Join us to support the fight against Big Tech, mainstream media, and government censorship. Become a Hot Air VIP member today and use promo code SAVEAMERICA to receive a 40% discount on your membership.

Welcome to our VIP feature for Hot Air as well as a members-only show in the Hughniverse! Duane Patterson and I now are doing a Week in Review show for Friday evenings, exclusive to members in both platforms. Duane has been the Generalissimo behind the Hugh Hewitt Show for more than two decades, and we have partnered on weekly commentary since 2007.

We delve into more pressing matters too, especially the increasing risk of action by China against Taiwan. “The most important story,” Duane argues, “is China announcing they’re gonna do a 2nd wave of exercises and what’s going on with Taiwan right now. It sure looks like they’re moving up the timetable of when they’re gonna possibly make a run on Taiwan and that’s a very bad development.”

“I think they’re going to bite off more than they can chew,” I reply. “When was the last time the Chinese saw action? Operated in the field against an enemy at war?” If Xi Jinping expects Taiwan to be less prepared than Ukraine, he’ll have an unpleasant surprise waiting for him, regardless of what we do. But that will lead to an “oh s***” moment for the US, we both agree, if and when it happens. “We might have the military capacity to fight a two-front war,” I say, but “I don’t know if we have the manufacturing capacity for a very long one.”

Other topics of discussion:

• The EPA’s new vehicle-emission regulations: “This is the regulatory state,” Duane says. “This is what happens when you’ve got Congress, over a period of decades, seating its authority and letting some knucklehead at a federal agency just say, Here’s the new rule, deal with it, bitches.”
• Reid Hoffman’s bankrolling of the Carroll lawsuit against Trump and LinkedIn’s recent connection to the State Department’s Big Brother censorship regime: “This progressive Democrat donor spent a hundred million dollars trying to knock Donald Trump out of the box, and that’s his money. He can do what he wants with it,” I say, “but he’s also covertly funding E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump, conducting lawfare against Trump.” That makes Hoffman’s connection to the censorship efforts look mighty interesting, I argue — and then argue that Mike Pompeo needs to answer for it, too.
• Neither Duane nor I entirely buy that “jackthedripper” actually stole the material he posted in the Discord chat server. Federal prosecutors “have to prove that he actually had access to this material through the Pentagan or through his work at the military,” I argue. “If they can’t connect them to the actual theft of the material, then all they’ve got him for is transmission of classified information,” which is good enough for a long sentence itself.

There’s plenty more in this discussion today! Be sure to watch it all, and join the conversation in the comments.