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JULY 28-29, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE

THE SIGNS:  Add this to the long piece I patched together this morning, warning that the GOP is underperforming in preparing for the midterms.  Too confident.  Too gentlemanly.  Too negative.  As if to confirm my worries, the final Rasmussen report of the week stated that President Biden had gained about five points in approval this week, and the Republican lead in the generic Congressional ballot went from ten points to five.  We stress, as we always do, that polls are snapshots in time, and can change quickly.  But I'm seeing some other signs that the Democrats are picking up speed, taking no prisoners, and are not conceding one seat in the new Congress.  Republicans, as I said this morning, need a positive platform that lays out what they would actually do.  Criticism of Biden is wearing out its welcome. 

DEATH OF A CITY – FROM BLUE STATE CONSERVATIVE:  The 7th-most valuable NFL franchise, Da Bears of Chicago, are packing their bags and heading to greener (read: safer, more tax-friendly) pastures. It’s the perfect middle finger to woke, inept leadership personified by real-life Beetlejuice Mayor Lori Lightfoot.  Chicago has seen an astonishing 35% increase in crime, and hopelessly stupid policies from Lightfoot now prevent Chicago Police Department officers from even pursuing potential misdemeanor suspects on foot. Meanwhile, the Bears rake in $166 million annually to go toward a corrupt budget that prioritizes illicit gangbanging activities over the safety of its players, fans, and own citizens.  The only question worth asking is why they didn’t do this years ago.  Chicago is ungovernable in large measure because it is so racialized.   Race dominates everything, and the only people who seem to benefit are the black leaders.  The black citizens, especially children, don't seem to have much say, and the liberal press doesn't seem to care.   The same problems that plagued the city decades ago, when I attended the University of Chicago, plague the city today.  No real progress.

COMMON SENSE FOR A CHANGE – FROM COLLEGE FIX:    The Ivy League’s nominee for “NCAA Woman of the Year” will be Columbia University fencer Sylvie Binder, the organization announced on Monday.  Binder defeated other Ivy League competitors including University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.  Thomas competed against men in collegiate swimming competitions before switching to female NCAA meets. The Penn swimmer took drugs to suppress testosterone for one year, clearing the NCAA bar to compete against women. “Conference offices have named 151 college athletes as their nominees for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award,” the national sports organization announced on Monday. “The nominees represent student-athletes from 17 sports spanning all three NCAA divisions.  Nothing against Lia Thomas, who still has the strength of a man and, in my view, should not be permitted to compete against women.  It is grossly unfair to those women.  Fortunately, Thomas was not selected to represent the Ivy League, so we won't have to have this debate again. 

July 28-29, 2022       Permalink

THE SITUATION:  You all know about the negative economic growth number for the second quarter of 2022.  That's two negative quarters in a row, which is the classic definition of a recession.  The Biden administration, which has its own secret dictionary, says that isn't so.  

The debate is of no value.  The economy is one area where Americans make their own decisions based on what they see and feel.  Eyes and ears shape those decisions.  Brains are of secondary value.

Gasoline prices have gone down somewhat, but are still far too high.  It may well be that the president's political position is a bit better because of the slight drop, and maybe a touch of optimism has entered the fuel market, but, unless prices continue to fall, the drop will soon lose its glow.

Food prices are not dropping.  From what I can see, they're increasing in two ways.  First, actual prices on most items I buy are going up.  Just as important, our local supermarkets are putting far fewer items on sale.  Yes, careful shopping can absorb some of the price increases, but people get tired of "careful" shopping that brings home less food.  I've also noticed fewer people in the supermarkets on weekends.  That's just an observation.  I can't verify it with statistics.  But there is a sense of gloom.  People buy ice cream without smiles on their faces.  That's almost un-American.

The political situation:  This website has warned for months that Republicans were delusional if they thought the midterms would be a cakewalk.  Yes, some polls predict a Republican blowout, but recent surveys show an increasingly tight series of races.  Republicans, as usual, are cursed by some poor candidates in critical contests, and by a disturbing lack of urgency.   Too often they seem to be sitting on good poll numbers and waiting for the election-night parties.  They should, as the political saying goes, be running as if they're 20 points behind.  They must also have a positive platform.  So far they're sponsoring an entirely negative campaign, depending on dislike of the Biden administration to win for them.  That is not enough.  Voters want to know precisely what the GOP will do to solve the nation's growing problems.  Republicans need what former Speaker Newt Gingrich called a contract with America.  He used the device with spectacular success in the 1994-29 midterms.  I'm hoping the GOP will have a new contract right after Labor Day, spelling out what a Republican victory will mean for American families.

The huge complication:  Will Donald Trump announce before or after the election that he's running for president again?  This is real political drama because Trump is under active investigation by a House committee and, potentially, by the Department of Justice.  His story, if he runs, can literally suck all the air out of the political room.  An ex-president running again, seeking revenge...but who may wind up in prison.  What a movie!  Who plays Trump?

July 28, 2022     Permalink

JULY 27,  2022

AGAIN, CHINA:  Seems the Chinese are buying up land in the United States.  Why?  National security experts are sounding the alarm.  This land will not be used to grow egg rolls.  A matter of serious concern.  From Daily Mail: 

A Chinese company purchased hundreds of acres of North Dakota farmland mere minutes from a major US Air Force base, prompting national security fears as the communist country adds to its nearly 200,000 acres of US agricultural land worth $1.9 billion.

The China-based food producer, Fufeng Group, plans to build a corn-milling plant on its newly acquired 300 acres of land in Grand Forks, just 20 minutes down the road from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, where some of the nation's most sensitive drone technology is based.

The purchase raised suspicions from military officers, national security experts and lawmakers alike. 

The move could give China unprecedented access to the goings-on at the Air Force base, which also has a space-networking center that's been characterized as 'the backbone of all US military communications across the globe,' according to CNBC.

Criticism of the Fufeng purchase comes as American lawmakers have been outspoken about limiting China's ownership of valuable American agricultural land, which, as of 2019, consisted of at least 192,000 acres.

After the Fufeng Group purchased the North Dakota land for $2.6 million this year, Air Force Major Jeremy Fox wrote a memo in April characterizing the move as being emblematic of Chinese efforts to install themselves close to sensitive US defense installations.

He argued that the Fufeng property is located at just the right location for the company to intercept communications coming from the Air Force base.

'Some of the most sensitive elements of Grand Forks exist with the digital uplinks and downlinks inherent with unmanned air systems and their interaction with space-based assets,' Fox wrote. 

Such interceptions 'would present a costly national security risk causing grave damage to United States' strategic advantages.' 

'Passive collection of those signals would be undetectable, as the requirements to do so would merely require ordinary antennas tuned to the right collecting frequencies,' he said, 'This introduces a grave vulnerability to our Department of Defense installations and is incredibly compromising to US National Security.'

A spokesperson for the Air Force maintained Fox's memo was not the military's official position on the matter. 

They instead called it Fox's 'personal assessment of potential vulnerabilities' and declined to offer an opinion.

A representative for the Fufeng Group's US subsidiary said fears of espionage couldn't be further from the truth.

'I can't imagine anyone that we hire that's going to even do that,' Fufeng USA chief operating officer Eric Chutorash told CNBC, saying he knew the company 'absolutely' would not spy on US military interests.

'We're under US law, I'm an American citizen, I grew up my whole life here, and I am not going to be doing any type of espionage activities or be associated with a company that does, and I know my team feels the exact same way,' he said. 

Despite Fufeng's assurances, Fox was not the only government official raise suspicions, with the US government's U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission raising concerns in a May report.

'The location of the land close to the base is particularly convenient for monitoring air traffic flows in and out of the base, among other security related concerns,' the commission's report said.

COMMENT:  The mainstream media has not shown deep concern.  After all, it's only China.  How could those peace-loving people, who build iPads, be a threat to us?  Why, that's as silly as thinking that Japan could attack Pearl Harbor.

July 27, 2022       Permalink