Archive for 2019
June 21, 2019
CALIFORNIA UNPLUGGED: Jim Meigs writes about the “planned blackouts” that are coming. “Many California residents—especially retirees—are drawn to rural areas by the natural beauty. Who wouldn’t want to live in the Sierra foothills? But many also move to escape soaring housing costs in the state’s notoriously anti-development major cities. More people inhabiting the wildland-urban interface means more lives and structures placed at risk. As a result, today’s routine fires cause even more damage than those in the past.”
My advice: Move. Or buy a generator.
BUT OF COURSE: More baby boomers opting for cosmetic surgery. “If we were having this conversation in the year 2000, we would only be talking about surgery. Now we have minimally invasive and even nonsurgical techniques available to us.”
ROSIAK EXPOSES ANOTHER HILL COMPUTER OUTRAGE: The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Luke Rosiak busted Pakistani computer rogue Imran Awan in 2017, and now he’s peeling back the layers of deception, deceit and denial in yet another Hill IT scandal.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) is a former CIA agent and freshman congressman, who hired Samantha DeForst-Davis, accomplice to convicted felon Jackson Cosko, the former Senate IT aide behind what federal prosecutors called “the largest data theft in Senate history.”
“Spanberger’s spokesman Connor Joseph did not respond to a request to explain whether the congresswoman’s office called anyone in the Senate to get a job reference and why her central Virginia constituents should trust that her office safeguards their personal data,” Rosiak reports today.
“Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki did not respond to a request to explain why it did not alert Spanberger that the House’s newest pending hire was a suspect in an ongoing criminal investigation. Spanberger is a member of the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which deals with information of interest to America’s adversaries,” Rosiak writes.
If you haven’t already got it, be sure and get your hands on a copy of Rosiak’s “Obstruction of Justice,” his detailed account of how he broke open the Awan outrage. Just click on the Shop Amazon button above.
AN INTERVIEW WITH MY OLD DIVE INSTRUCTOR, Liz Parkinson, who’s now working with James Cameron.
UPDATE: People want more Liz Parkinson pics, visit her Instagram.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Ilhan Omar agrees with AOC on America running “concentration camps.”
As Glenn has noted, “getting Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Omar elected was Roger Stone’s finest dirty trick.”
INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: Louisiana Hair Braiders File Lawsuit to Untangle State’s Unnecessary Braiding License.
Lynn Schofield, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, experienced firsthand the harms of Louisiana’s unnecessary red tape. She moved to Louisiana in 2000 and opened Afro Touch, the state’s first salon dedicated solely to hair braiding. It was so successful, she expanded her business to four locations with more than 20 employees. But that all changed in 2003 when the Board created the braiding license. Braiding without a license is punishable by fines of up to $5,000 per incident. Unable to fully staff her salons, Lynn could no longer expand her business, and instead was forced to shut down salons.
“I want to grow my business, but it’s impossible with Louisiana’s rules,” Lynn said. Today, only one salon remains.
“It is unconstitutional to license something as safe and common as hair braiding,” said IJ Attorney Jaimie Cavanaugh. “Economic liberty—or the right to earn a living in the profession of one’s choosing—is a right protected by the Louisiana Constitution.”
More like this, please.
DAN MARKEL UPDATE: Dan Markel Murder Suspects To Stand Trial On Sept. 23.
ATTENTION, SNOPES: THIS IS SATIRE. But is it really? Ocasio-Cortez Gets Head Stuck In Bucket, Journalists Rush To Explain Why It Was Actually A Genius Move.
AT AMAZON, save on Office Supplies.
CONDI RICE SHUTS DOWN NBC CLAIM RACE RELATIONS ‘WORSE’ UNDER TRUMP:
“There are people who will say it feels worse now when we’re talking about race, or it just feels like a divisive environment,” [NBC’s Sheinelle Jones] claimed. Rice completely dismantled the premise: “Look, it sure doesn’t feel worse than when I grew up in Jim Crow Alabama, okay? So let’s drop this notion that we’re worse race relations today than we were in the past.”
“There are people” = Good Ol. Mr. Somesay. And as one person noted on Twitter, “Don’t play the ‘race relations are getting worse’ card with a woman who lost a childhood friend in the Birmingham church bombing. She lived through real, actual trauma.”
PEOPLE ARE EXPECTING AN EARTHSHATTERING KABOOM: Poll: Americans Want NASA To Focus More On Asteroid Impacts, Less On Getting To Mars. Of course, if you want to build capabilities for dealing with dangerous asteroids, asteroid mining should be the technology we prioritize, because there’s a lot of crossover there.
SAD: Cuba Ration Lines Grow Tense as Economy Flails. “On island hit by U.S. sanctions and Venezuela downturn, Cubans flash back to post-Soviet hardships.”
Pushed by the implosion of top ally Venezuela and sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, Cuba has driven into an economic ditch. The government has tightened state rations. Residents stand in lines for hours to buy scarce basic goods such as eggs, flour and chicken.
For many Cubans, ration lines and ostrich farms recall the grim “Special Period” in the 1990s after the collapse of its benefactor, the Soviet Union. As the Communist-run island endured near famine conditions, residents devoured cats and fried “steaks” made of breaded grapefruit rind.
“We are starting to go into a new special period,” said Osmary Armas, 45, who owns a neoclassical mansion turned bed-and-breakfast that has been largely bereft of U.S. visitors in recent months. “Things are very bad.”
For years, American officials made no secret of their belief that if the U.S. turned the economic screws, the Cuban government would be forced out. But the Cuban regime has had nearly six decades of experience defying the U.S., administering scarcity and dishing out repression.
Cuba’s police state is intact. The government has scant opposition, and commands the loyalties of many.
Is there so little opposition because the Castroite police state is so effective, because people have been conditioned to believe that scarcity is normal, or is this a time to embrace the healing power of “and?”
HONG KONG SEA PARTS; MOSES UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: World attention has been garnered by those massive protests in Hong Kong of an extradition bill that would result in residents accused of crimes being shipped to mainland China for trial.
A major factor in the protests is Christianity, thanks to both Catholic and Protestant groups, so much so that, as HillFaith points out, even the New York Times has noticed. Be advised, Beijing: The world is watching. And a lot of us remember this. And this. Berlin Fang remembers because he was there.
I’M NOT SURPRISED: Study: Healthcare workers with colds, flu go to work anyway.
FOR SALE: A hovercraft built to look just like a DeLorean.
Doc Emmett Brown smiles.
BAN ALL THE THINGS! San Francisco Bans Vaping for Some Reason.
When you hear the name “San Francisco,” what images come to mind? A cable car? A box of Rice-A-Roni? The TransAmerica Pyramid? A homeless heroin addict defecating in the street?
It’s none of those things, of course. “San Francisco” has now become synonymous with “Teenagers addicted to vaping.” It’s definitely the city’s #1 problem. The good news is that they’re finally doing something about it.
Finally. Leftist utopia is just a banned product away…
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: It’s Another Florida Man Friday.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Trump, Senators Have Been Briefed on UFO Sightings.
InstaPundit readers, of course, already know the score.
NEWS YOU CAN USE? Everything You Need To Know About the Chinese Military If You Don’t Read Chinese. “The Pentagon has released three very detailed reports this year on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. They are exceptional sources at a critical time in the modernization of China’s military.”