Althouse: At the Red Leaf Café...

October 20, 2017

At the Red Leaf Café...

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51 comments:

Hagar said...: The Kurds are dead men walking.; 10/20/17, 10:24 AM
MadisonMan said...: I know a place where the music is fine and the lights are always low.

It's right at the end of that path.; 10/20/17, 10:28 AM
Nonapod said...: Bitcoin has soared to over $6000, and cryptocurrencies seem to be doing well in general.; 10/20/17, 10:32 AM
mockturtle said...: Why is Rand Paul being such an obstructionist? Is it principle or publicity?; 10/20/17, 10:32 AM
Jaq said...: I think ARM reached a new low with his comment that Althouse is concern trolling re Harvey Weinstein, as if she is just trying to score political points, I guess that's how Democrats sleep at night.; 10/20/17, 10:42 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: This morning's previous blog article about Quentin Tarantino mentioned Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as the author of the verse about "ships that pass in the night".

Longfellow was a brilliant poet. In recent years I have read much of his poetry. I read all of his epic The Song of Hiawatha, which is long but delightful from beginning to end.

I think that all high-school students should read Hiawatha. It's fun to read, and it's about American Indians!

Here is the poem's beginning:

----------

Should you ask me,

"Whence these stories ?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odours of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows,
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions,
And their wild reverberations,
As of thunder in the mountains?"

I should answer, I should tell you,

"From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the Northland,
From the land of the Ojibways,
From the land of the Dacotahs,
From the mountains, moors, and fenlands,
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes.
I repeat them as I heard them
From the lips of Nawadaha,
The musician, the sweet singer."

=======================

Here's the last stanza of Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride

----------

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm, —
A cry of defiance and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.; 10/20/17, 10:45 AM
Sebastian said...: Yesterday I said Kelly was very dangerous to the left. Here's Charles Blow (via Power Line):

"I keep telling y’all about John Kelly. He signed up to make Trump’s craziness look less crazy. That make Kelly himself VERY dangerous."; 10/20/17, 10:48 AM
tcrosse said...: From Longfellow's Four Lakes of Madison:

Fair lakes, serene and full of light,
Fair town, arrayed in robes of white,
How visionary ye appear!
All like a floating landscape seems
In cloud-land or the land of dreams,
Bathed in a golden atmosphere!; 10/20/17, 10:50 AM
n.n said...: Nature's color diversity. Does anyone notice the individual leaves?; 10/20/17, 11:02 AM
Humperdink said...: Re: Kelly yesterday's address.

My favorite lefty comment was that since Kelly spoke at the White House briefing (instead of Huckabee-Sanders), the White House has been taken over by the military. No matter that Kelly is retired. Lefty logic continues to impress.; 10/20/17, 11:22 AM
mockturtle said...: Do any of his critics know that Kelly lost a son in Afghanistan? Not that they would care but it puts some perspective on the situation.; 10/20/17, 11:24 AM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

Do any of his critics know that Kelly lost a son in Afghanistan? Not that they would care but it puts some perspective on the situation.

As usual, the news media is obsessed with "How Awful Trump Is." Instead, what should be the true scandal is that after 16 years, American service members are still dying in Afghanistan for absolute no good purpose. And we just heard yesterday that the Taliban killed 58 soldiers in Kandahar and nearly obliterated the entire base. But I'm sure some more aerial bombardment and those extra 4,000 US soldiers who will be placed directly in harm's way in order to defend a failing, virtually non-existent, corrupt government in Kabul will surely set the situation right.; 10/20/17, 11:42 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Hagar:

The Kurds are dead men walking.

The Kurdish independence move was a serious miscalculation. Not only is it vehemently opposed by the Baghdad government, our nominal allies, it's also equally opposed by Turkey, a NATO member. The Kurds should look to Taiwan as their model. De facto independence often requires giving up on de jure independence.; 10/20/17, 11:44 AM
mockturtle said...: The Kurds should look to Taiwan as their model. De facto independence often requires giving up on de jure independence.

Well put, Farmer.; 10/20/17, 11:45 AM
buwaya said...: We had to memorize parts of "Hiawatha" and "The Midnight Ride" in school. That was in a Filipino Catholic school, this was in our American Catholic School readers (Cathedral Press I think).

This is NOT done here, now, in the US.; 10/20/17, 11:45 AM
roesch/voltaire said...: The Brits still don't get it when they say things like this: "It is appalling that we have reached the point where inflammatory and ignorant statements from the President of the United States are now seen as normal.
"If we are to properly tackle hate crime and every other crime, we have to challenge this kind of nonsense.; 10/20/17, 11:47 AM
mockturtle said...: Instead, what should be the true scandal is that after 16 years, American service members are still dying in Afghanistan for absolute no good purpose.

J. Farmer, I have to agree with you there. And we are given no accounts of our presence there. Not even a feeble justification nor any real explanation of what the hell we are doing there.; 10/20/17, 11:47 AM
Hagar said...: I expect that Iran and Turkey both intend for the Kurds to give up more than their dream of independence.; 10/20/17, 11:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: This is the forest primeval, which makes it appropriate for Buwaya to try to memorize Evangeline, the poem by Longfellow. We had to study it in High School English and memorize portions. It is really good language usage. And also try Emerson's Concord Hymn about the shot fired at this rude bridge and heard around the world all the way to Manilla.

The actual history of the French Acadian's treatment is a primer on trusting the British Empire which Americans remembered well in 1775 when they decided to fight them for 8 miserable years.; 10/20/17, 11:57 AM
JackWayne said...: Mock, this is why we’re there.

The British Empire once was Worldwide
And the proud monarchs glowed with monarchy pride
Of their great Empire where the sun never set
Though such empires they are made of tears by death
An empire that stretched far from Britain's shore
But empires do not last forever more
It lasted perhaps a century of years
The British Empire built of blood and tears
The invading soldiers under constant attack
And the fearless rebels won their Nations back
Another empire became history
The conqueror's greed is spiritual poverty
And the British Empire is now of the past
And nothing save for Nature seems to last.

by Francis Duggan; 10/20/17, 12:01 PM
rhhardin said...: Judge leaves by the content of their character.; 10/20/17, 12:13 PM
narayanan said...: " Not even a feeble justification nor any real explanation of what the hell we are doing there. "

minerals have replaced oil as loot incentive.

the chinese are smart enough to go for it in Central Africa - even though they have a border with Afghanistan.; 10/20/17, 12:17 PM
narayanan said...: @mockturtle -

Bush I got Saudis to pay for his Kuwait/Iraq venture with American blood. Not prudent to increase deficit you know. for cuckservatives blood is abundant currency - dollars are scarce.

I have not been able to nail this down - "Allies" had to pack out their shit from the Arabian desert to keep the holy land 'undefiled' - like we do from national parks/ hiking trails etc.; 10/20/17, 12:23 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: We're having an absolutely gorgeous fall in Wisconsin. I'm enjoying it.; 10/20/17, 12:39 PM
Jaq said...: "If we are to properly tackle hate crime and every other crime, we have to challenge this kind of nonsense

Aren't these the same people who looked the other way during a masdive child rape operation because they didn't want to feed hate?; 10/20/17, 12:53 PM
buwaya said...: And reminded by Pat Buchanan today, we did also have this, in school -
And no schoolboy ever again will see it I think.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47917/lepanto

Lepanto - Chesterton
...
But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
Don John’s hunting, and his hounds have bayed—
Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid
Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
Gun upon gun, hurrah!
Don John of Austria
Has loosed the cannonade.
...; 10/20/17, 12:57 PM
Roughcoat said...: When ISIS withdrew from the territories they overran in northern Iraq the Kurds, seeing an opportunity, moved in after them and claimed those territories as their own. Note that, contrary to what the Kurds' highly skilled PR flacks in the West would have you believe, Peshmerga's role in expelling ISIS from northern Iraq was negligible. The Iraqi Army supported by Coalition forces (including U.S. air assets and ground-force advisors), and also assisted by an assortment of Arab Sunni and Iranian-backed militias (with Iranian advisors and combat troops taking part)did most of the hard fighting. The Christian Assyrian Army, "Dwek Nawsha," was also involved, although Assyrian operations were confined principally to the Assyrian Nineveh Plain (ANP).

In the main, it was Iraqis who shouldered the major burden of combat and who were largely responsible for the liberation of Mosul and the defeat of ISIS in the region. The Kurds mostly sat on their hands and did nothing apart from cranking out false or exaggerated news releases about Peshmerga's mostly nonexistent battlefield operations and successes.

Christian Assyrian families driven by ISIS from their villages in the ANP soon discovered that the Kurds had occupied their homes and were refusing to let their owners reclaim them. As for the Assyrians who had stayed in the villages: in the run-up to the referendum for Kurdish statehood, Peshmerga thugs went door-to-door threatening the Assyrians by telling them that the they had better vote "yes" for statehood, or face expulsion . . . or worse. The Kurds' intention was to absorb the Assyrian Nineveh Plain into Kurdistan and, ultimately, to eradicate the Christian Assyrian presence in Iraq.

Assyrians have dwelled in the region for well over 5,000 years. If anyone has an historical claim to the lands in which they presently live, it is the Assyrians. If the Kurds had succeeded in their bid to create a sovereign Kurdish State, the demise of the last sizeable Christian community in the Middle East heartland would have soon followed.; 10/20/17, 1:18 PM
Known Unknown said...: "Why is Rand Paul being such an obstructionist? Is it principle or publicity"

Read the bill and then decide.; 10/20/17, 1:44 PM
William said...: Sean Young has come forward with her Harvey Weinstein story. I wonder if she was offered a reprise of her role in the new Blade Runner, the way Harrison Ford was. Probably not. She didn't age in a regal way like Meryl Streep or Judi Dench......Special kudos to Sean for calling out Warren Beatty for sex harassment.; 10/20/17, 1:44 PM
Jaq said...: Samantha Power, Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, recently told the House Intelligence Committee that other people made a rash of so-called unmasking requests in her name.

“Her testimony is they may be under my name, but I did not make those requests,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, a member of that committee, said of Power during an interview with Fox News on "Special Report with Bret Baier."

WTF???; 10/20/17, 1:56 PM
Jaq said...: Who was wiretapping Trump using someone else's authority?; 10/20/17, 1:58 PM
madAsHell said...: other people made a rash of so-called unmasking requests in her name.

The dog ate my homework.; 10/20/17, 2:10 PM
Kevin said...: I don't want to hear another goddamned word about my carbon footprint!

For much of Jeff Immelt’s 16-year run atop one of the world’s largest conglomerates, an empty business jet followed his GE-owned plane on some trips to destinations around the world, according to people familiar with the matter. The two jets sometimes parked far apart so they wouldn’t attract attention, and flight crews were told to not openly discuss the empty plane, the people said.

The second plane was a spare in case Mr. Immelt’s jet had mechanical problems. A GE spokeswoman said that “two planes were used on limited occasions for business-critical or security purposes.” Mr. Immelt didn’t respond to requests for comment.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ges-new-chief-starts-making-cuts-starting-with-old-favorites-1508353939; 10/20/17, 2:17 PM
StephenFearby said...: New juicy fodder for both nutty conspiracy theorists (Louise Mensch first comes to mind) and the Russian troll farms.

It would be hard, really hard for a rational person to make this stuff up.

The New Yorker, 11:27 AM.

John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup

By Masha Gessen

"Consider this nightmare scenario: a military coup. You don’t have to strain your imagination—all you have to do is watch Thursday’s White House press briefing, in which the chief of staff, John Kelly, defended President Trump’s phone call to a military widow, Myeshia Johnson. *** The press briefing could serve as a preview of what a military coup in this country would look like, for it was in the logic of such a coup that Kelly advanced his four arguments***."

(Emphasis added)

"1. Those who criticize the President don’t know what they’re talking about because they haven’t served in the military."

"2. The President did the right thing because he did exactly what his general told him to do."

"3. Communication between the President and a military widow is no one’s business but theirs."

"4. Citizens are ranked based on their proximity to dying for their country."

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/john-kelly-and-the-language-of-the-military-coup?mbid=social_twitter; 10/20/17, 2:20 PM
rhhardin said...: 4. Citizens are ranked based on their proximity to dying for their country

Everybody screws that up so the left does too when they disparage it.

You're honored for going when you're called, or feel called, not for dying.

Dying may be a good time to mention it, is all.; 10/20/17, 2:36 PM
MadisonMan said...: We're having an absolutely gorgeous fall in Wisconsin. I'm enjoying it.

Agreed. Beware next weekend though. A rude return of nearly Winter. Well, appearance, not return, I guess, as it's not really been cold yet. Some of the forecast models even suggest that horrible white stuff!!!; 10/20/17, 2:41 PM
Kevin said...: John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup

Why just this morning, I was told everything would be fine if Trump would just stop Tweeting, shut up, and let that well-spoken John Kelly say whatever needs to be said...

I really don't know what planet these people live on.; 10/20/17, 2:59 PM
Kevin said...: 4. Citizens are ranked based on their proximity to dying for their country

Beats the current system of ranking them based on the darkness of their skin color.; 10/20/17, 3:01 PM
David Baker said...: Another great photo heralding Halloween. Picture the kiddies a bit after twilight, when the headless horseman comes galloping by, and all those little ones screaming and scampering for cover.

But I don't think they do that much anymore, trick and treating, collecting candies in places like the sleepy hollows.

When my grandson was three we carved a pumpkin as big as him. And that night he was absolutely mesmerized, looking out the window at our Jack-O'-Lantern glowing in the dark.; 10/20/17, 3:02 PM
MayBee said...: Did you see the hikers whose remains were found in an embrace were shot to death by the man:
https://patch.com/california/calabasas/s/g9dub/missing-hikers-found-embracing-were-shot-to-death?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=weather&utm_campaign=alert; 10/20/17, 3:12 PM
mockturtle said...: I suppose the networks will now start showing reruns of Seven Days in May.; 10/20/17, 3:14 PM
Ken B said...: Imagine if Trump mentioned Chuck in a Tweet. Just imagine.; 10/20/17, 3:19 PM
Hagar said...: So, Roughcoat, can you explain exactly how we came from fighting against Shia militia planting IED's in Iraq under Qassem Suleimani's command to supporting said Shia militia, whomever they were fighting?

(And, actually, I think most of the ISIS fighters came from the Iraqi Sunni bedouin, whom we used to support for political balance in a sort of democratic (small d) Iraq.); 10/20/17, 3:58 PM
Kevin said...: The Kurds mostly sat on their hands and did nothing apart from cranking out false or exaggerated news releases about Peshmerga's mostly nonexistent battlefield operations and successes.

So wait, the Kurds - who helped us immensely when we overthrew Saddam, who we left to the whims of the central government armed with our weapons when we pulled out, and who we've been throwing under the bus so not to antagonize Turkey who was our major ally in the region - have of late been telling the US and Iraqi governments to pound sand rather than die for our cause?

That might make me respect them even more.; 10/20/17, 4:25 PM
Roughcoat said...: Hagar --

Yes, I can explain, but I won't do that here. Except: in the Middle East there are wheels within wheels within wheels, and they are all in motion.

A significant number of ISIS fighters are, in fact, Kurds. The majority are from the Central Asian "stans." Very few are Iraqi.

The situation in the ME is unbelievably complicated. The misinformation and disinformation coming out of the region only serves to confuse the situation and to deceive will meaning people like you and Kevin.

This I can assure you: I am not talking out of my hat.; 10/20/17, 4:46 PM
Roughcoat said...: A significant number of ISIS fighters are, in fact, Kurds.

Yes, that means that Kurds are fighting Kurds. Nothing new about that; happens literally every day. There are Kurdish factions, and factions within factions, and several have little love and sometimes real hatred for each other.

Do you doubt what I said about the liberation of northern Iraq (e.g., Mosul) being mostly an Iraqi Army accomplish? And that the Kurds were hanging back from that fight? Do your research. The information is out there in the public domain, it isn't a secret.; 10/20/17, 4:51 PM
Kevin said...: The misinformation and disinformation coming out of the region only serves to confuse the situation and to deceive will meaning people like you and Kevin.

I can accept that. I can also accept it's harder to know the good guys from the bad guys when who is in power is constantly changing.

The difference between believing in the mission of ISIS and using ISIS to achieve your own goals isn't easy to discern. We're not doing ourselves any favors in any part of the world where our intentions are not clear and our determination is demonstrably lacking.

I look forward to reading more of your future posts.; 10/20/17, 5:47 PM
Hagar said...: It also makes it more difficult when our government keep switching sides with no explanations given to us.; 10/20/17, 8:26 PM
Hagar said...: Or notice.; 10/20/17, 8:55 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Roughcoat, are you saying we should ditch the Kurds? Or just view them realistically as an autonomous people with their own ends in view? If the Kurds aren't Literally Hitler, I rather like the idea of a thumb in the eyes of the four countries claiming the Kurdish lands. I obviously, I hope, have no animus for Christians or Jews living in Arab countries, although I would half jocularly question their sanity.; 10/20/17, 9:16 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Or Iran. Yes, I know Iran is not an Arab country.; 10/20/17, 9:16 PM