It's unendingly amusing to me just *how* much of The Wealth of Nations, and of Hume's earlier writings about trade, is about wine.

I grew up in Munich and had no idea about half of the exonyms this lovely city is known by. Monica? Kinda weird but it works I guess…

France puts a former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, behind bars The first French ex-head of state to be jailed since Marshal Pétain

This morning France puts a former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, behind bars at the Prison de la Santé in Paris. Collaborators apart, no western European president or prime minister has ever been to jail in post-war times
economist.com/europe/2025/...
from @economist.com

The Louvre has a wild history of being robbed in broad daylight One of the most infamous heists in the cultural institution’s history was the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa—when Pablo Picasso numbered among the suspects.

I had a ton of fun whipping this up this weekend after the jaw-dropping Louvre heist. Anyone seen some crown jewels or priceless paintings in a shopping bag, suitcase, or artist's hovel recently?

www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

Those institutions / policies included decentralization and federalism, freedom of enterprise, labor, and trade, and high state capacity in fields where the government does act, such as infrastructure and social welfare. Peace helped indirectly (no wartime domestic czars!) as well as directly.

Grateful for orgs like @reclaimtherecords.org today as I attempt to get all kinds of historical files. There's so much data WE own that still isn't open to the public!

Reupping this post of mine from earlier today

bsky.app/profile/geit...

This text is from my enovel ANDROID RUN: A congresswoman turns down the invitation to head the CIA because she is troubled by the president's insistence that the CIA be subservient to him

This text is from my enovel ANDROID RUN: A congresswoman angers the president when she defends the separation of powers and Congress' prerogatives to make judgments independent of the executive branch.

This text is from my enovel ANDROID RUN: A congresswoman angers the president when she cites the Constitution in defending the separation of powers and Congress' prerogatives to make judgments independent of the executive branch.

This is the cover of my enovel, written in 2016 and set in the 2040s.

In my enovel ANDROID RUN, written in 2016 and set in the 2040s, the president is Kendell Nolen, a nefarious tech mogul. Below, he erupts in fury when he asks Rep. Tamika Perkins to head the CIA & she stoutly defends the independence of the CIA and Congress. Tamika will go on to challenge the admin

I remain impressed by the quality of the scripts for the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES in the '60s. I still have several of those books. Featured teen heroes

USA blir akterseglat i maktkamp om hamnarna Kinesiska företag driver hamnar runtom i världen. Även i Sverige. Det ger Peking inflytande i bland annat Grekland och Afrika, medan USA blir allt mer akterseglat.

Interesting piece of information I didn’t know: since 2015, Chinese commercial ships are built to be also fit for military use.

This is an aspect to consider when Chinese ships are involved in Baltic Sea cable cuttings.

www.svd.se/a/KMkq4M/kin...

Hmm: imposition of tariffs as an instrument of coercion, divorced from actual trade policy

#ArbitaryMarketDistortions

Over the weekend I read a long thread on a policy issue I've followed for four decades. A fellow making a reasonable, key policy point in the initial post was pummeled and insulted throughout by a marauding horde of shallow smart-alecks acting like 13-year-olds

Russia threatens Bundestag elections with large-scale cyberattacks and disinformation,Bild reported

According to data from the analyses of German intelligence services,Russian authorities allocate up to €2 billion annually for disinformation campaigns

Article describes range of changes toward expected China focus at DOD in regard to funding, weapon systems, troop presence. Elbridge Colby, in the policy undersecretary position, will oversee the strategic changes, in line with his longstanding views

x.com/starsandstri...

Another sign of political volatility in Britain

Timotheé Chalamet’s Impossible to Replicate Charisma A Complete Unknown is a masterclass in the art of the music biopic.

On this week's Slate Culture Gabfest, we talk about Timmy Chalamet as Bobby Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown; the Amazon Prime show On Call, from Law & Order creator Dick Wolf; & the generously weird legacy of David Lynch. slate.com/podcasts/cul...

Fate of Nebraska Legislature filibuster rule centers on rural-urban split more than party • Nebraska Examiner Arguments for whether to change the threshold needed to shut off a filibuster appear centered on rural and urban interests, not party goals.

Neb Legislature's Rules Committee did not approve proposals to change the filibuster rule. As the @nebraskaexaminer.com piece explains, some conservative Republican rural state senators recognize that current filibuster rules can at times help rural interests

nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/01/19/f...

I just saw the news and hunted for your bsky account to say I immediately thought of you and am sad at this news. I know Jules Feiffer was a friend and a major influence for you. RIP

Daniel Webster (born Jan. 18, 1782): "No man can suffer too much, and no man can fall too soon, if he suffer or if he fall in defense of the liberties and Constitution of his country."

The Constitution is our indispensable foundation. Americans should be stalwart in defending it.

"The proper function of a government is to make it easy for the people to do good, and difficult for them to do evil."

-- Daniel Webster, born #OTD 1782

In my grad school in the '80s, I was friends with Bill Cochrane, a grand old fellow & senior staff member for Senate Rules Committee. Bill was a key staff member involved in preparations for presidential inaugurations

Bill was from my home county in NC. Years back I saw his grave in Chapel Hill

Without Mel Brooks hiring Lynch to make THE ELEPHANT MAN — on the strength of ERASERHEAD alone — he is very likely just a guy who made a weird film at AFI. That whole filmography you love doesn’t happen.

We all need sponsors and mentors and patrons. We need people who believe in us.

I see that President Biden has called for a ban on stock trading by members of Congress

Reminds me: In the late '80s when I was covering N Carolina congressional races, a longtime incumbent House member was livid with me after I rightly reported that he used leftover campaign donations to buy stock

It interferes with the price mechanism. Prices provide an all-important signal function for the economy. Price-informed guidance is vital to sound decision-making by businesses. It erodes individual liberty, substituting government nanny-statism.

It sets tariff rates in an arbitrary fashion.

It taxes inputs. It promotes an unrealistic embrace of autarky. It encourages unrealistic expectations about industrial policy.

It ratchets up Washington's already serious problem with rent-seeking and political favoritism. It encourages status quo thinking and hinders innovation. It encourages the false impression that international trade is inherently predatory and that trade by definition is harmful to the country.

Below are my general concerns about an absolutist, long-term embrace of broad tariffs as government policy. My views aren't newly formed. On the contrary, I could have written this 10 years ago or 20 or 30

So, in regard to an absolutist embrace of broad, long-term tariffs:

Always makes me feel good when I thwart Microsoft's autocorrect defaults by calling up the Proofing setting and changing it to just what I want (such as no ordinals)

Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan - Wikipedia

I was living in the DC area in January 1985 and remember that the weather was so bitterly cold for Reagan's second inaugural that the parade was canceled and the ceremony moved to the Capitol Rotunda

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_....

Apple-shaped small subglobular jar (~8 cm tall x 11 cm wide) with restricted orifice. The design on the shoulder consists of a zone between the red slipped rim & waist that has spaced cross-hatched incision filled semicircles dangling from the incised rim line & upward from the waist line. These form a sinuous element in between them of almost gear tooth like projections with a curvilinear incised line snaking through the center. This line has triangle punctations pointing up on the high arcs & down on the low arcs. Like the wide rim, the element between the semicircles is red slipped.

Weeden Island Zoned Red (ca. 300-700 CE) reproduction jar before & after firing. #ceramics #archaeology #pottery

It seems to require some more explanation why the NB8 format has gained momentum and why it’s so useful for the countries.

1) FINN& SWE joining NATO opened new possibilities in defence cooperation & bridged the region, as Denmark & Norway aren’t geographically as close & connected to the Baltics

”While Germany is often highlighted as one of many likeminded security allies, none of the four Nordic states identify Germany as the key European security and defence partner.“