My sweet Lady Jas

 Silvio Canto, Jr.  

"Put me down as someone who welcomes her participation. She will move the party further to the Left, and that's not helpful for Democrats down the ballot."

. . . "Another concern is that she has not spoken much on issues beyond repeating talking points about race or Trump bashing. Where does she stand on health care or ObamaCare? We don't know. What is her position on foreign policy? We don't know.

"Miss Crockett represented a safe "blue" district and has never been forced to campaign or defend her positions. In this Senate campaign, she will have to discuss the kinds of issues that a U.S. senator has to vote on. So far, she has not shown much understanding or interest in those issues.

"We know that her staff can find that Jeffrey Epstein contributed to a GOP campaign. Can they prepare her to talk about foreign policy, economic issues and other stuff? Time will tell but Democrats will privately tell you that they are scared to death."   More...

The levels of stupidity

 Kevin Finn

"The antidote is simple in theory and brutal in practice: humility, curiosity, and the willingness to be embarrassed today rather than catastrophic tomorrow. Most people never descend to the seventh level, but almost everyone has lingered at level two or three."

"Interacting with leftists on social media is quite the experience. I’ve written here before about their reliance on lies, psychological projection, and the logical fallacies. I’ve also come to believe that many leftists (AOC, Ilhan Omar), just aren’t that bright. Other people have commented on this phenomenon, and there are plenty of articles and videos available on the topic. Evidently, there are levels of stupidity. We all share the human condition, and so we all fall into one or more of these categories from time to time.

"Stupidity isn’t just the absence of intelligence; it’s an active force that distorts reality and invites catastrophe. What begins as innocent ignorance can, through pride, emotion, and collective pressure, escalate into a deliberate and even malicious rejection of truth. Stupidity can evolve from a personal flaw into a civilizational threat.

"The first level is simple ignorance — a state of simply not knowing." . . .

. . . "The sixth level is intellectual conceit — pride in being wrong together. Inquiry is shut down, sources are dismissed without investigation (“I don’t trust that source”), and critics are demonized rather than engaged. William Paley is quoted as saying, “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” Stupidity here wears the mask of certainty and treats doubt as treason. Societies at this stage stop learning; they begin persecuting anyone who still tries.

The seventh and final level is what Martin Luther King Jr. purportedly called “conscientious stupidity.” Here, ignorance is weaponized. The person or institution is blindly certain, impervious to evidence, and willing, and even eager, to inflict harm in service of their noble cause. False logic justifies reckless action; collateral damage is dismissed as necessary.