Courting the Children on Climate

In their efforts to gain ever more power, the left seems to favor those who either have yet to reach "the age of reason" (Greta Thunberg, the students at Yale Law) or are well beyond it (Joe Biden). Apparently, they find "a little thinking" among their agents a threat to the movement. So now they have created a court case attacking Montana land management while using children as a shield and wielding the aliments of two-year-olds like Galadriel's sword. You see, the world's going to end before they can vote, on account of their living in a climate-controlled home with hot and cold running water where they don't have to take a trip to the outhouse when it's 40 below and their pee freezes before it hits the ground.

I'm thinking this is a left-wing managed and staged court proceeding so the people being sued won't put up much of a defense and the jury will be overwhelmingly "for-the-children" (if the members have recently moved to Bozeman from Berkeley, that would be a plus). In fact, I would argue for a jury of their peers, which would mean mental ages of no more than six years.

Unfortunately for the Left, a stout defense would throw much doubt on the validity of "man-made climate change." It could even examine the considerable damage caused by the power-grabbing (not power-generating) programs the movement champions. Personally, I think the actions of the adults involved (if I may give their court filings a twist) harm the children's physical and psychological health and safety; interfere with family and cultural foundations and integrity; and cause economic deprivations -- not the state of Montana. Therefore, their suit will likely target fellow-traveling bureaucrats who want to lose, and by losing, win.

Children's Climate Trial

Proto Fascist or Moto Democrat?

"What does Giorgia Meloni's Win Mean for Italy?" asks Peter Zeihan, conjuring up the ghost (or is it the Spirit?) of Italian Fascism, on account of her "God, country, family" mantra.

Benito Mussolini, the Godfather of fascism, was a socialist. Back in 1964, I was in tenth grade reading a novel by Upton Sinclair (himself a Socialist) and he introduced a loud-mouthed Socialist agitator named Mussolini. Imagine my surprise. Turns out Mussolini modeled his fascist party on Lenin's Bolshevik Party, which ruthlessly ran the United Soviet Socialist Republics of the day (aka Russia). True, Benito was all about "the country" as long as he and his gang were running everything in the country, but as for God and family -- not so much. The fascists had party members in every organization to enforce the party line, so the people who ran businesses were run by the party.

According to Upton Sinclair, the National Socialist "brownshirt" street brawlers who slugged it out with the communist/socialist Antifa during the Weimar Republic were also Socialists -- so it was kind of an intramural sport. Later Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Third Reich found common ground -- Poland. Given the history, I never agreed with the progressive propensity to label small government conservatives as fascists, at least here in the U.S. After all, what American Conservatives want to conserve are things like the Bill of Rights and local governments with local control.

As for Italy's political future: who knows?

Whither Italy?

International Money Monkey Business

Jeff Snider has a YouTube video where he explains international money flows.

For a long time, just to keep it simple, I've told people that the U.S.A. imports air conditioners and other stuff and exports debt -- mostly government debt -- as well as land (not the dirt, but the ownership of the dirt) and other assets. Wall Street likes this because they market the debt and manage the assets and Washington DC politicians like this because they can spend an extra trillion in the run-up to an election without having to raise taxes (to think they will curb that habit before it's too late is, perhaps, asking too much). Foreign financiers use the dollar in dealings with other nations. They also consider the U.S. a safe haven (even when they are ideologically committed to destroying the U.S. -- see the Chinese Politburo).

I don't think there is a shortage of Eurodollars so much as an increase in moral hazard. In the 1990s there was a belief that China would bolster the world financial system. Unfortunately, that would require the CCP to give up control of their national economy (and they do see it as theirs). It's become apparent the communists will not let that happen and are quite willing to stiff investors -- especially foreign investors -- to keep control. The killing of the Chinese capitalist chicken has scared the Eurodollar money-monkies and caused a tightening of lending standards while increasing the "safe-haven" appeal of the dollar.

Then there's Putin punishing the world and the world punishing Putin...

Is the dollar sluggish or thuggish?

Why, it's either too loud or not loud enough

Apparently, I'm not the only person annoyed by the sound quality of current movies. I'll turn it up to understand what the actors are saying and then turn it down when the music starts blaring or the explosions start exploding.

Mangini says that in the old days, "you could count on an actor's theatricality to deliver a line to the back seats." But acting styles have changed so dramatically over the years that it has become much more difficult to capture great sound on the set. When actors adopt that more naturalistic style, "it's even harder for the production sound mixer to capture really quality sound. Now we get those compromised microphone positions here in post-production, reaching for a dialogue line that is barely intelligible or maybe even mumbled because it's an acting style, and already, we're behind the 8-ball in trying to figure out a way to make all of those words intelligible."

slashfilm.com: here's why movie dialogue is difficult to understand

More on the Ohio Senate Race

 I live in Tim Ryan's district and I was just out driving around and didn't see any yard signs for him (I saw one for J.D. Vance). Normally the Democrats would have them out by this time so I take that lack of signs as a sign of low enthusiasm. Of course, they may just be worried about their semi-fascist friends and relatives (when I first heard Joe Biden use the term I thought it applied to those 18-wheelers that pass you on the interstate when the snow is deep -- you know, semi-fascist. Come to find out he was talking about me).

Ohio Senate Race

I mentioned here a few months back that Tim Ryan sounded like Trump while J.D. Vance sounded like he might miss out on a dinner invitation if he sounded like Trump. Then the polls came in and J.D. had to kiss Trump's behind (according to Trump) to get the Donald to rally support for him in Youngstown (Ryan's district -- traditionally a heavily Democrat district which Trump carried). It took about two minutes for Trump to eviscerate Ryan (politically, not actually -- in case a never-Trumper should read this).

Wow, "Operation Flee" was an almost Victory!

Last Wednesday, August 25, I checked the MSN newsfeed before bedtime. The headline made it sound like the Afghan evacuation was now an ongoing success. This was based on the number of people flown out of the country. Apparently, they decided that by turning it into a pure numbers game, they can make "operation flee" sound like a triumph: it does not matter who the evacuees are, just crowd them on planes, fly them out, and pump up the numbers. Then on Thursday the terror attack happened. I figured this would be a three day set-back for their propaganda counter offensive. So Biden's speech the other night (where he basically said "never have so many, owed so much, to so few White House Staff") came as no surprise.

Not to say that damaged controlled stopped in the immediate aftermath of the suicide bombing. On Thursday, I was listening to CBS Radio news and their "correspondent" informed me that President Biden had been warning Americans to leave the country "for a long time." So I waited for an example of this warning. The correspondent told me that on Tuesday the President told Americans to leave. Wait. From Tuesday to Thursday is a long time? Well, if you are surrounded by people who want to kill you, it must seem that way. Of course, two days before the Taliban entered Kabul (with the administration's approval, if you believe the Washington Post -- which does feel awkward, I'll admit) the administration made it sound like potential evacuees had plenty of time to pack. Is there ever an appropriate time to panic? Apparently not.