The Wuhan Coronavirus Exposes the Truth About U.S. Government "Service"

One of the most annoying things I hear happening all too often is a U.S. government bureaucrat or, worse yet, a politician being hailed for "service" to the country.

In truth, most of the bureaucrats and politicians who are part of the U.S. government are opportunists with cushy jobs and better pay than they could get in the private sector. In addition, a good chunk of them are power freaks. "Service"? Give me a break.

The Wuhan coronavirus crisis in China is an object lesson on this point.

Because of the virus, the State Department has ordered an evacuation of American employees at the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan, China.

The department said in an email Sunday that it is arranging a flight from Wuhan to San Francisco on Tuesday as part of an effort to relocate diplomats and "some" private U.S. citizens.

Specifically, the embassy statement said this about private citizens (my emphasis):

We anticipate that there will be limited capacity to transport private U.S. citizens on a reimbursable basis on a single flight leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on January 28, 2020 and proceeding directly to San Francisco.  Interested U.S. citizens in possession of valid passports should contact BeijingACS@state.gov with the information listed below.  This capacity is extremely limited and if there is insufficient ability to transport everyone who expresses interest, priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus.

Voice of America reports:

An American citizen teaching at a university in Wuhan, who asked that her name not be used for fear of Chinese retribution, told VOA that neither the consulate nor the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has yet contacted most American citizens in the city.

"Maybe they have reached out to a few privileged individuals, but on the whole, they are not reaching out to average American citizens. We have received almost no support and no help," the woman told VOA's Mandarin Service..."There are thousands of us Americans in Wuhan," the American citizen said. "A 747 seats like 250 people, they're not going to take everyone out. Even if every single person wanted to leave, they would not take all of us," she said, referring to the Boeing 747 jet that will likely be chartered for the flight.

What a bunch of creeps.

I am not a big fan of any government "service." But this goes to show you who these bureaucrats are going to take care of in a real crisis. Themselves.

And don't think the same isn't going to happen if there is a nuclear war or any other serious crisis. All the high-level bureaucrats and politicians will be whisked off to underground nuclear bunkers, or protected in other ways, leaving the rest of us to deal with nuclear blasts, or whatever other threat emerges, by ourselves. Some "service" from government people.

When I hear "service," I think an opportunist that has been out for himself.

Please stop your "service" and get a real job, dear bureaucrats.

And as far as military "service," I think of two groups, crazed killers, getting in on a government legalized gig, and dumb saps who bought into the propaganda of the Empire and now may end up getting their balls blown off, or worse, for the military-industrial-complex.

-RW

Dershowitz Reads a List of Presidents That Would Have Been Impeached Under Adam Schiff’s Standards

Dershowitz is now reading a list of presidents that would have been impeached under Adam Schiff’s standards pic.twitter.com/iKPRFWSkAr

— Jack Posobiec🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 28, 2020

I wouldn't mind if they all had been impeached but, make no mistake, the Democratic attack on Trump is a no holds barred battle for power.

That is all.

-RW

POLITICAL SAVVY: The New San Francisco District Attorney Versus President Trump

The radical lefty Chesa Boudin was sworn in as San Francisco district attorney on Wednesday, January 8. That Friday, January 10, he fired multiple city prosecutors, including the managing attorney of the office’s Homicide Unit; the managing attorneys in the General Felonies Unit;  the managing attorney in the office’s Gang Unit; a trial attorney in the Crime Strategies Unit, and a felony trial attorney.

Many around the nation were shocked.

There shouldn't have been an ounce of surprise. Radical lefties are very good at strategy and tactics. Boudin's parents were Weather Underground, who were convicted of a Brink's armored truck robbery and murder. With his parents in prison, he was adopted and brought up by the radical lefty Bill Ayers.

There is no question Boudin understands strategy and tactics. He grew up around it. There is no way he wasn't going to clean house and get rid of anyone who might attempt to sabotage his lefty agenda.

Contrast this with President Trump, who came into the White House surrounded by those out to get him personally. Some are gone others remain. He just never cleaned house. Then it got worse.

Probably the most idiotic personnel decision Trump made was to bring on board the administration, as his national security adviser, the anti-Trump warmonger John Bolton.

You don't have to be a radical lefty steeped in strategy to know this was a dumb move. Trump, of course, had to eventually fire him. But this doesn't mean the Trump-created Bolton problem has gone away.

Bolton now says that if he is subpoenaed, he will testify before the Senate trial of Trump. And the latest reports say that he would testify that Trump tied his willingness to release aid to Ukraine on investigations he sought. Whether that should actually be grounds for a conviction is another story but the Bolton problem is an object lesson that highlights Trump's lack of skill as a political administrator.

Day one Trump should have cleaned house à la Boudin. He didn't because he doesn't understand strategy and tactics at the political-administrative level and, secondly, he doesn't have any guiding principles as to what type of people to replace current personnel with.

Trump knows how to appeal to the masses to get a chunk of the vote but that is about as far as his political skill goes. If he wins re-election, and he may, I can't imagine the erratic directions he will go in without the prospect of future re-election keeping him a little tamed. And there will be no telling who he will have as advisers around him whispering into his ear. I doubt he even knows at this time.

It could get worse than Bolton.

John Bolton plans to say in memoir titled “The Room Where It Happened” that Trump linked Ukraine investigations to foreign aid in August. Book is unflattering portrait of Trump he hopes to publish March 17. Matching NYT story with a couple new details: https://t.co/BhGLw8LQPE pic.twitter.com/clTfR6xDAy

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 27, 2020

-RW

My Brush With Kobe Bryant

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, died Sunday morning in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

It brings to mind a small Kobe Bryant incident that I witnessed up close.

Some years back I was in Los Angeles on business for a week, just before the start of that year's NBA season. I noticed in The Los Angeles Times that the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers were going to play back-to-back scrimmage games at Staples Center in downtown L.A. and that the games were open to the public

Since I was staying in a hotel downtown, I decided to check the games out.

It was a sparse crowd and I took a seat about three rows up from the court across from the Lakers bench.

There was one man sitting in the row behind me and then about two or three rows higher were two girls about 18 or 19 years old.

We were all sitting close to the aisle.

As the players were taking warm-up shots, Kobe walked over to our side of the court and then started to climb up the steps. The girls stood up excitedly and wanted to take a picture with Kobe. He shook them off and said, "I have to talk to this man," and pointed to the guy behind me. "After I finish," he said.

It wasn't clear if he was blowing off the girls or just respecting the time of the man behind me.

He then sat down and talked to the man who, judging by the conversation, was a sports reporter. They talked for about 15 minutes. He then got up and headed down the steps but stopped after three steps and seemingly remembered that he had promised to pose for a photograph with the girls. He turned around and headed back up the steps and posed for a couple of photos, making the girls very happy  that evening.

Respect for other people's time and for a promise, that is what I remember about Kobe.

And save the comments below about the rape charge made aginst him that was eventually dropped. I have no idea what happened and neither do you. Though I do note that following the rape charge, he said that it was a Catholic priest that helped him during that period.

-RW

#OffTopic

Cottonelle Uses Toilet Paper to Advance the Attack on Tradition

At one time sex was left in the bedroom, but Cottonelle in its latest ad is sticking it in our face.

I really don't care if people are having sex with ground pangolins, I just don't want to hear about it while watching television.

The Cottonelle ad is just the latest move in breaking down traditions and privacy.

The Frankfurt School is winning.

 

 -RW

The Democrats Are Getting Destroyed During the Senate Trump Removal Trial

I am not wasting any time watching the Senate trial. As I have said before, it is a power battle between the Democrats and Trump.

This Jesse Waters report seems solid and makes the case that the Democrats are losing big time.

All Democrats should watch this! pic.twitter.com/WFK33pR0Lv

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2020

I am not a big fan of Trump but it is good to see Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler getting exposed as the creeps they are.

-RW

The Socialist Advance: Bernie Sanders Opens Massive Lead in Iowa

The socialists are gaining.

Socialist Bernie Sanders has opened up a major lead in Iowa just over a week before the Democratic caucuses, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely caucus goers. The caucuses will be held on Monday, February 3.

Sanders has gained six points since the last Times-Siena survey, in late October, and is now capturing 25 percent of the vote in Iowa. Pete Buttigieg, and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., have remained stagnant since the fall, with Buttigieg capturing 18 percent and Biden 17 percent.

All these candidates are terrible but it only reflects the sentiments of the masses and they are ignorant when it comes to social and economic policies---and in particular the dangers of a move toward socialism.

The socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been campaigning with Sanders, now has over 6.2 million followers on Twitter.

Do I need to remind you, I warned about AOC before she was elected and before even mainstream media knew who she was?

I wrote before the election:

There is a very dangerous political race in the Bronx.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appears to be a very, very skilled demagogue, making promise after promise to voters and no analysis of how the promises are going to be paid for. And for good measure, she promotes a broad-based hate of the rich....She may not win this time, but she will be trouble in the future. She is attacking the crony Democratic Party from the extreme left.

And the day after Trump was elected, I warned about the gains that would emerge for socialists:

These people are not going to listen to our arguments for smaller government. Their man is in power.

There will be opposition to Trump but it will be coming from the left, not the Trump right.

The left is all about expanding the state. Thus, it will be very difficult to reach out to these people and present state shrinking anti-Trump ideas. They are a perfect target for the socialists.

Indeed, the protest that occurred in New York City last night, where thousands turned out, was launched by a socialist group, the Socialist Alternative. The socialists are going to experience a boom in followers under Trump.

Now it is starting.

Bernie is probably still a long shot to gain the White House but at the congressional level, the socialist advance continues. Keep an eye of the California 25th District special election on March 3. If the socialist Cenk Uygur, outright on the third or in a runoff election, wins, he could prove even more powerful and popular than AOC.

 -RW

Empty Spectator Seats at the Senate Trial of President Trump

The Senate spectator gallery was at least half-empty throughout the first week of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and senators serving as the jury in the marathon sessions are taking notice — some stunned that there aren’t more people watching, while others understand the public avoiding the repetitive proceedings, reports The New York Post.

The Democrats are putting on a very boring show. Clueless.

 -RW

How to Create a Best Seller the Mark Benioff-Salesforce Way

Marc Benioff’s book, Trailblazer, a lefty tome that promotes a confused combination of central planning and capitalism, recorded enough sales to reach the New York Times best-seller list.

Bloomberg News has an inside scoop on just how the path to The New York Times was, well, trailblazed.

According to Bloomberg, the company he co-founded, Salesforce.com Inc., helped boost sales by encouraging employees to buy and expense the book.

The company sent a memo to its 48,000-member workforce last fall offering reimbursement if they purchased  “Trailblazer.” The company said. Salesforce said it considers the book to be “business material.”

On its website, Salesforce touted it as an “instant” New York Times bestseller.

Notes Bloomberg, while the exact calculations behind the bestseller lists are shrouded in secrecy, the consensus in the publishing industry, according to the news website Vox, is it takes at least 5,000 books sold in a week to make the New York Times’ list--in other words roughly purchases by 10% of Salesforce employees would likely have gotten the book on the Times list.

 -RW

Snatch and Grab in the People's Republic of San Francisco

Here's an interesting method for urban primitives to finance their "Just Do It" Nike athletic shoes purchases.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

BART saw a significant surge in thefts of cell phones and laptops in the past year, with the No. 1 target being passengers on trains running through San Francisco stations, where 512 robberies and thefts were reported in 2019.

Systemwide, BART police records show, 1,180 devices were reported stolen last year — that’s an increase of 288 thefts over 2018.

“The typical snatch-and-grab occurs when the train doors open and the victim is not paying attention,” BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said.

According to BART, the thieves are often juveniles. They eyeball someone engrossed in their device as the train is pulling into a station, then grab the phone or laptop and run off the train just before the doors close. That leaves the stunned victim and any witnesses trapped on the receding train as the thief makes his getaway.

The thieves then often head for Civic Center Station, where there has long been an active thieves market around U.N. Plaza.

“They can quickly fence the phone for $300 to $400, depending on the model. And they are paying cash,” Alvarez said.

The thieves usually turn off the phone immediately after the grab, so it can’t be tracked by its signals.

“They got smart,” Alvarez said.

-RW

Joe Rogan: "I Am Probably Going to Vote for Bernie Sanders"

Joe Rogan

The extremely popular podcaster Joe Rogan says he is probably going to vote for Bernie Sanders, and the Bernie campaign is running with the news.

“I think I'll probably vote for Bernie... He’s been insanely consistent his entire life. He’s basically been saying the same thing, been for the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from.” -Joe Rogan pic.twitter.com/fuQP0KwGGI

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 23, 2020

But notice Rogan says nothing about Bernie's policies. It's about Bernie being consistent and not having much dirt.

What about his socialist policies, Joe?

Do you support them?

Joe, you are coming across as a very low-level information voter.

-RW