Althouse: At the Slow Start Café...

October 16, 2017

At the Slow Start Café...

... what is there to write about? I'm still trying to figure that out....

74 comments:

Yancey Ward said...: I suggest Harvey Weinstein just to annoy certain people.; 10/16/17, 9:05 AM
M Jordan said...: Trump. You could always write something about him, no?; 10/16/17, 9:06 AM
Curious George said...: "Yancey Ward said...
I suggest Harvey Weinstein just to annoy certain people."

Damn if I wasn't going to post the same thing. I was prepared to name names, though.; 10/16/17, 9:08 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: I’m sure you’ll find some red meat for your readership. There’s always Harvey.; 10/16/17, 9:09 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Or write some sarcastic tidbit about Clinton’s new book.; 10/16/17, 9:10 AM
Yancey Ward said...: As a serious suggestion, though, you might want to take a whack at this editorial essay by Janet Napolitano that suggests DACA can't be overturned by Trump legally- one of the most idiotic things I have ever read in my life.; 10/16/17, 9:11 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: How about the "it's not funny!" Response to any Weinstein joke. I've seen a couple if articles today where people are complaining about run if the mill Weinstein jokes.

I don't believe it is "too soon." I believe it is the beginning of suppressing the story so as to get it behind them there are way too many powerful Hollywood types who are vulnerable.; 10/16/17, 9:12 AM
Kevin said...: Kimmel: Losing Republican Viewers Is ‘Not Ideal’. 'I probably wouldn't want to have a conversation with them anyway'.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/kimmel-losing-republican-viewers-is-not-ideal/; 10/16/17, 9:12 AM
wildswan said...: I suggest: the inner meaning of Aaron Rodgers injury to the Wisconsin psyche. We had two Iron Man quarterbacks (Farve, Rodgers) for a great local team. But now Iron Man 2 is injured. Hence Althouse (Ironwoman of Blogging) cannot blog because of the hidden injury to Meade, her and all of us. We are distraught in a silent Wisconsin way. Take a poll.; 10/16/17, 9:13 AM
Kevin said...: To go along with the Kimmel article, there is thus from Ben Horowitz of Andreessen-Horowitz:

“Most business relationships either become too tense to tolerate or not tense enough to be productive after a while. Either people challenge each other to the point where they don’t like each other or they become complacent about each other’s feedback and no longer benefit from the relationship.”; 10/16/17, 9:14 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Interesting, no?

“Inside the ‘adult day-care center’: How aides try to control and coerce Trump”

WaPo; 10/16/17, 9:15 AM
robother said...: Maybe this is what getting bored of winning is like.; 10/16/17, 9:15 AM
Ralph L said...: We're going to have Weinstein withdrawal, which sounds kind of gross.; 10/16/17, 9:16 AM
tcrosse said...: No red meat for the commentariat means no red meat for Unknown. Sad.; 10/16/17, 9:17 AM
Oso Negro said...: I was concerned that you might be ill. Time even caught up to Lou Gehrig.; 10/16/17, 9:18 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I was beginning to worry, though, that Rodger's injury had greatly disrupted the Meadehouse routine.; 10/16/17, 9:19 AM
Saint Croix said...: Is Slowpoke Rodriguez racist?

You be the judge!; 10/16/17, 9:20 AM
Trashcan O Man said...: The Wunderwuzzi, of course!; 10/16/17, 9:21 AM
Paddy O said...: 500th anniversary of the Reformation

interesting clouds

reflections on retirement

Musings from articles in different magazines: Smithsonian, National Geographic, Christianity Today, Better Homes and Gardens.

birds you've seen this week; 10/16/17, 9:22 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: How about the lack of MSM reporting on the Puerto Rico rep saying that everything that they have asked for, Trump has provided.; 10/16/17, 9:24 AM
wildswan said...: In the old days a newspaper had thirty or more stories on levels, local, state, national in its print space. Then came TV with five stories in its time slot. Then came the TwitterTime with national stories which have, what would you say, the whole of space but one day of time? Superimposed on lives that still have thirty personal, local, state, national stories always going on. Blogs have one hand toward TwitterTime and one hand toward personal time.; 10/16/17, 9:24 AM
Big Mike said...: You could write about how Scott Adams has certainly predicted the Dumbocrats' response to Trump. As Adams predicted, they've moved on from "Trump is Hitler" to "Trump is a moron" and are headed for "Competent, but we don’t like it."; 10/16/17, 9:25 AM
rhhardin said...: If we can't have a woman for President we should at least have women in charge of everything else.; 10/16/17, 9:27 AM
Mr. Groovington said...: How about Hollywood’s Hillary: Streep. She’s been in five Miramax films and denies knowledge of Weinstein’s behaviour. Is she on the list of actors who ‘did’?; 10/16/17, 9:27 AM
Big Mike said...: And you could write about how the pushback from the lumpenproletariat to our alleged (self-proclaimed) betters is starting in earnest. From the reaction to Kimmel's assertion that he doesn't want to have a conversation with Trump voters to George Lopez being booed off stage, to the response your lefty trolls get on your threads. Enough is enough!; 10/16/17, 9:27 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Here’s a really good one. Kaepernick files a grievance against the NFL for collusion.

“NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance against NFL owners accusing them of collusion in keeping him out of the league, ABC News reported.

Kaepernick’s complaint says Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have “engaged in various public relations stunts designed to retaliate against Mr. Kaepernick and other players that have joined in Kaepernick’s peaceful protest.””; 10/16/17, 9:28 AM
Rusty said...: What isn't there to write about. How's retirement treating you? I'm typing this with mechanics gloves on and I think my typing has improved.
Should the price of the federal duck stamp be increased?
How would any tax cut effect you?
How did they get eight great tomatoes in that itty bitty can?; 10/16/17, 9:29 AM
David said...: Everything you write does not have to be for the blog.; 10/16/17, 9:31 AM
Paddy O said...: Collusion? Probably a good time to assess NFL antitrust issues; 10/16/17, 9:31 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: What industries have a similar casting couch problem as Hollywood?

Some guesses:

- Modeling
- Music

And what do these industries have in common?

And why not other industries?; 10/16/17, 9:32 AM
wildswan said...: What about the reactions in Madison to Weinstein? Are your colleagues shamed and sorry or defiant or trying to get back inside the anti-Trump cocoon? Is it somehow too awful for them to be described to the outside world? First Walker, then Trump, then Weinstein, then Rodgers. And California is disgracing itself with the loss of life in the fires. It can't handle an unprecedented situation. And it has ordered the Federal government (from which it was recently planning to secede and whose authority it has denied) it has ordered that government to send California lots of money and otherwise to stay the f--- out.; 10/16/17, 9:33 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Korea? Mandalay Bay?

The dog is doing nothing in the night-time.; 10/16/17, 9:33 AM
Paddy O said...: "Public relations stunts" brought to mind the image of Trump and Pence in bright, flag decorated leather, on a motorcycle with side-car jumping over 35 vans, then spiking a football together at the end.

Or skydiving with smoke shoes and writing a message about the NFL before dropping into a flag-bedecked diving pool.; 10/16/17, 9:35 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I suggest: the inner meaning of Aaron Rodgers injury to the Wisconsin psyche. We had two Iron Man quarterbacks (Farve, Rodgers) for a great local team. But now Iron Man 2 is injured. Hence Althouse (Ironwoman of Blogging) cannot blog because of the hidden injury to Meade, her and all of us. We are distraught in a silent Wisconsin way. Take a poll."

We're sad about Aaron, but it does liberate us from wanting to watch NFL football.; 10/16/17, 9:35 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: What about the New Yorker article basically saying Pence is worse than Trump. Is this the begining of how to stop worrying about and learn to love the Trump.; 10/16/17, 9:35 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Everything you write does not have to be for the blog."

What are you picturing me writing?; 10/16/17, 9:36 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: Poll in Bergdahl?

What upsets you most?; 10/16/17, 9:36 AM
tcrosse said...: Meanwhile, Hillary has taken her Biggest Loser tour to the UK, where she is Spilling H>er Guts on TV. Maybe Trump can pull her passport and deny her reentry to the USA. She wouldn't be missed.; 10/16/17, 9:38 AM
Ralph L said...: Is your nephew still on the pro golf tour?; 10/16/17, 9:40 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Everything you write does not have to be for the blog.

Bite your tongue, sir.

ALTHOUSE GIVE US MOAR

MOAR ALTHOUSE; 10/16/17, 9:40 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: The Unz website has published a superb article by Mike Whitney titled "The Senate Intelligence Committee Finds No Evidence of Russian Hacking or Collusion".

The article's theme is that the Senate Committee essentially is just trying to justify the validity of the stupid Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that was published by the Obama Administration on January 6, 2017.

On the following day, this blog discussed the stupid ICA in an article titled "American intelligence officials have concluded that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, 'ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election". The ICA was the report that made a big deal about, for example, RT television broadcasts criticizing fracking.

The ICA is an absolute disgrace to the Intelligence Community. The ICA is the disgraceful culmination of the the career of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper -- a virulent Trump hater.

Anyway, the Senate Committee is trying to pretend that the ICA was produced in a valid manner. Whitney's article includes the following passages:

[quote]

[The ICA] is mixed with liberal doses of mind-reading mumbo-jumbo that reveal the authors’ lack of objectivity. There’s a considerable amount of speculation about Putin’s motives and preferences which are based on pure conjecture. It’s a bit shocking that professional analysts -– who are charged with providing our leaders with rock-solid intelligence related to matters of national security -– would indulge in this type of opinionated blather and psycho-babble. ...

The ICA reads more like the text from a morning talk show than an Intelligence report. ... The report’s greatest strength seems to be that no one has ever read it. If they had, they’d realize that it’s nonsense. Also, it would have been better if the ICA’s authors had avoided the amateur psychoanalysis and stuck to the point, Russia hacking. Dabbling in the former seriously impacts the report’s credibility. ...

“We have interviewed everybody who had a hand or a voice in the creation of the ICA,” said [Committee Chairman Senator Richard] Burr. “We’ve spent nine times the amount of time that the IC [intelligence community] spent putting the ICA together.… We have reviewed all the supporting evidence that went into it and, in addition to that, the things that went on the cutting-room floor that they may not have found appropriate for the ICA, but we may have found relevant to our investigation.” Burr added that the committee’s review included “highly classified intelligence reporting,” and they’ve interviewed every official in the Obama administration who had anything to do with putting it together.

That’s great, but where’ the beef? How can the committee conduct “100 interviews, comprising 250 hours of testimony and resulting in 4,000 pages of transcripts” without producing a shred of evidence that Russia meddled in the elections? How is that possible? The Committee’s job is to prove its case not to merely pour over the minutia related to the investigation. No one really cares how many people testified or how much paperwork was involved.

What people want is proof that Russia interfered with the elections or that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow. That’s the whole point of this exercise.

[end quote]

http://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-senate-intelligence-committee-finds-no-evidence-of-russian-hacking-or-collusion/; 10/16/17, 9:42 AM
tcrosse said...: What are you picturing me writing?

Law School Confidential: the ConLaw Jungle.; 10/16/17, 9:42 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "I'm a diamond, I'm gonna shine.
Compared to everyone else, I'm like the whole damned diamond mine.

Oh oh yeah.

I'm just a Maserati in a world of Kias
Genius would describe any of my ideas.

If I was born in 1453, Leonardo da Vinci would be jealous of me.

In a world of Stevie Wonders, who never see

IT'S A BURDEN BEING WONDERFUL, LIKE ME"

-- Steel Panther "The Burden of Being Wonderful; 10/16/17, 9:47 AM
wildswan said...: Have you ever looked at David Gelernter's paintings?; 10/16/17, 9:48 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Hey I get results!

I know but still.; 10/16/17, 9:49 AM
wildswan said...: What about Eric Ravilious?; 10/16/17, 9:49 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: "We're sad about Aaron, but it does liberate us from wanting to watch NFL football."

Yup. Football season is over. We'll get another rare glimpse of life without a superstar quarterback, after a quarter-century of stardom at that position. As for me, I'll spend a little bit of emotion rooting against the local Desert Welfare Moochers, aka the Arizona Cardinals.; 10/16/17, 9:51 AM
Gahrie said...: Exciting end to the Dodgers game last night.; 10/16/17, 10:04 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger Unknown said...
Interesting, no?

“Inside the ‘adult day-care center’: How aides try to control and coerce Trump”

WaPo

If the DNC seminar is not held on Monday, Inga gets her talking points from WaPo, which everyone knows is not biased.

Actually, I think they get their points from the same place Inga does.; 10/16/17, 10:11 AM
rehajm said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/16/17, 10:13 AM
rehajm said...: Not knowing what to write about is the most appropriate thing to write about. All of our institutions have been crippled by partisan politics. News, film, television, sport...

I find it interesting there has never been a reported Trump related suicide given the quantity and amplitude of anxiety surrounding him. While mental derangement is on the rise he seems to make everyone physically healthier...

I find it interesting there has not been a reported Trump related defection to Canada.

Does HW suddenly become a object fo desire for hybristophilia sufferers?

Do you think anyone wished Harvey a Happy Bosses Day?; 10/16/17, 10:14 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Never say "It's a slow news day."; 10/16/17, 10:16 AM
Michael K said...: Burr added that the committee’s review included “highly classified intelligence reporting,” and they’ve interviewed every official in the Obama administration who had anything to do with putting it together.

One thing this tells is that CIA has NO intelligence assets in Russia.

There are no Igor Gouzenkos or Oleg Penkovskis in Russia today.

Penkovsky was smart enough to seek asylum with the British whose MI6 was hard nosed enough to protect him.

The reason Trump does not read intel briefs is that he knows they are useless.; 10/16/17, 10:16 AM
Howard said...: The Dodgers need to beat the Cubs to prevent nukular combat, toe to toe with the Norkies. They must suffer for another 108-year drought to maintain Karmic balance for Gia's sake.; 10/16/17, 10:16 AM
Howard said...: Not just a moron, a Fucking Moron.
Tillerson in Depth; 10/16/17, 10:18 AM
traditionalguy said...: We came across a new item on our Althouse/Amazon when routinely reordering Keurig/Starbucks Breakfast blend. So we tried it and the wife liked it, which is amazing since it is 30 Cents a cup instead of 70 cents a cup.

I mention this because the exotic coffee was made in Wisconsin. I mean the Wisconsin. It's called Caza Trail.; 10/16/17, 10:19 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Who is better off, the typical woman who marries, or at least lies down, for love, with an age-appropriate average Joe, or one who is exploited, violated, and perverted by Harvey Weinstein? Maybe we need to reconsider the rules of engagement in the battle of the sexes. I'm sure most women would rather be raped by Ben Affleck, but you can't always get what you want.; 10/16/17, 10:19 AM
D 2 said...: In the general (foreign) news, that I dont believe you have posted on:
Iraqi forces and Kurds not getting along. Somali bombing, Austrian election, Nobel prizes...

Wikipedia can tell you what happened this day if you are REALLY bored:
Marie Antoinette executed, John Browns raid, Taft & Diaz are not killed, Sanger opens shop, Disney starts something, Nuremburg sentences carried out, 1st Chinese nuclear bomb, last (purported) smallpox case, John Paul 2 made pope, million man march.

Wiki also tells me that there has been a peaceful transfer of power in Kyrgyzstan.; 10/16/17, 10:22 AM
Darrell said...: Ban Unknown for life.
If not longer.; 10/16/17, 10:24 AM
Ralph L said...: What Happend? Meade had enough?; 10/16/17, 10:36 AM
MadisonMan said...: We're sad about Aaron, but it does liberate us from wanting to watch NFL football.

Exactly this. I am somewhat interested in how the backup does, because that could be a great story. Key word: "somewhat"

I'm very glad it's sunny. Too many cloudy days in the last 5 or 6.; 10/16/17, 10:51 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: The suit Melania wore for Trudeau's visit was interesting.

Australia says Hillary is still mad.

The rhythm difference on slow writing days.

Obviously I don't know, or I would still write a blog.; 10/16/17, 10:52 AM
David said...: "What are you picturing me writing?"

Personal stuff. You are full of insight about others. I assume you have insights about yourself and your journey through life that you would not necessarily want to share with the rest of the world, at least not in the spontaneous blogging format. You could write an interesting memoir. Or how it feels to be a blogger, revealing (or not revealing) yourself to a critical and sometimes hostile audience. You are a natural and perceptive outsider, which requires remaining aloof. What's it like out there? Or finding love when and where you little expected it. Usually such writings are dreadful. Do you have something better?; 10/16/17, 10:54 AM
William said...: I think Harvey is a man of many remarkable facets and eagerly await the next revelation. I wonder if he ever greeted Princess Di in a bathrobe......I think he caused real damage to a number of women, but many of these revelations are closer to farce than tragedy. Apparently, you're not allowed to joke about him though. Well, that's one way of burying the story.; 10/16/17, 11:00 AM
rhhardin said...: It took only 25 minutes to take out and replace the old bicycle rear axle, a huge surprise.

1. Huge vise plus proper freewheel tool sufficed to take the freewheel off, aided by lithium grease applied to the freewheel when it was put on years ago.

2. Eight ball bearings fell out but onto an old bedsheet under the work area, instead of rolling into a disty corner, so they were easily retrieved.

3. The Nashbar bicycle tool set had a thin wrench that exactly fit the cones on the old axle, so the cones could be unscrewed and saved. Good thing since I had no replacements.

4. The old axle broke exactly at a cone's end, so served as an easy calibration of where to put the cones on the new axle. This saved many on and off's trying to get the disc brake to wind up in the right place.

5. I had an axle exactly matching the length of the old axle (146mm).

So it went together beautifully and no blood at all was drawn. Most unusual.; 10/16/17, 11:29 AM
rhhardin said...: If you want to defeat the broken axle crippling effect, carry a spare rear quick release skewer. You can go about a thousand miles with the axle held together only by the skewer, which itself eventually breaks, which is when you find out about the problem. Just thread the replacement in.; 10/16/17, 11:35 AM
David Baker said...: You can write about Zeus. We haven't heard from him in awhile, nor others in the nests and trees around MeadeHouse.

Which reminds me; I have a friendly young squirrel who comes by my bathroom window nearly every morning - I think he's angling for something, maybe a peanut, although he seems to be happy just to get a little conversation. Because he's very interested in anything I have to say, which is primarily small talk about peanuts. Besides, I have a neighbor out back who feeds the squirrels all the time. And they come from near and far, burying many of the goodies in my yard. So I really don't think my young friend is looking for another peanut. No, I'd say he's an anthropologist working on a kind of thesis, about humans and their indoor rainmaker.; 10/16/17, 11:42 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: If you want to defeat the broken axle crippling effect, carry a spare rear quick release skewer. You can go about a thousand miles with the axle held together only by the skewer, which itself eventually breaks, which is when you find out about the problem. Just thread the replacement in.

Why don't you post this stuff on your own blog?; 10/16/17, 11:43 AM
David Baker said...: Amazing. Talk about squirrels, and Drudge puts up a link... about squirrels! About how they sort their nuts, sort of like how we organize various food groups in our refrigerators:

Squirrels Use Sophisticated Technique To Separate Nuts By Type, Study Finds; 10/16/17, 12:28 PM
jaed said...: there has never been a reported Trump related suicide

And yet I was solemnly informed, the week after the election, that people needed to give Democratic voters "space" and "respect" and time to process their feelings, and comforting verbal hugs, because "there have been suicides".; 10/16/17, 12:38 PM
cf said...: ( see now that Char Char expresses a delightfully brief variation of what I would like to hear more about, Cheers!)

A Broad subject that I keep orbiting around, but see nothing to read explicitly about:

American Women. Here and now, what a moment.

the “Shake Shake Shake” of The Mighty Trump Change is crashing down the towers of overbuilt FemRot, @NPR, @NYT and Hollywood, the order on everything is topsy-turvying & What we think we know is worth rummaging through.

Consider the alignment: the death of Hugh Hefner during this pussy-hatted Most Immediate & Excitable Feminist Year, and Hurricane Weinstein devastating “an entire industry” in righteously feminist california. Trump is a helpful fuel in the latter two, and it is awesome, that all things be made new, and I do believe the culture for American Women will be the better for it.

Hugh Hefner’s birth might have been Heaven-sent for modern american women, to time us so perfectly with The Pill. And his death and our arc of relation to him over time is worth a grateful “ho!” (haha, and I mean it as my sacred stomp affirming “Ho!” But the sound Ho and Hugh Hefner is exactly on point).

I would like Althouse to explore the ways in which our recent cultural acceptance of what a woman chooses to do with her body sexually are undergoing transformation, perhaps being topsy-turvied in this most excitable Year. for instance, @NPR awkwardly apologizing as it reported that single parent women families mostly guarantee poverty, and people need to start being married with children again. And what is with the pose that all the women that serviced Mr. Weinstein suffered the tryst? Baloney. (If it had been me, I was a hot chickie ready to make it big and in awe of the success stories, I figure I would have totally thrilled getting him off, are you kidding? what a romp he would be!!!!); 10/16/17, 2:38 PM
Kevin said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/16/17, 2:45 PM
Kevin said...: Kaepernick’s complaint says Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have “engaged in various public relations stunts designed to retaliate against Mr. Kaepernick and other players that have joined in Kaepernick’s peaceful protest.”

That's how you know this isn't serious. Teams weren't hiring him before Trump, so Trump would have nothing to do with the "collusion" he's charging.

Mentioning Trump is simply to gin up support among the faithful, not an actual legal argument, particularly when so many owners pushed back and only one is necessary to give him a job.

On a related note: given the increased usage, "collusion" is the new "racism"...; 10/16/17, 2:47 PM
cf said...: Freeman Hunt suggests a specific Melania story. Yes.

I am starved for magazine racks Full of luscious shots of both first lady and ivanka, civilizations thrive on Beauty you know.; 10/16/17, 2:55 PM