November 14, 2020

At the Sunrise Café...

IMG_1210 

... you can talk all night.

116 comments:

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

No, Ann*!!!

...we dont want "Trumpism without Trump"

*[Coulter]

loudogblog said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcmMmHQU8cg

rhhardin said...

There is no swamp draining without truth-seeking zingers.

Everybody but Trump would just nominalize you to death. Just as the tea party was taken over by bureaucrats.

wild chicken said...

So, Tucker got a little carried away eh

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/525980-tucker-carlson-issues-on-air-apology-over-georgia-voter-claims?amp

Everyone: just jack down..jfc

StephenFearby said...


Bloomberg Wealth
November 12, 2020

Gambling Sites Delay Payouts In Case Trump Retains Power
Recounts and litigation mean winners could be waiting for a while.

There’s industry precedent that shows it’s prudent to wait and see. In 2016, a decision by Irish betting site PaddyPower backfired when it paid more than $1 million — before Election Day — to people who thought former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would defeat Trump.

Gambling on politics is technically illegal in the U.S., but New Zealand-based platform PredictIt has been granted an exemption by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The platform, started by Victoria University of Wellington as a research tool, hosts futures-trading markets that are considered academic research. On PredictIt, more than 117 million shares had been traded by Election Day, compared with 47 million for the 2016 contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton. That figure rose to nearly 122 million this week.

PredictIt won’t close its markets until recounts and any litigation by both campaigns are finished, said Brandi Travis, chief marketing officer for Aristotle International, a firm that provides support for the platform.

“Once we have all the electoral counts in and we see that there is a legitimate winner, we’ll suspend the market,” Travis said, “but until we’re sure we’re not going to pay out.”

This means gamblers could be waiting weeks, if not months, to receive their winnings. “It’s bad for the country, and it’s bad for our site,” Travis said of the uncertainty.

Robert Barnes, an attorney who gained notoriety for his bid on Trump to win the 2016 election, made scores of bets totaling more than $120,000 this year, he said. (PredictIt limits bets to $850 worth of shares on a given political outcome.) In addition to betting on which presidential candidate would reach 270 electoral votes, he wagered on the winner of individual states, the margin of victory, as well as on various house and senate races.

“Trump and the Republicans beat expectations across the board,” Barnes said, referring to polls that had predicted Republicans would lose handily in both the presidential election and in downballot races. “So no matter what happens with the outcome of the presidential race, it paid off.”

There has been a flurry of action in recent days on PredictIt, with Trump’s shares increasing to 16 cents on the dollar from a low of 8 cents on Nov. 7. This fits with the trend of prediction markets consistently overrating Trump’s chances this year compared with election forecasters like FiveThirtyEight, according to Derek Phillips, a professional political gambler.

“It’s kind a rebound from Trump’s 2016 win, where gamblers just refuse to look at any polling data that suggests he might be in trouble,” said Phillips, who bet on Biden this year. “I just take advantage of the overprice and hope lightning doesn’t strike twice.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-11-12/u-s-presidential-election-bets-millions-tied-up-on-delayed-outcome

WK said...

Watching a little football this evening. Twitter seems to have quite a few videos of Trump supporters being attacked in DC this evening. Switched over to a couple news channels. CNN covering COVID and Biden transition plans. MSNBC covering election turn out from young voters. Fox talking about election legal battles. Violence in the streets not so newsworthy. Set up a Parler account as well. Thought I’d see who is there......

WK said...

On Wisconsin.....

R C Belaire said...

Michigan football collapsing against Wisconsin. Earlier today MSU gave it up as well. Sad days here in Michigan...for more reasons than football.

mockturtle said...

I want a President who won't back down when he is right, won't apologize when there is no need and totally ignores identity politics. Like Trump. Ted Cruz is pretty ballsy but not nearly as funny.

Kyzer SoSay said...

Just here to say that anyone complaining about Bruce Hayden typing long comments clearly isn't reading them. Dude seems to know his stuff and I've learned quite a bit by reading his input. Not trying to fanboy, since I'm still mostly a lurker here, but Bruce and a few others (John H comes to mind) write long and informative comments, and I hope that continues.

Now to have some beers with my wife and continue laying booby traps for the ATF in case "Ukrainian Joe" and "Comrade Kamal-toe" ever try and come for my firearms.

rehajm said...

mask Karens are back in South Carolina. Neither the state nor the town have mandates- only 'masks suggested' but I've encountered two Karens claiming 'you have to have a mask' (not to me personally but within earshot)...

Nextdoor has the longest thread of male and female Karens wailing about no mask mandate, wanting to speak with the community manager about no mask mandate, we're all gonna die if you don't put on a mask. People who were at a house party/at the bar at the hotel/at the food trucks/ at the yoga class...nobody's wearing a mask!

Karen- stay the fuck home and put the covers over your head...

David Begley said...

Badgers!

Huskers!

rehajm said...

Just here to say that anyone complaining about Bruce Hayden typing long comments clearly isn't reading them.

I read and appreciate his comments. Did he turn me on to the Tahoe/ Carson City area recently? I'm headed there next week to look at property- credit if he motivated me...

rehajm said...

...and continue laying booby traps for the ATF in case "Ukrainian Joe" and "Comrade Kamal-toe" ever try and come for my firearms.

Beta tests from SC show alligators in the lagoon are pretty effective...

narciso said...

Yes bruce haydens legal experience and michael sylvesters sig intel and language skills (i dont think ive seen him recently) yancey wards data mining re case s

Michael K said...

Kim Strassel has a good piece this week in the WSJ.

Mrs. Pelosi’s bill didn’t become law, despite her attempts this year to jam some of its provisions into coronavirus bills. But it turns out she didn’t really need it. Using the virus as an excuse, Democratic and liberal groups brought scores of lawsuits to force states to adopt its provisions. Many Democratic politicians and courts happily agreed. States mailed out ballots to everyone. Judges disregarded statutory deadlines for receipt of votes. They scrapped absentee-ballot witness requirements. States set up curbside voting and drop-off boxes. They signed off on ballot harvesting.

Meaning, “the fix” (as it were) was in well before anyone started counting votes.


The column was about HR 1 Pelosi's first bill of the Congress. This was planned long ago.

Qwinn said...

Looks like the Georgia recount is nothing but a staged show to provide a whitewash for the election theft. What is the point if you're still neglecting signature verification, and limiting GOP watchers to one per 10 counting tables?

I don't see how any judge could reject an equal protection argument - the rules applied to in person voting (which did require signature checking) is completely different from mail in voting. The rejection rate of mail in ballots was 30x higher in 2016 than today. Utterly ridiculous. Whenever I see these judges reject arguments like that from Trump's lawyers. it doesn't reassure me in the slightest, it does the opposite. It proves they're in on the fraud.

I'm Not Sure said...

"Violence in the streets not so newsworthy."

Not if it's the left doing it. On the plus side, you can be sure you'll hear about it if a bunch of people get together for church on Sunday.

Kathryn51 said...

Blogger Kyzer SoSay said...
Just here to say that anyone complaining about Bruce Hayden typing long comments clearly isn't reading them. Dude seems to know his stuff and I've learned quite a bit by reading his input.

Not sure what I missed, but after years on this blog, whenever scrolling, I always stop for Bruce, Yancey and a couple of the Mikes. Several others as well (DBQ, Maybee - women that I find to be kindred spirits), so apologize for not calling everyone out. Narcisso - please use the HTML link tag - you were on a roll a few months ago.

320Busdriver said...

I sure hope they haven’t taken down all that plywood. That would be premature.

Big Mike said...

Beta tests from SC show alligators in the lagoon are pretty effective...

There’s a golf course in Naples, Florida that has a gator they can spare if you provide your own shipping and handling.

narciso said...

I was dutifully painfully following the rules, then no one else obliged.

J. Farmer said...

No, Ann*!!!

...we dont want "Trumpism without Trump"


Yes, we do! If current results stand, Trumpism is the biggest winner. That's far more important than the electoral success of a single man in a single election. And since Trump never understood Trumpism, he was as much a liability as an asset for the movement. Nonetheless, it deserves to be called Trumpism because his 2016 campaign win and first term cemented it as a movement. The next four years should be focused on building up institutional support for it within the political system, particularly the Republican Party. The Party of Reaganism is dissolving and must be replaced by the party of Trumpism.

A good strategy would be for the Republicans to block any "comprehensive immigration reform" and triangulate on a big Democratic issue, like universal healthcare.

John henry said...

Last night I mentioned that PDJT appointees Barrett and Kavanaugh were on the bush legal team that successfully, 7-2 argued tha different county standards violated 14A.

I forgot to mention that Chief Justice Robert's was also.

It later occurred to me that PDJT has appointed 20-25% of all current federal judges.

I am not suggesting that any of them are in the tank for trump or would not be impartial.

I am suggesting that they were all selected for a judicial philosophy that will align, more or less with pdjt's, the constitution'and America's

John Henry

narciso said...

Another state legislative race for ileana garcia was won in a recount in miami

Andrew said...

"Whenever I see these judges reject arguments like that from Trump's lawyers. it doesn't reassure me in the slightest, it does the opposite. It proves they're in on the fraud."

That's my impression too. Not that they're in a formal conspiracy, but they are all like-minded. Their fingers are on the scales.

Remember the movie, "They Live"? We need those special glasses.

John henry said...

Dr K,

See my comments about judges. Pelosi may have been planning long ago but I'll bet if we could get into pdjt's head (he keeps very little on paper) we would find that he has been planning for this for 6-8 years. I doubt there is a move the demmies can make that he has not already anticipated.

He's a real estate guy. Long term strategy, 5,10, 20 years out is in his DNA.

Trust Trump. He's got this.

And Chuck, if you are reading, I offered to up our bet to $15 this morning. If you are interested let me know.

John Henry

narciso said...

The north carolina court of appeals also went gop.

narciso said...

A rising tide


https://mobile.twitter.com/nguyenthevote/status/1327772624617951234

Political Junkie said...

2 predictions:

1. Neither party will ever nominate 2 (P & VP) white men again.
2. 50% chance that either Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley are part of 2024 Team R.

Sleep well.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Cnn and Nancy Pelois are pure evil.

Pollster: It's Curious How Biden Underperformed Hillary Clinton In Every City...Except These Four.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Harvesting the 2020 Election

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

After everything under the sun, from the weather to the flu, from the universities, pharmacy, church, sports and culture is politicized --soup to nuts, people of some consequence tell us the vote is clean and pure as the wind driven snow.

How Am I supposed to believe that?

narciso said...

It seems the first al masri that counter terror chief miller now secretary of defense, who remembered black down

Big Mike said...

I always stop for Bruce, Yancey and a couple of the Mikes.

@Kathryn51, I hope I’m one of them!

OSU '92 said...

Biden - 78.6 Million (and counting)
Clinton - 65.9 Million
Obama - 65.9 Million
Obama - 69.5 Million
Bush - 62.0 Million


Biden “found” about 13 Million new voters. Trump increased his margin from 2016, so the Biden increase is not coming from 2016 Trump voters switching.

Whether or not fraud is “proven” I will never believe Biden got 13 Million more votes than Clinton and 9 Million plus more votes than Obama at his 2008 peak. That does not pass the smell test.

Owen said...

As Kayser Sosay said at 7:55 (echoed by others) big props to Bruce Hayden and others, such as narciso and Yancey, who add so much to the thread. I learn a lot from most everybody, not least how to find and keep a positive attitude and civil tone —without which none of this could work.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Actually, the politicisation includes the world outside our solar system.

link

narciso said...

You know out of curiousity i watched an episode of cosmos, with that twit tyson, it was about kuiper the astronomer urey the chemist and their star pupil carl sagan

WK said...

At least we have a rerun of SNL to look forward to tonight.

I'm Not Sure said...

'Our goal is that all names are aligned with our values of diversity and inclusion,' space agency declares.

NASA this week announced it was banning the names Eskimo and Siamese for use in describing cosmic entities as part of an "ongoing reevaluation of the names by which we refer to astronomical objects."


Inclusion requires exclusion? How very progressive.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Speak of the devil...

The democrats tweeter account posted thus...

"The Biden-Harris administration will restore the soul of this nation and bring us together as One America."

To which Jonah Goldberg replied...

"Presidents can’t restore souls. Nor can government. Moreover, the whole point of this nation was to prevent the state from bringing us together except in grave emergencies. Just handle the normal stuff modestly well and leave Americans alone for the rest of it."

Link

320Busdriver said...

“Whether or not fraud is “proven” I will never believe Biden got 13 Million more votes than Clinton and 9 Million plus more votes than Obama at his 2008 peak. That does not pass the smell test.”

The total vote increase 16-20 was in excess of 25M. That has to be unlikely statistically as well.

effinayright said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J. Farmer said...

@Qwinn: Whenever I see these judges reject arguments like that from Trump's lawyers. it doesn't reassure me in the slightest, it does the opposite. It proves they're in on the fraud.

Unsurprising if you begin with the assumption that the conspiracy happened.

@Andrew: That's my impression too. Not that they're in a formal conspiracy, but they are all like-minded. Their fingers are on the scales.

It's a good point about how similarities between different groups of people can produce outcomes that like planned or coordinated. But in this case, what is the like-mindedness that unifies them? On what issues do they agree?

@Political Junkie: 1. Neither party will ever nominate 2 (P & VP) white men again.
2. 50% chance that either Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley are part of 2024 Team R.


Marco Rubio is a white man. He's reportedly been moving closer to Trumpism, but we'll have to see how this plays out post-Trump. Haley is totally Reaganite. Everything the party needs to move away from.

effinayright said...

J. Famer said:

"And since Trump never understood Trumpism,"
***************************************************

It is not only to laugh at such idiocy, it is to to guffaw, snort, and to gasp for breath with astonishment.

Farmer was obviously gazing at himself in a mirror while Trump drew all those huge crowds.

Free clue, Farmer: Trump, and the folks in those crowds, understand Trumpism, even though you don't.

DERP

narciso said...

Rubio has come a long way from west miami, a town about the size of wassila. Haley has some troubling blind spots we saw in this campaign.

Qwinn said...

Farmer: That totally different standards are and were being applied to in person voting versus mail in ballots isn't in dispute by anyone I've heard. No conspiracy required to see that as a clear and obvious equal protection violation. If judges are ignoring that and dismissing the complaints, what *legitimate* reason can you see for doing so?

Qwinn said...

And to add to that, the differences in standards that violate equal protection were applied in a clearly unconstitutional way, as the PA Court already did acknowledge. But another judge is going to ignore that as well to declare the disparate standards legit? And if I say that stinks to high heaven, it can only be because *I* am the partisan, not the judge? Are you just trying to piss me off for kicks?

Chuck said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Qwinn said...

And now Chuck's beloved Lincoln Project is doxxing and terrorizing lawyers representing Trump, coercing those lawyers to withdraw from the case. Link at Instapundit.

This is obviously because they are confident they can win their case legitimately.

Gahrie said...

I hope Rich Eisen was surrounded by family and friends tonight. I fear for his sanity.

J. Farmer said...

wholelottasplainin' said...

Free clue, Farmer: Trump, and the folks in those crowds, understand Trumpism, even though you don't.

Then by all means feel free to let me know: what is Trumpism? What insight unified Trump and those crowds?

narciso said...

Another prog judge garaufis came up with a bogus comclusion against chad wolf to justify daca.

J. Farmer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
narciso said...


They can admit no dissent


https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock-to-mercer-funded-parler-claim-censorship-on-facebook-and-twi

Paul J said...

In what competitive endeavor would you allow one of the contestants to run the game and be umpire as well?

Governments should not run elections.

J. Farmer said...

@Qwinn:

If judges are ignoring that and dismissing the complaints, what *legitimate* reason can you see for doing so?

So read the judge's order.

Are you just trying to piss me off for kicks?

No, merely pointing out that there are alternative explanations for why you might disagree with a judge's ruling. If you want to criticize the reasoning, you first have to know the reasoning.

Big Mike said...

And now Chuck's beloved Lincoln Project is doxxing and terrorizing lawyers representing Trump, coercing those lawyers to withdraw from the case.

@Qwinn, I read that, too. I would call it despicable, except I’m not in a generous mood. Turnabout is fair play; we need to doxx every member of the Lincoln Project, whether they are personally involved in this action or not. We should start with Chuck.

J. Farmer said...

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock-to-mercer-funded-parler-claim-censorship-on-facebook-and-twi

O’Sullivan’s Law: “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.”

narciso said...

We have colorful names for what project lincoln is, dont we qwinn.

Yancey Ward said...

All of the conspiracy theories about electronic vote changing are likely distractions and disinformation. The Democrat's cheating plan was very, very simple and effective- flood the cities and surrounding suburbs with mail-in-ballots by any means possible- this works best when the executive branch of the state is controlled by the Democrats, but more important is control of the underrated Secretary of State offices. It also helps to have control of the state supreme courts/courts of appeals. Then all you need are operatives on the ground to collect the mail out ballots, fill them out, and return them. The final piece of the puzzle is to simply refuse to authenticate any signatures at all.

I strongly suspect the Democrats did this in every single state that voted for Trump in 2016, but now has a Democrat governor and/or Secretary of State. In the case of Georgia, Brian Kemp and the SoS of Georgia, both Republicans, were simply cowed into silence by Stacy Abrams' charges of voter suppression from the 2018 elections. In the case of Arizona, they already have a broad dependence on mail-in-voting, why I don't know- the Republicans in the state just cut their own throats. In any case, Arizona is probably an outlier because of the feud with the McCains- in other words, the Republicans in Maricopa County probably were happy to see Trump lose, but that is ok- the Democrats aren't going to need them much longer with two Senators and control of the US House delegation- the state will soon have a Democrat governor and those McCain Republicans will be of no further use.

narciso said...

Except they bought the flawed equipment from a vendor with ties to kemp, jared thomas who was his chief of staff and pfevious campaign manager.

Yancey Ward said...

The Democrat will do mail in voting from now on- that ship has sailed out of the harbor and is half-way across the sea. You only think the Republicans will do well in 2022 midterms- you are being foolish if you think that- without Trump on the ballot or campaigning hard for them, the Republican candidates will dead in the sea of mail in ballots. You will see repeat of the House elections of 2018, but without Trump, the Senate candidates will go down in a fiery blaze of paper. You will see this future in early January when the mail in vote buries both Georgia candidates in the runoffs.

narciso said...

Thet have to put a stake in this now.

Yancey Ward said...

I have to tip the hat to AOC when she actually gets one right.

The Lincoln Project NeverTrumpers have grifted their last funds- nobody wants to have traitors as friends.

Gahrie said...

The Democrat will do mail in voting from now on- that ship has sailed out of the harbor and is half-way across the sea.

Not if Trump starts a movement to pass a Constitutional Amendment mandating: in person voting (with the exception of military and diplomats serving overseas), photo id, paper bubble in ballots, and dip the finger in indelible ink.

J. Farmer said...

@Big Mike:

I would call it despicable, except I’m not in a generous mood.

The Lincoln Project is the densest collection of mediocrity in the political universe. I'm not a believer in physiognomy, but if it were real, the Lincoln Project founders would epitomize "loser." They are political strategists whose only known strategy is sucking up to people in power. It's ironic they rely on the "useful idiots" cliché about Trump supporters when they are useful idiots for the Establishment, of which they so desperately want to be members. Unfortunately, they don't have the talent or social connections for membership, they are forced to suck up to those who do and rely on their buddy passes. By the Lincoln Project's own stated goal, the current election results are the worst possible outcome for them. Yet another demonstration of the talent of these brilliant "strategists."

Drago said...

Farmer: "The Lincoln Project is the densest collection of mediocrity in the political universe. I'm not a believer in physiognomy, but if it were real, the Lincoln Project founders would epitomize "loser." They are political strategists whose only known strategy is sucking up to people in power. It's ironic they rely on the "useful idiots" cliché about Trump supporters when they are useful idiots for the Establishment, of which they so desperately want to be members. Unfortunately, they don't have the talent or social connections for membership, they are forced to suck up to those who do and rely on their buddy passes. By the Lincoln Project's own stated goal, the current election results are the worst possible outcome for them. Yet another demonstration of the talent of these brilliant "strategists."

When Farmer is right, he's right.

Drago said...

Farmer: "O’Sullivan’s Law: “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.”

There is some debate over whether it was O'Sullivan or Robert Conquest who penned that.

In any event, here's Conquest's 3 laws:

1) Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.

2) Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.

3) The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.

Bruce Hayden said...

“ I read and appreciate his comments. Did he turn me on to the Tahoe/ Carson City area recently? I'm headed there next week to look at property- credit if he motivated me...“

Just a reminder, if you are checking things out. The place I found so great was the Carson Valley, which is maybe 20 miles south of Carson City on US 395. In the center of the valley are the adjacent towns of Minden and Gardnerville. When I was there about a decade ago, both were about 7500 people, if I remember correctly. I was in Minden, the northern of the two. Downtown, you look west, you see the Sierra Nevadas. Center, dominating the scenery, is Job’s Peak. A bit lower, in the first range of mountains, you can see a little of the Heavenly Valley ski area. The ski area is at the bottom of Lake Tahoe, straddling both states. The gondola ride up and back is spectacular, esp riding down, with Lake Tahoe spread out below you. Minden is the county seat of Douglas County, which includes State Line, essentially the NV side of South Lake Tahoe. Last time I was there, it was kinda funny looking, with S Lake Tahoe, CA consisting of one and two story buildings, and the Stateline, NV buildings immediately jumping to 10 story or so casino/hotels just inside the NV border. Lake Tahoe gets more snow than almost anywhere else in the lower 48. But, that snowfall doesn’t extend down to the valley below. The Carson Valley is actually a bit arid, with much of its water coming from the Carson River running through. I liked living in an area about as dry as Denver, but with good skiing 20 minutes away. Moreover, Minden/Gardnerville had a much lower cost of living than on the NV side of Lake Tahoe. Besides, the lake can be a zoo, with the tourists in the summer, and heavy snows in the winter.

If you look at the Bonanza Ponderosa Ranch map (which is rotated 90 degrees with north to the left) the ranch appears to run from maybe the MindenGarnerville area up along the slope leading to Lake Tahoe, all the way up along 395 halfway between Carson City and Reno. It was never realistic for a number of reasons. First, it’s half million acres would have dwarfed the 128 acres that you could homestead at the time. But maybe more important, to me, was Mark Twain’s book “Roughing It” written a little earlier, which recounts stories of his from the area around the time of the Civil War. Twain had accompanied his brother, who had been appointed Secretary to the governor of the territory. That made Twain the Secretary to the Secretary to the Governor. They were based in Carson City the territorial, and later, the state, capital. One interesting scene has Twain and a friend homesteading land that extended up to Lake Tahoe (which appears to have been right in the middle of the Ponderosa ranch). The two of them apparently started a forest fire that burned along the lake. It takes a century or so to regrow a forest like that when burned down - unless they just started a low level, and not a crown fire. Also notably, the Ponderosa ranch appears much closer to Carson City, the territorial capital, than Virginia city, mostly a boom town. Some of the buildings still standing in Carson were built then. Finally, back to the Carson Valley - half that very large valley was apparently a fully self contained working cattle ranch, up into the 1950s, probably as large as the Ponderosa Ranch was supposed to have been. One final historical problem with Bonanza is that the oldest permanent White settlement in NV is apparently Mormon Station, in the NW corner of the Carson Valley. Right at the southern end of what was supposed to be the Ponderosa Ranch.

I liked the people and culture better in Minden/Gardnerville than in Carson City, but Carson being the state capital, did have a much better selection of restaurants. Continuing north, I really never liked the Reno area. Always was a fairly tough town, even before Johnny Cash sang of killing someone there. My partner still has family there whom we need to visit.

Bruce Hayden said...

Oh, and Thais everyone for the kind words.

pacwest said...

"Then by all means feel free to let me know: what is Trumpism? What insight unified Trump and those crowds?"

Nationalism vs globalism. Aspects being economic, civil, and governmental. The push back on culture is an added bonus.

And the belief and fear, based on experience, that Trump is irreplaceable. I think that is what turns "Trump" into "Trumpism".

narciso said...

I would think conquest since he was on the left initially and eventually migrated to the right like malcolm muggeridge; as part of the ird the british version of voice of america.

Yancey Ward said...

"The Lincoln Project is the densest collection of mediocrity in the political universe."

This can only be written by someone who has never attended a school board meeting.

narciso said...

They arent merely mediocre they are evil in intent and in practice. They are trying to destroy livelihoods to prevent a semblance of due process to go forward.

Yancey Ward said...

I always read Bruce's comments, and when he finally started using paragraphs, more people did.😉

Yancey Ward said...

And now if we could only get Narciso to start using html links again!

Yancey Ward said...

I always call it Conquest's law, too, but I am beginning to think the it was too restrictive- every organization eventually becomes left-wing.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

does the Dominion/Scytl/Smartmatic debacle fall under this scope?

“Executive Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election.”

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-imposing-certain-sanctions-event-foreign-interference-united-states-election/

(excerpts)
…the term “election infrastructure” means information and communications technology and systems used by or on behalf of the Federal Government or a State or local government in managing the election process, including voter registration databases, voting machines, voting tabulation equipment, and equipment for the secure transmission of election results.

…any covert, fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful actions or attempted actions of a foreign government, or of any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign government, undertaken with the purpose or effect of influencing, undermining confidence in, or altering the result or reported result of, the election, or undermining public confidence in election processes or institutions.

J. Farmer said...

@Yancey Ward:

I have to tip the hat to AOC when she actually gets one right.

I think the far-left and the far-right are closer to each other than either is to the center, which is most often the target of their ire. Although they rely on different foundational ideas and beliefs, they are united by the common enemy of liberal capitalism. The far-left likes the liberal part, and the far-right likes the capitalist part. But each is in tension with something else they want. Liberalism with social equality, and capitalism with traditional community values. The status quo is both the resolution of this tension and the cause of what's pulling it further apart.

Bruce Hayden said...

“3) The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.”

I don’t think that is accurate though. Bureaucratic organizations with progressive goals tend to be even more left wing.

Two dynamics I think are at work in bureaucratic organizations. First, if the purpose of a bureaucracy is to regulate a industry, that industry will ultimately take control of the agency and run it for their own benefit. A lot of reasons for this. One is that they have the most incentive to coop the agency. Plus,bthey invariably have the most expertise, so the agency naturally comes to them for that expertise. Often there will be a revolving door as people move back and forth between them.

Secondly, the nature of bureaucracies is to grow and become unaccountable. This is often done by adding mandates. The more mandates a bureaucratic organization has, the more unaccountable they become, since they can justify not achieving goals by just pointing at other, competing, priorities that they are forced to pursue. Thus, for example, NASA could justify giving up manned space flight, because they were busy doing Muslim outreach, a priority of our first Muslim raised President. Besides, if they aren’t able to achieve their goals with the resources they have, that must mean that they need more resources, which means growing the organization allowing those on the inside to grow their private fiefdoms, etc. Of course, Congress expected NASA to be concentrating on space travel, but they don’t run the agency - President essentially does.

One of the reasons that socialism is inevitably fated to fail, is that it essentially means control by the bureaucrats, whose priorities are inevitably personal. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus got loose, out into public, in Wuhan China, and those involved, who might have been able to prevent its spread, if caught early enough, let the opportunity escape them because they were more worried about making themselves look good, than in saving hundreds of thousands lives around the world. They hid it as long as they could, and by the time reality had caught up with them, it was too late.

narciso said...

Heres a change of pace:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ir3TbJXGANE

J. Farmer said...

@Drago:

There is some debate over whether it was O'Sullivan or Robert Conquest who penned that.

Yes! The source of the confusion is John Derbyshire, who named Conquest's "three laws of politics." Number 2 was O'Sullivan's Law, which Derbyshire most likely confused with Conquest, who was known for his "laws" of politics.

stephen cooper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
narciso said...

In 1984, they borrow some elementsfrom thar classic wells book and film 'shape of things to come' but its much darker. The bloodletting of the next war wasnt present yet, except through hints. The three superstates coined by burnham now have nuclear weapons and they arent afraid to use. The use of said weapons on the uk triggers the incsoc revolution which one infers spread to america. In short there was no marshall plan to save europe maybe henry wallace became president (continue)

stephen cooper said...

Actually, physiogonomy is something we can believe in.

If an old person looks young, that is often a sign that they have been selfish and coddled for a long time. And I have met a few young people with that thousand mile stare that usually only happens after decades and decades of suffering.

Heroin addicts have an intensely selfish look, meth addicts have a despairing look --- both those looks are acquired AFTER the person decided to be addicted to heroin, or meth. BEFORE that, their physiogonomy was just what it was. In other words, simply human and not subject to the judgments of fellow humans (ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE)

I have had the good fortune, I guess, to have dated a few nymphomaniacs - almost married one, a few decades ago, but believe it or not she did not think I was good enough for her -
trust me I do not use the word PHYSIOGONOMY lightly. Unless they are obese, they do look a little different than other non-obese men and women without the same outlook on life, I wish I did not know what I know, but it is what it is.


That being said, I have known some people who I think are really really good people and in a crowd, they would not stand out, at least they would not stand out to me, maybe they would to you. So in that respect physiogonomy is not useful to me, anyway, but you might be better at it than I am.

J. Farmer said...

@Yancey Ward:

This can only be written by someone who has never attended a school board meeting.

Ha. I should have said "most compact" instead of "densest." I've attended much worse than that: family and juvenile court.

I always call it Conquest's law, too, but I am beginning to think the it was too restrictive- every organization eventually becomes left-wing.

Conservatism must fail. To be conservative is to be Sisyphus. It resists change, the only constant in the universe. A fact that also makes conservatism indispensable.

Dex Quire said...

Taking a breather from politics, I stumbled upon this wonderful singer on YouTube the other day ....

Mel Tormé (1925-1999)
Such an irrepressible talent. He sang beautifully even when beautiful wasn’t called for. He insisted upon jazz inflections in all his arrangements (unlike fellow crooners Dean Martin, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams; I hesitate to include Tony Bennett in this group; he always made sure to have expert jazz players in his bands and combos.). He was a great pianist, drummer and all-around musical arranger. He only had one hit song at the beginning of his career; he wrote many standards, most famously, The Christmas Song (he called it ‘my annuity’). From the mid-1940s until nearly the end of his life, he appeared in bit parts in movies and TV. His industry, unflagging, his talent, impressive to the end. Hard to imagine what he didn’t do in the entertainment industry; he sang ditties, dooties, show tunes, jazz standards, movie themes, even a Ray Charles knock-off (Comin’ Home Baby). You can see where rock n’ roll stunned him – the whole rat-pack generation of singers - in mid-flight; from the mid-1960s rock n’ roll pounced its way onto the international pop scene; this was tough on the musicians and singers who came out of the 1940s; they had mastered their craft on stage and in the studios, working with complex arrangements and demanding performance schedules. Many of these old pros ended up doing studio work from the early 60s; among them only a few would touch rock n' roll; those that did became known as 'The Wrecking Crew' ...
but that's another story ...

J. Farmer said...

@pacwest:

Nationalism vs globalism. Aspects being economic, civil, and governmental. The push back on culture is an added bonus.

And the belief and fear, based on experience, that Trump is irreplaceable. I think that is what turns "Trump" into "Trumpism".


I think that's a pretty fair summation of Trumpism. It's called Trumpism because Trump's election (in the primary and general elections) was fought primarily on those issues. No movement can survive if it is dependent on someone who is "irreplaceable."

Gospace said...


Then by all means feel free to let me know: what is Trumpism? What insight unified Trump and those crowds?


Even simpler explanation then those I saw above.

America and Americans first. After all, this is America.

That's how ANY POTUS should operate.

J. Farmer said...

@Gospace:

America and Americans first. After all, this is America.

That's how ANY POTUS should operate.


I take your point, but most politicians already believe that is what they are doing. People have a tremendous capacity to convince themselves that what they're doing is for the greater good or in cause of some ultimate justice. It's why we have to be more convinced with effect than intent. When Reagan supported trade liberalization, immigration, and foreign interventionism, he believed that was putting America and Americans first.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gospace said...

stephen cooper said...
Actually, physiogonomy is something we can believe in.

If an old person looks young, that is often a sign that they have been selfish and coddled for a long time.


Or- a sign they haven't abused themselves over the year. My mother was an alcoholic- she was the custodial parent. Age 18 I enlisted in the Navy and spent 21 years in. Age 23 got married and have been ever since. 5 children successfully raised to adulthood. Routinely when I meet people new people my age- they think I'm 10-15 years younger than they are. If it weren't for the gray hair- they'd probably think younger. My wife's hair is still the original brown, she looks much younger than me- and younger than both her younger sisters. She moved 3000 miles to marry me, and 7 times afterwards until we ended up here.

Don't smoke, use unlawful drugs, drink coffee, and use alcohol sparingly. The first two age you rapidly. Abuse or heavy use of alcohol will do the same. Don't know if coffee fits into the equation, but neither of us ever developed a taste for it. Anyone my age who looks young like me- doesn't smoke. Nothing to do with being coddled- it is, for the most part, lifestyle choices. In some cases, genetics.

Voxday, BTW, agrees with you completely that physiogonomy is something we can believe in. He points out that most child molesters have a certain look... And Thomas Wictor also agrees at least somewhat- he points out the flat look serial killers and other sociopaths have.

Lawrence Person said...

Joe Rogan on Antifa.

J. Farmer said...

@Stephen cooper:

So in that respect physiogonomy is not useful to me, anyway, but you might be better at it than I am.

I understand what you are saying, but that is not exactly physiognomy. What you're describing is judging someone from their appearance or affect display. Physiognomy, rather, is a belief that you can gain insight into someone's personality by examining the shape and size of their face as a whole and its constituent parts. There was a similar idea developed later called somatotype that made similar claims about the entire physique and categorized people as endomorphic, mesomorphic, or ectomorphic.

J. Farmer said...

@gospace:

Voxday, BTW, agrees with you completely that physiogonomy is something we can believe in. He points out that most child molesters have a certain look...

I think there is definitely something to that, but I wouldn't call that physiognomy anymore than I would fetal alcohol syndrome or Down's syndrome, both of which involve facial abnormalities. That said, there is some interesting evidence of neurodevelopmental abnormality among pedophiles. The prevalence of left-handedness is three times higher than the standard population. Not only are pedophiles more likely to report a head injury resulting in loss of consciousness before age 13, but the never of such injuries is positively correlated with the number of known victims. There also seems to be a higher prevalence of a class of congenital abnormalities called MPA's, or minor physical anomalies, and the number of MPA's is positively correlated with higher scores on other assessments of pedophilia. They also seem to be of shorter average height and have lower average IQ.

That is all strongly suggestive that pedophilia results from some manner of developmental abnormality in the prenatal period, either from genes, a teratogen, or some combination of the two.

gadfly said...

@Ingachuck'stoothlessARM introduces us to Trump's 2018 denial that the Russians interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

“Executive Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election.”

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-imposing-certain-sanctions-event-foreign-interference-united-states-election/

We have here an executive order containing the following Trump lie: "Although there has been no evidence of a foreign power altering the outcome or vote tabulation in any United States election, foreign powers have historically sought to exploit America’s free and open political system.

But the GOP already knew the real answer:

https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/7039357-200818-SSCI-Russia-Report#document/p5/a577041

After three years and five volumes, The GOP-dominated Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded in Vol 5, page 5 "that the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multi-faceted effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election."

Marcus Bressler said...

After Antifa went after women and elderly people (and suckered punched men), the Proud Boys appeared and started beating the shit out of them. Finally! If the police can't protect you in a peaceful assembly and you cannot protect yourself and family and friends, someone has to step in. The Antifa bois will never go face to face, one-on-one, with a non-elderly male and dare to attack them. They'd get their socialist and facist asses kicked.

On another violent note, since the Karens are back out in force: you won't see men pull this crap. Men who accost other men have reason to fear the response. Some women are stupid to think they can be rude and threatening in public JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE WOMEN and don't expect a equal or more intense response. MYFB. Store owners and management want to enforce their rules, fine. Keep it civil. But other customers. Off with their heads!

THEOLDMAN

I get SO tired of #OneNoteAnnie Coulter but she's right about Trump's error in condemning the Proud Boys. Stop caving in and reciting whatever the Left wants you to parrot. Not only condemn their violence but their support of it

tim maguire said...

Crazy NCAA football season. Some teams have played 2 or 3 games, others have played 8. Why bother with rankings and titles and playoffs under these conditions?

alanc709 said...

About organizations: Heinlein's philosophy was that you determine the IQ of a committee by taking the IQ of it's leader and divide it by the number of people on the committee. Once you have 3 or more people working on a committee, you have a functional moron.

Tina Trent said...

Marco Rubio? Rubio's a crook and a buffoon. His only accomplishment beyond flattering old ladies like some low-rent pool boy is carrying open-borders Al Cardenas' bags as Cardenas played the Cuba card to line his pockets and weaken the grassroots branch of the conservative movement. In Tallahassee, Rubio's inner circle was a clown show of petty corruption. I've never seen worse outside Atlanta City Hall. And the set-aside, no-show jobs they created for him at FIU are a disgrace.

Yeah, he's got a pretty face. Clean and articulate too. He's certainly our Obama, not a compliment.

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/investigations/neighbors-react-after-husband-of-denvers-district-attorney-is-charged-with-12-felony-arson-counts

What a terrible person, exactly like most Democratics: not giving a single, short shit about what they are selfishly burning down.

Also, can people start raping boys and girls dressed provocatively, such as wearing a MAGA hat or something with an American flag or even anything red, white, and blue? I mean, cops in blue snitholes like D.C. will probably film it for laughs later before doing anything to protect a fuckin' Republican. If you dress like that, you deserve it is now back in style.

rehajm said...

I was in Minden, the northern of the two...

Thanks Bruce- yes, we'll be looking around Minden. It is beautiful! In college I took a buddy trip to Tahoe to ski Squaw and Heavenly and Alpine Meadows. I recall the tram ride at Heavenly and at the top heading over to the Nevada slopes where you can see down a into the valley. Being from the east it blew my mind to be staying by the lake and shoveling two feet of snow every morning only to see no snow cover on the valley below...

Rory said...

"The Christmas Song"

Holidays approaching, Torme has nice swinging versions of Good King Wenceslas and a Christmas Glow Worm.

stevew said...

From the overnight Boston Globe email. This is the top story.

"With cases rising, is Massachusetts avoiding a lockdown because it doesn’t have to, or can’t afford to?

In Europe, robust stimulus plans are softening the blow of wider lockdowns. In the US, the absence of any new federal aid is "robbing" governors such as Charlie Baker and local mayors of a crucial backstop for the day when they may have to directly confront the question of a total lockdown.

Robbing, yeah, that's what's going on. Meanwhile Gov. Noem has figured out how to "soften the blow" by, get this, not locking down. Baker and the other Govs that are doing what he is are demonstrating that definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Michael McNeil said...

I was dutifully painfully following the rules, then no one else obliged.

narciso, that's not true. Lot's of commenters here know how to and do post html (followable) links. Althouse indeed a year or two back explicitly requested that commenters here employ such followable links in their postings. She got some very stupid push-back from that, IMHO — as I have when speaking up for her in that regard — but here I am again. (One might note that one of the most vociferous of the earlier push-backers, whom I won't name, has since been banned.)

Beyond that, when one is speaking of setting bad examples for other commenters to follow, we must notice in response that the worst bad example in that regard, narciso, is you! And for what? It's so easy to post good html links — when one learns how. (I've successfully posted links over many platforms, including Windows, Mac, and iOS).

I offer again to assist you (and anyone here) — as I have others here before — in the simple lesson. We can do the requisite experiments off-line — in, say, a private Blogger blog — or within one of Althouse's cafe postings (then delete the mistakes).

Chuck said...

And Chuck, if you are reading, I offered to up our bet to $15 this morning. If you are interested let me know.

John Henry


It seems that blog administrators don’t want anyone else to know that I accept your increase. It’s good! Let me know if you want to bump it up some more.

Rusty said...

J.
I agree with your strategy going forward. It's a good way to approach the next election cycle.(don't get comfortable. You're still a prick.) However it looks like the proggs own the instruments of election. They will now and forever manipulate the vote in their favor and mete out violence to those that oppose it.
I totally disagree on the convergence of the far left and the far right. The left wants to be as involved in your life as much as they can get away with. The far right wants to be left the hell alone and let you do whatever you want as long as you're not intruding on their rights.

mockturtle said...

The far right wants to be left the hell alone and let you do whatever you want as long as you're not intruding on their rights.

But intrude they will, Rusty. Funny how the Progs proclaimed that they were the Resistance with Trump as President even though he never once trampled on their freedoms. But we shall be the true Resistance. And resist we will.

Bruce Hayden said...

Should you be hoarding guns and ammo, or precious metals right now?

Had gotten into a discussion with a good friend about this a week or two before the election. He was a Biden supporter, being a MOT. He was buying precious metals as fast as he could, and making a bit of money at it, since the prices were going up. And, the sad reality is that guns and ammo continue flying off the shelves. So I would have to say, precious metals, after you have your possible gun and ammo needs for the next several years taken care of, which I have.

Why did this come up? Talking yesterday, another friend warned me that if Biden ends up winning, we can expect the “Great Reset”, which is apparently the central bankers around the world crashing the international banking system, and when the world economy resets, it only happens after everyone agrees to socialism under a One World Government. They only need the control of the Fed by the Democrats to pull this off. This is their big chance, which is why the Dems cheated so blatantly and egregiously this last election. It is, of course, the Rothschilds behind it. It always is.

Yes, this friend is a conspiracy theorist. He was the one to introduce me to Q and his Anons. But he also has a lot of amazing friends. He knows more about the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus than almost anyone else in the country, by bringing together a couple of friends, and pushing them over the last six months. Together, I think that the combined IQ of the trio may be approaching 500. One is a triple Doc (MD, JD, PhD) who has done weapons research for our military. He was working on another PhD, in Physics this last spring. The other already has one of those, and it was at my suggestion that he put them together. The second one is a high ranking expert on counterterrorism at one of our national labs. They still squabble about how the ChiCom scientists created the virus, but have long agreed that they did. Was it essentially sewn together using tools like CRISPR? Or a result of pushed evolution? Maybe a hybrid? The general consensus now seems to be that it wasn’t one of the two virology labs in Wuhan that did it, but rather done in a military (PLA) lab there. Thus, it is likely a bio weapon. Still going round and round about whether they intentionally released it, or not. My vote is still on Red Chinese lackadaisical work practices. That is what real socialism, esp of the communist variety gives you. I am still trying to figure out how the Rothschilds were involved.

My view is that this latest conspiracy theory goes too far, and falls apart through inconsistencies. We now have centa-billionaires whose interests would seem to run counter to those of a one world socialist government. Everyone working together to cheat Biden into the WH, as a cover for a coalition of interested parties makes sense. They all hate OrangeManBad, because he ran his Presidency for the benefit of the American people, and not this coalition of monied interests that includes tech billionaires, ChiComs, etc. Trump poses almost an existential threat to both of those interests.

I am not worried. I don’t stay up late worrying about Jewish central bankers taking over the world. Part of it is that I have my bolt hole prepared. Much of this country would probably ride out such a contrived economic catastrophe, as we have done with COVID-19. The same group that controls the day to day portions of our food, power, transportation, etc supplies, also has most of the guns in this country. If they crash the economy, Red America takes care of themselves, just fine, and Blue America starves, shivering in the dark. Not our problem. You were willing to destroy the social contract to regain control of our government. Live with the results.

Michael K said...

it looks like the proggs own the instruments of election. They will now and forever manipulate the vote in their favor and mete out violence to those that oppose it.
I totally disagree on the convergence of the far left and the far right. The left wants to be as involved in your life as much as they can get away with. The far right wants to be left the hell alone and let you do whatever you want as long as you're not intruding on their rights.



I agree with all this. 2022 will be a test. 2018 was a test for 2020.

Michael K said...

If they crash the economy, Red America takes care of themselves, just fine, and Blue America starves, shivering in the dark. Not our problem. You were willing to destroy the social contract to regain control of our government. Live with the results.

I haven't read the new Kurt Schlicter novel yet. It is called "Collapse." Amazon tells me I have it so I had better look again.

Bruce Hayden said...

“ After three years and five volumes, The GOP-dominated Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded in Vol 5, page 5 "that the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multi-faceted effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election."”

As usual, doesn’t mean what you are claiming. The SSCI is probably the most corrupt committees in Congress, run by Burr and Warner. Warner’s hand picked security chief was caught red handed having sent an unredacted copy of one of the Carter Page FISA warrant applications to the MSM reporterette he was banging. Warner was the one who had requested it. Knowing how corrupt he is, they fudged some dates in order to entrap them. Which worked perfectly. His security chief, who had so visibly violated the Espionage Act, got a slap on the wrist instead of the decades in prison he deserved, very likely because of the dirt he has on both Burr and Warner. Which is why the investigation of SpyGate in the Senate has been by the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, and not the Intelligence committee, as you would expect. So, in order to save face, the SSCI determined that the Ruskies tried to interfere in our 2016 election by buying a small number of Google ads and the like, never mentioning that their efforts were de minimus in that regard, and probably didn’t change a single vote. Where the Russians did very possibly change votes was the misinformation they fed the FBI about Trump and his staff, at the behest of Crooked Hillary and her campaign staff. The SSCI wasn’t, of course, going to go there.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Anyone know where to get a list of all the questionable vote issues?

mockturtle said...

Remember that women also fought in the French Resistance. We all have a role to play.