This paper answers why confident idiots run the world. Cornell University published a psychological paper that explains every terrible boss, every loud influencer, and every broken corporate hierarchy. It’s called “Unskilled and Unaware of It.” they tested participants across logic, grammar, and humor to measure the gap between actual performance and self-perception. And the results are wild. participants scoring in the bottom 12th percentile consistently believed they were operating in the 62nd percentile. they were not lying. they were literally incapable of recognizing their own incompetence. the paper revealed a brutal paradox: the exact skills required to master a domain are the exact same skills required to accurately evaluate your own competence in that domain. if you lack the skill, you inherently lack the cognitive capacity to realize you are failing. this creates a dangerous systemic loop. the incompetent are blessed with absolute, blinding certainty. their brain protects them from their own ignorance, allowing them to speak first, demand authority, and never second-guess their decisions. meanwhile, the actual experts suffer the exact inverse. top performers in the study consistently underestimated their rank. because a task was easy for them, they falsely assumed it was easy for everyone else. they hesitate. they obsess over nuance. they assume they have nothing unique to add. we are biologically wired to confuse confidence with competence. the loudest person in the room gets promoted, gets funded, and gets the microphone, not because they know what they are doing, but because they are physically incapable of seeing what they don't. the only defense mechanism is building systems that stop rewarding absolute certainty and start demanding proof of work.

Pentagon declares China’s Confucius Institutes to be national security threats. Hegseth says 80 disguised institutes were recently shut down on US universities washingtontimes.com/news/202…

"The United States cannot compete with China while losing its allies. Meeting the China challenge requires building an ecosystem capable of achieving the same scale and offering countries around the world a credible alternative," write @csiserep experts. Read: bit.ly/4dPHPcc

You look up into the sky and see this. What's your first thought?

🚨UFO Disclosure reality... The Mantis Beings..🚨 The Musconetcong River, New Jersey, USA 🇺🇸, this man fishing for trout captures more then fish.. A 7ft humanoid Mantis being walking away from the river, then it looked back & mid stride in disappeared..

“The @StimsonCenter mourns the passing of @matburrows…a distinguished public servant, pioneering thinker, and trusted mentor to generations of foreign policy professionals…” stimson.org/2026/stimson-cen…

nytimes.com/2026/10/24/world… Kim Jong-un’s visit to China signals not only closer ties with Beijing and greater economic connectivity, but also a potential bid to leverage his relationships with China and Russia to reemerge on the global diplomatic stage, foreshadowing meeting Trump at/around APEC while seeking recognition as a de facto nuclear-armed state. #Kim_Jong_un #global_positioning #APEC

Some very sad news out of Stimson this week. I feel so lucky to have gotten to know Mat and learn from him, even if only for a little while. A true patriot, and a genuinely thoughtful and humane man, in all senses of the word. stimson.org/2026/stimson-cen…

I first met Mat when I was very young. He helped me with my research and encouraged me to take on the big questions. A great thinker and a nice guy. He will be missed.

Sad news. Mat was a genius. I enjoyed working with and learning from him. He will be missed. stimson.org/2026/stimson-cen…

Confused about US foreign policy? You need to appreciate Trump’s debt to Nixon: thefp.com/p/niall-ferguson-t…

The Confucius Institutes are part of a political apparatus the CCP uses to "break and shatter the enemy." Keeping the pressure on the united front system's efforts to evade U.S. countermeasures is an unequivocal good. But why leave it there? Many other similar organizations exist, but we (and our allies & partners) largely ignore them.

Just for the record. We are at war with Iran right now. We have been since *at least*!February 28 (there’s a legitimate argument that it’s been much, much, longer). Whether you think that’s good or bad doesn’t matter. Our naval blockade is an act of war. Iran is shooting at us and our allies. That is an act of war. The way the media — left, right, and center — talks about this “conflict” as if wars are purely legal fictions or solely involve a “war-ish” level of combat serves no one’s interests.

Jensen seemingly comes out against car safety regulations, saying car companies do not need society to tell them not to release cars that are not ready to be released. Interesting analogy to choose as part of an argument against AI regulations!

The War Department has designated Confucius Institutes as a threat to our national security.

The GRU hacked into Jared Kushner's iPhone. Dutch military intelligence (MIVD) then recruited a GRU spy who gave them access to the hacked phone. What MIVD discovered was that Kushner had access to two bank accounts --one Azerbaijani, the other Israeli --where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati ruler Mohammed bin Zayed deposited money. It sounds like a slightly far-fetched episode of "Slow Horses," but it's real. And it proves just how eye-poppingly corrupt this administration was and continues to be as its "special envoy" decides the fate of tens of millions in Europe in the Middle East. Simply incredible reporting by Matthew Cole, drawn from his new book on Kushner. vanityfair.com/story/jared-k…

“The difference between humans and animals is that animals never allow a fool to lead the pack.” — Winston Churchill

China Capitalizes on America’s Scientific Brain Drain thediplomat.com/2026/10/chin… #Catherine_Tan Catherine Tan warns of an accelerating and dangerous brain drain to China, America's future technology leadership demands more research funding, avoiding indiscriminate restrictions, and preserving international academic collaboration #brain_drain #China #US