THIN AIR THERAPY: The unexpected medical benefits of hypoxia.
This isn’t entirely surprising. As Bill Broad noted in his very interesting book on the science of yoga, while yoga practitioners talk about flooding the body with oxygen, many yoga poses and breathing routines actually lower oxygen and increase CO2. And that can be beneficial.
FROM THE ALOHA STATE: STOP COMING HERE: The Hawaii Tourism Authority wants fewer tourists. Careful what you wish for.
THE BCG VACCINE HAS BEEN LOOKING PROMISING FOR A WHILE: Old vaccine for tuberculosis may help protect older people against COVID-19.
THEY’RE ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK: Potential COVID-19 medication found among tapeworm drugs.
THE HUNGARY GAMES:
● Rod Dreher on point: Tucker To Hungary, Nixon To China.
Which brings us to Viktor Orban’s Hungary. It is quite sensible that Tucker Carlson and other conservatives would want to figure out what the leader of this small, relatively poor Central European country has done to hold off those like George Soros and the woke leadership of the European Union, to defend his country and its sovereignty. With our own conservative establishment either neutered or sidelined by pointless lib-owning enthusiasms, thinkers of the American Right who actually care about saving our civilization ought to be coming to Hungary and Poland to study these places, and to make common cause with these people. They could use our solidarity — and we can certainly use theirs.
● And also from Dreher: Viktor Orbán is winning his culture war.
As an American, I have seen how the madness of gender studies has migrated in the blink of an eye from a once-fringe academic discipline to a commanding ideology of the Western ruling class and its institutions. Along with critical race theory, gender ideology is tearing American apart. To dissent from gender ideology in any way — even, as J.K. Rowling did, as a left-wing feminist — is to risk your career. Academic freedom is an important liberal value, but it cannot be society’s suicide note.
In late spring, I spoke with Peter Kreko, a widely admired Budapest professor who is a well-known liberal critic of the Orbán government. He told me that he strongly opposes the government’s policies against gay marriage and gay adoption, but added, mildly, that ‘I don’t follow the logic’ of transgenderism. Later in our interview, he conceded that for all his criticism of Orbán and Fidesz, he can say whatever he likes in his classroom without fear of retribution.
I pointed out to him that in many American universities, he could not say what he had earlier in our talk — that he strongly supported gay rights, but was slightly uncertain about the trans phenomenon — without facing swift denunciation from his students, and pressure to resign. The college administration probably would not stand by his right to academic freedom, and would find some reason to cut him loose. His reputation as a bigot secured, he would never work in academia again.
None of this would come from the state. It would all come from the militant, illiberal ideology that has seized control of American academia. So who is more free to speak his mind: a professor in Orbán’s Hungary, or a professor in the US?
● Jonah Goldberg on counterpoint: Nationalists Turn Their Lonely Eyes to Hungary.
So, as a matter of practical politics, I think this is really an absurd waste of time. And as a matter of intellectual or cultural politics, I think it’s ill-advised. Flirting with a personality cult surrounding a corrupt, demagogic foreign leader who—justifiably or not—has earned a reputation as a wannabe despot is a great way to limit the appeal of your arguments and invite skepticism about your larger motives. Please note the lawyerly precision of the previous statement. I’m not saying that everyone celebrating the Hungarian model is a would-be authoritarian or nativist. I’m saying that getting overly enthusiastic about Orbánism is needlessly lending ammo to those who would make that charge.
But what I will say is that I find all of this stuff to be a depressing sign of conservative rot. For my entire adult life, conservatives have heaped scorn—and rightly so—on progressives who looked to Europe for inspiration on how to transform America. “Europe banned guns!” progressives would exclaim. “So what? We’re not Europe,” conservatives would answer. You can substitute the progressive pleading about how “Europe has socialized medicine!” or “Europe has a massive welfare state!” etc., and the argument stays the same. Sometimes it wasn’t Europe, but Scandinavia or Germany. Or, before that, Italy and the Soviet Union. Heck, in the 1980s, liberal technocrats cast their Atari Democrat gaze on Japan. In the 1990s, the Thomas Friedman crowd smushed their collective noses against the candy store window of China, and longingly cried, “I want a piece of that!” But the argument was always the same.
We report, you decide.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Well, you might as well look to Hungary, as you’re not going to find any inspiration coming from Jonah Goldberg.
PROGRESS: SpaceX briefly puts together largest rocket in history at Texas base. “SpaceX briefly constructed the largest rocket ever made Friday, attaching the U.S. aerospace company’s Starship spacecraft to the Super Heavy booster at its facility in Texas. The combined height of the structure was 400 feet, nearly 40 feet taller than the next largest Saturn V rocket built by NASA. The SpaceX rocket, though, will have about twice as much thrust as Saturn V, 70 meganewtons compared to 25 meganewtons.”
ROGER SIMON: Hagerty Holds Up the Senate—for Good Reason.
An article in the Washington Times this morning—“GOP Sen. Hagerty blocks Democrats from expediting $1.2T infrastructure bill in late-night session”—made this bald guy’s hair stand on end this morning.
“Sen. Bill Hagerty blocked Democrats from ramming through President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill late Thursday, only hours after the package was found to be not fully paid for as promised.
“Mr. Hagerty, a first-term Republican from Tennessee, refused to sign off on a deal between Democratic and GOP lawmakers to expedite passage of the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer had worked out an agreement with Republicans to pass a series of amendments to the infrastructure package en masse.
“If successful, the tactic would have all but ended debate on the bill, setting up a final vote for Saturday. To succeed, however, all 100 members of the Senate had to acquiesce, something Mr. Hagerty refused.”
It appears Hagerty had a good reason. A report had just come in from the Congressional Budget Office detailing that the bill, which had been ballyhooed as revenue neutral (i.e., “No new taxes,” as the saying goes), was coming in all of a quarter of trillion dollars short.
Who pays for that? Well, we know. And then there’s the little matter of the astronomical national debt no one’s supposed to care about.
Bravo, Bill Hagerty!
But where were the rest of the supposedly fiscally-responsible Republicans?
Arguing with Hagerty to get him to change his mind, according to Examiner reporter Haris Alic, so they could go off on vacation. It’s the dog days of August, so the beaches were calling, and, besides, Schumer & Co. were going to get their way in the end anyway. The rancid Green New Deal was next.
Yet, Hagerty held his ground. And, to be clear, the freshman senator is no naive freshman, wet behind the ears. He was the ambassador to Japan, not exactly a lightweight job.
This kind of report, assuming it’s accurate, and unfortunately it reads true, makes you wonder about many of your favorite senators talk a good game on television but when the rubber meets the road (hate that expression, but it’s still early in the morning) don’t come through.
Much more like this, please.
THAT’S BECAUSE THE THREAT OF THE “DELTA VARIANT” IS EXAGGERATED: J&J’s COVID-19 jab holds up against Delta variant, study finds.
NAVY COULD RETURN TO USING PHOTOS FOR PROMOTIONS: “The Navy could include service photos in promotion packages again after data suggested minorities are less likely to be selected blindly in some situations by promotion review boards, the service’s chief of personnel said Tuesday… [Marine Brig. Gen. A.T. Williamson said,] ‘There are elements of the photo that are…very helpful for us. I think that we may find that we may have disadvantaged individuals by removing those photos from the boards.'”
I kept waiting for the twist that would tell me that this isn’t what it looks like, but it never came.
FAKE NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Babylon Bee Guide To All The Different Christian Denominations.
HEATHER MAC DONALD: The new COVID hysteria contagious among conservatives.
When Donald Trump was in the White House, conservatives lauded Operation Warp Speed. They viewed Pfizer’s decision not to seek emergency authorization for its COVID vaccine until after the November 2020 election as an attempt to deny Trump a much-needed and deserved boost at the ballot box. Liberals, meanwhile, from Kamala Harris to Andrew Cuomo, expressed skepticism about the safety of a Trump-overseen vaccine. Now that Joe Biden is president, the conservative outer fringes are portraying COVID vaccines as bioweapons designed by ‘globalist psychopaths’, while liberals are decrying vaccine hesitancy as a pathology of right-wingers, ignoring the even higher rate of skepticism among blacks.
Many conservatives would insist that their opposition focuses on vaccine mandates, rather than on the vaccines themselves. But the distinction is not sharply drawn. The media and the numerous Democratic interest groups will never stop hyping COVID case counts as a way to keep society in lockdown or its next best alternatives: universal masking and crippling social distancing rules. If the last year and a half has taught anything, it is that no amount of rational argument can counter the siren song of fear. The only way to defeat the case count racket and return human life to some semblance of normalcy is to eliminate rising case counts entirely. Vaccines are a proven way of doing so, whose risks at this point pale in comparison with the destructiveness of COVID hysteria. Conservatives should be promoting their use, including mandates for healthcare workers, once the object of saccharine nightly tributes of horn blowing and pot banging, now among the staunchest of vax-resisters.
Read the whole thing.
Related: Ignoring Them Is the Only Way Out. “My view is, I think, the normal one that it’s urgently necessary for vulnerable people to get it but that it is insane, evil, and innumerate to delay normalcy for children until there’s a pediatric vaccine. But getting vaccines into arms doesn’t guarantee an end to public-health interference…If you asked public-health authorities for permission to be born and live a life, there’s no way they could just, you know, approve of that in an unqualified way. You just have to remember that you’ll never be in less danger to yourself or others until dead. They’re waiting for us — the people. The people began locking down and shutting in and buying masks last February, when public-health officials were telling you that masks were racist and that you should attend Chinese New Year parades to show you weren’t afraid. The people began traveling out more — based on the Google traffic data — before the lockdowns were eased. When does it end? When we end it.”
JACK DUNPHY: In Progressive Washington State, Criminal Justice Reform Only a Criminal Could Love.
Imagine a family so imprudent as to have chosen to vacation in Seattle this summer. They are walking from their downtown hotel on their way the Pike Place Market, and as they weave through the homeless drug addicts lining the sidewalk they are set upon by robbers, who at gunpoint relieve them of their money, cameras, jewelry, and cellphones. The robbers drive off in a white Toyota.
The unfortunate tourists call 911 and provide the police with a description of the robbers and the getaway car in the hope that responding officers will spot the culprits before they can make a clean escape. An officer on patrol nearby sees a white Toyota, the occupants of which match the description provided by the victims. The officer drives up behind the Toyota and attempts to pull it over. Rather than stop for the police, the Toyota driver hits the gas and speeds off. What happens next?
A car chase, you say, at the conclusion of which the evil-doers are arrested and the stolen property is returned to its rightful owners.
Incorrect. The Toyota is allowed to drive off unmolested, the occupants free to dispose of the victims’ belongings as they please. This is Seattle, Washington, we’re talking about, where the state lawmakers, in their wisdom, have enacted House Bill 1310, which restricts the police from using force in any circumstance where they lack probable cause to make an arrest.
Good and hard.
NIGEL FARAGE Beats BBC and Sky News Combined in Ratings.
Plus: “The BBC — which is funded by a mandatory ‘licence’ imposed on anyone who watches live television, even if they do not consume any BBC content — is said to be facing a ‘crisis’, with one million households stopping their payments of the TV tax in the past two years.”
BYRON YORK: For the FBI, a Shameful Anniversary. The launch of Operation Crossfire Hurricane, a partisan political disinformation operation run at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
A friend messages: “Crossfire Hurricane was a political disinformation campaign? I thought it was a conspiracy to commit insurrection.”
Embrace the power of “and.”
SIXTY PERCENT OF THE TIME, IT WORKS EVERY TIME: Biden Slips Up, Says 350 Million Americans Have Been Vaccinated Against COVID-19. “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019, the country’s population was estimated to be 328,239,523. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website reports that 193,199,353 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 165,637,566 have been fully vaccinated, as of Thursday evening. The CDC notes that 403,047,945 doses of the vaccine have been delivered, but only 348,966,419 have been administered to people. Biden has previously mixed up numbers while listing statistics.”
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH: Student paper omits race of assault suspect despite linking to police report which mentions it.
On July 22 a female UM student was attacked in downtown Ann Arbor by a “middle-aged black male, about 5’11’’, medium build, medium skin tone,” according to a UM Department of Public Safety and Security bulletin. The suspect also wore a “navy ball cap with a yellow block M and either a dark black, gray, or blue shirt,” and was riding a “mountain bike that may have been silver in color.”
The Daily‘s description: “The perpetrator was described in the bulletin as a medium-build, middle-aged man wearing a navy ball cap with a yellow block M on it.”
They’ve already learned the importance of promoting a narrative.
“BASED ON JEFFREY TOOBIN’S BOOK:” Cobie Smulders to Play Ann Coulter in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’ After Betty Gilpin Exits.
As Glenn noted earlier this week, “#Metoo Stopped Mattering the Day Gropey Joe Biden Was Nominated.”
ANTISEMITISM IS COOL NOW ON THE LEFT: Berkeley instructor says ‘Jews have been overwhelmingly abandoned by progressive activists.’
OLD AND BUSTED: “We Are All Socialists Now.”
The New Hotness? We’re All Gonna Die! Newsweek takes the Covid fear mongering to the next level with warning about looming ‘Doomsday variant:’
I thought net neutrality had already killed everyone off three years ago?
THE ECONOMIC CASE AGAINST NEW MASK MANDATES.
BLUE CITY BLUES: GARCETTI’S LEGACY.
President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India. Assuming the Senate confirms him, Garcetti, who would leave office early (his second term ends in December 2022), might find India familiar in certain respects. Like Mumbai or Delhi, Los Angeles now has massive homeless encampments throughout the city, even increasingly in posh neighborhoods like Brentwood and throughout the middle-class strongholds of the San Fernando Valley. Late last week, as Garcetti prepared to leave town, homeless advocates, angered by a city ordinance against indiscriminate camping on city streets, vandalized Getty House, the mayor’s official residence.
It’s not the scenario Garcetti would have wanted at the end of his tenure. The son of a former L.A. district attorney, a graduate of Columbia University, and former Rhodes scholar, Garcetti once seemed, to the city’s media establishment, like the epitome of a modern progressive mayor. In 2018, USC’s Dornsife Magazine embraced the idea that the city was undergoing a “renaissance” built around density, verticality, and transit—all components of Garcetti’s vision. Garcetti won reelection in 2017 in a low-turnout race, getting more than 80 percent of the vote against virtually nonexistent opposition. Some (notably Garcetti himself) even saw him as a potential president, but that notion didn’t test well, and Garcetti took the same express to national oblivion as New York’s Bill de Blasio.
Go past the hype, and you find at best a lackluster record.
At the very best.
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