Some interesting contrasts here. And if you go to YouTube and look at the comments, you’ll see a lot of funny ones about Milei of Argentina, such as, “Why president of Argentina look like he in a basement hiding from zombie apocalypse”:
And this is – well, just take a look:
I just love this couple. They are so genuinely touching:
Somehow I got on the list of a whole bunch of fancy food catalogues, which are coming to me in the mail almost every day. I’m pretty sure I earned my place on that list by sending some fruit to an elderly relative every year for the past few years. The relative is, alas, no more, but the catalogues proliferate.
And of course I look at them. Chocolates galore, even though I can’t eat chocolate because it gives me migraines. Sigh and sigh again. All sorts of other delicious-looking confections, all of them mega-expensive.
And of course fruitcake. Fruitcake has become a sort of holiday joke, but somebody must like it because all these fruitcakes start at around forty dollars a pop. I can’t imagine a fruitcake worth that sort of money, but then again, that seems to be the going rate for an entree in a restaurant these days, so what do I know?
I happen to like fruitcake, too. At least, sort of. Probably more than the average person does. But it’s the neutron star of calories, and it doesn’t seem worth that price, either. So I think I’ll desist.
The mayor of Denver isn’t the only one asserting a city or state’s “sanctuary” status, but he’s threatening armed resistance:
The Democrat Mayor of Denver, Colorado Mike Johnston has challenged Trump to try to deport any illegal migrants from his city, saying he would deploy the Denver City Police and volunteers from the local community to use force against federal forces trying to deport illegals.
“More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there. It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun… You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. You don’t want to mess with them.”
High drama is being evoked, tanks mowing down mothers who are protecting innocent families. But Trump has made it clear – and I assume this will hold up – that the primary goal at this point is twofold: deport criminal aliens who are here illegally and are under already-existent deportation orders, and stop the vast influx of new illegal arrivals. Do those Highland moms of Denver really want to protect those who would traffic and/or rape their children, or at least commit fraud of various kinds?
Here’s a description of the “Highland moms,” in case you’re interested:
The “Highland moms” the mayor referred to are the group of citizens who organized donation drives for immigrants when waves of them started showing up in Denver toward the end of last year.
I wonder what the Highland moms have to say about this sort of thing (Aurora is a Denver suburb):
Chamberlain said police believe there are between 10 and 20 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang active in Aurora, out of roughly 1,100 members of various gangs identified in the city. At least nine Tren de Aragua members have been arrested, and a multi-agency task force is investigating the gang’s presence.
The whole question of Trump pledging to use the military is a complex one, and I may write a separate post about it sometime. But in the meantime here’s an article that goes into how it might be done. Note that Trump already declared a state of emergency in his first term regarding illegal border crossings. Here are some relevant excerpts:
“For basically the past 40 years, the military’s involvement at the border has been steadily growing,” said Joseph Nunn, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law, “And it has gone from sort of ad hoc to routine to deeply entrenched into how we approach border security and immigration.”
Members of the military stationed at the border have historically performed an array of support tasks, experts tell CBS News – from operating surveillance aircrafts and transporting U.S. Border Patrol personnel in helicopters to laying concertina wire and maintaining Customs and Border Protection vehicles.
Homan’s suggestions of using the military for some of the operational work that doesn’t involve engaging with migrants would fall under this category and would be an expansion of the duties National Guard and a small number of active-duty troops have performed at the southern border under previous administrations. As recently as last year, troops were deployed to the border to help Border Patrol with administrative tasks, like warehouse management and clerical work.
Military involvement now “is just essentially to get access to more bodies and more aircrafts,” Nunn explained, calling military mobilization a force multiplier. “Suppose you want to set up a checkpoint on a highway in Texas or Arizona. Under normal circumstances, you need five CBP agents to run a checkpoint. If you have access to military personnel, you can run a checkpoint with one CBP agent assisted by four soldiers. Then suddenly five CBP agents assisted by soldiers can run five checkpoints instead of one.”
It seems to me that a great deal of any military presence would be at the border. It also occurs to me that some of what Trump is saying is designed to discourage potential illegal entrants who are thinking of getting in while Biden is still nominally president.
(1) Will Trump’s second term be like a special edition of “The Apprentice,” with him saying over and over to government bureaucrats: “You’re fired!”?
(2) Is Musk trolling the left with the notion that he might buy MSNBC, or is he serious?
(3) Judge Merchan has postponed Trump’s sentencing till after December 9, when papers from both sides on the issue will have been submitted. My question is whether Merchan will sentence Trump, postpone the decision indefinitely, or dismiss the case?
(4) Will Trump pardon the J6ers? If so, will it for some or for all?
(5) What’s Kamala Harris’ next gig?
It occurs to me that the relief the right feels at Trump’s election victory, as well as the scope of its breadth and depth, has the consequence of leading to enormous expectations. Can they be fulfilled? Probably not. After all, Trump and even Musk and Ramaswamy are human (despite some allegations to the contrary), and the swamp also has vast breadth and depth.
As Trump announces his appointments at a fast clip, they’ve been subjected to the usual scrutiny and criticism. He’s not going to please all the people all the time. Many of the objections have to do with someone being connected in the past to something the critic doesn’t like, even if much time has passed and even if the person seems to be on the right page about many things.
I say chill. Some of the nominations will end up being duds. Past performance is important but not everyone who will do well in a new position has a squeaky clean past that would give that person the conservative stamp of approval. And vice versa.
Some pundits and some bloggers get clicks by doing that sort of critique, though. Fine. Bloggers will blog and pundits will opine. But the whole thing makes me more aware that people have been gathering four years of pent-up frustration that is quite extreme, and many are so jittery and so revved-up that they are ready to shriek if Trump doesn’t really solve everything on day one of his administration.
So although there’s nothing wrong with high expectations – I have them too – I suggest that they be tempered with realism.
Chopin wrote this piece when he was eleven years old. It’s his earliest surviving work, but not the earliest he wrote. He was a child prodigy not just in playing but in composing:
I think the pianist is thirteen here.
… has predictably ended.
Fancy that:
The Biden administration is quietly rushing to implement new policies that will loosen restrictions on migrants who entered the US illegally — a parting attempt to thwart President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and mass deportations, sources tell The Post.
And the Big Apple will be ground zero for these changes.
The outgoing administration intends to launch an ICE Portal app starting in early December in New York City that will allow migrants to bypass in-person check-ins to their local ICE office.
Homeland Security sources tell The Post the app will make it easier for migrants to flee authorities in part because the software has proven to be glitchy and unreliable.
Even when it’s working correctly, the new app doesn’t check for past arrests or outstanding warrants — something the current system tied to in-person appointments does, sources said.
Up to 100,000 migrants will be enrolled in the first wave of the program, sources said.
I guess New York is being punished for not voting as blue as before.
There’s something to be said for shortening the period between elections and inaugurations.
It was a exceptional starry night in the city.
Thanks for sharing.
And why would anyone want to vote for someone like Gavin Newsom for US president?
Those are rhetorical questions, of course. Efforts to recall Newsom failed. He might even have gotten more votes than Harris had he run for president this year.
Here’s what made me think of Newsom:
March 2023: Gavin Newsom promises to build 1,200 tiny homes by Fall
Fall: Newsom's Senior Advisor on Homelessness offers a word salad explanation for the nonexistent tiny homes
August 2024: $750 MILLION gone & not a single tiny home constructed pic.twitter.com/rI6wwNFnKC
— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) November 20, 2024
You get a lot of bang for your tax buck in California. Apparently those houses are so very tiny that they are microscopic.
As for why people keep voting for Democrats in a place like California, this piece – by someone in the greater Philadelphia area, rather than California – comes to mind. It begins like this:
I am a woman living alone near Philadelphia with a cat, so I guess you could call me a “childless cat lady.” I never wanted children, so I never had any. Since I have dedicated my life to helping other people, for many years I subscribed to all of the social justice causes. That began to change when the neighborhood I live in became a hotbed of crime and leftist intolerance.
The writer goes on to describe the violence and chaos that has descended on her neighborhood in recent years, then explains her state of mind these days:
A few months ago, there was a meme on Facebook that showed a white woman saying, “I don’t feel safe in my neighborhood,” and a man answered her, “You literally voted for this.” I now understand that my situation resembles this cartoon.
I have voted Democrat all my life. I supported soft-on-crime candidates because I didn’t want to see people go to prison and lose their chance at a better life. But now I see the ruin that we have to live with as a result of these policies. The white liberals in the suburbs do not live with the consequences of their votes. I do. …
Like most people, I just want to be safe. I want to live in a place where I can leave my apartment without fear that the man who saw me watch him attack a woman will come back and attack me. I want to live in a place where I’m not risking verbal violence for engaging in private phone conversations while taking a walk.I want there to be police who are here to protect me and other innocent citizens who just want to do our jobs, buy affordable food, and go to the YMCA in peace.
Is that too much to ask? Democrats seem to think it is. Many of my liberal friends expressed horror that “Americans value their pocketbooks more than my human rights.” Apparently wanting to pay the rent and afford food and medications is something we should be ashamed of.
My entire life, I saw myself on the left. But now I understand that the left has left me. I am a childless cat lady for law and order. I want a government that will protect me and my cat, that cares about the price of food and doesn’t say people should be satisfied with a lot of new minimum wage jobs that will not allow them to support their families. I am tired of being told my safety doesn’t matter and that I’m racist for pointing out that there is crime on the streets of my neighborhood.
That is how a mind changes.
I’m not 100% sure that this lady is ready to vote for Republicans across the board, but I suspect that she is. If so, she’s not alone – in most blue cities, the GOP gained a substantial percentage of votes compared to 2020. But when will it be enough to really change things in a place like Philadelphia? Or in California?
Meanwhile, Newsom declares he’s going to “Trump-proof” the state:
Newsom’s office told The Associated Press that the governor and lawmakers are ready to “Trump-proof” California’s state laws. His announcement Thursday called on the Legislature to give the attorney general’s office more funding to fight federal challenges when they meet in December.
Newsom and other governors seem to think – or continue to want their voters to think – that Trump threatens “reproductive rights.” And yet Trump has said very clearly that he thinks that abortion should be left to the states. In California, Democrats control everything and there is zero chance that the state won’t have liberal abortion laws. As for birth control and/or IVF, the GOP isn’t against them. But Democrats think it’s a winning strategy to say they are, and to cast themselves as the brave liberty-lovers who will defend those practices against all big bad Republican threats.
And then there’s the issue of illegal aliens and their removal. Another topic for another post.
NOTE: This post makes me think I should start a new category, “Election 2028.” But I’ll desist for a while.
Like most people of a certain age, I remember where I was: in school. I found out piecemeal – first that someone had shot at him, then that he was injured, then that he was dead.
Then all the rest.
Regular readers of this blog know I believe Oswald did it alone, and I see the evidence of this as completely and utterly overwhelming. I’m not the least bit naive about it. I’ve read voluminously on the subject, and I find that all theories to the contrary have enormous holes in them.
Rather than write a new post going into all of this, I’ll draw your attention to some previous efforts of mine: this, this, this, and this.
I find that these posts usually generate a lot of comments from those who believe in one or more of the myriad conspiracy theories that have swirled around the JFK assassination from the moment it happened. I’ve answered them and answered them, but I find that rarely do any minds change (sound familiar?) and almost never do people take my advice to read approximately the first 550 pages or so of the Bugliosi book on the subject: Reclaiming History. It might sound like a lot to read, but it’s fascinating – and it’s online and searchable. The latter part of the book – if memory serves, it goes to over 1000 pages – deals with every single conspiracy theory one by one. Looking the book up just now, AI tells me that it is 1,648 pages long. As I said, no need to read all of that. But it is the definitive work.
And if you follow the link to the Bugliosi book , I highly recommend pages 1444 to 1459 for people who are into the idea that Oswald may have done it but that he did it for some agency or entity such as the CIA or FBI or Mafia or Castro whatever it is you think that entity might be.
For those of us who remember the JFK assassination, the recent shooting of Trump was particularly horrific – that is, for those who don’t hate his guts and wish him dead (sigh; unfortunately, there are quite a few Boomers in that latter group). We know only too well what it would have looked like had Trump not fortuitously turned his head at the last moment.