April 14, 2017

At the Singletrack Café...



... you can take this anywhere you want. 

But consider going into Amazon through the Althouse path as a way to say you care to keep this blog rolling.

The photo is by Meade who loves the local trails. Though they may look bleak to you, they are open, and that's what matters. He texted me that picture. I was out walking out by the lake, as mentioned in my Lady of the Lake post.

Here's how the bleakness looked from my point of view:

P1130225

59 comments:

themightypuck said...

Thoughts on Monetization? http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/2017/04/you-will-no-longer-be-able-to-make.html

Michael K said...

Good Peggy Noonan column today about Steve Bannon.

The West is currently facing a “crisis of capitalism,” he said. The world was able to recover after the world wars in part thanks to “an enlightened form of capitalism” that generated “tremendous wealth” broadly distributed among all classes. This capitalism was shaped by “the underlying spiritual and moral foundations . . . of Judeo-Christian belief.” Successful capitalists were often either “active participants in the Jewish faith” or “active participants in the Christian faith.” They operated on a kind of moral patrimony, part tradition, part religious teaching. But now the West has become more secular. Capitalism as a result has grown “unmoored” and is going “partly off track.”

He speaks of two “disturbing” strands. “One is state-sponsored capitalism,” as in China and Russia. We also, to a degree, see it in America. This is “a brutal form of capitalism” in which wealth and value are distributed to “a very small subset of people.” It is connected to crony capitalism. He criticizes the Republican Party as “really a collection of crony capitalists that feel they have a different set of rules of how they’re going to comport themselves.”

The other disturbing strand is “libertarian capitalism,” which “really looks to make people commodities, and to objectify people, and to use them almost.” He saw this strand up close when he was on Wall Street, at Goldman Sachs . There he saw “the securitization of everything” and an attitude in which “people are looked at as commodities.”

Capitalists, he said, now must ask: “What is the purpose of whatever I’m doing with this wealth? What is the purpose of what I’m doing with the ability that God has given us . . . to actually be a creator of jobs and a creator of wealth?”


Happy Easter.

traditionalguy said...

Will We need a pibroch aire played for our McLeod of the Isle of Lewis? Stay tuned.

garage mahal said...

Horned Grebe on Lake Monona, the finest lake in the Madison chain.

Meade said...

Outstanding, garage

traditionalguy said...

Hey! Garage is back. Good times are here again.

Rusty said...

Awesome picture.
My wife is editing the work of William Munke. He made a name forhimself as a photographer for Yacting World magazine. Before that he was a photographer of the Paris 60s rock culture scene. He has pictures of Twiggy, Mick Jagger, etc that noone has ever seen.
I'm glad I got to see that shot.

traditionalguy said...

The Copts in Egypt cancelled Easter services because of the Religion of Murderers of the Innocents.

DJT promised to wipe them off the face of the earth. Let's see if he sends McMaster to do the wiping.

David Baker said...

More from today's annals of the Whole Rotten Barrel:

AJC: "One controversial [common] incident has now led to the termination of two Gwinnett County police officers..."

"[Officer] McDonald was fired after a video posted on social media showed him kicking a suspect in a traffic stop in the face while he lied on the ground. A second video showing Bongiovanni, who had not previously been accused of wrongdoing, emerged online late in the afternoon. It shows Bongiovanni punching the same suspect, 21-year-old Demetrius Hollins, in the face while Hollins has his hands up." More +video…

The citizen video shows Sergeant Bonggiovanni, a large muscular cop, punching Hollins, a relatively slight African American, in the face as hard as he could - as if to take Hollins' head clear off. This while Hollins had his hands in the air and was offering no resistance. A second citizen video shows Officer McDonald arriving on the scene, running to where Hollins was handcuffed and lying face down on the ground, and immediately kicking Hollins in the head as if to take his face off.

If not for the citizen's videos, you may be sure that both Bonggiovanni and McDonald would now be receiving high fives from virtually every cop in Georgia, South Carolina, California, New York, and, well, everywhere lying yellow bellies gather under the comfort and color of law.


Mike Sylwester said...

Here is a link to an article arguing that the recent sarin bombing in Syria was not done by the Syrian Government.

The article was written by Theodore Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at MIT.

I thought the article was quite convincing.

http://www.unzcloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Postol-SyriaReport.pdf

chickelit said...

Althouse wrote: The photo is by Meade who loves the local trails.

I wish you two would consider spending a day canoeing from Sauk City to Spring Green. A couple outfits rent the equipment and even bring you back to the starting point. Along the way you'll see stretches of the Wisconsin which look much like the way they must have looked for Marquette and Joliet. There's an alleged nude beach at some point along the way for the prurient at heart. But best of all, you will likely see bald eagles. Maybe garage has already done such a trip and photographed it.

mockturtle said...

"[Officer] McDonald was fired after a video posted on social media showed him kicking a suspect in a traffic stop in the face while he lied on the ground.

I wasn't clear whether the victim was kicked while he lay on the ground or that he told falsehoods while on the ground. /snide

tim in vermont said...

garage, that's Audubon Instagram feed worthy.

A long way from your early efforts. Wow.

garage mahal said...


A long way from your early efforts. Wow.


I spend a ton of time at it. I had good lighting and I was lucky to get real close to that Grebe. Here is another shot of the Grebe with a catch. All decked out in breeding plumage.

Grant said...

The one thing that would make this cafe perfect is some Indonesian spam.

mockturtle said...

I spend a ton of time at it. I had good lighting and I was lucky to get real close to that Grebe. Here is another shot of the Grebe with a catch. All decked out in breeding plumage.

Awesome!

David Baker said...

"I wasn't clear whether the victim was kicked while he lay on the ground or that he told falsehoods while on the ground. /snide"

I wondered about that too. Even thought about adding a sic, but then I realized he could have been - like you said - lying while on the ground. Assuming of course that he was still reasonably lucid after getting punched with a MOAF (Mother of All Fists).

rehajm said...

Nice pics Garage.

chickelit said...

David Baker alleged: If not for the citizen's videos, you may be sure that both Bonggiovanni and McDonald would now be receiving high fives from virtually every cop in Georgia, South Carolina, California, New York, and, well, everywhere lying yellow bellies gather under the comfort and color of law.

And you know this how? Your remark doesn't even work as snark.

Clayton Hennesey said...

It might be best to get the little dogies through the Amazon portal while you still can, Ms. Althouse. I hear Amazon is beginning to cut its affiliates' rates substantially.

Etienne said...
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David53 said...

@garage,

Great pic, is that a juvenile Walleye it's about to swallow?

madAsHell said...

Nice work, Garage. You must be wearing waders to get that angle.

In other news......the House GOP is asking AG Sessions to go after Lois Lerner. We will see. It may be just so much virtue signaling.

I've been sideways with the law, and it ain't fun. I'll guess that Lois is paying a lot more to keep her hair colored these days.

Sprezzatura said...

When goin' uber fresh, I'd go w/ hira-zukuri, but I can see how that'd be a challenge for a Grebe.

Sprezzatura said...

"In other news......the House GOP is asking AG Sessions to go after Lois Lerner. We will see. It may be just so much virtue signaling."

Not signaling. Very serious truth and justice and the American way sorta stuff.

Add her to the list of Democrats who are going to be locked up.



Carry on.

David Baker said...

"And you know this how?"

Call it intuition. Oh, and a lifetime of observation.

Meanwhile, have you noticed the Innocence Project? Seems like everywhere they tend to look, someone walks out of jail or off death row for a capital crime they didn't commit.

Rusty said...

I can't find any flaws in that last picture. The composition looks perfect.

chickelit said...

David Baker retorted: Meanwhile, have you noticed the Innocence Project? Seems like everywhere they tend to look, someone walks out of jail or off death row for a capital crime they didn't commit.

Perhaps they could help OJ beat his wrongful death civil conviction and his onerous financial liability. Seems to me you'd cheerlead that one.

David Baker said...

"Jane, you ignorant slut." (SNL)

But truth be told, Chickelit, I've admired your writing for a long time.

Michael K said...

"Seems like everywhere they tend to look, someone walks out of jail or off death row for a capital crime they didn't commit."

Except OJ. I watched a lot of that trial and thought at first he might be innocent, but the civl lawyer is the one who nailed him, not the DA.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Very nice, garage!

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"Add her to the list of Democrats who are going to be locked up"

We can only hope PB. Although evil often goes unpunished in this world, especially in corrupt DC, so I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

John Evans said...

@Michael K. Holy crap, how could anybody ne watch that trial and not think he was guilty? The evidence was overwhelming.

buwaya said...

Extremely well done that grebe.
Shots to be proud of.
This takes patience, day after day after you find the right time and place. Well, you know obviously.
400mm?

Michael K said...

Holy crap, how could anybody ne watch that trial and not think he was guilty? The evidence was overwhelming.

The prosecution was inept. I've forgotten details now but the limousine driver testimony was the ONLY testimony the jury had replayed. It was an issue if OJ could have done all that he was said to do in the time allowed.

The civil trial proved he owned the shoes that he denied he had.

I was at Dartmouth doing a masters degree in health policy and had a satellite dish. I would go back to my house every afternoon after class, lay down (I had had back surgery a few months before) and watch the afternoon session of the trial. I did that every day.

I was not sure the time worked. The prosecution was really crappy. The DA, whose son is now the Mayor of LA, was a jerk who moved the trail to LA to get more black jurors.

The civil lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, deserves all the credit. He was the one who found a photo of OJ in the shoes.

Yancey Ward said...

"Here's how the bleakness looked from my point of view"

Probably all the bleakness is due to Trump, or so I am told by a lot of progressives.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laslo Spatula said...

People say to me, Jimmy, don't you ever feel bad for being The Real Killer and letting OJ take all the blame...?

People don't understand what is was like back then in LA. All the Gangs, the Fuck Tha Police Shit, White Women having the sex with the Black Man: it was out of control. It ain't like it is now, when Samuel L. Jackson is all friendly on Credit Card ads: no, your Samuel L. Jackson types were hardcore crackheads that'd hit you over the head with a pipe to grab what's in YOUR wallet...

I was in a Bad Space, Man: I admit it. My wife up and left me for a Black Man that drove a real nice Buick, just because he could, you know? I mean, I pay for her to go through Beauty College and now she's sucking some black guy's cock in Reseda? It HURT...

I mean, why couldn't the Black Brothers just leave the White Girls alone? And then it dawned on me: it was because of White Women like Nicole Simpson giving it away...

So I drive over to Brentwood, but I didn't mean to harm anyone: I just wanted to leave at her door a respectful letter I wrote, a letter explaining to her how HER FUCKING A BLACK MAN RUINED AMERICA. It turns out that she was home, though, and she came out to see who was on her doorstep. Long story short: I ended up almost cutting her head off...

I'm not proud of it: in retrospect I should've just given her the letter and walked away, but as I'm leaving this white dude shows up, and -- great -- now I got to kill HIM, too...

I finally think the worst is over, but as I begin to leave who comes up through the bushes? O.J. Simpson! He's carrying a six-pack of cheap beer and I ask him "OJ - what are YOU doing here?" He's all dressed up like a Ninja, and he kinda stammers and says he was going to sit in front of Nicole's house, drink a few beers, reminisce about the Good Times, then maybe kill her or something. I tell him he's too late, I just saw some Colombian Drug Cartel Dudes kill Nicole. OJ just shook his head: "I KNEW the Colombian Drug Cartel was after her," he said sadly...

We ended up having a few beers. It was funny, watching OJ try to open the cans with those tight gloves he was wearing: I made a comment about it, then OJ just chuckled and said you should see how hard it is for him to find a condom that fits, too. Because Black Men Have Big Cocks. He then said it was always the White Women who seemed to make a fuss about using a condom: he chuckled again and said "Like White Girl's going to get pregnant from me fucking her in the ass...?"

After I finished my beer I told OJ I had to go, and he said he had to leave, too -- he had a plane to catch. His last words he said to me as he was leaving were "you never saw me here, right?" and I said "Sure, OJ, OK..."

Man, this was so long ago it feels like a Different Lifetime. Over the years I have worked out a lot of my personal issues. I still don't like the idea of Black Men Sleeping With White Women, but it ain't worth me getting myself worked up over it. And my wife eventually left the Black Guy in Reseda. I thought we might actually get back together, but then she started fucking a Chinese Guy out in Glendale. Yeah: Chinese. Like I can even begin to understand THAT shit...

I am Laslo.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David Baker said...

The minute I saw Marcia Clark with that wash-and-wear, gal-on-the-go hairdo, I predicted OJ would walk, and fast. Because no jury of black women would buy a word she said. And they didn't.

Still, I watched the entire trial. And to add insult to murder, the cops lied through their teeth. Particularly Detective Vannatter, and of course, Mark Fuhrman. But why lie, I thought, there's plenty of solid evidence. Then I came to my senses; they lied because that's what they do. They're cops, after all.

So, OJ walked. So did a few of my "friends" because of my right down-to-the-hour prediction; that the jury would come back within two hours. Officially, I think it was an hour and fifty minutes of actual deliberations, not even enough time to order lunch. And boy, were people upset.

Prior to the OJ trial, I had dated an African American girl for several years. That's where I gained my insight. Still, I felt bad that so many people were going to be blindsided. I mean, the guy's blood was everywhere. Although one could argue that much of the blood had been placed there by Detective Turned-Blood-Courier Vanatter.

But later, much later, the nearly universal disappointment turned to near jubilation in Las Vegas; guilty on all counts. Especially for murder and the resulting Caucasian vendetta, which I believe the Las Vegas judge actually admitted.

Lastly, I remember sitting in an "egg salad-type" restaurant. The table next to me was discussing OJ's then ongoing civil trial. To a person, they all predicted a guilty verdict. And I thought; what geniuses.

BTW, the egg salad was very good - just the right amount of mayonnaise.



Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

Marcia and the other guy were inept but I don't think the cops lied.

DNA was still pretty primitive.

Nicole was a wild chick. A girl I dated told me the only time in her life she ever tried cocaine was at Nicole and OJ's wedding reception in Laguna. It was all over the place.

The guy who sat next to OJ on the plane that night also impressed me. How could the guy be so cool?

Anyway, Petrocelli should get the credit.

mockturtle said...

It ain't like it is now, when Samuel L. Jackson is all friendly on Credit Card ads: no, your Samuel L. Jackson types were hardcore crackheads that'd hit you over the head with a pipe to grab what's in YOUR wallet...

Good one, Laslo! :-D

Rusty said...

Furman didn't lie. His testimony would be so damning that he had to be made out to be a racist. You can't believe wat that man Mark Furman will say because he's racist. Of course the jusy isn't going to convict if there is one black person on the jury.

mockturtle said...

Fuhrman is/was a racist. That may make him an asshole but it doesn't make him a liar. Nor does it make him a bad detective. The whole problem in the OJ trial was the jury selection. The victims were completely unrepresented. The prosecution should have asked every one of the potential jurors what they thought of a black man marrying a white woman. A group of angry [possibly racist] black women were not likely to be objective in this case.

David Baker said...

"Fuhrman is/was a racist. That may make him an asshole but it doesn't make him a liar."

Unfortunately, Fuhrman did lie, about his "non-use" of the N-Word. Maybe a minor point to some, but not to that jury.

And about the jury being "racist," implying that African American women must all be racists. Not true. They're realists. Which makes them anti-cop.

The actual racists are the police, as Fuhrman demonstrated. Also police Sergeant Bonggiovanni and officer McDonald above. And a million other cops not yet caught on tape.

chickelit said...

I knew we could depend on Baker to defend OJ.

garage mahal said...

This takes patience, day after day after you find the right time and place. Well, you know obviously.
400mm?


Canon 70D & 400mm f/5.6

David Baker said...

"I knew we could depend on Baker to defend OJ."

Not quite, Chickelit. Accuse me of defending the jury against racist cops, then you have something.

Michael K said...

"A group of angry [possibly racist] black women were not likely to be objective in this case."

I have a dental hygienist who is a black Ethiopian Jew who was rescued by the Israelis as a child and grew up in Israel.

She is married to a white Jewish guy and they live in Orange County.

She and I have talked about American blacks and their problems. She told me she gets hate stares from black women when she is out with her white husband.

Black racism is real and the move from Santa Monica to downtown LA was stupid. The anti-cop thing is wildly overdone and mostly black racism.

BudBrown said...

The bruno magli photos are curious. It's the middle
of that long trial and some FBI guy testifies the killer probably wore those shoes.
Huh? Then nada. You'd think everybody who ever photoed OJ would be checking their
files. They could be worth some money. A year later, another trial, after OJ testifies
he'd never wear those ugly shoes, photos turn up showing him doing just that. Whole thing makes me question my opinion that photography buffs can be a bit obsessive.

mockturtle said...

When I was married to a black guy in the late 1960's, it was black women who were most overt in their prejudice. This included my mother-in-law. My own parents weren't thrilled but did accept our marriage and my husband. My MIL and SIL never did accept me, even after our daughter was born.

David Baker said...

The African American girls/women I knew thought white girls were manipulative and naive, particularly regarding sex. This came to the fore when Mike Tyson was accused of rape by an African American girl.

The consensus among the African American females I knew was; it's impossible to be raped in a hotel room, unless you're dragged there against your will. Why? Because every AA girl over the age of seven knows precisely what a hotel room is for.

More, AA girls don't use sex as a cudgel or bargaining tool. They just get on with it, like breathing.

Michael K said...

"More, AA girls don't use sex as a cudgel or bargaining tool. They just get on with it, like breathing."

The common question we would get from black women who were scheduled for a hysterectomy at LA County when I was a resident was, "Will it affect my "nature?" We all knew what that was and could reassure them.

Nicole was manipulative and needy. My friend's brother went to high school with her at Dana Hills. She was well known not to wear underpants in high school. Her parents sent her to Europe for a year or two to get her away from her friends.

Everyone who knew that family used to say, "Every one of the Brown daughters has breast implants but no college degree."

She was probably teasing OJ and he could not handle it. There are rumors that Marcus Allan had been at her place that night and maybe OJ was looking for him and stumbled on the waiter.

mockturtle said...

David Baker asserts: More, AA girls don't use sex as a cudgel or bargaining tool.

So, no black prostitutes, eh?

mockturtle said...

She was probably teasing OJ and he could not handle it.

Listening to the 911 tapes of Nicole Simpson, it was certainly clear to me that she was genuinely terrified of OJ. And there was plenty of physical evidence to cause that fear.

David Baker said...

"So, no black prostitutes, eh?

Actually, you've touched on something significant; African American girls don't believe in long-term monogamy. But still, they don't (necessarily) charge the side-men, at least not directly. More of an unspoken quid pro quo.

Wait a minute, that's what white girls do!

But I'm also talking ancient history here. Now they have "hook ups" and "friends with benefits." And you best not ask who's in your daughter's room. And never mind that's she's just...

So, what the hell do "I" know.




mockturtle said...

So, what the hell do "I" know.

Not much, methinks.

David Baker said...

"Not much, methinks."

Ah, then we have something in common, methinks.

Not to mention Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and J.K. Toole. And when driving the highway, this…