ASB Partners Nuggets 1.3.25
This is a short weekly email that covers a few things I’ve found interesting during the week.
Interesting Links/Reads
Many links are sourced from Marginal Revolution
The ongoing feminization of society has driven more and more men, including black and Latino men, into the Republican camp. The Democratic Party became too much the party of unmarried women.
The Democrats made a big mistake going after “Big Tech.” It didn’t cost them many votes, rather money and social capital. Big Tech (most of all Facebook) was the Girardian sacrifice for the Trump victory in 2016, and all the Democrats achieved from that was a hollowing out of their own elite base.
Biden’s recent troubles, and the realization that he and his team had been running a con at least as big as the Trump one. It has become a trust issue, not only an age or cognition issue.
Then in July, Elon Musk—the former “atheist hero,” the king of electric vehicles and space exploration, the champion of free expression—sat down with Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist who has studied the intersection of religion and ideology, to discuss God. “I’m actually a big believer in the principles of Christianity,” Musk said. Soon after, Musk took to X to pronounce that “unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.”
The protests aren’t about criticizing or reforming Israel. They’re not about the settlements on the West Bank. They’re not about getting Israel to improve the daily life of Palestinians in Gaza. They’re not about pressuring Israel to accept a two-state solution. They’re not even about delegitimizing Israel. They’re about erasing Israel. They’re about denying any righteousness that might exist in the pro-Israel cause or more accurately, in Zionism. They’re about a utopian ideal of returning Palestine to the state it was in as if the last 76 years hadn’t happened.
The resistance is about turning back the hands of time. Put aside for the moment the reality that history only runs forward. This isn’t about history. It’s about myth and what inspires people.
6. Chinese quadruped robot video.
7.Those new service sector jobs, Ace Ventura edition
But Butcher relies on old-fashioned detective work and his 10-year-old working cocker spaniel. Together, the pair have recovered hundreds of pets.
“I could work every single day of the week and every weekend there’s so much demand right across the board,” he said. “I probably get about on average 15 emails or calls just on missing cats every single week, a busy week might be as many as 30.”
No amount of demonizing Netanyahu and the current Israeli government is going to change Hamas' calculations and core demands. It will only harden Hamas' positions. Tragically, if those protesting for a hostage deal spent 1/10 of the energy pressuring Qatar as they do pressuring Israel, we would likely be much closer to a deal
Podcast/Videos
some notable quotes from the transcript
State capacity libertarianism, I still hear the phrase all the time. Like, Vivek once reached out to me a few months ago, and he said, “Oh, I love state capacity libertarianism. Let’s meet and talk about this.” Now, we’ll see what comes of that. When I wrote that post, I was convinced this was going nowhere, and it’s still a thing. I’m not saying it’s a thing that will succeed. I think as libertarianism more narrowly has scattered and diffused, it’s one of the strands that’s still alive. I’m hopeful.
HOLMES: It’s not as bad as you think. “Why is it that you seem to dislike measures to make practical cycling in cities safer and more comfortable?” You’ve had a number of posts where you say that the idea that people — I think, correct me if I’m wrong, but the way I would summarize you is, you think it’s without evidence, installing bike lanes and these things — that the ROI is not there to you. Is that fair?
COWEN: Correct. As far as I can tell from the numbers I’ve seen, use of DC bike lanes has been declining. I suspect it’s not the future. It’s a relatively slow and late-19th-century mode of transport. If you look at downtown Washington, it’s much harder to drive around in. I get that’s partly by design, but there is a real economic cost to that, and the bike lanes are mostly empty.
It does seem to work for much of Manhattan. I think one should be an empiricist. I know Amsterdam and Copenhagen quite well; it works great there. Houston decided not to do it; that was almost certainly the correct decision. One should be an empiricist, and I think bike lanes are, by the people I come into contact with, very much overrated.
If you ask the simple question, “Where’s the cost-benefit analysis that adds up all the costs?” I never see it. No one has ever sent me one, ever. I did a long post; there were a large number of comments. People would say things like, “Oh, you dummy, don’t you see Copenhagen is a great city?” Yes, it is. It’s worked well there. But at the margin, how many American cities should make big investments in this direction? I still want to see the cost-benefit analysis, and no one’s coming up with it.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Adam