Category Archives: Social Commentary

Business, Education, Health, History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

Anthony Fauci

8 Comments

Jim Meigs reviews his book:

Anthony Fauci, whose early career did so much to improve human health, leaves behind a tainted legacy. He and his colleagues abused their authority, overreached on lockdowns and vaccine policies, and dissembled about dangerous research that his agency funded. The populist backlash to these excesses is still building. The public’s growing distrust of medical experts—and new skepticism toward all vaccines—is a public-health timebomb.

It is tempting to attribute Fauci’s late-career lapses to some personal moral deficiency. I think that’s the wrong tack. Fauci’s ethical shortcomings weren’t personal so much as institutional; he had been given enormous authority while being almost completely insulated from political oversight. Even the president could not easily fire him. And his centralized control over massive research budgets meant that few scientists were willing to challenge his claims or policies.

Over the decades, Fauci came to see himself as infallible. He represented “science.” Instead of welcoming contrary views, as he did during the AIDS years, the older, more thin-skinned (and more institutionally entrenched) Fauci resented criticism and tried to silence dissent. If not for the persistent pushback from a few bold scientists, journalists, and lawmakers, he might have succeeded in shutting down crucial debates entirely. No federal official should have so much power, with so little accountability, for so long.

Few people have the probity to withstand the temptations of that kind of power.

Business, Education, History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Thoughts On Ballistics

3 Comments

…and our decrepit institutions:

We don’t know much this Monday AM. Some of what we think we know will in time prove incorrect. We will find out more details in the days and weeks to come – but what is clear is this; we have too many people in this nation who are OK with political violence – including that which digs a bloody trench from Eugene Simpson Stadium Park to the Butler Farms Show Grounds.

We also know that we have – again – evidence that we have the wrong people with the wrong ideas running institutions they are unqualified to lead and that our nation cannot afford such a lack of effective stewardship of our inheritance.

The number of unserious people in critical jobs, and no one being accountable for failures of epic proportions, is – to repeat myself for emphasis – a national disgrace and crisis.

It’s been deteriorating for a long time, under both Democrats and Republicans, but it’s reached new lows in recent years.

[Update a while later]

A compromised Secret Service.

No matter how much training or experience she has (and these people didn’t seem particularly competent), it’s stupid to think that a 5’3″ woman can shield a 6’3″ man.

[Late-morning update]

Business, Education, History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

The Coverup

20 Comments

A short history.

It’s not possible to hate these awful people enough.

[Update while later]

“Well, anyway.”

As noted, the Democrats have given Republicans many great campaign quotes on Biden’s unfitness. They can’t unwrite and unsay them. And I love the look on poor Meloni’s face when Biden calls Zelensky “Putin.”

BTW, if you want to get completely snockered in a Biden speech, take a swig at every “Look,” and “Anyway.” They’re verbal ticks that he can’t avoid when he doesn’t know what to say next, or when his train of thought derails.

[Update a while later]

“Our Brezhnev, our Pravda, our Soviet Union.”

[Afternoon update]

I sure wish this didn’t sound completely plausible.

[Saturday-morning update]

Joe Biden and a tear in the fabric.

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

“A Good Man”

7 Comments

The BS about Biden is thoroughly deconstructed.

[Wednesday-morning update]

Now they take on the BS about Biden’s “accomplishments.”

He’s been a disaster.

[Bumped]

[Thursday-morning update]

John Podhoretz makes the case for schadenfreude. It’s pretty compelling. This couldn’t happen to a more awful political party, at least in this country.

[Bumped again]

[Update a few minutes later]

This is hilarious. As Gutfeld said yesterday, it’s like the Biden family is holding the Democrats hostage, and the media is negotiating. “He wants an In’n’Out! He wants to talk to his daughter. He’ll only talk to Clooney.”

[Noon update]

Dems facing the abyss within the abyss.

Culinary, Health, Media Criticism, Science And Society, Social Commentary

Coffee

12 Comments

Yet another study on its supposed benefits.

They lose me right off the bat when they compare it to the “benefits” of the Mediterranean diet. I don’t think there is any value at all in restricting red meat and fat intake.

Anyway, I suspect that even if the correlation is causation, it’s not clear that it will work for everyone. If coffee has no discernible effect on me (which it doesn’t) other than making me brush my teeth more to get rid of the foul aftertaste, then it seems unlikely that I will derive any health benefits from choking the swill down.