This past SCOTUS season saw the unpronounceable Skrmetti case, and the more pronounceable Mahmoud vs. Taylor. Both resulted in judgements unfavorable to transgender groups preferences. The court is now taking up next years cases. They have accepted the case of 15 year old BPJ (Becky Pepper-Jackson), a transgender girl who wants to compete on Girls teams in high school in WVa. (I presume ‘transgender girl’ means the youth in question has XY gametes. Articles tend to not to be explicit on about Karotypes and I have not verified this. )
The ACLU article includes links to some briefs. So we can begin learning a bit more about the facts and legal claims surrounding this particular case. Evidently roughly half the 50 states now have laws barring transgender girls from participating in girls sports– thus reserving them for cis-gender girls. I haven’t read of any states banning transgender girls from boys sports. So presumably those states allow the transgender girls to participate in boys category.
I tend to think the outcome and reasoning of Skremetti leans in favor of SCOTUS deciding this is the domain of the legislature and then can ban transgender girls from cisgender girls sports. But this also hinges on interpretation of Title IX. Are regulations in Title IX relevent to Gender vs Sex in Title IX? And how? We’ll see.
As usual: Open thread.
Penn finally bows to reality….. and the potential loss of money: https://thespectator.com/topic/penn-finally-accepts-that-lia-thomas-is-a-biological-man/
I only wonder 1) how it could happen and 2) why it took so long to reverse.
I have some reminiscing to do about learning evolution theory and creationism in school. I attended Catholic school in the 1950s and 1960s at that time there was still residual animosity in society and a supreme court case about schools teaching evolution.
But my Catholic schools had no controversy at all. I was only taught evolution in science class. Now in religion we learned quite a bit about how evolution was completely compatible with Catholic teaching. Some of their reasoning seemed a bit extreme and I thought it was a stretch but there was no hesitancy to embrace evolution in my science classes.
I chalked up the controversy to Bible thumping Baptists.
Russel,
I honestly don’t remember the full curriculum in my highschool bio class. I remember butchering a frog and learning about cell functions (mitochondria. ATP.)
But generally, RC don’t have anything against the idea of human evolution. So RC schools teach it routinely.
lucia,
Your story about the 3 year old in the closet is an example of problem solving rather than critical thinking. They are not the same. All sorts of animals sovle problems, but I don’t think we would say that they have critical thinking skills.
https://criticalthinkingsecrets.com/are-problem-solving-and-critical-thinking-the-same/
Note: It is obvious to me that the two are different, but I was too lazy to try and form the argument myself. So I just did a search on “critical thinking vs problem solving” and found the above.
I am pretty confident that the reconciliation bill will squeak through the House. Republicans know that there political survival depends on it. So they will scream and posture, then give in.
I don’t think it a coincidence that exactly 3 Republican Senators voted against the bill. Thune (like Johnson) knows how to count. So he knows exactly how many arms need to be twisted to get the required result.
I remember telling my kids in the car:
“See that red building over there?”
“yes”
“It’s blue.”
(pause)
“No it’s not!”
“Yes it is, it’s blue”
“It’s red!”
“Why?
“Because it’s red, not blue”
“Why can’t red be blue?”
Etc. The exercise from Dad to not always believe even trusted sources. Every now and then I could see the wheels turning in their head as they were considering whether I was BS’ing them again.
I think Dr. Seuss covered the rest.
MikeM
It is an example of problem solving. But that’s not “rather than” critical thinking. Problem solving is evidence that critical thinking exists.
Here’s google AI — highlights mine
When A is a “foundational skill” for B, then doing B requires A.
Here “B” is problem solving and “A” is critical thinking. For the kid to exhibit “problem solving” he had to apply “critical thinking”. That means he had the capacity for some degree of critical thinking”.
Critical thinking is broader than problem solving. That only means there are other behaviors of processes that also involve critical thinking. But saying “an example of problem solving rather than critical thinking. ” is like saying ” your example was an apple rather than a fruit.” Yeah. The word “apple” doesn’t mean “fruit”. And it doesn’t encompass the full generality of the word “fruit”. But apples are fruits. So an apple is an example of a fruit.
And if a species eats apples, it does eat fruit. Maybe not all fruit– but at least some fruit.
Unquestioning belief is likely part of evolutionary development. The survival rate is higher when we believe stepping in front of a car will injure us without testing or confirmation of having seen it happen.
Dawkins argued the system is built in for survival but it can be hijacked for nefarious purposes by idealogues.
NHC upgraded the tropical disturbance in the northeast Gulf of America to a 40% chance of forming a storm.
I just received a text from Sarasota County advising me where I can go to pick up sandbags.
“Sarasota County: Self-service sandbags available July 2, until 8 p.m. at Twin Lakes Park, Ed Smith Stadium & 4571 State Road 776. Limit 10. nixle.us/GFGZ7”
Tom
Yes. It’s very, very useful for a kid to believe an adult who tell them not to put their hand on the hot pan.
Eventually, the kid might benefit from learning how to determine if the adult is telling the truth about things or lying. But “unquestioning belief” of “trusted individuals” — at least provisionally– is very adaptive. We actually want kids to have it.
Oddly, letting objecting parents opt their kids out of lessons they parents object violently too is probably a better way to have kids retain provisional unquestioning belief compared to forcing the kids to stay in the class and then be taught they should not trust everything their teacher says during a lesson.
Will some kids observe that some people disagree with something about this lesson? Sure. But if one is arguing that kids need to learn LGTBQ individuals exist then one should recognize that some people think something about this “lesson” is “not entirely true”.
The remaining kids aren’t going to hear the objecting parents specific position or their arguments for those positions. But they will learn these people exist. So they will be exposed to the fact that the spectrum of existing ideas is broader and more diverse that their teacher might be presented.
Of course, I think that’s the precise objection to those not allowing opt out. But “diversity” and “exposure” cuts both ways.
Crows are smart. However testing found that crows kind of intuitively knew to fly away from cars but only up to about 30 mph. After that they had to learn to fly away earlier, assuming they survived the first encounter.
After an excruciating battle,Riley Gaines has won:
“UPenn has agreed to right its wrongs, restore records to the rightful female athletes, and issue an apology to the women impacted by the man they allowed to compete as a woman.
Are pigs flying?
God bless @realDonaldTrump.”
https://x.com/riley_gaines_/status/1940187628021694922?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
The story:
“Trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas will be stripped of titles after university bends the knee to Trump admin”
https://nypost.com/2025/07/01/us-news/trans-upenn-swimmer-lia-thomas-to-have-titles-stripped-as-university-bends-the-knee-to-trump-admin/
Two thoughts…
It’s about damn time!
And Trump is on an incredible roll.
Tom,
I don’t know. Other orientations seem like they ought to fall under the category of ‘mutual masturbation’ from an evolutionary perspective. I guess some feel that masturbation is ‘unnatural’ but I’m not sure it’s the same scale, and I always thought the aversion to masturbation was religiously inspired? [Socially inspired maybe?]
But for sure I don’t know.
Hysteria is everywhere after the Trump administration announces they will stop shipment to Ukraine of certain ‘precision guided’ weapons (no details provided), stating that stockpiles of these weapons for the US military are too low. So much hair on fire now that Washington may soon have little hair.
Is Trump reminding Republicans in the House who support Ukraine that they had better vote for his reconciliation bill? I don’t know, but the timing of the announcement is suspicious.
Evolutionary biology isn’t a one size fits all answer but it is the first place I look when asking “why does this moral judgment exist in this direction?”. Survival of the species is the prime directive.
This isn’t to say that evolution is right about everything, especially when evolutionary pressure is no longer applicable in many situations.
Tom,
I agree.
[Caution, the following is my speculation, take it with a grain of salt]
I think the Ukrainian military is sending their Soviet vintage fighter jets into harm’s way on a more regular basis. This is because I am seeing more frequent posts like the following:
“Rare footage captures the moment a Ukrainian Air Force Su-24 frontline bomber launches missiles toward Russian targets.”
My conspiracy theory is based also on the following from Grok:
“As of June 2025, the Ukrainian Air Force is estimated to have between 30 and 36 operational F-16 fighter jets”
I think there may be a correlation between the buildup of the Ukrainian F-16 fleet and their willingness to risk sending old fighter jets to the front.
Until recently both the Ukrainian and Russian air forces have been MIA at the front and have only operated in rear areas.
As with other types of advanced armaments, the Ukrainian military is being resupplied by all the countries in NATO, while Russia has to manufacture their own replacements.
The success of Ukrainian drones in taking out Russian air defenses is also playing a part in this theory.
Apologies to the statisticians in the group.
Chalk up another win for Trump:
BREAKING: Vietnam to pay 20% tariff of ANY goods sent to U.S.A.
PLUS 40% on any transshipping
USA will have will have ZERO tariff into Vietnam
and unrestricted market access.
https://x.com/trumpdailyposts/status/1940435586306679286?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I think that in general there have been no laws banning girls from participating in boys sports. There has never been any need for such laws. It might be that some recent laws banning biological males from girls sports have also been reciprocal.
From time to time there are stories about a girl on a football team, usually as a place kicker.
As Russell points out, Trump now has two trade deals negotiated (UK, Vietnam) or maybe three if you count China (I think that one is just interim while a full deal gets negotiated. Have I missed any? I think the deadline is next Tuesday, so that does not seem to be going according to plan.
It has been my expectation that, before the deadline, Trump would announce a temporary reprieve for those countries making significant progress toward a deal while letting the tariffs go into effect on recalcitrant countries. But I also expected a lot more deals by this point. We shall see.
I’m always confused when they say transgender man or transgender woman, ha ha. I think the last word is the gender claim.
It looks like another “balancing of rights” case which is pretty common for cases that reach the SC. The SC might be taking up the case to end all legal drama over whether men’s bodies can compete in women’s sports.
At the very least states will be able to decide for themselves but a national ban might be the result. I could live with the California compromise where they get to compete but they basically have to share a platform with real women and I would extend that to them also not being eligible for records.
FWIW I don’t care if women’s bodies compete in men’s sports. However testosterone therapy and such for these people qualifies as performance enhancing drugs so it likely won’t be much to worry about.
Some of the activists are moving on from pretending men don’t have performance advantages and now advocating for removing sex based classes entirely to a different handicapping system (weight, height, age, etc.). That won’t be workable for … reasons.
There are plenty of sports that men shouldn’t have an advantage in. Darts, pool, chess, archery, riflery, etc. There are still performance differences here which might be more participation, better training, and increased competition. Perhaps there are less obvious biological advantages.
In these cases it might make sense to make them open sports from the start to allow women to benefit from better training and competition. Realistically there should be two categories “Open” and “Women’s”.
There are a lot of intangibles (unmeasurables) in sports, like aggression and risk tolerance and heart. There would be no way of classifying athletes based on the intangibles.
I do agree with the open and women’s categories
Tom Scharf: Realistically there should be two categories “Open” and “Women’s”.
That’s the situation in chess. [I won’t go into whether that’s a “sport”, although there are some who make that claim.] Titles include “Grandmaster” and “Woman Grandmaster”. Several top woman players have earned the Grandmaster title. (As well as the WGM title.)
HaroldW
I read the reason for women’s divisions in Chess is specifically to encourage women to play. Young girls evidently play at nearly equal rates to boys, win just as much and then just drop out. This could be simple loss of interest as they develop interest in other (possibly more sociable) activities.
So as far as people can tell, there are fewer women in the top leagues of chess because women don’t particularly want to play. Nature? Nurture? Don’t know.
I’m reading some briefs– BPJ represents what I think is one of the most sympathetic plaintiffs for the LGTBQ case of allowing trans(XY)girls into middle school sports. If BPJ loses…. trans-girls on sports are done. Period.
* transitioned pretty young. Socially transitioned at 11 yo. Medically? Not sure– says the transition was pre-puberty. Puberty for girls and boys can be as young as 8 or 9, but can also be older.
* Took both puberty blockers and estrogen pre-puberty. So (s)he is developing hips and fat.
* Actually not wiping out tons of XX-girls during competition.
* Asking for decisions to be case-by-case.
* Kid and h(er)is parents clearly do consider h(er)im “a girl”. Definitely been taking on that role for a long time. There is no support for the contention they only switched because they didn’t beat the boys and now want to win. (So, not Lia Thomas.)
If (s)he wins…. the degree of win for LGTBQ will depend on details. Suppose BPJ wins the “case by case” rule, but the state just be able to make the rule “puberty blockers must start before age 9?” After all, puberty can start at 9 yo. (Usually doesn’t, but it can. And who is constantly monitoring the changes in testosterone and estrogen in kids?) Can the state require medical records show regular monitoring? Like super regular? To ensure “vigilance”.
If the state legislature could do that, BPJ would not be able to play anyway, and very very few trans would be able to play. So that might be a phyrric victory. But still, “case by case” would mean involved time consuming decisions to allow or block a transgender XY from playing in XX. Also, it would mean lawsuits in both directions.
(I think this suit was kicked off by an XX girl athlete. That’s recollection– maybe false memory. )
The argument from the knuckle dragging sexists is that the distribution of intelligence and some other traits is wider in men. Their tails are bigger on both sides. This was borne out by some IQ tests and so forth but it has now become impossible to study it due to politics. Just claiming this is an argument at all will get you banned from the faculty lounge.
Since the numbers on the extreme tails are so small it is difficult to get good data unless you use very large numbers. It can be argued that men dominate chess because it is culturally a “man’s game” and participation is discouraged for women. This is nearly impossible to refute or verify.
Tom
That might also be the case. But girls dropping out is evidently observed. People like to assume boys and girls having different interests is necessarily cultural. It certainly can be. But there some to be some evidence that girls have inate preferences for doing stuff “with people” and boys liking to work “with things”.
Also: there is some evidence that if a kid is equally skilled verbally and in math and science kids then to pick the ‘soft’ side. Those who are good in math and science but significantly weaker in verbal, tend to stick to their strength. (E.g. law vs engineering.)
This evidently holds for boys as well as girls. And in terms of assymetric strengths: there are boys who are good in math and science and poor in verbal. (So… generically get 700+ math SAT and 500- Verbal.) But nearly all girls who get good math SATs also get good Verbal– so it’s more even. Why? Also, who knows.
But I think there is simply some evidence for self selection. It can happen young. Some of it is probably genetic.
Eugene Volokh posted:
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/07/03/s-ct-will-decide-can-states-define-sports-team-eligibility-by-biological-sex-determined-at-birth/
I don’t know that puberty blockers and estrogen and so forth are a magic answer that equalizes competition. It might but I doubt anybody knows all the factors involved.
The states that want to block declared gender based sports also want to block medical interventions at an early age so a bit of a catch 22.
I don’t find the argument they can’t participate in sports at all convincing. They can participate in men’s sports but that would be uncomfortable socially if they are hiding their transition and I doubt middle school boys are going to be … uhhhh … mature and supportive.
Tom,
I don’t know either. I did google a little on that and have some notes. I would say it seems to me they represent at least a good faith attempt to block the effects of the childs natural hormones, and giving estrogen will cause at least some degree of feminization. Is it “as much”? Dunno. And honestly, this falls in the category of “it’s implausible they really know.” “Really” knowing requires experiments with double blind studies, over time, yada, yada. No way they’ve done that, and they never will. (It’s not even ethical.)
Coming very close to “really” knowing requires this to have been done to many kids over many decades and tracking. Also: no way that’s been done. And won’t be because of “privacy” and cost.
But this case comes as close as possible to a real attempt of a very young XY person to “be a girl”.
Going forward, that would limit how many people would fit the template presented by Becky Packer-Jackson. I don’t know how many fit h(er)is template now.
And it’s not clear people have a right to be insulated from all discomfort. It’s not even possible to insulate all people from all discomfort. Even just looking at Mahmoud: Either the parents who wanted opt outs to the LGBTQ materials were going to have to put up with discomfort or the LGBTQ kids were going to have to risk feeling discomfort when they learned some people were going to opt out. There is no policy that insulates everyone from discomfort.
I think (not sure) one of the things the BPJ side asked is for SCOTUS to wait until the bathroom/locker room cases were decided. Well, those also involve discomfort for someone. The question is “who?”
I suspect (also don’t know) BPJ has not had surgical modifications. If (s)he had, I suspect their brief would have mentioned it.
Whatever the legals issues might be, as trans in girls sports go, this is sort of the opposite extreme of “Lia Thomas”.
The reconciliation bill passed, with two Republicans voting against and two refusing to vote.
The extension of the existing pass-through business exemption is a very big deal for a lot of small business owners, including me.
I expect expensing of investments for new production capacity will generate a lot of growth in the next four years (after that, Dems could be in control, and reverse everything). For now at least, businesses are going to grow. Except for electric cars, where eliminating tax credits will probably reduce sales.
Lucia: “I would say it seems to me they represent at least a good faith attempt to block the effects of the childs natural hormones”
Nothing about giving kids hormones and puberty blockers is “good faith”. Making this a stipulation for engaging in sport merely introduces a reason why transitioning people before puberty should exist. It shouldn’t and if medical profesionals were doing their jobs properly, they would realize they’re condoning or cheerleading a lobotomy/eugenics level ethical “mistake”.
A high percentage of this group suicide, and those are the ones that have actual gender dysphoria. I expect that number to increase as kids grow up to find they’re living in sexually broken bodies because they made a bad choice as a child and there were no adults around to say no.
Trump is way better at governing in Trump II. Many people may not like what it is, but he is no longer a bumbling fool at it. He very much understands the toolkit now.
OTOH the party line voting is getting old. I’m personally not a fan of an overly powerful executive.
But congratulations to Republicans who appear competent even if the sausage looks a bit yucky.
Apparently the “suicide” risk for gender dysphoria was misrepresented by advocates and that was cleared up before the SC. “Completed suicide” numbers were very small and didn’t show any correlation. “Suicidal ideation”, or having suicidal thoughts, was allegedly higher but that gets pretty messy when trans people are likely asked that question in a leading way more often and a correlation with other mental issues happening at the same time. If you make that choice it is going to come with social pressure.
Most of the research has been done by people who support the cause. Because the situation has become so politically charged I doubt we will see good honest data for a long time.
Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford will now pay the top 8% tax rate on their annual investment income (profits on endowments). It was 1.4%, the House bill had it at 21%.
This is the result of being very dumb and unnecessarily alienating a lot of people. Even the left is unlikely to defend “billionaire universities”.
This is a sliding scale tax based on (endowment size / # students).
https://www.ropesgray.com/en/insights/alerts/2025/07/senate-tax-package-includes-major-changes-to-endowment-and-executive-compensation-excise-taxes
Allowing men to compete in women’s educational sports violates title IX – and visa versa also. Of course, schools could establish men’s, women’s and open divisions and that would be fine.
But once a single sex sport is declared and is available for each of the two sexes, I suspect it will be found (and maybe already is) illegal to allow people of the opposite sex to participate.
This obvious violation is beginning to be unwound and hopefully we will return to sanity soon.
SteveF says “eliminating tax credits will probably reduce sales”.
I am planning on buying my model Y before the end of September 2025 (when the credits expire). I am just waiting to see what the deal is with the lower priced models Tesla is releasing (or announcing) around 2nd Q earnings.
I wonder if there are many other people like me who have been thinking of trying an EV and will actually be motivated to pull the trigger between now and September 2025 in order to save 7500 on the vehicle?
My guess is sales go up Q3 and then drop.
RickA,
Could well happen. People run to save money when they know the price will rise in the future.
And yes, after the incentives go away, electric car sales will likely tank. Which is (I guess) why Musk is so hysterical about the reconciliation bill. OTOH, electric cars actually make economic sense for relatively few people….. witness their sales as a fraction of total car sales. If I were a gambler, I would buy Tesla puts. I am not a gambler. Here is the weird thing: where people are very climate sensitive and also upstanding citizens (like in Massachusetts) electric rates are so high that buying an electric car is economically insane for most people. OTOH, in Florida, where electric rates are relatively low, buying an electric car is not crazy…. so long as you never need to travel long distances in your car.
I suggest Tesla holds off discounting vehicles until Sept 30.
DaveJR
Well… I guess it depends on what you mean as “good faith”. I think
* the doctors are giving the drugs on the expectation that the significantly block testosterone or estrogen production and they do block it to a large extent.
* No one is trying to “fake” the fact that the families and kids really believe what they believe. This isn’t a case of someone who is merely pretending “so they can win”.
SteveF:
I have never owned an EV, but am really excited for the supervised self-driving, which should turn into full self-driving next year. I just love the idea of sleeping or reading while my vehicle drives me on a long trip. Yes, you do have to charge every 250 or so miles (15 – 30 minutes). But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the AI chauffeur.
RickA
Of course, this idea is one of the reasons those pushing for allowing BPJ to compete on girls teams insist (s)he “is” a girl.
Lucia:
I don’t think the parents or the kids getting the drugs really understand the medical drawbacks. The biggest of which is infertility, but also bone density issues and many other issues. The bad faith is that many imply these drugs are reversible – but they really are not.
Lucia:
I don’t know who BPJ is – but I personally don’t think a male can ever become a female, or visa versa. I don’t think it is currently possible to change biological sex.
Rick A
BPJ is Becky Pepper Jackson whose case is mentioned in the main post. Her case is the one taken up by SCOTUS this year. Regardless of what you think the question of whether (s)he “is” a girl is one of the issues argued about in this case.
Mike Johnson commenting on Hakeem Jeffries 8 hour speech: “It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell a simple truth.”
Lucia:
Ah – sorry about that!
Right – the Supreme Court will tell us what the law is. I predict they will say that it is a title IX violation to allow biological males to play on a single sex female team – a team set up to provide educational opportunities to the female sex (since the males already had all the various sporting teams). To allow female only teams to be infiltrated with males defeats the entire purpose of title IX.
I guess we will see what the Supreme Court does.
RickA,
“But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the AI chauffeur.”
Assuming that self driving in some practical form becomes real in the next couple years (and there is no certainty of that!), I am still unwilling to sacrifice ~6+ hours drive time to charging each way on my two 1,600 mile trips each year. 22.5 hrs becomes 28 or 29? No thanks.
OTOH if there is true self driving (that is, I sleep, the car drives), it is a different story. Of course, in that case, an internal combustion driven car becomes even a better alternative, with far fewer stops for fuel.
RickA,
I think we need to separate “electric” from “self-driving” in cars. They are quite unrelated, save for that Musk is pushing both. As soon as one company has truly self-driving cars, the rest will follow in short order.
I doubt it will be common in the next 5 years, and maybe not the next 10. YMMV.
“FSD next year” has been an ongoing phrase for about 6 years now. The tech is pretty impressive but I’m not sure I would trust it yet. I did take a few Waymo (SAE Level 4) rides in SF and you do get used to it pretty quick. They have the entire city area meticulously mapped and aren’t allowed on freeways yet.
You do have to remain attentive even with Tesla FSD (SAE Level 2) because it expects you to take over quickly if it encounters something it can’t handle. In theory it will just pull over if you are unresponsive. They probably are at level 2.5 right now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-driving_car
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Autopilot
“Since 2013, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly predicted that the company would achieve fully autonomous driving (SAE Level 5) within one to three years”
Yeah – Musk does over promise. BUT they started in Austin Texas in June with a small number of full self-driving cars (with a safety person in the passenger seat – mostly because they anticipate attacks/protests). Once they get rid of the safety person (SAE Level 4) and pump the fleet up to 1000 cars, they plan to expand to another 10 or so cities by the end of the year. Again – we will see.
Of course that might be delayed – but they claim full self driving will be available for Tesla customers next year (we will see).
I don’t see Tesla or Waymo licensing their software to an ICE (internal combustion engine) car maker – it flies in the face of their desire to save the world from CO2 emissions. I also don’t see any ICE makers developing their own self-driving level 4 software – but who knows – maybe?
So Tesla is the only game in town for a cheaper car (around 48k) which you can buy and allegedly will be able to be fully self-driving next year (i.e. able to sleep while the car drives itself).
I am hopeful and the stock should do well over the next couple of years – might even 10X by 2030. We will see.
NYT: The Death and Life of the Straight White Man’s Novel
The seeming decline of a certain type of novelist is much discussed and debated in the literary world. But the bigger question is whether it matters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/arts/straight-white-male-novelists.html
“Savage found increasingly few young white men on The New York Times’s year-end notable fiction lists as well as equivalents at Vulture, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic and Esquire. No white men are among the 25 most recent nominees for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions prize for debut fiction, the 14 latest millennial finalists for the National Book Award or the 20 current fiction and poetry fellows at Stanford’s eminent Wallace Stegner Fellowship.
…
A second agent, who also represents prominent novelists and also requested anonymity, added that the trend will most likely continue because it is driven by the industry’s desire for marginalized voices as well as female writers, as women are the primary buyers of fiction.”
Yes, I noticed, they are proud of this, ha ha. This is super obvious over the last ten years. The publishing houses and critics went crazy woke, so I simply ignore them now. NPR’s list of books and the NYT best seller list used to be meaningful, now you have to sift through acres of performative wokeness and it isn’t worth the effort. Even in Sci-Fi they couldn’t find male authors they liked, oh brother.
Should they care? Only if they want to be respected for being good at their job.
I really don’t see how SCOTUS can strike down the West Virginia law. I say that even if one were to concede that it is unfair to the trans kid. I don’t see how one can say it violates either the Constitution or Title 9. It is perverse to argue (as Biden did) that the latter refers to subjective gender rather than biological sex.
Of course, that won’t stop the 3 liberal justices. So I suppose I should say that I don’t see how an originalist justice could strike down the law.
MikeM,
I definitely don’t see how it violates the US constitution. I don’t know enough about Title IX to say.
That said, I don’t think back in the 70s or 80s, legislators meant “gender” when they meant “sex”.
Mike M.
Yes – the reasoning to uphold the state laws banning trans kids from playing sports on opposite sex teams will be upheld on the same reasoning as Skrmetti (in my opinion).
Namely that trans isn’t a quasi suspect class, so the law doesn’t get heightened scrutiny, and therefore the state laws are reasonable.
After all, they set up girls single sex sports under title IX to equalize funding that existed for boys sports (girls were cheated before title IX) and now boys want to use the girls funding to play sports on girls teams and take away girls awards and scholarships. You might as well just repeal title IX if you are going to allow that.
Trans girls (i.e. boys) are not being banned from playing sports – they can play on the boys teams. They are being banned from playing sports on girls single sex teams – which the court will find is reasonable (again, in my opinion).
It is a relief that our language is being returned to standard pronouns, and we don’t have to pretend that a trans girl is actually a girl, but can refer to them as what they are – a biological boy (and visa versa).
RickA,
“I am hopeful and the stock should do well over the next couple of years – might even 10X by 2030. We will see.”
10X may be a wee bit optimistic. Heck, 2X may be optimistic.
One of the apparent incoherencies of progressive transgender ideology is that it holds that gender varies independently from biological sex on the one hand, but on the other hand surgeries are necessary to cause apparent biological sex to conform to gender. To a rational person this is incoherent.
To the progressives however it is consistent. The subjective view of the oppressed (in progressive thinking, anything different from the norm or the natural is the victim / oppressed) is paramount. It must be made reality, it must replace the oppressive tyranny of the real world. Hence, arguments that an oppressed individual was ‘born this way’ can exist side by side with arguments that an oppressed individual’s gender is fluid and changes with the position of the sun in the sky. The subjective details are irrelevant, all that is important is that they are in conflict with nature and the norm and therefore constitute oppression. This is merely one facet or instance illuminating how a philosophy and ideology can be anti civilization, but the central theme of subjective oppressed being elevated over objective reality is consistent throughout progressive thought.
It’s a good thin[g] SCOTUS doesn’t have term limits. This madness may die out before all of the current justices do. The philosophical corruption in question here has infected the legal profession and eventually this perversion of philosophy could well cause a perversion in constitutional law. But apparently, hopefully, not yet.
Mark
Yes. I mean, it natural to ask ” if you can be a woman with a penis, why do XY people who think they are women feel the need remove the penis and create a vagina? Can’t they just come to accept that they are just ‘women with penises’? ” (Some, of course, claim just that.)
Certainly before the 50s, anyone who was distressed with the body parts biology had given them pretty much had to learn to deal with the fact that they had those body parts. They didn’t all kill themselves. Many seem to have lived functional lives. But now, the “solution” seems to be surgery and life long hormones. I don’t think there is evidence those who do that are better off or happier in the long run.
(One reason I think there must be little evidence: there can’t be a lot of evidence unless there are studies of people who wanted the surgery but didn’t get it vs those who go it– and the people who got it or did not were selected randomly. That’s never going to happen. So fields are hard to study partly because of ethics and partly because of cost. Honestly, similar limitations happen in education research. Though, at least samples sizes in education research and be larger and they can test modest focused interventions.)
I should add in clarification about ‘anti civilization’ the following: Obviously, when humans wage war against objective reality they lose. They damage themselves and their society, they act in a manner inappropriate for humans to act who wish to prosper (or even survive), they destroy existing order and create chaos. And THIS is precisely the point of the exercise. Post Marxism, we can call it in our age, but really it is just the current incarnation of Evil that has existed since our earliest proto-human days on Earth.
RickA
Well… the reasoning has to be different. They aren’t going to decree this is a medical treatment, yada, yada….
The ruling also won’t dictate the return to standard pronouns.
There are cases about pronouns. . .
Lucia,
Yes. We have touched on that before. We have already arrived as a civilization at acceptance that girls can pursue any activity or behavior boys can and vice versa and that this is fine in our society. Having reached this point, surgery makes no sense. Be an effeminate boy or a butch girl, who the heck cares! Play with your Barbies, play with your Tonka trucks, don’t care don’t care don’t care. Sleep with whom you please, no concern of mine (competent consenting adult though, I draw those lines).
There was never any necessity for sex change operations IMO.
Mark: “There was never any necessity for sex change operations IMO.”
According to activist “logic” anyway.
For many males, it’s a more extreme form of cross dressing. I forget the actual term. For many women, I think they feel the grass is greener. That’s what everyone’s always telling them anyway. In either situation, they don’t get all, or any, of the presumed benefits without also looking the part.
I think we are past peak wokeness. Where it returns to is a valid question.
There is a lag though. You see it in movies, books, and video games that were years in the making that are expressing trendy moralizing views at the time of their creation.
Capitalism is a force that provides feedback. It doesn’t matter how many awards and how much praise our betters give “correct” thinking, you can’t make people consume things they don’t like, and they don’t like being lectured to.
Pixar’s ‘Elio’ reportedly stripped of queer representation after test screenings
https://www.latimes.com/delos/story/2025-07-03/pixar-elio-adrian-molina-pete-docter-lgbtq-latinx
“Changes to the film included getting rid of a scene in which Elio (an 11 year old) shows off a pink tank top made out of beach litter to a hermit crab, as well as removing picture frames from Elio’s bedroom wall that displayed a male crush. Executives also asked him to make the main character more “masculine.””
As expected, ‘progressive’ judges have decided to ignore the recent supreme court decision on nationwide injunctions: https://jonathanturley.org/2025/07/03/federal-judge-rules-against-trump-on-use-of-invasion-powers-to-expedite-deportations/
This specific judge (an Obama appointee) has been blocking Trump administration actions since the first Trump administration. The judge admits he has no authority to issue universal injunctions, but then issues one anyway. His only compromise to the Supreme Court ruling was to give the DOJ two weeks to appeal before his universal injunction goes into force.
I suspect the Supreme Court is going to regret not putting clearer limits on universal injunctions, and ultimately will be forced to by a continuing avalanche of universal injunctions by district courts.
Dave,
Honestly I think it’s a lot darker than that. The current nameless progressive secular religion exalts victims as holy, and transsexuals are among the highest status of the exalted. The statistics are slippery, but I tend to believe this for instance. One in four adolescents identify as non-heterosexual. That is a massive number of children. It isn’t about cross dressing or actual gender or orientation. It is about conformity and status in a social system.
Plenty of people have problems. Depression and anxiety are common. Since progressivism has successfully uprooted order that traditionally provided orientation and direction in lots of young peoples lives, it is only natural for left leaning youths to feel lost, unsure of their identity, and frankly to be a little mentally unstable.
And lo! A machine is in place, starting with school counselors and social workers and ending all the way on the other side with surgeons to fix you. All you need to do is decide that your problem is that your gender identity doesn’t match your biological identity. Boom! You are important. You are cossetted and treated as a celebrity. You are excused for your problems; they are not your fault. You are praised and elevated, your shortcomings are overlooked and you are blamed for nothing.
These children are lured into becoming sacrificial victims is what that is. Once they are butchered the system is done with them. Read Chloe Cole.
Happy 4th!
Happy 4’th of July! Things to be thankful for. Although my dog is in for a difficult evening…
Yes, the ladder of oppression has gotten ridiculous. Who would have thought that obsession with identity would lead to this? Everybody.
mark bofill,
I guess your dog doesn’t hunt with you.
One of my cousins is a big-time hunter, and his many hunting beagles (over the years) all LOVED gun shots.
One beagle loved hunting so much that he knew exactly all the different clothes my cousin would use for hunting and would get visibly excited when my cousin put on those clothes.
“Depression and anxiety are common.”
Especially among ‘progressives’, who self describe as unhappy or depressed at about twice the rate of conservatives.
If I believed all that BS I’d probably be depressed too.
Happy 4th of July.
Happy Independence Day to all!
Some here have commented about the “sausage-making” in the 1BBB. The deductibility of state and local taxes (SALT) on federal income tax is a great example. SALT is currently deductible up to a limit of $10K each tax year.
In the new bill,
1. SALT limit increases to $40K in 2026, and then increases by 1% per year through 2029.
2. SALT limit reverts to $10K in 2030.
3. Higher SALT limit is reduced for incomes above $500K (plus annual adjustments), although I haven’t discovered how rapidly the limit is phased out relative to income above $500K.
The increase in SALT limit was driven by pressure from reps from higher-tax states (I think NY specifically); the reversion no doubt was driven by desire to increase tax receipts. The House version had annual increases through 2033, after which the limit was constant. That is, no reversion to $10K.
Sausage at its finest.
Steve,
Yeah. I don’t hunt. One of my kids does, occasionally. Targets and clay will be all I’ll shoot if I’m fortunate. I’d hate to kill something I didn’t genuinely need to.
[I know, I know. I have no redneck cred. I’m totally just a redneck poser.]
mark bofill,
I’m going fishing tomorrow, targeting summer flounder and striped bass. I won’t feel too bad about killing them, since buying the same fillets from fish someone else caught would set me back ~$25 per pound. 😉
Steve,
I wouldn’t mind killing fish if I intended to eat them.
Also, I’m sure I’d change my tune quickly if I had some necessity; if the only way I was going to eat red meat was via hunting, I expect I’d be ready to hunt pretty fast.
I don’t think my unwillingness to hunt is any sort of virtue, it’s definitely not. I’m squeamish about gutting and skinning carcasses if I can avoid it is really all it’s about. I’d just as soon avoid having to clean fish for that matter.
Shrug
[Good luck fishing though, I hope you have fun!]
HaroldW,
The SALT boost to $40,000 is an ugly compromise, but needed to pass the bill. I try not to think about it, since the people it will most benefit are not poor and mostly support the state and local policies that make their taxes so high; I don’t think people in Alabama should be subsidizing outrageous taxes in New Jersey. But it is better than no reconciliation bill passing.
NOTE:
“The month of June 2025 showed the lowest loss of Russian heavy equipment of any month in the entire war. [153 confirmed]”
One of the reliable OSINT sites that I follow is called ‘WarSpotting’ [@WarSpotting].
“ WarSpotting is a database of documented material losses during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We use photo evidence found across open sources on the web such as social media as proof.”
But they do more than just document losses, they make monthly tallies and analysis, Which is the point of my post here.
Breakdown of June 2025: https://x.com/rklier21/status/1941389323087306959
Graph of losses by month since the war began: https://x.com/rklier21/status/1941388357076123652
I repeat: “The month of June 2025 showed the lowest loss of Russian heavy equipment of any month in the entire war. [153 confirmed]”
I am pondering the significance of this fact. If I can make sense of it, I will make another post.
Background on WarSpotter…..
Confirmed losses by equipment type with photos of recent additions: https://ukr.warspotting.net/
SC rebukes a Massachusetts district judge who refused to accept their stay on his universal injunction (another of the many deportation of illegal aliens cases): https://jonathanturley.org/2025/07/04/justice-kagan-joins-colleagues-in-rebuking-liberal-boston-judge-over-his-defiance-of-the-court/
The judge simply refused to accept the SC order. Even Kagan wouldn’t go along with this defiance.
I should think outright defiance of a higher court would be grounds for impeachment, but of course, Dems in the Senate would never convict a progressive judge….. a sad commentary indeed.
This should have been unanimous. The dissenting judges knew they were dissenting. They knew what the ruling was. They should support the idea that lower courts follow the ruling. The same should be the case should the liberals win and the conservatives dissent.
Russell,
One explanation is Russia is solving the drone problem, another is they can’t sustain losses any further, another is they are changing tactics for other reasons. Ukraine might be going into survival mode.
I read that SC ruling. It was basically “follow orders, end of ruling”. I can see Sotomayer dissenting, she is kind of crazy. It says more about her than the ruling in question and not in a good way.
The legacy media discussions on Medicare cuts fail the simple test of informing the reader what the funding rates are and any useful judgment on whether they were previously appropriate and are appropriate now. It’s “more funding good, less funding bad”. This is the same way they always present funding on education, etc. Conversely clean energy bills are always presented as job bills where military spending is not.
$894B for Medicaid per year. That’s approx. $2,800 per citizen or $6,000 per taxpayer.
Maybe it is a feature and not a bug to Sotomayor and Jackson if they undermine the authority of SCOTUS.
The ‘If the system doesn’t do what I want, burn it all down’ rationale is not at all uncommon these days. It best serves those who believe the U.S. is essentially an evil nation that should be disrupted and dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.
The reason won’t say what the Medicaid cuts are is that the cuts would be popular if people knew about them.
From what I have been able to find, here are the cuts.
(1) It will be harder for people to get benefits if they are ineligible for Medicaid. Good!
(2) Illegals will get kicked off Medicaid. Good!
(3) It will be harder to enroll people without them knowing about it. Good!
(4) People won’t be able to be enrolled in Medicaid in more than one state. Good!
(5) Able bodied non-elderly adults without children will be required to do something productive for at least 20 hours a week, such as a job, school work, or volunteer work. Good!
(6) Not Medicaid, but people here temporarily will be ineligible for Obamacare subsidies. Good!
CBO counts everyone in those categories as losing health care. That includes assuming that every single person in group (5) will chose to give up Medicaid rather than meeting the requirement. Bad!
71.4M are enrolled in Medicaid. They are spending about $10K per enrollee on Medicaid.
That’s about the cost of an insurance policy for a 60 year old on the ACA. A 30 year old pays about half that.
If you are have borderline Medicaid eligibility and get kicked off then you are eligible for nearly free ACA coverage with subsidies.
Tom,
Yes all three of those are plausible reasons. I’m not sure they are the whole picture.
Rhetorical question found on Twitter (‘X’):
“Trump talks to Putin and Putin sends in a record number of drones and rockets against civilians.
Did the agree on this level of attack or is Putin saying FU?”
Tom Scharf,
“71.4M are enrolled in Medicaid. They are spending about $10K per enrollee on Medicaid.”
Yes, it is insanity. Most of the people covered under Medicaid are not elderly with high health care needs. Remember that a huge number are kids with few health care needs. Private health insurance would be far cheaper. Remove all the able-bodied who refuse to work, remove all illegal aliens, then enroll the rest in private programs, and you would have an enormous reduction in costs. Will it happen? It should. But I remain dubious.
mark bofill,
“….an evil nation that should be disrupted and dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.”
Bingo! You have hit on the fundamental left/right disagreement.
In fairness, there are a lot of disabled people on Medicaid and they cost a lot. That is fine by me. Expanding Medicaid has made it harder for the disabled to get the care they need. I am not OK with that.
3X more people are covered now than in 1990
https://www.statista.com/statistics/245344/number-of-people-in-the-us-covered-by-medicaid/
We also pay 3X more per enrollee
https://i0.wp.com/federalsafetynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/med-0002.png
I’m not making judgments here, just looking up info that is never presented in legacy media. We are definitely enrolling more people, the costs might reflect overall trends.
Kids should be covered, they should not be penalized for their life circumstances. Disability has also been expanded through both eligibility and fraud.
Mike M,
I am fine with truly disabled receiving Medicaid.
Illegal aliens? Able bodied? Not so much.
AFAICT illegals are not eligible for federal Medicaid. Some states cover illegals under their existing Medicaid setup but they supposedly pay the bills.
They effectively get this coverage when they show up at the ER and this is paid for by the feds. This includes pregnancy.
“In summary, while undocumented immigrants are not eligible for comprehensive Medicaid coverage, they can access emergency care through Emergency Medicaid, and some states offer additional, state-funded health coverage options for certain groups.”
The three times more per capita probably tacks pretty well with overall per capita healthcare spending.
I think the BB Bill prohibits states from giving Medicaid to illegals, even if the state claims to pay for it themselves. I think the purpose is to reduce the attraction of coming/staying here.
That seems reasonable. I don’t see why states should be permitted to encourage people to break the law.
I have had some experience with government job programs. Way back in the 1970s some inner city kids were working at a job program on the golf course where my father was the golf pro. My father told the manager (who was the high school teacher) that he only wanted good kids. He did get two real good kids aneory y were helpful in the golf pro shop. In fact after thneir work ended both of the kids wtote thank you letters to my father.
On the other hand, the jobs program was intrinsically inefficient. When the government is managing the program there is no incentive for creativity or extra hard work or efficient work. One time I observed 20 kids by a sand trap on the golf course watching two kids rake the sand trap. There were only two rakes by the sand trap and there was nothing else they could do.. This type of inefficiency was simply built into the program.
My basic point is that job requirements are not simple programs to implement. However, there existence may motivate some people not to bother to get on government assistance.
In the second to the last sentence of the above comment by me, you should read that he did get two real good kids who were helpful in the pro shop. Also, should read “in fact after their work ended”
Comment was written off of my cell phone and I couldn’t edit it properly after I made it.
I’m seeing lots of chatter like the following:
“Russian forces reportedly captured 556 km² of Ukrainian territory, marking the largest monthly territorial gain in 2025”
I haven’t verified it to my satisfaction yet so at this stage I’m considering it unconfirmed.
But, this report combined with the plausable report of June being the fewest losses of Russian heavy equipment in the entire war is worrisome.
I am hoping that this is all a Russian disinformation campaign but I have no confirmation of that either.
I got a free subscription to Paramount Plus streaming service as a bonus for joining Walmart Plus.
So of course the first thing I watched was Star Trek, episode one season one.
I was in awe of the genius of Gene Roddenberry all over again.
Incidentally William Shatner, @WilliamShatner, who played Captain Kirk has a large presence on Twitter [X].
He has 2.4 million followers, I am one of them.
He is 94 years old and posts nearly daily.
Fascinating! said Mr. Spock.
The original Star Trek only had 3 seasons but had 79 episodes. They were churning out a new episode every week. They must have gone through a lot of Styrofoam rocks. My favorite episode was Trouble with Tribbles.
The remake by J. J. Abrams was excellent, and of course the parody Galaxy Quest was hilarious.
The book Red Shirts by John Scalzi follows the life of the forlorn Red Shirts of Star Trek who know their fate in life.
Never let a disaster go to waste.
NYT: As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas
Some experts say staff shortages might have complicated forecasters’ ability to coordinate responses with local emergency management officials.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/us/politics/texas-floods-warnings-vacancies.html
Meanwhile …
WSJ: Escalating Alerts of Dangerous Flooding Arrived When People Were Sleeping
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/escalating-alerts-of-dangerous-flooding-arrived-when-people-were-sleeping-9029c366?st=FToEjD&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
“By 1:18 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service said locally heavy rainfall could cause flash flooding across eight counties
…
The first flash-flood warning—which means flooding is imminent or already happening—came at 1:14 a.m.
…
Two hours later, the office issued a catastrophic warning, or a flash-flood emergency, for the region.”
The speed of the flood shown in the graph here is horrifying. 30 feet in one hour.
Yes. If only Trump hadn’t cut funding, all of those people would have been saved. It’s as if he killed them himself.
/ SARC TAG
Downstream a bit I guess, but here is the river rising from dry to 20 feet in 37 minutes. Crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxiuIXIof_w
Russell,
Did episode one have Captain Kirk? Or was it the pilot with the Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike?
My favorite Star Trek episodes (two parter): The City on the Edge of Forever.
Mike,
Episode one was Pike. I also watched episode two, which was Kirk and the whole gang.
RK: To me, Pike had exactly the same vacant look that Joe Biden had. The resemblance was uncanny.
JD Ohio, your post:
“Pike had exactly the same vacant look that Joe Biden had. The resemblance was uncanny.”
That was a later episode. In S1E1 Pike was a regular Starfleet captain.
The Biden-Vegetable-Brain episode came many years later, according to the story. For some reason Pike was in the initial pilot and Kirk and company came on in S1E2.
[I think, it’s been a while.]
Ukraine may be losing the war of attrition on the ground but they continue to amaze with their ingenuity.
This story is about an old Soviet Mig that was jerry-rigged with French Hammer precision-guided bombs, using US satellites. This Rube Goldberg of equipment was linked through an iPad that was held to the dashboard by Velcro.
They blew up a Russian FSB intelligence headquarters just across the border.
Fifteen minute video for you war tech geeks:
https://youtu.be/MwmpEoFge3s?si=m8LpgdekfAbJ2aNh
Summarizing news article with video of the explosion:
“Ukrainian MiG-29 Fighter Jets Bomb Russian FSB Special Services Base”
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-fighter-jets-bomb-fsb-base-2077349
Ukraine may be losing the war of attrition on the ground but they continue to amaze with their ingenuity.
This story is about an old Soviet Mig that was jerry-rigged with French Hammer precision-guided bombs, using US satellites. This Rube Goldberg of equipment was linked through an iPad that was held to the dashboard by Velcro.
They blew up a Russian FSB intelligence headquarters just across the border.
Fifteen minute video for you war tech geeks:
https://youtu.be/MwmpEoFge3s?si=m8LpgdekfAbJ2aNh
Ukraine may be losing the war of attrition on the ground but they continue to amaze with their ingenuity.
This story is about an old Soviet Mig that was jerry-rigged with French Hammer precision-guided bombs, using US satellites. This Rube Goldberg of equipment was linked through an iPad that was held to the dashboard by Velcro.
They blew up a Russian FSB intelligence headquarters just across the border.
Fifteen minute video for you war tech geeks:
https://youtu.be/MwmpEoFge3s?si=m8LpgdekfAbJ2aNh
Summarizing news article with video of the explosion:
“Ukrainian MiG-29 Fighter Jets Bomb Russian FSB Special Services Base”
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-fighter-jets-bomb-fsb-base-2077349
Lucia,
At 3:42 AM I had a post sent to moderation. I reviewed it and cannot figure out what I did wrong. It’s just a simple post about the Ukraine-Russia war.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.”
Thanks
Russel, I released it. I don’t know why things get moderated.
Thanks Lucia
Apparently, NBC didn’t like the casting or character of Pike, wanting someone younger and more dynamic/action oriented, so the second episode is Roddenbury’s second attempt. Looks like it may have been a good call for once, but I admit I haven’t seen the original pilot.
I think Kirk was a better choice.
“The Cage” is the first pilot episode of the American television series Star Trek. It was completed on January 22, 1965 (with a copyright date of 1964). The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler. It was rejected by NBC in February 1965, and the network ordered another pilot episode, which became “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. Much of the original footage from “The Cage” was later incorporated into the season 1 two-part episode “The Menagerie” (1966);
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cage_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)
Pike’s Biden simulation was from The Menagerie. See the picture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menagerie_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)
He could only answer yes/no questions. Biden may have been better off like this in the debate.
Loosely connected, I once worked for a place that decided to call itself Starship Enterprises. Strangely enough this wasn’t trademarked. Paramount contacted the owner and after a brief struggle summarized as “we have a building full of lawyers and you don’t” the business was renamed.
Hilarious story about a food co-op in NYC. I made a joke earlier about Israeli crackers in city stores getting banned and this is exactly what they care about.
The war in Gaza divided a historic Brooklyn co-op. Here’s what happened next
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/07/nx-s1-5456253/park-slope-food-coop-boycott-war-israel-gaza
“It’s not the first time the PSFC has taken up the issue of a boycott. During Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship in Chile, the co-op banned products from that country from 1973 through 1990. It also supported the United Farm Workers Union, shunning U.S. grapes from non-union farms in the 1980s.
Alyce Barr, a PSFC member for nearly 50 years who supports the BDS movement, told NPR that the co-op also has boycotted Coca-Cola over labor practices outside of the U.S. and “Nestlé over unethical use of baby formula in the developing world.”
“Our co-op has a long, beautiful legacy of social justice and food justice,” Barr told NPR, adding that she’d like to see the membership take up more boycotts.”
No word on whether anybody cares about groceries there.
RK — Pike Vegetable Brain Episode — Thanks for correcting me. Since the actor playing Pike did not become the series captain, I just assumed it was the pilot episode.
Re: Movies for Granddaughter — I believe a while back you asked for movies that your Granddaughter might like. If that was you, I would suggest Father of the Bride with Steve Martin. Really good and funny. The original of course, was also good but your granddaughter may like a more modern version.
Tom Scharf: Stocking food coops. Mamdami has no idea what he is getting into by having the city open grocery stores. There will be huge fights over what will be stocked.
For example, when my kids were in elementary school, they were very well behaved. During Michelle Obama veggie policies at schools, the meals were so bad the kids would skip lunch. My children liked some sweets and some of the teachers tried to shame me into giving my kids chocolate chip cookies some times. Got me very angry that these people with little idea how my kids functioned and very little knowledge of nutrition were trying to coerce and shame me.
JD,
Thanks. We plan on American graffiti next, but will put yours on the list.
jdohio
There will be huge fights. And in the end, on the fruit side, there will be over ripe bananas, some oranges, and mushy golden delicious apples. Blueberries, strawberries and rasberries go bad too quickly. On the veggie side: there will be carrots, ice berg lettuce and hmmm.. celery? Maybe acorn squash. Old acorn squash that will not be sweet when you cook it.
If they have meat, it will be hamburgers, some ham-steak like stuff, bacon and salami. Cheese? Cheddar sealed in plastic.
Making deals with suppliers is going to be difficult. The city government is ‘big’ compared to a mom and pop operation. But the food suppliers care if you make a big order. That’s why all of us live more than 1 mile from a grocery store!!
Should Mamdani actually open city run grocery stores, it will be a monumental catastrophe, and a black hole where taxpayer money disappears. The left is both idiotic and unteachable; a very bad combination.
Lucia: “If they have meat, it will be hamburgers, some ham-steak like stuff, bacon and salami.”
The foods you mentioned are Maga type fare. (For instance hamburgers, ham) They will offer some Leftist type concoction that they think will help combat climate change.
Stevef: “the left is unteachable;”. That explains the reason why the left is idiotic.
jdOhio,
The will want to stock other meats. But they won’t be able to keep them fresh enough. They will end up with processed and frozen.
Lucia,
I believe Mamdani does not eat meat, save for fish (which is more ‘protein efficient’ and ‘environmentally responsible’ than other meats). I am guessing a lack of “sustainability” and the imperative of “combating climate change” will make offering meats problematic for the loony left grocery chain.
I will be shocked if New York City owned grocery stores actually open.
To where does socialism lead? To places like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorki_Leninskiye#/media/File%3AGorki-Leninskie-2022.jpg
Which was Lenin’s personal dacha after the revolution confiscated it. When socialists gain control, the only remaining wealthy people are parasitic politicians. And grocery stores are empty….. except for the special grocery stores for the politically favored.
It is quite possible that Mamdani was raised as a vegetarian. His mother is Hindu, never converted to Islam, and wears a bindi on her forehead. Her first husband was Jewish. It does not seem that she is religious, but traditions like diet often continue after religion is lost.
HIs father was not religious, but Hamdani identifies as Twelver Shia.
Source: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/equalityforhappiness/2025/06/zohran-mamdani-nyc-mayor-hopeful-with-interfaith-roots/
The argument tends to go people don’t eat enough fair trade organic rutabaga from locally owned small farms because it isn’t available to them. The billionaire corporate grocery stores are denying them fresh healthy food and making children obese while killing the climate.
As Lucia says this experiment has been tested many times and the billionaire corporate grocery titans use an evil capitalist system of selling what people buy. They throw out a lot of unfresh rutabaga and bread without preservatives (preservatives are automatically a bad thing somehow). Guess who pays for that?
They then somehow sell a lot of mass produced Kraft macaroni and cheese and Goldfish crackers.
If people want to pay twice as much at Whole Foods then that is fine by me, the market should serve those people who attach politics to food if it is large enough. Some people love very specific coffee and some people are fine with Folgers out of a can served up by Mr. Coffee.
The reality is mass agriculture has been a miracle for the human species, feeding billions of people every day is actually a hard problem. People should visit a real farm and see how it works for a balanced view.
Well, I guess all the doomsayers about tariffs causing inflation and are essentially a tax on consumers was backwards.
Trump‘s massive tariff increases have had the reverse effect.
I suspect the fundamental problem with the Texas flooding was counterintuitively too many previous weather warnings that didn’t pan out, and thus warning fatigue set in and became the norm.
You would have to be a very brave bureaucrat to now recommend less warnings.
SteveF
Fish quality degrades more quickly than beef. If the publicly run stores try to stock fresh fish, it will be a bust. They may be able to stock frozen fish, breaded fish sticks and fish fingers and canned fish.
It’s romantic to imagine people stopping by their local corner stores every day to by their daily baguette, eggs, butter and so on. You wouldn’t even need a big fridge!
But the reality is that in the US big refrigerators are now universally available and people would prefer to avoid running errands for food on a daily basis. Despite the idea of quaint French families sending a Beret wearing grandpa or housewife out to buy fresh baguette on a daily basis, and they do run out to shop on a more frequent basis than we do, even the French get many staples at the hypermarche´s.
It’s going to be difficult to introduce and run small groceries with the specific goal of providing fresh food in food deserts. I guess we’ll see how it goes. I’m waiting to see in what way it fails.
“ people would prefer to avoid running errands for food on a daily basis”
My morning trips to the local farmers market is more of a social event than the shopping trip.
https://detwilermarket.com/
Tom,
I have this problem with tornado watches and warnings in Huntsville Alabama. The weather guys like to identify ever potential rotation the radar catches and go berserk with it over the course of many hours. The net result? I completely ignore the situation after the first couple of alarms.
humor from 94 year old Captain Kirk today…..
William Shatner,
“I thought people were making fat jokes last week talking about that BIG, Beautiful Bill but it wasn’t about me at all!”
Russell,
You are retired. That means you have time to make grocery shopping a social event.
I’m retired. But making shopping a social activity would cut into making dancing a social activity.
Tom, Mark,
I think terrain is another problem in Texas relative to Illinois. We are mostly flat here. There are lots of almost flat rivers next to almost flat terrain. When we get 5″ of rain, it spreads out over lots of area. On hilly terrain it will all rush to one place.
Nobody in the legacy media mentions that people might not eat a lot of fresh food because it is a lot of work to do that every day.
People also do not like throwing away unused food.
This is why government subsidies don’t change behavior.
Tom,
Yeah….. Jim and I don’t want to prepare 3 well balanced home cooked meals a day!
M-S we mostly eat cold cereal with fruit and milk for breakfast. I fix a sandwich with carrots for lunch. I put lettuce, meat, cheese and might do mayo, mustard.
We both nibble on…. stuff. Apples? Cheese? Whatever.
Then one or the other makes a dinner. This will usually have a meat, a grain and a veg. I often freeze stuff in a vacuum seal container so even part of that is often not too much work.
And then there are the requisite Dove bars, hot chocolate or other not ideal for health stuff. Wine. Beer. Whatever.
None of the suboptimal choices arise because I live in a food desert.
Good article by Roger Pielke on flask floods in Texas:
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-texas-flash-floods
Short version: Wet air from the Gulf of America gets pushed upward by the Balcones Escarpment resulting in very heavy rain over hilly country with thin soil, leading to rapid runoff.
He also gives a link to an article on the need for a review board for natural disasters, modeled on the NTSB:
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-case-for-a-us-disaster-review
Wow. A federal district court has apparently decided that it is likely unconstitutional for Congress and the President to defund Planned Parenthood.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5388912-judge-temporarily-blocks-planned-parenthood-defunding-megabill/
That’s quite the stretch.
Volokh conspiracy has a post about it as well.
These district judges need to be sent to bed without supper. They still haven’t learned any lessons.
I often cook in a nonstick skillet. For safety reasons I replace it regularly before the coating wears out:
TECHEF – Onyx Collection, 5 Qt / 12-in Nonstick All Purpose Chef Pan with Cover,
Made in Korea
February 2022 price Before taxes and shipping.. $46.54
July 2025 price Before taxes and shipping………$42.39
My buying has seen any inflation of prices.
Which leads me to the interesting headlines today……..
-“New Council of Economic Advisers report finds tariffs not causing inflation”
-“Hiring surged in June, defying concern about Trump’s tariffs”
-Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq steady
I guess all the macro-economics experts [and pseudo experts] were wrong!
Now we should talk about tariffs and deficit reduction:
From Grok:
“As of June 20, 2025: The U.S. Treasury Department reported $75 billion in tariff revenue for the year, an 85.7% increase from the same period in 2024.”
IIRC the argument is the legislation to defund was specifically targeted at Planned Parenthood and the legislation has to be vendor neutral, or something like that. Basically a technicality that a compliant judge liked. Trump was nailed with this stuff constantly in his first term.
Basically the same as Democratic presidents can allow mass asylum entry with the stroke of a pen but Republican presidents cannot undo this without writing the order perfectly and allowing case by case due process review. Very tiresome.
My guess is it gets overturned.
Tom,
The part that baffles me is that this isn’t an executive order. Congress can’t pass a bill defunding Planned Parenthood specifically, this is unconstitutional?
Horsecr@p.
From what I read, the complaint was fifty odd pages of all over the place with very far fetched arguments. Power line‘s John Hinderaker says this:
Maybe I am mistaken, but I am under the impression that electing not to fund something is much different from finding someone guilty of some crime. Defunding is not punitive per se.
I’d be happy if the administration’s response to the court was “FU. We will obey the law.”
mark bofill,
The left offers 1) no rational argument for their positions, save for the imperative of “equity” of outcome, 2) offers no apologies when their claims are obviously and factually wrong, and 3) never compromises on the substance of any significant policy issue.
Everything we see from Democrats is the result of those positions.
I’ll add that the House should impeach the Boston judge and the Senate should put her through a trial. The Dems won’t allow her to be convicted, so let the process be the punishment.
MikeM,
I think going after this particular judicial idiot is a waste of time and political capital, especially considering there are 100 others with exactly the same crazy lefty views, and quite willing to pick up the mantle.
I think the question is whether being impeached will be a big enough headache to the judge that it acts as a deterrent to other judges inclined to act with similar disregard for the law.
The TRO is only valid for two weeks. Maybe it’s not worth the hassle.
I agree with the sentiment though Mike. It’s offensive as heck that some Obama appointee can override both the duly elected President and the Congress of the United States in a matter that I think is clearly Congress’s constitutional purview.
Targeting companies happens all the time:
“The Seattle City Council has targeted Amazon in the past with taxes and campaign finance strategies. Specifically, the JumpStart tax, which targets large businesses with highly paid employees, has been used to fund various city initiatives, including affordable housing.”
This is a neutrally worded city tax that effectively targets a single company. It was upheld. A previous “head tax” passed in 2018 was overturned when Amazon sponsored a voter referendum. Amazon tries harder to find places outside of the city boundaries now.
Planned Parenthood:
“A provision in a recent bill would prevent providers, like Planned Parenthood, that receive over $800,000 in federal Medicaid funding and also provide abortion services from receiving Medicaid funding for one year.”
Tom Scharf,
The obvious solution is to kill all the lawyers. 😉
Sorry, I misspoke: kill all the judges. 😉
Careful Steve. ICE may come knocking on your door and ask about your social media remarks.
Security guys never seem to have any sort of sense of humor.
Quote of the day from my news feed:
“ KBJ wrote a dissent so stupid that SOTOMAYOR had to tell her to shut up”
Read the put down here:
https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1942682645567267039?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
The Princess of Wales (a.k.a. Kate) was front and center yesterday for the State visit of the president of France.
Kate started the day with her husband Prince William as the official greeters of the visiting Macron.
She wore French Dior and selections from the Crown jewels:
https://x.com/mamboitaliano__/status/1942684119583842311?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Later it was a open horse-drawn carriage procession:
https://x.com/royallybelle_/status/1942642656082878523?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Then she attended the State dinner wearing a Givenchy gown and Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara:
https://x.com/canellelabelle/status/1942671069833224279?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
She was seated next to the French president for dinner:
https://x.com/itvnews/status/1942688192076910988?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
A certain princess flunk out in Montecino, California must be green with envy.
I find it interesting that the outgoing Obama administration organized efforts to undermine the first Trump administration by ‘leaking’ to the press that Putin was helping Trump win.
History will not be kind to Obama.
highlights from this morning‘s farmers market visit:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1942968877639430201?s=46&t=ZvqHpxBnQGny72gLoGhKXw
SteveF wrote: “History will not be kind to Obama.”
Only if we win.
When ‘progressives’ lose politically, they resort to violence: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/3465926/disturbing-glimpses-democratic-anger-ice-attack-riots/
From the article: in 2015, 80% of self described Democrats said they were proud or vey proud to be Americans, while 90% of Republicans said that. In 2025, only 36% of Democrats are proud or very proud to be Americans; for Republicans, it is 92%.
Seems those on the left have to be in power to have pride in their country, but not those on the right.
The fashion critics have spoken and they agree with my assessment of the fashions worn by Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. If you haven’t seen them they really are striking.
Afternoon affair…. “The Princess of Wales wore a stunning pale pink Christian Dior jacket. Kate paired it with a Jess Collett hat, Princess Diana’s pearl earrings and a striking choker once worn by Queen Elizabeth II.”
Image:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1943235146104111157
Evening state dinner…. “Kate Middleton Pairs the Lover’s Knot Tiara with Dramatic Red Givenchy Gown.”
Image:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1943235410093559976
Russell,
Kate does look great– as you can see yourself. You can’t really go by the press. 50% of their opinion is based on whether the like or don’t like the woman wearing the clothes.
Kate Middleton has more than enough money to spend, a staff to help her and good taste. There is also an expectation she present herself, so she sort of can’t “shlep around”. So she nearly always looks great. The press also likes her so they go bat-sh*t crazy with applause when she really dresses up, and like everything she wears.
Sadly, Markle had a staff, enough money to spend to spend and only so-so taste. But she does get to “shelp around” and she has ok “shlep around choices”. Otherwise she is mediocre. Her stuff isn’t terrible– but it’s pretty pedestrian given the price. The press used to always applaud her anyway, but now many don’t like her so they don’t applaud too loud.
But no press really likes to trash outfits because the fashion press needs women to want to buy new stuff and they want their advertisers to be able to sell stuff. They will sometimes criticize outfits– but only when they are simultaneously talking about other things they thought were “right”.
Oh… and they never used to criticize Queen Elizabeth for her weird frumpy outfits. And I don’t mean when she was old and could now look like a cute eccentric old lady. Even when she was young, she rarely looked splendid!
Times were tough in Britain until Elizabeth was in her late 20’s or maybe even into her 30’s. Not looking splendid might have been a deliberate choice. Then the tenor of the times in the 1960’s and 70’s might have mitigated against looking splendid. By Diana’s time in the 80’s, splendid was back in.
Lucia,
Markle must be green with envy. Kate is a revered Royal Family member attending State dinners wearing the crown jewels, and being fond over in the fashion press.
While she is 6000 miles trying to sell runny marmalade, and being slaughtered by the press.
Mike,
Good point about post war Britain being austere. During the war, Elizabeth sported army overalls and drove trucks.
She is the world leader that I have the most respect for in my entire life.
Russell,
Some women wouldn’t care about being out-shone. I’m pretty sure Charles’s sister Ann wouldn’t care. But Meghan seems to be the kind who does care about that sort of thing.
It’s weird because over all, it’s so insignificant in the scheme of things. But it’s a bit like soap operas– people like to peak into windows of other people’s lives. Schadenfreude for some of the characters only makes it harder to look away. And when you look on, you can’t help but wonder, “Didn’t Meghan know that if the path to the ‘top’ was ‘royal family’, she could reach a certain level? ” Fair, not fair, whatever, Harry is the second son.
William is married. His first son was born in 2013. His daughter in 2015. Harry married Meghan in 2017. William already had kids when Meghan married Harry. Was Meghan counting on some sort of plague to wipe out William and his two kids? Or just the kids with William left sterile and unable to have more?
Not that it couldn’t happen. Heck, various deaths could still happen. But it’s not a very robust plan.
Lucia, did you use Meghan and ‘soap opera’ together intentionally? she acted in a soap opera and now her life is a soap opera. Grin!
Lucia,
By my recollection, the Royal Family Feud started with hurt feelings between Meghan and Kate over Charlotte‘s flower girl dress. Then they found out that she wasn’t going to be hired by the firm and Harry jumped in to champion her case with Charles and Queen Elizabeth. The whole affair snowballed from there.
Lucia,
You may get a chuckle out of this…
I asked Grok:
“tell me about the flower girl dress row between Meghan and Kate”
the response:
https://grok.com/share/bGVnYWN5_bfb6fa26-e3a0-410a-b408-cda5b740ce04
I guess the NYC progressives have Europe envy with regards to grocery stores. I’m in Barcelona and there are small grocery stores all over the place and have one person working in them. They are small and mostly carry the same stuff. A lot of fresh produce relative to the US but I didn’t see a lot of people shopping, not sure how the business is viable but I guess it is. Prices are comparable to the US depending on what you are looking at, higher than Walmart but lower than 7-11.
Rent / real estate is relatively expensive which has caused some protests against tourism which they blame for the rising rents.
Lucia, I don’t know if you have time or are interested in a fairly big class action suit that is taking place in DuPage County. Apparently Fubo violated some privacy rules and from what I can see the law firm will make over a million dollars and the “victims” will get pennies. I just scanned it real quick thinking I might get a coupon so I could watch an OSU game for free. however, it appears this is only a cash award and the “victims” have a fund of something like $3 mil to get paid out of. I believe the most important hearing for those who register in late August is in early October.
Seems like a total fraud and joke to me. Would be nice if someone could reduce or eliminate the lawyers fees for this joke of a legal action. Here is link https://www.vppadataprivacyfubosettlement.com/
Should anyone want to understand the definition of “a sack of shit”, they need only listen to this:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/07/10/brennan_i_am_clueless_about_what_they_may_be_investigating_me_for.html
He is a profoundly dishonest, profoundly corrupt political operative, whether he goes to jail or not. It matters to me not at all if he is imprisoned….. though he clearly should be.
Brennan is a perfect example of the kind of people Barak Obama brought into government: dishonest lefties, for whom all that matters is the result, not the honesty.
Tom Scharf,
“NYC progressives have Europe envy”
Yup. It is almost embarrassing, save for that these people are quite immune to embarrassment.
I can tell you that in general cost of living is higher in Europe, freedom is diminished in Europe, and you have to be very careful about what you say. Not yet Venezuela, but going in that direction.
Tom, your post:
“I’m in Barcelona and there are small grocery stores all over the place and have one person working in them”
I grew up in Pittsburgh one block away from the Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. The dividing line was Murray Avenue which was lined with small Jewish food stores. It was a daily tradition to go visit the small stores and collect your provisions for dinner. I was the designated shopper in my family and so I participated in this routine as a youth and teenager. I also worked in a small village in Holland after college and it was a similar atmosphere in the village square.
I continue this tradition today by making regular morning visits to the farmers market in my neighborhood.
I like the routine.
I am a regular at Detweiler’s Farm Market. It is a family affair. I have been going there for years. I’ve watched the kids grow up and they’re running the place now.
Link to the family:
https://detwilermarket.com/team/
I do have staples, like canned goods, flour and the like delivered from either Walmart or Kroger‘s just to avoid the big box stores.
Steve,
It’s silly if Brennan would be charged and eventually stand trial in DC. The dude who was waiting to assassinate Trump in the bushes would go free if tried for it in DC.
Mark Bofill,
You are right about DC: every conservative will be convicted, every progressive will walk. Which is why the Obama crowd will never be held to account.
People inside the beltway ought to be judged by people outside the beltway.
So I’m walking down random streets in Barcelona and walk by a very alert policeman with a full on modern assault weapon at the ready. WTF. What is this the Israeli embassy I thought? It was some kind of official Jewish place it turns out. That dude looked ready for anything.
I’m trying not to be morbid with this post. If you have a weak stomach, you may wish to avoid it.
According to British Intelligence, the Russian army has incurred 236,000 casualties thus far in 2025, that’s killed and wounded. That brings the total to over 1 million in the past three years.
I have no way of vetting the accuracy of the British Intelligence figures. I am trusting that they have vetted the numbers themselves.
What is so striking is that the rate of taking casualties has been consistently this high for months.
The rate of killed and wounded per day during the month of June 2025 was 1,080.
See the chart in the following post:
https://x.com/defencehq/status/1943614758818635974?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I cannot understand how a country can continue to lose this many service members over such a long period of time in a war that is not an existential threat.
Even if the absolute value of the British number is is wrong, the fact that the number is high relative to history is significant.
Russel: “ I have no way of vetting the accuracy of the British Intelligence figures. I am trusting that they have vetted the numbers themselves.”
Pure propaganda,
The conflict is not on a scale of WWII. On the ground reports and video are consistent that actions on both sides tend to be squad size, sometimes platoon size, and never over company level.
Russia is using its overwhelming superiority in artillery and guided air dropped bombs to reduce Ukrainian defenses prior to sending in small infantry detachments to take the Ukraine positions. Large losses are not consistent with such operations
Wasn’t Christopher Steele British Intelligence?
Well…. that was “Mr. Toad’s wide ride.”
I was going to MN to compete. When I got off the plane…. my pros wife was in the hospital. It turns out it’s an infection. She’s hoping to be sprung from the hospital today.
I would have “won” the silver championship. No one else entered. LOL!! (I would have lost the fully open championship. All the other entrants were gold. The only question would have been whether I would be last, 2nd to last or… LOL!)
Anyway, I’m home now.
jdohio,
I think in class action suits involving monetary settlements, lawyers fees should be limited to some % of the pay out to those in the class. Certainly, members of the class should get at least 1/2 the total amount of money. And I don’t mean they should be awarded half. I mean the lawyers wouldn’t get their money until members actually receive their money. The total award could be put in escrow with money for lawfirms drawn only it’s paid to the members of the class.
I know the law would need to recognize the difference between class members who are seeing something entirely non-monetary (e.g. “US citizenship”) and those whose remedy is purely $money$. I suspect the two situations could be distinguished. (I also suspect in some cases, class action suits for things like “US citizenship” may be ‘pro-bono’ anyway.)
lucia,
I think that attorney’s fees in class actions are limited. In the Fubo case, it looks like the lawyers are getting about 30%, leaving $3.4 million for the victims.
But Fubo has 1.5 million subscribers in the US, so depending on how many respond, they might get just a few bucks each.
Trump is making a mistake with not releasing 100% unredacted Epstein files.
It is possible the DOJ and FBI are NOT protecting ‘influential’ people from embarrassment. It is also possible I will sprout wings and take to the air tomorrow afternoon.
Trump is hurting his chances of keeping control of Congress, and protecting people will will never be forgotten.
BREAKING: FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino took a leave of absence following a White House dispute with AG Pam Bondi regarding the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
This is not confirmed
We get annual medical reports on the President. I was wondering if they are meaningful, or just theater. It seems that the answer is “theater”, they don’t disclose anything the President does not want disclosed.
The best comment I found in a quick search was by Alan Dershowitz (no surprise) from 2020: “But the rules of the profession are clear: a doctor can refuse to disclose based on patient confidentiality; or a doctor can disclose with the consent of the patient; but a doctor cannot lie to the public even if the patient demands that he do so.”
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16600/president-health-confidentiality
So Biden’s doc could certainly refuse to answer many questions. But it would be legit to ask him if he lied or was asked to lie. And I think it would be legit to ask if he withheld significant information, but not to ask for specifics.
So I think it fair to conclude that Biden’s doc lied to the public. Otherwise, he would have no reason to take the Fifth. Although lying to the public is not a crime.
MikeM,
They are all lies all the time, or should at least be considered as such. Were a much younger president elected, then nobody would care very much. But 70+? Yes, people care, and have good reason to. That doesn’t mean an elderly president will release pertinent health information; consider semi-potato Biden. They never will. The practice of ritual annual lies by the president’s doctor should stop; they do nothing but insult out intelligence.
People think that UFO’s are alien spacecraft and that the government has proof of that. So the government releases all they have (so they say) on UFO’s. The released info contains no proof that UFO’s are alien spacecraft. Therefore, the government is obviously lying to us and continuing to conceal the fact that we are being visited by alien spacecraft.
That is a ridiculous argument. I am inclined to think that “Epstein’s client list” is another example of the same thing. Much ado about nothing.
Mike M,
“I am inclined to think that “Epstein’s client list” is another example of the same thing. Much ado about nothing.”
I believe you are mistaken. So does Allen Dershowitz, who claims to have seen the list.
Mike M,
That UFO’s exist is dubious at best. That rich and influential men are tempted by sex to do things they should not do is not at all dubious.
I just watched the news conference with Governor Abbott and President Trump in Texas.
I congratulate Texas on the way they are handling this. The governor is in charge and state and local officials and agencies are working together for the common good. They call in the federal government when those resources are appropriate. It’s a lot like how Florida handles hurricane disasters.
This is a textbook case of why governments are necessary, and it is stark contrast to how California, Minnesota, Oregon, and other blue states handle natural disasters.
It boggles my mind that voters in blue states keep electing useless officials.
I am skeptical of the idea that there is a nice, neat client list. No doubt Epstein knew things about rich and influential men that they would like kept secret. My impression of Epstein is that he was a con man, not a blackmailer.
The flap between Bondi and Bongino is not a good look, not by a long shot.
I did not know (or had forgotten) about the Dershowitz claim. Interesting.
Bongino is not going to fold. This is a terrible mistake by Trump.
Release everything (OK, not the names of the victims). Let those involved defend themselves. Anything else reeks of political influence. Maybe they are all as pure as new-fallen snow. Maybe not. Bad decisions should have consequences, even for very rich and influential people.
Russell,
The Soviet Union lost 15% of its population in WWII. The total number of casualties is estimated to be 22 million dead. 10M soldiers. AFAICT they kind of take pride in this. Notably this also includes Ukraine. It’s a different mentality. This is one bloody war.
It looks like the camp people need to explain why they didn’t receive the warnings and/or evacuate when water started rising. It’s a tragedy. They will need to answer to ensure this doesn’t happen again. I think the adults may have all slept through it. This will haunt them forever.
So just what is the current issue with Epstein? Redactions of names from the released files? Or a claim that whole files are being withheld? I have not followed it since I have not regarded it as very important.
I sounds to me like a big factor in Texas was people not understanding what a flash flood is.
From hiking in canyon country decades ago, I seem to recall that (1) you should always be looking for an escape route and (2) if you see any rise in the water level, you are probably in a life threatening emergency. If you wait until the rise in water is obviously a problem, it is probably too late.
It seems like at least one camp knew what to do. At one a.m., it was raining, the water started to rise, and they woke everyone up and got them to high ground. Before, it seems, the NWS sent out any warning. Everybody was OK.
At another camp, it sounded like the lady in charge was trying to do the right thing, but just did not understand what she was dealing with. She said that when she checked the river at one a.m. it did not look too bad. Probably true if you don’t know flash floods. A couple hours later, she got concerned, called the sheriff’s office, and was told they had no info. An hour or so after that, she was desperately pounding on doors trying to get people out. People died.
Warnings don’t work if the people being warned don’t understand the danger.
Wait. What? At 3 a.m. the sheriff’s office had no information? How the heck did that happen?
Apparently 10 campers died in the area from a flood in 1987. So everyone should have known the danger. The water rose really fast even for a flash flood. They weren’t prepared or they failed to execute. Once it’s even a couple feet high those campers couldn’t deal with it.
Mike M.
JULY 11, 2025 AT 3:11 PM
“I am skeptical of the idea that there is a nice, neat client list. No doubt Epstein knew things about rich and influential men that they would like kept secret. My impression of Epstein is that he was a con man, not a blackmailer.”
–
Facts matter..
Epstein was murdered in jail.
A lot of rich and influential men went to his island frequently where young, beautiful women were available to entertain some of the guests.
Some underage by American standards.
Arab princes, European big wig politicians, Royal Family members, Political leaders and heavyweights.
Epstein was peddling/arranging influence and very successful at it.
Where did he get his money from?
Where did he get his island from?
What connections did he have with the movers and shakers in America especially Bill Clinton and the Democrats, not to mention their lackeys the CIA but also Republicans.
He was murdered in jail under high security to protect the identity of rich men who indulged in a little bit of sex on his island, not because of that but because they were going to be associated with a man charged with heinous crimes.
Of course he had a list of visitors.
Tom Scharf wrote: “So everyone should have known the danger.”
How do you arrive at that conclusion? Assuming that event in remembered by everybody who lived in Texas at the time and was old enough to be aware of it, That still leaves 80-90% of the people in the area with no memory of the event.
angech,
Yes, facts matter. You seem to be in short supply.
Before the war with Ukraine Russia was experiencing a reduction in their population and was in a long term demographic problem. Add on top of that now the tremendous loss of life in the war and Russia is facing the crisis of population. From the Atlantic Council:
“A Russia without Russians? Putin’s disastrous demographics”
“Russia’s future will be characterized by a smaller population. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war has virtually guaranteed that for generations to come, Russia’s population will be not only smaller, but also older, more fragile, and less well-educated. It will almost certainly be ethnically less Russian and more religiously diverse.”
“Every corner of Russia’s economy is experiencing personnel shortages, while war casualties continue to shrink the able-bodied population. “
Like a lot of homes in Sarasota County we live in a flood plane. During Hurricane Debby in 2024 we went to bed not anticipating a problem and woke up with three feet of water in the street. It peaked at 3 1/2 feet later that day. This was not storm surge or wind, this was a rainfall event for Sarasota. 18 inches fell in less than 24 hours. We still had over a foot of freeboard before the water entered the house because we built on higher ground. [Higher ground is a relative term in Florida].
We were never in any danger. The water was very slow moving. We spent a very uncomfortable 4 days with no electricity isolated on an island with our four neighbors. As in the past this isolation turned into a team building event for us and our neighbors.
As many of you will recall later that same year we suffered a direct hit from category three Hurricane Milton. That was a very destructive wind and storm surge event.
Our state and local agencies performed admirably during both emergencies; FEMA was pretty much M.I.A. [except for picking up the debris we had stacked about 3 months later.]
It looks like Trump is ready to cowboy up and pick a side in the war. Although I doubt that he would admit that Putin has been playing him.
President Trump on last night’s Russian Ukraine drone strikes: “You’ll be seeing things happening.”
“WASHINGTON: President Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker in a phone interview that a “major statement” regarding Russia will be released Monday, and that he made a deal with NATO in which the US will send weapons to Ukraine through NATO, with “NATO paying for those weapons, 100%.”
https://x.com/redwave_press/status/1943471986182684895?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I wonder if there will be more sanctions or more advanced, long range weapons, or perhaps more Intel and targeting information. Russia will undoubtedly threaten nuclear retaliation. The thing that concerns me is that Trump will take decisive action in Russia will need to retaliate or shut up.
explanation about my flood story…
We have lived in this flood plane for nearly 50 years. In that time we have had two 100 year storms and one 50 year storm. We were aware of the dangers and we knew how the creek reacted. On the day before this storm, we were advised to expect 3 to 6 inches of rain and possible localized flash flooding. 6 inches of rain is not uncommon and can be handled with only mild inconvenience.
Mother nature did not cooperate and dumped 18 inches of rain which nobody was ready for. My point is that even with advanced notice of flash flooding, experienced, rather well informed people can be taken by surprise when dealing with weather events.
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – U.S. customs duty collections surged again in June as President Donald Trump’s tariffs gained steam, topping $100 billion for the first time during a fiscal year and helping to produce a surprise $27 billion budget surplus for the month, the Treasury Department reported on Friday.
Mike M
I read, listen and ruminate.
Occasionally I fixate on some “facts” that I find compelling but others might not.
Always happy to get and consider new information on most topics.
Always try to use a modicum of scepticism on most subjects.
–
You expressed an opinion on the existence of a nice, neat Epstein client list doubting that one would or could exist.
–
This was not a topic I raised but one you asked a question on.
You also entangled Pam Bondi and her two mates.
Hence you were already aware that the existence of a list ( not whether it was nice or neat,), has and had been raised at the highest level of justice (DOJ).
Also that Bondi had promised sizzling details on Epstein investigations including what many people had theorised for years was a list of visitors to his Island (Bill Clinton, Bill Gates et al)
Then reneged.
–
A cover up has been going on since when, 2006??
–
You are entitled to your opinion on the existence of a list or not.
But it is a fact that such a list, of the people who visited the island and who travelled on the Lolita Express should exist and would be of great consternation to said people.
–
Casting nasturtiums to this fact is best left to Fox News rather than a good commentator and thinker like yourself.
angech,
I see no reason why a list of visitors to Epstein’s island “should” exist. Even if Epstein was a blackmailer (for which there seems to be no evidence), he would need something much more substantial than a list of names, so a list would seem irrelevant. It does seem that discretion, which would have been important to his guests, was part of his MO. In that case, record keeping was quite possibly minimal or non-existent. But I have not paid attention to what documentation has been released.
Of course, the mere possibility that evidence exists would be very unsettling to Epstein’s clients. But that does not mean that such evidence exists.
Bill O’Reilly quoting Trump on Epstein, I think with regard to the redacted names:
https://x.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1943122361110110435
MikeM
I agree with this. I don’t seem much of a reason why Epstein would create and keep a handy list. He probably wasn’t running a “Hilton rewards” program to give “valued customers” discounts or free nights after enough visits.
Also, even if he had some records with names, I don’t know why he or others might not have destroyed them.
I never thought there was a lot of handy unambiguous evidence to get dirt on those who went to the islands. Someone might be able to pull together flight manifests of things that arrived and left. But I’m not knowledgable about how much of that is kept especially if things aren’t commercial. I doubt if high rollers used their United Credit Cards to gather extra frequent flier miles and so on.
And, of course, some of the high rollers people “wanted” to find on “the list” may actually not have visited regularly. Clinton, Obama etc can’t really travel super anonymously.
HRH The Princess of Wales, wearing traditional white, is given a standing ovation as she enters Center Court at Wimbledon. She truly is a phenomenon in Britain. She was joined in the Royal box by tennis royalty, Billie Jean King and Martina.
In your face, Meghan.
https://x.com/wimbledon/status/1944048485151416827?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
The Epstein saga looks to be a guilt by association witch hunt. I think a lot of people were looking for funding their initiatives.
WSJ article on Camp Mystic.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/camp-mystic-texas-flood-what-happened-9dbde882?st=r6u7Uu&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Complete chaos with a bunch of lightly trained young adults in charge. Once water started coming in cabins they should have evacuated. This one is likely to get real ugly once the finger pointing starts in earnest. I can see criminal charges for camp authorities. The parents are going to go ballistic.
There was a lot of chatter about Kash Patel leaving too….
He just put the kybosh on that:
“ The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been. It’s an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump — and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.”
Lucia,
“Also, even if he had some records with names, I don’t know why he or others might not have destroyed them.”
Sure. The miscreants were looking for plausible deniability.
For me, the issue is not if some guy had lunch with Epstein (surely many people did); IMO, that description is just a rubbish excuse to stop all questioning. If someone made multiple trips to Epstein’s private island (or his other residences), then they should face questioning about why. There was no “blackmail”; and there was no need for blackmail if they could just swing a many-million dollar ‘investment’ to Epstein to ‘manage’ and so keep him quiet, which is what apparently happened.
Maybe all the men Epstein dealt with were as pure as the driven snow.
Maybe not.
Tom Scharf,
I have known enough men to doubt the official narrative.
Which is not to say they won’t get away with it. Most, even if guilty, probably will.
It will be interesting to hear what Bongino has to say after he is gone.
this is astounding, like a blast from the past….
Trump posted one of his signature angry rants. Only this one is different. He is scolding his troops. It’s a long post, but here’s the crux of it:
“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT! ”
https://x.com/trumpdailyposts/status/1944145782548181036?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Trump is never boring.
Mike M.
“angech, I see no reason why a list of visitors to Epstein’s island “should” exist. ”
–
Fair enough.
I am sure that like me you do not keep a list of visitors to your house for example.
Friends drop in, the family drops in, plumbers and electricians and meter readers because let’s face it, who cares?
Some people (wives) might keep visitor books they got for Xmas but nobody fills them in.
–
Some places like football grounds and fairs and circus let you in if you pays your money without a list.
-However
–
Some places keep lists of all visitors like countries. Also islands , especially those islands reached by planes.
Royal palaces, the Pentagon and the White House to mention but a few.
No name (on a list) No Entry.
Like the American Border should be,
–
I don’t think that you are naive, just exercising your debating skills so I do not need to explain to you why such lists are so essential that they must exist.
Still, since you insist on not seeing reason or see no reason for list to exist I would suggest these for consideration.
Security seems most important.
very important.
Dietary requirements and allergies, one would not want Mr Clinton dying of anaphylaxis due to a grape allergy or massage oil allergy.
Emergency medical treatment, active visitors having a heart attack, broken leg , neck burns or stomach ulcers would need to be recorded in order to arrange medical flights urgently.
–
Or have you just been pulling my leg all the time? If so that really , really hurts. I have never been good at reading that level of nuance.
Russell,
I guess Trump is scolding people in the media who are yapping about Epstein. Is that your read?
Trump makes a good point that if their was anything in the Epstein files damaging to MAGA, the previous administration would have made sure it got out.
angech,
I see no reason why a private residence would need to keep a list of who comes and goes.
I have no experience with this, but I am guessing that a whorehouse does not keep a list of “visitors”.
Asking if a guest has allergies does not require a list of all guests. Neither does a medical emergency require such a list.
Sounds like people are trying to make Epstein! Epstein! Epstein! the new Russia! Russia! Russia!
Mike,
Well, it’s odd how we pick and choose. I don’t care about Epstein, but I also don’t care about Brennan. I’m not sure what makes Brennan more relevant than Epstein accomplices to the DOJ.
Personal vendetta, perhaps.
mark,
Brennan and Comey might be a matter of personal vendetta, although there is some value in establishing just what happened. Knowing what has been done provides a bit of protection against a repeat.
But there is no vendetta against Epstein. He is long dead. Epstein is being used as a cudgel to attack the Trump administration. Perhaps as an attempt at repeating the success of Russia! in Trump’s first term.
Mike M,
Failure to release everything is hurting the Trump administration, and will continue to. Unlike Russia,Russia,Russia, there are many people who voted for Trump who think he is making a big mistake. I predict that at some point Trump will realize this and order a release of more information.
Mike,
This is how Trump introduced that rant, I read it as addressing his MAGA troops:
“ What’s going on with my “boys” and, in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. ”
MikeM
Not only a private residence, but a private residence on a private island!
The island was in the US Virgin Islands– so any tracking of people coming and going is up to US customs. But at most, they are going to track foreign nationals. Since it’s the US Virgin Islands, that means Americans are not foreign nationals. We don’t need a passport to visit.
Maybe US Customs could track some people? But coming and going between US and Virgin Islands is considered domestic travel. So I’m dubious they have information to create a complete list of everyone who went to Epstein’s island.
Mark Bofill,
Like you, I don’t care about Epstein especially since he’s dead. I don’t think there’s much point in throwing a lot of resources at tracking down everyone who once went there. Things might be different if he was still alive and operating. But he’s dead.
I just think there is nothing particularly odd in them not finding “a list”. Trump should probably release as much as practical merely because so many people are hyperventillating and there is probably little harm in releasing “stuff”.
Rumors…. of course
Lucia,
We did have to pass US Customs a year ago in the USVIs. All flights into the airport have manifests with complete passenger lists. The visitors to the “private island” can be identified. I suspect they long ago were. That doesn’t prove any illegal conduct, but will raise questions, and especially for those who visited multiple times.
Lucia,
Oh, I agree with you. I’d be surprised if there was a list and frankly if there was I’d be skeptical about its validity. Are we to simultaneously believe that Epstein was a sleazebag who trafficked underage girls but that trifle aside, he would never falsify a list? That makes no sense to me, maybe I just don’t understand though.
Trump’s post on Epstein is getting clobbered on social media, Newsweek:
“Trump Gets ‘Ratioed’ on Truth Social for First Time Amid Epstein Backlash”
“On social media, “getting ratioed” refers to a situation where a post receives a significantly higher number of replies (often negative or critical) compared to likes or retweets. Essentially, it means the original post’s message is being drowned out by a flood of opposing viewpoints or criticism. ”
Usually his MAGA hoard ensures that he gets a lot of likes and retweets, but not this time. And the comments are brutal [Including mine].
He is faring better as time goes on, particularly on ‘X’.
This whole thing stinks of a cover up and it’s going to get worse before up before it gets better.
Megyn Kelly seems to be leading the charge.
I think this is significant because it is the first time MAGA [and me!] thinks Trump is not playing straight with them.
SteveF wrote: “Failure to release everything is hurting the Trump administration”.
What have they not released? A list that probably does not exist? Real questions.
I am under the impression that they did release everything, but with names redacted. But I have not really paid attention. It is not reasonable to demand that they unredact all the names. It might be reasonable to ask for names for specific documents. But nobody seems to be doing so. Maybe because there are no such documents.
It strikes me as a silly waste of time. The TDS gang must be gleeful.
I don’t see why Customs would have a list of visitors to Epstein’s Island, unless there is a customs post on the island.
MikeM, SteveF,
It sounds like from what SteveF says, a list of who went there at least could exist. He had to go through customs, so other people would have too.
Whether Customs does have “a list” and whether it’s kept a long time… dunno. I’m indifferent to whether any such thing is released, redacted etc. I mostly don’t care.
I think stuff like that was already released back in February?
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/28/jeffrey-epstein-documents-release-names-flights
Yeah, maybe there is a list of everybody who went through customs in the US Virgin Islands. I don’t see how that tells us anything about visitors to Epstein’s Island.
The reality of the existence of a list no longer matters.
The perception is that Trump and Bondy are hiding something, and it’s not just Trump‘s enemies that feel this way. They seem to have forgotten the first rule of holes….
When you’re in a hole, stop digging…… this is an unforced error.
Another of my famous wild assed conspiracy theories.
It is widely rumored that Masoud and Israel are involved.
Trump agreed to bury the results if Netanyahu would nominate him for the Nobel peace prize.
Russell,
If Trump and Bondi have made an “unforced error”, then there must have been an error. What was it?
Mike,
The way they handled this left many with the impression they were hiding something. This includes many in the MAGA universe.
Bondi and Trump made statements that left everyone with the impression there was a list and the list was going to be released. Trump campaigned on releasing the information.
Now Bondi has a bunch of double talk, and Trump is being forceful to back her up.
Russell,
I think that all that Trump or Bondi said was that they would release what they had. They did that.
When Bondi said that the Epstein file was on her desk for review, she did not specify that she did not know just what was in it. Duh. If it was awaiting review, she did not yet know what was in it. No doubt, if she had a do over, she would specify that she did not know if there was a client list and maybe that she had not been told of one.
That is a pretty trivial error.
Here is what I think happened. A bunch of conspiracy theorists convinced themselves that Epstein was murdered, that there had to be a client list, and that the government was covering it up. When Trump took office, they were gleefully awaiting vindication. They were disappointed and can not accept the possibility that their conspiracy theory was wrong. So instead, they conclude that they were right all along and now Trump and Bondi must be part of the conspiracy.
But now, all the establishment media types have switched from pouring cold water on the theories to fanning the flames.
It is ridiculous. And dangerous.
—-
Addition: ANYTHING that contradicted the conspiracy theories would have “left many with the impression they were hiding something”.
Mike,
it wasn’t just Bondi who misspoke. Trump and company led us on for over a year. Here is a compendium from the Washington Post of some of the things they said that led us to believe that there was both smoke and fire there:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/08/jeffrey-epstein-bondi-patel-trump/
And it’s not TDS at play here. Trump loyalists are leading the charge:
Fox News:
“MAGA world erupts over Trump’s defense of Bondi amid Epstein files fallout”
“DOJ brass vowed full transparency on Epstein before turning up empty-handed”
NBC:
“Trump faces a revolt from his MAGA base over the Epstein files”
The Hill:
“Musk slams Trump’s defense of Bondi on Epstein controversy: ‘Just release the files as promised’
The minimum explanation is they over promised and under delivered. I believe the actual facts are a lot more sinister than that.
Mike M,
Something like: “Here are the people we know visited the private island, the number of visits, and the dates.”
That would stop most of the complaints. A cross – listing of people who gave Epstein a lot of money to ‘invest’ would absolutely stop the complaints.
That will not prove illegal conduct, but it would solve Trump’s political problem. And it is for sure Trump who told Bondi what to do, which is why people are blaming Trump. Trump usually has very good political judgement, but not in this case.
Russell,
Unconvincing. Maybe the paywalled WP article would provide support, but not likely since they have a history of quoting Trump out of context. All the MSM headlines show is that they are willing to give a megaphone to conspiracy theorists.
Note that there is plenty of pro-establishment, anti-Trump stuff at Fox News. What sets them apart is that they cover a lot of stuff the MSM ignores or delivers with a slant.
Liberal journalist Tina Brown advances the conspiracy theory story in the Free Press:
“I’m with MAGA that there are still too many unanswered questions about Epstein’s death.”
It’s packed with facts about the case and why this looks like a cover-up by the Trump administration
“When Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has hyped Epstein conspiracy theories for years, released the first batch of Epstein files in February, the promised bombshells bombed, revealing zip we did not know already. She now finds herself in the ironic position of being monsterized by MAGA as a cover-up artist.”
“Conchita Sarnoff reminded me that there have been five fatalities, counting Epstein’s death, all associated with his case and the sad, sordid world that swirled around him.”
and she details all five suspicious deaths, it’s worth a read:
https://www.thefp.com/p/tina-brown-maga-is-right-about-jeffrey-epstein
Mike,
This WP link is not paywalled for me using iPad and Google Chrome :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/08/jeffrey-epstein-bondi-patel-trump/
SteveF: “Something like: Here are the people we know visited the private island, the number of visits, and the dates.”
How do we know that they have such evidence? We don’t. It is quite possible that they don’t have it. Do any of the documents with redacted names indicate that there is such evidence? Nobody seem to be citing such documents.
I do not think they should publish hearsay. And they should not publish the names of people who merely had business dealings with Epstein or gave money to charities that he promoted. To the world at large, Epstein was a legitimate businessman and philanthropist. Or at least he convincingly played that role.
IF they have solid evidence re the island, they should release it. But they might not have it, in which case there is nothing to release.
Trump, trying to change the narrative:
“Putin talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening”
Lindsey Graham:
“One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump.”
Major new anti-Russia policies from both the US and Europe coming today (Monday).
We get these BS flood warnings all the time…
NWS Tampa, this morning:
“A tropical disturbance expected to emerge in the northern gulf over the next few days currently has a low (30%) chance of development over the next 7 days.
Heavy rainfall with flooding in low lying and poor drainage areas possible locally regardless of development.”
I think it’s the reason no one takes the NWS flood warnings seriously.
While I do want to know who visited the island, I am much more interested in who appeared in the videos the government has – especially the ones with underaged victims.
Those pedophilias should be exposed and prosecuted.
Here is a link to the FBI document which says they have over 300 Gb of data:
“The files relating to Epstein include a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography”.
Link:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
So list or not – I just want to ensure the perpetrators of crimes against children are exposed and prosecuted. Now it may be that naming them before prosecution could be problematic – in which case I hope they prosecute and then expose.
Mike M,
Redact the names of victims, that’s all. Everything else released. Was Epstein an intelligence asset? We need to know that. Who continued to be involved with him after he was a convicted sex offender? Did he remain an intelligence asset? We need to know that. Who flew on his plane after he was a convicted sex offender? We need to know that. The flight manifests have all the names and dates. This isn’t conplicated.
SteveF wrote: “The flight manifests have all the names and dates. This isn’t conplicated.”
But it might require a time machine. Flights to and from the Virgin Islands have to report passenger info to the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS). But that data “is not retained for longer than necessary”.
https://www.aviationfile.com/advance-passenger-information-system-apis/
So maybe they have it or maybe they don’t.
There might also be laws restricting what can be released about people who are not being charged with crimes.
I agree that they should release what they can regarding visitors to the island. I object to the assumption that they can release what people want.
And I very much agree with Russell that if they have the goods on perpetrators of crimes against children, those individuals should be prosecuted and exposed.
Mike M,
Maybe Dershowitz is a bald-faced liar. Maybe not.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5395597-dershowitz-says-he-knows-epstein-client-list-names-but-im-bound-by-confidentiality/
He does say in a later interview that there is no complete list, but that many well known names have been withheld….. and “it’s complicated”.
He suggests that those who were accused but not prosecuted by DOJ should not have their names disclosed unless their accusers are also disclosed so that the accused can “defend themselves with documentary evidence”, as Dershowitz himself did when he was accused by one of the victims. (He proved that he was never present.)
So nearly 20 years ago, when Dershowitz represented Epstein, he knew some names. Perfectly believable. He does not give the context, but the fact that the court blocked him from revealing the names suggests that they were connected with the first prosecution of Epstein. That does not mean they have any relevance to the current kerfuffle.
A court order that binds Dershowitz might well also bind DoJ.
Super day today, my granddaughters and I made popcorn and watched a movie…. American Graffiti. If you don’t remember, it’s a coming-of-age film set in 1962 Modesto, California with the whole A list of actors, including Wolfman Jack, playing himself. Also lots of hot rods and rock ‘n’ roll music.
We also had to make a stop at the surf shop,
Russell,
Shouldn’t that be “future A-list actors”? I could well be mistaken, but I thought that “American Graffiti” was a rather low budget film.
Ron Howard was a AList, but everyone else were just starting out. Harrison Ford , Susanne Sommers, Richard Dryfus the list goes on.
They really captured being a teenager in the early 60s.
Ahhh, the memories……
Mel’s Drive-In from the time the waitresses came to your car on roller skates!
https://melsdrive-in.com/
41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069704/soundtrack/
Audio:
https://youtu.be/4V7mVlilRSM?si=vq0IEN4iXtfpjWz6
Wolfman Jack
Every night millions of people listened to Wolfman Jack on the radio. They love his outrageous persona and the great music he plays on his show. During the peak of his radio career, Wolfman Jack was heard on over 2000 radio stations in 53 countries. https://www.wolfmanjackradio.com/
Two diametrically opposed administrations found next to nothing with regards to Epstein lists. There is probably nothing there. It is starting to sound like Elvis sightings.
The DOJ’s policy to not release info on ongoing cases or cases it drops likely exists because of cases just like this where innocently being named can cause reputational damage that cannot be undone or falsified. How do you tell a bunch of conspiracy theorists there isn’t any further info? People can dig all they want but the government should protect privacy with the information it gathered unless it can prosecute.
American Graffiti was directed by George Lucas. It probably gave him enough cred to get Star Wars funded.
Tom, you nailed it….
“ he set out to write an original space adventure that would eventually become Star Wars.[25] Despite his success with his previous film, all but one studio turned Star Wars down. It was only because Alan Ladd Jr. at 20th Century Fox liked American Graffiti that he forced through a production and distribution deal for the film.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lucas
Admiral Yamamoto feared that the attack on Pearl Harbor would awaken, a sleeping giant, and turned out he was right. Something has awakened the sleeping German military machine.
Examples from this week alone:
“General Christian Freuding, Head of Germany’s Ukraine Support Group:
“By the end of July, the first deliveries will begin—in a large triple-digit quantity.”
These long-range missiles are Ukrainian-made, German design and funded. A powerful combination.”
General Freuding said these missiles will be able to reach well into Russia, but declined to give specifics.
AND
Germany’s New Drone Killer in Action: Ukraine Deploys Skynex to Destroy 7 Russian Shaheds Overnight
This is a next generation air defence weapon. here is a video with the details:
https://youtu.be/lsOQtrJf4zI
AND
“Breaking News: Germany negotiates to acquire up to 7,000 combat vehicles from Rheinmetall in historic land forces expansion.“
The liberal media is rife today with blatant climate and energy lies. My summary of it is the BBB (big beautiful bill) ends subsidies for wind and solar power. Therefore, the price of electricity for citizens will skyrocket because utilities will resort to other, more expensive, methods of generating electricity.
It’s not just one or two outlets with this line of BS. There are probably a dozen news stories on this today. Here are some examples.
NPR: “Power prices are expected to soar under new tax cut and spending law”
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/15/nx-s1-5461128/congress-energy-tax-credit-solar-wind
CNBC:“How much Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ bill could raise electricity costs in every U.S. state over the next 10 years”
The “science” comes from “ Dan O’Brien, a senior analyst at Energy Innovation”, whoever he is.
I guess lots (~1400) of Department of Education employees will lose their jobs August 1. We’ll see how that goes.
The order
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25997476-supreme-court-order-on-dept-of-education/
More expensive? Power prices may rise because some things may go off line. Also: because the previously subsidized methods of generating power will now need to cover costs previously covered by subsidies. Also: I guess we’ll see.
Lucia,
Yes, it is now likely to happen.
The result: basically nothing. School districts will continue to operate as before, but with a bit less “oversight” from Washington DC.
Combined with other cuts that were allowed by the SC to proceed last week, there may soon be a lot more houses on the market in the DC area.
Power prices to consumers of power will only rise where the federal taxpayer has been covering a large share of ‘renewable’ power cost.
The real cost of power in those places won’t change at all…. only who pays that cost.
Exactly like subsidizing the purchase of electric cars with $7,500 from the taxpayer….. which is welfare for the ‘environmentally aware’ who are also financially secure.
What will change is investment in new ‘renewable’ power… without subsidies, that investment will mostly stop.
Lucia,
“Also: I guess we’ll see”
I predict the net will be to lower energy prices. Without pressure from the Federal government to add solar and wind in the mix, utilities in Red states will be able to make generation decisions based on economics not politics.
In those few Red jurisdictions where wind and solar make economic sense the utility will use them. The rest of us will not be burdened by the extra costs of renewables.
SteveF,
Like you, I think schools will manage without those 1400 DOEducation employees this year. If programs are cut or some money delayed, some superintendents or principles will be shuffling money. They may have to cut some things (I suspect Trump wants them to.) But they will manage. DOE is just not the major source of $$ for schools.
What I’m waiting to see is whether a write certiorari is timely sought, granted etc. I’m also interested in what SCOTUS ultimately says about the President’s right to fire tons of people whether or not his motives is to cripple the DOEducation.
What the President’s powers are here is the more interesting question.
SteveF
Yes. And even if eventually they win the right to be rehired some those DOEducation employees who can get jobs elsewhere will likely not come back. After all, they’ll have new jobs and coming back will be disruptive.
Some will likely find out the jobs they can get outside government don’t pay as well. I bet somebody will eventually do a study about that and show that the skills people in government have don’t have the private sector earning power the government HR system claims they do. We’ll all get to read those arguments.
I should add– mind you some of the government jobs do merit pay above what would exist in the private sector because those jobs are simply not private sector jobs. So of course the private sector doesn’t pay for that sort of thing because it doesn’t do that sort of thing.
But some are private sector jobs in addition to being public sector jobs. So… well… we’ll see. This is going to create “studies” eventually.
I also do feel sorry for people who lose jobs. That’s true even if the job needed to go. I mean… I felt sorry for Joanne Fabrics employees. But the stores needed to close. So.
I think the BB Bill will likely lower the cost of electricity. Instead of installing expensive, unreliable solar and wind, utilities will build cheaper, reliable gas plants. So far as I can tell, existing wind and solar will keep getting subsidies. It is only new installations that will not get subsidized.
The renewable scam requires people to believe two things:
(1) Renewables are cheaper than conventional plants.
(2) Renewables can not compete unless they are subsidized.
Amazingly, otherwise intelligent people fall for the scam.
I think there have been a number of studies comparing government jobs with the private sector. As I recall, they found that salaries are similar but government employees get much better benefits. And better job security. I don’t know if the studies made truly fair comparisons.
NPR is considered an NGO, and I have a comment …
If an NGO needs government funding to operate it isn’t an NGO.
Regarding the Epstein files, Dershowitz says there is no client list, the redacted names are due to orders by two Manhattan judges, he thinks he knows most of the names, people will be surprised by how few are not already public, they are not current office holders, and Epstein was never an intelligence asset.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2025/07/15/dershowitz-on-epstein-list-n2660416
What I do not understand is why there has not been a significant jump in approval for Trump in the polls
angech,
Nearly half the country strongly disagrees with his policies, and more than half the country strongly dislike Trump as a person (AKA think he is an asshole). Hard to get to high approval ratings with that combination.
Voting among those who can be persuaded (and most can’t be!) is usually based on choosing ‘the lesser of evils’, so Trump can win elections, even with a relatively low approval rating. He has had the good fortune to win by running against a throughly dislikable candidate and a throughly incompetent candidate with loony policies. The other incompetent (Biden) was hidden from the voters, and Trump lost.
SteveF wrote: “Nearly half the country strongly disagrees with his policies,”
I do not think that is true. Large majorities want illegal criminals deported, men out of women’s sports, secure borders, support Israel, and don’t want Iran to have nukes, doctors butchering kids, or waste and fraud in government. Probably not a complete list.
Other issues are more like 50-50. But that alone should not reduce support for Trump to 50-50. I think Trump being stuck in the polls is a combination of TDS and media propaganda.
highlights from this morning’s farmers market trip, fresh peaches, and peach pie!
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1945516523025473869?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Mike M,
I agree that majorities agree with specific policies (like deporting criminals… sure, but how about Maria Sanchez the maid, or Eduardo Gomez who does roofing for cheap?). I still think at least 40% are adamantly opposed to many if not most of his policies. Yes, the MSM will hammer Trump with everything they have, plus a lot of made-up stuff, 24/7, but I doubt that moves the needle much.
I am currently in Massachusetts, and just about everyone I have encountered gets ‘the vapors’ (men and women) if Trump or his policies are even briefly mentioned. And Trump’s general behavior (similar to a badly behaved 9 year old with a social media addiction) makes him tough to like, or even defend. He will never have high approval ratings.
if you are despised by the East Coast liberals, you’re my kind of guy
Mike M,
I would add: Trump’s low approval means there is near certainty Dems will control the House after Jan 1, 2027, and from that point on it will be impeachment, impeachment, impeachment for the remainder of Trump’s time in office. So Trump will accomplish little beyond what he does between now and then, and certainly nothing legislatively. I do hope Republicans continue to control the Senate after Jan 1, 2027 if only so Trump can appoint judges.
Steve,
I think the odds favor Dem control, but I think you overstate their advantage in saying ‘near certainty’. Their odds have been sliding in the betting markets over the past 90 days.
For instance:
https://electionbettingodds.com/House-Control-2026.html
We will see, lots can happen between now and then.
SteveF: “a badly behaved 9 year old with a social media addiction”.
That is a badly exaggerated description of Trump in his first term. It certainly does not apply to Trump II. But it does illustrate a big part of why Trump’s approval ratings are stuck: people made up their minds about him a long time ago and will never change their minds.
People aren’t paying “higher prices” if energy subsidies are cut. They are just paying for energy differently, through direct payments instead of indirect taxes. Subsidies tend to always be bad IMO because they are too often used to reward favored constituents.
Mike M,
“…people made up their minds about him a long time ago and will never change their minds.”
Sure. Once a person decides somebody is an asshole, changing that opinion is very, very difficult. In Trump’s case: just about impossible, because he continues to offend. Trump’s policy instincts are remarkably good. His behavior remains offensive to many.
Tom Scharf,
“Subsidies tend to always be bad IMO because they are too often used to reward favored constituents.”
Of course, and including the deduction of mortgage interest and state and local taxes from income for Federal taxes. I am all for complete elimination of subsidies of all kinds. I am opposed to eliminating certain subsidies and adding others, like for example electric cars. No subsidizing private economic choices.
For those wondering why Trump’s approval/disapproval is where it is the yougov poll provided some interesting results.
Top 3
Crime +9
Border security +4
National Security +1
Bottom 3
Fed Workforce -17
Changes to Geo names -21
Inflation -26
Link: https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/52137-how-americans-rate-donald-trumps-handling-of-52-issues
Mark Bofill,
Sure, much can happen before the election in 2026. OTOH, history suggests Republicans are at a very big disadvantage. And trump motivates mid-term turnout among progressives like nothing else. Should Republicans remain in control of the House, I will consider it almost a miracle.
Andrew Kennett,
“…Changes to Geo names -21”
That is exactly the kind of offensive nonsense which makes so many people loath Trump. It is school-yard taunting that serves no purpose and detracts from things that matter. Mr Trump: Get past 9 YO behavior….. please.
The US has moved towards a “cash & carry” policy to supply arms to Ukraine
Trump:
“We’re not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they’re going to be paying for it,” Trump said, referencing “very rich” European allies. “They feel very strongly about it, and we feel strongly about it too, but we’re in for a lot of money, and we just, we don’t want to do [it] any more.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/14/trumps-ukraine-aid-fits-america-first-00452809
“Not all European countries are on board with the approach, however. In the Oval Office, Rutte listed four Nordic countries in addition to the U.K. and the Netherlands as backing the plan to send U.S. weapons to Ukraine. France, whose President Emmanuel Macron has long pushed for Europeans to build up their own defense industrial base by buying locally, was a notable omission from the list.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-donald-trump-weapons-aid-war-in-ukraine-nato/
Mike Rowe: “We’ve been telling kids for 15 years to learn to code.”
“Well, AI is coming for the coders.”
“It’s not coming for the welders, the plumbers, the steamfitters, the pipefitters, the HVAC, or the electricians.”
“In Aspen, I sat and listened to Larry Fink say we need 500,000 electricians in the next couple of years—not hyperbole.”
Ed,
“ France, whose President Emmanuel Macron has long pushed for Europeans to build up their own defense industrial base by buying locally, was a notable omission from the list.”
Maybe France could supply the Ukrainian military with brie and white flags
weird fruit from the farmers market…
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1945823973893177594?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Russell,
I’m betting most of those aren’t sourced locally. For example: the bananas (which I recognize.)
Lucia,
Correct, the family has a connection with a outfit in Honduras
you can grow bananas in Florida. They just don’t do it commercially
Lucia, those were plantains, not bananas
To the lunkheads at PBS and NPR, the fact that Trump and the Republicans defunded them is proof that their programming was appropriate and served the greater good.
Russell,
I can tell the difference in person… but photo? Not so much! LOL!
Lucia,
I go buy the sign
The Trump effect is causing the US stock markets to rise:
“Analysis-Lofty US stock market valuations bank on earnings strength”
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-lofty-us-stock-market-100239337.html
Not covering the Hunter Biden story was the straw that broke the camels back and cost NPR/PBS $1.1B. What an epic misjudgment.
“Terence Samuels, in a statement that came a week after the Post’s coverage was censored, said his outlet didn’t “want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories.””
The story was the cover up NPR.
Oops. I don’t think they gave a lot of thought to Biden’s dementia either.
I don’t get Republican politicians sometimes. Here we have ‘won’ on immigration, we are actually doing what the voters wanted done, we’ve payed the political prices and so on and gotten over the legal hurdles; it is second down at the opponent 3 yard line.
It is at this point that Republican lawmakers want to pass amnesty for millions of illegals. What gives?
mark,
I literally don’t know what you are talking about. I suppose I will run across it at some point.
So I’m sorry. It’s arguable whether or not the ‘Dignity Act’ is amnesty, or if it’s really supported by many R lawmakers anyway. Me being lazy, my bad.
[Edit: Cross posted Mike. As I said, I’m not sure I have my story straight. Some links:
https://redstate.com/katie-jerkovich/2025/07/17/despite-republicans-best-efforts-to-screw-up-immigration-wins-trump-sees-through-latest-proposal-n2191769
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/bipartisan-bill-migrant-workers-protected-status-trump-crackdown-rcna218755
]
Fun fact, the word literally literally doesn’t mean what it used to mean:
I weep for the fate of humanity. How have we come to this.
But are you literally weeping?
I wasn’t Harold, but now.
[Now I’m still not.]
mark bofill,
There will always be efforts to legalize the many millions who have entered the USA illegally. IMHO, those efforts should be resisted. If you reward bad behavior, more bad behavior is what you will inevitably get.
As a practical matter, finding and deporting the roughly 20 million here illegally will be difficult. That doesn’t mean they should be given legal status, nor given a path to voting, and it doesn’t mean they should not live in constant fear of deportation; constant fear of deportation is the minimum consequence they should suffer.
Of course, the only practical solution is to make employment of illegal aliens impossible by focusing on companies who hire illegal aliens. I will believe politicians are serious about eliminating illegal aliens when employers end up in prison for knowingly employing illegals. Laws do not need to be changed; existing laws only need to be enforced. Until then, I will consider it mostly political theater. A bit like security theater at airports, but more corrosive and damaging.
mark bofill,
The USA does need plenty of lawful immigration, since we seem quite unwilling to have enough children to maintain our population, never mind growing that population. Legal immigration controls who is admitted…. securing long term economic and political stability. Illegal immigration guarantees economic disruption and general lawlessness.
One of my youngest daughter’s friends is the daughter of legal Cuban immigrants. ‘Salt of the Earth’ is a fair description for her parents. These folks are not who needs to be excluded.
Steve,
I guess it might just be political theater. I’ll think about that, thanks.
mark,
Thanks for those links. I don’t exactly what amnesty means so I don’t know if I support it. I am OK with providing legal status to people who have been here for a long time, working hard, and living within the law to the extent possible for people who are here illegally. No path to citizenship. Make it revocable if they break the law. No eligibility for welfare. Put in place stiff vetting to make sure that they really are working and to screen out people like the “Maryland dad”.
The economy and many producers, especially in agriculture, really do depend on millions of such people.
I agree with the need to shut down incentives. It seems to me that we can do that without deporting every single illegal. It seems to me that deporting a majority of those here illegally (including all who came in under Biden) while slamming the door via a secure border, E-verify, etc, ought to be enough to make the point.
Trump heard us….
Pam Bondi‘s response:
“President Trump—we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
Trump’s message:
https://x.com/whitehouse/status/1946019867892810127?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
(this better not be another ploy!)
Trump heard us….
“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”
– President Donald J. Trump
Pam Bondi‘s response:
“President Trump—we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
(this better not be another ploy!)
https://x.com/whitehouse/status/1946019867892810127?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Russell,
But there is no guarantee that the court will unseal the testimony. I think they don’t normally do that.
I gotta believe the following is related to the Trump/Bondi grand jury decision:
“Manhattan Prosecutor Who Handled Epstein Cases Is Fired….
Maurene Comey, who is the daughter of the former F.B.I. director James Comey, worked on the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.”
Mike,
I hope Trump has worked through all that. Another setback would be devastating to him..
These polling results say that Republicans don’t much care about the Epstein business:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/x-isnt-real-life-cnn-data-guru-throws-wet-blanket-on-dem-plans-to-leverage-epstein-drama
That agrees with what Salena Zito says based on her conversations with real people in PA Trump country.
Grand jury testimony is sealed for good reasons. A corrupt executive cannot be allowed to ruin people’s lives by innuendo and false charges. Also witnesses need to be protected.
Maybe the Wall Street Journal has discovered why Bondi back-tracked on releasing files: https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-letter-we-have-certain-things-in-common-f918d796
Tump is acting like an idiot, and threatening a lawsuit…. one he will lose. Discovery will be brutal for Trump if it gets that far. Truth is always a defense against libel and slander, and the WSJ has the truth on its side. Trump is such a jerk.
“ X needed a night like this. Amazing content. Proud of you all.“
Mollie Hemingway
Twitter has been on fire overnight with Conservatives doing an end zone victory dance over the NPR PBS funding claw back. It’s been great fun.
Just do a search of NPR PBS on “X” and sit back and chuckle.
… an example:
“ NPR and PBS quit Twitter in 2023 after being labeled “government-funded media,” arguing the funding they receive is so trivial as to render such a designation unfair and inaccurate. Now, we’re told the potential loss of the allegedly trivial funding poses an existential threat.”
I tuned into my local NPR station this morning for classical music and they are already fundraising off of the loss of government funds. they were ready. they said they are gonna lose over $1 million a year!
WUSF, Lakewood Ranch
NPR does a lot of stuff not related to news. More people like Berliner should have been brave enough to stand up to the progressive news bias which hurt the entire organization.
https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust
They also went ultra woke for a while after 2020. Some of that corrected but too little too late.
The Epstein witch hunt is on. The obvious unstated assumption is all Epstein’s associates are child predators. I hope the WSJ loses the lawsuit
Trump is claiming on “Truth “ that he warned Rupert Murdoch, and the WSJ editor that the letter from the anonymous source they were quoting was fake, and they went with the story anyway:
“The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued. Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. The Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, was told directly by Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE, but Emma Tucker didn’t want to hear that.”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114871422727186590
I wonder if the WSJ article was straw that broke the camels back and pushed Trump to try to release evidence in the Epstein case.
Tom Scharf,
It is no witch hunt.
Trump will not win his lawsuit. Factual reporting is perfectly OK, even if embarrassing to Trump. Did you read the article in the WSJ?
The Murdocks have enough money to defend themselves.
My granddaughters are growing up. They are off to Orlando this weekend to compete in a USTA sanctioned tournament. this is their first “away” tournament.
https://playtennis.usta.com/competitions/mgtennis/Tournaments/overview/02CCEE68-98D5-40EA-88FE-CB673FC18301
Tom Scharf wrote: “The Epstein witch hunt is on. The obvious unstated assumption is all Epstein’s associates are child predators. I hope the WSJ loses the lawsuit”.
Agree, agree, and agree. The purpose is an attempt to derail the Trump administration the way the Russia hoax impacted his first term.
I don’t know if the letter is fake. It is not clear that the WSJ knows either. I did not see anything in the article about validating it or how they obtained it. Maybe they are protecting “sources”.
Even if the letter is real, I don’t see how a slightly naughty letter from over 20 years ago is relevant, other than as a cynical way to attack Trump.
SteveF’s link was paywalled. Non-paywalled link here:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/?state=nwa
“Epstein Got Bawdy Birthday Letters. One Was From Trump”
Yes I read the WSJ article. They supposedly saw and didn’t print an excerpt from an album given to Epstein for a birthday, nor did they report on anything else in the album implying only Trumps part was leaked. Clearly politically motivated which is common but the specifics are pretty mundane. The part that makes it slimy (legal) journalism is the connect the dots BS they leave to the reader and leave unstated.
Good luck with the jury in Alabama WSJ.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-letter-we-have-certain-things-in-common-f918d796?st=TVJ6GB&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Mike M,
“Even if the letter is real, I don’t see how a slightly naughty letter from over 20 years ago is relevant, other than as a cynical way to attack Trump.”
I agree that it is not a huge issue. It is only relevant to the extent that Trump is unable to see that it is not a huge issue and act accordingly. Trump is a life-long skirt-chaser who has often shown less than upstanding behavior (remember the Access Hollywood tape?). He should put on his big-boy pants, say “Yes, I wrote that letter, and in hindsight I see that it was inappropriate.” or “I don’t remember exactly what I wrote. It was a long time ago and it was supposed to be humorous.” Then forget about it…. but he can’t do that. This is (again) Trump being his own worst enemy, and showing (again!) why so many people don’t like him, even if they support his policies.
Tom Scharf,
The appropriate jurisdiction would be seem to be New York (The WS Journal), Washington DC (where Trump lives now), or Palm Beach Florida (Trump’s permanent legal residence). Alabama? Why Alabama?
The WSJ reporters are not completely clear about what they saw, but they wrote: “The letter bearing Trump’s name, which was reviewed by the Journal, is bawdy—like others in the album.” Which suggests they saw “others”.
Dershowitz immediately acknowledged that he too wrote a bawdy letter for the bound book, but said he could not remember the details.
SteveF,
Well, the letter might not be real.
It is quite likely that Trump would respond as he has even if it is real. Trump plays defense by going on offense. It is silly to criticize that on the grounds that it is not what a normal politician would do. Trump is not a normal politician. The country and the world are a lot better off because he is not a normal politician.
Given Trump’s response, the “controversy” will continue. If he had responded as you suggest or as Deshowitz did, the “controversy” would continue. Because certain people are determined that it will continue, no matter what.
Mike,
There is always that. It’s problematic to suggest that what Trump does doesn’t work, because clearly it does. It’s been working for years.
mark,
Right. Of course, there are times when what Trump does fails to work. But Trump is what he is, and most of the time that is remarkably effective. Even if he could sometimes be something else, it would be foolish for him to do so. A big part of Trump’s appeal is his authenticity. He is a package deal.
OMG:
https://babylonbee.com/news/wsj-reveals-trump-once-wrote-boobs-on-a-calculator-and-showed-it-to-epstein
Republicans will have no choice but to impeach Trump now. SARC.
“Well, the letter might not be real.”
And I might sprout wings and take to the air tomorrow afternoon on the local golf course.
It is a bit like the many suggestions Hunter’s laptop wasn’t real. When the other “contributors” to the bound birthday gift come forward, the authenticity of the book will be confirmed, if Bongino doesn’t resign and confirm its authenticity first.
I want the whole sorry mess over, but Trump has handled it so poorly and so stupidly that it appears it will go on indefinitely. I think he should have just fessed up and tried to stop the madness; now he has burned that bridge and has no exit. The man often makes really bad personal choices, as do lots of people. He just can’t admit when he does.
Steve,
There’s some reason to question the veracity of the story. Personally I tend to agree with you though, the ‘grab em by the pussy’ guy certainly wouldn’t be above a tawdry birthday card.
For the sake of argument, I am willing to concede that Trump likely banged women on Epstein’s island. I doubt he knew or cared about their exact age. If somebody can prove Trump broke the law there, they ought to have at him. If not, let’s move on.
Clinton had sex with an intern 25 years his junior next to the Oval Office. In the end, he was found out.
Trump palled around with Epstein for 15 years… and the documentary evidence is clear. He likely when to Epstein’s private island multiple times. He stated in an interview that Epstein was “a lot of fun to be around” and that he “likes beautiful women…. on the young side”. I suspect Trump is ultimately going to have to acknowledge those things in his past.
“If not, let’s move on.”
Sure, If Trump finds a way to stop lying about this. Otherwise, it will go on, and nothing you or I do or say will change that.
Steve,
We will see. I think eventually this will blow over, and I don’t think Trump is going to come clean.
I’m a little surprised some true believer leftist woman of the appropriate age hasn’t come forward to claim Trump raped her on Epstein’s island, truthfully. I’d have thought there was a goodly supply of leftist women who’d line up for the privilege.
The basis for the DOJ investigation into the deep state is based on research from the DNI. Their press release is found here:
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4086-pr-15-25
Summary by Tulsi Gabbard:
“The issue I am raising is not a partisan issue. It is one that concerns every American. The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government. Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people,” said DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
So just as the goods were about to come out regarding the Russia! hoax, we get the media shouting “Don’t look there, look over here. Epstein! Epstein!”
Maybe it is just a coincidence.
Tusi Gabbard:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1946271402971312514.html
So Obama, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, etc. conspired to overturn a presidential election.
I am not sure if “treason” is the correct crime since it did not involve giving aid and comfort to foreign enemies.
More like an obvious betrayal of their oath of office. But they will still all skate.
There is about a 99% chance this Trump story was selectively edited and leaked for political purposes by someone in the DOJ. There is a 98% chance it was first shopped to the NYT’s and they decided to pass on it
It doesn’t make it untrue but it does make it suspiciously similar to pee tapes and endless Trump Russia Collusion garbage which has stained the entire media industry.
The WSJ should have passed on it because it adds nothing factual to the matter. As presented it is tabloid garbage. 100 lawyers probably reviewed the article to remove any utterance that the WSJ might be connecting dots themselves and the reader is left with wondering what the point is. I’m tired of this entire political targeting exercise and I don’t even like Trump personally
Yet another political “institution” collapses as the Late Show is cancelled due to being unprofitable.
Consistently alienating half your potential audience is unwise.
The partisans may not care but the accountants do.
Tom Scharf,
Bongino?
This morning‘s find at the farmers market…. Mango trees.
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1946558546721538183?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
from my Twitter feed…
“ No trans identifying person has ever been banned from sport. They are simply not able to compete in a category they don’t qualify for. Non of this is complicated in any way what so ever.”
Truer words were never spoken.
There is a lot of activity from conservatives on social media against Obama based on the DNI report from Tulsi Gabbard. I realize these are all conservative voices but what is so striking is how many attacks there are and how strong the condemnation is. Many commenters use words like treason, coup, prosecute.
James Woods has a loyal following of 4.9 million fans on Twitter, when he talks people listen. this post has 113,000 “ likes” in 20 hours.
“This is possibly the most alarming act of treason since the Lincoln assassination. For an outgoing president to engineer a coup against a succeeding president is unthinkable in America.
I knew Tulsi Gabbard would be the most effective Cabinet member.”
https://x.com/realjameswoods/status/1946396538508292567?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Barron Trump, has 460,000 followers, mostly young and politically active, he asked for comments on this and so far has 22 thousand comments in 6 hours.
“BREAKING: DOJ making preparations to INDICT AND ARREST former President Barack Obama on charges of TREASON, ESPIONAGE AND SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY.
The Secret Service is already making preparations with federal law enforcement to work out the logistics of his historic arrest.
Obama is about to become the first ever US President to be charged with treason and could become the first American convicted of the high charge since the end of World War II. If convicted, he faces the rest of his life in federal prison. This comes from a reliable DOJ source and is going to be ABSOLUTELY WILD.
Comments?”
https://x.com/barrontnews_/status/1946621370105790687?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Charlie Kirk has 5.1 million followers…
“DNI Tulsi Gabbard has just declassified documents that show “overwhelming evidence” that then President Barack Obama personally requested, and intentionally “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election in President Trump’s favor, despite intel assessments concluding that Russia was NOT trying to influence the election.
It was all a giant HOAX.
Well done DNI Tulsi Gabbard for leading the charge on transparency and accountability.
Let’s investigate and prosecute.
https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1946270611619389769?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQat,
Trump on “Truth”
“We had, in President Obama and his leadership team, people who did not want to accept the will of the American people in electing Donald Trump in 2016 — and therefore cooked up this treasonous conspiracy to…effectively launch a years-long coup against the sitting President of the United States.”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114882476831486897
I don’t know if criminal charges against Obama, Clapper, etc. are either justified or wise. What I would like is for them to suffer the same fate as Nixon.
I don’t know how to do that. Half the country will stick their fingers in their ears and whistle Dixie. Crminal trials won’t change that.
Interesting times ahead.
The Democrats already had not only the leaders in place at the FBI etc but also a lot of lower rank players ready to go.
Round 2, new rules but a much later starting position.
Will be interesting to see where the trials are held .
Obviously not Washington.
Also which charges defy statute of limitation problems.
I would love to see Comey and Struzk get their comeuppance.
Schiff, Pence and that Republican lady on the Jan 6 committee would be nice.
Also 1 chief justice of the Supreme Court.
I think this would be another case of show me the evidence, not your framing of alleged evidence. If there were smoking guns they would be showing them.
I agree, the hoopla is Conservatives on social media and that is based on a report from Tulsi Gabbard and DNI. Justice department has just received the complaint and haven’t given any indications whatsoever. It’s way premature to be talking convictions. There may not even be an indictment.
That having been said, I am enjoying the ride and believe there is fire behind all the smoke. There may not be enough evidence for court, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t some very embarrassing things to come out. I am hoping to see some tarnished reputations, like is happening now to the Biden legacy and White House staff.
Mike M,
“I don’t know if criminal charges against Obama, Clapper, etc. are either justified or wise.”
I agree. The only reasonable approach is to document everything and make sure there is plenty of news coverage of that doncumentarion. What the Obama folks did was way beyond dirty tricks, it was subversion of a legitimate election outcome.
I am sure in their (socialism addled) minds what they were doing was “right” and “needed to protect the country” from Trump, just as I am sure they still believe that. These are behaviors of ‘progressives’….. who are true believers if nothing else….. and that is not going to change. Subversion of the Constitution is of no concern, so long as that yields the desired outcome. Unfortunately, the next step when they don’t get what they want is politically motivated violence, as we are already seeing.
Exposing the destructive ‘progressive ‘ actions may convince enough reasonable voters to keep progressives out of power.
Tom Scharf,
What would you consider to be evidence? Spiking a “no meddling” report? Check. Deciding to produce a report that said the opposite? Check. Basing that on a discredited dossier prepared by the losing campaign? Check. The FBI director trying to entrap members of the incoming administration? Check. Committing perjury before a FICA court? Check. Dragging out an investigation for two years, even after it was clear they had nothing? Check. Committing perjury before Congress? Check.
I suppose it is fair to say that Gabbard is framing evidence, but as I understand it, the documents are being released. So you don’t need to rely on her framing.
Links to Gabbard’s report and over 100 pages of supporting docs can be found at the end of this article:
https://www.declassified.live/p/dni-tulsi-gabbard-releases-declassified
Some of the later are heavily redacted.
SCOTUS has established broad immunity against criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken by the President. Even if this was set aside, they are not going to successfully prosecute Barack Obama for anything.
The crucifixions’ of cockroaches from prior administrations is a pointless endeavor; cockroaches are not in short supply and they absolutely will not cease being ugly scavengers scurrying in the darkness merely because a DOJ bolt of lightning smites a few specimens. I don’t see any sense in which pursuing this as a criminal matter is a good idea.
Much better, less damaging and more productive for our nation to let the misdeeds come to light and let the voters punish the guilty party.
Editorial in the Washington Post:
I have to say that I’m surprised that the Post is admitting these facts, albeit belatedly.
You know what is totally missing today… outraged liberals!
They have been stung so many times recently with miss-deeds by Democrat public officials that they are holding fire on the DNI report to DOJ.
Trump and Company have them on the run.
I can’t even find articles by the legacy media denying the charges.
They all were huddled in a bunker.
HaroldW,
“I have to say that I’m surprised that the Post is admitting these facts, albeit belatedly.”
It has been obvious to everyone for 4 1/2 years, so , ya, late.
The new CEO is trying (belatedly) to recover credibility to expand readership, because they are losing many $ millions per year. Will he succeed? Donno, but I think a lot less than likely unless he fires most of the “reporters” who refuse to report without bias, which is most all of them. Changing culture means getting rid of those who insist on a ‘progressive’ (AKA utterly dishonest) culture.
mark bofill wrote: “Much better, less damaging and more productive for our nation to let the misdeeds come to light and let the voters punish the guilty party.”
I agree, but how do we do that? It won’t happen on its own. The main stream media probably won’t do it. Congressional investigations are just bad theater. Republicans and Fox News will just be dismissed as biased. It might be that prosecuting and convicting a few high ranking cockroaches (Comer, Clapper, Brennan) will do the job. But probably only if convictions can be secured which might not be likely. Especially if the trials are in DC.
Mike M,
“But probably only if convictions can be secured which might not be likely. Especially if the trials are in DC.”
You have identified one of the many problems: all the worms who worked for Obama committed crimes in DC. They will never be convicted in DC… unless ‘caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl’…. or maybe two or three of each. Really, there is almost no possibility of these people being convicted in DC.
Republicans need to get past this phantasy, and do their best to document the malfeasance.
I don’t know what specific crimes these guys commit. I hear ‘treason’ being thrown around, that strikes me as a handwavy charge that we ought to be careful about getting behind. I don’t think that politicians lying to the American people is criminal. I don’t think that making decisions contrary to reported evidence is necessarily criminal. Being ‘out to get’ the guy from the other party isn’t a criminal offense.
Remember, D’s will be back in power someday. They’d be all too glad to have established as accepted custom that legal persecution of political opponents is BAU here. I ‘get’ that they pioneered this and were driving in this direction anyway, but I’ve said before and say again, let’s not make this problem worse than it already is.
Mark:
Intent is tricky to prove – but I always thought that Comey briefing Trump on the dossier, so Buzzfeed could publish it – if part of a conspiracy with the Clintons and Obamas to take down Trump – could be a crime.
But hard to prove (of course).
Also, those 50 signatures from all the intelligence people, when they knew or should have known that the laptop was verified by the FBI itself (they had it for over 2 years at that point) – seemed criminal to me also. Total interference with the election – and there are laws against that for government officials (I believe).
Again – need to prove intent – which is hard to do.
The trouble with all of this is that everything gets a return. People with different ideology than you have been in power before and will be in power again. How much flexibility do you want them to have in finding ways to bring criminal charges against their political opponents? It is a given that your opposition is trying to hamstring you, so that’s not going to be lawyered away or stopped.
I think little flexibility is better.
mark bofill,
Yes, malfeasance is not treason, and Tulsi Gabbard should be more careful in her choice of words. Obama and his entire team did conspire to undermine the incoming Trump administration. Unprincipled? Dishonest? Characteristically ‘progressive’? Yes, yes, and yes. But I don’t see that bringing criminal charges for politically motivated lies and deceptions is a good idea. Exposing all the lies and providing proof of those lies is the best we can hope for.
We have already seen Dems prosecute people for political purposes. I think Republicans should set a better example.
IMO there will always be some line, maybe fuzzy or arbitrary, between what politicians can legally do to impact elections and what they can illegally do. For example, they can be competent. That’s not ‘interfering’ even though it might influence voters. They can campaign. They can express their opinions even if they are wrong. They can take political action that furthers their ideological goals. The water starts to get murky fast. The line is IMO, did they break some clear existing law? Did they kill someone, steal something, something specific like that? I don’t think they did. They lied and bullshitted for their own ends. Well, politicians do that.
.
Cross posted, thanks Steve. I agree with you.
The response from mainstream media and liberal Democrats about the treason accusations from Tulsi Gabbard has been muted to say the least. There are very few references in the liberal media at all. The Democrat response has been a few congressional liberals saying it’s not so.
Where is the outrage, that we have been hearing for the past six months? I think they are either becoming gun shy, because of the Biden revelations, or they have known for a long time that this was a fact.
mark bofill wrote: “Being ‘out to get’ the guy from the other party isn’t a criminal offense.”
Actually, I think it is a criminal offense if you use law enforcement to do it. But I agree that either Party ought to be VERY careful about bringing criminal charges against political opponents.
The Dirty 51’s lie about Hunter’s laptop was not criminal. But I think it is justified to yank the security clearances of those involved.
Clapper and others seem to have committed perjury, but the statute of limitations has expired.
Obama et al. seem to have conspired before the fact to take down Trump with a bogus investigation. I think that is way worse than the after the fact coverup by Nixon and his cronies. Letting them get away with it risks letting it become the norm.
I do not see a way to get to an outcome that is either satisfying or that will ensure it will not happen again. At least not without the risk that it will only make things worse.
Sigh.
The best possible response already happened. The people in question have lost credibility through their own actions (institutional partisans, legacy media). The voters rendered their judgment and Trump won reelection and the right controls the house, senate, and the Supreme Court.
Now the right can decide to choose the same game plan of using that power for political persecution but I would expect the voters to reject that again. They want an effective government, not Game of Thrones drama IMO.
Look forward.
Tom Scharf wrote: “The best possible response already happened. The people in question have lost credibility through their own actions”.
Nonsense. They have not lost credibility with half the electorate. And they already had little credibility with the other half. That is obviously an inadequate response.
It might be that there is no better response. But I am not willing to casually dismiss any alternative out of hand.
Looking forward, I see a Republican Party that insists on playing by the rules and a Democrat Party that insists that the rules do not apply to them. It is unlikely that will end well.
It is idiotic to insist on looking forward while refusing to learn from the past.
Mike,
You’re not wrong. There is no way to live in a civilized house with barbarians who don’t care if the house gets burned down. If that’s where they are and that’s where they stay, then some sort of systemic collapse and reorganization seems inevitable to me.
I am left to hope that the collapse of the Democratic party ‘sticks’, and that the barbarian leftist extremists get stranded there, and all the reasonable Dems abandon ship. IMO there are plenty of potentially reasonable Dems. Time will tell. Yet it remains that in any outcome where our civilization system is destroyed my enemy has won and I have lost, and that will always limit how far I am willing to go in opposing enemies who are protected by my civilization system, and those who are willing to smash the system will always be willing to go further than I am in opposing me.
There is an element of hope and faith in extending your hand to end a death spiral in prisoner’s dilemma. The only alternative is to stay in the death spiral.
I read somewhere over the last few weeks a paraphrase of a Hamas idea that summarizes this in some ways. It was ‘We love death more than you love life.’ Those who adhere to this unrepentantly can’t be worked with, they can only be war with such. Hopefully most of those in the US who are inclined to this sort of thinking lack the sustained courage of their convictions.
mark bofill wrote: “in any outcome where our civilization system is destroyed my enemy has won and I have lost, and that will always limit how far I am willing to go in opposing enemies who are protected by my civilization system”.
That is a vitally important principle to remember. I also appreciate the fact that you recognize that we can’t just close our eyes to the problem.
I am not willing to give up on the hope that there is a way to put our thumb on the scale in favor of preserving our civilization. But I admit that I do not know how to do that.
The Left has been engaged in a Long March through our institutions. That includes national defense, intelligence, law enforcement, and the courts.
Their MO is to use those institutions to attack those who oppose them via investigations and lawfare. They employ those techniques against both ordinary people and political opponents. The Republic can withstand that for only so long.
The Trump administration is taken strong steps to recover national defense, intelligence, and law enforcement from the Left’s inroads. But what one President does, the next can undo.
I see no evidence that the Democrat Party has paid any price for their subversion of our institutions. They tried to run a unpopular senile old man for re-election. When that blew up they replaced him with the most inept presidential candidate in living memory, perhaps in history. The election was still close enough that Trump came short of a majority of the popular vote. The Democrats won 4 out of 5 competitive Senate races in swing states and very nearly won the House. It is stunning that the Biden-Harris fiasco did not produce much heavier losses.
I see no evidence that the Dems have abandoned their strategy of subverting law enforcement and the justice system. In fact, I see the opposite in their continued denigration of the former and abuse of the latter (endorsed by Supreme Court Justices).
I am an optimist. But I am not such an optimist that I think it enough to hope for the best.
The one hope I see is that most voters do care if the house gets burned down. But they still vote for those who don’t care if the house gets burned down or even want to burn it down. How do we get the Dem voters to realize the truth about the people they vote for?
Addition: Yeah, that is insulting toward Dem voters. And insulting them won’t help change their minds. But neither will ignoring the truth. Sigh.
Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, seems to be previewing the Dem strategy re the recent revelations. If DoJ does not bring charges, it proves that there was no wrongdoing.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/07/20/himes_dangeorus_lie_from_dni_tulsi_gabbard_.html
It just might work.
Mike: “If DoJ does not bring charges, it proves that there was no wrongdoing.”
Likewise, no conviction also means no wrongdoing, but underlined and in bold. Even moving the venue and securing guilty verdicts is unlikely to make much of a difference. The usual suspects will just cry partisan and most dems will pass it off the same kind of political circus they engage in.
I’m afraid Mark is probably right, but on the brightside, I think the conversion rate of dems to repubs has been at a high for some time now. Their antics are costing them. Musk removing twitter from their control was a major victory. Their media bubbles are becoming more insular and shrill. The best weapon we have right now is free speech and democrats using it to its fullest extent. If they stop speaking, this would be cause for concern.
Mike M,
“I see a Republican Party that insists on playing by the rules and a Democrat Party that insists that the rules do not apply to them. ”
Well, isn’t that what we have already watched for the last few decades? Conservatives mainly want to conserve the constitution, uphold the rule of law, preserve personal liberty, remove criminals from society, etc. ‘Progressives’ mostly disagree with the constitution (and would fundamentally change it if they could!), ignore (or try to) laws they disagree with, think that being a criminal is seldom the criminal’s fault (especially if they are black), etc, etc. The point is, many ‘progressives’ think the USA has a terrible form of government, is irredeemably racist, and that is because of evil, white cis-gendered men. Many really DO want to tear most everything down and start over from scratch. For these folks, undermining Trump was perfectly OK…… in fact most anything is perfectly OK so long as it leads to desired outcomes.
I hope Mark is right and there are enough people who abandon the extreme policies on the left to ensure ‘progressives’ remain out of power for a very long time. I fear they will regain the house in Jan 2027, and spend the next two years trying to impeach Trump and disrupt all of his policies.
DaveJR wrote: “I think the conversion rate of dems to repubs has been at a high for some time now.”
That ought to be true, but I see nothing more than anecdotal evidence for it. It doers not seem to show up in either elections or polling.
Trump won because of turnout among people who don’t usually vote. And maybe somewhat weaker turnout among Dems.
SteveF wrote: “Well, isn’t that what we have already watched for the last few decades?”
Indeed. And if it weren’t for Trump, the battle would be over by now, with the Left victorious.
Mike: “Trump won because of turnout among people who don’t usually vote.”
That doesn’t mean those people were unaligned, or republican aligned. They could have been democrat voters but weren’t.
Mike M,
The changes in registration certainly have shown up in Florida elections. I suspect the same is true in Ohio and Pennsylvania (two long serving Dem senators were tossed last November).
There is a core of dems and dem-leaning independents who are always going to vote for Democrats, and those groups dominate in enough places that dems are going to have a chance of regaining power. As unhinged as the party’s policies have become, I find that a frightening prospect.
“ I see no evidence that the Democrat Party has paid any price for their subversion of our institutions.”
You aren’t looking very hard. They have lost what they care about most, political power. Favorability of their party has been at an all time low.
Political targeting of opponents will backfire. It already happened with Trump. Partisans love it but they need to understand they are not representative of the general electorate. Any targeting has to be clear and convincing, gold bars in the closet. I don’t think they have that.
I want a government not focused on retribution. It’s already hard to retain power and governing like that will make it impossible.
So far tariffs aren’t affecting global trade much. I still think it’s a bad idea but the global economy is yawning so far.
Tom Scharf,
I got a quote for some small pumps from a Chinese supplier several months ago (pre-tariffs) and another quote last week…….. 2% different….. LOWER last week.
WRT prosecution of political opponents: Yes, it is a very bad idea, and if it becomes the norm, will make governing just about impossible. I do think dems paid a price for all their legal pursuit of Trump and associates (after all, they have the bad orange man in office!), but I believe the party’s high disapproval is in part because many true ‘progressives’ disapprove of the party because it is not extreme enough, not because it is too extreme. Approve or not, those voters will always vote for Dems; the dismal approval rating will not reflect vote totals.
Many surveys of voters show clearly that what has changed over the past couple of decades is the left has gradually become far from the political center. Can they rein in the crazies, claim to support more sensible policies, and regain power? Donno, but I sure hope not. I am sure many will at least try to sound more reasonable. (Even Gavin Newsom says he no longer wants men competing in women’s sports). But actually be more reasonable in their policy goals? Not a chance. The left never compromises and never relents.
Tom,
Political targeting of Trump did not have much effect on the election. If it did have an effect, it is 50-50 as to whether it helped or hurt the Dems.
Reasons why the Dems lost power:
Very high inflation.
A weak economy.
People generally getting poorer.
Open border.
High crime.
War in Europe.
War in the Mideast.
China threatening its neighbors and violating US airspace.
Lack of presidential leadership.
Undemocratic choice of candidates.
Trying to run a metally incompetent candidate.
Running the worst candidate ever.
A VP candidate who was even worse than Harris.
Effective Republican turnout campaign in swing states.
Incredibly, they just barely lost power.
SteveF,
I think you are correct that the Dems low approval rating will not have much effect on how people vote. In addition to many Dem voters thinking the party is not extreme enough, others are made because they lost to Trump and because of the way they lost to Trump.
You are right that it would be bad to normalize the prosecution of political opponents. But it is also bad to permit those in power to do what they want to opponents with no personal consequences. Both extremes lead to the same place.
Mike M,
“But it is also bad to permit those in power to do what they want to opponents with no personal consequences.”
The consequences need to be mostly historical. Obama’s cabal did their best to undermine the incoming Trump administration. They were dishonest, unprincipled, and arguably involved in a criminal conspiracy. Making sure history reflects those facts will be the best punishment society can dole out without setting terrible political precedents.
IMHO, Obama was a awful president in terms of policy… domestic and foreign. An unprincipled effort to undermine his successor, combined with destructive, stupid policies while in office, should mark him as an historically horrible president.
Trying to put worms like Clapper and Brenan in prison is counterproductive: Yes, they perjured themselves. Yes, they they were involved in a criminal conspiracy. But they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things…. miserable hacks seldom do…. and they would not have done all the terrible things they did without direction from Obama. Obama is the person responsible for all of it, and history should be cruel to him.
Interesting that Victoria Nuland, who was involved the whole way, seems to have seen what was going to happen, and resigned shortly after Trump won in 2024. She may be smarter than I thought, but just as dishonest.
SteveF,
I don’t think that “history” amounts to much in the way of punishment. But even if it does, that does not address the problem. We are talking about crimes committed in the pursuit of power. We can not count out the possibility that such crimes might succeed. If they do succeed, then history will be kind to the criminals, since the criminals and their allies will get to write the history.
I don’t much care if Obama, Clapper etc. are punished either by the law or by history. What I want is for such people and their allies to be rejected by most voters. It won’t do any good to wait for history to someday do that.
Mike,
Yeah. The leftists would say the same thing [about Trump and company]. We all want the people we think are the ones who ought to be in office to be in office. There is no way to guarantee that this will happen, and thank God for that, because if there was, the leftists would use it to guarantee that they’d win.
All we can do are the things people do in democracies to persuade others: speak clearly and well, demonstrate what works, try to be a beacon instead of a blight on the world, etc. That’s as good as it gets while everyone is free, and I think it’s pretty important that everyone remains free.
[I should add, it struck me as a revelation some years back that this is what freedom means, 98% of the time. It means people are free to be wrong, stupid, thickheaded, to do counterproductive things, to do evil things. It’s not something that happens once in a while, it’s the rule. Every so often, people get their collective heads out of their collective rectums and do things that are good, productive, intelligent, etc. This is the exception. It’s still far better that people be free than that they be in any other political state.]
The better and easier life is (and it’s pretty good and easy on average in the USA, relatively speaking), the more stupid, thickheaded, counterproductive, lazy, spiteful, malicious, and flat out evil people can afford to be. The demands of survival are not exigent in our land, so we have the leisure to be termites and it doesn’t limit our short term survival prospects to behave so. I suspect in other, earlier times here, and in other places where life is harder, people are/were forced by the hand of Darwin to be less willfully dumb. But I might be wrong about this.
Mike M,
“We are talking about crimes committed in the pursuit of power.”
There ought to be a special place in Hell for those who use political office to pursue more political power. But I doubt there is. There is always going to be some of it…. but experience suggests much more on the left than the right. We all need to call it out loudly when it happens.
mark bofill,
“I should add, it struck me as a revelation some years back that this is what freedom means, 98% of the time.”
I would quibble with the 98%…. I honestly guess more like 75%, but your point is well taken. People (and I don’t exclude anyone) do dumb, wasteful, counterproductive, damaging things constantly; some learn from their mistakes, some don’t. But the alternative to freedom is what the left offers….. which is much worse.
Well, here in ‘bama…
😉
mark,
You make excellent points.
Thanks Mike. Likewise. It’s my pleasure talking with all of you, even when y’all think I’m full of cheese whizz.
LLMs and AI are advancing faster than I can keep up in my spare time. PEFT and QLoRA give me hopes I can actually fine tune my own quantized models. These things are going to get to the point where they can effectively learn in real time at the rate things are going.
I agree with Scott Adams on this one.
@ScottAdamsSays : “For most of my adult life, I would have said, “No, no, you don’t want to go prosecuting the last administration.” Because once you start doing that, everybody’s going to be trying to prosecute the last administration. Except that’s what the Democrats did to Trump when he was out of office. They went after him. And to which I say, well, they took the gloves off. They changed the rules. So, I believe that they have given Trump a free punch.”
I would add….
The Democrats have to be taught a lesson or they will think they have free rein every time they are in power.
Go get em’ Pam and Tulsi.
I might add two…
I might advocate a pardon for Obama should he be convicted.
Scott Adams makes a good point. I think if Bondi can make a solid case (no creative legal theories, for instance) against one of the Obama cabal, they should make an example of him. But they should not push it. That is, they should neither try to emulate the Dems nor unilaterally disarm.
Maybe Trump could preemptively pardon Obama. 🙂
You may not believe me, but I actually thought today that this might happen:
“Tulsi Gabbard just announced she’s dropping bombshell evidence tomorrow that will make Barack Obama’s denial of treason “look ridiculous.”
She says Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the media will all end up exposing themselves—with their own words—as fools.”
Trump held documents back and kept his powder dry, waiting for the Democrats to start making statements. Now Tulsi will start releasing additional documentation as events warrant.
WOOHOO!
There may never be criminal convictions but the process is going to be very painful for the Democrats.
Drip, Drip, Drip!
https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/1947806284704846320?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I have been getting a lot of my ’Trump’ news from Truth Social. Trump’s posts alone are worth the price of admission (free).
Trump on Truth Social, last night:
“We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made. Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits. This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it. Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things. Japan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%. This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114899417740854572
Philippines, 19%, Indonesia, 19%, and Japan, 15%, trade deals signed yesterday
sort of leaves the EU high and dry.
DNI Gabbard just release the report she said was coming last night and it’s devastating.
One brief snippet:
“CIA Director John Brennan ordered the post-election publication of 15 reports containing previously collected but unpublished intelligence, three of which were substandard—containing information that was unclear, of uncertain origin, potentially biased, or implausible—and those became foundational sources for the ICA judgements that Putin preferred Trump over Clinton.”
https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/DIG/DIG-Declassified-HPSCI-Report-Manufactured-Russia-Hoax-July2025.pdf
….. more:
CIA Director John Brennan went rogue and over ruled his own Russian intel experts and advisors. They documented their dissent in writing to protect themselves for future inquiries about weaponizing intelligence for political purposes.
Credit: @MegynKellyShow @MZHemingway source
Megyn video:
https://x.com/bigfish3000/status/1948013322063806971?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I have seen a few posts predicting that if the DOJ files charges against the Obama Cabal, it will be in DC Federal court….. which is under the jurisdiction of Judge Jeanine Pirro. Wouldn’t that be grand! They will need three rings for that circus.
…. maybe having Judge Jeanine in charge was the plan all along. It would make for grand TV.
I just watched Tulsi Gabbard and Caroline Levitt in the WH briefing room. It was a blockbuster. I don’t see how the liberal media can keep ignoring the evidence.
The ICC says countries must act on climate change. Yet another reason these people are irrelevant and should be ignored. What a posturing joke they have become.
Tom Scharf,
I think that was the UN International Court of Justice. But yes, that organization is in fact a joke, and should be ignored…… and very often is ignored.
One if the many reasons US participation in the UN should be reconsidered. Make NYC a little greater again: kick out the UN and see how many countries accept it in one of their cities. I think Oslo would be an excellent choice, even if it meant the UN closed each winter…. a net positive for sure. Cairo, Caracas, and Mumbai are good alternatives, each with their own unique charms.
SteveF
“There ought to be a special place in Hell for those who use political office to pursue more political power. But I doubt there is. There is always going to be some of it…. but experience suggests much more on the left than the right.”
–
Ahem.
Respectfully suggest that both the left, right and everybody else do it the same, experience or otherwise.
We look at other sides with an unconscious bias that it is always them that does more of that..
–
“Trump gets two Democrat Florida judges to block Epstein grand jury details released”
–
Many years ago someone said Trump has a long memory.
He has 18 months to get Obama, Comey at al.
I doubt he can do it but have been proved wrong before by his indefatigueableness (is that a word?).
He will certainly try and has some of the troops in place to do so.
Expect fireworks in next two months as the show rolls on and explodes.
Pushback will come on many levels and by unexpected sources..
Expect one Michael Benedict Arnold Pence to pay a heavy price for his whiteanting.
.All in all a good tragic opera for the new short lived Melania Opera House
angech,
A former President of Brazil, Cardozo, who was and is a classic ‘liberal’, wrote an editorial when current Brazilian President Lula da Silva (a hard-core lefty) was first elected. The title was “Farina do mesmo saco?” (Flower from the same sack?). His point was that while many Brazilian politicians are dishonest and corrupt, their motives were usually personal gain (financial and/or political position), while the dishonesty and corruption of Lula and his cabal where mainly focused on making it difficult for a non-leftist to ever win election. His conclusion: the dishonesty and corruption on the left is corrosive to the structure of democracy, and not like ‘normal’ political corruption…. which is frighteningly common in Brazil.
I agree with Cardoso…… the things the left wants (censorship, cancellation for any with opposing views, refusal to enforce laws, prosecution of political opponents, etc) are always designed to change the structure of government to exclude all non-leftist views, These are far more damaging than simple dishonesty or corruption.
Full disclosure: I once had dinner with Cardoso at his apartment in Sao Paulo, along with his wife, and three others. He was a charming gentleman with wide ranging interests. Yes, security patted me down first.
Whiteanting?!?! I learned a new word. (In the Sates it would be ‘termiting’….. undermine the structure from within, like termites.)
Strewth, stone the cows, strike a light.
I’ll be as flat out as a lizard drinking explaining the vagaries of Australian dinkum lingo and other slang us colonials use.
Or not.
Bye the way re ‘expect fireworks in next two months” , it is already happening
“A House Oversight panel subcommittee voted to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton for alleged links to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.”
–
Am I dense or did the kerfuffle about releasing the files really hide a very deep trap to get the Democrats thinking they had Trump on the ropes by demanding exposure and then finding it is really their own team exposed.
Catch 22 in that they hid it for so long but now they may not be able to back out.
No, he is not that smart??
Is he?
–
Also
Columbia University said on Thursday that is has agreed to pay the Trump administration $200 million over three years,
angech,
I suspect there are many men who were involved with Epstein’s escapades, and Trump is but one of them. Proving criminal acts is a high bar, but disclosure of involvement would be terribly embarrassing; this for sure is why Trump stopped all disclosure of additional information…… he was one of Epstein’s pals for ~15 years….. ending in a ‘falling-out’ in 2004. Clinton and Trump likely both visited Lolita Island multiple times….. The Clinton’s will take the 5th.
angech,
No need to explain Aussie slang…. already been done: https://manofmany.com/culture/advice/australian-slang-dictionary
SteveF wrote: “These [corrupting the structure of government] are far more damaging than simple dishonesty or corruption.”
I agree. Structural corruption aimed at crushing opposition is far more damaging than normal political corruption.
Normal political corruption should be prosecuted when discovered. So surely the more damaging sort of corruption should be prosecuted when discovered. The problem is that prosecuting structural corruption looks a lot like structural corruption. So prosecuting structural corruption risks normalizing structural corruption, thus inadvertently aiding the Leftist agenda.
OTOH, not prosecuting structural corruption permits the Left to normalize it. Quite the puzzle. Makes it hard to remain optimistic.
MikeM,
“Makes it hard to remain optimistic.”
Sure. But I am probably more sanguine than you. I think the key is keeping a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, where they will stop many of the lawless actions (including by lower courts!), and protect the Constitution from becoming a “living document”…. AKA progressives on the Court making the Constitution “mean” whatever the left wants to enable their political objectives.
I wish Thomas and Alito would retire and let Trump nominate truly conservative justices, 15 or 20 years their junior. I doubt they will retire….. they are conservative Ginsbergs.
SteveF: “the key is keeping a conservative majority on the Supreme Court”.
That is a necessary but not sufficient condition. The Dems can do an awful lot of damage that will not be blocked by conservative justices. Also, the key to controlling the courts is winning elections.
Is a “Color Revolution “ revisiting Ukraine?
Street demonstrations are heating up protesting Z
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f4AU19-waNc
Mike M,
Sure, if given legislative and executive power, ‘progressives’ can do a lot of damage within the bounds of the constitution (consider the 4 nightmare Biden years!). Still, the SC can put a brake on the crazy stuff in clear conflict with the Constitution (eg gun confiscation, government sponsored censorship, seizing personal wealth, government sponsored racial discrimination, etc.).
Better, of course, for ‘progressives’ to be completely frozen out of power, but that is probably not a realistic possibility in the long term.
Ahhh Florida, one my granddaughters was fishing today and came up close and personal to an adult manatee.
they got mostly mangrove snappers.
At least some ‘classic liberals’ understand that the ‘progressive’ left is anything but progressive; Turley and Teixeira both seem to see that.
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/todays-non-progressive-progressives
Teixeira could write on this blog and would fit comfortably with most of the views expressed here. I would only add to his essay that the thinking which underlies today’s ‘progressives’ preferred policies is nothing more than slightly warmed-over Marxism, where every policy, no matter how extreme and no matter how destructive, is justified based on outcome: classic ends-justify-means thinking.
The Epstein leaker releases more names later. They wanted to frame it first as Trump.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-birthday-album-included-letters-from-bill-clinton-leon-black-a7cd8cb1?st=nCnJmx&reflink=article_copyURL_share
SteveF wrote: “warmed-over Marxism, where every policy, no matter how extreme and no matter how destructive, is justified based on outcome”.
Uh, no. That is not right at all. The “Progressives” don’t give a damn about any outcome other than power. And the don’t use outcomes to justify their policies; otherwise they’d have to change their policies when people see the outcomes.
“Progressives” justify their policies based solely on intent. If the intent is good, the outcome is almost always ignored, no matter how big a disaster is produced. That is so even if the people suffering the consequences are the ones they claim they intend to help. The only exception is when the outcome generates enough outrage that it threatens to cause the “Progressives” to lose power.
Mike M,
We will have to disagree on this issue.
Tom Scharf,
The initial reports included comments that the ‘birthday book’ had more than 50 contributors, and included several other named individuals, although not Clinton. Yes, somebody with access to this information wants to damage Trump; I don’t find that surprising.
My understanding is that the book is the property of Epstein’s estate; if so, many people could have access.
It’s likely the leaker is someone in the DOJ IMO. They have access to the entire thing and are leaking it selectively. The media gives us no insight to the leakers motives. It reduces trust.
Kimberly Strassel just did a postmortem of the election in WSJ.
My favorite paragraph:
“What both camps studiously ignore is the voter verdict. That is, the voters who last year decisively rejected the progressive agenda that defines today’s Democratic Party. A real autopsy would focus almost entirely on the unpopularity of the ideas that animate the political left: open borders, unrestrained spending, union power, climate diktats, police-bashing, anti-Israel sentiment, identity politics. It would note not just the polls showing this rejection, but the proof in the form of recent, extraordinary demographic shifts that show a left losing its grip on whole categories of once reliable voter groups.”
I recommend looking at it. The following Twitter link leads to the whole article and it is not paywalled:
https://x.com/kimstrassel/status/1948771117499560222?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Strassel overstates the case. It is quite possible that a competent presidential candidate could have won on the same platform that Harris ran on. In that case, they likely would have also won the House and held the PA Senate seat although losing the Senate.
“extraordinary demographic shifts that show a left losing its grip on whole categories of once reliable voter groups.”
That is the thing that should set off alarm bells for the Dems. It might or might not be the start of a trend. If it is, then the Dems are in deep trouble. But at least some leftists, like Jessica Tarlov on Fox News, claim that those demographics are already coming home to the Dems. We shall see.
Mike M,
More alarming for Dems is the loss of Hispanic and African American voters. There were losses of Asians as well, but they are relatively small in number. Should the trend in Latino and Black voters continue, Dems will be hard pressed to win any national election. Mid-terms are another animal altogether.
Con te partirò (released as ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ in English)
This is the most moving vocal I have ever heard. It is sung by Andrea Bocelli with Sarah Brightman, 1997:
https://youtu.be/qjzJYa7tHLs?si=lT9eRHSl9N2ZZxnz
Bocelli was a tenor and Brightman was a soprano.
They did it again in 2007 when Brightman had a wider range and I don’t think they pulled it off as well:
https://youtu.be/4L_yCwFD6Jo?si=zKORhVIw1BCNH0Vz
The original version was a huge commercial success in Europe. I think the highest grossing single of all time and it topped the charts for something like three months.
Bocelli certainly is an inspiration as to what a handicaped person can attain. Sort of like Stevie Wonder in the States. No DEI necessary for these two.
Democrats Get Lowest Rating From Voters in 35 Years, WSJ Poll Finds
Republicans preferred on most issues that decide elections despite unease with Trump over the economy, tariffs and foreign policy
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/democratic-party-poll-voter-confidence-july-2025-9db38021?st=YvTw1j&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Dems have low approval for plenty of reasons, but Kin Strassel at the WSJ points out why they wont honestly analyze why they lost in 2024:
DEI is good, censoring ‘hate speech’ and ‘disinformation’ is good, prosecuting political opponents is needed, sex is ‘assigned at birth’, countries should not exist, etc, etc, or maybe more simply “We are absolutely right and the voters are absolutely wrong”. That is not a sensible message for winning elections. Can they ever change? I sure hope not.
When you are out of power and at a low point in popularity it is a hard sale for the “it’s not our policy, it’s our messaging” narrative.
Defund the police, DEI, open borders, gender madness, speech policing, political persecution of opponents, etc.
At least when the right found abortion to be a loser issue they pretty much gave up on it.
The left needs new leaders. They will get some eventually.
Guess who ain’t Netflixing no more…. Harry and Meghan!
Their $100 million contract was not renewed. It was the reason they were able to live their extravagant lifestyle in Montecito.
To most people, including all the critics, and me, the content that they produced for Netflix was crap.
…..and coincidentally, Harry’s people and Charlie’s people are discussing a ‘reconciliation’.
Re Tom’s post:
“The left needs new leaders. They will get some eventually.”
I have been wondering how long they can wonder aimlessly before it is too late to save the midterms next year. They have to cast out these leaders, elect new leaders and reform their basic self before they can pick new candidates to run next year.
I think if the new year turns and the Democrats are still lost in space, they will lose the midterms.
EDIT, it may already be too late.
One of the many problems with polling is false binaries. The Dems very low approval ratings are in no small part due to people who think they are not extreme enough or who are simply frustrated with the fact that they lost. Trump is barely above water on illegal immigration, but that is partly because of people who think he is not doing enough to deport illegals.
Earth to DNC…. Earth to DNC….
Your mission to reform the American psyche is succeeding far beyond my wildest dreams. Stay the course, please, stay the course.
Holy spit….
“ According to Brown, Trump is drawn to high-profile golf properties because of the prestige they provide.
“He just likes the quality and the pedigree,” he said. “It’s about attracting the right people – i.e. filthy rich businessmen with pretty deep pockets.”
A single round of golf at Turnberry, for instance, costs around $1,350.”
Had problems accessing site earlier today as a website certificate had not been issued?
All right now.
Will Ghislaine be alright in prison?
She is sailing dangerously close to the Clinton line.
Nice the see that Brown, whoever he is, has noticed that the Trump business brand is luxury.
Rip van Winkle, eat your heart out. Brown must have been asleep for the last 40 years.
One of the security cameras caught a deer grazing in the backyard. I have never seen a deer and I’ve lived here 50 years. (the rednecks shot them, before the city folks moved in).
You might notice that Florida deer are smaller than northern deer although this one is probably a juvenile. I guess there’s no doubt that the predators are all gone.
video:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1949464124636778726?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Thank you for fixing things Lucia!
We have tons of deer up here. I have seen over 20 at a time grazing around my neighborhood at dusk. Last year I had a newly born fawn fearlessly walk right up to me to check me out. Mom was a bit nervous about that.
Tom, maybe someone is feeding them in your neighborhood. There’s a rural community out east where they put corn out and the deer come in herds like you’re describing.
Russel, Angech, those wondering:
The site security certificate needs to be updated once a year. It expired yesterday. It’s “supposed” to renew itself. However, cloudflare blocked with the auto renew process. Then, in addition, it doesn’t display the site unless it has a SSL certificate. Catch 22! (Also, many browers will block the site.)
I asked at dreamhost, they said turn off cloudflare for a while, the ssl certificate would get pushed. The site would then load properly even. It’s now got a new certificate, cloudeflare is working and you can access the site. (I noticed this near 10 pm last night. But I had to send tickets to find out what to do.)
lucia,
Thanks for hosting this site. It is easy for us freeloaders to forget that keeping it running involves work.
MikeM
It wasn’t that big a deal. I just had to notice and then figure out what was up.
Lucia,
It’s a big deal to us that you take the trouble to do it, so I’ll add my thanks as well. 🙂 Thank you.
I found this by Jonathan Turley interesting.
He goes on to argue that Brennan committed perjury re the Steele dossier and adds:
Not really stuff that half the country did not know. What made it interesting is that it is published at The Hill. Perhaps the dam is starting to break.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5421124-the-rise-and-fall-of-john-brennan/
Trump just announced a trade deal with the EU. Are we tired if winning yet?
????BREAKING: President Trump lands EU trade deal:
– EU to purchase $750 billion in US and invest $600 billion in US
– EU to purchase a “vast amount” of military equipment
– EU opens up markets to US goods
– 15% reciprocal tariffs
https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1949525849964986580?s=46&t=ZvqHpxBnQGny72gLoGhKXw
Thanks Lucia. I got the error this morning, but figured it had to do with travel, although the error diagnostic suggested the site itself was the source of the problem.
Good site for tracking the tariff deals:
https://www.tradecomplianceresourcehub.com/2025/07/25/trump-2-0-tariff-tracker/
I guess China and Korea are the two big ones yet to come to terms?
I think that China, Canada, and Mexico are outside the process that applies to all others. I think we are waiting on deals with all three, but there is an interim deal with China.
Of our other top trade partners, I think we are still waiting on South Korea, Taiwan, and India. But it is hard to keep up.
lucia
“. Then, in addition, it doesn’t display the site unless it has a SSL certificate. Catch 22! (Also, many browsers will block the site.)”
–
Thanks for fixing ,Lucia.
One of the bugbears of life is trying to access sites with both moderate, like yours and right wing sites on the internet.
Chrome, Firefox Mozilla et al purposefully block or relegate or make it difficult to access sites like yours.
On my I phone if I type in the blackboard or rank exploits I get 100 sites on blackboards or education but not a reference to you.
With rank exploits it gives a dozen articles referring to your site or commentating on your comments but no web address link.
Very frustrating.
You must have had some commentators who really upset the warmists in the past .
.
Is Maxwell still alive?
Good.
Apropos
“ In one widely reported leak, former Google software engineer Zach Vorhies released hundreds of internal documents from a major tech firm, exposing tactics like keyword blacklists and algorithmic suppression of certain news sites. Among the targets were conservative outlets that routinely ranked lower than their audience size or relevance would suggest.
These revelations fueled growing public skepticism. A Pew Research Center study found that 73% of Americans believe social media and search engines suppress political viewpoints—90% among Republicans.”
Angech,
Trump was a 24/7 skirt chaser for a couple of decades (more?). No doubt he regrets some (most ?) of that. His tortuous histrionics about his links to Epsteine are not a good look. He should, IMHO, accept the facts and let it go. But he is an asshole, so that is not an option,
“social media and search engines suppress political viewpoint”
And bears sleep in the forest.
I use Duck Duck Go …. not much political horse shit.
Of COURSE, search engines discount policy views which disagree with ‘progress’.
SteveF wrote: “Trump was a 24/7 skirt chaser for a couple of decades”.
Do we know that? Real question. I never paid attention to Trump until the last decade. I guess we do know that he cheated on Ivana with Marla.
Mike M,
Yes we ‘grab them by the pussy’ know that,
Trump has sensible policies, his personal history is ‘complicated’.
Hard to believe that the rest of the world is getting in line and Canada is still throwing rocks. I think they are still pissed off about the 51st State jokes.
Mike M,
Trump , like many people, has strengths and weaknesses. His political strength is obvious. He has a long history of chasing (many) women, also obvious. OK, but don’t lie about it. Really, Trump is being a jack-ass about this. Nobody much cares about his past. He should accept that and stop the horse-shit lies.
SteveF,
I am amazed that we don’t have a long line of women lining up with their tell-all stories about Trump. The two who have (the stripper and the suer) both seem less than fully credible.
SteveF
“Trump was a 24/7 skirt chaser for a couple of decades (more?). No doubt he regrets some (most ?) of that. ”
–
Really?
I imagine he regrets people talking about it but the actual activity.
Nah.
I imagine Trump would be a much more effective president if he wasn’t such an asshole. I am amazed at how effective he has been at getting things done, almost all of which I agree with and think are positive for the country. If half of the country didn’t hate him because of his personal failings, he would be even more effective.
Albert Einstein: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results
The liberal media has just experienced total collapse of credibility because they listened to the liberal Democrats in the Biden administration about the state of Biden‘s mental health.
They are doing it again. They are interviewing Obama era officials to counter the accusations made by Tulsi Gabbard. They are not broadcasting the evidence, ever.
They never learn.
Grok:
“Brennan made headlines with an MSNBC interview on Deadline: White House, where he addressed a Department of Justice investigation into his handling of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russian interference in the 2016 election. He claimed to be “clueless” about the specifics of the probe, describing it as politically motivated and comparing it to tactics used by authoritarian regimes.”
“on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins. In this interview, Clapper addressed accusations from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, expressing concern over a DOJ “strike force” investigating these claims. He called the accusations “ridiculous” and “untrue,” defending the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) as thoroughly scrutinized, stating, “I don’t know of an intelligence product that was more investigated.” He also refuted claims of a “treasonous conspiracy,” emphasizing the ICA’s conclusion that Russia sought to influence the election without altering vote counts.”
The only person whose words I trust less than Trump’s is Brennan.
Tom Scharf,
I wouldn’t trust the word of ANY of the Obama insiders. If they told me the sky is blue, I’d break out the spectrometer.
It is obvious they conspired to sabotage Trump’s presidency. It is obvious they lied about it and will continue to lie about it. I am confident they believe sabotaging Trump was a good thing. They are a bunch of criminals, but they will never face jail time.
By the way, Brennan admitted to once voting for the Communist Party candidate. I don’t find that surprising.
Oops, I meant to say Clapper previously.
Sabotaging the opposing party is SOP for everybody. There is a line somewhere where it becomes criminal but we should be very wary of using that power.
For the most part both parties sabotage themselves much more often than the opposing party does.
Clapper: “I don’t know of an intelligence product that was more investigated.”
That is the sort of claim that is only made when it is an outright lie.
Tom Scharf: “Sabotaging the opposing party is SOP for everybody. There is a line somewhere where it becomes criminal but we should be very wary of using that power.”
True. The Dirty 51 were just barely on one side of that line as was the Clinton campaign commissioning the Steele dossier. Using government agencies to sabotage the opposition is clearly across the line. Sabotaging an elected administration rather than a candidate is clearly across the line.
The only argument for not prosecuting Obama, Clapper, Brennan, and Comey is that we should be very wary about using prosecutorial power against political opponents.
Mike,
“ we should be very wary about using prosecutorial power against political opponents.”
Only one side has been playing by those rules. Unless the Republicans start playing by the same rules, the Democrats will continue unabated.
I am not convinced that the Gang of Four can’t be prosecuted.
Obama enjoys immunity for his official acts, but does he have immunity for acts that merely had the color of office? I don’t know. SCOTUS does not seem to have addressed that in Trump v. U.S.
The statute of limitations has arguably expired. But it can be tolled under certain circumstances including delayed discovery of a crime and concealment of the crime. Might that apply in this case? Dunno.
I also don’t know if there is a crime that can be clearly understood by the public. I would think that essential in prosecuting political opponents.
Russell,
Yep. The trick is how to make the Democrats play by the rules without destroying the rules. Might not be possible.
Mike M,
I doubt many people can appreciate the corrosive effects of using the power of office to undermine political opponents, and many would just consider any prosecution of the miscreants as bad as all the law-fare Trump and associates suffered after he left office. So I think prosecution is unwise, while complete disclosure of the conspiracy, who was involved and what they did, is both prudent and just.
The ‘dirty 51’ were likely just as damaging to the country; after all, they helped elect a corrupt politician who was already suffering from the early stages of dementia, and they will never face prosecution.
My concern is if Dems win the presidency in 2029, then they will immediately return to prosecution of Trump and his associates. I don’t see any way to stop that. I mean, it is not like there are a lot of circumspect Dem politicians saying the law-fare was not a good choice.
One way to reduce the temptation to sabotage an incoming administration (and do a bunch of other things like shoveling many billions of dollars to favored groups) would be to drastically reduce the transition period between administrations. Alas, that requires an amendment to the Constitution.
SteveF: “I doubt many people can appreciate the corrosive effects of using the power of office to undermine political opponents”.
If that is true, then we are all but done and Trump might as well do all he can to crush his opponents before they crush him.
I think that what is true, and not a lot better, is that many people are selective about appreciating such effects. It is OK to protect democracy by prosecuting the evil Trump but not OK to prosecute the noble Obama, no matter what he did. There are large minorities of such on both sides. I hope they are too large.
SteveF,
Shortening the transition time brings its own problems and is moot because, as you say, it is out of reach.
It might be possible for Congress to enact some limitations on what can be done during the transition. But the best limitation would be to cut down the size and scope of government.
It should certainly be possible for Congress to expedite the process of replacing the old administration with the new. Lots of Trump appointees are still awaiting confirmation.
Mike,
I don’t agree with the idea that we are all but done. The Dems are exiled to the wilderness. We have Trump in office till 2028 and we have excellent prospects for Vance to succeed him in 2028-2032. It might be more than a decade before they [Dems] regain the WH. SCOTUS tilts conservative.
What encourages me most is that there is no new madness on the horizon that I can discern. The left has fired its shot and they don’t appear to have anything further, and people have by and large rejected the cultural madness. Obsession with transsexuals, with DEI, support for defunding the police, support for green energy; all of these things are on the outs. Critical theory has finally been pegged as the enshrinement of racism that it is. Dems are flirting with socialism again, but there is no future for them there and most of them know it.
There is no system that guarantees the continued health and success of our nation forever, and indeed our nation will almost certainly not last forever. But maybe the end is not nigh.
Shrug.
mark,
I pretty much agree with you, for similar reasons. But SteveF said that most people can’t appreciate the corrosive effects of abuse of power. I said that IF that is true, then we are pretty much done. My reason is that the people are the ultimate defenders of our Republic, so if they don’t care … I also said that I don’t think it is that bad.
I do not think the Dem’s fever has broken. Until it does, they are a threat to the Republic. I hope that Vance will give us another 8 years of sanity in the White House. But I note that 5 incumbent VP’s have been nominated for president. Four of those lost (Nixon, Humphrey, Gore, Harris). The only winner was the only one to lose any primaries (Bush).
p.s. – Actually 6 VP’s nominated for president sine the adoption of the 12th Amendment. But Van Buren was so long ago, he doesn’t count.
Sorry, I see I misunderstood you. Thanks.
What I know about macroeconomics and world trade would fit in a teaspoon, but it seems to me all the experts were wrong.
Tariffs are good for trade.
Tariffs are not taxes.
Tariffs do not cause inflation.
Tariffs reduce the national debt.
Tariffs do not produce trade wars,
Tariffs produce trade agreements
Tariffs are better than sex
Mike M,
“I do not think the Dem’s fever has broken. Until it does, they are a threat to the Republic.”
The second part: sure, what the ‘progressive base’ wants is to “fundamentally change ” the USA, becoming something no longer much related to the Constitution.
But a ‘fever’? Not so sure about that part. The ‘progressive base’ fundamentally disagrees with the form and function of the government the Constitution describes, and they are not shy about saying so. Trump pushing the government back toward something a bit closer to a republic causes the hysteria, protests, and violence we are now seeing. Progressives correctly see that process as a reversal of the ‘progress’ they have made. I don’t see how that ‘fever’ ever breaks.
Steve,
Yeah, but I think the base that views the situation that way has always been a relatively small percentage. Say 20ish percent. They punch way above their weight when the rest of ‘liberal’ or democrat leaning voters follow along, but that doesn’t seem to be the case these days.
I don’t think they will go after Trump in 2029 because the entire point was political advantage. It backfired and Trump can’t run again (right, ha ha). They will concentrate on delegitimization of whoever is running.
Part of the left’s low approval ratings is that their strategy was to put it plainly idiotic. A complete misread of the electorate. They should be able to put up a better fight next time. Will they? I don’t know.
Tom,
I have read arguments that Dems are captive to the crazy activists via some consequence of the way donation works ( I remember the conclusion but not the reasoning). If this is so they need to change this dynamic to escape the crazies that have hijacked their party.
Part of the problem is, if they don’t stand for the crazies, how do they differentiate themselves from MAGA, and just what DO they stand for? They need a new unifying narrative IMO.
To put it more generally, setting aside the donors specifically, the Democrats suffer from a lack of unifying vision right now. Some want to go further left, some want to cut towards the center. Some want to embrace economic populism. Some still prefer to enforce ideological purity. Some still want nothing less than to oppose Trump at any cost. Nobody seems to have a coherent plan that everyone wants to get behind.
Meanwhile, things seem to be OK under Trump, which isn’t helping them…
It’s almost as if the only thing that was holding the warring tribes together under the Dem banner was the agreement that nobody was going to slaughter anybody else’s sacred cows. All the crazy could coexist, embracing diversity and inclusion at least. The deal is apparently off however if the supergroup isn’t going to honor the special crazy each splinter cares about.
I don’t know if this is right. I’m kicking it around.
mark bofill,
I suspect less crazy Dem politicians mainly do what the progressives want because, 1) progressives contribute time and money, 2) it is mostly progressives who will vote in primary elections…… A dem member of the House from Massachusetts has lifetime job security, so long as they never cross the progressives, bringing on a primary challenge they could easily lose. Only Dems in the few competitive House districts have few worries about being primaried, since a crazy progressive could never win the general in a competitive district.
Mark
Yes. And people– whether Dem, GOP, MAGA, whatever, tend to want to believe others really see things their way. So the far left Dems and the center Dems are both going to think their way is the right way to get elected and the right way to go.
Todays WSJ had an article advising Dems on immigration policy that would make them electable. It was generally sound– but sometimes hilariously ambiguous. But I told Jim: it’s missing a paragraph or two. Those paragraphs need to explain that we need people to believe we mean to stick to this policy.
This was one of the hilariously ambiguous statements (or would that be a non statement?)
Note that the word “address” in no way communicates any direction. Like it or not, Trump is “addressing” the legal status of undocumented immigrants who have lived here for years. His policy is that they can be deported. That is “addressing”.
My guess is that’s not what Neera Tanden intends. And not saying what she intends is a problem, because people will recognize that paragraph doesn’t really propose any answer. Should all be allowed to stay? Some? If some, which?
I also like “Leaders of good faith should be able to get behind these… ” She’s just not describe what the reforms would be! How do we know the leaders of “good faith” should get behind them?
I also chuckled at this
Barriers? Like…. would that be …. ehrmm… a wall?
A lot of stuff is rhetoric. I thought a lot in the article was sound. I think Trump’s build a wall– suggesting some huge wall across the entire US Mexican border was ridiculous. But still… I chuckled at “barrier”. Because I’m pretty sure she means “a wall”.
Mark Bofill,
I agree the party is rudderless right now, with more sensible Dems wanting to get away from the wrong side of all the 30:70 and 20:80 issues progressives have forced them into, and the progressives screaming about ever even considering such policy changes. I hope the fight continues until at least November 2026. Pass the popcorn.
Lucia,
That is pretty funny. I agree with you. That’s part of the problem. Everyone shouts ‘this way!’ pointing in a different direction that they are internally sure everyone else must just know is the right way to go.
Steve,
Yup! I’m sure it won’t last forever but I hope it lasts a good while yet.
Lucia,
The article is paywalled, but opens with:
After that, there is little she could say to convince me she is serious. As I understand it, official current policy is to immediately deport people who are already subject to a final deportation order….. even if they have been in the states ignoring that deportation order for a long time. This is just enforcing the law, not ‘unimaginable cruelty’.
At least she is honest enough to admit out loud that her goal is to NOT deport illegal aliens…… at least not most of them.
lucia,
I don’t know that thr WSJ article is all that ambiguous. She says quite clearly that all “leaders of good faith” should support a path to citizenship. So, standard leftist cant. I guess she is vague on a lot of details, but it is normal to establish principles first, then worry about details. Also, she needs to be vague about details when the point of the article (which I have not read since paywalled) seems to be “how to pull the wool over people’s eyes to get what we want”.
I think it is normal (or used to be) that political parties suffer from a lack of unified vision until they have a presidential candidate. And I think that would be a good thing. Parties with a unified vision fit the Founder’s definition of “faction”, which they rightly feared.
Real Clear Politics has a non-paywalled link to the WSJ arrticle lucia cited. “How Democrats Can Win on Immigration” in this morning’s edition of RCP.
If you have any doubts about Neera Tanden’s honesty in the WSJ article, she convincingly lays that to rest with this:
They moved rapidly to open the border and never moved to secure it.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-democrats-can-win-on-immigration-proposal-border-1a49ca04?st=MH8y2n&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Non paywall
I have seen approx. 1000 articles with anecdotal stories sympathetic to (illegal) immigrants in the legacy media and still none showing those who should unquestionably be deported.
The politicians are still doing political stunts at detention centers.
I don’t trust the left on immigration nor should anybody else. I have no idea what their position even is currently.
SteveF,
Sure. It opened that way. She’s trying to convince Dems and nonMaga GOP. So it has the requisite anti-Trump invective. But she’s at least saying they do need to tamp down illegal immigration and abuse of the asylum process. And she recognizes that required having ICE type people dealing with the borders. She just tries to make it sound totally “different” from Trump.
But at the end, she has those non-informative things. I mean “address”? That word is totally elastic.
I’m for letting the vast majority of “dreamers” stay here. But “address” could equally well mean “kick them out”!
Ukrainian AN-196 Liutyi Drone
Here is the weapon that Ukraine has been using to enhance its deep strike capability. It has been used to produce some significant damage to military targets deep inside of Russia, all the way to Saint Petersburg.
(much of the following is classified or should be considered speculative)
It is a kamikaze drone that is the size of a Volkswagen beetle.
It can fly 1000 miles with 150 pound warhead.
It is made of advanced lightweight composite material.
It costs $200,000 to produce.
It’s guidance system uses AI.
It has a stealth radar profile.
Recently, Germany has agreed to fund 500 of these.
Stay tuned.
image:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1949939129459900640?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
US Army fact sheet:
https://odin.tradoc.army.mil/WEG/Asset/38a26b6d18b9cc4ed1960672864a3541
Lucia,
As always with the left, her bottom lines are:
1) Let nearly all the current illegal residents stay (somewhere over 15 million of them).
2) Give those same people a “path to citizenship” (AKA ability to vote for Democrats)
3) We cross our hearts (and hope to die) that we will REALLY support stopping illegal immigration
Reagan got suckered into accepting those conditions to “really stopping illegal immigration”, which, of course, never happened. Trump is not going to go along with it. Those who entered illegally as adults should be deported ASAP, because if you reward illegal behavior, you will get more of it. Punish illegal behavior, and you will get less of it. Illegal immigration can be stopped. I am all for allowing more legal immigration, but of people who are educated and can plausibly contribute more economically than they take, and not diminish the wages of the least skilled citizens.
I suspect ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and Salvadoran prisons will do more to stop illegal immigration than anything Dems would ever support.
BTW, visa overstays remain a big problem, and we refuse to do what is needed to drastically cut that illegal immigration: Stop issuing visas to people from countries where visa overstays are a big problem, or at least refuse to issue them unless it is obvious that the traveler has strong financial incentives to return to their home country.
“President Donald Trump is getting his way with the world economy.” from the AP [ Not a Trump cheerleader!]
It looks to me like the US has won bigly in the trade wars.
In many cases, we get free access to other countries’ markets and they pay 15-20% to access ours. Also in many cases there are other sweeteners like investments in US economy or purchase of US energy.
There were a lot of naysayers when Trump started out on this venture but I for one was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see how it turned out. I think it turned out splendid.
Trump deal tracker, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) :
https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2025/trumps-trade-war-timeline-20-date-guide
The progressives are still in freefall. A recent advertisement for American Eagle jeans features the bombshell, Sydney Sweeney with the caption “she has good jeans”.
Social media has exploded against this ad because it promotes whiteness and the Aryan great race gene issue, honest!
it’s a short but terrific ad:
https://youtu.be/QjNWC3w-224?si=P_WziN1fShxoDPuX
how the crazy left has gone from this ad to Nazis boggles my mind.
MSNBC goes off the rails with this analysis:
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad-whiteness-rcna221630
highlights of the morning venture to the farmers market—
Black Angus T-bone steak and local delicacy Longon fruit
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1950185126534504800?s=46&t=ZvqHpxBnQGny72gLoGhKXw
Russell: “Social media has exploded against this ad because it promotes whiteness”
One track minds. One trick ponies.
Dave JR,Yes, they are delusional.
did you watch the ad? you have to have a sick mind to get Nazis out of that ad.
https://youtu.be/QjNWC3w-224
(there may be some reason for criticism along a sexist route, but it has nothing to do with Nazis)
Thanks Russell. I’ve watched that ad about 94 times now, and I have to say. I never tire of reviewing it. Not only is the girl attractive, the car is a thing of beauty as well.
But honestly, you’re quite right. For it to be a Nazi ad, I’d think a Volkswagen and a more Nordic looking woman would have worked better.
[I guess she’s fairly Nordic looking. The ad did a good job convincing me she’s all American. She certainly looks the part. Shrug.]
Mark,
“ Not only is the girl attractive, the car is a thing of beauty as well.”
Varrrrooommm, all around.
The Mustang GT even sounds cool.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Evidently, American Eagle Outfitters has multiple ads with this tag line using this model. The stock has jumped since they went for this ad.
Whether it’s Nazi propaganda, white supremacist or whatever, I suspect American Eagle will not back off this ad unless it fails to bring customers into the store.
It’s not clear to me it is white supremacist. I can see how some people can interpret it that way. But then, some people’s job is to over interpret things. Also: I wonder how typical American Eagle customers will see it.
Like it or not, whether sales bomb will depend on how the American Eagle demographic, and others in adjacent demographics respond to it. So who are they?
America Eagle outfitters markets clothing to middle income young adults and teens– a demographic who typically like to fit in, be somewhat cool. Many will like the idea of being sexy and having jeans that make your butt look good. Some young people want to embrace they idea they, too, can be hot.
American Eagle markets to both boys and girls. Evidently, the major demographic is “Gen Z”.
None of us are in that demographic. It’s not clear whether the ads critics are or are not in that demographic. It’s also not clear if the ads critics are the type of people who have GenZ’s ear. To really get GenZ’s ear, those critics are going to have to be visible– I mean their faces on youtube, tiktok etc. Writing alone is probably not going to cut it. If they critics are “not hot”, the reaction of potential Genz custmers might be, “Well… yeah. They don’t like it ‘cuz they aren’t hot.” Also: critics won’t do well if they too are white as a flounders under belly. Of course white people can notice white supremecist racism. But the critics are going to need a prominent, preferably hot, person to be visible when they try to start a boycott.
Or maybe the criticism will cause falling sales. We’ll see.
Gemini Deep Research thinks this is a high risk high reward gambit that will either fail big or win big. It had interesting insights, analyzing the ‘Dr. Squatch bathwater soap’ situation and drawing analogies with Megan Fox for the millennials. I think taken as a whole it augurs well for the American Eagle campaign.
But as you say Lucia, we will see.
Hummm…. a pretty girl with a great figure in tight genes….. I suppose some will take offence. Most people won’t give it a second thought. My humble observation is that pretty girls with great figures tend to wear tight genes…. just an observation, no research study to back it up.
White supremacism? Really, come on!! What if the model were a pretty black girl with a great figure? Black supremacism? A Latina? Latin supremacism? How about Asian? All nutty, all the time. I think there is a population among the woke who are quite unhinged. They should be ignored completely.
My newsfeed is full of comments supporting the ad. The following seems to be the winner of the day:
“ I love the new Sydney Sweeney ads for American Eagle.
Normal hot girls are BACK!
Not porn
Not trans
Not gay
Not obese to make a point
Not wearing a headscarf to be inclusive
Not political
Just a hot girl in jeans.
The world is healing…”
Exactly!
1.1 million views, 45,000 likes
https://x.com/nicolearbour/status/1950023977918681423?s=61
Steve,
That was my initial thought as well. I wasn’t able to imagine an ethnicity that wouldn’t ‘fly’. Would it be more of a mixed message with the ‘all American car’ but the minority ethnicity model? Maybe. But that is a far cry from Nazism! Also, I wouldn’t have cared. I’d have just appreciated the pretty model who had good genes (plainly visible because she’s good looking).
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) Stock value has risen 20% since the ad campaign was initiated on July 21. Seems to have reached a plateau:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1950277861417636125?s=61
American Eagle Outfitters homepage still leads with the “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” headline.
Her images is all over the website.
https://www.ae.com/us/en
I guess so far the ad is considered a success.
I think it is somewhat humorous that at this age, I am discussing skinny jeans. I have never in my life fit into skinny jeans.
SteveF: “Most people won’t give it a second thought.”
I think a lot of guys will give those commercials a second thought. 🙂
I estimate the odds of the ad campaign failing at about 0%. As a commenter quoted by Russell says “The world is healing”.
15 minutes ago, Judith Curry just posted:
“The US Department of Energy has published a new climate assessment report:
A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate
The Report is authored by DOE’s Climate Working Group (CWG):
John Christy, Judith Curry, Steve Koonin, Ross McKitrick, Roy Spencer”
Link to report:
https://www.energy.gov/topics/climate
This morning Lee Zeldin had a news conference where he was talking about walking back the global warming bullshit regulations from Obama:
“EPA Releases Proposal to Rescind Obama-Era Endangerment Finding, Regulations that Paved the Way for Electric Vehicle Mandates”
Link to report:
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-releases-proposal-rescind-obama-era-endangerment-finding-regulations-paved-way
I’m sure she has a very nice personality as well.
I think Congress has the ultimate authority on whether to regulate CO2. They have neither formally said yes or no AFAICT. The SC effectively said the EPA can regulate CO2 as “pollution” under the Clean Air act but they only took that action after Congress failed to take action.
I suppose Trump can refuse to enforce any penalties associated with it.
However utilities and such need to have more certainty here because they make very long term investments.
Tom Scharf,
“They have neither formally said yes or no AFAICT.”
Of course. passing a law restricting regulation of CO2 by the EPA would require 60 votes in the Senate, and that is not likely to happen in your lifetime or mine. Same with a law regulating CO2 emissions. So it will continue as now, with Democrat administrations doing their best to reduce CO2 emissions, and Republican administration doing their best to reverse the Democrat regulations.
Of course Judy Curry et al are right: there is going to be only a tiny (immeasurable?) effect of US CO2 regulations on global warming, so in reality the existing regulations are mostly virtue signaling. That won’t stop the signaling.
Donald Trump has great jeans….
https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1950228692967575810?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I am having so much fun today
Russell,
Well that has the potential to make the jeans sell poorly. I mean… fat old dumpy guy wearing them? That’s probably not going to scan well with teen/young adults who want to look good.
I doubt American Eagle wanted to narrow their demographic to “Middle Aged Magas”.
Yeah. It wasn’t quite a Mulvaney, but it was nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as Sweeny and the mustang. In fact it counteracted her and now I’m over it.
This about sums up the reaction among the ‘woke’:
https://townhall.com/political-cartoons/tomstiglich/2025/07/28/212010
“Middle Aged Magas”. Funny Lucia… old fat MAGAs too!
Someone that I follow asked a very good question…..
“Are we sure American Eagle isn’t paying people to pretend to be upset by the Sydney Sweeney ad just to get more people to go watch it?”
I have said from the beginning that I didn’t see how anyone could get Nazis out of that ad. Maybe they didn’t; maybe American Eagle paid a few liberal influencers to start the ball rolling and it worked!
Idiots like me fired back, and it suddenly went viral.
Russell,
For sure, more people are seeing the ad. I don’t know if more people in the American Eagle demographic are…. but I wouldn’t have seen it!
The left’s denial, outright in some cases, of genetics is pretty humorous. It’s another case of telling people to not see what their own eyes are seeing and their life experiences tell them. Pretty women tend to have pretty daughters more often than random statistics would suggest, a lot more often.
Now whether a company should jump into that controversy with advertising is another debate entirely. American Eagle broke through and got attention. I remember $50 designer jeans in my high school and it was all about the label. Some people with superior, uh, genetics were able to pull that look off better than others. They were flaunting their sexuality as has been done since caveman days and is currently done in the animal kingdom in a zillion ways.
Brand awareness was a big win, but who knows if they will sell more stuff. The reaction to the ad was a bit silly all around IMO.
“Brooke Shields, at 15 years old, starred in a controversial Calvin Klein jeans ad campaign in 1980. The ad showed Shields posing suggestively in the brand’s jeans, with the tagline, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing”.
The ad received widespread criticism, with many accusing Calvin Klein of sexualizing an underage model. Some networks, including CBS and ABC, banned the ad. Shields has said that she was “naive” and did not understand the sexual innuendo in the tagline. She reportedly used the line to refer to her pets and mother, unaware of the controversy it would cause.
The campaign was very successful for Calvin Klein, increasing the brand’s profile and sales. It is considered one of the most famous and controversial fashion ads ever.”
Calvin Klein managed to survive the moral authorities of the time.
commenting on Lucia’s post…….
“For sure, more people are seeing the ad. I don’t know if more people in the American Eagle demographic are”
My guess is that the targeted demographic is just the one that would be inundated by something like this going viral between TikTok and Instagram and X.
If American outfitters really orchestrated all this falderal, kudos to them it was a marketing coup.
Image of that Black Angus T-bone from the farmers market yesterday (before and after). The dipping sauce is horseradish with homemade yogurt.
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1950567724956135522?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
today’s excursion to the farmers market yielded the fixings for a fresh mango and blueberry smoothie also made with homemade yogurt…
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1950570461911236897?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Tom Scharf,
“The left’s denial, outright in some cases, of genetics is pretty humorous.”
Tall people tend to have tall offspring. Whodda thunk? When I was about 16 years old, I had a friend who’s mother was very beautiful; he had a sister who was a nearly identical copy of his mom…. and also very beautiful. Even at 16 I did not find this at all unexpected.
I guess the denial can be humorous (I ‘d say ridiculous is more like it), but mainly it is humorless, angry, divisive, and used to justify destructive public policies focused on greater ‘equity’ of outcomes rather than greater equality of opportunities. Sorry, but the dumpy, not good looking gal (or guy) is never going to get as much attention, and that is in large measure because of their genes, not their jeans; get over it.
The good news: a company had the courage to run an ad focused on physical beauty, and actually hinted physical beauty is inherited. The bad news: the usual suspects became hysterical, shouting “white supremists” and “Nazis”. Typical numb-skull commentary: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad-whiteness-rcna221630
The author is ~32, married, lives in NYC, has a small apartment, a “big dog”….. and a very small intellect.
I’m not sure Hannah Holland has a very small intellect. I do suspect she lives in a bubble.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-ad-whiteness-rcna221630
Note:
High maintenance sexy femininity is out of reach to nearly all young female jeans customers. Marylin Monroe has it in gentlemen prefer blonds. That was also near mythological.
Most young female jeans customers are potentially reaching for low maintenance looks. Sexy? Some will want that. Feminine? Some will want it.
Evidently, Femininity includes working on cars now.
I think we’ve seen a lot of sexy advertisements for men’s underwear lately. Yeah. Sex sells.
Good for her. I think it’s good women now get to admit they want to make money. As opposed to promoting world peace or something.
Was the “internet” outraged? The whole internet? My BS meter is dinging. Some corners were outraged. I didn’t even hear a peep.
A women “disappointed” someone somewhere!.Heaven forfend!
Sure. We’ve seen lots of ugly ads. Often including actually ugly models.
Ok. Maybe we have moved to the right. So?
Are “so many” condemning this? I don’t think it’s “so many”. But we’ll know if “enough” condemned to hurt sales in about a month or three
Is our culture “crumbling”? I get it’s fractured– but it’s often been fractured.
I think someone needs to make a story out of something. It is true this ad suggest that some advertisers are going to try to see if ads for women’s jeans that show
* someone who is clearly a woman.
* beautiful.
* does activities that classically were seen as non-feminine (i.e fixing a muscle car. Driving a muscle car.)
* exhudes confidence in herself.
* But also happens to be blond and blue eyed, and talks about “good genes”,
sells jeans.
Right now, the stock market predicts yes. Maybe the answer will be no. But this ad is not the end of civilization as we know it.
As noted above, the ads reflect the fact that the world is healing with a return to normalcy. Of course the Left is outraged and bitterly disappointed.
Does Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ‘great jeans’ campaign mark a shift for ads?
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/29/nx-s1-5482837/american-eagle-sydney-sweeney-jeans-ad
“The campaign has sparked backlash online. Some social media users have accused American Eagle of teasing at eugenics, a discredited scientific theory popular among white supremacists that the human race could be improved by breeding out less desirable traits.”
This is the typical take. The theory of “eugenics” isn’t exactly a discredited theory. It is a well known scientific method that works. Tulip people are using genetics all day long and so are dog breeders to remove undesirable characteristics.
The take here is to obfuscate the science of genetics/breeding with the inherently moral decision to use intentional genetic programming on humans. Science doesn’t have much to say on that decision beyond “eugenics” would be effective in some cases and not so much in others.
But yeah, drink this beer and you will get hot chicks and wear those jeans and you will attract hot dudes. Base level advertising 101 since forever. It works too.
Lucia,
Femininity may also include washing cars (Cool Hand Luke). 😉
Maybe “a very small world view” is a better description than “a very small intellect”.
But that in itself suggests not a great intellect. She studied fluff in college, and now pontificates pure nonsense. Not impressed.
After watching this issue, dominate social media for the third day in a row I would not be surprised if American Eagle outfitters had secretly funded some social media influencers to oppose their ad. Once the controversy got started, it took on a life of its own and now they’re getting an enormous amount of free advertising.
I expect other ad campaigns to try the same stunt.
Interesting perspective:
“Where is Nero’s successor? Nowhere. There is no successor to Nero…And where is the successor of Peter, who was put to death in the Circus of Nero and buried away on the Vatican hill? Where’s his successor? I saw him last night, didn’t you? Riding around St. Peter’s Square.”
Bishop Robert Barron gives attendees at the Jubilee of Youth a powerful reminder about how the Church that was built upon Peter outlasted every empire.
https://x.com/ewtnews/status/1950665222307639505?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
I am shocked (Shocked!) that lefty judges continue to issue nationwide injunctions.
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/07/31/supreme_court_killed_universal_injunctions_in_name_only_1126017.html
Most every executive policy lefty judges don’t like will be delayed for months to years based on fictitious ‘class action’ injunctions, unless the SC cones to its senses and stops this nonsense. Otherwise, the next time a Dem is in office there will no doubt be multitudes of ‘class action’ injunctions issued by conservative judges. I think the SC erred very badly on this issue. They need to set very clear limitations on class action suits against the executive.
Maybe the Catholic Church has outlived all other organizations because priest + altar boy is a secret way of procreation. Maybe the liberals were right men can be pregnant.
Thanks SteveF. That is a good article.
Courts decide cases before them. They do not (or at least should not) issue rulings on things that might happen. SCOTUS ruled on universal injunctions because that was before them, but they did not rule on class actions or third-party standing or vacatur because those were not issues in the cases before them. It is annoying, but that is how the courts work.
There are rules for certifying classes. It sounds like activist district court judges have been skirting those rules. If so, then if circuit courts don’t slap them down, DCOTUS ill have to. Similar for the other workarounds that leftists might employ.
If the lower courts abuse the new rules on universal injunctions then the SC will end up being the only court that can issue them.
Birthright citizenship bans deserve a universal injunction, how that happens is arguable. There is always going to be gray area here that requires judgment. The lower courts were definitely abusing that power.
I don’t see how the birthright citizenship restriction deserves a universal injunction since nobody is harmed by it in the short run. If harms occur, then they can be dealt with as they arise.
To clarify the above: Are there government services available to an infant whose parents are illegal if that infant is a citizen but not if the infant is a non-citizen? If there are, then it would reasonable for a court to require that the service continue to be provided while the question of citizenship is resolved,
Even in such a case, I see no need for a universal injunction, but I can see a case to allow injunctions that apply within the jurisdiction of the court.
There are far less harms for allowing the previous situation to stand while the courts work it out for an executive order that stands very little chance of surviving litigation.
Tom Scharf: “There are far less harms for allowing the previous situation to stand”.
Not unless there are harms to letting the executive order stand. I submit that IF there are any such harms (I don’t know that there are), then they can be dealt with by more limited injunctions.
The sole purpose of an injunction is to prevent irreparable harm. If such harms can not be identified, then an injunction (universal or not) is not justified.
A baby born deemed illegal that then gets deported (to where?) or denied services due to citizenship status is harmed. I’m not passing judgment on whether this should be the case. There are obvious harms / benefits to citizenship status or nobody would care.
The main factor IMO is that this will never pass legal muster. I’d expect the SC to go 9-0 on this, perhaps 7-2. This was mostly a political signaling exercise.
https://www.brandvm.com/post/sydney-sweeney-american-eagle-gen-z-campaign
UPDATED ON
Jul 25, 2025
That update was 6 days ago. We’ll see if the ‘internet storm’ reverses it. But so far, this is not a “Mulvaney”.
Tom Scharf,
“I’d expect the SC to go 9-0 on this, perhaps 7-2.”
I’d guess most likely 7-2 against Trump’s executive order. Outside chance for 6-3. Near zero chance for 5-4 or 4-5.
I agree the executive order was mostly Trump signaling (or maybe trolling), although that is also a way to make voters at least think about it.
I believe the court would give a lot more consideration to the issue if Congress were to pass a law along the lines of the executive order, but the chance of that happening with 60 votes needed is zero.
It is a lot more effective to just stop most illegal immigration….. making the birthright citizenship issue minor.
Lucia,
“But so far, this is not a “Mulvaney”.”
For sure. The big difference: the Mulvaney FUBAR was due to marketing geniuses offending a big portion of the product’s customer base (which was very large). That could only happen by those folks being so numb between the ears that they didn’t appreciate many existing customers would not want to be associated with a transgender man.
American Eagle’s customer base for jeans is a) relatively small compared to all the jeans sold, and b) unlikely to take offense at the ads.
SteveF,
It seems to me there were a lot of differences with Bud blundering and American Eagle, not blundering.
* Bud markerters seem to have intended their ad to be “a lessons” and the lesson was intended to teach a large fraction of their demographic their views were wrong. AE did not intend to teach anyone anything.
*Bud CEO released a statement. The statement was a sort of “not-pology”. Everyone knew it was motivated by the Mulvaney commercial, but it didn’t mention it. AE is totally silent. No one can debate their position on the criticism because they aren’t airing it. They are letting the critics arguments just sit “out there”.
* Early in the brouhana, Mulvaney talked about h(er)is feelings and views about how during the brouhaha. Sidney Sweeney is saying nothing. (I wouldn’t be surprised if AE had her sign an agreement to not engage before the launched the ad campaign. I do think they anticipated controversy and had a plan to deal with it.)
* From marketing sales POV this product is different from beer in many ways. Regular drinkers buy beer every week. When the Budboycott ensued, it was easy for everyone to see it was working. We all went to grocery stores or Walmart we could see the Budweiser was just sitting their unpurchased. Those boycotting doubled down. People buy jeans once or twice a year. Even if the boycott works a little, it’s not self feeding. And even if the boycott worked a little, AE could hide that fact for a while. (It appears there is no boycott worth discussing.)
* AE picked a model with a resting face that says: “I don’t care what you think”. Have you heard of resting bitch face? It’s a thing. But it’s not what she has. What she has is eyes with lids that seriously show. Bette Davis had these. When she looked at you with a resting face, she looked sort of bored or disengaged. Or she can look slightly sleepy. Sidney also has a mouth that turns UP a bit at the corners. So she doesn’t look bitchy. It’s also a natural “sexy” look. This “You are boring with me” look is helpful. Mulvaney has a constantly attempting to be cheerful look– and h(er)is face looks taught and pulled. Not useful during a controversy. (S)he also looks artificial… ‘cuz. Looking artificial isn’t helpful during controversies.
* AE picked a model who is otherwise bubble and engaging.
* They know what other ads are out there, and that people will notice them. Obviously, they can count on some people pointing out the Beyonce Levi’s ad also has a sultry blonde
* The American Eagle brand probably does lean conservative. I mean… American And Eagle. Conservatives have gotten used to everything being called being a Nazi.
Liberals aren’t going to rush out and buy these jeans. But that doesn’t matter. Many probably already weren’t (“American!?!”) And it AEO’s market share relative to similar brands was about 10-12%. Rising to 15% would be a big win.
LOL.
That Beyonce’ ad is proof the left has completely lost their way.
Something to celebrate, I think.
well, I predicted it, but I didn’t expect it to happen this fast. There is a copycat genetics ad out. This one is from Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s a young, fit, white kid poolside. The ladies from Fox News show ‘outnumbered’ say he’s hot (but he is not my type).
This new genre has a name…
“Pokin the Woke”
ad video:
https://youtu.be/OW7FytdloWU?si=okEMLim7jBQaUZqF
News article:
https://www.today.com/food/news/dunkin-gavin-casalegno-ad-genetics-controversy-rcna221951
Chuck Grassley just released the Durham report appendix and it’s got some more bombshells in it apparently.
This is a well orchestrated campaign by the Trump administration leak out a little bit of incriminating evidence every few days.
Kayak is the only palindrome where the object it describes also looks the same coming and going!
Eye (as in storm) doesn’t?
good one Mark
A a bunch of fully independent journalists (Megyn Kelly, Taibbi, Shellenberger, and more) are reporting on all the declassification releases, and they are unanimous about what they are seeing: the Hillary campaign, the Obama administration, the FBI, and all the intel agencies were in on the “Russia, Russia, Russia!” scandal.
A few may even go to prison if the statue of limitations has not run out. Very bad people doing very bad things; IMHO, it’s just the nature of the left being exposed.
Political parties are going to be dirty. The real scandal IMO was both the legacy media and academia also getting on board and to a lesser extent other allegedly non-partisan institutions. They have paid a price. People can argue all they want if the news media is really biased but they can’t argue over whether that is the perception.
Trust in media has dropped precipitously in recent years, particularly among young adults and Republicans
https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/657239/five-key-insights-americans-views-news-media.aspx
U.S. Public Trust in Higher Ed Rises From Recent Low
https://news.gallup.com/poll/692519/public-trust-higher-rises-recent-low.aspx
No Tom, the scandal is that government agencies used their official powers to attack a candidate and then an elected president. There is hardly any difference between that being done by the military or by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It is pretty darn close to an attempted coup.
Well said Mike
Mike M,
“It is pretty darn close to an attempted coup.”
I wouldn’t go that far, but it is a complete betrayal of public trust by people in a position to hide that betrayal as “classified information”. Lack of morality is the nature of the left…… their desired ends always justify any available means. I am certain all involved still believe their conspiracy to sabotage Trump, and so diminish what he could accomplish in office (voters be damned), was “the right thing to do”. Just very bad people doing very bad things.
Playing devil’s advocate for a moment, Trump’s executive order halting federal recognition of birthright citizenship shows a similar disregard IMO for public trust. I mean, the President swears to uphold the Constitution, and it’s difficult to argue that his order doesn’t plainly violate the 14’th Amendment. I’m sure Trump and many of his supporters understand this and yet still believe that this was ‘the right thing to do’.
Some might admit that this is why they like Trump. To a certain inconsistent extent I do too. I’ve gotten tired of conservatives getting trampled because they refuse to play by the same rules (or more to the point, the lack thereof) as their opposition. The trouble with this is that there are good reasons to play by the rules regardless of what the opposition does of course, which is what I meant by inconsistent.
Anyways.
mark bofill,
I agree that Trump clearly overstepped, and his EO will be reversed.
But I’m not seeing much (devilish) equivalence with the Obama crew, even if equivalence is advocated. ;-).
Trump wasn’t hiding anything (the Obama crew were). The SC will almost certainly uphold birthright citizenship, and Trump will lose this one. But I think there will be a couple of votes for his EO at the Supreme Court, so the EO is not that outlandish.
It is mostly Trump shoving a stick into a hornet’s nest. Not sure why he does that so often, but he does.
Speaking of hornet’s nests: When I was a pre-teen, if we (brother, friends, me) discovered a large paper hornet’s nest, we would put together a home-made ‘bee suit’- cowboy hat with a petty coat over the top, tucked into a zip-up jacket, gloves (tucked in) double pans tucked into double socks- and one of us would then destroy the nest by hand. The hornets got pretty mad, and a big swarm would follow ‘the destroyer’ for hundreds of yards.
When there is a swarm of angry hornets following you, everybody stays out of your way!
Maybe Trump is a bit like a pre-teen. 😉
Mark Bofill
JULY 31, 2025 AT 6:29 PM
“Playing devil’s advocate for a moment, Trump’s executive order halting federal recognition of birthright citizenship shows a similar disregard IMO for public trust. I mean, the President swears to uphold the Constitution, and it’s difficult to argue that his order doesn’t plainly violate the 14’th Amendment. “
–
Sometimes things have to change with the times.
Including constitutions.
For the better hopefully.
Upholding the constitution doesn’t mean blind faith in all its requirements forever.
Upholding the constitution does not mean not making changes to it when circumstances demand.
If Trump changed the original to allow women to vote would that be s similar disregard for public opinion?
I think not.
Now the USA is faced by new challenges where an old necessity has become a new thorn.
Birthright Citizenship by illegal entry designed to take advantage of a constitutional flaw.
Surely any President can at such times try to take measures to change the constitution to protect it?
–
On a lighter note my friend brought me back a MAGA hat, black, from his visit to the Oshkoshair show a few days ago. Politically incorrect to wear in Australia.
Mark,
If you are following the Sig P320 uncommanded discharge controversy here is a deep dive …..
https://youtu.be/OuVWCVsn4Yo?si=tpKyVfCCYqbqC1T3
Angech,
It is not for the executive to change the Constitution.
Russell,
No I wasn’t even aware of it. Thanks!
Thanks Steve. They crazy stuff we got up to as teens. It’s a wonder any of us survived.
Longan fruit, Chinese for dragon’s eye.
A local berry from the farmers market. It is somewhat like lychee fruit. It has a black center pit and semi-transparent fleshy fruit, which makes it actually look like a dragon’s eyeball. Not my favorite.
Images:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1951236633266888822?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
angech
True. This is why our constitution has a provision for doing this. That provision is not the president writing an executive order that violates it.
Well… women already can vote. Universal sufferage for women was obtained the right way: by amending the constitution. Yes, a president that tries to change the constitution by executive order is disregarding public opinion. If public opinion really wants it changed, we can change it– through the amendment process. This has been done a bunch of times.
He can make speeches and suggest a constitutional amendment. He can’t just over ride it. If he could, the entire constitution becomes pointless.
Look, I know you are Australian and don’t know much about your system. But you are asking questions we have obvious answers for and the ones you are supplying are wrong. Our constitution has specific provisions for amending provisions. We use them. And they entail a procedure that requires “public opinion” to be strongly in favor of amendment. We don’t have each president changing the constitution on his own whim wily nily!
Russell,
Sig Sauer really stepped in it good. It’s a shame, they had a very good reputation. I liked their P-365 very much and was thinking of getting my daughter one chambered in .380 ACP, but I’ll certainly be rethinking that now.
Nothing good ever comes from not taking defect reports seriously IMO and getting arrogant about the situation. The vast majority of the time, the reports are real and there’s a defect, in my experience anyway.
angech,
What Lucia said.
There have been no recent amendments because there has been no widespread political consensus in the USA for many decades. You can make all the arguments you want about the need for changing the Constitution, but without a broad consensus it will never happen. In today’s politically divisive environment, I see no way ANY amendment has a remote chance for passage.
SteveF, angech,
Trump knows perfectly well there is insufficient public support for revoking birth right citizenship to even get the amendment out of either the House or the Senate. And get ratified by states? That’s a laugh. No. Freakin’. Way.
There is public support for largely reigning in illegal immigration. Blocking borders also doesn’t require an amendment.
Presidents send out EO’s in two circumstances:
* To just give directives to carry out normal business. These are non-controversial. No one even “cares”– generally.
* To try to implement things that do not have sufficient public support to even get through the legislature. Biden tried it with student loans. Trump is trying it with birth right citizenship and “emergency” powers to change tariffs.
Mark,
Did you know there was recently a fatality in the Air Force from using the Sig military version M18? It was lying on a desk in a holster when it went bang.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2025/07/28/airman-killed-by-m18-pistol-was-21-year-old-from-kentucky/
Mike M,
Right, I included government agencies as “other allegedly non-partisan institutions”. However people getting uptight over Clinton, Obama, et. al. doesn’t bother me much as this is my (cynical) expectation. This behavior has caused a lot more people to join club cynical. Trump alleges conspiracies 24/7 and the media/academia ignore him. It exposes their bias. At least the government is accountable, we can’t vote out CNN editors or the Harvard board.
It’s been beaten to death but the FBI made bad decisions to enter the political fray because of a “higher calling”. I’m not defending them in this case but it is non-trivial to handle this stuff. You are damned if you do investigate and damned if you don’t. It takes strong leadership and that was missing. The NYC and NY state behavior was blatant corruption but what else do you expect from that place?
I would also add that continuous partisan leaking of misleading information by government sources was a disgrace by these agencies. Almost nobody was punished for this stuff.
I listened to some of your link and found out, yeah.
I gather the P-320 was an adaptation of an older Sig Sauer hammer trigger group design modified into a striker design. I suspect that the problem (whatever it is exactly) is fundamentally a consequence of this. I’d throw the design in the trash and start over if I were Sig Sauer.
To be fair, I guess they can’t really now that the Air Force and ICE and God and everyone has signed on to use the gun. What a mess.
A “by any means necessary” strategy produces short term wins but is a long term loser because you incinerate hard won credibility.
The left adopted this strategy for Trump and look what happened. I anticipate the same thing will happened to the right if they choose this path. Politicians are incentivized to only care about short term wins.
Tom,
That’s an excellent way of putting it IMO. Exactly.
Hornets / yellow jackets are murderous psychopaths. They attack you on sight. Probably 90% of the stings I have had are from these two types.
And don’t every accidentally put your hand in a fire ant mound while working the yard…
History is full of “by any means necessary” chicanery snowballing into much longer term power. All you need is a way of utilising the temporary power to create something more permanent. For example, flooding the country with millions of sympathetic people and allowing them to vote could do it. Or filling courts with people who don’t care about what the law is, only what it can be used to achieve.
Mark,
Imagine the chaos if everybody, armed forces, police, private securty, have to replace these pistols at the same time because they are recalled or banned.
DaveJR,
Sure. It’s might be a good long term strategy if your long term strategic goals are essentially revolution followed by totalitarianism. For those who want to retain the existing system intact, not so much.
Russell,
Well, from what I gather some organizations have started doing precisely that. Here is a link to a story about another Air Force command restricting their use. ICE has banned it, various police forces have banned it. On the upside, it’s not like alternatives are hard to come by, but at around $500 a pop it gets pricey fast.
I can’t link it from work, because I work at an aerospace and defense company where we can’t watch videos of guns, because that makes sense, but Wyoming Gun Group has a video on replicating the issue I can find on my phone. It’s pretty damning in my opinion. P320’s are clearly unsafe, and Sig needs to figure out the shortest distance through admitting fault, taking their licks, recompensing damaged parties, and abandoning this design.
SIG P320 Un Commanded Discharge and its Repeatable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOMQOtOQoPk
He is preloading the trigger a bit (note the screw in the trigger) but it looks a bit of a dangerous design. I’m no gun design expert. Sig has a crisis on their hands.
I too have no gun firing mechanism expertise. I have been following it because of the PR disaster Sig created with their response.
It appears that the liability lawyers have taken over from the safety engineers and customer service people. That makes me even more convinced that they have a real problem.
Well I’m sure none of us are experts or gunsmiths, but still.
This is reminiscent of problems that impacted projects in my youth. I remember working for a lottery company and helping develop tech to validate ‘probability game’ tickets, where every ticket could be a winner depending on what spots the player scratched. It was highly successful in the lab, but not very successful out in the real world. Why? The real world is a dirty and imperfect place, full of globs of gunk, humidity, and poorly adjusted or badly maintained equipment. We underestimated the difficulty of making our product work under realistic conditions.
I think it’s a similar situation here. You shoot you gun a few hundred times, great. But you wanted to save a few bucks buying ammo, so you ordered that cheap Turkish stuff. Fine, but it produced a lot more residue than your normal rounds. Crap accumulates in all sorts of unlikely places in your gun, very possibly impacting the trigger action slightly. If that’s all it takes, that gun isn’t safe or fit for its intended purpose. Also, all sorts of people don’t clean their firearms as often as they ought to. Guns need to have some tolerance for stuff like this.
I don’t know that gunk is actually the problem, but it’s one example of something that could put the gun in an equivalent state to the one the screw puts it in, as far as I can tell.
“I don’t know that gunk is actually the problem”
If Gunk were the problem I would expect it to happen to all manufacturers
mark bofill,
“It’s might be a good long term strategy if your long term strategic goals are essentially revolution followed by totalitarianism.”
That is standard MO for the left.
Trump responds to Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev:
“”I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” Trump said in a social media post that called Medvedev’s statements highly provocative.”
It looks like we are starting a game of nuclear chicken.
Medvedev has repeated his nuclear threats throughout the war, and no one has called him on it to date.
From Senator John Kennedy:
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting—the scheme bureaucrats used to funnel taxpayer money to NPR and PBS—will soon be no more.
That’s great news for every American who doesn’t want their tax dollars funding left-wing opinion journalism EVER again.”
Remember all the times they told us that these organizations only got 2% of their funding from the government… HAH!
Russell,
No I think gunk might exacerbate a bad design. Gunk might be the same as the screw that guy puts into the trigger in the video.
Most guns just misfire [or jam] when they get dirty, and the tolerance depends on the gun. The AK-47 is said to be a gun you can dig out of the sand and fire successfully after pouring a little oil through the barrel. I expect there is some exaggeration here but still, it illustrates the point.
[By misfire I mean, the gun doesn’t fire when you pull the trigger, in case anyone was wondering.]
I’m pretty sure with most guns you can put pressure on the trigger and play with the slide all you want and they won’t fire, although I’ve never tested this. I’d definitely want blanks to try that, and I don’t have any. I wonder what they cost off the shelf..
AI responded:
From NPR:
I imagine a donation surge will pickup the slack in the short term, which is fine by me. It will be interesting to see if NPR or PBS change their editorial content once the government leash is removed.
Re PBS funding:
I think it’s extortion or maybe just elder abuse…..
my son is requiring payment in steak for helping with chores today.
it’s almost as bad as my other son who demands payment in ribs.
farmers market images from this morning, rib eye and peach cream puffs:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1951628792469782696?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Few stories have as much lasting humor as the American Eagle ‘nazi’ ad campaign. Here is American Eagle 2019 versus 2025:
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1948383505974510061/photo/1
Hard to beat that comparison for humor content. Apparently American Eagle discovered that using enormously fat people to model jeans was not very effective marketing.
Tom Scharf,
Yes, the aggressive behavior of hornets was why we went out of our way to destroy nests we encountered. I figure they must be woke progressives, because they have no sense of humor, and are unwilling to live-and-let-live.
A few years ago I was working on a step ladder, repairing siding on my house. Fortunately, my feet were only a meter or so above the ground. Unknown to me, there was a small (4-inch?) hornet’s nest under the second story soffit, maybe 4 meters above my head and to the right. When I hammered in a nail, vibrating the house, I was instantly attacked, and stung half a dozen times before I got to the ground and got away…. and they chased me for ~ 25 meters before relenting. Jumping off the step ladder, I injured my Achilles tendon, which took nearly a year to heal. Psychotic assassins indeed.
I put them all to well deserved deaths with insecticide spray.
Remember the NFL kicker Harrison Butker….. he caused an outrage because he spoke to a Catholic college graduating class and extolled the virtues of motherhood. They tried to get him fired. They tried to get them canceled.
He’s still doing great, maybe the best quicker in football right now.
He spent yesterday at the White House with President Trump initiating a new presidential fitness program for kids.
I never get tired of winning.
oval office video:
https://youtu.be/ECnObojaFK0?si=RknhGpwtTs2x6fzt
Russell,
Who is “they” in that? Benedictine nuns from Mount St. Scholastica criticized Butker for what he said about the Roman Catholics views at a Bendictine commencement. They didn’t call for him to be fired or cancelled. They just criticized him.
Butker gets to say what he wants to say. And people get to criticize what he says. They can also criticize him for the venue in which he presents it– here a captive audience including young Roman Catholic women who he was telling how to live their lives. People aren’t required to shut up just because he spoke on a platform — their graduation — while he suggested their choices were wrong.
SteveF,
Their previous ad campaign was also not working. Sales were off. We’ll see if the new one helps.
for some reason, I’m back in a baking mood, started off with a couple of loaves of bread.
image
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1951653397414715734?s=46&t=ZvqHpxBnQGny72gLoGhKXw
Lucia, your post:
“Who is “they”
“They” are the Woke.
“They” were triggered by the idea that a woman can find satisfaction in motherhood. I had great fun watching them try to trash motherhood as a career. “They” were ridiculous.
Russell
Once again, “Who is they?” Can you name names? Then we can see precisely what “they” called for. I named the nuns from St. Scholastica as numbering among his critics. They think he butchers Roman Catholic teaching. The nuns did not call for him to be “cancelled” nor for him to be fired.
The nuns were not triggered by the idea that a woman can find satisfaction in motherhood. That is hardly the limit of his lecture to the young graduating woman stuck in the audience at their commencement.
Are “we” going to go into this again? Because I’ll probably just link to what “we” discussed before. Then “we” can see you are trying to do a motte-bailey on what he said to the captive audience.
Don’t mess with Lucia.
🙂
Lucia,
“We’ll see if the new one helps.”
I’m pretty sure it will, at least a bit.
SteveF,
I think there is at least a jeans buying demographic it will appeal too. They also sell to young men. Jim bought some stuff from them back in the….. 90s? They had smaller sizes.
The quality was “medium”, as typical for casual somewhat trendy clothes for young men. Gap sold to older men with more money– so their stuff was higher quality fabric, fabrication yada, yada. But the AE shirts were for lounging around and looked just fine places we went. They weren’t going to last 20 years, but we didn’t care. (Nor do most American consumers.)
That was 30 years ago so quality could have shirted. I think they are still trying to go for the younger market though.
Lucia,
It is a bit strange, but I am sometimes surprised how long some clothes will last.
When my now 31 YO son was about 10, his mom bought an inexpensive “Brooksfield” pull-over cotton shirt for him, with “Brooksfield” emblazoned across the front. He wore it for 3 or 4 years, and out-grew it. When his younger sister reached 12 YO (and almost almost fully grown in stature), she inherited that same shirt, and wore it many times until this year (at 17), when I found the fabric had started to fail just below the collar in back. It was a cheap shirt, but still lasted a long time.
Luica,
A quick look at the internet suggests Brooksfield is now quite up-scale, with simple shirts that cost $50 to $150. Yikes!
SteveF,
Even cheap clothes can last. This is especially so if you own a sewing machine or can sew buttons back on.
Thin cotton fabric doesn’t last long even if it’s expensive “fine” “long staple” stuff. The long staple can give a sheen and look great. But thin is thin. And you usually do want to wash things you wear on a hot summer day.
The shirts Jim bought were ‘cheap’ ‘thin cotton’. They weren’t going to last– and similarly thin wouldn’t have anyway.
And white shirts? Well… often the reason they don’t “last” is stains, not wear. Quality is rather irrelevant if you can’t get that red spaghetti sauce stain out completely.
Lucia, your post:
“They can also criticize him for the venue in which he presents it– here a captive audience including young Roman Catholic women who he was telling how to live their lives. People aren’t required to shut up just because he spoke on a platform — their graduation — while he suggested their choices were wrong.”
He didn’t say those things, you are putting words in his mouth, again.
This is what he said:
“ I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.”
But that isn’t what triggered the Woke. In a long speech this is the one line “They” were triggered by.
“ Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
It was the line “They” said he should be cancelled for.
He stood firm and proud and “They” crawled back into the woodwork.
Russell
Yep. He was telling them what they thought. I would venture to guess they knew what they thought– and it wasn’t that.
Look: I’m not putting these offensive words in his mouth. He said them. You even quote them.
You still haven’t said who “they” were. But I criticized his for this. I didn’t say he should be “cancelled”.
How could he be? He’s a football player, not a movie star or television performer.
You haven’t named anyone who said he should be “cancelled”. Being criticized for saying foolish or appalling things is not the same as “being cancelled”.
And, of course, his speech was longer than one paragraph.
Lucia, here’s two Grok found:
Hoda Kotb: “The television host criticized Butker’s remarks, particularly his stance on women’s roles, contributing to the public outcry against him. Her platform as a prominent media figure added weight to the narrative pushing for consequences.”
Katy Perry: “Perry reimagined Butker’s speech in a satirical edit posted on social media, splicing his words to make it appear as though he supported women’s careers, diversity, and Pride Month. Her caption, “Fixed this for my girls, my graduates, and my gays — you can do anything, congratulations and happy pride,” was a direct rebuke of Butker’s views, amplifying calls for accountability.”
AI found another:
Online Petition Signers: A Change.org petition demanding the Kansas City Chiefs dismiss Butker for his remarks garnered a substantial number of signatures.
lucia wrote: “He was telling them what they thought.”
He said “I would venture to guess that the majority of you”. That is hardly telling them what they thought. It is a safe bet that some but not all of the audience felt that way. It was hardly unreasonable to *guess* that it was a majority, especially if he knows something about the type of young women in the audience.
As to whether his words were offensive, I don’t recall that any of the offense came from people in the audience. It came from people he was not talking to. Not their business.
And yes, a football player can get cancelled and lose his job and possibly his career. It has happened, although not to someone as good as Butker. But that does not mean that people were not trying to cancel him.
So, fun as it would be to take the opposing side, honesty compels me to admit that I personally think family usually is a lot more important than job or career to people. I don’t think that that is a fundamentally sexist observation. I know lots of people, male and female, who think this, myself included, particularly as we get older. And work is pretty darn important to me and to a large extent defines my identity.
I just re-read Butker’s speech here for as long as I could compel myself to, but I sort of zone out near the end when he goes on about traditional Latin Mass, because I couldn’t possibly care any less about that than I do. I don’t see much to take issue with in what he said.
Mark, your post:
“ honesty compels me to admit that I personally think family usually is a lot more important than job or career to people.”
Well said. It is the crux of the whole thing to me.
I just spent the day with my adult son. He helped me with chores and I cooked him a steak dinner. Life is good..
Russel
Reimagining and satirizing is not demanding “cancellation”. Suggesting it is so is sort of like insisting no one is allowed to criticize. Seriously.
Mike M
You are wrong. This is a rhetorical method of telling people what they think.
He’s got a captive audience of polite people. So… yeah… sure. Still doesn’t mean he didn’t lecture the audience about what their choices should be or imply that his view of what they should be is the one the women in the audience should adopt. And that’s pretty much Russels claim.
Mark
No. But Butker specifically addressed the women, not the men. If he’s said the same thing to the men…. well… ok. He didn’t.
Lucia.
Perry wanted a pound of flesh…
“ was a direct rebuke of Butker’s views, amplifying calls for accountability.”
was how Grok put it
Lucia, your comment:
“No. But Butker specifically addressed the women, not the men. If he’s said the same thing to the men…. well… ok. He didn’t.”
Harrison Butker did address the men directly shortly after he spoke to the women:
“To the gentlemen here today: Part of what plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities. As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation. Other countries do not have nearly the same absentee father rates as we find here in the U.S., and a correlation could be made in their drastically lower violence rates, as well.
Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy. You might have a talent that you don’t necessarily enjoy, but if it glorifies God, maybe you should lean into that over something that you might think suits you better. I speak from experience as an introvert who now finds myself as an amateur public speaker and an entrepreneur, something I never thought I’d be when I received my industrial engineering degree.“
Also words I personally agree with.
Lucia,
Fair enough as far as it goes.
I was surprised to learn that we humans have on average twice as many unique female ancestors as male. I might have this seriously wrong and I know that. Imma put it forward anyway: I think women have a lot more say than men regarding starting a family. Generally speaking, a woman can find a reproductive partner if they chose. Generally speaking, 50% of men can find a reproductive partner if they chose.
What does this matter, well, maybe it doesn’t in Butker’s case. Maybe Butker is a religiously inspired sexist. Hearing him address women as if the decision to start a family lies primarily with them does not strike me as particularly sexist as a consequence of the disparity in choosing power between men and women.
I’m sure you will point it out if I am making some error, and honestly I will appreciate it if you do, assuming you think I am making an error.
Lucia,
Also, I’m not sure I follow your objection about the captive audience or why you are making that distinction. It seems to me that every commencement speaker speaks to a captive audience and generally gives them what could be termed ‘life advice’. I could understand an argument that this custom is universally offensive, but I don’t see why Butker ought to be singled out for this.
Now, I am with Lucia in that I don’t think Butker was anything close to canceled. I think she has a point about that.
Mark, I agree.
Butker won, bigly. “They” lost.
He came out of it stronger and more respected and more widely known than before they tried to cancel him.
Before the Woke came after him, I only knew him as a kicker.
Mark M,
I wasn’t. I mean… only twice? I mean…women would be captured and sold as slaves. Or sold of by parents. And even apart from that, it takes 9 months to gestate, but not quite so long to copulate. So…
These days, sure. But I’m not seeing how that means it’s right to tell women they must be dreaming of starting families nor that they will get more satisfaction out of having kids than doing something else.
I’m saying he told women what they think. You are somehow changing this to “sexism”. Why are you jumping to the conclusion that telling women what they should think, or that telling women to re-evaluate their lives is an accusation of “sexism”. I’ve just said he did that. He did that whether it sexism or not. Maybe you could engage whether he did that before debating whether doing it is sexism. Or…not.
Mark bofil
It is absolutely true that every commencement speaker speaks to a captive audience. Most commencement speakers know this and avoid giving life advice that is likely to offend the audience. If they do, people are allowed to point out what the speaker said was offensive.
The fact that all commencement audences are captive doesn’t give the speaker a pass to not be criticized for what they said/
Russel,
The message to men and women is different. The one to men has them having a role inside the home “in addition to”, while the one to woman is to curb their outside role. These are totally different– the one to men is expansive the one to women is to contract and restrict. If you don’t see that… oh well. But it is.
Russell,
BTW: Grok isn’t GOD. So stop that. If you have argument, advance them. Bad arguments/claims/statements from GROK are still bad argument.
Russell,
Huh? Butkner is know for playing football. That’s what he was known for before the speech and it’s what he’s known for now.
Russel,
You brought Butker up. If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t be talking about his.
As for people discussing someone’s speech, and “singling them out”… well. he gave a speech. Of course people comment on his speech. People get to name the person they are criticising. It’s ridiculous to claim the critics need to be vague about what, precisely, the object to. And being precise requires identifying “the speech” and “who gave it”.
lucia wrote: “doesn’t mean he didn’t lecture the audience about what their choices should be or imply that his view of what they should be is the one the women in the audience should adopt”
I think that is the opposite of what he was saying. He was saying that they don’t have to listen to the people who tell them what choices they should make. They have a choice.
I think that Mark Bofill is getting this exactly right, or very close to it. That includes the fact that the scolds did not come even remotely close to cancelling Butker. They failed partly because he is the best at what he does; a lot of NFL kickers are replaceable. Also, he was not at all cowed. When the mob howls, many people start grovelling. The mob then smells weakness and moves in for the kill.
I don’t know if standing your ground always beats the cancelers, but giving in never does.
MikeM
Nah. he was telling them one choice was wrong and another was right. The right choice was the one he advocated. And they were is a situation where they couldn’t politely get up and leave or say anything back.
Lucia, your comment:
“BTW: Grok isn’t GOD. So stop that. If you have argument, advance them. Bad arguments/claims/statements from GROK are still bad argument.”
Calm down.
Grok didn’t produce any arguments for me and I didn’t post any.
You asked me, several times, who “they” were that were trying to cancel Buckner. I asked Grok and AI. They both researched history and gave me names and historical facts as to who they were. I relayed those names and facts to you once and then again when you misquoted them. If you have a problem with Grok’s historical facts produce your evidence to the contrary.
Lucia, your comment:
“Russel,
“but I don’t see why Butker ought to be singled out for this.”
“You brought Butker up. If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t be talking about his.”
Your comment should be addressed to Mark. That was his post you were quoting.
Lucia, your comment:
“The message to men and women is different.”
Of course it was, men and women are different, and at this stage of their lives the women are about to make an extremely important decision. There is a cacophony of anti-motherhood nonsense coming from the progressives in our society. He extolled the virtues of motherhood to balance that negative pressure.
It’s personal for me. The last three years of my wife’s life were extremely challenging. She had six cancer surgeries. The constant joy through it all was her children and grandchildren and the overwhelming support they offered. I was particularly endeared at the bond with the granddaughters.
Butker told the young ladies:
“I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother. I’m on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. “
In my view motherhood is a vocation and we must counteract the avalanche of misinformation fed to young women to the contrary.
Young ladies these days have choices and are not afraid to make them. I think reminding them of the rewards of motherhood before they make that decision is a positive thing.
Lucia,
Again, fair point. No doubt slavery is part of the answer. Still, I gather that this trend goes back a long time according to the DNA evidence (mtDNA and y chromosomal), as in 70K+ years. I seriously doubt women have been slaves since the dawn of humanity; in sufficiently primitive societies I think the demands of survival were too pressing for such complicated arrangements and the tribe was [likely] mostly focused on trying not to starve or get wiped out. Mutual self interest. But regardless, I see in hindsight that mostly my observation was neither here nor there and is to a large extent a non-sequitur. I forfeit this particular line of argument.
Moving on,
and
I must not understand you correctly. Surely you are not suggesting that the only appropriate advice commencement speakers should offer is fluff that the audience wants to hear? I doubt you believe this. But I clearly don’t understand what the problem is then.
THIS is why I jumped to sexism, FWIW. Also, if not sexism, why would the advice have been offensive?
Would you clarify this?
On this point
I don’t see that Butker was saying that. But if that was in fact Butker’s message, it isn’t one I agree with. However, there is pressure in our secular modern world for young woman to be something different than a mother and housewife (I think there is anyway. If you disagree tell me and I will try to support this with evidence and we can examine it together). It’s OK to push back against that pressure. I think this is what Butker was trying to do.
On a tangent or footnote, I think the majority of women in history were ‘free’. I mean, mostly people in history weren’t ‘free’ in the same sense that we are used to thinking of freedom today, but. There were specific categories of ‘slavery’ in various societies and the majority of women in a majority of societies weren’t in it, that’s what I’m trying to say.
Also, does the fact that Butker gave this advice at a very conservative Roman Catholic school cut no ice? I mean, it’s fine to not be Catholic or not agree with their beliefs, but they have beliefs. I don’t think the idea that women should give serious consideration to marriage and motherhood as opposed to working is out of line with Catholicism regardless of what the Benedictine Sisters had to say about it. I don’t think it’s out of line with Catholicism even if some might deem the advice sexist, either. It’s not an inappropriate forum for such advice.
WRT male vs female ancestors:
I would be surprised if, over many millenia, the number of childless men did not always outnumber the number of childless women, leading to the observation of 2:1 female:male ancestors. For multiple reasons. And in that, humans are no different from many birds and mammals, where I suspect the ratio would often be considerably higher. I would be shocked if a demographic survey today did not reveal the same thing.
another weird citrus fruit today, Calamansi. My daughter-in-law grows them in Venice. It’s a fruit from her native Philippines. She uses them in a lot of her cooking.
It’s a hybrid of the kumquat. It’s smaller than a lime and is great in tea.
image:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1951995986076676488?s=61&t=7w4bCW3a8ve2DqoeniQatQ
Russel,
Sure. But that doesn’t mean it’s ok to lecture women and inform them what they probably think (and that’s what you are doing when standing on a dais and say venture to guess yada, yada). He didn’t do that to the men. And it doesn’t mean your advice to for women to limit the scope of their desires and dreams is ok– especially while you are telling me to expand theirs.
Lucia, your comment:
“ And it doesn’t mean your advice to for women to limit the scope of their desires and dreams is ok”
I think I may see the heart of the problem.
You see motherhood as a limit on the scope of desires of young ladies.
I see it as an infinite expansion.
Mark
My understanding is it is largely true of nearly all animals that mate. I suspect if you ran a simulation that included sickness or death, limited resources etc. for “males” and “females” you’ll get a similar thing- nearly all females– those who gestate and care– will reproduce. Only some of the males will.
The level of the imbalance will depend on “stuff”.
See what SteveF wrote.
He can say whatever he likes. What I’m saying is people can react and criticize it. If they want, some can start an entirely futile petition (and two groups of “they” did so.) They aren’t required to shut up.
Those criticizing get to point out that the person happened to say that in a venue with a captive audience and observe that the “life advice” will come off to a portion of the audience (i.e. women) that the thing you’ve been preparing to do for 4 years and are sitting here celebrating is the wrong choice for you.
If some other RC university wants to Butker to speak next year, they can invite him. That RC university may find demographics of those who apply will change– which is fine.
But even if they invite him, you can’t both defend that he has a right to air his opinion but then do a motte-baily and claim he didn’t communicate what he communicated. And you can’t claim you “approve” because he “only said”. Butker said more that Russell wants to claim he said.
Russell
Wrong.
And if you interpret my objection that way, you are seriously into the whole Motte-Baily interpretation of what Butker advised the women in his audience.
I did misunderstand what you were saying. Thanks for clarifying Lucia.
lucia wrote: “he was telling them one choice was wrong and another was right. The right choice was the one he advocated.”
So what? Even if he did, there is nothing offensive in that.
When he spoke to the men, he absolutely told them what they should do. Nobody took offense. He was giving advice; there is nothing wrong with that in a commencement speech. Good advice always represents what the speaker thinks is right. The listener can weigh the advice and follow it or not.
lucia: “And they were is a situation where they couldn’t politely get up and leave or say anything back.”
So what? People ought to be able to listen respectfully to something they disagree with.
I agree with everything Mark says above. Well, maybe not his last post, since I am not sure what he meant.
Mark,
Thanks. Much of my point is that criticism isn’t a call to “cancel”. And people have a just as much a right to criticize and Butker had to speak.
Some criticism is a call to cancel. But Butker was roundly criticized by lots of people who were certainly not trying to get him fired. And the rhetorical content of what he said is not as mild as Russel wants to claim it is.
MikeM
No? Look, a woman who has been working toward a degree for 4 years, earned it, and is now sitting in the audience has every right to be offended to be told that she’s fallen for a lie to believe she will get happiness for a career. And then have that follow with an anecdote that (for women) true happiness is achieved by supporting your man’s career. Just like it followed for Butker’s wife.
I don’t know why you think there is nothing offensive in that. I would be offended to be told I’ll be happier if I realize my career is nothing and I just sit back and work to help my husband achieve! You sitting next to me aren’t required to be. But I still get to be offended. Russell can claim all I was told is “motherhood is good!” I get to say: no. That’s not wall I was told.
The men get to have careers. Like him. And the women should focus on family life, and gaintheir happiness helping the men’s career. That’s his anecdote to flesh out things.
Is he telling the men to not totally ignore their families– the one the woman is devoting her life to? Sure. But in his advise, the man goes out and have a career (like he did) while his wife gets her joy helping him get that. Then he merely doesn’t totally neglect his wife and kids.
Absolutely, people can criticize, no argument there.
As far as the mildness of the content goes, I don’t know if I agree or not, but I’m not sufficiently invested to read more to determine if you’re correct or not. I just don’t care enough about the incident or Butker’s views to do that.
Thanks Lucia!
Lucia, your comment:
“Wrong”
The following are your words:
“ And it doesn’t mean your advice to for women to limit the scope of their desires and dreams is ok”
I don’t see how that could mean anything other than you see motherhood as limiting the scope of the desires of young women.
Butker didn’t tell these young ladies they could not have other careers, he was telling them of the joys of motherhood.
I suppose it would be easy for a young woman to not think of the long-term rewards of motherhood when faced with the immediate gratification of a lucrative business career. But long-term benefit it is.
They may not see it when they’re in their early 20s, but a woman in her golden years surrounded by children and grandchildren is truly a magnificent thing.
Russell,
No. He. Wasn’t telling them about the “joys of motherhood”.
Perhaps. But that message was his. It’s yours.
One other interesting point. Throughout history (and no doubt before!), the number of births per woman has always been relatively high, at least so long as there was enough food available. That has fundamentally changed in a relatively short time span (a few generations), apparently wherever material wealth has increased and control of fertility easily accomplished. That goes for both men and women. We are ‘self-selecting’ who will contribute to the future gene pool of humanity. An interesting question is: to the extent behavioral characteristics are inherited, will this self-selection change average human behavior over multiple generations? I honestly do not know the answer but it would not surprise me if that were true.
Or as the joke goes: In 20 generations, the world will be dominated by Mormons and Salt Lake City will be the world’s cultural center. 😉
Mike,
It’s easy to assume Lucia is objecting to things she isn’t. She’s not saying Butker is sexist. She’s not saying his advice is wrong. Her claims are a lot more limited than that. Near as I can make out, they are these:
1. It’s fine that people criticize Butker (irrespective of who is ultimately right or wrong), as he provided sufficient grounds for criticism that, right or wrong, criticism isn’t unreasonable.
2. Criticism isn’t cancelation, and
3. Russell specifically is understating Butker’s position.
Well. Yeah. Hard to argue with most of that. I don’t know about the last and I don’t care enough to figure it out.
Russell Klier wrote: “Butker didn’t tell these young ladies they could not have other careers, he was telling them of the joys of motherhood.”
lucia wrote: “But that message was his. It’s yours.”
I agree with Russell. I think I understand the disagreement better now. I think (along with Russell and mark, if I am not mistaken) that lucia is putting words in Butker’s mouth and she thinks that I and others are putting words in Butker’s mouth. I don’t see how to resolve that unless Butker chimes in, which I do not expect.
I agree with lucia that people are free to criticize Butker’s comments. But I agree with Russell that the hue and cry at the time was a failed attempt to cancel Butker. OK, so lucia does not see it that way. I don’t see how to make progress on that.
Addition: I think mark just summed it up nicely.
I’m perfectly fine with equality, so let’s have it the whole way…
“The Russia Matters website, citing a July 2023 investigative report, stated that fewer than 0.20% of fatalities within the Ukrainian forces were women.”
I detect a statistical disparity here. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say the same thing is true for who’s digging out or cleaning the latrines. It’s probably true that it is the men making the no women rule here but somehow the army of blue hair western feminists aren’t taking up these issues.
There are women out there who still want the traditional (as in since the dawn of humanity) male dominated model for a lot of different reasons. This argument would be more compelling coming from those women instead of the men.
Women are going to have the babies no matter what and it is a significant burden on them physically and their careers. I doubt too many women are winning ballroom dance contests at 9 months pregnant.
https://rankexploits.com/musings/2024/may-2024-post/
https://rankexploits.com/musings/2024/may-2024-post/#comment-232419
https://rankexploits.com/musings/2024/may-2024-post/#comment-232452
MikeM, Russel,
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
He is speaking directly to the women.
This is strong. He doesn’t say what the lies are directly. We must infer them.
Note the use of rhetorical question? Like it or not, this has meaning. And the specific meaning is created by what surrounded.
One part of it is the diabolical lies are about the women’s careers.
This is in the blank the rehtorical question– and now it’s his “guess”. Look, it’s not his “guess”. It’s his claim. In a speech where we are clearly meant to infer things, the adjacencies is that the diabolical lies are that the women’s careers, promotions are anywere near as important as their marriage and children. He’s not “guessing” this. He is telling them they should be most excited about that.
Butker then launches into a parable. Roman Catholic are very familiar with argument by parable.
You can’t pull out quotes– but these parables mean something.
His parable a specific story to further show women “the right path”. He uses a very strong and evocative image. There is no sane function of the sudden launch into the discussion of his wife except as a parable to tell the audience the correct choices for a womans life.
So let’s look at it.
And he is now telling them — by way of an example– that the “right path” for them is to live their lives with a vocation of wife and mother. That’s when life begins.
Ad he’s saying it pretty darn strongly: A woman begins her life by living her vocation as a wife and mother.
He may only say the title is “one of” the most important titles. B he’s doing it after denigrating all other paths for women. With this parable, he is absolutely telling women the path for them to begin living is to be a homemaker (of the kind, like his wife, who has a “vocation as wife and mother”.
He then continues to argue or lecture by giving an further interpretation of the parable he just gave.
The inspirational example of a woman is one who gives up the possibility of her career, “outside noise” and moves “closer to God’s will in their life”. What are outside noises? And what is “God’s will: for women to be wives mothers and homemaker.
He is absolutely telling women their highest calling is marriage, motherhood and homemaking and that other things are not important. After all: the marriage, motherhood and homemaking are God’s will. This is very strong.
https://vicksburgnews.com/full-transcript-of-harrison-butkers-commencement-speech/
I get you want to deny this is what he meant. But you know, you can’t fish out a “quote” from the Good Samaritan either. It still means something. And this guy is using that rhetorical device. He’s also using “guesses” and rhetorical question.
But his message to women is that nothing is more important than being a homemaker, which is the path God will’s them to take.
And I repeat to both Mike M and Russell
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
Yes. That sentence means something.
Tom,
Yeah. Somehow you never hear the feminists complain about how 93% of the people who are incarcerated are male. So much for disparate outcomes as a reliable indicator of structural bigotry.
Steve,
I agree and I think that’s interesting too. I’ve no real idea what will come of it over time [It meaning First world reproductive abstinence].
MikeM
No. I’m not. See the comment I wrote months ago, reposted above.
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
I agree.
Tom
No. But I’ve seen pros dance pro-am at 7 months pregnant. That’s competition– though technically the am is competing. The pregnant pros also do showcases. But 9 months? No.
The ones I know danced until about 7 months, then stayed home with the baby for a while. They were back within 6 months. Looked stunning!
(I know Britney V, Brittany B, Janna L, Marta R and Meg each of whom gave birth in the past 5 years. All also did office work for their studios. Britney V is a sole owner. Brittany B, and Janna are joint owners along with Brittany B’s husband. Marta R is a joint owner with her husband. Marta was back doing hair — including mine– at a competition within a month of a premature birth which involved being in labor like… 24 hours… and ultimately a C-section. Britney V has 3 kids, Brittany B has two, Janna has two, Marta has 1 and is currently pregnant again– and teaching and running the studio. Meg has one. )
Matt Rivers jokes his first competition was before he was born. His mom and dad won the Australian championship while she was about 4 months pregnant with him. I’m sure she took a break soon after that.
Tom,
I entirely agree there are disparities in military service. (But that doesn’t change either what Butker said, nor is it particularly relevant to it.)
Yes. And of course, precisely what they say might be different from what Butker wrote.
The The Conservative Women Who Are ‘Having It All’ appeared in the WSJ Aug 1. Featured working mother May Mailman is featured. She’s not sounding like she wishes she followed the path Butker advises for true female happiness.
In fact the WSJ recognizes the path Butker is advocating– using his wife as an exemplar– isn’t even possible.
Butker would have some recognize that their passion should be homemaker, mother, wife”. I mean women were told lies about something (unstated). But it sure as shooting sounds like he thinks the “lie” is that they might have a passion outside wife, homemaker, mother.
Like it or not, most conservative women don’t want what Butker tell them he guesses they really want. And you know how we know? Women say they don’t want that. Might a few want that? Sure. Most… nah.
But even if most wanted that– most can’t really have that.
Mark,
Yeah….. well men don’t usually want to hang their hat on this one. ‘Cuz we know why most people incarcerated are male. It’s very strongly related to who commits most crimes.
If your point is that disparate outcome doesn’t necessarily come from structural bigotry, fair enough. . . But… uhmm… yeah.
Lucia,
Yep, that’s all I was saying.
[Edit: What do you mean by this?
? Most women couldn’t focus on getting married and raising a family? Again, I’m obviously not following you well.]
Oh, I’m sorry. Your entire last paragraph and the WSJ story, because it’s an economic reality.
Meh. It’s not impossible. It depends on what’s important to people. Almost a quarter of families are supported by one member (husband or wife). Also, part time work is a middle ground to some extent. There’s plenty of housewives down here in ‘bama.
Mark
They don’t want to focus on that to the exclusion of their careers. And that includes to the exclusion of getting fulfillment and enjoying their passion in their careers.
Butker is not saying, “don’t forget to have a family life in addition to your career! to the women at the commencement ceremony. ( He is suggesting that to men. )
To the women, he is literally saying their true fulfillment in life is wife,mother, homemaker. And the exemplar is his wife who totally gave up her career. And look how Butker’s wife was rewarded in the anectdote. Butker got to focus on his career and so was able to succeed!!!! A fact that evidently does and should give his wife her true fulfillment!
LOL. I see. I don’t dispute your interpretation of Butker’s message any longer. I apologize for asking actually, I don’t know what my reading comprehension problem was there. Could’ve been ADHD, not enough caffeine, too busy seeking a deeper understanding of God’s mission for me on Earth, who knows. 😉
Mark
Part time work is still work.
AI isn’t great for everything…. but it’s good for statistics
“Approximately 74% of mothers with children under 18 are in the U.S. labor force, meaning they work outside the home. This includes both full-time and part-time employment, as well as work from home. The majority of mothers with even young children (under 6) are also employed. ”
Either women are working because it’s an economic necessity or they are working because they want to. In the latter case because it makes them happier. If the latter, Butker is clearly wrong about what makes women happier. 😉 In the former case, it’s rather pointless to lecture them that they’d be happier if only they gave up their careers and focused on being wife, mother, homemaker.
I mean, I could tell young people they’d be all set in life if only they win the a half billion dollars in the lottery. (And also understood something about how to handle vast amounts of money.)
Mark boffil
You are consistent. Click the link to the first time I wrote that and read your subsequent comment. 🙂
By the way guys, Joshua is posting comments from time to time. He did so about two days ago. Presumably he wants me to read the comments though he often says it’s to inform you guys of … whatever. He seems to wants to tell you something about Gaza and Israel. As usual, he argues by posting a link. A link to something long. This time a 1 hour 25 minute podcast. Snooze.
(He wants to argue by posting posdcasts or videos so frequently I often wonder if he dislikes reading?)
Lucia,
That thread you linked was a good thread. I haven’t said anything here and now I didn’t already say better back then. I can’t quite get my head on straight this weekend for some reason.
Regarding Gaza, I haven’t been following closely. The pattern of Hamas releasing a bunch of propaganda and lies that media uncritically accepts and dutifully regurgitates makes the situation tedious. I don’t know what’s really going on over there, but I trust very little of what I hear about the situation there. In the absence of good info and having no particular necessity to wrestle with it, I tend to ignore the situation.
If Joshua would refrain from being deliberately rude to you I wouldn’t mind his commentary so much. There is apparently some parallel though between Joshua’s view of proper conduct here and Hamas’ view of proper conduct in Gaza, as far as I can tell. Too much parallel for me actually.
I gotta say…. I wonder if “The New Yorker” knows what “supplicant” means? This appeared in my Facebook feed
I mean… Supplicant.
She literally fixes her own dang car without asking anyone. In the commercial, isn’t asking anyone for anything. Not one dang thing.
Oh… the NYorker goes on
You mean the allusion you see is ‘incoherent’? ‘Cuz… i mean… yeah. No one is forcing you to allude to the other commercial. (And, presumably, you alluded to it precisely because you think the allusion exists. Therefor: not incoherent.)
Well… sure. The commercial harkens back to 90s commercials which did use beautiful people to sell stuff.
Is it reactive? Who got out of the block first? Does it matter if it’s reactive?
I’m not sure when the ad came out. Google AI tells me July 23.
There’s a July 23 tweet showing images from the ad,
https://x.com/ComplexStyle/status/1948040202704105917
which is followed by comments like ”
“America First Forever ????@Demodred2022
·Jul 23
America is healing”
@RalfHaustein·Jul 24
Obese advertising is finally over ????????????”
I don’t think the July 23 comment is “reacting” to the criticism from the left. I think he or she just likes the ad.
FWIW: There were people saying “Woke is dead” on July 24
on July 25.
ThisJuly 25 tweet one responds to woke is dead: https://x.com/ELewisELC/status/1948938527607324731
I really doubt the approval by those who like the ad is “reactive”. They like the ad because they like the ad.
I mean… maybe they shouldn’t like the ad. But claiming their approval of the ad is “reactived”. Nah.
I get that some people don’t like the ad. But sorry New Yorker. Do better with your vocabulary and your claims. ‘Cuz… no.
“Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, signed a four-year, $25.6 million contract extension in August 2024, making him the highest-paid kicker in the NFL with an average annual value of $6.4 million.” …Grok
Like many [ Most?] professional athletes with that level of pay Butkirk could afford a trophy wife and maybe a couple of baby mamas too.
Harrison Butker didn’t choose that route . He chose an old fashioned religious family life.
It appears to me that Isabelle Butker made a conscious decision to join in this relationship and forego a professional career. This doesn’t appear to be a ‘Hillbilly Country Bumpkin’ who has swept off her feet.
From People:
“She said she didn’t grow up very religious and was always more “independent,” but in her senior year of college, as Harrison grew more devout in his faith, she began to explore it more herself.
After a spiritual experience during Mass, Isabelle said that she felt Catholicism was where she belonged and after she told Harrison, the two of them both broke down crying as he admitted he’d been praying every day for her to convert.”
She studied science. From Grok:
“Isabelle Butker, née Tehrani, studied computer science and Spanish at Rhodes College.
She too is an athlete:
“During her time there, she was a forward on the women’s basketball team, playing in 26 games in the 2013-2014 season and 27 games the following season”
Joshua argues from the starting position of “You stupid conservatives, ….”. It grows tiresome pretty quickly. Add to that endless bad-faith statements designed to avoid being held to any firm opinion, constant long ‘homework assignments’ for the unwashed deplorables to learn the errors of their ways, and with endless gratuitous insults; he is really just a troll, and should be ignored.
Russell,
I don’t know what you’ve got against rednecks. I’m not a redneck (I’m not actually competent enough at certain activities to be considered one), but I’ve had good friends who were ‘hillbilly country bumpkins’ for sure. Hillbilly country bumpkins make conscious decisions too you know.
Lucia, your post:
”And he is now telling them — by way of an example– that the “right path” for them is to live their lives with a vocation of wife and mother. “
Well we finally agree on something and that is that Harrison Butter did not say the above words. I will agree with you that he could be surreptitiously trying to convey that message. It is not a message that I agree with or would personally foist upon a young lady.
He might be a modern day Svengali, trying to secretly suggest young ladies try a life of barefoot and pregnant.
And, I say ‘So what!’
It isn’t the message I would send but it’s not illegal. It’s not immoral, quite the contrary.
Harrison Butter is a professional speaker His website says he charges between 30,000 and $50,000 for engagement. I couldn’t find out what he was paid for the commencement speech and I also couldn’t see that the administrators of the college were unhappy with his message.
So a hard working religious man was contracted to deliver a commencement speech to a Catholic college and told him what was on his mind.
Lucia, You and I may not agree with his message but what’s your beef.
The college has a right to contract with him and he has a right to say or secretly suggest whatever he wants if it’s not illegal or immoral.
I don’t have Alzheimers yet. I solved this morning a technical problem that I wrestled with on and off for a decade, using various ‘fudges’ to generate a more-or-less accurate solution, none perfect. I was trying to solve it as a difficult “inverse problem”, while a reformulation using a related variable converted it to a “forward problem” with a straightforward solution. Collect the data, calculate, done. No fudge needed. A good day for me.
At a bar, I would buy my friends a beer. Or hand out quatloos. Cheers.
Congratz Steve. That’s got to be rewarding! I’m pleased for you and glad you mentioned it.
Mark, your post:
“ I’m not a redneck (I’m not actually competent enough at certain activities to be considered one),”
Me too! You should have tasted some of the things that used to come out of my smoker.
Also, I have lived in Fruitville Florida for 50 years, It has changed as the city folks moved in but it was rural redneck Florida for 30 years. Before I built my house the previous residents of this piece of property were cows.
I didn’t mean to cast aspersions with my comment.
SteveF
The argument by link to 1 hour 25 minute pod cast with no statement of his position etc does precisely that. The homework is listening to the podcast. He accuses you all of being “apologists for what Israel is doing in Gaza “. He posted Aug 1, 8:12 am. At that time, we were all discussing birth right citizenship. So I have no idea what views motivated him to post.
Russell
You think you are agreeing with me? And you throw in surreptitiously? I haven’t said he was surreptitiously trying to convey it. I think he was being as crystal clear as Jesus when Jesus use his parables.
I also don’t think Jesus’s message in The Good Samaritan was “surreptitiously” given
And the answer given by “the expert in law” shows he didn’t think Jesus’s use of a parable was “surreptitiously” giving a message.
Russell,
I didn’t say anything Butker said was illegal. Our disagreement is over whether he said as little as you claim, or whether he said a good deal more. Also: no one claimed he abused his wife, so telling us the story of her happiness also doesn’t buttress Butker said so very little.
Well… first, I’m pretty sure you do agree with his message. But that’s not my complaint about what you wrote..
My complaint is: I think you are trying to do a motte-Bailey on what his message was.
This is funny…
https://www.nfl.com/news/chiefs-kicker-harrison-butker-stands-behind-comments-he-made-during-polarizing-speech
Uhmmm no. You are being criticized for telling women sitting awaiting to be awarded their diplomas they should put being wife, mother homemaker above their career.
Who’s hired him to speak since May 2024? I googled and found one gig: it’s about fitness.
Lucia,
“Well… first, I’m pretty sure you do agree with his message.”
I say what I mean and mean what I say. I find it offensive that you write otherwise.
And:
“My complaint is: I think you are trying to do a motte-Bailey on what his message was.”
You have accused me of this three times now; be advised, I have no idea what that means and I have no intention of looking it up.
Does this mean you agree that Harrison Butker had the right to deliver the message he did and your problem is only with how you think I deliberately tried to deceive everyone with my posts.
I find that offensive too.
Lucia,
Israel is trying to get rid of Hamas….. an organization responsible for hundreds of atrocities against jews and with the long stated goal of eliminating Israel. I don’t see how anybody here has to take responsibility for Israel trying to rid themselves of Hamas.
Russell,
I doubt Lucia is deliberately trying to offend you. Also, I’m glad to hear you don’t actually have a problem with rednecks.
Mark,
I prefer my old redneck neighbors to my current Yuppie neighbors.
Just kidding, I like my neighbors
Russell
Then be offended. But it seems to me you’ve been advocating at least for what you think he said.
Tell me: What specifically do you disagree with in what Butker said about women’s role in his speech? Because I haven’t seen you state any disagreement with what he said. None.
That’s been used numerous times. If you don’t want to look it up. don’t. Rest assured quite a few others here know what it means. Or just Motte-and-bailey fallacy.
* I agree he has a right to deliver a message.
* I think others have a right to criticize him.
* I think you are pulling a Motte-and-Bailey when you try to defend him and when you try to criticize his critics.
* I do not think you are “deliberately tried to deceive everyone “. I think you are refusing to actually look at what Butker said and see that what he merely “extolled the virtues of motherhood. “ He did much more than that. The person I think you are deceiving in saying otherwise is yourself, not “everyone”.
For that matter, I think you do think motherhood is virtuous. See your comment at In my view motherhood is a vocation
And, of me you write.
You see motherhood as a limit on the scope of desires of young ladies.
I see it as an infinite expansion.
and you write a woman in her golden years surrounded by children and grandchildren is truly a magnificent thing.
So clearly, based on what you say you think mother hood is virtuous.
The difficulty is that you seem to have convinced yourself that the only thing Butker was saying to women was mother hood is a wonderful thing. You’ve made that claim. And yet now you seem to be saying you disagree with him.
And you are offended that I think you don’t disagree with him.
So I ask: What specifically do you disagree with him about? We’ve been discussing his view on women’s roles– so I would like you to limit telling me what you disagere with him on women’s roles.
And, of course, for you to disagree with him on “X”, you must be admitting he advanced notion “X”.
And you’d be justified. But I haven’t claimed that.
So, tell us in your own words what your specific disagreement with Butker’s views on the role of women is. Because I honestly don’t see you disagreeing with anything you are also willing to admit he said.
mark bofill wrote: ” I don’t dispute your interpretation of Butker’s message any longer.”
For the record, I no longer agree with mark. I think I still pretty much agree with Russell.
Lucia,
I am withdrawing from this conversation.
You have repeatedly accused me of lying but provided no evidence.
You didn’t actually say the word ‘lying’ but that is what you were thinking and that is the message you were sending.
Russell,
I have not accused you of lying at all— unless it’s to yourself. And no, my message in now way suggests you are lying to others.
MikeM
Russell tells us he disagrees with Butker. So are you saying you also disagree with Butker as Russell does? If yes, maybe you can reveal your point of disagreement with Butker. If you do not disagree with Butker, then evidently, you disagree with Russell.
Keep them barefoot and pregnant I say, barefoot and pregnant!
(I’m joking.)
I can’t get too excited about advice given to graduating seniors by a placekicker, no matter how good he is at his job. His opinions just don’t matter much.
Steve,
Yeah, I have that same problem every time I look at this. I start to dig in and then I am rapidly struck down by a sudden case of I-Don’t-Give-A-Crap-Itis. There’s just no good justification for investing my time in this rando’s views.
I don’t think we have even discussed Gaza for quite a while.
I’m sure over 80% of Hamas’s leadership and well over half their soldiers being dead along with Gaza being in ruins and the entirety of the Gaza population suffering is “Hamas winning and Israel losing” to some people. This is what war is and exactly what you invite when you send barbarian hordes over the border to a militarily superior opponent. The people who should be apologizing are Hamas.
Hamas crushed. Hezbollah defanged and its leadership dead. Most of their missiles destroyed in Lebanon. Syria’s Assad overthrown. Iran’s nuclear program directly attacked and set back some unknown time period (still very little info here), their military leadership killed, scientists assassinated.
Yes, but the progressive lawyers in the EU and USA have disqualified Israel for bad behavior. DQ, DQ! As we all know the last thing a progressive ever wants to happen is for somebody to clearly win a war because that would mean use of force works sometimes. So the loser always wins the wars in their clever retelling, yawn. At least Hamas has won the hearts and minds of some people, I’ll give them that.
The best counterpoint now is that Israel has pretty much won or improved their standing of the military conflict on every front. Grinding rubble into smaller rubble in Gaza is a bit pointless. Whoever is leading Gaza now can release the hostages and the war will end. This is a small price to pay but too steep for them.
We shall see where it ends up in the long term but Israel is clearly winning right now. Prediction: Israel and Gaza continue to hate each other but Gaza keeps the barbarians inside their border for the next decade.
Hamas Releases Video of Hostage Digging His Own Grave in a Tunnel
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-releases-video-of-hostage-digging-his-own-grave-in-a-tunnel-28f012d5?st=qT12UL&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
In the legacy media’s telling the torturing of hostages by Hamas is Israel’s fault.
Tom Scharf,
Is there really a difference between Hamas and a substantial (majority?) portion of the civilian population in Gaza? I am not sure there is, based on limited available opinion polling in Gaza. The consensus in Gaza seems to be “from the river to the sea”, which precludes anything except an informal territory for Gazans, with access closely controlled by Israel.
In spite of most of Hamas leadership having been killed, I can’t see we are any closer to a “2-state solution” than when Arafat walked away from the best deal he would ever be offered. The people in Gaza and the west bank are clearly not interested in peace, only in destroying Israel. Until they are interest in peace, conflict with Israel will continue, as it has for 50+ years.
AFAICT the only two groups not supporting a two state solution are Israel and the Palestinians.
If the political wing of Hamas dissolved tomorrow it would be replaced by a similar Israel hating entity even if they had elections. The governing wing at the start of the war is largely dead. The question is whether anything has changed going forward. Not likely to get worse but I would guess the people in Gaza just want this to end and could care less on the particulars. The leadership could care less about what the citizens think.
The blood feud will continue no doubt.
The joys of blogging. — Expression.
“Giving thoughtful weighed opinions that are highly valued by others”
Abridged version the Devil’s Dictionary” by Ambrose Bierce 2025.
–
On a lighter note could the sluice gates be finally opening?
A lot of rust in the works. Democratic Lawfare scanners et al yet there are leaks appearing in the opening, most recently Roger Stone and Manafort.
I hope it opens but my desires are all too often weak and ineffectual.
–
Big couple of days coming up with some tough family issues to sort out so feeling a bit yuk at the moment hopefully good in 2 days. Hate stress.
Angech, your post:
“Big couple of days coming up with some tough family issues.”
Best wishes for a happy outcome. Talk to us if it helps.
Thanks Russell.
Just needed to vent.
“Life wasn’t meant to be easy” M Fraser , Aussie PM.
“Such is life” Ben Cousins, Aussie footballer, copying an Aussie author Joseph Furphy.
My issues hopefully small beer in comparison.
Angech,
Wishing for the best for you!
lucia: “Russell tells us he disagrees with Butker. ”
If he did, I missed it. I was hoping Russell would weigh in on that. I guess he won’t, but I can not let that slide.
I do recall Russell saying that IF Butker was saying what you say Butker was saying then he disagrees with Butker. So do I. And I think he said that it is conceivable that Butker was acting in bad faith and trying to trick his audience in some devious way. But I don’t think Russell ever said he thought Butker was doing that.
You have accused Butker and Russell and myself of arguing in bad faith. Russell has taken exception to your so accusing him and announced his withdrawal from the conversation. I let your accusation slide and dropped the subject. But I can’t let slide your post quoted above .
Your argument rests on the assumption that Butker was acting in bad faith. I suppose that at some level you recognize that since you felt the need to accuse both Russell and me of arguing in bad faith. I reject your assumption about Butker and your accusations against the three of us.
Note: In case it is not clear, motte and bailey is a form of bad faith argument.
You guys can beat me up for getting Gemini to articulate this rather than doing it myself, I don’t mind. Gemini would tell you this though:
It is arguable that Lucia didn’t actually accuse anybody of bad faith in pointing out the use of motte and bailey. I’m sorry this discussion ended with stepped on toes, if that’s what happened; however one wants to put it exactly.
Also, this: Russell has openly said he’s trolling us before. Not recently, and Lucia has specifically indicated when I’ve pushed him about it that Russell is fine, she likes him and he is welcome here. The two things I’d like to highlight here are:
1) It’s not beyond the pale in my opinion to think Russell might indulge in motte and bailey. It apparently doesn’t matter to Lucia if he does, he’s welcome regardless. I wouldn’t get too worked up about imagined slights and implications of dispersions as a result, because it appears to be ‘all good’, at least in Lucia’s book.
2) I read Lucia tell Russell she thought he was motte and baileying. I didn’t read her telling Mike that. I did seem to have my head jammed up my butt and I was missing fairly obvious simple things, so maybe I just missed this. But even if she did and I missed it, I refer the reader back to point (1).
Mike,Your post:
“lucia: “Russell tells us he disagrees with Butker. ”
If he did, I missed it. I was hoping Russell would weigh in on that. I guess he won’t, but I can not let that slide.”
Yes Mike, you interrupted it correctly.
I only disagreed with Lucia‘s screwball, made-up ideas about what Butker meant.
I have no disagreement about what he told the young ladies about motherhood.
Lucia did say this explicitly to Russell:
Ugh, I though ‘aspersions’ and somehow typed ‘dispersions’. I clearly still need to work on getting my head extracted from my rectum. Maybe more caffeine..
I suspect Butker’s point will become clearer as time passes and the proportion of women sold the dream of “having it all”, and failing, grows.
The results are two main groups. The ones who realize what happened and try to educate others about making the same mistakes, and the “misery loves company” crowd, who blame everyone else while advocating for more of the same.
What will never happen is a realization that the further education/career pipeline was created by men, to satisfy male social requirements, and is not female biology friendly. There is only a single job on this planet that men cannot do and too many women seem to view that as an unfair disadvantage rather than a superpower.
MikeM
Ok. Russell isn’t going to like this. But this Russell what Russells writes:
No caveat on disagreement. And I’m pretty sure you are aware of “my beef”.
Me with Russells response
I then asking to state what he disagrees with, and also explain why I think he agrees with Butker. Then he exited the conversation. He chooses not verbalize any specific point of disagreement with Butker. That’s his right.
It’s interesting you think Russells agrees with Butker too. But there you go.
I’ve made zero accusation of “bad faith”.
Huh? Well, you’ll have to define “bad faith”. My argument is he meant what he said. That is usually considered “good faith”.
Not always. It is bad faith if done on purpose. It is not bad faith if the person doing it deludes themselves that only the “motte” was advanced. If someone thinks Butker was not telling women they should focus on being a wife, mother and homemaking and priorititizing that above any career, then they think that. It’s not bad faith to think it. If they think he didn’t tell women their true full joy comes from being wife, mother, and homeaker– more than other things, then it’s not bad fait for them to say it.
But Butker did tell women those things. So excluding that is motte baily even if it’s unintentional– and not bad faith.
Butker definitely argued the “bailey” part. Definitely. If you don’t see that, well, “there are none so blind…” Even if you disagree with the bailey part, you really don’t get to claim you disagree with him while denying he said that. Because, your actual position is that you agree— and he didn’t say or think the things you disagree with.
But to be clear: he did say the “bailey” part. He said it loud and clear.
DaveJR
Are you saying Butker did say women’s happiness will come from focusing on wife, mother, homemaker to the exclusion of their own career and he will be shown to be correct? Or something else?
Mike,
l went back and dug Lucia’s fantasy about what Butker meant.
Lucia to me:
“But his message to women is that nothing is more important than being a homemaker, which is the path God will’s them to take.”
l disagree with this message, but it has nothing to do with what but actually said. It’s fake news.
Butker is the wrong terrain to fight Lucia on this issue. The guy told a parable in her view. Conclusions drawn from stories are up for grabs, Jacques Derrida got this right if nothing else. I’d suggest jettisoning what Butker said from whatever points one would like to make and make them independently. Simpler, better footing that way. This is essentially why I folded.
Lucia wrote: “Are you saying Butker did say women’s happiness will come from focusing on wife, mother, homemaker to the exclusion of their own career”
No, I’m saying women’s unhappiness will come from focusing on education and career to the exclusion of their role as a wife, mother, homemaker etc.
Your hostile reaction to his words is an example of the problem he is attempting to address.
Gemini makes good points about how motte and bailey is not always bad faith. I see no way to fit Butker’s remarks into any of them. If he was using motte and bailey (I am virtually certain he wasn’t) then he was arguing in bad faith.
I am willing to accept that lucia did not mean to accuse Russell and me of arguing in bad faith. Russell pretty clearly took lucia’s comments as an accusation of bad faith. I felt much the same. And lucia pretty clearly accused Butker of arguing in bad faith. At the beginning of Butker’s remarks to the women he said things that did not fit lucia’s theory of what he was saying. She dismissed that as rhetorical trickery to set up a motte and bailey argument. If he was doing that, I do not see how it could be anything other than bad faith argument.
No, I am not going to go back to pull up quotes. I am sick of this.
DaveJR
My reaction isn’t “hostile”. I’m just reading what he actually said. He didn’t say what you said. He advocates against women’s career at all. And he’s never said otherwise.
I don’t think it’s “hostile” to say that he said what he said.
FWIW: I’m very happy. I’m a wife but not a mother or definitely not a homemaker. Jim’s happy too.
mark bofill wrote: “I’d suggest jettisoning what Butker said from whatever points one would like to make and make them independently.”
Fair enough. I think it fine for women to pursue careers and that many can find fulfillment in that even if they never have a family. I think it fine for women to decide their calling is as a homemaker and that many, quite possibly most, can find fulfillment in that. I suspect that very few women can attempt both without shortchanging one or both.
I think our culture pushes women to put career first and leave family for “later” while telling women that they should not be satisfied with being “merely” a homemaker. I think it likely that many, perhaps most, women who take that advice will find that career is not enough. Some of those will be able to shift gears and some will end up with neither a family or a fulfilling career. That is a shame.
I think it is reasonable to tell young women that if they are more excited about the prospect of a family than the prospect of a career, then it is good for them to pursue a calling as a homemaker.
Addition: I think that there is nothing wrong with a woman deciding not the have children and that there is nothing wrong with a woman deciding to be homemaker even if to the exclusion of any other career. I suspect more would end up regretting the first choice than the second.
MikeM
What did he say that doesn’t fit my interpretation? I don’t see it and none of you have pointed to it.
The transcript is here
https://www.ncregister.com/news/harrison-butker-speech-at-benedictine
Mike,
Now you’re talking. I strongly agree with you.
MikeM
I didn’t accuse Butker of motte and bailey.
But at least you now seem to agree motte and baily is not always in bad faith. (What’s “gemini”? It it a new AI?”
Lucia,
Yeah, it’s Google’s ‘ChatGPT’. I use it a lot. It’s free. 🙂 (well, there’s a free tier):
https://gemini.google.com/app
MikeM
I do think most people — men and women– find career is not enough. You need a personal life.
That said, of the women I know, those least happy with how their lives turned out sidelined their careers for kids and family and later divorced. I know about four of these.
I know several who kept their careers, had kids, and later divorced– happy. I know several who kept their careers, had kids and stayed married. Also happy. Me: didn’t have kids. Still married. Happy. My sister: didn’t have kids, medical doctor happy. Other sister, legal law librarian, has two kids married, happy.
I know exactly one woman near my age who did not have a career focused on family and is happy with how things turned out.
So jettisoning career for family generally doesn’t seem work out. Keeping career tends to result in remaining happy. I think most these career women do have social lives– if they didn’t that would be a problem. The social side isn’t necessarily “wife, mother homemaker”. But no social life generally doesn’t seem to happen with women.
Admittedly, I am acquainted with a small subset of women on the planet.
Precisely, Mike. The problem is not what Butker said, but that noone else has the fortitide to say something similar. It takes someone with the conviction of Butker to risk the social wrath. Whatever Lucia thinks he should have said, isn’t being said.
My wife’s college friends are mostly single and childless. Not because they wanted to be, but because time passed them by and career was too important. My wife’s college professor admitted that by the time she thought it was time for a family, it was too late. We almost went the same way…
You may hate the way Butker said what he did, but that’s only because that kind of advice is rare in “polite society” compared to the reverse.
DaveJR
I don’t have a view on what he should have said. I have a view on what he did say. And I have a view on whether people are allowed to criticize him.
I think people should say what they mean. But I also think other people get to respond and say what they mean.
Earlier I wrote: “I suspect more would end up regretting the first choice [career, no family] than the second [family, no career].” I need to amend that.
The relative proportions are probably strongly dependent on factors like ability and drive. Probably other factors as well.
It is a complicated and nuanced topic for sure. Sweeping absolute generalizations are absolutely always wrong (heh).
The Bofills need to concentrate on earnings to give that immortal robot something to do. 😉
But seriously, an AI agent protecting such ‘generational wealth’ may not be needed for long, since the ‘progressive’ left thinks confiscation of wealth is a very good idea, especially once you are dead (aka Federal Estate taxes). These taxes are currently not so high (but higher with separate state taxes added!), but were at 78% of estate value between the Roosevelt administration and 1975.
And just remember: ‘You didn’t built that!’