Enemies of Success

On this day:
3114 BC
According to the Lounsbury correlation, the start of the Maya calendar.
1521
Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City) falls to conquistador Hernán Cortés.
1792
King Louis XVI of France is formally arrested by the National Tribunal, and declared an enemy of the people.
1831
Nat Turner sees a solar eclipse, which he believes is a sign from God. Eight days later he and 70 other slaves kill approximately 55 whites in Southampton County, Virginia.
1868
A massive earthquake near Arica, Peru, causes an estimated 25,000 casualties, and the subsequent tsunami causes considerable damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.
1937
The Battle of Shanghai begins.
1942
Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the “Development of Substitute Materials” project, better known as the Manhattan Project.
1962
Representatives from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Holy See meet in Metz, France, and come to an agreement wherein the Russian church would send observers to the Second Vatican Council and in exchange, the Roman Catholic Church would refuse to condemn Communism.

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President Trump is moving ahead with plans to hold an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House grounds next July 4, the U.F.C.’s chief executive, Dana White, told CBS on Tuesday.

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“Based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, one advanced nuclear plant (2 x AP1000) produces 33.17 megawatts (MW) per acre, while one offshore wind farm produces approximately 0.006 MW/acre”—making nuclear about 5,500 times more efficient.

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Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, has an opinion piece in the WashPo on the decision to wind down its mRNA vaccine development activities. He writes that the platform has failed to earn the public trust. As most opinions coming out of Washington, he blames the Biden administration, largely because it chose a strategy of mandates rather than a risk-based approach and did not properly acknowledge Americans’ growing concerns regarding safety and effectiveness.
In 2021, the Biden administration’s HHS spent nearly a billion dollars on a campaign supporting the coronavirus vaccine, the most expensive pharmaceutical advertising campaign in history. The government spent the money on a vast number of TV, radio, and internet spots, which misinformed the American public that the vaccine would protect them from contracting and spreading COVID-19. Nevertheless, just a few years later, less than half the U.S. adult population would heed the CDC’s guidance.
Complete confidence about vaccine safety and efficacy requires an exact understanding of dosage, biodistribution, and off-target effects. Unfortunately, this program fell short on all three.
From a regulatory perspective, getting approval for a vaccine with such inherent uncertainties should be difficult.

Science, he says, is "humility," not much of a political virtue.
It is an interesting argument over how perception should mold reality, a legitimate question in an advertising culture.

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Durastanti’s latest novel, Missitalia, has a section set in Basilicata, mixing the true story of the women-only gangs that haunted its forests in the 19th century.

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There are only 20,000 great white sharks in the world.

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Enemies of Success

California has become the fourth-largest economy in the world, surpassing Japan's.

Think about that. A state with Karen Bass running one of its largest cities, that actually encourages the immigration of homeless, unemployed foreigners, whose infrastructure encourages the native homeless and insane, a state that is subject to terrible natural risks, continues to be one of the most productive economies in the world.

Or consider this: The poorest American state, Mississippi, has a higher per capita GDP than Britain, France, or Japan. Mississippi.

Any serious student of government would want to explain this economic success. As would any serious politician. One would expect flag-waving and chest-thumping.

So why would anyone consider the policies of America's declared economic and military enemies, policies that historically have led to death, destruction, and ruin? How could anyone even consider Mamdani as a serious political leader? With all the threats to democracy that are identified every minute in this country, is this not the obvious one?