ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS SELF-IDENTIFY AS A WOMAN FIRST, AND THIS WOULDN’T BE AN ISSUE, RIGHT? Democrat accused of repeated use of women’s restroom will resign in January.
Author Archive: Stephen Green
December 6, 2018
SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO: Dems Struggle Appealing to Voters’ Hearts Because ‘We Have to Tell Everyone How Smart We Are.’
Please show some sympathy. It’s hard for Democrats because they’re just so much better than you deplorably irredeemable bitter clingers.
HOW (NOT) TO BEAT THE HIGH COST OF LIVING: California gives final approval to code requiring solar on new homes.
This is going to go over well on the North Coast. When I was living there, longtime San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen came up for a visit behind The Redwood Curtain, and quoted one of the locals saying, “It’s not so much that we want to see the sun, but someday we’d sure like our kids to.”
COLD WAR II: Russia Threatens ‘Retaliation’ for U.S. Pullout of INF Treaty. “Putin is denying that Russia is violating the 1987 accord, but U.S. intel has ironclad proof that says otherwise.”
ROBERT SPENCER: A Book That Changes the Counterterror Paradigm. “Jamie Glazov revolutionizes the field with a novel diagnosis of the problem.”
This one just went to the top of my never-shrinking Kindle list.
PROCUREMENT: Flawed Bomb Elevators Leave Inhofe Leery of Buying Two Carriers.
Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters in August that the elevators are “our open Achilles Heel.”
The Navy plans to complete installation and testing of the 11 elevators before the Ford completes its post-delivery shakedown phase in July, Captain Danny Hernandez, a Navy spokesman, said in an email. Six will also be certified for use by then, but five won’t be completed until after July, he said. “A dedicated team is engaged on these efforts and will accelerate this certification work and schedule where feasible,” he said.
Huntington spokeswoman Beci Brenton said via email that company officials had a “very productive meeting” with Inhofe that included both the elevators and benefits of a two-carrier contract.
The elevator’s completion “has been delayed due to a number of first-in-class issues associated with the first-time installation, integration and test of this new technology,” she said. “However, we are making substantial substantial progress in resolving the remaining technical challenges.”
“Mere” elevators seem like a simple thing, but they really aren’t. The big selling point of the Ford-class ships is their ability to generate higher sortie rates, thus sustaining higher optempos. A big part of that equation is the electronic launch system replacing the traditional steam catapults. The other major part is the high-capacity/high-speed weapons elevators.
They’ll get the kinks worked out, but it’s going to take time and money — and some understandable aggravation on the part of lawmakers and taxpayers.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Tumblr’s anti-porn algorithm is flagging basically everything as NSFW.
This porn ban is already being implemented, with Tumblr flagging everything it deems to be explicit material. On a purely conceptual level, this was already bad news for many Tumblr users. An NSFW content ban will hurt the livelihoods of artists and sex workers on the site, and potentially lead to a mass exodus of bloggers who want to retain their creative freedom. However, it looks like the problems go even further because Tumblr’s content flagging algorithm is hopelessly incompetent. As soon as Tumblr started highlighting “explicit” content on Dec. 3, users reported having totally innocuous posts flagged on their accounts.
Tumblr and Twitter are already full of screencaps showing random posts mislabeled as explicit material. In some cases, you can kind of see how the mistake happened (for instance, art with partial but non-sexual nudity, or images that a bot might mistake for a human body), but there’s also a ton of content that appears to have been flagged at random.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: ‘Sup wit dis FBI whistleblower raid?
“So who ordered the raid and why did it happen? “I really do question the need for this raid at all,” said Nick Schwellenbach, the investigations director for the Project on Government Oversight. “On its face it doesn’t seem like it was necessary.”
“This isn’t how we should be treating whistleblowers who are coming forward with information about high level wrongdoing,” he told TheDCNF. “It sends a very strong message that you will be treated as a criminal even though what you’re trying to do is expose crime or a potential crime.”
The message is: Don’t mess with the Clintons.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Taxpayers Will Pay $1 Million to Tear Down $18 Million Baseball Stadium That Predictably Failed to Rejuvenate Camden. “The stadium never turned a profit and the team skipped town when local officials decided to start charging rent.”
THE WHEELS OF COSMIC JUSTICE TURN SLOWLY, BUT THEY DO TURN: Bill And Hillary Clinton Had To Drastically Drop The Ticket Costs To Their Events To Mere Pocket Change.
The Clinton’s aren’t doing so hot in the popularity category, and have apparently had to lower the ticket prices to their tour by such a vast degree that they now cost about the same as a trip to your favorite fast food joint.
According to the Daily Wire, former President Bill and never-was President Hillary Clinton are showing up to lackluster receptions at events called “An Evening With the Clintons.” Once the Clintons got to Texas, the tickets for the event dipped to only $6.
While at the event, the Daily Caller quotes Maurine Dowd of the New York Times who attended the Clinton’s event in Toronto. According to Dowd, the audience that arrived was so small and sparse that event organizers forced everyone to come closer together so as not to look like no one showed up.
The Clintons can’t not be in the public eye, but it must be killing them to know these small crowds and low ticket prices say they’ll never hold public power again.
NAVAL RACE: China’s Djibouti Base: A One Year Update. “China’s first overseas military base provides an interesting test case for its global ambitions.”
China has avoided using overt military terminology to describe the base, as Mordechai Chaziza notes, “preferring instead to use the terms ‘support facilities’ or ‘logistical facilities.’” China still maintains that the base is primarily for nonmilitary activities; last year, the state-run news agency Xinhua wrote that “the Djibouti base has nothing to do with an arms race or military expansion, and China has no intention of turning the logistics center into a military foothold.” Analysis from Stratfor cast doubt on China’s claim, showing the military base has become heavily fortified with an underground space of 23,000 square meters.
Also, in the year since the base officially opened, it has been party to controversy including the United States. Washington alleged that China was directing powerful lasers from its base at nearby U.S. planes, a nuisance and provocation that injured two airmen. China has denied the allegations.
Much of the tension is attributable to a plethora of countries establishing bases in the Horn of Africa for its geostrategic location. Djibouti offers a prime opportunity for third party state actors to observe and defend international commerce passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a shipping passage renowned as the fourth most important world chokepoint for oil exports and imports. Because of the strait’s close proximity to Somalia and piracy originating from its shores, state powers have strong incentives to conduct frequent anti-piracy operations.
Because of the opportunity to run anti-piracy missions in addition to counterterrorism and myriad other activities, the United States, France, Japan, and Italy all maintain bases in Djibouti. The United States’ military base in Djibouti – Camp Lemmonier – is its only permanent base on the African continent, with more than 4,000 troops deployed.
If the major nations would just start sinking a lot more pirate ships, there’d quickly be a lot less need for overseas base-building. But I suspect having an ongoing piracy problem makes a great justification for overseas base-building.
LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Without gas for cremation, even dying is a struggle in Venezuela.
The decay of Venezuela’s oil industry burdened citizens for months with long gasoline queues and shortages of cooking gas, and has now hit families bidding farewell to loved ones.
Venezuelans have shifted toward cremations, which cost about a third of burials, but growing demand has crematories struggling to obtain natural gas.
Members of a dozen families said in interviews they now wait as long as 10 days.
So far, common graves have been used primarily in Zulia, where blackouts and gas shortages tend to be most extreme. But decaying services in other states could spread the practice.
Shortages of wood and metal for coffins and cement for graves have complicated traditional burials. Some families wait for crematories to obtain propane gas. But the wait also boosts costs, with annual inflation nearing 1 million percent.
Command economies eventually run out of everything but zeros.
STICK A FORK IN IT: California GOP: Is It Too Late to Save This Elephant from Extinction? “Only eight of the 53 California U.S. House seats will be held by the GOP. In statewide races, no Republican got better than 40 percent of the November vote.”
December 5, 2018
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Tested and Approved: The Best Wine Openers.
The winner — and this should come as no surprise — is nothing more complicated than a really well made waiter’s tool.
THIS MUST BE A BLUE ENCLAVE THING: When Did Infants and Pets Become Cocktail Party Accoutrements?
BEER. Beyond IPA: Doubles, Triples, Imperials, Old Ales and Danks.
In the warmer months I stick with easy-drinking ambers and pilsners, but when the weather turns cold sometimes I want something a little more… stout.
VIDEO MONTAGE: Liberal Media Figures Bash Trump During Bush Coverage.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Somebody should do a mashup interleaving cuts from this video with cuts of liberal media figures bashing Bush when he was President.
CITY HALL VERSUS THE GIG ECONOMY: NYC sets first-of-its-kind minimum pay rate for Uber, Lyft drivers.
On Tuesday, the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission voted on a minimum pay formula to protect ridehailing drivers from being underpaid by companies. Under the new policy, drivers will earn a minimum take-home wage of $17.22 per hour. That’s the ridehailing equivalent of a $15 minimum wage, accounting for the fact that those drivers have to pay payroll taxes and do not receive paid time off, the TLC said.
The move, which will go into effect in 30 days, is expected to raise the average driver’s pay by $9,600 per year, according to the proposal.
The minimum pay floor is a first for the US ridehail industry and could mean rides in New York will get pricier.
Ya think?
They should call this decision what it really is: The Taxi Cartel Protection Act.
RETENTION: Dick’s CEO Ed Stack totals up how many employees quit over assault-style weapon decision.
According to CEO Ed Stack, 62 employees quit working for Dick’s Sporting Goods over the retailer’s decision to stop selling assault-style weapons, announced in February.
Stack spoke on the matter before the Wall Street Journal CEO Council and called the number “relatively small” in the context of a company that employs 40,000 people.
“We anticipated that there would be some people that would leave. We’ve got 40,0000 employees, and 2,500, or 2,6000 people working at our corporate headquarters,” said Stack, of the Findlay-based company. “We’re a cross-section of the country. We knew people would be upset.”
It’s the upset customers he needs to account for to his company’s shareholders.
YOU DON’T SAY: France Tops OECD Table as Most Taxed Country.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s annual review of taxes in its 36 members published on Wednesday showed the French government’s tax revenues were the equivalent of 46.2% of economic output, up from 45.5% in 2016 and 43.4% in 2000. The Danish government’s tax take, which was the highest among OECD members between 2002 and 2016, fell to 46% of gross domestic product from 46.2% in the previous year and 46.9% in 2000.
The U.S. government’s tax revenues also rose relative to the size of the economy as a result of a one-off tax on accumulated profits earned by American businesses overseas. But at 27.1% of GDP, only five countries had a lower tax take: Mexico, Turkey, Chile, South Korea and Ireland.
Why are we letting five whole countries beat us in the tax-cut race?
YES. NEXT QUESTION? Did Fusion GPS lie to Congress?