Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, March 5. 2022

Saturday morning links

 2020 Update: “For every 100 girls…..”


 California Supreme Court rules UC Berkeley must cut admissions


 How Google Is Preparing for the End of Internet Advertising (as We Know It)


Bourgeois values work 


NYC Students Under Five Will Still Have to Wear a Mask in School


 Say, has anyone heard from Anthony Fauci lately?


 If the COVID-19 Emergency Is Over, Why Is the Surgeon General Worried About 'Misinformation'?


 He’s Back! Bill Clinton Relaunching Clinton Global Initiative After 5-Year Hiatus


 Sorry, Mr. President, But Inflation Isn’t Due To ‘Greed’


MC on the SOTU:



  The federal government has infinite amounts of free money to hand out to solve every conceivable problem of the people.  There are no costs, no downsides, no tradeoffs — or at least none worth mentioning.  Name the issue, and the feds will create a “program” and pass out the money. 



 FT Magazine: Putin proves my point. Whatever it is


 Russia Blocks Twitter

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 08:11 | Comments (19) | Trackbacks (0)

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'California Supreme Court rules UC Berkeley must cut admissions'

A few thousand kids not being turned into America-hating, Anglophobic commies? What a pity.
#1 Maniac on 2022-03-05 10:01 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Sorry, Mr. President, But Inflation Isn’t Due To ‘Greed’ . . . “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.”

Not always (assuming you define inflation as a general rise in prices). When OPEC embargoed oil in the 1970s, at a time when oil was a much larger part of the U.S. economy than today, it caused a general rise in prices. That isn't a monetary phenomenon, but demand for a limited supply. This can happen for non-cartel reasons, too, such as a natural disaster choking off trade in a commodity with limited sources. The market may eventually be able to respond to such shortages by finding new sources of supply, or through conservation, but that takes time. The Carter administration encouraged the latter, while the Reagan administration promoted military power to guarantee the supply of oil.

As a general rule, price controls restrict market supply and cause shortages. However, consider insulin. Insulin was discovered in 1923 by Frederick Banting. He gave the patent away as a benefit to humankind. Nowadays, insulin is manufactured by complex processes that are largely patented. But patents are not market solutions. They are government-granted monopolies used to encourage innovation for the benefit of society. As such, government has an obligation to make sure patents actually do provide those benefits.

QUOTE:
“computer chips, prescription drugs, health care premiums, weatherization projects, renewable energy, electric vehicles and child care”

That quote is not found in the cited text to the state of the union. Have no idea why the writer used quote marks.

QUOTE:
Corporations don’t suddenly get “greedy.”

No, but excessive consolidation can reduce competition, leading to higher prices. Poor infrastructure also results in higher prices.

QUOTE:
Spend more money, run up big budget deficits for Keynesian “stimulus,”

The economy does not need additional stimulus. Growth is substantial. Employers added 678 thousand jobs just in the last month. Any further investment, if required, should be paid for with additional revenue.

Greed.
#2 Zachriel on 2022-03-05 11:43 (Reply)
Seems the Quibble-DickZ have little to say about the articles conclusions.
QUOTE:
If Biden were smart, he would end his green war against cheap energy by restarting the Keystone XL pipeline, reopening federal lands to oil leases and exploration, and ending his regulatory and tax assault against energy producers. That would ease inflation pressures, and give the Fed time to move monetary policy back to something approximating normal.

Instead, we have too much money chasing too few goods. That’s the recipe for inflation. And, based on his State of the Union remarks, it’s the recipe Biden seems intent on cooking up for the rest of whatever remains of his term in office.
#2.1 Zachinoff on 2022-03-05 15:37 (Reply)
That there is just crazy talk. What do want? High paying jobs for Americans? Cheap, reliable energy? Next thing you’ll suggest is going back to voodoo economics. Nuclear energy. Don’t you know we are all dying from global warming?
#2.1.1 B. Hammer on 2022-03-05 17:26 (Reply)
I have a different take on "for every 100 girls". First the elephant in the room (I apologize in advance if this upsets anyone); women are not men and they make excellent mothers, nurses and care givers but they cannot do the tough jobs that pretty much only men can do and THAT is why they must be always given these advantages; for equity don'tcha know.

But my main point is this intentional repression and discrimination makes "men" stronger. I didn't say all males I said "men". God or nature made men incredibly stronger than women for a reason. The best science puts men's strength based abilities at about 2.5 times that of a similar sized woman (ask the women swimmers at Penn state). It isn't simply muscle it is stronger bones, bigger lungs, bigger heart, etc.

OK I know what you are thinking; something like brute strength isn't everything and intelligence or whatever yadda yadda, yadda. BUT women and men are reasonably equal except for body strength so what you are really saying is imagine two people of equal intelligence trying to deal with all of the complexities of life's problems (war, survival, getting your car out off the ditch, ad infinitum) but one of them is 2 1/2 times stronger than the other one in every physical way!!!

Give me six teenage boys and I can clear 40 acres, build a house, defend my property, raise crops to feed the family, hunt and fish, basically thrive. Give me six teenage girls and I could start a cheerleading team and maybe prepare lunches. (The worst part is give me six teen boys and six teen girls and I will get half or less of the work out of the boys and still nothing but lunch from the girls).

OK, you disagree, have at it. I'm comfortable that I'm correct while you are stuck defending the preferential treatment for women because...!!! And don't forget in your rebuttal to include either a defense or a rebuttal to Ukraine's choice to send the women out of the country and require all men to stay and fight.

But remember my point is really nothing more than that the repression against men in the West and the favoring of women (because other wise they couldn't succeed) makes "men" stronger and I kinda think that is a good thing. You might remember "the talk". That is where supposedly a black father tells his son about white police etc. Well there a "the talk" where fathers tell their boys that life is stacked against them and they need to be stronger to deal with is and not to give up and "no crying"!! There is no crying in baseball!!
#3 JustMe on 2022-03-05 12:15 (Reply)
I remember an article written by a female officer, can’t remember branch of service, but it definitely wasn’t the Navy because she was lugging heavy packs around. She was truthful about how one tour left her feeling aged by many years. She may have been able to keep up once, but repeated patrols, left her feeling very fatigued and old.

No crying in baseball? Explain the designated hitter?
#3.1 B. Hammer on 2022-03-05 12:50 (Reply)
So, Injuns and rustlers still a problem in your town? Subsistence farming still the main way folks make their living out your way?

Talk to the people who actually hire and supervised teenagers at real jobs these days.
#3.2 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-03-05 15:52 (Reply)
"Why is the Surgeon General worried about misinformation?"

First because it is a political position, they could easily have appointed someone because of their skin color or gender. It's not as though they have to really know anything. Yes once they were experts in their field but in this brace new world they merely have to be talking heads.

So the real question is why is the administration worried about what people are saying about covid, the mandates and most importantly the vaccine? Well the data is coming out and we now are finding out that the vaccine is actually more dangerous than the covid for about 98% of the population. It has some deadly short term effects and some seriously scary long term effects. And it seems that the health community knew this and all the while kept their mouths shut and shut up anyone who dared speak up. Never mind that the vaccine doesn't work the real issue is it kills you and causes serious life threatening health problems. Think about this; they knew the vaccine doesn't prevent you from getting covid, they knew that covid was statistically less harmful than a common cold to children and they still demanded that children get the vax. I'm think conspiracy to cause bodily harm for starters. Think about Elizabeth Holmes who went to jail for far less.
#4 OneGuy on 2022-03-05 13:08 (Reply)
There is no evidence for dangerousness of the vaccines, short term or long. None of the people claiming it are able to defend it in open debate, only in rumor and making shit up. I have seen their sites, I have been in those discussions, I am not just talking about things I have not experienced. They don't understand science, they don't understand statistics. They frequently not even follow complicated reasoning. They don't understand it. They believe what people tell them, being fed information from Scientologists, anti-vaxxers, and people selling alt-medicine and so-called "natural" products.

I don't believe they should be censored for their misinformation. America doesn't work that way. But they are why people are tempted to censor some views. Because the consequences were and are quite real: more death. Don't join them and have blood on your conscience.
#4.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-03-05 15:11 (Reply)
That's a bold characterization of everyone that believes there is some danger from the vaccines. The suppression of negative information about the vaccines is real. It seems strange to me that you would take such a hard stand about "no evidence". From the CDC, soft-soaped and buried "Seek medical care if you or your child have symptoms of these conditions after COVID-19 vaccination. Myocarditis and pericarditis have rarely been reported, especially in adolescents and young adult males within several days after COVID-19". Are the vaccines apocalyptic? Highly unlikely. Are we likely to find out more negatives as time goes on and the politics around it die down? Undoubtedly. Do we need to you hyperbolic language about either the safety or harmfulness of the vaccines? I hope not.
#4.1.1 B'radical on 2022-03-05 15:39 (Reply)
For you to be correct, it would not have to just be a few government officials and hihg-placed people covering their behinds by being deceptive and covering things up, but literally hundreds of thousands of experienced health professionals would have to be either A) completely unaware what their patients are dying of or B) all spontaneously agreeing to lie about it. What you are claiming is not that a few people are trying to deceive us - that would be believable, as powerful people try that all the time. But it falls apart because a dozen or a hundred people can't be relied on to keep the secret. Yet you seriously believe a million people could be keeping this secret from the rest of us - your family doctor, the nurses at the hospitals, every county coroner in the country. They would all have to be either stupid or lying.

This is what I mean by people being unable to think for themselves. It has never occurred to you that this is the only way to get to what you are saying. You never thought about it.
#4.2 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-03-05 15:27 (Reply)
Contrary to AVI's assumptions another "unthinking" person writes:

QUOTE:
Despite promises from President Biden and top health officials that COVID-19 vaccines would prevent severe illness, death, and perhaps even transmission of the virus, data indicate that thousands of Americans are dying from the disease even after having been vaccinated.


https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2022/03/02/correction_mr_president_this_is_a_pandemic_of_the_vaccinated_too_819385.html
#4.2.1 Zachinoff on 2022-03-05 15:55 (Reply)
Who am I to argue with the AVI; but if you read Kennedy's book The Real Dr Fauci; that impossible to rationalize mechanism is in place. Simply put: the vaccines and the boosters have not tested; double blind placebo controlled; but Fauci insisted any cure get the full testing, but never stepped with the funding.

You can argue special circumstances; but not safety. And I used to visit your site.

Anecdote or data point; depends on what you are counting.
#4.2.2 SF jeff on 2022-03-05 18:15 (Reply)
SF jeff: the vaccines and the boosters have not tested; double blind placebo controlled

That is incorrect. The initial vaccination and the boosters were subject to phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo testing.

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-phase-3-trial-data-showing
#4.2.2.1 Zachriel on 2022-03-05 19:03 (Reply)
Ah, the Quibble-DickZ provide two, count'em, two press releases from Pfizer no less to support their qubbling.

QUOTE:
-Efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics; observed efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was over 94%


Hmmm? How did that work out in the real world?
#4.2.2.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-03-05 20:13 (Reply)
Kennedy says (with citations) the tests were short cut; Pfizer says what Pfizer says. But was there really, really time for valid tests. And a booster?? One 800 hardly.
#4.2.2.1.2 SF jeff on 2022-03-05 23:48 (Reply)
SF jeff: Kennedy says (with citations) the tests were short cut

Well, you could provide the citations.

You claimed there were no double-blind, placebo controlled trials. But that simply isn't true. The vaccine trials by Pfizer involved 43,000 participants, while the booster trials included 10,000. Since then, hundreds of millions of doses have been administered, which has provided sufficient data for full approval. Here are more details on the initial application for the Emergency Use Authorization:
https://www.fda.gov/media/144245/download
#4.2.2.1.2.1 Zachriel on 2022-03-06 08:11 (Reply)
Regarding FT Magazine. Soo you click on it and the page is effectively blocked. Hmmm! What does that mean? They don't want me there? It's blocked, I guess, with a push ad to join something or other. OK, I'm no internet expert and I do understand that people and companies use the internet to make money BUT wouldn't you think that if that is their goal they want you to stay not simply click out of their page (which I did). How do they sell me anything in their ads if the first thing they do is offend me/turn me off and I'm out of there? I think they maybe missed that day in business school where they discussed the customer as being pretty essential to success.
#5 Maybe Im Wrong on 2022-03-05 13:15 (Reply)
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/03/03/if-the-covid-19-emergency-is-over-why-is-the-surgeon-general-worried-about-misinformation-n1563577

This is evil. I used to work in public health, and the fine print of public health laws (passed in the late 1940s) contains lots of unconstitutional loopholes because of things like recalcitrant individuals infected with TB who refuse to take their meds and also refuse to stay home. Small numbers, extreme behaviors.

The hack Surgeon General is taking advantage of these loopholes to demand huge amounts of information from social media companies. By politicizing these laws, this jerk is creating conditions where people won’t ever take public health officials seriously ever again.

Also — does it never seem to occur to these people that eventually the other party will hold the levers of power and they will use it against their political enemies?
#6 Jm01 on 2022-03-05 13:50 (Reply)

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