“No one ever accused President Donald Trump of being a systematic thinker. Were not the potential consequences so great, the obvious response to his demand on Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to ‘return’ Bagram air base would be uproarious laughter. It’s been more than four years since the Biden administration withdrew U.S. forces from the central Asian state. The departure, just a few weeks shy of the 20-year anniversary of the arrival of American forces, made Washington’s 1975 exit from Saigon look orderly. However, the U.S. military’s retreat was long overdue and completed the accord negotiated by Trump during his first term.” (10/02/25)
“The American diet is increasingly a state-managed affair. For more than a century, Washington’s alphabet soup of agencies like the FDA, USDA, CDC, and EPA have determined what goes into our food, how it must be labeled, which claims can be advertised, and even what counts as ‘healthy.’ Yet despite all this oversight, Americans are heavier, sicker, and less active than ever. This is no coincidence. The economics of government food control make success nearly impossible. Misaligned incentives, regulatory capture, and the knowledge problem ensure that bureaucratic management of something as personal and local as food can only produce failure.” (10/02/25)
“For some reason, urban planning has become a hot topic on social media. Even more strangely, it has become ideologized. In the name of the community, left-wingers are generally for state-run public transportation and government housing. In the name of families or individuals, many right-wingers want more suburbs and, particularly, taxpayer-funded highways to accommodate cars. They all want the government to subsidize their lifestyles. But with regard to urban planning, we need to get it out of the way.” (10/02/25)
“Let’s get one thing straight: Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t singularly lose because of President Joe Biden. She didn’t lose because of so-called racism. She didn’t lose because of ‘misinformation,’ or because Mercury was in retrograde. Harris lost because millions of Black Americans like me abandoned both her and her party. And that’s the one truth she can’t stomach to say out loud. Her new memoir, 107 Days, is being sold as an inside look at the shortest presidential campaign in modern American history. But let’s call it what it is: a 320-page therapy session. A master class in finger-pointing.” (10/02/25)
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“Several decades ago, economist Herman E. Daly and philosopher and theologian John B. Cobb, Jr. pointed out that in a ‘full world’ with finite resources, economic growth can become uneconomic when the environmental and social costs outweigh the benefits. We are today deep into this dynamic. I think there are several questions we are duty-bound as rational people to ask at this stage in our adoption and use of GDP: What do we mean by growth fundamentally? What are we trying to grow and get more of? … GDP is not only a measuring tool; it is also itself a political ideology and system, one that is shared around the world, though not universally accepted.” (10/02/25)
“Despite doomsaying about loyalty oaths ahead of Pete Hegseth’s gathering of top U.S. military officers this week, it appears not every decision the defense secretary makes is indicative of creeping fascism. We can take comfort in the fact that many of his decisions are not authoritarian, but rather incredibly stupid and amateur. Indeed, his conclave of the bulk of America’s generals and admirals falls firmly into the latter category.” (10/02/25)
“MAGA Republicans have long criticized the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. organizations (businesses, non-profits, and government) to enter a lottery for the right to hire high-skilled foreign workers temporarily. Up to 85,000 visas are up for grabs annually. Critics argue the program takes jobs away from American workers, who are purportedly President Donald Trump’s top priority. So, it wasn’t surprising to see him require any organization petitioning to employ an H-1B worker to pay $100,000 — a fee few can afford. Will this de facto ban on H-1B visas protect American workers? Don’t count on it. Likely the opposite will result: Fewer U.S. jobs and weaker U.S. companies.” (10/02/25)
“I am not sure I remember too much from my high school philosophy class, other than the lesson that I probably would not be actively pursuing a career in philosophy. But I remember one discussion about displaying one’s rebellious nature by doing the exact opposite of whatever an unfavored person said. The teacher made the point that if you always did the exact opposite of what person X says, then you are just as much ruled by X as any of X’s most cultish followers. In such a case you have completely abdicated your agency to X. I took the lesson from that, which I still try to follow to this day, that you have to process people’s actions and ideas one by one.” (10/02/25)
“It’s like a fight between siblings: ‘It’s his fault!’ ‘No, it’s her fault!’ But it is Congress and its two political parties squabbling, and it’s the American voter playing the part of parent. Whose fault is it? Both make plausible cases, sort of, but neither sounds believable. Why can’t these two get along? And where’s my coffee? Where’s my gin? The subject is the budget. Not the actual voted-on budget, which though prescribed by the U.S. Constitution hasn’t been seen in quite a while. Congress offers up these makeshifts instead.” (10/02/25)
