The Lack of Civility in the Trump Administration

For centuries in the West, a “community” meant the people who shared communion — literally. You lived near the same church, worshipped the same God in the same way, and believed that those outside your fold were in spiritual danger. Unity was enforced by ritual, habit, and - if needed - by force.

Then came the Protestant Reformation, and the unity shattered. The wars that followed were brutal, personal, and theological. Neighbors weren’t just “wrong”; they were heretics. Europe spent more than a century discovering how vicious a disagreement can become when people believe their salvation hangs in the balance.

Out of that exhaustion, something new emerged: civility. Not agreement. Not mutual admiration. Just the simple, radical practice of not attacking one another — verbally or physically — in the public square. To be a “civilian” was to be civil: to refrain from violence, to coexist with people whose beliefs you considered misguided, dangerous, or even damned.

It was a hell of a shift, but it made the modern world livable.
You no longer have to argue theology with your grocer. You don’t need to warn your insurance agent they’re going to hell. (Today that’s more of a heat-of-the-moment suggestion than a community service announcement.)

Civility didn’t eliminate disagreement; it allowed society to survive it.
It remains one of the great inventions of the post-religious-war West.

And now we have an administration of people whose salaries we're paying who are such true believers in their mission that they've abandoned civility.
This lack of civility, like the anti-vax movement, is medieval.

Trump's Presidency as Evidence of Poor Quality Civics Classes

I would love to see stats on what portion of Trump supporters were either home schooled or had gym teachers teach their civics class. 

There is such a profound ignorance of the cost of demolishing our institutions of justice and regulations among his supporters who apparently have always realized that Trump is a con man but felt that they'd be included as beneficiaries of his grift.

How to be Miserable

Two surefire ways to be miserable:

1. Live your life like you’re running for office—poll-tested, platform-safe, and passion-free without regard for any of what uniquely defines you.
2. Vote like you’re starring in a one-person democracy—gloriously authentic, utterly unelectable without regard for any of what so defines your community.

Prayer, Politicians, and Lies

The Western tradition of believing in a God who answers prayers has shaped an odd expectation in our politics: that we can elect leaders who will grant us prosperity, safety, and comfort as if by divine intervention.

We pray for lower prices, higher wages, less crime, and better parks—and expect politicians to deliver them without cost, effort, trade-offs or effort on our part. This mindset rewards those who promise miracles over those who explain realities.

Why do politicians lie to us?
Because when they tell the truth—that fixing one problem usually means accepting another, that “more of this” (healthcare, for instance) requires “more of that” (taxes)—we punish them at the polls. We tell prospective candidates, If you don't lie to us, we won't vote for you and then act surprised when we find that they've been lying to us. 

The Scale of Tragedy in WWII

The war between Germany and Russia lasted about 1,400 days. Each day, on average, 17,800 people were killed. At that pace, the United States would have equaled its entire Vietnam War death toll in less than four days.

Amplified Intelligence

For the longest time they thought that AI stood for artificial intelligence. It did not. It stood for amplified intelligence. So it was not just insight, analysis and calm perspective that was amplified, but so was paranoia and madness.

Let Us Pretend We Are Orchestrating Them

“Since we don’t understand these events, let us pretend that we are orchestrating them.”

- Jean Cocteau, the French poet, playwright, and filmmaker, commenting in the wake of the upheavals of the early 20th century in Europe.

Inflation Reporting Has Lost the Plot

Economic reporting has devolved into the worst kind of inflation coverage — one that sets impossible expectations.

First: Prices are always rising on some things. Out of hundreds of tracked items, you can always find a handful up 5%, 10%, or 15%. That’s not inflation; that’s how markets send signals. When rice price goes up and potatoes go down, consumers buy fewer of one and more of the other, while farmers shift what they plant. Those shifting prices are how markets adapt — not signs of crisis.

Second: You don’t want prices to fall overall. Deflation — a general drop in prices — sounds pleasant but is economically toxic. When people expect prices to keep falling, they delay purchases, businesses lose sales, production slows, and jobs disappear. The goal isn’t falling prices; it’s stable prices — low inflation, around 2%.

So when people complain that prices today are higher than in 2020 or 2015, they’re missing how the economy works. Prices don’t — and shouldn’t — roll back to earlier years. If they did, we’d be in a recession.

Two reminders:

Some prices will always rise — that’s not inflation.

Price levels will never return to the past — that’s stability, not failure

The Importance of Miscalculating How Long a Project Will Take

People often overlook the importance of miscalculation in any worthwhile project.

“We should be able to complete this within a year.”
Four years later:
“We should be able to complete this within a few months.”

When I used to start with new product development teams, I’d sometimes ask, “How long did it take to build the Great Pyramids?”
No one ever knew.

Then I’d tell them, “Exactly. Nobody knows. And it doesn’t matter how long it took. They’re great.”

The point is simple: if you’re doing something that matters, there will come a time when how long it took—two months or two decades—will matter far less than whether it mattered … whether it’s great.

Or, as Shigeru Miyamoto - game director at Nintendo - put it, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”

During the Shutdown Only 40% of Federal Employees - Including the President and Vice President - Are Getting Paid

Who is still getting paid during the government shutdown

• Members of Congress: 535
• 
  
• President and Vice President: 2
• 
  
• Article III judges (including the 9 Supreme Court Justices): about 870 nationwide

Their pay is constitutionally protected and continues during a shutdown.

Who is not getting paid

• Civilian federal workforce: about 2.29 million total
• 
  
• ~670,000 are furloughed (not working)
• 
  
• ~730,000 are excepted (still working but unpaid until funding returns)
• 
  
• ~890,000 are exempt (their agencies have existing funding, so they continue to be paid)
• 
  
• Military: about 1.3 million active-duty personnel (plus Guard and Reserves).
• Some early paychecks were covered through special measures, but future pay is uncertain if the shutdown continues.

The imbalance

Roughly 1,400 top officials—members of Congress, the President, Vice President, and federal judges—are still getting paid.

Among the civilian workforce, more than 60%—about 1.4 million people—are not.

The remaining ~40% (those in already-funded programs) continue to receive paychecks.

What this means

You’ll see calls for donations to help military families, park rangers, or weather forecasters. But remember: we already pay their wages through taxes. They don’t need charity—they need a government that honors its commitments.

You can’t afford to pay their wages twice—once in taxes and again through donations.
But you can vote for leaders who respect public servants—civilian and military alike—and ensure their work is met with stable paychecks, not political brinkmanship.

I love you too

“I love you too,” she said. Or at least that’s what he thought she said.
Only later did he realize she’d said, “I love you 2.”
And by then, he didn’t even want to know the scale.

LA Dodgers Become First American Team to Clinch World Series on Foreign Soil (The Past is Still Probable )

This World Series was like a coin flipping in slow motion—odds recalculated by the universe after every pitch, every at bat, every inning. For seven games and extra innings the outcome was a shifting probability cloud, collapsing only in the final swing.

Now that it’s over, it will be reported as a certainty.

And that’s one of the problems we have with understanding history: we turn probabilities into fate, forgetting how narrowly could have been might have been a different history.

Tonight the LA Dodgers become the world champs, the first time ever that an American team clinched the World Series on foreign soil.