Quote of the Day
To love is to stop comparing.
Tony Orlando & Dawn, "He Don't Love You Like I Love You"
Quote of the Day
A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us.BJ Thomas, "Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"
Quote of the Day
We need a renaissance of wonder.
Elton John, "Philadelphia Freedom"
Quote of the Day
Always repenting of wrongs done
Minnie Riperton, "Lovin' You"
This is Soft Rock America. My dad passed nearly 7 years ago; let your dad know your love during the living years.https://t.co/iVJApWRRAn
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
Goddamn morally corrupt politics of envy. Most of Bezos' wealth is invested in his businesses, which pay billions in local and other taxes and employ thousands of taxpaying citizens.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
Francis was brought up under a failed Argentinian leftist regime and has never been able to think outside of the propaganda box. Kerry is a morally corrupt Catholic in Name Only who has sold out the Church's moral teachings on abortion for 30 pieces of political silver.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
I'll listen to this political whore profess judgment on Jan. 6 events when she and the rest of her hypocritical leftist cohorts condemn the violence and property damage during the post-Floyd riots.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
"Maxine Waters"
The last thing Arkansas needs is another preacher (or his daughter) in the governor's office.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders"
For people who believe Trump will be "reinstated" as American POTUS, I have bad news about Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
"Bill O'Reilly"
My latest commentary reflects on last week's 7-2 SCOTUS ruling upholding ObamaCare.https://t.co/cCsgF8Khbv
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 21, 2021
The partisan Dems want to abuse the Constitution Elections Clause to undermine states' attempts to uphold election integrity.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Senate Republicans block voting rights bill in a 50-50 vote"
Yes, the Republicans on principle defended the Constitutional role of the states to conduct elections as Democrats attempted to rollback policies supporting voting integrity. Morally corrupt Democrats!
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
The difference between my residential state Maryland and Texas in a nutshell. One of the local residents has a fake deer in his backyard. My brother feeds real deer outside his backyard
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
I wonder if the Trump kiddos are going to use the same DNA testing service... #sarcasm
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Is Subway selling real tuna?"
Comrade Bernie, the fetid political whore, opposes any challenge to subsidies of electric vehicles, including any road user fees/gas taxes to freeloading high-earning yuppie Tesla owners, as if crony capitalist Elon Musk needs taxpayers to underwrite his customers' purchases.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
I can just see Maury Povich's new gimmick, taking the Wendy's "Where's the beef?" pitch to a whole new level: given imitation beef, chicken or fish, "Is your lunch for real?"
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Is Subway selling real tuna?"
As a libertarian, I don't have an issue with Morgan Stanley setting a vaccination policy making for a safer workplace, although the primary risk of anti-vaxxers is to each other. I do think, however, they would be well-served to find some accommodation.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Morgan Stanley"
No, it doesn't, you historically illiterate political hack. The states run elections by the Constitution. The federal legislature has a very nuanced, limited role, and the Democratic bill was blatantly unconstitutional.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
The leftists want the AG to engage in a form of victor's justice. This is a double-edged sword and accomplishes little beyond exacerbate the partisan divide and provide the GOP with a powerful argument in next year's midterm election.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Garland'
Schumer is in a state of denial of the weak hand he and Biden are playing, along with a single-digit majority in the House. Biden barely won a majority of the popular vote in a year he ran against the only POTUS with never a net positive approval, in a pandemic
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Majority Leader"
My most recent brief commentary deals with the GLM hosts getting temporarily suspended from Youtube over a video where Congressman Massie rejects a COVID-19 vaccine shot because of his prior infection.https://t.co/2t1pU1JE4V
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
Let's face it: anyone like me with a philosophy background knows critical race theory is provocative pretentious rubbish. But the correct response to error is the free market of ideas and a tradition of academic freedom, not censorship by political whores.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
"Matt Gaetz"
As a fellow techie and libertarian, I am saddened by the passing of John McAfee. My thoughts and prayers to his surviving family and loved ones.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 23, 2021
It amazes me that even Russiagate leftist cultists on Twitter believes in anything Williams says in the aftermath of his Iraq helicopter attack lies.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 24, 2021
"Brian Williams"
Dotard-in-Chief Biden is having an orgasm over spending trillions of dollars earned by other people. https://t.co/BHEBxEHywt
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 24, 2021
Bill Clinton says, "Welcome to the club!"
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 24, 2021
"Sidney Powell"
That explains why hypocritical Trump bowed before the Saudi king....https://t.co/uiLt4lc5B2
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 25, 2021
Apparently Tucker believes military members must make like ostriches, incapable of functioning on their own without his imprimatur.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 25, 2021
"Viewers react to Tucker Carlson's remarks on Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley during a segment on his Fox News show"
Heaven knows how many times Trump has thrown Pence under the bus since Jan. 6. It's amazing Pence has any principles left after being Trump's bitch for 4 years. https://t.co/RZwno9H80X
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 25, 2021
This is all grandstanding BS. What happened to the officer on Jan. 6 was criminal, and I hope the people who assaulted him are prosecuted. But all this fake media-contrived meeting with a political whore? Seriously, I would never want to sit in the same room.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 26, 2021
"Officer Fanone"
Chauvin's crime was inexcusable; he should expect no more mercy and consideration than he extended to Floyd.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 26, 2021
"Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd"
People will look at a wreck on the freeway. Would should anyone wonder why people want to see a twice-impeached, economically illiterate, narcissistic ex- President make a fool of himself again?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 27, 2021
#TrumpRally
Well, if and when Trump sycophant Lindell bankrupts his own company like his hero did 6 times, he can go work for Vince McMahon as a dead ringer for Paul Bearer.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 27, 2021
"Lindell"
But you're shorter than Kim Jong-Un. So Greene has a point.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 27, 2021
Just a reminder that Trump is a scientifically illiterate bastard. Children are vulnerable to disease and infection; while kids in a certain age range and without serious health issues seem to be less risk than adults, Trump's incompetence hasn't improved. https://t.co/lraAzVz4Jj https://t.co/rynvoHufeA
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 27, 2021
It's like AOC is in fifth grade. According to the web, AOC is 5'4" while Greene is 5'3" https://t.co/oj1x86zk6g
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 27, 2021
Quote of the Day
There is no moral precept that does not have
LaBelle, "Lady Marmalade"
The latest according to Washpo:
Things continue to show improvement. Maryland announced it's ending its COVID-19 state of emergency next week. A local government facility moved to HPCON Alpha, basically the lowest level short of 0/routine; in essence, even white-collar knowledge workers (like me) who can work remotely are expected to work most of the week onsite.
Well, I have to walk back a claim in a recent post that as a contractor I expected, like in the case of inclement weather or government shutdowns, I was resigned with having to eat the first Juneteenth national holiday (i.e., charge it to PTO/paid vacation/leave). In fact, we were told to do that last week on our timecards. It looks like contractor management (at least for my company) reversed the decision I don't think the feds are going to reimburse the companies for the loss of billing, but most contractors observe national holidays (I can recall an employer around 2004-5 not doing it for one or 2 days, like MLK Day, so we had to work at company facilities) So I had to resubmit last week's timesheet; I'm of course happy not losing one of my precious PTO days. I'm thinking of a Texas visit over the weeks ahead.
On a related note, I featured an Amash video with Reason earlier this week. I follow Amash on Twitter (and Facebook), but he doesn't return the courtesy (not that I do the same for others necessarily). But one topic he raised was criticizing libertarians who, like me, took exception to yet another federal holiday. (This didn't mean we disagreed with the idea of an emancipation holiday, but wanted to lose an alternative, maybe a President's Day, MLK Day, Columbus Day, or Veteran's Day). I thought it was an annoying point for him to make as a libertarian. It's not exactly like government employees are in a free market labor force. I don't necessarily know he was singling me out but I didn't really check the opinions of other libertarians. It wouldn't surprise me if others shared that opinion. But in fact I approved of the holiday as a whole. More importantly, I pointed out that slavery still existed in at least 2 Union states until the thirteenth amendment passed in December 1865. In fact, Brion McClanahan pointed out a slave auction just weeks before ratification. The Emancipation Proclamation was rationalized on Lincoln's role as Commander-in-Chief, not as if the Confederate states were part of the Union. It would be like me refusing to recognize Russian debts. I don't have any authority over Russian lenders. Lincoln was trying to stoke slave rebellions and crash the Southern economy. If you read what happened to slaves encountered by Union forces, you find out things like they were assigned duties for rations, etc., basically one form of slavery for another. But I don't mind that Juneteenth serves as a surrogate for true national emancipation, just like Jesus almost certainly wasn't born on Dec. 25. I think conservatives had an issue with the naming, like a true national independence day. I think McClanahan's opinion that the racial identity crowd's dissing celebration of the 13th amendment as a failed liberation of sorts is interesting.
My newest techie annoyance is with VLC on Android. I looked for a replacement for my Youtube Music app, which I thought was running off my SD card tracks but was constantly timing out over some Internet access issues. So I figured out how to build up a playlist of around 200 tracks in VLC. And then one day I open up VLC to find it say "no playlists". Say what? So I could to my VLC music track browser go to a familiar track--go to add it to a playlist, and there is my old playlist.. At that point, VLC seems to be able to see and use the playlist. But every time I start up VLC de novo, it doesn't seem to find a playlist and I have to repeat my trick to retrieve it. This is counterintuitive as hell. I hope they fix it.
Positiv.TV continues to be my go-to television channel, but that might change over the coming 3 or 4 weeks as /Hallmark starts its annual Christmas in July, first on Movies & Mysteries (in-process) for 2 weeks, followed by the signature Hallmark Channel cycle. I have a few favorites I hope to see, but to be honest most of the movie storylines are mediocre and/or predictable; I do multi-task, but I'll often zone into blogging or other activities unless the story is compelling. I've described some of the ones I've liked in the past, which I'll describe here by summary than title:
There are other movies I also like. I don't necessary dislike romantic comedies, which is a typical Hallmark genre, but in many cases, other than holiday settings, etc., it's little more than window dressing for one of their more secular romantic comedy storylines. I'm also more of a skeptic of storylines where people meet and get married over a brief holiday season.
In terms of WWE, there were controversies over the recent Hell in the Cell, where for some reason they decided to pull the championship match between Reigns and Mysterio, based on a revenge story after Reigns had attacked Rey's tag team son partner, and put it on the preceding Smackdown. Heel Reigns is arguably the most popular wrestler right now; the WWE had failed for years to book him as a babyface/"good guy". It's still not clear why they took their arguably biggest draw off the PPV, but the storyline was Rey didn't want to wait 2 more days to get his vengeance. Nobody seriously thought they would have Reign's drop the title to Rey, despite the David v Goliath storyline. To give the WWE credit, they did try to make it more competitive by letting Rey use all sorts of weapons, legal in this context,
They had filler replacements, like yet another rematch between Owens and Zahn and between Cesaro and Rollins. On a related note in last night's Smackdown, Rollins teased a challenge to former Shield team member Reigns; you sometimes do have heel/heel matchups, but it would be more likely to turn Rollins babyface. Still, all the rumors have John Cena challenging Reigns on the first live crowd Smackdown in about 3 weeks. In the meanwhile, they finally had long-rumored Edge return last night to confront Reign for the next PPV.
There were 2 particularly stupid matches, both of them female wrestling matches:
Probably one of the most interesting storylines is newly rich heel Cameron Grimes (Gamestop short squeeze wealth) This brings up an obvious reference to WWE Hall of Famer "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. So the unsanctioned Million Dollar Championship came up in a contest between Grimes and LA Knight, both heelish characters. Knight wins the belt, and in a later celebration, DiBiase formally presents him with the belt. Knight starts obsequiously praising DiBiase's legacy--and the whole time I'm literally saying out loud "He's going to turn on DiBiase...He's going to turn on DiBiase..." Sure enough, LA Knight starts beating down the 67-year-old DiBiase. I really didn't understand the point, unless they were just trying to cement his heel persona. Incidentally, my first memories of DiBiase were in his pre-WWE days, when he was part of the heel tag team champs with Dr. Death Steve Williams. Jake the Snake Roberts had formed a super heel tag team with The "full-nelson" Barbarian. I don't think DiBiase/Williams ever dropped the titles to Roberts/Barbarian, but I was rooting for the latter. I recall DiBiase arguing the other team had had their shot and wouldn't get another, but I don't think I ever saw that match or knew how it had ended, e.g., by a count out or other cheap win/loss.
Quote of the Day
Making the simple complicated is commonplace;
Frankie Valli, "My Eyes Adored You"
Quote of the Day
A successful man is oneThe Doobie Brothers, "Black Water"
Quote of the Day
Olivia Newton John, "Have You Never Been Mellow?"
Episode 481 of "Good Morning, Liberty" (Nate Thurston, Chuck Thompson) is interesting for a couple of points of discussion. (Familiar readers may know I've taken exception to their critique of Amash and their pro-Trump positions on his impeachments ( here and here)). One of the items was a kerfuffle over the weekend directed at FL Gov. DeSantis, dealing with a deadly auto accident at a pride parade in South Florida. I myself wrote an ill-timed tweet based on incomplete information at the time, pointing out a trend on auto mishaps by right-wingers (i.e., the fatal assault in Charlottesville). It turns out the elderly male driver couldn't walk with the rest of his gay chorus group and was allowed to drive behind them, accidentally accelerated the car and plowed into his group, resulting in the death of one man and injuries to another one.
The second one was more troubling as Youtube apparently sanctioned a video in which pro-liberty Congressman Massie spoke out against taking a vaccine (I'm a big fan of Tom Massie but I've twice stopped following him on Twitter over things he's tweeted, not that my current group of 7 followers is going to impress anyone). For background, Massie took an antibody test with positive results several months back, suggesting he had been asymptomatically infected in the recent past. He disses the idea of getting a shot, arguing he already has immunity against reinfection. I've written and/or tweeted on this in the past: in fact, people can be reinfected , although the risk is low (like maybe up to 1%) and reinfections tend to be more asymptomatic with low risks of infecting others. You have similar results with vaccine breakthroughs (getting infected after full vaccination), waiting period, etc. I've said I disagree with Massie's decision: we don't know much about duration of immunity, or how effective natural immunity is against more contagious variants. I myself wouldn't rule out a booster shot after my completed Pfizer regime over the months ahead.
I don't know how the GML video got flagged (the hosts suggest maybe it was some bot). Now I suspect most virologists would probably prefer my vs. Massie's opinion. but I wouldn't say Massie's position is unreasonable, engaging in misinformation worthy of censorship. I would say we had more nuanced takes on risks, based on limited information. I would not have censored Massie's take, although I disagree with it.
The good news is the GML guys appealed the suspension and won their appeal. Hopefully, Youtube will be more careful in suspending accounts in the future.
Quote of the Day
The Eagles, "Best of My Love"
Quote of the Day
Usually I'll try to find a baby follow-up because of the risk of miscarriage.
Average White Band, "Pick Up the Pieces"
I am not a lawyer by training and hence I'm not going to discuss the legal nuances of the California v Texas decision. The basic gist is Texas/plaintiffs challenged ObamaCare on the basis that the unpopular tax/penalty mandate for minimum healthcare coverage, used as a pretext for financing the program, had been essentially canceled during the Trump Administration by Congress. SCOTUS turned back the appeal 7-2 on the legal technicality of standing.
To be honest, I didn't expect SCOTUS to rule for Texas; clearly the mandate was unconstitutional, but nobody seriously thought the program was going to be funded on the fines for people like me who at points was unemployed and couldn't afford $800 or more/month for health insurance. I, of course, worried about developing a severe, rare, costly disease, but it was a lot easier and cheaper to pay a doctor or clinic a $125/visit fee as needed every few months. Now I've been employed every year with health insurance during the ObamaCare period. I recall that I had to figure out some sort of prorated penalty for months when I was unemployed, and that wasn't fun, even for someone with two math degrees. Now a couple of years back I got terminated by a thin-skinned employer literally later the same day I had requested time-off for a scheduled eye surgery. so of course I had to go onto overpriced COBRA. I think though by then the Congress had eliminated the fee. I remember at the time I did have to pay the penalties thinking how unfair it was: I still had to pay for my out-of-pocket expenses out of post-tax earnings/savings but I was being forced to subsidize other people's health coverage.
While in the process of writing this post, I've seen a recurring ObamaCare ad on television suggesting as low as $10/month (net of tax credit).coverage for most eligible applicants. Now the federal government collects nearly $4T in revenue yearly, not to mention can tap into trillions of dollars via Treasury bonds/notes, so I never bought into the fiction of a lockbox (it's also been financed by an expansion of Medicare tax payments from the wealthy, taxes on certain medical devices, etc.) It has had a huge toehold in the health services sector, especially since Medicare/Medicaid, since the 1960's. And of course it has provided a tax-free basis for employer-sponsored health insurance since the FDR Administration as employers looked for a way around wage-price controls to attract workers. This, unfortunately, had some unintended consequences as insurance morphed into a health services construct exacerbating inflationary pressures as consumers became disconnected from vested efficient decision-making.
I never bought into the preexisting conditions talking point, but the Republicans seemed to be sensitive to the allegation of throwing people off insurance and bought into the hubris of "repeal and replace" (the issue wasn't with repeal). ObamaCare, by any objective standard, has been a failure as the overregulated marketplace has deteriorated: fewer vendors; under-enrollments, higher premiums and deductibles, among other issues. I'm not going to go into detailed policy alternatives here; I would refer the interested reader to free market policy principals, like Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute and John C. Goodman of the Independent Institute, that I've cited many times over the history of this blog. I've always felt that government policy has been the problem, not the solution, and a national system over the traditional decentralized, state-based health regulation was not the way to go. I thought there were ways to extend healthcare coverage across state lines (especially for sparsely populated states) and/or reinsure assigned risk pools.
What is the solution? Not a government monopoly. You run into deadweight costs of taxation, never mind the fact that the central government simply is an incompetent surrogate for 330M consumers and David Friedman and others point out the government will often spend up to 50% or more higher in related expenditures. I'll refer the interested reader to Mises' discussion of the calculation problem and the tragedy of the commons problem in the public sector, not to mention problems like regulatory capture in our mixed economy. Government stifles cost-cutting innovation and impedes competition. Price floors and ceilings typically result in surpluses and shortages respectively. Just look at the incompetence of government during the pandemic; it did not include the private sector in COVID-19 testing, and its own rollout was delayed and ineffective. And the vaccination rollout was slow and delayed vs an attempt to ramp out First Dose First and alternative dosage strategies (see Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution for more discussion).
Quote of the Day
Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker.
Linda Ronstadt, "You're No Good"
Um, Francis Bellamy was a socialist.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 15, 2021
"Senator Ted Cruz shares a video of him saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, with the caption: ‘This didn’t use to be controversial’"
Catholic-in-Name-Only Biden actually wants to do away with the Hyde Amendment and use the tax money of us pro-lifers to kill preborn babies. https://t.co/vk294ddrOt
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 15, 2021
The first Catholic President, Jack Kennedy, inspired the nation, unlike the second one, Joe Biden. JFK went beyond his partisan constituencies. https://t.co/xp1CYTCyiz
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 15, 2021
Nope, but both of them are Statist career political whores.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 16, 2021
Doocy https://t.co/HQ5br4QL4n
The leftists on Twitter think Biden "owned" Doocy, must have been looking at a different clip than I saw. Doocy did try to provoke Biden into a counterproductive response to China. Arguing that Biden and the Chinese dictator were "close friends" was stupid, of course.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 16, 2021
Doocy
Junior is the poster child for prophylactics.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 16, 2021
"Don Jr."
Is she STILL trying to blame Putin for her embarrassing 2016 loss to Trump?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 16, 2021
"Hillary Clinton"
Are you sure Biden didn't sneak the purchase of Greenland in his $6T budget?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 16, 2021
"Greenland"
I knew it would happen, whether or not I explicitly tweeted it, that the Gray Lady would promote the ghoulish odometer of 600K dead from COVID-19, explicitly noting almost none of whom were vaccinated. These are all tragic losses, but one should note this is a fraction of 1%.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
Seriously, the media is engaging in manipulative schoolyard taunts or dares of global leaders. Putin used to work for the KGB; do you really think he cares about what you think? https://t.co/Sv3GcNo9Bg
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
The leftists are far more obsessed with the fact Bolton agreed to work for Trump than his neo-con record supporting military interventionism.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
"John Bolton"
This is ludicrous Trump Derangement Syndrome bullshit, and I'm saying this as a Never Trumper. There are legitimate reasons for criticizing Trump, e.g., government screwups in COVID-19 testing, but health security is a state, not federal, responsibility.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
Some seriously good ideas to improve the Constitution, although I particularly emphasize a Financial Responsibility Amendment which would emphasize a balanced budget, outlaw unfunded liabilities and enable a line-item veto.https://t.co/3UGNkm16zz
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
I don't have an issue with celebrating the end of slavery. But technically the 13th amendment was ratified in Dec. 1865; recall, the Emancipation Proclamation didn't apply in the Union.https://t.co/9tjSYttz2y
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
"President Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday"
A number of signatories to the Declaration of Independence hypocritically owned slaves. Some "unity".https://t.co/TdJrLTPA3B
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 17, 2021
"Charlie Kirk, a conservative radio talk show host and Turning Point USA cofounder, says “'Juneteenth’ is an affront to the unity of July 4th""
The Barrett Derangement Syndrome partisan Dems were proven wrong by the recent 7-2 ruling upholding ObamaCare. Think any of them will apologize to the justice? I'm not holding my breath.https://t.co/gzadGykGkI
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 18, 2021
Remember when Trump endorsed Roy Moore and Alabama elected Dem Doug Jones to the Senate?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 18, 2021
"Murkowski"
I need to expand on the latter point (limited Twitter space). I'm referring to capital punishment in concept vs. application. The Church has been increasingly critical of its use in practice. https://t.co/vW2Sin0Hd6
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 19, 2021
Almost every national Catholic Democrat, like Lieu, Pelosi, and Biden, has sold out the unambiguous Catholic moral teaching since the Didache against elective abortion for 30 pieces of political silver.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 19, 2021
"Rep Ted Lieu"
What makes Catholic-in-Name-Only Biden particularly evil in his sellout of preborn life is that he wants to take tax money confiscated from pro-life Christians and use it to directly kill preborn babies.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 19, 2021
"Rep. Ted Lieu"
Acosta makes much of populist right-wing conspiracy theories. Where the fuck was he when Dems were obsessed with Russiagate rubbish (and still are)?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 19, 2021
"Jim Acosta"
Utter pretentious rubbish. The true dialectic is between supply and demand, and the result of the free market economy is an increasing standard of living, more affordable quality and quantity of goods and services. https://t.co/ywNVqTlSjs
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 19, 2021
What is it about this pattern of right-wingers driving into crowds? (Remember Charlottesville.)
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) June 20, 2021
#DeathSantis
Quote of the Day
When small men begin to cast big shadows,I've never tried these, which is weird because I love hot n' spicy foods. I buy more jars of jalapeno peppers than anyone I've ever met, I've become a regular buyer
Ohio Players, "Fire"
Quote of the Day
Neil Sedaka, "Laughter in the Rain"
The latest stats from Washpo:
Perhaps the biggest news in vaccine development comes from Novavax:
First to Demonstrate Clinical Efficacy Against COVID-19 and Both UK and South Africa Variants...NVX-CoV2373 contains a full-length, prefusion spike protein made using Novavax’ recombinant nanoparticle technology and the company’s proprietary saponin-based Matrix-M™ adjuvant. The purified protein is encoded by the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein and is produced in insect cells. It can neither cause COVID-19 nor can it replicate, is stable at 2°C to 8°C (refrigerated) and is shipped in a ready-to-use liquid formulation that permits distribution using existing vaccine supply chain channels.
Novavax said today it will file for FDA approvals in the third quarter for its COVID-19 vaccine NVX-CoV2373, after it showed 90.4% overall efficacy, and 93% efficacy against the five most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variants “of concern” and eight more variants “of interest,” in a Phase III trial. The vaccine demonstrated 100% protection against moderate and severe disease, based on 10 moderate cases and four severe cases being observed, all in the placebo group
The U.S. lifted the export ban on raw materials on June 4. Serum Institute of India (SII), the manufacturing partner for Novavax in India, is yet to receive raw materials from the U.S. required to produce the Novavax Inc (NASDAQ: NVAX) vaccine despite diplomatic interventions by India, said an official aware of the development.The delay in receiving raw materials such as bioreactor bags and enzymes means that SII's launch of the Novavax vaccine, dubbed Covovax in India, will not likely happen before September, as planned initially. The company said raw material shortages have led to the delay in launching the vaccine.
A lot to unpack here: note the high effectiveness against contagious new variants and the modest refrigeration requirements; among other things, it might make for a great booster shot domestically. The second point I want to point attention is the deplorable Biden Administration to support recent attempts to undermine IP protections of vaccine makers, targeted by global shortages of vaccines. I've pointed out the issue wasn't pharmaceutical "greed" but global supply chain shortages. The fact that the US exacerbated issues with an export ban on raw materials didn't help.
The numbers are going on the right direction with daily cases trending in the low 5-figures, soon to be 4-figures. Biden's goal of 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4 seems unrealistic, particularly given underperformance in red states.
We are seeing the start of a return to normalcy with a number of NBA playoff teams running at full or near full capacity. WWE has now been promoting a return to live crowd TV tapings in multiple US cities starting in mid-July. One of my bellwethers is McDonald's; only about 15% dining in open (none to my knowledge locally) but they are planning to reopen more comprehensively this summer; however note most franchises are not company-owned, and many of them are having trouble staffing up to enable dining-in, despite wage increases.
One thing I can't stand is recurring purchases. particularly of more durable goods, like I've probably gone through half a dozen cellphone wallets. Another one is coffee makers, especially k-cup versions. Being ever thrifty, I've probably bought 3 of the economy Walmart models which sell for about $20. My siblings also let me inherit my late maternal uncle's big Keurig model, but I never got it to power on and ended up trashing it. My latest one is dying; earlier this week, I couldn't get it to drop more than an inch in the reservoir; I do have a more conventional drip model, but it's like, "Where are my filters and ground coffee?" So I go and buy a replacement--relocate and rinse out my old one; and suddenly it brews a full cup. This is like life is laughing at me. I think the old one is on its last legs.. If nothing else, I can bring it to my office...I've had issues of coffee splatter in the past bringing a cup to the office. Of course, I've bought my fair share of "leak proof" travel mugs as well. Quite a hassle for someone who drinks maybe 1 or 2 cups a day....
I may finally give up my Sam's Club membership. As a single guy, I've never used it for things like gallon jars of mayonnaise, and since I haven't had a full-size refrigerator for some time, I can't really buy much of anything requiring refrigerator or freezer space. There were staples on my list for occasional visits, like bananas, fresh berries, boneless leg of lamb, Kerrygold butter 1-lb tubs, rotisserie chicken, mulri-loaf packs of lower-carb breads and/or tortillas, jars of nuts, etc., not to mention filling up my gas tank economically (but with my hybrid, I don't even fill up every trip now). There were items I couldn't get at Walmart's, but it's getting harder to find a good bargain. For example, my local Walmart often sells rotisserie chickens at Sam's Club price ($5) or better. I routinely see as good if not better prices on fruits or berries at local markets. I ended up throwing out one of my lower-carb loaves because I don't eat bread fast enough to stave off mold. My last trip I bought just over $100 of stuff, one of my lower totals in recent memory. I did find some things to buy, like a twin-pack of sriracha sauce (I haven't bought ketchup in years), but I've been able to buy it at local markets,''
And I don't know if anyone gets pestered the way I have with unsolicited junk calls from these ubiquitous car warranty plans. There's one of these vendors who calls me incessantly using different numbers--as if harassing me is going to make more willing to buy something I don't want. Now that Joe Namath isn't on my cable shilling Medicare advantage plans every 5 minutes, these warranty plans (who also shower me with junk mail) have become my new nemesis.
This has been a pet peeve of mine. This has nothing to do with the fact that chattel slavery was an abomination, a paradox heresy against individual liberty, on which this nation was founded.
Just some reminders: the Civil War was not about slavery, despite propaganda otherwise. Four border slave states (KY, MO, MD, DE) remained in the Union. The Confederacy emerged following a decade in which Senate parity was broken in favor of free states and Lincoln was elected without a Southern electoral vote. I'm not arguing that the many in the South didn't perceive slavery as important to their economy, but there were long-standing regional differences where they were at an increasing disadvantage in the central government (e.g., as faster-growing Northern states had more clout in the House of Representatives). Tariffs/exports/protectionism had been a big difference, especially during the Jackson Presidency. The South felt protectionism in the North not only came at the expense of their cost of living, but their own exports (cotton, in particular) were subject to retaliatory tariffs, threatening sales, and the expenditure of these revenues politically favored, e.g., infrastructure projects in the more populated North.
It really wasn't so much that they lacked the political power, say, to block an emancipation amendment in the Senate. If anything, secession of the South made passage more likely, not to mention the South shared a long border which complicated any recapture of fugitive slaves. And although historians dispute its significance, the fact is the Confederacy put emancipation on the diplomatic front, hoping to win diplomatic relations with anti-slavery European nations, and General Lee had fought to win the promised emancipation for slaves who agreed to serve in the Confederate military. Plus, if you read Lincoln's first Inaugural Address, what he wouldn't abide wasn't slavery in the South, but loss of its lucrative tariff-collecting ports. In fact, he was willing to write perpetuity of Southern slavery into the Constitution if that's what it took to get the Southern states back into the Union. And let's point out out secession wasn't just a Southern construct; many abolitionists considered confederation with slave states to be morally contemptible. And there are a number of reasons to believe emancipation in the South was a dying institution and its collapse inevitable; for example, foreign consumers of cotton and other Southern commodities would have likely boycotted slave-produced goods, there was a competition between free and slave labor in the South, and taxpayers would have resented subsidizing the high costs of government in protecting the slave interests of the minority of slave-holding households.
The Emancipation Proclamation was more of a diplomatic and military tactic/gimmick. Lincoln had explicitly noted in his inaugural address he didn't have the constitutional authority to end slavery, short of an amendment, which was never ratified during his shortened lifespan. He dubiously relied on his authority as Commander-in-Chief in an unconstitutional war to undermine and destabilize the Confederate economy by encouraging slave rebellions while undermining Confederate attempts to win diplomatic recognition.
So what does this have to do with Juneteenth? Texas had been part of the Confederacy and fell into Union hands by the end of the Confederacy (by May 1865) and this date in 1865.
As a libertarian, I abhor the abominable institution of chattel slavery as inconsistent with the natural right of liberty. I have no issue with celebrating its end; I have two principal objections--adding yet another federal holiday (as if civilians need yet another day off at taxpayer expense) and the fact that slavery ended with the 13th amendment.
As someone who has worked as a federal contractor during much of the last 18 years. I can tell you many federal contractors got contacted late yesterday after Biden signed the Juneteenth bill into law. So today is the first federally observed holiday (closest workday to the holiday tomorrow) and we were basically told not to show up for work today and to charge our precious PTO (paid time-off) hours, like during government shutdowns. Maybe the contractor management will cover it next year, maybe give us our PTO day back (but I'm not holding my breath). I don't mind the long weekend, and to be honest, I was saving my PTO for a trip to Texas, deferred because of travel restrictions under the pandemic.