Yes, “science” in scare-quotes, because of two events which concern public understanding of science, or lack thereof; in the first case, a matter of reporting and, in the second, misgovernance here in Illinois. First, reports yesterday and today that a vaccine trial participant has died. In fact, this participant had received the placebo version and died of Covid so there is nothing newsworthy in the report, no cause for concern, and no reason at all for the study to be... Read more
Are you watching the hearings? Here’s a rant. Some of this I’ve likely said before in other contexts, but here you go. In the first place, Donald Trump has the legal right to appoint Barrett regardless of what McConnell may or may not have done 4 years ago. The fact that early voting has started in some localities, does not make Trump any less the president, and he remains president until Inauguration Day, and gets to do all the things... Read more
You know, it started out being funny, watching the debate turn into a shouting match. But it just wouldn’t end. I know that the days of “yellow light means you’re almost out of time, red means you are” are over, that It Was Decided that this sort of interchange was preferred over fixed time limits. But it’s a disaster. Depending on your perspective, I suppose, either Biden let Trump walk all over him, or Trump is just an ***. A... Read more
Will you get vaccinated against covid? According to a variety of polling data, Americans aren’t as enthusiastic about a potential vaccine as would seem to be necessary to eliminate the virus, or to reduce its prevalence back down to the flu the like. A May poll by AP/NORC found that 20% of Americans were unwilling to be vaccinated, and a further 31% said they were unsure. Yes, in May — when we were mostly still locked down and talking about... Read more
Warning – this is long. I won’t take offense if you skip to the bottom, for the bottom line, if you want. As seems to be necessary, let me preface my comments by saying that I don’t like Trump. But Biden can’t simply build a case based on being “not Trump.” He has to be better than Trump. So far, he has taken his primary campaign of “I’m the safe moderate” and upended that into “I’ll be the most transformative... Read more
Three items: First, Cycle Thresholds. In the New York Times this past weekend: “Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be.” The article explained that PCR testing is not merely a yes-or-no on coronavirus infection, but that it measures the viral load. In particular, “number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called the cycle threshold” is crucial information because a higher threshold identifies people as testing positive who have extremely tiny viral loads and are not infectious. ... Read more
Let’s start with the fact that I’m going to assume you’ve been following the case of Jacob Blake and of Kyle Rittenhouse, rather than digging out the basics. But I’ll start with four links: The Daily Wire, August 29: “Kenosha Police Union Offers New Details On Jacob Blake’s Alleged Actions: Attacked Police, Tried To Steal Car, Was Armed” — an account of the police account of the events leading up to the shooting of Jacob Blake, including the sexual assault... Read more
You know what I mean: the claims by the Left that the federal government is, variously, Defunding the Post Office, Locking up mailboxes, or removing them entirely, and/or Causing the entire postal system to collapse via mismanagement, in order to foil vote-by-mail plans, disenfranchise at-risk-of-covid voters, and steal the election for Trump? With respect to the first, I will remind readers that the Post Office is meant to stand on its own two feet, rather than being a subsidized government... Read more
I have a stake in this, of course. My youngest son was born in Germany. He meets the rules for citizenship — that is, I an an American citizen and had lived in the US for the required minimum of five years including two after age 14 — and, in fact, has an American Consular Record of Birth as well as a German birth certificate. Is he, in fact, a natural-born citizen? I generally tend to think the answer is... Read more
Let’s start with the fact that I’ve written on the topic of schools re-opening during covid multiple times already. Last week, Chicago announced that their schools would close, and almost immediately thereafter, High School District 214 announced they were taking the same action. I fired off an op-ed which appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, then wrote a D214-specific follow-up which I put at my personal website. Last night, there was a board meeting, which I attended and used... Read more
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