WARNING

“What historians will definitely wonder about in future centuries is how deeply flawed logic, obscured by shrewd and unrelenting propaganda, actually enabled a coalition of powerful special interests to convince nearly everyone in the world that CO2 from human industry was a dangerous, planet-destroying toxin. It will be remembered as the greatest mass delusion in the history of the world – that CO2, the life of plants, was considered for a time to be a deadly poison.”--Richard Lindzen, a Harvard-educated American atmospheric physicist who has published more than 200 scientific papers and books. From 1983 until his retirement in 2013, he was Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.



Washington sweeps. Unbelievable. With ex-Pirate Hudson the closer.

Yoram Hazony tries to define nationalism in his book The Virtue of Nationalism, but he produces a confused mishmash that boils down to (1) nationalism is a natural and ancient human ideology and (2) real nationalists are not responsible for anything bad like genocide, war, or racism. Hazony’s definition isn’t serious and his book is fiercely ahistorical.--from a book review

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that there would be no vote to launch formal impeachment proceedings against President Trump for the time being. "There's no requirement that we have a vote, and so at this time we will not be having a vote," Pelosi said."We're not here to call bluffs -- we're here to find the truth, to uphold the Constitution of the United States. This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious," said Pelosi after discussing with the House Democratic caucus. A formal vote would allow Republicans to subpoena their own documents and witnesses, something the minority party was allowed in both the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiry resolutions - which is why the Trump administration won't cooperate until a vote is held. 

CNN's Don Lemon asked Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke: "religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities. Should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?" O'Rourke answered "Yes," going on to say "There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone ... that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us."

This astonishing statement is discussed here: https://www.cato.org/blog/beto-orourke-churches-dont-support-lgbt-rights-should-lose-exemption

On this day in 1793, nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie Antoinette was beheaded.



                                 WARNING

WARNING: This product can expose you to phenazopyridine hydrochloride, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer.
This is off a box of a common over-the-counter--and prescription--pharmaceutical that is used everywhere, all over the world.
Imagine the thinking here. The science of California has reached a conclusion not held by other states. So, is the drug safe? Is it safer in Nevada than California? Are some definitions of science inquiry different than others? Is this position a consensus in California science circles but not in others? If the others are added to the consensus population, does that create less of a consensus?

Science reminds you of the Free Market. Things are tried, judged impartially and approved or not based upon their approximation to reality. The only thing that can mess it up is an intermediary that is trying to make a better job of it.