Althouse: At the Late Morning Café...

April 26, 2019

At the Late Morning Café...

... settle in.

285 comments:

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Chuck said...: Nobody said...
Yes, Chuck, if you start out believing that Trump is a Nazi white supremacist, despite his history, and squint exactly right, and wherever you can find any grammatical imprecision, you interpret it in your own way, then you can make a weak ass argument that Trump was praising white supremacists.

Where exactly did I suggest that Trump is a Nazi white supremacist? Don't spend too much time on that, because I didn't. And neither did Robert Tracinski.

No; Trump's problem is that he is just the same sort of low-grade soft-racist fuckhead as is seen throughout the white outer boroughs of New York. They like black sports stars who play for the Jets or the Mets or the Nets, but don't particularly want them living in their buildings.

Which is why Trump will be seen palling around with Omarosa or Kanye, but is the same guy who was sued for racial discrimination in housing by the federal government in the 1970's (and settled), and who infamously said (about a black financial officer at one of his casinos before it failed) that he didn't want black guys counting his money but rather he wanted little guys wearing yarmulkes counting his money.

I don't think Trump is a Nazi, although his ex-wife did say that Trump was fascinated by a book of Hitler's speeches. No; I think Trump is just a very ordinary low-grade racist. Who, as a public speaker, is completely incompetent to articulate anything carefully about a complex event like the Charlottesville riot.; 4/27/19, 6:45 AM
Humperdink said...: "you see the world as a binary place where people are either for Trump or against him ..."

I happen to agree with you on this Chuck. The middle ground disappeared on election night, the FBI investigation, the Deep State coup attempt ....... whichever came first.; 4/27/19, 7:05 AM
Chuck said...: Right, Humperdink.

So here are some people I am enthusiastic about:

~Justice Brett Kavanaugh
~Justice Neil Gorsuch
~Secretary Betsy DeVos
~Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
~Senator Mitt Romney
~Senator Mike Lee
~Representative Justin Amash

"Al Sharpton" would never appear on that list. Nor would "Donald Trump."; 4/27/19, 7:16 AM
Humperdink said...: Think you would have got Kavanaugh and DeVos without Trump?; 4/27/19, 7:21 AM
Rusty said...: Trump is now a racist because , being wealthy, he hangs out with other wealthy people. Some of who are people of color that Chuck doesn't like. It'slooking more and more like Chuck is simply envious of a man who Chuck believes he is superior to. How dare Trump be successful!! It's easy Chuck. He's smarter than you more ambitious than you and more personable than you. I'm told that he is a very gracious person to be around. Showing genuine interest in the people he's with and aking them feel at ease. In short. A gentleman.; 4/27/19, 7:21 AM
Paco Wové said...: Intellectual = useless eater.

But usefully eaten!; 4/27/19, 7:24 AM
Chuck said...: The last refuge of a scoundrel like Scott Adams. And I mention this because this now appears to be the faithfully-adopted Althouse position as well.

@ScottAdamsSays:

Scott Adams‏Verified account @ScottAdamsSays · 23h23 hours ago

 More

I'm not a mind reader, but the point is that a reasonable person (such as a president) who hears about a confederate statue protest and counter-protest would assume some non-racists were in attendance for free speech and historical protection. Trump's understanding is the issue.

So Adams, confronted with Robert Tracinski's column in The Bulwark retreats to the position that Trump might have thought that there might have been some non-Nazi, non-White Supremacists at the Friday night and Saturday morning events in Charlottesville. Even though the Friday night event had clearly and explicitly white racist anti-Semitic chanting (with no signs of moderated historically-motivated actors) and even though the Saturday morning rally was explicitly organized by white supremacists and with a permit applied for, and litigated, by organized white supremacists. And Trump knew enough about the permitting to mention it. And as is always the case with Trump, he didn't know enough about the permitting to have realized that it made the opposite point from his reckless hip-shooting comments in Trump Tower on that Saturday.

The real issue here is not that Trump is a neo-Nazi. The real issue is that Trump is an incompetent speaker on public policy. His brain and character is not suited for the task.

This whole thing makes THE EXACT OPPOSITE POINT THAT ALTHOUSE INTENDED. OUR REVISITING OF THE CHARLOTTESVILLE RIOT STORY JUST SHOWS TRUMP'S BAD CHARACTER AND HIS INCAPACITY TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING THAT IS EVEN MODERATELY COMPLICATED.

I cannot tell all of you, how much I want to grind on this post and this issue, given Althouse's blog post. The fact that this is a Scott Adams thing as well makes me want to blow it all up even more.; 4/27/19, 7:28 AM
narciso said...: The things that interesting about Qatar is natural gas has made it feel indispensible they are the new generation wahhabi, al Udaid airbase is the other part of the deal but thru fund every Islamist from Libya to this new Tamil outfit.; 4/27/19, 7:31 AM
Chuck said...: Humperdink said...
Think you would have got Kavanaugh and DeVos without Trump?

With a President Cruz; yes. With a President Romney; yes.

Brett Kavanaugh got to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals as a Bush 43 nominee. Betsy DeVos, who didn't support Trump in the 2016 primary and who was personally insulted by Trump as a Republican "donor" while sitting in the audience in the February '16 GOP primary debate, was the long-time Michigan GOP Chairwoman, and a vastly influential person in education reform.

You are suggesting that Trump is the only person who could defeat Hillary. There's zero data on that.; 4/27/19, 7:34 AM
narciso said...: They are qumar from the west wing, yes they sprung to buy kushners 666 park Avenue development which is anchored by at&t, but on the other side they sent 4 spotters to do a dry run on 9/11, they provided a safe house for zarquawi in iraq; 4/27/19, 7:34 AM
narciso said...: They seem to have leaned on Graham re the whole kerfluffle witn the kingdom, which isnt blameless in this matter, but the prince is trying to clean things up, Abu Abbas seems to have pawned off on the uae.; 4/27/19, 7:37 AM
narciso said...: Business insider was founded by a wall street scammer from the tech bust, and he was a trif denialist.; 4/27/19, 7:41 AM
MadisonMan said...: The forecast for the storm today in southern WI is one reason I'm glad I don't make my living as an operational meteorologist. (I think snow chances have been overdone -- but we'll see).; 4/27/19, 7:42 AM
MadisonMan said...: You are suggesting that Trump is the only person who could defeat Hillary. There's zero data on that.

Well, we agree that Hillary is an inept campaigner, especially for someone who was the most qualified candidate EVER!!!!!

One admirable quality about Trump (Yes, he has many) is that he perceived an ability to win, entered, and won. I don't know of any other Candidates who saw that; rather, the other candidates were just going to follow the predictable path to a nomination. Maybe they would have won, maybe not (I suspect the later, but I have no data on that because, you know, history, etc.); 4/27/19, 7:46 AM
Big Mike said...: @Tina Trent, Chuck is probably being paid by Reid Hoffman.

One of the giveaways is that he has a command of very obscure facts to support his dubious positions. If he was the successful lawyer he pretends to be, would he have time to research obscure talking points? But if he was part of some shadowy but well-funded anti-Trump organization, the talking points would be researched by a team of people dedicated to finding obscure facts, or let me put that in scare quotes -- "facts" -- that would allow Chuck to make his bogus points.

Chuck pretends to be what political junkies call a "country club Republican," but he can't quite pull it off if you know what to look for.; 4/27/19, 7:49 AM
mccullough said...: Romney would have pulled the Kavanaugh nomination the second Blasey Ford showed up.

Romney lost the debate to Candy Crowley. He’s got no principles. He’s spineless. He should just stay home and jerk of to his binders full of women.; 4/27/19, 8:01 AM
narciso said...: Yes hes like Rockefeller and scranton in the 60, or Baker and Connelly in the 70s

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/04/the-week-in-pictures-bidenfreude-edition.php; 4/27/19, 8:02 AM
Narayanan said...: "country club Republican,"

Is that like : Ivory Tower Philosopher?; 4/27/19, 8:04 AM
narciso said...: Yes they grow these baby pundits in tanks like the clones in kamino. Remember ezra's Klein started out with pandagon after leaving UCLA then American prospect politico and Washington post.; 4/27/19, 8:08 AM
narciso said...: Manafort did many more favors for Deripaska when he was working for mccain.; 4/27/19, 8:09 AM
narciso said...: Akmetshin worked with McCain and state department to topple nuzurbayev in Kazakhstan, sackar one of those Mueller leaned on against Manafort was deep into azeri matters.; 4/27/19, 8:12 AM
narciso said...: Klimnik was hired from McCain's think tank, he was essentially a gofer who knew foreign languages, so you see there is this whole other layer to this story; 4/27/19, 8:14 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/27/19, 8:27 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I think Chuck is the best commenter in the history of this blog, and I just wish people would get off his back and let him do his job.

As the Great Bu Bu says, this is literary performance art. A man so consumed with hatred for another, he has lost all rationality. The hatred his only love. Completely dependent upon the man he hates for all of his emotions, which barely exist beyond hate.

I believe these lamentations count as does a woman's, the greatest sound in (not only) Conan's world.; 4/27/19, 8:28 AM
gilbar said...: You are suggesting that Trump is the only person who could defeat Hillary. There's zero data on that.

You're MUCH SMARTER than i am; could you give me a list of people that defeated Hillary in any elections?; 4/27/19, 8:28 AM
Rusty said...: Chuck goes full Ethel Merman. Trump did beat Hillary, Chuck. And everyone else he ran against. And that's what counts. When he tries, Trumpis a perfectly adequare public speaker. He is perfectly suited to the task because he is executing the tasks he set out to. To be prsident you only need to be a citizen of the United States and at least 35 years old. Even you would qualify if you meet those ctiteria. Every statement you make here comes off as envy. Envy of a man who is clearly better than you.; 4/27/19, 8:28 AM
narciso said...: Hes like milo minderbender than?; 4/27/19, 8:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Chuck: As for Robert Tracinski's column at The Bulwark, I'm not seeing much specific criticism. Just ad hominem attacks, and some very poor ones at that.

You're getting "[j]ust ad hominem attacks" for exactly the same reasons you'd get "[j]ust ad hominem attacks" if you posted a link to Stormfront.; 4/27/19, 8:32 AM
Original Mike said...: Blogger MadisonMan said..."The forecast for the storm today in southern WI is one reason I'm glad I don't make my living as an operational meteorologist."

One of my pet peeves is hearing "it depends on the track of the storm". No shit, Sherlock. Everybody knows that. You're job is to tell us the track of the storm.

OTOH, meteorologist is the only profession where you can be wrong day after day after day and nothing happens to you. As long as you you have no pride, you're set.; 4/27/19, 8:35 AM
Anonymous said...: You should retire -; 4/27/19, 8:38 AM
Anonymous said...: And btw, Chuck, you're delusional if you believe we would have gotten Kavanaugh with Romney. Romney would have withdrawn the nomination at the first Dem attack. Even with congressional Republicans standing firm in their support.; 4/27/19, 8:39 AM
gilbar said...: OTOH, meteorologist is the only profession where you can be wrong day after day after day and nothing happens to you. As long as you you have no pride, you're set.

THIS is the great advantage other counties have on us. Their TV weather girls aren't any more (or less) accurate than ours... more they make watching their forecasts Much More enjoyable; 4/27/19, 8:41 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Blogger readering said...
“This Mueller Report thing not going away . . . .”

Let’s start with what the Mueller Report said: No possible Russian collusion by anyone related to Trump or his campaign, and no possible case of Obstruction of Justice by Trump. What they have, instead, is a political document, almost assuredly the later half drafted by highly partisan prosecutors who violated DoJ rules and regulations as well as ABA ethics rules to include it in the report (their sole defense being that AG Barr was the one to actually publish the information, and they just provided it to him). Beyond that they have nothing. But it isn’t going away because there are a lot of people in this country who are not interested enough, educated enough, and smart enough, that the Mueller Report can be used as a symbol of supposed ( but not actual) wrong doing.

My theory is that instead of destroying Trump, it is going to guarantee Trump’s re-election, and retaking of the House by the Republicans. The Mueller investigation was supposed to last longer, and there be a smooth transition between it and the various House investigations currently being launched (after the Dems retook the House as a result of huge expenditures of money, a lot of cheating ( partially a result of a lot of Soros money), and the Mueller investigation). It wasn’t supposed to end quite this quickly though. The Mueller investigation was slickly set up with the DAG compromised, the AG prevented from intervening through a contrived recusal and the threat of citing him for Obstruction. The weakness though was that recusal, and that a new AG wouldn’t be bound by it. Trump couldn’t replace AG Sessions until the election, but did quickly after it, and newly confirmed AG Barr brought it to an immediate halt by asking Mueller WTF was he doing, knowing for better than a year that there had never been any collusion between Trump and Russia. One big problem here is that the Mueller investigation was shut down so quickly that there was never a clean pass off between it and the Dem controlled House committees poised to continue the investigation. It very much appears that the Mueller investigation has mountains of information that it legally probably shouldn’t, thanks to the way that it was created as a follow on to the (likely illegally initiated) Crossfire Hurricane investigation by the FBI. And, indeed, the same FBI people who were involved in illegal FISA 702 NSA database searching up through March, 2016, appear to have maintained operational control over the FBI people working for Mueller, until, at least some of the more prominent ones were fired. Those House committees are trying to make up for that with their cannons of subpoenas. AG Barr appears to be on the job there, as well as the President’s attorneys. The latest is that Nader is having a meltdown with the DoJ insisting that it have attorneys present when he interviews any present or past govt employees, in order to assert executive privilege (etc). No different, of course, with the FBI having had attorney minders present whenever any of their people were interviewed by Republican House committees, that Nadler and the rest of the Dems thought was just fine. The bottom line is that I expect a lot of hot air, some manufactured smoke and no fire by the next election.; 4/27/19, 8:44 AM
MadisonMan said...: One of my pet peeves is hearing "it depends on the track of the storm". No shit, Sherlock. Everybody knows that. You're job is to tell us the track of the storm.

For this storm that's not the case. There should be a nice correlation between where it's snowing and precipitation intensity. That's a very difficult metric to forecast in a model.

Sometimes, however (I don't think it'll be the case today), the track might shift by 20 miles, and so will the axis of heaviest precipitation. So you don't get the small details quite right and that makes a huge difference, especially if the axis shifts from (or into) a large population center.; 4/27/19, 8:46 AM
Original Mike said...: Upon reflection, there is another profession where continued employment is not contingent upon performance. Economist. I see they blew the GDP forecast again.; 4/27/19, 8:51 AM
tcrosse said...: I remember a TV weather guy having his chops busted about a bad forecast. He said that he was in marketing, not production.; 4/27/19, 8:54 AM
Tina Trent said...: @Big Mike: I am coming late to the party -- that makes sense viz Chuck. The idea that Trump is a "soft racist" versus "white supremacist," with one being Chuck's view and the other being 'something he would nevah evah say!' is risible.

Also, go Mets.; 4/27/19, 8:58 AM
Original Mike said...: "The Mueller investigation was supposed to last longer, ...It wasn’t supposed to end quite this quickly though. The Mueller investigation was slickly set up with the DAG compromised, the AG prevented from intervening through a contrived recusal and the threat of citing him for Obstruction. The weakness though was that recusal, and that a new AG wouldn’t be bound by it. Trump couldn’t replace AG Sessions until the election, but did quickly after it,"

Taking/keeping the Senate was critical to both sides.; 4/27/19, 9:01 AM
tcrosse said...: Say, what ever became of that nice, young O'Rourke fellow?; 4/27/19, 9:07 AM
buwaya said...: narciso is on a roll!

These are all connections, the underlying history of modern times. Who dealt with who, and why. Where these seemingly influential people came from. Where the funds come from. And look into each, and more connections emerge. Its a fascinating game.

The fact is that all political history is a history of secrets, of conspiracies. The general public never, ever, has even the slightest picture of the real mechanics, the real interests, and the real conflicts. This is a terrible defect of democracy, especially in a large and complex polity. Democracy simply doesn't scale.

Or, rather, human governments don't scale. When they get large and complex enough they are taken over by concentrated interests, or serve as a battlefield to competing interests, seeking advantages by leveraging state power. All of this is behind the scenes. This true politics is rarely visible to the public, other than in glimpses, an occasional revelatory scandal, and a stream of "open source" background information that narciso does so well to point out.; 4/27/19, 9:15 AM
Malesch Morocco said...: My God, they are advertising men's shorts on Althouses's blog. Is nothing sacred?; 4/27/19, 9:17 AM
Chuck said...: Angle-Dyne, Samurai Buzzard said...
And btw, Chuck, you're delusional if you believe we would have gotten Kavanaugh with Romney. Romney would have withdrawn the nomination at the first Dem attack. Even with congressional Republicans standing firm in their support.

This is the weird fact-free shit that passes for common "wisdom" in TrumpWorld.

How did we get Circuit Court Judge Gorsuch? George W. Bush. How did we get Circuit Court Judge Kavanaugh? George W. Bush. How did we get Justice Clarence Thomas, through an awful confirmation battle with the President standing behind him? George H. W. Bush.

And you think Jeb Bush would have been different?

I'm just glad that on one single dimension, Donald Trump was able to do what he was told, and nominated appropriate federal judicial nominees as put to him by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.

Left to his own devices, Trump would probably nominate Jeanine Pirro, Rudy Giuliani and Andrew Napolitano to the federal judiciary. Maybe Judge Judy. Maybe Geraldo Rivera.

Oooops! He's not going to nominate Judge Naplitano now!

You all think that we anti-Trump Republicans don't know how to fight and won't fight. I hope that we have a primary season where we have a hell of a fight over our next presidential nominee.; 4/27/19, 9:21 AM
buwaya said...: It always pays to consider sources. There is often information publicly available about them. Following the money is always instructive. This suggests a purpose behind the source. What interest is being served.; 4/27/19, 9:22 AM
mockturtle said...: The overriding symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome is a complete loss of rational thinking. So let's be more understanding of these unfortunates when they wail uncontrollably and start frothing at the mouth.; 4/27/19, 9:32 AM
Drago said...: Reid Hoffman "republican" Chuck: "You all think that we anti-Trump Republicans..."

LOL

"republican"

Everyone you love and respect and praise and link is an open lefty or a fake conservative who openly supports the dems.

Thats why far left political activist billionaires pay them....

You arent fooling anyone Chuck...and its fun watching you try.

Oooh, ooh, give us another link to Vox or Lawfareblog or NPR or your beloved CNN which explains "The Conservative Case For Supporting (insert any far left/dem policy here)"

Too too funny.

Keep it up Chuck! Reid Hoffman and Tom Perez and AOC are counting on you!!!; 4/27/19, 9:34 AM
buwaya said...: Political history does not support a black-and-white view of parties or "sides".
Every general political conflict, such as an election or war, is fought between coalitions, the components of which do not have completely overlapping interests. Indeed, coalition members on opposing sides often have shared interests, the breakdown into coalitions being determined by an overall cost-benefit calculation on the part of each interest group.

This explains a lot of recent US political history, if one considers these as being competitions between coalitions of interests and not parties. Angelo Codevilla has such a model in his political analysis.

The above, of course, is to answer Chuck, on whom subtlety is lost, and which is a futile exercise, but whatever.; 4/27/19, 9:35 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “The bottom line is that I expect a lot of hot air, some manufactured smoke and no fire by the next election.”

But here is the other thing that Readering and their ilk are probably not taking into account. The Obama Administration militarized our govt against its political enemies. They tried with the IRS, and got caught. Then they tried with the FBI and it’s access to NSA databases via their Title VII FISA access. This probably went on for roughly four years with the FBI illegally granting access to contractors to raw results that had not yet been minimized, as required by law (contractors shouldn’t legally have been in the same room as the terminals set up to access the NSA data). This came to a crashing halt in late spring of 2016, with the discovery by the NSA of the abuse. Everything since then at least started as coverup of that, or coverup of the coverup. The problem for the perps, and the Dems who the perps supported (and visa versa) is that it is starting to unravel, with the confirmation of AG Barr and shut down of the Mueller investigation, which had been perpetuated well beyond its core purpose to prevent just this - investigation into the FISA and successor abuse. McCabe and probably Cody are likely to face indictment soon. Brennan, Clapper, and Strzok probably not much behind them. IG Horowitz now has a green light, and AG Barr has apparently launched his own investigations. UT USA Huber has also been investigating. Horowitz is supposed to dump at least two reports before the end of June - one on leaking, the other on FISA abuse. Leaking, BTW, is one of the ways that Mueller lawyers are criminally vulnerable. I expect that the next year and a half before the election is going to be filled with indictment after indictment of Deep State and Obama Administration officials implicated by their gross law breaking, at a much higher rate than the Dem House committees will be able to accomplish.; 4/27/19, 9:38 AM
Drago said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/27/19, 9:38 AM
Drago said...: DNC Meme-Boy Chuck: "This is the weird fact-free shit that passes for common "wisdom" in TrumpWorld."

Did you ever apologize for your insane lefty-narrative supporting Pecan Pie conspiracy theories?

How about your racist comments directed at Trump cabinet members?

Tsk tsk tsk

You could gain a small measure of credibility if you apologized for just a few of your hundreds of lefty-aligned lie/smears.

I think many readers would view that as a step in the right direction.; 4/27/19, 9:40 AM
Howard said...: So Drago, how often are you going to keep dangling the apology bait to Chuck in an effort to ridicule him even more? I'm kind of surprised he doesn't fall for it but maybe you're not playing it correctly; 4/27/19, 9:42 AM
Howard said...: Bruce:. I can't imagine anyone actually reads your lawyer Lee Holmes and diatribes about your cat's your federal employee ship and other inane comments from a frustrated bureaucratic simple mind; 4/27/19, 9:43 AM
Howard said...: The same goes for booyah jueputa as well.it's so much easier to talk into this stupid thing then to actually type it out; 4/27/19, 9:45 AM
mockturtle said...: At 11:35PM, Fen wrote an incisive comment about the GOPe and the patronizing writing of Peggy Noonan. Throw in David Brooks and you've got the whole picture. He's spot-on about what has happened to the GOP. Is this the party of Lincoln? Of TR? I think not. But my theory goes a little further and delves into the lurking social insecurities of these people. Status recently attained must be grasped tightly for fear of it slipping away.; 4/27/19, 9:46 AM
Drago said...: It might be fun to revisit LLR Chuck's HILARIOUS -Tales Of LLR Chuck's Travels In Search Of The "Real Donald Trump"-...where Chuck visits Trump golf resort properties and then, thru guile and investigatuve verve LLR Chuck maneuvers adroitly to expose Trumps venality.

I recall LLR Chuck going on and on and on about all he uncovered while ensuring the anonymity of his valuable and knowledgeable "deep sources"!!

It was a fantastic fantasy-filled journey LLR Chuck led us on and was almost, almost, as long-winded as Chuck's unnecessary and incredibly tortured and self-serving explanation of why he chose not to serve in the military.

This was about the time LLR Chuck went "to the mattresses" in full-throated defense of dem Senator-hack Stolen Valor liar Da Nang Dick Blumenthal.

That was a keeper as well.

So very very many instances of Chuck obfuscating/defending far left Team Dem its difficult to catalog them all.

Yet one does what one can to keep the lefty trolls kike Chuck at bay.; 4/27/19, 9:51 AM
Drago said...: Howardl: "So Drago, how often are you going to keep dangling the apology bait to Chuck in an effort to ridicule him even more?"

Difficult to say.

For baselining purposes I would note that "15 is My Limit On Schnitzengruben".

So, there's that.

Did You Find This Answer Helpful?; 4/27/19, 9:55 AM
Michael K said...: azy World said...
Michael K @6:20 - I was following that story too from my old hood. Did you see the double murder in ....Newport Beach.. story? Crazy

There's probably a good story there, too. The woman was a psychologist.

I read the OC Register every day, Too bad it got almost as left as the LA Times.; 4/27/19, 9:58 AM
narciso said...: Thanks, that's why I answer back with facts, who are these players on the board, the deep state is kind of shallow because it largely lies on the same network of connected figures in the 30s they had significant investments in Germany or alternately Soviet union.; 4/27/19, 10:00 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: @Howard - my stuff is very easy to skip - my posts tend to be the longer ones, so tend to stick out visually. So, skip away. I will consider not commenting this way, when I receive more negative than positive feedback from people whose opinions I respect, or just don’t disrespect.; 4/27/19, 10:00 AM
Original Mike said...: "UT USA Huber has also been investigating."

I actually don't believe this. Is there ANY evidence he is?; 4/27/19, 10:00 AM
gilbar said...: tcrosse said... Say, what ever became of that nice, young O'Rourke fellow
A Couple Dozen People Go To Beto Campaign Event; 4/27/19, 10:01 AM
narciso said...: That would be Dulles forreatal harriman et al.; 4/27/19, 10:02 AM
Ray - SoCal said...: Interesting that many of the Sri Lanke Easter Worshipper bombers turned out to be spoiled Rich skids.

Driving BMW, rental properties, Foreign educated, etc.

And the isis connection was confirmed.

Amazing how little is coverage this is getting.

SRI LANKA BOMBINGS: A STORY OF ISIS AND WEALTHY TERRORISTS
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/04/sri-lanka-bombings-a-story-of-isis-and-wealthy-terrorists.php

I was right, there was a lot of organization/ support behind the successful multiple bombings.; 4/27/19, 10:02 AM
Michael K said...: You all think that we anti-Trump Republicans don't know how to fight and won't fight. I hope that we have a primary season where we have a hell of a fight over our next presidential nominee.

We know you do Chuck and Howard. Joe Biden is your champion . The stumbling around is going to be fun to watch.; 4/27/19, 10:04 AM
buwaya said...: True re Fen and Peggy Noonan.

Class, caste, and interests separate Noonan from the Trump coalition.
It helps a lot to separate oneself from tribal membership to see the big picture, as perfectly natural emotions cloud vision.

Not many pundits even attempt a dispassionate analysis of the American political conflicts, and those that do are obsessed with election-mechanics. Nobody tries to investigate the role of funders and institutions, and why they pursue the strategies they do.

It helps to have been marinated in military history, and military simulations, where situations are, by more recent custom anyway, analyzed with dispassion, and it is normal to adopt the point of view of ones historical enemies, to see things from the other side of the hill, and to attempt to understand events and decisions completely. There are always reasons why.; 4/27/19, 10:08 AM
gilbar said...: You're going the wrong direction on your lies, Chuck; Now you're not even making statements
someone said..
Romney would have withdrawn the nomination at the first Dem attack.
Then YOU said... (using your potty mouth, so that people could see you had No Argument)
This is the weird fact-free shit that passes for common "wisdom" in TrumpWorld.

This 'statement' didn't even address the issue of whether Romney would have WITHDRAWN the nomination.
As they say in physics, it's not even wrong

here's a free lie for you:
"I've heard from several knowledgeable sources, that Romney is a man of Such Courage, that he'd NEVER back down from a fight. When he says he'll do something, it gets done"

Now, That lie isn't Very Plausible, but it's sorta plausible; and at least it addresses the issue (unlike yours). Use that as an example, and see if you can come up with a lie about how Romney would NOT have Withdrawn the nomination.; 4/27/19, 10:12 AM
mockturtle said...: Ray-SoCal, thank you for the update on the Sri Lanaka incident. This seems to be more the rule than the exception. As we discussed last week, it's the boredom of the moneyed and educated youth that often starts revolutions. Back in my radical heyday this was also true. Very few--if any--working class kids in our cadres.; 4/27/19, 10:13 AM
Michael K said...: Crazy World, apparently that couple in Newport Beach walked in on a burglary and were killed by the burglar.

Guess his ethnicity,; 4/27/19, 10:18 AM
Michael K said...: Very few--if any--working class kids in our cadres.

This is also true of the hard left in this country. AOC has, so far, presented herself as a poor kid from The Bronx. This is not true but is one example.

“The typical Socialist is not, as tremulous old ladies imagine, a ferocious-looking working man with greasy overalls and a raucous voice. He is either a youthful snob-Bolshevik who in five years’ time will quite probably have made a wealthy marriage and been converted to Roman Catholicism; or, still more typically, a prim little man with a white-collar job, usually a secret teetotaller and often with vegetarian leanings, with a history of Nonconformity behind him, and, above all, with a social position which he has no intention of forfeiting.”

George Orwell; 4/27/19, 10:20 AM
gilbar said...: Dr K said: This is also true of the hard left
oh yeah? Well, what about Che Guevara? And Fidel Castro? Oh wait a minute.. never mind :); 4/27/19, 10:26 AM
Drago said...: Mitt Romney surrendered on live television to Candy Crowley.

That alone is enough to endear him forever to Reid Hoffman blog "conservatives", such as we have here at Althouse.; 4/27/19, 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Chuck: How did we get Circuit Court Judge Gorsuch? George W. Bush. How did we get Circuit Court Judge Kavanaugh? George W. Bush. How did we get Justice Clarence Thomas, through an awful confirmation battle with the President standing behind him? George H. W. Bush.

And you think Jeb Bush would have been different?

The Thomas nomination was 28 years ago. And leaving aside that circuit court appointments do not arouse the hysterical opposition of SC appointments, both circuit court appointments were over a decade ago. Yeah, you're right - the political landscape of this country has not changed a bit in the last 28 years, let alone the last 10.

28 or even 10 years ago Trump wouldn't have won the nomination, let alone the presidency, either. But apparently his election in 2016 was the result of some inexplicable isolated variable in the system that changed independently of every other variable. So ignoring the dubious assumption that President Act-of-Love ¡Jeb! (the man so easily bullied by Trump) would not have let himself be bullied out of nominating Gorsuch or Kavanaugh in the the first place, we can conclude that 2017/18 would have been 1991 all over again.

At any rate we were talking about Romney. Romney (like McCain) couldn't even run like a man against Obama because he trembled in fear of Dem's calling him a racist. To repeat, the notion that he would have stood up against the Blasey onslaught, with the opposition having become crazier and more vicious by at least an order of magnitude in the last 20 years (growth pattern of Dem-crazy is logarithmic), is, shall we say, quaint.; 4/27/19, 10:48 AM
Chuck said...: Drago said...
Reid Hoffman "republican" Chuck: "You all think that we anti-Trump Republicans..."

LOL

"republican"
...

What I want to know is who are all of these "Republicans" who didn't vote for Romney when they had the chance? Who didn't vote for McCain when they had the chance? Who are these new "Republicans" who voted for Obama? Who are these "Republicans" who trash the Senate Majority Leader?

On that last point, I have to make a concession. It is your right, if you hate McConnell, to trash him and try to undermine him and hopefully primary him and drive him out of office if you can do it. Which is precisely how I feel about Trump.; 4/27/19, 10:53 AM
Paco Wové said...: Idle thought for a rainy Saturday morning:

"Has any journal completed the transition from inaugural issue to punchline faster than The Bulwark?"; 4/27/19, 10:56 AM
Anonymous said...: I've been here long enough recently to know who is worth heeding. Buwaya and Bruce Hayden are two, but there are others and I just want to say, "Thankyuhvuramuch."

The phenomena seen in two topics here are interesting--that the most radical revolutionaries (and would-be revolutionaries) don't usually come from the lowest and most oppressed, but from those who already have some status and standing, those like Marx and Engels, who, as Marx and Engels point out, see and act on reality DESPITE their own class background. Very important point, that.

And on a lighter note, we're also going through a phase reminiscent of something during the French Revolution-- Les Incroyables. Or rather, these obs-dressions, like the radical politics, are nothing new in the West and will continue.

Narr
"the sweaty professor"; 4/27/19, 11:08 AM
FullMoon said...: Nutty Chuckie obsesses:

"I cannot tell all of you, how much I want to grind on this post and this issue,"

Chuck said... [hush][hide comment]

I was diagnosed, after extensive testing by medical professionals, in Nov. 2014.Among the #actuallyautistic, you see a range of intellect and social abilities. It is not possible to lump us into one or two categories.

Many of us may appear boorish or rude in our interactions with neurotypical (NT) people. As a generality, we are weak at recognizing non-verbal social cues. Autism, however, is not an excuse for being a jerk. And it is possible for us to be both, as it is for NTs.

Diagnosing yourself is a facile way to find an excuse for behaviors and feelings that may have nothing to do with autism. It's not a fad that you can just buy in to. It is a difference in the hardwiring of the rain. We are not handicapped, just different.; 4/27/19, 11:22 AM
FullMoon said...: Chuck said... [hush][hide comment]

I was diagnosed, after extensive testing by medical professionals, in Nov. 2014.Among the #actuallyautistic, you see a range of intellect and social abilities. It is not possible to lump us into one or two categories.

Many of us may appear boorish or rude in our interactions with neurotypical (NT) people. As a generality, we are weak at recognizing non-verbal social cues. Autism, however, is not an excuse for being a jerk. And it is possible for us to be both, as it is for NTs.

Diagnosing yourself is a facile way to find an excuse for behaviors and feelings that may have nothing to do with autism. It's not a fad that you can just buy in to. It is a difference in the hardwiring of the rain. We are not handicapped, just different.; 4/27/19, 11:23 AM
Michael K said...: True re Fen and Peggy Noonan.

Class, caste, and interests separate Noonan from the Trump coalition.

Her column yesterday was a gross example. Kim Strassel is the only one there still worth reading,.; 4/27/19, 11:26 AM
narciso said...: The guerilla who was married to the American was a rare exception.; 4/27/19, 11:30 AM
gadfly said...: Sometimes you have marvel at the twisted logic of super-progressive ProPublica, which chooses to attack Intuit for hiding its FreeFile version of Turbo Tax from Googlebots using simple Noindex, Nofollow and Disallow HTML codes - a common and completely legal application employed on most websites. Who wouldn't understand that after having written the tax program and also paying for the website operation and file maintenance, that we owe these folks our thanks for the freebee?

Instead we get:

". . . TurboTax uses deceptive design and misleading advertising to trick lower-income Americans into paying to file their taxes, even though they are eligible to do it for free."

Intuit is not the only game in town according to the State of Indiana at www.freefile.dor.IN.gov which lists and accesses six separate tax filing programs - On-Line Taxes, H & R Block, Turbo Tax, TaxAct, FreeTaxUSA and (if all else fails) Credit Karma Tax (which has no usage limitations).

Using these freebies requires some basic understanding of tax preparation and some ability to search for answers to specific tax questions - and perhaps knowledge of other search engines besides Google . Searching for "Turbo Tax Free" will instantly go to Turbo Tax Free Edition using DuckDuckGo as the engine of choice.

If computerized tax preparation is outside your knowledge base, free tax preparation is likely available at local Public Libraries and Senior Centers.; 4/27/19, 11:47 AM
mockturtle said...: And while we were raising hell on the campuses the hapless working class kids were there trying to get an education! We were so full of ourselves. So very smug. So like many of the youth of today. :-(; 4/27/19, 11:50 AM
Chuck said...: gilbar I did not address your laughable proposition that if Mitt Romney, after having not run for President in 2016, were President in 2018, he would have nominated Brett Kavanaugh but not have stuck by that nomination.

And while most sane people would say, "No one could know the answer to such an odd and unmeasurable hypothetical," you seem to be stuck on your notion of, "Of course Romney would have abandoned Kavanaugh."

I tried to give you the sanest and most historically-informed answer to that question that any serious-minded person could hope for. There is the historical record of the Bushes as Presidents, and we had a Bush who actually ran in 2016. I told you that Gorsuch and Kavanaugh got to their Circuit Court judgeships via Bush nominations. The closest parallel to the Kavanaugh nomination circus was the Thomas nomination circus, and in that case George H.W. Bush stood by his man Thomas.

That is as good an answer as you deserve. I'd call you an idiot but that's not sufficient. You're a dumb, hateful idiot.; 4/27/19, 12:38 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: a youthful snob-Bolshevik who in five years’ time will quite probably have made a wealthy marriage...
or, still more typically, a prim little man with a white-collar job, usually a secret teetotaller and often with vegetarian leanings, with a history of Nonconformity behind him, and, above all, with a social position which he has no intention of forfeiting.

Robert Francis O'Rourke to a T; 4/27/19, 12:58 PM
rcocean said...: And you think Jeb Bush would have been different?

Except Yeb! would've lost to Hillary AND there's no reason to believe he would have put true Conservatives on the SCOTUS. He probably would've wimped out and given us a moderate John Roberts type.

The Bush family campaigns as Social Conservatives, and tells us they love Scalia type judges and then wimps out because they don't want to fight for them when elected. Bush I gave us Souter, and only gave us Thomas because he was the only qualified Republican Black judge. Bush II tried to pull another Souter on us with Harriet Miers and gave us Roberts. God knows what Yeb! would've done. Probably found some Hispanic woman who'd become another Sotomayor.; 4/27/19, 3:00 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Blogger Original Mike said...
"UT USA Huber has also been investigating."

“I actually don't believe this. Is there ANY evidence he is?”

USA Huber seems to have had the same problems that IG Horowitz had, which was that their investigations weren’t allowed to interfere with or intrude in any way into the (now completed) Mueller Investigation. The two were supposed to be working together ordered by a letter by AG Sessions, dated Nov 22, 217, presumably Huber providing the grand jury access that the OIG didn’t have. Essentially it looked like an end around attempt to work around Mueller’s investigation that got caught and frozen in place. Notably the OIG investigation into FISA abuse that was supposed to have been wrapped up by late last summer was similarly frozen by the Mueller investigation. We are now expecting the report originally expected last August, by the end of June of this year, roughly 10 months late. It should be noted that by the time that Mueller’s investigation stalled and froze investigations by Huber and Horowitz, so that they didn’t interfere with it, Mueller and his team knew, with a certainty, that there hadn’t been any collusion between Trump and his campaign and the Russian government (essentially according to the first chapter in the Mueller investigation report). This is to say that Huber, Horowitz, and multiple Congressional committees, were being stalled on the grounds that they not interfere with Mueller’s investigation of Russia collusion, when by that time the only thing of substance the Mueller investigation was investigating was Trump for Obstruction.

Here are a couple CTH links addressing USA Huber’s role:
REPORT: Huber and Horowitz Investigations Deep State Cons Constructed by DOJ…
FOIA Discovery Reveals AG Jeff Sessions Initiation Letter To U.S. Attorney John Huber…; 4/27/19, 4:08 PM
iowan2 said...: I know it won't get seen by many.

While many have began criticizing the dead former Confederate leader, in 1975 the Senate, which included freshman Democratic Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, unanimously approved the reinstatement of General Robert E. Lee’s citizenship to the U.S.

The House approved with all of 10 members voting against.; 4/27/19, 7:41 PM