Althouse: At the Sunlight Café...

November 15, 2015

At the Sunlight Café...

... find a bright, warm spot.

49 comments:

Chris N said...: 'Black Lab' is an inherently racist concept. Discuss.

-Alt Althouse; 11/15/15, 12:28 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: I could use a dog like that; my old yellow dog went off to the Great Kennel in the Sky about a year ago. They smell, they shed hair, and they bring a lot of joy with them.; 11/15/15, 12:31 PM
Scott said...: The American political establishment needs ISIS. Without them, citizens wouldn't have to cough up money to pay for "protection." Certainly Hillary Clinton can't prove that she's "tough" without verbally beating up some nebulous entity on foreign shores.

Get tough, lady. Just don't say it has anything at all to do with Islam.; 11/15/15, 12:49 PM
Etienne said...: "Whenever Mrs. Kissel breaks wind, we beat the dog."; 11/15/15, 2:01 PM
Humperdink said...: Ever wonder why Turkey is 98% Muslim today, the birthplace of the Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus)?

Why Spain has nearly 2 million Muslims?

Why Algeria was fully Christian in the 5th century, but is 98% Muslim today?

Simple concept actually. Convert or die.; 11/15/15, 2:31 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/15/15, 3:53 PM
Birkel said...: President Obama could not be bothered to arrive in time for a moment of silence for the victims of Paris.

Optics matter.; 11/15/15, 4:10 PM
ndspinelli said...: Obama sent Kerry and James Taylor to honor Charlie Hebdo. This time he is sending John Koskinen and Al Jankovic.; 11/15/15, 4:23 PM
Big Mike said...: Questions for Ann Althouse and Laurence Meade:

(1) Based on last night's "debate" do you still regard Hillary Clinton as being inevitable?

(2) Do you think that abortion at any time during the pregnancy, up to and including delivery, is a reasonable and rational position, or is it an extreme position?; 11/15/15, 4:45 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Mike,
I'm not A or M but Hillary is inevitable for reasons that have nothing to do with intelligence or competence and everything to do with the Free Stuff Vote and a truly formidable and advanced GOTV machine. I don't think Democrats can be kept out of the White House. The good news is that inevitability without merit breeds indifference. For all the clamor about Obama's decrees, I expect the presidency to get considerably less imperial in the years ahead.; 11/15/15, 5:10 PM
Fernandinande said...: That dog is a terrierist in a "sleeper-cell".; 11/15/15, 5:43 PM
David Begley said...: Did you hear Obaba just released five from Gitmo?

Just in time to rejoin the fight!; 11/15/15, 6:45 PM
Derp said...: I was watching Stuck on You, the Farrelly Brothers movie about the conjoined twins "We're not Siamese! We're American!" and Ben Carson appears playing himself as a surgeon who finally separates the twins. My wife says "That's a famous surgeon! He's at Johns Hopkins!" and I said "I know! That's Ben Carson, He's running for president!" and my wife says "Your shitting me."; 11/15/15, 7:21 PM
Big Mike said...: @Cracker, I'm glad you're not A or M in disguise! But I think that the Democrat GOTV can be matched and even beaten; it's up to Reince Priebus to get serious about harnessing the power of big data analytics.; 11/15/15, 7:27 PM
Sydney said...: Have you noticed how much harder it is now to find well-written news articles on the internet? After 9/11, I relied on the internet for most of my news. There was excellent reporting from The London Times, for example, as well as amateur blogs that reported from New York and around the world. Now, the good amateurs have been co-opted by the professional news organizations, and the professional news organizations aren't so great. They're more like poorly written blogs. I went the The London Times thinking I would get well-reported stories about Paris, but they have gone down hill in the past 14 years. I don't find the New York Times to be that great, either, nor CNN, Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. Maybe it's just me, but it worries me that we live in a world without a good source of event reporting.; 11/15/15, 7:29 PM
David said...: Have you noticed?

With all the reporting from Paris, there has been nothing involving news organizations going into the Muslim neighborhoods to see what the reaction is there. Nor are Western news organizations doing reporting from the "street" in places like Cairo, Damascus, Tehran or Baghdad. This may be a function of prudence by the news crews and their bosses. It certainly isn't because the stories would lack interest.

It's also interesting that American news media and American politicians are not pointing this out.; 11/15/15, 8:04 PM
Grant said...: Is that Zeus? I've missed Zeus photos and videos of late.; 11/15/15, 8:07 PM
Meade said...: @Big Mike, answering for myself only, of course:
1. Hillary is the inevitable Dem nominee; Lindsay Graham would make the best 45th POTUS.
2. I think aborting a pregnancy after about 20 weeks is extreme but not necessarily unreasonable, irrational, or immoral. Whose pregnancy are you talking about when you say "the pregnancy"? Your own?; 11/15/15, 8:25 PM
Birkel said...: Given Meade's support for the ridiculous campaign of Lindsay Graham, it is safe to tune out everything Meade says about political candidates.; 11/15/15, 8:41 PM
Birkel said...: When does immorality start, in your view, Meade? How many weeks would cause your immorality meter to register?

45?
40?
39?
35?; 11/15/15, 8:43 PM
campy said...: I think that the Democrat GOTV can be matched and even beaten;

It's not the GOTV you need to worry about, it's the FTV. (Fake The Vote); 11/15/15, 8:48 PM
Gahrie said...: I think aborting a pregnancy after about 20 weeks is extreme but not necessarily unreasonable, irrational, or immoral.

Is there any point you would find an abortion to be any of those?; 11/15/15, 8:52 PM
Meade said...: Yes, Gahrie.

Is there any point at which you would have found it to be reasonable, rational, or moral to investigate and prosecute my mother for murder after she had a miscarriage in 1951?; 11/15/15, 9:06 PM
Meade said...: Birkel, my own immorality meter would likely have registered well before 0 weeks. Before you even unbuttoned your pants.; 11/15/15, 9:22 PM
David said...: "Why Algeria was fully Christian in the 5th century, but is 98% Muslim today?"

Because there were no Muslims in the 5th Century?; 11/15/15, 9:50 PM
Big Mike said...: @Meade, I meant to write "a pregnancy," of course. My belly is big because my wife is a great cook and I don't work out enough anymore, not for any other reason.

Lindsay Graham might indeed make a fine POTUS, however that's not my conclusion based on what I have seen of him. At any rate the Republican field is narrowing down to Trump, Carson, Rubio, Cruz, and maybe Fiorina (go Carly!). None of the five are inevitable at this point, and we are still something like ten weeks away from the Iowa caucuses. Nor have the Iowa caucuses had a lot of predictability as far as the GOP is concerned.; 11/15/15, 9:55 PM
mccullough said...: What's happening to the Packers? I think Mike McCarthy's days are numbered.; 11/15/15, 10:10 PM
Gahrie said...: Is there any point at which you would have found it to be reasonable, rational, or moral to investigate and prosecute my mother for murder after she had a miscarriage in 1951?

Nope.

Not all deaths are homicides, and not all homicides are murders.; 11/15/15, 10:21 PM
Quaestor said...: Is that Zeus? I've missed Zeus photos and videos of late.

Zeus the Dog has always given me a chuckle. Firstly, the notion that pet-less Meadehouse (Safari wants to correct that to Madhouse. Never mind the hoo-hah about AI, my hack has achieved Artificial Irony.) has a canine house guess is diverting. A much more fulsome drollery is that such a lazy and amiable pooch is named for the king of the Olympian gods, noted y Hesiod for visiting mortals with horrendous punishments even for minor blasphemies.

It wasn't that many centuries ago that Zeus and his fellow Olympians were worshipped with as much conviction as the followers of Muhammad devote to their sky spook, and now we may appropriate their once sacred name for our pets. It seems to me we won't achieve a truly peaceful and just society until the day dawns when Allah the Goldfish won't be a casus belli.; 11/15/15, 10:23 PM
Theranter said...: Lindsey Graham, in the August debate, was clear and firm in stating that we must put troops on the ground in Syria. He said ISIL must be defeated. Not having followed him much before that debate, I liked his overall sincerity, and his genuine concern and awareness of the threats facing us. I was surprised how strongly many on the right vilified him.; 11/15/15, 10:53 PM
Fritz said...: Skeptical Voter said...
I could use a dog like that; my old yellow dog went off to the Great Kennel in the Sky about a year ago. They smell, they shed hair, and they bring a lot of joy with them.

After two dogless years, we finally got another Siberian, a 6 year old rescue. She's almost a dead ringer for the last one, and the kicker is that she had the same name.

I'd forgotten how active a middle aged husky is. . . Less blogging, more walking.; 11/15/15, 11:05 PM
Bob Ellison said...: On Facebook tonight, people are timid. They're quiet and introspective.

They do not want to say what is obvious: Islam is a horrible cult. Islam murders.

Can't say that. Difficult. Got kids and all.; 11/16/15, 12:35 AM
Derp said...: Is there any point at which you would have found it to be reasonable, rational, or moral to investigate and prosecute my mother for murder after she had a miscarriage in 1951?

This is *the only* reason I support the legalization of abortion. Does govt have the right to ask a woman to spend months of her life carrying a baby to term? I don't know, does govt have the right to ask a man to carry a rifle and often die, sometimes in horrible ways? Yep.

Is it a legitimate interest of the state to ensure that population is sustained or continues to grow? Certainly.

Is there a right of "privacy" that specially protects the relationship of a woman and her doctor but in no way impacts any of the laws and regulations foisted on us by Obamacare? Highly doubtful.

But no, I don't want to give a government that can't be trusted the power to investigate every missed period.; 11/16/15, 6:06 AM
Curious George said...: Meade said...

2. I think aborting a pregnancy after about 20 weeks is extreme but not necessarily unreasonable, irrational, or immoral.

If not unreasonable, irrational, or immoral, then why is it extreme?; 11/16/15, 6:48 AM
Humperdink said...: David said:" Because there were no Muslims in the 5th Century?"

Apparently my rhetorical question whizzed right by your cranium w/o making a pit stop.; 11/16/15, 6:54 AM
Humperdink said...: In other news, in the upset of the decade, Ronda Rousey gets KO'd.; 11/16/15, 6:58 AM
Derp said...: Basically liberals take everything they fear in Islam and project it onto Christianity, leaving a religion of brown people who are as harmless as Tibetans and only demanding rightful justice.

Crushing gay people with stones? Cultural authenticity! Refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple! Crime against humanity! See how it works. It's almost as if liberalism were a system of projection and transference whose ultimate intellectual value is the production of blessed frissons of feelings of superiority on the holder of liberal beliefs.... Naah!; 11/16/15, 7:18 AM
Derp said...: Liberalism is like Global Warming. There is not even any hypothetical evidence that could disprove either one in the mind of a believer.; 11/16/15, 7:20 AM
Birkel said...: So you are every bit as mean and nasty as I took you to be, Meade. Well played.; 11/16/15, 10:51 AM
Meade said...: Curious George said...
"If not unreasonable, irrational, or immoral, then why is it extreme?"

Because, at around 20 weeks of gestational development, the baby reaches a point where he could live without the mother. According to the CDC, about 2% of abortions occur after 20 weeks. Compared to 98%, 2% seems extremely low to me.

How about you, C George — at what point during gestational development would you find it to be reasonable, rational, and/or moral to investigate and prosecute for murder a woman who miscarries her pregnancy?; 11/16/15, 10:54 AM
Meade said...: @Birkel, I can imagine that you underestimate me in all sorts of ways.
But I forgive you.; 11/16/15, 11:00 AM
Meade said...: Theranter said...
"Lindsey Graham, in the August debate, was clear and firm in stating that we must put troops on the ground in Syria. He said ISIL must be defeated. Not having followed him much before that debate, I liked his overall sincerity, and his genuine concern and awareness of the threats facing us. I was surprised how strongly many on the right vilified him."

Here's why Graham is the best person for the job.; 11/16/15, 11:09 AM
Curious George said...: "Meade said...
Curious George said...
"If not unreasonable, irrational, or immoral, then why is it extreme?"

Because, at around 20 weeks of gestational development, the baby reaches a point where he could live without the mother. According to the CDC, about 2% of abortions occur after 20 weeks. Compared to 98%, 2% seems extremely low to me."

Doesn't answer my question. It's just a tap dance of unrelated facts.

"Meade said... How about you, C George — at what point during gestational development would you find it to be reasonable, rational, and/or moral to investigate and prosecute for murder a woman who miscarries her pregnancy?"

This is also moronic. The original question posed had nothing to do with investigating pregnancies. Or prosecuting for murder. My belief would be that all abortion be illegal. And doctors performing them should be prosecuted.; 11/16/15, 11:24 AM
Birkel said...: No, Meade, you have no reason to forgive me. You have no power over me and are in no position to offer me anything.

Further, I have taken your measure well enough. I knew you would not answer and that was the reason to pose the question.

Finally, I will note 2% of more than a million abortions a year is a non-trivial number. In what other areas would you be so cavalier in your moral judgments? Go ahead and avoid that question online and in your own head. I expect you already have.; 11/16/15, 1:37 PM
Meade said...: "I expect you already have," sneers Birkel, affecting attitudes of recklessness and nonchalance, with a slight hint of stylishness.; 11/16/15, 5:27 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Birkel talks like a villain in an Ed Wood movie.; 11/16/15, 7:40 PM
Birkel said...: Question Status: Avoided.; 11/16/15, 8:50 PM
Nichevo said...: Yes, cheap shit, Birk. Not unnoticed. Like either of this pair is the arbiter of speech patterns.; 11/17/15, 4:33 PM
Birkel said...: Something about the word "talks" when I have typed words bothered me for a whole day.

Precision of language is fun.; 11/17/15, 8:16 PM