It is amazing that we are lectured to “follow the science” but on the issue of masks, there seems to be an amazingly small amount of actual scientific evidence. What there is, is often politicalized and of poor quality when examined. Follow the link below to an excellent article which reviews numerous studies, both good and bad regarding the value of masks. https://www.city-journal.org/do-masks-work-a-review-of-the-evidence

Over the past several years, I have wondered how after our victory over the Soviet Union, we have gone from being a super-power (at one time also called a hyper-power) to being a nation torn internally and failing internationally. From backing down from a red line in Syria, to leaving the Kurds to the debacle of our poorly planned and executed exit from Afghanistan, we seem to limp along, befuddled by third rate players who run circles around our “best and the brightest.” 

True gender identity is rare, impacting about 0.01% of the population, most of whom are male. Yet today, we see literally thousands of young girls electing “gender affirming” therapy (without the parents’ consent), doctors misrepresenting the effect of puberty blockers, organizations who claim they wish to protect women steering teenage girls into medications which the FDA has never approved for halting puberty, while a new industry has sprung up which lobbies and receives tax payer dollars to support their self-interests. In the UK, there has been a 4,400 per cent increase in girls seeking treatment at national gender clinics. At the same time, gender ideology seeks to eradicate girls’ and women’s safe spaces. In California and Washington State, hundreds of biological males have suddenly found their true gender and are applying for transfers to women’s units. Who are the drivers behind this warped movement and what is their goal? The excellent article by Abigail Shrier in Imprimis examines both the problem and the need for parents to be aware of the terrible damage that is facing our young, mostly, girls. Paste this link for the article and remember that you can subscribe to Imprimis at no charge. https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/gender-ideology-run-amok/

It seems that the UN is taking a lesson from the US Congress in that their reports like the bills from Congress are getting longer and longer. At almost 4,000 pages, I was amazed to hear, within minutes of its release, a list of its conclusions, all of which were dire for humanity.  One report even said that if we stopped all energy related activity, the environment would continue to degrade until at least 2050!

Fortunately, responsible individuals (which seems to exclude most reporters) have had an opportunity to read the report and they are now stepping up with their analysis. In the article linked below, some key bits of information are revealed which somehow managed to be ignored by the talking-heads of the news agencies. Poor modeling, comparisons to past activities in the past, the slowing of trends, etc. are revealed while the UN report also downplays the ability to forecast hurricanes and other weather activity with the technology and computer models currently in use. As Holman Jenkins writes in the WSJ (8/10/21), “Green subsidies as now designed will have no effect on emissions and therefore, no effect on climate change”. But hey, they feel good to many people and isn’t virtue signaling enough?

Hopefully, the UN report will be read more fully and be a point from which more realistic options for dealing with our environment will be adopted; but I doubt it. https://www.wsj.com/articles/intergovernmental-panel-climate-change-ipcc-un-united-nations-global-warming-floods-wildfire-stevens-palmer-koonin-11628631428?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Time can be cruel as it leaves behind many important things. This book, The Cruel Sea is on such loss for it is seldom read any longer. Set in the Atlantic during World War II, it is a story of ordinary men called upon to do extraordinary deeds. Most of the men are young, a lieutenant of twenty who is called upon to be second in command, other junior officers who a few weeks earlier were bank clerks or shoe salesmen. The recruits don’t have any experience, and many cannot remember port from starboard but are responsible for staffing guns, handling depth charges and being on call to fight fires. At the top, on the bridge, is a retired captain who must mold his crew into a fighting unit while patrolling the hostile north Atlantic.

One of the reasons I enjoy Bjorn Lomborg is that he wants to protect the environment but he also wants to help humanity. He offers solutions and ideas that can help each of us protect the planet without moving bravely into the 14th century. The destruction of the recent floods in Germany could have been lessened had the German government fulfilled their responsibility, but instead the politicians cover their failure with loud exclamations and calls for spending more money. In this article, Lomborg points out that while there can be negatives to a changing climate, there can also be positives and it is up to us to keep the challenge in perspective. I hope you enjoy the article at https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-change-natural-disasters-ahr-river-flood-germany-wildfire-risks-11628177742?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

During the past two weeks, billions of dollars have been lost by investors as the Chinese Communist Party has decided to tighten controls on some segments of their economy and it was “discovered” that many Chinese companies on New York and other exchanges had little value. It never ceases to amaze me that so many economist, politicians and business leaders fail to realize that the Chinese Communist Party does not play by any rules other than their own. For decades China has played gullible foreigners for all they are worth and this article points out how investors in many Chinese companies have little recourse, say so or hope of doing anything other than to played as suckers. When will people ever learn? Trusting the CCP is just another version of Russian roulette. https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-education-stocks-vie-variable-interest-entity-emerging-markets-11627575751?mod=opinion_featst_pos3

During the Second World War, Allied bombing was responsible for over 500,000 deaths in Europe. The bombing was one part of a war to defeat Nazi Germany and is little appreciated for its impact on the course of the war.  Stalin constantly wanted a second front to help his war, and little understood how the air war contributed to his ability to defeat the Nazi war machine.  As usual, Richard Overy has provided us with the one book we would recommend for anyone to understand the Allied air war.

China, as outlined in “Unrestricted Warfare” by Col. Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiansui , recently translated from the original People’s Liberation Army documents, is willing to commit to warfare by any means; conventional, biological, hacking, etc. Becoming the world’s dominate currency, especially through cryptocurrency provides China with the ability to strangle any economy. The article linked below points out that possibility and what it can mean to the world. China already is beginning to use non-cash transactions to control its population and stands ready to build a wall of immunity to foreign sanctions for human rights abuses and foreign actions. Is the U.S. taking this threat seriously? https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17487/china-digital-currency

In the year 1683, a vast Ottoman army is laying siege to Vienna, the heart of the Hapsburg Empire. The Ottoman army was subsidized in part by the king of France, who although Catholic, opposes the also Catholic Hapsburg Emperor. Then, from the wooded heights, the famous Polish winged hussars smash into the Ottoman army and from another direction troops from Franconia, northern Italy, Bavaria, and Saxony break the Ottoman flank. Vienna was saved and from that day forward the Ottoman Empire begins to degenerate and weaken until at the end of World War I it finally falls.