Confusing Packaging

For John, BLUF:  Shopping is not straight forward.  The packaging could be accidently misleading.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Examine the Packaging

I was checking out at Market Basket, having picked up some items Martha wanted.  I turned to my right to grab a candy bar, looking for a Hershey Bar.♠  I reached down and my fingers found two, of different sizes.

I glnced at the labels and one said 120 Calories and one said 210 Calories.  The thing is, the big one said 120 Calories and the small one 210 Calories.  I bought them both and when I got home I checked the fine print on the back.

The number of calories turned out to be by serving size.  What was strange was that the King sized bar was a total of 360 Calories.  Yes, the bar breaks into 12 pieces, but the way the package opens suggests four pieces, which would be 90 Calories each.  Who would open the package totally, to make a vertical break for three pieces?  Even with three people I would break it into four pieces, giving one to each person and then breaking the last piece into three pieces.

Needless to say, I was less than satisfied by this way of presenting the nutritianal information.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I am old enough to remember when they were just a nickle and when they came in to types. male and female.  I am not sure that would work out today.

Ace

For John, BLUF:  The Air Force Academy Class of 1964 graduated into the middle of the Viet-nam War.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Today is Ace Day for Steve “Cinco” Ritchie

Here is the sub-headline:

Fifth Aerial Victory, 28 August 1972

From Class of 1964.

Here is the lede:

Ritchie was flying his usual MiG Combat Air Patrol as Buick Flight.  He was told by Red Crown and Disco (the forerunners of AWACS-type information) that MiGs were threatening the Strike Force.  His weapons systems operator, Captain DeBellevue, picked the Bandits up on radar and Ritchie made a climbing turn to convert from the front quarter to the rear.  The MiGs were high, about 15,000 feet above Buick.  From max range in the turn, he fired two missiles, which failed to track.  The MiGs were subsonic due to fuel, and Ritchie was in full afterburner at about 1.2 Mach.  The overtake resulted in an “in-range” light in the cockpit, and Steve fired the last two Sparrows.  The lead MiG went into a thin overcast, and when he came out, one missile streaked by on his left, apparently causing the MiG to break right, which solved the radar solution for the last Sparrow.  “SPLASH! I got ‘im! SPLASH!”  It was a much different situation than any of Ritchie’s other kills; at a higher altitude and greater range.

Not much to add.  Good show!

Regards  —  Cliff

MLK and Who?

For John, BLUF:  If we are going to move on we need to find what we hold in common.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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When Black Conservatives Fight

Here is the sub-headline:

Two dudes causing all the commotion

From Juliette's Newsletter, by Ms Juliette Ochieng, 26 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Photoshop below is causing a lot of chatter in one of the conservative circles - most are black - I frequent.

Amusement. Outrage. Approval. Accusations of betrayal. The responses run the gamut.

 

That is the interesting thing about history.  It is open to all of us, for learning, illumination and minipulation.  Student beware.

I like Ms Ochieng's take on this.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free Passage for International Trade

For John, BLUF:  China is trying to expand its maritime frontiers and this has resulted in confrontations with a number of nearby states.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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China's attempt to seize another island in the South China Sea failed (for now)

From Hot Air, by Reporter John Sexton, 26 August 2023, 5:30 PM.

Here is the lede plus two:

There has been a strategic battle taking place in the South China Sea this year between China and the Philippines.  As you probably know, China has laid claim to most of the South China Sea and over the past decade has been using a strategy called the cabbage strategy to gradually claim individual islands.

The cabbage strategy involves surrounding islands with Chinese boats like the leaves of a cabbage.  China starts with fishing vessels, dozens of which anchor around an island or shoal making it difficult for any other vessels to approach.  Once that’s done, Chinese Coast Guard vessels move in to surround the fishing boats and formally prevent other boats from coming close.  Having established control, the fishing boats go away and sends in construction equipment to militarize the island.

One of the islands China has its eyes on is called Ayungin Shoal or, to foreigners, Second Thomas Shoal. Ayungin Shoal is only a few miles east of Mischief Reef, an area that China has already claimed and heavily militarized.  Both islands are well within the Philippines exclusive economic zone which stretches 200 miles to sea from the coast.

China relies on The Nine Dash Line as its legal authority to claim the whole of the Suoth China Sea as its own.  If China was able to claim at the waters encmpassed by The Nine Dash Line it would put a severe crimp in international ocean, and aviation, traffic.  On the other hand. resisting Chinese expansiono includes military confrontation.

Per Wikipedia, in January 2013, the Philippines initiated arbitration proceedings under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) over a range of issues, including China's historic rights claims inside the nine-dash line.  On 12 July 2016, the tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines on most of its submissions.

The United States should support other nations in their assertions of their rights in the Suoth China Sea.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Rough and Tumble

For John, BLUF:  We are a lucky nation. lucky in the blessings of God and lucky in the common folk who help right the ship of state when it starts to list.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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America Is Often a Nation Divided

Here is the sub-headline:

U.S. politics today is ugly and broken, true enough.  But the good news is that it was worse in the past, and it will get better again.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Political Analyst Karl Rove, 25 August 2023, 3:03 pm ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

America is deeply divided. Our politics is broken, marked by anger, contempt and distrust.  We must acknowledge that reality but not lose historical perspective.  It’s bad now, but it’s been worse before—and not only during the Civil War.

Let’s look backward and start with the mid-1960s to early ’70s.  The nation was bitterly divided over civil rights, the “sexual revolution” and an increasingly unpopular war in Southeast Asia.

The just and peaceful civil-rights protests of the 1950s and early ’60s were often met with state-sanctioned violence.  Then Harlem exploded in 1964, followed by a riot in Philadelphia.  Watts went up in flames in 1965; Chicago, Cleveland and San Francisco the next year.  A total of 163 cities—including Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Newark, N.J., New York and Portland, Ore.—suffered widespread violence in the “Long Hot Summer” of 1967.  On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. Riots broke out in more than 130 American cities, with 47 killed in the ensuing violence. Two months later Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles.

I remember the Watts riots.  My then Girlfriend and I were driving back from The Desert, enroute to her home on the other side of Watts.  We stopped at my Father's place in Long Beach and he cautioned caution.  We spent the night in Long Beach, her in my bed and me on the couch.  In the morning things were calmer and we proceeded on to her place.

The Rove article goes back through our history, even to the Election of 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.  The election was ugly and the aftermath was ugly, including a dual and, eventually, a former Vice President arrested on the charge of treason.♠

Colonel George Everette (Bud) Day was shot down over North Viet-nam on this day in 1967.  Upon his return he said:  "I have faith in my country, and am secure in the knowledge that my country is a good nation.”  That is the hope with which I go foeward.  Shelfish people, even in high places, do selfish thing.  But, eventually Americans do the rught and proper thing.

Hat tip to the Patrick Devine.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  He beat the charge, twice.

Tools of Knowledge

For John, BLUF:  Some would throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Scholars claim that statistics 'serve white racial interests'

From Campus Reform, by Reporter Toni Airaksinen, 11 January 2018, 5:19 am ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Three British professors recently claimed that statistical analyses have been weaponized to “serve white racial interests” within academia and beyond.

Led by David Gillborn, a professor at the University of Birmingham, the professors argue that math serves white interests because it can “frequently encode racist perspectives beneath the facade of supposed quantitative objectivity.”

“Contrary to popular belief, and the assertions of many quantitative researchers, numbers are neither objective nor color-blind,” Gillborn and his team assert in their article for the journal Race, Ethnicity, and Education.

To address the racism numbers reinforce, the professors advocate for the adoption of “QuantCrit”—a portmanteau for “quantitative analysis” and “critical race theory.” Quantcrit, they say, has five key tenets, including that “numbers are not neutral.”

As Lord Wellington said:  "Lies, damn lies and statistics."

Mark Twain:  "Figures don't lie. but liars do figure."

Statistics is a powerful tool, but when people are not hoonest in their statistical collection or analysis it becomes another tool for misleading others.  To blame statistics and to try and recreate the tool with a new name is itself dishonest.  Statistics help us understand our world.  For example, while Blacks make up and 13.5% of the American population. they are 8.5% of the residents of Lowell.  Is there something to be learned there?  during COVID, after an initial spike the Black population of Lowell had a lower infection rate.  What was to be learned from that?

Statistics should be embraced, after being checked. and used to help elevate every discourse.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Dark Times

For John, BLUF:  The Press has always been partisan, but now it seems to be involved with Government Agencies to suppress free speech.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Washington Post Says Democracy Demands Less Freedom of Speech

Here is the sub-headline:

The paper worries that "social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation."

From Reason, by Editor Jacob Sullum, 25 August 2023, 4:20 PM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Donald Trump was back on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, last night for the first time since he got the boot in 2021 following the riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol. Trump posted the mug shot of him that was taken at Atlanta's jail this week when he was booked on the charges laid out in his Georgia indictment, which stem from his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state. He included a caption that described the indictment as "ELECTION INTERFERENCE" and urged his followers to "NEVER SURRENDER!"

After taking over the platform that was then known as Twitter last year, Elon Musk, an avowed "free speech absolutist," reinstated Trump's account. But this is the first time that Trump, who started a competing platform that is still known as Truth Social, has made use of Musk's permission. The Washington Post, in a news story published this morning, portrays Musk's decision and the attitude underlying it as part of a worrisome trend that threatens "democracy" by allowing "political misinformation" to proliferate on social media. The piece nicely illustrates the confusion, obfuscation, and hypocrisy that characterize mainstream press coverage of that subject.

As is typical of this journalistic genre, Post reporters Naomi Nix and Sarah Ellison never address the question of what counts as "misinformation," a highly contested category. Nor do they grapple with the content moderation problem of how to deal with politicians who say things of public interest that are arguably or demonstrably untrue. And although they allude to a constitutional challenge provoked by the federal government's efforts to restrict speech on social media platforms, they never mention the First Amendment. That is a pretty striking omission by people whose profession relies on that amendment's protections and who claim to be worried about the health of our democracy.

If our speech is moderated by the Government then how we vote will be influenced by the Gvernment, or the Deep State.  That there isn't absolute outrage over actions to suppress the Hunter Biden Laptop story is a major disappintment to me.  I understand that such suppression helped Candidate Joe Biden win election in 2020, but the ends don't justify the means.

There should be no doubt in peoples' minds that The Washington Post is helping to subvert the principles of The Declaration of Independece and The Constitution.  It is sad.  Very sad.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Kudos to India

For John, BLUF:  Following closely on the heels of Russia's failure to pull off the same event, India has demonstrated great competence.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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India becomes the 4th country to successfully land on the moon (Update)

From Hot Air, by Reporter John Sexton, 23 August 2023, 1:00 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

India just became part of an exclusive club. With the successful touchdown of its Vikram lander today, it is now just the 4th nation to soft-land a spacecraft on the moon.

The entire mission was called Chandrayaan-3 which means “moon craft” in Sanskrit. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrate the achievement from South Africa where he is participating in the BRICS meeting.

This is a tremendous enginnering feat and it marks India's move into the upper tier of nations.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Justice For Andy Ngo

For John, BLUF:  AntiFa seems to hate freedom of the press and hate Reporters who do not adhere to their party line.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Judge rules three of Andy Ngo's Antifa attackers must pay him $100,000 each

From Hot Air, by Reporter John Sexton, 22 August 2023, 7:20 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

A small amount of justice at last in this case.

Earlier this month Andy Ngo’s civil trial against members of Rose City Antifa went to trial. As I explained here, the trial only involved two defendants, John Hacker and Elizabeth Richter, because three other defendants had been found “in default,” meaning they were found liable (the judge would determine the amount of that liability after the trial). One additional defendant had settled the case with Ngo prior to the trial. The trial of the remaining two defendants resulted in the jury siding with the defense.

. . .

Ngo tried to have the verdict overturned given that Hacker had admitted the incident in the gym but the judge didn’t allow it.

Yesterday, the judge issued his decision on the remaining three people who’d been found in default prior to the trial. Each of them was ordered to pay Ngo $100,000.

I am glad to see justice finally given to Reporter Andy Ngo.  I ad been disappointed in the jury.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Joke

For John, BLUF:  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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China has fallen into a psycho-political funk

Here is the sub-headline:

Fragile consumer confidence is just one sign of a malaise that is not merely economic

From The Financial Times, by Reporter James Kynge, 11 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

Sly, Soviet-style jokes are enjoying a subtle revival on Chinese social media platforms.  Their art resides in being too obscure for censors to understand yet clear enough for cynics to chuckle at their mockery.

Some are so esoteric that their satire is confirmed only by the censors’ decision to delete them — echoing the cat-and-mouse dynamic that distinguished dissident humour in the former Soviet Union.  One joke this week monitored by the China Digital Times, a US-based site that covers Chinese affairs, belonged to this genre.

It read:

While out and about on vacation, I stubbed my toe on something. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a bronze lamp.  It was smudged, so I picked it up and gave it a good wipe — and out popped a genie!  The genie said it could grant me any wish. ‘Is that so?’ I said.  ‘Well then, could you make you-know-who you-know-what?’  No sooner had the words escaped my lips than the genie rushed over, clamped my mouth shut, and asked:  ‘Are we even allowed to say that?’

The author’s account appears to have been shut down after the joke was deleted.

I hope we are not headed down the path of a humorless social credit society.  That would be the end of open capitalism and the economic growth we need to give everyone a chance to achieve their best.  It likely would be the end of open worship of one's God.

Let us, as a society, accept that some people will be wrong, but the advantage to society of free inquiry requires we accept such people as our brothers and sisiters, even if they reject us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Voltaire Weeps

For John, BLUF:  Free Speech is on the docket.  The right to hold an unpopular view is being refuted.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Professor Amy Wax—The Disciplinary Committee’s Decision Is Expected By September 5, 2023: What Is At Stake?

From New Reform Club, by Blogger Seth Barrett Tillman, 10 August 2023, 1:51 PM.

Here is the last paragraph:

I do not know Professor Wax.  I cannot and do not speak to the remainder of your “charge sheet.” I do know something about Powell.  On that basis, I state that should Wax be disciplined, in whole or in part for assigning the Powell interview, or for voicing her unpopular opinions in a non-discriminatory fashion, I tremble in regard to what the consequences will be for freedom of speech, thought, and conscience in your university, in the United States, and elsewhere.

Blogger Tillman nails it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Do The Right Thing

For John, BLUF:  The link to this article was sent to me twice, once by a Conservative Republican and once by a Progressive.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The 6 Kinds of Republican Voters

From The Old Gray Lady, by Mr Nate Cohn, 17 August 2023

Here is the lede plus two:

AFTER EIGHT YEARS of Republican fealty to Donald J. Trump, few would argue that the party is still defined by Ronald Reagan’s famous three-legged stool of the religious right, fiscal conservatives and neoconservative hawks.

But if the Republican Party is no longer in Reagan’s image, it’s not necessarily a populist-conservative MAGA monolith, either.

The last New York Times/Siena College poll found that only 37 percent of Republicans count as part of Mr. Trump’s loyal base.

The poll shows a Republican coalition as follows♠:

• The Moderate Establishment (14%).  Highly educated, affluent, socially moderate or even liberal and often outright Never Trump.
• The Traditional Conservatives (26%).  Old-fashioned economic and social conservatives who oppose abortion and prefer corporate tax cuts to new tariffs.  They don’t love Mr. Trump, but they do support him.
• The Right Wing (26%).  They watch Fox News and Newsmax. They’re “very conservative.” They’re disproportionately evangelical.  They believe America is on the brink of catastrophe. And they love Mr. Trump more than any other group.
• The Blue Collar Populists (12%).  They’re mostly Northern, socially moderate, economic populists who hold deeply conservative views on race and immigration.  Not only do they back Mr. Trump, but he himself probably counted as one a decade ago.
• The Libertarian Conservatives (14%).  These disproportionately Western and Midwestern conservatives value small government.  They’re relatively socially moderate and isolationist, and they’re on the lower end of Trump support compared with other groups.
• The Newcomers (8%).  They don’t look like Republicans.  They’re young, diverse and moderate. But these disaffected voters like Democrats and the “woke” left even less.

Which of the six an I?  And which are yoou?

Don't think about this as Pro-Trump or anti-Trump.  The Grand Old Party has been around since 1854. (First gatherihng in a Ripon, Wisconsin schoolhouse on 20 March 1854)  It was founded by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of slavery into the western territories.

Picking a political party is picking the future of these United States.

Those who pick the Democratic Party are not bad peoople.  They are our Brothers and Sisters, Cousins and Friends.  It is just that they have picked a party that has, since the 1960s, made choices that have been bad for Middle and Loower Class Americans.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Remember, it is The Old Gray Lady and their use of English words may not be exactly the same as yours.

Let Sleeping Princesses Lie

For John, BLUF:  Ms Zegler did recently accuse Prince Charming of being a stalker.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Prince Immediately Regrets Waking Rachel Zegler With A Kiss After She Starts Ranting About The Patriarchy

From The Babylo Bee, 17 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

FAIRY FOREST — Prince Florian quickly regretted his decision to wake Rachel Zegler from her enchanted sleep as she immediately launched into a 3-hour-long tirade about the patriarchy.

"Yeah, this was a mistake," said Prince Florian as Ms. Zegler continued her diatribe. "I'm starting to see where the Queen was coming from."

The saying “act in haste, repent at leisure” could be applied here.  The Prince obviously didn't think through the consequences of his action, nor the era in which he is living.

The age of love and acting to benefit others seems to be passing before our eyes.  I say "Good Luck" to the newer generations.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Change the Voting Age?

For John, BLUF:  We won't let an 18 year old buy a gun, but we let them vote.  Weird.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ramaswamy proposes raising voting age to 25, unless people serve in military or pass a test

From ABC News, by Reporter Meg Kinnard, 9:04 PM EDT, 11 May 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday voiced support for changing the overall U.S. voting age to 25, unless younger Americans fulfill at least six months of service in the military or as a first responder — or pass the same citizenship test administered to those seeking to become naturalized citizens.

Ramaswamy’s campaign announced the biotech entrepreneur and “anti-woke” activist’s push for a U.S. Constitutional amendment promoting “civic duty voting,” which he announced in a news release and detailed during a campaign event in Urbandale, Iowa.

Revising the Constitution is no simple task, requiring overwhelming support in Congress and in state legislatures.  Still, Ramaswamy said in his release that the “absence of national pride is a serious threat to the future of our country” and argued his proposal “can create a sense of shared purpose and responsibility amongst young Americans to become educated citizens.”

Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds chimed in, noting he had proposed something similiar in USA Today.

I agree with Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Professor Reynolds.  Observing college canpus life from afar, I am not impressed with the capacity of college students to engage in spirited, yet civil, discussion.  Throw in AntiFa, to furthur erode civil discourse.  And what about those who never went to college.  How many of them are registered to vote and understand the issues?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Special Counsel Appointed

For John, BLUF:  The larger issue here is the future of President Biden and how the Democratic Party nomenclatura will jump.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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AG Merrick Garland appoints a special counsel in Hunter Biden probe

From NBC News, by Reporters Daniel Barnes and Kelly O'Donnell and Monica Alba and Ali Vitali and Dareh Gregorian and Ryan J. Reilly, 11 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

U.S. Attorney David Weiss was appointed special counsel in the ongoing probe of the president's son Hunter Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.

Weiss will be responsible for the “ongoing investigation" of President Joe Biden's son "as well as for any other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation," the Justice Department said in a statement.  Weiss, who was already overseeing the Hunter Biden probe and is based in Delaware, asked to be appointed special counsel on Tuesday and Garland agreed it was "in the public interest" to do so, the attorney general said.

The move was announced shortly before prosecutors from Weiss's team revealed in a court filing the plea talks over tax and gun charges against the president's son had broken down and the case would likely have to go to trial in California or Washington, D.C.  Later Friday, prosecutors suggested they could bring different charges against Hunter Biden in the new case.

The first issue is that the regulation calls for a Special Counsel to be appointed from outside the Government.  (28 CFR § 600.3 - Qualifications of the Special Counsel)  Clearly, Mr David Weiss is not from outside the Government.  Perhaps we will get a leak from DoJ, explaining the rationale.

For me the second issue is that this complicates President Biden's decision making.  I had been hoping that a plea deal between Mr Hunter Biden and DoJ might create space for President Biden to step down, citing "health concerns".  That space is gone.  Now what?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Greats

For John, BLUF:  Those people out in Hollywood are messing with what we can watch, impacting what we think of ourselves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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For the Love of Jimmy Stewart, Save Turner Classic Movies!

From Carla Seaquist at Medium, by Ms Carla Seaquist, 11 July 2023.

Here is the lede plus six:

Jimmy Stewart filibustering for cleaner politics.

Bette Davis operating in her reality-based mode.

James Cagney conjuring up, as it were, “sumpin’ out of nuttin.’”

These iconic American actors, symbolizing iconic American traits, are mainstays of a venue fashioned just for them: Turner Classic Movies.  Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, “uncut and commercial-free,” you could tune in to TCM and partake of stories and performances that thrill, elevate, comfort — in sum, entertain in the richest possible way.

That is, once upon a time it did.

The disturbing news that Turner Classic Movies has undergone a corporate “reorg” — it has been taken over by Warner Bros. Discovery, resulting in 70 of its 90-member staff laid off, including the programmers who curate TCM’s fare with peerless taste — has hit film lovers hard and has us asking, yet again:

Must everything fine in American life be commercialized, cheesed-up, ruined?

Carla, who I have met, and her Husband, a retired Navy Captain and Washington State Legislator, are Democrats, but they understand our History and our need to honor it and build on it.  Jimmy Stewart is a good example.  Not only was he a great actor.  He was a legitimate World War II hero, learning to fly as a civilian and then joining the Army Air Forces as a bomber pilot.

Fighting the good fight, navigating as adult, going from “nuttin’ to sumpin’”: All these traits — enabling America to navigate a darkening future — are continuously on view at TCM.

Regards  —  Cliff