The Turks, Iranians, and Qataris unite to back their man in Somalia. I think the UN should break it up and sell it for parts. Puntland and Somaliland should be recognized as UN and AU members. Their people have shown they can organize and vote. The rest of the territory of Somalia should be de-recognized if that is possible and told to organize and request membership, or join another existing country. Somalia was a failed state walking from day one. Admit it.
Could Republicans grab a state senate seat in a Pennsylvania special election? If they do, it may indicate a major reaction to Democrats going woke up and down the line.
Canadians hated Trump. I bear witness to that. Imagine their relief when Biden won! Yay! No more mean tweets! And then the Canadians got a load of how Biden can screw over Canada with hardly a thought. No whackjob leftist vocal interest group is too small to have higher priority for Biden (or whoever controls his signing hand that day) than Canada. A lot of people are getting a lesson in getting what you wished for--good and hard. Although Canada may have asked for it (tip to Instapundit).
Well sure, Putin isn't a one-man dictatorship whose will is propagated through the system. There are centers of power that resist. But the point is that Putin doesn't have formal checks and balances. The checks and balances arise from rival concentrations of equally non-rule of law power. That's close enough for autocratic government work as far as I'm concerned.
A mach 6 bomber? Is it really more important to have a high-speed bomber than to have high-speed missiles? It seems like trolling for R & D dollars and not a real weapon.
The anxious and insecure hegemon.
The New York Times says Trump's boast of a new Middle East is undermined by the Hamas-Israel fighting. Huh? One, Hamas and Iran didn't make peace with Israel in the Trump initiative. Two, the Biden administration is undermining the new Middle East Trump started. Trump said the Abraham Accords were the "dawn" of a new Middle East. That is, the beginning. The simple fact that Moslem states made peace with Israel undermined the old left-wing claim that no other peace could be achieved until there is peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But by reaching out to Iran and its proxies while stiff-arming Israel, Biden undermined that dawn. Biden wants the Palestinians to be the Queen of the Victim Prom again. Maybe that is the real cause and effect here, eh? Amazing. Expect more violence supported by Iran in the Middle East. Trump should have had an Operation Warp Speed for a TDS vaccine in addition to the one for the Xi Jinping Flu that Trump handed off to Biden to take credit for.
If the Colonial Pipeline ransom hack was carried out by the white supremacist Unicorn that liberals claim are everywhere, the White House would call it a terrorist attack. It's really pretty amazing. Democrats went full Jack (D) Ripper in 2016 in their hatred of Russia. But now that Democrats have power in Washington, D.C., a Russian hack that disabled a major fuel pipeline for about a week is just business.
This poll shouldn't be too shocking. Harris couldn't get Democrats to like her in the primaries. Tip to Instapundit.
Oh good. Maybe Pope Francis could tell us how many carbon atoms fit on Kerry's head. I wish the Pope had other things to do, like defending Christians in Moslem-majority countries from individual deaths, abuse, discrimination, and demographic extinction.
A few fries short of a happy meal: "A top Russian admiral complained Thursday about increased U.S. military presence and NATO military activities near the country’s borders, describing them as a threat to regional security." Russia has spent over twenty years claiming NATO is a threat and threatening NATO states with nuclear weapons. And NATO is reacting. Somehow this reason for NATO to increase readiness escapes the admiral. #WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings.
Republicans need to step up their get-out-the-vote ground game. I wonder how much of the polling inaccuracies we've started to see in elections stem from this effort.
Science! I dare Democrats to call her a Neanderthal. Seriously, if she was Republican she would be the well-publicized and ridiculed "face of the Republican Party." But since she's a Democrat? Crickets from the media. Oh, hah! Great minds pound their heads into walls in frustration ... alike? I'm woozy. Word-choosing gone now.
Putin calls America "unfriendly." And he has no idea why that is so? Seriously, Putin isn't drunk all the time, is he? Will an advisor ever tell Putin he is effing up royally?
More on tightening US-Greece relations. I mentioned this trend in the last data dump: "The Greek defense minister said Greece is modernizing its naval and air power as well as the defense agreement with America. And "[the minister] described Greece as the United States’ and NATO’s 'anchor state' in the Eastern Mediterranean." I did mention that."
I think it represents a threat because China can build it--not that the station itself will be a threat (via Instapundit): "The US Director of National Intelligence released a report last month claiming China’s upcoming space station poses a threat to national security." Of course, that's why we need SMOD.
Is it just me, or are "life coaches" just psychics without a crystal ball and robe? If I'm paying the money, I want the whole show.
The Israelis are inflicting far more damage on Hamas--and other groups--from the air (and with artillery) than I thought they could. And much faster. But Gaza is a small target more easily observed. Could Israel replicate this firepower success against the much larger Hezbollah target area in Lebanon? Can Iron Dome operate long enough to shield Israel while air power goes after the far larger Hezbollah rocket and missile arsenal?
As I've argued from the beginning, compare and contrast the responses of countries to the Xi Jinping Flu pandemic when it is all over. Using uniform definitions.
Hmmm: "Taiwan will reorganize its Army’s command structure to emphasize joint operations between its services and give regional commanders more operational flexibility in the event of a conflict, the country’s defense minister told lawmakers." That helps respond to initial attacks despite any Chinese disruption of command, control, and communications. But how does it work when one "combat theater command" has to reinforce another one that is under attack? Who commands to make sure the Chinese main effort is met with massed Taiwanese effects?
Signs of the cleanest and most secure election evah! Tip to Instapundit.
F-16 production is starting in South Carolina for export markets. I like having hot production lines for a proven if old fighter in case we need wartime replacements faster than we could build F-35s.
At this point Portland can just die, as far as I'm concerned. They wanted what they got. Enjoy. Via Instapundit.
Russia is trying to claim huge portions of the Arctic Sea. Pretty soon they'll say Santa is a fascist exploiting ethnic Russian elves.
Well, if the administration isn't going to wage a war on Islamist terrorists, I guess I want to eliminate the administration to have war powers it might only use against Americans. Hey, time to wage the Global Troubles, I suppose.
And yet Hillary Clinton is still free after her massive violation of State Department communications security requirements that just begin with her bathroom server for her private email account. But we're to believe that effort was made for yoga scheduling and planning Princess Chelsea's wedding.
This seems too odd to be true as reported. I'm certain that we have people like that. And maybe 60,000 is all the people who have participated in this--perhaps for a day only--since it started. But this seems ridiculous, as reported. I'll need to see something other than Arkin's article.
Note to self: Don't use Venmo. Tip to Instapundit.
Europe: After the Xi Jinping Flu, the deluge. I guess the pandemic is over enough.
Biden finally found a pipeline he likes: "The Biden administration will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany, according to two sources briefed on the decision." Can you even imagine the media obsession if Trump had done something like that? Via Instapundit.
Good point? Beats me. But perhaps mask mandates are like loyalty oaths to "science"--as defined by the left. Mind you, I've been pro-mask even when "science" was telling us they are counter-productive. I'd have warn them with no advice one way or another. Free man that I am. But I am so ready to ditch them. Via Instapundit.
Oh, and in addition to Firefox taking up all my computer memory for updates the last week, Windows did it, too. Why don't they do these downloads in the middle of the night when I sleep?! Bastards.
Turkey's Russia infatuation seems so over.
Has Russia fixed their air transport problem?
Why has this statue escaped cancel culture? It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma, I suppose. Tip to Instapundit.
Low-recoil howitzer mounted on a HMMWV.
Out: nation building. In: planet building. Oh FFS. This is just embarrassing for the Army. It's bad enough lawyers scrutinize every fires strike. Will every strike now be judged for its carbon footprint, too? It's getting to the point where our government defends Antifa/BLM violence to undermine America more than the military's use of violence to defend America.
There was no deleted database in the Arizona recount. I probably mentioned that original charge so I should mention the correction. Which is good news if you want election integrity. If efforts like this broadly bolster the 2020 election result, I'll be satisfied.
A mystery wrapped in an enigma. But we have no mean tweets going for us. Which is nice?
I don't believe all the news about military videos of UFOs are actually aliens. Heck, news of life on Mars may just have found life that Earth probes took there somehow.
An American destroyer went through the Taiwan Strait--which is completely legal--and China protested.
I suspect Qatar won't accept delivery of that F-15QA. And again, I like having the F-15 production line kept hot, just in case we need cheaper but still good planes to replace losses in war.
I suspect this is narrowly true: "Predictions that the Taliban will quickly overrun Afghan government forces and conquer Kabul once U.S. and coalition forces have fully withdrawn are unduly pessimistic, Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan said Tuesday." But over time Taliban power will grow. And even if the Taliban can't seize Kabul, the Taliban may take enough territory to have terrorist haven.
As we consider our options about the Russian cyberattack on our pipeline, please remember that if we have their address we don't necessarily need to counterattack in the cyber domain. Just saying. Obviously, there are limits to what we can do inside Russia itself. But what are those limits when America was attacked at home? And Russia's government didn't stop the attack?
Madnesss: "World powers met Wednesday for a new round of high-level talks on bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran amid growing hopes that an agreement might soon be within reach." It boggles my mind that Western leaders have "hopes" that America will fund Iran's regional aggression and terrorism while enabling and shielding Iran's drive for nuclear weapons.
Well, that certainly seems racist.
No! Way! "New evidence has emerged that China’s state-owned fishing fleet may be a front for covert intelligence operations in the disputed waters of the South China Sea."
I don't get this at all: "Many find return to 'normal' after COVID-19 unsettling, experts say[.]" Maybe if the media hadn't spent the last 14 months terrifying Americans in order to defeat the Bad Orange Man and supporting Biden's massive government spending plans people wouldn't be unreasonably unsettled about the end of the pandemic. The pandemic that started in China and that was spread globally by Xi Jinping.
The cogs in the CCP are unhappy: The "involuted" generation in China seeks a way out of the glorious machine they are yoked to, as "many tech workers, having scaled and optimized their lives, sense that they have become just like their devices: interchangeable and emblazoned with a sheen of productivity, for no real higher purpose." Really, their purpose is to be high-tech peasants toiling all their waking hours for the glory of the CCP. Sucks to be the broken eggs. Especially when the sacrifice is likely futile.
When Amazon took sides in the political battles against conservatives last December, I stopped buying from them. I've returned to buying things. But ordering is now rare rather than a routine habit. That's what Amazon did to me. I wonder if that is common?
How much would it take for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume fighting? And with Turkey and Russia backing opposite sides, how would that work? There have been a lot of wars between Russia and Turkey over the centuries.
Asset forfeiture--which doesn't even require a guilty verdict--is legalized theft. But even if it is kept, the entities that seize the assets should not keep them. All money should go to the general fund. Tip to Instapundit.
Wow! The Navy has put a freaking C-47 into service: "The C-47 was a legend in the U.S. military and many are still encountered overseas where they still serve as civilian or military transport. The BT-67 got two new engines, a modern glass cockpit and replacements to airframe components that needed it. There are a lot of suppliers for DC-3/C-47 replacement parts, which meant no expensive custom-made components were required." Over 300 are still in service around the world despite production ending in 1944.
Massive government spending is an assault on honest, law-abiding Americans. It isn't just the prospect of the government taking money from blue collar workers to pay the loans of upper middle class students that outrages me. When the government shovels money out the door, the crooks have more to steal in that target-rich environment. The rest of us make do with the checks sent to us. And get to feel like suckers for only getting that. Tip to Instapundit.
Democrats are trying to exploit the Capitol Building riot. Which is worse than the riot. The incident was not an insurrection as Democrats dishonestly claim. It was deeply disturbing but it was never a threat to our democracy. And honestly, as I read more, I am starting to think the unarmed actions shouldn't even be called a riot. It seems somewhere between a riot and selfie-taking trespass with some theft and vandalism. And for a lot it just might have been tourism. Face it, if those people were leftists and chanted "This is what democracy looks like," Congress would be building statues to honor them by now. But instead, it's a new Red (State) Scare.
If Democrats are serious about fighting hate they might want to look in their own ranks
rather than scouring the Internet for proof of a non-existent vast
white-wing conspiracy that oddly can only manage "dog whistle" proof of
their existence--and even that is stupid. Really? the "okay" sign is
racist? But maybe the modern Democratic Party is just fine with hating
Jews. The reasons are as repulsive as they are mystifying.
The real worst-case scenario for global warming is that we believe the global warming activists and implement their hair-brained socialist policies in response.
Egad. Will AI hackers push us to de-network our infrastructure with only local networks not connected to the Internet? I already don't trust the Internet-of-things.
I reported the Arizona database was partly deleted. Then that it was not. And now that it was deleted but recovered. The news media has one job ...
Ukraine is upset with Europe: "Ukraine's leader said Thursday that France and Germany have recently softened their stance in talks with Moscow on settling a conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine." Oh come on, Ukraine! It's been like seven whole years now since Russia invaded you and took your territory! And they kill you at a pretty low rate now. You really expect European leaders to feign outrage forever? Seven years is pretty damned good for Europeans! Except when it comes to reviling America, of course.
Huh: "Secretary of State Tony Blinken met with his Russian counterpart in Iceland on Wednesday, telling Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the United States seeks to cooperate with Russia to make the world “safer”[.]" I guess the Democrats are over their sudden and unnatural hatred of Russia. Reset! The remarkable thing is that it took Democrats four whole months to get over being mad at Russia. Yet somehow this is all normal?
A star cruiser for Space Force? No, that's for the future Space Navy beyond the Earth-Moon system.
Nice try. But I still want the Army's damned armored cavalry regiments back. Jennings is admirably persistent in pushing for the cavalry role.
Pollsters don't know why they can't seem to poll these days.
Look, adding "democratic" in front of "socialist" doesn't make it any less socialist. Tip to Insanity Wrap.
That is mighty inconvenient for Democrats. Which probably means their anti-Asian hate crime bill will never become law.
As the Biden administration spares no effort to find the mythical vast white-wing conspiracy of hate in America. Tip to Instapundit.
Lockdowns were a long assault on blue collar and conservative people.
Chinese maritime patrol aircraft.
Let's see. Democrats want you to wear a mask in case you lie that you have had the vaccine. But they aren't worried you might not be eligible to vote or already voted if you don't show picture ID. Got it.
Any Russian aggression against the Baltic states won't look like its 2014 takeover of Crimea. Well, yeah. There were unique factors that enabled Russia's 2014 conquest that will not be present in the Baltics. Maybe Russia just openly invades NATO and rolls the nuclear dice that it can prevent a counterattack. Or maybe it looks like Pakistan's Kargil invasion. But a Crimea 2.0? No.
Will Singapore or Taiwan have a late surge in the Xi Jinping Flu? I'd think that delaying the toll until vaccines are available will mean not they won't. But it really is out of my lane.
Thank God Obama and Trump didn't wait for the UN investigation on ISIL's genocidal crime against the Yazidi to destroy the terror state. Hell, maybe in a hundred years the Chinese will pay for what they are doing to Tibetans and the Uighurs.
She checked every box but "trust" and "likability."
I have to say it, whatever cognitive problems Biden has, it isn't visibly as bad as I feared. A low bar, I know. One day when it won't hurt Democrats, the media might look into this and share what is going on now.
Seriously, what the Hell is the Post Office doing running an online surveillance network to spy on Americans? Isn't this like a Fire Department burning books? I assumed Seinfeld was a joke:
NATO says it will continue training Afghan forces outside of the country after pulling out. Good luck with getting the Afghan troops back home after seeing another country.
The Navy denied a Chinese claim that it chased off an American destroyer conducting a freedom of navigation operation in the Paracel Islands region. I worry that this telegraphs eventual Chinese intent.
It might have been nice to have this before bugging out: "The top U.S. commander for the Middle East said Wednesday he will make recommendations to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in early June on how to monitor and fight terrorist groups in Afghanistan from beyond its borders after all American forces withdraw." You know, in case the planning determines that we can't do that.
The Air Force now defends its air base in Qatar with anti-drone systems.
The National Guard has been in WDC way too long already for the Insurrection Theater the Democrats have been playing.
Every Marine a rifleman ship-killer? The infantry would have a raiding mission with armed transports, which I advocated in Proceedings. And the anti-ship focus is likely just a Pacific feature that Marines in the Western hemisphere, Europe, and the Middle East won't follow. Those Marines will miss their tanks.
The British are cutting their tracked infantry fighting vehicles because they don't anticipate heavy forces combat in Europe. They want vehicles able to be transported long distances more easily for a global role. Which is silly. Few can be transported by air and if by sea, moving heavier vehicles isn't significantly harder than moving lighter wheeled vehicles.
Quality and not quantity for Iran's puppets in Iraq. This seems like progress in rolling back Iranian influence to me.
Well this is a lot of media fluffing, eh? "The White House cast the cease-fire announcement Thursday between Israel and Hamas as a victory for what it had dubbed 'quiet, intensive diplomacy' led by Biden." Any time something good happens after the White House "calls a lid" on Biden's appearances for the day, Biden's "quiet, intensive diplomacy" can be credited. Heck after an earthquake doesn't happen, his "quiet, intensive geology" can be credited. If Chicago goes a weekend without double-digit shootings (as if), it will be his "quiet, intensive law enforcement" that gets the credit. We already know Biden's tenure will be a triumph of the media's will, eh?
Oh, I believe in science. I have my doubts about a lot of the scientists however. And I'm highly suspicious of the activists and reporters who tell us what the science is. And I absolutely reject until proven otherwise the big-spending responses that our politicians tell us is necessary because of the science. But there will be no child-like pledge from me. Tip to Instapundit.
How highly "educated" do you have to be to twist reality that much? Tip to The Morning Briefing.
Army rockets are very useful in Europe, as I mentioned last week.
I do not believe North Korea's nuclear weapons have doubled in the last four years. I question whether North Korea has any nuclear weapons--as in warheads that can be launched at enemies with an expectation that they will detonate. They have material. They can make nuclear devices that can explode under laboratory conditions surrounded by thousands of technicians and scientists. But nuclear weapons? I've read no evidence of that. But it is true that if North Korea gets nukes we are unlikely to do anything about them. I think we should fear a policy of deterring North Korea from launching nukes (option 1).
I don't think an Egyptian threat to attack Ethiopia's GERD Nile River dam is credible. But Egypt sure wants to make it look like an option absent an agreement on the dam: "Egyptian military forces arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum ahead of a joint drill amid mounting tensions with Ethiopia over a decade-long Nile water dispute, Sudan's state-run news agency reported Friday."
Portland is going to become Fallujah circa 2004, isn't it? "There are only a few places on earth where radicals and their children ritualistically burn the American flag and chant “Death to America”: Tehran, Baghdad, Beirut, Kabul, Ramallah—and Portland, Oregon." I'm truly sick of Portland. Let them destroy themselves. And Oregon itself might be going slowly insane with their hate, too. Why are some of us so intent on ripping America apart? Tip to Instapundit.
Democrats made a career of (wrongly) complaining that Bush 43 had no post-war plan for Iraq. The PLAN became a fetish. Now it is clear Biden has no plan for Afghanistan after withdrawing.
An electric recon vehicle has to be light to be viable. So that's what the Army is looking at. Is this survivable? I'm skeptical of light recon on a conventional battlefield. Does the modern ability to call in remote firepower give light vehicles the firepower I think they need to fight for information? But I worry that the Army is just being eco-trendy to appeal to the powers that be. Sure, the light vehicle is intended for infantry brigades. But you know what I think about supporting infantry brigades (Army magazine).
Trying to fit the AMRAAM-ER in our stealth fighters.
Huh. I guess my sex life is about to get way more exotic:
Squirrels! Very amusing.
Inciting hate. But the media will never make that connection despite their eagerness to draw connections in the past no matter how tenuous the connections. Because reasons.
What we really need are body cams on Antifa and BLM rioters.
I always get confused about some conservatives who praise Democratic politicians who display some signs of sanity on policy. Some conservatives wish there were more like them. Sure, that's good. But some seem to wish those saner Democrats were Republicans. Yet if the saner Democrats were Republican politicians those same conservatives praising the relative sanity of the Democrat would accuse the now-Republican of being a RINO. Why not just save the hassle and work and accept that not all existing Republicans believe the same thing on every issue? Isn't it at least good that the Republican who isn't like you votes for Republican leadership and usually votes for your issues?
I'm sure that the San Francisco police will be happy not to be the initial responders to those cases. But what will the casualty rate be for those kinder and gentler responders? We'll see if entire cities can be too stupid to live.
In a world of space missions and cyber news, volcanoes still cause death and destruction.
Chinese hackers. Don't rule out JDAMs as the proper response. But I'll be happy with any response. Of course, we may never know what our cyber or intelligence people do. I like to think we are better at it than our silence indicates.
"China's Mars rover starts roaming the Red Planet". Immediately runs over dissident. Tip to Instapundit.
Ransomware attacks are more common. How do we stop them? Consider JDAMs.
