This is one of the worst things you can do for your own intellect, whatever you think the social benefits may be.  I know some reasonable number of famous people, and I just do not trust the media accounts of their failings and flaws.  I trust even less the barbs I read on the internet.  I am not claiming to know the truth about them (most of them, at least), but I can tell when the people writing about them know even less.

I am not saying everyone is an angel — sometimes you come to learn negative information that in fact is not part of the standard press reports or internet whines.

If you are going to possibly be working with someone on a concrete and important project, absolutely you should be trying to form an assessment of their moral quality and reliability.  (And you are allowed to do it once per electoral race, when deciding for whom to vote.)  But if not, spending real time and energy morally judging famous and semi-famous people is one of the best and quickest ways to make yourself stupider.  Focus on the substantive arguments for and against various policies and propositions, not the people involved.  Furthermore, smart people do not seem to be immune from this form of mental deterioration.  Here is my 2008 post on “pressing the button.”

A corollary of this is that if you read an internet comment that, when a substantive issue is raised, switches to judging a famous or semi-famous person, the quality of that comment is almost always low.  Once you start seeing this, you cannot stop seeing it.

Addendum: If by any chance you are wondering how to make yourself smarter, learn how to appreciate almost everybody, and keep on cultivating that skill.

The post Morally judging famous and semi-famous people appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

In early January 2026, Minneapolis once again rediscovered its true civic vocation. Not commerce. Not culture. Not even ice fishing. Riot rehearsal. Once known as Prince’s hometown and briefly famous for the Vikings’ annual postseason collapse, the city has spent the past half decade rebranding itself as America’s most reliable supplier of moral tantrums, ever […]

Sunday’s 60 Minutes should be the clearest sign yet that little has changed at CBS News under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss as, despite the apocalytpic claims from so-called “media reporters,” they’re still churning out partisan drivel. Along with airing the story on the El Salvadoran jail CECOT (which was nearly identical to the one Weiss held up last month), 60 Minutes opened with a pity party for Minneapolis by correspondent Cecilia Vega sucking up to Minneapolis and huffing about Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). Vega immediately sought to illicit sympathy for the illegal immigrants and never say a word about their criminal records: CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ opened with a Minneapolis package and, needless to say, it was atrocious. Cecilia Vega engaged in extended rhetorical hand-holding with Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara, fretting about ICE causing such “angry” scenes” and “tensions” to soar and insisting… pic.twitter.com/VyXnj81bg8 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2026 Because the liberal media are largely incapable of nuance and thus Minneapolis and illegal immigrants are always good and ICE is always bad, she also found her hero: CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ lionizes Minneapolis police chief O’Hara as having, sadly, been proven right in predicting the chaos on the streets (caused by ICE, of course) and correctly believes ICE officer Jonathan Ross was in the wrong where as Vice President Vance was, of course, the… pic.twitter.com/wQGOXbgrsI — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2026 It was five minutes and 11 seconds before she even spoke to someone with ICE (or anyone presenting the other side): CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Cecilia Vega tangles with ICE officer Marcos Charles. Here was the first back-and-forth... Vega: “Can Americans trust what’s coming out about the status of this investigation right now?” Charles: “The rhetoric that’s coming out from a lot of our… pic.twitter.com/JRwoSLjHcg — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2026 The only micro-dose of truth serum about what’s happening in Minneapolis came next when Vega asked O’Hara if he’s okay with anti-ICE protesters hurling phrases like “Nazi.” O’Hara insisted anyone should be able to say what they want (even if it’s “disrespectful things,” but conceded “physically obstruct[ing] law enforcement from performing a function” is “illegal.” Vega again pressed Charles with an extreme position that ICE agents can do anything and everything to anyone they come into contact with. When Charles pointed out anyone who lays hands on law enforcement will be arrested, Vega conceded “I don’t think most Americans would disagree with you on that.” Vega then tried to have her cake and eat it too, touting “a perception” about ICE which she wouldn’t cop to, but the liberal media have actively concocted: “I don’t think most Americans would disagree with you on that. What concerns a lot of people is some of the images that they’ve seen. There’s a perception out there that immigration agents in Minneapolis and many other cities are acting with impunity.” “You’re not seeing the entirety of the situation. Not only that — mainstream media is picking up those social media posts and putting them out as real news without looking at the whole story,” Charles replied. Vega upped the emotional blackmail: EYE ROLL: CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Cecilia Vega cued up footage of Aliya Rahman — the woman who was dragged out of her car by ICE agents while screaming she’s disabled — for the Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara to shake and cry over, muttering “oh, my God” and that… pic.twitter.com/Nr1iMoF2fE — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 19, 2026 Vega conceded “Homeland Security released these images of injured ICE officers” which “[a]ccording to the agency, attacks on ICE officers nationwide jumped from 19 in 2024 to 275 last year” with many “sustained as agents were carrying out what ICE calls ‘targeted enforcement.’” The former ABC correspondent flipped back to casting aside ICE’s concerns and the now-viral video of ICE asking a woman for her papers: “In Minneapolis, many residents say it seems to be less targeted every day. American citizens are getting stopped and questioned, including a woman walking down the street.” Once again, she cleared a path for O’Hara to be on a pedestal of wokeism (click “expand”): O’HARA: People have been stopped for simply appearing to be Somali or appearing to be Latino or appearing to be foreign. And it’s concerning, because we also know we’re not getting these stories from Irish folks and Norwegian folks here. CHARLES: Our officers are — are conducting targeted enforcement, looking for the worst of the worst. If they encounter anybody in the area of which they’re operating, they are okay to talk to those people. They’ve been authorized to talk to anybody that’s around there and establish citizenship. VEGA [TO CHARLES]: How is that targeted enforcement? CHARLES: If they were in that area looking for a target, and they were en route or coming from that target and encountered that individual, they are authorized to talk to somebody and speak to somebody to speak someone. VEGA [TO CHARLES]: I mean, what — what’s — how do you define the area? Officers are walking down the street, driving down the street, the entire city of Minneapolis, is everybody potentially — CHARLES: It — potentially as — as — VEGA [TO CHARLES]: — under suspicion? CHARLES: — no. Nobody’s under suspicion. But we’re looking for those targets. And, again, if we walk — encounter somebody — as we’re walking up to a building, as we’re en route to that building, that’s still part of that operation as they proceed to that target. She wrapped with the news of Justice Department launching investigations into Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Governor Tim Walz (D) and one last softball for O’Hara: “What could happen today, tomorrow to bring this temperature down out there?” O’Hara put it entirely on President Trump to turn down the temperature and nothing about the role of state and local officials: “I think it requires the President to say, ‘we’re still going to go after the worst of the worst, but we’re not going to be treating American citizens in ways that risk destroying a beautiful American city.’” One problem: Even O’Hara’s fellow leftists — including O'Hara and his bosses — are opposed to even “the worst of the worst” being deported by ICE. If they were supportive, the city would not be a sanctuary city. To see the relevant CBS transcript from January 19, click here.

The World Economic Forum has become a globalist deep state with tentacles reaching the highest levels of government throughout the West.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the American public demanding action be taken by the government in response to aggressive and violent leftist protests across the country, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi promised to prosecute Minnesota rioters as soon as she finishes releasing all those Epstein files.

CUPERTINO, CA — The world's most popular and trendsetting tech manufacturer set the consumer world on fire once again this week, as Apple introduced a new iPhone for your other hand.