KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: JD Vance Continues to Take a Scalpel to Biased Media Hacks. “JD Vance is icy cool when the frothing minions of the Democratic National Committee who masquerade as journalists are attempting to corner him. He never gets rattled or distracted. The MSM hacks keep coming at him because they’ve got their marching orders. Vance just gets sharper with each encounter.”
October 14, 2024
HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY: Many in the West will demonstrate their fierce originality and intellectual independence today by condemning Christopher Columbus using the same shopworn cliches they used last year. For those of a different bent, I recommend Samuel Eliot Morison’s Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus which takes a somewhat different position. Here’s an excerpt:
At the end of 1492 most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contracted. For over a century there had been no important advance in natural science and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through studying the pagan past. . . .
Yet, even as the chroniclers of Nuremberg were correcting their proofs from Koberger’s press, a Spanish caravel named Nina scudded before a winter gale into Lisbon with news of a discovery that was to give old Europe another chance. In a few years we find the mental picture completely changed. Strong monarchs are stamping out privy conspiracy and rebellion; the Church, purged and chastened by the Protestant Reformation, puts her house in order; new ideas flare up throughout Italy, France, Germany and the northern nations; faith in God revives and the human spirit is renewed. The change is complete and startling: “A new envisagement of the world has begun, and men are no longer sighing after the imaginary golden age that lay in the distant past, but speculating as to the golden age that might possibly lie in the oncoming future.”
Christopher Columbus belonged to an age that was past, yet he became the sign and symbol of this new age of hope, glory and accomplishment. His medieval faith impelled him to a modern solution: Expansion.
Morison’s book is superb, and I recommend it highly as an antidote to the simplistic anti-occidental prejudice of today — which, as Jim Bennett has noted, has roots that might surprise its proponents:
This is primarily an effect of the Calvinist Puritan roots of American progressivism. Just as Calvinists believed in the centrality of the depravity of man, with the exception of a minuscule contingent of the Elect of God, their secularized descendants believe in the depravity and cursedness of Western civilization, with their own enlightened selves in the role of the Elect.
Indeed. Nonetheless, Bennett thinks that a different Italian deserves the real credit. (Reposted from 2005, but it still fits.) [Doesn’t this leave you vulnerable to charges of recycling too? –ed. I prefer to think of it as “They came at us in the same old way, and, you know, we beat them in the same old way.”]
I post this every year, as it’s evergreen. The original link to Bennett’s column seems to have succumbed to link-rot, but I believe this is it.
Meanwhile, SpaceX and the other new space companies are doing their best to step into the role of Columbus in regenerating our culture. I hope it works. We need it.
Related:
Columbus did not interrupt a prelapsarian paradise.
HARSH, BUT FAIR:
“Hey SpaceX, whatcha up to?”
“Oh just catching giant rockets out of the air with a FREAKING TOWER”
“Oh cool, how bout you, NASA?”
“We’re….studying how racist the air is….” https://t.co/UeJV8njSp4
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) October 13, 2024
I’d add that SpaceX built the incredible Mechazilla “chopstick” tower in a few months for what was probably in the ballpark of a couple hundred million dollars — and it performed flawlessly on the first-ever catch of a rocket. That the rocket happened to be the biggest and most powerful to ever fly is almost beside the point.
Meanwhile, Bechtel is years late building an ordinary launch tower for NASA’s doomed SLS rocket and is charging taxpayers $2.7 billion for the privilege.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Mystery Drones Swarmed a U.S. Military Base for 17 Days. The Pentagon Is Stumped. U.S. officials don’t know who is behind the drones that have flown unhindered over sensitive national-security sites—or how to stop them.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly wasn’t sure what to make of reports that a suspicious fleet of unidentified aircraft had been flying over Langley Air Force Base on Virginia’s shoreline.
Kelly, a decorated senior commander at the base, got on a squadron rooftop to see for himself. He joined a handful of other officers responsible for a clutch of the nation’s most advanced jet fighters, including F-22 Raptors.
For several nights, military personnel had reported a mysterious breach of restricted airspace over a stretch of land that has one of the largest concentrations of national-security facilities in the U.S. The show usually starts 45 minutes to an hour after sunset, another senior leader told Kelly.
The first drone arrived shortly. Kelly, a career fighter pilot, estimated it was roughly 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 miles an hour, at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Other drones followed, one by one, sounding in the distance like a parade of lawn mowers.
The drones headed south, across Chesapeake Bay, toward Norfolk, Va., and over an area that includes the home base for the Navy’s SEAL Team Six and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval port.
Officials didn’t know if the drone fleet, which numbered as many as a dozen or more over the following nights, belonged to clever hobbyists or hostile forces. Some suspected that Russia or China deployed them to test the response of American forces.
Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones near military bases in the U.S. unless they pose an imminent threat. Aerial snooping doesn’t qualify, though some lawmakers hope to give the military greater leeway.
The Ukrainians may have thoughts on how to stop unwelcome drones.
Meanwhile, via email, some thoughts from Josh Trevino:
Now, this is not new news to those paying attention. The War Zone has been covering drone-swarm harassment / overflight of U.S. military assets and bases in the United States for years now, to the extent that they have a whole story category on it.
What is happening is that the story is moving into mainstream press as the problem worsens. A few notes on this:
First: the WSJ story amply illuminates the profoundly stupid bureaucratic bumbling in the USG response to this, which is characteristic of states that do not wish to survive. Consider this passage:
“Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall convened the White House brainstorming sessions. One official suggested using electronic signals to jam the drones’ navigation systems. Others cautioned that it might disrupt local 911 emergency systems and Wi-Fi networks. One suggestion was to use directed energy, an emerging technology, to disable or destroy the drones. An FAA official said such a weapon carried too high a risk for commercial aircraft during the December holiday travel season. Others suggested that the U.S. Coast Guard shoot nets into the air to capture the drones. An official pointed out that the Coast Guard might not have the authority to use such a weapon in this instance.”
Second: when the big war kicks off, these swarms will be delivering munitions directly onto the targets they now only surveil, and in fact the practice for that mission is likely why they conduct operations now. This is a solid and cost-effective alternative to developing a strategic-bomber force.
Third: the likely bases for these operations are not exactly hard to discern. You have offshore platforms. You have unused or unmonitored land within the United States. And you have Mexico.
Fourth: it is probably mostly the PRC, which further illuminates the sheer insanity of allowing PRC nationals to work, study, and live in the United States.
Fifth: if you wanted further evidence that the United States Armed Forces is not really in the business of protecting the United States as such, well, here you go.
All this is very bad and a bill will come due.
Well, with half our political class on the Chinese payroll, I’m not betting on prompt action.
LIGHTNING DEAL: Kerecsen 6-Pack Reading Glasses Blue Light Blocking. #CommissionEarned
WATCH (BUT DON’T GET COCKY): Even MSNBC Thinks Donald Trump Is ‘Poised for Victory.’
THIS IS A BIT TROUBLING:
He’s become the very thing he swore to destroy pic.twitter.com/cZQaDAYN58
— Dr Grayfang (@DrGrayfang) October 7, 2024
EXPAND BOCA CHICA, BUG OUT OF CALIFORNIA: California officials reject more SpaceX rocket launches, with some citing Musk’s X posts.
The plan to increase the number of rocket blasts into space up to 50 a year was rejected by the California Coastal Commission on Thursday despite assurances from Space Force and Air Force officials that they would increase efforts to monitor the effects that rocket launches have on nearby wildlife.
The military also vowed to mitigate the reach of sonic booms that often span across 100 miles of coastline, an issue that has caused controversy.
Members of the California Coastal Commission commended Space Force and Air Force representatives for reaching an agreement, but some cited their concerns about Musk, the owner of SpaceX, before rejecting the plan.
Among the issues raised were Musk’s decision to insert himself in the presidential race, his spreading of conspiracy theories, the labor record of his companies and derogatory comments he has made about the transgender community.
“We’re dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race,” commission Chair Caryl Hart said.
The California Coastal Commission denied the request for explicitly political reasons.
HYPOCRISY IS THE TRIBUTE THAT VICE PAYS TO VIRTUE:
Democrats spend every waking hour for 3 1/2 years demonizing white men and blaming them for all of society’s ills.
Then they spend six months drinking beer and posing with rifles to desperately win their vote. pic.twitter.com/ZEc4XmHgzR
— Eric Matheny 🎙️ (@ericmmatheny) October 12, 2024
ROGER KIMBALL: Fake Crowds, Fake Ads, Real Ridicule: A Week of Failures for Harris-Walz. “What we are witnessing is the panicked flailing of a campaign that is desperately attempting to recoup its lost initiative. The result is partly embarrassing, partly hilarious.”
October 13, 2024
OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches third high orbit internet satellite.
WHY ON EARTH IS THE HOUSE OF STEPHANOPOULOS PRO-VENEZUELAN GANGS? J.D. Vance Destroys ABC News Anchor for Downplaying Immigrant Gang Violence.
Raddatz: "The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes… A handful!"@JDVance: "Do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes were taken over by Venezuelan gangs and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris' open border?"
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 13, 2024
I can’t imagine George’s former(?) boss agreeing with this policy:
As we’ve noted before, Bill’s clip from 1995, and other past clips from Democrat grandees such as Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama with similar messages should be running in Trump adds with an “I’m Donald Trump, and I approve this message” tag tacked on.
More: The guild protects its own:
DOESN’T REQUIRE MUCH EQUIPMENT, EITHER: Isometric Exercise: Why This Workout Regime Is So Good For You.
HMM: Third Trump assassination attempt thwarted when armed man arrested outside Coachella rally, sheriff says. “The suspect — identified as 49-year-old Las Vegas resident Vem Miller — was caught at a checkpoint about a quarter-mile from the rally with fake VIP passes to the rally and fake press passes — as well as unregistered weapons, including a loaded shotgun, a handgun and a high-capacity magazine, according to the Riverside County sheriff’s office.”
READER FAVORITE: Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones. #CommissionEarned
“CAN I GET ME A HUNTING LICENSE HERE?” THE NEXT GENERATION: Hunters laugh off the Harris-Walz campaign effort to win their vote.
Avid outdoorsmen are slamming a new political coalition formed by the Harris-Walz campaign aimed at winning their vote in the 2024 presidential election.
“Hunters and anglers want to support Harris-Walz as much as the fish and game want to be eaten,” one Maryland-based hunter who recently bagged a state record bear chuckled to The Spectator.
Governor Tim Walz kicked off the “Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz” group on Friday with an article placed in Outdoor Life magazine. The coalition is described as “a new national organizing program to engage, mobilize a broad coalition of sportspeople, conservationists and rural and gun violence prevention voters in key states across the country.” They will have a national organizing call next week, but the campaign has not indicated which prominent hunters and anglers will be a part of the coalition.
Some hunters and anglers are already reacting negatively to the campaign’s plan, pointing out that Harris and Walz have supported gun control measures and that the Biden-Harris administration has made life more difficult for hunters and anglers.
Gabriella Hoffman, the director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at Independent Women’s Forum and host of the District of Conservation podcast, quipped that “No $40 camo hat will convince most sportsmen and women that Harris-Walz represents them.”
But then, maybe it’s not intended to:
In any case, Kamala’s outreach to men may have just been derailed by Gwen Walz’s schoolmarm hectoring to Kamala’s base:
Gwen Walz has an assignment for you 👩🏫 pic.twitter.com/tTBZPJxsjs
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 13, 2024
Exit quote: “What the heck? Too much of the fumes from those burning tires during the riots? Maybe she should have closed the windows.”
OBVIOUSLY, THIS IS MORE PROOF THAT WE’RE LIVING IN A SIMULATION: The Universe Is Not Locally Real, and the Physics Nobel Prize Winners Proved It.
ARE THEY TRYING FOR A RECORD? BREAKING: Third Trump Assassination Attempt Thwarted.
BILL WHITTLE: It worked. We’re going to Mars.
