Helene Samuels

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

So much damage is done by the idea that there is a majority of people for whom life is straightforward. The world was designed for them, they effortlessly comply with societal demands and get over their life stresses easily. They never wonder whether there is something different about them, or criticise themselves for minor failings. They sail through school and work. They have meaningful relationships with only transient conflict. Their emotions are manageable and in proportion. They are round pegs in round holes.

The neurotypical

Some people look like this from the outside. Hardly anyone reports being like this from the inside. Yet more and more books and training programmes promote the idea that if you’re not like this, you must be neurodivergent. Wired differently.

We have pathologised the human condition.

[Max Stirner @ernsterjuenger]

Der "POINT OF NO RETURN" in der Lehre von Von Mises:

"Ein Staat wird in an dem Punkt beinahe unreformierbar, an dem die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung finanziell oder strukturell vom Staat abhängig ist (Staatsangestellte, Beamte, Subventions- oder Förderungsempfänger, Bezieher von Transferleistungen etc.) Sobald die Gruppe derjenigen, die netto vom Staat profitiert oder alimentiert wird, größer ist als die Gruppe, bei der dies nicht der Fall ist, blockiert das System Reformen, da die Mehrheit aus Eigeninteresse für den Erhalt oder Ausbau staatlicher Leistungen stimmt."

Das ist genau die shice, die wir haben.

[Roman Cabanac @RomanCabanac]

I look at the tech optimist stuff on X and am amazed at the speed of human flourishing with rockets, AI, drones etc etc.

Back home, politicians can’t purify water.

[Creative Deduction @CreativeDeduct]

H.L. Mencken put it with characteristic precision:

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

The observation makes the weakness of democratic politics crystal clear: in a system where power depends on winning votes, the incentive is not to pursue the best policy but the most saleable one. A measure that can be explained in a slogan, framed as compassion or toughness and delivered with moral certainty will almost always defeat a more careful alternative that requires trade-offs, delayed benefits or uncomfortable facts.

Complex problems - crime, housing, education, immigration, public finances - rarely have simple solutions. They involve conflicting interests, next order consequences and limits on what government can actually achieve. The better response is often narrow, incremental and hard to advertise; it may ask voters to accept short-term costs for long-term gains or admit that some desired outcome cannot be engineered at all.

That is a difficult sell. Politicians who attempt it risk being outflanked by opponents offering simpler stories: more spending, harsher penalties, broader rights, easier money. The electorate, busy with its own life and only intermittently attentive, is more easily moved by clarity than by complexity. Ignorance is not universal, but it does not need to be. It only needs to be decisive at the margin.

The result is a recurring pattern. Policies are chosen less for their likely results than for their capacity to signal virtue, resolve, or generosity. The clear and simple answer wins the argument in public, even when it fails in practice. Mencken’s warning endures because the incentive structure of mass democracy continually rewards it.

[Born Again @Born_Again_Man]

⚠️ This is a National Scandal! ⚠️
How is it possible that in South Africa, a law-abiding citizen CANNOT certify a copy of their ID without the original document, yet illegal foreigners who are not known by anyone can enter the country illegally, go straight to Home Affairs or its online portal, claim asylum, and be documented with zero proof of identity?!
This system is fundamentally legalising lawlessness and blatantly anti South African. Why is government giving free access to international criminals and terrorists to our country and forcing us to live with them in our communities? Citizens must demand answers NOW.
Share this if you agree! 🇿🇦 #PutSouthAfricansFirst

[Thomas Sowell Quotes @ThomasSowell]

"If you cannot achieve equality of performance among people born to the same parents and raised under the same roof, how realistic is it to expect to achieve it across broader and deeper social divisions?"

— Thomas Sowell

[Helene Samuels @SamuelsHelene]

@DisaffectedPod Totally agree. But in defence of these mommies. They are exposed to enormous fear mongering. Basically 'science says' anything can damage the child physically or psychologically. So they end up doing the only thing they can - treating the kid like a hothouse plant.

[Thomas Sowell Quotes @ThomasSowell]

"You can only confiscate the wealth that exists at a given moment. You cannot confiscate future wealth — and that future wealth is less likely to be produced when people see that it is going to be confiscated."

— Thomas Sowell

[Neo @Realneo101]

Why the hell is no one talking about the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria? More than 3,000 members of one pastor’s congregation have been brutally murdered. Where’s the media coverage?

[Saganism @Saganismm]

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible."

— Frank Herbert

[Jordan Griffiths @JordiGriff]

This is basically exactly what happened.

[‏ً @omgsidewalks]

I saw someone say they miss when the internet was a library and not a store and I’ll be damned if that’s not the realest thing I’ve seen all year.

[Gareth van Onselen @GvanOnselen]

Translation: While other parties are doing exactly what ASA does to them, and pointing out where we failed, we are blaming our failure on our coalition partner and calling it accountability while ironically doing the exact same thing other parties are doing to us.

[Commentary - Sowell Economics @sowelleconomics]

"The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people's money away quietly and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly."

- Dr. Thomas Sowell

[Born Again @Born_Again_Man]

What is this I have just heard…
Election results will only be announced seven days after?
Are they telling us even beforehand that the results will be doctored and cooked, and they need a week to do it?
Is the election rigged even before votes are cast?

[Gareth van Onselen @GvanOnselen]

People say we don’t celebrate successes enough, so I just want to say, week 7 without water going well, it is the same high quality of no water. Absolutely 100% pure no water. I don’t think any other city can deliver no water as well as JHB. It is outstanding.

[Jordan Griffiths @JordiGriff]

Why Moya must resign.

As more information has come to light the case for Moya's resignation is clear.

1. Moya and her office placed themselves at the head of oversight on regional operations in Tshwane above that of the MMC. This means she personally took political responsibility for the functioning at the water treatment plant. She must account.

Moya's plan behind this was that she would take the glory for the progress started at the Hammanskraal plant under Brink. But she soon lost interest in the project, it has significantly stalled. She hasn't been there in months.

2. On Thursday 15 October, Moya was summoned to a crisis meeting with the National Dept of Water. DWS had discovered that chlorine had not been added to the plant since 23 Sept.

They wanted a response and to share results. Moya snubbed this meeting. Never attended. Her office said they would write a report in response. It still hasn't been written.

3. So on Thursday 15 October, Moya's office was informed that the plant hadn't had chlorine for 3 weeks. Yet on Friday 16 Oct, when Moya visited the plant she said publicly it had only been one week without chlorine. She left it at that, hoping it would go away.

4. Over the weekend the situation became even more dire as more cases emerged. Such that on Monday, DWS and the Dept of Health had to basically drag Moya to a press conference where she begrudgingly took responsibility.

5. Moya's initial response to this crisis was lazy and deceitful. Had her office listened to DWS or done any due diligence they would have established this was a massive issue and acted appropriately last week already. Either they are completely incompent, or they knew more than what they gave to the public initially and were deliberately deceitful.

Either way, the case for her resignation is clear. It's untenable for her to continue in the role.

[Born Again @Born_Again_Man]

I have seen all kinds of stupidity, but this takes the cup. Why destroy the very system that is meant to clean water that comes to your home because there is a problem at Bronkhorstspruit? Or is it the works of the water mafia?

[INFIL // EXFIL 🇿🇦 @InfilExfil]

They are insufferable at this point.

Brink is a separate issue.
No one is excusing that.

I don't understand in what world you get to infringe on people's constitutional rights, knowingly pump contaminated water into their taps, and think you have the right to simply claim admin issues.

Where are the operational checks?
Where are the water-quality reports?
Where are the managers?
And who exactly was responsible for making sure that a problem of this magnitude never reached the point where children ended up in hospital?

And you think this reflects well because no one died?
The public should tear you a new one... all the way to the Constitutional Court. @afriforum - can you please go fix what they can't and show them how?

[Khulani Qoma @KhulaniQoma]

It is not xenophobic to demand law and order in your own country.