Burma/Myanmar used to be pretty friendly with China and I worried it might be a Chinese outpost to support Chinese fleet operations in the Bay of Bengal. But now China supports tribal rebels in Burma.
Can the Chinese defend their illegal South China Sea claims with their new island bases? I already had doubts about that.
I'm starting to think my weekend data dumps are my Twitter substitute.
The Army has moved to online recruiting in a big way.
Army funding is likely to take a hit in favor of air, naval, and space power.
Some of the election results refute the idea that Trump would ruin the Republican "brand." One, Trump expanded his vote total tremendously, including significantly more minority support. And two, a number of voters selected Biden while voting for Republicans lower down the ballot. This suggests Trump did more for the brand overall. I was long dismissive of the worry that some never-Trump Republicans put forth to justify their opposition to Trump. I understand not liking Trump. Really. But I could not understand supporting Democrats over supporting Trump. Will a future Republican candidate bring home those Trump-averse voters while holding the minority voters Trump gained?
Could seaplanes be a key enabler for Pacific logistics?
I heard that there is 90% compliance with mask wearing in America in public places and there is high lockdown compliance. So don't blame Republicans supposedly defying "science" for the fall-winter rise, which is perfectly normal for a virus and predicted back in the spring. I really think Americans can be trusted to wear masks and socially distance as needed without using the power of the state to enforce it in all circumstances against the general population. Especially with the research which suggests that symptomatic super-spreader fears are the unicorns of this pandemic.
That isn't right. Even though it remained totally peaceful rather than mostly peaceful. Don't mimic the intimidation tactics of Antifa to defend Trump. If not for the basic morality than for the realization that the media will condemn you for it rather than celebrate you for it.
I walked downtown for the first time this year. Normally from spring to fall, walking downtown for lunch or a couple beers, or perhaps a chocolate malt, is a part of warm weather. The Chinese Communist Party effed that up. I walked down to a bank to pay my winter property tax bill. So that was just as fun, eh?
Democrats apparently believe that Republicans want more people to die from the Xi Jinping Flu AND simultaneously believe Republicans are less likely to take precautions to avoid getting the Xi Jinping Flu. So how exactly does that work? I really don't get nuance.
Good: "The Air Force is making new adjustments to its F-35 priorities in order to expedite the service’s broader transition into new levels of networked warfare wherein combat nodes operate as attack platforms as well as data-transmission and intelligence hubs in joint combat." When you separate sensor from shooter, you can do this.
I don't understand how Biden will carry out his presidential duties when he was barely willing to come out of the basement to campaign on day trips from his Covid-19 hidey hole.
Let's not over-think the problem of Russia's use of mercenaries. One, America uses lots of mercenaries. But we call them "military contractors." Granted, our usage has to support our troops rather than using them to replace infantry, the way Russia is doing. You deal with Russia's use of combat mercenaries by killing them--or rather, helping those who fight them kill them. Mercenaries fight for money. Which means they want to survive long enough to spend that money. Or to continue living to send that money home. That's the basic weakness of relying on people who fight for money.
Iraq's revered Shia cleric Sistani is working to tie militias to the state and pry them away from Iran. I'm shocked he is still alive. May the effort push militias to the control of the state and to disband those that refuse to break ties and allegiance to Iran.
The December deadline for casting Electoral College votes is not something the Constitution addresses. Huh. I did not realize that. Tip to Instapundit.
I'm not even going to pretend that I have a speck of dust in my eye.
If planting the flag on the Moon counts, we did it some time ago and actual men did it. As an aside, could the moon buggies be repaired and used even after all this time? Or will classic car enthusiasts among the Moon colonists restore them?
I've long assumed the "sonic weapon" aimed at our diplomats is some sort of eavesdropping device with unfortunate collateral damage. Or maybe our enemies consider the side effects a nice bonus they have no interest in minimizing.
Apparently it is not racist anymore to note that the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic originated in China and that the Chinese Communist Party lies about the pandemic. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.
For any other pope I'd say it is great that he will go to Iraq in March. But this pope doesn't seem like much of a defender of the West, or even of the Catholic Church.
I want a president who defeats our foreign enemies and gets out of the way of the economy--not one who tells me to eat my vegetables or reminds me to tie my shoes.
Will Georgian Republicans let Senator Schumer march through Georgia?
She seems emotionally stable and fully rational. I wonder if she's single? But perhaps I've shared too much.
The Russians continue to be paranoid morons--specifically in Kaliningrad--even as the real threat to Russia gets worse in the Far East.
Don't let our Xi Jinping Flu lockdown fans hear what North Korea is doing about the pandemic infected--it might give them ideas. And even without the pandemic, the North Korean army is sick and dying. Other than the 20% counted on as being loyal. How long will the food or them or their loyalty last?
CNN reports that China covered up the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic? No! Way! I look forward to other inconvenient truths finally getting reported by CNN now that Trump will leave office.
Iranian dissidents: Game over, man!
Egypt continues to battle and kill jihadis in the Sinai peninsula.
Sleeping with the enemy. But somehow Hunter Biden's activities remain a mystery to the FBI.
Now China says the Xi Jinping Flu (a.k.a. the Wuhan Flu, a.k.a. the China Virus, a.k.a. the CCP Virus) started in Australia. The CCP seems like such a nice party.
The United States Army now has a single commander overseeing Army units in Europe and Africa. I've mentioned it before.
I will take the Xi Jinping Flu vaccination when it is available. I enlisted to protect my country. Why wouldn't I get a simple vaccine to help do the same?
Climate change via meteor bombardment? But it might just be a correlation with no causation.
I have no problem at all with former General Austin being secretary of defense. Although at some point we need to stop voting to ignore the 7-year rule for appointing retired officers, no? I'd caution Austin that he might be the Biden administration fall guy to take the blame for the effects of gutting the Defense Department.
Is climate alarmism based on decades-old misunderstanding of a branch of physics?
Democrats treated the American people as cannon fodder to prevent Trump from getting a Xi Jinping Flu relief package out of Congress before the election. Well, the people suffering the most are just the Deplorables, so acceptable collateral damage as far as they're concerned, I suppose. They had to save the Deplorables in order to save them? Pelosi was just fine as Deplorables no doubt delivered her premium ice cream to fill her freezers. This whole thing was shameful. Where is the accountability?
I thought Democrats already had the criminal voting bloc firmly in their corner? What could go wrong? My only question is does the crime wave get bigger before or after inauguration day? We will see the National Guard and federal troops in Los Angeles under Biden in a desperate bid to save the citizenry there, and the media will applaud rather than read Biden's mind to see the heart of a dictator at work. Via Instapundit.
Military forces around the world are coping with the Xi Jinping Flu. And I'm fully on board this assessment: "Politicians and some public health officials declared covid19 to be a
much greater threat [than] the severe strains of flu, which it wasn’t. In time
covid19 will become known more as the covid19 panic than as a major
killer like the Asian or Spanish Flu. At the time an epidemic disease is
active the risk is more about what you think it is than what it
actually is." Also, comparing country responses won't be possible until we have uniform definitions: "Meanwhile, there has been no universal standard for measuring the impact
of covid19. For example, some nations only count a covid19 death if
covid19 was the major cause of death. In other nations anyone who died
while infected is counted as a covid19 victim. " I've been noting that for a while now. That this virus panic coincided with the Trump-as-Hitler panicky delusion will be fodder for future grad students trying to figure out if the Trump panic created the Wuhan Flu panic or whether there is some other underlying cause that led to both. Here's a try. Do read it all. I'm certainly on board the "crisis of expertise" charge and have often noted the error of assuming someone's expertise in a narrow area confers wisdom in other areas (coughpaulkrugmancough). Hence my frequent caveats that an opinion of mine on some subject is "outside my usual lanes." That is, I recognize that more than other things in my lane my opinion may--and almost almost surely does--lack key information to make a real judgment. Here's some information. One dangerous aspect of this combined virus/Trump panic is that we have to wait and see if it will include Salem Witchcraft Deplorable Trials.
The French plan to build a new 75,000 ton displacement nuclear-powered carrier with about 30 larger fighter aircraft. Surely a carrier significantly bigger than the current 42,500 ton carrier which carries 30-40 fighter planes plus 7 support planes could carry more than that, eh?
Stalin and other dictators could only marvel at the ability of partisans to memory hole inconvenient definitions of words. Dictionary.com is dead to me. They are a-holes--hey, I'm just "evolving" the language to mean nice chaps sometimes. "Packing the courts" has a long history of meaning adding seats so you can appoint judges until you control the court. Claiming it really can mean appointing judges who agree with you is insane and is simply a description of the entirely normal and expected practice of what happens when you have the power to appoint judges. And yeah, "Orwellian" is an accurate way to describe this. There was a time when liberals would have been outraged. Now they think it is fine that the definition of "court packing" self-identified as something else.
As of mid-week with time running out, I'm just not seeing efforts to "fix" state election results in favor of Trump being strong enough to work. Getting even one of the states in contention to flip would be a major achievement at this late date. Which would be good enough to provide evidence of the need to pursue election integrity reforms going forward, at least. We lost the White House. Focus on keeping the Senate. Then focus on minimizing the damage a Biden administration can inflict. And increase election integrity. Fixing or nullifying the partisan media that works as the Democratic Party's auxiliary would be nice, too. Work the problems.
I don't want any Internet-of-Things products in my home. I really don't understand why my new washer/dryer needs a phone jack on it.
Not every serious problem is a national security problem. I doubt climate change is even a serious problem. It is definitely not a national security problem. I honestly don't know why progressives want to address climate change as a national security problem given that they almost uniformly think the threats to our national security deserve to defeat America. To be fair, this whole effort is probably designed to make our military less able to defeat actual threats to our national security. Whoever is appointed secretary of defense should be aware of this minefield that will likely blow off their reputation as defense capabilities are hollowed out to fight the climate. Just stop. As one of my sergeants liked to say, "It doesn't rain in the Army. It rains on the Army." Weather is something you deal with while defeating the enemy--not the enemy. Does General Austin really want to be the fall guy for this fiasco?
Nothing to see. Move along. If there was justice, Biden will be subjected to four years of intensive scrutiny over ties to China.
The Devolution will be televised. Please tell me these losers won't define that generation.
Loyal wingman test by Boeing of five autonomous planes flying in support of one piloted jet. That's cool. And it was a nice touch for the test to take place in Australia. Question: Why can't a Army battalion have ground-launched squadrons to provide combat air patrol support over forward companies? That's something I argued for in Army magazine two years ago.
Strategypage looks at the wars Russia is involved in. Also, who robbed the Russian "Doomsday" command and control plane? Scrap sellers? Americans? British? Chinese?
In six weeks of fighting, Armenia suffered 2,425 dead, Azerbaijan lost 2,783, and 300 Turkish mercenaries fighting for Azerbaijan died. That's a sizable death toll for six weeks of fighting. I confess I didn't follow it closely because the lack of serious media attention led me to believe it was mere skirmishing. Until it became clear that Armenia was losing significant ground, it seemed minor.
Iran enters the AGI signals intelligence game. Given Iran's record of fake weapons, I have to wonder if the ship has more than an AM/FM radio receiver and a reel-to-reel tape recorder.
The Army is continuing its effort to replace the aging Bradley Fighting Vehicle. We'll see if funding will be available to actually build it--assuming a design can be settled on.
"The U.S. Marine Corps is looking to equip its infantry units with a man-portable, swarming loitering munition that experts say is part of its shift toward countering China with a light and deadly seaborne infantry force." Eventually an enemy will have that ability to use against Marines. The Marines will need combat air patrol drones to defend against that capability, as I argued for in Army magazine two years ago.
Well duh, of course China is willing to fight for Taiwan. The idea that China would need to maneuver Taiwan into firing a first shot in order for China to claim Taiwan took the first shot is rather ridiculous. But yes, deterrence must be quietly established--as I recently argued for in Military Review--with real American ground force capabilities to deter a Chinese invasion.
I think that you can be sure that our media will inform people of the actual position of America in the rate of Xi Jinping Flu deaths (13th) when Biden is president, rather than saying we uniquely screwed this up. Further, I bet the media will start discussing the definition problem of who dies from covid-19, which probably elevates America's count.
Commies gotta commie. Antifa should be made aware that the Biden administration could napalm their autonomous zone and still get the Nobel Peace Prize.
I think this state representative who issued a warning on Facebook to “you Trumpers. Be careful. Walk lightly. We ain’t playing with you. Enough of the shenanigans. Enough is enough. And for those of you who are soldiers, you know how to do it. Do it right. Be in order. Make them pay” should be formally rebuked in a bipartisan vote--with expulsion from the Michigan House of Representatives held as an immediate alternative if Democrats close ranks. Receiving a death threat from a single person--which I imagine is (sadly) common for all public figures--does not justify a blanket threat of violence to an entire class of people. I was involved in an expulsion from the State Senate in a supporting role. For both sides, actually. It can be done. Start drafting that resolution along with a formal resolution of rebuke. After an apology, perhaps that representative could get her committee assignments restored eventually in the next legislative session (she first won in 2018 so I assume she is returning). This should not be tolerated. To be fair, before that state senator was ejected from the state senate, the more disorderly state house of representatives had tolerated his behavior when he was a member of that body. So I don't expect expulsion as the first response.
Prime Minister Trudeau invited the PLA to Canada for cold weather training? WTF? Trudeau was greatly annoyed when the Canadian military canceled the training exercise. Still, calm down you haters! I bet the PM would have made up for helping the PLA gain new warfighting skills by wearing Uighur socks.
Morocco makes peace with Israel. America tosses in the sweetener of recognizing Morocco's control of Western Sahara.
Although Morocco does not try to exert control over the wastelands bordering Mauritania and Algeria on the other side of the berm Morocco built.
Just how long have the Chinese been lying about the Xi Jinping Flu?
You can't say Erdogan's Turkey hasn't earned American sanctions. But remember, we have an Erdogan crisis and not a S-400 crisis.
Sweden is reaching out to Finland for military cooperation and is now in favor of considering the "NATO option" if it would help Sweden's security. Good. But Sweden should remember that NATO has to accept their application to join.
Should Biden be worried that the media suddenly thinks the Hunter Biden story is actually a story? I mean, if the media has decided it wants Harris to be president, Biden is a dead man walking.
I'm to believe that after China has spent decades building up a modern military, that instead of invading Taiwan to overcome what the article describes as a largely hollow Taiwanese military that China has decided on "gray zone" warfare to pressure and stress Taiwan? "When near, appear far" is a saying the Chinese military might be familiar with. Let's hope INDOPACOM is keeping a careful eye out for Chinese military activity. And maybe Taiwan should develop a sense of urgency in building a defense establishment capable of defeating a Chinese invasion.
Democracy Dies in Darkness Right Here. A lot of things seem weird in this election. It is plausible that there was enough fraud and engineered error--where mistakes can be fixed in a partisan manner--in key states to swing the election. Sadly, there is little time to prove it and we need proof to justify extraordinary measures in the Constitution to fix that. More sadly, the media has no interest in doing anything more than shielding Democrats by joining in the denial of fraud and asserting that mere denial is proof of a clean election. You'd think the media would actually look into this to defend their political allies by demonstrating to all that the election was honest. That they don't suggests they really think that the election was in fact stolen for their candidate. I truly think the only way out is to see Biden inaugurated (if he lasts that long); seek investigations in and out of federal, state, and local government bodies; contain the damage a Biden administration can do; secure the election process to reduce the opportunity for fraud and engineered error next time; and impeach the president and vice president if the evidence can finally be brought to light. It might require waiting past the 2022 election to give control of Congress to Republicans in totality, but this can be done. Also, don't forget enforcing consequences on the bureaucrats and elected officials who inflicted the baseless Trump-Russia collusion hoax. That might have been the ultimate election tampering. And who knows, it is quite possible that the election irregularities do not indicate decisive fraud. Stranger things have happened. The real scandal might be how the media openly sided with Biden by covering for him (corruption and mental decline, for example) and Democrats in general (Pelosi blocking pandemic relief before the election and denying the riots in American cities, for example). Dictators around the world who want to hold faux elections will learn a lot from this election's media record of swaying the election.
China is vacuuming up the seas--and not excluding poaching--with a massive fishing fleet. How long before China just claims it all?
On the blue wave for the presidential vote total in the election and the red wave in lower level races, I imagine that rather than indicating fraud it can be explained by the high concentration of blue voters in certain states and in large cities. That creates lopsided blue lower level wins in a small number of locations but closer red wins in more locations. Note that very few votes in a small number of states--fewer than Trump in 2016, I think--actually threw the election to Biden in the Electoral College despite his large but irrelevant popular vote margin.
Strategypage discusses our SM-3 of a simulated ICBM target. I thought the warhead intercepted the warhead before it began its high speed plunge. Strategypage suggests this is not the case. But how far along in its ballistic trajectory can an ICBM warhead be intercepted by the SM-3? Is it a point defense weapon, too? Well, within the constraints of shooting down a nuke before an air burst, of course.
Complete the mission in Afghanistan. Although ultimately Afghanistan is just one front that is holding the line until the Islamic world can win its civil war in favor of the reasonable elements who would reject and marginalize the jihadis.
Abandoning that "niche" market of half the country.
I don't think the European Union wants to partner with America to solve the Turkey problem. I think the EU wants a problem that it can partner with to deal with--not solve--to legitimize the EU as the representative of Europe. By such steps is the prefix of the proto-imperial EU erased. America should work with NATO and with individual European state governments rather than go along with that EU ploy.
Yes, Democrats claim Trump has undermined "norms" and "standards." But Trump's violations consist of mean tweets and mockery. Democrats have actually undermined the norms and standards of our government institutions. And media's norms and standards, I might add.
Fewer troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will limit the scope of operations that American forces can conduct in those countries, with or without local partners. Although in Iraq, at least, non-American NATO forces will expand to compensate.
Will getting rid of Senator Feinstein be the Democratic test run for removing Biden? I know all conservatives expect the media to be Biden fluffers, I wonder if that will last 100 days before the media tries to ease Biden out of office and put in a really left-wing Harris in the White House. Seriously, is this why the media is only now covering the Hunter Biden laptop story now that Trump is safely defeated?
As it turns out, the media made a huge "mistake" prior to the election in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story by asserting it was not real. But it is real--and spectacular. Oops. As Senator Reid would say, "Trump didn't win did he?"
Pope Francis is a great disappointment, as I've occasionally mentioned. Let's just say he isn't in any position to invoke Papal Infallibility on any issue of faith or morals given his preference for leading on socialism and climate change. Evolving to a secular religion won't work out well for the Vatican.
Really, you are seeing tears of laughter here at TDR:
SEEN ON FACEBOOK: “*Flicks cigarette after a long drag* ‘Here’s the thing. If Santa knows when kids are naughty or nice then he knew Rudolph was being bullied.'” I disagree. Santa doesn't have an all-encompassing social credit score to suppress all the boys and girls. Santa is a single-mission entity whose job is to give toys to good little boys and girls. So there is no thick file. Santa has a very basic "list"--as legend has it--that simply evaluates children on the binary choice of "naughty" or "nice" for the purpose of toy delivery. Santa does not know--and does not need to know--the details of naughty or nice determination. Which raises security issues for whether the system can be hacked; and transparency shortfalls to determine if the simple evaluation can be manipulated if you know the algorithm. But those are separate issues. Second, Santa knows about only human boys and girls--not animals even if they are sentient. How would Santa know the other reindeer bullied Rudolph absent directly seeing it? And honestly, in the show Santa was kind of a dick about Rudolph's difference at first, if I recall it correctly. What we should really worry about is China's rather touchy notion of territorial defense when Santa flies over China or just territory China claims. And for that matter, will the New York or California governors arrest Santa for massive social distancing violations? Or does Santa have the political connections to get exceptions to the lockdown rules like so many favored groups have? Indeed, will Santa be cancelled by leftist crybullies for only delivering on Christmas or for not allowing for infinite genders on his list? Effing 2020.
I'm relieved that the Supreme Court turned down the Texas petition to take their case over the election process. It was a long shot anyway, and the long-term effect of getting a hearing isn't something conservatives should want. I really don't like the idea of opening up an avenue of states suing each other. California is bad enough as it is. Imagine them suing other states to achieve whatever lunacy their so-called leaders pull out of their butts. And are our politics not divisive enough with the current powers of the federal government and the federal courts? Good riddance to that lawsuit.
Okay, these are tears of rage and frustration:
"Covid in Europe: Death tolls soar and hospitals struggle as containment unravels". Which is so odd because Europe lacks Trump and follows Holy Science, and has socialized medicine. I just don't get nuance.
Okay, one more just to honor the man:
The difference between Russia and China: Why bother trying to rig or influence our elections when you can go right to the source? And really, by now you've seen pictures of Swalwell and Fang. Not to be cruel, but how could Swalwell not know Fang had ulterior motives for even making eye contact with him? Also, for those of us old enough, the ties between Communist China and the Democrats go back to Bill Clinton.
Seattle is confused. Normally you authorize the sacking and looting of captured enemy cities. What is Seattle's major malfunction? Tip to Instapundit.
Go Army! Beat Navy! By getting a field goal, a touchdown, and then a safety, was that a football Gordie Howe hat trick for Army?
You can spend four years claiming the 2016 election was hacked or stolen by the Russians on YouTube. But suggesting fraud might have affected the 2016 election gets your video knocked off of the service. What bias? Tip to Instapundit.
If there was justice, Biden would angrily insist Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran's evil mullah rulers isn't nearly hard enough. But instead it will be Reset 2.0. R2P is so expired.
Instead of celebrating the people who created Xi Jinping Flu vaccines in record time as Person of the Year, Time magazine selected two people who hid from the pandemic and scrutiny, and who were carried to the White House by the media-entertainment complex. Bravo. Or healthcare workers who did not hide in basements from the virus could have been honored. Or how about all the blue collar workers who went to work so teachers could order sourdough starter online?
Before the Democrats exposed themselves as unworthy of any of my votes at any level of government through their dangerous tempter tantrum since 2016, the Democratic Party was on an internal path to being a horrifying reality of every loony caricature of them drawn up until now.
Biden's willing stenographers.
Chinese influence operations exposed. Note that the Chinese dissidents didn't bother to leak the massive list to any American news outfit. Will we do anything about this!? Tip to Instapundit. This Chinese effort is just one more aspect of their "thousand grains of sand" approach to espionage.
Well that's horrifying, even if it isn't jihadi related. Nigeria has problems.
Britain and the EU are still far apart on a Brexit trade deal. I swear, the EU is more accommodating to the mullah-run regime in Iran.
Electoral College delegates will vote tomorrow. It isn't technically over until Biden's inauguration in January, but this is pretty much the fat lady singing unless the horse miraculously sings in the next month.
NOTE: Oops. I added links I intended for the next data dump. You'll see them again.
