The Frankish Reich

tl;dr Ivermectin pimp can't give up on Ivermectin. From the cited article: "We may never know how many lives were lost because of the tactics used to suppress ivermectin ..." Actually, we do know: approximately zero. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2801828 Cochrane meta-analysis of 11 eligible trials examining the efficacy of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 published through April 2022 concluded that ivermectin has no beneficial effect for people with COVID-19.1 Since May 2022, an additional 3 large randomized clinical trials including several thousand participants have been published, each reaching a similar conclusion.2-4 Today JAMA publishes a new trial of ivermectin treatment for mild to moderate COVID-19 that addresses the possibility that the existing literature may have missed the efficacy of ivermectin because the previously tested dose (approximately 400 μg/kg daily for 3 days) was insufficient.5 At a higher treatment dose (600 μg/kg daily) and longer treatment duration (6 days), Naggie and colleagues again conclude that ivermectin is not beneficial for the treatment of COVID-19.

This is true - we do need to focus on the power grid. But ... what exactly does this have to do with rising gas and food prices on account of Biden's energy policies? That was what I thought we were talking about, not the national power grid in 2030 ...

https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2023/03/23/what-we-know-about-foxconn-in-wisconsin-and-how-we-got-there/70037738007/ It's a mixed bag. Yes, Foxconn still spends money in Wisconsin. But the bottom line: it is a fraction of what Scott Walker promised. Quite a bit has changed in five years. Employment is a fraction of the initial promise and its unclear what is being manufactured at the site. The facility has changed from a Generation 10.5 to a Generation 6 which normally makes screens for phones, tablets and TVs. But so far, no screens have been made. The incentive package has also changed. It’s been estimated that more than a billion dollars of taxpayer money has gone toward supporting the deal but in 2021, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. approved a much smaller package. The tax credits went down from $2.85 billion to $80 million. The job goal number is also down from 13,000 statewide to 1,454. The capital investment has also gone down from $10 billion to $672.8 million.

I'm not sure what that has to do with Biden's energy policies. You said his energy policies are responsible for the rise in gas and food prices. I provided evidence showing that this is simply not the case, or that it is at most a minimal impact. Your respond by saying that Biden has somehow pissed off the Saudis. Saudi oil production is higher in the first half of 2023 than it was in the first half of 2019. Could I interest you in actually looking at some data?

"Free speech absolutist" not quite so absolute as advertised: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/29/tech/elon-musk-twitter-government-takedown/index.html Musk's Twitter is much more likely to grant a government's takedown request than Jack Dorsey's Twitter was. I understand Musk's objection: is it better that Twitter grant a foreign government's (or dictator's) takedown request, or have Twitter blocked entirely in that country? But still: an awkward position to be in for a self-appointed free speech absolutist.

That's easy: disagree. Gas prices: if Biden's energy policies so restricted supply, we would have expected a continuous rise or at least a steady equilibrium at a much higher price level than what we saw under pre-COVID Trump. (why pre-COVID? Because the early days of COVID caused a huge percentage of the economy to shut down). So: $2.76 per gallon nationwide average in summer 2019; $3.58 per gallon now. Adjusting for overall inflation (almost 20 percent in 4 years overall), that's just about 25 cents more per gallon. Could that 25 cents be explained by diminished U.S. crude output? Well, U.S. crude oil production is basically equal today to what it was at it's pre-COVID peak in Nov. 2019. So I guess you could say it would be even greater if Biden weren't in office, but that ignores the fact that oil exploration/drilling/production goes up when the price goes up. So there's really no evidence for this. Food prices? an even more tenuous connection. Maybe energy costs have a tiny impact here, but the overwhelming impact is labor costs all through the supply chain. You can see this clearly in the areas which are more labor intensive, like restaurants. Not too long ago the $20 burger was a joke (or something you saw only on hotel room service). Now it's common. And that's more of an effect of loose monetary policy combined with fiscal stimulus under Trump and Biden in response to COVID. (Yes, Biden's last stimulus was a bad idea and probably counterproductive.) So ... no real impact of Biden's energy policies on either gas or food prices.

Exactly. Look at what's happened in the last 30 years in the former Soviet bloc countries that redirected their focus away from Moscow and toward the west: the Baltic states, Poland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, the former East Germany. Tremendous growth and prosperity they could only have dreamed of in the Soviet era. Meanwhile: Russia, Belarus: total economic basket cases. There's no comparison. That's what Ukrainians finally took notice of, and that's why losing the Ukraine's Russia orientation became such an insane focus of Putin and his crumbling empire.

That's what I mean! People have expensive tastes. I just got two dozen hot dogs, BOGO, about ten bucks. 2 lbs of ground bison (hey, it's Colorado), 20 bucks. A case of beer. No, not Bud Light, but only because it was piss-water well before it went woke. About 30 bucks. Plenty of food and drink for 6 people. Total 60 bucks. Ten bucks apiece. Oh, I guess some corn on the cob too. Add 6 bucks. And a Trader Joe's $5.99 big ass watermelon. So 11-12 bucks per person. WTF are people buying?

Why Industrial Policy Is Always a Bad Idea, Exhibit 10,000: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-tesla-buffalo-new-york-solar-plant-1b634b9e?mod=wknd_pos1 New York state paid to build a quarter-mile-long facility with 1.2 million square feet of industrial space, which it now owns and leases to Tesla TSLA -2.54%decrease; red down pointing triangle for $1 a year. It bought $240 million worth of solar-panel manufacturing equipment. Musk had said that by 2020 the Buffalo plant each week would churn out enough solar-panel shingles to cover 1,000 roofs. The Tesla solar-energy unit behind the plan, however, is averaging just 21 installations a week, according to energy analysts at Wood Mackenzie who reviewed utility data. The building houses some factory workers, but also hundreds of lower-paid desk-bound data analysts working on other Tesla business. The suppliers that Cuomo predicted would flock to a modern manufacturing hub never showed up. The only new nearby business is a Tim Horton’s coffee shop. Most of the solar-panel manufacturing equipment bought by the state has been sold at a discount or scrapped. A state comptroller’s audit found just 54 cents of economic benefit for every subsidy dollar spent on the factory, which rose on the site of an old steel mill. External auditors have written down nearly all of New York’s investment. “It was a bad deal,” said state Sen. Sean Ryan, a Democrat who represents Buffalo. “A cautionary tale is you can’t give governors too much power to get on the phone with egotistical billionaires.” Governments are notoriously bad at picking winners and losers. Whether it's Solyndra (a Democrat-driven bad deal), or whether it's Wisconsin's hare-brained Foxconn debacle (a Republican bad deal), these things are usually colossal fails. Remember that the next time a politician comes around promising huge economic benefits through government sponsorship/funding of private enterprise. The market will choose winners and losers, not some politicians looking for votes.

It's a joke. Happens to be true though ... And come on, Hunter isn't entering through the public tour security desk.

And there we have it. On the "how much did you spend on gas and groceries" thread, we had a poster decrying the ever-rising cost of NY Strip. You know how often we had steak for dinner as a kid? Maybe a few times a year at best. Hamburger Helper was the norm. Now we have "the common man can no longer afford lobster mac and cheese every day." (and you did say "at Tops" so that ain't no Whole Foods crab mac and cheese) I think we're doing pretty well if that's what we're griping about... A buck. A buck per box at Walmart. Probably a little shrink-flation there (smaller box?), but still. A buck.

That's why elite colleges like to look at all 3: grade point average (particularly with AP courses), test scores, and extracurricular activities. The kids that can excel in all 3 are pretty much slam dunk successful students in those schools. I am in favor of standardized test use: it correlates well with success in college, particularly in the STEM fields. It levels the playing field given the great disparities in high schools in America (not to mention overseas). Yes, reliance on standardized test scores may, as a practical matter, benefit Asian American students. So be it. One problem with the great public universities (Texas, the UC system): the populations of those states have grown so much that there's simply too much competition among in-state applicants. Add to that: a lot of state universities like to have a certain percentage of out-of-state/international students because they pay full freight, in effect subsidizing the in-state students. The good news: almost every study shows that when you control for other variables (for example, the fact that the elite colleges accept only extreme high achievers), those that attend "lesser" colleges do just as well as those who attend the elites. Am I allowed to say "what a mess?"

Hunter doesn't do "soft drugs" like powder cocaine. Now if they'd found a crack pipe, crystal meth? Then we're talking ...

And indiscriminately bombing civilians: hospitals, schools, apartment buildings. And the guy in Russia is administering radioactive poisons to political opponents both inside and outside of Russia. I'm not one to immediately say "Russian bot" every time there's a pro-Russia comment, but really: there is nothing to distinguish this post from a Russian bot.

?? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kraft-Original-Mac-N-Cheese-Macaroni-and-Cheese-Dinner-7-25-oz-Box/10295756 $1.00

Maybe he can pledge his FTX stock to Mark Davis in exchange for a stake in the franchise. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/technology/tom-brady-crypto-ftx.html As part of an endorsement agreement Mr. Brady signed in 2021, FTX had paid him $30 million, a deal that consisted almost entirely of FTX stock, three people with knowledge of the contract said. Mr. Brady’s wife at the time, the supermodel Gisele Bündchen, was paid $18 million in FTX stock, one of the people said. Now FTX is bankrupt, and Mr. Bankman-Fried is facing criminal fraud charges. Mr. Brady, 45, and Ms. Bündchen, 42, have been sued by a group of FTX customers seeking compensation from the celebrities who endorsed the exchange. On top of it all, the terms of the deal would have required the former couple, who divorced last year, to pay taxes on at least some of their now worthless FTX stock, two people familiar with the endorsement deal said.

There's just no rhyme or reason to what happens in the elite colleges. I had a kid get into an Ivy, get rejected by a "lesser" Ivy, and waitlisted at places like Boston University - a fine (albeit way too expensive for what it is) college, but hardly on the level of the others. It's a crapshoot. Kids now may apply to 20 or more colleges. We'd be better off if the elite colleges just had some kind of grades/test scores cutoff and then held a lottery to see who gets in. (But that would mean requiring test scores, which is becoming the latest no-no in this crazy world)

Right. The fake electors thing was the single biggest threat to our system of government.

If our "anti-Marxist" commenters here would actually read Marx, they would be converted to Marxism in a week. Why? Well, because Marx was all about the conspiracies of the capitalists. In fact, he was one of the first (and probably still the best) at that particular type of analysis.

It's UNPRESIDENTED!

These are fantastic credentials. Congratulations to her, and with this record of achievement (demonstrating intelligence and hard work) she will no doubt do extremely well at whatever college she attends, and then in her career. But we have to be realistic about exactly how competitive admissions is at these colleges. It is difficult to compare to other applicants in the Ivy League or public Ivies applicant pools, except for the ACT score: a 29 was in the 91st percentile. Again, solidly top 10 percent. People don't realize exactly how competitive these schools are, and this is even with the now-infamous race/legacy/recruited athlete/major donor advantages. In other words, nearly the entire entering class is just about perfect. Harvard Admissions Statistics There are three critical numbers when considering your admissions chances: ACT scores, GPA, and acceptance rate. All these combine to tell you what you scores are required to get into Harvard University. Average ACT: 34 The average ACT score composite at Harvard is a 34. The 25th percentile ACT score is 33, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 35. In other words, a 33 places you below average, while a 35 will move you up to above average. There's no absolute ACT requirement at Harvard, but they really want to see at least a 33 to have a chance at being considered.

I prefer the latest piece by "Jennifer Galardi," a health/fitness/yoga writer. This one brings a special kind of prognostication skill to the table. Skip it at your own risk! https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/07/larry-elder-the-next-president-of-the-united-states/

Aren't you kind of sad to see the band breaking up? Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Lin Wood ... we will never see the likes of that team again.

Chris Farley/Matt Foley, is that you? The CNN reporter just said (how could we make this up?): "he was living in a van down by the DC jail." "We've got these losers surrounded!" Or more accurately, "I'm a loser who's now surrounded!"

I don't understand why certain posters here think that a dozen or more states are run by commies, yet they think that the American flag, representing the unity of the 50 states, should be celebrated. Some of those posters probably favor reducing the number of stars on the flag to the 30 red states only.