It became evident very early on that science didn’t speak with one voice on the subject. . . . The idea that our leaders are just following the science, following the algorithms, following the experts, and we’re not even going to look into the faces of people who are losing their jobs because we shut the economy down? We’re going to let our grandparents die in isolation and talk to them on iPhones as they’re dying? It’s obscene. — James Hankins Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Government
We Are Led by Idiots
It’s hard to contemplate American public life in the 21st century and not arrive at the unhappy conclusion that we are led by idiots. The political class has lately produced an impressive string of debacles: the Afghanistan pullout, urban crime waves, easily foreseen inflation, mayhem at the southern border, a self-generated energy crisis, a pandemic response that wrought little good and vast ruin. Then there are the perennial national embarrassments: a mind-bogglingly expensive welfare state that doesn’t work, public schools that make kids dumber, universities that nurture destructive grievances and noxious ideologies, and a news media nobody trusts. — Barton Swaim Read more →
I Heard the News Today, Oh Boy
I’m getting a little tired of presidents of the United States repeating things that could only be spoken by an idiot or a liar, and then trying to intimidate people out of contradicting them. The latest (though of course not the most egregious) offender is one Joseph R. Biden, who told the country today that he can raise corporate income taxes without imposing any additional tax burden on anyone who earns less than $400,000 a year. Because in the United States of America, nobody with an income under $400,000 owns any stocks or mutual funds. And if you disagree, he’ll stare you in the face and repeat himself. — Steven Landsburg Joe Manchin has also taken up the banner on this. I don’t know enough about Manchin to say whether he’s economically illiterate or a liar or both. (I don’t think Biden is an idiot, though he’s obviously cognitively dysfunctional.)… Read more →
Happy Bastille Day — Now THAT Was an Insurrection!
Happy Bastille Day! The anniversary of the storming of the Bastille—a military fortress and prison—in 1789 by a violent mob is one of the defining moments in the fall of the monarchy, or the ancien régime, as they say in France. Check my facts but this was followed by the formation of a July 14 Commission to investigate the insurrection. Bastille Day is celebrated by parades, fireworks, flags, etc. — like our own Independence Day, which also celebrates a violent insurrection. They don’t make insurrections like they used to, I tell you. Read more →
5 Reasons We’re Not Helped by More Gun Laws
The most common statistical sleight of hand when it comes to showing charts of gun murder rates per capita by country, with the United States always in the lead, is that these charts, somewhere in the fine print, and sometimes not at all, note that they’re only charting so-called “developed” countries, meaning that the U.S. is being compared to countries like Japan and France, but that Latin American countries and African countries, among others, are left out. So — 50+ people shot to death in a Nigerian church? Doesn’t count because Nigeria is not a “developed” country. And so on. (The other thing you have to pay attention to is whether a chart is showing gun murders or gun deaths. The U.S. has a very high suicide rate compared to most other countries — more than 60 percent of our gun deaths are suicides — so rolling the suicides in… Read more →
Focusing on the Stuff That’s Important
This should drive down inflation and cause the market to rebound. https://t.co/c2XR6hM5p6 — Paul Epps (@paulepps) June 13, 2022 Read more →
The Jack Del Rio Dust-Up
Washington Commanders fine defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 for his comments about Jan. 6 — usatoday.com Del Rio referred to Jan. 6, 2021, as a “dust-up” rather than the preferred-by-many term “insurrection.” In a statement released by the team, coach Ron Rivera said, among other things: pic.twitter.com/86bJREVDsq — Washington Commanders (@Commanders) June 10, 2022 “This morning I met with coach Del Rio to express how disappointed I am in his comments on Wednesday. His comments do not reflect the organization’s views and are extremely hurtful to our great community here . . .” What a great place to work! You’re not allowed to have a thought and say it out loud without having it pre-approved by “the organization.” I’m also surprised that even the most dysfunctional crybabies find the use of the term “dust-up” hurtful, let alone “extremely hurtful.” Maybe it’s just me . . . I don’t think… Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Dark Waters
The system is rigged. They want us to believe that it’ll protect us, but that’s a lie. We protect us. We do. Nobody else. Not the companies, not the scientists, not the government. Us. I’ll tell you how the movie ends but without a spoiler. It ends with the closing credits, over which we hear Johnny Cash singing “I Won’t Back Down,” the Tom Petty song, which perfectly summarizes the Mark Ruffalo character, who won’t back down, not as an act of defiance but just as a quiet refusal to give up. Whether or not that strategy works for him, I will not reveal here. Because the movie is based on real-life events, it’s also a good watch for anyone who believes that government agencies will protect us from all of the bad things in life, and that anyone who thinks otherwise must be crazy. Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating:… Read more →
This Day in History: January 6
On Jan. 6, 2021, a group of unarmed citizens frustrated by their inability to date Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez walked into a building. Read more →
What’s the Plan B?
This has not aged well. Is there a Plan B? As always, it’s easier to promise things than it is to actually deliver them. To beat COVID-19, we need a coordinated national response from the federal government — but Donald Trump refuses to do his job. I've laid out exactly what I would do, and I encourage this president to adopt the plan in its entirety: https://t.co/SOVOPL7uPy — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 7, 2020 Read more →
“Get the Vaccine” — Joe Biden
OK grandpa, now go take a nap. That’s the only Biden quote I have. Nothing on the latest jobs report, massive layoffs, high gas and energy prices, high food prices, high crime, empty shelves, open borders or Afghanistan. If you have any good ones, let me know and I’ll post them here. Read more →
Joe Biden Believes in Hard Work and Ingenuity?
Joe Biden believes that there’s no greater economic engine in the world than the hard work and ingenuity of the American people. But for too long, the economy has worked great for those at the top, while working families continually get squeezed. — President Biden Announces the Build Back Better Framework Joe Biden believes in hard work and ingenuity! Unless that hard work and ingenuity results in the acquisition of wealth, at which point aspiration and investment are to be punished. Read more →
Government Should Be a Referee
Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government — in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost comes in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player. — Milton Friedman Read more →
Thomas Jefferson: On the Removal of My Statue From New York City Hall
My fellow Americans – On Monday, the New York City Public Design Commission unanimously voted to remove a statue of me from New York City Hall. The statue has been there for nearly a century and was originally created to celebrate religious liberty. The City Council’s black, Latino, and Asian caucus said that the statue “symbolizes the disgusting and racist basis on which America was founded.” May I make a humble request? I’d like my statue to be replaced by a statue of George Floyd robbing a pregnant woman. Pillars of social justice like Floyd are the types of people we should be honoring, not slave owners like myself or George Washington, who never did anything for anyone. Read more →
Psaki: “Unfair and Absurd”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed during Monday’s press briefing that it would be “unfair and absurd” for companies to raise costs on consumers in response to the Biden administration raising the corporate tax rate: Jen Psaki: It’s “unfair and absurd” that companies would increase costs for consumers in response to us taxing them more. ? pic.twitter.com/rHilrYdj4j — Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 28, 2021 You can depersonalize the theft by saying “Well, it’s corporate tax rates — greedy corporations, you know.” You don’t need to be an economist to understand that corporate taxes, like any taxes, have to be paid by people: either shareholders, or employees in the form of lower wages, or customers in the form of higher prices. The money has to come from somewhere. Read more →
Thomas Jefferson: Without Citing Any Evidence
My fellow Americans – I noticed during the Trump presidency that the press developed an affectation where they reported everything he said as “Trump said ‘blah blah blah,’ without citing any evidence.” [Emphasis is my own.] Why Trump was the only human being held to this standard was never clear to me, but I thought of it again this week and perhaps it’s time for a resurrection of “without citing any evidence.” For example, President Biden’s announcement of a victorious withdrawal from Afghanistan might have been better presented as “President Biden, without citing any evidence, called the American withdrawal from Afghanistan a success.” Or when the August jobs report was released, showing that the economy added a disappointing 235,000 jobs vs. an estimate of 720,000, to which the president responded “The Biden plan is working,” more meticulous reportage could have been “‘The Biden plan is working,’ said the president, without… Read more →
Woke White Boy: Antifa vs. Anti-Vaxxers
You can have any kind of left-wing demonstration — women’s marches, Gay Pride parades, Black Lives Matter, pro-choice, political rallies — and you never have violent right-wing nutjobs turn up to disrupt them. I don’t know why. But when we hear about right-wing demonstrations like the anti-vaccine Freedom Rally in Santa Monica this weekend, that means it’s time to break out the black togs, bats and bike locks to give those fuckers a nice warm Antifa welcome. [Editor’s note: Isn’t violent suppression of opposing views the actual definition of fascism?] I don’t fucking know. I just know these fuckers better get vaccinated and maybe a good beating is just the incentive they need. [Editor’s note: Shouldn’t there be more fellow feeling for a group that doesn’t want the government to tell them what to do?] No! It’s not the government telling them what to do, it’s Antifa telling them what… Read more →
Dershowitz on Maxine Waters
[Maxine Waters’] message was clearly intended to get to the jury. If you acquit, or if you find a charge less than murder, we will burn down your buildings. We will burn down your businesses. We will attack you. This was an attempt to intimidate the jury. It’s borrowed precisely from the Ku Klux Klan of the 1930s and 1920s when the Klan would march outside of courthouses and threaten all kinds of reprisals if the jury ever dare convict a white person or acquit a black person. And so efforts to intimidate a jury should result in a mistrial. — Alan Dershowitz Rep. Waters lives in a nice house in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park. Her mansion is valued at $6 million. I guess living outside the boundaries of the district you represent is allowed, because Hancock Park is outside of her South Central LA district,… Read more →
The Knowledge of What They Really Are
Let’s express this as clearly as it can be expressed. Any journalist who treats unverified stories from the CIA or other government agencies as true, without needing any evidence or applying any skepticism, is worthless. Actually, they are worse than worthless: they are toxic influences who deserve pure contempt. Every journalist knows that governments lie constantly and that it is a betrayal of their profession to serve as mindless mouthpieces for these security agencies: that is why they will vehemently deny they do this if you confront them with this accusation. They know it is a shameful thing to do. . . . Even when they learn that they deceived millions of people by uncritically repeating a story that the CIA told them was true, they will — on the very same day that they learn they did this — do exactly the same thing, this time with a one-paragraph… Read more →
They Must Not Have Prepped Her For That One
It’s funny when someone gets killed with their own sword, in this case the lunacy of implicit bias. And she never sees it coming: Tom Cotton is savage. pic.twitter.com/P2q9V2yubE — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 13, 2021 Read more →