Althouse: Sunrise

July 21, 2023

Sunrise — 5:42.

40 comments:

Political Junkie said...: Social Security question for blog friends.

Say the wife takes her social security first and it is only based on her life.
Then later the husband takes social security and he wants the option where if he dies the wife will continue receiving his SS benefits. I know the husband has to take a smaller amount.
Question - After husband dies, will the spouse still be able to receive her SS and then the husband's SS?

Thanks Althousians!; 7/21/23, 5:33 PM
MadisonMan said...: I enjoyed the brief time this morning when my posts appeared immediately. I didn't expect it to last, and it didn't but it was nice while it lasted.
I noticed this morning that the sun was barely up at 6 AM. Inevitable. Sad, but inevitable.; 7/21/23, 5:57 PM
gilbar said...: https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/21/watchdog-tracking-weapons-assistance-ukraine-russians-criminals/
Russian organized crime groups, Ukrainian crooks and unauthorized volunteer battalions obtained or stole weapons from Department of Defense (DOD) security aid meant to arm the Ukrainian military for its defense against Russia, according to an inspector general report obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The report, revealed as the result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by Military.com, shows how U.S. efforts to meet end-use goals for billions in security assistance donated throughout 2022 often failed.

So..
Will the Pro-Ukrainian warhawks here, yell that:
a) THIS IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE?
b) The Daily Caller is NOTHING BUT RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA?
c) Sure! This is ALL TRUE, but IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! as long as our war with russia continues?

i'm Guessing: A,B and C; 7/21/23, 6:04 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Su, what do you think? Was Obama napping for eight years, Intelligence agencies kept him in the dark about Joe & Co.? Eighty one million votes? Are unicorns really good at flying?; 7/21/23, 6:25 PM
Original Mike said...: So, Rand Paul's office was destroyed by fire. I know! Let's get the FBI on it!; 7/21/23, 7:13 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: YouTube: This is a one minute excerpt from Carl Sagan's last interview with Charlie Rose Apr 19, 2012.

Hint: it’s a must watch.

I kept forgetting to post this. The power was out most of the night yesterday, came back today but without the internet.; 7/21/23, 7:23 PM
TickTock said...: Political J. Pretty certain surviving wife will get the higher of the two but not both. But of course it is worth a trip to the SS office to confirm.; 7/21/23, 7:57 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Phone calls via wasap need to get better. It appears as if while one party talks the other is muted by the app or whatever. So when the party talking finishes our human ear is quicker than the app picking up the queues that it’s ok for me to respond. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’m picking up.

Their voicemail however is the fantastic.; 7/21/23, 8:19 PM
Original Mike said...: "Political J. Pretty certain surviving wife will get the higher of the two but not both."

That is my understanding as well.; 7/21/23, 8:31 PM
Narr said...: We had another short but intense storm front come through this afternoon; as feared, just as MLGW got the powerless numbers down to about 12k (4% of customers), it shot up to almost 80.
It's about 50k now. Oddly, we're in one of the most affected areas but have been fine.

I wouldn't harp on this, except I see it as a portent of more widespread infrastructure fails here and all over.

In the meantime, Goeran Soellscher plays a mean 11-string--from Dowland to the Beatles. You
know where to go.; 7/21/23, 8:41 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: YouTube: Dr John Campbell quotes Bob Dylan and like Glenn Greenwald appears to be at ease with doing what he sees as necessary, but could also turn Assangerous, for both, John and Glenn.; 7/21/23, 9:05 PM
Dr Weevil said...: A couple of months ago, someone here - I think it was gilbar - assured us that half of all the weapons and ammunition we're sending Ukraine was being 'openly sold on the black market'. I mocked him for that, asking whether I could really buy myself a tank, a Bradley APC, a Krab self-propelled gun, or an anti-aircraft missile if I had the money. I also asked him to give me the exact location and opening hours of this market, and tell me if they take credit cards or checks, or it's cash-only. I may have asked whether they deliver. Whoever it was responded very badly, refused to correct his ridiculous statement, and resorted to stupid lies and insults in response.

One reason I think that was gilbar is the gloating triumph of his 6:04pm comment and the lie that he expects me or anyone else to "yell" at him with all-caps. I don't need all-caps because (a) I know enough HTML to use bold-face when appropriate, and (b) I have rational arguments, so there's no need to shout.

As for the linked article, I note that it promises far more than it delivers. It says weapons are "often" stolen, but none of the three examples adds up to much. Did gilbar even read them?

1. Journalists making a case usually put their best evidence first. Here we have "a grenade launcher and machine gun" that "context . . . suggests . . . originated from the U.S." I certainly hope the Ukrainian police got them back and jailed the thieves (did they?), but that's a minuscule percentage of what we've supplied, and a suggestion is not a proof.

2. "A Ukrainian outlaw group illegally imported bullet-resistant vests while posing as a humanitarian organization and sold the equipment". What does this have to do with military aid? You can buy these vests on Amazon, and the wording suggest that they did just that, so the only people cheated were the gullible contributors who thought the vests were going to the Ukrainian army. Not a penny came from the taxpayer. (A lot of actual humanitarian organizations are raising funds to buy useful equipment, including trucks, cars, ambulances, medical supplies, and civilian drones that can be adapted as weapons. As with every charitable effort, imposters pretend to do that for profit.) When your list has only three members, and one of them doesn't belong at all, put it in the middle where gullible readers are less likely to notice.

3. "Members of a Ukrainian volunteer battalion stole 60 rifles and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, also likely for sale on the black market." Stole them from where? It doesn't say they were American-supplied, and that "likely" is also doing a lot of work. If this is a pro-government volunteer battalion and they are using their stolen rifles and rounds to shoot Russians, then that aid is not being wasted. They should still be prosecuted for theft - and maybe they have been - but it's still not wasted.

Most important, the story gives no idea of the overall scale of thefts and diversions, though examples #1 and #3 suggest it is quite small: many acres in the U.S. have more guns (note they were "rifles" not machine guns) and rounds than that. I conclude that what has been stolen is obviously not "half" of what we sent, or even one percent. Is it even .1%? .01%? .001%? Given the pitifully small scale of the examples offered, the last seems likeliest.; 7/21/23, 9:08 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: The YouTube linked above may be the one that gets Dr Campbell banned from YouTube for ever.

Watch it while you still can.; 7/21/23, 9:13 PM
gadfly said...: Political Junkie said...
Social Security question for blog friends.

When your spouse dies, you get to choose the spousal benefit that you want - but you cannot have both benefits. Death stops the issuance of all future payments, so if you want to claim the larger spousal benefit, contact SS.

Now check my advice on Google.; 7/21/23, 9:17 PM
gadfly said...: Political Junkie said...
Social Security question for blog friends.

When your spouse dies, you get to choose the spousal benefit that you want - but you cannot have both benefits. Death stops the issuance of all future payments, so if you want to claim the larger spousal benefit, contact SS.

Now check my advice on Google.; 7/21/23, 9:18 PM
Political Junkie said...: Thanks TickTock and Original Mike for the SS info.; 7/21/23, 10:00 PM
Dave Begley said...: Oppenheimer

Best movie.
Best screenplay.
Best actor: Murphy
Best supporting actor: Downey, Jr.
Best supporting actress: Blunt
Best score.
Best cinematography.
Best costumes.

One of the 10 best. A masterpiece.; 7/21/23, 10:31 PM
Dave Begley said...: One of the many interesting things about “Oppenheimer” is how people were canceled, fired, harassed and prosecuted for their opinions. Some things never change.; 7/21/23, 10:43 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: I just heard a new hot take, and I have to share it because it's so damn plausible. Biden is a shoe-in to win Texas, Arizona, and every other red state with a high influx of illegal aliens. How will they do this, you might ask. The Biden admin sends out messages in advance of the 2024 election on the CBP One app urging all illegals to go to the polls and vote straight Dem on Election Day to guarantee that their amnesty will be protected. The fact that they won't be able to vote when they make it to the front is irrelevant, the fact that most R voters will not wait in a 2 mile long line to vote and that most D voters will mail it in is the strategy.; 7/21/23, 10:44 PM
NKP said...: In noting a report that much US military aid to Ukraine ends up in the wrong hands, gilbar asked:

Will the Pro-Ukrainian warhawks here, yell that:
a) THIS IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE?
b) The Daily Caller is NOTHING BUT RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA?
c) Sure! This is ALL TRUE, but IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! as long as our war with russia continues?

a) I believe this is almost certainly TRUE. However, this applies to more than military aid and Ukraine. Much assistance of all kinds that we send to friends, "friends" and foes alike gets skimmed, if not stolen completely from both donor and intended beneficiary. There's a good argument for donor "boots on the ground" to administer any kind of aid.

b) Don't know and don't care enough to establish an informed opinion about The Daily Caller.

c) If the US demonstrates that it doesn't give a crap about something, bad things have a history of becoming worse things. For example, American diplomats pretty much green-lighted mid-20th century unpleasantness on the Korean Peninsula that continues to this day and the invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq.

One might even dare to believe that Obama's non-response to earlier Russian territorial grabs in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine fueled the current aggression by Russia. IMO, Biden has done some dumb-ass things in response but not responding at all would be far more dumb-ass.; 7/21/23, 11:40 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: I've been in some beautiful cities during the last three weeks... Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna. I am struck by how beautiful, clean and safe all of them are. I am infuriated when I compare the condition of those places to the filth and degradation in so many American cities. America is a wealthy but utterly decadent society. It is astonishing that we allow - even encourage - such depravity to take over our great urban areas. It is not a lack of money but a lack of will that afflicts us. San Francisco could choose to be Vienna but has chosen to be Calcutta. What drives people to embrace such degeneracy?; 7/22/23, 12:27 AM
Mutaman said...: Morgan Stanley credits Bidenomics for ‘much stronger’ than expected GDP growth

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/21/bidenomics-spurred-stronger-gdp-growth-morgan-stanley.html; 7/22/23, 12:44 AM
آریان said...: Very lovely :-); 7/22/23, 2:42 AM
Mr. Forward said...: The surviving spouse will get both social security checks if they are Bidens.; 7/22/23, 3:42 AM
Humperdink said...: Thanks for the video Lem. Carl Sagan's warning of the "Combustible mixture of ignorance and power" is a rather salient point today. No greater example(s) today than country's sheep following the power hungry leaders re: Covid and AGW.; 7/22/23, 3:59 AM
tim maguire said...: I’m surprised at the answer given to political junkie. I thought for sure she’d get both—if it’s a pension, then his election of survivor benefits should have nothing to do with the payments she herself is entitled to. It must be holdover from the time many spouses didn’t work. Under these conditions, in most scenarios today, it would be foolish to take the survivor-benefit option.; 7/22/23, 5:49 AM
Dave Begley said...: Forgot.

Best director.
Best editing.

Napoleon will lose to the Brits again.; 7/22/23, 6:16 AM
tim in vermont said...: Turns out that when you blow up an ammo dump full of cluster bombs, the mushroom cloud sparkles.

"Obama's non-response to earlier Russian territorial grabs in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine..."

Well, since before that happened, the US fomented a coup as part of a plan to bring the 2nd largest army in Europe into the fold of the aggressive military bloc that is NATO, and put in place a government that is bent on ethnic cleansing of Ukraine, kicking off a civil war that continues to this day, it's really a question of who was responding to what? The US could have left Ukraine to govern itself democratically, which it was at the time of the coup, but the voters there came up with the wrong answer, so it was Obama's proconsul in Ukraine, Joe Biden, who "spent more time on the phone with Kiev than with my wife" who decided that a coup was in order to drive out the democratically elected leader and parliament.

Does anybody find it of interest that we *almost immediately* recognized a government in Kiev that came to power violently, overturning an election? Oh yeah, and a phone call was leaked where our State Department approved of the new, violently installed, leaders?

"The government that installed itself by violent coup has inalienable rights to the territories that were under control of the government that we overthrew, regardless of the fact that the citizens of Crimea and Donbas have steadfastly refused to go along with that coup for the nine years since it happened."

That's US policy. Try defending it without denying the truth of what I have said here, and it is all true. Basically we are trying to dictate the outcome of a civil war, and pretending that any outcome other than the victory of our chosen side is an affront to international law.; 7/22/23, 8:11 AM
Humperdink said...: Ukraine .... what an interesting country. Sure is in the news a lot. The Biden family receiving $millions in bribes from Ukeland. Biden insisting a Uke prosecutor be fired. Trump impeached for a Ukrainian phone call. Neo-cons shoveling $$millions in arms to the same. And let's not forget the biolab reports, denied of course. Not bad for a country of 40 +/- million.; 7/22/23, 8:36 AM
Rusty said...: Dr. Weevil.
Reason would advise us that given any corrupt system that those resources entrusted to that system will be available to the highest bidder. The black market. I think in Ukraine's case the country's political survival demand that all players accept the materiel assets go to where they are most needed. That is not to say that the money for those assets isn't being pilfered
"1. Journalists making a case usually put their best evidence first.."
Evidence shows that journalists put their political biases first.

"2. "A Ukrainian outlaw group illegally imported bullet-resistant vests .........."
I find it odd that bullet proof vests are illegal to import into a war torn country. You claim not one tax payer dollar has been spent as these were/are 'humanitarian' organizations. Who's to say that we are not funding those humanitarian organizations. Creating non profits are a great way to launder taxpayer money. (See Operation Push)
"3. "Members of a Ukrainian volunteer battalion stole 60 rifles and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, also likely for sale on the black market.""
Keep in mind this stuff was earmarked for the urgent need of front line troops it's problematic. Although 60 rifles aren't very many for a company size and 1000 thousand rounds won't go very far. Probably a couple of minutes in a platoon at the front. Most important, the story gives no idea of the overall scale of thefts and diversions, though examples #1 and #3 suggest it is quite small: many acres in the U.S. have more guns (note they were "rifles" not machine guns) "
To the guys fighting any theft is not permissible no matter how small. They need that stuff and they need it yesterday. (note journalists have a hard time with weapon nomenclature. The weapon of choice is the Kalashnikov 72 assault rifle, the AK 47 assault rifle or the M4.
All capable of fully automatic fire. IOW a machine gun.; 7/22/23, 9:21 AM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: Political Junkie:
There is no option for husband to take less so wife gets survivor benefit in SS. There is this option in some other govt pension plans.
The way I understand it works:
When husband (usually the higher earner/benefit) takes SS, wife can take her own, or based on husband, whatever is greater. Based on husband, it's 50% of FRA (Full Retirement Age) benefit. FRA is 67ish, depending on his date of birth, If husband delays benefits past FRA to maximize benefit, which is 8% more per year from FRA to age 70, he gets the higher amount but she still gets 50% of his FRA while he is alive. She can not start benefits based on his account until he starts- that scam called File and Suspend was halted a year or so before I could take advantage of it, so she is stuck with benefits on her record until he files, which decreased the advantage of his waiting.
After he dies, she gets whatever he was getting when he died (including the bump from delaying his benefits).
If for some reason her benefits exceed his, she keeps her higher benefit.
Keep in mind that for most folks, 85% of SS is taxable (+state tax possible).; 7/22/23, 10:28 AM
tim in vermont said...: Oh look, Kiev is using the cluster bomb shells we sent them on ethnic Russian civilians. Who would have thought that that might happen? Certainly not me.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1682785847006081024

Civil wars are the nastiest wars, and we should not be involved.; 7/22/23, 11:22 AM
Dr Weevil said...: Oh look, 'tim in vermont' is treating as fact what is actually a very unlikely supposition. His link includes "the sound of several small explosions after a large one". I don't believe that's how cluster bombs work: the cluster munitions all go off when they hit the ground, which is pretty much simultaneous. That should sound like a short machine-gun burst, or even a continuous roar.

What does have the effect described is bombing an ammunition dump. After the initial explosion, there are secondary explosions as the heat, flying fragments, and sparks from the first hit ignite the rest of the pile of ammunition. In a really large dump, this can go on for hours.

It does endanger any civilians in the area, but whose fault is that? (The Russians blew up a civilian fireworks warehouse in Odesa a couple of days ago: does 'tim' care whether anyone was hurt or killed?) The Ukrainians have been systematically eliminating ammunition dumps, which are legitimate military targets, and they've been doing it quite effectively: Russians at the front have been complaining for weeks about running out of small arms ammunition for themselves and lacking artillery support.

Are any of the Russian ammunition dumps in civilian neighborhoods? If so, that's a war crime: not bombing them, but placing them in civilian neighborhoods to start with. Finally, many if not most of the "ethnic Russian civilians" in occupied Ukraine are loyal Ukrainian citizens. Pretending that all Russian-speakers are all supporters of the murderous rapists occupying the area is a contemptible lie. It's like thinking all English-speakers in Ireland in 1916 suported the British: moronic.; 7/22/23, 1:28 PM
NKP said...: "Civil Wars" almost always involve foreign interests. Our American Revolution was a civil war of sorts. There were important foreign actors. Ditto our mid-19th century civil war. Pick a county. Pick a civil war.

Putin clearly wants the USSR back. F*** him.; 7/22/23, 2:28 PM
chickelit said...: tim in vermont said...
Oh look, Kiev is using the cluster bomb shells we sent them on ethnic Russian civilians. Who would have thought that that might happen? Certainly not me.

Weevil predicted that, because the Russians have the same bombs. And it's all OK with Weevil because somebody is squatting in a friend of a friend's house over there.

I had a Palestinian social studies teacher in high school back in the '70's. She fomented hatred of Israel because "Jews were in her family's house."; 7/22/23, 2:41 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Oh look, another lying turd. Kyiv (note spelling) is in fact attacking military targets with the same weapons that Russia has been using on military and civilian targets for nine years now. Kyiv is also attacking ammunition dumps and bridges while Russia bombs apartment houses, hospitals, and grain warehouses. One of their top propagandists was just saying yesterday that they need a new Holodomor, and others are talking about nuking the North Pole, killing every living creature in Kharkiv, and making Kyiv a gaping hole in the ground. They've given up talking about using nukes to make Britain sink into the city: someone seems to have told them that's not physically possible.

Of course, I never predicted that Kyiv would use cluster munitions on civilians, nor do I think Russian colonists squatting in colonized territory would justify that. Ukraine will certainly be justified in expelling every Russian who colonized occupied territory after the 2014 invasion, because moving into occupied territory is yet another war crime.; 7/22/23, 2:52 PM
Mutaman said...: Blogger Dave Begley said...

"One of the many interesting things about “Oppenheimer” is how people were canceled, fired, harassed and prosecuted for their opinions. Some things never change. "

McCarthy, HUAC, Nixon, Reagan: Those darn Liberals.; 7/22/23, 3:09 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Oops: "sink into the sea", not the "city".
As for the Palestinian social studies teacher, she only lost her house because her fellow Palestinians tried to obliterate Israel. They started it. Ukraine did not in fact start the war with Russia in 2014 or 2023: Russia did, and some of their leaders (Girkin, who fired the first shots, and Progozhin) have admitted it.; 7/22/23, 3:30 PM
Narr said...: I've seen the trailers and some reviews of the trailers, of both Opp and Nap. Also read some critique of the former release, and of course Dave Begley's critique cum prophecy.

Based on just that much (or little) evidence, I might go see Oppenheimer. The more I see of the other historepic the queasier I feel. Ridley Scott has made some classics, but his duds are just as numerous.

I thought Nolan's Dunkirk was execrable but will try not to pre-judge the new one.; 7/22/23, 4:42 PM
Narr said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/22/23, 4:42 PM