I have estimated that the death count from COVID-19 is about 50% too low.  This is from looking at numbers early in the pandemic.  Thing is, overall death counts are hard to hide. And since the death rate is fairly predictable you can look at the “excess deaths” in 2020 and get the true COVID-19 death count.  Note that this also has the effect of removing the count of very sick people who would have died from something else had COVID-19 not taken them.  From the New York Times.

Taking a break from golf and Twitter to make America great again.  From the BBC.

US calls for shower rules to be eased after Trump hair complaints

The Supreme Court’s enigmatic “shadow docket,” explained

How the Supreme Court hides major conservative victories in plain sight.

From the Vox article:

According to a November 2019 paper by University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck, “during the sixteen years of the George W. Bush and Obama Administrations, the Solicitor General filed a total of eight such applications — averaging one every other Term.”

By contrast, “in less than three years, [Trump’s] Solicitor General has filed at least twenty-one applications for stays in the Supreme Court (including ten during the October 2018 Term alone).”

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has rewarded the Trump Justice Department’s behavior. Vladeck finds that the Trump administration achieved a full or partial victory in about two-thirds of cases where it seeks to temporarily block a lower court opinion. What was once extraordinary is now quite ordinary.

I know Wade Davis mostly from his book The Serpent and the Rainbow.  This article is a  good read but I have to add that the plague in the middle ages did not mean the end for Europe.  I am skeptical of a Chinese Century and think America may get a second shot, if only by default.  But hey, that first shot was by default, too.  From Rolling Stone

The Unraveling of America

Anthropologist Wade Davis on how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era

I grew up in Louisiana and politics there still exists in the shadow of Huey Long.  Other varieties of populism have also sprouted there, including David Duke who was the prototype for Trump, if not the entire modern Republican Party.  From Current Affairs.

Huey Long and the Power of Populism

What we can learn from the successes and failures of “the Kingfish.”

In my front yard.  Mask up!

From the New York Times.  A snapshot of where the US and the world is today with respect to COVID-19 and how we got here.

On hot sunny days like this when we are running the air conditioner pretty much all day my thoughts turn to solar power.  I was wondering what the break even time was for solar, using numbers (below) for Austin, TX electricity and raw panels, retail price.  I realize there are (possibly large) installation costs and other support hardware, but just as a stake in the ground for a number.  I was surprised that at the top tier the payback was less than two years.

Had a look at local Austin electricity rates. Was mostly interested in break even points for solar.  I thought there were only three tiers.  Turns out there are five, with the top two turned off for COVID-19.  So the biggest electricity users in the city get significant rate cuts for the pandemic.  Not sure what that is supposed to accomplish.  Why not a flat credit that would help less affluent customers, who are the ones that probably need it most?