November 11, 2018

At the Sunday Café...

... you can talk about whatever you like.

85 comments:

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I'm in Canyon, TX, 20 miles south of Amarillo, where I am awaiting the snow storm that is alleged to be arriving any minute. I have two hearings on Tuesday morning in Amarillo and I came on out to run in Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the a.m. I am told by the locals that the steep roads in the park will be closed with minimal snow so I guess I will be working at the hotel and maybe running in the snow right around here. Nice little town. West Texas A&M University is a few blocks away so several restaurants, coffee shops etc.

Etienne said...
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Etienne said...
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tim in vermont said...

I see that the stories involving Accoster’s loss of his press credential now say he lost it due to a “verbal scuffle” with POTUS. What happened to #BelieveAllWomen? Oh, that was designed to target Republicans and is only operative when used against a Republican.

Humperdink said...

CNN and Acosta suing the Trump administration. Talk about stoopid. Playing right into DJT's hands. This will be hilarious to watch.

YoungHegelian said...

CNN and Acosta suing the Trump administration.

Talk about snowball's chance in Hell....

No one, but no one, has The Right to set foot in the White House. Executive Office staffers lose access to the complex (i.e. essentially get fired) for all sorts of reasons. But, if Acosta is declared Persona Non Grata, well, tuff shit, CNN. You know what else if Trump's ace in the hole? The White House is not just a federal building, It is the official residence of the First Family. It's their home, & they can tell "You kids get offa my lawn" to anyone they damn well please.

If Trump shut down press access in general, well, maybe there's a reason to bitch there. But, that's not the case. It's just Jim Acosta. Freedom of the Press & the Republic will both survive.

Like I said, no chance in Hell.

Patrick said...

I'm reading The Road to Jonestown, by Jeff Guinn. What a fascinating and disturbing book. I remember this happening. I was delivering papers and remember the pictures from the Milwaukee Journal. Horrifying, bit such a gripping story. 40th anniversary is next week.

FullMoon said...

CNN and Acosta suing the Trump administration.

Good. No credentials for Acosta until the thing goes through the entire process. Let it go on for a year, then appeals, another year. Maybe Jimbo back in around 2020 if Trump feeling generous.

JackWayne said...

Although denying credentials to Accoster is the “right” thing to do I prefer to have him and the other nutsacks on open view. I believe they ARE the enemy of the people along with academics and I think the American public is better served by exposing them to a daily dose of nutsackery.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

If I smacked a young woman at work, I wouldn't have to worry about my pass. I wouldn't have a job at all.

I guess the rules are different for members of the "resistance."

narciso said...

There is plenty of other jackalope, as pointed out earlier Ben Rhodes has terrible judgement as the Cuba case proved, although the new Yorker piece didn't make the point clearer.

JackWayne said...

Instapundit has posted a link to an article by Micheal Ledeen titled “Big Issues That Will Be Urgently Important in Trump's Second Two Years”. It starts out as a thumbsucker and ends up in NeverLand. Basically, Ledeen premises that Historians are the only ones capable of actually/finally speaking the Truth. Oddly enough, it is my experience that the lyingest liars - are Historians.

narciso said...

Sometimes it's true, consider Andrew Scott Thomas re the Shah, mark Moyer re the opening of the Vietnam war, Jay winik re the end of the cold war, but a military official like thucydides was more than likely to shade the tale toward his periclean patrons

narciso said...

Oh they left this out of the cycle:


https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271917/media-praises-frances-macron-bashing-trump-daniel-greenfield#.W-jg7hDl0K8.twitter

Churchy LaFemme: said...

I'm pretty sure the wrong Ledeen piece got pasted in under that headline.

Chuck said...

Althouse, I really enjoyed your Isthmus-tweaking post about the old song by the made-up band Steam, the creators of the one-hit wonder, "Na na Hey hey Kiss him goodbye." (And your brilliant inclusion of Bananarama's cover version, which I had forgotten about.)

As is so often the case your post prompted some more reading of my own, including the two NYT obituaries of the co-writers and lead performers of the original recording, and the Wikipedia page for the song itself.

The Wikipedia page noted one cover version, by "Dave Clark & Friends" that actually DID use the title (garbled, perhaps; or maybe a copyright dodge) of "Sha-Na-Na-Na (Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye)" (EMI 2082), noting that the single did not chart in that cover version.



narciso said...


Every squirrel is let loose in the menagerie:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/11/11/comprehending-the-doj-fbi-administrative-state-battle/

Mark said...

CNN and Acosta suing the Trump administration.

Talk about snowball's chance in Hell....

I wouldn't be too sure. I can easily envision some district judge in Hawaii issuing an injunction against Trump on this.

narciso said...

Ot, anyone read any willie Collins either the moonstone or woman in white?

Big Mike said...

I wouldn't be too sure. I can easily envision some district judge in Hawaii issuing an injunction against Trump on this.

And Trump has two countermoves. Move #1 is to point out that if Brenda Snipes can ignore the election laws and a judge's orders, Trump can too. Move #2 is to suspend all perss conferences until the matter is adjudicated by the Supreme Court.

Plus he probably has more moves; he's a very smart man who thinks several moves ahead.

Gahrie said...

Every single election the Democrats steal at least one seat...this year it looks like two Senate seats and a governorship.

And as long as the Althouses of the world fail to hold them accountable, the outrages will continue.

tim maguire said...

It would be funny if the White House suspended all CNN press passes pending resolution of the lawsuit. I’m sure White House counsel could draft up some sound reasoning.

FIDO said...

Nah. All Trump needs to do before every presser is ask 'What's the count?' Then he repeats the number of journalists there in wonder. 'Forty nine? How WILL the Republic survive without Jim Acosta? Maybe some of the rest of you may get to ask some questions.'

Then openly replace Jim with some cute Indian Woman from the Indian Times. 'Ms. Suriwat represents a billion and a half people. Far more than the couple hundred thousand who watch CNN willingly. So
first question to Ms. Suriwat...'

FIDO said...

Yes more people watch CNN then that. But that once again brings up their sinking ratings whic seems a Trumpian move.

The Crack Emcee said...

The Guardian just noticed there's a massive interest in cults now - a decade after I started sounding the alarm.

You people are all the same.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Woke up this morning thinking about the FUNdamental Transformation of America. I recall a series of articles back, maybe a couple decades ago, about how America mistreats it's children. Struck me as peculiar back then and seems to have blossomed under Obama.
It's good to be old.

BUMBLE BEE said...

You people... weak, real weak.

The Crack Emcee said...

BUMBLE BEE said...

"You people... weak, real weak."

Continually getting hung-up on colloquial speech....weak, real weak.

Remind me to NEVER invite you to a street corner conversation.

The Crack Emcee said...

What Happens When A Fortune Teller Costs You A Fortune?

Nothing. They talk about something else. Anything else.

The Crack Emcee said...

“I shall be back,” Harvey Milk wrote Jim Jones after attending a Peoples Temple service. “For I can never leave.” Despite Milk’s pledge of loyalty, the biopic on his life leaves his friendship with Jim Jones on the cutting room floor. Neither the Harvey Milk Terminal at San Francisco’s airport nor the city’s Harvey Milk Plaza address the most significant event in his political career. Milk called Jonestown “a beautiful retirement community” devoted to “alleviating the world food crisis” to Carter administration cabinet official Joseph Califano. “Such greatness I have found at Jim Jones’ Peoples’ Temple,” he wrote Guyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham. Most damning, when Jim Jones abducted a six-year-old boy from San Francisco to his South American concentration camp, Milk attacked the character of his parents in a letter to President Jimmy Carter. “Rev. Jones is widely known in the minority communities here and elsewhere as a man of the highest character, who has undertaken constructive remedies for social problems which have been amazing in their scope and effectiveness,” the San Francisco supervisor claimed to the president about a man who ultimately killed more African Americans than any Klansman. Despite a California court order, the president did not intervene.

The great Daniel J. Flynn on one of the many lies you people are more-than-comfortable living with.

Humperdink said...

You know what I miss? News on Christine Ballsey Ford, the caravan and Jamal Khashoggi. Haven't heard much lately.

Want news on Jim Acosta? It's everywhere. The latest hate-Trump news.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Palo Duro Canyon State Park is closed for inclement weather for the first time in 560 days. Last night's snow was the first in the Amarillo area since then. 3-4 inches where I am. A fine snow is still coming down sideways with the wind steady at 20-25 mph but it's expected to taper off soon.

Robert Cook said...

"Woke up this morning thinking about the FUNdamental Transformation of America. I recall a series of articles back, maybe a couple decades ago, about how America mistreats it's children. Struck me as peculiar back then and seems to have blossomed under Obama.
It's good to be old."


Abuse of children in America (or in the world) is not new. If there's a change, it's only in the degree to which we now look at child abuse in America. How, particularly, do you think it "blossomed" under Obama?

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

The Crack Emcee said...
"The Guardian just noticed there's a massive interest in cults now - a decade after I started sounding the alarm.

You people are all the same."

Why are you lumping everyone together like that? Is everyone here to blame for the thoughts of others?

Tank said...

Forget it Annie C, it's Cracktown.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Tank, I really would like Crack to tell us how we are supposed to change the minds of so many people. Just because he is stuck on spreading the word that there are cults in the world does not mean we are responsible for them.

It's hard enough for a person to keep their own thoughts on an even keel without being responsible for millions of others we have never met.

rhhardin said...

Women should be banned from running polling places. Men at least get the structural idea of fair reporting even if it's for the opposition. Women go for the short term result, even if it's cheating.

The Crack Emcee said...

Annie C said...

"Why are you lumping everyone together like that? Is everyone here to blame for the thoughts of others?"

Yes. This shit only exists because you let it exist. You are not ignorant of any of it, but you talk about Jim Acosta or something else idiotic - that's why evil exists.

It's very much your fault.

Tank said...

See Annie, he's a ____________, just ignore him.

The Crack Emcee said...

I stay on-point, every day, because I've seen the evil and want it gone - every day. No exceptions. There's nothing more important. Jiim Acosta brushing a woman's hand doesn't matter when cults are raping children, and only morons and other evil people think otherwise.

Your excuses are cop outs.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Holy smokes. So I am responsible for all of it because I carry on conversations that are not exposing cults to the masses. I am all powerful?

Who would even listen to me?

The Crack Emcee said...

Tank said...
See Annie, he's a ____________, just ignore him.

And you people are the nicest accomplices to child molesters I've ever met.

The Crack Emcee said...

Annie C said...
Holy smokes. So I am responsible for all of it because I carry on conversations that are not exposing cults to the masses. I am all powerful?

Who would even listen to me?

You? Imagine being this guy:

Jehovah's Witness child sex abuse survivor urges examination of NZ church

Nobody listens to cult victims. THAT'S THE POINT. You guys are heard loud and clear: you're conservatives. Big fucking whoop.

The Crack Emcee said...

New Mexico Sect Co-Leader Pleads No Contest to Abuse Charges

This shit is only happening because you people insist on talking about anything else.

AllenS said...

Well, this Cafe ended on a big stink.

Humperdink said...

Anytime I see a comment that begins with "You people" I stop reading any further.

The Crack Emcee said...

community is battling measles outbreaks. Vaccine deniers are to blame.

Jim Carrey and Robert diNero are both Trump haters and anti-vaccine nuts - have y'all "discussed" them even once?

Nope. Because kids getting life threatening diseases aren't as important as Jim Acosta brushing a woman's hand.

And you're all innocent because you talk of other things - every day.

FIDO said...

I remember when fringe folks were going on about fluoride in the water. Now it is vitamin supplements and Scientology.

People who abuse kids are criminals. When they are discovered, they are punished. People teaching kids things you disagree with is not abuse. People making kids exercise is not abuse. People teaching kids to hike or camp is not abuse. People teaching kids to shoot is not abuse. People not giving kids vaccinations is really stupid and can keep a kid out of school, but it is not abuse. A person giving a kid a spanking is not abuse.

Defining things your don't like as abuse is just a power grab for room on the moral pedestal to dictate to the masses.

The Left, Christian Ladies, or crack heads. It's all the same.

Heinlein pretty much told people to mind their own business. That seems a pretty good rule to live by.

The Crack Emcee said...

Universal Medicine follower's daughter releases private emails between mother and 'cult' leader

It's like there's two worlds: the one cults control, and one where women get their hands brushed and everyone's concerned.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

No kidding Allen, I am apparently not allowed to tell the plumber about the leak unless I give him a lecture on Scientology. Nor can I ask the fishmonger for frog legs without giving him the low-down on Jehovas Witnesses and I for sure am never allowed to have an opinion on anything that does not involve exposing all the cults and medical quacks in the world. Even those I have never heard of.

Gotta go, I've got word to spread. Going door to door, almost like a cult!

The Crack Emcee said...

From Charles Manson to Nxvim, Read Survivors' Shocking Stories in PEOPLE's Cults Special Edition

We got DECADES of this crap going on and you guys do and say NOTHING. You claim there's no victims as you look away - ev very day.

The Crack Emcee said...

Annie C said...

"I am apparently not allowed to tell the plumber about the leak unless I give him a lecture on Scientology."

But you will on Obama and socialism, right?

You fucking freaks.

The Crack Emcee said...

FIDO said...
I remember when fringe folks were going on about fluoride in the water. Now it is vitamin supplements and Scientology.

"People who abuse kids are criminals. When they are discovered, they are punished."

Then why does Scientology exist? People have been completely open about the abuse - why? Because there's no PUBLIC PRESSURE to do more.

The Crack Emcee said...

FIDO said...

"I remember when fringe folks were going on about fluoride in the water. Now it is vitamin supplements and Scientology."

Right - being against identifiable dangerous cults makes you John Birch material. You guys are disgusting.

The Crack Emcee said...

Here’s an example of how Scientology’s ‘disconnection’ is designed to eat away at you

Right under your noses, and anyone who brings it up is "fringe folks".

The Crack Emcee said...

The heiress, the actress and the 'sex cult' leader - Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg's fight to save her daughter

Don't miss the part where she talks about no one helping - and then imagine what that's like for people who aren't famous actresses.

Oh wait - you can't - too wound up in the all-important story of Jim Acosta and a lady's arm.

MY bad.

FIDO said...

Jim Carrey is a loon. Robert DeNiro is an asshole.

But we, as a society, have just had the press, the academy, Hollywood, and black people lecture us that 'society' has no right to dictate what they do and how they do it.

But now, we are getting some of the consequences of that 'you can't tell me what to do' nonsense coming home to roost.

There is a conflict. Social goods like CIVILITY and vaccinations vs freedom to be an asshole. There are no good answers and there will be negative consequences.

So if we are going to start forcing vaccinations, how about other 'useful medical interventions'? If you get welfare, you get an IUD. You don't want welfare, we can remove it.

'But kids are different. They can't make informed decisions.' Yes...and a single mom generally sucks as a care provider and her terrible decisions will inflict those 'new' kids.

See the Pandora's Box one opens?

The Crack Emcee said...

From Silicon Valley elite to social media hate: The radicalization that led to Gab

That covers a lot of territory. It's almost like this cult shit has gotten big or something. I wouldn't know: too wound up in Jim Acosta, being a conservative and all.

That's what's important.

The Crack Emcee said...

Facebook says it's gotten a lot better at removing material about ISIS, al-Qaeda and similar groups

Better. But it won't get good, and you know why? BECAUSE YOU DON'T GIVE A DAMN.

Too wound up in Jim Acosta's mic handling skills.

FIDO said...

No. It makes me not take you seriously and you want to be taken seriously. That is not disgusting. It means that I disagree with you about the size, scope and quality of the danger.

The Court of Public Opinion have examined the evidence and found yours wanting. If you get more evidence, maybe we reconsider. And maybe not.

Squawking louder doesn't change our opinion. Name calling doesn't change our opinion.

But good luck with your debate tactics.

The Crack Emcee said...

Catholic priest arrested on sexual abuse charge at District church

They have all the money in the world, but they tell me to feed the poor, and they molest kids with impunity, after you give them money.

I LIKE IT.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

The Crack Emcee said...
"Annie C said...

"I am apparently not allowed to tell the plumber about the leak unless I give him a lecture on Scientology."

But you will on Obama and socialism, right?

You fucking freaks."

No, I won't. That would be rude. People are entitled to their opinions and I do not have the right to force mine upon them. Sheesh.

Hey Skipper said...

In a nod towards James Taranto ...

Fox Butterfield, call your office; or, Annals of Socialized Medicine:

Despite the country’s socialized health care system, treatment for some conditions, like cancer, remains inaccessible for much of the population.

I am feeling the power of "and".

In other NYT adventures, from my daily briefing comes these two adjacent summaries:

• The Victoria’s Secret fashion show will once again feature dramatic wings, diamanté bodysuits and cleavage. But as other companies embrace body positivity and female empowerment, the brand’s signature style seems increasingly out of touch, writes our fashion director.

• Gillian Flynn, the author of “Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects,” built an enormous following, especially among women, by portraying women at their worst — which some critics call radical and empowering.


So women's bodies are empowering and positive, unless they are too empowering, then they aren't, unless they happen to be at their worst when they are.

Right. Got it.

The Crack Emcee said...

OC District Attorney investigates LA-based faith healers for suspected fraud

They question the scope of this thing, when they have NO IDEA of the scope of it, because they talk about Jim Acosta and whether or not he's respectful enough.

Hell, Trump hired Dr. Oz and you fools didn't even say anything - and he was dragged before the Senate as a quack.

You're all pathetic. This isn't a country - it's a madhouse now.

The Crack Emcee said...

Guam's Catholic Church To File Bankruptcy Amid Deluge Of Sex Abuse Lawsuits

Any normal people would be demanding these perverts leave the country - at the least - but no. Too busy making sure Jim Acosta is taken to the cleaners.

Brave Knights of the Realm are you all.

The Crack Emcee said...



Three former Catholic clergy who served in Cobb face sexual abuse allegations


It's wild: all you have to do is put "cult" into your search engine and the whole world comes alive.

The Crack Emcee said...

Who Scientology’s ‘Int Base’ is rooting for in the midterms

That's not important info to anybody, right? Jim Acosta - he's important.

Gotta get those priorities right.

The Crack Emcee said...

Trump won them. Republicans rely on them. But what is the future of white evangelicals?

That one ought to scratch a nerve.

The Crack Emcee said...

Growing up in Westboro Baptist Church: We were “true believers,” everyone else the enemy

This is the same ideological outlook Shouting Thomas articulated about conservatism: "enemies" are out there, right?

But this isn't important. What's Jim Acosta up to now?

The Crack Emcee said...

U.S. Law Enforcement Failed to See the Threat of White Nationalism. Now They Don’t Know How to Stop It.

Picking on Jim Acosta might do it.

The Crack Emcee said...

57 New Orleans-area clergy members on archdiocese's official sex abuse list

I can see Annie's point: There's no need to talk about this shit with ANYBODY. Just go about your lives, looking the other way.

That's how you MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

The Crack Emcee said...

Annie C said...

"People are entitled to their opinions and I do not have the right to force mine upon them. Sheesh."

Oh, Mr. Child Molester, I have NO RIGHT to question your beliefs. Sheesh., How rude.

Now go back to what you were doing.

The Crack Emcee said...

You "normal people", now, are some really sick puppies.

iowan2 said...

Our host has a guest blogger. At least it only took a few minutes to run through 70 comments

narciso said...

The guardian and the Carlos slims times have their been a larger promoter of cults.

narciso said...

Has the New York times done a similar list of Islamist attempts and attacks on their front page, rhetorical.

FIDO said...


Three former Catholic clergy who served in Cobb face sexual abuse allegations

It's wild: all you have to do is put "cult" into your search engine and the whole world comes alive.



This here is why no one takes you seriously.


Somehow, you seem to assert that one of the core tenants of (Insert Hobby Horse Organization here), is child buggery. It is like you saw that South Park episode and didn't get the joke.


SOME people with power abuse that power. Not every Democrat is a rapist. Bill Clinton IS. Menendez IS. (Okay, alleged to be). The core tenant of the Democratic Party is not 'rape and hit women', even though Keith Ellison is given a pass.

It is not a core tenant of the Republican party to ask teenaged girls on dates, even if Roy Moore was ALLEGED to have done so...forty years ago...by some security guard with Alzheimer's.


So your RIDICULOUS an ILLOGICAL attempts to paint (X) organization as 'child abusing sweathouses' is illogical and laughable.

Now, if you want to take a swipe at NAMBLA (is that still even a thing?), go ahead. That IS one of their core tenants.


You can post as many stories as you'd like. It still doesn't make boy rape a core tenant of the Catholic Church (though maybe they need fewer gay priests...just saying).



FIDO said...

And to make your point even more irrelevant: you are providing LINKS. We ARE talking about abusive priests. People ARE going to jail. The Catholic Church IS being questioned!

But we don't talk about that HERE. HERE, we are interested in different things.

Maybe...and I am just throwing this out...if you want to yap about cultists and anti vaccers, you find A DIFFERENT WEB SITE who ARE interested in that topic. It's okay if you go to both. We won't think you are cheating on us and we won't miss you if you spend a lot of time there.

You are like some Vegan Clown who is throwing Soy Chum into the water and wondering why there aren't any sharks coming. We aren't interested in that kind of chum, Chum.

FIDO said...

If you'd like to see the same thing: Althouse monotonously keeps posting Dylan posts and gets a few ex hippies to comment, some simply out of politeness. Gets maybe 20 replies. Soy chum!

Here is the difference. She owns the blog and you don't.

narciso said...

So you want to ban freedom of association except for authorized groups.

mtrobertslaw said...

Where is that picture of Acosta admiringly looking at himself in a mirror? Trump should hang it on the front of the lectern in the press room. A guy like Acosta cannot survive ridicule.

Andrew said...

Crack, have you tried therapy?

Ann (our host), could you perhaps limit Crack to 5 comments per post? He's a nut, and thinks I'm to blame for Jonestown. I was eight at the time. Maybe my parents should have done something.

Ralph L said...

Jonestown happened on the day I turned 18. Does that mean I must be tried as an adult?

Freder Frederson said...

It's November 12, the outside date Homeland Security predicted for the Caravan to reach the border. The caravan is now leaving Mexico City, 657 miles from Brownsville.

I will now accept sincere apologies from those of you who called me a liar or misinformed.

AllenS said...

Freder, why don't you try and get Homeland Security to apologize to you. Quit bothering us.