Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Xenniels grew up at least partially in an analog world, but were still in their formative years when we went mostly digital. They didn’t grow up in one world or the other. They grew up in both worlds and during the transition. They also got hit early with the Great Recession.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqs0PokPDqo
“In July 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order vowing to end “crime and disorder on America’s streets” caused, the administration asserted, by the record number of homeless people, many of them with mental illnesses. The president promised that, among other measures, involuntarily committing more Americans with mental illnesses would “restore public order.” The risks to civil liberties that executive order created are now impossible to ignore.
A recent lawsuit involving a man who has been involuntarily committed, despite the dismissal of his criminal charge, shows that involuntary commitment can lead to permanent federal detention for people who have not been convicted of any crime.”
https://reason.com/2026/02/04/how-involuntary-commitment-could-become-indefinite-detention/
Flawed Science, Twin Studies, and Schizophrenia with Jay Joseph, PsyD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AVDetPXy6M
Twins separated at birth studies are problematic for multiple reasons.
Studies comparing twins reared together to siblings doesn’t isolate genetics because the environment is different for each sibling cohort.
A whole bunch of claims about genetics rest on these bad studies or claims that these studies don’t strongly support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoysrR7Adwk
“we concluded that Herrnstein and Murray produced no valid evidence that genes influence within-group IQ score differences. The key evidence they cited consisted of “twins reared apart” studies and, to a lesser extent, family correlations, reared-together twin studies, and adoption studies. Aided by concepts developed in science’s ongoing “replication crisis,” we argued that the genetic findings reported in these studies do not hold up under critical examination due to environmental confounding, a reliance on uncertain or false assumptions and concepts, the use of questionable research practices (QRPs), and other problem areas. In the language of psychometrics and behavioral genetics, we argued that Herrnstein and Murray presented no valid evidence in support of above-zero IQ heritability. This conclusion, of course, automatically invalidates claims about genetic group differences.”
https://www.madinamerica.com/2024/03/bad-science-bell-curve/
We studied 3691 people to bust IQ myths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxsIyHSoQW8
Much of politics and punditry is performative lies. I’m not sure why these people think their falsity is okay, but they gain money, fame, and power with their bullshit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjx1ZANCTG8
How Russia weaponizes your mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wBLIqYrI4I
Insights from Decades of Observing the Mind | The Ezra Klein Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTZlt0FsJj8
Man who worked with Trump in his first term explains that Trump is not qualified to be president. He isn’t interested in policy, he doesn’t read his briefings, he’s vulnerable to being manipulated by praise, and he’s not concerned about the world but just about himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBIRPVUkWBA