Trump and Hegseth Rant about Beardos and Invading American Cities & Why an AI "Actor" Is Rattling Hollywood
October 6, 2025
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Why are humans so eager to anoint a savior without scrutinizing their resume? We take more care hiring a fry cook at Wendy’s.
Trump and Hegseth Recount Familiar Partisan Complaints to Top Military Leaders: It cost $6 million to bring 800 military leaders to an auditorium so Hegseth and Trump could rant about beards and invading American cities.
Democrats did not shut down the government to give health care to ‘illegal immigrants’: The official WH site promotes a lie that has been publicly disproven. Yet, they keep repeating it. What does that say about their respect for the American people’s intelligence?
What to Know About the ‘Gen Z’ Protests Roiling Countries Across the Globe: Young people in countries everywhere are standing up to government injustice and making a difference.
Video Break: Prepare for tears of joy.
Kareem the Science Guy: The AI “Actress” Rattling the World: This isn’t just about an AI actress, it’s about the danger of disconnecting from our humanity.
Magical Moments in Sports: You know I like a great table tennis point. This may be the best one yet.
America Sings “A Horse with No Name”: What is this song with the surreal lyrics really about? Read on.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man / That he didn't, didn't already have.
America, from “Tin Man”
We all know the story of the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (and the popular 1939 movie) about how Dorothy and her trio of insecure misfits travel down the Yellow Brick Road, each seeking something from the mighty Oz. The Wizard turns out to be a fraud who uses trickery and junk science to manipulate a gullible population who worships miracles over solving problems themselves. The lesson is that the misfits already possessed the quality they wanted—heart, brains, courage—they just didn’t believe in themselves, partly because when you have someone dispensing miracles, you aren’t compelled to look within yourself for solutions. That’s what today’s quote tells us.
In 1928, The Wizard of Oz was banned by all public libraries in part because it depicted “women in strong leadership roles.” It was also condemned for implied communism because it showed wealth disparity, themes of secular humanism, promoted negativity, and portrayed the supernatural through witches. In 1986, seven families from Tennessee sued to remove the book from school syllabi because, as one parent said, “I do not want my children seduced into godless supernaturalism.” Many who protested the book felt it was a metaphor about the futility of people praying to a god to fix things.
The real question, though, is why our culture is obsessed with saviors. How many of our myths, novels, and movies promote the concept of The One (The Matrix, Harry Potter, Dune, etc.), as well as many religions (Jesus, Moses, The Buddha, Muhammad, etc.). “Only you can save us (insert savior)!”
Our need for saviors tempts us to place faith in the undeserving—like Oz, like Musk, like Trump. We use the word faith to make our laziness feel like we’re being virtuous rather than foolish. But faith in this case is about first assessing the person’s qualities through their past efforts. Faith is in the hope they will live up to that assessment.
The foolishness comes in when we fail to diligently assess a would-be savior, to accurately and logically weigh their deeds and words to determine whether or not they deserve our faith. Far too many people will throw their support and money behind the scamming Wizards of Oz, like evangelical preachers and blustering politicians, just because they want to believe, not because those people are deserving.
But those with heart, brains, and courage know better.