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July 24, 2025
Sunrise — 5:20, 5:20, 5:43, 6:03.
Talk about whatever you like in the comments.And please support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.
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57 comments:
I visit a blog called “The Z Man.” He has an interesting take on things. Perhaps some of you have seen his work. Anyway, he has not posted anything for a month. Does anyone know what happened?
Someone in another post linked to a Megan Kelly interview with Matt Tabbli.
I had never seen Megan Kelly before and was pleasantly surprised to find that her appearance in exactly what I have imagined our Inga to look like.
So sorry to tell you mongo:
The blogger known as The Z Man (real name John Christopher Zander), who ran thezman.com, died suddenly around June 26–27, 2025, at age 58, reportedly of natural causes.
I asked grok but also checked with original sources -
https://x.com/dissidentright/status/1938595650762883167?s=46
The Florida federal investigation into Epstein never led to a grand jury indictment because Epstein’s lawyers negotiated a non-prosecution agreement that allowed the financier to escape federal charges by pleading guilty to minor charges in state court. It’s not known how much, if any, testimony was conducted in front of a federal grand jury in 2005 and 2007.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article311257940.html
This clip is pretty incredible. Trump has no idea what he’s talking about and Powell is trying very hard not to tell him exactly that.
Trump insists 'no tension' with Powell after meeting despite awkward clash on camera over renovation cost ~ Fox Business
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-insists-no-tension-powell-after-meeting-despite-awkward-clash-on-camera-over-renovation-cost
Trump: It looks like it’s about $3.1 billion
Powell: I’m not aware of that.
Trump: It just came out
Powell: You just added in a third building
Trump: It’s a building that’s being built
Powell: It was built five years ago.
Thank you Eva Marie. I’m sorry to hear that.
I’m also a little disappointed that I didn’t think to use Grok. I hope Professor Althouse can forgive me.
RIP Chuck Mangione - loved Feels So Good. 10 minutes of peace, beauty, & pleasure.
Hilarious. Trump makes a complete fool of himself in front of the cameras. Trump didn't have the attention span to read the cost breakdown, and this person is the president.
When Trump pulled that piece of paper out his pocket Powell should have asked him if it was Epstein’s client list.
Chances of people forgetting about Epstein files . Zero
Wow! What could possibly go wrong?
Per Dr. Jessica Rose,
"The same forces who sought to modify the human genome, have targeted also our food and plants, as they mumble something about save crops because global warming and cow farts."
From the Substack Unshadowed, July 21
JUL 21
Moderna Founder Launches Aerial-spraying of RNA to Alter Gene Expression of Crops
We don't need a federal reserve. Just end it.
“One of the debates now raging over the Obama administration’s falsification of intelligence relates to Vladimir Putin’s motive in trying to impact our 2016 presidential election. Barack Obama and John Brennan pushed the idea that Putin wanted Donald Trump to win the election, while the intelligence professionals saw little or no evidence of that preference, and believed that Putin was just trying to sow discord. But my question is: since when do we care about Russia’s preferences in our elections? For what it is worth, I think it is highly unlikely that Russia’s leaders have ever, in the post-war era, wanted a Republican to be elected president. We know for sure that in 2008, Russia backed Barack Obama. I wrote about it at the time.”
John H.
Th democrats demand that only the Trump part of the Epstein files be released. LOL.
AI Overview
"A new study suggests that diet, rather than lack of physical activity, is the primary driver of the global obesity crisis. Researchers found that differences in total energy expenditure explain only a small portion of the relationship between economic development and obesity, with excessive energy intake being the main factor. The study compared daily calorie burn across various countries and cultures, revealing that people in developed nations, despite common assumptions, do not necessarily burn significantly fewer calories than those in less developed nations."
Obama's Criminal Hoax: Intel Lies Damaging National Security
By Austin Bay
it ends on this note:
"Clinton served as Secretary of State, a key national security position. She conspired to circumvent federal laws mandating the retention of government records, and in the process subverted laws protecting national security secrets. Her imperious disregard of no-nonsense laws governing access to and handling of sensitive classified documents put national security at risk.
She doesn't have presidential immunity."
Jeff Bezos is still cleaning house at the Washington Post. Catherine Rampell and Jonathan Capehart are leaving, and Philip Bump has been … bumped.
Big Mike at 850 - Nutty group of 3. I guess Bump is the least nutty of the 3.
@Lem, a guy named Gary Taubes published a couple of books with very much the same theme back in the early 2000s (Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat). He was the one of the first to expose the origin of the 'hi-carb/lo-fat' diet prescription to avoid heart disease as being essentially a coin flip that turned out wrong and also introduced (at least me) to how overeating carbs eventually leads to insulin resistance and the accumulation of body fat. "Why We Get Fat" includes a number of observational studies of people who are near starvation and often doing physically demanding labor but are obese because they are largely eating a high carb diet.
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1948473876054507991
Child porn prosecutions are back. If you recall - it was a priority in the first Trump administration. That's when my doctor and two Scout leaders in the county went to jail... Then, 4 years of Biden, and we never read about any. Maybe there were a few on a state level, but no federal busts I can recall. Now they're back again.
And an amazing, or maybe not so amazing, lot of illegal immigrants being rounded up have sexual abuse convictions either here or back in their home country, or allegations here that have yet to be tried. Doesn't matter- they're here illegally can can be deported just for that.
Going after child porn purveyors and customers must be some kind of cover up for Trump, right? Isn't that how the liberal mind works?
“Trump: It looks like it’s about $3.1 billion
Powell: I’m not aware of that.
Trump: It just came out
Powell: You just added in a third building
Trump: It’s a building that’s being built
Powell: It was built five years ago.”
Trump sure “owned” Powell, lol.
Wow. All credit to all lem.
So sorry abou Z-man.
Trump sends his personal lawyer to see if he can just get Maxwell to say he had nothing to do with anything and possibly there will be a bone in it for her. Criminal activity from criminals/ Nothing to see here right.. WTF.. ARE PEOPLE REALLY THAT LAME and cant see thru this chicanery?
Good bye Tony Evers!
A man who never met a public school pedophile he couldn't support.
A man who never met a BLM thug who kidnapped children and threatened police with a knife he couldn't lie about.
A man who never met a city overrun by violent leftist terorists he wouldn't let burn to the ground and get looted.
A man who never met a leftist DA that let grand mothers get killed by a BLM thug in a van he wouldn't defend.
A man who never met a mothe-I mean "birthing person" he wouldn't ignore.
A man who never met a Mark Zuckerberg bribe he couldn't turn down.
A man who never met a football and it showed...
Mongo - trying to do a little work for the ADL?
So the Fed is blowing $2.5 billion dollars on an upgrade ... not to mention it's currently $600 million over the estimate. And all the left can do is complain Trump mixed up when one of the buildings was finished.
Do you realize how fucking pathetic you are when this is all you have?
NYT’s ABSURD Word Salad Essay to Explain “The Trouble With Wanting Men”
After Party with Emily Jashinsky
Trump remembers the whole project from his first term. Not surprising he'd include all the Fed buildings.
A common complaint aboit AI is that it just consumes and then regurgitates whatever crap it has already read. The more Internet comments I read, the more convinced I am that humans largely do the same thing.
The Fed’s architects wanted glass in the HQ renovation, but Trump appointees to a local commission pushed for marble ~ Fortune
"President Donald Trump has looked to the marble finishes and hefty price tag of the Federal Reserve headquarters to claim grounds to fire Chair Jerome Powell, with whom he has tussled for years over interest rates. But the extensive use of marble in the building is, at least in part, the result of policies backed by Trump himself."
So one Fed Bldg done five years ago cost $600 million. And the one (or two?) bldg being done now cost $2.5 billion. How is the Fed organized and why do they need such big and/or expensive buildings? It appears as if the people managing our financial system have let that power go to their heads. Of course Biden would have never complained about it.
Todd Blanche has a clear conflict of interest in acting as a lawyer for the United States while communicating with Ghislaine Maxwell. Donald Trump, his recent criminal defense client, has interests that conflict with those of the United States in any questioning of Maxwell.
This administration is entirely capable of securing Maxwell’s testimony to exonerate Trump and implicate his political enemies in exchange for a commutation or pardon of her sentence. To claim otherwise is either dishonest or naive.
The political and intellectual leadership on the right is divided: some enthusiastically support this, others remain silent to preserve power, and a shrinking group of principled individuals will condemn it.
Trump’s plan to offer Ghislaine Maxwell clemency in return for telling ridiculous lies is brazen, shameful, and highly illegal. But let’s face it, it’s probably going to work.
I’m sure Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Blanche will release recordings of this entire encounter so the American people can hear for themselves whether this is simply a scam to protect his client.
Ending the Fed is a very bad idea. Even the idea itself is testament to its value in trying to endure a stable currency and economic stability to corners of the globe that have none. Unfortunately the last two decades have seen it politicized in disastrous ways, the dual mandate being the worst. It shouldn’t be held accountable for Congress absolving itself of responsibility for a vibrant economic environment where humanity can thrive. The second abomination is the CFPB, a corrupt appendage fed directly by the fed, avoiding budget transparency. Given the lack of attack on it at present it is likely a life boat for the metaphorical rats and roaches scurrying away from the rubble of USAID…
I am amused by the political optics of making Powell answer questions about the not so much minutiae of the building renovation, like he’s some kind of shady traveller. It’s the kind of douchebag political move the left’s top strategists are somewhere secretly admiring right now…
Justice should never be used to do the bidding of a corrupt president. What was Maxwell offered in exchange for her amnesia about Trump’s role in the underage sex ring. Maxwell should not have spoken to anyone from the Trump regime until after she had given testimony under oath to Congress. This makes Trump look more guilty than ever. Unless the interview was filmed and made public, Americans can suspect Justice making “deals” with a criminal to protect Trump.
Maxwell isn’t a victim in this sordid story and will play to Trump’s vulnerability of being discovered to be guilty of statutory rape. Shame on Justice for acting as Trump’s personal lawyer.
Now that Republicans are working to unseal the Epstein files and allow Ghislaine Maxwell to testify; the usual crowd is against it.
Meanwhile, Clapper has lawyered up.
Meanwhile, Clapper has lawyered up
I loved his CNN where he said he lawyered up in 2017. He was trying to imply it was because of frivoulous Trump attacks but all I heard was ‘I’m guilty as Hell’…
rehajm said...
Ending the Fed is a very bad idea. Even the idea itself is testament to its value in trying to endure a stable currency and economic stability to corners of the globe that have none.
Funny thing is, the value of a dollar was steady up until the formation of the Federal Reserve. A little bit of inflation here, a little bit of deflation there, but nothing big. A dollar in 1913 could buy pretty much what a dollar in 1791 could buy.
Hershey's chocolate was the first nickel candy bar. Introduced in 1900. And it became the price point for all others. And that price point lasted for over 60 years. The price of that nickel candy bar today is about $2.00.
So tell me again about this fairy tale that the Fed ensures a stable currency.
Funny thing is, the value of a dollar was steady up until the formation of the Federal Reserve
Study some economic history. This is the fairy tale…
…you also might try imagining what a Biden cabal would do if they were in charge of the printing press. They kinda were except they weren’t at all because something existed…
Thanks Christopher B, and Tina Trent.
…and a couple things about that candy bar- one, automation, process innovation and economies of scale had been a round a few decades but were still industrial miracles working their magic well into the 20th century and B, The federal reserve came into being towards the beginning of your time period…
ya ever heard of fiscal policy? Got nuttin’ to do with it? Nah, couldn’t be. Kill all the central bankers…
Good thing Trump was wearing a hard hat at the Fed, wouldn't want anything to fall on his head and damage his reasoning.
It was clearly a set up because Trump when speaking made his point on the figure having increased then when Powell looked surprised and pushed back he produced the piece of paper from his pocket.
Trump told Powell the numbers "just came out" making it sound like an official periodic figure, which Powell would obviously know was nonsense because he deals with the official figures all the time and knows when they're published.
Tim Scott instantly spotted the perception risk here and nervously half-corrected Trump by saying "they're our figures", knowing Powell would easily portray them as made up numbers by Trump's team, using the ruse of adding the five years old Martin building into the calculation thus conflating two unrelated financial periods.
It's a false dichotomy to say the choice is between an independent central bank and a central bank completely under the control of the elected government of the day.
The third choice is what we had before central banks.
RR
JSM
⬆️ You only need to ask two very simple questions :
• Has maximum employment been achieved?
• Has the PCE inflation rate reached 2% on a yearly basis?
If not, there is no reason to cut the rates. Very simple.
I'm putting this comment here to see what others think. It is type of social etiquette thing I've seen Althouse posts from time to time and goes along with some of the recent deaths and how people respond to them.
Yesterday, neighbors got excited and posted on Facebook about various emergency vehicles entering the neighborhood. Several cop cars, fire truck, and an ambulance responded to an event, and people were interested. Sadly, one of the neighbors passed away mowing his lawn in the unforgiving Texas heat. To respond the Facebook post, a neighbor thoughtfully delivered the news that her neighbor "Carl" was the victim announced DOA by the first responders.
The only response to this information was from a resident that has decided to post anonymously. They chided the neighbor for releasing the victim's name, as it may be disrespectful to the surviving family.
Here's my own thoughts. The anonymous poster obviously has some mental issue with their own name being made public. I don't know why they want anonymity, and there are certainly many reasons to keep it. Death seems to be a thing that makes anonymity irrelevant. Especially a death that shouldn't be embarrassing at all. The two neighbors, Carl and the Facebook poster that used their full name when posting, apparently cared for each other. At the very least, they didn't mind knowing each other's name. I decided to respond, "Thanks for respecting Carl", but it isn't what I wanted to say. I wanted to callout the anonymous person, but then I decided if they have such a mental health problem, best to let them be.
Kak said:
"When Trump pulled that piece of paper out his pocket Powell should have asked him if it was Epstein’s client list."
That's not funny!
(well, ok, it is)
Inga said...
Justice should never be used to do the bidding of a corrupt president.
Too Late. Obama did just that, so precedent was set. Cry harder.
Inga says:
Unless the interview was filmed and made public, Americans can suspect Justice making “deals” with a criminal to protect Trump.
See, there it is. anything that doesn't implicate Trump will be claimed to have been falsified, deleted, or destroyed.
Any normal person knows that.
There is no satisfying lefty women — we shouldn’t even bother to try. The latest exhibit is Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, who complained about debris from SpaceX launches washing up on Mexican beaches but now is complaining that SpaceX is cleaning up its debris.
@Jon Ericson, thanks for that link. Had not heard of Emily Jashinsky before, but I will pay attention to her now. She seems to be well supplied with common sense.
As I was saying…
The Trump/Lutnick version was fantasy. The whole thing makes little sense. Japan is forced to invest in the US because...? Why not every other nation on the planet?
And invest in what? Who decides? This was not an outcome that was carefully negotiated. It's just a headline.
Cracks widen in Japan and US’s interpretation of tariff trade deal ~ FT
“Tokyo officials contest Washington’s claim that American investors assured of vast share of profits from joint investment
The US will secure 90 per cent of profits from joint investments with Japan only if it takes on a proportional amount of risk and financing, Tokyo said on Friday, as cracks widened in the two allies’ interpretation of their hastily agreed trade deal.
Japanese officials said there was no written agreement with Washington — and no legally binding one would be drawn up — after Trump administration officials claimed Tokyo would back investments in the US from which American taxpayers would reap nine-tenths of the profits.”
ehajm said...
Funny thing is, the value of a dollar was steady up until the formation of the Federal Reserve
Study some economic history. This is the fairy tale…
Fairy tale. Yep. So I guess the graphs on this page are lying.
https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1776
Some ups, some downs, then steady inflation after the Fed takes control of money supply.
Leland, I've never been on Facebook, but it seems to me you took the right approach. Showed solidarity with the person criticized while just ignoring the criticism. Carl will presumably soon be sent to a funeral home, and if you know his last name you could have a follow up post for the neighbors when it posts details.
Thank you for the response Readering.
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