Tuesday evening reading - January 14, 2025
More goodies from the stack of stuff I read on a daily basis here on Substack.
When I get to between six and eight posts (or so) I think are worth sharing, you’ll get Tuesday evening reading. It won’t be every week, but likely about once or twice a month. There’s nothing wrong with link love!
As I said in my last such effort, I seem to be finding more good reading - looked at my stack of stuff and already have enough items that I didn’t want to wait another week. This may become more than twice a month.
Go ahead and read these pieces, then come back and see what I have to say.
This is a Substack I didn’t subscribe to until I sat down to write this piece, but
makes a tremendous point in his critique. (I came across this from Notes, which is a good way to find new stuff. That’s why I like it when I get restacked, hint hint.)But the point Jon makes here is valid.
Capitalism demands good manners in a way that bureaucracy does not, because it’s based on service. That’s why the unpleasant waiter is an exception, not the rule; whereas the friendly DMV worker is the exception. (Yes, I have encountered friendly DMV workers.) The same incentives that make Chick-fil-A so efficient are what also make Chick-fil-A workers so friendly.
Plus the food is good there: CfA has become my Friday lunch tradition.
I also sometimes see a lack of work ethic in the upcoming generation, or maybe it’s because they think everything should be just so. On the contrary: as a personal example I came out of college fresh with an architecture degree and, after six months of job searching in the field, I ended up working in a department store for a month before a firm took a chance on me. Had I held out, who knows how long I would have waited - I really believe I needed that first job (even if only for a month) to get the one in my chosen field.
That’s why I thought it was worth sharing (and subscribing.)
Obviously there’s been a lot of reaction to the fires in Los Angeles. Here is one of the best from
.
This one hits me where I live (well, where I work):
Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla put out an insightful video rant about just how difficult it will be to rebuild, even if you had homeowner’s insurance — or happened to be a very wealthy Hollywood actor. He put a spotlight on the monumentally obstructive permitting process in Los Angeles County, including additional onerous environmental agency hurdles that anyone would meet attempting to construct a new building in California. Also consider: where are the thousands of competent building contractors going to come from to work on so many replacement houses in one locality at the same time? The bottom-line is that an awful lot of formerly middle-class and even well-off people will be homeless possibly for years ahead. You have not begun to hear about this.
In the same vein is Cali native Alexander Scipio of
.
I won’t be surprised if the - thousands of owners of burned-out $M homes in Pacific Palisades pack up & leave. Pols will see much of the too-progressive tax base leave CA; when that happens, CA is truly screwed as everything depends on overtaxing the wealthy in Hollywood & SiValley - well, they’re leaving.
The upshot is there are blocks and blocks of houses that are gone, and the new ones will have to be built to the new building, energy, and zoning codes - whenever they can get a permit, that is. All the old exemptions probably went away with the fires, most likely leaving some significant number of now-unbuildable lots. And good luck finding construction crews that are probably already booked for many months.
Let’s shift gears to the change in Washington, D.C. beginning with my friend
, who puts together a lot of good TER.
As David says, January 20 can’t come fast enough. Maybe the FBI under Kash Patel will solve crimes like their TV character images do. (Ever wondered how you get a whole block of TV shows on the same subject aside from image manipulation?)
With those interested in justice now taking the wheel, one of the first tasks for the new administration is to investigate J6 - who should be pardoned and who should be prosecuted. (Thanks to
for bringing it up.) One key question which must be answered: how many government assets were in the J6 mix causing the trouble? Maybe that answers the queries about the pipe bombs and the gallows, too.A new broom can also sweep clean in the realm of energy as the
point out.
If you give me the choice, it’s the electric grid every day and twice on Sundays. I’m hoping the Trump administration can pull the plug on these wind farm subsidies, stopping that new development in its tracks unless the companies want to pay for it themselves. Delaware is one of those states seeing the smoke and mirrors from a wind huckster as our now-former governor signed a deal with them on his way out the door. (Bet they can’t pony up if the federal subsidies go away.)
Here’s something from another Substack I just subscribed to. Since I enjoy watching the activities of the family farm down the road,
piqued my interest and I think it might be another TER regular.
It’s prose like this that convinced me to give him a shot:
So here I sit, in the liminal space between years, watching my subscriber count tick up like acres in a BTO's portfolio, wondering if we’re finally ready to tell the raw, unfiltered truth about America’s forgotten counties.
Because while Dennis Quaid polishes his seed empire and corporate ag perfects its drone footage, real farmers are out here fighting for the soul of rural America — one auction, one empty storefront, one lost generation at a time.
Seeing that I live in a county caught between the desire to live by the beach and the desire to scratch out a living producing poultry or growing their feed stock, it’s a good perspective. And it’s become an issue: my newly elected county councilman is looking for a moratorium on development to help save some farms.
Indeed, we may be entering the end of an era, as
writes:
That stage four of wokeness may push the pendulum the other way to revival! Let’s get America to bless God as much as He’s blessed America.
On that note,
asks: what’s your vision for the new year?
Mine really hasn’t changed: trying to use this site to create more fertile ground for the missionary, like in Matthew 13. (In this case, you also get an earworm - bomp bomp ba ba bomp.)
Anyway, all that should keep a good reader going and thinking for awhile. Now I’ll keep collecting for next time, which may be only in a week or two the way things are going.
In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now.
Thanks again for expanding my horizons to other Substackers Michael. And a graceful thank you again for the mention.