Author: Cal Newport
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book teaches how to focus deeply in a distracted world.
My Thoughts:
I found this book practical and inspiring. It changed the way I think about productivity.
Americans request that Iranians give up their attempts to have nuclear weapons. Will they? It is not hard to guess what they think. Pakistan and China east of Iran, as well as Russia to the north, have atomic bombs. So does the hostile Israel. So in exchange for giving up nukes, Iran needs security guarantees. Americans are ready to promise that, but Iranians should answer: “Let us check with Zelenskyy how those guarantees worked out for Ukraine.” No peace is possible without Iranians getting their nukes. Not because Iranians are evil, but because Americans stupidly pretend that Israel has no nukes, then notoriously fail to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and betray Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin started one in Ukraine more than four years ago, hoping to end it in four days, four weeks at most. The objective was to convince Ukrainians that a Russia-friendly government would be better for them. But the longer bombs and missiles are the main arguments, the less likely Ukrainians are ever to agree. Seeing that Putin’s action goes mostly unpunished, Donald Trump launched his own, too, in Iran. The objective is the same: to have an American-friendly government there. Arguments are the same, too. The outcome will not be better, especially with Iran being more than a double the size of Ukraine. Everyone worries that Xi Jinping might launch a military operation in Taiwan. If he does, he will not need to fire one shot. After Russia and the U.S. are exhausted, Xi will need to make a call to Taipei to get the China-friendly government there.
…before America wakes up. In the polls before the 2024 election, barely 50% Americans supported Trump’s radical deportation policy. So, I warned that the remaining almost 50% will actively and passively oppose it. We have it now. Trump is not after illegal immigrants. ICE agents are against 50% of Americans who find Trump’s deportation policy inhumane. Senator Klobuchar asked Trump to watch the video, instead of acting in her legal capacity to put Trump, together with a small crowd of GOP leaders, in the cells next to Maduro’s. If Klobuchar does not act swiftly, Trump will put her there.
Almost every other European nation can claim some territory held by its neighbors. After WWII, Europeans accepted that peaceful cooperation is more beneficial to all than endless wars over this or that scrap of land. It worked until Russia decided to move the border by starting the war with Ukraine. For Europe, this war is a test of the fragile peace after 1945. If Russia gains one square inch of Ukrainian territory by war, other Putin-alike politicians will pop up in Europe and start wars. It is not about Ukraine or NATO. It is about peace in Europe. To keep it, Europe needs to push Russia out of Ukraine. For peace to endure, the world needs to send a clear message: wars do not pay.
Senator Bernie Sanders cites examples of families whose health insurance premiums would increase by as much as $2,000 or even $3,000 without government subsidies. He does not ask why those premiums go up much faster than inflation. Who gets that extra money? One can check the data: profits of health-related corporations are at record highs. So, the subsidies are paid to regular folks, but collected by a bunch of billionaires. The government cannot fund those subsidies by taxing billionaires – taxes paid by those who still can afford to buy health insurance pay for those subsidies. With premiums rising, more of us will soon qualify for subsidies. So, in reality, Senator Sanders advocates for making most of us poorer and the very few already rich even richer.
Michael Smerconish asked today: “What is more of a cause of political violence by young men: ideology or mental health?” Wrong question. We do not have more people with mental health issues. When it comes to ideology, we have an ideological hodgepodge resulting in a sick society. Since the beginning of time, all young men have had an excess of energy and a lack of maturity. In healthy societies, they were drawn into industry, science, religion, the military, or other productive pursuits. When the social fabric disintegrates, the abundant energy of these young men redirects into all sorts of weird ways to fix it. Violence is one of them.
We learned that during the upcoming meeting, Putin will try to convince Trump to help him subdue Ukraine and take about 20% of its territory. Trump should answer that, regardless of the validity of Russia’s claims, Putin did not use any peaceful means to reach his aims. So, Ukraine deserves the right to reject Russia’s claims in the same way Russia executes them. As of now, it looks like Russia is less able to reach its goal than it was when starting the war. Ergo, Putin can get peace today on terms that Ukraine might accept, or continue the war until Ukraine is capable of reaching its objective in the same manner as Russia does.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said, “There’s a new programming language. It’s called English.” He works with people who are skilled enough to formulate programming tasks in any language. So his view is skewed. The rest of us should know that once knowing English made America great the first time around. Now, the same language divides Americans to the point that dystopian visions propagate. The language is not important, but what our mind can say. And this is where the stairs begin. Good programmers do not lose their sleep; they instruct AI in English on how to perform routine coding when tackling the tough stuff.
Instead of a celebratory commentary on Independence Day, Michael Smerconish reminded us that the 250th anniversary is coming next year. And he asked a provocative question: “Will the U.S. endure for another 250 years?” The answers are almost split in half, with “yes” prevailing slightly. A more interesting question would be: Do Americans today know what they need to do to keep America prosperous for the next 250 years? Do most of them even care? And those who care, do they agree on what they need to do? By looking around, one could worry if the U.S. will endure to its 250th anniversary.
Gaza is a thorn in Israel’s politics. There are still speculations about why the attack on October 7, 2023 happened. But there is no doubt that Israel’s military did not annihilate Palestinians’ resistance and did not free all hostages, despite that no one house was left standing. Iran helped Palestinians in Gaza, so now Israel went after Iran, which has 45 times more residents and 4,500 times larger territory. Israel’s armory is technologically the most advanced; Iran’s is not. Judging by Israel’s success in Gaza, what outcome can one expect from its venture in Iran?
Many tell us what to think. I ask my readers to be skeptical. Question me and others. 
Author: Cal Newport
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book teaches how to focus deeply in a distracted world.
My Thoughts:
I found this book practical and inspiring. It changed the way I think about productivity.
Americans request that Iranians give up their attempts to have nuclear weapons. Will they? It is not hard to guess what they think. Pakistan and China east of Iran, as well as Russia to the north, have atomic bombs. So does the hostile Israel. So in exchange for giving up nukes, Iran needs security guarantees. Americans are ready to promise that, but Iranians should answer: “Let us check with Zelenskyy how those guarantees worked out for Ukraine.” No peace is possible without Iranians getting their nukes. Not because Iranians are evil, but because Americans stupidly pretend that Israel has no nukes, then notoriously fail to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and betray Ukraine.