Althouse: Here's a place...

January 5, 2022

Here's a place...

... to write about anything.

55 comments:

Drago said...: This one is for Field Marshall Freder, who assures us DeSantis is doing a terrible job on COVID and is not much liked in Florida (yeah, he was actually trying to sell that one just the other day):

Tim@TimDCpolitico

Hoo-boy! The pandemic effect on FL voter registration has been.. jaw-dropping

Since 3/31/20:
+274,503 R
-51,995 D
66/67 counties becoming redder
R's overtake D's for first time in state history

@karol @HotlineJosh @guypbenson @MZHemingway
@ReyAnthonyFL @Bryce__L @FloridaGOP; 1/5/22, 6:26 PM
Narr said...: Wow, a clean canvas and nothing in particular to say . . .

We're having yoyo weather and so far have been only fondled by snow and ice, not clobbered yet. The I-95 fiasco on ice has prompted my wife and I to get serious (again) about having stuff in the car for emergencies. At our ages it would hardly matter if we got stranded a mile from the offramp nearby, of in the middle of nowhere.; 1/5/22, 6:50 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: NY Daily News: "Uber rider stuck for hours on Virginia highway during snowstorm hit with $600 bill"

I think I would have ended the ride after a couple hours and hoped for a good tip in the end.; 1/5/22, 6:56 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: #MeeToo is canceled.

AP: Cuomo accuser says, 'dropping the case shows why victims stay silent.'

The coup de grâce would be for California to let Harvey Weinstein out on parole.; 1/5/22, 7:06 PM
tim in vermont said...: Here is a fascinating little look at Attribution Bias, a type of cognitive bias that explains Trump Derangement Syndrome pretty well, while never mentioning Trump.

https://nonzero.substack.com/p/new-years-listicle-top-2-cognitive

Of course, people's confirmation bias will keep them from looking at it. But it gives an exercise to help you identify and minimize this bias, which is to think about the person you hate, and analyze the feelings, and check and see if you are feeling those feelings whenever you read something about the person you hate, instead of reviewing the facts.

For instance, you hate Trump, so you think he was trying to tear up the Constitution by sending slates of electors back to state legislatures, but you like the Democrats, so you think it's a great idea for state legislatures to override the will of their own voters in order to negate the Electoral College.; 1/5/22, 7:28 PM
Scot said...: How your New Year resolutions? Mine not so good. Want to be a better uncle so I called a brother & asked for addresses & important dates. Working on it.; 1/5/22, 7:28 PM
sharecropper said...: Excellent meal outside New Orleans this evening. My wife & I will fish for redfish on flyrods the next 2 days. Warm weather, great food, and great fishing. (the city of New Orleans requires vaccination passports for its restaurants, but those in the suburbs do not.; 1/5/22, 7:35 PM
tim in vermont said...: Here is a great example of Attribution Bias

https://mobile.twitter.com/OneFineJay/status/1478538536970330116; 1/5/22, 7:42 PM
wild chicken said...: Ooh it's snowing to beat hell in Missoula right now, coming your way Althouse!; 1/5/22, 7:48 PM
Rabel said...: Here's a place to write about anything.

Have wipes and a bottle handy.; 1/5/22, 7:54 PM
Bender said...: For those of you shaking your heads at I-95 in Virginia being stuck for 20 hours in nine inches of snow -- about six years ago, there was a similar overnight jam up of vehicles on I-395 near the Pentagon with only a quarter-inch of snow/ice. They never bothered to send out plows or salt trucks until it was too late, and a couple of semis jackknifed. This happened during rush hour following the entire federal government closing early, rather than staggered release, so the roads were jammed.; 1/5/22, 7:55 PM
Drago said...: Bender: "For those of you shaking your heads at I-95 in Virginia being stuck for 20 hours in nine inches of snow -- about six years ago, there was a similar overnight jam up of vehicles on I-395 near the Pentagon with only a quarter-inch of snow/ice. They never bothered to send out plows or salt trucks until it was too late, and a couple of semis jackknifed. This happened during rush hour following the entire federal government closing early, rather than staggered release, so the roads were jammed."

Did Jonah Goldberg, the Buffoonish Bard of Goucher, blame that one on a non-existent republican governor too?; 1/5/22, 8:05 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Some top posts from 2021:

Supply chain disruption

Democrats Tower of Self-Reinforcing Bullshit (very appropriate with 1/6 looming)

The 30th Anniversary of 73 Easting

Ruy Teixeira 2002: Hispanic Will Make Democrats The Permanent Majority Party. Ruy Teixeira 2021: Not So Fast; 1/5/22, 8:10 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Happy Jan 6th media-Porn-Pelosi-Cheney EVE.

Federal authorities won't say why armed Capitol rioters disappeared from FBI's most wanted list; 1/5/22, 8:15 PM
Drago said...: Lawrence Person: "Ruy Teixeira 2002: Hispanic Will Make Democrats The Permanent Majority Party. Ruy Teixeira 2021: Not So Fast"

Careful Lawrence. You'll make Field Marshall Freder weep like a child, even though he identifies as an adult.; 1/5/22, 8:18 PM
Andrew said...: Should we be celebrating January 6th Eve? With solemnity, of course. I'm lighting candles.; 1/5/22, 8:24 PM
Bender said...: Looks like there was juror misconduct in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. Lying and failing to disclose on the juror questionnaire and influencing fellow jurors with personal experiences rather than considering the evidence.; 1/5/22, 8:27 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Bender said...

For those of you shaking your heads at I-95 in Virginia being stuck for 20 hours in nine inches of snow -- about six years ago, there was a similar overnight jam up of vehicles on I-395 near the Pentagon with only a quarter-inch of snow/ice. They never bothered to send out plows or salt trucks until it was too late, and a couple of semis jackknifed. This happened during rush hour following the entire federal government closing early, rather than staggered release, so the roads were jammed.

There was a similar occurrence in Raleigh, NC around the same time, same quarter inch of snow. It was based on the Wake Co. schools dithering on whether or not they were going to close early, then releasing at the last minute and causing a panic. It took me 6 hours to go 35 miles from my workplace to my condo in North Raleigh, my normal commute was 50 minutes.; 1/5/22, 8:30 PM
gilbar said...: as of this afternoon (@4pm), i've been retired for FOUR YEARS!
This year i turn 60.... so about 20 more years of fishing (GOD willing)
hurray!; 1/5/22, 8:37 PM
TML said...: Ann, have you tried Wordle yet? You got me hooked on Spelling Bee, so I'm returning the favor. https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/; 1/5/22, 8:45 PM
farmgirl said...: https://americanmind.org/salvo/blue-americas-messaging-problem/
Instapundit…; 1/5/22, 8:50 PM
Maynard said...: I lived in Nashville for a year back in 2006. There was a 4 inch snowfall on a Friday that totally paralyzed the city. For a Chicago kid that amazed me. The stores quickly sold out of milk, bread, water, etc.

I got up on Saturday AM to do my grocery shopping and the street were wet, but clear of snow. It was like a nuclear bomb dropped on the city. No one was out and about. Everyone was hunkered down.

I was reminded of that experience by Clay Travis who talked about how the South is always unprepared for snow. (He grew up in Nashville). The Virginia fiasco makes a lot of sense on that regard, although it appears that Jonah Goldberg was blaming the new governor Youngkin for the problems.; 1/5/22, 9:05 PM
MartyH said...: Filibuster: A Political Fantasy in Three Acts:

Act 1, in the Senate: Senator Schumer holds a vote on eliminating the filibuster. The only Democrat to vote against it is Joe Manchin.

Act 2, a week later, at a dais: Senators Schumer and Manchin hold a joint press conference where Manchin announces that he will vote to end the filibuster. Schumer beams. Manchin then announces that he has switched parties and will now caucus with the Republicans.

Act 3, Scene 1-50: Every Democratic Senator's head explodes, as does Pelosi's.
Act 3, Scene 51 to infinity: NYT, WAPO, CNN, Vox, etc. declare that ending the filibuster is an evil Republican scheme and that to end the filibuster is to end America.

Epilog: Mitch McConnell smiles slyly.; 1/5/22, 9:07 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: OMG. You got to watch right-to-repair guy completely lose it because people keep telling him he's not qualified to talk about covid. 😍

this is a must-watch rant.

Link to video; 1/5/22, 9:15 PM
Lurker21 said...: Watching In the Heights now. It's not terrible. It does seem a little patronizing, though.

Anyway, now I'm vaccinated and won't have to watch West Side Story until the CDC tells me I have to have get boosted.; 1/5/22, 9:42 PM
Drago said...: MartyH: "Filibuster: A Political Fantasy in Three Acts:"

You forgot to add Act 4:

McConnell works behind closed doors with Schumer to approve additional funding for the DOJ/FBI to target remaining Tea Party members and family members of Jan 6 defendants.; 1/5/22, 10:12 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "I lived in Nashville for a year back in 2006. There was a 4 inch snowfall on a Friday that totally paralyzed the city. For a Chicago kid that amazed me. The stores quickly sold out of milk, bread, water, etc."

I was in Atlanta for the Storm of the Century in March 1993- the city didn't get but about 3-4 inches of snow (the northern parts of Georgia got hammered with 3 feet). I went out the morning while the storm was still modestly going on- along Briarcliff Rd. there were dozens of cars off the side of the road abandoned in just the mile walk I took to get a newspaper.; 1/5/22, 10:26 PM
Big Mike said...: There are a few things out of staters need to understand regarding the great Commonwealth of Virginia:

(1) I-95 is always a mess. It is the main route between New York City (and points north of there) all the way down to Miami and its capacity would be strained even if it had ten lanes in each direction. Traffic on the stretch from the Washington Beltway down to a bit below Richmond is bad in good weather; traffic on that stretch is miserable in mildly inclement weather. In snow just forget it. Get off as soon as you can and find a motel to hunker down.

(2) The forecast was for roughly an inch of snow, then suddenly it changed over a period of a few hours to 1”-3” and then 3”-6”. Elsewhere east and south it may have been worse. So the state DOT got caught flatfooted. They should have been more on the ball, but ever since the state turned Democrat the DOT has been treated as a source of patronage and (suspected) graft. Maybe, once he’s sworn in, Glenn Youngkin will be able to fix it. Maybe Winnie Sears will have to show up at DOT depots with her AR to motivate folks.; 1/5/22, 10:36 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/5/22, 10:39 PM
walter said...: Macron sure is oui oui'd up.; 1/5/22, 10:43 PM
Big Mike said...: Almost forgot. There’s more snow on the way starting around supper time tomorrow. Another 3”-6”.

Another note, back about 30 years or so ago I lived in Montgomery County, MD, which is mostly a bedroom community for federal workers whose jobs are in Washington, DC, the county school superintendent once cancelled school on a day when there was no snow at all, merely a forecast of a chance of precipitation. Not a drop of rain, not a flake of snow. But no school, either; 1/5/22, 11:05 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: Big Mike is correct. I've been in two hour backups on that stretch of 95 returning to MD from NC at 11 PM on a Sunday night. 301 is a viable alternative, but beware of deer, which is difficult to do at 65 MPH in the dark. I totaled a minivan going that way once.; 1/5/22, 11:10 PM
Drago said...: Looks like some Seattle cops were doing a little impromptu "interviewing" for FBI gigs:

"Seattle police improperly faked radio chatter about Proud Boys as CHOP formed in 2020, investigation finds"

"At a crucial moment during 2020’s racial justice protests, Seattle police exchanged a detailed series of fake radio transmissions about a nonexistent group of menacing right-wing extremists."

I'll bet those guys got Christopher Wray's and Garland's attention!

Those are exactly the kind of go-getters the FBI wants working on their new Agent Provocateur-Stasi-Wannabe Project in Washington DC.; 1/5/22, 11:18 PM
Bender said...: the [MoCo] county school superintendent once cancelled school on a day when there was no snow at all, merely a forecast

Once? Once? How about a common occurrence in all the D.C. area jurisdictions?; 1/5/22, 11:28 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Breaking: Antonio Brown has released a lengthy statement saying he is injured and the Bucs knew he was injured last Sunday.
AB says he had an MRI in NY showing the kinds of injuries that need surgery. That’s why the Bucs haven’t released him. If the Bucs were trying to make him play while injured the Bucs are in trouble.; 1/5/22, 11:55 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/6/22, 12:30 AM
gadfly said...: sharecropper said...

. . . the city of New Orleans requires vaccination passports for its restaurants, but those in the suburbs do not.

Passing up NOLA's finest-in-the-world cafes because you will not get stuck for some ungodly reason is pure insanity. But Trump and his failchild offspring have had many, many, Covid-19 vaccination shots and sharecropper appears to be seriously more intelligent than the entire Donald Trump lineage.; 1/6/22, 2:08 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: How's That?... https://www.gettr.com/post/pliovo7af0 Aldous explains.; 1/6/22, 5:00 AM
tim in vermont said...: When I drive south, I completely avoid NYC, NJ, DC, Richmond, and drive around on 81. GPS says it's a little longer, but you basically sail, except around Charlotte, if you hit rush hour there. The reduction in stress is worth it for me.; 1/6/22, 5:11 AM
tim in vermont said...: It's funny, gadfly, that you assign vaccine hesitancy to Trump, as if hesitancy wouldn't exist without him, especially since he ramrodded the vaccine and has advocated it every chance he gets.

Wasn't in Kamala, Andrew Cuomo, Newsome in California, wasn't it those people warning everybody off the vaccines? Why don't they get the blame? Well, you should look at the link I posted on attribution bias if you want to understand why you keep coming up with these laughable conclusions.; 1/6/22, 5:15 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Ann, have you tried Wordle yet?"

Discussed in a recent blog post.; 1/6/22, 5:21 AM
Ann Althouse said...: But thanks for reminding me. I did today's and got it in 4.; 1/6/22, 5:25 AM
rehajm said...: Hillary said...

2022 is the first year women's faces will appear on U.S. quarters. It's about time.

Hellen Keller don't count, apparently.; 1/6/22, 6:59 AM
Christopher B said...: @rhajm .. whenever a Leftie pronounces on something like that, simply insert 'the right kind of' in front of the noun.

Kinda like how a black woman (and an immigrant) can be elected to state-wide office in Virginia, and none of our chattering class notices.; 1/6/22, 7:06 AM
Chest Rockwell said...: I've resolved to read more this year. I just finished Empire of the Summer Moon, about the Texan-Comanche wars of the late 19th century. One of the best books I've read in a while, and relevant to me as a native Texan. My biggest takeaway from the book is how savage everyone was, including the Texans. But the Comanches were next level.

I've now started The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Might be a bit too academic for me, but it's starting out good. And now as I'm a Detroiter, it's relevant.

Happy new year!; 1/6/22, 7:09 AM
rhhardin said...: Glenn Loury tells blacks it's time to "man, or woman, up." But the point of "man up" is by contrast with woman. The woman afterthought cancels the cliche.; 1/6/22, 7:16 AM
Gahrie said...: 2022 is the first year women's faces will appear on U.S. quarters. It's about time.

Bullshit.

Prior to 1930, all U.S. quarters had women on them. A man's face (Washington) has been on the quarter for less than 100 years.

In fact for most of our country's history, women have appeared on American coins. The first time a man appeared on American coins is:

Penny - 1859 (Indian head. The first White man is Lincoln in 1909)
Nickel - 1913 (Indian head. The first White man is Jefferson in 1938)
Dime - 1946 (FDR)
Quarter - 1930 (Washington)
Half dollar - 1948 (Franklin and then JFK)
Dollar - 1971 Eisenhower (Since 1978 all US dollar coins have had women on them again); 1/6/22, 7:23 AM
Lurker21 said...: Jonah Goldberg is backtracking now, saying that he's not against Youngkin. He says he likes Youngkin and he's just trying to give him constructive, or friendly or playful advice. I don't like Jonah or respect him much, and if you want to be a pundit, make sure you know what you are talking about.

But really, who hasn't been in that position at some point? It happens in real life, when you think you have a closer relationship to someone than you do. It happens on the internet even more. A tweet or comment doesn't have much room for context, so every reader brings their own context with them. The context a lot of readers bring to Goldberg's tweets and articles today is that he's basically David Brooks or Max Boot.

I was reading someone else's comments the other day saying that Jonah was very different from David or Max. Those comments came from 2018, but they do give a different context. The context now, though, is what what he's been writing since then and he's writing now, so maybe he has become more like Kristol or Brooks or Boot and the critics are right. Maybe Jonah just has a clever excuse for bad behavior. It's not one that will work forever, though. And he doesn't have an excuse for getting the facts wrong.; 1/6/22, 7:37 AM
farmgirl said...: Gahrie:
Thank you!! I followed a rabbit hole off the heels of an Ace video- animals, of course- and saw that Hillary! had said it was the 1st time and I’m thinking- Sacajawea was a woman, too… she’s been featured on a coin. Or was the weasel word quarter?; 1/6/22, 8:38 AM
farmgirl said...: rhhardin- I do agree
My response- grow a set… ;0); 1/6/22, 8:44 AM
MadisonMan said...: Someone alphabetized the Wizard of Oz. It's interesting to watch the video!

Link; 1/6/22, 9:49 AM
MadisonMan said...: I did today's and got it in 4.
Took me 6. That's an interesting game -- hadn't played before today.; 1/6/22, 10:02 AM
Lurker21 said...: Michael Barone also finds John Lindsay relevant today. Everybody who mentions Lindsay now calls him forgotten and has to explain who he was. Gosh, I feel old.; 1/6/22, 2:37 PM
Narr said...: My wife has been playing Wordle for a few days, she says. She mentioned it today and showed me--I got lucky on my first word and got there in four.; 1/6/22, 3:57 PM
gadfly said...: A QAnon and anti-vaccine podcaster, Doug Kuzma, 61, from Newport News, Virginia, died on January 3 after being hospitalized 10 days earlier from complications due to COVID-19 after contracting the virus at ReAwaken America, a conspiracy theory conference in Dallas that turned into a superspreader event, and where fellow attendees baselessly blamed their illness on an anthrax attack. The conference was headlined by the likes of disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood and our former president's younger failson, "Qusay."

When someone asked if he should get a COVID test after he contracted a fever, Kuzma responded: “No way.” When reminded that it was “better to be safe than sorry,” Kuzma lashed out: “You must have lost your mind, so they can kill me, and try and give me the jab. I’ll die at the house before I go to the hospital.”

According to a fellow member of FROG News, the final message Kuzma sent was a photo of himself with a “refill of ivermectin.”; 1/6/22, 4:35 PM