Hello @e-henry.

Warren Buffet's buddy, the late great Charlie Munger often said, "always invert." Consider the opposite of what you think to be true may be the truth.

My step-son told me people on the right are saying Trump is like cryptonite to 60 minutes because he always tells the truth. That seems like an extreme case of inversion.

Obviously of the two, 60 minutes has a better claim to truthiness than Trump. I've always trusted their reporting to give me the truth. I think most people in the US still do. Many more did until Trump started calling them fake news.

I wonder how his lies factor into his effectiveness in global politics. I suppose most people won't believe him, but as he says himself, he doesn't like to say what he's thinking. He makes effective use of lies.

Warren Buffet also says you can't make a good deal with a bad person. I expect bad results, but of course I hope for the best. My trumper friend told me we should hope for the best, like I should give him a chance. I'm trying.

Not sure if this is any better than what my step-son calls "shit posting" online, but it's worth trying something else. Maybe this is how not to be an NPC, for whatever merit that criticism holds.

Here's another idea for thought:
Before Elon Musk was political, I watched this video and thought Jack Ma was more reasonable than Musk. Ma said we should focus on Earth, not Mars.

Then I saw a video some dude posted saying Musk crushed Jack Ma, like it was supposed to be a debate. I wanted to "shit post" him by telling him he's an idiot, but that's not me, and that's not helpful, which reminds me to another thought. 60 minutes had a show about how Germany is handling their free speech laws. They have a board of online monitors and they'll come to your door and take your devices if you tell lies, use hate speech (racist comments) or even offend someone. I do think we need some sort of policing of the truth. Of course you worry an authoritarian government could abuse that power, but that's one nice thing about honest journalism - you have people who's job it is to get to the truth, and give it to people. It seems like a nobel pursuit worth doing. Belling cat for example are heros for outing Putin for poisoning Navalni. Putin threatens people, like Elon Musk, and Tucker Carlson. I wouldn't put it past his buddy Trump to do the same, but I'm willing to "F around" and find out as they say. I remember hearing 2 things about Putin's convos with Musk:

1. He asked for a favor on behalf of China's president Xi - to disable Starlink over Taiwan.
2. He made an implied threat.

I remember he also threatened Tucker Carlson when he said it could be dangerous for him to get into Russian politics.

Trump is a hypocrite, but it works for him. Being an asshole is his character, and he's an aggessive player.
So don't trust him to leave you alone for "shit posting" the truth about his lies. I think we'll be ok if we keep the truth in mind.

I appreciate Lesley Stahl for calling him out when she interviewed him. She told him he tells her he calls them fake news so people won't believe what they report about him.

I think Trump doesn't have the cards if we all know the truth, so let's make sure we don't lose access to it.

@e-henry , thank you for doing this. The quick summaries with links are helpful. I hope people educate themselves before the mid-terms.

I called my republican congressman recently. I need to send a letter too.

I just learned about this "5 calls" app that tells you who your congress people and senators are and gives their numbers: https://5calls.org

I'm sad to see Putin's investments in getting Trump elected are paying off.