Althouse: At the Saturday Night Café...

November 29, 2025

At the Saturday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

No sunrise photos today. We stayed off the roads and, from inside, watched the snow fall.

128 comments:

buwaya said...: This is making the rounds -
https://x.com/jonatanpallesen/status/1993654135917257214?s=20
Danish conviction rates by immigrant/migrant country of origin.
Some people seem to fixate on raging at the top of the chart, but IMHO (me, I'm an engineer and we go straight to solutions) , of course the fix is at the bottom of the chart.
The US can easily adjust immigration policy (such as quotas) to favor the bottom of a US version of this chart. I.e., let i; 11/29/25, 6:20 PM
buwaya said...: Let in more Filipinos. Favor them. If accused of racism point out that Filipinos are rather brown. More brown than most Mexicans.; 11/29/25, 6:23 PM
Humperdink said...: Opening day of deer season (rifle) today in PA. Grandson put one down at 7:15AM. First deer at the processor’s shop. Nothing better.; 11/29/25, 6:23 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Got around to watching Season 3 of "Damages", a legal drama. Not bad, the acting is great but its bogged down by chick stuff (Which my wife liked) because the lead is Glenn Close.

The real treat was watching Lilly Tomlin and Martin short in serious roles. Tomlin, of course, has shown she had do serious drama before, so her good performance was not unexpected. But Martin Short was excellent as an Dubious "Fixer" lawyer.

Generally speaking, comedians can do drama better than serious actors can do comedy. Even Jerry Lews was damn good in the few serious roles he did.; 11/29/25, 6:26 PM
buwaya said...: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1fz89yq/median_household_income_in_the_united_states_by/

Filipinos are second to Indians, but that is because Indians are (relatively) very selectively admitted through academic or professional qualifications (H1b etc). Filipinos are almost all just plain immigrants.; 11/29/25, 6:31 PM
john mosby said...: Buwaya: by the logic of letting in VNs and Afghans, we certainly owe Filipinos for abandoning them twice: first to the Japanese, and then to their own squabbling elites. CC, JSM; 11/29/25, 6:35 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Someone said there are two kinds of comedians: Those who say funny things, and those who say things funny. The 2nd type usually don't make good dramatic actors. Its difficult to imagine WC Fields, Groucho, or Gilbert Gottfried doing Hamlet.

Woody has done serious films, but I dont think he's a particularly good serious actor. OTOH, Mia Farrow and Diane were good at both comedy and drama.; 11/29/25, 6:38 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Some Comedians have such strong comic personas they do poorly at serious drama. Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Bob Newhart, Carson, and Don Rickles immediately come to mind. And its impossible to imagine Jerry Seinfeld in a serious drama.

OTOH, Kesley Grammer, Steve Martin and Bill Murray were able to make the leap.; 11/29/25, 6:46 PM
Original Mike said...: "The US can easily adjust immigration policy (such as quotas) to favor the bottom of a US version of this chart." (emphasis added)

Incredibly, no, we can't. We are not allowed to make decisions in our own best interests.; 11/29/25, 7:01 PM
pacwest said...: @buwaya
Identify the problem first. Then look for the solution. You're right, the chart identifies both. Trump identified both during his first term. Shithole countries.; 11/29/25, 7:03 PM
Mason G said...: "Shithole countries."

Democrats can't accept this. Their worldview demands that every person (and culture) on the planet must be considered the equal of every other person (and culture) on the planet.; 11/29/25, 7:12 PM
Original Mike said...: The CIA helped bring thousands of its Afghan partner forces — called the "Zero Unit" — to the U.S. under Joe Biden's watch, following the shambolic evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021.

"The CIA appeared to have quietly cut a deal with thousands of its paramilitary-style Zero Unit forces in Afghanistan in August 2021 as the Taliban took over the country and its capital of Kabul. According to a former intelligence officer who spoke with Just the News who declined to be identified, the terms of the deal were that if the Zeroes helped secure Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) during the chaotic non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) then, in exchange for that and for their years of coordination with the U.S. spy agency, the fighters and their families would earn an airlift to the U.S."

We had a secure airport, built for, I imagine, billions of dollars. But could we use that to perform an orderly withdrawal and avoid cutting a deal with untrustworthy actors? Nooooo, some dumb fuck gave it away before we left.; 11/29/25, 7:14 PM
chuck said...: Beautiful day here, 40F and sunny. Lots of traffic at some stores, but otherwise pretty normal. The mountain tops have been dusted with snow for a couple of weeks, and next week should see several light snows. The canyon trails are frozen, and the temperature is headed down, but it is still pretty dry.; 11/29/25, 7:28 PM
narciso said...: I wonder did they intend to use them against the talin at some point would they have been so cynical if so why did they dispurse them across the entire country; 11/29/25, 7:29 PM
Jaq said...: It feels like there is a deal afoot. Zelensky's chief negotiator, who was unbending, has been taken down for "corruption;" that feels like battle space prep, to me by the US, but it could be the Ukrainians themselves. Zelensky has now lost a guy, Yermak, who has been seen as the "power behind the throne" for as long as I have been following this war; he's gone. A second key aid has fled the country for Israel, which, conveniently, will never extradite a Jewish person.

But Zelensky has been amazingly resilient.

The Europeans? They are shocked.. shocked! that corruption was going on in Ukraine, but say that now that they have cleaned up the whole country by throwing Yermak to the wolves, that gives the green light to send more billions.

If Trump ends this war, he shouldn't expect the Nobel Peace Prize, that bauble is controlled by the neocons, and they are going to be in a righteous snit.; 11/29/25, 7:30 PM
buwaya said...: What you need is a new Immigration law. The last general one is from 1990. You can implement favored nation measures in that.; 11/29/25, 7:32 PM
pacwest said...: @ Mason G
Right. The left seem to think they have identified the problem and the solution. Inequality/Harrison Bergeron. I consider it more a delusion than a worldview.; 11/29/25, 7:34 PM
Jaq said...: Our Canadian Fishing Trip

It's a scan of a home movie of a fishing trip in 1930, a drive through Michigan and "Upper Michigan" and a ferry ride to Canada, and a rail trip to the "Canadian wilds" where they fish with their Indian guide in Lake Superior.

It reminded me of the My Wilderness books by William O Douglas, for what it's worth.; 11/29/25, 7:38 PM
Mason G said...: "I consider it more a delusion than a worldview."

I wouldn't argue against that. I don't know how you can look at the world, the people in it and their cultures today and come to the conclusion that there are no differences of any significance between them.; 11/29/25, 7:41 PM
Mason G said...: And if there isn't any difference between them (according to leftards, anyway), why do they need to leave their countries/cultures to come here? Especially considering all the racism (according to leftards, anyway) they'll encounter once they're here.; 11/29/25, 7:54 PM
Lazarus said...: Wasn't there a story this summer about criminals or vandals who were arrested or took refuge in a theatre showing, "The Death of a Unicorn"? I watched a few minutes and felt like doing 5 to 10 in the pen would be better than watching any more. But I'll give it another chance in a few days. The cast isn't that bad.

Also deceased this week: architect and historian Robert A. M. Stern. It's easier to be an architectural historian than an architect. Whatever mistakes you make won't collapse and won't have to be blown up.; 11/29/25, 8:15 PM
Josephbleau said...: “From the Canadian web site Small Dead Animals: Is the Destruction of Britain a Preview for Canadians?
November 29, 2025 RobertBaiting The Left Great Moments In Sociaism.
In case you’re not aware, a disastrous budget in Britain was recently announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves. Many reports suggest that it props up the welfare class by heavily taxing the working class.”

https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2025/11/29/is-the-destruction-of-britain-a-preview-for-canadians/

This seems like the extension of a trend started in California. Like old Spanish California there are only two social classes the very poor and the very rich. This is the Bill Gates approach to making the working class disappear so that the rich can have low cost exploitable labor. All that is needed is an estanciero to rule a 1000 sq mile region, his grace will provide for his people and they will defend him.

In preparation, the working class must be heavily taxed to provide for the welfare class. I make no judgements on this but it is a possibility.; 11/29/25, 8:23 PM
Chest Rockwell said...: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LWUgT34GYhU&si=G0IrIeH2L1pevgNL; 11/29/25, 8:41 PM
Achilles said...: Mason G said...

"Shithole countries."

Democrats can't accept this. Their worldview demands that every person (and culture) on the planet must be considered the equal of every other person (and culture) on the planet.

Democrats just have different goals than we do.

Democrats want high crime and the color revolution that would result from importing poor people from violent countries.; 11/29/25, 9:05 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Mason G said...

....why do they need to leave their countries/cultures to come here?

They can't vote for Democrats back home?

Just a guess.; 11/29/25, 9:07 PM
Jupiter said...: What's goin'on?; 11/29/25, 9:20 PM
Peachy said...: just checked the national radar. Wisconsin and Michigan are covered by a big blue blob of blue blob snow. stay warm.; 11/29/25, 9:25 PM
buwaya said...: "why do they need to leave their countries/cultures to come here?"

Same reason I did, to seek my fortune.
Same reason nearly all immigrants have ever had. There is no noble purpose here. If you are going to let them in, try get a good deal.; 11/29/25, 9:27 PM
Jupiter said...: "Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny."
Are you kidding me?
Just take a minute out of your busy, busy day, and imagine what the comments on this blog would look like if we didn't fight with each other. I will say, I wish this blog attracted a better class of opponents. But what do you think we're here for? To exchange recipes?; 11/29/25, 9:27 PM
Peachy said...: Jupiter 9:20

I'm still reading.
This stood out to me.
"The voting machine companies were trying to make discussions of election fraud illegal or actionable."; 11/29/25, 9:33 PM
Jupiter said...: "If you are going to let them in, try get a good deal."
Let's try that on your own, personal properties. You own a house, it's a nice house. Some assholes you don't know want to come live in it with you. Try to get a good deal, OK? Like, maybe they cook breakfast on Thursday. Well, except, they can't cook for shit. OK. At least, when they rape your daughter in the shower, they agree to take the towels to the laundry. Oh, Hell, they're not going to agree to that. You carry the towels, OK? And make it snappy, they're going to be raping her again soon.; 11/29/25, 9:33 PM
Jupiter said...: They're going to want some more towels.; 11/29/25, 9:40 PM
Original Mike said...: "just checked the national radar. Wisconsin and Michigan are covered by a big blue blob of blue blob snow. stay warm."

I think Madison has gotten 9" so far (finding snow totals has always been difficult). Have cleared the driveway twice and will be doing it again tomorrow (I like multiple small clearings rather than one big one).; 11/29/25, 9:40 PM
Original Mike said...: "The voting machine companies were trying to make discussions of election fraud illegal or actionable."

They essentially have, which is galling and frightening.; 11/29/25, 9:43 PM
Peachy said...: Jupiter's link is must read. Save. Send to all you know.
It's a re-cap of a political party's complete corruption.; 11/29/25, 9:44 PM
Jaq said...: Starmer has started the process of eliminating trial by jury in the UK, except in cases of rape and murder. Why not eliminate the jury trial in cases of rape? Because there would have been a civil war.; 11/29/25, 9:45 PM
Peachy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/29/25, 9:48 PM
Peachy said...: US - we have stacked juries and corrupt D Judges.; 11/29/25, 9:49 PM
Peachy said...: Stay safe, Original Mike. (typo[fixed)
I enjoy first snows.
...but then February arrives and ..over it.; 11/29/25, 9:50 PM
Jupiter said...: "Jupiter 9:20 - I'm still reading."
Thank you, Peachy, for investigating the evidence.; 11/29/25, 9:54 PM
Jupiter said...: If you are interested, there is a book. blogspot won't let me post it as a link, for some reason (I make no accusation, bad software is everywhere), but here is the link https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Elections-Takedown-Democracies-Worldwide/dp/B0FP5J7CS7; 11/29/25, 9:58 PM
Original Mike said...: "...but then February arrives and ..over it."

We go to the southern hemisphere in February.; 11/29/25, 10:01 PM
Mason G said...: "Same reason I did, to seek my fortune.
Same reason nearly all immigrants have ever had."

So- all countries and cultures aren't equal, then.

Try explaining that to the left.; 11/29/25, 10:01 PM
Jupiter said...: "Jupiter's link is must read. Save. Send to all you know."
Well. Thanks, Peachy. But do your own due diligence. I think these people are credible, but don't jump too far too fast.; 11/29/25, 10:03 PM
Ampersand said...: Somebody knows what's going on in Venezuela. Why don't we know?; 11/29/25, 10:06 PM
Original Mike said...: I've been reading that 2020 election post this evening, too. Forgot where I got it from. Hard to believe they could get away with that level of fraud.; 11/29/25, 10:07 PM
buwaya said...: "Try explaining that to the left."
No, you do it. I dont even live in the US anymore and I am too sick to deal with stupid arguments.; 11/29/25, 10:11 PM
n.n said...: A well placed missile up an Iranian proxy ended the second Iraq war. Some well placed missiles up Venezuelan proxies will ensure that black and tens of thousands of lives matter.; 11/29/25, 10:18 PM
buwaya said...: "Somebody knows what's going on in Venezuela. Why don't we know?"

Because of political/military OPSEC. You can, as usual, try to suss things out through leaks into open source.
Like this -
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-venezuela-airspace/2025/11/29/id/1236439/
Wall Street Journal: Maduro Requests Amnesty in Call With Trump; 11/29/25, 10:20 PM
Jupiter said...: Buwaya, you have been a contributor to this blog's comments for a long time. As have I. You have expressed a political and cultural position that could easily be termed "conservative". But of course, the Left has instructed us that the proper context for moral interpretation is something called "intersectionality", in which all the players receive victim cards, and then the hand is played - Who is the most oppressed?
It seems like you are playing some kind of Filipino card. Well. Good for you. You have a card, and you are playing it. If you have any friends, I am sure they would be interested in hearing about your maneuver. How clever you are, to play your card in this fashion!; 11/29/25, 10:35 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: From an earlier post: "There’s a chunk of sourdough bread. There’s a chink off a chestnut, a piece of apple core, some leaves, a coil of thin white thread."

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Mathew 15:27.

When there are no dogs, no pets, the crumbs accumulate?; 11/29/25, 11:00 PM
buwaya said...: Victim cards and "intersectionality" isnt my thing, dude.
Objective cost/benefit analysis and a consultants mind is where I'm at. Its how I made a living for decades.
I ran across that Danish crime thing, and its an awfully compelling presentation. What can we learn from it, and how should it affect policy (in Europe and the US)? Well, I posted the obvious. Should be a great Powerpoint.; 11/29/25, 11:08 PM
Prof. M. Drout said...: That the whole government/media/NGO apparat would spend so much energy and money on what is an obvious Info Op about the Venezuelan drug boats implies very strongly that there is a lot of U.S. entanglement with the money, violence-on-demand, and waves of "refugees" that come from that country.
Many of us keep wondering how so many people seem to have so much money without doing anything that anyone would pay them for. Government salaries for make-work jobs, overcompensated NGO 'administrators,' and corporate hack-work is nice and all, but is not enough to explain the lifestyles on display in Bethesda, Falls Church, etc.
Then I remembered: for every unit of narcotics that comes into the U.S., a unit of money needs to go back to Mexico or Venezuela. It an absolute fire-hose of money laundering, and only so much of it can be handled through the remittance pipeline, which is constrained by the limited throughput of each individual; even though there are millions of those individuals (one reason for the mass migration is to create millions more people laundering drug money through remittances). Plus the logistics are a nightmare.
So there also has to be laundering of large amounts of money at levels much higher than migrated peasants.
The way insider-Washington is reacting, the disproportionate freak-out by insiders with money and actual influence*, implies that it's Venezuela drug- and trafficking-money is supporting both the off-the-books lifestyles of a lot of officials (elected, appointed, and 'civil servants') AND funding a lot of political action.
The screeching suggests that blowing up the boats and whatever else is being done at the border, behind the scenes, and in the financial system is having a real effect.

*Sadly, dimwitted, always-online flying monkeys don't need to be organized, paid, or even encouraged to respond to the designated outrageous outrage of the day with comment-posting and walls of AI-slop text as frantically as a non-flying monkey humping a football.; 11/29/25, 11:21 PM
buwaya said...: Btw I'm not Filipino myself, other than a slight DNA trace from my mothers side - from a man who was a signer of the first Spanish constitution, interesting story. Go to Cadiz and you will see his name on the wall of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri. Its like being descended from, oh, Jacob Broom of Delaware. I am Spanish-born and Spanish by nationality. I grew up and was educated in the Philippines for the most part however, and I'm fluent in Tagalog. I have great sympathy for the Filipinos, a sort of generalized paternalism as a descendant of the old Spanish colonial power structire.; 11/29/25, 11:29 PM
buwaya said...: Venezuelan refugees are real refugees, they are all over Latin America and even in Spain. They arent just a US problem.; 11/29/25, 11:32 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: buwaya said... @11/29/25, 11:29 PM reminds me of president Obama.; 11/29/25, 11:36 PM
buwaya said...: Re Venezuelan refugees, from a Spanish newspaper (ABC).
https://www.abc.es/espana/millones-migrantes-refugiados-venezolanos-regularizados-latinoamerica-20241206204206-vi.html; 11/29/25, 11:37 PM
buwaya said...: "reminds me of president Obama"
Heh. I however never made it to Harvard. Life story was too dull I guess.; 11/29/25, 11:41 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Venezuela forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”; 11/29/25, 11:49 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Presidents say the darndest things.; 11/29/25, 11:50 PM
Eva Marie said...: “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Venezuela forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
No need. Maduro gone. Score another win for our President.; 11/30/25, 12:39 AM
buwaya said...: I never took the SAT officially, but I took the GMAT (for MBA programs) and scored 700 in 1989. That was pretty meh for Harvard even then, so I never bothered. I might have done better had I practiced, who knows.; 11/30/25, 12:40 AM
buwaya said...: Nothing new from Brazil yet re Maduro. Yes I can read Portuguese.; 11/30/25, 12:57 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: AI says Maduro is in Venezuela.

Who are you going to believe?

AI or my lying eyes.; 11/30/25, 1:35 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Let's play Mandalay, 'where the best is like the worst'.

Dave Grohl music is not so hot. Maybe terrible even.; 11/30/25, 1:41 AM
buwaya said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgeEQ1dDtRQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N6dvVyfLbc; 11/30/25, 2:39 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: What can happen in just a week?

“We are about to go to war against another country for no reason. Our president is delusionally barking out orders to the planet, seemingly convinced he rules the entire globe.

He commands closed the skies of a foreign land. He demands the people of another nation vote for his political ally or he will punish them. He sets free a convicted drug lord while arguing that he is waging a hemispheric battle against narco-terrorists. His minions are committing war crimes in his name, lying about their justifications, bringing disgrace on our country and our armed services.

In the wake of a tragic killing, he and his aides are making racist proclamations and promising sweeping draconian measures including banning entry to the US of all people from the “third world” and expelling from this country naturalized citizens who do not ascribe to our leaders’ ideas or political opinions. He has turned the legal apparatus of this country against his perceived opponents, even those who are only doing their duty and urging others to do theirs, even those who recognize that illegal orders are being given that are resulting in crimes for which all those involved except the president himself can be prosecuted.

His emissaries are selling out our allies and seeking to pressure them into capitulation to foreign enemies in ways that will undermine our national security and that of many of our most important friends and partners.

Starkly unqualified crackpots have been put in charge of our healthcare system and are actively seeking to undo two centuries of progress in the administration of public health. Children are already dying because they are stigmatizing vaccines, attacking science itself for ideological reasons and with utter disregard for the risks that are being created. They are responding to a climate crisis by systematically stopping programs that might contain it and accelerating those that will certainly make it worse.
Corruption is rampant, in the open, almost celebrated. The White House has been partially torn down and is being replaced by a monstrous monument to the president’s ego…one unlike any ever conceived by any past leader in our history…one that increasingly grows so out of scale with both our executive mansion and the limits of good taste that the architect and contractors are seeking to distance themselves from the project.

Heroes are called traitors. Journalists and others who seek to exercise their first amendment rights are crudely bullied or worse. Racists are being given rein make their twisted vision of what America should be into a reality enforced by the law. Armed thugs are on the march in our cities rounding up the innocent. Vital programs upon which millions depend are being shutdown. Universities are being directed away from learning, intellectual independence, the traits that made them the envy of the world and forced to bend the knee to an ideology that promotes ignorance and prejudice. With a few quick keystrokes, the mentally unstable man who is leading this country believes he can reverse every executive order of his predecessor and threaten him with prosecution.”
———-David Rothkopf; 11/30/25, 4:18 AM
buwaya said...: Rothkopf is a blind asshole. He misses, or avoids, the vast sins of the establishment he defends. That establishment had nearly crippled whole areas of technological development.
Going back to just one point, that extended lockdown crippled the education and mental development of millions of children. Who will be punished for that?; 11/30/25, 4:34 AM
buwaya said...: Who will volunteer their pain and blood as penance for all those crippled minds?; 11/30/25, 4:35 AM
wendybar said...: Wow. Ronald J Ward. Please get help. YOU need it.; 11/30/25, 4:36 AM
buwaya said...: Oh you breakers of brains, you weilders of the crushing lead blanket. Will God forgive you?; 11/30/25, 4:37 AM
buwaya said...: Those are the same people that ended Nuclear Power. It is just starting up again, after decades of deliberate suppression. Everyone who had a hand in that, in justice, deserves a painful death. But I understand, bitterly, that in this world there is rarely justice. I can however throw this all in your face, Ward.; 11/30/25, 4:42 AM
buwaya said...: At Stanford dozens of eminent doctors, with endless, fanatical malice, tried to end the careers of Bhattacharya, Atlas, Ioannidis (ref "The Great Barrington Declaration" and etc).
So when are those dozens of eminent gentlemen going to apologize by committing seppuku at the Stanford Quad?; 11/30/25, 4:54 AM
Big Mike said...: Journalists and others who seek to exercise their first amendment rights are crudely bullied or worse.

If they can’t cope with a little pushback, do they deserve t call themselves “journalists”?; 11/30/25, 4:58 AM
buwaya said...: That (large) conference room full of human shit hurt many nations, not just the US. In Europe at least some nations (Spain, Sweden, etc.) largely ignored them.; 11/30/25, 4:58 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Buwaya-about-Biden, yes, we can revisit history I suppose but that doesn’t address the blowtorching of the Constitution, mafia style grifting, gutting of public protections, Gestapo style policing, and charlatan level puppets running our government and military today.

On another note- lockdowns crippling education and mental development- why is it that Trump always seems to get a pass on those assumed abject failures when he was the one running the show?; 11/30/25, 5:00 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Big Mike said...
Journalists and others who seek to exercise their first amendment rights are crudely bullied or worse.

If they can’t cope with a little pushback, do they deserve t call themselves “journalists”?

Fair enough I suppose. But if one can’t cope with an honest question and has to resort to adolescent bullying name calling tantrums as an escape route, does he deserves to be called a leader?; 11/30/25, 5:05 AM
buwaya said...: Its not "revisit". Blame must be placed, and the perpetrators must suffer. Because they are still in power, and they must GO.
And they must be SEEN to pay.
Its not Biden, its a corrupt, evil system, ultimately staffed by millions of the guilty.
Bhattachaya is a charlatan? He was right. Absolutely and completely. Maybe you should look at cutting your own belly in apology.; 11/30/25, 5:09 AM
buwaya said...: Trump deferred to "experts". Who really weren't as it turned out. Some of us were able to see through this, but nobody knew how disastrous it would eventually be. Thankfully in some nations the "deep state" was rational and could (quietly) make a similar analysis.
The US establishment was too corrupt and deluded (or cowardly) to do the same.; 11/30/25, 5:16 AM
buwaya said...: WORDS are shit. Concrete and steel, laws and rules are real. Journalists are useless fluff, engineers are absolutely necessary. The US establishment is devoted to words and fluff, corruption (through words) not nature's reality.; 11/30/25, 5:20 AM
buwaya said...: Or, how about you can have Trump, for the grave error, it seems, of offending your amour propre. AFTER sacrificing 5-10 million of the garbage people in your leadership class, for their sins against reality.; 11/30/25, 5:24 AM
Big Mike said...: But if one can’t cope with an honest question and has to resort to adolescent bullying name calling tantrums as an escape route, does he deserves to be called a leader?

If the question seemed “honest” to you then perhaps you need to ask yourself whether you, personally, even understand the word.; 11/30/25, 5:35 AM
Saint Croix said...: I think A.I. porn is going to be really, really big. I watched it and I was like, Oh my God, humanity has to compete with this.; 11/30/25, 5:41 AM
gadfly said...: Ronald J, Ward: Great post from David Rothkopf. It is well worth reading in full.; 11/30/25, 5:50 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Mike, the reporter ask why the Trump was blaming Biden for not vetting the Afghan shooter when his very own DOJ and FBI said he was cleared.

Sounds like a fair question to me.; 11/30/25, 5:50 AM
Big Mike said...: On another note- lockdowns crippling education and mental development- why is it that Trump always seems to get a pass on those assumed abject failures when he was the one running the show?

The mistake Trump made was letting himself be out-maneuvered by Fauci and Birx, with the active support of the journalist establishment. The mistake the journalist establishment (deliberately) made was pushing the falsehood that Fauci was a scientist. He may once have been one, but in 2020 he was a bureaucrat, with all the skills it takes to rise to the top of the bureaucratic dog-pile: lying, backstabbing, taking credit for other individuals’ work, etc.

As buwaya points out, Jay Battacharya was right. Why was he right? Because in 2020 he was one of the — perhaps the — foremost expert in healthcare economics. Why was Fauci wrong? He wasn’t. His goal was to cause Trump to lose the election in 2020, not to protect American lives. He may have said he was protecting American lives, but that was just another of his lies.; 11/30/25, 5:52 AM
Saint Croix said...: WORDS are shit. Concrete and steel, laws and rules are real.

Laws and rules are made up of words and ideas. On the left, people now have the idea that some ideas are permanent and can never be altered or changed. Racism, for instance, is now said to be permanent and you can't stop doing it. Sexual orientation is also said to be permanent and you can't stop doing it.

This is exactly backwards. Human beings can change our minds. And once we change our minds, we can change our behavior.

The left wants to censor words and ideas -- arguments -- so they can lock in poisonous ideologies indoctrinated in young people by socialists. That's where they are. And they are desperate to control the media so as to keep anybody from thinking up new ideas or new approaches.

Journalists are useless fluff.

It would be handy to have a journalist class who was honest and worthy of our trust. But if you have professional liars in the journalist class, who hide the truth to protect the party? That's not "fluff." That's dangerous as shit.

Many of us are busy in our own lives, and rely upon journalists to tell us what is going on in the world. Their business model is falling apart because 1) they are transparently dishonest and often wrong and 2) the costs of finding out on our own have rapidly decreased.

engineers are absolutely necessary.

Of course.

The US establishment is devoted to words and fluff, corruption (through words) not nature's reality.

They have ideas, and believe their ideas can and ought to supplant reality as we find it. Sometimes this is true, like flying a plane. Sometimes it's not true, like making a pregnancy "go away" without any violence, or turning a 6-year-old boy into a girl.

Dr. Frankenstein cuts off a boy's sexual equipment and gives him a vagina. "I have made a girl." People are amazed, up until they realize what has actually happened. And then they are appalled.; 11/30/25, 6:01 AM
Big Mike said...: Trump was making a broad point about the lack of vetting of Afghan refugees, and be dishonest pissant kept trying to say that this guy Lakanwal was vetted. So he mistakenly was, at least at some cursory level. That he was vetted doesn’t mean the bulk of the Afghans brought into the US were vetted, even at a cursory level.

So Trump’s question, whether she was stupid, seems just as honest to me.

Can any of you lefties ever stop whining?; 11/30/25, 6:04 AM
Saint Croix said...: the blowtorching of the Constitution

It's so amazing when leftists start waving our Constitution around. Yay! I am so glad you are reading it. What parts do you like the most? Do you know what a person is?; 11/30/25, 6:04 AM
buwaya said...: "But if you have professional liars in the journalist class"
They cannot be anything but. They exist to persuade. Dishonesty is unavoidable.
You cannot persuade nature. That keeps other trades honest.; 11/30/25, 6:06 AM
buwaya said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/30/25, 6:07 AM
buwaya said...: Laws and rules arent really words. They are functional paths and limits. You can define them as algorithms, or perhaps physical tracks and barriers.; 11/30/25, 6:10 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Funniest damn thing written yesterday:

A distraction away from his impending war with Venezuela. No one gives a shit about the ballroom.

She cares so little she doesn’t miss a post about it. Ever. LOL; 11/30/25, 6:10 AM
Saint Croix said...: Journalists and others who seek to exercise their first amendment rights are crudely bullied or worse.

True story. In 2016, I was locked out of my Facebook account. Apparently, one of my friends reported me to Facebook authorities. And my timeline stopped moving. Facebook just quit working for me.

I spent an entire Saturday trying to get my Facebook working again. I would google "help" pages, and the only help the company offered was help in reporting bad speech on Facebook. It was bizarro world.

After spending several hours on it, I just gave up on Facebook. I quit using it for a couple of months. Went back for a visit in September. My account was still locked.

We had an election. Donald Trump won. Hillary Clinton lost. A few weeks after the election, I checked my Facebook. And I discovered it was now working just fine.; 11/30/25, 6:18 AM
Saint Croix said...: Dishonesty is unavoidable. You cannot persuade nature. That keeps other trades honest.

Engineering is a way more precise occupation than journalism. I used to be a stock-picker for the Motley Fool. 40% of my picks failed to beat the S&P 500. 60% of my picks beat the index. And a few of them crushed it. So I was in the top 1% of stock pickers at the Fool.

Nonetheless, approximately 40% of my articles were going to be bad advice. This was kind of horrifying, but it was my job, so I did my best.

Engineers have to be right, something like 99.99% of the time. Stock pickers can be right 60% of the time, and do really, really well. Different jobs with different human attributes. Making money by investing in other people is a different skillset than building a bridge.

Facebook is filled with engineers. I believe that they intentionally shut down my Facebook feed in 2016, an election year. It could be, I am maligning an innocent company. (60-40 bet, given my track record).

But my speech criticizing Facebook was true. That happened to me. And that feedback -- you might call it "unnatural" -- is important for democracy to function and monopolies to suffer.

I grant you the election of 2016 upset the autocrats at Facebook a lot more than any speech I gave to anybody. But when you have people speaking out and saying what they think, that's how popular waves happen. Elites who bitch about "populism" ought to have more respect for democracy. And they damn well ought to have more respect for the Constitution that gives them elite status. If our law schools are producing liars, fuck 'em.; 11/30/25, 6:31 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Mike @ 5:52, The question wasn’t about Fauci. The question was simple: If lockdowns were a disaster, why does the president who approved them get a pass?

Your answer avoided that completely. Instead, you shifted blame downward (to governors), sideways (to Fauci/Birx), and upward (to “the deep state”). Trump goes from leader to helpless bystander.

That’s not accountability—that’s a protective narrative.

Either Trump was responsible for the policies he approved, or he wasn’t capable of controlling his own administration. You can pick one, but you can’t have both.; 11/30/25, 6:36 AM
narciso said...: Rothkopf lol; 11/30/25, 6:40 AM
narciso said...: Every country except sweden got it wrong; 11/30/25, 6:41 AM
narciso said...: Feely ferguson of imperial college, was the counterpart to fauci in the uk; 11/30/25, 6:47 AM
narciso said...: He created the models behind the lockdown; 11/30/25, 6:49 AM
narciso said...: One recalls around 1990, one state department passport officer actually cia granted sheikh rahman a visa from khartroum; 11/30/25, 6:53 AM
narciso said...: Federalism how does it work; 11/30/25, 6:55 AM
buwaya said...: Several European countries opened their schools on schedule, Spain was one of them. I reported what was going on at the time right here.; 11/30/25, 6:57 AM
narciso said...: The minders decided facebook was a factor 'manipulated by russians' lol they werent going to let that happen again, so they started metering or canceling accounts; 11/30/25, 6:58 AM
narciso said...: https://johnkassnews.com/exclusive-how-trumps-own-appointees-aided-russiagate-plot-against-him/; 11/30/25, 7:02 AM
Leland said...: https://thehill.com/video/wow-deborah-birx-admits-covid-vax-was-sold-on-a-lie-%E2%80%98not-following-the-science%E2%80%9D%E2%80%94robby-soave/10470162/; 11/30/25, 7:02 AM
Kakistocracy said...: In a bold new strategy, Trump hopes to weaken the cartels by pardoning one of their most powerful competitors.; 11/30/25, 7:05 AM
narciso said...: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/11/fracas_in_caracas_and_six_for_sedition.html; 11/30/25, 7:07 AM
narciso said...: Fauci pretended the bug he funded through daszak didnt happen that way

The wargame conducted that october set the template; 11/30/25, 7:11 AM
narciso said...: Was that true in all provinces; 11/30/25, 7:14 AM
James K said...: "Either Trump was responsible for the policies he approved, or he wasn’t capable of controlling his own administration. You can pick one, but you can’t have both."

What, you wanted him to act like a dictator? As narciso obliquely points out, the lockdowns were primarily the edicts of state governors. Trump bears some responsibility for believing (and not firing) Fauci and Birx, and for not using his bully pulpit to sway public opinion, but he did not have authority over the governors.; 11/30/25, 7:21 AM
Saint Croix said...: If lockdowns were a disaster, why does the president who approved them get a pass?

I don't think Trump did get a pass. I think the American people voted in Biden because they were mad about COVID-19 and our imperfect, near-sighted, and wrong-headed response to it.

I don't blame Trump for his response. I voted for him in 2020. And what I noticed at the time was how horrible the Democrats were about this. They gave Trump zero credit for rushing the vaccine through clinical trials. And then, when Biden got in office, the Biden administration doubled-down on what Trump had done, and tried to force everybody to vaccinate.; 11/30/25, 7:26 AM
Saint Croix said...: Fauci did his evil shit while Trump was in office. I don't blame Trump for Fauci. But I think the American people did, in 2020, punish Trump for COVID. That's unfair, but that's what happened.

My assumption in 2020 was that Trump lost, fairly, and his complaints were sour grapes.

What made me change my assumption was how scared the Democrats were that Trump might run again. The multiple attempts to impeach him, arrest him, prosecute him, sue him, convict him? Nobody does that to Michael Dukakis. Who is frightened of a loser running again? Winners who cheated their way into office.; 11/30/25, 7:30 AM
narciso said...: Yes the proscription was the tell, not only against him but as many high profile officials as possible; 11/30/25, 7:33 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Saint Croix said...
If lockdowns were a disaster, why does the president who approved them get a pass?

“I don't think Trump did get a pass. I think the American people voted in Biden because they were mad about COVID-19 and our imperfect, near-sighted, and wrong-headed response to it.“

Whoa Besty whoa! I’m confused here. I thought Biden stole the election (even under Trump’s watch). I thought it was rigged.

If what you’re saying is true, isn’t that somewhat of a MAGA game changer? You saying Trump lied the whole time? The J 6 people were full of it? We’ve all been had this whole time?

And doesn’t that admission equate to donning the blue jersey and banish you from the tribe?; 11/30/25, 7:40 AM
Dave Begley said...: Badgers lost.; 11/30/25, 7:43 AM
narciso said...: He does remove all doubt does he; 11/30/25, 7:43 AM
narciso said...: Kurt Schlichter on X: "What’s apparent, @EdWhelanEPPC? What facts do you know? Do you know if the target was destroyed on the first shot? Do you believe, for some unknown reason, that there’s a one-shot rule that if you don’t take it out on the first shot, you can’t finish it off? Are you under the" / X https://share.google/Ow9dcBypd1YWJrU1y; 11/30/25, 7:47 AM
Dave Begley said...: Hot Air, “ The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) announced this month that its experts have identified 14 canoes in Madison's Lake Mendota so far, six of which were found this spring. The WHS worked with the First Nations of Wisconsin during the research process, a release noted.

The WHS also recovered a 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in 2021 and retrieved another 3,000-year-old one in 2022.

All in all, the oldest canoe is 5,200 years old, while the most recent one dates back to the 1300s A.D. The vessels were used to catch fish, make travel more efficient and facilitate trade, the WHS said.”; 11/30/25, 7:51 AM
narciso said...: They dredged them out of the lake?; 11/30/25, 7:56 AM
buwaya said...: Won't their owners be happy to get their canoes back!
Oh wait, you say the oldest is 5200 years old?
That guy wil be REALLY happy!; 11/30/25, 7:59 AM
pacwest said...: @RJW
I agree that Trump was personally responsible for the decision he made to take the bureaucrats advice on how to handle Covid. His first instinct was to "let it run through" the population to achieve immunity, and he stated such from the podium, but decided to follow Fauci's advice instead. Remember that the press was counting every death as Trump's fault at the time. If he had followed his instincts and not locked down he would have had to accept responsibility for every death when bucking what seemed to be common wisdom at the time. Politically and practically he was left with only one option. I don't blame him for taking the route he did, and we will never know what the alternate history would have been.

The premise of your argument against him is based on 20/20 hindsight. 20/20 arguments are never made in good faith.

I do blame him for the 2.4 trillion (or at least a large part of it) in spending during his watch though. That was entirely on his shoulders.; 11/30/25, 8:05 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Well I do agree on at least one front St. Croix, no one that I recall tried to arrest or convict Michael Dukakis or for that matter, any president or presidential candidate in any manner the way they went after Trump.

But then, we’ve never in history have had such a blatant abject criminal snubbing the rule of law and defying federal subpoenas with such an in-your-face manner as Donald Trump did with abandon.

You remember that time he wanted to suspend the constitution in order to stay in power because Democrats cheated the people out of a fair election? Now that you’ve conceded that isn’t the case, does it bother you to some extent?; 11/30/25, 8:07 AM
Beasts of England said...: ’…I suppose but that doesn’t address the blowtorching of the Constitution, mafia style grifting, gutting of public protections, Gestapo style policing, and charlatan level puppets running our government and military today.’

Please save some stupid for our other lefties. It’s quite rude to use it all yourself…; 11/30/25, 8:11 AM
Leland said...: Maduro may have left Venezuela.; 11/30/25, 8:12 AM
Inga said...: “Ronald J, Ward: Great post from David Rothkopf. It is well worth reading in full.”

Yes indeed.; 11/30/25, 8:19 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: I think we agree in some areas Pacwest and not so much in others.

I don’t nessarily “blame” Trump for Covid as it was an unprecedented ordeal and he was such an unprecedented bumbling idiot, kinda like a tortoise on a fence post, never should have been there to begin with. I think he did a great deal to make it worse which he paid the price at the polls.

I just find the Biden blame game to be rich. Trump by the way, was the guy who demanded and got an expedited vaccine, something also contributed to Biden.

And that was closer to an $8 trillion dollar hole he blew through. His latest tax scam will do the same.; 11/30/25, 8:24 AM
Inga said...: “Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence

David Gentile had been found guilty for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.”

There’s a theme to Trump’s pardons.; 11/30/25, 8:25 AM