Weird Respiratory Science

UPI. which reports interesting research findings, has a new one for us.  A pediatric researcher in Britain found that salt water drops in the child's nose could shorten cold symptoms by two days, from 8 to 6 days. Their families were also less likely to catch the cold. The article adds:

Salt is made up of sodium and chloride. Chloride is used by the cells lining the nose and windpipes to produce hypochlorous acid within cells, which they use to defend against virus infection.

Because these findings are from a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

I figure I've got nothing to lose by trying this, next time I get a cold. Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.

Hypocrisy

Some yahoo in Florida tries to shoot former President Trump, is spotted while getting ready, takes incoming fire from the Secret Service, flees, and is apprehended. His web sites reflect a very Democrat leaning.

Vice President Harris issued the following comment:

I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.

Reacting to her pro-forma statement, Trump advisor Stephen Miller X'ed as follows:

They are relieved that the biggest threat to America since the civil war is safe.

Biden, Harris and Walz have said things like Trump is "the biggest threat to America since the civil war" and now they're glad he's safe? Hypocrisy much? 

Quoting La Rochefoucault: "Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue." It's saying what is expected when one feels the opposite.

About Tucker

On his show on X, Tucker Carlson recently interviewed, defended, and indeed praised a 'historian' who claims Winston Churchill was a villain and Adolph Hitler was "misunderstood." This is poppycock, and the supposed historian - Darryl Cooper - seems a nutcase pandering to conspiracy obsessives. 

COTTonLINE believes Winston Churchill may have been the greatest world figure of the 1900s. If not, he is certainly a finalist for that honor.

Somewhere along the line Carlson jumped the shark and deserves the ridicule doing so normally triggers in reaction. In retrospect, I believe Rupert Murdoch sensed Carlson was losing it and was wise to fire him before he embarrassed Fox News any further.

A Second Assassination Attempt

There has been a second assassination attempt against former President Trump on a FL golf course. He was not hit and a suspect has been arrested. 

The shooter had an AK-47 style rifle with scope. It is a Soviet assault rifle design that's very popular with third world revolutionaries. Early info suggests the suspect is a strong supporter of the Ukraine fight to eject Russian invaders and a contributor to Democrat candidates.

The Secret Service did a better job this time. They apparently spotted the rifle poking out of some brush an estimated 400-500 yards distant from where the former president was. Some reports suggest they shot at whoever was holding it but missed. The suspect appears to have fled, leaving his sniper paraphernalia behind, and was picked up later unharmed.

An Own Goal

It would not surprise me if Taylor Swift learns the hard way that nearly half her fans don't like her choice of presidential candidate. And of course, nobody insisted she reveal her politics.

Whatever the merits of her music, which obviously speaks to many, the smart thing to do was to encourage people to study the issues and vote for the person and party with which one shares values. Exhortations to "Go Vote" are entirely laudable and offend no one. 

Pick a side and you've offended many of your former fans, who now know something about you both you and they would rather they didn't know. Something that makes you less likable, less relatable. Something that "others" you.

It's too late now, that cat is out of the bag and running like a Haitian was chasing it with cleaver. A year from now it will be interesting to see how endorsing Harris played out for both women.

Saturday Snark

Images courtesy of Power Line's The Week in Pictures

and its Comments section.

Cat Eaters and Cat Ladies

Childless cat ladies are said to be a major Democratic voting bloc. Democrats Biden and Harris have brought thousands of illegal immigrants here from Haiti. 

Haitian immigrants eat cats. Is the party's tent big enough for both cat-eaters and cat lovers? Probably not.

Ladies, protect your moggies, vote for Trump and Vance.

Later ... many, many memes flow from this whole cat eating outrage, go here to see a bunch. Plenty are cute, because cats are some of this planet's most attractive life forms.

Playing 3D Chess

The Washington Free Beacon reports an example of political chicanery that, presuming you don’t want Harris to defeat Trump, is very fine. A little known PAC is running ads praising Harris’ support for Israel and opposition to antisemitism. 

The ads also make a point of her husband being a Jew, and the historic implications of him becoming the spouse of the president and the first Jew to live in the White House. Amazingly the NY Times calls these pro-Israel ads “antisemitic.”

Oh, we forgot to mention: The ads are airing in the Detroit area. Dearborn, Mich., is an inner-ring suburb of Detroit home to the country’s largest Muslim population, and what the Times report from Katie Glueck doesn’t say is that the 40,000 or so odd Arabs there don’t like Jews. It’s not that the ads are anti-Semitic, it’s that the voters are.

If the ads can convince half of Dearborn to sit out the election, Trump could win Michigan.

Dropping Like a Stone

Stephen Green posts the following chart at Instapundit, showing the rate of new company start-ups in China. Here's Green's comment:

Xi Jinping wanted to restore CCP control over the economy. This is what control looks like.

 

Collusion?

There is "out there" a claim of a claim of the existence of an affidavit alleging that ABC News colluded with the Kamala Harris campaign to 'throw' the debate. Supposedly they did this by giving Harris the questions in advance, accepting suggested questions from Harris, and promising not to fact check her.

The possessor of this affidavit writes it will be released this weekend. I have no idea if any of the foregoing is true, or accurate. 

If it were true it would explain the observed lopsided behavior of the ABC on-screen personnel. It would also be a scandal of Watergate-like proportions and would likely end several careers, much as Dan Rather's career at CBS was ended.

We'll see what, if anything, happens. As was once said in the long-ago days of AM radio, stay tuned....

Later ... It should be noted that ABC has issued a pro-forma denial of these allegations. Not that you'd expect anything less. 

I'm certain those denying collusion fervently hope their claims of innocence are true. Or at least unfalsifiable. 

Friday Snark 2.0

Image courtesy of Instapundit.

and

The satirical Babylon Bee 'reports' the following, while tipping the hat to Indiana Jones II.

Mola Ram Says He Has Found No Evidence To Support Trump’s Claim Of Heart-Ripping Ceremonies Taking Place Within 

Temple Of Doom.

Friday Snark 1.0

Images courtesy of Politico's Nation's Cartoonists on 

the Week in Politics.

More on Debates

Donald Trump says "there will be no third debate." Translation: He debated Biden and then Harris. Harris wants a second debate which would be three for Trump. He says "No, there's no need." 

I believe he is correct, Trump is a well-known political figure. Harris needs another debate but likely won't get one.

The pundit class thought Harris won her debate with Trump, but a lot of regular folks think otherwise. Some post-debate polling suggests Trump got a bounce out of their match-up.

One supposes Vance will debate Walz, and will probably do well in the process. 

What They Do

Power Line's new guy Lloyd Billingsley quotes a lyric by Frank Zappa. Zappa found clever word play to imply "you ain't sh*t." Check it out and note the "ABBAA" rhyme scheme.

Cause what they do
In Washington
They just takes care of NUMBER ONE
An’ number one ain’t you
You ain’t even number two.

Wrong Focus

Sean Trende analyzes politics for RealClearPolitics. I really like his insights, including the following from his analysis of the debate.

From my perspective ... the debate wound up being mostly about Trump, and Trump’s a known quantity. Telling us more about Donald Trump that we already know probably won’t change the trajectory of the race.

Let's hope so. 

Social Class?

John Hinderaker of Power Line writes a long column mulling over the party-changing coat-turning of the Cheneys, father and daughter, and people like Bill Kristol, George Will and Mitt Romney. He tries out several hypotheses and isn't totally convinced by any of them.

A hypothesis I find has considerable explanatory power is that of social class; Hinderaker doesn't consider it. A lot of folks find discussions of social class uncomfortable, or even icky.

So how would social class help us understand old line Republicans bailing out of the party? Trump has made a pitch directly to working class America and they buy what he is selling. 

Pundits left and right now call the GOP the party of those without college degrees and of those who don't live in large cities. How hard is it to imagine that label creates status anxiety for people with degrees? Not very, in my opinion. 

The stalwarts of the old Republican Party often were country club members quite concerned with seeking and maintaining status. Many held what are being called luxury beliefs. Sharing a party affiliation with people of lower social status may feel like "a bridge too" far to them. 

Another Bad Choice

See how The Babylon Bee characterized Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala Harris for president.

Woman Who Made Career Singing About Her Bad Choices Endorses Kamala.

They illustrated their X with this photo.

Wednesday Snark

Images courtesy of RealClearPolitics Cartoons of the Week.

Last Night

Most but not all people think Harris had the better of last night's debate. Both combatants claimed victory. 

The one thing commenters agreed on was that the ABC News moderators were clearly on Team Harris and didn't seem to care who knew it. They fact-checked Trump, did not correct Harris and were so blatant even Democrats deigned to notice it. See for example this statement by Mark Penn, a Clinton adviser.

Harris has challenged Trump to a second debate. If he agrees, he should insist on Fox News moderators as a precondition, which might give him the "home field" advantage she had last night.

Maybe the wisest thing I've read about the debate: it is unlikely many voter minds were changed in either direction.

----------

Today, on the 23rd anniversary of the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks, lame-duck President Biden shows up for the commemorative ceremony in NYC after being heard last night disparagingly referring to the rite as "doing 9-11." 

Biden doesn't "get" the importance of the ceremonial aspects of the presidency. The job entails some of the ritualistic folderol of being a monarch. 

Our president needs to take it seriously because he embodies the nation. Snide remarks and looking at your watch while GI bodies are unloaded demean the Oval Office.

Former Majority Leader Changes Parties

Two days ago I wrote "Hardly a week goes by without someone in elective office announcing they're no longer a Democrat." Check out this news from the Daily Wire.

A woman who was the California State Senate Democratic Majority Leader for three years is switching her party affiliation to the GOP and will vote for Donald Trump. Gloria Romero, once one of the state's most prominent Democrats has become a Republican. See her reasons.

“Today, I am leaving the Democratic Party,” Romero said. “I stayed for as long as I could. I tried reforms, I spoke out, I voted.”

“Today, I say goodbye, adios, I’ve had enough,” she said. “I am now another near lifelong Democrat who is joining the growing number of people — including key groups, Latinos — who are leaving the Democratic Party.”

Romero says the Republican Party has become "the champion of working people" under Trump. She adds the Democrats' refusal to protect women's sports and promote school choice also influenced her changing registration.

Reading between the lines, it appears Romero's Hispanic roots ended up in conflict with Democrats' shifting policy choices which in CA primarily reflect the desires of black and LGBTQ+ constituencies.

The Harris Backstory

Here is a photo of Kamala Harris (29) kissing Willie Brown (60), appearing in the San Luis Obispo Telegram Tribune, dated November 8, 1995. At the time Brown was running for mayor of SF. My source is a Gateway Pundit article.

The Gateway Pundit article has video of an ABC News profile of Brown which talks about his "fine women" and "fast cars" while showing him with Harris and a Porsche and also reports this.

“Excuse me, are you his daughter?” a woman asks Kamala Harris.

Harris looks stunned: “No, I’m not.”

China ... Doing a Japan?

BNN Bloomberg Business has a report on China's economy that is gloomy, here are some key excerpts. Hat tip to Stephen Green blogging at Instapundit for the link.

The gross domestic product deflator will likely extend its current five-quarter drop into 2025, according to Bloomberg Economics and analysts at banks including BNP Paribas SA. That would amount to China’s longest streak of deflation since data began in 1993.

The danger for China is deflation could snowball by encouraging households reeling from falling paychecks to cut back on spending, or delay purchases because they expect prices to fall further. Corporate revenues will suffer, stifling investment and leading to further salary cuts and layoffs, bankrupting families and firms.

It’s a cycle the world has seen before in Japan starting in the 1990s during a period that came to be known as its “lost decades” — when a grinding stagnation followed a burst bubble in real estate and financial markets.

Meanwhile, the deflationary mindset is starting to take hold. Consumer confidence is hovering at a record low, and households report a growing willingness to save instead of spending or buying homes.

I am old enough to remember when it looked like Japan Inc. would "buy the world." You saw echoes of that in the films Die Hard and Rising Sun. People touted the "Japanese Management" model, some of my colleagues taught aspects of it. I didn't as I believed it was culture-specific - worked for them, not for us.

Then Japan went into a slump that lasted decades. Japan eventually recovered but literally nobody fears (or emulates) them any longer. It is my hope China will follow the Japanese path, the above analysis suggests it may do so.

Mad Max in Malibu

This is from The Babylon Bee. Enjoy "Mad Max in Malibu" while it remains satire. How soon it becomes reality is open for debate. 

Hat tip to Ed Driscoll blogging at Instapundit for the link.

The Key Question

There is a debate tonight, likely the only one between Trump and Harris. It will be interesting to see if, with coaching and prep, Harris can hold her own against Trump. And to see if Trump can refrain from whining about how badly he's been treated by the Democrats - both in and out of office.

A word of friendly advice: take Trump seriously, but not literally. He 'paints' with a broad brush - exaggerates and uses florid metaphors. This doesn't trouble me, but I know it bothers others. 

Even more so than in prior elections, the key question remains this. Leaving aside the Covid pandemic which was China's or maybe Fauci's fault, was your life better during Trump's four years as President or during the almost four years of the Biden-Harris presidency?

I don't know your individual answer, dear reader, but for Americans in general the Trump four years were better than the Biden-Harris almost four years. Under Trump we had low inflation with high employment and wages. 

The logic of self-government is that we all vote based on our personal self-interest. The electoral process aggregates these and, most of the time, produces a reasonable outcome. 

Trump, the Steampunk Version

I'm liking this steampunk version of Trump. Hat tip to The Atlantic for supporting superior cover art. The most fun part is the magazine thought it a put down.

Monday Snark

Image courtesy of Townhall.

Purchasing Power in Your State

Where you live is an important factor in how far your money goes. Zero Hedge has a US map color coded to show the purchasing power of $100 in each state (click image to enlarge). 

CA is worst, AR is best as far as how much you can buy with your Benjamin. I'm guessing the two largest factors are housing costs and taxes.

Honeyed Words

The following from Ed Driscoll posting at Instapundit. He shares NBC News interviewing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) about the Kamala Harris presidential candidacy.

Welker: "Do you think Kamala is abandoning her progressive ideals?"

Bernie: "No... I think she is trying to be pragmatic and do what she thinks is right in order to win the election."

Hence she echoes much of the Trump agenda. Her values haven't changed, but now she's saying what she believes we want to hear, the honeyed words. Whether she believes them is anybody's guess. My guess is "No."

'Tectonic' Shifts in Politics

I just scanned briefly an article at AMAC about all the strange party shifts that have taken place. Many of the old corporatist Bushies like the Cheneys - father and daughter - have become Democrats. On the other hand one of the famous Kennedys endorses Trump, and hardly a week goes by without someone in elective office announcing they're no longer a Democrat. Ditto the Silicon Valley oligarchs.

All of these are the fallout of a shift in our two major parties. The Republicans have become the party of the working class, and increasingly it seems of the BIPOC part of that class. Conversely the more finicky members of the educated elite have become Democrats, probably because of their status insecurity - a fear of being miscast as no longer elite.

This process is not new. Remember Ronald Reagan said he didn't leave the Democratic Party, rather it left him. At about the same time millions of white southerners, who'd been Democrats since Reconstruction, became Republicans.

Within each of our major parties, coalitions shifting over time is no new thing. It goes on today as some of the left-behind like Ruy Teixeira bemoan what was lost. 

Personally I welcome the new Republican policy concerns of lost manufacturing and fair trade being as important as free trade. These are issues I lectured about as a Management prof. 

What Project 2025 Is and Isn't

A search doesn't find where I've written about Project 2025 in any detail. Let's be clear about what it is and is not. 

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, gathered a group of quite conservative thinkers to put together what amounts to a conservative "wish list." The result was Project 2025. 

A Democrat equivalent would be to get the progressive "squad" consisting of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, etc. together with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and ask them to construct a wish list of the socialist things they'd ideally like our government to do.

Blaming the whole Democrat Party for the squad's wish list would be no more fair than blaming Trump for Project 2025. The squad doesn't represent the entire D party. Project 2025 doesn't represent the whole GOP. In each case the subgroup is the party's most "out there," impractically radical members.

Life is filled with unintended consequences. Heritage did Trump no favor by releasing their wish list when they did. 

The Rest of the Story

You've seen somewhere that VP candidate Sen. Vance called the Georgia school shooting "a fact of life" and heard people screech how awful he was. As a COTTonLINE reader you should read what he actually said, and John Kass has Vance's actual words.

If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it. We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it. I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.

That is what J.D. Vance actually said. Do you find anything there to disagree with? He's saying let's begin with where we find ourselves and try to make it better, or at least less bad. Hardening the target isn't rocket science, it's common sense. That's exactly what Vance advocated.

As a society we refuse to lock up our insane and confiscating our guns is literally unconstitutional so it won't happen any time soon. That's where we are now. However much you may dislike our here and now reality, at least admit it to be true. As an aside, countries which have confiscated guns are plagued with "knife crime," multiple stabbings and slashing. 

Seriously fencing school grounds and controlling access thereto are good first steps. I admit to mixed feelings about arming school staff, it is worth considering.

Anyway, as the late Paul Harvey liked to say on radio, "that's the rest of the story." The intent of those who took Vance's words out of context was to harm him, not to share his views.

No Bargain

Columnist Derek Hunter on why you won't see many interviews of Harris or Walz.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can’t avoid the debates without looking like they’re deliberately avoiding them – which means Kamala will be there Tuesday – but they can avoid being asked any serious questions, and they will.

You’d think that would be political suicide, and it certainly won’t help them in the election. Still, the old saying about being silent and leaving people to think you might be an idiot or opening your mouth and confirming their suspicions is doubly true with this ticket.

Not every "twofer" is a bargain. Two idiots with one vote? No thanks.

Saturday Snark

Images courtesy of Power Line's The Week in Pictures

and its Comments section.

Friday Snark

Images courtesy of Politico's Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

What Watts Cost

Another fun chart from Steve Hayward of Power Line. This one looks at cost per kilowatt hour of electricity. The bars below are color-coded to compare US states (orange) with other countries (blue). 

When the DrsC moved our winter place from CA to NV we cut our energy cost nearly in half, dropping from 29.1 cents to 16.2 cents per kWh. Not to mention we do all heating (except cooking) in NV with natural gas. Our WY summer place is all electric, but the average cost here is only 12.1 cents per kWh.

DEI Harming the Navy

Oops, somebody just said the quiet part out loud. The retired commander of one of our nuclear submarines has written for RealClearDefense that DEI efforts in our Navy have been counterproductive in the extreme. He gives examples.

DEI programs have reduced the sense of camaraderie and cohesion the service needs to protect us. They have wasted time, money, and energies that should have been devoted to war-fighting readiness. They have made worse the very issues they’ve intended to solve. And he implies they have made recruitment more difficult.

It is highly likely he is correct in these assertions. Getting woke in the military doesn’t result in going broke, but it leads to an ineffectiveness our nation can ill-afford.

Good News

You know I believe choice of college major is an important life decision, and it is made quite young. CNBC reports the ten college majors with the best starting salaries, and also reports their mid-career average pay. Two of the 10 start at over $100,000 per year.

I am especially pleased to see the subject I taught - Management - is one of the 10, it comes in #6. CNBC calls it "Applied Economics and Management" which is close enough. For my field they list a starting salary average of $81,200 and a mid-career salary of $169,300.

All of the others are in STEM fields - engineering, computers and math. 

A Suggestion

If you know the parent of a disturbed young person who could become a school shooter, you might want to remind the parent to lock up their weaponry. Parents of kids who become shooters are being arrested and charged with serious felonies. 

For example, Colin Gray, the father of the recent Georgia school shooter Colt Gray, has also been arrested. It is claimed he gave his son the AR-15 style rifle the son used to kill four people and wound several more.

It is bad enough if your messed up kid kills one or more people, you won't live that down. But to go to jail because you weren't a child psychologist par excellence (most of us aren't) who could straighten out your little monster will ruin your life irretrievably. 

A gun safe is cheap insurance, and will protect other valuables too.

Thursday Snark

Image courtesy of Lucianne.com, Sept. 6, 2024.

Weird Gerontological Science

Instapundit links to a research report at UPI.com which finds this amazing relationship.

Seniors with higher levels of mental resilience are 53% less likely to die within the next 10 years than those with the lowest levels, researchers found.

The participants' mental resilience was determined using scales that measured qualities like perseverance, calmness, sense of purpose and self-reliance, researchers said.

Even with chronic health problems or an unhealthy lifestyle, people with high mental resilience remained 46% and 38% less likely to die within 10 years than those with the least fortitude.

"This study is unique in establishing a statistically significant association between psychological resilience and all-cause mortality in the older and retired population, even after accounting for confounding factors," the researchers concluded in a university news release.

Keep your cool and outlive your enemies. As I told a consulting client some decades ago, when asked how I'd respond to a whining employee who self-reported mental problems? My tough love response was: "Cope, dammit, the rest of us have to." 

Wednesday Snark

Image courtesy of Lucianne.com, Sept. 5, 2024.