2028?
AOC hosted fellow Democratic Socialist and Democrat candidate for NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani on a visit to Washington, DC yesterday. She is hopeful that as more people inside the party get to know him, they will embrace both his candidacy and his ultra-progressive platform. They are both from NYC…otherwise we could be looking at the 2028 Democratic ticket. Recall that just before the NYC primary, a national poll of 1500+ voters found that Mamdani’s ideas were very popular. Asked whether they “approve or disapprove of the following proposals to lower the cost of living” — none of which were attributed to Mamdani — Americans approved by wide margins in every instance.
While Democrats were the most supportive — predictably so — Mamdani’s policies still garnered significant support among Republicans, with roughly 4 in 10 saying they approved of freezing the rent (38%), implementing free childcare (38%), and raising taxes on corporations and millionaires to foot the bill (40%).
While we all got a glimpse of that fateful day in rural Pennsylvania a year ago, a relative few actually witnessed it—Butler is not, after all, the kind of town most take time to visit. But reporter Salena Zito not only found herself there that day, but close enough to feel the velocity of the assassin’s bullets. She joins Henry to discuss the event and what it reveals about the character of President Trump, as illuminated in her best-selling, brand-new book: Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland.
Things I have slowly learned
When cooking on an electric stove, anytime you pick up a pot, turn off the burner. On a gas stove you always know if a burner is left on, but not on an electric range. Don’t be the guy who sets the house on fire. Your wife will not appreciate your culinary skills if you burn down the house.
Don’t put towels in the same washing load as other clothes. They get wet and very heavy and will ruin your machine if everything is not perfectly balanced. Wash and dry towels separately, always, even if you think that is silly. Sort by weight not color. Color guard products work. Drying towels and bath mats by hand on a clothesline or drying stand in the garage is a nuisance that most people avoid, but it works.
The libertarian is back. On this first episode of the new series, Richard Epstein talks to host Charles C. W. Cooke about immigration. What powers was the federal government given over this area? What—and why—did those powers change? Can the states fill any gaps? What due process are immigrants entitled to?
Street Scenes 1970
That’s the title of what’s probably Martin Scorsese’s least-known film, even if there’s an asterisk attached: a student-made documentary whose most dramatic event was a moment when street violence between workers and students broke into the open, disappointing progressive dreams of solidarity. Only four months after the news cameras rolled, the finished film opened to some acclaim at the New York Film Festival, Sept. 15, 1970. I bet you’ve never heard of it. More about this to follow.
To far less acclaim, a movie called Joe opened 55 years ago, July 15, 1970. It was a cheapie, mostly forgotten, rather sleazy sex-and-violence hit that played drive-ins and second-run theaters. But due to its timely plot, it got national attention far beyond its shoestring $100,000 budget. It’s an early sketch of a Charles Bronson-style rage and revenge film. At a time of liberal resistance and despair, the movie Joe fed their most lurid fantasies about all the people out there who voted for Nixon. Those fantasies had enduring staying power. They live on today.
An Ignoramus’s Guide To Classical Music
I would like to share some of my favorite albums of classical music. I make no claims to be an expert – I can’t play an instrument and I can’t read music. There are huge gaps in my knowledge, but I know what I like, and these recordings have given me hours of pleasure over the years. As I feature them, it will become clear that I have some definite favorites in terms of composers, conductors, and performers. I’m sure there are better performances available; all I know is what I enjoy. I have a definite bias towards 20th-century composers, because that’s the century I’ve lived most of my life. That said, I’m not a fan of atonal music – if it doesn’t have a nice melody, I’m not going to spend much time with it.
Let’s begin with the earliest composer in my collection: Thomas Tallis (1505 – 1585).
Our institutions are infested
Via Shutterstock, asset ID: 2639292733
You’ve probably heard of the recent ICE raid on a marijuana farm in California. Note the protestors in the picture from the raid, waving the flag of the country they don’t want to go back to. Why, I wonder? I also note in the article that “more than 500 rioters attempted to disrupt operations.” How is that possible? How did they know that a surprise raid was coming? Anyway, despite their efforts, the raid was very successful, as described in The New York Post:
In this week’s episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Helen Baxendale of Great Hearts Academies interview award-winning English historian and biographer, Dr. Juliet Barker. She offers a rich portrait of the Brontë family, whose timeless contributions have widely impacted English literature and fiction writing. Dr. Barker explores the formative influences of their father, Patrick Brontë, an Irish Anglican minister with deep intellectual, religious, and educational convictions that shaped his family’s writing, and their tight-knit, creative environment in Haworth that inspired his gifted literary daughters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. She delves into Charlotte’s drive for self-improvement, the enduring power of her novel Jane Eyre, and its themes of independence, love, and social criticism. Dr. Barker discusses Emily’s affection for nature, reclusive personality, and the intense emotional landscape of her novel, Wuthering Heights. She also explores Anne’s gentle, strong-willed temperament, her novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and their groundbreaking critiques of women’s prescribed roles and the hypocrisies of 19th-century society. Dr. Barker shares insights about the tragic deaths of all six Brontë siblings, including Branwell, the family’s son. She concludes the interview by discussing the sisters’ lasting legacy as great literary women who revolutionized Victorian fiction and whose works continue to resonate with modern readers across the globe. In closing, she reads a passage from her definitive biography The Brontës.
The Very Thin Line
The difference between superhero and supervillain is one very, very thin line. How likely is it that someone with extreme power is going to hold back forever? How likely is someone with so much power to stick to morality in every case and all his life? How likely is it that the power will not corrupt his soul? And what if a superbeing is merely annoyed beyond the breaking point one day?
Williams flipped off his siren and stepped out of his squad car. He was the first responder on the scene. It was worse than anything he had ever seen in his life. Carnage everywhere. He looked over the scene three times before he noticed the lone figure sitting on the porch with his hands over his ears.
Jeff discusses the inner workings of the Reagan White House with former AMB Frank Lavin, who had a front-row seat to many of Reagan’s key decisions and actions while president. Get to know Reagan as both a person and a leader; and read Frank’s book on the topic, linked below.
Amazon link: https://a.co/d/fRQPTsh
