BOB ZUBRIN: What Do We Need? Missile Defense. When do we need it? Now.

The U.S. military has a fairly robust antimissile defense arsenal, including Patriot missiles, Aegis warships, Iron Dome technology, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems. But these systems are designed to deal with short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles. They are not capable of countering ICBMs, which come in much faster. So the missile defenses the United States now possesses are suitable for regional defenses, which is why we can share our defensive capabilities with South Korea, Japan, and Israel—allies who have adversaries or face potential threats from short- or intermediate-range missiles—but lack national coverage here at home.

Indeed, the American homeland is nearly defenseless against ICBMs. The one deployed system theoretically capable of countering ICBMs is the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), which uses Raytheon SM-3 rockets to take out targeted warheads by direct impact. The GMD system, though, is much too small. There are currently only 44 GMD interceptors, with 40 located at Fort Greeley in Alaska and the remaining 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. There have been just 18 intercept tests of this system, of which only 10 achieved the goal of hitting their targets in flight, for a batting average of 0.556. Stats like that would be great for baseball, but not for national defense; they’d mean that if you’re facing incoming ballistic missiles and want a better than 90 percent chance of shooting them down, you’d need four anti-missiles in your battery for every incoming missile.

While Alaska is ideally situated for intercepting West Coast-bound North Korean missiles, the North Koreans could, with only modest improvements to their technology, bypass the Alaska-based system by firing directly over the North Pole, striking targets anywhere in the continental United States.

There are plans on the drawing boards for improvements to the GMD system—starting with the deployment of a “redesigned kill vehicle”—but those plans are years from becoming reality. And in the meantime, the number of GMD interceptors is expected to fall below the current number of 44 as today’s stockpile is used in planned tests or undergoes anticipatable retirement. Why, in the light of the present threat, is more not being done?

Why indeed? Though more should have been done 5-10 years ago.

VIDEO: COURTNEY LOVE WARNED ACTRESSES IN 2005 STAY CLEAR OF HARVEY WEINSTEIN – and was banned by her agency for her trouble.

I suspect this Washington Post video, uploaded on Thursday on Hollywood’s inside jokes about Weinstein, will need to be updated more than a few times.

ALSO, MUCH OF THE REST OF THE TIME: Maureen Dowd Sounds Like An Idiot When She Smears Clarence Thomas.

SHOCKER: Progressive Cities: Home Of The Worst Housing Inequality.

America’s most highly regulated housing markets are also reliably the most progressive in their political attitudes. Yet in terms of gaining an opportunity to own a house, the price impacts of the tough regulation mean profound inequality for the most disadvantaged large ethnicities, African-Americans and Hispanics. . . .

African-Americans have the largest housing affordability inequality gap. And these gaps are most evident in some of the nation’s most progressive cities. The largest gap is in San Francisco, where the median income African-American household faces median house prices that are 9.3 years of income more than the average. In nearby San Jose ranks the second worst, where the gap is 6.2 years. Overall, the San Francisco Bay Area suffers by far the area of least housing affordability for African-Americans compared to the average household.

Portland, long the darling of the international urban planning community, ranks third worst, where the median income African-American household to purchase the median priced house. Milwaukee and Minneapolis – St. Paul ranked fourth and fifth worst followed by Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Chicago (Figure 2).

I think Ben Carson should order the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate this obvious institutionalized racism.

WELL DONE MR. PRESIDENT:  Trump’s great call on UNESCO.

IF SHE’S BREATHING, SHE’S LYING: Hillary Clinton: Trump Is an “Admitted Sexual Assaulter,” But Allegations Against My Pretend Husband “Have All Been Litigated” and Are “Clearly In the Past”.

STUPID WAY TO GO ABOUT IT:  Green Beret who told Kaepernick to kneel, wants America to heal.

EMBRACE THE POWER OF YES:  Joshua Boyle: Moron or Terrorist Sympathizer? Take Your Pick .

ALL OF IT, ALL THE TIME:  The Weinstein octopus: what did they know and when did they know it?

THE CULTURE IS SEXIST AND RACIST, JUST NOT HOW YOU EXPECT:  Pop Culture, Commercials, and White Guys.

THIS MIGHT BE A BIT OF AN OVER-REACTION:  I’ve gotten death threats over my hairy legs: model.

VERY INTERESTING:  NASA finds possible ‘crater of life’ on Mars.

INTERESTING:  Science proves that ‘baby talk’ is a universal language.

AT AMAZON, Men’s Thermal Underwear. Winter is coming.

NEW YORK TIMES: Why Can’t Boys Be More Like Girls?

UPDATE: From the comments: “Why can’t the New York Times be more like a newspaper?” I know, right?

WEIRD, BECAUSE ALL I HEAR IS WHAT A THREAT TO FREE SPEECH TRUMP IS: Democratic Congress members threaten Twitter with regulation if it doesn’t suppress ‘racially divisive communications’ and ‘anti-American sentiments.’

FLASHBACK: Who Can You Trust?

THIS STORY IS STRANGE: Union rep for hero Las Vegas security guard addresses ‘highly unusual’ disappearance.

FORGIVENESS IS CHEAP IF YOUR POLITICS ARE RIGHT: Man Who Drove Ex-Wife to Attempt Suicide Now a Liberal Darling After ‘Destroying’ Trump.

HE CHOSE…POORLY: George Lopez booed off stage after Trump jokes flop at Denver gala.

An attendee at the event — where tables sold from $5,000 to $100,000 to benefit the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes — commented on a YouTube video that “George was asked nicely to stop making Trump jokes by a man in front row [Maffei] who just donated $250K.” But “George doesn’t, continues. Gets booed.”

We’re told that Lopez responded to Maffei, “Thank you for changing my opinion on old white men, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about orange men.”

Trying to recover and sensing the audience turn, Lopez said, “Listen, it’s about the kids . . . I apologize for bringing politics to an event. This is America — it still is. So I apologize to your white privilege.”

We’re told Lopez also told a joke about Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico, saying, “I guess you can get some Mexicans to do it cheaper and they wouldn’t crush the tunnels ­underneath.”

When the audience did not respond well, he quipped, “Are you El Chapo people?” in reference to the drug kingpin who has used tunnels to evade authorities.

Lopez then announced a video segment — but he did not return to the stage, and a local newscaster took over the hosting duties.

Classy stuff.

CALIFORNIA: Noisome Pestilence, Etc.

GREAT MOMENTS IN CIVILIZATION: “In 1973, I invented a ‘girly drink’ called Baileys. We got £3,000 all-in for the creation of the world’s most successful cream liqueur.”

WHY ARE MORE AMERICAN TEENAGERS THAN EVER suffering from anxiety?

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