Author Archives: Jasper John MacKay

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Europeans are right to gloat they are not under the rule of Trump. But for all of Trump’s ills, I see him as a sign of the underlying dynamism of the US. Who else would have elected so whimsical a leader to this high office? Trump forces questions that Europeans have no appetite to confront, proud as they are in being superior to both Americans and Chinese.
~ Dan Wang via his 2025 letter

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If we all spoke circumspectly and wisely all the time, who would even need institutional free-speech policies? The point of speech rules is to allow space for the unguarded and the ill-tempered, for the provocative and prickly person as well as the smooth and sinuous. The smooth and sinuous will seldom say anything worth hearing in the first place.
~ David Frum via The Atlantic

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Compared with protein, which lends itself to narratives of growth—more grams, more gains—fibre is a bit of a hard sell, likelier to be espoused by women in sensible shoes than by fitness junkies on Twitch. But the benefits of eating a high-fibre diet are arguably more significant. Gastroenterologists and influencers alike are eager to explain that fibre affects health beyond gut motility, formerly known as shitting: it slows digestion, which can make you feel full for longer and help manage blood sugar and body weight, and has been shown to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
~ Hannah Goldfield via The New Yorker

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