RETENTION: The Air Force’s ‘Quiet Crisis.’

The United States Air Force is bleeding manpower at a rate so alarming Air Force leaders have described it as a ‘quiet crisis.’[1] In an attempt to mollify frustrated personnel, former Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Goldfein, published directives last year ordering a reduction in additional duties[2]. These burdens were a source of many complaints and reducing them was seen as a way to improve the work environment for airmen. Yet despite successful efforts to reduce some tasks, the service has created a patchwork of uneven standards across the Air Force, further sapping morale and confidence in the service.

The Air Force faces personnel shortages in a number of career fields, but it is currently most pronounced in fighter pilots. It is projected that by October 1, 2017, the Air Force will lack 1,000 aviators, almost a third of the force, and the numbers are set to worsen. The Air Force believes that the primary cause of this exodus is the recent hiring boom by the airline industry which offers experienced military pilots lucrative civilian jobs. Accordingly, the service has offered pilots retention bonuses of up to $35,000 annually, though this has not stemmed the tide.

As the Air Force already offers pilots a robust salary and good benefits in addition to the generous bonus packages, it is likely that financial considerations are not the sole causal factor of the shortage. This is backed by exit survey data from airmen separating in 2015 which revealed that 37% of the personnel found ‘additional duties’ to be a factor in their decision to leave the service.

Less bureaucratic bullcrap, more flight hours.

FRACKERS ARE HEROES: Are OPEC’s Cuts Working?

The oil cartel OPEC and a coalition of non-member petrostates agreed nine months ago to reduce their collective production in an attempt to inflate oil prices. It’s been almost eight months since that group has put that plan into action, and there’s seven more months of output cuts in the works. So how well is this market intervention working?

It depends on how you look at it. From the price perspective, the price of oil is roughly $5 higher (an increase of more than 10 percent) than it was before OPEC & co. agreed to this strategy, but that sounds a lot less impressive when you consider that Brent crude is trading today at less than half of what it was three years ago.

One explanation for this as-yet underwhelming effect on the global oil market has to do with how diligently (or not, as the case may be) petrostates are adhering to the cuts they agreed to. OPEC’s production rose in July for the third consecutive month thanks to surging output from Libya and Nigeria, two countries that are in the process of rebounding from significant supply disruptions due to civil unrest in recent months and years. But as the FT notes, Saudi Arabia—the lynchpin of OPEC and of this entire production cut strategy—exceeded its own targeted output for the first time last month, according to outside observers. It’s going to be difficult for this plan to work if its undisputed leader makes a habit of exceeding its quota. . . .

OPEC and its ilk are still struggling to balance the books in this new era of cheap oil, and what meager price rebounds this coalition has so far produced are being undermined from both within (as we’ve seen lately with Saudi, Nigerian, and Libyan output increases) and without (American oil production is up 653,000 bpd in 2017). In today’s market, there’s still precious little to be excited about from a petrostate perspective, and that may be all you need to know to assess these production cuts.

Good.

PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI: Iran could restart nuclear programme within hours.

I’m so old I can remember when Obama sold his nuclear deal with Iran by claiming that “all four pathways to a bomb are blocked.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Professors advised to treat racial microaggressions in classrooms like assault. So much for understanding what “micro” means.

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: It’s not just Google — all of Silicon Valley has a trust problem now. “When a gigantic corporation that controls our data and knows us intimately takes a controversial political stance, it ought to make us worry.”

FROM THE DAILY SIGNAL: “Meet 2 Political Prisoners From Socialist Venezuela.”

In The Daily Signal’s feature series, “Underreported,” we interview Francisco Marquez, an ex-political prisoner who now lives in the United States, and Wuilly Arteaga, who recently was thrown into jail after peacefully playing his violin on the streets.

Sean Penn could not be reached for comment. Why is is that celebrity idiots who tout “socialist paradises” always disappear when that regime shows its natural outcome?

WHY PYONGYANG’S FAT KID STOOD DOWN: Trump’s pressure diplomacy is working. That’s why Kim Jong Un stood down his threat to strike Guam with ballistic missiles.

Whoops. I was writing my post while Glenn was writing his. Oh well, let the link fest begin.

WEIRD HOW THIS DIPLOMATIC SUCCESS ISN’T GETTING MORE ATTENTION: North Korean ruler stands down on threat to Guam.

UPDATE: All is proceeding as Austin Bay foresaw.

GHOST SHIP: Cruise Passengers Spend 10 Days in Darkness Hiding from Pirates.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: The Left Tries To Politicize Charlottesville, And Exposes Its Own Double Standards. “When a violent event fits a liberal narrative it sparks wails of outrage, makes the front page news, gets talked about 24/7 on cable news. But if it doesn’t fit that narrative — for example, the targeting of Republicans by a deranged liberal, or vicious attacks by leftists on Trump supporters, death threats to conservatives, etc. — the left can barely muster any reaction at all. Obama never mentioned the anti-cop sentiment fomented by Black Lives Matter — with an assist from Obama himself — in his brief statement after five police officers were assassinated in Dallas. Obama did find room in those remarks to mention racist cops. Did anyone on the left complain?”

BRET STEPHENS: Trump, Obama and the Politics of Evasion.

Consider the following propositions:

(1) James Alex Fields Jr., the young man who on Saturday, police say, rammed his Dodge Challenger into a crowd in Charlottesville, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others, was not a “domestic terrorist.”

(2) He was a fatherless, troubled individual who likely experienced economic disenfranchisement as a child of Kentucky and was moved to violence for motives about which we can only guess.

(3) The marchers who gathered in Charlottesville to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee are not necessarily “alt-right.” After all, the alt-right movement encompasses a diverse spectrum of opinion, only some of it racist, and should not be tarred by the rhetoric or actions of a few.

(4) White people should feel no sense of responsibility because a tiny handful of so-called white “nationalists” and “supremacists” falsely claim to speak in their name.

(5) The blame for the events in Charlottesville does not lie with any particular group. Both sides bear their share of guilt and should have shown greater restraint.

(6) President Trump was right on Saturday to avoid stigmatizing any particular group in his remarks condemning violence and hatred. Doing so would unnecessarily elevate the profile of the angry losers and occasionally violent extremists who defame Americans and give them the P.R. victory they were seeking all along.

O.K., now here’s hoping you’re revolted by each of the six preceding points. Because, if you are, then maybe we can at last rethink the policy of euphemism, obfuscation, denial and semantic yoga that typified the Obama administration’s discussions of another form of terrorism.

Read the whole thing.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Cuomo’s ‘economic development’ billions buy another crop of failures.

Gov. Cuomo is scrounging for $836 million to fix the subways. Meanwhile, he’s handing out billions to businesses and getting little in return, as a devastating new report shows. Isn’t it time to stop throwing money away and put it where it’s needed?

Indeed, evidence that Cuomo’s alms for businesses is a huge waste is now overwhelming. The latest: Thursday’s report by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on just a few of his money-bleeding Upstate “economic development” schemes — those run by SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

Through those projects, Cuomo has shelled out billions in tax breaks or by footing the bill for new plants, only to see them fizzle.

You can’t call it a failure until you know what it was intended to accomplish.

HAVE YOU HUGGED A FRACKER TODAY? U.S. Oil Drillers Keep Pressure on OPEC With Record Shale Output.

The forecast comes just as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the two biggest producers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries promised to strengthen their commitment to cutting production. Crude output in the U.S. meanwhile has climbed in nine of the last 10 months. Prices declined to a three-week low Monday as the growing U.S. output and signs of lower demand from China stoked concern that a global oversupply will linger.

Shale drillers such as Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Devon Energy Corp. have been taking advantage of price rallies near $50 a barrel to hedge their output for next year and beyond, with some producers locking in prices as far out as 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The EIA expanded its monthly forecasts to include the Anadarko shale region, which spans 24 Oklahoma and five Texas counties. The region, a well-established oil and gas producing area, has seen an uptick in improved drilling and completion technology, the agency said in its monthly Drilling Productivity report released Monday.

I’m so old I can remember when America’s peak oil days were well behind us.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Yes, Reporters Did Try To Ignore The Lynch-Clinton Scandal — Multiple Justice Dept. Emails Show It.

YOU DON’T SAY: Islamic radicalization has skyrocketed in France in the last two years.

French Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb reported on Friday that individuals reported as radicals and connected with terrorist organizations has jumped 60 percent in the last two years, and that the number is steadily increasing.

According to Ouest France, some 18,500 people in France are registered as potential radicals. This is an increase from 11,400 cases of potential radicalization as reported by “terrorism-related terrorist prevention” in March 2015. The database tracks the personal information of watched individuals, as well as their alleged connections to terrorist groups.

According to Ouest France, the suspected terrorists are not just men, but women and children as well.

This will not end well.

JOURNALISM: CNN Finally Discovers Radical Leftwing Group: “There is a place for violence.” “Typically after such violence the media generally refers to them as mostly peaceful with scattered violence by a small group. Now after the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend someone finally thought it was a good idea to have a look at these extremists.”

REMINDER: HE WAS SHOT BY A BERNIE BRO. GOP lawmaker: Scalise could return to Congress after August recess.

BUT THE NARRATIVE! Emails show Trump camp blew-off repeated attempts to set up meetings with Russians.

“THIS IS NOT A PEACEFUL PROTEST”: Richmond Local CBS Photojournalist Left Bloodied After Unprovoked Attack by Antifa Protesters.

Collectivist thugs are collectivist thugs.

JOURNALISM: Getting it excruciatingly wrong about Hearst, Remington, Cuba, and war.

A TIMELY REMINDER FROM DONALD SENSING: Nazism’s Marxist Roots.

We are calling one side the “alt-right” for no other reason than it’s easier to keep score, I guess, like we call one team a home team and the other visitors, but they’re both baseball teams. What we really saw in Charlottesville was two far-left groups having at each other because neither will countenance a competitor.

Yes, some of the demonstrators carried Nazi flags, just as some of the counter-demos carried hammer-and-sickle Soviet flags. In fact, those flags are almost interchangeable. Everyone knows and acknowledges that Soviet Communism was based on Marxism, hence Marxism and its spawn today are “Left,” but everyone also apparently thinks that Fascism and Nazism apparently just sprang up our of thin air with no relation to political theories and contexts that came before, and that Fascism and Nazism were and are “Right.”

Untrue. Both Fascism and Nazism were founded on Marxist theory and belonged firmly on the Left side of the spectrum, according to their founders.

Read the whole thing.

EASY MONEY: Panicking About North Korea’s Nukes? The Stock Market Isn’t.

HOW BAD WAS CHARLOTTESVILLE’S POLICING? BAD ENOUGH THAT RICHARD SPENCER AND CORNEL WEST ARE ON THE SAME PAGE ABOUT IT: Chicago Tribune: Police in Charlottesville criticized for slow response to violent demonstrations.

“The worst part is that people got hurt and the police stood by and didn’t do a godd—- thing,” said David Copper, 70, of Staunton, Va., after an initial morning melee at a park that when unchecked by police for several minutes.

Fourteen people were injured in clashes; nine others were hurt in the car crash. Later, two Virginia State Police troopers were killed when their helicopter smashed into trees at the edge of town and burst into flames. The loss of police officers only compounded the calamity on a day that pushed police, city officials and residents to their limits.

Cable news replayed a seemingly endless loop of the early violence at Emancipation Park, where police in riot gear had surrounded the expanse on three sides, though seemed to watch as groups beat each other with sticks and bludgeoned one another with shields. Many on both sides came dressed for battle, with helmets and chemical irritants.

Police appeared at one point to retreat and then watch the beatings before eventually moving in to end the free-for-all, make arrests and tend the injured. The governor declared a state of emergency around 11 a.m. and activated the National Guard.

“The whole point is to have overwhelming force so that people don’t get the idea they can do these kinds of things and get away with it,” said Charles Ramsey, who headed both the District of Columbia and Philadelphia police departments. Demonstrators and counter demonstrators “need to be in sight and sound of each other but somebody has to be in between,” he said. “That’s usually the police.”

You’d think.