September 18, 2020 — Steven Hayward
News breaking at this hour that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at age 87. If you thought this election was already thermonuclear, just wait for what happens over the next 72 hours—and seven weeks to the election for that matter. I’ll refrain for now on discussing all of that and allow for a decent interval of observation and remembrance, though I suspect that won’t be the case elsewhere. We’ll
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September 18, 2020 — Steven Hayward
As we’ve commented here many times, any liberal who talks about Republican “dog-whistles” is the dog. Right now Democrats are in a panic about Trump’s strong showing with Hispanic voters, which could flip Nevada and even New Mexico into Trump’s column. Today in the New York Times, two left-leaning academics totally blow the narrative with this passage reporting on the results of some in-depth focus groups with minority voters (with
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September 18, 2020 — Steven Hayward
As we never tire of saying, if liberals didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all. And the best exhibit of this right now is that if Biden and the Democrats sweep the election, one of the first things they will do is . . . deliver a big tax cut to the rich. Don’t believe me? Then perhaps you’ll believe the . . . (checks notes)
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September 16, 2020 — Steven Hayward
The western fires haven’t gone away yet, and likewise it is too much to hope that the climatistas would give up their narrative that climate change is the dominant factor in increasing fire area and intensity. Herewith a second helping of some facts and data to supplement our previous item on this topic. Start with NASA’S Earth Observatory, which presents data showing that on the global scale wildfires actually declined
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September 15, 2020 — Steven Hayward
I’m starting to understand why Biden and the Democrats are so fanatical with the demands that we all wear masks right now. Because theirs keep slipping. First we have Kamala talking about “the Harris Administration, together with Joe Biden. . .” And now Joe Biden himself seems down with the program, speaking here today about a “Harris-Biden administration. . .”
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September 15, 2020 — Steven Hayward
News item: Scientific American magazine has made its first ever endorsement for president. You’ll never guess who they have endorsed. I know the suspense is killing you: Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history. This year we are compelled to do so. We do not do this lightly. The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people—because he
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September 14, 2020 — Steven Hayward
It’s a running joke by now that if Biden wins he’ll be replaced in short order by Vice President Kamala Harris. But did Harris let the mask slip today when she said, in a scripted broadcast targeted at hispanic voters in Arizona, that “a Harris administration together with Joe Biden. . .” That is how you might talk about someone understood to be a pure figurehead. You can watch the
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September 14, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Colleges and universities are working extra hard to disgrace themselves this week, and four efforts in particular stand out. • What’s this? Another white woman claiming to be black? Inside Higher Ed reports: Historian Jessica Krug, who last week admitted to being white and faking being Black for her entire career, resigned from her associate professorship at George Washington University, effective immediately, the institution announcedWednesday. But on the heels of
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September 13, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Churchill once defined a fanatic as “someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject,” so it was entirely predictable that the climatistas would declare the massive wildfires raging in the west right now are proof that the climate change debate is over. Shut up, they explained. Governor Gruesome Newsom says so, so there! Also the Los Angeles Times today: The real reason for the large fires is the
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September 12, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Well now we’ve done it! This week Lucretia and I decided to take a break from downing whisky shots over the latest crazy news headlines and drag listeners back into the classroom for a new mini-series. I get lots of emails and comments from listeners and readers about why we surrender the term “liberal” to deep leftists who are profoundly illiberal. It’s a great question, and so Lucretia and I
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September 12, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Since it is the convention to speak of presidential election campaigns like horse races, we’ve reached the far turn before the homestretch. Biden is still sitting inside on the pole, but is tiring. Trump is coming up fast on the outside. The track is sloppy. The odds are narrow. The stands are starting to fill up. Photo finish ahead? Headlines of the week: And finally . . . Lauren Boebert
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September 11, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Paul writes immediately below about the limitless racial politicization of professional sports going on at the moment, and it turns out the Gallup Poll people have just issued some bracing news for professional sports in their latest survey of public attitudes toward various industries. Here are the key findings regarding sports: The biggest slide, however, has been for the sports industry, with its positive score falling 15 points — from
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September 10, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Today’s California Crazy comes from the Los Angeles Times. Question: Is electricity for these housing units extra? Housing costs for the homeless rose to $531,000 a unit, L.A. controller’s report says The average cost of building a single unit of housing for the homeless in Los Angeles has risen to $531,000, according to an audit from the city controller, who recommends that L.A. rehab motels and open dormitory-style buildings to
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September 9, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Have you heard? Bob Woodward—pause for reverential ooohs and aaahs here—has a new book out, with the claim that Trump lied about COVID-19 when it first erupted way back in early February. “Trump admits he lied about COVID-19 threat in new Woodward book,” says the Puffington Host headline. But what did he actually say according to the story? “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in
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September 9, 2020 — Steven Hayward
I’m starting to think that the left might be partially right with this whole “white privilege” thing. After all, we can see from a lot of videos that a large portion—the majority in some cases—of Black Lives Matter protests consist mainly of white people. No wonder no one is getting arrested or charged. It is time to end this white privilege from criminal prosecution now. And if the left is
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September 8, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Michael Anton remarked in our podcast last Saturday that he hasn’t seen any hispanics in the videos of protests and riots going on around the country, and I’ve been remarking that out here in California, we’re hearing nothing but crickets from the hispanic community about the whole “Defund the Police” and Black Lives Matter protests. It’s almost as though hispanics may be wondering why Democrats are talking exclusively about black
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September 7, 2020 — Steven Hayward
This week’s three whisky happy hour centers around three percentage numbers: 99, 93, and 100. In looking at the latest craziness from higher education, Lucretia and I conclude scientifically that 99 percent of all college professors give the other 1 percent a bad name; the “93 percent of protests are peaceful” sounds about as meaningful as “the Japanese flyover of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 was ‘mostly peaceful’ except
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