“Turns out subway madman Jordan Neely was alive after Daniel Penny released his chokehold — why on earth is the broader public just learning this now? Bombshell video played in the opening days of Penny’s trial … two of the cops who arrived on the scene confirming that Neely still has a pulse. Penny has been portrayed by leftist activists and their media allies as a cold-blooded racist killer. This footage dramatically undercuts that (though the detail about Neely’s faint pulse has appeared in court filings). … After all, Bragg is famously pro-crime, even violent crime. So why on earth would he come down so hard on Penny? The ugliest answer here is almost certainly the truest: Penny is white and Neely is black …” (11/04/24)
“We are living amid a Great Ethical Collapse. Medicine has failed us in the past four years. But that failure has been part of a much broader failure: Science has failed us. Government has failed us. Academia has failed us. Business has failed us. And, yes, even many of our spiritual leaders have failed us. All have abandoned critical thinking and moral responsibility to a degree we have not seen in the past 80 years. All have been “fundamentally transformed” into Postmodern caricatures of their former selves. ‘Truth’ has become a relative term. Everything, it seems, has been reduced to ideology. How did we get here? There is a controversial and frankly often misunderstood concept in Complexity Theory, Retrospective Coherence.” (11/05/24)
“[T]he AI boom of the last 12 years was made possible by three visionaries who pursued unorthodox ideas in the face of widespread criticism. One was Geoffrey Hinton, a University of Toronto computer scientist who spent decades promoting neural networks despite near-universal skepticism. The second was Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, who recognized early that GPUs could be useful for more than just graphics. The third was Fei-Fei Li. She created an image dataset that seemed ludicrously large to most of her colleagues. But it turned out to be essential for demonstrating the potential of neural networks trained on GPUs.” (11/05/24)
“The intensity of an election cycle can create an overwhelming environment filled with stress, debates, and a constant influx of information. Finding peace amidst this chaos is essential for mental well-being. Here’s how exercise, mindful social media use, and natural herbs can support your calm and clarity during these high-pressure times. 1. The Power of Exercise: Move for Your Mood … 2. Limiting Social Media: Filter Your Feed for Peace … 3. Nature’s Calm: Herbal Allies for Anxiety Reduction …” (11/05/24)
“Today, in theory, will conclude the 2024 presidential election, one of the most bizarre in American political history. From inner-party coups to assassination attempts, Kamala’s Brat summer social media trend to Trump’s courting of comedian podcasts, the campaign cycle has been saturated with the unconventional. It has, of course, also seen its expected share of shallow, political, rhetorical rhetoric and general economic illiteracy, which are the cornerstones of modern democracy. The general superficial nature of mainstream political discourse, though, should not distract us from recognizing foundational truths about the state of modern American politics. No matter the outcome, the legitimacy of American democracy is broken.” (11/05/24)
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Mark Sappenfield
“Some 236 years ago, it would seem that James Madison foresaw this moment. Election Day in the United States has arrived, and the great question that lies ahead is one he spent no small amount of time attempting to answer. How does a nation with democratic principles prevent the winners from walking all over the losers? Madison’s answer was a masterstroke of realpolitik. In political factions, he saw the human tendency to be whipped into groups of passion and ill will toward others. And in the clash of faction on faction, he saw checks and counterbalances. Many American voters say they’re anxious about who wins. What happens to the losing side? James Madison thought deeply about that question, and we the nation has learned more since. Yet as Americans go to the voting booth today, I wonder: Is there really no moral element?” (11/05/24)
“The question is troubling: does achieving high status in politics and government indicate, or even require, low virtue? Not necessarily. But there are reasons to think that high status signals low virtue, as was suggested by the Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith.” (11/05/24)
“Everybody knows housing unaffordability and home sticker prices peaked at all-time highs in 2023, even higher than the peak of the 2007 real estate bubble in real terms. Both sticker prices and median mortgage payments for homes remain today at among the most unaffordable levels in U.S. history. The free market has failed American homebuyers by not building enough homes Americans are willing and eager to buy, the official narrative goes. … the popular narrative is flat-out wrong. And I’ll demonstrate that with hard numbers.” (11/05/24)
“You can say a lot of bad things about the 2024 presidential campaign, which mercifully ends today. … It was, in many ways, a campaign to be ashamed of. But you must admit, there was one thing good about it: Campaign 2024 was remarkably brief. Originally, it looked like it was going to be a lot longer. … But the real campaign — the one we’re voting on today — began only when Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. It lasted a refreshingly brief 107 days. And, whatever the outcome, campaign 2024 proved that campaigns don’t have to drag on for months and months. One hundred days is all you need. After 100 days, we’re sick of them, anyway.” (11/05/24)
