Beliefs vs Science

 

Follow what Science?

Johns Hopkins University professor Dr. Marty Makary discusses information that was propagated by government and main stream media officials as “known” science when in fact there were significant questions at the time and are now known to not be correct.

• Covid was spread through surface transmission;
• vaccinated immunity was far greater than natural immunity; 
• masks were effective;
• myocarditis was more common after the infection than [after] the vaccine. (it is 4-28 times more common after the vaccine.)
• young people benefit from a booster; and,
• vaccine mandates would increase vaccination rates.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2023/03/02/marty-makary-testimony-n2620112

Biden’s CHIPS Act Suboptimal

The CHIPS Act has been hijacked by the Biden Administration and is suboptimal because it adds significant costs to the manufacturing of computer chips. If manufacturing computer chips in the United States is strategically important, why would you make it more expensive?

On Tues­day, February 28, Com­merce Sec­re­tary Gina Rai­mondo rolled out the new rules for chip mak­ers daying: “If Con­gress wasn’t go­ing to do what they should have done, we’re go­ing to do it in im­ple­men­ta­tion.”

What has she added:

1. Mandated daycare
2. Davis Bacon pay regulations
3. Buy American
4. Consult, engage, coordinate with unions
5. NEPA compliance
6. Source materials from small, minority, and women owned business
7. Com­pa­nies share with the U.S. por­tion of re­turns above pro­jec­tions 
8. No buy­ing back stock for five years

 https://twitter.com/modeledbehavior/status/1630621044921843725?s=46&t=5GC4GDmUOFbaBEOSPYmWoA

Biden wrong on Student debt foregiveness

If you think that the below language, extracted from the 2003 heroes act to show the relevant parts in question, was meant to allow the Secretary of Education to do whatever they want to whomever they want when there is a national emergency, then you should support the Biden Administration position. 

Note, this means the Secretary of Education could even decide to give away trillions of dollars to any group they want. 

However, if you think the below language limits the Secretary of Education from giving $500 billion to a group where many individuals have good jobs (up to $125,000/y for individual and $250,000 for a couple) and where individuals may not have suffered any direct financial losses directly caused by a national emergency, then you should not support the Biden Administration’s position. 

Given: 

1. the original Heroes Act was written in 2003 to cover individuals involved and affected by their participation in the War on Terror and/or the WTC and Pentagon attacks;

2. many individuals worked hard and paid off their loans;

3. many individuals worked hard, saved money and did not take loans;

4. many individuals avoided taking loans by sacrificing the opportunity to go to college; 

5. many individuals have loans from non-federal sources; and,

6. the Biden Administration’s proposal is giving a very substantive amount to a group where many do not even fall within the Heroes Act; 

I think:

1. opposition to the Biden position has clear standing under the Major Questions doctrine;

2. the Biden position falls outside of the intent of the Heroes Act; and,

3. the Biden position is arbitrary and capricious; and, therefore think the Court should reject it. 

HIGHER EDUCATION RELIEF OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS ACT OF 2003 - 8/8/2003

 

The Congress finds the following:

            (1) There is no more important cause than that of our nation's defense.

            (2) The United States will protect the freedom and secure the safety of its citizens.

            (3) The United States military is the finest in the world and its personnel are determined to lead the world in pursuit of peace.

            (4) Hundreds of thousands of Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard reservists and members of the National Guard have been called to active duty or active service.

            (5) The men and women of the United States military put their lives on hold, leave their families, jobs, and postsecondary education in order to serve their country and do so with distinction.

            (6) There is no more important cause for this Congress than to support the members of the United States military and provide assistance with their transition into and out of active duty and active service.

 

Secretary of Education may waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs under title IV of the Act as the Secretary deems

necessary in connection with a national emergency to provide the waivers or modifications authorized by paragraph (2)

 

Affected individual means an individual who: resides or is employed in an area that is declared a disaster area by any Federal, State, or local official in connection with a national emergency; or suffered direct economic hardship as a direct result a national emergency, as determined by the Secretary.

Truthfully Economy has Issues

 

Last week economic data releases show that the Biden economic "recovery" still struggling.

Real Personal Income and Real Disposable Income trend down under Biden primarily because of inflation.

Then, despite Biden's claim to the contrary, inflation is still a problem with the Personal Consumption Price Index continuing to climb.

Last we see mortgage rate at levels much higher than recent history,

How CRT hurts America

 

Biden trying to limit 1st Amendment

A key principle that helped make America the greatest country is the freedom of speech. No Biden is trying to limit speech to help propagate false narratives. 

Maria Araujo Kahn suggested in a 2020 opinion that courts should criminalize speech that offends "oppressed groups."

Critical Theory is Bad

Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the developing Critical Justice Theory (CJT) ARE PERVASIVE in schools and threaten America because they are indoctrinating children with the false narrative that the primary cause of disparities today is systemic discrimination that exists today. 

CSJ is not being taught as one theory among others but rather, in 7 out of 10 cases, as “truth.”

CSJ increases fear among students.

CSJ is taught in all types of school.

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/school-choice-not-enough-impact-of-critical-social-justice-ideology-in-american-education

So sad. Still lying.

So sad. Still lying.

Original

“He has opposed the teaching of African American studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since."

My corrected version

“He has opposed the teaching of [controversial, questionable and unrelated parts of] African American studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that [a limited number of activist] historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since."

Stop the Lying

Buttigieg 

We're constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe.

Reality

The Obana law with the braking rule, FAST, would not have applied to the East Palestine train but i will still share the following to obfuscate the situation to avoid any responsibility. We're constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation like the Obama FAST law that required the braking rule to be withdrawn if it was found by the DOT to not be justified. The DOT found that the breaking rule was not justified and as required by the Obama law, withdrew the rule in 2017. 

Detail

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act or the FAST Act is a funding and authorization bill to govern United States federal surface transportation spending. It was passed by Congress on December 3, 2015, and President Barack Obama signed it on the following day. 

Section 7311 of the Act specifically mandates the study and testing of ECP brake systems, focusing on requirements that were promulgated under the HM-251 final rule. Furthermore, the FAST Act instructs the Department of Transportation to incorporate the results of the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) evaluations and the testing of ECP brake systems by the National Academy of Sciences into an updated regulatory impact analysis (RIA) of the ECP brake system requirements, and to solicit public comment on the updated RIA. Additionally, the FAST Act required that within two years of the mandate, the DOT must determine, based on the updated RIA, whether the ECP brake system requirements in the HM-251 final rule were 

In 2017 the DOT followed the Obama law and eliminated the ECO braking requirement due to a lack of justification. 

And NOTE The ECP braking rule would’ve applied ONLY to HIGH HAZARD FLAMMABLE TRAINS. The train that derailed in East Palestine was a MIXED FREIGHT TRAIN containing only 3 placarded Class 3 flammable liquids cars.

While there were several important accomplishments under Trump (SCOTUS judges, lower taxes, javelins for Ukraine, WARP speed), he is intellectually lazy, lacks gravitas, is coarse, petty, insecure, inarticulate, and, as a result, can’t beat a Democrat and is therefore bad for Republicans.

And while there were irregularities in the 2020 election (votes in key swing states that did not meet their state legislature’s requirements and MSM burying the Hunter Biden laptop story) and Trump was treated unfairly by the MSM and administrative state propagating false narratives (Russian collusion and system racism), he lost the election. 

Please ignore Trump like a crazy uncle at Thanksgiving and hope he goes away. 

MSNBC - Trump won (2016)

Even MSNBC now admits they were wrong. It only took them 6 years, multiple investigations, and years of fabricated news which we’ll never know how much has hurt this country  

New NYU study concludes: “…we find no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior.” 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35576-9

I’m idiotphobic

I guess I’m idiotphobic 

Biologically you are either male (have testes) or female (have ovaries) - transphobic (though not clear why stating biological fact makes someone afraid of something)

No one should be forced to say something they don’t believe - homophobic (once again, not clear, why opposing forced speech makes someone afraid of something)

Any systemic racism that may exist today is a minor factor for the disparities that exist today - racist (not clear here how facts and logic make someone a racist)

Wokeism and CRT is essentially a religion demanding you believe/adhere despite facts and logic. 

 

Section 230 Protected Earthlink not YouTube

 As best as I can tell, Section 230 "Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material" was meant to protect the internet service providers from liability from the information users found on the internet from Information Content Providers.  Originally meant to protect companies like Earthlink, AOL, etc., that users dialed into to access the internet that has since transformed into Internet Service Providers such as ATT, Verizon, etc, where users are connecting through internet modems to access the internet,

Some are now claiming that Section 230 also protects Information Content Providers, which could range from individual websites to large internet based social media platforms. 

To me it seems wrong to use the original Section 230 law that protected the internet access providers to now protect companies that actively promote or hide specific information from being treated as a publisher.  

Like I said

 

https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2023/02/trust-fund.html?m=1

From the Greatest Country in the World

Recently came across (see below) another crazy post from “The other 98%” where they claim that Mt Rushmore was “white men erasing history.”

Yes, Western European societies did horribly displace the native American societies that had existed.  

But “The Other 98%” distorted Zinnist view completely misses two key points. 

The native American societies were technologically undeveloped with little science and no documented history to speak of. Their “nations” were nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers with limited urban complexes, agriculture and trade and were often at war or conflict with each other. In the history of the world, when these types of societies encounter much more highly developed  societies, they have always been displaced. 

Second, and important, at least to me, is that the Western European invasion and development of North America led to the development of the United States, the greatest and 3rd most populous county in the world with its unique American Exceptionalism with individual freedom and equal opportunity for all which has been a beacon and protector of freedom for the world. 

End of equal opportunity

This is bad. American Exceptionalism was based on individual freedom and equal OPPORTUNITY for all. Converting to a country of equal OUTCOME will ruin our country and everyone will have less. It is only by letting the most capable thrive through meritocracy that we can grow and thrive providing the abundant returns that allow redistribution to those less fortunate. 

Through his recent Executive order Biden is trying to change our country from one of equal opportunity into one of equal outcomes.  He has directed all of the federal government to start to focus on Delivering Equitable Outcomes Through Government Policies, Programs, and Activities by forming teams within each agency to use the agency’s policy, budgetary, programmatic, service-delivery, procurement, data-collection processes, grantmaking, public engagement, research and evaluation, and regulatory functions to enable the agency’s mission and service delivery to yield equitable outcomes for all Americans

Focusing on equal outcomes when there is such a natural variation in individual capabilities will hurt America by limiting say 80% of the most capable people to insure their outcome is the same as the 20% less capable. 

Examples of this are the trend to eliminate AP classes, limiting Asian admissions to top universities, limiting debt relief to non-white farmers and offering cash free bail that’s leading to more crime. 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/02/16/executive-order-on-further-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-increase-equity-school-districts-eliminate-honors-classes-d5985dee

Such a uniter

Really?  Who?

And interesting how Google continues to protect the President’s divisive rhetoric. 

Police are not the problem

The most recent report on interactions with police shows how extremely rare police shootings of unarmed persons are; including 23 unarmed whites and 9 unarmed blacks.

In 2020 there were over 53 million encounters by persons 16 or older with ~25 million initiated by police.

And while any excess police force is bad and we should continue to work to reduce it, the data shows that by far, police interactions do not result in the threat or use of force.

Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2020  U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NOVEMBER 2022 

Increasing minimum wage increases crime

Recent study shows increasing minimum wage is associated with increased crime, primarily through its effect on reducing jobs. 

“ a $15 Federal minimum wage, proposed as part of the Raise the Wage Act, could generate approximately 309,000 additional larcenies. ”

https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0047272722001827?token=D7AF7B867AE0622AF353C47A030F44EDF791662B1A8690D728A1992C4344D78488E9B416843E2DB084DD7DCF21B9A510&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20230218124609

Another study shows increasing minimum wages reduces the number of jobs. 

“We find a robust negative relationship between minimum wages and employment.”

https://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jantonio/Papers/minwage_czones.pdf

Your student debt not my business/problem.

The below is not my content BUT it is a view I share. 

What time did you get up to deliver papers in junior high? How many hours a week did you work since 14 to save for college? How many toilets did you scrub? How many high school football games did you miss because you were working? What dream college did you forgo to avoid taking out student loans?

Which 8 a.m. class did you take so you could complete your major’s requirements and still work in the afternoon? Which bus line did you take to get to your job because you didn’t borrow to buy a car? What job did you work full-time while completing your MBA at night?

What did you do to afford college? What didn’t you do because of the cost of college? Were you getting tattoos and traveling your way through college? Were you pledging and partying? Did you go to your top-choice university? Maybe an out-of-state public university with higher tuition rates? Which spring break and study abroad destinations did you visit along the way?

Did you splurge on your fairytale wedding instead of paying down your student loans? What cars did you buy or lease? Where did you live? What electronics did you own? What clothing and other personal expenditures did you have? In short, show me the money and how you spent it!

None of my business? You’re right. Nor is your student debt my business or my problem.

Margot Cleveland