News and politics
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An officious little clerk
The Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, has placed the City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl (serving Dane County), on administrative leave for her failure to count 192 absentee ballots in the 2024 general election. Make no mistake, these uncounted ballots would not have changed the outcome for this congressional district, one which is overwhelmingly in the Big Blue Bag. BUT, Read more
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Is it just me? Or…
…are you, too, getting tired of being jerked around by folks from a really bad neighborhood? Read more
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Not-Quite-in-Time Logistics
Writing in the Atlantic, Helen Lewis explains shortages and panic buying as a failure of efficiency; the weakness of just-in-time logistics. Sorry Helen, but you’re a logistics n00b; even this old retired Lieutenant Colonel knows about arcane loggie stuff like stock levels and re-order points (zero is NOT a good re-order point). When the military Read more
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Make Every Vote Count
Every semester, I begin my introductory biostatistics class with a simple “show of hands” experiment based on the Bouba-Kiki effect. Prior to the experiment I “volunteer” two students at random to count hands, and when hands are raised, each of my volunteers counts silently and independently. Invariably, the counts DO NOT MATCH. We briefly discuss Read more
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Confucius say “Uh oh”
The Confucius Institutes in the US are in the government’s crosshairs: President Trump is about to sign the new National Defense Authorization Act, which will prohibit funding to Chinese-run Confucius Institutes on American campuses. Texas Senator Ted Cruz added the key amendment to “The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019,” which also restricts Read more
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Diversity has committed the First Sin of Fashion
It’s become outmoded, pointless and boring. Read more
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How to stump a local politician
Just ask what his/her plan is to address unfunded pension liabilities. Turns out San Antonio pols, who pat themselves on the back for the city’s AAA bond rating, have been playing hide the ball for years (check out page 78). Read more
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Whether to ask the question invites an answer
The Justice Department and the Census Bureau are engaged in a kerfuffle over the 2020 Census. It’s all about a question of citizenship: “What country are you a citizen of?” With the inevitable congressional reapportionment that occurs based on the Census, this is a question that many states really don’t want to know the answer Read more
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ICAN gets Nobel Peace Prize. BFD.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, another international gang of virtue signallers, has just received the Nobel Peace Prize. So far, they have motivated fewer than 50 pipsqueak countries to sign a UN treaty banning nuclear weapons (122 have “adopted” it, but signing off? Don’t hold your breath) . BUT, they do have Yoko Read more
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Revealed, a True Romantic for the New Century
This man said this: “I will fight for you with every breath in my body – and I will never, ever let you down.” If that’s not romantic, I don’t know what is. Update: Shane Bouvet is an under-employed FedEx courier and Trump campaigner who scored a ticket to the inauguration, but had to scrounge Read more
The Random Texan 