Disqus - Latest Comments for clementi

Re: How To Maintain Your Joy As A Developer In The Age Of AI

clementi — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 16:55:46 -0000

This is a great piece; thank you.

Use em-dashes anyway. I don't care that AI uses them, and neither should anyone else—they're sometimes the correct typographical choice, and I will not surrender typographic quality to anyone or anything.

Re: Ep. 2335 Vivek Ramaswamy on the FBI, Public Health, Affirmative Action, and More

clementi — Mon, 22 May 2023 14:36:15 -0000

Being a libertarian does not mean that you don't care about virtue and things other than the initiation of force.

Re: Ep. 2330 Stay and Fight, or Move?

clementi — Mon, 15 May 2023 14:54:52 -0000

I grew up in Southern California, and I love the place. I think my feelings for the place are like Tom's for Massachusetts. That's why it pains me to see this beautiful state destroyed by its corrupt, incompetent, evil ruling class. The place where I specifically grew up in Ventura County still retains much of its niceness, but for how long it will continue to do so I do not know.

When I lived in California, we had a Republican congressman, the state went red in 1988, and we had Republican governors during some of that time. It was not a fantasy to think that the Republicans, for all their problems, had a chance at statewide office. But now it's effectively a one-party state. It would be extremely interesting to see a study on how California came to be in the situation it's in now.

I mourn for my old home often. But if Allan is right, there may yet be cause for joy in the future.

Re: Ep. 2192 Economics for the Non-Savage

clementi — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 18:56:17 -0000

I read How to Think about the Economy just the other day. It's fantastic: it's clear and straightforward. The explanation of the Austrian business cycle theory in Chapter 8 is among the best I've seen. I also appreciate the emphasis on entrepreneurship throughout the book.

Re: Ep. 2028 The Destruction of New York City

clementi — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 01:44:36 -0000

I feel about California the same way you do about New York, Tom. I lived in Southern California for many years, from late childhood to early adulthood. It's a tragedy that such wonderful places are being destroyed before our eyes.

Re: Ep. 1562 The Anti-Libertarian Character Assassins, and How to Smash Them

clementi — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 12:08:00 -0000

Yes, I agree. This madness needs to be addressed quickly.

Re: Ep. 1517 The Real James Madison

clementi — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 17:17:49 -0000

The more I learn about James Madison, the more respect I have for the man. I grant that he was not perfect by any means, but to initially be an advocate of a strong central state and then to change one's mind and remain true (more or less) to the Constitution as ratified is a mark of good character. He's kind of the inverse of Alexander Hamilton, who assured everyone that the Constitution would be only strictly constructed, only to change his tune when he entered power and claim the existence of all kinds of "implied powers."

Re: Ep. 1478 New York Times Thinks Slavery Drives Economic Progress

clementi — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 11:53:36 -0000

When Tom mentioned George Fitzhugh I was overjoyed. More people need to know about this figure from history. George Fitzhugh was an avowed anti-capitalist and an explicit socialist who claimed that not only slavery in the South was good, but it should be universalized across all races as the best form of socialism. Further, the "good" Trotsky who leftists like to associate themselves with against Stalin had explicitly good things to say about slavery if it advanced the communist society. In addition, remember Hugo Chavez' socialist Venezuela considering compulsory agricultural labor to meet shortfalls in production? And finally, how many of these mendacious imbeciles at the NYT have favored compulsory "national service" or some such evil? Mic drop, QED, checkmate, NYT.

I think what we have here, among other things, is a massive case of projection on the part of the modern left. Leftists are pro-slavery while pretending not to be.

And this transparent refusal to define capitalism on the part of these historians is pure comedy.

We're living in an insane asylum, in which many of the opinion-molders of society are those who "call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" I may just have to re-join Tom's Elite to preserve my sanity.

Re: Ep. 1351 Medicare for All, and Other Disasters

clementi — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:55:31 -0000

Another great, eye-opening episode, Tom. The amount of insane regulation and monopoly capture of medicine in the United States is so great that it is truly amazing that anyone could call this bizarre system even remotely "free-market." And yet, what do we hear? From leftist nullities, and even few rightist ones, usually products of the State-run education monopoly, whose historical sense goes no further than last Monday, we hear about how "everybody knows" free markets in medicine "just don't work." Our civilization is descending into madness, and we're long past the ability to stop it, I fear.

Re: An Austro-Libertarian View: Essays by David Gordon

clementi — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 17:01:54 -0000

No answers. Will someone, like Judy Thommesen, please give a response? Are there plans to provide epubs editions of these books?

Re: An Austro-Libertarian View: Essays by David Gordon

clementi — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 12:19:47 -0000

Does anyone at the Institute read the comments here?

Re: Our Enemy, the State

clementi — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 12:16:53 -0000

Does the Mises Institute not make an EPUB or PDF version available?

Re: An Austro-Libertarian View: Essays by David Gordon

clementi — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 17:55:36 -0000

Will epub editions be forthcoming?

Re: STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Premiere Episode Title Revealed

clementi — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 20:17:15 -0000

And "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

Re: Ep. 856 The Thomas Jefferson Nobody Knows

clementi — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:25:04 -0000

The paper by Clyde Wilson on "Jeffersonian conservatism" is available at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. You might want to add this to the show notes, Tom.

Re: Ep. 845 Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education: Are There Positive Things to Hope For?

clementi — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:02:27 -0000

I believe this is the book by Vicki Alger to which Ms. Pullman was referring: Failure: The Federal Miseducation of America's Children https://www.amazon.com/dp/1...

Re: Ep. 843 The Roots of Political Correctness, with Angelo Codevilla

clementi — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 10:59:28 -0000

You don't need to download and read that PDF. The article is on the Web here: http://www.claremont.org/cr...

Re: Translating Leftism into English: San Francisco “Racism” Lesson Plan Edition

clementi — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 20:09:28 -0000

Never mind. I Googled it.

Re: Translating Leftism into English: San Francisco “Racism” Lesson Plan Edition

clementi — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 20:06:17 -0000

What on Earth is a "talking piece"?

Re: Ep. 689 How to Answer Salon’s Anti-Libertarian Cliches

clementi — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 11:17:17 -0000

Yeah, so do I.

Re: Ep. 680 Tom Unleashed: The Problem with Conservatives

clementi — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 19:23:48 -0000

Hey, there's a blog about Great Conservative Victories: http://greatconservativevic...

Re: Ep. 680 Tom Unleashed: The Problem with Conservatives

clementi — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 19:05:40 -0000

Let's not forget that it was the "conservative" Heritage Foundation that brought us the execrable "individual mandate" that we now all live under with Obamacare.

Re: Ep. 680 Tom Unleashed: The Problem with Conservatives

clementi — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 16:46:20 -0000

"Politics follows culture." (Starting at 29:00) This is one of the most profound things Tom has said. I think Jeff Deist also said this, or something like it, in "The Trouble With Conservatives."

Re: Ep. 679 Voting: Yes or No?

clementi — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 13:24:04 -0000

I second this.

Re: Ep. 677 Our Politically Correct Totalitarians

clementi — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:30:28 -0000

I have now read some bits of Dr. Preston's book, The Tyranny of the Politically Correct. What I've read I've found fascinating and, frankly, amazing. Dr. Preston is certainly unique for a person who places himself on the "radical Left." He even has kind words for Hans-Hermann Hoppe!