Althouse: At the Wednesday Night Cafe...

September 19, 2018

At the Wednesday Night Cafe...

... keep up the conversation.

59 comments:

Henry said...: Imagine being George Washington, with 6 justices to name in one fell swoop.

MACDUFF: [on hearing that his family and servants have all been killed]

All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?; 9/19/18, 9:08 PM
Big Mike said...: Now we discover that Diane Feinstein’s staff has refused to send Grassley’s staff an interacted copy of Ford’s letter. Senatorial comity!; 9/19/18, 9:34 PM
steve uhr said...: Betting odds on confirmation have fallen from 97% to 70% on Smarkets. Still Seems a little high. I'd bet against hm with those odds.; 9/19/18, 9:36 PM
PJ said...: I keep hearing that the Dems are trying to delay the vote on Kavanaugh with a view to defeating his nomination. Isn't it clear that delay advantages the Dems only if Kavanaugh is confirmed? The theory that explains every action the accuser and the Dems have taken is: they want the confirmation to occur as close as possible to the midterm elections in order to enrage the Dem base into turning out in huge numbers. If Kavanaugh is defeated close to the midterms, it is the GOP base that will be enraged into turning out. Same result (though likely to a lesser extent) if the Dems induce Kavanaugh to withdraw or delay the vote past the midterms. And Kavanaugh's confirmation will not move the Court so significantly to the right as to outweigh the potential advantage of controlling both houses of Congress. The Dems want Kavanaugh confirmed, under circumstances that will enrage the Dem base as much as possible, and as close to the midterm election date as possible.; 9/19/18, 9:46 PM
Jaylat said...: This article is a good example of the kind of nuttiness on the far left. This is identity politics taken to a whole new level:

https://hyperallergic.com/461403/chimento-contemporary-protests-los-angeles/; 9/19/18, 10:02 PM
Big Mike said...: @Laslo, I keep waiting for the girl on a treadmill with a pony tail to weigh in on Kavanaugh. Swish-swish.; 9/19/18, 10:17 PM
Wince said...: PJ said...
If Kavanaugh is defeated close to the midterms, it is the GOP base that will be enraged into turning out.

Doesn’t that presume GOP voters won’t direct their anger at GOP politicians?; 9/19/18, 10:21 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "Doesn’t that presume GOP voters won’t direct their anger at GOP politicians?"

-- If Kavanaugh is not confirmed without some evidence being produced, not even Trump will be able to get Trump voters to pull the lever for the squishier Republicans. What's the point of voting for Republicans if they won't even say: "Hey, let's not ruin someone's life over unverifiable accusations."; 9/19/18, 10:25 PM
Gahrie said...: Imagine being George Washington, with 6 justices to name in one fell swoop.

It wasn't one of the first six, but Washington's nominee to be the second Chief Justice was rejected by the Senate, after sitting for a short while as a recess appointment. What is perhaps most shocking about the case is that the man, John Rutledge had been one of Washington's first six nominees, and was confirmed as an associate justice only to resign after two years.

Interestingly, someone has gone back and edited Wiki so that where it stated something to the effect of "the Senate took no action on the nomination", and there were at least a dozen such cases, it now reads "lapsed".; 9/19/18, 10:25 PM
mccullough said...: McConnell will have to resign if he can’t get the votes for Kavanaugh.

Trump got rid of Corker and Flake. McCain is gone. I don’t see why GOP voters wouldn’t support Senators who are doing what they want. I don’t see how you punish Collins by voting against Ted Cruz. Cruz callled McConnell a liar. It was his finest hour.; 9/19/18, 10:34 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "I keep hearing that the Dems are trying to delay the vote on Kavanaugh with a view to defeating his nomination. Isn't it clear that delay advantages the Dems only if Kavanaugh is confirmed? The theory that explains every action the accuser and the Dems have taken is: they want the confirmation to occur as close as possible to the midterm elections in order to enrage the Dem base into turning out in huge numbers. If Kavanaugh is defeated close to the midterms, it is the GOP base that will be enraged into turning out. Same result (though likely to a lesser extent) if the Dems induce Kavanaugh to withdraw or delay the vote past the midterms. And Kavanaugh's confirmation will not move the Court so significantly to the right as to outweigh the potential advantage of controlling both houses of Congress. The Dems want Kavanaugh confirmed, under circumstances that will enrage the Dem base as much as possible, and as close to the midterm election date as possible."

I think that part of it is that there are a bunch of Trump state Dem Senators up for reelection. Before the election, some of them are going to peel off and vote for confirmation. After the election, whether they win or lose, they can be pressured to vote the party line. Get Flake and one or two of the GOP women to flip their vote, and we are into the next Congress without Kavanaugh confirmed, and the Dems now with a majority. That means that they can prevent Trump from replacing Kennedy with a conservative- they either will have an open seat for the rest of Trump's Presidency, or will accept a much more likely bernal Justice. A lot of "ifs", but that is all they have.; 9/19/18, 10:34 PM
Matt Sablan said...: A Democrat majority in the senate will not approve any Trump nominee for any position, if current history tells us anything.; 9/19/18, 10:36 PM
Big Mike said...: I think that part of it is that there are a bunch of Trump state Dem Senators up for reelection. Before the election, some of them are going to peel off and vote for confirmation.

In confirmation of what Bruce Hayden wrote, a poll was published last July that showed Manchin (D - West Virginia) ahead by 29 points if he votes for Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but ahead by only 2 percentage points if he voted against. After Joe was filmed jumping to his feet to applaud at one point during the last State of the Union speech, only to meekly sit back down at an icy glare from Schumer, having to vote on Kavanaugh before the election had to be a serious nightmare for the incumbent senator.; 9/19/18, 10:50 PM
mccullough said...: That’s why McConnell needs to ensure the vote takes place. Get the red State Dems on the record.; 9/19/18, 10:58 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: #MeToo#MarkCuban#SharkBitten#ESPNCubanCrying ....lulz...; 9/19/18, 11:24 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: My spidersense tells me that Ford will not do well before a committee, and the Dems realize this. The good news is that the R's realize this too. So the Dems want to delay her testimony in favor of just about anything that puts off a vote. An FBI investigation, cat-and-mouse about the conditions under which Ford will testify, anything that delays a vote w/o her actually testifying.
We will find out very shortly, by the weekend, I think, why this was such a Hail Mary pass by the Dems. If her testimony was really damaging, they would have played that card during the hearings.; 9/19/18, 11:37 PM
narciso said...: Well that's awkward:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/19/revealed-russian-models-husband-poisoned-salisbury-has-prankster/; 9/19/18, 11:38 PM
Ray - SoCal said...: Is the Ford yearbook real?

Michael k linked to it.

Decadent...; 9/19/18, 11:47 PM
narciso said...: It's as real as the letter they haven't bother to show us.; 9/19/18, 11:51 PM
Yancey Ward said...: There has been a rumor going around that the Republicans have a way to demonstrate Kavanaugh wasn't at this party described by Ford, and that is why they were eager to have her appear on Monday. This, of course, grants for purposes of argument that Ford is telling the truth about being assaulted as she described in the WaPo story, but is wrong about it being Kavanaugh and Judge.

Now, I hadn't really thought this theory plausible, but then I remembered the way Kavanaugh denied being at this party the other day- a strange way to deny the charge that couldn't even locate the place or time of the party itself, and I don't think Kavanaugh would make the statement that way unless he had some inkling about the location and time himself. If I am right, and the rumor has a basis, then Kavanaugh or his supporters have found someone who was at the party Ford described- someone who can place Ford there, but can state Kavanaugh wasn't. It is even possible that someone was in the room, if Ford is telling the truth about being assaulted.; 9/19/18, 11:58 PM
rehajm said...: Chuck has come up missing the last few days. Did he get caught up in a Project Veritas sting or something?; 9/20/18, 12:00 AM
Yancey Ward said...: If Ford doesn't appear, and no other accusers come forth, then Kavanaugh is 99.99% sure to be confirmed by the end of the month. At this point, even if Ford appears, it probably won't change things.; 9/20/18, 12:01 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Corroborating evidence: "Gillibrand: Kavanaugh accuser shouldn't participate in 'sham' hearing" https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/407504-gillibrand-kavanaugh-accuser-shouldnt-participate-in-sham-hearing
Wouldn't you love to read transcripts of all the phone calls and conversations by the senate Dems about this today? When you are in the minority in democratic institution -- and the Dems usually are -- you have to make certain that everyone toes the line.; 9/20/18, 12:03 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I remember, insisting there was starvation in America, a while back - saying it existed anywhere there was ignorance - and here's some evidence of what I meant:

15-Month-Old Girl Was Starved to Death by Dad Connected to Black Supremacist Cult

I loved this quote, too: “It was like talking to somebody who is just so out of touch with reality that you can’t even bring them to reality even if you try.”

Basically, Black Gahrie.

This country is either unaware of what horrors exist within it's borders, or determinedly unwilling to do anything about them until a whole lot more people get killed, but, either way, it's damning millions to Hell, while demanding the victims praise it daily for the existence of the "freedoms" that made their victimization possible.

It's one mindfuck of a nation that way.; 9/20/18, 12:07 AM
mccullough said...: The cult leader combined a belief in black supremacism with a belief in UFOs? WtF.; 9/20/18, 12:24 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: People are dying, and getting killed, and our lives are filled with cartoon drama. The only reason anyone's jawboning about this judge, and a letter that won't stop anything, is to willingly ignore the reality around us.

"Everyone was getting raped - but not by Kavenaugh" sums it all up so well. Whoever our Dudley Do-Right is, it sounds like he's still pretty clueless to his surroundings, too. Whether he raped anybody or not, that cluelessness should tell you *something* about him. "Everyone was getting raped" and even he can't provide a story of trying to stop one? What a guy. He's either compromised or an imbecile.

But then, stopping a gangbang never made anyone popular with the "movers and shakers" in America. That's not how this place "works".; 9/20/18, 12:35 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: mccullough said...

"The cult leader combined a belief in black supremacism with a belief in UFOs? WtF."

Yeah, can you imagine?; 9/20/18, 12:38 AM
StephenFearby said...: WSJ
What Democrats Have Become
By Daniel Henninger
Sept. 19, 2018 6:59 p.m.

"...Consider the spectacle: Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court, the embodiment of a modern rule of law, is being decided in the Senate by the medieval practice of trial by ordeal, such as surviving immersion in fire or ice. Trial by ordeal was outlawed by the Lateran Council in 1215."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-democrats-have-become-1537397973?mod=hp_opin_pos1

Henninger went to Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. AKA back in the day as the Foreign Circus. Now largely the School of Identity Politics.; 9/20/18, 1:00 AM
Francisco D said...: "The Dems want Kavanaugh confirmed, under circumstances that will enrage the Dem base as much as possible, and as close to the midterm election date as possible."

Interesting theory, but I think the Dem base has been enraged for some time now. The outrage has been dialed up to "11" since Trump was elected.

Actually a better word is deranged.; 9/20/18, 1:03 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Sonia Sotomayor.
Ralf.
Elena Kagan.
Ralf.
RBG.
...; 9/20/18, 1:16 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Lucky us.; 9/20/18, 1:58 AM
Jon Ericson said...: A.C.L.U.
Very Impressive!; 9/20/18, 2:21 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: #BaggageClaimBecky Calls Police on Black Woman For Asking to Speak To a Manager

I'ma start calling 911 on y'all: You scare me.; 9/20/18, 2:23 AM
Jon Ericson said...: *tuneless whistling*; 9/20/18, 2:25 AM
Jon Ericson said...: *Somebody betta drop a bomb on this shit or we outta here, bitch.*; 9/20/18, 2:30 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "During your first intensive, you're going to talk about why they're not a cult,...And they're going to discuss that they have media attention …

Which none of these morons want to stop because FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS SO IMPORTANT.

Translation: They're so open-minded their brains fell out.; 9/20/18, 2:32 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "It's not like the signs weren't there. It's just I wasn't wanting to put them together and understand them"

Uh huh.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.; 9/20/18, 2:34 AM
Jon Ericson said...: No matter where you go, there you are.; 9/20/18, 2:34 AM
Jon Ericson said...: etc.; 9/20/18, 2:37 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "They really talked about it like it was a scientific thing, like, 'We've studied and researched, and we've figured how to grow the person, how to be happy,...And there's certain points in your life where you — where I — want to be told what to do."

Plus, American women don't know what science is - so if you say something's science they swoon - even if it's just some dude discovering their clit.; 9/20/18, 2:37 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "They really talked about it like it was a scientific thing, like, 'We've studied and researched, and we've figured how to grow the person, how to be happy,...And there's certain points in your life where you — where I — want to be told what to do."

Shouting Thomas the other day: Crack, do you want to be happy?

You're all insane.; 9/20/18, 2:38 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "NXIVM has been described as a mishmash of philosophy, therapy and New Age teachings."

They can't even define what NewAge is but they've been accepting it - and pumping it into the culture - for as long as I've been alive.; 9/20/18, 2:39 AM
Jon Ericson said...: I wouldn't go there if my life depended on it!; 9/20/18, 2:40 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Exciting Times!
Carpe diem!; 9/20/18, 2:43 AM
Jon Ericson said...: er...
Carpe diem!; 9/20/18, 2:44 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Good give and take.; 9/20/18, 3:47 AM
rehajm said...: I’m not ready to accept witch burning standards of proof.

She turned me into a newt!; 9/20/18, 5:39 AM
rhhardin said...: People are dying, and getting killed, and our lives are filled with cartoon drama. The only reason anyone's jawboning about this judge, and a letter that won't stop anything, is to willingly ignore the reality around us.

Focus a little on soap opera women and it might do some good.

News is a business and audience is the product. The only audience for news is soap opera women, so it has to be soap opera news.

There's a derivative market for what are the fucking soap opera women believing now news, but it would disappear with news business in general without the soap opera women to support it.; 9/20/18, 6:07 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Jesus Christ! We've been had.

Neither Kavanaugh nor Ford were particularly admirable people in their youth. Both were spoiled rotten, rich kids who partied hearty at ultra-elite prep schools.

Binge drinking to the point of passing out seems to have been the principle form of entertainment at these schools.

This whole episode has now been reduced, for me, to a bizarre comedy.

It's about as crazy as Althouse's claims to have been oppressed. She grew up in one of the wealthiest suburbs of New Jersey, in a community filled with palatial mansions and next door to incredibly rich gated corporate campuses.

Shit, this is a fight between spoiled brat rich kids. There are no good guys in the stupid charade.; 9/20/18, 6:13 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @Crack Emcee

Who are you quoting? "Everyone was getting raped." I google that and get to Know Your Meme and the old Antoine Dobson video.

I wanted to frontpage your comment, but the quote was too confusing where the whole thing is confusing, but meaningful in an interesting way.

""Everyone was getting raped - but not by Kavenaugh" sums it all up so well. Whoever our Dudley Do-Right is, it sounds like he's still pretty clueless to his surroundings, too. Whether he raped anybody or not, that cluelessness should tell you *something* about him. "Everyone was getting raped" and even he can't provide a story of trying to stop one? What a guy. He's either compromised or an imbecile."

"Whoever our Dudley Do-Right is" struck me as comedic and apt. I feel like you're saying something that sounds like things I've said and have been thinking. It's hard to articulate and hard to understand when a good (great) effort at articulation is made.

There's something Kafkaesque here. In "The Trial" there's a theme of an accused man who can't even understand what he's accused of, but in some way (the interpretation goes) he's guilty anyway, because...

Oh, I forget. I read "The Trial" long ago and I read some elaborate Jonathan Franzen essay about it more recently. I'd have to devote the day to figuring out what you made me feel like trying to say, so if you can help me out a bit, I'd appreciate it.; 9/20/18, 6:46 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "She grew up in one of the wealthiest suburbs of New Jersey, in a community filled with palatial mansions and next door to incredibly rich gated corporate campuses."

Wayne has changed a lot over the years. There were no mansions or gated corporate campuses there in the 60s. As I told you before, the factual evidence that I wasn't even upper middle class is that I was the valedictorian of my high school but I went to the University of Michigan. I was never even allowed to apply to a private college. I never heard of the idea of taking out a student loan. You just went where you could pay for it.

You can go to Google maps and look at the street where I lived: Mountainside Drive. It was nice, but no one felt rich or even upper middle class there.; 9/20/18, 6:51 AM
Birkel said...: I'll see your "no one felt rich" and raise you "because most of us were definitionally poor" where I grew up.
Free breakfast and lunch provided by the school, government powdered milk, cheese, peanut butter, and etc.
It's a matter of perspective.; 9/20/18, 7:14 AM
rhhardin said...: We brought in a bagged lunch in grade school but somehow milk was supplied. The cartons said HOMO MILK in purple ink on the top.; 9/20/18, 7:19 AM
rhhardin said...: Deadpool (I) has the finest poor childhood brags. Deadpool II is unwatchable.

- Rough childhood?
- Rougher than yours. Daddy left before I was born.
- Daddy left before I was conceived.
- Ever had a cigarette put out on your skin?
- Where else do you put one out?
- I was molested.
- Me, too. Uncle.
- Uncles. They took turns.
- I watched my own birthday party through the keyhole of a locked closet which also happens to be my...
- Your bedroom. Lucky. I slept in a dishwasher box.
- You had a dishwasher. I didn't even know sleep. It was pretty much 24/7 ball kegs, brownie mix and clown porn.; 9/20/18, 7:24 AM
Mr. Majestyk said...: If Kavanaugh was a party hearty spoiled rich kid, he sure changed his stripes as an adult. He may still be rich, but he seems to have settled down to become a serious, sober, productive member of society. Why hold his spoiled rich kid past against him? What was he supposed to do? Move out of his house at 11?; 9/20/18, 7:30 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: @Ann - going to a state school, esp out of state as you did, doesn't mean that up you weren't upper middle class. Out of my graduating class of 500, probably 3/4 went to college, and, of those maybe a dozen or so went to private schools, 5 to the small liberal arts school that I attended. It was definitely upper middle class, with nice new cars for 16th birthdays not uncommon. Wanting to go to private schools, or even the Ivy League was just foreign to everyone. It was weird though - a lot of private college parents in my neighborhood, but most of the kids wanted to go to the big state universities. Two doors down, the parents had met at Cornell, but all 4 kids went in state. Next door at us was a Dartmouth legacy, but only the youngest followed him there, with the oldest 3 going to the big state universities. It wasn't the money. We were the anomalies, with all 5 of us spending at least 2 years at private colleges. And that was because my mother and her father had gone to Carlton, his sister to Columbia for her masters, and my father's parents had taught at private colleges. It was so different when my kid went to college, and the next generation living in those, still upper middle class, houses competing for private college slots, and then borrowing to go.; 9/20/18, 7:49 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ann Althouse said...

"Who are you quoting?"

I think it came from this Rush Limbaugh program, though I'd have to check further to be sure.; 9/20/18, 8:07 AM
Greg P said...: Ann Althouse said...

"Everyone was getting raped - but not by Kavenaugh" sums it all up so well. Whoever our Dudley Do-Right is, it sounds like he's still pretty clueless to his surroundings, too. Whether he raped anybody or not, that cluelessness should tell you *something* about him. "Everyone was getting raped" and even he can't provide a story of trying to stop one? What a guy. He's either compromised or an imbecile."

Wrong.

Unless someone was getting raped in his presence, what's he supposed to do? Break in on every couple that's making out, and give the girls a sobriety check? And drag them out of the room if he decides they failed it?

Then you'd be attacking him for being an uptight Puritan, screwing up everybody's fun.

This is a pathetic load of nothing that you have.; 9/20/18, 12:48 PM
Rusty said...: "Everyone was getting raped - but not by Kavenaugh"
You're assuming this statement has some validity. That there must be a scintilla of truth in Kennedys claim.
As of yet there is validity to either claim.; 9/21/18, 5:20 AM