I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Cigarette sales jumped during COVID-19 pandemic, study says. It’s not a smoke-free workplace when you’re working at home.
Archive for 2021
October 21, 2021
I SUPPOSE A PRAGMATIC SCIENCE-AND-EXPERIENCE-BASED APPROACH IS OUT OF THE QUESTION: “What does adapting permanently to endemic Covid look like in places — especially blue states, and especially their most liberal enclaves — that have relied on stringent measures whenever cases surge? . . . As we saw after Sept. 11, certain forms of security theater, once established, become extremely difficult to dislodge as long as there is still any arguable threat. So as long as Covid stays in the news, it’s not hard to envision masking requirements for airplanes and trains persisting far into the future, much as we still try to foil Al Qaeda by taking off our shoes for airport security lines. It’s also possible to imagine a future in which the weird emergent norm of ‘masks for the help but not the V.I.P.s’ — visible everywhere from the Met Gala to political fund-raisers to posh hotels — becomes an expected feature of life among the blue-state upper class (as well as a potent symbol for its critics). . . . Especially since the culture of deep-blue America is caught up in the same toxic feedback loops of polarization as deep-red America. If certain forms of Republican insouciance about Covid are forged in the fires of cultural resentment, in which you reject Faucian micromanagement by ditching masks and refusing the vaccine, certain forms of liberal overregulation seem forged in fear of red American contagion — in which we just have to mask our kids indefinitely, even though many other developed countries aren’t doing it, because we need to set an example of seriousness to shame all those red-state anti-maskers.”
Our political class is addicted to shaming. It was better when they were just a bunch of drunks.
IT’S BEEN A BAD YEAR FOR ARKANSAS LAW: Arkansas law school dean accused of antisemitism by Jewish professor after Clinton clash. “In a written statement, Mr. Steinbuch said Ms. Beiner tried to complicate his professional life after he had a federal judge lecture his classes on days he could not attend while observing Jewish high holy days. Both Mr. Steinbuch and another Jewish professor, Joshua Silverstein, said Ms. Beinert has denied their requests to teach a constitutional law class, despite their seniority and credentials, the two said.”
JAMES LILEKS RESPONDS TO PEPPERMINT PSAKI’S TREADMILL CRACK:
Perhaps you saw this exchange on the twitters. It struck some people as a sign of a particular attitude that regards all this fooferal about “not getting things” and “bare shelves” as a sign of a problem, instead of proof of robust, fully functioning economy that’s doing so well it just can’t keep up with the raw animal spirits of our rapacious demands. It’s what you might say if you’re quietly and personally exasperated that people are unable to grasp the upside of higher prices.
Is this the dividing line? Your treadmill is delayed, boo hoo, world’s smallest violin. But what if your bike is delayed? I would think that’s bad, because bike are good and holy and sustainable. I don’t think she would have rolled her eyes if bikes were being delayed. But a treadmill – or, for that matter, a stationary bike – well, learn to live with less.
Reset your expectations, we’re told. Relax. You don’t need all these things; you don’t need so many choices.
This works when you have an existential crisis, and everything’s mobilized for war production. Absent that, the message sems to be: stop thinking like an American.
Because that is the problem, isn’t it? Old and busted: wowing Soviet leaders with the bounty of our supermarkets. The new naught-ness: empty shelves are good thing, because we’re bouncing back bigger, and also (the whispered part) you realize that being a fat greedy Costco shopper with all your expectations is unsustainable and inequitous.
Why, it’s as if: Jen Psaki Hates You.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Nets Censor Devastating Poll Numbers for Collapsing Biden Presidency.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
Evergreen:
SPACE: SpaceX Might Make Elon Musk World’s First Trillionaire. “Musk’s space ambitions are huge. He’s not interested in shuttling to the International Space Station or even getting us back to the moon. He wants to go to Mars. Personally. He’s practically accomplished more in the last five years than the moribund NASA bureaucracy has since Neil Armstrong took his first famous lunar step.”
And whoever figures out how to profitably mine 16 Psyche could be the first quadrillionaire.
GRADUALLY, AND THEN SUDDENLY: How the New York Times led the collapse in media credibility.
SALENA ZITO: Virginia delegate races could reflect national anti-Democratic mood.
While much of the media is paying attention to the gubernatorial race here, it will be interesting to see if these same center-right suburban voters are telling us how they feel about the state of things in the world. In short, have the media and the Democrats been effective in still making everything and everyone that is a Republican a mini version of Trump that will storm the state capital on any given day?
Or are center-right suburban voters unsatisfied with how the Democrats have handled the power voters gave them?
All 100 state House seats are on the ballot. Will voters tell Democrats they are seen not as a governing body but as a party with a bad overreach problem?
As in 2020 nationally, Democrats running for the Virginia House also have a sizable cash advantage over the Republicans, and they have had luminaries such as former President Barack Obama coming in to remind voters to vote straight Democratic. Then again, ask former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds how much that helped him in his run for governor in 2009, when voters were reacting to national Democrats’ supermajority and superoverreach in that election cycle.
Don’t get cocky.
BY ANY MEANS FAIR OR FOUL: They’re at It Again: The Left Is Using Its California Playbook in Virginia.
VACCINE MANDATES ARE THE NEW JIM CROW:
Apparently, it’s difficult to comprehend that the people who never stopped working while you were in your bubble, who bore the greatest risk throughout the whole pandemic, are making their own calculated decisions about getting a vaccine. As a society, we seem chronically unwilling to take their arguments and reservations into account (let alone scientific considerations like natural immunity—the vulnerable populations that suffered the most deaths also suffered the largest rates of infection. It’s not out of the question that many already had the virus).
The discourse in the media makes it sound like these criticisms are aimed at the right-wing anti-vaxxer population—and that might be true on a countrywide level—but the numbers tell the truest story about who will be most disproportionately affected by draconian mandates. In L.A. County, only 54% of the Black population and 62% of the “Latinx” population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Despite all the resources the city ostensibly devotes to equity and inclusion, it’s clear that these minority populations will be most affected by the mandates. If Black lives matter to you so much, shouldn’t you care that Black people will be excluded from restaurants and movie theaters and nail salons?
From my perspective, this is state-sanctioned discrimination, and the righteous moralizing from the pajama class is the highest form of limousine liberal hypocrisy. Aiming uncharitable and derisive rhetoric at the very people you have been screaming should have a seat at the table is a tone-deaf disgrace.
Our ruling class is not very consistent, but then it’s also not very bright, and not very nice.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Great Beer Every Time. #CommissionEarned
FLASHBACK: The unilateral war on college men. And Biden has brought Catherine Lhamon back.
ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS THE NARRATIVE: Nets Censor Devastating Poll Numbers for Collapsing Biden Presidency.
According to Quinnipiac, the President sits at 40 percent approval. It’s even worse for the Grinnell College poll, showing Biden at just 37 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval. Both are respected polling companies and included in the Real Clear Politics Average of polls. (The new numbers can be found here.)
Again, you wouldn’t know that if you watched ABC, CBS or NBC. It’s not as though Good Morning America’s Jon Karl wasn’t aware of at least one of the polls. He cited Quinnipiac, but only the outfit’s numbers on Donald Trump: “A new poll from Quinnipiac found that 78 percent of Republicans want Donald Trump to be president again in 2024.” That amounted to just 8 seconds on the network.
In contrast, Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo highlighted the bad news on Wednesday, noting, “When asked about the most urgent issues facing America, the top answers were the economy, Covid-19, immigration and health care.” Those are subjects that mostly look bad for Biden.
Mostly?
PUSHBACK WORKS, DON’T STOP: University of Michigan drops investigation into professor for showing movie with blackface. “The University of Michigan said it will not formally investigate Professor Bright Sheng for showing a 1965 movie that contained a white actor wearing makeup to have a darker skin tone. University officials were ‘considering opening a formal investigation into Professor Sheng for his classroom showing of Othello,’ but they have ‘determined that it will not do so after reviewing the complaints against him,’ according to a free-speech group.”
But it’s not over yet.
Michigan, you may recall, offered coloring books and play-doh for its students to cope with the trauma of a Trump win in 2016.
WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY BECLOWNS ITSELF: Staff surprised by the unfamiliar pronouns approved for campus use. “Western Carolina University has added 12 different pronoun combinations to the student learning management system portal, Canvas. Some of the added pronoun combinations include (Ze/Hir), (Fae/Faer), (E/Eir), (Ve/Ver) and (Xe/Xem).”
MOSTLY WE SHOULD HAVE THEM — AND SHOULD HAVE HAD THEM DECADES AGO — BECAUSE THEY’D BE GREAT TO HAVE: U.S. needs nuclear spacecraft to compete with China, NASA official says.
YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is Big Law’s Addiction To Elite Law Schools Hobbling Diversity Efforts?
SENT OUT A BUNCH OF THANK-YOU NOTES TO FOLKS WHO DONATED VIA PAYPAL: If I somehow missed your donation, thanks very much!
TEN DOLLARS OR TEN MILLION DOLLARS, DEMOCRATS NEED TO MIND THEIR OWN DAMN BUSINESS: Democrats Now Say They Will Only Snoop on Bank Transactions Over $10,000.
ARE THERE ANY INSTITUTIONS LEFT THAT ARE NOT CORRUPT? Are Film Industry Insiders Covering Up Fauci Film Flop? “IMDB just got caught with its pants down. Social media is noticing that they changed the Fauci film 1.6 audience score to 5.8, but they neglected to change the demographic data or the raw distribution, so it looks like they just faked the top-line number. Meanwhile at Rotten Tomatoes, after being humiliated on social media for blocking the audience rating feature on Fauci, they just turned it on…and the film is getting an incredible 2%. Note the contrast with the rave (left-wing) professional review score of 90%.”
SIGNS OF THE TIMES: I Will Not Comply T-Shirt. #CommissionEarned
OUR OWN LEADERS DID THIS TO US:
Related: NIH Contradicts Fauci, Admits Funding Gain-of-Function Research at Wuhan Lab. “Fauci testified to Senators at a hearing in May that the NIH ‘has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.'”