Mike Englund

Retired Principal Director and Chief Economist of Action Economics, LLC

[Mike Englund @MikeEnglund2]

@HistoryBoomer I would expect the changes over time to be gradual, as there aren't hard lines in voter demographics between ballot boxes. The hard break toward Ninthya votes from Bass exactly on day-1 after polls close suggests to me that the underlying distribution of votes shifted on day-1.

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

BUTCH O'HARE and QUIET INTEGRITY. On February 20, 1942, a 28-year-old Navy pilot looked at his fuel gauge and realized someone had made a mistake.

His tank wasn't full. He didn't have enough fuel to complete the mission and return to the carrier.

His commander ordered him back immediately. Butch O'Hare turned around, frustrated, heading toward the ship alone.

Then he saw them.

A squadron of Japanese bombers racing toward the American fleet. The entire division was out on the mission. The fleet was defenseless.

Butch had no way to warn them. No way to bring back his squadron.

He had a choice. Continue to safety with his limited fuel. Or do something about it.

Butch dove into the Japanese formation alone. He fired until his guns emptied. Then he dove at enemy aircraft, trying to clip their wings and send them spiraling down.

One pilot against an entire squadron.

The Japanese, stunned and confused, changed direction. The fleet survived.

When Butch landed, the gun-camera footage told the story. Five enemy aircraft shot down. He became the Navy's first flying ace of World War II and the first Naval Aviator to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later, Butch O'Hare was killed in combat. He was 29.

Today, Chicago's O'Hare Airport bears his name.

Here's what stays with me about this story: Butch wasn't trying to become a hero that day. He was just a pilot heading back to the ship because of a fuel tank mistake. No one would have blamed him for continuing home.

But in that small moment of decision, with no one watching and nothing to gain, his character showed up.

That's what quiet integrity looks like. It's not the grand gestures people plan for. It's what you do in the moments no one expects anything from you.

Small choices reveal who we really are. And sometimes, those choices change everything.

[Saul Sadka @Saul_Sadka]

When I say that Israel has “otherized” the Iranian threat, I mean that Israel can live with the ruined IRGC nuclear program, and can continue to “mow the lawn” in that aspect as required to prevent it from building back up. A weakened and non-nuclear-threshold IRGC is not a major threat to Israel, now that its proxies have been clobbered to the point where they cannot surprise Israel, and Israel can attrit them much faster than they can rearm.

The IRGC, however, does remain a threat to all its immediate neighbors, since it retains the ability to randomly threaten the energy infrastructure they are all completely financially dependent on, meaning that even if the war ends in a deal, customers will be wary of making contracts with them, since who knows when the mullahs will have another tantrum and choke the strait again. Why not just buy from Canada or Guyana? Who needs the headache?

Qatar is by far the worst affected, since they literally share their gas field with Iran, and unlike Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who are building out new bypass pipelines that will make them Hormuz-immune within two years, Qatar is locked between Iran and their enemy, the KSA, and they have gas, not oil. So Qatar will start playing nice.

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

Moral clarity in the middle of the mob. This guy totally gets it.

[Mike Englund @MikeEnglund2]

@0xAlaric Alot of comments here playing out the fantasy that this is an "indigenous" combat scene, though all the combatants have access to modern guns and ammo. This is more like a protest that escalated out of control. You could film this same thing in New Jersey.

[Electroverse @Electroversenet]

Since the 1980s, the Sahara has shrunk by roughly 8%. Satellite data show widespread greening, a pattern that is playing out across the planet.

Around 50% of Earth's vegetated land has become significantly greener, an area roughly three times the size of the United States.

The dominant driver is not rainfall or land use change, it is rising atmospheric CO2.

Higher CO2 lets plants photosynthesize more efficiently, they lose less water, they tolerate heat and dryness better.

The effect is strongest along desert margins, across the Sahel, the Middle East, Australia's interior and the southern edge of the Sahara.

Rising CO2 is making the deserts, and the planet as a whole, greener.

[Mike Englund @MikeEnglund2]

@cafreiman The second part of the community note is more important than the first. The U.S. measure excludes widely available benefits, so if you don't have income you are treated as starving, while the China measure includes benefits.

[Shaun Maguire @shaunmmaguire]

This “woman” randomly shattered the window on my mother in law’s car today

Karen Bass’ Los Angeles

[Cicada meth orgy fungus @RogueWPA]

My LA county ballot said something like "must be postmarked by election day and received within a week of election day." So did the other two ballots I received that were addressed to people who haven't lived in my unit in at least 10 years.

[Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt]

One of the biggest problems that Karen Bass and Nithya Raman have created for young Angelenos is the cost of living. Affordability is crushing us. Here’s my plan to make LA life more affordable for you, and put more $$$ in your pocket. We cannot afford another 4 years of Karen.

[Steve Guest @SteveGuest]

NEW from @bethanyshondark: Scientists are finally moving away from the UN-backed climate doomerism that scared a generation off having babies

"For over a decade, one of the most influential climate scenarios in the world was the United Nations-backed RCP8.5 pathway, an extreme emissions projection that became the basis for thousands upon thousands of academic studies, media reports, activist campaigns, educational materials and political arguments. It has been routinely treated not as a worst-case hypothetical, but as the expected future itself.

Entire generations of children absorbed that messaging constantly. They were told the planet was on the brink of collapse. They sat through school lessons, television shows and museum exhibits warning about irreversible catastrophe and societal breakdown.

Climate anxiety became not merely understandable but fashionable and morally valorized. Young people openly discussed whether having children was ethical in a world that is dying.

...

We cannot undo the anxiety already instilled in an entire generation, but we can stop deepening it. We can become more honest about scientific uncertainty, more skeptical of institutions that benefit politically and financially from public panic, and more careful about the emotional burden we place on children in the name of activism."

[Mike Englund @MikeEnglund2]

@SucohnDzNutz @KalshiPolitics Presidential election turnout in LA county was 66% in 2024. If Republicans post turnout in line with the 2024 performance due to confidence that their vote might matter this time, while Democrats track historic norms, then Spencer would have a shot at 51%.

[Mike Englund @MikeEnglund2]

@SucohnDzNutz @KalshiPolitics Turnout in CA midterm primaries is about 24%-29%, and a large share of Republicans never vote because they assume zero chance of having an impact. Polls assume normal turnout by party, so Pratt is highly likely to beat the polls if Republicans see hope, even if 51% is a reach.

[Western Lensman @WesternLensman]

“Champagne socialist scammers steal the money."

Spencer Pratt tells Bill Maher that instead of taxing people more — he wants to stop the theft of taxpayer dollars instead:

"We are already taxed so much in LA in California, I can't even comprehend taxing more."

"What's happening is we tax these people and then other rich people, the champagne socialist scammers steal that money because they're all connected to the people taxing you."

"And then the people that should see the money, the communities that are after the boys and girls clubs, the parks, the actual infrastructure doesn't see that money because different rich people stole the money that was being taxed from the rich people."

"We're gonna actually put it to the people that have turned to socialism because they say America doesn't work. It doesn't work if we let people steal all the tax money and we have no accountability and transparency."

Elect this man, Los Angeles.

[Michael A. Arouet @MichaelAArouet]

Europe offers much lower salaries, but it taxes your income more. Then you also pay 20%+ VAT when you buy anything.

Come on, why don’t you move to Europe?

[Devon Eriksen @Devon_Eriksen_]

@johnkonrad Democrats get upset when you make things better, because you're not doing it with socialism.

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

CHART OF THE DAY: On Apr 16, the IEA made a headline-grabbing warning: Europe had "maybe 6 weeks or so of jet fuel left." It's week seven; the planes are still flying. Since those headlines, European wholesale jet fuel prices have fallen ~30% to a ~3-month low.

[Mike Solana @micsolana]

in case you were wondering why rent is so high in nyc. cityFHEPS alone subsidizes something like 65,000 homes, with spending for 2026 estimated at around $1.7 billion. all in, somewhere between $8-10 billion is dumped into the pockets of close to 1 million new yorkers a year.

[Mike Englund @MikeEnglund2]

@SirOswald14 @Noahh11816 @Shiftant You mean Mogapolis, capital of Somalasota.