RAIDER DEVELOPMENT HAS PROGRESSED SURPRISINGLY WELL: The First B-21 Raider Is Being Tested at a Top-Secret Air Force Manufacturing Plant. “The B-21 is set to be revealed to the public later this year. Its first flight has been pushed back from December 2021 to sometime in mid-2022, but that’s a minor setback for such an ambitious program. Currently, there are six B-21s in various stages of production at the Air Force’s secret Plant 42 in Antelope Valley, California.”
Archive for 2022
March 9, 2022
RIP: Conrad Janis, Who Played Mindy’s Dad on Mork & Mindy, Dies at 94. “A son of the noted New York art collectors and gallerists Sidney and Harriet Janis, Janis, who along with his brother took over the family business, the Sidney Janis Gallery, later in life, was also a successful and lifelong jazz trombonist who even at the height of his Mork & Mindy success performed regularly with his group, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band…On the film side, Janis appeared in Airport 1975 (1974), The Happy Hooker (1975), Oh God! Book II (1980), Billy Crystal’s Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Ben Stiller’s cult favorite The Cable Guy (1996) starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick.” And alongside Gary Busey in 1978’s The Buddy Holly Story, where he played a fictional version of Holly’s record producer.
BYRON YORK: Ron DeSantis and culture war in Florida.
One of the weirder scenes in our recent politics took place this week in the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee. Three Democratic state senators linked arms and did a sort of semi-dance down a hallway singing an impromptu song, “Gay, gay, gay! My daughter’s gay! Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay!” (They had apparently gotten the idea from a Saturday Night Live skit.)
Florida Senate Democrats were so proud of the moment that they posted a video on Twitter with the message: “We’ve got one thing to say to our GOP colleagues — GAY!”
What was that about? The video was another step in state Democrats’ (very successful) campaign to label a Republican-sponsored bill, H.B. 1557, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Democrats claim the bill, which passed the Senate on Monday, would ban the very mention of homosexuality in Florida schools. With “Don’t Say Gay,” they came up with a catchy phrase that many in the media picked up immediately.
For those more curious than some journalists, the first thing to ask is: Does the bill really do that? Does the bill include, perhaps in obscure legislative language, some version of “Don’t Say Gay?” The answer is no, it doesn’t. Here is the part of the bill that has caused so much controversy:
Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.
Notice that the bill prohibits “classroom instruction” on “sexual orientation or gender identity” by teachers or other adults in kindergarten through third grade. It also says that such instruction after third grade must be “age-appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate.” Another way of looking at it is that Florida law will allow classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity beginning in the fourth grade. And that suggests the popular conversation about the bill, from Saturday Night Live on, has been entirely wrong.
The Florida Dems shouting “Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay! Gay!” with a voice-over reminding viewers that Democrats want to groom kids age five through eight should be aired in every state.
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERESTIMATE JOE’S ABILITY TO F*** THINGS UP: U.S. Intelligence Warns of Domestic Threat as Biden Prepares to Sign Iran Nuke Agreement.
I QUESTION THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP HERE: Study offers more evidence that education protects against dementia.
WELL, THERE’S A SURPRISE: WHO announces support for COVID-19 booster shots.
A FRIEND SENDS THIS IMAGE OF HIS RETIREMENT ACCOUNT:
I&I/TIPP POLL: 56% Blame Biden’s Afghan Debacle For Ukraine Invasion.
That’s why Biden isn’t enjoying much of the typical “rally around the flag” effect in his approval ratings.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:
BREAKING: NYT reporter says there were ‘a ton of FBI informants’ among the people who attacked the Capitol https://t.co/Ta9Lg8iMqx
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 9, 2022
UPDATE: Video here: Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times Reporter: January 6 Media Coverage ‘Overreaction,’ FBI Involved, Event Was Not Organized Despite Ongoing Narrative.
(Updated and bumped.)
WELL THAT’S STUPID SO YEAH, PROBABLY: The Blob Wants a War.
Let us be clear on this point; a No Fly Zone (NFZ) requires you shoot down aircraft over a specified area. Over Ukraine, what this letter calls for is for us to shoot down Russian aircraft. It says “NATO” but as anyone who served in Afghanistan knows, this will mean the USA, and possibly the United Kingdom with an assist from Denmark and Poland, maybe.
That is asking for war. You don’t want a wider European war. No sane person does.
These people do, but they are not being honest about it.
They wanted a war in Libya and that was a debacle. But Ukraine is a whole new order of things.
Plus: “I’m sorry, I don’t trust them. After you read the letter, if you still do, I can’t help you. This is such a grabasstic horror show, we’re going to fisk it.”
Also: “Yes, this is the war you and your institutes and think tanks failed to prevent, prepare for, or predict. Why should we think you have a solution now? Seriously, what is your track record?”
It would be nice if we had some leaders around the world who aren’t idiots. We don’t.
ICYMI, FROM REALCLEARINVESTIGATIONS: The Curious Case of Stefan Halper, Longtime ‘Zelig’ of American Scandals Who ‘Crossfired’ Trump.
Halper’s undercover operation, which was documented in a report by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, would prove largely a bust. Transcripts between Halper and Trump campaign officials would show that none of them took the bait, or appeared to otherwise be soliciting Russia’s help in the 2016 presidential campaign
Even now, it might seem odd that the FBI made Halper, then a septuagenarian Cambridge University professor, a linchpin of its top-secret counterintelligence probe codenamed “Crossfire Hurricane.” But a closer look at Halper’s life and work makes that decision seem inevitable. Stefan Halper is the Zelig of modern American political scandal – a chameleon-like, unusually ubiquitous figure who keeps appearing when mischief is afoot.
The former son-in-law of a top CIA official, Halper cut his teeth in the Nixon White House during Watergate. The New York Times identified him as the Reagan campaign’s point man in an alleged effort to spy on President Jimmy Carter, and he was later chairman of a bank that helped provide money to surreptitiously fund Nicaragua’s pro-American contra rebels during the 1980s. In the run-up to his subterfuge in the Trump-Russia caper, Halper was paid more than $1 million by a Pentagon office that produced work deemed of such little value that Sen. Charles Grassley recently identified it as a prime example of the government’s “systemic failure to manage and oversee” spending.
Given the secret nature of his work, it is not surprising that Halper’s exact role in these scandals is still debated by insiders and historians. An examination of long-ignored records by RealClearInvestigations, however, shows that Halper has added to the mystery by appearing to consistently misrepresent his background and experience on resumes. There is, for example, no public evidence for his claim, on a resume he submitted to the Ford White House, that he was class president at Stanford University in 1967, or a Fulbright scholar. Nor is there any for the claim on another resume that he held the prestigious position in the Ford administration listed.
Halper declined to speak with RCI when asked for an interview in person at his Virginia home. He also declined to respond to a letter from this reporter subsequently sent to his attorney, inquiring about discrepancies documented in this article.
Read the whole thing.
WHAT IS INTERNET? This Today Show Segment on Gas-Saving Tips in a Ford Mustang Mach-E Is Painful. Might wanna double-check under the hood, folks:
Gas prices are high right now, if you haven’t noticed, and accompanying that extra pain at the pump are individuals and news organizations alike giving people tips on how to save fuel. Indeed, the Today Show came up with just a segment, embedded below, that’s been airing on television lately doing just that. However, there’s a small problem with it. The car they use to demonstrate these gasoline-saving tips doesn’t burn any gasoline because it’s an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E.
This wouldn’t be egregious if the particular portion of the segment was focused on something like your driving style, which has a lot to do with how much energy you use whether you’re burning fuel or discharging a battery. It didn’t, however. The part of the clip with the Mach-E was focused on fuel saved while idling. NBC’s Senior Consumer Investigative Correspondent Vicky Nguyen explained that “If you’re safely parked somewhere for more than ten seconds… consider turning your engine off. She then pressed the stop/start button on the Mach-E, which doesn’t have an engine. “Idling can cost you up to half a gallon of gas per hour!”
Nguyen went on to note some relevant tips that will save you money whether or not the vehicle is powered by an internal combustion engine, like removing excess cargo from the vehicle. That said, it’s unclear why an EV was selected to illustrate the idling point. I reached out to the Today Show in an attempt to clarify why a Mach-E was chosen to illustrate the point, but I’ve yet to hear back as of publishing.
To be fair, this isn’t the first time that an NBC News show has screwed the pooch when it comes to automobile coverage: Flashback: Exploding Chevy Pickups And NBC Coverup.
Classical reference in headline:
SPENGLER: Reliving the Nightmare of 1914.
Vladimir Putin acted wickedly, and illegally, by invading Ukraine, but also rationally: Russia has an existential interest in keeping NATO away from his border. Russia will no more tolerate American missiles in Kyiv than the United States would tolerate Russian missiles in Cuba.
The United States could have averted a crisis by adhering to the Minsk II framework of local rule for the Russophone provinces of Eastern Ukraine within a sovereign Ukrainian state but chose instead to keep open Ukraine’s option to join NATO. That was rational, but also stupid: It backed Putin into a corner.
There is no excuse for Putin’s action, but there is an explanation that’s similar to one that applied to his forbears of 1914: Putin chose to attack before the West had the opportunity to arm Ukraine with sophisticated weapons that would raise the future cost of military action.
Read the whole thing.
I HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT: We Used to Be Energy Independent: What Happened? “When the Biden Administration took office, it unleashed a dangerous “Mandate and Moratorium” strategy, a green jihad of sorts against the U.S. energy sector. The strategy was simple– create supply constraints for domestic oil and gas producers by dismantling distribution systems, tightening regulations, and suspending leases and permits, therefore impacting future drilling activity. Co-conspirators like Black Rock’s, Larry Fink, then jumped in by urging institutional divestment from the oil and gas sector and wielding a pseudo-sophisticated set of investments standards known as environment, social and governance (ESG). The strategy was topped off with the complicity of social media and tech’s intolerance for a diversity of ideas, ensuring Americans couldn’t discuss the flawed energy policy, let alone dissent from it.”
VIA A FRIEND:
Related:
SELF-CENSORSHIP ON CAMPUS: FACTS VS. NARRATIVE. The Twitterati (an unrepresentative group that nevertheless wields enormous cultural power) lost its mind over the last couple of days after the New York Times published an op-ed (paywalled, sorry!) from a politically liberal college student and recent FIRE intern cogently pointing out that she expected debate at college but instead found it rife with self-censorship. Apparently, making this personal observation, or polling 37,000 college students to prove it (as FIRE did), makes you conservative regardless of your actual principles or beliefs. Is it really so hard to process the idea that a free speech group could actually be serious about defending everyone’s free speech, regardless of viewpoint?
BATTLESWARM BLOG: Russo-Ukrainian War Update. “Always remember that the map is not the territory, and that both sides are working hard to put out propaganda, though the Russians seem to be manifestly incompetent at it.”
That last part might be the biggest surprise to date.
BE PREPARED: CIVIVI Elementum Pocket Knife. #CommissionEarned
UKRAINE WAR: An (Almost) Complete Collection of Everything We’re Doing Wrong. “The Ukraine War isn’t going well for anybody, but it seems like the country making the biggest mistakes is the biggest country not even fighting there.”
HMM: Russia Is Preparing to Cut Itself Off From the Global Internet. “The documents reveal that the Kremlin is seeking to eradicate reliance on any Western internet services, potentially isolating itself from the rest of the global internet, a move that would send Russia back to the digital dark ages, further crippling its economy and ending the promise that a free and open internet could act as a check on authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin.”
GOOD FOR HIM: Scientists must not ‘cower to the latest political ideologies’: Physicist challenges ‘DIE’ dogmas. “Why does it take a Singaporean to remind a bunch of Americans what your foundational values ought to be?”
TO BE FAIR, THEY’RE MEANT TO: ACADEMICALLY SPEAKING: Why ‘decolonized’ campuses affect America’s national resolve.