Althouse: At the Lilac Café...

April 30, 2015

At the Lilac Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

52 comments:

David said...: Ah they are out and once again I will miss them. Maybe next year.; 4/30/15, 1:16 PM
MadisonMan said...: That's an early bloomer. Mine are still very small. They might make it by Mother's Day, which is the usual time for them to be out.; 4/30/15, 1:18 PM
traditionalguy said...: Flower Power!; 4/30/15, 1:25 PM
Fernandinande said...: Indian Paintbrush are starting to fade here in the desert (we had them at 10,000 feet is CO, too - versatile plant!), and the cactus blooms are just starting up.; 4/30/15, 1:46 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: What do lilacs have to do with gay wedding cakes?; 4/30/15, 1:54 PM
traditionalguy said...: The mayor's Rules on Engagement in Baltimore in the Police War on poor black men were to surrender ground at first opportunity.

Then the new GOP Governor arrived and governed stopping all looting (a/k/a rioting.)

But the stories being planted in the media to protect the police from accountability are worthy of a Clinton operation.

I seriously wonder whether the NYC veteran attorney that is now Atty General will decide to deal with the racial divisions in realityland rather than fantasyland.,; 4/30/15, 1:59 PM
Hagar said...: Russsia and China are conducting joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea.; 4/30/15, 2:14 PM
Big Mike said...: @traditionalguy, was it the National Guard or was it Toya Graham slapping her son silly and other young black men fearing their mothers would do likewise?

Either way, it worked.; 4/30/15, 2:56 PM
Birches said...: NFL Draft tonight. It's also my daughter's birthday. Tried to talk her into having her birthday dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings to no avail...; 4/30/15, 3:08 PM
Rusty said...: .2% gdp growth last quarter. The economy is smokin'!

Chi Bears get a #7 draft pick. Won't do any good.; 4/30/15, 3:23 PM
Rusty said...: was it the National Guard or was it Toya Graham slapping her son silly and other young black men fearing their mothers would do likewise?

She scares the shit out me.; 4/30/15, 3:24 PM
Unknown said...: CNN interview, speaking about root causes of tension between law enforcement and the communities they serve, B .H. Obama says: “If you send police officers into those situations where the drug trade is the primary economy and you say to them basically your job is to contain that and arrest kids and put them in jail when those police officers know (it’s not going to fix things), then it’s not surprising you end up with a situation of enormous tension between those communities and those police officers.”

I am alarmed that the pres of the u s thinks illegal drugs is the primary trade for black neighborhoods. Sure, there are some where drug trafficking is rampant, but the PRIMARY source, and ALL?; 4/30/15, 3:38 PM
Tank said...: @Rusty

Smokin what?; 4/30/15, 4:22 PM
Bob Ellison said...: My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on 4/28/15. She loves purple, so I gave her a tourmaline ring.; 4/30/15, 5:21 PM
Bob Ellison said...: My wife is more beautiful than that rock will ever be.; 4/30/15, 5:39 PM
harrogate said...: Congratulations, Bob!!!!!; 4/30/15, 5:51 PM
Rusty said...: Tank said...
@Rusty

Smokin what?

Ask ARM. He assures me that the economy is the best its been since, well, forever.; 4/30/15, 5:58 PM
Bob R said...: Time to read Night Watch, my favorite Terry Pratchet novel. Lilacs are a battle insignia. (It might not be a good first novel to read if you are not a fan of the series.); 4/30/15, 6:04 PM
1775OGG said...: Whoa, my allergies are raging now! Time to go back inside and turn on the A/C!; 4/30/15, 6:22 PM
Michael K said...: "Toya Graham slapping her son silly "

HuffPo is outraged that white people like her action.; 4/30/15, 6:47 PM
RecChief said...: Why the Althousian blackout on the Clintons? I'm puzzled.

this from another blog:

"I do note this move the Clintons always make. See if you've seen this before.

Step One: The Clintons claim they didn't break the law because their departure from regular order was justified by a technicality.

Step Two: You look into this alleged technicality that the Clintons claim saves them from being felons, and you find that it doesn't apply -- they're misinterpreting it (almost certainly deliberately).

Step Three: You tell them: Your lawbreaking is not excused by this claimed technicality, because you are deliberately misinterpreting the law to claim this technicality.

Step Four: Now they bat innocent eyes at you and ask: "Why are you focusing on mere technicalities when there are such important issues to be dealt with?!"

Then they turn to their partisan supporters in the public, jab their thumbs in your direction, and say "Ha, ha, look at these silly people who spend all day talking about technicalities in the law."; 4/30/15, 6:52 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Thanks, harrogate. I still wonder how I got her.; 4/30/15, 7:05 PM
madAsHell said...: I'm watching the deer-in-the-headlights-look from the mayor of Baltimore.

I can see a lot of tells in her speech, and eye movements. I can't read the individual tells, but the overall tell?

She's in over her head.

"I went to Oberlin. This shouldn't be happening to me."; 4/30/15, 7:52 PM
Michael K said...: At least that Mayor has a Republican governor, who was probably the one who called out the NG.

Nagin had only Blanco.

The Ferguson people had only Nixon (D).; 4/30/15, 7:56 PM
madAsHell said...: The report from the Freddie Gray investigation says that he committed suicide by banging his head against the police van.

I'm sure that will placate the angry mobs.; 4/30/15, 7:59 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The timing of the Baltimore riots has been favorable to the Clintons.

I think this is what Rush was alluding to the other day when noted how the video of a black man shot in the back, in one of the Carolinas, did not raise the ire of the black community to protest.

The victim in Baltimore was no where near as convincingly a victim of police excess as the one at one of the Carolinas.

So, the question I would ask is, has there been any contact between the Clinton campaign and the Baltimore mayors office.; 4/30/15, 8:43 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Did you notice the Clinton statement about black incarceration?

Timing.; 4/30/15, 8:47 PM
Hagar said...: Nothing like that has been said.

From what little has been said so far, I think the City of Baltimore is on the hook for a large negligence suit for providing police vans in which the driver cannot see the individual(s) being transported, or hear them speak, and most importantly in conjunction with the above, having projecting bolts, etc. on which the transportee(s) can be injured.

I think the police officers, including the driver, may well be found guilty of negligence for not strapping Mr. Gray into a seatbelt so that he could not bounce around inside the van. They say they did not strap him in because he was belligerent and they were afraid he was going to bite them.
I don't think that is going to be accepted in court.
And again, the City of Baltimore for not providing properly designed prisoner transportation vehicles so that prisoners can be restrained without exposing the officers to attack.; 4/30/15, 8:55 PM
Hagar said...: What is said now - a little more cautiously - is that Gray was trying to get the driver's attention with his banging. Or may have been.
Then standing up, he may have lost is footing and fallen backwards against the bolt when the driver accelerated.; 4/30/15, 8:58 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: About Freddy Gray hurting himself while in custody.

Speaking from personal experience in NJ the police took my shoe laces and belt before I went in an awaiting cell while the paper work and person that was picking me up showed up.

The logical conclusion I drew from that is that somebody tried to hurt themselves while in custody.

So, I don't understand why there seems to be a hesitation believing Freddy Gray tried to hurt himself.

Unless the skepticism falls back on the premise that blacks don't do that kind of thing.; 4/30/15, 8:58 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Police could put a camera in the vans. hindsight 20/10; 4/30/15, 9:01 PM
Patrick said...: Nice going Bob. 25 years is quote a milestone.; 4/30/15, 9:01 PM
Hagar said...: And I think the lawyers are making the same mistake as have been made in all the other cases in witholding the recorded evidence for their precious trial.

The politicians should overrule them, but with the politicians also being lawyers, that probably won't happen.; 4/30/15, 9:02 PM
Hagar said...: It is weak tea in comparison, but AGW and environmentalism in general do have things in common with China's Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
Fortunately, our left do not yet have a megalomaniac on the scale of Mao Zedong, but we do have the cadres and the ready attitudes.; 4/30/15, 9:13 PM
Hagar said...: Megyn Kelly had a "debate" with Fred Gray's lawyer this evening, and I am disappointed in her. She kept badgering him if he would accept the verdict of not guilty, implying that she was talking about verbal statements and testimony, and the guy kept saying he wanted to see the evidence, implying he was talking about the physical evidence and recorded facts. They were just talking past each other.

This guy is no Benjamin Crump, but appears to be on the level. I have noticed before with Ms. Megyn - and, good heavens! yes! with run of the mill reporters - that they keep talking about "the testimony" even when that same testimony is in open conflict with the physical facts recorded and, in these days of Google and the internet, available for all to see and check.
I get an impression that lawyers generally are not good with numbers and physical evidence.; 4/30/15, 9:32 PM
Howard said...: Hagar: US economic growth went stratospheric after Rachael Carson published Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement.

China's embrace of capitalism and unprecedented economic growth followed the GLF and the Cultural Revolution. China's next great economic and social leap forward will follow their currently burgeoning environmental enlightenment.

AGW is helping us get off the Saudi teet. I know that's a disappointment because it reduces our penchant for war in that region you idiots insist is Holy Land.; 4/30/15, 9:36 PM
Howard said...: Bob: I might hate your opinions, but don't take it personal. Making it work for 25-years is a great accomplishment and it's not all luck. I wish you and your better half all the best. Cheers to the next 25-years.; 4/30/15, 10:19 PM
chickelit said...: Howard asserted: US economic growth went stratospheric after Rachael Carson published Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement.

Sorry, no correlation between those events.; 4/30/15, 10:50 PM
Alex said...: Luckily lilacs are great for deodorizing after pinching a loaf.

Tits.; 4/30/15, 10:54 PM
Gahrie said...: Even though I am a deist, I sometimes wish there was a Hell, so I could enjoy the thought of Rachel Carson, Dr. Spock and Margaret Sanger all spending eternity there.; 4/30/15, 11:52 PM
lemondog said...: Howz that Iranian thingy goin'?

US Navy to accompany US-flagged ships in Persian Gulf after Iran seizes vessel; 5/1/15, 6:46 AM
Fabi said...: @ Howard - The economic growth of the sixties had absolutely nothing to do with 'Silent Spring' or the environmental movement. It's beyond ludicrous to make such a claim. If you truly believe that absurdity, precisely explain - with examples - the economic mechanism behind it.

The reality is that the growth for that period was driven mainly by a technological breakthrough: the transistor.; 5/1/15, 7:01 AM
Hagar said...: I do not quite follow this thing about the Maersk Tigris. The maps posted about the incident show that the ship veered off course and into Iranian waters. The Iranians apparently have a bone to pick with the owners of the cargo onboard, and if the ship wandered into their waters, they are entitled to make an incident out of it.

In other news, two Iranian destroyers have made it to station off the Horn of Africa, which I thought is what the Roosevelt was taken out of the Arabian Gulf and sent to prevent.; 5/1/15, 7:24 AM
Hagar said...: I do not understand much of anything about this administrations doings abroad, and the strange reporting is not helping any.; 5/1/15, 7:31 AM
lemondog said...: The maps posted about the incident show that the ship veered off course and into Iranian waters.

This says it is a recognized international shipping lane and its got the Pentagon hopping...:

Pentagon is claiming ‘harassment’ after Iranian Navy seizes Maersk containership

The 2014-built vessel was transiting the narrow Strait of Hormuz which, although within Iranian territorial waters, is a recognised international shipping lane on the basis of ‘innocent passage’ and is a vital trade route; 5/1/15, 8:27 AM
Hagar said...: The borderline between Iran and the other Gulf nations is well established.
Stay out of the Iranian side, and they can't touch you.

I think the "Law of the Seas" (just customary practice between West-European nations, really) calls for a narrow corridor along the boundary line to be free for passage of non-combatant ships. But the Maersk Tigris veered out of that lane and into clearly Iranian waters by what appears to be navigational error and sloppy seamanship.; 5/1/15, 9:31 AM
Hagar said...: Maersk started as a Danish shipping firm, but is now a multi-national industrial mega-corporation primarily in the international shipping business.
The Maersk Tigris belongs to Maersk and is registered to the Marshall Islands, which is more or less U.S. territory, but this is meaningless. International shipping firms register their ships wherever covenient. That is how Panama and Liberia got to be great sea-faring nations.

The Maersk Tigris belongs to Maersk, but is leased to another corporation, which has hired yet another corporation to actually operate it, so this is quite murky, but not unheard of in this business.

The Iranian interest is said to be in the cargo, rather than the ship.; 5/1/15, 9:43 AM
Hagar said...: that is the cargo and the owner of the cargo, which have not been identified that I have seen so far.; 5/1/15, 9:45 AM
Hagar said...: The war-like tone in the MSM is a little odd, considering everything else at this point, so I suspect some more theater and smoke and mirrors by this administration.; 5/1/15, 9:47 AM
MaxedOutMama said...: What a lovely photo!! Thank you.; 5/1/15, 11:57 AM
Bob Ellison said...: I hope everyone can have the joy in marriage that I have had. I am lucky. May you have such luck.; 5/1/15, 8:17 PM
madAsHell said...: Riley "B.B." King is in hospice.

The thrill is going.; 5/1/15, 8:41 PM