There's going to be less domestic political stuff in these data dumps. I never really liked addressing domestic politics and sometimes tried to tone it down. But the dishonesty and hysteria of so much of the anti-Trump Resistance really bugged me. It was a relentless assault on my sense of fairness. Without that insane Democratic reaction I'm reasonably sure I would have quickly grown tired of Trump. I speculated about that at the moment of my joy that Hillary! lost the 2016 election. But Democrats acted so badly for 50 months that my joy never really had a chance to wear off. Anyway, this will mostly be a data dump of my basic blog subjects now. Mostly. Over time. After all, I have no need to defend Trump against insane attacks. So I'm out on that. I didn't discuss Bush 43 or Obama much after they left office. I hope Democratic insanity will fade. Although with a bizarre impeachment I don't count on that. That Democratic hate for Trump may just be a tool to attack his supporters. Seriously Democrats, if your hate-on lasts more than four years, seek immediate psychiatric attention. But certainly media bias will be a target-rich environment that I've traditionally addressed in regard to national security issues. So there's that. Fingers crossed.
The idea that Trump didn't "follow the science" on the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic response has always been ludicrous. And now we find that part of the problem was the "science" the CDC was pumping out.
Training the Iraqi military is in a lull because of the pandemic. I've mentioned that training is an ongoing process of training and oversight. That stopped after American troops left in 2011. The Iraqi military quickly deteriorated enough to collapse when ISIL stormed western and northwestern Iraq. ISIL isn't at that level now. But it did exploit corruption to carry out its bombing in Baghdad.
I'm so old I remember when "liberal minded" was a synonym for "open minded." Now that assumption is a crime against language.
Is this a sign of rot in the North Korean elites' solidarity?
The Chinese Communist Party is a nest of assholery. China is responsible for letting the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic loose on the world.
Google may withdraw services from Australia over a new law. I think big tech's silencing of a sitting American president and his followers was a wake up call to the world. Who wants to be reliant on Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter when they have the power to silence even the president of the United States? Who will be next, they can reasonably wonder. And over what? Competitors abroad will arise, perhaps subsidized by states as a national security measure. Let's see how many Americans will trust the foreign companies instead of the American companies when that happens.
Seriously, given the persistent wreckage that is modern Somalia, Somalia should have their formal UN status downgraded to "observer" and allow any portions of that defined territory that manages to exercise sovereignty over its territory to apply for UN recognition as a state. Let's get the OAU to work on acceptable conditions for this to try to save as many of the people as we can from the jihadi-tinged chaos that chokes the place. Think of it as a multi-lateral Lexington Rule blessed by the sainted international community.
Amazingly, Democrats moved their Impeachment On a Shelf to the delight of the excited little wokesters--again:
The media is mistrusted. And why not? "How many headlines were aimed at our outrage centers in the last four years that were quietly memory-holed, once they’d outlived their political utility?" And that media inauguration coverage "was an almost perfect mathematical inverse of late-stage Trump reporting, a monument to groveling sycophancy." Yeah. The recitation of Tyrant Porn examples astounded me. Read it all. What amazes me is that Taibbi says the mistrust has been building for a decade. I learned not to trust it in the 1980s when they obviously sided against Reagan. Tip to Instapundit.
If a Republican president kept combat troops in Washington, D.C. months after inauguration--despite no violence on inauguration day as predicted--he'd be called a fascist.
Suddenly it isn't racist to name the country of origin for a virus. Huh. Tip to Insanity Wrap.
That's pretty much how it works. At least for the women I'm attracted to. Although without the weight gain. But perhaps I've shared too much.
Canceling student loan debt is morally indefensible. I sacrificed to put money into my children's college funds so they would not emerge with debt. You're telling me I was a sucker? I should have lived it up and then begged the government for a full ride for the children? And that's on top of the reality that canceling those debts amounts to making blue collar workers pay money to the children of the well off. To Hell with these people.
To be fair, the best way to keep people from fleeing California is to make the rest of America as bad as California. Tip to Instapundit.
Triple-maskers look down on double-maskers. I thought the double-masking was a joke but I guess not. I was planning on just breathing at half my usual rate to avoid virus shaming. I'm not sure I can keep pace with three masks. Not that adding more obstacles to the virus isn't logical. But there is no end to the logic as you approach 100% effectiveness. And why couldn't mask manufacturers add another layer to the single mask? Otherwise small-eared people could sue for disparate impact, right?
Okay, that was funny. Painful. But funny.
Al Qaeda is gaining strength in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban. The Taliban are not our peace partner. I never believed Trump's outreach could work. Sure, liberals like to say that "you only make peace with your enemies." I say "only enemies can defeat you."
California's lifted the strict lockdown but won't release the metrics they used to justify the order. That's how you know it has nothing to do with politics. So shame on you for thinking that California no longer needs to hurt the Orange Bad Man or needs to help Newsom.
Concerns about voting integrity are bipartisan, you know. Even if the system only has the appearance of unreliability it fuels anger in whatever side that lost. Close elections make this problem worse. It is worth it to end even the appearance of unreliability.
Even when Hollywood manages not to make a propaganda film the marketing department lends a hand. And the movie critics, too, of course. Tip to Instapundit.
Trying to avoid a Greek-Turkish war.
China should not be a model to emulate. They don't even have a minority report to raise doubts.
An American destroyer operating in the Black Sea is being sustained by an American oiler to maximize its NATO training time. [And later I see that a second destroyer joined them.] Time is limited in the body of water under the Montreux Convention. An AWACS and P-8 aircraft participated. Which is good to practice for the Black Sea Turkey Shoot. One more step. Bravo Putin!
Well good for the Biden administration: Biden is continuing Trump's expanded diplomatic ties with Taiwan with "Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US Bi-khim Hsiao’s formal official attendance at Biden’s January 20 inauguration, marking the first time that had happened in four decades."
Welcome comrades, to Primary School No. 127! These people are nuts. With power to do nutty things. Tip to Instapundit.
The Bradley A4 upgrade is delayed by a battery problem.
Our expert class was wrong about fascism coming during the Trump administration, and so much more.
A-holes. They laugh at the fine. Only jail time can punish them.
A failed Memory Hole operation. How many aren't caught? Tip to Instaundit.
In the last several years I've heard Republicans talking about putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Good for Biden for proposing it. But acting like this decision will trigger Republicans is insultingly stupid. And as I said in that post, while a $20 bill is fine, I'd prefer to have Tubman on a new $200 or $250 bill.
I believe I mentioned that Biden's resignation/removal would take place after 2+ years in office so Harris could run for the presidency two times for nearly 10 years in office if it works out. I checked the 22nd Amendment and yes indeed, a term of office counts toward the two-term limit if you serve more than two years of somebody else's term of office. Serving out the remainder of Biden's term if that is 2 years minus one day (or one minute?) does not count toward presidential term limits.
Impeach FDR for Japanese-American internment camps! If not being a president is no bar to action, why should not being alive stop the outrage machine?
Investing in Afghan women is nice and all that. But if the jihadi Taliban aren't killed and defeated, those women will be exposed and knocked down harder than ever. I will ask again why feminists aren't the most hard-core anti-jihadis in the Western world?
Russia agreed to extend the New START nuclear accord pretty rapidly, eh? I'm sure it benefits America, too. Right? Are we just going to ignore Russian shorter-range nukes without the threat of building more longer-range missiles? The only positive spin is that we both know that Russia's strategic arsenal is a Potemkin Nuclear Deterrent. So the treaty doesn't even matter. But I have no idea if my speculation is close to accurate. I just know I would not be shocked if it is true.
The switch from Trump to Biden has opened up whole new worlds of positive adjectives for news stories: "challenged," "pressed," "raised concerns," and "reaffirmed." Nothing new actually happened that is different than what would have happened had Trump spoken the same words to Putin. But the spin is lovely now.
A couple weeks ago I noted that Israel was revising strike plans against Iran's nuclear weapons industry. I figured it was in case Israel had to strike without American cooperation during the next four years. That seems to be the case: "[LTG] Kohavi said that given the threat posed by Iran, Israel's military would be prepared to attack on its own if needed." But Israel would likely have support from Gulf Arab states just as worried as Israel about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran, of course, is pressing Biden for a quick deal. Never fall for "limited time only" deals, which are only meant to coerce quick acceptance of a bad deal. At least we don't have Spongespine Spandexpants to write up another horrible nuclear deal.
Let's hope Republicans use the courts like this as much as Democrats did the last four years.
Equality is good. Everyone should have the same rights and opportunities. "Equity" is not the same. It is in fact enforced equality of condition. Reject that assault on freedom and prosperity.
Re-writing history to support current political attacks. I don't know if Cotton intended to over-state his military achievements. There is a general failure to appreciate that going to Ranger school doesn't make you a Ranger. Perhaps it was too confusing to say he had a Ranger tab. Given his record serving in two war theaters it would have been odd to claim to be a Ranger to puff up his record. But the media action to cover their trail is clearly repulsive.
The Navy is determined to keep the Lockheed LCS in service despite problems. What choice does the Navy have if it wants numbers?
Has the latest version of the Abrams tank grown too heavy for "current recovery vehicles, tactical bridges or heavy equipment transporters" or hasn't it? There is a difference of opinion.
Democrats said that the end of the Trump first term would witness thousands of American troops blanketing the streets of Washington, D.C. in a fascistic display of power--and they were right! The troops are extras for the Tyrant Porn they can't stop producing and watching.
Blast from the past! I never went away, of course.
France wants more American "realism" when it comes to Iran's pawn Hezbollah in Lebanon. Why does French "realism" so often look like "collaboration?"
On the other hand, I mentioned recently that it seemed like Mali was heating up after two or three stories of troop deaths at the hands of jihadis. France seems to have organized a response that killed 100 and captured 20 jihadis.
China is applying more pressure on the Indian border.
The Biden administration has restored the Palestinians to their title of Queen of the Victim Prom, reversing the Trump decision to strip them of the crown; and defying even Arab states moving on from that position. That change in government policy was telegraphed by opinion polling. At least Biden can't undo the realization that Middle East peace does not require solving the Palestinian problem first, as conventional wisdom long held. But corrupt Palestinian politicians will welcome renewed opportunities for graft. All they have to do is pretend to want peace in English while reassuring their own people in Arabic that of course "death to all the Jews" still stands. This is what Israel must deal with.
This is a good court ruling for voting integrity if applied to other states. Note that the law was blocked during the presidential election in 2020 and so had no effect on Virginia's vote.
Huh. Is Trump in charge of European Xi Jinping Flu vaccination? Or is European nuance, sophistication, and government-run universal health care not as wonderful as we've been told?
Like many things that the Chinese Communist Party rolls out on their people, I'm sure this anal swab test for the Xi Jinping Flu was originally designed for Uighurs. Just for spite.
"The U.N. Says America Is Already Cutting So Much Carbon It Doesn’t Need The Paris Climate Accord[.]" Yeah. Virtue signaling at the national level.
The Department of Defense will review Trump-ordered troop reductions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I support that.
So far there doesn't seem to be a let up in strikes on jihadis in Somalia after redeploying forces o Djibouti and Kenya. Is this based on pre-exit intelligence or can this continue as effectively?
The United States is looking at using Saudi bases to support naval and air operations in the Red Sea. This is a reaction to Iranian efforts to interdict Red Sea traffic via their Houthi allies. These would not be traditional bases but places where American forces could deploy for specific missions.
Already the media is french-kissing the Biden administration. Tell me media coverage won't look like The West Wing teen fan fiction?
American Marines and UAE troops held a week of exercises. Well, that's where a few will do.
I guess it is nice that Biden affirmed America's commitment to NATO. But this is an American treaty-based commitment not subject to the whim of any single American president. I'd rather see Biden press NATO to meet its 2014 promise to spend 2% of GDP on defense by 2024.
Follow the science bioethics and social inequality! Nothing says a commitment to science like a sociology major. She's a "inspired choice." Let's just hope the actual director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy understands actual science. Because I'm told that innovation is only 10% inspiration but 90% perspiration. I'm a dreamer, I know. Tip to Instapundit.
It's early to be seeing Biden's popularity drop, especially when you consider the fawning media coverage bolstering him. But it makes sense if you imagine the people who voted against Trump have nothing about Biden to be for now that Trump is gone. Still, I'm a glass half-full kind of man. At the rate his popularity is dropping, by June America will be united against Biden!
Well what part of the "Think happy things" sign on the shelf next to her ... thing ... was unclear? Tip--well, the entire story--to Instapundit.
I've been watching Dry Bar Comedy a lot lately on YouTube. It helps.
I'm pretty sure this is BS given that the only riots I'm aware of ongoing are Antifa. I guess Insurrection Porn is replacing Tyrant Porn since Trump left office.
"Green" is the color of promoting Russian interests.
Venezuela is eying Guyana. More.
It sure looks like China is preparing to go to war with the Philippines over islands that China claims in defiance of international law. Will the Philippines just give in to China? Or will the Philippines fight a tiny war to dare China to risk escalation?
Iran smiles: "The Biden administration has imposed a temporary freeze on U.S. arms
sales to Saudi Arabia and is scrutinizing purchases by the United Arab
Emirates as it reviews billions of dollars in weapons transactions approved by former President Donald Trump, according to U.S. officials." On Holocaust Remembrance Day if you're into "dog whistle" signal detection games. Iran will also smile at the Biden threat to end American support for the Saudi military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi in Yemen. I thought "leading from behind" was the ideal?
Cancel culture comes for the cancel culture warriors. Who would have predicted that? "The left will find that when conservative thought is purged from the public spaces that then moderate thought is purged. Then mere liberal thought. Perhaps even progressive thought becomes 'problematic.'" We need to reverse trend this rather than laugh that it is coming for the leftists now. It is far from funny.
Air defense identification zones. They're a little more kinda, sorta like borders than I thought. But not really. But they are absolutely places where unpleasant accidental clashes can take place.
Yeah, I have to admit that the GameStop stock malarkey feels like the farce before the tragedy of a major market (downward) correction. I get more nervous as I get closer to retirement age and have less time to make up for such corrections. I'd put everything into conservative investments but I still need decades of earnings even after I start drawing on my retirement fund.
"Strategic patience" for China sounds so much better than "appeasement." The former is justified when you have hope for better behavior. Who expects communist China to be better now? Are the concentration camps and ethnic cleansing, pervasive and punitive surveillance state, crushing of Hong Kong freedoms, massive industrial and usual espionage, propaganda directed at the world, or territorial ambitions the signs of better days ahead from China? We need to make sure we do all that we can to deter China. Although until Taiwan is spending closer to 6% of its GDP on defense and fixing other capabilities gaps, I would not sell F-35s to Taiwan as that author suggested. I'd worry China could invade Taiwan and capture the planes intact. And I seriously doubt that Biden will follow this kind of national effort to resist China.
The United States will reconsider removing 12,000 troops from Germany as Trump ordered. I didn't mind the troops leaving Germany as long as the troops stayed in Europe and as long as the change improved American capabilities in Europe. And as I've noted many times, Trump's "demands for more defense spending" from European NATO nations were simply calls to meet commitments the allies made in 2014.
Killing jobs. Persecuting conservatives. Even more federal spending. Giving hope to China, Russia, and Iran. And no actual new pandemic plan as we were promised. And that's just the first week. We're totally going to soon look back on 2020 with fondness, aren't we?
Heck, even Congressional Democrats already miss 2020 as their impeachment of a man who isn't even president any more proves.
To be fair, the "After Trump" era is little different than any "After [Insert Republican president here]" era. Although the contrast is far more spectacular now. It might be the new normal of extremes.
Iranian and Taliban leaders shockingly blamed America for the war in Afghanistan. I'm sure we just need to reach out harder to them for that elusive "peace" defined as a Taliban victory. I never had any hope that Trump's push for peace with the Taliban could work.
China reminded Taiwan that a Taiwanese declaration of independence means war. Legally both sides consider China to be one political entity. In practice Taiwan is a free democracy while China is a communist-run thug state. But remember that declaring independence isn't the only trigger for war. Making insufficient progress toward reunification under Peking's control also means war. China decides whether sufficient progress is being made.
Democrats are happy to have Biden exercise powers that they said would be dictatorial had Trump used them. But as I've said on other issues, the outrage isn't that Biden is doing something illegal. The outrage is what is perfectly legal.
The outgoing ruler of the Democratic Republic of Congo (a.k.a. Zaire) engineered the victory of a thought-to-be-friendly replacement president in a rigged election. Parliament struck back. I guess the friendly replacement tired of the deal. Interesting.
A story on the U.S. getting an intact Pantsir air defense system out of Libya. I noted this back in the summer in this data dump.
It looks like the Army's new assault bridge has been tweaked enough to field. Counting on enemies to leave bridges standing is too much to hope for if you want to maintain mobility. More on the new assault bridge.
A small battery-operated aim stabilizer for rifles advances what I've called "dumb but controlled" (DBC) firing. The Army will test ACE.
The Navy now has the Block 5 Tomahawk cruise missile that provides long-range anti-ship capabilities. They are slow and so aren't the best for penetrating missile defenses. But they provide bulk and range. And if combined with better missiles that damage targets or otherwise engage enemy defenses, they might work well. Perhaps they are like the World War II dive bomber-torpedo bomber combination that required the dive bombers to distract the defenses so the slow and vulnerable torpedo bombers could survive until they launched their torpedoes. Or maybe cheaper decoy drones will screen the cruise missiles on the way in and deflect or attract the defensive fire.
People are rightly outraged that jihadis involved in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks will get priority for the Xi Jinping Flu vaccine well ahead of the vast majority of Americans. But isn't this burying the lede? How is it possible that close to 20 years after the attack that we haven't executed those bastards yet?! Are we sentencing them to die of old age? A late minute change! But honestly I'd rather the government vaccinate them and immediately execute them after.
Well, it's a little late because strains have popped up in Washington, D.C.: "The CDC has announced a full quarantine of Portland to prevent the spread of a dangerous virus known as communism." Those are tears of laughter you see on your dignified host's cheeks.
Iran wants nuclear weapons because its birthrate has plummeted? Which means human wave assaults can't be used to exploit numbers? One, human wave assaults are a poor way to exploit numbers. But if that is a cause and effect, why isn't Greenland pining for nukes? Face it, nutball thugs want nukes to make aggression easier. Maybe Iran should try not being a nutball state threatening other countries. An idea so crazy it just might work! Still, the idea that Iran's nuclear decision doesn't rest on America figuring out how to precisely calibrate concessions and rewards is useful.
Stop looking for mythical "moderates" in Iran to support. "Moderates" in Iran's system are simply nutballs who wear suits and know how to say soothing things in English. True moderates aren't allowed near real power. Shia religious nutballs run Iran. Besides, aren't Democrats the ones who constantly tell us that supporting democrats and dissidents in foreign countries "taints" those democrats and dissidents by associating with America? I don't believe that. But Democrats claim to. Why doesn't support from America taint mythical Iranian moderates?
Will Navalny-inspired nationwide protests lead Putin to abandon even the pretense of ruling a democracy? Let's see if this spreads and escalates. But what if cracking down doesn't work out? What if the unrest puts enough pressure on Putin to make real concessions? And if so, is that a path to rule of law? Or just a dress rehearsal for something worse? Oddly, Putin didn't call this a "winter of love" and instead police arrested 2,700.
Israel opens the Saffron Front against Iran. That's gonna hurt.
Will China push a military crisis with Taiwan this year? If so, my guess is a quick land grab of the Pratas Islands before Taiwan's rapid reaction force can get set. If America does nothing effective in response, China may break the Taiwan-America link and set the stage for full invasion of Taiwan. If China moves like that, only American troops on Taiwan will be enough. Start with ground-based air defense, move to fighter aircraft, and then preposition equipment for an American armored brigade.
Space Force has a strategic vision centered on protecting America's satellites. Good. But eventually Space Force will need special forces troops.
Circle back better! You know it will be a mobius strip, right? Or maybe she thinks the journalists should already know what's wrong.
Regulation is a potential poison for the economy. So naturally, full speed ahead! Tip to Instapundit.
How long are we going to allow Chinese propaganda and espionage centers to infect our universities under the guise of Confucius Institutes? We wouldn't let Aryan Institutes flourish on our campuses. But these are fine?
These people are nuts and have to be stopped.
Yes:
I'm sure Pelosi will be cleared of wrongdoing. And once again we'll see that the true outrages aren't the illegal things our elites do to get ahead, but what they do that is perfectly legal.
A few fries short of a Happy Meal. Not all wierdos have a (D) after their name. Tip to Insanity Wrap. Still, we have bigger problems than one representative with odd views. Like the purge of conservatives that the left seems eager to carry out. Set some priorities.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is under fire in her native Germany. She is blamed for effing up the European Union's Xi Jinping Flu pandemic vaccination program. Well maybe if Germans hadn't rewarded her for effing up the German military and promoting her incompetence to a higher level, they wouldn't be in this mess.
Ethiopia is moving artillery to the Sudanese border. Because the locals with claims on Sudanese territory backed the Ethiopian government's offensive into Tigray to suppress separatists? How does it make sense to risk an external war to get support for the internal war? If Ethiopia wants to give Sudan a reason to let Egyptian jets base in Sudan to strike Ethiopia's massive GERD project that will dam the Nile River, this is it. I'm not saying Egypt would do it or even should do it. But stuff gets out of hand.
What the Hell, open up our southern border to unrestricted immigration! What could go wrong?
Another story about the extent of the Russian SolarWinds hack of American government and business systems. I still don't understand how this happened given that we knew it was going on in the spring.
These people are nuts and have to be stopped.
The judge certainly sent a message: We take care of our own as long as you break laws for Democrats.
How the media and Democratic politicians helped Portland's Antifa rioters. For some reason, the history of Soviet "intellectual" communists thinking they could use the "dumb" thug Joseph Stalin as their muscle comes to mind. Somehow Stalin himself emerged on the top of that pile of skulls. No worries Democrats! I'm sure your violent street thugs will go home quietly when you explain that Uncle Joe is in the White House. Tip to Instapundit.
It would certainly be good to be able to send robots into enemy tunnels rather than troops.
The Russians continue to work on their new Borei-class SSBN and its new Bulava solid-fuel nuclear missiles. This is high priority for the Russians who have lost a lot of the skills needed to make such things. The Russians accept that half of the missiles won't work if fired. Still, it's a survival nuclear deterrent for use in Arctic and Sea of Okhotsk defended bastions. Half of a high-priority nuclear deterrent force doesn't work. Do you wonder why I speculate that Russia's ICBM force is a Potemkin deterrent? Russia's nukes are not immune to the problems plaguing the rest of Russia's military and arms industry. I sometimes wonder if New START is an American favor to Russia to maintain the fiction that Russia has working strategic nuclear weapons sufficient to deter China. The shorter-range Russian nukes are simpler and can reach China and Europe. So Russia has a bunch of them.
Space Force is generally keeping Air Force ranks. With the exception of "airmen" who are now "specialists." I wanted enlisted ranks based on "spacor." I think a space navy needs to wait until we are beyond the Earth-Moon system.
Six weeks ago the long lock-down winter stretched ahead of me. I hate winter in the best of times. I vowed to finally complete the painting of tons of miniatures that I've accumulated over the last couple decades. I gave myself the winter to finish this project. I do not have a dedicated place to leave them while I work. So I only intermittently painted a small amount of items that I had to put away quickly to get on with life. During the pandemic lock down, I found I could leave the painting factory on my dining table. Nobody is seeing that eye sore now! I'm making good progress. I finished all the World War II warships first. Lord, putting some of them together given the tiny pieces involved was not fun with my older eyes. I confess for a couple of them I said screw the tiny cranes and anti-aircraft mounts--it looks fine as is! Seriously, there was no reason the anti-aircraft tubs had to be cast separately. That was just spite. I'm looking at you GHQ! I started buying your stuff 45 years ago. Tell me I'm not your demographic in a world of video games? I'm almost finished with the World War II and modern armor. Then I will go to Medieval figures, a small number of American Civil War miniatures to round out that collection, and finally a bunch of Roman and Gaul figures. The last three groups have to be mounted on stands, too. And I decided to redo my World War II and modern infantry mounting schemes. The painting I can surely finish. All the mounting will be a challenge. I'm not 13 any more, and hours and hours of painting and gluing are beyond my attention span. So a little each day, generally. My interest in elaborate camouflage schemes has evaporated, too. I'm lucky I can still paint the tracks and tires. Sadly, I discovered a hole in my Japanese fleet. But I know what company I won't be buying the ships from! I think just two heavy cruisers should be enough. Oh God, I should mount some aircraft on stands too, on wires for strike missions. I really need to haul the rules out and fight battles with them, as well. That's the point of having them. And speaking of that, I want to paint more forest on the geomorphic 3D playing boards I made in the late 1980s for land battles. The terrain is way too open. And then the playing board for the ancients for a particular battle. And I need something for battles with my Spanish-American War ships. I think I need the lock down to last a little longer! Just kidding. Really.
America's hostile retreat into virtual separate states online undermines my thinking that peace could be promoted in some cases by separating sovereignty from land. Of course, I assumed one side wouldn't pursue the other side to the ends of the Internet in order to cancel and punish them. I'm no QAnon, that's for sure.
One more reason I'm glad I'm not on any social media. We're going to find out that you can't trust the judgment of anybody who is on them, aren't we? Tip to Instapundit.
"White House shifts from Middle East quagmires to a showdown with China[.]" Well, Obama set the precedent by pretending to confront China in order to abandon the Middle East. And "quagmire?" Really? We have Iraqi and Afghan governments who kill jihadis every day. Our troop strength in both countries is about 2,500 with few direct ground combat roles. Quagmires? I think not. Is South Korea a quagmire? Is Japan a quagmire? Europe? Defending wins isn't a "quagmire." It's defending America by supporting allies we created by force of arms.
I don't see the impeachment trial as a clever Democratic trap to expose Trump's language of "inciting" a single riot. The defense should have plenty of Democratic incitement over the years--not just since last spring--to mine for inciting language for lots of violence. To show for context. And add in media praise or defense of that incitement. I could easily be wrong, I suppose. But if Trump's team goes on offense and makes it a trial about Democratic support for violence, how do the Democrats win?
Biden protects and rewards the coup plotters. Democrats are going to get away with their Russia collusion coup plot, aren't they?
I'm sorry, but I find this hilarious. What did liberals think would happen when they decided that the most offended people determine standards?
If leftists really thought the Republican Party was no different from ISIL, the leftists would be sympathetically asking "why do they (Republicans) hate us?" as if the leftists did something to deserve being hated.
Capitol Police want the 8-foot fences set up for the non-existent inauguration day MAGA assault made permanent. Which is odd. For longer than Trump was elected I'd been assured that the answer to an 8-foot fence was a 9-foot ladder. Apparently that silly argument is being abandoned. Or perhaps Central American migrants are just more resourceful than mythical right-wing insurgents.
Will this thruster speed us into the solar system? It might be the only way to escape social media-based oppression on Earth. Tip to Instapundit.
The glories of media oral sex. Tip to Instapundit.
Remember when liberals said not to worry about the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic from China coming to America? Good times. I'd forgive them for simply being wrong. That happens. But they've memory holed their dismissal of the virus in their zeal to wrongly blame everything on Trump.
The Navy's top intelligence officer hopes that China keeps pouring money into anti-ship ballistic missiles. Interesting. Either that is disinformation because the Navy is very worried. Or the Navy thinks it can break the kill chain.
They had nothing more productive to protest than Xi Jinping Flu vaccine shots? Really?
At this point I think all insults should be based on "peta." You motherpeta! Petahead! Don't be a peta. I dare you, you peta! You traitorous peta!
The Marines finally have a replacement for their aging and vulnerable AAV-7 amphibious assault vehicle, the ACV 1.1. It carries 3 crew and 13 Marines. I must admit that some details amuse me. The ACV is far better protected against IEDs than the AAV-7. That vulnerability is why I hated seeing them used in Iraq as a personnel carrier. But the Marines have rejected land warfare. They even gave up their tanks. Instead the Marines will support the Navy more directly. Is there really a threat of insurgent IEDs on the small islands the Marines will deploy to in INDOPACOM to set up anti-ship batteries? Oddly, the post didn't mention armament. Which is a .50 caliber machine gun in a remote weapons station. With the room to install a turret with a machine gun and grenade launcher instead.
The east coast 2nd Marine Division deactivated one of its infantry regiments to redirect resources to direct support of the Navy. I'd have thought that in European, Latin American, and African theaters that an infantry regiment would be more useful than anti-ship assets.
Huh. Chinese sailors don't handle cramped and isolated cruises on submarines very well. It seems that our Navy screen and train better. And longer experience with submarines and long deployments in general seems to be a factor. Navy practices alleviate problems. I bet the Cold War sense of purpose and danger helped reduce the problem for the Navy back then. The problem worries me if China starts sending nuclear missile-armed SSBNs to sea for routine patrols.
I've mentioned somewhere above that the Air Force is practicing sending aircraft to remote islands in the Pacific in case of war against China. This is another take on the Guam exercise which is a safer practice run for actual remote islands.
Sometimes I think the best way for Taiwan to survive the China threat is to foment regime change in China.
I'm against Biden's massive "infrastructure" stimulus funding plan as much as I was against it when Trump proposed it: totally.
I'm looking forward to following Jonah Goldberg more closely again. I understood his opposition to Trump himself and non-conservative policies from Trump. I get it. And I will say he didn't join the pro-Democratic factions that pretended to still be Republican. What eventually drove me away from Jonah for a while was his violation of my rule that however much you dislike Trump, there is no way his policies are worse than Democrats. I'm sorry that Trump combined in one person Obama's thin resume', Bill Clinton's and JFK's personal failures, and Johnson's crudeness, but you go to policy with the president you have and not the one you wish you had. Jonah's criticisms--while often valid--violated that rule too often for my tastes. But that's on me. To his credit, I trust that Jonah was being stalwart in defense of conservatism. So I look forward to that during the Biden administration without the hints of TDS that were off-putting. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice. I'd love to see a Republican who fights as hard as Trump against the Democratic-media complex but without his baggage. That would keep the new voters Trump attracted while winning back suburban voters he repelled. But perhaps that's a unicorn, I concede.
Well, maybe Pelosi's Impeachment II: This Time It's Personal will work out for Democrats after all. I read Sunday morning that Trump wants to base his defense on widespread election fraud. This would be instead of comparing his pre-Capitol Building riot language to a long history of identical or worse Democratic language that the media declared perfectly okey dokey.
Strange new media respect in 3, 2, 1 ... . Tip to Instapundit.
Feeling all the "healing" yet?
I have no idea if the charges of war crimes by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in the Tigray region of Ethiopia are true. But Eritrean troops are in Tigray. Have Ethiopia and Eritrea made common cause against the Tigray forces? If so, what does Eritrea want?
Apparently hybrid vehicles turn their engines off automatically when the vehicle stops. I'd noticed this and thought people were just being dumb. Doesn't turning off and on after short time repeatedly just put a strain on starters? I guess not for hybrids. Still, my Army training was do not turn off the engine until you get to where you are going. Even during refueling. Because it might not turn back on. Note to self: avoid buying a hybrid for peace of mind.
Who knew that reducing the police would result in an increase in shootings and murders? Oopsy. Tip to Instapundit.
I can't enjoy the Reddit stock market punitive raids. When this is just fun and games--and some perhaps just "revenge"--my sphincter clenches when I ponder that my retirement fund is on that battlefield. It can't be good that price signals are being distorted. Again, tip to Instapundit.
Yes, for God's sake keep the electric vehicles in suburban malls and off the battlefield. But a canteen-holder would be nice.
The right simply cannot follow the left's example of excusing and even encouraging or celebrating political violence seen as promoting its interests. Those on the right should not be tempted to grimly think "Let's see how they like it." It is far better to loudly denounce "friendly" violence while also denouncing leftist violence and its enablers. That path will eventually appeal to voters in the middle. And it has the advantage of not contributing to an advance down the path toward widespread political violence. Our enemies abroad would love that and will in fact encourage it.
