Sunday Morning Book Thread 11-29-2020

Kresge Law Library, Notra Dame University

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules). Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which look so fowl that not even mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of cranberry sauce would be able to save them.

Pic Note:

The fightin' Irish:

The Kresge Law Library holds more than 420,000 print volumes of legal texts, along with digital access to millions of journal articles, cases and other documents through our numerous digital database subscriptions. But perhaps what the Law Library is most known for is its grand Reading Room, which awes with its two-story open archways and third floor wrap-around balcony.

Filled with study carrels and large tables, the library serves as an academic hub for the Law School.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Seems appropriate.

Attack of the Angry Snowflakes

If there's one person who really gets under the skin of progressive snowflakes (other than President Trump, of course), it has to be Jordan Peterson. They hate him with an insane passion. It's really quite bizarre, that a mild-manner Canadian clinic psychologist could inspire such mindless hatred.

I mean, get a load of this: Penguin has scheduled the publishing of Peterson's next book for March of 2021, and of course we know that the publishing industry is awash with progressive snowflakes, so the in-house staff at Penguin Random House Canada aren't at all happy. So management held a meeting to see if they could get them to calm down and act like grown-ups, but I don't think it worked. Listen to their boo-hooing:

One employee told Vice News that “people were crying in the meeting about how Jordan Peterson has affected their lives.” One contended Peterson radicalized their father, and another insisted that if the book is published it will negatively affect their non-binary friend.

A different staffer said that Peterson is “an icon of hate speech,” “transphobia,” and “white supremacy.” Another claimed Peterson is responsible for “causing this surge of alt-right groups, especially on university campuses.”

“We publish a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community and what is the company going to do about making sure these authors are still feeling supported by a company that is supporting somebody who denies their existence?” one employee asked.

So Peterson is a racist, a bigot, an alt-right white supremacist, and a homophobe. Yeah, yeah. Of course, he's none of those things.

Meanwhile, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life is available for pre-order on Amazon. In this book, Dr. Peterson

...warns that too much security is dangerous. What’s more, he offers strategies for overcoming the cultural, scientific, and psychological forces causing us to tend toward tyranny, and teaches us how to rely instead on our instinct to find meaning and purpose, even—and especially—when we find ourselves powerless.

While chaos, in excess, threatens us with instability and anxiety, unchecked order can petrify us into submission. Beyond Order provides a call to balance these two fundamental principles of reality itself, and guides us along the straight and narrow path that divides them.

There's no preview available (yet), but I will bet the rules Peterson proposes will be much like the ones in his first book. It'll be things like "clean up your room", or "finish your peas", or "comb your hair, "or, (and this one will be a fun one), "wait 'til your father comes home." Of course, most snowflakes have daddy issues, anyway, so it'll really send them into orbit.

By the way, Peterson's first book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is going for $2.99 on Kindle. And I can see why it would make progressives weep and gnash their teeth. Like this rule:

Rule 7: Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

Because progressives are all about criticizing the world. Their own houses, not so much.

Who Dis:

(Last week's 'who dis' was A-list hottie Lana Turner

The Amazing Holiday $0.99 Book Sale

ÆtherCzar (moron author Hans Schantz) has the details:

Celebrate Thanksgiving Weekend by topping off your library. Select from over eighty titles each priced at $0.99, including more than a dozen that are absolutely free.

These appear to be mostly science fiction and fantasy books. Selected authors include authors like C.J. Carella, Larry Correia, Jon del Arroz, David Drake, Eric Flint, Declan Finn, Amie Gibbons, Sarah Hoyt, Daniel Humphreys, Tom Kratman, Andre Norton, Richard Paolinelli, John Ringo, Adam Lane Smith, David Weber, David J. West, Michael Z. Williamson, John C. Wright, and others.

More details at this link. Here's a direct link, thanks to commenter 'Ranten N. Raven'.

Moron Recommendations

One of our oldest and dearest friends e-mailed about The Warwolf: A Peasant Chronicle of the Thirty Years War. She told me:

A Christian friend here at work recommended this. I’m going to get it. You’re welcome to borrow it. He said it starts slow, then ropes you in. His friend recommended it, said everything you need to know about guerrilla warfare is in it. My friend said the main character’s struggles with what God would want vs. protecting his family were moving, agonizing.

So, let me see if I get the chain correct: I heard about The Warwolf from a friend who heard it from one of her friends who heard about it from his friend, so we're, like, 3 deep here. And now all of you morons are hearing about it from me, so you're fourth in line. That's pretty dodgy, even for the book thread. But even so, it does sound like it might be an interesting read:

Originally published in 1910 and still in print in Germany, The Warwolf is available for first time in English.

The Thirty Years War, fought between 1618 and 1648, was a ruthless struggle for political and religious control of central Europe. Engulfing most of present-day Germany, the war claimed at least ten million lives. The lengthy conflict was particularly hard on the general population, as thousands of undisciplined mercenaries serving Sweden, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and various German principalities, robbed, murdered, and pillaged communities; disease spread out of control and starvation became commonplace. In The Warwolf, Hermann Löns's acclaimed historical novel, the tragedy and horrors of war in general, and these times in particular are revealed. The Warwolf, based on the author's careful research, traces the life of Harm Wulf, a land-owning peasant farmer of the northern German heath who realizes after witnessing the murder of neighbours and family at the hands of marauding troops that he has a choice between compromising his morals or succumbing to inevitable torture and death. Despite his desire for peace, Wulf decides to band with his fellow farmers and live like "wolves," fiercely protecting their isolated communities from all intruders. Löns's brilliant portrayal of the two sides faced by any person in a moral crisis—in Harm Wulf's case, whether to kill or be killed—continues to resonate.

I just can't imagine the scale of this kind of war.

The Kindle edition is $10.49.

___________

A recommendation via e-mail:

I finished The Changewinds last night--when I want to read, I READ! (roughly 200+ pages in a single evening) Great ending, more than makes up for the minor flaws within the story otherwise. Has that ever been a topic for discussion? How much are readers willing to forgive in an otherwise "meh" story if the ending/payoff at the end is off the charts amazing? We already know what happens when a good story is derailed by terrible endings (see: the Star Wars sequels and the last season or so of Game of Thrones).

Also, Jack L. Chalker manages to be both timelessly relevant and extremely dated. He starts and ends the story at a shopping mall, the natural habitat of the 1980s white middle-class teenager, but the overall conflict is about the age-old balance between order and chaos. Great stuff. Not too many authors can do this successfully.

It's a Baen Book, but available only in paperback. The Amazon blurb tells you pretty much nothing, other than the author's name, Jack L. Chalker.

Although it's not his best work, I have yet to find a Chalker series I didn't enjoy on some level. The premise is that changewinds with the power to alter reality on a fundamental level periodically sweep through the multiverse with no rhyme or reason. Anyone or anything caught in the path is changed forever, leading to bizarre creatures and environments. A group of powerful sorcerers are seeking to control the winds through the Storm Princess, the one being in all reality who *might* be able to actually control the changewinds. Naturally, not all sorcerers have the same goals in mind.

If you are not familiar with Jack L. Chalker, the defining characteristic in pretty much all of his works is people get transformed into other genders/species at some point. Depending on the work, they might be transformed multiple times (sometimes within the same chapter!). It's one of his most common themes, but he pulls it off pretty well. If you like 80s-90s era science fiction, I'd definitely give him a shot.

If you want to give your money directly to Baen, the price is $15.00 for the paperback.

___________

146 I've been reading William Freehling's two volumes Secessionists At Bay and Secessionists Triumphant, a very long and detailed history of the South before the Civil War.

We tend to think of the antebellum South as a monolithic entity, but there were many Souths: a Border South, and Upper South and a Lower South, as well as an Eastern South and a Western South. The tensions among these and their attitudes toward slavery are almost as striking as the conflicts between the North and the South as a whole.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at November 08, 2020 09:49 AM (mht8P)

The Amazon blurbs are way too long for me to even to begin to figure out how to pare them down, so you can read them for yourself at these links:

The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854: Volume I

The Road to Disunion: Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854-1861

The Kindle edition of each book is available for $9.99.

Freehling has another book about the South that might be of interest, The South Vs. The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War:

Why did the Confederacy lose the Civil War? Most historians point to the larger number of Union troops, for example, or the North's greater industrial might. Now, in The South Vs. the South, one of America's leading authorities on the Civil War era offers an entirely new answer to this question.

William Freehling argues that anti-Confederate Southerners--specifically, border state whites and southern blacks--helped cost the Confederacy the war. White men in such border states as Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, Freehling points out, were divided in their loyalties--but far more joined the Union army (or simply stayed home) than marched off in Confederate gray. If they had enlisted as rebel troops in the same proportion as white men did farther south, their numbers would have offset all the Confederate casualties during four years of war...

Also $9.99.

___________

Books By Morons

Long-time lurker Alma Boykin has just published the 16th installment of her Familiar Tales urban fantasy series, Knowingly Familiar:

A Mesopotamian curse sends ripples through the magical community of Riverton. Mages André and Lelia Lestrang find themselves fighting ghosts from their past. The battle draws them closer to Master Saldovado and the clans, closer perhaps than Lelia's heart dares to go. How long before Patrick Lee and Riverton's other magic users demand answers about the clans? The Familiars are keeping the secret. For now.

But breaking ancient spells comes easily for shadow mages. Juggling parenthood, budgets, car repairs, school schedules, and a six-year-old daughter's desire for a pet unicorn? (Or a house dragon, preferably pastel pink.) That's difficult!

Available on Kindle for $3.99.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 hiya

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:01 AM (arJlL)

2 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:01 AM (9sWOw)

3 Before I get to the content, might I request that the various email addresses for the cobs go on the sidebar? I can find only JJ's. Right now, I'm looking for the pet thread.

Now to da boox.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:02 AM (7X3UV)

4 Who Dis is Jack Lemmon.

Notra Dame?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 09:02 AM (PiwSw)

5 We tend to think of the antebellum South as a monolithic entity
_________

That is an error we all fall into, and we all should know better. As the squirrel said to the moose, "That trick NEVER works."

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:04 AM (7X3UV)

6 Betty Grable !

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 09:06 AM (zr5Kq)

7 Who Dis: Gloria Swanson?

Posted by: Pebbles at November 29, 2020 09:06 AM (TBe7S)

8 Who dis Gloria Swanson?

Posted by: beatgirl at November 29, 2020 09:06 AM (a1s18)

9 OK, with comments open, I see the link. Duh.

Still, should be on the front page.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:08 AM (7X3UV)

10 I tried to read a new Dev Haskell novel by Mike Faircy but it was all whuflu, masking, social distancing, dead line up in walkin freezer.

Todays FOAD List:

Mike Faricy

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 09:08 AM (JFO2v)

11 Gloria Swanson.

Posted by: Tuna at November 29, 2020 09:08 AM (gLRfa)

12 Who dis is Elmo Lincoln

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:08 AM (arJlL)

13 Yes, it is that Kresge.
The K-Mart School of Law!
Don't laugh -- they took over Sears!

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at November 29, 2020 09:09 AM (zMFmR)

14 beatgirl-

Who beat you ?

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:09 AM (arJlL)

15 shithole state

Illinois has announced $2 billion more in additional borrowing from the Federal Reserve Banks Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF).

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 09:11 AM (JFO2v)

16 I'm working my way through Antifragile by Nicholas Taleb. He believes artificial stability, or stability imposed from the top down is bad for long-term stability.
The book has me thinking.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at November 29, 2020 09:11 AM (lgiXo)

17 Wanted to finish Peter Wilson's The Thirty Years War by Thanksgiving, not bad finished it Saturday.
Found it not as I always heard a religious war and more a land grab by Nobility. And quite scattered in combat as belligerents jumped in and out as the years dragged on. Also seems army's once formed became a force that had to be used and sucked life out of where the happened to be.
It might have caused a %20 loss of life in Germany and surrounding areas but not evenly. Main cause was plagues that were a big cause of loss of life as much as combat and it's effects.
Two items I think are interesting, one the town of Werl cleared it's 30 years war debt in 1897, though many did sooner but still took many years.
Second a good wrap up in the last 100 pages found this
Pope Urban VIII excommunicated Florentine public health officials who banned religious assemblies to try and stop plague conditions.
The Black Death certainly had a high death rate once infected more than the Wuhan flu.

And started Sharpe's Trafalgar from Bernard Cornwall and once started couldn't put it down. Won't take 2 months to read it

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:12 AM (9sWOw)

18 Bruce Catton's The Coming Fury goes into a lot of detail about the politics that led to secession.

The Democrats were the only truly national party in 1860 but splintered over slavery, which gave the Republicans their opportunity.

Lincoln's nomination was also significant insofar as it showed the growing electoral importance of the Old Northwest - Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, etc.

Interestingly, the Democrats at the time called their party The Democracy, because unlike the Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, etc., it was much more broadly-based.

I can't remember who it was, but some wag recently observed that Trump is duplicating Andrew Jackson's feat of creating a new electoral coalition, forcing the opposition into essentially becoming a regional party of the entrenched elites.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

19 I just can't imagine the scale of this kind of war.
__________

While it was worse than most, the 30YW wasn't all that out of line with most wars. What was was the following European standard, almost 150 years of relatively well-behaved and comparatively clean warfare. Admittedly, "civil" wars were worse (into which our Revolution somewhat fits, though not entirely.)

Then the Froggies changed that.

One of the very few generalizations I will make about history is that rules of war can work only among culturally similar opponents. You start fighting people you cannot understand, and who don't understand you, and things will get nasty real fast.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:12 AM (7X3UV)

20 7 Who Dis: Gloria Swanson?

Posted by: Pebbles at November 29, 2020 09:06 AM (TBe7S)

You are correct!

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 09:13 AM (lkGaW)

21 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to read the world famous Ace Of Spades Sunday Book Thread.

Posted by: Lurky Turkey at November 29, 2020 09:13 AM (9G1TO)

22 Ha! It's my nic IRL. I'm a record collector.
Got tired of trying to come up with a clever nic.

Posted by: Beatgirl at November 29, 2020 09:13 AM (a1s18)

23 I recall when daughter number two graduated from high school, her college counselor (with whom she was buddies) gave her a copy of Atlas Shrugged. At the time he fancied himself a lefty libertarian, so I think he was drawn to the book by the anti-statist themes, but nowadays he is a full on totalitarian lefty. This guys ideological travelogue describes (for part of us) where we are as a country.

Of course, he maybe never read the book, and was just ignorant, so I might be imagining the whole thing.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 09:14 AM (szqvX)

24 I finished Lord Jim last week, and continued my rediscovery of Joseph Conrad by reading "Typhoon," which is a great short story not just because of the tension caused by the storm, but by the fascinating characters. I don't think anyone but Conrad could made a dim-witted captain so fascinating.

I've got much of his works, but I need to add Almayer's Folly to my collection. Perhaps I'll find it under the Christmas Tree!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 09:14 AM (cfSRQ)

25 Chalker is an interesting one for sure. Usually pretty entertaining, but the gender and species changes do get to be a bit much. For me, it's the fact that, in the dozen or so Chalker books I read, not a single character objected to a change. Everyone seemed to take it completely in stride and even be enthusiastic, and I'm talking significant changes, like into an amphibian (intelligent) species. I find it hard to believe that the average straight human male is going to be totally A-OK with becoming an amphibian female and laying eggs.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at November 29, 2020 09:14 AM (rWZ8Y)

26 Petmorons at gmail dot com

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 29, 2020 09:15 AM (EZebt)

27 Watching F-1, car hit wall in beginning and blew up literally, Hass car

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:15 AM (9sWOw)

28 Good morning y'all!

Posted by: tbodie at November 29, 2020 09:16 AM (NstOx)

29 22 Ha! It's my nic IRL. I'm a record collector.
Got tired of trying to come up with a clever nic.
Posted by: Beatgirl at November 29, 2020 09:13 AM (a1s1

Then you need this!

https://www.amazon.com/Beat-Torn-Spongetones/dp/B00LG7FBZK

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 09:16 AM (PiwSw)

30 Yes, a Democrat that was losing by 28,000 votes in a district race (i.e. thats a huge margin) has now claimed victory by 13 votes because a Democrat judge stepped in and put his stamp of approval on enough rejected ballots to make it happen.

Stats:
Pop 697,372
Voters 420,000 (Im guessing 60%)
So 28000 / 400000=0.07

So a Judge throws out 7% of all votes!

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 09:16 AM (JFO2v)

31 One thing I've seen here, but only this week have experienced, is the sudden loss of ability to read with concentration.

I don't like it. Not one bit. I started Donald Atwell Zoll's The Twentieth Century Mind, and can go only a few pages at a time. As best as I can say, it's a mix of genuine insights (it's from 1966), plausible arguments, and some howlers. But I'm not confident of my judgment just now.

He was a trad of the 60s. Not remembered today. But, like so many such, not really on any reservation. Which is why I bought the book, and read it about 50 years ago. The best of the lot was Weaver, the most interesting, Kendall. But they were, even then, my people.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:16 AM (7X3UV)

32 27 Grosjean is out of car

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:18 AM (9sWOw)

33 Ha! It's my nic IRL. I'm a record collector.
Got tired of trying to come up with a clever nic.
Posted by: Beatgirl

(Extends covid - free grubhook)

Glad to know ya

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:18 AM (arJlL)

34 For those who want to know a little more about Conrad, there's a neat book I just bought called Conrad's Eastern World that combs through his maritime career in the Far East to show where he got his inspiration for the various tales.

Author Norman Sherry actually wrote to the descendants of some of the people Conrad's stories were based on, so it's a deep dive into essentially a vanished civilization, where steam and sail coexisted. Neat (and very detailed) stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 09:19 AM (cfSRQ)

35 The K-Mart School of Law!
Don't laugh -- they took over Sears!

---

Yeah, how's that working out for them?

Posted by: Pete Seria at November 29, 2020 09:20 AM (7ZQe3)

36 At the urging of the Amish guys working on my bathroom, I have picked up my mother's old copy of 'Es Nei Teshtament' and am fighting my way through it. My PA Dutch dialect understanding is now very weak but I am contemplating the verse now as it has slowed down my reading instead of racing through it.

Posted by: Tonypete at November 29, 2020 09:20 AM (Rvt88)

37 Those pants... I'd rather be pantsless. In public.

Last week, I mentioned reading Farnham's Freehold, by Heinlein (1964), when I shorthandededly said it foreshadowed SIASL; someone whined about the abbreviation. But if you have read Heinlein, you would know that stands for

Stranger In A Strange Land. A seminal Heinlein work, in that Morons either hate it or love it. It's a Ginger vs Mary Ann book. A George Carlin performance.

This week, I'm reading Planet Of The Damned by Harry Harrison (1962). It postdates the first Deathworld novel (1960), but I think the Deathworld trilogy is more entertaining, in that the trilogy more firmly explores the idea of Earth as one badass place to evolve in.

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser(Oohhh)
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger(Oh)
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together (Ooh)
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser(Got to Be Bad, Got To Be Bold)

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2020 09:21 AM (F0YaR)

38 At the urging of the Amish guys working on my bathroom, I have picked up my mother's old copy of 'Es Nei Teshtament' and am fighting my way through it. My PA Dutch dialect understanding is now very weak but I am contemplating the verse now as it has slowed down my reading instead of racing through it.
Posted by: Tonypete

The Math Thread taught you that you could tolerate anything, eh ?

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:23 AM (arJlL)

39 ho lee fuck F1

Armco barriers kill! That barrier at a bad place and angle. NASCAR got rid of most of those 10 years ago!!

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 09:24 AM (JFO2v)

40 Tonypete I have a book over a hundred years old, it has both German and English version in same book. Haven't looked at it in over 10 years I think. Should pull it out and see.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:24 AM (9sWOw)

41 I suppose you don't think of a national government willing to fight for the institution of slavery as "libertarian," but internal debate in the confederacy often held that their confederation was unwilling, on moral grounds, to do some things necessary for a nation to make war. They were weak on takings, weak on tax theory, weak on eminent domain, and with one or two exceptions, always erred on the side of individual liberty. This crippled their ability to exert strong military control, and strong military funding, giving the Union some big natural advantages. Isn't that just about what you would have expected?

Recently, as an attempt has got itself together to represent the old south as Hitler incarnate, school teachers have gotten out of touch with the old notions. They're likely to say any damned thing. If they hear of something that's bad in human history, they will be sure to attribute that to the side they don't approve of.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at November 29, 2020 09:24 AM (zMFmR)

42 Those pants... I'd rather be pantsless. In public.

They'd be good shoplifting pants.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:24 AM (arJlL)

43 I can certainly attest to Ayn Rand being a gateway drug..

* Raises hand slowly *

Posted by: Thomas Bender at November 29, 2020 09:25 AM (U8yWc)

44 "The Kresge Law Library holds more than 420,000 print volumes of legal texts, along with digital access to millions of journal articles, cases and other documents through our numerous digital database subscriptions. But perhaps what the Law Library is most known for is its grand Reading Room, which awes with its two-story open archways and third floor wrap-around balcony."

The Kresge Foundation is now one of the more liberal foundations out there. Presumably, this happened in spite of the conservatism of its founder - a committed Prohibitionist.

Notre Dame is now one of the more liberal institutions out there. Presumably, this happened in spite of the conservatism of its founders, as well.

Proof of Robert Conquest's Second Law of Politics.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at November 29, 2020 09:25 AM (4tiP2)

45 17 ...
It might have caused a %20 loss of life in Germany and surrounding areas but not evenly. Main cause was plagues that were a big cause of loss of life as much as combat and it's effects.
...
Second a good wrap up in the last 100 pages found this
Pope Urban VIII excommunicated Florentine public health officials who banned religious assemblies to try and stop plague conditions.
The Black Death certainly had a high death rate once infected more than the Wuhan flu.

And started Sharpe's Trafalgar from Bernard Cornwall and once started couldn't put it down. Won't take 2 months to read it
Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:12 AM (9sWOw)
________

People forget that there were 17th C plagues before Pepys wrote about them. In the book I've put aside on Charles I's Personal Rule, it cites some. In some places, the measures seem almost as stringent as ours, though not so well enforced.

One thing that comes out is how much of the reaction was local in nature. I think we tend to forget just how little "centralized government" really meant before electronic communication made it actually possible. Most of what was done in England was at the city level.

I suspect that reflects on what I've always seen as a flaw in our founding. I mean the fact that the states have despotic power over their subordinate local governments. I've always attributed this to the circumstances that we are a union of states. They made it.

But another side may simply be that it wouldn't have occurred to people then that someone like Cuomo or Newsome ever could expect his commands to reach where they do today. Even Czars, much as they might claim, just couldn't exert the kind of power any tinpot governor today has.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:26 AM (7X3UV)

46 I'm reading Brian Kilmeade's "Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates".Politicians have always been squishy.
Thanks for Spongetones, Shadout Mapes.

Posted by: Beatgirl at November 29, 2020 09:26 AM (a1s18)

47 At the urging of the Amish guys working on my bathroom, I have picked up my mother's old copy of 'Es Nei Teshtament' and am fighting my way through it. My PA Dutch dialect understanding is now very weak but I am contemplating the verse now as it has slowed down my reading instead of racing through it.
Posted by: Tonypete

The Math Thread taught you that you could tolerate anything, eh ?
Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:23 AM (arJlL)

LOL !

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 09:26 AM (zr5Kq)

48 I read The Mirror and the Light, the third book in the Thomas Cromwell trilogy, by Hilary Mantel. Cromwell continues as Henry VIII's chief counselor and assumes additional duties as Privy Seal, and is made a lord and an earl. When Henry's third wife, Jane Seymore, dies shortly giving him a son, Edward, Cromwell must find Henry another wife.

The search and negotiations end with Henry's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves. This leads to Cromwell's downfall. In the political chess game of the time, a lowly pawn, no matter how highly elevated, is no match for a king, his knights, and his bishops. Cromwell is brought to The Tower of London to await his execution.

I think the best writing of this excellent trilogy is in the last few chapters describing Cromwell's thinking and musings as he faces his certain death. The other books in the trilogy are Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies.

Posted by: Zoltan at November 29, 2020 09:26 AM (qb8uZ)

49 I was at the supermarket this morning, and you know those mo-ped dealies that are supposed to be for handicapped people ?

D'ya think the inventor of those envisioned the YUGE ass-flaps hanging over the sides of the seat ?

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:27 AM (arJlL)

50 While it was worse than most, the 30YW wasn't all
that out of line with most wars. What was was the following European
standard, almost 150 years of relatively well-behaved and comparatively
clean warfare. Admittedly, "civil" wars were worse (into which our
Revolution somewhat fits, though not entirely.)

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:12 AM (7X3UV)

---
It was a combination of the scale and the duration that made the war so devastating.

If you look at the Hundred Years' War, you had similar episodes of pillage, but it was highly localized. A chevauchee would bring ruin over hundreds of miles, but the frontage was a mile or less because the armies were so small.

Germany truly became the 'cockpit of Europe' with fresh troops and funds keeping the war going. The Hapsburgs pretty much had the Protestants on the ropes and then the Swedes got in, followed by the French, which in turn requires more Spanish gold.

That book's publication in 1910 demonstrated how much that trauma of being pushed around shaped German psychology.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 09:27 AM (cfSRQ)

51 "Changewinds" isn't a bad tale -- it starts from a fairly original premise -- but Chalker's obsession with sex and sexual variations can become cloying. His other series that I've read, the "Flux and Anchor" books, are very much in that vein as well.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at November 29, 2020 09:28 AM (z/nZY)

52 I finished a book this week that was recommended by a commenter on another blog, Peace Like a River by Leif Eiger. It started out ok about a family in early 60s Minnesota with a weird father who occasionally performs miracles from out of nowhere, raising his three children by himself after his wife skedaddled when he was transported by a tornado to a house miles away and gave up a promising medical career to be an elementary school janitor. Anyway the oldest son (the book is narrated by the middle child, Reuben) kills two local thugs who terrorized the family as well as most of the town and his trial isn't going well so he escapes.

The rest of the book is about the family trying to find him and it gets more interesting from that point on, particularly after they meet a woman in North Dakota, Roxanna Cawley, who is one of those characters you just want to find out more about and so I dropped all other books until I finished it and ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

I won't drop any spoilers in case anyone is interested enough but wanted to know if anyone else here has read it?

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:28 AM (y7DUB)

53 They taught "The Fountainhead" in my high school English class. It was torture.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 29, 2020 09:29 AM (EZebt)

54 booken morgen horden

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 09:29 AM (nUhF0)

55 Even Czars, much as they might claim, just couldn't exert the kind of power any tinpot governor today has.
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:26 AM (7X3UV)

Look at the quote unquote County Judges in Texas that rule with a iron fist over their subjects.

Fuck Hildago

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 09:29 AM (JFO2v)

56 Morning.

Ayn Rand was right.

Posted by: Robert at November 29, 2020 09:30 AM (OZNee)

57 I won't drop any spoilers in case anyone is interested enough but wanted to know if anyone else here has read it?
Posted by: Captain Hate

(Raises hand)

I haven't.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:30 AM (arJlL)

58 Good morning hordelings. Well, it's come to this. I'm reduced to coloring books. No - really. My son bought me some of those fancy coloring books you see at Hobby Lobby. He thought they would relax me and help with my anxiety disorder. They have just the opposite effect. My hands shake so badly, I can not pick up a pencil and draw. I am scared he will come over and see a bunch of blank pages. So I have Rev do a page every night when he watches TV. He's getting pretty good at it.

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:31 AM (gm3d+)

59 I can certainly attest to Ayn Rand being a gateway drug..

* Raises hand slowly *

Posted by: Thomas Bender at November 29, 2020 09:25 AM (U8yWc)

Meh. My hand readily pops up. If you can't trust the mistrust of a former resident of the USSR, grateful to be out from under their thumb, well

I present Barack Obama. Him, you can trust.

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2020 09:31 AM (F0YaR)

60 I'm reading Larry Correia's "Target Rich Environment" which is an anthology. I need some mindless fluff to distract me from reality.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 29, 2020 09:31 AM (UUBmN)

61 Hiya Morgen !

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:31 AM (arJlL)

62 captain Hate-

All kidding aside, it sounds interesting.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:32 AM (arJlL)

63 Oh, and thanks to the Moron who put the list of corrections up for Long Live Death.

I was already making up a list of my own, so I added them and uploaded it earlier in the week. I'm sure I missed some stuff, but it should be a cleaner read now.

One thing I'm finding is that sometimes I use the same word combination. Only careful reading will pick that out, and you have to be reading it straight through, because the repetition may not be immediate, but two paragraphs above.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

64 Even if it's these pants ...

____________

Break it down! Stop, Yammer time!

You can't touch this ...

Posted by: ShainS at November 29, 2020 09:34 AM (WqPYg)

65 Grammie, is he one of those "stay-inside-the-lines" types?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 29, 2020 09:35 AM (EZebt)

66 Carter Page is on F&F this morning and has a book out called Abuse and Power. He is talking about his lawsuit. I hope he takes the people he's suing to the cleaners.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:35 AM (NpAcC)

67 34 For those who want to know a little more about Conrad, there's a neat book I just bought called Conrad's Eastern World that combs through his maritime career in the Far East to show where he got his inspiration for the various tales.

Author Norman Sherry actually wrote to the descendants of some of the people Conrad's stories were based on, so it's a deep dive into essentially a vanished civilization, where steam and sail coexisted. Neat (and very detailed) stuff.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 09:19 AM (cfSRQ)
_________

The last sailing warships of the RN were the sloops and gunboats stationed in the East Indies and the Pacific. They lost their sails only a few years before WWI. A few of them survived to fight in the war, against the Turks in Iraq. And a few were put back in service to support the army from Dover, until newer ships replaced them.

We didn't really need them so much, until we got the Philippines, just at the time they were going out of style.

This doesn't include training and surveying ships, which still were often sail.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:36 AM (7X3UV)

68 Good morning hordelings. Well, it's come to this. I'm reduced to coloring books. No - really. My son bought me some of those fancy coloring books you see at Hobby Lobby. He thought they would relax me and help with my anxiety disorder. They have just the opposite effect. My hands shake so badly, I can not pick up a pencil and draw. I am scared he will come over and see a bunch of blank pages. So I have Rev do a page every night when he watches TV. He's getting pretty good at it.
Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:31 AM (gm3d+)

I just prayed for you.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at November 29, 2020 09:36 AM (lgiXo)

69 Grammie, is he one of those "stay-inside-the-lines" types?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 29, 2020 09:35 AM (EZebt)

Yes. He has OCD. We make a lovely pair.

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:37 AM (gm3d+)

70 Who Dis:

Joe Kennedy's side action.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 09:37 AM (PneBv)

71 Hiya Grammie !

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:37 AM (arJlL)

72 Thank you Northernlurker. I need it. Thanks again.

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:38 AM (gm3d+)

73 Hiya JT!

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:38 AM (gm3d+)

74 I recall when daughter number two graduated from high school, her college counselor (with whom she was buddies) gave her a copy of Atlas Shrugged. At the time he fancied himself a lefty libertarian, so I think he was drawn to the book by the anti-statist themes, but nowadays he is a full on totalitarian lefty. This guys ideological travelogue describes (for part of us) where we are as a country.

Of course, he maybe never read the book, and was just ignorant, so I might be imagining the whole thing.
Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 09:14 AM (szqvX)

A lot of progs inexplicably, at least to me at the time, were fascinated by Rand's books. I think the draw for them was that her works of fiction are polemics with the characters being stick figures with little ambiguity or development, which corresponds to their orderly imaginary utopia even if the characters are for freedom.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:38 AM (y7DUB)

75 Even Czars, much as they might claim, just couldn't exert the kind of power any tinpot governor today has.
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:26 AM (7X3UV)

Look at the quote unquote County Judges in Texas that rule with a iron fist over their subjects.

Fuck Hildago
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 09:29 AM (JFO2v)
*************
.......and the stupid people that voted for her.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:38 AM (NpAcC)

76 I'm still slogging my way through the audio book of Kagan's The Peloponnesian War but it's almost done. The Athenians have lost, but they don't seem to realize it, yet. I'm reading the eBook of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and, um, I can see why some people don't like it. The fact of the matter is, I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

I read Chalker's Changewinds books years ago, but while I remember the premise, I don't remember the ending, so I guess my mileage varies. As an aside, back in the day Jack Chalker was someone who would admit he knew who I was.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 09:40 AM (qDSku)

77 Melanie Trump in talks about writing a memoir.
Trump also in talks about a 100 million dollar book deal.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:41 AM (NpAcC)

78 Howdy JT! Off to supermarket. Catch ya on the food thread.

Posted by: Beatgirl at November 29, 2020 09:41 AM (a1s18)

79 41 ....

Recently, as an attempt has got itself together to represent the old south as Hitler incarnate, school teachers have gotten out of touch with the old notions. They're likely to say any damned thing. If they hear of something that's bad in human history, they will be sure to attribute that to the side they don't approve of.
Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at November 29, 2020 09:24 AM (zMFmR)
__________

Though it may be at an all-time high, it's not exactly new. Marxists of course have done that all along. But frankly, the Whig tradition is close behind them. Macauley was like that throughout. And of course, earlier, there's Gibbon. And for that matter, Livy.

American versions of European (and other) history is warped by this, and Europeans talking of ours, unless sympathetic, are usually worse.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:42 AM (7X3UV)

80 Anyone who has actually listened to Jordan Peterson's lectures, for example the 12 rules tour (available for free as podcasts on his website) you would know that calling him a

" racist, a bigot, an alt-right white supremacist, and a
homophobe"

is the greatest misrepresentation you could make about him, outside of claiming that he is an amphibian.

If you don't want to read his book, 12 rules, you can get most of the information from his lectures, which are worth the 90 minutes each.

there is a couple of lectures on his website about The Gulag Archipelago and about Solzhenitsyn. If you get up feeling unhappy and insomniacal at 3am, you shouldn't listen to them then, they are truly heart breaking. If you do listen to them, listen all the way through. The hopeful parts come at the end.

However, Peterson is a wonderful lecturer, engaging, informative, and for all his meandering and sudden changes in direction, to the point and entertaining.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 09:42 AM (WyVLE)

81
So I have Rev do a page every night when he watches TV. He's getting pretty good at it.
Posted by: grammie winger

Are you having Rev do your homework?

Go ahead, color outside the lines! Tell your child that the lines are merely "suggestions".

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at November 29, 2020 09:42 AM (pNxlR)

82 Melanie Trump in talks about writing a memoir.
Trump also in talks about a 100 million dollar book deal.
Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:41 AM (NpAcC)

100 mil ? not enough. 500 mil.

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 09:42 AM (zr5Kq)

83 Go ahead, color outside the lines! Tell your child that the lines are merely "suggestions".

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at November 29, 2020 09:42 AM (pNxlR)

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:43 AM (gm3d+)

84 Woot! My recommendation (Changewinds) by Jack L. Chalker made the book thread. My life is now complete...pic of my library and a recommendation on the book thread as well as pics of my cats on the pet thread.
Currently re-reading the Dragonrealm series by Richard A. Knaak. One of the best exercises in world-building. Each book always adds just a little bit more detail to a rich and complex world. Plots and characters are also memorable, so overall the series gets a pretty solid A-.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at November 29, 2020 09:43 AM (hQrcu)

85 oh that cartoon at the end

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 09:44 AM (nUhF0)

86 77 Melanie Trump in talks about writing a memoir.
Trump also in talks about a 100 million dollar book deal.
Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:41 AM (NpAcC)

Da Fuq?

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

87 43
I can certainly attest to Ayn Rand being a gateway drug..

* Raises hand slowly *

Posted by: Thomas Bender at November 29, 2020 09:25 AM (U8yWc)

_________

I have this print (by Bosch Fawstin, the courageous "Draw Muhammad" contest winner back in 2015) hanging in our home's foyer:

https://tinyurl.com/yxastdbl

Posted by: ShainS at November 29, 2020 09:44 AM (WqPYg)

88 49 I was at the supermarket this morning, and you know those mo-ped dealies that are supposed to be for handicapped people ?

D'ya think the inventor of those envisioned the YUGE ass-flaps hanging over the sides of the seat ?

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:27 AM (arJlL)

Maybe you should lose some weight.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 09:45 AM (lkGaW)

89 I'm slogging through Frank Miller's "Ronin." For this we lost more Miller Daredevil comics? Turgid, with extremely scratchy art. Each chapter needs a reread just to understand the story. Disappointing.

***********

Question for all: My household has been purging the house of unwanted books. For the kids, that means juvenile fiction that they've outgrown.

I have yet to start. Among my holdings are several Hardy Boys books, the hardback with the blue spine. I accumulated them throughout grade school and early middle school.

My sons weren't interested in them, and if any grandchildren come along, the stories will be horribly outdated.

Should I get rid of them, either through trade-in or trash? I haven't cracked any of them for decades. Still, nostalgia is powerful.

As I approach 60, I look at more things with the mindset that I'm closer to the end of the road than the start and therefore should taper my acquisitions to ease the burden on the heirs. My folks, who are in their 80s, have so much stuff we won't be able to fit in the house, and I dread the eventual estate sale.

It's not just HB -- I own a lot of books! Problem 4 definitely applies to me.

Opinions will be appreciated.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 29, 2020 09:46 AM (83ScS)

90 I finished reading Pirate Latitudes by Michael Chricton, and it was VERY good.

The Kracken makes an appearance.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:46 AM (arJlL)

91 {{{grammie}}}

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 09:47 AM (PiwSw)

92 68Good morning hordelings. Well, it's come to this. I'm reduced to coloring books

Grammie,

Just wanted to share in case it helps. My sister was on anti anxiety medication. About a year ago she started exercising using a private trainer at first for a few weeks and then with online classes which she does every weekday from home. She doesnt follow any diet. Just uses portion control and doesnt eat past 8pm. She has lost 30 lbs and is off the med for anxiety. Feels great.

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 09:47 AM (zlaVZ)

93 51 "Changewinds" isn't a bad tale -- it starts from a fairly original
premise -- but Chalker's obsession with sex and sexual variations can
become cloying. His other series that I've read, the "Flux and Anchor"
books, are very much in that vein as well.Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at November 29, 2020 09:28 AM (z/nZY)
------Agreed that Changewinds is not Chalker at his best. I'd rate his Rings of the Master series or maybe the Quintara Marathon far more highly.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at November 29, 2020 09:47 AM (hQrcu)

94 I am currently reading The Murderers by W.E.B. Griffin, Badge of Honor novel and its pretty good.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:47 AM (arJlL)

95 I read Chalker's Changewinds books years ago, but while I remember the premise, I don't remember the ending, so I guess my mileage varies. As an aside, back in the day Jack Chalker was someone who would admit he knew who I was.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 09:40 AM (qDSku)

I like Chalker quite a bit, his WellWorld series being among my favorites, but for a standalone book, I like

And The Devil Will Drag You Under

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (F0YaR)

96 I recall when daughter number two graduated from high school, her college counselor (with whom she was buddies) gave her a copy of Atlas Shrugged. At the time he fancied himself a lefty libertarian, so I think he was drawn to the book by the anti-statist themes, but nowadays he is a full on totalitarian lefty. This guys ideological travelogue describes (for part of us) where we are as a country.

Of course, he maybe never read the book, and was just ignorant, so I might be imagining the whole thing.
Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 09:14 AM (szqvX)

A lot of progs inexplicably, at least to me at the time, were fascinated by Rand's books. I think the draw for them was that her works of fiction are polemics with the characters being stick figures with little ambiguity or development, which corresponds to their orderly imaginary utopia even if the characters are for freedom.
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:38 AM (y7DUB)
*************
And then there's Paul Ryan who use to give Atlas Shrugged to his staff for Christmas.
*shakes head.*

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (NpAcC)

97 >>>I'm still slogging my way through the audio book of Kagan's The Peloponnesian War but it's almost done.
================
I have not read this, but found V.D.Hanson's "A War Like No Other" gripping. Donald Kagen has written so many books on this period he is probably the expert, so maybe I'll try this one next.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (szqvX)

98 37 Those pants... I'd rather be pantsless. In public.

Last week, I mentioned reading Farnham's Freehold, by Heinlein (1964),

==
Iirc Farnham's Freehold predicts Alexa/Siri, the smart digital assistamt

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (nUhF0)

99 Working my way through a pile of books I picked up used and am now at Manhattan Noir, a collection of stories edited by Lawrence Block. A couple of the stories really stood out: The Laundry Room by John Lutz (about what happens when a mom finds blood stains on a shirt while she is doing laundry) and The Last Round by CJ Sullivan (about an over the hill boxer on a date) - all set in Manhattan.
This is a series of books set in different locations and this is one of the weakest that I have read, but I would check out these stories if you see them elsewhere.

Posted by: Charlotte at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (6Lsms)

100 53 They taught "The Fountainhead" in my high school English class. It was torture.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 29, 2020 09:29 AM (EZebt)
_______

That's what I thought. I gave up about half way through. One thing Rand convinced me of: I knew I was a conservative, and I knew I wasn't that kind. One of my closest friends was all in. Led to lots of fun argument between us, but no slackening of our common cause against the lefties. That no doubt has a lot to do with my constant insistence that we are not a single ideology; not even close. At best a constellation.

But my dislike of the novel wasn't about politics. As a libertarian friend of mine, who agreed, said "It's a problem when you hate the hero and hope he fails."

Oddly, there was a very leftwing girl in my class who just loved the book, and was shocked an horrified when she found out what Rand's politics really were.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (7X3UV)

101 She doesnt follow any diet. Just uses portion control

I read that as "she uses poison control"

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (arJlL)

102 Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85

Prowse died Saturday after a short illness, his agent Thomas Bowington said Sunday.

RIP David Prowse

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (PneBv)

103 As I do often reading military history do get sidetracked with maps and extra reading. Tried Lamations of Germany written in 1630s, it's something to decipher English hundreds of years ago,

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 09:50 AM (9sWOw)

104 So the publishers are negotiating a bribe for concession? We are so over.

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 09:50 AM (ONvIw)

105 my guess is progs are drawn to Ayn Rand' characters being better than the dumbass rest of the world
that's how they imagine themselves

the only Ayn Rand I like is We The Living
feels real

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 09:51 AM (nUhF0)

106 I read a scholarly history of the Thirty Years War, called "Christendom Destroyed." It was tough reading-- the historian explained that he used a "wide-angle lens," which means he wrote about EVERYTHING all at once-- political; scientific; cultural, etc.

The negotiations to end the war started 7 YEARS before the Peace of Westphalia finally ended it in 1648. The negotiations took so long, to some extent, because so many military organizations had acquired a 'vested interest' in the ongoing conflict. It was what they DID.

Shorthand version of the results: French hegemony replaced Spanish hegemony. The war was a 'home game' for the German states, and an 'away game' for everybody else. The Habsburgs did the most to get the war going, & they were the biggest losers 30 years later when it finally ended.

Posted by: mnw at November 29, 2020 09:51 AM (Cssks)

107 105 my guess is progs are drawn to Ayn Rand' characters being better than the dumbass rest of the world
that's how they imagine themselves

the only Ayn Rand I like is We The Living
feels real
Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 09:51 AM (nUhF0)

The villains of Atlas Shrugged are real, the heroes are not.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 09:52 AM (Zm+LZ)

108 Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 09:47 AM (zlaVZ)

Hi Floridachick! My daughter the nurse nazi is giving me similar advice, regardiing the exercise. She has a chart for me and everything. Maybe I should give it a look, however it seems to involve some type of physical exertion. Hmm.

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:52 AM (gm3d+)

109 Go ahead, color outside the lines! Tell your child that the lines are merely "suggestions".

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at November 29, 2020 09:42 AM (pNxlR)

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:43 AM (gm3d+)

Why not? That's how I drive.

Posted by: BignJames at November 29, 2020 09:52 AM (AwYPR)

110 The villains of Atlas Shrugged are real, the heroes are not.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 09:52 AM (Zm+LZ)

Not anymore. Now the big businessmen are techie libs and on the side of the villains.

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 09:53 AM (ONvIw)

111 I finally read 16 Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting. This is the author that wrote the interesting book on firewood. I wanted to check out his fiction. It's an interesting book and well written. The lead has a mystery in his life. His parents were killed at the Somme by stepping on an unexploded gas shell. He is raised by his grandfather. After his grandfather's death, circumstances lead him to try and sort out the mystery. I don't read a lot of fiction but I enjoyed this.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at November 29, 2020 09:53 AM (YynYJ)

112 Maria Bartiromo just said on F&F that she put out on Instagram that President Trump would speaking with her on her show. Her friend tried to forward it, but Instagram wouldn't allow it to be forwarded.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:53 AM (NpAcC)

113 once upon a time drugs and alcohol went hand-in-hand with reading Ayn Rand. I remember back umpty years when the thinking post-hippie chicks were into Fountainhead because it promised escape from "the system"

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 09:54 AM (WyVLE)

114 110 The villains of Atlas Shrugged are real, the heroes are not.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 09:52 AM (Zm+LZ)

Not anymore. Now the big businessmen are techie libs and on the side of the villains.
Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 09:53 AM (ONvIw)

Orren Boyle, James Taggart, Dr. Stadler.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 09:55 AM (Zm+LZ)

115 My hands shake so badly, I can not pick up a pencil and draw. I am scared he will come over and see a bunch of blank pages. So I have Rev do a page every night when he watches TV. He's getting pretty good at it.
Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:31 AM (gm3d+)

{{{{{{grammie}}}}}}

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 09:55 AM (nUhF0)

116 Joe Biden is proving that being Shameless is a superpower.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 09:56 AM (9TdxA)

117 Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 09:27 AM (arJlL)

Maybe you should lose some weight.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse
----
This gave me a good belly laugh!
Thanks, I needed it.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 29, 2020 09:56 AM (UUBmN)

118 Good morning. Sunday morning.
I'll tell you who gave me the Ayn Rand book: Mrs. Ziff (RIP), my 6th grade teach. She gave us all Ayn Rand (Anthem), and Fahrenheit 451 and a whole lot more anti-communist literature. Public school wasn't lost in 1978-'79.

Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 09:56 AM (LEMQm)

119 Greetings literate fappers and fappees.

So, let me see if I get the chain correct: I heard about The Warwolf from a friend who heard it from one of her friends who heard about it from his
friend, so we're, like, 3 deep here. And now all of you morons are
hearing about it from me, so you're fourth in line.

Prolly already been said, but two more people and we will have achieved Kevin Bacon.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #BidenCheated at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (HaL55)

120 Orren Boyle, James Taggart, Dr. Stadler.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 09:55 AM (Zm+LZ)

So who in today's big business is a "good guy"? They're all wannabe slavers.

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (ONvIw)

121 I heard about The Warwolf from a friend who heard it from one of her friends who heard about it from his friend, so we're, like, 3 deep here. And now all of you morons are hearing about it from me, so you're fourth in line.

*********

Quick!! Somebody tell Kevin Bacon!

Posted by: Nosmo King at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (m45I2)

122 Just about finished "Hymns of the Republic: the Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War", by S. C. Gwynne. Picked it up after reading "Empire of the Summer Moon." He's rapidly becoming one of my favorite historian authors. Packs a lot of information into an extremely readable narrative.

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (CUfHx)

123 And then there's Paul Ryan who use to give Atlas Shrugged to his staff for Christmas.
*shakes head.*
Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (NpAcC)

The question about Paul Ryan is was he ever a well intentioned conservative who got twisted by the Uniparty, maybe while sitting on Barney's frank learning how to keep the grift going by avoiding a real budget, or was he always a sneaky lying prick who played everyone before revealing his true nature.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

124 Maria Bartiromo just said on FF that she put
out on Instagram that President Trump would speaking with her on her
show. Her friend tried to forward it, but Instagram wouldn't allow it to
be forwarded.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:53 AM (NpAcC)

Can't share any doubleplus ungood think comrade.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 09:58 AM (PneBv)

125 Grammie,

I actually signed up for the same online program my sister is using. I found it affordable and why not? I am starting with the easiest least complicated classes: the ones that come as close as possible to mimic a slow walk!

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 09:59 AM (zlaVZ)

126 The question about Paul Ryan is was he ever a well
intentioned conservative who got twisted by the Uniparty, maybe while
sitting on Barney's frank learning how to keep the grift going by
avoiding a real budget, or was he always a sneaky lying prick who played
everyone before revealing his true nature.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

At least through his first two terms, I think he was the real deal.

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:59 AM (gm3d+)

127 @123 I suppose it was mostly the former at first. Like I believe Hillary and Obama actually believed in their causes until they went to the Dark Side.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:00 AM (9TdxA)

128 the ones that come as close as possible to mimic a slow walk!

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 09:59 AM (zlaVZ)

Do they have a program where someone pushes you around in a LazyBoy?

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 10:01 AM (gm3d+)

129 Oddly, there was a very leftwing girl in my class who just loved the book, and was shocked an horrified when she found out what Rand's politics really were.
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (7X3UV)

Lots of libs thought Animal Farm was written in anticipation of Drumpf. Where do you start?

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:02 AM (y7DUB)

130 120 Orren Boyle, James Taggart, Dr. Stadler.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 09:55 AM (Zm+LZ)

So who in today's big business is a "good guy"? They're all wannabe slavers.
Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (ONvIw)

I said the heroes AREN'T real. The villains are.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:03 AM (Zm+LZ)

131 FBI demanding that people submit voter fraud evidence to them (so that they can destroy it, no doubt). Better keep your originals or the evidence will never see the light of day.

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 10:03 AM (ONvIw)

132 That Deplorable SOB Van Owen

Hey !

How goes it ?

Good to see your nic !

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 10:03 AM (arJlL)

133 And then there's Paul Ryan who use to give Atlas Shrugged to his staff for Christmas.

*shakes head.*

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (NpAcC)

---
That's perfectly consistent with his prickish attitude.

"Merry Christmas! Enjoy this badly-written doorstop that you will now feel pressured to read."

Rand could have made her point in far fewer words. I found the book too obnoxious to finish. Compare her to Orwell.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 10:03 AM (cfSRQ)

134 So who in today's big business is a "good guy"? They're all wannabe slavers.
Posted by: NYC and Philly
---
Maybe Elon Musk telling California lolgf and picking up and moving his operations to Texas.
Donald Trump and his sons for sure.
The My Pillow guy.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 29, 2020 10:04 AM (UUBmN)

135 Do they have a program where someone pushes you around in a LazyBoy?
Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 10:01 AM (gm3d+)

get shake-weights
the trembling will give you extra workout points!

/horde-advice

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 10:04 AM (nUhF0)

136 Maybe Elon Musk telling California lolgf and picking up and moving his operations to Texas.
Donald Trump and his sons for sure.
The My Pillow guy.
Posted by: lin-duh at November 29, 2020 10:04 AM (UUBmN

Maybe. Imagine the Elongated Muskrat as a hero? Difficult

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 10:04 AM (ONvIw)

137 get shake-weights

the trembling will give you extra workout points!

/horde-advice

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 10:04 AM (nUhF0)

That made me laugh, vmom

Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 10:05 AM (gm3d+)

138 Over the holiday I noticed one in my family was reading OBrian's "The Golden Ocean" a novel treatment of George Anson's circumnavigation of the globe. For my money, the Aubrey-Maturin series is as good as modern novels get and I found this one a pale version of those books, but still a pretty fair read. Anyway, for those O'Brian fans out there it is something to look for at the library.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 10:05 AM (szqvX)

139 I loved Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Long, Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul, not so much.

Posted by: Robert at November 29, 2020 10:05 AM (3yNWb)

140 The question about Paul Ryan is was he ever a well
intentioned conservative who got twisted by the Uniparty, maybe while
sitting on Barney's frank learning how to keep the grift going by
avoiding a real budget, or was he always a sneaky lying prick who played
everyone before revealing his true nature.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

---
To ask the question is to answer it.

Guy claimed he didn't want to be Speaker.

Ends up Speaker.

Guy writes "fiscal road map" when government is divided.

Government is unified, so he ignores his own plan.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 10:05 AM (cfSRQ)

141 Ayn Rand's philosophy is an excuse to be a selfish Nietzschean monad. That is all

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:06 AM (9TdxA)

142 Nothing much this week - skimming a couple of reference books; Paris in the Occupation during WWII, the Australian home front, another about American military nurses ...
I'll be in Miss Ruby's Author Corral on Saturday the 5th in Beautiful Downtown Goliad, if any Texas 'rons and ronettes want to make the trip here to Christmas on the Square. (Yay! things are getting back to normal in Texas!) I'll have print copies of the first two Luna City compendiums and an assortment of my other books as well. Drop by and say 'howdy!'

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at November 29, 2020 10:06 AM (xnmPy)

143 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Late to the thread. Overslept, had errands to do, the dog ate my homework, the usual reasons.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 10:06 AM (7EjX1)

144 At least through his first two terms, I think he was the real deal.
Posted by: grammie winger at November 29, 2020 09:59 AM (gm3d+)

You're probably right; Levin has commented on how he used to enjoy having him on his show until he started doing anti conservative things.

At some point you have to wonder how deep the commitment is if you can be turned relatively quickly.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:07 AM (y7DUB)

145 @127 from the dark side of their cause(s) to the Dark Side of old-fashioned greed and graft?

Posted by: yara at November 29, 2020 10:07 AM (rde8g)

146
Yes, it is that Kresge.
The K-Mart School of Law!
Don't laugh -- they took over Sears!

I was going to comment the same comment. There was a Kresge store in downtown Mobile. Memorable for this Boy because they were one of the few with air conditioning in the summer.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #BidenCheated at November 29, 2020 10:07 AM (HaL55)

147 Gloria Swanson...and I'm always too late to the Book Thread to make the first call on Who Dis!

Posted by: Lady in Black at November 29, 2020 10:08 AM (O+I8R)

148 I have 0 faith in the FBI as well, we might be sunk if the only law enforcement agency who could handle a coup d'etat this large is the one trying to sweep it under the rug.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 10:08 AM (9sWOw)

149 At some point you have to wonder how deep the commitment is if you can be turned relatively quickly.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:07 AM (y7DUB)

Depends on the $ize of the grift.

Posted by: BignJames at November 29, 2020 10:08 AM (AwYPR)

150 liberalistism!!

Hey #UT23! Do you wanna be famous? If you join YCT [Young Conservatives of Texas] or Turning Point USA, you just might be. Your name and more could end up on an article like one of these,

Autonomous Student Network in Austin, Texas threatens incoming kids. Members of ASN will soon be doxxing each other over some trivial matter.

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:08 AM (JFO2v)

151 Of course. I'm an hour late to the thread and OM posts a pic of Gloria Swanson.

The actress was barely 5 feet tall, and, when fans would gush over meeting her, she would smile, "And I bet you can't believe what a little shrimp I am!"

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:08 AM (2JVJo)

152 Sgt. mom,
Do you ever do shows more in the hill country? I mean, I know you do but do you have a schedule?

Posted by: lin-duh at November 29, 2020 10:09 AM (UUBmN)

153 And then there's Paul Ryan who use to give Atlas Shrugged to his staff for Christmas.
*shakes head.*
Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (NpAcC)

The question about Paul Ryan is was he ever a well intentioned conservative who got twisted by the Uniparty, maybe while sitting on Barney's frank learning how to keep the grift going by avoiding a real budget, or was he always a sneaky lying prick who played everyone before revealing his true nature.
Posted by: Captain Hate

I worked with Paul at Empower America when we were both young. He was at best a Jack Kemp republican.

Posted by: Jean at November 29, 2020 10:09 AM (DzAnT)

154 Hiya JTB and Mrs. JTB !

I hope youse had a nice Thanksgiving !

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 10:09 AM (arJlL)

155 In college they told us that the Thirty Years War was so devastating that it changed music. Formerly music was written for larger ensembles but now the horn blowers and gut scratchers were killing and dying so chamber music became in vogue. War is hell.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:10 AM (+y/Ru)

156 Get up Sunday am to find we must refight the Civil War.

Okay.

The thesis is that if the South had a lot more people on their side they could have won.

Meh. Maybe. The US had much more going for it than sheer numbers. I think that the likely outcome of ore support in the border states is just a prolonged conflict.

The bigger question is would the South have won if they had a regiment of attack helicopters?

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:10 AM (ZfRYq)

157 @145 Obama and Hillary's causes are noble in their simplistic first drafts. How can you be against quality, affordable healthcare for all. Then you run into the harsh reality of execution.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:11 AM (9TdxA)

158
At some point you have to wonder how deep the commitment is if you can be turned relatively quickly.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:07 AM (y7DUB)

---
Most conservative politicians are bag men who understand that they have to say they're pro-gun and pro-life to win the primary.

Then they just go about polishing corporate knobs and trying to keep both those issues from any sort of progress or resolution.

That's why almost all the Right to Life gains have come from unelected activist groups or low-level (state assembly) types.

The higher one gets up the food chain, the less those things matter to the Elite Class.

One reason Trump is so loathed is that he exposed the lies. Yes, the executive branch actually can move the needle on this stuff! It's not even that difficult.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 10:11 AM (cfSRQ)

159 Sgt Mom: thanks for the reminder. i was planning on coming down.

Posted by: yara at November 29, 2020 10:11 AM (rde8g)

160 The thing that so infuriates the 'social justice' thinker about Peterson is that he advocates for an objective reality where your life and your happiness is principally a product of the degree to which you assume personal responsibility for them.

The biggest problem with that philosophy for some people in the modern world is that we've come to know too much about humans. There are, for instance, very few successful brain surgeons, CEO's or Hedge Fund managers with 95 IQ's, and since IQ is about 70% nature and 30% nurture, there are some people in the normal range of IQ for whom many life choices are simply off the table.

Rather than accept their own limitations, the 'snowflake' throws the baby out with the bathwater, declares 'the system' the problem, and latches onto however much marxism is required in their individual case, in order to defend the nonsensical blank slate theory.

Lena Dunham gets up every single morning wondering why she can't live in a world where she's thought of as being as attractive to men as a fashion model. Her blank slate view is that she's every bit as (insert whichever comparative dimension here where she isn't automatically in the bottom 10%) as any fashion model, so society must be changed via the blank slate, in order for that to be the most desirable feature for women.

The truth is, there are a whole lot of people out there who are at the bottom 20% of any comparative dimension, and it's those people who make of the coalition of the horribles that are the advocates of social justice.

They are the genetic losers in life. The people who have lost the genetic lottery in one or more dimensions. The more dimensions where they're at the bottom, the more completely dedicated to social justice they are. This is why they so idealize the ugly, the broken, and the terrible, and always seek to tear down the poetic, the beautiful, and the sublime.

If our culture were still broadly a christian one, then we would still have a dimension against which being virtuous is purely based on behavior. The ugly, the stupid, the emotionally broken could all be admired. The greater hardship they've overcome to be virtuous, the more we would be disposed to admire them.

But they didn't like the other rules that came with christianity, so it had to go. And so here we are, all living in the everyday hell that they see as the sum total of their existence. We have become a culture of the lowest common denominator and anyone who dares rise above it, must be torn down by the sad broken people, who make up the bulk of the left.

Posted by: Tom at November 29, 2020 10:11 AM (s0h8C)

161 JT: Doing OK!
Starting 18 weeks of Physical Therapy (3 times a week) tomorrow and NOT looking forward to it. The short time on the treadmill during my intake interview kicked my ass.

Grammie, I'm with you - I much prefer the La-Z-Boy!

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at November 29, 2020 10:12 AM (CUfHx)

162 Watching Kelly Loeffler on Maria's show and all she's been doing is praising President Trump. I don't know why people don't think she doesn't stand up for him. She mentioned that they have formed some kind of field organization where they will be able to watch the signature matching of the ballots. She has asked that the SOS step down for the way he has handled the presidential election.

Trump up now.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 10:12 AM (NpAcC)

163 Trump on

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:12 AM (9TdxA)

164 156 Get up Sunday am to find we must refight the Civil War.

Okay.

The thesis is that if the South had a lot more people on their side they could have won.

Meh. Maybe. The US had much more going for it than sheer numbers. I think that the likely outcome of ore support in the border states is just a prolonged conflict.

The bigger question is would the South have won if they had a regiment of attack helicopters?
Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:10 AM (ZfRYq)

If the South had a lot more people they wouldn't be able to feed them, would've been even more reliant on food imports from the North. It wouldn't much affect their naval capacity so they would still be blockaded. What would've allowed the South a solid shot is a more balanced economy less dependent on trade with the North and internationally. Their advantage was the officer corps, lacking in pretty much every other category.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:12 AM (Zm+LZ)

165 I think Paul Ryan was probably actually conservative and then he realized it was all a grift and figured he could parlay it into big money.

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:12 AM (ZfRYq)

166 Lots of libs thought Animal Farm was written in anticipation of Drumpf. Where do you start?

--

Extrapolating meaning, how does it work? If brains were dynamite, leftists would be walking around with empty skulls. Literally and figuratively.

Posted by: Lady in Black at November 29, 2020 10:12 AM (O+I8R)

167 Commalala Tweets:

Hope.

Unity.

Decency.

Truth.

Hmm where have I read that:

Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely

HOPE

UNITY

DECENCY

EMPATHY

TRUTH

EXPERTS

SCIENCE

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:13 AM (JFO2v)

168 Did they show that library in the movie Rudy?

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 10:13 AM (2DOZq)

169 I actually had a seminar back in the Jurassic era with William Freehling. Nice guy, but super liberal (naturally). His big ongoing question of the semester was, "Was the slave system paternalist?" I though that was a weird question, since paternalism could be good (fatherly) or bad (infantilizing), and clearly the slaveholders were exploitively doing the latter while sanctimoniously claiming the former to excuse their crime. So the answer, to me, was both "no" and "yes".

But Freehling's basic thesis was more simplistic, that the slaves freed themselves (eye roll), thus rejecting the slaveholder's contention that they were doing well by the Africans by taking care of the poor benighted brutes. So not only did he set up a straw man argument (does anybody believe the slave system was fatherly?), but he completely dismisses the 300,000-plus Union dead who actually did the liberating.

One class near the end of the semester, we were talking about the mass escapes of slaves to Union lines as soon as Union forces came near. Freehling asked if that didn't conclusively prove that the slaves were rejecting paternalism. Just because I was so annoyed by this dumb question all semester, I said, "Were they running FROM paternalism, or were they running TO Father Abraham?" Got a chorus of admiring "Whoas!" from the class and a "Nice!" from the guy next to me.

Freehling was unmoved by my slice-like-a-fucking-hammer rhetorical mic-drop. Still one of the proudest moments of my life.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at November 29, 2020 10:13 AM (j4zcI)

170 I gotta take advantage of this nice weather and get some stuff done.

I'll check back later.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 10:13 AM (arJlL)

171 I won't drop any spoilers in case anyone is interested enough but wanted to know if anyone else here has read it?

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:28 AM (y7DUB)

Yes, I read it a few years ago and liked it a lot.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at November 29, 2020 10:13 AM (RJscS)

172 As I usually do when I'm not into reading seriously (last thing at night, normally, often lately) I pick up a Baseball encyclopedia. OK, I'm weird. But it goes back to the 70s when I'd be with 2 other friends, each with a McMillian in our laps, and a beer, arguing.

One thing I've noticed is how weird 1931 was. In both leagues, the winner was miles better than they should be. In the AL, the As were a 700 team, and they SHOULD HAVE LOST.

Really. Here are the runs/opp runs for the As and the Yankees:

Phi: 858 / 626

NY: 1067(!) / 760

The 1067 is the all time high.

Now, a difference of 134, defensively, is a big deal. An extreme difference, historically. But 209 is a bigger deal, offensively.

Using Bill James's method, the winning % should have been:

Phi: .654 (actual .704)
NY: .663 (actual .614)

Using Baseball Reference's Wins Above Average, I get .641 for the A's, but I may have done it wrong. I don't really believe in WAR/WAA.

That is weird.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:14 AM (7X3UV)

173 As the news becomes more and more irritating and enraging I find my reading going in certain directions: fantasy, humor, and firearms.

Fantasy for now consists of CS Lewis' space trilogy and LOTR. Humor is Calvin and Hobbes (helps to have the complete collection) and the Wallace the Brave cartoons JackStraw turned me onto. Firearms is a combination of internet resources and books (a LOT of them) I have.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 10:14 AM (7EjX1)

174 The South started the war before they were ready. They went to war with the supplies they had. Which wasn't enough.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 10:16 AM (2DOZq)

175 I am currently reading Thomas Horan's The Myth of the Zodiac Killer: A Literary Investigation. Horan's thesis is that there never was a "Zodiac Kiiller;" rather, that the first four victims were shot by drug dealers, the Lake Berryessa killings were done by a park ranger and the killing of cabbie Paul Stine by a short-order cook already a suspect in a string of cab robberies.

He believes that Robert Graysmith (author of the seminal Zodiac faked, in cooperation with at least one other man, all of the Zodiac letters.

An interesting volume, and a welcome change from the "my daddy was the Zodiac" books I've seen.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:17 AM (2JVJo)

176 156
Get up Sunday am to find we must refight the Civil War.

Okay.

The thesis is that if the South had a lot more people on their side they could have won.

Meh. Maybe. The US had much more going for it than sheer numbers. I
think that the likely outcome of ore support in the border states is
just a prolonged conflict.

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:10 AM (ZfRYq)

---
I think it's pretty clear that the South really exceeded expectations. If you could run a Monte Carlo simulation of the war, you'd find the historical result well out on the tail.

When you try to wargame the Civil War, you have to put 'limiters' on the Union otherwise they win in a walk. For example, the Union's leadership wasn't universally awful and the South's leadership wasn't universally brilliant, but game designers have to plug this in to force the game into a more 'realistic' result.

But absent that, you can basically curb-stomp the South early on by simply following through on the historical campaigns.

If McClellan had pushed forward to Richmond, the war is over in 1862. No way the South would get foreign arms if its capital fell in months.

Or McClellan could have wiped out Lee's army at Antietam. He had more unengaged troops in reserve than Lee had on the field.

One strategy I like is for the Union to take a defensive posture in Virginia - covering Washington with 100,000 men - and exploiting their fleet to land 50,000 troops in the Carolinas and just gut the Confederacy from the inside out. It was proposed at the time, but never acted upon. The Union had the logistics to do it, too.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 29, 2020 10:18 AM (cfSRQ)

177 Warwolf is a good short read and no none of us living can imagine a war like this. But it is a story of what a man can do for his family and community when needed.

Posted by: David at November 29, 2020 10:18 AM (KWYbg)

178 129 Oddly, there was a very leftwing girl in my class who just loved the book, and was shocked an horrified when she found out what Rand's politics really were.
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 09:49 AM (7X3UV)

Lots of libs thought Animal Farm was written in anticipation of Drumpf. Where do you start?
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:02 AM (y7DUB)
________

Yes. I didn't see your post until I made my comment. You said it better. All I added was the anecdote. My wife knew a guy who claimed to be a Randist Marxist.

Really, this phenomenon does point out an error we are making. The assumption that people "went over to the dark side" is questionable. It is amazing what people can get themselves to believe. Really.

And despite the ridicule, the Costanza rule is, if taken literally, true. Were it not, we would all be guilty of lying every time we missed a question on a test. Absurdity =/= insincerity.

Of course, either way, these guys are not to be trusted.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:18 AM (7X3UV)

179 Gloria Swanson.

The actress was barely 5 feet tall, and, when fans would gush over meeting her, she would smile, "And I bet you can't believe what a little shrimp I am!"
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

I bought this but haven't begun to read it based on a recommendation here, The Giant Killer: American hero, mercenary, spy - The incredible true story of the smallest man to serve in the U.S. Military - Green Beret Captain Richard J. Flaherty Paperback - March 30, 2020
by David A. Yuzuk

He was 4'9". Audie Murphy was a shrimp, too, 5'5".

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:18 AM (+y/Ru)

180 This is good on Bartiromo

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 10:19 AM (9sWOw)

181 Back to books: I was reading Nabokov's autobiography Speak, Memory and a chapter began where he talked about how he borrows real life vignettes for his fiction which then become more associated with the fiction than with reality. He then talks about a large French governess who never spoke Russian very well but stayed with the family for a long time, leaving before things got dicey with Lenin and all. He subsequently talks about visiting her in Switzerland where she's part of a social group of women who did likewise and speak fondly of the former experiences even though they outwardly hated it at the time.

At that point I had a sense of deja vu, whether from volume one of his biography or of one of his earlier works of fiction. Either way this was something I already knew and was revisiting. Needless to say this is a more artistic and deep autobiography than most contemporary self indulgent tripe, even aside from one obvious example.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:20 AM (y7DUB)

182 I just started reading The Thirty Years War. Should be done by 2050.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at November 29, 2020 10:20 AM (Ndje9)

183 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:21 AM (Zz0t1)

184 This is good on Bartiromo
Posted by: Skip

(Ponders)

I'd like to be on Bartiromo.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 10:21 AM (arJlL)

185 �I heard about The Warwolf from a friend who heard it from one of her friends who heard about it from his friend
--
I heard a little old lady got mutilated late last night ...

Posted by: RoyalOil at November 29, 2020 10:21 AM (aO8Gd)

186 Yeah, I got nuthin.....

I don't read much. Other than here.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:21 AM (Zz0t1)

187 155
In college they told us that the Thirty Years War was so devastating
that it changed music. Formerly music was written for larger ensembles
but now the horn blowers and gut scratchers were killing and dying so
chamber music became in vogue. War is hell.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Sadly, The Marshall Plan wasn't around to solve that problem.

Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 10:22 AM (KAi1n)

188
But Freehling's basic thesis was more simplistic, that the slaves freed themselves (eye roll), thus rejecting the slaveholder's contention that they were doing well by the Africans by taking care of the poor benighted brutes. So not only did he set up a straw man argument (does anybody believe the slave system was fatherly?), but he completely dismisses the 300,000-plus Union dead who actually did the liberating.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at November 29, 2020 10:13 AM (j4zcI)

There were people at the time(19th century) arguing slavery was good for the slaves. How much of this was 'intellectual' twaddle vs how much was actually believed by the southern aristocracy is more ambiguous.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:22 AM (Zm+LZ)

189 138 Over the holiday I noticed one in my family was reading OBrian's "The Golden Ocean" a novel treatment of George Anson's circumnavigation of the globe. For my money, the Aubrey-Maturin series is as good as modern novels get and I found this one a pale version of those books, but still a pretty fair read. Anyway, for those O'Brian fans out there it is something to look for at the library.
Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 10:05 AM (szqvX)
_________

Agreed, on both counts. GO is pre-Aubrey, of course. There is nothing like the contrast of the two protagonists in the latter. And that would, in itself, be enough to move O'Brian to the short list. But there's a lot more.

Still I liked GO. Of course, as I knew how it'll come out, and O'Brian does a good job building suspense nonetheless. Churchill did that in his histories, too. And it ain't easy.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:22 AM (7X3UV)

190 Last week, I think, there was praise for an audio CD of "Out of the Silent Planet" by CS Lewis. My copy arrived a few days ago. It is unabridged and nicely done. The single voice is better than some of the BBC 'dramtic' version of books with soundtracks, background noise and many readers. Having the single reader lets me concentrate on the story.

An audio book that will never be done but I would love is Shelby Foote's Civil War set read by the author. That would be a hoot.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 10:23 AM (7EjX1)

191 100s of thousands of Sundowner only maybe a few thousand for just Trump.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 10:23 AM (9sWOw)

192 Liberal zealots feel that losing is shameful, but not cheating. Conservatives will lose gracefully (maybe too much) but think that cheating is shameful.

Maybe Watergate should be seen through this lens. Democrats were ambivalent about the robbery, but absolutely gored by Nixon's 1972 landslide victory. To that end, if we wonder aloud to our liberal friends "Did Trump take California? How would we know?"

ORANGEMANBAD. "Yes but by that logic, Trump shouldn't have taken a single county. He shouldn't have taken a single county in 2016, either. There is something glaring that you don't know."

Democrats don't understand that they have made the unsuccessful attempt to steal the presidential election the most distinctive feature of the party. It is what they will be most famous for this decade.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 29, 2020 10:23 AM (LxTcq)

193 I read Friday and liked it. What should I read in Heinlein next.

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM (JFO2v)

194 Thanks for the signal boost for the sale, Oregon Muse.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM (FXjhj)

195 every time i hear complaints about Trump being a rulthess dictator i'm reminded of the scene in Bujold's "A Civil Campaign" where Miles is being heckled by someone and he replies to the effect of "If you really think i'm a bloodthirsty assassin why are you trying so hard to make me mad?"

Posted by: yara at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM (rde8g)

196 Lots of libs thought Animal Farm was written in anticipation of Drumpf.

-
I think Idiocracy was written in anticipation of Biden/Harris.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM (+y/Ru)

197 Murray Rothbard's split with Rand had to do in part with personality issues (Rothbard accused Rand of being a cult) and Rand's insistence that Rothbard needed actual theory to support his anarcho-libertarian stance, that pragmatism was not sufficient, no matter how well documented.

Rothbard is an incredible historian who is ignored due to his conclusions, but it is correct, he was always short of theory.

I am stalled in reading Rothbard's History of Money and Banking in the United States, because I have reached the 1900's and from then on it will be like reading an Anne Rule book. Nothing but tragedy and misery due to intentionally bad actions.
As a resource for an overview of american banking it is a wonderful book, though. Rothbard is a great historian and a fantastic writer.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 10:25 AM (WyVLE)

198 There were people at the time(19th century) arguing
slavery was good for the slaves. How much of this was 'intellectual'
twaddle vs how much was actually believed by the southern aristocracy is
more ambiguous.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:22 AM

---

The majority of southern slave owners did think that the slaves were better off being slaves than being free.

It's sort of like how democrats think that black people need to be taken care of and can't think for themselves.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at November 29, 2020 10:25 AM (JUOKG)

199 I've never quite understood the appeal of Ayn Rand. To me, she's not really a conservative or a libertarian; rather, she's the Marxist version of a Satanist. Almost her whole philosophy and work seems to be just an Argument Sketch reversal of Marx.

I think it's significant that she unquestioningly accepts the two fundamental premises of Marxism: atheism and class struggle. All she does is very slightly tinker with the definitions of the classes, and makes Marx's bad guys her heroes.

I can't avoid the impression that she believed in Marx's theories, she just didn't like them.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 29, 2020 10:25 AM (QZxDR)

200 141 Ayn Rand's philosophy is an excuse to be a selfish Nietzschean monad. That is all
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:06 AM (9TdxA)
_________

That is where it leads, though Rand did abandon her earlier enthusiasm for Nietzsche.

IMO, though, the real problem is she tried to adopt Aristotle while ignoring his ideas of substance and hylomorphism, and thus of the soul, and thus of the intellect. And final causation.

That leads to all sorts of problems both in metaphysics and ethics.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:26 AM (7X3UV)

201 I'm sure there were instances of slave holders being 'fatherly' but it was the exception and not the rule. They tried to indicate that in the off base history movie, The Patriot.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 10:26 AM (2DOZq)

202 Of course. I'm an hour late to the thread and OM posts a pic of Gloria Swanson.

The actress was barely 5 feet tall, and, when fans would gush over meeting her, she would smile, "And I bet you can't believe what a little shrimp I am!"
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:08 AM (2JVJo)

Were you the one who pointed out how Joe Kennedy was railing her on a boat deck in front of a crying young JFK? I read it somewhere and I can't think of a better source of such a vignette.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:26 AM (y7DUB)

203 "Intellectual twaddle"? Why, I never heard of such!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:27 AM (+y/Ru)

204 Captain Hate, I read that book also and I thought it was just beautifully written. I actually recommended it to an acquaintance just yesterday. I think it was Fen who also mentioned it on a book thread. I read another Leif Enger book, So Brave, Young and Handsome and it was equally enjoyable.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz, Trump Won at November 29, 2020 10:27 AM (a4EWo)

205 And then there's Paul Ryan who use to give Atlas Shrugged to his staff for Christmas.
*shakes head.*

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM (NpAcC)

I'm sorry, but you heard that wrong.

The book I gave out was -

"A Lad's Ass Fugged".

I hope that helps.

It's a thrilling read by the way. My highest recommendation!

Posted by: Paul Ryan at November 29, 2020 10:27 AM (dWwl8)

206 FBI will be "investigating" vote fraud for 60 fargin' years. Bee Patient!

Posted by: klaftern at November 29, 2020 10:28 AM (RuIsu)

207 Greetings:

My Mother pre-dated Jordan Peterson by a good bit but I'll always remember that special gleam she would have in her eye when she announced, "Your Father's home and he wants to talk to you in the living room.".

And that Notre Dame University, didn't it used to be Catholic school ???

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 10:28 AM (evgyj)

208 I think Idiocracy was written in anticipation of Biden/Harris.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM (+y/Ru)

Old Major is clearly marx and lenin rolled up

Napoleon clearly stalin

Poor Snowball was Trotsky

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:29 AM (JFO2v)

209 And that Notre Dame University, didn't it used to be Catholic school ???
Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 10:28 AM (evgyj)

"Our Lady" is now Michelle Obama

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 10:29 AM (ONvIw)

210 I like Chalker quite a bit, his WellWorld series being among my favorites, but for a standalone book, I like

And The Devil Will Drag You Under

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM

Once, in college while I was taking a math course teaching various odds and ends of use to engineers, including a section on linear algebra, I came across Chalker's The Identity Matrix which, of course, I had to buy immediately.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 10:30 AM (qDSku)

211 Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: naturalfake at November 29, 2020 10:30 AM (dWwl8)

212 Thank for the feedback on Leif Enger.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:30 AM (y7DUB)

213 200 141 Ayn Rand's philosophy is an excuse to be a selfish Nietzschean monad. That is all
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:06 AM (9TdxA)
_________

That is where it leads, though Rand did abandon her earlier enthusiasm for Nietzsche.

IMO, though, the real problem is she tried to adopt Aristotle while ignoring his ideas of substance and hylomorphism, and thus of the soul, and thus of the intellect. And final causation.

That leads to all sorts of problems both in metaphysics and ethics.
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:26 AM (7X3UV)

I once had discussion with a friend on this and doing a lot of direct comparisons on positions concluded that her views were something like a mirror, the assertions were something like an inversion but not precisely.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:30 AM (Zm+LZ)

214 "Politics doesn't
make strange bedfellows, marriage does."

- Groucho Marx, relationship counselor

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #BidenCheated at November 29, 2020 10:31 AM (HaL55)

215 Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85

Meesah so sad!!!

*chases alien butterfly*

Tee hee hee.

Posted by: Jar Jar Binks at November 29, 2020 10:31 AM (dWwl8)

216 Were you the one who pointed out how Joe Kennedy was railing her on a boat deck in front of a crying young JFK? I read it somewhere and I can't think of a better source of such a vignette.
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 10:26 AM (y7DUB)

Yes. It's from Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star by Stephen Michael Shearer.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:31 AM (2JVJo)

217 Last week, I think, there was praise for an audio CD of "Out of the Silent Planet" by CS Lewis. My copy arrived a few days ago. It is unabridged and nicely done. The single voice is better than some of the BBC 'dramtic' version of books with soundtracks, background noise and many readers. Having the single reader lets me concentrate on the story.

An audio book that will never be done but I would love is Shelby Foote's Civil War set read by the author. That would be a hoot.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 10:23 AM (7EjX1)

That may have been me. I'm now listening to Perelandra. I like the single narrator approach.

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at November 29, 2020 10:31 AM (lgiXo)

218 I usually wait a little longer before starting my annual reading of LOTR. It is, in my tradition, cold weather reading. I like to sip hot tea as the pages turn. But 2020 is not that kind of year so I began yesterday. Just reading the familiar words of the Prologue made my blood pressure drop 20 points and took my mind off the news and constant drumming about politics and the Kung Fu Flu.

To celebrate my 55th anniversary of the first LOTR reading I'm breaking out my first hardcover edition of the trilogy with the (sorta) intact dust jackets and the large fold out maps. They show the decades of use and moving but that, like honest wear on a gun, adds to the appeal.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 10:32 AM (7EjX1)

219 193 I read Friday and liked it. What should I read in Heinlein next.
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM (JFO2v)

Lots of choices:

Door into Summer
Sixth Column
any of his Juvenile books

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 10:33 AM (PiwSw)

220 racism and slavery has existed for all of human history

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 10:33 AM (nUhF0)

221 I believe the best description of the Left and the Right comes from Steven Pressfield's book , Tides of War when the Spartan general is describing the differences between the Spartans and the Athenians.

It begins , Athenians are bold but not brave.....

I think that line describes the Left to a T.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 10:33 AM (2DOZq)

222 I'm still slogging my way through the audio book of Kagan's The Peloponnesian War but it's almost done.

================

I have not read this, but found V.D.Hanson's "A War Like No Other" gripping. Donald Kagen has written so many books on this period he is probably the expert, so maybe I'll try this one next.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 09:48 AM

Oddly enough, the reason I'm listening to The Peloponnesian War is because people on this thread suggested I use it to familiarize myself with the Peloponnesian War before reading A War Like No Other so I could more easily make sense of it. I really like some of Hanson's other books.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 10:33 AM (qDSku)

223 "Anthem" by Ayn Rand was one of the books purged by my wife. I pulled it out of the sack to consider whether I should read it; I've never read any if her works.

Based on today's discussion, I think I'll put it in my purge sack.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 29, 2020 10:34 AM (83ScS)

224
206 FBI will be "investigating" vote fraud for 60 fargin' years. Bee Patient!
Posted by: klaftern at November 29, 2020 10:28 AM (RuIsu)

---------

Steiner will come.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 10:34 AM (fLVm1)

225 the lady reading the book has a big neck

Posted by: DB- just DB. at November 29, 2020 10:34 AM (iTXRQ)

226 Thanks to OM for the book thread, as always. And I love that illustration of the young woman quietly enjoying her book in the sunshine. Such a simple image that conveys so much.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (7EjX1)

227 Looking at Vidal's "1876" lately. The parallels to our current situation are eerie, half a dozen states in doubt after election day, the influence of the African American vote in key regions potentially decisive, accusations of ballot stuffing and ballot tossing, potentially competing sets of electors, a supine judiciary, and the most influential press outlets making at best premature pronouncements of victory for one candidate.

Main difference is that all of the irregularities benefited Hayes, the GOP candidate, and the press charge on his behalf was led by...wait for it...the New York Times, then a bastion of Republicanism.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (evxBY)

228 If you liked Heinlein's _Friday_ you should look up _The Puppet Masters_. He did pretty good spy stories.

And if you haven't read _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, that goes on your list. Probably the best thing he ever wrote. And, yes, I put it ahead of _Starship Troopers_ and the one about the Martian hippie.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (QZxDR)

229 Anthem was short, spooky, and disappointing. I loved the whole thing except the last word.

Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (LEMQm)

230 Morning horde - some crazy F-ing stuff on twatter this morning, huh?

Wow. And it's looking real if Gen. McInerney is a credible source. This is right out of a novel, but it's all too far fetched. 5 Delta force and one CIA killed.

Scroll down for audio link to interview.

https://tinyurl.com/y2xzbpma

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 10:36 AM (8B6Ng)

231 Door into Summer
Sixth Column
any of his Juvenile books

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 10:33 AM (PiwSw)

Just kindled (is that a verb yet) Door into Summer

thx

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:36 AM (JFO2v)

232 The Civil War started because southern firebrands were near-idiots to begin with, & then they got pellagra & started drinking a jug or two each day. This is all one needs to know about the origins of the CW, imo.

On athother topic. Disclaimer first: I've contributed to Kelly Loeffler already, OK? I'll probably do so again, too. She's an awful candidate in too many ways to count. For starters, she's a yankee from Illinois. Oh... GREAT! Secondly, she's terrible in interviews-- stiff, unnatural & scripted (sounds as if, anyway). She & her trillionaire hubby have given tonnes of $$$ to HRC, Debbie Stabenow, a DEM GA congressman & Mitt Romney.

Posted by: mnw at November 29, 2020 10:36 AM (Cssks)

233 Weak Geek, give Anthem a chance before you toss it
It is basically post-apocalyptic scifi
short too

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at November 29, 2020 10:37 AM (nUhF0)

234 Yeah, I got nuthin.....

I don't read much. Other than here.
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:21 AM (Zz0t1)

LOL Sponge. The book talk is all highbrow and intellectual, and I'm like....uh, I'm reading Gone Girl.

Posted by: Jordan61 - 2020 TX MoMe Bacon Wench
TRUMP WON
at November 29, 2020 10:37 AM (KuT6N)

235 227 Looking at Vidal's "1876" lately. The parallels to our current situation are eerie, half a dozen states in doubt after election day, the influence of the African American vote in key regions potentially decisive, accusations of ballot stuffing and ballot tossing, potentially competing sets of electors, a supine judiciary, and the most influential press outlets making at best premature pronouncements of victory for one candidate.

Main difference is that all of the irregularities benefited Hayes, the GOP candidate, and the press charge on his behalf was led by...wait for it...the New York Times, then a bastion of Republicanism.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (evxBY)

The main reason Republican politicians don't much cheat these days is one of means. It's much easier to have a political machine create votes in a city than outside one.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:38 AM (Zm+LZ)

236 Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 10:33 AM (qDSku

Again I recommend Pressfield's historic fiction novel of the Peloponnesian War, Tides of War for the enjoyment of reading as opposed to a non fiction account.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 10:39 AM (2DOZq)

237 I just purchased the Audible version of Pale Fire following a conversation about Nabokov. I don't remember if it was in the book thread last week.

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at November 29, 2020 10:39 AM (lgiXo)

238 TRUMP!!!!

Posted by: monkey at November 29, 2020 10:39 AM (CLteG)

239 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:40 AM (7X3UV)

240 And if you haven't read _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, that goes on your list. Probably the best thing he ever wrote. And, yes, I put it ahead of _Starship Troopers_ and the one about the Martian hippie.
Posted by: Trimegistus at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (QZxDR)

Martian hippie! LOL.
Agree though, perhaps not as "exciting" as ST, but a LOT more relevant to what's going on today.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 10:40 AM (8B6Ng)

241 239 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:40 AM (7X3UV)

It's a two weeks, trust the plan thing. Steiner was once the guy who was operating slowly and secretly to arrest all the bad guys involved in the coup attempts.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:41 AM (Zm+LZ)

242 >> OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?

The movie Downfall.

Posted by: Dave C at November 29, 2020 10:41 AM (2qoSf)

243 Long ago I got the Foundation Trilogy as a book on tape. 21 hours, I think.

It was really good on a long road trip.

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:41 AM (ZfRYq)

244 I don't remember where I got the recommendation to Margaret Ball's light-hearted modern fantasies with an academic setting. She has the academic politics right (Math Education -- what is that ?). Pokes fun at the weaselly university admnistration, skewers her version of BLM and Antifa. The fantasy elements involve practical applications of topology, so that's fun. I am lightly skipping tra-la through the Applied Topology trilogy. Low stress -- very much valued right now.

Posted by: sinmi at November 29, 2020 10:42 AM (ORnFV)

245 drink you in!!!!

WTF

https://tinyurl.com/y4wgh4pm

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:42 AM (JFO2v)

246 I loved Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Long, Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul, not so much.
Posted by: Robert

Same here. DGHDA is a magical minor masterpiece.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:42 AM (+y/Ru)

247 Speaking of Jordan Peterson, another writer Vox Day, seems to have a beef with him. I don't know the particulars, Vox has a book about it that I don't have the time to read, but I think the gist of it is Vox thinks Jordon is a big phoney.

Posted by: banana Dream at November 29, 2020 10:42 AM (l6b3d)

248
LOL Sponge. The book talk is all highbrow and intellectual, and I'm like....uh, I'm reading Gone Girl.
Posted by: Jordan61 - 2020 TX MoMe Bacon Wench
TRUMP WON
at November 29, 2020 10:37 AM (KuT6N)

I've read about 1/4 of The Federalist Papers and the last book I finished was a quick read by that Admiral that gave the rousing graduation speech a few years ago at The University of Texas.

Oh, and I did read one of Mike Leach's books and the one by that sniper dude.

Other than that.....

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:43 AM (Zz0t1)

249 I'm finding it very hard to believe the server shootout story. Either the general is deliberately trolling, to see what will come into his net, or he's letting wishful thinking get the better of him.

For one thing, there's literally millions of Democrats who would LOVE to have some "proof" for their hysterical belief that "Drumpf is going to try a military coup!" and this would be catnip for them.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 29, 2020 10:43 AM (QZxDR)

250 235 227 Looking at Vidal's "1876" lately. The parallels to our current situation are eerie, half a dozen states in doubt after election day, the influence of the African American vote in key regions potentially decisive, accusations of ballot stuffing and ballot tossing, potentially competing sets of electors, a supine judiciary, and the most influential press outlets making at best premature pronouncements of victory for one candidate.

Main difference is that all of the irregularities benefited Hayes, the GOP candidate, and the press charge on his behalf was led by...wait for it...the New York Times, then a bastion of Republicanism.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 10:35 AM (evxBY)

The main reason Republican politicians don't much cheat these days is one of means. It's much easier to have a political machine create votes in a city than outside one.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:38 AM (Zm+LZ)
________

There used to be Republican machines. But they were mostly in places the Dems now control. To some extent I think they still exist on my native Lawn Guyland. Or so my brother says. But even there, they are much weaker.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:43 AM (7X3UV)

251 I'm here.

Good morning!
Finished Crossings by Alex Landrigan this week. It was recommended a while back by someone here but took awhile before the library got me an ecopy.

It is a unique book. I started reading the preface and was immediately sucked in because you think it's the author but suddenly realize the movie has started. There are two ways to read the book. You can start on page one and read it through or jump from one point to another by following the direction at the end of certain chapters.
It is almost impossible to describe the story. It is somewhat mystical but the settings historically are very interesting and seem real and the different characters are well drawn so you know them even if briefly described.
I read the book both ways and now not sure where the story ends. It is one of the few times I wanted to have a discussion about a book and see whether there is another dimension to explore.
The most amazing thing is that it is the author's first book.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 10:43 AM (sd8p8)

252 He believes that Robert Graysmith (author of the seminal Zodiac faked, in cooperation with at least one other man, all of the Zodiac letters.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:17 AM (2JVJo)

Big, if true.

I'm old enough to remember Zodiac and I was living in the SF Bay Area at time time, and the times had that unsettled, malevolently chaotic feel to it, like 2020 has for the whole country right now.

Plus we had the Zebra killings going on roughly at the same time.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (lkGaW)

253 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?

great white hope that never materializes

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (zr5Kq)

254 The guy that reads Shelby Foote's book does a good job. It's just not Shelby.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (YynYJ)

255 There are a bazillion parodies of real life events that use a clip from Downfall, a great movie about Hitler in his bunker.

There's a key line in the actual clip where Hitler says "Steiner's [army] will come" and all will be well. There's a pause and the generals look at each other, until one gets the nerve to say that Steiner's army has already been wiped out. Hitler realizes all is lost.

Which is always a key moment in the parodies

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (9TdxA)

256 I remember reading Heinlein's Number of the Beast in high school and thinking it was awesome.

But that may just be because I was in high school.

Key remembering is that one of the main characters is a young woman named Deety. That ends up short for Dejah Thoris.

We had a commenter here for a while with the handle Deety and she acknowledged that reference.

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (ZfRYq)

257 I looked up Vox's book:

Jordanetics: A Journey Into the Mind of Humanity's Greatest Thinker

Posted by: banana Dream at November 29, 2020 10:45 AM (l6b3d)

258 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:40 AM (7X3UV)

From the movie Downfall (the source of all the "Hitler Learns That. . ." meme videos). Steiner was a general who was supposed to be marching towards Berlin to drive back the invading Soviets, and Hitler had convinced himself that the troops were on their way, when, of course, Steiner was not coming and had (I believe) decided that to invade Berlin and fight the Soviets was a suicide mission.

When, in the movie, Hitler learns the truth, it is the setting for a monumental tirade.

At AoA, "Steiner will come" is shorthand for "two weeks." It indicates that you don't believe the latest "Snack Barr is a true patriot!" bushwa someone may have just posted.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:45 AM (2JVJo)

259 drink you in!!!!

WTF

https://tinyurl.com/y4wgh4pm
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:42 AM (JFO2v)

Well, when you're completely and utterly morally absent.......

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:45 AM (Zz0t1)

260 there is a lot of argument against Rand, but I think there is a lot to be said for her as well. People accuse her of being a monster of selfishness, but if the basic tenet of your theory is that individual rights are subject to the needs of the collective, who is allowed to make the decision as to where that line begins, and how do you object to any decision about what your "obligations" to others end?

there is something to be said for the stance: "rights are either absolute or else they are wishful thinking"

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 10:45 AM (WyVLE)

261 I see a very disturbing new phrase in the speech of government and government agents.

ALLOW

How can the system allow poor to exist? How can the system allow billionaires?

The entire premise is that there are no FREEDOMS. on indulgences and privileges to handed out or sold off, usually to a group as a whole because of their class (or race).

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:46 AM (JFO2v)

262 @235...true, back then the GOP upped the African American vote in southern states where federal troops still "occupied". Of course, the GOP said the troops were merely ensuring African Americans the right to vote, without the troops they'd be suppressed and disenfranchisd. But, as you say, the GOP had the means in 1876 to manipulate the vote, and probably did.

Another takeaway from Vidal's 1876 is that then as now, and likely forever, the New York Times supports whichever faction holds true political power in the USA.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 10:46 AM (evxBY)

263 I'm old enough to remember Zodiac and I was living in the SF Bay Area at time time, and the times had that unsettled, malevolently chaotic feel to it, like 2020 has for the whole country right now.

The book is 10 bucks on kindle. It also has links to the author's website, where he (to my inexpert eye) lays out pretty solid proof that Arthur Leigh Allen was framed by Graysmith, though why I do not know (haven't got that far yet).

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:47 AM (2JVJo)

264 262 @235...true, back then the GOP upped the African American vote in southern states where federal troops still "occupied". Of course, the GOP said the troops were merely ensuring African Americans the right to vote, without the troops they'd be suppressed and disenfranchisd. But, as you say, the GOP had the means in 1876 to manipulate the vote, and probably did.

Another takeaway from Vidal's 1876 is that then as now, and likely forever, the New York Times supports whichever faction holds true political power in the USA.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 10:46 AM (evxBY)

If the media didn't cover for tyrants and genocide, we should scarce have any.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:47 AM (Zm+LZ)

265 I just purchased the Audible version of Pale Fire following a conversation about Nabokov. I don't remember if it was in the book thread last week.

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at November 29, 2020 10:39 AM (lgiXo)

Huh.

I'm really curious just how that would work.

As the book is mostly just the "epic" poem "Pale Fire" with commentary appended to the poem.

The humor comes from just how unbalanced and off-topic the critic/commenter is.

It works wonderfully as a read.

I just can't see how it would works all that well as a listen.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 29, 2020 10:47 AM (dWwl8)

266 > there is a lot of argument against Rand, but I think there is a lot to be said for her as well.

she would have benefitted from a ruthless editor

Posted by: DB- just DB. at November 29, 2020 10:47 AM (iTXRQ)

267 The Warwolf: A Peasant Chronicle of the Thirty Years War

Amazon has it. Because, of course they do.
Hardcover, paperback and Kindle.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 10:47 AM (BJLVZ)

268 They hate Jordan Peterson because he pushes their minds to the precipice of the abyss. You know. That vast chasm known as "thinking for yourself". They HATE that. The worst thing that anyone can do to them is to provoke them into thinking. That's too hard. And it's too much like work. It's far easier to mindlessly conform to the lies that are fed to them by their Satanic masters.

Posted by: CyberCipher #BoomerLivesMatter at November 29, 2020 10:47 AM (++/pX)

269 Maria Bartiromo is a player, may God bless her soul.

Posted by: monkey at November 29, 2020 10:48 AM (CLteG)

270
On athother topic. Disclaimer first: I've
contributed to Kelly Loeffler already, OK? I'll probably do so again,
too. She's an awful candidate in too many ways to count. For starters,
she's a yankee from Illinois. Oh... GREAT! Secondly, she's terrible in
interviews-- stiff, unnatural scripted (sounds as if, anyway).
She her trillionaire hubby have given tonnes of $$$ to HRC, Debbie
Stabenow, a DEM GA congressman Mitt Romney.

Posted by: mnw at November 29, 2020 10:36 AM (Cssks)

I also think that when and if fraudulent votes are thrown out, Doug Collins will be ahead of that liberal scrunt.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 10:48 AM (946rW)

271 Oddly enough, the reason I'm listening to The Peloponnesian War is because people on this thread suggested I use it to familiarize myself with the Peloponnesian War before reading A War Like No Other so I could more easily make sense of it. I really like some of Hanson's other books.
Posted by: Cybersmythe

It ends with the Athenians playing flutes, singing, and dancing to celebrate the fall of democracy so it's ripped from today's headlines.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:48 AM (+y/Ru)

272 Some people on the right have a beef with Peterson because he is not of the right. His big deal is hey, let's use some common sense here, people! And so people presume he is of the right.

But he isn't.

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:48 AM (ZfRYq)

273 @260
In the same way that the left is trying to condition us to believe that exercising our rights is selfish (see: pandemic)

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 10:48 AM (AwPyG)

274 247 Speaking of Jordan Peterson, another writer Vox Day, seems to have a beef with him. I don't know the particulars, Vox has a book about it that I don't have the time to read, but I think the gist of it is Vox thinks Jordon is a big phoney.
Posted by: banana Dream at November 29, 2020 10:42 AM (l6b3d)

Yeah, I heard this, too, Day seemed to have a real bug up his ass on this topic, but when I first heard Day talking about it, he was assuming you had read all of his other posts about Peterson and I was too lazy to find them and get up to speed.

But ultimately, I really don't care what Vox Day thinks of Jordan Peterson.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 10:48 AM (lkGaW)

275 After my HS meeting of Rand, and my rejection despite my close friend who loved here, my first college GF was nuts for her. (It did teach me this: if you hook up with someone who thinks selfishness is a virtue, don't be surprised when she lives up to her own standard.)

Anyway, she also tried to get me to read Heinlein. Some of his really early stuff I though OK, but I couldn't get into Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

But then, I've never really been a sci-fi guy. That is a non-ideological split between me and many other conservatives, who seem to tend that way. I don't see it as significant of anything political. C S Lewis didn't like mysteries. Waugh disliked Tolkien. No biggie.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:49 AM (7X3UV)

276 Which is always a key moment in the parodies
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (9TdxA)

One of my favorites is when Hitler learns he can't get tickets to the upcoming Rush concert...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 10:49 AM (PiwSw)

277 In the closing battle of Berlin being surrounded Hitler dreamed Gen Steiner would sweep in and do great damage to the Soviets, of course Steiner had barely any troops and was pressed himself so couldn't do anything.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 10:49 AM (9sWOw)

278 Last week I read News of the World, by Paulette Jiles, after seeing it recommended here. It was just the sort of thing I was looking for, great story.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at November 29, 2020 10:49 AM (RJscS)

279 Long read

Sounds almost crazy

American Thinker link below

https://tinyurl.com/y5x8o5th

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:49 AM (JFO2v)

280 260 there is a lot of argument against Rand, but I think there is a lot to be said for her as well. People accuse her of being a monster of selfishness, but if the basic tenet of your theory is that individual rights are subject to the needs of the collective, who is allowed to make the decision as to where that line begins, and how do you object to any decision about what your "obligations" to others end?

there is something to be said for the stance: "rights are either absolute or else they are wishful thinking"
Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 10:45 AM (WyVLE)

She wasn't an advocate for hedonism. She grasped that man does not have an obligation to his fellow man(else why would there be gratitude?). The defect is in not understanding is that this obligation is to God. The reasons behind why socialism is destructive of charity are the same reasons behind much of her position.

Man has no right to ask these many sacrifices of you, let alone demand them, God has every right.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:50 AM (Zm+LZ)

281 253 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?

great white hope that never materializes
Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (zr5Kq)
________

So he's hanging out with Godot?

Answer: something I never knew.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:50 AM (7X3UV)

282 >>> I've read about 1/4 of The Federalist Papers and the last book I finished was a quick read by that Admiral that gave the rousing graduation speech a few years ago at The University of Texas.

Oh, and I did read one of Mike Leach's books and the one by that sniper dude.

Other than that.....
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:43 AM (Zz0t1)

I always suggest reading the Anti-Federalist Papers at the same time. Since it was a conversation in print. The Anti's had a lot of good points.

Posted by: banana Dream at November 29, 2020 10:50 AM (l6b3d)

283 @270
Yeah, the biggest clue about how corrupt the AZ and GA governors are is watching who they are backing in the senate

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 10:50 AM (AwPyG)

284 this interview is not encouraging

Posted by: deplorable unperson - refuse to accept the Mask of the Beast at November 29, 2020 10:51 AM (JWCyv)

285 Been a lot of years since I read Cornelius Ryan's The Last Battle

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 10:51 AM (9sWOw)

286 Finished the Library of America Crime Noir of the 30s & 40s. Highly recommended. I thought Nightmare Alley was the best but they were all great reads.

I'm reading the book thread in my 'library' and every time I look up I see "The Letters of E. B. White" on the bookshelf. That was one of the most enjoyable reads ever. Also highly recommended. And they're letters, so it's an easy book to pick up, read a couple of letters and put down to continue later (for those of you having trouble concentrating).

Posted by: Who knew at November 29, 2020 10:51 AM (SfO/T)

287 (It did teach me this: if you hook up with someone who thinks selfishness is a virtue, don't be surprised when she lives up to her own standard.)

Eyeore

Was she also crazy in bed??

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:51 AM (JFO2v)

288 This past week I've been doing mostly "comfort food" rereads -- Larry Niven short stories, a couple of Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels, not much else.

(I did read a bunch of cookbooks early in the week, for obvious reasons.)

Can't buy any new books because of the Holiday Book Buying Moratorium. New books for myself, that is. I'm buying plenty of books as gifts, many of which I first heard about here.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 29, 2020 10:51 AM (QZxDR)

289 255 There are a bazillion parodies of real life events that use a clip from Downfall, a great movie about Hitler in his bunker.

There's a key line in the actual clip where Hitler says "Steiner's [army] will come" and all will be well. There's a pause and the generals look at each other, until one gets the nerve to say that Steiner's army has already been wiped out. Hitler realizes all is lost.

Which is always a key moment in the parodies
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (9TdxA)
________

OK, I might have read the historical basis of that. Or not. My reading on land warfare is hit or miss. In WWII, it's mostly either the islands, or the desert. They make sense to a navalist like me.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:52 AM (7X3UV)

290 We are all Harm Wulf now.

Ich bin ein Harm Wulfer

The DeepState cold war has gone hot? In Frankfurt, the Brennan/Haspel CIA killed 5 Army Special Forces? idk, maybe that is not the whole story, or a fake story, or taken from a Clancy novel ... but the war is hot enough .... they burn our cities and threaten our lives ... they stole an election and intend complete submission for us.

Posted by: illiniwek at November 29, 2020 10:52 AM (Cus5s)

291 Serious and deep philosophical question for the Horde:

Should I get more coffee?

Posted by: Robert at November 29, 2020 10:53 AM (/nph7)

292 Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85

-
I feel a disturbance in the Force.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 10:54 AM (+y/Ru)

293 239 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 10:40 AM (7X3UV)

---------

From the movie Downfall. In the scene Hitler is taking reports from various generals. Berlin is surrounded, artillery is landing in the government district, Wehrmacht forces are scattered, exhausted and out of supplies, the capital is about to fall.

Hitler holds onto the delusional belief that Felix Steiner's scraggly detachment will counter-attack and lift the siege. A German victory is imminent, all must only have faith.

So, a madly delusional belief that all is about to be made right. Just like conservatives cling to the belief that Dem criminals like Hillary, Brennan, Comey, Strozk, McCabe, Ohr, et al. are about to be frog-marched into custody by Barr's forces or that the Dem election thieves are about to be exposed and their perfidy will be reversed.

Steiner will come.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 10:54 AM (fLVm1)

294 A better link for the 0.99 book sale (with links to the books!):

https://threeravenspublishing.com/2020/11/26/the-amazing-holiday-0-99-book-sale/

Posted by: Ranten N. Raven at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (8YAVU)

295 Dejah Thoris was a Martian princess who was oviparous

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (AwPyG)

296 It appears somewhat likely that in six months we'll have gone from President Donald Trump to President Kamala Harris. I have a high tolerance for absurdity, but this would be a cruel absurdity too much to bear. If we don't revolt in that case, we're not worthy of citizenship.

Posted by: Ordinary American at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (H8QX8)

297 I wish there were some way to separate wheat from chaff in conspiracy theories. Once Bill Kristol said that he would rather be ruled by the Deep State than the Trump state I can't just cavalierly dismiss any of the crazy talk. Evidence helps of course. CIA and SF in a shootout?

Do they watch too much Netflix or something?

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (ZfRYq)

298 Broncos play today with no QB. All 3 gots the whuflu.

Might be a fun watch.

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (JFO2v)

299 So he's hanging out with Godot?

Answer: something I never knew.
Posted by: Eeyore

That was my first thought too. Lol
Thanks for the explanation everyone. I've seen that clip a thousand times but never saw the movie so had no idea what the context was. Now I know.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 10:56 AM (sd8p8)

300 @293 Firstly, it's not over.

Nextly, you're defending what the Deep State / Media has been doing.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:57 AM (9TdxA)

301 293: so Barr is the enemy. He's behaved like it

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 10:57 AM (ONvIw)

302 298 IF I had watched 1 play this year maybe, why start now?

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 10:57 AM (9sWOw)

303 In the same way that the left is trying to condition us to believe that exercising our rights is selfish (see: pandemic)
Posted by: artemis

Quarantine is when you restrict the movement of sick people.

Tyranny is when you restrict the movement of healthy people.

Never let them forget that.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 10:57 AM (BJLVZ)

304
Steiner will come.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 10:54 AM (fLVm1)

Is that the scene where they add text from everything from Tony Romo to Barack Owebama?

Hitler yelling at everyone?

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:57 AM (Zz0t1)

305 295 Dejah Thoris was a Martian princess who was oviparous
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (AwPyG)

And yet had a nice rack.

Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:58 AM (ZfRYq)

306 297 I wish there were some way to separate wheat from chaff in conspiracy theories. Once Bill Kristol said that he would rather be ruled by the Deep State than the Trump state I can't just cavalierly dismiss any of the crazy talk. Evidence helps of course. CIA and SF in a shootout?

Do they watch too much Netflix or something?
Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (ZfRYq)

The "Deep state" like "Dark Pools" sounds more conspiratorial than it is.

What is the Deep State? It is the permanent bureaucracy. The 4th and most powerful branch of our government. They're divided into factions and interest groups but they're leftist on the whole. Most lawmaking is done by these people due to authority having been delegated by Congress.

More broadly it could include the framework of lobbyists, politicians, and men of pull who work with it.

Is it insidious and corrupt? Yes. Is it secret? Not at all.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 10:58 AM (Zm+LZ)

307 Ooh, since we're talking about Heinlein, I just found this:

https://www.heinleinbooks.com/book-store

Good addition to any Christmas list!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 10:58 AM (PiwSw)

308 Broncos play today with no QB. All 3 gots the whuflu.

Might be a fun watch.
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (JFO2v)

Only one 'tested positive.'

The others were "contact tracing."

This is what they want to do to everyone.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:58 AM (Zz0t1)

309 It must be so frustrating for Trump with all these obstacles in his way.

Posted by: redridinghood at November 29, 2020 10:59 AM (NpAcC)

310 Is that the scene where they add text from everything from Tony Romo to Barack Owebama?

Hitler yelling at everyone?
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 10:57 AM (Zz0t1)

The very one.

By the way, am I the only one that actually watched Downfall? Really good, but fairly dry film.

Posted by: Robert at November 29, 2020 10:59 AM (/nph7)

311 Should I get more coffee?

Yes, Robert. Always.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 10:59 AM (sd8p8)

312 255 There are a bazillion parodies of real life events that use a clip from Downfall, a great movie about Hitler in his bunker.
There's a key line in the actual clip where Hitler says "Steiner's [army] will come" and all will be well. There's a pause and the generals look at each other, until one gets the nerve to say that Steiner's army has already been wiped out. Hitler realizes all is lost.

Which is always a key moment in the parodies

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (9TdxA)

Oddest Downfall parody I saw was something that involved Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. I think Hitler was supposed to be Jerry whatsisface, the owner of the Cowboys franchise.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:00 AM (lkGaW)

313 OK, folks, an hour has gone by and I think I shall make another cup of tea and then read the afternoon away.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 11:00 AM (2JVJo)

314 260 there is a lot of argument against Rand, but I think there is a lot to be said for her as well. People accuse her of being a monster of selfishness, but if the basic tenet of your theory is that individual rights are subject to the needs of the collective, who is allowed to make the decision as to where that line begins, and how do you object to any decision about what your "obligations" to others end?

there is something to be said for the stance: "rights are either absolute or else they are wishful thinking"
Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 10:45 AM (WyVLE)
________

What if they are neither? There can be only one absolute right, after all, before which the others all must give way. Which is it?

And what does "wishful thinking" mean here? Often not enforceable? Non-existent? Does it assume that that which is mental doesn't really exist? That last is a problem for Rand, who never really faced up to the consequences of her materialism.

On your earlier question, historically the conservative answer is that no person "decides". It is a collective but uncoordinated sum of the decisions of a society. Like the way free markets or languages work, the mores of a society are the sum of a vast number of individual agents acting together. Sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing.

And yes, it always will fall short of its ideals. But whether there is a real alternative, no one has shown. After all, those ideals have a way of coming back to reassert themselves.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:00 AM (7X3UV)

315 Even in the 2020 rip in the space-time continuum, I gotta call horse hockey on that one.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:00 AM (EgshT)

316 I am currently reading Thomas Horan's The Myth of the Zodiac Killer: A Literary Investigation. Horan's thesis is that there never was a "Zodiac Kiiller;" rather, that the first four victims were shot by drug dealers, the Lake Berryessa killings were done by a park ranger and the killing of cabbie Paul Stine by a short-order cook already a suspect in a string of cab robberies.

He believes that Robert Graysmith (author of the seminal Zodiac faked, in cooperation with at least one other man, all of the Zodiac letters.

An interesting volume, and a welcome change from the "my daddy was the Zodiac" books I've seen.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 29, 2020 10:17 AM (2JVJo)

Wow, crazy stuff. Being in the bay area and a school kid who "bounced off" the yellow bus every day, we lived that shit for a while. Of course, the only source of news was the Chomical or Examiner, which had those letters on the front page almost weekly.

It'd be something else if it was as mundane as all that, and only became something because of a couple of jerks who wanted to scare the crap out of the public and used the idiot media to do it. Definitely add that one to my short list.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:00 AM (8B6Ng)

317 Broncos play today with no QB. All 3 gots the whuflu.

Might be a fun watch.
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (JFO2v)

Only one 'tested positive.'

The others were "contact tracing."

This is what they want to do to everyone.
Posted by: Sponge

Once he gets over it, he's golden.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (BJLVZ)

318 Bye, MP4!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (PiwSw)

319 >>Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85

Did he really, though?

It wasn't his voice ...

and he wore a head to toe disguise.

That's like Ace claiming he was the actor for Johnny #5.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (hYlYD)

320 @305
I used to love the John Carter books. My favorite parts were when Carter had to drop down off something to the ground, and he didn't know how far the drop was, but he had no choice. (This happened quite a bit)

And it was always just a couple of feet.
Never got old.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (AwPyG)

321 ...the CIA killing 5 SF...

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (EgshT)

322 "Is it insidious and corrupt? Yes. Is it secret? Not at all."

It takes a dark turn when you have co-ordinated activity by key people in different agencies, like the Flynn Frame that involved the Obama White House, the CIA, the DOJ, the FBI, and the courts. Then add Media.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (9TdxA)

323 313 sounds like a plan

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 11:02 AM (ONvIw)

324 By the way, am I the only one that actually watched Downfall? Really good, but fairly dry film.

Posted by: Robert at November 29, 2020 10:59 AM (/nph7)

I've seen it. It's a matter-of-fact account of Hitler's last days.

Guy who played Hitler did a good job.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:02 AM (lkGaW)

325 Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 10:54 AM (fLVm1)

good morning ?

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 11:02 AM (zr5Kq)

326 321 pure fantasy?

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 11:02 AM (ONvIw)

327 >>> 295 Dejah Thoris was a Martian princess who was oviparous
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (AwPyG)

Comic artists and book cover artists loved drawing Dejah. Due to the general lack of clothing on Mars among red people they could make her nearly naked and did. Also pretty popular in cast figures.

Posted by: banana Dream at November 29, 2020 11:02 AM (l6b3d)

328 Which is always a key moment in the parodies
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (9TdxA)

One of my favorites is when Hitler learns he can't get tickets to the upcoming Rush concert...
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 10:49 AM (PiwSw)

Speaking of parodies...

This just might be the best Pitch Meeting evah!

"Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inf5du8u7OE

Posted by: naturalfake at November 29, 2020 11:03 AM (dWwl8)

329 Ha! I mentioned Waugh before Mr Lloyd did.

Eeyore wins!

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:03 AM (7X3UV)

330 pure fantasy?

That would be my take on it.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:03 AM (EgshT)

331 330 so no server in Frankfurt. Of course

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 11:04 AM (ONvIw)

332
It appears somewhat likely that in six months we'll have gone from
President Donald Trump to President Kamala Harris. I have a high
tolerance for absurdity, but this would be a cruel absurdity too much to
bear. If we don't revolt in that case, we're not worthy of citizenship.

Posted by: Ordinary American at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (H8QX

That is not going to happen... unless they want bloody revolution.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:04 AM (946rW)

333 Paula Ryan has moved on from "Atlas Shrugged". He now hands out copies of the sequels, "Atlas Sold Out" and "Atlas Backstabbed".

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at November 29, 2020 11:04 AM (Ndje9)

334 332 pure fantasy again.

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 11:05 AM (ONvIw)

335 287 (It did teach me this: if you hook up with someone who thinks selfishness is a virtue, don't be surprised when she lives up to her own standard.)

Eyeore

Was she also crazy in bed??
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:51 AM (JFO2v)
_________

Not really. But we were very young, and just figuring it out.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:05 AM (7X3UV)

336 Being in the bay area and a school kid who "bounced off" the yellow bus every day, we lived that shit for a while. Of course, the only source of news was the Chomical or Examiner, which had those letters on the front page almost weekly.

It'd be something else if it was as mundane as all that, and only became something because of a couple of jerks who wanted to scare the crap out of the public and used the idiot media to do it. Definitely add that one to my short list.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:00 AM (8B6Ng)

You and I must be blood brothers! Where in the BA did you live?

I'm always skeptical of these long-after-the-fact crazy-ass conspiracy theories, but who knows, maybe there's something to it.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:05 AM (lkGaW)

337 ...the CIA killing 5 SF...

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:01 AM (EgshT)

Is sadly a real possibility.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:05 AM (946rW)

338 Downfall is a great movie. Bruno Ganz kills as Hitler.

The Magda Goebbels character is one of the most evil women in filmdom. She could have had her many children smuggled to safety, but killed them with cyanide so they wouldn't grow up in a World with National Socialism.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:06 AM (9TdxA)

339 Maria Bartiromo is the Bernadette Peters for finance nerds.

Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 11:06 AM (KAi1n)

340 253 OK, I'll display my ignorance. Just what does "Steiner will come" mean? Where does it come from? Is it something I've forgotten, or something I never knew?

great white hope that never materializes
Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 10:44 AM (zr5Kq)

Great White Hope?? No

Steiner came from "Downfall" and has nothing to do with race.

Posted by: monkey at November 29, 2020 11:06 AM (CLteG)

341 Guy who played Hitler did a good job.
Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:02 AM (lkGaW)

Bruno Ganz. Was in several Werner Herzog movies

Nosferatu, Wings of Desire)

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 11:07 AM (PiwSw)

342 "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever."

Posted by: Marcus T at November 29, 2020 11:07 AM (CyB2R)

343 >>The Magda Goebbels character is one of the most evil women in filmdom. She could have had her many children smuggled to safety, but killed them with cyanide so they wouldn't grow up in a World with National Socialism.

Forgive me, but I am not gonna cry over the loss of Goebbels children.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:07 AM (hYlYD)

344 >>Steiner came from "Downfall" and has nothing to do with race.

Hahaha - stupid monkey.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:08 AM (hYlYD)

345 298 Broncos play today with no QB. All 3 gots the whuflu.
Might be a fun watch.

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (JFO2v)

Who is the center going to hike the ball to? The waterboy? John Elway?

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:08 AM (lkGaW)

346 @331
Sidney Powell spoke of the Frankfurt raid as soon as it supposedly happened, but she said she didn't know if the bad guys or the good guys had seized the servers.
then we hear that the US embassy in Frankfurt was a covert CIA cover for servers that were fixing elections all over the world.
Then Sidney tells us the good guys seized the hardware. If that is the case, and if they show this has indeed been happening, buckle up. At the very least its treason and potential acts of war by foreign countries.

Is it true? I dunno; she's pretty legit.
And she's obviously not a private practice lawyer, stumbling into all this.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:08 AM (AwPyG)

347 291 Serious and deep philosophical question for the Horde:

Should I get more coffee?
Posted by: Robert at November 29, 2020 10:53 AM (/nph7)
________

Obj 1: It would seem that another cup of coffee would be detrimental to your health, as the government has stated.

Obj 2: It would seem that coffee is in order only if decafinated.

On the contrary: You can never have too much coffee, as The Philosopher said.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:08 AM (7X3UV)

348 I wish there were some way to separate wheat from chaff in conspiracy theories. Once Bill Kristol said that he would rather be ruled by the Deep State than the Trump state I can't just cavalierly dismiss any of the crazy talk. Evidence helps of course. CIA and SF in a shootout?

Do they watch too much Netflix or something?
Posted by: blaster at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (ZfRYq)

We're living through a psy-ops operation the likes of which the world has never seen. They've been programming us for ages, but they've turned it to 11 with the whole plandemic and now this. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole chem-trail thing actually were real, and the CIA has been dusting people with an LSD like derivative. That or fluoridated water would explain a lot more than these people act like this on their own.

And now, the misinformation is flying in from both sides. What was just a raid on a server farm has now turned into some sort of covert op? This was leaked on purpose, it sounds so fake yet we have a "helicopter crash in Egypt" that kills 5 DF and a "terrorist attack" that takes out a CIA contractor.

And Tom Clancy [curses] rips the page out of his typewriter, wads it up, tosses it into the pile in the circular file, and pours another glass of Scotch.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (8B6Ng)

349 Vietnam War recommendation please? And who authored War Wolf?

Thanks.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'killin ain't hrd. It's not killin thets hrd' at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (WekKK)

350 The Magda Goebbels character is one of the most evil women in filmdom. She could have had her many children smuggled to safety, but killed them with cyanide so they wouldn't grow up in a World with National Socialism.

Ah......just like the left. Making decisions for others instead of letting them make their own.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (Zz0t1)

351 Steiner was a Wehrmacht general who was head of whatever rump Army (Army Group - Army - Corps - Division) was supposed to relieve Berlin during the final Soviet assault. He looked at the map, took stock of the state of his Army, and said, "Nope. I'm saving my men."

Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (KAi1n)

352 Is sadly a real possibility.

Maybe, but I just don't buy it. We're living real-time in the eye of a digital dis/misinformation hurricane.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (EgshT)

353 Praise our leader and empty your bank account --> cult

Clean your room --> not a cult

I know, it's hard to keep up with it, but the big brains Vox Day and Owen Benjamin will get there some day.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 29, 2020 11:10 AM (LxTcq)

354 Movie good good after hitler killed hitler.

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 11:10 AM (zr5Kq)

355
pure fantasy?

That would be my take on it.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:03 AM (EgshT)

Why would that be your take? Because the CIA would never try to overthrow the US government? They already did? Because the CIA would never interfere in an election? They have done that too. Because the voting machines were not online? We have several affidavits from several different observers in different states that say the machines were hooked to the internet.

What about this is so unbelievable given what the deep state has done to us (and the president as our avatar)?

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:10 AM (946rW)

356 Someone mentioned on twitter yesterday: Imagine if we discover that these mayors and governors who are making our lives miserable were not legitimately elected?
We may be heading for that conclusion.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:10 AM (AwPyG)

357 Re Ayn Rand: my husband got into her books in his late teens/early 20s; when I met him he had cooled considerably on her philosophy but he still had some of her books and I read several of them. My take on her is that she overreacted to the abuses of Soviet communism -- because they used concepts like "common good" and "altruism" to justify what they did, she went off the deep end in the other direction and decided that there was no such thing as common good and that altruism was bad. I did like her essays on the New Left and her book on art (The Romantic Manifesto) but her novels leave me cold.

Posted by: Secret Square at November 29, 2020 11:11 AM (9WuX0)

358 Trump is pushing fraud as his Narrative, but he's going to win or lose on voting process issues. Where the locals violated statutes and even SCOTUS orders to add in votes that shouldn't have been counted.

This should go to SCOTUS for PA and a few other states. If you don't count these states, Trump is actually ahead of Biden in the EC.

Roberts doesn't have the balls to pick the next President. Amy does.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:11 AM (9TdxA)

359 The Magda Goebbels character is one of the most evil women in filmdom. She could have had her many children smuggled to safety, but killed them with cyanide so they wouldn't grow up in a World with National Socialism.
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:06 AM (9TdxA)

---------

I understand the logic, awful as it was. I don't think it had anything to do with ideology.

Imagine you and your husband are the very faces of the horrific crimes that are just now being exposed. Sure, you can kill yourself, but you're leaving your kids to grow up in a world where their parents are reviled as monsters and where the kids themselves will be hounded and vilified for it. What would you do?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 11:12 AM (fLVm1)

360 Is sadly a real possibility.

Maybe, but I just don't buy it. We're living real-time in the eye of a digital dis/misinformation hurricane.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (EgshT)

We are and we need to be skeptical because of that but this is entirely within the expected behavior of the CIA.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:12 AM (946rW)

361 "152 Sgt. mom,
Do you ever do shows more in the hill country? I mean, I know you do but do you have a schedule?"

I did quite a few things in the Hill Country, but nothing at all this year, because of the Commie Crud. When and if I do more in 2021, I'll post it on FB, on my website and let the book threadists know.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at November 29, 2020 11:13 AM (xnmPy)

362 Boom?

Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'killin ain't hrd. It's not killin thets hrd' at November 29, 2020 11:13 AM (WekKK)

363 Uh.....

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:13 AM (Zz0t1)

364 That was weird.

Pixy farted.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:13 AM (Zz0t1)

365 We may be heading for that conclusion.
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:10 AM (AwPyG)

Indeed.

I also have to wonder what other nations are thinking right now? Perhaps not the "elected" leaders, but certainly the people under them. We could be looking at the most bizarre world civil war scenario we could ever dream of.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:13 AM (8B6Ng)

366

The MFM is crowing that the PA Supreme Court handed Trump another defeat. The Democrat Party admitted to the PA Supreme Court that they cheated their asses off the PA Supreme Court would still say there wasn't any cheating.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (E3jXy)

367 I understand the logic, awful as it was. I don't think it had anything to do with ideology.

Imagine you and your husband are the very faces of the horrific
crimes that are just now being exposed. Sure, you can kill yourself, but
you're leaving your kids to grow up in a world where their parents are
reviled as monsters and where the kids themselves will be hounded and
vilified for it. What would you do?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 11:12 AM (fLVm1)

As a mother, I would not kill them. I would kill anyone who suggested such a path.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (946rW)

368 294 A better link for the 0.99 book sale (with links to the books!):
https://threeravenspublishing.com/2020/11/26/the-amazing-holiday-0-99-book-sale/

Posted by: Ranten N. Raven at November 29, 2020 10:55 AM (8YAVU)

Thank you for this, I have updated the content.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (lkGaW)

369 "Who is the center going to hike the ball to? The waterboy? John Elway?"

That gal Vandy kicker!

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (9TdxA)

370 That was weird.

Pixy farted.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:13 AM (Zz0t1)

I was wondering what that smell was:-P

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (946rW)

371 360 Is sadly a real possibility.

Maybe, but I just don't buy it. We're living real-time in the eye of a digital dis/misinformation hurricane.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:09 AM (EgshT)

We are and we need to be skeptical because of that but this is entirely within the expected behavior of the CIA.
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:12 AM (946rW)

The issue is not that the story is implausible, given the history of the CIA the story is completely plausible. The issue is that we haven't seen evidence which should exist as a consequence yet(other than the apparent data manipulation which seems to lack any other explanation).

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (Zm+LZ)

372 Sidney Powell spoke of the Frankfurt raid as soon as it supposedly happened, but she said she didn't know if the bad guys or the good guys had seized the servers.
then we hear that the US embassy in Frankfurt was a covert CIA cover for servers that were fixing elections all over the world.
Then Sidney tells us the good guys seized the hardware. If that is the case, and if they show this has indeed been happening, buckle up. At the very least its treason and potential acts of war by foreign countries.

Is it true? I dunno; she's pretty legit.
And she's obviously not a private practice lawyer, stumbling into all this.
Posted by: artemis

If you don't know who has something, odds are, your side doesn't.

If it's CIA run, it wouldn't be acts of war by foreign countries, it'd be straight up treason by the CIA.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (BJLVZ)

373 What would you do?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 11:12 AM (fLVm1)

I would not take it upon myself to remove any possibility they could turn into John Conner and save the fucking world.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (Zz0t1)

374 @360
I think half the reason we're in the fix that we're in is because it's all so hard to believe.
Imagine finding out that the world is being run by a small corrupt cabal who practice pedophilia on the side.
Even with proof positive, a lot of people will scoff

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (AwPyG)

375 *nods at Bookish Problem #4*

Dug into private stash for some light reading. I enjoyed the Firefly comics put out by Dark Horse. I had a dead trees version of the middle book in Firefly Book 1, Firefly: Better Days, but my library has an e-comic that collects Serenity: Those Left Behind #1-3, Serenity: Better Days #1-3, and Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale.

They were written by Joss Whedon and the snappy dialog married to great artwork makes them as close to lost episodes as I can get.

Incidentally, I find my paper version has much better depth of color and detail than the electronic copy. Physical media baby!

Yes, we hate Whedon now, but I can't let his grabbyhands male feminism taint (ha!) my pleasure in a good book.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

376 Who is the center going to hike the ball to? The waterboy? John Elway?

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:08 AM (lkGaW)

Fauci.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (E3jXy)

377 Greetings:

The Progressive (n�e Public) Broadcasting System is running a multi-episode ( three so far) series entitled "The Rise of the Nazis" which is pretty good for one of its products.

There was a General Steiner involved in Hitler's early rise. Perhaps the same in later days ???

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 11:16 AM (evgyj)

378 Forgive me, but I am not gonna cry over the loss of Goebbels children.
Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:07 AM (hYlYD)

I understand your point but they're still just children. Not a group of Damiens. Lots of evil people have killed their children.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 11:16 AM (2DOZq)

379
That gal Vandy kicker!
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (9TdxA)

One squib kick in the 2nd half in a 47-0 route.

But YAY!!!!! WOMAN KICKED!!!!!!

Meanwhile, the US Women's National Team went to Europe, donned the BLM outfits and knelt for The National Anthem.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:16 AM (Zz0t1)

380 @372
I left out the part where the servers were arranged to be accessed by five foreign countries to influence the US election, and I bet you can guess the five.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (AwPyG)

381 >>That gal Vandy kicker!

The Kick heard 'round the Kitchen.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (TyTob)

382 The MFM is crowing that the PA Supreme Court handed
Trump another defeat. The Democrat Party admitted to the PA Supreme
Court that they cheated their asses off the PA Supreme Court would still
say there wasn't any cheating.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (E3jXy)

Let them crow. The PA Supreme Court is heading for a reckoning this year just as the FL Supreme Court was in 2000. Parnell's suit will head for SCOTUS and the 5 will reverse and impose the remedy prayed for.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (946rW)

383 The MFM is crowing that the PA Supreme Court handed Trump another defeat. The Democrat Party admitted to the PA Supreme Court that they cheated their asses off the PA Supreme Court would still say there wasn't any cheating.
Posted by: TheQuietMan

Yet everyone is hanging their hopes on five judges doing the right thing, when other judges refuse to.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (BJLVZ)

384 Eeyore, it is called objectivism. The whole idea is about that which objectively exists. If you imagine it, it may not have an objective reality.

I will not defend Rand since I can't do it with real knowledge, I do know that she came from the early Soviet Union, where the belief that the needs of the individual were subject to the needs of society was a basic element of society, and which was immediately abused to a level the Russian Aristocracy and Imperial bureaucracy had never imagined to be possible. She rejected that completely.

I think she was wrong on elements, the same way I think pure Anarcho-Libertarians are wrong, in that gathering together and creating interdependent groups with hierarchies is what humans do. The problem is getting them to run in a not abusive fashion.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (WyVLE)

385 I heard a little old lady got mutilated late last night ...
Posted by: RoyalOil

From Pasadena ?

After she got run over by a reindeer ?

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (arJlL)

386 >>I understand your point but they're still just children. Not a group of Damiens. Lots of evil people have killed their children.

Still. Not crying.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (TyTob)

387 Vietnam War recommendation please?

Recently read The Village by Bing West. Pretty good.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (EgshT)

388 Excerpt from The EZ Dog Diary a young VI Corps artillery officer in Alsace from this day in 1944.

Nov 29, 1944
About 100 Germans have been hiding out in a fort less than a mile and a half from our CP. Today the 30th Inf went up to clean them out. There was a lot of shooting -- S/A and tank fire. The FFI brings down varying reports of one side winning, then the other. The final story hasn't come back yet.

The 3d Div pushed north out of Strassburg today. They met elements of the 79th Div east of Brumath, which is to be our next CP. 103 Div reached the valley in vicinity of Nothalten. Gerry threw several stiff counterattacks at them there. 36th Div moved only slightly in their sector. They now hold a very exposed flank from Gerardmer on the right to Liepvre on the left. However at one spot 5000 yds south east of Liepvre they are almost in the valley.
CCA and II DB made only slight gains against heavier resistance. They are now working south on a line almost straight east of Barr.

Weather is still cloudy and cold.

CP - command Post
S/A - small arms
FFI - French Forces of the Interior (French Underground)
CCA - Combat Command 'A'. (a subset of US 12th Armored Division
IIDB - 2nd Division Blindée (French 2nd Armored Division under LeClerc who liberated Strasbourg the preceding week.

Posted by: Muldoon at November 29, 2020 11:18 AM (m45I2)

389 56 ... "Ayn Rand was right."

Agreed. She needed an editor. But she was right.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2020 11:18 AM (7EjX1)

390 @379
And no one asked her what young man lost out on a college scholarship so that she could do this absurd "girls are just as good as boys" preening

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:18 AM (AwPyG)

391
Fauci.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (E3jXy)

I accidentally saw him on Meet the Depressed this morning when I turned on my TV and it was on NBC for some reason.

Fuck that guy.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:18 AM (Zz0t1)

392 OM

I watched Downfall. Guy who played Adie won all kinds of awards, & rightly so.

For some reason, I didn't find the film very satisfying. I didn't think it looked quite right or felt quite right. Hard to put my finger on exactly why.

Posted by: mnw at November 29, 2020 11:19 AM (Cssks)

393 I have a friend who played professional tennis, and she says the #150 ranked man could beat the #1 ranked woman every time, and everyone knew it.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:19 AM (AwPyG)

394 Fuck that guy.
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:18 AM (Zz0t1

--------

There's a lamppost somewhere with his name on it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 11:19 AM (fLVm1)

395 You guys are terrible.

That kicker from Vanderbilt is a hero.

ONLY girl on a College Football Team? It's amazing she can even walk, let alone kick a football!

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:20 AM (TyTob)

396 She was on the soccer team, so she didn't cost anyone a scholarship, but it was a stupid SJW stunt.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:20 AM (9TdxA)

397
There's a lamppost somewhere with his name on it.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at November 29, 2020 11:19 AM (fLVm1)

I was hoping you misspelled guillotine.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:20 AM (Zz0t1)

398 307 Ooh, since we're talking about Heinlein, I just found this:
https://www.heinleinbooks.com/book-store
Good addition to any Christmas list!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 29, 2020 10:58 AM (PiwSw)

I always appreciate a matched set of well-bound books, but I'm not that big of a Heinlein fan for $1,500.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:20 AM (lkGaW)

399 The issue is not that the story is implausible,
given the history of the CIA the story is completely plausible. The
issue is that we haven't seen evidence which should exist as a
consequence yet(other than the apparent data manipulation which seems to
lack any other explanation).

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (Zm+LZ)

Yes, other than that.

Well, other than that and affidavits that voting machines were hooked to the internet when they should not have been. And the words of some fairly sharp, non-insane people who are in a position to know things we do not.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:21 AM (946rW)

400 I heard a little old lady got mutilated late last night ...
Posted by: RoyalOil

From Pasadena ?

After she got run over by a reindeer ?
Posted by: JT

Grandma!

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:21 AM (BJLVZ)

401
I won't drop any spoilers in case anyone is interested enough but wanted to know if anyone else here has read it?
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 09:28 AM (y7DUB)
--

Yes, I read it and enjoyed the trippy realism. Another book of his, "So Young, Brave, and Handsome", is great.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at November 29, 2020 11:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

402 She was on the soccer team, so she didn't cost anyone a scholarship, but it was a stupid SJW stunt.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:20 AM (9TdxA)

I hear that she did because of peculiarities in scholarship requirements for football players. Leaving that aside, though, it was a cheap stunt and she sucked as a kicker.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:23 AM (946rW)

403 What about this is so unbelievable given what the deep state has done to us (and the president as our avatar)?

Maybe I'm naive. Among other things I find it implausible that SF guys lost 5-1 to CIA operatives in a firefight.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 11:23 AM (EgshT)

404 Greetings:

Recently read "My Lai" (pub 2017)

What a mess, from the very bottom to the very top. All for each on steroids.

My Lai Book
Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent Into Darkness
by Jones, Howard
Book - 2017

Also, "Hu�" by the "Black Hawk Down" guy.

Both obviously about a very specific incident as opposed the wars in toto.

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 11:24 AM (evgyj)

405 I watched Downfall. Guy who played Adie won all kinds of awards, & rightly so.

For some reason, I didn't find the film very satisfying. I didn't think it looked quite right or felt quite right. Hard to put my finger on exactly why.
Posted by: mnw at November 29, 2020 11:19 AM (Cssks)

Bruno Ganz is a very good actor, too good, and made fuhrer look..sympathetic perhaps ? And that was not who h was. I meant what I said, movie became much better after hitler killer hitler. The schmaltzy scene at the end..eh, but germans are into sentimentality.

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 11:25 AM (zr5Kq)

406 >>it was a cheap stunt and she sucked as a kicker.

As a Boy Kicker.

As a Girl Kicker, she was the Best Evah!

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:25 AM (C6bNW)

407 366

The MFM is crowing that the PA Supreme Court handed Trump another defeat. The Democrat Party admitted to the PA Supreme Court that they cheated their asses off the PA Supreme Court would still say there wasn't any cheating.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2020 11:14 AM (E3jXy)
________

Considering that the actions of the PA Supremes are themselves a matter under dispute, surely there is a conflict here? That is actually one point that makes me hopeful. SCOTUS, when dealing with the FL SC, went 9-0 in telling them they were full of it.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (7X3UV)

408 Rumor is the evidence from the servers will be presented to the USSC. Remember trump said two days ago that "in the next week or so" people are going to find out some shocking things?

Not to mention that puts a lot of pressure on the PA MICH and AZ legislators to get ahead of this story, and get on the right side of it (even though I imagine most everybody knew very well it was happening)
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Barr told Mitch--here's what we're going to show, maybe you should change your attitude.

Assuming Barr is a sleeper good guy. Hard to tell.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (AwPyG)

409 Yet everyone is hanging their hopes on five judges doing the right thing, when other judges refuse to.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (BJLVZ)

They will. Also it looks like the PA legislature is stepping up (PA morons please call the leadership in your General Assembly and urge them to pass the resolution introduced last week with all dispatch).

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (946rW)

410 @ 15. I wonder who the poor sap was that signed off on that was.

Posted by: Dwaynerz at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (gtu/X)

411 That was weird.

Pixy farted.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the President Elect at November 29, 2020 11:13
AM (Zz0t1)

Just a glitch in the Matrix as I was updating blog content. Pay it no mind.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (lkGaW)

412 Rumor is the evidence from the servers will be presented to the USSC.

lol

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 11:27 AM (zr5Kq)

413 In Downfall, Magda is portrayed as chilling cold. It's a scary good performance.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:27 AM (9TdxA)

414 399 The issue is not that the story is implausible,
given the history of the CIA the story is completely plausible. The
issue is that we haven't seen evidence which should exist as a
consequence yet(other than the apparent data manipulation which seems to
lack any other explanation).

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:15 AM (Zm+LZ)

Yes, other than that.

Well, other than that and affidavits that voting machines were hooked to the internet when they should not have been. And the words of some fairly sharp, non-insane people who are in a position to know things we do not.
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:21 AM (946rW)

The internet connections(which various voting machine companies have mentioned in the past they can estimate are quite common) aren't evidence that it occurred but that it could have occurred. IE, that the means exist.

People saying that their sources are saying X is pretty weak. They might be credible, but their 'sources' might not be, and moreover this could all basically be cross-reporting from the same sources. If these sources are accurate, the hard direct evidence should be available.

We have what appears to be quite obvious data manipulation, a body so to speak. Whether we have a server used to coordinate the action remains to be seen.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:27 AM (Zm+LZ)

415 Trump interview this am with Maria. Did anyone see?

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (zlaVZ)

416 Taste my ass
Now eat my shit

Posted by: Rumor at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (CLteG)

417 She was on the soccer team, so she didn't cost anyone a scholarship, but it was a stupid SJW stunt.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:20 AM (9TdxA)

I hear that she did because of peculiarities in scholarship requirements for football players. Leaving that aside, though, it was a cheap stunt and she sucked as a kicker.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:23 AM (946rW)

Might keep Derek Mason his job, though....Vandy.

Posted by: BignJames at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (AwYPR)

418 I read Friday and liked it. What should I read in Heinlein next.

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 29, 2020 10:24 AM

How about The Past Through Tomorrow which is a collection of short stories. If you don't like one, there's always the next. Other story collections are The Menace From Earth or Assignment in Eternity. Some of these you'll have to seach for because they're not in print.

If you want to restrict yourself to novels, I really like Farmer in the Sky or Double Star and Have Space Suit, Will Travel holds a special place in my heart as the first book I ever bought with my own money.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (qDSku)

419 Assuming Barr is a sleeper good guy. Hard to tell.
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (AwPyG)

I buy everybody a beer if Barr is a sleeper good guy. At this point, I'm not sure what the advantage would be in him not "activating".

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (8B6Ng)

420 cowards and faggotry are being called out. I love it.

https://tinyurl.com/y2w4bm4d

@LLinWood

What kool-aid did
@RepDougCollins
drink?

Doug used to fight for
@realDonaldTrump
and We The People.

Now Doug refuses to fight. He is MIA.

Cowardice must have been in the Kool-Aid.

#FightBack
8:01 AM Nov 29

Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (vPzhp)

421 @407
and let's not forget the elephant in the room; Trump won in a massive landslide. No one is believing these crooked judges, politicians and news people.

that takes their protection away--no one is getting duped.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (AwPyG)

422 A CIA / SF firefight would be one of the most sensational news stories of all time. I have my doubts because nothing has been reported in the MSM or a rogue reporter making his 15 minutes.

That said , I rule out nothing.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (2DOZq)

423 Just a glitch in the Matrix as I was updating blog content. Pay it no mind.
Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (lkGaW)

OMG! There's no way out!

Posted by: DR.WTF at November 29, 2020 11:29 AM (AiZBA)

424
Trump interview this am with Maria. Did anyone see?
Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (zlaVZ)

He is never going to concede this election.

Posted by: DAK at November 29, 2020 11:29 AM (PtOP4)

425 The Magda Goebbels character is one of the most evil women in filmdom. She could have had her many children smuggled to safety, but killed them with cyanide so they wouldn't grow up in a World with National Socialism.

-
Would've fit right in at The People's Temple.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 11:29 AM (+y/Ru)

426 Doing OK!
Starting 18 weeks of Physical Therapy (3 times a week) tomorrow and NOT looking forward to it. The short time on the treadmill during my intake interview kicked my ass.

Grammie, I'm with you - I much prefer the La-Z-Boy!
Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van

Glad you're doing ok !
The people running the therapy know what they're doing.

It can't be worse than boot camp, right ?

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 11:29 AM (arJlL)

427 Yes, I read it and enjoyed the trippy realism. Another book of his, "So Young, Brave, and Handsome", is great.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at November 29, 2020 11:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

Trippy realism is an excellent description. Although the books are wildly different, the appeal of it reminded me of "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 29, 2020 11:30 AM (y7DUB)

428 There's not enough time to prove massive vote fraud in court. But if enough evidence is put in the public domain, it's cover for Trump to win on boring vote process issues.

So that's what Trump emphasized in his interview with the Money Honey.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 11:30 AM (9TdxA)

429 A big tell to me is that we are losing as long as there is no burning cities down by the left.
If they thought Trump had a chance the looting and burning would start immediately.

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:31 AM (zlaVZ)

430 384 Eeyore, it is called objectivism. The whole idea is about that which objectively exists. If you imagine it, it may not have an objective reality.

I will not defend Rand since I can't do it with real knowledge, I do know that she came from the early Soviet Union, where the belief that the needs of the individual were subject to the needs of society was a basic element of society, and which was immediately abused to a level the Russian Aristocracy and Imperial bureaucracy had never imagined to be possible. She rejected that completely.

I think she was wrong on elements, the same way I think pure Anarcho-Libertarians are wrong, in that gathering together and creating interdependent groups with hierarchies is what humans do. The problem is getting them to run in a not abusive fashion.
Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (WyVLE)
________

The problem is that she identified "objective" with "material". And there is a clear conflict there. There is no "truth" (or falsity) in the material world. There are, in fact, no propositions at all that could be so judged.

There are sounds, and configurations of figures. But they have no meaning without a mind. And a materialist rendering of a mind is notoriously problematic. But Rand never, that I have seen, really even tried to confront that problem. Later (and some earlier - e.g., Hobbes) did try. But none with success.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:31 AM (7X3UV)

431 I watched Downfall before it became the biggest meme ever. It is painful to watch, because the destruction that the Austrian painter is calling down on himself will destroy so many of people, most of whom did not deserve it.

The bunker scene was the crest of a wave of consequences. All of these bad choices would have been less likely if he didn't have limp sycophants in positions that require men with spines. If he was self-sabotaging, he spent years brewing the perfect storm. The long-term consequence of someone who can only think short-term.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 29, 2020 11:31 AM (LxTcq)

432 >>> 423 Just a glitch in the Matrix as I was updating blog content. Pay it no mind.
Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:26 AM (lkGaW)

OMG! There's no way out!
Posted by: DR.WTF at November 29, 2020 11:29 AM (AiZBA)

Mitt Rombley as Cypher

Posted by: banana Dream at November 29, 2020 11:32 AM (l6b3d)

433 393 I have a friend who played professional tennis, and she says the #150 ranked man could beat the #1 ranked woman every time, and everyone knew it.
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:19 AM (AwPyG)

This is a Dirty Little Secret everybody knows, but nobody likes to talk about.

My favorite story on this topic is back in the days when that Chris Evert was the dominant women's tennis player in the word, her training partner was her brother, who was ranked somewhere in the #150-200 range, and he could beat the stuffing out of her.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:33 AM (lkGaW)

434
There are sounds, and configurations of figures. But they have no meaning without a mind. And a materialist rendering of a mind is notoriously problematic. But Rand never, that I have seen, really even tried to confront that problem. Later (and some earlier - e.g., Hobbes) did try. But none with success.
Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:31 AM (7X3UV)

That's correct. Her philosophy is essentially incomplete. She reaches a number of accurate conclusions(such as free will), but skips logical steps to get there.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:33 AM (Zm+LZ)

435 I forgot to add (in #430) that reason is not a feature of the material world. It is irreducibly mental. Aristotle knew this. And that is where Rand's problem ultimately lies.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:33 AM (7X3UV)

436 >>OMG! There's no way out!

Lord, I just can't go out the door.

Posted by: Greg Allman at November 29, 2020 11:33 AM (ptxmk)

437 The bunker scene was the crest of a wave of consequences. All of these bad choices would have been less likely if he didn't have limp sycophants in positions that require men with spines. If he was self-sabotaging, he spent years brewing the perfect storm. The long-term consequence of someone who can only think short-term.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 29, 2020 11:31 AM (LxTcq)

This, then, is the story of America in 2020. All of our lousy choices we've made over the years are now biting us on the ass.

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:34 AM (lkGaW)

438 Vietnam War recommendation please? And who authored War Wolf?

Thanks.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob 'killin ain't hrd. It's not killin thets hrd'

Ya didn't like The Ten Thousand Day War ?

Read hell in a very Small Place: The Siege at Dien Bien Phu.

Its a compelling read.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 11:34 AM (arJlL)

439
A big tell to me is that we are losing as long as there is no burning cities down by the left.

If they thought Trump had a chance the looting and burning would start immediately.

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:31 AM (zlaVZ)

Nah that won't happen until legislature act and/or SCOTUS kicks the whole ant pile over.

Plus, cities are burning. Portland has had riots and looting numerous times since the election. Antifa/BLM is also very active in issuing death threats against any entity that is fighting the steal.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:35 AM (946rW)

440 >> I have a friend who played professional tennis, and she says the #150 ranked man could beat the #1 ranked woman every time, and everyone knew it.

At tennis.

In a Big Dick contest, or a Fistfight?

...Serena wins all.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:35 AM (ptxmk)

441 " reason is not a feature of the material world. "

Suck it!

Posted by: Magneto at November 29, 2020 11:35 AM (9TdxA)

442 You have to admit the Downfall parodies are genius

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:35 AM (AwPyG)

443 424 Good.

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 11:35 AM (ONvIw)

444 the CIA killing 5 SF...

-
CIA.
CIA kill.
Kill, CIA, kill.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 11:36 AM (+y/Ru)

445 Greetings:

Womens' tennis: Back when the US Open caved to the equal prize money charade, there was an exemption in the law when the quality or quantity of the work was demonstrably different.

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 11:37 AM (evgyj)

446 219 lots of choices

Shadout Mapes

Been reading lots of mysteries lately, but there is also lots of Robert Heinlein that I have read before, but would like to read again. As you say, lots of choices to choose fro.

Posted by: Charlotte at November 29, 2020 11:37 AM (6Lsms)

447 CIA.

CIA kill.

Kill, CIA, kill.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 11:36 AM (+y/Ru)

The start of a Dr. Seuss book about the election?

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:37 AM (946rW)

448 I have a friend who played professional tennis, and she says the #150 ranked man could beat the #1 ranked woman every time, and everyone knew it.

At tennis.

In a Big Dick contest, or a Fistfight?

...Serena wins all.
Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:35 AM (ptxmk)

What? Not feminine enough for you ??

https://tinyurl.com/y6hh6hru

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 11:38 AM (zr5Kq)

449 Again I recommend Pressfield's historic fiction novel of the Peloponnesian War, Tides of War for the enjoyment of reading as opposed to a non fiction account.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 10:39 AM

I saw your recommendation last week, and I thank you for it, but I'm not really all that interested in a fictionalized account. Maybe if I'd heard about it before I got 90% of the way through Kagan's tome.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 11:38 AM (qDSku)

450 We're assuming the shooters were CIA.
Remember, this is Merkel's Germany, and China and Iran are involved.
If any of those folks are killing American soldiers it gets very interesting.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:38 AM (AwPyG)

451 419. He's a scoundrel

Posted by: Definitely believes in the rot of the DOJ at November 29, 2020 11:38 AM (ONvIw)

452 Greetings:

Any Kill you walk away from is good one ???

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 11:38 AM (evgyj)

453 >>What? Not feminine enough for you ??

If she tried to jump the net after a match she'd get called for a double fault.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:39 AM (ptxmk)

454 @445
Or in simpler terms, no one pays to watch the JV

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:39 AM (AwPyG)

455 Shorter version: Adolph had been waving his hand at the map dismissively for years, and now curses fate's sudden but inevitable betrayal.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 29, 2020 11:39 AM (LxTcq)

456 450 We're assuming the shooters were CIA.
Remember, this is Merkel's Germany, and China and Iran are involved.
If any of those folks are killing American soldiers it gets very interesting.
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:38 AM (AwPyG)

Doubtful. Countries typically cover up diplomatically inconvenient deaths. The death of Russian soldiers in Syria becomes the death of Russian mercenaries.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:40 AM (Zm+LZ)

457 Girl kicker in post game interview said that she just wanted little girls to know that if they just believe hard enough that they can do anything they set their minds to.

In unrelated news, longtime Peter Pan assistant Tinkerbell has died at age 22, of natural causes and public apathy.

Posted by: Muldoon at November 29, 2020 11:40 AM (m45I2)

458
400 I heard a little old lady got mutilated late last night ...
Posted by: RoyalOil

From Pasadena ?

After she got run over by a reindeer ?
Posted by: JT

Grandma!
Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:21 AM (BJLVZ)

She was the terror of Colorado Boulevard.

Posted by: DAK at November 29, 2020 11:40 AM (PtOP4)

459 One thing just occurred to me. Never noticed it before. As I say, I'm not really into sci fi. There have been a few I've liked, but I have never been able to get into any of the series.

The only ones I read whole were Lewis's (and I don't really count him) and Vance's Demon Princes. The latter, well, I like Vance, but only 2 of the 5 really appealed to me (Star King and The Face). The others went meh. (I do note that Vance and Lewis have two common traits. One is humor, the other an unusual power of visual description.)

But of course series include much of my favorite literature. O'Brian I've already praise here. There are innumerable mystery writers who qualify. And there is always Wodehouse. So that's not the problem.

LOTR is not really a trilogy.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (7X3UV)

460 Dogs are taking me for a delayed hike. Before we leave I have to give you this Powerline election review that links to an excellent Spectator article (moved from behind their paywall)

https://tinyurl.com/y2r7urde

Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (szqvX)

461 I dunno about Boot Camp (Marines) but Army Basic Training was utterly boring. So boring, a few of us made chess sets from cardboard.

Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (KAi1n)

462 >> Girl kicker in post game interview said that she just wanted little girls to know that if they just believe hard enough that they can do anything they set their minds to.

Except take a piss with their jeans on.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (ptxmk)

463 Well managed to write just over 27,000 words for NaNoWriMo, a wee bit short of the 50k goal. But at least I wrote something.

As for Chalker, he got better and at same time recycled tropes from Web of the Chozen.

Posted by: Anna Puma at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (hbcHg)

464 A big tell to me is that we are losing as long as there is no burning cities down by the left.
If they thought Trump had a chance the looting and burning would start immediately.
Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON

The big tell was Trump telling the GSA to release the transition funds and the pentagon to start daily security briefings.

GSA lady receiving death threats? Where the fuck is the FBI investigations? Surround her home with the 82nd Airborne if need be. WTF is giving in?

And who would send death threats to the Pentagon?

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (BJLVZ)

465 Greetings:

454 @445
Or in simpler terms, no one pays to watch the JV
Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:39 AM (AwPyG)

Well, the JV played 8 minute quarters at least.

The girls use to play 6 at a time 3 on each end and little skirt things on their bottoms.

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 11:42 AM (evgyj)

466 @459
You may like Laumer's Retief series, if you like humor in sci fi

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:42 AM (AwPyG)

467 If you're relying on us you better have a plan b.

The governors of AZ and GA have been under crushing pressure to call their legislatures into session.

Their response is LOLGF.

And the GOPe cowards in legislative leadership roles will never give Trump electors. Nor will they refuse to seat them.

Posted by: GOPe state legislatures at November 29, 2020 11:42 AM (8IVNt)

468 Girl kicker in post game interview said that she just wanted little girls to know that if they just believe hard enough that they can do anything they set their minds to.

Posted by: Muldoon at November 29, 2020 11:40 AM (m45I2)

It's Vandy, they could start all girls...no one would notice.

Posted by: BignJames at November 29, 2020 11:43 AM (AwYPR)

469 We have what appears to be quite obvious data manipulation, a body so to speak. Whether we have a server used to coordinate the action remains to be seen.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:27 AM (Zm+LZ)

-731 pages of exhibits in the filed MI lawsuit alone.
-past patterns of behavior are used as admissible evidence and proof in court.
- Dominon's own manual instructs how to manipulate and change date
- using an algo to tabulate votes is the very definition of manipulation
- Smartmatic is owned by foreigners who used foreign parts and software funded by foreign actors.
I could go on for days. This is war.

Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 11:44 AM (vPzhp)

470 I have a friend who played professional tennis, and she says the #150 ranked man could beat the #1 ranked woman every time, and everyone knew it.

At tennis.

In a Big Dick contest, or a Fistfight?

...Serena wins all.
Posted by: garrett

Michael Obama wins all.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:44 AM (BJLVZ)

471 Greetings:

461 I dunno about Boot Camp (Marines) but Army Basic Training was utterly boring. So boring, a few of us made chess sets from cardboard.
Posted by: SFGoth at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (KAi1n)

Army Boot Camp posted a weekly training schedule to help the organized types schedule their sick calls.

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2020 11:44 AM (evgyj)

472 Here is what I don;t understand.
In PA, they sent out 1.8 million mail in ballots requested by voters. They received 1.4 million returned. On election night they counted 2.5 million mail in ballots. How is that not outright fraud?

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (sd8p8)

473 I was reading this book about anti-gravity.

I couldn't put it down.

Posted by: flounder at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (KnJdm)

474 If not for WWII, we wouldn't have Downfall parodies.

Posted by: klaftern at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (RuIsu)

475 464
And who would send death threats to the Pentagon?

hello, sailor!

Posted by: Xinnie the Pooh at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (5br8a)

476 @464
there's speculation that to get the transition/daily briefing things, Biden and Harris have to disclose their interests under penalty of perjury, which is tricky for them.
But I agree, it seemed strange.
It's as though trump is playing nice while the other side is going scorched earth and couldn't care less about optics.

But he knows more than we do, so its hard to second guess.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:46 AM (AwPyG)

477 439Plus, cities are burning. Portland...

I do not consider Portland qualifies as a city any longer. There's hardly anything civilized about it or enough law enforcement for true citizens. Just my opinion.

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:46 AM (zlaVZ)

478 469 We have what appears to be quite obvious data manipulation, a body so to speak. Whether we have a server used to coordinate the action remains to be seen.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:27 AM (Zm+LZ)

-731 pages of exhibits in the filed MI lawsuit alone.
-past patterns of behavior are used as admissible evidence and proof in court.
- Dominon's own manual instructs how to manipulate and change date
- using an algo to tabulate votes is the very definition of manipulation
- Smartmatic is owned by foreigners who used foreign parts and software funded by foreign actors.
I could go on for days. This is war.
Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 11:44 AM (vPzhp)

Note that you didn't contradict anything I said. A corpse, means, and motive is frequently sufficient.

The question is not whether Epstein killed himself, it's who killed Epstein?

They say it was the CIA and we've seized a server as proof. Ok, that's plausible, and it should come out soon enough if true. If it doesn't come out at all, presumably the claims regarding the server are false.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:46 AM (Zm+LZ)

479 Posted by: GOPe state legislatures at November 29, 2020 11:42 AM (8IVNt)

they can't hide in Atlanat behind gangs and BLM forever. They have homes and families in deep red and red areas. People love to hunt animals in these states.
The GOPe lives in an echo chamber. They are about to find out the hard way I believe.

Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (vPzhp)

480 Here is what I don;t understand.
In PA, they sent out 1.8 million mail in ballots requested by voters. They received 1.4 million returned. On election night they counted 2.5 million mail in ballots. How is that not outright fraud?

Posted by:�sharon(willow's apprentice)�at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (sd8p

There is a lot of misinformation out there.

3 million ballots were mailed.

Posted by: GOPe state legislatures at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (8IVNt)

481 @472
and apparently in Wisconsin there are hundreds of thousands more mail in ballots than applications for mail in ballots. (and they still required one)

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (AwPyG)

482
Girl kicker in post game interview said that she just wanted little girls to know that if they just believe hard enough that they can do anything they set their minds to.

Oh honey, it's not like you entered the game as an outside linebacker.

Posted by: DAK at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (PtOP4)

483 I could go on for days. This is war.
Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 11:44 AM (vPzhp)

And now we find out that Dominion is owned by Staple Street Capital, with ties to other deep state/beltway cronies. They apparently just scrubbed their entire website, right down to the board members. The rabbit hole appears infinite.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (8B6Ng)

484 A big tell to me is that we are losing as long as there is no burning cities down by the left.

If they thought Trump had a chance the looting and burning would start immediately.

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON

The big tell was Trump telling the GSA to release the transition funds and the pentagon to start daily security briefings.

GSA lady receiving death threats? Where the fuck is the FBI
investigations? Surround her home with the 82nd Airborne if need be. WTF
is giving in?

And who would send death threats to the Pentagon?

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (BJLVZ)

I did not like them releasing GSA money or doing anything toward transition but there is precedence. Both Gore and Bush had transition teams in 2000. As I recall, Gore had an easy time finding office space for same and Bush was told to take a hike an awful lot in DC.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (946rW)

485 -731 pages of exhibits in the filed MI lawsuit alone.
-past patterns of behavior are used as admissible evidence and proof in court.
- Dominon's own manual instructs how to manipulate and change date
- using an algo to tabulate votes is the very definition of manipulation
- Smartmatic is owned by foreigners who used foreign parts and software funded by foreign actors.
I could go on for days. This is war.
Posted by: bat nationalist

That's all fine and dandy.

PA SC just said, "no evidence".

Guess what? PA SC decision stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:48 AM (BJLVZ)

486 Where were we in 2010?

Democrat Senate and House majority, President Shit-Midas, SCOTUS was 4-4 with Roberts as tiebreaker.

ACA was on the way. ACLU represented a terrorist born in Kansas who claimed that he could sue the attorney general personally for his detention. Hillary was State secretary.

We are objectively in a better place, assuming the fucking fraud election doesn't stand.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 29, 2020 11:48 AM (LxTcq)

487 Our friend Islam hasn't been sleeping in.

Massive Islamic Terrorist Attack In Africa Results In Deaths Of At Least 110 People:�Report

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 29, 2020 11:49 AM (+y/Ru)

488 Dogs are taking me for a delayed hike. Before we leave I have to give you this Powerline election review that links to an excellent Spectator article (moved from behind their paywall)

https://tinyurl.com/y2r7urde
Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at November 29, 2020 11:41 AM (szqvX)

If you want your head to explode, check out this Paul Mirengoff post at Powerline. Mirengoff is a rabid NeverTrumper and he's at his worst in the article. He extensively quotes Ed Morrissey -- 'nuff said.

https://tinyurl.com/y6qkanap

Posted by: DR.WTF at November 29, 2020 11:49 AM (AiZBA)

489 Thanks for the explanation everyone. I've seen that clip a thousand times but never saw the movie so had no idea what the context was. Now I know.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 10:56 AM

I actually made a point of watching that scene with the real subtitles once so that I could have some idea what was really going on. As I recall, I found a YouTube video with commentary providing context on what was being said.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at November 29, 2020 11:49 AM (qDSku)

490 @478
Exactly. You don't know what to believe, but soon we're going to find out, either way.
although everything about this year seems to drag on unnaturally longer than it should.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:49 AM (AwPyG)

491 >>PA SC just said, "no evidence".

Guess what? PA SC decision stands.

PA Court is already on Probabtion, essentilly.

Any decision they (PA SC) make re. Elections are going to be revisited by the Supremes as the PA Court ignored the Supremes the last time they colored/went outside the lines.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:49 AM (hvfLk)

492 My recollection day or two before election day on news talk radio was out of 2.5 million mail in ballots sent out only 1/2 to little more were turned in, leaving if that was right a million to be waiting to be added into the mass vote dump at last moment.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 11:50 AM (9sWOw)

493 They say it was the CIA and we've seized a server as proof. Ok, that's plausible, and it should come out soon enough if true. If it doesn't come out at all, presumably the claims regarding the server are false.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:46 AM (Zm+LZ)

And then we come full circle to the crazy Q and Alex Jones conspiracies of the cannibalistic pedophile cult running the world.

Ah 2020, is there anything you can't do?

<3

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:50 AM (8B6Ng)

494 Trump interview this am with Maria. Did anyone see?
Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (zlaVZ)

Was wondering that myself, anyone have a quick summary, anything new?

Posted by: spypeach at November 29, 2020 11:50 AM (Up/Jb)

495 That's all fine and dandy.

PA SC just said, "no evidence".

Guess what? PA SC decision stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:48 AM (BJLVZ)

That is doubtful... Go read Alito's dissent when Roberts turned away the PA case in late October. The PA SC is going down and it is going down hard.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (946rW)

496 Jimmy Connors had a battle of the sexes match with Martina Navratilova in Vegas where he only got one serve and her hitting area was increased to include half the doubles alley. Connors place a million dollar bet that she would not get more than 7 games total. I think he beat her 6-3 6-4.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (2DOZq)

497 462
>> Girl kicker in post game interview said that she just wanted
little girls to know that if they just believe hard enough that they can
do anything they set their minds to.

Except take a piss with their jeans on.

pretty sure there's a channel on pronhub that disagrees with you.

Posted by: Anachronda at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (5br8a)

498 Dr. Peterson is all about conventional wisdom. He provides the data, facts and logical progression of how something has become conventional wisdom, and the folly of deconstructing that wisdom.

This makes the moonbeam and unicorn fart crowd violently angry.

Fire them all and let unemployment sort it out.

Posted by: Desultory joe at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (L9P9s)

499 Plus, cities are burning. Portland...

I do not consider Portland qualifies as a city any longer. There's hardly anything civilized about it or enough law enforcement for true citizens. Just my opinion.
Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON

Portland and Seattle don't count. They burn every time the WTO meets. They aren't burning because they thought Trump won.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (BJLVZ)

500 Trump interview this am with Maria. Did anyone see?
Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (zlaVZ)

Was wondering that myself, anyone have a quick summary, anything new?
Posted by: spypeach at November 29, 2020 11:50 AM (Up/Jb)

no. nothing you have't heard before.

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (zr5Kq)

501 The Kresge Foundation is now one of the more liberal foundations out there. Presumably, this happened in spite of the conservatism of its founder - a committed Prohibitionist.

Notre Dame is now one of the more liberal institutions out there. Presumably, this happened in spite of the conservatism of its founders, as well.

Proof of Robert Conquest's Second Law of Politics.
Posted by: Darrell Harris at November 29, 2020 09:25 AM (4tiP2)

Prohibitionists conservative? Do tell. They regarded themselves as Progressives, back in the day. Using the massive power of the State to deny people the right to drink booze does not sound even remotely conservative.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (k7kl3)

502 Here is what I don;t understand.
In PA, they sent out 1.8 million mail in ballots requested by voters. They received 1.4 million returned. On election night they counted 2.5 million mail in ballots. How is that not outright fraud?
Posted by:sharon(willow's apprentice)at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (sd8p

Rounding error?

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (lkGaW)

503 483 I could go on for days. This is war.
Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 11:44 AM (vPzhp)

And now we find out that Dominion is owned by Staple Street Capital, with ties to other deep state/beltway cronies. They apparently just scrubbed their entire website, right down to the board members. The rabbit hole appears infinite.
Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 11:47 AM (8B6Ng)

I checked these guys on Preqin a week or more ago when their name first came up.

They have basically no listed Instiutional investors(1 for Fund I) for their fund size, which is extremely anomalous. The public pensions and the like are required to disclose these commitments, which means the investments were likely made by HNW individuals or the like. It's also odd because as part of the fundraising process, major commitments are advertised and those investors help push the fund to others. They raised hundreds of millions with none of the typical names attached.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:52 AM (Zm+LZ)

504 >>pretty sure there's a channel on pronhub that disagrees with you.

Hahaha - I was gonna say successfully take a piss...

then I figured, the people subscribed to that Channel would call that a success.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 11:52 AM (hvfLk)

505 494
Trump interview this am with Maria. Did anyone see?

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (zlaVZ)

Was wondering that myself, anyone have a quick summary, anything new?

nothing new that i noticed, but i find trump difficult to listen to; he usually wanders off on a tangent before he reaches the end of a sentence.

Posted by: Anachronda at November 29, 2020 11:52 AM (5br8a)

506 Guess what? PA SC decision stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:48 AM (BJLVZ)

That is doubtful... Go read Alito's dissent when Roberts turned away the PA case in late October. The PA SC is going down and it is going down hard.
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner

Until it hits the SC, it stands. Prove me wrong.

After it hits the SC, there's a 50% chance it stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:53 AM (BJLVZ)

507 502 Here is what I don;t understand.
In PA, they sent out 1.8 million mail in ballots requested by voters. They received 1.4 million returned. On election night they counted 2.5 million mail in ballots. How is that not outright fraud?
Posted by:sharon(willow's apprentice)at November 29, 2020 11:45 AM (sd8p

Rounding error?
Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (lkGaW)

Common Core Math?

Posted by: Romeo13 at November 29, 2020 11:53 AM (d9rwJ)

508 The spousal unit gave me one of her Baldacci books featuring a new FBI agent Atlee Pine. It's ok but is it possible to have too much character development?
Anyway, I need something different.

Posted by: Diogenes at November 29, 2020 11:54 AM (axyOa)

509 506 Guess what? PA SC decision stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:48 AM (BJLVZ)

That is doubtful... Go read Alito's dissent when Roberts turned away the PA case in late October. The PA SC is going down and it is going down hard.
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner

Until it hits the SC, it stands. Prove me wrong.

After it hits the SC, there's a 50% chance it stands.
Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:53 AM (BJLVZ)

Bright side is if the SC overturns it they'll likely over turn the rest, if they don't the rest will likely stand. It's a real shot but by no means a guarantee.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:54 AM (Zm+LZ)

510
Was wondering that myself, anyone have a quick summary, anything new?

Trump may be forced to leave office but he'll never concede.

Posted by: DAK at November 29, 2020 11:54 AM (PtOP4)

511 For the company that propagated the most successful election
braking lots of rules thought impossible Dominion should be doing laps in the celebration

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2020 11:55 AM (9sWOw)

512 Plus, cities are burning. Portland...

I do not consider Portland qualifies as a city any longer. There's
hardly anything civilized about it or enough law enforcement for true
citizens. Just my opinion.

Posted by: FloridachickTrump WON

Portland and Seattle don't count. They burn every time the WTO meets. They aren't burning because they thought Trump won.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (BJLVZ)

It doesn't really matter why they are burning... they are burning. Additionally, the left is under no delusion that this election was fraud-free no matter what they say about it. Their stormtroopers are being held back for the same reason the press refuses to report on the fraud. It is all about appearances not reality.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:56 AM (946rW)

513 Trump may be forced to leave office but he'll never concede.
Posted by: DAK

Doesn't change the final outcome. I don't give a hairy rat's ass if he ever concedes or not.

I give a huge fuck who is president come January 20th.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:56 AM (BJLVZ)

514 there is something to scytl, since they hide their frankfurt legend on their corporate map, I'm guessing they used ksk (german special forces) for security, is all of it true, but there is something there.

I was reviewing all old charlie stross tale 'the jennifer morgue' before he went moonbat, the jennifer refers to the glomar explorer recovery operation, of a soviet nuclear submarine, but there is a certainly lovecraftian twist,

Posted by: bolivar de gris at November 29, 2020 11:57 AM (hMlTh)

515 I think the SC will punt even if they believe that the election was stolen and justify it in their minds as avoiding a prolonged bloody pushback by the thieves supporters.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 11:57 AM (2DOZq)

516 Until it hits the SC, it stands. Prove me wrong.

After it hits the SC, there's a 50% chance it stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:53 AM (BJLVZ)

There is a zero percent chance it stands when it hits SCOTUS.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:57 AM (946rW)

517 513 Trump may be forced to leave office but he'll never concede.
Posted by: DAK

Doesn't change the final outcome. I don't give a hairy rat's ass if he ever concedes or not.

I give a huge fuck who is president come January 20th.
Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:56 AM (BJLVZ)

It's important to post-Republic efforts. Just by contesting this Trump has woken up more Republicans than I thought possible. Sooner=better as far as a revolt is concerned.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:58 AM (Zm+LZ)

518 I wish gateway pundit would stop posting stuff that makes you think we've won a battle when we haven't.

Posted by: Jaimo at November 29, 2020 11:58 AM (NXGjq)

519 That is doubtful... Go read Alito's dissent when Roberts turned away the PA case in late October. The PA SC is going down and it is going down hard.
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:51 AM (946rW)

According to this twitter thread, the PA SC is a creature bought and paid for by George Soros:

https://twitter.com/FowlesMurphy/status/1328908377959714817

Posted by: President-Elect OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at November 29, 2020 11:58 AM (lkGaW)

520 @509
I may be optimistic, but there's a reason we had the last minute dipsy-doodle seating of a new justice, a new justice that seemed to take the left by complete surprise.
I'd be very surmised if the USSC didn't cite bush v gore as precedent, and say that all the shenanigans violates equal protection.
(and it does; imagine if you are living in FLA, for example, where your vote was counted like votes are supposed to be counted, but your winning candidate is going to lose because the swing states in question committed heavy-handed fraud.)

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

521 Ahoy, bookfagz!

Posted by: Insomniac at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (nakwk)

522 Trump emphasized massive vote fraud in his interview with the Money Honey. He rambles and repeats himself because he's trying to reach normal people.

There's not enough time to prove massive vote fraud in court. But if enough evidence is put in the public domain, it's cover for Trump to win on boring vote process issues.

What will SCOTUS Roberts do?

Posted by: Magneto at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (9TdxA)

523 I think the SC will punt even if they believe that
the election was stolen and justify it in their minds as avoiding a
prolonged bloody pushback by the thieves supporters.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 11:57 AM (2DOZq)

They will not. And even if they were inclined, they know that way leads to revolution and people far more deadly than the coplay idiots in the streets now getting involved.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (946rW)

524 I think the SC will punt even if they believe that the election was stolen and justify it in their minds as avoiding a prolonged bloody pushback by the thieves supporters.
Posted by: Mr Meeseeks

This.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (BJLVZ)

525 Trump emphasized massive vote fraud in his interview
with the Money Honey. He rambles and repeats himself because he's
trying to reach normal people.

There's not enough time to prove massive vote fraud in court. But if
enough evidence is put in the public domain, it's cover for Trump to
win on boring vote process issues.

What will SCOTUS Roberts do?

Posted by: Magneto at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (9TdxA)

Sit in the corner with his dunce cap on while the adults make the decision (as already happened when SCOTUS slapped down Cuomo last week).

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:01 PM (946rW)

526 They will not. And even if they were inclined, they know that way leads to revolution and people far more deadly than the coplay idiots in the streets now getting involved.
Posted by: redbanzai

Who will revolt? The right?

Please.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 12:01 PM (BJLVZ)

527 520 @509
I may be optimistic, but there's a reason we had the last minute dipsy-doodle seating of a new justice, a new justice that seemed to take the left by complete surprise.
I'd be very surmised if the USSC didn't cite bush v gore as precedent, and say that all the shenanigans violates equal protection.
(and it does; imagine if you are living in FLA, for example, where your vote was counted like votes are supposed to be counted, but your winning candidate is going to lose because the swing states in question committed heavy-handed fraud.)

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

The legal argument is easy enough to make. The question is the people. Thomas and Alito are known, the Dem justices are known and Roberts we have reasonably high certainty on(being against us). Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett are comparatively hard to estimate. If you figure it at 70% chance for each, you get a 34% shot, if it's 80% for each then a 51% shot. How confident are we in these people with the short time we've seen them on the SC? Everyone's free to make their own assessment.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 12:01 PM (Zm+LZ)

528 They say it was the CIA and we've seized a server as proof. Ok, that's plausible, and it should come out soon enough if true. If it doesn't come out at all, presumably the claims regarding the server are false.
Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 11:46 AM (Zm+LZ)

They literally have the names of the people connected to Dominion machines via the dark web. Spoiler: lawyers and foreign IP addresses. Search this user's hsitory. People have been working on this. Seriously, spend 30 minutes on here. We have it all.

https://tinyurl.com/y3g36uhd

Precinct > County > State > Clarity > Scytl...

> Dumb

https://tinyurl.com/y2o5bwjr

Wow this latest round is wild! I scraped everyone from the who-we-are page. Pulled in all of their sm, personal domains, etc. They are like cockroaches, everywhere!!!

https://tinyurl.com/y5unkd6n

https://tinyurl.com/y3zx37be

Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 12:01 PM (vPzhp)

529 I think the SC will punt even if they believe
that the election was stolen and justify it in their minds as avoiding a
prolonged bloody pushback by the thieves supporters.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks

This.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (BJLVZ)

Again, they will not. They have already signaled they will not. And if they do, they are bringing about a second revolution by denying the entire country the ability to settle their differences at the ballot box.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:02 PM (946rW)

530 Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (946r

You have no idea how the SC will rule. It's all conjecture. What I am certain of is our side is not going to violently take to the streets if Trump does not prevail.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 12:02 PM (2DOZq)

531
I left out the part where the servers were arranged to be accessed by five foreign countries to influence the US election, and I bet you can guess the five.

Posted by: artemis at November 29, 2020 11:17 AM (AwPyG)

Gee. The ones who had their hands in the 'Russian Collusion' BS?

Posted by: Aylmer at November 29, 2020 12:02 PM (+9XkZ)

532 My fear is that it "appears" like the angry Trump voters are getting less angry, I don't think that's correct. But unless there are more marches, more anger and a whole hell of a lot more push back, then they are going to get away with the steal. They know we don't burn shit down. Which is a problem, they are not afraid us.

Posted by: spypeach at November 29, 2020 12:03 PM (Up/Jb)

533 NOOD ART,

you go now

Posted by: runner at November 29, 2020 12:04 PM (zr5Kq)

534 If everyone with a brain knows there was massive fraud, how does SCOTUS not follow statutes literally to give Trump a process win? Even Roberts should see this

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 29, 2020 12:04 PM (9TdxA)

535 I finished Ted Cruz' autobiographical "One Vote Away".
For followers of political events such as the Horde, you will find much of it as a review of recent events, told from Sen. Cruz' perspective.
But I found it satisfying and managed to learn a thing or 2 about the law in the process.

Posted by: attila the temporarily reasonable at November 29, 2020 12:04 PM (w7KSn)

536 In the movies, our CIA is often corrupt and willing to murder inconvenient (sometimes innocent) witnesses to DeepState crime. Seth and Epstein evidence might show that to be true ... or Whitey Bulger. And then there are the patriots that die too young ... sudden heart problems ... more sophisticated than polonium maybe?

Trillions and control of the world on the line ... the global warming scam alone reveals their perfidy ... deniers are not killed, just fired and exiled. But overthrow of our elections ... if caught means life in prison, if we don't hang them. Sure, they would kill Special Forces ... maybe they killed the first five that gave them a chance to surrender peacefully? I have no idea on any of that ... but traitors are murderers ... in any case, all in it together, all get charged together.

Posted by: illiniwek at November 29, 2020 12:04 PM (Cus5s)

537 @524...If I had to make a prediction at this point, I'd say SCOTUS will find a way to send it back to state legislatures, with some sort of guidance that at first glance appears to be even-handed, or perhaps favor Trump, but in execution will installl Biden. I also think there's a fair shot Nancy Pelosi will be "acting president" for a few weeks or even months.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 12:05 PM (evxBY)

538 Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (946r

You have no idea how the SC will rule. It's all conjecture. What I
am certain of is our side is not going to violently take to the streets
if Trump does not prevail.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 12:02 PM (2DOZq)

Yes we will actually. And we should if we value being citizens with God-given rights instead of slaves. Destroying elections will guarantee bloody revolution in short order.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:05 PM (946rW)

539 You have no idea how the SC will rule. It's all conjecture. What I

am certain of is our side is not going to violently take to the streets

if Trump does not prevail.

Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 12:02 PM (2DOZq)

And we have a very good idea how SCOTUS will rule by looking at Alito's dissent from October 28.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:06 PM (946rW)

540 Where was this supposed cia vs special forces fight happening? In a server room? It sounds so insane but who knows? Whether it happened or not it is so far out there it will never be taken seriously by most people.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:07 PM (22mNy)

541 540 Where was this supposed cia vs special forces fight happening? In a server room? It sounds so insane but who knows? Whether it happened or not it is so far out there it will never be taken seriously by most people.
Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:07 PM (22mNy)

The facility would presumably have more than just a server room, so inside (or around) the building that has the server room with the server of interest.

Posted by: Warlord Someguy - General Who Pacifies The East and West at November 29, 2020 12:08 PM (Zm+LZ)

542 538

I honestly cannot tell if you are a really good troll or really believe the crazy shit you say.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:08 PM (22mNy)

543 @524...If I had to make a prediction at this point,
I'd say SCOTUS will find a way to send it back to state legislatures,
with some sort of guidance that at first glance appears to be
even-handed, or perhaps favor Trump, but in execution will installl
Biden. I also think there's a fair shot Nancy Pelosi will be "acting
president" for a few weeks or even months.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 29, 2020 12:05 PM (evxBY)

Nancy Pelosi will not be "acting president". Nor will Republican legislatures hand the election to Biden if they value their lives and positions.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:09 PM (946rW)

544 I just read that Spectator article linked by Powerline. The anomolies are compelling. The ridiculous amount of votes they had to manufacture to outdo the unbelievable enthusiasm for our President gaining him more votes than any second term reelection bid in history is just too obvious. The fact that they came all from 4 cities is even more ridiculous. That the proof is now missing....no envelopes, missing data sticks, provisional ballots mixed in. If your candidate won fairly, why hide the proof.

If, after all this, Biden still advances, it basically nullifies the electoral college in that he will have won a minority of counties but 4 or 5 large cities created the margin of victory.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 12:10 PM (sd8p8)

545 Leaning more towards troll. Cobs, not a good look for the blog with shit like 538 and 543 imho.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:10 PM (22mNy)

546 What will SCOTUS Roberts do?

Posted by: Magneto at November 29, 2020 11:59 AM (9TdxA)

Sit in the corner with his dunce cap on while the adults make the decision (as already happened when SCOTUS slapped down Cuomo last week).
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:01 PM (946rW)

As I've mentioned before, I'm hoping he's got the threat to the SCOTUS rattling around in the back of his tiny noggin. They've already started the "doesn't matter what the courts say" BS going. Add to that the threat of possibly packing the courts, or forcing him out (no matter how obedient of a little tool he's been, he'll always be a neocon Bush appointee) then maybe, just maybe he'll side with the right. Just to save his own skin.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 12:11 PM (8B6Ng)

547 I read that Biden won the smallest percent of counties ever for a winning candidate.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:11 PM (22mNy)

548 I honestly cannot tell if you are a really good troll or really believe the crazy shit you say.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:08 PM (22mNy)

Our founders would have been shooting already. Life is not so dear nor peace so sweet so as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. You may not value your freedom enough to fight and kill for it but their are plenty of people who do.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:12 PM (946rW)

549 >> Leaning more towards troll. Cobs, not a good look for the blog with shit like 538 and 543 imho.

What was your previous nic?

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:12 PM (ptxmk)

550 Redbanzai you need some weed or something bro.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:14 PM (22mNy)

551 Leaning more towards troll. Cobs, not a good look for the blog with shit like 538 and 543 imho.

Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:10 PM (22mNy)

Show me where I am wrong jackass.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:14 PM (946rW)

552 Again, Asshoes...what was your previous Nic?

If you are gonna throw accusations of Trolling out there, it's be nice to know who they were coming from.

I recognize Red. I don't recognize you.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:16 PM (ptxmk)

553 I'm currently about 200 pages into Brandon Sanderson's latest, Rhythm of War. So far a good read, but methinks it's apropos that the Stormlight Archive series ends here.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 12:16 PM (EgshT)

554 Reminder that the group attempting the coup have a stated policy that it is ok to assassinate American Citizens without Due process established under Obama. Yes, we are at war for that reason among all the others.

Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 12:17 PM (vPzhp)

555 As I've mentioned before, I'm hoping he's got the
threat to the SCOTUS rattling around in the back of his tiny noggin.
They've already started the "doesn't matter what the courts say" BS
going. Add to that the threat of possibly packing the courts, or forcing
him out (no matter how obedient of a little tool he's been, he'll
always be a neocon Bush appointee) then maybe, just maybe he'll side
with the right. Just to save his own skin.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 12:11 PM (8B6Ng)

I hope you are right but I suspect Roberts will do exactly what he did last week... he will be the 4th vote in the communist block of SCOTUS. The good thing is, it does not matter. He has been neutralized (thank God).

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:17 PM (946rW)

556 >>I'm currently about 200 pages into Brandon Sanderson's latest, Rhythm of War. So far a good read, but methinks it's apropos that the Stormlight Archive series ends here.

He s nowhere near done with that thing.

I am sitting at about 55% complete on this one...

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:18 PM (ptxmk)

557 Where was this supposed cia vs special forces fight happening? In a server room? It sounds so insane but who knows? Whether it happened or not it is so far out there it will never be taken seriously by most people.
Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:07 PM (22mNy)

Before this coming out today, what I'd heard was the server farm was a clandestine op taking place in a building that was a front with something else tech related. Whether other security forces were already present is an unknown, but the CIA probably figured they'd never have to worry about inside ops.

The theory is that the AF had to gain entry to the building to begin with. Who knows how large a structure, the layout or how many were involved. CIA assets were brought in at the last second to help defend, including Michael Goodboe, a former SEAL.

So the AF was already at a disadvantage having to approach and contain a building. So nothing here sounds beyond the pale. I didn't think they could walk right in if it was a CIA op, unplug and wheel out a server. If it was just SCYTL and a couple of security guards in the middle of the night? Sure.

I'd blow this all off, if it weren't for McInerney, who doesn't strike me as batshit crazy. But who knows.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 12:18 PM (8B6Ng)

558 Again, Asshoes...what was your previous Nic?

If you are gonna throw accusations of Trolling out there, it's be nice to know who they were coming from.

I recognize Red. I don't recognize you.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:16 PM (ptxmk)

Thanks garrett

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:19 PM (946rW)

559
Whether it happened or not it is so far out there it will never be taken seriously by most people.
Posted by: Asshoes at November 29, 2020 12:07 PM (22mNy)

lol. Deep rooted distrust of the CIA in this country is bipartisan.

Posted by: DAK at November 29, 2020 12:21 PM (PtOP4)

560 I guess we can identify who the Troll is in this scenario, now.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:21 PM (ptxmk)

561 red is not a troll! he's been here a while.

Posted by: megthered at November 29, 2020 12:21 PM (SM/op)

562 I hope you are right but I suspect Roberts will do exactly what he did last week... he will be the 4th vote in the communist block of SCOTUS. The good thing is, it does not matter. He has been neutralized (thank God).
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:17 PM (946rW)

In most cases that's what I'd think. Guess it boils down to does he want to write the dissenting opinion or not. This guy has done more damage than any other justice I can think of, at least in my 29 years.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 12:21 PM (8B6Ng)

563 Re PA Sup. Ct. most recent decision rested on a statutory requirement for the constitutional challenge, not evidence of fraud.

The statute had a clause that required any constitutional challenge to the law be filed within 180 days of the passage of the legislation. Now, the catch 22 is that no candidate would have standing prior to an election where they lost due to mail in ballots so the law virtually had no way to constitutionally challenge it.

That is why the trial court reasoned in the case that every constitutional wrong must have a remedy, statutory requirements for a constitutional challenge then would invert the relationship between the legislative acts and the State Constitution. PA Sup. Ct. reversed that decision by reinstating the statutory limit on 180 days to challenge the law.

The preliminary injunction request which the PA Sup. Ct. ruled upon before the election and the fed district court, the Third Circuit and Scotus did not disturb was that the suspicion that voter fraud due to executive and SOS regulatory changes would occur due to before the election failed to reach irreparable harm for the candidates. The Trump campaign filed in post election in PA federal district court, lost and then lost at the Third Circuit on appeal, and are now appealing to the U.S. Sup. Ct.

The more recent PA case had the trial court ruling on the merits of the case that the mail in ballot law was unconstitutional and the PA Sup. Ct. reversed because the the appellees failed to meet the statutory standard to make a facial challenge to the law.

Posted by: whig at November 29, 2020 12:22 PM (pO7gM)

564 He s nowhere near done with that thing. I am sitting at about 55% complete on this one...

The ending should be interesting. IIRC, he says in the forward that he had to rush to complete it.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at November 29, 2020 12:23 PM (EgshT)

565 AFAIK, both Asshoe and redbanzai are kosher as a Hebrew National frank.

I can't think of anybody I've agreed with 100% here, but longevity doesn't mean you can't go troll.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 12:24 PM (8B6Ng)

566 Asshoes is not a known Sock Puppehteer. Don't recall seeing Xhit on that list.

Asshoes does not have any pattern / syntax clues as to their previous ID.

Asshoes is a passive aggressive, 'Just asking Questions' type of poster, best I can tell.

Never understood the purpose of these types, but they are always running amongst the Horde.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:25 PM (ptxmk)

567 What is book? Linking again to that fluffy fantasy I wrote years ago. Zero stars on Amazon because it's not on there. New illo on ToC.

http://bit.ly/invul

Invulnerable
Part 1, chapter 2, page 3
Dr Thomas Baker, psych counselor

"The underlying cause of most psychological problems is one thing... fear.

"Fear of the known.

"Fear of the unknown.

"So... I understood why everyone had such nigh-miraculous transformations when we ...lost our fear.

"I still don't now how.

"But my work... was moot." ...

Posted by: mindful webworker
is it Christmas season now?
at November 29, 2020 12:27 PM (VfCmK)

568 Posted by: whig at November 29, 2020 12:22 PM (pO7gM)

Pharisees should not be anywhere new our 3 branches of government because shit like this is what happens over and over again. Non-Stop ways to subvert Constitutions and the law.

Posted by: bat nationalist at November 29, 2020 12:28 PM (vPzhp)

569 >>The ending should be interesting. IIRC, he says in the forward that he had to rush to complete it.

Perhaps he should concentrate on it?

I have no idea why he wastes as much time as he does on other shit...perhaps the income stream is greater than the series?

All I know is he's wasting a TON of my time in the last 2 installments of this series.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:29 PM (ptxmk)

570 Breaking via Posobiec:
FBI asking for data from Matt Braynard and Phil Kline. Both have compelling data about the election fraud.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 12:29 PM (sd8p8)

571 The more recent PA case had the trial court ruling
on the merits of the case that the mail in ballot law was
unconstitutional and the PA Sup. Ct. reversed because the the appellees
failed to meet the statutory standard to make a facial challenge to the
law.

Posted by: whig at November 29, 2020 12:22 PM (pO7gM)

Someone posted a supreme court case from way back that decided an issue like this and said that laches does not attach when their are constitutional issues. There was another case posted where SCOTUS ruled that elections are decided by legislative rules but those legislative rules cannot contradict the state Constitution. I think under either of those precedents, SCOTUS takes the Parnell case and overrules the state supreme court.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:32 PM (946rW)

572 And...55% through this thing and Wit has only walked through one scene.

One.

We got a passing ref to his 'lost' flute. But other than that...nothing.

Best character in the entire fucking book, too.

Posted by: garrett at November 29, 2020 12:32 PM (ptxmk)

573 A CIA / SF firefight would be one of the most sensational news stories of all time. I have my doubts because nothing has been reported in the MSM or a rogue reporter making his 15 minutes.

That said , I rule out nothing.
Posted by: Mr Meeseeks, Look at me at November 29, 2020 11:28 AM (2DOZq)

If you assume that the MSM is in cahoots with the Democrats, and a party to the Steal, then there is every reason for them to suppress news of this event.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2020 12:37 PM (qyveN)

574 571 Red Banzai,
The doctrine of laches is he who sleep on their rights loses them, the idea is that the legislature put this 180 day limit in the absentee ballot statute to challenge it based on the PA Constitution. However, the other common law doctrine is that he who comes to court must have clean hands--thus if the PA executive and election officials misbehaved, that would cause those officials claims to be regarded unfavorably.

Ultimately, what each side is dancing along about is that post election changes to the law are contrary to Bush v. Gore II precedent on equal protection. Furthermore, a state's failure to count votes post election in an equitable fashion (using the same statutory requirements) also would be an equal protection violation.

In addition, the U.S. Constitution itself gives the power to state legislatures for electors, not state governors or state chief elections officers (usually the secretary of state). In the recent faithless elector case, the state legislative binding of electors was held to be constitutional because of Article II language discussing the state's role via state legislative action in selecting electors. It is but a hop, skip, and jump, to go to a state legislature's right to seat its own electors or to disapprove of any votes by electors being sent.

Enough of that and the vote is thrown to the House for President and the Senate for VP.

Posted by: whig at November 29, 2020 12:41 PM (pO7gM)

575 FBI asking for data from Matt Braynard and Phil Kline. Both have compelling data about the election fraud.
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at November 29, 2020 12:29 PM (sd8p

Where evidence goes to die.

Posted by: NYC and Philly at November 29, 2020 12:41 PM (ONvIw)

576 >>That is doubtful... Go read Alito's dissent when
Roberts turned away the PA case in late October. The PA SC is going down
and it is going down hard.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner

Until it hits the SC, it stands. Prove me wrong.

After it hits the SC, there's a 50% chance it stands.

Posted by: rickb223 at November 29, 2020 11:53 AM (BJLVZ)

Why are you here?

What is it you set about to accomplish with these sorts of posts/arguments with positive minded people?"Prove me wrong"
Go fuck yourself and leave asshole

Posted by: Getcha Pull at November 29, 2020 12:45 PM (aR6C/)

577 If you assume that the MSM is in cahoots with the Democrats, and a party to the Steal, then there is every reason for them to suppress news of this event.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2020 12:37 PM (qyveN)

The thing I can't wrap my mind around is that this place is supposedly in Frankfurt? Could a firefight go down in one of the largest metropolitan areas of the EU with nobody noticing? Chicago, sure. I'd certainly think if a euro-rag got wind of it they'd report it, because it could easily make orangemanbad look even worse.

If the shooting were limited to indoors, perhaps even underground, then yeah, it's possible nobody would notice. If it's like the R&D areas in Silicon Valley, blocks and blocks are deserted on weekends/evenings. You could have a firefight in the parking lot and nobody would notice.

Posted by: clutch cargo at November 29, 2020 12:56 PM (8B6Ng)

578 Sit in the corner with his dunce cap on while the adults make the decision (as already happened when SCOTUS slapped down Cuomo last week).
Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at November 29, 2020 12:01 PM (946rW)
_________

Well played. Combining "SCOTUS" and "dunce cap" in one sentence, while not referring to the 14th C.

Posted by: Eeyore at November 29, 2020 01:04 PM (7X3UV)

579 Grammie- Just take a deep breath, relax and do your coloring.

Don't picture the ENTIRE Horde looking over your shoulder.

Posted by: JT at November 29, 2020 01:30 PM (arJlL)

580 Re. the WarWolf. I read it in German. It's very good, but very grim. Which pretty much describes all German language literature during and around the Thirty Years War. That's one of those periods in history where you thing, "Come on, it can't get any worse." And then it does. (The climate going cold for 60 years or so didn't help).

I'm glad an English translation is now available.

Posted by: TXRed at November 29, 2020 01:37 PM (jgZmH)

581 There is a archetypal used book store the next town over, Berryville Old Book Shop, which has many copies of Jack L. Chalker (and lots of other stuff). Much of his vast and varied inventory isn't listed on abebooks.com but there is a way to contact him and ask about material: Under sellers look for Berryville Old Book Shop, contact, and there's an email form. Obviously, I have an interest in keeping his shop open for my personal use but he and his wife are knowledgeable about all kinds of books, how to find/purchase them, and are good, honest people.

Posted by: Linda Roberts at November 29, 2020 02:53 PM (sp7nf)

582 Late in the day but I forgot this one: Possum Living by Dolly Freed. It's gonna be important to know how to do things cheaply.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at November 29, 2020 06:02 PM (YynYJ)

583 I'm halfway through Warwolf after downloading it on Sunday. Great book. It's like an immersion into 17th-century northern Europe, with lots of references to pre-Christian culture and language.
I've seldom read a novel that is both a great yarn and detailed history class. I'm also fascinated with the language.
The translator did a great job and included lots of interesting footnotes.

Posted by: TeeFix at December 01, 2020 02:38 PM (qenw/)

584 vdogOJDPmc

Posted by: KLlarDCGhP at December 02, 2020 02:28 AM (Pxdug)

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