BEIJING HAS NO ONE TO BLAME BUT THEMSELVES: Australia to spend $270b building larger military to prepare for ‘poorer, more dangerous’ world and rise of China.

‘MURICA: Record-Setting Gun Sales Could Leave Stores Dry.

WORST. POLITICAL CLASS. EVER. US Intelligence Says Leak Of Russian Bounty Story Was ‘A Crime,’ Jeopardized Investigation.

GOOD: Trump Admin Vows to Secure Permanent U.N. Arms Embargo on Iran.

UH-HUH: Antifa Rioters Threaten a ‘Rude Awakening’ for the ‘Pigs’ Who Finally Broke Up CHOP Antifastan.

HERE TO STAY: Armed Militants Patrol as Seattle Police Break Up CHOP Antifastan.

FOR OUR VIP GOLD MEMBERS: Today at 3:30 ET: Live Chat with VodkaPundit, Kruiser, and Bryan Preston.

If you’ve been thinking of becoming a member, you can do so here — and don’t forget to use that VODKAPUNDIT discount code.

FLASHBACK: Obama Repeatedly Ignored Intelligence Briefings on the Rise of ISIS.

HEINLEIN’S CRAZY YEARS (CONT’D): Gender “X” option now available on driver’s licenses in Rhode Island, Hawaii.

KAREN SHRUGGED: We won’t go to school. “Teachers say they won’t return to classrooms in Fairfax County, Virginia, reports Hannah Natanson in the Washington Post.”

Most teachers aren’t in a COVID-19 risk group, and children barely transmit the disease, but it’s been a long time since our schools became a part of Zero Risk America.

I HAVE GOT TO TRY THIS: Firing A Minigun.

Videos at the link.

GLEICHSCHALTUNG: Chinese-Style Social Credit Is Here: Gab Founder Says He’s Blocked From Using Visa Over Vague ‘Hate Speech’ Charge.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Hollywood Erases Blackface, Whites Voicing Black Roles, But It’s Not Enough. “Woke Left is never, ever satisfied, and it’s happening all over again.”

Give in to the mob, get more mobs.

TONY KATZ: Is Ice Cube Seriously Defending Louis Farrakhan?

ANY PORT IN A STORM: Minecraft is now home to a virtual library of censored journalism. “Free press advocates have created a virtual library in Minecraft that bypasses censorship in oppressive countries to house censored journals and articles. The virtual space was created as a collaboration between the freedom-of-the-press organization, Reporters Without Borders, and a Minecraft design company, BlockWorks. Because Minecraft isn’t blocked in many places — at least, not yet — it’s an ingenious way to ensure access even for those living under repressive regimes.”

Previously: Banned by YouTube, gun lovers are taking their videos to Pornhub.

MY LATEST FOR THE PJMEDIA MOTHERSHIP: Two Americas: Risk-Tolerant vs Zero-Risk — Will One Ruin the Other?

There really are two Americas: The Risk-Tolerant America, and Zero-Risk America.

Before we get to that, however, I’m afraid I have some very good news for you: Americans are catching the Wuhan virus at record rates.

Now, if you’re a card-carrying member of Zero-Risk America, your panties just spontaneously wadded. Those of us who live in Risk Tolerant America — and if you’re a regular VodkaPundit or PJMedia reader, I’m guessing that includes you — understand that this is very good news indeed.

Still, some details would be helpful in order to explain our Two Americas.

Read the whole thing, if you don’t mind me saying so myself.

MATT MARGOLIS: Here’s Why the ‘Russian Bounties’ Story Is the New ‘Russian Collusion’ Hoax.

ON THE PAYROLL, USEFUL IDIOT, OR FELLOW TRAVELER? YOU MAKE THE CALL: Adam Silver Says He Hopes The NBA Can Find A ‘Mutual Respect’ With China.

WOW: Here’s How Many Shipping Containers You Could Fit Inside SpaceX’s Starship. “A new visualization by Twitter user Neopork shows just how much room there is inside Starship’s cargo fairing. According to the graphic, you could fit two entire standard 40-foot shipping containers, and still be able to comfortably stand on top of them.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Climate Alarmist Apologizes but I Still Want Reparations From Al Gore. “In the fourteen years since Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth made that claim ‘global warming’ has become ‘climate change,’ largely because the alarmists keep being wrong about everything and they needed a malleable catch-all phrase to better market their snake oil.”

COLORADO: Gov. Jared Polis closes Colorado bars again after coronavirus cases increase.

I’d just gotten used to being able to get out of the house at lunch to grab a cocktail and a sandwich at my favorite corner place.

COME SEE THE ANTISEMITISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: AOC Touts Support from Anti-Semitic Groups for Israel Letter.

AOC wasn’t a fluke. She was just an election cycle ahead of her party’s radical curve.

I WAS PROMISED JETS WITH FRICKEN LASER BEAMS: US Air Force delays timeline for testing a laser on a fighter jet.

COLD WAR II: China’s influence via WeChat is ‘flying under the radar’ of most Western democracies.

China’s WeChat, like most social networks, is a haven for disinformation and “fake news”. Less well-known, at least in the West, is its role in mobilising Chinese diaspora communities to support particular political policies or people.

These activities are coordinated through a system known as the United Front, a network of party and state agencies that are responsible for influencing purportedly independent groups outside the Chinese Communist Party.

At the very top, the United Front Work Department is led by China’s fourth most senior political leader, Wang Yang. President Xi Jinping and his family have been involved in United Front work for decades.

“Where United Front really works their biggest magic is actually on social media WeChat,” says Maree Ma, general manager of Vision Times, a leading Chinese-language Australian media outlet.

WeChat’s private groups are capped at 500 members, but according to Ma, there’s “hundreds” of United Front organisations in Australia, each of them with many of these groups.

Maybe Communist China-sourced software should get the Huawei treatment.

IT IS UNWISE TO ANGER THE GENERAL SECRETARY, COMRADE: Seattle Mayor Moves to Expel From Council Wacky Socialist Who Led Protest to Her House.