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NOVEMBER 17,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

HOW MUCH HANDWRITING ON THE WALL DO WE NEED? – FROM FOX:   An endorsement from former President Obama and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn in reliably blue Columbia, South Carolina was not enough to push the city’s Democratic mayoral candidate over the finish line.  Republican mayoral candidate Daniel Rickenmann, a businessman and Columbia city council member, defeated Democrat Tameika Isaac Devine by a margin of 52% to 48% on Tuesday night in Columbia, which sits in a county that President Biden carried by almost 40 points in 2020.   Former President Obama, according to Washington Free Beacon, released an audio message in support of Devine, and the former president carried the city’s county by 29 points in 2008 and 33 points in 2012.  Rep. Clyburn, one of the most prominent Democrats in both the South and the Black community, who many believe saved President Biden’s flailing 2020 campaign with his endorsement, also endorsed Devine.  My heart breaks for the dear Democrats.  If they'd occasionally listen more to the people and less to the "I love Lenin" fan club, they'd be much better off.

November 17, 2021       Permalink

THE WARNINGS ABOUT CHINA ARE COMING EVERY DAY, BUT FEW IN THE DYING LEGACY MEDIA SEEM TO CARE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   

The second-ranking general in the US military has sounded the alarm about China’s weapons development — warning that Beijing may soon have the capability to launch a surprise nuclear strike against America.

“They look like a first-use weapon,” Gen. John Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS News Tuesday. “That’s what those weapons look like to me.”

Hyten was discussing China’s test of a hypersonic weapon from this summer, which was first reported by the Financial Times last month.

“They launched a long-range missile,” Hyten said. “It went around the world, dropped off a hypersonic glide vehicle that glided all the way back to China, that impacted a target in China.”

When asked whether the vehicle had hit the intended target, Hyten answered, “Close enough.”
Gen. John Hyten, pictured above in 2019, spoke to CBS News on Tuesday about China’s weaponry.

Hyten’s Tuesday interview came after a Monday night virtual meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was not clear whether the two discussed the hypersonic test, though Biden expressed concern about it when the initial report emerged last month.

China has pledged since 1964 that it would not be the first party in a conflict to use nuclear weapons.

The South China Morning Post reported in October that Beijing had reiterated its “no first use” policy, despite some officials urging a rethink.

The United States has repeatedly refused to adopt a “no first use” policy, but has vowed not to use nukes against countries that do not have them.

Last month, Hyten warned that China could soon surpass America’s military capability “if we don’t do something to change it.”

“What you need to be worried about is that in the last five years, or maybe longer, the United States has done nine hypersonic missile tests, and in the same time the Chinese have done hundreds,” he said.

“The pace they’re moving and the trajectory they’re on will surpass Russia and the United States if we don’t do something to change it,” Hyten added. “It will happen.”

COMMENT:  There are people in the United States, some of them "experts," who still believe that the Japanese could never reach Pearl Harbor and that Nazi Germany has been misunderstood.  Eisenhower warned that modern warfare is so fast that we must be especially prepared to counter an attack immediately.  I'm not sure that, despite 9-11, Americans have learned that lesson.  The national defense Democrats of old no longer exist.  The Republicans wake up occasionally, but not enough possess a sense of urgency.

We may, sadly, have to experience another catastrophe to get our brains in order.

November 17, 2021       Permalink

NOVEMBER 16,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

A COMMON-SENSE IDEA – FROM BREITBART:  Former President Donald Trump is calling on the Pulitzer Prize Board to rescind awards given in 2018 to the staffs of the New York Times and the Washington Post for their reporting that fueled the hoax that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.  In a letter dated September 30 but released Tuesday afternoon, Trump wrote to Pulitzer Prize interim administration Bud Kliment:  "I call on the Pulitzer Prize Board to immediately rescind the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting awarded to the staffs of the New York Times and the Washington Post, which was based on false reporting of a non-existent link between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. As has been widely publicized, the coverage was no more than a politically motivated farce which attempted to spin a false narrative that my campaign supposedly colluded with Russia despite a complete lack of evidence underpinning this this allegation."  Trump added, “For two years, these institutions feverishly pushed one Russia story after another and — despite lacking any credible evidence — attempted to persuade the public that my campaign had colluded with the Russian government.”  He called on the news outlets to voluntarily surrender their awards, but if not, he expected the board to act.  “For over a century, the Pulitzer Prize has been widely recognized as a significant achievement in the field of journalism. … When it becomes apparent that a Pulitzer Prize-winning work was based on shoddy, dubious and manifestly false reporting — as is the case here — the Pulitzer Prize Board must react accordingly,” he wrote.  He is correct, but I'd be surprised if the Board will do anything at all.  The once prestigious Pulitzer Prizes have fallen from their perch.  They're now part of the liberal journalistic machine.  After all, a Pulitzer Prize was given to "the 1619 Project," an absurd piece of amateurish history invented by an African-American activist at The New York Times.  The Pulitzer Board didn't seem terribly concerned about the project's accuracy.  But...I'd like to be pleasantly surprised.

November 16, 2021       Permalink

CAN WE GET SOMETHING RIGHT?  PRETTY PLEASE – OVERNIGHT:  Mr. Biden is in trouble again, his normal retreat, this time over not quite getting his foreign policy right.  We're sympathetic and we understand.  We just don't want to get blown up.  From The Hill: 

President Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. was not endorsing Taiwan’s independence, after he suggested as much earlier in the day during an exchange with reporters about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We’re not going to change our policy at all,” Biden told reporters in New Hampshire, where he was traveling to promote the newly-signed infrastructure bill.

“I said they have to decide on Taiwan, not us. We are not encouraging independence. We’re encouraging them to do exactly what the Taiwan Act requires,” Biden continued, an apparent reference to the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. “That’s what we’re doing. Let them make up their mind.”

Biden told reporters earlier in the day that he made clear in the call with Xi that the U.S. abides by the Taiwan Relations Act, under which the U.S. commits to providing Taiwan with arms for its defense.

“It’s independent. It makes its own decisions,” Biden added.

A readout of Biden’s virtual meeting with Xi late Monday said that Biden reiterated his administration’s commitment to the “one China” policy under which the U.S. does not recognize Taiwan as a separate state from mainland China, as has been the case across previous administrations.

Speaking to reporters following the meeting, a senior administration official reiterated that the U.S. does not support Taiwan’s independence.

Biden’s remarks on Taiwan have previously caused confusion. After the president said during a CNN town hall in October that the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s defense if attacked by China, the White House sought to clarify Biden’s remarks by saying they did not represent a shift in policy. The Taiwan Relations Act commits to arming Taiwan but does not commit U.S. troops to defending Taiwan.

Tensions over Chinese military activity near Taiwan have been a flashpoint in the U.S. relationship with China and featured extensively as a topic of conversation in the virtual meeting between Biden and Xi on Monday night.

China has flown a large number of military aircraft into Taiwan’s airspace in recent weeks, prompting stern warnings from U.S. officials and raising concerns for the potential for conflict.

Biden characterized the meeting with Xi in positive terms on Tuesday, saying the two leaders have “a lot to follow up on” and that the U.S. and China would set up working groups on a range of issues.

COMMENT:  What a disgraceful mess.  The Taiwan issue is the kind that can easily lead to a profound misunderstanding, and possible military action.  Just what is our policy?  I don't see that the president's clarifications clarified anything.  We're still left wondering whether he'd take military action, or not, in the face of naked Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

This can blow up on our faces.  Maybe Biden can send Kamala Harris to Taiwan to clear things up.  Uh, on the other hand...

November 16,  2021     Permalink