Hoofbeats

On This Day:
661
The Rashidun Caliphate ends with death of Ali.
1593
The Vatican opens seven year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.
1606
Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.
1868
Boshin War: The Battle of Toba-Fushimi between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and pro-Imperial factions begins, which will end in defeat for the shogunate, and is a pivotal point in the Meiji Restoration.
1961
Soviet submarine S-80 sinks with all hands lost.
1967
Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
1973
The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.

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In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches.
But what percentage of points did I win?
54%
In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points they play.--Federer, speaking at Dartmouth

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Does anyone think that 'negotiations with Fry and Walz' is like a medieval meeting of warlords? The Califate meeting with the tribes?

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Behind Klein's Abundance is the argument that much wrong in our society comes from manufactured scarcities. We have made it too hard to build and create the things people need more of, particularly housing, clean energy, and state capacity.

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Always look for the bottleneck. That's where things can be changed. Would you really expect the elite to release an honest Epstein report?

For example, Russia is preparing a new economics textbook for university students that aims to challenge what its authors call a “myth” that democracy drives economic growth and to revive the socialist economic theories of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
The Russians have an academic book on economics!

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In Ukraine in the early 1930s, collectivization led to such mass man-made starvation and cannibalism that Soviet authorities had to distribute posters that read, “To eat your own children is a barbarian act.”

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Hoofbeats

What should we do about ICE? There is no longer a question about the seriousness of the problem. The insurgency is not a misunderstanding.  These people are not able to behave responsibly, even to protect their own lives. The risks are simply beyond them. They knowingly place themselves at the mercy of the people they are attacking. Sometimes they overestimate the goodwill of their opponent. Or, sometimes, an accident happens. Should ICE withdraw? Should we protect these people from themselves? Should we readjust the bar, like the Special Olympics?

We step over the homeless, we don't go after COVID fraudsters or Autism thieves, we don't pay our debts, we have no voter ID requirements, for four years we had an open border, we've never seen the Epstein Files, we have not demanded revenge for a committee of grad studebts taking over the presidency and shutting down the American economy and the education system for three years...we have crossed the River Tolerence into the Land of Lax. We demand no responsibility. We are very forgiving. Or indifferent.

Of course, things like this cannot go on forever. At some point, Comes a Horseman.