State Budget Time In New York And Florida

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  • Many people of a libertarian bent, such as myself, often express frustration with Republican politicians for their lack of dedication to small-government principles. But then, the alternative is Democrats, who have somehow turned into the party that believes there are no longer any limits on government spending and taxes.

  • If you think there isn’t a whole lot of difference between how the two parties govern when in power, you might want to compare what’s going on these days in Florida versus New York. In Florida, both state legislative chambers, and the governorship, are controlled by Republicans; in New York, it’s Democrats.

  • April is the time of year that the states tend to finalize their budgets for the coming fiscal year. In New York, the state Constitution sets an April 1 deadline for enacting a budget for the upcoming July 1 to June 30 fiscal year. The deadline is often missed, sometimes by a lot, but this year the process has just concluded.

  • Florida also has a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year, but the process of enacting the budget can extend into June. Nevertheless, by this time there are good indications where it will end up.

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The Georgetown Affair: New Levels Of Progressive Reality Denial

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  • Just a few months ago (December 2020) I declared that the “essence of progressivism is refusal to deal with reality.” I had some pretty good examples in that post, but none of them can top the current convulsions that are upending Georgetown Law School.

  • At Georgetown recently, a teacher made the mistake of uttering a small dose of reality while speaking to a colleague. This occurred after a recorded class had concluded and everyone else had signed out, but while the recording of the class was still running. Needless to say, the recording of the teacher’s remarks promptly hit Twitter. Thereupon, all hell broke loose.

  • The subject of the reality that must not be spoken is of course the current all-consuming obsession of academia, namely race. The question I pose is, are Georgetown, and for that matter all of academia, taking this obsession so far as to fully undermine their principal mission?

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Lessons In Woke "Science": Covid-19 And Climate

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Lessons In Woke "Science": Covid-19 And Climate

  • Over time, I have had many posts on the scientific method, most recently in January 2021 here. You posit a falsifiable hypothesis. Then you collect and examine the evidence. If the evidence contradicts your hypothesis you must abandon it and move on. Really, that’s the whole thing.

  • Then there is woke “science,” most visible these days in the arenas of response to the Covid-19 virus and of climate change. Here the principles are a little different.

  • In woke “science” there is no falsifiable hypothesis. In place of that, we have the official orthodox consensus view. The official orthodox consensus view has been arrived at by all the smartest people, because it just seems like it must be right. The official orthodox consensus view must not be contradicted, particularly by the little people like you. Based on the official orthodox consensus view, those in power can take away all your freedom (Covid) and/or transform the entire economy (climate). After all, it’s the “science.”

  • But what if evidence seems to contradict the official orthodox consensus view? I’m sorry, but as I said the official orthodox consensus view must not be contradicted.

  • Today’s news brings a couple of extreme examples of that, one on the virus front, and the other relating to climate.

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A Look Into New York Times-Think On "Food Relief"

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  • Several years ago I would make a practice about once every few weeks of ridiculing some New York Times article or other. More recently, as Pravda has increasingly abandoned any pretense of being a news organization in favor of pure political advocacy, I haven’t bothered. But every once in a while, it is worth looking at one of their pieces to get some insights into how the progressive brain works.

  • For today’s lesson, I select the article that appeared at the top right on the front page of the print edition on Monday April 5. (Top right of the front page would be the article that they designated as the most important “news” piece of the day.) The headline of this one is “Many Need Food, Energizing Push To Expand Relief.” The byline is Jason DeParle.

  • The subject of this article fits under the “poverty” category of DeParle’s beat, rather than immigration. It is a given that this article will be an exercise in political advocacy.

  • That is not why we are looking at it. We are looking at it to try to understand this fundamental issue: Is DeParle, after covering “poverty” for the Times “extensively” for over 30 years, still completely ignorant about the subject? Or, alternatively, is he intentionally misrepresenting the facts in order to deceive the readership for his noble cause?

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The Hunter Biden Story Is Mainly About Presidential And Media Corruption

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The Hunter Biden Story Is Mainly About Presidential And Media Corruption
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The Latest On The "Stupidest Litigation" In The Country

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  • Perhaps you are amazed at the millions of people who have bought into the idea that the gradually increasing level of a trace atmospheric gas (CO2, currently about 0.04% of the atmosphere) is going to bring about world climate doom a hundred or so years from now.

  • You may be even more amazed at the similarly large numbers of people who seem to think that the salvation from this doom is to be found in bringing lawsuits against various companies that produce fossil fuels and getting some court somewhere to order that the companies do . . . what exactly? And that is going to avert the climate doom . . . how exactly?

  • I can’t answer those questions. But the posing of the questions has led me, as a service to readers, to try to follow some of these ridiculous lawsuits, which I have dubbed the “stupidest litigations” in the country.

  • On Thursday (April 1), the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision that only applies directly to one case, but for reasons I will describe has potentially dealt a serious blow to all of the cases. . . .

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