Althouse: Globular icicles.

December 1, 2024

Globular icicles.

Lake Mendota, today at 1:53 p.m.

Talk about whatever you want in the comments. And support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.

90 comments:

tcrosse said...: Ice condoms.; 12/1/24, 5:16 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Ice bagging.; 12/1/24, 5:17 PM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: Found in Hot Air's Sunday Smiles:

If we're not calling the 4B Movement "Batten down the Snatches" what are we even doing?; 12/1/24, 5:25 PM
Butkus51 said...: Frozen Liberal Tears; 12/1/24, 5:29 PM
Rocco said...: Truck nuts.; 12/1/24, 5:29 PM
Breezy said...: Tis the season of ornaments.; 12/1/24, 5:37 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I shared an idea for ornaments with genzers I was giving a ride to the airport.
You know how people buy the Christmas tree 🌲 and put it on the roof of the car to take it back home? Why not go back and buy another tree to leave on top of the car? The kids thought it was a great idea.; 12/1/24, 5:46 PM
Dixcus said...: I see those hanging from the trucks in my neighborhood. Not sure how.; 12/1/24, 5:46 PM
Dixcus said...: I've yet to see any of these broads with pictures of their boyfriends or kids on Facebook.; 12/1/24, 5:48 PM
n.n said...: It's missing something. It needs more bull bells.; 12/1/24, 5:55 PM
Jaq said...: I live on a lake that freezes every year, and I have never seen those. Do they tinkle in the wind?; 12/1/24, 6:04 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Speaking of frugality. I stopped at a Walmart in Duluth and there was an Aldis across the road. In a perfect world there would be a Walmart, an Aldis and a Dollar Tree in the same strip, next to each other. Like the song says 'You Can't Always Get a Walmart an Aldis and a Dollar Tree next to each other, but if you try sometimes, you get a 20% discount.; 12/1/24, 6:13 PM
wendybar said...: I was thinking the same!!; 12/1/24, 6:16 PM
Jaq said...: We seem to have taken a step back from the nuclear abyss. No missile attacks into Russia by US personnel since that last big counterstrike by Russia. There is a rumor on X that Trump's people told Zelensky to knock off the escalation and stop trying to create a huge crisis for him before he takes office, but that's just common sense, there is no reason other than that it makes perfect sense to imagine that Trump actually said it.

Joe Biden is the most reckless US President I can remember, or have ever read about. We have zero business in this border dispute that never would have happened if we had stayed out of Ukraine's business. And now we are trying to overturn an election in Georgia, where the president has said that she will not leave office at the expiration of her term [to protect democracy] unless a new election is held under the supervision of the EU, of which Georgia is not even a member.; 12/1/24, 6:20 PM
tcrosse said...: First my friendly neighborhood Dollar Tree raised the ante to $1.25, then started stocking items for $3.00 and $5.00. Too bad, but I suppose they have to pay the rent and keep the lights on.; 12/1/24, 6:27 PM
Jaq said...: And don't worry, Maidan was totes authentic grass roots movement!

https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1863251494352416951; 12/1/24, 6:28 PM
Quaestor said...: Those icicles look hollow. Are they?; 12/1/24, 6:35 PM
TaeJohnDo said...: Aren't they supposed to be blue? Or am I thinking of something else?; 12/1/24, 6:38 PM
Joe Bar said...: I've never seen THAT before!; 12/1/24, 6:40 PM
Dixcus said...: Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter.

Guess it's time to release the kiddie videos he had on that laptop and re-arrest him for that.; 12/1/24, 6:40 PM
Yancey Ward said...: LOL!; 12/1/24, 6:41 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: Dark Brandon will pardon Hunter and will next issue pardons for all the people trump said he'll prosecute,Pelosi,Shiff,all generals,etc getting even for the Manafort,Flynn,Stone, etc pardons. Brandon said he ain t playing maybe even pardon himself just for the heck of it. Ist it grand to be king. MERIKA got to have the POWER!!!; 12/1/24, 6:50 PM
narciso said...: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/01/assad-syria-hts-aleppo-hama-rebels-russia-putin-iran/; 12/1/24, 6:51 PM
Peachy said...: Droplets like a chandelier; 12/1/24, 6:53 PM
Oh Yea said...: Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto

ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.; 12/1/24, 6:57 PM
Oh Yea said...: He is free and clear for anything he did for the past 10 years no matter what comes out in the futre:

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted; 12/1/24, 6:58 PM
tcrosse said...: How about offenses against any of the several states? Does the pardon extend to state beefs?; 12/1/24, 7:00 PM
Dixcus said...: And now all Donald Trump has to do is declare that Hunter Biden represents a clear and present danger to the security of the United States of America.

Then he can kill him.

Like Obama did to Americans when he was President.; 12/1/24, 7:03 PM
Leland said...: Good. Now we can talk about why he needed a pardon.; 12/1/24, 7:05 PM
Dr Weevil said...: And here's 'Jaq' repeating a lie I've refuted before. There have been no "missile attacks into Russia by US personel" because Ukrainian soldiers are perfectly capable of firing ATACMs without any help. Amusing enough, the evidence I offered him before (link) was a reply by a knowledgeable veteran to none other than "My Lord Bebo", whom 'Jaq' quotes in his next comment here. The fact that Bebo was quoting twice-convicted pedophile is just the icing on the cake. Why does 'Jaq' quote liars and pedophiles and lie himself? And why doesn't he know that the Georgian election was openly stolen? It's not like we don't have openly stolen elections in the US!; 12/1/24, 7:07 PM
Maynard said...: Dixcus is an idiot and a troll.; 12/1/24, 7:08 PM
Clyde said...: Third turkey gets delayed Thanksgiving pardon.; 12/1/24, 7:20 PM
narciso said...: I bet Fed trying to get his spurs; 12/1/24, 7:23 PM
David53 said...: Does the FBI still have custody of Hunter's laptop? Hope it doesn't "disappear."; 12/1/24, 7:24 PM
Jim at said...: It's not so much Biden pardoning Hunter that pisses me off. It was expected.

It's all the lies and dishonesty in his statement explaining why he did it.

I'd have a lot more respect if he simply pardoned him and said, "Because I can." But, no. He has to make up a bunch of shit about how it's all just sooooo unfair, he's left with no choice.

Fuck off.; 12/1/24, 7:29 PM
Kakistocracy said...: A man with nothing to lose.

Trump is gonna do the same but to himself so fair enough. Now a free pass for Trump to do what he wants.; 12/1/24, 7:38 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Iceteabagging; 12/1/24, 7:42 PM
rmarkob said...: More like iceticles; 12/1/24, 7:43 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Trunk nuts.; 12/1/24, 7:48 PM
Dixcus said...: They do. And there's only ONE OTHER person who has an exact copy of it:

Rudy Giuliani

They've taken everything he's ever had, and all he's ever going to have.

Now you know why.; 12/1/24, 7:54 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: You have to think that’s what they were discussing in the White House. Ponies all around.; 12/1/24, 7:55 PM
William said...: I came late to the party. I enrolled in ChatGPT today. I looked up Giuseppina Grassini. She was was an opera singer of the early 19th century. She was the preeminent opera singer of her era and was also a great beauty.. She was the lover of both Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. There's not much info on her in Wiki. I asked ChatGPT about her. There was a bio written about her in Italian over a hundred years ago, but that's it. She doesn't figure in any novels or movies. I think she's pretty much forgotten......If I was the kind of guy who wrote Regency novels, I would definitely feature her as a heroine. Both as a groupie and as an accomplished person in her own right, she deserves to be better known. .....She didn't die in poverty and disgrace. She became an opera teacher and passed her wisdom on to several noted opera singers of the succeeding generation.; 12/1/24, 7:57 PM
Dixcus said...: Joe Biden can still be prosecuted, as well as the rest of the family, of the crimes THEY have been committing against the United States of America.; 12/1/24, 7:59 PM
Sebastian said...: So, with Hunter getting a pardon and all, now he can't plead the Fifth when prosecutors start interrogating him about Joe's corruption, right?; 12/1/24, 8:03 PM
Dixcus said...: Notice how Joe Biden pardoned Hunter at 8 o'clock on a Sunday night?

In the dark.

Trying to hide from God and the American people.

If he was righteous, he'd pardon him at 5pm on a Monday ... so the repoters have time to get their live shots ready and he can go on the nightly news.

They know they're dirty.

And they think they're free.

They aren't.; 12/1/24, 8:10 PM
Original Mike said...: Has he also been pardoned for being the Biden Family bagman?; 12/1/24, 8:14 PM
Drago said...: LOL

The biden crime family!

And once again, seemingly as though the universe is arrayed against our sad sack LLR-democratical Rich, it comes mere hours after Li'l Richie's lies about Trump along just these lines!

So what does Rich do when his hoaxed up lies against Trump fall flat again? Double and triple down with confession thru projection!

I suppose when one is wrong as often as Abacus Boy is, one is simply tempting fate to launch an irony nuke attack against himself!; 12/1/24, 8:15 PM
Jaq said...: LOL, they community noted Joe Biden's "No one is above the law" tweet.; 12/1/24, 8:17 PM
Gospace said...: I wonder it that's another Babylon Bee prophecy fulfilled...; 12/1/24, 8:23 PM
gilbar said...: i'm STILL trying to get my head around getting pardoned for something you plead guilty to; 12/1/24, 8:23 PM
Jaq said...: You seem to think that Kiev's propaganda has the standing of absolute truth. It's one thing to punch in the coordinates of a large ammo dump that can be found on a map, it's another thing to hit an S-400 system that was off line for maintenance. That takes US ISR to give precise coordinates of a piece of equipment, and the best time to fire and what paths to use to get around AD. The US has never denied that US personnel are involved in these attacks, in fact, for a time they restricted the attacks by Storm Shadows for this exact reason. Then they lifted that restriction. It's all about 'boiling the frog"

Doesn't matter anyway, for some reason we have backed off. Maybe because bringing the HIMARS close enough to the front line to hit Russia, and so bringing them into the range of surveillance drones with night vision, BTW, was not a hot idea and five HIMARS launchers were destroyed this week. Maybe that's the reason.

"And why doesn't he know that the Georgian election was openly stolen" The current president is French. She just got a Georgian passport in 2004. Before that she was a French diplomat. It's not the EU's business how Georgia conducts its elections. It wasn't "openly stolen," Georgians can see what is happening in Ukraine, just like everybody else, and they want nothing to do with it.; 12/1/24, 8:27 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: OMG, you mean I CANT trust Joe's word as a Biden?; 12/1/24, 8:29 PM
Drago said...: A blanket pardon from 2014 on!

Isn't that convenient....from a selling US policy to the highest bidder perspective?

How many $ 10's of millions laundered thru 20+ shell companies into the bank accounts of grandchildren with transfers of 10% to the "Big Guy"!; 12/1/24, 8:31 PM
Kakistocracy said...: The answer to Biden has violated a norm by pardoning Hunter isn’t “no he hasn’t violated that norm” or “it’s justified to violate that norm” but “BS that’s a norm.” In fact, political pardons have been offered by both Republicans and Democrats.

So more accurately the criticism of Biden should be “Biden is violating a norm we aspire to have and occasionally like to pretend we have, but do not actually have.”

It is particularly preposterous in the context of the past and future Trump presidencies.; 12/1/24, 8:34 PM
Drago said...: Hunter gets to avoid human trafficking and drug distribution charges!

Congratulations New Soviet Democraticals and LLR's! Precisely what groomer-enabler political party would do!; 12/1/24, 8:36 PM
Kakistocracy said...: I think pardons to Fauci and Vindemann are both sensible because (1) there is no plausible suggestion they have committed crimes and (2) the Trumpists have explicitly made them the target of planned political persecutions. I think Biden should go further. Pardon as many as he can on Trump’s hit list. Block off the political prosecutions and investigations that could cost them millions.; 12/1/24, 8:37 PM
Kakistocracy said...: Hunter Biden has quite obviously been selectively prosecuted for various things that he is quite obviously guilty of, which I think makes a pardon reasonable. Biden should also consider shielding obvious targets against Trump's future retaliatory prosecutions.; 12/1/24, 8:40 PM
Christopher B said...: Plus a pair of green feet at the base; 12/1/24, 8:43 PM
Gospace said...: In absolutely unimportant news I've just read- Amber Heard has moved to Spain and changed her name to Martha Jane Cannary .

Won't change the fact that's she's a 10 on the crazy axis on the hot/crazy matrix. The hot will slip down from a 10- the crazy never will...; 12/1/24, 8:44 PM
Original Mike said...: "I think pardons to Fauci and Vindemann are both sensible because (1) there is no plausible suggestion they have committed crimes…"

Fauci distributed millions of dollars in federal funds to get researchers to lie about their belief (now known to be correct) that covid came from the Wuhan Lab. IANAL, but if that is not a crime I'd be amazed.; 12/1/24, 8:47 PM
Drago said...: Remember, 2014 is also the year Hunter joined the board of Burisma......; 12/1/24, 8:47 PM
Dr Weevil said...: I don't read Ukrainian propaganda, and the link I gave was to an American veteran living in Texas. Once again 'Jaq' lies. His phrase "for this exact reason" is of course another lie - no one has told him any such reason -, as is his calling the capital of Ukraine "Kiev", and pretending that "five HIMARS launchers were destroyed this week", thus proving that he swallows even the most obviously fraudulent Russian propaganda. Of course, a guy who quotes "Lord Bebo", who in turn quotes Scott Ritter, is a fool.

As for the president of Georgia, it is a lie to say that she "is French". She is Georgian on both sides and was only born in Paris because her parents had to flee Georgia to escape the Bolsheviks: when she was born, Stalin was still in power. I also note that Jaq's wording suggests that he doesn't know that Georgia has a president and a prime minister, who are two different people, that the president - still in office until the 16th - is not only the ceremonial head of state, elected without any cheating, but commander in chief of the armed forces, and that Georgians can indeed "see what is happening in Ukraine" and want to do exactly what Ukraine did in 2013-14, which is to overthrow a brutal tyrant and Russian puppet who stole the election. That's why hundreds of thousands of them are demonstrating every night.; 12/1/24, 8:48 PM
Narr said...: Sploogecicles.; 12/1/24, 8:49 PM
Christopher B said...: @tcrosse, to the best of my knowledge from other discussions, the President can only issue pardons for Federal crimes. Convictions in state courts are covered by the rules in that state. (This was part of the reason for going after Trump in NY and GA since Hochul wouldn't pardon him, and in Georgia you can't be pardoned without serving time and the Governor doesn't have control of pardons.); 12/1/24, 8:49 PM
Christopher B said...: From now on, Bich has no reason to whine when Trump blatantly contradicts any previous statement.; 12/1/24, 8:53 PM
Narayanan said...: BULLSICLE; 12/1/24, 8:57 PM
Narayanan said...: reckless = wreckful; 12/1/24, 9:01 PM
Gospace said...: Vindemann lied under oath in testimony to Congress. Among other things. Let's see...
UCMJ
ARTICLE 88. Contempt toward Officials
ARTICLE 107. False Statements
ARTICLE 131. Perjury
ARTICLE 133. Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman
And I'm certain we could find a boatload of things to add under:
ARTICLE 134. General Article
Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.; 12/1/24, 9:05 PM
Dave Begley said...: True.; 12/1/24, 9:07 PM
Narayanan said...: Hope it doesn't "disappear.
=========
won't it have to be returned pronto?; 12/1/24, 9:12 PM
Original Mike said...: Scientists Who Were Instrumental to COVID-19 ‘Natural Origin’ Narrative Received Over $50 Million in NIAID Funding in 2020–21

Fauci's institute funded the research at the Wuhan Lab which lead directly to the deaths of millions worldwide, as well as great social upheaval. He then directed a coverup of this fact by, among other actions, distributing millions of federal dollars to coerce and entice others to aid in his coverup. Among other things, he masterminded a criminal conspiracy.; 12/1/24, 9:20 PM
Louise B said...: I write Regency romances and had never heard of her. Thanks for the tip!; 12/1/24, 9:23 PM
Drago said...: Next up for the biden crime family: Joey Bag-O-dementia pardons his brother James AND himself on Jan 19, 2025!

Bank on it.; 12/1/24, 9:23 PM
Malesch Morocco said...: Finally remembered to order through your link. Thanks for the best blog on the face of the earth.; 12/1/24, 9:30 PM
Original Mike said...: How Fauci’s inner circle shielded the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s U.S. collaborator; 12/1/24, 9:38 PM
planetgeo said...: Seems like everything now is eager to come out as MAGA, even ice balls.; 12/1/24, 10:18 PM
Peachy said...: they have not been charged with crimes yet. LOL. Soon.; 12/1/24, 10:25 PM
Drago said...: "It's transitory inflation."
"Afghanistan was a success."
"The border is secure."
"Robert Hur lied. Biden is fine."
"Those videos are cheapfakes."
"Biden had jetlag."
"Biden had a cold."
"Biden isn't going to be replaced."
"Biden isn't going to pardon Hunter."; 12/1/24, 10:42 PM
cfs said...: I'm not sure if he is serious, but Jack Poso said Hunter told Biden over Thanksgiving that he was going to write a book beginning after the first of the year. Maybe there was a bit of a threat there.

I can understand a pardon of a son for crimes charged (although I don't agree with it), but a blanket pardon back to 1/1/2014? Hunter joined the Burisma Board in April of that year. Does this prevent Hunter from using the 5th to keep from testifying in any other investigation? Also, will Joe also pardon his brother?; 12/1/24, 11:00 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I will give you exactly one guess who wrote the following:

"Biden’s son convicted in federal court and Biden declines to pardon him which is all somehow further evidence of Biden’s corruption.

Exhausting."; 12/1/24, 11:09 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Or this beauty:

"Biden’s statement upon his son’s conviction is more or less everything you could hope it would be. I’ve had my criticisms of him as a President but one shouldn’t forget the difference with the institution-scorning rule-of-law antagonist Trump is very stark."; 12/1/24, 11:11 PM
wendybar said...: I don't EVER want to hear from Progressives that "NOBODY is above the law." They ruined THAT talking point now. What do they have left besides assassination??; 12/2/24, 1:34 AM
wendybar said...: Time to fire this guy, and all the other liars like him...
Biden kept his word alright....to his meth head son...not to Americans whom he hates, and shat on.

John Harwood
@JohnJHarwood
·
Follow
people who insist Biden will pardon Hunter after specifically ruling it out are telling on themselves

they can't imagine someone acting on principle and keeping his word

Readers added context
On December 1, 2024, President Joe Biden announced that he had in fact pardoned his son Hunter: whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…; 12/2/24, 1:46 AM
wendybar said...: Luke Thompson
@ltthompso
·
Follow
I’m glad Biden is leaving the White House doing the only thing he’s done well his whole career: humiliating the people who defended and vouched for him as anything other than a two-bit hustling scumbag.
8:12 PM · Dec 1, 2024; 12/2/24, 1:48 AM
wendybar said...: "The Bidens are correct when they sat that the legal system was “corrupted by political leaders in this country,” or as Joe puts it, “that raw politics has infected this process” — but not in the way they pretend.

Hunter got an unfair advantage because of his father’s power. He broke laws with impunity and knew that nobody would ever stop him doing exactly what he wanted. Every time he slipped up, his father and his minions in the FBI, DOJ, IRS, State Department, and CIA intervened to get him off the hook.

The corrupted investigation in Delaware was just the tip of the iceberg. Hunter didn’t even have to worry about legal fees and living expenses to support his lavish lifestyle. Daddy’s donors always came through.
The person who corrupted the legal system in this country is Joe Biden. He weaponized it against his political nemesis Donald Trump, and Trump’s supporters. Trump is the victim of unjust prosecution, not Hunter.

But the American people understand that, as they proved on Election Day when they elected Trump in a landslide, despite the lawfare.

That’s why the news of Hunter’s pardon is the least surprising news of the decade. Nobody believes the word of a Biden."
https://nypost.com/2024/12/01/opinion/we-always-knew-joe-biden-would-pardon-troubled-son-hunter/; 12/2/24, 2:09 AM
wendybar said...: Seth Barrett Tillman
@SethBTillman
·
Follow
HUNTER BIDEN PARDON?

If as President BIDEN claims DOJ did not follow professional norms, & DOJ is instead bowing to political pressure, should not BIDEN fire someone? And if BIDEN is wrong about the norm-violation, should not someone (calling Merrick Garland) resign in protest?
10:57 PM · Dec 1, 2024; 12/2/24, 2:31 AM
Quaestor said...: "[Hunter Biden] is free and clear for anything he did for the past 10 years no matter what comes out in the future."

However, could he not be subpoenaed to testify under oath about THE LAPTOP and all the evidence of corruption it contains? Since he's pardoned, he cannot reasonably claim 5th Amendment immunities. The pardon isn't proactive. If he lies under oath, it's perjury. A top-notch trial lawyer could skin him alive and expose the Big Guy for the miserable crook and liar he is and always has been.; 12/2/24, 3:24 AM
Jaq said...: Mostly Peaceful protests in Georgia.

"hundreds of thousands of them are protesting every night"

I believe you.; 12/2/24, 4:59 AM
Narayanan said...: are UW Physics brainiacs investigating?; 12/2/24, 6:40 AM
Christopher B said...: He has to. There's nothing keeping Hunter from being forced to testify now, and he knows Hunter won't go to jail for him for any reason.; 12/2/24, 7:43 AM