December 14, 2023

Sunrise — 7:15, 7:26.

IMG_4524

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Talk about whatever you want in the comments... and please consider using the Althouse Portal to Amazon to do your shopping. You'll be sending me a commission.

50 comments:

Howard said...

Jeff Bezos on Lex Fridman

lonejustice said...

Joel Pollak
@joelpollak
I have five questions for Trump. https://joelpollak.locals.com/upost/4997568/i-have-five-questions-about-donald-trump

1. Can you put country ahead of revenge?
2. Can you set aside personal differences?
3. Can you promise not to exceed presidential power?
4. Can you staff your administration?
5. Can you fulfill broken promises of Term One?

narciso said...

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-america-october-massacre

AZ Bob said...

No witnesses? You got something better than that. You got bank records that show $24 million running through 20 shell corporations before being distributed to various Biden family members. Has anyone been able to explain what services were provided?

Bank records are better than witnesses.

narciso said...


Lighter fare

https://youtu.be/fNcbtriRw5s?si=1RQzknPvuVJ5ib1t

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

YouTube: What is the Supreme Good? - Or, how come we were so easily dupped by the Health Authorities Covid response?

"Whatever we place above us, as a guiding star, as the thing that pulls us forward into its good, is indistinguishable from a god."

Reason why it feels like we are all twisted in impossible knots is because we have a bunch of gods competing for our supreme attention.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Reason XTwitter: ""Three major pharmacy chains admitted to encouraging staff to hand prescription records over to law enforcement without a warrant and without a legal review."

It's possible these kinds of intrusions into our civil rights are included in the Defense Authorization Act about to be signed into law.

God help us all.

BUMBLE BEE said...

In your face...
https://www.theblaze.com/news/transgender-volleyball-player-scholarship

Chicks with dicks lord over the females.

Original Mike said...

Blogger AZ Bob said..."You got bank records that show $24 million running through 20 shell corporations before being distributed to various Biden family members. Has anyone been able to explain what services were provided?" (emphasis added)

No, they haven't. Which is why there are 170 Suspicious Activities Reports. Those companies didn't DO anything.

Gusty Winds said...

Merry Christmas Everyone. Get ready for 2024. You're gonna want Jesus on your side.

n.n said...

Reason why it feels like we are all twisted in impossible knots is because we have a bunch of gods competing for our supreme attention.

God, gods, mortal gods, and experts. Religion is a philosophy of behavioral treatment and prescription. That said, judge a philosophy by the character of its principles, not principals. Faith is a logical domain of trust.

Gusty Winds said...

Blogger lonejustice said...
Joel Pollak
@joelpollak
I have five questions for Trump. https://joelpollak.locals.com/upost/4997568/i-have-five-questions-about-donald-trump

1. Can you put country ahead of revenge? Yeah. I already did. I'm the only guy who LOST a billion dollars after being President
2. Can you set aside personal differences? I already did that too. Had dinner with Mitt Romney. Put up with Paul Ryan's bullshit for a few years.
3. Can you promise not to exceed presidential power? I didn't before. Why would I now?
4. Can you staff your administration? Only with hot chicks. Like my lawyer in the bullshit NY case
5. Can you fulfill broken promises of Term One? Why don't you ask the RINOs? Pierre Delecto and Paul Ryan will be out of Washinton. John McCain is dead. But, how do I fullfil those promises considering questions 1 through 3?.

Jupiter said...

The concept of "perversion" presupposes a concept of purpose. To pervert a thing is to turn it to a purpose other than its proper purpose. It is arguable -- at least -- whether sex has a proper purpose, and therefore, whether there can be sexual perversion. But there isn't any question that the criminal justice system was, in large part, designed, and therefore purposive. And Fani Willis, Leticia James, and Jack Smith are judicial perverts.

Dave Begley said...

Saw Vivek again tonight. Same stump speech, but he keeps it fresh.

Absolutely remarkable guy.

I had previously asked him to consider as a campaign issue the idea of making student loans dischargable in BK. Tonight he said he and the staff were kicking it around. So if he does start talking about this issue in his campaign, you’ll know who suggested the idea.

Dave Begley said...

Lonejustice.

Vivek would lay off half of the Deep State on Day One. If your SS number ends in an odd number, you’re gone.

At the top of the remaining agencies would be a triad: an outsider, a constitutional law scholar and a person from government.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Via XTwitter: George Papadopoulos (Remember him?)

"Ex-FBI Counterintelligence Chief, and Peter Strzok’s boss, Charles McGonigal, who was in charge of my “case” during the Russia investigation scam, was just sentenced to 4+ years for colluding with Russian oligarchs.

Fined $40,000, his actions mark a startling breach of U.S. sanctions and trust.

You cannot make this up."

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

XTwitter Video Supercut: Trump is going to shoot Melania? Did I hear that right?

What happened to Trump's court cases pending all over the country?

Somebody doesn't trust the campaign already in effect against Orange hair man.

gadfly said...

AZ Bob said...
No witnesses? You got something better than that. You got bank records that show $24 million running through 20 shell corporations before being distributed to various Biden family members. Has anyone been able to explain what services were provided?

Bank records are better than witnesses.


Read all about it in today's news, Jamie Comer, (who most assuredly uses an LLC for nefarious reasons himself) knows that the bank records do not show 24 million dollars to the Bidens - only private citizen Hunter Biden received payments which amounted to $7.5 million.

BTW, Donald Trump uses about 500 LLC shell companies in the conduct of his business and TFG paid taxes on $16M of income originating in China. But nobody is investigating Trump's deals with foreign operators.

wildswan said...

I'm reading a history of Provencal poetry. It's one of those OCR books that they have on Kindle - an old book, $150 dollars at Abe Books but $8.95 on Kindle. 'Cept it isn't proof read and OCR makes mistakes. That's how you pay. I just correct the mistakes as I go and that's my payback to the internet; I've done it many times. But this book has a different feel to its mistakes and I think it was proof read by AI. Ordinarily the mistakes are of the nature of reading "u" as "n" or "rn" as "m" or "s" as "f". This one has "Nostril Dame" as the brother of Nostradamus. And it has King Edible III with his daughter Margaret de Tureen living in Julienne. (Ebles, Turenne, Guinne). It lists Mediterranean seacoast cities - Monaco, Antibes, Olivia, Dennis. (Olbi, Denia). They were part of Magma Graeca. The southern Provencal poets were Troubadours but in the north of France they were called Trousers. The Trousers influenced the Minnie-singers. And so it goes.

pacwest said...

1. Can you put country ahead of revenge?
Why do you think Hillary is not in jail? Nonetheless do you think it is healthy for the Republic to allow elected officials to enrich themselves at the expense of the country?

2. Can you set aside personal differences?
I'm not afraid to fight fire with fire.


3. Can you promise not to exceed presidential power?
Uh..What Presidential Powers did I exceed last time? I worked within the framework of the Presidency and obeyed the rulings of the courts. Often to the detriment of the country. The US is not set up as an autocracy, despite Congress's inaction making it seem that way. I did not function as an autocrat during my first term nor will I in my second.

4. Can you staff your administration?
It will be hard to do given hostile civil service personnel at present, but I have several competent people endorsing me and expect more once I've get the nomination. I also have very competent around me that will be able to fulfil some of those roles.

5. Can you fulfill broken promises of Term One?
I fulfilled several "promises". Lowering energy costs, lowering taxes on the middle and lower classes (one of the few times Congess actually did it's job), and killing regulations which allowed strong growth in the economy and all the benefits that provides, including increased revenue.
I brought an end to several conflicts, helped avoid others, got the US out of some insane agreements, quelled threats against the US, cut corporate tax rates. I even threw in some bonuses like beginning to ease hostilities with North Korea after decades, put the MidEast on a viable path to peace, and was preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan after two years of no American casualties in a manner that would not have been an embarrassment to the US.
It should be easy to finish the wall this term given even minimum support. I did get about 1/5 of it done while I didnt get Congressional support, had to set up a workaround, go through the startup and design phase, and an investigation and two impeachments. Given some support I should be able to institute merit standards for immigration to this country as well as keeping levels of illegal crossings even lower than my last term. Congress should be the ones to come up with viable and clear legislation regarding changes in immigration law as stated in the Constitution. I tried that first but got nowhere. I was on pace to finish the wall in less than 2 terms while also keeping illegal immigration low and deporting criminal elements. So, yes, if you consider the wall not being fully built in one term a "broken promise" I will be easily able to finish that and more in my second term.
I was on the path to reverse decades of trade policy with China before they unleashed a deadly man made virus onto the world by sending 300,000 possibly infected abroad well after they knew what the consequences of that would be. (I admit to my mistake of not going with my first stated instinct to "work through this while continuing our daily lives". In my defence it would have been impossible to govern effectively with one million American deaths attributed to me because I went against a well established framework designed to protect the populace in just such an event.)
While not completely successful in bringing NATO into full compliance of the agreed framework of the treaty I did make inroads after 70 years of non-compliance.

I don't remember promising World Peace and unicorn farts for everyone. But give me a few months. I'm on it joelly polly, you stupid poopoo.

pacwest said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
wendybar said...

lonejustice said...
Joel Pollak
@joelpollak
I have five questions for Trump. https://joelpollak.locals.com/upost/4997568/i-have-five-questions-about-donald-trump

1. Can you put country ahead of revenge?
2. Can you set aside personal differences?
3. Can you promise not to exceed presidential power?
4. Can you staff your administration?
5. Can you fulfill broken promises of Term One?

12/14/23, 5:58 PM

Why don't you ask the Biden administration first. They have broken most of those on day one.

wendybar said...

Why does Congress hate America??

Randy Weber
@TXRandy14
·
Follow
The NDAA is a BAD deal. Here is what they won't tell you...

🚨Continues to fund Biden's woke initiative in the military, such as drag shows.

🚨Allows taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries.

🚨Does nothing to end the radical climate agenda.

🚨Reauthorizes the flawed FISA.
9:31 AM · Dec 14, 2023

"But a more controversial aspect of the legislation is the inclusion of a provision that effectively prevents any U.S. President from independently pulling the country out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — a direct contradiction to former President Donald Trump’s vision for American foreign policy."


Robby Starbuck
@robbystarbuck

Congrats everyone, your Republican House majority just voted for:

• More warrantless spying on Americans
• More taxpayer funded abortion trips
• More taxpayer funded sex changes
• More $$$ for Ukraine

Total betrayal. With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats? Lunacy.


And yet, people wonder why Trump is so popular, when he seems to be the ONLY one working for us...you know, they way it is supposed to work.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/congress-enacts-legislation-blocking-trump-future-presidents-exiting/

wendybar said...


Tarik Johnson
@elleonCEOTK
Vivek Ramaswamy got a lot right in this interview. I’ve been saying publicly for a year that J6 was not an insurrection but not many people would listen. Ironically so, no one would benefit more than I if J6 was an insurrection as I (Tarik Johnson) was the Commander that ordered and led the evacuations of the Senate and the House during the J6 breach after begging former Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman for permission to do so as she sat comfortably in the Commander Center watching the events unfold on CCTV while Chief Steven A Sund was obtaining National Guard approval and getting assistance from local law enforcement agencies.

Pittman flat out ignored me so I was forced to forge ahead with the evacuations without obtaining approval from her. Three days later I decided to call Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont to report Pittman’s malfeasance and approximately an hour after I got off the phone with the senator I was contacted by the USCP internal affairs section and informed I was suspended. The suspension lasted for 17 months and I was under a USCP gag order not to speak about the events of January 6, 2021 to the media until I separated from the Department. I was also required to remain in my house Monday through Friday from the hours of 8am to 4pm and unable to step off my property without notifying the USCP for fear of being disciplined up to and including termination during those 17 months. These are SOME of many facts USCP Chief J Thomas Manger (who is arguably the most corrupt politician in the country) was brought in to cover-up.

If presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy would like more FACTS to disrupt the insurrection narrative, I will inbox his designated representative my personal phone number. God bless our country now and in 2024.

Tarik K Johnson
Former Lieutenant US Capitol Police

Vivek Ramaswamy
@VivekGRamaswamy

Too bad for CNN, we’ll take the TRUTH on Jan. 6 mainstream. There is clear evidence that there was at the very least entrapment of peaceful protestors, similar to the fake Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot & countless other cases. The FBI won’t admit how many undercover officers were in the field on Jan 6, Capitol police on one hand fired rubber bullets & explosives into a peaceful crowd who they then willingly later allowed to enter the Capitol. That doesn’t add up & the actual evidence turns the prior narrative upside down: if the deep state is willing to manufacture an “insurrection” to take down its political opponents, they can do anything. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Jaq said...

Here is a guy proposing genocide of ethnic Russian Ukrainians on US funded Ukrainian national TV

Butkevich said that Donbass was "severely overpopulated with people nobody has any use for" and that out of 4 million inhabitants in Donetask oblast, "at least 1.5 million of them are superfluous"

Butkevich said "Donbass must be exploited as a resource". He did not claim to have a final solution ("quick solution recipe"), but said "the most important thing that must be done- no matter how cruel it may sound – there is a certain category of people that MUST BE EXTERMINATED"

These are our "allies" in Ukraine.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Nudes in paintings for Muslims?

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20231213-tensions-simmer-in-french-schools-as-12-year-old-threatens-teacher-with-knife

Not on your life

pacwest said...

Vivek would lay off half of the Deep State on Day One. If your SS number ends in an odd number, you’re gone.

How would he achieve that given present civil service employee protections? And that randomization would still leave the same percentage of corrupt employees in government agencies. Thinning the herd is good, but you need to clean out the stables too.

Jersey Fled said...

“BTW, Donald Trump uses about 500 LLC shell companies in the conduct of his business and TFG paid taxes on $16M of income originating in China. But nobody is investigating Trump's deals with foreign operators.”

By which Gadfly proves once again that he has no idea how commercial real estate investments work.

Old and slow said...

Blogger gadfly said...

"BTW, Donald Trump uses about 500 LLC shell companies in the conduct of his business and TFG paid taxes on $16M of income originating in China. But nobody is investigating Trump's deals with foreign operators."

I'm sure I won't be the only one to make this point, but Trump runs many actual businesses. He sells many identifiable products and services. Hunter Biden has access to his father, and nothing else of value to trade. He is a drug addled loser who would be laughed out the door of any legitimate business were it not for his powerful father. So just what is it he is selling for millions of dollars. You know perfectly well what is for sale.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The Biden Crime Family narrative has now moved to "everyone influence peddles and cheats on their taxes." Next step: Turn the other cheek.

Jersey Fled said...

Uh oh

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/12/11/who_is_sara_biden_joes_in-law_emerges_as_central_figure_in_foreign_cash_deals_996942.html

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Blogger pacwest said...
Vivek would lay off half of the Deep State on Day One. If your SS number ends in an odd number, you’re gone.

How would he achieve that given present civil service employee protections? And that randomization would still leave the same percentage of corrupt employees in government agencies. Thinning the herd is good, but you need to clean out the stables too.

12/15/23, 7:09 AM

Individual civil service employees have protection. Those protections don't exist for mass layoffs, reduction in force situations where the jobs just disappeared. The President has authority to reorganize the bureaucracy.

After the RIF, the unemployment agencies will be quite busy for awhile.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Oxymoron: Progressive Paradise. Progressives don't believe in paradise. Everything they do is in service of their goal of creating a hell on Earth.

The Crack Emcee said...

'The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more "benevolent," more "philanthropic," a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic "aid," and other tempting gifts, that they dangle,...'

Malcolm X (1964) who wasn't alive to hear the post-Oct 7 Israelis say they were mistaken to think the Palestinians wanted money,...

The Crack Emcee said...

'The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the "last days of this world" their own God would raise them up a "messiah" who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own "divine" government in this newly-gained land, this "divine" government would enable them to "rule all other nations with a rod of iron."'

- Malcolm, again, seeing Israel's fascism - and desire for der Lebensraum - clearly on display (1964)

wendybar said...


WOW!!!


Christopher C. Cuomo
@ChrisCuomo
Today I was among the journalists who have attended a private screening of the raw footage of October 7th and I want to express to you what I saw since it’s not been made public. It’s been a very heavy day. A decision was made that Jews are less than human, and treated that way in words and deeds..I now know that’s exactly the message Hamas sent on purpose — at scale. I wasn’t aware of that before. I saw bodies were burned but I did not understand or appreciate how intentional the effort was - they did it methodically, you hear it in the voices, the commands the ease, the excitement of finding and mutilating victims.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1735473602806399155

narciso said...

Humor toward the original enslavers who didnt abolish slavery till 1932 (checks noted)

wendybar said...

In November 2023 Rep. Higgins confronted Chris Wray again about the FBI’s confidential human sources that were brought to the January 6, 2021 protests. But this time Clay Higgins brought a photo of the government assets boarding buses before the rally on January 6 at Union Station.
Rep. Higgins: These two busses in the middle here, they were the first to arrive at Union Station on January 6, at 5:00 AM. I have all this evidence. I’m showing you the tip of the iceberg.

Lara Logan: Your point really was that there were unmarked vehicles full of individuals that have not been explained. Is that right?

Lara Logan: And they were all men?

Clay Higgins: They were all men, in all the Trump regalia. These were men were in really good shape. They made comments like, wow, that’s a real serious Trump supporters, these guys. And they said they all had elbow pads and knee pads, and they appeared like they had common equipment, but they were not in uniform, but they behaved in a uniform manner.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1735328799288348931

pacwest said...

Ramaswamy's RFI would meet a lot of resistance, as would Trump’s Schedule F of course.

One among many of the problems with RIF, assuming it gets by SCOTUS, is the agencies get to decide who gets fired during a RIF which would intensify the bias even more than a randomized firing. Not that reducing the beauracacy isn't a good thing, but doing it in a random fashion doesn't eliminate bias which is absolutely necessary. Schedule F does attack that problem in part although estimates are it would only remove 20% of the deadwood. If Ramaswamy can reduce the work force and eliminate the bias by using department heads I'm all for it. I doubt he'll be able to make it happen by snapping his fingers though.
------
I do love that the that the right leaning on this blog discuss actual problems and policy. Contrasted to the left leaning who seem to be more interested in emotional hyperbole and innuendo. I learn a lot. Thx.

AZ Bob said...

"...(O)nly private citizen Hunter Biden received payments which amounted to $7.5 million."

Let's go with that. Can anyone tell me what services the crack-smoking, stripper-knocker-upper Hunter Biden provided for $7.5 million to our geo-political foes?

wendybar said...

Collin Rugg
@CollinRugg
JUST IN: Former FBI official Charles McGonigal, who helped investigate Trump for 'colluding' with Russia, has been sentenced to four years in prison for colluding with Russia.

Read that again.

McGonigal accepted over $17,000 from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska who he supplied information to.

Deripaska is a close associate of Vladimir Putin and has a net worth of about $3 billion.

"Charles McGonigal violated the trust his country placed in him by using his high-level position at the FBI to prepare for his future in business," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

"Once he left public service, he jeopardized our national security by providing services to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian tycoon who acts as Vladimir Putin’s agent."

They always accuse you of what they are doing...

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Breaking news: The FBI has updated its DIE acronym to LGBTQ+ to something else. The republic is saved!

Jamie said...

For annoying reasons of the plot, yesterday I had to back up and factory-reset my phone - and now it appears to be displaying only the Althouseblog web version rather than the mobile version, despite "m=1" appearing at the end of the URL. In vain have I tried to adjust font size so I can read the blog comfortably - the font size never changes. (And even if it did, I reckon it wouldn't help because the screen width is set for a computer rather than a phone.)

Any suggestions? Thank you in advance for whatever you've got!

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

I turn my phone to landscape mode to read althouseblog. Portrait is too small.

Dr Weevil said...

'tim in vermont' (5.28am) quotes a guy named Bogdan Butkevich allegedly saying horrible genocidal things on Ukrainian TV. He does not mention that he said them in April 2014 and seems not to have been in the news since, other than for claiming a bit of battlefield news in March 2022 that was entirely false. B.B. is so obscure that Wikipedia does not include him in their list of five notable people named Butkevich. It looks like he made a complete ass of himself on Ukrainian TV almost ten years ago and hasn't been allowed on air again.

Then again, the Wikipedia article 'Russian information war against Ukraine' says under July-August 2014: "In late July-early August 2014, a video of Bohdan Butkevich of Tyzhden was widely publicized, allegedly calling for the killing of 1.5 million Donbas residents. The video was a rough snippet which completely distorted the meaning of what he said."

Even if he did say something awful, when 'tim in vermont' writes "These are our 'allies' in Ukraine", his present tense is extremely misleading. And of course evil clowns get on the air all the time in the U.S. I would be happy if the Joneses (Alex and N. Hannah) were to slip into an obscurity as deep as the one Bogdan Butkevich was in before someone decided to use him as propaganda.

farmgirl said...

Jamie- I know so little about phones even though it’s my only source for internet info.
Turning mine sideways makes everything bigger.
(Please let me know if that’s what Mike meant w/landscape mode?)

Yes, I’m a technodunce.

Lilly, a dog said...

Weevil,
The horse is dead. You can stop beating it.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Yes, turning it sideways is landscape mode. The screen's wider so the letters are bigger.

Dr Weevil said...

Lilly, a dog (8:48pm):
If you want me to stop correcting the stupid and dishonest arguments of 'tim in vermont', you need to convince him to stop making them.

Jamie said...

Yeah, sadly landscape doesn't improve things enough.

Before I had to reset my phone, there was a difference between the way the mobile site - the one that displays automatically on mobile phones - and the website displayed. The mobile site automatically caused the text to fill the phone screen width (whether in portrait or landscape orientation) but made all the font larger for better t viewing on a phone. The website automatically filled PART of the screen width of a COMPUTER, with the rest of the screen width taken up by the sidebar (where Archives and such are shown on a computer screen).

If you habitually read Althouse on a phone, you might notice that some commenters, when quoting, follow the quoted section with dashes or some other punctuation mark - and these dashes, let's say, go on for like just short of three lines - on a PHONE screen. They're undoubtedly a single, full-screen-width line when viewed on a COMPUTER screen.

Web coders create two (or more?) versions of sites - one designed to be displayed on a computer screen, one designed to be displayed on a phone screen. The site detects the type of device being used and automatically loads the correct version. (The "m=1" that I referred to is a common way of telling the site to load its mobile version. That's why it's so weird that I'm seeing the web version.) Sometimes you come across an old site (or a DIY site coded by an amateur, which would include me - I've done some web coding but only for computer screens, not for phones or tablets) where the view on a phone is teeny because there's no mobile version available.

That's what Althouse is looking like to me now, no matter what I've tried!

I will now clear my cache, making my phone forget where it's been, and see if I can cause it to recognize the mobile version - this just occurred to me.

And that is the bitter end of my knowledge!