Author: Dave

  • Industrial Immunity

    For the first time humanity is moving beyond mere “herd immunity” — trial data for synthetic antibody treatments regn-cov2 and LY-CoV555 should be in by end of summer. If these COVID-targeted antibodies have the expected efficacy, the death curve could soon take another, steeper dive to nearly zero.  Required dosage levels will determine the number of doses…

  • Virtue’s Reward

    Well, I enjoyed that first week off from politics so much I took another. But on Tuesday the Ted Cruz sex scandal broke wide open, as 265,374 women in Wisconsin went into a booth, closed the curtain behind them, and did something a little dirty for Ted Cruz. Shame on you, Senator. Worst of all,…

  • Politics Is Vice

    Have a great weekend and week, I’ll practice virtue for the next seven days — there’s nothing quite like new life to make you appreciate what’s important.

  • Milking It

    In actual, non-tabloid news, Cruz is leading Trump by one in Wisconsin: BOSTON, MA – As establishment Republicans look for ways to slow Donald Trump’s relentless march toward the party’s presidential nomination, Wisconsin’s winner-take-all GOP primary contest on April 5 offers some intriguing possibilities. In a statewide Emerson College poll released today, Texas Senator Ted…

  • Grumpy Old Party

    Jacob Sullum’s been doing this forever, so he remembers way back when Donald was for legalization. When asked about marijuana legalization at the Conservative Political Action Conference last February, Donald Trump said, “I think it’s bad, and I feel strongly about that.” You never have to wonder what Donald’s “real”position is, he doesn’t have any. Others are…

  • Trends, Presidents, And Precedents

    Fun fact: In the RCP averages, McCain was actually leading Obama by 1 at this point, and Romney was never more than 5 down in 2012. Team Dumpster Fire is already trailing Mrs. Indictment by 10, and getting worse by the day. But hey, Reagan was behind by a lot early too, right?  Right? This…

  • Flaming Dumpster Roars Into Inferno

    Trump 1) had his donations “redirected” by ADL because they despise him 2) was told off by the major Mormon newspaper because they also despise him and 3) in polling, is now losing Utah, Utah, to Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton! Losing Utah! To Clinton! Utah! Clinton! And that was just in my Monday news feed. Wow. I’m…

  • Muddled But Murky

    Kasich takes all of Ohio’s delegates, Trump takes Florida’s. The delegate picture is a little fuzzy elsewhere.  Missouri is within one percent,  North Carolina splits fairly evenly as expected, in Illinois Trump can’t get to 40% but Kasich and Cruz split 50% of the vote between them.  Unfortunately, it looks like once again Trump will…

  • Inflection Point

    Not that Trump supporters will notice, but he may be charged not only with inciting a riot, but also for violating immigration laws in what appears to have been a brazen H1-B scam involving his Trump modeling agency.  And as objectionable as the protestors’ behavior has been, it’s deeply immoral for a Presidential candidate to…

  • Caps and Gowns

    Someone else has noticed what I’ve been pointing out: the GOP’s unbound delegates may matter a lot. The ultimate result of the 2016 presidential election could yet rest on the likes of Erling “Curly” Haugland, 69, a businessman from Bismarck, North Dakota, who will be one of the 2,472 delegates to the Republican party convention…

  • Maine Event

    So, that was interesting. Yesterday Cruz not only outperformed his Kansas polling by an astounding 31 points (+25 vs -6), he took Maine, the most Northeastern of all states, where he was not supposed to be competitive, by double digits — and won the Super Saturday delegate haul by a significant margin. So, what does…

  • Trumps of Doom

    So, apparently people are noticing the GOP might actually be nominating a crude, shameless con man as their candidate for the Presidency of the United States, and they’re proposing some ways to stop it, such as denying Donald an outright majority by keeping candidates in the race who know they can’t win. The post by…

  • Corn Syrup

    How sweet it is.  Well done, Iowans.   Well done. So, it turns out electrolytes aren’t a substitute for a ground game.  Or a sane candidate. Cruz won narrowly,  but his victory is nonetheless quite impressive: he beat Trump, a surging Rubio, the GOP establishment, the ethanol subsidy lobby, Trump, the governor, the rest of the deep…

  • Cruz Hurtles Into CA Lead

    Well, this is interesting.  Cruz has gone from consistently running 4-6% to suddenly taking the lead at 25% in the nation’s most populous state. California doesn’t vote until June, so the primary may be over by then, but either way a primary candidate taking CA and TX would be hard to beat. It’s possible Cruz is peaking…

  • America’s Greatest Triumph

    “They said this day would never come,” he said. “They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided — too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.” He continued, “We are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.” One day, he…

  • Subprime

    Victor Hanson asks: Must our ancestors be reduced to villains of the past who do not fit our model of political correctness? Or were they just folks who had it far rougher than we citizens of the 21st century, and sacrificed their all so that we would not have to endure everything they did? Of…

  • Christmas Classic

    In the pre-Internet days,  I used to — I am not making this up — keep a folder of Dave Barry Year In Review columns. In Paris, two million people march in a solidarity rally following the horrific terrorist attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Eyebrows are raised when not a single top…

  • Site, Cite, and Oversight

    Anthony Watts has finally produced his long-awaited study showing that moving temperature gauges next to steam pipes, air conditioners, and asphalt — get this — changes the temperature trends.  As Anthony points out, there hasn’t been much serious criticism, and AGW proponents seem to be the only theorists in the world who spend vastly more…

  • Cruzing

    Interesting piece here on polling internals — Cruz is now perfectly positioned to draw Trump’s supporters if he can win in Iowa. Cruz has looked like the de facto frontrunner for a while now — as the article implies and Nate Silver has noted repeatedly, national polling isn’t predictive until after the first primaries, which it usually…

  • The Limits To Lysenkoism

    Great piece from David Harsanyi at the often-excellent Federalist, pointing out most Americans have a rational attitude toward global warming — fewer people drive hybrids, carpool, or bike to work than in the past. And there’s this fun bit: For us, it inevitable that this whole charade ends up granting more power to central government…