Sunday Reads...
- Greg McNeilly
- 8 minutes ago
- 8 min read
An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…”
Quote of the Day:
“The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare, nor should this Court, ordained as a judicial body, be thought of as a general haven for reform movements.”—Justice John Marshall Harlan II in Reynolds v. Sims
Democrat Shutdown: Democrats shut the government down because of their need to appear as opposition to Trump polling of Democrats demonstrates.
Nyet to the uniforms: Democrats block funding military during shut-down.
Priorities: Caines come first apparently.
Shutdown: Is the government “shutdown” better than its normal dysfunction “open”?
Good news: U.S. deficit shrinks.
Big corporate media lies: Still ignoring facts about the Democrat push to provide tax-funded health care for illegal aliens. And then Oregon has this headline (they spend more on illegal healthcare than on state cops). Yet, even today, illegal aliens are getting US tax funded healthcare.
Fail: The Democrat government shutdown messaging has fallen flat as voters recognize that holding the government hostage to fund healthcare for illegal aliens is a bum deal.
High Praise: Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Rice extoll Trump’s leadership in making the Middle East deal. "I really commend President Trump and his administration, as well as Arab leaders in the region, for making the commitment to the 20-point plan and seeing a path forward for what's often called the day after," Clinton told O'Donnell.” And giving peace a chance, a pro-terrorist influencer is now a casualty.
The failure of “big lie” politics takes on a parody form with the Middle East deal.
Direct involvement in the deal-making process has reportedly made a difference, according to mainstream media. Pictures of released hostages clearly show the evil handiwork of Hamas terrorists.
Meanwhile, Hamas publicly executes eight people hours after hostages are released. Evil does what evil does.
Domestic Hamas: Gaza ga-ga boy plead guilty to fire-bombing the Pennsylvania Governor’s home in an effort to help “Palestinians.”
Released hostage notes his kidnappers were professors and teachers – all terrorists – just highly credentialed.
After Isreal exits Gaza, Hamas moves swiftly to punish its opposition (punish being a euphuism for murder).
Hamas cyber terrorists hit American airports.
St. Melania: FLOTUS brokers deal to reunite children torn apart in war zone.
The U.S. is helping push back Russian aggression.
Costly currents: There seems to be a pattern between the high-cost utility states and the lower-cost states.
Insurrection: Chicago rioters continue to make the case for the federalization of their streets. Sad.
Ice target: Why are the Cartels putting a bounty on ICE agents? Doesn’t that beg some important questions?
Pop! Nearly every market watcher with a pulse knows Wall Street has a correction coming. All bubbles pop. This has nothing to do with politics, but it will sour the electorate’s mood for sure.
The “Writers’ Guild” a.k.a. union just proved they are retarded.
Fumes: The U.S. consumer is running near empty it appears.
Another Democrat caught advocating political violence.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to circle the wagons in support of the candidate favoring bullets for his political opponents.
AOC: Someone should explain to this juvenile acting Congressperson that Deloitte is an accounting firm.
Midterms: Guru says midterms are slipping away from the Left.
OUCH: An infirmed Pelosi snaps.
180: Marjorie Taylor Greene comes out against deporting illegal aliens.
180 II: We can’t trust the DOJ claims a prominent Democrat. Meanwhile, they once believed that attacking the DOJ made it unsafe.
Pollution Hogs: Unpacking the environmental damage of a plug-in car.
Feminization: Reflections on the feminization of culture.
Outstanding: Dying mother leaves scrapbook of advice for children.
Treats: Americans poised to spend nearly $4b on Halloween candy.
Horror hate: The most despised movie genre is boo!
Witch symbols: The history behind witch iconography.
Vintage Halloween cards for a nostalgic boo!
Examined Horror: Tales of scare that serve up philosophical lessons.
Candy Corn: Mapping which states consume the most controversial of Halloween treats, Candy Corn.
Good News: Divorce rates are dropping.
Love Potion: Apparently there are 3 steps to making someone fall in love.
iPhone poison: Phones are killing friendships.
Pioneer: Following Twain, Will Rogers helped create the genre of “stand up” comedy.
VHS: Remembering when 80’s videos from America helped defeat the Soviets.
Community: An essay exploring the variety of communities that can be formed in the modern milieu for family support.
Reshoring: I sharpie, a reflection.
Good Trend: Inculcating hard-work, responsibility and accountability into the developing brains of teenagers is vital.
Cheating: Another politicians’ scandal.
Epstein Fallout: Andrew drops his titles.
Election Denial: More celebrities joining the election denial bandwagon.
Meanwhile, state-sponsored voter fraud is a real thing.
Prison Labor: The surprising history of the treadmill.
Access Denied: Media flap over Pentagon “press rules” seems … much ado about nothing. Read the requirements yourself, which ones are objectionable? How are these not the norms already?
The few, the proud, the fat? Military readiness is being restored one waist size at a time.
Gov’t Censorship: Recalling the tradition of the Federal government attempting to restrict a free press’s access to its government.
Lifting up: Jelly Roll lifts spirits with an impromptu duet.
Another Democrat attempt to undermine civil rights, here.
Positive: Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that threated free speech online.
Consensus: A near supermajority believes the government has too much power.
Odd: Self-identifying transexuals are in a free fall, numbers reduced by almost 50%, begging tons of questions.
Building unity: Kennedy Center to open each performance with the Star-Spangled Banner.
Ouch: “The emptiness” of Kamala Harris is reflected upon.
Positive: Schools that kick the phone habits report improved outcomes for students.
Right seat: The key to good leadership? Getting the right people in the rightseats on the bus!
WSJ notes that two lawfares don’t make a right.
A visit to the private 20,000 tome collection of Cormac McCarthy’s library.
Sorting for Sameness: Research suggest that marriage is more probable amongst college educated populations but that they seek similar or “like” fields of study.
Pandemic Slump: Kids continue to pay the price for panicked, failed “experts” who defied common-sense science.
Comparing the three leading and competing theories of how the pyramids were built.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – and what happened to them – explained.
How to use your money to be miserable – not that anyone would want to – but are you doing any of these?
The WSJ profiles those pushing civility in self-government.
Why do microwaves heat food unevenly? There’s a reason.
Falling: Why do leaves change color?
Subsidizing labor drop-outs: Research notes that health-care subsides amongst the studied population encouraged labor drop outs amongst women.
Shyness Superpower: Debunking the pathologizing of childhood shyness.
Professor Wilfred Reilly debunks the lies of Critical Theory and modern cultural Marxism.
No Kings: Another reason to hate British royals – they gave us the .2 in the 26.2 marathon regimen we use today.
Harm: Unpacking the misguided notion of tax-funded universal childcare programs.
Longevity tips from a 101-year-old.
Transparent Space: Satellites are apparently leaking your text messages.
Diversity: Viewpoint diversity explained.
Chewing: Misophonia in-depth.
Game changers: Time lists the biggest innovations impacting us.
Visualizing the slowest depreciating – a.k.a., the market’s best cars – in America. They may be made in America, but there aren’t many American brands here.
Rut-roh: Auto loan delinquencies are spiking.
Onomatopoeic: The “sounding” of words.
Nobeling: Only 5 people have won more than a single Nobel Prize.
Radical Chic: Remembering previous waves of Left-wing terrorism.
All Kids Left Behind: Reflections on how government schools put kids last.
Good Criminals: Study demonstrates how inmates evaluate themselves as morally good, in spite of lawless behavior.
Anti-Science Scientists: A growing trend amongst “scientists” is their anti-science mindset. Universities are credentialing “high priests”, not scientists, nowadays.
Norm watch: Presidents directing prosecutions is nothing new, notes someone with a memory.
Friends 4 Life: Research suggests that frequent contact with friends retards the aging process.
Gross: Chat messages amongst young Republicans revealed a niche group of weirdo racists.
Screaming Screens: NYT reports that young men have doubled their video gaming time in the past 15 years.
Bad to Worse: For NY AG James, the misdeeds keep surfacing, she’s now accused of obstructing justice.
Domestic Terror: More details emerge on leftist gunman from Dallas.
Yikes: The international surveillance industry gets some sunlight.
Fascinating: Babies who heard recordings of their mother’s voice reading to them, had more white matter develop in their brains per new research.
Adulting: Americans report what they can and can’t do on their own – basic life skills.
Downing Drones: Anti-Drone tech is on the rise (thankfully).
Iranian Change: What will the upcoming leadership changes in Iran bring?
Lean into Learning: A mediation on cranking up the learning machine to 11.
Anti-wealth Prejudice: Apparently the green-eyed monster is a real thing, people be jealous, notes research.
Peak Performance: A study suggests that your peak value add as a human is between age 55 and 60. Arthur Brooks wrote a book about this a few years back!
Listen: Flannery O’Connor reading one of her own stories, here.
COURTS:
Four Winds: Four Courts, four decisions on the Executive’s deployment of the National Guard.
RBG Unplugged: An Oral History (aka interview) with former Justice Ginsburg was recently released.
Gay Marriage: Not in jeopardy, as the 14th Amendment remains in full force. Demagogues’ message otherwise. But if anyone’s listening, Alito says “Nyet.”
Nixing the scuttle: Judge blocks transactivist from dropping SCOTUS case.
Remembering John Marshall Harlan.
Uncovered audio of Joe Biden praising Clarence Thomas.
POTUS in attendance at SCOTUS?
Crocodile Tears: The Economist bemoans the challenges of lifetime tenured judges.
Climate: Obama judge tosses Podesta lawsuit that claimed Trump energy policies were killing people.
CHINA:
AI:
A meditation on AI art from a comic strip creator.
Sora was downloaded over a million times within 5 days.
The WSJ notes that the “productivity boost” promised by AI has yet to materialize.
How incomplete is AI’s training? Very. Mind-boggling gaps leading to a dumb intelligence emergent.
How AI is leveraged in Weather Forecasting.
Cyber de Bergerac: People are simply lazy, brutish, nasty, and gross, but now AI-improved in their chatfishing.
ChatGPT notes that soon, everyone will be able to shop at Walmart through their platform.
Unnecessary: AI will not talk “dirty” to verified adults.
Global Positioning: Viewpoints on AI vary around the globe.
Ohio seeks a ban on human-and-AI marriage.
Foes attack: AI is being weaponized against the U.S.
TRAVEL:
One-star Yelp reviews of National Parks.
Haunted: The best haunted attractions by state!
Boo Towns: The internet’s spookiest U.S. cities.
Budget: America’s most budget friendly places to visit.
Timely: Ranking America’s most timely airlines and airports.
Cliff hanger: Check out the monastery in the air.
The art of a break! Research suggests taking a break is helpful but even more so when done right!
Duh: Election winners are less concerned with election integrity than election losers notes “research.”
Polarized Senate: This study finds that the primaries in U.S. Senate races produce more partisan victors than those in the U.S. House.
Illiterate Populi: Is America becoming illiterate?
Kid Lit: 65 essential children’s books listed.
Wild Pics: 2025 Wildlife Photography Winners.
Badly behaving bureaucrats: John Bolton indicted on 18 counts.
Neuro Fit: Tips for expanding your brain’s neuroplasticity.
Go win! I believe in you.
