Edition #1154

Thursday. And nothing has changed. Trump’s lost war with Iran is just festering as Iran becomes bolder in asserting its new role as master of the Strait. Trump’s Board of Peace is also stuck for the time being, with little in the way of consistent US engagement. And Trump is again insisting that his DOJ prosecute a former Olympian whom his DOJ is on record as stating was not responsible for damaging Trump’s treasured Reflecting Pool. The drama on that will be whether Jeannine Pirro will be kowtowed into overseeing this travesty, or if she will stand up for what is right and be fired, reserving some dignity, if any is left. Other than that, yes, Thursday.

“Every intelligent boy of 16 is a Socialist. At that age, one does not see the hook sticking out of the rather stodgy bait.” George Orwell, quoted in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Kind of prescient, no?

It seems that my London office was feeling a bit neglected of late. So, as they read my recent Nugget about the lack of water in the Southwestern United States, they screamed out, “What about us?” You see, whereas England has long had the reputation for being continually dreary and wet, and I am not talking about the people. But the days of ample rain falling upon our former colonizer are at least in limbo, if not just gone. I am told, and my British Office would not lie, that they have not had any rain in London since May. In my aging staff’s life, they have never experienced anything like this. A hosepipe ban (not entirely sure what that means), and a prohibition on washing cars (I do know what that means), along with temperatures closing in on one hundred degrees Fahrenheit over the past few months, have made life miserable…rather than the usual dreary. But besides the obvious, the lack of rain and harsh temperatures have significantly impacted agriculture. Wheat and corn production is expected to be down by thirty percent. But, ever optimistic and always looking for good news, the office over there is over the Moon about their almost total solar eclipse…pun intended.

Hey, I do not criticize Trump for skipping out of his Air Force One exit from Turkey a few weeks ago on a food truck. The job of the Secret Service is to protect the president, and apparently that is what they did. Sure, it is easy to make fun of a man who portrays himself as a manly man when he hides in an airline food truck to get into a third-line backup plane to get home. But aside from the easy laugh, we do want our presidents to be protected, even this one. But I have another question. Apparently, the Secret Service was concerned enough of a potential attack on Air Force One that they would not allow the president to remain on the plane, but still allowed how many journalists and staff to assume the risk? Fortunately, nothing happened to that flight. But what if it had been attacked and hundreds of lives had been lost as decoys, while the president lifted off in some unremarkable plane? I think I would be kind of disturbed to learn that I was a decoy. Right?

I have written a bunch about China and its plans to invade Taiwan from a political standpoint. And I do believe that the time for an attempt on that front is coming in the next three to five years, even if it is in slow motion in order to incrementally accomplish that goal with minimal risk. But how do the Taiwanese view all of this, and how are they preparing for an anticipated Chinese invasion? Well, here is a video that details much of the known strategy based on Taiwan’s geography and operational capabilities. It goes into the fact that Taiwan’s eastern coast is mountainous and rocky, making an amphibious invasion there highly unlikely. Similarly, much of Taiwan’s western coast is muddy and swampy, a natural hindrance for a quick invasion. So there are only a few likely invasion points upon which Taiwan can concentrate its defenses. And as for the element of surprise, it is estimated that an invasion force of some four hundred thousand soldiers would need to be gathered and staged in advance, making a surprise invasion almost impossible. Then there is also the fact that the strait between China and Taiwan is about one hundred miles across and much more prone to rough seas than the English Channel, making the crossing more dangerous and less effective. On top of that, due to the seasonal weather patterns, there are only a few months when an invasion could be sustained without risking inclement weather. So, given the geographic and climatic restrictions, the Taiwanese defenses are concentrated to inflict the most pain on any Chinese invasion force, making Xi think long and hard as to whether the goal is worth it. Watch the video. It is an interesting analysis.

I don’t think I have to say much here, but one of the common uses of cryptocurrencies, aside from money laundering and various criminal enterprises, is to evade US sanctions on countries around the world. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran have all used the crypto world extensively to bypass sanctions as they buy and sell sanctioned weapons and oil, and engage in other nefarious activities. You can, and should, read about it here, but if any of this comes as a surprise, shame on you. The entire concept of cryptocurrencies is to bypass the usual safeguards in finance. In its most benevolent narrative, middlemen are eliminated, and with it the friction of fees and paperwork is a thing of the past. Transmitting money is strictly person-to-person, with an anonymity that is designed to keep your funds secure and out of sight from anyone. But that same anonymity and lack of safeguards make criminal activity a natural fit. So, without going into details, the question that I ask is whether the benefits that are assumed with using cryptocurrencies is really worth greasing the wheels for criminals, terrorists, and rogue states. Or if there is a way to prevent that activity. Smarter folk than I will have to address this.

Ok, here I risk pissing off all of my friends who are into biking. There is a movement in this country to incorporate bike lanes into the infrastructure of our cities. And I do not agree that this is a good use of municipal resources. Sorry, guys. The argument in favor that I hear often is a comparison to places like Copenhagen, where you see people from all walks of life out on their bikes. So the comparison is for a city that is less than ten percent the area of Los Angeles City, not LA County, which is almost ten times the size of LA City. In addition, Copenhagen is flat, with an elevation difference of a few hundred feet from the lowest to the highest point. So that makes a huge difference. But also, and mostly because of those things, almost no one in LA rides a bike for anything other than exercise. And so, finally coming to the point of this Nugget, we are spending all of this money, diverting road capacity from vehicles to bicycles, imposing impact fees to pay for bike lanes, without doing anything to replace the capacity that is being diverted, simply to create exercise lanes for the small minority of LA humans who bike. And please don’t tell me that we should be encouraging our fellow citizens to bike to the market, to work, to dinner, to the movies, to all of the other errands we engage in daily. In Copenhagen, maybe. In Los Angeles, just not going to happen. And now I am bracing for the backlash that I expect from my bike-riding friends.

Ok, so the only good news that I read today is that Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House. My conservative readers can avert their eyes on this, but I found that I could not listen to almost anything she said. Trump’s choice for that position has gone from bad to worse every time a change is made. So on that note, maybe I will long for Karoline at some point, but what a horrible commentary that is. Stay healthy and be good to each other.

Me.