Sunday, June 28, 2026
Sunday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
With today being Mel Brooks 100th birthday you may be asking what do you get for the man who has everything? Well how about the Presidential Medal of Freedom - he doesn't have one of those yet.
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Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Glenn Reynolds: The Commies Mount an Across the Board Push.
- If this new technology is real it could be a space travel game changer.
- From the archives: How John Steinbeck used his daily diary as a tool of discipline.
- G1 Unitree Robot review. Chinese company founded in 2016. Think general use roots are a ways off.
McNamara vs. Iacocca (Ford v Ferrari)
As an aside thought but while reading David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest I couldn't help but make an observation. Halberstam wrote:
But after he left, Lee Iacocca, who would eventually succeed him said that Bob McNamara had damn near ruined Ford by pushing that Falcon, too simple a car, with too small a profit for the company. Iacocca symbolized exactly the opposite of McNamara in the auto world... Lee brought in the Mustang, a car designed for the American consumer in just the way McNamara's cars were not.
It occurred to me that in the Matt Damon, Christian Bale movie Ford v Ferrari neither McNamara or Lee Iacocca is portrayed although Henry Ford II plays a significant role. Guess if either McNamara or Iacocca was portrayed it might have taken the film down a significant rabbit hole that was not central to the plot.
By the way - I enjoyed both the book and the movie.
EDIT: Mea culpa! Iacocca was portrayed in the movie. I just overlooked him several times. My bad.
Saturday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
Have the feeling that the Iranian war has moved away from the thought of being an active war in most people's minds. It's become just a live fire exercise for the US Military in many minds - as long as the price of gas at the pump isn't effected.
As always - please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the Link. Thanks!
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
Friday, June 26, 2026
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
"Virtue is multifaceted for Smith, but his big three are prudence, justice, and beneficence. These are the traits that make us lovely and that in turn make us respected and admired by those around us - the traits that make us loved.
What does Smith mean by prudence, justice, and beneficence? For Smith, prudence means in modern terms, taking care of yourself, justice means not hurting others, and beneficence means being good to others. That's not a bad trio for thinking about how to live the good life. Be good to yourself and be good to others."
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Books for America's 250th Anniversary. That's quite a list - actually two lists.
- Liberals Love Performative Empathy. Inconvenient truths.
- Jonathan Turley" Supreme Court takes on Hawaii's Vampire Rule on gun possession.
- DataRepublican: How USAID build a global Color Revolution infrastructure with NGO's.
Friday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
The South Korean stock market has reportedly been halted after falling over 8% but our stock market is fine. There's devastating earthquakes in Venezuela and heat waves in Europe but here in the US were only concerned with a little rain. Not even sure what's real any more.
As always - please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the Link. Thanks!
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
The Best and the Brightest
"That McNamara's role was major, the he was by default usurping the role of the Secretary of State, did not faze him. He was intelligent, forceful, courageous, decent, everything in fact but wise...
If it just been a matter of getting the right goods to the right villages, we would have won; unfortunately, what we were selling was not what they were buying. This man, whose only real experience had been in dealing with the second largest automotive empire in the world, producing huge Western vehicles, was the last man to understand and measure the problems of a people looking for their political freedom."
In the words of President Lyndon Johnson, "I forgot he had only been president of Ford for one week."
Thursday, June 25, 2026
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- The rational optimist's guide to AI. "Instead of asking 'How do I use AI?' ask what you want to achieve."
- Learn something new every day - there was a reason Elvis was the King.
- Kevin Kelly: Why are LLM's smart?
- Jonathan Turley: Chicago teachers seek billions more despite failing schools.
Thursday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
Look for President Trump to go on the offensive on things like the Save Act and other 80/20 issues where he's on the right side of public sentiment like illegal immigration. Don't underestimate the effect of him highlighting such issues during the nations upcoming 250th birthday will have on voters patriotic sentiment either.
As always - please Subscribe, hit the the Like button, or share the Link. Thanks!
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Strategy Requires Storytelling and Pictures, the Right Pictures.
- Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" shutting down permanently sources say. In with a bang - out with a whimper.
Wednesday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
President Trump is upset that prices at the gas pump are not falling fast enough to mirror the drop in the price of oil. He probably had a price level in mind to mention to the nation during the July 4th 250th celebration. Meanwhile Joe Biden could not get out of Afghanistan fast enough to help in his mind mark the anniversary of 9/11. The difference between the two administrations.
As always - please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the Link. Thanks!
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
Priests Playing Poker
The sins associated with playing cards are nothing new. The Synod of 1404 forbade card-playing by the clergy and in 1423 Saint Bernard called for the faithful to go home, get their playing cards and burn them right in the public square outside of Saint Peter's in the Vatican.
I wonder if that ruling against clergy playing cards has ever been rescinded? Personally I can't ever recall seeing a priest at a poker table. And now I really want a version of Dogs Playing Cards but with priests instead.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- How to win a space war. Long but interesting read that boils down to - first have a SpaceX.
- The economic costs of the Iran war. Not sure how this changes with a potential decrease in prices at the pump.
Watch as Gas Prices at the Pump Start to Drop
Tuesday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
The Iran peace deal is back on. Iranian representatives may have originally walked out but they quickly walked back to negotiations when informed if they left they and their whole country would be bombed. The terms included the strait of Hormuz being open, the sanctions against Iran being temporarily lifted, and inspections of the atomic program agreed to which was the whole point of the war in the first place.
As always - please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the Link. Thanks!
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
Monday, June 22, 2026
The Best and the Brightest
"[General] Harkins began by corrupting the intelligence reports coming in. Up until 1961 they had been reasonably accurate, clear, unclouded, by bureaucratic ambition... in effect the Administration created a situation where it lied to itself...
His [Harkins] two main distinctions during his years years in service in Vietnam would be, first, that his reporting consistently misled the President of the United States, and second, that it brought him to a point of struggle with a vast number of his field officers who tried to file realistic (hence pessimistic) reports. But even here the fault was not necessarily Harkins'. In all those years he felt that he was only doing what Max Taylor wanted, and there was considerable evidence that this was true, that his optimism reflected back-channeled directives from Taylor...
General Paul Donal Harkins, fifty-seven, was a man of compelling mediocrity...
'He wasn't worth a damn, so he was removed,' [Secretary of Defense] McNamara would say of him later, 'you need intelligent people.' Of course McNamara failed to explain why Harkins had held his position for almost two and a half years."
Linky Links
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- DataRepublican: Our assassination culture - "Traitor for Israel." Hate has twisted many hearts.
- Jonathan Turley on things not going well for Dan Goldman. The left eating their own - kind of amusing.
- Alan Greenspan has passed aged 100.
- The Ramp: Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Very different emotions from the ones I have of that night.
Monday Flotsam and Jetsam
Have a new miscellaneous thoughts and observations post up on Substack.
Wait did Keir Starmer announce he was stepping down as PM before Iran pulled out of peace negotiations? Or the other way around? Perhaps the two are related? That's one way to explain things.
As always - please Subscribe, hit the Like button, or share the Link. Thanks!
Quotes for Today
Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.
Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.
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