Althouse: At the Deep Purple Café...

June 16, 2018

At the Deep Purple Café...

... have your Saturday night conversation.

And here's the Althouse Portal to Amazon.

82 comments:

Birkel said...: Let's talk about the crumbs of the economy booming.
I say Atlanta Fed overshoots with its 4.8% Q2 growth forecast.
I say it will be 4.4%.; 6/16/18, 7:14 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Early this morning (~2:00AM EDT) as I was going to sleep I was listening to BBC. One of the guests was an Israeli intellectual who introduced herself as "feminist, Zionist, & an atheist". She went on & on about how folks don't imagine a Zionist can be an atheist & how many of the founders of Zionism & of Israel were atheists/agnostics & were actually reacting against the Jewish faith.

I didn't have much of problem with what she was saying because historically it was true. My reaction based on her vehemence that such things were not well known. When she says that people don't imagine an atheistic Zionist, who is she referring to? Is this a common assumption in Europe, that Zionism & Judaism just go together?; 6/16/18, 7:17 PM
Birkel said...: Obama managed one quarter of 3.8% yoy growth.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A191RO1Q156NBEA; 6/16/18, 7:18 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: Birkel:

Strong growth in GDP and employment will trigger increased inflation. While I would welcome the normalcy of higher interest rates, I fear the markets will have a hard time digesting higher inflation. Higher mortgage and auto loan interest rates will be a shock to those under 30 years old.

Some of us bought our first homes during the Carter era. I hope we don't ever have 13% home loans again.; 6/16/18, 7:27 PM
MikeD said...: Pictured greenhouse plants somewhat mirror wildflower plants here on the Sierra Nevada's lower western slopes. I'd offer examples save for the fact my artistic photography skills are on par with my fusion reactor design skills.; 6/16/18, 7:33 PM
Birkel said...: Tommy Duncan,
While I appreciate your worry I don't believe we're headed toward stagflation. Remember, those high interest rates were caused because the Fed wanted to restrict the growth in the supply of dollars.

Student loan holders are really going to take it in the shorts. Those don't have fixed rates.

After the slow economic growth of the last 10 years there may be significant room for growth without much inflationary pressure. We'll see.; 6/16/18, 7:42 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: du Purple, par le Purple, pour le Purple.

Vive Las Vegas!; 6/16/18, 7:46 PM
J. Farmer said...: @YoungHegelian:

When she says that people don't imagine an atheistic Zionist, who is she referring to? Is this a common assumption in Europe, that Zionism & Judaism just go together?

I imagine this is true of America as well. For one, most Americans are not likely to have even fully understand what Zionism is, let alone the motives and beliefs of its earliest proponents and leaders. It is also a bit muddled in America because many of the loudest proponents of Zionism are, in fact, evangelical Christians.; 6/16/18, 7:47 PM
rhhardin said...: I got my first Asia, Japan, this morning. There's an Asia contest which raises the opportunity.

I heard some early very weak on 40m, which depends on a darkness path to Japan, but they couldn't hear me, with my puny 15 watts.

So I put up a 20m temporary antenna in the front yard. 20m depends on a daylight path to Japan. And one of them managed to pick me out of the noise, counting as a contact.

Asia among continents, like North Dakota among states, was a holdout for an unreasonably long time from the complete set.

I suppose I need Antarctica too, but I've never heard one.; 6/16/18, 7:51 PM
rhhardin said...: Judaism doesn't require belief in god.; 6/16/18, 7:55 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: If anyone's interested; Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and CFO Sunny Balwani have been indicted on wire fraud charges.; 6/16/18, 8:04 PM
stephen cooper said...: rhhardin - of course Judaism requires a belief in God.

why would you say such an untrue thing?

Even Captain Solzhenitsyn, a former Stalinist, even Solzhenitsyn would not agree.

Where did you obtain such falsehood in the inaccurate guise of wisdom?

Is this an Asperger thing that I am missing?; 6/16/18, 8:06 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/16/18, 8:08 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Farmer,

It is also a bit muddled in America because many of the loudest proponents of Zionism are, in fact, evangelical Christians.

Yes, that's true, but they are quite aware of the secular nature of much of Israeli culture if for no other reason than they are frequent tourists to the country. I also remember years ago (e.g. 70s/early 80s) one of the major evangelical preachers getting his panties in a bunch because the foundation of Israel was based on socialistic Labour Zionism. Needless to say, the more recent currents of Israeli politics have been more to the likings of the Evangelicals.; 6/16/18, 8:10 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Stephen Cooper,

Maybe RH was accosted by Humanistic Jews as a child or sumthin'.

But, Rabbinic Judaism sure as shootin' requires a belief in God.; 6/16/18, 8:15 PM
madAsHell said...: Fremont is a district in Seattle. According to some, it's the center of the universe.

They have a summer solstice fair. Everyone rides their bicycle naked.

I live a couple of miles to the east of Fremont. My wife saw a naked guy with a purple penis running on the bicycle trail.

I told my wife "Imagine me in high school".; 6/16/18, 8:17 PM
narciso said...: I think he meant Zionism, certainly orde Wingate who trained who would become the Polmach was an evangelical Christian, he is the mirror image to Lawrence, for the arabs.; 6/16/18, 8:18 PM
eddie willers said...: "Imagine me in high school".

Walking behind Melanie Williams.; 6/16/18, 8:20 PM
narciso said...: Yes there a problem rhere:

http://streetwiseprofessor.com/the-wsj-tut-tuts-that-trump-should-take-the-high-road-and-; 6/16/18, 8:25 PM
Roughcoat said...: Question for anyone who can answer it: which of the two U.S. Grant bios -- by Chernow and White respectively -- should I read first? Which is the better of the two, and why?; 6/16/18, 8:25 PM
Lucien said...: Genuinely asking for information: If person A sneaks into the US with her daughter, works for a year, is caught by ICE, and then says “We are refugees seeking asylum”; and person B (with daughter) approaches customs officials at the border and says “We are refugees seeking asylum” — are the two cases supposed to be treated the same under US or international law?; 6/16/18, 8:26 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/16/18, 8:42 PM
Roughcoat said...: I'll bite. Zionism was a political movement whose objective was to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Early leaders of the movement could self-identify as socialists and even atheists, i.e. non-believing Jews -- but Jews nonetheless. Jews understand that Gentiles will regard them as Jews if they born Jewish and never mind that they have no faith in the theological sense. There is a corollary to this among Irish Catholics. Not a few Irish Catholic have lost their faith but readily and willingly identify as Irish Catholics. I am reminded of that line by John Mahoney in the Ed Byrnes movie "She's the One" when he declares "Just because I don't believe in God doesn't mean I'm not a good Catholic."

I'm Irish and Catholic and with strong Zionist sympathies: a Catholic Zionist if you will.; 6/16/18, 8:43 PM
Michael K said...: I hope we don't ever have 13% home loans again.

I remember 21%. My partner built a house on a lake in Orange County. The neighbors on either side went into foreclosure because they could not qualify after the houses were complete. I knew a lawyer in San Juan Capistrano whose house payment was $10,000 a month.

which of the two U.S. Grant bios -- by Chernow and White respectively -- should I read first? Which is the better of the two, and why?

I have read the Chernow bio and liked it. I don't know the other one, Have you read Grant's autobiography? It's the best of all.; 6/16/18, 8:43 PM
Michael K said...: Jews understand that Gentiles will regard them as Jews if they born Jewish and never mind that they have no faith in the theological sense.

Israel was a pet of the political left as long as it was Socialist and weak. Once it became conservative, capitalist, rich and powerful, the left abandoned it.

Of course , the "powerful" is relative but with Arabs it is enough.; 6/16/18, 8:46 PM
stephen cooper said...: YoungHegelian - Thanks for the information.

Apparently RHardin was technically correct.; 6/16/18, 8:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/16/18, 8:55 PM
traditionalguy said...: FTR: Jews believe in the empowered words of Moses, David and the Hebrew Prophets (Isaiah et al..) as God empowered truth. But after 70 AD most decided scattered Jews that God is not on their side much anymore, and are irritated with Him until the Messiah King rebuilds the Temple in Jerusalem. And after Darwin and Freud many European educated Jews pretty much came to the belief that their God who was once real, is MIA, This was proven when the civilized Europeans went insane and murdered all but a remnant of Jews...one from a family and one from a city was all that were found alive to regather in Israel and start to fight back.; 6/16/18, 8:56 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @SC,

Apparently RHardin was technically correct.

Yes, the Humanists & the Reconstructionist Jews get pretty loosey-goosey on belief in a deity.

Now, me, I ain't too thrilled about this Missing Deity booyah. But, somehow, no group of Jews ever gets together & says "Hey, let's run this by Rebbe YoungHegelianowitz. Even through he's a Roman Catholic, he's still a swell guy. Let's get his Imprimatur & Nihil Obstat (except in Hebrew) on this stuff before we move ahead".

Maybe they'd be better off if they did. But, ya know, that's just me!; 6/16/18, 9:01 PM
David Begley said...: Smoke on the Water.; 6/16/18, 9:03 PM
roesch/voltaire said...: Love or hate her Maureen Dowd delivered a piece de resistance in her column this Sunday--made me smile on Father's Day.; 6/16/18, 9:10 PM
n.n said...: Shadehouse. Fool me once...

Faith (i.e. logical domain, conviction), religion (i.e. moral philosophy), and traditions are separable. There are quite a few "secular" (e.g. atheist, agnostic) Jews with their own faith, moral philosophy, and traditions. Religion in particular is considered a living philosophy that is adapted to conform.; 6/16/18, 9:10 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: A Jew is a person whose mother was Jewish and who has not converted to another religion. You can be Jewish without practicing Judaism. The religion does require faith in God. The Nazis drew absolutely no distinction between a pious Orthodox rabbi and a completely secular Jew.

Of course, that's because the Nazis thought the Jews were a race, which they are not. But they are a people. I am sure a religious Orthodox Jew and political conservative Ben Shapiro thinks very little of Leon Trotsky. But he would acknowledge Trotsky's Jewishness.; 6/16/18, 9:11 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: A 45 year old mother of 7 who lived in a blue collar suburb of Milwaukee has been charged with plotting terrorist attacks on churches and festivals.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2018/06/15/cudahy-mom-charged-promoting-isis-attacks-held-without-bail/702851002/

What a charmer. Pity she didn't move next door to Inga.; 6/16/18, 9:18 PM
Andrew said...: Am I the only person who has an instinctive reaction to a media pile on, even if the topic deserves sympathy? The way all the journalists are in a furor over illegal immigrants and asylum seekers being separated from their children is obnoxious to me. I get that it's a controversial issue, but I'm tired of the hyperventilating. There's no pretense of objectivity, just non-stop virtue signaling. I don't think the news media understand how much regular people despise them. "We get it. You care. You're superior. Now can you shut up about it? Can you just report the news, and knock off the manipulations?"; 6/16/18, 9:22 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Sundance at CTH is asking a question I asked 2 years ago- was it really possible to examine "hundreds of thousands" of e-mails on the Weiner laptop in just a few days. I had supposed that this work was done by a team of dozens in the rush to exonerate Clinton before the election once again, but I do seem to have been wrong. The OIG report does seem to indicate that there are contradictions in the story about how this was done- enough so that it is likely it wasn't really done at all- it was all just another fabrication to reach the hard deadline.; 6/16/18, 9:23 PM
narciso said...: Hottakes off the griddle:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/twitchy.com; 6/16/18, 9:39 PM
Birkel said...: Yancey Ward,
My understanding is a rough maximum of 100 documents per hour can be properly reviewed. And they had three reviewers. If they worked 12 hour days that's 1200 documents for each of the three people = 3600 documents per day.

The math doesn't work.; 6/16/18, 9:44 PM
Narayanan said...: So ... is there any chance this matter can be revisited and grow up to be an investigation?; 6/16/18, 9:45 PM
William said...: The European culture that had the most effect on Judaism was Germany. Zionism, Hasidism, Reform Judaism were all started by German speaking Jews. Marxism, which was a kind of religion for atheists, was also a German Jewish thing. Jews had an affinity for German culture. Don't know what this proves. God moves his wonders in mysterious ways?; 6/16/18, 9:51 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Yancey Ward said...

Sundance at CTH is asking a question I asked 2 years ago- was it really possible to examine "hundreds of thousands" of e-mails on the Weiner laptop in just a few days.

It is possible, and easy, if the vast majority are duplicates of emails that they already had because they were turned over by Clinton. Those can be sorted out quickly.; 6/16/18, 9:51 PM
Big Mike said...: @roesch, I read that column and, frankly, it’s a crock. But then do are you. 🖕; 6/16/18, 9:53 PM
Fabi said...: If I remember correctly the hundreds of thousands of emails from the laptop were examined using a key word scan. Another word for that type of examination is "sham".; 6/16/18, 9:54 PM
William said...: It's bad enough that Clinton had classified info on her private server, but Weiner had some of this info on his laptop. Weiner is one of the preeminent perverts of our time. He had an international reputation, and he was in possession of classified information. Why didn't this scandal achieve Petraeus proportions? That's a scandal in itself.; 6/16/18, 9:56 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Birkel,

From the outside looking in, it seems to me that they knew they could never really dig through the material before November 8th 2016, so someone made a decision to run any filter on the e-mails that reduced the number to less than 5000. The story is that the filter removed all the other e-mails because they were duplicates (a bit unbelievable given that Clinton turned over, what, 30,000 hard copies and the OIG report indicates 300,000 e-mails on the laptop- so color me doubtful right from the start).

I want to know the details about this miraculous filter that was used. I bet it doesn't actually work at all the way we are led to believe it does.

That laptop should still be in FBI custody, right? Might be worth looking at a second time.; 6/16/18, 9:58 PM
Birkel said...: Ignorance is Bliss,

Go look at the most recent post by Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse. The metadata was not consistent and that makes duplicates much more difficult to sort.

You will find the tech people were asked about reducing duplicates and both NY and Quantico techs said they could not use technology to reduce the number of documents for review.

It's in the IG report.; 6/16/18, 10:02 PM
Birkel said...: Fabi,

That was not explained in the IG report, that I have seen. If you know otherwise, please share where that information is.

Key word searches work fine if you know the key words. Knowing the key words requires a preliminary random search to develop the key word data base. And it is an iterative process.

Takes more than three days.; 6/16/18, 10:05 PM
Birkel said...: Yancey Ward,

I commend to you the most recent The Conservative Treehouse article. It is excellent.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/; 6/16/18, 10:07 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Birkel said...

Go look at the most recent post by Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse. The metadata was not consistent and that makes duplicates much more difficult to sort.

I'm not saying that they did a proper review, or that they did use technology to find duplicates. I'm just saying that it would be easy to do. If the tech guys couldn't figure it out, then they are idiots. ( If the issue is that the metadata is not consistent ( which it obviously would not be, since the emails were forwarded ) they you just strip out the metadata. )

Hash the contents, then compare hash numbers. If you find a match, double check by comparing the full text. Clinton delivered hard copies, so they needed to be scanned, that messes up whitespace, so strip that out too. It also means you might have introduced typos, so hash line-by-line, and if two emails contain enough matching lines, then consider them a match, or part of the same email thread.; 6/16/18, 10:13 PM
Big Mike said...: @Ignorance, hashing is notorious for introducing duplicate hashes from very different documents. If you're going to eliminate duplicates based on hashing then you are going to "de-dup" some non-duplicates.; 6/16/18, 10:27 PM
Birkel said...: Ignorance is Bliss,
Another problem with doing that is E-mail chains often have long parts that are duplicated but newer messages that add info or add new people into the chain. Unless the matches are complete, total matches then the idea that your suggested process is accurate -- well, it loses me.

Remember, that even working 12 hour days on only this task only gets a 3-person team through 10,000 documents.

No doc review happened.; 6/16/18, 10:38 PM
Birkel said...: Remember, there are Strozk text messages and E-mails for every day of the supposed document review period.

My generous allowance for 12 hour days is wrong. Even that bit is impossible.

The tech who mirrored Weiner's hard drive was commanded to wipe the FBI computer that had the mirrored drive. One wonders where that order originated.; 6/16/18, 10:41 PM
Xmas said...: I'm surprised they are still selling purple lupines. I thought you were far enough East that they'd be considered invasive.; 6/16/18, 10:46 PM
Fabi said...: Birkel -- my earlier comment reflected something I read at the time of event. I haven't read the entire report or looked for that specific topic. If I see it upon further reading I'll provide a reference.; 6/16/18, 10:48 PM
rcocean said...: The furor over "The Children" is just the usual MSM Bullshit.

Where are the MSM articles over all "the children" HURT by illegal immigration?

No, its just the MSM pushing the "Immigration is always Great" narrative.

When illegal and legal immigration causes harm to American citizens its ignored or minimized by the MSM. When they need to jack up sympathy for the immigration then its highlighted by the MSM.

They are ALWAYS pushing "The "Narrative".; 6/16/18, 11:09 PM
rcocean said...: You see the same thing with "Free Trade".

When NAFTA and these other 1,000 page "Free trade" deals result in factories closing and Americans losing their jobs, the MSM just ignored it, or framed it as "Oh well, globalization is going to hurt some people, its all for the best".

But when Trump put in some tariffs, the MSM raced around and found some body who got hurt. Then it was "So-and-So to pay $X million because of Trump tariff".

Its all about news selection and pushing "The Narrative". Sadly, it works - because people are stupid.; 6/16/18, 11:14 PM
FIDO said...: Judaism is a religion. One can't be an atheist and a Jew at the same time.

One can be a descendent from Judaism, but if one rejects God, one rejects Judaism.

What they want is buffet culture/God. "I want to gain the benefits of being a Jew without actual belief or supporting the community.'

That so many Jews let them get away with this is on them.; 6/16/18, 11:19 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/17/18, 12:32 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: Andrew McCarthy has written an article, published at National Review describing how the FBI uses leaks to pressure recalcitrant subjects.

McCarthy gives the example of FBI agent David Chaves, who "serially and lawlessly leaked grand-jury information, wiretap evidence, and other sensitive investigative intelligence to the media in his quest to make an insider-trading case against some celebrities."

Chaves has not been punished at all for his leaking, because such leaking is the wide-spread practice of the FBI.

The FBI investigates a person and then leaks to favored journalists that the person is being investigated and leaks also details from the wiretaps and grand-jury testimony. By using this tactic, the FBI causes personal, social and economic problems for the person so that eventually he will cease his resistance to the FBI.

Because this tactic works well, the FBI has used it for a very long time -- certainly during all the years when the FBI Director was Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller.

When Mueller's FBI got caught using its leaking tactic against Steven Hatfill in the anthrax case and had to pay a $5 million compensation to Hatfill, the FBI simply considered the compensation as a cost of doing FBI business.

The FBI has got caught using its leaking tactic during its RussiaGate hoax. Once again, the FBI conducted an investigation and then leaked that the investigation was happening. The FBI's purpose in its leaking was to cause problems for Donald Trump and his associates. However, this case's subject, Donald Trump, has not ceased his resistance.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/misconduct-at-fbi-department-of-justice/; 6/17/18, 12:32 AM
StephenFearby said...: McCarthy's latest article...

Problems at the Justice Department and FBI Are Serious

...suggests that Trump should start twisting the thumbscrews:

'As in the Justice Department’s stonewalling of the congressional committees pressing for answers about investigative tactics in the Russia probe, if the president does not take remedial action and demand transparency, the disreputable behavior will continue, and public faith will continue to plummet."

Devin Nunes has long been leading the charge against this problem and after some resistance, even Trey Goudey seems now to have signed on.

Nunes is so relentless the Dems might start calling him Javert.; 6/17/18, 1:51 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I'm surprised they are still selling purple lupines. I thought you were far enough East that they'd be considered invasive."'

These are not lupines. I am certain they are salvia because I have another picture of the same set of plants where the label, a sticker on the pot, is clearly readable. These are May Night Salvia. The 2 plants are completely different, not even the same order. Salvia are Lamiales, which include 23,810 species, including (Wikipedia says) "lavender, lilac, olive, jasmine, the ash tree, teak, snapdragon, sesame, psyllium, garden sage, and a number of table herbs such as mint, basil, and rosemary." Lupines are Fabales, which include "the families Fabaceae or legumes (including the subfamilies Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae, and Faboideae), Quillajaceae, Polygalaceae or milkworts (including the families Diclidantheraceae, Moutabeaceae, and Xanthophyllaceae), and Surianaceae. "; 6/17/18, 4:57 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Lupines are in the family Fabaceae or Leguminosae — "commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family... the third-largest land plant family in terms of number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 751 genera and some 19,000 known species.[7][8][9] The five largest of the genera are Astragalus (over 3,000 species), Acacia (over 1000 species), Indigofera (around 700 species), Crotalaria (around 700 species) and Mimosa (around 500 species), which constitute about a quarter of all legume species. The ca. 19,000 known legume species amount to about 7% of flowering plant species. Fabaceae is the most common family found in tropical rainforests and in dry forests in the Americas and Africa."; 6/17/18, 5:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I'm just cutting and pasting from Wikipedia and not showing off my own knowledge. I had to look it all up. If you'd have told me, 10 minutes ago, that salvia and lupine were 2 words for the same plant, you could have fooled me.

My mind drifts to the language question: Is "Fabaceae" based on the same root as "fava"?; 6/17/18, 5:02 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: I wish salvia would invade my garden. Black and blue salvia I've planted brought me into arm's reach of humming birds... lots of 'em. The honey bees and humming birds made my little patch look like Chicago O'hare. Good times there.; 6/17/18, 5:15 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Speaking of lupines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbtVaTWs6II

Entire sketch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkhx0eqK5w&t=339s; 6/17/18, 5:40 AM
tim in vermont said...: Peter Strzok, a principal in both the Clinton and Trump investigations, emails his FBI colleague/bedmate/fellow partisan, Lisa Page, this contemptuous classic: “Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support …” The capital letters are his. It was Walmart. It was southern Virginia for god’s sake. He could SMELL Trump voters.. - Rex Murphy National Post

Remember when Democrats used to represent the people they now call trailer trash, who shop at WlMart?; 6/17/18, 6:06 AM
tim in vermont said...: Seems like the FBI hasn’t changed all that much since they enabled mobster and serial murderer Whitey Bulger.; 6/17/18, 6:09 AM
tim in vermont said...: Trump’s supporters are all poor to middle class, uneducated, lazy POS that think he will magically grant them jobs for doing nothing. They probably didn’t watch the debates, aren’t fully educated on his policies, and are stupidly wrapped up in his unmerited enthusiasm.”.

Hey look! It seems like Strzok has been posting here as ARM!; 6/17/18, 6:14 AM
Rick.T. said...: Those are unquestionably salvia of some kind. Herbaceous members of the mint family all have square stems and opposite leaves. Most have fragrant foliage as well.; 6/17/18, 6:18 AM
Sydney said...: @Andrew- Yes, I am also sick of the MSM virtue signaling and histrionics. This is the main reason I no longer listen to or watch news and why I limit my newspaper news to local events. I don’t think the professional journalists realize how much damage they’ve done to their profession.; 6/17/18, 6:53 AM
Hagar said...: Salvia are the only plants that can stand the heat along my southwest facing garage wall and the hummingbirds love them.
(Because they are psychedelic? Or is that just the leaves and not the nectar? The hummers do not seem to be adversely affected.); 6/17/18, 6:54 AM
rhhardin said...: If you'd have told me, 10 minutes ago, that salvia and lupine were 2 words for the same plant, you could have fooled me.

Furze and gorse are the only two exact synonyms in English.; 6/17/18, 7:23 AM
Hagar said...: They know he is guilty.
They just have to figure out what the crime was.; 6/17/18, 7:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Andrew: "Am I the only person who has an instinctive reaction to a media pile on, even if the topic deserves sympathy? The way all the journalists are in a furor over illegal immigrants and asylum seekers being separated from their children is obnoxious to me."

One would think that any self-respecting adult would turn away in disgust from such crude propaganda.

That there are people who credulously accept it, instead of being indignant at the insult offered to their intelligence, is disturbing.; 6/17/18, 8:03 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger tim in vermont said...
Seems like the FBI hasn’t changed all that much since they enabled mobster and serial murderer Whitey Bulger.

It is no coincidence that Mueller is involved in this diry business.

Back in the 1980s, when he was serving on the Massachusetts parole board, Albano expressed some sympathy for a group of men who had always maintained they had been framed for the 1965 gangland murder of a hoodlum named Teddy Deegan in Chelsea. The FBI had been instrumental in seeing that the men - Peter Limone, Henry Tameleo, Joe Salvati, and Louis Greco - were convicted. The FBI contended that Tameleo was the consigliere of the Mafia in Boston, and that Limone was a Mafia leader. There is no question that both men were bad actors, and Mafia players, but the evidence showed that neither had anything to do Deegan’s murder.

So in 1983, after Albano indicated he might vote to release Limone, he got a visit from a pair of FBI agents named John Connolly and John Morris. They told Albano that the men convicted of Deegan’s murder were bad guys, made guys.

It gets better. And sounds familiar.

After Albano was elected mayor of Springfield in 1995, he soon found the FBI hot on his tail, investigating his administration for corruption. The FBI took down several people in his administration, and Albano is convinced that the FBI wasn’t interested in public integrity as much as in publicly humiliating him because he dared to defy them.

Sound familiar ?

Albano was appalled that, later that same year, Mueller was appointed FBI director, because it was Mueller, first as an assistant US attorney then as the acting US attorney in Boston, who wrote letters to the parole and pardons board throughout the 1980s opposing clemency for the four men framed by FBI lies.

Of course, Mueller was also in that position while Whitey Bulger was helping the FBI cart off his criminal competitors even as he buried bodies in shallow graves along the Neponset.

“Before he gets that extension,’’ Mike Albano said, “somebody in the Senate or House needs to ask him why the US Attorney’s office he led let the FBI protect Whitey Bulger.’’

Yes, that's our Bob Mueller. Still at the old hangout. Harassing politicians he doesn't like.; 6/17/18, 8:04 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Furze and gorse are the only two exact synonyms in English."

I'd like a comedy team named Furze and Gorse.; 6/17/18, 8:29 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/17/18, 10:18 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Back when I was eating a strict low carb diet I ran across a flour that was made out of lupine beans, Lupin flour, which are the seeds of the genus Lupinis, which is a wild Lupine flower. Some people with peanut allergies are also allergic to Lupin flour. It was a good addition to a low carb flour mixture, no flavor, blended well with the other low carb flours; 6/17/18, 10:18 AM
joeknows said...: madAsHell said...I live a couple of miles to the east of Fremont. My wife saw a naked guy with a purple penis running on the bicycle trail.

Maybe he just voted in Iraq.; 6/17/18, 10:22 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: I'm just cutting and pasting from Wikipedia and not showing off my own knowledge. I had to look it all up. If you'd have told me, 10 minutes ago, that salvia and lupine were 2 words for the same plant, you could have fooled me.”

I appreciate people who do not claim that that they know everything and anything and that that there’s no shame in having to look things up.; 6/17/18, 10:26 AM
Jim at said...: Am I the only person who has an instinctive reaction to a media pile on, even if the topic deserves sympathy?

Nope. You're not. I tune out because they don't even try to be objective about it anymore.

Click.; 6/17/18, 1:00 PM
Rosa Marie Yoder said...: Mass plantings of salvia are strikingly beautiful. They line the banks of some highways in southeastern Michigan.

I'm also told that they are deer resistant, which is good to know in my neck of the woods. It must be the odor, which downright stinks!; 6/18/18, 1:42 PM