Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
Power outages, fires, water shortages, rising taxes, crumbling and congested highways, dismal schools, lawlessness … . . . There are the now-normal raging wildfires in the coastal and Sierra foothills. And they will be greeted as if they are not characteristic threats of 500 years of settled history, but leveraged as proof of global warming … Read more
Building a Chicken Coop from Essential Craftsman Also see “The Independent Farmstead: Growing Soil, Biodiversity, and Nutrient-Dense Food with Grassfed Animals and Intensive Pasture Management,” by Beth and Shawn Doughtery Reviving the Independent Farmstead with Shawn & Beth Dougherty Related PostsThe Human Cost of ‘Culling’ Livestock and ‘Depopulating’ Farms How to … Read more
The UCLA Faculty Association blog informs us that: UCLA had 702 student athletes and USC had 576 in their athletic programs last year drawing an average of $181,395 and $206,054 of revenue to the schools, respectively. UCLA had a grand total of $127.3 million in athletic program revenue while USC drew $118.7 million, both ahead … Read more
This past weekend, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, an umbrella group uniting 125 local Jewish communities and 17 national Jewish organizations, sent an email to its followers proudly announcing that it has signed on as a partner in the Virtual March on Washington this week, an event organized by Al Sharpton. Because last week … Read more
The racism racket is just a variation on the tired and inimical practice of inventing programs to pour money on alleged victim groups, distracting us from paying attention to the Ten Commandments and proclaiming the Gospel. The USCCB opposes racism. “The Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism seeks to teach about and to witness to the … Read more
But who do you say I am?” It’s the central question of the Gospel for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. It’s the central question of the Gospel, period. If you look at the Gospel of Mark, it’s right there in Chapter 8, smack dab in the literal center of that Gospel. It’s the central … Read more
Laura Loomer and Marjorie Taylor Greene notch victories for conspiracism and religious bigotry. Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist who has promoted religious bigotry, won a House primary election in Florida on Tuesday with 42.5 percent of the vote. Loomer has “zero chance” of winning in November in an overwhelmingly Democratic district that includes West Palm … Read more
In late February, Ori Zohar—co-founder of Burlap & Barrel, a spice company that sources sustainable, single-origin spices—flew to India. It began as a routine trip, a chance for Zohar and his business partner Ethan Frisch to meet with farmers. But within a week it became clear that the trip would be cut short by COVID-19. … Read more
The 2016 Democratic convention somehow managed to be an even more pro-abortion extravaganza: The party platform called explicitly, for the first time, to provide unlimited taxpayer-funding of abortion for Medicaid recipients, a plank one Democratic senator called “crazy.” The president of Planned Parenthood was given an 8:00 p.m. speaking slot. The leader of NARAL spoke … Read more
It’s happened to quite a number of us. We write against the lockdowns for all the incredible economic, psychological, and institutional carnage they have caused, and how they have shattered our expectations of our rights and freedoms, and our presumptions about what government has the power to do to us. We can make a convincing … Read more
Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom In his new book Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom, Ilya Somin explains how broadening opportunities for foot voting can greatly enhance political liberty for millions around the world, often more effectively than voting at the ballot box. People can “vote … Read more
Earlier this month New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil action over alleged insider self‐dealing against the National Rifle Association (NRA) and some of its top officers. Policing charity misconduct is among the longstanding powers of the New York Attorney General, and James advanced a substantial narrative of misconduct by high officials. Had … Read more
In the days leading up to her son Jacob’s bar mitzvah on March 14, Jennifer Friedman watched plans quickly unravel. As Michigan became a COVID-19 hot spot and social distancing restrictions tightened, out-of-town relatives began canceling, and the party was postponed. Finally, the day before the bar mitzvah, the family’s Conservative synagogue, Congregation Shaarey Zedek … Read more
Weaker housing growth is not the only cost associated with electing city legislators from single-member districts. The switch from at-large to district elections also correlates with weaker political competition, with fewer candidates seeking available seats in district elections. Evidence also suggests that city councils elected from single-member districts are associated with greater unfunded pension liabilities … Read more
A new, bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee confirms, unambiguously, that the Justice Department had good reason to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. It also indicates that investigators were right to examine potential conspiracy with the Kremlin by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Again, this is a bipartisan report, not a partisan Democratic … Read more
Here’s a letter to a Café Hayek commenter: Ms. Fernandes: Regarding your comment on this blog-post of mine: You write as though covid kills all, or nearly everyone, who it infects. But it does not come remotely close to being so lethal. I don’t deny that covid is unusually harmful. What I do deny is … Read more
Using Super Glue and Baking Soda to Repair a Plastic Switch Plunger Superglue and baking soda for fixing broken plastic parts My friend Bob sent me this video about using super glue and baking soda to fix broken plastic parts. When it cures it is rock hard. I used this material to repair … Read more
I was not one of those women who spent her days yearning to be a grandmother. Maybe that’s because my own was not a “cookie grandmother” who stuffed us with sweets and offered a bountiful lap. Grandma Ethel had been a beauty in her youth, with waist-length copper hair and sky blue eyes. She loved … Read more
The virus pandemic has put American medicine to the test like few other events in our history. As horrible as its toll has been, COVID-19 has also unleashed medical trends that will have the long-term effect of improving medical outcomes in other areas. Deloitte Consulting’s new survey of U.S. health consumers finds that telemedicine, which … Read more
This model of congressional hearing—confronting a lone hostile witness—has an awful track record. It should be obvious why. Who’s going to do most of the talking? The witness chews up most of the clock arguing with the premise of hostile questions from one side of the aisle and fielding soft balls from allies on the … Read more
“We normally see 30 to 40 clients a day,” said the manager of a Joplin, Missouri, food pantry. “Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a sharp decrease in number of clients, sometimes as few as four a day.” This is not what I expected to hear when I visited this food pantry to learn about their … Read more
Hope in Mercy with Fr. Michael Gaitley Maurice Berger, the French child psychologist, psychoanalyst, and professor at the National School of Magistrates, has spent some four decades working with violent and delinquent children and adolescents in institutions like the Centre éducatif fermé. Since the early 1990s he has warned of a steady increase … Read more
On Thursday, California’s 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana found that Amazon.com can now be held liable for injury for selling defective products from third party sellers in it’s online marketplace. Amazon now liable for damages from any product sold in their online marketplace The ruling has moved Amazon in with other retailers … Read more
No future awaits those who rage against family, work, and community. Where there is no bread, there is no Law. Where there is no Law, there is no bread. — Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah Racial identity politics has become the rage in the media, entertainment, and political worlds. You cannot read a mainstream publication, attend … Read more
This was in infamous concept that supposedly characterized the right. But Jordan Moss and Peter J. O’Connor write, Individuals high in authoritarianism – regardless of whether the hold politically correct or rightwing views – tend to score highly on DT and entitlement. Such individuals therefore are statistically more likely than average to be higher in … Read more