Althouse: Late afternoon, the day after the snow.

February 25, 2022

Late afternoon, the day after the snow.

Talk about anything you want.

And here's the picture Meade took of me:

47 comments:

Big Mike said...: @Meade, you don't need to social distance quite so much anymore.; 2/25/22, 5:24 PM
rhhardin said...: I've talked to five distinct hams in Ukraine em2q ut4u uw1m uw2m ux4u since 2016. I wonder if they'll still count as a distinct country. Somebody makes that decision for awards for working X number of countries. I can anticipate pressures and unhappiness with the decision.; 2/25/22, 5:29 PM
rhhardin said...: Central Ohio ice this morning. It's not melting off, either.

Pic of where a tuned antenna radial meets paracord leading to trees. The antenna loads differently too. Ice apparently has a different dialectric constant than wire insulation.; 2/25/22, 5:34 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Russell Brand on becoming whole... "There's an absence in all of us, because we live in a world that ain't set up for how we were evolved to live"

Link to video; 2/25/22, 5:53 PM
madAsHell said...: We are taking apart Mom's house......the pictures, the furniture, the nick-nacks.

It's really stunning to compare the things that indicated social status in the '50's, early 60's, and today. My Mom collected her china in a beautiful china closet with glass doors. There was the silver tea set that I'm pretty sure was NEVER used (remember how silver conducts heat).

The beautiful cabinet console stereo with vacuum tubes that was expensive to maintain, and then my Dad removed all the stereo equipment. It became the hiding place for the silver tea set.

At the time he said......"Nobody in their right fucking mind is gonna look inside that piece of shit".; 2/25/22, 6:39 PM
Curious George said...: More snow here in Milwaukee, I think because of the lake effect, 6-7". Can't complain, way below average this year. Did my drive and sidewalk plus four others for my elderly neighbors. The woman across the street, who will turn 90 this year, came by to thank me. Asked what she could...bake? Her story, one of 8 kids from Northern Wisconsin, and her thank you, was payment enough. The truth is it's not that big a deal for me, a big hurdle for them, so I sort of look forward to a substantial snow.; 2/25/22, 6:54 PM
Sebastian said...: In these unsettled times, it's good to have this place to visit and, occasionally, vent. Althouse, I know for you the blog is mainly a place to write, but thanks for hosting.; 2/25/22, 8:03 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: I was listening in on r/movies Friday night live discussion about what redditors have been watching. One said he watched "You Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. And another responded, "that movie was toxic" and several chimed in, in agreement.

Do kids now expect movies to reflect idyllic lives, like "Leave it to Beaver"?

Are we going back in time?

I don't quite understand what they expect from movies now days.; 2/25/22, 9:04 PM
Original Mike said...: Russia Threatens ‘Serious Military’ Consequences If Sweden, Finland Join NATO After Ukraine Invasion

Yeah, of course they do.; 2/25/22, 9:18 PM
Bender said...: So the Dems are clamoring for a fast confirmation for Brown Jackson, pointing to the 30 days for ACB.

OK, let's see how that would work. They have the hearings and the vote and she's confirmed by the end of March (assuming they can even confirm someone for a seat that is not yet open). And then....

And then she sits and sits and waits and waits for at least three months since the term won't end until early July and Breyer's retirement doesn't take effect until then.; 2/25/22, 9:40 PM
Big Mike said...: If the Finns have been continuing to produce snipers like Simo Häyhä, the Russians might want to think twice before invading Finland again.; 2/25/22, 10:00 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: I'm trying to write an introduction for this meme but, it's really best if I don't.; 2/25/22, 10:01 PM
Bender said...: I MUCH prefer Shannon Bream on at 11, rather than 12, in place of the unfunny joke boy.; 2/25/22, 10:01 PM
Bender said...: Reports are that among the war crimes being committed by Russian forces are dressing up like Ukraine police to infiltrate and fool the civilian population.; 2/25/22, 10:04 PM
Bender said...: There have been reports the last few days of some erratic behavior by Putin, and now that he's been increasingly isolated.

I wonder if he might be "taking a trip to a country dacha" sometime soon, where he tragically will have a "heart attack."; 2/25/22, 10:07 PM
gadfly said...: Illia Ponomarenko, reporter for the Kyiv Independent tweets:

Enemy losses at 3 PM:

80 Tanks
516 Armored Vehicles
10 Aircraft
2800 Manpower

And then there is this:

Russia's 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade recon platoon surrenders to Ukraine's army.

The Russian Ground Forces Motorized Rifle Platoon consists of a Platoon Headquarters, 3 Rifle Squads, and 3 tracked armored vehicles. This platoon includes 1 officer and 29 enlisted personnel.; 2/25/22, 10:30 PM
Narr said...: I may have figured out what happened to the dogs of antiwar, who have been very silent. Covid and now this mess have disrupted supplies of large effigies and puppets, and they can't very well reuse all those "Bush = Hitler"'s from 2003.

Apparently, without some serious simoleans from somebody, the usual parades of self-important Simpletons-of-the-World aren't in the cards.; 2/25/22, 10:39 PM
Bender said...: Light a candle in the window for Ukraine, for the Ukraine Resistance.

Slava Ukraini!; 2/25/22, 11:02 PM
Bender said...: Joe Biden has taken a weekend break, but if he were on the job, the WH would now be taking covert actions in Moscow to encourage the Russians around Putin to take him down.; 2/25/22, 11:04 PM
Bender said...: Instead, Joe Biden shared sensitive intelligence with China hoping to convince them to oppose the invasion. China turned around and gave it all to Russia.; 2/25/22, 11:08 PM
Bender said...: "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S.; 2/25/22, 11:10 PM
Bender said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/25/22, 11:21 PM
Richard said...: "Putin justified Thursday’s drastic action in a televised speech claiming that Ukraine must be purged of “far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis.”

He sounds just like the Democrats.; 2/25/22, 11:22 PM
Bender said...: The pants-wetting Sir Robin contingent here in the U.S. might have cowered in the face of the mighty Russians, but Ukrainian forces and the every day citizens who have taken up the arms being handed out to anyone who wants a weapon, as well as those with nothing more than Molotov cocktails, are putting up a valiant fight.; 2/25/22, 11:26 PM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: MadAsHell said:

There was the silver tea set that I'm pretty sure was NEVER used (remember how silver conducts heat).

Did you find any tea cozies?; 2/25/22, 11:29 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: I'm starting to think that Biden's frequent hiatuses to Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach are designed to improve his approval rating. I know I'll sleep better this weekend knowing he won't speak in public again until Mon afternoon two hours later.; 2/25/22, 11:39 PM
Bender said...: Who would've thunk that pieces of crap like the Taliban and Viet Cong and other piss ant nobodies that harassed U.S. forces until they went away would be sources of inspiration.

It just goes to prove the number one rule of war strategy: Whoever has the superior will will prevail.

Don't lose heart. Stand firm. Resist.; 2/25/22, 11:54 PM
Bender said...: The face of a hero:

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1497342913025650692

Iryna Tsvila of Ukraine’s National Guards Rapid Response Brigade.
She was killed repelling a Russian armored assault outside Kyiv; 2/26/22, 12:06 AM
Narayanan said...: (assuming they can even confirm someone for a seat that is not yet open).
============
is this possible? point of order!

??? why not confirm a bunch as prelude to court packing!!!

going legal and all >>>> res gestes etc ... as Perry Mason would say; 2/26/22, 12:52 AM
Bender said...: The shoot-out scene in Open Range starts with just two men, Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall, taking on a larger group of bad guys while the townspeople are hiding behind their closed doors.

They start the gun fight face-to-face just steps away from each other. But as the fight continues, eventually the whole town has come out armed and going after the bad guys themselves.

It just takes a few to do the right thing to inspire others to lose their inhibitions and join the fight.; 2/26/22, 12:52 AM
StephenFearby said...: Interesting rant by Andrew Neil in the UK edition of the Daily Mail. Yesterday he thought the Ukrainians would fold like a cheap suit, but so far today he has been proven wrong.

Still, he presents a VERY COGENT ANALYSIS of why Western Europe has come to this pretty pass. Snippets:

The West has been impotent too long - now it must finally grasp the lesson that we can't look the other way when dictators threaten our freedoms

"...Then there are the sanctions. London, Washington and Brussels assure us they are ‘strong’ and ‘severe’. But for Putin they will be no more than an irritant.

He has spent the last eight years creating a ‘Fortress Russia’ designed to withstand whatever sanctions the West throws at it.

He has accumulated $635 billion in foreign exchange and gold reserves, mainly thanks to Europe gobbling up Russian oil and gas at huge expense. Russia’s national debt is only 18 percent of GDP, one of the lowest in the world. By comparison, French sovereign debt is 116 percent of its GDP, Spain 119 percent, Italy 156 percent and Greece an incredible 206 percent.

Even Germany’s debt to GDP ratio is 70 percent. Ours is 95 percent.

The Kremlin runs an annual budget surplus, so its rainy-day multi-billion dollar kitty to weather sanctions continues to grow. The United States and every major European economy run huge budget deficits.

Both President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have made much of how they’ve cut Russia out of Western debt markets. But the Putin regime doesn’t borrow much and doesn’t rely on foreign lenders to finance its national debt.

As part of the Fortress Russia project, Russian business has also cut its reliance on foreign lenders by one-third. Ordinary Russians have been forced to endure a drop in their living standards which, only a few hundred miles east of Moscow, are often close to Third-World levels. Consumption of imports has been slashed by 25 percent in under a decade.

While Putin was making these painful preparations to withstand sanctions, what was Europe doing? Why, increasing its exposure to Russian energy, of course."

"...In a very real sense, the EU has paid for Putin’s Fortress Russia defences. With oil prices spiking at over $100 a barrel, $700 million a day in oil revenues is pouring into Kremlin coffers. Germany’s dependence on Russian energy is close to complete: 50 percent of its coal imports, 55 percent of its gas, 35 percent of its oil — all from Russia."

"...At the height of the Cold War the German military — with its extensive heavy armour and large land army — was in the vanguard of the defence of Europe from the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies.

Today it’s a shadow of its former self, with submarines that can’t take to the sea, fighter jets that can’t fly, tanks that don’t move, soldiers equipped with broom handles for guns in Arctic exercises and even a lack of basic clothing.

As Russian men and armour cross the Ukraine border, the head of the German Army, Alfons Mais, made the most remarkable confession: ‘The Bundeswehr, the army I’m privileged to lead, is more or less empty-handed. The options we can offer in support of the alliance [Nato] are extremely limited.’

Claiming he’d warned German politicians about the sad state of the country’s military time and again, he added for good measure: ‘I’m p****d off!’"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10553185/ANDREW-NEIL-West-impotent-long.html

Of course, Trump pressed Germany very hard to kick in their promised 2% of GNP for their NATO military defense obligation, but obviously, that still hasn't happened.; 2/26/22, 3:10 AM
StephenFearby said...: Actually, it seems like Andrew Neil may have cribbed CONSIDERABLE PARTS OF HIS PIECE from what Sebastian Mallaby wrote in WaPo on February 22:

Opinion: How Putin has fortified Russia against the West’s sanctions

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/24/putin-understands-sacrifice-economic-weapons-sanctions/; 2/26/22, 3:31 AM
wildswan said...: There's game called Octardle which is eight Wardles at once. It's sort of fun but not a good distraction since you get the anxiety of approaching the last lines of five or six games at once.
I'm learning Italian so I can read Dante in the original and it's true what they say: this language is easy compared to English. You learn a rule, not a rule and 40 pages of exceptions caused by words from all the languages of the world. Meanwhile, thanks to the internet, I can hear all the cantos in Italian in various recordings and already I can hear the poetry intermittently, like a radio signal coming in and going out.
I'm reading the World Crisis by Churchill and I'm at Gallipoli. You'd think it would be too depressing but, as a story of upper echelon incompetence unfolds, I feel rather that the story of Gallipoli shows the world has been in this kind of a fix before and, like Deor, I think: Þæs ofereode/ þisses swa mæg.
The easy way out of the mess we're in would be for the all the women like Kamala Harris and all other recipients of identity promotions who are in vital positions to put aside their vanity and frivolity and step aside for someone who knows what they're doing. That is what would be easy but we are going to do hard. We're going to take on China and Russia with all the incompetents still in place. Everyone of them is going to get someone killed for no good reason and most of them will be too selfish and stupid to know what happened and why.; 2/26/22, 4:02 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Bender:

Who would've thunk that pieces of crap like the Taliban and Viet Cong and other piss ant nobodies that harassed U.S. forces until they went away would be sources of inspiration.

They're "sources of inspiration" because they're "pieces of crap...that harassed U.S. forces until they went away." The reason they are able to do this is the same reason that the wars are so inadvisable in the first place: they do not involve vital American interests. They're usually reckless, impulsive interventions that ensnarl us in mission creep. Short-term plans become long-term commitments. The original strategic goals are either supplanted or supplemented by new ones, and eventually the sole remaining strategic impetus is "credibility," which demands support for interventions no matter how foolish or destructive.

Anti-interventionist make this point repeatedly, and interventionists ignore it repeatedly. They are always more concerned with how we get out of wars than with how we get into them.

It just goes to prove the number one rule of war strategy: Whoever has the superior will will prevail.

Don't lose heart. Stand firm. Resist.

"The commonest error in politics is sticking to the carcasses of dead policies." -Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury; 2/26/22, 4:08 AM
farmgirl said...: Lem- I’ve been listening to Brand more, too. I think he’s even talking slower.
Mad as Hell: nostalgia… amazing place to visit, eh?

I started listening to old blogging heads. It’s Awesome.; 2/26/22, 4:08 AM
wendybar said...: Don't you find it hysterical that the Democrat Governors are meeting in FLORIDA...Home of deathSANTIS?? What a bunch of hypcocrites!! Why not NYC, or DC???; 2/26/22, 4:23 AM
gilbar said...: the German military —
it’s a shadow of its former self, with submarines that can’t take to the sea, fighter jets that can’t fly, tanks that don’t move, soldiers equipped with broom handles for guns in Arctic exercises and even a lack of basic clothing.

Who CARES? ALL these things are TOTALLY IRRELEVANT
The REAL QUESTIONS ARE:
Do they have nice skirts and dresses for their men?
Do they provide gender affirming hormones?
Do they use the correct pronouns ?

THESE are the things that are important to a military; 2/26/22, 4:24 AM
wendybar said...: The full blooded Mohawk Indian woman, that Trudeaus mounted horses trampled is moving to the FREEDOM state of Florida. Florida has become the Freedom capital of the world. https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/02/lady-trampled-by-canadian-police-horses-moving-to-florida/; 2/26/22, 4:34 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Oh, hey, how's that fundamental transformation coming along?; 2/26/22, 4:52 AM
gadfly said...: wendybar said...
The full blooded Mohawk Indian woman, that Trudeaus mounted horses trampled is moving to the FREEDOM state of Florida. Florida has become the Freedom capital of the world.

Maybe not, Wendy:

"That is fraud." GOP registered more than 100 voters as Republicans without their consent. Picking on old people in low-income housing complexes throughout Hialeah and Little Havana.

Under Florida State Statute 104.011, willfully submitting false voter registration information is a third-degree felony in the state of Florida, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000.; 2/26/22, 4:54 AM
wendybar said...: So some people in the GOP are fighting back against Democrat fraud that has been going on for years?? 100 registered??? Did somebody vote under those names for a Republican? WOWZA. Now do Democrat Fraudulency. Maybe it was Democrats doing it to make Republicans look as bad as them??; 2/26/22, 6:03 AM
gilbar said...: Many described being misled by canvassers who said they needed a new voter ID card, to update their addresses or to verify their signatures...
“So I just asked him, ‘OK, what is it that you want? ... Where do I sign?’ ” Rubio said, recalling that the canvasser filled out the rest of the form for her.

So, gadfly? What's your point? That people WILLINGLY filled out, and SIGNED new voter registration cards? Is THAT your point? That people willingly Did it?
Do you think, that people are REQUIRED to stay democrats?
Do you think? At All?; 2/26/22, 6:31 AM
Rusty said...: Lem said...
"Russell Brand on becoming whole... "There's an absence in all of us, because we live in a world that ain't set up for how we were evolved to live" "
He was much more entertaining when he was doing heroin. Now he's much more reasonable.; 2/26/22, 8:16 AM
Bender said...: Well, Farmer, I don't think that the Ukrainians are going to take your advice that they surrender and capitulate to Russian domination.

Slava Ukraini. Resist. Stand firm.; 2/26/22, 8:22 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Well, Farmer, I don't think that the Ukrainians are going to take your advice that they surrender and capitulate to Russian domination."

You have completely misread Farmer's comment.; 2/26/22, 9:33 AM
Chris Lopes said...: "You have completely misread Farmer's comment."

Unless I am misunderstanding Farmer, he's saying the will wasn't there in Vietnam and other places because there weren't any real vital interests involved and even the folks running the war knew that. The war continued mostly out of administrative inertia.

In this particular case, it will be interesting to see if Putin has the will to sustain casualties in trying to pacify the Ukraine. I guess it will all depend on how vital he believes conquering the Ukraine is to Russian interests. His own ego may be a major part of that calculation.; 2/26/22, 12:37 PM
n.n said...: I wonder if they'll still count as a distinct country

Ukraine as Serbia re Kosovo, but in reverse. Russia's support for indigenous and native people in a declaration of "never again," perhaps.; 2/26/22, 2:59 PM