Althouse: At the Polar Bear Café...

August 18, 2019

At the Polar Bear Café...

... you can swim all night.

(And remember the Althouse Portal to Amazon, where you can buy all the swimsuits you want.)

120 comments:

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: are they cis, or bi- polar bears?; 8/18/19, 8:28 PM
Fernandinande said...: "Arctic" is worth watching. It has a polar bear.; 8/18/19, 8:33 PM
rehajm said...: Buoyant.; 8/18/19, 8:39 PM
Narr said...: Cool as a moose! I like the hushed tone of the visitors.

Narr
Maybe they know the bears only want to eat their faces; 8/18/19, 8:43 PM
Drago said...: Biden is finito.

NYT unleashes on him yesterday in their article explaining how obama counseled him not to run which represents the first real clue that obama wants nothing at all to do with this fading loser that LLR Chuck was attempting to puff up in recent weeks, and now politico swoops in today to bounce the rubble with an article showing Bidens support dropping off along with tne collapse of key fundraising stats.

And all that after a couple weeks worth of articles in the Lefty/LLR-left press relaying the fears of dem consultants that Biden is a complete idiot and gaffe machine and has lost alot more than just a step or two. That boy cant even find the starting line....

Funniest part of all this: LLR and #StrongDemDefender Chuck was trying to make the case that Biden was sharper than Trump!!

So. Much. Winning.; 8/18/19, 8:46 PM
rcocean said...: "More fun that an barrel-full of monkeys" needs to be replaced with "More fun than a pool full of polar bears"; 8/18/19, 8:55 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: like living lava-lamp blobs !

******

C'mon Occhionero-- give them a black eye!

"Who Read Clinton Emails?"
per Gina Shakespeare / EpochTimes; 8/18/19, 9:07 PM
narciso said...: And they followed up witn a slobberfest at kamala harris.; 8/18/19, 9:17 PM
Birkel said...: They're killing machines.; 8/18/19, 9:30 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Sista Soulja 2020" is what you people need to anticipate. What story makes Harris all of the sudden a centrist, responsible non-extremist? That is what 2020 will bring.

See through it by visualizing it now, this very night.

Dream first, then speak of it. Become one with your vision. Make it reality, a punchline on their dime.; 8/18/19, 9:32 PM
Sydney said...: I went to a Starbucks in Seattle recently and had to use a unisex bathroom. It was like a traditional public bathroom - a large room with many stalls - but the stall walls were ceiling to floor and had doors you could lock. Still, I felt very uncomfortable there and not safe. I suspect there are a certain percentage of men who find it sexually arousing to hear women urinate. I suspect this percentage is larger than the percentage of transgenders.; 8/18/19, 9:33 PM
wild chicken said...: Just being in a small enclosed rest room with guys creeps me out. Who would know if they assaulted someone there?; 8/18/19, 9:40 PM
rhhardin said...: Startling to see Lawrence Fox, the good British detective sergeant in Inspector Lewis, as the bad son against the same British police in Foyle's War s2d3. British TV mystery series.

Same mannerisms so unmistakenly the same character. Typecast conflict. Like Christopher Reeve as anybody but Superman.; 8/18/19, 9:44 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Like many California cities before it, Austin's decision to stop enforcing cam,ping decisions against homless people has lead to a proliferation of homeless tent cities on public sidewalks, with the used needles and feces to come.; 8/18/19, 9:47 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Airbnb (or Vrbo) or Residence Inn (or similar)?; 8/18/19, 9:47 PM
rhhardin said...: I suspect there are a certain percentage of men who find it sexually arousing to hear women urinate.

Julia Roberts in The Mexican (2001), kidnapped by the bad guy. Unable to pee while the bad guy was outside the stall. Solved by the bad guy peeing in the next stall, sound of both peeing ended the scene.; 8/18/19, 9:47 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I'm with Sydney and wild chicken. I don't want to be in a private, enclosed space with strange men.; 8/18/19, 9:48 PM
rhhardin said...: Arctic (2018) was one of those interminable suffering flicks. On and on hardship scenes. If you're like me you go meta and start cataloguing the difficulties that the script has thrown in, rather than getting into the story. What will the writers throw in next, was the suspense. You keep watching the DVD progress bar. Only halfway through!

It had an airplane to make it interesting but they ran out of ideas.; 8/18/19, 9:54 PM
rhhardin said...: Child 44 (2015) had that same interminable quality. A really long film, use two sittings. There will be no reward for the first sitting. Universal soviet corruption everywhere. Only at the end is an ember of something worth saving discovered.; 8/18/19, 9:58 PM
narciso said...: Ah yes hes edward fox (jackal, patriot games) son played the other lawrence in a film about prince faisal; 8/18/19, 9:58 PM
Darrell said...: Foyle's War preceded Inspector Lewis. Out-of-touch people should realize they are out of touch with the real world.; 8/18/19, 10:07 PM
Ken B said...: Althouse gets her wish. https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-strikes-deal-with-netflix-to-provide-on-screen-fact-checks-of-fictional-movies; 8/18/19, 10:07 PM
Ken B said...: I think Hong Kong is the make it or break it issue for Trump's presidency. So far what we see is not encouraging, but we don’t know what is happening out of sight.

I am certain Farmer and I have diametrically different opinions here.; 8/18/19, 10:21 PM
Drago said...: Ken B: "Althouse gets her wish. https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-strikes-deal-with-netflix-to-provide-on-screen-fact-checks-of-fictional-movies"

THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!; 8/18/19, 10:27 PM
William said...: You don't often glean much wisdom listening to promo spots, but I learned this listening to a promo for a new Ken Burns series on country music. Someone said that the only genre in music where women sing about their own problems and their own strengths with their own voice is in country music. Country music is woke. Who knew? The observation is certainly true: rap, rock, pop and opera have their female stars, but the singers mostly sing about the problems of loving men. Maybe Elizabeth Warren can play some Loretta Lynn at her rallies and pass around cookies.; 8/18/19, 10:31 PM
Ken B said...: Drago
Reminds me of the old joke, “How many Althouses does it take to screw in a light bulb?”; 8/18/19, 10:33 PM
Drago said...: Ken B: "I think Hong Kong is the make it or break it issue for Trump's presidency."

Gotta disagree strongly here. Something tells me you couldn't be more wrong.

I am quite certain the ChiComs would ABSOLUTELY LOVE for that to be true because they would immediately seek to leverage it by forcing Trump to accept permanent China Trade advantages over the US...and THAT would be the end of Trump.

No, Trump knows perfectly well what these ChiCom cats are up to and Trump putting all of his eggs up for grabs on the HK basket is never going to happen.

Similar to how China uses NKorea and missile launches to try and destabilize the US negotiating position.

For the first time in memory we have a President who doesnt fall for that.; 8/18/19, 10:36 PM
Ken B said...: Hardin
Child 44 was a crappy fictionalization of a real case. The real case was the subject of a terrific HBO movie, Citizen X.; 8/18/19, 10:36 PM
Birkel said...: I do not understand what Trump should be "doing" (as opposed to saying) w/rt Hong Kong. He has talked about freedom, honoring human rights, honoring the agreement of self governance until 2047 (as negotiated w/ the Brits), and talked about the economics of a potential crackdown. I know because I've heard Trump and his proxies say those things.

And he does it all while complimenting Chairman Xi. That pressures - if such is possible - Xi to withhold his totalitarian impulses.

What would Ken B have the president "do" beyond words?; 8/18/19, 10:37 PM
WK said...: I don't want to be in a private, enclosed space with strange women. Too easy to be accused of something with no witnesses. What a world.; 8/18/19, 10:39 PM
Nichevo said...: Ken B said...
I think Hong Kong is the make it or break it issue for Trump's presidency.

Why? It's not self-evident.; 8/18/19, 10:41 PM
Drago said...: WK: "I don't want to be in a private, enclosed space with strange women."

Its perfectly ok to be in a private enclosed space with strange women, say, 20 at a time.

The problem arises if you are alone with just 1....; 8/18/19, 10:43 PM
Birkel said...: Mike Pence would have to soil himself versus use that bathroom.
Unfair to Christians?
Lawsuit possible on religious grounds?

Just typing out loud.; 8/18/19, 10:45 PM
Ken B said...: Birkel
And Drago too
I would have him resolve this with the protesters winning. Exactly how I do not know. But the make or break is, if he fails in this his presidency fails.
I am not suggesting anything novel here. The Berlin blockade was make or break for Truman. He solved it, without war. The Cuban missiles were make or break for JFK. He solved it.
I don’t have to have a plan in mind to say that Trump needs to find a way. In fact, it’s unlikely I could be in a position to know which plan is best. But I can know the importance of the moment.; 8/18/19, 10:46 PM
Nichevo said...: Still, I felt very uncomfortable there and not safe.

Agreed, this sounds like what an architect or interior designer or human factors engineer would come up with for a restaurant or club owner who came to him and said, "Look, enough people are not having sex in my establishment, people definitely are not being raped enough in my establishment, what can you do to help with that? I'm looking to redo the bathroom anyway, do your stuff."

I suspect there are a certain percentage of men who find it sexually arousing to hear women urinate.

Why do you suspect that? It's very alien to my experience. I would think rather the reverse. Do you think that the sound of men urinating is sexually effective for you or for other women?

I suspect this percentage is larger than the percentage of transgenders.

Anything is larger than the percentage of transgenders.; 8/18/19, 10:46 PM
Ken B said...: Nichevo
For exactly the same reason the Berlin blockade was make it or break it for Truman. If the communist government can crush HK, and pay no price, then we need a different president.; 8/18/19, 10:48 PM
narciso said...: So tell me ken, how do you do it, michael yon thinks hes doing the right thing, fwiw.; 8/18/19, 10:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: Da Bears.; 8/18/19, 10:51 PM
narciso said...: If you recall the point of the blocade was the soviets had cut food to the east berlin now a closer comparison was berlin in 53 uprising; 8/18/19, 10:52 PM
Nichevo said...: I am not suggesting anything novel here. The Berlin blockade was make or break for Truman. He solved it, without war. The Cuban missiles were make or break for JFK. He solved it.

What's novel is that the cases are quite different. We're involved in Berlin. We were involved in Cuba. We're not involved in Hong Kong. It's nothing to us. No treaty. No bases.

The Brits were involved in Hong Kong, wish they hadn't given it back, even if losing the New Territories. If the Brits called upon us to back some kind of move they wanted to make, we could talk about it.

What would you do? Some kind of Mission Impossible psyop to change China's mind and make them not want to alter the balance in Hong Kong? Well, China's mind wants to alter the balance in Hong Kong, and how would you stop them doing that?

The only feasible way of making this change last that I could see would be to use Hong Kong to overthrow Chairman Xi in favor of a more moderate leader. I have no idea whether we have Peking-ology comparable to the sovietology we used to operate, so that we might just conceivably even know who to prefer as a dog, in any fights in Moscow.; 8/18/19, 10:53 PM
narciso said...: Or hungary in 56, maybe poland in 1980, are we going to land troops in hong kong then what?; 8/18/19, 10:54 PM
Francisco D said...: I would have him resolve this with the protesters winning. Exactly how I do not know.

Ken,

What could Trump do to get them to back down? If he gives in on trade, he loses respect. If they give in on HK, they lose face.

The Chicoms have been working furiously to be the hegemonic power of the Far East. They play the long game, but they have nothing to gain by backing off and looking weak. They will allow the HK protestors to back down gracefully.

I am probably in the same page as Farmer here.; 8/18/19, 10:55 PM
Ken B said...: Narcisco
After I just explained that none of us are in a position to know what to do?

Tell me, could the man on the street have known enough technically or from intelligence reports to be sure the Cuban blockade was the best option? No. But he could certainly know that if Kennedy didn’t come up with something that worked he would want a new president.

I guess if your child is sick you don’t take him to the doctor until you have firmed up your treatment plan?; 8/18/19, 10:56 PM
narciso said...: Tom hardy doesnt really play good russians thats a problem, phillip kerr suggest not a few nazis in weimar and postwar exhibited non partisan sociopathy.; 8/18/19, 10:58 PM
etbass said...: "I don't want to be in a private, enclosed space with strange men."

Is this a feminist issue? Or do transgenders trump feminists?; 8/18/19, 10:58 PM
narciso said...: You understand what was at stake if they crossee the blockade, now the missiles were already in cuba, probably since september.; 8/18/19, 11:00 PM
Nichevo said...: Blogger Ken B said...
Nichevo
For exactly the same reason the Berlin blockade was make it or break it for Truman. If the communist government can crush HK, and pay no price, then we need a different president.

What the hell are you talking about? Hong Kong is Chinese land. China is a repressive dictatorship. Britain gave the Hong Kong land and people back to a repressive dictatorship. Like we're giving Afghanistan back to the Taliban, because, what else is there to do. Worry about that.

What do we care if they murder everybody on that worthless rock? What's it do? It lowers their international competitiveness. Makes them look bad too, but not bad enough to get Europe on board. When did it become our job to save HK? Are they all going to be murdered? Call the United Nations. Those lovers of freedom. What is our incentive to interfere in Hong Kong?

In Berlin that was our territory, we had killed people to take it. Hong Kong is US property or a US concern how, affects our ability to wage war on China how? Are we going to affect the government of China? Nothing is going to affect the government of China. I would love to see how anybody imagines they're going to affect the government of China. President Trump is the closest to it in half a century. You going to do the Ann Coulter and kill all their leaders and convert them all to Christianity? This is who they are, this is what they do. What would we be stopping?; 8/18/19, 11:01 PM
Ken B said...: Nichevo
I agree you probably don’t have enough Peking-ology to know the best course. What puzzles me is why you insist I must before I can say this is a really important issue.

Trump supporters demand he “drain the swamp”. But I have seen no swamp draining plans posted here. The whole idea is that Trump is supposed to figure it out and get it done. Same thing.; 8/18/19, 11:02 PM
Ken B said...: Nichevo
You are too stupid to respond to any longer.; 8/18/19, 11:03 PM
reader said...: Re restrooms and crime, the two I remember are;

The boy killed in restroom at beach while his aunt was waiting outside. Notorious killer of boy in public restroom hangs himself at San Quentin

The little girl murdered in the Primm casino restroom. 7-year-old girl’s murder at Nevada casino still haunts 20 years later; 8/18/19, 11:04 PM
Nichevo said...: And there is no trading of concessions. I really don't think you could make a deal where China gets to invade and rampage in Hong Kong, but only after they sign a binding agreement defending American intellectual property. Who believes that would work? Once the Chinese had the Hong Kong territory in hand, they would wipe their asses with that agreement. The only way to make them obey, for a while, would be to sail warships up the Pei Ho and bombard Beijing with cannon.; 8/18/19, 11:05 PM
Nichevo said...: Ken B said...
Nichevo
You are too stupid to respond to any longer.

8/18/19, 11:03 PM

What you're saying is that you can't explain what you feel, but you feel it very deeply.; 8/18/19, 11:06 PM
Gulistan said...: Anyone mention 101 Down in the NYTimes Sunday crossword? They're sending coded messages to Ann.; 8/18/19, 11:09 PM
Nichevo said...: I think Hong Kong is the make it or break it issue for Trump's presidency. So far what we see is not encouraging, but we don’t know what is happening out of sight.

I am certain Farmer and I have diametrically different opinions here.

Oh, Farmer has different opinions, but I am too stupid to talk to? Believe me, my ego is fine with your opinion of me, but play that back to yourself and see how it sounds to you. I rarely appeal to Farmer, but I dare say he would be even less interested in Hong Kong's political virtue of than I.

I'll admit that it would be fun and perhaps possible to mess with China in HK, but again, to what end, for what purpose? Do we have to interfere in Xinjiang in the west where they're repressing millions of Chinese Muslims? Or is that cool, and beating down on HK is not cool because we love dim sum? Do we have to defend Nepal? Tibet? India?; 8/18/19, 11:11 PM
narciso said...: So were giving javelin missiles as in the ukraime, bolton is certainly anong the swamp drainers but other officials at foggy bottom atr in the mind field were selling weapons to taiwan, thats a sovereign nation.; 8/18/19, 11:13 PM
Ken B said...: No Nichevo, I am saying that I don’t have a plan in mind and you insist I have Ann Coulter's plan. That makes you either stupid or dishonest. I was being charitable.

I think Hong Kong matters to any sensible notion of “making America great again” and to any attempt to curtail the power of the Chinese communists.

Now, Chuck off.; 8/18/19, 11:15 PM
Birkel said...: Ken B,
Your goal is poorly defined.

As for draining the swamp:
Fewer federal jobs? Check!
Fewer refs? Check!
Moving federal jobs out of DC? Check!

Again, I ask what you would do.
Back seat driving is a poor answer.; 8/18/19, 11:16 PM
Birkel said...: FYI:
Hong Kong is not now, and has never been, a part of America to have been great or to make great. Free Tibet while you're at it.

Your examples of success were nuclear brinksmanship. That's what you want for America?; 8/18/19, 11:21 PM
Birkel said...: Should have been "fewer regs" above.

As in fewer regulations.; 8/18/19, 11:27 PM
narciso said...: In july 53 when the east germans revolted what should eisenhower have done; 8/18/19, 11:28 PM
narciso said...: How about now
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7370265/Trump-warns-China-against-Tiananmen-Square-says-trade-deal-hard.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwAR2GD9c_QY-9OP-51S9T5Y1k__W8qimAStBtizBTKRWr-zEnKQz3FtULct4; 8/18/19, 11:32 PM
narciso said...: This isnt a merely academic interest for me, i lived in the atraights equivalent of west berlin; 8/18/19, 11:34 PM
Drago said...: Ken B: "I think Hong Kong matters to any sensible notion of “making America great again”...."

Disagree.

Not even close.; 8/18/19, 11:35 PM
narciso said...: So if they move on hong kong afterwards whata the next step, we start blocking xhinese ships from. Entering ports; 8/18/19, 11:39 PM
Drago said...: To add to my earlier comment that acting as though the fate of HK will determine the fate of the Trump presidency will give the ChiComs tremendous leverage in Trade negotiations and in their directives to their North Korean housepets, any US moves to step in strongly in what is now a clear internal Chinese matter (which the Chinese are screwing up all on their own!) we would be giving the ChiComs another dream come true outcome where they could blame all the trouble on outside US agitation.

Nope.

Trump is doing precisely what he should be doing.; 8/18/19, 11:44 PM
narciso said...: This is the only administration that has challenged china in 50 years perhaps more,; 8/18/19, 11:47 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: A sign of the insanity of the elites -- meaning the people who publish the NY Times:
"Amid the Kale and Corn, Fears of White Supremacy at the Farmers’ Market"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/amid-the-kale-and-corn-fears-of-white-supremacy-at-the-farmers-market/ar-AAFYAC5?ocid=spartanntp

This is the gist of the article:
"In a small, rural, liberal Midwestern college town, the vendors at a farmers market went into hysteria when rumors spread that one vendor had posted comments on a "white identity" blog. There were threats of violence and the farmers market was closed by the mayor for "security reasons."
Good God. For people in Bloomington, Indiana, it must be like living through the Salem witch hysteria. Or living in one of those 20th century totalitarian states where to NOT denounce suspected bad think was a crime in itself.; 8/19/19, 12:13 AM
Ken B said...: Drago
Fair enough. You are more isolationist than I am. But Trump said America used to win, used to be seen as the beacon, and for him that is part of making America great again. By his own standards this matters.

Btw, was Jimmy Carter your ideal President? Or Barack Obama? 😉; 8/19/19, 12:14 AM
Ken B said...: Birkel
Re draining the swamp. You concede my point! You are judging Trump by how well he drains the swamp NOT by how closely he follows your plan to do it. You see draining the swamp as key, but did not specify how you wanted him to do it.

Plus of course “drain the swamp” is not precisely defined is it? You know it when you see it, but it’s not a precisely defined goal.; 8/19/19, 12:18 AM
walter said...: "a small, rural, liberal Midwestern college town"
Yah..extrapolate that to....; 8/19/19, 12:22 AM
Ken B said...: Birkel
You are not usually this slow.
I was once hired to fix a broken software project. My boss did not tell me how to fix it, figuring how to fix it was what he hired me for. Nor is that a precise goal, is it? They had spent years and millions with not one tangible result. My boss didn’t know what a fix would be precisely, but he would know if I got results or not.
As it happens, I did fix it, and produced a system that did more than the requirements.
Your argument is that my boss screwed up by hiring me and holding me accountable, rather than telling me how to do my job.; 8/19/19, 12:24 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: "I will just ignore them because I'm only acting and communicating the science, and if they don't like that, what have I got to do with that?" -Greta Thunberg

Now substitute "the Word" for "the science."; 8/19/19, 12:24 AM
narciso said...: China ia held togethet mostly by force speciallu their hold in tibet and xinjing; 8/19/19, 12:29 AM
walter said...: Kinda sucks Trump's predecessors allowed us to become so economically dependent/intertwined with China. Looking at you Joe...; 8/19/19, 12:29 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Gateway Pundit: HUGE!… MUELLER TEAM LIED! Attorney for Joseph Mifsud Confirms He is Western Intelligence Operative — And NOT a Russian Operative (VIDEO)

If this is accurate, it is big, because it would prove definitively that the entire Trump/Russia collusion investigation was a deep state setup from the first, starting in late spring of 2016. We have known for quite some time that there were strong ties between/among Mifsud, Downer, and Harper. Mifsud told George Papadopoulos that the Russians had Crooked Hillary’s 35,000 missing emails. Then, a bit later, Australian Ambassador Downer (and/or his female assistant) tried to get Papadopoulos to tell them that the Russians had the missing Clinton emails. And, Halper is the one who apparently took that information officially to the Americans. Last week, it was shown that Halper had collected over a million dollars from an obscure Defense intelligence agency over a 4 year period, including, it appears, over $400k during the period of time (summer and fall, 2016) when this was going on. Now, it turns out, that the first link, Mifsud, was also an official US intelligence asset. Downer, the middle link, was likely not actually paid by US intelligence agencies, like Mifsud and Halper were, because he was employed, at a very high level, by one of our Five Eyes intelligence allies (Australia). No wonder both the British and the Australians requested, at the very highest levels of their governments, that the Carter Page FISA warrant applications not be fully disclosed - because both governments were deeply involved in the Trump/Russia collusion hoax, that effectively hindered US President Trump govern for better than two years. Some allies. In other words though - the complete setup, used as the basis of the Carter Page FISA applications, as well as the Mueller investigation, was a US intelligence community operation from day one, starting in maybe May, 2016 (about the time that NSA Dir Rogers terminated the massive illegal FBI FISA 702 searching by FBI contractors). The US IC completely fabricated the evidence implicating Papadopoulos in the Russian collusion story, passed it off to the FBI, which then used that information in the Title I FISA warrant applications to justify electronic surveillance of the Trump campaign, transition, and early White House. Clapper, Brennan, Comey, and McCabe, likely with high level Obama White House approval.; 8/19/19, 1:03 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: The ultimate basis of the Trump/Russian collusion story was that a Russian intelligence asset (Joseph Mifsud) told the Trump campaign, through campaign aide George Papadopoulos that they (Russian intelligence) had Crooked Hillary’s 35k missing emails, and then this information was (supposedly) relayed to high level Australian diplomat Alexander Downer. These “facts” were included, as verified information, in the Carter Page FISA applications, as well as, as late as this spring, in the Mueller Report. Both the FISA warrant applications and the Mueller Report claimed, as verified truth, that Mifsud was a Russian Intelligence asset. He never was, and they all knew it. He was an American intelligence asset all along.

I said above that this directly implicates Clapper, Brennan, Comey and McCabe. Clapper was DNI, so the entire operation had to go through him. Brennan was CIA Director, and his agency either had to be leading the IC part of the operation, or at least be aware of it. Comey was their peer, and thus responsible for the domestic side of the operation. McCabe was Deputy Director at the time, and was in operational control over the National Security branch, whose people were involved. Maybe more importantly, according to the Strzok/Page text messages, the entire domestic side, from orchestrating getting official knowledge of this intelligence, all the way through the FISA warrants, to the creation and staffing of the Mueller investigation was done sitting around McCabe’s $70k conference room table, with the same group of conspirators, notably Strzok and Page. Clapper and Brennan lied to Congress about this. Comey and McCabe lied to Congress and the FISA Court. Mueller (probably inadvertently, because his staff wrote his report) lied to Congress and the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General.

Finally, one thing that is still a bit fuzzy is the relationship between Peter Strzok and the CIA. Strzok, as a high ranking member of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, was involved in more pieces of this than anyone else. In the summer of 2016, after running the Clinton Midyear Exam (MYE) whitewash, spent the next month or so orchestrating the official receipt of this (now proven to be fake) Russian collusion intelligence by the FBI through official sources. This included at least one trip to Europe (where is still redacted), as well as multiple trips to the CIA, He then ran the Crossfire Hurricane (CH) Trump/Russian collusion investigation, and while doing that, is the one who apparently effectively lost the Weiner laptop and its copy of Clinton’s entire 65k State Dept email collection, for a month, on the grounds that CH was more important than MYE (after promising Page that they would make sure that Clinton won), then, after the Weiner laptop was rediscovered, lied to Comey that his team over a pizza fueled weekend, unduplicated the entire 65k Clinton email hive, and determined that there was no significant additional confidential information there. He hadn’t come close - they had just done some minimal sampling. His Division prepared the FISA warrant applications. Ge then worked with McCabe to setup the Specual Counsel investigation, helped determine staffing, took over supervision of the FBI agents working for Mueller, then after being exposed, and removed from the investigation, continued to receive updates as to their work for Mueller, up until he was ultimately fired.

There have been allegations for some time now that Strzok owed loyalty, and maybe his primary loyalty, to the CIA, and not the FBI. There apparently are some CIA employees who wear multiple federal government hats - work for both the CIA and another agency at the same time, and the allegation here is that he is one of them. This may never be known, for him definitively, given how aggressively both agencies have been fighting FOIA requests, as well as OIG investigations.; 8/19/19, 2:02 AM
Crazy World said...: Love the adorable Polar Beara!; 8/19/19, 2:09 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Oh, something else came out this week.

The entire Trump/Russian collusion narrative seems to have been created in response to Trump joking that if they wanted to find out what the 35,000 emails that Crooked Hillary had refused to turn over to the FBI, but instead had deleted, the Bleach Bitted, they could ask the Russians, who no doubt had a copy, given how careless she had been protecting classified information. And they, along with several other intelligence agencies around the world almost assuredly had hacked her illegal email system, given how weak the security was, that she routinely electronically communicated with her email server through airwaves controlled by other countries, and, because her email was guaranteed to include US diplomatic secrets, her email was one of the top hacking targets in the world. So, the Russians, not being incompetent hackers, likely did have her missing emails. But coming out last week was that the Chinese appear to have received them in real time, with a virus having been implanted in her email server that automatically forwarded each and every email to a site that appears to be controlled by Chinese intelligence. Indeed, when our military required preapproval from the State Department for drone strikes (such as in Pakistan), the Chinese probably knew the targeting coordinates before she did. Imagine how much more interesting if Trump had suggested asking the Chinese, instead of the Russians, for her missing emails.; 8/19/19, 2:21 AM
John henry said...: Sydney, wc, freeman

Don't feel lonely. A lot of men are scared shitless about being alone in an enclosed space with an unknown woman.

I won't even get on an elevator with a woman.

I am probably safe. But there are scads of deranged women out there. How do I know that some woman won't make a claim of groping against me and just totally fuck up my life?

Sorry if your feelings are hurt when I refuse to get on an elevator with you but why take a chance?

John Henry; 8/19/19, 2:22 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Woe(whoa!) if true:

Journalist: Medics Told Me State Police ‘Forced’ Them To Stop Working On Heather Heyer

https://www.dailywire.com/news/50768/journalist-claims-medics-told-her-heather-heyer-amanda-prestigiacomo

According to O'Hara, the medics believe Heyer could have been saved if they were allowed to proceed with medical attention. The bombshell story, however, was barred from being published by her "former employer," O'Hara said, and she was not allowed to publish it elsewhere.; 8/19/19, 2:49 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: ... aaaaand some more about Jeffrey's partner-in-crime

Jeffrey Epstein ‘Friend’ Ghislaine Maxwell Has More Skeletons in Her Family Closet Than a House of Horrors

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-friend-ghislaine-maxwell-has-more-skeletons-in-her-family-closet-than-a-house-of-horrors?ref=scroll; 8/19/19, 3:04 AM
Unknown said...: Merci beaucoup pour ce magnifique post .

موقع كورة زيرو; 8/19/19, 4:01 AM
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gilbar said...: people can continue to act like Global Warming is a myth; if they want to keep heads in the sand

Right now! It's SO HOT in Phoenix Az, that this week, they will experience temperatures (112+) that would normally only be found in the DESERT, IN SUMMER

THINK OF IT! it will LITERALLY be SO HOT in arizona, in the month of august, that those people will think that they're Living in THE DESERT! in SUMMER!
This is ALL TRUMPS FAULT!; 8/19/19, 4:54 AM
Rusty said...: Nichevo
We as in the people here and around the globe are interested in what is going on in HK. I have friends there. What they want now is our moral support. They are protesting for their autonomy. For the rule of law. Things we take for granted. HK has put the CCP in an awkward position. They can go in and crush HK thus risking embargos and the loss of goodwill. Not to mention the economic engine that is HK. They also risk the seething resentment of the HKers that will , in the future, break out again. If they do nothing they lose face, but the economic engine keeps chugging away. As an ideal, of course we have an interest in HK. Personal freedom is part of our creed. We hold these truths...yadayada. Isn't just for us, but belongs to everybody, everywhere. So yeah. It's kinda important.; 8/19/19, 5:55 AM
tim in vermont said...: he new results from the NEEM ice core drilling project in northwest Greenland, led by the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen show that the climate in Greenland was around 8 degrees C warmer than today during the last interglacial period, the Eemian period, 130,000 to 115,000 years ago.

“Even though the warm Eemian period was a period when the oceans were four to eight meters higher than today, the ice sheet in northwest Greenland was only a few hundred meters lower than the current level, which indicates that the contribution from the Greenland ice sheet was less than half the total sea-level rise during that period,” - Niels Bohr Institute

https://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/news/news13/greenland-ice-cores-reveal-warm-climate-of-the-past/

How did the polar bears survive if they are endangered today by this minor warming???

Not to mention that the ice sheet there didn’t melt, even though, due to orbital “wobbles” and changes in which season Earth is closer to the sun, sunshine was coming down far more directly there, and the warm temps lasted for a couple dozen centuries.

I think coal soot from China is probably the biggest issue with the arctic, and the solution to that is fracking, then nuclear.; 8/19/19, 6:38 AM
tim in vermont said...: 8C is something like 15 degrees F, BTW.; 8/19/19, 6:46 AM
Leland said...: Wait until Al Gore sees this!; 8/19/19, 6:48 AM
Robert Cook said...: "This is the only administration that has challenged china in 50 years perhaps more...."

And you think is a feature and not a bug? (It was just short of 50 years ago that Nixon established detente with China.); 8/19/19, 6:49 AM
tim in vermont said...: Why is it that so called “socialists” no longer care about the working conditions of American workers?; 8/19/19, 6:52 AM
tim in vermont said...: Every leap year marks a day closer to when the sun is more directly overhead in the summer in the northern hemisphere. Every century now the tropics migrate toward the poles due to the fact that the earth wobbles like a dying top, albeit over long periods compared to a human lifetime. Every century the moon moves farther from the earth, never to come back, changing the force of the tides. Climate is going to change and humans are helpless to stop it.

A quick look at the graph here will show you that before man showed up, CO2 was dropping relentlessly, consumed by plants and stored in the earth, and if that trend continued, the planet would become uninhabitable, as the plants would have “eaten” all of the CO2 and begun to starve.

Warmies act like they think our planet was created in some kind of steady state by a loving god. Nope.; 8/19/19, 7:03 AM
tim in vermont said...: Sorry, here is the link: http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climatechange2/07_1.shtml; 8/19/19, 7:04 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Organic matter is buried in swamps (plant remains turn into coal) and in continental margins (marine algal remains become hydrocarbons). The climate cooled as the planet acquired mountain ranges (like the Himalayas) and as sea level dropped. Trade winds became more vigorous. Coastal upwelling of nutrients in coastal waters increased. Thus, more organic matter was buried along the coasts of continents. Also, an increase in the amount of mud from the rising mountains helped to bury the organic matter.

As time went on carbon dioxide was more readily turned into sedimentary carbon and the planet cooled some more. Methane hydrate could have formed on the sea floor, trapping methane and denying another source of carbon to the ocean-atmosphere system.”

Sounds ominous! Good thing man came along! The better argument for a loving God is that He created man to stop this process.; 8/19/19, 7:08 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Every leap year marks a day closer to when the sun is more directly overhead in the summer in the northern hemisphere.”

Sorry, “closer to earth” not more directly overhead.; 8/19/19, 7:10 AM
tim in vermont said...: The obvious solution to the problem of climate change is to allow capitalism to continue to increase the wealth and power of the human race so that when the kinds of stuff that has clearly happened in the past happen again, we have the resources to adapt.

I should give a TED talk on this.; 8/19/19, 7:13 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @dbzdak

LOL. Yeah, I saw that. AND thought that!!; 8/19/19, 7:24 AM
gilbar said...: and if that trend continued, the planet would become uninhabitable, as the plants would have “eaten” all of the CO2 and begun to starve.

i've said, for years now, that if there IS man made Global Warming... Thank GOD!!
I do NOT want to live under a mile of ice; 8/19/19, 7:33 AM
Paco Wové said...: "if he fails in this his presidency fails"

Many people seem afflicted with the mistaken notion that the POTUS is a sort of elected Emperor of the World.

I think what happens in HK right now is very important. The idea that it's the responsibility of the US President to "fix" it is bizarre and unrealistic.

How's that Mideast Peace Process going?; 8/19/19, 7:34 AM
Birkel said...: No, Ken B. My ideas about draining the swamp of DC involves exactly what I have seen. I expect to see more. Perhaps a shuttering of the Department of Education in a second term.

But, please, do tell me my own thoughts.; 8/19/19, 7:34 AM
tcrosse said...: Things all went to hell with the invention of the plastic drinking straw.; 8/19/19, 7:58 AM
Drago said...: Ken B just equated having a US President "solving" (whatever that means) the Chinese internal matter of Hong Kong with a failed business systems implementation (ERP or CRM or MRP or something) turnaround effort.

I am not sure Ken B's reasoning is...uh...sound...on this subject.; 8/19/19, 7:59 AM
Nichevo said...: Ok, but you have to look at HK as an opportunity, not a responsibility. We have no responsibility.

Everybody who thinks that we do, must now give President Trump a blank check for war.

The last time we interfered someplace without any dog in the fight but some made-up R2P, I think that was Libya.

How's that working out for you?; 8/19/19, 8:01 AM
Leland said...: Bruce, all interesting stuff but meaningless unless someone goes to jail for this abuse of office. The more the dots are connected and nobody is held to account other than losing a job for which they can sue to get back; then it indicts everyone in DC with authority to stop it.; 8/19/19, 8:24 AM
rwnutjob said...: Of the approximately 10,000 Polar Bears in existence in 1976, only 26,000 remain today.; 8/19/19, 8:26 AM
Fernandinande said...: Arctic (2018) was one of those interminable suffering flicks.

Well, the guy didn't get bitten by a radioactive rattle snake.

I wouldn't feel safe in an enclosed space with a polar bear, but this post's bear video shows a solution: glass stalls where you can watch the other people, but they can't actually get at you.; 8/19/19, 8:39 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Continuing my diatribe about that the Russian collusion hoax was set up by our intelligence services working with their Five Eyes allies, an article this morning by Andrew McCarthy at NRO: The Bogus Story That Launched a ‘Collusion’ Probe:

That, however, does not scratch the surface. We are to believe that what led to the opening of the FBI’s Trump–Russia investigation, and what therefore is the plinth of the collusion narrative, is a breakfast meeting at a London hotel on April 26, 2016, between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic we are supposed to take for a clandestine Russian agent. We are to take Papadopoulos’s word for it that Mifsud claimed Russia possessed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands” of “emails of Clinton.” We are further to believe that “the professor” elaborated that, in order to help Donald Trump’s candidacy, the Kremlin would release these “emails of Clinton” at a time chosen to do maximum damage to the Democratic nominee’s campaign...

The Papadopoulos “collusion” claims (without collusion charges) are alleged in the Mueller report, which essentially repeats the grandiose “Statement of the Offense” that the special counsel included with the comparatively minor false-statement charge to which Papadopoulos pled guilty. Carefully parsed, this narrative stops short of alleging that the Trump adviser actually collaborated with a Russian agent. Rather, it claims that Papadopoulos engaged in a lot of twaddle with Mifsud, who he had reason to suspect might be a Russian agent. The pair brainstormed endlessly about potential high-level Trump-campaign meetings with the Putin regime, including [insert heavy breathing here] between Trump and Putin themselves. Papadopoulos then exaggerated these meanderings in emails to Trump-campaign superiors he was hot to impress.

It is virtually certain that Mifsud was not a Russian agent. Whether he was an asset for any intelligence service, we cannot say with certainty at this point. But we can say that he had close contacts of significance with British intelligence, and with other Western governments...

It is not enough to say that Mueller never charged Mifsud with lying to the FBI. In Mueller’s report, when prosecutors have evidence that Mifsud gave inaccurate information, they say so. For example, they allege that Mifsud “falsely” recounted the last time he had seen Papadopoulos. But Mueller never alleges that Mifsud’s denial of knowledge about Russia’s possession of emails is false. And if we learned anything from Mueller’s investigation, it is that he knows how to make a false-statements case...

Is the Mifsud–Papadopoulos connection a case of Western intelligence agencies entrapping the Trump campaign by first using an “asset” (Mifsud) to plant a damning “Russia helping Trump” story with Papadopoulos, and later using another “asset” (Stefan Halper) to try to get Papadopoulos to repeat that story so that “collusion” could be proved?

At this point, we don’t know. Here is what we do know: The United States government has never charged Joseph Mifsud. It has never accused him of being an agent of Russia. It took no steps to arrest him despite opportunities to do so. In fact, the FBI interviewed Mifsud and, when he denied Papadopoulos’s claim that he had told the young Trump adviser that Russia had Hillary emails, the Bureau let him go. Special Counsel Mueller never alleged that Mifsud’s denial was a false statement.

And, now we know that Mifsud was working as a US intelligence asset.; 8/19/19, 8:46 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Of the approximately 10,000 Polar Bears in existence in 1976, only 26,000 remain today.”

Sad news: The polar bear ration has been decreased from 10,000 to 26,000. :^(; 8/19/19, 8:58 AM
Fen said...: Biden is finito.

I'm not so sure.

"Stalking Horse: In hunting, it refers to a horse, or a figure of a horse, behind which a hunter hides when stalking game."

If I was the DNC I would appreciate that Biden can be used as a Stalking Horse to let other more radical candidates slip by under the voter's radar. Keep all the attention on him till the last few months, then kill him off. Now you have just a few months to go and your fav Marxist has not had to endure the scrutiny that would have killed their campaign.; 8/19/19, 9:01 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: do we file this under "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"

Wyss Institute Will Lead IARPA-Funded Brain Mapping Consortium

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an organization within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence responsible for leading research to overcome difficult challenges relevant to the United States Intelligence Community.

https://wyss.harvard.edu/wyss-institute-will-lead-iarpa-funded-brain-mapping-consortium/; 8/19/19, 9:14 AM
mockturtle said...: I won't even get on an elevator with a woman.

Play it safe and take the stairs.; 8/19/19, 9:20 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: ... and maybe stuff that did go worng

The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day
The alleged creation of the world's first gene-edited infants was full of technical errors and ethical blunders. Here are the 15 most damning details.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/15-worrying-things-about-crispr-babies-scandal/577234/; 8/19/19, 9:21 AM
mockturtle said...: CRISPR

Was Igor also involved in this work?; 8/19/19, 9:28 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Mock
Crispr-Critters & Abby Normal !

epstein into AI, life extension, immortality, transhumanism, eugenics
hanging out w/Minsky et al; 8/19/19, 9:37 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Peggy Siegal and Jeffrey Epstein: A Hollywood Event Planner's Symbiotic Relationship With a Sex Offender.
What's her role in all this?

Early Epstein accuser(Alicia Arden): Police could have stopped him in 1997

video of Prince Harry hanging out at epstein's-- didnt he notice anything?; 8/19/19, 9:53 AM
effinayright said...: "The Berlin blockade was make or break for Truman. He solved it, without war. The Cuban missiles were make or break for JFK. He solved it."

*********************

Those crises involved hostile actions toward the US, which is not the case with the Hong Kong situation.

So your analogy fails.; 8/19/19, 11:05 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Bruce, all interesting stuff but meaningless unless someone goes to jail for this abuse of office. The more the dots are connected and nobody is held to account other than losing a job for which they can sue to get back; then it indicts everyone in DC with authority to stop it.

Yeah, I suspect these stories are our side's version of "The walls are closing in". Of course we have actual facts and they didn't, but in the end I suspect it's not going to matter as far as holding anyone to account.; 8/19/19, 11:46 AM
Robert Cook said...: "'I won't even get on an elevator with a woman.'

"Play it safe and take the stairs."

Play it even safer and just stay home.; 8/19/19, 2:00 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: 36 years old!

Jeffrey Epstein was given three 12-year-old French girls as a birthday gift according to victim’s chilling claims

https://www.thesun.ie/news/4457028/jeffrey-epstein-was-given-three-12-year-old-french-girls-as-a-birthday-gift-according-to-victims-chilling-claims/; 8/19/19, 2:18 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: The Catholic Church Shakes as Sex Victims Act Opens Window of Justice

Epstein accuser sues using the same law victims of clerical abuse are. The law had to change because victims can’t.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-catholic-church-shakes-as-sex-victims-act-opens-window-of-justice; 8/19/19, 2:34 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Jeffrey Epstein before he died: “The only thing worse than being called a pedophile is being called a hedge fund manager:”; 8/19/19, 2:36 PM