KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Grab the Pepto — It’s DNC Alternative Reality Week. “After spending most of this election limping along in disarray, the Democrats have finally found some unity and solace in their favorite activity: circumventing the will of the voters. They’re positively thrilled that they are about to nominate a woman who continues to fail upward without receiving any primary votes.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
August 19, 2024
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russia’s launch rate has plummeted.
A Progress cargo supply spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early on Thursday, local time. The mission was successful, and Russia has launched hundreds of these spacecraft before. So it wasn’t all that big of a deal, except for one small detail: This was just Russia’s ninth orbital launch of the year, Ars reports. At this pace, it appears that the country’s space program is on pace for the fewest number of Russian or Soviet space launches in a year since 1961. That was when Yuri Gagarin went to space at the dawn of the human spaceflight era.
Thanks, Putin … There are myriad reasons for this, including a decision by Western space powers to distance themselves from the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, after the invasion of Ukraine. This has had disastrous effects on the Russian space program, but only recently have we gotten any insight into how deep those impacts have cut. In a recent interview with Russian state-owned media, Andrei Yelchaninov, the first deputy director of Roscosmos, said the contract cancellations by “unfriendly contacts”—a presumed reference to former US and European customers—has cost Russia’s space program 180 billion rubles, or about $2.1 billion.
SpaceX has launched more rockets in the last three weeks than Russia has this year.
FROM THE BIRTHPLACE OF ENGLISH LIBERTY: Man Given Three-Year Prison Sentence for ‘Stirring Up Hate’ Online.
MORE NUKES IS GOOD NUKES: What if Germany had invested in nuclear power? “Germany has one of the most ambitious energy transition policies dubbed ‘Die Energiewende’ to replace nuclear- and fossil power with renewables such as wind-, solar- and biopower. The climate gas emissions are reduced by 25% in the study period of 2002 through 2022. By triangulating available information sources, the total nominal expenditures are estimated at EUR 387 bn, and the associated subsidies are some EUR 310 bn giving a total nominal expenditures of EUR 696 bn. Alternatively, Germany could have kept the existing nuclear power in 2002 and possibly invest in new nuclear capacity. The analysis of these two alternatives shows that Germany could have reached its climate gas emission target by achieving a 73% cut in emissions on top of the achievements in 2022 and simultaneously cut the spending in half compared to Energiewende. Thus, Germany should have adopted an energy policy based on keeping and expanding nuclear power.”
DOG BITES MAN: In Pennsylvania, Harris Gears Up for the Convention by Tossing an Ominous New Word Salad. “Harris delivered this pronouncement while her Lady-In-Waiting Tim Walz stood behind her, looking pensive or miserable, depending on your point of view. Did the flicker of a thought cross his mind about how Harris was taking a great many words to say very little, and that some of her sentences actually made very little sense, if they made any at all? It’s more likely that Tim Walz, a longtime party apparatchik, years ago forbid himself from thinking such thoughts, and was focusing simply on looking as if the boss was saying something deep, because it seemed like maybe she was, and he knows enough not to break character.”
August 16, 2024
I REMEMBER WHEN HIGHER EDUCATION WAS SUPPOSED TO ENCOURAGE TOLERANCE FOR DISPARATE VIEWPOINTS: YAF Members Are ‘Unsafe’ Roommates According to University of Tampa RA Training
IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™: Dining, Dashing, and Abortion Doulas Edition
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Long March 4B launches experimental Yaogan-43 satellite group.
FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: That Was a Bloody Good Livestream. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news and this week we have the felon who live-streamed shooting himself in the leg, how to lasso a gator, and Colorado Man’s 143-year Burger King crime.”
Also for our VIP supporters: EVs Are Losing HOW MUCH Resale Value???
PLEASE, STOP — I’M ONLY ALLOWED TO VOTE FOR HIM ONCE: Trump would pull out of Paris climate treaty again.
WHEN YOU’RE TOO COMMIE FOR WAPO…: Even The Washington Post Destroyed Kamala’s ‘Price Controls’ Plan.
LEAVE THE DAY-DRINKING TO THE PROS:
If there were any doubt why they are keeping Kamala away from the press, this should eliminate those doubts
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) August 15, 2024
SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE DIDN’T EVEN BLINK: Retired Minnesota Cop Makes Shocking Charge Against Tim Walz.
CHANGE: Biden Recession + Wokeness + Streaming + Strikes = Extinction Event For Hollywood. “This is why Deadline has a regular Hollywood Contraction section. Things are so bad that they’re even laying off executives (I know, world’s smallest violin), and many don’t expect to ever be employed in the industry again.”
CHANGE?
Many residents of Kaliningrad are pushing to break away from Moscow, restore the name Königsberg, and establish a new Baltic republic.
"The Kremlin's current policies are severing our connections with Europe. We cannot remain hostages to its imperial agenda." pic.twitter.com/w4yQig0dMO
— Dominik Andrzejczuk (🇵🇱,🇺🇸) — e/acc ⏩ (@QuantumDom) August 15, 2024
It’s a tiny movement, going nowhere. What’s interesting is that it cropped up in the ’90s during Russia’s post-Soviet economic troubles and I’m only seeing it resurface now.
WHO’S THE PRESIDENT AROUND HERE, ANYWAY? Crowd leaves joint Biden-Harris event early after VP hands off lectern to lame-duck prez.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Hackers may have stolen every American’s Social Security number. “USDoD reportedly tried to sell the data for $3.5 million but has now posted most of it for free on an online exchange for stolen personal data. It claims to have 2.9 billion records containing personal data from everyone in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., though those populations add up to roughly 440 million.”
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Kamala Has the Weirdest Campaign Strategy Ever. “We’ve written approximately 37 million articles about Kamala since the Democrats kicked Joe Biden off the ticket and anointed her, but Thursday gave us a wealth of stories that demonstrated just how much bumbling is going on in Kamalaland.”
HANG UP AND PLAY: The anti-anxiety experiment: Friends without phones, adult-free camping.
After interviewing Haidt for The Sunday Times, Decca Aitkenhead, a British mother, devised an experiment. She’d get her sons, 13 and 14 years old, and their friends to go smartphone-free, except for one hour a day, for a month. Then she’d send them camping, without adults, for a weekend.
The kids locked their smartphone in a kSafe time-lock container, which could be set to release for just one hour a day. “For the other 23 hours they would use a Light Phone, an American wi-fi-enabled device designed to allow calls, texts and group chats, with an alarm, calculator, basic music player, directions, calendar, note/voice memo — and nothing else.”
None of the teens suffered from anxiety or depression. The boys played sports. The girls had busy extracurricular schedules. All had parents who limited their screen time.
Plus this: “‘The no-adult aspect is literally the dream to us,’ said Albie.”
Kids need to be kids without so many screens or grownups around.
FREEDOM WORKS: The Second Largest Economy in the World Is Sick, and the Communists Can’t Figure Out How to Cure It.
China initiated a massive stimulus effort starting in March looking to jumpstart the economy. But the effect has been uneven and in some ways hardly made a ripple.
Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at AEI, believes that China is on the precipice.
“Unless the Chinese government introduces major structural economic reforms that encourage domestic consumer spending, China could experience a Japanese-style lost economic decade. That could have major consequences for the world economic outlook,” he said.
“Get the hell out of my way!” the wise man once said.
DID WE LEARN NOTHING FROM THE SUBPRIME CRISIS?
NEW: Harris will propose providing up to $25K in down payment support for 1st time homeowners, with more generous support for 1st generation homeowners, according to campaign official
She'll announce tomorrow in NC, along w/ her plan to ban corporate price-gouging on groceries— Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) August 15, 2024
The headline is a trick question. Democrats loved the subprime crisis, which was one of those opportunities for overspending and overregulation that they didn’t let go to waste.
HELLUVA PICK, KAMALA: Tim Walz Looks Like an Increasing Liability for Harris. “The reporting forced the Harris-Walz campaign to update Walz’s biography on its website and admit that Walz had lied (they claimed he ‘misspoke’) and certainly hoped that it would put an end to the story. But it didn’t. Other stories are also getting traction in the liberal media.”