Happy Father's Day All!

Away we go.

Ross Douthat praises Biden for ignoring the crazies in his own party and dealing with Russia sensibly. Which he describes as Trump with better optics and a friendlier press. Do you remember four years of 'Trump is Putin's stooge"? Many do not!

Now comes Biden, making moves in Russia policy that are essentially conciliatory — freezing a military aid package to Ukraine, ending U.S. sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline linking Germany to Russia, a return of ambassadors — and setting up a summit that can reasonably be regarded as a modest propaganda coup for Putin. And suddenly almost everyone wants to act as though the Trump years never happened: Not just the Republicans accusing Biden of being soft on Moscow, but the Democrats who have apparently decided that it’s fine to hand concessions and photo ops and promises of “stability” to the regime that just yesterday was the Great Reactionary Enemy, the liberal order’s greatest threat.

But this isn’t actually a column about liberal amnesia or hypocrisy. It’s a column about the wisdom of the Biden administration, in recognizing that certain Trump-era hysterias within its party can be safely put to sleep.

Some of those hysterias belong to the progressive left, and plenty has been written about Biden’s refusal to let woke Twitter set all his political priorities. But the Russia hysteria was a paranoia of the center, an establishment overreaction, so it’s notable to see Biden and his team steer away from it as well.

In this case, what the White House seems to grasp is that pieces of Trumpist foreign policy are worth preserving: not the dodgy business ties (well, depending on where Hunter Biden resurfaces) and the weird man-crushes on dictators, but the general idea of a U.S. foreign policy reoriented away from Europe and the Middle East and reorganized to contain the threat of China, with late-1990s fantasies about the inexorable expansion of the liberal order left behind.

This reorientation does not require friendship with Putin, which would be morally undesirable and strategically unlikely. But it requires treating Russia policy primarily as the management of a weak and therefore mischief-making competitor, rather than a grand crusade against a number-one geopolitical adversary. Hence the summit and its talk of “strategic stability,” hence the conciliatory moves that if Trump had made them would have headlined every hour on MSNBC.

Notably, Biden can get away with this — meaning his stiff-arms to the center-left Resistance as well as the woke left — not just because of the power of Draper-ish partisan amnesia, but because his core support within the Democratic Party didn’t belong to either of the groups he’s stiff-arming.

His discussion of the divisions within the Dem Party is interesting but disturbing - as he notes, the Woke Left are the young and restless, so their crazy ideas won't be going away anytime soon.

 

 

 

Comments

[sbwaters]

Tipping my hat in memory of ManTran.

[sbwaters]

Um, the Woke Left aren’t necessarily young or restless, but they certainly don’t believe in America or its ideals and institutions.

[clarice]

Just in case you missed the news on the prior thread and find SbW's post cryptic, our dear friend MT passed last night.

[BeastsEngland]

Happy Father’s Day to all the JOM pops!!

A quick update: the younger Beastette became engaged two weeks ago and the wedding is set for next June! He’s a fine young man and they’re rightfully excited, re: this next milestone in life... :)

The sun is out, the sky is blue - you know the rest! 😎

Cheers and love,
Beasts

[BeastsEngland]

Crap - sad news, re: ManTran...

[MissMarple2]

Oh, no!

Thank you for the information, clarice!

[rse]

So sorry to hear about MT. We discussed education offline, especially as he wanted to find the right place for a granddaughter in CO IIRC. I had always hoped to meet in person and bring hubby who has his atp and a multiengine instructor rating. He and mt would have gotten along famously.

Devastating to hear. Thanks for sharing buckeye and clarice.

sbw--since most of what an individual can do is epigenetic in response to life's experiences, group differences flow out of varying lived realities. Equity ultimately would mean standardizing lived realities. Talk about totalitarian.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Sad news about MT. Didn't he live in the Bay Area near Oakland?

But good news about BOE's daughter.

Things tend to balance out.

[rse]

I believe it is the san juan island area.

[henry]

Is Douthat eating bent knee mushrooms? Granting rather than blocking the gas pipeline in Europe, shutting down fracking and fossil fuels rather than expanding energy production in the US… Biden is the exact opposite of Trump. Where Trump stood up to Putin, Biden happily grabbed his own ankles.

NYT Zone must do to brain cells what EMP does to electronics.

[Jane]

Jib,

ManTran lived on a beautiful island north of Seattle in one of my favorite houses ever - (thus the reference the other day to “jane’s deck). He and his wife are fantastic people. Caro and I visited before the 4 of us went on the Alaskan cruise - which we departed via MT’s plane. A wonderful time.

[Melinda]

Just heartbroken at the loss of MT. My deepest condolences to his boss.

[rse]

MT mentioned several years ago he and his wife were going on a business trip to London and I mentioned this hotel and how much I thought they would enjoy it. https://theluxurychannel.com/magazine/the-american-bar-at-the-stafford-london-a-journey-through-secret-st-jamess/

That is where they stayed and they loved it. In case anyone wants to stay someplace truly special in London (I left Midnight in the Garden if Good and Evil by a chair and it made its way back to my room that night), remember MT when you are there.

I just remembered that as I was cleaning the kitchen while absorbing the news.

[Narciso]

They stock brawndo in the carlos slims commissary

[Narciso]

Congrats beasts.

[Buckeye]

An update I just posted on JOM2 replying to Narciso.

Narciso

MT, Harold Harrison in “real life” was a car enthusiast and racing fanatic. He grew up driving stick shift cars and refused to ever consider a car with an automatic transmission. Hence, the Manuel Transmission moniker.

His wife has a Porsche Cayenne GTS with a stick. It is rare enough that the mechanics at the Seattle area Porsche dealer scratch their heads to figure out how to work on it:)

Harold and I have known each other since he moved to Columbus in mid 70s to work at Battelle. He became friends with some of my buddies who worked there and raced cars. We spent time at many race tracks around the midwest.

While there, he and a couple other guys invented a technology that helped railroads identify bad wheels on rolling stock. Battelle didn’t want to commercialize the tech, so Harold negotiated a royalty deal and started Salient Systems in 1984.

After years of being pestered by him and his wife Shari, I relented and went to work for him in 1997. Soon found myself running Salient so they could spend more time in Friday Harbor instead of Columbus. We successfully sold the business in 2004, and he sold his place in Columbus and moved to Friday Harbor permanently.

BTW, just got an email forwarded from Harold’s most recent business partner. Reading between the lines, sounds like he passed away yesterday, the 19th.

[Narciso]

Thanks buckeye.

[Jack Lillywhite]

How old was MT?

[jimmyk]

Thanks, Buckeye, I only knew some of that, though as I mentioned on JOM2, I spent a great hour and half with him some years ago when he came to NYC.

Congrats to Beast on Beastette's engagement!

[jimmyk]

Not sure, Jack, but I believe in his early to mid-70s.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Thanks, Buckeye. I can’t remember him talking about any medical issues. It seems we come and go in life without complaint.

[Jack Lillywhite]

I mean’t to thank jimmyK😎

[hoyden]

Buckeye, incredibly sad to hear of MT's passing. We met a couple years ago at the dedication of the B-52 at the Museum of Flight.

[anonamom]

Happened to just read this by Oliver Sacks, written when he learned his ocular melanoma recurred nine years after treatment, and now replaced half his liver--a death sentence:

I have been increasingly conscious, for the last ten years or so, of deaths among my contemporaries.
My generation is on the way out, and each death I have felt as an abruption, a tearing away of part of myself.
There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die,
they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate--the genetic and neural fate--
of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--So sorry for ManTrans passing. I know you and Ig were quite close to him. I'm so so sorry. He was a great guy.--

I'll just repeat what I said at JOM2;

I didn't know Harold nearly as well as Buckeye but I did get to meet with him and Shari [is there a named spelled more different ways than that one?] several times as they were passing through these parts. We emailed over the years on various subjects one of which was the amazing Shari having a run in with breast cancer [it was caught very early] right about the time my wife passed away.
Two really neat people. Harold sent me a little package one time after one of our discussions chock full of different proprietary penetrating solvents and different lubes for guns and what not. I'll think of good old Harold and Shari every time I use them.

[Buckeye]

Buckeye, incredibly sad to hear of MT's passing. We met a couple years ago at the dedication of the B-52 at the Museum of Flight.

Hoyden, I remember the posts about that dedication. Glad you got to spend time with another flying enthusiast.

We shared the same instructor, and Harold managed to do a engine out in the Turbo Arrow I did most of my instrument training in. Was really easy to overboost, he and I were probably both guilty of putting some hard hours on that plane:)

[Narciso]

I see he had at least one patent from when he was at battelle.

[Davod]

The raptor must be away. A cardinal is hopping around on the branches outside my window. Prime raptor hunting ground.

[Buckeye]

JiB

I don’t think Harold had any chronic ailments other than a detached retina problem.

Didn’t smoke, but on the other hand, wasn’t at all athletic, so wasn’t in best of shape

[Jane]

Buckeye,

Have you spoken to Shari yet?

[Jane]

Jib,

Are you watching golf? Who are you rooting for?

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

So sorry to hear about MT.

Yay! Beasts.

[Jane]

Yeah! Yay Beasts! Bad news got in the was of good news!

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Michael Smith
·
Today, Instapundit points to a Mark Steyn piece written back in 2005 that details a meeting between 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta and a US bureaucrat, Johnelle Bryant, over a year earlier (in 2000). I remember reading this at the time and had completely forgotten about this exchange, but it has great relevance to how we got to where we are today.

Johnelle was woke before woke was cool…and under George W. Bush no less, the staunchly staunch, hard core conservative president who just wanted to kill grandma with tax breaks.
The gospel according to Mark goes thusly:

“Ms Bryant is an official with the US department of agriculture in Florida, and the late Mr Atta had gone to see her about getting a $650,000 government loan to convert a plane into the world's largest crop-duster. A novel idea.

The meeting got off to a rocky start when Mr Atta refused to deal with Ms Bryant because she was "but a woman". But, after this unpleasantness had been smoothed out, things went swimmingly.

When it was explained to him that, alas, he wouldn't get the 650 grand in cash that day, Mr Atta threatened to cut Ms Bryant's throat. He then pointed to a picture behind her desk showing an aerial view of downtown Washington - the White House, the Pentagon, etc - and asked, "How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it?"

Fortunately, Ms Bryant had been on the training course and knows an opportunity for multicultural outreach when she sees one. "I felt that he was trying to make the cultural leap from the country that he came from," she recalled. "I was attempting, in every manner I could, to help him make his relocation into our country as easy for him as I could."

So a few weeks later, when fellow 9/11 terrorist Marwan al-Shehhi arrived to request another half-million dollar farm subsidy and Mr Atta showed up cunningly disguised in a pair of glasses and claiming to be another person entirely (to whit, Mr al-Shehhi's "accountant"), Ms Bryant sportingly pretended not to recognise him and went along with the wheeze.

The fake specs, like the threat to slit her throat and blow up the Pentagon, were just another example of the multicultural diversity that so enriches our society.”

And this was 2005, way before America became Wokestan. We have had 16 years to perfect our societal insanity, largely based on the complete denial of reality. This meeting is such a perfect illustration of where we are today, living in complete denial of reality even as it punches us right in the kisser. Our contemporary society could be accurately described as having the “Black Knight Syndrome, named, of course, for the Black Knight in Monty Python’s “Quest for the Holy Grail”.

ARTHUR: Eh. You are indeed brave, Sir Knight, but the fight is mine.

BLACK KNIGHT: Oh, had enough, eh?

ARTHUR: Look, you stupid bastard. You've got no arms left.

BLACK KNIGHT: Yes, I have.

ARTHUR: Look!

BLACK KNIGHT: Just a flesh wound.

For the past 16 years, much of the Western world has behaved like Johnelle Bryant.

llegal immigration goes out of control – Kamala Harris flies over the Texas/Mexico border to Guatemala to find out what America is doing wrong since her boss ended all of President Trump’s effective policies. Looking for root causes, she says. America is racist, they say – what do we have to do to get forgiveness for the sin of slavery that was eliminated a century and a half ago (the answer is that we will never be allowed forgiveness because nothing is enough). Attack out public spaces or set off bombs, and we agonize over the "root causes" (What DID we did wrong?). The demand for navel gazing hand wringing far exceeds the supply of actual substantial wrongs, so America, being the entrepreneurial nation it is, finds ways to manufacture outrage, fresh every day.

Imagine, if you will *said in my best Rod Serling/Twilight Zone voice*, a discussion between you, as a rational, realistic being, and the Black Knight, a figure not bound by reason or natural law. Now imagine Sir Knight is overseeing border enforcement, foreign policy, the Federal treasury, a mayor of a major metropolitan area or the chair of a state school board.

Hahahahahahaha!

The joke is on you!

That was a trick proposition – because the spirit of the Black Knight is alive and well in almost every major city in the United States and government entity in the US! They are easy to spot, they will be the ones with a “D” after their names if they are elected or appointed, or otherwise they can be easily spotted due to the contrast between the terribly serious expressions on their faces as the cartoon bubbles form above their heads and are filled with their absurd words. They are the ones who have all their limbs severed from their bodies while lamenting tis but a flesh wound.

But they are not really looking for what THEY did wrong, per se, they are looking for what YOU did wrong. Their fault lies in that they did not correct your wrongness in time.

This is the rot endemic to postmodernism and progressivism.

The Black Knight rules.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Jane,

Henlley. Who you got?

[Jack Lillywhite]

If Brooks moves up then he is my favorite. Met him in Southampton. He could play linebacker for the Giants.

[jimmyk]

He could play linebacker for the Giants.

Now is that a comment about him or about the Giants? :)

[Jane]

Jib,

John Rahm - because of what they stole from him. After the DeChambeau.

[henry]

At Dept official in 2000 talking to Atta? No wonder Clinton fixers dominated the 9/11 Commission. It was entirely on them. FBI utterly useless that far back (assuming they were once useful).

[hoyden]

I feel blessed to have met MT. My first flight in a turbo prop and my second time flying out of Friday Harbor.

Buckeye, I can imagine you both had some good times flying and working. Planes and trains. Talk about best of both worlds. I never get tired of hearing the stories.

Thanks to anonammom for posting the Wallerwater link again. I made some this morning. It's timely. My most recent physical turned up an irregular heart rhythm so now I have a cardiologist in my life. I've had sudden and rapid heart rate (225) when exercising hard but in spite of several visits to specialists no one could find anything wrong. Now they have. At 68 I just figured my body is getting close to its sell-by date.

[GUS]

Yes Henry, but ATTA was only looking to DUST CROPS.
And he would have had a HUGE DUSTER OF CROPS with out money. We would have literally paid for own deaths.

[GUS]

With OUR money that is.

[henry]

Gus, talk about missed opportunities… he could have crop dusted DC with anthrax spores. (Apologies to JOM residents in or near the beltway).

[GUS]

Whatever he was planning wasn't about our crops.
Jamie Gorelick should be hung by the "WHATEVER" until dead.

[Narciso]

Indeed they were working on a delivery system for anthrax of course soeaking of black nights mueller was chasing dead raccoons.

[Narciso]

As if:

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/06/gay-man-accidentally-slams-pickup-into-florida-gay-pride-parade-leftists-blame-gov-ron-desantis/

[Marlene]

Good afternoon! We've been away all weekend and while hubby went into the kennel in Bangor to pick up Scout, I caught up on JOM on my phone. I read the sad news about Man Tran. Thanks Buckeye,Hoyden and Iggy for your memories.

[Marlene]

Also...MM, all the best for a speedy recovery.

[henry]

Australian news on Biden neither scoring points vs Putin, nor communicating at all. (~2:10 in the video)

https://youtu.be/l2WCkmw38ew

The world is laughing at SloJoe.

[James D.]

The Douthat piece TM seems to approve of, is lunatic delusional garbage.

Biden has thrown away virtually all Trump’s foreign policy - groveling to Iran again, making nice with China, tossing the Abraham Accords in the trash.

And as for not listening to the crazies in his party, Biden is appointing them to cabinet and sub cabinet positions and giving them their full wish list of madness via executive order.

God safe us from willfully blind “centrists”

[Marlene]

We celebrated my mother-in-law's 91st birthday yesterday. Her independent living facility is in a southern Maine coastal town, so we went to a Kennebunkport restaurant for lunch. The daughter and son-in-law came up for the week-end. After lunch, they took a ride around Kennebunkport to see how the beautiful people live. Ha. They told us there were five Suburbans (Secret Service?) at the entrance to Walkers's Point, so they assumed that GWB was in residence.

[Marlene]

Also, observing the traffic in southern Maine at the beaches and in Kennebunkport, the tourist season is making an amazing comeback. We took my mother and sister to lunch in NH Friday afternoon. Returning to Maine, the traffic was backed up over the bridge. I think half of Massachusetts was headed up to Maine.

[GUS]

i hope the GAY MAN, who nearly killed, almost virtually, intended to assassinate Debtard Washerwoman Schlitz, is OK. I REALLY DO.

[hoyden]

One thing I miss about NH are restaurants where fried clams, oysters, and steamers are daily fare and not exotic at all.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Hoyden, you know that is all standard fare down here, too.

I eat clams, shrimp and fish each at least once a week and crab/lobster a couple of times a month.

I do avoid snot, though, I can tolerate oysters grilled with BBQ sauce.

[Melinda]

Acme Oyster House' Grilled Oysters was one of the happiest surprises in NOLA.

[MissMarple2]

6.3 magnitude quake in the Yellowstone caldera.

[hoyden]

Stephanie, what is snot? I remember my very first experience as a kid with fried clams was at Howard Johnsons. I didn't discover the whole belly until I got to New England many years later. The seafood sounds yummy but I can't tolerate the heat and humidity.

[Jane]

Come in November Hoyden! It’s cooler and we’re having a party!

[Jane]

(everyone is invited - we just have to figure out the date)

[anonamom]

Not a thing on Twitter I can find about a Yellowstone quake.

[henry]

Not a thing on https://earthquaketrack.com/recent either.

[anonamom]

You're in Venice, right jane?

I found a house for 12 of us

https://www.vrbo.com/1837138?adultsCount=10&arrival=2021-11-05&departure=2021-11-08&unitId=2398648

[anonamom]

I think this is what MM mistook for a Yellowstone earthquake. The earthquake was in New Zealand. There have been teeny tiny quivers in Yellowstone since.

Mary Sutton Greeley
@Lucky_finds
·
39m
Yellowstone Volcano Caldera Affected By New Zealand Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake, Gulf of California and Japan

[hoyden]

Heh, Jane! November. What an elegant solution. I can almost imagine coming minus the heat.

[Jane]

Amom,

I’m near Venice. Stephanie is closer than I am, and it’s gonna be at her house!

[GUS]

Mel Iberville between Bourbon and Royale.
Across the Street from FELIX'S. Best Shrimp po boy in the quarter

[Jane]

Jib,

Are you watching this? Holy cow!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I guess this David Brooks bucket of mucous from between his ears was too retarded even for TM to link;
The American Renaissance Has Begun
At the bottom of the page are links to three more well grounded articles by Ezra Klein, Krugman and some other myopic dumbasses all telling us happy days are here again.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Jane,

Yep! No way Louis or others can catch up. Rahm all the way!

[Narciso]

Yes i saw that one and guffawed. A few days ago.

[Jack Lillywhite]

This shot reminds me of Rocco Mediate's shot to tie Tiger at the US Open back in 2008?

[Narciso]

From a broadcast downunder

https://mobile.twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/status/1406634192998342671

[Dave (in MA)]

So sorry to hear about MT.

Condolences to all who knew him.

[Dave (in MA)]

Since I have no idea what this is about, I'm going to guess it's about golf.

Gerry Callahan@GerryCallahan
·
Not a big Oozie fan, but I’ve always been a HUGE fan of ruining the Perfect TV Moment. Go Louie!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Roger Kimball's brilliant answer to Brooksie's mindless twaddle and sycophantic boosterism;
Our New American Renaissance

[Davod]

Anonomom:

Those bloody New Zealanders. This wouldn't be happening if they didn't have a Marxist PM.

[Marlene]

Amom, we're in Venice. The rental you posted is in Placida and Don Pedro is one of hubby's favorite places to kayak. Boca Grande is also excellent for shell collecting.

[henry]

November now? Let me know the date. Too close to Thanksgiving has crowding issues. As it is, rental cars are scarce and expensive.

[Narciso]

Yikes

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnpaulpagano/status/1406436080954511360

[Jane]

Early November Henry. We won’t know a date til Marlene comes back next month probably.

[Jack Lillywhite]

Jane, keep me informed also.,

[Narciso]

Curious

https://mobile.twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/1406373228138860546

[Davod]

The Bigot Ate their homework:

Great video included.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/bigot-ate-their-homework-goldsmiths-racism-live-not-by-lies/

[MissMarple2]

anonamom,

You are right about the quake. Too many people in the room while I was posting!

[MissMarple2]

pic.twitter.com/lpgZRqby7q

— Dan Scavino🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) June 19, 2021

Video of an aggravated black Trump supporter. 2:00 minutes. Language warning!!!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Caroline Glick on the dangers posed by Israel's terrible new government coupled with our even worse one.

[Jane]

We will keep everyone informed. No sweat!

[BeastsEngland]

I am remiss in not providing a WJOM selection in my earlier post, so I offer some Sunday evening groove:

https://youtu.be/NuYDKzky4z0

And, as penance, if you’re a fan of the lads from Liverpool, here’s a very deep cover: Dutch artists ‘The Analogues’ perform the entire White Album live. An ‘A+’ for ambition and a solid ‘A’ for execution. Truly impressive...

https://youtu.be/fase-ART0VM

Cheers, again!!

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Sorry,

Snot is raw oysters.

My house sometime the first week of November.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Amom missed the fine print...

****Due to renovations from Oct. 13 thru Dec. 4, 2020 ONLY THE UPSTAIRS unit is available for rent.****

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

And I missed that it said 2020... Derp

Check the one out in Port Charlotte, Amom 8 Br

[Narciso]

Any new thinking

https://dossier.substack.com/p/foreign-policy-in-a-time-of-domestic?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

As irritating as I find Charles Murray his new book will either cause a major meltdown or will, more likely IMO, be memory holed.
Probably the latter because the progs have zero answers to the two issues he raises.
He may not understand Trump or populism or the right but he is no coward in facing, again, the commie nuts with difficult facts they choose to ignore.

[Narciso]

The folks that pointed to me to that thread were mostly verklempt about dreher and his commenters response.

[MissMarple2]

Nytol from the hospital!

😜

[Narciso]

Gack

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2021/06/20/orlando-bloom-and-katy-perry-appear-dystopian-sci-fi-ad-voting-bill

[Narciso]

Birds of prey hold my beer

https://youtu.be/eN34DBU2J-o

[Narciso]

Goodnight miss marple

[Pinandpuller]

“It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living. It is clear also that thought is not free if all the arguments on one side of a controversy are perpetually presented as attractively as possible, while the arguments on the other side can only be discovered by diligent search.”

― Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays