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NOVEMBER 6,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

ET TU, PIZZA? – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   You’re gonna need more dough for that slice.
The price of pizza is soaring in the Big Apple thanks to a dyspeptic recipe of inflationary food costs, a global supply-chain crisis and national labor shortage.  The sticker shock is hitting pizza-passionate Gothamites right in the gut.  “It’s a little bit scary at times,” said Slone Elias, a customer at 2 Bros. Pizza on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea. “Eventually it’s going to reflect in rising food prices at every restaurant.”  Elias savored slices on the sidewalk this week with friends amid a true sign of the times — the shop advertises $1.50 pizza slices on a sidewalk menu board, right beneath its iconic bright red marquee boasting “$1 Pizza.”  “Inflation is affecting every single ingredient, every single item we use. Flour, cheese, tomatoes, gloves, paper goods, paper plates, napkins. Everything. Labor is definitely up, as well,” Oren Halali, the 2 Bros. Pizza co-founder, told The Post.  This is a real crisis.  Where is Kamala Harris?  Where is AOC?  Where is Terry McAuliffe?  We are abandoned.

November 6, 2021     Permalink 

A STUNNING REMINDER – OVERNIGHT:  While we examine our election results and decide how quickly to spend our nation into bankruptcy, China is quietly building a military force that will make all our domestic concerns irrelevant.  This is a reminder that there's a real world out there.  From the Jerusalem Post and Reuters: 

The Chinese navy is the largest maritime force on Earth, boasting a total of 355 vessels, the US Defense Department revealed in a recent report.

China's navy, known as the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), has 355 ships and submarines, with an estimated 145 major surface combatants.

The navy is also readying its ability to carry out long-range precision strikes against land targets and enhance its anti-submarine warfare, further strengthening China's global power projection capabilities, the report noted.

And this number is only expected to grow in the future, with the Defense Department anticipating the Chinese fleet to grow to 460 ships by 2030.

In addition to the world's largest navy, China also possesses the world's largest standing army and the third-largest air force. This is in addition to the country's noted nuclear capabilities.

The report is significant as it comes amid tensions between China and nearby Taiwan, which has long claimed independence as its own state, though this independence is denied by mainland China.

For over a year, China has made numerous incursions on Taiwanese airspace, culminating in the largest one ever on October 1. Later that month, the US and Canada sent warships into the Taiwan Strait, an act condemned by China.

On Friday, China went further in fighting against Taiwanese independence, stating that anyone who supports Taiwan's independence would be criminally liable for life. This is the first time that China has spelled out concrete punishment for people deemed to be pro-Taiwan independence.

COMMENT:  China is on the march.  The United States, by contrast, has just suffered a humiliating setback in Afghanistan, and is governed by a weak, pro-socialist, pro-appeasement administration.  The situation is precarious, to say the least.  Our policy on defending Taiwan is not clear, raising the grim possibility that a terrible misunderstanding can launch us into another war.  Does anyone in Washington care?  Maybe Biden can name Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as special adviser to the President on Wisdom.  That's pretty much where we're at.

November 6,  2021     Permalink

NOVEMBER 5,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

ANOTHER GAIN – FROM AP:   RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic leaders in Virginia conceded Friday that Republicans have won control of the House of Delegates.  The Associated Press has not called all of the races yet.  But House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn issued a statement acknowledging the GOP majority shortly after Democratic Del. Martha Mugler conceded defeat in a tight race against Republican challenger A.C. Cordoza in the 91st House district, located in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region. WIth Mugler’s concession, Republicans now expect control over 51 seats in the 100-member chamber.  The concession means Republicans would complete an elections sweep in which they also reclaimed the offices of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The GOP victory is being seen as a backlash against a Democratic majority that has pushed through a series of progressive reforms over the past two years.  The General Assembly is now split, with Democrats holding a slim 21-19 majority in the Senate. Senators are not up for reelection until 2023.  State legislatures are critically important.  Not only can they enact or reject major programs, they also preside over redistricting, reshaping congressional districts to favor one side or another.  We're halfway there in Virginia.  Now we must work toward a GOP takeover of the Virginia Senate.

November 5,  2021     Permalink

PATHETIC  – Progressive Democrats learned nothing from Tuesday's election – OVERNIGHT:  It didn't take long for the hard left of the Democratic Party to get past this week's election results.  Election?  What election?  Where is Virginia?  From Fox: 

A number of House Democrats voted against a resolution on Wednesday that would condemn Cuba's government and offer support for protesters throughout the communist-ruled country.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was introduced this week in an effort to express "solidarity with Cuban citizens demonstrating peacefully for fundamental freedoms, condemning the Cuban regime's acts of repression, and calling for the immediate release of arbitrarily detained Cuban citizens."

The House passed the measure in a vote of 382 to 40, with all no votes coming from Democrats.

Included in the list of Democrats who voted against the resolution are all members of the left-wing House "Squad," as well as Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. Four lawmakers voted present, while five did not vote.

The resolution aimed to condemn the Cuban government's response to a series of protests that occurred over the summer amid high prices, food shortages and the country's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the measure calls for the Cuban government to allow Cubans to peacefully protest on Nov. 15 during a planned demonstration over civil rights orchestrated by a group called Archipelago.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who voted against the resolution, attempted to defend his vote, writing in a tweet that the resolution fails to acknowledge "the role the U.S. plays in contributing to the suffering of ordinary Cubans."

A report by Human Rights Watch found that the Cuban government "systematically engaged in arbitrary detention, ill-treatment of detainees, and abuse-ridden criminal prosecutions in response to overwhelmingly peaceful anti-government protests in July 2021."

COMMENT:  It is ridiculous for us to believe that the Squad and its comrades will change their actions in any way because of an election, a set of facts, or anything else.  Theirs is world of fanatical ideology.  It is a world in which dictatorship is valued, not despised, as long as some goods are distributed to "the people."   It is a world in which education exists only to control the nation, not to stimulate it.

The major political fight right now is the battle for control within the Democratic Party.  I would not be shocked if we see the emergence of a new center-left party should the current chaos continue.

November 5, 2021       Permalink