The Year Ahead
We don’t know exactly what 2017 will bring us, but we know a few key scheduled events and dates. A couple of the things I’ve got marked on the calendar…
January 17-20: The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Expect a lot of panic and screams, as the world contemplates Brexit, President Trump, populists and nationalist movements rising all over Europe, potential populist wins in French and German presidential elections, the charnel house that is Syria and the refugee waves, and a general uncertainty about whether the global economy is overdue for another recession. For the first time, a Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will attend.
“Oh, Jim, the only good thing to ever come out of the Davos conferences was Jay Nordlinger’s coverage!” The world has thrown down the gauntlet before the globe’s elites. Let’s see how they respond. If there’s anybody in the world who shouldn’t feel overwhelmed by the problems of the world, it’s the crowd at Davos. They’ve got more money, power, resources, influences and connections than all of us. If they want to be leaders, this is the time to step up. Figure out how to steer refugees to countries that speak the same language and require the same skills. Figure out how to turn masses of unskilled workers into skilled workers. Figure out how to make a globalized economy a good deal for almost everyone who’s willing to work.
John Schindler says we’ll see a sudden lurch of progress if the elites of America and Europe to start treating those who disagree with respect:
We must learn to work with moderate nationalists and anti-globalists, who are rising politically across the West. Stop denouncing them as racists and xenophobes, listen to their legitimate concerns, and start cooperating with the reasonable ones against Moscow. Seventy years ago, Washington successfully forged a quiet alliance with the moderate left to fight the Kremlin, and today we must do the same with the West’s moderate right. If we refuse to do so, they will gravitate to the only force which welcomes them, and his name is Vladimir Putin.
February 22-25: The Conservative Political Action Conference, National Harbor, Maryland. And you thought CPAC was dramatic last year! Donald Trump spoke at CPAC for many years until last year; will he address the attendees this year? (I’m betting a video address.) One month into the Trump presidency should still be the honeymoon between Trump and conservatives; there’s a good chance the Supreme Court nominee confirmation will be going on at that date. But will there be conservative grassroots grumbling about a big-spending infrastructure bill? Will there be a sense that the repeal of Obamacare is going to take a lot longer than anyone expected? Will a package of tax cuts be on its way to passage by then?
April 27-30: The National Rifle Association Annual Meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump spoke at last year’s convention in Louisville, and the NRA endorsed him there, the organization’s earliest endorsement ever. A projected 80,000 or so gun owners, enthusiasts, and Second Amendment activists are expected to attend. By this point in the year, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee is likely to have been confirmed (or less likely, rejected). Will gun owners be cheering the newest justice? Will the push for concealed carry reciprocity – making a concealed-carry permit that is legal in one state legal in all other states, like with driver’s licenses — be advancing in the new Congress? How about momentum for “Constitutional carry“ – the right to carry firearms without a permit?
While Hillary Clinton’s defeat and the elimination of a Hillary-nominated justice represented the biggest win for gun owners in 2016, gun-control advocates did score a few wins. Six new gun laws take effect in California this year. Nevada passed a universal background check measure that covered transactions by private citizens, but the FBI and Nevada’s attorney general deemed it unenforceable because the referendum didn’t include a funding measure. In blue states like Oregon, Democrats are likely to push new gun-control laws at the state level.
Sometime in 2017, probably May or June: The 2017 NATO Summit, Brussels, Belgium.
Usually NATO summits come and go with the usual bland speeches and pledges and tributes and photo opportunities. Nope. With a new president who called the alliance “obsolete” and Vladimir Putin’s Russia more aggressive than ever, it’s time for alliance leaders to demonstrate the value of the longstanding institution. Free-riders have to show they’re starting to pull their weight, not just offer more promises.
Former Pentagon official and Joe Biden national security advisor Julianne Smith puts it:
Think about ways to make it anything but a normal summit. Get rid of the endless rounds of prepared talking points. Engage in candid conversation both at the summit and at the ministerial meetings that precede it. Don’t only think about the alliance’s core message, but engage with the practical aspects of its capabilities: Focus on readiness, on counter anti-access, area denial capabilities, command structure, resilience.
Get creative and act like the future of NATO depends on it. Because, as much as I hate to admit it, it does.
Relax, It’s Not Fake News, Just False News!
The Washington Post reported Friday ominous news that sounded like the opening scenes of War Games, Hackers, Die Hard Four (One of the Really Bad Ones) or any other Hollywood sinister-hackers-shut-down-society thriller.
A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials.
The response from U.S. lawmakers arrived fast and furious:
Friday night, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) called on federal officials “to conduct a full and complete investigation of this incident and undertake remedies to ensure that this never happens again.”
“Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world’s leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality-of-life, economy, health, and safety,” Shumlin said in a statement. “This episode should highlight the urgent need for our federal government to vigorously pursue and put an end to this sort of Russian meddling.”
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he was briefed on the attempts to penetrate the electric grid by Vermont State Police on Friday evening. “This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides — this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter,” Leahy said in a statement. “That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly.”
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said the attack shows how rampant Russian hacking is. “It’s systemic, relentless, predatory,” Welch said . “They will hack everywhere, even Vermont, in pursuit of opportunities to disrupt our country. We must remain vigilant, which is why I support President Obama’s sanctions against Russia and its attacks on our country and what it stands for.”
“Direct threat!” “Systemic, relentless, predatory!” “One of the world’s leading thugs!”
And then, eleven hours later, the correction:
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.
Oh. The actual details from Burlington Electric Department make the story much less dramatic:
Officials with The Burlington Electric Department spoke out Saturday after hacking codes with ties to Russia were discovered on one of its computers.
Neale Lunderville is the general manager at BED and says the grid itself was not compromised nor was there any sensitive information leaked. However, the discovery is being taken very seriously not only not only in Vermont but across the country.
On Thursday BED received a warning from the Department of Homeland Security to be on the lookout for suspicious internet traffic with links to Russia.
Lunderville said, “We started scanning Thursday night and on Friday morning when an employee came in and turned on their laptop there was some internet traffic that signaled our system linking our computer on our network to an IP address that was identified by the Department of Homeland Security.”
Its Lunderville’s understanding that these hacking codes start on websites running ads with a script. The script then locates a host computer and the hackers are in.
“We believe we caught it when it first said ‘we found a computer’… It is important that as soon as we saw the traffic and we knew it as traffic connected to the malicious cyber activity that we’ve seen around the world, we isolated the computer and took it off our network,” explained Lunderville.
The city-owned utility notified federal officials immediately.
Lunderville says the swift response ensured that the department was not compromised and that the information of the more than 20,000 customers was protected.
Lunderville said, “This computer was not connected to our grid control systems at no time was our electric grid breached or penetrated and we have not indication of comprise of our electric grid systems or any customer information.”
Lunderville says one expert in Washington D.C. says there is no indication these hackers are targeting Burlington Electric or even the nation’s electric industry as a whole.
A new poll found 52 percent of Democrats believe Russia “tampered with the vote tallies” to make Trump the winner in the presidential race. There is no evidence of this. When the big-name media institutions and elected Democratic officials twist the news to the point of falsehood, it’s not surprising that so many of the rank-and-file would believe something that isn’t true.
ADDENDA: It took a little longer than expected, but the new pop culture podcast, featuring a year in review and a look at the movie offerings of the coming year, is up and posted. This week’s show is brought to you by Old Glory 2016 Insurance.
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