THAT’S A SIGN IN APPLE’S FAVOR: The FBI isn’t happy with Apple’s expansion of end-to-end encryption for iCloud.

I QUESTION THE TIMING: FBI Bigwig Quietly Steps Down Just Before New Congress Probes Begin.

COMMIES LIE: China’s Economic and Financial Data Does Not Add Up.

The IMF’s surveillance cycle for China is wrapping up, and at least judging from the press release, China’s balance of payments was not a focus of the conversation.

That is unfortunate.

I, of course, believe that the balance of payments is always central to understanding how any economy is interacting with the rest of the world economy, particularly for an economy whose visible trade surplus now approaches $1 trillion (a percent of world GDP).

But even setting that general point aside, there are a growing set of questions about China’s external data that are of fundamental importance to both China’s economy and the world economy.

Put simply, China’s external numbers just aren’t lining up. And they don’t really add up either. Often, the reported balance of payments is slightly at odds with the underlying source data.

Four discrepancies stand out.

It’s a technical article without any real answers — but lots of interesting questions.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Brittney Griner Should Have Been Left to Rot in Russia. “Brittney Griner is a cliché America-hating lefty who was stupid enough to pack drugs for a trip to a hostile foreign nation. If ever anyone needed a harsh lesson about why America is better, it’s this idiot. She should have had to serve out her labor camp penalty in Russia until she was ready to wake up and sing the Star Spangled Banner every day.”

OH: Dems’ Star Witness In SCOTUS Hearing Deemed ‘Not Credible’ By SCOTUS. “The Rev. Robert Schenck will testify during the House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Thursday regarding his allegations that Supreme Court Justice Alito leaked court opinions in 2014 despite the Supreme Court in 1996 deeming Schenck ‘not entirely credible.'”

I’ll have to check with Glenn on this one, but I’m pretty sure that “not entirely credible” is SCOTUS speak for “full of it.”

IF YOU CAN’T TAKE THE HEAT…: Karine Jean-Pierre Storms Out of a White House Briefing in a Huff. “Not only did Jean-Pierre not answer the man’s question, but she also would not explain why she could not answer the question. She became so frustrated that she called an early lid and left the room.”

Video at the link.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: BlackRock says get ready for a recession unlike any other and ‘what worked in the past won’t work now.’ “The global economy has already exited a four-decade era of stable growth and inflation to enter a period of heightened instability — and the new regime of increased unpredictability is here to stay, according to the world’s biggest asset manager.”

OK, GROOMERS: The Experts™ Finally Discover Why ‘LGBTQ Youth’ Are Suicidal. “It’s obviously just a major coincidence that suicidality increases when pop culture floods children’s corporate media programming to celebrate ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’ and libbed-out parents encourage their four-year-old children to ‘explore their genders.’ This is clearly not disorienting or confusing for children.”

NICE FELLA: Meet the Merchant of Death, Viktor Bout. “This is the guy Presidentish Joe Biden just sprung from prison in exchange for a basketball player stupid enough to bring her personal stash of drugs into a country like Russia.”

WE SHOULD HAVE SUNK IT: Iranian ship tries blinding 2 US Navy ships, gets ‘dangerously close’ to them.

PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Incoming House Oversight Committee Chair Promises Investigation Into Biden Impeachable Offense.

KNOWN WOLF: FBI Confirms It Got Tip About Colorado ‘Nonbinary’ Mass Shooting Suspect.

The disclosure by the FBI creates a new timeline for when authorities were first notified about the suspect as it was believed that he only became known to officials after he made the threat in June of last year.

An FBI assessment is the lowest level, least intrusive, and most elementary stage of an FBI inquiry. Such assessments are routinely opened after agents receive a tip and investigators routinely face a challenge of sifting through which of the tens of thousands of tips received every year could yield a viable threat.

People hold a vigil at a makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Nov. 20, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
It’s not clear why Colorado officials dropped charges against Aldrich after he threatened his family members. He was previously charged with felony kidnapping and menacing charges.

During the aforementioned incident, Aldrich had threatened to kill members of his family and allegedly had told them he wanted to be “the next mass killer.” He also said that if a police SWAT crew came inside his Colorado Springs home, he would blow the house up.

Local authorities are much more culpable than the FBI is for this screwup. Heads should roll, but I doubt they will.

FACEPALM: Karine Jean-Pierre Reads Wrong Answer During Press Briefing.

PRIVACY: Apple announces plans to encrypt iCloud backups.

Apple announced that it plans to encrypt additional iCloud data on its servers, including full backups, photos and notes.

The feature, called Advanced Data Protection, will prevent Apple from seeing the contents of some of the most sensitive user data stored on its servers.

The move will please security advocates, but it may upset law enforcement, since it will be impossible for Apple to provide authorities with the content of an encrypted backup.

But: iOS 16.2 implements 10-minute AirDrop time limit globally.

Before 16.2, AirDrop had no time limit and was a favorite tool to share information among protestors in places like Communist China. But instead of restoring full functionality to China after getting busted for it last week, Apple extended the time-out globally.

HMM: Feds Link Attack on North Carolina Substations to Attacks on Oregon, Washington Power Stations.

GEORGE FRIEDMAN: Peace Accords.

All of this suggests a war of attrition. Think World War I but without trenches. The Russians initiated combat, and any admission of failure would threaten the government. Ukrainian concessions would be tantamount to an end of the country, or at least an abdication of its independence. From the American point of view, continuing the war is better than defeat, since U.S. security guarantees to other allies would be on the line. (For this reason, I don’t think Washington will involve itself too much in the fine print.)

Under these circumstances, it would appear that the war cannot end. But each country has an imperative not to be broken and not to capitulate. And no one, save the Americans, can walk away. Reality is the ultimate gut check. Ukraine and Russia will posture until the end, even if neither knows exactly what its breaking point is. Each hopes the other is approaching that breaking point, and each wants to avoid reaching it first.

It is this mutual fear of failure that drives each to a negotiated settlement, however contemptible and belligerent that process will be. The opening gut check is followed by an emerging reality of how much you can play and how much your enemy can play, two variables that are considered every day by leaders and soldiers alike. Unthinkable concessions then become thinkable. The hazier this is, the more each side will be frightened that they will suddenly break.

Jaw, jaw really is better than war, war. The trouble is getting the leadership to publicly admit it and come to the table.

It’s even more troublesome for Russia, where a losing war usually leads to political turmoil — or worse.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Squeaky in the Doghouse — AOC Gets Some Ethics Scrutiny. “This ain’t my first rodeo, so I’m not naive enough to think that members of Congress are called to the carpet every time they receive gifts that are related to their positions. What, pray tell, could our girl Squeaks have done that would make the committee announce this during the last month that the Democrats were chairing it? They could have made it look like a petty Republican hit job if they’d waited another month.”

PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO DO THEIR JOBS OUGHT TO BE FIRED, PERIOD: California English teacher says proper grammar is ‘white supremacist,’ refuses to teach it.

YOU’RE NOT BEING PARANOID WHEN GROOMERS ARE VIRTUALLY EVERYWHERE: American Girl Uses Body Positivity Guide to Groom Girls for Transgenderism.

FALLOUT: Russia’s Oil Exports Nosedive Following Price Cap. “According to one commodity-analytics firm Kpler, Russia’s seaborne exports fell by nearly 500,000 barrels per day on Tuesday, a 16% decline from the November average of 3.08 million bpd.”

CORN, POPPED: AOC Is Under Investigation by the House Committee on Ethics.

FOR OUR VIP SUPPORTERS: On Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, No Conspiracy Theories, Please.

I LIKE THIS MOVIE ALREADY: ‘Old Way’ Will Enrage Gun Control Crowd. “Nicolas Cage, Nick Searcy star in western about empowered, gun-toting teen.”

HOW CONVENIENT: MSM: Democrats Can’t Be Election Deniers.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: ‘Food Inflation Is New Grinch’ as Survey Finds Nearly 70% of Shoppers Struggle to Afford Groceries.