Maxine Waters (D-CA) is a crook and certifiable idiot, and the best thing that has happened to Republicans in a long time – she’s a gift that keeps giving.  Her latest call for alt-Left hoodlums to physically confront, in public or at their residences, people who either work in the administration or are on record supporting Trump is indeed beyond the pale.  But the majority of American independents know that, and therefore GOP congress critters currently calling for her censure should just go through the obligatory motions to get their outrage on record, and keep the spotlight on her.

ESG funds and bonds are the latest investment craze.  “Once a fringe concept, environmental-, social-, and governance-based investing has hit the mainstream.”  ‘G’ is the important component here because the profitability of all of these investments will depend heavily on the success of lobbying Congress and government bureaucracies to provide market mangling subsidies along with competition suppressing fees and regulations.  We recall that the good thing we celebrate about capitalism is that it will game the system, and the bad thing we hate about capitalism is that it will game the system. (more here)

Hanlon’s Razor – never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.  And its earlier version by Napoleon – never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.  Good label to keep handy in these discussions.  And it cohabits comfortably with the Rebane Doctrine aphorism – government should be held guilty until proven innocent as the cause of all social problems.  And these pages have also enquired mightily into whether the leftist elites are either evil or just stupid.  In that, perhaps Hanlon’s Razor is the most generous when assessing progressive public policies.

‘Why Women Don’t Code’ is an excellent piece by Univ of Washington professor Stuart Reges.  He presents some excellent history on this issue, and even more interesting research that bears on the relative proportions of men and women in STEM careers – especially computer science. (H/T to reader and correspondent)

[27jun18 update] Milan Vodicka PhD is one of Nevada County’s stalwart leftwing ideologues and a local leading intellectual light.  In today’s (26jun18) Union he again shares his caliber of thinking, extensive knowledge of history, penetrating insights of current events, and unbiased ideological perspectives in ‘Fascist USA? Concentration camps? For kids?’ (sic).  The man continues to present himself as an auto-attributed straight arrow, ever maintaining himself “above the fray” while assuring us that the “arbiter of my take on everything is the truth and truth only, validated by proof”, which proof we presume will be provided in one of his subsequent columns.  Fortunately, we have met Dr Vodicka before in these pages, and readers can review some of his vitae here.

SummerFest 2018, the annual musical gala presented by Music in the Mountains, continues tomorrow night at our fairgrounds.  This year’s series includes four outdoor concerts on the fairground’s Great Lawn.  More here on the entire series.  Bring your lawn chairs and munchies (adult libations purveyed within easy stumbling distance), and enjoy an evening with friends under the big pines.  Did I mention that kids get in free?

[28jun18 update]  Physicians vs gun-owners.  These remarkable stats pass our desks from time-to-time – they’re worth keeping in mind as the gulf between us grows, so pay attention.  Annual deaths from physician mistakes is around a constant 120,000 (accidental deaths from the overall medical industry is over double that) as reported by the Dept of Health and Human Services.  There are 700,000 physicians in the US, therefore the accidental death rate at the hands of a physician is 0.171 deaths/physician/year.  More than 80,000,000 Americans own guns, and the total number of annual accidental gun deaths is around 1,500.  This calculates to 0.0000188 accidental deaths/gun-owner/year.  Ergo, on average you are about 9,000 (= 0.171/0.0000188) times as likely to die accidentally at the hands of physician than you are at the hands of a gun-owner.