Chet Collins

The Coronavirus Credibility Gap - WSJ

If political leaders and health experts want to restore their credibility and the public’s confidence, they need to begin by acknowledging that politics rather than science has influenced important public-health decisions and by making accommodations for dissenting perspectives.

An incredibly important op-ed.

FedEx Delivers Through the Crisis - WSJ

as they spent the spring searching far and wide online for everything from toilet paper to Nintendo Switches, many people may have become habituated to ordering items from e-commerce sites other than Amazon’s.

Winning!

Hong Kong Police Make First Security-Law Arrest as Thousands Protest - WSJ

Police made their first arrest under China’s new national-security law for Hong Kong, apprehending a man for waving an independence flag

Good thing they stopped him! This dude almost brought down the government of Hong Kong and ended the Chinese Communist Party with 15 square feet of cheap textiles and a slight breeze.

James Harden Still Getting Fouled Despite 6-Foot Social Distancing Rule - The Babylon Bee

They tested just having him play on the court by himself, but he still got fouled over 17 times in the first 14 seconds of play.

Poor James!

Apple’s Virtual Event Gives Hope for Online-Only Conferences in Covid-19 Era - WSJ

some participants were turned off by the slick production

Me.

We need an OS level ban on vertical videos. Bug, not a feature!

Apple Canceling Some Apple Arcade Game Contracts to Focus on Hit Games That Will Draw Subscribers - MacRumors

Apple is now looking for games that will “keep users hooked.”

Noble corporation.

Treat yo self! ☕️

PPP Loan Window Is Closing, With $134 Billion Still on Offer - WSJ

later the application window for Paycheck Protection Program loans closes Tuesday with about $134 billion in funds available as of Monday evening.

Wow, what a great deal for the taxpayers!

In exchange for $310B in PPP funds, we ponied up an additional $174B in non-PPP spending. That means for every dollar we actually spent on the PPP extension, we spent another dollar on something else.

Thanks, Congress!! Y’all are really good at this math and money stuff!

One Man’s Supreme Court - WSJ

In other words, the case he relies on as a precedent that he says can’t be broken was wrongly decided.

The abandonment of logic in dealing with something as serious as law is disconcerting.

In this case, the abortion providers aren’t hurt because there is no constitutional right to perform an abortion and Louisiana requires admitting privileges for many other medical procedures (Lasik eye surgery, etc.) in case something goes wrong.

Admitting privileges are fundamentally a patient protection mechanism. The initial vetting, renewal, and ongoing enforcement of medical standards by peers ensures that physicans have the qualificaitons that they claim to have and that minimum levels of professional standards are upheld. The fact, enshirined in law, that elective abortion providers should somehow be exempted from this basic level of patient protection represents a threat to patient safety.

We said Roe v. Wade was safe during the confirmation fight over Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and many on the left and right sneered. Sorry, folks, were you watching the Chief? These columns going back decades have supported abortion rights, within boundaries, but it is a political question to be decided democratically. Roe has poisoned so much of American political life, and politicized the judiciary in the process, by removing abortion from legislative debate.

There is no recourse to these rulings except a future ruling by the same Court. This is not a healthy reality within a democracy and further illustrates the importance of an independent judiciary should rule narrowly on issues that come before the court.

Russo continues a dismaying string of rulings by the Chief Justice—less due to their result than their reasoning. He seems to think he has to protect the Court from Democratic threats to undermine its legitimacy. But in the process he is resorting to logic that looks designed to achieve political results.

The distorted logic is evident even to those unschooled in matters of law. That’s the real problem.

Children’s current mood: 🦀🦀🦀

Apple Launches ‘Path to Apple Card’ Program to Help Declined Applicants Get Approved - MacRumors

Apple has also launched a website that has specific details on how the Goldman Sachs approval process works and how people can boost their chances of approval before applying.

Golly, thanks mister! Please give me the secret password so that I can get into your super special club in which you generously loan me money at 14%! I just need to be approved!

‘We Can’t Just Overturn Precedent,’ Says Supreme Court Justice Of Nation Where Slavery Was Once Legal - The Babylon Bee

Roberts suggested, though, that the country could come up with a method to overturn unjust precedents if we all put our heads together and think really hard.

Supreme Court Rules States Cannot Place Undue Burden On Abortion Providers’ Right To Make Tons Of Money Off Killing Babies - The Babylon Bee

Roberts told disappointed conservatives he was obligated to follow legal precedent since the Court never makes bad decisions like denying citizenship to African-Americans or upholding forced sterilization of the intellectually disabled.

The great irony of the Roberts Court is that the harder it tries to preserve its credibility, the more damage it does to it.

Doctors Recommend Locking Down And Reopening Repeatedly Until Everyone Has Nervous Breakdown - The Babylon Bee

Doctors defended the “lockdown-reopen infinite loop” strategy, citing the fact that not everyone listens to absolutely every word they say without question. “We are tired of being questioned,” said Dr. Whiltern of Newbury Medical Authority.

It is always a mistake for insurance companies to pick a fight with me.

I read my policy documents and I have never lost.

Families Go Deep in Debt to Stay in the Middle Class - WSJ

In one sense, the growing consumer debt is a vote of confidence in the future. People borrowing money today expect to have the income tomorrow to pay it back. Consumer debt tends to rise when borrowers feel secure in their jobs.

This article was published August 1.

But the debt pile is also an accumulated ledger of economic risk. It should be manageable so long as unemployment remains low. If job losses begin to rise, it would become unsustainable for some share of borrowers, raising chances of an increase in missed payments and lenders writing off unpaid balances.

Oops.