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.March 21, 2025
The first day of Spring — 6:49 a.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.
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39 comments:
Connor McGregor thinks he will be the next president of Ireland. He also seems to believe that this role is a powerful one. Neither one of these things is true. He's a coked up bully with more in common with Hunter Biden than Donald Trump.
I was an alternate on the Judicial Nominating Committee for an open seat for the Nebraska Court of Appeals. The Committee (lay and lawyer) forwards names to the Governor. The Governor selects. No political campaigns. No fundraising. No political commercials. But ever judge does stand for retention.
@Old and slow, now tell him that to his face.
We're just glad you're still kicking...
Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team, winning their NCAA March Madness game yesterday over Montana. Yes, the seeding said they should win handily, and they did, but yesterday a 12 seed beat a 5 seed, an 11 seed beat a 6, and a 10 seed beat a 7.
With sadness I say that Elon Musk has become a textbook example of the self-destruction of wealth and reputation. Compare him to the hubris of the AOL Time Warner merger, and how Steve Jobs lost billions by dumping his rock-bottom cheap Apple shares when Apple tried to get him to return to the firm. And how Jobs let himself die from cancer by living in his "reality distortion field." Musk is a product development genius, but his talents are narrow and brittle like Steve Jobs' talents.
Tesla went from being a left-wing activists passion product to a hate target for left-wing activists overnight. Falling sales, arson, vandalism in Canada. Live by zealots, die by zealots. Even friendly people don't want to drive around as a target for hate.
DOGE set back government efficiency efforts by at least 20 years, for the bulk of his work has outright failed or backfired. The core federal efficiency issue is and has been awful computer systems and out-of-date IT. Most government waste, and the ability to commit fraud, follows from ineffective IT systems and thousands of haphazard manual workarounds. This HAS BEEN KNOWN AND REPORTED for 30+ years.
Ignorant Musk and/or his teenage virgin data team:
1. Arrogantly thought return-to-work would cause many people to quit. Nope.
2. Arrogantly thought a lot of people would accept the terrible terms of the Fork in the Road offer, when the terms were terrible for non-retirees.
3. Arrogantly thought the "5 things you did" email requirement was a "genius idea" when it was perhaps the dumbest idea ever. He made enemies of Trump's Cabinet, anyone who has dealt with OPM's prior security lapses, and saddled DOGE with OPM's terrible reputation.
4. Arrogantly insulted or fired the (minority) of quality federal employees who were sympathetic to DOGE, and thereby lost their good will and willingness to help his teenage virgins figure out the broken IT systems.
5. Arrogantly fired a bunch of probationary employees, who then returned to work and slowed the prospects for effective RIF layoffs that survive the Republican Senate budget.
6. Arrogantly and single-handedly brought the corrupt and useless federal labor movement (unions) back from the dead. They were widely hated by government managers before Musk, but he gave the unions a clear goal and credibility among those sympathetic and those who hate bullying bosses.
7. Arrogantly touched the third rail of Social Security, sparking open rebukes from Republicans and chaos at local political events. The Republicans are now telling Musk to shut up.
There was another way to approach efficiency that likely would have worked. It involved listening and learning, and being sensitive to the (Republican) power dynamics embedded in government. But, arrogance blinds.
Enigma is easily defeated. - Turing
Musk is going to be just fine economically, the best in fact…and I learned long ago not to weigh in too heavily in forums about equities but the left is taking a victory lap over ‘tanking’ Tesla stock, the US is a small market for EVs where China is huge and EU is second. The bigger challenge is the Chinese EV makers are really good at making them and it’s…impossible to compete with BYD on price..
Yah, all the DOGE criticism is engineered to try and make it stop. The arguments over style are the worst.
@Big Mike -- women's March Madness starts today and I'm so excited. I'd like to see some lower seeds (like Iowa St this morning) beat a few of the higher ups.
Enigma dos not like it when Republicans go after waste and fraud in the Social Security system. I wonder why that is? Should the FBI examine Enigma’s finances, do you think?
I am an old man collecting Social Security myself, and I am very aware that the less waste and fraud there is in the system the longer the Trust Fund will last.
Big Mike said...
@Old and slow, now tell him that to his face.
This is a very predictable response. Also a bit stupid. He is widely hated in Ireland where his antics are well known. It's a very small country, and many people have first or second hand knowledge of the sort of man he is.
Big Mike: "Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team, winning their NCAA March Madness game yesterday over Montana."
Now they get to play BYU. That won't be fun for them.
In this morning’s news, under Pam Bondi the DoJ is cracking down on people employing violence against Tesla owners, Tesla dealerships, and Tesla charging stations. Per the DoJ press release the first three people indicted are:
“One defendant, also armed with a suppressed AR-15 rifle, was arrested after throwing approximately eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership located in Salem, Oregon.
Another was arrested in Loveland, Colorado after attempting to light Teslas on fire with Molotov cocktails. The defendant was later found in possession of materials used to produce additional incendiary weapons.
In Charleston, South Carolina, a third defendant wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire with Molotov cocktails.
Each defendant faces serious charges carrying a minimum penalty of five years and up to 20 years in prison.”
The Left Coast being the Left Coast, the guy in Oregon will probably walk. Laws against suppressed firearms are only there to be used against Normies. The guy in South Carolina was caught because he accidentally set himself on fire when he was flinging his Molotov Cocktails.
"Enigma" pops in with the funniest transparent gaslighting "demoralization" ploy not seen since about 15 minutes ago by every other pathetic lefty poster at Alfhouse blog!
It continues to amaze just how incapable, tone deaf, incompetent and obvious the devolved remaining leftists have become in their tactics and messaging.
See LLR-democratical Rich ("kak"-i-laff-igus), Dumb Lefty Mark, Field Marshall Freder, et al.
They have nothing left. At all.
Can they recover? Time will tell.
Creighton whacked Louisville. #1 Auburn going down on Saturday.
I’m becoming suspicious of Bondi DoJ. Are there names of these Tesla terrorists? Perp walks? We know a name or two but not because of DoJ- they’ve withheld names? Same with those immigration raid leakers…
Creighton's floor spacing on offense + ball movement is a thing of beauty, as is that of Drake.
This Indiana alum looking forward to next year under Darien DeVries, looking for some of this in our future. Modern basketball in Assembly Hall. At long last.
On to Friday.
Big Mike said...
“…Yes, the seeding said they should win handily, and they did, but yesterday a 12 seed beat a 5 seed, an 11 seed beat a 6, and a 10 seed beat a 7.”
My 11 seed Xavier Musketeers take on 6 seed Illinois today. Here’s to another upset.
It’s an odd-numbered year, which means Gonzaga should make it to at least the Elite 8 this year. Unfortunately for them, they take on one seed Houston on Saturday.
Wow. That's one epic piece of concern trolling there.
rehajm (7:09am):
I have seen the names and faces of the Tesla terrorists on Twitter. I think four have been caught, not three, and people are noticing that three of the four are 'transwomen', which is WAAAY out of proportion to the number of transies in the population. Some are speculating that adding estrogen shots to a body full of testosterone may make for an explosive combination, combining male aggressiveness with female mood swings. Sounds plausible to this non-biologist.
Enigma said...
4. Arrogantly insulted or fired the (minority) of quality federal employees who were sympathetic to DOGE, and thereby lost their good will and willingness to help his teenage virgins figure out the broken IT systems.
Enigma missed the "teenage virgin" on TV last night with Treasury Secretary Bessent?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sw94pmBaGA
An absolutely MUST SEE contradiction of Enigma's assertions.
There was another way to approach efficiency that likely would have worked. It involved listening and learning, and being sensitive to the (Republican) power dynamics embedded in government. But, arrogance blinds.
Well. gosh, it's worked so well for the past 50 or 60 years! I can't think of any reason why we shouldn't keep working incrementally within those embedded power dynamics. If we gradually and incrementally work on that $37 Trillion, we'll get it down to $45 Trillion in the next decade.
Weevil, ref tess and ess mixing explosively:
Yes, this straddles the Althouse Principle that every scientific finding about men has to be reported negatively, and every finding about women, positively.
No one in polite society would blink at an article about the evils of testosterone. Nor would they look askance at a suitably-worded article about the cross of hormone surges women bear for us. But mix the two under the trans label? Ahhh!!!! Wrongthink!!!! I salute you for raising the issue.
I buy it as an explanation, especially since cis-male mass shooters tend to fall into two groups also dealing with explosive hormone mixtures: adolescent boys (suddenly getting huge dumps of testosterone in a body not used to them, and not developed enough to make constructive use of them) and 50ish men (suffering from low-T: enough to make them angry, but not enough to make them confident).
JSM
Well technically, Spring did not arrive until 11:06 n the 20th so you sort of split the difference here.
"One of those damn bunny huggers," Kingsbury was saying. "Anti this and anti that. Got some group, the Mothers of some fucking thing.
- Native Tongue
"DOGE set back government efficiency efforts by at least 20 years"
Is there evidence that such efforts existed?
https://x.com/merissahansen17/status/1902803849812861322?s=61
Link is from a post on X. It shows a leaked document defining rules that NGO’s must use when organizing left wing riots and demonstrations. It implicates the IRS in hiding payments to rioters from public view, and treating them as non-taxable. Big Balls from DODGE also blew the whistle on this in an interview with Laura Ingrahm on her show yesterday.
So much here is just plain illegal. So much astroturfing.
BTW can those without an X account open the link?
https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2025/03/13/fluoride-linked-to-risks-for-cognitive-development/
It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
In addition to criminal charges, the Tesla Terrorists should also be sued for damages in civil court.
"MadisonMan said...
In addition to criminal charges, the Tesla Terrorists should also be sued for damages in civil court."
Probably won't have to. They should get restitution from the criminal conviction, right?
"BTW can those without an X account open the link?"
I never signed up for an account with X or twitter and I can open the link.
Trump says he would be happy for US to become ‘associate’ Commonwealth member ~ FT
Magical UNO REVERSAL move by the Royal Family.
Reclaiming a long lost colony once again.
Kak: "Trump says he would be happy for US to become ‘associate’ Commonwealth member ~ FT/Magical UNO REVERSAL move by the Royal Family."
Yeah, no. More like Trump wants to turn it into an Anglophone Union. Winston just popped a woody right thru his vault!
JSM
Thanks Mason G
Tesla went from being a left-wing activists passion product to a hate target for left-wing activists overnight. Falling sales, arson, vandalism in Canada. Live by zealots, die by zealots. Even friendly people don't want to drive around as a target for hate.
And this is Elon Musk's fault, how?
And the rest of your rant? Bullshit. Musk advises the President. He has no authority to do any of the crap you spewed.
You're no different than any other hate-filled leftist when it comes to Elon Musk. Thanks for showing your true colors.
Reminds me of that scene in Predator when Arnold swims ashore and, covered in mud, become invisible to the alien's vision while hiding in the thicket.
https://youtu.be/pBTCX05ftbg?si=omBBwG9FtzE8hG3d&t=53
"There was another way to approach efficiency that likely would have worked."
Then why hasn't it happened already? The debt has been our millstone for decades.
Even a poor way is better than no way.
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