Archive for 2022
April 17, 2022
OPEN THREAD: Your demons will wither away.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China and Russia Are Catching Up to U.S. in Space Capabilities, Pentagon Warns.
TODAY’S INSTALLMENT IN THE FEINSTEIN COUNTDOWN: “Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, a reliable barometer of certified liberal opinion inside the Beltway, has a column up about the matter of Dianne Feinstein, which even a careless reader can make out as another loud note in chorus of coordinated voices that has determined that Feinstein needs to be forced from office…we have to wonder whether this effort to drive Feinstein from office is a dry run for how the left will try to remove President Biden at some point soon.”
Flashback: The Democratic Party’s Ice Floe Politics: “The next time a Democratic politician makes an anonymous observation about the age or vigor of a colleague with whom they disagree, be skeptical. The remarks are made to reporters as if in sorrow, but the message is about as subtle as a shiv in the prison yard.”
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Loose Nuke Talk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently boasted of possibly using nukes against both Ukraine, and, more ominously, those NATO countries who aided Kyiv. In response, French President Emmanuel Macron reminded Russia that NATO itself has an ample nuclear deterrent.
In theory, should NATO and the U.S. supply Ukraine tanks, artillery, and planes, the fierce Ukrainians could push the entire Russian army entirely out of their country. But would a nuclear Putin allow that?
Over the last few weeks nuclear talk has arisen over a myriad of issues. If the war continues to go badly for Russia, at what point will a seemingly erratic Putin begin issuing nuclear redlines to Ukraine and its allies?
Would a crushing defeat push over the edge a nuclear trash-talking Putin — facing the possible end of his regime?
Ukraine nuke talk spins off into lots of other places. Nuclear North Korea is resuming its ballistic missile launches to intimidate non-nuclear South Korea and Japan. China is rapidly expanding its nuclear stockpiles and now talks openly of ending a free Taiwan, warning Taiwan’s friends and allies to keep out — or else.
Iran promises to become nuclear soon. Nuclear Russia has assumed the role of interlocutor of all discussions to restart a new nuclear “Iran deal.”
Russia controls Syrian airspace. In theory, Putin could stop nuclear Israel either from replying to terrorist attacks emanating from Syria, or from staging a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear bomb facilities.
Suddenly newspapers and blogs seemed fixated on hyping the relative stockpiles and megatonnage of various nuclear states, as if they were just GDP or energy output data.
Listen Sug — don’t forget to say your prayers. And remember to socially distance in the fallout shelter*:
Here’s a link to the referenced document if you want to see it for yourself.
Flashback: The Unexpected Return of Duck and Cover.
* Note that Twitter management has already nuked Libs of Tik Tok.
JUST IN TIME FOR EASTER AND PASSOVER, FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: In This Time of War, I Propose We Give Up God.
APPARENTLY BOTH THE INVISIBLE MAN AND THE FLASH WERE ON STAGE BEHIND HIM: ‘Fact Checkers’ Claim Biden Wasn’t ‘Shaking Hands With Thin Air.’ Oh, Really?
Denny Mitchell couldn’t believe he tested positive for the coronavirus in January.
The 45-year-old from Houston never left the house without his mask, he avoided indoor dining at all costs, and most important, he was fully vaccinated. But he still got sick.
“I was surprised because I was taking so many precautions,” he said.
It’s no longer unusual to hear of someone getting COVID-19 even though they’re fully vaccinated and boosted. Yet, many Americans are still shocked when it happens to them.
That’s because they’ve been fed a religion, not science.
Sad news to report. We may not have Brian Stelter to kick around much longer. After the Warner Brothers/Discovery merger, there was a focus on what partisan crap CNN has become. One of the people who makes CNN the least trusted name in news entertainment is our favorite genderless Potato head content creator Brian Stelter. Rumor has it his days are numbered. At least, according to reporter Jon Nicosia.
Nicosia’s past credentials include Mediaite and Washington Examiner. His sources are the ones breaking the bad news, stating Discovery management “very much considers him a Zucker henchman and embarrassment” and believes he is “a negative partisan lighting rod and distraction going forward.”
Stelter will then be free at least to pursue his dream job: Becoming a “senior fellow” at Media Matters.
LET’S DO IT FOR CIVILIANS, TOO: Pentagon to build nuclear microreactors to power far-flung bases.
XI’S AFRAID OF A COUP: Something Is Rotten In The State Of Shanghai’s Latest COVID Lockdowns. “Make no doubt about it, there’s something seriously disturbing about the state of the recent Covid lockdowns taking place in Shanghai. Even for China.”
MORE RECIPES: Chris Shepherd’s Texas Chili. An easy recipe.
Some people would say it’s not chili season. I say it’s always chili season.
HMM: The Curious Case of Claudine Gay: She is the common thread in the Epstein, Weinstein, Dominguez, Enos, and Fryer scandals. Lots of anonymous quotes here, but also some damaging on the record stuff.
BE PREPARED: Paper Shredder,VidaTeco 8-Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder with US Patented Cutter. #CommissionEarned
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Michigan kindergartener brings Jose Cuervo margaritas to snack time, made students ‘woozy.’
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s ‘space dream’: A Long March to the Moon and beyond.
I’M SO OLD, I CAN REMEMBER WHEN BILL KRISTOL WAS STILL CONSERVATIVE: Big Government Advocate Bill Kristol Calls For Tax Hikes on The Rich.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Live in bliss by tuning out news stories you’re tired of hearing about.
HOW PHILLY’S MAYOR IS HELPING REPUBLICANS WIN THE MIDTERMS: “In Philadelphia, which is as blue as a blue city gets, there’s grumbling. Many of my clients who abided by the mask rules in the past may now ignore them. A few doctors I know — doctors! — are at loss to explain the rationale. You can see their irritation and hear it in the voices of the morning news team when they interviewed the city’s health commissioner — and these people are paid to be cheery! And yet the mayor and his party refuse to see what’s happening. Despite this very weak variant, we’ll likely see continued mask mandates on planes. Their media will continue to demand more mandates. They think they are saving lives, but they’re destroying so many others. And they think their actions are what people want. People — even many in their own party — don’t want this. And everything they do only helps Republicans. How do I know this? Just wait until November.”
ANSWERS TO THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why the Ukraine War Hasn’t Crashed the Stock Market.
To paraphrase JP Morgan banker Jamie Dimon’s advice to investors and analysts this week, everything looks pretty good except the possibility that something really bad could happen.
The stock market, so far, has largely recapitulated its pattern from past wars: sell the rumor, buy the news. The S&P 500 hit a recent low on Feb. 23, the day before Russia’s invasion. It’s up 167 points since then.
A Canadian fund manager made news by advising his investors to keep buying stocks because in an all-out nuclear war their portfolio allocation would be irrelevant anyway. Looking back and trying to explain a modest 7% drop during the Cuban missile crisis, economists reached for a similar explanation: There’s no point discounting a worst-case outcome because nobody will be around to benefit from a wise investment decision.
Fritz Todt, who built the autobahn, told Hitler in November 1941 the war could not be won and must be ended politically. Hitler responded: “I can scarcely still see a way of coming politically to an end.”
The führer was talking his book. Negotiated endings are always on the cards, as they now could be for Vladimir Putin. There was no “existential” risk for Germany. Even under the rigorous terms actually imposed—unconditional surrender—Germany survived and quickly was on its way to becoming the leading state in Europe. The “existential” risk belonged to Hitler; under any settlement that might be envisaged, he would have had to leave power and accept accountability for his crimes.
Mr. Putin, in astonishingly short order, has turned his Ukraine lark into a similar risk not for Russia but for Mr. Putin.
In the interim, though: Zelensky warns the world to ‘prepare’ for Putin to unleash a nuclear attack. “‘Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,’ [CIA Director William Burns] said during a speech last Thursday at Georgia Tech University.”
WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON PUTIN: The Department Of Defense Just Released An “Equity Action Plan” And I’m Sure This Is Probably The Most Important Thing For Our Military To Focus On Right Now.
If that news doesn’t have him trembling in the Kremlin, this ought to do it: Julian Lennon sings John’s ‘Imagine’ for first time ever in Ukraine fundraiser.
In accordance with the prophecy: Putin Withdraws From Ukraine After Celebrities Threaten To Sing ‘Imagine.’
Speaking of which, a flashback: The Babylon Bee made a parody of John Lennon’s “Imagine” about communism and it’s quite simply the greatest thing you’ll see on the internet today: