June 8, 2019

"You have to go all the way back to President Harry Truman to find a president who even participated in the formal Washington celebration."

"(In 1951, Mr. Truman spoke from the Washington Monument about the progress of the Korean War.) In 1970, during the fractious era of Vietnam, President Richard Nixon videotaped remarks to be shown on the Mall. Other leaders have largely remained out of the picture, visiting troops or attending naturalization ceremonies or hosting bipartisan picnics on the South Lawn of the White House.... Mr. Trump, by contrast, cares not at all about public unity...."

Writes Michelle Cottle in "Trump Hijacks the 4th of July/The president decided that the one thing missing from the capital’s celebration was himself" (NYT), and I wonder how much she cares about public unity. Because I'm not feeling it. I mean, what's so bad about being like Harry Truman? It might be bad to "hijack" the occasion to propagandize about a war, and yet the 4th of July is kind of about enthusiasm about fighting wars. Those fireworks represent bombs bursting in air, don't they? Anyway, I think it's a good gesture to show up, if you do it the right way. It could be overly self-centered, but it doesn't have to be. I can be done in an appropriate scale and tone. We don't say Presidents "hijack" Easter when they do those egg roll events. Could everyone just calm down?

203 comments:

1 – 200 of 203   Newer›   Newest»
LYNNDH said...

I guess she does not understand the meaning of the word "unity". What a tool.

gilbar said...

it's Simple: ANYTHING, and EVERYTHING that Trump does; is, by definition -- BAD

gilbar said...

look at the terrible way Trump hijacked the d-day celebration!

Limited blogger said...

Those presidents took the day off.

Trump is a workaholic, what can I say?

Carol said...

Trump is trying to keep us out of more wars, including this stupid Cold War with Russia.

Big Mike said...

Could everyone just calm down?

Oh c'mon. Ever since the early 1960s you and your fellow liberals have been running around with hair on fire. You ran out of pollutants, so now CO2 is a pollutant. Roe v Wade addressed abortion, so now it has to be abortion at any stage of gestation for any reason or no reason at all. Women and minorities have the right to compete for a job and show that they can do it, so now they have to get the job even if -- especially if! -- they can't do it. So why stop now?

Big Mike said...

@Carol, good point. The efforts on the part of Democrats and the media to restart the Cold War are simply insane. The "Trump is a stooge for Putin" echoes the right wing extremists of the 1960s who insisted that JFK and LBJ had a direct line to the Kremlin so that Nikita Khrushchev could personally approve their activities.

Leland said...

The NYT should have noted that Zachary Taylor visited the Washington monument on the 4th of July, ate some cherries that had been out all day, and died a few days later.

That nugget and more from Business Insider, circa 2015.

Speaking of making July 4th about yourself, in 1940; "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt officially turned the library he built in his name in Hyde Park, New York over to the federal government, making it the first presidential library in the US. "

buwaya said...

The problem here is that the July 4 celebration is in Washington, a city openly at odds with most of the actual country, a peculiar subculture of its own. It is part of the open ruling class disdain for the masses, but with its own twists.

Because of this ongoing social war there is no hope for unity in what once was a unifying occasion.

Drago said...

Trump simply refuses to act like the GOPe Surrenderists and it drives the Left and LLR-Left insane.

etbass said...

What could be more appropriate than the President of the United States appearing in public on the day that the republic is celebrated?

Damn.

Michael K said...

That city is in enemy hands. Maybe it's time to show that there is a country out there who don't agree with them.

WaPoo is a house organ for the federal government.

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

Hack-D press: "We hate Trump"

Seeing Red said...

The man lives there and they’re banning him from the block party?

Limited blogger said...

Trump is America's president; can we at least agree on that?

effinayright said...

Leland said...
The NYT should have noted that Zachary Taylor visited the Washington monument on the 4th of July, ate some cherries that had been out all day, and died a few days later.
*************

Zachary Taylor served as POTUS from March 1849 to July 4, 1850. The Monument's cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848; the first stone was laid atop the unfinished stump on August 7, 1880. July 4th wasn't declared an official federal holiday until 1870.

So....Taylor could hardly be accused of "hijacking" the July 4th celebration by visiting what was essentially the Monument's foundation.

Beasts of England said...

'What could be more appropriate than the President of the United States appearing in public on the day that the republic is celebrated?'

Trump will likely use the opportunity to praise the United States of America, and we can't have that on the 4th!! ;)

SGT Ted said...

Progressives have become insufferable douchebags. They don't even get that they act just like Trump does towards their own declared cultural and political foes.

If Trump was a Democrat who took it to the GOP like he does to the Dems, they'd be praising him as a great truth teller and a fighter.

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

Will the MSM Hack Democratic Party Press refrain from making the 4th of July about their cult-like Trump hate?

Stay tuned!

chickelit said...

Could everyone just calm down?

You're much too calm and rational about Trump and are spoiling the whole "orange man bad" mantra, Althouse. It's time you got with the pogram.

Fernandinande said...

The authorette decided that the one thing missing from the NYT was her stupid article.

Anonymous said...

Is this silly stuff an example of what you mean when averring that the NYT and WaPo, while not great, are better than the trashy alternatives out there?

Hope not. This is trashy (and juvenile) content. It just inhabits the petulant, feminine sub-genre of trashy and juvenile, in contrast to the style preferred for "right-wing" trash.

Quaestor said...

Those fireworks represent bombs bursting in air, don't they?

Nope, fireworks predate bombs bursting in air. Just ask the Chinese.

Yancey Ward said...

Oh, just add it to the impeachment bill.

For what it is worth, there is a movement on Right to go to D.C. just because Trump will be involved- the plan is to make it like one of his rallies, which I would find highly amusing- a Trump rally in D.C. would be something else considering it really is enemy territory. It would be almost as amusing as a Trump rally in Beijing.

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

Orange Man Bad,
Orange Man Bad,
He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head,

Orange Man Bad,
Orange Man Bad,
On his white supremacist horse Tacobowlito, he comes breezin' through town,

Bet your woman's pussy is bein' grabbed by ol'
Orange Man Bad.

n.n said...

So, there is precedent. Judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff shall pay all costs. Case dismissed.

David Begley said...

In Nebraska there are all sorts of parades on the 4th and politicians always march in them. What's the big deal?

effinayright said...

Barack Obama

"In 2016, Barack Obama's final July 4 celebration as president, the Obamas canceled their outdoor festivities due to rain but held a special event in the East Room of the White House, which included performances by Janelle MonĂ¡e and Kendrick Lamar. July 4 is also his daughter Malia’s birthday."

>>>Outdoor festivities in Washington canceled!! Special event inside!

"In 1981, President Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan spent time at the White House during the July 4th Independence Day Picnic on the South Lawn. The president was recovering from an assassination attempt that occurred on March 30 of that year."

>>>excuses, excuses...

"On July 4, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech to a crowd of 200,000 at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh."

>>>>talk about hijacking the day!!

For America's bicentennial celebration, President Gerald Ford hosted a ***huge celebration*** at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the site where the American army camped the winter of 1777 during the Revolutionary War.

>>>Grandstanding!!!!

Last year [2014] for the Fourth of July, President Barack Obama spoke at a naturalization ceremony for active-duty service members and civilians. Later, Barack and Michelle Obama hosted military heroes and their families at a White House special Independence Day event. The president ended the day by taking in a fireworks display.

>>>>more celebrating!!

"Amid political tests and tensions, President Donald Trump spent Wednesday's {2018} July Fourth holiday golfing, tweeting and hosting a White House picnic for military families.

>>>terrible!

***********
So....speeches in front of huge crowds, attendance at informal ceremonies in the White House or, watching fireworks on the Ellipse....all good.

But participating in a formal celebration....despicable!!!

Face it: it's h8 news, all the way down.

Quaestor said...

Could everyone just calm down?

Althouse should visit Mendota Mental Health Institute and try that on the patients. If it works, it will save Wisconsin millions on psychiatric medications and Althouse will be hailed as a hero of healthcare. If it doesn't she should forget the whole thing and enjoy the Fourth in spite of raging loonies like Miss Cottle.

Curious George said...

"Could everyone just calm down?"

Have you been in a cave the last 2-1/2 years?

traditionalguy said...

It was a year and two months after the War started on April,19,1775 that Congress put America's Independence into writing on July 4, 1776 .

Our beloved President first declared America's re-Independence on his Inauguration Day on January 20, 2017. Read his speech.

So he can celebrate its fruition over two years later, post The Globalist's Great Russian Hoax.

Curious George said...

"yet the 4th of July is kind of about enthusiasm about fighting wars. Those fireworks represent bombs bursting in air, don't they?"

No.

n.n said...

Have you been in a cave the last 2-1/2 years?

10 in baby years. It seems like forever. H/T mom.

rcocean said...

Trump hijacks Hanukkah too. Trump made D-Day all about himself. Trump inaugural was racist. Trump was to blame for not being invited to McCain's funeral. Trump hijacked Bush's funeral and made it all about him. Trump completely embarrassed himself when he went to Japan, UK, France, Russia, Mexico, Germany, Italy, [insert all other countries]. Weak Trump is either taken to the cleaners by wily foreigners or is going to blow up the world with his macho, too strong bluster.

And so it goes...day after day, month after month, year after year. Nonstop 92% negative coverage. NO MATTER WHAT.

tim in vermont said...

Trump thought it was "bombast bursting in air.”

rcocean said...

I always liked the Boston Pops 4th of July concert but I believe NPR stopped showing it, since it was full of white racism.

tim in vermont said...

I think it’s impeachable on it’s own. Trump has sown division ever since he took the presidency away from Hillary because the losers didn’t win, and that’s bad all on its own, intolerable.

rcocean said...

Conquer we must,
Though our cause it is just,
And this be our motto,
In God we do trust.

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Darrell said...

Trump cares everything about this Nation.

The Democrats, the NYT, WaPo, CNN, et.al., not that much. They can no-borders-no wall-no America-at-all-themselves back to Hell.

rcocean said...

I like the last forgotten verse of the Star Spangeled banner, its a nice completion ot the poem/song lyrics.

rhhardin said...

RESTRICTED for violence, pervasive langauge and brief disturbing sexual content

Legend on a random preview. Pervasive sexual content and brief disturbing language would sell better.

Anyway the original would cover the Trump 4th of July celebration, if they wanted a new way to get clicks.

Big Mike said...

It's time you got with the pogram.


@chickelet, if that was deliberate, it was beautiful. If accidental, it’s still pretty cool.

rehajm said...

Obama hijacked the American celebration known as March Madness™.

Limited blogger said...

Can you point me to the 8% of the coverage that is positive?

glenn said...

“Could everyone just calm down”

NO!

William said...

It's clear that Trump is using the perks of his office to influence the next election. Add that to the bill of impeachment. This low unemployment rate is also subversive of our democracy. Obama never used such underhanded tactics to stay in office.

MD Greene said...

Hating Trump is now the chief element of the NYT brand. Sub elements are 1) All women are downtrodden by male toxicity, 2) people of uncertain gender are victims of the alt-right (which consists of everyone not on far left), 3) all religions except one are evil, and 4) a bunch of people who barely passed high school science classes know exactly how climate, in all its complexity, works but many still claim virtuous dispensations to drive large SUVs.

It is what it is. Those who sign up for this uncritical world view are secure in the certainty that they are on the right side of everything. Just ask them.

I've stopped caring.

BUMBLE BEE said...

NYT the fishmonger's friend. And just barely, at that.

Ice Nine said...

Big Mike - 10:41 -- Bingfreakin'go! An excellent summary - that I will be using in the future...as stolen goods.

gilbar said...

Limited blogger said... Trump is America's president; can we at least agree on that?

No, No they can NOT!
Not MY President!

Greg Hlatky said...

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." - John Adams, 1776

Yancey Ward said...

"Can you point me to the 8% of the coverage that is positive?"

The articles that show Trump isn't literally Hitler, only somewhat Hitler-like.

Skeptical Voter said...

Shorter Michelle Cottle (aka silly Manhattan twit); "If you are not with us, you are against us--and you are being hateful and divisive and destroying unity and probably want to steal my Tootsie Roll and waa waa waa."

These folks with their whinging little bitchy ways do get tiresome.

Bay Area Guy said...

The Left constantly tells us that they are "evidence-based", but they forget that Trump got 63 Million votes, and is the duly elected REPRESENTATIVE of the great people in this country.

So, Yes, he should celebrate the birth of our country.

rcocean said...

The new attack on TRump is that his sons "Skipped out on an Irish pub bill">

Then you read the article and the Pub owner has nothing but praise for how they behaved, said they had no cash on them, and fully expects to be paid.

Again, EVERY thing positive by Trump MUST be turned into a negative.

Side note: I've been late in paying bar tabs because (A) I got drunk and forgot to pay or (B) someone said "The drinks were on them" and didn't pay. Needless to say, once I was sober and understood the situation, I paid my fair share. Which is more than Jack Kennedy did.

rcocean said...

The 8% positive coverage came when Trump attacked Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan.

Ambrose said...

Opponents of Trump have succeeded in politicizing most formerly neutral events within their control - award shows, late night television, sport champions White House visits, pre-game national anthem, broadway shows, college commencement speeches, etc. If they want "blue" events, then turnabout is fair play. I say let's turn the 4th into Trump rally.

Ken B said...

Truman is my favorite modern President.

TDS is pretty bad when you think you are scoring points saying things like “You who that Trump reminds me of? Truman.” I await the inevitable doubling down: “And FDR too!”

todd galle said...

Part of the Ford visit to Valley Forge was to accept the park into the National Park Service, as the PA Historical and Museum Commission finally realized it was too much for them to handle, especially during the Bicentennial. Also, I have somewhere an invitation to the dedication and opening of the Washington monument from 1888 I think, to some NYC lawyer. Found it pasted in the front of a Bible someone threw out. Couldn't stand seeing a Bible discarded like that so rescued it - maybe the invite was some kind of 'thank you'. Given my past, I certainly hope so.

Leland said...

So....Taylor could hardly be accused of "hijacking" the July 4th celebration by visiting what was essentially the Monument's foundation.

So....you missed the point.

Big Mike said...

@Ice Nine, I am honored.

Henry said...

Charles Grodin wrote a book about Hollywood titled It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here

I guess that's the kind of unity we're talking about: We would be so unified if you weren't included.

Charlie said...

"Could everyone just calm down?"

No. Orange Man Bad™

Earnest Prole said...

Excellent advice for the hysterical Left who think Trump is the reincarnation of Mussolini, and also for the hysterical Right who fantasize about killing their fellow citizens in a civil war: Calm the fuck down.

Jim at said...

Since when does the left get to choose how and where the President decides to spend Independence Day?

Henry said...

Isn't the fact that half the states didn't vote for the President the reason Washington D.C. exists?

Henry said...

OTOH, if the President -- any President -- decided to come my local 4th of July celebration, it would definitely be a huge pain. So I'm glad Trump picked Washington D.C for his limousine visitation.

Darrell said...

Hillary should re-enact her famous 9/11/2016 fainting spell and get tossed into the back of a van like a sack of potatoes and be driven to her daughter's apartment--only to appear a short time later to interact with kids on the street outside without Secret Service protection.

I missed it last year, it needs to become a regular thing and what better day than the Fourth?

chickelit said...

Excellent advice for the hysterical Left who think Trump is the reincarnation of Mussolini

Oh, so it's Il Duce now and not Hitler. Just remember that Obama had the look down first: link

Bay Area Guy said...

Michelle Cottle is a ditz. Severe psychological scarring will ensue for Ms. Cottle and her ilk if/when Trump is reelected.

chickelit said...

Those fireworks represent bombs bursting in air, don't they?

They have come to represent that, yes. But fireworks were used to celebrate the 4th very early on -- years before FSK wrote his verses. You can google it.

buwaya said...

You can very calmly absorb the fact that your interests, for each faction of the population that has formed over the last three decades or so, have diverged beyond the point of reconciliation. You no longer have the sort of mutual interests that unite a nation-state.

It would be nice if this can be acknowledged without hysteria, and some sort of accomodation formed, with borders and spheres of influence. A socio-cultural-economic-political divorce is necessary. Human differences don't usually work that way though. There are such cases, such as the bloodless split of Czechoslovakia or the not too bloody split of Norway and Sweden. But the usual case is not those.

But even the best case will not happen without a period of conflict, which conflict requires inspiration, which requires floods of propaganda.

chickelit said...

Bay Area Guy said...Michelle Cottle is a ditz. Severe psychological scarring will ensue for Ms. Cottle and her ilk if/when Trump is reelected.

She's a pretty radicalized feminist, so no surprise.

narciso said...

Shes always been that way:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sarah-palin-serves-up-a-healthy-serving-of-venom-in-her-christmas-book

tim in vermont said...

If they are accusing Trump now of being Mussolini, it’s because the left has adopted his politics wholesale. “Stronger Together” would have fit right into any fascist campaign. And the invasion of North Africa that Hillary engineered, wasn’t that just a bit to “on the nose” Hillary?

Rory said...

""Stronger Together” would have fit right into any fascist campaign."

Chosen out of 80 options that market-tested.

Rory said...

"You no longer have the sort of mutual interests that unite a nation-state."

You're underestimating how hard it would be to parcel out the national debt. Alexander Hamilton was a &$#@!* genius.

rcocean said...

Newsflash. This just in:

Liberals upset that Jingoistic celebration of 4th of July - full of icky flags of a white racist country called USA - might be hijacked by icky, Jingoistic, racist President.

In other news, water is wet.

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

You no longer have the sort of mutual interests that unite a nation-state."

Its hilarious how all these wise ol' grey beards who worry about an "upcoming Civil War" and "the country holding together" and "Can't we all just get along" are ALL Center-right.

The Liberal/Left don't give a fuck about the Country. But keep thinking they do. Conservatives - you're so cute when you're being stupid.

Henry said...

@buwaya -- I joked about it upstream, but Washington D.C., historically, was supposed to be an accommodation. Inevitably, Washington D.C. acquired its own factional interests, in which President Trump is very much unwelcome.

I've been reading a book of meditations by the Irish poet Padraig O Tuama. He writes at length about mediations he has attended in Northern Ireland.

He describes the political balance thus:

The peace accord signed on Good Friday in 1998 is a fascinating piece of constitutional artistry. It enshrines, in perpetuity, the right for citizens of the jurisdiction in the northeastern corner of Ireland to hold multiple identities.... Everyone born here has the right to two passports. I've heard people refer to the north of Ireland as the unwanted offspring between two neighbouring nations.

I think that is a better analogy for the state of the United States than historical cataclysm. The United States is the unwanted offspring between multiple entirely overlapping nations.

O Tuama goes on to point out that questions national identity in Northern Ireland go far beyond the binaries of Protestant and Catholic or North and South. What about Protestants from the South? Or Catholics from the North? Or citizens of Ireland or the UK who have strong opinions about this place they overlap.

There are more sides than two here.

narciso said...

Could we be a little less cavalier eith a civil war, you dont want to go anywhere near it, it is the sum of all fears, something to be dreaded, in Bosnia it ran three years, in Lebanon 15, in Colombia about 70.

narciso said...

In that sense, hes a northerner with a southern sensibility, in so far that questiond of nation and family have been diluted up north

Rory said...

"Could we be a little less cavalier eith a civil war,"

This is what one looks like when one side is clinging to notions like the rule of law and equality before the law. Seriously, the question presented by this article is whether one side is willing to share public space in the nation's capital (already answered once at the inaugural). If the answer is no, then what state are we in?

Tomcc said...

IMHO, if the NYT sold more ad space and reduced the amount of twaddle by the likes of Ms. Cottle, they might have a successful business model.

effinayright said...

" A socio-cultural-economic-political divorce is necessary. Human differences don't usually work that way though. There are such cases, such as the bloodless split of Czechoslovakia or the not too bloody split of Norway and Sweden. But the usual case is not those."
***********

I suspect that any attempt to split up the US based on socio-cultural-economic-political differences would wind up looking like the India-Pakistan Partition in 1947. More than a million died, in a population of 300,000,000.

They had far, far fewer firearms.

Narayanan said...

It would be almost as amusing as a Trump rally in Beijing.

Great idea - set up Jumbotron in all the USA embassies around the world.

Beasts of England said...

'Could we be a little less cavalier eith a civil war...'

I don't think anyone on the right underestimates the ugliness of another internecine fiasco, narciso - but one side is absolutely begging for it, and has shown no proclivity to sue for peace.

richard mcenroe said...

Just because Obama's fingers burst into flames at the touch of an American flag is no reason for Donald Trump to avoid a patriotic event.

narciso said...

Hey beasts, how have you been it may ultimately come to that, I pray that it doesn't because we dont know who would ultimately prevail who would intervene.

Leland said...

the hysterical Right who fantasize about killing their fellow citizens in a civil war

Tell that to the two Republican state senators killed in the past two days, one in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma. One way the calm things down is to quit claiming the other side is murderous as they watch their political leaders get shot at during softball practice, killed in their homes, or portrayed in plays and comedy to be cut apart. "Oh, but Sarah Palin called for targeting..." is getting old.

Fen said...

I don't see what all the fuss is about. Trump is going to an event the Democrats don't celebrate anyway. I predict a murder of "patriarchal colonizer" op-eds are currently being drafted all across Blue City-State America.

Kinda ironic how the Left wont let us Normals celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day and 4th of July in peace. And then complain about Trump "hijacking" one of them.

Where is the Civility Bullshit Tag?

Chuck said...

I never thought about exactly what other Presidents did on the Fourth. One reason to think about what Trump does is based on experience; that almost everything he does that isn’t carefully and rigorously scripted for him is turned into something that is tasteless, ugly, self-aggrandizing, nationally embarrassing, stupid or some combination of all of them. That is based on years of experience with Trump as celebrity, candidate and POTUS.

Gahrie said...

A socio-cultural-economic-political divorce is necessary.

Perhaps. But the fight is between the Democratically controlled cities and everyone else surrounding them. How do you separate them? Wall off the cities?

Fen said...

the hysterical Right who fantasize about killing their fellow citizens in a civil war

What? No. We've been too busy rounding up all the gays for the labor camps.

SMH. Two different movies.

And it's called a Warning Order (SMEAC), not a fantasy.

Situation
Mission
Execution
Administration and Logistics
Command and control

Spoiler: it will start with food riots in the Blue City States. Followed by fuel and water shortages. Followed by a weekend BBQ all across the Heartland as we celebrate the salvation of the Republic. Two weeks tops. Bring your own popcorn.

Beasts of England said...

I'm all good, narciso - how are you?

Who might intervene is the real question, considering what would be at stake...

Fen said...

Chuck: something that is tasteless, ugly, self-aggrandizing, nationally embarrassing, stupid or some combination of all of them.

Such a howler. What's ironic is that your statement applies to Trump's critics. Like the Bulwark and you.

Can someone post Chuck's confession that he is only here to deliberately misrepresent and demonize Trump at the expense of his own intellectual integrity? I misplaced my copy of Chuck's Degradation. Thanks!

Fen said...

narciso: civil war, you dont want to go anywhere near it, it is the sum of all fears, something to be dreaded

Shucks. Alright. You know I love you and you're one of the calm voices of reason around here, so okay - lets go over and see if we can reason with them.

todd galle said...

Actions - Reactions - Consequences. The Left keeps pushing and pushing. Given their geographic isolation in urban areas for the most part, how will they feed themselves. Remember that food doesn't grow in grocery stores, and is not delivered by 'woke' semi drivers. It doesn't have to come to an all out civil war, our urban betters will be killing themselves for the last organic carrot bunch in 3 days time.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"I can be done in an appropriate scale and tone."

Well so can Ted DiBiasi Jr..

Birkel said...

Anybody seen that lying, racist, sexist guy who threatened Greta Van Sustern's tit?
I remember he was a fopdoodle.

buwaya said...

My pet peeve is Columbus Day. Everyone is being forced to hate Columbus day.

Of all American secular holidays (Christmas is a religious holiday, however perverted), it marks a moment of the greatest global-historical significance. The most important event in all the world, in the last 500 years, marking the beginning of the most most significant changes to human culture in millennia.

These are all arbitrary moments one can reasonably argue, x event would certainly have happened the next day or five years later, whatever, but it did happen, it had to happen, and as a cultural ritual we are called on to recall it. The substance of culture is history, after all.

And moreover it is also a Spanish holiday!

Narayanan said...

Washington D.C., historically, was supposed to be an accommodation.

How many know it was to prevent slaves running away : it was easier in Philadelphia and congress critters from South had to forego their comfies.

todd galle said...

Fen-
Your post went up while I was attempting to type, but I believe you are correct. Given the right pressure though, I think 2 weeks is optimistic. Most of the Police and Fire Dept's will desert to secure their suburban homes and families. Think LA during the riots. How many Dem. Governors will call out the Guard to secure cities and Interstates? How many Guardsmen would respond? I'd like to forgive them for they know now what they do, but increasingly, I think they do know. That I can't forgive or forget.

Jim at said...

I never thought - Chuck
Period. Strike the remainder.

todd galle said...

buwaya -
Never took you for a Puritan re: Xmas. Do you have a Cromwellian streak?

Bay Area Guy said...

Small picture:

It's June 2019, but leftists and #neverTrumpers are still butthurt over the 2016 election results. Need.to.get.over.it.

Big picture:

The American experiment of a Constitutional Republic, founded on free markets, the English language, and Judeo-Christian values is going strong. It's worthy of celebrating July 4, independent of who temporarily sits in the White House.

Jim at said...

But the fight is between the Democratically controlled cities and everyone else surrounding them. How do you separate them? Wall off the cities?

Yep. Red counties lay siege to the blue ones.
And those behind enemy lines engage in guerilla tactics.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Because of this ongoing social war there is no hope for unity in what once was a unifying occasion."

Because you like to think (it) so don't make it so.

We are stronger, us Americans, than you can possibly conceive of. All those books you read lead you to the wrong place.

Choices aren't: Proven dream-fulfillers and liars about fulfilling dreams.

They are Heilian bad luck or what used to be America. I don't disagree we are on a downslope but refuse your defeatist idiocy any normal American would be ashamed of.

My question as always is: Okay so what should America be that we aren't and why hasn't any other society done anything over the last 250 years to begin a logical comparison?

China is shit and they know it, their GDP is a shit number and they know it, but of course after a few more decades of Progs dictating America commit suicide so Tom Steyer feels worthy, they could, in the future, start to be a threat to our ability to defend ourselves, which isn't the same as imposing American will which has been, although looking at Japan and Germany would tend the wise to conclude otherwise, the current trend foreign-policy-wise.

Fuck it this is just rhetorical, and why wouldn't it be? How could it be not? I don't wanna meet you fucks. What if your disdain of my 1998 Mercury shines through?

jeremyabrams said...

The fireworks follow Jefferson's suggestion, shortly before his death, that the Fourth be celebrated with "illuminations." They have nothing to do with war, and everything to do with freedom, and a republic.

BudBrown said...

I'm sure the SS agents are looking forward to the POTUS hanging around a bunch of young firecracker throwing drunk guys. Hope the agents did well on the stress test.

Guildofcannonballs said...

My argument, and I just kinda copied it from gleaming things beyond my understanding, is that dark matter is composed of things superior to what we know, ergo if what we don't know can be quantified it would be quantified as larger than what we know. Now.

And forever is my position. Like Kid Rock sang, only God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DQup4hd1_o

Earnest Prole said...

I’ve mentioned it before, but once again with feeling: I divide my time between the bluest of blue and reddest of red America, and in neither place have I ever heard an actual human being express a hint of desire to murder their fellow citizens over political disagreement. With the exception of the extremely rare psychotic (and what nation of 300+ million doesn’t have a few?) it appears to be solely the fantasy of brave online typists.

Chuck said...

Blogger Birkel said...
Anybody seen that lying, racist, sexist guy who threatened Greta Van Sustern's tit?
I remember he was a fopdoodle.


Haha. You worthless shit head.

You can’t point these readers — with a hyperlink— to a single “lie” on my part.

The claim that I am a “racist” is confined to one comment from me where, in the process of my APPROVING of Trump’s selection of Gina Haspel at CIA, I ridiculed TRUMP by referring to his abortive pick of “Dr. Ricky Bobby” to head the VA, and Dr. Ben Carson as Secretary of “the Department of Black People.” As an insult to Trump. I’ve met Dr. Carson. I like Dr. Carson. I never cared for his being appointed to a cabinet position for which he had few qualifications.

“Sexist” seems to be new allegation against me that you have freshly invented. Good luck with that.

And the allegation that I threatened “titty twisting” Greta van Susteren (remember her?!?) was the pure invention of commenter “Full Moon.” As admitted by “Full Moon.”

I think that covers it. But there will be a quiz on Monday morning so be ready.

Now go fuck yourself.

rcocean said...

"Lenin and Trotsky are our fellow Russians, how can we make war upon them? We should be reaching out, and reconciling" - Dumbshit Russian "Conservative" 1917.

Why can't Chiang Kai-shek and Mao, just get along. Aren't they both Chinese - and want what's good for China?" Dumbshit Chinese "Conservative" 1948.

Fen said...

Todd: I'd like to forgive them for they know now what they do, but increasingly, I think they do know. That I can't forgive or forget.

I hear ya. We keep treating the Left as if they are like us but reversed, just the flip side of the same coin. I have to keep reminding myself they are not. So I study the history of Marxism and Socialism to understand what they are capable of.

I once held the belief that even the Nazi should be allowed to organize and march through America's streets. Principles. Americans will see them for what they are, and if they don't? Well, Americans have the right to make even stupid choices. But my study of Marxism has taught me how naive I was. Marxism is a virus we've had since the 1960s, a virus that keeps coming back again and again and again, weakening us more each time. They will eventually enslave and destroy us unless we exterminate them.

Henry said...

So much fluoride in the water.

Fen said...

Chuck: Now go fuck yourself.

The Republic may be going down the tubes but Chuckie Ahab will get that Great Orange Whale!

Here are his mentors at the Buklwark, giving their "principled" stand on why Steven Crowder doesn't deserve Freedom of Speech. Remember this when dealing with Chuck:

Bulwark: Just Because You CAN Defend Steven Crowder Doesn’t Mean You HAVE To
It's easy to stick up for someone’s right to say something, anything. But free speech is about more than owning the libs.


Warning, the following link goes to a "conservative" Cuck Shed
https://thebulwark.com/just-because-you-can-defend-steven-crowder-doesnt-mean-you-have-to/

Big Mike said...

The claim that I am a “racist” is confined to one comment from me where, in the process of my APPROVING of Trump’s selection of Gina Haspel at CIA, I ridiculed TRUMP by referring to his abortive pick of “Dr. Ricky Bobby” to head the VA, and Dr. Ben Carson as Secretary of “the Department of Black People.”

@Chuck, like that’s a forgiveable remark??? Plus there’s your dislike of the fact — FACT!!! — that Trump’s economic policies have led to lower unemployment and generally higher wages for blacks and Hispanics.

Chuck said...

I saw that front-paged column about Steven Crowder at The Bukwark. Since you hate The Bulwark and I love it, I expect I saw the column before you did.

I just never knew who Steven Crowder was.

Chuck said...


@Chuck, like that’s a forgiveable remark??? Plus there’s your dislike of the fact — FACT!!! — that Trump’s economic policies have led to lower unemployment and generally higher wages for blacks and Hispanics.


Oh, and which comment of mine gives you license to make that claim?

That’s not just baseless; it’s a bizarre presumption even if you had a shred of evidence. Congrats on showing more convincingly than I could, how totally baseless the “racist” charge is when aimed at me.

tim in vermont said...

how totally baseless the “racist” charge is when aimed at me.

And if anybody knows about baseless charges of racism, it’s you Chuck, they are kind of a minor speciality of yours.

Fen said...

Ernest: I ever heard an actual human being express a hint of desire-

BTW, what's with the Red Star as your icon? Reminds me of a uniform Che Guevara wore. Or maybe the Chinese military

Would you please explain why you use it? I've always been curious about it and now seems like a good time to ask. You understand - if someone sporting a Nazi Swastika was reassuring Jewish commenters they had nothing to worry about...

Fen said...

Chuck: I just never knew who Steven Crowder was.

"But enough about me, let's talk more about me"

Guildofcannonballs said...

I think American's understand, and nons never will, that this is "the worst" trip we'll ever be on.

The amount that understands how fortunate we are increases by the day sans "education."

"Education" will decrease as it must, we all know that. Even haters.

Ultimately the heckler's veto worked to destroy the platform that gave it minimal influence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md09xy8ffX8

narciso said...

I tell you the bulwark is margarine conservatism, like culture 11, a decade ago, with conor friedersdorf, who went from the atlantic, where he was Andrew Sullivan's protégé, to the Daily Basilisk,


I just warn in the modern era, you see bosnia which was a fairly sophisticated European statelet, you see Beirut the Paris of the Middle East, Damascus, an relatively secular redoubt in a sunni majority country, and it's very bloody,

Big Mike said...

Eight years of that schmuck Obama taught me to ignore what a President says and focus on what they do. That goes triple for what the media try to tell me what to think about what’s going on. Maybe there are times when Trump should have deleted his tweets before sending (well, no “maybe” about it), but his policies have been good for the Great American Middle Class and people who are below the Middle Class on the economic ladder but who are willing to work for a living. And it is good to have a Republican President who fights back against the sort of politician who wants to limit people’s ability to start a new business or grow one, or generally better their lives.

buwaya said...

"I divide my time between the bluest of blue and reddest of red America, and in neither place have I ever heard an actual human being express a hint of desire to murder their fellow citizens over political disagreement. "

That's not usually how it works. The open expressions of desire for violence are always in the far extremes, the weird fringes, or if you want to be nice, the revolutionary vanguard.

Lets take a real example of how countries get to a state of civil war, a modern one. Post-colonial Ceylon/Sri Lanka elected a Sinhalese-Nationalist-Socialist government. The other minorities, mainly the Tamils, were mostly locked out of power as the government defined legitimacy as Sinhalese-Socialist.

Over time factions in the ruling party bid each other up with ever more radical policies, prefering Sinhalese for official positions, nationalizing industries, nationalizing education, raising taxes and bureaucratizing all they could (with power allocated as one would expect). And they persecuted the Tamils, economically, linguistically, culturally.

Eventually some Tamils snapped, a radical extreme faction began terrorist acts. The government reacted with more persecution, and the public with mob violence, and so it went.

These things are caused by broad trends, extensive propaganda, general cultural climate, and these cause or exacerbate mutual alienation. This is the accumulation of fuel and tinder. The spark of violence comes from some extreme, seemingly irrelevant edge.

Big Mike said...

Oh, and which comment of mine gives you license to make that claim?

It’s a charge I have thrown at you numerous times before, and one you have never bothered to even try to refute until now, when you’re backed into a corner. You try to pretend to be a country club Republican, and you assume casual racism is part of that persona, so you put on the racism schtick.

Big Mike said...

In other words, when you voluntarily fit the shoe to your foot, you might as well wear it.

Quaestor said...

Chuck just didn't know Martin Niemöller either.

Fen said...

Life-long Republican has never heard of Louder With Crowder

Life-long Republican is foggy at the mention of "Ronald Reagan". Who?

Life-long Republican hangs out with Lefty Dems and parrots their talking points.

Life-long Republican is a Moby, a poser fraud who's really just a Democrat that realized he can't attack the Right with any credibility if he posts as a Democrat. But his intellectual dishonesty follows him to his newest personae anyway.

Tell us why Steven Crowder doesn't deserve to be defended, oh Lifelong Republican:

"This was a highly calculated premeditated attempt to censor conservatives on YouTube and other social media which are, by the way, the largest public squares in the entire world. Certainly, in the country but in the entire world as well. This was a highly calculated attempt by a highly calculating political operative named Carlos Maza to sensor conservatives from the public square."



narciso said...

and around the 10 year mark, in that insurgency, the tamils purged the moslems out of area like baticloa (sic) that's the new wrinkle, in Lebanon, it was the maronites who held most of the power, except for nabi Berri who was the shia speaker of the amal movement, the Palestinian arrival upset that balance, because of the arrangement that arab had with the squirrel franjieh, as he's known in agents of influence, this last faction, brought Israel into the picture, and iran fresh from their revolution, returned the Palestinians favor for training the militiamen, like Mustafa chamran, to sponsor Hezbollah,

Chuck said...

Blogger Fen said...
Chuck: I just never knew who Steven Crowder was.

"But enough about me, let's talk more about me"


You losers are obsessed with me. To my dismay as well as Althouse’s.

buwaya said...

Narciso, you are obviously right. This is extremely dangerous.

The only way out of it is for both sides to put down their rhetorical-social weapons.

The problem with that is that one side owns the bulk of these weapons, the mass media, the universities, K-12, F1000 management, their advertising and HR, and of course they dominate the corporate culture of the internet communications monopolies. It really doesn't matter if the "right" stands down, as their own media and institutional infrastructure is a pale reaction to what the "left" owns.

One side has to stand down and stop piling fuel. But they won't.

rcocean said...

The never-trumpers at "The Bulwark" AND elsewhere have shown themselves for about the 100th time in a row to be indistinguishable from the totalitarian Left.

When all these guys, Nevertrumpers like Kristol, Sykes, Glenn Beck, George will, French, Goldberg, Rubin, Brooks, etc. support ANYONE to their right, they prove what all the rest of us thought. They aren't Conservatives, they're Liberals who like wars and low taxes on the rich. That's their "Conservatism". They aren't on OUR TEAM, they're on the other team. They're the Right-side of the Left-wing and their job is to disrupt, police, and purge any REAL Conservative who's too uppity or dangerous.

It like clownish "severely conservative" Mitt Romney. This shithead is only "Conservative" when he runs in a Republican primary. After that, he's a Left-winger who dislikes taxes on Rich guys and supports the Chamber of Commerce. That is Mitt's Conservatism. And hey, just "Build the dang fence"

rcocean said...

Life long Republican = Code-word for Liberal playing the dumb conservatives.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Germs could be our worst deadly foe or our great asset. Germs.


Germany is both good and bad.

Also.

narciso said...

my family is here, because there was an insurgency loosely defined, that arose on grievance based on fulfilling an impossible ideal, like the 1940 constitution, at the time of the beginning in 1956, it was a very minority point of view, but they had the support of the flag ship newspaper of it's former colonial master, and video affiliates, they waged a war that was represented as nobel, and the response was painted as draconian, they ultimately prevailed and we know how that story ended, the mid credit scene, after was interesting it inspired imitations but also a brutal repression in nearby countries, among the military and the police, what are colloquially known as death squads,

Guildofcannonballs said...

those fucking yaps, could be

Earnest Prole said...

BTW, what's with the Red Star as your icon?

I use it to troll lefties, though it seems to have the added bonus of bugging the humorless of any persuasion.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Sometimes I feel like Althouse is the beach I walk upon, and the comments are that which hold me away from the surf.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Germany was a problem when the US military was smaller than Czechoslovakia's. Today, when they can't even keep their planes flying, not so much: The 17th Largest Army In The World.

Germs, however, are still with us.

buwaya said...

If the Bulwark were honestly conservative and had a genuine sense of perspective they would be writing 100,000 words against F1000 management, notably Google, and all your major universities, for every one against Crowder.

The disparities of power and influence and offenses against caste-comity are on that scale.

Earnest Prole said...

clownish "severely conservative" Mitt Romney. This shithead is only "Conservative" when he runs in a Republican primary.

Mitt Romney defined.

Humperdink said...

Fen requested: "Can someone post Chuck's confession that he is only here to deliberately misrepresent and demonize Trump at the expense of his own intellectual integrity?"

Fen, if your request has not been filled, here it is:

Chuck said...
"I am afraid you are mistaking me for someone who has an interest in fair treatment of Donald Trump. I'm not your guy. I am interested in smearing him, hurting him and prejudicing people against him."

Gahrie said...

You losers are obsessed with me.

Almost as much as you are obsessed with Trump...and for pretty much the same reasons.

Guildofcannonballs said...

83-17. Seriously?

Sitshenarious sithyeouseios situeiosuonanarioesus situenarious situenariousituenal

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/premium/denver-election-voters-reject-measures-on-homeless-camping-magic-mushrooms/article_c3679fea-705d-11e9-9451-13734ebebc47.html

Guildofcannonballs said...

I went all the way back to Althouse last week: let me assure you I didn't feel good. Or even okay.

Narr said...

Handel wrote his Music for the Royal Fireworks to celebrate a peace treaty. People like fireworks.

I thought "Earnest Prole" was t-i-c and hoped the Red Star was too.

No-body who has any sense wants a civil war, or anything like one, but severe social unrest and widespread mass violence could easily break out in many places, and in fact I think we're overdue. If the economy hadn't picked up, we'd be there now.

Oh, just a short time ago on CSpan, a questioner was asking the young lady historian of the rightwing paramilitary movement what can be done to counter all that extremism, given that
(as near a quote as I can):

This sovereign nation was invaded by white people.

Narr
Gentrification goes way back, it seems

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/premium/denver-election-voters-reject-measures-on-homeless-camping-magic-mushrooms/article_c3679fea-705d-11e9-9451-13734ebebc47.html

Unable to be visionary, like me, I applaud those doing the things that I can only consider "amazing" or not in hindsight.

I've appreciated both Ritno and And-did Satan-sades.

Fen said...

Humperdink: Fen, if your request has not been filled, here it is:

Chuck said: "I am afraid you are mistaking me for someone who has an interest in fair treatment of Donald Trump. I'm not your guy. I am interested in smearing him, hurting him and prejudicing people against him."


Ah yes, thank you. I feel it important that our gentle lurkers be reminded of this whenever Chuck poses his "right-wing" criticism of the President of the United States.

Thanks!

Fen said...

Ernest: I use it to troll lefties,

Ok cool. I was worried you were one of those Che groupies.

narciso said...

where was this, narr, el Salvador, who actually has a kind of a center right wing regime, even the fellow used to be with the ex guerilla party, or maybe it was South Africa, which is screwed 30 ways from Sunday,

Fen said...

Chuck: You losers are obsessed with me. To my dismay as well as Althouse’s.

And yet you hijack a thread about hijacking the 4th of July.

You are obviously in need of a mirror.

I recommend the Althouse-Amazon Portal for all your self-reflection needs.

JackWayne said...

I think that “righties”!who think that a Civil War will be a walk in the park should consider the fact that most of them acknowledge lefties as the quintessential mass murderers. They are very good at it. It’s not a given that they will lose. Their best trick is that they get regular folks to agree to their suicide and/or murder. Willingly and mostly without complaint. Venezuela is a cautionary tale for several reasons.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I tend to get this hateful liberal Michelle confused with the other hateful liberal Michelle Goldberg who Althouse also links to occasionally.

narciso said...

Indeed, but Venezuela was the boiling frog with seasoning, now Chavez and cabello and probably arias, (who is a regime opponent) were all members of red flag, the guerilla group of the 70s and early 80s,) now there was at least a generation of Venezuelan youth, that were subject to propaganda by the castro regime, through their educational outreach, as well as medical missionaries,

Birkel said...

You know which dog was hit by which one yelps.

Game. Set. Match.

Fare thee well Smear Merchant Chuck, fopdoodle extraordinaire.

narciso said...

yes cottle is less feral, but I gave an example from 2013, when she was at the daily basilisk, where she did the full Donald Sutherland alien shreak from body snatchers, we can accept people of landreu with their stun sticks,

Fen said...

who think that a Civil War will be a walk in the park

Oh agreed. I learned that from Iraq. We liberated it over a few days, but occupying and rebuilding it took years. We could have done it if America had given us another decade, but American civilian patience is measured in micro-seconds.

So I'm not going to invoke Murphy by claiming it will be a walk in the park, but if you look at the Blue City-State structure you can see just how precarious it is. A big glass house with cracks already formed over all the windows. One stone...

Fen said...

buwaya: That's not usually how it works. The open expressions of desire for violence are always in the far extremes, the weird fringes, or if you want to be nice, the revolutionary vanguard.

Lets take a real example of how countries get to a state of civil war, a modern one. Post-colonial Ceylon/Sri Lanka elected a Sinhalese-Nationalist-Socialist government. The other minorities, mainly the Tamils, were mostly locked out of power as the government defined legitimacy as Sinhalese-Socialist.


Exactly, The atrocities of history have always been carried out by a minority of radicals in the driver's seat. as Brigitte Gabriel so aptly put: "the peaceful majority is irrelevant."

So the question is: what are "normal" Democrats doing to reign in their marxist radicals? So far, I have seen nothing. They appear to silently support what is being done in the name of the Democrat party. And that's what will lead to this civil cold war turning hot. Democrats enabling the very forces we will react violently to.

They asked for this. By their inaction.

Birkel said...

A train derailment or three plus a few torched big rigs under/on overpasses and the cities are isolated.
Sure a lot of Democrats live outside the cities but generally not the kind who could be whipped into a frenzy.

JackWayne said...

My real gripe is that we don’t behave as Constitutionalists. We didn’t in 1861 and we are not now. We throw the words “Constitutional Crisis” around a lot but there is no real crisis, except a failure to follow the rules BEFORE we go to war. Hamilton and Madison spelled the process out in the Federalist Papers: First, we should look to the constitutional methods provided to fix a problem. THEN, if that doesn’t work, we should form Committees of Correspondence and get ready for the States to use force on the federal government. Granted, Madison wrote a shitty process of amendments and/or Conventions but it’s what we have. It’s what we should use. And we’re not. In 1861, Congress, particularly the Senate, had shown they were constitutionally deadlocked over slavery. People had been lulled to sleep by the previous fixes to the Constitution which were all handled by Congress. No one gave any thought to a Convention. We got a War. It’s likely that we would have had war anyway, but if you don’t follow the Constitution then WHATEVER the result is invalid. No one of any stature is arguing for a Convention today so it’s likely we will get war. We are the ultimate hypocrites and self-deceivers: we don’t truly believe in constitutionalism.

Gunner said...

The Times cares deeply about preserving our sacred traditions of women marrying women and men being pregnant.

chickelit said...

Guildofcannonballs said...Germs could be our worst deadly foe or our great asset. Germs.
Germany is both good and bad. Also.


Things got better with Koch.

narciso said...

And shes a maronite Christian whose family was caught in the civil war,

buwaya said...

It’s not the radicals that are the problem. You will always have radicals and they will sometimes be deadly.
They will strike sparks, but this is futile without fuel to ignite. Indeed there is a regularity in these radical acts.
The problem comes when fuel is piled thick and dry.
It is the acts and expressions of hegemonic institutions alienating a majority or significant minority that piles the fuel.
This is piled up through arrogance and carelessness for many years.
The rate it accumulates increases asymptotically.

And then at some point some radical strikes a spark. And in reaction the powers that be respond, by starting other fires.

Pianoman said...

You need a new tag: It's Different When Trump Does It

buwaya said...

To be clear, my current assumption is that the initiating spark of political violence will come from some fringe of the right, during a leftist administration, while it is in some mode of cracking down, a reaction to the Trumpian reaction. Political violence matters in context, not on its own.

You missed two likely scenarios so far, an HRC administration and the bureaucratic coup against Trump.
There will be other such scenarios.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Could everyone just calm down?

who is 'everyone', Kemosabe?

Drago said...

Eddie Haskell "republican" and noted racist poster Chuck: "You losers are obsessed with me. To my dismay as well as Althouse’s."

LOL!

This blogs moderators literally directed LLR-leftist and Open Borders/infanticide fanboy Chuck to cease posting here.

He refused.

But he is very very very "concerned, that others may not be following Althouse's wishes here at Althouseblog!

Discuss.

Drago said...

I wonder if Charlie Sykes of the leftist webzine The Bulwark is once again in arrears on child support payments and threatening his spouse while engaging in adulturous affairs?

Guildofcannonballs said...

sometim3s m3n

Guildofcannonballs said...

Limited you may feel a "dog didn't bark" vibe if you are an idiot.

All progs alwayes must feel differntly otherwise lack of identity.

So, as per usula, you tale tje and.

So wha5 iw Id3ni5y.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Justice Thomas.

Guildofcannonballs said...

One of the craziest realities:

readering said...

In school we were supposed to do intensive study of a portion of PL but our teacher (who merited a full obit in the Guardian) decided on the the Waste Land instead. In spite of reading the entire poem at first class of the year without warning and getting a reaction of silent incredulity and snickering from set of pupils who had never heard of it (me included).

Guildofcannonballs said...

Asummerfet 2020

gilbar said...

Chuck said...
I never thought about exactly what other Presidents did on the Fourth
...
But he's SURE that what Trump did was beyond the pale, and unprecedented

You can Always Tell when our Life Long Liberal has painted himself in a corner;
on account of because he breaks out his potty mouth.

Why IS that Chuck? Why DO you feel obligated to break out your potty mouth when painted in a corner?

readering said...

Sorry linked my comment to wrong post somehow!

Earnest Prole said...

I’m old enough to remember when being excitable was not just unmanly but positively little-girly.

Gk1 said...

What is hilarious is the press would hit trump if he didn't celebrate the 4th somehow that's how stale and predictable all of their trump coverage is at this point. How many different ways can you dress up "Orange Man bad!' and still get clicks or sell news papers? I am actually beginning to feel sorry for them at this point. Even they are bored to tears like Mick Jagger shaking his 75 year old saggy ass and singing "Satisfaction" on stage. That has to be some special hell.

Michael K said...

my current assumption is that the initiating spark of political violence will come from some fringe of the right, during a leftist administration, while it is in some mode of cracking down,

I doubt that the left will be in commend on a national basis anytime soon.

There are a few possibilities on a narrower basis, though. I could see California experiencing violence.

The stupidity is pretty amazing. My daughter-in-law was automatically registered for a "mail-in" ballot when she renewed her CA drivers' license. Her ballot did not appear and, when she went to the polling place, she was challenged that she had already gotten her ballot. Finally, she was allowed to submit a "provisional ballot." She doubts her vote was counted.

Michael K said...

In case anyone was wondering what may be driving the Trump hate on both sides of the aisle, it's all about the Benjamins.

The Chinese government this past week summoned major tech companies including Microsoft and Dell from the United States and Samsung of South Korea, to warn that they could face dire consequences if they cooperate with the Trump administration’s ban on sales of key American technology to Chinese companies, according to people familiar with the meetings.


Held on Tuesday and Wednesday, the meetings came soon after Beijing’s announcement that it was assembling a list of “unreliable” companies and individuals.

[…] The meetings this week were led by China’s central economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, and attended by representatives from its Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, who addressed their remarks to a broad range of companies that export goods to China, according to the two people familiar with the gatherings.

[…] More broadly, the warnings also seemed to be an attempt to forestall a fast breakup of the sophisticated supply chains that connect China’s economy to the rest of the world. Production of a vast array of electronic components and chemicals, along with the assembly of electronic products, makes the country a cornerstone of the operations of many of the world’s largest multinational companies.


Amash is exhibit #1.

Keep an eye-out for those who raise the strongest objections toward the Trump administration confronting China; there’s almost a guarantee the scale of opposition will be in direct alignment to their financial interests in Beijing.

Guildofcannonballs said...



"I kinda like the streets of Baltimore."

-Idiot Cracker Parsons.

Circa not now.

rcocean said...

Mitt Romney defined.

Hilarious.

Gk1 said...

The idea there would be a civil war here is risible. My favorite tweeter exchange was some batshit crazy liberal calling for all of those that voted for Trump need to go to war first to thin the herd. To which someone responded "Ya'll better hope or that war is gonna be fought by a bunch of fuckin fruit cakes totin bongs and dildos"

narciso said...

This approach was before occupy got underway:

http://stuartarchercohen.com/books-old/army-of-the-republic-old/

A sort of iron heel for the 21st century

Francisco D said...

almost everything he does that isn’t carefully and rigorously scripted for him is turned into something that is tasteless, ugly, self-aggrandizing,

Chuckles,

You really need to take your AA sponsors advice: Get Treatment.

The projection is well beyond Inga levels.

Sober up first, Pencil Dick.

GRW3 said...

They just wish he would be political. What they are afraid of is that he will speak to American exceptionalism and our great collective history. He will speak about how we have overcome adversity to persevere. He won’t apologize for our “deficiencies”. He will strive to make us feel better about ourselves and our country. All things they hate.

wwww said...

"Could everyone just calm down?"

Most people are calm, enjoying the summer, lake visits, BBQs, kid birthday parties. I guarantee you many, many more people bought birthday presents for parties this weekend then read that article.

That dinosaur article posted a few weeks ago, from the Atlantic? Was fantastic and fun. We have a certain amount of time on this earth; no point in reading annoying, subpar newspaper columns.

Paul said...

1951? So? About time the President does join in the celebration!!!

Nichevo said...


Earnest Prole said...
BTW, what's with the Red Star as your icon?

I use it to troll lefties, though it seems to have the added bonus of bugging the humorless of any persuasion.

6/8/19, 4:48 PM


Trolling? Bugging? And you're not part of the problem?

DeepRunner said...

What do you expect for someone who wrote for The Post, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, and Washington Monthly? Her NYT editoral bio says she grew up in the Deep South ("Red State to the core"), as if to give her some bona fides, but she just is a member of the journalistic Deep State.

Francisco D said...

You losers are obsessed with me. To my dismay as well as Althouse’s.

Chuckles,

You seem even more self obsessed after several martinis.

Enjoy yourself, but understand that nobody cares. You are just a fool to be mocked here.

Milwaukie guy said...

My Civil War scenario has the Democrat Socialists in power, stifling the durable goods economy, packing the Supreme Court, enacting "green" regulations that further disadvantage rural areas, chasing conservatives out of the public square, etc., and then the bastids decide to go all Australia on the black rifles. Red counties say come and take them.

Earnest Prole said...

Trolling? Bugging? And you're not part of the problem?

Sorry, I was born this way.

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