Like IDK what to tell you brother, we've known the issues for years. We need Congress - you - to open our wallet for an ungodly number of missiles (and launch platforms) of all types, authorize 250+ B-21s, as many F-47s as we can buy, max F-35A line, and buy KC-46s out the wazoo.
I've seen a lot of hate directed towards Stoicism over the last couple of days, since the Ryan Holiday/Ivanka Trump video was posted by the Daily Stoic.
One of the main complains seems to be that Stoicism teaches people to be "apathetic" about the events of their lives.
I’m not sure how Stoicism got this bad reputation of being a passive “who gives a shit” philosophy.
When I read the works of the Stoics, I am inspired to be an active participant in life, to care, and to give my very best.
Case in point…
Epictetus
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.”
Seneca
“Let us therefore set out whole-heartedly, leaving aside our many distractions and exert ourselves in this single purpose, before we realize too late the swift and unstoppable flight of time and are left behind. As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all, and make it your own possession. We must seize what flees.”
Marcus Aurelius
“To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness.”
These don’t sound at all like words of doom and gloom from pessimists or uncaring nihilists. These are the words of men who encouraged us to care for the things worth caring for and actively participate in life.
Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor. Seneca was a prolific writer and political advisor. Epictetus was the most respected teacher of Stoicism in his time. These were not men who idly sat by and let life happen to them. They were proactively engaged in life.
To me, Stoicism is a philosophy of (right) action. It empowers me. It gives me agency to accept the things I can’t control and focus all my valuable energy on the things I can control. And don’t mistake acceptance for passivity. Acceptance is one of the most powerful actions you can take. It’s about staking your claim on the things you choose to give your valuable attention to.
Stoicism is a powerful philosophy of deeply caring about the things you can control and acting on the things that you can most greatly impact.
No wasted words. No wasted action. No wasted energy.
A single, noble goal of living a virtuous life.
And a virtuous life simply cannot be lived without caring and powerful action.
Stoicism is a philosophy of caring, not apathy.
Stoicism is a philosophy of action, not passivity.
Don't let a bad from moment from a Stoic "influencer" tarnish your opinion of Stoicism itself.
Read Marcus Aurelius. Read Seneca. Read Epictetus.
Read the Stoics themselves and see if you come out of the experience thinking Stoicism is a philosophy of apathy or nihilism.
You might be surprised.
🚨 Do you understand what happened in the last 72 hours..
> the UAE quietly opened a sovereign dollar swap line with the US Treasury.. days before any cartel news broke.. nobody on Bloomberg connected the timing..
> Abu Dhabi formally announced it is leaving OPEC after 58 years.. the first major Gulf producer to walk out since the cartel was founded in 1960..
> the UAE was sitting on $93,000,000,000 of spare oil capacity it was never allowed to pump because Saudi-driven OPEC quotas kept getting in the way..
> Saudi Arabia issued a 90-word statement saying the cartel "remains strong" and never mentioned the UAE by name.. silence speaks louder..
> the trigger nobody is talking about: Iranian missiles hit UAE cities and Saudi Arabia stayed publicly silent.. Abu Dhabi remembered..
> Russia loses its only multilateral lever over oil prices at exactly the moment it is bankrolling Iran's war and bleeding petrodollars on Ukraine..
> Trump's administration has been openly courting Gulf producers one by one.. cheap oil before the midterms is now official US policy..
> Qatar walked in 2019.. Ecuador walked in 2020.. Angola walked in 2024.. UAE walked in 2026.. four major exits in seven years.. zero new members..
every single move on this list points the same direction.. Washington just dismantled the cartel that quadrupled oil prices in 1973.. and didn't fire a single shot..
all of this.. one week..
OPEC didn't collapse.. it got bought one Gulf state at a time..
if you're not following me you're finding out about this 48 hours late from someone who read my post..
it's only getting crazier from here..
The beauty of the First Amendment isn’t that it requires us to tolerate boorish irrelevancies. It’s that it commits us to a culture of rhetoric and persuasion instead of a culture of coercion and censorship, even when dealing with our most consequential disagreements.
Own a gladius for home defense, since that's what the great Julius Caesar intended. Four bandits break into my villa. "By Jupiter!" As I grab my helmet and gladius. I thrust my sword and pierce the heart of the first man, he falls to the ground lifeless. Draw my pugio on the second man, miss him entirely because it's a short-range weapon and it hits the clay pot. I have to resort to the ballista mounted at the top of the villa loaded with javelins, "For the glory of Rome!" The javelins pierce through two men in the blast, the sound and extra splinters shatter the nearby vases. Fix my pilum and charge the last terrified bandit. He bleeds out waiting on the Praetorian Guard to arrive since pilum wounds are difficult to heal. Just as Julius Caesar intended.
Guys will learn about the Khevsurs, an eastern Georgian community likely rooted in the High Middle Ages who preserved a warrior culture with swords and chainmail well into the 20th century while isolated in the mountains, and say "Hell yeah"
ummmmmm.
ok
The Russian army's not just bad—it's a walking abortion. A bloated, stinking corpse of a military that couldn't win a bar fight, let alone a war. They're not soldiers—they're cannon-fodder cosplayers in stolen uniforms, tripping over their own dead while Ukraine's kids play Call of Duty with real ammo.
One-point-two-six-eight million casualties? That's not "losses"—that's genocide by stupidity. Imagine every man in Iceland, plus half of Norway, just... erased. And for what? A couple mud holes in Donetsk? They "hold" land like a toddler holds a turd—tight, proud, and everyone else is disgusted.
Equipment? Laughable. Tanks that break down if you look at 'em wrong. Drones? The Ukrainians use 'em like Uber Eats—order up, boom, bye-bye BMP. And the "general staff"? A bunch of vodka-soaked fossils who think sending waves of meat at machine guns is strategy.
North Koreans? They're not reinforcements—they're human shields with accents. Prison recruits? Half of 'em are already dead from fentanyl before they even get to the line. And Putin? Still jerking off to maps while his boys get turned into pink mist.
Spring offensive? More like spring funeral. They'll "advance" like a drunk staggering home—slow, sloppy, puking blood. Ukraine's not fighting—they're just mopping up.