Briefly Noted: A Glimpse Of The Dem Future

During the final year of Trump's presidency the American political establishment essentially turned much of public social policy over to the Left. The policies that were adopted were forged in the crucible of the Covid Panic and the year of Leftist rioting. The Covid Panic was used as an excuse to shut down the nation's government schools and the Leftist rioting put racist instruction on steroids. The rioting--egged on by the Dems, with Bluto Barr and Chris Wray stepping down--was used to place police in racist straitjackets.  Two stories today illustrate the results, as the nation continues to drift toward Election 2022.

While parents in upper scale school districts are beginning to fight back against their woke school boards, that is not at all the case in big Blue cities. In those cities, as exemplified by Chicago, the inmates are running the asylum virtually unchallenged. What this portends for coming generations and for the cities themselves is shudder worthy. 

‘The single most important task we have’: Chicago previews plan to reconnect with missing students

Missing students--that means, students who simply didn't bother when the teachers forced the schools to close and stay closed, during the Panic. How many students went missing? About a third of all students. Let that sink in--a third of all students simply stopped being students for all practical purposes:

Essential To The Morale, Cohesion, And Readiness Of The Military

Nellis AFB staged what was called Drag-u-Nellis:

“Ensuring our ranks reflect and are inclusive of the American people is essential to the morale, cohesion, and readiness of the military. Nellis Air Force Base is committed to providing and championing an environment that is characterized by equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion.”

Political Scariants

H/T to Mike Sylwester, for linking to the latest Ivor Cummins video. This video makes brilliant use of graphing to prove that so-called Delta (Indian) variant of Covid, which is a real thing of course, is being used as what Cummins calls a "scariant". A scare tactic that isn't a statistical threat in the real world of health but is instead a ploy to take away freedoms in the world of politics. The entire video is barely 2:30 long, but speaks volumes about the true intent animating the proponents of a Great Reset--and why they need to hide it:

Just yesterday Fauci was saying that this variant is "the greatest threat to the United States’ effort to eradicate COVID-19 in its borders". Who thinks eradicating a respiratory virus within our borders is a realistic goal? Would that be the same people who want to open our borders to the rest of the world? Is the goal a globalist vaccine, and boosters until that happens? Could we discuss this--from a scientific point of view?

UPDATE: From a link in the comments by Mike Sylwester:

I liked this from the end of that linked item:

I have been struck by the number of atheists who have – along with those Christians who have seen through it – commented that it has been as if some kind of spell has been cast on people, and that there is a mysterious, spiritual dimension to all this. Something like this?

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 – see also Revelation 20:7-8)

When Is True Information Not Authoritative?

Apparently when it suits Google. The story today is that Google has been funding Peter Daszak's adventures with bats and coronaviruses in China since about 2010. Which means that when Google suppressed search references regarding the origin of Covid-19 in the Wuhan lab they knew that they were suppressing information that was quite possibly true, and which certainly was highly relevant to the question of Covid origins. Especially given that Indian scientists had already identified the Covid virus as lab engineered by January, 2020. The problem, says Google, is that that information was somehow not "authoritative" and, so, had to be suppressed.

The Daily Mail summarizes:

The Art Of Spiritual Warfare

Over on the Dems Launch On Catholic Church thread commenter Frank provided a link and some commentary regarding an article by Michael Anton:

The Art of Spiritual War

Anton has a very interesting background. He served for many years in the belly of the beast, so to speak, but then came out as a major supporter of Trump--bridging the gap between the Orange Man and highbrow conservatives of the Claremont Review ilk. This will give you an idea of his background, including the essay than made him famous:

Michael Anton (born 1969) is an American conservative essayist, speechwriter and former private-equity executive who was a senior national security official in the Trump administration. Under a pseudonym he wrote "The Flight 93 Election", an influential essay in support of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Anton was Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Communications on the National Security Council under Trump. He is a former speechwriter for Rupert Murdoch, Rudy Giuliani, and Condoleezza Rice, and worked as director of communications at the investment bank Citigroup and as managing director of investing firm BlackRock.

I found this essay somewhat short on specific recommendations. However, there was one passage that appealed to me, because he identified specific movements usually considered "allies" of conservatism, but which in fact have been very much part of America's problems. FWIW, here is that passage:

China, Russia, Black

It's a bit of a slow day so all I have to offer is a bit of commentary. However, Conrad Black and Tucker Carlson have some quality commentary today, so ...

Conrad Black has a wide ranging article that addresses America's rivalry with China. Here's what I like about it. Too many "conservatives" have fallen into the trap of criticizing Zhou for being soft on Russia--it's a cheap but ultimately stupid approach. Stupid, because it's at odds with Trump's sensible approach to Russia, which was thwarted by the Globalist/Deep State set. Adopting Globalist/Deep State talking points simply isn't the way forward for intelligent conservatives who have our nation's interests at heart. It may be fine for National Review, but not for conservatives. Conrad Black, after noting the moral disarray that is roiling our national life, disposes of this fallacy very quickly:

China’s COVID Coup 

China deserves credit for a remarkable feat of strategic improvisation in translating a public health crisis into a large economical and geopolitical advance at the expense of the West.

Excerpts:

The American indulgence in an entire summer of white-hating, statue-toppling, rioting, and denigration of American history, freedom, and values astonished the world. Moreover, it helped China propagate its message that democracy leads to chaos and waste and that the United States is an unreliable and unstable country.

I hate to say this but ... It just may be true that the United States is an unreliable and unstable country. Two words: Donald Trump. He attempted to restore reliability and stability to our foreign policy, and look what happened to him. If you were a foreign leader, how far out on a limb would you go if asked to do so by an American president? Would you assume that America would have your back? Well? That's where we are.

Briefly Noted: Fascinating Referendum Results In Switzerland

I don't think this was expected:

A climate change referendum in Switzerland just went down in flames led by 18-34 year old voters

Read the full article for more commentary on the reality of government fronted climate change policies. Here's what happened with the vote. The question is--can this translate to other countries as well? When faced with the reality of Leftist policies--not just in climate matters--will young people wake up to the threat to their future?

Swiss Reject Climate Change

Eurointelligence reports Swiss Reject Climate Change

After Switzerland dropped its negotiations with the EU, the country has now rejected a climate-protection law in a referendum. Concretely, they rejected all three parts of the law in separate votes: on CO2, on pesticides, and on drinking water.

We agree with the Swiss journalist Mathieu von Rohr that this failure is not merely important in its own right, but symptomatic for the difficulties facing Green politics in general. It is one thing for people to pretend they support the Green party, especially when it is cool to do so. It is quite another to make actual sacrifices as the Swiss were asked to do.

But what is particularly interesting about this referendum is that the strongest opposition came from young people. 60-70% of the 18-34 year old voted No in the three categories.

Each country is different, but the big yet unanswered question is whether people elsewhere would agree to make personal sacrifices for the greater good. The Swiss referendum tells us we should not take this for granted. The German elections will be the next big test.

Huge Shock

The referendum Failed 51-49. And it took a crushing rejection by Zoomers and millennials to do it. 

In other words, but for young people getting out to vote 'No' three times, this referendum would have passed. What could this portend for Election 2020? I can't say, obviously. As Eurointelligence says, "each country is different." Will "people elsewhere ... agree to make personal sacrifices for the greater good?"

Speaking of personal sacrifices, in Chicago over the weekend some people made personal sacrifices--including the ultimate sacrifice--for the greater good of a Demo sponsored "mostly peaceful" holiday: 8 Murdered, 49 Wounded in America’s Largest Open-Air Range. Believe it or not--and I wouldn't joke you about this--those numbers represented major progress from 2020, when Chicago went 17-96.

The Money Behind The Great Reset And The Deep State

Yesterday sundance did a terrific post, which I assume many have already read. If you haven't you need to:

BlackRock in The White House

I'm going to quote fairly freely from the post, but I'll just point out one thing up front. Well, two things.

1. I'm surprised that sundance didn't use his trademark line: There are trillions at stake. It's no exaggeration.

2. I'm also surprised that sundance didn't point out--something I'm sure he's aware of--the way in which all this money and stakeholding intersects with the US National Security establishment, i.e., the Deep State. Simply put, anyone rising up through the national security establishment--whether civilian or uniformed military (think Lloyd Austin as one currently prominent example out of many)--who wishes to become majorly wealthy needs to be approved by Blackrock (one of two such outfits, the other being Vanguard) for membership on corporate boards. Or for legal business. Etc. You get the idea. You'll see why I think this is worth mentioning.

So, with that in mind, sundance:

Controversy Swirling Around Chinese Defector

Red State, which has the lead on information releases regarding the Chinese defector--said to be former MSS head of counterintelligence Dong Jingwei--who is reported to have provided blockbuster inside information regarding the release of Covid-19 from the Wuhan labs, is reporting tonight about the controversy around their stories:

Reactions to RedState's Exclusive Reporting on Chinese Defector Dong Jingwei Show Disturbing Pattern

The whole long story is mostly Jennifer Van Laar defending her reporting--which is entirely understandable.

However, what caught my attention was a quote of Pat Lang. This quote does appear at Lang's blog, Turcopolier, so it reflects his views:

Comments from Col. Patrick Lang who at the Defense Intelligence Agency, was the defense intelligence officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first director of the Defense Humint Service.

At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him.

These are his thoughts on Chinese Defector “Dong”:

OK pilgrim turcopoles, here is the deal. This man, as Chinese counter-intelligence boss looked around the IC and decided that he was most likely to survive an internal leak if he defected to DIA.

That means that in spite of the fact that DIA had an internal Chinese mole (recently arrested at DIA request by the FBI), the rest of the agencies are worse in the level in Chinese intelligence penetration not only of their analytic people but also of their operations staff.

How do I know that? Material from the defector (Dong) would not normally be shared with analysts if it had his name in it. His identity would be held in operational channels.

Clearly, this man believes that; CIA. army intelligence, naval intelligence, USAF intelligence and all the rest are heavily penetrated. pl

*Someone asked about how the info was released, here is his very strategic response:

“I suspect that DIA deliberately leaked this info to make it more difficult for CIA to try to take him away from them. I would have done that.”

Here's the long and the short. Controversy swirls, and we have no real way of assessing the reality behind it all. All we can do is wait and see.

Update On The Florida Cruise Ship Case

Just this past Monday in Will The Courts Restore Rationality? we took a look at the CDC's attempt to shut down the cruise ship industry in Florida. We attempted to place this case in the larger context of the administrative state and the unprecedented lockdown of the nation--business, social relations, education--all done in the name of "experts" in our regulatory agencies. 

Today Judge Merryman issued his ruling. It's 124 pages long, but the long and the short of it is that he has granted Florida a preliminary injunction against CDC that suspends the mandatory guidelines against cruise ships. The Hill notes, further:

The injunction will stay in place until July 18, at which point the “conditional sailing order and the measures promulgated under the conditional sailing order will persist as only a non-binding ‘consideration,’ ‘recommendation’ or ‘guideline,’” as is the case for other industries such as restaurants, railroads and hotels, according to the ruling. 

Merryman makes little effort to disguise his suspicion that the CDC was carrying out a political strike against a Republican state and its Republican governor, noting that the restrictions CDC attempted to impose were without precedent. He also takes aim at CDC's claims of essentially unlimited authority to shut down a state's economy. Here are just a few excerpts:

Never has CDC (or a predecessor) detained a vessel for more than fifteen months; never has CDC implemented a widespread or industry-wide detention of a fleet of vessels in American waters; never has CDC conditioned pratique [sic] as extensively and burdensomely as the conditional sailing order; and never has CDC imposed restrictions that have summarily dismissed the effectiveness of state regulation and halted for an extended time an entire multi-billion dollar industry nationwide. In a word, never has CDC implemented measures as extensive, disabling, and exclusive as those under review in this action.

However, in this action CDC claims a startlingly magnified power. But as CDC concedes, the Public Health Service Act “consolidates and codifies” the federal quarantine practices applied during the previous century (Doc. 31 at 5), and “over the 20th and into the 21st century, the legislative framing for quarantine has remained relatively constant.” Donohue, Biodefense and Constitutional Constraints, at 156. Thus, viewed with the benefit of history, CDC’s assertion of a formidable and unprecedented authority warrants a healthy dose of skepticism. (p.38)

... the conditional sailing order is arbitrary and capricious because the order imposes vague and shifting (but binding) legal requirements and because the order fails to offer any reasoned explanation about the inadequacy of local measures. (p. 100)

Hopefully we'll be seeing more such challenges. It's time for the judiciary to reign in the "experts" of the administrative state, to give government back to the people.

Dems Launch On Catholic Church

Not a good look:

This morning in DC pic.twitter.com/UswA8Bpx8z

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 19, 2021

We always knew that Liberalism is a religion or cult, but now it turns out it's an aggressively imperialistic one as well. Following the US Catholic bishops vote on abortion supporters who claim to be Catholic ...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted Friday to create draft guidelines on the meaning of Communion that could eventually bar people who express support for abortion from receiving the Eucharist.

prominent Dems--including some who don't even claim to be believers-- are spinning out of control with claims to dictate who can receive the Eucharist. My guess is that among fair minded Americans of any faith, or no faith at all, this will simply add to the growing view of Dems as radical and intolerant. One more indication that Dems are at war with all things normal. Here's what it comes down to:

Update On The Dread "Delta" Variant

You may have heard of the dreaded "Delta" variant of Covid that's so infectious and "may be" very deadly. It's popping up all over, including in the US and the UK. LifeSite is reporting that in the UK Delta Covid is, indeed, proving to be SIX TIMES AS DEADLY as Covid Classic for fully vaxxed folks as it is for the unvaxxed. That sounds bad, except that, in either case, its case fatality rate is "exceedingly low":

Death rate from variant COVID virus six times higher for vaccinated than unvaccinated, UK health data show

Hospitalizations are also higher among thousands of fully vaccinated individuals who test positive for the Delta COVID ‘variant of concern.’

...

Both death rates among the unvaccinated and vaccinated are exceedingly low (less than one percent of all positive tests) for a variant that Public Health England describes as the “dominant variant” in the UK, comprising “91 percent of sequenced cases.” 

A risk assessment of the Delta variant of the pandemic coronavirus published Friday describes it as being more readily spread between people, but it is also described as a variant with “low infection severity.”

In other words, it's following the typical profile for all these types of viruses. As mutations proceed, the virus becomes more transmissible but less severe. Nevertheless, each newly identified mutant variant is hyped to the skies.