Shoreline of the lake I visited a couple of days ago:
Comments
Open thread 10/8/2025 — 32 Comments
Interesting article at Campus Reform on the Trump team’s attempt to reform higher ed. All good points which include some teeth regarding withholding federal dollars. Real key point for me is freezing tuition for 5 years which given the state of higher ed, will require cutting the large administrative bloat from the last 20 years. A laudable attempt doomed to fail in my view. The contempt higher ed holds for Trump means no school will ever sign on to this. They value their virtue signaling and being part of the herd more than any such reforms.
I’m a political naif, so someone please answer my question-
The Dems are all over saying that “Democracy” demands that we restore the $1.5 trillion for their pet stuff.
Why has Speaker Johnson not introduced a clean bill that would do just that?
It would be separate from the CR that the House has passed. It would not pass the House, but it would be voted on, just like a real democracy, and its failure to pass would be public knowledge.
GOP could say it’s Democracy in Action- “How a Bill Becomes (or does not become) a Law.”
Incumbent Dems could have ads run next summer- “Your congresscritter voted to give illegal aliens a trillion in health care, when you can’t get it for your family.” A stretch, but not a big one.
All theater, but so is everything else in D.C. these days.
Question for all: is the Israeli documentary on the events of Oct 7 anywhere available to the general public?
@West TX Intermediate Crude:Why has Speaker Johnson not introduced a clean bill that would do just that?
Partly because it’s redundant–the House Democrats already made their wishes known-and partly because it’s a mixed message that would be trumpeted in the media far and wide that even Speaker Johnson supports X, Y, Z.
I think what’s much more important, is that the Senate Republicans could easily pass the CR that the House passed any time they want to, using a one-time set-aside of the filibuster if necessary, which they have done three times this year, most recently just a month ago, for different issues.
But for reasons known only to them, they don’t want to on this issue. And we’re having so much fun saying “Schumer shutdown” that we don’t want to know why they don’t want to.
West TX Intermediate Crude — that was all debated and decided in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Those are Democrat demands and there is no reason for Republicans to bring it back.
I should add that the Dems would just slow things down by redebating it all. More important things for Congress to spend their time on.
IrishOtter49;
If you mean the one with all the atrocities, the answer is that I don’t think so although I’m not sure.
The Palisades fire in January was deliberate arson. Arsonist has been arrested in Florida.
I think it is bad that the student loan check goes directly to the school. I think the process should be more like taking out other types of big loans. You really know how much money you are on the hook for. At colleges and universities, it’s a bit more amorphous.
I also think that as part of the loan application process, I think student loan officers should be required sit down with the applicant and spell out the details of PAYING back the loan: How long it will take it will take at what amounts and how much interest winds up being paid. Even on the back of credit card statements, in teeny tiny letters, it tells you how much money you will waste (and how long it will take) based on paying just the minimum payment. It won’t surprise you, but it is awful.
PLUS student loan officers should discuss with the student what sort of salary the student can reasonable expect to earn in their field upon gradation . The Federal Government collates all sorts of information like that. While there are outliers, reasonably accurate information is available somewhere. Anyhow… That should roll into a discussion of how the student can expect to pay off the loan. I mean, a person earning $30K is NOT going to get a home loan to buy a $500K house with no down payment. But we act like it’s no big deal for student loan debt. Oy!
Pay off amounts and time is an easy excel spreadsheet. I did it with my own student loan. If I had known about that from an older student loan, I would have been making MUCH larger payments than what the loan holder “suggested.” For too many years, (back when you got a physical booklet with pages to tear out and send in with your payment), I just paid what they told me to pay. I was still paying on it after twenty years. That was when I: A) Took out a second student loan for another degree; and B) Learned the magic of Excel to calculate loan payments. I plugged in different numbers: how much would I need to pay to get the loan paid off in X months; how many months will it take if I pay Y amount…
But the company that holds your note WANTS you to take thirty years to pay — they earn waaaaay more interest.
I’m a political naif, so someone please answer my question-
The Dems are all over saying that “Democracy” demands that we restore the $1.5 trillion for their pet stuff.
Why has Speaker Johnson not introduced a clean bill that would do just that?
It would be separate from the CR that the House has passed. It would not pass the House, but it would be voted on, just like a real democracy, and its failure to pass would be public knowledge. — West TX
It would not pass the House? Probably, but does anyone know that for certain?
I seem to recall that some GOP senators thought that they would go ahead and vote for the proposed 16th Amendment of the Constitution because they were certain that it would never get ratified by 3/4 of the states. Oops. (A select few people still claim that it was never ratified.)
I tend to believe that there are occasionally a couple or few GOP congress persons who are bought or extorted by the other side.
sdferr:
I wrote this post on Fischer-Dieskau. I’m a big fan.
Mike Plaiss, Reading about the Nova film ( re your 2:45 comment), I wonder if this was the film I’d heard of soon after the atrocities. I think so. The article says it took less than 2 months to create, lasts 52 minutes, and includes collected personal videos from both sides — the Israelis and Hamas.
Some Fox News hosts & commentaries who decided they needed to watch it were, of course, appalled and deeply affected. Marsha McCallum comes to mind.
The article says it was recently released on Prime Video. I assume that’s Amazon’s streaming package?
I don’t plan on even trying to watch it, even though part of me wants to, to honor the victims.
He was a hero of mine too. Was fortunate to see and hear him perform a few times, and even to meet him once post-performance to thank and praise. What a voice.
It seems as if they may have caught the guy who started the Palisades fire. A 29 year old who drove for Uber and had apparently used ChatGPT to generate a “dystopian painting” of a city being burned on one side while “hundreds of thousands of people in poverty are trying to get past a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it.” at one point before the fire. He also supposedly donated $2 to Biden for President in 2020.
Pres Trump: “I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East.”
Earlier Pres Trump had commeted that he was planning travel to the MiddleEast this Sat night for a deal closure Sun,
I thought the 72-hour clock on Hamas returning the hostages started three-days ago. However, Hamas has not signed off yet and negotiations on the final terms are continuing.
____________________________________
Netanyahu’s office clarified in a Sunday media briefing that the premier, in an agreement with Washington, has limited the duration of the talks “to a few days maximum, with no tolerance” for delays.
A 72-hour deadline will go into effect “from the moment all details are solidified with Hamas,” stated PMO spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian.
The day after the second October 7 anniversary—Israel’s 9/11–the Babylon Bee has a masterful, knee-slapping, if not belly laughing satire piece: Muhammad is upset that his example of killing the Kafir isn’t Believed:
Trump then told reporters that he had been informed that a hostage and ceasefire deal is “very close”.
According to Israeli officials: “The agreement will be signed later today, with the first release expected either on Saturday or Sunday”.
The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported later that Hamas and Israel will sign a ceasefire agreement on Thursday at 12:00 noon.
President Donald Trump added that he may travel to the Middle East soon.
“I was just dealing with people from the Middle East… on the potential peace deal… it’s something I think that will happen – got a good chance of happening,” he said.
Trump added: “I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually. Negotiations are going along very well. If that’s the case, we’ll be leaving probably on Sunday – maybe Saturday.”
Trump announces stuff: “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan… BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” – President Donald J. Trump
What is the landscape of business change coming through AI?
A new interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang explains how it has already changed and empowered his workforce of 40,000 engineers (1-5m).
He’s asked about the profitability of these enormous investments, and concludes “AI enterprise is [already] here.” Example? Cursor AI for automated coding at Nvidia — “it’s brand new” and all his engineers love using it.
Next 5-8), Jensen discusses the differences between general AI and narrow, field specific AI. We are seeing the rapid growth in the latter, while the potential of the former is still at the R&D prototype level.
For folks here watching computers and the hi-tech world, this is an interesting update and a look at the horizons for the next two years, and more.
sdferr:
Hooray!
But I’ll believe it when the hostages are back.
Wait! What? A hostage deal? I thought there already was a hostage deal last week, with the hostages released this past Monday. Is this “news” from last week?
Breaking News!!! Celebrations as Trump announces Israel and Hamas have signed off first phase of Gaza plan – Sky News Live Stream
I wouldn’t put it past Hamas to purposefully infect the living hostages (and possibly even some of the deceased ones?) with a germ or virus that could in turn infect their families when they meet.
Then again, by now they probably don’t have the resources for such evil actions.
I also don’t see them willingly giving up their arms unless they see a path to resurgent controlling position down the road. Who knows what some Saudi prince or businessman has promised them on the side?
Wendy K Laubach on October 8, 2025 at 2:30 pm:
“More watery music.”
Yes, that was magical. I could see using that music as biofeedback to lower BP measurements.
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Interesting article at Campus Reform on the Trump team’s attempt to reform higher ed. All good points which include some teeth regarding withholding federal dollars. Real key point for me is freezing tuition for 5 years which given the state of higher ed, will require cutting the large administrative bloat from the last 20 years. A laudable attempt doomed to fail in my view. The contempt higher ed holds for Trump means no school will ever sign on to this. They value their virtue signaling and being part of the herd more than any such reforms.
https://www.campusreform.org/article/sturge-trumps-compact-academic-excellence-brings-law-merit-back-campus/28730
Ravel, Jeux d’eau, (Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano, 5:33): https://youtu.be/jnKFIp7CahY
I’m a political naif, so someone please answer my question-
The Dems are all over saying that “Democracy” demands that we restore the $1.5 trillion for their pet stuff.
Why has Speaker Johnson not introduced a clean bill that would do just that?
It would be separate from the CR that the House has passed. It would not pass the House, but it would be voted on, just like a real democracy, and its failure to pass would be public knowledge.
GOP could say it’s Democracy in Action- “How a Bill Becomes (or does not become) a Law.”
Incumbent Dems could have ads run next summer- “Your congresscritter voted to give illegal aliens a trillion in health care, when you can’t get it for your family.” A stretch, but not a big one.
All theater, but so is everything else in D.C. these days.
Question for all: is the Israeli documentary on the events of Oct 7 anywhere available to the general public?
@West TX Intermediate Crude:Why has Speaker Johnson not introduced a clean bill that would do just that?
Partly because it’s redundant–the House Democrats already made their wishes known-and partly because it’s a mixed message that would be trumpeted in the media far and wide that even Speaker Johnson supports X, Y, Z.
I think what’s much more important, is that the Senate Republicans could easily pass the CR that the House passed any time they want to, using a one-time set-aside of the filibuster if necessary, which they have done three times this year, most recently just a month ago, for different issues.
But for reasons known only to them, they don’t want to on this issue. And we’re having so much fun saying “Schumer shutdown” that we don’t want to know why they don’t want to.
West TX Intermediate Crude — that was all debated and decided in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Those are Democrat demands and there is no reason for Republicans to bring it back.
I should add that the Dems would just slow things down by redebating it all. More important things for Congress to spend their time on.
IrishOtter49;
If you mean the one with all the atrocities, the answer is that I don’t think so although I’m not sure.
The Palisades fire in January was deliberate arson. Arsonist has been arrested in Florida.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/arrest-made-connection-deadly-pacific-palisades-fire-sources-say
Higher Eduction and Student Loans:
I think it is bad that the student loan check goes directly to the school. I think the process should be more like taking out other types of big loans. You really know how much money you are on the hook for. At colleges and universities, it’s a bit more amorphous.
I also think that as part of the loan application process, I think student loan officers should be required sit down with the applicant and spell out the details of PAYING back the loan: How long it will take it will take at what amounts and how much interest winds up being paid. Even on the back of credit card statements, in teeny tiny letters, it tells you how much money you will waste (and how long it will take) based on paying just the minimum payment. It won’t surprise you, but it is awful.
PLUS student loan officers should discuss with the student what sort of salary the student can reasonable expect to earn in their field upon gradation . The Federal Government collates all sorts of information like that. While there are outliers, reasonably accurate information is available somewhere. Anyhow… That should roll into a discussion of how the student can expect to pay off the loan. I mean, a person earning $30K is NOT going to get a home loan to buy a $500K house with no down payment. But we act like it’s no big deal for student loan debt. Oy!
Pay off amounts and time is an easy excel spreadsheet. I did it with my own student loan. If I had known about that from an older student loan, I would have been making MUCH larger payments than what the loan holder “suggested.” For too many years, (back when you got a physical booklet with pages to tear out and send in with your payment), I just paid what they told me to pay. I was still paying on it after twenty years. That was when I: A) Took out a second student loan for another degree; and B) Learned the magic of Excel to calculate loan payments. I plugged in different numbers: how much would I need to pay to get the loan paid off in X months; how many months will it take if I pay Y amount…
But the company that holds your note WANTS you to take thirty years to pay — they earn waaaaay more interest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NEdFFGjS7o
More watery music.
Are you talking about this one?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Between_Us:_The_Ultimate_Rescue
I think it just came out in theaters this week.
https://youtu.be/lcAf07EN-bQ?si=BTqjMhL2JaiHjoaf
Or perhaps this.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/nova-film-about-oct-7-atrocities-arrives-on-prime-video/
https://www.7thofoctober.com/
https://www.hamas-massacre.net/
Via DuckDuckGo.
(There’s others.)
Ats a good’un truly, Wendy!
Back to da Bach — Schubert, Danksagung an den Bach (Fischer-Dieskau/Moore, 3:20): https://youtu.be/YvZ19trHgwY
I’m a political naif, so someone please answer my question-
The Dems are all over saying that “Democracy” demands that we restore the $1.5 trillion for their pet stuff.
Why has Speaker Johnson not introduced a clean bill that would do just that?
It would be separate from the CR that the House has passed. It would not pass the House, but it would be voted on, just like a real democracy, and its failure to pass would be public knowledge. — West TX
It would not pass the House? Probably, but does anyone know that for certain?
I seem to recall that some GOP senators thought that they would go ahead and vote for the proposed 16th Amendment of the Constitution because they were certain that it would never get ratified by 3/4 of the states. Oops. (A select few people still claim that it was never ratified.)
I tend to believe that there are occasionally a couple or few GOP congress persons who are bought or extorted by the other side.
sdferr:
I wrote this post on Fischer-Dieskau. I’m a big fan.
Mike Plaiss, Reading about the Nova film ( re your 2:45 comment), I wonder if this was the film I’d heard of soon after the atrocities. I think so. The article says it took less than 2 months to create, lasts 52 minutes, and includes collected personal videos from both sides — the Israelis and Hamas.
Some Fox News hosts & commentaries who decided they needed to watch it were, of course, appalled and deeply affected. Marsha McCallum comes to mind.
The article says it was recently released on Prime Video. I assume that’s Amazon’s streaming package?
I don’t plan on even trying to watch it, even though part of me wants to, to honor the victims.
He was a hero of mine too. Was fortunate to see and hear him perform a few times, and even to meet him once post-performance to thank and praise. What a voice.
It seems as if they may have caught the guy who started the Palisades fire. A 29 year old who drove for Uber and had apparently used ChatGPT to generate a “dystopian painting” of a city being burned on one side while “hundreds of thousands of people in poverty are trying to get past a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it.” at one point before the fire. He also supposedly donated $2 to Biden for President in 2020.
Pres Trump: “I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East.”
Video clip at link. https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1976031749022142872
Earlier Pres Trump had commeted that he was planning travel to the MiddleEast this Sat night for a deal closure Sun,
I thought the 72-hour clock on Hamas returning the hostages started three-days ago. However, Hamas has not signed off yet and negotiations on the final terms are continuing.
____________________________________
Netanyahu’s office clarified in a Sunday media briefing that the premier, in an agreement with Washington, has limited the duration of the talks “to a few days maximum, with no tolerance” for delays.
A 72-hour deadline will go into effect “from the moment all details are solidified with Hamas,” stated PMO spokeswoman Shosh Badrosian.
https://www.jns.org/israeli-delegation-heads-to-egypt-for-hostage-talks-with-hamas/
____________________________________
So we’ll see what “a few days” means.
I’d say the odds on Hamas FAFO are increasing.
The day after the second October 7 anniversary—Israel’s 9/11–the Babylon Bee has a masterful, knee-slapping, if not belly laughing satire piece: Muhammad is upset that his example of killing the Kafir isn’t Believed:
“Mohammed Upset As Democrats Keep Calling Islam A Religion Of Peace”
https://babylonbee.com/news/mohammed-upset-as-democrats-keep-calling-islam-a-religion-of-peace
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/415994
neo: That’s the one.
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1976061608133599422
Trump announces stuff: “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan… BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” – President Donald J. Trump
What is the landscape of business change coming through AI?
A new interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang explains how it has already changed and empowered his workforce of 40,000 engineers (1-5m).
He’s asked about the profitability of these enormous investments, and concludes “AI enterprise is [already] here.” Example? Cursor AI for automated coding at Nvidia — “it’s brand new” and all his engineers love using it.
Next 5-8), Jensen discusses the differences between general AI and narrow, field specific AI. We are seeing the rapid growth in the latter, while the potential of the former is still at the R&D prototype level.
After 8m, Jensen discusses the several deals Nvidia has made or will make in certain companies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgS9WSI_yRo
For folks here watching computers and the hi-tech world, this is an interesting update and a look at the horizons for the next two years, and more.
sdferr:
Hooray!
But I’ll believe it when the hostages are back.
Wait! What? A hostage deal? I thought there already was a hostage deal last week, with the hostages released this past Monday. Is this “news” from last week?
Breaking News!!! Celebrations as Trump announces Israel and Hamas have signed off first phase of Gaza plan – Sky News Live Stream
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2025/10/breaking-news-celebrations-as-trump.html
I put up a new thread for the Deal.
I wouldn’t put it past Hamas to purposefully infect the living hostages (and possibly even some of the deceased ones?) with a germ or virus that could in turn infect their families when they meet.
Then again, by now they probably don’t have the resources for such evil actions.
I also don’t see them willingly giving up their arms unless they see a path to resurgent controlling position down the road. Who knows what some Saudi prince or businessman has promised them on the side?
Wendy K Laubach on October 8, 2025 at 2:30 pm:
“More watery music.”
Yes, that was magical. I could see using that music as biofeedback to lower BP measurements.