Archive for 2020
July 30, 2020
THE NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA ARE THE SCHWERPUNKT OF THE CULTURE WAR, BUT THE EDUCATION APPARAT IS A CLOSE SECOND: Viewpoint Diversity Gets a Boost as Families Flee Public Schools: Independent education means a wide range of approaches as to what children are taught.
BUSINESS GROWS SPINE: Trader Joe’s Decides Against Caving To The Mobs, Will Not Change Packaging.
The California teen’s petition has fewer than 5,000 signatures but the fact that one bored teenager with a computer could cause an entirely successful corporation to change their grossly successful marketing strategy is a sure sign that we’ve lost the center of what began as an important discussion about race and government and has now devolved into cherry-picked temper tantrums.
It remains to be seen what, if anything, Trader Joe’s actually changes. My money is on “nothing.” To my mind, this is just smoke and mirrors and they’ll get on with their business knowing the winds will change and the news cycle will move on and everyone will forget about them soon enough.
It’s an idea so crazy, it just might work.
I REMEMBER WHEN LOYALTY OATHS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FASCISTIC AND UNAMERICAN: Exclusive: UT Austin Proposes Political Litmus Tests for Hiring and Promotion.
I HOPE THIS IS RIGHT, AND KIND OF THINK IT IS: Despite What You’ve Heard, The COVID Crisis Probably Peaked Two Weeks Ago.
IF YOU SQUINT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO SEE THE PEACEFULNESS: Jim Jordan’s Video of ‘Mostly Peaceful’ Rioters.
WE DIDN’T DELAY ELECTIONS FOR THE CIVIL WAR, WE DON’T NEED TO DELAY THEM FOR THIS: Donald Trump suggests delay to 2020 US presidential election. And I just voted safely last week. But this will have the effect — which is probably the real goal — of goading the catastrophists into supporting a return to normality.
UPDATE: A friend on Facebook comments: “The left is going bonkers over this. They’re too dumb to realize this is a play off the left’s ‘we can’t start school until we have a vaccine’ and ‘we can’t go back to work until Covid runs its course’ positions. The left now has to choose one course or the other.”
SCIENCE: Some scientists are taking a DIY coronavirus vaccine, and nobody knows if it’s legal or if it works. “Famed geneticist George Church and at least 20 others didn’t want to wait for the results of clinical trials: ‘I think we are at much bigger risk from covid.'” Statistically, that’s unlikely but okay. Good luck!
FASTER, PLEASE: Dozens charged with federal crimes in Portland riots. “Federal law enforcement in Portland has arrested 74 people and charged 60 of them with federal crimes for actions they allegedly took against federal police and facilities in the Oregon city, according to the Justice Department. DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec announced Monday afternoon that U.S. attorneys have also arrested 236 people and charged 238 nationwide in cases related to ‘violent opportunists’ and ‘civil unrest.’”
UNEXPECTEDLY: St. Louis Circuit attorney prosecuting McCloskeys failed to report trips paid for by activist groups: Report.
Earlier:
● Prosecutors File Charges Against McCloskeys But Their ‘Case’ May Have Already Fallen Apart.
● Missouri Governor Says He’ll Likely Pardon Armed St. Louis Couple If They Are Charged.
● Kimberly Gardner, one of four Democrats running for St. Louis circuit attorney in the Aug. 2 primary, is taking heat for a new political ad paid for with money from a national super PAC that is at least partly funded by liberal billionaire George Soros.”
● Soros-Backed Foundation Invests $220 Million to Support Racial Justice.
HMM: Plexiglass Won’t Save Us: Colleges (And Law Schools) Must Go Online In Fall 2020. I chose to go online this semester because I thought our “hybrid” teaching setup would be inferior, and I’d still prefer to teach in class as usual. But the other advantage to going online is that there’s a nontrivial chance we’ll switch to it in the middle of the semester, and this way if we do I’ll already be there, and with a superior setup.
Meanwhile, here’s what’s really going on most places: “The race to get back to campus in some form, even for a few weeks, is largely about one thing: money. If this fall is entirely online, polls have shown, families don’t think they should have to pay the on-campus price. The traditional business model for higher education is built on the in-person experience. Without it, vast pieces of institutional budgets will collapse and quite possibly the very future of all but the most prominent institutions.”
I think a lot of schools will show last-minute class melt, where people just don’t show up on the first day.
VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Bill Gates Demands, ‘Silence, Disgusting Peasant!’
Insanity Wrap needs to know: Who is the First Amendment for?
Answer: It’s for the right people, darling, as all the right people will tell you.
Before we get to that, today’s Wrap also includes:
• The NBA’s Chinese sweatshops.
• BLM goes full mobster.
• Ideological drag queens.
So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.
COVID RELIEF FOR NASA? Yes, $1.5 billion, and Taxpayers for Common Sense are wondering why.
IF THE PRESS ISN’T DOING IT, IT’S BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW: I’m still looking for some high-quality investigative journalism about who is responsible for the violence and disorder accompanying the protests.
ANOTHER TRUMP PUBLIC HEALTH TRIUMPH: FDA opens door to rapid at-home screening of Covid-19.
THE CENTER HOLDS: Focus Groups Show Midwest Swing Voters Solidly Behind Trump. “Pollsters are consistently telling us Democratic nominee Joe Biden is far ahead. I’m not looking to pick a fight, as their sample sizes are much larger than mine. That said, as a focus group moderator, I’m hearing strong support for President Donald Trump from a critical sliver of the electorate.”
As always, don’t get cocky.