OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

JohnInCarolina

HeavyG said:

dmchicago said:

I give him a week. 

Probably a better death by artillery than poisoned by Putin.

“Let me try and make myself into the largest target humanly possible” does seem like an interesting approach.

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/lapatina_/status/1541430640591228930

Gulfcoastguy

JohnInCarolina said:

HeavyG said:

dmchicago said:

I give him a week. 

Probably a better death by artillery than poisoned by Putin.

“Let me try and make myself into the largest target humanly possible” does seem like an interesting approach.

When a Javelin pops the lid of his vehicle that lard will create a 24 hour bonfire.

Gulfcoastguy

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"At least 18 people have been killed following a missile strike on the Amstory shopping mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, according to this morning's figures. 36 are also believed to be missing and 25 are in hospital. Authorities estimate there could have been anywhere between 200 and 1,000 people inside the shopping centre when it was targeted. Many managed to flee to a nearby bomb shelter but others remain trapped in the building, reports suggest. Rescue workers are continuing to search the rubble. BBC News reports. 

​​Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his call for the U.S. to name Russia a state sponsor of terrorism — a designation that would trigger significant penalties — after the Russian missile strike on the Kremenchuk shopping mall. Zelensky called the strike “one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history” in an address yesterday evening. Annabelle Timsit, Amy Cheng and Andrew Jeong report for the Washington Post. 

​​Russia’s defense ministry has admitted responsibility for the missile strike on the shopping mall in Kremenchuk but said it had hit a military target and denied reports of civilian casualties. Russia claimed that it had hit a weapons depot in a factory with high-precision air-based missiles in a strike on U.S. and European munitions supplies for Ukrainian armed forces. “The detonation of the munitions for western weaponry in storage led to a fire in a non-functioning shopping centre next to the factory,” defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. Max Seddon reports for the Financial Times. "

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1541904068561367040?s=20&t=QrI3_XZ3J7nXZ3WPTGK26A

HeavyG

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1541904068561367040?s=20&t=QrI3_XZ3J7nXZ3WPTGK26A

I haven't read yet what chips Biden played and what that deal is going to cost us.

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"NATO allies will continue to supply Ukraine with weapons in its war against Russia for as long as necessary, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said earlier today. "It is good that the countries that are gathered here but many others, too, make their contributions so Ukraine can defend itself - by providing financial means, humanitarian aid but also by providing the weapons that Ukraine urgently needs," Scholz told reporters as he arrived for the second day of the NATO summit. Reuters reports. 

The U.S. will enhance its force posture in Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden said yesterday. The new U.S. military deployments will include a permanent headquarters for the U.S. 5th Army Corps in Poland - a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long resisted - as well as additional rotational combat brigades to Romania; enhanced rotational deployments to the Baltic region; increasing the number of destroyers stationed at Rota, Spain, from four to six; and deploying two additional F-35 squadrons to the United Kingdom. Ashley Parker and Emily Rauhala report for the Washington Post.  

Russia-installed officials in Ukraine's Kherson region said their security forces had detained Kherson city mayor Ihor Kolykhayev yesterday. Russia officials cited the mayor's refusal to follow orders as the reason for his detentions, whilst a Kherson local official said he was abducted. Reuters reports. "

JohnInCarolina

HeavyG said:

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1541904068561367040?s=20&t=QrI3_XZ3J7nXZ3WPTGK26A

I haven't read yet what chips Biden played and what that deal is going to cost us.

At the moment, it doesn’t appear the chips are all that significant:

http://twitter.com/stevenacook/status/1541882802978832390?s=20&t=hXrCFhKoj9cuz_7kNFXWOQ

lousubcap

Some additional Russia-Ukraine reading:

"Big picture: Britain's army chief called Russia's February invasion of Ukraine "our 1937 moment," referencing the months before Hitler's Nazis invaded Poland, triggering the Second World War, in a speech delivered Tuesday in London. "We are not at war," Gen. Patrick Sanders said, "but we must act rapidly so that we aren't drawn into one through a failure to contain territorial expansion."

"The scale of the war in Ukraine is unprecedented," he said, and listed "103 Battalion Tactical Groups [that Russia has] committed. Up to 33,000 Russians dead, wounded, missing or captured. A casualty rate of up to 200 per day amongst the Ukrainian defenders. 77,000 square kilometers of territory seized, [which is] 43% of the total landmass of the Baltic states. Ammunition expenditure rates that would exhaust the combined stockpiles of several NATO countries in a matter of days. The deliberate targeting of civilians with 4,700 civilian dead. 8 million refugees. For us, the visceral nature of a European land war is not just some manifestation of distant storm clouds on the horizon; we can see it now."

Sanders's boss, Ben Wallace, echoed that warning, declaring Tuesday in his own speech, "I am serious when I say that there is a very real danger that Russia will lash out against wider Europe." And that's why Secretary of State for Defense Wallace wants Britain to increase its defense spending from a current estimate of about 2.2% of GDP to reportedly 2.5% in six years, according to the BBC. 

"Putin's declared intent recently to restore the lands of 'historic Russia' makes any respite temporary and the threat will become even more acute," Sanders said Tuesday. He said his army will spend the next several years focused on meeting the materiel and tactical challenges posed by Russia's invading forces on European soil. "You can't cyber your way across a river," the army chief said. "No single platform, capability, or tactic will unlock the problem" of deterring Putin. The 125 days of the invasion, he said, "reminded us all that war fundamentally remains a clash of wills." "

Ybabpmuts

I hope they have a pressure toilet wherever he's going. They're gonna need it. 

Gulfcoastguy

lousubcap said:

Some additional Russia-Ukraine reading:

"Big picture: Britain's army chief called Russia's February invasion of Ukraine "our 1937 moment," referencing the months before Hitler's Nazis invaded Poland, triggering the Second World War, in a speech delivered Tuesday in London. "We are not at war," Gen. Patrick Sanders said, "but we must act rapidly so that we aren't drawn into one through a failure to contain territorial expansion."

"The scale of the war in Ukraine is unprecedented," he said, and listed "103 Battalion Tactical Groups [that Russia has] committed. Up to 33,000 Russians dead, wounded, missing or captured. A casualty rate of up to 200 per day amongst the Ukrainian defenders. 77,000 square kilometers of territory seized, [which is] 43% of the total landmass of the Baltic states. Ammunition expenditure rates that would exhaust the combined stockpiles of several NATO countries in a matter of days. The deliberate targeting of civilians with 4,700 civilian dead. 8 million refugees. For us, the visceral nature of a European land war is not just some manifestation of distant storm clouds on the horizon; we can see it now."

Sanders's boss, Ben Wallace, echoed that warning, declaring Tuesday in his own speech, "I am serious when I say that there is a very real danger that Russia will lash out against wider Europe." And that's why Secretary of State for Defense Wallace wants Britain to increase its defense spending from a current estimate of about 2.2% of GDP to reportedly 2.5% in six years, according to the BBC. 

"Putin's declared intent recently to restore the lands of 'historic Russia' makes any respite temporary and the threat will become even more acute," Sanders said Tuesday. He said his army will spend the next several years focused on meeting the materiel and tactical challenges posed by Russia's invading forces on European soil. "You can't cyber your way across a river," the army chief said. "No single platform, capability, or tactic will unlock the problem" of deterring Putin. The 125 days of the invasion, he said, "reminded us all that war fundamentally remains a clash of wills." "

I would say that ammunition manufacturers need to kick it into high gear. Triple shifts and no shutting down for August like usual.

JohnInCarolina

dmchicago

Send him on a free trip to the Ukraine. 

Gulfcoastguy

dmchicago said:

Send him on a free trip to the Ukraine. 

To Kyev to be specific though Odessa or Kharkiv would do.

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The Russian military has announced that its forces are withdrawing from Snake Island in the Black Sea. "On June 30, as a gesture of goodwill, the Russian Armed Forces completed their assigned tasks on Snake Island and withdrew the garrison stationed there," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Kyiv will likely dispute Russian reasons for withdrawal as the Ukrainian military has recently been on a renewed mission to retake the island and launched a series of attacks against Russian forces, claiming “a significant victory.” Mary Ilyushina reports for the Washington Post. 

Ukrainian officials have announced the largest prisoner exchange since Russia’s invasion, saying 144 soldiers were being returned to Ukraine. Denis Pushilin, the head of Russian proxy forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, said that the same number of Russian and pro-Russian forces were returned in the deal. Michael Schwirtz, Marc Santora and Ivan Nechepurenko report for the New York Times. 

The Treasury Department yesterday announced the delivery of $1.3 billion in economic aid to Ukraine. The transferred funds — the first of $7.5 billion in economic aid approved by Congress last month — come amid new estimates that Ukraine’s economy and infrastructure have suffered extensive damage from the war. Jeff Stein reports for the Washington Post. 

It will take “years” for the Russian military to recover from the damage it has sustained in carrying out its war in Ukraine, according to the director for national intelligence Avril Haines. “Their ground forces have now been degraded so much that we expect it will take years for them to recover in many ways,” she told a conference in Washington, DC yesterday. That could push Russia to become more reliant on "asymmetric tools" such as cyberattacks, efforts to try to control energy, or even nuclear weapons in order to project "power and influence," she said. Katie Bo Lillis reports for CNN. "

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1542426545490460672?s=20&t=LF6VjJvYpsDdbNZDksXG7w

lousubcap

More on Russia-Ukraine and grain-
"By the way, Russia "exported 80% more [wheat] in April compared with a year earlier, or 3.5 million metric tons," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing data from commodity-research firm AgFlow, which seems to suggest the impact of a coming "global food crisis" may be less damaging than estimated just weeks ago. However and in stark contrast with Russia, Ukraine is bracing for a 50% reduction in this year's harvests because of Vladimir Putin's invasion. The Financial Times has more on Russia's apparent grain smuggling, via Planet satellite imagery, here. "

Gulfcoastguy

Probably because Russia is exporting Ukrainian wheat to go along with the Ukrainian natural gas that they seized rigs and all in 2014.

lousubcap

Atlantic"s Tom Nichols- great perspective and writing-
Well worth the read-just to broaden your horizon-

"Tom Nichols CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I remember fondly the way Washington would shut down in the summer so that the city could give itself a breather, but that was before our politics went haywire.

No Rest

(Drew Angerer / Getty)

View in browser

I moved to Washington in the mid-1980s to finish graduate school and begin a job at a think tank. Like a lot of new D.C. residents, I was engulfed by the weird culture of the city, a place organized around one major industry—national politics—but that basically functioned like a small town (well, with the exception of its L.A.-like traffic). In 1990, I started working for the late Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania, and I spent my days in the city’s bubble-within-a-bubble on Capitol Hill.

I liked Washington, but I never got used to it. I am a New Englander, and I have never really shed my provincialism. At 30 years old, I finally left for good and returned north. One Washington tradition that I came to appreciate, however, was the summer recess, that time when politics and legislation and the general madness would abate for a bit. It was a throwback to the time before air-conditioning, when Washington’s pestilential weather would become unbearable from the Fourth of July to Labor Day, and the nation’s great and powerful would actually take some downtime.

But that was when we all felt like we could leave the city for a month and our political system wouldn’t go into a tailspin. So much for that. This summer, we’re in for all kinds of dramatic events.

First up: The House January 6 committee has added hearings for July. I doubt that Cassidy Hutchinson will be the last witness to drop bombshells before the committee, and the more revelations, the better; if it takes four hours of well-presented television every week for Americans to finally understand how much danger remains to their system of government, so be it. Meanwhile, the Senate has headed off for a short recess; I do not understand what appears to be Chuck Schumer’s placidity and lack of urgency as majority leader in the face of a looming return to power by Mitch McConnell and the Republicans next fall—especially with more judges to be confirmed.

But things could heat up now that President Biden has said that he supports a filibuster exception in order to codify abortion rights. This is significant. Joe Biden is a creature of the Senate, and for him to let go of the filibuster is, as he might have said in another context, a BFD. Biden earlier suggested that he would support an exception for voting rights, but this was a stronger statement and might be more likely to produce action now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. Time is running out before the midterms, and if the Democrats are going to do almost anything of substance on abortion and voting rights, they’re going to have to do it by the thinnest of margins, not the 60-vote threshold that overcoming the filibuster requires.

The filibuster might be doomed in any case. Michael Steele—the former chair of the Republican National Committee and now a prominent Never Trumper—has warned that if the GOP takes power again and it has even a slim shot at codifying a national abortion ban, it will “absolutely” dump the filibuster if that’s what it takes to do so.

In other words, the social and political strife that the six conservatives on the Supreme Court inflicted on the United States a week ago when it overturned Roe is going to move to the Senate, one way or another. Speaking of the Supreme Court, abortion and expanded gun rights aren’t the only decisions that will be producing toxic fallout for the summer. After today’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, there might be literal toxins in the atmosphere, as the Court, in a 6–3 ruling (of course), decided that the government of the United States has only a limited right to regulate the quality of air over the United States.

The political skies this summer are not falling, but they could be getting darker and dirtier."

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian troops have withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea after sustained attacks by Ukrainian forces - including with powerful, newly arrived Western weapons. This represents a significant setback for Russian forces and possibly undermines their control over vital shipping lanes for grain in the Black Sea. The Russian withdrawal, coming only a week after the Kremlin bragged about repelling a Ukrainian attempt to retake the island, appears to be another instance of Moscow’s scaling down its military ambitions in the face of Ukrainian resistance. Marc Santora and Ivan Nechepurenko report for the New York Times. 

Russian forces have been able to make small gains in the Lysychansk area, taking parts of an oil refinery, located on the outskirts of the city. "[Russia] is concentrating its main efforts on encircling our troops in the Lysychansk area from the south and west, establishing complete control over the Luhansk region,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said. The head of the Luhansk region military administration, Serhii Hayday, made a similar analysis. Olga Voitovych and Petro Zadorozhnyy report for CNN. 

The U.S. has not seen China evade sanctions or provide military equipment to Russia, a senior U.S. official has said. The statement comes after enforcement measures were taken earlier this week targeting certain Chinese companies - not the Chinese government "China is not providing material support. This is normal course-of-business enforcement action against entities that have been backfilling for Russia," a senior Biden administration official told Reuters, referring to the enforcement measures. Reuters reports. "

JohnInCarolina

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/01/chinese-purchase-of-north-dakota-farmland-raises-national-security-concerns-in-washington.html

SamIAm2

JohnInCarolina said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/01/chinese-purchase-of-north-dakota-farmland-raises-national-security-concerns-in-washington.html

@JohnInCarolina - a bit late to raise national security concerns after the sale. The Chinese have been buying up mineral rights in African nations for quite a while. Would think someone in DC would have started monitoring sales/partnerships in US shortly after that started. 

Legume

We can be so stupid and comfortable sometimes.

SamIAm2

@Legume - an old Pennsylvania Dutch saying comes to mind; the translation -      "We grow too soon old, too late smart".

HeavyG

A decade ago, Smithfield Foods (the largest pig/pork producer in the world) of (where else) Smithfield, VA, was bought by a Chinese firm for about $5Billion (≈ o.o4 Bezos'). The purchase included about 150,000 acres in various locations around the US.

The town of Smithfield is part of the Hampton Roads region of VA which has about a dozen military installations - including the largest naval base on the planet in Norfolk and the USN master east coast jet base in VaBeach. USN east coast SEAL teams are also located in VaBeach.

Newport News is a town located on the James River literally across from Smithfield. Newport News Shipbuilding is the only shipyard capable of designing/building/refueling USN aircraft carriers and one of the two locations that build USN subs.

At the time the pending deal was announced our local paper was full of two concerns:

1 - national security implications

2- will I still be able to get baby back ribs or will they all be going to China?

The feds did not block the purchase and ten years later we can still get Smithfield baby back ribs.

Whether the Chinese have gleaned any valuable intel that they couldn't get from readily available satellite imaging or normal tourist visas is probably not really known (by the US anyway).

I am curious if the price of the farm land sold in ND was a comparable, fair market price or if the Chinese made an outrageous offer he just couldn't refuse.

lousubcap

Got this today.  Russia-Ukraine update-

"Ukrainian forces used a Harpoon missile to sink a Russian resupply ship headed to Snake Island, a senior defense official told reporters Friday afternoon.

The sinking of the ship helped Ukrainian forces retake Snake Island, which had been in Russian control since the early days of the invasion. The island, called Zmiinyi Ostriv in Ukraine, was the symbol of Ukrainian resistance after a Ukrainian service member on the island told Russian warship Moskva to “go **** yourself.” Ukraine later sank Moskva.

Ukrainian forces claimed it retook the island Thursday, CNN reported, although Russia claimed its forces left as a sign of good faith. The Russian claims are false, the senior defense official said.

“In fact, the way we view this development is that the Ukrainians were very successful at applying significant pressure on the Russians, including by using those harpoon missiles that they recently acquired to attack a resupply ship, and when you realize how barren and deserted Snake Island is, you understand the importance of resupply,” the defense official said. “So the Ukrainians made it very hard for the Russians to sustain their operations there, made them very vulnerable to Ukrainian strike.”

Retaking Snake Island can help the Ukrainians better defend Odesa as well as potentially begin to look at reopening shipping lanes, which would help Ukraine send out its grain.

However, the Russian blockade of the Black Sea continues to be the biggest naval challenge for Ukraine, the official said.

The United States on Friday announced an additional $820 million in aid for Ukraine, with some coming from the existing U.S. stock and the rest providing funding for equipment that will be built by the defense industry.

The U.S. will send additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rock Systems (HIMARS) through the presidential drawdown, which means the U.S. will pull from its existing supply.

It will also send two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, 155mm artillery ammunition and four additional counter-artillery radars through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative."

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Putin declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk. In a televised meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin said Russian forces had “achieved success, victory” in Luhansk. The region was the last major stronghold for Ukrainian forces in the country’s east. Victoria Bisset reports for the Washington Post. 

Russian forces are likely to concentrate on seizing Donetsk after achieving victory in Luhansk, a Ukrainian official said Monday. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai told Reuters that he expected Moscow to specifically target the city of Slovyansk and the town of Bakhmut as it seeks to take control of the larger Donbas area in the east of the country, which includes Luhansk and Donetsk. 

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said that his forces remained undeterred in their effort to defeat Russia, despite setbacks in the country’s east. “There have been no significant changes on the battlefield in the past 24 hours,” Zelenskyy said in a nightly video message. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine respond, push back and destroy the offensive potential of the occupiers day after day. We need to break them. It is a difficult task. It requires time and superhuman efforts. But we have no alternative.” Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder report for Reuters. 

Related regarding Sweden, Finland and NATO-

NATO approved the inclusion of Sweden and Finland into the multilateral security alliance, as ratification now moves to nations’ parliaments. The signing at NATO headquarters follows a deal with Turkey at last week’s NATO summit in Madrid, where Ankara lifted its veto on the Nordic membership bids following assurances that both countries would do more to fight terrorism. Their membership must be ratified by each country, a process expected to take up to a year. Robin Emmott and Sabine Siebold report for Reuters. 

And the Pope's latest-

Pope Francis suggested in an interview released yesterday that he may visit Ukraine and Russia to call for an end to the war. The Pope told Reuters that a Vatican official had been in contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about a possible papal visit to Moscow. “I would like to go [to Ukraine], and I wanted to go to Moscow first,” he told Reuters. Annabelle Timsit reports for the Washington Post. "

lousubcap

As always worth a read-

Tom Nichols-

At the start of a different week, I might have written about many things, including politics. But not today. Instead, I am watching a group of my fellow citizens deal with a slaughter of defenseless people on a summer day at a parade.

Losing Faith The scene after the parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois on July 4. (YOUNGRAE KIM / AFP via Getty Images) View in browser We do not yet know why a shooter opened fire on a crowd in Illinois yesterday. Given what we know about the suspected killer, I think it is unlikely that the massacre in Highland Park was part of an organized terror plot, but rather yet another case of a young male loser attacking his own community. Nonetheless, the effect of these mass shootings is the same as terrorism: They rob us of a general sense of safety and turn us into a nation of hostages. In the first few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, I traveled to London and New York. That’s when I realized that the terrorists had succeeded in making an ordinary citizen—me—think about terrorism constantly. I wondered, on my first trips back to those cities and during almost every visit to any metropolis for a few more years: Am I here on the wrong day? Is this the site of the next attack? The terrorists had, for a time, taken away my complacency and my ability to enjoy a simple stroll in a big city. Americans now have to feel this way all the time, in their own country, at almost any mass gathering, in even the quiet towns and suburbs that people once thought of as relatively immune to such terrifying events. Such feelings are corrosive and depressing. They undermine our faith in our system of government. (This is often the goal of terrorist violence.) Worse, mass shootings undermine our faith in one another. And that loss of faith leads me to a thought I cannot escape: There is nothing we can do about such events. They will keep happening. This is not because I am a pessimist. Despite my sometimes-grumpy views on any number of things, I think most people are good and that engaged citizens can find workable solutions to most things. But when it comes to this particular kind of violence—a lone shooter attacking a community with a powerful weapon—all of the foundations for another disaster are already in place. A bizarre gun culture created the demand for millions of guns; an extremist lobby has attacked almost every measure to place any restrictions on those guns. (And the Supreme Court seems determined to roll back any limits on the ability of states to control access to these weapons.) Add to this the final and necessary element: a group of young males who are determined to take their frustrations or delusions or fantasies out on others. New state and national laws, such as the recent gun bill, will make it harder, perhaps, for future shooters to get the weapons they want. I support such laws, but I am not convinced they will matter much, at least not for some time. So what can we do? We can choose not to despair. We can, as an act of will, keep faith in our society and our institutions. Just as we do not give up on living when we are ill, we cannot give up on ourselves because of these monstrous acts. We can do this concretely by demanding more changes to our laws, but we can also exert social pressure on an irresponsible gun culture. After all, we managed as a nation to make smoking a legal but socially unacceptable habit in everything from movies to public spaces. Do we really think we can’t collectively start pushing back against gun culture the same way? This sounds anodyne, almost ridiculous, on a day like this. The guns will not disappear and another such attack is a near certainty. But we can and must try to mitigate the danger—and the damage to our democracy—by refusing to surrender to the anguish, by insisting that our fellow citizens come to their senses, and by affirming our faith that a great democracy can heal itself from even the most grievous wounds."

lousubcap

Since I'm here-
An article in The Atlantic-
"JULY 4, 2022, 6:15 AM ET

Even as we watch the reservoirs and lakes of the West go dry, we keep watering our lawns, soaking our golf courses, and growing water-thirsty crops.

As inflation mounts and the national debt balloons, progressive politicians vote for ever more spending.

As the ice caps melt and record temperatures make the evening news, we figure that buying a Prius and recycling the boxes from our daily Amazon deliveries will suffice.

When TV news outlets broadcast video after video of people illegally crossing the nation’s southern border, many of us change the channel.

And when a renowned conservative former federal appellate judge testifies that we are already in a war for our democracy and that January 6, 2021, was a genuine constitutional crisis, MAGA loyalists snicker that he speaks slowly and celebrate that most people weren’t watching.

Read: America is growing apart, possibly for good

What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats? The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt. But wishful thinking happens across the political spectrum. More and more, we are a nation in denial.

I have witnessed time and again—in myself and in others—a powerful impulse to believe what we hope to be the case. We don’t need to cut back on watering, because the drought is just part of a cycle that will reverse. With economic growth, the debt will take care of itself. January 6 was a false-flag operation. A classic example of denial comes from Donald Trump: “I won in a landslide.” Perhaps this is a branch of the same delusion that leads people to feed money into slot machines: Because I really want to win, I believe that I will win.

Bolstering our natural inclination toward wishful thinking are the carefully constructed, prejudice-confirming arguments from the usual gang of sophists, grifters, and truth-deniers. Watching angry commentators on cable news, I’m reminded of H. L. Mencken’s observation: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn't end well. During the past half century, we Americans have lived in a very forgiving time, and seeing the world through rose-colored glasses had limited consequences. The climate was stable, our economy dwarfed the competition, democracy was on the rise, and our military strength made the U.S. the sole global hyperpower. Today, every one of those things has changed. If we continue to ignore the real threats we face, America will inevitably suffer serious consequences."