BACK-DOOR SOCIAL CREDIT SCHEME: The coming federal weaponization of banking. “The largest shake-up in finance since the formation of the Federal Reserve is nearly here. The establishment of a government-backed cryptocurrency is a threat to the freedom of commerce and would give Washington the ability to weaponize banking against political dissent, or even block Americans from accessing their own money altogether.”
Archive for 2022
March 24, 2022
BEST SELLER IN MEN’S JEANS: Levi’s Men’s 505 Regular Fit Jeans. #CommissionEarned
AXIOS: Exclusive poll: Inflation hits Latino support for Democrats. “Getting prices under control is very clearly the number one priority for the majority of Hispanics and Latinos, and it underscores the challenges Biden is facing now.”
Flashback: Dems are losing the multiracial working class on basic lifestyle issues. (Bumped).
DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Mountain lion captured inside Irvine building. “People inside that building were able to scramble to another floor, but the mountain lion had no way of leaving, and a veterinarian was able to get close enough to tranquilize him. . . . Over the weekend, a mountain lion was spotted taking a swim in Lake Mission Viejo after spending some time outside a nearby home. It wasn’t clear if it was the same cougar, but it’s possible given the proximity and timing.”
I GUESS YOU HAVE TO ASK A BIOLOGIST WHICH STANDARDS APPLY TO YOU: Gendered Scoring, No More Leg Tucks: Army Unveils New Fitness Test. Here’s What You Need to Know. To be honest, these don’t seem so hard. I could get 100 on most of these, even without the age adjustment — except the 2 mile run, which I’m not sure I could do in 13, in fact I’m pretty sure I couldn’t — and I’m a (late-) middle-aged law professor. But apparently it’s not just me: “That minimum run time for male soldiers is a minute longer than the previous version of the ACFT that the Army previously trialed, following data showing the run is by far the most failed event for both genders.”
The bigger adjustments were for women:
Steam picked up for Army planners to create a new test around the time when combat arms jobs such as the infantry and cavalry were opened to women in 2015. The force initially sought to create a gender-neutral test and attempted to juggle dueling goals of creating a more inclusive force while also creating a fitter force.
But damning findings from Rand Corp. and concerns over the retention and recruitment of women crushed that ambition. Researchers at Rand found that only 52% of enlisted active-duty women were able to pass the original design for the ACFT, compared to 92% of men in their congressionally mandated study released Wednesday. Only 42% of women in the National Guard and 41% in the Reserve could pass.
Can’t they fix that by just identifying as men? I dunno, I’m not a biologist.
GOODER AND HARDER: LAPD: You probably shouldn’t wear expensive jewelry anymore. “How warped has the world become when we see the police telling people that it’s not safe to simply walk the sidewalks and go about their normal affairs? The police shouldn’t have to sound these sorts of alarms. They should be putting criminals behind bars. But thanks to California’s legislative efforts such as Proposition 47 (hilariously named the ‘Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act’), that’s not as easy as it used to be. Literally tens of thousands of felons had their crimes redefined as misdemeanors and were cut loose from the jails early. For many other criminals that the police somehow manage to catch, they will serve little to no jail time for robberies that would have previously seen them doing a lengthy stretch in the Crowbar Motel.”
APPARENTLY, PUTIN WASN’T THE ONLY ONE TO UNDERESTIMATE HOW WELL THE UKRAINIANS WOULD DO: Weapons for Ukraine’s Fight Against Russia Flow Through Small Polish Border Towns:
Western security officials say their strategy initially envisaged equipping a nascent Ukrainian insurgency—recalling the transfer of weapons to mujahedeen fighters who defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan—that would employ guerrilla tactics against Russian occupiers.
Instead, because Ukraine’s military has managed to keep Moscow’s forces at bay in much of the country, the task has become equipping a regular army engaged in a large-scale conventional war.
“The Ukrainians are expending a lot of ordnance, and this is more than we anticipated,” said a Western security official. “We are trying to step up the flow of weapons to meet that new requirement and there are constant shortages.”
Ukraine says keeping the flow moving is central to its war effort. NATO allies have debated which systems would provoke an escalation from Russia, ruling out fighter jets, for example.
While U.S. and European officials said they are moving as quickly as possible, some also fear that some of the weapons systems could end up in Russian hands or circulate for years on the black market. Some European nations are reluctant to provide more arms they fear could fuel a war on the continent. And U.S. officials, in the run-up to the Feb. 24 invasion, said they didn’t plan to support Ukraine with arms for a protracted period.
Plus, a wake-up call on production issues:
Before the invasion, weapons manufacturers weren’t geared up to make antitank and antiaircraft arms at a wartime pace. While the U.S. had 13,000 Stingers in its stockpile before the invasion, there were no plans to produce more en masse, U.S. officials said. Militaries in Europe that have given their Stingers and antitank missiles to Ukraine now want to refill depleted stocks, creating competition for new units rolling off the assembly line.
“Ready-made stocks are not inexhaustible,” said a defense contractor in Poland. “It isn’t the arsenal of democracy where refrigerator plants are also making airplanes. No. There is a very limited number of production facilities. You can maybe speed up some stuff, but it’s not like you can suddenly open up two or three new production lines.”
Now, as the warfare appears to emulate World War II, defense contractors are racing to ramp up the supplies of antiaircraft and antitank weaponry and ammunition.
We’ve known for decades that in the event of a war in Europe we wouldn’t have enough ordnance in stock. Now we’re demonstrating that.
THEY’RE ENFORCING A NARRATIVE OF LIES: Here’s What the Social Media Censors Are Doing About the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Lies Regarding Florida’s Anti-Groomer Bill.
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Biden Donor Awarded White House Post, Millions in Fed Contracts.
I REMEMBER WHEN HIGHER EDUCATION WAS DEFENDED ON THE GROUNDS THAT IT PROMOTED FREE THOUGHT: UVA student paper says speech it doesn’t like is ‘not entitled to a platform.’
PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.
Matt Margolis: This Is Our Moment to Stand Up Against the Trans Movement. “Truthfully, the evils of the trans movement are much bigger than men competing against women. The trans movement is also trying to redefine how we understand sex, gender, and biology. And sadly, they are succeeding in changing the sex and gender paradigm.”
Cameron Arcand: Trump’s Fallout With Mo Brooks Is Not Surprising. “I’m still the most conservative candidate in the race. Katie Britt’s campaign is supported and funded by McConnell allies, and she’s still a high taxing, open borders, cheap foreign labor, Chamber of Commerce lobbyist.”
Yours Truly: I Had a Nightmare About President Hillary, and Now You Will, Too. “Crazy, right? In a million years such a Byzantine scheme could never work…”
THE “ACTIVISTS” SHOULD BE SUED, AND PROSECUTED, FOR CONSPIRING TO DEPRIVE OTHERS OF THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS: Campus police step in after Antifa threatens Leadership Institute training event.
The good news: Food spending is a smaller fraction of the average American’s income than it was the last time inflation was this bad.
The bad news: That fraction is growing again, quickly.
“From Veblen to Galbraith what has distressed the American critics of the free economy is not private property – which is the cornerstone of their own independence – but the private property of others. In recent times it is the spectacle of property in the hands of ordinary, gross, uneducated people that has troubled the domestic critics of American capitalism.”
— Roger Scruton
I mean, what’s the point of being a ruling class if you can’t lord it over the plebs?
NO BUT AT LEAST IT WAS A DISTRACTION: No bounce for Biden from Ukraine invasion response.
Related: Democrats confused as to why Biden won’t blame Trump over Ukraine. Well, it might bring up some awkward stuff.
Flashback: Biden acts much more like Putin’s puppet than Trump ever did.
I’m talking, of course, about Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., who at his shambolic Wednesday press conference gave Russia the go-ahead to invade Ukraine, though it was quickly walked back by backwalker-in-chief Jen Psaki, his press secretary.
The last time something like that happened was in 1950, when Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave North Korea what appeared to be a green light to invade South Korea. The result was the Korean War. One hopes Biden’s blunder will not bear similar consequences.
Oops.
DAVID LAT: Free Speech at Yale Law School. “You don’t need to be conservative to be troubled by goings-on at YLS. After my open letter to Dean Heather Gerken about the latest free-speech controversy at Yale Law School (“YLS”), a highly disruptive protest by progressive students of a Yale Federalist Society event on March 10, I received supportive (private) feedback from YLS faculty and alumni. But one of my sources at 127 Wall Street expressed pessimism about the situation improving, claiming that the administration is far more strongly aligned with the protesters—and far more indifferent to free speech—than I realize.”
Yes, most “student protests” in support of lefty causes are as authentic as the “students” who seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The protesters are actually tools of the people who run things, tools whose role is to give those peole an excuse to do what they want anyway, while intimidating any opposition.
NO, BUT SOME PRAYERS MIGHT BE NICE: Should We Be Panicking About Justice Clarence Thomas Now?
IWS DAILY UPDATE: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment.
Russian forces continued to settle in for a protracted and stalemated conflict over the last 24 hours, with more reports emerging of Russian troops digging in and laying mines—indications that they have gone over to the defensive. Ukrainian forces continued to conduct limited and effective counterattacks to relieve pressure on Kyiv, although the extent of those counterattacks is likely less than what some Ukrainian officials are claiming. Russian efforts to mobilize additional forces to keep their offensive moving continue to be halting and limited. Russian progress in taking Mariupol city remains slow and grinding. Increasing Russian emphasis on using air, artillery, and rocket/missile bombardments of Ukrainian cities to offset forward offensive momentum raises the urgency of providing Ukraine with systems to defend against these attacks.
Much more at the link.
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE COLLEGE OF LAW, we’re hiring a Visiting Professor of Practice for Fall 2022. It’s a 9-month visiting faculty position to commence in the fall semester of 2022 to teach Business Associations, Bankruptcy, Law & Technology/Privacy Law, and other business law courses through the Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law. Application information at the link.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Democrats’ Obsession With Sex and Kids Gets Creepier by the Day. “It’s easy to have a beer with someone you disagree with over tax policy, not so much with someone who wants to institutionalize talking about sex to 8-year-olds.”
OUR “NONPARTISAN” FBI: Read the Emails Advertising FBI Event To Honor Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Nomination.
DEAL OF THE DAY: SUNVIVI OUTDOOR 9 Ft Patio Umbrella. #CommissionEarned