Archive for 2017
December 12, 2017
PAUL KRUGMAN HARDEST HIT: Former UK Defense Official: Military May Not Be Adequately Prepared for Alien Invasion.
(Classical allusion in the headline.)
WHEN TAXPAYERS GET TIRED OF FUNDING THIS KIND OF THING, WE’LL HEAR THAT IT’S BECAUSE OF “ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM:” Prof: Academic rigor reinforces ‘power and privilege.’ Worse yet, she’s in engineering. At Purdue.
THIS IS CNN: CNN Walks Back Jeff Sessions-Russia Bombshell.
In May, CNN reported that Sessions had failed to disclose meetings he had with the Russian ambassador when he was a senator. Justice Department officials told CNN that Sessions had not listed those meetings on a security clearance form, even though the form says to list “any contact” with the “foreign government” or its “representatives” in the past seven years.
CNN framed the non-disclosures as more evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump team, writing, “He has come under withering criticism from Democrats following revelations that he did not disclose the same contacts with Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year.”
At the time, Sessions said he was told by the FBI not to list meetings “connected with his Senate activities,” but CNN’s legal expert denied those claims.
“A legal expert who regularly assists officials in filling out the form disagrees with the Justice Department’s explanation, suggesting that Sessions should have disclosed the meetings,” CNN asserted.
The CNN report led to breathless coverage by the rest of the legacy media, who painted the non-disclosures as a Trump official trying to hide problematic meetings with the Russians.
However, CNN admitted early Monday that FBI emails prove that Sessions’ explanation for the non-disclosures is accurate.
We’re going to need a new 24-hour news network just to keep up with CNN’s botched reporting.
STEALTH IS HARD; CLEAN CORPORATE CULTURE IS HARDER: Russia’s Su-57 Stealth Fighter Is Doomed to Fail.
Westerns analysts have concluded that Russia’s fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter is unlikely to enter operational service before 2027. Postponements, cost-overruns and research and development-related problems mar the project.
This should come as no surprise. The Su-57 program was never really viable.
Back in early 2006, Russian president Vladimir Putin integrated all of Russia’s aviation companies into a single, state-owned holding — the United Aircraft-building Corporation.
Despite bombastic reports in the Russian media, UAC turned out to be a lame duck. The conglomerate proved capable of re-launching production of types designed back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Otherwise, UAC is incapable of innovation and adaptation.
The main reason is that most of UAC’s directors are hand-picked yes-sayers — people more than happy to discuss planning, strategies and new projects, but lacking the ability to make hard decisions.
The writing was on the wall when Moscow cut its order to a purely ceremonial number of jets. Even India, which has plenty of experience getting adequate results out of a corrupt procurement system, wants to pull out as Russia’s Su-57 development partner.
SO DON’T BLOW IT, GUYS: Manufacturing CEO survey shows record high optimism on prospect of tax reform.
APPARENTLY, ROY MOORE IS MARRIED TO ARCHIE BUNKER: Roy Moore’s wife fights anti-Semitic tag: ‘One of our attorneys is a Jew’.
By any chance, is his name Rabinowitz?
UPDATE: This is more funny than offensive, because it’s so completely tone deaf, like praising a black person for being “articulate,” or saying “some of my best friends are black” in response to a charge of racism. In all cases, it doesn’t mean you are hostile to the group, but you aren’t doing yourself any favors.
December 11, 2017
MY USA TODAY COLUMN IS ON THE CHEESEHEAD STASI, AND LESSONS FOR THE MUELLER PROBE: Governmental accountability board? More like Wisconsin’s Secret Police.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Five refugee settlements are being setup in China in case of a North Korea emergency.
ESPECIALLY FOR YOU: Another open thread. Talk about what you want.
JOHN HAWKINS ON BEING DEPLORABLE.
WHEN THE WEAPONIZED-FEMINISM TORPEDOES CIRCLE BACK AROUND: Don’t let the alt-right hijack #MeToo for their agenda: Feminism is now being weaponized for right-wing agendas. We must not allow that to happen.
JOHN WATERS’ CHRISTMAS CURSE: Soften a Conservative Relative By Licking Their Chair.
The [Washington Post] asked if the show is a bit of a “takedown” of Christmas, and Waters replied it’s “not a takedown, but it is self-help for people that hate it.”
The headline in the “Weekend Pass” section of the Express was “Did this man just lick your chair?” That’s because Waters joked that he believes in a “Christmas curse” on the conservative relatives. When they leave the room, you lick their chair:
POST: What advice do you have for people who are visiting conservative relatives for Christmas?
JOHN WATERS: If you want to change someone’s politics, there is a Christmas curse I believe in. The way it works is, when a relative leaves the room, you run over and lick their chair. And then when they come in and sit back down, they might soften politically. You just can’t get caught doing it.
What’s with the licking? It sounds a little like gay leftist Dan Savage hating Gary Bauer so much when Bauer ran for president in 1999 that he licked the doorknob to his hotel room when he had a cold, hoping he would infect Bauer.
Related:
And it is here a vitally important lesson all libertarians, republicans, conservatives and other “simply not leftists” need to learn. For if we don’t realize this very important lesson we will let the leftists we know ruin our lives by forcing us to steep and stew in the erroneous belief that leftists somehow live blissful lives, completely unaffected and unaccountable for their erroneous beliefs and horrible mistakes derived from those beliefs.
* * * * * * * *
So this Christmas, and for the rest of your life, do not let leftists or the fact they’re “getting free money” or “vote against freedom” or “vote to increase your taxes” lessen your finite time on this planet. Though they’ll never admit it, they are getting punished ENOUGH.
—“The Left Punishes Itself…Mercilessly and Horribly,” Aaron Clarey, at his Captain Capitalism blog today.
(Via SDA)
WANT MORE JOBS? FIGHT OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING.
MY USA TODAY COLUMN IS ON THE CHEESEHEAD STASI, AND LESSONS FOR THE MUELLER PROBE: Governmental accountability board? More like Wisconsin’s Secret Police.
PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SENATE EXCLUDING OR EXPELLING ROY MOORE IF HE’S ELECTED. Under Powell v. McCormack, Congress’s only role in seating members is to ensure that they meet the Constitutional requirements of age and residence. On expelling members, here’s what it says:
Nor is the distinction between exclusion and expulsion merely one of form. The misconduct for which Powell was charged occurred prior to the convening of the 90th Congress. On several occasions, the House has debated whether a member can be expelled for actions taken during a prior Congress, and the House’s own manual of procedure applicable in the 90th Congress states that “both Houses have distrusted their power to punish in such cases.” Rules of the House of Representatives, H.R.Doc. No. 529, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., 25 (1967); [p509] see G. Galloway, History of the House of Representatives 32 (1961). The House rules manual reflects positions taken by prior Congress. For example, the report of the Select Committee appointed to consider the expulsion of John W. Langley states unequivocally that the House will not expel a member for misconduct committed during an earlier Congress:
[I]t must be said that with practical uniformity the precedents in such cases are to the effect that the House will not expel a Member for reprehensible action prior to his election as a Member, not even for conviction for an offense. On May 23, 1884, Speaker Carlisle decided that the House had no right to punish a Member for any offense alleged to have been committed previous to the time when he was elected a Member, and added, “That has been so frequently decided in the House that it is no longer a matter of dispute.”
I assume the same would apply to the Senate. I’m not sure if this is dictum or not, since the Court was (sort of) deciding whether Powell’s exclusion could also be interpreted as an expulsion, but it’s pretty on-point.
UPDATE: This piece takes a contrary view.
KURT SCHLICHTER: Woke Conservatives And The Awesome Power Of Not Caring.
THIS WHOLE MUELLER PROBE IS DISGRACEFULLY PARTISAN AND INCESTUOUS: Wife of demoted DOJ official worked for firm behind anti-Trump dossier. “A senior Justice Department official demoted last week for concealing his meetings with the men behind the anti-Trump ‘dossier’ had even closer ties to Fusion GPS, the firm responsible for the incendiary document, than have been disclosed, Fox News has confirmed: The official’s wife worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 election.”
Related: ‘Journalism for rent’: Inside the secretive firm behind the Trump dossier.. “The small firm has been under intense public scrutiny for producing the 35-page document known as the Trump dossier. Senior executives summoned to testify before Congress in October invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and the firm is resisting a congressional subpoena for bank records that would reveal who has paid for its services.” The records would also reveal what journalists it was paying.
But wait, there’s more:
The firm has played an unseen role in stories that dominated headlines in recent years.
In the years before it produced the dossier, records show, Fusion worked to blunt aggressive reporting on the medical-device company Theranos, which was later found to have problems with its novel blood-testing technology. It was also hired to ward off scrutiny of the nutritional supplement company Herbalife, which ultimately paid $200 million to distributors to settle claims by regulators.
In another case, the firm sought to expose what it called “slimy dealings” by a competitor of a San Francisco museum proposed by filmmaker and “Star Wars” director George Lucas. And it dug up information about domestic disputes involving a former mayor of Beverly Hills, Calif., as part of an investigation into a proposed real estate development that the mayor supported. . . .
“I call it journalism for rent,” Simpson, 53, said in August of last year at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and Symposium in the District, where he described Fusion’s work on a panel titled, “Investigations With an Agenda.” . . .
Fusion insists that the firm does not engage in public relations work or advertise its media connections to prospective clients. But Fusion executives have interceded with former colleagues in media when their clients came under scrutiny, records and interviews show. . . . He was candid about the money involved. Explaining why he left journalism, he joked: “We don’t use the word ‘sold out.’ We use the word ‘cashed in.’ ”
I’m sure there’s nothing slimy going on here at all.
BRIDGET JOHNSON: New Times Square Threat: ISIS Backers ‘Recognize Explosives as the Capital’ of U.S.
Meanwhile, Bridget’s unexplained and unacknowledged Twitter banishment remains unexplained and unacknowledged by Twitter management.
AT AMAZON, WEN 2305 Rotary Tool Kit with Flex Shaft.
