Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

TEMPTATION AT THE END OF DINNER

From the Wall Street Journal:

 

 

SO IS COCONUT OIL GOOD FOR YOU OR BAD FOR YOU?

KC Craichy of Living Fuel has responded to a recent pronouncement that coconut oil is not good for you.  His piece is titled "Why the American Heart Association is Wrong on Coconut Oil."  

 The American Heart Association recently issued an advisory that warns against the consumption of coconut oil and other saturated fats, claiming they raise LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels and increase the chance of heart disease. But there is conflicting information regarding the subject of saturated fats and heart disease, including many studies that show no correlation. Additionally, coconut oil has a long list of health benefits related to thyroid function, heart health, brain function, immunity and weight loss that were not mentioned in the report.

The AHA advisory was authored by Frank Sacks, M.D. He said the tipping point that led to the advisory was a well-publicized 2014 study that concluded the amount of dietary and saturated fat had no bearing on the risk of heart disease. The AHA decided it needed to counter that report and reviewed studies dating to the 1950s related to saturated fat and heart disease to issue the advisory.

CHRIS WALLACE INTERVIEWS TRUMP LAWYER JAY SEKULOW

Has Chris Wallace ever gotten more vigorous and effective push back than he received from Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice?  Watch:

 

THE FEDERALIST - JAMES COMEY HAS A LONG HISTORY OF QUESTIONABLE OBSTRUCTION CASES

This article by Mollie Hemingway, for whom I have great respect as an analyst and writer, digs into the history of James Comey's judgments
and comes to some reputation-shattering conclusions (at least to my mind).  Her work is never mean-spirited and always factually insistent -- a quality much lacking in journalism today.   See for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

THE CONTINUING TRUMP SAGA

   -  Byron York has proven himself a steady and clear-headed observer.  His latest post -- "Five notes on Trump's current predicament" -- clears away a lot of fog:   1.  It's not about collusion anymore  [It's about alleged obstruction of justice]  2.Trump failed to take the threat against him seriously [His enemies don't want to defeat him, they are determined to remove him from office]  3. The future is in Robert Mueller's hands  4.  More evidence?  Democrats don't need more evidence to impeach [What they need is 218 votes in the House of Representatives]  5.  2018 is everything.  [If Democrats have 218 votes, the president's life becomes much, much more difficult and fraught with danger.] 

           Update:  York asks 5 lawyers - "Should a prosecutor pursue a case in which the star witness is a close friend? And when the friend is not only a witness but also arguably a victim — of firing — by the target of the investigation? And when the prosecutor might also be called on to investigate some of his friend's actions? The case would be difficult enough even without the complicating friendship." -    It is unusual and problematic.

   - Andrew C. McCarthy wrote a piece on "Why Trump Fired Comey," that sounds plausible to me. McCarthy built a case for the following conclusion:  "I now believe President Donald Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey because he believes Comey intentionally misled the public into believing Trump was under investigation by the FBI." 

FLORIDA COUNTY SHERIFF URGES CITIZENS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY

From the Hot Air website:

In Brevard County, Florida, Sheriff Wayne Ivey has made a name for himself as being “one of the most politically incorrect” people in law enforcement. And by his own admission, he’s fine with that. But he’s drawn national attention for a new video which his department released this month, encouraging people to arm themselves and learn how to fight to protect their own lives and families in the event of a spontaneous terror attack such as we’ve been seeing around the globe. It’s about six minutes long and is quite well produced, so give it a look.

Me: The video has produced a lot of backlash, but to my mind he is just advocating common sense.  The video has served the good purpose to remind me of things I needed to be reminded of.

 

Colleges fail in teaching how to think

Douglas Belkin at the Wall Street Journal reports:

Freshmen and seniors at about 200 colleges across the U.S. take a little-known test every year to measure how much better they get at learning to think. The results are discouraging.

At more than half of schools, at least a third of seniors were unable to make a cohesive argument, assess the quality of evidence in a document or interpret data in a table, The Wall Street Journal found after reviewing the latest results from dozens of public colleges and universities that gave the exam between 2013 and 2016. (See full results.)