AOC doesn't really seem to care about making her carbon footprint smaller: “Living in the world as it is isn’t an argument against working towards a better future.” I didn't realize "the world" didn't have alternatives to jets, cars, and expensive apartments. I guess she won't voluntarily practice what she preaches until she can make all of us go first with her Green Leap Forward. When you're "the boss" I suppose you can do that. The last "mini"-new green deal failed miserably, but if we just commit to spending money a couple orders of magnitude greater, we'll save money (and the planet!) with volume! Honestly, as the last article suggests, there is room for the two sides to get together if the warmists accept the logic of their panic attacks to embrace nuclear energy which "deniers" can embrace based on economics. Is it really hard to accept that radically different motives can lead to a common objective?
The Germans have refused to extradite jihadis here out of fear the jihadi would be subject to our courts (which allow the death penalty); but the Germans and other Europeans would rather leave their own citizens who joined the jihad in Iraq and Syria--where they are subject to the death penalty--over there. I'm sure the Europeans would rather they remain imprisoned over there or executed by our allies. That way Europeans can still complain about Guantanamo Bay and the death penalty without facing the consequences of their position.
No. Way! On the bright side, the death toll is lower than what the enemy did to us.
Hamas "protests" at the border with Israel continue to oddly resemble an armed assault with human shields.
Russia is deploying missiles with conventional warheads that can strike the United States. As I've mentioned with our own proposals that blur the distinction between strategic nuclear and conventional weapons, this increases the risk that a target state will wrongly assume that incoming missiles are nuclear-armed and possibly launch on warning just in case more that can't be seen are also inbound. Have a super sparkly day.
You have to admire their embrace of science, eh?
I am not optimistic that North Korea will give up its nukes in the face of Trump's charm offensive (and squeezing sanctions as the "bad cop" aspect). But I have to admit that the past strategies based on bribing North Korea a little at a time have failed spectacularly from preventing North Korea from being on the cusp of being able to launch a nuclear weapon at the continental United States (and no disrespect to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and our allies closer than that, but CONUS is obviously the heart of American power). So I'm willing to hope for the best rather than complain that the old strategies should be continued.
Grant me that this is funny.
While this is an interesting Iranian take on their views on European efforts to circumvent American sanctions on Iran, I must protest the notion that there are "moderates" in the Iranian leadership. "moderates" are merely Shia Islamist nutballs who have learned not to screech "Death to America!" in English, with spittle flying, and while on camera.
Well, this has been my experience, as I've occasionally mentioned on this blog. Liberals firmly believe they are tolerant but they are not--as a generalization that individuals can defy, of course. Not that I've ever argued that conservatives are more tolerant. But apparently I'm wrong about that: "The most judgmental partisans tend to be white, urban, older, highly educated, politically engaged, and politically segregated." Higher education isn't doing its job. Apparently it just empowers intolerant people to believe they are tolerant. And let me again lament the obstacles to dating in my urban, highly educated, politically engaged, and politically segregated city. But perhaps I've shared too much.
Is there enough attention paid to survey methodology? I only ask because several years ago I was approached to answer questions about problems in Washtenaw County. I said I really didn't see too much to complain about. Later, I thought of potential problems like opioid addiction and lack of blue collar employment opportunities. But at the time I was with my daughter at a carnival on a sunny summer day, and for me--at that moment--life was very good indeed as my daughter had fun and I enjoyed my time with her, helping her have fun. Was that really a good place to ask people about their perception of problems?
WTF? The World Wide Fund for Nature is paying militias that torture and kill Third World citizens in order to protect wild animals? Thank God WWF doesn't have WMD. Tip to the PJ Media Live Blog.
I think it is absolutely wrong to hope Bernie Sanders is nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for 2020. One, on principle I think you should want your opponent to nominate someone who, if they win, you can endure without fearing the worst. I've said it is a mistake to make national elections so important by making the federal government more powerful. Wanting the other side to be less trusted with that power is the other side of that coin. And two, he might win. Seriously people, ask Hillary Clinton and the media how good an idea it was to hope for and boost Trump in the Republican primary contest on the theory he'd be too awful to contemplate as president to win in 2016.
I had been looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel. I know little of the comic books so having a minor character promoted does not offend me. But then the star openly belittled men. Who inconveniently are a large portion of the target audience (I thought). And then I read a review. And now liking the movie is apparently a test of whether you are a decent human. Screw that. So I'll wait until it arrives on Netflix.
The Canadian government helps you--and then, with the Risk-driven Tracking Database (RTD), weighs whether the type of help predicts your future criminality. Tip to Instapundit.
The party of microaggressions and dog whistles apparently thinks Representative Omar can't be accused of anti-Semitism unless there is a picture of her in a SS uniform. Perhaps there are good people on both sides of the question of whether Israel should exist. And now because of House Resolution 183 we know all hate matters. I eagerly await the Republican move to amend the presidential impeachment resolution to boldly state that the House stands against all forms of high crimes and misdemeanors.
2 + 2 = 5, eh?
I don't understand why Trump defends the continued suspension of large-scale military exercises in South Korea by saying they cost too much. Exercises are the way we make sure our defense spending isn't wasted on troops unprepared to use what we issue them at great cost to our country's finances. I was willing to suspend them last year to see if the opening with Kim could lead to something good. At this point, after North Korea has balked at actually de-nuclearizing, we have to remember that we need our large-scale exercises in South Korea. And North Korea is giving us a reason to resume them with South Korean forces. We can still talk, but North Korea should not think talking to weaken us is possible.
Sweden is not an example of socialism. I appreciate an article that distinguishes between government social welfare programs and socialism, in which the government owns the means of production. The former is more possible without the latter that crushes free market capitalism. The former has problems, too, but at least it doesn't combine with socialism to create real disaster. The problem for America is that if you put in place the policies of Venezuela thinking you are putting in place the policies of Sweden, you will still get the results of Venezuela. And if you put in place the policies of Sweden here, American liberals would scream bloody murder. Life is funny.
It is odd that Somalia has the best cell phone service in Africa, no?
I've long said that I don't worry about Russia rebuilding their navy because it sucks resources from land and air power; and because Russian naval efforts just give the European navies something to do. This report says that Europe has plenty of warships--if they'd just spend the money to send them to sea.
Is China's economy stumbling?
I really don't know why anonymous "analysts" are bashing the idea of the F-15X because it would have trouble surviving against advanced air defenses and aircraft. But we don't usually face such threat levels. And if the F-15X replaces aging F-15Cs on North American air defense duty, they aren't facing any advanced air defenses and they aren't facing advanced fighters. But hey, I'm just a free analyst blogging from Michigan.
From the "Well, Duh" files.
Oh please, the entire government is a system of sabotage.
I worry that the Russian plan to equip the Armata tank with a toilet is a sign that the Russians plan to operate in a chemical warfare environment that does not allow crews to get out for extended time. Which they would initiate. Of course, the Russians can't afford to buy the Armata.
Moldova remains corrupt and poor, unable to decide to join the West or let Putin return the empire to their sliver of former Soviet territory between Romania and Ukraine.
One thing I learned from the Obama-worshipping media was that opposing Obama's policies was racist. So treat her appropriately.
Golf takes skill but I don't think of it as a sport. I would think of it as a sport if the game was scored not on strokes but on time. What if instead of setting par on each hole based on shots to get the ball in the cup, you set par based on time to get the ball in the cup? And you carry your own clubs. A hole might be par at 10:00 minutes, or something. Then you'd have to run to find and hit the ball until you could putt it in. Now that would be a sport. The number of clubs used would be cut back a lot. Maybe golfers would carry them over the shoulder like arrows in a quiver. That could be awesome.
California is the laboratory of
There is an expression in international relations that "the flag follows trade." (Although the original was the reverse.) That is, economic interest pulls in political interest. Is that what China is saying about Canada--and more broadly, others--in the Huawei issue? "China's foreign minister on Friday promised 'all necessary measures' to defend Chinese companies and citizens abroad amid legal clashes between tech giant Huawei and Washington."
Why indeed are we still debating the merits of socialism? A system so delicate that it fails numerous times with high body counts because nobody ever finds the right people to run it and the exactly right formulation to make it work should be rejected out of hand. But instead people without the history to remember the failures repeatedly emerge to claim they are the right people with the right approach.I still recall the debates I had with a college student communist in the early 1980s who took advantage of my location working at an arcade to come in to debate before playing games. I had to stay there, of course. At one point I ticked off a list of countries that called themselves Marxist and asked him if it was just a coincidence that they were all Hell Holes. He thought a moment and said "yes." I literally threw my hands up and told him I didn't know how it is possible to discuss this with him if that is his view. And that was when the Soviet Union was around pretending to be a workers' paradise. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, the panty-flinging fangirls (and boys) persist.
I suspect that Pakistan is busy building and then blowing up a "baby milk" factory at the site of the Indian air strike. It doesn't have to be true to be useful.
Even if the current Algerian protests right now are "different" why is it relevant if they are still unlikely to harm the reelection of a zombie president-for-life?
Protests continue in France. I'm not sure what short of Macron's resignation would satisfy the protesters. So Macron stalls for time waiting for the protesters to tire of the weekly sparring.
It is increasingly obvious that recycling is an expensive endeavor that almost solely allows practitioners to feel better about themselves.
The best and freaking brightest.
I certainly want the Army to retain the lessons of the Iraq War counter-insurgency. But is the Army really trying to suppress that knowledge in a rush to prepare for conventional warfare against the Russians or Chinese? Because it should be fairly obvious that if, in the age of great power competition, the Army was still embracing COIN that it would be accused of preparing to fight the last war. Admit it, that is totally accurate. My view is that any good soldier makes a good counter-insurgent--as long as the officer corps retains the knowledge of how to do it. I'm still reading the Army study of the Iraq War. It is long and electronic, and I hate reading books on a screen.
The idea that Russian policy isn't expansionist in the west rests on the assumption that anything Russia attacks and takes that lies within the borders of the former Soviet Union doesn't count, doesn't it? That's the reality of arguing that Russia "just" wants a buffer zone to protect itself. What exactly is the logical end point of such an excuse? Still, the author is right that Russian goals haven't changed since 1991. What has changed is that Russia has recovered enough power since the collapse of the USSR that Russia can start acting on a longstanding goal.
Now THAT'S Resistance to a dangerous autocrat at great personal risk. American posers should take note.
ADDITION: Good Lord, is the state itself collapsing in Venezuela?
