My description for what ails the United States is that there is a great deal of immaturity. It does not take much effort to maintain one’s beliefs formed in their teens and twenties, the greater work comes from accepting that not all of one’s beliefs of their 50s should be the same as in their 20s.

Veterans Day

intellectualoid.com https://intellectualoid.com/2026/11/11/veterans-day/

“We have stopped believing in reason’s power to persuade. The right thinks the critical social theories espoused by many on the left are both wrong and pernicious, but it doesn’t expect to be able to convince the left of this view. Hence the move to use raw political or legal power to suppress it. The left, meanwhile, thinks many of those who don’t share its premises are motivated by racism and other forms of bigotry that are in most cases untouchable by argument. Hence the move to use moral condemnation to get resisters excluded from social circles and cultural institutions in which they enjoy various forms of power and status.

These examples are themselves expressions of a broader trend we see all around us in our public life: the tendency to skip the work of attempting to change minds in favor of grabbing the power to control what’s permitted. The clearest, and oldest example, of this move is the appeal to judges to resolve disputes that resist resolution through democratic deliberation and consensus-building. Instead of the right trying (and likely failing) to convince the rest of the country that the New Deal is a bad idea, it seeks to get the Supreme Court to declare the New Deal unconstitutional. Instead of the left trying (and likely failing) to convince the rest of the country that abortion should be legal, it seeks to get the Supreme Court to declare abortion a constitutionally protected right.”

Damon Linker (March 2021) via Alan Jacobs (who adds “I don’t think this is quite right”)

Jacobs says Americans have lost the desire to change minds. I think there also needs to be a culture that has a willingness for our minds to be changed. Ronald Reagan made changing of one’s mind a weakness.

Good News: America’s Most Important Voters Hate Trump

David Rothkopf https://www.thedailybeast.com/good-news-americas-most-important-voters-hate-donald-trump

“The most important group of voters in America no longer believes in our system, our elections, or our future. In a related development, they can’t stand Donald Trump or, for that matter, establishment leadership in either party.

According to the most respected survey regularly conducted among young voters, the 53rd Harvard Youth Poll of those 18-29, their outlook is bleak and their view of what will save America tracks not with mainstream pols but with the progressive voices that frighten them and their corporate sponsors the most.”

Early iPhone Duo Reviews Are In; I Have No iPhone 18 Pro Regrets

Lex Friedman https://lexontech.org/iphone-duo-reviews-roundup-sticking-with-iphone-18-pro

“The Duo weighs 254 grams. That’s heavier than an iPhone 18 Pro Max, and 53 grams heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Every reviewer feels it. Wong says it made his front pocket sag badly enough that he started wearing a belt again. Engadget’s Sam Rutherford says it can feel like an anchor in loose pockets. Chokkattu says it gets tiring after extended doomscrolling, and suspects Apple will go after the weight with the Duo 2, the way Samsung did with its latest fold.”

I don’t want more heavy, bulky stuff in my pockets! I don’t need to carry a tablet everywhere.

Keeping the United States United

intellectualoid.com https://intellectualoid.com/2026/10/21/keeping-the-united-states-united/

“I’m a highlighter, a clipper, a curator. Digital life is very congenial to me. My blog posts here are full of digital clippings from my storehouses.”

“But darn it, a non-plaintext tool I had almost forgotten emerged from the mists: Readwise. Even worse, it’s web-based.

I’ve taken a little time to explore its nooks and crannies, and in recent months, it has become an integral part of my daily websurfing as well as a smart reminder of things I once noted but might forget. I’m pretty sure it has integrated AI so that the 15 daily highlights I’ve requested increasingly have a sort of theme woven through them (Tocqueville appeared in two of 15 items today). I find myself spending more time daily pondering the 15 items Readwise has surfaced and offered. My plain text commitment has faltered.”