Substacks
The Real Team America Bari Weiss
There’s increasing concern that as scary as this period feels—between Russia’s two-year war in Ukraine and Hamas’s ongoing war with Israel—that all of this will come to be seen as the calm before the storm. Should China decide to move against Taiwan in some way, then we’ll have war in three regions, and U.S. involvement in all three. Or perhaps by then it will not seem like separate wars, but a single global one.
Most Americans in the last fifty years, and certainly since the end of the Cold War, have lived in the luxury of safety. We live in a place where peace and security—crime and riots aside—are generally taken for granted. But a lot of Americans had a serious wake-up call after October 7, when a country with a high-tech security fortress was overwhelmed by terrorists on motorcycles and trucks and paragliders.
Could this happen here? Who is actually coming over our border? If we had to fight for our country, who would actually show up?
Today’s Honestly guests had that wake-up call long before the wars in Ukraine or Gaza. They’re investing their time, money, and resources into building a better American defense. And in the past few months especially, their work has come to be seen as prescient.
Palmer Luckey is a 31-year-old software engineer and entrepreneur. At the age of 19, Palmer founded the virtual reality company Oculus, which was originally supposed to be sold on Kickstarter as a virtual reality prototype for VR nerds and enthusiasts. Instead, it was acquired by Facebook for more than $2 billion. Then, when he was 25, he founded Anduril Industries, an $8.5 billion company that develops drones, autonomous vehicles, submarines, rockets, and software for military use.
Katherine Boyle is a Washington Post reporter turned venture capitalist; she is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and the co-founder of the firm’s American Dynamism arm, which invests in companies that build to support the national interest.
Joe Lonsdale is a co-founder of Palantir (along with Peter Thiel and others) and founder and general partner of the firm 8VC, which backed Anduril in its early days.
They are each attempting to disrupt the defense marketplace, bring Silicon Valley’s speed, creativity, and innovation to defense, advance our national security, and, you know. . . save America.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Two weeks ago, the YouTube channel Hodinkee released a video featuring noted Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim, in which he spent 37 uninterrupted minutes talking about. . . buying watches in retail stores.
Not acting, his personal life, or his experience as a Korean-born artist building a career in the United States. Just the purchase and ownership of mass-production wristwatches from various billion-dollar brands. Going into the store, seeing the watches, handing over the credit card—that sort of thing. The video was well-received, with one commenter noting that he “LOVED this conversation. This is what our hobby is all about! Thanks for posting, Hodinkee!”
Which leads to an obvious question for many readers, namely: What, exactly, is “our hobby”?
It turns out three things are inevitable: death, taxes, and politicians eager to stop so-called price gouging in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Whether it’s a hurricane in the Carolinas, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a devastating flood in New Orleans—or a catastrophic fire in Los Angeles—one of the first moves in the politician’s playbook is to condemn the greedy capitalists who exploit the misery of their fellow citizens by jacking up prices on basic necessities.
Sure enough, here was Mayor Karen Bass on Sunday, fresh from her trip to Ghana, taking to X to proclaim that the city would have “no tolerance” for anyone who “illegally hiked rents and prices.” California attorney general Rob Bonta chimed in: “We should not be engaged in price gouging, whether it’s groceries or rent. We are very serious about this.” And Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that aims to prevent price gouging on building materials, storage services, and other essential supplies and services for the entirety of 2025.
At first glance, you can hardly blame them. After all, what kind of monster would take advantage of their neighbors’ desperation by hiking prices for necessities when the supply of those necessities is depleted? Is there anything worse than thinking about your profit margin in the midst of tragedy?
Actually, there is. Keeping prices low during a disaster by making it a crime to raise them will do far more harm than good.
January 13, 2024 Heather Cox Richardson
Shopping Is Not a Legitimate Hobby Jack Baruth
Outlawing Price Gouging Will Only Hurt Angelenos Russ Roberts
This is What Happens When You Try to Report Dirty Cops
THE IRON-CLAD PIÑATA Seymour Hersh
The Russell Brand Rorschach Test Kathleen Stock
RARE VIDEO: 1987 DC Hearing – NBC Warns Against Removing Fairness Doctrine – Learn Why It Matters
WATCH: CSPAN Caller Call Out the Resending of the Smith-Mundt Act – Learn Why That’s IMPORTANT
WATCH: 1975 Church Comitee Hearings on the CIA Mockingbird Media
-
Awakening Video1 year agoThis is What Happens When You Try to Report Dirty Cops
-
Substacks10 months agoTHE IRON-CLAD PIÑATA Seymour Hersh
-
Substacks1 year agoThe Russell Brand Rorschach Test Kathleen Stock
-
Substacks1 year agoA real fact-check of Trump’s appearance on Meet the Press Judd Legum
-
Substacks1 year agoLetter to the Children of Gaza – Read by Eunice Wong Chris Hedges