Althouse: Late night talk...

May 4, 2017

Late night talk...

... you pick the topics.

41 comments:

FullMoon said...: Sen. Feinstein: No evidence of Trump campaign collusion with Russia at this time; 5/4/17, 9:23 PM
Chuck said...: Watching Newt Gingrich on Fox with Hannity (the things I will do, to try to stay informed...)

I get the firm impression that the House vote today was not about health care, or even about passing something to check off a presidential list. It was about "repeal." It was about one step forward, to erase what most people accept as the main Obama Administration achievement.

Eventually, however, it is going to have to be about health care, and also about passing something, and ultimately taking ownership of it. And then, trying to win re-election.; 5/4/17, 9:34 PM
Big Mike said...: And I rather doubt there ever will be -- barring manufactured "evidence."

I believe that the Russians did hack the DNC, but it doesn't follow that they shared their intelligence haul with Wikileaks. Apparently just about anyone could penetrate what passed for security in their IT operations. And Wasserman-Schultz is a genius st making enemies who would have been glad to publish her Emails to embarrass her into resigning.; 5/4/17, 9:35 PM
Big Mike said...: (I was referring to FullMoon's comment.); 5/4/17, 9:36 PM
Original Mike said...: "Sen. Feinstein: No evidence of Trump campaign collusion with Russia at this time"

Well that pretty much proves collsion.; 5/4/17, 9:39 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Himmler thought American men who became homos did so only to escape the tyranny of American women... "women there behave like an ax, she can just start hacking away on something" -- that made me really laugh. Himmler's view wasn't really all that far from Jung's ("male homosexuality is a mother complex")... more or less on the same page."

- Eric_NY

http://takimag.com/article/prohibition_twin_sister_of_womens_suffrage_steve_sailer/print#axzz38DnS2WNj; 5/4/17, 9:39 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Damn me it was Erik_NY; 5/4/17, 9:42 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: But like the hammer that is about to fall on Governor Walker, the left will continue to look for reds under Trump's bed.

Any...minute...now.; 5/4/17, 9:43 PM
David Baker said...: Opening salvo from a weekend warrior:

Taxi Life (C. 1982)

Once a week it’s 12 hours of insanity. Every type of human under the moon will enter and exit my cab before the night is over. People of means travelling from the airport, in winter covered with furs no matter the temperature as they depart for Palm Beach. And others, ordinary in every visible way, taking a cab to score some drugs. And a mother with seven kids loading a trunk full of groceries. Exotic dancers going to work, some truly beautiful. Then going home, exhausted, sitting in the back counting their tips. And somewhere in between, the sickly rushing to the hospital with ailments of every description. And a cruise director, airline pilots, men of the cloth, a baseball player, even a celebrity. They all get into my cab before the night is over.

But that’s only the half of it. The other half is that I have to earn a living, and enough in one night to survive another week. Enough to pay my room rent, enough to eat, maybe take in a movie. Which means the shift is spent in high gear, a race to the finish line. The two-way radio never leaves your hand, lest you miss a call. All the while life screams by in a blur, on a hidden street reserved for NASCAR cab drivers. Where everything seems to go 200mph, even a man in his wheelchair. Or the old lady brought back to life by going around corners on two wheels, “YIPPIE” she yells, I dare not slow down...

DB; 5/4/17, 9:43 PM
pacwest said...: "Watching Newt Gingrich on Fox with Hannity"

No no no. Don't do it Chuck. That's like going over to the dark side :)

I wonder where O'Reilly will wind up?; 5/4/17, 9:57 PM
Chuck said...: I really hope that Atlhouse blogs the Executive Order that Trump signed today, on "Religious Freedom."

It is being widely regarded by social conservatives as a great big nothing, or worse. But the whole history is so interesting, and ought to be interesting to Althouse, as proving her right on something she said about Trump during the campaign. (More on that in a moment.)

First, during the campaign, Trump flatly promised to do away with the "Johnson Amendment" (which statutorily prohibits tax-exempt churches from engaging in electioneering including the endorsement of candidates). Trump may have thought he was selling himself to evangelicals.

It's a strategically dumb move; the enforcement of the Johnson Amendment would hamstring the great institutional link between black churches and the Democratic party, a lot more than any churches routinely linked with the Republican Party.

It's also another laughable Trumpism; his imagining that he could undo legislation such as the Johnson Amendment with an executive action. Ya can't do that, Don. You need legislation to undo legislation.

Anyway, there was a draft executive order being circulated in the White House a while back, and it got leaked. Clearly, somebody in the White House on the other side of the cluture wars wanted to gin up some opposition and of course it worked. The ACLU was getting ready to sue on behalf of LGBTQ activists and others based on the leaked memo.

But then comes today's order. Completely watered down to nothingness, or worse. Yet it gave Trump a chance to go to a signing ceremony and claim what a great thing he was doing for religious liberty. Pure Trumpian bullshit. It may be that even Trump didn't understand his own bullshit on this one.

David French of the National Review sums up the conservative view of the affair here:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447338/trump-religious-liberty-executive-order-failure

Now back to Althouse. During the campaign, she surmised that candidate Trump was "pro-gay, and being cagey about it." I agreed with her; I thought she was correct in her appraisal then, and I still think so. I can only presume that it was something that made Trump less objectionable to her, just as it makes Trump more objectionable to me.; 5/4/17, 10:13 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Abhay
4 years ago
The Indo-European cultures had healthy respect for their intoxicant, mainly Mead. [Mead - Meodu in old German, Miod in Slavic, Madhu in Sanskrit, all derived from proto-Indo-European Meddu.] They were quite poetic about it. No prohibition for them.

Potent songs nine
from the famed son I learned
of Bölthorn, Bestla’s sire,
and a draught obtained
of the precious mead,
drawn from Odhrærir.
(Poetic Edda)

Adhvaryus, make the sweet libations ready,
and bring the beautiful bright juice to Vāyu.
God, as our Priest, be thou the first to drink it:
we give thee of the http://takimag.com/article/prohibition_twin_sister_of_womens_suffrage_steve_sailer/print#axzz38DnS2WNj mead to make thee joyful.
(Rig Veda)" -; 5/4/17, 10:16 PM
Rae said...: You need legislation to undo legislation.

No, you just need to not enforce it. Obama has shown us the way.; 5/4/17, 10:19 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Warriors beating Jazz by 20 in first half.; 5/4/17, 10:30 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "As the Derb says of attitudes like Meyerson’s, “We are eternally re-fighting the Civil War.”

And that’s a dumb thing to do, because, amazing as it seems today, we once got over it. Granted, hard feelings over the Recent Unpleasantness endured long enough that it came as a surprise to many observers in 1898 when Southerners not only didn’t sit out Republican William McKinley’s Spanish-American War, they volunteered enthusiastically.

Ken Burns’s deservedly famous documentary The Civil War concludes with 1938 newsreel footage of the 75th-anniversary reunion at Gettysburg. The scene of a dozen or so surviving nonagenarian veterans in blue heartily shaking hands with a dozen wizened vets in grey is tremendously moving.

In fact, not only is it dumb to refight the Civil War, we didn’t really need to fight it in the first place."

Please share this article by using the link below. When you cut and paste an article, Taki's Magazine misses out on traffic, and our writers don't get paid for their work. Email editors@takimag.com to buy additional rights.http://takimag.com/article/lincolns_folly_steve_sailer/print#ixzz4gAjoPsQp; 5/4/17, 10:40 PM
pacwest said...: "enforcement of the Johnson Amendment would hamstring the great institutional link between black churches and the Democratic party, a lot more than any churches routinely linked with the Republican Party."

Isn't that a net win for the Republican Party? More chance at that demographic's vote? Don't worry. I'm sure they informed him what was happening before he signed it. He is a neophyte at this.

"can only presume that it was something that made Trump less objectionable to her, just as it makes Trump more objectionable to me."

Sorry you feel that way. I don't.; 5/5/17, 12:48 AM
Jaq said...: Sen. Feinstein: No evidence of Trump campaign collusion with Russia at this time

It's the seriousness of the charge.; 5/5/17, 4:47 AM
Rusty said...: Blogger Chuck said...
I really hope that Atlhouse blogs the Executive Order that Trump signed today, on "Religious Freedom."

Well. You could start your own blog instead of using Althouses as your power base.
I'm sure that somewhere there are people who find your pendantic droning compelling.
There.
I've set you a goal.
You're welcome; 5/5/17, 6:33 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger FullMoon said...
Sen. Feinstein: No evidence of Trump campaign collusion with Russia at this time

5/4/17, 9:23 PM

We've known that since November. If there is no evidence now, there wasn't then.
The Colbert joke wasn't just obscene, it was stupid. They are accusing the president of treason, or at least as acting as a foreign agent, on no evidence.
When just a few years ago Obama was airlifting pallets of cash into Iran.; 5/5/17, 6:52 AM
Jaq said...: Police opened a criminal investigation into Marine Le Pen yesterday after Emmanuel Macron, her rival in the French presidential election, accused her of smearing him with claims that he had hidden money offshore.

Prosecutors ordered the inquiry into the far-right candidate when Mr Macron, the centrist favourite for Sunday’s final-round vote, filed a complaint to the police. Ms Le Pen was libelling him by spreading fake news and trying to skew the election, he claimed.

Isn't LePen a socialist? How did she get to be "far right"?; 5/5/17, 7:27 AM
Jaq said...: 'Inga' hardest hit.

There’s more bad news for Franken and other tin-foil-hat-wearing Democrats peddling the theory Trump is Putin’s Manchurian candidate. It turns out the FBI probe doesn’t even focus on Trump or his key campaign aides. It centers almost exclusively on a former Merrill Lynch executive who was based in Moscow a decade ago.

His name is Carter Page, and he never formally worked for the Trump campaign. In fact, he first showed up on the FBI’s radar three years before Trump announced his candidacy.

Page is the main investigative target and apparently the only one remotely tied to the Trump campaign to have his communications targeted with a FISA warrant. To obtain that surveillance warrant, the FBI relied on a discredited dossier, which will make it hard to prosecute Page.

The opposition research firm behind the dossier, which alleges nefarious collusion between Trump and Putin, is Fusion GPS, which conducts “political disinformation campaigns” — sometimes for Moscow.; 5/5/17, 7:35 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: @Tim in Vermont

It's a crime in France for a politician to try to skew the election!?!

Also it amazes me how the hive mind of the left works. Now the French have picked up the "fake news" meme.; 5/5/17, 7:52 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Chuck said...It's a strategically dumb move; the enforcement of the Johnson Amendment would hamstring the great institutional link between black churches and the Democratic party, a lot more than any churches routinely linked with the Republican Party.

Well yeah, that's sort of the point, Chuck. All of us realize that certain churches and non-profits get away with a ton of politic-ing all the time and are in practical terms under no threat from the actual law, while other groups are, during Dem administrations, under a real threat that the law might be enforced against them. That's why doing away with the law itself would benefit the non-Left--your point is almost like saying "well the IRS rules as written apply to everyone so doing away with them would benefit the Left, too" when in fact the IRS just happens to not enforce those rules (much) against the Left.

It's also another laughable Trumpism; his imagining that he could undo legislation such as the Johnson Amendment with an executive action. Ya can't do that, Don. You need legislation to undo legislation.

Right, and in a sane world that'd be a great point, Chuck, but we live in this world. This world is run by executive orders and "prosecutorial discretion" up to and including the Executive making concrete promises not to follow the actual law (DACA, anyone?!). I think that's outrageous and tremendously harmful to the nation (as a violation of the proper role of the branches and an abrogation of both Constitutional limits & powers, etc) but the American people pretty clearly disagree with me. Hell, the Courts apparently do, too--at least when it comes to those types of actions by the Obama Administration.

I guess we'll see if the Courts can come up with some reason that the Trump Admin shouldn't get to use/abuse Executive power, regulations, and "discretion" in the same way the Obama Admin did, but in any case one has to recognize that this is how things are done now, Chuck, so Trump saying he'll undo a law using only Executive power is not some crazy, stupid idea--it's entirely in line with the way the federal government (now) works.; 5/5/17, 7:54 AM
Anonymous said...: No, Inga not "hardest hit" because it's not a "hit". Feinstein was asked "without revealing classified information" , did she see evidence of collusion. Of course she couldn't reveal classified information, so she was forced to say no based on unclassified info only. It's humorous how you folks glom onto such a statement without taking it in context. The same thing happened a couple of months ago with some other person, that person also said no based on UNCLASSIFIED info. None of us know what is in the classified information, so don't celebrate yet.; 5/5/17, 8:00 AM
mockturtle said...: Tim asks: Isn't LePen a socialist? How did she get to be "far right"?

Easy. By opposing hordes of potential terrorists from invading France. A stand like that automatically shifts one to the other end of the political spectrum. It works the same way here. A Prog fem can only maintain her leftist status by embracing radical Islam. Better yet, by marrying a Muslim, fulfilling her long-repressed desires to be dominated.; 5/5/17, 8:12 AM
Jaq said...: None of us know what is in the classified information, so don't celebrate yet.

Keep hope alive!; 5/5/17, 8:14 AM
Jaq said...: I agree with this take:

If there were any evidence of collusion between Trump (or even obscure, minor “advisers” like Carter Page) and Russia, there would have been nothing else in the Washington Post or the New York Times for the past five months. But they have nothing

But apparently fake Inga thinks that the Democrats have developed some newfound respect for the handling of classified info since Hillary's whole debacle in that respect.; 5/5/17, 8:22 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Trump will be indicted and impeached... any minute now! Reds under his beds!; 5/5/17, 8:25 AM
tcrosse said...: Inga, if you close your eyes and wish really, really hard, you and all the other little boys and girls can make nasty old Mr. Trump go away.; 5/5/17, 8:35 AM
MadisonMan said...: Best weather of the year -- that's what we're having right now, pre-mosquito.

My garden looks super! Everything is green and healthy. There's a crisp coolness in the air every morning, just right for snuggling down under the blankets, ignoring the dog's wants just for another 5 minutes. The peas I planted 10 days ago have just started to pop up. I will be weeding -- again -- this weekend, and might even plant the basil.

Life is good.

OTOH, my Facebook feed is full of incoherent hate rants against Trump.; 5/5/17, 8:39 AM
Rusty said...: As Trump gets ready for his first tour outside the United States has anyone thought to check the usual suspects to see if any stinger missles are missing.; 5/5/17, 8:44 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: HD beat me to the takedown but, yeah, the LLR's point about Black churches made me laugh out loud. Provide us with some examples, Chuck, of Democrat administrations cracking down on political activity by Black churches. It simply doesn't happen.; 5/5/17, 8:48 AM
Original Mike said...: "Life is good. OTOH, my Facebook feed is full of incoherent hate rants against Trump."

Good reason not to do Facebook.; 5/5/17, 8:49 AM
wildswan said...: If we're going to speculate like Steve Sailor on what might have happened at the time of the Civil War let's look beyond the East Coast.

What might have happened if the Confederates conquered Colorado and the California as they intended? They would then have had the gold mines of those two states to finance their nation plus ports in the West making the blockade difficult. They sent a column from Texas to capture New Mexico intending to expand from there up to Colorado and across Arizona to Texas. They were defeated at the battle of Glorieta Pass near Santa Fe in March 1862, a battle known as the Gettysburg of the West because it ended Confederate hopes of controlling Western gold. The Confederacy was quite possible with Western gold and California ports. The loss at Glorieta Pass had a huge effect on the Confederacy which included many important backers who had counted on that wealth. They were the group called the Golden Circle. In terms of lives lost Glorieta Pass was a small battle and is generally disregarded outside of the West. But I think that as long as the Confederates thought they were going to get all the Western gold there was nothing Lincoln could have done to stop secession (which began in December 1860) and that possibility existed till the battle of Glorieta Pass, March 1862.; 5/5/17, 9:00 AM
Original Mike said...: Blogger Inga said..."No, Inga not "hardest hit" because it's not a "hit". Feinstein was asked "without revealing classified information" , did she see evidence of collusion. Of course she couldn't reveal classified information, so she was forced to say no based on unclassified info only."

What??? Anybody who's interested, go watch the clip yourself. It's only 30 seconds long. Inga's characterization is ridiculous.; 5/5/17, 9:02 AM
wildswan said...: Correction:
"across Arizona to California"
They sent a column from Texas to capture New Mexico intending to expand from there up to Colorado and across Arizona to California; 5/5/17, 9:06 AM
wildswan said...: Suppose the Confederates had won the battle of Glorieta Pass and had used the gold from Colorado and California to arm the Indians?

When the Civil War began the US Army was withdrawn from the frontier and sent east. The Confederates promised not to expand into tribal lands in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska. This is where the frontier then was. And the Confederates successfully incited the Indian tribes on the frontier to attack the settlers because the Army was gone. In the Dakota Uprising of 1862 500 settlers were killed before the Army prevailed using new regiments raised after the Civil War began. The wealth of the North armed these regiments. But what if the Confederates had been able to purchase guns and cannon to arm the tribes using Western gold and Western ports? Wouldn't the history of the West be different? And the history of the Civil War as well? The East Coast became the great arena of the Civil War as the thing actually happened. But when we think alt-history we should look beyond the East Coast at the factors such as the loss at Glorieta Pass that came into play to make the East Coast the decisive arena; 5/5/17, 9:26 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Inga said...The same thing happened a couple of months ago with some other person, that person also said no based on UNCLASSIFIED info. None of us know what is in the classified information, so don't celebrate yet.

Have I told you guys about my super-hot girlfriend yet? She goes to another school, you don't know her, but WOW is she attractive. I can't show you any current pictures or anything, all that's our own private stuff, but trust me on this one, she's insanely sexy and super into me.; 5/5/17, 9:29 AM
Chuck said...: The Cracker Emcee said...
HD beat me to the takedown but, yeah, the LLR's point about Black churches made me laugh out loud. Provide us with some examples, Chuck, of Democrat administrations cracking down on political activity by Black churches. It simply doesn't happen.

That is true. The law is not being enforced much. Which makes Trump's bloviating about how his Executive Order will protect religious speech from a grave ongoing threat just so much hot air.

See; this is a case where the Trump Administration had a chance (and clearly some inclination) to take a hard stance for social conservatism. And they folded. The Johnson Amendment is something of a sideline issue; but it does illustrate just how legally-illiterate Trump is.; 5/5/17, 11:26 AM
Meade said...: MadisonMan said...
"Best weather of the year -- that's what we're having right now, pre-mosquito."

60--40F... Mostly Sunny... generally rising barometer... good soil available water content (AWC) = Life is good.

+Hillary Clinton is not president = Bliss.; 5/5/17, 11:32 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Has anyone else noticed that the Little Sisters of the Poor are all post-menopausal, and therefore don't need their mandated-to-pay-for birth control even if they could conscientiously use it?; 5/5/17, 12:16 PM