America has done way better overall in containing the death toll of the Xi Jinping Flu, and goal posts for reopening our economy keep getting moved. Lockdown was just supposed to be long enough to cope with the health aspect of the epidemic and not long enough to eliminate the virus. There are other problems besides health. And there are health problems other than the coronavirus.
The privatized aerial OPFOR.
The United States has aerial offensive options for dealing with massed Iranian speedboats that don't involve putting high value ships in the Persian Gulf.
The British say there is plenty of time for a Brexit transition agreement to be negotiated. There certainly is--if the EU was a reliable negotiating partner willing to talk in good faith rather than seek to punish Britain for daring to leave the proto-empire.
What part of render unto God what is God's and unto Caesar what is Caesar's is unclear to the Russian Orthodox Church?
Yeah, maybe hold off on that liberal coronation of Merkel as the savior of Western leadership.
Apparently Rocket Man is alive and well. He'll be up and around killin' and oppressin' in no time! Was he just setting a really good example for a "stay at home" order?
Turkey struggles to update their air defenses. Did Erdogan screw up relations with NATO that could loan modern air defenses to Turkey and deprive Turkey of the F-35 in order to buy the alliance-damaging S-400 air defense system from Russia only to find Turkey is too financially strapped to buy anything at all?
Their stupid decision is obviously Trump's fault.
And so we know how future teenager Bill will have absolute written and video confirmation of what he long suspected--his dad is a complete and total lame doofus. Tip to Instapundit.
Lord knows what Kim Jong-Un's condition is while the Xi Jinping Flu hits that poor country. And the author insists on the "injection" myth's truth, which is a silly myth to hold. The media's unhinged and relentless bias pushes me to defend Trump even when his is foolishly speculating or obviously wrong (and there was no sarcasm involved). Just to spite the media.
This is not shocking given that I have long said it is an unfortunate myth that "liberal minded" is a synonym for "open minded."
I've noted that Democrats keep moving the goal posts for reopening. This does seem like the next obvious move.
Democracy dies in darkness.
MEME
Hiftar has declared eastern (and southern?) parts of the country under military rule. Is this a coup against the eastern parliament or just a temporary emergency declaration to cope with Turkey's military intervention that has stymied Hiftar's LNA from completing the defeat of the GNA government that runs Tripoli and not that much else in the northwest?
As I've long said, feminist groups are simply the women's auxiliary of the Democratic Party. Women be damned, as far as "women's groups" are concerned.
A Navy destroyer carried out what was described as a freedom of navigation operation near the Paracel Islands to deny Chinese claims of control in the South China Sea. Amusingly, the Chinese claim America interfered in the joint global effort to combat the Xi Jinping Flu. China's role in this pandemic has been to inflict it on the world.
I honestly don't understand all the talk about eliminating a "rape culture" in America. Has nobody noticed that the crime is universally reviled and punished rather severely in America? Whatever you may say about the need to change laws to better combat criminal sexual conduct, the "culture" has unambiguously come out against it. Seriously, just who do you know who thinks rape is admirable or even acceptable? I'll guess that would be zero people.
Is the epidemic payment letter signed by Trump partisan, undermining public trust in the IRS? Well, the letter credits Congress with passing the act that funded the checks. And honestly, does the IRS actually have public trust to lose given that nobody seems to have been punished after it was used as a partisan political tool to target conservative organizations before the 2012 election?
No matter how badly Trump behaves or speaks in public, the media can always be counted on to act and speak worse in their zeal to make everything Trump does or says seem bad. That, my friends on the left side of the aisle, is Trump's secret weapon for reelection. And the media keeps shipping new and improved versions of the weapon to Trump.
The man who I consider TDR's "blogfather" endorses the term "Wuhan Flu." I endorse his thinking and defense of the term. Although truth be told I recently decided to can "Wuhan Flu" in favor of "Xi Jinping Flu."
The Philippines has a better ability to detect and track Chinese intrusions into Filipino waters with new AESA radars.
While it is true that the government shut down the economy rather than endure the Xi Jinping Flu, I think the pandemic would have eventually done the same thing to the economy but with a higher body count. I could be wrong. Again, way out of my usual lanes.
Is it really a shock that Russia was running their hand-puppet "resistance movement" in Ukraine's Donbas back in 2014 when the so-called separatists shot down a Malaysian airliner? But Russia denied involvement. The West went along. And six years later the outrage is dissipated by time and the focus on the Xi Jinping pandemic.
Canada lost a helicopter and possibly its crew in NATO surveillance operations in the Mediterranean Sea. Crap.
Democrats don't like being on the firing line in the Tara Reade issue. To be fair, I imagine Biden can honestly say he has no memory of recent sexual assault allegations. Tip to Instapundit.
Haftar offered a Ramadan ceasefire but his enemies rejected it. This is why I'm skeptical of ceasefires. Haftar has suffered setbacks and so wanted time to recover. His enemies would rather exploit the success that Turkish help has enabled.
Are you kidding me? The Navy and Marine F-35s can't go supersonic for long at "extremely high" altitudes without damaging stealth characteristics and antennas? I know the plane is new and just entering the force. But good grief. I imagine Air Force proposals for new F-15s to bridge the gap until it gets more F-35s will receive less resistance. Let's hope that the need for extended supersonic flight at extremely high altitude isn't critical to performing missions. Also, I didn't think that dogfighting took place at supersonic speeds. Which isn't how the F-35 is designed to fight.
I'm guessing India would like a big beautiful border wall about now.
Would the Democratic Party really yank the nomination from Biden at this late stage, exposing them as idiots for selecting Biden during the long primary process? I mean, wasn't that the time to discover his weaknesses and weed him out? Or will the party pin their hopes on the VP selection being the true presidential candidate after Biden is elected and convinced/forced under the 25th Amendment to resign shortly after inauguration? Although I still think it is possible Democrats assume that Trump will win reelection and will just sacrifice whoever is nominated to save real candidates for 2024. But the Xi Jinping Flu has thrown calculations into doubt.
Another American warship exercised the right of "innocent passage" through waters claimed by China. This does not deny Chinese claims but annoys China nonetheless.
Claim: "Trump Can Either Leave the Middle East or Have War With Iran[.]" Translation: Let Iran's mullahs win, get nuclear weapons, and dominate the Middle East. Just to be clear.
Russia's Far East has not really benefited from Moscow's claimed "pivot" to the east. Not once does the author mention China's dormant claims to large chunks of Russia's Far East lost in the 19th century. Unless Russia pivots their military to the Far East and ends the pointless confrontation with a NATO that has no claims on Russian territory, any benefits to the Russian Far East might just improve it enough to tempt China to take it.
Well, give me credit for rejecting all that "Gerasimov Doctrine" BS that involved hybrid warfare hyperventilating after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. As I've written, "At best, Russia's invasion has been a "subliminal war" as I called it early on (or "slothkrieg" as I also called it) if you have to tag it with a new name--the "hybrid" war junk is nonsense as far as I'm concerned."
Will the dramatic drop in oil prices, will there be a geopolitical reset with major repercussions on Middle East states reliant on oil export revenue? Maybe. But if Islamists were upset with the West "stealing" their oil when prices were relatively high, what will they think when the West is uninterested in buying much no matter how low the price goes? I'm thinking nothing can make them happy. But less money for even more angry jihadis would be good, whatever other problems it might cause. And nobody ever really mentions how good this would be for lots of poor countries that need to import oil.
I didn't know enough about Flynn to judge the accusations against him. Although I believe his firing was probably justified, as time went on his prosecution seemed politically motivated. There seems little doubt, now. This stinks to high Heaven. People need to go to prison for this and lose pensions. To send a message that this standard operating procedure is intolerable in a rule-of-law democracy. Seriously, I'm a law-and-order kind of man. Elements of the FBI that have forfeited my well of trust must be cut out.
So there is a criminal investigation into that "fish tank cleaner death" in Arizona. As I wrote last week, "If this was a television show, the loud accusations about Trump's responsibility for that fish tank cleaner guy would turn out be to cover up for a murder. If it was a television show, of course. Which it isn't. But I'd watch it if it was an episode of Elementary. Tip to Instapundit" Huh.
I'd like to point out that the "armed" anti-lockdown protesters at the Michigan Capitol Building--which is generally open to the public--were loud but peaceful. In contrast to the armed violence-prone Antifa "protests" we've seen. I'd have preferred a quieter and dispersed protest. And those openly armed really didn't need to do that. But it was apparently all legal and the protesters have reason to be unhappy with the scale of the lockdown Michigan is living under. If "militia" types were there--and the presence of even one moron in the group would be enough for the media to tar the protest as uniformly bad--those guys should be condemned. Although my experience with them dates to the 1990s. They could be calmer now. And again, no violence and no gunfire.
Oh deer ...
Trump has suggested pulling American troops out of Afghanistan to avoid the Xi Jinping Flu. I did mention some time ago that I worried Trump might do that for exactly that reason: "With the Wuhan Flu coronavirus reaching Iraq, it occurs to me that the virus could be used as an excuse to completely pull our troops out of places like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, among other places where we can't simply pull back into bases, shut the gates, and ride out the epidemic. Hopefully everyone rotating back to the United States is put in isolation for two full weeks just in case. This could be very disruptive even if it doesn't prove deadly." Losing the war now would be an own-goal after all we've sacrificed to prevent Afghanistan from being a launching pad for jihadi assaults on our homeland or allies.
Syria says a "human error" was the cause of an explosion at a ammunition warehouse in central Syria. If "human error" includes storing Hezbollah ammunition anywhere within Israel's reach, sure, call it human error.
The Navy selected an Italian FREMM design for its new multi-role frigate class that will help the Navy get numbers to control the seas while enduring losses. The Navy wants 20, which replaces a full build of the disappointing Littoral Combat Ship class of smaller vessels. It really isn't a cheap frigate like our old Perry class. And it will take six years to build the first one. It is more like a Burke Lite. So something cheaper will be needed for real numbers. Something that can be built fast enough to replace losses in the war we are in rather than for post-war rebuilding.
The government forcing people to work for low wages under conditions the state enforces? That's not "unfettered capitalism" you nitwit Bernie--it's the socialism and communism command economy you love so much. Face it, Bernie's only real complaint is that he thinks he should be the one forcing people to work under pay and conditions he establishes.
A plethora of combat drone designs.
Heh. Whether that happens or not depends on how useful Democrats believe Biden is will be. Tip to Instapundit.
China is just the biggest mistake in the left-wing theory that enemies are simply "friends we haven't made yet."
The Xi Jinping Flu hasn't extinguished the Hong Kong democracy movement.
Toyota light trucks have been the transportation of choice for fighters in Africa for many decades. I recall Chad rebels smashing up Libyan tank units with truck-mounted anti-tank weapons.
Those charts of cumulative Xi Jinping cases and deaths work to encourage a continued shutdown because it looks like no progress is being made. At best the curve will flatten when the coronavirus is completely defeated. Cumulative deaths can never go down. But that can't be the measure of success. You simply can't see a curve flattening or declining with cumulative visuals under the conditions we will have for many months and into next year, no? Only daily new cases and daily death counts can give us that visual clue and get us to make rational decisions.
I have not forgotten my outrage over Kavanaugh's treatment by the Democrats and their media allies in 2018. Not by a long shot. Democrats have a lot to correct before I'm willing to vote for a Democrat for dog catcher. Every election is a chance for a protest vote. And notice how the story is framed. Not that Democrats have radically changed their standards on sexual assault allegation. But that Republicans accuse Democrats of double standards. They vary the "Republicans pounce" headline a bit.
Huh. There is but one response:
You get more of what you reward people for doing.
Way to go Australia! That's gonna leave a mark. Related American support for Taiwan.
There is a legal challenge to the grand bargain to govern Israel. But when voters in serial elections refuse to choose, what choice do the politicians have but to interpret the voter choice as "all of the above?"
It's interesting that the reserves will be called upon to help fight drug trafficking in SOUTHCOM.
I think it is fairly obvious that the data is hidden because the Taliban aren't willing to stop killing. How do you pretend we have a peace deal with them if that kind of information gets out?
Well that seems stupid.
Democracy dies in
Kim Jon-Un is alive and well after his extended absence from public life. I recall that Saddam Hussein would periodically send loyalists to wake up suspect generals (whether with basis or not, it did not matter) and tell them "Brother, the revolution is on! Are you with us?" Generals quickly learned to decline the invitation. Which thwarted our efforts to turn generals prior to the 2003 Iraq War. I assume Saddam learned this from the Soviets. Anyway, was Kim doing something like that? And were the shots fired at a South Korean DMZ post (South Korea returned the fire) the unofficial announcement that Rocket Man is back?
Poor babies! Being White House stenographers for The One was certainly much less stressful, I imagine. If four more years is too stressful, they can always learn to code, eh? Tip to Instapundit.
The Russian army is getting the new AK-12 rifle.
I don't know what that was, but it was not an "invasion" of Venezuela.
Egad, 600,000 Americans have died already in the Xi Jinping Flu? No wonder Biden thinks he must hide in his basement! But Joe has problems with statistics: "Biden has this problem with statistics — before his wife locked him up in the basement, he was claiming that there were 720 million women in the workforce, that 150 million Americans have been killed by firearms since 2007, and that 40 students were shot at Kent State in 1970." Let's hope Biden never has to throw the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch:
There is no way Democrats will send that poor man out to face Trump. Are they cruel enough to do that, counting on the vice presidential candidate to quickly push Biden out of the way once in office? Are they really going to test at a national level whether Democrats will vote for a ham sandwich with a (D) after it? Tips to Instapundit.
Two American B-1 bombers flew over the South China Sea in defiance of Chinese ownership claims to 80% of the body of water that are in defiance of international law.
Thanks God!
Democratic standard operating procedure: The current Republican president/candidate is literally Hitler! And our credibility on this charge is enhanced because we didn't really think the last Republican president/candidate was Hitler. I'm really looking forward to the rehabilitation of Trump by the 2028 election.
Yeah, a lot of bullshit beliefs espoused by bullshit profiteers and believed by people with the money to insulate themselves from the effects of the bullshit ideas don't get the attention they once did. I guess an actual micro-aggression by a Xi Jinping Flu pandemic invisible virus will do that. Tip to Instapundit.
