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DECEMBER 4,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

MORE COPS, LESS CRIME IN BLACK AREAS – OVERNIGHT.  It's unlikely that you'll see this on CNN or MSNBC.  But you can be a sinner here.  From College Fix:   A team of criminologists has found that every 10 to 17 new cops added by a city police department can be expected to save one black person from being murdered.  The researchers looked at 242 cities over a 38-year period and concluded “that each additional police officer hired abates between 0.06 and 0.1 homicides.”  “Although the total reduction in homicide is roughly equal across Black and white victims, the decline in homicide is twice as large for Black victims in per capita terms,” the team said. Researchers on the project include Professor Benjamin Hansen of the University of Oregon, Emily Weisburst of UCLA and Aaron Chalfin at the University of Pennsylvania.  A draft of the criminology research paper is available here and the paper has been accepted by American Economic Review: Insights for publication soon. It first came out as a working paper in December 2020 and has since been accepted for publication.   Watch the trendy left ignore this and try to bury it.  It insults the party line and sounds like TRUMP!!!  But I'll bet most African Americans accept it.

December 4, 2021       Permalink

EVEN BIDEN'S GUY IS SOUNDING THE ALARM ON CHINA – OVERNIGHT:  Is there awokeness in the president's house?  Do the big shots finally understand that China is a threat?  The triggering word is "Taiwan."  From Fox: 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday that China's increased military activity near Taiwan seemingly indicates a "rehearsal" of the country's future intentions.

Austin made his comment during a keynote discussion with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

Pointing out how China has been launching multiple air operations near Taiwan in recent months, Baier asked Austin, "Do you think that these are training flights for future operations?"

Austin noted that he didn't want to speculate, but said, "Certainly, it looks like them exploring what their true capabilities [are], and sure, it looks like rehearsal."

Austin also affirmed U.S. dominance in the Pacific, telling Baier, "China is not 10 feet tall."

"America is a Pacific power," Austin said. "The Indo-Pacific is a region of great opportunity and real challenges. One of those challenges is the emergence of an increasingly assertive and autocratic China."

The Reagan Forum, which comes as China and Russia continue to build up aggressive defenses not seen since World War II, included remarks by foreign policy experts and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who argue that the Biden administration's foreign policy has diminished U.S. standing on the world stage.

"We’re facing a formidable challenge," the defense chief said. "In war and in peace we are always stronger when we work together with our friends."

COMMENT:  China covets Taiwan.  The United States is, oh, kinda sorta committed to defend Taiwan.  But China sees a weak, divided America, and that is a prescription for war, not peace.  Our policies won't improve until The Democrats are driven from power, and that day may be a long way off.

But we can improve things to some degree by electing a Republican Congress is 2022.

December 4, 2021       Permalink

DECEMBER 3,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THIS IS NUTTY – FROM FOX:   U.S. labor board prosecutors have alleged that Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market illegally banned employees from wearing "Black Lives Matter" masks and punished workers who did, according to Bloomberg.  The grocery store chain maintained appearance rules at U.S. locations to prohibit staff from displaying Black Lives Matter messages on their apparel, the National Labor Relations Board’s San Francisco regional director wrote in a complaint issued Friday on behalf of the agency’s general counsel.  The company is also accused of firing, sending home and otherwise punishing employees around the country during 2020 for wearing apparel such as BLM masks or pins, according to the suit.  "Our dress code policy is designed to ensure we are giving Team Members a workplace and customers a shopping experience focused entirely on excellent service and high-quality food," Whole Foods said in a statement. "We do not believe we should compromise that experience by introducing any messages on uniforms, regardless of the content, that shift the focus away from our mission."   Workers’ rights to engage in collective action related to workplace issues are protected by Federal labor laws.  Democrats leading the NLRB under President Biden have signaled they take a broader view of that protection than their predecessors under former President Trump.   I'll side with Whole Foods on this.  Seems to me that businesses have a right to impose reasonable restrictions on political messages that employees want to send while on company time.  Workers have the right, of course, to express their views on their own time.

December 3, 2021       Permalink

REALITY SINKS IN – OVERNIGHT:  The latest round of Iran nuclear talks has ended, with essentially no progress in getting Iran to agree to ending its quest for nuclear weapons.  But beware the appeasers in the Biden administration and the Democratic Party.  From Reuters: 

VIENNA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Indirect U.S.-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal broke off until next week as European officials voiced dismay on Friday at sweeping demands by Iran's new, hardline government.

The seventh round of talks in Vienna is the first with delegates sent by Iran's anti-Western President Ebrahim Raisi on how to resuscitate the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

Raisi's election in June caused a five-month hiatus in the talks, heightening suspicions among U.S. and European officials that Iran is playing for time while advancing its nuclear program.

"Iran right now does not seem to be serious about doing what's necessary to return to compliance, which is why we ended this round of talks in Vienna," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Reuters Next Conference. read more

"If the path to a return to compliance with the agreement turns out to be a dead-end, we will pursue other options," he added, without elaborating.

Diplomats said the Iranian delegation had proposed sweeping changes to a text that was painstakingly negotiated in previous rounds and that European officials had said was 70-80% finished.

"Over five months ago, Iran interrupted negotiations. Since then, Iran has fast-forwarded its nuclear program. This week, it has back-tracked on diplomatic progress made," senior officials from France, Britain and Germany said in a statement, adding that Iran was demanding "major changes" to the text.
It is "unclear how these new gaps can be closed in a realistic time frame", they added.

The three European powers expressed "disappointment and concern" at Iran's demands, some of which they said were incompatible with the deal's terms or went beyond them.

COMMENT:  Anyone shocked by this?  Iran is ruled by a fanatical, hardline regime intent on regional domination.  It's absurd to think they'll give up their drive for nuclear weapons.  The American negotiating team is made up of the same characters who negotiated the original Iran nuclear agreement under the ultra-appeasing Barack Obama.  They should now be gently retired.  We will be stuck with a nuclear Iran, and with Russia and China as hostile, growing nations.  Happy New Year.

December 3, 2021       Permalink