Reader Feedback August 17, 2021August 16, 2021 THE WITHDRAWAL John M.: “As a father of two wonderful intelligent self sufficient daughters, my heart bleeds for the millions of young women who will now face a life of brutal subjugation. For all of our failures we can say, to paraphrase Walter Cronkite once again: ‘We were a good and decent people who tried to confront tyranny and in the end we came up short.’” → It is to cry. RANKED CHOICE VOTING Mike H: “I hope your conclusion is valid, but it is not apparent to me how ranked-choice voting disincentivizes negative campaigning.” → Think of it this way. Say you were running for office in a ranked-choice election. Knowing that each of your rivals has some strong fans, and hoping to be those fans’ second choice, would you be more or less likely to smear them? THE PANDEMIC Jim Burt: “Not only is every ICU bed between Memphis and Biloxi – all of Mississippi – filled, but the University of Mississippi medical school parking garage has been taken over by a tent containing an emergency field hospital. Yet the entire population of the state could be vaccinated in one day, with a follow-up in 2-3 weeks. In other words, the pandemic in Mississippi could be over in a month. Other states could be dealt with similarly, leaving only Florida and Texas — each led by a governor who, to please the MAGA base, has aligned himself with the coronavirus against the people. It’s that simple. Why the hell not?” → Next you’ll be requiring children to be vaccinated before they can attend school! Measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chickenpox . . . are you crazy? Oh, wait. We already do that. RECAF Jim S.: “Back down to half its recent high, does your source have any thoughts?” → Yes: “Long stretches between news always seems to be filled with FUD. There was an expectation among many that the last news release would be more significant. I think there were a lot of shareholders who expected a quick fortune and are taking their chips off the table. What still matters, the only thing, is the oil in the ground. I’m still bullish.” → I had to look up FUD (“fear, uncertainty, and doubt”) but that sounds about right. My hope — especially now that we’ve taken our initial investment off the table and are playing with house money — is that the global shift to clean energy will advance so rapidly that RECAF finds no demand for its oil and the shares go to zero. Failing that, my hope is to make a bundle to give to progressive pro-climate causes and candidates. UNWOKE Chris B.: “In my opinion, Ramaswamy is just another obnoxious pseudopopulist Republican who had every advantage growing up, works the system incredibly well, and knows nothing about or ignores the history of American racism and the very deliberate assault on Black public education.” → Chris here is commenting on yesterday’s post plugging the Vivek Ramaswamy book I had not read. I have rarely found Chris to be wrong about anything — and frequently found the billionaire who recommended the book to be wrong (though brilliant) — so . . . hmmm. It still sounds like an interesting read, if only to see what we’re up against. Either way, I’m with Bill Maher. Did you watch that clip?