Sunday Reads...
- Greg McNeilly
- Sep 21
- 4 min read
An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…”
Quote of the Day:
“Why should freedom of speech and freedom of press be allowed? Why should a government…allow itself to be criticized? I would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should any man be allowed to…disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?” — Vladimir Lenin
(Re)reading Fredrick Douglass’s “Plea for Free Speech.”
New files show that much of the DOJ/FBI was weaponized to hit domestic political opponents of the previous Administration.
Dissecting the motives behind Charlie Kirk’s murder.
“They” didn’t kill Charlie Kirk, notes one opinion writer.
Russian and Chinese agitprop operations are leveraging Kirk’s death to sow discord in America.
Harvard, that bastion of chronic lying, finally starts to clean house.
A snapshot of U.S. Tarriff revenue collection:
Disgusting: A dance party breaks out with people celebrating charge-dropping in the case of another murder.
Words are not violence – they never have been.
Enough. From the Wayback Machine, when Democrats threatened TV broadcasters for speech they didn’t like.
Research report documents “nonprofit” funding of domestic terrorist and agitation operations.
U.S. Senate releases more documents showing that Biden’s DOJ helped cover up misdeeds in Ukraine to protect the President.
Younger citizens are tuning out of local news.
Peeking inside Robert Redford’s home, here.
Founding Truths & Revolutionary Myths, listen here.
Reflecting on the role of family in the formation of republican virtues.
Advice on how to quit ultra-processed foods.
Someone had to do it! The fastest car driven on boat, here.
Check out the 2025 Auburn photo winners!
Crash course on the language of Cults and how they lure people in.
Unpacking Gen-Alpha’s slang.
Polling indicates that negative media coverage and influencers against Israel have little impact on youthful conservatives.
Remembering how photographs were used to help propagandize the New Deal.
Viva Magenta is apparently the “color of the year.”
The commercial real estate sector is stressed.
Parsing income distribution in the U.S. here. A bit counter-narrative.
A TikTok deal was announced.
More witnesses come forth, proclaiming that President Biden was unfit while serving.
Remembering “mystery hikes,” fun in the dark outside.
Why patterns in art are so pleasing.
10 amazing pics of lions in the wild.
Tracing the score behind the “Star Spangled Banner,” here.
How the national anthem’s name change was driven by marketing.
How personality changes later in life is linked to dementia.
The history of freedom and the gigantic progress it took during the medieval ages.
Reflections on the “perfect weapon” or cultural invasive species, here.
The bliss of a phone-free childhood explored by one community.
250 years of currency evolution are documented and remembered here.
Inside the lifespan of a dollar, here.
How the brain responds to chronic stress is explained.
Nuts. Two people tried to blow up a media truck.
5 e-mail phrases that flag a “passive-aggressive” communicator.
The history of Apple Cider and donuts.
The A.G. needs a lesson on the First Amendment, notes the WSJ.
Unpacking the leftist yuppie socialist trend here.
Fifty years later, an ex-British soldier goes on a murder trial for his alleged role in the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” massacre.
Ford Motor Company is moving out of the “glass house,” apparently.
Parsing the hidden “gem” markets for housing in the U.S.
Disney’s boy problem is unpacked.
Profiling a wild, untamed American novelist: William T. Vollmann.
How we ended up with 100 different types of beers.
Unpacking the failure of “Universal Basic Income,” the latest socialist idea that retards progress.
Reflections on assimilation.
Another lesson of peeps in glass houses should avoid stone-throwing, here.
Obsession with personality types is not new; it’s been around for several thousand years.
Going Walden: The many benefits of “forest bathing,” the trendy name for walking in the woods.
The failed promise of social media is noted.
Deadly verse. Once upon a time, a gossipy poem killed its author.
AI:
Unhinged. A person claims to have married an “AI” they created based on an alleged murderer.
Can AI models be leveraged for predictive health screenings? Research suggests so.
Are AI tools making it easier to cheat and lie?
What’s the experience of wearing Ray-Ban + Meta’s new glasses? Watch here.
Creepy AI toys are now infecting childhood.
TRAVEL:
Unpacking why killer whales are sinking boats.
The mythical monster that turned out to be real.
Remembering the power of grit (it's not how you feel but what you do that counts).
Let's not forget the teenager who captured more enemy combatants than any solider in U.S. military history.
