Archive of entries posted on 11th January 2023

Not Entirely Unlike an NBC News Story

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Aides to Oppo have discovered at least one additional batch of classified documents in a location separate from the Washington office he used during the Harvey administration, according to an emu familiar with the matter.

Since November, after the discovery of documents with classified markings in his former office, Oppo’s aides have been searching for any additional classified materials that might be in other locations he used, said the source, who chuckled repeatedly and spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details about the ongoing inquiry. …

The pussification level, number, and precise location of the additional documents was not immediately clear.

It also was not immediately clear when the additional documents were discovered and if the search for any other classified materials Oppo may have is complete.

Oppo’s aides have been sifting through documents stored at locations beyond his former Washington office to determine if there are any other classified documents that need to be turned over to the National Archives and reviewed by the Justice Department, a yak familiar with the matter said.

At press time, Oppo was said to be lighting his cigar with the burning embers of classified documents.

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Rant Control

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Big Government at work:

New York City Housing Follies, 2023 Edition
Manhattan Contrarian | 9 Jan, 2023 | Francis Menton

… these topics of energy and housing policy are closely related. Both involve ignorant politicians promising to supplant the imperfect freedom-based economic system and achieve utopia by using their coercive powers to order that it shall be so. Yet somehow, utopia continues to elude us, and the government mandates only make things worse. And no lessons are ever learned.

Today’s topic is the latest in New York housing policy, and its inevitable consequences. Currently, both houses of our State Legislature, as well as the Governorship, are in the hands of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. We have a rent regulation regime that dates all the way back to World War II (with many modifications along the way), and a resulting situation that is universally described as a “housing shortage.” Available apartments are scarce and expensive. Small amounts of new housing are built annually, but largely for a small slice of the market at the very top.

To our reigning politicians, the solution is obvious: order that rents be restricted and that the housing that gets built be made “affordable” and allocated by government lotteries to income-restricted beneficiaries. How are these policies working out?

. . .

[Thousands] of rent-stabilized apartments . . . now sit unoccupied and unavailable in a city desperately in need of low-cost housing. . . . The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, a sweeping rent reform passed by the state Legislature in 2019, dramatically limited landlords’ ability to increase rents on stabilized apartments. The measure ended the vacancy bonus that had allowed owners to raise rents 20 percent when stabilized units became unoccupied. It also reduced to $15,000 over 15 years the renovation costs that landlords can recover by hiking rents.

How many apartments now sit vacant as a result of these restrictions?

In April, CHIP [Community Housing Improvement Program, a landlord trade organization] launched a campaign to call attention to the city’s unrentable housing stock. The group estimated that 20,000 rent-stabilized apartments in the city were empty because renovations were not economically feasible. In May, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development released a more staggering number: nearly 43,000 vacant but unavailable units.

And now they will turn their attention to your vehicles, your health, and your electricity.

Russia, Russia, Russ– Phwwt.

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WaPo Quietly Reports Bombshell Study That Proves Russian Digital Influence in the 2016 Election Was Essentially Nil
THE LIBERTY DAILY | 1/9/2023 | J.D. Rucker

Throughout the entirety of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Washington Post and all the other corporate media propagandists claimed Russian influence was what made Hillary Clinton lose. Every minuscule story that even hinted about Russia using bots and spreading pro-Trump messaging on social media was blown up to be massive front page news.

They’ve finally published a story about Russian influence in the 2016 election that didn’t make the front page. In fact, you’d have a hard time finding it on their website if you weren’t looking for it specifically. This is because it highlights a recent study that shows Russia’s “massive” digital influence in the 2016 election didn’t really do anything at all.

The article, titled “Russian trolls on Twitter had little influence on 2016 voters,” paints a picture that goes against every Russian collusion narrative the leftist outlet has ever published. According to the article:

Russian influence operations on Twitter in the 2016 presidential election reached relatively few users, most of whom were highly partisan Republicans, and the Russian accounts had no measurable impact in changing minds or influencing voter behavior, according to a study out this morning.

I’ve Nothing Against Electric Cars for Everyone. On Second Thought, I Do

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The Coming Future of Electric Vehicles: Something Here Does Not Add Up
Manhattan Contrarian | 7 Jan, 2023 | Francis Menton

Supposedly, we are rapidly on our way toward a zero-carbon, all electric energy future. But has anybody done the arithmetic to see if this adds up?

. . . the energy storage question, although involving no math beyond basic arithmetic, does have some complexities. How about something somewhat simpler, like: If we convert our entire automobile fleet to all-electric cars, where is the electricity going to come from?

With the big push currently on to get rid of internal combustion vehicles and replace them with electrics, surely someone has done the calculations to be sure that the electricity supply will be ample. Actually, that does not appear to be the case. Once again, the central planners have no idea what they are doing.

…

As of today, electric vehicles are a tiny fraction of all vehicles (less than 1% in the U.S., says Reuters as of February 2022), particularly in these Midwestern and Southern states. Yet even with only the tiniest level of electricity demand coming from electric vehicles, already major utilities are short of electricity when a not-out-of-the-ordinary cold snap hits.

“She’s a brick, House…

A mighty might-be . . .

Yow.

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Memo To Intern Bo Derek: Nip It

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Institutional Capture: It Can Happen Here – My former Employer Has Gone the Way of All Leftist-Led Colleges.
The American Spectator | 7 Jan, 2023 | Bradley C. S. Watson

My name has now been added to the long and depressing list of high-profile academic “cancellations.” I recently resigned my tenured position at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, due to an episode — sadly typical of American higher education — that has been widely documented in national media. Like so many recent academic debacles, the actions of the administrators who precipitated the affair were ridiculous and wholly unnecessary. . .

The problem colleges face is institutional capture. . . It must be nipped in the bud if there’s to be any hope of saving the vital remnants of intellectual seriousness that can still be found on many American campuses.

Nip it! Nip it in the bud!

“Now you see, O.P., . . . “

This would have been a timely warning in the early seventies, Professor, before you were vocally voting Democrat to be cool with the faculty cocktail crowd.

(I may be traducing this professor like Joseph K. — I don’t know his leanings; just his environment.)

Classic Car Competition

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“Good morning Mr. Walrus and isn’t it a lovely morning?”

“Everything I can see is fine. What else yo got for me?”

“To start we have last week’s winning car and this week we begin a string of classic cars from a different list.”

Last week’s winner

This week’s match

Rolls-Royce Dawn Drophead

Based on the first full-size car Rolls-Royce made after the war, the original Silver Dawn drophead launched in 1949 and retired in 1954. The name was intended to mark the dawn of a new era for the world and Rolls-Royce’s place in it. Slightly smaller than pre-war cars, the Dawn helped the British bespoke carmaker reintroduce motoring craftsmanship while bringing the company into the modern age. They’re extremely rare: only three of the original 28 dropheads remain in the U.S., and those are owned by private collectors. Happily, the carmaker is introducing a successor model after a 60-year hiatus.

VS

Acura NSX

Acura’s halo car from 1990 to 2005, the NSX is young but mighty. “While it’s not as sexy as its European rivals, the Acura NSX showed the rest of the world that supercar specs and daily-driver manners could co-exist,” Hagerty says. “It inspires confidence and begs you to keep pushing, braking later, and turning harder. It may be the most underrated car on this list.” Its successor, the new Acura NSX, reaches customers this year and is likely to inspire renewed interest in the original. Fortunately, Acura made 9,000 first-generation NSX cars so finding one online is easy.

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