Weird Barometric Science

The Vice website carries a review of research which points to high altitude as a contributing factor in suicide. Suicide rates are highest in the U.S. states and counties with the highest average altitudes - basically the mountain West states of Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.

Similar findings have been reported in other countries with mountainous regions. There is also evidence that all but one of the commonly prescribed antidepressants are substantially less effective at higher altitudes.

Anecdotally individuals in high altitude regions have found relief from depression by using an oxygen concentrating machine when they sleep. The issue seems to be altitude-based hypoxia’s interference in serotonin production in the brain, more of an issue for some than for others. As scientists ritually say (and write), more research is needed.

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On a personal note, the DrsC routinely shift from sea level to 6000 ft. and back each year without becoming depressed. We notice being out-of-breath with any exertion when first arriving in the mountains, but the sensation is mostly gone in a week or so.

My late mother, who lived most of her adult life near sea level, actually noticed feeling better at mile-high altitudes. It may well be this altitude effect is something with considerable individual variation.

Review: Toy Story 4

The other DrC and I saw this film this afternoon, with our friend Ed. All three of us liked it a lot. It turns out you can get really involved in and care about the 'lives' of animated characters, if the story works, and the TS4 story does.

The animation is excellent, in some scenes almost photographic. The film is also unusual for a relatively accurate, if brief, portrayal of a little motorhome RV in use by a family.

When you view the cast crawl at the end, you'll be surprised at the famous people who contributed a cameo voice to one of the characters, for example Mel Brooks. I won't try to summarize the plot, I can't do it without spoilers.

Radical Claptrap

Lucianne.com links to an American Greatness article which alleges the following things are/are not radical:

A well-patrolled border is not a radical policy. An open border is a radical policy.

To believe in two genders is not radical. To insert gender identity into Title IX is.

To praise Western Civilization as a legacy of political freedom and artistic genius is not a radical opinion.To regard it as promotion of white supremacy is a radical opinion.

And the author adds the following to his list of radical notions: cancelling student debt, making college free, demanding reparations, and banning Chick-Fil-A.

I'm sorry to say I don't find much to quibble with in his list. All of this claptrap is being marketed to Americans right now by you-know-who.

An Omission Is Noted

RealClearPolitics links to an editorial in the Las Vegas Sun which argues that black unemployment rates aren’t as low as President Trump claims. It alleges unemployment is quite high in some black-majority cities. About the Brookings report upon which the editorial is based, they write:

The report doesn’t get into the reasons behind the gap. It notes, however, that the gap has existed for decades, suggesting that historical reasons apply. Among those are racial biases among employers, as well as institutionalized racist policies that have left blacks lagging in education, professional development and so forth.

Notice that no mention is made of the very high levels of former incarceration among members of the target population. A criminal record is a serious impediment to employment prospects; one that a booming job market will not erase.

Democrats Have Lost Touch

In New York Magazine, gay author Andrew Sullivan writes some very sensible things about the excesses embraced by this year’s bumper crop of Democrat ultra-progressives. He calls out their “open borders” folly, their uncritical embrace of LGBTQ extremism via critical gender theory, and the craziness that is social media “cancelling.”

As a legal immigrant (from Britain), Sullivan is an unusual conservative voice, appearing in an unusual venue for such voices. What he writes is worth your time reading.

Ms. Noonan’s Relatives

Y’all know I think The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan is one of the best writers of our generation. It’s true even when I don’t agree with what she’s writing, which is increasingly the case.

Lately she’s been a #NeverTrump person, which I can’t buy. However, in a recent column she writes about her sister and uncle who favor The Donald and her empathy almost lets her get what they’re feeling.

Our conversations convinced me that something that had long been a preoccupation—the idea that those who govern America do not really care about, or emotionally affiliate with, the people of their own country—was right, and would bring electoral shocks.

Peggy almost “gets it” but then the swamp, to which she is very much a voluntary recruit, sucks her back in. She hangs up on Trump’s crudity, his failure to observe “the norms.”

The whole column is worth reading. You will probably end up feeling her sister and uncle are the real people, who haven’t sold out to the swamp. From her insider perspective, she believes them good-hearted-but-misguided; you’ll probably conclude that judgment more appropriately fits Ms. Noonan.

Whatever you conclude, she is one hell of a wordsmith, enjoy her craftsmanship if nothing else.

Post-Soviet Kremlinology

Thinktanker Charles Grant writes for the New Statesman's America edition on the subject of how the Kremlin sees the rest of the world. Interestingly, Grant doesn't bother trying to decode Russian attitudes toward Africa, Latin America, or much of Asia.

Instead Grant deals exclusively with Russian views of Europe, the U.S., and China. You'd be pardoned for concluding he believes everywhere else is essentially irrelevant to great power calculations.

Donald Trump is seen to represent a long-term trend in the US rather than a short-term blip: Russian analysts reckon that the US will be less focused on intervening around the world to uphold a liberal, rules-based, US-led order, and that it will be more nationalist, mercantilist and interest-focused. So in the long run, the US and Russia should be able to accommodate each other. Russians think Europe is undergoing a similar transformation.

I should add that Grant doesn't appear to share their view, or at least hopes very much they're wrong.

Poor Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, not the sharpest tack in the jar when president, has finally gone completely looney tunes. At age 95, he's claiming Russian interference elected Trump.

Sure, the Russians tried to make trouble, but clearly had no success. Was what they did wrong? Of course it was. Was it consequential? Not even a little.

Analysis: Dementia isn't pretty; most sufferers are granted a measure of privacy. Apparently that courtesy isn't extended to ex-presidents who say something the extreme left desperately wants to hear coming out of a once-famous mouth.

Outmigration from SoCal

COTTonLINE has a continuing series on the problems of our native state of California. CBS-LA News reports outmigration from the SoCal region.

A breakdown of last year’s census numbers shows Orange County had 20,104 more people leave than move in, marking the 10th worst net out-migration among big counties in the U.S. L.A. County had 98,608 people leave, marking the biggest net loss in the U.S.

I was born in greater LA and grew up in SoCal. Why do people leave some of the nicest natural environment on the planet? Wrong-headed governmental policies which cause sky-high taxes and home prices. Plus overcrowding, of course.

Thoughts on Night Two

The pundit consensus is that Biden was lame, Harris was strong, and Buttigieg gave a nuanced answer about police racism that probably worked with white progressives, but not with blacks.

Sanders was Sanders: old, cranky, and a Communist-in-all-but-name. Everybody else? Forget them, they’re going nowhere.

Harris helped her case, Biden hurt his. Unlike 2016, this time Sanders isn’t the only alternative to the party’s standard-bearer. Warren has the same free-everything message and seems younger, fresher, and less cranky.

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I’ve argued the lesson Democrats should have learned from the 2008, 2012, and 2016 presidential elections is that nominating a non-white is the only way to reenergize the Obama coalition, selecting a white woman in 2016 didn’t work. Given the front-runner status of Biden, Sanders, and Warren, it appears the lesson hasn’t sunk in.

The alternative theory is that Obama was a one-time, first-time-only phenomenon and not repeatable. It appears this theory is what the party leadership believes, they may be correct. Black voters’ outcomes under Obama weren’t wonderful, they’ve lived better during Trump’s 3 years.

One could argue that Dems should select Harris, the most visible and articulate of its aspirants of color. However, Biden’s apparently accurate claim that he was (albeit briefly) a public defender while she was a career prosecutor could weigh heavily with black voters who view the criminal justice system as their implacable enemy.

I am forced to conclude that victimology is a tricky organizing principle for a political party.

Thoughts on Night One

Unlike President Trump and scores of professional pundits, I didn't have to watch 10 Democrat aspirants being served up softball questions by four Democrat 'newspersons.' So I didn't, choosing to let the pundit class do the heavy lifting for me.

Sitting here trying to synthesize what I've read about it, I conclude that what a spectator saw on that stage in Miami was seriously biased by their a priori beliefs and concerns. There seems to be consensus that Elizabeth Warren did herself no harm, and was basically untouched by the others. And there is consensus that Beto O'Rourke blew it.

Beyond that, I've read that Castro did great or did poorly, Gabbard was a winner but yet meh, Booker scored or bombed . Most of the also-rans on that stage did little to move the needle in either direction.

Lack of movement means they blew the only chance they had at achieving momentum. They'd be wise to put their campaigns on 'hiatus' meaning, in real-people speak, "to quit."

There are four individuals with a realistic chance on-stage at tonight's debate, perhaps it will be more consequential. We'll do this again tomorrow.

Deplatforming

Power Line founding partner John Hinderaker writes about the controversy currently brewing over alleged efforts by social media to suppress conservative voices. Efforts by Project Veritas and others have surfaced these efforts, which name prominent conservative voices as “Nazis.”

What occurs to me is that vanishingly few of those so identified currently have anything like Nazi beliefs. However, persistent persecution and stifling could eventually turn some of them into malefactors not entirely unlike Nazis.

Perhaps that is the goal of those in the social media community, to bring about violent action via Antifa. Does anyone else detect a nostalgia for Weimar, with its Communist bully boys battling Nazi brown shirts in the streets? I, for one, hope to avoid a replay of that Brechtian era.

Perhaps it is too much to hope that privately owned and managed communication platforms, which act and are treated like public utilities, would voluntarily allow all voices to be heard, as the First Amendment requires.

Major Matters ... A Lot

We have written several times, over the years, about the importance of choice of college major in subsequent life outcomes. A recent article in Barrons, the Dow Jones magazine, about which college major graduates regret the most, suggests it is time to revisit the topic.

Barrons reports the findings of a huge survey of college graduates by the career and salary website PayScale. Unsurprisingly, the number one regret is student loans, which many believe aren’t worth the cost.

The second most regretted thing is college major, and the major most regretted is “humanities” which, the article notes, includes things like English and history. Why?

“This may have to do with the relatively low salaries seen by common professions of humanities majors,” the PayScale report revealed. Indeed, research from Georgetown University shows that people who study humanities and liberal arts tend to make significantly less than those who study other things like STEM or business.

The financial cost of studying humanities is the same as that for “STEM or business.” The rewards, however, are not equal. Thus, the cost-benefit analysis comes out in favor of majoring in something for which there is ongoing demand and consequent decent pay.

So sayeth the old Business prof, most of whose students were recruited into decent careers with competitive paychecks. If you’ve children or grandchildren headed for college, emphasize studying something with a good job waiting. Contact the university placement center to learn what majors are actively recruited.

Nordics Not Socialist

Writing at Power Line, regular contributor Paul Mirengoff summarizes a Washington Post article by Charles Lane. Lane is a frequent panelist on Bret Baier's Special Report on Fox News.

Lane debunks the claim, made by Bernie Sanders and other Dem progressives, that the Nordic nations and the Netherlands run socialist systems. Lane writes:

Drawing on data from the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and other reputable sources, the (JPMorgan, Chase) report shows that five nations — Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands — protect property rights somewhat more aggressively than the United States, on average; exercise less control over private enterprise; permit greater concentration in the banking sector; and distribute a smaller share of their total income to workers.

The JPMorgan, Chase report concludes:

Copy the Nordic model if you like, but understand that it entails a lot of capitalism and pro-business policies, a lot of taxation on middle class spending and wages, minimal reliance on corporate taxation and plenty of co-pays and deductibles in its healthcare system.

Socialism is mistakenly thought of as a way to share the wealth; in practice it is a way to share the poverty. The Nordics learned this the hard way, after stubbing their collective toe.

Can we learn it vicariously, without experiencing the pain? I hope we can.

Pandermonium Awaits

The first round of Democratic debates begins tomorrow night, with the second half the following night. Twenty aspirants will strut their stuff, say how much they despise our President, and promise you tons of ‘free’ stuff. It will be “pandermonium” ... on steroids.

I know I should watch it all, but I’m not convinced I’m that much of a masochist. I know the other DrC isn’t. Listening to Democrats pander to ‘victims’ affects me like fingernails on a blackboard.

I may wait and read the analysis instead. Call me a coward, if it makes you feel better.

Talking Turkey

The Associated Press reports President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party was defeated in a rerun mayoral election in Turkey’s largest city, and it wasn’t close. Almost in passing, the story documents the opposition also won the mayor election in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.

The AP notes it was as mayor of Istanbul that Erdogan got his start in politics. One fifth of the country’s population lives there.

This outcome is good news for Turkey and for the forces of democracy everywhere. Years ago Erdogan famously said democracy is like a streetcar, when you get where you want to be you get off. The memory of that comment has to be giving him heartburn at this juncture.

Turkey is that rare Islamic country which has more-than-flirted with elective government. It is to be hoped some Western values have taken hold there, frustrating Erdogan’s drive to become a latter-day Ottoman emperor.

Travel Blogging VII

Western Wyoming: We’ve returned home, the two-week RV adventure with relatives and friends is over. We had a good time, spent hours chatting up people we like, saw some special places again, and experienced climatic extremes - hot and cold.

We returned to cool, rainy weather, locals tell us it feels like the Pacific Northwest here this year so far. We passed the summer solstice two days ago but the local weather hasn’t yet gotten the memo.

Absent unforeseen events, we’re “in residence” here until autumn. I’m looking forward to that prospect, a favorite time of year in a favorite place.

A New Class Warfare

Glenn Reynolds, of Instapundit fame, writes a weekly column for USA Today. Five months ago, Reynolds pointed out much of the acrimony in modern politics is a new kind of class warfare, of which the Donald Trump presidency is a symptom.

It’s not the kind of class struggle that Karl Marx wrote about, with workers and peasants facing off against rapacious capitalists, but it is a case of today’s ruling class facing disaffection from its working class.

If you look at the “yellow jacket” protests in France, the election of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and events in places like Italy and Hungary — or, for that matter, the Brexit movement in Britain — you find a similar unhappiness with institutional arrangements and the sleek and self-satisfied elites who benefit from them.

Trump is the symptom of a ruling class that many of the ruled no longer see as serving their interest, and the anti-Trump response is mostly the angry backlash of that class as it sees its position, its perquisites and — perhaps especially — its self-importance threatened.

I like his reasoning here, it feels right and explains much. Read the whole thing.

They Call It “Acting”

Emilia Clarke, portrayer of the redoubtable Daenerys Targaryen, is extremely striking and formidable until she smiles, after which she ends up looking pleasantly forgettable. It’s clear the Game of Thrones series’ creators were aware of this.

One wonders if Ms. Clarke understands this about herself. Interview evidence suggests she may not, or if she does, is at pains to convince us it was merely her acting prowess on display, a shallow girl portraying a formidable woman.

I’ve seen two other actresses do something similar - Gillian Anderson of X Files and Essie Davis of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries - and in all three cases found it extremely off-putting. If you can be someone of substance, why choose to be someone forgettable?

Later ... for an example of a lady who makes the opposite choice, think of Ivanka Trump. It would appear she has chosen to be a formidable person, an island of calm grace. Have we ever seen her silly side? Does it even exist? Not to my knowledge. Certainly not in public.

Preliminary Winnowing Complete

The last ballot of Conservative MPs has been taken and the finalists, whose names will be submitted to the party’s members in a mail ballot, are known. As expected, Boris Johnson will be one, the other will be Jeremy Hunt.

Michael Gove was narrowly eliminated in the final round. Now we await the result of the mail balloting, which is expected to name Johnson the new PM.