Althouse: At the Limbo Cafe...

April 28, 2018

At the Limbo Cafe...

... it will blow your mind.

51 comments:

Michael K said...: The level of anger and rage about politics is unhealthy.

I would rather write about books I'm reading than politics.; 4/28/18, 8:48 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/28/18, 9:22 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Today at an estate sale I bought the book Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials, written by Marc Aronson. I have browsed through the book and see the following parallels with the current RussiaGate witch-hunt.

The Salem girls who made the witchcraft accusations are like Christopher Steele and Cody Shearer -- the two trouble-makers who claim to have obtained secret insights of Satanic meddling in our society.

The Salem Satan is like Russia -- the evil being that causes plagues and crop failures and leads our society astray.

The Salem magistrates are like our despicable Intelligence Community chiefs who have intellectually enabled, "investigated" and prosecuted the witchcraft accusations.

The Salem women who were accused of witchcraft are like Donald Trump and his associates.

The Salem women who were accused of witchcraft were targeted because they were odd and disgruntled. They were spinsters, misfits, who criticized their society.

Salem's complacent, compliant citizenry are like our own gullible citizens who go along with the current hysteria whipped by a tiny number of weird accusers who claim to have special knowledge into devious malefactors and evil activities.

The Salem witchcraft hysteria lasted from February through September 1692 -- roughly eight MONTHS. In contrast, our current witchcraft hysteria might last eight YEARS -- the entire length of Trump's presidency.; 4/28/18, 9:24 PM
Michael K said...: At least the Salem elders apologized after it was over. Of course the dead did not hear the apology.,

The recovered memories and the day care hysteria cases did not involve an apology.

We will never see one made to Flynn or Jackson.; 4/28/18, 9:36 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Essentially, two people -- Christopher Steele and Cody Shearer -- have caused an irrational hysteria by claiming that they were told by Russian Intelligence insiders that Russia meddled in our 2016 election.

A few girls caused a similar hysteria by claiming that they saw mysterious spectra indicating witchcraft.

These few loons were believed largely by society because of the intellectual support they received from respected officials who were experts in arcane secrets.

The investigations went on and on and on.

An accused woman might deny that she was a witch, but she was questioned, investigated, pressured and tricked until she admitted some fault, and then she was found guilty and was punished harshly -- often with execution.

Ordinary citizens suspected that it all was nonsense, but they remained silent and looked away and let it go on and on.; 4/28/18, 9:38 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: The women accused of witchcraft were odd. Most of them never had married. They were disgruntled complainers who somehow upset some respected citizens.

Such women were just the kind of person who might fall under the control of Satan. In some isolated situation, they would be compromised morally by Satan and so would have to bargain away their souls to Satan.

Afterwards, Satan would exploit his control of these odd, compromised women in order to cause trouble and dissension in pious, orderly society.

Satan's evil plot was disrupted, however, by a few girls who had secret insights into Satan's evil plans -- into Satan's total control of the compromised, possessed women who were Satan's tools.

These few girls -- unique in their ability to see spectra that were invisible to ordinary citizens -- raised an alarm to inform society that the odd women were being controlled by Satan and were colluding with Satan to meddle in Christian society.; 4/28/18, 9:52 PM
wildswan said...: Mike Sylwester said...
"The women accused of witchcraft were odd."

Not so. That's just the point. Even in the beginning, some of the accused women were married - though very outspoken and even outrageous in their statements when they had a disagreement with anyone. But later, respectable married women, pillars of the church, were accused. And children. Then, even the minister.; 4/28/18, 10:05 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Salem's top intellectuals -- the magistrates and theologians -- were respected for their arcane knowledge of cosmic warfare. They knew the Latin language and had read learned books about angels and devils and other supernatural beings and about spiritual battles in the Heavens and on Earth.

These top intellectuals knew much that was beyond the understanding of ordinary citizens.

These top intellectuals knew from their studies how Satan compromised odd people and caused them to bargain away their souls and to become Satan's tools.

These top intellectuals knew also that Satan's evil activities could be perceived by some individuals who received divine visions of spectra that revealed the witches and their witchcraft.

The top intellectuals insisted that those individuals' claims must be assumed to be credible and must be investigated. The accused people must be investigated, prosecuted, tried and punished in order to keep the society pure and moral.; 4/28/18, 10:08 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Salem's ordinary citizens allowed the witch-hunts to go on and on because the victims were odd misfits, trouble-makers.

The accusing girls were hysterical loons, but there might be some truth in their accusations anyway. After all, the theologians preached that Satan compromised morally weak misfits and caused them to bargain away their souls and to become Satan's tools.

Salem's ordinary citizens figured that they should err on the side of trusting their theologians and investigating the loony girls' accusations. Maybe Satan really was using those misfits -- those unmarried, complaining women -- to meddle supernaturally in Puritan society.

God sometimes works in mysterious ways.

Salem's ordinary citizens approved the investigations. The accused women were investigated carefully and fairly by the respected magistrates and theologians.

Maybe those loony girls were right. Maybe they indeed did see spectra near the accused women, proving that those women indeed were witches. The truth of the situation would be revealed ultimately by the magistrates' and theologians' thorough, careful, fair investigations.; 4/28/18, 10:25 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Massachusetts Bay Puritans thought they were in a spiritual war. OK, but why were they so fraid of Witch's curses that Christianianity could not defeat them? To drag out old women for hanging shows a group fear that they did not have spiritual power in Christianity that could defeat witchcraft.

The same way the Dems fighting Trump by using Witch Hunt tactics reveals their great fear of Trump's spiritual power. Could he have Kanye's Dragon Power. Tonight's Rally in Michigan had some kind of power.; 4/28/18, 10:26 PM
William said...: Here's an odd fact I picked up along the way. Cotton Mather presided at one of the witch trials, although he later pronounced regrets for his participation. Despite his backward opinions on some matters, he was an early adapter of the smallpox vaccine and pushed for its use.. ..... Despite his advanced views on some matters, Benjamin Franklin was at first opposed to the vaccine. His young son died of the disease. Franklin later changed his mind about the vaccine but the death of his son was the cause of the most profound regret and guilt of his life.......Moral: There are no morals to be drawn from life. We live in our moment and despite the best application of intelligence, character, and study, there's a good chance we're going to be wrong about some vitally important matter.; 4/28/18, 10:34 PM
wildswan said...: I've been reading about the history of the period just before the American Revolution and just before the Civil War (Why would that be?). Perhaps I'm wrong but I don't see quite the parallels I expected. For instance, take the American Revolution> Is that like now? I don't think so. Just before the Revolution the various acts Parliament was passing threatened the land titles of almost everyone in the colonies. Therefore it was crucial to the economic well being of almost everyone in that farming economy that colonial Assemblies which made the original land grants retain their original powers. The battle over the powers of the Assemblies was actually fought over taxation, not land grants, because taxation was a well-understood issue but had the colonists lost on taxation they would have had their land titles taken from them as the next move. But what is the overwhelming threat which would cause Americans now to risk their prosperous, pleasant lives? I argue that Donald Trump causes enough concern to some to get people to turn out to vote and to go to marches; to call each other people names; to virtue signal. But no more.

And the Civil War in its causes doesn't seem like now either. Slavery was a fact no one denied. It was whether it was going to go on. What is going to be abolished if we have a civil war? Certain pronouns?

The attempt to reverse the election of Donald Trump is more like a coup as conducted in a third world country which being conducted in a first world country and embarrassing everyone. The coup plotters are so shabby, so third rate when we see them. Other than the offices they hold, who are these people? Is it Superman? The Lone Ranger? Sergeant Preston? George Washington? Fanny Lou Hamer? No, it's the wizard of Oz, every time.; 4/28/18, 10:51 PM
traditionalguy said...: THe Michelle Wolf bit at the Correspondent's Dinner was pretty good. Drudge headlines accused her of being gross and vulgar...and that is true but she was very witty too, and funny if you got the jokes.The audience reaction shots looked like very few of the dullards understood a word of her wit.; 4/28/18, 10:55 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: How come the Russian whores who pissed all over Trump's hotel room don't speak out? Stormy spoke out and got paid handsomely.

Do Russian whores still look like Leonid Brezhnev? Maybe those are just the cheap ones.; 4/28/18, 11:00 PM
Achilles said...: Mike Sylwester said...
Essentially, two people -- Christopher Steele and Cody Shearer -- have caused an irrational hysteria by claiming that they were told by Russian Intelligence insiders that Russia meddled in our 2016 election.

Oh come on. They didn't cause shit. They were useful tools paid to do a job.

Obama needed an excuse for spying on his political opponents for the last several years of his presidency and Hillary needed an excuse for losing. They also planned to have Trump impeached by now.

Stop making excuses for them.; 4/28/18, 11:07 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Has Mueller interviewed the Russian whores in Moscow, identified in the Steele Dossier? He is an unctuous slacker, if not.; 4/28/18, 11:13 PM
Jake said...: Michelle Wolf joking about Southwest. Yes. Too soon.; 4/28/18, 11:14 PM
walter said...: https://youtu.be/lJlWGO5XHPk?t=310; 4/28/18, 11:30 PM
walter said...: Bay Area Guy said...Has Mueller interviewed the Russian whores in Moscow, identified in the Steele Dossier? He is an unctuous slacker, if not.
--
He has stuck his nose in every damn one!; 4/28/18, 11:31 PM
eddie willers said...: I would rather write about books I'm reading than politics.

I'm going through Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

Set (and written) between the wars and they are just bloody marvelous. Massive wit and some pretty good mysteries to solve too.; 4/28/18, 11:32 PM
walter said...: Yeah...woulda been cool if Trump was there to self defecate..; 4/28/18, 11:35 PM
buwaya said...: Just picked up "Bataan: Our Last Ditch", Whitman, 1990

A used book from Amazon.

I had resisted getting this all these years because I simply disliked the title and erroneously thought it was a lightweight thing.

But it isn't, it a very useful work indeed, with much detail and additional material that serves to fill in the blanks of Louis Morton's very worthy but necessarily sparse standard history. I am very pleased with it.

Louis Morton, "The Fall of the Philippines", 1953 is an the US Army official history, in the "green book" series, so it is available complete and free in many places on the internet.

The other useful work as a general backfill to Morton is Marconi Dioso's "The Times When Men Must Die", 2010, (available as a paperback only from Amazon, and Google ebook. The whole thing was free on Google books at one time) which also covers the whole Philippine campaign, explicitly with an emphasis on covering Mortons gaps, especially of the Filipino side of things. It is not as well written nor as well edited as Morton. But it is very worthwhile. Dioso (a Fil-American physician from Hawaii) was a talented amateur historian.; 4/29/18, 12:00 AM
walter said...: Sounds like B scored quite a find...; 4/29/18, 12:09 AM
narciso said...: Have you read Peter Eisner about MacArthur spies, it an interesting companion piece for what happened between Bataan and mcarthurs landing.; 4/29/18, 12:23 AM
narciso said...: Exactly now the grishenko business is the converse of the Bentley and chambers revelations. Re Remington Duggan Currie st al.; 4/29/18, 12:26 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: I'm reading a book about gangster, Whitey Bulger in South Boston. The FBI protected his ass for decades.; 4/29/18, 12:26 AM
narciso said...: Yes we know about Connolly (who Matt Damon's Sgt Sullivan was loosely based on,) but not so much about Morris or their enablers in the US atty office.; 4/29/18, 12:31 AM
cubanbob said...: Bay Area Guy said...
I'm reading a book about gangster, Whitey Bulger in South Boston. The FBI protected his ass for decades."

Robert Mueller is involved with this and not in a good way.; 4/29/18, 12:50 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Reading Yesterday's Spacemage. It's an indie from an Aussie author and reads like a first novel. The hero, who may or may not be from Earth, was trained in magic in a medieval-ish setting then thrown into the future, captured by slavers and is now in a newly minted company of space mercenaries. It's starting to pick up a bit, but the writing is so-so and the guy is very incurious and passive for a main character.; 4/29/18, 1:05 AM
gadfly said...: @Mike Sylvester said...
Today at an estate sale I bought the book "Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials" ... I have browsed through the book and see ... parallels with the current RussiaGate witch-hunt.

The only 'Witch Hunt" that parallels RussiaGate is WaterGate and you know it. Richard Nixon used the term "Witch Hunt" in describing The Washington Post's Watergate investigation starring Woodward and Bernstein.

The similarities are astounding. Nixon, with the help of Alexander Haig and others, set out to put a new Attorney General in place who would be loyal to the president and who would do as he was told. Eliot Richardson agreed to take the A-G job with the understanding the Watergate investigation must be completed, even if it led to the president. So Richardson hired his Harvard Law professor, Archibald Cox, a Democrat, to be the Special Counsel (or as Trump spells the word, "Council"). Soon after the investigation got underway, Cox subpoened nine White House audio tapes and all hell broke loose. Long story short, Nixon refused to release the tapes and several months later, he told the A-G it was time to get rid of Cox.

When a White House compromise was put forth to provide written summaries of the tapes to be developed by a nearly deaf Sen. John Stennis, Cox refused to play ball. History shows that Archibald Cox could not be swayed from his ethics and A-G Richardson refused to fire him, as did the Deputy A-G Bill Ruckelshaus, so both resigned. Impeachment began and ultimately Nixon resigned.

We know that Trump has spent the last year lying about the interactions between Trump campaign members and Russians totaling at least 32 meetings - and there is an indeterminent number of phone calls and emails generated since mid-2016. Trump efforts were made to make the law enforcement establishment the bad guys, with Trump firing key FBI personnel, battering FBI and Justice Department staff who coincidentily work for the president.

But Special Investigator Robert Mueller has been quietly investigating all aspects of illegal Russian involvement in our elections and that is now known to be true. Meanwhile, Republican politicians, particularly those on the House Intelligence Committee have published a poorly done "Majority Report" designed to lie even more to the Republican base. But the cavern will soon be wide open with information uncovered from the president's "Fixer" Michael Cohen. It is now only a matter of time - whatever else is wrong with Trump (and that list is long), "ethics" is not a word that ever found its way into his frazzled mind and so the end time is near . . .; 4/29/18, 1:10 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Sundance put together a really good summary of the period September 28th 2016 until the FBI reclosed the Clinton investigation on November 6th 2016, using both James Comey's own words in his interviews along with the real time texts between Strzok and Page. It is a very unflattering picture that emerges regarding McCabe, Comey, and the DoJ.

The summary is basically this, and basically uncontested at this point- McCabe literally sat on the new material for over three weeks until someone in the NY office called main Justice on October 21st asking about what was going on with the new material, at which point someone finally informed James "It wasn't my understanding" Comey. The texts between Page and Strzok basically tell quite a story about the back and forth about what to do since the danger was very great that someone would finally leak the existence of the e-mails to the press along with the information that the FBI had this material since September of 2016. They finally decide to write the letter to Congress reopening the investigation, but still make no moves whatsoever to investigate the contents of the e-mails- indeed most of the discussion is to find ways to explain why they don't need to be looked at all. Still, after the letter was sent, it still took 4 days to get a warrant to look at 650,000 emails, which the FBI claims they did in just 3 days. Given the reluctance demonstrated in the Strzok/Page texts, I think an argument can easily be made that the e-mails weren't examined at all, and probably locked away somewhere in Quantico. I think there is a very good chance the IG has them today.; 4/29/18, 1:38 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: gadfly at 1:10 AM
The only 'Witch Hunt" that parallels RussiaGate is WaterGate and you know it. Richard Nixon used the term "Witch Hunt" in describing The Washington Post's Watergate investigation starring Woodward and Bernstein.

I'm glad that you mentioned Bob Woodward.

All the top officials of the US Government -- in particular of the Intelligence Community -- deny sanctimoniously that they leak to journalists.

However, read Woodward's books, and you will see that they leak to journalists -- in particular to Woodward -- all the time.

One good thing about the current witch-hunt is that top officials are being exposed to the public as the leakers that they are.

The leaker who irks me the most is Sally "The Logan Act Enforcer" Yates. Who else but she leaked about her own heroic efforts to prevent Michael Flynn from violating the Logan Act? And then Yates declares -- under oath before a Congressional committee in a televised hearing -- that she has no idea who leaked that information!

Our government is headed by officials who

1) leak information they are paid well to keep secret

2) perjure themselves publicly denying that they leak.; 4/29/18, 2:30 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: gadfly at 1:10 AM
We know that Trump has spent the last year lying about the interactions between Trump campaign members and Russians totaling at least 32 meetings - and there is an indeterminent number of phone calls and emails generated since mid-2016.

Horrors! Campaign members talked with Russians!!!!

Yesterday Inga made a big deal about some phone call to a blocked number.

Supposedly, Congress cannot issue any reports about the RussiaGate hoax until the Democrats have more time to learn the blocked number.; 4/29/18, 2:36 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: gadfly at 1:10 AM
The only 'Witch Hunt" that parallels RussiaGate is WaterGate and you know it.

Another witch-hunt that parallels RussiaGate was the one that ended in the conviction of Scooter Libby.

It will be interesting to see who will be the Scooter Libby -- the scapegoat -- who will be convicted by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller in order to try to convince the public that this "investigation" has been valid and worthwhile.; 4/29/18, 2:39 AM
Achilles said...: September 28th is the next budget extension date.

Trump just threw down and said he will shut down the government if the wall is not funded.

Somehow I don’t think Paul Ryan is going to sneak up and stab trump in the back again. I see some more republicans retiring to lobbyist sinecures soon.; 4/29/18, 2:43 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/29/18, 3:31 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/29/18, 3:32 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: gadfly at 1:10 AM
We know that Trump has spent the last year lying about the interactions between Trump campaign members and Russians totaling at least 32 meetings - and there is an indeterminent number of phone calls and emails generated since mid-2016.

Some Russians paid Bill Clinton $500,000 to give a speech in Moscow and donated many millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.

Maybe those same Russians were trying to contact Trump in order to offer to him too $500,000 for a speech and to donate many millions of dollars to a Trump charity.

Let's find out if the same Russians were giving out money in both cases.

Let's start by getting all the details about communications between those Russians and the Clintons.

* Let's get all the details about all the Russian-Clinton phone calls and about all the Russian-Clinton e-mails.

* Then let's question the Clintons and their associates about all those phone calls and e-mails and catch them making erroneous statements.

* Then let's count up those erroneous statements and make big deal about it forever.

Let the Clintons be investigated, treated and judged just like Trumps.; 4/29/18, 3:34 AM
Sara D said...: Blogger cubanbob said...
Bay Area Guy said...
"I'm reading a book about gangster, Whitey Bulger in South Boston. The FBI protected his ass for decades."

"Robert Mueller is involved with this and not in a good way."

This is a 48 page report, written by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx)

https://es.scribd.com/document/377409983/Gohmert-Mueller-UNMASKED#fullscreen&from_embed
how anyone can call Mueller "a honorable man", after reading this, is beyond me; 4/29/18, 5:13 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: If Mueller can indict 13 Russian Internet trolls living near Moscow, surely he can indict 2 Russian whores, who pissed all over hotel bed sheets. Call it "malicious defilement of innocent linen" and then nail them for lying if they stumble through the interview.

This can't be hard.; 4/29/18, 5:25 AM
Michael K said...: he danger was very great that someone would finally leak the existence of the e-mails to the press along with the information that the FBI had this material since September of 2016.

This fits with my theory that Comey had his "press conferences" both times because he feared leaks from "White Hat" FBI agents who were tired of the lying and concealment.; 4/29/18, 5:50 AM
Michael K said...: "His young son died of the disease. "

That was Franklin's only legitimate child.

William Franklin, his acknowledged illegitimate son, was estranged and ended up living in London after the Revolution.; 4/29/18, 5:56 AM
Humperdink said...: Didn't watched it, but apparently the White House (Liberal) Correspondents Association dinner was an absolute classic. Filth on parade.; 4/29/18, 6:33 AM
Sydney said...: I read Tom Brokaw’s defensive email. He should have had whoever wrote his book write it.; 4/29/18, 6:54 AM
Paco Wové said...: Excitable Andy revisits England, doesn't like what he sees, gets called a white supremacist.; 4/29/18, 7:47 AM
Robert Cook said...: "I'm reading a book about gangster, Whitey Bulger in South Boston. The FBI protected his ass for decades."

Yep. One of the FBI agents was a childhood friend of Bulger's, and Bulger acted as a confidential informant for the agency. It's despicable that our law enforcement agencies ignore or underwrite the ongoing crimes of terrible people in the name of "getting more and bigger fish." The FBI has always been overrated and more incompetent and corrupt than they have wanted us to know or believe themselves to be.; 4/29/18, 10:27 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Essentially, two people -- Christopher Steele and Cody Shearer -- have caused an irrational hysteria by claiming that they were told by Russian Intelligence insiders that Russia meddled in our 2016 election."

Irrational, but understandable: people invested in the idea that Hillary Clinton "should" and "would" have won if not for manipulation by others--not least among these is one who was among the first to promulgate the idea, the Hillary beast herself--cannot and will not accept that Hillary was so unlikable (or Trump likable to many) that she just flat lost the election. Yes, more voters pulled the lever/check-marked the box/punched the touchscreen for Clinton than for Trump, but not in the states that would have helped her electorally. For that to happen, enough people throughout the nation had to have voted for Trump. For all the huffing and puffing, I have yet to hear how the Russians actually convinced a sufficient number of voters to pick Trump over Clinton.; 4/29/18, 10:37 AM
Gahrie said...: The FBI protected his ass for decades."

Our friend Mueller did some of the protecting.; 4/29/18, 11:14 AM
Rusty said...: The lesser of two assholes, Bob. The people chose the one who appeared not as publicaly corrupt.
On the Russians? I agree. It's hilarious to think that Russians wasted good money on this shit.; 4/29/18, 11:15 AM
n.n said...: ... you will enter a dissonant self and leave discombobulated.; 4/29/18, 10:33 PM
narciso said...: That was John Connolly portrAyed by cumberbatch who is now playing Dr. Strange.; 4/29/18, 10:57 PM