Thurs Blogcast: Ken Buck; Thinking of Uvalde; the folly of organic farming

Just One Thing

As a human and a parent, it's so brutally difficult, even as someone almost 1000 miles away from Uvalde and with no direct connection to the community, to know what to think or say or do about the unimaginable horror. The worst part of this job (that I love) is the frequency with which I have to talk about mass murder in places that should be some of our happiest places, like schools and movie theaters. Colorado has had more than our share of such mayhem. That surely does not make it easier. Let's all get through the short-term of this together the best we can. At some point soon we can talk about the right public policy response. I remain skeptical that there is one that will make a significant difference (and is also constitutional) but I'm open to any honest conversation. (See more in links below.)

Today's Guests

Congressman Ken Buck joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation about topics from potential legislative responses to the mass-murder in Uvalde, to his take on the upcoming Colorado Republican primary elections, to a bill that Ken is cosponsoring (with, among others, one of the most leftist members of the House) to limit the ability of the largest tech/social media companies in their dominance of online advertising.

Congressman Ken Buck | Representing the 4th District of Colorado (house.gov)

Reps. Buck, Owens, Jayapal, Cicilline, Gaetz Introduce Bill to Crush Big Tech’s Grasp on the Digital Ad Industry | Congressman Ken Buck (house.gov)

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Dr. Peter Loper, MD is triple board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry, and child psychiatry. We'll discuss how to talk with children about horror such as what happened in Uvalde, TX. Here's an article on the same subject, though not written by Dr Loper: Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers (nasponline.org)

Other Stuff

Simply brutal: Survivor recounts moment Salvador Ramos stormed Texas school (nypost.com)

The latest news raises a LOT more questions than answers, not least of which is why was the killer in the school for such a long time before law enforcement entered?

Texas school shooting: Haunting questions emerge about how a gunman got into an elementary school and stayed up to an hour, killing 19 children and 2 teachers - CNN

https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-44a7cfb990feaa6ffe482483df6e4683

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Some links about gun violence and what, if anything, can be done

https://reason.com/2022/05/25/after-the-uvalde-school-shooting-politicians-and-pundits-search-for-panaceas

We must confront the cultural mess that gave us Uvalde (washingtonexaminer.com)

Gun deaths now exceed motor vehicle deaths among people 0-19 years old.

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-vitals-ef7f68de-5ce9-49a5-b216-41a96170fe1a.html?chunk=0&utm_term=emshare#story0

BUT... racial breakdown of firearms deaths shows a huge disparity between blacks and every other group. For example, motor vehicle deaths still outnumber gun deaths for white kids, but not for black kids.

Microsoft Word - appendix.docx (nejm.org)

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The FDA is exactly why we should not increase the size and scope of government. They will ALWAYS do a worse and worse job as we give them more and more responsibility.

(17) Meredith Lee on Twitter: "FDA says sr officials didn’t receive a whistleblower report last Oct about the Abbott plant at the center of the current baby formula shortages due to “mailroom issues” others got it in Oct, but Janet Woodcock,then acting chief, didn’t until Feb 14, 3 days before recall, per FDA" / Twitter

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-baby-formula-fall-guy-fda-commissioner-robert-califf-congress-hearing-11653515261? (subscription may be required)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/baby-formula-makers-and-fda-to-discuss-shortage-with-lawmakers-11653471001 (subscription may be required)

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Interesting follow-up on the Russian spies famously arrested in the US in 2010:

The Russian Spies Who Had Us All Fooled - The Foreign Desk | by Lisa Daftari (foreigndesknews.com)

This woman was the most (in)famous. She's still good-looking and she's still the enemy: Ex-spy Anna Chapman thanks Russians for 'patriotism' amid war (nypost.com)

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The latest story of destruction wrought by wokeness:

The story of Jonathan Katz…as told mostly by his wife

A Declaration of Independence by a Princeton Professor (quillette.com)

What Princeton Did to My Husband - by Solveig Lucia Gold (substack.com)