Sunday Fundraising

With a warm welcome to new subscribers. And, a special thank-you to paid subscribers.

Being as today is Sunday, we take the day off from opining in order to request donations. They are the fuel that keeps this work going. 

Not to be overly obvious, but it takes time and effort to put up a new post daily. Very few others manage to do so. Thus, it’s a job, one that is worthy of compensation. 

If you would like to donate please make use of the Paypal link on this page. If you prefer, you can mail a check to 310 East 46th St. 24H. New York, NY 10017.

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Please accept this expression of my gratitude for those who will donate and for those who have done so already. Many thanks!

Saturday Miscellany

First, Hungary has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. As you know, said pseudo-judicial body has indicted the prime minister of Israel. Thus, if Benjamin Netanyahu travels to a jurisdiction within the bounds of the court, he can be arrested and put on trial.

Of course, the United States is not party to this nonsense. As of recently, Hungary isn’t either:

Hungarian minister Balazs Orban explains:

Hungary has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. The Court’s recent actions have undermined peace efforts by intervening in ongoing conflicts. Hungary remains committed to justice but believes international organizations must serve peace, not politics.

As you must know, the liberal elites in Europe are horrified at the existence of the Orban government in Hungary. They consider it authoritarian, and we cannot have that.

The other side, via David Goldman, offers this:

Hungary is the world's most steadfast friend of the Jewish people in the world. Jews flourished in Hungary as nowhere else in Europe before World War II, and the friendship of the Hungarian and Jewish peoples is flourishing again. This brave act of defiance of global elites is profoundly appreciated. God bless Hungary.

Second, three cheers for Stephanie Turner. The fencer forfeited a match because she did not want to fight against a male. She was immediately disqualified.

The New York Post reports:

The female fencer who was disqualified from a tournament for refusing to fight a trans opponent ripped into the culture of the sport that has made her fear similar situations for several years.

Stephanie Turner’s viral protest at the Cherry Blossom Open in Maryland garnered her a platform to showcase the “unfair” situations she faced if she refused to compete against other transgender competitors.

The 31-year-old kneeled on the fencing strip, or piste, before she ever launched an attack against Redmond Sullivan during their bout at the University of Maryland in College Park on March 30.

One awaits the consequences for USA Fencing. Surely, they deserve to be punished.

Third, Joel Kotkin writes in Real Clear Investigations that California is where the American dream goes to die. One party progressive rule has done the state in. Among the worst policies are climate change hysteria:

California progressivism today embraces many causes – undocumented immigrants, transgender kids, reparations for slavery – but nothing has shaped the state’s contemporary politics more in recent years than a commitment to what Newsom described in 2018 as “climate leadership.”

In embracing the catastrophism that defines climate change as an existential threat to life on the planet, Newsom has left behind the old progressive notion of focusing on materially improving people’s lives by embracing inherently uncertain computer models predicting danger.

In California, experts from what Bjorn Lomborg, a leading skeptic of climate catastrophism, calls “the climate industrial complex” provide the justification for staggeringly expensive, socially regressive mandates based on the conjured models; the state mandates GHG reductions but leaves implementation in the hands of state agencies closely aligned with the green lobby.

This allows the legislature to look the other way as state climate policies knowingly increase poor and working family costs and shift billions of dollars to the wealthy in the relentless pursuit of unilaterally modeled carbon emission targets that even advocates admit cannot possibly “fix” the global climate. Indeed, in 2023, the California Air Resources Board belatedly disclosed current state climate policies would disproportionately harm households earning less than $100,000 per year while boosting incomes for those above this threshold.

Fourth, among the revelations in the Bret Baier interview with Elon Musk’s DOGE warriors was this. Musk’s team is not at all what we were expecting. They are not pimply faced young geniuses. They are more likely to be seasoned corporate executives.

Miranda Divine explained in The New York Post:

For starters, they look nothing like the image that has taken hold in the public imagination, driven by a story in Wired about a group of pimply teenage nerds with online nicknames like “Big Balls” running riot through government systems.

Instead, we saw seven highly accomplished, respectable adults, all but one in a suit and tie. They are friends of Musk that he has tapped as “tech support” for the federal government, at least for the 130 days he has committed himself to.

Some work in his companies. At least one is a self-made billionaire in his own right. The last thing they need is a federal government job. They don’t speak like partisan activists but like the successful engineers and businesspeople they are. They may well be Democrats, like Musk once was, but you wouldn’t know it, and nor should it matter.

Considering the mindless invective that is being thrown at Musk and his staff, it is good to have a reality check.

Fifth, first there was Riley Gaines; next there was Stephanic Turner. Now we have another woman who has refused to compete against a male. The sport is disc golfing-- and, No, I do not know what that is. The woman was named Abbie Wilson.

Libs of TikTok reports:

Female disc golfer Abbie Wilson walked off the course during the Music City Open in Nashville to protest a MAN who was allowed to compete against her in the WOMEN's division. "Females must be protected in our division, this is unfair, I refuse to play." Good for her! This insanity must end!

Sixth, I am sure that you were not gulled into believing that the Israeli military was committing genocide in Gaza. I am sure that you knew that the casualty numbers provided by Hamas were largely a lie.

Fair enough, the mainstream press took them to be scientific truth. Hordes of masked college students were tricked into supporting anti-Semitism.

Now, Andrea Peyser reports in the New York Post, the truth is coming out:

Since the horrific attacks of October 7, 2023, Hamas and its sympathizers at the United Nations and college campuses have lied to the world.

They have denied the truth that Hamas raped its prisoners, invented atrocities by Israeli forces, and denied Israel has the right to exist.

They also made up how many Gazans died.

We know this because Hamas admits it.

The murderous terror organization’s Ministry of Health has quietly reduced the number of civilian deaths that it has claimed were inflicted by Israeli forces.

In its March 2025 fatality list, 3,400 “victims” simply vanish. Previously listed as people who perished last August and October, it turns out Hamas invented them.

The outrage goes beyond the number Hamas said were killed, Andrew Fox, author of a report for the Henry Jackson Society on Gazan casualties, tells the Telegraph.

“The demographics are the most important thing in all this. We’ve heard the claims that about 70% of the deaths are women and children, and these lists, especially the most recent, show that’s complete nonsense,” he said.

The truth? About 72% of those killed are men, ages 13 to 55. In other words, likely members of Hamas.

The Henry Jackson Society report goes into detail about how the Ministry of Health — a group controlled by Hamas — fudged the numbers.

It seems you can add Palestinians themselves to the many people sick and tired of Hamas.

The only people who aren’t? The protesters who hide their identities behind keffiyeh scarves, chain themselves to fences and march through the streets harassing Jews. They are immune to the truth.

Finally, I have some free consulting hours in my life coaching practice. I consult either in person in my midtown Manhattan office or via Skype. If you are interested, please email me at StuartSchneiderman@gmail.com.

Is China the Future?

The situation in the Middle East is greatly improved now that we have an administration that is not reading Thomas Friedman. Since it is difficult to be wrong about everything, we are happy to point out that Friedman’s recent analysis of China’s economy seems clear and cogent.

Yet, if you belong to the chorus of shrieky schoolgirls and the Republican senators who think that China is the root of all evil, Friedman’s observations will not make you happy. 

Anyway, Friedman traveled to China to visit the Huawei corporate headquarters. One recalls that David Goldman, no leftist he, visited the same campus and came away with a similar observation.

I’d never seen anything like this Huawei campus. Built in just over three years, it consists of 104 individually designed buildings, with manicured lawns, connected by a Disney-like monorail, housing labs for up to 35,000 scientists, engineers and other workers, offering 100 cafes, plus fitness centers and other perks designed to attract the best Chinese and foreign technologists.

Friedman thinks that he is seeing the future. At the least, he is seeing our competition. It represents the Chinese response to our efforts to cut it off from our technology:

The Lianqiu Lake R. & D. campus is basically Huawei’s response to the U.S. attempt to choke it to death beginning in 2019 by restricting the export of U.S. technology, including semiconductors, to Huawei amid national security concerns. The ban inflicted massive losses on Huawei, but with the Chinese government’s help, the company sought to innovate its way around us. As South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper reported last year, it’s been doing just that: “Huawei surprised the world by introducing the ‘Mate 60’ series, a smartphone equipped with advanced semiconductors, last year despite U.S. sanctions.” 

Huawei followed with the world’s first triple-folding smartphone and unveiled its own mobile operating system, Hongmeng (Harmony), to compete with Apple’s and Google’s.

And, the country has moved ahead smartly in the use of A. I. technology:

The company also went into the business of creating the A.I. technology for everything from electric vehicles, self-driving cars and even autonomous mining equipment that can replace human miners. Huawei officials said in 2024 alone it installed 100,000 fast chargers across China for its electric vehicles; by contrast, in 2021 the U.S. Congress allocated $7.5 billion toward a network of charging stations, but as of November this network had only 214 operational chargers across 12 states.

So, China installed 100,000 chargers for electric vehicles, whereas we have managed some 214. Hmmm.

In the past Friedman had approved of tariffs. He is less optimistic about their use today. Allow him his thought:

For starters, that view completely misses the fact that virtually every complex product today — from cars to iPhones to mRNA vaccines — is manufactured by giant, complex, global manufacturing ecosystems. That is why those products get steadily better and cheaper. Sure, if you are protecting the steel industry, a commodity, our tariffs might quickly help. But if you are protecting the auto industry and you think just putting up a tariff wall will do it, you don’t know anything about how cars are made. It would take years for American car companies to replace the global supply chains they depend on and make everything in America. Even Tesla has to import some parts.

Now, those who hate China believe that it cheated. To some extent this is true. To some extent it is not. When China began modernizing several decades ago it required foreign companies to share technology. It is not exactly the same as stealing.

Accusing China of cheating is also a markedly hostile remark, one that is not likely to foster comity or amity:

But you’re also wrong if you think that China only cheated its way to global manufacturing dominance. It did cheat, copy and force technology transfers. But what makes China’s manufacturing juggernaut so powerful today is not that it just makes things cheaper; it makes them cheaper, faster, better, smarter and increasingly infused with A.I.

One reason China is doing well is simple. It has emphasized STEM education and is producing a vast supply of human capital to advance the country economically and technologically.

China starts with an emphasis on STEM education — science, technology, engineering and math. Each year, the country produces some 3.5 million STEM graduates, about equal the number of graduates from associate, bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs in all disciplines in the United States.

As the Times Beijing bureau chief, Keith Bradsher, reported last year: “China has 39 universities with programs to train engineers and researchers for the rare earths industry. Universities in the United States and Europe have mostly offered only occasional courses.”

In the world of high-speed rail travel, China is far ahead of us:

Over 550 Chinese cities are connected by high-speed rail that makes our Amtrak Acela look like the Pony Express.

For our part we consider it sufficient to hate China. Detaching from China means that we are missing out on their technology:

As Han Shen Lin, an American who works as the China country director for the Asia Group, put it to me over breakfast at Shanghai’s Peace Hotel, “DeepSeek should not have been a surprise.” But, he continued, with all the new U.S. “overseas investment restrictions and disincentives to collaborate, we are now blind to China tech developments. China is defining the tech standards of the future without U.S. input. This will put us at a serious competitive disadvantage in the future.”

Finally, we are making sure that China does not gain a foothold in America. But, at what price?

For instance, on March 19, the Texas Senate gave initial passage to a bill that would bar residents of and organizations based in China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from owning property in Texas. Putting China on that list is just stupid: Hey, let’s ban some of the greatest brainpower in the world instead of laying out incentives and conditions for them to invest in Texas.

Needless to say, this is not the prevailing American wisdom. And yet, are we really as competitive as we think we are? And would be gain nothing from detente?

She Wants to Be Alone

Let’s try to make some sense of this. Women today are less likely to be married than were their mothers. And, women today are more likely to be suffering from mental health problems, like depression.

Could it be that there is a connection between the two?

Strangely, experts, the kinds that were rounded up by the New York Post, have concluded that women are not getting married as often because they do not want to get married. They like being single. They like having complete and total liberty to do what they please, when they please, with whom they please.

Why sacrifice that level of self-involved self-satisfaction for the dubious joys of wifedom. As for children, today’s modern women consider them a hindrance, a time suck that keeps them away from their glorious careers and their splendid hobbies.

Of course, we recognize the source and origin of these beliefs. Modern women have imbibed so much feminism that they have decided to forgo marriage and motherhood in favor of self-fulfillment via career. And they have joined the vanguard of the Revolution, the better to rebel against capitalism and the patriarchy.

If we did not know any better we would also say that this new life plan seems to have an uncanny resemblance to the vision of mental health hawked by therapy.

One other explanation offers itself here. It is altogether possible that said members of the distaff gender are not running out to get married because no one wants to marry them. You must know that being a good feminist removes you from the marriage track. 

Precious few intelligent and vaguely sensible young men want to marry a feminist. And fewer still want to marry a woman who insists on having full autonomy and independence. When no one wants to marry you it’s easier to think that you do not want to get married.

As the story was presented in the Daily Mail by one Danielle Szetela, it sounded like this:

“They’re afraid of losing themselves in relationships that ask them to shrink, settle, or self-abandon,” she added, noting that women are now “choosing peace over chaos, purpose over pressure, and emotional safety over surface-level connection.”

Dare I say that that is a strange definition of marriage. Did you ever think that marriage threatened your emotions and only provided superficial connections?

Szetela continued:

“They’re not waiting for love to complete them — they’re protecting the wholeness they’ve fought so hard to feel,” she said. “Because for today’s woman, being single isn’t a failure — it’s a form of self-love.”

Of course, if you are obsessed with self-love the man who figures it out will not be likely to want to marry you. One suspects that these women have undergone therapy in order to feel whole. As for what that means, your guess is as good as mine.--

Counselor Brittney LaBonte explained that there is huge difference between “being single” and “being lonely.”

“In fact, single living can be empowering, fulfilling, and downright joyful,” she countered.

As you read along, you start feeling that you are drowning in psychobabble.

“The best relationships come when you’re your best self — and that takes time, introspection, and a whole lot of self-love. Be patient with yourself, and remember, there’s no rush.”

She explained that more women would rather have “the freedom to chase their dreams” — such as traveling, careers, hobbies and passion projects — rather than be tied down.

“Women are creating lives that are rich with experiences and accomplishments, not bound by the pressure to ‘settle down,'” LaBonte said, noting that a woman’s sole purpose in life does not need to be finding love.

“It’s about being a whole, complete person before bringing someone else into the mix.”

If you are a whole, complete person-- God only knows what that means-- you are saying that you can do everything for yourself. You do not need a husband. You are telling a man that he will become a prop, doing things that you can be doing yourself. 

So, this rage for wholeness will leave you alone and eventually bereft. Will you envy your friends their husbands and families? Will you set out to become a rebel, an agitator, a political activist?

Being alone will never suffice. You will need something to fill in the vacuum. 

Wednesday Potpourri

First, should those responsible for Signalgate have resigned or been fired? According to Ross Douthat, in the New York Times, firing staff for failures has not been common practice in prior administrations:

No leading officials were fired over the Iraq/W.M.D. debacle. There were no notable resignations when Barack Obama’s Libya intervention turned that country into a war-torn terrorist haven. No heads rolled when the Afghanistan papers revealed official dishonesty, and Biden’s foreign policy team did not quit after the Afghanistan withdrawal became a bloody rout.

Second, all things considered it is quite a challenge to find accurate information about China. It is not a feel-good story, but burying your head in the sand is not a good long-term strategy.

For that we turn to David Goldman:

China now has net foreign assets of $3 trillion, an all-time record. Caixin Daily reports: As Western markets impose stricter regulations, Chinese investments are flowing into emerging economies eager to modernize their industry.

These nations are courting Chinese capital in strategic sectors like new-energy vehicles (NEV), semiconductors, technology and infrastructure. Turkey and Hungary, traditional automotive manufacturing centers, are now aggressively pursuing Chinese investment in electric vehicle (EV) production. Malaysia is leveraging a diversification strategy to attract Chinese semiconductor firms, while Saudi Arabia is seeking Chinese partners to develop its technology, e-commerce and tourism industries so that its economy is less dependent on oil.

Emerging markets are creating favorable investment environments with incentives, relaxed regulations and tax benefits to strengthen local supply chains, which stands in contrast to the increasing trade and technology barriers springing up in Europe and the U.S., according to Ernst & Young’s 2024 China Overseas Investment Overview report.

This eastward shift represents a significant realignment in global economic relationships, with China’s outward direct investment increasing 10.1% to $162.8 billion in 2024. Over 20% of these investments targeted countries involved with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, while investment in Southeast Asian nations grew by 13%, according to Ministry of Commerce data.

Third, you know, as I know, that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro counts among the leading candidates for the 2028 presidency, on the Democratic side.

Of course, Shapiro is Jewish and, given the anti-Semitic leanings of many Democrats, his religion must have been one reason he was not the vice presidential candidate in 2024.

So, Shapiro has felt compelled to show support for Islamists in Pennsylvania. Daniel Greenfield reports:

… Gov. Josh Shapiro doling out $5M in taxpayer money to the Al Aqsa Islamic Society in Philly which featured an Imam who preached that “the Jews are the vilest people" Shapiro claimed the mosque needed the money because of "rising hate"

And also:

Gov. Josh Shapiro continues his cringing appeasement tour by announcing a $5M grant to an Islamic institution that hosted antisemitic figures like Norman Finkelstein in a Gaza fundraiser.

Shapiro claimed they needed the $5 million because of "tumult overseas" and "rising hate"

Fourth, meanwhile, over at the box office, Disney’s remake of Snow White has been a calamity.

John Nolte writes:

It is now quite possible that Snow Woke could fail to hit $200 million globally. This means that after the theaters take their cut, Disney will see only $100 million in box office returns, which will add up to an incredible $270 million LOSS. Disney could conceivably lose more than a quarter of a billion — with a “B” — on this, making it the biggest box office bomb in history.”

It could not have happened to a more woke group. Congrats, Disney.

Fifth, the Daily Mail reports on the fallout in Hollywood. The headline reads:

Rachel Zegler’s Snow White flop sparks anti-woke U-turn. Hollywood whistleblowers reveal how trans actors and liberal films are being dumped in ‘crisis mode’ panic.

Sixth, and then there is Leslie Stahl, on 60 Minutes, interviewing a man who had been held hostage by Hamas. Amazingly, she tried to be balanced, giving Hamas the benefit of the doubt.

The account called Jews Fight Back reports:

Lesley Stahl looked a Jewish hostage in the face—after being starved, tortured, beaten, and dragged through hell—and asked if maybe Hamas didn’t mean to starve him. Maybe they just didn’t have food. Are you fucking kidding me? Shame on 60 Minutes. Shame on CBS. And shame on every apologist who still can’t admit that Hamas is pure evil.

Seventh, and then there is Scott Jennings, CNN’s voice of reason, offering this comment:

I don't know how Democrats appointed Jasmine Crockett as the unquestioned leader of your party, but thank God.

And I think what she should do is go on TV twice as much - maybe three times as much - because everytime she appears - makes these mistakes - says something radical - it only further divides her party from the other 80% of America who can't stand this - but the problem is - there's an audience for this.

I heard Jimmy Kimmel's audience cheering on Tesla vandalism; I hear that The Daily Show's audience on a tax on Elon Musk; I hear the Human Right's audience cheering on an attack on a man in a wheelchair.

And I realize this is what the left has become: an angry mob of people who are cheering on attacks on a guy in a wheelchair and vandalism against people who bought people ... it's pathetic.

Eighth, just when you thought it could not get any worse, Congressional Democrats have a new low approval rating:

BREAKING: per CNN, Democrats in Congress now have a whopping 21% approval rating.

Ninth, what happens to the human body when it is given cross-sex hormones? The answer: nothing good.

Stats for Gender reports:

Meta-analysis shows significantly increased cardiovascular risk for people on cross-sex hormones Females taking testosterone: 58% increased stroke risk, 98% increased heart attack risk Males taking estrogen: 77% increased stroke risk

Finally, I now have some free consulting hours in my life coaching practice-- either in person in midtown Manhattan or via Skype. If you are interested, write me at StuartSchneiderman@gmail.com.

Today's Average College Student

However bad you think it is, it’s worse.

However incompetent and uneducated you think American college students are, it’s worse.

As you thrill to the prospect of bringing jobs back to America, you should keep in mind that the human capital required to do many of the most advanced technical jobs simply does not exist.

One is struck, and not in the good sense of the word, at a Substack column by an anonymous college professor. Obviously, he cannot use his name lest his charges burn his house down. He uses the pseudonym, Hilariousbookbinder.

He concludes that today’s students cannot read, cannot write, cannot count and cannot think.

Hilarious explains:

Most of our students are functionally illiterate. This is not a joke. By “functionally illiterate” I mean “unable to read and comprehend adult novels by people like Barbara Kingsolver, Colson Whitehead, and Richard Powers.” 

Evidently, this degree of laziness, of failing to read closely, hurts exam results:

Students get exam questions wrong simply because they didn't even take the time to read the question properly. Reading anything more than a menu is a chore and to be avoided.

He teaches philosophy. He has discovered that too many students  do not do the assigned reading:

The majority of students don’t read it. Oh, they will come to my office hours (occasionally) because they are bombing the course, and tell me that they have been doing the reading, but it’s obvious they are lying. The most charitable interpretation is that they looked at some of the words, didn’t understand anything, pretended that counted as reading, and returned to looking at TikTok.

My students come to class without the books, which they probably do not own and definitely did not read.

Apparently, these barely literate students do not know how to write either:

Their writing skills are at the 8th-grade level. Spelling is atrocious, grammar is random, and the correct use of apostrophes is cause for celebration. Worse is the resistance to original thought. What I mean is the reflexive submission of the cheapest cliché as novel insight.

Of course, the students all use AI to write their papers:

I can’t assign papers any more because I’ll just get AI back, and there’s nothing I can do to make it stop. Sadly, not writing exacerbates their illiteracy; writing is a muscle and dedicated writing is a workout for the mind as well as the pen.

Worse yet, students no longer think it matters that they attend classes:

Last semester across all sections, my average student missed two weeks of class. Actually it was more than that, since I’m not counting excused absences or students who eventually withdrew. 

A friend in Mathematics told me, “Students are less respectful of the university experience —attendance, lateness, e-mails to me about nonsense, less sense of responsibility.”

Students routinely just vanish at some point during the semester. They don’t officially drop or withdraw from the course, they simply quit coming. No email, no notification to anyone in authority about some problem.

Hilarious blames it on smartphones. He is not the first to make the observation:

They are absolutely addicted to their phones. When I go work out at the Campus Rec Center, easily half of the students there are just sitting on the machines scrolling on their phones. I was talking with a retired faculty member at the Rec this morning who works out all the time. He said he has done six sets waiting for a student to put down their phone and get off the machine he wanted. The students can’t get off their phones for an hour to do a voluntary activity they chose for fun. Sometimes I’m amazed they ever leave their goon caves at all.

Normally, he would want to fail them all. And yet, that is not a reasonable possibility:

What am I supposed to do? Keep standards high and fail them all? That’s not an option for untenured faculty who would like to keep their jobs. I’m a tenured full professor. I could probably get away with that for awhile, but sooner or later the Dean’s going to bring me in for a sit-down. Plus, if we flunk out half the student body and drive the university into bankruptcy, all we’re doing is depriving the good students of an education.

You might ask how these students are going to function when they go out into the real world and get jobs. But, that would be one more nightmare you do not need.