From AM: Now I’m in Charge. Help! 

“I recently took over the management of a small family-run enterprise. Although I have had the privilege of working for the company in the past, I am now faced with the challenge of steering it forward…. I am reaching out to seek your guidance and expertise. If you have any insights that might be beneficial in formulating an effective sales strategy for our niche, I would be grateful.”

My Response: I don’t take new clients, but I’d be happy to provide you with suggestions in this forum (my blog), as it can be useful to other readers. But before I can do that, I need you to be more specific in terms of your primary challenges and how you are approaching them.

From TQ: Thanks! 

“Just a short note to say thank you for all the wisdom you’ve shared. I’ve saved a lot of your articles, and they still give me a lot of value.”

From ND: 

“I pretty much agree with everything you say. Especially on the economics, COVID, and Israel/Palestine topics. And you are far too modest when it comes to some readers questioning your take on business and how money works. Your work has always been an inspiration to me, and I attribute a good chunk of your ideas to [the success of my business] so far.”

From PN: 

“This article makes a good case for why Biden will remain the Democratic candidate. I just wanted to share another view.”

My Response: The article explains the reasons Trump will almost certainly be the Republican candidate. But when it comes to Biden, the argument is that, despite his cognitive problems and low ratings, he will get the support of the Democratic machine and that will be enough to bring him to victory.

I think that’s doubtful. Given Biden’s current mental condition, I don’t believe he could stand up against Trump during a tough election. And if it becomes a Trump-Biden race, it will be sorely contested. Again IMHO, he will lose by a large margin.

My argument is that the key decision makers in the party have, at this point, the same doubts about Biden’s performance capability as I do. And being so close to him, and having had the advantage of speaking directly to him, they long ago decided that unless something drastic changed, he would not be the candidate they would put up against Trump in 2024.

They also realized that, given his current physical condition, he couldn’t possibly make it through another term. Which means he can’t have Kamala Harris as his running mate. She may be the most unpopular presidential figure of all time.

My prediction – that he will step aside and endorse Gavin Newsom to succeed him – is based on my belief that the Democrat decision-makers aren’t stupid. Nor are they ignorant about what it takes to get elected. Their primary interest lays in keeping and getting control of the presidency and both houses of Congress. And the only way they can do that is by putting Biden out to pasture and bringing in someone younger, quicker, and more charismatic. Newsom.

From CL re my musings on charity in the Nov. 21 issue: 

“It’s funny you don’t like the word ‘charity’ as I wish it were used more often – especially at church – instead of talking about ‘love’ left and right. ‘Charity’ would be the perfect candidate to revive the ancient distinction between eros and caritas.”

My Response: I understand what you mean. And although it may seem contradictory, I agree with you that in many cases the word charity is the best word to use. That’s because charity has the connotation of being voluntary – not forced – and certainly not an obligation on the part of the giver. It implies that the donation is a gift, not an entitlement, and that the recipient should see it as something he or she should be grateful for, rather than as something he/she is entitled to for whatever reason.

What I don’t like about the word is that it also connotes doing something that is a prima facie good, which I don’t believe it is.

On COVID, from DG (UK reader): 

“What a situation. Come up with a drug that 99% of the population will be heavily pushed to take, don’t worry if it doesn’t work all that well, and don’t worry if it harms people, they won’t be allowed to sue you. Not the kind of situation that encourages best practice in development, they must have been scared stiff to let another company come up with a vaccine first, it would have cost them millions. Also: I thought you would be interested in this. It’s the first time I’ve heard of anyone taking legal action over COVID vaccines.”

On woke advertising, from JS: 

 “When will corporations learn to stay out of politics? Peleton’s new CEO has been there for over a year and pulls a stunt like this? He should be sued by the shareholders as he has a fiduciary duty to them, not to Politics!”

From RO: “Your Oct. 10 article about food insecurity reminded me of a video I saw on what I think is the most likely source of this ‘household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.’ It’s neighborhoods where the grocery store gets robbed so often they are forced to close down. They’ve been named food deserts. I think I originally heard this term from a TED Talk given by someone who lived in such a neighborhood. She said that the nearest grocery store is too far to walk, so residents taxi to the nearest superstore, return with a week’s worth of groceries, and hope they don’t get mugged on the way home carrying several bags of food.”

My Response: I looked up a half-dozen definitions of “food insecurity” before I wrote about it, and none of them mentioned the fear of being mugged while carrying groceries. If that had anything to do with it, the same journalists and activists that are making such a fuss about it now would be arguing for more police presence in those neighborhoods, not more government assistance to provide those “suffering” from food insecurity with more food. And by the way, I’ve twice lived in the kind of neighborhoods we are talking about here. And back then, there were no superstores, just small groceries that were run almost exclusively by Asians. And even though crime was rampant in those neighborhoods, 95% of the violent crime was relegated to young Black men killing young Black men over gang- and drug-related feuds. As a “civilian,” neither I nor anyone else I knew had any fear of walking home from the corner store with a bag of groceries.

Re the Nov. 7 issue… 

From BJ: “I read your blog today and see that you think culture is the foundation of our world. I couldn’t agree more. We care more about culture than we do about money, politics, religion, or anything I can think of. Our culture is where we go to feel something. And that’s the most human thing we do. I’ve been struck by the reaction of people of all ages to the release of a new Beatles song. Basically, AI was used to separate John Lennon’s voice from his piano, and then images, notes, and videos, past and present, were spliced together to finish a song started five decades ago. Lots of people don’t care for the Beatles, and perhaps they are overrated. But there is no denying the roles they played in our culture over 60 years in terms of hair and clothing styles, politics, freedom, equality, and, of course, music.”

My Response: Thanks, BJ. Yes, it’s almost impossible to overstate the influence that the Beatles had. One band of four musicians, during such a short span of time.

From PN: “To give you credit, it’s starting to look a lot more like Biden will not be the Democratic presidential candidate. Just in the last few days, I have heard some prominent Democrats call for him to step aside as a 2024 candidate. I think this will gain traction. And the poll results showing Trump beating Biden in five of the six swing states certainly doesn’t help Biden’s case. In fact, polling also shows that almost every Republican candidate would beat Biden. Biden doesn’t have much time to act if he wants to give a new candidate a chance to be on the ballot, raise money, etc. The question is how do the Dems elegantly get rid of Kamala? The other question is, of course, who will be the candidate? Newsom? Dean Phillips announced he is running. This indicates another crack in the armor for Biden. Bottom line: I think you’re right. Biden won’t run.”

From PN re the average net worth of American families in the Nov. 4 issue: 

“I am so glad you pointed out that it is skewed by a small number of billionaires and multimillionaires. I thought it was irresponsible for the Fed to publish the average net worth instead of the median net worth, which would have been so much more informative (and less demoralizing to the great majority of Americans whose net worths are below $1 million).”

From AS re the age of the moon in the Oct. 27 issue: 

“I read about the age of the moon increasing by 40 million years. I didn’t think much of it even though I generally love those things. When I saw it in your blog, I had to say it meant very little to me. It sounds like a long time. But it only comes to 1.555555555% older. That’s nothing when you’re talking about 4.43 billion years.”

My Response: That’s exactly how I felt. I probably should have added the math you did and said something like, “Someone tell me: Why is this important?”

From JM re my essay on “Political Culture in America” in the Oct. 31 issue: 

“You state, ‘So, yes, the two-tribe world we Americans now live in was sparked into life by the election of Donald Trump.’ I believe the reverse is the case. I think that Donald Trump’s election was the result of the two-tribe world. His election did not start it.

“He was promoted heavily by the media because there was no way Hillary was going to lose to this clown, an ugly representative of all the deplorables. The mockery was so transparent it got people’s backs up. Americans always love the underdog, but they also love a fair game. Hillary and the biased media elected Trump. In the aftermath of which everyone was forced back into tribal loyalty because of the flagrant abuse of formerly trusted government agencies. Failing to hand Trump a loss, they doubled down on their phony collusion hoax. The agencies we trusted for law enforcement and justice corrupted themselves in their effort to bring him down. Just as disheartening was the self-righteous preening of the best bull-shitters in the country, our Congress. In 2020, the political middle of the country had enough! Electing a ‘peace maker’ only to be made fools of again. Their peace maker turned into a senescent empty-suited front man for the left’s socialist movement.

“I honestly do not think Trump should be the GOP candidate because I do not believe he can win. He is so obnoxious. However, if the Dems continue to deny reality and insist on a two-tiered justice system, he may just get re-elected. Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

From CM re my comments on Hamas vs. Israeli killing in the Oct. 24 issue: 

“Nicely done. There is no moral equivalence. Period.

“A friend called me from Israel today. He has a colleague working on identifying bodies at the site of the massacre. Today’s latest horror show update: Hamas raped young girls so hard, they broke their pelvises. And then shot them in the chest.

“My daughter and her family (my three grandchildren) are ‘safe but stressed.’ They live in Modi’in, the place where the Maccabees are from. My grandchildren are sleeping in the safe room and having nightmares from the rocket booms.

“Hamas has unified the country in a way which would’ve seemed impossible on Oct. 6.

Moral is high and Israelis are ready to pay the price for the eradication of Hamas.

“I just listened to this podcast, and it put me in a better mood.

From PC re the Bill Browder piece in the Oct. 27 issue: 

“I had the same feeling you did watching Bill Browder speaking to those college kids: I wish I had more profs like him – profs who knew both the data but also the reality that makes the real world tick!”

From BB re the Oct. 24 issue. 

“Loved the lesson on writing from Charles Bukowski! It’s actually a lesson on life!”

From AS re the piece about Ayn Rand in the Oct. 17 issue: 

“I have always loved Ayn Rand. I’ve read her novels and some of her short stories. While reading her books, I always stop and think, ‘She came here from Russia when she was 19 and is writing these books in her second language.’ Amazing!”

My Response: Yes. I have had the same thought about her. A Russian émigré who is even more amazing perhaps because he is such a great stylist of the language is the great Vladimir Nabokov. And there’s a novelist writing today with the same credentials: Gary Shteyngart.

You may have read one of his books. I especially liked Absurdistan, Lake Success, and Super Sad True Love Story.