January 16, 2025

NEWSOM LAUGHS AS CALIFORNIA BURNS: As is so often the case, the Issues & Insights (I&I) team is spot on in this evaluation of the California politico has gone about his business during those historic and catastrophic wildfires in the Los Angeles area:

“We can’t read his thoughts. But from his expressions, it’s as if this is all great news to Newsom because it gives him more time in the spotlight. He can’t seem to help himself but smile as the news media descend on Los Angeles, follow him around with cameras, let him bloviate, and make him the center of attention. The only time Newsom genuinely expressed anger and frustration was when responding to President-elect Trump’s criticism of his failed leadership during this crisis,” I&I observes this morning.

There’s much more, none of which is flattering to the Hair Jell champion.

Posted at 12:28 pm by Mark Tapscott

COLD WAR II: China tests microwave weapon with nuclear bomb-like power to kill satellites.

Chinese researchers have allegedly developed a new high-power microwave (HPM) weapon with power equivalent to electromagnetic energy released by a nuclear explosion. Reportedly also relatively compact, the new weapon could prove game-changing for anti-drone and anti-satellite military operations.

The weapon is still developing and has not left the laboratory, so it is yet to be field-tested. Weapons such as this one can cause significant damage and even destroy electronic components, making them invaluable for modern military operations.

Many nations worldwide are developing their HPMs, with the U.S. reportedly planning to deploy some to the Indo-Pacific region soon. It is reported that the U.S. would plan to use such weapons to target and knock out Chinese satellites should conflict erupt between the two superpowers.

In most cases, though not all, HPMs comprise a satellite-dish-type antenna with multiple degrees of rotation to engage targets at will. The new Chinese HPM, however, uses phased array transmission technology instead.

This, it is reported, enables “precisely focus energy, increasing its effective range and enhancing damage effects, enabling simultaneous attacks on multiple targets,” according to researchers involved in the project.

Maybe this is just vaporware or propaganda, but Chinese engineering has evolved from “cheap crap” to “fast followers” to “world-class innovators” with alarming speed.

Posted at 11:43 am by Stephen Green

OH MY:

Anyone using Nazi slurs is automatically suspect. Using them to deflect from credible grooming/child sexual abuse allegations makes them doubly so.

Posted at 10:41 am by Stephen Green

FAFO, OLD TOFF: How it started: British Labour Party sending staff to campaign for Harris in US swing states.

The left-leaning British Labour Party is sending nearly 100 members to U.S. battleground states to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the presidential election.

Sofia Patel, head of operations for the Labour Party, shared the plans via LinkedIn Wednesday. She claimed current and former party staff will target key swing states like North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

“I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina – we will sort your housing,” Patel offered in the post.

Patel also noted she plans to arrive in the U.S. two weeks prior to the election and stay in Washington, D.C., for a few days afterward.

Patel’s profile shows she previously spent time in the Hillary Clinton campaign from October to November of 2016. She included the description “travelled to the US to campaign for Clinton in the presidential election.”

Reacting to Patel’s post was Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who suggested via X it was “yet another reason to vote for President Trump.”

—Mobile Alabama’s NBC affiliate, WPMI, October 17th 2024.

How it’s going: Tears for Keir: No Matter How Often Starmer Checks the Mail, There’s No Inauguration Invite.

Donald Trump’s second inauguration as US President is set to take place on January 20, but it seems Sir Keir Starmer might have been snubbed.

This time around, Mr Trump is breaking with tradition by inviting foreign presidents and prime ministers to the event, which is not usually the case for US oath-taking ceremonies.

Reports indicate he has raised a record-breaking over $170 million (nearly £140 million) for the inauguration, with tech executives and major donors contributing large sums to support the ceremony.

This figure is also twice the $62 million secured by Joe Biden four years ago for his inauguration, which Trump did not attend. He became the fifth outgoing president not to attend his successor’s inauguration and the first in 152 years. Biden confirmed he would “of course” attend Trump’s presidential inauguration.

While the complete guest list has yet to be announced, several key global leaders have already been asked. Keir Starmer’s name, however, appears absent from the initial guest list.

—As spotted by Beege Welborn at Hot Air, yesterday.

Posted at 10:22 am by Ed Driscoll

ROBERT SPENCER: Hamas Celebrates Ceasefire Deal in Gaza, and With Good Reason. “That was an uncharacteristic display of generosity from Miller and the Biden regime, and don’t think for a nanosecond that regime wonks have suddenly become appreciative of Trump and his team, and willing to acknowledge when they’ve done something good. Miller’s giving credit to the Trump team is an indication that even the Biden regime knows how bad this deal is for Israel and its allies, and for the free world as a whole.”

I’m less convinced. The deal is far from perfect but A) it is only a ceasefire and not a “peace” plan, B) the Israeli government is under tremendous domestic political pressure to bring hostages home, and C) Hamas hotheads will have the Israelis raining hellfire down upon them again soon.

All that said, I’m not sure why Trump wanted his fingerprints on a not-so-good deal that’s soon to be broken.

Posted at 10:10 am by Stephen Green

“TRUMP FACTOR STRIKES AGAIN: President-elect and his envoy impact Mideast before inauguration.” Just The News’ story sums it up nicely:

“[W]hen pressed by the news media over who should get credit for the deal, the 46th American president demurred. “Is that a joke?” Biden retorted Wednesday afternoon. And moments later he walked away without providing an answer. The man succeeding Biden as U.S. president had changed the dynamic and enabled a deal that had been stalled for months.

[…]

Qatar’s Minister of State told Just the News that the deal unveiled Wednesday was made possible because President-elect Donald Trump coordinated with Biden’s outgoing team, made a powerful warning to both sides to reach a deal before he was inaugurated and then dispatched his own envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, to help seal the deal, especially with a wary Israel.”

You know the old saying: “Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan.”

 

Posted at 10:08 am by Charles Glasser

CHANGE? Russia’s Quiet Conquest: Belarus. “The Kremlin seeks to de facto annex Belarus by formalizing the Union State as a Russian-dominated federated government that grants Moscow dominant power over most if not all aspects of Belarusian governance. This includes establishing full operational and administrative control over Belarus’ armed forces during peacetime and permanent Russian military basing in Belarus; a political union with a Kremlin-dominated federated government with a common set of federal laws and institutions for Belarusians and Russians to be governed as a single polity; and a fully integrated economy complete with common markets, free labor flows, unified laws, and a currency union. The Kremlin very likely plans to leverage Belarus’ population of 9.155 million people, Belarus’ geostrategic territory on NATO’s eastern flank, and Belarus’ economic resources in service of Russian state power.”

Posted at 9:39 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dems Make a Case for One-Party Republican Rule, At Least for a While. “Watching the Democrats proudly display their delusion and denial during the confirmation hearings this week has brought me to a place where I can easily advocate for the Republicans being in charge for quite some time. Bear in mind, I always find problems with the way Republicans do things; I’m just saying that the worst Republican in Congress is exponentially better than the best Democrat.”

Posted at 9:08 am by Stephen Green

THESE GUYS SHOULDN’T BE TOO FULL OF THEMSELVES AT THE MOMENT:

Posted at 8:58 am by Glenn Reynolds

CONGRATULATIONS! Blue Origin’s Giant New Glenn Rocket Reaches Orbit on Its First Try. “Blue Origin now stands as the first private space-launch company in the West to reach orbit on its first attempt with a rocket of its own design. SpaceX needed four tries with its Falcon 1 rocket, Rocket Lab needed two for its Electron, and other, smaller, US space startups have seen their would-be debuts end with one anomaly or another. . . . The second job for New Glenn’s first stage—landing on a barge named Jacklyn after Bezos’s mother—did not go as well. Telemetry from the booster froze after it began its reentry burn, with the last figures putting it at 4,285mph and an 84,226-foot altitude.”

Nobody’s perfect. I wish them many happy repeats, and an advance to bigger and better rockets.

Posted at 8:56 am by Glenn Reynolds

BIDEN’S PARTING GIFTS: Biden exempted nearly 7000 foreign nationals from terror-related entry restrictions into the US.

The report doesn’t break down the number by country but the Biden previously increased the refugee cap from 18,000 set in the last year of the Trump administration to 125,000.

According to DHS reports, the number is much higher than the 2,085 in FY 2023. That year was higher than the 603 waivers distributed in FY 2022, 191 in FY 2021, and 361 in FY 2020.

Foreign nationals can be deemed inadmissible from entry into the US and for immigration benefits if they have associated with, supported, or worked with terrorist organizations, but the DHS secretary can exempt certain foreign nationals if they provided support under duress, provided medical care, or meet other standards for exemptions.

You’d either have to be a fool to trust the Biden administration’s vetting process or a bigger fool not to take advantage of it.

Posted at 8:37 am by Stephen Green

OUT ON A LIMB: White House reporters who hid Biden’s infirmity can’t be trusted.

Even after The Wall Street Journal published a four-byline bombshell detailing how President Joe Biden’s staff energetically hid his ongoing cognitive decline from the public, there wasn’t a single question at the White House briefing. No reporters demanded answers about how they were misled, or complained they were pressured into silence.

They mustered that umbrage over the Hunter Biden pardon, but this slow-rolling scandal was apparently too painful to recount. Perhaps they thought that since Joe Biden was talked out of a reelection bid, the matter was settled. This scandal is already over. But Trump scandals never stop emerging.

Radio host Hugh Hewitt proclaimed he had been calling Biden “infirm” for two years but didn’t know the depth of the infirmity that’s now been revealed. Everyone inside the White House must have known, including the reporters. He said they were “either explicitly complicit or recklessly indifferent” to Biden’s decline.

Hewitt upset knee-jerk defenders of the media when he said, “With the exception of Peter Doocy, I would ban everyone from the White House press room who has been there for the past four years because they are obviously of no use to the country. They didn’t tell us the No. 1 thing, which is that [Biden] is not competent. Why in the world would Trump let them in?”

Why indeed? Expect Big Changes in the White House Press Room as Trump Will All But Sideline Legacy Media.

Posted at 8:35 am by Ed Driscoll

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

“It took SpaceX 8 attempts to nail their first landing.”

Bravo to all involved, no matter what novelty shirts they might have been wearing.

Posted at 8:27 am by Stephen Green

EMPTY SUIT AT WORK:

Posted at 8:23 am by Glenn Reynolds