April 2024
43 articles published this month.
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Just One Thing
More on My “Escape Plan from America
We got a slew of responses to the April 19 issue of “Just One Thing,” in which I referred readers to an essay written on a topic I sometimes think about: If American culture continues to disintegrate and the…
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Just One Thing
A Primer on US Inflation Rates
In his column on Monday, Sean talked about an important subject that I don’t know enough about: how the government handles inflation. Let me start with this… What I Do Know I know that inflation, in simplest…
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Notes From My Journal
He Was, I Thought, Just Another Bright Young Friend of Michael’s with an Impossible Dream. I Was Wrong!
He Was, I Thought, Just Another Bright Young Friend of Michael’s with an Impossible Dream. I Was Wrong! Alex Edelman was a good friend of Number Three Son Michael when they were both in college. I knew him…
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News & Views
The Latest on the Israel-Hamas Front
A Proposal Dismissed. Another Suggested and Not Yet Rejected. Will There Ever Be a Two-State Solution? Iranians at an anti-Israel rally in Tehran If there is one thing I’ve learned from researching the…
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The Economy & Investing
The Jamaica Exception
The Jamaica Exception “The main two things that bring down a great nation are war and debt,” says Bill Bonner in the April 17 issue of Bonner Private Research, “and the US is not backing away from either of…
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Worth Reading
An Exercise Program That Works Miracles
“Butterbean” showing off his new-found mobility Sent in by BW: In his 50s, long after he should have retired from boxing, Eric “Butterbean” Esch continued, even entering several mixed martial arts bouts. He…
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Worth Watching
The Greatest Night in Pop
Directed by Bao Nguyen Released on Netflix Jan 19, 2024 Watch Time: 2 hrs, 37 min The Greatest Night in Pop is a documentary about the making of “We Are the World” – a behind-the-scenes look at what happened…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Five Quick Bites
1. Tying the Knot. At a wedding recently, two groomsmen and I spent a fun half-hour arguing about the easiest way to tie a tie properly. Here’s a super-easy way to do it that I’ve never seen before. 2. Sweet…
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Photo of the Week
From the World Press Photo Contest…
Lotomau Fiafia, 72, a community elder on Kioa Island in Fiji, stands with his grandson at the point where he remembers the shoreline used to be when he was a boy.
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Quiz of the Week
How Much Do You Know About the US Territories?
I got seven right on this quiz, and I’m surprised I did that well. This is an area of geography about which I’ve done zero research.
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Readers Write
From BB re “Flukes, Fakes, and Statistical Uncertainties” in the April 17 issue
“For the opposing view, I highly recommend this book, which advocates listening to experts.” From KI re the April 5 Special Issue on the COVID cover-up: “Welcome to the rabbit hole. It is wide and deep, but…
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Postscript
PostModern Jukebox Reimagines Classic Pop As Golden Age Dance
I haven’t shared anything from PostModern Jukebox in a while. Hope you like this one: “It’s Not Unusual” performed in the snappy style of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
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Just One Thing
Prioritizing Your Exit Plan
An increasing number of Americans and Brits believe their home countries are in decline, says Jeff Thomas in this essay from Doug Casey’s International Man. And some of them are wondering if they should have…
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Just One Thing
Flukes, Fakes, and Statistical Uncertainties: What Happens When Physicists Fail
I used to have, what I’d call, a conventional view of science, scientists, and scientific facts. I believed in all of them implicitly. Then, about thirty years ago – and purely as a business decision – my…
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Notes From My Journal
Things I’ve Been Thinking About Lately — April 15, 2024
What Will Israel Do Now? From Michael Snyder on Iran’s direct attack on Israel last week. I thought this was a good, early assessment of the quandary Israel is in now: Just like October 7th, the shocking…
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News & Views
Trends in Wokeness
Don’t Believe What McKinsey Has Been Saying It doesn’t take a master’s degree from Wharton to understand that DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), as a business agenda, makes zero sense. It’s not because those…
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The Economy & Investing
Chart of the Week: A Troubling Trend
Chart of the Week: A Troubling Trend M2 – otherwise known as “money supply” – is the term economists use to represent the amount of cash that is moving around in an economy at any particular time. It includes…
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Worth Reading
Freddie deBoer Gets Ruthless with His Critics
Freddie deBoer occasionally self-identifies as a Communist. I’m not big on Communism. Nor am I a fan of Communists. And yet deBoer is someone I quote from and link to all the time. That is because he is a very…
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Fun and/or Interesting
10 Quick Bites
1. The best visual explanation of the April 8 solar eclipse that I’ve seen. Click here. 2. Why I can’t listen to NPR any longer: A political liberal and long-time editor of National Public Radio explains how…
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Worth Quoting
Finding Meaning in Life
A five-minute search on the internet will give you hundreds of quotations about the meaning of life. Here are ten I recently came across that I liked enough to share with you. 1. “The purpose of life is a life…
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Quiz of the Week
How much do you know about the First Millennium CE?
Click here. (I got 13 right.)
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Readers Write
From TG re my April 8 review of A Purple Place for Dying
“I didn’t know you’ve ever read Travis McGee. I thought it was just for boat people and sailors. As Dean Koontz says, MacDonald captures the mood and feel of the times before there were cameras on every…
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Postscript
The Free Press Becomes SubStack's Top Publication
I was happy to note that Bari Weiss’s The Free Press is now the number one periodical publication on SubStack, with more than 630,000 subscribers. I wrote Bari to say: Congratulations! You deserve it. The Free…
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Just One Thing
Is College Education a Scam?
Years ago, I argued with my Libertarian friends about the value of a college education. They saw it as a waste of time and a senseless expenditure of money. They thought this was especially true for anyone…
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Notes From My Journal
Things I’ve Been Thinking About Lately — April 8, 2024
Some Good News about China’s Economy… and Why I Am Happy About It I’ve never understood why politicians and other thought leaders in the US celebrate economic decline in large economies like China or Russia. I…
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News & Views
Election Watch — April 8, 2024
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Kennedy? I’ve wondered which party JFK Jr.’s independent campaign will hurt the most. If you can judge by the response to it, it’s the Democrats, says Bill Bonner in the April 9…
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Worth Quoting
James Clear on Feeling Resistance
“If you feel resistance before you begin, it’s usually procrastination and you need to get started. If you feel resistance after you begin, it’s usually feedback and you need to make adjustments.”
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Worth Reading
A Purple Place for Dying
By John D. MacDonald First published Jan. 1, 1964 240 pages After several months of serious books about controversial topics, A Purple Place for Dying was a welcome selection for the April meeting of The Mules…
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Worth Watching
Yesterday
Directed by Danny Boyle Starring Himesh Patel, Lily James, Ed Sheeran, and Kate McKinnon Initially released Sept. 24, 1919 Watch Time: 2 hrs Yesterday is not a great movie in any sense, but it does not pretend…
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Fun and/or Interesting
5 Quick Bites
1. The hair whips are the best part! I took ballroom dancing lessons for about a year when I was in my early 50s. I managed to get to the level where I knew the basic steps and could execute the basic turns…
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Quiz of the Week
Tricky Vocabulary
This vocabulary test felt like 8th-grade level for the first 15 questions. I was sure I was going to ace it. Then, sure enough, I got two wrong. So, 23 out of 25.
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Readers Write
From TA: “Thank you for posting the link to the climate change movie in the April 3 issue…
From TA: “Thank you for posting the link to the climate change movie in the April 3 issue…” “I have been a climate skeptic for many years…. My gut told me that a planet that has been around for billions of…
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Postscript
Coming in the Next Issue!
A Fact About Real Estate Your Broker Doesn’t Want You to Know Watch this short clip. It’s a teaser for some sort of information product – but what these two men are referring to is probably the most important…
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SPECIAL ISSUE
The COVID-19 Cover-Up
The COVID-19 Cover-Up: It Wasn’t Just That “They Got It Wrong” – They Knew It Was Wrong and Lied Anyway, Part I He is smart, well-educated, and generally open-minded. How could he be so ignorant of something…
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Notes From My Journal
A Century of Masterpieces Brought Together by One Passionate Collector
A Century of Masterpieces Brought Together by One Passionate Collector I’ve always loved reading about wealthy US businessmen who, during the gilded age of American Capitalism, assembled massive collections of…
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The Economy & Investing
New York City: Time to Sell?
New York City: Time to Sell? There is reason to believe that the current burden of the migrants taking advantage of New York City’s sanctuary city status may bankrupt it in the next 12 to 24 months. The city’s…
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News & Views
Conspiracy Watch — April 3, 2024
Was the Bridge Collapse Sabotage? After a cargo ship took down the Francis Scott Key bridge in Twin Tower fashion last week, I was not entirely surprised to learn that some people wondered if it was a planned…
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Worth Reading
Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations
By Amy Chua 304 pages First edition Feb. 20, 2018 This is the second of two Amy Chua books recommended to me by SL. The first, The Triple Package, which I reviewed here, was about why some immigrants to the US…
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Worth Watching
Climate the Movie: The Cold Truth
A documentary written and directed by Martin Durkin Released March 23, 2023 Watch Time: 1 hr, 20 min In addition to providing an impressive fact-based counter-argument to the dominant narrative about this high…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Who Says Fat Guys Can’t Fight!
Roy Nelson is a big guy, but most of his weight is around his waist. When he began his career as an MMA contender, he came to the arena as a fat guy who had a powerful overhand right. But none of the experts…
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Quiz of the Week
Famous Comedians
Another 18 out of 20 for me on this one.
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Readers Write
From JM re “Biden’s Dangerous Game at the UN” in the March 27 issue
“Thank you Mark for your clarity. Still, in our lifetime, unless you are Granada, being an ally of the US is a very iffy proposition.”
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Postscript
I’m a dancing machine!
Watch this.
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