Reminder

Linky Links

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

- Trump poised to fill two influential appeals court vacancies. Judicial appointments are perhaps the most long lasting legacy's for a President.

- Mandelson's downfall one of the fastest ever seen in British public life. Will the links to Jeffrey Epstein prove to be the nail in Ken Starmer's political coffin?

- Law of universal uniqueness.

- The real Social Security debate: Who should bear the adjustment?

Linky Links

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

- Reforming Social Security: A how to guide.

- It's still the economy, stupid. The Trump Administration should meet with industry leaders and ask two simple questions: how do we make your product priced less for the public and how can we help you maintain profitability?

- Are we about to see a flood of Russiagate conspiracy subpoenas? 

- Did we have the secret to cheap energy for decades? And did China find it in our archives?

Linky Links

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

- Sam Altman on Productivity. Good advice but remember it's not a one size fits all.

- Was it a shock that most of the fraud came from California, New York, and Massachusetts?

- About that Mexico-US treaty. Is this a negotiation tool by Trump to get Mexico to agree to drones to monitor the water (that also search for armed cartel members).

- Excellent look at some of the strategy and history behind the Trump Tariffs.

Linky Links

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

- The taking down of the Department of Education. "The Department will to continue to administration Pell Grants, Title I funding, and resources for children with disabilities and special needs."  

- VDH: The Left knew they were lying to us all along. They destroyed trust in the process.

- Did acting head of Social Security Michelle King quit before she was fired? A report by DOGE found over $72 billion is fraudulent checks being cut by Social Security begging the questions - what did Michelle King know and when did she know it?

- Three cheers for the third places. Used to call these places remote offices - whether it be independent coffee shops (not a fan of Starbucks), my gym with free Wi-Fi, certain cigar bars, or others. Big fan.

Linky Links

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

- Roman roads reimagined as subway lines.

- Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Harris can't rely on identity politics this election.

- Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every single American. We are in the best of hands.

- VDH on Our Three Silent Mice. It's turtles all the way down. 

Linky Links

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

- Tesla stock price drops 3.5% amid concerns.

- VDH on Hunter and his Doomsday bomb

- Heh Heh (HT The View from Lady Lake)

- Should America be more like Sweden?

More Linky Links

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

- VDH on the Demse of Classical Education. Worth a read. The decline in Classical Education mirrors the decline in Western Civilization.

- Just saying. And you wonder why we're trillions in debt.

- Interesting - new study shows that "power" increases "risk taking." In real life it may be that risk takers become bosses. Can't understand why the assisned underlings are risk adverse. (HT KPAX)

- Steven Pressfield on How Wilderness Produces Art.

Is It Morning in Social Media America?

Via

Linky Links

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

- If Social Security were a private retirement fund, we'd sue. (HT  Newmark's Door)

- The NFL's playbook for the Deshaun Watson situation

- What was your woke breaking point? (HT Newmark's Door)

- Greatly amused by this list - The top 150 intellectuals. Joe Rogan is ranked #1 while Donald Trump is #27 - one spot ahead of Elon Musk. Silly list.

A Modest Proposal

Here's a modest proposal to save Social Security.

Everyone knows that Social Security is basically a Ponzi scheme that was designed for an era when the average lifespan was just 65-years old. It was meant as a safety net not a retirement plan. Anyway here's what I suggest.

We nominate a social media Czar or Star Chamber and if it is brought to their attention that you've said or done anything in the past or in current day on social media worthy of you being "cancelled" then you lose your rights to any Social Security funds. Solvency problem instantly solved.

It would really suck for a 15-year old who makes a single mistake - say a dumb Tweet or Tic Toc video - and suddenly finds themselves in the position of now having to pay into a system that they can never benefit from. Future generations would learn never to get on social media in the first place.

Everybody wins!

Linky Links

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

- Life expectancy according to the CDC. I see that graph and all I can think is that Social Security in its current form is doomed. 

- Michael McCann on the US v Google case and why Google did not do a "motion to dismiss."

- Leadership Lessons from The Godfather

- American Thinker on why the numbers actually look good for President Trump

- The Silicon Graybeard on the Michigan "Computer Glitch" (HT Borepatch)

Linky Links

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

- A brief history of Disney

- And speaking of Disney - Disney+ gets over 10 million subs just two days after launching. Goal is 60-90 million subs.

- I've always been skeptical of UFO's but now I'm starting to believe.

- Verizon and Motorola are bringing back the Razor Flip Phone. I do miss my old Razor but I'm not paying $1,500 for a new one.

- Entitlement liabilities are a graver threat to the next generation of Americans than climate change. And if they live in a Blue State wait till they learn that many of those generous pensions given out to public unions are also under or unfunded (and they are expected to pay the bill)

Linky Links

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

- I really want this bobblehead

- The guy's a badass

- Heh heh - meanwhile in Peru. Maybe it's an emotional support llama?

- Absolutely a Green Deal I could get behind

- Heh heh

- Social Security does need some changes to make sure it is viable long term. But I think any plan that doesn't include gradually increasing the retirement age to reflect increases in human longevity is just ignoring reality.

- How can you not root for Isaiah Thomas?

How to Fix Social Security

Not pretending this is a comprehensive fix for Social Security but everyone agrees it needs to be fixed so I am offering five easy steps to starting the process. I feel these five steps meet the criteria of being both fair and common-sense based.

1. Institute means testing. Warren Buffett says he wants to pay more taxes - OK let's start with his Social Security. When Social Security was instituted it was meant as a safety net for our nation's elderly. It was not meant to be a retirement account. As a safety net - it is an acceptable concept. As a retirement plan - it is a Ponzi scheme. I'd suggest a means test of say 10-times the poverty level - so a couple making over $220,000 would not be eligible for Social Security payments.

2. Raise the retirement age for people 45-years and under from 65 to 67. Realistic people are wondering if they will be able to retire at all. Given the changes in life-expectancy and financial realities - I don't think raising the age to 67 is asking too much.

3. Raise the retirement age for people 35-years and under from 65 to 70. Few people this age are even thinking retirement. Again - people this age will be enjoying benefits in medicine and technology 35-years from now that are probably unthinkable today.

4. Require any naturalized citizen to have paid into the Social Security system for a minimum of 10-years before being eligible for Social Security benefits.

5. Create Health Savings Accounts (HSA) where any un-used funds at the end of the year can be moved tax free into 401-K or IRA accounts. This would help with retirement planning for younger people and would would have many additonal benfits.

Anyway - that's my five easy steps towards helping to fix Social Security.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Amazing WW II photos of women at war

- Wow - our solar system in proper scale. I don't think there's room on the Internet to allow for proper scale to show distance from our sun to the next closest star. We live in an unimaginably big place.

- Heh heh - maybe this is the reason the town Jack Daniels is made is now a dry town.

- Social Security is absolutely a Ponzi Scheme

- Five iconic science images and why they are wrong

- Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Resigns Over Global Warming

- If David Lynch had a website of historical photos - this would be it. Just awesome!

- I'm going to need a handjob first. Real freaking product.

Why Prohibition Really Ended

A very interesting article about why Prohibition really ended. According to the article it wasn't that Prohibition was a bad idea - it was that the Depression crushed tax revenues and the government needed the money liquor taxes would bring.

There's no doubt that widespread understanding of Prohibition's futility and of its ugly, unintended side-effects made it easier for Congress to repeal the 18th Amendment. But these public sentiments were insufficient, by themselves, to end the war on alcohol.

Ending it required a gargantuan revenue shock -- to the U.S. Treasury.

Maybe the folks who want to legalize marijuana should earn a lesson from this and instead of trying to get marijuana legalized based upon the merits of doing so - they should start arguing about legalizing marijuana as a way to raise new revenues to help save Social Security.

HT NRO's Corner