REALCLEARDEFENSE: A Fiscal Crisis: The West is on the Wrong Side of Cost Curve.

CHANGE:

The difference between Paris and the rest of France is … telling.

Just underlines the simple fact: if you have been to Paris, you have been to Paris – you have not been to France. https://t.co/7wlSa36a7N

— cdrsalamander (@cdrsalamander) June 16, 2024

ELON MUSK’S HIGH-PAY CONTRACT:

Mr. Musk might have been negotiating with his mom or Genghis Khan and the outcome would have been the same. The board would have accepted the terms he laid out, proposing no reward at all unless he succeeded in creating an extraordinary and implausible increase in shareholder value.

Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, in her ruling, emphasizes that, golly, Mr. Musk’s contract was bigger than any other chief executive’s. Fluster, fluster.

In the real world, his contract was most importantly different because no other CEO would have signed it. Rationally, candidates want to be compensated for their time and effort even if their efforts don’t pay off in a higher share price.

After all, 99% of the variables are outside a CEO’s control, from the policy environment and the acts of competitors to changes in tastes and technologies. The best plans of mice and men, etc. High-caliber business talents spend decades building their market value precisely so they have bargaining clout to get paid (at least somewhat) even for failing.

So far, at least, betting against Elon has been a loser’s game. That won’t always be true, of course. But when you look at everything he’s accomplished over the last couple of decades, it’s pretty much unmatched. Any one of his companies would be a triumph of the first order.

ICYMI: NIH scientists made $710M in royalties from drug makers — a fact they tried to hide. “Almost all that cash — $690 million — went to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the subagency led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, and 260 of its scientists.”

KEEP FILING THOSE COMPLAINTS: MIT union ignored Jewish members’ objection to Israel boycott: federal complaint.

The process is the punishment.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: DHS Is Still Paying Former PLO Spokesperson Who Celebrated October 7 Hamas Attack.

ICYMI: STEPHANIE GUTMANN: Just walk away, Caitlin (while you can still walk) or prepare to be made a whipping girl for the sins of White and Hetero Privilege for the rest of your WNBA career. “Why is seemingly everybody in the WNBA higher echelons so stubbornly grouchy about the ‘Caitlin effect,’ to the point of perversely, self-destructively shooting Clark down? Because the WNBA seems to have gotten comfortable in their dank little victim’s corner.”

Well, good, because that’s where they’ll be staying if they keep this up.

WHY IS THE WNBA SUCH A CESSPIT OF HATE, BIGOTRY, AND VIOLENCE?

JUST IN: WNBA player Angel Reese viciously elbows Caitlin Clark in the head as she goes in for a layup.

Reese could be seen completely missing the ball and making contact with Clark's head instead.

She was called for a flagrant 1.

The move comes as more and more WNBA players… pic.twitter.com/VOmjloMTRX

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 16, 2024

OPEN THREAD: Don’t you know that when you play at this level there’s no ordinary venue. . . . Can’t be too careful with your company.

But the real brilliance is here. I get my kicks at Texas State Line sometimes.

CHANGE: DARPA unveils 6 new designs for uncrewed vertical-takeoff military aircraft, eyes 2026 test flights.

OF COURSE:

Unexpectedly! https://t.co/tE7USv8096

— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) June 15, 2024

THE LONELY LIVES OF SCIENTISTS: Experiment Reveals Microplastics in Every Human Semen Sample Tested.

LIKE BITE MARKS, HAIR AND FIBER, ETC., MOST “SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE” IS GARBAGE: Wired for Disaster: The Hidden Dangers of Wire-Cut Evidence in Forensics.

FOR YOUR DELECTATION: My summer recipe for chilled poached salmon. Thanks to whoever it was who mentioned it in the open thread the other day.

SO YOU’RE SAYING THEY’RE DOING THEIR JOB OF WEEDING OUT DANGEROUS OR INEFFECTIVE TREATMENTS? Only 1 in 20 animal studies results in treatments approved for humans.

PUT A CHICK IN IT AND MAKE IT GAY?

Great advice. https://t.co/wqGxCNcTOr

— Brant Hadaway (@BrantHadaway) June 14, 2024

STARLINER AND SLS DON’T REALLY WORK, BUT SURE:

How do you draw a pride flag? 🤔

With SCIENCE!

This flag is a composite of NASA imagery of phenomena from Earth and far, far beyond it. Details below ⬇️

Credit: Rachel Lense pic.twitter.com/Cpth3jWyO4

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) June 13, 2024

WELL GOOD: Risk of secondary cancers after CAR-T cell therapy low, according to large Stanford Medicine study.

WHO DOESN’T: Researchers wonder what if you just put a robot in the driver’s seat instead of automating the car?

IT’S ALL PETER BENCHLEY’S FAULT: A scientific mission to save the sharks: Despite protection measures, these fish are among the most endangered animals.

WELL, GOOD: People with type 1 diabetes are living longer.

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE: Premier scientific journal Nature takes on ‘climate of fear’ surrounding research on sex and gender.

ENEMIES OF CIVILIZATION: Meet the UC Santa Cruz students arrested at Hamas-endorsed encampment.

HAHA, WEENIES. Henny Penny Alert: UK to Be ‘Blasted’ By Heatwave of Up to…79°.

We were there summer before last and they were having a similar panic with warning signs in the train stations, and temperatures hitting a high of . . . 81.

STANFORD DISINFORMATION PROJECT collapses under scrutiny.

I salute the name, “Stanford Internet Observatory.” I think of astronomy and the clean pursuit of star systems, with the telescope instead focused on something infinite and microscopic: the galaxies of the internet.

However, it was just a run-of-the-mill political op, small and grubby, gussied up to sound fancy.

An apt summary of a lot of “academic” efforts lately.