Archive for 2020
February 11, 2020
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: The coronavirus has killed hundreds, but is China giving us the full picture?
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Let’s Stop Calling Them Never Trump ‘Republicans.’ “The Nevers aren’t a resistance movement, they’re a statistical gnat, continually being swatted away by reality.”
THINK OF IT AS A TWO-WEEK RESEARCH LEAVE: Evacuated From Wuhan, Law Prof Works On Her Law Review Article During 14-Day Mandatory Coronavirus Quarantine.
THE NAVY PLANS TO RETIRE THE FIRST FOUR LITTORAL COMBAT SHIPS: “…the oldest of the vessels was commissioned just 12 years ago, the youngest a mere six years ago.” Why retire relatively new ships? Too many “troublesome” problems. Here’s StrategyPage’s take from 2019, a “Leadership” post entitled “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time.”
The U.S. Navy is trying to salvage what it can from its ambitious but poorly implemented “Littoral Combat Ship” (LCS) program…From the beginning, there were two different LCS designs and some of both were built and put into service. Problems were encountered and that was expected. The much smaller crew required some changes in how a crew ran a ship and how many sailors and civilians were required back on land to support a LCS at sea. It was found that the interchangeable mission modules take far longer (2-3 days instead of 2-3 hours) to replace. The LCS has still not seen combat and the Navy wants the first violent encounter to be successful, or at least not disastrous. It is expected that there will be surprises, which is about all that can be guaranteed at this point.
Scroll down:
In the last few years, the LCS design has been found to have structural and other flaws. The first LCS, the monohull USS Freedom, entered service in 2008 and over the next five years suffered major problems.
The StrategyPage post suggests the LCS might (might) make it as a mine warfare ship and might be able to hunt diesel-electric enemy subs in “coastal waters.” But that was 2019.
In 2017 I weighed in on the Navy’s need for a new blue water frigate and the need to “get a ship designed to do the job.” This is a photo of a U.S. Coast Guard Legend-class National Security Cutter, the USCGC Bertholf. Several Navy officers have argued that a more robust variant of this ship would be a cost-effective solution to the Navy’s frigate problem.
Here’s a photo of the LCS USS Coronado on patrol. The ship is an Independence-class LCS variant. Here’s the USS Freedom, obviously a Freedom-class variant. Pretty pictures? Sure, but the LCS program is not a pretty picture.
CORRUPTION OF BLOOD IS THE IN THING NOW: Census Records: Pete Buttigieg’s Ancestor Owned Slaves On Native American-Ceded Land.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Democrats Achieve Total Buzz Kill in New Hampshire.
“I support impeaching (Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett) Kavanaugh,” fumed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“I’ll be damned if I’ll lose this election to this guy (Trump),” shouted former Vice President Joe Biden. “He doesn’t have a shred of decency in him.” Sometimes the Democrats’ fury is just directed in any old direction. When a young woman asked Biden whether his poor Iowa showing was a bad sign, he inexplicably called her “a lying, dog-faced pony soldier,” whatever that means.
This has been going on the entire primary season. Beto O’Rourke’s campaign sold t-shirts simply saying, “This is F—-d Up.” The former Texas congressman was so fond of that expletive that Politico published a story asking, apparently without irony, “Can the F-Bomb Save Beto?”
His fellow Texan, Julián Castro, must have noticed. In an appearance last spring on Bill Maher’s HBO show and he dropped two “bulls—s.” He used it on NPR, too, which struck his interviewer as inappropriate, but by then Cory Booker was spreading b.s. himself.
If they were doing any of this to be funny, that would be one thing. But these Democrats are all serious, all of the time. They are on a mission for change that doesn’t allow for the light touch.
Meanwhile, Trump always looks like he’s having the time of his life when he’s on the campaign trail.
THREE YEARS LATE: Bigger than Vindman: Trump scrubs 70 Obama holdovers from NSC.
AT AMAZON, Deal of the Day, Friends: The Complete Series Collection (25th Anniversary/Repackaged/DVD).
GERMANY: Merkel’s Chosen Successor Steps Aside. The Far Right Cries Victory. “Far right.” But if Germany is in “deep disarray,” it’s because Angela Merkel got it that way with a succession of destructive policies that might almost have been calculated to deliberately weaken and divide the nation.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Tuesday briefing: Two-thirds of people might catch coronavirus – expert.
Coronavirus death toll surges as fears grow for Chinese economy.
Under Armour sees hit from coronavirus, forecasts surprise fall in 2020 sales.
UK scientist working on a coronavirus vaccine says fast-tracking still means at least one year.
The First Signs Are Emerging That China’s Coronavirus Containment Could Be Working.
Coronavirus fears: Cruise ship rejected by four nations runs out of options.
Coronavirus: The 8 big questions that scientists are asking.
Indonesia says nothing to hide after no coronavirus cases detected.
WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUCH A CESSPIT OF ANTISEMITISM? Valerie Plame Accepts More Campaign Donations From Prominent Holocaust Denier.
LTG MIKE FLYNN’S SENTENCING DELAYED — AGAIN: Powerline’s Scott Johnson stays on the sordid story of the man set up by dirty cops Comey and McCabe. There’ve been a lot of courtroom twists and turns. So stay tuned.
COME ON, WHO’S REALLY SURPRISED? ‘TECHNOCRATIC RACISM’: Bloomberg Allegedly Advocates For Targeting Minorities In Explosive Audio.
THIS IS WHAT HAS DEMOCRATS SO UPSET: Clarence Henderson: President Donald Trump has ended the era of broken promises by delivering real results for African Americans.