LET’S GET SMALL: Portugal’s navy reveals ‘tech guerrill’ unit creating tech toys that kill. “Citing “Martec’s Law”—a proposal by tech executive Scott Brinker that technologies change exponentially while organizational change is a lot harder and slower (and at best logarithmic)—Lt. Mendes told journalists that the Portuguese navy’s procurement process was too slow to bring in cutting-edge technology. As a result, he said, sailors’ cell phones had more computing power than the ships they sailed on. Smaller organizations, such as terrorist cells, could exploit new technologies much faster—as was seen when ISIS turned off-the-shelf quadcopter drones into grenade-dropping bombers.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
October 3, 2019
THEY’RE WEDDED TO IT UNTIL DEATH DOTH PART THEM: Adam Schiff: ‘We’re Not Fooling Around’ With Impeachment.
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY THAT THEY’RE BOTH LYING? According To Hunter Biden, Joe Biden Lied About Ukraine.
OVERCOMING INERTIA: Why It’s Time to End the War in Afghanistan. “The war in Afghanistan has gone on so long not because of necessity, but inertia. Despite what some military and political leaders have said, there is no reason for the United States to remain in Afghanistan, nor is there a clear path to victory over the Taliban. Withdrawal and negotiations are the best thing for U.S. interests.”
Negotiations are fine, but hardly mandatory for a withdrawal.
Further down:
Dems see every election as a step toward changing society. Their last president vowed to “fundamentally transform” America, and he did. The people who made a real effort to stop him didn’t find enough battle-ready allies in the GOP. They found lots of grifters and opportunists.
The only force in politics that took the Tea Party seriously was the Democrats that worked with brutal efficiency to marginalize and destroy it. Many Repubs blanched when they realized these guys were serious about derailing the gravy train. Others just saw pockets to be picked.
Click over for the whole thing.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Yep. “When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly.”
SURE HE DOES, HE’S A REPUBLICAN: Bill Barr doesn’t deserve hate from Democrats.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Media Horrified That President Who Always Punches Back Keeps Punching Back. “Au contraire, tiny media brains, the strategy seems quite clear. If the MSM is going to ratchet its noise level up to 11, Trump’s going to take his to 12. We are over three years into them trying to wear him out only to have him continually prove that he has more stamina.”
October 2, 2019
YOU MIGHT NOT BE INTERESTED IN THE GLEICHSCHALTUNG, BUT THE GLEICHSCHALTUNG IS INTERESTED IN YOU: TripAdvisor bans the sale of tickets to SeaWorld and other tourist attractions that breed or import whales, dolphins or porpoises.
PRIVACY: Former Yahoo engineer admits using his access to steal users’ sexual images. “The 34-year-old man targeted accounts of younger women, including friends and colleagues.”
TO SERVE AND PROTECT POLITICALLY CORRECT INTERESTS: Virginia Police Officer Suspended After Handing Over Suspected Illegal to ICE.
I’D JUST LIKE TO ADD A PREEMPTIVE “UNEXPECTEDLY!”: Why the Wealth Tax Will Only Bring in a Fraction of What Supporters are Claiming.
HMM: Visa, Mastercard, Others Reconsider Involvement in Facebook’s Libra Network.
Cracks are forming in the coalition Facebook Inc. assembled to build a global cryptocurrency-based payments network.
Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and other financial partners that signed on to help build and maintain the Libra payments network are reconsidering their involvement following a backlash from U.S. and European government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. Wary of attracting regulatory scrutiny, executives of some of Libra’s backers have declined Facebook’s requests to publicly support the project, the people said.
Their reluctance has Facebook scrambling to keep Libra on track. Policy executives from Libra’s more than two dozen backers—a group called the Libra Association—have been summoned to a meeting in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.
I know I wouldn’t get into bed with Mark Zuckerberg.
NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE FOR YOUR VIEWING, ER, PLEASURE: “FBI Lovebirds,” a stage play based on the texts of FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, texts that were made public in the course of the recent investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
GIRL CAN’T HELP IT: Warren Backs AOC’s Illegal Immigrant Welfare Plan.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: The Speech Donald Trump Should Give on China. “As someone who is broadly supportive of President Trump’s foreign policy, particularly towards China, it is sometimes frustrating that the president hasn’t really provided the American people with a Reaganesque vision to go along with his Reaganesque posture. With that in mind, here is my very modest attempt to provide just that. So if you’ll join me in front of an imaginary television, the President is about to address the nation from the Oval Office…”
YES, BUT IT MAKES ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE FEEL BETTER ABOUT THEMSELVES: Punishing car commuters isn’t the answer to Colorado congestion.
YES: Falling For Racist Hoaxes Is A Symptom Of Self-Loathing.
The answer to this question speaks to a unique aspect of the current American moment, a deep self-loathing that has convinced many people in our country that we are irredeemably bad and that, of course, these racist incidents are going on all around us, even if we have never witnessed one. Put simply, we believe because we want to believe.
The idea that the United States is an evil and racist place is a relatively new one. In the past, we were aware of the racist sins perpetrated throughout our history, but we also celebrated real progress away from such a state of affairs. For many on the left, this is no longer the case. They do not view slavery, Jim Crow, Japanese internment, and a whole host of other horribles as a stain upon the nation, but rather as the fabric itself.
And this self-defeating attitude extends well beyond racist hoaxes. The absolute hysteria we have seen in recent weeks regarding climate change is also directly out of this playbook. Not only are we frightening our children with absurd apocalyptic predictions of imminent doom, we are teaching them the United States is a major force for this destruction, even though our own contributions to climate change and ocean pollution are minimal in comparison to other nations.
Read the whole thing.
ERIC POSNER: The Impeachment Trap. “America’s Democrats have made a serious mistake by launching impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. They are replaying the Republican impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998, a futile exercise that damaged Republicans, enhanced Clinton’s power, and caused institutional damage as well.”
#STANDBYYOURMAN: Hillary Clinton Says Not Getting a Divorce Was the ‘Gutsiest’ Thing She’s Ever Done.
Sticking with a humiliatingly public serial philanderer (or worse) in order, at least in part, to have continued access to connections, power, and wealth otherwise unobtainable isn’t my idea of gutsy, but what do I know?
DON’T GET COCKY: Happy retirement, Speaker Pelosi.
GREG JONES: The Media’s No Good, Really Bad, Terrible Two Weeks.
Apparently still bitter that the first press-led character assassination of Brett Kavanaugh failed to stop his confirmation to the highest court in the land, the Gray Lady doubled down on September 14 by teasing a book by Times writers Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly.
The article lobbed yet another accusation of sexual misconduct against the Supreme Court Justice (well, sort of: Kavanaugh’s friends allegedly shoved his penis in the face of an unsuspecting female). Not only did it appear that Kavanaugh was a victim as well, but the Times piece also conveniently failed to mention that the alleged female victim was never interviewed and according to her friends doesn’t remember the incident.
Rather than apologize and pledge to do better, however, Pogrebin and Kelly instead blamed their editors and … wait for it … Fox News. Because, of course, nothing says strong, independent women like blaming a television network for your own faulty newspaper reporting.
But before the ink could dry on a libel suit, a new circus rolled into town and bumped the Kavanaugh debacle from the headlines.
I’m speaking, of course, about the “whistleblower” complaint, in which an anonymous official claims he has reason to believe that President Trump was attempting to enlist the help of the Ukrainian government in the upcoming American presidential election. And in which the American press committed more unforced errors than the Bad News Bears.
Read the whole thing.
I said it was the media’s worst single week ever, but that was nearly a week ago.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Twitter Outage and Outrage Edition.
Impeachment fever is getting hotter in the Dems’ brains every day and they are not just going to overreach, they are going to WAY overreach. There’s a prime example of the lunacy in Tuesday’s New York Times. An Op-Ed titled “Trump Has Disqualified Himself From Running in 2020” is the most hysteria-riddled nonsense they’ve posted yet.
The beauty of that is that none of the coastal media bubble people understand how off-putting their ravings are to at least half of the country. It’s a gift that keeps on giving and won’t be going away any time soon.
With the 24/7 friendly air cover provided by the media and our cultural and educational institutions, all the Democrats have to do is not act crazy. And they can’t even manage that, doubly so under Trump.
YES. NEXT QUESTION? Could Pricey Urban Meccas become Crime-Ridden Ghost Towns?
It used a new ‘passive radar’ system that analyzes how civilian communications – such as radio and TV broadcasts and mobile phone stations – bounce off airborne objects.
This, the firm says, renders the jet’s stealth technology, that is designed to absorb ground based radar to stop it reflecting back, redundant.
The new radar has no emitters so pilots do not realize they are entering a monitored area – but it relies on there being civilian communication waves.
Interesting, but unless it can generate enough of a return for an antiaircraft missile to home in on — detection and missile tracking are two very different things — then I’m not sure how useful it is.
Retired Marine Maj. Dan Flatley told Business Insider why pilots of America’s most expensive weapons system weren’t afraid of Russian or Chinese counterstealth.
“Adversaries have to build a kill chain,” said Flatley, a former F-35 pilot. Just because a radar can find an object — and Russian VHF radars can spot F-35s — doesn’t mean it can fix, track, target, and consummate that kill chain with a missile hit, he said.
“We’re not trying to prevent every aspect of that chain, just snap one of those links,” Flatley said.
Still, a development to keep an eye on.