... you can talk about whatever you like.
(And please consider doing your Amazon shopping through the Althouse Portal. For example, I myself just bought Turbo Tax.)
२३ जानेवारी, २०१८
At the Afternoon Café...
... you can talk about whatever you like.
(And please consider doing your Amazon shopping through the Althouse Portal. For example, I myself just bought Turbo Tax.)
याची सदस्यत्व घ्या:
टिप्पणी पोस्ट करा (Atom)
पोस्ट्स
४४ टिप्पण्या:
The image is crooked.
Also, the image is off-center.
The image is crooked, but it obviously wanted intended to be straight. It bugs me when I try to take a straight image, but it ends up ever so-slightly crooked, maybe 0.5% off level. I wish my built-in camera app had an option where I could tell it to take a photo, then hold the camera approximately level, and when it had registered that it was true level, then it would take the photo.
It's very frustrating.
Also frustrating -- photos where the vertical elements end up visibly curving, either fishbowl style, or because I was tilting my phone slightly up or slightly down. (I only ever take photos with my phone now).
I meant "wasn't intended to be straight."
I guess in the afternoon cafe, everything is sliding down toward nightfall. Has Ann been watching Fellini Flics?
Batman Café. WOP!!!
I have been thinking about modern Leftism. What I guess I will have to call vanilla Leftism (conservative Leftism?) operates by suggesting that our current social arrangements are designed so as to greatly benefit a small group, at the expense of a much larger one. Since it is undeniably the case that a small group of people (I'm looking at you, George Soros) are much better off than most others, this is a persuasive case.
But what we are seeing now is the demonization by the Left of whites and males. That is, they have shifted focus to attacking a much larger group, arguably the majority of the populace. Thus far, they have had considerable success, but this is only because they are able to get a lot of those people to participate in their own demonization. Is this self-limiting? Has it already passed its sell-by date?
A story that really worries me is the Pennsylvania state court action in which Pennsylvania's Republican-drawn redistricting map for the state's U.S House elections was found to be violative of the state constitution.
It is a bit of an unusual case, peculiar to Pennsylvania, and there is quite a lot of litigation history. I can't say that I know all the details; and I'd like more details, as the national campaign against so-called gerrymandering heats up in several states and in a variety of legal contexts.
I have a hard time imagining that Pennsylvania Republicans will successfully tempt the U.S Supreme Court to grant cert. To be sure, it concerns a federal election question, but the substance of the underlying case was the state constitution. It isn't a federal appeal; there aren't any conflicting federal decisions, conflicts between circuits, etc. The case is different, from the pending Wisconsin, Maryland and North Carolina redistricting appeals currently under review by SCOTUS.
And the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (which is 5-2 Democrat) has upped the procedural ante on the controversy by demanding a new redistricting map be submitted by February 8(!). That sort of time pressure, however artificially applied, is going to be unappetizing for SCOTUS.
A new map might cost us something like 2, 3 or 4 seats in the November midterms in PA.
This Washington Post story does a good job of explaining the general redistricting battles, but it doesn't quite do the kind of detail I'd like to see on the legal end of the Pennsylvania case:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/22/pennsylvanias-supreme-court-just-gave-democrats-a-big-win-on-redistricting/?utm_term=.a42a8300f889
@Althouse, what is it that whenever you take an indoor photo of an eatery it is tilted? Are the floors that out of plumb in Madison? But if they were out of plumb, I'd expect -- it being Madison and all -- that they'd tilt to the left. However your photos all tilt to the right.
Ahh, .... we're back to the cafe. hmm.
"With all one’s expectations of the world’s plumb line so thrown off, even pouring a dram of liquor from the bottle into a cup became a puzzler, and when Inman went to do it, he missed the glass entirely and wet his shoe tops before he found the proper range and lead. When he had succeeded in filling the glass, he took a drink and reached to set the cup on the dinner table and noted that little bumpers sawn from birch limbs had been nailed around each place at the table so that the plates and cups would not slide off the low side."
-- p211 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Turbo Tax! My favorite time of year. Every year we have a discussion of why Turbo Tax works better on Windows. So, please install it in the Windows VM on my Mac.
"What happened to the :D drive?" "The data was on the D drive." "I have to have a D drive!!"
We will fumble for passwords, and disparage ancestors. The inevitable data file that can only be read by Turbo Tax 2014, but has absolutely vital information to our current tax situation.
"I can't print!" "What happened to the printer?" "I have to have a printer!" "I can't print without a printer."
It's really quite gratifying to hit the send button.
Trump will be interviewed by Mueller within the coming weeks about his firing of Flynn and Comey according to reporting from multiple sources.
What’s going on with that FISA Memo?
Chuck said...
I have a hard time imagining that Pennsylvania Republicans will successfully tempt the U.S Supreme Court to grant cert. To be sure, it concerns a federal election question, but the substance of the underlying case was the state constitution. It isn't a federal appeal; there aren't any conflicting federal decisions, conflicts between circuits, etc. The case is different, from the pending Wisconsin, Maryland and North Carolina redistricting appeals currently under review by SCOTUS.
Not an expert here, but I wonder if they will try to challenge it based on Article I, section 4, clause 1:
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
Since the US Constitution gives the power to the State Legislature, not the state as a whole, does the State Constitution have the authority to limit that power in any way?
I want to say something similar was brought up in Bush v. Gore, but not sure it would be a precedent.
This is getting really funny with Mueller questioning Jeff Sessions and the regular DoJ staff to find out how much they have on the FBI that the Mueller "investigation" is going to have to bury or explain away.
Yet, we put up with gerrymandered districts just so minority representatives can be elected. Nothing can be any more unconstitutional than that.
Ignorance is Bliss said...
...
Since the US Constitution gives the power to the State Legislature, not the state as a whole, does the State Constitution have the authority to limit that power in any way?
Personally, I think that you are quite right to focus on that language. I like that you have raised that specific language.
But (and I say this to you as an offer of something interesting, and not as a trash-talking legal citation) have a look at the case of Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. I think it's the most important election law case, and maybe the most significant (in a bad way) Supreme Court decision since Citizens United v. FEC:
www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/arizona-state-legislature-v-arizona-independent-redistricting-commission/
To understand the tilt you see in this picture, look at the strip along the bottom. It is straight. The naked eye refuses to see the tilt that the camera records.
I am not tilting to be weird or because I don’t like straightness. There’s always something I am aligning with. So take the time to see why it’s framed the way it is... and you may find peace.
Perspective: use it or lose it.
AllenS said...Yet, we put up with gerrymandered districts just so minority representatives can be elected. Nothing can be any more unconstitutional than that.
--
As well as allowing census to count all..including illegal immigrants..feeding into # of representatives per state
If that cafe were my frequent haunt, I believe I would garner many bruises from that collection of brutalist furniture.
Helen Mirren "...she had put up with unwanted advances frequently while still living in England.
"Because I came to Hollywood in my 30s... I was too old," she said. "It doesn't happen to you unless you're really young"
Same as the actress from Big Bang
Still looks like a Dutch angle, no matter what you say.
You think it’s cold now, wait ’til this blows during a solar minimum.
http://www.newser.com/story/254431/threat-level-raised-as-violent-volcanic-eruption-nears.html
All my pictures are shot from the hip without explicit aiming.
Otherwise you're always looking down on the dog instead of seeing what the dog is looking at.
Who's that in the mirror? Anyone we know?
Some headlines make me chuckle.
Headline in the local paper today: "Amazon requests silence in HQ2 search, according to leaked details"
Do you think P Strzok and L Page are in hiding? If not they should be.
The wood floor in the pic could use some work. Sand, H2O based polyurethane, done.
"According to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, 50,000 text messages were exchanged between Peter Strzok and his mistress Lisa Page. These 50,000 text messages do not include the 'missing' texts." (Gateway Pundit)
Over 50K texts? Who does that? Two starry-eyed, reckless people in love.
Isn't it odd that Hillary bleached her emails (with help) and Strzok and his paramour bleached their texts (with help). Not a smidgen of corruption. No sirree!
5 months of yoga pics..
I prefer Tax Act, but its price has risen over the last few years. Just thinking of the money I will be saving next year at this time when I do my taxes for 2018. Thanks Obama!
A US Senator says there is an FBI whistleblower. Won't that be fun for former FBI Director Mueller?
The fruits of the poisoned tree are a real problem for prosecutors.
Comey is lawyered up?
Can Leftists ignore all these things?
Birkel: "Comey is lawyered up?"
Oh yes.
Comey lawyered up....and wouldn't you know it. He lawyered up with the very guy he funneled classified information to and it was that guy who forwarded the leaked classified info to the press.
So, to summarize: Comey has established an attorney/client relationship with the guy who would be the key witness to his crime.
Just like Hillary did with Cheryl Mills.
Just like the Hillary campaign did with their relationship with Perkins-Coie who was the entity used to pay off Fusion GPS to hire Steele to launder the FBI provided data into the fake collusion document.
How. Convenient.
How. Utterly. Convenient.
And the FBI, the premier law enforcement and investigative agency in the entire world "loses" 5 months of texts between a couple of the "Secret Society" types who were on the hunt for an "insurance policy" against a Trump victory and were on the warpath to "fix it".
Apologies to Elizabeth "Big Tomahawk" Warren for the "warpath" usage.
Humperdink, James Taranto used to love those. He had an item on things like that every few days in his Best of the Web.
Why isn’t that still a thing? That was a great column.
Can Leftists ignore all these things?
Hell yeah they can, and will. I find it hard to see this escalating to its proper height, but hey, I thought I would be living with a second President Clinton at this time.
Birkel: "Can Leftists ignore all these things?"
No, they won't ignore them.
They will cheer them.
His name is Ron Johnson, he comes from Wisconsin, he make-a two dollars a day
Along then came Ida, he laid down beside her, she take his two dollars away.
Learned that one from a guy from the U.P.
Sol Wisenberg had a good question: Did the FBI "lose" the texts related to any other cases and any other agents?
That questions was indeed asked of the FBI.....and the FBI refused to answer.
Yep.
Not a smidgen of corruptions.
Not a smidgen.
All you need to know is these 'independent' are as much as crew or the Brennan center*, far left organizations, funded by soros or steyer or gill.
The question can probably construed what are the permissible parameters of said revision. Of course as scalia once said don't ask the court to do something you might not like the answer to,
* the think tank that was Reid's blunderbuss re the filibuster
Sometimes I just set it up for you commenters. Thanks for not letting me down.
If you look at Michael Mann now and his refusal to turn his “hockey stick” data over to a court in Canada, refusing a court order, and it becomes clear that these guys all believe they are above the law. That the law exists as a bludgeon against conservatives, or “reactionaries” as they call us.
Trump is going to have to pardon some Democrats, because this scandal is just too damn big to let it all play out as it should.
टिप्पणी पोस्ट करा