December 9, 2024

HOW IT STARTED: Donald Trump Won. But the Biggest Loser Was the Mainstream Media.

—Newsweek, November 7th.

How it’s going:

Still though, why take chances? Gentlemen, start your SUVs!

Flashback: Quick Reminder: Nobody at ABC Personally Takes Their Global Warming Doomsday Predictions Seriously, Either.

New York City underwater? Gas over $9 a gallon? A carton of milk costs almost $13? Welcome to June 12, 2015. Or at least that was the wildly-inaccurate version of 2015 predicted by ABC News exactly seven years ago. Appearing on Good Morning America in 2008, Bob Woodruff hyped Earth 2100, a special that pushed apocalyptic predictions of the then-futuristic 2015.

The segment included supposedly prophetic videos, such as a teenager declaring, “It’s June 8th, 2015. One carton of milk is $12.99.” (On the actual June 8, 2015, a gallon of milk cost, on average, $3.39.) Another clip featured this prediction for the current year: “Gas reached over $9 a gallon.” (In reality, gas costs an average of $2.75.)

On June 12, 2008, correspondent Bob Woodruff revealed that the program “puts participants in the future and asks them to report back about what it is like to live in this future world. The first stop is the year 2015.”

As one expert warns that in 2015 the sea level will rise quickly, a visual shows New York City being engulfed by water. The video montage includes another unidentified person predicting that “flames cover hundreds of miles.”

Then-GMA co-anchor Chris Cuomo appeared frightened by this future world. He wondered, “I think we’re familiar with some of these issues, but, boy, 2015? That’s seven years from now. Could it really be that bad?”

As I wrote back in 2015, “Obviously, no one at ABC thought so, since the network never moved their corporate headquarters from its tony Upper West Side address, despite attempting to scare the crap out of gullible low information viewers that Manhattan would be flooded in seven years.”

Posted at 10:52 am by Ed Driscoll

I HOPE DADDY CAN AFFORD GOOD LAWYERS: Because these Sarah Lawrence students have just admitted to the serious felony of material support for terrorism. And given the Supreme Court’s holding in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the First Amendment is unlikely to protect them.

Posted at 10:51 am by David Bernstein

AL-ASSAD FAMILY’S WORST GENOICIDE: Richard Pollock details how the father of the now deposed Syrian dictator, Baashar Al-Assad encircled, starved, then executed residents of Hama, Syria, en masse in 1982.

“To this day, the name Hama stirs trepidation and rage among the country’s citizens. And it should be listed among one of the al-Assad family’s worst crimes while the deposed leader now apparently enjoys refuge in Russia.

“Certainly, the al-Assad dictatorial family is notorious for carrying out many atrocities. In 2011, it’s estimated Bashar killed 500,000 and displaced half of the country’s 23 million. He also is believed to have killed as many as 1,400 by nerve gas in 2013.”

Tragically, there is more, much more, to this record.

 

Posted at 10:50 am by Mark Tapscott

PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE: President Trump to propose a plan to implement paper ballots, one day voting, voter ID, and proof of citizenship for all elections during his next administration.

I’d add one more item to Trump’s impressive list: ballots not counted by midnight won’t be accepted for congressional, Senate, or presidential elections. If California wants to spend five weeks stealing the election for some Democrat assemblyman or whatever, that’s their business. But the days of them stealing congressional seats in broad daylight have got to end.

Posted at 10:46 am by Stephen Green

IF YOU TAKE A FALL IN THE FUTURE: And your treatment includes spending some time with a Neuropsychologist, don’t be surprised if your views on race issues become a topic of analysis. Seems the American Psychology Association (APA) is seriously considering revising standards based on Critical Race Theory (CRT)/Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) agit-prop.

“The guidelines are the latest example of how DEI has captured the credentialing apparatus of American health care, transforming what once seemed like an ideological fad into a formal requirement of medical licensure,” Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon reports.

Posted at 10:39 am by Mark Tapscott

DEEP STATE MEDIA TOOL’S GOTTA BE A DEEP STATE MEDIA TOOL:

If the big brains at NBC News actually had brains of any size, they’d get into the business of reporting real news, real quick, to improve their credibility and value ahead of a Comcast spinoff of its network properties.

There doesn’t seem to be much danger of that, however.

Posted at 10:38 am by Stephen Green

MIDDLE EAST: The Lesson From Bashar Al-Assad’s Collapse.

The question now is what other countries could be vulnerable to the same dynamics that led to Assad’s fall, especially as Assad’s ouster reminds ordinary people that no dictator needs to be permanent.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is one such country. Iran maintains two militaries. A conscript army that many Iranians resent and seek to avoid, it is common for Iranian farmers to delay registering their sons’ births to keep them as labor for several extra years. Protests and uprisings in Iran have become more frequent. Should Iranian Arabs rise, for example, not only might ordinary recruits resist fighting their fellow countrymen, but the impact on the Iranian oil trade that is centered in the region could mean the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—Iran’s more elite, volunteer military—would not have access to the extra cash that incentivizes loyalty. Throw “Maximum Pressure” into the mix, and President-elect Donald Trump could be the American president who witnesses the Islamic Republic’s fall.

Egypt is another. Moral among conscripts in the Egyptian military is almost as poor as the country itself. The Egyptian Army is better known as a business than a fighting force among Egyptians. This is a double-edged sword, as the military’s monopolization and distortion of the economy worsens living standards and breeds resentment. While the Muslim Brotherhood has its own arrogance and undemocratic proclivities to blame for its rapid fall from power, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi misjudges reality if he believes that the Egyptian people’s support for him is genuine rather than a calculation that he was the lesser of two evils. If the Egyptian opposition reforms and the Egyptian military continues its corruption, Egypt will face another wave of instability.

Much more at the link.

I’m curious to see if Erdogan tries to consolidate his gains in northern Syria at Russia’s expense or if there’s a profitable deal to be made with Putin to keep Russia’s air and naval bases.

Posted at 9:36 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: We All Might Run Out of Popcorn on Inauguration Day. “This is pure speculation, but I think a lot of world leaders might be thrilled for Trump to get back to work and begin undoing some of the damage brought about by Joe Biden’s World War III fantasy approach to diplomacy.”

Posted at 9:05 am by Stephen Green

WATCHING HER FACIAL EXPRESSIONS WITH THE SOUND OFF IS REVEALING.

Posted at 8:56 am by Glenn Reynolds

THEN: OBAMACARE HAS FIXED HEALTHCARE! NOW: HEALTHCARE IS SO BAD IT JUSTIFIES ASSASSINATIONS!

Posted at 8:46 am by Glenn Reynolds

GREEN NUDE EEL (EUROPEAN EDITION): No bids for Danish offshore wind farms in North Sea tender.

The Danish Energy Agency announced that no bids were submitted for the first three offshore wind farms tendered in the North Sea, with a combined capacity of 3 GW. The bidding deadline for the projects, part of Denmark’s ambitious 6 GW offshore wind expansion plan, expired on December 5, 2024.

Despite initial interest from several companies during the preliminary market dialogue, the absence of bids has prompted Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, Lars Aagaard, to call for further investigation. The Danish Energy Agency has been tasked with engaging the market to uncover the reasons behind the lack of submissions.

The tender, which offers 6 GW of offshore wind capacity with overplanting potential up to 10 GW, features innovative terms, including no subsidies, an annual concession payment, and 20% state co-ownership in each project. Sustainability and social responsibility requirements were also integrated into the tender criteria.

Co-ownership with the state, a heavy regulatory hand, and yet no takers? Maybe the Danes needed to include even stronger sustainability and social responsibility requirements.

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green