December 18, 2024

Sunrise — 7:08.

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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.

66 comments:

Curious George said...

Snow's coming.

lonejustice said...

I'm in the middle of reading The Sleepwalkers - How Europe Went to War 1914, by Christopher Clark. The history podcast called "The Rest Is History" hosted by historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, highly recommend it, although they disagree with the title. My American high school history class ended with the beginning of WWI, so this is all new to me. I find it utterly fascinating. WWI was entirely preventable, and the result was the most violent and deadly century we have ever known which resulted in WW II, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and millions and millions of unnecessary deaths. What an unnecessary tragedy. It almost makes you want to cry.

Clyde said...

Clyde's Top 15 Favorite "New" Songs of 2024 - Part 4 of 16

#13 Jennifer Trynin - "Better Than Nothing" - Cockamamie - 1994

This is another one that showed up as a gift of the algorithm. I listened to a lot of '90s rock and alt-rock this year, and Amazon decided that I needed to hear this song.

There were two versions on YouTube of the official video for this song, and although the picture here is of poor quality (especially the round ending), this is still the better of the two. I debated just putting up the audio but watching this may make you nostalgic for the simpler days of the mid-1990s, so here you go.

Jennifer Trynin - Better Than Nothing

Clyde said...

(especially the rough ending)

narciso said...

https://x.com/Cernovich/status/1869533687664271591

narciso said...

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/12/18/matt-gaetzs-pistol-packing-response-to-news-house-panel-will-release-ethics-report-n2183376

Clyde said...

"Crazy Joe's" DISCOUNT PARDON WAREHOUSE!

narciso said...

https://x.com/TheRicanMemes/status/1869534219975938066

MikeD said...

I've just seen a NYT Ethicit's question at Twitchy which seems to beg for NYT junky Althouse' link
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2024/12/18/jd-vance-nyt-neighbor-wont-stop-praying-for-me-n2405401

DINKY DAU 45 said...

co president elect Elon Musk says shut down government till trump is elected. Stock market plummeting,41$ approval drop for trump trump says groceries too hard to reduce ad the 24 hour end to the Ukraine WAR too hard now .We know repubs cant govern(118th I believe least productive inept sine 1950s. and House Majority may be minority the way its going . And its just the beginning wait till tariffs start you think your paying more now.. So let the show begin this is what the palty voting population wanted and here it comes OLIGARCHY DELUXE with co president Musk and trump..YUP sometimes you do get what you deserve..As they say at the HOLD EM table "read em and weep" lets get all trumps inept picks in,he won he deserves to get who he wants and they sure aint working for you! Rollem......

Kakistocracy said...

Americans voted for government by tantrum, and they’re getting it early.

Trump joins Elon Musk in opposing House GOP’s government funding bill ~ CNBC

Once again, the absolutely stupidest possible way to run the most important economy on the planet. I must admit I got it wrong -- I didn't think the mayhem would start until next year but we've got it now for some pre Christmas excitement.

We've got 4 years of this, it's going to be so so much fun to watch in a schadenfreude kind of way.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Whenever I find myself missing Allen Ginsburg...

Mason G said...

How often do you have to wipe the spittle off your monitor in order to see what you're typing?

narciso said...

Ginsberg was quite mad wasnt he

narciso said...

https://www.timesofisrael.com/meet-sara-funaro-the-first-female-and-first-jewish-mayor-of-florence-italy/

Mason G said...

Trump joins Elon Musk in opposing House GOP’s government funding bill ~ CNBC

What power does Trump (or Musk, for that matter) have here? It's not like they currently hold office, right? Isn't J. Biden (D) the current president? What's he doing about this? Does it matter? Is that too many questions in a row?

tcrosse said...

BTW the market was due for a correction.

William50 said...

Clyde, love your music posts. Thank you.

Kakistocracy said...

Hey GOP, he bought you, he broke you. Good luck!

Very interesting to conflate buying a social platform for $44 billion, becoming its most followed user, and using that power to lobby a congressional vote with "the voice of the people"

Elon Musk fueled backlash to spending plan with false and misleading claims ~ Politico

Trump isn't even in office yet. This is gonna be a sh*t show

Jimmy said...

they cut rates, and it freaked the market out. But it also lowered the interest on the debt. crazy stuff

Kakistocracy said...

It’s been a hell of a week since Trump rang the opening bell at the Stock Exchange.

Dave Begley said...

The Rest is History is fantastic.

Mason G said...

Very interesting to conflate buying a social platform for $44 billion, becoming its most followed user, and using that power to lobby a congressional vote with "the voice of the people"

Who did that conflating? Not me.

But since you brought it up, Musk is a person, is he not? Lots of people agree with him, do they not? Nobody is forcing those people to follow Musk, are they? People have the right to make their views known to their elected representatives, do they not? And about using power- didn't Kamala attempt to use the power of the celebrities she hired to try to drag her across the finish line in the recent election?

Jaq said...

To believe it was "preventable" is to overlook the geo-strategic dynamics that caused the war. It's like saying that the Chicago Fire was preventable, when the whole town, including its sidewalks, was built out of wood, and light and heat were provided by flames. Sure, you could have moved the lamp away from Mrs O'Leary's cow, but it was only a matter of time before some other spark lit the conflagration.

TickTock said...

Broken trees with a smokestack in the background.

Where was our hostess mind traveling this morning. Had she read the MR post on discussing philosophy with ChatGPT o before talking her morning walk?

paminwi said...

Fabulous!

walter said...

If only Kamala was set up to save the economy and the stock market.

William said...

Sounds like a book worth checking out. Right around the centennial of WWI, there were a lot of book that came out. I read some of them. There's a kind of morbid fascination in reading about WWI. I don't think any war will ever top it for stupidity and utter futility.. In some battles, fifty thousand men were lost in a single day. The lucky ones got vaporized in artillery barrages, others got tangled up in barbed wire and bled out in no man's land. There were no real religious, class, or ethnic differences between the combatants. At the end of the war, they further fucked things up, and made the world safe for Lenin, Mussolini, and Hitler..........We're not further evolved than those combatants or peacemakers at Versailles. It could happen again. It happened again after the defeat of Napoleon.

Gospace said...

Think of it another way- if the praying is having an actual effect on her- she doesn't like it!,/i>

Hmmm.. Why wouldn't she like it? Ask yourself that. No good answers come to my mind.

Gospace said...


Gospace said...

I do wish it were possible to edit replies...

Paddy O said...

Coyote and bear family in my yard a couple nights ago

Michael McNeil said...

As Althouse has pointed out, it is possible to edit replies—simply delete the comment and repost an edited version.

TaeJohnDo said...

Pointing out and publishing extracts is 'false and misleading' and manipulating people by sharing opinions and facts... "The CR bill changes the definition and Borden’s (Broaden's) the Scope of a "United States person" to include anyone present in the U.S., not just citizens or permanent residents." I oppose that. "Congress is allowed to block subpoenas for “House Data” I oppose that. The CR Bill "...includes a one-year extension on the State Department's Global Engagement Center..." which is an organization dedicated to censorship. I oppose that. A 40% increase in pay for congress. I oppose that... Over 1500 pages for a 3 month CR ... I oppose that... I appreciate that Musk and Ramaswamy can amplify my voice so the leeches running our govt cab get off that tit they sucking blood from and maybe finally be held accountable to what we voted for.

TickTock said...

Interesting. And looks like you will have some cleanup in the morning.

tcrosse said...

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, eh?

Paddy O said...

Indeed I did. But worth it. Mostly just paper and plastic trash. The bears like bread ends and whatever is left in sour cream jars. The one time we threw out a old box of solidified sugar was the happiest I'd ever seen a bear.

Eva Marie said...

Reminds me of Dali.

Mark said...

40% increase in pay? That's not what I read.

The fact that you tacitly accept claims without bothering to verify them just makes your whole litany ridiculous. Just spit out your talking points like a good little serf.

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


These people are disgusting. They can't help making themselves the BUTT of the joke.

Being Libertarian
@beinlibertarian
·
Follow
Democrat influencers fangirling about meeting Hunter Biden is just a symptom of why they have no moral high ground

https://twitchy.com/brettt/2024/12/18/special-all-of-the-progressive-influencers-got-to-meet-hunter-biden-and-get-selfies-n2405415

wendybar said...

Have you tried crying about it???

Tina Trent said...

That sounds interesting. I remember liking Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory.

Tina Trent said...

Which part of Ginsberg do you like most? His NAMBLA politics or his awful poetry, which nobody actually reads? Some of the juvenilia is pretty good, though.

Tina Trent said...

Oh, I get it, Cracker. I must need an irony supplement.

Tina Trent said...

Yes. Naropa Institute was NAMBLA Inc.

Mark said...

$6600 is nor 40% of $170k.

Kakistocracy said...

It’s weird to think that Musk will end up having paid far less for the United States Government than he did for Twitter. To be fair -- what he paid for twitter was kinda the down payment for the presidency. It was a package deal. He needed both.

Enigma said...

Hmmm. Offhand I agree with Jaq. This comes across as wishful thinking of ideologues, and historians indeed fall into predictable political camps. Some are globalists or Marxists at heart, while others emphasize general human nature or uniquely "Great Men."

WWI was 'preventable' only if the attitudes of the day were aligned with the avoidance of war and minimizing the loss of life. It came about as the European global empires were established and/or fading. Tribalism and racial superiorty (eugenics) theories were mainstream. Secularism was rising (i.e., Marxism was fresh) while religion and monarchs (divine right of Kings) were fading. There was a long tradition of drafting restless youth for combat to (1) learn discipline and bravery, and (2) manage violent, directionless people in a somewhat positive way. Familes were relatively huge and early deaths were much more common (disease, childbirth, accidents, etc.), so parents likely expected a few of their children to die. People followed church/print news and had a narrower worldview -- often happy to die for God and country out of duty.

All of this changed with WW2. Global birthrates fell off a cliff, many lessons were learned about broad-brush ideologies (i.e., Marxism and socialism were tried and expectations did not match reality by the 1970s), and media-and-entertainment-driven globalism became the most common ideology (and thereby lead to the backlash of Iran 1979, the World Trade Center bombings, Brexit, Trump, etc.).

Enigma said...

Alan Ginsberg's "Ballad of the Skeleton's" Lyrics:

Said the Presidential Skeleton
I won't sign the bill
Said the Speaker skeleton
Yes you will

Said the Representative Skeleton
I object
Said the Supreme Court skeleton
Whaddya expect

Said the Miltary skeleton
Buy Star Bombs
Said the Upperclass Skeleton
Starve unmarried moms

Said the Yahoo Skeleton
Stop dirty art
Said the Right Wing skeleton
Forget about yr heart

Said the Gnostic Skeleton
The Human Form's divine
Said the Moral Majority skeleton
No it's not it's mine

Said the Buddha Skeleton
Compassion is wealth
Said the Corporate skeleton
It's bad for your health
...


Thursday morning Beat poetry. :-)

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858779092/

Enigma said...

This is Chuck Schumer's last blast in charge. Address the current senators, and pray that Manchin and Sinema don't defect.

Enigma said...

Tech stocks/NASDAQ/crypto have been in silly bubble territory for years and years. Real estate and health care providers have been floating high on government gifts for years and years. Anything "green" has been floating on government gifts, to include Musk's Tesla.

Tina Trent said...

Also Rites of Spring. More literary than war historical, but that’s important too.

Tina Trent said...

Imagine a world without Beat Poetry.

That’s not so bad, is it?

Aggie said...

I read that the increase in pay was from $170K to $237K. Which one is correct?

TaeJohnDo said...

I see conflicting reports on the pay increase. It would be 40% if it was retroactive. I now see OMB is stating it would apply going forward, so 3.8%. No objection to the other items, I see. The fact that you only key in on one item to smear me is telling. But then, that is what small minded things like you do, isn't it?

tim maguire said...

One of my favorite podcasts. I haven't heard that episode yet, but my favorite book on the start of WWI is The Guns of August, by Barbara Tuchman.

Narr said...

It's long past time to put Tuchman's book out to pasture--with Keegan's lousy tome.

Add Ferguson's "The Pity of War" to essential readings; Hew Strachan, Fromkin, and McMeekin all have valuable perspectives.

Though I've read a lot of Holland and appreciate his work, I don't know anything about the other guy and haven't listened to their podcast beyond some short (>10min.) samples.

Jaq said...

"WWI was entirely preventable,"

You see, this is what makes it essentially a historical novel; every good novel has an emotional driver, and this cranks the tragedy of the war to 11. Each death is that much more tragic because it was "preventable." I don't mean to say that time spent reading about the run up to WWI is wasted. I really enjoyed "The Guns of August" and there are many lessons in there to be drawn from it, but not necessarily the conclusions expressed by the author of any particular history. You have to read these books in the context of what we know now, having lived a further century, and having seen many things unfold that "seemed like good ideas at the time."

I am in a mood right now where I think that the Anglo Dutch war was maybe the most consequential war in terms of modern European history, in that the British learned a valuable lesson, the way to win a war between equally matched opponents, or even against one who is possibly more powerful, is to want it more, and the way to make your country want it more is to make them believe that the war is existential. England feared that a European power with a large navy could conquer it, a risk it could not take. And it won to the war by continuing to take losses until the Dutch decided that the numbers didn't really work for them.

This if course goes back to my "ahistorical" take that England wanted to destroy Germany, because Germany was building a navy, possibly creating the conditions for a replay of the Anglo Dutch war, only this time with a far more powerful, resource rich country as an opponent. This had to be nipped in the bud.

One Fine Day said...

To quote some people from here in WI: "This is what democracy looks like." So suck it, Kaka.

Narr said...

His memory of after school in NYC, while his parents were at work--"mountains of cock, grand canyons of asshole"--sticks in the mind.

Narr said...

Someone dubbed a period of misrule by the Borgias as a "pornocracy."

Narr said...

Don't blame for the italics.

Narr said...

Is a high bar.

Somebody had to say it.

Tina Trent said...

I trust Narr’s suggestions.

Tina Trent said...

I briefly had a very smart and funny and neurotic boyfriend — could play anything on the piano, from any genre, from memory — leave New College because it was “too restricting” and transferred to Naropa to study under Ginsberg’s acolytes.

He also had his colon flushed five times a week.

He said everything he did was to annoy his socialite mother. I at least appreciated his honesty and humor and animal spirit. But that school ruined him. He now records music based on whale sounds in Alaska.

Maybe I’m being too judgmental.