Althouse: Sunrise — 4:56, 4:58, 4:59, 5:20.

June 15, 2024

Sunrise — 4:56, 4:58, 4:59, 5:20.

34 comments:

Leland said...: Kate Middleton came out in public for the King's birthday. She looks good as always. I hope she is beating her cancer and also her father-in-law is fighting it too.; 6/15/24, 6:15 PM
Mason G said...: What Have We Liberals Done to the West Coast?

In other news... Blind Squirrel Finds Acorn; 6/15/24, 6:45 PM
Mary Beth said...: Kate Middleton came out in public for the King's birthday.

The king's birthday is in November. I'm glad she's looking well.; 6/15/24, 7:05 PM
MOfarmer said...: The Tightwad Gazette! I had forgotten about that one, lol. In the same genre, I was reading Mother Earth News for entertainment and inspiration.; 6/15/24, 7:12 PM
tcrosse said...: The monarch's official birthday is in June, no matter when his real one was. Catherine, Princess of Wales, is the correct form of address.; 6/15/24, 7:13 PM
TickTock said...: Read this: https://situational-awareness.ai/

It's wild. It's possible. Error bars are large, but it seems directionally correct.

With all we have lived through, we may have seen nothing yet.

Yes, I know he is only about 22. But he is clearly brilliant, and has the credentials to makes the statements he is making.; 6/15/24, 7:40 PM
TickTock said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/15/24, 7:42 PM
wildswan said...: So, following up on the idea that ChatGPT can anticipate and articulate political narratives, I asked it for a narrative about Biden that would resonate with 18 to 34 year-olds. It said Biden should present a narrative about resilience, about how over time he had to keep up with changing social values. [Jill Biden in Green Bay two days ago as reported by Althouse had this message. Who is reading who?] And it gave examples of policies that would appeal to that group such as climate change and student debt relief. I asked it for narratives from Joe Biden's life that would appeal to that group and it could only suggest the death of Biden's wife and daughter and the death of Beau Biden. Otherwise ChatGPT suggested getting some young people to talk about how policies like student debt relief had helped them and to use lots of digital eye candy. Interesting that there is not one story about Biden's life that any young person would want to hear in ChatGPT's data base. He was DC guy and got rich and STFU. That's it.
While Trump has been a builder and a TV star and a long-shot candidate and a target of the deep state's manipulations while President and is now a martyr from a political show trial and a candidate again. Go Trump. We're with you.; 6/15/24, 8:01 PM
imTay said...: So the US once again outright rejects the terms that Ukraine remain neutral and out of NATO and chooses to continue the war. Without even taking Putin's peace plan as a starting point for negotiations. It was Nope! We would rather Ukraine keeps fighting!

It's basically the same Putin offered in March of 22, when the war was only a month old, which the US rejected, even though the Ukrainians had initialed the deal, except that in that deal at that time, Ukraine would have remained intact. Russia even offered to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea. The problem with that deal, of course, is that it would have prevented the US from taking over the Black Sea naval base from the Russians, which they were leasing from Ukraine, so obviously it was unacceptable.

https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/21/blinken-and-lavrov-convene-in-geneva-over-ukraine-crisis-for-second-round-of-talks

The above is an account of a meeting between Blinken and Putin, when there were 100,000 Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, and Putin proposed that the United States re-enter the IMF Treaty, which we had unilaterally pulled out of so that we could put missiles closer to Moscow. We singed it to get Soviet missiles out of Cuba. Russia's Foreign minister Lavrov said that when Blinken came back with his response, it was "Ukraine is coming into NATO and we can put nukes in any NATO country we want," which incidentally took back a promise made by Joe Biden not to put nuclear missiles in Ukraine. In other words, Blinken told Putin "Unless you can stop us, we are putting nuclear missiles five minutes flight time from Moscow, and next time we engineer a nuclear standoff, Russia is going to have to back down and do whatever we say!"

This all sounds great, doesn't it? Except that these threats by Blinken make this an existential war for Russia. It's not an existential war for the US, but it is for Russia, and if we push them into a corner, they have 6,000 nukes. I know that the US assessment is that Putin is going to back down, but his speech he gave, he listed the times that Obama and Biden lied to him, how they had tricked him, and I think that maybe he has learned something. China too.

Bismarck, I think, once said that lying as a strategy in your foreign policy can bring short term advantages, but it catches up with you, well the US has been lying to Russia and China for decades, and they are sick of it. There is nothing that we can say to them anymore that they will believe. China complains about how the US lies to them at every meeting now, lecturing Blinken, when they even bother to see him, and their account of the meeting with Biden in San Francisco amounted to on long harangue about dishonestly. We have no-one left to lie to, and we still haven't conquered the world yet, where if we did, it wouldn't matter.; 6/15/24, 8:42 PM
Mason G said...: "Otherwise ChatGPT suggested getting some young people to talk about how policies like student debt relief had helped them..."

Can ChatGPT explain how forcing people who didn't take out those loans to pay them back instead helped them?; 6/15/24, 8:46 PM
Kathryn51 said...: I would like to ask ChatGPT (not that I have any idea how or wish to learn how
do so) the following:

Plkease provide a narrative of how Joe Biden was boinking his then very young baby-sitter who was also cheating on her husband and once joe's wife discovered the affair, she got drunk and drove a car through a red light (or was it a stop sign) with her 3 children in the car and then Joe blamed it on a drunk driver.

Alternatively, please provide symptoms of Parkinson's disease and compare/contrast to Joe Biden's actions, movements and speeches.; 6/15/24, 8:50 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: From an earlier post: "I don't believe that I, I need to have any identity. I don't, I don't need to be known for anything. I don't feel like one thing should describe a person. You know, they, I feel like they, they're made up of all their actions, not just one thing that they do."...

Especially these days when identity seem to be more about division and little else. Last night I gave a ride to a white guy who put on the Trump accent ala Alec Balwin (in a completely unrelated conversation) because he probably assumed I would never be a Trump voter. Same thing when giving rides to Blacks and Hispanics. Politics rarely if ever comes up in conversation, but whenever it has, since 2019, it is always assumed I'm not a Trump supporter. I just roll with it. Because, it turns out, I'm not just that. My identity is more of a puzzle to me, if I stop and think about it. And I also need the eggs/tips.

“It reminds me of that old joke- you know, a guy walks into a psychiatrist's office and says, hey doc, my brother's crazy! He thinks he's a chicken. Then the doc says, why don't you turn him in? Then the guy says, I would but I need the eggs. I guess that's how I feel about relationships. They're totally crazy, irrational, and absurd, but we keep going through it because we need the eggs.” ― Woody Allen, Annie Hall; 6/15/24, 8:56 PM
Big Mike said...: @wildswan, but is student loan forgiveness a good way to win the votes of young people? How does a journeyman plumber feel about part of his taxes — even if it is a small part! — going to pay off the student loans of kids who apparently spent four years partying and eventually earning a bullshit degree. I wonder how an HVAC tech feels about people his age getting their loans paid off while pulling down a six digit salary?; 6/15/24, 9:04 PM
gadfly said...: Current and former Washington Post staffers fumed to The Daily Beast that Post CEO Will Lewis’ monthslong refusal to say anything on his alleged involvement in covering up a U.K. phone-hacking scandal—started by Rupert Murdoch journalists hacking Prince Harry’s cell — couldn’t last much longer in a newsroom that touts how “democracy dies in darkness” on its masthead. But Bezos likes his new CEO's chances of raising subscriptions from 2.5 million to 100 million. So he has no comment regarding the Prince's lawsuit against Murdoch Newspapers. Check your decimal places, Jeffrey.; 6/15/24, 9:50 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Anthem to Jan 6th; 6/15/24, 9:52 PM
Jamie said...: I'll be in Door County at the beginning of July for a family reunion - I'm hoping we can all keep the conversation civil due the duration.; 6/15/24, 10:10 PM
gadfly said...: WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Saturday night suggested President Joe Biden “should have to take a cognitive test,” only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence.

The former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency, as “Ronny Johnson.” The moment came as Trump was questioning Biden’s mental acuity, something he often does on the campaign trail and social media.

“He doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did,” the former president said of Biden during a speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit.

Seconds later, he continued, “Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, a congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately.”

Trump continually brings up that cognitive test that he has been unable to ever accurately describe. With apologies to the Four Seasons: "Ronny, oh Ronny, I am regretting but can't stop forgetting." Ronny Who?; 6/16/24, 12:12 AM
Chuck said...: gadfly;
Yes of course it is a hilariously damaging story, for Trump to be whining about cognitive testing for Biden, only to confuse the name of Dr. Ronny Jackson as “Doc Ronny Johnson.” It’s like so many other similar Trump brain malfunctions, such as calling Rep. Matt Gaetz “Rick Gates,” and doing so repeatedly.

But for me the truly frustrating thing is that Trump never mentioned “Dr. Ricky Bobby.”; 6/16/24, 1:26 AM
wendybar said...: Wow gad. You really do have a Trump obsession. Please get help... You are sounding quite desperate. I don't want you to hurt yourself.; 6/16/24, 3:17 AM
wendybar said...: Connecticut is swirling down the toilet bowl...Don't believe your eyes, believe the Progressive lies.

"A message posted by President Maggie Castinado, President-Elect James T. (Tim) Shearin, and Vice President Emily A. Gianquinto warning them about criticizing the prosecutions of former President Donald Trump. The message from the bar leadership is chilling for those lawyers who view cases like the one in Manhattan as a raw political prosecution. While the letter does not outright state that such criticism will be considered unethical conduct, it states that the criticism has “no place in the public discourse” and calls on members to speak publicly in support of the integrity of these legal proceedings.

Ironically, the letter only reinforced the view of a legal system that is maintaining a political orthodoxy and agenda. These officials declare that it is now unprofessional or reckless for lawyers to draw historical comparisons to show trials or to question the motives or ethics underlying these cases. They warn lawyers not to “sow distrust in the public for the courts where it does not belong.” Yet, many believe that there is an alarming threat to our legal system and that distrust is warranted in light of prosecution like the one in Manhattan."

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/15/no-place-in-the-public-discourse-the-connecticut-bar-association-warns-critics-of-trump-prosecutions/#more-220099; 6/16/24, 3:48 AM
wendybar said...: Jason Whitlock
@WhitlockJason
This feels orchestrated by handlers — Caitlin’s handlers. Caitlin - the target of racist attacks - has been positioned to speak against social media bots who use her name to promote “racism.” This is how the left pivots conversations. They’re arguing that Clark’s fans are the bigots, not the people attacking Clark. Hat tip to the Marxists. They are clever and bold.

Jason Whitlock
@WhitlockJason
Women's basketball decision-makers are not dumb. They've been bullied by the BLM-LGBTQIA+Silent P Alphabet Mafia bigots. Same cowardice that built George Floyd statues, turned Juneteenth into a federal holiday, codified same-sex marriage, allows "kid-friendly" drag shows, let "Lia Thomas" swim... They keep making offers we don't refuse. The Mafia hates Cait. She refuses to publicly worship the Yas Queens and doesn't scissor, so she sleeps with the fishes.
1:43 PM · Jun 8, 2024; 6/16/24, 4:04 AM
wendybar said...: Embarrassing America every day of his occupation...

Milei’s reaction to Biden getting in too close to the Pope is incredible.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1801767712768856567; 6/16/24, 4:27 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Jamie said...

"I'll be in Door County at the beginning of July for a family reunion - I'm hoping we can all keep the conversation civil due the duration."

Being in Door County can lift your spirits, unless you're there in early February. Enjoy!; 6/16/24, 6:43 AM
Captain BillieBob said...: Happy Fathers Day!; 6/16/24, 6:47 AM
Jamie said...: It's hard to tell from the video angle - was Biden actually touching his forehead to the Pope's?

Yikes.; 6/16/24, 7:14 AM
gadfly said...: Little Marco's big lie:

“He’s made a lot of money. He has a lot of things to enjoy. He’s got a great family,” Rubio added. Frank. “I wanna be honest with you. Sometimes I thought why is this guy doing this? He had a great life. There’s only one reason why someone like him would be in politics, with all of these hassles, with all of these things he has to put up with. There’s only one reason because he loves our country and he wants to save it from people that want to destroy it.”

Sadly, prevaricating about a convicted felon is a long way away from sitting at the feet of his Cuban grandfather, engrossed in stories about Ronald Reagan. A misguided, dishonest effort to get lead status toward attaining the power of the presidency in the 2028 election (or before).

But in his autobiography, "An American Son: A Memoir", Mr. Rubio describes how he allegedly grew up poor and mowed the grass and walked dogs to make a bit of spare change. Technically this may be correct, but most poor kids don’t get paid by relatives heavily involved in narcotics trafficking and whose pets double as guard dogs for a drug cartel, as was the case with young Marco, a federal indictment shows.; 6/16/24, 7:15 AM
tim maguire said...: imTay said...So the US once again outright rejects the terms that Ukraine remain neutral

One would think that’s Ukraine’s decision.; 6/16/24, 7:31 AM
narciso said...: Gadzooks is just tiring; 6/16/24, 7:40 AM
gadfly said...: wendybar said...

Wow gad. You really do have a Trump obsession. Please get help... You are sounding quite desperate. I don't want you to hurt yourself.

Not me, sweety - I'm fine because I understand Donald Trump, the demented malignant narcissist and now convicted felon. But I am and always will be a Never Trumper because I worked for a man whose personality was like that of Mr. Trump and he, like TFG, was a crook. I also had to constantly interact with Trump Casinos to collect large unpaid account balances. We walked away with zero balances owed when Donald declared bankruptcy (which one of his six, I don't recall). But you need to read about the life and times of Donald Trump instead of following the MAGA crowd.; 6/16/24, 7:56 AM
Iman said...: question about ‘fly
is he a fly on the wall?
or denizen of stool?; 6/16/24, 7:57 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Someone defined DEI as "Didn't Earn It." My redefinition is "Druggies, Extremists, and Incompetents." That certainly covers the barbarians running King County and Seattle.; 6/16/24, 8:00 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: The Seine River is unsafe for swimmers due to all the illegal aliens pooping on the streets. Paris was a beautiful city in the 1990s, clean and safe. I'd been there a number of times for work and loved it. I wouldn't go there today. Not clean and not safe.; 6/16/24, 8:26 AM
Mary Beth said...: The monarch's official birthday is in June, no matter when his real one was

I was wondering if it was something like that. I suppose June is likely to be better for parades and public events than November.; 6/16/24, 11:44 AM
Dr Weevil said...: As so often before, imTay (8:42pm) spews Putinite propaganda. He thinks Putin's latest proposal is reasonable? Some of us remember when the claim was that Donetsk and Luhansk and Crimea were all ethnically-Russian and therefore should belong to Russia. The fact that all three voted to join Ukraine in 1991 and that Russia specifically guaranteed Ukraine's 1991 borders again in 1994, in return for Ukraine giving up their nukes, showed how stupid and dishonest that was.

Now Putin demands Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, too, neither of which ever had a significant percentage of ethnic Russians, and imTay thinks that's a reasonable starting-point for negotiations. And he thinks Ukraine should hand over the large portions of four provinces Russia has been unable to seize - not as a final settlement, but as a preliminary to further negotiations and presumably further concessions. Only a paid shill for Putin could argue for something so contemptible.

Here's Anastasiia Lapatina on Twitter (link) showing what a fool and a swine imTay is:

"There is a very annoying perception that Ukraine and Russia had a valid peace deal in Istanbul in 2022, but silly Ukraine rejected it.

Yet that deal was basically capitulation.

NYT published the text of the deal – let's see what Ukraine had to agree to for 'peace'👇🏼

- Ukraine would become a neutral state. Keep in mind that polls show roughly 90% of Ukrainians want to be in NATO

- Security 'guarantees' would only involve consultations

- Russia would have VETO POWER on military intervention by the treaty's guarantors

- Russia would continue occupying parts of Donbas and Crimea

- Ukraine would limit the size of its military (as if it ever posed a threat to Russia).

- Russian language would become the second state language, and Ukraine would rewrite certain aspects of its history to suit Russian propaganda

If someone thinks this was a valid, good deal that the Ukrainian society would accept, they don't understand Ukraine. That deal would be a gift to the Kremlin. It would allow Russia to continue treating Ukraine as its colony, as it's been doing for hundreds of years."; 6/16/24, 2:50 PM