Patterico's Pontifications

Still nailing down how to game the system:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/democratic-congresswoman-secretly-sending-staff-into-mexico-to-coach-asylum-seekers

CBP officials told the Washington Examiner that Escobar’s aides are “reescorting people back to the port” and “telling officers the Central American individual with them cannot speak Spanish despite their having communicated in it days earlier.”

Munroe (728bdd) — 7/6/2019 @ 8:54 am

Wow.

DRJ (15874d) — 7/6/2019 @ 9:16 am

Mad Magazine will vanish from newsstands after 67 years

Dave (1bb933) — 7/6/2019 @ 10:12 am

Ms. Young is a formidable pundit.

Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/6/2019 @ 10:20 am

https://golfweek.com/2019/04/21/golf-british-open-royal-portrush-northern-ireland/
Top 5 courses I’ve played, never have I been somewhere where women put themselves between their children and a building to protect them from people walking past them. Last time I was there a friend from the Republic of Ireland had me pull over when we crossed the border back into the Republic Sean gets out bends down on his knees and kisses the ground. The despair on the locals faces in Northern Ireland is quite the contrast to the lively banter heard everywhere in the Republic of Ireland.

mg (8cbc69) — 7/6/2019 @ 10:28 am

Apollo Mission Control Reopens In All Its Historic Glory

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/apollo-mission-control-reopens-in-all-its-historic-glory

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/science/apollo-11-mission-control-nasa.html

No smartphones. No bottled water. No E-cigarettes.

Just rotary phones, coffee mugs, ashtrays filled with Marlboros and plenty of No.2 pencils to support managing trips to the moon and back.

Outstanding then; awesome now.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/6/2019 @ 10:54 am

What an interesting group of links. Well done, commenters!

DRJ (15874d) — 7/6/2019 @ 11:40 am

Good one ,DCSCA. One of many things that I had no idea of, NASA could not except public donations.

mg (8cbc69) — 7/6/2019 @ 12:04 pm

Mad always was skeptical and I enjoyed it.

mg (8cbc69) — 7/6/2019 @ 12:21 pm

@9. Liked how they ‘found’ the original Mission Operations Control Room – the “MOCR” [pronounced “Moe-Kur”] wallpaper– behind a fire extinguisher wall mounting.

Know from speaking w/production people- costume designers, researchers and such- associated w/that 1998 Tom Hanks/HBO series, ‘From The Earth To The Moon’ that NASA PAO didn’t have much time- or budgets- to save/preserve items and such from that era. Some of the ‘finds’ and ‘discovery’ stories the production people shared were astonishing. So the work that went into restoring the MOCR is truly an amazing effort.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/6/2019 @ 12:26 pm

A callback:
https://www.quasiblog.com/2009/02/commerce-dead-end-or-center-of-the-universe.html

Narciso (fddec8) — 7/6/2019 @ 12:28 pm

https://saraacarter.com/kamala-launches-100billion-plan-for-black-families-homeownership/

narciso (d1f714) — 7/6/2019 @ 1:38 pm

For you music trivia buffs, the band Jefferson Airplane was named after the aircraft that our third president flew back in the war (h/t some guy on Facebook).

Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/6/2019 @ 2:01 pm

@14. ‘Some guy’ — soon to be named by Trump as America’s next acting Secretary Of Interior.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/6/2019 @ 2:13 pm

what have we here:
https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/06/fisa-abuse-probe-key-witnesses/

narciso (d1f714) — 7/6/2019 @ 2:16 pm

Some classic (multi-media!) social commentary from the pages of MAD:

Gall in the Family Fare
(Warning: NSFW; contains language demeaning to women, gays, and about half a dozen religions and minorities…)

I remember getting this issue when I was 9. It had a little vinyl “flexi-disk” stapled into the magazine centerfold, which could be removed and played on a phonograph. I don’t think I’ve ever learned so many new words in just six minutes…

But I love how they subtly skewer the left (and Hollywood) as well as (a bit less subtly) the reactionary right.

Dave (1bb933) — 7/6/2019 @ 3:00 pm

WRT Mad magazine, I always enjoyed the back inside cover bit where you would fold the 1/4 and 3/4 width lines to meet in the middle for the punchline and a much baudier image than one saw at full width.

urbanleftbehind (db486c) — 7/6/2019 @ 3:05 pm

Reality, has killed satire, look at the half the headlines we see here,

narciso (d1f714) — 7/6/2019 @ 3:18 pm

Good things come to those who wait, and this just came up on Google News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alaska-fears-brain-drain-after-41-percent-proposed-cut-university-n1026466
I approve. Let’s do it nationwide. Across the board. Pell and other federal and state government grants, GI Bill, and student loans too.

nk (dbc370) — 7/6/2019 @ 7:20 pm

Epstein arrested for sex trafficking.

Wonder if this is going to be a real case and not what they did in Florida.

NJRob (4d595c) — 7/6/2019 @ 10:33 pm

It has been written that with what Epstein has on Bill Clinton, what is his life expectancy?

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/6/2019 @ 10:35 pm

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/07/just-hong-kongs-anti-extradition-law-protesters-march-china-express-rail-station-spread-message-mainlanders/
Interesting times!!

mg (8cbc69) — 7/7/2019 @ 6:07 am

Hahahahahaha…HA!!!

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/05/woman-who-invited-migrants-her-garden-now-demands-they-leave/

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:49 am

I learned a couple of words from Frum’s piece on Trump’s speech: bumf and rodomontade.

Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/7/2019 @ 9:12 am

Rodomonte (or Rodamonte) is a major character in the Italian romantic epic poems Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. He is the King of Sarza and Algiers and the leader of the Saracen army which besieges Charlemagne in Paris. He is in love with Doralice, Princess of Granada, but she elopes with his rival Mandricardo. He tries to seduce Isabella but she tricks him into killing her by mistake. In remorse, Rodomonte builds a bridge in her memory and forces all who cross it to pay tribute. When the “naked and mad” Orlando arrives at the bridge, it is Rodomonte, the pagan, who throws him into the river below. They both swim ashore, but Orlando who is naked and is unimpeded by heavy armors get to the shore first. Finally, Rodomonte appears at the wedding of Bradamante and Ruggiero and accuses Ruggiero of treason for converting to Christianity and abandoning the Saracen cause. The two fight a duel and Rodomonte is killed.

Rodomonte’s prowess is matched only by his arrogance and boasting. His name is the source of the expression rodomontade, meaning “boastful, bragging talk”.[1]

Rodomonte is also synonymous with strength and courage. The King of Spain gave the appellative “Rodomonte” to Luigi Gonzaga for his extraordinary strength.[2]

Rodomonte first appears in Book 2, Canto i of Orlando innamorato. Boiardo was said to be so pleased at the invention of his name that he had the church bells rung in celebration.[3]

Boiardo, in Book 2, Canto xiv, says Rodomonte is the son of Ulieno, and a descendant of the Biblical giant Nimrod, from whom he inherited his massive sword, which was too heavy for an ordinary man to lift.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodomonte

kishnevi (0c10d1) — 7/7/2019 @ 9:20 am

Unless he’s playing to an audience of one, the Acting DHS Secretary not accepting the IG’s findings on detention facilities makes no sense.

Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said he did not accept reports of unsanitary conditions and limited food and water at U.S. Border Patrol stations, calling the situation at the border “extraordinarily challenging” for the department, in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.

The results are what they are, investigated by his own department. The IG has the evidence, and the Acting DHS Secretary has none. Like his boss does with alarming frequency, he’s talking out of his a$$.

Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/7/2019 @ 1:19 pm

I approve. Let’s do it nationwide. Across the board. Pell and other federal and state government grants, GI Bill, and student loans too.

Agreed. Let the Chinese, Indians and Europeans have all the good-paying technical jobs.

There’ll be plenty of honest work for Americans, picking fruit, cleaning toilets, etc, after we throw out the wetbacks.

Dave (1bb933) — 7/7/2019 @ 1:50 pm

More than 41% of college graduates end up doing jobs that barely require knowing how to read and write, right now. AOC, for one prominent example. Let 41% of the professors and college administrators join them.

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 2:31 pm

Odd how relating past accomplishments, by the nation, are taken to boasting by one, frum needs more of a chiropractor each day,

narciso (d1f714) — 7/7/2019 @ 2:36 pm

@29. He’s on ‘Cruz Control’; it’s the Canadian in him.

DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/7/2019 @ 2:41 pm

You mean 41% of college graduates start off doing jobs that barely require knowing how to read and write, don’t you?

Dave (55e817) — 7/7/2019 @ 2:43 pm

no, that’s the idiot to our north, who blithely declares his country committed genocide,

clearly the much vaunted mueller report full of brady violations, isn’t worth the printer page,

narciso (d1f714) — 7/7/2019 @ 2:45 pm

No, that number would be more than 75%. Maybe the top 25% of graduates in some fields will find that piece of paper they spent four years of their lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars for even remotely related to the job they find when they graduate. To the rest, it’s what the Wizard gave to the Scarecrow.

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 3:02 pm

quelle surprise:

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/451813-france-has-turned-into-one-of-the-worldwide-threats-to-free-speech

narciso (d1f714) — 7/7/2019 @ 3:11 pm

“I’ve known Jeff [Epstein] for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
–Donald J. Trump, 2002

Figures.

Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/7/2019 @ 3:21 pm

that’s why the associate atty general, intervened montagu, you’re such an easy mark,

narciso (d1f714) — 7/7/2019 @ 3:53 pm

No, that number would be more than 75%. Maybe the top 25% of graduates in some fields will find that piece of paper they spent four years of their lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars for even remotely related to the job they find when they graduate. To the rest, it’s what the Wizard gave to the Scarecrow.

And yet bachelor’s degree holders earn 64% more than high school graduates with no college, and are 54% as likely to be unemployed.

Dave (1bb933) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:26 pm

Chicken and egg and chicken again.
1. They were smart enough and ambitious enough to get into and finish college. It follows that they would do well in the workplace.
2. Following Griggs v. Duke Power in 1971, employers afraid of being accused of discrimination in selecting candidates for on-the-job training and promotion, started depending more on the “objective” talisman of a college degree, and cut down (or eliminated altogether) in-house training.

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:39 pm

On second thought, I don’t think he splits atoms with his mind,

narciso (d1f714) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:41 pm

”you’re such an easy mark”

One, that’s getting a little personal, narc. Two, you should use complete sentences with passable grammar to explain your point. It seems to me that Trump would rather have Epstein disappear than get indicted by an office where Trump fired the previous chief and replaced him with his own guy.

Paul Montagu (d0ccc2) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:44 pm

1. They were smart enough and ambitious enough to get into and finish college. It follows that they would do well in the workplace.

And that’s not taking into account the rich kids. It’s not their degrees that get them the good jobs, it’s their parents. We both know obvious examples.

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:47 pm

accepting a narrative, based on selective info, the arms control priesthood, the wexner’s part of the fusion dossier, the witchhunting of the Covington boys, the unpersonning of heshmat alavi, time and again, you are just part of a drone who thinks himself an independent mind,

narciso (d1f714) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:50 pm

Higher education has become somewhat of a racket. Tuition costs have increased well beyond the inflation factor and the cost of living year over year. Now we see more and more of the Democrats calling for eliminating college loan debt and free college for all. As if the taxpayers won’t be stuck with the bill. Expecting workers working lower paid jobs to fund the education of – as Professor Dave advises – people who go on to earn 64% more than these high school grads. How unfair is that!?!?

Young people who were motivated to go beyond the HS diploma are thought to have potential. But employers value and pay for performance, not potential.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 4:58 pm

42… a sad state of affairs.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:03 pm

“There’ll be plenty of honest work for Americans, picking fruit, cleaning toilets, etc, after we throw out the wetbacks.”

That’s a bigoted statement, as if that was all illegal immigrants are capable of doing. Very ignorant.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:08 pm

More on Montagu’s insinuations re: Epstein and Donald Trump…

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/10/glenn-simpsons-fusion-gps-ran-donald-trump-smear-c/

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:17 pm

Here’s a picture of the First Lady when she was still posing like “a piece of ass” (not having yet learned how to pose like a First Lady), with Trump, Epstein and another woman. https://static.businessinsider.sg/2019/07/07/5d22123ea17d6c13417ead42.jpg

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:28 pm

Meanwhile the complaint against spacey was dropped and no one speaks of Weinstein anymore, tell me about justice or accountability usul.

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:38 pm

47… That’s why they said “social gatherings”… not 20 flights to “underage girl island”, like Clinton.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:41 pm

She was, and still is, a very attractive woman. Nothing wrong with that.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:44 pm

We should not trust any news stories about Epstein — the clickbaits I’ve seen so far turn out to be Vox garbage — but the fact remains that he did plead guilty and agreed to serve 13 months in the prior case.

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:45 pm

Everything happened for a reason; read the dirt on David Carrier:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613109/the-man-behind-that-apollo-boot-print/

DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/7/2019 @ 5:52 pm

TIL “Buttigieg” as in Mayor Pete Buttigieg candidate for President is pronounced “boot a judge”.

Which brings me to the pronunciation of “Orange” when it refers to Trump. The proper pronunciation might be “a wrong gee”, as in: “Trump is a wrong gee. A very wrong gee.”* Only coincidentally having to do with the color.

*It’s also a Damon Runyon reference, JVW.

nk (dbc370) — 7/7/2019 @ 6:30 pm

I call him mayor howdy,

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 6:33 pm

That’s a bigoted statement, as if that was all illegal immigrants are capable of doing. Very ignorant.

1) It’s almost like I was trying to be sarcastic. Or something.

2) Where did I say that was all they are capable of doing? Stop projecting.

3) I look forward to your future bigotry smack-downs of everyone who equates illegal immigrants with crime and collecting welfare, as if that was all illegal immigrants are capable of doing.

Dave (1bb933) — 7/7/2019 @ 6:47 pm

You wrote it… it’s about as insensitive as you calling black folks n*****s. Sarcasm? Try using some of that sarcasm in a bar outside of the OC, let’s say in LA County.

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 6:56 pm

you are just part of a drone who thinks himself an independent mind”

And that one was another personal attack. I’m glad I don’t waste my time reading your comments or links.

Paul Montagu (d0ccc2) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:13 pm

More on Montagu’s insinuations…

It’s not an insinuation. Trump said the words in 2002. The New Yorker quoted him.

Paul Montagu (d0ccc2) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:17 pm

The context they are used, like the garbage that Jane Mayer has been shoveling for 25 years.

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:19 pm

The press was so into Obama, they needed vd booster shots, they still wont report against all the injuries he inflicted on this country, Paul Ryan was certainly an accomplish, Mitt Romney was a tiny raging dog now hes a rottweiler.

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:25 pm

Higher education has become somewhat of a racket. Tuition costs have increased well beyond the inflation factor and the cost of living year over year.

You do understand that when there’s more demand for something, the price tends to go up, right?

It is also certainly true that when you subsidize something, both the amount demanded and the price go up.

One should be careful about comparing tuitions at public institutions for several reasons.

First, tuition does not directly reflect the *expenditures* – they reflect the expenditures not covered by the state appropriations and everything else.

Second, even more important, tuition is a relatively small piece of the financial pie.

A better indicator is the annual expenditure per student on instruction. Here are the numbers for UC:

2013-14   $24.8K
2014-15   $26.7K
2015-16   $28.4K
2016-17   $27.1K
2017-18   $25.4K

In-state annual tuition and fees for all these years was between $13.3K and $13.9K. As you can see, tuition is a poor indicator of what is actually being spent.

Expecting workers working lower paid jobs to fund the education of – as Professor Dave advises – people who go on to earn 64% more than these high school grads. How unfair is that!?!?

It would be very unfair, if it happened, except it won’t.

As you should know, the top 50% of earners pays over 97% of federal income taxes. The top 25% pays 86%.

So you can rest easy on that score – any student loan debt giveaway financed by federal taxes will be paid for by the people who went to college and have higher incomes.

Dave (1bb933) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:29 pm

There is no reason why education has to be twice as expensive as any other service, is it twice as good twice as informative, the reverse is truen

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:31 pm

There is no reason why education has to be twice as expensive as any other service, is it twice as good twice as informative, the reverse is truen

Think of it as a license to print $470+/week for the rest of your life (much more, of course, if you get a graduate or professional degree).

Supply and demand – it’s not complicated.

Dave (1bb933) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:57 pm

That’s why there are so baristas with advanced degrees

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:58 pm

Very Ilhan Omar-like of he. There’s the unimaginative “narco” responses to narciso and then the barroom/second city cop blindsides from the Trump-critical community.

urbanleftbehind (db486c) — 7/7/2019 @ 7:59 pm

UC is sure a sweet gig… https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/university-of-california/

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 8:01 pm

Trump was not born a ginger but both his skin and his current hair color might be. If certain stars align on the Dem side, we might be revisiting a debate from Gilligan’s Island.

urbanleftbehind (db486c) — 7/7/2019 @ 8:03 pm

And Meathead, at the end of All in the Family’s run, was bitter that quotas kept him teaching at juco and not any of the UCs.

urbanleftbehind (db486c) — 7/7/2019 @ 8:05 pm

It must like that optical allusion, they kept talking about.

Narciso (23765c) — 7/7/2019 @ 8:05 pm

In that look at the UC system salaries, it looks like Administration – and there appears to be a helluva lot of it – is extremely overpaid. Otherwise, I am happy that I worked in the private sector my entire career, as I couldn’t have afforded to live comfortably and raise a family on what they pay most of the profs…

Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/7/2019 @ 8:21 pm

Otherwise, I am happy that I worked in the private sector my entire career, as I couldn’t have afforded to live comfortably and raise a family on what they pay most of the profs…

Most professors are only paid by the university for 9 months (the academic year, when we teach). When we submit research grants, we’re allowed to get the funding agency to pay us for up to two months (I.e. 2/9 of our annual university compensation) of work over the summer. Professor salaries published by the university wouldn’t include this summer salary ( since the university doesn’t pay for it).

Administrators and any other non-teaching staff have 12-month contracts since they work for the university all year including the summer. So one has to be a little careful in looking at annual salaries.

Dave (55e817) — 7/7/2019 @ 8:43 pm

Nuns save newts!

For the past 150 years, the nuns in the convent had been sustainably raising the rare salamanders. The amphibians are a crucial ingredient in a mysterious medicine the convent makes that is believed to cure coughs, asthma, and anemia, so the women breed the animals in order to keep their tradition alive.
Of the 23 nuns in the convent, three or four live and work at the breeding facility at a time to take care of the animals. The facility is made up of two large rooms filled with tanks that can hold up to 400 salamanders. The nuns feed organic earthworms to the amphibians and use a nearby well to change their water regularly.

Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/7/2019 @ 9:21 pm

Trump: ‘I want the press to go in and see’ migrant detention centers

It’s a trap!

Dave (1bb933) — 7/8/2019 @ 12:10 am

https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/07/fox-ed-henry-liver-donate-surgery/
Family first, Bless you Mr. Henry.

mg (8cbc69) — 7/8/2019 @ 4:47 am

Exactly, mg. God bless their family.

DRJ (15874d) — 7/8/2019 @ 6:12 am

Video captures moment lightning strikes sailboat

Dave (1bb933) — 7/8/2019 @ 8:42 am