CIA Officers Defend Their Conspiracy Theory 

John Sipher is not apologizing for his conduct. He’s proud of it.

He was one of 50 former CIA officials that published a letter just before the 2020 election alleging that the New York Poststory about Hunter Biden’s laptop and its contents “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

In a recent Twitter post, Sipher said, “I take special pride in personally swinging the election away from Trump.”

Former DNI James Clapper is also comfortable with promoting the Russian Conspiracy Theory. “I think sounding such a cautionary note at that time was appropriate,” he said.

And Russ Travers, former acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, added, pathetically, “The letter explicitly stated that we didn’t know if the emails were genuine, but that we were concerned about Russian disinformation efforts.”

Despite Demand for Workers, US Unemployment Is Still High 

The night before I got my ass beat at the IBJJF, [LINK 4/13]two of my BJJ instructors and I went out for a light bite. Every restaurant we went to had long waiting lines. The problem was not demand. The problem was supply. Supply of waiters and kitchen help. At least half of the tables were and remained empty all night.

Fact: Currently, for every unemployed worker, 1.8 jobs are available. Meanwhile, 166,000 Americans filed initial unemployment claims the week ending Apr. 2, down from about 5,000 claims the previous week and better than industry experts predicted. This was the lowest figure since Nov. 1968, and the second-lowest since weekly reporting began in Jan. 1967.

What does that mean? Three things:

1. Lots of people (like hundreds of thousands) who were fired during the Mandatory COVID Lockdown have apparently decided they can afford to stay idle, thanks to various government relief programs, including extended unemployment benefits.
2. Those that are planning to return to work are taking their time and being picky because the demand for labor is so high.
3. The resulting super-tight labor market has made it all but impossible for many employers (especially those in service industries) to get rid of underperforming employees.