February 2, 2023

At the Cold Night Café...

IMG_4482

... you can talk about whatever you want.

(That's a photo from 5 days ago. It's been too cold to go out. Let's just say we've been getting a lot of the inside of the house painted. I ventured out to buy some provisions today. And tomorrow is the last day of the cold spell. It will be fine by Saturday, and the sunrises will not go unattended.)

39 comments:

gilbar said...

sorry to sound repetitive.. But;
Remember the Olden Days? Back when people used to pretend that The Ukraine was winning this war?
KYIV, Ukraine—Russian forces claimed new advances in their effort to encircle the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut

Some Ukrainian soldiers are starting to question why they are being asked to fight for Bakhmut when the city is nearly surrounded and a retreat, at some point, appears inevitable.
One special forces soldier who recently fought in Bakhmut said the Ukrainians are taking heavy casualties, including some of their best and most experienced soldiers; morale is taking a hit as a result.
“The city is almost surrounded. It’s incredibly hard to protect. Casualties are huge. What’s the point?” he said. “For all soldiers who are holding these positions—at least the ones I spoke to—all of them say we have to withdraw. No one understands what so many troops are dying for.”


Seriously, Remember Back (Way Back!) in January? When people talked about all the russian loses?

Now that we are ALL IN this war.. What Happens, when we LOSE?

gilbar said...

I wonder how many Ukrainians Want to die, fighting America's Proxy war?

tim in vermont said...

It's pretty clear that AI could be used to power armies of Twitter bots that create the impression of a large number of people passionately believing something. Bots that would be very difficult for Twitter to detect.

Original Mike said...

"…and the sunrises will not go unattended."

And none too soon. They've continued on momentum in your absence, but you can't expect that to continue ad infinitum. Friction, you know…

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Check out AOC's cultural appropriation.

it needs a little work

BTW. The squad does better when they are out of power.

Big Mike said...

Three weeks ago we had the following statement from Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission:

January 11, 2023

Over the past several days, there has been a lot of attention paid to gas stove emissions and to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Research indicates that emissions from gas stoves can be hazardous, and the CPSC is looking for ways to reduce related indoor air quality hazards. But to be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.


And yada, yada, and yada …

And then yesterday, just 21 days later, we find the Department of Energy now asserts its right, no, it’s obligation, to regulate … wait for it! … gas stoves. The DoE insists that they are merely ”… proposing efficiency standards for gas and electric cooktops — we are not proposing bans on either.” This fools no one who doesn’t desperately want to be fooled.

Apparently the Biden administration does not intend to take f**k NO for an answer.

Big Mike said...

And tomorrow is the last day of the cold spell.

And the first day of ours here in Virginia.

gadfly said...

I see where former VP Mike Pence is "negotiating" with DOJ related to the hunt for classified documents in his 14-year-old, 10,000 sf mansion located at 4395 Brendun Orchard Lane in Zionsville, IN, that he bought for the amazingly low $1.9 million in September 2021. Of course, if such documents are found, (which could be so, since no negotiations are otherwise unneeded) they were moved there after Pence left office.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"Canadian Government Forces Dairy Farmer to Dump 30,000 Liters of Milk Because He Exceeded His Quota" (VIDEO) via @gatewaypundit

Jersey Fled said...

I thought they used to take surplus milk and make it into cheese for poor people. I guess there are no poor people in Canada.

tim in vermont said...

The US govt commissioned a poll in Crimea in 2013, 18 years after Ukraine had forcibly annexed it, and one year before the govt there invited the Russians in after the US concocted a coup in Kiev, dissolving the legitimate national government. The poll asked people what they considered to be their nationality. Only 15% said Ukrainian. What if Russia tried to take back Alaska?

Daniel12 said...

"What Happens, when we LOSE?"

That's what you want, correct? It's what would have probably happened if we and Europe hadn't helped. So perhaps you should tell us how much better things will be if Russia wins the war they started.

Narr said...

During one of my two treks through history grad school--the second one, in the 90s after getting my MLIS--I took a lot of Women's and African-American history.

In the late 19th century and before the 19th A a lot of state and local governments allowed women to vote in their elections, particularly in Western states. Sometimes their franchise was restricted to school board elections or the like, but a level of public political participation was not unheard of.

gadfly makes a fair point about Pence and his apparent wealth, leave aside the whole docs kerfuffle; likewise, leaving aside classified docs, I see the Biden properties on the news and wonder how a guy whose salary was that of a senator and veep can afford such primo spreads. That's a rhetorical wonder; they didn't call him Sen. Biden (Del.-MBNA) for nothing.

In both cases the power of the privileged and the privilege of the powerful are rubbed in our peasant snouts.



Michael K said...

If gadfly is trying to get a rise out of anyone he considers Trump fans, he is wasting his time. Pence is a squish and was as IN governor. He is the equivalent of Richard Schweiker, who the GOPe forced on Reagan in 1976, lest he lead a revolution in the presidency. He had to wait 4 more years. Trump was not as smooth as Reagan but he was just as revolutionary. Dole lost the Senate in 1982 by delaying Reagan's tax cut. Nothing new about the GOPe.

Jake said...

All the crazy tonight.

tastid212 said...

Cold wave = poor indoor ventilation. Add fumes from interior painting. Don't light the gas stove!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Short: Why are we funding NATO?

wildswan said...

"I wonder how many Ukrainians Want to die, fighting America's Proxy war?"

There's a rumor that Putin has ordered his military to capture the whole of Donesk Oblast by March. And rumors that Putin thinks he has built up an Army of 500,000 men with which he will suddenly sweep forward and crush the out-numbered Ukrainians and capture Donesk before the Leopard tanks can be delivered. We'll see. Right now it's an information war and Putin can have as large an army as he wants. He just has to mention numbers. He's like the man in the Gogol story going around buying up "dead souls." But dead souls won't fight and Putin's Russians have had their souls crushed out of them by his cruel, lying regime. Whereas the Ukrainians still have something to fight for - being the Ukrainian people, not dead souls in Russia.

Birches said...

First publication I've seen confirm that the 6year old who shot his teacher was black and that his race was a factor in not disciplining him, even on the day when multiple teachers knew he was armed.

Washington Free Beacon

gadfly said...

A new internal report prepared by the Republican National Committee proposes creating a permanent infrastructure in every state to ramp up “election integrity” activities in response to perceptions within GOP ranks of widespread fraud and abuse in the way the country selects its leaders.

The report, prepared by the RNC’s “National Election Integrity Team” and obtained by The Washington Post, reveals the degree to which Republicans continue to trade on former president Donald Trump’s false claims that Democrats and their allies rigged his defeat in 2020.


So the RNC is waiting for Trump indictments to do him in. Or perhaps a permanent trip to the funny farm. Or for Trump to die. Or be helped along by pissing-off MBS.

gadfly said...

A new internal report prepared by the Republican National Committee proposes creating a permanent infrastructure in every state to ramp up “election integrity” activities in response to perceptions within GOP ranks of widespread fraud and abuse in the way the country selects its leaders.

The report, prepared by the RNC’s “National Election Integrity Team” and obtained by The Washington Post, reveals the degree to which Republicans continue to trade on former president Donald Trump’s false claims that Democrats and their allies rigged his defeat in 2020.


So the RNC is waiting for Trump indictments to do him in. Or perhaps a permanent trip to the funny farm. Or for Trump to die. Or be helped along by pissing-off MBS.

Rt41Rebel said...

I've only had my AC off for about 8 days all winter so far. If I didn't have a sexy GF standing on my back whipping me, it would be off a lot more.

Rt41Rebel said...

So our military can't shoot a balloon down? I think it's time to just surrender.

Gospace said...

So the Air and Space Museum, owned by the American people, kicked out a Catholic youth group for wearing pro-life apparely. The employees have been counseled.

My question is- WHY HAVEN'T THEY BEEN FIRED?

I am a government employee myself. What they did constitutes a firing offense.

https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/todays-blacklisted-americans-catholic-students-kicked-out-of-air-space-museum-for-wearing-pro-life-hats/

madAsHell said...

fighting America's Proxy war?

We have sent more than $100 billion dollars to Ukraine.

When Biden was VP, he threatened to hold billions unless they fired the prosecutor investigating his son’s Burisma business.

The Ukraine isn’t a proxy war. It’s a kickback machine for Democrats!

planetgeo said...

Speaking of the Washington Free Beacon, I think they missed a golden opportunity to have the most perceptively named newspaper in the country, as the Washington Free Bacon.

donald said...

“That's what you want, correct? It's what would have probably happened if we and Europe hadn't helped. So perhaps you should tell us how much better things will be if Russia wins the war they started”.

Fuck you. Not our war asshole, we are in this completely and Solely due to Joe Biden and the democrat party. All you cocksuckers still pushing this dirty little war need to get your asses over there, your family members too.

donald said...

“The Ukraine isn’t a proxy war. It’s a kickback machine for Democrats”.

It’s both.

Humperdink said...

Paraphrasing Adam Carolla yesterday: "This is the best time to be a racist, you'll blend in with everyone who is not a Person of Color".

Funny.

wendybar said...

Lem Former Twitter Aficionado said...
Check out AOC's cultural appropriation.

it needs a little work

Was she spawned by Al Sharpton?? Not much of a difference. Race baiters gotta race bait...even if they are as white as I am.

boatbuilder said...

"I see where former VP Mike Pence is "negotiating" with DOJ related to the hunt for classified documents in his 14-year-old, 10,000 sf mansion located at 4395 Brendun Orchard Lane in Zionsville, IN, that he bought for the amazingly low $1.9 million in September 2021. Of course, if such documents are found, (which could be so, since no negotiations are otherwise unneeded) they were moved there after Pence left office."

Assuming this isn't another Gadfly fantasy, I suppose this would mean that Mike Pence won't be President.

Cue Jeremy Clarkson: "OH, NO!. Anyway..."

tim in vermont said...

"There's a rumor that Putin ..."

LOL. Ukrainians are incessant liars. This has been shown, they have been lying to us for a long time, like when they fabricated evidence to force Trump's campaign manager to step down in 2016.

"But dead souls won't fight and Putin's Russians have had their souls crushed out of them by his cruel, lying regime."

Wow, doesn't sound like nazi propaganda at all. Every time the West escalates, it hands Putin another political gift, just so you know. This is not our war, it's the neocon's war. It's not about "right and wrong" or "justice," it's about preventing Russia from rising as a possible rival to the US, especially in combination with Germany.

If you read European history of the 20th century. starting with WWI, a great deal of it has been about preventing Germany and Russia from creating an alliance which would threaten Western Europe. WWII was a consequence of the West's determination to crush Germany, a decision that was come to because Germany had made a separate peace with Russia while the fighting was still going on in the west. This was too great a threat for England and France, so it was total war and the brutal Treaty of Versailles, "The Peach to End All Peace."

Cheap Russian resources combined with Germany's industrial might is not something the US wants to arise, and we will fight it out to the last Ukrainian.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Glenn Greenwald sets it straight...
https://rumble.com/v27vze6-russiagate-a-worthwhile-deep-dive-into-the-medias-stunning-lies-and-corrupt.html

wendybar said...

"Did President Trump make mistakes? You bet. He’s human, after all. He did fail to understand just how deep the Swamp critters were entrenched. He was the commander-in-chief but instead of the truth, instead of helpful suggestions for America, instead of aiding the President, he got nothing but lies, wrong answers, and pure bullsh*t from Congress, the Vichy GOPe, the Demsheviks, who care more about keeping the graft coming and filling their rice bowls, than in keeping with their oaths of office and serving America and Americans."

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/02/president_trump_vs_the_swamp_.html

planetgeo said...

More Washington Free Bacon...sizzling news with your morning coffee...and someday, its own award for random acts of journalism, the Pullet Surprise.

The ad copy just writes itself.

tim in vermont said...

The Omicron variant was identified as a "variant of concern" right around the end of '21. Two months later the excess deaths dropped from OMG levels to still there, but far less serious, and never came back.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

The gallows was invented to concentrate the minds of the scientists who say "if I don't do it, somebody else will." This is research that should never have been done, and never should be done again.

lonejustice said...

With Trump and his supporters, it is never Trump's fault. It is always someone else's fault.

Look, Trump made all of these appointments. It was HIS job to weigh their input and then make the final decisions. If he was unable to recognize the Swamp critters, then that's on him. Drain the swamp? Hell, he didn't even build the Wall.

-------------

wendybar wrote: "Did President Trump make mistakes? You bet. He’s human, after all. He did fail to understand just how deep the Swamp critters were entrenched. He was the commander-in-chief but instead of the truth, instead of helpful suggestions for America, instead of aiding the President, he got nothing but lies, wrong answers, and pure bullsh*t from Congress, the Vichy GOPe, the Demsheviks, who care more about keeping the graft coming and filling their rice bowls, than in keeping with their oaths of office and serving America and Americans."

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/02/president_trump_vs_the_swamp_.html

FullMoon said...

t41Rebel said...

I've only had my AC off for about 8 days all winter so far. If I didn't have a sexy GF standing on my back whipping me, it would be off a lot more.


You forgot the link.

FullMoon said...

Lot's of people joking about "dangerous" gas stoves. Not funny, my 94 year old great Aunt, as well as her 89 year old neighbor both lived in the Sunset district of San Francisco for over fifty years. Gas stoves, gas furnace, gas water heater.

They both have died.
Coincidence?
I report, you decide.