Archive for 2021

TO ASK THE QUESTION IS TO ANSWER IT: The Lab Leak Hypothesis Revisited. “The considerable evidence in favor of the lab leak hypothesis is why numerous medical researchers have signed an open letter in science asking that the lab leak hypothesis be seriously explored.”

FASTER, PLEASE: Zapping nerves with ultrasound lowers drug-resistant blood pressure. “Brief pulses of ultrasound delivered to nerves near the kidney produced a clinically meaningful drop in blood pressure in people whose hypertension did not respond to a triple cocktail of medications, reports a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian.”

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: The Morbid Truth About COVID-19 Deaths.

Insanity Wrap needs to know: Why can’t government officials talk honestly about COVID morbidity?

Answer: Because being held accountable for more than 30 years of bad policy would really suck for them.

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

  • Inflating our way to solvency
  • Nazis return to Austria and they don’t even speak German
  • Tents don’t normally explode, do they?

Bonus Sanity: Don’t mess with Texas.

And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

IS THIS REALLY NEWS? FDA: Magnets in cellphones, smartwatches may affect pacemakers. But they’ve been warning pacemaker users of this forever. Anyway, I think the headline is misleading: “The FDA conducted its own testing on some products that use the high field strength magnet feature and said that it considers the risk to patients low. The agency said it is not aware of any adverse events associated with this issue at this time.”

WE’VE BEEN GOING ABOUT THIS WHOLE VACCINE THING TOTALLY WRONG: Meet Rep. Cori Bush and Her Fellow Faith Healers. Missouri Dem supposedly cured of COVID through faith-healing-by-phone. “Since taking office, the congresswoman has focused on issues such as health equity for mothers—whom she refers to as ‘birthing people’—and the alleged rise of white supremacy within Congress. Bush also joined ‘The Squad,’ a clique of far-left members that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).”

DAVID HARSANYI: Biden Is Off to a Disastrous Start.

What else can the president control? Nationalizing elections isn’t the president’s job. Controlling the southern border is. Yet, when Biden isn’t blaming Donald Trump or seasonal migration patterns for the crisis on the border, he’s pretending nothing is wrong.

There were 178,622 apprehensions on the border in April, according to Customs and Border Protection — the highest total in more than two decades. To put the number in context, last April, there were 17,106 apprehensions.

The president can’t control the movement of migrants outside our borders. But Biden helped trigger this crisis by, among other things, undoing the Trump administration’s “public-charge” policies that barred immigrants from participating in welfare programs and rolling back the “remain in Mexico” policy that impelled migrants to wait in Mexico while their claims were being adjudicated. Moreover, most modern Democrats talk about laws that govern illegal immigration and border control as inherently racist and unnecessary. All of this incentivizes the anarchy we’re seeing at the border.

Demanding we wear masks isn’t the president’s job. Conducting foreign policy is. And since Biden took the reins, the Middle East has dramatically destabilized.

But other than that, how did you enjoy the first 100 days, Mr. Harsanyi?