Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds

SUPER TUESDAY: Trump wins big everywhere except Vermont, where Nikki Haley pulls off a win. “So you’re saying there’s still a chance?” (Looks at watch, shakes head.) At least she has more delegates than Kamala.

On the Democratic side, Biden sweeps too, though “uncommitted” is doing awfully well in Minnesota, and Marianne Williamson is doing better than I had expected.

YES: Have Dems Lost Control of Their Lawfare Campaign Against Trump? “I don’t know if they’re losing control of the campaign, but they’re losing their audience. I put an earlier analysis from the NYT of polling on these cases into the Headlines, and the share of voters who think Trump committed crimes has been steadily eroding — even among Democrats.”

OUR ELITES ARE MORONS: BBC tried to discipline journalist for claiming men cannot scientifically be women.

A former BBC journalist was subjected to a disciplinary process for tweeting that there was no scientific support for the idea that “males can be women”.

Cath Walton revealed that she was called before an internal BBC hearing after she also said that the issue of gender identity was “contested”.

Reflecting on her treatment by the BBC, she said that in discussing issues around people who change gender, “truth has become an emblem of defiance rather than clarity”.

She spoke out after Justin Webb, the Radio 4 Today programme presenter, was found to have breached the BBC’s impartiality rules by saying “trans women, in other words males”.

The corporation’s executive complaints unit (ECU) upheld a complaint from a listener who said that Mr Webb had been giving his personal view on a controversial matter.

His supporters say he was simply stating a fact and clarifying the definition of a trans woman as a biological male living as a woman.

Well, he was.

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s gone with the wind.

SCIENCE! Alzheimer’s Might Not Actually Be a Brain Disease, Expert Reveals. “In July 2022, Science magazine reported that a key 2006 research paper, published in the prestigious journal Nature, which identified a subtype of brain protein called beta-amyloid as the cause of Alzheimer’s, may have been based on fabricated data.”

And for a couple of decades, leading scientists made sure that research into other causes was starved for funding.

IF YOU COULD TRUST THE AIRLINES WITH YOUR BAGGAGE, IT WOULD GO AWAY: The Carry-On-Baggage Bubble Is About to Pop: Airplanes aren’t made for this much luggage. “We know that airlines overbook their seats, then count on no-shows and rebookings to make the system work. This helps ensure that each flight will be as full as possible, but it also leads to situations where passengers must be paid to take a different flight. What if the airlines are doing the same thing with overhead bins and “allowing” more carry-on luggage than a plane can even hold? What if they’re overbooking those compartments in the hopes or expectation that some passengers won’t bother with a Rollaboard and will simply check their bags instead? If that’s the case, then the aisle pandemonium can’t be chalked up to passengers’ misbehavior or to honest confusion at the gate. No, it would mean that all this hassle is a natural outcome of the airlines’ cabin-stowage arbitrage.”

But letting them have your bags means delays and a solid chance of not having your bag at the other end. Then there’s the asinine practice, on international flights, of having you retrieve your bags, walk past a Customs officer who does nothing, and then recheck them and go through security again before connecting to your next flight. (Presumably because you’ve been in the presence of checked bags and might have retrieved a knife or something.) A carry-on can shave half an hour off the process of going through customs.