Althouse: At the Tuesday Night Café...

April 22, 2025

At the Tuesday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you like.

47 comments:

FormerLawClerk said...: You will have noticed that Elon Musk has ceased all posts about government.

His car lots were being firebombed by Democrats. Government officials such as those in Minnesota were literally traveling to his car lots to key Cybertrucks.

One got caught. But of course, the Democrat prosecutor took $500,000 from George Soros and so all the charges have been dropped.

The world's richest man. Defeated.

Elon isn't willing to do what's necessary but they are. That's why they win. Man owns practically all the rockets on Earth and he's defeated by a Molotov and a few car keys.

Sad.; 4/22/25, 5:14 PM
Wince said...: Bondi really has to begin to flex DOJ's civil rights enforcement muscles.; 4/22/25, 5:23 PM
robother said...: Wisconsin wee folk! Khaki shirt and straw fedora, so makes sense.; 4/22/25, 5:56 PM
john mosby said...: Still chugging through Handmaid's Tale. About halfway thru Season 3. Some things I noticed:

- very difficult to keep up shock/horror in a multiseason show. The writing has shifted to almost sitcom-y banter and smartass remarks.

- Stunt casting exacerbates the sitcom-y-ness. Bradley Whitford from West Wing plays a Commander who really doesn't believe in the cause anymore and almost doesn't care who knows it. Chris Meloni from Law&Order plays a powerful but weird Commander who might be half gay (he puts a very friendly hand on the shoulder of Our Heroine's Commander while he's bent over playing pool) and also delights in playing with 'his' six kids. The dead love interest from Ally McBeal plays a surgeon who helps Our Heroine.

- I'm not noticing a huge amount of on-the-nose analogies to Trump. Season 3 aired in 2019, so the writers had a lot of material to draw from. But nothing to me really corresponds directly with stuff Trump did or was accused of doing.

- Another huge flaw in the Commanders' society is they bring some of the worst-behaving (in their view) women right into their homes, as Handmaids and Marthas. This was in Atwood's original novel, and it works great for plot purposes. But it does not make sense from the Commanders' perspective. Surely incentives could have been provided to fertile women to willingly get themselves pregnant as many times as possible. The Commanders could have rediscovered Old Testament polygamy the same way they rediscovered OT DIY surrogacy. Offer a junior-wife position and see who signs up. And market pressures would make a lot of women seek domestic service jobs without being forced to do so.

- What would a gender-reversed Handmaid's Tale look like? Well, men would be taken from their homes, subjected to humiliating medical exams and brutal training in large groups, dressed up all the same, and then sent out to use their male-specific attributes for the benefit of the country, never mind what they wanted to do with their lives. Oh wait, that happened in real life.

JSM; 4/22/25, 6:10 PM
Narr said...: The reread of Burgess's "Earthly Powers" continues. I'm amazed at how much I had forgotten--and it was one of my favorites.

I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't been miniseriesed, but then it would cost a fortune and the casting could be tricky. Not to mention that the writers, composers, and artists that populate it--even the real ones--are of no moment or meaning to the young people of today.; 4/22/25, 6:39 PM
Old and slow said...: Former law clerk (Dixcuss), you are a moron. Did it ever occur to you that Trump might have asked Musk to cool it with the comments? Musk voluntarily gave up billions when he threw in with Trump, but you pronounce him defeated by angry leftists? Crawl back under your pathetic rock.; 4/22/25, 6:40 PM
rhhardin said...: It looks like an Audubon without the birds.; 4/22/25, 6:59 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: "Elon Musk has sought to assure Tesla shareholders he will focus less on politics and more on his struggling company, saying he will pull back his work at Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency to a couple of days a week from next month.

Tesla’s first-quarter profits plunged by more than two-thirds amid a boycott of the electric car company that has hurt sales and sent its stock plunging."; 4/22/25, 7:02 PM
Big Mike said...: Democrat Representatives Robert Garcia (CA), Maxwell Frost (FL), Yassamin Ansari (AZ), and Maxine Dexter (OR) followed Senator Van Holden (D-MD) down to El Salvador to demand the release of MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. El Salvador tied a figurative can to their figurative tails and sent them home, And without even meeting the dude, much less getting their freebie margarita. Some wag made a poster with the faces of the five of them on it, calling them the “MS-13 Caucus.” Seems appropriate.; 4/22/25, 7:04 PM
Iman said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/22/25, 7:40 PM
Iman said...: Who is the Lilliputian wearing a safari jacket and a hat standing to the right of the flower in the photo?; 4/22/25, 7:41 PM
William50 said...: Question for Dave Begley.
What in the world is going on with Rep. Don Bacon? Has he always had leftist sympathies?; 4/22/25, 7:45 PM
Dave Begley said...: NYT does a hit piece on Pete Hegseth. What took them so long?; 4/22/25, 8:02 PM
Dave Begley said...: William50:

Bacon is a retired AF General and a shill for the defense industry.

Trump has lost this district twice. Lots of Dems and suburban women.

He’s a real Uniparty candidate. Big Government and a Country Club Republican.

I vote for him simply because voting for a Dem is unthinkable. I’d like to see a more conservative candidate, but a Dem might win the seat if a real conservative ran.; 4/22/25, 8:07 PM
tcrosse said...: Who is the Lilliputian wearing a safari jacket and a hat standing to the right of the flower in the photo?

Mini-Meade.; 4/22/25, 8:09 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Some thoughts on the "due process" debate:
I think what bothers most people is not summary deportation, but the idea that someone will be condemned to a hellish prison in a foreign country in the process. Being sent back home is one thing. Being imprisoned when you get there, without what Americans would call a fair trial, because the US Government labeled you a gang member and a terrorist to facilitate your deportation, is something else again.
Most people seem to think "due process" can solve that problem and make them comfortable with the fate of the deported, whatever it might be.
But most people have no idea what the "due process" they hear so much about consists of exactly in these cases. Does anyone know? Has it even been determined? Or will it become a subject of endless debate designed to run out the clock on Trump.
Is there an American legal process that can send someone to a punishment that would be forbidden in the United States as cruel and unusual like CECOT? American courts don't sentence people to foreign prisons...or do they?
Any "due process" granted in the KAG case will likely result in KAG being given asylum because of the extreme nature of the El Salvadorian prisons.
No matter what "due process" is provided to KAG, it will never be enough for the Democrats and the media. The administration will still be accused by them of not giving KAG his "due process."
The administration seems to have decided to deport the worst first. The problem this has created is that some criminal deportees will be imprisoned when they get home. Instead of reducing Americans' concerns about the justness of summary deportation, the strategy has increased them.
Maybe the administration should stop trying to categorize the illegals and simply deport them all regardless. If they accuse the deportee of crimes, they incur an obligation in the eyes of many, to prove their accusations if the deportee is going to be punished on the basis of those accusations. That is an impossible task because of the sheer numbers of illegals and because of the endless expansion of "due process" requirements that would certainly follow. Trying to comply would be the end of the deportation project.
Maybe the crime of illegal entry is enough and should be the only one the administration concerns itself with. Leave the rest to their home countries. Any criminal deportees can find their due process in their own countries, defined by their own countries and provided by their own countries.; 4/22/25, 8:16 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Who is the Lilliputian wearing a safari jacket and a hat standing to the right of the flower in the photo?

I saw him too. He's wearing sunglasses.; 4/22/25, 8:18 PM
William50 said...: Dave Begley, thank you for the reply. I know what it's like to have to choose the lesser of two evils.; 4/22/25, 8:32 PM
Lem Vibe Banditory said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/22/25, 8:36 PM
Lem Vibe Banditory said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/22/25, 8:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: LOL about safari suit guy

Freaky photo; 4/22/25, 8:42 PM
Lem Vibe Banditory said...: (Let's try again) TIL the word's deadliest infectious disease is curable.

I'm not ashamed to say, I have no idea how good we have it.; 4/22/25, 8:45 PM
Kakistocracy said...: Donald Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of firing Jay Powell ~ WSJ
'US president’s comments come after he has heaped pressure on the Fed chair'

Bond Market 2 - Trump 0

Next:
“I was just kidding about a trade war with China.”; 4/22/25, 8:46 PM
Kakistocracy said...: "You will have noticed that Elon Musk has ceased all posts about government."

Tesla's first-quarter profit has dropped 39% as it's EV sales plummet.

Tesla Profit Sinks, Hurt by Backlash Over Elon Musk’s Political Role ~ WSJ
"CEO says he will spend significantly less time on DOGE starting in May; electric-vehicle maker’s net income falls 71%"; 4/22/25, 8:56 PM
Clyde said...: A lot of times when I discover new music that I like, it's purely by serendipity. Case in point: The other day I was listening to that Silvertwin album at work, and scrolled to the bottom of the track list and there were "More Albums You May Like." The first one was an album titled 'What You Are' by an English band named Skylights. I'd never heard of them, but I said, "Why not?" and started playing it, and found that I liked it pretty well. It had a bit of a U2 vibe circa 'Achtung Baby.' And I found a killer video for the title track, which was released as a single in 2018, although the album didn't come out until after COVID in 2022. The video shows a lot of cool drone footage of Yorkshire, where the band is from.

Skylights - What You Are
https://youtu.be/5f9o5GoZU_c?si=NusW7o6Dvi63LcyD; 4/22/25, 9:16 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: Dow headed for worst April since 1932 as investors send ‘no confidence’ signal
The Trump rout is taking on historic dimensions.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed almost 1,000 points on Monday and is headed for its worst April performance since 1932, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P 500’s performance since Inauguration Day is now the worst for any president up to this point in data going back to 1928, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
Worries about trade restrictions and the prospect of President Trump firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell have investors bracing for greater losses ahead. Corporate earnings reports are rolling in, along with executives’ tariff-dented outlooks for the months ahead. Few think the administration’s negotiations with trade partners will yield results soon enough to ease the strain.
Meanwhile, counterweights that usually strengthen when stocks fall—such as government bonds and the U.S. dollar—are also under pressure, leaving investors with few havens to wait out the storm.
“It’s the hallmark of the ‘no confidence’ trade,” said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments. The Charlotte-based firm trimmed its U.S. equity position several weeks ago to favor more international stocks. “It’s impossible to commit capital to an economy that is unstable and unknowable because of policy structure.”
trump was handed a stock market @44700 something and in a mere 3 months has pissed that away and lost to date over 5000 points because of his brain dean taxes on Americans. trump had to cry uncle today and say at least 3x in a row that no he is not gonna fire powell (he should have said he has no authority to fire Powell and Powell don't listen to him anyway. Noem still cant find her badge or or pocket book and Hegseth still running his mouth with classified info all over the place. What a group of misfits,, Yikes..At least Hegseths family is getting all the scoop in real time.. WTF. remember when righties use to care about security of the US. And now the tattoos on Hegseth are being investigated for gang ties.. Giant maltese crosses and others.. Get the flight to EL SAVADOR ready//; 4/22/25, 9:33 PM
Mason G said...: "No matter what "due process" is provided to KAG, it will never be enough for the Democrats and the media."

The Democrats and the media (BIRM) didn't (and don't) give a shit about the J6 prisoners. Therefore, I don't give a flying fuck how they feel about due process for illegal aliens.; 4/22/25, 9:58 PM
Gospace said...: Jeff Childers substack today outlines the decline in the late Pope's health starting immediately after his first covid shot, and the acceleration of problems after #2 and #3. And curiously, how he suddenly stopped recommending staying current with boosters after deciding no more for himself after shot #3.

Read and make your own judgement.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/memento-mori-tuesday-april-22-2025

I still haven't had any, and like everyone else who refused the shot, still haven't been forgiven for being correct in making that judgment. There have been a number of articles as of late from people who urged concentration camps for people like me, calling us all vaccine deniers and anti-science, saying pretty much, forgive us! We were working with the best information available at the time. That excuse doesn't work when those if us who were correct were working with the exact same information. Well, more actually. We were looking at all the information we could find, they were practicing confirmation bias. If the information didn't coincide with their beliefs- it wasn't read.; 4/22/25, 10:02 PM
n.n said...: DOGE has saved taxpayers nearly $350 billion since inception. Despite bitter grifters in the kleptocracy, they stand to mitigate forward-looking progress in the trillions, while ensuring services are affordable and available without DEI and other affirmative discrimination institutions.; 4/22/25, 11:33 PM
n.n said...: Trump ended the second Iraq war and mitigated the progress of Obama/Biden/Clinton's ethnic Springs. He has taken positive steps to address Biden's renewed ethnic Springs, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East. He has taken steps to correct economic pressures from environmentalists conspiring with the Green blight, and progress through labor and environmental arbitrage. He has leaned in to discourage males in drag in women and girls' spaces, faces. America Civil Liberties Unburdened is still a problem in Special Peculiar Liberal Corporations under DEI (e.g. systemic, institutional racism, sexism) but is no longer a shared/shifted responsibility tucked in a back... black hole... whore h/t NAACP. #HateLovesAbortion; 4/22/25, 11:55 PM
n.n said...: We narrowly avoided a Kamala catastrophe... Kacatastrophe in office, if not American lives that have were victims of immigration reform and empathetic supporters of labor and environmental arbitrage.; 4/23/25, 12:07 AM
Lucien said...: Has anyone started selling KAG wife-beaters yet?; 4/23/25, 1:49 AM
gadfly said...: Former Law Clerk feels sorry for Elmo. Meanwhile, back in Oregon:

Carolanne Fry, who organized one of the earliest protests at a Tesla showroom in Portland, said the protest movement was gaining momentum because Musk’s cuts, as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, left few people untouched.

“We all have skin in the game,” she said. “Whether it’s your social security, whether you are a national park lover, you have a child in public school, you have student loan debt — it’s reaching every single facet of American life.”

Protests are happening every day - which is telling our South African immigrant to get back to running his electric car company instead of convincing Whiskey Pete to schedule a meeting with the Joint Chiefs to discuss secret Chinese war plans. How many Teslas are being built in China these days?; 4/23/25, 1:53 AM
wendybar said...: Mason G said...
"No matter what "due process" is provided to KAG, it will never be enough for the Democrats and the media."

The Democrats and the media (BIRM) didn't (and don't) give a shit about the J6 prisoners. Therefore, I don't give a flying fuck how they feel about due process for illegal aliens.

4/22/25, 9:58 PM

And the J-6 prisoners are AMERICAN CITIZENS.
I feel the exact same way as you do. Send them ALL back.; 4/23/25, 3:33 AM
john mosby said...: Boyd: "The administration seems to have decided to deport the worst first. The problem this has created is that some criminal deportees will be imprisoned when they get home. Instead of reducing Americans' concerns about the justness of summary deportation, the strategy has increased them."

True, but can you imagine if Trump was deporting at random, and statistically getting mostly peaceful hard-working illegals? Think of all the human-interest pieces: "Jose was a roofer, risking his life in all weathers to provide for his wife Maria and little boy Jesus. Now he is back in Tegucigalpa, not sure how he can make enough money to support them in Iowa City. Maria may have to self-deport and bring baby Jesus, an American citizen, with her...."

Oy.

JSM; 4/23/25, 4:28 AM
Jersey Fled said...: “The administration seems to have decided to deport the worst first. The problem this has created is that some criminal deportees will be imprisoned when they get home”

Having a hard time seeing how this is our problem.; 4/23/25, 7:13 AM
Breezy said...: NGOs make money off of supporting illegal aliens, even criminal ones. This due process schtick is really about due money.; 4/23/25, 7:27 AM
rhhardin said...: Having finished scything the acre of grass, being spring, it's time to start over with the front yard.; 4/23/25, 7:33 AM
rhhardin said...: Just as much money is going into the stock market as is coming out. Indeed nothing moves but the pieces of paper representing stock. Lack of confidence always equals confidence, and the price adjusts so that that is true.; 4/23/25, 7:36 AM
Rusty said...: So far I haven't lost a dime on Tesla stock so I don't know what you guys are whining about.
I think you were just told to pick on the nerdy kid. Which is stupid since none of you make any money from the NGO graft.; 4/23/25, 7:44 AM
Kakistocracy said...: ^^ Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.
I don’t think the ketamine is helping Elon.

Before Musk did Musk 2.0 (politically repudiating his customer base and DOGE'ing the country up the you-know-what), Tesla was a questionable product. It’s a good, economical, climate-friendly car, but it’s a laggard. After capturing the market with an innovative idea, they rested on their laurels and exuded unjustified arrogance. Tesla started with a slight advantage in range but they have not extended it in any meaningful way and most EVs have caught up. Musk has flacked self-driving forever and never delivered. Worse, their adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance tech has never been a standout -- my Subaru beats it hands down. Even before Musk became the guy that I (and 90% of his potential customers) would never again give a dime to, other EVs were clearly lapping his cars. Now he's trashed the brand at a time when the global EV market was already pushing ahead and he will never catch back up.; 4/23/25, 9:28 AM
Jaq said...: "“Putin on Monday suggested bilateral talks with Kyiv for the first time since early in the war which is more than three years old. "

More lies. Putin has always been willing to talk to Kiev. Zelensky passed a decree which forbade talks with Russian, and as far as I know, that decree forbidding talks with Russia is still in effect.

But don't worry, the people lying at every turn about everything from who blew up Nordstream to who tried to assassinate Putin last month are the good guys!; 4/23/25, 9:45 AM
Josephbleau said...: “^ Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.
I don’t think the ketamine is helping Elon.“

To some, everything is money. The idea that a citizen would volunteer at great risk to help his country as he sees it needs to be helped means that citizen is just a sucker.

That is the Democrat view, ask Stacy Abrams, the true governor of Georgia and holder of $ 2 billion formerly government dollars.; 4/23/25, 12:21 PM
Kakistocracy said...: Vladimir Putin offers to halt Ukraine invasion along current front line ~ FT

‘US floats recognition of Russian annexation of Crimea as peace plan efforts continue’

This is aligned with Putins primary objective. The ungovernability of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government cannot accept this as it infringes the country’s sovereignty. It would cause a political crisis.

This move by Putin is to purposefully drive a wedge between the dim Trump who wont get this and Zelenskyy.; 4/23/25, 12:26 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Is it true that "Putin has always been willing to talk to Kiev" (misspelled again!)? Or that "Zelensky passed a decree which forbade talks with Russian, and as far as I know, that decree forbidding talks with Russia is still in effect"? The "as far as I know" may be true, but that just means the author doesn't know much, and is unwilling to learn.

I did a DuckDuckGo on "Has Zelenskyy refused to talk to Putin?". Results:

The second hit (France 24) begins "Putin has always refused to negotiate directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who he baselessly describes as the leader of a "neo-Nazi regime".

The third hit (Politico) begins "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Kyiv is ready to negotiate directly with Moscow to end the war if Russia first agrees to a full ceasefire". Seems a reasonable condition.

The seventh hit (RFE/RL 1/29) begins "Russian President Vladimir Putin has again ruled out direct peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he called 'illegitimate,' prompting the Ukrainian leader to accuse Putin of being 'afraid' of negotiating a settlement to the almost 3-year-old war."

The ninth hit (Times of India, 1/29) begins "Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed willingness for peace talks with Ukraine but refuses to negotiate directly with President Zelenskyy".

All that just on the first page shows that the statement quoted above is the opposite of the truth.; 4/23/25, 2:14 PM
Dr Weevil said...: As I have pointed out twice before to no avail, no one "tried to assassinate Putin last month". What happened was that a luxury car of the kind Putin rides around in caught fire in Moscow, apparently with no one in it, and was destroyed. There is no evidence at all that it was part of Putin's personal fleet, or that it was set on fire. The US has hundreds of car fires every day of the week, and very few are intentionally set. Claiming that this was an assassination attempt because it was a really fancy car would be like claiming that if a Bentley or Rolls Royce burned in London it was an attempt to assassinate Charles III. Again, all we can know for sure about either fire, the real one in Moscow and the hypothetical one in London, is that some very wealthy or powerful individual, or more likely his insurance company, is out a lot of money.

Will Jaq respond to this? Or just pretend he hasn't been refuted and repeat his silly accusation in a few days, his usual modus operandi?; 4/23/25, 2:22 PM
Kakistocracy said...: 1939: Russia invades Poland and then Finland
1940: Russia invades Estonia and then Lithuania
1956: Russia invades Hungary
1968: Russia invades Czechoslovakia
1979: Russia invades Afghanistan
1994: Russia invades Chechnya
1999: Russia invades Chechnya again
2008: Russia invades Georgia
2014: Russia invades Ukraine and annexes Crimea
2015: Russia invades Syria
2022: Russia invades Ukraine

Anyone else see a pattern?

We are all lucky Trump was not president during WW2.; 4/23/25, 2:44 PM