Category: Politics

This, from Josh Marshall at TPM, is very good. It’s not short and it involves thinking, so click the link with that in mind.

I’m sure there are problems at FDA, NIH, CDC, the whole complex of food, medical and public health agencies. There’s no question that there’s a significant degree of agency capture when it comes to the national food supply, nutrition guidance and so forth. But that’s not going to be solved by a crank degenerate who claims COVID was created as part of a government plot

The next couple of years will be very interesting…

As an old-school guy, I follow several old school bloggers (and use RSS to do so). One that I’ve followed for ages is Kevin Drum. He is a left-center political writer who is super data focused. He wrote for Mother Jones for quite a while but has since retired and is just doing it on his own.

As good bloggers do, there are personal tidbits thrown in, so we know about his cats, photography hobby and a long ongoing battle with multiple myeloma.

Today he posted a “Pearls of Wisdom” post. 45 things he believes after 66 years. It’s a very interesting read, but these jumped out at me:

28. The life expectancy of the affluent (top 10%) is about 89. The life expectancy of the poor (bottom 10%) is 77.

Oof, 12 years.

31. To the extent that environment affects children’s development, it’s mostly environment outside the home: playmates, teachers, shop clerks and so forth. Parents have a good deal less influence than they think. Needless to say, most people resist this conclusion strenuously, but consider: do immigrant kids grow up speaking with the accent of their parents or the accent of their friends? It’s always the accent of their friends.

I believe this one, but as a parent it’s a hard one. But this is the one that boggles my mind.

13. One out of seven people have no interior monologue.

I have such a pronounced inner monologue, I can’t imagine not having one.

Given that Truth Social is a horrible business, I was under the impression that the Trump Media & Technology Group ($DJT) stock price was largely based on Trump’s influence overall. Many people viewed that stock price as a better prediction market for the election than the actual prediction markets.

Trump won, he’s going to be president, which would seem to give him maximum influence. So what’s up with this?

This election really was a national referendum on Constitutional democracy, the U.S.-led international order, and the importance of acknowledging factual reality. It’s just that the American people voted against.

I’ve generally avoided politics on this blog. I suspect that will have to change.