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Quick Jots: October 2021



Scott Horton violates the Non-Aggression Principle
#war #scotthorton
At least, that's what it seems like in the Soho Forum debate where he completely demolished Bill Kristol in the debate I've been eagerly waiting for for a year and a half. Scott Horton just systematically destroyed all of Kristol's arguments. It almost seemed like Kristol never bothered preparing for the debate, often with "arguments" of "Well, I disagree." Really? That's all you got? It's like he just gave up when he realized he had nothing to counter Horton's points. He was as bad as Richard Wolff when he was demolished by Gene Epstein.


More bad jobs numbers
#economics
The September jobs report gave yet more bad news. People still aren't looking for work. The data collection ended a week after expanded unemployment benefits ended. People were quick to jump on the jobs report to gleefully yell "See? It wasn't because of unemployment benefits ending!" Once again, correlation does not imply causation. Human responses aren't like light switches where a light turns on right after a switch is flicked. It may happen early as people prepare for their benefits to run out, like I thought might happen. Turns out I was wrong about that back in June. There have been stories since that people have saved up unemployment benefits to hold out for better pay, signaling that people may actually delay in finding a job, looking for a better wage. It somewhat makes sense as wages continue to rise as a shortage continues, as long as you're not left standing when the music stops. Meanwhile, prices continue to climb as the shortage continues. While the left celebrates the lack in jobs uptick saying this proves that jobs don't pay well enough, they would do well to wonder what at least one of the reasons are for these climbing prices. They may also want to consider their thesis of people holding out for better pay while in the meantime earning zero in pay, would actually point to a delay in job takers resurfacing following unemployment benefit expiration.

AB5 upheld for freelance writers and drivers
#legislation #california
The disastrous AB5 law was given new life when an Alameda Superior Court judge struck down Proposition 22 that would exempt gig drivers from AB5. In his decision, he opined that the voters illegally restricted the "unlimited" power of the legislature to dictate certain labor laws. Anyone that thinks judges can be relied on to enforce constitutional limits on power, take note. It's not over; this ruling will be appealed and will result in a lengthy legal battle. In the same vein, the courts ruled that AB5 may still restrict freelance writers of their preferred employment method. So all you lefties that used to write for Vox about how California politics are the best, your termination is now permanent unless you move to a different state. You reap what you sow.

Australia literally returned to a prison state
#covid-19 #australia
David Limbrick went on Tom Woods's podcast to talk about the state of Australia. One thing he mentioned which I didn't know was that Australians needed permission from the state to leave certain territories or to leave the country, and the "valid" reasons to do so were far and few between. This has had disastrous results, including several babies that died since they were denied transport to hospitals that could have saved their lives. Australia has truly come full circle. I guess I should have known this. I vaguely recall reading something about how Jessica Hull obtained permission to travel to travel to Tokyo to run in the Olympics.

Started to update the original COVID article with COVID stuff
#covid-19
After a few updates into the body of the gigantic COVID article I wrote early this year, I stopped updating it. I have now added a section at the end called "updates" with quick bullet point updates and links. Most of them are links to these Quick Jots, but some are stuff I hadn't mentioned. I'll try to continue to update that page for continual one stop shop for links.

Most studies show natural immunity is better than vaccine immunity against COVID
#covid-19
A study out of Israel with nearly 800,000 eligible test subjects found that natural immunity is 13 times better than those with vaccine immunity. A study out of Qatar airports with over 200,000 PCR test data revealed that vaccine status and prior infection were both similarly effective at blocking COVID .Even the Washington Post published a Johns Hopkins medical professor article talking about 15 studies that show natural immunity protects more than vaccine immunity, and how the push for previously infected people to be vaccinated may have killed many people when vaccines were still scarce. And yet, vaccinated people are given their freedoms as long as they show their papers, while the naturally immune, being even less of a threat to spread the virus, have their liberties stripped of them by those that claim to follow the science. 

In-N-Out refuses to comply with vaccine mandates
#covid-19 #california
The solo San Francisco In N Out location at North Beach as well as several restaurants in Contra Costa County were shuttered for dine-in as the non-franchise fast food chain refused to check for vaccines, claiming it is not the COVID police and that it is wrong for the government to force businesses to discriminate against and segregate its customers. Right on, In-N-Out. A fast food chain releasing a statement about COVID that is more reasonable than most journalists and politicians. What a perfectly normal world this is. Looks like I'll tolerate the John 3:16 printed on its cups, flaccid fries, marshmallowy milkshakes, but delicious burgers, and patronize the business much more than I have in the past. Down with medical Jim Crow.

Bernie Sanders Math
#legislation #berniesanders
In Bernie Sanders's world, his math, we'll call it BS Math for brevity, seems to think that two senators are holding up the entire bloated infrastructure bill that includes things well more than just infrastructure. I've always known he's bad at math, but I always assumed it's because he can't follow all those zeros in the budgets. But there are only two zeroes in the number 100, which is the number of senators in DC, two for each state. Only in BS Math does 100 minus 48 equal 2. It's 52 senators opposing 48 senators, not 2 senators opposing 52, Bernie. But I'm not surprised the socialist doesn't understand how Democratic processes work, either.



Joe Biden Math
#legislation #joebiden
Joe Biden, who apparently attended Zoolander's The Center for Kids Who Want to Read Good and Want to Learn How to do Other Stuff Good Too, claimed that his "Build Back Better" plan, stuffed with $3.5 trillion of spending would cost zero dollars. Joe Biden is leading BS Math in the DC Math Olympics! He claims the cost will be offset by increased tax revenue. From the wealthy and corporations, of course. Total corporate profits in the US right now is around $2.44 trillion per quarter. So hey, just make corporate profits zero for a quarter and a half, on top of the taxes they already pay, and it's paid for! What could possibly go wrong? Even if what he says is accurate and he's talking about how it would affect the deficit, it's like planning to go to Best Buy to buy a Playstation 5 for $500. To pay for it, you use the $500 of money in your bank account you raised by taking $1 from 500 neighbors, while owing the bank $5000, instead of use a credit card. Cha-ching! The Playstation 5 cost zero dollars! If only I knew this trick, I could have gotten nearly everything I own for free! But of course it still costs money. $3.5 trillion, to be exact, just in direct costs. It's not like those resources are just sitting around, idle, doing nothing. Those resources have to be extracted from what it's presently doing to do things a patient that escaped a dementia ward thinks it should do. Unfortunately, even using Biden's fuzzy math doesn't make it go to zero. He uses a number of accounting tricks to maneuver around certain CBO financial calculation metrics. Enron is calling and requesting your accounting services, Joe.



Childhood obesity shoots up
#covid-19
Early on in the pandemic, cities closed parks and the government pushed for everyone to stay inside and just sit around. It should be no surprise, then, that childhood obesity has shot up 26.2% from previous years, as schools closed and playgrounds were cordoned off. Adult obesity has also climbed as people "sheltered in place" at the behest of the government, shut down public recreation areas, and private gyms. The cruel joke, of course, is that we knew, pretty early on, that obesity was a comorbidity to COVID-19. I'm not saying this is what the government was trying to do, but if they wanted to get more people killed by COVID, this was a pretty good way to do it.

Ibram X Kendi owns self by tweeting about the Elizabeth Warren Maneuver
#criticalracetheory #ibramxkendi
Ibram X. Kendi, one of the most prominent figures today pushing Critical Race Theory, tweeted a story from The Hill about how 34% of white students are lying on their college applications, with 81% of them saying they're doing so to try to get a more favorable chance to be accepted into college. Nearly half of them checked the Native American box, perhaps inspired by Elizabeth Warren. The reported survey results are probably a bit dubious, given it would have resulted in a major influx of fake Native Americans, but still, the survey shows that at least for college admissions, it is at least perceived to be a disadvantage to be white. The report, however, would appear to undermine Kendi's expansive life's work on how the system is inherently racist and favors white people. A charlatan may delete the tweet when he realizes in his anger that the report would actually run counter to his snake oil pitch, but Kendi is a man who...oh. He deleted his tweet.

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