Archive for 2025
June 24, 2025
MY TED TALK IS LIVE!: Check out my talk from TED2025 this past April on the four truth about free speech.
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Craftsman VERSASTACK Mechanics Tool Set. #CommissionEarned
THE ENEMY WITHIN:
NEW 🔴
NBC: ICE arrested 11 Iranian nationals in 48 hours, including Mehran Makari Sahel in St. Paul, a former IRGC member with ties to Hezbollah.
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 24, 2025
SHE DARED TO CHALLENGE THEM ON THE SACRED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY AND MUST BE PUNISHED.
Why is "getting" Wax so important to Penn that it's willing to undermine its position in antisemitism litigation and its ability to defend itself against Trump administration attacks? /end
— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) June 23, 2025
As an example to others, if nothing else.
CYNICAL PUBLIUS: The Trump Doctrine (aka the Businessman’s Way of War).
As the dust and smoke settle over Iran’s devastated nuclear weapons program, President Donald Trump’s method of waging war is coming into focus. We had hints of what I call the “Trump Doctrine” in his first term as he annihilated ISIS in Syria, but the two-decade war in Afghanistan that he had inherited initially obscured what has now become a coherent doctrine. In his second term, the freedom of navigation attacks against Yemen’s Houthis were once again a hint of Trump’s way of war, but Saturday’s attack on Iran—and the events leading up to it—tell us much about the deliberate and precise manner in which Trump seeks to conduct American wars. Similar to (but different from) the famous “Powell Doctrine” promulgated by former Secretary of State Colin Powell (more on that later), the Trump Doctrine is the doctrine of a businessman serving his stockholders. Explained another way, the Trump Doctrine is the “Businessman’s Way of War.”
To preview succinctly, the Trump Doctrine consists of a series of business-like, iterative steps for all uses of American military force, and it performs as follows:
1. Identify America’s national interest.
2. Bargain with the prospective enemy.
3. If/when negotiations fail, conceal & misdirect.
4. Strike with precision and overwhelming force.
5. Achieve submission.
6. Bargain again (from a position of complete strength) with the defeated enemy.
I’ll now examine each of these escalating steps in detail.
After breaking Trump’s ceasefire, Iran apparently has a way to go before reaching 5.
And do read the whole thing.
BUT WHAT’S THE FUN IN NOT SHIFTING YOUR OPINIONS EVERY 2.5 SECONDS? Advice For The Newbies.
Too many high follower accounts have still to learn the wisdom of "shut up and watch for a while". https://t.co/kb6AOVYf7h
— Katewerk (@katewerk) June 24, 2025
George Orwell could not be reached for comment.
I ACTUALLY ENJOY IT: Professors view teaching as ‘burden,’ spend less time in classroom, report finds.. Now the administrative work . . .
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Trump Tried to End the War. Iran Would Rather Murder Jews.
THE BETTING LINE:
Today is the Democratic primary for NYC mayor.
Zohran Mamdani, co‑founder of Students for Justice in Palestine and a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is leading in most polls. pic.twitter.com/GBOrzVue8h
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 24, 2025
I’ve stocked up on extra unexpectedlies in case New Yorkers decide to go full gooder and harder.
THE ENEMY WITHIN: New Figures on Iranians Let in Under Biden Reportedly Emerge as US Braces for Tehran Counterattack. “The Biden administration arrested 1,504 Iranian nationals during fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2024, releasing 729 of these individuals into the country, according to Customs and Border Protection data obtained by Fox News. The newly released data follows U.S. military airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities, sparking vows of retaliation from the Islamic regime.”
Iran seems to have backed down for now, just as they did the last time Trump hit them hard with the Soleimani killing.
DRILL, BABY, DRILL: Joel Kotkin: Trump’s Iran ceasefire depends on American oil.
MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Trump’s Iran strike revealed a second surprise: a competent White House.
A KNOWLEDGEABLE FRIEND COMMENTS ON THE IRAN/ISRAEL SITUATION:
Noteworthy that the first overt cooperative military action against a Muslim nation by Israel and the United States has not resulted in any significant squawking. Hushed awe, if anything.
It’s almost like we’ve entered a new era in the Middle East. And the world. Mark the date.
Ironically, the Arab states by and large couldn’t be happier. Both with the Israeli/US action in Iran, and Israeli action in Gaza.
Brave new world.
Greatest action for peace in decades.Obama got the Noble Peace Prize just for showing up.
Will Trump and Netanyahu get a nod? Unlikely.
I mean srsly, they’re Hitler, right?
Whatever follows, this could well go down in the annals as one of the most masterful, effective and efficient air campaigns ever. IDF and USAF in concert. Just doing what they do, at the direction of two widely reviled but entirely elected leaders.
Who’d’ve fkkn thought. Gobsmacked.
The latter two being the part without which this doesn’t happen.
Imagine if millions of people in the Middle East from Lebanon to Gaza to Syria to Iraq and beyond just get to rebuild their lives and their nations and get on with life as a result of this.
Yeah, probably not gonna happen. But think of the possibilities…
Israel and the United States cooperate on a highly effective air campaign, destroying Iran’s nuclear program with minimal casualties, and no squawking from the Arab street or Arab governments
Between that and all that COVID BS plus who was president the last four years, we’re living in alt history.
I think we have to assume at this point we’re the other alternative universe for wherever the real humans are.
Things are turning around. But, you know, God looks after fools, drunkards, and the United States of America. He seems to have a soft spot for Israel, too.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Muzzle Mahmoud Khalil, and Other Fun Party Ideas. “That’s the thing though, isn’t it? The America-haters who come here from somewhere else never want to go anywhere else — especially back to where they came from. In a world that hadn’t gone completely insane, Mahmoud Khalil would be given a one-way ticket to go complain about the United States in a different country.”
MONEY: Fed officials are starting to break rank and join Trump.
Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman on Monday downplayed the potential impacts of Trump’s tariffs on prices and said the US central bank should swiftly lower rates to preserve the labor market’s health.
“It is time to consider adjusting the policy rate,” Bowman said. “Should inflation pressures remain contained, I would support lowering the policy rate as soon as our next meeting in order to bring it closer to its neutral setting and to sustain a healthy labor market.”
Bowman is the second Fed official to join Trump in calling for lower borrowing costs. On Friday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said tariffs will likely only result in a “one-off” increase in inflation. Both Bowman and Waller are Trump appointees.
Other Fed officials aren’t quite joining Trump in calling for lower rates, but are signaling they’re warming up to the idea of it.
The housing market could certainly use the relief.
AND I’M THERE FOR IT.
Eli Lilly just showed that you can lose tons of fat while barely losing any muscle using their activin type-II receptor inhibitor, bimagrumab.
We are approaching a golden era of weight loss, where everyone can easily be muscular and skinny.
Prepare for hordes of hot Americans. pic.twitter.com/DWjifYqoL6
— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) June 24, 2025
DON SURBER: Trump Always Confuses Opponents: The TACO that helped him end Iran’s nuke program.
Mmm. Tacos.
GOODER AND HARDER: Is New York City About to Go Full Communist?
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Portable Battery Operated Fan, 20000mAh Rechargeable Camping Fan with LED Lantern. #CommissionEarned