Month: May 2021

Yesterday we were told that President Biden was taking a "sharper tone" with Bibi Netanyahu and demanding a "significant de-escalation" in the Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza. Today Netanyahu told him to pound sand:

Nothing new here. When was the last time Israel actually did something to help out the United States? I'm sure that our intelligence services have a great relationship—they always do—but beyond that it's hard to think of anything.

This is a deserted cabin in the shadow of the Eastern Sierra between Mammoth Mountain and Mono Lake. It may be abandoned, but that doesn't mean it can't still be picturesque.

Europe is opening back up as long as you can show that you've been vaccinated against COVID-19:

The European Union agreed on Wednesday to reopen its borders to visitors who have been fully vaccinated with an approved shot....The bloc will accept visitors who have received full immunization using one of the shots approved by its own regulator or by the World Health Organization. That covers the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines. This would open the door to Americans, who have been receiving shots from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

All that's left is to come up with some way to prove that you've been vaccinated. But what could it be? You already need a passport to travel abroad, so I suppose it would be something like that: a "passport," but one that shows your vaccination status. Sort of a "vaccine passport," if you will. Someone ought to get to work on that.

Republicans are always droning on about the importance of local control, but their dedication to the cause always seems to waver as soon the locals start doing something they don't like:

Most government authorities in Texas will soon be prohibited from requiring people to wear masks, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday....The executive order Mr. Abbott announced on Tuesday would prevent counties, cities, public health authorities and local government officials from requiring people to wear masks beginning on Friday. Violators could be fined $1,000.

So much for local governments being closer to their people and understanding their needs better than the one-size-fits-all bureaucrats back in the capital. But that was all just a sham from the beginning anyway, wasn't it?

Here’s the officially reported coronavirus death toll through May 18. The raw data from Johns Hopkins is here.

It's time for a poll! How much do you think the world has been permanently changed by the pandemic? All of the items below are things that many people think will remain a permanent part of the landscape even after COVID-19 has ebbed into a nuisance rather than a crisis. How many do you agree about?

You can think of this any way you want, but FWIW, I would choose only items that I think are going to significantly change from their current trend. Working from home, for example, has been increasing slowly but steadily for years, so I would check that one only if I think it's going to settle in at several percentage points above its 2019 level and stay there in 2022 and beyond.

I see that UFOs are having a moment again. Here's why I continue to dismiss them even though I know nothing about the evidence and don't want to know.

Air Force pilots claim to see UFOs constantly. I'd actually be more likely to believe something was going on if they saw them less frequently. Is it really plausible that these things have been practically blanketing the Earth for decades but still remain unexplained?

Are they alien spacecraft? If they are, then Earth must be the crossroads of the galaxy. What's more, these highly advanced aliens (interstellar travel, cloaking, etc.) are able to keep their existence 100% secret from our best efforts to find them except for the fact that they continually make their spacecraft visible to pilots who are within a few miles of the ground. This makes no sense.

Are UFOs super advanced objects made by China or Russia? Please. I'd buy the alien hypothesis before that. At least then you could explain how these things violate the laws of physics so easily. There are no nations on earth more thoroughly spied on than China and Russia, and it's obvious they have no technology anywhere close to that displayed by UFOs.

That's about it. Lots of blurry sightings—always blurry!—but absolutely no other effects. Sure.

Here's the topline result from a newly released report by the USC-Annenberg Inclusion Initiative:

Depending on how you count, the API share of the population is 5-6.5%. Far from being "absent," they're represented at about the level you'd expect. In 2019, they were represented well above their share of the population.

The report is on more solid ground when it looks at behind-the-camera positions, where the API share hovers around 3%. So that's fine. But why insist on pro-forma outrage even where it's not warranted?

Over the weekend I happened to post a chart showing e-commerce revenue as a percentage of all retail sales, but it only went through the end of last year. Today brings us the latest data, which goes through March of this year:

It's continuing to level out, and that's even before the Great Unmasking, which only started in May. This strikes me as evidence that, generally speaking, people want to get back to their old habits, rather than sticking to those learned during the pandemic. Within a few months, people will be using e-commerce at about the same level they would have if the pandemic had never happened.

Now this is what I call looming. This is yet another picture of Saddleback looming over Orange County. For you locals, this one was taken driving east on Segerstrom Avenue in Santa Ana.