COVID Update: DeSantis Did It Right 

The most comprehensive comparative study of the effects of COVID regulations was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) earlier this month. One of the conclusions: Governor DeSantis did it right.

The researchers compared COVID outcomes in 50 states based on three variables: the economy, education, and mortality. The top 10 states were Utah, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana, South Dakota, Florida, New Hampshire, Maine, Arkansas, and Idaho. The bottom 10 were New Jersey, DC, New York, New Mexico, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Most of the top 10 are states with low population density. The one exception is Florida. In terms of mortality, Florida was in the middle of the pack, ranking 28th, whereas California, which had much tougher lockdowns (and thus more deleterious effects on the economy and education) ranked 27th. California ranked 47th overall because its shutdowns crushed the economy (40th) and in-person schooling (50th).

The bottom 10 are dominated by states that had the most stringent lockdowns and were among the last to open up schools. New York, which was early praised for former Governor Cuomo’s severe lockdown policies, ranked 49th, with New Jersey coming in last.

“The correlation between health and economy scores is essentially zero,” said the authors of the study, “which suggests that states that withdrew the most from economic activity did not significantly improve health by doing so.”

Hillary Clinton Fined 

Click here.

Biden’s Billionaire Tax Proposal 

Warren Buffett has famously said that he pays, in percentage terms, less taxes than his secretary. And on Mar. 28, the Biden administration attempted to do something about that. The proposed fiscal budget for 2023 includes a new 20% minimum tax on billionaires. Being promoted as a plan that “rewards work, not wealth,” it also promises to reduce the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

This proposal is the definition of specious. It sounds reasonable. Only 20%. Only billionaires. And reducing the federal deficit by a trillion dollars? Who could object to that?

Well…

* It’s not just billionaires, but all households with a net worth of $100 million. (The Nancy Pelosi household is included!)

* The arithmetic was fact-checked. And the reduction in the federal deficit won’t be $1 trillion in 10 years, but more like $240 billion.

* The inclusion of “unrealized investment income” is a big problem. It refers to the profits you have in your stock market portfolio at the end of the year. But what happens if you take a loss the next year? The bill attempts to deal with this by allowing for rollovers, but it looks like a mess waiting to happen.

Are COVID deaths coming down? Or were they always higher than they should have been?

* A county in Northern California opted to revise its COVID-19 death totals in July 2021 after refining its data-reporting systems. Upon using the new approach, officials in Santa Clara County reported that deaths dropped 22%. Click here.

* The CDC removed 72,277 COVID deaths (including 416 among children) from its website last week because, it said, it “was mistakenly counting deaths not related to COVID-19.” The CDC had not announced when the change was made. On its website, the agency described the update as the resolution of a “coding logic error.”

After three years of the New York Post and Fox News reporting on it, and the NYT and CNN (et al.) debunking it, the truth is out. On Mar. 17, the Times quietly acknowledged that it has been wrong. The story of Hunter Biden’s laptop – with all its incriminating evidence – was not a “conspiracy theory.”

The contents of the laptop show that, during the time his father was vice president, Hunter and his uncle James were receiving millions of dollars from foreign countries. For example:

* The Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy paid Hunter $6 million for “consulting” and “legal” fees, and another $1 million for finding a US lawyer to defend Patrick Ho, a Chinese spy.

* The Bidens also received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the widow of Russian oligarch Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow.

Other deals were done in Qatar, Russia, and Ukraine.

The story originally broke on Oct. 14, 2020, when the Post ran a front-page story, detailing how emails from the laptop tied Hunter and his father to Ukrainian business partners.

It was dismissed as fake news by the mainstream media, social media, and even some US intelligence officials. You may remember the big ad placed in the NYT by 50 former intelligence officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan and James Clapper, calling the laptop story “Russian disinformation.” You may also remember that Twitter deplatformed the Post for two weeks.

Throughout the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden repeatedly denied any knowledge of or connection to Hunter’s overseas business. During the second presidential debate, he claimed that stories about his son’s laptop were “a Russian plant.”

After the NYT admitted that there was indeed a real story here, The Washington Post followed suit. And since then, facts have been gradually coming to light.

Click here.

Voter Fraud Charged in Michigan 

A Michigan county elections official and former township clerk was charged with ballot tampering related to the Aug. 2020 primary election, according to State Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel alleged that Kathy Funk purposely broke a seal on a container for ballots so that the votes couldn’t be totaled during an anticipated recount. She narrowly won reelection in the unofficial count, the AG’s office said. Ballot tampering is a felony in Michigan, carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison upon conviction. Click here.

COVID Outbreak in China 

Tens of millions of residents across China are under lockdown as the country grapples with its worst reported COVID-19 outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic. Officials recorded almost 3,400 new cases Sunday, double the previous day, with the virus spreading in 18 provinces. Some have argued the country’s zero-tolerance approach and reliance on viral vector vaccines has left it vulnerable to the more transmissible omicron variant.

Meanwhile, cases in the US have fallen to around 36,000 per day – still 10 times higher than the spike in China. And researchers are saying that the omicron BA.2 subvariant is unlikely to spur a new surge in infections.

About Race-Based College Admissions 

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard University are being sued for their race-based admissions policies, which hold Asian and White students to higher standards because of their skin color.

The lawsuits were filed by a group of interested parties, including two unnamed students who were rejected from Harvard and UNC. One had a perfect ACT score, two 800s on SAT II subject exams, and was valedictorian of his high school.

According to the InsideHigherEd website:

“What Harvard calls a holistic approach to admissions (in which applicants are reviewed individually, with a range of criteria considered) is actually a disguise for racial balancing in a system where Asian Americans are held to higher standards for admission, according to the lawsuit. As evidence, the lawsuit says that the racial demographics of Harvard’s admitted class, first-year enrollment, and total student body have remained stable over the last several years.”

Problems With NFTs 

NFTs are hot, especially in the art world. But it’s highly unlikely they will get to the next level, so long as there are reports of them being stolen.

Such as this one. Click here.

And this one. Click here.

What’s Wrong With the Thinking Behind Intersectionality Theories? 

One thing you can’t deny about Critical Race Theory and other intersectionality theories is that they share a seductively simple logic. You begin with a premise that sounds sort of correct. You are asked: Do you accept that? If you say, no, you are disqualified from any further conversation. If you say yes, you are logically bound to accept every absurd claim that derives from it.

For example, here is the logic of Critical Race Theory as expressed by Ibram Kendi in his bestseller How to Be an Anti-Racist:

* Blacks and Whites are created equal. One race is not better than the other.

* And yet, when it comes to wealth, income, education, and other measures of social prestige, Blacks rank considerably lower than Whites.

* Since, as we agreed, Blacks and Whites are equal, the only possible explanation for these disproportionalities (differences measured in terms of percentage of population) is intrinsic/institutional racism.

That was the logic behind a change in the law in Seattle recently, when a study showed that Black bike riders were disproportionally cited for not wearing helmets.

The study did not ask, “Do Blacks ride bicycles without helmets more often than Whites?” Because – given the fact that we are equal and should expect equal outcomes in all metrics – such a question would be racist.

Seattle’s solution? Rescind the law.

As a sort-of Libertarian (to borrow a phrase from P.J. O’Rourke), I wholeheartedly approve of the rescission. But not the logic.