JT

A man of some consequence. All views solely my own. 🇺🇸

[Nikita Bier @nikitabier]

This is a perfect launch video

[JT @borntobebased]

“…Accusations of racism are effective only when prejudice itself is regarded, axiomatically, as evil, and when the accusers retain some integrity of reputation, so that their finger-pointing remains credible. The self-evidence of both preconditions is eroding...” A+ per usual

[Mikhaila Peterson @MikhailaFuller]

JBP’s first (timely) essay back:

[JT @borntobebased]

Nothing to see here

[Katie Miller @KatieMiller]

My conspiracy theorist alarms are blaring red right now

[JT @borntobebased]

Now that’s an opinion

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

As I always say, enjoy talking about socialism now, because once you have it your opinion won’t matter anymore.

[John Carter @martianwyrdlord]

I want Elon Musk to give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek.

[JT @borntobebased]

🙏

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

I’ve just finished reading Gad Saad’s book Suicidal Empathy.

It ranks, along with Chris Rufo’s America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything and Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay’s Cynical Theories, as the best take-down of the lunacy at the heart of the wokeist philosophy.

For Saad, empathy—in itself a perfectly decent trait—has become so grossly exaggerated that it threatens truth, reality, and justice.

Cases in point abound: so they won’t feel bad about themselves, we’ll allow biological men to compete in women’s sports and crush the dreams of thousands of young women; so as not to undermine the self-esteem of minorities, we will permit unqualified candidates to have positions in universities and the corporate world; so that everyone might feel included, we will characterize the meritocracy as “white privilege,” etc.

As I was making my way through Saad’s book, I kept remarking the sharp distinction between empathy and love.

To empathize is to enter profoundly into the experience of another and to endeavor not to hurt that person’s feelings. But to love is, as Thomas Aquinas taught, “to will the good of the other.”

As I said, in itself and all things being equal, empathy is a good thing. But it is not the same as love, which, depending on circumstances, can very much involve hurting someone’s feelings.

When a professor gives a student a “C” as an honest reflection of his work, he might well be insulting him, but he’s also telling him the truth and perhaps even urging him to try harder.

When, in the Confessional, a priest tells a murderer to turn himself in to the police, he’s undoubtedly making that person’s life more uncomfortable, but he’s also willing the man’s good.

Any decent parent knows that showing real love for her children means engendering all kinds of bad feelings in them.

In light of this distinction, we can understand why Jesus didn’t say, “have empathy for one another,” but rather “love one another.” And why St. John the Evangelist didn’t say, “God is empathy,” but rather “God is love.”

It occurred to me as I was reading Saad’s book that one reason Wokeism has seized the consciousness of so many in the West is that Christianity has faded as a cultural force and Christians themselves have forgotten what stands at the heart of their faith.

[Crémieux @cremieuxrecueil]

Once again:

A socialist, anti-Catholic dictator has suspended elections in a Latin American country.

[JT @borntobebased]

Some uggos in the crowd

[Ron DeSantis @RonDeSantis]

That puts Hillary’s fake accent to shame in terms of pure absurdity.

[JT @borntobebased]

Good stuff

[JT @borntobebased]

Not only is the DSA ignorant of history and why the Founding Fathers (they hate this term btw) chose NOT to institute a pure democracy, these traitors are telling you they will violate the constitution to get what they want.

[Ron DeSantis @RonDeSantis]

The Senate is the one part of the Constitution that is not subject to abolishment via amendment.

The socialists are acknowledging they want to get rid of the entire Constitution.

[Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ @christopherrufo]

The "restoration of democracy" in Hungary includes purging the sitting president, banning opposition MPs from re-election, and prohibiting the former PM from ever holding office again. When the libs say "our democracy," they mean it—you're not allowed to participate.

[Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius]

I mentioned after I got back from my vacation that I would have some thoughts on the state of play in England.

Well, here it is.

Please read if you are interested in the survival of Western Civlization.

[Niall Ferguson @nfergus]

This is very important. In trying to figure out the impact of the U.S.-Iran War on the oil market, I underestimated the effect of collapsing Chinese oil imports. But much more broadly, the PRC economy is in real trouble, as Li Daokui explains.

[JT @borntobebased]

“The war demonstrated that proactive alliances built around capable states are now the foundation of deterrence itself.” Good read. https://t.co/OnQL7BuYXb

[Spencer A. Klavan @SpencerKlavan]

One thing I will say about the Odyssey is you’ll want to see it in IMAX because that’s the format Homer originally sang it in

[jack @jack]

excellent

[JT @borntobebased]

Watch out for scams

[Howard Lerman @howard]

Wow, from the CEO of MSFT

[JT @borntobebased]

Unbelievably cool and very inspiring

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

Theodore Roosevelt Jr in the White House greenhouse - 1902

[JT @borntobebased]

Ineffective altruism = the Democrat promise

[Crémieux @cremieuxrecueil]

People have finally quantified how bad a donor Mackenzie Scott has been since her divorce with Bezos

If she had given effectively, to charities known to deliver larger returns, she could've been 50 to 100 or perhaps even 1,500-times more effective!

She's an Ineffective Altruist

[JT @borntobebased]

Just so good