Author Archives: eehines

Free Speech NPR-Style

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And by extension, given the leftist (not the nearby center-left part of the political spectrum) bias of National Public Radio, here is the concept of the Left’s free speech. This is illustrated by NPR‘s retaliation against one of its own who spoke apart from the Narrative™.

Recall that Uri Berliner, a 25-year denizen of NPR and lately Senior Business Editor, wrote an op-ed for The Free Press that called out NPR for its far left and growing farther bias in its news reporting, extending even into the stories it chooses to publish or ignore.

This is a preview of Free Speech NPR-Style. Read the full post (282 words, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)

“Tightrope”

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Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden is walking a tightrope as he tries to deal with Israel. President faces pressure from both his left and right on Middle East conflict goes the subheadline.

Maybe pressure from the Left is there, maybe not.

There are two possibilities. One is that Biden is letting himself feel pressure from an extremely vocal but small Leftist faction that supports Hamas’ terrorists in their war against Israel, disguising their protests as support for Palestinians. Their constant chants of “from the river to the sea” demonstrates that disguise. If Biden really is that easily manipulated by the loudness of a small minority of the Left, actually feeling their “pressure,” then he’s too weak to be trusted with reelection to that office.

This is a preview of “Tightrope”. Read the full post (228 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)

Biden’s Inflation

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This is what Progressive-Democrat President Joe Biden’s proudly touted Bidenomics has inflicted on us: continued high inflation.

Tacitly, Biden knows his policies are a failure, but he won’t admit it.

For now, officials said, Biden and his senior aides aren’t planning any major policy or rhetorical shifts.

Yet,

Behind the scenes, administration officials said there was no magic bullet to slow rising prices immediately, an issue that has dogged the president for years.

This is a preview of Biden’s Inflation. Read the full post (653 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Housing and Inflation

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There is some concern that inflation won’t abate further until housing inflation, especially rent inflation, abates further. This graph, though, suggests that there’s more to overall inflation’s stubbornness than just rent, or housing in general, inflation.

The CPI being largely flat the last few months, despite rapidly falling housing inflation, suggests a lack of importance of housing to overall inflation relative to other factors at current levels of both. Food inflation, reflecting what we actually buy rather than the government’s idealized and mythical sack of groceries, and fuel inflation, and energy inflation seem more significant factors.

This is a preview of Housing and Inflation. Read the full post (154 words, 1 image, estimated 37 secs reading time)

Deterrence and Punishment

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Iran fired over 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic rockets at Israel in the overnight (my time) of last Saturday. That’s what the question of deterrence and of punishment must respond to.

Israel’s leaders were considering whether to respond to the wave of more than 300 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles fired by Iran. [Pedantic nitpick: missiles are guided; ballistic “missiles,” being unguided, are rockets.]

This is a preview of Deterrence and Punishment. Read the full post (1336 words, estimated 5:21 mins reading time)

A Governor Betrays our Children

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Kansas’ Progressive-Democrat Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would have banned gender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors. Her rationalization:

targets a small group of Kansans by placing government mandates on them and dictating to parents how to best raise and care for their children. I do not believe that is a conservative value, and it’s certainly not a Kansas value.

A small group: leave aside the Left’s mantra (apparently only when convenient) of “if it saves just one life….” Protecting children from mutilation that’s far too often crippling as well isn’t a conservative value?

This is a preview of A Governor Betrays our Children. Read the full post (167 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Presidential Debates

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Former President Donald Trump (R) not only wants Presidential candidate debates, he wants them to occur much earlier than they have in prior campaign seasons.

The Trump campaign has asked the Commission on Presidential Debates to schedule the anticipated matchups between him and President Joe Biden earlier in the election cycle, signaling Trump’s willingness to work the panel on date and venue.

I agree, with a caveat.

This is a preview of Presidential Debates. Read the full post (266 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

Instagram’s Nudes

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Meta’s—Mark Zuckerberg’s—Instagram says they will, under certain circumstances, start blurring nude images sent over its program.

Instagram is now taking a meaningful step to contain the problem, by automatically detecting and blurring nudes in its direct-messaging service.

Whoopty-do. There’s this:

Apple stopped short of notifying parents if children under the age of 13 viewed or sent nudes, because of potential privacy issues. Instagram also won’t notify parents.

Meta still is insisting it’s a better steward of child safety than are the child’s parents. So is Apple. Typical arrogance, and unacceptable.

This is a preview of Instagram’s Nudes. Read the full post (225 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

Some DoD Acquisition Problems

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Our DoD’s failure with battlefield drones (as opposed to large surveillance and targeted raid drones) is shamefully demonstrated by a small US drone builder and Ukraine’s position on and need for actual, small, battle-capable drones.

Most small drones from US startups have failed to perform in combat, dashing companies’ hopes that a badge of being battle-tested would bring the startups sales and attention. It is also bad news for the Pentagon, which needs a reliable supply of thousands of small, unmanned aircraft.

One aspect of the American problem stems from too much dependence on DoD specifications.

This is a preview of Some DoD Acquisition Problems. Read the full post (705 words, estimated 2:49 mins reading time)

Toddler Temper Tantrums and the Fears of the Timid

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Karl Rove may be whistling past the graveyard in his Wednesday WSJ op-ed. He opened his piece with this lede:

Conventional wisdom is that Republicans will lose the US House this fall. That may be right.

Then he ran a counterargument.

This is a preview of Toddler Temper Tantrums and the Fears of the Timid. Read the full post (735 words, estimated 2:56 mins reading time)