Althouse: Titus Canyon, Death Valley.

March 16, 2017

Titus Canyon, Death Valley.

P1120377

P1120376

From March 5th.

(Feel free to talk about anything in the comments.)

59 comments:

Big Mike said...: It looks a little cracked up -- sort of like our commentator of the same name.; 3/16/17, 4:38 PM
madAsHell said...: Tits!!; 3/16/17, 4:39 PM
Darrell said...: Wear rubbers.; 3/16/17, 5:08 PM
rehajm said...: Death Valley? That's a little harsh...; 3/16/17, 5:28 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Clinton Ally Says Smoke, But No Fire: No Russia-Trump Collusion
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/clinton-ally-says-smoke-no-fire-no-russia-trump-collusion-n734176

The Clinton ally is former acting CIA director Michael Morell. Morell specifically refutes the incendiary conclusions of Obama's Dec. 10 intelligence report that relied on the Steele dossier. Morell says the Steele dossier is useless and can't be trusted because Steele did not speak directly to sources. Instead he used intermediaries who were paid by Steele.; 3/16/17, 5:54 PM
Michael K said...: "No Russia-Trump Collusion"

OMG! This is as big as the tax return !

Drove up to Phoenix to meet my son and his family for a birthday party. They drove over from OC for the Angels spring training camp.; 3/16/17, 6:22 PM
Original Mike said...: Is that Loaf Lava?; 3/16/17, 6:38 PM
pacwest said...: There are arguments to be made pointing out the flaws of the Trump Administration, but other than ARM, and occasionally Chuck none of the lefties on this site are willing to make them. It didn't used to be such an echo chamber here at AA. Cmon guys and gals from the left. All it would take is a little intellectual honesty on your part.; 3/16/17, 7:02 PM
traditionalguy said...: If that is the Death Valley, then the Shenandoah Valley is the Life Valley. Selah.; 3/16/17, 7:17 PM
F said...: Pacwest:

A friend recommended a closed FB site to me -- Open Fire -- because he said it was even=handed and had people posting from both sides of the political aisle. I read it for a few days, then signed up.

In the week since, it has been entirely one-sided: from the left. Not just the left, but the Trump-hating left. The level of vitriol would be amazing except that I have come to expect it from a large part of our population. They hate his looks, his wealth, his kids, his wife, his use of Air Force One, his golfing, the cost of his inauguration, his proposed de-funding of NPR -- the hate is visceral and universal. It is also uninformed much of the time: his inauguration cost the taxpayer about the same as Obama's, and the largest part of the federal expenditure was on the security necessitated by Trump haters who threatened him bodily harm as he and Melania rode from the Capitol to the White House.

I have only ever unfriended one person in my FB experience, but I'm about to change that. The level of derangement is astonishing, disturbing, and very worrisome. And now there are rumors floating that Obama met with Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii a day before Watson imposed the TRO. Where are we headed, as a nation? This has gone too far.; 3/16/17, 7:23 PM
buwaya said...: "The level of derangement is astonishing, disturbing, and very worrisome."

True. I don't use FB for anything, but I monitor. Same impression.; 3/16/17, 7:40 PM
steve uhr said...: No more funding for climate change research. Trump may go down in history for turning the entire planet into death valley.; 3/16/17, 7:58 PM
Jupiter said...: steve uhr said...
"No more funding for climate change research. Trump may go down in history for turning the entire planet into death valley."

Why do you want more research when the science is already settled?; 3/16/17, 8:07 PM
steve uhr said...: Good point -- no more funding to save the planet from climate change. Better?; 3/16/17, 8:09 PM
pacwest said...: F:
Most of my criticism of President Trump are of a fiscal nature, but I'm pretty extreme about that. I also think he could do a much better job of messaging and the size of his ego is sometimes harmful to what he is trying to do. But given what he is trying to achieve it is likely few other than him could even make the effort.
The left does appear to have lost it's sensabilties and like antiphone above give responses that range from 'Trump deserves unwavering hatred because President Obama was the second coming' to unhinged stuff I can't even make sense out of.
Civil discourse, at the level of blog comments anyway, doesn't seem to exist any more.
I miss it.; 3/16/17, 8:09 PM
Heywood Rice said...: The left does appear to have lost it's sensabilties (sic) and like antiphone above give responses that range from 'Trump deserves unwavering hatred because President Obama was the second coming'...

Actually I'm no fan of Obama or "the left" as you so predictably assume. What would be funny if it weren't so sad is the utterly phony pretense of moral high ground on the subject of civility. Got it snowflake?; 3/16/17, 8:22 PM
chickelit said...: When I was back there in commenter school, there was person there who put forth the proposition that you could petition Titus with blog...

...petition Titus with blog?

You cannot petition Titus with blog!; 3/16/17, 8:28 PM
buwaya said...: "Good point -- no more funding to save the planet from climate change. Better?'

Better! I like it. More growth, more tech, more liberty, all of which solve many problems much worse than "global warming".; 3/16/17, 8:33 PM
buwaya said...: "But given what he is trying to achieve it is likely few other than him could even make the effort."

And that is the nut of it. And its very uncertain that even he can succeed vs the entropic blob thats trying to stop him.; 3/16/17, 8:35 PM
David Baker said...: Trump is getting rolled at every turn (see; Ryan on healthcare, McConnell on taxes, and now the judiciary stripping his executive power). And when it comes to the judiciary, compare his approach to Obama's - who single-handedly turned no less than the chief justice of the United States into his own personal defense attorney. Not by rolling over or some pussyfooting art-of-the-deal, but by pure, unadulterated intimidation.; 3/16/17, 8:38 PM
Jupiter said...: steve uhr said...
"Good point -- no more funding to save the planet from climate change. Better?"

Perfect!; 3/16/17, 8:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Meals on Wheels program is getting cut, supposedly not showing "results". I guess those old frail people didn't starve and die, so no "results." Or maybe the old folks were supposed to miraculously get younger amd healthier?; 3/16/17, 8:52 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Althouse should just tell us this trip to the desert is just preparation for her pioneering trip to Mars.

She is going to be the first blogger to live blog Mars or something.; 3/16/17, 8:56 PM
pacwest said...: Gee, sorry antiphone. I didn't realize you weren't an Obama fan. What sort of positive things are you actually for?

Buwaya, you seem to be a lot more cynical than a couple of months ago. You are are obviously an intelligent well informed guy with an outsider's view which is appreciated. Hopefully you still see some light at the end of the tunnel.; 3/16/17, 8:57 PM
chuck said...: @David Baker

Trolling today? You published essentially the same comment at instapundit.; 3/16/17, 8:57 PM
Anonymous said...: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/16/520390147/trump-administration-proposes-big-cuts-in-medical-research

"Trump Administration Proposes Big Cuts In Medical Research"

Meh, who needs medical research when you can have a wall?; 3/16/17, 8:58 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger steve uhr said...
No more funding for climate change research. Trump may go down in history for turning the entire planet into death valley.
3/16/17, 7:58 PM

I'm sure that the people that believe what steve believes could get together and cough up a few billion to pay for research into global warming. After all, the existence of the human race depends on it, right steve? What could possibly have a higher priority?; 3/16/17, 9:04 PM
traditionalguy said...: I hear Obama stashed 80 billion dollars in Federal Agencies to use on his Climate Hoax Operations after he's gone down the street to keep running his many conspiracies to destroy the USA. So simply dig it out and spend it on wall, bridges, Meals on Wheels and the Saturday morning NPR line up.

There. Everybody happy now?; 3/16/17, 9:07 PM
Gahrie said...: Trolling today?

OK..I don't care who you are...that's funny!; 3/16/17, 9:07 PM
Gahrie said...: "Trump Administration Proposes Big Cuts In Medical Research"

Oh No! I just had my grant proposal all written out!

The effects of climate change on gender dysmorphic fire ants!; 3/16/17, 9:10 PM
buwaya said...: "Buwaya, you seem to be a lot more cynical than a couple of months ago."

Sadly, I have always been entirely cynical and entirely paranoid.; 3/16/17, 9:13 PM
steve uhr said...: Sorry Lewis but you need something called "regulation" to save the environment. I know it is an ugly word these days ...; 3/16/17, 9:15 PM
buwaya said...: "Sorry Lewis but you need something called "regulation" to save the environment. I know it is an ugly word these days ..."

It may have once, in a very limited sense, been helpful for that, but the regulatory apparatus and its various semi-hemi-sort of official appurtenances are now a major part of that entropic blob that is destroying your economy and society. A death-machine, once intended for one limited purpose, but now grown huge, mindless, out of control, and intending only to destroy.; 3/16/17, 9:19 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger steve uhr said...
Sorry Lewis but you need something called "regulation" to save the environment. I know it is an ugly word these days ...

You didn't say anything about regulation, steve, and I didn't say anything about regulation. What gives?; 3/16/17, 9:20 PM
David Baker said...: chuck said...@David Baker; You published essentially the same comment at instapundit.

Certainly not exactly the same, but thanks for the emphasis, and the link.; 3/16/17, 9:22 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) gets the ax, as does the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program, which enabled Tesla to manufacture its Model S sedan.
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/17/03/16/234207/us-federal-budget-proposal-cuts-science-funding

So where are my stock certificates?
NPR news today is still going on about Michael Flynn.
They said that he had been paid by RT to attend some conference in Russia.
In late 2015, before he began advising Trump.
Also Kapersky Labs, a privately owned Russian computer security firm paid Flynn to give them a speech. At the end of the piece, the NPR newsreader disclosed that Kapersky labs also gave a lot of money to NPR.
Maybe they could shift the tax payer dollars from NPR to global warming research?
Priorities, people, priorities!; 3/16/17, 9:37 PM
Fernandinande said...: Gahrie said...
The effects of climate change on gender dysmorphic fire ants!

UNUSUAL REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF ODD ANTS SURPRISES SCIENTISTS
"The DNA of some of these ants was just weird ..."; 3/16/17, 9:43 PM
buwaya said...: On the nature of the regulatory apparatus - a series of science-fictional analogies - if you like Science Fiction.

Available on the Althouse Amazon Portal!

Saberhagen's Berserker Series (9 Book Series) - Fred Saberhagen
On Kindle

Benford - Galactic Center (6 book series) - Gregory Benford
On Kindle; 3/16/17, 9:47 PM
Heywood Rice said...: What sort of positive things are you actually for?

Well I do enjoy a single malt butterscotch and a swisher sweet.; 3/16/17, 9:48 PM
pacwest said...: "Well I do enjoy a single malt butterscotch and a swisher sweet."

In moderation I hope!; 3/16/17, 10:24 PM
heyboom said...: Wife jetted off to Maui with a group of girlfriends yesterday for five days. Naturally, I have to fill that time by getting in four rounds of golf while she's gone. Hopefully four rounds, if climate change is willing.; 3/16/17, 10:39 PM
jaed said...: On the nature of the regulatory apparatus

And do not forget the classic Star Trek episode, "The Doomsday Machine" (also known as "The Giant Waffle Cone of Death").; 3/16/17, 11:34 PM
chickelit said...: I have only ever unfriended one person in my FB experience, but I'm about to change that.

I haven't been active on Twitter for a year (years, really) but I just tonight went and shit-canned a some old follows who just can't shut down the anti-Trump rhetoric.; 3/16/17, 11:59 PM
Robert Cook said...: "(Regulation) may have once, in a very limited sense, been helpful for that, but the regulatory apparatus and its various semi-hemi-sort of official appurtenances are now a major part of that entropic blob that is destroying your economy and society. A death-machine, once intended for one limited purpose, but now grown huge, mindless, out of control, and intending only to destroy."

It is unregulated capitalism, (and unpunished criminality by capitalists) that is destroying the economy and society.; 3/17/17, 6:47 AM
Robert Cook said...: "There are arguments to be made pointing out the flaws of the Trump Administration, but other than ARM, and occasionally Chuck none of the lefties on this site are willing to make them. It didn't used to be such an echo chamber here at AA. Cmon guys and gals from the left. All it would take is a little intellectual honesty on your part."

Heh. Maybe because Trump's administration is all "flaw" and no "good."; 3/17/17, 6:51 AM
Gahrie said...: It is unregulated capitalism, (and unpunished criminality by capitalists) that is destroying the economy and society.

Capitalism has produced a world with an all time high in population and all time lows in hunger and poverty.; 3/17/17, 8:09 AM
ndspinelli said...: chick, LOL! I want to the Rhode Island coast w/ some buddies in high school. We needed beer. There was a guy hitch hiking only he was standing halfway in a cornfield w/ his thumb out. But, he was definitely 21 sp we picked him up. He was tripping on acid and kept repeating the Morrison line in loud volume, "YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD W/ PRAYER!" He was sane enough to buy us a couple cases of beer.; 3/17/17, 8:40 AM
Big Mike said...: @Cookie, if capitalism in the United States is unregulated, then I guess all of the federal bureaucrats working in agencies other than George Washington's original four and the people in Social Security are doing nothing useful and we can safely remove all of them. An intelligent person (leaves you out!) argues that after eight years of the Hyde Park village idiot capitalism in this country is mis-regulated and overregulated, but it is manifestly not UNregulated.

Here in the US, thanks to capitalism, poor people own cars (multiple) and color TVs, and are fat. Ow go sulk in your dacha.; 3/17/17, 9:52 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Here in the US, thanks to capitalism, poor people own cars (multiple) and color TVs, and are fat."

Poor people don't own shit. Quite aside from your dubious claim that the poor own multiple cars and other such goods, they--like the shrinking middle class--rent everything they have in that everything they "have" is obtained with credit cards. They, like the shrinking middle class, are serfs living in life-long debt. But they, like the shrinking middle class, are buying less and less as even their credit spending reaches its limits, and we see more and more retailers turning more and more often to "special sales" to unload more and more excess inventory that is going unsold.

Things are coming to a head, and with the next great financial collapse, we will see the true waste laid to our society by unregulated capitalism. (The devastation brought by unregulated capitalism is not just a phenomenon local to the USA, but is global.); 3/17/17, 10:07 AM
Gahrie said...: The devastation brought by unregulated capitalism is not just a phenomenon local to the USA, but is global.)

You only wish..

When will you Commies finally get the message ...you lost!

As I said before:

Capitalism has produced a world with an all time high in population and all time lows in hunger and poverty.

Where is this devastation?; 3/17/17, 10:25 AM
I Callahan said...: Meh, who needs medical research when you can have a wall?

Right, because the only way medical research can possibly be done is by letting the federal government do it.

Got any more stupid statements you'd like shot down?; 3/17/17, 10:36 AM
I Callahan said...: It is unregulated capitalism, (and unpunished criminality by capitalists) that is destroying the economy and society.

Jesus Christ on a Pony. Where ON EARTH is this happening? Answer? Nowhere. Every. Single. Business is regulated heavily in this country. I don't care if it's a lemonade stand.

Come back to Earth, Bob. We need your logic. And this isn't it.; 3/17/17, 10:40 AM
buwaya said...: Heh, I live in the belly of "unregulated capitalism".
Oddly, I have to work with piles of these regulations.
They make up oh, I guess 50% of my daily worries.
Between personnel, industrial, environmental, and, oddly, financial, in spite of the fact that we (our specific lot, not the parts of the business that handle finances) have nothing to do with finance.
I would like to know what the unregulated parts of this unregulated capitalism actually are.
In detail.; 3/17/17, 10:58 AM
Rusty said...: "It is unregulated capitalism, (and unpunished criminality by capitalists) that is destroying the economy and society."

It's funny because you don't know it's funny and you have an imperfect idea of what "capitalism" , "economy" and "society" mean.

Un la paloma blanca, right Bob.; 3/17/17, 11:34 AM
MadisonMan said...: Tits!

I figure this thread should nearly start and nearly end the same way.; 3/17/17, 12:24 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Things are coming to a head, and with the next great financial collapse, we will see the true waste laid to our society by unregulated capitalism. (The devastation brought by unregulated capitalism is not just a phenomenon local to the USA, but is global.)
I once read an essay by a Polish dissident to communism.
He said that the Reds had thought World War One and the Russian Revolution meant that we were in End Stage Capitalism.
Then the Reds thought that the Great Depression meant that we were in End Stage Capitalism.
Then the Reds thought that World War Two meant that we were in End Stage Capitalism.
But after World War Two the West became more prosperous. In the grocery stores of the United States, the shelves were full of food. The Highways of the United were packed with cars, owned by ordinary workers. this was not true in the Soviet Union. It never would be true in the Soviet Union.
By the mid 1980s, the game was up. The Soviet economic model was known not to work by the people whose job it was to promote and protect it. The Soviet Union would never be the workers' paradise. Instead it would be the paradise of the commissar, the general, and the secret policeman. By the end of 1991, the USSR was gone. Goodbye, Red nightmare.; 3/17/17, 12:59 PM
buwaya said...: "By the end of 1991, the USSR was gone. Goodbye, Red nightmare."

The Communists made a terrible mistake. They implied that they could ultimately be judged by empirical criteria, that is the material welfare of the median person. They were, deep down, strategically naive people, no matter how brutal or Machiavellian they were, operationally and tactically.

This was an interesting point brought up by Ayn Rand in one of her later essays (a very interesting person, Ayn Rand. An astute analyst. Well worth reading no matter your reaction to her literary qualities or philosophy). She predicted that the next philosophical/strategic justification for totalitarian power would strictly avoid promises of well being, or any measurable criteria at all. She said that a new movement, a new regime would be justified by unfalsifiable intangibles. Environmentalism say.

Well, what do you know.
People are now yelling for power for the sake of saving the world from "global warming" - an unmeasurable phenomenon, or rather one which has measurements controlled by the power-seekers. Or environmentalism in general, with no metrics, no definable goals. Or feminism, ditto, which justifies itself on manipulated feelings. Or tribal factionalism, which justifies itself also entirely through feelings, of envy and resentment.; 3/17/17, 1:42 PM
ccscientist said...: Robert Cook: "It is unregulated capitalism, (and unpunished criminality by capitalists) that is destroying the economy and society." There is very little unregulated capitalism in the world. And where exactly do you see unpunished criminality? If you are thinking of the 2009 crash, much of that was caused by government regulations and programs, like home loans for 3.5% down payment and big punishment for not loaning enough in poor neighborhoods.
Of course capitalism isn't perfect, but any sort of dictatorship (fixing prices, dictating what should be made) or socialism/communism (gov ownership) is much much worse. Like Venezuela. Did you ever see photos of East Germany when the wall fell? Same people and history on both sides of the wall, almost a perfect controlled experiment. Not only poorer but dirtier, uglier, and more polluted.; 3/17/17, 2:00 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger buwaya said...
"By the end of 1991, the USSR was gone. Goodbye, Red nightmare."

The Communists made a terrible mistake. They implied that they could ultimately be judged by empirical criteria, that is the material welfare of the median person.

In Secondhand Time, Alexievich seems to be arguing that Soviets accepted the cruelty, war, and oppression of the Soviet State because they believed the propaganda that they were building a better world for people like themselves. By the 1980s it was clear that their sacrifices had been for nothing, and the kleptocracy that took over from the CPSU only deepened their cynicism.
By the 1980s it was almost impossible for regular workers to live on the wages paid to them by the state. They had to buy and sell (illegally) to survive.; 3/17/17, 3:32 PM

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