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Monday, September 5. 2022

Monday morning link dump

It is Labor Day in the US, a federal holiday to celebrate unionization. For most people, just a day off towards the end of summer. I am working this morning, and so was the nice cleaning gal at my gym. And the regular folks at Dunkin.

An AI program won an art competition. Does it matter?

College Football’s Twilight. The sport as we know it is changing forever.

Wall Street’s most-coddled generation is in for a rude office-return awakening

Top med school putting wokeism ahead of giving America good doctors

Robots could be the future of child mental health counselors: study

Gender-affirming care for transgender kids is going to backfire: experts

America, Exporter of the Gender Revolution, The Biden administration may begin pressuring other countries to push vulnerable youth into hormones and surgeries.

NY Dem Governor Declares No Such Thing As A “Good Guy With A Gun”…

Her security guards don't count

How science became politicized. New rules from a leading journal do not bode well

So who can you believe?

Yale psychiatrist fails in attempt to get her job back after calling Trump mentally ill

Duke University Volleyball Hate Hoax

The ESG Bubble Is Bursting. Politicizing investment decisions was never a good idea—especially for public pensions.

Electric Car Mandates: The Latest Frontier in the Elites' War on the Middle Class

Allahpundit: My Farewell to Hot Air Readers

Biden Banks on Democratic Outrage, Risking Deeper US Divisions

Biden's speech declared war on half the country

I Am a 'Clear and Present Danger' to the Biden Regime (And So Are You)

WaPo:

For Biden, a staunch believer in bipartisanship and compromise, this was a huge conceptual leap. The party of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan has devolved into a menace to American democracy. Imagine what any of those men would think of today’s GOP. And weep.

Reagan is not the devil anymore?

Lori Lightfoot, an extreme left-winger, presides over a sanctuary city. So she should be happy to get a few busloads of illegal immigrants, right? Wrong!

The origins of illegal migrants are shifting rapidly

BIDEN IS PAYING OSAMA BIN LADEN’S OLD AIRLINE MILLIONS TO FLY OUT AFGHANS

Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears Talks About Why Democrats Despise Black Conservatives

Russia has shut off the gas supply to Germany indefinitely

Trump warned them years ago. Didn't listen to Orange Man.

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:57 | Comments (35) | Trackbacks (0)

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Reagan is not the devil anymore?

Surely you remember the hagiography that surrounded Reagan when he died in the middle of the 2004 re-election campaign of that other great GOP fascist, George W Bush.

#1 Christopher B on 2022-09-05 08:45 (Reply)

The division and hate from the left is intentional. They have chosen to cause chaos as a way to allow the to govern without the restraints of the constitution. It will get worse.

#2 OneGuy on 2022-09-05 09:53 (Reply)

OneGuy: They have chosen to cause chaos as a way to allow the to govern without the restraints of the constitution.

Chaos without the restraints of the Constitution.

#2.1 Zachriel on 2022-09-05 12:22 (Reply)

You mean the FBI undercover plan to make the Trump supporters look bad> And the Antifa and BLM supporters who were asked to come to the party wearing Trump hats? Jan 6 was not an insurrection. November 4 2020 was.

Free the J6 political prisoners from the DC Gulag!!!

#2.1.1 OneGuy on 2022-09-05 14:54 (Reply)

OneGuy: You mean the FBI undercover plan to make the Trump supporters look bad

Hundreds of people have been indicted, hundreds found guilty. There is no evidence they were anything other than Trump supporters.

#2.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-09-05 15:45 (Reply)

They're political prisoners and (((Quibble-DickZ))) knows it but being dishonest little nazis they'll never admit it.

#2.1.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-09-05 16:22 (Reply)

The mostly peaceful protests.

#2.2 indyjonesouthere on 2022-09-05 14:40 (Reply)

Harvard has been lowering its standards to admit more minority students for a long time. They were graduating students with an MD that couldn't pass the state medical exam to get a license.

#3 Ray on 2022-09-05 10:06 (Reply)

Ray: They were graduating students with an MD that couldn't pass the state medical exam to get a license.

That is incorrect. To graduate from Harvard Medical School, students have to pass the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination).

The admission rate to Harvard Medical School is 2.7%, but the graduation rate is 92.9%.

Harvard Medical School is consistently ranked at the top in medical research, and among the best for primary medical care. Their faculty members have won 10 Nobel Prices in Medicine, the latest in 2019.

#3.1 Zachriel on 2022-09-05 14:16 (Reply)

There are three 'Steps' to the USMLE exam. Steps 1 and 2 are required for graduation. Step 3 is required in order to actually practice medicine independently (i.e., get a license, which is what Ray was referring to).

The number of graduates passing Step 3 is recorded by the medical school and only released by the medical school. Try as I might, I couldn't find these statistics on the Harvard Medical School website, so we really don't know if Ray is incorrect or not.

#3.1.1 RJP on 2022-09-05 18:40 (Reply)

RJP: The number of graduates passing Step 3 is recorded by the medical school and only released by the medical school.

Nearly everyone (97%) who passes steps 1 and 2 also passes step 3.
https://www.usmle.org/performance-data

#3.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-09-06 08:53 (Reply)

SADS (sudden adult death syndrome) is real https://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-90-miles-mystery-video-nyctophilia_01006375215.html killing thousands every week.

#4 JustMe on 2022-09-05 10:31 (Reply)

The ESG movement ain't going anywhere until the voting rights of Vanguard, Blackrock, and Fidelity fund managers are taken away and a scheme is developed to get them back into the hands of the fund shareholders (and that will be very messy). But having these huge blocks of votes in their fist, by virtue of the billion-dollar fund portfolios they manage, gives them enormous leverage to decide the course and forward strategy of a company. This is the type of leverage that puts activist Green-mongers into board seats, as happened recently to Exxon, Chevron, and other petroleum companies. But it doesn't stop at the extraction industries.

That is not constructive change for the better - it's war by the corporate insiders and you, as shareholders and consumers, are excluded from this decision process. It's the same crap that is giving us automakers announcing that they will no longer produce V-8 engines or internal combustion engines of any kind at all, regardless of what your preferences are, regardless of the suitability of replacements, regardless of society's ability to accommodate those changes. It's done with no forward plan in place except to hope it works out.

We're becoming captive consumers, paying higher prices and having our choices narrowed, subverted and curtailed by the privileged, leveraged few. The chickens come home to roost only too late: Get Woke, Go Broke is the sad outcome, which incidentally hurts the consumer all over again. Now you have even fewer choices, and they all cost more and tick even fewer consumer satisfaction boxes.

#5 Aggie on 2022-09-05 10:31 (Reply)

You often hear some pretty negative comments about people who just happen to be the same race or background of a nation that was a "colonizer". But what are the immigrants to the U.S. and Europe if not "colonizers"?

#6 Anon on 2022-09-05 10:40 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Yale psychiatrist fails in attempt to get her job back after calling Trump mentally ill

I was surprized when they didn't make her dean of something-or-other at the time she said it.

#7 BillH on 2022-09-05 10:48 (Reply)

I can remember her on TV and her comments were not what you would expect or want from a professional in mental health care. She was clearly using her position to try to bolster her wild ass bias against Trump. IMHO everyone has the right of free speech and she could certainly go on TV and tell us all about here TDS but to try to do that under color of her authority as an expert on mental health was intentional malpractice.

#7.1 IdahoBob on 2022-09-05 11:02 (Reply)

Unrelated: I never thought I'd be happy that Southern New England is under a flood watch, but here we are.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XdM_xhHgv5U

#8 Maniac on 2022-09-05 11:05 (Reply)

"Gender-affirming care" - is there a more Orwellian phrase? It's not gender affirming, it's gender denying.

#9 Jerryskids on 2022-09-05 11:13 (Reply)

Long gone is eating my post Thanksgiving day leftovers, while watching the CU-Nebraska game. And long gone are the days of CU or Nebraska being in contention for the national title. I suppose college’s will have to implement some sort of salary cap, if they want to have a dozen or so schools remain competitive. Some will continue to watch the lesser known schools and say this is real football.

#10 B. Hammer on 2022-09-05 11:33 (Reply)

Oh, those CU vs Nebraska days were something. A coach's future rose (or fell) with a win. Those were Big 8 days. The Big 12 was the beginning of the "nose of the camel" in the tent. I gave up when CU left for the PAC 12. Still a Buff fan, but only on the margins, as I just don't follow them anymore. Longing for the days before Boulder was the People's Republic.

#10.1 rocdoctom on 2022-09-05 12:32 (Reply)

This AI did not create art any more than the horse, clever Hans solved mathematical problems. Both simply did what they were trained to do in order to please their trainers.

Hans learned how to please his trainer and did so in front of audiences. Hans tapped out his mathematical answer waiting until the signal to stop was manifested by his trainer. That his trainer did not recognize his involvement in the process does not remove his importance.

The AI learned to generate images from textural input and received feedback, both positive and negative, from its trainers over many iterations. Not random textural input. Not textural input from a random person with no experience with the AI. No it received input from experienced trainers who rejected output that did not solve the problem the trainer wished to solve.

The human winner of this art contest used this training protocoland to generate an image that in his human judgment would please the judges. His judgment was correct.

Clever Hans is alive and well today.

#11 OldDude on 2022-09-05 11:34 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears Talks About Why Democrats Despise Black Conservatives . . . Sears says she is mystified by how “the Democrat Party became synonymous with black people.

Let's hope that was just a rhetorical comment and not a display of her ignorance of political history.

#12 Zachriel on 2022-09-05 12:26 (Reply)

Nobody's going back to the office - not Wall Street, not Tech, not computer- based 'creatives', not the paralegals and other clerical/white collar workers.

1. Despite the article quoted, this is not just about millenials. They may require more supervision to be productive, but it's much bigger than them.

2. After generations of pump-n-dump worker churn, offshoring, and management disloyalty in hitech, Wall Street, manufacturing, and retail sectors - no manager is going to force anyone back into the office. Management taught people to view themselves as free agents - the lockdowns were just the catalyst, the moment the penny dropped for long-disenfranchised workers. The bosses and millenials deserve each other.

3. For most office jobs remote work brings no productivity hit. The slackers were slacking off when we all commuted in company cars to hi-rent offices.

On the 1-2 days of the week that I go in to the office:
Actual work related issues that require or significantly benefit from in-person interaction take 2-3 hours.
Low level bonding over lunch takes 1 hour.
I lose 3 hours commuting.

There is no need for me to go in to the office more than that.

I'm not going to unsee what I've seen. And i am older - working parents of young children are not about to go back.

4. Skilled, self-managing workers with a mature work ethic are valuable. Companies that respectfully engage these new free agents can innovate while reducing operating costs. Instead of trying to herd workers back into the office, maybe corporations should stop treating their workers like fungible, flushable commodities.

The technology basis of this new free agency isn't going away, and gets ever better and cheaper - underscoring the folly of applying industrial-era structures to knowledge work.

#13 BenDavid on 2022-09-05 12:28 (Reply)

I don't disagree with everything that you've said, but I'll respond that the fly ball hasn't landed yet.

My S.I.L. is one of the responsible workers you mention. He goes in to the office 1-2 days per week. He loves working at home (there's a newborn) and he maintains he's more productive. He works with his clients face-to-face online, sometimes in small groups.

I am thinking that corporate branding is going to suffer. A lot of technical training can be done on line, certifications and credentials, so forth - but corporate identity still carries reputational value. Can't get this with the workforce spread around, and managers can't manage the talent without seeing it in action. Quality management is going to become a difficult, irregular task. Quality will ultimately suffer I think.

Of course some kinds of work simply can't replace face-to-face. My operational meetings used to have 15 - 40 people in the room, all getting onto the same page with what was required for the next 24 hours, next 5 days, next month. And those in the tech sectors may have security concerns, or DOD classified materials clearances that can't be circumvented. And I've tried replacing face-to-face with Zoom formats long before C-19, and concluded they are usually a poor substitute, especially when negotiating, or discussing something complex.

Still - I'm sure the shutdown has been a useful exercise to discover who produces and who doesn't. But the more subtle longer-term effects on business health remain to make themselves apparent.

#13.1 Aggie on 2022-09-05 13:42 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Electric Car Mandates . . . {links to} As of May 30, 2022, new home and workplace chargers being installed must be “smart” chargers connected to the internet and able to employ pre-sets limiting their ability to function from 8 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 10 pm.

That's the solution to the problem of storage. By charging when production is high and usage is low, then feeding back into the grid when production is low and usage is high, car batteries will help provide the electrical stability needed for green energy.

#14 Zachriel on 2022-09-05 12:30 (Reply)

When the grid can no longer support the demand because there is not enough generating capacity, it won't matter that the chargers are 'smart'. And people will disconnect their cars if they know they will need them. If you wanted EVs you should have started 100 nuclear power plant and grid wiring to support them 10 years ago. Looking forward to ICE conversion kits for EVs being a thing.

#14.1 John Fisher on 2022-09-05 17:42 (Reply)

Once again, we have not reached peak insanity, but we are definitely making progress to that goal.

It appears that our version of the Red Guards are well established and well funded by either the government or the PC corporates. Need more Antifa, perhaps a current dose of the latest clot shot from the covid compensated. Maybe more CRT, AGW and gender bendering by your local chapter of the NEA or the universities neo social studies department. Or perhaps more truthiness and edginess from the MSM?

Think I'll keep hanging out in the foothills of civilization until the crazy become poverty stricken enough that they can focus on something useful rather than continuing the hissy fit status of groomers and googlers of victimhood.

#15 indyjonesouthere on 2022-09-05 13:02 (Reply)

Imagine that Putin, perhaps in cahoots with Xi Jinping, intentionally invaded Ukraine to force the U.S. and NATO to send an endless stream of arms to Ukraine exactly so that we would deplete our own ability to fight a war. Would that be a great way to dupe your enemy into so diluting their capability or what?

Naw! They wouldn't do that and we would be too smart to fall for it. Right? Right!!!

#16 SillyMe on 2022-09-05 15:14 (Reply)

It's over. The Democrat Party plan to spook everyone into believing Biden would soon indict President Donald John Trump fell apart this afternoon.

QUOTE:

A federal judge ordered Monday that an independent special master be appointed to review the records seized by the FBI during its raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and ordered the Justice Department stop its own review of the material for investigative purposes.

U.S. District Judge from the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen M. Cannon ordered that the special master be appointed to "review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judge-orders-appointment-special-master-review-seized-trump-records

#17 Zachinoff on 2022-09-05 15:49 (Reply)

Special master appointed: Horses escape, judge shuts barn door.

#17.1 Erasmus on 2022-09-05 17:00 (Reply)

Buried in Judge Aileen Cannon's order that an outsider review the items confiscated from President Trump by the FBI was an acknowledgement that Biden ordered the raid.

Wow.
Democrats and RINO Romney voted to remove Trump from office for asking Zelensky to look into Biden's massive corruption in Ukraine.

This is 10 times worse.

#17.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-09-06 08:54 (Reply)

To quote you: "It is Labor Day in the US, a federal holiday to celebrate unionization." I am "elderly", and I always thought that Labor Day was a celebration of the American worker, and for giving him/her a day off in honor of his work. Wikipedia:

"Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States." "...it became an official federal holiday in 1894."

The concept of unionization is good, but human nature being what it is, workers are now pretty much forced to join a union if they want a specific job. Then the corruption of the union chiefs flourishes. Govt workers should not be allowed to unionize. Unions were started to provide job security. Govt workers already have plenty of job security (it's almost impossible to fire them). CA teachers' union is a prime example of a union which is powerful enough to run the entire state. Their union "guarantees" votes for the state party in power. In return, they get, in essence, whatever they want from the legislature. Between them, in CA, they have ruined the state. (I lived there for 40 years.) Money=power=money, ad infinitum.

#18 CT on 2022-09-05 17:32 (Reply)

I'm rather dismayed the half-truths continue to pile up here, but since I no longer indulge the cellar-dweller, I'll comment only on one article - college football.

Sports, in general, are about to change radically. It may not be this year or next year, but very soon.

There was a time when multi-million dollar contracts with networks mattered. They still do, but only to a limited extent, and a limited remaining time frame.

Streaming video is making direct to consumer options more valuable and likely for most leagues and/or teams. It would not be a surprise to see the MLB take over its media and stream directly to fans. Either via subscription, or via advertiser supported video (more likely, as people are giving up subscription television at a fairly substantial pace).

Subscription TV will last for a while, and may actually survive or expand with sports, but I think the reality is that most people like getting their TV for free and have developed a taste for advertising.

But once the leagues take over the streaming (or the schools/conferences in the case of college sports), everything will change dramatically. Sports networks will become like news networks - very little real news, mostly just opinion and betting information. While that's a death knell for meaningful news and information, it's a huge money-winner for sports.

So it's gonna be fun to watch this all play out and see who can adapt to the changes that are coming.

FWIW, 8 years ago, a neighbor of mine came to me to ask my professional opinion about how his firm should handle the media rights for a very large, internationally followed, soccer team. They had just purchased it, and I said "if you can get out of the rights the league imposes/imposed, then you should get streaming tech and manage it all yourself. It's where all this is going anyway. Getting the sales force to generate revenues is cheap and easy - but the tech is where the value is."

That is more true today, though the power is shifting away from the tech now. It's the content that matters. In entertainment, content is always king. Every now and then other things distract people from that - but what was true in ancient Greece is still true today. People want and need to be entertained.

As we drift into whatever recession we're drifting into, that will become doubly true. Hollywood's golden years were the Depression. Biden's mismanagement is going to make entertainment a welcome distraction.

Except, probably, for one commenter on this board who is eternally distracted by nonsense and PR.

#19 Bulldog on 2022-09-05 19:50 (Reply)

You can say that again!

#19.1 Aggie on 2022-09-05 20:57 (Reply)

#20 Bulldog on 2022-09-05 19:50 (Reply)

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Monday, September 5. 2022

Monday morning link dump