spot the error

Just seen in the Instapundit comments section:

One is different than the other.

Do you see the problem? It's the word than, which is a preposition in this case (it can also be a conjunction in other contexts). Consider three expressions:

1. different from

2. different to

3. different than

In US English, we say X is different from Y. The UK equivalent is X is different to Y. But both the US and the UK agree that different than is used only before a clause.

The results were different than I expected. (the words in blue are the clause)

Est-ce que c'est clair?

any truth to the legend?

a whirlwind tour of Christianities

Grossly oversimplified but interesting all the same, the following video takes us on a dizzying, whirlwind tour through the various main forms of trinitarian Christianity out there (sorry, Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Scientists).

offloading 1

The medical term offloading is used to describe removing pressure from a wound, such as a wound on the sole of the foot. For me, this means finding thick sandals or slippers and cutting off the big-toe area to allow my big toe to hang free while the rest of the sole is supported. Below is some of my handiwork. I ordered these Korean flip-flops, but the right one was too small for my right foot (which is apparently much bigger than my left foot), so I had to perform some crude field surgery on it. 

"Offloading 2" will feature a much more expensive pair of sandals, a pair I very much like, cruelly mutilated in the name of science.

nice

couldn't pass up the opportunity

My friend John had a bit of an incident the other day—one of those incidents where things happen the night before, but you're so drunk you don't remember them. I looked at John's frazzled, tousled appearance in one photo and commented with the first thing to pop into my head, but John, having sobered up, wasn't seeing it. Maybe you will.

Clarkson does a lot of stupid things. 

Fucking Mancs!

Cracker Barrel fucks off

You get what you vote for. This has been news for a while, but Black Conservative Perspective gets to the bleeding heart of the issue.

the ultimate cookie

The following video feels more like a clash between art and science than an earnest search for the "ultimate" cookie. The search employs logic and the process of elimination (very Ethan Chlebowski-like), lending the quest an air of plausibility. But part of me distrusts this sort of approach when it comes to making food that tastes good. Nevertheless, I watched with fascination as Babish followed his logic-tree to what he thought of as his perfect cookie.

Speaking specifically about chocolate-chip cookies, my perfect cookie is wide and flat. It's soft and chewy in the middle but hard and crispy around the edges. I like the variety of textures in this sort of cookie, and while I'm loath to give credit to Mr. Put Corn and Chipotle on Everything, Bobby Flay has made this very cookie in the past. I can't find the video where Flay makes that cookie, but here's a video with Claire Saffitz making almost the same thing:

As I once again start walking the strait path of the Newcastle diet, you can probably expect to see more food videos as I pine for what I can't eat. Ten weeks of me bitching and moaning (even more than usual).

when fellow comics are cowards and pussies

If you won't defend free speech, don't be surprised when you lose it.

scones and aftermath

I'm at the office now, slaving away, but here are a few pics from my outing earlier today.

A sign in Charles's apartment building still warns about masking up.

Charles's scone, made with rye flour and punctuated (sexed up!) with walnuts.

Charles put out several kinds of jam.

Signs on the 5th floor, also warning to mask up. Take 'em down!

Dogok Station: a sign saying the mask requirement (lit. "duty") has been lifted (but is still recommended).

Cherry blossoms, called butt-goat (벚꽃) in Korean.

trying to crop out all the buildings

There's an Emma Bakery in the building where I work. Out of curiosity, I bought a "choco-chip" scone.

up close

dry as a bone

not a happy camper

Charles's scones were fresh out of the oven. He had all the ingredients ready, and he made the scones in front of me. I think it took less than twenty minutes to bake them. They were made with rye flour, which is not to be confused with the taste of American rye bread. Rye bread gets its distinctive taste from caraway seeds. Maybe it's because Charles's scones had come right out of the oven, but it may also be because Charles put a good bit of butter into his dough; either way, Charles's scones were crumbly and moist while the horrible brick I got from Emma Bakery was arid, desiccated, and bland as hell, even with chocolate chips in it.*

So—do you pronounce scones as \ skoʊn, \ or as \ skɒn \? Both are legitimate pronunciations. From the Irish Times:

In 2016, a YouGov poll was conducted across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to geographically locate the different pronunciations of this buttery treat. According to the survey, afternoon teas in Scotland and Ulster would include scones as in “gone” while folks further south in England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland would be ordering scones in “bone”.

Other references say different things. Dictionary.com, which includes a British English dictionary that you'll see if you scroll down, lists both pronunciations without any explanation as to why there are two pronunciations. The UK's Daily Record says:

The pronunciation of 'scone' is a touchy subject for many, as it's the cause of a worldwide argument spanning years and years. But one woman has explained the proper way of saying it, thus supposedly ending the debate—but warns that people may not agree with her reasoning.

Jane Malyon, 65, has confirmed that scone should be pronounced to rhyme with 'bone'—and she also controversially believes that cream should slathered on before the jam, the Mirror reports. Jane is an afternoon tea expert, and has tasted hundreds of different teas, scones, jams and triangle sandwiches in her lifetime.

[ ... ] 

She said: "My world is spent answering 'scone' vs 'scon'. I say it like 'cone' personally but Her Majesty did always say 'scon'. I think more people say 'scone' but the ones who say 'scon' swear they're the only ones that say it right. Posh people definitely say 'scon'—but ultimately both are valid."

I don't think anything's been settled, but suffice it to say that people both inside and outside of the UK have their own way of pronouncing the innocent little word.

__________

*Emma Bakery is very hit-or-miss. Their French baguettes are great—exactly like what you'd get at a bakery in Paris. (Kim Young Mo Bakery, up the street, does perfect rustic baguettes with the thicker crust.) Emma also does a good apple turnover. Pretty much everything else, though, is of middling quality, which saddens me. Avoid Emma's macarons at all costs.

scones, then work

I'm off to visit my buddy Charles for a long-planned afternoon session with scones and tea. After that, I have to be in the office for some weekend work courtesy of our CEO, who is in Texas but still meddling with my team despite the fact that we're already working on a big project. What the CEO wants is due Monday night, so I'll be in the office again tomorrow. Yay. But with scones happening in an hour or so, it's best to focus on the present moment. 

More later.

Russian humor vs. American PC attitudes

images

With so many millions of illegals, I don't think the solution is Ann Coulter's "truck them all back." They'll simply fence-jump again. There needs to be a path to citizenship for these people, and it should be one that requires them to (1) make sacrifices, (2) demonstrate loyalty, (3) receive English-language education (followed by education in other subjects), and (4) contribute to the country's greater good in some tangible manner, within a strict time frame. It should also be a path to citizenship that is much harder than the path for legal aliens. No right to vote until basic requirements are fulfilled and full citizenship has been obtained.

Not sure I'd call Roseanne "hot," but I get the point.

Easter Bunny or Easter Donkey?

a disarming mannequin

But... but... it's all mostly peaceful!

Bill Gates delenda est

But please do continue with your "dumb hick" stereotypes.

trans women in sports

To reiterate: I'm not part of the rightie crowd saying that trans people are insane. Maybe some trans folks are, but the fact of being trans isn't what makes those particular people crazy. That said, I have expressed, many times before (here for example), my moral qualms about trans women in areas like women's sports—combat sports in particular, but women's sports in general. Ideally, there should simply be a trans league for trans people. I know the counterargument is that, if you create the trans league, you're opening the door for people who think "gender" means identifying as a sea snail or a baseball bat or a deity, opening the door for an infinity of leagues. I disagree. The sea snails, baseball bats, and deities are all clearly insane, and if you can't see that, then you're insane, too. So with my moral objections in mind, here are two videos for your delectation:

If you're trans, go with God. As long as you're not hurting anyone, you're fine. You do you. If, however, you're a biological male who hopes to make a name for himself by competing in women's sports, then you can burn in hell. The erasure of women by the trans community has become a serious issue. A lot of women seem unaware that anything is going on, but women who compete are now embroiled in this conflict (and it's not even just sports: trans women are taking over beauty contests). 

Don't steamroller women.

how not to bleed on your buddy's floor

Here's a pic of the gauze bandage the doc put on my foot yesterday. The thing lasted all day, and despite a good bit of walking, nothing bled through:

what the doc did

Excited by this, I went to a pharmacy, told my situation to the pharmacist, and bought this:

small size for toes

I tried one of the above bandages last night, and it seemed to work fine as I walked around my place. Today, I re-dressed my toe wound to see whether a good bit of walking might cause a leak. It did, unfortunately, so these bandages aren't as good as whatever the doc used yesterday. The leak, however, is much smaller than when I use regular bandages.

Since my goal is to keep my foot from bleeding all over Charles's floor when I visit him tomorrow, I seem to have several options. The best option is to re-dress my wound at Charles's place, after which I'll be set—able to walk around Charles's floor without worrying about leaving blood spots everywhere. (I'll probably still reflexively curl my toes back just to be sure. It's what I do in my own place, and I haven't left blood spots anywhere for a long while.) Other options include doubling up on the bandaging (which is no guarantee) or using my silicone "toe cap," which might work, for once, since the bleeding I'm seeing right now is minor. (The only problem with the toe cap is that it cuts off breathability for the wound.)

Whatever option I choose, I'll be able to enjoy myself at Charles's palatial residence without having to worry about befouling his floor with my life-essence.

Justin Roiland—not as guilty as thought?

The above video is saying that Justin Roiland, co-creator of "Rick and Morty" and the voice actor behind the two main characters, may have been yet another victim of a false #MeToo campaign against him. The charges made against him (by his ex) have been dropped. I wrote about the Roiland case here and here, and yes, I stood in judgment of him. Does the above video make me want to recant my stance, though? Well... not yet. Keep in mind that Roiland's remarks, after the charges had been dropped, focused mainly on his ex, whom he accuses of besmirching his character. But as I wrote in the second of the above-linked posts:

Turns out it's way worse than that: Roiland has had a history of accosting underage girls, often using his Rick and Morty voices to draw them in. It seems that all of this was "an open secret" among the people who worked with him.

So what about all that? I think Roiland may be trying to argue that, if his ex is wrong about his character, then all accusations about him are wrong, which is a non sequitur. So the above video doesn't move the needle for me very much although, as always, this is a lesson in holding off on final judgment until the dust settles. Look what happened to Saint George of Floyd: I was ready to believe the cop had outright murdered him on camera, then all that other stuff about Floyd's history and his medical condition at the time of his arrest came out. That said, Roiland still sounds like a Harvey Weinstein wannabe to me. I'll do my best to avoid final judgment, but I'm still leaning toward the idea that he's guilty of something.

I couldn't believe what I was watching

This is ridiculous. Another reason not to go back to the States.

If I do ever go back to the States, I can tell I'll be avoiding all the cities everywhere.

Larry Elder and Scott Adams talk about... the thing

match made in hell

Talk about a postmodern mashup:

back from the hospital

I'm at the office and have a little time to bang out this entry. 

Long story short: the doc did his best to put the fear of God in me. My numbers are all pretty bad in terms of blood pressure, blood sugar, and pulse; I attribute that to not exercising at all for nearly six months, to allowing myself to fall off the wagon last year, and to being off my meds. So: gotta get back to exercising, gotta get back on my meds, and gotta be stricter about my diet (although the doc said nothing about eating). Diet-wise, the easiest thing to do is to go back to Newcastle, at least for ten weeks, then transition to something healthy but a bit more filling (I see salads in my future). In terms of meds, I need to revisit the doc in the building where I work. I actually haven't seen him in a long time, and he doesn't even know I had a stroke two years ago, so he needs an update, and I need a prescription. Working on BP means going back to cardio. I'd like to continue with stairs training, but from the way the doc sounded, it might be better to stick with simple biking. Time to reinflate those tires!

The doc fitted me with a very absorbent gauze bandage, and when I swing by the pharmacy tonight to pick up the meds he prescribed, I'll ask the ladies behind the counter whether they have those bandages in stock. The doc prescribed antibiotics and ointment (as I suspected he would). I'm supposed to go back to the hospital in two weeks: April 6 at 9:40 a.m.

So, what did the doc say? The staff took X-rays, and the doc said my wound has not reached the bone... yet. So there's a chance for healing, and he can't say how long it might take—a month? Three months? Hard to say because everyone is different. He became ominous, though, and talked about several of the bad signs associated with my condition. First: diabetic neuropathy, which is why I'm feeling no pain in my toe despite the significant wound. Second: my plantar fascia has become tense; he invited me to palpate the sole of my foot to see what he meant. I'm also apparently not able to curl my toes back as far as normal folks can (this I didn't know), and that's related to the plantar-fascia issue. One possibility is surgery (if I understood him correctly), in which the fascia would be cut to restore flexibility. That option filled me with terror, and I rejected it outright. The doc also said that, should my wound get infected and go to the bone, it wouldn't just be my toe that would come off: it would likely be the whole foot. Did he say that just to scare me straight, or is this a cold, hard truth I have to deal with? He didn't discuss the neat options I saw on those YouTube videos about diabetic ulcers, e.g., special hormone-infused ointments that disinfect while promoting healing. He also didn't mention the nifty diabetic footwear I've seen on those videos, so I'm going to take the initiative and turn one of my sandals into a diabetic-friendly piece of gear by cutting off the big-toe region, thereby lifting my toe off the ground (the best way to keep the toe from bleeding is to keep pressure off it). The doc recommended that I wrap a towel around my big toe and tug on it regularly to get it to bend backward more, but I don't recall him specifying a regimen (e.g., pull and hold for 30 seconds; do this three times a day, etc).

Whenever I leave a clinic or hospital, I normally celebrate that same day by going on an eating frenzy, then I get back into the discipline, But today, I don't really feel like celebrating, so it'll be a modest lunch for me. I'm supposed to go walking this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday, but I'm no longer sure that's a good idea. I'm feeling a bit deflated at the moment—pondering the irony of both loving to walk and loving to eat. For me, at least, these represent two contradictory paths, and I'm going to have to choose one. Probably best to choose the path where I don't lose any limbs, eh?

off to the hospital in a few minutes

The D&F Hospital opens at 9 a.m., and I'll be leaving in a few minutes for the cross-town subway trip over there. I've suddenly got a lot to do in the office again (work comes in periodic surges), so I might not be able to give an update until I'm done with work. We'll see. I might be able to blog a quickie during a break or something.

More later.

Tim Pool explores what a hot civil war would look like

I've long contended that, if it came to a shooting war, the side with all the guns would win. Consider, too, that the side with all the guns comprises a lot of war vets—people who understand tactics, not just drunken-idiot deer hunters who accidentally shoot their own kids (per the stereotype). In the video below, Tim Pool explores the folly of the left which, as Pool contends, fundamentally misunderstands things like weapons and combat. Pool makes the analogy with people like the Palestinians and the Taliban: these are people who have survived drone strikes and worse, and they're still there. Armed Americans would be just as hard to kill if the US military went after them. (And you're assuming a lot if you think the US military would automatically side with the left.)

Ron DeSantis sits with Piers Morgan

Headline:

Ron DeSantis rips Trump’s character, chaotic leadership style

I just read the above article. DeSantis says a lot of things I like, and he's obviously prepared to take on Trump if need be. I think one big advantage that DeSantis brings is youthful energy relative to the dinosaurs who have dominated our government for years now. DeSantis also has a law background, making him a quick thinker and a ferocious debater. He's good at accessing facts, and he has a long memory for his opponents' missteps and misdeeds, which he won't hesitate to unearth to score points.

Some highlights from the article:

On Monday, Trump went nuts after DeSantis took a shot at him over his anticipated indictment over alleged payoffs to ex-lover Stormy Daniels, saying, “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.”

The inferred morally censorious tone sparked a furious response from Trump, who raged on his own Truth Social platform: “Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser and better known when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!). I’m sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!”

Trump’s mood is likely to deteriorate further when he hears what DeSantis now says about him in our lengthy interview at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, the most personal and revealing he’s ever given.

It was clear that the governor has had enough of Trump’s constant baiting and felt ready to take him on in what could end up being a ferocious battle for the White House.

And in a series of jabs at his likely biggest Republican nominee rival, DeSantis slammed Trump over his character failings, chaotic leadership style, and for his handling of the COVID pandemic — especially in keeping controversial health chief Dr. Anthony Fauci in his post helping to run the White House Coronavirus Taskforce.

[...]

When I asked DeSantis to cite specific differences between him and Trump, he said: “Well I think there’s a few things. The approach to COVID was different. I would have fired somebody like Fauci. I think he got way too big for his britches, and I think he did a lot of damage.”

DeSantis also slammed Trump’s chaotic, self-obsessed, and divisive management style, saying: “I also think just in terms of my approach to leadership, I get personnel in the Government who have the agenda of the people and share our agenda. You bring your own agenda in you’re gone. We’re just not gonna have that. So, the way we run the Government I think is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board and I think that’s something that’s very important.”

The video interview airs on Thursday.

Doug on Tim Pool, Kari Lake, and whether DeSantis should run

Doug has an interesting perspective here. In the video below, Kari Lake says she thinks DeSantis, being down in the polls, ought to stick to governing Florida and "wait his turn," as many others are saying. Doug thinks this is nonsense and that DeSantis should run. Why? Because you need a good fight to stir things up, and it would give Trump a chance to smack Ron down decisively, thus solidifying his support. It would also give DeSantis a chance to smack Trump down, thus propelling DeSantis further onto the national stage. It's an interesting way to think about the matter. Doug drives the point home by saying that "wait your turn" is "not the language of elections." By this, I think he means that to gain public interest and energy, you need to agitate the hornet's nest. Simply giving the nomination to Trump would be ho-hum. Doug is on record as liking both Trump and DeSantis. I think a lot of people are on that boat.

Liberal Hivemind agrees: it was a mistake

Without using quite the same language, Liberal Hivemind (LH) agrees with Styx re: Ron DeSantis's mistake. If you follow this channel, then you know that LH has been staying away from the Trump/DeSantis controversy for a while now, so this video below represents a major change in tune.

The impression I'm getting is that DeSantis just doesn't have traction on the national stage yet. Of course, a lot can change between now and next year, and personally, I wouldn't be against a DeSantis presidency. At this point, though, my reading is that Florida needs DeSantis more than the nation needs DeSantis. Maybe I'm wrong about this. We'll see.

Doug in Exile confirms DeSantis is slipping in national polls after an initial bump:

Piers Morgan admitting he was wrong on COVID

I still can't say that I trust Piers Morgan all that much, but this is nice:

D&F Hospital

At the suggestion of commenter Daniel, I called the D&F Hospital, a diabetic clinic just off the Line 7 Joonghwa Station subway stop. My very first question, when the lady picked up, was whether I needed to make an appointment, and she said I could just walk in. Given that I've got Some Stuff To Do at work today, I'll be visiting the hospital's diabetic-ulcer clinic tomorrow morning. The place opens at 9 a.m., so I'll be there, uncharacteristically bright and early. Assuming the visit doesn't take too long, even if it takes until 11 a.m., I ought to be in time for work at my normal hours (I normally start my work day late and end late).

I'm hoping it's just a matter of prescribing a healing balm (for lack of a better term), proper dressings to avoid leakage, and maybe some diabetic footwear that keeps my toe off the ground while I'm at home. The docs there will probably recommend against any distance walking, but I'm going to ignore that advice this weekend, do my two long walks (one with Charles on Saturday and another with JW on Sunday), then get with the healing program.

Once I start on the healing program, I do plan to follow it scrupulously because I want to be healed up for this year's big walk. I want to go back to doing the Four Rivers trail this year... I've been away from that trail for several years now, and I miss it intensely.

I'll write about the clinic visit tomorrow.

Biden, the border, and an Instapundit troll

Instapundit linked to the following article:

More Caught Illegally Crossing Southern Border in 1 Year of Biden Than Entire Trump Presidency

A troll in the comments section (there are always several such trolls) decided to make the case that this means Biden has been four times more efficient than Trump at catching illegals.* It became obvious to me, as I watched this shit-stirrer make the above comment and others as well, that the troll hadn't bothered to read the article in question and was merely drawing his own illogical conclusions. Without addressing the provocateur directly (because it's never a good idea to feed the trolls), I wrote the following comment in as civil a tone as I could:

__________

The assumption that 4X the number of illegals are being caught = 4X the efficiency of the border patrol under Biden is fallacious. For fairness's sake, let's assume that's one possible interpretation of the data. Here are some other possibilities: 1. The border patrol's efficiency hasn't increased. Instead, the number of people surging across the border has increased because people south of the border have heard that Biden is a softie. 2. The efficiency of reporting has increased. The media had no interest in making Trump look good, so the number of illegals caught was underreported. With Biden occupying the Oval Office, the media cynically want to make him look strong on the border, so they now feel free to report the numbers properly, resulting in a seeming 4X increase in stats. Doubtless there are other possibilities, or a combination of the above is entirely possible. Simply to conclude that efficiency-of-catching increased under Biden is to ignore other possible explanations. From the article:

In fiscal year 2017, when Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, the Border Patrol encountered just two individuals on the terrorist watchlist trying to sneak across the southern border between the ports of entry. In fiscal year 2018, it encountered six. In fiscal year 2019, it encountered none; and, in fiscal year 2020, it encountered three. In fiscal year 2021, the year President Joe Biden was inaugurated, there was a substantial shift in the trend. That year, the number of individuals on the terrorist watchlist that the Border Patrol encountered trying to sneak across the southern border increased fivefold to 15. Then, in fiscal year 2022, it climbed to 98. So far in fiscal year 2023, which isn’t even half over yet, the Border Patrol has encountered 69 individuals on the terrorist watchlist trying to sneak across our southern border between the ports of entry.

To me, this indicates that possibility (1) above is the most likely explanation, but I'm open to there being other factors at play. Possibility (1) is reinforced by the fact that the above quote is talking primarily about people on the terrorist watch list, not your typical Latin illegal. In other words, it's more than just Latinos who understand that Biden is a softie, and that the southern border has become a frayed mess on his watch.

On Feb. 7, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing on the border crisis. The witnesses were Gloria Chavez, the Border Patrol’s chief agent in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, and John Modlin, the chief agent in the Tucson Sector. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., asked them about the massive increase in illegal crossers encountered at the southern border. “The thing I can tell you that goes to the spike that you’re talking about,” Modlin responded, “is that in the Tucson sector, interviewing people post-arrest, what became the most common response was that they believed that when the administration changed that the law changed, and policy changed and that there was an open border.” “Chief, I’m glad you said that,” said Donalds, “because, ladies and gentlemen, the law did not change. Joe Biden decided not to follow the law.”

This is how the article actually concludes.

__________

My comment has received a modest number of upvotes. There's been no reaction from the troll. Maybe he'll take the bait (since I am, after all, kind of trolling him); maybe he won't.

*Note that this guy, in trying to incense Instapundit regulars, has put himself in the position of a rightie who thinks border control is good. If he truly thinks border control is good, then I applaud him! But more likely, he's insincerely adopting this position to make the petty point that Biden's done something better than Trump did. To make this point, though, the guy has to ignore what the article itself says, and the article says nothing anti-Trump. In fact, as you see above, the article concludes that the law did not change under Biden; Biden has simply chosen to ignore it. So there's been no increase in the efficiency of border-jumper-catching. And this is how you know the guy is a troll: because he's arguing in bad faith.

ADDENDUM: 24 hours later and no reaction from the troll.

via Bill

I passed by some impressive wind farms on Jeju Island. And I saw dolphins at play along the shore while there. I hope those dolphins are doing all right.

A religion prof back when I was in grad school once groused, "If dolphins are as intelligent as people say they are, why do they always get caught in tuna nets?" I don't think his point was Dolphins are stupid; therefore, they deserve death. I'm pretty sure he was merely complaining about false hype.

Styx on Ron DeSantis's reticence re: possible Trump arrest

Ron DeSantis was conspicuously silent for a long time while this whole arrest-Trump thing was building. Donald Trump is a Florida resident, so some people were wondering whether DeSantis might want to make noises about protecting a citizen under DeSantis's purview. For the longest time, there wasn't a peep about the matter from the governor's mansion, but then, within the past day or two, DeSantis took a question that gave him an opportunity to speak out about the matter. Without naming Trump, and claiming that very few facts were known, DeSantis said he would not be involving himself in something that he saw as political grandstanding (not his exact words, but that's the spirit of what he said). This left a large contingent of Trump fans unhappy, and there was a groundswell of "Say his name!" demands directed at DeSantis. If DeSantis is indeed planning to run in 2024, I can see how he might be unwilling to say too much right now. Trump has also been lobbing childish insults at DeSantis, which certainly doesn't predispose the Florida governor to rise to Trump's defense. But it's also possible that DeSantis, in being hesitant to defend Trump, may have missed an opportunity to show some backbone as well as some GOP esprit de corps. In fact, a lot of Republicans have been hesitant to rise up and defend Trump, with the notable exception of Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who has thrown his hat in the ring for 2024. In the video below, Styx thinks DeSantis has "failed his first major litmus test":

You'd expect the RINOs not to support Trump given their under-the-table ties to the left. It's possible that DeSantis is doing himself no favors by acting in a seemingly RINO way. Up to now, he's often been called "Trump Lite," but how Trumpian is he if he won't defend the leader of the MAGA movement? I actually agree that this is a missed opportunity for DeSantis: it's a chance for him to burnish his own image, to prove himself the bigger man by not responding to Trump's insults and defending Trump in spite of them.

PJW and Doug in Exile

PJW on not being oppressed:

Doug in Exile mocks the people who say Trump's goose is cooked:

that's entertainment

Cat gets the full treatment:

Awesome ninja obstacle course:

The sheer athleticism on display is impressive:

response to Dr. V's recent post

I can't comment at Dr. V's blog without my comment being shunted to his spam folder, so I'll publish my reply here. Dr. V's recent post quotes Bruce Abramson, who writes about how wokeness has infiltrated every level of American society, stultifying and enstupidating fields, pursuits, and positions that once enjoyed respect and dignity. After quoting Abramson, Dr. V asks, "Is Abramson exaggerating? I'd say he isn't. What say you?" My reply:

I wouldn't dignify "woke" with capitalization, but I'd say Abramson is on point, and my own feeling is that things have gotten to the stage where we're long past dialogue and moving into the "saddle up, lock & load" phase. The old joke about socialism is "vote your way in; shoot your way out." Conservatives, being people of conscience, don't necessarily want to countenance this option, but conservatives themselves are greatly to blame for being so peaceful and passive, for letting this encroachment happen all around them. Just watch what conservatives do if Trump is indeed arrested. I half-joked over at Instapundit that it'd be nice to see all the gun-toting YouTubers assemble and form a protective cordon around President Trump, but we all know that no such thing will happen. Being a relatively peaceful sort, I don't want to see a hot war, but other options are rapidly dwindling. At this point, all I can say is: keep the powder dry.

quite possibly my favorite scene in "Better Call Saul"

Tim Pool's take on Trump's possible arrest

ooh, these look good

I've never made crumpets before. They look a bit like distant cousins of what Americans call "English muffins." Watch the master:

almost totally free now

Today begins the new policy about not needing to mask up in public transportation (which includes taxis). I had my mask on and had gotten into a cab this morning when I suddenly remembered this fact, but I checked with the cabbie to be sure. The cabbie wasn't wearing a mask, and when he affirmed that today was the first day of the new policy, I expressed relief and ripped my mask off. It'll be nice to go on the subway this evening without needing to mask up inside the station. Normally, when you tap your farecard on the turnstile sensor, a computer vice reminds you to mask up. In theory, there should be no such announcement anymore. We'll see.

Of course, I see plenty of people still unnecessarily wearing masks outside on the street and inside buildings. Suckers. I don't normally like using terms like "sheeple" or "libtard," but yeah, these folks are sheeple to be sure.

images

The Dems will forget this as they arrest Donald Trump.

Hey, I'm as disgustingly human as the next man.
You just don't get this kind of topography in Korea.

hypocrisy

against all logic and empiricism

Running in California, eh? Much respect... and good luck.

I don't shower with two bars of soap.

hidden messages in our money

Dogs don't lie.

Trump Effect in 3... 2...

Yes, but fairness doesn't matter to the left.

truly nightmarish

I remember seeing this in Portland in 2008.

Give me a fucking break.

If you're not a minor, and you want to transition, be my guest.