April 9, 2019

At the Tuesday Night Cafe...

... you can talk all night.

66 comments:

Bay Area Guy said...

AG Barr wiped the floor with these House imbeciles. They are a party of really stupid statists. Bernie will be their nominee - an 80-year old socialist.

FullMoon said...

Ya know, some here delight in taking Chuck to task. I myself have succumbed to the temptation because of his threats to physically attack diminutive Greta van Sustern.

However, I now try to restrain myself because of a comment Chuck made during a discussion of autism.

Simply stated, Chuck said he believes himself to be "on the spectrum".

Hoping to somewhat atone for my previous bullying of the LLR, I wish to provide this link for his benefit.

Hopefully he will see this and accept it in the spirit in which it was offered.

Rock on, Chuck, rock on !

Autism symptoms reduced nearly 50% two years after fecal transplant

traditionalguy said...

53% and rising.

Lucien said...

So did Rep. Jordan transmit his eight criminal referrals to the AG today or not?

Anonymous said...

It was Nunes- not Jordan...

Bay Area Guy said...

I was in Sacramento today. It really is a lovely city. It gets brutally hot in the summer, but was almost balmy today. Heat without humidity. The Amtrak station is this beautiful old brick building, right near the Federal Courthouse. Some cat named MacGregor Scott is the US Attorney.

madAsHell said...

So, this has come full circle.

I've mentioned it before, but I had to take my 93 year old mother to the hospital in January with diverticulosis. My mother flipped out when the ER nurse asked if she was suicidal. She responded with an expletive, and she was immediately admitted to the hospital.

If I recall correctly, that even Nurse Inga agreed, that there had been a change in protocol, and the ER's were now screening for suicide.

CNN is now reporting this as bad news for Trump.

In my best James Earl Jones voice, "This is CNN".

PS - Mom's not suicical. She's back in her house, and she wishes my kids would settle down, and have children.

Bay Area Guy said...

Looks like Bibi won again in Israel. Good.

stephen cooper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
iowan2 said...

If I recall correctly, that even Nurse Inga agreed, that there had been a change in protocol, and the ER's were now screening for suicide.

I have been to my primary care Dr, PA? twice in the last 5 months. Both times the 1st question was if I had been depressed lately.

The 1st time I was off guard, today I said no, but asked if depressed people are aware of their depression? She just smiled...nervously.
Primary care Drs get paid for how many "stations" they hit per visit. weight, BP, pulse, listen heart/lungs, have any guns? feeling depressed? The govt writes the question of the day, the Doc's ask, and get paid. Govt also mandated electronic records, so guess who knows all the answers you give to your Dr. in confidence? That whole Dr, patient confidentiality is a grand illusion, hoisted on the people by the Government, and they're here to help YOU.

StephenFearby said...


Chickens coming home to roost.

Washington Examiner
DOJ inspector general's FISA abuse investigation expected to finish by May or June
April 09, 2019 06:45 PM

'...During a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Justice Department’s budget proposal, [AG William] Barr said “the Office of the Inspector General has a pending investigation of the FISA process in the Russian investigation, and I expect that that will be complete probably in May or June, I am told.”

'...Last month, Horowitz himself confirmed that his office was still investigating possible FISA abuse during comments he made on an Atlantic Council panel discussion in D.C. alongside three other inspectors general.

When asked about the biggest issue his office was dealing with, he replied, “We have a FISA-related review that people might have heard about that the deputy attorney general asked us to take a look at. But I’m not going to dwell on that.”'

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-inspector-generals-fisa-abuse-investigation-expected-to-finish-by-may-or-june

effinayright said...

Mon-Wed-Fri:

Dems accuse Trump of asking his Homeland Security secretary to violate the law, fires her when she won't.

Tues-Thurs-Sat: Dems demand that AG Barr violate the law and release the entire unredacted Mueller report

Same shit, different days

Drago said...

Bay Area Guy: "Looks like Bibi won again in Israel. Good."

LLR's everywhere rending garments, gnashing teeth and howling at the moon.

Michael K said...

My mother flipped out when the ER nurse asked if she was suicidal.

This is now a required thing thanks, no doubt, to Obama.

My brother-in-law was at a medical center for some testing., He had had a recent GI bleed, He also had a bad stroke about 20 years ago and my sister has taken good care of him but his life is not the same. The nurse asked him again if he had EVER thought of suicide. He said yes and they were on an elevator with two large orderlies on the way to the psych ward in an instant.

He was there all day and finally got home that evening, Lesson learned- NEVER admit that you have EVER thought of it.

We saw the Netflix movie, "The Highwaymen" tonight. It was pretty good.,

mockturtle said...

A nurse once asked my husband if he ever considered harming himself. Having dementia, he didn't really understand the question and turned to me. I said, "You know---seppuku!--". He told the nurse, "No!".

narciso said...

Just another day ending in y, the times will say it was the pledge to annex the west bank that did it or something.

Drago said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

"House Dems cancel vote on budget plan amid internal revolt"

CHAOS!!!!!

Far left and LLR-left hardest hit!!

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/09/federal-spending-bill-house-democrats-1263550

eddie willers said...

Drs get paid for how many "stations" they hit per visit

Everytime I see my doctor, he asks me if I still smoke. I say "yes". He says, "You oughta stop". I laugh. He laughs.

When both know he gets $10 for "smoking cessation counseling".

Bay Area Guy said...

The House Judiciary Committee really wants to impeach Trump. They have some real knuckleheads there. Two problems: (1) they don't have any valid grounds to impeach Trump and (2) Pelosi won't let them, because she understands that such folly will cause her to lose the House.

So, it's kinda like detente between two idiots.

The highly redacted Mueller Report is going to further vex and annoy Nadler et al. He is 5'4, ya know.

narciso said...

How did she get a visa?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6904123/Chinese-woman-caught-Mar-Lago-four-phones-malware-multiple-entry-U-S-visa.html

narciso said...

I guess without the nude eel they are dead in the water.

Lawrence Person said...

The Inevitability Of Autonomous Drone Swarms In Combat.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I might form the ZA party. That's the "Zombie Apocalypse" party. We in the ZA believe the greatest threat to American security -- and life on Earth -- is a Zombie Apocalypse, not global warmimg.
The ZA party is neither left nor right. Every American should be allowed to own as many guns and as much ammo as he or she likes. No restrictions. Whatever mayhem this may cause in the short and medium terms, free access to 21st century small arms will increase the odds of human survival in the long term. The 1%? Fuck them. Their megabucks won't help them -- or the human race -- survive the Zombie Apocalypse. We've seen the movies. The rich bastard in his/her bunker gets it about 3/4 way through the film.
Tax the rich to buy guns, ammo, survival rations, and badass sport utility vehicles for the masses.
We can't afford to wait until the Zombie apocalypse is here. Vote ZA today!

StephenFearby said...

NY Times anonymous sources finally reveal stuff that's probably true!

Buried way down in paragraphs 16 and 23 of:

Justice Dept. Watchdog’s Review of Russia Inquiry Is Nearly Done, Barr Says
By Adam Goldman and Charlie Savage

"...The inspector general has also been examining Mr. Steele’s contributions to previous F.B.I.’s investigations, according to the people familiar with the inquiry."

'...The inspector general is also scrutinizing another early source of information for the Russia investigation, the people said: Mr. Horowitz’s investigators have been asking questions about the role of Stefan A. Halper, another F.B.I. informant, and his prior work for the bureau.

Agents involved in the Russia investigation asked Mr. Halper, an American academic who teaches in Britain, to gather information on Mr. Page and George Papadopoulos, another former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser.

However, Mr. Halper also had additional contacts with other Trump officials that have raised concerns about his activities. In one instance, Mr. Halper reached out to Sam Clovis, a Trump campaign aide; it was not clear whether Mr. Halper had the F.B.I.’s blessing to contact Mr. Clovis."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/us/politics/russia-investigation-barr.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

It is not clear to me that Harper actually was a contract employee of the FBI. IMO, more likely than not John Brennan's CIA (who would have happily rented him out to the FBI to entrap US citizens working for Trump's campaign).

narciso said...

He was paid through an dia discretionary fund, but his father in law was company deputy director (intelligence) ray Cline, so both elements could be true, he also has fsb ties

buwaya said...

Ditto re the Sacramento Amtrak station.
I am often there, being in Sac one day a month on average.
Sacramento is worth a visit, if a bit tourist-trappy by the river, but its just a short walk from the station, which is also just up the street from the railroad museum, which shouldn't be missed.
If staying overnight I like the Delta King. Stay on the riverboat.

narciso said...

With perfect equanimity they assert this:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/09/modi-no-longer-certain-win-indias-mega-election/

Jim Gust said...

Professor Althouse, I recall how impressed you were by Bernie's campaign video set to Simon and Garfunkel, about going to look for America. I agree it was well done, for a certain demographic (skewing younger).

Submitted for your consideration, President Trump's first campaign video. I don't have the YouTube link, but here it is at PowerLine: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/04/today-president-trump-tweeted-a-video-of-me.php

I find this one is as powerful as Bernie's, but in a very different way. More about power, tenacity and success, less about hope and change. I thought you might want to blog it.

Ralph L said...

the railroad museum, which shouldn't be missed.

I went there in 1985. Still have the striped engineer's hat I bought. I don't remember anything else about the city because of the fog.

narciso said...

According to James bakers deposition, it was David corn who was relating comeys memos with more classified info than currently disclosed

Churchy LaFemme: said...

A foggy day
Sacramento town
Well, it had me low
And it had me down

I viewed the morning with alarm
The Railroad Museum had
Lost its charm

narciso said...

Here's an interesting twist Baker was part of the same hedge fund Bridgewater partners as Comey in the interim between his terms as FBI counsel

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Unknown@12:25AM I hear dat!

Crazy World said...

How awful it must be to actually be a Trump hater, the President of the United States of America.
God rest your wicked souls, we are Making America Great Again despite your name calling and identity politics. embarrassing

Fen said...

Submitted for your consideration, President Trump's first campaign video. I don't have the YouTube link, but here it is at PowerLine

Odd, the video has been taking down. I'm told there were African Americans cheering Trump.

That's very dangerous ;)

Fen said...

The highly redacted Mueller Report is going to further vex and annoy

What till they discover Mueller is a Russian surname. Hehe.

Humperdink said...

Re: Health questions etc.....

I applied for a term life policy recently. One of the questions was: "Do you smoke?" No. Follow up question: Have you ever smoked?" Yes, I quit in 1981. That answer put me in a higher premium category.

BUMBLE BEE said...

If you recall there was a movement to keep combat vets from owning firearms if diagnosed as PTSD. Dems are angling toward gun confiscation in many states and this depression query ain't gonna do anything good. With HIPPA laws, your loved ones (or you) can be swept away and held without communications for several days. Quite a shock for an American. It does go on your medical profile. Be wary.

stevew said...

"...The inspector general has also been examining Mr. Steele’s contributions to previous F.B.I.’s investigations, according to the people familiar with the inquiry."

Unnamed sources that aren't even claimed to be engaged in the investigation. I wasn't buying when they said these sorts of things about Trump and the Mueller investigation, I ain't buying now.

I had occasion to go to a specialist about a year ago. While checking in the PA asked me, among other questions about my health, if I "felt safe in my home". No one had ever asked me this before so I was surprised and uncertain what he was asking so I responded with, "excuse me?". He sheepishly told me that they are required to ask that question to see if the patient is living in a domestic abuse situation. Huh, said I, does anyone ever say "No"? Again, sheepishly, he said not in his experience.

70 degrees and sunny on Sunday, rain and 40's all day Monday, 30's with late day rain turning to 'winter mix' yesterday, 50's and sunny today. I love this place.

In other news: my World Champion Red Sox are playing like the last place team they are. Disappointing.

Jim Gust said...

"Odd, the video has been taking down."

Dang, they may not have had permission to use Hans Zimmer's themes in the background.

Nichevo said...

Govt also mandated electronic records, so guess who knows all the answers you give to your Dr. in confidence? That whole Dr, patient confidentiality is a grand illusion, hoisted on the people by the Government, and they're here to help YOU.

You betcha! I got hit with campylobacter from, I guess, chicken contamination or something, and no sooner am I at the end of my Cipro than the county health service is writing me a letter about a "matter of importance." Now, I can understand it, but it's still a trifle spooky.


Speaking of contamination,

Hopefully he will see this and accept it in the spirit in which it was offered.

Rock on, Chuck, rock on !

Autism symptoms reduced nearly 50% two years after fecal transplant

Chuck if anything tends to disprove this. His coprophagia hasn't improved him a bit.

Nichevo said...


Blogger narciso said...
Here's an interesting twist Baker was part of the same hedge fund Bridgewater partners as Comey in the interim between his terms as FBI counsel

4/10/19, 12:27 AM


Interesting...Ray Dalio, BW's founder, just made news with this item:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hedge-fund-founder-ray-dalio-says-capitalism-needs-to-be-reformed-wealth-inequality-a-national-emergency-60-minutes/

Bob Boyd said...

Biden clears important hurdle, never groped Cher without permission.

rehajm said...

Dalio is one of those lefties that benefit greatly from the system they rail against. He was on the tele with Ned Lamont to brag about his big donation to Connecticut public schools and fight against capitalism.

He has that annoying habit of claiming his easily refutable statements are irrefutable.

mockturtle said...

From The Telegraph, headline: Brexit latest news: Theresa May heads to Brussels to request further Brexit delay - but EU's 'patience running out'

EU's patience running out??? So the UK has to have Mummy's permission to leave? This is getting ridiculous. The British people's patience is running out.

rhhardin said...

Cher was good in Suspect (1987). Liam Neeson overacted a bit but not badly enough to keep you from watching it again occasionally. You can fast forward those parts.

She'd have no trouble handling Biden.

narciso said...

Biden is more like the judge played by the late John Mahoney

Ice Nine said...

>>Follow up question: Have you ever smoked?" Yes, I quit in 1981. That answer put me in a higher premium category.<<

Who could have guessed?! (I mean, really...)

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

This is great.

So great. So very very great.

Chuck said...

FullMoon said...
Ya know, some here delight in taking Chuck to task. I myself have succumbed to the temptation because of his threats to physically attack diminutive Greta van Sustern.

However, I now try to restrain myself because of a comment Chuck made during a discussion of autism.

Simply stated, Chuck said he believes himself to be "on the spectrum".

Hoping to somewhat atone for my previous bullying of the LLR, I wish to provide this link for his benefit.

Hopefully he will see this and accept it in the spirit in which it was offered.

Rock on, Chuck, rock on !

Autism symptoms reduced nearly 50% two years after fecal transplant


I never once, not ever, wrote that I believed myself to be "on the spectrum." You can't point to a page or a link where I ever did that.

Of all of the weird sick pro-Trump fuck heads posting comments here, you are one of the weirdest and sickest, which is saying an awful lot. You are the commenter who dreamed up the phrase "titty-twister" and who tried to claim that I proposed doing something like that to Greta van Susteren, until I repeatedly called you out on it to the point that you admitted that I never wrote it.

And for Althouse and Meade: isn't this a perfect example of what you wanted to get rid of, via a new comment moderation policy? A name-specific personal attack on me that has nothing to do with any particular Althouse blog post. Full Moon's comment near the top of this page serves no interest other than Full Moon's sick little obsession with me.

Hagar said...

NM governor Michelle Lujan Grisham orders all NM colleges to give their staffs a 4% across the board raise.
UNM proposes pay for this by raising student tuition 6%.

AllenS said...

Ah, if I may, Chuck, people make fun of you because of your sick little obsession with Trump.

mockturtle said...

BleachBit offers: This is great.

So great. So very very great.


Yes! My younger daughter is a big fan of Owens and belongs to her organization. Now, who is the head-shaking, scene-stealing asshole to her right? And the pursed-lipped disapprover to her left?

Michael K said...

Of all of the weird sick pro-Trump fuck heads posting comments here, you are one of the weirdest and sickest, which is saying an awful lot.

Chuck just outed himself as autistic. Thanks Chuck.

Bruce Hayden said...

This should be fun:
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/barr-forms-team-to-probe-possible-fbi-abuses-in-trump-russia-investigation/

In deference to our honored blogeress’ wishes, I am not going to point out by name who here is likely to be hardest hit by Barr’s just announced investigation into the origins of the Trump Russian collusion hoax. But I expect a lot of popcorn in the future for the rest of us.

Fen said...

Chuck: Of all of the weird sick pro-Trump fuck heads posting comments here, you are one of the weirdest and sickest, which is saying an awful lot.

Son of a bitch!

(slips Full Moon a twenty)

Bruce Hayden said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce Hayden said...

“Chuck just outed himself as autistic. Thanks Chuck.”

In Chuck’s defense, it is somewhat more unlikely that he is that far down the ASD spectrum if he is indeed a licensed attorney. I talked awhile back with a woman on the ASD spectrum who graduated high in her class from Harvard LS. She was a peerless legal researcher, but couldn’t pass the bar exam if her life depended on it. I expect that the problem is the issue spotting in the essay questions, and that those on the ASD spectrum tend to be highly literal. Worked out well for her though, as she married a litigator, who sits first chair, and she sits second, with all the answers ready for him. On the flip side though, one of the very best people in the country on patent procedure appears to have mild ASD.

Looking to your own profession, my partner’s absolute favorite new TV shows is “The Good Doctor”, where the protagonist, Shaun Murphy, is a surgical resident somewhere on the ASD spectrum. He is exceptional in diagnosis, but his literalness is always getting him in trouble, esp when dealing with patients and their families. Near the end of the second season, he was moved to pathology, which seems like it might be a better fit. He was having nothing to do with it, and was ultimately fired right before the end of season 2, because of his extremely vocal refusal, only to be reinstated in the last episode of the season.

Bob Boyd said...

Don't feel bad, Chuck, if the autistics won't have you. I firmly believe there's a spectrum out there for everyone.

Michael K said...

Near the end of the second season, he was moved to pathology, which seems like it might be a better fit.

I know some pathologists who are Asbergers. Plus many Engineers.

FullMoon said...

Chuck said...

FullMoon said...
Ya know, some here delight in taking Chuck to task. I myself have succumbed to the temptation because of his threats to physically attack diminutive Greta van Sustern.

However, I now try to restrain myself because of a comment Chuck made during a discussion of autism.

Simply stated, Chuck said he believes himself to be "on the spectrum".

Hoping to somewhat atone for my previous bullying of the LLR, I wish to provide this link for his benefit.

Hopefully he will see this and accept it in the spirit in which it was offered.

Rock on, Chuck, rock on !

Autism symptoms reduced nearly 50% two years after fecal transplant



I never once, not ever, wrote that I believed myself to be "on the spectrum." You can't point to a page or a link where I ever did that.

Yes, you did. Prove otherwise

Of all of the weird sick pro-Trump fuck heads posting comments here, you are one of the weirdest and sickest, which is saying an awful lot. You are the commenter who dreamed up the(HUMOROUSLY METAPHORICAL) phrase "titty-twister" and who tried to claim that I proposed doing something like that to Greta van Susteren, until I repeatedly called you out on it to the point that you admitted that I never wrote it.


Chuck said...

Fuck you, Full Moon. I am not going to "deny it." I say again; I propose to grab Greta exactly the way that Corey grabbed Michelle. I expect Greta to be surprised and offended, and maybe even a bit frightened. Good. That's how Michelle felt, no doubt. But Greta thinks it was frivolous in Michelle's case. Again, good for me when I do it to her.





And for Althouse and Meade: isn't this a perfect example of what you wanted to get rid of, via a new comment moderation policy? A name-specific personal attack on me that has nothing to do with any particular Althouse blog post. Full Moon's comment near the top of this page serves no interest other than Full Moon's sick little obsession with me.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jim Gust said...

About that video I commented on that was later removed from the Internet:

I was wrong about it being from Trump, it was from a fan, he only tweeted it. I was right later, it was removed because of the Dark Knight score.

https://www.apnews.com/7845c4fdd2f84e3aabc59d573fadb98f

Bruce Hayden said...

“I know some pathologists who are Asbergers. Plus many Engineers.”

The problem there, at least according to Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, MPhil, a professor of developmental psychopathology in the departments of psychiatry and experimental psychology, a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, what he terms “associative mating”, which is like marrying like, and an explosion of ASD diagnosises in areas with large populations of engineers in this country, such as Silicon Valley. His theory is that ASD is a result of an overly male, systemizing, brain. And systemizing is exactly what engineering calls for. Put two engineers together, and he doesn’t think that you should be surprised when the incidence of ASD rises sharply.

The flip side there though, maybe an alternate interpretation, is that these people are often too smart for their own good, and probably think that they are even smarter. You get enough extremely highly educated people together, like you find in Silicon Valley, and you find refusal to vaccinate their children skyrocketing. Enough that the percentage vaccinated drops below the herd immunity level. It was tragic, but I was still forced to laugh when a pertussis epidemic raged through the PRB (People’s Republic of Boulder) about the time my kid started school maybe 30 miles south of there (and then spent 5 years there getting their own STEM PhD). So, if Baron-Cohen is right about assortative mating being a significant cause behind the surge in ASD, I don’t expect the most vulnerable populations (such as the engineers in Silicon Valley, Boulder, or Austin) to voluntarily refrain from the risky behavior (marrying other engineers that they met at work) at the root of the epidemic. Just a thought.

Bruce Hayden said...

Maybe I am a bit paranoid about this assortative mating thing, but my kid is the fourth generation in my family to get a mathematics related degree. My grandfather was a chemical engineer, and an artillery officer, and his sister got a masters degree in mathematics from Columbia in the mid-1920s. My mother, I, my next brother, and my kid all ended up with math undergraduate degrees (two out of three of my other brothers were electrical engineers) but the kid went further with a double major with physics. I met their mother on a software project. She has 3 CS degrees, and her father and mother’s brother were both EEs. My partner spent a couple years working with Autistic children here in Phoenix, and raising them is typically not very easy. She could bond with them, which is a pretty unique skill, but that meant that they inevitably wanted to go home with her. I am selfish enough, that if Baron-Cohen is right about the causes of ASD, I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren just on the normal side of the divide with ASDs. Luckily, so far, things are looking good, with my kid’s long term significant other having their degrees in biology. Crossing my fingers, because most anyone they might meet at work is likely to be higher in ASD associative mating risk. Maybe autism and ASDs are a future evolutionary direction for at least some humans, but right now it seems more trouble than it is worth. Often, I close my comments with “we shall see”, or something similar. But we likely won’t, this time, given the juxtaposition of our life spans to the rate of evolutionary change involved.