January 31, 2021

At the Sunday Night Cafe...

 ... you can talk about whatever you want.

116 comments:

I'm Not Sure said...

Watching some more tv, along with the commercials. Do couples only have daughters these days?

YoungHegelian said...

OK, lads & lasses, I have a brand new tin-foil hat conspiracy to peddle & this one is a doozie, so gather round.

We here Chez Althouse have always assumed that if proof of election fraud were to be found, it would be found "on-site", as it were, at the four disputed election districts. However, there's another possible site to find evidence of malfeasance, if it occurred, --- in the correspondence between various campaign go-betweens & the operatives on the ground. If the fraud occurred, there would have to be much planning & there are too many participants for there not be loose documents floating around out there, especially since many of the participants probably saw themselves as in the right for what they did.

Now, the forces on the Right basically suck when it comes to hacking. Getting better, but still, not that good. But, ah, that might be about to change.

Read this article on the Biden admin's pick for Envoy to Iran. This is an absolute nightmare for the state of Israel. This is, from the Israeli viewpoint, putting them on the teetering edge of an existential threat. Israel needs to neuter the Biden administration, to get them so wrapped up in a local scandal that they can't move. What better sort of scandal, one already believed by about 40-plus percent of the electorate, than proof that Biden's team really did rig the election? That would bring the Biden admin to a screeching halt.

The Righties may suck at cyber-intelligence. The Mossad sure doesn't. The Trump Team may have just GARNERED a very valuable ally.

Once again, tin foil hat on here. Don't believe everything you think, yadda, yadda, yadda. But, who better allies for the Israelis to shift the balance of power than Trump & his constituencies?

rhhardin said...

East european dog rescue video says in subtitles that feral puppy is not yet used to society or socialism.

Ken B said...

Coronavirus cranks considered https://quillette.com/2021/01/16/rise-of-the-coronavirus-cranks/

Fits a lot of our residential denialists.

Inga said...

Trump always picks the best people...

“WASHINGTON (AP) — Former president Donald Trump announced a new impeachment legal defense team Sunday, one day after it was revealed that he had parted ways with an earlier set of attorneys with just over a week to go before his Senate trial.

The two representing Trump will be defense lawyer David Schoen, a frequent television legal commentator, and Bruce Castor, a former district attorney in Pennsylvania who has faced criticism for his decision to not charge actor Bill Cosby in a sex crimes case.

Schoen met with financier Jeffrey Epstein about joining his defense team on sex trafficking charges just days before Epstein killed himself in a New York jail.”

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-trials-impeachments-south-carolina-d1d2b8d5b76c68acdde662b3b7e00c82

Narr said...

Fine.

Young Narr's Year Of Scouting.

Some of my clearest early memories are hiking the trails at Shiloh and NB Forrest parks with my father and older brother. Our dad was an assistant scoutmaster; I don't have a clear idea of his own boyhood scouting experience, but he had my older brother on the track leading to Eagledom and God & Country status, and I suppose I would have trailed along there too. I had not been a Cub, but I think my brother had.

Anyway, once our father died we kept going to church (where the troop was) and bro rose to distinction before flaming out. An uncle's friend was scout leader at the methodist emporium much closer to home, so I joined the BSA there.

'"Greenie" Plante', I'll call the guy, was a big hearty athletic Navy veteran with a son in the troop; I didn't particularly like either one of them. but there were other guys I did and for a while I was pretty interested, but the merit badges I wanted to get weren't the ones the adults were qualified to give, so that was pretty much a bust.

Finally, when summer came I went to Kamp Kia Kima (KKK!) for a week; luckily it was the week at remote camp and not at base, which would have been boring as hell.

One cool foggy morning I woke briefly with a need to pee, but as I heard something big stalking about outside the tent, I decided to wait for privacy . . . I hear a few footfalls and a flapping sound . . . wait . . . more steps . . . I open my eye a fraction and right in front of the tent stands Mr. Plante--heavy boots, smokey hat, and tighty-whiteys held out in front with one hand so he could apply--vigorously--baby powder to his groinadal region with the other.

I think it must have been the last morning before I had to leave, and was glad to find that it was another guy who would drive me back to base camp. I quit soon after of course.

Narr
What happened to the BSA didn't surprise me

Ken B said...

Pretty shameful Inga. Democrats have been mau-mauing any lawyer who defends Trump. Naturally then you get one of the principled ones who defend even unpopular clients. Once upon a time leftists applauded brave and principled lawyers like Clarence Darrow; now you spit on them.

mockturtle said...

Military coup in Myanmar as a result of fraudulent election. That's what we should have done. ;-D

Ken B said...

Althouse: “creepy”

Describing people like Inga, gloating over turning trials into bear-baiting spectacles.

Rt41Rebel said...

It's a shame Trump couldn't garner a principled and honorable attorney like Michael Avenatti.

bbkingfish said...

Isn't Michael Avenatti the crooked attorney who represented that slutty, washed-up pornstar Trump paid all that hush money? My God, that woman had flies all over her. I don't blame Trump for trying to cover up having to pay for sex with that kind of lowlife. Yuck!

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

Lots of comments recently about great cover songs.

Was disappointed to see, once again, Jerry Lewis unusually memorable cover of That Old Black Magic.

Was Mr. Lewis intentionally underrated as a vocalist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGQg0dIo6wU&ab_channel=ThePurplePit

iowan2 said...

I read the link to Quillette. I had to double check, because It's an Inga link. Meaning the 100% opinion piece does not support the conclusion, claimed here.
Taking as science, reporting by media, that never references science.

but the emergence in December of an extraordinarily infectious new strain put an end to that. The number of COVID cases doubled in the first half of December and doubled again in the second hal

I have yet to see any science that purports to claim this "new strain" is anymore contagious than what has been present.

Like almost all the reporting, correlation is confused with causation.

While the author supports more lockdowns because of increase of hospitalizations, he never touches on a plan to protect the most vulnerable. Not very sciency if you ask me.


I'm Full of Soup said...

Netflix movie The Dig is one Meadehouse will enjoy.

pacwest said...

@YH
And he's not the worst of them. Biden? has placed several people pro Palistainan/anti Israel in positions to make a difference. I am guessing it's Pelosi's deal with Tlaib et al. Israel has said they'd have no choice but to destroy all possible Iranian nuclear sites at some undetermined future date if Biden? follows through with these placements.

Not so sure about the tin foil theory. One of the only things that gives me any doubt about election fraud big enough to influence the outcome is the fact there has to be communication records of the effort. It was too big not to have traces. I have yet to see that 'paper trail'.

MartieD said...

Watching IMDb tv with commercials, only POC actors need apply for commercial acting jobs now. Every commercial must have the requisite POC actor. Lefty paternalism & patronizing AF.
Before any of the lefty trolls accuse me of being a racist, I’m not white & IDGAF what you think of me.

MartieD said...

I take from Inga’s comment that it doesn’t believe in the right to a defense for the accused? Guilty until proven innocent? I remember it also was pushing the same narrative during the Kavanaugh hearings.

Inga said...

“I take from Inga’s comment that it doesn’t believe in the right to a defense for the accused?”

Why? Me naming his attorneys does in no way indicate that I don’t think he has a right to a defense. I’m glad he was able to find a legal team willing to put up a defense for him. Kavanaugh also had a right to a defense and I did not ever indicate he didn’t.

Inga said...

“Before any of the lefty trolls accuse me of being a racist, I’m not white & IDGAF what you think of me.”

Don’t flatter yourself, no one thinks of you, period.

Inga said...

What happened to Qwinn? He hasn’t been around since January 6th or thereabout.

pacwest said...

Here's a fun conspiracy theory. The CCP is introducing the anal swab test just to see how much they can fuck with us. Xi's laughing right now.

Mark said...

proof that Biden's team really did rig the election?

What if we had proof of Biden engaging in extortion/bribery for personal gain? What if we caught him on video bragging about it?

Surely, people would rise up and he would be finished.

Of course, we already have that. And they could similarly show video of Chinese workers filling out fraudulent ballots and poll workers changing votes in the machines and Biden bragging on TV, "Damn right we did it!" and Psaki and the DOJ and Congress and the MSM would shrug their shoulders and say, "So?"

Then Biden could come on live TV, shove his face right into the camera and say, "Yeah, we f*cked you. Deal with it."

AND NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN.

pacwest said...

Inga never said Trump wasn't entitled to a defense. She just wants to get in a little jab. Her integrity has been insulted.

The pervious lawyers quit because Trump wanted them to pound on the fraudulent voting issue. Presumably the present team has agreed to it. IMO he is making a big mistake doing that. Not a good look. But I'm not Trump.

Rt41Rebel said...

@pacwest

That was my instant take. I believe I said out loud when I read it that in two months we'd be wearing 3 masks and sticking Q-Tips up our asses weekly.

stephen cooper said...

Trust me, Trump is not gonna be on the defense with senile Patrick Leahy and his ilk in charge, Trump is gonna be on the offense.

As Mr T used to say, before he was born again, "I pity the fools"

Rt41Rebel said...

"The pervious lawyers quit because Trump wanted them to pound on the fraudulent voting issue. Presumably the present team has agreed to it. IMO he is making a big mistake doing that. Not a good look. But I'm not Trump."

I agree that the focus of the defense, and easy to achieve, should be to concentrate on the timeline and events of the day, but if the Dems go there and start asking questions and making statements about the integrity of the election, and you know they will, Trump's lawyers damn well better be ready to open up an industrial drum of whoop-ass.

Ken B said...

As Insty points out, if Leahy presides Harris should not be able to break a tie. Obviously, Leahy should only vote to break a tie. The Democrats will try to get around this. Is there a parliamentarian to decide?

walter said...

"The two representing Trump will be defense lawyer David Schoen, a frequent television legal commentator, and Bruce Castor, a former district attorney in Pennsylvania who has faced criticism for his decision to not charge actor Bill Cosby in a sex crimes case.
Schoen met with financier Jeffrey Epstein about joining his defense team on sex trafficking charges just days before Epstein killed himself in a New York jail"
AP delivering the unbiased context, no doubt.

If Roberts doesn't deem this worthy of showing, perhaps Team Trump should do the same.
If they somehow convict him, take it to SCOTUS.

pacwest,
It sounds like Dems are going to make it all about the "Big Lie".
There are enough retail election issues to push back against that.
Also, if the "big lie" was so self-evident yet predictably dangerous re supporters, there is no explanation for the hapless security measures.

J. Farmer said...

@YoungHegelian:

Read this article on the Biden admin's pick for Envoy to Iran. This is an absolute nightmare for the state of Israel. This is, from the Israeli viewpoint, putting them on the teetering edge of an existential threat.

Oh, give me a fucking break. Is it America First or is it Israel First? Netanyahu has been predicting the imminent nuclearization of Iran for 30 years now. Rejoining the JCPOA is a no-brainer. It's in our interest to do so, and if Netanyahu doesn't like it, tough shit. It is so pathetic seeing a continental superpower constantly kowtowing to Israel and the Sunni Arab states. It's utterly bizarre that even though the US provides crucial, indispensable support to both countries, we're constantly expected to say "how high?" when they say "jump."

FullMoon said...

Rt41Rebel said...

@pacwest

That was my instant take. I believe I said out loud when I read it that in two months we'd be wearing 3 masks and sticking Q-Tips up our asses weekly.
..........................
Swabs and masks made in China. That right there is some Mad Men/won't turn pink in the can/ rinse and repeat level marketing

Ken B said...

Rebel
Yeah, if Trump makes it about the elect he looks like Captain Queeg.

He has a killer defense in echelon based on the charge, the timeline, his actual words, his deleted calls for calm, Leahy presiding, and the question of constitutionality.

Rory said...

I'm watching old "Doctor in the House" reruns. The TV show, not movies. I had seen the original series years ago, but had no idea they'd done several follow up series, totalling about 150 episodes. Many episodes were written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese, including a Cleese that looks like a proto-Fawlty Towers. It's an amiable series.

stephen cooper said...

Evildoers always overplay their hand.
They can't help themselves.

Ashli Babbit is gonna be honored on a stamp in about 10 years, probably less.

I don't know what the old Senators who hate Trump and hate Trump voters and their families are thinking - Schumer, with his bragging about his long-ago SAT scores, and the rest of the old senators who still think Walter Cronkite is gonna praise them, are thinking ----- but none of them are gonna be remembered fondly by future patriotic Americans, ever.

Not even Tulsi, unless she gets her act straight.

Ken B said...

Farmer's attitude to national defense: He might defend America if Iran nuked an American city, but it would depend on which city.

walter said...

Ken,
The goalposts are already moving earlier than the speech precisely because the timeline doesn't work.
So Dems will take it to the longer leadup.."the big lie".
Think Trump should throw his hands up and say "ah...ya got me. What was I thinking?"

walter said...

By the way, are the states who were asking for time to revist their situations just dupes in "the big lie"?
The stupid rioters clouded what was actually happening.
And spineless R's leapt to use it as a way out of a "difficult vote".

MartieD said...

The lefty troll at least recognizes that it’s a lefty troll? Credit for the self awareness @Inga!

Gahrie said...

Oh, give me a fucking break. Is it America First or is it Israel First?

After Iran nukes Israel, will you even bother to come on here and say "oops"?

Rt41Rebel said...

"After Iran nukes Israel"

I believe that Israel has already signaled that they will take any action necessary to prevent a nuclear Iran. Whatever, WWIII in the ME is not the concern of a country that is energy independent.

Crazy World said...

Trump won but we have to go through the commie control with military outside the former White House to MAGA, what the actual fuck.

Ken B said...

Walter
If the Democrats make that the issue perhaps, but a stronger defense is “wait, you didn’t mean your impeachment resolution?” Independent voters, the real audience, will notice that. But looking like Queeg would sink him.

YoungHegelian said...

@J. Farmer,

Oh, give me a fucking break. Is it America First or is it Israel First?

And as always, farmer, in your knee jerk dislike of Israel and your trust from Gods knows where of the good intentions of Iran, you completely miss my point.

My point is that Biden's picks for the envoy to Iran have now shown the world, including the Israelis, where the admin's heart lies. Are the Israelis happy about it? No. Would it help them to hamstring the Biden admin's foreign policy? Yes. How could they do that? How about helping the Trumpies, who they have very good relations with, prove their point that the Democrats won the election by fraud? That would set up quite a storm in the US if it could be proven, and would do much to neuter the Biden admin.

I'm just pointing out how two political actors now have compatible interests against the Biden admin. You don't have to like it to see it's there.

And as for you & the Iranians, I suggest you give much more serious consideration to the role their Shi'a eschatology plays in their politics. The problem with atheists is that they never, ever understand what goes on in the heads of those who follow an apocalyptic strain of theology. Atheists think it's all a scam to fool the rubes. It's not. The leadership believes it to the core of their being & will kill & die for it. When the Iranians have since the inception of the regime organized the masses & preached from the pulpit "Death to America" that just isn't enough for you. You know better than to see what's in front of your eyes, 'cause yer jest that smart.

Ken B said...

Discussion on Althouse again reveals that most of the regulars are working to elect Democrats.

Rt41Rebel said...

It wouldn't surprise me at all to know that the "Biden" administration would deliberately raise tensions in the ME right up to a full out war for the sole purpose of nullifying the Trump-brokered deals between Israel and other ME countries. That's how sick they are.

Gahrie said...

The problem with atheists is that they never, ever understand what goes on in the heads of those who follow an apocalyptic strain of theology. Atheists think it's all a scam to fool the rubes. It's not. The leadership believes it to the core of their being & will kill & die for it.

The exact same thing happens with Leftists ideology and certain demographics.

Rosalyn C. said...

Constantly moving the goalposts: Now Trump's crime is not about inciting a riot or insurrection, which of course there is no evidence of him doing. Tonight the NY Times is claiming that Trump had made up a lie about voter fraud years ago in order to subvert the peaceful transfer of power. Except there was no lie and many ordinary people testified and gave evidence of the fraud they witnessed first hand.

I respect that Trump does not want a technical argument about the Constitutionality of the Senate holding a trial against him as a citizen or the lack of a Chief Justice presiding. Trump wants as much of the facts to come out as possible.

I wouldn't be surprised if numerous countries have evidence proving the coordination of the fraud between the Biden campaign and the various swing states where the massive rigging took place. However that wouldn't help remove Biden because I'm sure Biden has "plausible deniability." And whatever country revealed that intel would suffer greatly. Biden has already sent threatening signals toward Israel with his appointments of a man with Hamas contacts, Robert Malley, as Special Envoy to Iran, and anti-Israel activist Maher Bitar to be the National Security Council's senior director for intelligence programs.

Evil seems to be winning but Trump is not a fearful man.

YoungHegelian said...

@Gahrie,

The exact same thing happens with Leftists ideology and certain demographics.

Very much so. See, for example, the reactions of many E.U. leaders to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. It was about colonialism, poverty --- everything but that it was a strain of Islamic theology that had deep roots in the history of Islam.

Gahrie said...

Very much so. See, for example, the reactions of many E.U. leaders to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. It was about colonialism, poverty --- everything but that it was a strain of Islamic theology that had deep roots in the history of Islam.

Which is crazy considering how close Islam has been to wiping out Western Civilization twice already. Someone tell them the tales of El Cid and Vlad the Impaler.

walter said...

Ken,
In the resolution see "In the months preceeding.."

Ken B said...

Old Hegelian
Yes, you pegged Farmer. As did I. The one point I think you missed is this. His blindness to the sincerity of Iran is amplified by his attitude to Israel. If Israel were a Muslim country he would take Iran's professed hatred for him and his neighbors more seriously.

Lawrence Person said...

Stop That Tank!

YoungHegelian said...

@Gahrie,

Which is crazy considering how close Islam has been to wiping out Western Civilization twice already

Don't forget La Chanson de Roland, too! My froggy ancestors were all over dat at Tours!

The amazing spread of the Muslim empires so soon after the death of Mohamed was an almost unprecedented thing, and one that almost never gets covered in modern discussions of Islam. It's always the poor Muslims who are the victims of imperialism, as opposed to the truth -- that they were some of the most successful imperialists in world history.

I blame the fucking Byzantines. What a buncha pussies back when the Eastern flank of Christendom needed manly men!

YoungHegelian said...

@Ken B,

Yes, you pegged Farmer

I beg your pardon, sir! While I do not pre-judge Farmer's professed "lifestyle", it is not one in which I indulge. It's only the charms of the ladies for me, sir, as it has been always.

Mark said...

I blame the fucking Byzantines.

The same dynamic involved in NeverTrumpism. Their irrational animus for an ally leads to paving the way for a far greater and truly existential enemy leading to their own destruction.

YoungHegelian said...

@Mark,

The same dynamic involved in NeverTrumpism. Their irrational animus for an ally leads to paving the way for a far greater and truly existential enemy leading to their own destruction.

A good analogy! I see you are aware of the sad & sorry history of the end-times of the Byzantine Empire.

stephen cooper said...

The Byzantine soldiers were tough, but so was everyone else back then. They won often, and would have won even more often with better generals under better circumstances.

People are still tough today. Even now, it would probably only take about three months to turn even the most effete of our young men into good tough soldiers.

Well, four months if the trainee smoked too much pot or did too much fentanyl over the last year or so. Five months if the pot was like, really good pot. There are exceptions to every rule, but I think five months, at most, would be enough for almost all of them. Five months is not a long time.

Ken B said...

Old Hegelian
It’s pleasing to have one's strokes noticed.

(See what I did there?)

Ken B said...

A good book on the origins of Islam, is Holland's In the Shadow of The Sword.
Ibn Warraq has several books but they are much more technical.

stephen cooper said...

One of the things that amazes me the most about this world is the belief some people express that there are weak people among us.

All of us are mortal, and it is not easy to be mortal. The people who claim they are weak are just faking it.

My apologies to any immortals reading this, I wasn't talking about you.

walter said...

" In the months preceding the Joint Session, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials."

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Well, hey, the Venetians didn't help matters any when they sacked the Christian Byzantine Empire during the 4th crusade. They could have at least tried to run it instead of plundering it.

stephen cooper said...

Even fluffy little dogs are tough. I used to have a ten pound dog (a fluffy little terrier mix who would go to the stylist every other month) who always wanted me to take it for a walk down to the dumpster so it could have a go at the crowds of five pound rats that hung out there. I mean, if I were a hundred pound guy, the last place I would want to go is a dumpster where dozens of 50 pound rats were hanging out.

My neighbors would often tell me how precious and cute my fluffy little dog was. Good times!

Gahrie said...

I used to have a ten pound dog (a fluffy little terrier mix who would go to the stylist every other month) who always wanted me to take it for a walk down to the dumpster so it could have a go at the crowds of five pound rats that hung out there.

Go on Youtube and look up a guy called Joseph Carter: The Mink Man. He's been training minks and dogs not only to hunt with him, but with each other. He hunts just about every pest out there. Every once in a while he gets together with a bunch of friends and their dogs and the rats never have a chance.

Just recently he's starting to raise a (monitor?) lizard and is trying to train it to hunt with him.

Joseph Carter

JML said...

https://tinyurl.com/y2d7y8y4

University Police Chief Bans All Thin Blue Line Imagery After Pressure From Angry Students

Madison, WI – The police chief at the University of Wisconsin (UW) – Madison said that her police department needed to distance itself from imagery that includes a Thin Blue Line flag and has banned it for members of the school’s police department.

UW-Madison Police Chief Kristen Roman sent an email to her police force on Jan. 15 that became public on Tuesday banning all Thin Blue Line flags and imagery of them, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Mark said...

To understand the spread of Islam, it is useful simply to study the faith of Islam.

What is it that would lead people to become Muslim? What are the tenets of Islam? What does the Koran say? (read it) What do the Haddith say?

I'll save you the suspense. Islam is not a super complex set of beliefs. No complicated or intricate theology. It says there is one god, there is a true prophet, that you should pray and fast and go on pilgrimage and follow the example of the prophet. And . . . . and . . . . and . . . and that's it. Oh, one other thing -- all the other religions are false.

There really is nothing beyond the five pillars. There is no there there. No need for a 1200-page catechism or summa. And with the Koran, no need to think about things like the nature of god -- in fact, it is forbidden because to do so is to put yourself on the same level or even higher than god, which is a no-no.

So, why would one become Muslim? With such a lack of real theological substance, why??

Remember the example of the prophet. The conqueror. That's why. The sword. That's why. There is no conversion of heart and mind to Islam -- there is submission, period, which is the meaning of the word.

J. Farmer said...

@YoungHegelian:

And as always, farmer, in your knee jerk dislike of Israel and your trust from Gods knows where of the good intentions of Iran, you completely miss my point.

And as always, YH, you keep insisting that my position on Israel and Iran has something to do with what I "feel" about those countries. It doesn't. It's not even Israel that I am criticizing but US policy decisions. Curiously, all the times I've criticized US-Saudi Arabia policies, nobody ever attributes it to a "knee jerk dislike" of Saudi Arabia.

The leadership believes it to the core of their being & will kill & die for it.

And what is your source for this claim? What actions has Iran taken in, say, the last 35 years would you describe as irrationally suicidal? If Iranian action is so ideologically-driven, what explains Iranian relations with Russia, China, India, and Japan? What do you think of Flynt Leverett's argument in The Mad Mullah Myth or Bernd Debusmann's in Goodbye to the myth of Iran’s “Mad Mullahs”?

Yancey Ward said...

In March of last year, there were basically two camps:

(1) COVID was a disease with a 5%+ infection fatality rate.
(2) COVID was more like a really bad flu with a sub 0.5% infection fatality rate.

That is it, those were the two camps. You can gradate between those ranges for a smaller group of people, but most people were in those two camps- above 5% and below 0.5%. I leave it to you commenters to determine for themselves which group was actually right. There was enough information last March to make a prediction about which threshold was likely to be correct. We actually do know which one is correct today.

I wrote multiple times that the actions being advocated by the Karens would not work to stop the virus, and, worse, that the shutdowns and the lockdowns would end up killing more people in the long run than the virus itself if we didn't give up on them quickly, which we didn't and haven't.

William said...

It would be irrational for the Israelis to trust the Iranians. What would be unusual and precedent setting would be for the Iranians to act rationally and in their own self interest. Jane Fonda should be appointed envoy to Iran. She'd be the ideal person to warn Iran about the hazards of developing nuclear energy even for peaceful purposes.

Yancey Ward said...

The policy response to COVID by most of the western nations has been the biggest policy blunder in history outside of WWI and WWII. We will be paying the price for decades going forward.

J. Farmer said...

@Ken B:

Yes, you pegged Farmer. As did I. The one point I think you missed is this. His blindness to the sincerity of Iran is amplified by his attitude to Israel. If Israel were a Muslim country he would take Iran's professed hatred for him and his neighbors more seriously.

With all due respect, Ken, you know fuck all about me. Notice an important distinction between us. I'm talking about US foreign policy; you're talking about me. However, I do commend you on your ability to efficiently and efficaciously demolish the strawmen you construct all around me.

Yancey Ward said...

Sweden is the only country in the western world that go it right from the start. Some states in the US also got it right, but about half of them didn't, but the half that did kept the country from sinking into a cataclysmic depression....so far.

William said...

Iran could have settled its war with Iraq on essentially the same terms two or three years earlier. The Iranians used their own children, The Martyrs' Brigades, to clear mine fields. It's not hard to find lots of examples where the fanaticism of Iran's religious rulers were self destructive and not in the best interests of Iran.....In this country, the Biden people distrust the policies and politics of deeply committed Christians. I wonder why they're so accepting of the judgment and good faith of Iranian religious fanatics.

J. Farmer said...

@Gahrie:

After Iran nukes Israel, will you even bother to come on here and say "oops"?

"But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud!"

I'll bet a thousand dollars that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon in the next four years. Interested?

Gospace said...

Rt41Rebel said...
"After Iran nukes Israel"

I believe that Israel has already signaled that they will take any action necessary to prevent a nuclear Iran. Whatever, WWIII in the ME is not the concern of a country that is energy independent.


The United States is energy independent right now because energy producers have been able to drill and frack and get oil and gas out of the ground. Three months from ow we won't be. That's the goal of the Biden administration and Democrats and their allies Russia and China. Their allies? Why yes- both China and Russia want us to be energy dependent on others. It helps Russia's economy and China when it decides to invade Formosa can cut off the Mideast spigot.

And when gas goes up to over $5.00 a gallon within a year I'll be reminding every Biden voter that they voted for President Harris to do it to them.

Yancey Ward said...

I think the bet would have to be "Iran won't test a nuclear weapon in the next four years". You would never prove they don't have one and a bet couldn't be settled.

J. Farmer said...

@Rt41Rebel:

Whatever, WWIII in the ME is not the concern of a country that is energy independent.

That isn't true. The Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz remain a chokepoint to the global economy, and the US would not be insulated from the global economic ramifications of a conflagration in that region. Plus, we still import oil from the middle east. In 2019, we imported about a million barrels per day from Persian Gulf countries.

Ken B said...

Farmer
Sardonic caricature is an effective tool. Your reaction proves it. I have read enough of your lines, and between them, to have a good understanding of some of your attitudes.

gadfly said...

Blogger Rosalyn C. said...
Constantly moving the goalposts: Now Trump's crime is not about inciting a riot or insurrection, which of course there is no evidence of him doing. Tonight the NY Times is claiming that Trump had made up a lie about voter fraud years ago in order to subvert the peaceful transfer of power.


Trump only lies if and when he opens his mouth, sweetie.

WaPo writes about Trump's dishonesty in questioning our elections shortly after he won the presidency back in January 2017 - so no goalposts were moved.

Trump is doing the country a disservice making things up about the integrity of our elections. But it’s important to remember this isn’t just about him overcompensating for his embarrassment that nearly 3 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton than for him. This is about the president’s reelection campaign. He wants Congress and state legislatures to make it easier for him to win in four years by making it harder for people to vote.

What the Washington newspaper didn't know at the time was Trump's illegal use of Russian help in winning that election. His disease is called "gangster mentality." Since Trump cheats, he thinks everybody cheats.

Gospace said...

The other night there was discussion about military schools and what's wrong and/or right with them. Well, there's a lot wrong with the 3 major federal service academies, USMA, USNA, and USAFA. But still a lot right left in them.

let's start with a real wrong- sports. The service academies should not be playing NCAA Division 1 sports. Unlike other Division 1 schools, the service academies actually expect their athletes to really be student athletes, at least they pay lip service to that ideal, and, they actually expect them to function in the same profession as all the other graduates for a period of 5 years. Other Division 1 schools don't really care what happens to their athletes after their eligibility runs out. Anyone associated with the service academies is aware athletes aren't held to the same standards as the rest of the student body. They should be, at one time, they were. Almost all major scandals involving service academies in my lifetime have involved athletes. This not mere happenstance and random chance- it's because they're held to a lower standard.

Another thing wrong is women at the academies. (and in combat arms...) The Big Lie- NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE. Changed in no time flat. Lower fitness standard for women. And then- the jump. Don't know what the equivalent requirement was at the other academies, or if it was the same, but one existed. In order to graduate you had to step off a tiny platform high up in the air and step off into the pool that looked like a postage stamp. Too many women were refusing to jump. It was ruining their "success". So, a few women were allowed to sue- as if courts actually had jurisdiction over training requirements for the military. But everyone pretended they did, and a strawman argument was used to get rid f the requirement- no one was actually ever going to have to jump from the deck f a carrier into the sea, therefore, the requirement was obsolete. The jump had absolutely zip diddly squat to do with anything like a practical requirement to practice something they might someday have to do. (Though, they might...) What are officers? Leaders. Not just leaders, but courageous leaders. Able to show calm even when they're frightened out of their minds. Lot of play acting involved. They can't show fear. Why can't someone jump off a board that they've seen a hundred other people do, that they know can be done safely, that they've seen videos of people doing safely, that they've received actual instruction on how to do safely? Because they're cowards, unable to conquer their primal fear of falling. The women who refused to jump (and the men who failed to graduate for failure to jump for over a century) were and are- cowards. So now we're graduating people who have demonstrated cowardice because the one simple test we had was eliminated because it eliminated too many women. Raise your hands- How many of you want cowards leading your sons and daughters in wartime?

I often wonder if Kara Hultgreen jumped off the board into the pool... A male with her record would never have been carrier qualified. She died for political correctness.

J. Farmer said...

@Ken B:

I have read enough of your lines, and between them, to have a good understanding of some of your attitudes.

No, you haven't. For example, there is no need to "read between the lines" to ascertain my "attitudes." You could just ask me what my attitudes are. I am not demure about expressing my opinions. Dialogue is the method that people with different points of view use to understand each other. My position would be much clearer to you if you did not insist on reading everything I write through the lens of your preconceived notions.

J. Farmer said...

@Yancey Ward:

I think the bet would have to be "Iran won't test a nuclear weapon in the next four years". You would never prove they don't have one and a bet couldn't be settled.

I agree. Interested?

Largo said...

Ken B said:
Farmer
Sardonic caricature is an effective tool.


Effective yes. But more for creating heat than light'

MadTownGuy said...

SMH. Twitter silent as AOC accuses Ted Cruz of attempted 'murder' on its platform
The Dem 'Squad' member accused the GOP senator of trying to have her murdered


"Twitter appears to be steering clear of the serious accusations leveled by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on its platform Thursday.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has repeatedly called on Cruz to resign over his challenge to part of the Electoral College certification of President Biden's victory, rejected the GOP lawmaker's olive branch after the two of them agreed to conduct congressional hearings into the stock trading app Robinhood's decision to block purchases of stock in companies like GameStop amid Wall Street chaos caused by amateur traders.

"I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out," Ocasio-Cortez told Cruz. "Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign."

BUMBLE BEE said...

Oh My! Ignore this... https://redstate.com/streiff/2021/01/31/proud-boys-leader-fbi-snitch-n319642.
No cops at the capitol for sure!

stevew said...

Watched last night and recommend it to you:

The Little Things

Starring:
Denzel Washington
Rami Malek
Jared Leto
Natalie Morales

gilbar said...

and, here we go!
Ella Emhoff is Kamala Harris’ 22 year old step daughter.
8 days after the Inauguration she suddenly lands a modeling contract with IMG Models.


remember! she did NOT get the modeling contract 'cause of nepotism; she got it because of her Poise, and Deep Beauty!

Mr. Forward said...

If lusting after tools I can't afford, don't need and am better off without counts, I'm going to be one hell of a woodworker someday.

MadTownGuy said...

Thanks for the tip on "The Little Things." I've liked Denzel's work ever since St. Elsewhere, all seasons of which are finally available on Prime, and I thought he made a much better Equalizer than Edward Woodward who I also liked. YMMV, but Denzel is a good actor and a great guy.

mezzrow said...

I'm sitting here watching the action rotate to silver after the Gamestop events of the past few days.

Now I know how the tankies felt when the T-43s rolled into Prague. We'll be LOLing on silver beaches for a short time here. If they can break this short, we're looking at a spanner in the works, not just some sand in the gears. These ARE interesting times.

stevew said...

Agree on Denzel the actor, don't know much about the person. I'm stumped sitting here trying to think of a movie of his that I didn't like or performance that wasn't top notch.

Matt Sablan said...

Sidenote: Denzel is one of those actors that, even if he somehow stumbles into a mediocre movie (because I'm not enough of a cinephile to recall if he's actually been in a bad movie), still manages to salvage it as best he can.

donald said...

Just got up, turned on the tube. There was the Ed Sullivan show. Caught the last act. They Byrds! It’s really the first time I got the whole effect. Gene Clark was amazing and I never knew he existed till about three years ago. I also see that the site Crosby wasn’t always repulsive. Now it’s the Supremes!

J. Farmer said...

@Stevew:

Agree on Denzel the actor, don't know much about the person. I'm stumped sitting here trying to think of a movie of his that I didn't like or performance that wasn't top notch.

I agree that Denzel is usually a very dependable and solid actor, but a few performances do come to mind. In the early 90s Denzel starred opposite John Lithgow in a thriller called Ricochet. There were a few scenes where Denzel's performance was downright embarrassing and should never have made the final cut of the film.

I was also perplexed by all the critical acclaim he got for The Hurricane. I thought he went way over-the-top.

J. Farmer said...

Sidenote: Denzel is one of those actors that, even if he somehow stumbles into a mediocre movie (because I'm not enough of a cinephile to recall if he's actually been in a bad movie), still manages to salvage it as best he can.

Completely agree. One of Denzel's big talents is his ability to elevate b-movie material. I think Gene Hackman had a similar talent.

MadTownGuy said...

Heckuva job, Tony:

States ranked by percentage of COVID-19 vaccines administered: Jan. 29

WI is #48. Our new digs are in PA which is #49. Our previous residence was in WV which is #1, but considering the concentration of population in just a few cities with thinly populated areas in the rest of the state, it probably wasn't too hard to distribute vaccine to most people.

Jersey Fled said...

Fun fact of the day.

0.03% of the U.S. population is currently hospitalized with the Corona virus.

tim in vermont said...

"Margot Cleveland@ProfMJCleveland
·
11h
At this pace, Trump’s gonna end up with one of the five lawyers who somehow finished behind Joe Biden at Syracuse law school."

MadisonMan said...

Is it America First or is it Israel First?
Why can't it be both?
It has not escaped my notice that Middle East tensions appear to have diminished in the last 4 years. Is Biden trying to help that? It doesn't appear so.

tim in vermont said...

Denzel Washington is like Kevin Costner, they take roles in movies where the story interests them. Not every one is great, but they usually are good.

Michael K said...


The amazing spread of the Muslim empires so soon after the death of Mohamed was an almost unprecedented thing, and one that almost never gets covered in modern discussions of Islam. It's always the poor Muslims who are the victims of imperialism, as opposed to the truth -- that they were some of the most successful imperialists in world history.


Some of it might have been that Christians still believed in turning the other check. The Byzantines were weakening over a thousand years when they finally fell. The Plague of Justinian was the first instance of Yersinia pestis in Europe and was devastating.

The Plague of Justinian is the first and the best known outbreak of the first plague pandemic, which continued to recur until the middle of the 8th century.[1][8] Some historians believe the first plague pandemic was one of the deadliest pandemics in history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 15–100 million people during two centuries of recurrence, a death toll equivalent to 25–60% of Europe's population at the time of the first outbreak.[9][10][11][12] The plague's social and cultural impact has been compared to that of the Black Death (the second plague pandemic) that devastated Eurasia in the 14th century.[13] Research published in 2019 argued that the two-hundred-year-long pandemic's death toll and social effects have been exaggerated, comparing it to the modern third plague pandemic (1855-1960s)

It certainly weakened the Byzantines.

Mark said...

Denzel is one of those actors who is always DENZEL.

That's all you see. He doesn't blend into the character.

J. Farmer said...

@MadisonMan:

Why can't it be both?

Because Israel and the US are two separate countries with different interests and strategic concerns.

It has not escaped my notice that Middle East tensions appear to have diminished in the last 4 years. Is Biden trying to help that? It doesn't appear so.

Appearances can be deceiving. What about the Saudi war on Yemen? The Qatari diplomatic crisis? The Lebanon dispute? The Kirkuk crisis? The Persian Gulf crisis?

Joe Smith said...

"Denzel Washington is like Kevin Costner, they take roles in movies where the story interests them. Not every one is great, but they usually are good."

"Denzel is one of those actors who is always DENZEL.

That's all you see. He doesn't blend into the character."


I always thought that about Costner, but we started watching 'Yellowstone' lately and he is very good.

Michael K said...

Reading material for Farmer. Goldman has been writing about this for over ten years. Mosque attendance is 2% and fertility is at population implosion rate. The mullahs are corrupt and they have to decide soon what their future is to be.

J. Farmer said...

@Michael K:

Reading material for Farmer. Goldman has been writing about this for over ten years. Mosque attendance is 2% and fertility is at population implosion rate. The mullahs are corrupt and they have to decide soon what their future is to be.

I read Spengler's book when it first came out. I think it's biggest flaw is that it's essentially a compilation of points he had been making in the Asia Times since the 90s. Mark Steyn and Melanie Phillips have also been talking about demographics (mostly European). What point have I made do you believe is refuted by Spengler's insights?

Michael K said...

What point have I made do you believe is refuted by Spengler's insights?

Not why I posted it. My point was that Iran is a dying society and they sometimes lash out. Germany was afraid of Russia and that is a lot of why WWI began. Iran may be facing an existential crisis and they are run by a crazy bunch of fanatics who do have a death wish. The Iranian (Persian) people are the original Aryans. They were conquered by the Arabs because, like the Byzantines, they were a declining ancient power. Now, they have a ruling class that is even crazier than ours.

Narr said...

I have a deep and abiding faith that leaders who claim to adhere to the Three Great Monotheisms(tm) will find a way to start a cataclysmic war involving "infidels," "holy lands," and "prophecies fulfilled," whether they actually believe the stuff or not--and many of their subjects will think it all very fine.

The Israelis have made it clear that if they go down--and that is the stated goal of many--then lots of other countries will go down also. And nuclear winter is a real thing.

Narr
Atheistic realpolitik is the only way out

J. Farmer said...

@Michael K:

Iran may be facing an existential crisis and they are run by a crazy bunch of fanatics who do have a death wish.

This is probably where we most disagree. I think the notion of "a crazy bunch of fanatics who do have a death wish" is a caricature. If you look at Iranian foreign relations (e.g. with Russia, China, India, and Japan), they're much closer to realpolitik than ideological fanaticism. Domestically, Iran is a freer and more open society than Saudi Arabia. The most destabilizing event of the last decade in the Middle East was the rise of ISIS, facilitated by our Sunni Arabi security partners funding and arming a jihadist insurgency in Syria.

Pompeo defended the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by saying that the "entire strategy has been one of deterrence." Yet, if Iranian leadership is how you describe, how could deterrence work? If they are "a crazy bunch of fanatics who do have a death wish," then why are they still alive?

J. Farmer said...

Atheistic realpolitik is the only way out

In the meantime, we should give up relying on regime change, accept the Islamic Republic as the legitimate government of Iran, and move towards reestablished diplomatic ties and eventually normalization.

Of course, this will absolutely not happen. Our middle east policy is outsourced to American evangelicals and American Jews. It's not all that dissimilar to how we outsourced our Cuba policy to a bunch of fossilized refugees in South Florida. The middle eastern tail has been wagging the American dog for decades. The Israelis would never have gotten away with treating Eisenhower the way they've treated the last several US presidents, but the America of the 1950s was a much more self-respecting nation.

Joe Smith said...

"In the meantime, we should give up relying on regime change, accept the Islamic Republic as the legitimate government of Iran, and move towards reestablished diplomatic ties and eventually normalization."

Not until they stop killing Americans either directly or by proxy.

What part of 'Death to America' do you not understand?

As a rule, you should take people seriously when they tell you they want to kill you.

Obama gave up on regime change when it was a distinct possibility that it could happen.

I love the Iranian people...I've known many in my life and many were friends. They are very smart as a rule, which shocks and disappoints me that they put up with the cocksuckers who run their country.

J. Farmer said...

@Joe Smith:

Not until they stop killing Americans either directly or by proxy.

Easiest way to accomplish that is to stop trying to overthrow the regime. If China repeatedly talked about overthrowing the American government and then invaded Mexico and Canada, overthrow their governments, and occupied their territory, you think we might find that highly threatening? You think we might work to undermine them?

What part of 'Death to America' do you not understand?

When Norman Podhoretz wrote The Case for Bombing Iran or John McCain sang "bomb bomb bomb Iran," do you think that was an expression of a desire to kill Iranians? And why is it "Death to America" and not "Death to Russia" or "Death to China" or "Death to India" or "Death to Japan"?

Obama gave up on regime change when it was a distinct possibility that it could happen.

The Green Movement had nothing to do with "a distinct possibility" of regime change.

Doug said...

Inga said...

Don’t flatter yourself, no one thinks of you, period.


You wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you knew how seldom they did.

Ken B said...

The media is so corrupt they even dispatch comedians to suggest the WSB redditors are working for Russia Russia Russia

https://twitter.com/CassandraRules/status/1356087260417032197

Largo said...

Inga said...

Don’t flatter yourself, no one thinks of you, period.

Why do you presume to speak for all of us Inga?

Michael K said...

Pompeo defended the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by saying that the "entire strategy has been one of deterrence." Yet, if Iranian leadership is how you describe, how could deterrence work? If they are "a crazy bunch of fanatics who do have a death wish," then why are they still alive?

Waiting for Biden.