- Worth Reading November 29, 2021 November 29, 2021 by The Editors - MPD found a very interesting discussion of how Biden is in pincers between progressive donors and “cynical centrists” in this quirky article. The author, a true believer in the Biden apotheosis, blames all his unpopularity on the resistance of the centrists, and how he does that is worth a read. JDQB recommends John McWhorter’s expanded discussion of the AMA’s recent absurd recommendation that doctors adopt new woke names for diagnoses, and even suggests it might be worth subscribing to the New York Times to read him regularly. Out of the Commentary podcasts that he follows regularly, he has selected this one on Bad Prosecutors as particularly worth a listen. For those like WDM who want something to back up their scepticism about pronouncements on Covid, he recommends this scholarly article that reveals the total lack of evidence that masks do any good. He reacted to this article on the Omicron variant with the thought that the Biden presidency is pretty much summarized by the phrase: “Act then Think (or omit second part entirely).” While on the subject of Omicron, his take from this tweet is: “Don’t Panic!” Nobody diagnosed with Omicron has yet required hospitalization.
- Big Oil Is Not Responsible, Biden and Big Banks Are November 29, 2021 by W. David Montgomery - By W. David Montgomery November 29, 2021 Whenever oil prices rise, Democrats in power blame “Big Oil.” Just as I can copy much of this article from what I wrote every other time this happened, we know President Biden reads from a script. In this case it is one that Democrats keep on hand for such occasions. He called for an investigation of “price gouging” just as Obama, Clinton and Democrat committee chairmen did when gasoline price spiked on their watches. That is what politicians do when their own policies caused the problems. I can recount 6 occasions on which this call has been made, and in every case the Department of Energy and/or the Federal Trade Commission found zero evidence of anti-competitive behavior. Their conclusions in every case have been that gasoline price increases were due to the operation of supply and demand, with prices rising when a constraint on supply appeared during a period of rising demand, and that the magnitude of price increases was consistent with the magnitude of the loss in supply. There has never been a finding that gasoline price increases were caused by any manipulation of oil markets. Nevertheless, blaming Big Oil plays well as a distraction and political theater. Thus…
- Worth Reading November 16, 2021 November 15, 2021 by The Editors - The China Diary by Matt Daley This article by Yun Sun in the Asia Times is as good a short analysis of China's strategic options re AUKUS as MPD has seen. Sun points out that China remembers the fall of the Soviet Union as it contemplates whether to escalate a similar arms race with the US and its allies in Southeast Asia. Worth Reading JDeQB finds these recent bits and pieces from the news, Twitter and the like worth a look or a listen: What it means not to teach CRT Andrew Sullivan’s interesting piece on how the mainstream media seems to have gotten almost everything wrong over the last several years Brett Stephens has an excellent piece in the NYTimes about why the Democrats are in Trouble. Entertaining piece from The Dispatch on the perils of insulting the customer. Excellent chart (and article too, but the chart is the point) on the Taxonomy of Woke Religion WDM notes that his predictions about the events and outcome of COP26 were on the mark. Putin and Xi did not find even the political theatre of the event useful enough to bother attending, meaning that nearly half of global emissions were not seriously engaged. Commentators were divided about whether to cheer John Kerry, the President…
- President Biden’s Immigration Plan Revisited November 15, 2021 by Matthew Daley - By Matthew P. Daley In an essay printed in the Chesapeake Observer earlier this year, I set forth what was then known about President Biden’s immigration policies. At that time, I expressed foreboding that a central tenet of the Administration’s plan was to create “an open border” although that phrase was not explicitly used. Nine months later, taking stock is appropriate. As a Washington Post editorial stated recently, “In its apparent desperation to fashion an immigration strategy that will impose order on increasingly out-of-control migration, the Biden administration has unleashed a torrent of words and goals untethered to specific policies and timetables.” Similar assessments have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other mainstream publications. Without a clear plan to address the immediate crisis, the result is the highest level of illegal border crossing in decades. Despite the Administration’s constant avowals that our southern border is secure, these startling facts speak for themselves: August of 2020 under the Trump Administration, the Border Patrol apprehended over 47,000 illegal migrants of whom 10 were released to the interior of the US. In August 2021 under Biden Administration policies, the Border Patrol made 195,000 arrests. Of these, 43,941 were released into the US without benefit of…
- Worth Reading November 1, 2021 November 3, 2021 by The Editors - JDeQB increasingly finds humor to be an excellent antidote for the woke madness that has befallen our society. Matt Taibbi’s recent Article about the Let’s Go Brandon Media Freakout is humorous while being very serious, as befits a writer who gained his spurs writing in the USSR and understands totalitarianism both governmental and social. He also finds the Commentary podcast to be of special pertinent these days. The November issue of Commentary is entitled Woke: The Threat and there is much in it of interest. But the podcast of last Thursday was especially trenchant and also, at points just hilarious. It is a good listen. Commentary Podcast, The Great Democratic Faceplant. On a more serious, but no less vital note, the Sam Harris Making Sense Podcast #265 is an interview with John McWhorter discussing the Religion of Anti-Racism. It is a terrific listen. John McWhorter is African-American, a Professor of Linguistics at Columbia and the author of many books, most recently Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America. The Sam Harris site is behind a paywall, but one gets about 20 minutes or so of listening before getting shut out. Even the first twenty minutes is worth it for non-subscribers. Subscribers, of whom I am one, find his material…
- Thinking About Things Would Anyone Today Actually Fight to Preserve the Union: A Thought Experiment November 2, 2021 by John DeQ. Briggs - John DeQ Briggs November 1, 2021 Since the turn of the new century, the American people have devolved into warring camps. People no longer have mere political disagreements. People have come to hate their opponents’ political views. And while religion is rapidly disappearing from American life, it is being replaced by faith in one’s tribe. This tribal faith is replacing reason, logic, critical thinking, and many other advances of the Enlightenment. In the circumstances, one can be forgiven for thinking we have devolved into a high Tech version of the 12th century in our politics and governance. It is not fruitful right now to delve into the reasons for all of this. Suffice it to say that for present purposes, I take it as a given that the unification of the country through a political process is simply not possible in the foreseeable future. None of the warring parties (I shall call them the Reds and the Blues) is interested in solving the nation’s problems. Both parties are instead interested in stirring up hatred for their opponents and perpetuating their own power by any means possible. Nearly all of our major institutions have been corrupted in this process, each in somewhat different ways. Neither individuals nor institutions seem to have a stake…
- Thinking About Things: Mr. Magoo as President and the Collapse of the President’s Poll Numbers October 11, 2021 by John DeQ. Briggs - Thinking About Things: Mr. Magoo as President and the Collapse of the President’s Poll Numbers October 12, 2021 John DeQ. Briggs I have been thinking about the performance of our President in the wake of my article of a month ago about the debacle involving Afghanistan. Since then, the Biden Administration has been through one embarrassment after another, demonstrating a startling incompetence at managing the basics of government. Virtually everything that the President has touched has turned to chaos; his policies have had obvious unintended adverse consequences, both economic and political. As I sat down to begin writing about this yesterday, the image of Mr. Magoo as President popped into my head and made itself home there, immovable. Not only does Mr. Biden bear an uncanny likeness to the nearsighted Mr. Magoo, but both leave mayhem in their wake, and both are completely oblivious to the consequences of their actions. The main difference is that Mr. Magoo seems always to come across as a likable nearsighted old soul who means well. But contrary to his appearance during the campaign of 2020, Mr. Biden now comes across as an unlovable, mean and mean-spirited person. He has transmogrified completely away from his “Lunch pail Joe” and…
- Worth Reading October 12, 2021 October 11, 2021 by The Editors - JDQB notes that below the radar screen are some interesting articles. Edward Snowden writes especially clearly about an obscure but interesting subject most people (including me) never heard of Central Bank Digital Currencies. It could be subtitled “the Surveillance State comes to Money.” Matt Taibbi just keeps getting more interesting. The insights he brings from his upbringing in the Soviet Union to our rapidly evolving social totalitarianism deserve wide circulation. The article is short, but this paragraph, especially in context, is dynamite. As a student in the Soviet Union I noticed subscribers to what Russians called the sovok mindset talked in interminable strings of pogovorki, i.e goofball proverbs or aphorisms you’d heard a million times before (“He who takes no risk, drinks no champagne,” or “Work isn’t a wolf, it won’t run off into the woods,” etc). This was a learned defense mechanism, adopted by a people who’d found out the hard way that anyone caught not speaking nonstop nonsense could be suspected of harboring original thoughts. Voluble stupidity is a great disguise in a society where silence is suspect. Robert Kaplan’s article from last week in the Wall Street Journal is worth reading even if you have to drive somewhere to buy the proper paper issue of the newspaper (sadly,…
- Kabul Now September 27, 2021 by Guest Author - Guest Commentary by Rev. Peter Wm. Gray P.S.S. This horrific photo was just sent to me from my sources, contacts in Kabul. It is authentic. These 2 young men were caught stealing bread this AM. They are now on display before they will be "disciplined". This spying and capturing is now a daily occurrence in Afghanistan and nobody will do anything to alter this draconian interpretation of the Koran. Where is the outrage from the International Islamic Communities ? Where are the media from the West? Where is Pope Francis? Where are our bishops and other Christians? I am beyond anger when I am seeing this and realizing that there will be no one to intervene and stop this barbarity. Our government, the Legislative Branch no less than the Executive Branch is responsible for this debacle, which was the conscious choice of both parties. Yet having made “peace” with the Taliban, our government writ large is now pretending this is not a problem at all. Meanwhile, the jaws of Hell are opening wide. Father Gray is a Roman Catholic priest of the Order of St Sulpice. He is actively supporting Christian families in Afghanistan and working to get endangered students and friends out of…
- Preserve Our Seafood Industry’s Heritage September 27, 2021 by Guest Author - Guest Editorial by John Fithian A newspaper article published last month reported that Maryland Comptroller and announced candidate for governor Peter Franchot promised, if elected governor, to phase out the centuries old wild commercial oystering industry; likely starting with a moratorium. The article also reported Franchot saying he would rather “properly compensate” watermen for losing their jobs than find a bipartisan solution.I can guarantee that if this happens, you will eventually destroy the entire seafood industry as we know it. Tilghman Island Watermen's Museum I find Franchot's announcement to be a knee-jerk reaction by someone who has spent little time trying to help the industry over his many years in politics but has obviously spent a great deal of time counting votes promised by environmental groups. My biggest question is, when did Franchot first become interested in the health of the seafood industry or the Chesapeake Bay? I am not aware of Franchot reaching out to the industry to lend a helping hand or any efforts to understand the many issues facing the industry. Millions of gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Bay almost daily by Baltimore City. He is witnessing firsthand the catastrophic harm caused by the Conowingo Dam,…
