Weekend Data Dump

Yeah, attention whores or epic survival tale: you decide. It did seem odd, but then dropped off the news. Tip to Instapundit.

I did not bother to watch the much ballyhooed PBS series on the Vietnam War. I didn't think it would do anything but be an apology for communism. Some push back on the series. I'm willing to work with Vietnam to oppose a common foe China. But I never forget that the bad guys won the Vietnam War.

Somebody is lying because I'm reasonably sure a radioactive cloud doesn't just appear out of nowhere.

Iran is continuing their program--by building a base near Damascus for their military power--to turn Syria into another version of Lebanon where Iran maintains enough military and political power to at least be able to veto government actions.

The Air Force will fight for space. I still think the Air Force should become the Aerospace Force to dominate the Earth-Moon system.

Governor Moon-Beam is one step away from putting on a sandwich board that reads "the end is nigh." Get a grip and govern your own state rather than pretend you are a prophet of your religion.Tip to Instapundit.

Using Chinese-made video surveillance systems even on military property seems highly stupid. Tip to Instapundit.

Yes, I've been frustrated that Republicans in Congress aren't willing to pass priorities while they control both houses of Congress. I assume Democrats will win one or both houses next year if Republicans refuse to legislate, as their job description demands. Be the strong horse--not the dithering unsure horse.

Okay, Roy Moore should not be a United States Senator even if all charges of criminal activity are 100% wrong. Last week I worried about the precedent of destroying a candidate based on unprovable allegations from decades earlier. How easy would that be to weaponize? But more information not disputed has come out. Dating much younger teenagers should be ruled out as ethical behavior. Normal people don't do that. Replace Moore soon so there is a chance of having a new Republican run. Although I'd be fine with him winning--if he can--and then having the Senate refuse to seat him or eject him (I was involved in one of those at the state level--in a support role on both sides, reflecting the nature of my job), which can be done without any crime just based on an "ick" factor.

If Roy Moore stays and wins the senate race next month, it will be because the right followed the left's strategy of standing by their predator candidate to advance their policies. Putting Bill Clinton in the figurative public stockade for shaming comes decades too late to prevent that precedent from being followed. I suspect Moore lacks Clinton's alleged charm that worked for Clinton around liberals. But perhaps Moore has a charm in Alabama that escapes me, too.

Life in the bubble.

The US Army is committed to the 84mm recoilless rifle based on the Carl Gustav for the infantry. I remember being shown the then-new AT-4 single-shot version back in basic training (although we were only trained on the smaller LAW).

Live by the Obamacare "tax," die by the Obamacare tax? Recall that the act survived a challenge based on the flimsy notion that the penalty for not taking part in commerce (in this case buying health insurance approved by the federal government) was a tax, as the United States Supreme Court ruled.

Is Germany the Harvey Weinstein of global warming, talking a good game against the right enemies while taking advantage of dirty lignite coal away from the press conferences to satisfy their energy needs?

NBC publishes article saying children are bad for the Earth and that morality "suggests" we should stop having them. What is the point of the Earth without people? And without people there is no morality. This is stupidity of a higher order. It amazes me how many people with advanced degrees are idiots. Science has nothing to do with anything on this anti-human topic. Tip to Instapundit.

Well this is just stupid. If you don't want to be seen as unpatriotic, don't choose to kneel during the playing of our national anthem when the flag and anthem have nothing to do with your grievance (try protesting at the largely Democratic-run city halls where the police shooting issue responsibility lies). The flag and anthem are about the ideals that can be used to resolve problems. Democrats get outraged over the American flag, claiming Republicans don't "own" it. Yet Democrats seem to treat it the way vampires react to sunlight and Holy Water during non-election years. I personally thank that veteran for his service. I don't assume he is unpatriotic. I assume he aimed at the wrong target. If he feels less than patriotic because of that maybe he should examine his own actions first.

American-made Patriot missiles seem to have a pretty good record defending Saudi Arabia from incoming missiles.

Yeah, Uranium One seems mostly like a corruption rather than a national security question regarding nuclear weapons. But it touches national security if Russia gains inside detailed knowledge of our nuclear supply chain because they control a company that works within our system.

Democracy may die in darkness but communism thrives in soft lighting. We won the Cold War at the Fulda Gap but seem to have lost it in the colleges and news rooms. Those apologists for communism are disgusting--as disgusting as apologists for Nazis and Confederates. But liberal society doesn't shun the communist fanboys (and girls). Which is appalling when you consider that in the USSR, "80 years of communism had left at least 100 million dead."

Good grief, I applaud an entertainer who just wants to entertain. Tip to Instapundit.

A Lockheed-Martin lower body exo-skeleton works to preserve knees. Which is nice--if top brass don't load down troops with even more "mission essential equipment" to nullify the gains of an exo-skeleton. (NOTE: I have a small amount of that company's stock, which I like to mention when I mention the company--when it occurs to me. Seriously, it is a small amount.)

It would be nice if Honduras retained their president who is friendly to America. If $3,000 dollars in Facebook ads delivered Michigan to Trump (as I believe liberals claim), we could secure our favored candidate for a bargain!

The Army chief of staff wants more American troops in Europe to deter Russia. When Russia wasn't a threat, I wanted our airborne corps in Europe for power projection missions (see page 16) with a reduced heavy component as a safety net in case Russia became a threat again. Now I want V Corps back in Europe with four heavy brigades and a re-built armored cavalry regiment forward deployed (plus the airborne brigade and Stryker brigade already there) to make 7 maneuver brigades. Plus supporting units, of course. In that article I am wrongly credited with a PhD. They corrected it at my request (a letter was published in the next issue), but the error returned. Oddly, the last article that was published had me listed as a major (in what service I do not know). I'm glad someone there called me "Major Dunn" so I could correct that. For the record, I have an AB in history and political science from the University of Michigan and an MA in history from Eastern Michigan University; and I was a Specialist in the Army National Guard. So there you go.

The Marines have 16 F-35Bs deployed to Japan now. That's nice. But are they fully combat ready? The Marines there are practicing to operate the planes in full MOPP gear--that's fully encased for chemical and biological warfare. My Army training emphasized that training before and in the early aftermath of the collapse of the USSR. Scary stuff.

If Russia's economy is being artificially floated by loans that can't be sustained, will Russia do something to distract their people when the growth falters?

The media is complaining that people don't believe their stories about Roy Moore's allegedly criminal past. Which adds to their complaints that people don't believe their stories that President Trump is a fascist. But after decades of being told by the media that basically every Republican is a Nazi or "waging a war on women" simply to serve liberal political needs, the people are primed not to believe the media. Even if the media is correct on Moore.

Russia may be relying on contractors (mercenaries) to wage their war in Russian-occupied Donbas. Which helps hide casualties but which is expensive. The Wagner company enforces pro-Russian loyalty among the local militias. I wonder if this will eventually provoke a reaction among Ukrainians in the Donbas against Russia?

Just a reminder that Russia ordered North Korea to attack South Korea in 1950 and persuaded China to intervene when the American-led counter-attack approached the Yalu River on the Chinese border. (There is a lot of good stuff in that post on a wide range of Russia-related news.)

The French spread rumors that India let American Navy officers see their Russian-built nuclear submarines in an effort to replace Russia as a submarine exporter to India. Nice. Although Russia has been doing enough on its own to alienate India.

Is Saudi Arabia reforming away from corruption, the creation of jihadis, and reliance on oil exports? I hope so. The change won't be easy. But it is necessary to win the Long War.

As I've long said, it is a crime against language that "liberal minded" is viewed as a synonym for "open minded." Not that no liberals are open minded, of course. But one doesn't follow the other. Tip to Instapundit.

If it's to be a witch hunt, let's get all the witches. And if Franken skates over the next few weeks, Roy Moore supporters have an excuse to vote for him. I assume the mini-boom to advance "Bad Touch Biden" for 2020 just ended for good.

Good God, why? Maybe this was longstanding policy to downgrade enforcement against the crime to put scarce resources elsewhere, which was continued from prior administrations. But for an administration committed to controlling guns, why would such a non-enforcement policy be continued unless they wanted gun crimes to bolster even more laws?

Apparently there are limits to what even liberals are willing to tolerate in taxing themselves to death--in Illinois, anyway. We shall see if they can revive the dying goose that allowed them the luxury of spending all their energies dividing up the golden eggs.

MoveOn.org condemns Senator Franken and so basically admits that the reason the organization was founded (to "move on" from--that is ignore--President Clinton's alleged sex crimes and indiscretions) was illegitimate. Life is funny that way. Tip to Instapundit.

Yeah, I've long been in favor of repealing the 17th Amendment and restoring the power of state legislatures to appoint United States Senators. The Senate used to be the debating ground of the states to protect the powers of states within the federal government. now it is just a debating society of senators to protect the powers of the Senate. Without that change, the federal government's powers would not have grown at the expense of the states nearly as much as it has since the expression "don't make a federal crime out of this" made sense. I don't remember if my preference pre-dates my career in the state legislature, but my career there certainly strengthened my view. I wrote many resolutions from one or both houses of the state legislature "memorializing" Congress to do this or that or to refrain from doing this or that. I assume they were ignored in Congress. It was basically a way for state legislators to show interest when they lacked the power or interest in doing something at the state level. Before the 17th amendment, such resolutions--or just private communication, of course--would have had tremendous weight when directed at senators in Washington, D.C., whose jobs relied on maintaining favor back home.

It is not "taking away health care" to stop punishing people for failing to buy health insurance. Nothing in any tax law actually passed will prevent people from buying health insurance that they can afford, if they want it. Those people might even use their tax cut to help pay for such insurance! If they want the insurance.

The Russians protected their client Assad from UN accountability for chemical weapons use by exercising their Security Council veto. And again. Tell me again that the fiasco of that 2013 Kerry-Lavrov chemical weapons deal had anything to do with depriving Assad of chemical weapons rather than being for the purpose of saving Assad's regime. And then tell me the completely awful 2015 Iran nuclear deal will be any more effective.

Good Lord, the politicians who set up this outrage against justice should be themselves jailed--if not tarred and feathered. Why anyone would choose to live in those California cities is beyond me. Tip to Instapundit.

Despite the Democratic hysteria that the Trumptatorship will descend any moment now, Trump continues to de-fang the executive branch in deference to the legislative branch. I was one of the few aware of the state administrative rules process and never liked how much power the legislative branch turned over to the executive.

Speaking of the government, my long experience in the legislative branch never led me to demonize legislators. Like any workplace you have dedicated people and slackers, brilliant people and dullards, crooks and honest people. I always liked the orientations for new legislators that I participated in every two years. Before they became "legislators" and while they were still just "people," the enthusiasm and good will they obviously had for making a difference with their pending legislative service was almost always evident. I might not like the "good" they sought, but it was genuine. It was a valuable experience not to equate political stance with good or evil. It's a pity more people don't have that perspective with virtual tribal politics poisoning every Goddamn thing these days.

That's okay, I don't much like pampered, rude, proto-fascists.

Let's hope this missing submarine turns up with the crew safe and sound. Best case is that communications failed.