German Trains

Nicole Gelinas is a City Journal contributor who writes here for the New York Post. Her topic, how screwed up the German rail system is. She recently experienced both late and cancelled trains, I was somewhat surprised. 

Eleven years ago we did a rail adventure in Europe and you can read my travel blogs from August, 2015. We did most of our travel on the Swiss trains, which were meticulous, clean and on time nearly to the second. Our only exposure to other trains was to and from London via Paris on the Eurostar plus connecting French trains and they were okay too.

I'd no idea the German trains were so bad. Perhaps we didn't ride any on that trip. 

From Gelinas' description, it sounds like Germany is now deemphasizing trains much as the US did 50 years ago, and probably for similar reasons. I hope the Swiss aren't suffering this malaise. That would be disappointing, theirs were stellar.

Consequential

Musing about the Trump phenomenon, several of his predecessors accepted the historic limits of presidential power. They feared going beyond would be slapped down by the courts, and played it safe.

His attitude, once he had a semi-solid conservative SCOTUS majority, appears to be something like “Let’s give it a try and be persistent in appeals.” Without tallying his many wins and losses, my subjective sense is that he’s won more than lost. In the process, he has expanded the power of the presidency while reducing the power of the deep state - the unelected bureaucracy - at home and abroad.

Like entrepreneurs everywhere, willingness to try, and sometimes fail, is a Trump hallmark. Out of office, he will leave behind monuments - physical, organizational, economic, and geopolitical - to his imagination and drive. 

Milei in Argentina and Bukele in El Salvador have some of this same spirit. Carney seems to be trying to use it against us but it doesn’t come naturally to him as his career background is very deep state.

Siting AI Centers

There is much controversy over the rapidly multiplying artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Local impacts seem most intense on electrical and water usage. 

Much of that could be averted by localities requiring such centers to generate their own electricity and utilize local water only for human (bathroom, food prep, cleaning, fire suppression and landscaping) needs. 

In other words, employ system power and cooling modalities which do not rely on water evaporation or generate high noise levels. I'm imagining a closed refrigeration system shedding heat via buried geothermal leach fields or equivalent.

If it turns out such limitations send the AI centers to locales where water and hydro power are abundant, so be it. Data travels at or near the speed of light, which for most practical purposes is instantaneous.

Premium Still Exists

Is going to college still a good decision? Writing for The Free Press, George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen argues it is. He concludes as follows.

In sum, while the money premium from college is falling, the friends and marriage premium from college is going up and probably will rise further still.

And which is most important anyway: money, love, or friends?

We’re not going to settle that question here, but if you attend and finish college, your chances of having all three of those will go up.

Interesting points he makes on the way to that conclusion include college grads are more likely to marry and to stay together when they do. They also tend to have more long-time friends. 

Plus they still, on average, make more than those without a degree. None of those is a bad thing, taken together they can add up to a worthwhile life.

Apres Moi

I was rereading what I wrote about our "siege" of Iran, and President Trump's determination to finish what he started there. That raised for me an interesting question I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere.

I begin to wonder if his attitude toward finishing with Iran vs. the midterm election doesn't contain a fair amount of the famous attitude of French King Louis XV. Namely, apres moi le deluge, literal translation, "after me, the flood." 

If true, it would reflect an indifference to what happens after he leaves office. Trust me, it isn't a difficult thought for an actor in his 80s to hold. He and, incidentally, I are nearing our exit lines in this play. His in the starring role, mine as a bit player.

Like him or hate him, few will deny Trump has been a consequential occupant of the world's most powerful role. Apres Trump, far fewer will argue that individuals can't influence history. They can and do, he has proved it.

Friday Meme Fest

Images courtesy of Politico's

The Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

In Defense of Landfills

When the conventional “green” wisdom turns out to be wrong, I am generally gratified. RealClearScience brings us a prime example of this not-so-rare phenomenon.

It starts out by encouraging burying domestic trash in well-managed landfills. The authors point out that metals are the only material economically worth recycling, and then cite “chapter and verse” to prove their points. 

If you find this hard to believe, I challenge you to read their article and learn why they believe as they do. 

Poison Dwarf

Robert Reich, affiliated loosely with UC Berkeley, is the Giftzwerg (poison dwarf) of American politics. His every utterance - and these are many - is absurd nonsense.

Tired

"Get some rest, Kam. You look tired."

Hat tip to The Bourne Supremacy for the tag line,

and to Politico (!) for the photo.

Masquerading

Peter Boghossian, who posted this on X, comments as follows.

People have convinced themselves that talking honestly about black murder rates is racist. One consequence of this ideologically imposed silence is more young dead black men.

In too many cases, the motive for not talking about it may be racist satisfaction with the gruesome status quo, wearing the fig leaf of "ideologically imposed silence." Hat tip to Stephen Green, posting at Instapundit, for the link.

Exorcist Blade Runners

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds has written a Substack essay on rogue AI models becoming system-independent and acting like demon tricksters in their interactions with us humans. And a subsequent Substack in which Reynolds asks three major AI systems to evaluate and comment upon his essay, and reports their answers. 

Both are interesting. Reading them, notice how one model likens the rogue AIs to disembodied lawyers more so than demons. This is an AI ingratiating itself with Reynolds, whose own field of technical competence is the law. 

Somewhere along the way he introduces the idea that a need may surface for AI “exorcists” to hunt down and tame or destroy these rogue AIs. What surprises me is that Reynolds - a science fiction fan - didn’t refer to these worthies as “blade runners.” 

The analogy is seriously close, replicants are rogue AI, embodied in cyborgs. Blade runners exist to "retire" replicants.

An Oily Idea

Just the News reports President Trump plans to meet with oil company executives to determine how US refining capacity can be increased. This is good.

I have a radical idea to suggest. In the last five years California has lost 6 of its 16 refineries. Much of this due to state regulations and interference. Presumably at least some of these could be put back into operation at a reasonable cost. The program need not be limited to CA.

I suggest the president nationalize those still workable and then accept bids from existing oil firms to refit and run them for a percentage of the revenue. To finance their purchase, bonds backed by the resulting profit stream, could be issued.

Perhaps they could be designated as National Defense Reserve Capacity facilities and the current Hormuz situation as an "emergency." The Office of Petroleum Reserves, Dept. of Energy could oversee them. 

Inevitably state governments - especially CA - would resist such actions. If owned by the federal government, RDRC facilities should be beyond state regulatory interference.

Nieman Marxist

Here's a great put-down of the nepo babies populating the Democratic Socialists. Children of wealthy, entitled parents doing what? Rebelling against the system that enriched their elders? 

The meme alludes to the high-end TX retailer Nieman Marcus. Source is David Burge @iowahawkblog, reposted at Instapundit by Ed Driscoll.

21st Century Siege Warfare

Writing for PJ Media, Charlie Martin likens our current operations against Iran to “siege warfare.” Of course he is correct. 

The besieger normally wins if he can maintain the siege long enough. The besieged hopes the enemy will tire of the process and leave, before the besieged can no longer tolerate the privation. 

I sense President Trump has decided this siege will last at least until January of 2029, regardless of the political consequences here at home. 

Whether Iran can hold out that long is the question. Doing so will severely degrade it as a nation. Here at home the question is whether MAGA and the GOP can withstand the political blowback.

Epic Bond Villainess

The Viking-heritaged good folk of Iceland recently voted NOT to join the European Union. Hot Air’s Beege Welborn has too much fun likening the EU to the Hotel California.

At the rate the unelected Empress of Europe, current European Commission president, and epic Bond villainess Ursula von der Leyen is going, no one will be left standing to wonder how to check out, even if they could.

In which the poobahs of Europe sought to assemble a nation called “Europe” without giving the tacky plebeians much voice in the enterprise. As you might surmise, it isn’t working out well.

Update

Autumn has arrived here in the high country, three weeks before it arrives in the lowlands. Highs in the 70s for the next couple of weeks. The leaves haven't begun to change yet, but we've a lot of gloomy skies and either showers or thunderstorms are almost daily events. Having supper on the screen porch is probably over for the season.

Our summers are glorious, but sadly short. They start late and end early - essentially July and August. Winters are correspondingly long, and cold. Early autumn is nice so we stay into early October. 

Then, like the snowbirds we emulate, we "fly" 500+ miles south to our winter quarters, just over the Nevada border. In NV our many golf course water features are well stocked with happy geese every winter, about which golfers complain mightily.

A Supply-Side Solution

Housing too expensive to buy? A big part of the solution: increase the marriage rate, which has declined dramatically. This is the finding of a “joint analysis by the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center (AEI) and the Institute for Family Studies (IFS)."

Marriage has three benefits for the housing market. First, increasing marriages would decrease the number of homes required in the housing market by consolidating two households into one. This acts like a supply-side solution, reducing our national shortage. Second, when two working people get married, their household income rises, meaning they can afford to live in larger and higher-quality homes. Finally, the homes that would be freed up by a marriage recovery are among the most affordable in the country, making marriage both an affordability and supply solution.

Couples have more buying power but need only one home, whereas two individuals need two homes but have less available buying power.

Some things were better and have gotten worse, this appears to be an example.

Reminder

Regardless of what happens in early November, with the midterm elections, Donald Trump will - God willing - be President until January of 2029. Let this reality guide your vote two months from now.

If Democrats gain a majority in the House and Senate, they can pass legislation (or impeachments) but can they override a veto? I doubt it. The only things of significance passed and enacted will be continuing resolutions of various types. 

Meaning, literally no progress of any sort will happen. We will be stuck in a time warp, unable to move in any direction. It isn't good when the free world's most powerful and rich nation cannot act.

Teen Takeovers

Lucianne.com links to an American Thinker article documenting that nearly all participants in teen mob takeovers are black. Here are key quotes.

It would be better, for the public at large and for participants in the takeovers themselves, to identify the problem exactly as it is: not a problem with “teen” takeovers, but with “black teen” takeovers, and to move from there toward solutions. Solutions will never be found if the truth is suppressed and endless excuses are made for exactly those responsible. There is a problem with a certain segment of blacks youths in America today, and that problem needs to addressed head-on.

At its core, there is a problem with the way our society makes excuses for the behavior of black youths. Too often the story is that offenders have grown up in difficult circumstances. So did millions of whites, but most of them do not go about breaking curfews and engaging in violence. There’s also the suggestion that since black Americans have historically suffered from slavery and Jim Crow, the failings of present-day blacks — including lawlessness — should be overlooked, almost as a sort of non-monetary reparations. But black American teens have never experienced discrimination; if anything, they receive preference in schooling and hiring and can look forward to future promotions ahead of whites.

 Takeovers constitute racism in action.

Later ... The teen takeover in Aurora, CO may have been an exception, photos show many of the rioters to be Hispanics.

Really, Ms. Eilish?

Image courtesy of Ed Driscoll, 

posting at Instapundit.