What Our Veterans Need and Deserve
Plus, where innovation happens.
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WILL SELBER: What Our Veterans Need and Deserve
ON OCTOBER 7, 2001, THE UNITED STATES invaded Afghanistanāand I fell in love for the first time.
Like all first loves, the relationship was intoxicating. It was my generationās big war, and I was determined to fight. I quit my civilian job and enrolled in graduate school to go through ROTC. In 2004, I was commissioned as a bubbling second lieutenant, deathly afraid the wars would conclude before I got to experience them.
Quickly, the Global War on Terrorism consumed my life
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JOEL CUTHBERTSON: All Classics Are Funny.
THE MOST FAMOUS OPENING LINE in American literature is also one of the silliest. āCall me Ishmael,ā says a New England deckhand. That is a joke. Imagine Good Will Hunting opening with an establishing shot of Matt Damonās character hammering a nail and saying to the viewer, āCall me Socrates.ā There might be some symbolic meaning behind āSocrates,ā an egghead who famously knows more than others because he understands he knows nothing. But the Boston accent would still boil āSah-craw-teesā to a delightful pulp. The dissonance in Melvilleās opener is the same, and itās not a one-off. The great American novel, Moby-Dick embodies several narrative forms, but the one it begins with is comedy.
ROBERT ZUBRIN: Where Innovation Happens
ALL NEW INVENTIONS are combinations of previous inventions, and all new ideas include combinations of previous ideas. In consequence, the places where people come together best serve as the birthplace of the new.
It is for this reason that, as Chelsea Follett documents in Centers of Progress, since the dawn of history, cities have served as humanityās prime engines of invention.
šØOVERTIMEšØ
Happy Friday! And a happy birthday to the United States Marine Corps, which turns 248th. Thanks to all who served.
Meet the B-21 raiderā¦ Americaās newest stealth bomber. Flying in the cloud with data from the cloud. Wait isnāt that how SkyNet starts?
Speaking of SkyNetā¦ I donāt have a link for you, since itās on Showtime, but if you have some time this weekend, get a free trial and watch the 11/5 episode of The Circus, perhaps one of the most important political TV shows in recent history and definitely the best political show on premium cable. Itās about 2024 being the AI Election. Itās entertaining and alarming, and I am alarmed.
Five āstoriesā you might have missedā¦ If you donāt watch Fox News.
How the GOP muzzled the quiet coalitionā¦ that fought foreign propaganda.
The Day After Netanyahuā¦ At The Atlantic, Yair Rosenberg writes: āIsrael has long succeeded in spite of its leaders, not because of them.ā
Inside the Over-the-Top DC Marriage Proposalsā¦ that are going viral on social media.
I think theyāre getting the hangā¦ Of extending the Ghostbusters series. This looks awesome. The key: More of the original cast.
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