Fireworks

I wrote Friday that the fabulous fireworks in Idaho Falls weren't "on" this year, Covid-19 being blamed. So we caught the fireworks in a small WY town much closer to home and they were almost as good!

Honestly, I was amazed. They did a heck of a job, spent some serious coin on all the good stuff they lofted, too. We had a great location and we never got within 6' of anyone while watching. Ya gotta love the natural social distancing of rural life.

If the locals keep doing fireworks this good we'll probably not go back to IF for fireworks again. The drive afterwards, arriving home about 1 a.m., was tedious.

Avoiding PTBO Hires

Zero Hedge summarizes a study published in the refereed Journal of Business Research. It looked at people with a high "proclivity to be offended" (PTBO). It found they make terrible employees. Some key quotes:

What is PTBO? According to the study, it's "a state-like tendency to be sensitive to customarily innocuous societal events and traditions," such as "playing of the United States' National Anthem," and is the "tendency to view an array of events and/or traditions as offensive."

The study found that easily triggered people are less productive, are prone to view their organizations as "less fair," and "consume a lot of time complaining about trivial matters." They also make terrible team players.

PTBO negatively correlated with task performance and positively correlated with counterproductive work behaviors, suggesting not only that these individuals engage in fewer citizenship behaviors but also engage in behaviors managers and organizations want their employees to avoid.

I cannot imagine anyone familiar with task environments finds these results in any way surprising. Firms may avoid hiring liberal arts snowflakes even more than they have in the past.

However, Murphy's Law tells us doing so becomes a selling point for Antifa and Democratic Socialist recruiters when snowflakes cannot find career positions commensurate with their education levels.

Of Wright and Wrong

Robin Wright writes foreign policy for The New Yorker. She is one of a long line of women reporting on international relations, which has included in my memory Georgie Ann Geyer, Martha Raddatz, and Christiane Amanpour.

Wright does not add luster to that group of intrepid women. Her left wing suffers badly from overdevelopment, making her a lopsided bird indeed.

She writes that the U.S. is viewed overseas as racist and pitiful. That has been true in some quarters since the 1920s, mostly among those who wish us ill.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if people stopped coming here illegally because they believed it to be true? Fat chance of that happening.

We have now an openly nationalist President who views our "allies" as taking advantage of us. He has held that view since he was interviewed by Oprah in 1988, over 30 years ago. Go see for yourself.

He was right then, he's right now. Funny thing about people taking advantage of you. When you stop letting them do it, they experience its end as a diminution in their well-being.

Helping allies made sense in the aftermath of World War II, it hasn't for decades now. The "help" ending does not make them happy, quite the reverse. So ... we should care? Why?

Most of the world's countries would be happy to trade their problems for those of the U.S. As a partisan Democrat, Wright deliberately chooses not to recognize this reality.

Patriots vs. Democrats

USA Today asked the pollsters at Suffolk University to poll Americans concerning their feelings about our nation, on the eve of the celebration of its birth. The findings are disquieting.

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, this poll solicited registered voters’ opinions of America’s “greatness” in the world, asking if they thought America was the greatest country, one of the greatest, average, or worse.

Among Democrats, only 38 percent believe that the United States is one of the greatest countries or the greatest country on earth. Meanwhile, 66 percent of Republicans believe the U.S. is the greatest nation, with many more following close behind in the “one of the greatest” category.

These findings prompted some to suggest the following policy Rx: "America, love it ... or vote Democratic."

What Worries Hymowitz

Interesting material frequently finds its way into City Journal. Today an interview with Kay Hymowitz who often writes for CJ, and in response to a question about what worries her most in today's America, she replies:

I worry most about the profound disenchantment of the younger generation. Recent college and high school graduates have been educated, if that’s the right word, to think of the United States as uniquely unjust. Firsthand experience with two steep recessions and the shaky promise of a college education in an era of diminishing career possibilities will provide seeming confirmation of those lessons.

Young Americans were already delaying marriage and children, and our fertility rate is at record lows—as is trust in the future. The combination of nihilism about the future and ignorance of history is a dangerous one.

Some have found their way into Antifa, others have become alt right or white supremacists. The balance are apathetic, a sort of latter-day "lost generation." None of these reactions is in any way a useful response to their plight.

Praising the Devil

The late Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) was in his youth a member, and leader, of the Ku Klux Klan and later a segregationist Senator. Katie Pavlich has rounded up video of former Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praising the late Senator Robert Byrd, at his funeral.

In a column for Townhall, she has embedded the videos and you can watch them for yourself. Watch Biden say of Byrd the following:

To me...for a lot of us, he was a mentor and a friend, and for a lot of us, he was a guide.

Watch Pelosi say of Byrd:

Senator Byrd's service and leadership are more than worthy to be remembered for many generations to come. He was a great American patriot.

If we're going to bad mouth Washington and Jefferson, what should we say of Biden and Pelosi when they praise Byrd who founded a KKK chapter? Isn't that a lot like erecting a statue of him?

The Democrats are so blatantly two-faced they give hypocrisy a bad name.

Independence Day

Tomorrow is Independence Day, the anniversary of the date in 1776 when the Continental Congress declared the 13 colonies united and free - no longer dependencies of King George and Britain. We celebrate it as the nation’s “birthday,” when this nation began.

In spite of all the ugliness going on at the moment, both medical and political, it is still one heck of a great place to be from, to be proud of, and in which to spend one’s life. The other DrC and I have visited well over 100 countries, some for a day, others for weeks or a month, and we know of nowhere we’d rather call home.

There are other places we’ve said we could probably live comfortably, including Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. And yet others we admired but probably wouldn’t choose for a residence, often for reasons of language incompatibility, Corfu comes to mind.

At the end of the day, returning from overseas, it always feels good to put feet back on U.S. soil. We’ve visited all 50 states and most of its overseas dependencies.

We’ve not just visited but actually resided in each of its four continental time zones, and currently split our year between the two western zones. We don’t particularly identify with one locale, but feel most at home in or west of the Rockies.

So I write to celebrate the United States of America. It’s no coincidence that it draws immigrants - legal and illegal - from all over the world.

Later ... the fabulous fireworks display Melaleuca puts on in Idaho Falls each 4th of July is not happening this year, cancelled by the Covid-19 unpleasantness. Maybe next year?

Remember Hydrochloroquine?

Instapundit links to a story in The Detroit News which reports research done locally on hydrochloroquine and Covid-19.

A Henry Ford Health System study shows the controversial anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helps lower the death rate of COVID-19 patients, the Detroit-based health system said Thursday.

The study analyzed 2,541 patients hospitalized among the system’s six hospitals between March 10 and May 2 and found 13% of those treated with hydroxychloroquine died while 26% of those who did not receive the drug died.

We attribute our findings that differ from other studies to early treatment, and part of a combination of interventions that were done in supportive care of patients, including careful cardiac monitoring.

Some entities in Michigan refuse to use the anti-malarial drug, the article reports.

Later ... Writing for Just the News, Sheryl Attkisson reports this HFHS research has been published in the peer-refereed International Journal of Infectious Diseases. For those who don't know, "peer-reviewed" means we should pay additional attention to the findings. Scientists in the field not involved in doing the research have examined the report and find it worthy.

McEnany

Columbia Journalism Review runs an article describing White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany as a "media critic." That is certainly a fair description.

For over 3 years the press has shown that they come to the press briefings intent on making the President look bad. McEnany comes to those same briefings intent on making the press look bad.

Neither has much interest in telling the story of the executive branch of the Federal Government. This is okay, most of the time, because it can tend to be boring.

Let the record show that the press started the donnybrook. Trump decided to play their game, play by the same rules they play by. McEnany is his chosen champion in this battle, for a battle it most definitely is.

Let's treat it as a gladiatorial contest and enjoy the rhetorical 'bloodshed.' Pass the popcorn.

Snark

The Congresswoman is so easy to burlesque.

Hat tip to Ed Driscoll at Instapundit for the image.

Looking into the Abyss

Instapundit poster Stephen Green links to a Stephen Kruiser Morning Brief column at PJ Media. Kruiser looks ahead at what the first months of a Biden presidency might look like.

I think the various B.S. coronavirus reactions may very well gift-wrap and hand this election to the drooling idiot in the basement on Election Day and keep him hidden during the transition. Once he’s inaugurated he will suddenly have a health episode that will require him to leave office. He’s obviously in such a state of mental decline that even the Democrats won’t want him to stick around if he wins.

How did the Democrats manage to paint themselves into this ridiculous corner?  Alas, my poor beloved country, how much of this abuse can you stand?

$$ for American Lives?

My current favorite foreign affairs analyst, George Friedman, writes at Geopolitical Futures. Today he looks at the “Russia paid Taliban to kill Americans” claim and finds it lacking on many dimensions.

Friedman doesn’t completely deny it could have happened, but argues it was not in Putin’s interest to do so. Thus, if it did happen, it was probably some low-level operative on the ground in the region acting on his own initiative, not an act of hostile statecraft.

Still More Realism

Another mayor admits the demonstrations and riots had the effect of spreading the Covid-19 virus. Brietbart reports:

Mayor Eric Garcetti told a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon that the recent Black Lives Matter protests in the Los Angeles area were, in fact, partly responsible for a recent spike in coronavirus cases.

“Some of the spread did come from our protests,” Garcetti admitted, in response to a question from Breitbart News.

Another journalist followed up to ask Garcetti if he knew precisely how may coronavirus cases had been traced to the protests. He said that he did not have an answer at hand, but that public health officials felt “more certitude than just a couple days ago” that the protests had been responsible for some of the spike.

None of which means Garcetti believes the BLM demonstrations were a bad idea during an epidemic, he quickly added obsequiously, having no wish to become a target of the mob’s ire.

RINOs on Parade

Reuters reports the activities of a #NeverTrump group.

Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said.

The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee - 43 Alumni for Biden - to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race, three organizers of the group told Reuters. Bush was the country’s 43rd president.

This illustrates why the Bush 43 presidency was such a disappointment to real conservatives. Eight years of promises unkept and opportunities wasted. W and Slow Joe have a lot in common, both are low-charisma.

Kushner's Star Fades

Axios reporter and frequent panelist on Bret Baier's Special Report for Fox News Jonathan Swan Tweets concerning a shift in WH policy, copied from a Red State story concerning it.

NEW: "President Trump has told people in recent days that he regrets following some of son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner's political advice — including supporting criminal justice reform — and will stick closer to his own instincts." 

It is about time this happened, Kushner doesn't share DJT's values or priorities. This disjuncture has been obvious for a couple of years.

Commenting on this same reporting, Power Line's Paul Mirengoff calls Kushner's efforts "woke sh*t." As we'd say, in a parody of parliamentary procedure, "I'll accept that as a friendly amendment."

Here is Swan’s own story for Axios, it’s clear the White House wants to have it both ways.

The Undeserved Reputation of NH

An odd website devoted to booze, called VinePair, has an article (with maps) about which states sell the most alcoholic beverages. New Hampshire is the absolute leader with 4.67 gallons of alcohol per capita. It is over a gallon ahead of the next nearest state - Delaware.

No, NH isn't particularly a state of alcoholics. What is seldom talked about is that NH makes liquor sales a state enterprise and keeps prices low to build volume. Headed north from MA, the first NH exit on I-95 debouches directly into the parking lot of a very large state-run liquor warehouse/welcome station, much patronized by thirsty Bostonians and other residents of high-tax MA.

NH attracts customers from ME, MA, VT, and maybe RI, CT, and Canada, to patronize their state stores and buy cheap brand-name booze. The other states wring more taxes out of liquor sales, so-called "sin taxes" while NH emulates Walmart, sells it cheap and reaps big profits.

NH sells 4.67 gallons of alcohol per capita but doesn't drink anywhere near that much. Maybe half of that is drunk by residents of other states and, for all I know, provinces. The following is from their website:

Over the years, New Hampshire residents and those from surrounding states for miles around have chosen to shop for their wine and spirits at our conveniently located New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet stores. This has not happened by accident, but by design, as the State Liquor Commission aggressively pursues a strategy that provides you with the best possible value and the most pleasant shopping experience.

Thinking K-12

The other DrC educated public school teachers for most of her career, after being one herself for several years. Thus ours is a household that thinks about K-12 education more than a little.

Much discussion now ongoing focuses on whether or not the public schools should open in the fall and, if they do, following what set of precautions? While most teachers are not in the Covid-19 high risk group, certainly some are at or very near retirement age.

It seems to me at-risk-by-age-or-comorbidity teachers should be encouraged to retire, and those who refuse be required to sign waivers absolving the district of responsibility for their illness or death due to contagion. Even if the teacher her- or himself is willing to take the risk, there is still the trauma of having a (we hope) beloved teacher die during the school year to consider.

A way of increasing social distancing would be to hold full half-day double sessions with classrooms half full. This could require twice as many teachers, not something all districts could manage or afford.

Alternatively, a teacher might teach two groups - one morning, one afternoon - in a greatly pared down 3Rs format. This would trigger many parents and legislators whose pet subjects would be excluded. There are no easy answers.

Later ... I hear from a friend loosely affiliated with an AZ K-12 district that they've opted for the "alternatively" option. Teachers will teach the same material to two half-sized groups per day, with sterilize wipe-down of surfaces in between.

Weird Psychological Science

United Press International reports research which shows that a predisposition toward one form of mental illness can be inherited and/or learned.

Children born to mothers who had depression during or after pregnancy are nearly twice as likely as others to develop the disorder later in life, an analysis published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open found.

I'm inclined to think "inherited" but I guess you could suffer long term effects from a lack of mothering while your depressed mom was withdrawn, blue and dysfunctional. It is odd, however, that the lack would result in exactly the same disorder mom exhibited unless it's genetic.

Another Factor

One of the things we do here at COTTonLINE is write about things people would rather not talk about, for a variety of reasons. For example, everybody knows long term care facilities had Covid-19 outbreaks because certain governors (looking at you, Cuomo) required them to house people who’d tested positive for coronavirus.

Not talked about is that LTC jobs are mostly poorly paid, many are unpleasant, and they tend to be staffed by people who can find nothing better. In other words, the poor and unskilled, very often minorities.

The “poor and unskilled” are also groups with high incidences of Covid-19. People come to work in LTC facilities from exactly those multigenerational home environments where the virus is most often found.

So even where no infected persons were admitted as residents, a natural vector of infection - employees - existed. LTCs have not historically been diligent about preventing cross-contamination - changing gloves, scrubs, hand washing, private rooms. And I’m not certain they offer paid sick leave, in the absence of which those who “aren’t too sick” will drag themselves to work.

Perhaps LTCs can be pressed to learn to be more hospital-like. With minimum wage employees and substantial turnover (he shrugs) it is unclear how successful they will be. You might want to go back and see what we wrote just over a month ago, concerning the Japanese experience.

So Far 2020 Sucks

The year 2020 is half over today, June is behind us and we commence the 7th month, July. So far this year, with the “good eyesight” name, has been a real downer.

We really didn’t need Covid-19, did we? I know I didn’t. And the lockdown, when most of those dying lived in long term care facilities where they had gone to die, if truth be told. The economy went in the toilet, the government responded by spending billions they didn’t have. Face it, 2020 has been a mess so far.

And it’s an election year which makes our super-partisan society even more hyper-partisan, each party hating on the other and agreeing about exactly nothing. I am less optimistic than formerly, and I blame the zeitgeist, one of those words that moody Germans use to describe the current mood.

I’m an old crock and I don’t see a return to what was normal a year ago anytime on the horizon. I hate wearing masks as I feel out of breath as a consequence. This is true at sea level and more so here at over a mile high. In spite of which I wear one.

If all of this isn’t bad enough, my lesser-of-two-evils choice for president is behind in the polls. He’s trailing a burned-out husk of a machine politician who is making a political virtue of doing and saying almost nothing coherent.

The first half of 2020 hasn’t been fun. I view the second half with trepidation.