Talking Across The Divide

Hawaii Has Highest Life Expectancy In The US, West Virginia The Lowest Life expectancy varies widely across the U.S., with clear regional patterns emerging in the latest data. States in the Northeast and on the West Coast tend to have higher life expectancies, while many in the South and Appalachia rank lower. This map, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, shows these differences using data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, based on 2022 life tables published in December 2025, the latest publicly available state-level figures as of March 2026. The CDC’s report...

Trump On Iran Halting Talks: "We'll Keep Blockade" - Signals Tehran Can't Outlast US Summary Iran announces halt to all exchanges with US, citing Israeli aggression in Lebanon. Trump says 'haven't heard' this from Tehran, vows to keep US naval blockade in place. Iran overnight initiated fresh attacks on neighboring Kuwait and even released video showing footage of a ballistic missile launch. The US bombed radar & drone sites in Iran in response to the Iranians having shot down a US drone over the weekend. Reports of foreign jets over Iranian airspace. Iran negotiator Ghalibaf charges...

When The Cost of Truth Is High, We (And AI) Lie... Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, When we can no longer tell the truth because the cost is so high that it threatens our reward for compliance, we're unimaginably impoverished. Truth has an intrinsic, irreplaceable value.  There's the truth, and then there's everything else. Truth has value, and so it has a cost.  Whatever has the highest value has the highest cost, and high cost commands sacrifices. When the cost of truth is high, we lie.  And since AI is a distorted reflection of...