Christians behaving badly

I was looking at the Drum on Friday and Stephen O'Doherty was nonplussed about 'evangelicals' support for Trump.

The Prayer breakfast is a good example of this.
To a christian a payer breakfast is a very solemn occasion.
When you pray you are talking to God. When at a breakfast you are breaking bread with a brother or sister,

At this occasion which as you would expect not to involve politics well Trump did just that.
He did that using profanities, insults and demeaning language to anyone he din't like in politics.

What di the people at the prayer breakfast do you ask. They must have walked out surely. What Trump was doing was sacrilegious if not blasphemy.

No they cheered him just like republican legislators did later in the day.

My memory went to the Jewish leaders in the Temple built by Soloman for God where they worshiped the Sun God.

Around the Traps 7/2/20

It is time again for Around the Traps

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Iain White on housing-crisis-what-crisis-how-politicians-talk-about-housing-and-why-it-matters
• Brendan Coates et al on think-superannuation-comes-from-employers-pockets-it-comes-from-yours
• Frank Bongornio on remembrance-of-rorts-past-why-the-mckenzie-scandal-might-not-count-for-a-hill-of-beans
• Edward Cavanough on australia-decade-burning-environmental-apathy-climate-denial
• Ross Gittins on lack-of-trust-may-have-made-economic-reform-possible , morrisons-dream-climate-fixed-with-no-changes-to-jobs-or-tax
• renew economy on south-australia-to-be-energy-island-for-two-weeks-four-wind-farms-sidelined, aemo-takes-control-of-s-a-big-batteries-to-help-manage-isolated-grid, new-csiro-aemo-study-confirms-wind-solar-and-storage-beat-coal-gas-and-nuclear
• Stephen Kirchner on the-evidence-suggests-reserve-bank-rate-cuts-dont-hurt-confidence
• Anne Twomey on explainer-what-is-the-palace-letters-case-and-what-will-the-high-court-consider
• John Quiggin on the-statistical-significance-of-focus-groups
• Croaking Cassandra on flu-and-coronavirus-thoughts, please-limit-the-number-of-my-competitors
• Yee-Fui Ng on the-sports-rorts-affair-shows-the-need-for-a-proper-federal-icac-with-teeth
• Tim Baxter on scott-morrisons-gas-transition-plan-is-a-dangerous-road-to-nowhere
• Cameron Murray on superannuation-isnt-a-retirement-income-system-we-should-scrap-it
• Moyhu on more-trouble-with-australian-bushfire-statistics
• Daniel Flitton on australia-trouble-top-again
• Adam Morton on hazard-reduction-burning-had-little-to-no-effect-in-slowing-this-summers-bushfires
• Kevin Davis on heres-a-radical-reform-that-could-keep-super-and-pay-every-retiree-the-full-pension
• Anthony Richardson on no-food-no-fuel-no-phones-bushfires-showed-were-only-ever-one-step-from-system-collapse

Northern America

• James Hamilton on steady-growth-continues
• the conversable economist on re-seeding-americas-economic-and-technological-future , how-us-science-and-engineering-depends-on-immigrants , where-us-spending-taxes-deficits-looking-back-50-years, do-americans-think-science-is-moving-too-fast
• Barkley Rosser on will-impeachment-charade-fade-quickly
• Scott Shackleford on us-could-learn-how-to-improve-election-protection-from-other-nations
• Sara Morrison on iowa-caucus-smartphone-app-disaster-explained
• Sam Hendriks on trump-s-state-union
• Richard Holden on vital-signs-the-iowa-caucuses-still-have-a-great-claim-to-retain-first-in-nation-status

Europe

• Timothy Oliver on british-people-now-define-themselves-as-leavers-or-remainers-so-what-happens-after-brexit
• Simon Usherwood on brexit-heres-what-happens-next
• Paul Fritjers on brexit-is-not-tot-ziens-bye-bye
• Mainly Macro on what-causes-concern-about-immigration

Asia

• Yun Jiang and  Adam Ni on why-the-coronavirus-has-become-a-major-test-for-the-leadership-of-xi-jinping-and-the-communist-party
• Ivy Kweek on asean-perceptions-power-and-security
• Rodger Shanahan on middle-east-peace-plan-once-lifetime-deal-not-good-way
• Khang Vu on tokyo-olympics-chance-diplomatic-reset-north-korea
• Sam Roggeveen on us-china-competition-asia-who-risks-wins 

Wonk

• stumbling and mumbling on on-socially-influenced-preferences, in-praise-of-trade-frictions
• Mark Beeson on solastalgia-malady-our-age
• Brad De Long on north-atlantic-political-economy-1870-1914
• Tyler Cowen on coronavirus-would-be-worse-without-the-web
• Eric Lonergan on how-long-is-secular-stability
• Robert B Talisee on civility-in-politics-is-harder-than-you-think
• the grumpy economist on new-paper-fiscal-roots-of-inflation
• Mascromania on kalecki-on-political-aspects-of-full-emplyment

General

• C Raina MacIntyre andAbra Chughtai on coronavirus-how-worried-should-i-be-about-the-shortage-of-face-masks-or-can-i-just-use-a-scarf
• Allen Cheung on how-does-the-wuhan-coronavirus-cause-severe-illness

Climate

• and Then Theres Physics on feebacks-runaway-and-tipping-points
• moyhu on ncepncar-reanalysis-down-0035-in-january , january-global-surface-templs-up-0047-from-december
• John Quiggin on the-worst-case-is-happening
• Idiot tracker on climate-change-2020-still-on-glide-path_6
• skeptical science on  earth is heating at a rate equivalent of 5 atomic bombs per second

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• forget-about-multiple-testing-corrections-actually-forget-about-hypothesis-testing-entirely
• the-fallacy-of-the-excluded-rationality
• is-there-any-scientific-evidence-that-humans-dont-like-uncertainty
• fugitive-and-cloistered-virtues
• fugitive-and-cloistered-virtues
• mrp-carmelo-anthony-update-trash-talkings-fine-but-you-gotta-give-details-or-links-or-something
• the-importance-of-measurement-in-psychology
• when-i-was-asked-who-do-you-think-is-most-likely-to-win-the-democratic-nomination-this-is-how-i-responded
• trumps-rising-approval-numbers-resulting-from-differential-nonresponse
• abuse-of-expectation-notation
• advice-for-a-young-economist-at-heart
• misleading-vote-reporting
• statschat on graphs-dont-matter ?
• Kaiser Fung on how-to-outsmart-the-election-pundits, quick-hits-on-data-issues-in-the-democratic-primaries-cancelled-poll-and-cost-of-complexity , a-big-loser-of-the-iowa-debacle-is-data-science

Genial Dave Giles ( econometrics)

• freakometircs on combine the modalities of a factor variable, what responsibilities for algorithms
• Marc Bellamare on its written in the stars

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• humans-in-the-machine
• Tim Harford on book-of-the-week-5-you-look-like-a-thing-and-i-love-you

Vox Wonk

• imperial-roots-global-trade
• how-retirement-can-affect-mental-health
• stress-tests-can-limit-international-spillovers-accommodative-monetary-policy
• defining-emerging-market-cities-using-lights-night
• effect-taxes-firm-firm-trade
• digital-money-and-central-bank-digital-currency-executive-summary
• capital-flows-risk-taming-ebbs-and-flows
• regional-redistribution-and-populist-voting
• phillips-curve-euro-area
• inflation-changing-economic-environment
• inadequate-data-protection-threat-economic-and-national-security
• roadmap-digital-led-economic-development
• how-information-and-social-norms-affect-criminal-activities
• how-services-boost-goods-exports
• more-or-less-economic-limits-blockchain

the reason for Trump's rise in approval ratings

Stats Guru  Andrew Gelman gives us Josh Marshall's explanation of the above plus a few comments. Well worth the read.

Quiggin unloads on focus groups

When you get him away from his secular social fascism John Quiggin is usually quite good.
This article on the-statistical-significance-of-focus-groups.

I wish to add a small nit. As Kevin Bonham has said numerous times there was a massive polling failure in the last election.

No polling firm has yet to fess up. Despite this their results on qualitative and quantitative. It is as it never occurred.
Until they do and tell us how they have changed their methods they deserve our distrust.

The ABC is kicking goals like never before

The ABC is on fire ( no pun intended).

Last night's viewing was compelling.
It started with a fantastic Four Corners program on the bush fires. We were there in the truck after it had broken down and fire all around them. We were there to hear how a man  had lost both his father and brother. We were there to hear about how the fires went across a river , surely the best hazard reduction of all time. We were there to see flames as high as 80 feet high.

Anyone still clinging to the belief that more hazard reduction was all that was  needed to avoid the bush fires after watching this is simply very very stupid.

Mediawatch then got stuck into the climate denialists at News Limited despite Rupert Murdoch tell us to the contrary.

We then had Hamish McDonald on a new Q&A. I admit to being a big fan of his but he was sensational last night. To the point when needed, allowing people to speak etc.

We previously had David Spears changing Insiders for the better.

Now if we can replace Fran Kelly on Radio National breakfast all will be good.

Ostscript:

I should add Andrew Constance was a star because he acted like a normal person. Jim Molan was an embarrassment because he acted like a (poor) politician on  Q&A.

Are the Nationals barking mad?

Barnaby Joyce is challenging for the leadership of the Nationals?

I simply cannot believe this. ever since he resigned in disgrace his judgement on every issue he talked about has been called into question. This from supposedly the 'best retail politician' in Australia whose 'partner' is all about public relations.

The next thing is has everyone forgotten about the last election. The Nationals should have lost quite a few seats BUT they did not lose any.

Scott Morrrison has perhaps been permanently scarred starting with Angus Taylor ( yet another like Brigid McKenzie a hopeless minister) but reinforced by the Bush fires tragedy.

If Joyce regains the leadership then a new coalition agreement is needed. Joyce has been very hairy chested about this. Joyce as a Mister was woeful, just look at water.
Joyce would walk strongly down the climate denialist road, more water for products that should not be growing in Australia, building more dams when water is needed for the rivers., That is  just for a start.

So we shall see in the Nationals are barking mad.

update:

He lost. The Nationals are sane.

I should also add he biggest supporter was Matt Canavan. He wants a new coal fired power station up in Queensland financed by the government as the private sector shows absolutely no desire to build one.
It would take about 8 years to build. By the time it comes on board with its costs of $80 MWh solar PV will be $30 MWh or lower and wind will be attempting to get there  as well.
Then there is the problem of units breaking down on very hot days. The very days when you need electricity.

Chinese acting badly

I live in Eastwood where there are a lot of chinese.

some, only some have been acting very badly.

Eastwood Woolworths do not seem to care quite a few chinese line up and take numerous lots of bags where 2 cans of A2 baby formula are in . One day the line was very long and it was easy to see the same people actually running to a trolley full of bags of 2 A2 cans and then running back to Woolworths to get some more. I counted 4 full trolleys plus some 7 other contraptions being used to store the baby formula.
They then send all this formula to China and make big bucks.

with the coronavirus we have a new problem.  A friend in the street I live tells me his wife works in a local medical centre and ONLY hand out masks to people  who have a medical condition and thus need it.
A chinese person came in ans was taking all the masks until he was stopped. He was forced to give them all back however it was found out he was attempting to to the same thing all al other similar centres in that building.
The reason is exactly the same.

The major problem here is a few chinese  are giving all local chinese people a very bad reputation.