HOW’S THAT SPACE PROGRAM COMING ALONG? Asteroid warning: NASA shock as huge space rock skims Earth days after near miss. It’s not that these are super-dangerous, it’s that we keep noticing new ones we didn’t know about.
But there’s good news: “NASA has also awarded a $69million (£57million) contract to SpaceX to help it develop the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) that could deflect asteroids away from Earth’s orbit.”
WAIT, I THOUGHT WE WERE PLUNGING INTO A NEW DEPRESSION BECAUSE ORANGE MAN BAD: Walmart, strong retail sales boost Wall Street. I mean, it seems like just yesterday people were saying that everywhere. Probably because just yesterday people were saying that everywhere.
RIGHT FROM WRONG: A GUIDE TO THE NEW EUROPEAN POLITICS. Branding all conservatives ‘far right’ is both wrong and dangerous:
A few months ago British MP Jacob Rees-Mogg was criticized for having shared a speech given in the Bundestag by a politician from the Alternative for Germany party (AfD). The Labour MP David Lammy has also compared the European Research Group of Tory MPs to the Nazis. Given an opportunity to withdraw that comment he declined, insisting that the comparison ‘wasn’t strong enough’. Perhaps Lammy can provide evidence that Jacob Rees-Mogg has killed more than six million Jews?
Such terms are naturally thrown around by people who like to grandstand. But beneath them lies a well of confusion which urgently needs addressing. Terms such as ‘fascist’, ‘far right’ and ‘white supremacist’ are serious. Such sinister forces certainly exist, both in Britain and on the continent. But in recent years — especially since the Brexit and Trump votes — there has been an acceleration in claimed sightings and a blurring of the definitions. This is wrong not just because it means that perfectly decent people are maligned, but also because distinctly dangerous groups are confused with harmless ones.
The fog began to descend earlier this decade. Campaign groups which used to oppose neo-Nazis realized that there weren’t sufficient Nazis to justify their business models. They decided that, henceforth, attacking parties such as Ukip should also come under their anti-fascist remit. Soon anybody who opposed supranational institutions or sought to restrict immigration found themselves labelled as beyond the pale. It meant that the views of the majority of the public — in Britain and elsewhere — effectively became defined as far right.
In recent years this terminological mission-creep has morphed from being annoying to being disturbing. For if everybody is a fascist, then nobody is. And anyone who knows the scene across Europe will understand that we may well have need of these terms.
As David Frum tweeted last year regarding the left hurling the F-bomb* at the Trump administration, “If liberals insist that enforcing borders is a job only fascists will do, then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won’t.” And American voters on the right have gotten used to be called fascists at election time for over 70 years. (By those wishing to impose socialism on a national scale, curiously enough.)
* Not to be confused with the other Italian-inspired F-bomb that turns Chris Cuomo into Warner Brothers’ cartoon Tasmanian devil.
THE MONEY ISN’T DARK WHEN DEMOCRATS HAVE IT: Stacey Abrams PAC Pushed $1.2 Million Over to Dark Money Entity.
WHEN THE DEFAULT ARGUMENT IS CRYING WOLF: Douglas Murray (no relation) at The Spectator on reactions to new parties in Europe:
Terms such as ‘fascist’, ‘far right’ and ‘white supremacist’ are serious. Such sinister forces certainly exist, both in Britain and on the continent. But in recent years — especially since the Brexit and Trump votes — there has been an acceleration in claimed sightings and a blurring of the definitions. This is wrong not just because it means that perfectly decent people are maligned, but also because distinctly dangerous groups are confused with harmless ones.
The fog began to descend earlier this decade. Campaign groups which used to oppose neo-Nazis realized that there weren’t sufficient Nazis to justify their business models. They decided that, henceforth, attacking parties such as Ukip should also come under their anti-fascist remit. Soon anybody who opposed supranational institutions or sought to restrict immigration found themselves labelled as beyond the pale. It meant that the views of the majority of the public — in Britain and elsewhere — effectively became defined as far right.
In recent years this terminological mission-creep has morphed from being annoying to being disturbing. For if everybody is a fascist, then nobody is. And anyone who knows the scene across Europe will understand that we may well have need of these terms.
RTWT (registration may be required).
THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK: Why the U.S. Abandoned Nuclear-Powered Missiles More Than 50 Years Ago.
IT’S COME TO THIS: Can Joe Rogan Save Journalism Before It’s Too Late?
NOT SORRY, BOOMERS: WOODSTOCK WAS A BAD TRIP. Reading Warren Henry’s harrowing account of the many disasters that occurred before and during the concert immortalized by Warner Brothers’ sprawling 1970 documentary, I think it’s only a matter of time before “the Well Axtually lads over at Vox,” as James Lileks would say, or someone else, starts writing counterfactuals promoting Altamont as the better and safer of the two “epic” outdoor free concerts at the tail end of the hippie era.
I HAD HEARD LAW SCHOOL WAS UNFRIENDLY: Might you be just “taking up space” in a discussion if your identity is insufficiently “minoritized?” Is “minoritized” even a word? Find out during orientation at University of South Dakota Law School!
TO ASK THE QUESTION IS TO ANSWER IT: Why Isn’t AOC Taking Blame For Violent Attacks On ICE?
NEARLY ALL “TRAFFIC SAFETY” LAWS ARE REALLY ABOUT REVENUE: Hand-hold phone bans don’t seem to improve safety, but they bring in cash.
JACK DUNPHY: Antifa Protesters Who Shut Down L.A. Freeway Complain in Op-Ed That LAPD ‘Spies’ ‘Infiltrated’ Their Meetings.
Well, I would certainly hope so.
WARREN SURGES IN POLL BUT ITS REAL NEWS IS ABOUT PRAYING AMERICANS: Yes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) suddenly bolts to a virtual dead heat with former Vice-President Joe Biden in the latest YouGov. survey for The Economist.
That’s interesting to be sure, but the last five of the 145 questions asked of 1,500 respondents concerned things like church attendance and frequency of prayer, topics not typically raised in such surveys. The margin of error is three percent.
Turns out that more than half of us pray regularly and a third of all Americans go to church at least once or twice a month. Checking the demographics of the respondents reveals an over-sampling of Democrats to Republicans, so the prayer and attendance percentages might be slightly understated.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Nearly 200 House Dems Now Support Bill Outlawing All New Semiautomatic Weapons. “Showing absolutely no clue what she’s talking about, Florida Democrat Frederica Wilson told The Hill on Wednesday, ‘Assault weapons were designed for one purpose: to kill people in war. Ordinary citizens should not own or have access to assault weapons.’ A .22 target pistol is now an ‘assault weapon.’ Good to know, Congresscritter!”
Read the whole thing, if you don’t mind me saying so myself.
THE POWERLINE SPOTLIGHT STAYS ON ILHAN OMAR: And well it should, for the mainstream media would rather ignore her crimes. Scott Johnson aptly describes her technique for deflecting questions: “…her modus operandi has consisted of nonresponse responses combined with imputations of bigotry.” Why of course — she attempts to intimidate and silence legitimate questions and discussion.
DEEP BACKGROUND FOR DEALING WITH AUTHORITARIAN CROOKS: For two weeks I’ve meant to link to this essay by Scott, titled “No Apology for Raymond Sebond.” It’s a very well-informed essay on free speech and the threat of leftist thought control.
IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN DEMOCRATS MAKE RACIST COMMENTS BECAUSE SHUT UP: Sen. Tim Scott Wants to Know Where’s the Outrage Over ‘Coon Flakes’ Comment Against GOP Black Kentucky AG Candidate.
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Max Boot’s Dishonesty. “Such as it is, Boot’s newfound modus operandi works as follows: First, he scans entirely innocuous pieces for sentences that he can willfully misconstrue; second, he presents those misconstrued sentences as evidence of a deeper flaw with a person or outlet or institution; and, finally, he submits the conclusions he has drawn as confirmation of why he, Max Boot, convert to truth and light, is on the Right Side of History. Because Twitter is an echo chamber and the Post is one-tracked, he does this safe in the knowledge that those whom his mendacity incites to outrage will never read the primary sources he is corrupting — and that, if they do, they will never comprehend them.”
Ouch.
Read the whole thing.
ALSO: Max Boot Hits Bottom, Tunnels Down to the Hollow Earth, Falls, Somehow Keeps Digging.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, UNIVERSITIES AS CESSPITS OF SEXISM EDITION: ‘Gender stereotypes’: Judge rules Harvard sanctions on single-sex clubs may violate Title IX.
HEY, BIG SPENDER: AOC ‘Quit’ Facebook in April, Spent $480,000 on Ads in 90 Days. “Torrid pace of Facebook fundraising blows past some presidential campaigns.”
Political advertising data from Facebook spanning the last 30 days shows Ocasio-Cortez spent over $130,000 on the social media network, almost all of it seeking campaign contributions, and currently has 490 active advertisements.
That level of spending made her the 47th biggest spender on Facebook in the last month, pushing her past some Democratic presidential candidates such as California senator Kamala Harris, who spent about $124,000 and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, who spent a little more than $123,000.
Data from the last 90 days shows the AOC campaign was just shy of spending $480,000 with Facebook.
FLASHBACK: Only Ten of AOC’s Constituents Are Donors to Her Election.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, UNIVERSITIES AS CESSPITS OF RACISM EDITION: UT-Austin instructor doubles down on claim that Republicans want ‘ethnic cleansing.’
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: RESET DAY – Beto’s Back to Bore Us. “At least seventeen people in America feel like it’s Christmas today. Robert Francis Cassandra Mai-Lin ‘Beto’ O’Rourke is going to ‘reset’ his campaign and let us know what he’s really all about because, you know, the poor guy has gotten hardly any media attention.”
ARMORED VEHICLE FIRING FROM THE SHIP DECK: Marines assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) fire a Light Armored Vehicle’s M242 Bushmaster 25mm chain gun from the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. They are participating in a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force drill. The armored vehicle’s 25mm chain gun can be an effective weapon when defending against small boat attacks (like those favored by Iran in the Persian Gulf).
RELATED: A post from 2017 discussing Iranian small boat “swarm” tactics. The post focuses on the USAF A-10 as an anti-swarm weapon, but mentions the Navy is putting more 25mm autocannons and .50 caliber machine guns aboard its ships.
ROGER SIMON’S CENTER-COURT STAR: The New Criterion reviews Roger’s new book, The GOAT.
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