I've given up convincing brainwashed people that Trump is just a president to be evaluated on the merits like any other, that he'll do some good, some bad, that one should only believe what one can verify, etc. The TDS is so crazy now, there is no hope to get through. So I'm stepping back and trying to convey the depth of the TDS to people who don't have it, so they understand the extent to which people have been brainwashed in this regard. Again, it's not really about Trump per se -- he's just a politician, he's not your friend or family or anyone important in your life. But that people can be so thoroughly brainwashed about what's going on is dangerous. Voltaire's "those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" is in play. People, normal, regular, "upstanding" people believe absolutely insane shit, and I'm not talking about denying the moon landing (I'm 20 percent in that camp) or flat earth -- those beliefs are not a problem and actually good for the discourse. Question everything, trust nothing, etc. What's insane is people believe political edicts, believe other people are evil, it's like we're in the pre-enlightenment middle ages, and the church is telling them to burn the witches and who will wind up in heaven and hell. I'm not sure if it was the mass formation psychosis during covid that traumatized people and pushed them over the edge, or whether it started earlier the race hustling of the Obama years, the election of Trump in the first place, the excommunications from polite society if you said the wrong thing on social media. It doesn't really matter when or why. I'm just getting a bit uneasy with how many people's brains are truly broken beyond repair, the impossibility of ever getting through and the weaponization of this zombification. People worry about CBDCs or surveillance or whatever, but those things are all downstream of a compliant populace, and the easiest way to get people to comply is have them believe in an insane narrative that is impossible to puncture or challenge. Maybe I need to stay off Twitter and stop talking to people about their worldviews as it relates to geopolitics, but then you wonder whether you wake up one day in a dystopia that people not only wanted but insisted was essential -- for the greater good.

Don't know why but have been shocked especially of late by the brainwashing. Was talking with someone with TDS, asked her what policies specifically are you against, she said putting people "in cages" "treating them like animals". I said you know Obama deported more than Trump. She said, yes but he deported bad people, Trump's deportations "are not vetted." I asked what basis she had for believing that, and she admitted there was none. So Obama deported more people than Trump, and forced deportation of someone who presumably doesn't want to be deported entails holding facilities (cages) and force. I asked why the emotional language (animals, cages) around Trump's admittedly lower deportation rates, she says, "Just because the other guy did it, doesn't make it right!" I said, yes, but you never once mentioned Obama's deportations, and when I asked you about policies, you mentioned Trump's and used emotional lanaguage (cages, animals). She said you can't really think the people around Trump are smart, that Hegseth, he's the worst! I know it's comical in a way, but I'm feeling a little disturbed how deeply this runs. I don't care about Trump per say, but they have turned people into unthinking zombies.

The extent to which you are convinced your beliefs are good, and opposing ones evil, that's exactly the extent to which your beliefs actually are evil.

No matter how much I know about propaganda, no matter that we lived through covid and the vaccine sociopaths, I still find myself surprised to learn some people think they are *good* because of their political beliefs. Don't get me wrong, I have beliefs too, and I might think yours are retarded. But I don't think I'm *good* and you're *bad* because we disagree about what's happening in the world. That's the part that shocks me -- these fucking midwits think processing the information available to them in the correct way makes them *good*. Like if there were anything worth knowing they'd be telling it to you on TV, you subtard.

Was on Twitter, giving me an outrage headache. Just can't take it anymore. Like eating too much candy and you start to feel sick. Nostr sucks too, but for a different reason. Like going for a run in the city or something. It's not good, but at least you don't regret it. Remember when Elon wanted to "maximize unregretted user minutes?" They are almost all regretted.

You might want to turn on this Djokovic match -- insanely high level, now in the fifth set.

Almost got hit by a car today. Was crossing the street in Lisbon, where they let both traffic and pedestrian lights stay red for like 5 seconds. IOW, instead of one light going red, and a second later the other one turns green, they BOTH linger red, presumably for extra safety. But because of that, and because I'm a native born New Yorker, when I see the traffic stopped at a red light, even though I too have a red light, I figure I can go, that it'll be another few seconds before the traffic starts. I timed it wrong, lights must have been red for 4.5 seconds already when I darted into the street, and I had to sprint to avoid the accelerating car. But it goes to show that this kind of safetyism, which not only costs everyone God knows how much time in the aggregate, leads to its opposite. I suppose if everyone complies and waits around like an asshole for as long as it takes the light to turn green, it might work, but throw in some non-compliant NY Gen-X types, and it's the reverse of the intended effect. I exaggerate a little that I almost got hit -- I moved so quickly the car didn't even have to slow down. I was prepared to be wrong when I took the chance. But I did have to book my ass off to avoid having the guy screech the brakes and honk at me.

Went through to delete old voicemails on my phone, like 50 of them over the lastt 6 months. Most of them were some kind of tax/banking/loan emergency or cash windfall I needed to follow up on asap. All of them sounded like real people at real companies/government entities. Realized afterwards that if some ACTUAL govt entity or company needs to warn me about something, can't get through on voicemail, I'd never believe it. As AI gets better at these scams, it'll obsolete email and text for that purpose as well. Snail mail is the last remaining refuge for entities like the IRS, and eventually the scammers will probably figure out a way to kill that too. IOW, the scammers will set us free via plausible deniability.

Last night, while reading in bed, heard the faint buzz of a mosquito. Saw it on the wall few feet above. Tried to smash it with my book, but it got away, went up to the ceiling which is like 12 feet high in this old apartment. There was no way I could turn out the lights and go to bed with it there -- it would torment me all night. What could I do? I saw my ragged old Sudoku book, maybe 80 pages, soft cover, 7 inches by five inches, removed the pen, flipped it up toward the mosquito. Just missed. It moved a couple feet away, still on the ceiling. Heather from the other room (it's now 1 am and for God knows what reason she's still working) yells after hearing the book slap the ceiling and wood floor loudly, saying it's waking up the old guy who lives upstairs. But she's not realizing what's at stake. The mosquito is still there, not moving, I pick up the Sudoku book again, flip it harder in its direction. Boom! The outer sheets slap against it, killing it instantly, falls to the floor. Heather is pissed, comes in, "Now you've woken him up, hear him walking around." Tell her she's underestimating the epic and heroic thing I just achieved. She says she doesn't care. But I'm posting about it here because it was in fact fucking epic. I killed that fucker with a Sudoku with hail mary type of throw, and both of us slept undisturbed as a result.

Lyn Alden's sci-fi book (reads like an action movie script) is pretty good. Wouldn't be surprised if someone optioned it for a series or movie.

Leftists and libertarians wind up in the same place over time. Limited government is a harder thing to articulate than no government or total government, but doing so is the only way to propserity. Top down only to the minimum extent necessary for bottom up prosperity. A structure to contain the empty space.

Nostr is still small, there's little engagement, you don't see all your notifications on every client, too many monomaniacal purists, libertarians, leftists, conspiracy theorists (of which I'm one), anons and retards. And yet it still has the energy of a "public square" to me. Twitter, I'm not sure what it's become. I post less and less there, not because I'm a purist or "it's fiat" or anything stupid like that. It's just feels dead, the energy is gone, there's no juice to it any more. I can't explain exactly what it is, there are still some good follows, interesting people, but the algo has killed the vitality somehow.

Needed a good place to keep @Oscar Liss for the summer when we travel. Heard about a couple that takes care of dogs in an area that's 15 degrees cooler by the coast, but they had to meet him first make sure he was a good fit. It was like a job interview of sorts. So we show up there today, meet the couple, they give us a tour of the place, very nice overgrown plot with trees, shade and a cool stream. Oscar's doing great, sniffing around, meets their 15-YO dog that lives there full time, they sniff each other uneventfully, everything's fine, they're commenting on how handsome he is. Then he's walk under the patio table, crouches down, takes a shit. Heather says sorry, reaches for the bags, they're like don't worry about it, kind of goes with the territory. Long story short, Oscar took a shit on the floor during his job interview, still landed the gig.

People just bounce around from meme to meme, talking point to talking point, dominant narrative to counter-narrative, whatever stance is cool in their particular social and professional spheres at the moment, whatever makes them feel good about themselves, feel like they belong.

Friend of mine who is IMO the best documentary-style podcaster on politics around did a deep dive into the Epstein Files. I found it persuasive, answered a lot of questions, surprised me:

Apple Podcasts

AI2026 Ep 3 - Islands in the Information Stream

Podcast Episode · The Arch Independent · May 8 · 1h 47m