CDR SALAMANDER: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Still the Lioness of the West. “They keep proving her right.”
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
October 18, 2023
October 17, 2023
#JOURNALISM:
It's like the "Homer into the Bushes" meme just with NYT pic.twitter.com/w2lOIwUgTc
— American Prometheus 🟦 (@daniopp) October 17, 2023
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:
There are crowds burning fires and chanting outside of US Embassies in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Turkey and across the Middle East
World Leaders are canceling meetings on Joe Biden as he’s taking off to make the trip
They sense weakness
Yeah Joe, “America is back” alright
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 18, 2023
Related:
Is it just me or have the elites just pressed the panic button?
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) October 17, 2023
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:
Remember when things were so much better that the biggest worry of the day was that the President was gonna tweet something mean? https://t.co/ghtAuSSm0l
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) October 18, 2023
Under a Reynolds Administration, all U.S. embassies would be equipped with flamethrowers, as a matter of course.
OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
A FRIEND WRITES: “Watch what’s going down now. We may be at war by the end of the week.”
If we are, it won’t go well. I can’t help but feel that we are being led through a dance by Iran. The Hamas massacres occurred on their timetable, the reactions have been predictable — the US one made moreso by the fact that so many leading lights in DC are on their payroll, and the spy ring we rolled up was certainly not the only one — and that their endgame is a war in which the Arab nations are split off from the U.S. and Israel, and the U.S. and Israel are defeated, a defeat that will then be used to split the U.S. from Israel.
This wouldn’t have worked with Trump, in part because of his unpredictability, and in part because he wouldn’t have allowed the Iranians to get this far (or paid them to do so, as the Biden Administration has.) But I have zero confidence in the Biden Administration to get this right.
Or maybe I’m too gloomy. I’ve been a bit gloomy about the world situation lately, not without reason, but that doesn’t guarantee that I’m right to be gloomy about this.
I also wonder if the Ukraine attack, Mideast war rumbles and perhaps an invasion or takeover of Taiwan were all programmed some time ago.
The United States has never had the capacity to wage three wars at once.
UPDATE: Just to stress, I said an invasion or takeover of Taiwan. Subversion is what this China does best, and that doesn’t require a big invasion fleet. A friend who just returned from Taipei reports that people there are cheerfully unconcerned and for the most part don’t seem to regard the mainland Chinese as an enemy. Some sort of coup might be easier to pull off than we think.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Mark Simon: An Unconvincing DPP Win is Fertile Group for Beijing’s Post Election Moves in Taiwan: A Weak President Lai is Beijing’s New Goal in Taiwan. “More interesting to Beijing as well as Tokyo and Washington were the reveals. If there was to be a fight with the mainland, 70% of Taiwanese between the ages of 20-29 say they are not fighting, 54% of all ages saying the same, and 46% of all Taiwanese believing the US will not come to save Taiwan. Not great news for Taiwan in foreign capitals, and very much a mood Beijing will seek to exploit.”
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China to launch Queqiao-2 moon relay satellite in early 2024.
REPORT FROM THE BLUE ZONES: “The article focuses on a woman — Chrystal Audet, 49 — who was living in her Ford Fusion with her 26-year old daughter and her dog. What’s most shocking is that Audet is a social worker, employed by the state, who earns over $72,000 a year.”
STEVE AUSTIN SMILES: Revolutionary Bionic Hand Fuses With Woman’s Bones, Muscles, And Nerves.
INSERT GENDER-IDENTIFICATION JOKE HERE: The Motherhood Makeover: How Pregnancy “Rewires” the Brain.
APPLIANCES: They Used to Last 50 Years. But now your refrigerator and washer come with touchscreens instead of buttons or knobs!
I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Compulsive hoarding comes into greater focus since pandemic. “In general, hoarding has become more frequent and severe since the pandemic, Dr. Michelle DiBlasi told UPI in a telephone interview.”
People who survived communist regimes often tend to hoard food and necessities, too. For similar reasons.
ARE LONG FLIGHTS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH?
SUDAFED OR BUST: OTC Sinus Infection Drugs: Which Is Best? Phenylephrine is a joke.
THAT’S DEPRESSING IN ITSELF: ChatGPT may be better than doctors at evidence-based management of clinical depression.
MAKING SKINNINESS TOO COMMON TO BE STYLISH: Diabetes drug Mounjaro effective for weight loss, study shows.
IS THERE ANYTHING SHE CAN’T DO? Best Buy CEO Blames Taylor Swift for Sales Slump and ‘Funflation.’ “The younger generation is more interested in experiences over tech luxuries, and CEO Corie Barry says that’s coming at the expense of the company’s profits.”
IT’S WHATEVER THE NARRATIVE NEEDS IT TO BE AT THE MOMENT:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2023
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Cornell prof calls Hamas attacks ‘exhilarating,’ Stanford prof segregates Jewish students.
Related: Pro-Hamas protests show how higher education has finally crossed the line.
THEY’RE NOT ANTI-DISINFORMATION, THEY’RE JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE: College ‘disinformation’ centers suddenly silent as Hamas prapoganda takes over social media.
HUMAN SHIELDS: “While some of Hamas’s most brutal tactics, like systematic rape and beheading captives, are long-practiced atrocities for which the armies of Stalin, Hitler, and Genghis Khan are infamous, it is unprecedented for a party to adopt a war strategy to maximize civilian deaths on its own side. This is so strange and evil that it should appall any decent person. Contrary to conventional commentary, this is not a human shield strategy. It’s a human sacrifice strategy.”