Archive for 2018
October 9, 2018
HEADING BACK TO NELLIS: The USAF Thunderbirds fly in formation over the Pacific coast.
BREAKING: Nikki Haley resigns as UN Ambassador.
It’s a shame. She’s easily the best one we’ve had since Jeane Kirkpatrick.
More: “Trump tells reporter Haley told him about 6 months ago that at end of two year period she’d want to take a break. ‘She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together.'”
MOB RULE: Antifa Protesters Block Portland Traffic, Nearly Start Riot During Patrick Kimmons Vigil.
If they aren’t getting arrested or prosecuted for their lawbreaking and thuggery, it’s because it benefits somebody’s agenda not to.
WEIRD HOW THIS ONLY APPLIES TO FRATERNITIES: Fraternities at Penn can be fined $500 for ‘insensitive messages.’
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER: Security researcher named in China spy chip story voices doubts. “Spreading hardware fear, uncertainty and doubt is entirely in my financial gain, but it doesn’t make sense because there are so many easier ways to do this. There are so many easier hardware ways, there are software, there are firmware approaches. The approach you are describing is not scalable. It’s not logical. It’s not how I would do it. Or how anyone I know would do it.”
More:
Speaking on the Risky Business security podcast, Fitzpatrick voiced his skepticism at the fact that a theoretical proof-of-concept hack he demonstrated at the Black Hat 2016 conference would be exactly the approach reported by the Bloomberg story — despite the fact that there are plenty of other, more straightforward ways of carrying out a hack.
“It was surprising to me that in a scenario where I would describe these things and then he would go and confirm these and 100% of what I described was confirmed by sources,” he said. One of the journalists who wrote the article reportedly said that while it “sounded crazy,” this is exactly what had been reported to them by “lots of sources.”
“I have the expertise to look at he technical details and I have the knowledge to look at the technical details and see that they’re jumbled,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re not outright wrong, but they are theoretical. I don’t have the knowledge to know the other conversations — the other 17 sources and what they said, but I can infer — based on the technical side of things — that the non-technical side of things may be jumbled the same way.”
It sure would help determine the truth if Bloomberg — or anyone — would provide an actual sample of one of these spy chips.
“PERCEPTIONS OF NEWSWORTHINESS ARE CONTAMINATED BY A POLITICAL USEFULNESS BIAS”: Of course, after the last few weeks, if you need Hal’s and my diligent research to prove that to you, there is something wrong with you. Maybe somebody should write an article entitled “Perceptions of Political Usefulness Wholly Determine Whether Something Is Considered Newsworthy These Days.”
AUDIO: Tom Cotton tells Hugh Hewitt “I believe that the Schumer political operation was behind this from the very beginning” referring to release of Dr. Ford’s letter, suggests Bar discipline for Dr. Ford’s lawyers. “I believe the Schumer political operation was behind this from the very beginning. We learned last week that a woman named Monica McLean was Ms. Ford’s roommate, and she was one of the so-called beach friends who encouraged Ms. Ford to go to Dianne Feinstein and the partisan Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Well, it just turns out, it just so happens that Monica McLean worked for a Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, now a virulent anti-Trump critic on television and former counsel to Chuck Schumer. So I strongly suspect that Chuck Schumer’s political operation knew about Ms. Ford’s allegations as far back as July and manipulated the process all along to include taking advantage of Ms. Ford’s confidences and directing her towards left-wing lawyers who apparently may have violated the D.C. code of legal ethics and perhaps may face their own investigation by the D.C. Bar.”
COLUMBUS FOR THE WIN: Anti-Kavanaugh protest postponed ‘in recognition of Indigenous People’s Day.’ “We want to deeply apologize for scheduling this event on the same day as the 2nd annual Indigenous People’s Day. . . . Monday is a day for indigenous and non-indigenous allies to stand in solidarity and acknowledge the genocidal mission system that enslaved and killed 80 [percent] of Natives living on this land. Additionally, we stand in solidarity with the 5,100 missing and murdered indigenous people.”
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Rosenstein’s Ride and Much, Much More. “Mitch McConnell said at a press conference in Kentucky. ‘These demonstrators, I’m sure some of them were well-meaning citizens. But many of them were obviously trying to get in our faces, to go to our homes. Basically almost attack us in the halls of the capitol. There was a full-scale effort to intimidate.'”
WE DON’T HAVE A “RADICAL RIGHT-WING SUPREME COURT,” despite lots of mewing on the left to the contrary. Here are some things that would be at the top of the list for a radical right-wing Court: (1) ban abortion nationwide as a violation of the right to life protected by the due process clause; (2) rule that publicly-provided (but not funded) education is unconstitutional because it inherently involves viewpoint discrimination by the government, or at least require vouchers for those who object to the public school curriculum; (3) overrule an 1898 precedent and completely abolish birthright citizenship; (4) Use the First Amendment as a sword to require “fairness” in the left-dominated media. Not only is the Supreme Court not about to do any of things, I don’t think any of these things would even get one vote on the current Court. Moreover, merely bringing the scope of Congress’s constitutional back to where it was, say, in 1935, which was already much broader than the original meaning of the Commerce power, probably wouldn’t get more than one or two votes. What you are looking at right now is a conservative Court that will only affect society on the margins, not a “radical right-wing” Court.
SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST.
● Shot: Terrifying climate change warning: 12 years until we’re doomed.
—The New York Post, yesterday.
● Chaser: President Obama ‘has four years to save Earth.’
—The London Guardian, January 17, 2009.
I blame the Frisbee ion.
Classical reference in headline:
Related: “But the self-anointed must make a choice. Either the plane is going down — in which case literally everything else is unimportant — or the plane is fine and flying, and Al Gore, et al., have been using climate change the way apocalyptics always do: as a means of dividing them from us, sinners from saints, those whose lives matter and those who lives don’t.”
HARSH BUT FAIR:
Previously:
● Democrat Doxxer Threatened To Reveal Senators’ Children’s Health Information.
● DC restaurant: We’ve received death threats after Ted Cruz, wife forced out by protesters.
● Networks Silent On Attempted Stabbing of GOP Candidate By Anti-Trump Attacker.
● Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) Jokes About Threatening Trump Supporters ‘All The Time.’
Why is the Democratic party such a cesspit of hate and violence? (Bumped).
THE UNFRIENDLY TARMAC: US airline fined $350,000 for keeping planes too hot during tarmac delays.
Regulators found that the Las Vegas-based airline “failed to provide passengers a comfortable cabin temperature” on 10 flights delayed on the tarmac at four airports.
The airports: Las Vegas; Albuquerque; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. Seven of the 10 flights were in Las Vegas, where temperatures routinely stay above 100 degrees fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) throughout the summer.
In one case, the DOT said, Allegiant also did not provide food and water to passengers during the tarmac delay or let them know they could deplane, as required by DOT rules.
I’ve been on more than a few delayed flights, some seriously so, and can’t recall one instance of the airline informing us we could deplane.
EPIC BACKFIRE: Independents disapprove of Democrats’ handling of the Brett Kavanaugh nomination by a 28-point margin.
Related: How Kavanaugh has shaken the midterm elections kaleidoscope. “Kavanaugh seems to be paying immediate dividends in the red-state Senate races that give Republicans their best chance of defending and even expanding their majority in the upper chamber. “
BLUE WAVE? Democratic fundraiser says America is racist and sexist, ‘F–k the bible voters.’ “Democrats are hoping to make gains in Republican-leaning congressional districts by running moderates with biographies that appeal to center-right voters including veterans, gun owners, and football players, and in doing so have distanced themselves from the far-left of the Democratic Party.”
This is the same bait-and-switch the Democrats used in part to win back the House in 2006. After the last fews weeks though, it seems less and less likely that voters will fall for it a second time.
IT’S SATIRE, BUT IS IT REALLY? ‘Kavanaugh Doesn’t Have The Right Temperament!’ Screams Protester Lobbing Grenade Outside Supreme Court.
LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuela’s annual inflation hits 488,865 percent in September.
Daily inflation is now 4 percent, according to opposition legislator Angel Alvarado, with monthly inflation rising to 233 percent in September from 223 percent in August.
In an effort to stabilize prices, President Nicolas Maduro in August cut five zeros off the ailing bolivar currency, boosted the minimum wage by 3,000 percent, and pegged salaries to an elusive state-backed cryptocurrency.
Opposition legislators have become the only source for economic indicators after the central bank stopped publishing such information nearly three years ago as the economy began unraveling.
The International Monetary Fund estimates consumer prices would rise 1,000,000 percent in 2018.
The only thing planned economies never run out of is zeros.
Related: Need to Flee Venezuela? Pay Huge Bribe or Stand in Line Forever. “The going rate for a black-market passport is more than $2,000, over 68 times the monthly minimum wage.”
ZUCKERBERG’S TELESCREEN: Facebook Portal Is The Last Device You’d Want Looking At You.
On the heels of a massive Facebook security breach, either Facebook thinks we’re all a bunch of morons ready to give more of our blood to the tech giant, or we actually are a bunch of morons engaged in active data bloodletting at Facebook’s doorstep because Facebook has announced its Portal video device to continue the bleeding, but through video.
The Facebook Portal and Portal Plus are seemingly direct competitive devices to the Amazon Echo Show, the difference being is that the Facebook devices are designed with video chatting in mind, rather than shopping. However, Facebook will surely find a quick way to work in advertisements, or at least use conversations for ad-serving, though that’s an unsubstantiated observation.
Plus: “The biggest difference between the Portal and Portal Plus appears to be a 10-inch 720p screen versus a 15.6-inch 1080p screen and better speakers and rotation from landscape to horizontal while the camera tracks you and adjusts accordingly.”
I’m sure it does.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, INSTITUTIONALLY-PERPETRATED RACISM EDITION: Harvard’s Student Body: Hitting the Targets, Spinning the Story. “High schoolers who try to get into Harvard are unique individuals; the applicant pool they make up is unique each year as well. Truly considering applicants on an individual basis ought therefore to produce variability in the racial percentages across the years. Because there isn’t much variability, these numbers prove by themselves that Harvard has a policy of predetermined percentages, regardless of the number or quality of applicants. Such a statistical uniformity is so unlikely that it cannot be explained in any other way. As the Asian American plaintiffs have enunciated in their complaint, Harvard ‘racially balances its entering freshman class to ensure proportional representation of the various racial and ethnic groups in Harvard’s student body.'”
YES. NEXT QUESTION? Have We All Gone Insane?
“In war, resolution,” Winston Churchill wrote in his six-volume series of recollections on the conduct of the Second World War. “In victory, magnanimity.” This noble sentiment is the latest target of a marauding cast of censorious revisionists who perceive themselves to be enlightened. The timeless, beneficent wisdom in these words is, apparently, subordinate to the supposed evil of the man who expressed them.
Scott Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy Captain, NASA engineer, and veteran of four spaceflights, was brought low on Sunday by those possessed of neither his accomplishments nor talents for the crime of advocating Churchillian generosity of spirit. “Did not mean to offend by quoting Churchill. My apologies,” the astronaut wrote after what must have been a withering assault on social media. “I will go and educate myself further on his atrocities, racist views which I do not support.”
Read the whole thing.
I’d just add that Kelly was wrong to give into the progressive outrage mob, which simply must make Churchill an unperson for the crime of having saved Western Civilization.