Category Archives: Media Criticism

Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Just Take The Vote

28 Comments

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.

Business, Culinary, Education, General Science, Health, Mathematics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society

Nutrition “Science”

2 Comments

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.

Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Ford’s Credibility

19 Comments

She refused to turn her therapy notes, which are key evidence, to the Judiciary Committee:

Now, I totally understand why someone would not want to turn over therapist records that undoubtedly discuss intimate details of one’s life. But if you are in the process of derailing a Supreme Court nominee based on otherwise unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct thirty-six years ago, and in that process giving the nominee a reputation as a rapist, it seems to me you have the moral obligation to either turn over all relevant evidence, or withdraw your allegation. In the absence of that evidence and any corroboration beyond her say-so, if I were a Senator I would ignore the allegations.

Also, they would be part of a serious FBI investigation.

The story has fallen apart, and now they’re saying he lied about drinking beer.

[Update later morning]

Why sexual-assault survivors should be furious at the Democrats.

[Update a few minutes later]

This reminds me of the 90s when, after making progress against sexual harassment in the workplace, the Democrats and feminists threw it all overboard in order to defend Bill Clinton. In this case, they just destroyed the #MeToo movement.

Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

The Left’s Unanswered Kulturkampf

70 Comments

This circus is the ultimate culmination of it.

We have someone who has been investigated by the FBI six times, and somehow, they never stumbled over any evidence of him drugging and raping women. Either they’re too incompetent to continue to exist as an investigatory body, or this is all bullshit.

In his Fox News interview, he described how these smears are affecting his and his family’s life, seemingly sincerely. So we have two theories that fit the facts: He is sincere and innocent, or he is a sociopath who has been fooling people for decades by merely seeming like a kind, upright man of the highest probity while having a secret life of being a drunken rapist.

Guess which way I’m going with both theories?

Just take the vote. And I hope there’s a huge backlash against Democrats at the polls in a few weeks.

[Update a couple minutes later]

“She’s not credible. Not at all.”

Yes, while in college, she attended high-school parties at which she was aware that the boys were drugging the girls and gang raping them, but she personally avoided drinking anything, and didn’t warn any of the girls. And she’s totally honest. That’s the best the Democrats have.

Riiiiggght.

[Friday-afternoon update, after the hearing on Thursday]

Jim Treacher: I believe she believes this happened.

So do I, or at least I’m willing to believe it. As he notes, the Republicans screwed up by allowing this be about lying, and credibility. The fact that she believes it happened, of course, does not mean that it happened; memory is a funny thing, and she’s had lots of therapy and encouragement from Democrats to nourish the belief that it was Kavanaugh.

[Bumped]

[Saturday-morning update]

Take a roll call; it’s important to know where senators stand.

[Update a while later]

Yes, the Republicans shouldn’t have delayed the vote.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Japan To The Moon

2 Comments

…privately. Yes, it’s ambitious, but I don’t think this is the problem:

The longer-term goals are laudable, but the company seems to seriously underestimate the difficulty of reaching lunar ice, harvesting it under extremely cold conditions, and producing propellant from ice. These are all significant engineering challenges in unprecedented conditions. Moreover, even under optimistic circumstances, NASA’s plans to return to the Moon wouldn’t put a handful of humans—let alone hundreds—on the lunar surface before the late 2020s, and China doesn’t intend for such landings until the early 2030s.

I don’t think that NASA’s or China’s plans are relevant to private lunar plans.

Business, Culinary, Health, Media Criticism, Science And Society, Technology and Society

Hospital Food

9 Comments

There’s no doubt it could use a lot of improvement, but I think this is bogus:

Dr. Eisenberg says the jury is no longer out on the benefits of eating a more plant-based diet with less refined foods, sugar and red meat. A study published last year in JAMA estimated that nearly half of the deaths from heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes are caused by poor diet.

They are, but there’s zero evidence that red meant causes any of them. Patricia had to spend a night in the hospital for a procedure a few weeks ago, and her breakfast was terrible, nutritionally.

[Update a few minutes later]

Related: Incorrect diagnoses kill 80,000 people per year.

The medical profession gets far too much respect.