I'm filling in for a friend's column this week. Read it, and let me know if you think we should make a weekly roundup like this a regular feature at RodMartin.org. All the info, twice the attitude!
"Turns out the Census Bureau “accidentally” overcounted blue states and undercounted red states in 2020 to the tune of 16 Electoral Votes and 15 House Seats shifted to the Ds."
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if a Democrat is elected president in 2028, the same exact accidental overcount and undercount will happen in the 2030 census. Except the overcount and undercount will be double the 2020 one. And by the time the litigation is resolved, it will be "too late" to do anything about it.
The more basic problem with Western democracies is that they assume some basic goodwill and adherence to norms on behalf of political actors - whether they be presidential candidates or municipal civil servants "volunteering" to be election workers. We *assume* our elections are at least more or less honest, and that one side will not adopt a policy of routine rigging elections and outright fraud to ensure its own political survival. We *assume* that the Census Bureau will not release manufactured numbers to benefit one party over another.
But these assumptions are wrong.
So yeah, I want to be an optimist. But...
Incidentally, I am starting to have serious doubts about Trump's negotiating strategy with Iran... And I wish to god he would stop tweeting about it...
I don't mean that you personally assume it. I mean, we all, collectively, assume these things when we go vote, or fill out our census forms, etc. One could even say, what choice do we have but to assume these things? What's the alternative to these assumptions, for the absolute majority of the people?
Anyway, just pointing out this one minor cloud on the horizon...
I understood you. I was just reaffirming the point, and reminding our readers not to be passive. The black pill guys are everywhere these days, it seems. But if 2016 and 2024 proved anything, we can overcome the left if we work hard enough. Though I would also recommend a lot of prayer.
I suppose my problem is I read almost every one of your columns as it comes out (except the video only ones which I skip) so it's something of "I've already heard most of that."
What this seems to be is a "Readers Digest" for the Internet age. If it took off, you might find your daily reads dropping in favor of the shortened weekly version. That's a trade-off you probably should consider.
I love that map of oil tanker traffic (even though I *really* doubt that it’s a “satellite image” — no clouds, for one thing). But I wish I knew how to call up an image from, say, February, for comparison.
As usual, this was an informative, and encouraging report. Thanks Rod.
I pray for the Trump administration every day. God has raised up Trump and his team to grant mercy to this country (and to the world at large) by leading the charge to take back western society from the globalists and socialists. Thank God!
A stupendous roundup of the week’s important news stories, Dr. Martin! I think something like this would be great for the Rod Martin Report! John Cornyn represents a dying breed of Republican that is quickly becoming extinct under Trump’s leadership-the establishment, country club Republican. Ken Paxton proved that the Trumpian takeover of the GOP is complete! Paxton crushed Cornyn and sent him into retirement! He beat him by the same margin LBJ did Barry Goldwater. Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie are all gone as well. Massie betrayed his constituents and the President, espoused antisemitic views and attacked one of our greatest allies Israel. Democrat attempts at cheating and corruption are being stopped left and right. Callais v. Louisiana ended the perversion of the Voting Rights Act and the assigning of Congressional districts based on race. I’m liberal on social issues, and I believe that voters should be treated as unique individuals with their own beliefs and opinions NOT as colors! Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement had it right, the content of one’s character is what matters NOT the color of their skin!
DEI is awful! How about we just give everyone equal opportunity? How about that? If I was the CEO of a company, I’d hire a qualified white man over an unqualified black woman any day of the week! How about we uplift and empower minorities instead of constantly telling them their helpless victims who can’t do anything to change their own life? President Trump is in no hurry to open the Strait of Hormuz because the United States doesn’t need Iran’s oil. We have plenty here at home. Europe needs it however, but that’s because they stupidly eschewed fossil fuels and fracking in favor of unworkable alternatives like solar and wind power. Iran has only one choice, a surrender NOT a peace deal! A Lion and Sun Revolution could very well be on its way in Iran! Iran will become a free democracy with Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as a constitutional monarch. Iran would be a powerful ally for the United States, the West, Israel, and the Gulf States.
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have built strong alliances with India and Indonesia. China is in big trouble and Trump has boxed them in. They’re birth rate is plummeting, their population aging rapidly, their economy going downhill fast, they’ve been kicked out of the Panama Canal, Japan is rearming, Trump is aggressively pushing them out of Latin America and is working to lock them out of Greenland, Russia is bogged down in Ukraine and can’t help them, their shadow oil trade is done, and Nicolas Maduro is locked up in New York City so China can’t go to him for assistance with their energy problems. Trump has acquired every major strategic chokepoint to keep China in check. China was blocked forthwith from buying the Chagos Islands from Britain. South Korea is investing billions in the United States and jobs are coming back.
Ya’ll Street in Texas is about to launch and Wall Street better watch out! Florida is protecting elderly home owners who can’t pay the ridiculous property taxes imposed on them. Using tariffs, Trump has incentivized companies to build factories here in the United States thus opening the door for the creation of millions of new jobs over time. Now I want to talk about Dr. Martin’s dear late friend Phyllis Schlafly. There are many myths out there about her. First off, she never opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There is zero evidence of that. Second, she did NOT oppose women working outside the home! Third, she was NOT uneducated. She attended Maryville College and Washington University in St. Louis. In 1944, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated with a Master’s Degree from Radcliffe College after attending Harvard. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law in 1978.
She was a pious Catholic and staunch anti-Communist. She was a fierce anti-ERA and pro-life activist and defended traditional gender roles. Mrs. Schlafly was not some traitor to her gender. She was a brave, patriotic and God fearing American! Nor was she some submissive housewife, quite the opposite! She was strong, opinionated, outspoken, ambitious, and a crusader for the causes she believed in. But she always made time for her loving husband and precious children whom she loved dearly. As someone who is a social liberal, I had many disagreements on policy with her but always respected her and was sorry to hear when she passed away. She is a very misunderstood figure who I think gets caricatured and vilified often times. I’m all for the ERA, but I admire Phyllis Schlafly and never hated her. I also understand well why some women were against it. Schlafly showed that all women did NOT have to back feminism!
It does seem on some kind of level that the monks are satire. Here we are getting the most extraordinary advanced science that is testable and our experts are admitting that they cannot explain 95% of the universe and our gurus like Richard Feynman are claiming that if you think you understand quantum mechanics then you do not understand quantum mechanics, yet this is what we listen to when the monks are giving us mystery after mystery after mystery explained and it's overwhelmingly obvious that they are correct and far more advanced than our science and therefore testable, yet even though this can save civilization we are so stupid that we'd rather have the wrong ideas. What does that say about us if you don't stand back and laugh at the stupidity of humanity?
"Turns out the Census Bureau “accidentally” overcounted blue states and undercounted red states in 2020 to the tune of 16 Electoral Votes and 15 House Seats shifted to the Ds."
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if a Democrat is elected president in 2028, the same exact accidental overcount and undercount will happen in the 2030 census. Except the overcount and undercount will be double the 2020 one. And by the time the litigation is resolved, it will be "too late" to do anything about it.
The more basic problem with Western democracies is that they assume some basic goodwill and adherence to norms on behalf of political actors - whether they be presidential candidates or municipal civil servants "volunteering" to be election workers. We *assume* our elections are at least more or less honest, and that one side will not adopt a policy of routine rigging elections and outright fraud to ensure its own political survival. We *assume* that the Census Bureau will not release manufactured numbers to benefit one party over another.
But these assumptions are wrong.
So yeah, I want to be an optimist. But...
Incidentally, I am starting to have serious doubts about Trump's negotiating strategy with Iran... And I wish to god he would stop tweeting about it...
I don't think the Rod Martin Report has ever assumed any of those things. We just have to work to ensure that we win. That's life.
I don't mean that you personally assume it. I mean, we all, collectively, assume these things when we go vote, or fill out our census forms, etc. One could even say, what choice do we have but to assume these things? What's the alternative to these assumptions, for the absolute majority of the people?
Anyway, just pointing out this one minor cloud on the horizon...
I understood you. I was just reaffirming the point, and reminding our readers not to be passive. The black pill guys are everywhere these days, it seems. But if 2016 and 2024 proved anything, we can overcome the left if we work hard enough. Though I would also recommend a lot of prayer.
:) yeah...
I am a lifelong atheist... :)
Well I guess I'll just pray twice as much. :)
I didn't vote in your poll: not enough options.
I suppose my problem is I read almost every one of your columns as it comes out (except the video only ones which I skip) so it's something of "I've already heard most of that."
What this seems to be is a "Readers Digest" for the Internet age. If it took off, you might find your daily reads dropping in favor of the shortened weekly version. That's a trade-off you probably should consider.
Interesting point. Thanks.
I love that map of oil tanker traffic (even though I *really* doubt that it’s a “satellite image” — no clouds, for one thing). But I wish I knew how to call up an image from, say, February, for comparison.
As usual, this was an informative, and encouraging report. Thanks Rod.
I pray for the Trump administration every day. God has raised up Trump and his team to grant mercy to this country (and to the world at large) by leading the charge to take back western society from the globalists and socialists. Thank God!
A stupendous roundup of the week’s important news stories, Dr. Martin! I think something like this would be great for the Rod Martin Report! John Cornyn represents a dying breed of Republican that is quickly becoming extinct under Trump’s leadership-the establishment, country club Republican. Ken Paxton proved that the Trumpian takeover of the GOP is complete! Paxton crushed Cornyn and sent him into retirement! He beat him by the same margin LBJ did Barry Goldwater. Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie are all gone as well. Massie betrayed his constituents and the President, espoused antisemitic views and attacked one of our greatest allies Israel. Democrat attempts at cheating and corruption are being stopped left and right. Callais v. Louisiana ended the perversion of the Voting Rights Act and the assigning of Congressional districts based on race. I’m liberal on social issues, and I believe that voters should be treated as unique individuals with their own beliefs and opinions NOT as colors! Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement had it right, the content of one’s character is what matters NOT the color of their skin!
DEI is awful! How about we just give everyone equal opportunity? How about that? If I was the CEO of a company, I’d hire a qualified white man over an unqualified black woman any day of the week! How about we uplift and empower minorities instead of constantly telling them their helpless victims who can’t do anything to change their own life? President Trump is in no hurry to open the Strait of Hormuz because the United States doesn’t need Iran’s oil. We have plenty here at home. Europe needs it however, but that’s because they stupidly eschewed fossil fuels and fracking in favor of unworkable alternatives like solar and wind power. Iran has only one choice, a surrender NOT a peace deal! A Lion and Sun Revolution could very well be on its way in Iran! Iran will become a free democracy with Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as a constitutional monarch. Iran would be a powerful ally for the United States, the West, Israel, and the Gulf States.
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have built strong alliances with India and Indonesia. China is in big trouble and Trump has boxed them in. They’re birth rate is plummeting, their population aging rapidly, their economy going downhill fast, they’ve been kicked out of the Panama Canal, Japan is rearming, Trump is aggressively pushing them out of Latin America and is working to lock them out of Greenland, Russia is bogged down in Ukraine and can’t help them, their shadow oil trade is done, and Nicolas Maduro is locked up in New York City so China can’t go to him for assistance with their energy problems. Trump has acquired every major strategic chokepoint to keep China in check. China was blocked forthwith from buying the Chagos Islands from Britain. South Korea is investing billions in the United States and jobs are coming back.
Ya’ll Street in Texas is about to launch and Wall Street better watch out! Florida is protecting elderly home owners who can’t pay the ridiculous property taxes imposed on them. Using tariffs, Trump has incentivized companies to build factories here in the United States thus opening the door for the creation of millions of new jobs over time. Now I want to talk about Dr. Martin’s dear late friend Phyllis Schlafly. There are many myths out there about her. First off, she never opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There is zero evidence of that. Second, she did NOT oppose women working outside the home! Third, she was NOT uneducated. She attended Maryville College and Washington University in St. Louis. In 1944, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated with a Master’s Degree from Radcliffe College after attending Harvard. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law in 1978.
She was a pious Catholic and staunch anti-Communist. She was a fierce anti-ERA and pro-life activist and defended traditional gender roles. Mrs. Schlafly was not some traitor to her gender. She was a brave, patriotic and God fearing American! Nor was she some submissive housewife, quite the opposite! She was strong, opinionated, outspoken, ambitious, and a crusader for the causes she believed in. But she always made time for her loving husband and precious children whom she loved dearly. As someone who is a social liberal, I had many disagreements on policy with her but always respected her and was sorry to hear when she passed away. She is a very misunderstood figure who I think gets caricatured and vilified often times. I’m all for the ERA, but I admire Phyllis Schlafly and never hated her. I also understand well why some women were against it. Schlafly showed that all women did NOT have to back feminism!
Here are some great books that you should read to inoculate yourself against third and fourth wave feminism:
• Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women by Christine Hoff Sommers
• The End of Woman: How Smashing Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us by Carrie Gress
• Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap—and What Women Can Do About It by Dr. Warren Farrell
• The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex by Dr. Warren Farrell
• Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence by Philip W. Cook
• Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense by Mona Charen
• Don’t Be a Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice by Bryan Caplan
• Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics by Mary Eberstadt
• It’s Not About the Truth: The Duke Lacrosse Case and The Lives It Shattered by Don Yeager & Mike Pressler
• Feminism Against Progress by Mary Harrington
Rod - I veraciously consume everything you write because it is the highest quality content on the planet, bar none! Keep up the amazing work, thanks…
Wow! Thank you!
Great piece, keep them coming.
It does seem on some kind of level that the monks are satire. Here we are getting the most extraordinary advanced science that is testable and our experts are admitting that they cannot explain 95% of the universe and our gurus like Richard Feynman are claiming that if you think you understand quantum mechanics then you do not understand quantum mechanics, yet this is what we listen to when the monks are giving us mystery after mystery after mystery explained and it's overwhelmingly obvious that they are correct and far more advanced than our science and therefore testable, yet even though this can save civilization we are so stupid that we'd rather have the wrong ideas. What does that say about us if you don't stand back and laugh at the stupidity of humanity?