Kurt Schlichter says that Jake Tapper’s book on Afghanistan
A Failed Commune
How it gave us Thanksgiving:
I’m often asked why our current leadership class forgets the lessons of the past so often. They are, after all, very smart men and women. Don’t they know that collectivism will fail?
No, they don’t. Not anymore. For much of our history, our leaders were educated in the principles which were to help them avoid errors once they have joined the ruling class. They studied to learn how to not misuse power. Now our leaders learn nothing of the dangers of abusing power: their education is entirely geared to its acquisition. All of their neurons are trained on that one objective – to get to the top. What they do when they get there is a matter for later. And what happens to the country when they’re done with their experiments is beside the point: after all, their experiments will not really affect them personally. History is the story of the limitations of human power. But the limits of power is a topic for people who doubt themselves and their right to rule, not the self-anointed.
It’s always worth a reminder this time of year (and particularly in light of the disastrous recent election) that socialism doesn’t work.
Also, giving thanks for a free market (to the degree it still exists), and the absence of a turkey czar.
Carbon Emissions Reductions
The U.S. leads the world in them, but don’t tell anyone:
Efforts to curb so-called man-made climate change had little or nothing to do with it. Government mandated “green” energy didn’t cause the reductions. Neither did environmentalist pressure. And the U.S. did not go along with the Kyoto Protocol to radically cut CO2 emissions. Instead, the drop came about through market forces and technological advances, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
…”It’s good news and good news doesn’t get reported as much,” John Griffin, executive director of Associated Petroleum Industries of Michigan, said of the lack of reporting about the CO2 reductions. “The mainstream media doesn’t want to report these kinds of things.”
Doesn’t fit the narrative.
One Third Of The Way There
It’s been up less than 24 hours, but I’ve already raised 33% of my goal on the Kickstarter. Hope I can keep it up, and vastly exceed it.
The Problems With The Last Dragon Flight
…weren’t as bad as originally reported. I found this interesting, though:
As for the engine shutdown issue, data analysis has yet to result in any definitive conclusions. Although the analysis will continue, the observation that this particular engine had undergone a comparatively high degree of pre-flight testing, may ultimately lead to the conclusion that the shut down was related to the accumulating fatigue of an engine firing more than its nominal mission requirements. If this turns out to be the case; it would prove to be both somewhat ironic, as well as easily addressed by limiting cumulative firings for flight engines. Ongoing analysis has likely pushed the likely date of the next Dragon flight to ISS into the early March time frame.
Wouldn’t “limiting cumulative firings for flight engines” have interesting and problematic implications for reusability?
If this is really a problem, sounds like they’ll have to have a more robust engine design (or perhaps downgrade performance) for reusable versions. And of course, it’s possible that the new engine to start being used next year will resolve whatever the issue is.
The Continuing Bengazi Lies
What is the administration hiding?
Whatever it is, they sure didn’t want us to find out before the election. Or even now. And Congress shouldn’t allow itself to be distracted with a sex scandal, as the media has.
Politicians’ “War On Science”
Who said it, Rubio or Obama? It’s useful to point this kind of thing out, of course, and I’ve always thought that Chris Mooney’s theses
But I disagree with this:
So Obama believes in evolution, and presumably he’d like to teach it in the nation’s public schools, while Rubio suggests that “multiple theories” should be given equal time. But even so, both men present the science as a matter of personal opinion. Obama doesn’t say, Evolution is a fact; he says, I believe in it.
Well, he shouldn’t say that, because evolution is in fact not a “fact.” It, like gravity, is a scientific theory. And it is perfectly philosophically legitimate to say that alternate theories should be taught in school, but it should be done not in a science class but in one on comparative religions (of which science is one). That there is an objective reality about which we can discover things through scientific methods is not a fact, or “truth,” but an axiomatic assumption. Science is a form of faith, but in terms of understanding the natural world, and forging new artificial creations from it, it is a very successful and powerful one.
The Phrase The Media Won’t Use
Hamas is engaging in war crimes (as have the “Palestinians,” for decades). Yet it is Israel being ridiculously and harshly criticized, despite the fact that it works harder, spends more money, and risks more of its own lives than any other nation (with the possible exception of us) to minimize collateral damage that is entirely the fault of the war criminals.
Disgusting.
The Twinkie Curtain
…descends.
Heh.
Hillary’s “Farewell Tour”
Ann Althouse asks the obvious. What has this woman ever actually accomplished?
Hey, there were the brilliant trades in cattle futures. And she managed to get away with fraud and larceny. Give her some credit. Of course, in the latter, she had a lot of accomplices in the press.