The entire concept of the order is that the United States disadvantages itself economically in order to purchase the loyalty of a global alliance. That is what globalization is. The past several decades haven't been an American Century. They've been an American sacrifice. Which is over.

Even better, the North American continent faces few security threats between its own shores and those of potential suppliers. On average, North American products face less than one-third the supply chain disruptions the Germans are likely to feel, and one-tenth that of the Asians.

Most studies in the past half decade have indicated that by 2021, most manufacturing processes were already cheaper to operate in North America than in either Asia or Europe.

May 23
dimber-damber (n) The leader of a gang of criminals.

Finally, there's the location where workers sew on the “made in“ tag. Typically, nothing is actually made there. It's more an assembly thing. The average pair of jeans is touched by hands in at least ten countries. And God forbid you use a bedazzler to put sparkly bits on your ass--the input system for that little gadget practically involves space travel.

Finished platinum is so very pretty and as such is often used in high-end jewelry (like my you-are-mine-for-life-so-don't-try-anything-stupid commitment band).

In the United States we began purging lead from our systems in the 1970s, systematically banning its use in product after product. Over the next half century, the ambient level of lead in our air dropped by more than 90 percent. At the same time, instances of violent crimes subsided from record highs to record lows. Correlation? Definitely. Causation? Let's go with a strong maybe.

On obtaining cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo:

So take your pick: go old-school imperial on multiple countries in order to strip-mine a specific material while alternatively exploiting or shooting desperate locals who try to get a bite of the action for themselves, or go without and stick to coal and natural gas. The future is full of such fun choices.

May 22
three-pipe(adj.)-- extremely complex, requiring much thought.

The world of the past few decades has been the best it will ever be in our lifetime. Instead of cheap and better and faster, we're rapidly transitioning into a world that's pricier and worse and slower. Because the world--our world-- is breaking apart.

The laptop I'm tapping this down on has more memory than the combined total of all computers globally in the late 1960s.

From the Introduction:

My brain doesn't move fast enough for conversation, but words on a page will wait for me. Books are patient with slow learners. The rest of the world isn't.

May 19
Spousebreach: (n) Adultery.

May 16
Premiation (n.)- A prize-giving, the act of bestowing a reward. To premiate, likewise, is to bestow or award a prize, while something that is premiable is deserving of just such a reward.

It's worth noting that boiling frog syndrome is apocryphal. When scientists tried to replicate the parable in real life, their research subjects leaped out of the pot.

One senior White House aide who left because they didn't think Biden should run again confessed to us that “we attempted to shield him from his own staff so many people didn't realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023.“

Fate had spent the better part of the last half century throwing everything it could at him, the worst tragedies imaginable. And every goddamn time, he got up. Every. Goddamn. Time.

...evidence of 150 riots in the 13 colonies from 1765 through 1769--and there were undoubtedly more he did not detect. During the early 1770s, according to Gilje, the rioting continued on a similar scale.

This only had a 94% rating on Litsy, which reminds me of that one sportswriter who didn't vote Michael Jordan into the Basketball Hall of Fame. History books don't get much better than this.

#2025Book19

The French-Jewish philosopher Raymond Aron would say, when asked about the Holocaust, "I knew, but I didn't believe it. And because I didn't believe it, I didn't know."

Fortunately, there has been a lot of funding from the private sector as well.