In “Hard Truths,” Nick continues his discussion from prior Far Middle episode 165, revisiting his June address at the Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.

But before delving into this week’s hard truths, Nick pays tribute to NBA legend Jerry West, highlighting “Zeke from Cabin Creek’s” incredible journey from Chelyan, West Virginia, to becoming the most iconic figure in basketball, literally “The Logo.”

Nick then transitions to discuss the second part of his recent speech and tackles several critical issues facing the U.S., including:

1. Government Overreach: Nick argues that the government (specifically the “deep state”) has overstepped its constitutional boundaries, becoming a “voracious beast” that requires extensive bureaucratic approval for individual actions.
2. Debt Crisis: Nick highlights the alarming levels of national debt, projecting that the U.S. government is likely to either default or devalue its commitments, with significant shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare. “The fiscal plane is flying right into the mountain and there is not going to be enough time or space to gain sufficient altitude,” says Nick.
3. Education System Failures: Nick criticizes the declining proficiency rates in education, particularly among disadvantaged demographics, providing sad proof that the system today prioritizes optics over substance.
4. Persistent Inflation: Nick explains how inflation is a long-term issue driven by government policies, regulatory burdens, and geopolitical factors, rather than short-term fluctuations. For more on contributors driving inflation, see Nick’s commentary, “20 Reasons Why the Worst is Yet to Come with Inflation.”
5. Radical Environmentalism: Nick then reviews a fifth truth as a bonus for Far Middle constant listeners: the impact of radical environmental policies on agriculture in California, specifically how protections for a small fish species, the smelt, are leading to water shortages for farmers, ultimately harming food production and economic stability.

Nick stresses the need to recognize these challenges, aka hard truths, as part of a broader trend affecting the nation, particularly as Leftist policies gain traction in California and beyond.

And in one of the more frightening Far Middle closes, Nick draws a connection to the book and subsequent film, The Amityville Horror, perhaps one to add to your reading list if you’re looking for a little horror genre this summer.

For more Far Middle “truths,” check out recent episode 153, “Big Truths.”

Far Middle episode 165 premieres during the dog days of summer and the day after this year’s Midsummer Classic. While last night’s All-Star Game was held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Nick heads to Los Angeles for this installment’s sports dedication to Dodger Stadium.

Dodger Stadium, also known as “Chavez Ravine,” has hosted two All-Star Games, numerous World Series games, and legendary concerts over its rich 62-year history. Despite its memorable moments, Nick also examines the stadium’s troubling origins.

Nick then connects to a recent talk he gave only a couple miles south of Dodger Stadium last month to Southern California business leaders. A summary of that address is available at NickDeiuliis.com, see “Address to the Jonathan Club, World Affairs Group.”

Reflecting on the speech, Nick discusses:

• The importance of rational thought and objectivity in policymaking, criticizing the vilification of classical liberal and fiscally conservative views.
• The significance of protecting individual rights from the tyranny of the majority and government overreach.
• The concept of minimal government intervention and maximum governance.
• The U.S. domestic energy industry, particularly the natural gas sector, and America’s ascendency to the world’s largest global producer and net exporter of natural gas. That success was realized from free-market principles and innovative technologies like horizontal drilling.
• The local, regional, and national benefits of the natural gas industry, including economic growth, job creation, and enhanced energy security. These successes are contrasted against the myths and regulatory challenges posed by the Left.
• Sustaining the natural gas industry’s growth and broader economic impact via continued free-market solutions and minimal government interference.

In closing, Nick returns to “Blue Heaven on Earth” for another unique event that Dodger Stadium hosted. Despite its 56,000-plus capacity, the stands were empty on June 4, 1979, when Fleetwood Mac recorded its video for “Tusk” alongside the USC Marching Band.

Far Middle Connections: Five years before that June 4, 1979, “Tusk” recording, the infamous “Ten-Cent Beer Night” in Cleveland occurred on June 4, 1974. Revisit Nick’s reflection on that wild night, alongside three other more distinguished 1974 baseball achievements in Far Middle episode 74, “Always Keep Swinging.”

Kicking off Far Middle episode 164, Nick heads to the NFL for this installment’s sports dedication.

As players report to training camp this month and the 2024 season approaches, Nick picks up where he left off in episode 159 to highlight the crucial role of the offensive line. Without the O-line succeeding in the trenches, “you’re not going to have a successful football team, and its stars are not going to be able to be stars.”

Earning dedication honors is the Oakland Raiders O-line of the early 1970s, which Nick argues is the greatest in offensive line history. That dominating line included Hall of Famers: Jim Otto, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, and Bob “Boomer” Brown. After reflecting on each player’s contributions and their collective powerful impact, Nick transitions by noting Bob Brown’s playing days at the University of Nebraska, which connects to the episode’s focus: William Jennings Bryan.

William Jennings Bryan moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1887. Four years later he was elected to Congress to represent Nebraska’s 1^st congressional district. While Bryan would only serve two terms in Congress and go on to lose three presidential elections (1896, 1900, 1908), his campaigns and policies would have a lasting and powerful impact on American politics and public policy that is still evident today.

“I sense Bryan was obviously onto something with his policies and how they took root in American politics and society,” says Nick. “Yet I also sense they got completely out of control after Bryan’s time to the point where the Frankenstein monster is now running wild. No matter how you cut it though, William Jennings Bryan was a great American—perhaps one of the greatest—and more Americans, they need to know his story.”

In closing, Nick follows the yellow brick road from Nebraska to Kansas, looking back on The Wizard of Oz, as it’s rumored The Cowardly Lion was based on William Jennings Bryan. Nick concludes with a few interesting notes and connections from the film.

For more Far Middle, The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, the year “Teddy Ballgame” would make his Major League Baseball debut. Head back to episode 130 for Nick’s dedication to Ted Williams, “the greatest hitter that ever played the game.”

The Far Middle episode 163 arrives on the eve of the Fourth of July, “which brings to mind all kinds of imagery for Americana, perhaps none bigger than baseball,” begins Nick. Fittingly, the episode’s sports dedication goes to a key figure in the national pastime’s history: Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis.

While Landis served as the first Commissioner of Major League Baseball, elected in 1921 and serving until his death in 1944, Landis also had a storied legal career. Nick recounts how Judge Landis was known for his unique and often controversial rulings, which were frequently overturned on appeal.

In one instance, “He charged Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany with murder after the sinking of the Lusitania, because the casualty list included residents of Illinois, which fell within the judge’s district,” says Nick. “Unfortunately, Landis also trampled over individual rights. As a classic liberal, I don’t like that at all.”

Nick then examines Judge Landis’ role as Commissioner, including banning eight White Sox players involved in the 1919 World Series “Black Sox” scandal, as well as his behind-the-scenes efforts to prohibit African American players from playing in the Major League. For more on the Black Sox scandal, listen to Nick’s dedication to Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein in Far Middle episode 149.

While Judge Landis was just assuming his role as Commissioner of Baseball, another much more significant incident would take place in the summer of 1921: “One of the saddest and most outrageous chapters in American jurisprudence, and it’s one that had tragic consequences and led to a reputational black eye for the United States globally,” says Nick.

That incident would come on July 14, 1921, when Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were found guilty of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a few miles south of Boston.

Sacco and Vanzetti, Italian immigrants, were arrested and charged with the crime despite lacking evidence and procedural flaws. Nick proceeds to describe how the trial highlighted the systemic prejudices against immigrants, particularly Italians, at the time.

Despite global protests and notable figures like Albert Einstein and Felix Frankfurter speaking out against the injustice, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927. For further commentary on the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, conviction, and execution, see Nick’s recent essay, “The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti: Tragic Failure of the American Ideal.”

As Sacco and Vanzetti were preparing for execution in August 1927, and Commissioner Landis was watching the Babe chase 60 homeruns, Nick closes with an interesting juxtaposition, the dedication of Mount Rushmore that took place on August 10, 1927.

While Mount Rushmore symbolizes the ideals of American democracy, its creation also symbolizes the flaws of government, such as funding delays extending the seven-year project out 14 years, and the inclusion of Teddy Roosevelt due to his friendship with the project’s architect.

Looking ahead, mark your calendars for July 10 for the release of episode 164, when Nick delves into a great figure in American history, William Jennings Bryan.

Released on June 26, 2024, the Far Middle episode 162 arrives on the anniversary of baseball legend Frank Robinson’s June 26, 1970, double grand slam game. Nick uses the connection to reflect on the 1982 Hall of Fame inductee’s powerful career, both on and off the field.

Following Robinson in the episode’s lineup is a discussion on the rising demand for electricity driven by the growth of data centers for AI across the U.S. This power demand clashes with current energy policies that prioritize intermittent renewable energy over reliable sources like natural gas. The result is compromised grid reliability and increased energy costs, which will challenge the tech industry’s growth.

“You cannot adopt draconian net zero plans and climate alarmism ideology, and at the same time hope to be able to grow the data center and AI economy at an efficient pace—mutually exclusive under the laws of math and physics,” says Nick.

Staying on the topic of climate alarmism ideology, Nick connects to New Jersey’s multi-year effort to infuse climate change into its primary and high school science curriculum, and more recently the state is incorporating climate change into all school subjects. “New Jersey public schools are now religious institutions,” says Nick. And while New Jersey schools focus on indoctrinating students into the religion of radical environmentalism and climate alarmism, student proficiency rates in English, math, and science are declining sharply.

Nick then pivots to the power the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has over the Catholic Church, criticizing Pope Francis for compromising with the CCP. “The Vatican surrenders more and more to China and the CCP simply to keep the optics of a good relationship alive,” says Nick.

In closing, Nick makes a final connection to June 26, which is also the birthday of British mathematician, physicist, and engineer William Thompson, also known as Lord Kelvin.

Born in 1824, Thompson’s numerous scientific contributions include creating the absolute temperature scale, now known as the Kelvin scale. Thompson was also involved in the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, serving “as a founding father connection to the artificial intelligence industry of today,” says Nick as he ends on “a science history connection that Dr. James Burke would be proud of.”