Meet JD Vance.

He opposes no-fault divorce, including those who do so to leave abusive marriages. He’s compared abortion to slavery, supports a national abortion ban and rejects exceptions for rape – “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said. He called women without children “miserable cat ladies” and villified working moms as bad parents who want to “shunt their kids into crap day care so they can enjoy more ‘freedom.’” For him, universal child care amounts to “class war against normal people.”

Wow.

[Gavin] Newsom Issues Executive Order

for Removal of Homeless Encampments

in California

*********************

A comment in the NYT, from a Californian.

I have tried to speak to many [homeless] where I live and believe they break down into 3 or 4 categories. The largest proportion (maybe 2/3rds) are mentally ill, many severely so. Many will not move into housing of their own volition even if offered. They enjoy living on the beach. Second group are down on their luck, or addicted to drugs and alcohol. Some live in cars, others wander the streets and many act erratically getting in everyday people’s faces, and sometimes with violence. In my opinion there needs to be large government owned property with the resources to house and take care of folks that will not get better, provide drug and alcohol treatment, and give training for jobs etc.

Dog and garden, with spots of red.
Excerpts from Trump’s first speech yesterday attacking Kamala Harris.

You can sit around with the gin running out of your mouth; you can humiliate me; you can tear me to pieces all night, that’s perfectly okay, that’s all right. You make me sick. Be careful Kamala. I’ll rip you to pieces. Total war. .. Kamala is 108… years old. She weighs somewhat more than that… There are limits. I mean, a man can put up with only so much without he descends a rung or two on the old evolutionary ladder, which is up your line. Now, I will hold your hand when it’s dark and you’re afraid of the boogeyman and I will tote your gin bottles out after midnight so no one can see but I will not light your cigarette. And that, as they say, is that… You’re a monster – You are. You’re a spoiled, self-indulgent, willful, dirty-minded, liquor-ridden… In my mind you’re buried in cement right up to the neck. No, up to the nose, it’s much quieter. And please keep your clothes on, too. There aren’t many more sickening sights in this world than you with a few drinks in you and your skirt up over your head. Or “your heads,” should say. You can go around like a hopped-up Arab, slashing at everything in sight, scarring up half the world if you want to. But let somebody else try it? No. YOU SATANIC BITCH.’

*****************

[thanks, albee]

‘[F]ederal agents flying in and out of Pittsburgh noticed the size and scope of the mansion and started asking questions.’

As UD pointed out here, more than a few megamansion owners are crooks. And sometimes the megamansion itself can be their undoing.

Scathing Online Schoolmarm scathes through the desperate auctioning of a house.

Harcourts Westside, under the visionary leadership of Ty Cueva, announces the auction of the unparalleled Somma Estate at 10697 Somma Way.

The house has gone unsold for over eight years, during which the asking price has plummeted from 100 million to 75 mill to 30 mill to ok how bout please rent it for 200 thou a month. Cueva auctioned it last March, and the current listing only says pending. The dude is some kinda visionary.

In an unprecedented move in the luxury real estate market, Ty Cueva, CEO of Westside Property Group and the driving force behind Harcourts Westside, has listed The Somma Estate for auction. 

Unprecedented used as a synonym for humiliating. Interesting.

The Somma Estate stands apart in its fusion of opulent amenities and homely elegance. 

The writer’s zeal to convince you that a 40,000 sq ft construction feels warm and homey leads her down a perilous path to homely, which means ugly.

[The house has] an extraordinary 21 bathrooms.

For the discerning billionaire with chronic explosive diarrhea. Extraordinary.

It’s a self-contained utopia offering a 25-meter indoor pool, steam room, sauna, fitness studio, and even a full-size indoor basketball court, all enveloped in the warmth of a family home.

LOLOLOLOL

 The Somma Estate is introduced to auction with a starting bid of $30,000,000, a pivot from its previously higher price points. This decision underscores Harcourts Auctions’ commitment to fostering competitive bidding while making the property accessible to a broader range of affluent buyers.

We’ll take anything! What can you pay?

Les UDs Get a New Roof

Way loud all day long.

Excellent prep for World War III.

‘[Those camping on city streets] will have time before facing arrest. During their first encounter with officers, they will be educated about the ordinance and offered services, food, shelter, and transportation. If they disregard the notice, the next step would be a formal trespass report, with enforcement on the third encounter.’

This is how it will go in Lakewood, Washington. UD will follow the story there.

‘Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Hoffman called Hedrick “a total disgrace to the medical profession” during the sentencing.’

“Hedrick is a convicted felon and a complete, utter, and total disgrace to the medical profession. I call upon Indiana’s medical licensing board to immediately revoke his license to practice medicine,” said Hoffman.“

Harsh words. But at least he takes a nice preppy mug shot.

Soon to be an everyday occurrence

LA Police Officers Shot During Traffic Stop With AR-15

Every July, the heart-stopping hibiscus.
‘”I finally agree with Donald: It would be a huge mistake to elect the oldest candidate in American history,” [Mary Trump] wrote, adding the hashtag “#KamalaHarris2024.”‘

With 81-year-old Biden stepping away, Donald Trump, at 78 years old, is now the oldest remaining presidential candidate.

‘In Pitkin County—home to Aspen—officials slashed the maximum new home from 15,000 to 9,250 square feet last November, noting that a big house raises “greenhouse gas emissions and increases environmental havoc.” Now, they are eyeing a further cut to 8,750 square feet.’

‘Builder Phil Kouffman warned more building restrictions could make living in East Hampton [NY] “impossible,”‘ and you can certainly see what he means when you consider this typical 9,000 square feet house.

You show me the family of midgets small enough to squeeze into this space. Impossible!

Big Daddy and the Long Hot Summer in Clay Alabam.

The city manager of lil ol Clay tells its library board what books it can and can’t buy, although the board is spozed to be a governing sort of thing. ‘[Even] small items like rugs must be approved by [the city manager] before being purchased for the library, “like we’re going to our daddy,'” says the board chair.

Now the city manager has decided that along with lezzies and the like, the library has to keep out …

CHRISTIANS!

UD anticipated this problem long ago, when some communities decided books bout jest bout anything should be censored. It don’t take a genius to know that once you open the I’M OFFENDED door you’re on your way to empty shelves.

But ain’t this point of the offense-taking ? Why the hell should our ignorant town have a library at all? “Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone,” says Lady Bracknell.

It’s getting harder to prostitute your mcmansion.

Basically it’s an empty whorehouse; might as well make money off whores.

But the coppers are on to you, bro!

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Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
New York Times

George Washington University English professor Margaret Soltan writes a blog called University Diaries, in which she decries the Twilight Zone-ish state our holy land’s institutes of higher ed find themselves in these days.
The Electron Pencil

It’s [UD's] intellectual honesty that makes her blog required reading.
Professor Mondo

There's always something delightful and thought intriguing to be found at Margaret Soltan's no-holds-barred, firebrand tinged blog about university life.
AcademicPub

You can get your RDA of academic liars, cheats, and greedy frauds at University Diaries. All disciplines, plus athletics.
truffula, commenting at Historiann

Margaret Soltan at University Diaries blogs superbly and tirelessly about [university sports] corruption.
Dagblog

University Diaries. Hosted by Margaret Soltan, professor of English at George Washington University. Boy is she pissed — mostly about athletics and funding, the usual scandals — but also about distance learning and diploma mills. She likes poems too. And she sings.
Dissent: The Blog

[UD belittles] Mrs. Palin's degree in communications from the University of Idaho...
The Wall Street Journal

Professor Margaret Soltan, blogging at University Diaries... provide[s] an important voice that challenges the status quo.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, Inside Higher Education

[University Diaries offers] the kind of attention to detail in the use of language that makes reading worthwhile.
Sean Dorrance Kelly, Harvard University

Margaret Soltan's ire is a national treasure.
Roland Greene, Stanford University

The irrepressibly to-the-point Margaret Soltan...
Carlat Psychiatry Blog

Margaret Soltan, whose blog lords it over the rest of ours like a benevolent tyrant...
Perplexed with Narrow Passages

Margaret Soltan is no fan of college sports and her diatribes on the subject can be condescending and annoying. But she makes a good point here...
Outside the Beltway

From Margaret Soltan's excellent coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal comes this tip...
Money Law

University Diaries offers a long-running, focused, and extremely effective critique of the university as we know it.
Anthony Grafton, American Historical Association

The inimitable Margaret Soltan is, as usual, worth reading. ...
Medical Humanities Blog

I awake this morning to find that the excellent Margaret Soltan has linked here and thereby singlehandedly given [this blog] its heaviest traffic...
Ducks and Drakes

As Margaret Soltan, one of the best academic bloggers, points out, pressure is mounting ...
The Bitch Girls

Many of us bloggers worry that we don’t post enough to keep people’s interest: Margaret Soltan posts every day, and I more or less thought she was the gold standard.
Tenured Radical

University Diaries by Margaret Soltan is one of the best windows onto US university life that I know.
Mary Beard, A Don's Life

[University Diaries offers] a broad sense of what's going on in education today, framed by a passionate and knowledgeable reporter.
More magazine, Canada

If deity were an elected office, I would quit my job to get her on the ballot.
Notes of a Neophyte