A fire aboard a San Diego-based amphibious warfare ship is out. The ship was in home port undergoing maintenance when the explosion occurred.
In some places around the world, names that remind current people of the former people who inhabited the region are removed in a sort of historical record ethnic cleansing. Thank goodness America is different. Only the unhinged activists class seem to be worked up over the issue.
What with sports on the cusp of woke BS and the mainstream news embracing their role as Democratic Party press release transcribers, my choice after cutting the more expensive YouTube TV as I discussed last week is no longer between a more affordable Sling sports or news package. I choose neither. Maybe I'll return when sanity is restored and the crazy people are ignored rather than followed.
I saw a comment online that really annoyed me, to the effect that the pandemic does not stop at the schoolhouse door just because Americans are tired of being "inconvenienced" by the lockdown. Screw that a-hole. Maybe those who want to open the schools aren't motivated by easing their lives. Maybe they are motivated by concern that children will suffer as their education is disrupted and their futures made less secure as a result. Sure, the children of well off parents with safe and quiet homes with the ability to afford the technology and online tutors might be just fine. But the most in need will be set back quite a lot. "Inconvenience," indeed.
The war is ongoing so I don't think the Saudi-UAE intervention in Yemen is ill-fated. The Houthi were certainly prevented from winning the civil war to take over Yemen. And I think the major reason the Houthi have been able to keep fighting even pushed back to their homeland area is that the Saudi coalition lacks ground forces to exploit Saudi air supremacy.
Left-wing culture will eventually deliver left-wing "science."
Excess deaths in America have a large component that is not related to the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic--but to downgrading health care for non-covid19 health problems. Shocking, I know. Why is approved caring limited to pandemic illness and death? Tip to Instapundit.
The bad news is that my "complete" The Far Side collection is no longer complete. The good news is that The Far Side is back! 2020 has a bright side, too.
"At the beginning, pretty much the whole country was united in horror at what happened to Floyd, and a desire to do something about it. Then the Red Guard came in and started rioting, attacking and dividing people. If people do things that keep us from coming together as a nation and solving our problems, maybe it’s because they don’t want us to do that." Of course Black lives matter. Our Constitution requires that because it insists that no life is worth more or less than another. But the Black Lives Matter organization is not the embodiment of that foundation of our country. BLM the organization is a communist dirtbag-fest that gets undeserved respect for having a name that reflects a standard our Constitution insists we must have. Don't fall for that linguistic sleight of hand. Reject BLM or no lives will matter.
With all the talk of how we have lost the Afghanistan war--the latest thing I read said we tragically failed to "understand" our enemies, which I think is a BS criticism--and should flee now, I have to ask: Just what do you expect victory to look like? We invaded a Moslem tribal society that has a way to go to reach the 19th century. We don't have a functioning rule of law democracy with bike path debates there. What we do have is a place with enough local allies killing jihadis for us that is not a sanctuary to hatch plots to fly hijacked planes filled with our people into our buildings filled with our people. I don't understand how anyone can say the war was futile and that we lost.
Children are stupid and immature; what is the excuse for the adults who run the police force? Tip to Instapundit.
The American campaign against Iran is weakening Iran and weakening Iran's attempts to control Iraq as Iraqis are emboldened to push back against Iranian influence. Recall the near-hysteria here that the killing of Soleimani would inspire Iraqis to expel America and hand Iraq to Iran. This is both a battle for Iraq and a battle against Iran in Iraq.
Given that Iran keeps attacking Saudi Arabia using the Yemen Houthis (with missiles and drones), could the attacks inside Iran be the work of an Israeli-Saudi alliance? And if so, are the explosions really the result of agents inside Iran plus cyber attacks or the work of Israeli stealth F-35s operating from a Saudi base that are simulating the existence of Israeli agents and cyber results blowing things up in Iran to get the Iranians paranoid and chasing their tale? Just wondering if the leaks to the media explaining what is going on are accurate or not.
China is not Russia's friend. And the sooner Russia stops pretending China is their friend at the price of alienating the West, the better off the West and Russia will be.
Can you really disagree with the reality that the Resistance Left has gone bat guano crazy? Too many people are going along with the crazy.
Layers and layers of fact checkers is the difference between professional journalists and mere bloggers, recall.
Japan is arming up in response to China's threats, including this: "In March of last year, Japan opened military bases on Amami-Oshima, the island shadowed by the Chinese submarine, and on another island further south, both equipped with antiship and surface-to-air missiles. Another base is planned for a third island. In 2016, it added a military radar station on one of its islands closest to China." You may recall that I have wanted Japan to defend their exposed islands.
The United States rejected Chinese expansive and illegal territorial claims in the South China Sea. This is a restatement of American views on the issue, although apparently the statement is a direct rejection rather than indirect rejection. China doesn't seem to care and has ignored a major court ruling from a international court under the Law of the Sea (LOST) that China in theory accepts.
I haven't hear anything about the Russian bounty allegations that had our media and their Democratic worked up into a near-impeachment frenzy. I guess the RUMORINT has been discarded.
Tactical motorization of our leg infantry. If leg infantry isn't as useful as it used to be with COIN focus, just mechanize them under armor and stop the half measures.
People (well, liberals) keep saying that America (well, Trump) is screwing up our Xi Jinping Flu pandemic reaction. The death toll doesn't indicate that to me when you have a number of European countries with socialized medicine suffering more. And those geographically small countries compared to huge America suffer for comparison purposes by the skewed nature of American deaths in selected small geographic areas in the northeast responsible for about half of America's death toll. Plus, I do believe we are more liberal that at least some European countries in defining pandemic-caused deaths. Germany for example is stricter. So the statistics don't actually show a much better reaction--just different (better, I don't know) definitions. Maybe America is screwing up. As I've said, this is out of my lane. But this data doesn't indicate that I should suddenly trust a untrustworthy mainstream media all-in to defeat Trump and put a hand puppet in the White House. Very related thoughts here.
Is Iran catching spies or are the nutball rulers just so paranoid that they are executing innocent people?
Hahahaha: "In a move that's being called 'unprecedented tyranny,' Walmart is now requiring all shoppers to wear pants in their stores." Tip to Instapundit.
The United States and Arab allies go after ISIL-supporting financial support.
I'm just going to say that I have never used a non-incandescent light bulb.
Ethiopia is filling their GERD Nile River dam without agreement with Egypt and Sudan on the rate.
In the cancel culture age when activists from the left attempt to destroy people for not being leftists, the idea that Ivanka Trump's public display of support for Goya for the owner's backing of Trump for pro-Hispanic business policies is a violation of ethics rules is outdated and stupid. Ivanka did not get money for support and is just trying to counter leftist efforts to destroy a company and its workers to silence its owner. Screw these leftists. The leftists made the company a political issue. Ivanka responded in a political manner rather than unilaterally disarm. That's all.
The clusterfuck that is modern Yemen is so bad that it extends out to sea: "The U.N. environment chief said Wednesday that 'time is running out' to avert an environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe from a deteriorating oil tanker loaded with 1.1 million barrels of crude oil that is moored off the coast of Yemen."
I wondered about a story that Iran was building a new fake American carrier. It turns out that the faux Nimitz is the old one being repaired.
I hope I am not tiresome for repeating my constant refrain that "liberal minded" is not a synonym for "open minded." The left has gone nuts.
What kind of a brain-dead moron do you have to be to respond--unarmed--to events that trained and armed police used to respond to. I guess we'll find out.
Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan has broken out again. More on the issue here.
The Marines have begun dismantling their tank units. If the Army hopes that the Marines can continue to be the most significant expeditionary ally to fight at its side during the era of great power competition, as it has been in all our wars since the end of World War II, the Army needs to be ready to loan the Marines Army tank units.
If you wonder why I don't get excited when there are reports of super weapons being developed by our potential foes--and sometimes mock them: "In the U.S. military, I have noted people rolling their eyes when they hear about the superweapons being produced. The closer you are to weapons development, the more you are aware of its shortcomings. Wars are won by experienced staff, brave and motivated forces, and factories that don’t screw up."
To be fair, Jesus was Roman and Rome held slaves.
The media is plain out lying about what McEnany said about science and school openings. She said that the science backed opening and not--as hostile media reported--that contrary science should be ignored. Shame on them. And I expect little from Bill Nye the Political Hack Guy.
America is the only country that has state-supported media that twists the news to falsely attack the country's president.
Oh, so now Erdogan is interested in rule of law? Nice try Sparky. Egypt will be the sword of the Arab world to stop Erdogan's imperial ambitions in Libya. Or at least the dagger. Or maybe just the Lego block on the floor.
There were protests in Iran's oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province. It seems that Iran disrupted the Internet to contain the protests. Iran's Arab minority is a major demographic there.
Britain rejected China's Huawei 5G contract even though China assumed Britain could not afford to defy China. That adds to China's deepening woes. Yes, China has alienated other countries and pushed them to America's side. In one sense that is easily predicted. But as I said long ago, for neighbors to make that choice rather than kneel to Chinese power, America needed to be powerful enough to support those countries that want to opposed China. But hey, China will always have North Korea as a friend, right?
With Xi Jinping Flu cases up, why not use Navy hospital ships and Army mobile hospitals to cope with these new surges? We used those assets early although luckily they weren't really needed. Why aren't these options even being mentioned?
China and North Korea don't like South Korea's THAAD missile defenses. North Korea aspires to threaten South Korea even though "neither [ ] the missiles or nukes are reliable enough to be considered operational but North Korea is still working on it." I thought as much. I keep reading stories about the estimated size of North Korea's nuclear arsenal but I have suspected that those numbers are theoretical and not representative of actual nuclear weapons. Good to know.
Russia's so-called stealthy Su-57 (a.k.a. T-50) still sucks, although the Chinese think their J-20 has better prospects of actually being stealthy. Good luck with that. America has already retired its first stealth combat aircraft, the F-117.
Long ago I stopped paying attention to Paul Krugman because he's a joke. I'll accept he earned his Nobel Prize in some specific area of economics. But he writes on everything but that narrow subject and clearly knows nothing. Nothing has changed. Tip to Instapundit.
Well of course long-range Army missiles can help destroy enemy air defense assets. When I was but a teenager that was a favorite tactic for me in one wargame I played a lot. Use long-range fires to knock out SAMs which allowed aircraft to strike ground units. The Air Force apparently doesn't like the missiles because it fears the Army won't need Air Force planes to strike targets beyond the usual range of Army fires units. Get over it.
Der Spiegel writes about a renewed emphasis on mercenaries. I was all over this on this blog and you can see a lot of the TDR posts plus commentary in this collection for only 99 cents here! America and Britain supplemented their militaries with contractors and it was a horrible trend; while Turkish, Iranian, and Russian use of mercenaries as the primary fighting forces is noted without moral judgments. I had intended a series on various subjects but it was way harder than I thought it would be to compile them and it never really took off. If I had liberally tagged my posts from the start on subject matters I could have done that more easily. Of course I'd still need buyers ...
I doubt that this alternative to the Suez Canal will ever be built--and who wants to rely on Russia and Iran for trade routes? And why would India want to make Chinese trade with Europe easier? Unless the new route handles traffic the canal can't handle, what's the point?
She seems so nice and stable. Tip to Instapundit.
When Russia exercises their troops in the southwest, Ukraine and Georgia should probably pay attention. Although maybe Azerbiajan should look over their shoulder as they battle Armenia again.
Layers and layers of
The Chinese Communist Party is putting a visa squeeze on Taiwanese in freshly (new and improved!) oppressed Hong Kong.
The Chinese Communist Party seems a little touchy and twitchy these days. As our Navy operates in China's illegally claimed South China Sea, I repeat my warning to the Navy to be careful out there.
Yes, defend civilization from the barbarians at the gates.
When I look at the statistics, I just don't see how America is failing in our Xi Jinping Flu response. Not that we haven't made mistakes in responding to this once-in-a-century event--but who hasn't made mistakes? But New York City is the public face of America and NYC is way worse than the rest of the country, and without them America is really doing rather well by comparison. But I guess if the media is going to cover for the screw ups by New York state and NYC Democrats, I guess America as a whole has to get the blame.
I've noticed that protests in Detroit against opening schools are led by By Any Means Necessary, a communist group that clearly doesn't give a damn about children or teachers and simply wants America to get worse so somehow they can take over. Denying poor children an education somehow seems like a good idea to those monsters. The local reporters are clueless about the group and treat them like concerned citizens.
The answer is an emphatic "no."
It is giving the 1619 Project people too much credit to say they are merely useful idiots for the Chinese Communist Party.
I hate Chicago Communists.
Sure, it would be a bad idea for India to initiate a war with China and should seek other ways to push back against China and close the economic and military gaps. But that's not the same as saying India can't win a war against China. If China insists on war with India, India has options to really hurt China at sea while holding on the defensible terrain in the north.
I have to assume that the 27% of respondents who said that media news organizations "generally remain impartial" simply don't watch or read the news for more than weather, lottery numbers, and horoscopes. Tip to Instapundit.
I suspect that if a U.S. Supreme Court seat opens up soon that there will be no attempt to replace the justice before the November election. If there are Republicans who support Trump simply because of the judges, it would be best to give them motivation to vote for Trump and Republican Senate candidates. Especially given Roberts ... ah ... flexibility. Although you know I think in the long run it is a fool's game to play it that way. The only way to win is to reduce the power of the federal government--whether the presidency, Congress, or federal courts--over state and local issues. If control of the federal government isn't such a high stakes game, national polarization will lessen dramatically.
Dissent from the social justice Red Guards agenda is unacceptable--but the rest of us have no obligation to accept that fascist idea. I'm so old that I remember when dissent was the highest form of patriotism.
It's sad and enraging, really, to see white protesters sacrifice African-American neighborhoods in their effort to squander the unity over reforming local police in the wake of George Floyd's killing. The cul-de-sac revolutionaries have decided what is good for African Americans. Call it the Woke Man's Burden. Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and their middle class white auxiliaries are not friends of African Americans who they see as victims without agency to be saved and lifted up. And exploited, of course.
Just one this week, to avoid diluting it:
Sudan is protesting the filling of Ethiopia's GERD Nile River dam and Egypt is none too happy as well. But what is Sudan going to do? Invite Egyptian combat aircraft to bomb the dam? Ethiopia controls the Nile that flows to Sudan and Egypt and could do much more harm to them than filling a dam potentially too quickly.
If Portland city officials and the state of Oregon don't want federal law enforcement to attempt to restore order in Portland in the face of left-wing rioters, I say pull the federal troops out and let the locals enjoy the government they want--good and hard. If Portland citizens want federal help, federal agents can go in to evacuate those citizens and help them sue the city and state for civil rights violations. Sure, Lincoln didn't require state approval before sending in federal forces to Virginia to put down secessionists that rejected federal authority. But we live in more enlightened and sensitive times now, I guess.
I'd have more faith in Science! if a higher percentage of its practitioners were actual competent scientists. Too many activists have been involved in weaponizing science for political goals by exaggerating what science actually says. I can't begin to count how many things should have killed me, America, or the planet since I was a child. Our media has a role, too. Adding one more way they suck at their job of informing people of "news." Via Instapundit.
The State Department still needs an America Desk, it seems.
Actually it would just be an affront to all Chinese Communist Party members. Which is intended, I imagine. And contrary to what the CCP says, it would be in support of the Chinese people who aren't in the ruling class that the CCP represents. I wonder if it will actually be done? Tip to Instapundit.
The UN screwed up putting the jihadi-friendly GNA in formal charge of Libya. Since mid-2011 40,000 Libyans have died and a third of the 6 million citizens have fled--plus the 2-3 million foreign workers. The LNA was on its way--slowly--to unifying Libya under a better government--at least jihadi-hostile--when the Turks intervened on the side of the GNA to extend the chaos and violence to God knows when. But that's what happens when you give an enemy time, which Hiftar granted the GNA.
A teachers union is holding children hostage with unreasonable demands even though the science should not stand in the way of reopening badly needed schools. Children are pretty darned safe from the Xi Jinping Flu coronavirus. More vulnerable teachers can be made safer with reasonable precautions or accommodated if they are in vulnerable groups. Heck, some could retire if it is that bad. Allow early retirement and get younger teachers in the classroom. But we can't be made safe from politicized teachers unions that have political agendas unrelated to the welfare of children or teachers. Tips to Instapundit.
I see some American thugs are getting a head start on making America look like China.
Fauci thinks New York did a good job coping with the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic!? Huh.
Oh FFS! We're supposed to be afraid of the Boogaloo now instead of the boogie man? I'm calling BS on this because anybody associated with the SPLC is a left-wing partisan hack. Explain to me again how Antifa and BLM Marxists rioting and looting nationwide are "mostly peaceful" while alleged right-wingers who haven't been violent in more than isolated crimes are the biggest internal threat America faces. Pelosi's Congress wants to know. You'd think the Democrats would at least pretend to be credible.
When you consider that Al Gore didn't accept the results of the 2000 election and challenged the results; and that Democrats widely refused to accept the results of the 2016 election, going so far as to manufacture fake Trump-Russian collusion and instigate governmental Resistance, it is a bit much for me to read that Trump refuses to commit to accepting results in 2020--as if that is the start of the Trumptatorship. If he loses he will go. But he has the right to challenge the results depending on how much Democrats cheat.
If those Cul-de-sac Revolutionaries want to try to kill cops, I say we have underutilized space at our Guantanamo Bay detention facilities just waiting for those waging war on America. That's mostly hyperbole, but maybe we should think about it. Via Intapundit.
Good, a Rare Earths processing plant has opened in Colorado. China has had too much of a grip on our supplies critical for advanced weapons.
The Army will have a go at replacing the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
