Althouse: At the Monday Cafe...

April 29, 2019

At the Monday Cafe...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

59 comments:

SteveR said...: Woodstock II a good idea except it’s not.; 4/29/19, 9:28 PM
Achilles said...: “John Brennan isn’t going to need one lawyer — he’s going to need five.”

I predict a sudden new respect for due process on the left.

I also predict a sudden clamor for respecting Attorney Client Privilege.; 4/29/19, 9:28 PM
Molly said...: I was disappointed no one responded to a post a couple days ago. So here it is again. (I've never reposted here.)

Word of the day: stumbled upon reading Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot short stories, this one written probably in the 1930s:

blague

blague, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /blaɡ/, U.S. /blɑɡ/
Frequency (in current use):
Etymology: French.

Pretentious falsehood, ‘humbug’.

1839 T. Carlyle French Revol. (ed. 2) III. v. vi. 300 The largest, most inspiring piece of blague manufactured, for some centuries.
1865 Day of Rest Oct. 580 That is all blague.
1886 Huxley in Pall Mall Gaz. 13 Apr. 13/2 It believes in shibboleths and sentimental blague.; 4/29/19, 9:30 PM
wildswan said...: I watched the Joe Biden kick-off event. He did better than I expected in terms of message because essentially he is copying Trump's message. The working people of America are in trouble and their leaders are disregarding their pain. But his solutions were the same old, same old Dem points. Tax the rich, raise the minimum wage to $15, free college. He talked about jobs being sent to Mexico but he never said how he would stop that. It's the 2018 mid-term strategy again. Pretend to be a moderate, get elected and let the radicals have their way. You see any of the moderates of 2018 calling out AOC or Ilhan Omar? No. Fake moderates.

And also, he was boring his audience to death although they agreed with him and cheered him on. In tough times if you are boring your audience, you can't be talking about real problems, I think. I began to feel he was boring himself because his voice dropped way down almost to blah, blah range.; 4/29/19, 9:35 PM
wildswan said...: Molly,
I think Hercule Poirot used the word "blague" to mean a false trail or a false explanation that others believed but that he found incredible and even silly. I can see why it seems like good word for our times.; 4/29/19, 9:42 PM
Ken B said...: Molly
Your post about blague, meaning pretentious falsehood, was not ignored. Inga and Chuck both responded, with examples.; 4/29/19, 9:43 PM
Big Mike said...: Rod Rosenstein has resigned.; 4/29/19, 9:49 PM
daskol said...: Joe diGenova either dropped a bomb last night re inside information about FISA Court abuses going back four years and Brennan’s culpability along with Yates’ and others or he just pulled a full Brennan.; 4/29/19, 9:54 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: FANNY
One of the most important female bands in American rock has been buried without a trace. And that is Fanny. They were one of the finest... rock bands of their time, in about 1973. They were extraordinary... they're as important as anybody else who's ever been, ever; it just wasn't their time. Revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.

— David Bowie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71bc_wJM51A; 4/29/19, 9:56 PM
Quaestor said...: Sensing the lack of a Democratic candidate willing to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), a "queer feminist mermaid" named Bre Kidman—politically mobilized by the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation fight—has filed to enter the race.

Mermaid?

More like this, don't you think?; 4/29/19, 10:00 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: "Red Sparrow" with Jennifer Lawrence is actually a well made spy movie. Up there with anything by John LeCarre. I jokingly called it "Red Swallow," in line with M's. Lawrence's role as a post-Commie honeypot, but I was hasty.; 4/29/19, 10:13 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: speaking of 'mermaids'
if you thought you saw a happy-but-homeless Carmen Miranda in a wetsuit wash up on shore- maybe it was Halima Aden, Sports Illustrated's first Swimsuit model to wear hijab burkini; 4/29/19, 10:32 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "rhhardin said...
Survey in the middle of Barthelme's Snow White
1. Do you like the story so far? Yes ( ) No ( )
2. Does Snow White resemble the Snow White you remember? Yes ( ) No ( )
3. Have you understood, in reading to this point, that Paul is the prince-figure? Yes ( ) No ( )
4. That Jane is the wicked stepmother-figure? Yes ( ) No ( )
5. In the further development of the story, would you like more emotion ( ) or less emotion ( )?
6. Is there too much blague in the narration? ( ) Not enough blague? ( )
7. Do you feel that the creation of new modes of hysteria is a viable undertaking for the artist of today? Yes ( ) No ( )
8. Would you like a war? Yes ( ) No ( )
9. Has the work, for you, a metaphysical dimension? Yes ( ) No ( )
10. What is it (twenty-five words or less)?
11. Are the seven men, in your view, adequately characterized as individuals? Yes ( ) No ( )
12. Do you feel that the Authors Guild has been sufficiently vigorous in representing writers before the Congress in matters pertaining to copyright legislation? Yes ( ) No ( )
13. Holding in mind all works of fiction since the War, in all languages, how would you rate the present work, on a scale of one to ten, so far?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (circle one)
14. Do you stand up when you read? ( ) Lie down? ( ) Sit? ( )
15. In your opinion, should human beings have more shoulders? ( ) Two sets of shoulders? ( ) Three? ( )

2/10/19, 10:41 AM"; 4/29/19, 10:48 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "rhhardin said...
The downside of Althouse, if you had to live with her, is that she has her thing, as explained by Barthelme in Snow White.

But of course with the spread of literacy you now tend to get girls who have thought and feeling too, in some measure, and some of them will probably belong to the Royal Philological Society or something, or in any case have their own 'thing,' which must be respected, and catered to, and nattered about, just as if you gave a shit about all this blague. But of course we may be different, perhaps you do care about it. It's not unheard of.
4/20/17, 8:50 AM"; 4/29/19, 10:49 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for April 29, 2019.; 4/29/19, 11:01 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Everything is better with mermaids.; 4/29/19, 11:12 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: http://www.woodpilereport.com/html/index-576.htm; 4/29/19, 11:13 PM
narciso said...: I disagree bag in part because there are two elements that cant be conveyed in the film, perhaps three. The whole regional dish that frames each chapter, dominikas synesthesia sixth sense and her interior dialogue otherwise it's more like luck besson's Anna or the antagonist in killing eve.or; 4/29/19, 11:14 PM
narciso said...: I've mentioned how I think Jason Matthew's cane up with black widow he figured out how putayev the Chapman rings controller who turned out to be an asset was further surmised what If Chapman was the replacement; 4/29/19, 11:18 PM
narciso said...: Brennan deserves to get the fate of the warden in shawshank but he had the foresight to incriminate him.; 4/29/19, 11:20 PM
narciso said...: Sanctuary they said:

https://babalublog.com/2019/04/29/cubas-dictatorship-still-refusing-to-turn-over-eln-terrorists-behind-bogota-bombing-to-colombian-government/; 4/29/19, 11:30 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Rosenstein is a scumbag. His and Mueller's plan after the November elections kept the Senate in Republican hands was to close down the investigation, write the report as written, but have Rosenstein skate out the door leaving Barr holding the bag of shit of Volume 2 of the report. However, Barr was a bit too smart for that- probably one of his first acts on taking office was to make it clear in no uncertain terms that Rosenstein was going to be standing right there making the decisions on obstruction that Mueller tried to lay on Barr all alone. The plan was for the media to claim that Rosenstein was "forced out" before the report was given to the DoJ, but Barr foreclosed that plan pretty fucking cleverly. He made Rosenstein eat his own shit sandwich.; 4/29/19, 11:54 PM
Yancey Ward said...: BAG, I will put the movie in the queue. I had avoided it because it got lukewarm reviews, but I like spy novels/movies and was always a big John le Carré fan. I had read good reviews of Matthew's novel, though I have not read the book.

Narciso- yes that can be a problem in adaptations- I personally wouldn't have expected Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to be very amenable to cinema, but I was wrong- the Gary Oldman movie was stunning to me. I will give the Red Sparrow movie a chance, and if it is passable, I might then read the novel.; 4/30/19, 12:01 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: They should make those Phillip Kerr novels into spy movies.; 4/30/19, 12:03 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: RIP Morticia
(happy would-be birthday, Carolyn Jones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcU7ZVjtyY; 4/30/19, 12:09 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: No collusion

No obstruction

No indictments (of Russian conspirators)

and

No impeachment

"A new poll conducted a week after the release of the Mueller report showed that 56% of Americans oppose Congress beginning impeachment proceedings against President Trump."; 4/30/19, 12:09 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: "A new poll conducted a week after the release of the Mueller report showed that 56% of Americans oppose Congress beginning impeachment proceedings against President Trump."

Which means that, hmm, 94% of Democrats support it (give or take), and it's their call..; 4/30/19, 12:12 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Trump is going to try to goad them into doing it, guarantee it.; 4/30/19, 12:16 AM
YoungHegelian said...: A new poll conducted a week after the release of the Mueller report showed that 56% of Americans oppose Congress beginning impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

This attempt by the House to attempt a fishing expedition against the Trump family isn't going to win the Dems any friends either. American business wants to do business, not be pulled into political squabbles that the end up pissing off one side or the other, and thus can't win.

The Democrats have now less than 18 months to prepare to unseat Trump at the ballot box. I suggest they desist from their fantasies that they can defeat him in any other way, and get on to the business of wooing the voters. Attempting to unseat Trump any other way will only work to insure that he finishes out two terms.; 4/30/19, 12:25 AM
tim in vermont said...: I always assume that any new series or movie is going to be hopelessly political, based on long experience. I just skip them all. It would be a pleasant surprise if Red Sparrow wasn’t. I would be shocked though.; 4/30/19, 12:27 AM
Drago said...: YH: "I suggest they desist from their fantasies that they can defeat him in any other way, and get on to the business of wooing the voters."

I, on the other hand, strongly recommend the dems/left and their house-trained lap-poodle LLR's proceed immediately to impeachment hearings!

LOL; 4/30/19, 12:32 AM
tim in vermont said...: After kicking the white working class to the curb, the Democrats are now kicking their Wall Street backers to the curb.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/wall-street-democrats-2020-candidates.html

I don’t know how Trump wins, but I also can’t see how they beat him.; 4/30/19, 12:38 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Tonight I ate dinner at my local deli, my home away from home.

I sat next to a father & son, Dad in his young 40's, son 10 or 11.

Dad was a good dad. They spoke to each other as friends, with dad supportive & respectful of his son. But, then they started talking about the week's activities, and dad pulls out the cell phone and goes down the boy's calendar of activities for the week & into next. And I think to myself -- boyhoods shouldn't have calendars! It saddens me to think that the freedoms of my boyhood in baby-boomer 60/70's Alabama no longer exist for boys.

Sometimes I really want to nuke Montgomery County, MD from orbit, just to make sure.; 4/30/19, 12:39 AM
AllenS said...: Want to see just how old Biden is? Check out his latest speech --

LINK TEXT; 4/30/19, 12:43 AM
Narayanan said...: The fun thing about 2 movie model of Scott Adams:

mindful people can see that ...

Impeachment for Dem audience is campaign for Trump's base.

Trump jujutsu.; 4/30/19, 2:00 AM
tim in vermont said...: I just noticed that the NYT, “All the news we see fit to print” logo looks a lot like a hammer and sickle. Coincidence? I think not.; 4/30/19, 3:19 AM
Fen said...: Molly: stumbled upon reading Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot short stories, this one written probably in the 1930s

The wife and I LOVE Poirot. We had a phase where we caught all the detective shows - Miss Marple, Rosemary & Thyme, etc. But the little Belgian Fox is still our favorite. As a thought experiment, we tried to come up with the perfect crime. Learned four things

1) The more you try to cover up evidence, the more evidence you create. It's ironic. Smaller footprint is better. Else a red light camera catches you 3 towns over, and now you have to explain to the detective why the devil you drove 2 hours to pay cash at a Home Depot for a shovel and tarp.

2) Once detectives direct their attention to you, its too late, just a matter of time before they sleuth it out. Flee the country immediately after their first interview. The trick to the perfect crime is to never show up on their radar to begin with.

3) Worst move you can make is to try to outsmart the detectives. Even if you are smarter, you are still an amateur to their years of experience. That clever little trick you think you just played on them? You're hardly the first - they've seen that gambit 3 times this year already. A good example is Smart Guy who tries to insert himself into the investigation, to throw off the trail and get intel on what the detective knows. They watch for that, their experience is that perps often attempt this, and now you are doomed (see #2).

4) It takes a long time to bury a body. Bring extra water.; 4/30/19, 3:43 AM
Fen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/30/19, 3:48 AM
Fen said...: blague

blague, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /blaɡ/, U.S. /blɑɡ/
Frequency (in current use):
Etymology: French.

Pretentious falsehood, ‘humbug’.

Reminds me of the word "dreck"

dreck, n.
rubbish; trash.
"this so-called art is pure dreck"

May I suggest a good wine pairing?

Sturm and Drang?

Blague and Dreck? :); 4/30/19, 3:50 AM
Rory said...: "It takes a long time to bury a body. Bring extra water."

As pointed out in "Casino", best practice is to dig the hole beforehand.; 4/30/19, 5:28 AM
Humperdink said...: Wood chipper.; 4/30/19, 5:58 AM
Rusty said...: Fen
Shorter;
The cops can make all the mistakes they want, Youn can't make one.; 4/30/19, 6:00 AM
Nicholas said...: Molly, "blague" is simply the French word for "joke", with a broader meaning,so it includes "not to be be taken seriously".; 4/30/19, 6:09 AM
Humperdink said...: Mika Ber-shin-skee on Morning Fraud this AM: "I feel Joe Biden's time has come".

See: Hillary 2016.; 4/30/19, 6:13 AM
Fen said...: Guess we should add another rule in light of recent events.

Sir, we're with the FBI and would like to ask you a few questions

5) Do not under any circumstances talk to the FBI except to say:

"I want my lawyer"

Sir... I assure you, you are not the subject of our investigation. Why do you need your lawyer? We just wanted to ask if you have any information that might shed some-

"I want my lawyer"

Sir. We are the white hats here, the good guys. Just answer a few-

"I want my lawyer" (you corrupt motherfuckin bastards); 4/30/19, 6:26 AM
Hagar said...: Did Tucker Carlson get punked last night?
I just surfed by and he had on a guy that claimed to be the sheriff of Otero County, NM, I think, wearing a big black hat that made him look like a character from a SNL skit, and I thought I heard him say that our new governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), had pulled the NM National Guard, 100,000 troops, back from the border because "there is no crisis here."
I then passed back to the program I was watching, so did not hear more.

This was nonsense, since our former governor, Susana Martinez (R), only sent abut two dozen, I think, as a nominal contribution to raise the NM flag and "assist" the U.S. Border Patrol.

So, did I hear this right, or should I have my hearing checked?; 4/30/19, 6:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Our blogress is still operating on West Coast time...

"Don't let the sun catch you in bed."; 4/30/19, 6:49 AM
Kevin said...: The working people of America are in trouble and their leaders are disregarding their pain.

You’re taking about 8 years of the Biden-Obama Administration, right?

I mean, Joe isn’t going to be able to play the “I know your problems and how to fix them” card, is he?; 4/30/19, 6:50 AM
Hagar said...: Rod Rosenstein resigns with nice things to say about President Trump.
I have wondered if Rosenstein was one of the few people in Washington who could, and would, keep his trap shut and do his job, and all this jabber about him was just that - loose speculation by people who needed something to fill their columns with.; 4/30/19, 6:59 AM
Jersey Fled said...: "Joe diGenova either dropped a bomb last night re inside information about FISA Court abuses going back four years and Brennan’s culpability along with Yates’ and others or he just pulled a full Brennan."

As much as I would like to be wrong, I think he pulled a full Brennan.

We can't fall into the same trap that the Democrats did of believing unsourced rumors. Wait for confirmation.; 4/30/19, 7:03 AM
Humperdink said...: After watching Rosenstein's performances at various congressional hearings, it amazes me that he has floated to top of the DOJ. Maybe floated is a good description, like flotsam.; 4/30/19, 7:06 AM
gilbar said...: wildswan said Jo Biden said..."The working people of America are in trouble and their leaders are disregarding their pain. But his solutions were the same old, same old Dem points. Tax the rich, raise the minimum wage to $15, free college.

It's TRUE! the working people of America are hurting! up at 7, working until 5; barely any free time. Jo Biden's plan will allow them to go back to unemployment checks, and WE ALL KNOW that's Better than having to work!
Follow the Democrat Plan! DESTROY THE ECONOMY!! RELAX AND ENJOY YOUR WELFARE CHECKS!; 4/30/19, 7:08 AM
gilbar said...: The trick to the perfect crime is to never show up on their radar to begin with.

The trick is for the CRIME to never show up on their radar to begin with. If they never think it's a murder, they never turn on their radar.; 4/30/19, 7:15 AM
Paco Wové said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/30/19, 7:16 AM
Paco Wové said...: Judge rules that Confederate statues in Charlottesville are war monuments and as such may not be removed.

"I believe that [those who want to remove the statues] have confused or conflated 1) what the statues are, with 2) the intentions or motivations of some involved in erecting them, or the impact that they might have on some people and how they might make some people feel,” Moore writes. “But that does not change what they are."

Moore finds the issue to be so clear-cut that "if the matter went to trial on this issue and a jury were to decide that they are not monuments or memorials to veterans of the Civil War, I would have to set such verdict aside as unreasonable..."; 4/30/19, 7:18 AM
Mr. Forward said...: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Blague; 4/30/19, 7:19 AM
Fen said...: "The working people of America are in trouble and their leaders are disregarding their pain."

Sleepy Joe has been in DC since 1973. 45 YEARS. And he just woke up.

Rip Van Biden. I think Trump's "Sleepy Joe" tag will destroy Biden the same way it destroyed Low Energy Jeb.

Because there is truth behind it.; 4/30/19, 8:12 AM
Kevin said...: Sleepy Joe has been in DC since 1973. 45 YEARS. And he just woke up.

Isn’t that exactly how Trump attacked Hillary so effectively the last time?; 4/30/19, 9:18 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “The Democrats have now less than 18 months to prepare to unseat Trump at the ballot box. I suggest they desist from their fantasies that they can defeat him in any other way, and get on to the business of wooing the voters. Attempting to unseat Trump any other way will only work to insure that he finishes out two terms.”

Someone should tell the NY AG. And probably Nadler, Schaffer’s, etc. The NY AG seems to be going after Trump’s and his family’s financial records simply because she can. Sure, she should have some basis for her investigation beyond OrangeManBad, but who is going to enforce that? She is the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the state in which Trump, his family, and their various enterprises were domiciled up to, at least, his inauguration. The NY Gov might have some ability to rein her in, but he is not only another Dem, but also a Cuomo, with, of course, national office aspirations.; 4/30/19, 1:58 PM