Definition

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds cracks wise in characterizing the vegan lifestyle.

VEGAN IS JUST A POLITE WORD FOR EATING DISORDER.

About the Mosque Shooting

Theodore Kupfer, writing at National Review, has the most sensible reaction I've seen so far to the mass mosque shooting in New Zealand. He seems to understand the world of the online troll and sh**poster, the dark web corridors of 4chan and 8chan, better than those of us who operate entirely outside those fever swamps.

He makes the point that the accused shooter apparently schemed at considerable length, and with some subtlety, to structure his online presence to amplify the goals he pursued in his attack. If Kupfer is correct, the shooter was trying to do much more than merely oppose Muslim immigration, and in places far beyond New Zealand - think Europe and North America as well. It appears to have been an effort some years in the making.

Deja Vu

With the caveat that I have absolutely zero qualifications as an expert on naval warfare, consider the following thoughts. What I do know is the history of warfare and technology.

Coming out of World War One, aka the Great War, the dreadnaught or battleship was the queen of the seas, the naval super weapon. During the next two decades many of these armored behemoths were built by at least the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Japan, Italy, France, and perhaps by others.

Technology, in the form of naval aviation it turned out, had made them obsolete. In the Second World War the Brits lost two off the shores of Southeast Asia, the U.S. lost several at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. sank several Japanese maxi-ships including the world’s largest off the Philippines, and the Brits sank the Bismarck. In short, relatively cheap aircraft sank them left and right and literally nobody builds battleships today.

The dominant naval weapon of World War Two was the aircraft carrier. These floating airfields carried their dive and torpedo bombers into battle and were decisive. In the asymmetrical conflicts that have characterized warfare in the decades since 1945, the carrier has continued to be a major force, as in their roles off the coasts of Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.

Technology continues to evolve; we learn of hypersonic cruise missiles, satellite-targeted ballistic missiles and super-silent submarines. We have to ask, is the aircraft carrier - a heck of a huge, high-value target - about to go the way of the battleship? In the next great power conflict, will they prove overly vulnerable and of marginal utility?

Themes recur. As a quote attributed to Mark Twain would have it, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Perhaps we should view the iconic “Top Gun” as a filmic elegy.

Glass Half Full

Paul Brandus, who doesn’t like President Trump even a little, has written an opinion piece for USA Today suggesting Trump will be reelected next year. Some key excerpts:

If you were running for president, which dynamic would you rather have:

1. The power of the incumbency, a good economy, low unemployment, rising wages and rock-solid support and unity within your political party?

Or:

2. Division, infighting and an identity crisis within your party and the task of explaining to voters that, despite that good economy, they’re worse off than they were four years ago?

The first situation describes President Donald Trump as he gears up for 2020. The second describes what we’ve seen thus far of Democrats as they try to take him down.

Trump hasn’t expanded his base, but what he has is solidly behind him. Meanwhile, fractures within the Democratic Party are widening.

Analysis: True ... but don’t get cocky.

UW Hangs Tough

University of Wyoming to the world: “The world needs more cowboys.” - it’s the UW slogan.
Professors to UW: The slogan is sexist, homophobic, racist, and nasty.
UW to professors: Go pound sand. We urge everybody to “cowboy up.”

It’s not limited to whites or males or straights. What UW means is be self-reliant, loyal, hard-working, and honest. And maybe a bit of a stoic risk-taker. Wyoming is serious about old-fashioned virtues.

Brexit Status Report

Word is out that Parliament has taken another vote on Theresa May's revised and improved Brexit plan, defeating the latest version. Apparently a couple more votes will occur tomorrow, one on whether a so-called "hard Brexit" with no plan will be permitted, the other perhaps on seeking an extension of the March 29 deadline from the EU. These two are expected to pass.

Pundits who know more about it than I seem to think this combination of events will lead to another plebiscite on remain/leave/something in-between. Honestly, I don't think anybody knows what will happen.

Hard Brexit is what Brits believed they were voting for last time. All the negotiations have been in service of trying to accomplish Brexit-lite, to salvage some of the EU perks remainers cherish.

In this sense, the remainers of Britain are much like the so-called "resistance" against Trump in this country. That is, people who didn't like what was voted for and are trying to overturn it. If it persists, refusal to accept the results of elections will destroy democracy.

Pelosi: Impeachment “Not Worth It”

The Axios website reports the key revelation from an interview Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave The Washington Post. She told them this:

Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.

The keyword in her statement is “bipartisan,” what’s been revealed so far will not convince the Republican senate majority to vote Trump out of office. They remember when Democrat senators wouldn’t vote to oust the perjuring Bill Clinton. What goes around comes around ....

A caveat to this announcement is in order. As we noted on Saturday, Pelosi hasn’t the iron control of her caucus she was once known for. The rank and file might just decide to go ahead regardless.

Attitude and Gratitude

I don't often run across what I call a "must read" article to share with you, one shows up this morning. Scott Jennings writes in the Los Angeles Times, echoed at outline.com, about President Trump's strengths.

The headline writer shorthands those strengths as "attitude and gratitude."  Hat tip to RealClearPolitics for the link.

Enter Donald Trump, the only Republican candidate who understood the actual consumer demands of the Republican marketplace: Be strong enough, bold enough, crazy enough and ruthless enough to beat the elitist media and Hillary Clinton, who is slipperier and meaner than a wet panther.

It isn’t policy that drives Trump’s staying power. After all, doing basic Republican stuff is what he is supposed to do. No, the secret sauce is Trump’s continued deliverance of an attitude for which Republicans thirsted for years.

Trump beating up on the "fake news" legacy media and giving people demeaning nicknames is all part of the package. The other DrC describes him as "our bully" beating up on the smug establishment types, Jennings says much the same.

We didn’t hire a barbarian to sing soprano in the choir; we hired him to beat back the savages.

Do yourself a favor, go read the whole column.

Freak Flag Aflutter

People on the Fox News Special Report panel last night were noting that Nancy Pelosi is losing control of her Democrat caucus. The new, radical members - mostly minority women - are letting their freak flags fly, doing as they dang well please.

Pelosi seems unable to do much about it. Chaos couldn't happen to a more deserving person (or party). Aside: bet you can't repeat this post's title quickly five times, turns out it's a tongue-twister.

Poll: America Haters in Congress

As one of the contributors to Instapundit is fond of noting, all Democrats have to do to win is not act crazy. Luckily for Trump and the GOP, Dems can't (or won't) fake sanity.

CNSNews.com reports the findings of a Rasmussen Reports poll of American voters.

In its national survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted March 5-6, Rasmussen asked:

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement – "Right now we have people in Congress that hate our country"?

While slightly more than half of likely voters agreed with the statement, only about a third disagreed that some members of Congress hate America:

Agree: 51%
Disagree: 34%
Undecided: 14%

Barack Obama let his dislike of America show every time he talked to foreigners. Trump voters were both listening and offended.

How many of those who agreed share the sentiment, in your opinion? Very few, in my judgment. That could be Trump's winning margin on display, 20 months before the election.

Governing 101

Congressman Ron DeSantis won the FL governorship by a narrow margin and got busy. National Review has a compilation of the many good things he's done for FL. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

If you'd like to see what your governor could be getting done, but likely isn't, give this update a read. If DeSantis keeps on at this rate, he will be in the running for president in 2024.

Reminder

The following message is relevant for all save the iconoclasts in Arizona.* Daylight Savings Time goes into effect in the early hours of tomorrow.

Remember the DST mnemonic: spring forward, fall back. It officially will be spring in 11 days - the vernal equinox - so set your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed this evening.
__________
*Also not observing DST are our overseas territories in subtropical and tropical regions: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The seasonal variation in daylight hours decreases as one nears the equator and is most dramatic in polar regions.

Another Unintended Consequence ...

Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, has an article about anti-male bias on higher education campuses, in the Jewish World Review. He notes many of the well- and lesser-known varieties of this bias, but fails to mention one counterintuitive reason why it has occurred.

Everyone knows campuses have been under enormous pressure to increase minority enrollments, pressure from the federal government, state governments, professional and accreditation societies, and even donors. What is almost never mentioned is that, for complicated cultural reasons, female POCs are substantially easier to recruit, retain, and graduate than their male counterparts.

Hardly anyone except higher ed insiders knows this, and none of these want to admit it or claim it as an important reason for proliferating pro-coed resources and aid. Their fear is that those pressuring them about minority enrollments will refine the pressure to demand they produce more male POC graduates, something hard experience has taught is a difficult, disappointing task.

Creating conditions which facilitate the recruitment, retention and graduation of female POC students has helped higher ed generate the POC "numbers" that keep Washington and state legislatures off their collective backs. You can bet they report lots of POC students (most women), without cross-tabbing the gender and race/ethnicity, which would reveal not much going on in the male POC quadrant.

Perhaps it is time to admit the failure of higher education to serve significant numbers of male POC students beyond the handful who are varsity athletes. Doing something about the problem won't be any kind of easy. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

Today Is Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras, aka "Fat Tuesday," is celebrated today. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the fasting season of Lent. Big time celebrations will occur in New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Mobile, Galveston, and elsewhere ... it's traditional.

We actually experienced the final day of Carnival as it's known in Rio, and a bigger party would be hard to imagine. Imagine a million happy drunks, bouncing in the humid summer dark to a samba beat, as they watch the winning samba clubs or "schools" strut their completely over-the-top stuff. Check out the Rio photos and video online, at Youtube, for instance.

In New Orleans the similar clubs are called "krewes" and the beat is more Dixieland than samba. In this hemisphere we do Lent in winter, south of the equator, it happens in summer - same date, opposite season.

Trans Athletics Considered

A number of articles have appeared reporting trans "women" winning athletic events for women, and the controversy as to whether or not they should be permitted to compete in these events. I'll share my view of this situation.

Trans individuals have a body with one set of 'plumbing' and a mind which says to them clearly that it's the wrong plumbing. If sport were entirely mental, perhaps it would be no problem, as for example in chess or bridge. Athletic sport is far from entirely mental, I hope we can agree.

The reason sports are divided by gender is that evolution has dealt the two sexes different physiological capabilities, particularly at the extremes where highly trained athletes operate. An athlete with a male body whose mind tells them they are female still operates with a male body. They do so unfairly, in my view, if they compete with biological women.

I've not read of any trans "men" winning athletic competitions against male athletes, have you? Do you expect to see many such? I don't. 

Exceptions to the Rule

Thinking about that last post below, I believe what Goodhart describes are decent generalities but far from exclusive categories. By his descriptions, the DrsC should be Anywheres.

The DrsC are clearly cosmopolitans in the sense that we are highly educated and have traveled across much of the world, well over 100 countries at last count. Nevertheless we haven't drunk the country-doesn't-matter Kool-Aid; we are still very much patriots and nationalists,

Making America Great Again sounds to us like a perfect presidential job description. Trying to optimize outcomes for humanity is the job of the U.N. Secretary General, or perhaps the Pope, not the U.S. President. The President is our advocate, a role Trump's predecessor seemed to find repugnant.

Somewhere, Anywhere

I just finished an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal, it’s in some senses a book review of “The Road to Somewhere” by British political analyst David Goodhart - an attempt to put the Trump movement here and various nationalist movements in Europe into a larger philosophical context. Some key quotes:

Trumpism has an essence, and that essence is nationalism. It is bigger than President Trump and certain to outlast his tenure in office.

His campaign and presidency have been strikingly similar to the nationalist movements in England and Europe.

In each case, the insurgents have claimed that their nation’s political and business leaders are part of an international elite that sacrifices national sovereignty in ways—from free trade and open immigration to murky treaties and remote bureaucracies—that harm many of their countrymen.

Goodhart describes those being hurt as the “somewheres” and those in opposition as “anywheres.”

The Anywheres are cosmopolitan, educated, mobile and networked. (snip) Their attachments to place are secondary.

The Somewheres are rooted in local communities. (snip) Whatever their partisan leanings, they tend to be socially conservative and patriotic and less disposed to vote with their feet.

An important cause of this turmoil is the decline of representative government, in which law is enacted by elected legislatures, and the rise of declarative government, in which law is dispensed by bureaucracies and courts.

The most educated, articulate, mobile and networked are well-positioned to influence the administrative state and the judiciary. (snip) They think that policy should be determined by reason, science and expertise rather than legislative horse-trading and nose-counting.

Like many who’ve considered the issues, both Goodhart and the article’s author are good at describing the problem. Somewhat less good at posing reasonable solutions.

As I read this it reminded me of an model  - cosmopolitans vs. locals - put forward by sociologist Alvin Gouldner when I was a grad student several decades ago. Some ideas aren’t new, but merely recycled.

A Golden Oldie

The Hill reports NASA has budget to resume work on so-called “nuclear thermal propulsion” for space travel. Not a new idea, NASA had Lockheed Missiles & Space working on this back in the 1960s at the Sunnyvale, CA plant.

Fresh out of college, I worked at the Lockheed facility but not on the NASA contract. At the time we built Agena second stages for the Air Force and Polaris missiles for the Navy. That LMSC had a NASA contract to develop a nuclear rocket motor was known, the rest was compartmentalized and secret.

If you wait long enough, changed circumstances sometimes give old ideas a second bite at life’s apple. This last is a classic usage from the fourth Potter novel of J.K.Rowling.

132 Year Record Broken

Here’s a news item from the Los Angeles Times that is relevant to me since I’ve spent the past two months in SoCal. The ‘money’ quote:

For the first time since forecasters began recording data — at least 132 years — the mercury did not reach 70 degrees in downtown Los Angeles for the entire month of February. The average high for the month was 61 degrees, significantly lower than the historical average of 68 for February.

The article goes on to say we shouldn’t view this as debunking global warming, I don’t buy it. We’re experiencing global cooling, the coastline north of LA has had Oregon weather this past month, while OR has had snow.

Vindication

Last Saturday we wrote about Democrat presidential wannabes lurching leftward while, we alleged, the electorate was doing no such thing. At that time we wrote:

Meanwhile nobody is reporting that the electorate has suddenly become hugely more ‘progressive’ or liberal.

It has taken less than a week for poll results to surface demonstrating the truth of our allegation. The Washington Examiner reports results of a poll looking at voter attitudes toward socialism.

A new Zogby Analytics survey found that 29 percent have a favorable view of socialism while 49 percent don’t.

Some 22% are unsure, which probably means they have little grasp of the term “socialism” and don’t follow politics closely. On the other hand, Zogby finds:

While Democrats have a favorable view of socialism, by a 44 percent to 26 percent margin, they thoroughly reject renaming the party after the Karl Marx philosophy.

To this admittedly biased observer, that sounds like Democrats love the policies but quite rationally fear the label’s ugly reputation.