We're all on the Titanic and all the smart people are arguing about the menu. The ship's hands that can see the ice berg in the distance are trying to change course. They may hit another ice berg, they may hit another ship or some other peril, but they are trying to steer clear. If you look what the US faces now after all these years of bilateral mismanagement and fiscal abuse -- fill in the blank for your self -- and all the other woke lunacy, I'm not sure it really makes a difference. It may be too late to course correct. Credentialed people got us into this mess, but my feeling is that with Trump's people we at least have a chance to avoid the ice berg and confront the next disaster.
That's really it, isn't it? On the plus side, we're still above the water line, still afloat, but we're in Mel Brooks territory: Hope for the best, expect the worst . . .
The entire world is suffering from the after affects of the received wisdom of elites--and the "rules based international world order". The US is still the best hope for the world. Bessent and Vought, if any teams can, have a shot at making the improvements needed.
I think the credentialed class, the Dems’ leadership, and gutless establishment Repubs have no one else to blame but themselves for Trump's victory.
They did it to themselves in large part by falsely conflating Trump’s often grating and obnoxious public persona with criminality, and then grossly abusing the national security apparatus and the courts in order to frame and vilify him. Hell, there were even two assassination attempts on him!
In the process they made the guy into a political martyr.
And, as if breaking the law/rules in order to screw Trump wasn’t enough, they covered up Biden’s mental diminishment going back to the 2020 campaign.
To paraphrase Glenn Reynolds, the coverup basically allowed largely anonymous people with lanyards hanging from their 11-inch necks to run the executive branch.
Getting even with these crooked scumbags should not be the first, second, or third goal, but if many of them get it shoved so far up their exit ramps it makes their eyes bulge, it’s all for the better.
"It’s generally outsiders who take on the establishment and topple it." Robert Heinlein observed that happy, satisfied people are--by definition--status quo people. Thus, he argued, ALL change is engendered by unhappy, dissatisfied people.
Sometimes the change is good, sometimes not so good. But at the end of the day, if some proto-human ape hadn't decided he wasn't happy with trees and caves and decided to go out and see what those endless grasslands had to offer...well, you know the rest.
Great summary! Selena Zito had an article in the Free Press recently. She restated the phrase, “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” So true. I am also concerned about ‘blanket’ tariffs. Hopefully that is just his bluster and the ‘shot across the bow’.
Jeff- finally getting some old time Chicago winter, single digit temps. All Chicago weather folks are now always talking in wind chill (feels like) terms. I believe they just like to accentuate their ‘topic’ and fear-monger!
Jeff - where in Chicago did you grow up? Me: west side/ Austin / St. Angela parish
I purposely moved to DuPage in the 1990’s so my tax money wouldn’t go to Cook. As DuPage got wealthier it unfortunately turned bluer. That was one of the many reasons I left IL and moved to NC.
A couple of things, gerrymandering in the collar counties and public employee unions. If you look at the vote totals it takes in local communities it becomes clear that public employee unions, especially the teachers can dominate local elections. Add spouses, parents, children and it's very difficult to turn out more votes than the unions can muster.
Just a thought, but if I were the state of Illinois I would say if you want to leave here is your proportional share of the debt of Illinois and your county. Pay it off and we'll talk further.
I like the concept of credentialed but uneducated. We had them in the Army, had them at the fire department and we see them every day in our governing class. Trump is going to see their power when he tries to free our energy resources - the judicial system is the status quo, filled to serve the Druids and their acolytes.
I've been a Trump supporter and continue to be one, but his launch of his own cryptocoin at this point in time is inappropriate, and that's putting it nicely.
re Credentials...I recommend Michael Gibson's book 'Paper Belt on Fire'. (He is co-founder/co-manager of the 1517 Fund, which specializes in investing in 'nontraditional' founders, including the uncredentialed.
He needs more Andreessen and less Musk on China. The TikTok stuff should be the no-brainer part of a policy. There's far more substantive issues that are truly high stakes and high risk. Yet too many Americans are somewhere between ignorant and stupid. See: military members posting on the job videos on Little Red Book.
Andreesen has apparently been spending a lot of time at Mar a Lago with Trump and Musk. It was mentioned briefly in Andreesen's interview with Uncommon Knowledge. Andreesen seems optimistic. Hope for the best.
Tariffs are all part of strategic negotiations and economic incentives, which is exactly how Trump used them in his first term. Blanket tariffs, like sanctions, are often counterproductive. As an economic systems thinker, Trump is better equipped to understand their effects than people that haven’t had to manage billion dollar construction projects using their own money.
When Kaiser started to build boats he failed. For some reason or other he visited Henry Ford's automobile factory. Looked around, saw the way Ford was building cars and realized he could build boats the same way. Ford's initially try at building B-24's didn't work well. Mostly because the Military kept coming in and making last minuter changes which required expensive retooling and modifications. They finally had enough and said they were going to build the planes as designed and if any changes were to be made they would be made afterwards in "modification area". The B-24's started to roll off at one per hour.
One problem with "experience" is it lead to "we've always done it this way." The other problem if is it doesn't work the solution is always throw more money at it. That is what is going on in education now. More money, poorer results.
The 'credentialed' people think MAGA is a dirty word. They would. By what possible philosophy would making America great be a bad thing? It could ONLY be a philosophy of nihilism.
The question is why. It's because they don't understand since they are members of a club. What is interesting is both Trump and Vance have the "club credentials", but because of their business, or life experience, they truly understand the MAGA people and can relate to them. There are people that "came from MAGA world" and got credentialed and forgot what it was like. Andreessen says he became an "assimilated" Californian.
1. Unequivocally agree that Trump not getting elected in 2020, while a disappointment, was a blessing in disguise. It lead to the corrupt cabal of puppet masters pulling the strings of the mentally and morally corrupt Biden to overplay their hand and show the world just how evil they really are.
2. I did not realize that POS Vindman, and he is a POS, was elected to Congress!
Back during the Government War on Terror I was living in Northern Virginia and saw a TV news story about veterans having problems adapting to civilian life. In one story they profiled a retired Army Colonel that was living in his car lamenting about not being able to find work although he had two masters degrees (and two divorces which certainly did not help). That story really made me wonder about the value of some college degrees and the effort people put into their life to make it work, especially because of all the well paying contract jobs in the DC metro area at that time.
We're all on the Titanic and all the smart people are arguing about the menu. The ship's hands that can see the ice berg in the distance are trying to change course. They may hit another ice berg, they may hit another ship or some other peril, but they are trying to steer clear. If you look what the US faces now after all these years of bilateral mismanagement and fiscal abuse -- fill in the blank for your self -- and all the other woke lunacy, I'm not sure it really makes a difference. It may be too late to course correct. Credentialed people got us into this mess, but my feeling is that with Trump's people we at least have a chance to avoid the ice berg and confront the next disaster.
How do we know we haven't already hit an iceberg? or two? or three?
Point. A 37 trillion national debt along with the nations immeasurable unfunded mandates are pretty substantial bergs.
That's really it, isn't it? On the plus side, we're still above the water line, still afloat, but we're in Mel Brooks territory: Hope for the best, expect the worst . . .
The entire world is suffering from the after affects of the received wisdom of elites--and the "rules based international world order". The US is still the best hope for the world. Bessent and Vought, if any teams can, have a shot at making the improvements needed.
I think the credentialed class, the Dems’ leadership, and gutless establishment Repubs have no one else to blame but themselves for Trump's victory.
They did it to themselves in large part by falsely conflating Trump’s often grating and obnoxious public persona with criminality, and then grossly abusing the national security apparatus and the courts in order to frame and vilify him. Hell, there were even two assassination attempts on him!
In the process they made the guy into a political martyr.
And, as if breaking the law/rules in order to screw Trump wasn’t enough, they covered up Biden’s mental diminishment going back to the 2020 campaign.
To paraphrase Glenn Reynolds, the coverup basically allowed largely anonymous people with lanyards hanging from their 11-inch necks to run the executive branch.
Getting even with these crooked scumbags should not be the first, second, or third goal, but if many of them get it shoved so far up their exit ramps it makes their eyes bulge, it’s all for the better.
great paraphrase of Glenn! perfect pitch.
I’m certainly less of a gentleman than is Glenn!
"It’s generally outsiders who take on the establishment and topple it." Robert Heinlein observed that happy, satisfied people are--by definition--status quo people. Thus, he argued, ALL change is engendered by unhappy, dissatisfied people.
Sometimes the change is good, sometimes not so good. But at the end of the day, if some proto-human ape hadn't decided he wasn't happy with trees and caves and decided to go out and see what those endless grasslands had to offer...well, you know the rest.
Great summary! Selena Zito had an article in the Free Press recently. She restated the phrase, “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” So true. I am also concerned about ‘blanket’ tariffs. Hopefully that is just his bluster and the ‘shot across the bow’.
Jeff- finally getting some old time Chicago winter, single digit temps. All Chicago weather folks are now always talking in wind chill (feels like) terms. I believe they just like to accentuate their ‘topic’ and fear-monger!
Jeff - where in Chicago did you grow up? Me: west side/ Austin / St. Angela parish
West Suburbs. Lombard/Villa Park. I think I still have some free drink poker chips from the Ardmore Lounge somewhere.
Elmhurst, here…
I lived there for a couple of years. 219 May St...someone finally tore the house down last year
Can I have 'em??
Lisle for 38 years. Been watching me hometown die a painful death and DuPage Cty get ‘blue-er’😭
I purposely moved to DuPage in the 1990’s so my tax money wouldn’t go to Cook. As DuPage got wealthier it unfortunately turned bluer. That was one of the many reasons I left IL and moved to NC.
A couple of things, gerrymandering in the collar counties and public employee unions. If you look at the vote totals it takes in local communities it becomes clear that public employee unions, especially the teachers can dominate local elections. Add spouses, parents, children and it's very difficult to turn out more votes than the unions can muster.
I wonder if any counties will try to secede to Indiana? If so, why doesn't Iowa and Missouri do the same thing?
Just a thought, but if I were the state of Illinois I would say if you want to leave here is your proportional share of the debt of Illinois and your county. Pay it off and we'll talk further.
Just sayin'
California needs a Milei.
So do a lot of states
Minnesota, for example!
I like the concept of credentialed but uneducated. We had them in the Army, had them at the fire department and we see them every day in our governing class. Trump is going to see their power when he tries to free our energy resources - the judicial system is the status quo, filled to serve the Druids and their acolytes.
At the University of Chicago they like to say, "It works in practice but does it work in theory".
I've been a Trump supporter and continue to be one, but his launch of his own cryptocoin at this point in time is inappropriate, and that's putting it nicely.
Maybe they can bail out the Hawk Tuah coin.
I think she needs to try and set some sort of record to bail that one out if you get my drift.
AGREE
re Credentials...I recommend Michael Gibson's book 'Paper Belt on Fire'. (He is co-founder/co-manager of the 1517 Fund, which specializes in investing in 'nontraditional' founders, including the uncredentialed.
He needs more Andreessen and less Musk on China. The TikTok stuff should be the no-brainer part of a policy. There's far more substantive issues that are truly high stakes and high risk. Yet too many Americans are somewhere between ignorant and stupid. See: military members posting on the job videos on Little Red Book.
Andreesen has apparently been spending a lot of time at Mar a Lago with Trump and Musk. It was mentioned briefly in Andreesen's interview with Uncommon Knowledge. Andreesen seems optimistic. Hope for the best.
Tariffs are all part of strategic negotiations and economic incentives, which is exactly how Trump used them in his first term. Blanket tariffs, like sanctions, are often counterproductive. As an economic systems thinker, Trump is better equipped to understand their effects than people that haven’t had to manage billion dollar construction projects using their own money.
Fair point, but when you threaten them you have to follow through if you don't get what you want
When Kaiser started to build boats he failed. For some reason or other he visited Henry Ford's automobile factory. Looked around, saw the way Ford was building cars and realized he could build boats the same way. Ford's initially try at building B-24's didn't work well. Mostly because the Military kept coming in and making last minuter changes which required expensive retooling and modifications. They finally had enough and said they were going to build the planes as designed and if any changes were to be made they would be made afterwards in "modification area". The B-24's started to roll off at one per hour.
One problem with "experience" is it lead to "we've always done it this way." The other problem if is it doesn't work the solution is always throw more money at it. That is what is going on in education now. More money, poorer results.
I offer this as an educational experience; it is what changed my prism.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/08/19/the-day-i-went-head-to-head-with-donald-trump/#624a2a035570
The 'credentialed' people think MAGA is a dirty word. They would. By what possible philosophy would making America great be a bad thing? It could ONLY be a philosophy of nihilism.
The question is why. It's because they don't understand since they are members of a club. What is interesting is both Trump and Vance have the "club credentials", but because of their business, or life experience, they truly understand the MAGA people and can relate to them. There are people that "came from MAGA world" and got credentialed and forgot what it was like. Andreessen says he became an "assimilated" Californian.
Two things
1. Unequivocally agree that Trump not getting elected in 2020, while a disappointment, was a blessing in disguise. It lead to the corrupt cabal of puppet masters pulling the strings of the mentally and morally corrupt Biden to overplay their hand and show the world just how evil they really are.
2. I did not realize that POS Vindman, and he is a POS, was elected to Congress!
Spot on.
I assure you flat tax is one of the things that is working its way through the labyrinth as this message is being written.
As I've more than once stated, often it takes a politician who is not an attorney to bring about new and meaningful results.
If 2/3 to 3/4 of what he has proposed is implemented, we will be the best the most efficient and effective our country has ever been.
Back during the Government War on Terror I was living in Northern Virginia and saw a TV news story about veterans having problems adapting to civilian life. In one story they profiled a retired Army Colonel that was living in his car lamenting about not being able to find work although he had two masters degrees (and two divorces which certainly did not help). That story really made me wonder about the value of some college degrees and the effort people put into their life to make it work, especially because of all the well paying contract jobs in the DC metro area at that time.