The Moment

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

And here we are, poised at the highest point of the roller-coaster, looking around. the view is clear, the air crisp, and we’re about to start on the ride of our life.

The stakes are high. We placed a bet. We don’t know where the wheel will stop spinning. There are factors we can’t be sure of, things we can’t know to consider. The unknown unknowns are massive.

Even if it all goes according to plan, and Trump signs all the EOs he promised on the first day, even if Doge points all the waste and Trump borrows the chainsaw from Milei in Argentine, when you’re doing remodeling at this level, there will be strange second-order effects.

Understand, I don’t expect the consequences will be bad, but some will be strange, and we’ll be holding our breaths through the turns and the loops.

And then there’s the fact that the enemy gets a vote. Enemies internal are bad enough — Dave Freer said on X he’s afraid of the cornered rat effect, and so should we all be — but there are also enemies external, and heaven knows precisely what China will be up to, now they’re loosing his Serene Majesty Zhou Biden, vice-roy to Xi. Not to mention they aren’t sure what Trump will do, but are sure he’s not their willing thrall. And their economy is collapsing and they’re desperate. Then there’s Russia and Iran up in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. The beginning of a new Axis of evil?

Anyway, the one thing you can be sure of is that the ride will be interesting.

On the other hand, this is the day we never thought would come. We thought they had the cheating sewn up.

So today we hold our breath they don’t think they’re clever and try an assassination and that their rent a crowds don’t set fire to DC.

And then we grip the handle bars and hold our breath.

On the good side, we might come out of this with colonies in Mars and regular flights to the moon and perhaps miners in the asteroids. I know, I know, it’s pie in the sky, but who knows.

For the first time in a long time, the future is wide open.

Oh, there will be bumps, and sudden drops (what they have done and probably will do to the economy doesn’t bare thinking about) but with luck there will be peaks and breathtaking heights as well.

Hold on to your hats. Here we go.

273 thoughts on “The Moment”

    3. We woke up with a new President! Bonus of being on the west coast and staying up late last night.

      These next 4 years under President Trump will be a great start. But we are going to need another 8 years that Vance will bring, and maybe another 8 after that to solidify. Within that time frame we should see great strides outwards.

      Another 20 years? I fully plan on seeing what happens. Even if I don’t get to participate in going. My last words, after telling my family “I love you”, will be “well dang, don’t get to see the end of this story from the top side of the grass!”

      Yes, crossing space is a little more difficult than it was crossing the Atlantic in 1646, when my ancestors got on a boat in England/Scotland (???). After all they didn’t have to pack their air. Everything else they had to pack, all the food and water. In an emergency they did have some options from the sea, but the boats they were in made that chancy. No options if they ran out of water. That trip too took weeks to months. They had to book passage, or more likely charter a boat for their family groups. Not quite the same as crossing the prairies and mountains of the US (and Canada). But even crossing the prairies and mountains weren’t easy.

      “Why is the Oregon Trail known as the longest graveyard?

      The Oregon Trail has been called the world’s longest graveyard, with one body, on average, buried every 80 yards or so. People lost their lives to influenza, cholera, severe dysentery, or accidents. They were crushed by wagon wheels, stepped on by oxen or killed when a simple cut turned into a gangrenous infection.”

      We (mankind, in particular, US) will find a way.

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      2. We drove part of the way back from Nashville listening to the inauguration and President Trump’s speech. In a weird bit of synchronicity, on Friday we saw the Parthenon that ESR mentioned today on X.

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      3. Keep in mind that there were only three habitations (trading posts) along the 2000 miles. One tale is of an entire village beginning the Trail. Each man a farmer, artesian, able to begin a new community. A bystander asked about the role of one old geezer that looked like he might not even make it. “Oh, he is going to start our cemetery”.

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    4. It’s a done deal; we watched the leadup, swearing-in and inaugural speech live. Great inaugural speech; no vapid platitudes, just red meat. Glorious!😊😊😊😊😊

      The only downside was the non-mention of the J6 victims. I’m with Schlichter on this one: he needs to fully pardon every one, since the process was extralegal from start to finish. I know he’s talked about it, but it needs to get done now.

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      1. I watched the signing of the mass pardons. Okay, he waited until he was back in the Oval Office after sunset.

        Really, even with the best of will (unlikely in the Gulag), they will need a full day to process paperwork.

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            2. Unfortunately, President Trump didn’t recruit enough bucellarii to deal with all the issues in all the places they would happen.

              Someone must have mentioned he’d need them……

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            1. It does indeed. It would be interesting to get the scoop on exactly who made that decision, in every district refusing to obey the law. Arrest that person for, as a minimum, obstruction and unlawful detention and, depending on circumstances, his/her direct supervisor (the “Who will rid me of this troublous priest?” issue). And if any of the perps pardoned by the FICUS are involved in any way, arrest them too; the pardon doesn’t apply to acts committed after the inauguration.

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              1. They’re apparently using “It’s a federal holiday!” as an excuse.

                …really? You mean to say that all the guards go home and no one is in charge on a federal holiday?? Pretty sure even our field office’s LEO is at *least* on call, given that he’s the only one we’ve got…

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                1. That, by an extreme contortion, could have been at least partially justifiable on the 20th. Not today; let’s see how it’s handled when even that pathetic excuse is moot. :-x

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                    2. Let the arrests begin. They do not have the option of Biden & company pardons anymore. See how they like being on the other side, legally on the other side.

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                    3. That’s the way I understand it, at least for Federal offenses. And I believe that refusing to obey a legal Presidential order involving Federal prisoners would qualify.

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  2. Considering what FJB has done in the last few weeks, I shudder to think what his handlers have held back for his last hurrah.

    I don’t think there has been a more acrimonious “peaceful transfer of power” in our history as a country.

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    1. I see he pardoned Fauci, Milley, and the J6 committee creeps.

      Do you suppose Fauci could get hit with a few thousand wrongful death lawsuits? Asking for a friend.

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          1. I have an interesting constitutional and legal question.
            How can you be pardoned for crimes you haven’t been convicted of?

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            1. According to what I’ve read, that was addressed several years ago by DOJ. If a pardon is issued, the presumption is that the crime was committed by the person being pardoned. If that person accepts the pardon, it’s an admission of guilt. All perfectly legal. And all setting the stage for civil suits, which are not covered. and which should be a slam dunk given the admission of guilt noted. Popcorn futures are looking good.

              Oh, and as a related “popcorn” note, AOC, in her usual idiotic fashion, publicly accused Trump of being a “convicted rapist”, the exact same thing which recently cost ABC $15M for defamation. :twisted:

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              1. Yeah, I don’t think she understands the limits of the “Speech and Debate” clause. It’s why Harry Reid was careful to only slander Mitt Romney over taxes from the Senate floor.

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                1. “understands the limits of the “Speech and Debate” clause.“

                  Me thinks she might about to find out.

                  Pass the popcorn?

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              2. Where was she when she said it? IIRC, the libel and slander laws don’t apply in the Congressional chambers (or in a courtroom).

                But anywhere else…

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              3. OTOH, there were no witches in Salem. One petition to pardon all those convicted came from the jurors, who said they had convicted on insufficient evidence.

                They were all pardoned.

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                1. Sure, but what I posted doesn’t apply to such cases (of which there have been many). There’s a vast difference between pardons issued to correct false or improper convictions (such as the ones Trump has issued since the inauguration), and those issued as “stay out of jail free” licenses such as those issued by the travesty who was just given his walking papers. Just my 20 mills…

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      2. What comes to mind are the abuses of Indulgences, where people would donate funds to the Church in exchange for an Indulgence, then go do the thing, or to obtain forgiveness for something “I didn’t do, but just in case.” Which was NOT, repeat not supposed to happen, but …

        Indulgences, like pardons, were and are not “get out of H-ll free” cards.

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        1. Dante had a few things to say about that involving his least favorite Pope, Boniface VIII.

          Boniface called Guido da Montefeltro in from the Franciscan monastery were Guido was expiation a lifetime of tricky dealing and insisted Guido tell him how to get a certain castle. When Guido objected, Boniface absolved him in advance. Except the devil who dragged Guido to Hell explained to him that absolution without repentance wasn’t a valid absolution…

          Of course, Dante had a spot waiting for Boniface, too.

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      3. I’m looking forward to “pre-emptive pardoning” to be challenged in the Supreme Court. Realistically, you can’t pardon someone who hasn’t committed a crime, or at least been charged with one. Not unless you are going to turn rule of law into a farce; and not unless you are voiding the due process clause of the Constitution. After all, this is not Alice in Wonderland no matter how much the Loony Left would like to make it so.

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        1. Mike, you wrote, “Not unless you are going to turn rule of law into a farce; and not unless you are voiding the due process clause of the Constitution. “

          And?

          (There ya go using LOGIC and FACTS again. You and I both know that the left is not fond of those.)

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          1. “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

            “When I use a word it means exactly what I want it to mean, nothing more and nothing less.”

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        2. Trump already did it. Can’t remember the name of the guy, but there was the one Trump supporter victim of lawfare that had the DoJ basically saying, “He was railroaded by the FBI, and here’s the proof of it,” with the judge saying, “No, it’s important that we drag this long trial out because I think the prosecution is trying to throw the case for unethical reasons.”

          That was all going on as Trump’s first term approached it’s end. So iirc, Trump pardoned the defendant so that he wouldn’t still be on trial when Biden took office.

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          1. In the case in which President Trump pardoned the defendant, there had been charges brought and the pardon was for the specific crimes mentioned, right? Trump did not issue a blanket pardon for unspecified crimes over the course of a decade (which is what Biden did in Hunter’s case and probably others) so you can’t say “Trump already did it”.

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        3. There is plenty of previous presidential precedent for pardoning unspecified crimes. SCOTUS is highly unlikely to overturn these, unless Biden was officially rendered “turnip” and since no 25A, not likely.

          SCOTUS has validated almost unlimited authority previously, and use broad terms for the authority. Useful reading: https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/01/the-supreme-court-and-the-presidents-pardon-power/

          That last bit is the safety valve. Congress can always impeach someone, and if convicted, apply the stated penalties. Note that Ford’s pardon of Nixon could not actually prevent impeachment, just prosecution. Folks then were also a bit more self-restrained, so net moot.

          Trump is hopefully going to focus on “Get Trumpy things done”, successful living being a very powerful form of payback. There is also the backhanded “Out of office, you powerless (HONK!)bags ain’t worth the effort.”

          Plenty of time to contemplate a reckoning, -after- we get the winning.

          -After-

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          3. I think gallows might be a bit more efficient than guillotine, particularly if they just employ lamp posts and don’t bother building new gallows.

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      5. Forget criminal actions against them. Publicize **everything**.

        No politician ought to be able to survive being publicly known to have done what they did. Ethic committee would only be the start of it – let them FRY in the court of public opinion.

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    2. Already seen one publicly talking about how Republicans had to work hard at this but victories lie ahead for her side if they work.

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  3. Re: the Chinese, right now they’re still in the Year of the Wood Dragon (which is part of why some Trump fans over there are calling Trump “the Dragon King,” although Kanye’s dragon energy is still in the mix). The lunar New Year coming up is the Year of the Wood Snake, which is basically very similar in implications.

    It doesn’t seem likely to encourage delusions of warfare among the CCP higher-ups, from what I can tell.

    Btw, if you want to search for anything about weird Chinese astrology, Feng shui, Chinese folk religions, etc., Google’s algorithm has those folks complaining heavily. All that will show up is news cable channels, newspapers, and travel agencies. You can go pages and pages without anything showing up from their little occult/traditional corners of the world.

    If you use DDG or other search engines, you get all the usual Chinese, Taiwan, Singapore, Canadian, etc. sites from Chinese astrologers and geomancers.

    Obviously I don’t believe in their stuff, but it’s disturbing that Google would casually try to destroy them. Probably for some nefarious reason.

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    2. The CCP has a significant case of the mads at anything “traditional Chinese” as all that old stuff is seen as potentially undermining the authority of the Party. It’s been clear for a long time that AlphaGurgle is under the thumb of the CCP, so their search modifications are unsurprising.

      I never use Gurgle search anymore.

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      1. There are also stories circulating that some old Chinese prophetic sources are being interpreted by many to suggest that Chinese Communism will end under Xi. Yet another reason why the Communists might be particularly interested in blocking access to that stuff right now.

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      2. One of the Four Olds attacked in the Cultural Revolution. Though I have read a story by a former young Red Guard who found a factory making such superstitions and got slapped down hard when they tried to denounce it because it was for export.

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        1. I don’t know about back then. But nowadays China is desperate to try and export its ancient culture as a way of attempting to persuade others to accept Beijing’s leadership. The irony, of course, is that the best place to go for elements of China’s pre-Communist culture is Taiwan.

          (though the ads for Shen Yun claim otherwise)

          Mao himself had read all of the old classic Chinese literature, and was reportedly well-versed in it, and able to appreciate it.

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    4. Re: China

      ….sigh.

      Background: there’s this guy from Eugene, OR, whom I keep an eye on because he ran for office in 2020. (Lost the primary.) He posted THIS in reply to someone expressing worry for t.ran.s persons under the new regime. [copied and pasted]

      “If you are a t.ran.s man, then you’re one of the first that they will come for. Those of us who know our history will stand up for you, because it is the right thing to do and also because we know that when they get you, we’re next….but as you can see, there aren’t enough of us who know our history to make a damn bit of difference in a nation completely dominated by the stupid and the eviI.

      “Expect them to dead-name you and lock you in the women’s camp. I’m guessing that this will be somewhat less physically dangerous than if you were locked up among cis men, but either way, prepare for everything to suck as it has never sucked before.

      In a dozen years or so, the unsteadily aligned armies of China, the Pacific Rim, Latin America and post-usa NATO will come to liberate the camps. We may or may not live to see it.”

      Hair-on-fire insanity, with CHlNA as the Great Rescuer once the Orange Adolf has done those camps. (The ones he curiously failed to do his first term.)

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        1. Check under your couches and behind your fridges, folks. But be careful, you might just some strange that passes for a leftist mind amongst the dust bunnies.

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        2. El Gato Malo had an interesting twist on, “Oh, no, our kids are moving to RedNote and being programmed!” take. He pointed out that the Chinese are having to deal with a sudden flood of young, pretty, female American, “influencers,” all at once, and have no immunity to the craziness. He’s thinking, “The Opium Wars were nothing compared to this.”

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      3. I’d say “sounds like an idiot from Eugene”, but I’m from Eugene, and I am not an idiot.

        This guy is an idiot. If (huge if) China/Caliphate (because on this topic there is no difference) comes in to take over, the t.ran.s, non-hetro, will be the first ones China rounds up for disposal. Guaranteed. Do I want to know the idiot’s name?

        Other than definition of sex, keeping males out of women’s private space, preventing mutilation of minors, our new president could care less. If an adult wants to mutilate themselves, he doesn’t care. The only ones seriously talking about creating any camps were the B*d** administration and its lackeys.

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        1. Caveat to the “doesn’t care” part: he does care if they’re trying to do it on the taxpayer’s dime (ie, in the military or prisons). But yeah, other than that–and refusing to play along with one thousand and one gender flavors–he, like most of the rest of us, really don’t care what people do on their own time, with their own money, to their own selves.

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          1. “Caveat to the “doesn’t care” part: he does care if they’re trying to do it on the taxpayer’s dime (ie, in the military or prisons).“

            Good point.

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        2. Wow. Yes, he IS from Eugene area, ran for county commissioner in 2020, and his real name is A. Ross. (He goes by MiIes V0rk0sigan on Facebuk.)

          I have friends from that area, so I keep an eye on the raving nutbag as I suspect he will try for office again.

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  4. I’ll be happy if things go like they did during Trump’s first term, pre-COVID: Trump and Congress too busy fighting with each other to roll out any big new agencies or spending programs. I’ll be amazed if we don’t have a major economic crash before 2025 is half over.

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  6. My comment on today’s pardons (so far) as follows:

    AN AMENDMENT

    Section 1. The power of the President to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States shall be removed, upon the expiration of the term of the President within which this Article becomes operative.

    Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

    #

    Discuss as you will, but it is a moot point. By the same authority possessed by Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., I will declare this amendment to have been ratified, sometime around quarter after noon (Eastern) today.

    The times are getting, if anything, even more interesting. Hat, held onto.

    Republica restituendae.

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    1. IMO, that’s going way too far. The Presidential pardon is an important check on the DOJ & judiciary.

      However, an amendment that limits pardons to actual particular crimes that have at least been alleged would be in order. Blanket pardons for unspecified acts are detrimental to rule of law.

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      1. I’d love to see either a) a much shorter gap between Election and Inauguration days or b) a hard limit on executive orders/pardons in the lame duck period. Perhaps require the President-elect to sign off on such, too. No countersign, no order/pardon.

        (I’d be willing to consider “and”, too.

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        1. There was an even longer time between election and inauguration, the latter previously being in March. It was moved up as communication options expanded with technological progress.

          Personally, I’d not mind seeing voting day being moved to the first Tuesday after the federal income tax deadline, with inauguration being about a month later. Let the people know what they’re voting for, after they’ve gotten it good and hard (to borrow from Mencken), and cut down even more on the “lame duck” period.

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          1. In many ways, I agree, but I think shortening it further would be a bad idea. It is basically a month from election day to electoral college vote, then a month to certification, then a month to inauguration. This allows time for any necessary legal action, were courts actually inclined to take up issues raised. Alas, most judges today…

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      2. The executive branch acting as a check on the executive branch? The shade of James Madison just blinked, nonplussed.

        Your limiting amendment might work, but right at this moment I am simply sick of this carryover from the divine right of kings, of rulers literally considered above the law.

        The pardons of the five crime family members slipped through at 11:38 adds to that disgust.

        But it’s all right now. Quarter past the hour, so I deem the amendment ratified. Enjoy your grandfathered power while you’ve got it, Donald.

        Republica restituendae.

        (What, did you think it’d just take some guy putting his hand on a book and repeating after the Chief Justice, and everything would be fine? If only …)

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      3. I have to agree with Tim on this. The pardon authority is an essential check on tyranny as it involves the President REMOVING a punishment either unjustly applied by the courts or Congress, or no longer necessary for the convicted either because they’re dead, or they’ve actually rehabilitated. Of course, those who haven’t been punished, or sentenced to punishment, or even charged for crimes requiring punishment don’t need to be pardoned, and doing so is a violation of the legal order of operations.

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    2. Probably overdoing it, but I will note that one author (don’t recall, relatively big name at the time in SF) who did an American Caesar thingee had his Gaius-clone, after returning as a General with his troops from conquering Mexico, take the U.S. presidency and then aggressively pardon any assassins who knocked off his congressional and other political opponents. With congress expanded with the new hHouse and Senate seats from Mexico and purged of opponents so thus in the bag, there was no chance of impeachment, the only constitutional remedy to pardon abuse. They then (somehow, hand wavey) repealed the 22nd Amendment and declared him President for Life somehow (more hand wavey, had to happen because the plot said so). There were also walking combat mechs.

      Very much a “pound the Rome shaped peg into the US shaped hole using a large jackhammer” plot.

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      1. Kratman had a president doing that (I don’t remember whether Mexico was invaded, though) in Caliphate. He was in the past of the setting of the novel, and discussion among the American characters indicated that while those characters agreed he did some good, he also did a lot of harm.

        The reason why that particular president was able to get away with it was due to an act of Islamic terror that enraged the US population to the extreme that the US willingly entered into a global war against Islam.

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    3. How about removing the pardon power starting 2 weeks before any presidential election, to be restored at the next swearing in.

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      1. That one sounds better to me – a transition period pardon moratorium, so anything they really, really want to do feeds into the election campaign and can change votes.

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    4. I think the power to pardon is necessary, but I would modify it as follows:

      No pardon may be issued in the period between 1 month prior to a Presidential election day and one week after the subsequent Inauguration day.

      That would stop the lame-duck pardons, and give voters a chance to evaluate pardons before voting, without completely removing the ability of a President to pardon those who actually deserve it.

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  7. We did it. We weren’t saved by costumed heroes or mighty kings. We saved ourselves and in those dark days of 2020, the lifeline of my hope was this blog.

    If I might appropriate one of my very favorite scenes from LOTR: Don’t take a bow today, dear Hostess. You bow to no one.

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    1. In the realm of LOTR (book not movie) analogies I think we stand at the point where our hobbit heros have returned to the Shire. They’re about to chase Sharku/Sharkey/Saruman out of Bag End. It is a poor analogy though, Sharkey’s ruffians are still running things in Michel Delving and about in the land controlling many places. The Shirrifs are utterly corrupt and seem unconcerned with it. And it’s not clear if Wormtongue will deal with Saruman (or Who Wormtongue is Edith II or Que Mala). Mr Trump (soon to be President again, I do not like using job titles for people who do not hold the job, the Constitution is very clear that we do NOT have titles) will have his work cut out for him and should he succeed and we keep the Dems out in 2028 with Vance or whoever runs he will deserve his his trip to the West (or at least Mar a Lago).

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        1. I think some of them are beginning to understand which side of the “You don’t get it: I’m not locked in here with you, YOU are locked in here with ME!” meme they are on.

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          1. I do believe some of the entertainment and pop-culture figures, as well as some of the mainstream media are coming to that horrified realization. Possibly a lot of corporate entities, too. But most of academia is still munching the lotus, by the bale.

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      2. Less so in long-count-California, where all the arguments to keep status quo boil down to “Otherwise we don’t know how many ballots to ‘find’!”.

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    4. This is it. What was done was co sidered u certain at best and impossible by a lot. We beat the cheaters and the power hungry…at least for a moment.

      I read the transcript of his address. I expect exploding heads everywhere….and it is nothing but return to norms as recent as 20 years ago.

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  8. Wandered my corner of TwitX after my Sunday fast. People noting the, “But the norms!” crowd is very quiet this morning. Aside from some bitter comments that work out to bitching Biden has now given Trump cover to do *anything.*

    I used the power of X to tell Jonah Goldberg it wasn’t Biden, it was whoever has been running him, but he was too busy hating Trump to realize the alternative was worse. For me, that’s edging toward, “Rip someone a new one,” territory.

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    1. Biden is responsible for his being in a position to be a puppet President. Therefore he’s to blame for what they did in his name.

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      1. And, as I point out to people, even if Biden had been compos mentis (if I’m using that phrase right, my latin is nonexistent) he would have been doing the exact same s**t just with more malice aforethought. Dementia makes you more of who you really are, not less.

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  9. This is going to be a year for the record books and I don’t have any idea what that will look like.

    I know there are lots of surprises waiting for the incoming staff that are too disgusting to relate here–imagine intentionally clogging the toilets throughout the building; cutting phone lines; generally trashing the building and you’ll have an idea of what these evil children are leaving.

    Could not care less. People like Bannon are wailing about the lack of crowds, should have been quarter of a million “like a ghost town!”. Could not care less.

    This is the year.

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    1. I believe the forecast was the same temperature as my deep freezer gets to (-20F). That tends to discourage any but the most insane of any ideological stripe.

      Capitol One arena WAS packed to the rafters, though, with many standing. Might even have been over the legal capacity limit.

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  10. No matter what. No matter the butt-pull attempt. No matter the treachery,

    the FICUS term -ends- in 90 minutes.

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  11. “For You, O LORD, bless the righteous man [the one who is in right standing with You]; You surround him with favor as with a shield.” (Psalm 5:12, Amplified Bible)

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  12. There’s a photo of Biden and Jill greeting Trump and Melania at the WH main entrance. If you see it, take a good look at Melania’s expression. And her killer outfit. Do not, I repeat, not tick this woman off.

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          1. The one amusing thing I found was that obviously she and Trump had forgotten to practice the cheek kiss while wearing said hat. Of course, the Usual Suspects were shrieking “SEE SHE HATES HIM REALLY” and ignoring the fact that both of them had a chuckle when he entirely failed to get near her cheek and did an air kiss rather than battle the hat. (Because while I could see Trump being the kind of guy to have knocked it off and plant a big one on her–Melania really WOULD have murdered him on the spot if he had. :D )

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  13. If Fouci and the J6 committee didn’t do anything wrong, why do they need preemptive pardons?

    I keep thinking these people have reached rock bottom, and they keep proving me wrong.

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    3. The “not my president/not the president” crowd has been surprisingly quiet. I think the whole “and he won the popular vote bigly too” shocked them into feeble mumblings/silence.

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      1. Yeah, I’m losing my noodle yelling at these “lawmakers” that don’t know we’re a constitutional Republic and not a democracy. But “democracy” feeeeeeeeels so much better to say I guess.

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        2. Bottom line is if the much anticipated kinetic aggressive negotiations kick off in WestPAC, one of the first things the US military would be tasked with doing is retaking and setting up to defend the Panama Canal Zone, kicking out the Chinese “companies” currently set up at either end.

          Sailing the long way around, either direction, from the US East Coast naval bases is still too far.

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          1. We’ve got Navy bases on the east coast, and the west coast. The way to capture a wormhole— errr, a canal, that’s right, a canal, is from both ends.

            Potential for attempted sabotage at our Navy bases by communist Chinese agents: unknown.

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            1. We did Panama once when Noriega was all spicy, we could do it again, but better to just show them the new Presidential Portrait and scare them into giving it back.

              Better yet, “The President is the one the left. We’re sending the VP, the one on the right. If he cannot reach a deal, the one on the left will send someone else…”

              Like

              1. Did you ever wonder why LTC Kratman based his future scrappy little Timocratic Republic “Balboa” on Panama?

                Our prior invasion wasn’t a cakewalk. The odds were overwhelming in our favor, and they still held us off for an surprisingly long time. Some top-tier units had some rather embarrassing moments.

                The Panama Canal is “above sea level”. All an opponent has to do is open the drain valves and sabotage them. Blowing up a set of locks at either end helps, but just the drain pipes are needed to wreck the canal. Because refilling that big ditch takes lots of time, and they are having record drought.

                Oops.

                Liked by 1 person

    2. YES. I was hollering at the television nonstop going “IT’S A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC YOU MORONS, NOT A FRIGGING DEMOCRACY!!!!”

      They really, *really* need to fix that little language hiccup. I don’t care if the excuse is “Well, that’s what we really mean, it’s just that we use this word now”–that’s some Orwellian BS right there.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. As I noted a few days ago, I like to remind people that it took Reagan two years to reverse the mess that the 70s had made of the economy. And then the economy took off like a rocket heading out of the atmosphere.

    In pardon news, Rachel Vindmann was whining on X that her husband didn’t get a pardon.

    :P

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Every MSM host should be asked at the beginning of any interview if they received a pardon during the pardonapalooza sale, and if so, how much did theirs cost?

      Like

    3. I take comfort in the fact that Gen X–who appear to have overwhelmingly voted for Trump–DO remember that time period, and will hopefully be patient. (And threaten the kids to sit down and shut up or they’ll be given something to cry about if they don’t stop whining and be patient.)

      Like

  18. OK, this is *very* OT but I’m totally banjaxed and about ready to see if leaving a bowl of milk out for the brownies might be helpful.

    I just opened a plastic bag (the sort charities send you) containing the sweater I’ve been knitting for my beloved, and discovered the bottom of the *inside* of the bag is wet. It looks like a tablespoon or so of urine. And yes, the sweater is now stained yellow.

    This is the second bag containing good wool yarn that’s been peed upon. Note the wool at the top of the bag is clean and dry. The puddle was in the bottom of the bag and so far as I can tell the outside of the bag is dry. It looks as though something small climbed into the bag, dropped into the bottom, peed and got itself out without leaving any other evidence of its presence.

    Now, our son’s dog is with us and Ace will use his natural supply of dog pee sparingly if he has a lot of territory to cover. But Ace weighs 60+ pounds and he is not going to tracelessly climb into a bag that size and out again.

    Something also peed on the books we left under the Christmas tree, but luckily the cover of Pete and Pickles was cleanable. (Love that book). The common thing to all these episodes is the items were on the floor, either in the vicinity of the dining room table or (in the case of the tree) in the same general area. We have also had evidence of a life form that climbs on kitchen counters or the dining room table to chew its way through packaging to get at food. Defining “food,” loosely.

    I try to remember to put the knitting in a chair or take it in back at night, but I had a glass of rose last night and forgot. So I have three questions. First, how to get urine out of a 100% wool sweater and Two, what the heck is going on and what can I do about it?

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I’ll have to pick some up.

        The fabric was still wet. Really, the dog is the obvious suspect and yet….

        Like

      2. There are other dog/cat pee enzyme products out there. We used a couple. (Puppies, plus a little dog who considered any vertical surface fair game.) The brand we have on hand right now is “Grreat Choice”. Haven’t needed it since Kat-the-dog grew up, but it keeps.

        I’d check for signs of the RLF. A tablespoon of pee sounds like something rat-sized, though it could be squirrel. Chipmunk’s a possibility, I would guess. I’ve had mice show up in unlikely places.

        I’ve had problems with the Subaru Foresters with mice getting in the cargo tray area. Some will get fiber (I think it’s seat padding) and form a nest. I used to have mice setting up nests in the air filter boxes of a couple of trucks in the past. Haven’t seen signs of that recently, though.

        Like

        1. I don’t know. Unless there were several mice and they were holding a kegger I would expect visible quantities of urine. Detectable by nose OH YEAH. Unless you have some very large mice. And honestly I don’t believe in Rodents Of Unusual Size…

          Like

          1. Couple of tablespoons at a guess, and still wet.
            I know we’ve had mice and possibly a rat. Still wonder how they got into a shopping bag, past the top layer of knitting and yarn, to the bottom and out again. You’d think mice would just gnaw a ho,e in the bottom of the bag, (Which something did in my other knitting bag, without the pee).

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Real wool yarn (with a bit of lanolin on it) would probably attract them. That is really strange even mice aren’t prone to stay where their urine and feces are. They use it for marking (like darn near any mammal) but even mice tend not to eat or nest where they excrete. Maybe a mouse got trapped and ultimately got back out?

              Like

    2. Sounds like the sort of thing that humanity domesticated cats to deal with.

      Though I’m not encouraging you to get a new pet just for a single incident that you’ll probably figure out before long.

      Like

      1. Our son says the same thing. I’m willing, but my beloved is against it on the grounds a cat wouldn’t be compatible with RV life.

        Like

          1. I think he’s worried about things like the aroma of a litter box in the fifth wheel, cat escaping into to the RV park and so on.

            Like

            2. While it might take a bit of finagling to build a spot for it (the newest version is smaller than the previous, but still not terribly small)–a Litter Robot is worth every single penny in terms of litter box control.

              Like

  20. Franklin Graham looks very like his father. Not the voice, but the profile.

    Meanwhile, Joe looks ready to cry. Emhoff looks like he swallowed a persimmon.

    Like

    1. I thought so too. He spoke at my college (LeTourneau College, only important because he was expelled from there as a student), and I don’t think the resemblance was nearly as pronounced then.

      Like

      1. I haven’t actually seen a picture of him in years and wow, he sure does look like Billy. Sounds a fair bit like him too. Billy never got rid of his strong North Carolina Charlotte-area accent and Franklin seems to be getting more of it as he gets older.

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        1. Grahm delivered a two by four. I suspect the man is a bit peevec with Mister Biden, for some Western NC reason. Ouch

          Like

  21. From all that dwell below the skies,
    Let the Creator’s praise arise;
    Let the Redeemer’s name be sung
    Through ev’ry land by ev’ry tongue.

    Like

    1. Eternal are Thy mercies Lord;
      Eternal truth attends Thy Word;
      Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore
      Till suns shall rise and set no more.

      Liked by 1 person

  22. OK. President Trump sounds hoarse and is speaking fairly quietly but he is going HARD IN THE PAINT on this speech. Damn son. You know Kamala is just seething behind him.

    Like

  23. I’ve never cried from relief at an inauguration before, but I am right now. Now the hard work starts, but the light at the end of the tunnel looks less like a train or big rig than before.

    Like

        1. Love the song, and every arrangement I’ve heard. But I really wish they’d do more than 3 stanzas (very rarely 4); there are at least 6 (and probably more “unofficial” ones).

          Like

    3. I didn’t cry, but I was surely relieved. This is also a.) the first inauguration I’ve ever actually watched, and b.) the first time in my life (at least since I was old enough to vote–so, basically, since I had Bush I and Clinton as a kid/teen, Bush II was my first go around) I was genuinely happy to see the guy in charge. Every other guy I’ve voted for has been AGAINST the opposition, not because I genuinely thought the guy I was voting for was right for the job or would even do a good job–just that he wasn’t as awful as the other guy.

      This one, I know, loves his country. And I think he’s the first one since Reagan to do so. (And thanks to shenanigans, he has, I hope, learned a LOT in the 4 year interregnum and knows not to trust the Swamp a single inch now.)

      Liked by 1 person

    1. OMG what a frickin’ troll Trump (or his people) are! That alone nearly makes up for 4 years of the Turnip In Chief.

      Like

    1. Ah Normally I favor the 4th verse (and the harmonizations that exist of it are exquisite)

      In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
      With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
      As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
      While God is marching on.

      But today the 3rd verse rings truer than usual

      He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
      He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
      Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
      Our God is marching on.

      Oh and those are the original words of Ms Ward Howe’s poem. Many versions fiddle with the penultimate line of the 4th verse changing die to live. It not only mangles the meaning but ruins the ability to put proper vocal emphasis on the line (Live closing the sound down with the v, die leaving the sound open on the dipthong of die)

      Liked by 1 person

        1. They’re apparently too tone-deaf to realize that their comments are both condescending and patronizing; they’re saying, in effect, “Oh, look! A woman actually did something memorable! Isn’t she the cutest little thing?” :-x

          Like

        2. At least we can be reasonably sure she was human. These days, LLMs are gobbling up and barfing out gibberish all over the interwebz. Can’t be completely sure your interlocutor is a sentient in all circumstances.

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        3. As if that was a big deal. It was pretty common knowledge that the author of the poem was Julia Ward Howe (at least here in New England she’s lived around here) and that the meter/rhythm was from the tune used for John Browns Body a bit of abolitionist propaganda set to a tune originally used for revivalist camp meetings.

          Most days commentators need to just shut their mouths lest they be shown for the idiots they are.

          Like

      1. I prefer Lord of the Rings “Ent” analogies.

        “There might be all the difference between an old cow sitting and thoughtfully chewing, and a bull charging; and the change might come suddenly.”

        “But they don’t like being roused. Treebeard got roused himself last night, and then bottled it up again.”

        “A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong.”

        And yes: “Like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains.”

        Like

        1. ^ Yes, this. Especially as the Vorlons would have been voting for someone lefty, because they were ALL about the control and the good little boys and girls doing what they are told.

          (This is also why I spend much of the series longing to slap 2/3 of Minbari society–Religious, who do what they’re told without question and expect everyone else to do what THEY tell them to do, and the Workers, who apparently won’t say Boo. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself sympathizing with the Warrior caste more and more, even though they’re painted to be “bad” and misguided. At least they were damn well trying to speak up…)

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  31. Zuckerberg caught staring at his neighbor’s cleavage. Cued up the, “And that’s how he became a real boy,” meme.

    Man looks closer to normal,than I’ve ever seen him.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Nope. Theres a picture of him wearing a Red Sox cap. He purportedly grew up in NYC, that can’t be true or he’d not be seen wearing a red sox cap, therefore he’s not a real boy. QED.

      Same thing the other way, a fortiori, had he purportedly grown up in Boston and was wearing a Yankee cap. Had he been wearing a Mets cap. Well … better not to speak of it,

      Like

    2. Well, consider Facebook’s origins back at Harvard. It was a “hot or not” type thing, IIRC.

      In the end, he’s a dude, and dudes look at boobies. And honestly, those are probably very nice boobies. Also, it means he isn’t a lizard person.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. There’s a pic of him standing with his wife, captioned with him trying to explain that he was really looking down the aisle.

        :P

        Like

    3. LOL that was actually a real picture?! It was so very blatant and the other guys around goggling too that I thought it was surely AI.

      I guess that explains why the woman is grinning. She knows she’s got ’em where she wants ’em.

      Like

  32. There WILL be bad effects. Utopia is not an option.

    The judgment to be made is whether the good effects outweigh the bad. And we each have to make that judgment for ourselves.

    Liked by 2 people

  34. My congratulations to all of y’all Americans on the successful inauguration of Mr. Trump. The man has done more for Canada with a couple of mean tweets than the entire Conservative Party for nine long years.

    As they say in Mortal Combat, it has begun.

    Flawless victory.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. We were watching a show on youtube last night and it had a commercial about how bad Pierre Poilievre is for Canada and what a crook and meanie he is.

      It was grade school level of rhetoric

      Liked by 1 person

      2. Anyone with the intelligence of a newt has run away from the Liberal Party in the last eight months or so. The genuinely smart ones fled during Covid, that’s how bad it was here.

        Even #WarrenKinsella turned on them after October 7th. He saw the Ham-ass videos and couldn’t do it anymore.

        All that is left are the dead-enders with no place else to go, the retirement age ward heelers licking the bottom of the trough for that last drop of money juice, and the genuinely stupid who believed the hype all this time.

        I really want them reduced to zero seats and a mountain of crushing debt. Vindictive perhaps, but they deserve it.

        Like

  35. I think the combo of the first debate, the assassination attempts, Biden getting swapped for Harris, the election results, the demographics on his win, it all knocked the wind out of their sails. They can (and will) persist (ha!) in their Resistance delusions, but it all feels very half-hearted.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I wonder if all the swamp critters were just sitting around, waiting for something or someone to swoop out of the clouds and magically erase the impending Trumpocalypse, so things for them could just go back to normal. I honestly thought there would be more squalling and more sabotage than we have seen so far. (Fingers crossed. Don’t know how many delayed action mines have been left in place to go off at a later date.)

      Like

        1. My beloved has been saying this since November. He’s about to block people on his Facebook, or be blocked because that’s how he answered their, “Oh, woe is me! Where are the protesters?” posts.

          He just had another friend pull the , “I used to look up to you. I can’t any longer because you support a convicted felon and rapist,” BS. A guy, and someone I would never expected that sort of manipulative crap from. It hurts.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. The “OMG we’re in a fascist dictatorship I’m gonna DIEEEEEE” crap, while not quite as prevalent as in 2016, is very boring. It’s like they’ve completely erased the fact that this guy served one term already and there wasn’t a single cattle car, firing squad, or gulag in sight. And there certainly isn’t going to be now, although I expect there’s gonna be very many unhappy swamp critters and DEI experts in the unemployment offices…

            Liked by 1 person

            1. “I expect there’s gonna be very many unhappy swamp critters and DEI experts in the unemployment offices…“

              Good!

              “The “OMG we’re in a fascist dictatorship I’m gonna DIEEEEEE”“

              Some of the more vocal ones have exported themselves voluntarily. May they give up their passports.

              Like

    2. That, and the lefty establishment has to cover what $20 million on top of a BILLION dollars in campaign. Rent-a-mobs aren’t cheap, you know.

      Like

  37. What I’ll always remember is Biden, standing before a blood-red backdrop, flanked by Marines, ranting angrily against his enemies, all in the name of fighting fascism.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. It took a single glance (followed by a double-take) for me to think “Holy crap, it’s Adolph Biden!” And the idiots missed the symbology completely! Oy…😒😒🤢

        Like

      2. I realize that in person, and in other shots, you could see all three projected colors (red, white, and blue), and I read the reasons for not having white or blue behind Biden. Even if the colors were different, it would still have come across as echoing Triumpf des Willens in a bad* way.

        *There are ways to steal from the film and not give everyone that old 1939 feeling. What they did for that speech was not one of them.

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        1. The current Democrat advisors (and most of their advisees) are more tone deaf than a room full of severely neuroatypical people. They only live in their little world and know no one who voted for Trump (or Nixon for that matter). if it weren’t so funny it would be sad…

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          1. I am firmly convinced that speech was the result of one of two things:

            a.) An advisor thought they’d make Biden into a living “Dark Brandon” (remember that?) and didn’t know what they created.

            b.) An advisor secretly hated Biden and set him up to look as bad he possibly could.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. No, they were all in on Dark Brandon, memeing it themselves and playing it up backchannel to mainstream press. They thought they had a winner co-opting the entire Brandon thing and making it “Joe is so scary good!”, not realizing what was behind the “FJB” chants in the first place.

              Joe was only scary to his wranglers when they had to let him out in public or on camera.

              Definitely A. Self reinforcing beltway bubble.

              Like

              1. I figure the original “Let’s Go Brandon!” was a desperate piece of improvisation by that reporter, who was aware that the FCC wouldn’t even leave a grease spot behind if she and her network got caught knowingly broadcasting the F-world repeatedly from thousands of voices.

                Liked by 1 person

  38. Been watching the festivities all day.

    My summary:

    May God Bless America.

    Next stop, MARS!

    Also the Trump ladies looked fabulous! I loved Ivanka’s outfit! And even Dr. Jill wasn’t dressed in Goodwill upholstery fabric. I quite liked her ensemble. Usha Vance was beautiful 😍

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Right? All I could think was “get you someone who will look at you with the kind of pride and love that Usha is looking at JD…” He’s a lucky man. And his children are appallingly cute.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. She is another naturalized American badass.

          ”Donald, sign one more that says no more sofa upholstery dresses.”

          Like

  39. My son seems now convinced (by his brilliant friends) that every one he knows who is even slightly melanin-enhanced or gender-variant will be deported or in camps by Friday. We remind him of the typical speed of the Federal government. He doesn’t find it funny.

    Me, had I been a betting person, would have put very small odds on Captain Orange’s still having vital signs as of this afternoon. But here we are.

    Like

  40. whitehouse.gov under news has the full text of Trump’s Executive Orders. Riveting reading. First comment, Biden was way worse than I thought, and second, Trump is much better prepared than he was 8 years ago. I think the swamp lizards will regret giving him four years in the wilderness to prepare. He’s just delivering on promise after promise.

    The lizards will strike back,of course, though reading the EO it’s clear they were thought through. To that end, a lip reader is reporting that Obama was asking GW Bush how they — they — could “stop all this”. God bless and preserve you Mr President.

    I feel so gushy, which is not usual for me since I despise politicians, even the ones I vote for, but I do think that God has intervened here.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Did you see the order on page 2? A 90-day suspension and review of all foreign aid. Anything that does not serve the interests and values of the United States is to be terminated. All foreign aid programs must be personally approved by Marco Rubio.

      I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth already. :-P

      Liked by 1 person

    2. A lot of folks slam GWB. Plenty there to slam. Wouldn’t be prudent. Elections are often least-bad choices. Imagine Algore in there after 9/11.

      But yeah, his whole Bush family were swamp people from the get go – RR picking his Dad led to a lot of stuff. Probably anyone else would have beat Billy-Jeff handily in 1992, given the RR lead-in and the victoriously first Gulf War under their belt, but not GHWB. Especially as Perot would probably not have run at all except for his hatred of the Bush family.

      And Billy Jeff picking Algore led to GWB, which led to the Barry Soetoro administration. The dark times.

      But arguably Barry gave us DJT – if Barry had not slammed The Donald at that gala speech I bet Donald would never have run. Thanks, Barry.

      Then WuFlu gave us Joe. The darker times.

      But Joe gave us DJT47, the Return of the Donald. Without his time in the wilderness (hey, sorta like Churchill) and all the attacks, both legal and physical, DJT would not have nearly as full of a clue bag as he appears to have now. Maybe this is the best timeline after all.

      Like

      1. Word that I’ve heard through a couple of difference sources over the decades is that Reagan was basically forced to take Bush as his running mate. I don’t know the details of how that was accomplished, though.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Don’t know either, but W may not be quite as hopeless as he’s seemed. He was the only former President to crack a smile, however brief.

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          1. W, for all his faults, seems to be less partisan than many others. He pointedly didn’t say anything about who he was or was not voting for this election cycle, when it would have been easy enough for him to join the uni-party herd and state that he was voting for Harris.

            It’s impossible to know what’s going through his mind unless he reveals it. But it’s always possible that his history has made him a bit more independent than would otherwise be the case. I occasionally think about the fact that he basically bucked his own family to run for president. It was Jeb that was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps. But W’s run put the plans for Jeb on hold for over a decade.

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        2. That’s my understanding too – Reagan had to take Bush as his VP to get the Establishment’s backing in 1980, because he couldn’t have won without it.

          By contrast, Trump in 2016 was nominated and elected despite everything the GOP Establishment could do to stop him. Which goes to show how far the Establishment had fallen since Reagan left office.

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    3. Trump shut down the app that was being used to fast track people into the country. And right on cue, there’s picture of a crying woman who won’t be able to use it to enter the US circulating around the internet.

      What amused me was that the image of the woman also included two phone cameras in the foreground of the image that were also taking pictures of the same woman.

      Like

      1. Not just shut down the app, they cancelled all the “appointments” that had been set up using the app.

        You can tell the rank and file are on board for the new team when stuff like this happened this fast.

        Like

        1. My understanding is that the app was how the appointments were tracked. No app, no appointment.

          And yes, clearly someone in the right position was ready to go once Trump gave the word.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. There’ve been various little indications that the Biden shenanigans were not entirely approved of by everyone in the federal government.

          I could be reading too much into stuff like child porn arrests, but we shall see.

          Liked by 1 person

      2. The way other countries’ governments treat their own people is not our problem. I can understand wanting to help, but more than half the world’s people are treated like shit by their governments. We can’t take in 4 billion dirt-poor illiterate immigrants. They’ll have to solve their own problems.

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      3. Plus Community Notes pointing out that yesterday was a Federal holiday so nobody had any appointments.

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    4. I think it helps that, when you get right down to it, Trump is NOT a politician. At the end of the day, he’s a businessman, and that is EXACTLY what we need.

      Like

  42. Lawfare, Trump style.

    He has given his opposition hundreds of cuts. He will get sued, and likely injunctioned on many. Perhaps even most.

    He could take a position that only SCOTUS can tell a President what to do. Thus, ignore any injunctions below SCOTUS unless and until SCOTUS says otherwise.

    Thus the opposition has Yuge, gigantic even, legal tasks and bills.

    Epic.

    Will he quote apocryphal Jackson for lower courts? “They have made their ruling. Now let them enforce it.”

    Even if he doesn’t, the donks are going to blow boo-coo megabucks, versus his essentially unlimited budget and army of government lawyers.

    And if their donors, stop….

    Like

    1. He could take a position that only SCOTUS can tell a President what to do. Thus, ignore any injunctions below SCOTUS unless and until SCOTUS says otherwise.

      He could. And that will do interesting things to the “rule of law”. Would a governor be justified in arresting Federal personnel not obeying the court whose jurisdiction includes his state? Would Federal personnel have a duty to consider instructions contrary to the ruling “unlawful orders”? As usual, reality is going to be lots messier than just “so let it be written, so let it be done.”

      Like

      1. He is counting on lawsuits. Every minute and dollar they spend in court is unavailable for other work. I think it is safe to say his strategy will be a bit odd, and not necessarily obvious at first.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Greenland also seems surprisingly receptive to the idea–and Denmark, too, which was weird.

      Though, and no shade to our Canadian brethren, I think it ought to Greenland for the conservatives, and then throw a bone to the dems by letting Puerto Rico finally join too. Could do the same for Greenland/Canada (poor Puerto Rico), or split Canada into states by province? :D

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I think, once the pro forma protests and saber waving are done, Denmark is relieved that someone else wants to deal with the cost of Greenland. The home country has enough to deal with at home, and prestige aside, losing Greenland might not be so bad.

        No on Puerto Rico unless they can really, really clean up their corruption. They almost make Chicago look squeaky clean. Almost. Give them independence would be my first choice, except they don’t want that.

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        1. My understanding is that the population of Puerto Rico is split roughly equally between “Wants Statehood,” “Wants Independence,” and “Wants the Status Quo.”

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          1. between “Wants Statehood” and “Wants the Status Quo.” “Wants Independence” is rounding error.

            Like

      2. “split Canada into states by province?“

        This is the best approach. Largest population provinces shouldn’t trigger as many proportional electoral votes as California or New York. Be gaining more conservative provinces than liberal ones.

        By “Public Law 62-5 on August 8, 1911, and in effect since 1913” the total number of representative is 435.

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