December 20, 2023

Views of Austin.

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Talk about whatever you want in the comments.

75 comments:

Big Mike said...

I guess this is the wrong time of year to see the bats fly out from under the Congress Street bridge. It’s quite the sight.

CapitalistRoader said...

It don't matter who's in Austin, Bob Wills is still the king
Waylon Jennings (1975)

Saint Croix said...

Never been to Austin, but I love Richard Linklater's films about his city. Slacker is a lot of fun and Waking Life is amazing.

Saint Croix said...

I love these photographs, by the way! Particularly the top two. Visually arresting and sweet compositions.

Leland said...

Good luck with the traffic.

Narr said...

I wondered at first if this was from one of the Prof's sons; now I wonder if someone else is seeking warmer climes . . .

I've only ever visited Austin for a few days, or a week on business. It certainly has its good features, but like Atlanta it's just too damn sprawling for my tastes.

Clyde said...

Clyde's Top 15 Favorite "New" Songs of 2023 - #11 - "Lonely Robot" - Lonely Robot - Please Come Home (2015)

Lonely Robot is a progressive rock album trilogy solo project by Irish musician John Mitchell. All three are theme albums about loneliness and isolation. For the best experience, I highly recommend that you listen to the entire album.

I found out later that Mitchell had played on the 2014 Gandalf's Fist album A Forest of Fey. You will hear more of Gandalf's Fist in the near future.

Lonely Robot - Lonely Robot

Clyde said...

Clyde's Top 15 Favorite "New" Songs of 2023 - Honorable Mentions (Part 5 of 5) - "From A Window" - Apple Jam - Off the Beatle Track (2009)

Apple Jam is a Beatles tribute band from Seattle, with a twist: Rather than recording songs that the Beatles made into hits, they recorded albums of songs that the Beatles wrote but never released on records themselves. Many of these songs were hits in the U.K. for Merseybeat groups like Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, or Peter and Gordon.

Off the Beatle Track is the next best thing to finding a lost Beatles album from the 1963-65 period, because Apple Jam has the Beatles' sound down pat. It features 15 songs, all but one penned by Lennon-McCartney ("You Know What to Do" was written by George Harrison), and while not all of them are great songs, these versions are almost all superior to the versions done by the artists who actually recorded the songs in the early-to-mid 1960s. I loved the album, and if you like the Beatles at all, you should give it a listen.

Apple Jam - From A Window

gilbar said...

what ever happened, to that war in the Ukraine?
And It's Gone: "War In Ukraine" Quietly Scrubbed From WaPo Masthead

WSJ: Ukraine’s Front-Line Troops Are Getting Older:
Corruption and fear are hindering effort to rebuild army

an avuncular rifleman recalled how he was going for a haircut one day when he was press-ganged into joining the Ukrainian army.

Three recruitment officials accosted the stocky, gray-haired 47-year-old outside the barber shop in his small hometown, ordered him to get in a car and detained him for two days in a dark room at the local draft center until he had signed up..
The most highly motivated fighters volunteered early. Those who haven’t been killed or wounded often say they are exhausted. Ukraine now relies on the draft—and sometimes on rounding up men—to replenish the ranks. Meanwhile, Russia can draw on a much larger population to replace its own heavy losses..
A combination of corruption, exemptions and political caution has protected much of Ukraine’s urban middle class against having to fight in the cold and muddy trenches. On the long front line, a disproportionate share of draftees are middle-aged men like Dubok. Often they are from villages and small towns and were too poor to buy their way out..
Finding willing recruits for the infantry is proving especially difficult in the current phase of attritional warfare. The West’s fading support for Ukraine is darkening the country’s mood, and making front-line combat even more daunting.
An unknown number of Ukrainians have left the country to avoid the draft, paying bribes so they can cross the border. Ukraine’s wartime laws ban most men age 18 to 60 from traveling abroad. Exceptions include men who are medically unfit to serve,
Earlier this year, a 30-year-old architect from Odesa paid a bribe of about $7,600, more than half of his savings, to a doctor for a medical certificate exempting him from the draft. He then packed his possessions into his car and drove across the border into Moldova. “I’m supportive of Ukraine. It’s a great country, with great people,” he said. “But I don’t want to die.”

Joe Smith said...

Anyone who utters the word 'Democracy' and is not being ironic or humorous deserves to be shot.

If it's prefaced with 'Our' they should be drawn and quartered after the execution.

Rusty said...

Cormorants all lined up and ready to go.

Rusty said...

Nuestra Senora de Barbecoa

Clyde said...

The birds look like cormorants.

Kakistocracy said...

The federal courts led by the Supreme Court are going to establish two fundamental ground rules for 2024:

1. Political issues and electoral races are going to be decided by voters in free and fair elections.

2. Legal issues including criminal indictments and civil complaints are going to go to trial and be decided by juries.

Appeals that move candidates towards ballots and elections before voters will be upheld. Appeals that move defendants and cases towards juries will be upheld.

The people are going to decide the big issues in 2024. Anything else will lack legitimacy.

William50 said...

Interesting if true...

Jack Smith’s Special Counsel Appointment Is Unconstitutional, Former Attorney General Tells Supreme Court

Iman said...

Mmmmm… Texas BBQ!

chickelit said...

I visited downtown Madison yesterday for the first time in quite a while. I’ve known it for a very long time-since childhood in the mid 1960s. I grew up in Middleton and went the UW the early 80s. I worked at a small shop in State St. during college and I got to know some of the street people—Art Nesson for example. He died out on the street one winter night and I retrieved his bucket and squeegee the next morning. I was reminded of that sad event when I saw many homeless huddled in blankets and sleeping bags on State and off Lake St. Most of the summer street people would go to Austin in the winter. But that was then. Downtown Madison seemed dingier than I remember. It reminded of Haight-Ashbury from 30 years ago when I got to spend time there. Sad.

Tofu King said...

If you are a libertarian, stop supporting the Cato Institute. What rubbish they published today. Sad.

Vonnegan said...

If you're actually here in person, welcome to Texas, Profesora!

Drago said...

"Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said he will not follow fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s lead and voluntarily withdraw his name from the ballot in Colorado in protest of former President Donald Trump’s name being taken off the ballot."

LOL

Precisely as predicted.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

I don’t know if this is true or not because I found it in XTwitter so I take it with a grain of salt.

“FLASHBACK: 10 Democrat-controlled states (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MI, NC, SC, TN, & TX) refused to put Abraham Lincoln on their presidential ballots. Despite this Lincoln won the election. Soon after the civil war began.
h/t @Perpetualmania”

Proverbs 26:11 King James Version (KJV)
“As a dog returneth to his vomit, So a fool returneth to his folly.”

Mutaman said...

Now Texas has gotten a bad reputation
Because of what happened in Dallas and Waco
And our corporations, well they are corrupt
And the politicians are swindlers and loco
But when it comes to music, my friend
I believe these words are as true as St. John the Revelator's
Our Mr. Vaughan was the best that there ever was
And no band was cooler than The 13th Floor Elevators

[Chorus]
So screw you, we're from Texas
Screw you, we're from Texas
Screw you, we're from Texas
We're from Texas, screw you

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Are all the never-Trump conservatives ok with the Colorado ruling?

Is there no one? I set out looking and have not found anybody on the record so far.

The force, otherwise known as Trump derangement, is really strong right now. I would say it’s never been stronger. So strong that we shouldn’t be surprised if a poll shows THE only question left, phrased in such a way as not to offend the sensibilities of people who would ask for the former president to be epsteined… in order to save our democracy… of course.

chickelit said...

The Ukrainian government made a huge mistake by allying itself with the corrupt money-grubbing Bidens and Dems in general.
God help them.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

A couple of videos with a common theme.

Poetry

in motion

Save yourselves while there’s still time? Or something.

Dave Begley said...

Last time I was in Austin, I was shocked by the number of homeless in downtown and by the federal courthouse. This was 4-5 years ago.

I had a super great breakfast at the Driscoll Hotel. And the Texas Capitol building is cool.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

The Colorado… experiment, it’s a trial balloon in the hopes of becoming a domino effect that ends up fulfilling what a sole court in one state can’t do by themselves. There are other states looking into copying Colorado. But I digress.

The experiment in Colorado shows what the capture of our institutions looks like in such a way that it cannot be made to appear something other than what it is. The three college presidents was a peak into that rarified world. A world that has not emerged via a cognizable organic process, but by force.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

That sign should read “La Barbacoa”. “La Barbecue” is a compromise.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Let’s say the Colorado experiment fails. What could they think of next?

That’s what led me to think the unthinkable.

n.n said...

Anyone who utters the word 'Democracy' and is not being ironic or humorous deserves to be shot.

There's a reason why America was founded as a representative constitutional republic, rather than a democracy: the democratic/dictatorial duality.

gadfly said...

I see where Dave Williams, the Chairman of the Colorado GOP, has said that if Trump isn’t on the ballot, the party would ask the state to cancel the Republican presidential primary. Instead, Republican voters would caucus to select delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next year.

“I’m not going to let these sons of bitches dictate who we’re going to nominate,” Williams said.

The only problem, Dave, is that the Colorado Supremes ruled "that President Donald J. Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Simply put, his name will not appear on the Presidential ballot in Colorado next November and write-in votes will not be counted. No votes, no electoral representation.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

"Our democracy" is used by Democrats in the sense as "La cosa nostra" when used by the Mafia.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

My favorite Beatles song that never got recorded: "I Fancy My Chances With You."

wendybar said...

Jaimee Michell
@thegaywhostrayd

I regret to inform you that the degenerate libs are now comparing having sex in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room to Anne Frank’s plight hiding from Nazis. No, it isn’t satire. I had to make sure myself.

https://afru.com/senate-hearing-room-love-incident/

wendybar said...

Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_

NEW: A Colombian woman who crossed illegally into El Paso, TX & was released into the U.S. was given an ICE check in date in NYC in 2031. Her immigration attorney, @mkolken, tells me it’s one of the most shocking things he’s seen in his nearly 30 years of immigration law. (1/2).

Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_

2/2) Kolken tells me his client is a legitimate asylum seeker with what he feels is an air tight case, but because the system is so backlogged with illegitimate asylum claims, he’s not sure they’ll ever get a chance to argue it in court with her next check in 8 years into the future.
“It made me realize the Biden administration is basically providing backdoor amnesty for anyone who wants to show up at the border,” he said.
1:10 PM · Dec 20, 2023

wendybar said...

He probably already handed it over. When you owe China....you pay back generously...

https://nypost.com/2023/12/20/news/xi-told-biden-he-plans-to-take-taiwan-peacefully-if-possible/

wendybar said...

"Now that President Trump has been taken off the ballot by a nest of rabid Democrats in Colorado, Joe Biden can take a bow for bringing the U.S. squarely into the third world.

So much for American exceptionalism. We're as crappy as the worst of them out there in places where people don't migrate."

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/12/so_is_biden_going_to_lecture_tinpot_dictatorships_about_not_imprisoning_their_opponents_now_that_trump_is_off_the_colorado_ballot.html

wendybar said...

The only ones who SHOULD be apologizing, are the Regressive, Progressive nuts, and their merry dividers of America...

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/12/do_not_apologize.html

farmgirl said...

Am I the only one who thinks that’s neon blasphemy- or is that a woke trait?
Maybe just never had bbq…

wendybar said...

An “insurrectionist” president does not address unarmed protestors with qualifiers like, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

"But if one really wishes to imagine genuine “insurrectionary “and actionable language, then recall current Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2020 de facto encouragement to the rioters,

"But they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop, and this is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop, and everyone beware, because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after Election Day. Everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they’re not going to let up — and they should not. And we should not.""

https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/21/will-partisan-lawfare-destroy-trump/

BUMBLE BEE said...

Paul Rodgers and Queen live in Ukraine 2008.
Outstanding concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGCTQTZXGXs

Wonder how many of the crowd are still alive.
They probably spoke Russian.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Thinking of moving?...

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/new-regulations-approved-for-turning-wastewater-to-drinking-water-heres-what-we-know/

Mr. Forward said...

gadfly said...
"The only problem, Dave, is that the Colorado Supremes ruled "that President Donald J. Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Simply put, his name will not appear on the Presidential ballot in Colorado next November..."

gadfly, try to keep up.

"The court put its decision on hold until Jan. 4 to allow for further appeals. It also said that if the matter is pursued before the U.S. Supreme Court before that date, the pause will remain in effect during that time and Colorado will be required to include Trump’s name on the primary ballot pending action by the Supreme Court.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, bashed the ruling and signaled that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was forthcoming."

“We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits,” he added.
NBC

The Crack Emcee said...

SCIENCE: Atheists are nicer to Christians compared to the other way around if their religious identity is known, study claims

Ann, are you two in Austin? If so, I've got a dinner restaurant for you. Owned by someone I know: Justine’s Brasserie

Mr. Forward said...

"The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court may have offered a dramatic moment of accountability that some Trump critics are craving, but it also is likely to be a temporary one. And, in the end, it may make it more likely the former president returns to power, not less."
BBC

"Colorado hands Trump a political gift by barring him from the ballot
His Republican rivals acknowledge the court ruling is likely to help him in the GOP primary, and Democrats say the same."
NBC

The Crack Emcee said...

The prediction that antisemitic countries would be Israel's biggest supporters definitely came true.

Humperdink said...

Trump will not be president. The Commie-Pinkos will stop at nothing to make that an eventuality. Repeat, nothing. Colorado being the latest off the charts act. This was an egregious act but it will get worse. There are many arrows left in the Pinko quiver.

And yet there are those who still believe 2020 election was fair and above board. Laughable.

Iman said...

‘fly… snicker…

Ann Althouse said...

"Am I the only one who thinks that’s neon blasphemy- or is that a woke trait?"

Notice the meat cleaver in her hand.

Until I looked closely at that sign, I was under the impression that it was a Native American in a feather headdress.

The Crack Emcee said...

"If you look at where American foreign policy is now concentrated, from Pakistan to Palestine and so on, it's an inheritance of the British empire."

- Christopher Hitchens, in conversation with William F. Buckley

lonejustice said...

Interesting analysis over at PJ Media.

What if they've rigged the game so that Trump can't win?

https://pjmedia.com/paula-bolyard/2023/12/20/steve-deace-has-a-dire-warning-for-republicans-n4924899

gadfly said...

Mr. Forward said...
gadfly said...
"The only problem, Dave, is that the Colorado Supremes ruled "that President Donald J. Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Simply put, his name will not appear on the Presidential ballot in Colorado next November..."

gadfly, try to keep up.


Mr. FWD:

My quote was from the official court ruling here.
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/9927fc28f3500b61/96292b55-full.pdf

While there is authority holding that Section Three is not self-enforcing in an area under federal jurisdiction (for instance, in the District of Columbia), states often enforced Section Three on their own during Reconstruction and can do so again. The Supreme Court will be asked to hear the Colorado ruling on Trump’s eligibility and then other states will fall in line. Legal experts believe the Fourteenth Amendment is self-enforcing by the states and our conservative SCOTUS justices will likely see it that way.

Dave Begley said...

Our Lady of Barbecue
Pray for us.

Barry Dauphin said...

Austin! Does that mean AA is going to be on the Joe Rogan podcast?

Temujin said...

Are you and Meade considering a move to the South? Looking for a town with a 'Madison mind-set' and auditioning Austin?

Used to do work in Austin a few years ago, back when I used to do work, period. I have not seen it since it went full-progressive. But...I remember it as a great town, good food, good fun, and a lot of techies trying to take it over.

Never made it to Franklin Barbecue. It remains one of those places I should have made time to get to.

mikee said...

And here I thought that a conviction after a trial with due process was necessary to be convicted of a crime in this country. Did I miss that part of the Colorado proceedings? Did Trump get indicted and fail to appear in court? Live and learn!

Ann Althouse said...

"Are you and Meade considering a move to the South? Looking for a town with a 'Madison mind-set' and auditioning Austin?"

No. Seeing family. Austin is way too hot in the summer and it's getting so crowded and urban. A lot less charm than 20 years ago. And that nice little cottage costs well over a million dollars.

Ann Althouse said...

Austin is the 10th most populous city in America. Bigger than many of the places you think of as major cities, such as Boston, Denver, and Washington DC.

Ann Althouse said...

When I first moved to Madison -- in 1984 -- Madison and Austin were about the same.

Madison is the 82nd most populous city, in case you're wondering.

Rusty said...

Ann Althouse said...
"Am I the only one who thinks that’s neon blasphemy- or is that a woke trait?"

"Notice the meat cleaver in her hand.

Until I looked closely at that sign, I was under the impression that it was a Native American in a feather headdress."

It's a rather clever adaptation of the Mexican religious icon of "Our Lady of Guadalupe"

The Crack Emcee said...

Ann Althouse said...

"Austin is way too hot in the summer"

Tell me about it. Austin and Phoenix are the only places where I got up, took a shower, went outside, and then immediately wanted to shower again.

wendybar said...

"Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel is unconstitutional and so the Supreme Court must reject his petition against Donald Trump, lawyers representing former Attorney General Ed Meese and two top constitutional scholars in the country argued in a brief filed on Wednesday.

Their amicus (or “friend of the court”) brief argues that Smith lacks authority to represent the United States by asking the Supreme Court to weigh in (called a petition for certiorari) because the office he holds has not been created by Congress and his appointment violates the “Appointments Clause” of the Constitution."

https://reason.com/volokh/2023/12/20/special-counsel-jack-smmiths-appointment-is-unconstitutional/

farmgirl said...

Amen, Dave.
Heh.

Joe Smith said...

'And that nice little cottage costs well over a million dollars.'

Then don't move to CA unless you want to live out in the sticks, which is more appealing every day actually...

rcocean said...

I would never live in Texas unless I had a second home in a cooler part of the country. As Althouse says, its hotter than hades in the summer.

Alaska - Austin sounds like a good combo.

rcocean said...

Because of Joe Biden's Open borders immigration policy of letting millions of people into the USA every year, the USA is going to get more crowded and more expensive. Especially, in "nice Places" with some Sun.

Madison is lucky - the winters keep out the massive crowds.

The Crack Emcee said...

I keep running across journalists discussing America's efforts to control the oil of the Middle East, but no one explains that we're doing it for Europe, and not for ourselves, when that's what's most crazy about it.

Candide said...

“I’m supportive of Ukraine. It’s a great country, with great people,” he said. “But I don’t want to die.”

Pretty much how I feel. I’m supportive of Ukraine. It’s a great country, with great people. But I don’t ANYONE to die.

Same about Palestinians.

Down with Kievan junta and down with Hamas!

Candide said...

chickelit said...
“The Ukrainian government made a huge mistake by allying itself with the corrupt money-grubbing Bidens and Dems in general.
God help them.“

Agreed. If Ukraininian government made an honest response to the official request of the US President in 2020 about Bidens’ corrupt dealings in Ukraine, the war would never happen.

Candide said...

If all the states where Trump has no chance to win remove him from the ballot (CA, NY, CO etc), Trump can still win by Electoral College tally.

Shades of 1860?

MadisonMan said...

From today's nonsense email from Randi Weingarten: "We’re still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s mood is anxious, the world is embroiled in two hot wars, and the forces of division and fear are everywhere. But there are many hopeful signs: Inflation is down, and the economy is stronger and stronger, even if we don’t always feel it."

I would only reply that 3 years ago, there weren't two hot wars and inflation was actually almost non-existent. Thanks, Democrats, for the Wars and the Higher costs! And thanks also for the ham-fisted reply to COVID-19 that torpedoed the learning of so many underprivileged.

Joe Smith said...

Too hot.

Too many commies.

I like Willie Nelson but that's not enough...

The Crack Emcee said...

BOMBSHELL: Israel Intelligence Chief Says The Quiet Part Out Loud!

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Another climate change busted flush - "Whatever happened to the Siberian permafrost “tipping point” from 2005?"

The permafrost is still there. Just like the snow in Britain, the polar ice caps, and the Greenland glacier sheet.

The Washington snow pack is still present, with no trend. This year, due to El Nino, the temperatures have been warmer than normal and the snowfall less than normal, so the snowpack is less than normal.

The climate scientists, I mean bozos, can't forecast the El Nino, Southern Oscillation (ENSO) temperatures more than one year in advance, so how can we believe they can forecast world temperatures 50 years in the future?

Narr said...

I'm from Memphis, so I take the heat of Austin and Atlanta for granted, and in stride.

The mention of city populations made me look up some stats to see if some things I recalled were correct. Using only city figures per se (not the Metropolitan Statistical Areas as used for the census), Memphis is larger than Atlanta, St. Louis, and KCMO, and only a bit smaller than Boston. They all have near- or near-near- peer neighbors I think.

Memphis was edged out of the top spot in Tennessee because Nashville consolidated with Davidson County and is the state capitol (they generally do better than average in attracting money and ambition).