ANALYSIS: TRUE. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Setting Women Back Light Years In Politics.

“I think that there’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right,” Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper after he asked about her careless and incorrect analysis of the defense budget. In one sentence, Ocasio-Cortez portrayed herself as a woman who is ready to subordinate facts to her moral convictions, confirming achingly anti-female stereotypes. She may as well have driven erratically down the highway or failed to catch a gently thrown ball. Of course, she later admitted that being factually correct is “absolutely important.” She just doesn’t seem to care much about facts and numbers when she’s tweeting.

Or, for that matter, when she’s speaking. In discussing with Cooper her proposal for a “Green New Deal,” which would use the full force of the government in an attempt to convert the United States to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, she could not offer an actual answer for how such an enormous transformation would be possible. “It’s going to require a lot of rapid change that we don’t even conceive as possible right now,” was all she could say.

Shockingly, the reason we “don’t conceive of it as possible” is because it is not possible.

Forget it, she’s rolling.

WELL, GOOD: Canada says it won’t be deterred by Chinese pressure.

Canada’s public safety minister said Friday that the country won’t be deterred by Chinese pressure after China threatened reprisals if Huawei was banned from supplying equipment for 5G networks, highlighting the growing rift between America’s neighbor and the emerging superpower.

There are accusations that the telecom giant is controlled by China’s ruling Communist Party or is required to facilitate Chinese spying. The U.S., Australia, Japan and other governments have imposed curbs on use of its technology.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Canada has been abundantly clear it will not compromise national security.

“It’s a difficult challenge but we’ll not be deterred by what we believe to be right and what we believe to be in the interests of Canada,” Goodale said.

Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to Canada, warned Thursday of repercussions if Canada bars the firm from its new 5G network.

“One of the things that is of concern in this situation is the blending of Chinese commercial interests with Chinese political positioning and consequences. That’s something that I think should be of concern to Canadians and people around the world,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Kudos to Trudeau.

FLASHBACK: China’s Plan to Break off US Allies.

HMM: China isn’t looking to grow its economy but, rather, is waiting for it to recover. Good luck with that.

As household debt mounted, the property market turned downwards last year and auto sales fell for the first time in at least two decades. Property and car sales account for one-fifth of China’s gross domestic product. Although China’s foreign trade rose by 10 per cent last year, its growth rate will slip this year as the global economy softens and the United States’ trade war with China begins to bite. As exports also account for one-fifth of GDP, any slowdown there would hurt the economy. Obviously, with all this negative news, investment will also cool.

To stimulate the economy, Beijing is cutting banks’ reserve requirement ratios and launching infrastructure initiatives. Neither is likely to revive growth. Chinese debt, unofficially 300 per cent of GDP, is too high for any debt-led growth policy to be effective. Currently, infrastructure spending is around one-fifth of GDP. It is hard to see how a few projects can move the needle. It appears the government’s goal is stability, especially in the financial system and the labour market, not growth. As the property market tips over, loan repayments become more sporadic. The goal of the monetary policy is probably to keep lending institutions liquid. This policy could be undermined only by massive capital flight. But as long as the Great Wall of capital control is solid, China will remain stable for the foreseeable future.

Money, to misquote Dr. Ian Malcolm, finds a way.

EXCELLENT: The Navy’s newest aircraft carrier got a long-missing piece of gear in December, helping solve a problem the Navy secretary has bet his job on fixing.

On December 21, the Navy’s first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which has been plagued by technical problems and cost overruns, got the first of its 11 advanced weapons elevators, “setting the tone for more positive developments in the year ahead,” the Navy said this week.

That tone may be doubly important for Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, who has staked his job on the elevators— which were not installed when the carrier was delivered 32 months late in May 2017 — being ready by the end of the carrier’s year-long post-shakedown assessment this summer.

Advanced Weapons Elevator Upper Stage 1 was turned over to the Navy after testing and certification by engineers at Hunting Ingalls-Newport News Shipbuilding, where the carrier was built and is going through a post-shakedown period after testing at sea.

The elevator “has been formally accepted by the Navy,” Bill Couch, a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command, said in a statement.

We’ve been building aircraft carriers with weapons elevators for nearly a century, so this might seem like an inexcusable delay. But part of the Ford-class’s selling point is its ability — well, hoped-for ability — to generate more aircraft sorties each day. And doing that requires an all-new launch system (the problem-plagued EMALS) and all-new/high-speed weapons elevators. There were bound to be teething issues, but it looks like they’re getting sorted out.

ANOTHER FINE MESS: Erdogan seeks lifeline from Putin in Syria.

BECAUSE THEY’RE MADE UP: BuzzFeed Reporter Cormier: ‘We Can’t Get Into, Like, the Details Here.’

CHRIS QUEEN: The 12 Best Country Songs of All Time.

Not one song from Willie Nelson’s Stardust?

FAKE NEWS? Buzzfeed’s bombshell report (based on anonymous deep state sources) alleging that President Trump ordered his lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to congress, seems to have hit a snag. Did the authors see any evidence? Yes! says one, No! says the other.

MONEY: U.S. chipmakers may give clues on China hazard.

Upcoming quarterly scorecards from Intel, Texas Instruments (TXN.O) and other chipmakers, as well as Ford Motor (F.N), will shed light on whether Apple made a convenient excuse for its own troubles or revealed a strengthening headwind faced by global companies that rely on China for a big chunk of their sales.

“They should give us a good gauge of what is happening in China beyond smartphones because Texas Instruments is mostly industrials and autos, and Intel is PCs and servers, and they’re not being driven by the Apple smartphone situation,” said Daniel Morgan, a portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta.

Underscoring Wall Street’s sensitivity to China trade, stocks surged on Friday after a report that China has offered to go on a six-year buying spree to ramp up U.S. imports in order to reconfigure the relation between the two countries.

Interesting times.

HEH: Lackluster 2020 Dems: From 7 Dwarfs to 20 Smurfs.

Nah, the Smurfs were friendly and likable.

SHOW ME THE MAN AND I’LL FIND YOU THE CRIME: Bruce Ohr Warned DOJ & FBI Of Dossier Bias BEFORE Its Use For FISA Warrant.

FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: US Navy chief refuses to rule out sending carrier through Taiwan Strait despite China’s growing military capabilities.

SENATOR TIM SCOTT: Racial ‘Overtones’ from Some GOPs Obscuring Party’s Message.

TYLER O’NEIL: Exposing the SPLC’s False ‘Anti-Muslim’ Smears Against the Trump Administration.

YOU MIGHT NOT BE INTERESTED IN THE GLEICHSCHALTUNG, BUT THE GLEICHSCHALTUNG IS INTERESTED IN YOU: Anti-Gun Democrat’s Purchase Of ‘Meateater’ Could Pose Big Problems For Hunter-Focused Company.

Meatater, a popular hunter-focused entertainment company started by outdoorsman and writer Steven Rinella, was purchased by a rabidly anti-gun Democrat financier late last year in a move that has raised alarms among hunters and gun-rights activists. The Chernin Group, a California-based investment fund run by wealthy Democratic activist and Hollywood producer Peter Chernin, purchased a controlling stake in Rinella’s Meateater in 2018.

The left-wing, anti-gun political activism of Meateater’s largest investor, as well as political commentary and activity from some of its key partners and sponsors, complicates the company’s expansion plans given that such a large percentage of hunters in the United States — who comprise Meateater’s core audience — staunchly support both gun rights and Republican political candidates. Chernin’s company announced the investment in Meateater and its hiring of a new CEO for the company via a press release last October.

Chernin, who has donated nearly $500,000 to Democratic candidates and causes since 2015, has repeatedly attacked gun rights and Second Amendment activists over the last year. He retweeted comedian Michael Ian Black’s attack on the National Rifle Association as a “terrorist organization” and a separate Hollywood personality’s attempt to force FedEx and Visa to sever their ties with the NRA.

Much more at the link.

HEH: Protesters Have Damaged or Destroyed a Majority of France’s Speed Cameras.

OH: Journalist who exposed corrupt FIFA official is shot dead.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: The Letter Heard ‘Round the World and Much, Much More. “Pelosi and the Democrats figured they could just blame Trump for the shut down, but it’s Pelosi and the Democrats who won’t come to the table. Pelosi took off during Christmas for a luxury Hawaiian vacation, her party went on a party trip to Puerto Rico and now she and her harpies were hitting the road for a week on an international trip. Does it sound like the she wants to find an agreeable compromise to open the government up?”

ANALYSIS: FALSE. LA Teachers Strike: 73K Is Not Enough.

Let’s begin with the makeup of the school district: It boasts a $7.52 billion budget and more than 60,000 employees, including about 26,000 teachers, with the average annual salary being $73,000. While employment has gone up 16% since 2004, enrollment has dropped 10% in the same period.

According to the latest available data, California school funding surged by nearly 10% from 2015 to 2016. If you examine a five-year period (2011 to 2016), school funding in the state is up a whopping 26%. Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has further proposed the “largest ever investment” in the LAUSD.

Plus, the district already offered LAUSD educators a pay raise of 3% this year and another 3% in 2020. It was rejected.

But the school district can’t afford another pay hike. Next year, LAUSD will have a $422 million budget deficit, mainly because employee pension and health care costs represent a great portion of the budget – they will account for more than half within 10 years. Overall, it has $5.1 billion more in liabilities than in assets and another $15 billion in unfunded health care benefit liabilities for retirees and current workers.

So if you want to know why teachers can’t get a pay raise, it’s because of teachers.

THAT MANY?

HMM: Venezuela opposition tries luring soldiers away from Maduro.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Air Force Adjusts Attack Strategies to Prep for Fighter Jet-Fired Laser Weapons.

The service anticipates having aircraft and fighter jet-fired lasers in operation as soon as the early 2020s, as mobile power systems and other integral technologies continue to evolve rapidly.

Not only do laser weapons bring increased precision attacks at the speed of light to incinerate targets, but they can be scaled or adjusted to achieve a desired effect – such as total destruction, partial damage or an even smaller, more measured impact, depending upon the threat.

“Laser weapons offer warfighters opportunities for quick and precise target engagement, flexibility and lighter and more responsive support logistics,” Eva Blaylock, spokeswoman for the Air Force Research Laboratory, told Warrior Maven in a written statement.

I really hope this works out, and not just for all the “Jets with frickin’ laser beams” jokes.

COLD WAR II: China’s Plan to Break off US Allies. “There’s a reason Beijing is pressuring Canada – not the US – over Meng Wanzhou’s arrest. Australia and New Zealand could be next.”

On the issue of Huawei, China realizes that the United States has enlisted its allies to collectively encircle the Chinese high-tech company. This sets a precedent for the United States to gather allies to suppress China in other areas in the future.

The Chinese official media Global Times published a particularly stern editorial entitled “Let the country that is invading China’s interests pay the price” on December 16, 2018. saying that “for countries which do not care about China’s interests and have extraordinary behavior, China should resolutely fight back, let it pay the price, and even suffer huge losses.” Doing so, to article reasoned, “also allows other countries to understand that China is principled”:

There is a high risk in following the U.S. to harm China’s interests. This time Canada helped the United States to detain a Huawei executive, which broke the bottom line. China needs to clearly express our attitude that we do not accept Canada’s doing so. If Canada finally extradites Meng Wanzhou to the United States, Canada will certainly pay the price of the retrogression of Canada-China relations. China needs to use practical actions to show the world the consequences of Canada’s doing so.

The commentary added, “We need to select counter-targets and make those countries be beaten very painfully. We argue that in this complex game, China should focus on the Five Eye alliance countries, especially Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. They follow the United States to harm China’s interests, especially in a step-by-step manner. Their performance is radical, and they are some of the targets that China should first hit.”

We must, indeed, all hang together, or… you know the rest.

RELATED: US pursuing criminal charges against Huawei for alleged theft of trade secrets.

BLUE STATE BLUES: Families Fleeing New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Study Finds.

GOOD GIRL: Dog Accidentally Runs Half-Marathon After Being Let Out For Pee, Finishes 7th.

(Hat tip, Will Collier.)