Althouse: At the Wednesday Night Café…

March 5, 2025

At the Wednesday Night Café…

... you can talk all night.

90 comments:

rehajm said...: While we were Wednesday morning quarterbacking the SOTU the leftie sanctuary city mayors were coldly and soberly referred to DOJ for their violations of federal immigration law. I think there was some shouting matches but they didn't raise much interest...; 3/5/25, 7:00 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: It's comforting to know that the 2025 Resistance to Actually Hitler has shown up to defend Our Democracy with some actual weapons in the form of their little paddles that they used to use before the Civil War to signal the auctioneer that they were raising their bid on the negro up for auction ... except now they're placing little slogans on their racism paddles such as "I'm retarded" and "He's retarded" with a little arrow pointing either to the left or right to indicate which seat the retarded person is sitting in.

Good to know that Literally Hitler will soon be forced into his bunker at the Eagles Nest A Lago to suffer an ignominious defeat at the hands of (checks notes) .... Al Green waving his cane at a cloud.; 3/5/25, 7:08 PM
Leland said...: Interesting that both CBS and CNN conducted polls on Trump’s speech that showed over 2/3rd approval of what Trump had to say. That’s very impressive.; 3/5/25, 7:12 PM
rhhardin said...: It's been a solid day of no Brightspeed internet, apparently an area-wide failure. No estimate on time to fix. Possibly they're comparing cost of fixing to revenue from DSL subscriptions in the area.

Phone hotspot is a lame substitute owing to usage limits.; 3/5/25, 7:14 PM
Leland said...: Starlink is working.; 3/5/25, 7:20 PM
Big Mike said...: I have been repeatedly bringing up in the story of Peyton McNabb in Althouse comment threads. Peyton’s story was among those told by Donald Trump last night in his speech. She was deliberately spiked hard in the face by a biological male during a high school volleyball game — he admitted that he deliberately targeted her, and he laughed when she collapsed unconscious on the floor of the gym.

She should be picking out her prom dress and going around to colleges with her parents. Instead she’s undergoing therapy for the brain damage she suffered.

Can someone explain to me why mature females who think of themselves as feminists can not, and will not, support a young female athlete like Peyton? Is it jealousy? Are withered old harridans jealous of a pretty, (formerly) intelligent, athletic young woman? The world wonders.; 3/5/25, 7:29 PM
Dave Begley said...: Big Mike:

The Dems have made a mistake of historic proportions. No sane person supports men in women’s sports. Trump is a genius by exposing the insanity of the Left.; 3/5/25, 7:37 PM
Leland said...: Peyton exists as a barrier to Democrat power. Therefore, she must be tossed aside for the good of the Democrats in pink, just as they ignored the deaths of Jocelyn Nungaray and Laken Riley.; 3/5/25, 7:41 PM
rehajm said...: Only ‘Wrong Track’ has polled better than Trump’s address in the last decade. Unsolicited advice to nitpickers, paddleballers and pimp cane pimps from Pumpkinhead and someone who will never support you: You should stop talking…; 3/5/25, 7:42 PM
tcrosse said...: If Trump were to sign an EO that the world is round, the Dems would insist it was flat. Hate makes them stupid.; 3/5/25, 7:43 PM
rhhardin said...: Satellites have problems too. Buck and Clay (Limbaugh network) have dropouts around 14:30 each day when the satellite passes close to the equinox sun, on the local radio station. It will fix itself with the time change moving it outside the show's time slot.; 3/5/25, 7:45 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: O’Reilly tonight: “Trump’s one of the luckiest presidents in U.S. history because his opposition hates him so much that they’re destroying themselves. Hatred will do that to you. You’ll destroy yourself. That’s exactly what’s happening.”; 3/5/25, 7:45 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: @Leland "both CBS and CNN"

CBS forged Texas Air National Guard memos to try to rig the election for John Kerry in 2004.

CNN convinced 51 current and former CIA and NSA spooks to sign a specifically-worded statement suggesting (but not actually saying) that the Hunter Biden laptop was "Russian disinformation" in an attempt to rig the 2024 election.

Neither of these organizations are "news" services. They make up stuff to help the Democrats rig elections and nothing ELSE they report can be relied upon either.

You should Google "Gell-Mann syndrome."; 3/5/25, 7:45 PM
Leland said...: I read “State of Fear” including the epilogue, but I don’t know what that has to do with poll results that neither organization expected would show Trump’s speech was favorable. When CBS and CNN announced Trump won the election, did you not believe them?; 3/5/25, 7:51 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: @Big Mike who wonders:

"Can someone explain to me why mature females who think of themselves as feminists can not, and will not, support a young female athlete like Peyton?"

Mike, to understand this, you have to understand women. And no man can do that. So let me help you: Women hate all other women because they are in competition with those women for attention. Women value attention above every other thing, even gold or diamonds.

Feminists are usually older or ugly women, who can no longer attract any attention and see younger women (who can still attract attention) as enemies to destroy by whatever means they can.

This is how women approach death and gravity, which they cannot accept, but which dooms them all at any rate.

A man can be 70 and still attract an 18-year-old supple fertile female. The same cannot be said of any woman. And they know this. And it eats them alive, from the inside.

Is this starting to make some sense, Mike?; 3/5/25, 7:52 PM
Leland said...: I should also note my father was one of the people that replaced W when the 147th converted to F-101s, so I knew the truth before people were able to show CBS used fraudulent documents.; 3/5/25, 7:57 PM
n.n said...: [Trump's] opposition hates him so much that they’re destroying themselves

#HateLovesAbortion; 3/5/25, 7:58 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: "When CBS and CNN announced Trump won the election, did you not believe them?

That's kind if irrelevant, since they don't make those decisions, but if you were in the business of manipulating people, one would of course to further that aim, print true information from time to time that could not otherwise be denied and then claim that you were mere observers, would you not? As a way of trying to "fake" objectivity.

Again, read up on Gell-Mann. You are going through the stages.; 3/5/25, 7:58 PM
Eva Marie said...: @Big Mike: I don’t know any female young or old who doesn’t support biological female only sports divisions. I see the advocates in the news, but I’ve never met one in person.; 3/5/25, 8:07 PM
Aggie said...: "Can someone explain to me why mature females who think of themselves as feminists can not, and will not, support a young female athlete like Peyton? "

It's as David Mamet has said: "In order to continue advancing their illogical arguments modern liberals have to pretend not to know things."

The modern Progressive Liberal Democrat is trained, above all other things, to observe the Party Line and obey it at all costs - apparently, even if the cost is self-immolation due to the illogical arguments.; 3/5/25, 8:08 PM
Leland said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/5/25, 8:20 PM
Leland said...: I’ll be more diplomatic. If you think CBS and CNN are manipulating polls that make Trump look good, then you are the one suffering amnesia, period.; 3/5/25, 8:23 PM
Dave Begley said...: I watch Big East basketball via a pirate website that uses a Milwaukee station. Really can’t believe the Supreme Court election advertisements. Bad business! Bad policy!; 3/5/25, 8:51 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Via Reddit: Asian gal lives in her own TARDIS

Remember those from 'Dr Who'? It was bigger in the inside than the outside. And it was "powered by the Transpower System, which charges it whenever it is in Normal Space."; 3/5/25, 8:52 PM
Rory said...: "Can someone explain to me why mature females who think of themselves as feminists can not, and will not, support a young female athlete like Peyton?"

Because they've taken much more through feminism than they've given up to transgenderism.; 3/5/25, 8:52 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I don't much about economics but these videos of people in Canada purporting to take American goods off the shelves. Aren't they absorbing a big loss? For what?

Stupidity is going to convince me of what?; 3/5/25, 9:01 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Lem Vibe Bandit:
Reminds me of the people who tweeted J. K. Rowling that they'd burned copies of the Harry Potter books. Her reply was something like "Thanks for the money! Buy it to read or buy it to burn, I get the same royalties either way."; 3/5/25, 9:09 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I don't remember if I posted this. I collect stuff like this to later post here but sometimes I just have enough time to go to bed early so I can get up early. If I posted this before I apologize.

Via Reddit: "A psycho tried to stab multiple people in Boston but was stopped when a cop shot him dead. Boston officials then went on TV to offer condolences… to the attacker"

link to video; 3/5/25, 9:11 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: "If you think CBS and CNN are manipulating polls that make Trump look good, then you are the one suffering amnesia, period."

I don't care what they're doing. I pay no attention to them, since I know what they are and how they have manipulated people in the past. I pay zero attention to them when what they do seems in the abstract to support something I care about, or when they oppose my aims.

They are not honest brokers. Therefore they are untrustworthy in all aspects. ALL of them. If they temporarily position themselves on my side, I'm smart enough to realize that is temporary and only for their own objectives.

Credibility can only be spent once. They spent theirs.; 3/5/25, 9:13 PM
gilbar said...: FormerLawClerk ??
I'll type this S L O W L Y, so that MAYBE you will understand..
If you've lost both CBS and CNN.. You've lost the left..
I don't expect you to understand, because you seem willfully ignorant;
but there it is:
IF both CBS and CNN say Trump won.. Then Trump won BIGLY; 3/5/25, 9:16 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I'm trying to process the idea that the Democrats sitting on their hands all night, even when it was about children surviving cancer, was "disrespectful'?

I guess I'm of two minds right now. One hand, other hand. Neither here nor there.; 3/5/25, 9:19 PM
FormerLawClerk said...: "IF both CBS and CNN say Trump won. Then Trump won BIGLY."

If you believe CBS and CNN in this ... then you will believe them in the other. You see them as worthy of belief.

I know they are not worthy of belief in any event and they want you to believe them now so they can mislead you later.

They are not honest narrators whether they are supporting your cause or not.; 3/5/25, 9:30 PM
Ampersand said...: Crazy or not, the Resistance represented by the Dems last night is composed of at least 75 million people. Some are quite intelligent . That's an awful lot of potential trouble.; 3/5/25, 9:31 PM
Jupiter said...: It's tax season again. I expect most of you pay someone -- quite a bit, actually -- to do your taxes, and they file them electronically. I want to suggest that you do what I do; file your taxes yourself, on paper. I have always done this, because I am a computer programmer, and I am damned if I will pay someone a thousand dollars to do what I can do myself; follow a meaningless algorithm to its logical conclusion. But lately, I have been noticing that the IRS is simply unable to respond in a timely fashion. I am still exchanging paper mail with them about my 2023 return, which they hosed up completely. I believe that if enough people file on paper, we can perform what amounts to a paper Denial-Of-Service attack on the IRS. Bring them to their knees, and then whack them on the back of the neck. Combined with the extreme antipathy that many Trump appointees feel towards the IRS and the insanely complicated tax code, this is a chance to bring about the complete abolishment, or at least a massive simplification, of a system that has become increasingly burdensome and irrational. Shove your return down their throat. Let 'em gag on it.; 3/5/25, 10:15 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: Tariffs THEY ARE THE GREATEST, farmers love em,,they are the best..lets do a 1 month exemption. The scam isay I will put tariffs on you you say what can I do for you and voila exemption,They are so great why exemptions> Only took 24 hours this time to do the exemption scam. This guy just wants tax breaks and then extend golf time to 60 % of presidency instead of th enow 35% and then reap th eharvest from white house home shopping network..Tariffs are the greatest. i KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM i ... This fella has no need to deal with voters ,hes out at 82 and just racking u the coin!; 3/5/25, 10:16 PM
OldManRick said...: If a man who was in the 90th percentile, who finished 5th in a race being behind by minutes or seconds, who jumped, threw, or lifted 95% of what the 1st place male did, fully transitions to a female shouldn't he be in the same relative position to the top females?

If he isn't, then he either didn't fully transition or it's impossible for any man to transition and compete fairly. Either one of which makes the position that trans-women should compete in women's sports a ludicrous idea. This is obvious to those who oppose trans-women in women's sports.

Also how come all the trans-women end up at the top of pyramid? Do any men transition to get from the middle of the field to get to the mid upper half? If men transitioning was not just to become the top women's athletes, then you would see some who transition to the less prestigious tenth place finishes.

This is why it's an 80-20 issue. It makes no sense. I have to believe that the Democrats base their issues not on rational thought but on blind irrational opposition to the any idea other side may hold.; 3/5/25, 10:18 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: Canada says" The USA's stock market is crashing so badly, it's almost as if the country is being run by someone who went bankrupt 6 times. Trudeau is great at stand up voulez vous couchez avec moi.; 3/5/25, 10:21 PM
Jupiter said...: "I have been repeatedly bringing up in the story of Peyton McNabb in Althouse comment threads."
Well. You don't have to be a female forced to play against men to get injured in sports. Look at football. But it is noteworthy that men don't play collegiate volleyball. Presumably because volleyball with men is more dangerous than professional hockey. So, injecting men into women's volleyball is authorizing men to maim women. Sounds like something a Democrat could get behind.; 3/5/25, 10:22 PM
William said...: Just now I've been reading a book about the Famine Years in Ireland. I never even heard of it while growing up. I don't suppose anyone every carried forward a memory of those years. Lots of memories and songs about betrayals and failed rebellions, but, the potato famine was not part of anyone's memory. From what I've read it was ghastly, and I presume people who survived did things that they'd just as soon forget.....The ultimate culprit besides British Imperialism was the ideology of the time. They didn't want to mess with laissez-faire capitalism......In our own time, there have been several horrendous famines. They were caused by collective farms. Collective farms were one of the really bad ideas of the twentieth century and perhaps caused more deaths than laissez faire capitalism.......Like the Potato Famine, the plight of those millions who starved on collective farms has never been recorded in song or story.; 3/5/25, 10:29 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: yup and the trumpers and the occult followers,,russia used to be the bad guy! The Kremlin says that American & Russian visions are now aligned. 80 years of hawkish foreign policy upended in a mere 6 weeks. You aint seen nothing yet, voting with Russia against Ukraine, no concession for Putin only Ukraine, extortion for minerals fuk art 5 and NATO. Fuk shared inteeligence,just get rid of that What do you think Ronnie? NEW ALLIANCE Russia,China, and the despots around the world ..beautiful MERIKA!; 3/5/25, 10:29 PM
Jim at said...: But it is noteworthy that men don't play collegiate volleyball.

They most certainly do.; 3/5/25, 10:34 PM
William said...: I'm pretty sure that if you wanted to get a movie made or a novel published, you would do better to detail the plight of a transgendered person rather than, say, the plight of someone like Peyton McNabb. Curious what excites the creative mind.; 3/5/25, 10:34 PM
OldManRick said...: But it is noteworthy that men don't play collegiate volleyball.

I live in the hotbed of college volleyball - Southern California, not only do men play but their games get significant attendance. CSULB vs UCLA or Hawaii or UCI routinely will sell out the 4,000 seat Walter Pyramid. BYU home games are packed. The championship sold out Pauley Pavilion last year. I usually catch a couple of games a year from CSULB, UCLA, UCI, and Pepperdine, it's a fast exciting sport to watch. You can catch it on ESPN; 3/5/25, 10:50 PM
gadfly said...: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not open to lifting Canada’s full package of retaliatory tariffs if US President Donald Trump leaves any tariffs on Canada in place, according to a senior Canadian government official.

Trudeau’s government is cool to the idea of a “middle ground” settlement in the trade war floated by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. In particular, any scenario where Canada has to fully rescind its retaliatory tariffs in return for a partial rollback of American tariffs will be rejected by the Canadian prime minister, said the official, speaking on condition they not be identified.

Trudeau won the Tariff battle, so why should he not demand a return to the existing treaty?

And in just one day, Trump's illegal tariff declariation, gasoline retail prices jumped 25%. There is no emergency condition to solve with the Canadians. Forty-six pounds of fentenal doesn't cut it folks and less than one percent of our alien immigrants came here by crossing our Northern border.; 3/5/25, 10:51 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: So, is the 6% drop in DJIA in early December better or worse than the 3% drop these last 2 weeks? Libs are so ignorant.; 3/5/25, 10:51 PM
Mason G said...: "and I am damned if I will pay someone a thousand dollars to do what I can do myself"

I pay someone to do my taxes because the last time I did my own, it took me twice as long as I would have had to work at my job to earn the money to pay for having someone else do it.; 3/5/25, 10:55 PM
Jim at said...: @ Gadfly
Then move to Canada and stfu.; 3/5/25, 10:57 PM
Jupiter said...: "A man can be 70 and still attract an 18-year-old supple fertile female. The same cannot be said of any woman. And they know this. And it eats them alive, from the inside."
Hmmm... speaking as a 70-year-old man, I'm going to say, that if some "18-year-old supple fertile female" were to express an attraction for me (unlikely as that seems), it would be incumbent upon me to tell her to go find some young stud to raise a family with. Where do you get this garbage?; 3/5/25, 10:57 PM
Jim at said...: I usually catch a couple of games a year from CSULB, UCLA, UCI, and Pepperdine, it's a fast exciting sport to watch.

Seconded. And so much better since the game went to rally scoring.; 3/5/25, 10:59 PM
Jupiter said...: It does seem, that aging is harder on women than it is on men. It strikes them harder, and faster. Which is, perhaps, why traditional society guided them to do what they do best, when they are best at it. But the biological reality is that biology doesn't need most of us, at all. Twenty generations of massive reproductive success can be wiped out by one tsunami. It's a jungle.; 3/5/25, 11:02 PM
Mason G said...: "And in just one day, Trump's illegal tariff declariation, gasoline retail prices jumped 25%."

What a load of crap. From msn.com:

Gas prices increased again on Wednesday, marking the third straight day of increases at the pumps. The new national average for regular gas rose to $3.205 per gallon, according to AAA. This represents an increase of more than three cents since Monday, when gas was $3.174 per gallon.

Going from $3.174 to $3.205 is a little over 1%. You're an idiot.; 3/5/25, 11:07 PM
Jupiter said...: "not only do men play but their games get significant attendance."
Really. I was under the impression that volleyball was one of those bogus women's "sports" that the universities had added in response to Title IX, so that they could continue to coin money with men's sports. I stand corrected. But then explain to me, why don't the men all have brain damage from each others' high-speed spikes? Are men better at dodging? Or just tougher?; 3/5/25, 11:16 PM
Jupiter said...: "Trudeau won the Tariff battle, so why should he not demand a return to the existing treaty?"
Good point. Plus, I understand that Chrystia Freeland is ginning up an alliance with the Brits to nuke us. Really, gadfly, your best bet is to move to Canada while you still can. It's not looking good for us dead-enders here in the USA. Go North, young man! Hurry!; 3/5/25, 11:23 PM
Jupiter said...: "I pay someone to do my taxes because the last time I did my own, it took me twice as long as I would have had to work at my job to earn the money to pay for having someone else do it."
Yeah, my taxes once took about an hour, but since I got investments it has become insane. But I am not saying it is easier for you, I am saying it is harder for them. War! But, if you prefer, go ahead. Quisle.; 3/5/25, 11:30 PM
Mason G said...: You can file a paper return even if someone else prepares it for you, you know.; 3/5/25, 11:37 PM
Jupiter said...: "Crazy or not, the Resistance represented by the Dems last night is composed of at least 75 million people. Some are quite intelligent . That's an awful lot of potential trouble."
Yeah, I worry about that too. Imagine if they had been running something besides Harris/Walz. It was a damned near-run thing.
So what are you thinking? Camps?; 3/5/25, 11:37 PM
Hassayamper said...: Crazy or not, the Resistance represented by the Dems last night is composed of at least 75 million people. Some are quite intelligent . That's an awful lot of potential trouble.

They are also urban rabbit-people who produce nothing more tangible than flowery words and are unable to change a flat tire. Physical cowards who have never been in a fistfight and don't know what end of a gun the bullet comes out of. Lotus-eaters who consider intentions and emotions and motivations more important than quantifiable results.

If push comes to shove, and the urbanites revolt against Middle America, they will not just lose, but be utterly wiped out.; 3/6/25, 1:19 AM
Achilles said...: Jupiter said...

But then explain to me, why don't the men all have brain damage from each others' high-speed spikes? Are men better at dodging? Or just tougher?

Men have faster reaction speeds on average. More grey matter in the nervous system and fast twitch muscle fibers. Also much higher bone density.

When you are training women to fight you just have to hold back because they have slower reactions.; 3/6/25, 2:53 AM
rehajm said...: For the recently interested but desperately seeking a talking point: Historically, equity market pullbacks of 10% happen 2x-3x a year…; 3/6/25, 3:53 AM
Big Mike said...: Where do you get this garbage?

@Jupiter (10:57), go look up the story Anna Nicole Smith (who was, granted, 27 when she married). Or, from another angle, look up Hugh Hefner.; 3/6/25, 4:13 AM
rehajm said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/6/25, 4:19 AM
Big Mike said...: Not to pick on you, Jupiter, but an individual who passed through puberty as a biological male will, on average, have more muscle mass, and be taller, have wider shoulders, and be stronger, quicker, and faster than a person who passed through puberty as a biological female. It’s called sexual dimorphism, and our species has it.; 3/6/25, 4:20 AM
rehajm said...: I caught the commitment to refer the leftie mayors to DOJ. The best was the bit of pity: I don’t think you’re bad people…; 3/6/25, 4:21 AM
rehajm said...: You all speak about a broken immigration system and yet here you guys are aiding and abetting in that entire process…I do not think you guys are bad people but I think you are ideologically misled which is why, unfortunately based on your responses, I’m going to be criminally referring you to the Department of Justice for investigation, and as soon as I leave here, these will be going over to Pam Bondi

They should and likely will be prosecuted…; 3/6/25, 4:24 AM
rehajm said...: I can’t speak for the others but Michelle Wu is just a bad person. Petty, vindictive, a bit of the sociopath…; 3/6/25, 4:26 AM
wendybar said...: The Truth Commotion
A truth’s initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed.It wasn’t the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn’t flat. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous, and its speaker a raving lunatic.

– Dresden James; 3/6/25, 4:38 AM
wendybar said...: I'm on another roll.....Wordle in 2 again!!!; 3/6/25, 4:43 AM
Leland said...: Credibility can only be spent once. They spent theirs.

Well sure, but you found an interesting way to waste yours.; 3/6/25, 5:47 AM
Saint Croix said...: Where do you get this garbage?

You don't believe in biological sex difference?

Women have a biological limit on their reproduction. It's puberty to menopause. A woman's lost 90% of her eggs by age 30 and 99% of them by age 40. When she hits menopause (45 to 55), she can't reproduce at all.

A man has no biological limit on his reproduction. It's puberty to death. .

Biological difference and human reproduction is why it's usually a man who is a "cradle robber" and a woman who is a "gold digger."

The French have a rule: a man should divide his age in half, and then add 7 years to that number. That is a good biological age for a wife.

Man 30, wife 22
Man 40, wife 27
Man 50, wife 32
Man 60, wife 37

Typically, women prefer older, richer men to younger, poorer men. A man in his 20s might have zero net wealth, while a man in his 40s might have enough to buy a house outright. Men, meanwhile, prefer hot, younger women. Whether it's conscious or subconscious, these are breeding strategies.; 3/6/25, 6:05 AM
Saint Croix said...: I'm pretty sure that if you wanted to get a movie made or a novel published, you would do better to detail the plight of a transgendered person rather than, say, the plight of someone like Peyton McNabb. Curious what excites the creative mind.

It's not the "creative mind" that decides what books will be published and what movies will be made. Creative people write the books and make the movies. But it's the finance people who make the calls. And the left has a near-monopoly on creative finance.; 3/6/25, 6:11 AM
Saint Croix said...: Volleyball is fun. But real volleyball is on a beach.; 3/6/25, 6:14 AM
Saint Croix said...: Games you can play on a beach: volleyball, football, soccer

Games you cannot play on a beach: basketball, baseball, hockey, swimming.

You can almost play golf on a beach but at some point you will become psychotic.; 3/6/25, 6:17 AM
rehajm said...: Seve used to play golf with sticks and rocks on the beach…learned a lot…; 3/6/25, 6:24 AM
wildswan said...: William
You are entirely wrong about no one remembering the Famine. It was reverberating still in my family when I grew up and we got out just before it happened. But among Irish and Irish-Americans it showed up as, shall we say, "distrust" of the English. The entire history of Irish efforts to get out from under the English, Irish-American assistance to those efforts and the English reactions to the drive for independence in the later 19C is related to what the English did when they reduced the population of Ireland from 8 million to 3 million in just a few years. But history is not a day at the beach. In 1940 many Irish supported the Nazis because they weren't the English while others, such as most of my family, had to give up reflexive opposition to the English in order to support Churchill and the English against the Nazis. And Churchill had ordered out the Black and Tans onto the Irish during the lifetime of my Boston Irish father - but we did it. It's not that the Nazis were worse than the English when the English were at their worst, it's that the Nazis were behaving like the 1840's English whereas the English had somewhat reformed.
The Dems have a similar problem, in that their historic enemy, capitalism, has morphed but they mostly have not and don't want to. That refusal leaves you sulking like Nancy Pelosi (what a glorious sight she was) and represented by sky-screamers like Rep. Green - the apparent leader of the Dems.; 3/6/25, 7:40 AM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: St Croix at 0605:
The French have a rule: a man should divide his age in half, and then add 7 years to that number. That is a good biological age for a wife.

American version: Take a year off for every $100,000 in his 401(k).; 3/6/25, 8:00 AM
William said...: @wildswan: Thanks for your comment. The English treated the Irish horrendously for eight hundred years. Cromwell evicted the Irish from the arable lands. Thirty percent of us perished during the subsequent famine, and there were other periods of pestilence and starvation before the Potato Famine. My observation is that there are no novels, songs, poems, movies about such events. There is something about a famine that people don't want to remember. Bards like to sing about glorious battles and fallen heroes. I know the name of Bobby Sand, but I do not know the name of a single starved Irish person during the Famine Years, and I presume one of my immediate ancestors was in their cohortl.; 3/6/25, 8:13 AM
Rusty said...: "and I am damned if I will pay someone a thousand dollars to do what I can do myself"
Get back to me after you've been audited.
You never. Never ever. Never. Show up for an audit in person.; 3/6/25, 8:27 AM
Rusty said...: "Crazy or not, the Resistance represented by the Dems last night is composed of at least 75 million people. Some are quite intelligent . That's an awful lot of potential trouble."
I'm pretty sure the people on the left who are calling themselves the resistance are quite a bit less than that. If there was a resistance on the left we would have seen it by now.
Meanwhile. The real resistance. The people necessary for any society to run, won.; 3/6/25, 8:32 AM
planetgeo said...: I'm looking forward to seeing a thread today on the Supreme Court 5-4 vote that essentially says that now any district judge can act as "President For a Day" or U.S. Comptroller to determine which bills must get paid.; 3/6/25, 8:42 AM
john mosby said...: Wendy, ref the truth commotion:

[I've got the truth baby, you got the notion
If we got together we'd be causing a commotion!

https://youtu.be/a7Tuta8aOhs?si=yi8-_WYZLu9VWNbj

JSM; 3/6/25, 8:52 AM
Tina Trent said...: Oy boys, those chrosomes in 70-year old netheregions are prone to birth defects, low birth weight, and lowered intelligence.

just like the 70-year old netheregions themselves.

Invincibility has a sell-by date for both sexes.; 3/6/25, 8:59 AM
john mosby said...: Ref old guys and young women:

The man is looking for the bulges in her shirt.

The woman is looking for the bulge in his pocket.

JSM; 3/6/25, 9:16 AM
john mosby said...: PS: Even/especially the financially independent woman is looking for a guy with a big wallet. Hell if she's going to spend her hard-earned money on some kinda layabout sweetback!

JSM; 3/6/25, 9:18 AM
john mosby said...: PPS: and if his sperm are broken, she can always get a sperm donor - whether a clinical one, or a pool boy....

JSM; 3/6/25, 9:19 AM
john mosby said...: Jupiter and Achilles, ref men as volleyball-wielding killers:

I thought a lot about this when I saw the video of a "girl" whacking a real girl with a field-hockey ball.

I thought, hm, I would not like to get hit in the head by either a boy- or girl-launched hockey ball.

Achilles has some good points about innate biological averages.

I would add that elite sports come down to fractions of a second. A man can launch that ball at much higher speeds, which means even smaller reaction time. If you have been training and playing with (real) females and are used to the time it takes to dodge or parry the ball, and suddenly a male comes in and slices most of that time off, you are more likely to get hit. You already gave up your childhood to get the reaction speed you already have; you are probably not going to make it much better before you finish your playing career.

In not-so-elite sports, say high school or Ivy League, you might eventually get used to the shorter reaction time and develop some kind of coping strategy, especially if it's the best girls going against middling boys. Sort of like me fighting Ronda Rousey. I have more brute strength, but she has more quickness. I will never land a blow or close a hold on her, and she will be able to kick me at will or maybe even put some kind of choke on me.

In truly elite sports - D1 NCAA, pros, olympians - the very best men are going to have an advantage over the very best women.

JSM; 3/6/25, 9:34 AM
Jupiter said...: From what I understand, the women who had regular sex with Hugh Hefner were attracted, but not by the bulge in his pants.; 3/6/25, 10:56 AM
Jupiter said...: But I'm still a bit puzzled by the volleyball thing. Maybe men dodge faster, but you're still going to catch one in the face once in a while. I think Achilles has it right, with "much higher bone density". So, yeah, men are tougher.; 3/6/25, 10:59 AM
Jupiter said...: And Big Mike, it's OK to pick on me. I'm tough. I can take it.; 3/6/25, 11:01 AM
NKP said...: Are men better at dodging? Or just tougher?

They're MEN. They are different from WOMEN.; 3/6/25, 11:02 AM
Josephbleau said...: “Shove your return down their throat. Let 'em gag on it.”

This strategy is vulnerable to attack. If the IRS was swamped this year the bureaucrats would slow walk even more, then blame DOGE for firing everyone and causing trouble.

They will probably do this anyway though.; 3/6/25, 12:20 PM