In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

On Monday, I speculated about the impact of Biden's workplace vaccine mandate on OSHA. It turns out that I underestimated the problem : “[B]efore the first legal challenges against the mandate roll in, the Biden administration faces the more immediate conundrum of whether the chronically resource-strapped Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is up to the task of enforcing it,” Business Insider noted Tuesday. “It’s reeling from deep staffing cuts under the Trump administration, and its fines are relatively low and often fought out in long court battles,” experts told the outlet. The Trump cuts left just “1,798 total OSHA inspectors, federal and state, coming out to one inspector per 82,881 workers and just $3.97 budgeted per covered worker,” according to Business Insider. According to a similar report from Reuters, “OSHA now has an estimated 800 safety and compliance inspectors to cover the more than 100,000 private-sector companies affected by the new...

Current vote tallies suggest Larry Elder has overwhelmingly lost the California recall election; he conceded last night. I was briefly optimistic when polls showed the race even, but more recent polling and analysis of the mail-in voting proved to be, if anything, too sanguine about the eventual outcome, which was disastrous for Elder. I've seen little analysis so far of the reasons for this. One factor, I think, goes to Rush Limbaugh's frequent reply when people urged him to run for office: he'd say he knows how to attract a radio audience, but he knows nothing about how to attract votes. The applies all the more to Elder, who has been an also-ran host at lackluster Salem Media along with figures like Hugh Hewitt and Sebastian Gorka. I occasinally tuned into his radio show when I was in the car now and then, but I found nothing to maintain my interest. He was saying many of the right things, but nothing new or compelling. I think this carried over into his campaign, w...

It was noted during Biden's visit to Boise yesterday that at the point where he began, "Can I ask you a question? . . . One of the things that, ah . . . I've been workin' on with some others . . . is . . ." his handlers cut his feed. By now, this isn't new. On one had, there was a story last week about how his handlers cringe and mute the volume on their own screens when the boss goes off script. On the other, everyone who's had to put up with Uncle Ted knows this signals the start of a ponderous and rambling discourse that's meant to display in tedious detail what a genius he is. But once again, I disagree with the people who think this is a sign of mental decline. I knew Uncle Ted. He was like that all his life. The main thing that got him going that way was a few too many Old Fashioneds. This actually reminds me of the story that went around during the 2020 campaign that began with the quote from Obama, "Don't undere...

I haven't seen much discussion about what the actual COVID mandate that Biden announced last Thursday will actually look like. For instance, various groups, unions, and states have announced they'll file suit against the mandate, but they can't even start until OSHA publishes the actual rules -- so far, I've seen nothing about when this will take place. But let's say the rules go in, and they turn out to be fully constitutional, no problem, the Supreme Court refuses to intervene in any of the cases that come out. What could go wrong? We really don't have solid numbers on exactly how many people would be affected by the current mandate. Anywhere from 60 to 80 million in the US are unvaxxed. We don't know how many work for companies that come under the mandate and would need to fire unvaxxed employees. Nor do we know how firm the unvaxxed will be when faced with getting the shots or losing their jobs. But we're starting to get a taste of how thi...

Two data points over the past week bought to mind the image above, which is explained on this site : [Nelson] Rockefeller, then vice-president of the United States, was on a campaign swing through upstate New York on Sept. 16, 1976, with Sen. Bob Dole, who had been selected to be President Gerald Ford’s running mate for the 1976 election. When someone in a group of heckling leftie SUNY Binghamton students gave Rockefeller the finger, Rockefeller gave it right back, much to the delight of Dole in the background. At the time, Rockefeller’s finger flashing was scandalous and the gesture was referred to thereafter as “The Rockefeller Salute”. Rockefeller refused to apologize for his outburst. “I was just responding in kind”, he said, neatly avoiding the point that the apology was not expected to go to the hecklers but to the general public. Bob Dole was asked by a reporter why he didn’t join Rockefeller in “the salute”. He replied, “I have trouble with my right arm”. This was a depart...

After I put up yesterday's post, something kept bothering me. I quoted an official UK source that said, in part: An estimated 94.1% of the adult population in England, 92.0% in Wales, 90.4% in Northern Ireland and 93.6% in Scotland tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies in the week beginning 9 August 2021. The presence of antibodies suggests a person previously had COVID-19 or has been vaccinated. Given at least the conventional wisdom we've heard from the public health establishment, shouldn't this mean that the UK is at, or very close to, "herd immunity"? For instance, according to the Mayo Clinic, on a page specifically discussing COVID, Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune. Often, a percentage of the population must be capable of getting a disease i...

The commentary I've seen on yesterday's speech mandating shots for 80 million people in the US has so far missed a key point. First, the numbers are at best confusing. The UK is one of the countries experiencing a major surge in cases, as shown at right. But according to the Office for National Statistics , An estimated 94.1% of the adult population in England, 92.0% in Wales, 90.4% in Northern Ireland and 93.6% in Scotland tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies in the week beginning 9 August 2021. The presence of antibodies suggests a person previously had COVID-19 or has been vaccinated. Estimated vaccination rates continued to increase in the week beginning 2 August 2021. Across the four UK countries, 90.5% to 92.4% had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 76.8% to 82.5% were fully vaccinated. By contrast, in the US, At least 208,024,209 people or 63% of the population have received at least one dose. Overall, 1...