Althouse: Sunrise with snow.

December 28, 2020

Sunrise with snow.

122 comments:

Joe Smith said...: You have a very good sense of composition...and that's coming from an art director...; 12/28/20, 2:13 PM
Iman said...: Beautiful!!!; 12/28/20, 2:34 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: Open water on December 28th. It has been a mild December.; 12/28/20, 2:57 PM
n.n said...: 'Tis the season and a lovely lake.; 12/28/20, 2:59 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Check out my wife's op-ed in the NYTs

The 48 Mountains That Held My Grief; 12/28/20, 3:01 PM
stevew said...: Bless you and your wife IIB, may you find peace.; 12/28/20, 3:08 PM
Lawrence Person said...: San Diego schools declare war on learning.; 12/28/20, 3:13 PM
Big Mike said...: @IIB, my heartfelt sympathy.; 12/28/20, 3:24 PM
Readering said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/28/20, 3:27 PM
jaydub said...: IIB you are married to a strong, beautiful woman. But I imagine you knew that already.; 12/28/20, 3:30 PM
mockturtle said...: Lawrence Person @3:13, sad news, indeed but not surprising, as California has led the way in bad educational ideas for decades just as I'm sure they started the 'everybody gets a trophy' debacle. Similar to 'defunding the police' only geared toward stupidity rather than lawlessness. Racism is really just a straw man in these proposals. It's really about creating an ignorant and easily led populace. And they've already got a helluva head start.; 12/28/20, 3:35 PM
Michael K said...: IIB, I cannot even imagine the pain such an event would cause.

All the best to you and your wife.; 12/28/20, 3:36 PM
Inga said...: “Check out my wife's op-ed in the NYTs

The 48 Mountains That Held My Grief”

Everyone deals with grief in their own way, but I’ve seen that people who share grief, especially over a child, share a bond. One cannot understand the trauma of unexpected death of a child without having first hand experience, I’ve found. It takes time to process and I don’t think anyone who has experienced it ever comes back fully after such an event. I lost my own son, age 35 in April of 2019 and when I read your comment speaking of your sons’s death some months later, I understood what you must’ve been going through.

Your wife’s op-Ed is beautifully written.; 12/28/20, 3:43 PM
Tomcc said...: IIB, I didn't get beyond the landing page, but the headline and sub-head were enough to grasp your situation. You and your wife have had an experience for which no one can ever be prepared. I wish you well as you try to cope and continue with your lives.; 12/28/20, 3:49 PM
mockturtle said...: IIB, enjoyed the oped by your wife. And I pray that your chemo or whatever treatment you are getting is going better now---or is finished. God bless the two of you.; 12/28/20, 4:00 PM
steve uhr said...: IIB, your wife’s story reminds me of Grief by Chekhov. About a Russian peasant who lost his son and who can’t find anyone to talk to about his loss. I’ve read the story many times. A beautiful writer:

“ Again he is alone and again there is silence for him…. The misery which has been for a brief space eased comes back again and tears his heart more cruelly than ever. With a look of anxiety and suffering Iona’s eyes stray restlessly among the crowds moving to and fro on both sides of the street: can he not find among those thousands someone who will listen to him? But the crowds flit by heedless of him and his misery…. His misery is immense, beyond all bounds. If Iona’s heart were to burst and his misery to flow out, it would flood the whole world, it seems, but yet it is not seen. It has found a hiding-place in such an insignificant shell that one would not have found it with a candle by daylight….”; 12/28/20, 4:41 PM
Rory said...: "You have a very good sense of composition...and that's coming from an art director..."

And a good eye for trees...and that's coming from my dog....; 12/28/20, 5:26 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Readering-

Could you please remove the comment that includes my wife's name? While people can certainly find her name in the linked article, I'd prefer if a search on her name does not bring people here.
Thanks!; 12/28/20, 5:27 PM
The Godfather said...: It's been pretty nice here in Moore County, NC. Our only friend to be hospitalized with Covid (10 days) just came home. I grew up in New England. My brother and I used to help my Dad shovel the snow out of the driveway. I don't want to do that anymore. But don't move here unless you pledge to vote Republican. I'm NOT kidding.; 12/28/20, 5:28 PM
MayBee said...: IiB- I can't read the OpEd. I am so impressed that your wife has an OpEd published in the NYT.

I so saddened to understand the circumstances of your grief, and Inga, I am so sorry too. I don't have words. I know there is no getting past it or over it, just going through it. Please know my heart is with you.; 12/28/20, 6:19 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeCaYaG-ZRM
JP Sears; 12/28/20, 6:37 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Inga-

Sorry to hear of your loss. (If you mentioned it before, I missed it); 12/28/20, 6:38 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. Much appreciated; 12/28/20, 6:39 PM
Inga said...: “Inga-

Sorry to hear of your loss. (If you mentioned it before, I missed it)”

No problem, I’m sure you were dealing with your own situation. I did mention it last year after you spoke about losing your son. My son died in Maine while working as a contractor for a Milwaukee company. He slipped and fell off of a floating pier into the icy and turbulent waters of the Kennebec River.; 12/28/20, 6:45 PM
Clyde said...: IIB --

It's good that your wife found an outlet for dealing with such a tragic situation. I hope that both you and she find solace.; 12/28/20, 7:30 PM
MadisonMan said...: IIB, I echo what others have said, and applaud your wife's ability to write.
Long ago, walking home from the WI Union, I was accosted by a woman who wanted to give me a ride home. She said my gait reminded my of her son, who had died. (I declined, politely, more than a little freaked out) When a child dies, do you ever stop looking for them?; 12/28/20, 7:41 PM
narciso said...: I had no idea she had been through such an ordeal so sorry for your loss.; 12/28/20, 8:22 PM
madAsHell said...: I went to Cabela's today.

The shelves of ammo were EMPTY. Yeah.....there were some (VERY few) oddball rifle calibers, but all of the .30 cal, .45 cal, 9mm, 5.56, and 2.23 were.......GONE!!

The used gun library......was EMPTY.

Shotguns, and shells......but not much else.

Paraphrasing Joan Baez......"Where has all the ammo gone?"

Trust me, if Slo-Joe BiteMe gets to the inauguration........; 12/28/20, 8:29 PM
narciso said...: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NZyrebGLApA; 12/28/20, 8:54 PM
J. Farmer said...: @madAsHell:

Trust me, if Slo-Joe BiteMe gets to the inauguration........

I'd be much more apt to if I hadn't heard the same warning for eight years under Obama. In fact, that could be a no angle to the election fraud conspiracy. The gun industry was involved in an effort to reverse lagging sales trends!

I know several prepper types (not saying that describes you), and I'm struck by how they seem to combine the psychology of yeoman self-sufficiency, apocalypticism, and a Hobbesian view of social order. They seem to highly value independence and individuality and believe that social order is constantly on the edge of reverting to bellum omnium contra omnes, the war of all against all.; 12/28/20, 9:00 PM
chickelit said...: @Meade: Please check your gmail.; 12/28/20, 9:01 PM
320Busdriver said...: https://wjactv.com/news/local/pa-republican-lawmakers-analysis-finds-presidential-election-numbers-dont-add-up; 12/28/20, 9:09 PM
narciso said...: What could go wrong

https://mobile.twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1343755989921767426; 12/28/20, 9:21 PM
Roughcoat said...: madAsHell:

I recently purchased 45 long colt self-defense ammo online, from Buffalo Bore Ammunition. See https://www.buffalobore.com/; 12/28/20, 9:24 PM
Roughcoat said...: they seem to combine the psychology of yeoman self-sufficiency, apocalypticism, and a Hobbesian view of social order. They seem to highly value independence and individuality and believe that social order is constantly on the edge of reverting to bellum omnium contra omnes, the war of all against all.

You say that like it's a bad thing.; 12/28/20, 9:26 PM
William50 said...: What you should know about Instagram: Have you read the new terms of service for Instagram? Some might shock you.; 12/28/20, 9:26 PM
narciso said...: Makes me twitchy

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/12/28/frances-macron-rebuked-by-jewish-leader-for-controversial-comments-on-antisemitic-figures-from-countrys-past/; 12/28/20, 9:27 PM
narciso said...: You are obtuse in the extreme, seriously seing how every member of this fantasy football are hostile to every one of the bill of rights to nearly every public act, with conspicuous act how they are in league or indifferent to all our enemies.; 12/28/20, 9:43 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Roughcoat:

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Ha. Just a description, not a moral judgment. I thin good/bad comes down to how you treat people, not what you think or believe. There is certainly nothing irrational about being prepared and planning for contingencies, but I do think a lot of the motivation is driven by a general disaffection from the larger social order.

Cosmopolitanism is a kind of social adaptability, but ironically cosmopolitans often don't apply this adaptability to their own provincials, who they regard as ignorant and backwards. That's why I think so much of civilization is a feedback loop between the city and the village.; 12/28/20, 9:50 PM
narciso said...: But there are plenty of other publicationz, scratch that

https://thepostmillennial.com/new-york-times-exposes-own-bias-by-reporting-urban-legend-as-reality/; 12/28/20, 9:55 PM
narciso said...: Indeed

https://www.aier.org/article/twelve-times-the-lockdowners-were-wrong/; 12/28/20, 10:02 PM
J. Farmer said...: What could go wrong

https://mobile.twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1343755989921767426

What a crock of shit! First, Saudi Arabia is not our ally. Second, he claims Iran "is responsible, among other things, for driving millions of Syrians from their homes and killing hundreds of thousands." He conveniently leaves out the part where Sunni Arab states and the US directly and indirectly provided support and arms to Sunni jihadist groups to overthrow the Assad regime and that ultimately became ISIS.

Anti-Iran fanatics always produce this kind of shoddy analysis since they insist on seeing every problem in the middle east as originating in Tehran. Our Iran policy will remain confused so long as we outsource it to Tel Aviv. We can have a relationship with Iran based on American security and commercial interests or we can have one based on defending the Israeli occupation. We can't have both.; 12/28/20, 10:03 PM
narciso said...: Its about cosmopolitanism im sure

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2020/12/28/nets-hide-fact-dem-warnock-oversaw-camp-abused-kids-years; 12/28/20, 10:20 PM
Big Mike said...: What a crock of shit! First, Saudi Arabia is not our ally.

Really? Then why do they let us have Air Force bases in their country?; 12/28/20, 10:26 PM
narciso said...: Indeed

https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-real-america.html?spref=fb&m=1; 12/28/20, 10:28 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: IIB : could not read the article but my condolences on your horrible loss. God bless you and your wife.; 12/28/20, 10:31 PM
narciso said...: If youve read doran you would know he is a strong critic of wahhabi influence in the kingdom; 12/28/20, 10:35 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Our Iran policy will remain confused so long as we outsource it to Tel Aviv.

It hasn't been too confusing under Trump.

But I'm sure the Iranians were a bit surprised when Trump wouldn't suck their cocks like the the Enlightened One®.

Besides, if you have friends who are close by and willing, why not let them drop the bombs and do the wet work?

If you're not an anti-Iran fanatic then you're an asshole. They are worse than North Korea because they have killed far more Americans.

Never would have taken you for a Iran apologist.; 12/28/20, 10:39 PM
Joe Smith said...: "...based on defending the Israeli occupation."

Don't tell me; the holocaust is a hoax, right comrade?; 12/28/20, 10:41 PM
narciso said...: You havent been paying attention then,; 12/28/20, 10:41 PM
Michael K said...: We can have a relationship with Iran based on American security and commercial interests or we can have one based on defending the Israeli occupation. We can't have both.

One reason I don't rely on "American Conservative" and "Unz Review" is the anti-Semitism, which I see you have absorbed fully.; 12/28/20, 10:43 PM
Original Mike said...: "Never would have taken you for a Iran apologist."

I believe you're new here?; 12/28/20, 10:44 PM
Joe Smith said...: "I believe you're new here?"

Not really...but this is flat out Jew-hatred.

I expect that sort of thing from Zerohedge (which is why I don't read them anymore).

But making any excuses for Iran is insane.

Farmer isn't as dumb as the other libs so it is just a bit shocking...; 12/28/20, 10:52 PM
narciso said...: If there was a moderate authoritarian regime like the shah i probably wouldnt be concerned if iran had a nuclear program, then again pakistan shows the dangers of this.; 12/28/20, 10:53 PM
Big Mike said...: @Joe Smith, it’s right, товарищ?; 12/28/20, 10:53 PM
narciso said...: Well the comments are batty, but their economic analysis is on balance more sound than other outlets; 12/28/20, 10:55 PM
Big Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/28/20, 10:56 PM
Big Mike said...: товарищ, not товарищ

No idea what happened; 12/28/20, 10:58 PM
narciso said...: Transliterations are iffy even in the best circumstances.; 12/28/20, 11:00 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Well the comments are batty, but their economic analysis is on balance more sound than other outlets"

It's odd...their articles usually have something interesting to say, and don't seem to have an anti-semitic slant.

But the comments are like a Klan meeting, or the DNC convention...take your pick.; 12/28/20, 11:01 PM
narciso said...: There are some howlers like that piece that said the oil from the dwe was gong to flood the seas and some wuhan flu panic.; 12/28/20, 11:05 PM
narciso said...: Ok then

https://mobile.twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1343678029105684485; 12/28/20, 11:12 PM
Joe Smith said...: Right now, Trump has almost exactly 4X the followers of Biden on Twitter.

Assuming Twitter doesn't delete Trump's account, does anyone want to bet that a year from now Joe will have more?; 12/28/20, 11:19 PM
Big Mike said...: @narcisco, I think I figured it out. When I italicized “товарищ” blogger probably tried to put it into something like cursive form. The cursive form of the Cyrillic ‘T’ resembles an English lower case ‘m’ and the cursive form of the Cyrillic ‘и’ (their ‘i’) resembles the English lower case ‘u.’ It’s been a long time since I wrote Cyrillic in cursive (circa 1965) so it took me a moment. Transliterated, “товарищ” is “tovarish.”; 12/28/20, 11:21 PM
Lewis said...: I know I'm not good - I'm not trying to be good - I'm bad, wicked, even - here's another version of the song I mentioned earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So9jr8XDpu8; 12/28/20, 11:23 PM
narciso said...: I noticed with some language extracts in my manuscript i had to reverse engineer to make sure i didnt make a mistake.; 12/28/20, 11:24 PM
Lewis said...: To be alone is to be wicked, for how else is one alone? When one hits a certain age one says one deserves it. A particular punishment. A sordid assortment in the street. The black eye as if that was 'you'. It wasn't. It never can be.; 12/28/20, 11:33 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Big Mike:

Really? Then why do they let us have Air Force bases in their country?

So we can subsidize their security. They're a client state that's rather skilled at making us think of them as an ally. Look how easily they were able to sell MBS as a "reformer" to a credulous audience. The fact that the US has a huge PR industry helps. And once the narrative of MBS the reformer was solidified, it was constantly invoked by the US to defend whatever foolish, impetuous action he pursued.; 12/28/20, 11:34 PM
narciso said...: The difference between harry potter which concerns itself with make believe and other offerings is that they pretend to bein the real world.; 12/28/20, 11:34 PM
narciso said...: Hes as much as any other pro american regime targeted by the left.; 12/28/20, 11:36 PM
Joe Smith said...: "So we can subsidize their security."

You mean like France, Germany, England, Japan?; 12/28/20, 11:42 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Smith:

Never would have taken you for a Iran apologist.

I am not defending Iran; I am critiquing an inaccurate argument. If you have an issue with my critique, state it.

If you're not an anti-Iran fanatic then you're an asshole. They are worse than North Korea because they have killed far more Americans.

More than 30,000 American soldiers were killed in the Korean War. That's many times more than the total of all US combat deaths since 2001. If a hostile power invaded Mexico and Canada, overthrew their governments, and occupied them, you think we might support local insurgents against that power? We've justified getting millions of people killed and unleashing tremendous destruction around the world in the name of "containment."

Don't tell me; the holocaust is a hoax, right comrade?

Not really...but this is flat out Jew-hatred.

This is Republican wokeness. The criticism of the woke is that they don't engage in rational critiques and instead rely on ad hominems like sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. Republicans do the exact same thing vis-à-vis. Anti-semitic! It confuses the person for the argument and thus avoids having to engage with the argument which is exactly the point of ad hominems.

Farmer isn't as dumb as the other libs so it is just a bit shocking...,

I am not a liberal. In any sense of the word. Liberalism is internationalist and interventionist. There's a reason the most interventionist country of the 19th century, Britain, was also the most liberal.

The only reason it is "shocking" is because you have accepted the very narrow boundaries within which the Israel-Arab is discussed in this country. Contrary to popular anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, it is not primarily the result of Jewish influence, though that is certainly considerable. Rather, it is from Christian Zionism, which predates Jewish Zionism and is based on ideas of restorationism originating in Britain after the Reformation and is now popular within evangelical traditions and is expressed as support for the "restoration of the Jews." The rise of the so called "religious right" in the 1970s had a huge effect on US-Israel relations.; 12/29/20, 12:05 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Michael K:

One reason I don't rely on "American Conservative" and "Unz Review" is the anti-Semitism, which I see you have absorbed fully.

You shouldn't rely on magazines for a world view anyway. Any critique I make of an article in either wouldn't rely on determining if the author is a good guy or a bad guy, or smart or dumb. The arguments are either valid or invalid, true or false. No knowledge of the author is required to make those determinations.

Attacking someone's character in response to their opinion is an emotional reaction originating from a partisan perspective. Because you have no perspective on the issue. You've simply adopted a partisan narrative and taken it at face value. It isn't a perspective you've reasoned your way into; it's a matter of faith. And that's why you take it personally when you hear it challenged.; 12/29/20, 12:18 AM
Joe Smith said...: "More than 30,000 American soldiers were killed in the Korean War."

A smart guy like you should know it was not a war.

My uncle was there, and he was being shot at by the Chinese.

And we're talking now, not 60-plus years ago. Nice try.

The Iranians are (even apologists can't deny it) the largest sponsors of terror in the Middle East. Today.

The Arabs and Israelis are making peace these days, which pisses off globalists to no end. All that sweet, sweet military-industrialist money not being spent.

Middle East peace sure is a monkey wrench in the quest to drive Israel into the sea.; 12/29/20, 12:30 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Smith:

But the comments are like a Klan meeting, or the DNC convention...take your pick.

Don't rely on moral superiority to justify your position. That's how political tribalism works. You're right because you're good, and they're wrong because they're bad. Funnily enough, that's exactly what the partisans of the other tribe think about you. It's almost as if they're each fighting a caricature of each other.

You mean like France, Germany, England, Japan?

We have treaties with those countries. What treaty do we have with Saudi Arabia?

We built a security relationship with the al Saud family in the context of the Cold War. They'd keep the communists out and the oil flowing, and we'd give them military and diplomatic support. They have since used this security relationship to involve us in their regional conflicts. This led us into the First Gulf War and has kept us in the region ever since. If being there was so obviously in our interests, Saudi Arabia wouldn't need to engage in massive PR campaigns to convince us of it. It's self-interest trying to masquerade as mutual interest.

All the major powers--Germany, Russia, China, Japan, India--have diplomatic and trade relations with Iran. That we don't is totally foolish.; 12/29/20, 12:33 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Smith:

A smart guy like you should know it was not a war.

Well that will certainly come as a relief to the 30,000 plus American soldiers who died on the peninsula.

And we're talking now, not 60-plus years ago. Nice try.

It was less than 20, and during the Vietnam War and Cultural Revolution that Nixon went to China.

It was in 2003 that John Bolton bragged about blowing up the Agreed Framework with North Korea in favor of a maximum pressure strategy. Since then, North Korea abrogated the NPT, ramped up its activities, and is now a nuclear power state.

The Iranians are (even apologists can't deny it) the largest sponsors of terror in the Middle East. Today.

Because if the US government says so, it must be true. "State sponsor of terror" is a political designation. Yes, the Iranians support terrorist groups. And so do the Emiratis and the Saudis and the Turks. The Sunni Arab support for Sunni jihadists in Syria and western Iraq is what created ISIS.

The Arabs and Israelis are making peace these days, which pisses off globalists to no end. All that sweet, sweet military-industrialist money not being spent.

No, they're not "making peace these days." The arms industry is very enthusiastic about the normalization with UAE and Bahrain. Part of getting their support involved the US promising to sell them more advanced military equipment. Hence the sell of F-35 jets that was announced last month. Where do you think the parts are going to come from to service those aircraft?

Middle East peace sure is a monkey wrench in the quest to drive Israel into the sea.

That's you being a megaphone for the PR campaign.; 12/29/20, 12:49 AM
Joe Smith said...: "We have treaties with those countries. What treaty do we have with Saudi Arabia?"

They buy our shit...contributes to the GDP.

"Don't rely on moral superiority to justify your position."

I'm not morally superior to anyone, but I will not abide anti-semites.

"They'd keep the communists out and the oil flowing, and we'd give them military and diplomatic support."

And along comes a guy named Trump and makes us a net energy exporter so we don't have to play those silly games anymore. Anything to fuck over the commies is always good.

"All the major powers--Germany, Russia, China, Japan, India--have diplomatic and trade relations with Iran."

Those are independent nations that can do what they want.

"That we don't is totally foolish."

You've got to be fucking kidding me. Iran has NOTHING that we need. Any dime that goes into their pocket they will put toward killing Americans and Jews.

Let's make it easy. Israel has had nukes for decades and has never used them. If Iran had nukes, how comfortable would you be that they wouldn't vaporize Tel Aviv?; 12/29/20, 1:00 AM
Joe Smith said...: "That's you being a megaphone for the PR campaign."

You're right, the Arabs never wanted to drive Israel into the sea, despite actually saying so for decades. They just want to tickle them to death.

The fact that they're too stupid to do it must really irk you. The Iranians are the only smart ones (non-Arabs) and even they can't figure it out, despite Obama filling their pocket with cash.

I'm going to bed...I can't deal with pro-Iranian Jew-haters this time of night...

So fucking sad.; 12/29/20, 1:16 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Henry:

And along comes a guy named Trump and makes us a net energy exporter so we don't have to play those silly games anymore. Anything to fuck over the commies is always good.

There really is no point in trying to have this conversation. With all due respect, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Your repeating a bunch of talking points you've heard from partisan sources and uncritically accepted them as the truth. We're now stationing US troops in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2003.

Do you think it was just a coincidence that as soon as the Cold War ended, we justified our relationship with Saudi Arabia in terms of Iraq? And now that Iraq is not an issue, it's justified in terms of Iran? Saudi Arabia is in a balance of power arrangement with other regional powers and wants to involve the US on its side to increase its position in the region. Indulging that is a very foolish idea because it conflates Saudi security interests with American security interests.

We make this same mistake with Israel but in an even more extreme way, like the absurd "no daylight" argument.

Let's make it easy. Israel has had nukes for decades and has never used them. If Iran had nukes, how comfortable would you be that they wouldn't vaporize Tel Aviv?

Pretty comfortable. At least as comfortable as I am that North Korea won't vaporize Seoul, that Pakistan won't vaporize New Delhi, and that India won't vaporize Islamabad. The Iranian leadership are not madmen and are not suicidal. If nuclear deterrence would not work with Iran, then why does conventional military deterrence work?; 12/29/20, 1:17 AM
Lewis said...: No wonder my mum thought he was sexy - he was - but I never understood that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef9QnZVpVd8; 12/29/20, 1:19 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Henry:

I'm going to bed...I can't deal with pro-Iranian Jew-haters this time of night...

So fucking sad.

Think you for proving my point. Notice how my argument doesn't require attacking anybody's character or making judgments? That's because I can explain why I think the way I think about the issue. You cannot do that because you've never about the issue. You've let someone else do the thinking for you, and you're ventriloquizing their arguments. People who are confident in their opinions don't throw hissy fits when challenged.; 12/29/20, 1:23 AM
Lewis said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeFwaWFTGYU; 12/29/20, 1:28 AM
Gahrie said...: Pretty comfortable. At least as comfortable as I am that North Korea won't vaporize Seoul, that Pakistan won't vaporize New Delhi, and that India won't vaporize Islamabad.

We've been lucky so far...

The Iranian leadership are not madmen and are not suicidal.

They're religious fanatics in a religion that rewards martyrs in the afterlife.

If nuclear deterrence would not work with Iran, then why does conventional military deterrence work?

Because the Iran is incapable of winning a conventional war, and none of their enemies (except Israel) is willing to provoke one.

Which is precisely why they are waging war by unconventional means, supporting insurrection among their enemies and working on building a nuclear arsenal.; 12/29/20, 1:28 AM
gadfly said...: Rupert Murdoch has now spoken to his buddy Donald through a New York Post editorial:

Mr. President, it’s time to end this dark charade.

On Jan. 5, two runoff races in Georgia will determine which party will control the Senate — whether Joe Biden will have a rubber stamp or a much-needed check on his agenda.

Unfortunately, you’re obsessed with the next day, Jan. 6, when Congress will, in a pro forma action, certify the Electoral College vote. You have tweeted that . . . Republicans . . . can overturn the results and give you four more years in office.

In other words, you’re cheering for an undemocratic coup.

You had every right to investigate the election. But let’s be clear: Those efforts have found nothing.

Sidney Powell is a crazy person. Michael Flynn suggesting martial law is tantamount to treason. It is shameful.; 12/29/20, 1:35 AM
Lewis said...: When you talk about destruction don't you know you can count me out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLGzRXY5Bw; 12/29/20, 1:38 AM
Lewis said...: I know believes me but they are writing my mum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLRiGX3L-kw; 12/29/20, 1:46 AM
Tina Trent said...: @IIB: beautiful essay. So sorry. For years after my mother died, I looked for her face in the clouds, and I would find it.; 12/29/20, 1:48 AM
gadfly said...: @Ignorance is Bliss said...
Check out my wife's op-ed in the NYTs

The 48 Mountains That Held My Grief

I found your wife's earlier writing endeavor to be beautiful as well:

Ashes, Ashes, Everywhere; 12/29/20, 2:09 AM
Gospace said...: Saw ore statistical studies today that showed counties with more draconian mask orders and more compliance with mask wearing suffer more covid illness. A recurring theme- an inverse relationship between number of people wearing masks and covid. No surprise to anyone familiar with filters.

SO, the deadly covid masks. What do they doing? Well, you and your breath, not what's coming in, what's going out. Your body is already full of viruses and bacteria. Your body is constantly fighting to keep them from multiplying and harming you. Your mucus and nose hairs catch a lot, right on the surface, and when you breathe out, a lot get expelled. If you're not wearing a mask, the expelled crap spreads out, and when you breathe back in, very few of them come back. Oh, but now you're breathing out into a mask. So, you breathe out, and a lot of that expelled crap gets trapped on the mask surface. And you're not wearing a tight fitting mask, so some of it escapes out the side. Then- you inhale. This sucks the mask down. More of the air comes through the mask- backwashing a significant portion of that exhaled crap back into your nose. If you keep doing this for hours on end, you're significantly increasing your viral and bacterial load in your nose. Your nose hairs and mucus can hold only so much- so, more get further into your nasal cavities and down your throat and into your lungs. And your total virus/bacterial load increases, making it more likely your body will succumb to one or more of the pieces of crap you're recycling into your body. So- wearing a mask constantly, with or without others present, increases the odds of you getting sick.

So that's your mask and you. Without any interaction with others- it increases the likelihood you're going to get sick.

So now let's take you and someone else. 4 possibilities.
1. You've both got the dreaded covid virus. Is the mask going to protect either of you? No- in fact, if you each had just a small viral load to start- continued mask wearing makes you both more likely to get an actual case as viral load builds from being recycled into your respective bodies.
2. Neither of you have any of the dreaded covid virus in you. Does the mask protect you then? No- because there's nothing to be protected against. But it does make you both more likely to catch something else your bodies may have had in them if you wear the masks for an extended period of time.
3. You have the dreaded covid and he doesn't. Does the mask protect you then? No- but your mask MAY protect him. Does his mask protect him? Not really if you're wearing one. It may if you're not.
4. He has the dreaded covid and you don't. Does your mask protect you then? Well, a little, maybe, but not so much if he's wearing his.

In all 4 cases, the mask only protects others, not the wearer, and then only if the wearer has an actual case of the dreaded covid, which means- has symptoms. If symptoms exist, then there's enough virus to spread.; 12/29/20, 2:14 AM
Gospace said...: Now of course, no one is actually going to go anywhere in today's hyped up world if they have symptoms, are they? Well, I work in a hospital, actually out in the boiler plant, a wholly separate building, but, a hospital. My supervisor lost his sense of taste and smell over the weekend and had the swab done. And - HE CAME TO WORK TODAY! At a HOSPITAL! Because he hadn't gotten the results back yet. A few hours into work he gets the result- positive for the dreaded covid. We have a card we have to carry- a different one had been issued every month of the covidiocy. A list- have you..., have you..., do you have... New loss of taste or smell?... If so, call your supervisor or employee health immediately. He came to work. Now if someone who works in a hospital and carries that card which he is supposed to read every day and preform a self check comes to work, just what exactly do think is happening in Walmart, McDonalds, Target, Wegmans, Piggly Wiggly, and every other retail outlet? DO you think they've all taken computer based training telling them to do this? Do you think they carry warnings on cards? If they do- do you think they're paying any better attention to them?; 12/29/20, 2:14 AM
Big Mike said...: You had every right to investigate the election. But let’s be clear: Those efforts have found nothing.

And that’s the trouble — they have not “found nothing.” Donald Trump has been stonewalled at every step of the way in the face of plenty of hard evidence.; 12/29/20, 4:15 AM
Big Mike said...: @Gospace, that sounds like a fireable offense.; 12/29/20, 4:18 AM
Big Mike said...: They're a client state that's rather skilled at making us think of them as an ally. Look how easily they were able to sell [Mohammed inn Saud] as a "reformer" to a credulous audience.

It seems to me that “credulous” applies to someone who regards Saudi Arabia as a US client state. I laugh at your foolishness.

As to Iran, we have been in a state just short of military action since November 4, 1979. I’ll help you with the math — that’s 41 years, one month, and 25 days. It’s already almost as long as the Cold War (1946 or 1947 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991). I give Barack Obama credit for attempting to break the stalemate, but of course he was too desperate to have something that, if you squinted enough, looked like an agreement. Perhaps he and the idiot Kerry should have read The Art of the Deal.

As to your anti-Semitism, you can try to disguise it as anti-Israeli government or anti-Zionism or whatever the fashionable formulation is among the left-wing extremists, but no one is fooled. Except perhaps you.; 12/29/20, 5:05 AM
tim maguire said...: IIB and Inga, I’m sorry to hear of your loss. As is normal, I imagine, ever since becoming a father I’ve had scary thoughts about losing my daughter and what would happen next. My wife and I would have very different approaches to grieving and I don’t think the marriage would survive the strain. I was relatively young when my parents died, but at least it’s supposed to happen in that order—children are supposed to outlive their parents. It’s hard to imagine recovering from the loss of a child.

IIB, there is inspiration in your wife’s story, of how she’s found a way to cope.; 12/29/20, 5:09 AM
tim maguire said...: Blogger Lawrence Person said...San Diego schools declare war on learning.

In reading that story, I am reminded of hide and seek as played by people in early-childhood—hiding their eyes under the apparent theory that if they can’t see you, then you can’t see them. Or maybe it's inspired by quantum theory. If we don’t measure the failure of minority students, then the minority students aren’t failing.; 12/29/20, 5:16 AM
Political Junkie said...: Like the second, love the first.; 12/29/20, 5:18 AM
tim maguire said...: J. Farmer said...
@madAsHell:

“Trust me, if Slo-Joe BiteMe gets to the inauguration........”

I'd be much more apt to if I hadn't heard the same warning for eight years under Obama. In fact, that could be a no angle to the election fraud conspiracy

At the end of the Clinton presidency, I thought it would take decades to recover from the damage he did to our country’s institutions. As it turned out, he was irrelevant within months. So much of the country and the government runs itself that individual politicians make much less of a difference than we think they will.; 12/29/20, 5:20 AM
StephenFearby said...: 'Retired military leaders have asked the Pentagon to form a multiagency committee to help fight a number of social ills that prevent young people from being accepted into the services.

Nearly three-quarters of American youth do not qualify for service because they are too overweight, or have other roadblocks, the leaders wrote in a plea to acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller.

"As you know, 71 percent of young Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 are currently ineligible for military service, primarily because they are too poorly educated, too overweight, or have a history of crime or substance abuse," the leaders wrote...'

https://justthenews.com/government/security/group-asks-pentagon-spearhead-fight-against-youth-obesity-other-issues-blocking

71%. Who would have thunk it?; 12/29/20, 6:45 AM
stevew said...: I can only imagine what sort of solutions a "multiagency committee" under direction from the Pentagon will come up with that can be implemented nationally. Here's my recommendation: relax the standards for eligibility. Run those lard asses through boot camp and they won't be obese any longer. Likewise with the criminals - a little military discipline, attitude adjustment, will do them some good, and they will learn some saleable skills.; 12/29/20, 7:22 AM
narciso said...: Hmm

https://it.insideover.com/politica/le-trame-romane-del-russiagate-e-linchiesta-di-john-durham.html/amp; 12/29/20, 7:27 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: IIB and Inga: my sincere condolences on your losses. As someone who has had a adult child die (9/11/19), the pain and the confusion it brings into your life is almost unbearable. Thank God I was many years sober and had learned how to "deal" with it.

THEOLDMAN

At some point in my life, I heard my mother say, "You should never have to bury your child." So true, so true. It upsets the natural order of things.; 12/29/20, 7:35 AM
Michael McNeil said...: … but at least it's supposed to happen in that order — children are supposed to out live their parents.

The foregoing common adage may be comforting to many — particularly parents — but as a matter of historical fact it hasn't been true for almost all of history (not to speak of the hundreds of thousands of years our species existed before the dawn of history).

Indeed, up to the advent of antibiotics during the mid-20th century, a large proportion of the children in every family but those particularly fortunate died in childhood — or else adolescence and young(er) adulthood — due to infection, communicable disease, or accidents. Pre-antibiotics, any scratch could become infected and grow into a life-threatening corruption.

I've had such an infected scratch — ultimately banished by antibiotics — myself. One might also recall what happened to historical King Richard the Lionhearted — as an adult in his case: hit by a stray arrow from a castle he was besieging, which became infected, killing him at the peak of his career. (Leaving the Norman-English throne to his brother, the infamous King John: who promptly lost Normandy — the original core of their post-Viking realm — to the French king due to his fecklessness.)

This dire historical reality was deadly enough that some historical cultures in history didn't customarily even name their kids until a year or two after birth — by which time the forming of close attachments with the child(ren) became somewhat less hazardous (but still plenty hazardous enough!) to the parents' mental health.

More recently we think we've left that general population susceptibility far behind. In reality, however, as a result of the decline (due to bad practices!) in the effectiveness of antibiotics during recent decades, those days of individual vulnerability at any age are (somewhat) returning. My own father some years back was taken to the hospital due to a fall — and while (briefly!) there he contracted one of these latter-day antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and promptly died of it. Such could now, once again, happen to any of us, at any age.; 12/29/20, 7:52 AM
Fernandinande said...: 71%. Who would have thunk it?

They're trying to sell preschool/babysitting programs (Mission:Readiness"), which have already been shown to not make much, if any, difference, e.g. Head Start.

Ready, Willing and Unable to Serve
"75 percent of America’s young adults cannot join the military
Early education is needed to ensure national security"

25% don't have HS diploma
10% have a criminal record
27% are too fat
32% have other health problems (asthma, eyesight, ADHD)

Their false claims about "early education" are based on the "Perry Preschool Program" which studied 123 (128-5) retarded black kids about 50 years ago.; 12/29/20, 8:15 AM
D.D. Driver said...: And that’s the trouble — they have not “found nothing.” Donald Trump has been stonewalled at every step of the way in the face of plenty of hard evidence.

But its not that hard to prove. If it happened. This is because it is not enough to have "ballots" you need to have voters (with a names, and an address, and a signature.) At the end of the process the number of signatures needs to match the number of ballots. If there are hundreds of thousands of fake voters in the pollbook that is the easiest thing in the world to prove up.

There is nothing to "stonewall." This is all public information. As I said from the beginning: prove it in court or it didn't happen.

We have our answer.; 12/29/20, 8:18 AM
Fernandinande said...: "… but at least it's supposed to happen in that order — children are supposed to out live their parents."

The foregoing common adage may be comforting to many — particularly parents — but as a matter of historical fact it hasn't been true for almost all of history

Good point. And in the non-human world, the adage would be "most of your offspring will die before you do."; 12/29/20, 8:25 AM
Fernandinande said...: "most of your offspring will die before you do"

Mayflies and salmon not included.; 12/29/20, 8:26 AM
I Callahan said...: At the end of the process the number of signatures needs to match the number of ballots. If there are hundreds of thousands of fake voters in the pollbook that is the easiest thing in the world to prove up.

Completely in agreement here.

There is nothing to "stonewall." This is all public information. As I said from the beginning: prove it in court or it didn't happen.

If it were public information, the "audits" that were supposed to happen would have happened and this would have been put to bed. Recounting existing ballots is not an audit. Nowhere was there any signature matching to ballots. This is all Trump wanted and each state that's been asked to do this has been legally stonewalled.

So no, we don't have the answer you seem to think we do.; 12/29/20, 8:29 AM
tim maguire said...: Yes, for most of human history, most parents have lost some or even most of their children, but most of us don't live in most of human history, we live in recent history.

But I'm sure parents today who lost children will take great comfort in the knowledge of their experience used to be normal. /sarc; 12/29/20, 8:47 AM
Michael McNeil said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/29/20, 8:59 AM
320Busdriver said...: In PA Republicans found that when comparing the county vote data to the DOS data there were 170,000 more ballots counted in the potus race than there were voters. This is twice the margin of Bidens supposed victory,

“These numbers just don’t add up, and the alleged certification of Pennsylvania’s presidential election results was absolutely premature, unconfirmed, and in error.”

https://wjactv.com/news/local/pa-republican-lawmakers-analysis-finds-presidential-election-numbers-dont-add-up; 12/29/20, 9:01 AM
Michael McNeil said...: I'm sure parents today who lost children will take great comfort in the knowledge of their experience used to be normal. /sarc

Because, in the modern world, that’s what’s important: Feelings — not recognizing what’s true and what’s not.; 12/29/20, 9:01 AM
Michael McNeil said...: “most of your offspring will die before you do”

Mayflies and salmon not included.

Nope. It’s true for them too.

Er… let me rephrase that last line as “many of their offspring will die before they do” — even if (as with salmon) the parent dies almost immediately.; 12/29/20, 9:06 AM
Michael K said...: You had every right to investigate the election. But let’s be clear: Those efforts have found nothing.

Sidney Powell is a crazy person. Michael Flynn suggesting martial law is tantamount to treason. It is shameful.

Lies from gadfly. Whodathunk ?; 12/29/20, 9:35 AM
Fernandinande said...: “many of their offspring will die before they do

Since "many" = "some", sure you can find or imagine special cases where a trout or insect eats the fertilized egg in the short time before the parent dies.; 12/29/20, 10:06 AM
Rusty said...: ."Our Iran policy will remain confused so long as we outsource it to Tel Aviv."
"Death to America!" "Death to the Jews!" Or Israel your preference.
You have a blind spot when it comes to the middle east. Iran and Israel in particular. It seems to be an emotional subject for you. Trump is the only American statesman, in my lifetime, that has played real politic in the middle east and gotten acceptable results.
You look at Israel as an occupier. I see Israel as a civilizing influence. Israeli tourists in the Emirates. Will wonders never cease?; 12/29/20, 10:11 AM
readering said...: I visited Sinai from Israel in eighties as a tourist. Or was I dreaming emotionally?; 12/29/20, 10:13 AM
Narr said...: The notion that the mass of young Americans will be ready, able, and willing to go into the military, and that they will be any good there, is really laughable. The exceptions are already in the services or plan to be.

Any military crisis that happens will have to be handled by the forces in place, and quickly; the American economy and populace can not sustain the worldcop role much longer.

Narr
That's MY prediction; 12/29/20, 12:55 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Big Mike:

It seems to me that “credulous” applies to someone who regards Saudi Arabia as a US client state. I laugh at your foolishness.

Let me ask you something, Mike. Where does your knowledge of US-Saudi relations come from? The media? Politicians? The US national security bureaucracy? You realize that "fake news" and the "deep state" weren't invented in 2016, right? They've been part and parcel of our system for decades. If you want to understand where "fake news" comes from, read Walter Lippmann's 1922 book Public Opinion. See how Woodrow Wilson's Committee on Public Information operated between 1917 and 1919.

As for Saudi Arabia, the US developed its petroleum industry, built most of its infrastructure, built their commercial passenger industry, modernized their government, built their broadcast facilities, and developed their defense industry. It was through Saudi Arabia that the US established the petrodollar system in the early 1970s. We still provide millions of dollars in "foreign assistance" to help train their local police force and other "administrative" support for their Ministry of Defense, National Guard, and Ministry of the Interior. They are the largest customer of US foreign military sales. In other words, Saudi Arabia is almost totally dependent on the US for its security while having no treaty obligation to defend Saudi Arabia.

As to your anti-Semitism, you can try to disguise it as anti-Israeli government or anti-Zionism or whatever the fashionable formulation is among the left-wing extremists, but no one is fooled. Except perhaps you.

It's so sad seeing ignorant people be so proud of their ignorance. I'm trying to make an argument about US geostrategy, and nitwits like you want to reduce it all to personality and feelings. My character has nothing to do with the strength or validity of my arguments. If you can't grasp this basic logic, dialogue is pointless. You can't win a conflict of ideas by calling people names. You actually have to think. You have to ask yourself why you believe what you believe, how you know what you know. That takes effort, and it's why people like you prefer the much simpler option of being a partisan cheerleader and political fanboy. A slave happy for his chains.; 12/29/20, 2:12 PM
J. Farmer said...: @tim maguire:

So much of the country and the government runs itself that individual politicians make much less of a difference than we think they will.

I completely agree. The reason we have had such consistent policies for the last 40 years regardless of which party controlled the White House or Congress is because the outcome of any election does not matter that to the overall system.; 12/29/20, 2:16 PM
Narr said...: FTR, I don't think Farmer is an anti-Semite in any meaningful sense of the term, and on geopolitics he's more often right than wrong.

Tying ourselves into a region so beset by backwardness and barbarism, and making the most obscurantist regime in the neighborhood into the keystone of security is a mistake.

Narr
Semites are more anti-Semitic than I am; 12/29/20, 3:05 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Narr:

FTR, I don't think Farmer is an anti-Semite in any meaningful sense of the term, and on geopolitics he's more often right than wrong.

For what it's worth, I find anti-Semitism just as incoherent and illogical as any other form of racism. While I have no problem with describing a group, I reject the notion that you can judge a group. One is an empirical undertaking and the other a moral undertaking. It makes sense to say that a specific black person or Jewish person is bad; it doesn't make sense to say that black people or Jewish people are bad. Groups don't have hive minds and thus don't have intentionality. You have to judge people on their individual character, not their group affiliation. While this seems obvious, it is more difficult than people assume. Our brains are wired for in-group and out-group distinctions. If you want to see this phenomenon in action, look at the way many supporters of Israel talk about Palestinians. It is essential for them to erase the individual-group distinction. By assigning collective guilt, they can justify collective punishment. That is the foundation of tribal thinking and the warrant for genocide.; 12/29/20, 3:51 PM
Narr said...: Farmer, I've been around academics (Jewish, gentile, American, European, and who-the-heck-knows-what) who express opinions in private about certain out-groups that are as brutal as
anything to be heard at a Klan meeting.

Narr
Only the targets change; 12/29/20, 7:03 PM