Althouse: Sunrise — 7:23, 7:39.

February 3, 2024

Sunrise — 7:23, 7:39.

24 comments:

BudBrown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/3/24, 5:47 PM
Narr said...: Some pro-Palestine protesters blocked the I-40 bridge here for a while this afternoon. Won't be the last time, I think.; 2/3/24, 6:18 PM
narciso said...: Back again

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13041101/Harvard-host-palestinian-professor-hamas-struggle-freedom-blame-israel.html; 2/3/24, 6:45 PM
narciso said...: https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1753928447825490115; 2/3/24, 7:16 PM
rehajm said...: John Cochrane has a take on Trump support in WSJ. Highlights are not bad… Understanding Trumpers; 2/3/24, 7:26 PM
Original Mike said...: "Neat photos. Got me thinking bout Napolean."

Got me thinking of the Roman Empire.; 2/3/24, 10:07 PM
Gospace said...: I thought of leaving this on a previous post- but- there's more to it then "Do want a diverse officer corps?"

Let's start with the question- Do we want the smartest people to lead our military? The answer to that is NO! What? There are some things that are, in general, true. Everyone knows it, but it cannot really be quantified. Military leaders need to be decision makers. And they must make decisions on incomplete sometimes conflicting pieces of information. And- they must make these decisions in a HURRY! Right Now! Not later!. Really smart people are well known for not doing that. The best historical real example I can think of is George McClellan. Graduated 2nd in his West Point class. Created a great army, the Army of the Potomac. And proceeded to do nothing with it. He was replaced by Halleck, who was replaced by Ulysses S Grant, 21st in his class of 39, who proceeded to win a war with that Army. No doubt McClellan was smarter- and that in actually fighting a war, Grant was more capable.

The best fictional example I can think of are Niles and Frasier Crane. Would you want either of them making snap decisions in war? Admit it- you know smart people like that.

I'm sure everyone here recalls the court case in CT where a police department only hired from the middle of the test scorers. And the PD won. They're reasoning was different, that officers that were too smart would get bored and quit, then they'd have to spend more time and money training their replacements.

For certain jobs, you want to set a standard- and stick to it. Some things in a standard are easily quantified, others aren't. My eldest son in a West Point grad. On the low end of acceptable SAT scores. Which reflect IQ, believe it or not. He was also an Eagle Scout, demonstrated ability to set a goal and achieve it. A more important consideration. Participated in at least one sport all years of HS. Well rounded. My youngest is an ROTC grad. Much higher SAT score. Eagle Scout. On the chess team and mastermind team all through HS. My oldest went armor, my youngest military intelligence. Where he was assured by his older brothers he would excel as an officer- he has a personality, something lacking in many MI officers. Another son was MI enlisted, as was his wife- and they both agree that that facet is missing from many MI officers...

There'll never be perfect balance. And there shouldn't be any striving to obtain same. Between desire and innate ability, there will always be a disparity. As long as everyone has an equal chance- that's what is important. That said, I've heard that inner city blacks want Jewish doctors, not black doctors, because they want the best, not someone who became a doctor due to quotas...; 2/4/24, 1:59 AM
gadfly said...: https://unlocked.microsoft.com/team-rubicon/?form=M402JX&OCID=M402JX

My Microsoft sign-on pops with a picture of green hills and valleys reading "Natural disasters are happening more frequently" but then leads me to a lame feature about Team Rubicon Greyshirt volunteers in the United States somehow fighting these natural disasters.

My mind immediately goes to the 2014 Bundy standoff in Nevada where an armed confrontation between supporters of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and law enforcement followed a 21-year legal dispute in which the United States Bureau of Land Management obtained court orders directing Bundy to pay over $1 million in withheld grazing fees for Bundy's use of federally owned land adjacent to Bundy's ranch in southeastern Nevada.

Where are the Greyshirts when you need them today after 10 more years of illegal activity by the Bundy clan which involves running half-starved cattle on the arid government land? But I suppose that starving animals is not a natural disaster and weird folks fighting the government at the drop of a hat is not sane either - except God's natural disasters are bigger than a bunch of silly nature nutcases and arresting lawbreakers is not above human capability. Where was dictator and strongman Trump when we needed him?

That million-dollar debt is now $1.5 million plus whatever penalty and interest add and Bundy owns a large tract of land adjacent which will bring far more than a couple of million dollars subject to a government lien.; 2/4/24, 2:57 AM
gadfly said...: rehajm said...
John Cochrane has a take on Trump support in WSJ. Highlights are not bad… Understanding Trumpers

Cochrane and his Trumpian friends are dead wrong. Democrats and we Never Trumpers didn't make up the lifetime of grifting that is the gangster Trump nor were the 91 valid (fully investigated and approved by grand juries) charges made up out of whole cloth. Nor was the New York verdict against the man for business fraud which could result in a $370 million disgorgement that will further deprive the idiot of his property and businesses instate following an 83 million dollar verdict incurred because he couldn't shut up talking about an 80-year-old woman he raped. Trump is insane. MAGAts are deranged as well, filled with conspiratorial beliefs.; 2/4/24, 3:40 AM
gadfly said...: narciso said...
https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1753928447825490115

"A Hayward elementary school struggling to boost low test scores and dismal student attendance is spending $250,000 in federal money for an organization called Woke Kindergarten to train teachers to confront white supremacy, disrupt racism and oppression, and remove those barriers to learning."

After the program installation, the elementary school's English and math scores hit new lows last spring, with less than 4% of students proficient in math and just under 12% at grade level in English - but two-thirds of the students are English learners and more than 80% are Hispanic/Latino. It's a language problem, Señor!; 2/4/24, 3:57 AM
Jaq said...: So Ukraine used one of the HIMARS we sent them to strike a bakery, then waited a half an hour, and struck it again, killing first responders, a war crime known as a "double tap," then bragged about killing "Russian soldiers," conveniently redefining ambulance drivers and EMTs. This isn't the first time they have used HIMARS this way. The "Russian occupied" city where they struck the civilian target is in the ethnic Russia region that has been fighting Kiev since the coup we sponsored in 2014 overthrew their democratically elected government. Kiev has never controlled this area, has never been able to solidify their coup to the '92 borders of the Ukraine. We should not be arming these people.

Speaking of arming unsavory people, here is a rumor which it will be interesting to see if it actually happens. It's going around on X that we made a deal with Al Qaeda terrorists in Lebanon to supply them with weapons, mainly drones, to attack bases in Syria. Because it's part of our endless war campaign that has been fought since the fall of the USSR, of which Ukraine is only a part. Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, China is on the list, are all part of it too. Basically this "attack on Iran" is just another Iraq style regime change war, only being waged to achieve regime change in Syria, this time, where almost all of the targets are.

It's long since past time we asked ourselves "are we the baddies?"; 2/4/24, 4:45 AM
Humperdink said...: @rehajm. Good linked article. Although the article was pro-Trump, the commenters were from both sides of the political spectrum. The lefties commenters were not snarky (hint).; 2/4/24, 5:44 AM
Humperdink said...: From the Phil Mushnick NY Post column: "Reader Kevin McGroary suggests that with so many players attending so many colleges, the early game TV insertion of NFL players stating where they played soon could take forever.

Of course, those who choose to instead say where they played high school ball may think they’re being slick, but only carry the suggestion that high school was the last school they actually attended."

With advent of the college NIL program, players will be taking a pay cut when they sign with the NFL. Heck, Gronkowski was recruited to play high school football for perennial powerhouse Woodland Hills High School in the Pittsburgh suburbs.; 2/4/24, 6:19 AM
Humperdink said...: @ the gad. You were called out twice after you called Trump the "most corrupt president ever". You were asked to provide examples of corruption. Of course you could not and did not. Where are the examples of Trump corruption? Specific examples please.; 2/4/24, 6:55 AM
Jamie said...: two-thirds of the students are English learners and more than 80% are Hispanic/Latino. It's a language problem, Señor!

Yes, it undoubtedly is. The question is, what's the solution to the language problem, señor? Why would it be Woke Kindergarten?

My husband grew up in a majority-Latino small city in southern California. His mom, thinking she was doing him good, managed to get him into a bilingual program for several years of early elementary school. My husband loves languages - but this program, he said, was a complete waste of time for both the native English and native Spanish speakers. The structure was that everyone in the program learned everything in both languages - so it took twice as long to cover the material as it was taking in the traditional classrooms, and neither cohort of students learned the other language well. To this day he speaks French better than Spanish.

The US has no official language (thank you again, wokesters). But English is functionally our national tongue, and not immersing non-native speakers in it to the greatest extent possible does them no favors. So when you have 80% of students whose birth-and-home language is not English, and you only have them for, what, six hours a day, and you squander that six hours in which you could be immersing them in solid English-language instruction, difficult as it will be for them at first, doing some silly social engineering instead, you are not helping them learn and succeed in the waters in which they must now swim.

And - when that 80% isn't even the same kids all the time because more non-English speakers keep flooding in and must attend school, it's really a fool's errand to waste what little time you have with them on such things.; 2/4/24, 7:13 AM
wendybar said...: Keep telling yourself that this woman is sane. THIS is probably around the same time she is accusing Trump.....
https://rumble.com/v4ban0l-newlt-resurrected-video-of-e.-jean-carroll-from-her-90s-show-reveals-a-comp.html; 2/4/24, 8:26 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Forest fires in Argentina are alleged to be intentionally set, though there's some dispute about that: Fire destroys more than 3,000 hectares of native forest in Patagonia

"More than 3,000 hectares of native forest in Patagonia have burned in an insatiable fire that started on January 25 for reasons still under investigation, provincial authorities in Chubut reported reported over the weekend.

The fire has affected a large area of forest in Los Alerces National Park in Chubut Province, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its biodiversity and beauty, nestled between mountains and lakes some 2,000 km southwest of the capital.

Hydrant planes, helicopters and brigadiers from several provinces are fighting the fire, which has advanced with multiple incendiary outbreaks spread by strong winds, the province’s fire management service reported on Saturday.

...

Police firefighters are using sniffer dogs to analyse how the fire started. Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres attributes the fire to "intentional" causes and blamed members of the Mapuche Ancestral Resistance (RAM) indigenous group as suspects.

Some Mapuche leaders themselves even doubt the existence of RAM, which is often blamed for attacks.

"The RAM are a bunch of frauds, they are as much Mapuche as I am Syrian Lebanese. They are criminals who have a real estate business and who do these things," Torres told Radio Rivadavia on Sunday.

Moira Millán, the leader of the Mapuche communities in Chubut, told AFP on Saturday that "the accusations are false and are loaded with racist hatred.”

"To accuse the Mapuche people of [starting] the fires is profoundly ignorant, because they are the ones who ancestrally took care of these pristine areas, Los Alerces National Park exists because there were Mapuche settlers taking care of it, the state came, evicted them and in less than 200 years the ecocide has been constant," she added.

The mountainous area of Chubut is home to a hundred small Mapuche communities that survive by herding and raising livestock.

Los Alerces National Park covers an area of 260,000 hectares in the foothills of the Andes."

Alerce (larch) wood is similar to redwood. I saw a church built of larch in Puerto Montt, Chile.; 2/4/24, 9:55 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Similar fires in Chile are also alleged to be intentionally set (article is in Spanish):

Superintendente de Bomberos Valparaíso sostiene que incendios forestales son "totalmente" intencionales [Valparaíso Fire Superintendent states that forest fires are 'totally' intentional]

Juan Paredes, Chief of the volunteer fire corps, stated that the volunteers saw evidence of liquid accelerants as they advanced to fight the fires.; 2/4/24, 10:04 AM
Narr said...: I think about the Roman Empire fairly often, but the only time I think about Napolean is when someone misspells Napoleon.

Clausewitz rated sheer intelligence in an officer as desirable, but not as a substitute for other qualities.

In late 1944 and early 1945, when the need for infantry for the US divisions in Europe became critical, many of the high-IQ soldiers in the ASTP found themselves in foxholes. They did very well generally--turns out intelligence helps at all levels. Who knew?; 2/4/24, 10:08 AM
Narr said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/4/24, 10:09 AM
Jaq said...: Ukraine used US supplied weapons and ammo to target a busy bakery cafe in what they call Ukraine, killing 28, including a second salvo to kill first responders. They are using terror tactics against the very population they assure us that they are liberating.

Your tax dollars at work; 2/4/24, 10:37 AM
Candide said...: Narr said...

“I think about the Roman Empire fairly often”

Did you notice SPQR by Mary Beard? My daughter gifted me this book couple years ago and it was worthwhile read, I think.; 2/4/24, 11:06 AM
Narr said...: Candide, I haven't read Mary Beard but have seen and admired some of her talks. Some of her books are on my sooner-or-later reading list.; 2/4/24, 11:44 AM
Dr Weevil said...: 'tim in vermont' and his Ukraine-hating buddies should certainly be asking themselves "are we the baddies?" because the answer is yes, they are. Very little of what he wrote in his 4:45am and 10:37am comments is true:

"[Kyiv] has never controlled this area", meaning Lysychans'k? Russia's puppet 'separatist' troops captured it in 2014, but Ukraine recaptured it three months later and held it for nearly 10 years, until the full-scale invasion of 2022. (In 2014, the 'separatists' stole all the civilians' cars on the way out of town.) Even then, Russia was unable to capture it until their artillery had reduced most of the buildings to rubble, leaving hardly 'one stone upon another'. No doubt they've rebuilt parts of it, as they have in Mariupol where they murdered 100,000. It is also very close to the front lines (5-6 miles), so the idea that senior officers would have a planning session in a bakery there is far from absurd.

Is Lysychans'k in "the ethnic Russia[n] region"? Maybe, but Wikipedia reports that the city itself was 66.7% Ukrainian, 30.5% Russian in the 2006 census - more than 2:1. And of course Luhansk voted to join Ukraine in 1991 with 83.86% approval and 68% turnout, so an absolute majority of 57% of eligible voters, many of them ethnic Russians. Ukraine's claim to all of Luhansk is only denied by liars and fools.

By the way, Russia has been bombing clearly civilian targets (apartment buildings and hospitals) for almost two years and doing the 'double tap' to kill rescue workers. I don't recall 'tim in vermont' ever so much as acknowledging that, much less deploring it. I suspect this story is just another Russian lie, 'projecting' their own war crimes onto Ukraine.

Since 'tim in vermont' finally provided a link in his second comment, I'll note that 'zagonel' is a notorious liar, a Russian-American, indeed a Tolstoi, son of a count and great-grandnephew of the novelist, who likes to call Ukrainians "f*gg*ts" and other nasty names. He also likes to tell the same lies 'tim in vermont' tells, denying the Bucha massacre, denying the Russian shoot-down of MH-17, pretending that the 2014 uprising and government butchery was a 'coup', and much more. All the sordid details can be found on Vatnik Soup (link).; 2/4/24, 3:03 PM