Today I had a 2+ decade-old best friend formally cut ties with me. We hadn't really been in touch since Covid. Whenever I came back to Canada I would DM, to grab a coffee / lunch, and would get a run-around which I chalked up to busy lives. I suspected other issues were at play, but I thought I was being over cynical - even for myself.
In anticipation of coming back for the holidays, I reached out yesterday with a humorous "Are you still alive" (the thought that my friend has actually died did occur to me). The response was a terse and formal "I have no interest in catching up" (paraphrasing).
It was weird. An emotional gut-punch that I could actually feel physically.
We hadn't been in touch for years, so there is no actual day-to-day loss. It's not even the formal death of the potential "we're friends and will catch up when we catch up" type thing that hurts so much either.
It's trying to understand what happened in the mind and soul of a 25+ year friend who knew and knows me in a way few people do.
The reply was so bizarre it actually felt like maybe the account was hacked. But it wasn't.
What's most depressing about this is not really the loss of a "friend". It happens all the time, and by the time it happens, the friend is - almost definitionally - no longer a friend. It's just how it happened in this case. No cheating. No broken promises. No drunken fights where someone said something that can't be taken back.
Just politics.
Just the fruits of the destabilizing forces we have been living under for years.
What evolution - no, devolution - has to go on in someone's psyche to unfriend a lifelong friend over politics? And unfriend in the real sense - not in the superficial social media sense?
What level of trauma... of demonization... of perceived fears. Perceived evil.
In the mind of my former friend, I had become so bad - so wicked - so evil - that 25 years of memories had been recreated in his mind.
All the shared memories of friendship replaced. Replaced with a manufactured perception of evil so evil it required a formal rupture of decades of lived experience.
I forgive my friend. He is my friend and if the next time we see each other is at a funeral instead of Christmas, I will forgive him, hug him, and forget the insanity.
But I will never forgive the entities that did this to my friend. And to so many others.
How weak and fragile are the souls of those who have been conditioned to fear their friends.
Funny thing is coming into our hotel, I pointed at the mountain and told the others we’d have to take the trolley up. Started off on what was supposed to be a 1.1 mile jog, 700 foot elevation. I made it to the summit. Heavenly
I still prefer Florida, and I prefer the American spirit.
But nature is glorious!
I did a quick hit on Richard Syrette yesterday. Gotta keep Canadians apprised of the U.S. madness.
Ask in replies and answering LIVE at 9ish eastern tonight...
First impressions: I haven’t been overseas in over a decade.
Europe has a very distinct smell. I remember it from France. Like burnt rubber everywhere.
The lineup to get in for people coming from certain countries was probably half a mile along. There was an expedited entry for American and Canadian visas.
I don’t trust the police here at all. Everything about the experience so far reminds me of Eurotrip.
The infrastructure is not just antiquated. Dilapidated. The protective barrier around the airport looks like Alligator Alcatraz. I seriously thought there was something of an encampment outside the building, until I realized it was just the protective barrier for the airport itself.
I watched Moneyball on the airplane. Had never seen it before. One of the best movies I’ve seen in years.
Managed to sleep a couple of hours. Drank plenty of water.
We are waiting to take the train to Switzerland. Met up with the Rumble gang. Everyone’s looking good, and it’s good to be with friends.
Will...
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Art of the Day
B. Wisdom of the Day
C. Cultural Recommendation
D. Appearances
II. THE EVIDENCE
A. Daily News of Interest: Curated from the Barnes Library
B. Daily Deep Dive: Budapest or No?
C. Cases of Consequence
III. THE CLOSING ARGUMENT: The Message of Mamdani
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Art of the Day
The tall French doors, the sunlight slipping in amidst the shadows, the desk with files stacked, the overcoat and old school hat, awaiting thought or observing contemplatively, the true gentleman appears ready to soon take action in a time where men were men.
B. Wisdom of the Day
“The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.” Otto von Bismarck.
C. Cultural Recommendation
Surviving Hitler in St. Petersburg, a documentary detailing the shock and horror of the Great War, a generational-defining experience for Putin’s own parents.
D. Appearances
II. THE EVIDENCE
*Note: A reminder — links are NOT endorsements of the ideas contained therein. The Library is big, and it mostly consists of ideas I do not personally share.
A. Daily News of Interest
*Bonus: Trans agenda origins.
B. Daily Deep Dive: China Trade War
*Bonus: China debt bubble.
C. Cases of Consequence
*Bonus: More Ukraine property right violations. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/m.s.l-tov-v-ukraine-echr-jugment.pdf
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Art of the Day
B. Wisdom of the Day
C. Cultural Recommendation
D. Appearances
