Caption: Magnificent watercolor by Claus Bergen of a World War I U-boat: “U-53 Seeking the Enemy”.
Bullet Points:
** Marxists lie. They lie to you. They lie to themselves. They create alternate universes in which up is down, water runs uphill, and truth is hunted down mercilessly and annihilated. Worst of all, they believe those lies.
** The European Union has announced a $700 million program to convince American gender and climate scientists to move to Europe to continue their work after Trump eliminated funding for their work here in the US. (right) They should move to the EU sooner rather than later. Take the money, fruitcakes. Renounce your US Citizenship while you’re at it. Could you do us all a favor?
** (Bloomberg) “Marriages in China have been falling for most of the past decade and last year plunged almost 21% to a record low, compounding a demographic crisis threatening the world’s second-biggest economy. Traditionally, few children are born out of wedlock in China due to social stigma and a historical requirement to provide a marriage certificate to register newborns. Hence, they are eligible for public services. While some provinces are beginning to relax such rules, the fertility rate continues to fall. China’s population has declined for three consecutive years, challenging future growth and leaving a smaller workforce to support a rapidly aging population. Policymakers are worried. President Xi Jinping has called for stronger guidance to shape young people’s views on marriage, parenthood, and family. At the same time, state-run media have suggested universities should offer “love education” to help students overcome “vague understandings of emotional relationships.”
** William Wrigley said, “Anyone can make gum. The trick is to sell it.”
** The House’s budget resolution, which the committee will mark up on Thursday, would also raise the debt limit by $4 trillion. The United States has amassed $36.22 trillion in debt over decades.
** British politicians are alarmed that the new U.S.–UK trade deal allows President Donald Trump to block Chinese investments in critical British infrastructure. The deal announced last week requires the UK to “promptly meet U.S. requirements” to shield supply chains and “relevant production facilities” from foreign investment. If the European country does not meet these requirements, the U.S. can reimpose tariffs, effectively using trade pressure to dictate which countries can invest in the UK’s core infrastructure. That clause triggered immediate backlash from British lawmakers and media, who say the U.S. now has a de facto “veto” over foreign investment, specifically Chinese money flowing into the UK’s steel and aluminum sectors.
** The Treasury Department slapped fresh sanctions on the Iranian oil sector on Tuesday as President Donald Trump is eyeing a potential nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
** In the UK, North Ayrshire, Scotland’s eco-friendly battery recycling plant, built to combat global warming, has just exploded. According to reports, the amount of toxins released is equivalent to 1,000 poorly regulated diesel trucks driving nonstop for more than 10 years.
** It’s better that we trade with China than fight them. At present, the US would need to go nuclear early, which would mean a first strike on the PRC. I realize that’s not considered to be ‘fair’ given our history with Japan’s strike first philosophy at Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, decades of neglecting the fleet and the logistics necessary for it to fight have left us more than a paper tiger, but not that much more. Once the first nuke goes off, it’s over because both sides will launch them. Better to get your licks in first before you’re clobbered. It’s a sobering thought, but that’s where we are.
An Early Christmas?
Qatar will donate, not sell, a luxurious jet to serve as Air Force One during Trump’s presidency. A US defense contractor will retrofit it before it is placed into service.
Interior shots — of the Boeing 747-8. As expected, it’s fit for a billionaire sheikh. Qatar donated a similar plane to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The $400 million price tag is shocking: most people aren’t allowed to accept gifts from foreign governments worth more than $100. In the context of Qatar’s and the broader Gulf’s deep pockets, it’s a rounding error. According to industry tracker Global SWF, Gulf sovereign wealth funds have surpassed $4 trillion in assets under management and are expected to reach $7 trillion by 2030. That’s a lot of planes. (I disabled the link above – thanks Peter)
Qatar’s royals own so many jets that a 2015 incident offers some context: when the current emir’s father was hospitalized in Switzerland over Christmas, his family and entourage reportedly flew in on nine private jets to visit him. Two aircraft departed Doha just 15 minutes apart (because plane-pooling isn’t a thing.) The aircraft under consideration for Trump isn’t used much, presumably because its owner has one or several others he prefers.
***
Capitalism Good – Socialism Bad
In India
India has emerged as a geopolitical and economic powerhouse, and its Hindu nationalist prime minister, Narendra Modi, has portrayed it as not only a great nation but an ascendant great civilization whose moment on the global stage has arrived. This has crystallized an uncompromising mindset in which New Delhi increasingly views Pakistan not as a disruptive nuisance but as an acute threat to India’s rightful rise.
India has lost patience with Pakistan’s claim on the Indian-held half of Kashmir, the Muslim-majority region that each side calls its own, and its support of anti-India terrorism. Pakistan, on the other hand, has been mired for two decades in economic, political, and security crises.
Although beleaguered, Pakistan, with its ambitions to remain a regional power, is unwilling to back down against India and on issues such as Kashmir that are central to its national identity.
In decades past, Indian restraint in the face of Pakistani actions usually maintained an uneasy equilibrium. Even after deadly incidents such as the 2008 attack in Mumbai by Pakistan-based terrorists, which killed 166 people, India typically responded with moderation and periodic peace overtures. Under Mr. Modi, that has changed. Over the past decade, he has shifted to a strategy of seeking to isolate Pakistan internationally, coupled with covert operations, subversion, and targeted killings.
At the same time, Pakistan, and in particular its army, has shown signs of interest in stepping back from its traditional anti-India posture for a period. After a border conflict in 2019, Pakistan exercised more restraint than perhaps at any other point in the two nations’ fraught history, including restoring a cease-fire in 2021.
But by then, India had moved on.
Even if the two sides back off and the current hostilities fizzle, India seems determined to pursue a more absolutist endgame of long-term pressure aimed at changing Pakistani political calculations on India and inflicting irreparable damage to Pakistan’s main power center, its army. Since the Kashmir attack last month, prominent Indian politicians and analysts have taken a more maximalist position, arguing that Pakistan is a failed rogue state and that India must actively seek its destruction. Pakistan, aware of this shift, has abandoned hope of normalized relations with India and appears to be girding for a prolonged confrontation.
Ominously, the confrontation threatens crucial guardrails that prevent conflicts from spiraling. Last month, India suspended a 1960 treaty on sharing rivers, particularly the Indus waters, threatening one of Pakistan’s most important water supplies. Pakistan previously warned that such a suspension would be considered an “act of war” and has threatened to abandon a 1972 agreement that established the border in a divided Kashmir.
And where is Pakistan’s ally, China, in all this?
The Texan Lady Speaks
Rep Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) may not be a descendant of the famous Congressman Davy Crockett, who died defending Texas at the Alamo. I’m not her genealogist, so I can’t say for sure. She said, “The major donors in the Democrat Party want to go out and find the ‘safest white boy we can find’ to represent them in 2028.”
They ran a black woman (some say Kamala is a negro, some say an Indian) or at least one who self identifies as a black woman last time. Kamala had four years of experience as a vice president and time representing California in the Senate. True, she’s dumb as a box of rocks, but race and gender are all that matter.
What’s funny is the Democrats’ “safest white boy” is one of many very problematic choices. Gavin Newsom? California has been under progressive control for a while, but he’s driven the car off a cliff. Tim Walz? He acts like a homosexual—unappealing to normal men—he’s a moron, and he’s off-putting. Joe Biden? His descent into senility made fools of the party’s base, and I’m not sure they’re ready for that humiliation ritual again. J. B. Pritzker? He’s grotesque, obese, not competent, and seriously unlikable.
Napoleon Bonaparte quote: “Never interrupt your opponent while he is making a mistake.”
Keep feeding them rope.
The Blue Heron Farm, 41 Cobbs Hill Rd, Chilmark, MA 02535, where the Obamas lived during the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, is currently listed for $39 million. Barack and Mike never owned the property; the family of architect Norman Foster owns it. The woke couple rented it for $50K weekly during the summer while he was a senator from Illinois. Illinois senators are very well paid.
Mike and Barack own a 6,892-square-foot estate at 79 Turkeyland Cove Road in Edgartown. On 29.3 acres, the estate features seven bedrooms, eight-and-a-half baths, and several stone fireplaces. They bought it for $11.75 million with the $400K per year that Barack made while president. Barack and his husband also own mansions in Washington, DC and Hawaii.
More on Illegal Aliens
(The Daily Caller) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that it is launching an investigation into California for allegedly handing out federal benefits to illegal aliens.
DHS issued a Title 8 subpoena into the state’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), which the agency alleges provides benefits to illegal immigrants who are ineligible for Social Security. The subpoena requested records from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) to identify ineligible individuals who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the Social Security Administration since January 2021. (RELATED: California Begs for Emergency Loan After Showering Illegal Immigrants with Healthcare Benefits)
“Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. “The Trump Administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally. If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over.”
More than 2 million illegal aliens unlawfully received social security numbers under the Biden administration in 2024 alone, according to DHS.
Oregon (offshore) Volcano
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
3
4
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Embraer E-99
2. Republic F-84F Thunderstreak
3. Douglas C-124 Globemaster II
4. North American T-28 Trojan
six minutes…a record! Well done.
Yeah, but look at the comment submitted time…he’s like Hermine Granger with that time travel pendant. It’s magic I tell ya, pure wand waving magic.
Given that Surly is an AI Bot with some human components (Terminator with a human heart), he has access to tools far beyond our comprehension.
He oughta face a handicap.
How many minutes?
1 ?
2 is Republic F-84F Thunderstreak
3 is Douglas C-124 Globemaster II
4 probably North American Aviation T-28 Trojan
#3 a.k.a. “Old Shakey.” A friend was a loadmaster on C-133’s but would often get cross-pollinated over to 124’s during the frequent grounding of the 133 fleet due to the propensity of that aircraft to quit flying for various and sundry reasons, some of which were never adequately determined. Anyway, he told me brakes on the 124 would scream during taxiing and that the navigator would get posted to the astro bubble as another set of eyes to keep from running over things. The joke was, the screeching wasn’t really the brakes, it was the navigator hollering let me out, let me out!
Thank you for the comment on early use of nukes. I always thought canceling F-22 left no choice but early use of nukes. F-16, F-18 and aero tractors have a role in delaying use of nukes. I don’t know enough about F-35, but for the cost give me two f-16, two f-15, two f-18 or a fleet of aero tractors. I cannot wait for the aero tractor drones. Think of computer controlled crop spraying but with SDBs. The map tells you the spots you missed or over fertilized.
I live near where the build aero tractors in Olny Texas. When the fire boss float planes are on the lake training they sound like hornets. Fun to watch, but the noise gets old. They land in my front yard for lunch and you can walk up and look at the water scoop and floats …. Tom
It’s a lot like giving a police officer weapons. A firearm – lethal force; a sap and a baton/asp – lethal force; his/her options are somewhat limited. Tear gas works on people who are healthy and are not intoxicated. Tasers have value – but they don’t work on the heavily intoxicated or insane (or both), and I’ve seen a guy Tasered 5 times and all he did was pull the prongs out of his flesh – no effect. If less lethal doesn’t work, you work your way toward concussion weapons or bullets.
.
It’s the same way with nuclear weapons. They’re weapons of last resort until last resort becomes first resort because you have nothing else that works.
I like the Claus Bergen header this AM. He became famous for his paintings of the Battle of Jutland. He was the only naval painter of his time to take part in submarine combat cruises (on board the U-53). Hitler bought his painting Wiedererstander,U-26 to hang at the New Reichs Chancellery in 1937.
X2
East Palestine to North Ayrshire: “Welcome to the party, pal!” [Sarcastic remark about what actual Palestine would say to both EP and NA redacted.]
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Instead of Europe (haven’t the Euros suffered enough already?) send the Global Sex Change and Gender Warmening “scientists” to China. They will either complete the F ing up of China’s population, or the Chinese will kill them all. Either road, a problem solved.
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“emir … hospitalized in Switzerland over Christmas, his family and entourage”
A friend was an attending physician at The Cleveland Clinic (genuflect genuflect genuflect) and he has many stories about wealthy Gulf Arab patients. As an example, one [HIPAA redacted] was at The Clinic for several months. He had an entourage of over 50 people. They had a significant impact on the local economy, as they rented luxury homes and ate out regularly. When they left, the bars and liquor stores in particular were hurt. (Yes, it’s JUST like the joke about Baptists not recognizing each other when they meet inside the booze store. As a good rich Gulf Muslim, you do not drink in public in your home country. In sinful America, why, it’d be disrespectful to not follow local custom…) My friend still bitches about Rolex day. So Friend had the day off when [redacted] was discharged. Too bad, because a couple members of the entourage came in with a cart filled with new, boxed Rolexes. Every employee on the floor where [redacted] stayed received a Rolex, from the cardiac surgeon to the janitor. Friend did not get a Rolex. So sad.
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If one thinks that India Ascendant is preferable to China Ascendant you’ve got another think coming. Sure the Chinese are right bastards, but they aren’t particularly smooth, the English is mostly awkward, and you can generally see them coming from a mile away. Now consider dealing with people who are also right bastards, but are more facile with English, and have all the negative characteristics of [redacted], only with a goofy accent. All the resentment, all the hairsplitting and barracks lawyering, all the scams, but without the charm and sense of humor. And a LOT more nepotism. Unfortunately, this is not sarcasm. Look at American leadership roles. Very damn few East Asian public figures of influence. Now look at how many Indian executives and finance people there are, particularly relative to their actual population proportion. This will translate into significant political power soon enough, and that will be a bad thing for what is left of America.
I have to take issue with your last paragraph:
first: the same could be said of the Jews, Irish, Italians, and Hungarians (other groups I don’t know as well) in this country.
next: I know I’ll be extrapolating from individuals to groups; a very dangerous path, but …
one of my two friends (best man both ways) is married to an Indian (OK, she was born and brought up in East Africa), but they have, other than her immediate family, no Indian friends (TTBOMK), nor could she give a hoot about India or Indian culture; their daughters were brought up as Americans (liberal, unfortunately IMHO) and married white Americans
A very good acquaintance is an Indian born and brought up in East Africa, married to a white woman, and, other than his brother, has no Indian friends (TTBOMK) and has zero interest in India or its politics; very liberal, but solidly American.
Totally off-note:
I’ve noticed that all (100%) of my (or my wife’s) liberal acquaintances have never been “exposed” to the U.S. Armed Services. “A” follows “B”?
Fair enough, boron, but you’ve essentially doubled the IKAGO argument (some would call it a fallacy) to IKTGO: I know two good ones. In my personal circle, there are two Pakistani Muslim women who are dearer to me than most of my blood kin, and for whom I would do nearly anything. (One raised and educated in Peshawar, is devout, including the prayer 5x daily thing, though she dresses western, no headscarf for sure, and works outside the home as a physician; the other “I fast-for-Ramadan” and “been to Mecca” but a product of US K-12 and elite (prog-lefty + situational lesbianism) US colleges. Guess whose values align more closely with mine! And with most of the commenters here. But I digress.) Anyway, despite these two women, I don’t want an influx of Pakistani Muslims in general into the US. I don’t want a Chinese influx either for that matter.
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Why? Putting aside notions of “better” or “worse” — more Pakistanis, or Chinese, or Indians, or Hungarians, would inevitably change US culture. Change it further, that is. If I wanted to live in a Chinese-dominated culture I’d move to China. I happen to think our Greco-Romano-Germano-Christian culture is responsible for the most affluent, safe, open, and generally fair society that has ever existed on a large scale, and for that reason is worth defending and preserving, but that’s an intellectual argument. At the gut level, I want it not just preserved but widely transmitted into the future, because it is MY culture.
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I don’t have some arrogant do-gooder missionary urge to go to other people’s home countries and try to force my values on them. I wouldn’t fly there, get off the plane, and immediately start trying to change it to the upper Midwest, because that’d be an asshole thing to do, even though it’d likely improve their lives. But it’s not my call in Their Country. It’s like the Californicator problem: people flee Cali for some poor unsuspecting red state, then set about trying to recreate the idiocy of California in their new home, in the teeth of and despite the will of the red-state natives. Go to Toronto, or NYC, or LA, to take but a few examples. Most immigrants are not at all trying to “assimilate” these days. Culture change (I’d argue degradation) is inevitable.
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So that’s the general principles part. Now to specifics. I wonder what Indians from India think of their East African diaspora. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect they’re looked down upon. Just like Chinese look down on “overseas Chinese” (hwa chiao; this is phonetic and not pinyin). Not saying it’s the case in your friends, but generational expats generally either go “more British than the Queen” (ie become fanatical about their mostly mythological Home) or “reject them right back”. Now an anecdote from my childhood. My mother was a gardener. A Chinese neighbor woman (educated, both she and her Chinese husband had graduate STEM degrees and were fluent in English) got all “cultural” and started advocating for using nightsoil (human poop) as fertilizer. In a suburban home vegetable garden. This woman went around evangelizing to all the Chinese women she knew. My mother (an analytical chemist as it happens) hit the roof. “It’s disgusting. It spreads diseases. And putting fresh excrement on your plants isn’t even healthy for the plants. Plus, it’s profoundly illegal here. So don’t do it. That’s what chemical and processed manure fertilizers are for. And if you insist on doing it, for gods sake don’t go around saying it’s Chinese. Don’t drag the rest of us into it. We’ve got enough problems without you doing illegal and dirty things.” The poopy neighbor didn’t speak to my mother for months. But she didn’t dump her family’s fresh excrement into her garden either.
Well, the Representative Mz. Crockett of Texas may be from Texas but she is no lady.
No, she isn’t.
Especially since The Dem Playbook has now demanded the use of profanity laced language as an attempt to sound more cool, which is the same “cool” as Walz using a shotgun. They are embarrassing themselves and don’t know it (or care). Works for me.
They have Walz to communicate with you, a fellow white man, and amplify the democrat message – which is almost 100% Satanic.
“almost 100%”? Maybe 99.98%.
EdB linked a video a few weeks back, The Unseen Realm (fascinating by the way). It discusses the good-bad origins of the world (Heaven and Hell, etc), some in terms of what we witness with people so far off the rational reservation it makes zero sense to us normal thinkers that they can believe what they are saying…unless we view such behaviors in the spiritual. Satan rules the world, so to speak…giving validity in your statement…wolves cloaked in Armani and expensive hairdos so as to snow the unsuspecting.
https://youtu.be/w9EW3ORjpU8?si=q276jhUcBHNLc3hI
The definition of a lady that I prefer to use is: a woman of refinement and gentle manners. Can anyone say with a straight face that the current representative from Texas’ 30th Congressional District meets that definition?
She wouldn’t be allowed in a petting zoo because she’d bite the children.
Nice visual…probably true.
Larry, are you sure the animals in the petting zoo would be safe?
MSG Grumpy
No. If she were Big Mike, I’d worry about the barnyard animals becoming pregnant.
Ok, did not need THAT visual mid-morning.
That Oregon underwater volcano? I believe that last erupted just 10 years ago.
a la Hank Johnson:
let’s get some more Californicators (it’ll be temporary, trust me!) up to Portland. with luck the whole plate’ll tip over and sink into the Pacific.
Yes! Yes, I know. We’ll be polluting the water, but (trust me, it’ll just be temporary) someone has to provide food for the Great Whites.
That volcano is part of a hotspot system that moves OVER the mantle. I suspect the volcano has been there (as with the Yellowstone hotspot) for a very long time.
Large Texas cities are filled with the likes of Crockett. No manners, belligerent, ignorant to a fault, and well trained in being the most obnoxious, overbearing worthless piece of human scum that society can allow to flourish. Those that make it into politics line their pockets, game the election process, ignore their constituents, and have a huge turnover in staff. We may not be isolated from her type, but we sure are embarrassed they haven’t learned to be something more than a feral animal. Texas is better than that.
What do you really think about Rep. Crockett (bless her heart), Jess? Don’t sugar coat it.
Texas has a wild boar problem…it is fixable.
all thanks to hurricane katrina. i tried to warn them. va offered to take some refugees but thankfully they refused our terms. we have enough problems w/o them.
“More on Illegal Aliens”
I just can’t see any way, no matter how well it might be done (or if there’ll even be any attempt) to claw back the lost $, that Joe Average will ever see one red ¢ of those (b?)millions; at least 50% will have been sent to family abroad.
All the money spent subsequently to find and punish the perpetrators will just end up as a 300+ page Congressional committee report.
(highly positive, ain’t I?)
Most of the money is gone, and “we” will be required to pay it back. Which means our great-great-grandchildren.
I’m enthralled that someone’s keeping a very close eye on India (and international politics) – thank you.
I wonder just what the Donald has planned for (with?) the subcontinent: geopolitics aside.
Is this kerfuffle about Kashmir just to provide China with an irritation (however minor) about its western border?
Wonder where Rahmon, Japarov, Tokayev (and Vladimir Vladimirovich) stand in all this?
India can produce the same stuff (one man’s junk is another man’s treasure) that China is at competitive pricing. They can replace China. Whether that creates a bigger problem or not is yet to be written.
“The Texan Lady Speaks”.
That, Sir, is no lady.
“Keep feeding them rope”: PDJT is manufacturing and selling the Dems the very rope they are hanging themselves. Just the past few days, The Hogg infighting, can’t even keep a minuscule little boy with a big mouth in his place who never was spanked as a child while simultaneously trotting out a putz his own family doesn’t even like because he’s a colossal family embarrassment, yet somehow got elected by the obvious ‘frozen between the ears from spending too much time in the fishing shack’ Minnesotan’s.
elected, not necessarily voted for.
Good point…
X2
California Drift…to the Far Left right off the proverbial cliff: …and Adam Corolla still isn’t allowed to live in his Pacific Palisades house, no power or water and no “okay by officials who believe resident’s rent from them therefore require their permission”.
How much cleanup has been completed? Little. (OMG! Toxic waste!…just bury it in the desert next to all the other refuse and bodies and get it done, no one needs an EPA study and/or permission to clean up their burned out property caused by the same morons who demand compliance.)
How many homes have been re-permitted for build? None.
How many regulations were suspended to assist residents recapture their devastated properties? None.
Bass lied to The President’s face, had no intention of making this simple and easy for residents because the city wants the land for cheap (hahaha, ain’t nothing cheap by them) housing for “immigrants” and/or for their buddies who’ve been eying ocean front land, and they’ll do it by eminent domain seizure (aka ‘theft by government’).
Yet, despite flagrantly flaunting Federal law – unlawful at the onset – the governor wants WTP to bail them out of their self-created debacle.
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: Go suck an egg you reckless cheats and bums.
Listening to Grant & Jen on AM870 The Answer…California, LA area…just said residential insurance will rise 17%…because…fires. That’s called flogging the already flogged…by “officials”.
First strike?
Supposedly, a Poseidon missile’s range is such one can launch from Bangor, WA and hit 8.000 miles away. Hopefully true, as many of the boomers are in dry dock or moored in Bremerton waiting repairs and parts.
They are within range of their targets from drydock, whether they can launch from drydock is something I wouldn’t speculate on.
Re the Qatar 747-800, I’m betting it has less than 1000 hours on the airframe, even if it is 13 years old. They do have so many aircraft, they occasionally ‘lose’ one or two for a year or so… Kinda like forgetting where you parked in the parking lot. Much like the Saudis leave million dollar cars sitting on the side of the road because it ‘quit’… There is always another one at home.
X2
I have a friend descended from Davy Crockett.
He looks nothing like her. :)
So Jasmine isn’t invited to family reunions? That smacks of racism
He just hates rude and stupid people.
Would he claim to be Ilithiophobic, Stultophobic or both?
Probably. I’ll have to look those up first :)
Young (inexperienced) people are fascinated by socialism because it’s the monkey troop economics/politics their genetically programmed brain firmware evolved to implement. But today everyone outside the third world can talk to each other on phones, and brain economic/political firmware evolution has not caught up with that. Intellectualism is a set of techniques to help sneak objective truth past our filters.