Posse Incitatus

If California is worried about carbon, why isn't it managing its forests better?

The top story this week is the urgent, immediate never-before-considered possibility that President Trump may be impeached.

Which is weird, since that's been the top story for three years.

Of more interest to me is the cold snap that plunged Michigan into deep snow very early in the season.  The usual suspect insist that this has to do with "climate change," and for once, they're right.

Because the climate is always changing.

The very spot where I sit right now was under a mile-thick sheet of ice 10,000 years ago.  Thank God for global warming!

Supporters of Climate Change Inc. will argue that carbon emissions are introducing a new and volatile element that could DESTROY THE PLANET.

That being the case, one would think the top priority of places like California would be to see that forest debris is quickly, efficiently and regularly removed to limit the impact of forest fires. 

This would involve the time-tested tools of using logging to create fire breaks and limit fuel for the fires as well as controlled burns during wet parts of the years to remove underbrush.

Strangely, none of that is happening.

Apparently the idiots who run California seem utterly unaware that when a forest catches fire, not only does it pump far more CO2 into the sky than would otherwise happen, it also destroys the "carbon sinks" that can help absorb existing CO2.

It is literally the worst possible thing to happen for people who claim to worry about carbon emissions.

Apparently the reason for this that logging and forest management is super-bad, worse even than climate change.

This lunacy is beyond parody.  Plastic straw bans accomplish nothing, and all the solar and wind arrays in the world won't do jack if they are melted or burned by rampant wildfires.

But that's California for you: the world's largest open-air insane asylum.

Bye Bye Beto

The departure of Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke from the Democrat presidential primary will have little effect on the contest from a polling perspective.

This was because the man was entirely a media creation.  He was hyped far beyond his abilities against Ted Cruz and the same thing happened when he ran for president.

Thus, no one is going to gain much from his defecting supporters because he had none.  The true impact he had on the race was to drive the Democrats into increasingly outrageous policies.

The Democrats have no center.  It's gone.  The old FDR lunch-pail coalition is dead.  Instead, the Democrats consist of a loose, mutually hostile coalition of disparate interests united only by the desire for unlimited power, which they will use against middle America.

O'Rourke was overtly anti-white, peppering his speeches with self-loathing references to his own "privilege" an America's inherent racism, which he alone apparently could cure. 

He also destroyed the convenient fiction that Democrats stand for anything other then mass confiscation of firearms and the mass arrests of their owners.

Both of thse positions opened up a great opportunity for a centrist Democrat to rebuke him, but none took it.  The Dems apparently believe that the time for lying about where they stand is over, and they want to let their freak flag fly.

And who better to lead this parade of insanity than a furry?

The headless Islamic State

One of the weirdest elements of our current age is how the people who fancy themselves experts keep getting things wrong - and then expect people to keep listening to them!

The Obama Administration sowed chaos across the globe, stumbling from one disaster to another, learning nothing in the process.  In another age, they'd be mocked and driven from polite society rather than constantly consulted about all the awful things that are sure to result from Trump ignoring their pin-headed advice.

The other aspect of Never Trumpism is the perverse desire to stand against anything and everything Trump is for.  The death of would-be Caliph of the Islamic State should be a day anyone with a moiety of their marbles would celebrate, and yet the fake press immediately busied itself with trying to rehab the fanatical killer.

That is of course the predictable end of Never Trumpism - his successful policies which have brought renewed American prosperity and hope are now the worst possible news.   Having gotten Syria dead wrong, I anticipate a turn back to "recession mania" before trying to pump some meaningless RUSSIA hype.

Of course all that will be disrupted once the indictments come down.  I've no idea when it will happen, but the latest incendiary filing in the Flynn case indicates that the whole Spygate fiasco is about to be exposed in a way that will have even the lying mainstream media struggling to cover it up.

The word of the day is "Wexit"

Yesterday Canada’s election results were tallied and Justin from Canada managed to hang onto his premiership in a minority government.

The failure of the Canadian right to take down a nepotist dilettante is sadly not news.  While I don’t know much about the Conservative leader, it’s pretty clear he ran on bland program designed not to offend anyone and promised minimal changes.  Bob Dole with a maple leaf.

Where things get interesting is the in the details of the Liberals’ victory.  The western provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta – which are heavily reliant on the energy industry – were swept clean of Liberals.  A primary issue for these voters was that of “climate change,” which is to say Justin’s plan to “de-carbonize” Canada by shutting down fuel production and heavy industry.  Apparently the layoff notices are already going out.

The current theory on revolutions is that they are not the product of worsening conditions so much as unmet expectations.  Indeed, revolutions often break out because things aren’t getting better fast enough, or there is a slight retreat after steady gains.  This is how Venezuela and Cuba can maintain steady almost unchallenged regimes at a subsistence level while Hong Kong is in open rebellion against far less repression.

Thus, after years of growing prosperity, the citizens of the western provinces are confronting the possibility that their entire economy will be tanked so the black-faced premier and take his virtue-signaling to new levels.

Otherwise respectable politicians are now broaching the possibility of “Wexit,” the breakup of the Canadian federation by these disgruntled provinces, who could use the United States as an outlet for their valuable commodities.  I’m sure the Trump administration would be more than happy to oblige them.

Interestingly, Canada already has a mechanism for secession in place, thanks to the francophone grifters in Quebec, who never met a subsidy they wouldn’t take.  How this plays out is anyone’s guess, but I see it as yet another sign of institutional failure. 

In normal times, the Liberals would fire the leader who led them into minority and govern with great moderation, knowing that they won only a third of the popular vote.  Instead, they seem set on forging ahead with their platform, relying on more radical allies to help them with the votes necessary to push ahead.  Call it a Canadian Popular Front.

Such coalitions rarely end well – either for the partners or the country they are supposed to serve.

A few years, back, I would dismiss Wexit as a fantasy, but now I’m not sure.  Trudeau has taken plenty of pot-shots at the US over the years and seems spectacularly incompetent.  If anyone can force a showdown, it would be him.

Hillary vs Tulsi

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Hillary Clinton decided to take her RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA road show into the Democrat primary race.

Yesterday she threw some shade at Tulsi Gabbard, declaring the serving military veteran to be an agent of Russia designed to compromise our election.

Gabbard's return volley was everything one would expect from the woman who destroyed Kamala Harris with a single diatribe. 

I suspect Gabbard will see another surge in support, likely breaking into double digits.  There are a lot Democrats who loathe the Clintons and what they have done to their party who have been waiting for someone to finally call them out.

Bernie Sanders could have been that person, but when the chips were down, he wimped out.   Gabbard seems made of sterner stuff.

 

Assessing the Wreckage of MSU Football

We've seen it with athletes, musicians and politicians: Someone is highly effective and well-liked for several years, but eventually his magic touch wanes, while his performance and track record begin to suffer. He overstays his welcome, and things get ugly.

Rather than bowing out at or near the top, he keeps hanging on, eventually displaying the pathetic Strolling Bones Syndrome.(Yes, that's a slap at the iconic British band that should have hung it up 25 years ago, has been living off past glories for decades, and soon might require walkers, wheelchairs and IV racks onstage.)

The person I'm referring to is Mark Dantonio, head coach of the Michigan State Spartans football team.

Based on several lackluster performances by the Spartan football team this season -- including blowout losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin, it's apparent that the old Dantonio magic is gone. Too, the Spartans' poor recruiting in recent years has finally caught up with them.

Put simply, they just don't have a lot of good players. They're good enough to beat weak teams (sometimes with a struggle), but get completely outclassed by more talented teams. In fact, after compiling a solid record for nearly a decade, culminating with a Big Ten championship and spot in the national playoffs following the 2015 season, Dantonio is a pedestrian 24-22 since the beginning of the 2016 season (a dismal 3-9 campaign). What's more, eight of those 24 victories were against horrible teams and/or overmatched squads from minor conferences -- Rutgers, Maryland, Furman, Tulsa, Western Michigan, et al...

Some Spartan fans might call me an ingrate, but I am not. I fully acknowledge that, when you look at his entire body of work, Dantonio truly is one of the top two or three football coaches in MSU history. He recently passed the legendary Duffy Daugherty by winning his 110th victory to become the winningest head coach in MSU football history. But let's remember that Duffy won two national championships (1965-66), and coached in an era where the regular season was often 9 or 10 games rather than 12 or 13. (An interesting side note: Daughtery had the appearance and charisma of a charming Irishman -- not to mention an Irish-sounding surname -- but according to his Wikipedia entry, both his parents emigrated from Scotland.)

Still, Dantonio inherited a mess and ended up putting a competitive team on the field in short order. Prior to his arrival, the Spartans had been mediocre for decades, with an occasional stellar team (e.g., 1987 and 1990 Big Ten championships, and a 10-2 record in 1999). There was infighting among coaches, the athletic director, the university president, the Board of Trustees, alumni, and there were probationary periods due to various NCAA violations. It was a mess. The previous two head coaches before Dantonio, Bobby Williams and John L. Smith, both failed miserably to bring about a winning and respected program and were shown the door. Even Nick Saban, who has won multiple national championship with Alabama, was barely above .500 during his five seasons with MSU (1995-99) and got blown out every time they played in a bowl game.

Dantonio has won three Big Ten championships since his first season (2007), finished in the top 5 in 2013 and 2015, and No. 6 in 2014. Perhaps most important in the eyes of long-suffering Spartan fans, he has an 8-4 record vs. MSU's bitter arch-rival, the University of Michigan Wolverines. For decades, MSU fans have put up with a haughty arrogance emanating from Ann Arbor. The mocking, derisiveness and put-downs (Moo U, cow college) grew wearisome. And it's not like this garbage just started in the social media era. Way back in 1978, then Spartans head coach Darryl Rogers referred to Michigan fans as "arrogant asses." (Prompting some wags to change "A2," the longtime nickname for Ann Arbor, to "A4.") Even without the Big Ten championships and top 5 finishes, just the winning record vs. the Skunkbears alone would be enough to make Dantonio one of MSU fans' all-time favorite coaches.

One of Dantonio's strengths has been finding under-the-radar talent and "coaching 'em up" to be skilled and productive performers. Off the top of my head, four current NFL starters were recruited by MSU as two-star prospects: Defensive backs Darqueze Dennard and Trae Waynes, running back Le'Veon Bell, and offensive center Matt Allen. Many others who play in the NFL were three-star prospects, including Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback Kirk Cousins. It's common for coaches to underachieve with lots of four- and five-star athletes (see Jim Harbaugh), but it's uncommon for someone to overachieve as much as Dantonio has.

But as mentioned, Dantonio's recruiting and coaching cachet have suffered in recent years. His recruiting classes were not highly rated, and he failed to find so many "diamond-in-the-rough" prospects as in the past. His 2020 class thus far is ranked No. 50 in the nation. Many fans are also fed up with Dantonio's undying loyalty to longtime assistant coaches who have proven themselves inept, year after year.

Following a wretched 7-6 season in 2018, during which the Spartans had one of their all-time worst offenses, Dantonio incurred the wrath of his fans with his "rearranging the Titanic deck chairs" move. Rather than bring in new blood, he simply switched the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, and actually thought this would make a difference. Although the team's offensive sets and style are slightly different from 2018, the futility remains. The play-calling and formations are unimaginative and predictable. Time and time again, the team tries to run up the middle, but its lousy offensive linemen fail to open holes, so the running back gets no yardage or just picks up a yard or two. Penalties have also been an issue, as have dropped passes and pass protection.

When the Spartans lost at home to Arizona State, 10-7 on Sept. 14 in a comedy of errors,  I had a very bad feeling about this season. Since then, a 34-10 blowout at Ohio State and a 38-0 humiliation at Wisconsin have shown that even the Spartans' supposed strong point, their defense, was overrated. Even a freshman quarterback, Indiana's Michael Penix, completed 20 straight passes against the MSU secondary at Spartan Stadium a few weeks ago. The lack of effort, futility and frequent mistakes bring back horrible memories from the agonizing 2002 season, when Bobby Williams was sacked following a 49-3 drubbing by Meeechigan in Ann Arbor.

For several years now, Dantonio has also been embroiled in legal wrangling resulting from players who ran afoul of the law (several were booted from the team) to fallout from the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal and sensationalistic media coverage from tabloid-like ESPN, to a civil suit filed by former assistant Curtis Blackwell. The strain shows on his face.

Dantonio is eligible for a $4 million "retention bonus" as long as he's still on the job Jan. 1, 2020. I predict he will stick around long enough for the new year to arrive, and maybe even help out with recruiting a little in January, and then tender his resignation. For the sake of the Spartans football program and the fans, I hope he does so.

FISA Week is here

The long-awaited Inspector General report on FISA abuse is supposed to come out this week.

Rumors are flying and while some expect it to be another dud, the actions of the Dems suggest otherwise.

The report has been the works for a long time, and the fact that Joe Biden's CIA buddies tried to launch a spoiling attack and push impeachment suggests it's not going to vindicate the intel operatives who think they run the country.

That being said, I'm sure a bunch of sites will wail and gnash their teeth if the report isn't strong again.  This has happened repeatedly in the past, so it's worth revisiting some key points that get lost in the flood of emotion.

This is merely a finding of fact.  The IG doesn't speculate and can't pass verdicts.  The purpose of the report is to enable additional prosecution if it seems warranted and also take administrative action to correct deficiencies.  Previous reports didn't result in prosecutions, but that isn't to say they will never happen, just that they haven't happened yet.

The other key element is that the IG has no enforcement power.  IG's can't fire anyone or offer punishment.  That will go to the heads of the various departments.

What we do know is that a lot of the people involved are very nervous.  We also know that detailed investigations are underway covering foreign involvement and other irregularities.

Finally, it's important to understand that if one really wants convictions, the nature of these crimes mean the investigations will take a while.  Too many people looked at Team Mueller throwing down process charge indictments as the way things are done.  They aren't.

Most of those charges were tossed or will be laughed out of court.  Mueller's job was threefold:

1. Delay prosecution of the corrupt people in DoJ.
2. Create bad headlines for Trump
3. Fabricate an obstruction of justice charge against his administration

Mueller was partially successful in each element, but none of them are decisive.  The Dems latching into impeachment now with such a feeble case merely shows their desperation.

One final point I find interesting.  Why was the release announced ahead of time?  Usually these things just show up.

I think it was because of a rumored "big announcement" from the Clintons.  This could be that Chelsea is running for Congress, but it could also be Hillary jumping in to the campaign so that she can use the "political pesecution" defense against any indictments.  Her musing that she could "beat Trump again" is consistent with this.

By announcing the release of the report ahead of her "big surprise," the persecution card is off the table.  Most of the chatter this will be about what's in the report, totally undermining her attempt to spin any revelations as a blatantly political attempt to hamstring her campaign.

The War Party's Turkish Delight

Has anyone in my lifetime brought more clarity to the political scene than Donald Trump?  For all the claims that he lies, the man has an uncanny ability to expose the hypocrisy of the Ruling Class.

His announcement that US forces would be withdrawn from the area of Turkish incursion was one of the best examples of this.  Right on cue, people who three years ago insisted that Trump would start a shooting war in Korea are now screaming that he’s a coward for not forcing a military confrontation with NATO ally Turkey.

This is insanity on stilts.

Let us review the facts.

The United State is not at war with Syria. 

Congress has made no declaration of war, nor has any administration articulated a long-term reason for US forces to be on Syrian soil.  The reason we are there was to pursue renegade elements of the Al Qaeda splinter group ISIS after it overran much of Iraq.

The recognized government of Syria is the regime of Bashar Assad.  To maintain his tyrannical (but legally acknowledged) regime, he has solicited aid from Iran and Russia.

Turkey has been using Syria as a sandbox to hammer Kurds, some of whom like us, some of whom are Communist terrorists.

Indeed, the fact that one cannot simply summarize the situation proves that the Bush-Obama “strategic experts” have created a complete mess.

Trump’s solution is therefore a sensible one: leave.

There is no clear strategic goal in Syria for the United States.  ISIS has been militarily defeated.  Should the Assad regime reconquer its territory, it will not allow ISIS to return.  ISIS and the Alawite Syrians (which is what the Assad family is) are mortal enemies.

At the same time, the US cannot openly wage war on Turkey as this would destroy NATO.

Remember NATO?  That was the thing Trump is always accused of undermining.  Odd that getting into a military confrontation with a NATO member doesn’t concern the same people wagging their finger that Trump wasn’t being nice to them.

Strangely silent in all of this is the “peace wing” of the Democrat Party.  Seems they’ve been taking a nap since January of 2009.  I guess when a Democrat starts pointless and bloody wars of choice, it isn’t really a problem for them.

The US military is overstretched and exhausted from endless and winless wars.  Those who serve are often maligned as bloodthirsty killbots (on this very blog, in fact, go through the archives), but in fact they sign up to defend their nation, and they’re mortally tired.

It’s interesting that none of the people claiming a moral duty to wage another pointless conflict have a personal investment in the enterprise.

They will not be on the firing line.

I used to deride the “chickenhawk” slur, but I do find it interesting that many of the same people who threw it around freely in 2002 have become the thing they said they hated.

Actually, the DC Establishment does have an interest – profit.

Again, the Dems pounded away on Haliburton and Dick Cheney, but once again we see that graft is a bipartisan activity.  Joe Biden’s brother made a fortune in Iraq.  How convenient.

Of course Joe Biden’s finances are now off limit to investigative reporting because Orange Man Bad, but back when people cared about war profiteers, MSNBCBSABCNN would have been crawling up his rectum to report this stuff.

All of which is why Trump is doing the right thing.  He’s exposing the warmongers and demonstration who has the nation’s strategic interest at heart and who is content to let the bodybags continue to stream back home with no end in sight.

The NeverTrumpers build a couch-pillow Fortress of Power

Amidst the mindless noise of the impeachment farce, I was amused to see that another of the National Review Never Trump team has departed the now-disgraced publication.

David French will no longer be darkening the hallways of Buckley's flagship magazine, and will instead be squatting in the basement with Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes.

The trio will be writing for a "newsletter" called The Dispatch.  It will run on paid subscriptions, though presumably the writer will continue to try to find other markets to sell their feeble prose.

It's worth noting that Hayes has been unemployed since The Weekly Standard passed under the waves and Goldberg left National Review months ago with vague notions of a to-be-named-later writing project.

French's departure thus helps combine the hard core Never Trump team into one convenient and useless grouping.  It's pretty much a guarantee that they'll alternate guest appearances with the The Cuckshed Bulwark.

Presumably this has-been supergroup is being formed with the upcoming elections in mind, and will provide "principled, conservative" reasons for voting for a slate of wild-eyed communists.

I look forward to not reading them.

Demented Medicine

One of the most profound signs of our civilizational decay is the politicization of medicine.  For a century, western medical science brought a series of miracles, dramatically reducing disease and extending both the length and quality of human life.

That formidable achievement now seems to be inverting as fact-based science yields to politically correct imperatives.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the case of the transgender hysteria.

Even a cursory knowledge of childhood development would rule out allowing young children to make life-altering decisions.  Indeed, the age of consent exists precisely because children cannot make informed decisions.  It should be obvious that they lack the judgement and experience to do so.

Happily, nature provides parents to fulfill this role.  This brings us to the Big Lie that “trans kids” are expressing their true selves and good, responsible parents have a responsibility to cater to these self-destructive whims.

As one wag remarked, when you see a vegan cat or a trans kid, understand that neither of them are ones making that decision.

Not long ago, the medical establishment would highlight these actions as child abuse, but now a whole industry has emerged (backed of course by Big Pharma) to support it.

What’s interesting is that none of the new “treatment protocols” have any data behind them.  It’s all based on hunches, supposition and of course intense lobbying by interested parties.

The Daily Wire lays it out very clearly: the “therapeutic” drugs are being used off-label and are highly dangerous. 

Moreover, “blocking” puberty is an inherently toxic event.  Puberty unfolds differently in each individual and it is a time-sensitive process.  One can’t simply hit a “pause” button and expect it to resume if the patient has a change of heart.

The awful truth – which I have noted repeatedly on this site – is that even “successful” transitions are sterile.  They do not become the opposite sex, but instead a facsimile sustained by dangerous concoctions of hormones and chemicals.  It’s biological cosplay with real-world effects.

It is no more compassionate to help a mentally disturbed person persist in their illusion that they can change sexes than it is to buy a drink for an alcoholic or buy a hit for a drug addict.

At some point – hopefully soon – there will be a dreadful reckoning on what these twisted people have done to innocent children.