Althouse: Here's a place...

February 26, 2022

Here's a place...

... where you can talk about whatever you want.

34 comments:

Big Mike said...: The latest news from Tahoe is that the black bear known as “Hank the Tank” is actually at least three different bears. The latest break-in occurred when one of the Hanks broke into a home through a window while people were still inside. The authorities need to end this quick.; 2/26/22, 7:22 PM
farmgirl said...: Going to be cold(below zer0) here for the next 2weeks.

Did anyone see the Facebook/NYTs post(tweet?) about the weeping teacher named Julia who is taking up arms to defend her country against Russia?

Hmmmm… America has a Julia, too…

We suck:0(; 2/26/22, 7:22 PM
pacwest said...: Peaceful protests critical of the government. Trudeau and Putin have the same formula for squelching them. I hope Pelosi doesn't get any ideas....; 2/26/22, 7:24 PM
Sebastian said...: Silver lining in recent events: the Russian invasion bodes well for the West. If they can't squash the Ukrainians quickly, "we" should be able to deal with any future aggression, and they'll be less likely to try.; 2/26/22, 7:52 PM
MadisonMan said...: Hank the Tank is a Composite!; 2/26/22, 8:09 PM
madAsHell said...: when one of the Hanks broke into a home through a window while people were still inside.

Why do people not keep firearms.......nearby????; 2/26/22, 8:10 PM
Browndog said...: At CPAC tonight, Trump announced he's running in 2024.; 2/26/22, 8:10 PM
MadisonMan said...: Also, I want to give a shout-out to Dane County's Dog Parks. I was at one today (BOY was it windy!) and the result is one tuckered-out-from-running pup.; 2/26/22, 8:11 PM
rehajm said...: Why do people not keep firearms.......nearby??

We know why on the Cali side of Tahoe…; 2/26/22, 8:12 PM
Humperdink said...: The NHL has quite a few Russian players. The biggest Russian star, Alexander Ovechkin (not so affectionately known as Oven Chicken), plays for the Washington Capitals. He is a big supporter of Putin. For obvious reasons, he has been pretty quiet regarding Putin's latest adventure, other than to say "Please no more war".

Unfortunately for the Russians, a retired NHL legend, Dominik Hasek has not been quiet. Hasek was born in what was then Czechoslovakia, which was under Soviet's domination. What did Hasek say about Ovechkin? "“What!? Not only an ablist, a chicken s–t, but also a liar!” Hasek tweeted in a thread. “Every adult in Europe knows well, that Putin is a mad killer and that Russia is waging an offensive war against a free country and its people."

Hasek went further, stating all Russian players should have their contracts cancelled and sent home. Unlikely, but interesting none the less.

https://nypost.com/2022/02/26/dominik-hasek-nhl-should-suspend-russian-players-amid-ukraine-war/; 2/26/22, 8:18 PM
Browndog said...: Belarus about to pop.; 2/26/22, 8:32 PM
Humperdink said...: As I watched the Ukranian government passing AK-47s like candy to their adult populace (men and women), I was reminded what our beloved president said in 2013 regarding self defense.

If you want to protect yourself, get a double barrel shotgun … I said, Jill, if there’s ever a problem, walk out on the balcony and fire two blasts....

I promise, you … whoever’s coming in is not gonna … you don’t need an AR-15. It’s harder to aim. It’s harder to use. And, in fact, you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun.

— Vice President Joe Biden; 2/26/22, 8:35 PM
Narr said...: The incremental commitment, lack of apparent schwerpunckt, and apparent relative lack of civilian casualties (I haven't checked in a few hours), indicate to me that Putin is huffing his own stuff. Convinced himself that his guys could pull off something like the invasion of Iraq in 03, the thunder runs into Baghdad, and all that jazz.

The Ukes will greet them like liberators, IOW. It will only take a few nasty incidents--and in that part of the world nasty incidents are an Olympic sport--for the whole thing to make Chechnya look like a cockfight.

Putin's few dozen brigades are not your grandfather's Red Army, as is becoming apparent, and Putin doesn't have nearly the hold on his pals that Stalin did either.; 2/26/22, 9:00 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: "Whether it’s Canadian truckers or Ukrainian patriots, Elon Musk and Starlink are on the side of freedom."

via insta link; 2/26/22, 9:08 PM
Narr said...: There seem to be some protests in Russia (all honor to the protesters) and of course many pro-Ukrainian anti-Putin protests worldwide, which Goggle captures as 'antiwar.'

But I only believe that a protest or demonstration is REALLY antiwar when American flags are burned. Maybe that makes me old fashioned?; 2/26/22, 9:09 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: People asked their doctor about the vaccines and their doctor told them the scripted answer from up high. "The vaccines are safe and effective". So, most people acted accordantly. Why wouldn't they.; 2/26/22, 9:14 PM
Bender said...: The Russians bog down in the face of the Ukraine resistance is making Biden's cowering back down - which the "not our problem" Sir Robin isolationists on the right were/are complicit in - especially weak.

With the Ukraine forces showing that "Putin's few dozen brigades are not your grandfather's Red Army" and that the way things are going are very likely to end up destablizing Putin, imagine how this all would have gone if NATO had actually put a few forces in Ukraine months ago. It's becoming increasingly clear that Russian never would have invaded, and if they did, the Russians would have been wiped out.

Well, can't go back in time. But NATO can mass a few hundred thousand troops in the Baltics and Poland and, yes, Finland and Sweden.

Bless the Ukrainians. They're an inspiration who have shown the world what "home of the brave" really means.; 2/26/22, 9:19 PM
Jupiter said...: The "Precautionary Principle" says that when there is a small probability of a large harm, it behooves us to treat that more carefully than a small probability of a small harm. Somewhat arbitrarily, it suggests that the probability of harm should be multiplied by the magnitude of the harm, to get what I will call a "significance metric".

Thus, even if you think it unlikely that the Antarctic ice cap is about to melt due to our driving cars, you should take the possibility seriously because it would be catastrophic if it happened.

But the people who subscribe to this neurotic delusion also think I'm crazy -- just flat-out irrational -- for wanting to have a firearm handy in case someone initiates catastrophic violence in my vicinity.; 2/26/22, 9:25 PM
Narr said...: If Putin goes bust--not inevitable, but more likely the longer this lasts without a dramatic turn--NATO won't have to mass hundreds of thousands of troops in existing or new members of the club. They'll only have to up their defense games and treat their security as PRIMARILY their responsibility, not mine, or Bender's, or Uncle Sam's.

For the record I am not and have never been an isolationist. In my judgement NATO was only as strong or weak as the willpower of the members, and had enough members already. Extending membership to Ukraine seemed to me a multilevel mistake--it would piss off a lot of Russians and stretch NATO (i.e. US) capabilities without a corresponding gain in military power.; 2/26/22, 9:39 PM
Readering said...: Ukraine never close to being member of NATO. But Bush 2 a jerk to predict otherwise. His mother right that Jeb the brains in the family.; 2/26/22, 9:47 PM
Bender said...: If Putin goes bust--not inevitable, but more likely the longer this lasts without a dramatic turn--NATO won't have to mass hundreds of thousands of troops in existing or new members of the club.

Well, if we wait and see whether Putin is deposed or not, if we wait and see whether the Russian troops suddenly make a turn to the north and west, it will be TOO EFFING LATE to place the massive NATO force along the Polish-Baltic front.

Just like whatever the U.S. might have done to deter this aggressive action that now threatens not only the rest of Europe, but Taiwan, became too late by all the lack of seriousness and false belief that the U.S. could simply withdraw into this "you all are on your own" mentality and not care about what happens in the world to other people and places.; 2/26/22, 10:18 PM
Bender said...: #Ukraine MoD reports that "hundreds" of parents and wives of Russian military are already calling the Ukrainian hotline for relatives of captured Russian invaders. Russian POWs are allowed to call home. As many Russians as possible need to know about #RussianArmy losses.

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress; 2/26/22, 10:40 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Curtis Reeves, the retired cop in FL who allegedly shot Chad Oulson over thrown popcorn, was acquitted. Most of the national media does not have good write ups on what happened, so I dug a bit deeper.

Local FL sources say that there was surveillance video of the incident. The video showed what is described as a "flash" just prior to the popcorn being thrown that Reeves and defense counsel claimed was Oulson's cell phone being hurled at Reeves. Prosecution's video expert claimed it was a reflection of Reeves' shoes, but admitted that she could not conclusively say it was not a cell phone on cross.

The popcorn thrown was not a handful or a bag, but was one of those big buckets of popcorn. Video shows that Oulson, who was sitting in the row immediately in front of Reeves, stood up and slammed the bucket of popcorn into Reeves face. It was at that point that Reeves fired at Oulson with a .380 ACP pistol he was carrying.

FWIW, Reeves had had other run-ins with patrons at that same theater before and seemed to think he was the theater police or some such.; 2/26/22, 10:43 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: The world needs a strong America. Makes the world a safer place. A friend passed this along... Putin reads "The Art of War", Biden reads "Heather Has Two Mommies".; 2/26/22, 11:31 PM
Narayanan said...: If / when Putin crashes and burns after this fiasco and Russia is liberated ::: who gets credit / Nobel prize for Peace through War

Zelensky or Biden; 2/26/22, 11:47 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: "If / when Putin crashes and burns after this fiasco and Russia is liberated ::: who gets credit / Nobel prize for Peace through War

Zelensky or Biden"

That's a best case scenario, and I wouldn't care if the Nobel Prize went to Hillary for her diplomatic work with Russia for the last 5 years.

The worst case scenario is that Putin becomes frustrated and gradually or suddenly resorts to nuclear weapons. The question then becomes: Will cave drawings from 2027 blame Trump or Putin?; 2/27/22, 12:19 AM
farmgirl said...: I was wrong on temps: it’s 23F

Met some folks from Estonia yesterday- visiting an exchange student.
They are not afraid. They weren’t home when this went down, either- so they may have different sentiments when they do get back.
Not necessarily rooting for the big guy- just secure in their stability as a whole. That’s how I took it. Unfortunately- just an hour encounter to see the moo moos. Very nice folks. 4Kids and a momma. I say kids…

That’s all that was said although I may have implied how disgusted I was w/our current occupant in the WH.; 2/27/22, 4:09 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Narayanan said...

If / when Putin crashes and burns after this fiasco and Russia is liberated ::: who gets credit / Nobel prize for Peace through War

Zelensky or Biden

You can be sure that we'll at least get a speech from Biden relating how he reached into his pants, pulled out the Pride of Scranton and waved it around saying; "You sure you want go up against this, Vlad?", while Putin shivered in fear on the other end of the Zoom call.; 2/27/22, 6:09 AM
CWJ said...: "FWIW, (retired cop) Reeves had had other run-ins with patrons at that same theater before and seemed to think he was the theater police or some such."

He may have retired from the force, but seems to have taken his "cop" attitude with him.; 2/27/22, 6:28 AM
Doug said...: Putin reads "The Art of War", Biden reads "Heather Has Two Mommies".
Correction: DOCTOR Jill reads "Heather Has Two Mommies" to him.; 2/27/22, 7:29 AM
Michael McNeil said...: If he takes Ukraine, his empire will border Poland

Putin's empire already borders Poland — and I don't mean Belarus, I mean Russia.; 2/27/22, 8:01 AM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: The Ukraine war is due to an unforgivably stupid political decision by Biden and the people who run him.
With oil at $50/bbl or less, Vlad sits in Moscow and stews. He can't afford any adventures like Ukraine. The day before Biden took office, the US was energy independent, life was affordable for Americans, and Europe was peaceful. For whatever reason, Biden and his runners thought that extending the middle finger to Deplorables was more important than all of the above good things.
Elections have consequences.; 2/27/22, 8:16 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Going to be cold(below zer0) here for the next 2weeks.

We are expecting 6.1-inches of rain at tokulacres for the next week and 3 inches on Monday. The Snoqualmie River is predicted to reach Phase 3 flood state with about 29,000 cfs at the peak. The farms around Fall City will be flooded. The snow level will be 5,500-ft, 2,500-ft above Snoqualmie Pass.

Wet times.; 2/27/22, 8:39 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Tomorrow, a survey crew is coming out to tokulacres to locate the septic fields, the surface water drain lines and a couple boundary lines. Also, Republic Services is delivering a 40-yd dumpster. Plus, my excavators will be there leveling the site and removing brush, logs and tree stumps. It's going to be miserable day for those activities.; 2/27/22, 9:14 AM