J.D. Vance Defends Young Republicans Who Extol the Virtues of Hitler, Slavery, and Rape & 75% of Americans Report Soaring Prices (Trump Claims Inflation is "Over")
October 24, 2025
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: How each of us handles desire reveals who we are.
How Americans are feeling about their chances on the job market, according to an AP-NORC poll: I think you know the answer.
75% of Americans report soaring prices as Trump claims inflation ‘over’: It’s nice to be king.
How Trump’s approval shifted after the ceasefire in Gaza, according to a new AP-NORC poll: Maybe the public won’t be fooled by his eleventh hour attempt at a Nobel Peace Prize.
Video Break: Dogs reacting to the simple question, “Want to go for a walk?” makes my day.
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat: The GOP’s minor league team just shows us what’s in store for the party in the next few years. No vetting needed.
JD Vance brushes off racist texts by adults in Republican group chat as ‘what kids do’: He’d rather play politics than be a decent VP—or parent.
President Trump commutes the prison sentence of George Santos: Message to America: Republicans are above the law.
Capitol Rioter Pardoned by Trump Busted for Threatening to Kill Top Dem: Trump’s pardons keep producing more crime.
What I’m Watching on TV: The Diplomat is wise, witty, and suspenseful. Murder Before Evensong is an enjoyable British mystery set in a small English town. Sheriff Country is so bland it might as well have been written by AI.
Magical Moments in Sports: This perspective of a world-record high dive may make your stomach a bit wobbly.
Nina Simone Sings “I Loves You, Porgy”: This song launched Simone’s career as one of the best jazz singers in the world.
An Important Reminder
I just wanted to remind everyone that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. About 2.3 million women worldwide are affected by breast cancer each year. It’s also important to note that 1% of those diagnosed with breast cancer are men. A woman in the U.S. has a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer over her lifetime and a 1 in 43 chance of dying from breast cancer. Black women remain more likely to die from breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group. What can you do? Get checked by your doctor. Be supportive of those with breast cancer. Donate to organizations like Breastcancer.org. to fund more research, especially now with so much medical research money being cut by the Trump administration.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
The discipline of desire is the background of character.
John Locke (1632-1704), English philosopher and physician
Desire—and our reaction to it—is the foundation of not just religion and philosophy, but of civilization itself. When what the individual desires contradicts the greater good, we make laws to curb those acting on desire (because we can’t curb desire). That’s why we have lists of laws, commandments, and principles for people to follow.
But sometimes desire is too powerful for the individual to control. The problem we face as a society is that we both celebrate some who give in to desire as well as condemn others. That can leave people confused.
There are two ways to fulfill desire: instant gratification or delayed gratification. Our society promotes delayed gratification as the most moral and beneficial choice. Sometimes that means not eating cake for the delayed gratification of losing weight. Or it can mean not making selfish choices that can benefit you now but that can ultimately alienate you from your friends. For some religious people, choosing not to satisfy greedy impulses now might mean a reward in the afterlife.
At the same time, we get all giddy when it comes to the idea of “bad boys” and “bad girls” who take what they want when they want and roar off on a motorcycle (helmetless, of course), howling into the wind. Whether it’s Marlon Brando in a black leather jacket in The Wild One (1953) or Keanu Reeves blasting away as John Wick in five movies, we like to pay tribute to the outlaw in all of us. Country music has hundreds of songs celebrating the instant gratification of booze and sex over the traditional values of moderation.
What’s a kid growing up to think?
That brings us back to Locke’s quote. Children struggle to understand the advantages of delayed over instant gratification because they aren’t yet fully participating in society. They have no stake (that they can see) in supporting its rules. But adults should know better. So, yeah, how we handle desire does indeed reveal our true character. This isn’t about not indulging in passion and having a good time: it’s about not making juvenile excuses to indulge when you know it is ultimately harmful to you, others around you, and society in general. For example, out-of-control partying is part of so many of our teen comedies, yet they never mention the 12,500 people killed each year by drunk drivers. Or that up to 75% of sexual assaults involve alcohol.
I’m certainly not saying we all need to be dressing in black, scowling soberly at each other, and avoid doing anything fun. I am saying that romanticizing bad behavior provides an excuse to make bad decisions—some of which there’s no coming back from.
Nor am I promoting self-denial or abstinence. We should enjoy life as much as we can—but we have to weigh the consequences of how we enjoy life. We have to think about what we desire, think about what actions we need to take to fulfill that desire, then ask ourselves if those actions define the person we want to be.