Althouse: At the Sunday Night Café...

March 3, 2019

At the Sunday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

251 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 251 of 251

Karen of Texas said...: "Are you really comfortable with your comments pages being used for the kind of defamation we see in the Adam Schiff example?"

Any more or less comfortable than the defamation of whuch Trump is the recipient?

Are you insinuating that Althouse condones comments by being cruelly neutral in allowing them to remain on HER blog?; 3/4/19, 6:50 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Instead of Of Mice and Men how about (William Tenn's) Of Men and Monsters?; 3/4/19, 6:52 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Thanks I spend a fair amount of time, gathering them, sometimes thr links have extra code.

Narcisco, if you spend all that time “gathering them” (your links), why don't you spend 30 seconds extra per and make them (html) links? In other words, Learn to code! (a very tiny amount of coding learning). I ain't-a-followin' (after all the time you're spending posting) your links until you do.; 3/4/19, 6:57 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I didn't read what was written about Schitt, only that his name was coming up a lot. He's a public figure getting talked about, and I'm not interested enough to read what the controversy is. It's subject matter in the news, of general interest. I'm not monitoring defamation here and can't possibly do that. If that was a concern that I thought rested on me, I would end all comments and undisplay all comments that have ever been written here.; 3/4/19, 6:57 AM
Nichevo said...: Judge Amy Berman Jackson's barely week-old gag order barring President Donald Trump's long-time friend Stone from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him.

That's insane! How can that be Constitutional?; 3/4/19, 6:57 AM
Karen of Texas said...: "Your suggestion that the phony rumor about Schiff makes it imperative that there be a full disclosure of House settlements is much like Donald Trump's claim that there needed to be an investigation of Barack Obama's birth certificate. A hoax, in search of some supporting evidence." That's rich if one were to want to, say, discuss the Mueller investigation.; 3/4/19, 6:59 AM
Nichevo said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3/4/19, 6:59 AM
iowan2 said...: I accept accept our hosts gentle reprimand.

Now I'm still waiting for that single fact that launched the FBI into spying on a political campaign. Including using foreign spies implanted into said campaigns.

Without that I accept no complaints about reporting, concerning Congressman Schiff, cavorting with minor children and then using tax payer money to pay them hush money.; 3/4/19, 7:03 AM
Ann Althouse said...: LOL. I thought his name was "Schitt." Trump got to me! I was not trying to use an epithet.; 3/4/19, 7:09 AM
iowan2 said...: I'm not monitoring defamation here and can't possibly do that. If that was a concern that I thought rested on me, I would end all comments and undisplay all comments that have ever been written here.

That's always been my position. After the Election of President Trump, and the campaign leading up to the election, reporting has been little but, defamation. Avinutty, anyone??

I refuse to get bound up in ethics after the media and the left (I repeat myself) activities
The media is still claiming President Trump has had sexually liaisons with two named women, without a shred of evidence.; 3/4/19, 7:13 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Bissage was the name of the longtime commenter not Bischoff. Can't believe I could not remember his name- I am pretty sure he was a lawyer.; 3/4/19, 7:23 AM
Chuck said...: Ann Althouse said...
I didn't read what was written about Schitt, only that his name was coming up a lot. He's a public figure getting talked about, and I'm not interested enough to read what the controversy is. It's subject matter in the news, of general interest. I'm not monitoring defamation here and can't possibly do that. If that was a concern that I thought rested on me, I would end all comments and undisplay all comments that have ever been written here.

First, as you know, it's "Schiff."

The claim that Schiff was the subject of a sexual misconduct claim has not been news. At least not conventional news. The Snopes de-bunking is the closest it got to conventional news. Which makes it even less "news."

The claim that Schiff was the subject of a sexual misconduct claim comes out the fever swamps of the alt-right. A social media phenomenon. I think that there is some considerable overlap, between large portions of the current Althouse commentariat and the alt-right social media fever swamps.

With all due respect Althouse, I would (a) not expect you to actively monitor all instances of defamation on your blog's comments pages and (b) not expect that you would or should bear any liability if defamation occurred in the form of commenters who are not authorized to speak for you.

But in my case, I challenged Michael K on this particular defamation a couple of days ago. I did it; I never expected you or Meade to do it. I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought that I was clearly right; I posted the Snopes link. No one else had any good basis or support for the reckless Schiff allegation(s). And in the process of getting pushed back on my challenge, I called Michael K "a nasty old dirt bag." One of the mildest insults in the history of these comments pages, yes? Nothing compared to what I get on a daily basis ("cuck," "fake lawyer," "fake Republican," "drunk," "mental patient," etc.) But it was then me who felt the wrath of Meade. All of my posts were eliminated. That is the particular added history with the Schiff defamation here and now.

Again; this is a café post. And all of my comments in this "café" have been aimed at ferreting out what a hoax the Shiff -- that's Schiff with two f's -- "settlement" story has been.; 3/4/19, 7:30 AM
Chuck said...: Ann Althouse said...
LOL. I thought his name was "Schitt." Trump got to me! I was not trying to use an epithet.

1. I believe you. The epithet thing is not your style.
2. The fact that Trump's "Schitt" was that pervasive is so profoundly sad.; 3/4/19, 7:37 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Although truly as close to omnipotent as our likes are likely to see here on earth, Trump can't take all the Schitt credit bestowed here.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3526078/

Call it a crick, call it a creek, just don't forget the Schitt.; 3/4/19, 7:46 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 7:56 AM
Michael K said...: Chuck, I see your apology is retracted.

I have better things to do and other blogs with few or no trolls.; 3/4/19, 7:56 AM
iowan2 said...: Funny a response, but for some reason, avoiding like the plague for any evidence that would start an investigation against a political campaign.

The silence is all the proof I need to repeat the reporting that Congressman Schiff is paying hush money to shut up minor boys he has been sexually using and abusing.; 3/4/19, 7:58 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Judge Amy Berman Jackson's barely week-old gag order barring President Donald Trump's long-time friend Stone from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him.”

“That's insane! How can that be Constitutional?“

Gag orders have been around for a long time before Roger Stone was given one. They serve a purpose, so the person who is gagged or his representative doesn’t influence the jury.; 3/4/19, 8:02 AM
Kevin said...: I had planned to note how rat-free this particular cafe seemed.

Then I started reading the comments.; 3/4/19, 8:08 AM
Chuck said...: Michael K said...
Chuck, I see your apology is retracted.

I have better things to do and other blogs with few or no trolls.

I did not retract my apology, Michael K.

And, I still see not one bit of backup for the Adam Schiff story. I even went out of my way to make it clear that it was not you alone who had advanced it here.

I think I made a mistake, calling you a nasty old dirtbag. I made absolutely no mistake in calling out the rank bullshit that is the Adam Schiff "settlement" nonsense.

I am still calling you out on that. With no names this time.; 3/4/19, 8:13 AM
Meade said...: Nice job mucking out the barn. Thanks for letting me sleep in.; 3/4/19, 8:25 AM
Birkel said...: I'm not precisely sure why my comment was included in the mass deletions but I'll try to do better.

I'm also not sure why anybody defends Adam Schitt. That's an odd choice.

The definition of defamation deserves a little more respect. It does not mean saying mean things that might be false is actionable.; 3/4/19, 8:33 AM
Chuck said...: Michael this was your post on 2/28 at 9:39 blog-time:

Michael K said...
I’d like to see the list of other presidential candidates who have been investigated and prosecuted for paying hush money.<

I'd just like to see the Congressional slush fund that pays off sexual harassment claims. Including the 19 year old boy who accused Schiff.

I understand it is over a quarter million.

2/28/19, 9:39 AM

And all that I have done, other than to ridicule the basic allegation, is to ask you how you came to that understanding. I think it has been a bout a half-dozen times that I have asked you directly now.

And you haven't backed it up with anything. Not one thing.

It is a defamation on your part, in my opinion. I think it is a reasonably serious enough thing to merit an examination.

I don't know if, as a blogger yourself, you claim any sort of quasi-journalist status (and therefore enjoying certain New York Times v. Sullivan privileges pertaining to journalists). Maybe you do. If so, your trafficking in the Schiff garbage is even more despicable.; 3/4/19, 8:52 AM
FullMoon said...: Still no evidence of Schiff's innocence? Has he denied the accusation yet?
Why not?; 3/4/19, 10:02 AM
Chuck said...: FullMoon said...
Still no evidence of Schiff's innocence? Has he denied the accusation yet?
Why not?

I expect that it was such an unserious rumor, Schiff never thought it merited a response.

But as to this issue; I never much expected any of you Trump-supporting Schiff-haters to actually come up with "evidence." I expect that nothing like "evidence" exists at all.

Rather, my simple request was for all of you to simply say how you came by your knowledge/understanding of the Schiff story. Tell us what news source, what reporter, what outlet supplied you with the information that you seem to presume is true.

Start there. Start with a simple clear explanation as to how you came to "understand" (that was Michael K's word in this regard) that a settlement had been made on behalf of Schiff.

btw: for anyone reading just the comments here and not otherwise paying attention to Schiff allegations, the alt-right wackos had floated another Schiff rumor. The rumor was that Rep. Adam Schiff's sister had married a son of liberal activist financier George Soros. A Soros son DID marry a woman whose maiden name was Schiff. She was not related to the California Congressman. Adam Schiff does not have a sister.

Grindin'.; 3/4/19, 10:19 AM
FullMoon said...: I expect that it was such an unserious rumor, Schiff never thought it merited a response.

...another Schiff rumor. The rumor was that Rep. Adam Schiff's sister had married a son of liberal activist financier George Soros.

And yet, you continue to perpetuate the so-called rumor by continuing to deny it's validity on am extremely popular blog.

That hush money went somewhere. Who received it and why. That is the important question.

Where there is smoke, there is likely fire.; 3/4/19, 11:01 AM
FullMoon said...: Commenter said:
Grindin'.

Whoa ! Denial of hush money from a Congressman to another man includes a referenceA reference to a homosexual dating site?

Not very subtle

"Grindr is a geosocial networking and online dating application geared towards gay, bi, trans, and queer people."; 3/4/19, 11:06 AM
Big Mike said...: @Chuck, I asked you a perfectly civil question around 5:12 AM. Yes, or no?; 3/4/19, 11:18 AM
Chuck said...: "Grindin'" is a reference to my earlier-stated intention to grind on this issue narrowly; demanding to know what the source of the Schiff rumor was.

You still haven't answered the simplest of questions; how did you hear about it? Is there a source of information on this that you think is credible?

I want the "Adam Schiff settlement" story to be known as a hoax. Just like "Jussie Smollett hate crime" is now a well-known hoax.

And of course you yourself have trafficked in the Adam Schiff hoax. I want you in the same category as Jussie Smollett.; 3/4/19, 11:21 AM
Chuck said...: To Laurence Meade;

This seems to me to be precisely the sort of comment that makes Althouse despair, and that she has repeatedly asked not be posted:

Big Mike said...
@Chuck, and when we do find the proof do you promise to go away and never come back?

3/4/19, 5:12 AM

I shall not respond to it.; 3/4/19, 11:25 AM
iowan2 said...: Still waiting for the same standard demanded for pedophile, Congressman Schiff, get applied to the FBI implanting spies to surveil the Trump campaign.; 3/4/19, 11:31 AM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 11:33 AM
FullMoon said...: I want the "Adam Schiff settlement" story to be known as a hoax. Just like "Jussie Smollett hate crime" is now a well-known hoax.

Why? Obviously the way to prove it is to publish the distribution of the money. Is that what you are championing? If so, what are you, as a big time influential insider in the Michigan chapter of the republican party, personally doing to further the exposure of these sleazy politicians other than breaking wind on the blog?

Are you rallying the troops in the real world, or just shootin' off your mouth here?; 3/4/19, 11:36 AM
Chuck said...: Now into a second page, past 200 comments, and no one has even been able to come up with so much as a single source for where they think they heard credible news that there had been a settlement on behalf of Rep. Schiff. Not one. Not a link, not a cite, not a reference.; 3/4/19, 11:39 AM
FullMoon said...: Now into a second page, past 200 comments, and no one has even been able to come up with so much as a single source for where Rep. Schiff has denied making payoffs for sexual favours.

Not one. Not a link, not a cite, not a reference.; 3/4/19, 11:44 AM
Chuck said...: With regard to any need for a Schiff "denial"; what exactly should he deny? There needs to be an allegation before there is a comprehensible denial, right?

What exactly is alleged regarding Schiff? Who is making the allegation? How can Schiff issue any sort of serious denial, when no one will own up to any allegation in the first place?; 3/4/19, 12:11 PM
FullMoon said...: With regard to any need for a Schiff "denial"; what exactly should he deny? There needs to be an allegation before there is a comprehensible denial, right?

What exactly is alleged regarding Schiff? Who is making the allegation? How can Schiff issue any sort of serious denial, when no one will own up to any allegation in the first place?

Huh?
You have been repeating the allegation here for two days.
Here is an out of the box, pushing the envelope idea: E mail the congressman and ask him if hush money has been paid by him, or on his behalf.

Then,copy and paste his answer here.; 3/4/19, 12:17 PM
Chuck said...: I have been ridiculing the Schiff allegation from the time I first saw it in Althouse comments.

With any reasonable readers of these several pages, I think that I am winning. They are probably Googling Schiff on their own, and finding nothing just as I have. I am showing what complete nothingness there is with this. And as regards the Trump-loving, Schiff-hating bottom-feeders, I don't care. All I want is clarity; do any commenters believe the Schiff allegation(s), even as vague and utterly unsourced as they are? Or are they like me; understanding the Schiff story to be nonsense and each and every purveyor of it worthy of scorn and ridicule?; 3/4/19, 12:55 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 1:07 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 1:10 PM
Michael K said...: Is Chuck still going on about Schiff ? Chuck is there something you would like to tell about your worship of Schiff ?

Something in that Congressional slush fund record ?; 3/4/19, 2:46 PM
Chuck said...: I think it is an embarrassment for the Republican Party if we don’t banish crazy tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists. And the laughably phony Schiff stories are a goddamned embarrassment to anyone who promotes them.

And still, no word, no acknowledgement, no admission as to where you got it.; 3/4/19, 3:35 PM
Michael K said...: Chuck, I think you had better read that dementia thread. I have tried to take you seriously but it is Impossible; 3/4/19, 7:48 PM
Chuck said...: You've got nothing, Michael K. The joke was on you. You bought into the laughable Schiff story as if it was serious. And you repeated it here, like you were hanging out with friends in a comfortable Northside bar shooting the breeze, and nobody was going to fact-check anything. Good times.

I asked you repeatedly, just say where you got the story. That's it. Just tell us where you got it, and we can work backwards from there. You can't do it. Or you won't do it.

Disgraceful, defamatory rumor.; 3/4/19, 8:20 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 8:39 PM
Chuck said...: Like I queried before, what is Schiff supposed to "deny"? Where is the allegation? In an anonymous Tweet? In some douchebag's fake website like TheNetSpies.com? An Althouse comments page comment?

Tell me where to find the Schiff settlement allegation, stated in a clear and convincing fashion by a reputable reporter.

You haven't done it. You can't do it. You won't do it.

I' not even asking you to prove anything! All that I am asking is the information on where the allegation came from.

The story was a lie, an internet hoax. And some of you stupid mouth-breathing Trumpkins fell for it, out of your ignorance and gullibility and fear and loathing for what the majority on the House Intel Committee was going to do to Individual 1.; 3/4/19, 9:16 PM
FullMoon said...: Now into a second page, past 200 comments, and no one has even been able to come up with so much as a single source for where Rep. Schiff has denied making payoffs for sexual favours.

Not one. Not a link, not a cite, not a reference.; 3/4/19, 9:31 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 9:33 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/4/19, 9:39 PM
FullMoon said...: You've got nothing, Michael K. The joke was on you. You bought into the laughable Schiff story as if it was serious. And you repeated it here, like you were hanging out with friends in a comfortable Northside bar shooting the breeze, and nobody was going to fact-check anything. Good times.

I asked you repeatedly, just say where you got the story. That's it. Just tell us where you got it, and we can work backwards from there. You can't do it. Or you won't do it.ou've got nothing, Michael K. The joke was on you. You bought into the laughable Schiff story as if it was serious. And you repeated it here, like you were hanging out with friends in a comfortable Northside bar shooting the breeze, and nobody was going to fact-check anything. Good times.

I asked you repeatedly, just say where you got the story. That's it. Just tell us where you got it, and we can work backwards from there. You can't do it. Or you won't do it.

Don't do it Doc. He deserves no courtesy. Let him do his own research.

Leave him slowly twisting in the wind, with his tit in a wringer.; 3/4/19, 9:54 PM
Fen said...: Chuck: "I think it is an embarrassment for the Republican Party if we don’t banish crazy tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists. And the laughably phony Schiff stories are a goddamned embarrassment to anyone who promotes them."

Europe is laughing at us, right not-liberal-Chuck?

We must stop talking about Schiff, its an embarrassment for the GOP. Uh huh.; 3/5/19, 12:05 AM