A Never Trumper

…finally grateful for Trump:

A few moments have crystallized my view over the past few days.

The first moment was a remark by a friend. “I’d rather be accused of murder,” he said, “than of sexual assault.” I feel the same way. One can think of excuses for killing a man; none for assaulting a woman. But if that’s true, so is this: Falsely accusing a person of sexual assault is nearly as despicable as sexual assault itself. It inflicts psychic, familial, reputational and professional harms that can last a lifetime. This is nothing to sneer at.

The second moment, connected to the first: “Boo hoo hoo. Brett Kavanaugh is not a victim.” That’s the title of a column in the Los Angeles Times, which suggests that the possibility of Kavanaugh’s innocence is “infinitesimal.” Yet false allegations of rape, while relatively rare, are at least five times as common as false accusations of other types of crime, according to academic literature.

I am sickened by vile people willing to condone an accusation of rape in pursuit of political ends. It’s a horrible thing to do to someone, and it is compounded when people shrug it off as though it’s no big deal, and then criticize someone for their “temperament” when they defend themselves against it.

I would also note that the next murder victim who falsely accuses someone of their murder will be the first.

And this is amazing.

Leland Keyser (Bob Beckel’s ex-wife) told investigators that Monica McLean pressured her to “clarify” her statement that was key evidence against Blasey Ford. McLean’s lawyer is David Laufman. He (DOJ) and Peter Strzok were the two seniors in the softball Hillary interview. What a circle jerk.

[Update later morning]

“I’m an immigrant minority woman who is becoming a Republican over the treatment of Kavanaugh.”

She won’t be the last. I hope we find out in a month that the Democrats are going to reap a whirlwind.

[Afternoon update]

Conservative women are angry. At the Democrats.

[Update mid afternoon]

Women should fear Democrat “champions”:

Claiming most Americans are racist gives Democrats political power over blacks. Of no concern to them is the harm this lie has inflicted on blacks’ happiness and wellbeing. Democrats have sewn up the black vote for the past 50 years and delivered nothing but destruction of their men, their families, and their chances at economic success. Now it is women’s turn for the Democrats’ dysfunctional brand of ‘protection.’

Lucky them.

[Update a while later]

Sorry, first link is there now.

Just Take The Vote

Ford’s story is falling apart, and she is bereft of credibility at this point.

She was not well served by the Democrats, but Democrats never treat people well. They threw her into the breach, and I’m sure they consider her expendable.

[Late-morning update]

How bad has the media bias been? So bad that even Morning Joe is calling them out on it.

[Update early afternoon]

Jonah Goldberg: You idiot reporters are making it worse. Or better, depending on your point of view. If this results in a red wave, I’ll thank them.

The Return Of The Space Visionaries

About a year ago, I started writing an essay comparing and contrasting Bezos’s versus Musk’s visions for humanity in space. As is often the case, it expanded into a history of space visions in general, and how we’re finally returning to the old ones, after the tragic detour of Apollo. It’s out in the current issue, but unfortunately, isn’t yet available on line. I expect it will be in a few weeks or less, though.

[Update a few minutes later]

This is sort of a space issue. There is a piece by Bob Zubrin laying out his concept for Moon Direct, bypassing what he calls the space toll booth (Gateway), and another by Micah Meadowcroft on how Mars will disappoint.

Nutrition “Science”

A fraud is exposed, but it’s a much larger problem:

Data dredging is fairly common in health research, and especially in studies involving food. It is one reason contradictory nutrition headlines seem to be the norm: One week coffee, cheese and red wine are found to be protective against heart disease and cancer, and the next week a new crop of studies pronounce that they cause it. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said that many researchers are under enormous pressure to churn out papers. One recent analysis found that thousands of scientists publish a paper every five days.

I liked this:

“P-hacking is a really serious problem,” said Dr. Ivan Oransky, a co-founder of Retraction Watch, who teaches medical journalism at New York University. “Not to be overly dramatic, but in some ways it throws into question the very statistical basis of what we’re reading as science journalists and as the public.”

You don’t say.

It goes far beyond nutrition. A lot of drug research is based on this sort of thing as well, including the statin scam.