Rejecting traditional lifestyles like getting married and having kids is probably contributing to overall unhappiness.

From Substackers Pseudonymous by Infovores, Parrhesia, and Resident Contrarian.  The subheading is Hacking the Blogosphere with Resident Contrarian and Parrhesia.

Infovores, Parrhesia and Resdient Contrarian are three essayists and Tweeters who probably lean towards a Classical Liberal worldview and who write pseudonymously for a variety of reasons.  Certainly the Postmodernist, Woke, CRT, Social Justice wing of academia and the mainstream media are very hostile to the Classical Liberal worldview.  

I am familiar with Infovores and Resident Contrarian and enjoy their writing.  I don't recognize Parrhesia.  

In this piece, Infovores is interviewing Parrhesia and Resident Contrarian.  Parrhesia:

I think that people undervalue things that are meaningful and overvalue convenience, comfort, and passive stimulation. I think that excessive internet use is probably making many people unhappy. Websites like Reddit and Twitter expose people to an unhealthy amount of upsetting content. Rejecting traditional lifestyles like getting married and having kids is probably contributing to overall unhappiness. Media is so entertaining that people choose to be less social, often to their own detriment. Financial and career opportunities entice people enough to move away from friends and family, something unusual until recently. We would probably be happier if we spent less time online and more time together with friends and loved ones.

An Insight

At a Congressional hearing one "expert" in reproductive health claimed that men can become pregnant, another said that the being who is born human wasn't human before birth, but became human at birth. Even in our scientific age some people--even "experts"--still believe in magic.

— Robert P. George🇻🇦🇺🇸🪕 (@McCormickProf) May 19, 2022

 

A vision of a secure and prosperous Europe of sovereign states, deciding their own destiny and living without fear or threat.

A speech on February 19th, 2022 from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the days just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 24th, 2022.  A very forceful rallying cry for freedom and the West.  

I believe that Russia would have absolutely nothing to gain from this catastrophic venture and everything to lose, and while there is still time, I urge the Kremlin to de-escalate, to disengage its forces from the frontier and to renew our dialogue.

Every nation at this conference shares a vision of a secure and prosperous Europe of sovereign states, deciding their own destiny and living without fear or threat.

And that vision of course extends to Russia, a nation whose cultural patrimony we revere, and whose sacrifice in the struggle against fascism was immeasurable.

Russia has as much right as any other country to live in peace and security, and we should never cease to emphasise that Russia has nothing to fear from our vision, which threatens and marginalises no-one.

And as we come together in unity and resolve, we must also show wisdom and moderation, because it is precisely by that unity that we show today that we have the best chance even now, at this 11th hour, of averting disaster and ensuring that good sense can still prevail.

And it is that message of unity that we must send from this conference today.

I see wonderful things

Lyrebirds are experts at mimicry, they can copy almost any sound, from chainsaws to other animal sounds such as dogs barking

Listen to this superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) as it mimics a crying baby, eerie and amazingpic.twitter.com/eyD03CW28E

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 18, 2022

 

Offbeat Humor

Killer rabbits terrorized the pages of medieval manuscripts.

Read more: https://t.co/esHVawE6Nw pic.twitter.com/su8GkO36td

— Ancient Origins (@ancientorigins) May 19, 2022

 

Data Talks

From Abysmal to Just Terrible: My List of 23 Major US Office Markets.
Commercial Real Estate hit by construction boom, the oil bust, the pandemic, working from home, now hiring freezes and layoffs. Older office towers dish out huge losseshttps://t.co/8N9I8cWfXi

— Wolf Richter (@wolfofwolfst) May 16, 2022

 

Landscape from Hellebæk, 1886 by Carl Heinrich Bloch (Danish, 1834-1890)

Landscape from Hellebæk, 1886 by Carl Heinrich Bloch (Danish, 1834-1890) 

Clic to enlarge. 

An enthusiasm for authoritarian mobs over constitutional institutions

From The Supreme Court's Decision Is a Huge Win for the Constitution by  David Harsanyi.  He makes a point which seems basic and yet is in evidence everywhere in partisan debate.  We have a constitutional republic established to protect citizens and their individual rights via three sets of checks and balance between branches of government (legislative, judicial, and executive) as well as three sets of checks and balance via Federal, State, and Local governance.

The design was intended to protect the individual from overweening and capricious government force as well as from mob passions.  This form of government has been astonishingly successful.  Richest large nation (4% of the world's population, 23% of the world's productivity), most diverse nation, most innovative nation, oldest and third oldest political parties, oldest written constitution, etc.  

Regardless of one's policy preferences on any given issue, you have to navigate the three branches and the three levels.  One wing of one of our two parties, if not the entire party, increasingly seems to focus solely on whether any given action or decision advances their desire or not, regardless of the constitution and the branches and levels of government.  There is a hunger for authoritarian power and disdain for constitutional institutions.

Harsanyi puts it nicely.

The modern left doesn't even bother pretending they believe the Supreme Court has a responsibility to act as a separate branch of government and adjudicate the constitutionality of law. Rather than even ostensibly offering legal reasons for their ire, Democrats simply demand the Supreme Court uphold public sentiment (or, rather what they claim is public sentiment), even though SCOTUS exists to ignore those pressures. The fact that that attitude has congealed as the norm in one of our major political parties does not bode well for the future of the Republic.

SCOTUS, State authority, Electoral College - these and many other institutions are supported or dismissed merely based on policy synchronicity rather than respect for their constitutional roles.  A too large a wedge of the chattering class are committed to authoritarianism rather than constitutionalism.

History

The Guinness Brewery, Dublin, 1910 pic.twitter.com/VUhTFr53av

— History Defined (@historydefined) May 17, 2022

 

An Insight

US health officials are endlessly committed to policy and recommendations that have conclusively proven to be completely useless https://t.co/Odi0ogc17x

— Ian Miller (@ianmSC) May 19, 2022