Daniel Handel

Is there anything yet inflicted upon the human race that more spectacularly fails to pass a cost-benefit analysis….than decorative pillows on a bed?

A bit of counter factual history I ponder: would the #freepalestine crowd and settle-colonialism canard be defanged and avoided if following the Bar Kokhba revolt in the mid 130s, Emperor Hadrian had not as punishment used his colonizer power to rename Judea to Syria-Palaestina?

Greatest understatement ever from @TheStudyofWar latest update: "Allowing overpasses to dictate one’s tactical deployments rather than determining deployments based on tactical realities is certainly suboptimal."

@Rachi__01 @grok explain

Looks like she understands today’s world better than us 😆

As a fan of @TheEconomist, a newspaper started in 1843 on the issue of trade, it is super cool to appear in their print edition. (Updated version of earlier web essay on the Supreme Court decision.)

@USAID @StateDept @CGDev

In January the administration destroyed @USAID saying that they wanted a new approach that better aligned foreign aid with #ForeignPolicy and moved it to the @StateDept A year later how is the rebuild going? Track it live at: thenewforeignassistance.org

@cblatts your recent AI blitz inspired me. I just made this foreign assistance tracker. Check it out! Share! thenewforeignassistance.org

New tracker following the foreign assistance money at @StateDept as @USForeignAssist gets going with the new foreign aid enterprise. Things are moving! thenewforeignassistance.org

@HilzFuld @mattwridley @grok is this a fair reading of the full history?

The Middle East conflict 101: UN in 1947: “Here is a state for you, the Jews, and here is a state for you, the Arabs.” The Jews: “Awesome. Thanks. We’ve only been waiting for this for thousands of years.” The Arabs: “Sorry no. We’d rather attack than have a state. We don’t want a state. We want no Israel.” The Jews: “Sorry you attacked and lost.” The Arabs: “Don’t worry. We’ll be back.” The Jews: “Here. Take land. Make a state. We just want peace.” The Arabs: “No. No state. No Israel.” The Jews in 1967 (Khartoum summit): “Here. Take land. Make a state. We just want peace.” The Arabs: “No. No state. No Israel.” The Jews in 1991 (Madrid Conference): “Here. Take land. Make a state. We just want peace.” The Arabs: “No. No state. No Israel.” The Jews in 2000 (Camp David Summit): “Here. Take land. Make a state. We just want peace.” The Arabs: “No. No state. No Israel.” The Jews in 2001 (Taba Sunmit), 2005 (Disengagement), 2007 (Annapolis conference), 2008 (realignment plan), 2010, 2013 (Joint peace talks), 2019 (Bahrain workshop), 2020 (Trump peace plan): “Here. Take land. Make a state. We just want peace.” The Arabs: “No. No state. No Israel.” The world in 2024: “Let’s give them a state.” The Arabs: “No. No state. No Israel.” The Jews: “Ok, no state for you.” The world? “Those Jews!” And then there are the wars that the Arabs attacked the Jews and lost: 1948 (war of independence), 1967 (six day war), 1973 (Yom Kippur war), 1982 (Lebanon war), 1987 (first intifada), 2000 (second intifada), 2006 (second Lebanon war), 2008 (operation cast lead), 2012 (operation pillar of defense), 2014 (operation protective edge), 2021 (operation guardian of the walls), 2023 (operation swords of iron). The fact that there is a single human being on planet earth who still doesn’t get the following fact is insane and mind boggling. The Jews want peace. The Arabs who call themselves Palestinians do not. They never have. They never will. Want proof? The PLO: The Palestinian liberation organization was established on May 28th, 1964. There were no settlements then. There was no occupation. What exactly were they looking to liberate? The answer is Israel, every last inch of it. There was Arab terror against Jews well before there was any occupation. There was Arab terror against Jews before there was even a state of Israel. 1929, for example. Arabs massacred Jews in Hebron. Why? It was 1929. Israel was established in 1948. How exactly does that work? Were they massacring Jews to resist the future occupation? 😂 Anyone who thinks that offering the Palestinians a state will solve anything is a fool. Period. Full stop. It’s time the world learned Arabic. The Palestinians want dead Jews. They say it, they vote for it, they act towards it, and then they live stream it. And yes, I said Palestinian, not Hamas. The Palestinian people elected Hamas. Thousands of them participated in October 7th in one way or another. Close to 90% of the Palestinians support Hamas. The Palestinian people exist from day one for the sole purpose of destroying Israel. It’s their entire identity. They keep trying and keep failing. They don’t seem to learn their lesson and neither does the international community. Israel wants peace. Israel is willing to make compromises for peace. Israel also knows well how to handle its enemies when necessary. It has a lot of experience. If you are still reading, and disagree with anything I wrote above, kindly tell me what is inaccurate about what I said and if you can’t, if you agree with the facts I listed here, tell me please how, in 2026, after October 7th, anyone still thinks the Palestinians want or deserve a state. Congratulations on completing your course on the Middle East. You are now officially more knowledgeable about the conflict than 99% of Gen Z and pro Palestinian activities who take to the streets every day chanting for the murder of Jews. Thank you for attending. Any questions?

A common misunderstanding is that supplying expensive new housing does not help the poor. No. Residents each move up a rung, freeing up housing at the bottom of the ladder. The latest, of many, papers to show this uses great data from Switzerland. 1/3 frederickluser.github.io/files/Moving_C…

For anyone putting loyalty to a person above loyalty to the Constitution, Justice Gorsuch’s remarks should be required reading. His words are a reminder that our highest duty is to the rule of law and the founding principles that define America.

Written English has barely changed in 300 years. If you can read Harry Potter, you can read Robinson Crusoe (1719). The Spelling of our Tongue was in the main ſettled ere the eighteenth Century, & the Grammar has ſuffer'd but little Alteration ſince. Yet before this happy Settlement, things were exceeding ſtrange. In Shakeſpeares dayes, ſpelling was much more variable, & you ſhall finde notable differences in the grammar: "thou" could bee intimate or inſulting, depending vpon whom you ſayd it to; to chooſe amiſse had conſequences. Wende we now tuo hundred ȝeer bifore, to Chauceres tyme. It seemeth ȝit as Englisshe, but it nis nat esy to reden withouten greet connynge. Yet tuo hundred wintre er, sone after þat the Normans comen to þis londe, is Englisch on muchel wandlunge. Þe tunges work is tobroken, Frensce wordes comeþ in, and þe writunge is al totwemed. Þy furðor þu underbæc færst, þy gelicor biþ Englisc gesewen þære Deniscan spræce. Englisce bec þæs m. geare ne mæg nan mann rædan buton he sundorlice geleornad sy.

WATCH: Secretary Rubio Delivers Remarks to the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Step 1: Insert bacteria ("Wolbachia") into mosquitoes. Step 2: Release mosquitoes. Step 3: Watch Dengue rates plummet. Phenomenal results from Singapore. Link: tinyurl.com/59c9t67u, by Lim et al.

The most important question about any economic policy is not “does it sound compassionate?” It is “does it work?” Most anti-poverty programs fail that test but pass the compassion test, so they keep getting funded.

What gives me reassurance about the AI jobs apocalypse is that if suddenly the entire white collar class is out of work there will be instant political pressure for UBI, AI regulation etc. If the entire educated class become Luddites, this time they will win.

@curiousgangsta @tylercowen I mean, I was assuming that but looking for something a bit more specific

@DanielHandel17 @tylercowen ai, bro.

Today will go down as some kind of turning point. Somewhat arbitrarily, but it is OK if journalists and historians have to present things in that manner.

This result was finally published. TL;DR: Treating cancer early in the morning seems to substantially beat treating it later in the day. Just changing patient appointment times is supposedly associated with a ~60% reduction in cancer mortality.