Everything posted by Ghost of LL
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The Germany Thread
We did a similar trip last summer with two kids (then 15 and 13) and had a blast. Munich (Hotel Vier Jareszeiten Kempinski) City sightseeing for a couple days Dachau Then we rented a car and drove down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Gasthof Frauendorfer). Now I'm going to tell you--if I had to do that over again, I think I'd stay in Fussen or Mittenwald. Garmisch is better placed for the Zugspitze--and you should definitely go to the top of the Zugspitze--but Fussen is better placed for Ludwig's castles. The thing about Garmisch is that it was the base for all the American troops in the area, and there just aren't any American troops left in the area. So it has a bit of a feel of a town that is near a closed Army base. That being said, everyone speaks English there in case you don't speak a lick of German. King Ludwig's castles (I have a whole post on that itinerary earlier in this thread) Zugspitze--pro tip: rent climbing gear in town so that you can clip in and go up to the summit 1936 Olympic Stadium Summer alpine sled next to the Olympic Stadium (note--that thing will absolutely fly off the tracks if you don't use the brake (don't ask me how I know)) Paraglyding over Schloss Neuschwanstein From Garmish-Partenkirchen, we drove down to Laengenfeld in the Oteztal Valley and stayed at the Aqua Dome. That was super fun. Think of it as a Great Wolf Lodge meets Austrian thermal spa. So there are a couple water slides for the kids. A full spa for the grownups (i.e., anybody over 16). And in the area, there's a lot of hiking, whitewater rafting, canyoning, mountain biking, and other outdoor activities. We loved it. After that, we drove to Salzburg (Hotel Sacher) Fraulein Maria's Sound of Music bike tour--note that you should be reasonably comfortable on a bike. Walk around the city and go up to the fortress The water gardens--i.e., gardens with water features that shoot water at you--at Schloss Hellbrunn are fun Siftskeller St. Peter is a very good restaurant and claims to be the oldest in the world, with it first mentioned in any historical record in 803 when Charlemagne ate there. Then we took the train to Vienna (Hotel Imperial). Now I'm going to tell you something about Vienna: this was low-key Mrs.LL's request. But I was blown away by Vienna. It's an imperial capital like London or Paris. And whereas you get good Indian food in London or a North African vibe at times in Paris because of their old empires, the former Austrian empire was Southeastern Europe. What the British would call the "Near East." So it has a bit of that "oriential" feel to it while still being a Western European capital. The Capuchin Crypt where all the Hapsburgs are buried The Imperial Treasury, which has the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor dating to 963, one of the holy lances, and a piece of the underwear of John the Baptist (which my daughter really loved) The Army Museum, which has the car Franz Ferdinand was riding in when he was shot, along with his bloodstained uniform Charlottenberg Palace--kind of an Austrian Versailles Plenty of little cafes where you can sit and have a coffee or an Aperol spritz and just watch the city walk by Anyway--happy to answer any question about any or all of these stops or any vendors.
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Greenland
My suspicion about what's going to happen is that it's going to be the stupidest thing imaginable. Because that's what makes the most sense with this Administration. Trump is just going to announce one night on his social media that the United States has annexed Greenland. And that's it. Probably not even an executive order or anything that formal. Certainly no act of Congress. Just a stupid 3:00 AM "Truth." And then it'll be the "Gulf of America" all over again. Idiots in this country will start saying Greenland is part of the United States. The rest of the world will look at us like we're a bunch of morons. Google Maps will put "(Disputed)" underneath "Greenland." And on the ice shelf itself, nothing really changes. There will be American troops there because there are always American troops there. The United States has a treaty right to have as many bases as it wants in Greenland. And the Trump Administration won't ever appoint a viceroy or a commissar or director general or whatever, because that would indicate planning and organization--two things this Administration definitely does not do. And then in three years, a Democrat is going to be elected president. The entire "we own Greenland" thing will be quietly forgotten (after an appropriately circumspect ambassador in Copenhagen quietly apologizes to His Danish Majesty and his government). In 20 years, we'll be at a bar somewhere and overhear someone say, "remember that time we annexed Greenland?" So fucking stupid.
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The Italy Thread
What time of year are you looking? And how old are the kids? Summer in Venice with little kids sounds miserable. At the risk of turning this into the Austria thread, I would sub Vienna for Venice if you're in the Summer. We did a similar itinerary this past summer (added a few days in the Tyrol to do white-water rafting and canyoning and such because the kids are older) and had a blast.
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Greenland - Tassa Eller Asu !!!!
If we wanted to have a serious discussion, I could see some real benefit to extending American sovereignty over Greenland both from an economic and a national-security perspective. But the way you go about it is by making a cautious diplomatic approach focused on a purchase price and guarantees that the rights of the inhabitants will be respected. Running around threatening an invasion is just a shortcut to getting us kicked out of Thule AFB.
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Hegseth & the Boys
I know that historically an officer could demand a court martial to clear his name under circumstances like this. I don't know if the current UCMJ still has a procedure for that, but if it does I wouldn't be shocked if Kelly pursued that.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
This is the politics page, after all, and the politics are bad for this Administration. It did nothing to build any public support for this. And there is none. So Democrats will be in attack mode. And generally their attacks are going to be consistent with the misgivings of a majority of Americans, who are a people since Vietnam who are typically pretty skeptical of foreign adventurism (though they typically come around to it after the government makes a case). Republicans have none of their personal credibility wrapped up in this. No Republican in Congress voted for this. They’re free to point that out. And they will. If this goes south, Ted Cruz will absolutely use this to attack JD Vance. MTG will attack Marco Rubio. Contrast that with the Iraq invasion. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton voted for that shit. So in 2004, they couldn’t credibly attack Bush in the issue. In the meantime, the Republicans stayed unified on it until well after it became a serious political problem. Look—I’m not give you any nonsense about the Constitution. Save that for the DT. There’s a real political reason you inform Congress and get just a little buy-in. But these people are too stupid to understand that.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
Honest question: what in our long history of foreign adventurism gives you any reason to think it’s even conceivable that we will do this right and not “pull an Iraq?”
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
The apparent “plan” that we’re going to send a bunch of Chevron engineers into the most lawless and dangerous country on Earth without any immediate security measures is honestly pretty funny in its complete stupidity.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
So if we’re just going to go in and steal Venezuela’s oil, the price of oil will presumably drop pretty significantly. That’ll be fun to see the reaction among all the Trumpublicans in West Texas who’ve gotten fat and happy off their royalty checks.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Wait—so now we’re going to “run” Venezuela? Like occupy it? …or is that to say that we have no fucking plan.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Is Kegseth going to just go ahead, pull out his little peen, and start stroking it right there at the lectern?
- 2026 Holiday Bowl - SMU vs. Arizona
- 2026 Holiday Bowl - SMU vs. Arizona
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African Safari
That's a really hard question. It really depends on what your priorities are and how energetic you are. We had five days at the Angama Mara in the Maasai Mara. I might have liked an extra couple days--one to find a damned cheetah and another just to sit out on the deck and watch the valley floor from the Lodge with a cocktail in hand. The latter would've been really nice to have, because that travel is a butt-kicker. And then there's the other non-safari activities you might be interested in. Most of the lodges are going to have available some sort of cultural activity touring a local village or something like that. It's worth the time. In October, the Great Migration will be in the Maasai Mara; by November the wildebeest will have moved back down into the Serengeti. If that fits into your plans, I would say that you'd want a couple days following the wildebeest herd on top of your five or six days looking for other animals. Between the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara, I think we had in the neighborhood of seven days on safari. That's maybe about right. But if you wanted to do more, it's not like you were going to get bored. If you've been there a few days and you haven't seen something, you tell your guide and they're going to track it down for you.
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African Safari
I am more of a city guy when I travel--I'd much rather go to San Francisco than Yosemite or to Edinburgh than Cairngorns--but our African safari was one of my family's favorite trips. I'd put Kenya over Tanzania. It depends somewhat on what time of year you're going and where the wildebeest are on the Great Migration. But even so--I think we all preferred the Maasai Mara to Serengeti NP. But my preference for that may also have been from the property at which we stayed--the Angama Mara is one of the best properties I've ever stayed at. Zambia didn't have quite the wildlife variety on offer. But Victoria Falls way exceeded my expectations. For budgeting purposes, you should expect to spend $1,000 to $1,500 per person per day. That's generally going to cover all of your lodging, food, drinks, and wildlife fun. That is, however, exclusive of gratuities. That's a lot of coin. But at the same time, it's probably not outrageously greater than what you're going to spend in London or New York and doing the stuff you'd want to do in those cities. As I noted upthread, an African safari is unique in that it is something you almost always use a travel agent for. I booked most of the shit myself before I really figured that out. But there was one lodge we booked (and ended up really loving)--the Thorntree River Lodge in Zambia--that could only be booked through a travel agent. It's website wouldn't let you book directly. That's really weird, but there you have it.
- 2026 CFP Quarterfinals Rose Bowl - #1 Indiana vs. #9 Alabama
- 2025 Super Saturday Bowl Game Thread
- Trump’s America
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The Trump Economy
If that GDP number is right, then yes. And it would probably indicate that we're on the eve of a revolution.
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The Trump Economy
If that were true, then we'd have a real fucking problem with this economy. You'd be telling me that at a time when the economy grew by nearly 5%, it didn't create a single new job and payrolls remained flat. You'd be telling me that pretty much every dime of that increased economic activity went to . . . not anybody with a job or looking for one. IF that were true, then you'd have a real structural problem on your hands.
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The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Imagine being so poor that you're this jazzed about a domestic flight in First.
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If you were picking a train trip to do, what would you choose?
Eh--man up and slap some penicillin on it.
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Trump’s America
People need to stop saying that. We should all hope to the very core of our beings that Trump lives out his term for exactly one reason: 2028. A mentally declining Donald Trump will be little more than his malignant narcissism. People may explain to him why he can't have a third term and that he has to smooth the transition to a new Republican standard-bearer, . . . but this is Donald Trump we're talking about. The notion that the Republican Party--much less the United States--could move on without him is more than he can possibly bear. There is simply no way he can gracefully hand over the Party and his support to someone else. So starting in 2027, and in ways small and large, he will undermine and diminish whoever is leading the Repubican primary--essentially trying to position himself as the only only possible nominee. If it comes down to a contest between Cruz and Vance, for instance, he will switch his supposed support at least a dozen times. Someone will come into the Convention with enough delegates to secure the nomination, but it probably won't happen until late. And even then, it will be after a bitter primary contest. And even after someone gets the nomination, Trump will subtly (and not so subtly) undermine the nominee. Until somewhere around October 10 he'll drop the idea that people ought to write him in. And a bunch of his idiot supporters will. It won't be a huge number. But it will be enough to make a material difference in anything approaching a swing state. And ultimately, that's what Trump wants. He wants to be the last Republican president. Because the notion that the party can exist without him is noxious to his ego.
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Trump’s America
Nah--this won't get to SCOTUS anytime soon. By the time it gets to the, it'll be the Newsom Administration's problem.
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Trump’s America
And I'm going to tell you--the measure of the compensation due is really interesting for those of us who do this kind of work. The government is aboslutely going to argue that the loss is just the value of the lease, which is to say the lease payments that the lessor doesn't have to make. The problem with that is that the government is depriving businesses of the entire value of the business. And there is a (somewhat obscure) line of cases starting with Kimball Laundry, which holds that when a taking results in the elimination of a going concern, the just compensation is the going-concern value of the business. When we're talking about a wind farm, that's going to be in the billions. So congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer--the Trump Administration not only deprived you of a bunch of government revenue, but is going to cost the government billions in takings liability.