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The Mysterious Explosion of a Russian Nuclear Missile Engine By Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Raphael Ofek

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/russia-nuclear-missile-engine/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The fatal explosion that occurred recently during testing of the Russian Burevestnik nuclear cruise missile raises many questions. Could it have been avoided? Was it a fundamental failure of the ambitious armaments plan declared by President Putin in 2018? Whatever the answers to these questions, the renewed trend toward an unconventional armaments race could deteriorate into a second Cold War.

On August 8, during a test of the nuclear-powered engine of the 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile (petrel in Russian; nicknamed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall in the West), held on a floating platform in the White Sea near the Nyonoksa missile test site in the far north of Russia, a mysterious explosion occurred that killed eight people. The blast raised questions about the status of a new generation of five advanced weapons introduced by Putin in 2018, of which Burevestnik, described by the Russian president as supersonic and of unlimited range, occupied pride of place.

Five of the eight people killed in the explosion were Rosatom (Russian State Atomiс Energy Corporation) employees, and three more employees were injured. According to the company’s announcement, the disaster occurred while testing an “isotopic energy source for a liquid propulsion system.”

Shortly after the explosion, the weather monitoring agency Roshydromet reported a significant spike in radiation 40 km from the blast site. Also, in the city of Severodvinsk, which is near the explosion site in the Archangelsk district, the radiation level was reported to have jumped to 16 times the normal level. This led the alarmed residents to rush to stock up on iodine, which reduces the effects of radiation exposure.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

The ABC’s Bended-Knee Adoration of Al Gore Tony Thomas

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/09/the-abcs-b

“Gore is a hypocritical money-grabbing driver of the climate-apocalypse bandwagon.”

What delusionary world do ABC people inhabit?  The national broadcaster’s editorial director, Alan Sunderland, last year fulminated against “liars and cheats and deceivers” generating fake news for the gullible. He wrote, “All responsible media organisations promise to aim for accuracy, to tell all sides of a story… Some, like the ABC, promise never to take an editorial stand or express an opinion, while others promise to make clear the distinction between their reporting and their commentary…” (My emphasis)

Oh, I see. There’s no ABC green-left narratives on lovely wind and solar energy, or ABC tear-jerking for discredited Sri Lankan “refugees”, or for stacking panels with ‘progressives’ and blackballing the Institute of Public Affairs…

My incredulity accelerated when I came across Sunderland’s 11-page audit of the ABC’s coverage of Al Gore’s Melbourne-Sydney visit in mid-July 2017. Gore came to push his new climate-horror film “An Inconvenient Sequel”.

Sunderland’s “Editorial review of ABC interviews with Al Gore, July 2017” checked if the ABC’s coverage of Gore was biased and/or excessive, and whether Gore suckered the ABC into unduly promoting his film. Sunderland also checked whether the ABC, as per charter, was “present(ing) a diversity of perspectives so that, over time, no significant strand of thought or belief within the community is knowingly excluded or disproportionately represented.”

Actually Gore was here again only last June, when the Queensland government spent $320,000 for his Climate Week appearance. (His regular fee is $100,000). My partial list of some Gore visits is 2003, 2005, 2006 (twice), 2007, 2009, 2014 (rostrum-sharing with Clive Palmer), 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He’s about as newsworthy as a Collins Street tram.

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Only the Press Could Get Away With This Score another victory for the anti-Trump thugs and bullies. Julie Kelly

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

amgreatness.com/2019/09/05/only-the-press-could-get-away-with-this/

Let’s say you are a salesman for a major company and while attending an industry conference, you begin screaming, cursing and threatening one of the hosts—in public.

Or, let’s say you are a manager for a major company and you make up a story about how a competitor secured a bank loan and you spread that baseless rumor throughout the industry.

Or, let’s say you are a secretary for a major company and you scour the social media page of a rival in the secretarial pool, edited one of her dated posts to make it sound much worse than it actually was, and email-blasted it to the entire company in an effort to get her fired.

Or, let’s say you are the chairman of the board of a major company and you direct your underlings to lie to customers and shareholders for three years about something that never happened.

See where this is going?

In any other professional sector outside of the news media, those kinds of activities would amount to fireable offenses. No constitutional protections would apply; no activist groups would rally to your defense; no C-Suite executive would issue a statement in support of your bad behavior; no colleagues would plead your case; no judge would demand that your job be reinstated.

You would be standing in the unemployment line. Justifiably.

A Mountain of Distortions and Transgressions

Of course, those are just a few examples in an embarrassingly long list of malfeasance committed by the national media in the Trump era: At the top of the rap sheet is the way nearly every reporter, editor, columnist and talking head either fell for the manufactured Trump-Russia collusion tale or peddled what they knew all along was a lie. A close second is the attempted political assassination of a nominee for the Supreme Court. Not far behind is an orchestrated hit on pro-life teenagers wearing MAGA hat in the nation’s capital.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, POLITICS Comments turned off

Buttigieg: ‘Eating a Burger, Am I Part of the Problem? In a Certain Way, Yes.’ By Jim Geraghty

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pete-buttigieg-earting-hamburgers-climate-change/

Pete Buttigieg, this morning: “Right now, we’re in a mode I think we’re thinking about [climate change] mostly through the perspective of guilt. You know, from using a straw, to eating a burger, am I part of the problem? In a certain way, yes, but the most exciting thing is that we can all be part of the solution.”

Is Buttigieg pledging to not eat burgers anymore? No. Is he proposing banning burgers? No. But he’s declaring that people eating burgers is part of the climate change problem. Because every Democrat agrees that climate change is such a pressing problem that it has to be addressed through public policy, it’s fair to wonder if someday a Buttigieg administration might start looking at policies designed to reduce the public’s consumption of meat. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio instituted “meatless Mondays” in all of the public schools — not that he bothered to ask the kids what they thought. A 2018 study proposed a new “meat tax” designed to reduce consumption. And another National Institutes of Health study concluded, “The public and environmental health benefits of reducing meat consumption create a need for campaigns to raise awareness and contribute to motivation for change.” Hearing a presidential candidate declare that eating burgers is “part of the problem,” it’s fair to ask whether he’ll ever be tempted to try to remedy this perceived problem through federal policy or law.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Half a Million to Study the Mating Calls of Frogs? Your Tax Dollars at Work By Rick Moran

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

Senator Rand Paul has come out with his annual “Waste Report” and, as usual, gives taxpayers plenty of reasons to become enraged.

Heading the list is $48 billion in improper Medicaid and Medicare payments.

Money and Markets:

Medicare spent $582 billion in fiscal year 2018, which is only second to Social Security, according to the report. Apparently, $48 billion the Centers for  Medicare and Medicaid paid out wasn’t right. This isn’t a new issue, either, as the Government Accountability Office has labeled the CMS a “High Risk Program” every year since 1990, according to the report.

But the tendency to misallocate funds puts Medicare in an even worse spot than it already was. The CMS projects “Medicare’s costs under current law (will) rise steadily from their current levelof 3.7% of GDP in 2018 to 6% in 2043.” Spending $50 billion improperly isn’t going to help that.

Senator Paul fingers the real problem: “Perhaps the real improper payment is the giant amount of mandatory spending Congress allocates to CMS, allowing Medicare and Medicaid to grow unabated.”

Some other choice examples that will make your blood boil:

The LA school district diverted $158 million in school lunch money to buy lawn sprinklers and pay the salaries of employees at the district TV station.
$250,000 to teach Pakistani kids English at Space Camp and Dollywood.
$500,000 to the National Science Foundation to see if taking selfies makes you “happier.”
$450,000 to from the National Science Foundation to develop a “climate change video game.”
$356,000 to study cocaine and its effect on risky sexual behavior…in quails?
$29 million in “lost” heavy equipment in Afghanistan
$466,991 to study frog mating calls

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Hooray! Zimbabwean Dictator Robert Mugabe Dead at 95 By Michael van der Galien

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/hooray-zimbabwean-dictator-robert-mugabe-dead-at-95/

“Zimbabwe was once considered “the jewel of Africa.” Once Mugabe was ruling it, however, Zimbabwe became the second poorest country in the world, “with unemployment and poverty rates of around 80 percent and one of the lowest life expectancies on Earth.” That is his real legacy. Not the wonderful speeches he gave when he was powerless, but what he did once he was in power. This guy was truly a curse on his own people. Thank God he and his wife were not only removed from power two years ago, but he’s finally dead.”

Today must become a public holiday in Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe, the country’s old dictator, has finally died. The freedom fighter turned autocratic-oppressor-of-his-own-people was 95-years-old when he breathed his last breath.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

A second look at recent attacks on Jews in New York City By Avrohom Gordimer

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/a_second_look_at_recent_attacks_on_jews_in_new_york_city.html

“Orthodox Jewish man assaulted in Brooklyn.”

This headline has become the norm these days, as recent attacks on Jews in their New York City neighborhoods have become increasingly common and quite numerous.   

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio blames this uptick in anti-Semitism on right-wing ideologies. But considering that the attackers are uniformly black and Hispanic, the mayor seems to be a bit off, to put it kindly. (Furthermore, judging from the videos – such as this, this, and this — I would not bet on the attackers having any ideology, much less knowing what the word even means.)

Aside from the fact that the issue is not being given any attention by the usual human-rights groups, who do not hesitate to fly to the U.S. southern border in order to try to find hints of abuse and discrimination against migrants housed in federal government facilities, but who do not seem to care when conservative-voting Jews in New York City are bloodily battered, those who reject be Blasio’s sorely misinformed spin on the issue are likewise without answers.          

I am far from one to whitewash or dismiss anti-Semitism, but I think that many people in this case are barking up the wrong tree.

BOOKS Comments turned off

The Left’s Lucrative Nonprofits ‘Powerful interests’ and ‘dark money’ are mostly on the Democratic side. By Kimberley A. Strassel

Posted By on September 6th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lefts-lucrative-nonprofits-11567723794

This year’s Democratic presidential candidates have a favorite whipping boy: “powerful interests.” Get ready to hear again in coming weeks how the National Rifle Association rules Washington, how the Koch empire dominates politics, how the right is pouring “dark money” into its agenda. And then remember that these are among the biggest whoppers of the 2020 election. One side will do battle with the aid of a huge and savvy nonprofit political empire—and it isn’t the right. Though the sooner Republicans understand that, the better.

A helpful tutorial arrived this week, “Power Grab,” a new book by Republican former Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah. Mr. Chaffetz has been digging into nonprofits since his time as House Oversight Committee chairman, and the book details how powerful the liberal nonprofit sector has grown. It may surprise many Americans—those who read daily stories about conservative “influence”—that the likes of the NRA, Judicial Watch and the National Organization for Marriage barely rank by comparison to the assets and revenue of Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union or the Nature Conservancy.

These aren’t only big political players; they’re the biggest political players. In 2018 the nonprofit watchdog Capital Research Center analyzed grants handed out in the 2014 election year by six big foundations on the right (including the Bradley and Charles Koch foundations) versus six on the left (including the Open Society and Tides foundations). Liberal public-policy charities, organized under chapter 501(c)(3) of the tax code, bagged $7.4 billion of this foundation money in 2014. For conservative charities, the figure was a mere $2.2 billion. That $7.4 billion also dwarfed total 2013-14 campaign receipts to federal, state and local campaigns ($4.1 billion) and spending that cycle by independent groups ($830 million).

MEDIA Comments turned off

Media Cancel James Mattis After They Learn His Book Criticizes The Wrong President

Posted By on September 5th, 2019

Media Cancel James Mattis After They Learn His Book Criticizes The Wrong President

https://www.redstate.com/bonchie/2019/09/05/media-cancel-james-mattis-learn-book-criticizes-wrong-president/

When it comes to foreign policy, the President has the final say, no matter how strongly his advisors feel. The media don’t seem to understand this and constantly portray any decision Trump makes as dangerous and illegitimate. Somehow, the world hasn’t gone into a nuclear meltdown though. It’s almost like they have no idea what they are talking about?

One such decision was Trump wanting to pull out of Syria. It was enough that James “Mad Dog” Mattis resigned over it. That’s fair. If he couldn’t do the job anymore, I’m not going to criticize him for deciding to move on. The irony of the entire situation is that Democrats, who cheered Obama’s disastrous pull-out from Iraq, suddenly become the hawkiest of war hawks, but I digress.

The current story is that Mattis is writing his memoir and that got the media press corp really excited. You see, because Mattis left on rocky terms from the Trump administration, including a fairly forward resignation letter, the expectation was that he was going to blast Trump.

So you got headlines like The Man Who Couldn’t Take It Anymore from The Atlantic and The Man Trump Wishes He Were from The New York Times. You could almost see the foam forming around their collective mouths. They were about to get another tell all they could fluff for weeks, and if that meant rehabilitating a person they used to hate in James Mattis, then that was a price they were willing to pay.

Then something happened. While Mattis’ book laid into a President, it just so happened to be the wrong President in the media’s eyes. That would be Barack Obama.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

ENVIRONMENTAL FIASCO, NO MORE TRUMP PRESS BRIEFINGS, GUNS PREVENT CRIMES

Posted By on September 5th, 2019

www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/09/the-environmental-fiasco-of-wind-energy.php

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIASCO OF WIND ENERGY John Hinderaker, PowerlineBlog.com

Wind turbines only last for around 20 years, so many of them are now wearing out. That raises serious questions about disposal of defunct wind turbine parts. The turbines’ giant blades are not recyclable, so they must be dumped in landfills. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports on one South Dakota landfill that is saying no mas to wind turbine blades:

[T]he Argus Leader reports that more than 100 wind turbine blades measuring 120 ft long have been dumped in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, landfill, but there’s a problem: the massive blades are taking up too much room, according to local City officials. …

A wind farm near Albert Lea, Minn., brought dozens of their old turbine blades to the Sioux Falls dump this summer.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/the-white-house-briefing-has-been-dead-for-six-months

Trump kills the White House press briefing, 50 years after it was born

The White House briefing room has many functions: a storage space for tripods and camera gear, a backdrop for visitor photos, a temporary workspace for journalists without a desk.

What it is not, at least since March 11, is a venue for President Trump’s press secretary to brief reporters on administration policies.

Next week will mark six months since the last White House “daily” briefing, another erosion of transparency and democracy under Trump or a sad indictment of the “fake news” media’s incivility, depending on your view.

“The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the ‘podium’ much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press,” is howTrump defended the scarcity of briefings earlier this year. “I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! – [dated January, 2019]

https://drrichswier.com/2019/09/01/guns-prevent-thousands-of-crimes-every-day-research-shows/

Guns Prevent Thousands of Crimes Every Day, Research Shows

It never fails. A split-second after a mass shooting occurs, grandstanders and ideologues issue statements demanding new gun controls—even if the laws already on the books failed or the laws they want would have made no difference. Case in point: the tragic incidents in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, in early August 2019.

The message is clear: Guns cause violence. Tax them, take them, ban them, regulate them. Do something, maybe anything! Such knee-jerk, emotional responses are dangerous, writes Charles W. Cooke in National Review, “for when a nation sets up a direct pipeline between its emotions and its laws, it does not keep its liberty for long.”