In early ‘20, there was chatter if the corona outbreak would be the Chinese Chernobyl. It was not. China’s leadership passed that test with a combination of ruthless lockdowns and competence for handling outbreaks. We will never know their true numbers, but their recovery blows away the West. Corona isn’t an American Chernobyl either. America’s system doesn’t allow it.

Commentators try to use this analogy and slap it on certain events. The 2008 Financial Crisis did not do it despite damning our entire leadership class and economic organization. Some even tried to say the BP Deepwater Horizon environmental calamity was a Chernobyl but nope. President Obama swam in the Gulf to show people it was safe to return to the Gulf beaches. Afghanistan did not turn into a Vietnam for America despite being a quagmire with no rationale or goals. Covid fits the bill, but everyone who sent covid positive patients to nursing homes is being rewarded. They all fail up and slowly institutions’ credibility erodes.

There is no Chernobyl because there is no alternative to view as a potential way to govern per the Overton Window. China does offer a different view but the communist label, as inappropriate as it is, makes it untenable. China would likely extract all the Sacklers’ billions and execute them. We can barely fine them. Silicon Valley is a maw of anti-American leaders poisoning American minds, but they are a free enterprise! These are all chartered companies. The Sacklers were lying, deceitful creatures.

The leadership class or professional managerial class are in a self-serving clique. Everyone has credibility problems but as long as no one defects, they can all say the same narrative and live in their bubble. Same goes for our billionaire class. Amazon has their DoD and CIA contracts. Palantir and Tesla have their government contracts. Lockheed Martin processes data for the feds; they are not just building planes.

But what if they see a loss? This could matter and true defection, not just Trump’s solo attempt may occur but what if a loss maintains their relative dominance and primacy? It’s a calculation they have to make. Not killing the golden goose sounds simple. If caught in a woke singularity, it is not so simple. We all witnessed 2020. No defectors.

On to the links…

There are scary thoughts to have about the covid hysteria and the vaccine push.

As cities see crime spikes, it is good to revisit an old essay that attempts to answer why American cities saw a crime wave after 1950.

How to win the great online game. It’s a system we all play.

Whitney Webb covers how we get to a digital dictatorship.

Lawrence, Arabists and the streaks in Western man that still affect us.

Let’s review with precision the mask debate. How unified was regime messaging and when did it turn.

Democrat dark money via NGOs and private actors pulled off an American color revolution.