Roundup
(1) Deaths from excessive drinking rose during the COVID lockdowns. No surprise there.
(2) Speaking of COVID, the CDC now says the guidelines are the same as with the regular flu.
(3) The current iteration of “bitter clingers” is “white rural rage.” From Matt Taibbi:
Tom Schaller took a swing. He and Mika first complained rural voters should be supporting Joe Biden, given his roots — you’d have to be pretty high to call Scranton “rural,” but whatever — then Schaller read off small town America’s charge sheet: rural whites, he said, are the most “racist,” “xenophobic,” “anti-immigrant and anti-gay,” “conspiracist,” “anti-democratic,” they “don’t believe in an independent press or free speech,” and are “most likely to accept or excuse violence,” for starters.
I seem to recall that during the summer of 2020, white rural voters weren’t the ones either committing violence or excusing it.
See also this.
President Joe Biden claimed from the 2020 presidential debate stage that his son has not “made money” from China, but Hunter Biden confirmed on Wednesday that he received several payments from Chinese Communist Party-linked companies and individuals.
Hunter’s confession, revealed during a closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee, not only corroborates evidence uncovered by Republican impeachment investigators but also invalidates claims made by Joe on the 2020 campaign trail to evade scrutiny for his involvement in Hunter’s foreign business deals.
On the other hand, it’s hardly news that Joe lies and Hunter lies.
(5)
Trump+5 among RVs in the new Times/Siena poll. +4 among LVs.
Ultimately, there's one simple reason: Joe Biden has become very unpopular.https://t.co/q8ashQkkKm pic.twitter.com/h0IUvsVxfB— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 2, 2024
But (a) will it translate into Trump votes in November of 2024? (b) will Biden be the Democrats’ nominee?
(6) DEI is over at the University of Florida:
In an administrative memo, administrators announced that to comply with new Board of Governors rules, it has removed its DEI “positions and administrative appointments” and stopped contracts with DEI-focused vendors, per school paper The Independent Florida Alligator.
Eliminated staff are receiving 12 weeks of pay, the memo said.
Aside from the staff cut, $5 million is being redirected into a “faculty recruitment fund” that previously went to DEI expenses. The university said it had to previously report those expenditures to the Florida government.
The university is encouraging the staff to apply for other positions at the university. It is giving “expedited” consideration for those who apply by April 19. The expedition includes fast-tracking interviews.
The school’s actions come as a result of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ and Florida Republican lawmakers’ crackdown on DEI in higher education.
Perhaps that “expedited” consideration for other positions is a loophole?
I wondered about the expedited consideration, but they’d have to be qualified for jobs which have already been posted. Twelve weeks severance and an opportunity to apply for other jobs seems like a decent way to handle people whose entire function has been suddenly eliminated.
We’ll have to see, if they do take other UF jobs, whether they will follow the new state directives on not including DEI in instruction or administration.
Evidence would suggest that Black Urban Rage is more of a problem.
And just another “Biden” conflict of interest….
“Congress Must Investigate John Podesta’s Role In Biden’s LNG Decision”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/congress-must-investigate-john-podestas-role-bidens-lng-decision
Key grafs:
“…According to a bombshell report from the Washington Free Beacon, the decision to halt American liquified natural gas (LNG) exports was pushed by Biden’s new Climate Czar John Podesta, who recently took over for John Kerry.
” As a well-known climate warrior, it makes sense Podesta would be pushing for policies against American energy interests. Yet at the same time, Podesta’s brother, Tony, one of DC’s most well-connected mega lobbyists, has financial connections to foreign LNG companies, including one with links to a Russian oligarch. It is concerning to see the Podesta family standing to profit from a policy priority of the White House who employs another Podesta. Foreign companies, including Russia, are clear beneficiaries Biden’s LNG attack. It should be raising questions about potential conflicts of interest and profit motives at the White House….”
Chalk it up to “Our Democracy” and/or “Our Patriotism”….
Hunter Biden’s Chinese associate Patrick Ho published an article in Oct. 2017 that made the following proposal. Its implications are extraordinarily bad for the US and make me wonder what the Bidens have been up to. In fact, the proposal is so extraordinary that I wonder why I haven’t seen any references to it.
The full article is at: https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2115264/how-greater-bay-areas-china-and-us-can-pave-way-trade
The relevant excerpt:
“When addressing China-US trade disputes, we should think out of the box. Instead of working within the geopolitical paradigm of a nation state, could we not adopt the geo-economic model on a regional level? For instance, China and the US could each set up special zones for cooperation within each other’s borders. Each zone would have more autonomy and flexibility in deciding their economic policy, domestic regulations, information circulation, enterprise registration and banking services, and reaching trade and economic agreements with other zones. Bilateral ties could be customised to suit both parties. At the same time, any risk could be confined to these areas.
“For such a pilot programme, there are no better places than the “big bay areas”, that is, the highly developed city clusters with sophisticated division of labour representing complete industrial chains, and synergistic economic benefits. There are three well-recognised “big bay areas” in the world, the Tokyo Bay Area, the New York Bay Area and the San Francisco Bay Area. The southern China bay area, encompassing Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong, is a fourth.”
ah yes the podestas think of them like the evil darryl brothers, Tony lobbied for Sberbank which is the most corrupt? Russian bank, and the Rosatom Uranium one deal, curiously he was not registered at the time, as with Paul Manafort,who was holding the money for the Ukrainian oligarch that he and vin weber of mercury partners, founded by Mr Evil, ‘Steve Schmidt’, were allowed to register without a charge, but manafort was charged for those same offenses,
3) The projection is literally pathological.
5) However accurate or inaccurate the polling, the greater the disparity between Trump and Biden, the greater their desperation will grow. They literally cannot afford for Trump to regain the Oval Office, as there is literally no limit to the disaster they fear. Because their fears are directly related to the revenge they would seek had Trump done to them what they have done to him and to those who support him.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
That Podesta conflict of interest should get a lot more attention.
5a) yes to Trump votes, some, but even more to dirty tricks by Dems, so far more illegal votes.
5b) it won’t be Biden. If he does poorly or worse ( 3 or less of 10), it might be sooner than convention. But they mostly know Kamala is worse in many AND far less controllable. The replacement needs to be somewhat in place before Biden goes.
For Brain E:
Sweden prepares to send Grippen fighters to Ukraine, per RedState.com
https://redstate.com/streiff/2024/03/02/putins-war-week-105-n2170777
and Ukrainian pilots have been training on Grippens since 2023:
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/09/14/ukrainian-pilots-test-gripen-jets/
The Grippens were one of Brain E’s bitches about F16s, Ukraine should be using Grippens instead. Sweden appears to have be waiting for membership into NATO. I guess Russia was right about the threat posed by NATO after all? (sarc)
So Ukraine will have F16s and Grippens now. What’s not to like? SU34s and AN50s
Which Grippens? The ones being retired or new ones? Same with Polish MiG29s and Dutch F-16s. Being retired for F-35s. So more used up castoffs or the good stuff?
The Grippen has be touted as more suitable for the Ukrainian level of logistics. Are F16s to be considered cast offs since they aren’t F35s? Both can use NATO standard ordnance and would have upgrades to systems? The complaint was that Ukraine should be getting Grippens.
I do not know which model of Grippen. Have at it, run it down.
Nonetheless, Russian SU34 and SU35s haven’t been fairing too well in the theater lately either, a generation younger than Mig29s.
Neo in response to rural put-downs
I seem to recall that during the summer of 2020, white rural voters weren’t the ones either committing violence or excusing it.
But but but Neo- the urban uprisings were “mostly peaceful,” and you can be sure that the rural volk were thinking very nasty thoughts about the rioters. 🙂
Perhaps that might be better phrased that “rural whites believe our press is not independent, but a subsidiary of the Democratic Party.” Which it is. Who is shutting down free speech on campuses? Sure as shooting, it’s not rural whites.
Murders in US very concentrated: 54% of US counties in 2014 had zero murders, 2% of counties have 51% of the murders. By their fruits ye shall know them. Ain’t the rural whites committing all those murders in the 2% of the counties with 51% of the murders.
}}} Perhaps that “expedited” consideration for other positions is a loophole?
I’m sure it is. UF is *ALWAYS* on the left any more. The postmodern liberals took it over during the 1970s. The county it is in is pretty close to absolutely always in the can for the Dem candidate.
Florida, for all of it’s being “in the South” has a fairly “non-South” character and history. While it certainly had a racist past, it was always much less notable, and tended to be isolated to the rural areas only.
UF was (AFAIK) the first major southern university to integrate by gender as well as by race, and did both well before most of the rest of the South, and did it without any external forces pushing it to do so…
From the “Uh-Huh” Files (cross-referenced to the “Sure” Files and “Smartest Guy I Know” Dossier)….
“Hunter Biden Says Burisma Paid Him A Million Dollars To Make Company More ‘Western-Looking’ “—
https://libertyunyielding.com/2024/03/02/hunter-biden-says-burisma-paid-him-a-million-dollars-to-make-company-more-western-looking/
Well, at least we now know WHY Hunter felt he HAD TO photograph himself frolicking with those lovely young ladies, wave his unregistered(?) pistol around and snort coke…
(IOW, it was just part of the job description. That’s right, “Jus’ doin’ what I wuz paid to do…” Yep, can’t get more conscientious—more responsible—than that! Good ole Hunter!! Make his Pappy proud!…. Come to think of it, seems like as good an explanation as any…)
Don’t you fret your pretty little head, dear.
General “White Rage” Milley has plenty more airmen to light up those throwback bubbas.(sarc)
Was Nixon more guilty in the ’70s than Biden is now? Nixon’s crimes were in large part to cover up for his underlings’ crimes, and his plans to use the federal machinery to go after his political opponents are something we’ve since gotten used to. Yet there came a time when even hardcore Republicans recognized that they sounded ridiculous or shameful defending Nixon. That kind of revelation hasn’t come to today’s Democrats, nor will it.
__________
Complaining about the government and the newspapers is an age-old American tradition. It’s about as far as most discontented WRV’s get, and it’s rarely resulted in violence. Mika and Schaller take skepticism and criticism as something treasonous and want to suppress it, and that is a frightening new departure in American politics.
Some critics of the new fear of WRVs have countered that outside of a few troubled states, rural Americans haven’t been doing badly compared to other Americans. Most of the country is complaining and has reason to complain right now, but very few Americans, if any, are angry enough to take up arms. Have there been serious signs that White rural America is more violent now than affluent, suburban America was when it was complaining about Trump? Don’t worry. The feds will dig up something before the election.
So Sunday Roundup instead of Open Thread: Russo-Ukraine War
The Ukraine War in 2024 – The Military and Economic Balance of the Long War -Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQLI8xnINqk
And more
Ukraine: German General’s Talk leaked – What did they say? – Military History Not Visualized
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwr27EjZWt0
om, Dr. Justin Bronk suggested that the Grippen would be better suited for the role fighter jets would be playing. I was just repeating what he was saying.
Quit being such a tool. At least fairly represent my position.
Brain E:
You amplyfie concern about Grippens and F-16s for reasons, and then complain about me pointing out that Sweden has taken steps to support Ukraine.
Tool, find a mirror.
Your position?
(5) But (a) will it translate into Trump votes in November of 2024?
My version: But will it translate into enough extra Trump votes in November of 2024?
I saw some Dem, Chris Coons I think, recently stating that people should ignore the polls (remember how Dems used to view polls as gospel?) and focus on election results. Dems consistently take the prize in winning the majority of elections, he said.
My interpretation of the above is that yes they consistently win in spite of failing in swaying popular opinion. That is, their machine is too powerful to lose. Call it fraud or something else. (I hate the “shenanigans” moniker.) It ain’t a real democracy any more.
Brain E:
So just be clear, is it a good thing that Sweden is going to supply Grippens to Ukraine and the others are supplying F-16s?
Or is this unnecessary provocative escalation by NATO that will only prolong the conflict and will not prevent the Russian Federation’s justified response to the 2014 insurrection in Ukraine?
Is it another case of westen interference; supplying Stingers, Javelin and NLAWs ATGMs, Mig-29s, 155mm artillery, HIMARS, Stormshadow/Scalp air launched cruise missiles, Gepards, armored vehicles including M2 Bradleys, main battle tanks, GLSDBs, and maybe Taurus air launched cruise missiles in the future? All this supplied to Ukraine, does Vlad think or do you think it might be a clue?
Seems like Europe and nonisolationatists aren’t copacetic with The Russian Federation’s plans to rearrange the borders of Europe.
But, but, but Yanukovych was ousted (beat feet to Russia).
Not sure if this has been said here. If not, might be useful.
Political borders are lines on a map. Usually there are fences, at least in built-up areas.
Defensible borders are geographical features.
Russia’s defensible borders are in other countries.
Is that a Putin consideration?
Let’s presume he’s an honest nutcase with the endless history of invasions baked into his DNA and world view and history and….defensible borders are an obsession.
Explaining why it isn’t, and shouldn’t be an issue and he and Russia have nothing to worry about might be a chore.
Borders are often natural features such as rivers, oceans, mountain ranges.
His fears are not the same as justifications.
Treaties and agreements are just words on paper (old days) ….. if you have to kill enough of his underlings or destroy his economy for him to change his actions that may be a problem. Often those lines on the map without geographical features are because two groups of people killed each other until they decided or were forced to stop the killing and words on paper were agreed on or forced on one of the parties.
So Vlad chose force of arms to rearrange borders.
Not a new problem in the world.
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/03/03/hamas-islamic-jihad-call-for-terror-during-islamic-holy-month-of-ramadan/
Om
“His fears are not justifications.” Says who and to whom and what is anybody going to do about it?
His fears, should my hypo be correct, are his justifications to himself and, presumably, to the Russian people who may be more likely to buy in than other cultures with other histories.
Hypo:
He thought he could get away with it.
He thought it would be done 72 hours.
Hubris.
Russian people? What say do they have in his actions? Are your “Russian people” European Russians (St Petersburg and Moscow) or all the rest of “Russia” to the east. I doubt the Eastern Russians (not transplants) have the same cultural memory as the European Russians. There are commenters quite knowledgeable about the Russian empire and the sundry peoples that make it up.
Ask those who went to Navalny’s funeral about Vlad’s fears.
Hypo:
Now he has to prop up a dictatorship in Belarus in perpetuity for his “fears.” Or strike west.
two years later, he has held on to large parts of the Donbass, which are the industrial and resource base of Ukraine, the approach to Kiev, would be a critical fail, to any but the most lenient instructors at Frunze, the cost was inordinately high as with the whole Nordstream Pipeline matter, the cost of the sanctions to the Western economies was not positive, and Xi protected Russia, from the greater ones, this was the detail ignored in the facile criticism of Tucker’s broadcast, like I say if you trust Munch man, Smithers and the erotic poetry readers fine sense of strategery, lets go double or nothing
this crew seems to agree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcnNs00_NIo
Yep two years in and he hasn’t moved much past the gains in the first month, lost Kiev encirclements attempt, lost Kharkhiv, lost Kherson, had the Russian navy chased out of the Black Sea, and now is loosing a Su-34 or Su-35 every day. Casualties to Vlad > 300k. That’s winning for the second best army in Ukraine. But he survived a revolt from the only military unit that was effective in 2023. Go Vladdy!
Yet ee cervantes notices that Brandon and his crew have f*ucked this up like they are trying to f*ck Israel. Am I supposed to take ee cervantes seriously when he lumps everything together?
NATO (the herd of cats) is finally waking up but isolationists are doing their best to hand Vladdy his win.
OM
The hypo was about starting it.
I have a relation who studied in Russia, and have talked to a couple of others.
Cultures vary, as has been often said.
But, whatever kind of Russian, personality-wise, there’s a kind of…different reaction… however slight when certain subjects arise. And one is the sense, and it’s utterly, absolutely irrelevant what anybody else thinks about it, of constantly being surrounded by potentially hostile powers.
Well, aren’t they special, as if European nations didn’t all have enemies at their borders. Goths, Visigoths, Huns, Arabs (Gates of Vienna, Tours, Iberia). IIRC Britain was repeatedly invaded; Angles, Saxons, Danes, Normans, and the Spanish tried, and the Germans, allied with the Soviets, seriously considered it.
The USA is blessed, or was, in having neighbors to the north and south that weren’t keen on invading, raping and pillaging.
Not that Russia didn’t do any conquests of their neighbors in their history, Perish the thought. Poor Russia,
Can you tell I’ve used up all my F’s for Russia since Vladdy decided to bring Ukraine to heel?
Not quite as bad as Hamashites or Westbankonians, not yet anyway. Hamashites and Westbankonians don’t have nukes (yet) and thus aren’t threatening to nuke any and all (Europe and the rest of the West) for their grievances.
Oh and the Hamashites and Westbankonians teach their children to hate and kill the Jew wherever they can be found. Do Russian’s wallow in the history of invasion by foreign armies and powers going back thousands of years? Keeping grievance and hostility fresh? Or is it just a convenient pretext or excuse for bad behavior by the Kremlin?
Poor Russia, although Siberia and the far east of the Russian empire were relatively recent “additions.” Do the non-Russian Siberians remember and grieve the arrival of the Western Russian conquerors?
IIRC China wants that part of “Russia” back and China has a long memory of invaders and injustices. Who is the bigger vistim?
“(b) will Biden be the Democrats’ nominee?”
Since at least last May I have been surprised that Biden is still in it.
Recent lampooning of Biden on Saturday Night Live and by Bill Maher indicates that the Democrat powers that be are getting closer to recommending to Biden that he spend much, much more time with his family.
I had thought that Gavin Newsom was the natural replacement candidate, but Newsom has new problems with the Panera restaurant minimum wage exclusin and his recent overtures to illegal immigrants and potential victims of “trans” surgeries. Dean Phillips, a much smoother leftist than other Democrats, looks well-positioned to step in.
And from the “They Are Lying About Absolutely Everything To Consolidate TOTAL Power” File:
” ‘Very Bizarre’: Scientists Expose Major Problems With Climate Change Data
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/very-bizarre-scientists-expose-major-problems-climate-change-data“—
Don’t even read this one. (Yer’ NOT supposed to know…)
“Another One? Trump-Hunter Letitia James Spent Thousands On Luxury Travel And All Sorts Of Other Malarkey”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/another-one-trump-hunter-letitia-james-spent-thousands-taxpayer-funds-luxury-travel-and
More Glorious Reparations!! AKA, just another crook in high places—right color, right sex, right party—doing “Biden”‘s dirty work by prosecuting political opponents in grotesque political trials (Cf. Fani Willis, Kim Foxx, Kimberly Gardner, etc.)
The Pipe Bombs Before Jan. 6: Capital Mystery That Doesn’t Add Up
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pipe-bombs-jan-6-capital-mystery-doesnt-add
Nothing new here, unfortunately… (Just ask Ray Epps…)
All this being just the tip of the iceberg…
I look past emotion how 64 years on the world is fine with the castro fiefdom which spread to venezuela and parts south ayers and rosenberg were both part of an insurgency trained there who have come to roost
Ayers free as a bird partially because he was the gilligan of bomb making but mostly because of mark felts footprints he mentored obama rosenberg released after 17 years thanks to jabba nadler released the walkers
Reparations, continued…
“Chaos At Georgia Six Flags As Violent Mob Invades – Ends In Shootout With Police”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/chaos-georgia-six-flags-violent-mob-invades-ends-shootout-police
Key grafs:
“…While Democrat politicians continue to claim that crime in the US is going down, violent mob actions similar to what happened at the Georgia Six Flags have been rising steadily in the past few years. Why don’t crime stats reflect this? Because progressive city governments rarely prosecute the people involved. Low prosecution numbers lead to low convictions and low reported crime rates.
“Another factor to consider is a change in FBI crime reporting policies during the pandemic, which allows many cities across the US to avoid providing complete crime numbers until 2025….”
Heh, “Biden” has it all figured out!
Hold on! Seems that not everyone’s persuaded…
“Bail fail: Study shows that repeat crime INCREASED in New York because of justice ‘reforms’ “—
https://nypost.com/2024/03/03/opinion/bail-fail-study-shows-that-repeat-crime-increased-in-new-york-because-of-justice-reforms/
But I guess we’ll just have to ignore this tremendously inconvenient stat…
+ Bonus (the latest in “Smartest Guy I Know”—SGIK—News):
“Hunter Biden’s Chinese legal ‘client’ threatens to sue unless first son pays back $1 million”—
https://nypost.com/2024/03/03/opinion/hunter-bidens-chinese-legal-client-threatens-to-sue-unless-first-son-pays-back-1-million/
No doubt just a small misunderstanding…or else something got taken out of context….
You know…
om
The reality is there, if you really look.
The likely attitude of Russia and Russians, most important Vlad, is a source of prediction, not of justification. “understand” does not equal “sympathize with”. Honest.
What other nations have done as some kind of moral symmetry is not the point. Point is what Vlad and others believe or feel when they think–defined as how THEY, not you–about their situation.
If you think you can do some missionary work there and convince them they’re not so special and explain how bad others have had it, too, take a shot.
It is always dangerous to assume you know what a tyrant thinks. Sometimes they tell (Tucker) or write a book (that corporal). What they do matters.
All out of F’s for the Russian Federation.
Maybe the PCUSA can send some evangelists, if they can spare any from Gaza.
I think he has made very clear what he thinks, those who wait for the pig latin translation will be dissapointed, the fact shambling and his gong show crew are on ludicrous speed, should dissabuse you of the soundness of the action,
back in 2020, Putin was restrained, in part because oil prices were half where they are now, the sepah were also at bay, now we suffer shortages only the soviets used to,
The deep mind and motives of Vlad, the cultural trauma and the Russian soul ….
He thought he could get away with it, again, pig Latin not needed ee cervantes.
Reparations (sung to the melody of “Halleluyah”)….
“WaPo Writer Makes It Official: Shoplifting Is Just Reparations”—
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2024/03/04/wapo-writer-makes-it-official-shoplifting-is-just-reparations-n4926983
Yep, it’s official!
(But why stop at shoplifting? I mean why not personal assault and robbery—against whites and “white-adjacent” folks only? B&E (but white—and “white-adjacent”—homes only!…That’s right! T….ransformation comin’ to a neighborhood near you…)