"From bored of peace to Board of Peace in five days"

"Just a few days ago, on Sunday, the president wrote that he no longer felt 'an obligation to think purely of Peace,' since he hadn’t been awarded the Nobel Prize. Yet here he was: from bored of peace to Board of Peace in five days. Forget the road to Damascus; true conversions happen on the jet to Davos.

"And who better to solve the world’s conflicts than the man who, in his speech at the WEF a day earlier, became confused about whether he wished to illegally seize Greenland or Iceland? ...

“'Everybody wants to be a part of it,' Trump insisted of his new club. But big European countries had already turned him down. The initial members include Saudi Arabia, Israel and Belarus. Vladimir Putin says Russia may join too, if, and this is not a joke, he can pay the membership from Russia’s frozen assets. If these guys can run a peace initiative, the Sinaloa Cartel can run Narcotics Anonymous."

~ Henry Mance in Financial Times op-ed 'From bored of peace to the Board of Peace'

Power politics from ancient Greece

"So many people quote the famous line from Thucydides—'The strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must'—and forget that the amoral imperialists who used that line in the end lost their war and their empire. 

    "Thucydides does not offer the line, 'The strong do what they can,' as a neutral analysis of how international affairs operate. He offers it as an expression of the reckless arrogance that brought about the destruction of the Athenian Empire."

~ David Frum

"Thucydides is often interpreted as the proponent of power politics .... However, again, a careful reading of the text reveals a deeper ambiguity. Is Thucydides genuinely teaching that might makes right or is he more interested in illustrating Athenian hubris or both?”

~ Franz-Stefan Gady from his article 'Hey Policy Wonks, This Is How You Should Read Thucydides'

"Other countries are not ripping off the US on trade"

"The Trump Administration and I are here to make a very clear point—globalisation has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy… and it has left America behind.
    "America is done exporting jobs and offshoring its future. We will no longer give in to globalisation.”

~ Trump's Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the World Economic Forum

“'Globalisation has failed' claims Trump’s Secretary of Commerce at Davos.

    "Give me a break. Global free trade hasn’t failed. It helps America PROSPER."

~ John Stossell

"Everything Lutnick said in that statement is wrong, but the biggest flaw is that the US has somehow been 'left behind.' The US continues to enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world, and it has been rising in the Age of Globalisation too (whenever you define it)."

~ Jeremy Horpedahl

"The US since 1990: 

• Real GDP per capita: +68% 
• Real median wages (PCE): +34% 
• Infant mortality: -42%  
• Life expectancy: +4 years 
• Nonfarm employment: +46% (50M jobs) 
• Median household wealth: +128% 
• Industrial capacity: +76%"

~ Scott Lincicome

Offshore emissions

"Can someone explain how the deindustrialisation of the UK and Germany [et al] will save the planet? 

    "I still struggle to understand why they sacrifice their industries, jobs and prosperity only to outsource production to Asia, which increases global emissions. Does it make any sense to you?"

~ Michael A. Arouet

Another frickin' housing backflip!

Christopher bloody Luxon has now announced his fourth major housing policy backflip as National party leader.

I say "announced," but since the pissweak pipsqueak is too pusillanimous to even consider openly putting his head above that particular parapet, he's instead allowed news of his latest flip-flop to leak out from the likes of the oleaginous Matthew Hooton.

Sadly, since most of those backflips have come when Luxon's party is in government, the big loser here is anyone who wants sufficient certainty to plan, build, lend on, borrow against or borrow to buy a house. Let alone several houses. Which means: Almost all of us.

Ever wondered why the Auckland residential construction industry is in a hole? One big reason is the hole in Luxon's head that swings from NIMBY to YIMBY like a weather vane in a storm —making him first abandon bipartisan agreement on housing intensification, then talk about "going for growth," then abandon that again, then talk up Auckland's planned intensification, and now, apparently, abandon it once again. If it's certainty you're after to plan and build, then this Prime Minister and his weather-vane brain is not doing much for you.

Asked for details this morning of his latest backflip, suggesting a reduction in the requirement for Auckland Council to zone for a minimum two-million sites, the pissant Prime Minister spoke to Radio NZ for eight minutes while saying effectively nothing beyond we'll all just have to wait and see. So there.

Asked if it would make a difference if the two-million housing figure was pulled back to 1.5 million, [Scott] Caldwell [from the Coalition for More Housing] said lowering the two-million figure would undermine the feasible capacity of new homes.

And so it will.

“Any pulling back would be compromising Auckland’s housing affordability,” he said.

Which it will.

Caldwell said constant back and forth over new planning rules for more housing since 2020 inevitably meant more delays, and it could be the 2030s before more houses were delivered.

Which is true.

“Waiting until 2035 to deliver real cost-of-living wins is a generation too late for those struggling to find affordable housing in our largest city,” he said.

Which it is.

Summing up

"Just a reminder that as of now, Iran is still run by cruel theocrats, Venezuela is still run by far-left socialists, Russia is still run by a destructive dictatorship, and Ukraine is still run by a vibrant democracy that is is basically left alone to fight.

"Meanwhile, Donald Trump's priority is to invade Denmark and Minnesota. And to invite Putin to help run Gaza."

~ composite quote by Phillips O'Brien, Dan Smith, Clotilde I. & Alastair Twin

"The stakes could not be higher. As I speak there is despair in European capitals and delight in Moscow. That should tell you everything about the dangerous watershed we’ve now reached."

"On January 18, 2026, President Donald Trump sent a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. This is not a gaffe or a joke; it is a declaration of how Trump understands power. It reads:

"This letter is sheer madness.

"A sitting US President openly declares that his commitment to peace depends on whether he personally receives a prize—petulant narcissism elevated to state doctrine. ...

"Worse, the letter rejects sovereignty itself. Questioning Denmark’s ownership of Greenland because 'boats landed there' is pre-modern barbarism. By that logic, no country owns anything—only whoever has the power to seize it. ...

"The phrase 'Complete and Total Control' is the tell. It is an explicit claim that world security requires American domination of foreign territory. No advocate of liberty, no defender of objective law, and no serious supporter of the American constitutional order can accept that premise.

"All of this is wrapped in a protection-racket view of alliances. ...

"It is a worldview that treats the United States as Trump’s personal property, international laws that prohibit aggression as optional, and force as the final arbiter of right. Such a worldview is incompatible with liberty. It is incompatible with objective law. And it is incompatible with the moral foundations of the American republic.

"Anyone still defending this man and his movement is not defending America. They are defending the ravings of a would-be king, stripped of reason, law, and moral restraint. And they should be ashamed."

~ Nicholas Provenzo from his post 'Mad Donald's Letter and the Mind of a Would-Be King'

"Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize."

~ Anne Applebaum from her article 'Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw'

 

"For all of my life Russia has tried to decouple Europe from America and break the North Atlantic Alliance. It never succeeded. ... But now success is staring the Kremlin in the face. All thanks to Donald Trump. ... 

"Nobody should underestimate the catastrophic consequences for NATO if its leading member annexed the territory of a smaller member. It would be the abnegation of everything NATO is meant to stand for. Nobody denies Greenland is gaining in strategic importance to America. ... 

"But the crucial point is that, in security terms, America can have whatever it wants in Greenland without annexing an ally against its will. ... [T]he 1951 Greenland Defence Agreement (renewed in 2004).... gives the US the right to build as many bases as it wants and station unlimited numbers of military folk there. During the Cold War around 15,000 US person were based in Greenland. It’s now 200. 

"Trump claims Greenland is under threat from imminent takeover by China and/or Russia. It isn't, of course. They haven’t seen a Chinese ship up there for 12 years. But if Trump truly believes it, there's nothing to stop him from ramping up US military assets in Greenland back to Cold War levels or more. Moreover his European Nato allies are on side ... 

"The Trump administration depicts Greenland as a defenceless frozen waste in danger of being picked off by NATO’s enemies. It’s a nonsense. Greenland is a self-governing Danish protectorate. As such it is fully covered by NATO security guarantees, including the all-important Article 5 — which says an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. Yet Trump still wants to grab Greenland, all part of his mission not just to be Imperial President of the USA but Imperial Overlord of the whole Western Hemisphere. ... 

"Under Trump America is on the brink of becoming the enemy, not our most important ally. As a lifelong supporter of the US it is chilling to write and say such words. "The stakes could not be higher. As I speak there is despair in European capitals and delight in Moscow. That should tell you everything about the dangerous watershed we’ve now reached."

~ Andrew Neil

"Trump's letter to Norway's Prime Minister makes clear it is Trump — not America — with a psychological need to own Greenland."

~ John Bolton 

"[You say that] 'J6 should’ve been the last straw.' Pardoning the J6 criminals should’ve been the really last straw. 

"Republicans can’t get enough straw."

~ FT

"A lot of good people [sic] are on a hook over Donald Trump. They voted for him for understandable reasons [sic]: to stop Hillary or Kamala, to prevent court-packing, to move the embassy to Jerusalem, to reduce regulations. They rightly applauded [sic] his toughening of immigration policy. ...

"They began to feel invested in him. Sure, he was boorish and bombastic [and also utterly incapable of recognising Constitutional restraints - Ed.], but he was delivering most of what he was elected to do. Naturally, they bridled at criticism from people they disliked, some of which was indeed absurd.But he has plainly now lost his mind. There is no other way of reading 'I am going to threaten an ally with invasion because I didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize.' It is impossible to exaggerate how high the stakes are. If Putin had put an agent in the White House, what would would be doing differently? We are talking about the survival of the Western way of life, about the world order of which the United States is the chief exemplar and beneficiary. That, surely, matters more than 'liberal tears.' Doesn’t it? Because if it doesn’t, we are all damned."

~ Daniel Hannan

PS:

"The most [surely "one of the many"? - Ed.] irritating aspect of the Greenland farce is that it's a distraction from the tragedy of Iran."

~ Niall Ferguson

"The fate of a 2,500-year-old nation and its 93 million inhabitants rests, for now, in the hands of Donald Trump.

On at least eight occasions over the past three weeks, Trump encouraged Iranian protesters to go into the streets, assuring them that the United States had their back and that “help is on the way.” He threatened that if the Iranian regime killed protesters, the U.S. was “locked and loaded” to take action.

“If they start killing people like they have in the past,” he warned, “we will get involved. We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”

Despite Trump’s threats, the Islamic Republic commenced what is almost certainly its bloodiest killing binge since its inception, in 1979. The regime itself admitted to 2,000 deaths; human-rights organizations believe that the figure could be higher than 12,000. This death toll likely dwarfs the number of protesters killed by the shah over the 13 months leading to the 1979 revolution.

Trump now confronts a fateful choice. He can make good on his promise and risk the always-unpredictable consequences of military action, or he can face the shame of having given false encouragement to freedom fighters and emboldened one of America’s fiercest adversaries.

If Trump chooses not to act, his encouragement of the Iranian people to rise up, his repeated promises of U.S. support, and his subsequent abandonment of them will be remembered as one of the most callous examples of presidential betrayal in modern history. Expressing moral support for protesters was the right thing to do. But inciting them to rise up and promising intervention, only to watch them get mowed down by the thousands, will be counted as an act of cruelty."

~ Karim Sadjadpour from his article 'Trump’s Fateful Choice in Iran'

PPS:

"We just reviewed Trump’s recent National Security Strategy and Greenland isn’t even mentioned once. Remember this when Trump officials talk about how conquering Greenland is a top national security priority. They are lying to you."

~ Trump Lie Tracker

"Trump is nothing if not the King of Distractions."

"With his Venezuelan Victory fresh in the news again due to his new award for protecting world peace, the president also happily announced this week that he had already sold his first half-billion dollars worth of Venezuelan crude oil to an unnamed recipient. As further evidence of the transparency of the Trump regime, he also said the money from the redacted sale would all go into an offshore bank account somewhere in Qatar, as is now standard Trump Treasury protocol. ...

"Not disclosing the buyer of this US oil—now that the US [government] owns all Venezuelan oil—is also how businesses is properly done by the transparent Trump regime because they’ve realised that redacting names ahead of time will make it easier to comply with likely congressional mandates to release files about these offshore oil transactions ... Protection of the name of the buyer also helps assure that the public will never know if the oil went to one of Trump’s top billionaire campaign supporters, a guy Paul Singer, who recently bought Citgo, the American arm of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. ...

"Singer bought Citgo for a song, paying dimes on the dollar for the Venezuelan-oil producer when US courts ordered its sale to one of Singer’s companies shortly ahead of Trump’s invasion. The court-ordered sale came because the Venezuela state-owned rig was unable to pay its bonds due to typical commie mismanagement … and possible due to Trump’s embargo on Venezuelan oil. The president keeps his reputation clear of sending billion-dollar windfall deals to his most loyal supporters by keeping their names well-redacted out of his deal disclosures.

"If the president of the United States of Armerica proved nothing else this week, it is that using American arms to change the press news cycle away from the topics you are tired of—a long-favoured ploy of many a US president—really does work well because, outside of Blondi boasting about her Republican Redactors, there was not a second left in the week for news about the Epstain Files.

"Trump is nothing if not the King of Distractions.

"It was practically a stain-free week … other than the American bloodstains inside of an SUV where a mother was shot in the head ...

"The need to battle the fires of internal insurrection by trying to turn the nation into a police state is clear proof of a peaceful president, meriting his coveted Nobel prize."

~ David Haggith from his post 'A DEEPER DIVE into the Chaos'

"Israel becomes not just another country among many but a kind of moral index of the age – a stage upon which the world’s conscience is imagined to be tested and revealed."

"In the first nine months after October 7, the New York Times published 6,656 articles about the Gaza War. That compared to 80 articles about the American-led battle to free Mosul ... Israel is covered by more full-time staff than all of sub-Saharan Africa combined ...

"This saturation coverage creates the illusion of centrality. It trains audiences to believe that whatever they see most frequently must be the most important event in the world. Israel becomes not just another country among many but a kind of moral index of the age – a stage upon which the world’s conscience is imagined to be tested and revealed.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict occupies a peculiar and disproportionate place in the West's political imagination, unmatched by conflicts that are deadlier. And so it becomes over-seen, over-examined, intensely dissected, and uniquely moralised until the examination itself becomes both activism and a substitute for understanding."

~ Samuel Hyde from his op-ed 'Why global media obsess over Israel and ignore deadlier wars '

"Trump supporters continue to lie for him." [updated]

"Trump supporters continue to lie for him. Tariffs are not about fentanyl, national security, or even jobs.
    "They're about consolidating power for the sake of using it arbitrarily."

~ Keith Weiner

***

* * * * 

UPDATE:

"Trump’s demand to annex Greenland either through money or the military is becoming the catalyst for the possible destruction of the Atlantic Alliance. Trump could not do more to serve the geopolitical interests of Russia and China if he was an actual puppet of Moscow and Beijing."

~ Richard Ebeling

"As an American, I have one thing to say to my many European friends: Do not back down in this confrontation. Up to now, both the EU and the major European powers have sought to appease Trump by offering him concessions, flattery, personal gifts, and other forms of tribute. This strategy has not worked and should be abandoned immediately.

"Donald Trump is fundamentally a bully who wants to dominate everyone around him. Trying to placate him with concessions is a fool’s errand ...

"What makes any European think that conceding Greenland will mollify Trump? He will simply come back for more, later. ... [And a]t this point, Trump’s America has amply demonstrated that it will not be a reliable ally when push comes to shove. It has already abandoned Ukraine, and stated in November’s National Security Strategy that Europe has fallen behind the Western Hemisphere in terms of American priorities.  

"Europeans should keep in mind that those countries that stood up to Trump’s threats in 2025 ... all did well and did not have to succumb. ...

"It may be the case that the world will have to risk suffering a global recession as more countries stand up to Trump and retaliate against his policies. But a U.S. politician who wants to weaponise trade and use it as a lever for territorial expansion needs to be taught a painful lesson."

~ Francis Fukuyama from his column 'Don’t Back Down, Europe: Trump’s tariff threats against allies should be the last straw.'

"One of the main differences between this Trump Administration and the previous term: he is currently surrounded by people who take his craziest ideas and then come up with elaborate rationalisations for why he should do them."

"One of the main differences between this Trump Administration and the previous term: ... the adults from the first term either said 'enough' after Jan 6th and walked away, or they found themselves driven out because they refused to budge on one or more of Trump's craziest ideas.

"That means the 2nd term self-selected for people who, through their own lack of virtue, are unbothered by the ethical failures of the first term, and people who are True Believers (tm) in the craziest schemes of Trumpism today. Or both. ...

"[So h]e is currently surrounded by people who take his craziest ideas and then come up with elaborate rationalisations for why he should do them.

"Trump wants tariffs on everyone and everything? 'You know, Mr. President, there's this law called IEEPA...'

"Trump proposes some bonkers scheme to invade Greenland because he wants to make the country larger? 'You know, Mr. President, Greenland is actually important for US national security...'

"In the previous Administration, there were at least a few adults who shut down the wackiest impulses of Trump or deflected them to other areas. Now, flattering Trump's wackiest impulses is a pathway to promotion."

~ Phil Magness

"The adults in his previous term were people who believed in real governance—whether one liked their particular ideological or policy leanings or not—and thought Trump could be moderated with intelligent guidance. They were patriotic people who wanted to serve their country whether or not they approved of who has been elected.

"This time, every adult knew Trump could not be moderated, that they could not effectively serve their country, but could only support the crazy or be destroyed. So the stayed away in droves.

"And of course that suited Trump just fine. The first time around he was uncertain, and he wanted the patina of serious expert people around him. But he chafed at not being able to control them, and he came to realise all he needed (personally, with certainty, and possibly politically) was the continued adoration of the MAGA crowd. So he has been happy to not have any qualified people on board, but to have sycophants who both inflate his ego and keep the MAGA folks swooning in political ecstasy.

"And the adults are just sitting by thinking about whether an actual seizure of power through cancelled or rigged elections is [possible], and how to prevent it if there's a real danger of it, and how to restore some sanity, decency, and global trust when this passes."

~ James Hanley

"The cause of Iran is the cause of humanity."

"Imagine watching women fling off their hijabs in glorious defiance of the cruel mullahs who rule over them and feeling nothing. Imagine seeing brave youths swarm the streets to confront the tyrants who oppress them and just looking the other way. ...

"The shameful, tight-lipped caginess of progressives in response to the glorious revolt in Iran is more than cowardice – it’s pathology. These people are so lost in the maze of moral relativism that they can’t bring themselves to criticise an Islamic regime. They’re so mind-screwed by intersectionality that the sight of young women throwing their hijabs on to open fires is more likely to baffle than excite them. ...

"The extraordinary valour of the young in Iran has exposed the moral bewilderment of the young in the West. Inculcated with that cruel, truthless idea that ‘All cultures are equally valid’, this new generation is struck dumb by a fiery foreign revolt against an Islamic government. ...

"Everything will change if the ayatollah classes fall. Hamas and Hezbollah, already battered by the Jewish nation’s resistance against their regime of terror, will be starved of resources. Israel will breathe easier. Russia’s wings will be clipped as its key, crucial ally in the Middle East is laid to rest by the very people it oppressed. A chastened Russia will be to the benefit of all Europeans, not least the long-suffering people of Ukraine.

"The West will be that bit freer, too. Free from the Iranian regime’s exporting of terror and its exploitation of mosques and charities to spread its misanthropic creed through our societies. ...

"The cause of Iran is the cause of humanity. Those brave souls are fighting first and foremost for themselves, as they should. After 47 years in the medieval gloom of Islamist rule, they deserve to see the light of liberty. But their revolt, their valour, their unshakeable yearning for freedom is a gift to the world, too. A stunning defeat for the forces of Islamism, delivered by women whose hair flows freely and men who want the right to think for themselves – it is exactly what humanity needs right now."

~ Brendan O'Neill from his column 'Iran's uprising and the moral bewilderment of Western youth'

"Pics like these almost make me want to start smoking in solidarity." ~ Amy Peikoff

"Iran’s Islamic Republic is no ordinary autocracy—it’s a theocratic prison-state exporting death while devouring its citizens."

"As of January 12, 2026, Iran stands at a historic precipice. What began as scattered demonstrations in late December 2025 over skyrocketing inflation, currency collapse, and economic despair has exploded into the largest nationwide uprising since the 1979 Islamic Revolution—and arguably the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic in its 47-year history. ...

"Chants of 'Death to the Dictator' (targeting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei) echo alongside calls for the return of the Pahlavi monarchy, symbolised by the pre-1979 lion-and-sun flag. Strikes cripple markets, universities burn with student fury, and reports from human rights groups document thousands arrested, hundreds (possibly thousands) killed by security forces using live ammunition, and hospitals overwhelmed by gunshot wounds.

"The regime’s response has been savage ...

"This is not merely an 'economic protest' or reform movement. At its core, Iranians are rebelling against the suffocating fusion of clerical theocracy and state socialism that has crushed liberty, prosperity, and dignity for generations. ...

"Iran’s Islamic Republic is no ordinary autocracy—it’s a theocratic prison-state exporting death while devouring its citizens. ...

"The regime’s foreign aggression compounds the horror. Tehran bankrolls terrorist proxies that slaughter innocents and wage war on liberty [across the Middle East: Shi-ite fighters in Syria; PMF forces in Iraq;] Hamas’s October 7, 2023, atrocities in Israel; Hezbollah’s rocket barrages on civilians; the Houthis’ attacks on global shipping. These groups—armed, trained, and funded by Iran—hide behind human shields, commit rape and torture, and pursue jihadist domination. Israel’s repeated defeats of these proxies (through precision strikes and resilience) have humiliated Tehran, shattering illusions of regional hegemony.

"Defeated abroad, the mullahs now unleash fury at home. The current uprising—sparked by economic collapse but fuelled by decades of repression—has seen security forces open fire on unarmed crowds, including families and the elderly. ...

"Iran’s savagery stems from Islam itself—not as a personal faith, but as a totalising political-religious doctrine demanding submission. ... Islam’s core texts call for jihad, infidel subjugation, and harsh punishments. From stonings to apostasy executions, these elements inspire terror waves: 9/11, Bataclan, ISIS caliphate horrors. ...

"Iran’s theocracy exemplifies this incompatibility with modernity: liberty is criminalised, women enslaved under veils, economy strangled by ideology. The uprising’s core demand—rejecting clerical rule—strikes at Islam’s fusion of mosque and state. ...

"Iran’s uprising is humanity’s cry against tyranny: clerical fascism fused with state socialism, fuelled by Islam’s dogmatic conquest ethos, shielded by Western leftist cowardice. The regime funds terror abroad while slaughtering at home; proxies fall, so oppression intensifies. ...

"The free world cannot afford denial. Iran’s people fight for what we take for granted—liberty. Ignoring them betrays them and ourselves. The time for harsh truths is now. The regime teeters; history will judge who stood for freedom and who looked away."

~ Roberto Rachewsky from his post 'The Axis of Oppression: Iran, Islam, and the Postmodern Left’s Betrayal of Freedom'

Checking in on human progress

 The start of a year is a good time to do a stocktake. An update. A check-in on how well we're all getting on. Energy maven Alex Epstein offers an important data point...

Anti-growth (and anti-energy) catastrophists like Paul Ehrlich and the Club of Rome were wrong. Today's humans are the best-fed humans in history.

And things will keep improving—unless we fall for new catastrophist propaganda like civilisation-crippling “net zero” plans.

 

'Trump’s Gestapo is now murdering protestors'

"ICE is Trump's Gestapo or SS. They have no proper function, no constitutional authorisation, and are loyal to Trump personally. ... (My use of 'Gestapo' is figurative. Literally, ICE is the transition to that kind of evil agency.) ...

"In Minneapolis on Wednesday, an ICE agent murdered a woman in her car. ... Trump’s goon squad, created out of xenophobia, shot a non-violent protestor three times in the face, killing her. ...

"The next day another shooting by federal border patrol agents (not ICE) occurred in Portland. ...

"Trump has claimed that the [murdered] victim was part of a 'far Left' network. Even if true, which I've heard no evidence to support, how does that justify killing her? If far Left organisations are protesting ICE and deportations, good for them.

"The two young people shot in Portland were not killed and are in the hospital. The Trump line is that they were part of a criminal drug gang and were here illegally. Drug gangs exist only because of the drug Prohibition. There are no Gatorade gangs, no chocolate bar cartels. Why not? Because these things are not illegalised and their prices are such as earn an average rate of profit. ...

"The [American] public's wrong view of immigrants and wrong ideas regarding drugs are enabling a power-mad low-life to change America into a police state.

"The public's wrong view could not have happened without the destruction of the concept of individual rights. ..."

~ Harry Binswanger from his post 'Trump’s Gestapo is now murdering protestors'

"All of this is the work of an unlearned, unread, blow-hard, know-it-all narcissist, who rattles around the White House in the dead of night dreaming up barking idiocy"

Cartoon by Glen Le Lievre

"When it comes to the national security front, Donald Trump is flat out losing it. After all, WTF was he thinking with respect to

……A $1.5 trillion defense budget?

……Kidnapping the president of a sovereign nation?

……Putting Mexico and Columbia on deck for the next drug fumigation?

……Essentially promising to militarily enable regime change in Iran?

…....Enforcing freedom of religion in Nigeria with more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles?

…....Taking Greenland….. the hard way?

"All of this is the work of an unlearned, unread, blow-hard, know-it-all narcissist, who rattles around the White House in the dead of night dreaming up barking idiocy that none of the craven weaklings (e.g. JD Vance), boot-licking sycophants (e.g. Marco Rubio) and mentally-warped, xenophobic fanatics (e.g. Stephen Miller) surrounding the Oval Office are about to resist.

"But the last of the listed items—annexing Greenland—surely takes the cake for risible humbugery.

"Check the record. Among the most recent American officials to advocate the taking of Greenland was, well, Secretary of State William Seward. In the second half of the 1860s!

"This statesman of 'Seward's Icebox' fame feared England would take control of Greenland, thereby further thwarting the plans of his 'manifest destiny' crowd to annex Canada.

"Some eight decades later, there was also the original cold-war monger, Secretary of State James Byrnes, who offered Denmark $100 million for Greenland—the better to keep the Russkies off the icebergs. [Never mind they're already there just a few miles off the coast of Alaska.] Instead, Washington eventually settled for a rent-a-base at Thule, Greenland that actually made sense as a radar warning station at the time... the US doesn’t need bases in Greenland to support or enhance this kind of [warning system] in any case. That’s because America now has more than a dozen satellites in geostationary orbit that can actual do the job far more effectively ....

"In short, for pure nuclear security, annexing Greenland would amount to hideous overkill, save for the fact that it might actually destroy NATO once and for all! ...

"[Furthermore it would] waste a trillion dollars per year that Uncle Sam absolutely doesn’t have and shouldn’t ever get in order to fund the multiple equivalents of this 'Trump Icebox' in the Arctic.

"And that would be pure, unhinged madness, if there ever was such a thing."

~ David Stockman from his post 'Trump’s Icebox'

"I believe in rational self-interest. I believe people want to have happy lives. But they don’t half go about it in some fucking stupid ways."

"I get that all human behaviour is purposeful. I believe in rational self-interest. I believe people want to have happy lives. But they don’t half go about it in some fucking stupid ways. ...

"[Y]ou’re not crazy. Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it for a good reason. But there might be a better way. ... I believe we’ve got two big adventures in life: the first is finding your purpose and the second is pursuing that purpose. The sad fact is most people get to do neither. I’m hoping you get to do both. ...

"[But h]ere’s the truth of it: no one wants you to follow your dream. Best-case scenario, they’ll want you to follow their dream for you. Mostly, though, nobody cares about your dreams, they’re busy getting on with their own shit."

~ Jimmy Carr from his post 'Why do you do?' [hat tip Mark T.]

"Tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which no body can have a right to."

"As usurpation is the exercise of power, which another hath a right to; so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which no body can have a right to. And this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage ....

"[T]here is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression. ...

"[W]henever the Legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common Refuge ... against Force and Violence. Whensoever therefore the Legislative shall transgress this fundamental Rule of Society; and either by Ambition, Fear, Folly or Corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other an Absolute Power over the Lives, Liberties, and Estates of the People; By this breach of Trust they forfeit the Power, the People had put into their hands, for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the People, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty ... "

~ John Locke from his Second Treatise of Government

On New Year's resolutions

"It is ... fitting—even if the timing is a historical coincidence—that the holiday that celebrates the rewards of reason, i.e., Christmas, precedes the one that reminds us of the opportunity we always have to exercise it [i.e., making New Year's resolutions.]"

~ Gus Van Horn from his post 'Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!'

"...the secular meaning of Christmas"

"A few years ago, I spent some time thinking about the meaning of Christmas. I am afraid I shocked my Christian neighbours when they realised I was looking for the secular meaning of Christmas, not the story of the baby in the manger. I think there is a wider, nonreligious meaning to the holiday, which I thought I would share....

"People are a value.

"This is important. ... [W]e have an amazing standard of living. And we have it because of the millions of people — in our country and around the world — who are putting in a small, medium, or large effort to create values in the world. Some of these values are products or services we happily buy because they make our lives easier, or more productive, or more meaningful, or more enjoyable. Some of these values they just put out into the world, such as their funny cat videos or 'how to' videos for the gadget you just purchased and can’t get to work.

"So, I see Christmas as a time to celebrate the good in the people around you and in the world. To be grateful for the best within them and to recognise the value of that to you."

~ Jean Moroney from her post 'Goodwill to Man' [hat tip Gus Van Horn]

"Underneath all the pretence, that is what Christmas does celebrate."

"Life requires reason, selfishness, capitalism; that is what Christmas should celebrate — and really, underneath all the pretence, that is what it does celebrate."

~ philosopher Leonard Peikoff from his timeless article 'Christmas Should Be More Commercial'

The (man-made) world really is getting greyer.”

"It’s not just in our imagination—the “world really is getting greyer.” A researcher recently studied photos of household items going back two centuries. An analysis of the pixels showed a scary collapse in colour. 

"Even the Victorians—often considered as conformists—lived a more color-filled life. We have almost completely abandoned red and yellow and other bright hues in favor a boring black-and-white spectrum.

"But what’s most striking is how this descent into grayness has accelerated during the last few years. The most popular color is now charcoal—and at the current rate it will soon account for half of the marketplace.

"This runs counter the mantra of marketing experts [sic], who claim that products need to make a statement and capture the public’s attention.. They say that, but then turn around and launch another grey product into the look-alike marketplace.

"In an attempt to counter this, Pantone announced recently that the colour of the year in 2026 should be white. Some people complained. Others merely yawned. The shift from grey to white is one more measure of the tedium imposed by today’s tastemakers.

"Not long ago, popular colours were striking and changed with regularity. There was a time when avocado was the preferred shade for kitchen appliances. Orange and red had their day. When Monsanto designed a house of the future for Disneyland back in 1957, the kitchen looked like this.

 

"But the real problem isn’t our home decor—it’s the avoidance of risk-taking and the embrace of conformity in our behaviour. And even in our inner lives...."

~ Ted Gioia from his post 'The Return of the Weirdo'

Revenge?

Is revenge a dish best eaten cold? Or not eaten at all. 

There are moments, writes Allan John, when 

the urge for revenge can feel irresistible. We tell ourselves that one bad act warrants another—that striking back will somehow restore justice or bring relief.

But revenge rarely solves the original problem.

And most importantly, it doesn't heal the hurt. The Count of Monte Cristo shows a post-escape life wasted in seeking revenge. The story illustrates the idea that "it doesn’t degrade you when others treat you poorly; it degrades them." 

Nick Cave and his wife Susie chose another path: after their son's tragic death, they chose to find happiness "as an act of defiance or 'revenge' against the overwhelming pain." As they say, the best 'revenge' is outrageous success.

You can't choose what others do to you, or what is done to you. But you can choose how to respond, and whom to become. As the philosopher Diogenes observed, "How shall I defend myself against my enemy? By proving myself good and honourable."

It might be self-defeating. But that doesn't mean it don't feel good. Here's a Nick Cave song revenging himself on a critic, from a few years before his epiphany ...

Bonus vid: Anita Lane + Barry Adamson with the classic revenge song ....

"The AI era is one of mythology ... a dynasty of bullshit"

"We are in the dynasty of bullshit, a deceptive epoch where analysts and journalists who are ostensibly burdened with telling the truth feel the need to continue pushing the Gospel According To Jensen. When all of this collapses there must be a reckoning with how little effort was made to truly investigate the things that executives are saying on the television, in press releases, in earnings filings and even on social media, all because the market consensus demanded that The Number Must Continue Going Up.

"The AI era is one of mythology, where billions in GPUs are bought to create supply for imaginary demand, where software is sold based on things it cannot reliably do, where companies that burn billions of dollars are rewarded with glitzy headlines and not an ounce of cynicism, and where those that have pushed back against it have been treated with more skepticism and ire than those who would benefit the most from the propagation of propaganda and outright lies."

~ Ed Zitron from his post 'Mythbusters - AI Edition'