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August 30, 2025
Sunrise — 5:56, 6:15, 6:21.
Write 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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28 comments:
Latest movie watched. Marathon Man (1976). Dustin Hoffman in very good shape. Dude was working out. Good acting. Liked william devane as a rogue CIA agent. Larry O as the Nazi.
Some excellent "Action scenes". Fight with "Chen" and Roy Schnider. Hoffman escape from bathroom. The horrible "is it safe?" Dentist scene.
Too bad the story made zero sense. One's constantly asking "Why did they do this?" and the Answer is: "Because its a movie". Plot holes. Nonsensical behavior by everyone. "I know guys are after me, and I have a gun. Guess I'll just leave it in the drawer and take a long hot bath". "Oh, i just stabbed someone with a knife. Wont make sure he's dead. I"ll just leave". "Oh, I'm stabbed with a knife, Guess I'll make my way to my brothers apartment. who needs a doctor?"
"Ooops, my henchmen don't follow orders. Guess I'll just shoot one. And polish off the girl who was working for me.. Then assume Babe isn't lurking around...with a GUN".
And what better place for Nazis living in South America to stash their diamonds then...NYC.
And who knew Nazis when they weren't killing Jews were filling their cavities and giving them free dental care. Guess you need your corpses to have good teeth. Or mayb Larry O learned the Dental trade in Argentina. Despite having a zillion diamonds.
College Football is back! Sips lost. All is good.
For those of you who play guitar and those who love excellent guitar playing...
The Entertainer - Richard Smith
If I understand correctly NATO is buying weapons from the US and then selling them to Ukraine? Does this account for increases in NATO country defense budgets?
The hummingbirds STILL here…labor day coming early I guess, throwing off my schedule not theirs…
The District of Columbia Retrocession by which the state of Virginia took back the land it gave for the Nation's Capital was unconstitutional and should be revoked. Alexandria City and County should be returned to the District of Columbia.
The Retrocession happened in 1846 in the following way. The Constitution requires the establishment of a Federal Capital. Virginia and Maryland ceded land for that Capital in 1790. At that time Virginia undertook the contractual obligation to "forever cede and relinquish" a certain piece of land for the use of the Nation's Capital. But in 1846 following upon a vote by the inhabitants of Alexandria City requesting retrocession of the whole amount of the land granted by Virginia, the land was annexed back by Virginia. Although Congress agreed to the annexation of the land which Virginia had ceded "forever", there have been those who have argued ever since that this Retrocession was unconstitutional. Members of Congress made the argument in 1846; Lincoln made the argument in 1861; President William Howard Taft made the argument in 1910. The Supreme Court has never directly ruled on the issue.
Perhaps in these days when Congressional districts and state boundaries are becoming fluid, it is time to bring the issue up again for these reasons:
1. The Retrocession was and is unconstitutional for the reasons stated above.
2. The vote for annexation was not a true referendum because the 1700 free blacks living in Alexandria City were excluded from the vote. They did not support the annexation and their votes would have swung the outcome the other way.
3. One reason for the annexation was that there was a large slave market in Alexandria City and it was feared by the owners of this market that the District of Columbia would soon outlaw the slave trade as indeed happened in 1850. An unconstitutional annexation to keep a slave market going by means of a referendum which was successful because it disenfranchised free blacks seems to be a wrong which should be righted.
4. Moreover, the return of Alexandria County and City to the District of Columbia would benefit the Nation's Capital in many ways. For example,
It would strengthen the city financially.
It would eliminate the numerous problems caused by two separate jurisdictions controlling the Potomac, its shores and its bridges as it passes through DC.
The Retrocession has been called the Crime of 1846. Isn't it time to end the continuation of that crime which has systemically weakened the Nation's Capital for over 150 years?
Pacwest, probably does count for the NATO members' spending requirements but I don't think Ukraine is actually buying anything since they don't have any money not donated to them. There might be bonds involved but I promise you those bonds are worthless.
Another NYC story.
The axis of my existence in Manhattan was First Avenue. Specifically, between Houston and 14 Street. I must have walked those sidewalks a thousand times. And on the East side of First Avenue, somewhere between, say, 8th and 11th, there was a restaurant, apparently Italian. It had an Italian name, and long, tall windows. But no one ever went there. They just didn't. It was like the place simply wasn't there.
So, one evening, me and about ten of my friends decided to check it out. Now, really, only maybe three of them were actually friends, and the rest were -- Hell, I don't know. We were all white kids in our twenties. Everybody knew somebody. Half of them were cute chicks, so who's to argue?
So, we go into this place, and it's completely deserted. There are no customers in this restaurant, at 7:00 PM. But the waiters are very courteous, they show us to a long table, and bring antipasto, and help us with the menu, and the wine list, and we have a great time. I mean, everything was excellent. And I am pretty sure the waiters were also having a great time. They were all male, and it seemed to me that their clothing was all made of very thin materials, that were either black or white. Like, that was how it had to be. Of course, we were wearing whatever. It was the 80's. I wore dayglo chiffon scarfs if the mood took me. But whatever.
Anyway, we were a pretty fun bunch, about half good-looking young women, and the guys were smart and funny. We let the waiters guide us, and had a great dinner. Then when it came time to pay the tab, I thought it was amazingly cheap. Like, $15 a head. But I remember, one guy, someone I didn't know, just said, "Well, I only have $10." Oh, really? Hey, can you wash dishes? What an ass. Anyway, we covered it. I mean, it was a great meal, for ten people, $150? Pungle up!
But I just remember, how the waiters were. Like, they were having a wonderful time, serving this bunch of supercilious louts and brazen hussies. How they appreciated our enjoyment. It was like they didn't get to do this very often, even though it was supposed to be their job.
Some time later, I told this story to a guy from the neighborhood, and he explained to me that the restaurant belonged to some mafia guy, and it was open every night, in case he wanted to bring some friends there. But everyone knew not to go there, I suppose because you could easily end up dead. So, those waiters were having heavy-duty irony attacks. But I'm sure they did enjoy having a bunch of bumptious, pretty young people come in, and let them show us a great time.
Now that the word is out Joni Ernst won't seek re-election, maybe Lonejustice can throw his hat into the ring.
The notably reliable Des Moines Register poll already has him up nine points in the Democratic Primary.
Rebuilding Ukraine is an opportunity for European companies ~ FT
'Comments on earnings calls indicate that dozens of companies already have an eye on opportunities'
That depends on how well infrastructure can be defended and how the war ends. Looking at the Russian side, they seem utterly incapable of defending their refineries. The following have received Ukrainian drone strikes just this month:-
08/02
1. Novokuibyshevsky Refinery
2. Ryazan Refinery
08/07
3. Afipsky Refinery
08/10
4. Saratovsky Refinery
08/14
5. Volgograd Refinery
08/15
6. Syzran
08/21
7. Novoshakhtinsky
08/28
8. Kuibyshevsky
Russia will need help from the West at the end of this failed invasion to efficiently repair all this damage. At the moment they are cobbling things together with Chinese and Iranian help but Russia will never get output back to 100% without western expertise and materiel and its hard to see what assurances would make this assistance forthcoming given how they exist in an Alice in Wonderland world of lies.
Jupiter - Hell of a story.
kak - I told family today that Putin will fuck up and blow Trump off, so DJT will have no choice but to sanction the hell out of Russia (directly and indirectly), and sell a shit load of weapons to Ukraine and Europe.
Leland - How mnay of the current Longorn players do you guess drink tea or coffee? I guess 10% at the most. Get current brother.
Negating Virginia's annexation of Arlington and Alexandria could have sparked a civil war years earlier. The rump Virginia legislature that authorized the creation of West Virginia might have been willing to do it during the Civil War. I don't see any chance of it happening now, even though Northern Virginia basically is part of DC in every way but officially.
Right now, I think the talk is more of retroceding most of the District back to Maryland and only keeping a very small government district under federal control. That also poses some problems. Would the District still have 3 electoral votes even if no one lived there? And if there are political trials, wouldn't they have to be held in the slimmed down district? But who'd be the jurors?
Lola of the Scots is an intriguing story, but all the narrators are unreliable. I'm rooting for Lola, but the prudent course is to wait and see what can be verified.. If the story of Lola and her mother checks out, then the Scottish police are just awful.
Rich and famous radio host, Erick Erickson, who lives in Macon, GA, is crying in his beer because his wife, who has stage 4 cancer, cannot get the Covid-19 vaccine in the state without a prescription under new administrative procedures put in place by RFK, Jr.
First, he tells his fans that the vaccine will not prevent contracting the virus, which isn't true. Then, he says the vaccine will ease the effects of the virus for his unfortunate wife, when and if she contracts it.
Please, some pharmacy in GA has the drug, and he certainly can afford to pay full price for a jab. And yes, somewhere in the state, there is a rich and famous doctor who he knows will prescribe the medicine.
Lazurus: DC will have electoral votes until such time as that part of the 23rd amendment is unaltered by the states.
I pulled this from another thread because I wanted to make a point: There's no reason WE have to pronounce a country's term for its name or the places in it. That's never been the rule before.
So if Indians want to say "Mumbai" for Bombay or the Burmese say "Yangon" instead of Rangoon, let them.
(And, of course, its utter SNOT to claim that if one uses the terms we use, and not the terms the other country uses, it's "proof" of total ignorance.)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dr Weevil said...
"Nothing comes out of 'Kiev' because there is no such city in the modern world. Calling Kyiv that is like calling Istanbul Byzantium or Constantinople: proof that the writer knows nothing about the subject."
************
* The Italians refer to Venezia. We say Venice. Germans call it Venedig.
* we say Germany, the French call it l'Allemagne, and the Krauts themselves say Deutschland.
*The Chicoms call the US "Meiguo".
*Hungarians refer to their country as "Magyarország"
*Estonians call their feisty little country Eesti.
IOW no country is bound to pronounce another country's names and places in the other country's language.
Shit, the Japanese even pronounce Mao Tse Tung's name as Moh Taku Toh!
So..... why can't we continue to refer to "Kiev" when Ukrainians use "Kyiv"?
The Euros are buying CERTAIN US weapons and giving them/selling them to Ukraine. Notably ammo for Patriot and HIMARS. But the bulk of Ukrainian weapons and ammo is now coming from Europe, or from the global market via Europe.
Company to watch - Germany's Diehl. Their IRIS-T is a capable interceptor of Russian cruise missiles, which matters as those are the real danger to Ukrainian infrastructure, due to their accuracy. To the degree possible Ukraine is using these as well as interceptor aircraft to take care of cruise missiles, to save on Patriots. The IRIS-T cant handle ballistic missiles and "hypersonic" missiles, but those are mostly used as terror weapons.
The IRIS-T is much cheaper per round and are more readily available.
Spain itself uses the AAM version of IRIS-T, but not the SAM (yet). The AAM version has been very popular in Europe for 20 years . There are huge Euro orders outstanding for the IRIS-T SAM.
Spain is a major partner in the Diehl consortium, Sener (SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas) makes control systems for IRIS-T. Sener HQ is in the Bilbao suburb of Getxo, so its my neighborhood missile company.
@wildswan's quixotic push to return the Virginia part of DC to DC.
You may be technically correct, but it's closing the door loooooong after the cows have gone. Returning VA to DC is number 999,999 on the list of the top 1,000,000 things that the government is going to consider. Number 1,000,000 is to build a rocket launching facility on the National Mall, using the Washington Monument as a support tower. The politicians are more likely to return all residential areas of DC to Maryland than bring back the VA parts, but that's a wildly partisan topic and not going to happen either.
Consider that:
- The Pentagon is in this region of Virginia
- Arlington National Cemetery is in this region
- DCA airport (Congress convenience) is in this region
- The Metro (WMATA) coordinates services and lines between DC, Maryland, and this Virginia region -- border crossing is seamless and routine
- Many major roads, highways, and freeways cross the Potomac to VA (beltway north to beltway south)
- Virginia does not control the Potomac River, so Maryland and DC effectively manage/police the water up to the Virginia shoreline
- Many federal agency offices are located in this region
- A large percentage of DC's federal employees live in this region; they identify as "Northern VA" rather than Virginians and shift Virginia's politics to the left
In sum, the six counties that form "Northern VA" are fully integrated into the DC metro area and have been for a long time. Back in the 1800s, crossing the Potomac river was harder and the region was isolated. It's not isolated any more. Your suggestion would slightly reduce the Democratic Party's influence in Virginia politics, but just slightly. The blue suburbs spread pretty far outside the old DC borders now.
Ref DC footprint: I have been an advocate of reducing it down to the Mall and the diplomatic quarter. But if people really want to have statehood, then it should be expanded to give it at least a fighting chance of enough tax base to support itself. Plus, DC has the problem of many cities: people (of all colors) sick of dealing with it move to the suburbs, keeping their tax money for their own kids' education but still benefiting from being city-dwellers. This problem is magnified in DC because once you cross the city line, you are in a different state.
(of course, no statehood advocate honestly contemplates DC being financially independent - they just want to be trustafarian 'adults' still getting Dad's money but with no restrictions on it)
So if DC gets statehood, I would want part of the bargain to include not just taking back Arlington and Alexandria, but also much bigger chunks of VA and MD - at least out to the Beltway. Or maybe out to the current reach of all the Metro lines. This would force suburbanites and government contracting companies into a shotgun wedding with the urbanites on taxes, policing, schools, and all the other services the suburbanites usually keep for themselves. A good model is London, which certainly has problems, but would have a lot more if it didn't keep moving its boundaries out to keep hold of middle-class flyers. RR, JSM
Please include Baltimore and PG county in with the rest of NOVA in the new DC.
Political junkie, are you saying the horns are down these days?
Fritz: yes, that would make sense. But I'm picking up that maybe you're a Marylander who wants to turn the state red? And so would the D's. So they probably would not accept it in the devil's bargain for DC statehood. RR,JSM
I'm back home after a month-long road trip, during which we put our house on the market and (barring any last-minute issues) sold it. So at present I'm sitting on my lovely pool deck looking out over the woods that border the second fairway of the golf course behind us, trying to appreciate the heck out of it, as our next step is Airbnb'ing around until we can't stand it any more while we wait for our kids to settle down, which will determine (or at least strongly influence) where we roost.
I think I'll be fine with leaving this house; two kids graduated from high school from here, but it's not like our last house where all three kids grew up and some of our closest friendships were forged in the fires of simultaneous parenthood. I'll miss the luxury of its space and what people call "outdoor living," but it's time for a new adventure.
Nineteen more days until I'm a nomad!
If Republicans truly believe there is a national emergency justifying the tariffs, why don't they pass them through Congress as required by the Constitution? They claim it's a national emergency, yet they rely on the Supreme Court while taking no legislative action.
One of the strongest arguments to the Court is that if this is genuinely a national emergency, the president's own party controls Congress but has failed to address it with legislation. How can it be an emergency if they’ve done nothing?
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