September 22, 2018

At the Orange-and-Blue Café...

DSC05520

... you can talk all night.

And do think of using the Althouse Portal to Amazon. One thing I bought recently is "Educated: A Memoir" by Tara Westover. I recommend it. Here's an excerpt, something that I was listening to as I walked on Willy Street today:
I had grown up preparing for the Days of Abomination, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood. I spent my summers bottling peaches and my winters rotating supplies. When the World of Men failed, my family would continue on, unaffected. I had been educated in the rhythms of the mountain, rhythms in which change was never fundamental, only cyclical. The same sun appeared each morning, swept over the valley and dropped behind the peak. The snows that fell in winter always melted in the spring. Our lives were a cycle—the cycle of the day, the cycle of the seasons—circles of perpetual change that, when complete, meant nothing had changed at all. I believed my family was a part of this immortal pattern, that we were, in some sense, eternal. But eternity belonged only to the mountain.

There’s a story my father used to tell about the peak.... From a distance, you could see the impression of a woman’s body on the mountain face: her legs formed of huge ravines, her hair a spray of pines fanning over the northern ridge. Her stance was commanding, one leg thrust forward in a powerful movement, more stride than step. My father called her the Indian Princess. She emerged each year when the snows began to melt, facing south, watching the buffalo return to the valley....

112 comments:

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

That's nice... I'm listening to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, read by the author. That passage reminds me of it.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Got Educated on Audible from your tip yesterday. We fell asleep listening to the first 5 chapters this PM. Some how that earthy reality she lived with is calming despite the extreme characters in her family. They ring true. Thanks.

chickelit said...

I'll see your blue-and-orange and raise you some Blues Explosion

paminwi said...

A commercial during the Badger football game made by the University states that the tuition at UW-Madiaon is the lowest in the Big 10!
Every parent that sends their child to UW should say "Thank you Scott Walker!"

traditionalguy said...

That quote reminded me of our 3 day trip to the Hemlock Inn outside Bryson City, NC coming up Thursday. Mort gave us the Innkeepers cottage at a room rate because we are old regulars. The view of the Mountains from the porch has not changed since the first time my parents took us there in 1956.

Birkel said...

Jeff Flake plans to vote present on the Kavanaugh nomination.
Yet another thing Chuck, fopdoodle extraordinaire, got wrong.

chickelit said...

@paminwi: For years I had a 1¢ rebate given to every UW student by the Pail and Shovel Party after they won the student government. It was penny glued to a cheap piece of paper, rubber-stamp signed by Leon Varjian and Jim Mallon. Tuition at the time was $415/semester.

Mike Sylwester said...

The Abomination of the Desolation is a phrase from the Old Testament book of Daniel.

Essentially, the phrase is part of a prophecy that a cosmic war would begin at a calculated future point of time. The original Christians calculated that this cosmic war would begin in their own immediate future.

The cosmic war would involve all seven levels of Heaven. The major combatants would be armies of angels at all those levels.

The lowest level of Heaven was the Firmament of the Earth.

If you look upwards from the Earth, you see the Sky, which is the Firmament's bottom side. On the Firmament's top side is a world that is populated mostly by celestial beings such as seraphim and cherubim. A few human beings live there too.

=====

The Wizard of Oz story depicts that world on the Firmament. A tornado lifts Dorothy far upward to the sky, onto the Firmament. There she finds a world that is populated by celestial beings -- witches, Munchins, flying monkeys, and so forth.

On the Firmament, Dorothy finds also the Wizard -- a human being who previously was lifted onto the Firmament by a hot-air balloon.

Beyond this "Wizard of Oz", the Firmament did have a few other human beings. For example, many centuries earlier, the prophet Elijah had been carried up onto the Firmament by a fiery chariot.

======

When the cosmic war would begin, then some human beings would be transported from Earth upwards onto the Firmament, where they would join the battle there among the celestial beings who populated the Firmament.

Most of those human beings would perish in the cosmic war. Those few who survived would ultimately join the angels at the highest levels of Heaven. Those few survivors would spend eternity, with the highest angel armies, praising God blissfully.

======

That was the thinking of the original Christians.

For them, the Abomination of the Desolation was a major consideration, because they calculated that the cosmic war would begin very soon, in their own lifetimes.

Andrew said...

On one hand, I'm hoping that the way Kavanaugh has been treated will provoke many people to vote against the Democrats in November (regardless of whether he's confirmed).

On the other hand, if the Republicans screw this up, and Kavanaugh is not confirmed, I suspect many people who would normally vote Republican will just not bother. Because what's the point? If they're always going to buckle under a Democrat/media onslaught, why bother putting them back in office? By now they should have learned something from Trump, and grown a backbone.

I still wonder if Grassley or some other Republican has an ace up his sleeve. The two years of Trump have given us some pleasant surprises. So maybe the Republicans are acting like they're weak, when they're actually confident in what's coming. Time will tell.

If Kavanaugh is confirmed, I hope he enjoys his revenge for many years to come.

Yancey Ward said...

Birkel,

It will take three Republicans voting present to sink the nomination if the Democrats have a unanimous caucus against. I suspect that Flake is just saying this because it is meaningless. If he had real courage, he would vote "No" on confirmation.

Mike Sylwester said...

Andrew at 8:34 PM
if the Republicans screw this up, and Kavanaugh is not confirmed, I suspect many people who would normally vote Republican will just not bother

The Republicans have just a 51-49 majority in the Senate.

Because their margin is so small, all the Senate Republicans must bend over backward to accommodate a few fools -- Flake, Collins, Murkowski, Corker.

Andrew, almost all the Senate Republicans are with you!

However, they have to do what they have to do.

Soon Flake will be gone, but right now he still is there in the Senate.

Florence said...

CNN has learned that the committee has reached out to a longtime friend of Ford named Leland Ingham Keyser.
On Saturday night, her lawyer, Howard Walsh, released a statement to CNN and the Senate Judiciary Committee..
"Simply put," Walsh said, "Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford."
The lawyer acknowledged to CNN that Keyser is a lifelong friend of Ford's.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/22/politics/kavanaugh-ford-accuser-nomination/index.html

Tank said...

@trad

Have a great time in Bryson City. We were up there a couple of weeks ago, beautiful country. Sounds like you know the place better than me, so I won't bore you with stuff you already know. Enjoy !

Birkel said...

Yancey Ward:
One present and one against.
Then the Democrats most be 49-0 against.

CWJ said...

You know. Regarding Althouse's statement that she feels Ford's accusation may be closer to the truth than Kavanaugh's straight forward denial, I'm disgusted either way. If it's sincere, It flies in the face of all current evidence we have of Kavanaugh's character while requiring dismissal of all demonstrable issues with Ford's accusation. Her belief is purely emotional with more than a whiff, indeed a full tablespoon, of misandry. If it's trolling her own blog to guage the commenters' reactions, I resent being set up and toyed with. I refuse to play.

Mike Sylwester said...

Are you angry that Brett Kavanaugh's lifetime of exemplary good conduct is being trashed by gullible fools like Ann "I believe Dr. Ford!" Althouse?

Well, then, compare your own anger to the anger of the original Christians!

The Romans had captured Jerusalem and had destroyed the Temple!

The book of Daniel, in its passages about The Abomination of the Desolation, had provided calculations that a cosmic war would begin during the lifetimes of the original Christians.

During that cosmic war, the entire Earth would be destroyed. A few Christians would rise up onto the Firmament to join the cosmic war, but most of them would perish in that cosmic war. Only a few survivors of that cosmic war would to join the celestial choir of top-level angels praising God blissfully and eternally.

Ironically, the imminent cosmic war was a consolation, because Earth's concerns were trivial. The entire Earth would be destroyed soon.

Therefore, nobody should worry about Earth's soon-to-end concerns.

mikee said...

I would laugh myself to tears if on Monday morning, Grassley opens the Judiciary Committee meeting (which is still scheduled with other business on the agenda, too) with the announcement that talks with Ford have not succeeded getting her to testify, and that the vote will be held immediately.

Francisco D said...

The natives are restless and angry, Althouse.

You need to explain yourself.

steve uhr said...

Anyone who knows for certain who is telling the truth before hearing them testify is just playing politics.

narciso said...

Yes I read that boon when it came out, some of her subsequent work like her last the goldfish were inpenetrable.

Birkel said...

No, steve uhr, we can determine truthfulness based on an inability to name a YEAR in which the bull shit, lied about, false accusation of alleged bad behavior took place.

We don't need to give Democrat lies credence. You are busy crying wolf. We are busy hoping the wolf eats you.

Francisco D said...

The fact that the "Russian Collusion" hoax is still alive in the fevered minds of Democrats has encouraged them to perpetrate another hoax on the American people: teenage Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted another teenager although there is no evidence whatsoever.

These are dangerous times.

CWJ said...
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CWJ said...

As long as we're discussing the early Christians, let's apply the Ford doctrine. Mathew? How can you even consider him as a church authority? He was once a tax collector. Paul? Didn't he go by Saul and persecute Christians on a regular basis? Mary Magdeline. Well the less said about her the better.

Jesus asked the adulterer to go and sin no more. Even if everything Ford claims was true, Kavanaugh to our knowledge has passed the adulterer test. OK Dems. It your move. Are you going to stone the "adulterer" 35 years after the fact? Oh who am I kidding. Oh course you are!

wildswan said...

Usually I can put politics aside for long periods but somehow this Kavanaugh thing has gotten me restless and I keep reading around looking for nuggets or new information. There's an absence of leaks which makes me think things are bad on the other side. I hope and trust my side is waiting, not wilting. And while I wait I think how strange it is that in Wisconsin when Walker was elected the left tried to recall him right away (just like calling for impeachment right away) and then the left messed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court just as now they are messing with the US Supreme Court. Remember the accusations against Judge Prosser? Were we nothing but a rehearsal? And now Wisconsin has an absolutely booming economy, but the left would still rescind everything Walker has done if they came to power. And they are backing this ridiculous accusation. What is it with them? Anyhow in DC they haven't had final fantasy as we did in Wisconsin, namely drum circles in the Capitol building.

narciso said...

The first was a student of the messiah, bulgakov has fun at his expense it's true about the second, they were aware of our son in the way this world is not. They don't acknowledge it is sin. For one.

steve uhr said...

Birkel. Of course if she had said June 1983 you would find her credible. Right.

Big Mike said...

Orange and blue? Wrong college town.

The Godfather said...

Does anyone know if any Senate Dem (even a staffer) has actually met with Ford? If they thought she was a powerful and credible advocate for her position, they'd be salivating over the prospect of getting her in front of the cameras. But if they thought she'd come across as an obvious nutcase, they'd want to use her as a threat without ever having to put her in front of the cameras. Unless the "negotiations" over the conditions of her appearance are purely Kabuki theatre (and they may be), the Dems' strategy seems to be to keep Ford under wraps and make Grassley the villain for "preventing" Ford from testifying. I think Grassley is trying to block that strategy.

CWJ said...

uhr,

You're being obtuse, and you know it.

Laslo Spatula said...

It is thirty years after the ending of the film "Pretty in Pink." The sequel begins as Andie (Molly Ringwald) calls her best friend...

"My God! It is like my worst nightmare is coming true!"

"What's wrong, Andie?"

"Blane! They nominated Blane for the Supreme Court!"

"You know I don't follow politics, Andie. Who's Blane?"

"Blane McDonough! You know: the boy in high school who tried to rape me!"

"Tried to rape you? Someone tried to rape you?"

"Yes! I've told you about that!"

"Uh... This is the first I heard of it, Andie..."

"Well, I thought I did; I get confused a lot. But I DID tell my therapist..."

"So what's the story with this Blane?"

"I had the biggest crush on him my senior year of high school. Or it might have been my junior year. I don't know; maybe I was a freshman....

"Okay..."

"Anyway, I thought I would never have a chance to be with him, but we ended up together at the prom."

"That's sweet."

"I thought so, too. Until later that night when he tried to rape me..."

"That's horrible! So what exactly happened...?"

"I'm not sure -- my memory is iffy because of the trauma. I'm waiting for my therapist to discover more of what he did..."

"Ummm..."

"I DO know he grabbed my breast under my bathing suit."

"Bathing suit? Did the two of you go to the beach?"

Oh, it wasn't the two of us. There were four boys there. Or two. Like I said: iffy..."

(to be continued)

Laslo Spatula said...

(continued)

"So you were with these boys at the beach..."

"No, no: we weren't at the beach. I had my bathing suit on under my prom dress."

"Wait: what?"

"Oh yeah. I used to wear my bathing suit under all of my clothing. I did things like that back then."

"Well, at least you were always ready if you DID go to the beach."

"Only if I brought another bathing suit to wear over my bathing suit."

"You were a quirky girl, weren't you?"

"It was the eighties. The boys loved quirky girls."

"So what happened after he touched your breast?"

"I don't know..."

"You don't know? I thought you said he tried to rape you?"

"He did! Not only that, but he tried to kill me!"

"My God! What did the police do?"

"I never told the police."

"You never told the police?"

"No. I don't even know how I got home. Or where we were. Or what day it was."

"If you were at the prom I would think it would've been prom night..."

"Well, it might not have happened at the prom, after all. Like I said: my therapist is still trying to figure it all out."

"Now, don't get me wrong, but was there a chance you had been drinking? Like, that's why your memories are all sketchy?"

"No! I remember clearly that I wasn't drinking at that place I can't remember. On that night I'm not sure of. Or maybe I had one beer. But that's all: I clearly remember I had no beers, or one beer. You don't forget things like that."

"And now he's going to be on the Supreme Court?"

"Yes! It's so awful I'd just fly away somewhere. If I wasn't afraid of flying."

"I didn't know you were afraid of flying. I thought you told me you had neeb to Hawaii?"

"Oh, yeah. I didn't know that I was afraid of flying either, until my therapist told me."

"Your therapist told you that you were afraid of flying?"

"Yeah. It was either my therapist or one of my lawyers, but they told me in no uncertain terms that I was now afraid of flying..."

"You know, Andie, I'm not sure what to make of this. Is there anyone from back then who could -- you know -- corroborate your story?"

"Maybe Duckie could. I might've told Duckie."

"Who's Duckie?"

"He was my friend who secretly loved me. He was quirky, too."

"So why don't you ask Duckie?"

"I can't. After I broke his heart when I went off with Blane he hung himself while listening to a mixtape he had made for me."

"That's horrible!"

"Maybe. But it was just high school: you would've thought he would've just gotten over it, you know...?"

I am Laslo.

Birkel said...

Me: The inability to name a YEAR goes toward credibility.
steve uhr: The ability to name a YEAR is unimportant because politics.

Do you understand why your own credibility is suspect?

Sebastian said...

"I had grown up preparing for the Days of Abomination, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood."

For the moon to drip as if with blood? Hmm. Could be. Could also be a bit of "creative writing."

gilbar said...

traditionalguy; how were the leafs? I was planning on going down there next week, but i heard the the remanents of the hurricane had already dropped all the leafs?

narciso said...

Giant squirrel ahead:


https://mobile.twitter.com/JohnWHuber/status/1043515759698370560

MD Greene said...

On the Kavanaugh case: Is it possible to hold two ideas in one's head at the same time?

1. The accuser is telling the truth, her truth.

2. Some part of her story is a false memory -- the event itself, the person she has named.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/what-experts-wish-you-knew-about-false-memories/

Birkel said...

Leaves in NC turn in later October, generally.

Birkel said...

Crazy Jane:
It is possible to pretend each person gets their own personal truth.
It's not logical or consistent with reality.
But it is possible.

Birches said...

Alright everyone she says is a witness says she's wrong. Let's be done now.

gilbar said...

lazlo, i'd forgotten how much of a downer pretty in pink was; i'm hoping that Soon, we'll be living in the happier days of Sixteen Candles:

Where are we?
I'll tell you Where we are; if you tell me WHO You are?
I'm Farmer Ted
We're across the street from my parent's church
Your parents own a Church?

Did we do anything?
Yeah, i guess so
Did we enjoy it?
Yeah, i guess so

Mark said...

compare your own anger to the anger of the original Christians!
The Romans had captured Jerusalem and had destroyed the Temple!


The Christians did not much care about the destruction of the Temple since it played no part in their faith. Jesus Himself is the Temple.

And the remarkable thing about the early Christians is how they were NOT angry in the face of persecution. They took Jesus seriously when he said, "love your enemy."

narciso said...

Because they knew that one couldn't directly challenge the might of Rome, the residents of Jerusalem didn't understand this, as they missed a good bit of scripture like isiah

traditionalguy said...

@gilbar...We have not gone to the Smokies yet. Leaving Thursday. The best leaf color is usually 10/15-22. but we got a weekend in at the last minute when the best weeks were booked. The wife was just released by her surgeon to go back to full range of motion following a Lumbar Laminectomy, so we are celebrating taking Trips. We have not been able to take any for the last 8 months.We are wondering if the Nantahala River is at flood stage.The last time we rafted it, it was at flood stage and there were no rocks to hit.

mockturtle said...

Laslo's version should be played at the hearings, as it sounds a lot more plausible than that offered by the 'victim'.

Howard said...

you are sick in the head if u take this circus seriously. much adoo about sound and furry

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

CBF friend Leyland Keyser denies the whole shit-show.

we must believe the women.

but only leftist women, when it suits their purpose.

mockturtle said...

Question: If Ford fails to show up on Thursday can she be held in contempt? She's certainly contemptible.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Despite ALL named witnesses TESTIFYING that the incident that pretend-doctor Ford described never happened, she persisted.

LilyBart said...

Re: Ford: Well, this is awkward. Can we be done now?

Matt Sablan said...

So... No witnesses, despite being named, can recall a thing?

That's... that's not helping a "credible" accusation.

David Begley said...

Laslo should question CBF.

The only problem with that parody is that no one would believe Molly Ringwald could be that crazy.

Bay Area Guy said...

36-year old allegations are intrinsically bogus. It's just a matter of time before they collapse.

mockturtle said...

The only problem with that parody is that no one would believe Molly Ringwald could be that crazy.

Insanity is the new norm--at least among Progs. And the GOPe is too timid to say so, being afraid they could 'lose the woman vote', which is a real insult to most women who see through this charade.

Trumpit said...

"Question: If Ford fails to show up on Thursday can she be held in contempt? She's certainly contemptible."

No, you are for condoning rape. Do you think that by putting a rapist on the court you lend street credibility to the court? That's crazy.

mockturtle said...

Even if what she described did happen [which it surely did not], one could quote a former stateswoman, saying, "What difference, at this point, does it make?"

David Begley said...

Here’s are some questions,

“Anita Hill signed a book deal for over $1m back in the 90’s. Are you contemplating a book deal?”

“How many cats do you own?”

“What’s your DSM diagnosis?

“Reports are that you are afraid of flying, but the few remaining photos of you on the internet suggest you traveled to locations distant from Palo Alto. Did you drive there too?”

“One report has you stating you would leave the country if Judge Kavanaugh was confirmed. When do the movers arrive?”

“Another report that you attended a rally wearing a pussy hat. Isn’t it true that you are a rabid anti-Trump activist that would say or do anything to hurt the Trump Administration?”

“What’s the deal with all the doors in your million dollar Palo Alto home?”

“Not a single person at this party agrees with you. Are you the only person telling the truth?”

Yancey Ward said...

Unknown to Annie, Duckie didn't commit suicide. He joined the Air Force, but died during the multi-opti-pupil-optomy to correct some sort of vision problem that had been hindering his flight training.

mccullough said...

The Strategy of the Dems (including Ford and her Dem operative Lawyers) was to hope for another accuser to come forward. Actually, it was to find someone they could coach to be a plausible accuser.

Kavanaugh must be a helluva guy if The Resistance can’t find someone else to lie about him.

That’s the nice thing about growing up in a wealthy area, I guess. The Resistance can’t bribe someone because Kavanaugh’s peers have money. So they need someone with a personal motive. But no one hates Kavanaugh.

The Resistance Get Out the Rape Accusers Drive has failed.

No more fake memories to recover.

narciso said...

In other news:

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/09/a-deadly-attack-on-an-iranian-military-parade.php

gilbar said...

traditionalguy said... @gilbar...We have not gone to the Smokies yet. Leaving Thursday.
congrads on getting your wife "back" :) please give updates when you return.

narciso said...


What do we find here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/KimStrassel?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Yancey Ward said...

Ford should have put more people at the party- she has run out potential witnesses.

narciso said...

If it was indeed a pool party there would be many more, why weren't more of them traveling

Yancey Ward said...

Sounds like Ford already knew Keyser would not support her story when she talked to WaPo, and told them as much. Funny how that didn't make into the first story....at all- WaPo even went so far as to say Ford was the only female at the party, also not true according to Ford at the time. Some major massaging went into that first story. I am starting to understand why Feinstein wasn't so eager to bring this into the hearings.

Mr. Majestyk said...

Question for Ford: "When was the last time you flew?"

Etienne said...

We let murderers who kill people go when they reach the age of 21. The reason is, we don't treat minors as adults.

Kavanaugh would have been better off murdering Dr. Ford, as then his crime would have been stricken from the criminal records because he was a minor.

Something to think about.

Francisco D said...

"No, you are for condoning rape. Do you think that by putting a rapist on the court you lend street credibility to the court? That's crazy."

Trumpit needs to take zher meds. Zhe has lost touch with reality.

Mr. Majestyk said...

Not even Ford claims Kavanaugh raped her. She claims that a highly inebriated Kavanaugh fumbled with her clothes and was thwarted by an equally drunk Judge jumping on top of them.

The Crack Emcee said...

Is seeing women in the mountains related to seeing dicks everywhere?

Darrell said...

You tell us.

The Crack Emcee said...

I don't know either phenomena, which is why I'm asking.

Earlier, Ann had mentioned a relationship between trombones and boners, and now here's a guy seeing mommas in mountains. All I know is, some people see shit, other than what they're looking at. I assume they want to, because I would seek help for that. I spend so much time watching cults and religious extremists, I figure, I'm drawn to seeing if the phenomena, of other people seeing shit, might be related.

Do you see dicks everywhere - or women in the waves?

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

It is clear that Christine Blasey Ford's claims re. Judge Kavanaugh are as ill deserving of consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee as were the disorderly shouting and placard waving by gallery demonstrators on the early days of the hearings.

By allowing Ms. Ford to disrupt and delay the orderly progress of the national's business, Republicans have made it clear they are a party of moral cowards.

Democrats and Republicans both in their separate ways have disrespected Judge Kavanaugh personally, devalued the SCOTUS, and disappointed us all.

It is a powerful lesson for Judge Kavanaugh that will certainly affect his thinking as a Justice. In Washington it is every man for himself; self respect and the rule of law be damned.

Criminals and cowards leading us into chaos. I blame the voters.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Is it Joe Biden? Or should it be Keins von Beiden?

Darrell said...

I was in rural Indiana in the late 1990s and saw a giant moon in early October with a cloud formation that looked exactly like a witch on a broom wearing a pointed hat passing in front of said moon. It was so perfect, I pulled over and watched for a few minutes and wished I had a camera. I immediately thought that something like this was how the legends started.

Narayanan said...

Would ChiDiFi do reverse McCain!?
Votes 👍

FIDO said...

Apropos to absolutely nothing:

I was looking at the demographics for Afghanistan.

Sixty percent of the population (60%!) is under the age of 24 years old. Something like 6% is over the age of 55.

The Russians killed 1.5 MILLION Afghans in their war and caused 3 million to flee (if not more).

Just...what a nightmare. Whole villages destroyed.

War is always dirty but there is 'you got a smudge on your face' dirty and then 'dropped head first in pig shit' dirty.

AND YET!

Even though every BOY who is taller than an AK-47 is fighting for some ethnic side in that pest hole of a place, and the death toll for young men has to be absolutely atrocious...


Even with ALL of that boy/man murder...young girls are STILL fewer than the boys.

What the Hell are the Afghans doing to their women to exceed the horrorshow of war?


But hey...wage gap and abortion. Maybe the Afghans have a really large anti girl abortion culture...or something.




FIDO said...

Let's pretend that some detectives could run down and question every single girl in all four years of high school that Ford was there...and that NOT ONE could recall the party Ford described.

Let us further postulate that every single boy in the four years that Kavanaugh was in school could be questioned (besides, you know, the ones who already said it didn't happen to them) and none of THEM can remember that party.

Does anyone think that it will cause a single Democrat vote to change? That Inga, Uhr, R/V, Freeto or a ahem... legally minded staunchly pro abortion person to change their opinion?

If they could PROVE that Kavanaugh did this, I would believe he did it. I would think it IRRELEVANT to his nomination but I would acknowledge the truth. One can do a lot of growing and changing in 35 years. Is Ms. Althouse the same as she was 35 years ago?

Okay...bad example (after all, she's still obsessing over the same music). But I mean other people.

So is there an 'evidence bullshit' tag? Or perhaps and 'open minded bullshit' tag? Maybe there should be.

Breezy said...

Questions for Ford:

You are a trained doctor psychologist, how can you believe this yourself?

Who is paying you?

Laslo Spatula said...

At this point, I would say that the person who has most violated Ford is Feinstein.

Feinstein held back on putting this story out there until the very end -- as many have said, a Hail Mary pass.

Which most likely means Feinstein knew the story was -- at best -- deeply flawed.

And those flaws exist because of one of two reasons*:

Ford is simply lying;

Ford has debilitating mental and emotional issues.

(*yes, I know: embrace the power of 'and'.)

I will, for the sake of kindness, posit that it is the latter. To posit the former means that Althouse's 'feel' for these kinds of things is horribly off, amongst other things).

So: Ford has debilitating mental and emotional issues. And knowing this, Feinstein pushes the woman into the spotlight, anyway.

A fragile, broken woman is set up by an esteemed female Senator to be the lightning rod of our current socio-political thunder storm.

Because Feinstein could've withheld the letter. This would not have been 'silencing' Ford: Ford was free to go directly to the NYT or the Washington Post or MSNBC or the Colbert Show etc etc to tell her story. Her lawyers could've done the same.

Feinstein knowingly gave the keys to the car to a drunk driver, and set the GPS to the freeway at rush hour.

I wonder* if any of the women who 'feel' for Ford will ever hold Feinstein accountable for this willful destructive act.

(*Nah. I'm not really 'wondering'. I think I know)

I am Laslo.

Humperdink said...

"Now you know, there are certain people who have a lot of knowledge but they're fools. They don't know how to use their knowledge. They don't have wisdom. If there is to be a choice made between wisdom and knowledge, it's better to choose wisdom. Wisdom is really preferable to knowledge. For unless you have wisdom, knowledge can be dangerous. Knowledge can destroy. Wisdom is the principal thing, which is actually the correct application of knowledge. It's knowing what to do with what you know." (Chuck Smith)

Karen of Texas said...

I am at a loss as to why Althouse 'feels' Ford is the believable party with all the obvious holes - that have been apparent almost from the beginning - in Ford's accounting. I have pondered this since she revealed she was leaning Ford with what was known at that time.

Surely it isn't because Althouse empathizes with the woman because Althouse has something similar in her past?

rehajm said...

Watching BBCs The Joy of Data they discuss the examination of London's The Old Bailey- data on some 200,000 trials in England and Wales. Interesting is trials from earlier times (1780s) concerned themselves with property theft and less about the violence associated with a violent robbery, for example. 100 years later every concern and focus dealt with the violence. It speaks to a fundamental change in how we view the world and what we value.

21st century Americans analyzed in this way are no longer concerned about the violence itself but exclusively about the consensus emotions of females in regards to the crime.

Guildofcannonballs said...

The Disaster Artist is great.

Probably too zany for old folks, but nonetheless brilliant.

No politics. Real humor.

"Stella! Stellaaaaaa!"

David Begley said...

Ford has never experienced anything remotely like this. Kavanaugh handled himself beautifully at the hearing.

Crazy cat lady Ford will totally blow up at the hearing. Katz will go crazy making “objections.”

Ford is an obvious liar. The other girl at the party said nothing happened. This whole thing was setup.

It will be a complete and total victory for Kavanaugh on Thursday. Kavanaugh is a REAL lawyer. Watch the pro on Thursday. Expect some surprises. Brett’s calendar: Summer of ‘82. The real villain migh5 be revealed.

Darrell said...

Althouse loves a loosey-goosey Court where anything is possible. And heroes that slip on a banana peel and die. Ford is making a mockery of the entire process with her outrageous demands and silly restrictions--true to the antics of the Chicago Seven. If she next claims that a 20-watt bulb causes her excruciating pain and her appearance will have to be in total darkness, Althouse will run around the house pumping her fist in the air.

rehajm said...

It would be valid to describe the equivalences between our current views of justice with something like American Idol except you're not allowed to actually hear the contestants and only women are allowed to phone in.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Althouse likes the gambit. This one failed her, but she loses nothing. The lion concerns herself not with sheep my dear boys.

And Oh! if Ford only weren't quite so exactly batshit insane by God it might have worked.

Truth is only a concept used in oppression and turnabout is fair play.

You men, all of you, pulled first. Althouse is merely defending the weak, simple sex as she has demanded men do her entire adulthood, very consistently.

Your "truth" is shit compared to this consistency but like his daddy said to lil Charlie in Wall Street:

He's* using you kid you're just too blind to see it.

*(He) equals truth.

rhhardin said...

Althouse loves a loosey-goosey Court where anything is possible.

Women think details, men think systems.

rehajm said...

I'm still expecting either a stunt where she doesn't appear or Grassley meets a list of demands so skewed in favor of the left/squishy Rs it renders any testimony meaningless...

Humperdink said...

"Women think details, men think systems."

Hence the lack of diversity *cough* in STEM majors.

Brian said...

She will never testify. This is all theater and delay.

Eventually Grassley will just have to call the vote, and it will move to the Senate. What comes next?

Filibuster.... The good old fashioned kind. Someone wearing diapers and reading from Cat in the Hat and the media will have a ball, with wall to wall coverage and looking concerned in their octoboxes.

"This business will get out of control...."

YouTube

Humperdink said...

RE: Rosenstein. This is perfect for Trump. He holds his fire and lets RR swing in the breeze. Trump subsequently disposes of Sessions. Sessions's replacement invites RR to a team meeting. "And oh Rod, bring your playbook."

David Begley said...

Let’s stop calling this crazy cat lady a doctor. She’s not a medical doctor. She has a doctorate in something about psychology.

I earned a juris doctorate. Start calling me DOCTOR.

mccullough said...

Ford and her Resistance Lawyers look bad with all the games they are playing with the Judiciary Committee.

It undermines the credibility of her most recent version of what happened to her sometime during her high school years (which is different from what she told her marriage therapist 6 years ago about what happened in her “late teens” about four guys who attacked her).

Grassley is playing this well. He’s watching them hang themselves.

DanTheMan said...

Orange and Blue? Go Gators! :)

mccullough said...

Why is Ford such a coward she can’t face Kavanaugh while she accuses him. Every week kids testify in court against their mom or dad or teachers for abusing them.

They confront those who abuse them. They have guts. Ford is a coward. Most liars are.

mccullough said...

Ford originally said there were four boys who attacked her.

Then when she came forward to accuse Kavanaugh publicly she said Kavanaugh and Judge attacked her and there were two other boys st the party but they weren’t involved.

Now it was 3 boys were at the party and one other girl.

The fourth boy has vanished, replaced by her girlfriend Leland.

So we are on Version 3.

Bullshit

David Begley said...

I listened some to the CSPAN call-in show this AM. Some people are truly nuts or are consumed by partisan hatred.

The worst aspect of this is that some people think that an alleged rapist will be confirmed to SCOTUS. One caller said as much, “Roe is going to be overturned by a rapist.”

DiFi’s Driveby worked on some people.

Ralph L said...

I think Althouse found something she doesn't like in B Kav's personality. I thought all the girl coaching and wonderful women in his life, etc (at both the announcement and the hearing) was too much--she might think he's compensating, not just inoculating.

narciso said...

One fraud to anothsr:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1043560255173455872/photo/1

Paco Wové said...

"Althouse empathizes with the woman because Althouse has something similar in her past?"

Some days I think the "Playboys in living room while growing up" damaged Althouse much more than she realizes.

gg6 said...

Yes, "Educated: A Memoir" , sounds like a truly inspirational story - entrapped daughter of a Survivalist escapes to discover the more civilized world of 'education'! I can't wait for her follow-up auto-bio: "More Educated: A 2nd Memoir': a disillusioned Ivy League grad gets a dose of reality on the truth of sophisticated, civilized Life by educated people like Warren, Feinstein, Gillibrand, "Dr." Ford, Kamala H, Klobuchar, Hillary, Pelosi, Mchelle,O, Kerry, Schumer, Hercules, etc, ad nauseam.

Dust Bunny Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dust Bunny Queen said...

Quote from the book: I had been educated in the rhythms of the mountain, rhythms in which change was never fundamental, only cyclical. The same sun appeared each morning, swept over the valley and dropped behind the peak. The snows that fell in winter always melted in the spring. Our lives were a cycle—the cycle of the day, the cycle of the seasons—circles of perpetual change that, when complete, meant nothing had changed at all. I believed my family was a part of this immortal pattern, that we were, in some sense, eternal. But eternity belonged only to the mountain.

You don't have to be a survivalist or prepper to experience this.

People who live in the countryside, who are NOT divorced from nature by concrete and electronics, feel this cyclical rhythm of life. Right now we are winding up the end of summer and sliding slowly (we hope slowly) into autumn and then winter.

The apples have been harvested from the trees. Today, I am making a half dozen italian plum cobblers to freeze for the winter. The pears have been eaten or donated to a friend who makes homemade booze. Another fried gave us a big box of peaches. I made peach/rum ice cream topping as I still have peach jam and canned peaches from last year. Every year we have an abundance of fruit and vegetables to either give away or process. Part of the cycle.

The Quail and other birds are nesting earlier and earlier in the evening. We hear the geese and swans honking and chattering as they fly over to find wintering spots in the valley below. The deer, who have been eating our downed apples, are also finding spots to over winter.

The nights are colder. The afternoons still pleasantly warm, but cooling off. Even the breezes, the smell of the earth and wind, are softly singing about Fall and Winter.

We have been stocking the pump house with extra food, supplies. The shop with oil and gasoline for generators, lamp oil and wicks. The freezers are being filled to capacity. Winterizing the things that might freeze and break.

All this is not because we think the End of the World is nigh. But because, we can. It is convenient in winter when the snow is on the ground, the roads are icy and the power goes out to be able to just stay in your warm, cozy house, read books, look at the snow outside the windows, and not have to go anywhere.

The rhythm of nature when you actually live with nature. Having lived in the concrete "jungle" and in the "country".....I choose this.

Marc in Eugene said...

I read what I can at the website but don't subscribe to the New York Review of Books; they've just deposed Ian Buruma as editor because he's insufficiently supportive of the quasi-fascist progressives or something like that. (They have put him in a position where he felt obliged to defenestrate himself, more accurately.) I had a friend who was a friend of Bob Silvers and I believe (although perhaps feel is in fact better in this case) it's fair to say that they both of them are turning over in their graves at this affront to the liberal project.

Ann Althouse said...

""I had grown up preparing for the Days of Abomination, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood." For the moon to drip as if with blood? Hmm. Could be. Could also be a bit of "creative writing.""

Oh, no. She's talking about the future, and her family really believes in the prophesy:

Joel 2:31

31 The sun will be turned into darkness,
and the moon into blood,
before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Ford is simply lying;

Ford has debilitating mental and emotional issues.

(*yes, I know: embrace the power of 'and'.)

I will, for the sake of kindness, posit that it is the latter.


But of course. She is a liberal West Coast Democrat. Mental illness goes without saying.

paminwi said...

DBQ at 9:18.
Something about your comment made me feel at peace.
I can't explain. I just know what I felt.
Thank you.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"Willy Street"

Naming a street this is horrible and I demand it be changed. It forces women to think about penises every time the hear it. And how evil is it to put women in a position where they might have to utter it aloud? Shame, shame, shame!

Skippy Tisdale said...

I thought I was reading this:

"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it."