I’VE BEEN WARNING ABOUT THIS FOR YEARS: Warning: Poor protection of electric grid ‘jeopardize the survival of US.’

Inadequate protection of the national electric grid, a key concern of President Trump, threatens the “survival of the United States,” a key defense task force warned on Tuesday.

Stepping up its concerns that the energy industry isn’t taking the threat of attack seriously enough, the task force called on a new focus to protecting the electric grid.

In a memo, the Electromagnetic Defense Task Force ripped an industry report that said an attack on the grid, either from a high-altitude terrorist nuclear explosion or solar hit, would be “moderate” based on its testing and modeling.

The Task Force said that the Electric Power Research Institute used outdated information and ignored key evidence that suggest an attack would lead to a massive blackout, or worse.

Air Force Maj. David Stuckenberg, the spokesperson for the Electromagnetic Defense Task Force, told Secrets that EMP experts believe the industry report downplays the threat.

“The EPRI report, if used to inform national bulk power standards could potentially jeopardize the survival of the United States under the right set of conditions presented by mother nature or an adversary,” he said.

But an EPRI spokesman said the group is confident in its assessment in its three-year survey and final report.

“EPRI stands behind our EMP research results, and welcomes technical debates that are supported by science, facts and data,” said Randy Horton, EMP project manager at the Electric Power Research Institute. “Our conclusions were reached after three years of extensive laboratory testing and analysis of potential EMP impacts on the electric transmission system.”

I hope that EPRI is right, but I suspect they’re complacent. And I don’t want to live in a William Forstchen novel.

WELL, WE’VE NEVER DONE DRAWING AND QUARTERING IN THIS COUNTRY. Andrew McCarthy: What Is Justice For McCabe?

BRENDAN O’NEILL ON FACEBOOK: “Love being called a fascist by people who want to overthrow the largest act of democracy in UK history, who cheer the imprisonment of people who say offensive things, and who welcome the deaths of elderly people on the basis that they are politically backward and therefore surplus to requirements.”

CHINA KEEPS TRYING TO TAMP THIS DOWN: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong arrested ahead of planned rally.

LOOKS LIKE MY NEXT DRUNKBLOGGING APPOINTMENT IS SCHEDULED: Truly Bizarre: CNN Plan For Dems Climate Change Town Hall.

The thing will run for seven hours, but I know how to pace myself.

THE PRESS SWOONED, OF COURSE: Army Major violates Hatch Act, endorses Biden at town hall … in uniform.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF THANKS THE LEFT: How I learned to stop worrying about Brexit and love Trump.

I still can’t describe myself as a Trump fan (too much about his personality, temperament and policies jars with me) or a do-or-die Brexiter – as a Polish-Australian dual citizen, my interest in American and British politics is academic rather than deeply personal – but to the extent that I now see myself as pro-Trump (or not anti-Trump) and pro-Brexit (or not anti-Brexit) is largely thanks to the good work done over the past few years by the left in pushing an agnostic like me in the direction of religion.

So, thank you, dear left, for your utter disdain for democratic process and for your absolutely batshit crazy, foaming-at-the-mouth, hysterical and hyperbolic consistent daily (over)reaction to Trump and Leave. You just don’t know when to stop, do you?

To say that the left are bad losers is a major understatement.

Related:

NEW YORK SUN: It Seems Trump Was Right To Fire James Comey. Ya think?

The most important point to draw from the Justice Department’s report on James Comey is that President Trump was right to cashier him as director of the FBI. The department declined to prosecute the ex-director. The department’s inspector general made clear, though, that Mr. Comey lacks the judgment to safeguard the kind of sensitive information that the bureau needs to keep safe in order to properly “dispatch” its duties.

That strikes us as devastating. The report focuses on Mr. Comey’s sharing of sensitive memos with persons outside the department, among them his lawyers. He shared some with a friend for onpassing to the New York Times. The IG found Mr. Comey at times failed “to immediately alert the FBI to the unauthorized disclosure of classified information” and was less than completely forthcoming in testimony to the Senate.

Mr. Comey, the IG report concludes, set a “dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees” and thousands of former ones who “similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.” He should have adhered to Department and FBI policies if he wanted a special counsel appointed. Instead he disclosed sensitive investigative information “in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”

The IG report brushed aside Mr. Comey’s claims that he acted out of love for America, the Department, and the FBI. If others behaved the way Mr. Comey did, the report said, the FBI couldn’t properly carry out its duties. Mr. Comey reacted today with a lack of contrition. “I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me,” he Twittered, “but a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice.”

Mr. Comey shouldn’t wait up for The New York Sun. We’re completely comfortable with our own concerns about Mr. Comey, which are sketched in number of editorials about him in various jobs going back 15 years or more. They include, among others, “James Comey’s Chutzpah,” “Comey’s Original Sin,” and “Comey’s Overreach.” All our concerns echo in the latest report.

Which, the Inspector General notes, is the second IG report to have faulted Mr. Comey. The earlier one, issued last year, dealt with the FBI’s investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails and related matters during the 2016 election. It found that Mr. Comey was insubordinate in concealing from the Justice Department his intentions in announcing that the FBI wouldn’t recommend charges against Mrs. Clinton.

His smarmy act has failed to conceal that he’s a sanctimonious prick. Make that a sanctimonious, dishonest, basically corrupt prick, who subordinated his duty to his country to selfish and shallow political and personal motives. He is a disgrace, and it’s a disgrace that he’s so far escaped prosecution.

BLUE ON BLUE OVER BLUE ON BLUE: Jeffrey Epstein Conspiracy: Bernie Sanders Supporters Say Murder, Elizabeth Warren Fans Say Suicide in New Poll.

Newsweek, so click at your own risk — but who feels the need to poll on this stuff?

DEMOCRATIC CLOWN CAR UPDATE: Heartbreak: Bill de Blasio Fails to Qualify for Third Democratic Debate, But Struggling Campaign Presses On.

HMM: Trump can change history by declassifying three Obama-era documents.

A second body of documents crying out for declassification is Obama’s private correspondence with Iranian leaders — in particular, the Oct. 7, 2014, cable he penned to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, setting the terms for the controversial Washington-Tehran nuclear deal reached in early 2016.

My sources tell me that letter conflicts with what the Obama administration was telling the American public as it tried to sell the deal politically, and it shows a level of courtship, concession and trust with Tehran that exceeded the U.S. intelligence assessments at the time.

For example, my sources tell me that Obama promised Iran it could have a “domestic enrichment capacity” and that Tehran could be restored to a nation “in good standing” under the world’s nuclear non-proliferation treaty, even though U.S. intelligence had corroborated an extensive weapons program that violated that treaty for years.

The 2014 letter was preceded by at least three other private communications between Obama and officials in Tehran, including two in 2009 and one in 2012. All need to be declassified and released for Americans to better understand the merits of Obama’s approach with Iran.

Trump since has canceled the 2016 deal with Iran and imposed crippling new sanctions. But the true circumstances, promises and communications that led to the deal remain secret. The American public has much to gain from more transparency on this critical issue affecting world peace.

Two more items at the link, and… Well, Mr. President?

THE CASE FOR UNILATERAL FREE TRADE. I dunno, I think it sometimes needs a little encouragement.

YES, BUT IT’S OKAY WHEN LEFTIES DO IT BECAUSE SHUT UP: This Greta Thunberg thing is child abuse.

BECAUSE AT THIS POINT, WHY NOT? Northam Says He Didn’t Ask Appointee to Resign Over Anti-Catholic Tweets, Signals She Could Have Stayed in Job.

FROM GEORGE KORDA, A REMINDER: It used to be unsafe for U.S. soldiers to travel alone in America.

I was in an Atlanta airport concourse the other day when the place erupted in cheers.

There was nothing on the TVs of special note. A moment earlier everyone seemed to be doing what people do in an airport concourse, stand around hoping their plane leaves on time.

Then, I saw the reason for the applause. A group of U.S. military service members was walking through the concourse. As people noticed them, they cheered and applauded, causing more people to notice, with more cheering and applause.

How times have changed. In a good way. It used to be much different, and not that long ago.

One evening in Dec. 1974, shortly after leaving Ft. Benning, in Columbus, Georgia, for my new assignment at the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, U.S. Army, Europe headquarters, a bunch of us, enlisted men, were sitting around and talking in someone’s barracks room. Doug, a short-timer about to get out of the Army, said he couldn’t wait to get back to the U.S. because, he said, “There are a lot of Germans who hate American soldiers.”

Reflecting on this, I said, “Doug, you can walk down any American street and run into a lot of Americans who hate American soldiers.”

The room became quiet. Some nodded. We all knew it to be true, but there was nothing we could do about it.

Read the whole thing.

THE KIDS AREN’T ALL RIGHT.  ALTHOUGH I HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT THE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY, THE SHEER AMOUNT OF CLIMATE PROPAGANDA PUSHED PROBABLY EXCEEDS THAT DEPLOYED IN WWII. NOT TO MENTION COULD DO MORE DAMAGE TO OUR COUNTRY THAN THE ENEMY IN WWII:  Survey reveals a surge in young Republicans worried about environment.

THAT STRIKES ME AS INADVISABLE:  Beekeeper turns honey-stealing bears into taste testers.

BOY! I BET THEY’RE THE ONLY RETAILER WHO TRIES THIS! NOT!!!  Amazon tactic pushes shoppers to its own brand before clicking ‘buy’.

THIS IS YOUR MIND ON TOTALITARIAN THINKING. BECAUSE IDIOT CAN TALK IN PUBLIC, IDIOTS THINK WE PAY ATTENTION TO HER.  OR SOMETHING:  Chinese State Media Cites Taylor Swift in Attack on Donald Trump.  Hey, China, we have more idiots jawing about things they don’t understand over here than we can shake a really big stick at. Which is what makes us better than you. Under our system, we don’t have to listen to one set of idiots and believe everything they say.

MINDLESS IS RIGHT. IDIOT LEFT THROUGH AN EMERGENCY EXIT INSTEAD OF GOING THROUGH PASSPORT CONTROL:  Man’s mindless mistake causes mass cancellations at Munich airport.

COMEY OWES THIS COUNTRY AN APOLOGY. CONSIDERING HIS ARROGANT AND SMIRKING MALFEASANCE AND CURRENT DOUBLING DOWN UPON IT, WE MIGHT ACCEPT IT, IF HE CRAWLS ON HIS KNEES, NAKED, THE LENGTH OF THE MALL.  MAYBE. SCOURGING OPTIONAL, BUT HE MIGHT ENJOY IT WAY TOO MUCH AND WE’RE NOT HERE FOR HIS ENTERTAINMENT:  Inspector General’s Comey Report Shows Misconduct.

YES, AND?   Democrat Staffers Barred From Border Facility For Bad Behavior.

THEY ARE TRYING TO CAUSE CONFUSION, STRIFE AND CHAOS. AND THEN THE PRESS TAKES OFFENSE AT BEING CALLED “ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE.” WELL! IF THE KOMISSAR OUTFIT FITS, WEAR IT: Misinformation Aimed at Military Families.

These children of Goebbels take after their father.