Join Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler for discussion of the Dept. of Defense, the perniciousness of DEI in the era of Covid, Francis Collins’ role in Covid19 information suppression, the role of nemesis, airline crashes, transwomen in women’s boxing, and Bill Ackman ‘s wife attacked.
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Glad you discussed Francis Collins, Victor. On the eve of his retirement he was interviewed by Bret Baier on his “Special Report” show. Bret brought up the Great Barrington Declaration and how Collins tried to stifle it. Collins responded and was 100% unrepentant of his sniffling effort. Collins justified his actions by totally mischaracterizing the recommendations of the Declaration. Bret Baier, who surely was familiar with the content of the Declaration and most likely even had a print out of it with arms reach, let Collins mischaracterization go unchallenged.
He did the same thing when he let former CIA Director, Leon Panetta, dodge taking responsibility for his shameful suggestion that Hunter’s laptop was a source of Russian disinformation. The FBI for a year prior to that joint letter which was signed by 51 intelligence officers, knew that the laptop was legitimate. Yet, all 51 of the signees, including Panetta, were ignorant of that fact? Believe that, and I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. Shame on you Bret, for letting your knees buckle in these two interviews.
On a totally different topic, Victor (AKA “Square head”) what is your hat size? I wonder if you beat me. Mine is considered large by my hat size of 7-5/8.
Love your podcasts. I will be on the Stanford campus on Tuesday, January 23rd. If my schedule allows, I would love to visit the Hoover Institute, and perhaps even to thank you in person for what you do for all who love this country.
Think your assessment of Bret Baier was erroneous and inappropriate. Baier is exemplary reporter, as is his preceptor Brit Hume. These two are in same catagory as Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow. When you’re questioning political guests, you can only be persistent to a point. If Baier is too tenacious with recalcitrant guests on too many occasions he’ll find himself in a situation where important people will refuse to appear on his program.
We will live with and live through DEI before we return to a more meritocratic society.
third line of 1st Paragraph: should read “stiffling effort” (I could blame it on auto correct, but I really should be more diligent in my proof reading.)
Jack and Victor,
RE: Airline mishaps
Ashley St Clair was given her information by a United Insider. The pilot in that mishap was a former stewardess who was fired and when United started their pilot school for women and minorities she was rehired even though her file said “Do not rehire”
In the Maui flight from last December but not reported until January was a co-pilot who was told by the captain to trim flaps 5 degrees but did 15. They were trying to figure out why the plane was handling badly, and it wasn’t until the warning sounded that they were about to hit the water that they pulled the plane up. They tried all these different things to chase down the problem instead of working backward from the most recent change in settings. I believe they need to follow standard radio communications protocol where the instruction is repeated back to make sure the instructions were understood. I was a 911 operator for many years, and this is standard ops.
I also heard that the airline maintenance company responsible for the Alaska plane failed to have their Torx wrenches properly calibrated and had on past FAA inspections taken away the wrenches and locked them in toolboxes to prevent them from being inspected.
I believe you are correct in your prediction that a disaster is impending with grave consequences.
I’m glad your flying days are over.
Victor – Thanks for your presentation. You state that General Mark Milley alerted the communist Chinese that he would warn them if President Trump was ready to take actions that he was opposed to and seven or eight generals and admirals “systematically” violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
1. Why wasn’t the Uniform Code of Military Justice enforced against these officers?
2. Who is responsible for enforcing the code?
3. What does failure to enforce the code indicate about the system and its personnel? How did it get this way and what are the solutions for correcting it?
4. Could President Trump have initiated enforcing the code and if so, then why didn’t he?
5. Why were these violators emboldened to break the code? What do they know about the military justice system so that they did not fear repercussions?
6. What are the solutions for enforcing the law in America? What needs to be done to uphold the law?
Victor – If a Republican wins the 2024 presidential election, what must he do to keep the bureaucracy from becoming lawless such as high-ranking generals and admirals, intelligence officers, and health officials?
Are there any ways to give justice to Frances Collins and Anthony Fauci for how they addressed the country during the pandemic if they are guilty of lying, deceit and self-interest?