Archive for 2020

THE L.A. TIMES: RNC speakers paint California as a dangerous dystopia.

Speakers at the Republican National Convention turned California into a dystopian punchline on Monday, portraying America’s most populous state as a dangerous wasteland ruled by liberal politicians who are oblivious to public safety.

Well, yes. Where’s the lie?

SEEN ON FACEBOOK: “U.S. politics aren’t Rich vs. Poor. It’s the (economic & cultural) Upper Class weaponizing the Poor against the Middle Class.”

OOPS: Bridgefy, the messenger promoted for mass protests, is a privacy disaster. “Though it is advertised as ‘safe’ and ‘private’ and its creators claimed it was secured by end-to-end encryption, none of aforementioned use cases can be considered as taking place in adversarial environments such as situations of civil unrest where attempts to subvert the application’s security are not merely possible, but to be expected, and where such attacks can have harsh consequences for its users. Despite this, the Bridgefy developers advertise the app for such scenarios and media reports suggest the application is indeed relied upon.”

WOMEN ARE UNLIKELY TO GET AN UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS PREFERENCE IF PROPOSITION 209 IS REPEALED:  I’m told that one of the arguments that polls best for the repeal effort in California is that it will help women get into college.  Perhaps I should point out that women aren’t having any difficulty getting into college.  They are “over-repressented” and a repeal of Proposition 209 will not result in general preferences for women at the undergraduate admissions level.  It may even result in a preference for men.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Wolves and lots of people don’t mix.

Wolves and the rapid urbanization and exploding population of Colorado could test all of us to our limits. Ranchers already deal with a more crowded world on a daily basis, moving cattle on public roads and sharing trails with bikers and hikers. Nothing will hold back the tide of people moving to the Western Slope or the recreationalists escaping the Front Range.

Adding wolves to this crowded landscape could harm elk and deer populations. Mule deer have been declining since the 1970s. There have been serious declines in the elk cow/calf ratio in Southwestern Colorado, concerning Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Wolves prey on elk. As such, wolf reintroduction should not take place until studies, specific to western Colorado, can assess if deer and elk can survive the combined threats of wolves and humans, prior to a vote on reintroduction.

We have learned to coexist with bears, mountain lions, and coyotes, but even with coexistence strategies, wolves will be more challenging. Over time, wolves may colonize the entire state affecting many ranchers. Wolves could push us to the breaking point. As ranchers sell out, songbirds, raptors, and small mammals lose their homes. There is less local agriculture and important wildlife corridors are lost, further stressing elk and deer.

Wolf reintroduction is about driving out conservative ranchers.

SORRY, SEINFELD: Your love of NYC won’t change the facts about its crisis.

My mother agrees with him.

I appreciate that Seinfeld is also concerned enough about the city to write a rebuttal. But there’s denial, and there’s reality. Denial won’t help anything. Failing to address problems won’t save Gotham.

We all get it. New York has “grit.” I lived three blocks from Ground Zero on 9/11. I lived on Wall Street during the financial crisis and Great Recession. I was optimistic then. But let’s look at the facts — again:

Order a bagel at Monk’s Café and read the whole thing.

IT’S ALWAYS PROJECTION: In an exclusive story, JustTheNews is reporting that the very same RUSSIAN (!) who was identified as an “intelligence risk” in contacting the Trump team was himself a verified asset during the Obama Administration documents show:

“[T]he State Department and its Kiev embassy were routinely trading information with a man the Senate report now portrays as an asset of a hostile foreign power during a time when Biden, now the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, oversaw Ukrainian policy for the Obama administration.”

I wish I could say that I’m surprised…but I’m not.