January 19, 2013

Speaking of Presidents and nightmares...

I had a dream last night that I woke up, looked at my iPhone, and saw a terrible headline in Drudge. I tried really hard to yell it out to Meade, who was asleep. It was impossible to yell, which should have tipped me off that it was a dream, but it was so realistic — the dream of waking up in bed and doing something that you tend to do while still in bed — that later, when I really did wake up, I grabbed my iPhone, went right to Drudge, and I was so relieved to see the same headline that was there when I went to bed Friday night.

It's a particularly cheerful headline — "Stocks Hit 5 Year High" — with a picture of wine glasses splashily clinking, angled together in a position that parallels Oprah's hands in a picture just above and to the left. Oprah looks alarmed/outraged, but only because "He even lied — to Oprah?!" And how reassuring that is. The outrage of the day is Lance Armstrong, doping and lying, the same old thing, and it's something that only vaguely affects us. Thank God.

What was the headline I saw in my dream? I won't tell you. It's not that I'm superstitious, but ideas affect minds, and it's an image I won't put out there.

62 comments:

Dust Bunny Queen said...

ALL HOSTAGES DEAD IN ALGERIA

Crickets from the media.

Instead some football player's imaginary dead girl fried. Lance Armstrong's drug use. Targeting of American citizens as terrorists because they are conservatives or are legal gun owners.

We are well and truly fucked.

pm317 said...

No, the current headline on Drudge will make you scream.. your dream was prescient.

Chef Mojo said...

Well, the new headline is:

REPORT: ALL HOSTAGES DEAD IN ALGERIA

Winning!

pm317 said...

Drudge should have included a picture of Obama there. Why didn't he?

mc said...

"Obama issues Executive order--BANNING VANILLA!!!"

Too horrible to relate, and it could happen.

Ann Althouse said...

The imaginary girlfriend story is truly stupid.

I passed on blogging about it when I first saw it, yet people are still talking about it.

I'd never heard of the college football player (having lost interest in college football once the Badgers were looking like they were obviously going to lose the Rose Bowl).

A guy I'd never heard of is either devious or dumb. What difference does it make?

It's just playing at following the news.

It either means that there is no news -- in which case, get on with your own life -- or there's news that we're avoiding -- and that's news.

edutcher said...

Well, since we're living the nightmare they warned us about when we were kids (America will never be destroyed from without...), I can only guess the headline had something to do with President for Life and God On Earth.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

ALL HOSTAGES DEAD IN ALGERIA

Leading from his behind again.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I really wish you'd at least give us a hint of what scares you so much that It Must Not Be Named.

Ann Althouse said...

The headline about the hostages is sad, but it wouldn't make you yell and awaken your sleeping partner in the middle of the night.

It was something one expected. There was already a hostage crisis. And you wouldn't even yell and wake your partner if there was a new hostage crisis.

What are the news stories that you would wake people up to tell? I woke up my sons to tell them when Saddam Hussein was caught, and they did not think it was wake-me-up level material.

Ann Althouse said...

"I really wish you'd at least give us a hint of what scares you so much that It Must Not Be Named."

It's not that I'm "scared" to "name" it. It's that I don't want to be responsible for -- or to have to feel responsible for -- any ideation that takes place in the minds of others.

edutcher said...

Saddam, no, but if (Godwin Alert) or Eva had been found alive...

PS Algeria would have been a job for JSOC had we a real POTUS.

Ann Althouse said...

Also, a standard thing to say about dreams is: "A dream is a wish your heart makes."

I don't want the headline to be interpreted as a wish of mine.

David said...

Lincolnesque.

Anonymous said...

Earlier in the week I successfully discovered the secret spanking penumbra that emanated from several of Ann's posts; as such, she has gone purposefully cryptic:

"What was the headline I saw in my dream? I won't tell you."

"At the Winter Light Café..... I can't tell you what we did."

Now beards, mustaches and a naked Bob Dylan have been introduced into the mix. I am developing a theory...

edutcher said...

Now you do have us wondering...

PS That pic of Hillary on Drudge, if we're speaking of Presidents and nightmares, doesn't look like she's been through a wringer.

where's the hole in her head?

David said...

The hostage report is terrible news, but just what would those criticizing Obama for not intervening have had him do? Suppose we send troops or jets every time American hostages are taken? Even assuming this were possible, what effect do you suppose it would have on the terrorists? My conclusion is that it would stimulate them to do more.

Unfortunately we can not protect every American everywhere in the world. Hunting down the perpetrators, which I favor, does not protect them.

Obama's broad policy of Muslim outreach has failed. But that does not make this massacre his fault. These people are terrorists. They do this nearly every day. It's just not every day that Americans are the direct victims.



Anonymous said...

How do you know you're not still dreaming?

MayBee said...

Obviously, the Badgers didn't play Naore Dame this year or you would have heard of Manti Te'o and his dead girlfriend.

Chip Ahoy said...

I know exactly what it is for when I read that I too had a very brief out of body experience where I visualized a headline so alarming she'd yell it yell it to Meade YELL IT TO MEADE YELL IT TO MEADE in wake up within the dream-dream, my inner voice that directs my higher actions snapped quite firmly, "don't put that out there." )))ding(((

and my lower self goes meekly, okay, jeez fine already I won't.

That there's what you call a psychic match. And I trust these psychic matches with 100% of trust, and they turn out to have about a 20% accuracy. Okay fine, 15% accuracy.

Anonymous said...

I think we're living a nightmare now. Our president and his administration seems to ignore many laws in the hope that if they do it enough it will invalidate them. They want to divide and separate many elements of society and turn them against each other. He is actively supporting the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is transforming his election operation into a tax-free organization that has enormous fundraising potential (think 50 million people @ $100/year). Certain parts of the electorate is looking at him as god.

Mogget said...

"Unfortunately we can not protect every American everywhere in the world."

This is true. However, it is possible that a sufficiently robust response to this sort of this thing the first time it happens can act as a deterrent in cases where rational state actors must decide whether or not to harbor or ignore the sort of folks who do this kind of thing.

And if there is anything Obama has failed at, it's convincing people that he, and by extension, the US, is serious about much of anything.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It's not that I'm "scared" to "name" it. It's that I don't want to be responsible for -- or to have to feel responsible for -- any ideation that takes place in the minds of others.

You would think a trillion dollar coin would not have done that... but now a prank… like calling pretending to be the queen of England can lead to somebody committing suicide?

I don’t blame you... but still, could you tell us w/o telling us somehow?

Bob Boyd said...

Althouse Amazon Portal Down
Regular reader buys $15,000 worth of Depends

Carol said...

I think I knew. We grew up with it and know it's a possibility. We don't need any of that shit to happen. It would be expected from the far right but would come from the far left, as usual.

Carol said...

I think I *know* that is.

jacksonjay said...

Please tell us! We so want to know! Please??

jacksonjay said...

Please tell us! We so want to know! Please??

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Use the Fitzgerald project... nobody will find out.

kidding.

Actually, the rules of the project make it nearly impossible to be used that way.. unless by some mystical chance we donr believe is possible.

pm317 said...

A guy I'd never heard of is either devious or dumb. What difference does it make?


US president..

Anonymous said...

Re: "And I trust these psychic matches with 100% of trust, and they turn out to have about a 20% accuracy. Okay fine, 15% accuracy."

Since many of my psychic matches have possibly coalesced with the assistance of alcohol I measure them in psychic proofs: for instance, the connection of a naked Bob Dylan + Lincoln's underwear = Levon Helm on the Night They Drove Miss Daisy Down is 180 proof.

pm317 said...

Please tell us!

I thought she already did.. with the headline.

Palladian said...

Don't dream it... be it.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

What was the headline I saw in my dream? I won't tell you. It's not that I'm superstitious, but ideas affect minds, and it's an image I won't put out there.

New Executive Order Requires all Men to Wear Shorts.

Women and children hardest hit

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I thought she already did.. with the headline.

Presidents and nightmares...

Lincoln theater... Castro CIA black ops... Clinton vagina...

I got nothing.

Oso Negro said...

Hmmm...

What are the big boogie fears that would make one cry out in the night?

1) Obama assassinated
2) Obama declares himself President for Life
3) A United States city is nuked
4) Alien life form is discovered...and it is coming to get us
5) Big asteroid to end life as we know it
6) Caldera under Yellowstone fixing to blow
7) Yahweh manifests himself...in one of his Old Testament moods

Anonymous said...

Regarding Lance Armstrong: c'mon, people. He was the first person to walk on the moon and he did it with only one testicle -- let him ride his bike.

kentuckyliz said...

POTUS assassinated.

I woke up my sons to tell them when Saddam Hussein was caught, and they did not think it was wake-me-up level material.

No shit, sherlock. You woke up your songs for this? Wow. You do take the news and/or your blogress duties a little too seriously.

Bob Boyd, you made me laugh out loud for a good 30 seconds. A good deep belly laugh. Medicinal.

kentuckyliz said...

I bet if the POTUS were assassinated, it would be by one of these:
1. a supporter of Hillary! who still nurses a grudge over the 2008 primaries
2. an Occupy/Anonymous type that is hard leftie that can't stand the fact that Obama isn't using his second term power more to their liking

KLDAVIS said...

Presidents and nightmares...really, there's only one thing it could have been.

This (also via Drudge) is chilling...looks straight out of Hollywood.

virgil xenophon said...

Ann shouldn't start worrying until she starts seeing the shadow people out of the corner of her eyes while in limbo between dream-state and awake, lol

Wince said...

Ann Althouse said...
The imaginary girlfriend story is truly stupid. I passed on blogging about it when I first saw it, yet people are still talking about it. I'd never heard of the college football player... A guy I'd never heard of is either devious or dumb. What difference does it make? It's just playing at following the news.

My interest was piqued only when Drudge linked to Rush, who pointed to the Obama-Hawaii link that was my initial reaction to the story. I'm surprised Althouse didn't pick-up on that parallel, which Rush in the same piece also linked to the coverage in Algeria.

What Hostages in Algeria? Manti Te'o Had a Composite Girlfriend!

Maybe it's a Hawaiian thing to make up girlfriends. Obama did it. He had this composite girlfriend in one of his books.

Quaestor said...

Several months ago I had a similar experience. I dreamt about a shopping mall being destroyed in a massive conflagration. As bad as that was the implication was the fire was only part of a larger disaster, perhaps an earthquake or a volcano. From my point of view I could see people in cars trying to flee the area. I could also see some of the registration tags; they were Kentucky plates, and below the number was the town name: Mintonville.

I awoke with a start and a clear memory of that lucid dreamscape. Mintonville? I'd never heard of such a place, not in Kentucky especially. I e-mailed my girlfriend, who was brought up near Lexington, about my dream. Instead of breakfast I used my early morning to research Mintonville.

Eventually I learned that there is a Mintonville, but it's only a collection of houses and outbuildings -- no shopping mall. Mintonville is as tiny and obscure a place as can be imagined. It's not en route to anyplace; it's not a destination for anybody except the few that live there. Nor is it a likely scene for a seismic disaster -- Kentucky hasn't had active volcanism for millions of years.

Even now I'm still troubled by Mintonville, not that I credit the notion of prophetic dreams. What perplexes me is how Mintonville, Kentucky entered my subconscious to become the setting of a dream.

Wince said...

Althouse's horrified reaction wasn't so much to the dreamstate Drudge headline itself, but the prospect of Bill O'Reilly having the subject matter for a third bestselling history book to hock.

Oh, and President Biden?

Oso Negro said...

If it is the Obama assassination, the country could look forward to a period of comedic delight (President Biden) to follow the requisite period of sorrow and mourning.

Anonymous said...

I know what it is because I had the same dream (cue the creepy music).

Kchiker said...

This thread is creepy.

edutcher said...

David said...

The hostage report is terrible news, but just what would those criticizing Obama for not intervening have had him do? Suppose we send troops or jets every time American hostages are taken? Even assuming this were possible, what effect do you suppose it would have on the terrorists? My conclusion is that it would stimulate them to do more.

Unfortunately we can not protect every American everywhere in the world. Hunting down the perpetrators, which I favor, does not protect them.


Actually it does. when the SAS went after the Libyans who murdered that lady cop in London, a very strong message was sent.

Same when Reagan went after Khadaffy.

Thing is, this is the second time in 6 months Americans have died because Commandante Zero was leading from his behind again. You don't have to do it in a way where we get the publicity, but you can do it. and nobody is really going to believe the Algies could get those people out.

You want hostages rescued, you send the Yanks or the Limeys (includes the Commonwealth, of course).

Letting things like this happen sets a bad precedent.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The hostage report is terrible news, but just what would those criticizing Obama for not intervening have had him do? Suppose we send troops or jets every time American hostages are taken?

Suppose we have a President who actually pays attention to this shit happening or acknowledges it in someway instead of focusing on trying to take away our rights to protect ourselves.

Suppose we have a media who asks questions and publishes this information so that the public, and not just us political junkies have an inkling of what is going on.

Suppose we have a media that is not trying to hide these things, Algeria..Bengazi, like a cat in a litter box cover up its own poop.

Just suppose..... that we had a State Department that protected its employees and was actually looking out for the best interests of the United States of America, instead of being a body block for this discrace of a President.

Suppose instead of using our military as meat shields to advance the personal political ambitions of the President and his suck up leg humping chihuahuas of the liberal party, we actually let them WIN wars, progress as a professionally run military without being handcuffed by stupid rules that guarantee death and loss.

Imagine!!!!

Palladian said...

I dreamt a dream! What can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne’er beguiled!

And I wept both night and day,
And he wiped my tears away;
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart’s delight.

So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten thousand shields and spears.

Soon my Angel came again;
I was armed, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.

mtrobertsattorney said...

Ann, you left out of your disjunctive that possibility that Manti Te'o was just naive.

mtrobertsattorney said...

Ann, you left out of your disjunctive that possibility that Manti Te'o was just naive.

Darrell said...

Two possibilities--

Hillary says something other than "I don't recall" at the Benghazi hearings when she finally testifies.

Or, Boehner becomes President. Everyone above him in Succession is killed when a grenade comes off a Secret Service vest. Joe Biden picks it up, tells everyone he is an expert in guns and explosives, the proceeds to disarm it--by removing the pin which he call "the detonator." His last words are "These things can't go off if they don't have a detanator..."

Chip S. said...

The Manti Te'o story involves the possibility of fraud to influence voting on the Heisman Trophy. It also raises the possibility of extortion prior to the national college football championship game.

Neither of these may be true, or even likely to be true, but the idea that they're not worth media attention is nuttier than whatever dream Althouse had.

David said...

Mogget said...
"Unfortunately we can not protect every American everywhere in the world."

This is true. However, it is possible that a sufficiently robust response to this sort of this thing the first time it happens can act as a deterrent in cases where rational state actors must decide whether or not to harbor or ignore the sort of folks who do this kind of thing.


He's also criticized for the drone assassinations.

I'm no fan, and I think the Benghazi coverup still stinks. But the President can't prevent, or even avenge, everything.

Other than the generalization of "be tougher" how do we protect Americans working at a French-British-Algerian facility in a remote part of Northern Africa?

It sounds like more terrorists than hostages died. Was the Algerian response therefore the right one? What should Obama have done differently? Yeah you don't like him overall, but what about this particular case?

If we triple the drone killings would it not have happened? Intervene in Syria? Would not withdrawing from Iraq have made this not happen?

Muslims have been killing nonbelievers in greater or lesser quantities for over 1300 years. Tell me just how we bring a stop to this now. Be specific.

Is this a war? I think so. How do you fight a war without losses?

Ann Althouse said...

"I'm surprised Althouse didn't pick-up on that parallel, which Rush in the same piece also linked to the coverage in Algeria."

I did do a post linking to the Rush monologue that used it to critique the lack of coverage of Algeria.

Ann Althouse said...

"So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten thousand shields and spears."

The font needs kerning. I thought the mom blushed rosy red.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann, you left out of your disjunctive that possibility that Manti Te'o was just naive."

Nope. That's not disjunctive of dumb. That's a type of dumb.

Hagar said...

@David,

The Algerian incident is not "a particular case," but part of a mess that is stirring over all of Africa north of the equator.

AHL said...

Althouse said: "What are the news stories that you would wake people up to tell? I woke up my sons to tell them when Saddam Hussein was caught, and they did not think it was wake-me-up level material."

My dad woke all of us up with that news. He probably got us fancy donuts too.

Guildofcannonballs said...

You dreamed a dream that Obama appointed a cow for SCOTUS as a nod to the Hindi among us.

TMink said...

I hope nobody does shoot him.

Trey

Nichevo said...

Please explain in more detail your reasons for not wanting to share your dream that President Obama was assassinated. Or skip that, now that your secret is out, and tell us the details, who where how why.