Thoughts from Roger Simon.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
Penn Jillette
An interesting candid interview, with bonus knowledgable commentary on the crudeness of Trump.
[Update late afternoon]
Sorry about originally misspelling his name “Gillette.” Guess it’s because I’ve always thought he was a pretty sharp guy.
The Unmasking Probe
Sharon Atkisson asks what ever happened to it?
I’d like to think that Sessions is doing more than appears, and perhaps there will be an October surprise.
[Monday update]
As noted in comments, Strzok was (finally) fired today.
#ProTip: Saying that Strzok was fired for "hating Trump" is as idiotic as saying Bill Clinton was impeached for getting a BJ. If people were being fired merely for hating Trump, probably most of the federal workforce would be out the door.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) August 13, 2018
[Bumped]
Space Force
Yes, we need one, or at least some entity dedicated to space. I don’t understand why they keep saying a “sixth branch of the armed services,” though. Are they calling the Coast Guard an “armed service”? I don’t think that’s right.
[Update a while later]
Only Nixon could go to China, and only Trump could go to space.
Not sure he’s being entirely serious.
[Update late Sunday evening]
OK, one more: How we can own the libs on space.
By the way, Jim Bennett’s analogy in comments is useful, and I did a Twitter thread on it.
People familiar with the history of the Air Force (i.e., not very many people, including most current enlistees of the Air Force), will understand this analogy of why we ultimately, if no immediately, need a space force. [thread]
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) August 13, 2018
BTW, for those who corrected me legally in comments on whether or not the USCG is an armed service, my concern is that by lumping it in, it fails to make crucial distinctions. It’s certainly a uniformed service with an academy, but it is more intrinsically civilian.
Richard Spencer
The ISS Commercialization Studies
Neither our proposal or the Space Studies Institute’s proposal for a gravity lab was awarded by NASA. It’s just the usual suspects, no newcomers allowed. As I noted on Twitter, they could have funded every proposal for less money than they pour down the SLS/Orion rat hole in a week. No one knows how much potential innovation they just avoided.
The Great White Culture War
An important piece from David French.
On a related note, it occurs to me that one could probably find things that Hitler said about the Jews that are analogous to things that the current leftist fascists say about whites (and Jews).
Duck Duck Go
Why you should use it instead of Google.
Chicago’s Crime
It’s time to hold Democrats responsible. But the media won’t.
And as Glenn says, if Trump were to use the Insurrection Act to do something about it with federal troops, the media would call him a dictator.
I heard a Democrat give the standard line this morning that this is about lack of gun control, not in Chicago, but in the surrounding areas, and that (of course!) the only solution is nationwide gun control, to keep the guns out of Chicago. Unfortunately for this “argument,” we aren’t seeing these levels of violence in Gary, or Milwaukee, or even Detroit, which have just as much access to those same guns.
[Late-morning update]
As dozens are killed or wounded in Chicago, Illinois celebrates “Barack Obama Day.”
The History “Profession”
Something is badly amiss in it:
A big theme of MacLean’s book is that Buchanan inspired an effort to promote an anti-democratic putsch by the Koch Brothers. As Ilya Somin has explained, her conception of democracy doesn’t make any sense, at least if one assumes that she supports standard limits on democracy widely supported by progressives. But other historians have come to the rescue, arguing that the United States is a democracy when it follows the will of the people, as opposed to the will of organized reactionary interest groups. The U.S., for example, was democratic in the 1930s and 1960s, but not in the 1950s or 1980s. Democracy, in other words, means “progressive politics are winning out.” Lack of democracy means “progressive politics are not winning out.” Because in a true democracy, the will of the people wins, and the will of the people is naturally liberal-democratic-socialist. So Roe v. Wade is a “democratic” decision, even though it overturned the abortion laws of almost every state, because progressives approve of it. I kid you not.
The leftist narrative must triumph over truth or logic.