- If psychics are real, why hasn’t even one shown up to find Nancy Guthrie?
- Pete Hegseth keeps blocking military promotions for blacks and females;
- And he’s holding a Protestants-only Good Friday service;
- Big Think on the persistence of intuitive superstitious thought — an example of Harari (see previous post);
- Trump is “well-read”?
- How Trump contorts the English language to obfuscate;
- Learning is perishable: the comeback of smoking.
It seems that Pete Hegseth is firing generals who challenge or raise doubts about his plans for a ground invasion of Iran. It seems that Trump ignored the advice of 40 years than any attack on Iran would lead to the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. I’ve gathered these from comments on Facebook; neither of these has gelled into a linkable item from any trusted media source. Though the latter might be a reasonable conclusion, based on the evidence of years.
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For all you people who harbor a secret suspicion that there must be something to these psychics. After all, they’ve been around for so long.
Skeptical Inquirer, Benjamin Radford, 31 Mar 2026: Nancy Guthrie Disappearance Highlights Psychic Failure
As March 2026 comes to a close it has been two months since the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, the octogenarian mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Guthrie was last seen on January 31, and reported missing the next day.
Details of the case. Then:
The undeniable fact that not a single psychic has led police to Nancy Guthrie—potentially saving her life, claiming the $1 million reward, bringing criminals to justice, relieving the family’s grief, and reaping unprecedented publicity while publicly proving their powers beyond any skeptical doubt—is inexplicable if psychic powers exist.
There’s no way around it: The psychics either cannot locate Nancy Guthrie, or they choose not to do so for some reason. If the psychics can do what they claim, there is very little risk and huge reward. The ethics of psychic detectives are laid bare: If they can do it, that is, if they have reliable, actionable information that would help find Guthrie, it is profoundly unethical not to do so.
It’s because they *can’t*. Psychic powers are not real. Belief that they are is part of the intuitively superstitious aspect of primitive human nature.
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Hegseth. They have to be white men. But if they’re white men who don’t support his agenda, he’ll fire them.
NBC News, 2 Apr 2026: Hegseth has intervened in military promotions for more than a dozen senior officers, subtitled “The defense secretary’s efforts to block or delay promotions to general or admiral for some officers has raised concerns that he may be targeting them because of race, gender or affiliation with the Biden administration, sources say.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.
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Hegseth again! Now with religious discrimination!
JMG, today (from Huffington Post): Pentagon Hosts Protestants-Only Good Friday Service
Excluding Roman Catholics. What is the government doing hosting religious observances at all? This is truly anti-American.
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The persistence of intuitive superstitious thought.
Big Think, Mike Rothschild, 31 Mar 2026: How old lies find new believers online, subtitled “Long-debunked conspiracies don’t disappear—they evolve and thrive in the age of algorithms.”
Here’s an example of what Harari is warning about in the book I just posted about.
Key Takeaways
- Conspiracy theories long predate social media and AI, but modern platforms have amplified and accelerated their spread in unprecedented ways.
- Their persistence stems not from credibility, but from their ability to provide simple explanations and emotional certainty in chaotic times.
- Antisemitic myths, in particular, have proven uniquely durable, resurfacing in every era of crisis and adapting to each new medium.
“Simple explanations and emotional certainty.”
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It is to laugh, as with “Trump library.” But I think she just doesn’t understand the words she’s using. Or, she’s dumber than even Trump is.
JMG, today: Leavitt: Trump Is Most Well-Read Person In Every Room
“You always want to be the most well-read person in the room And I try to be, every day. but Donald Trump always is. That man does not miss a story, let me tell you.
“He is always reading the papers and watching the TV, he doesn’t miss anything anyone says, anywhere in the world.
“I don’t know how he does it and consumes it all.” – White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaking to Erika Kirk at a Turning Point USA forum.
“Well-read” does not mean having watched a lot of TV or skimmed a lot of newspaper headlines.
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Another example of Trump’s literacy, or illiteracy.
NY Times, guest essay by Sarah L. Kaufman, today: What Trump Is Doing to the English Language
Are we winning?
“We’ve won,” President Trump announced at a rally on March 11, as the widening war in Iran started to rock oil markets and supply chains, and Iran escalated attacks on tankers and refineries across the Middle East.
“Let me tell you,” Mr. Trump insisted, “we’ve won.”
What did he mean? Mr. Trump’s use of the past participle of “win” expresses a completed action. “Win” can’t mean victory when ongoing fighting continues to throw the world economy into chaos. This instance is one of many in which Mr. Trump uses crisp, straightforward verbs to obfuscate.
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Learning is perishable.
AlterNet, Alex Henderson, 1 Apr 2026: George Will: Why cigarettes are ‘making a mild comeback’
In his April 1 column, Will argues that cigarettes — despite the high costs, restrictions in public places, and health risks — are “making a mild comeback.” And he explores some possible reasons why.
“Until the mid-20th Century,” Will explains, “smoking seemed sophisticated and glamorous. When it became perceived as dumb and déclassé, life became more regressive: The broadly educated, information-acquiring middle class heeded public health warnings, others not so much. Now, because learning, like everything else, is perishable, smoking is making a mild comeback.”
There was a similar piece recently about how smoking is making a comeback in movies. Education has to be renewed every generation, and often is not. H.G. Wells: “Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe.”
