https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2020/08/17/lets_be_serious_more_c02_is_making_the_earth_uninhabitable_574271.html
And EM-DAT (The International Disaster Database) data show that since 1920, the number of people killed by natural disasters has declined from almost 55,000 per year to less than 10,000 per year.
Sustaining a population that has grown by about six billion people, lifting most of those people out of extreme poverty, and reducing the number of natural disaster deaths by over 80 percent show that whatever impacts increasing CO2 emission and atmospheric levels and rising temperatures have, they are not making the planet “an inhospitable place for humans.”
The data instead suggest that increasing CO2 emission and atmospheric levels and rising temperatures are making the planet more, not less, hospitable for human life.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Peace in the Middle East?
The peace process did not fare well, chiefly because Israel made the mistake of bringing the unreformed terrorist Yasser Arafat back from exile to negotiate on the Palestinian side. It came to a complete halt during the Obama administration because Obama totally misunderstood what makes the U.S. so indispensable to the peace process. Tempted to think that his own sense of justice was the missing link, Obama tried to be an impartial arbiter. But the Arabs and Israelis couldn’t care less what Obama thought was fair. That’s not why they talk to the United States.
Anyone — you or I, for example — could play the role of impartial arbiter. What the U.S. can do that no other entity in the world can do is to underwrite the security risks of a peace deal for Israel. Israel will make far greater concessions for peace with the U.S. standing strongly behind it than without. That’s what makes the U.S. a valuable mediator to both the Israelis and the Arabs.
Today’s announcement demonstrates all of this. Where Obama cozied up to Iran and cooled towards Israel, President Trump has unabashedly supported Israel while confronting Iran. This peace agreement has come, not in spite of the U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem and killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but precisely because of those moves. Israelis and more than a few Arabs have breathed an enormous sigh of relief at America’s renewed strength.
Anyone — you or I, for example — could play the role of impartial arbiter. What the U.S. can do that no other entity in the world can do is to underwrite the security risks of a peace deal for Israel. Israel will make far greater concessions for peace with the U.S. standing strongly behind it than without. That’s what makes the U.S. a valuable mediator to both the Israelis and the Arabs.
Today’s announcement demonstrates all of this. Where Obama cozied up to Iran and cooled towards Israel, President Trump has unabashedly supported Israel while confronting Iran. This peace agreement has come, not in spite of the U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem and killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but precisely because of those moves. Israelis and more than a few Arabs have breathed an enormous sigh of relief at America’s renewed strength.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/israel-united-arab-emirates-accord-milestone-middle-east-peace/
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/covid-spread-cant-only-be-explained-by-whos-being-bad/ar-BB17VlsC
Rethinking what is known v. believed about this freaking bug that turned the world upside down but helped improve our capacity for blaming those with beliefs different from our own. The most widely held belief I see and try to push back against is "because this happened after that, it happened because of that". It's such an old logical flaw there's a cute latin phrase for it. We enlightened 20th century geniuses with the oh so great reverence for science seem as vulnerable to it as ever. "We may also be heterogeneous in our biology. A recent paper in Science suggests that many people who’ve never been infected with SARS-CoV-2 carry a kind of immune cell, called a T-cell, which recognizes this novel virus and may partially mitigate an infection. These cells may be left over from infections with related viruses — the coronaviruses that cause the common cold. "While scientists who authored the paper warn that it doesn’t imply that people with pre-existing T-cells can’t get infected, they leave open the possibility that it might account for some of the vast variability in symptoms. "Whatever the source of this heterogeneity, we know it exists. Most people on the contaminated cruise ship Diamond Princess remained uninfected, while others got asymptomatic infections and still others got severely ill."Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Politics at its Worst
I hope this is the worst of US politics, but I fear it is not.
_____________
_____________
Long-sought documents finally pried from U.S. intelligence agencies prove that the Obama administration used the occasion of providing a standard intelligence briefing for major-party candidates as an opportunity to investigate Donald Trump on suspicion of being a Russian asset.
I say investigate Donald Trump advisedly.
As I contended in Ball of Collusion, my book on the Trump-Russia investigation, the target of the probe spearheaded by the FBI — but greenlighted by the Obama White House, and abetted by the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence agencies — was Donald Trump. Not the Trump campaign, not the Trump administration. Those were of interest only insofar as they were vehicles for Trump himself. The campaign, which the Bureau and its apologists risibly claim was the focus of the investigation, would have been of no interest to them were it not for Trump.
I say investigate Donald Trump advisedly.
As I contended in Ball of Collusion, my book on the Trump-Russia investigation, the target of the probe spearheaded by the FBI — but greenlighted by the Obama White House, and abetted by the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence agencies — was Donald Trump. Not the Trump campaign, not the Trump administration. Those were of interest only insofar as they were vehicles for Trump himself. The campaign, which the Bureau and its apologists risibly claim was the focus of the investigation, would have been of no interest to them were it not for Trump.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/new-disclosures-confirm-trump-was-the-target-of-obama-administrations-russia-probe/
The Dossier source ....
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/07/24/meet_steele_dossiers_primary_subsource_fabulist_russian_at_us_think_tank_whose_boozy_past_the_fbi_ignored_124601.html
Monday, August 10, 2020
Media Myths about Guns Prevail
Myth 1: Los Angeles Times: “Why the U.S. is No. 1 — in mass shootings”
This claim is based on one study by Adam Lankford at the University of Alabama. Lankford asserted that the U.S. accounted for 31% of mass public shooters from 1966 to 2012, despite having less than 5% of the world population. But for over four years, he refused requests from both academics and media outlets, including Real Clear Politics, Fox News, and the Washington Post, to release his data. When he finally released his list of cases after I had published an academic paper going through the data, it was clear why he had waited so long. He had over-counted cases in the U.S. and missed thousands of others in the rest of the world.
The United States accounted for just 1% of the shooters — far less than its share of the world population. France, Switzerland, Russia, Finland, and Norway all have substantially higher per capita fatality rates than does the U.S. Indeed, France’s rate is 111% higher than ours. By far, the worst mass public shootings have occurred in Europe.
Americans may be surprised by these numbers, because they hear so little about mass shootings in other countries. The dozens of times in recent years that such shootings are stopped by concealed handgun permit holders is also ignored. Something else the news media won’t tell you: Since 1950, 94% of the mass public shootings have occurred in gun-free zones, places where citizens are banned from having guns.
This claim is based on one study by Adam Lankford at the University of Alabama. Lankford asserted that the U.S. accounted for 31% of mass public shooters from 1966 to 2012, despite having less than 5% of the world population. But for over four years, he refused requests from both academics and media outlets, including Real Clear Politics, Fox News, and the Washington Post, to release his data. When he finally released his list of cases after I had published an academic paper going through the data, it was clear why he had waited so long. He had over-counted cases in the U.S. and missed thousands of others in the rest of the world.
The United States accounted for just 1% of the shooters — far less than its share of the world population. France, Switzerland, Russia, Finland, and Norway all have substantially higher per capita fatality rates than does the U.S. Indeed, France’s rate is 111% higher than ours. By far, the worst mass public shootings have occurred in Europe.
Americans may be surprised by these numbers, because they hear so little about mass shootings in other countries. The dozens of times in recent years that such shootings are stopped by concealed handgun permit holders is also ignored. Something else the news media won’t tell you: Since 1950, 94% of the mass public shootings have occurred in gun-free zones, places where citizens are banned from having guns.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/08/01/myths_the_media_perpetuate_about_gun_control_143848.html
Sunday, August 9, 2020
200 of 153000?
Just over 153,000 Americans have been recorded as having died from the coronavirus – and fewer than 200 of them were below the age of 25.
In the most recent week of data available, a total of 408 people between the ages of 15 and 24 died in the U.S., 5 of which were from the coronavirus. For the 5-14 age range the figures were 53 total deaths, zero from coronavirus.
While teachers unions and Democrats are heavily protesting reopening schools, the consensus among the CDC, Dr. Fauci and even Bill Gates is that they should reopen (whom I chose to quote because perhaps liberal will listen to them). When it comes to the risks children face at school, there are already far greater public health risks children face that we don’t keep schools closed for, and the disparity in potential harm isn’t even close.
https://bongino.com/seasonal-flu-poses-4x-higher-risk-to-schoolchildren-than-coronavirus/
Putting Money in the Pockets of the Citizenry
Amy Johnson, a nurse practitioner, spoke at the South lawn event about how deregulation and modernization of the federal healthcare bureaucracy had aided healthcare providers in rural areas who are now able to use telehealth to dramatically expand the range of services available to patients.
Similarly, Arizona rancher Jim Chilton spoke of a much-needed reprieve from the Obama-Biden administration’s notorious Waters of the United States rule, which allowed federal bureaucrats to regulate private land with almost no restrictions. In Chilton’s case, the government decreed that the “dry washes” on his property constituted “waters of the United States” because, despite having no water, they have at least 12 inches of sand at the bottom.
During his first year in office, the president delivered on his campaign pledge to reduce the tax burden on ordinary Americans, signing into law historic tax cuts. But, because tax cuts get all the fanfare, not everyone is aware that deregulation is actually just as — if not more — significant.
For example, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, estimates that government regulation is a “$1.9 trillion ‘hidden tax’” which “is greater than the corporate and personal income taxes combined.”
Similarly, Arizona rancher Jim Chilton spoke of a much-needed reprieve from the Obama-Biden administration’s notorious Waters of the United States rule, which allowed federal bureaucrats to regulate private land with almost no restrictions. In Chilton’s case, the government decreed that the “dry washes” on his property constituted “waters of the United States” because, despite having no water, they have at least 12 inches of sand at the bottom.
During his first year in office, the president delivered on his campaign pledge to reduce the tax burden on ordinary Americans, signing into law historic tax cuts. But, because tax cuts get all the fanfare, not everyone is aware that deregulation is actually just as — if not more — significant.
For example, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, estimates that government regulation is a “$1.9 trillion ‘hidden tax’” which “is greater than the corporate and personal income taxes combined.”
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trumps-deregulatory-agenda-andy-puzder
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)