Althouse: Sunrise — 6:43, 6:48.

March 28, 2022

Sunrise — 6:43, 6:48.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

33 comments:

MadTownGuy said...: 'Biggest fraud in a generation': The looting of the Covid relief program known as PPP

"Many who participated in what prosecutors are calling the largest fraud in American history—the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money intended to help those harmed by the pandemic — couldn’t resist purchasing luxury automobiles. Also mansions, private jet flights and swanky vacations.

They came into their riches by participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters — as NBC News reported last year. And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program."; 3/28/22, 7:32 PM
Joe Smith said...: Why is it that men (they're all men) on the other side of the planet with names you can't pronounce are dreaded, evil 'oligarchs'?

Yet men that live in our country with names like Gates, Zuckerberg, Dorsey, Cook, and Benioff are just regular folks who worked hard for their money, are often described as patriots, and just want what's best for their country.; 3/28/22, 7:49 PM
R C Belaire said...: So I'm reading this article in the UK Guardian : "Biden is a diplomatic liability. He’s playing into Putin’s hands" by Simon Jenkins, and he writes this:

"Two Nato leaders, Biden and Britain’s Boris Johnson, are populists unschooled in the art of diplomacy."

Biden has been in senior levels of government all his adult life including 8 years as VP, and here is a liberal columnist calling him out. How bad is it when even members of your own team recognize you for the imbecile you are?

It is to laugh, and laugh hard!; 3/28/22, 8:02 PM
Bender said...: End of Russia - that's what is on the table right now. Consider this talk show of Solovyov - top Putin's propagandist. Their point is - *any* treaty Russia signs with Ukraine will mark its defeat. That gonna be beginning of the end, not of Putin's regime but of Russian state:
"You have a choice: either you win this operation or start the final countdown."

https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1507819604105592832; 3/28/22, 8:15 PM
Humperdink said...: So Biden calls for regime change in Russia. Think back to Hillary chortling "We came, we saw, he died" regarding the leader of the regime in Libya. That stabilized the region. *cough*; 3/28/22, 8:26 PM
tim in vermont said...: I notice that even Bloomberg is starting to get a little incredulous re Biden.; 3/28/22, 8:33 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Will Smith tone deaf speech cut.

👉🏽 https://youtu.be/zYPBg6w8KJc; 3/28/22, 9:07 PM
stephen cooper said...: None of my friends in real life have made a warmongering statement in the last 2 months.
On the internet, though ....; 3/28/22, 9:09 PM
Lurker21 said...: April Fools' Day is this week. I want the press to treat it as Opposite Day and actually ask Biden some real questions for once. Doocey can ask about ice cream if he wants.; 3/28/22, 9:41 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: When there are less and less consequences for wrongdoing, can we say we’re in a post-consequence world?

Keep asking questions.; 3/28/22, 10:00 PM
William said...: @Joe Smith: I read the Chernow bio of John Jay Rockefeller. He was the richest (non-royal, non-dictator) who ever lived. He had his own private golf course on one of his estates. He was widely despised and ridiculed in his time. People back then were not sympathetic to alopecia sufferers as in our enlightened age....Rockefeller made a lot of money but he performed a useful service. His corporation produced a reliable product at a reasonable price. Not so much his competitors. At a time when Ida Tarbell's father was going bankrupt by putting his product in wooden barrels, Rockefeller was building oil tanker cars--fleets of them--to carry his product to market. He won out over his competitors not so much because of his shady dealings but rather more because of his shrewd dealings...When Rockefeller retired he funded the Rockefeller Institute. This institute produced cures or treatment for yellow and scarlet fever. A Rockefeller program eradicated tapeworm in the south. If the government had taken his money, I don't think they would have spent the money as wisely. There would have been a Tweed courthouse in every square and many beachfront properties owned by county officials.....It's been recently revealed that Bill Gates has a libido. Whatever. Let it be written in Gates' favor that he eliminated river blindness in Africa. This disease affected hundreds of thousands. True, it only a cost him a fraction of his wealth, but that money did not come from the African or USA governments, nor would it have if they had had access and control of Gates' money...There's quite a lot of difference between a Russian oligarch and an American capitalist. It's as stark as the difference between Czar Nicholas and King George V.; 3/28/22, 10:07 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: @R C Belaire

It's my theory that the powers that be have decided to oust Biden in time for a new VP confirmation before the 2022 election results are in force. I don't know who they have in mind, but I have another suspicion that Larry Hogan (R Gov. MD) will run in 2024 for POTUS. He has no lane against any of the obvious R contenders, and being from MD he is effectually a D anyway, so I expect him to switch affiliation for his 2024 run, if not sooner to become the next VP and possibly POTUS when Kameltoe breaks down.; 3/28/22, 10:19 PM
madAsHell said...: 'Biggest fraud in a generation':

In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) rushed to hand out the extra $600/week to anyone and everyone who applied for unemployment, up to and including a Nigerian crime network that funneled out of the state “hundreds of millions of dollars” before Washington officials finally got a clue.

He was laundering your unemployment insurance. Hey!!....Presidential campaigns aren't cheap, and someone has to pay the bill!!!; 3/28/22, 10:50 PM
Jupiter said...: "There's quite a lot of difference between a Russian oligarch and an American capitalist. It's as stark as the difference between Czar Nicholas and King George V."

So, one of them spoke English? Astute.; 3/28/22, 10:56 PM
Maynard said...: I am wondering what the reaction would be if (rather than Will Smith-Chris Rock) Mel Gibson came on stage and bitch slapped John Travolta.; 3/28/22, 11:12 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'There's quite a lot of difference between a Russian oligarch and an American capitalist.'

I'm as capitalist as the next guy...I don't hate rich folks; I want to be one.

So Gates has done some great things.

Now tell me about how Zuckerberg swung an election by pumping hundreds or millions into 'public' elections.

The Russian oligarchs partnered with government to get rich and keep the powerful in power.

American oligarchs are doing the same.; 3/28/22, 11:39 PM
Gospace said...: This guy, Walter Chestnut, does a lot of technical analysis of the dreaded covid virus and the so called "vaccine". TBH, a lot of his posts are technical. and hard to understand. He's also apparently a chess whiz. Which may mean nothing to you, but means something to me, especially as to analytical ability. IMHO, most chess whiz's are on the spectrum, and are really good at digging into things that piques their interest. And covid has piqued his interest. He's not optimistic.

https://threadreaderapp.com/user/Parsifaler

Next up, Karl Denninger. He's even more less then optimistic about the effects of the dreaded covid "vaccine". If you read through his stuff, he's all in favor of ropes, lampposts, assembly for politicians who've mandated masks and vaccinations. Also in favor, obviously, of mobs, pitchforks, and dragging VIPs out of their mansions and state houses. And likely a fan of guillotines for same. TBH- so am I. But more people need to be onboard before I join in.

Then there's Voxday at voxday.net. Part of the manosphere. Not exactly sure how I became aware of him. He often links to Karl. I have a suspicion he may be a Russian asset in place, but it's hart to tell. Nonetheless, he often posts interesting stuff with links. Ofttimes, the links aren't as spectacular as he makes them out to be... hence, my suspicions. Someone else I'm actually friends with, Sarah Hoyt, is not a fan. Oddly enough, they're often on the same side- especially as far as dreaded covid vaccine skepticism goes.

So let's segue into a related subject- military vaccine refusers. Things I've found out recently. The military, all branches, does not have a single Satanist chaplain. Not one. And, some of the vaccine refusers are self declared Satanists. And- none of the other chaplains, including the Wiccan Chaplains (yes- the Army, at least, has those) will interview them or declare whether or not their beliefs are valid! And a Chaplain interview is required for a religious exemption. Can't tell you what's going on there, because apparently no one can. Also, the Army (don't know about other services) has at least one Nordic Chaplain. Yes, Nordic, for those that believe in Odin, Thor, Loki, and the Old Gods. TBH- I don't know whether or not those Chaplains endorsed the vaccine refusers beliefs as consistent with their religion....

Just to mention- the active duty death rate from the dreaded covid is at least two orders of magnitude less then the death rate among the whole population. Which includes active duty personnel... bringing the whole population death rate down. So a vaccine mandate for active duty personnel never made any kind of statistical sense. IMHO- ropes, lampposts, assembly are need for FOGOS...; 3/28/22, 11:52 PM
Gospace said...: Now me, I'm a vaccine refuser. Retired, not on active duty. I'm an outlier in many ways, but not in my vaccine refusal. Judging by my Facebook friends, seems to be common among retirees. But how am I an outlier then? 21 years active duty, and I nether drink nor like beer or coffee. And I'm not Mormon. Right now, as I write this, I'm fighting off what appears to be a viral infection. It may or may not be the dreaded covid, since it has some of the same symptoms. Some. Lots of sneezing. I've lost track of how many times I've had sneezing fits today. From one site: Feb 14, 2022 — Sneezing more than usual can be a sign of COVID-19 in people who've been vaccinated, but typically not in those who are unvaccinated. Whatever ... And most other google search result agree- for the unvaccinated, sneezing is NOT a dreaded covid symptom. What am I doing to fight off whatever I've got? Just had my third (and final) dose of 100,000 IU vitamin D, 50 mg zinc, 1760 mg quercetin, and a bromelain, a papaya, and turmeric capsule. In addition to my normal daily does of vitamins. Plus, every waking hour I've been taking 1000 mg Vitamin C, same or lysine, and 500 mg proline. I have a much higher Vitamin C tolerance than the average human. And when I finish this last glass of wine, I'll have downed an entire bottle in less than 2 hours, rendering me above the legal BAC to drive. Something doctors will never tell you is that getting drunk will aid in killing off viruses in your bloodstream. May have some negative body effects, but what is it you're trying to achieve? In my case, it's killing viruses...

Why else might I not think I have the dreaded covid? I did 25 minutes on the treadmill today at q 5.5% grade at 3.2 MPH, with the last 4 minutes at 3.3 MPH. Which brought my pulse of 150 BPM. Most 66 year olds cannot maintain that walking rate when healthy, much less when they know they're sick. It's after midnight, later on today I'll up the grade to 6%. I'm working out by pulse- started recently. Looking to maintain between 145-155 BPM. From everything I've read about the dreaded covid- maintaining that effort for that amount of time would have been impossible if I had it. I also have a pulse oximeter- and it read 95-100% throughout. I have a cardiologist appointment in April. When I last saw him, he said he'd see me again when I was 70. But the office called and wanted another appointment set up. I have but to wonder if that's because vaxxed oldsters, similar to the unvaxxed me, but for the jab, have been dropping dead on him.... The office hasn't inquired about my vax status.; 3/28/22, 11:52 PM
madAsHell said...: I don't believe any more broadcast news. I don't believe Youtube videos......but I do believe that the Biden crime family is done......soon. I hope.; 3/29/22, 12:18 AM
Rt41Rebel said...: I don't know what to make of the slap, but I do know this: Hollywood and every thing else has gone 57 genders, but in a 30 second clip of their awards ceremony, the true nature of the sexes was set back to caveman times.; 3/29/22, 1:22 AM
gadfly said...: Why did all the stupidest of politicians suddenly decide they were conservatives stymying best efforts to save the Republican Party?

Nebraska State Senator Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, falsely claimed that schools are placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats during a public, televised debate on a bill intended to help school children who have behavioral problems.

“They meow and they bark and they interact with their teachers in this fashion,” Bostelman said. “And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use. How is this sanitary?”; 3/29/22, 4:22 AM
gadfly said...: MadTownGuy said...
'Biggest fraud in a generation': The looting of the Covid relief program known as PPP

Trump and the Republican Senate approved this stupid program in 2020 that gave money to many businesses that were rich in cash. The only measure was: Did you make less money this year than last year? First come first served until we run out. Virtually all "loans" were forgiven.; 3/29/22, 4:51 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Good to see open water again!; 3/29/22, 5:43 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: A different view...
https://occidentaldissent.com/2022/03/27/patrick-lancaster-war-crimes-in-mariupol-exposed/
Tough Videos - caution.; 3/29/22, 5:45 AM
tim in vermont said...: The amount of doublethink and cope coming from the people who literally laughed at Trump when he warned them about Russian oil is kind of amazing.; 3/29/22, 5:49 AM
Quaestor said...: (via R.C. Belaire) The Guardian reports, "Two NATO leaders, Biden and Britain’s Boris Johnson, are populists unschooled in the art of diplomacy."

Hey, wait just one goldurn minute there, pardner. I thought Trump was the moronic/mad/treasonous/criminal/sex fiend populist and Biden was the reverse course to normality, the steady hand on the tiller of our ship of state, mixer of metaphors deluxe. Anyone writing for The Guardian would have told you that in steeled-edged terms in 2020. So now he's a populist and an unschooled one at that?

How did that happen? I do not recall any hew and cry for Putin's head on platter issuing from the mouths of the unwashed peasantry. Did you? The only thing close to that sort of sanguinary sentiments has come from the neocon Twitter literati. They're numerous (or dispositionally loud, to be more on point) but the likes of Jennifer Rubin and William Kristol are hardly the vox populi. What howling torchlit mob is Joseph R. Biden leading to have garnered the dreaded populist label?

I'll venture an answer to my own question: Presiden Biden is not a populist, and Simon Jenkins is a contemptible liar for claiming he is. Nor is Biden unschooled -- he's been schooled since 1973 so it's not for lack of same that he is a disastrous failure. Biden was a quick study in certain departments of the Democratic Party's school of diplomacy, especially the "Soliciting Bribery from Foreigners through Cut-Outs" degree program from which he received a doctorate. If Biden seems unschooled now it's simply because his brain has turned to pus. Simon Jenkins and everyone who bothered to look knew about the rotten noodle in 2019 when Biden announced his candidacy, but Jenkins and all the myrmidons of leftism conspired to hide the truth from the drug-addled electorate, which, assuming all the proven voter fraud is false, is about 81 million Americans -- a completely plausible number given the shocking conditions in Democrat-controlled cities.; 3/29/22, 6:18 AM
Quaestor said...: As usual, gadfly is wasting Althouse's credibility by promulgating lies about PPP and Trump. The Paycheck Protection Program is part of the CARES Act, proposed by a Democrat and passed by both Houses of the Democrat-controlled Congress.; 3/29/22, 6:27 AM
Quaestor said...: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” is Biden’s "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"

— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) March 26, 2022

And a few hundred nearly identical tweets and assorted social media bleats oozing from the same sinking mouths that slandered Trump on an hourly basis.

One wonders who decreed the "tear down this wall" comparison -- someone with a very complete address book and an efficient mail bot, I'll wager because the Twitter literati were all over it like stink on shit in record time. Unfortunately, it sounded much better to foolish ears than to well-educated ones.

Biden's lunatic cry for regime change in Moscow is hardly comparable to Ronald Reagan's Berlin brilliant speech. Firstly, Reagan's imperative, "Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall," was a direct challenge to the hypocrisy then current in post-Chernobyl Politburo, and not an implied threat, specifically the so-called reform policy known as glasnost, literally glass-ness, a term implying openness and transparency in dealings between parties, personal or public.

In the immediate wake of that horrendous nuclear accident, secrecy and denial were the orders of the day in the U.S.S.R., as they always had been since the October Revolution. However, high-altitude air sampling, ground-level monitoring stations in Western Europe, and American satellite photography revealed the official Soviet denials to be blatant lies gravely endangering the health of an entire continent. Consequently, Russian credibility nosedived to a level unseen even during the Cuban Missle Crisis.

Gorbachev sought to redress Russia's humiliation with a charm offensive directed at the West using perestroika and glasnost as terms of reassurance. However, those terms had no visible force in reality, the existence of the Berlin Wall being just one, a solid concrete wall being the antithesis of glass-ness. Reagan bravely and adroitly pointed out the hypocrisy. That's a different order of political rhetoric entirely than a demented call for a nuclear-armed superpower to be upended.

Secondly, "tear down this wall" was in no way or manner inconsistent with American foreign policy since the Wall was erected in 1961. From the first block laid the American position was and continued to be one of open condemnation, the Wall being completely illegal by the terms of the Yalta Conference agreements of 1945. Biden's speech, however, was more like George W. Bush's numerous calls for the deposition of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq with the important difference that American action to advance that goal would not entail a risk of nuclear world war.; 3/29/22, 7:18 AM
Old and slow said...: Blogger gadfly said...

"First come first served until we run out. Virtually all "loans" were forgiven."

Let's see a link please. I took loans for several businesses, and know others who did the same. One of my businesses failed during Covid, the others did not. NONE of the loans were forgiven. I did not ask for shutdowns, but I will repay the loans. You are making things up out of whole cloth. Hell, I'd be delighted if the loans were forgiven, but that is not happening.; 3/29/22, 7:25 AM
Christopher B said...: Gadfly lies again. I'm on the board of a non-profit that utilized PPP. The loan could only be forgiven if used for paying wages to employees who remained on the payroll for the affected period which if I remember correctly was at least 6 months in 2020. Yeah, money is fungible, and it was basically welfare funneled through businesses but at least instead of sitting on their asses the beneficiaries could be doing something useful. The primary fraud was faking up a company and applying for a loan and then disappearing with the cash.

Also, I was not aware that it was sufficient for spending to be approved by the President and Senate. Isn't the House, run by the Democrats since 2019, in there somewhere?; 3/29/22, 7:25 AM
Lurker21 said...: One wonders who decreed the "tear down this wall" comparison -- someone with a very complete address book and an efficient mail bot

Many commentators credit (or blame) William Kristol.

Presiden Biden is not a populist, and Simon Jenkins is a contemptible liar for claiming he is. Nor is Biden unschooled -- he's been schooled since 1973 so it's not for lack of same that he is a disastrous failure. Biden was a quick study in certain departments of the Democratic Party's school of diplomacy, especially the "Soliciting Bribery from Foreigners through Cut-Outs" degree program from which he received a doctorate. If Biden seems unschooled now it's simply because his brain has turned to pus.

Not so contemptible, I think. Jenkins is responding to Biden's lack of diplomatic skills. That lack has been on display from the beginning. Biden has never been very tactful or capable of thinking very deeply or very far ahead. His "schooling" involved him getting every foreign policy decision wrong in the view of Robert Gates.

I wouldn't call Biden a populist, but I think I understand what Jenkins was trying to say. He was referring to Biden's attempts at folksiness and his amateurism, in spite of his 50 years in power. I'm not sure other heads of government are that much more professional when it comes to foreign policy but they are more restrained and in control of their administrations and themselves.

When Biden ran for office (like Hillary Clinton) before him, there was much talk about the long years of experience they had (Biden more than Clinton who was just Bill's wife for much of the time). They were supposed to be more professional, but in fact being so close to power so long made them careless and complacent and unable to think their way out of the bureaucratic box that they lived in.

I'm not sure there's that much real difference between your view and mine and Jenkins's, but I think implied in Jenkins's view, whether he realizes it or not, is the idea that "professionalism" in politicians implies not just knowing the government from the inside, but being able to look at it from outside as well and see its disfunctions and distortions.; 3/29/22, 8:45 AM
Quaestor said...: Lurker 21 writes, "I wouldn't call Biden a populist, but I think I understand what Jenkins was trying to say. He was referring to Biden's attempts at folksiness and his amateurism..."

Simon Jenkins tarred Boris Johnson with the same brush, probably in an effort to saddle him with a sizable portion of the blowback headed our way and to discredit the Tories when Biden either resigns in disgrace or gets impeached and removed next year. It's also a CYA move by The Guardian, one of Biden's most ardent UK drumbeaters since he announced his candidacy.

I conclude Jenkins intended "populist" in its most literal sense because he named Johnson in the same terms, who is neither folksy (A better capsule description of Boris Johnson's person is scholarly and eccentric, this is a man who is known to break into Attic Greek during Question Time in order to confound the Labourites.) nor an amateur. Johnson has been either in politics, in the Government, or writing about British and world politics for The Telegraph or The Spectator for thirty years. Furthermore, Jenkin's colleagues have often labeled Johnson as an elitist, which hardly jibes with folksy amatuerism.; 3/29/22, 9:23 AM
Jefferson's Revenge said...: Lurker21 is right- Biden is a faux populist. Scranton Joe. Lunchpail Joe. Union Joe. Anyone who believed that was a fool. He would have fit in well as a Tammany Hall back bench glad handler/fixer, which is what he's been his whole life. I eagerly await the memoirs in 10 years of world leaders who have met him to read their true opinions of him and those who elected him. His election has made the US a laughing stock globally.

On another topic, I would strongly recommend watching Severance on AppleTV. Hard to explain but the eeriest show I have ever seen. Very imaginative in a non-horror but creepy way.; 3/29/22, 9:52 AM