Archive for 2020
May 21, 2020
DISPATCHES FROM THE MANCHURIAN MEDIA: China’s President Xi Jinping ‘turns down Mark Zuckerberg’s request to name his unborn child’ at White House dinner.
THE SHOOTER WAS DESCRIBED AS AN “ARAB MALE” IN OTHER REPORTS: Shooting at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terror-related, FBI says.
SO TRUMP’S READ THE MARCHING MORONS, THEN?
UNLESS PEOPLE ARE REALLY PACKED TOGETHER, THE RISK OF OUTDOOR SPREAD SEEMS LOW: SpaceX will make history with NASA astronaut launch next week. But will it draw crowds to Florida?
AT AMAZON, save on Bestsellers in Automotive.
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Why oh why is NY Governor Andrew Cuomo being praised for his coronavirus response? Governor Andrew Cuomo does not deserve kudos for his COVID-19 policies. He put the elderly at great risk. By killing a lot of them.
DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Cougar Attacks Two Bicyclists in Washington State, Killing One.
Predators should be afraid of people. What makes predators afraid of people is being shot when they encounter people.
UPDATE: Somebody sent me this story, and I noticed the May 20 date, but not the 2018 part. Still, the point stands.
SHE’S BORING, BUT NOT HATED LIKE GRETCHEN WHITMER OR KAMALA HARRIS: Biden asks Amy Klobuchar to undergo vetting to be running mate. She’s mean, though.
JAMES BOVARD ASKS AN EVERGREEN QUESTION: Will the Political Class Be Held Liable For What They’ve Done?
And the evergreen answer: When has it ever been? “Shutting down entire states, including vast uninfected rural swaths, is the economic equivalent of burning witches or sacrificing virgins to appease angry viral gods. Because politicians have no liability for the economic damage they inflict, they have no incentive to minimize the disruptions they decree. . . . Even New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who callously compelled nursing homes to accept COVID patients, will have no legal culpability for a policy that contributed to more than 5,000 nursing home deaths in his state. Pennsylvania Health Czar Rachel Levine issued a similar order, contributing to thousands of nursing home deaths, and then removed her own 95-year-old mother from a nursing home to keep her safe.”
I’m willing to cut people a lot of slack in dealing with something unprecedented on limited information. But so many of the actions were taken with so much asserted certainty about things that turned out to be wrong, because “science.”
GQ PIECE ON THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT LABELS GEORGE WALLACE A REPUBLICAN.
As a Mr. A. Goldfinger would say, “Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.’”
REASON MAGAZINE WRITERS CAN NOW RETURN TO THE OFFICE: Scientists believe cannabis could help prevent and treat coronavirus.
THE WEB’S A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY? THINK AGAIN, TAIWAN SAYS:
Audrey Tang has worn a lot of hats. As a gifted teenager, she won recognition as a software programmer, and founded her own company. She’s been a Silicon Valley worker and a “hacktivist.” She’s a Taiwanese millennial: a technically minded generation, with a strong sense of Taiwanese identity, and the first in decades to be able to express themselves freely.
And she’s also a minister in the Taiwanese Cabinet – the youngest-ever appointed without a portfolio, and the nation’s first transgender minister.
* * * * * * * *
A self-described “conservative anarchist,” Ms. Tang rejects a top-down approach that assumes the government has all the answers, saying her job as minister is to facilitate the marriage of good ideas and execution. “She has a tremendous faith in the capacity of people,” says Dr. Weyl, who has worked with Ms. Tang on several civic technology projects and serves with her on the board of RadicalxChange. Brilliant and empathetic, she inspires people to action, he says, adding, “Audrey is the most impressive person I have ever met.”
Read the whole thing.
THE MANCHURIAN THINK TANK: Koch-Soros Think Tank Features Defender of Chinese Censorship.
ART OF THE DEAL: U.S. secures 300 million doses, almost a third, of potential AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
If Trump were a Democrat, we’d be hearing about this everywhere as evidence of his forward-leaning strategy. Since he’s Trump, we probably will barely hear about it at all, unless someone can find out that he has fifty bucks worth of AstraZeneca stock in a mutual fund somewhere and charge him with self-dealing.
CAYMAN: Premier: 1 Sept. border reopening unlikely. Things are improving here in the U.S., and in Europe, but South and Central America are exploding with new cases.
And Cayman’s strategy — while sensible for an island in many ways — has a problem, correctly identified by the Premier: “I mean, if the virus continues to rage around us, how can we possibly open our borders and invite it to come after all the efforts we’ve made to keep it under control here.”
So if the virus vanishes over the summer on its own (possible, but how likely?) or if there’s an effective and available vaccine within 6 months (possible, but how likely?) then they can reopen safely. But if not, then they’re going to probably have to reopen anyway, and experience deaths and sickness on top of the losses from being locked down. Other, bigger islands, like New Zealand and Australia, face a similar problem.
SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: General Flynn & Amici in the Federal Courts. “I suspect that this will not end well for the reputation of the federal courts.”
Well, Matt Taibbi(!) is already saying that Judge Sullivan’s action is what one would expect from a judge in Belarus.
UPDATE: DC Circuit Court Orders Sullivan To Respond To Flynn’s Appeal To Dismiss Case.
THREE FEET SOUNDS A LOT BETTER: There’s little “science” behind the six-foot social-distancing rule. A U.K. expert says that the country’s two-meter rule is based on “very fragile evidence” and is probably excessive. Sweden, Norway, Austria and Finland are getting by with one-meter distancing, which makes it much easier for restaurants and other businesses to reopen.
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Academic Descent. Fred Siegel reviews two excellent new books on the triumph of ideology over ideas on campus: The Lost History of Western Civilization, by Stanley Kurtz, and The Breakdown of Higher Education, by John M. Ellis.
TAKE THE RED PILL: Tesla Model 3: The Complete Guide.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE. MOVE ALONG. Obama’s FBI Offered To Pay Christopher Steele To Dig Up Dirt on Mike Flynn.
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Why oh why is NY Governor Andrew Cuomo being praised for his coronavirus response? Governor Andrew Cuomo does not deserve kudos for his COVID-19 policies. He put the elderly at great risk. By killing a lot of them.