Linky Links

 Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Norway bans smartphones in school.

- Tucker Carlson Episode 98 on racism in the US

- The death of Socrates

- The flipping of Earth's magnetic field. I've mentioned this before and we should be way more afraid if this than climate change. This has happened before and will happen again. (HT Steve Landry)

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Norway then immediately invested $18 billion in oil and gas.

- TIME on how Andrew Huberman got America interested in science. I'm a fan and regular listener to the Huberman Lab podcast. Also amused that TIME can't help being TIME.

- Dan Wetzel on the passing of coach Ryan Mallett. It is sad that it takes a death to realize how special a person was.

- Balaji Srinivasan on the potential RFK Jr. / Peter Hotez debate. Fan of Balaji's writing but this debate is not happening. 

Turkey Lifts Objections to Finland and Sweden Joining NATO

Turkey on Tuesday after negotiations lifted its objection to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Any support for the Kurdish people in Turkey was the price of admission. When the full details of the negotiations are known I wonder how history will judge this transaction?

As for me - I would have agreed to let Norway and Sweden in but only if we got to kick Canada out as long as they have Justin Trudeau as PM.

Shithole Countries

Let me say from the jump that the phrase "shithole countries" the way President Trump used it is racist. Yup - to argue against that is to be in denial. It is also true that a place like Haiti is a shithole country. Both things can be true at the same time.

Let's try this hypothetical thought experiment and see how outraged you'd be:

Wife: Honey how do you feel about a trip to Haiti?
Husband: I don't want to spend my vacation in that shithole country.
Wife: How about Norway?
Husband: Ooh - that sounds good.

Are you outraged at the husband for being a racist? Or did you think "Yeah - I'd much rather vacation in Norway than in Haiti." If you were outraged - my advice to you is to get a grip because Haiti is a shithole complete with a State Department warning against visiting.

If Trump had singled out Venezuela instead would the racist overtones have been lessened? Because Venezuela has become not just a shithole under Leftist rule but an utter shitshow. My guess is if he did single out Venezuela that Bernie Sanders and the Socialists would all be up in arms. Sean Penn might even have come out of hiding to Tweet mean things.

Are you upset because the use of the word "shithole" is un-Presidential? Were you equally outraged when Barack Obama used the word "shitshow" to describe Libya? If not then you are a hypocrite. Are you in the "think of the children" brigade? Well then I'm guessing Bill Clinton saying oral sex doesn't count as sex and the news of the day being about nothing but Presidential blowjobs made you a Republican for life. No? Then you are just a hypocrite.

Again I am not a Trump supporter and I did not vote for the man. I'm just not going to fake outrage at every little thing.