Althouse: At the Wilting Blue Café

June 19, 2019

At the Wilting Blue Café

... keep talking!

78 comments:

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: WILT- "Blue"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AglHmQiywEI; 6/19/19, 8:59 PM
narciso said...: Nothing to see bere:

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/06/19/syrian-man-charged-for-allegedly-planning-to-bomb-pittsburgh-church-in-the-name-of-isis/?fbclid=IwAR1EaDiScgGQ7TaAmUDmhFD560ptHTpi6PNiPTjZCIJe2tVQ1jfTBvyUUKE; 6/19/19, 8:59 PM
theo said...: spider wort in repose.; 6/19/19, 9:00 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Good to see a phone upgrade.

Now how about dropping thirty or so on a loaded mac pro w/ two 6k monitors (and stands)?

If Meadehouse moves to a Meade approved "city" there'll be lotsa extra dough.

OTOH, if ya gotta choose one splurge: get a 911. Go w/ all wheel drive. For practicality.

IMHO.

P.S. Maybe the Rivian SUV would be good, if ya care about the environment. And, going through three feet of water. And zero to sixty in three-ish.; 6/19/19, 9:02 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Quote from an article Professor Althouse quoted in this post from 2012:
Until then, it's just "hilarious." Specifically, it's hilarious because it uses one person to portray a huge group of people in a negative way is[sic]. The point of the video -- and the reason Drudge and Limbaugh hyped it -- is to say, this is what Obama voters look like: black, poor, stupid, and after your money.
The context is "calling out" the vicious, ugly racism of playing a video of a woman talking about how great it was to get free stuff (an "Obamaphone," etc) since President Obama was in office. In 2012 it was terrible to use a caricature as a way to imply bad things about a group of people, even when that "caricature" is a real person expressing their real beliefs.

It's 2019 now, though, and in the post from earlier today when commenters objected to Taylor Swift's video using caricatures (of poor, low-class, backwards whites) of "hate-filled people against gays/gay marriage" the Professor's response is:
"Who is being mocked? I see only the idea of hating gay people being mocked."

Back in 2012 people said the video was being played to mock the idea of government dependency, "free stuff" thinking, etc--that very defense is made a few sentences before the line I quoted. Professor Althouse knew better, though--people SAID they were only mocking an idea but really they were, in an undeniably ugly way, being racist (by depicting what someone actually said/believes/is). Back then using a person's actual statements (and appearance, etc) as a proxy to mock a set of ideas was racist and wrong. Now CREATING a character/caricature of people for the purposes of mocking people who hold different ideas is just fine--that's just mocking (bad) ideas.

[I hesitate to even mention it...but the population of people who have historically, and may still today, opposed gay marriage and been against gay acceptance generally certainly includes a large number of black people. Weird that the group is almost always depicted, in fiction and through Media choices, as poor, low-class whites!]

So, you know: we've come a long way in a few short years.; 6/19/19, 9:04 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: what's with Dems and their computers?
A former aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is headed to prison Wednesday for what prosecutors said was the largest known data theft in Senate history.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/19/dem-staffer-kavanaugh-doxx-prison/

https://magicvalley.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/ex-senate-aide-sentenced-to-years-in-prison-for-data/article_3baca4d9-ad6b-587a-928f-bab5887046ab.html; 6/19/19, 9:07 PM
Humperdink said...: Ref the another news story on narcisco comment above from NBC:

"A Syrian refugee who came to the United States three years ago has been charged in an ISIS-inspired plot to bomb a Christian church in Pittsburgh, the Justice Department said Wednesday."

Assimilation through extermination?
Assimilation through assassination?
Assimilation through intimidation?

Which one Obama?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/syrian-refugee-charged-plotting-bomb-pennsylvania-church-n1019521; 6/19/19, 9:07 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Yes HoodD,

We all already saw yer jabber in the other thread.

Thanks fer, again, letting us know that white folks got it bad.

Permission to carry on granted.

Yes Hump,

Thanks fer telling us about evil BHO. A real newsflash in these threads.

You too have permission to carry on.

The takes here are so interesting.

Great job!; 6/19/19, 9:10 PM
n.n said...: Wilting blue... A metaphor? A prophecy? Climate change?; 6/19/19, 9:12 PM
narciso said...: Because poor white people are supposed to be evil and stupid and the converse meant well but naive.; 6/19/19, 9:14 PM
narciso said...: So the David ortiz shooting is now supposed to be a case of mistaken identity.; 6/19/19, 9:16 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @n.n
Low-Energy, Sleepy blue; 6/19/19, 9:17 PM
stephen cooper said...: Let God's promises shine on your problems (Corrie Ten Boom); 6/19/19, 9:27 PM
stephen cooper said...: You are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read (John MacArthur, speaking to fellow believers); 6/19/19, 9:29 PM
stephen cooper said...: What you do with your resources in this life is your autobiography (Randy Alcorn, the famous writer and pro-life activist); 6/19/19, 9:32 PM
narciso said...: Biblical proselytizing is woefully weak, people know John 3:16, ut that's just the beginning of the journey; 6/19/19, 9:40 PM
narciso said...: Goes to show nothing is new:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biblegateway.com/passage/%3fsearch=Judges%2b2&version=NIV&interface=amp; 6/19/19, 9:56 PM
traditionalguy said...: DJT did a live phone interview on Hannity tonight. The gloves are off. The transitioning of our Presidency under Obama and Valerie Jarrett into a KGB style Secret Police State at war with Americans is going to come out and many of the secret agents will be prosecuted by Military Tribunals. No wonder DC is near total panic.; 6/19/19, 10:02 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Traditionalguy
maybe u like?
https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/opinion-conservative/2019/3466637.html; 6/19/19, 10:12 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Haha, dumb Biden's done already, obnoxious azzhole. Next...; 6/19/19, 10:17 PM
Lawrence Person said...: President Trump launches reelection bid.; 6/19/19, 10:19 PM
walter said...: S(h)itter returns to wax mega-dough-isms.
Probably anti-consumer in close circles.; 6/19/19, 10:19 PM
traditionalguy said...: Love that shade of blue. It reminds me of African Violets.; 6/19/19, 10:21 PM
David Duffy said...: Have you ever added on a room to your house? I walk into the addition to my house and remember the feel of driving to the hardware store on Friday evening, buying a box of 16d common nails, and setting them on my worktable for the next morning.

The feel of getting up early Saturday, taking a framing hammer and driving the nails into a 2x4 until dinner was one of the great experiences of life. I can now walk into that master bedroom I built for me and the Mrs and remember the energy of youth.; 6/19/19, 10:25 PM
stephen cooper said...: narciso my friend every day is new but you knew that already I am just pretending you did not know so I can say this for those who might overhear this conversation:

do you want life one day at a time? God will give you that

do you want, because you (wrongly) think you are not one of the blessed in this world, to rely on habit, to experience habit as your exchange for the happiness you did not have in this world? God will give you that

do you want life to go by fast? God will give you that

do you want life to go by slow so you can treasure every moment, so that years from now when your children are middle aged and not all that special (BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THEY ARE SPECIAL, DON't BE FOOLED) you can say to yourself at least I treasured every moment when I was raising those children ..... God will give you that

you have your gift in life

mine is to care about people who think they are mediocre
I know how wrong they are
as William Arkle used to like to say God looks on all of us as if we were as precious as the entire rest of creation because that is just how people like God think,

and I know this, if you are Christian, and if you just pray for somebody, and maybe if you are lucky you get to talk with them and let them know you do not want anything from them, you just want them to wake up and realize GOD LOVES THEM AS MUCH AS THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO IMAGINE AND UNDERSTAND IF ONLY THEY WOULD WAKE UP ....

I know this,

God gives us Justice the moment we ask for it, ditto faith, hope, and an understanding ---- a sometimes blissful understanding of all the truths of this world ---- the moment we ask for it ....

but there is one thing God cannot give us. It is something that we can give to God, but God cannot give it to us ....
the exercise of our free will to want to be charitable and brave and kind and protective of others

the wish to pray is a prayer in itself (Bernanos).
That may or may to be true (well, it was Bernanos who said it, so it is probably true, but ymmv)

but if you are not Christian, it is a good place to start if you want to understand this world as if it is a world where maybe everything Jesus said was true

trust me, it is worth thinking about; 6/19/19, 10:26 PM
narciso said...: America was never as pagan as it is today, a pantheon of Faith's and deities but not the most important ones,; 6/19/19, 10:39 PM
Nichevo said...: narciso said...
So the David ortiz shooting is now supposed to be a case of mistaken identity.

6/19/19, 9:16 PM

I heard he slept with the wrong guy's wife. Seven grand for the hit. No?; 6/19/19, 10:43 PM
Nichevo said...: You too have permission to carry on.

The takes here are so interesting.

Great job!

6/19/19, 9:10 PM

There, there. Have a cookie.; 6/19/19, 10:44 PM
narciso said...: Well that's non operative, anymore the drug dealing was tracking someone else.; 6/19/19, 10:49 PM
narciso said...: Its 13 o'clock somewhere:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7159291/Prosecutor-adds-22-St-Louis-officers-exclusion-list.html#comments-7159291; 6/19/19, 10:52 PM
stephen cooper said...: narciso in the 1840s almost not a single American felt a single moment of regret for all the animals who were "trapped" and then after a long lingering lonely death the trappers went out and saw the result of all that suffering in their traps and rejoiced at making money off their suffering

Sometimes Americans back in the day even called their children "Trapper"

life is better today for animals because it is illegal to be vicious and cruel like those Trappers were

I know God loves people who are unkind and I understand that but right is right and wrong is wrong and we all need to understand that faith hope and charity are all good but charity is best .....

try and understand! don't praise those who do not deserve to be praised; 6/19/19, 11:09 PM
stephen cooper said...: God loves us the way we are but loves us too much to let us stay that way

Pray tonight for someone who is lost and who has not prayed for himself or herself for a long long time; 6/19/19, 11:10 PM
narciso said...: Well that was about getting enough sustenance yo survive, yes I know they went overboard with the buffalo; 6/19/19, 11:12 PM
walter said...: ....; 6/19/19, 11:15 PM
Ken B said...: Sheesh. This blog is like a concentration camp! Have we forgotten “never again”?

/AOC

It’s both sad and hilarious watching her simultaneously double down and try to weasel out. “I never said Nazi! But it’s just like Auschwitz! But I never said Nazi!”; 6/19/19, 11:19 PM
stephen cooper said...: narciso no it wasn't it about survival it was about getting rich

when I was young I knew lots and lots of people who were born in that 19th century that everyone except me and a few other people now considers to be long ago history

and I still remember what it looked like, that selfish look in the eyes of the ones who got richer in the wrong way back in the day

Sad!

Pray tonight for someone who is lost and who has not prayed for herself or himself for a long long time

and after you have prayed for them, hopefully with great success, do not ask for any reward.; 6/19/19, 11:29 PM
Drago said...: Its a shame Hunter Biden had to dump his former sister in law & affair pal AND give up his cocaine habit just to see daddy and Chinese/Ukrainian cash enabler sugar daddy Papa Joe go tits up this early in the race.

Perhaps Hunter can get another divorce and go back to his sister in law main squeeze once the pressure of the campaign is over.

I am really rooting for those kids...; 6/19/19, 11:35 PM
J. Farmer said...: @traditionalguy:

many of the secret agents will be prosecuted by Military Tribunals

Bet you $10,000 this doesn't happen.; 6/19/19, 11:36 PM
walter said...: Berno will be ok with that.; 6/19/19, 11:41 PM
walter said...: And the Farmers will nod and say "at least he's siincere." yadayadah; 6/19/19, 11:47 PM
J. Farmer said...: @walter:

And the Farmers will nod and say "at least he's siincere." yadayadah

Since I don't have the slightest clue what this statement is supposed to be referring to, I can neither confirm nor deny this charge ;); 6/19/19, 11:50 PM
J. Farmer said...: p.s. Though generally when people declare what the me's of the world (whoever they are) will nod to and say, they are usually wrong; 6/19/19, 11:52 PM
readering said...: More of the same bile from Drago i see.; 6/19/19, 11:53 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Speaking of Wilting Blue have they ever sounded better than in the new Dylan doc Rolling Thunder Review?; 6/20/19, 12:01 AM
Josephbleau said...: The central upper bud is interesting in the same way of orchids.; 6/20/19, 12:01 AM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW,

Posh got enough (after taxes) for a full Mac Pro system. For doing nothing.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/video/4106256-adele-has-a-blast-at-spice-girls-show/

And, didn't Adele used to be chonk? Didn't she shop at Lee Lee's Vagina? Looks like she's hiding it in those clips.

I dunno.; 6/20/19, 12:05 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "The feel of getting up early Saturday, taking a framing hammer and driving the nails into a 2x4 until dinner was one of the great experiences of life."

I built a few buildings with my father and grandfather (my Mom's father) growing up. There is something indescribable about driving 16 penny nails all day long- my dad didn't believe in nail guns until after I had moved on to other pursuits. It is one of those skills that is like riding a bike, though- I don't get to do it often any more, but it does always bring back pretty fond memories.; 6/20/19, 12:08 AM
Sprezzatura said...: I love my car.

I power it with my feet. In that way it's like riding a bike.

Except it's more like Fred F. Cause I'm using energy to carry a car when it would make more cents to walk/run w/o the car.

This fondles me.; 6/20/19, 12:27 AM
walter said...: Sure Farmer,
Always the contrarian..even to yourself.
Yahdayada; 6/20/19, 12:39 AM
Drago said...: readering: "More of the same bile from Drago i see."

Hunter Biden gets daddy's help to quash a Ukrainian investigation into the Putin connected energy company that Hunter was invited to join as a pay-to-play scheme, VP Creepy Joe gets the Chinese to dump $1.5 BILLION(!) into little Hunters "investment" fund, all after Hunter has an affair with his dead brothers wife and then dumps his wife to be with her and then dumps the former sister in law and rapidly marries someone new because he has to clean up his act for the coming campaign all after getting booted from his cushy make-believe Navy job that daddy got him at a late age because he is a huge coke head and according to readering this is somehow all my fault!!!

LOLOLOLOL

I would be hard pressed to come up with a better example of lefty double standards.

Thanks readering!!

(But really, Hunter Biden being a total s***heel is not something you can blame on me); 6/20/19, 12:44 AM
Drago said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/20/19, 12:48 AM
Drago said...: readering, why are you so desperately desperate to stifle any discussion of Creepy Joes and his coke head son's escapades?

I find your panicked response interesting given the now zero chance Biden will get the nomination.; 6/20/19, 12:48 AM
walter said...: Nice condensation, Drago; 6/20/19, 12:51 AM
walter said...: It would be great if you could implant that into D-Lemon's airport news network screed.; 6/20/19, 12:55 AM
Fen said...: /AOC. It’s both sad and hilarious watching her simultaneously double down and try to weasel out. “I never said Nazi! But it’s just like Auschwitz! But I never said Nazi!”

To be fair, Cortez may not know that Auschwitz is related to Nazis. She probably thinks it's one of those white privileged Scandi nations that (roughly) border Canada.

many of the secret agents will be prosecuted by Military Tribunals.|

Why Military Tribunals?; 6/20/19, 2:01 AM
Fen said...: The feel of getting up early Saturday, taking a framing hammer and driving the nails into a 2x4 until dinner was one of the great experiences of life. I can now walk into that master bedroom I built for me and the Mrs and remember the energy of youth.

I envy you. I would be up all night obsessing over the knowledge that the nails in the southeast corner were not placed symmetrically. Nudging the wife awake at 3am: "Are you SURE the drywall looks fine or are you just saying that to humor me?", to which there is no correct answer.; 6/20/19, 2:13 AM
Crazy World said...: Not sure what Anti D sitter person is trying to say but I think today confirmed Joey will not be the nominee for the race to the bottom,
Gorgeous flowers!; 6/20/19, 2:15 AM
Jaq said...: More of the same bile from Drago i see.

So none of it is true then?; 6/20/19, 4:18 AM
rehajm said...: Doing the campus tours and just hit the major school located in Williamstown, MA. Think I figured out how AOC graduated from BU:

Looking through the marketing materials from the prospective student information session (not BU, the other school) you can get a degree in economics without studying much econ. Maybe you need micro/macro but after that nearly all of the course options have leftie causes in the title. Inequality, race, climate, environment, criticism of Friedman.

If it isn’t your major you can earn a concentration with coursework from the department without taking the required core. So no micro/macro, just straight to the leftie stuff.; 6/20/19, 4:20 AM
rehajm said...: I suspect BU is similar. They have similar sounding coursework and more flexible routes to a degree.; 6/20/19, 4:21 AM
Jaq said...: Or is it really just more bile from Hunter BIden?; 6/20/19, 4:24 AM
Jaq said...: I always like to spot things in one piece of art that is probable where another piece of art originated, and I always liked the song “Diamonds and Rust” and now I wonder if Joan Baez wrote it after getting the call from Bob Dylan to do the Rolling Thunder Revue.

Well I’ll be damned, here comes your ghost again
It’s just that the moon is full, and you happened to call

And this

Now you're telling me you're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words and at keeping things vague

And this:

And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

For what it’s worth, I don’t think it was nostalgia, I think his performances were great.; 6/20/19, 4:35 AM
rehajm said...: From the AP’s Walls Work Even When We Try to Convince You They Don’t Dept. :

The feds’ find was another sign that traffickers are turning to East Coast seaports as a result of increased law enforcement pressure along the country’s southwest border, a development cited by the drug enforcement agency in its latest national threat assessment.; 6/20/19, 4:40 AM
Fritz said...: We hate spiderworts. We let a few into our garden and they're taking over.; 6/20/19, 5:31 AM
Tank said...: J. Farmer said...

@traditionalguy:

many of the secret agents will be prosecuted by Military Tribunals

Bet you $10,000 this doesn't happen.

I was surprised on the day I woke up to find that Trump had won, and I'll be surprised to find out that Farmer was wrong on this. I'm not holding my breath.; 6/20/19, 5:59 AM
Humperdink said...: Speaking of building things and pounding nails, I had two Amish kids build a tree stand in the woods for me. 4" x 6" treated posts buried in the ground. 16 penny nails? Nope. They wanted 40 penny nails. Never heard of them, but I purchased them watched them pound away.; 6/20/19, 6:04 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Good to see a phone upgrade."

I'm impressed that this was noticed immediately.; 6/20/19, 6:07 AM
gilbar said...: rehajm said...
Think I figured out how AOC graduated from BU:

I went to Boston U's website, and found:
Course Requirements
9 courses with grades of C or higher, 4 of which must be Economic Statistics (CAS EC 203 and 204 or EC 303 and 304), Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis (CAS EC 201), and Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis (CAS EC 202).

SO, then i went and found 5 classes that Sandy would have liked (i have NO IDEA what she took)

CAS EC 320 Economics of Less-Developed Regions
CAS EC 325 Economics of Poverty and Discrimination in the United States
CAS EC 356 Economics of the Labor Market
CAS EC 371 Environmental Economics
CAS EC 385 Economics of Sports; 6/20/19, 6:13 AM
MadisonMan said...: I love my car.

Queen song, an awesome one.

I'm in love with my car.
Got a feel, for my automobile.

I think it was on the Fat-Bottomed girls album.; 6/20/19, 6:20 AM
MadisonMan said...: Oops. Nope. On the Bohemian Rhapsody album.; 6/20/19, 6:21 AM
rehajm said...: AOC supposedly has a dual degree in International Relations and Economics. International Relations is listed first. She would have needed 144 credits for the dual degree vs 128 credits for a single major. I can't find mention of any core requirements for a second degree. It's possible she could have skipped the good stuff and gone right to the leftie stuff. I'm going to dig some more...

I'll borrow the guidebooks from my student and list off some of the course names later...unbelievable!; 6/20/19, 6:56 AM
wildswan said...: Rehajm
Hope you find how AOC did her degree. Think myself that she is skillfully pandering all the time. Be interesting to know if she did a real degree or an SJW one.; 6/20/19, 7:30 AM
Gahrie said...: Still no discussion of the Oregon bakers' decision or the fact that the Colorado baker has been sued a third time?; 6/20/19, 7:56 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @HoodlumDoodlum

There's a big difference between showing real people captured on video and making a film with actors in makeup, wigs, and costumes.

There's a big difference between political, adversarial use of stereotypes and a pop music confection.

There's a big difference between saying let's hate these people and come on can't we all get along?

There's a big difference between picking on a particular racial group and picking on people characterized by their specific political position.

Many other differences.

You have to compare things that are comparable to get to your hypocrisy charge.; 6/20/19, 8:24 AM
J. Farmer said...: @walter:

Sure Farmer,
Always the contrarian..even to yourself.
Yahdayada

Ooookay...what is it I'm supposedly being contrarian about?; 6/20/19, 9:12 AM
J. Farmer said...: Though on the charge of contrarianism in general I will plead guilty. Popular opinion means little to me, and I feel very little impulse to go along with the majority for its own sake. My own opinion is enough for me.; 6/20/19, 9:15 AM
Narr said...: Well said, JFarmer@915!

Narr
Vox pop, vox pox; 6/20/19, 11:00 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: There's a big difference between showing real people captured on video and making a film with actors in makeup, wigs, and costumes.

Yes, that's true--inventing characters is more intentional than showing actual people. That doesn't help your point!

There's a big difference between political, adversarial use of stereotypes and a pop music confection.

Maybe, but the context here is a pop music confection taking a political/ideological stand...and using characters to make an adversarial point. That doesn't help you muhc

There's a big difference between saying let's hate these people and come on can't we all get along?

Sure, but that's not an accurate summary of the two examples here. In the first example the ideas of the real person shown were being mocked--YOU decided the true message was "hate people like this" but it's not clear that was the actual/intended message. In the second example (Swift's video) the characters were specifically chosen to be objects of hate--to portray a contrary view not just as something to disagree about, but as the product of hate/bias and therefore not worth treating as valid (even in disagreement). Arguing "anyone who disagrees with me is a hateful idiot" is absolutely NOT saying "come on can't we all get along."

There's a big difference between picking on a particular racial group and picking on people characterized by their specific political position.

That's true, but does it actually apply? Did the bad characters in the video show a range of races/racial diversity, or were they all white people? Characterizing "anti-gay" views as coming only from poor low-class whites is in fact "picking on a particular racial group," especially when attitudes opposing gay marriage (as one example) are certainly not confined only to whites.

In short, the two things are comparable. I'm not accusing you of hypocrisy (unless you're arguing that you apply the same kind of standards to all groups), I'm pointing out a bias.; 6/20/19, 2:01 PM