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Open thread 3/11/24 — 99 Comments

  1. Thanks be to God our hands are independent of our brains, having sufficient memories all their own!

  2. considering they come from different language branches, that’s improbable, of course as I noted word processing platforms are decidedly provincial about anything other than English, type writers weren’t this way, well perhaps the umlaut,

  3. English is Germanic at its base, with overlays of Old Norse/Danish and a heavy dose of Norman French, because of the Conquest. Now we just roll in words and phrases from all over the world.

  4. thats what I was pointing to, the French picked up a few colonies here and there, I think Clive stole India from them, macron ran against the idea that they acquired Algeria, now Algeria has largely acquired France, well most of North Africa, on the culture front, we appreciate Montesquieu and Lafayette, we could have skipped Rousseau Sartre Foucault entirely, also Fanon who is an import from Martinique,

    My grandfather was among other things, a gramarrian of the Old Tongue

    un gramatico de la Lengua Antigua

    On another point, Reuters has long since lost any credibility in reporting anything, since probably when Forsyth was a stringer,

  5. Saw the movie, “Cabrini” over the weekend.

    First, huxley should absolutely see it. It is right in his wheelhouse of spiritually inspired, strong women doing unbelievably difficult things and motivating men to get out of their way, or get onboard.

    Second, it’s good. I recommend it to all. I assume it had a low budget, by Hollywood standards, yet it does not appear low budget at all. I’m sure a lot of the 1900 scenery and backdrops were CGI, yet it was enmeshed seamlessly into the sets. Usually CGI pulls me out of a film, but it is obvious the technology has now gotten so good even low budget affairs can look 100% realistic.

    Third, it’s not a religious movie. If you’re worried it will be overt, or try to hit you over the head with a religious message; it does not, at all. It is religious in so much that all great movies focused on human triumph over difficulty are religious, but this is not a sermon nor a revival meeting. Yes, there are religious elements; nuns (obviously), a few priests, a Pope. One scene takes place in a church, but one isn’t even sure she is praying. There is probably some scripture quoted in it, I recall mention of shepherds and flocks, but whatever scripture is there is part of the plot.

    Fourth, it’s the most feminist movie I have seen in years. It’s akin to “Norma Rae” or “Erin Brokovich.” A woman facing insurmountable odds and obstacle after obstacle and achieving by being a woman. Most all the men in the film are selfish, cruel, ignorant and condescending (except for the children) and some are physically abusive. Unlike modern movie plots, at no point do Cabrini and her sisters karate chop the men into submission. The women are not bigger or stronger or smarter than the men (nor are they dumber than the men, but they don’t think like men and the men don’t think like women). But they are more compassionate and they know the truth, that the children’s suffering needs to be addressed and to protect the children is their mission. Cabrini is an excellent role model for young women. It shows a woman maneuvering in a patriarchy 1,000 times more ubiquitous and pervasive than any lingering patriarchy that may exist in America today, and it shows her defeating the patriarchy, not by adopting male characteristics, not by becoming a man, but by being a woman.

    Fifth, the film subtly demonstrates the proper education children need. They need purpose and love and to feel they are a part of something and they need to believe the country they are in is good and contains opportunity if they work hard. Immigrant children especially need that message, and “Cabrini” is about a nun founding a mission to help immigrants.

    Sixth, it is a movie both sides of the political aisle can get behind. It is sad that most Leftists will avoid it, assuming it is “rightwing,” or religious. It is every bit as leftwing as “Erin Brokovich” and “Norma Rae.” Men are mainly depicted as awful, immigrants are mainly depicted as abused and misunderstood and women are the heroines of the film. By depicting the circumstances of Mother Cabrini’s life the movie (accidentally, I think) shows how to heal the political divide in our country. Conservatives admire women like Mother Cabrini and she is everything Leftists claim they wish to be, and she lives in a world of immense prejudice, inequity and misogyny. She does not form mass protests where she makes sure she is photographed in front, holding a banner. She doesn’t whine. She doesn’t castigate the wealthy (but she is very artful in changing their hearts to support her mission). She works. She perseveres. She gets knocked down over and over and over. But she gets up.

    This is the type of cinema role model most of us grew up with* and how lucky are we to have stories like this to motivate us as we matured into adults and navigated life’s difficulties.

    *Mr. Smith, Dorothy Gail, Mary Bailey, Rocky Balboa, Heidi, Little Orphan Annie, Philip Marlowe, Chaplin’s Little Tramp…

  6. In a lengthy video, ‘The Biggest Scandal in American History,” YouTuber Mr Reagan lays out the origins, the leading perpetrators, the course of the real Conspiracy to Overthrow the once Great Republic.

    This smart synthesis compliments the disturbing Tucker Carlson interview with cybersecurity officer with DOJ, Mike Benz, not many weeks ago.

    Mr Reagan hopes that this puts forth an introduction for better grasping the jaw dropping revelation, building upon last years revelations by Matt Taibbi, Michael Schellenberger, and Glenn Greenwald — all investigative journalists, as well as previous lively synthesis reports (and books) from Dan Bongino, and others such as Patrick Byrnes, onward to Hunter Biden’s laptop and CIA election interference.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klSzIK4KJFs

    LOTS of meat to chew on, here. Consider this the latest, best unraveling of the “Russia!Russia!” hoax, and the Deep State cabal, serving our Oligarch’s perceived self-interests, especially their power lock against successful, popular uprisings that could/should otherwise boot them out!

    Team Trump aims to prosecute the cabal according to the law, and bring them to justice — presumably using Special Counsels and Grand Juries as duly authorised instruments. In other words, old fashioned tools that have been sorely and do long neglected by their ersatz partisan interests, sucjh as the Mueller investigation. Look for Congress or the House at least to lay foundations for all of ypthie.

  7. @Karmi

    I certainly hope that is not true. It would just be a massive, unforced error on Trump’s part in any case, as something that would divide the admittedly fragile coalitions for Trump and also be foolish to boot in terms of thinking even that would end the war, as well as playing into the left’s propaganda that he is a Putin puppet or ally.

    But the kicker is it would not affect my vote. I would say Trump would deserve to lose the election over it, even if it did not come to pass (and I have vast confidence in Putin screwing up and trying to backstab, triggering a blowback). But nowhere near as much as Biden and his ilk do. So no, I would not vote for Biden or the Dems over this, even IF it is true.

    That might sound shocking to some, as I am one of the most passionate anti-Putin pro-Ukraine “hawks” on here, and have argued at length. My sympathies remain unchanged. But I owe my first loyalty to freedom and the American constitution, and I will not vote for four more years of anarcho-tyranny at home and the death of the American republic, period. I will not vote against Israel fighting for its existence against Hamas. I will not vote against the political prisoners here from January 6th and its ilk. We must save the Republic here first before we can help anyone else. Tj covers much of the stakes regarding that.

  8. Hmm, if it comes down to who is going under the bus, Israel or Ukraine who are you going to choose? I am with Turtler here. U.S.A. first, Israel second and alas, Ukraine third.

  9. @Chase Eagles

    Honestly I could go either way with Ukraine or Israel depending on the circumstances. I would probably lean more towards Israel since it has far fewer people, less room, no real place to escape, and is under more existential threat. But Ukraine is far larger and more strategically advantageous on the whole. I trust Bibi over Zelenskyy but think both countries have hideously corrupt leftist deep states.

    But they are certainly better than the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Assad, or Putin. All of whom have gotten a lot cozier together and admittedly had been for decades.

    In any case I would sacrifice both if I felt it necessary to save the U.S. After all it is within living memory that neither Israel or Ukraine were independent. Not so for the U.S., or a U.S. that was not free and the hyper power. We might be the only thing keeping the world from one hell of a Dark Age, and I am not going to be party to that by letting Biden and his goons have my vote. But I Would defend all of the above if possible.

  10. sdferr,

    With just your text to go on I can’t tell if you are joking, or being sarcastic, but from what I’ve read about music, dance and acting; you’re statement isn’t entirely inaccurate. The brain is definitely involved, but with long, memorized routines we tend to know what to do after we do the thing before it. “Muscle memory.”

    A pianist doesn’t have an entire, 7 page score in her brain, but she has practiced it often enough that her fingers “remember” where to go next after doing the thing preceding it. It’s a sequential thing. Start at a point and the body “knows” what to do next from having repeated the sequences often.

    For this reason I find it amazing when some people are able to do routines backward or upside down without rehearsing in that direction. There’s a scene in “Amadeus” where Mozart does just that. He obviously has an holistic understanding of the score beyond what most anyone achieves.

  11. @neo

    Yeah, that sounds far more in character for Trump, especially after his lethal aid support to Ukraine and the traditional first term burnout and backstab by Vladimir Vladimirovich. And I can get behind that. The Ukrainians may be angry – and I can’t entirely fault them for that – but it is better to mortgage a future in order to have a future than to not, as Churchill and Attlee would point out. And BI has been BS for quite some time, and Orban is far from the most trustworthy source to begin with.

    But I figure it would be useful to outline how and why I stand, as a hypothetical.

  12. Add in a bit of serious to joking and sarcasm and “all of the above” will qualify, Rufus. Piano playing has been a lifelong love of mine, though Uncle-arthirrighteus has lately intervened to damp me down. Kinda works with golfswings too.

  13. a very dark comedy,
    https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjprmonta

    I remember musical instruction, was a requirement in schools up north, but they taught it in the worst way, with the recorder, that flute like instrument, where one didn’t acquire the skills properly,

    I hate to be a broken record, Ukraine cannot back out, but neither can Russia, because of these stupid words and gestures, this grand alliance has carried out, including the sanctions and Nordstream,

    Tucker has pointed out the former has not yielded the right result to be charitable and the second was a dangerous provocation, what if were to reciprocate against the Houston ship channel, for an example

  14. @Miguel Cervantes

    Russia can back out, as it did with Afghanistan. Moreover, while I’m more open to the possibility of some kind of false flag at Nordstream I’m far from certain of it. The most convincing theory I’ve heard thus far was that it was done by the Red Chinese. In any case, the base problem is that nobody can trust Putin or whoever succeeds him to actually keep to any peace agreement unless held at gunpoint through force majeure.

  15. who do you trust who is in power now, in strategic circles, forget Shambling, Blinken, Wynken, (who abandoned Afghanistan) Haines, Austin, who is a hollow shell, filled out by hicks, (as tyrus put it, ‘they lost a brother on black history month’ and they didn’t care,

  16. @miguel cervantes

    I don’t trust anybody in power now, which is the problem. But I trust Putin about as equally as I do them. Ditto Xi. Which is the problem. I’m not going to forget everything I know about them just because Biden and Obama are awful scum.

  17. I have made clear how gerasimov’s battleplan should be a hanging offense, but putin isn’t letting him get off that easily, having rotated surovikin and host of other commanders, in and out of the theatre of operations,

    Ivanov or any other of the siloviki will not be anymore understanding, if you want a land war in Russia proper, well consult Vizzini about such foolishness,

  18. Well I don’t consider Orban a reliable source about President Trump, he may be reliable about what Vlad wants, but that isn’t the question.

    No matter what President Trump says or us reported to say regarding Ukraine I will vote for him. The threats and actions of the Brandon junta are an existential threat to the USA.
    The Brandon junta has shown utter incompetence regarding assistance to Ukraine; dribs and drabs of aid and IMO they will abandon Ukraine in a NY minute if polling tells them.

    The Europeans are very concerned about President Trump and are starting to pony up and plan for the worst.

    The worst IMO would be a loss of credibility regarding US commitment to our allies which is a certainty under another Brandon junta.

    IIRC just last week President Trump suggested to Speaker Johnson the scenario of Ukraine aid be considered as loans not gifts. That may be insufficient for hard line isolationists, but the perfect is the enemy of the good.

  19. ee Cervantes:

    Tucker and Lt. Col. MacGreagor aren’t exactly Clausewitz clones.

    And regarding the Houston ship channel you do remember Vlad’s megaton mega torpedo of death?

    Another one of Vladdy’s

    Fall in, and bow down, decadent West or I will nuke you!

  20. My list would be US first, Israel second, Ukraine third. Israel is fighting a war against radical Islamism in the form of Hamas, the PA, and Hezbollah (with Iran as the underlying force). Radical Islamism threatens the whole of western civilization, including Europe and North America. Current events in the US demonstrate that we are fools to think all Muslim immigrants here will adopt American civic beliefs. A significant number of them will not.

    Russia is still a hostile threat to us, but a lesser one. Red China is a hostile threat, and more dangerous than Russia.

    The Biden administration could have dealt with Russia in Ukraine more effectively, but chose instead to dribble in aid just enough to keep Ukraine alive but not to win. I’d like to see what strategy would change that at this point.

    In any case, voting for Democrats in 2024 is a vote for national suicide, and nothing would persuade me to do it.

  21. I still wait anticipation to see if all this push for a ” Two State Solution” somehow results in a deal to build a new Jewish Temple.
    On a different note, I read ” The Times of Israel ” and there is huge debate going in Israel right now as to many of the Ultra- Orthodox males not serving in the military. One of their leaders threatened a mass exodus from Israel if they are drafted. Seems like a real cop out hiding behind ” Torah studies” to avoid military service in a small nation surrounded by a sea of potential enemies. There is no Temple in existence for the Levites to be attending to right now.

  22. I would like to have read more comments about the State of the Union address. Is it too late for that discussion?

  23. In any case, voting for Democrats in 2024 is a vote for national suicide, and nothing would persuade me to do it.

    I agree with this. And despite the many issues I have with the guy, at this point I’d go even further in stating that not voting for Trump in 2024 is tantamount to national suicide.

    Trump is pretty damn far from an ideal candidate. I’ve never liked his personality. He’s done several foolish things over the years. He’s walked into obvious traps. He’s too vain. He’s been too trusting of people who flatter him who’ve later gone on to (predictably) stab him in the back. He’s been overly forgiving at certain times or conversely too petty at others. He’s needlessly lied about primary opponents. He’s been his own worst enemy many, many times.

    All that said, when it comes to a choice between Trump and Biden (or whoever the lunatics controlling the Democrat party would likley select in his sted) there is no choice. It’s extremely simple for me.

  24. how many ultraorthodox, far be it from me to second guess the movement for quality government, sarc,

  25. America 2024: ‘You’ve come a long way, baby‘ – since Carter. Further since JFK. Even further since George Washington.

    We have reached a point where Govt is taking children away from parents – even in Montana: Krista and Todd Kolstad are parents “who objected to their transitioning gender identity.”

    Govt is sending the DoJ and FBI after parents who protest a school board’s (District??) Child Grooming teachings.

    People were fired for not taking the China Virus shot. Antisemitic mobs are freely allowed to threaten Jews, stop traffic, stop free speech, etc.

    People are forced to endure the racist DEI indoctrination or be fired – etcetera etcetera etcetera.

    Trump can’t stop that/those, but he might stop aid to Ukraine, and I am not going to vote for Russia (strong ally of Iran & China) over Ukraine…

  26. rest assured everything you have noted will continue under biden, including the attempted destruction of the state of israel, so as the knight told indy ‘chose wisely’

    China funds the war in Ukraine, isolates the Russian banking system, consumes as much Iranian oil,

  27. Jon, the situation with the Haredim is complex. All of my children serve/d in the army, three in combat positions. The Haredim are definitely needed, and I would like to see them serve.
    That said, I don’t think it’s cowardice or laziness that keeps them from serving. Rather, they believe that they will not be able to remain who they are – with their beliefs and practices – if they agree to be drafted. Unfortunately, they are probably right about that. I think they are unlikely to just be left alone in the army and be themselves – as soldiers. To make a Haredi draft work, the army would need to create a whole new corps for them, with different rules and different functions. I doubt that the policymakers will be willing to do that.
    Besides that idea, I would like to see the following:
    A long-term plan would be to take advantage of the Haredi high birth rate and set up new Haredi towns on the borders. The residents of these towns would be taught to fight and would compose part of the country’s defense.
    An interim plan would be to arm and train the best young men in the current Haredi neighborhoods and towns (some of which are over the Green Line) to be part of a civil guard. Not instead of the army, but in addition to it. The events of October 7 taught us that it’s not enough to rely on the army for defense; every town and neighborhood needs to be able to mount a defense as well. This would strengthen the nation’s defense and enable Haredim to contribute to the nation’s defense without compromising their values and their identity.

  28. @Karmi

    Trump can stop or at least impede a great amohnt of that, especially through things such as appointing judges, trying to decentralize the Federal government (by things like forcing bureaucrats and agencies out of the DC area), loudly supporting Israel and Jews, and so forth.

    Moreover I note that Biden is hardly a trustworthy hand on Ukraine. He was one of the idiots who helped push the Ukrainians into agreeing to the Minsk two ring circus with Merkel and Putin, and also helped give mealy mouthed statements about a “minor incursion” in 2022 that helped telegraph that an escalation in the invasion would not be opposed. Ask the Georgians what they make of Biden and his ilk.

    I agree with Nonapod and Kate.

  29. Sorry to hijack an open thread, but others mentioned this topic:

    Lefties in the Israeli army and judiciary have repeatedly torpedoed and shuttered successful programs to integrate ultra-orthodox soldiers – the most recent such program duplicated the seminary-ROTC model that has produced most of the brave religious-Zionist fighters who are now the majority in most combat units… graduates of the program also received technology training (so they could enter the workforce after service) and were actively recruited for engineering units…

    That’s exactly it – the Left is not proud of those religious Zionist fighers, it is afraid of losing control.
    That is why they spent most of 2023 trying to foment a coup against the elected center-right government.

    Politicians from Gantz leftward want to keep this open sore in Israeli society so they can mine the division and push the buttons of MOR secular people.

    But more and more of those secular people understand this.
    More and more people understand that the bravery and patriotism of the religious Zionist soldiers stood in the breach left by decadent secular generals with blinders on… and more and more view the religious/secular issue as less and less relevant.

    One result of the Yom Kippur War – another debacle caused by the secular elite’s myopia and hubris – was a resurgence of religious feeling and a widespread rejection of the ultra-secular definition of the Israeli as a “new Jew”. Since then we’ve had 3 or 4 waves of religious revival, with even celebs participating in chic Bible study groups.

    It is anticipated that the October 7th pogrom will cause another such revival of Jewish identity – in fact, it already has done so, around the world and here in Israel.

    The hard-core “imagine there’s no countries… and no religion too” Lefties are freaking out. They are about to lose their grip on the levers of power.

    THAT is why we are hearing about this issue. The Israeli papers have full-page ads about this issue – paid for by front organizations… it’s all Left-wing money meant to deepen divisions.

  30. Karmi:

    Your argument makes no sense.

    Trump is against the things you are against; Biden is for them. And you won’t vote for Trump because he might not succeed, whereas Biden won’t even try? Plus, of course, what will happen with SCOTUS replacements.

    And all of this because you somehow believe that Trump might stop aid to Ukraine, although he is on record as supporting it? Here’s a link from yesterday:

    Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday endorsed former President Donald Trump’s idea of giving Ukraine a loan instead of regular foreign aid to combat Russia.

    “We’re $34 trillion in debt. Nobody wants to help Ukraine more than I do,” the South Carolina Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But President Trump is trying to do two things here: help an ally but tell the American people, ‘pay us back if you can.’ I think most Americans would like to help Ukraine.” …

    “The idea of giving and never being repaid should be off the table. He mentioned this to me, I think, playing golf,” Mr. Graham said. “‘Why don’t we make it a loan?’ Well, we did that in World War II with Britain. When you’re $34 trillion in debt, you need to be thinking about the American people, just not allies. I think the loan is the way to get the aid to Ukraine.”

    This is from four days ago:

    How to resolve the impasse and help Ukraine? Of all people, former President Donald Trump has suggested a workaround — convert the cost of the weapons transfers into a loan. Trump even specified that the loan would bear no interest and would only be paid “if Ukraine ever strikes it rich.” …

    This has a historical precedent. During a Caribbean cruise after his reelection in 1940, President Roosevelt conceived of a mechanism whereby the U.S. could lend or lease military equipment and ammunition to countries considered vital to the defense of the U.S. FDR likened Lend Lease to loaning a garden hose to a neighbor whose house was on fire. By not styling the assistance as a grant to the UK, FDR assuaged concerns about “foreign aid.”

  31. Turtler:

    I understand your points, but at this point in America’s history another mere 4-8 year Presidential cycle isn’t going to change the country’s direction, IMHO. Trump was unable to stop the massive riots during his term – I saw him as an incompetent leader. He merely picked the 3 Supreme’s on advice, but looked like McConnell was the one who pushed them across the line.

    I can’t stand Biden or the Democratic party, but I am not going to vote for Russia over Ukraine.

    War may be the only solution for America…

  32. fine stick with the child mutilators the people who are destroying our power lines, our roads, who is making our military a straw man, do I have to talk past the sale

    Progs are only the answer to who will bring about our doom,

    ftr I trust Graham, about as far as I can throw him, he was in league with Erdogan as far back as 2017, who was Hamas enabler along with Qatar,

  33. It may be that some evangelical Christains are more focused on building of a new temple than are the Israelis. There is a range of feeling it seems in Israel regarding Judiadism, the Ultra Orthodox vs other religious Jews, to say nothing of the non religious Jews and non Jewish Israelis. You might think it would be a very contentious question in Israeli politics as it is very controversial for Jews even to be on The Temple Mount (where that abomination was built, the El Awful Mosque).

  34. Karmi:

    RFK Jr. or No Labels (no candidate either)?

    It’s all downhill since George Washington and the Civil War didn’t go far enough?

    Do tell.

  35. Karmi:

    You are not trolling of course.

    RFK Jr. or No Labels (no candidate either)?

    It’s all downhill since George Washington and the Civil War didn’t go far enough?

    Do tell, since you aren’t making any serious arguments.

  36. LOL. President Trump appointed three SCOTUS Justices, but he listened to Mitch McConnel! That is certainly a reason not to want President Trump to be nominating any more SCOTUS Justices (Sotamayor not so healthy (?) cough, cough).

    ‘Splain some more Karmi. You are making perfect sense.

    Back to work.

  37. Karmi:

    Hindu? Nope.

    Although I did financially support a, former Hindi, Christian evangelist for nearly 20 years. He and his wife were Wyclyff type translatiors of the New Testament into native languages. There are a lot of such languages worldwide. Does that count?

    Nope, “om” is just the partial initials of my name. If you read coments you might notice “hints” about my religion, Church and such.

    Don’t be stalking me! (sarc and LOL)

    Not that it matters politically.

    Alichami Paul and Christina Paul were the Indian Christian evangelists, Bible translators. It is a big task.

  38. Old time Democrats were populists, at least in their rhetoric. Behind the scenes, most of the elected ones (just like old time Republicans) took whatever bribes they could get. Now, all they stand for is “Those guys over there are bad, bad, bad.”

    But what do Democrats actually stand for? Except for woke racism and gender transitioning children, it’s just “Those guys are bad-bad, bad-bad-bad. Believe us, they’re bad.”

    And they’re willing to do whatever it takes by whatever means to defeat populists and populism.

  39. Late here, but just a comment on the videos. What happened with the pianist is like one of those anxiety dreams (nightmares) that most of us have (like forgetting to attend a class that one was registered for, and remembering right before the final exam). I’m not as surprised that she had the muscle memory to pull it off as that she could keep her composure enough to do it. It was difficult to watch as she waited to enter after the orchestral introduction. I’m guessing she had to shut down her brain and leave it to her fingers, as the first commenter suggests.

    Also surprising there wasn’t any rehearsal or even a discussion with the conductor before the performance, but I guess that can happen with a last-minute replacement.

    That interviewer in the first video seemed shockingly ignorant, as she didn’t seem to understand that this was a different concerto by Mozart, which Pires was identifying by the Koechel numbers (well known to anyone who is familiar with classical music).

  40. Jimmy,

    If I understood the first video correctly, this was a rehearsal. I watched the second video first, and was wondering why the conductor and pianist were not dressed more formally. I thought the interviewer in the first video stated that rehearsals of this symphony are sometimes open to the public and hundreds often attend, but it was a rehearsal. If so, that would explain the calm, almost jocular nature of the conductor as she notifies him of her dilemma.

    Regardless, it is fascinating to watch her adapt and adjust!

    (Just listened again.) Pirez, “It was a general rehearsal. The general rehearsal in Amsterdam is sometimes with a full hall. It was 3,000 people.”

  41. Thanks LLana and Ben David , for your insightful comments on the Haredim / Ultra-Orthodox military situation

  42. jon baker, This is not my call, since I am a Gentile Christian. It’s not for me to say which Jewish groups are “really” Jewish, or to say whether a Temple rebuild is actually a goal for most modern Jews. The Temple was a place of sacrifice. In addition to offerings of plant agricultural products, live animals were sacrificed in accordance with the Law all day. Somehow I cannot imagine home-and-synagogue based religious practice of nearly 2,000 years will easily resume animal sacrifices at a new Temple. Again, this is not my call.

  43. I guess the CDC thinks its credibility has recovered to the pre COVID levels of truthiness.

  44. Trump doesn’t want me to pay for the war in Ukraine (but yes, help pay to crush Hamas). But Biden wants me to pay for both the preservation of Hamas and the destruction of my own country.

    Picture me sweating over this choice. /sarc

  45. RE: UFOs/USOs in our Oceans, and other bodies of water.

    The surface of the Earth is 70% water, and it is currently said that we humans have explored roughly only 5% of that area.

    If you were a species of extraterrestrials, or even, say, some existing earthy species–an ancient predecessor or parallel line of evolution to humans—“ultraterrestrials,” which had, many ages ago, attained high technology, and you wanted to carry on your activities here on Earth but remain, in essence, unobserved, what better place then to base yourselves in our oceans, lakes, and rivers.

    Physicist Dr. Kevin Knuth has made the case that, if you wanted to base yourself on a planet, basing yourself underwater was a much better alternative than basing yourself on land—among other advantages oceans offering relatively stable temperatures and pressures, little influence by the weather, and fewer tectonic forces to threaten you.

    According to a documentary out this month by filmmaker Darcy Weir, titled “Transmedium: Fastmovers & USOs,” there is a tremendous amount of UFO/USO activity in our oceans and other bodies of water that we are not often aware of, and only very rarely hear about.

  46. Rufus T. Firefly: You’re right, and I thought I’d heard “general rehearsal” as well, but couldn’t square that with the size of the audience. And usually rehearsals have more stops and starts. I missed the dialogue between Pires and the conductor because, as I said, I couldn’t bear to watch, so I skipped ahead to where she started playing.

  47. Re: “LeBron Fan Reacts To Larry Bird Mixtape” — A Change Story

    What happened the last few days? I went straight down the Larry Bird rabbit hole again.

    Turns out there are now literally dozens of React videos to the “Larry Bird Ultimate Mixtape.” All by young black fans, who only remember Bird as “that white guy on the Celtics who could really shoot.”

    Then they watch the Bird Mixtape and are gobsmacked by the Bird magic. (As well as by the super-competitive, physical b-ball from those days.)

    They see Bird’s no-look passes, the fakes which caused the defender to trip and fall to the floor, the non-stop fall-away jumpers going swish, the selfless teamwork, the creative plays no one saw coming, the three-pointers, the insane trash talk, the killer instinct, the champion heart, and most of all, those clutch buzzer-beater shots snatching sweet victory from the jaws of D.

    No one had a bag as deep as Larry Legend.

    Anyway. Here’s a stone Lebron Fran who barely figured Bird in his Top Ten, but after seeing the Mixtape.
    ________________________________

    I have to be honest I have to; I have to keep it real.

    Okay. If you were to put together LeBron James’s accomplishments and Larry Bird’s accomplishments. If you would have put together LeBron James highlights and Larry Bird’s highlights….I actually think that Larry Birds are far more impressive’….

    I knew he was good but … sheesh!

    –POLO REACTS, “LeBron Fan Reacts To Larry Bird Mixtape”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhN5WuJ8ddc

    ________________________________

    It’s fun and inspiring to watch POLO agonize about reassessing Larry Bird vis-a-vis LeBron. POLO hated the Celtics!

  48. The policy of the Democrat party for the last decade has been to cravenly appease Iran by offering sanctions relief, which enables the mullahs further to finance genocidal antisemitic terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. When Trump was in office he tried to stop this.

    So “as a Jew”, to coin a phrase, I think any other Jew who votes Democrat especially over Trump should just cut out the middleman, point a loaded gun to their head and pull the trigger. YMMV. Mine won’t.

  49. Kate:It’s not for me to say which Jewish groups are “really” Jewish, or to say whether a Temple rebuild is actually a goal for most modern Jews.

    I think it is not an immediate goal, though for different reasons. The non-Orthodox are uncomfortable with the whole idea. The Orthodox in fact pray for the rebuilding of the temple, but more as a vague hope for the distant future, not something to pursue. The Haredim regularly study the sacrifices so they will be prepared should that day come, but as I understand it have no interest in rebuilding the temple so long as there is a secular government of Israel.

  50. Snow on Pine:

    Yep the oceans have stable pressure and temperature, ask the folks from the Titan submersible, oh they are all dead. Andno earthquakes (Ring of Fire), or volcanoes (Iceland, Tonga, Tambora, Hawaii, ….), or spreading ridges, plate boundaries. This isn’t even considering continental margins.

    Nope nothing but a placid peaceful place in the old briney.

    Sheesh.

    But then Unicorns are exempt from physics and such trifling details.

  51. huxley,

    About six months ago youtube started feeding me Larry Bird videos. I was big into basketball as a teen-ager, which overlapped with Bird and Johnson’s college and early NBA days. Watching the youtube videos I was surprised to learn he could be so rude and talk trash like he did. The television broadcasts must have sanitized that stuff back then, because I wasn’t aware of it.

    And despite his anger he often had on the court other players speak of him being very magnanimous off it. An amazing combination of drive and talent. One thing I remember from watching him when I was young is he didn’t look like he could do the things he did and I thought that gave him a slight edge. He looked awkward and gangly, uncoordinated and I think that gave him a fraction of a second or a half step on opponents. Someone like Dr. J. or Pete Maravich, they moved so fluidly and gracefully, but Bird looked like he had to work harder to do what they did.

    Oh, and if you haven’t done it yet, check out some Pete Maravich highlight videos. There’s times you swear he has a bungee cord attached to the ball. Unbelievable!

    Oh, and if you haven’t seen any of the Professor’s videos, you’ll really enjoy them. He is an incredible ball handler and is so great at faking guys out of their jocks, https://www.youtube.com/@Professorlive

  52. On another thread, someone made the claim Trump would have trouble getting qualified cabinet officers, given his sometimes tough talk.

    Pompeo said he would consider working for Trump again. Given how much the left hates Trump, no doubt serving in a Trump administration is much tougher than most administrations. There is a lot natural turnover for cabinet secretaries. Probably has to do with the grueling demands of the job vs. the pay.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/mike-pompeo-doesnt-rule-out-serving-in-2nd-trump-administration-5604529?utm_source=RTNews&src_src=RTNews&utm_campaign=rtbreaking-2024-03-10-3&src_cmp=rtbreaking-2024-03-10-3&utm_medium=email&est=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY%2FEuIEAs0MDA47xAvWpUGC%2BHdRzGwT27WIBgBlhLhw%3D%3D

  53. That City Journal article by Martin Kulldorf that Miguel posted is a must read.

    The beauty of our immune system is that those who recover from an infection are protected if and when they are re-exposed. This has been known since the Athenian Plague of 430 BC—but it is no longer known at Harvard. Three prominent Harvard faculty coauthored the now infamous “consensus” memorandum in The Lancet, questioning the existence of Covid-acquired immunity. By continuing to mandate the vaccine for students with a prior Covid infection, Harvard is de facto denying 2,500 years of science.

  54. sdferr:

    Thanks for the link to the geology/marine geology. Turbidites and deep sea fans are a big deal (or were) in petroleum geology such as the North Sea oil and gas fields (not deep sea nowadays) and on continental slopes (?). IIRC it involves looking for the main channels and sequences of channels where the permeable sediments got deposited. Or that’s what I remember from 50 years ago; turbidites, Bouma sequences, graduate school. Me? I was just a sub par graduate student looking at volcaniclastics from offshore of southern California and Baja California (DSDP cores).

    But of course Unicorns wouldn’t be bothered, it would be “super easy, barely an inconvenience” to dodge a slope failure on the continental slope or a turbidite outfall.

  55. Watching the youtube videos I was surprised to learn [Larry Bird] could be so rude and talk trash like he did.

    Rufus:

    I was surprised too!

    Reading up on Bird I learned that he grew up in a poor working-class family in small town Indiana. His father committed suicide while Bird was in high school. Bird ended up dropping out after only a month at Indiana U. in Bloomington. He worked municipal jobs, including on a garbage truck, for a year.

    During that time he kept up his game by playing the best players he could find on local courts. Those players were, of course, mostly black. I believe he picked up a lot of street moves and street trash talk then. So he wasn’t at all thrown by playing in college ball and the NBA when he encountered blacks.

    Although he was billed by some as the Great White Hope when the Celtics scooped him up, Bird would never have any of it. He liked and respected black players. And he sure learned the trash talk game.

    The funny thing is how much the black players love Bird back — with the distance of time, of course. They love telling their favorite Larry Bird stories, even at their own expense.

  56. A classic Larry Bird trash story — he pulled it more than once — was to complain to the black players on the other team that they were disrespecting him.

    They were putting a white guy on Bird to guard him.

    Oh, the disrespect!

    As Charles Barkley said, “I had no comeback to that.”

    –“Larry Bird STORIES that prove he’s the BEST TRASH TALKER”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Id88T5DPs

  57. “If you were a species of extraterrestrials, or even, say, some existing earthy species–an ancient predecessor or parallel line of evolution to humans—“ultraterrestrials,” which had, many ages ago, attained high technology, and you wanted to carry on your activities here on Earth but remain, in essence, unobserved, what better place then to base yourselves in our oceans, lakes, and rivers …”

    Inasmuch as we [ the public ] really have no idea what this phenomenon is composed of, or from whence it originates or is generated, soaring speculation does not even have settled predicates from which to launch.

    Now, granting the proposition that the oceans are largely uncharted or monitored, which may not be true to the degree assumed, there is still a problem with the scenario given one assumption regarding the UAP phenomenon. That is: If the UAPs are extraterrestrial interplanetary visitors from outside the solar system, then the infra structrual, or contextual support technology that would perforce be available to them in order to generate such vehicular technologies in the first place, would almost certainly have also functioned to make visiting earth perfectly otiose. There is nothing here that they could not easily get elsewhere.

    And if by some chance they were here and hiding, it would imply that they were no more than a few generations more advanced than our most advanced conceptual engineering, and were for some reason stunted and not themselves technologically accelerating. Or they might be nothing in the way of members of an independent civilization at all; but merely some kind of tools, cybernetic drone organisms, or slaves.

    Their being here from elsewhere in the galaxy and having to hide, much less mine resources here, makes as little sense as intergalactic travellers flying in echelon formation like geese or WW2 fighter planes.

    There is no reason for them to be here … unless this is THEIR planet to begin with and we are irrelevant to their pattern of existence.

  58. DNW–If you look at the documentary I discussed above you will see, for instance, that, among many others, former Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, with 32 years of service in the Navy, and an Oceanographer by training, who was also the Head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for three years, certainly believes that UFOs are real, and that they are very active in our oceans.*

    See https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/transmedium-fastmovers–usos/umc.cmc.ql1kntt360gkqx3tsnadc12w

  59. Mmm, who would I believe has the best understanding of the UFO phenomenon, and especially as this phenomenon relates to our oceans?

    On the one hand, we have Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, a Naval Academy graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Oceanography, and master’s and doctorate degrees in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, some 32 years of naval service on both land and sea, including many deployments at sea, holding among many other positions, positions as Commander of the Navy’s Oceanography Special Warfare Center, Commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Oceanographer of the Navy, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, this followed by three years service as the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Service, all sorts of experience, plus access to all sorts of classified information.

    And, then, there’s om, whose refutation is “unicorns.”

  60. Snow on Pine:

    Your Naval officer unfortunately doesn’t have any evidence.
    You say he has access to all sorts of stuff ….. that can’t be revealed. Maybe he does, but your faith isnt evidence either.That and 5 dollars will get you a cup of coffee.

    Sorry but quite a few highly credentialed military and intelligence community officials with access to highly classified information spent years lying about things, so show the evidence.

    You can wish for UFOs and NHIs, but evidence is damned scarce (cough, absent).

    Show the evidence or it’s just so much science fiction.

  61. om –It’s easy to ask someone who has access to classified information to reveal it, but you aren’t the one who will lose their job, career, and livelihood and the ability to support their family–things like college tuition, food, gas, mortgage, and car payments, etc., lose their pension (which they might have worked 20 or 30 years to attain),* and end up in jail if they reveal what they know.

    Moreover, according to some–like whistleblower David Grusch–revealing such information could also see you suffer an unfortunate–and fatal–“accident.”

    That is the power of this system of secrecy

    * Lou Elizondo resigned his position short of retirement, and he has said that he, his wife, and his children ended up living in a trailer for some time as a result of that massive loss of income.

  62. Snow on Pine:

    It seems there are often if not always excuses why your highly credible credentialed classified access priests of the sacred UFO, NHI, pixie knowledge and evidence just can’t, not a single one, pony up the world shattering evidence. Not the fame, fortune,
    or acclaim are sufficient for them to give it up or find a way to get it out. Curious, such milqetoasts, or are they just satisfied with a low level con?

    The mark has to want the con to be true.

    No Copernicus or Galileo or Luther level of courage? Navalny went back to Russia, Bonhoeffer went back to Nazi Germany, but your world altering information isn’t sufficient for such sacrifice? Why?

  63. Snow,
    My hypothetical did not lead me to the conclusion that these phenomena are with certainty unreal. But rather if there is a life form piloting vehicles around the planet utilizing technology we don’t yet understand, it makes no sense that they would be from other star systems.

    There is nothing on earth that a civilization with the technology for interstellar travel, could not get in millions of other places, or just fabricate artificially.

    Some kind of weird ass “Silurian hypothesis” style entities evolved beneath the sea or in previous geological eras?

    I don’t know. Probably not, but maybe.

    If there are craft moving through the oceans, I would imagine the Navy would have some idea, given their sub tracking tech and focus.

    In any event if there were such beings, I think we would be mistaken to imagine that they have social arrangements and values that are analogs of ours as in some 1950s sci fi movie.

  64. DNW–You say that you can’t imagine what incentive a supposed extraterrestrial might have which is so strong that such an entity would make what you presume is an arduous and expensive trip to our Earth.

    Have you or anyone else on Earth met such an entity, had a look at their mode of transportation and it’s capabilities, speed, and range?

    Are you certain that you know what the chemical composition of all the other habitable planets in our Galaxy is, which elements or items are plentiful and which are scarce? I know I don’t.

    Do you have knowledge of what such an entity, or the civilization it came from, might prize, might need, perhaps even desperately need?

    Until some such entity steps from the shadows, or some human involved in the Legacy programs decides to reveal what he might know, All is just speculation.

    So, I don’t think that, at this point, we can rule anything out.

  65. P.S.–One thing which can be noted with certainty is the intense interest which UFOs have displayed in anything to do with nuclear weapons.

    We can mark the modern uptick in UFO activities–and the associated coverup–as likely starting with the 1947 crash at Roswell (or perhaps even with the earlier crash at nearby Trinity).

    Roswell, like the Trinity site, is located very near the nuclear test site and, as well, is close to the then Army Air Force base which housed the sole unit whose aircraft dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki–the Enola Gay et al.

    Over the decades since then there have been numerous reports of UFOs hovering over nuclear research and weapon production sites like Los Alamos, and Hanford, appearing in the vicinity of nuclear weapons tests, hovering over nuclear weapons storage sites here and abroad, over ICBM fields (and sometimes shutting down our U.S. ICBM launch capabilities and, in Russia, reportedly starting their launch sequences), over nuclear submarines and other nuclear powered war ships, and also over civilian nuclear power plants.

    It appears as if whatever entity is operating these UFOs is very concerned that we will start a nuclear war, and destroy human civilization.

    And if what we are dealing with are “Ultraterrestrials” of Earthly origin, I’d imagine that they are quite concerned that we will destroy the planet that they also inhabit.*

    * See Robert Hastings book,”UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites”

  66. And the Pixies, another species of Unicorn have been reported to have been hovering over the city of Wuhan China. In fact many people think that Pixies were walking about freely their faces covered by cloth and paper.

    In the deep dreaded briney the other species of Unicorns are thought to be the Narhwal, Mermaids, Octopus, and the Kraken. The Kraken have been reported to be keenly interested in politics and bad movies. Inscrutable they are, these nohuman intelligences.

  67. DNW on March 12, 2024 at 2:11 am said:
    Impossible to hide… we shed atoms all the time..
    somewhere in the microplastics is evidence of nothing…

    if you could comprehend the smallest distances between us and other locations, you would not think as much as you do on them getting here…

    when it takes 1000 years for a radio signal to go one way, and that is a small distance in an over 27 billion year old universe..

    just one method of doing so would help a whole lot towards the belief
    star trek and movies aside…

    worm holes if they existed and were not mathematical things, would tear you apart (while violating a whole bunch of energy conservation laws).

    constant acceleration will put us on other stars and planets, but no round trips.
    and we could probably seed the galaxy that way (see sci american)
    but the universe is out of reach

    Proxima Centauri is a small, low-mass star located 4.2465 light-years away from the Sun in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Its Latin name means the ‘nearest [star] of Centaurus’. It was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes and is the nearest-known star to the Sun.

    light travels about 186,000 miles per second…
    671 million miles per hour

    So now… you solved the i cant travel that far and live problem.
    how do you solve the time problem?
    how do you solve the acceleration deceleration problem (so it doesn’t impact your time)

    and my favorite. how do you solve the “force of a grain of sand strikes my hull when i am moving at X percent the speed of light” problem (before you answer – please realize what this energy is)

    [how many generations would die and be born over the travel period – being nothing like their origins in less than 2 gens (in terms of anything other than biology)]

    What this means is that if you travel at 50% of the speed of light, your clocks go 15% slower than clocks which are stationary. Travel at 80% of the speed of light and your clocks are 67% slower (ie at 3/5 of the rate of a stationary clock).

    8760 hours X 4.2465 light-years = 37199.34 hours at light speed

    On Sept. 27, the Solar probe reached a blistering 394,736 mph/ (635,266 km/h) as it swooped close to the sun’s surface

    after about 4000 years or more of travel – we would reach our closest neighbor
    and could start the whole thing… the plants would grow, they would be diverse enough, no terraforming would be needed (or possible?), etc.

    then lastly….
    IF you could do that… and the whole of the universe was before you
    playing jokes on ants would be your pass time?

  68. that was the conceit of the planet of the apes films, taylor and brent, knew the hessler curve would take them into the future, they should have been able to identify what planet they were on, I guess plasma shielding would protect them
    from most impacts, a einstein rosenman bridge, (a worm hole would pose other problems) that stargate didnt address

  69. on the grain of sand issue

    When the grain of sand reaches a speed close to the speed of light, its energy and mass begin to increase dramatically. You can’t even see this tiny grain of sand, but inside, it has the mass of an entire continent. If the grain reaches the speed of light, its mass will be infinite. And then, a black hole will appear.

    So, your ship is going 2/3 the speed of light.
    and a grain of sand is going 2/3 the speed of light coming at you.

    how do you defend yourself?

    Note that such a grain hitting the earth would destroy it..

    Thats a lot of energy in an area smaller than, ahem…

    and any kind of terrestrial energy llike magnetism or any other force
    appears in nature in amounts so high we can only peer at them millions of miles away to be safe..

    A magnetar (a type of neutron star) has a magnetic field as strong as 10¹?-10¹? Gauss, making it the most magnetic object (known) in the Universe

    1,400,000 Times Stronger Than Earth’s: New Record for Strongest Steady Magnetic Field

    On August 12, the hybrid magnet of the Steady High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF) in Hefei, China, generated the world’s highest steady magnetic field by a working magnet measuring 45.22 teslas (T). In comparison, Earth’s magnetic field at 0° latitude and 0° longitude only has a strength of 0.000032 teslas.

    so 452,200 Gaus vs 10,000,000,000,000,000 gaus

    dont think that will move time… do you?

    the humoungous energy naturally occuring would show the effects of the exploitable
    they dont… sigh

  70. I imagine we avoid neutron stars if needs must, they had also come up with inertial dampeners so they stresses don’t tear the ship apart,

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