Althouse: At the Equinox Eve Café...

March 19, 2019

At the Equinox Eve Café...

... all topics are equal.

41 comments:

Lucien said...: Per Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch has had to (successfully) move to compel further responses from the DOJ/FBI regarding FOIA requests for records concerning the assignment, of Petter Strzok to the Mueller team, and his subsequent transfer and reassignment. The clear implication is that the Trump DOJ is playing hide the ball to avoid embarrassment and protect Strzok and other deep state players.

Why, more than halfway through his first term, is President Trump unable, or unwilling, to direct the DOJ to make full disclosure in response to such FOIA requests, and to avoid bad faith actions by its lawyers? (For example, in response to a request for "any and all records" discussing Strzok's assignment and later reassignment, the FBI apparently only searched Strzok's emails, and not those of any decisions makers, and did not search Strzok's text messages.); 3/19/19, 9:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: Equinox? Is that like Equifax with everbody entitled to an equal credit rating, AOC style? And has anyone noticed that they have moved Easter over a month...it's not until April 21.; 3/19/19, 9:11 PM
wild chicken said...: So much snow still on the ground in Missoula, and now such bright sunlight I gotta Wear shades.

I'll be glad when the yard glaciers recede so I can go for a walk again.; 3/19/19, 9:25 PM
William said...: I don think the NZ killer will get a dreamy Rolling Stone cover. He probably won't get more than a dozen marriage proposals. White supremacist mass murderers are treated so unfairly by the media and the public.; 3/19/19, 9:34 PM
Sprezzatura said...: I've have been deleted a lot with the new system.

That makes me certifiable re "lesser" and/or "abusive" and/or "terribly boring" and/or whatnot.

Cool!; 3/19/19, 9:47 PM
Sprezzatura said...: After landing here because I was banned at MyDD and TalkLeft (for being too harsh on HRC), it took more than ten years to get the gag. Sure, it took longer. But, it was better. Here, Althouse is manipulating my words. Trickery is cooler than a pure banning.; 3/19/19, 9:47 PM
Karen of Texas said...: And has anyone noticed that they have moved Easter over a month...it's not until April 21.; 3/19/19, 9:48 PM
steve uhr said...: Lucien — Trump can’t override FOIA. Deep state wins again. Aren’t they tired of all this winning yet?; 3/19/19, 9:52 PM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

On the Equinox--that is, tomorrow, on the 20th--there will be a supermoon:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/see-first-super-worm-moon-on-spring-equinox-in-19-years/; 3/19/19, 10:05 PM
Be said...: "... y tu pases tocando el frio con tu suave silencio / y ciego te sentencio a dar nombre a que ahora no se..."

https://youtu.be/V4BZq0RDo8I

I get it, Silvio Rodriguez is a Stalinist Hack. That doesn't mean that "Like Waiting for April" isn't still a beautiful song. Happy Spring! The light's what always hits me first.; 3/19/19, 10:17 PM
Chuck said...: Kudos, for a change, to Matt Drudge. Who headlined the stories about how the clusterfuck Tweets from Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale originated. (Parscale wanted to delegitimize George Conway by claiming that Trump had never met George Conway and would not know him if they met.)

And Conway essentially responds by doing an interview where he recounts the number of personal meetings he's had with Trump, complete with old congratulatory correspondence from Trump to Conway.

Conway is now doing LOL Tweets, and Parscale has shut his Twitter hole.; 3/19/19, 10:22 PM
cf said...: Most Excellent Moonrise this evening, in a perfectly clear Oregon sky! wasn't expecting it, but that is usual, the Moon most always sneaks up on me. In fact, I am just realizing, the moon in the sky is by far my most regular fantastic surprise.; 3/19/19, 10:36 PM
DKWalser said...: CNN has been given the Walter Cronkite award for it's post-Parkland Town Hall on gun control. You know, the one where Jake Tapper allowed Sheriff Israel to grandstand and in which Dana Loesch was treated by CNN and the crowd as the villain? That's what gets rewarded in journalism circles these days. It's little wonder most of the country finds the media contemptible.

Not that the Town Hall didn't produce results. I joined the NRA for the 1st time since high school, when I joined because the NRA sponsored the hunter safety course I attended. CNN's award is going to have a similar effect. I think I'll renew my membership.; 3/19/19, 10:42 PM
wildswan said...: Making maple syrup. At least, others are and I'm studying the process. The last couple of days have been tremendous for sap. It's rushing up the trees and I expect buds to just pop open any day. But I can't understand what pulls the sap up before there are leaves, only closed buds. And this sap is flowing even after sunset. I thought the stomata on the leaves opened and closed and pulled a column of water up in the day-time and let it down at night. Anyone know how this works?; 3/19/19, 10:43 PM
Achilles said...: Lucien said...

Why, more than halfway through his first term, is President Trump unable, or unwilling, to direct the DOJ to make full disclosure in response to such FOIA requests, and to avoid bad faith actions by its lawyers? (For example, in response to a request for "any and all records" discussing Strzok's assignment and later reassignment, the FBI apparently only searched Strzok's emails, and not those of any decisions makers, and did not search Strzok's text messages.)

Because that would give the DOJ the excuse to call that "Obstruction of Justice" and keep the investigation open.

As soon as the "Mueller" team closes shop everything is immediately open to the public.

Muller hasn't even been in the office for a year or so. He is a figurehead.

In this case the end is the beginning.

Do not take a shot at the king and miss. Weissman and the corrupt deep state missed.

Trump plays a long game. We are going to spend the primary season discussing the numerous indictments coming down when the Weissman investigation is closed.; 3/19/19, 10:48 PM
Clark said...: I did notice that Easter seems to be a month late. I thought it was supposed to be the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. But the early church decided that it would take March 21 to be the vernal equinox, even when the actual equinox fell on a different day as it does this year. The equinox is the 20th this year and the full moon comes a few hours later. I am ready for Spring. You all can wait another month if you want.; 3/19/19, 11:36 PM
Rob said...: Kamala Harris was on Jimmy Kimmel tonight. She said her husband Doug is "the most fully-actualized person you've ever met." From the way she said it, I gather that's a good thing, but could somebody tell me what it means? (I have a nagging suspicion I'm only partly actualized.); 3/19/19, 11:52 PM
gadfly said...: @Lucien said...
Per Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch has had to (successfully) move to compel further responses from the DOJ/FBI regarding FOIA requests for records concerning the assignment, of Petter Strzok to the Mueller team, and his subsequent transfer and reassignment. The clear implication is that the Trump DOJ is playing hide the ball to avoid embarrassment and protect Strzok and other deep state players.

The is just another fake "deep state" conspiracy tweeted about by Trump and Giuliani against Pete Strzok, whose long career with the FBI made him an expert in tracking Russian spies, and who was reassigned then fired, simply because he disliked Trump, to direct attention away from Trump's illegal conspiring with foreigners. DOJ has already responded with the technical reasons involving converting to new cell phones. .; 3/20/19, 2:13 AM
tim maguire said...: Lucien said...Why, more than halfway through his first term, is President Trump unable, or unwilling, to direct the DOJ to make full disclosure in response to such FOIA requests, and to avoid bad faith actions by its lawyers?

I wonder that myself. Trump has absolutele authority to declassify and order cooperation. My best guess is that, like Obama and the birther issue, he finds it politically useful and so is uninterested in stopping it. (BTW, that was Trump’s real contribution to the birther conspiracy—far from being the conspiracist he is accused of being, he forced Obama to quit screwing around and end it.); 3/20/19, 5:11 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: But some topics are more equal than others.; 3/20/19, 5:24 AM
rehajm said...: The complete mechanics of maple sap production are complex and were not fully understood last I checked. We do know sap flow is similar to a cut on your finger- the pressure differential from inside to out causes liquid to move from higher pressure to lower. With the maple the tree builds that pressure through the day/night freeze thaw cycle that thaws frozen liquid and expands internal gases. Osmosis, gravity and the sticky atomic behavior of water molecules also impact sap flow.; 3/20/19, 5:24 AM
Meade said...: Good answer, rehajm.; 3/20/19, 5:31 AM
rhhardin said...: A bicycle front gear cable broke (in the usual place, inside the shifter) but for some reason repair was one of those everything is difficult jobs.

The shifter has fake phillips screws that are designed not to fit any phillips shape very well and augers out, so a screw and bolt extractor was needed to get it out. That cracked the plastic case owing to a deep recess.

The new cable for some reason would not go inside the cable housing - slightly too large in diameter. It would go in but not slide. Who makes derailleur cables slightly too big?

I found an saved but too short cable I'd set aside - it was too short for the rear deraileur and I asked the supplier at the time why they sold derailleur cables that are too short to reach the rear derailleur and she answered that the length was a good compromise between front and rear derailleurs, which is why I remember it. Anyway that cable fit the front derailleur fine so now I've gotten my money's worth, with a 15 year delay.

That completed the job except for matching black electrical tape to hold the shifter closed where the phillips screw was.

No blood was spilled.

Phillips screws were designed to auger out, incidentally. They were put in by robots and the augering out limited the final torque. For some reason the design continued all over.

The too-fat cable measures the same diameter as the others with a micrometer, so that's still a mystery.; 3/20/19, 5:39 AM
Meade said...: "(BTW, that was Trump’s real contribution to the birther conspiracy—far from being the conspiracist he is accused of being, he forced Obama to quit screwing around and end it.)"

Exactly right. The birth question began with the Harvard Law Review 1991 yearbook which states he was born in Kenya. Obama himself failed to correct the misinformation, possibly because he felt he stood to benefit from it (similar to the way Elizabeth Warren found benefit in people—wrongly—believing she was an enrolled tribal member.)

So, Obama himself started birtherism. Trump ended it.; 3/20/19, 5:42 AM
tim maguire said...: Meade, and to get more in the weeds, Obama started it, but Hillary popularized it. Trump’s ending it was in anticipation of running for president—he didn’t want to have to deal with it as a casmpaign issue. “Battlespace preparation” as the righties like to call it.; 3/20/19, 5:54 AM
rehajm said...: I tried, Meade. I’ve been posing that question to my family full of Vermonters since I was in kindergarten. Never been satisfied with the answers...; 3/20/19, 5:59 AM
Meade said...: "he didn’t want to have to deal with it"

Makes sense. After all, Trump began campaigning for president back in 2000.; 3/20/19, 5:59 AM
rehajm said...: I was gonna ask you to adjust the deraileur on my new 7 speed cruiser rhhardin but I could do it as well as that...; 3/20/19, 6:01 AM
Narayanan said...: ****The birth question began with the Harvard Law Review 1991 yearbook which states he was born in Kenya. Obama himself failed to correct the misinformation, possibly because he felt he stood to benefit from it****

My question is did he benefit from it - by gaining admission to Columbia and Harvard as international student?; 3/20/19, 6:12 AM
Hagar said...: The most interesting comment to the rash of Democratic proposals was Nancy Pelosi stating she had "always" been in favor of lowering the voting age to 16 "because it is important to capture them while they are young."

That is about as naked a totalitarian attitude to politics as can be made.; 3/20/19, 6:46 AM
Hagar said...: With regard to Obama, I think if he did, it was probably earlier, in California when he was on his own.; 3/20/19, 6:50 AM
narciso said...: Yes and the jacket copy showed him as the son of the finance minister.; 3/20/19, 7:54 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Funny that Obama didn't declare himself to be Indonesian, since we know for certain that he lived there for several years as a youngster. Maybe the perks were better for Africans.

Was Singer around then?; 3/20/19, 7:57 AM
narciso said...: He had Thomas Ayers and prince talals man warden aka Khalid bin mansour.; 3/20/19, 7:58 AM
Ralph L said...: Wasn't the Ivy Diversity Quest already in high gear by the early 80's? He probably didn't need an explicit Africa boost, the exotic name and dark skin were enough.; 3/20/19, 8:06 AM
Gahrie said...: Peace is war
Love is hate
Censorship is freedom; 3/20/19, 9:09 AM
Chuck said...: Meade said...
"(BTW, that was Trump’s real contribution to the birther conspiracy—far from being the conspiracist he is accused of being, he forced Obama to quit screwing around and end it.)"

Exactly right. The birth question began with the Harvard Law Review 1991 yearbook which states he was born in Kenya. Obama himself failed to correct the misinformation, possibly because he felt he stood to benefit from it (similar to the way Elizabeth Warren found benefit in people—wrongly—believing she was an enrolled tribal member.)

So, Obama himself started birtherism. Trump ended it.

That is the most perverse thing that I have ever seen come off your keyboard.

Trump didn't do any truth-seeking. Trump dabbled in the rumor for his own fun and profit.

I can hardly believe that you are not cognizant of Trump's interview with Meredith Viera wherein he tells her that he has his own private investigators in Hawaii, who were "finding out things they can't believe." Trump never said who they were, what they found, or what they could report. It was a hoax; it was undoubtedly fake. What were they ever supposed to have found?

The only thing that was revealed in all of it was the depth of Donald Trump's on-the-fly mendacity, in resorting to a lie like that in order to keep the interview going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blckpwk1voQ"; 3/20/19, 9:54 AM
FullMoon said...: Trump's interview with Meredith Viera, like asking Russia for the missing yoga emails, was one of his better jokes.

Naturally, his enemies in the media and other goofy people pretend not to see the humor.

MAGA !; 3/20/19, 11:47 AM
FullMoon said...: The deposition of UK’s former MI6 Spy Christopher Steele was recently released. Steele was in a court case in the UK for slander related to his famous fake Trump – Russia dossier. In his deposition Steele confirms that he was able to view and read sealed and classified US information that the average US citizen is not able to see.; 3/20/19, 11:56 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Happy Equinox, Vern 'n Al!; 3/20/19, 4:25 PM
ken in tx said...: Self Actualization comes from "Maslow's hierarchy of needs". It's supposed to be the highest level of human motivation. The concept generally makes sense but in this case I think using it is status seeking psycho-babble.; 3/20/19, 6:21 PM