Althouse: At the Bee Balm Hotel...

September 14, 2017

At the Bee Balm Hotel...

... you can talk all night.

And shop all night too, using The Althouse Amazon Portal.

46 comments:

YoungHegelian said...: From Insty today, a very important confession from one of the chief architects of the Democratic electoral strategy: John Judis.

Redoing the Electoral Math

or

Damn! There sure are a lot of Honkies!

I remember reading the original article in TNR when it came out, & the stir it caused. Its air of demographic destiny as the foundation for Democratic triumphalism can be seen in the electoral strategies for all national level Democratic elections since. The election of Obama was supposed to be proof of its soundness.

One big problem is that even the assumed demographics have changed. Blacks, thought even up into the 90s to be an expanding demographic, have stayed at the same percentage of the population for quite some time (12%). Hispanics & Asians have grown as a percentage, but as Judis points out, as they move up the success ladder they start moving "white" in their politics & identity. And, I can tell you this much -- in DC, kids, white or not, may be sorta scarce. But, when I go back to Alabama, there's no shortage of kids of any & every color.; 9/14/17, 7:01 PM
Ralph L said...: I don't know how it works in the frozen North, but in Virginia, monarda is horribly invasive.; 9/14/17, 7:11 PM
Etienne said...: Perhaps there will be a class-action lawsuit, but because it's hard to draw a line between any of the many data breaches you're subjected to and a specific harm, courts are not likely to side with you.

Bruce Schneier on the Equifax data breach; 9/14/17, 7:24 PM
Earnest Prole said...: I'm a king bee
Buzzin round your hive
I'm a king bee
Buzzin round your hive
We can make honey baby
Let me come
Inside; 9/14/17, 7:27 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @etienne,

It's become very clear that it's impossible to secure a public facing SQL database. In the term "public facing", I include any database that services a public facing web site. If the firewall ports are open for the communications necessary to handle SQL queries from a web server, it's "public facing".

I wish I could tell you that I see some way around this problem, but, honest to God, I don't for the foreseeable future.; 9/14/17, 7:30 PM
Hagar said...: I think maybe it is time to get China's attention by selling Japan one or two nuclear capable submarines - minus the missiles perhaps, for now - including training Japanese crews to operate them.; 9/14/17, 7:37 PM
Etienne said...: I'm surprised the US doesn't intercept the North Korean missiles in the boost phase.

I don't think the world would care, and it would really piss-off the North Koreans.; 9/14/17, 7:49 PM
Ralph L said...: Hagar, it would not surprise me if Japan, SK, or Taiwan already had nukes. Considering our presidents and one national party the last 25 years, they'd be reckless not to do it.; 9/14/17, 7:51 PM
Big Mike said...: It's become very clear that it's impossible to secure a public facing SQL database.

Yes and no. You can make it vastly harder than it is right now. There are countermeasures for SQL injection attacks, but a stunning number of federal and commercial databases fail to deploy them. Out at Purdue University they've developed techniques for mathematically characterizing "normal" queries and thus detecting abnormal queries and singling them out for extra scrutiny (electronic or even manual). To my knowledge no one wants to incur the overhead of intercepting SQL queries and applying Purdue's normal/abnormal test. Techniques for blocking queries that extract very large quantities of data have existed for quite some time.

But nothing will stop a hacker that managed to phish your user name and password from you, nor will anything stop the insider threat, where a trusted user has full rights to the data in the database and abuses the trust.; 9/14/17, 7:59 PM
Hagar said...: Not the point.; 9/14/17, 8:04 PM
Michael K said...: I'm surprised the US doesn't intercept the North Korean missiles in the boost phase.

I thought so too but am now convinced it is impossible because of bad choices presidents have made over the past 30 years.

Read this

The Establishment Republicans’ intellectual guide, the Wall Street Journal, has just pointed the way. In an obituary (September 2-3) and an editorial (September 6), it celebrated George A. Keyworth, the White House science adviser from 1981 until 1984, as “the Godfather of Missile defense.” In fact, no one was more responsible than Keyworth for turning President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative into a research program that produced zero anti-missile weapons—by design. The so-called Fletcher Panel that he created defined SDI by precluding building defensive devices, restricting its mandate to long-term research. He staffed it exclusively with delegates from the national labs and their contractors. They divvied up some $30 billion to fund their favorite hobby horses.

It is a problem without a solution for 25 years.; 9/14/17, 8:22 PM
Big Mike said...: nor will anything stop the insider threat, where a trusted user has full rights to the data in the database and abuses the trust.

Let me caveat that. Before I retired I was part of a group that worked a project that applied the Purdue algorithms to insider hacking, with some success.; 9/14/17, 8:41 PM
David Begley said...: Tonight on the Maddow show Hillary asserted that Libs Mark Zuckerberg and Cheryl Samberg have essentially zero control over their business and had no clue that the .Russians were buying ads that cost Hillary the election. Hillary also claimed that no woman could vote for Trump because of the Billy Bush tape.

Add that to her misunderstanding of Orwell's 1984 and the only fair conclusion is that this woman is insane.; 9/14/17, 8:49 PM
David Begley said...: Maddow is just as insane. Trump obstructed justice because he fired Comey.

Comey could be fired for no reason at all.; 9/14/17, 8:51 PM
J. Farmer said...: Trump Signals He Will Choose Approach on Iran That Preserves Nuclear Deal

Fantastic news. I was well aware of Trump's disparaging of the Iran nuclear deal during the campaign, but I always hoped that advisors could prevail in convincing him of the inherent strategic position the US has with the nuclear deal in place. Trump's opposition to the nuclear deal was always just a part of his "oppose everything Obama supported" strategy. Since Obama negotiated the deal, Trump declared it the "worst deal ever." This was always nonsensical. Trump's stated desire to blow up the deal was always one of my biggest worries with him in terms of foreign policy. If he can be persuaded to step back from his more aggressive rhetoric regarding the deal, Trump can be persuaded to continue and take ownership of one of his predecessor's very rare foreign policy achievements.; 9/14/17, 9:02 PM
JackWayne said...: Calling the Iran deal an achievement is twisting the meaning of achievement all out of shape. It has guaranteed a nuclear arms race in the ME which is a nightmare. Just as the stupidity regarding NK has guaranteed a race in the East. But wth, as long as something needs to be done and something is done, then we have an achievement.; 9/14/17, 9:11 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: " Blacks, thought even up into the 90s to be an expanding demographic, have stayed at the same percentage of the population for quite some time (12%). "

Black women have 28% of all abortions in this country. That might just have something to do with the static demographic picture. So does the black murder rate, which is 4 times the national average. And most murders are intraracial (that is true of every race).

It's quite a mess, especially for Dems. Addressing the actual social pathologies within the black community, such as the the single parent homes, the crappy schools, the dropout rate - is the only thing that will work. However, if blacks move out of the inner city and become more middle class, they might just decide they don't need the federal government - and Democrats - anymore. We can't have that!

So the only thing to do is keep on doing what doesn't work, and blame whitey for all your failures. Oh, and those damned Confederate statues.; 9/14/17, 9:17 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Trump Signals He Will Choose Approach on Iran That Preserves Nuclear Deal

Explain to me again the difference between Donald Trump and Barack Obama, other than the color of their skin and the attractiveness of their spouses?; 9/14/17, 9:24 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Great seeing the Indians set the consecutive games record!; 9/14/17, 9:38 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I mean, seeing it on tv. We're not in Cleveland.; 9/14/17, 9:38 PM
mccullough said...: Nice job, Indians. The New York Giants a century ago didn't lose for 26 consecutive games, but there was a tie in one of the games. There are no ties in baseball anymore. So hopefully the Indians get to 27 consecutive wins.; 9/14/17, 10:12 PM
mccullough said...: Realistically, there are no ties anymore in baseball but it happened in 2016 and 2005. The season was almost over, the teams were not scheduled to play each other again and the outcome on the final standings would have no effect so MLB, in consultation with the teams, declared a tie.; 9/14/17, 10:23 PM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: I keep wondering when we are going to hear more facts out of Charlottesville.; 9/14/17, 10:24 PM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: claimed that no woman could vote for Trump because of the Billy Bush tape.

I wonder if it ever occurred to her that women might not want her husband roaming the West Wing again inspecting the new talent every time there is another class of interns? Naah! Her "The children are watching" ads were the most clueless thing I had ever seen.; 9/14/17, 10:28 PM
Michael K said...: "Addressing the actual social pathologies within the black community, such as the the single parent homes, the crappy schools, the dropout rate - is the only thing that will work. "

Blacks are dying out as a demographic. Abortion plus murder by other blacks.; 9/14/17, 10:32 PM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: Why have so many blacks chosen to return to the South, even though they would be exposed to Confederate statues? The north has almost exclusively Union soldier statues, It's a mystery.; 9/14/17, 10:33 PM
YoungHegelian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/14/17, 11:02 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @tim in VT,

Why have so many blacks chosen to return to the South?

I'm working on a project with an Italian/Hungarian lady out of Hoboken, NJ. She's certainly not ignorant of northern racism, as shown by the story she told me from her childhood when a black doctor moved his family into an Italian neighborhood & within four days someone burned a cross in his yard.

Still, she was surprised when I told her about the blacks I've known who, because I'm a 'Bama boy, have told me that they'd move back South in a New York minute if they could find a job equivalent to what they have in DC. It's not that they think white Southerners are God's gift to racial tolerance. It's mostly that they think it's still a culture that, due to church & community influence, is a safer & more wholesome environment to raise their kids, especially their boys.; 9/14/17, 11:05 PM
Ralph L said...: Why have so many blacks chosen to return to the South

Warm places to shit?

I condemn myself.
My junior English teacher, nicknamed Poof Reed, transgressive before it was cool, told us the unexpurgated Butz joke.; 9/14/17, 11:54 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Reading a little 4chan, reading a little Althouse.

Reading a little 4chan, reading a little Althouse.

Reading a little 4chan, reading a little Althouse.

There are commonalities.

I am Laslo.; 9/14/17, 11:56 PM
walter said...: Earnest Prole said.Explain to me again the difference between Donald Trump and Barack Obama
--
"It's the economy, stupid"...including putting CAGW/Gore-ism, in its proper place.; 9/15/17, 12:30 AM
walter said...: (Trump gets no affirmative action Nobel either); 9/15/17, 12:32 AM
walter said...: Hey..how is the Nobel crew interpreting the post 8yr peace prize winner's global results? Kinda quiet there..; 9/15/17, 12:43 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/15/17, 2:13 AM
Humperdink said...: WOKE up to another terrorist attack in London. This time a bucket bomb. Well, maybe I jumped the gun labeling it a terror attack. It could have been the cleaning lady not trained in the proper mixing of cleaning chemicals.; 9/15/17, 5:44 AM
J. Farmer said...: Jack Wayne:

Calling the Iran deal an achievement is twisting the meaning of achievement all out of shape. It has guaranteed a nuclear arms race in the ME which is a nightmare. Just as the stupidity regarding NK has guaranteed a race in the East. But wth, as long as something needs to be done and something is done, then we have an achievement.

It has guaranteed no such thing. If anything, it has forestalled one. The JCPOA places restrictions on Iran above even what they are permitted under the NPT. The US gave up practically nothing of strategic value and was able to achieve important concessions on the promise of sanctions relief.; 9/15/17, 5:48 AM
Humperdink said...: Jack Wayne said: "..... It has guaranteed a nuclear arms race in the ME ..."

J.Farmer responded: "It has guaranteed no such thing. ...."

The House of Saud is terrified of Iran. I suspect they will choose to man up.; 9/15/17, 6:06 AM
Humperdink said...: The prize is Mecca. For the time being, it remains located in Sah-ooodi Arabia; 9/15/17, 6:12 AM
brylun said...: I find myself agreeing with Jack Wayne and Humperdink, and I wonder about J. Farmer's knowledge of Islam and the Middle East.; 9/15/17, 6:23 AM
Chuck said...: David Frum on Twitter:

Deal is emerging: Democrats get DACA in exchange for US Treasury picking up Mrs. Mnoochin’s August American Express bill.

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/908172210707288064; 9/15/17, 7:02 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Humperdink:

The House of Saud is terrified of Iran. I suspect they will choose to man up.

Terrified might be a little bit of an overstatement, but they are certainly concerned about Iran. The JCPOA significantly reduces Iran's ability to obtain a weapon, and Iran without a nuclear deal would be far likelier to spark an arms race than an Iran under significant constrictions.

The prize is Mecca. For the time being, it remains located in Sah-ooodi Arabia

Prize for what? Even if Iran possessed nuclear weapons, it would not be able to obtain Mecca as a prize.

@brylun:

I find myself agreeing with Jack Wayne and Humperdink, and I wonder about J. Farmer's knowledge of Islam and the Middle East.

"I don't know how to refute an incredulous stare." -David Lewis; 9/15/17, 12:29 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Chuck said...
David Frum on Twitter:

Deal is emerging: Democrats get DACA in exchange for US Treasury picking up Mrs. Mnoochin’s August American Express bill.

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/908172210707288064

I wonder if you realize he is kidding.; 9/15/17, 1:01 PM
Gahrie said...: It has guaranteed no such thing. If anything, it has forestalled one. The JCPOA places restrictions on Iran above even what they are permitted under the NPT. The US gave up practically nothing of strategic value and was able to achieve important concessions on the promise of sanctions relief.

We know how bad the Iran deal was for Iran because of how long and hard they fought against it.......; 9/15/17, 6:14 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Gahrie:

We know how bad the Iran deal was for Iran because of how long and hard they fought against it.......

I never said it was "bad" for them. Successful diplomatic deals should not seek to be simply "good" for one side and "bad" for both sides. In fact, it's bargaining 101 that in the best deals, each side gives up something they want and gets something they want. But, in fact, there was a lot of hardline opposition to the deal.; 9/15/17, 7:24 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: But, in fact, there was a lot of hardline opposition to the deal.

Ever buy a rug?; 9/15/17, 7:59 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Gahrie:

Ever buy a rug?

From a Persian? I have actually. Have you? I'm doubtful.

But that's a one-to-one negotiation. Iran is not a monolithic entity with a single mind and a single strategy. It, like any other political entity, has various power centers whose interests align and conflict. The Supreme Leader's power is not absolute, no more than the kings of Europe during the period of so called absolutism. There were, in fact, many voices of opposition to the nuclear deal in Iran. Rouhani was criticized from conservative members of the government on numerous issues, including that he was educated and spent his 20s in the US, that he was making too many concessions, and that he did not favor a vote in the Iranian Parliament on the deal. This article from Newsweek from 2015 lays out the players pretty succinctly:

Iranian President and Parliament at Odds Over Nuke Deal

Now, if you want to say that it is all just a giant mirage meant to fool us, including Iranian politicians next that practically no American has ever heard of and newspapers and periodicals written in a language practically no American can read. But if you want to make that claim, you need to have actual evidence. Your hunches about what you think is going on inside Iran will not suffice. And neither will cliche-ridden allusions to Persian negotiating skills.; 9/16/17, 7:18 AM