Althouse: At the Ugly Flower Café...

July 22, 2019

At the Ugly Flower Café...

... you do you.

197 comments:

Fen said...: I'm in Dallas for a family funeral. Amazing how everyone falls back into the annoying habits of childhood.

I'm sitting here eating a plain chicken sandwich.

Because I didn't want to go 11 rounds over whether I wanted dill pickle, sliced or cubed? 3 or 4 onions? would you prefer it toasted? If so, light medium or burnt? We can put the lettuce on the side if you want, just remember to put it back on the fridge in THIS particular bin, not the other bin. Oh are you sure you don't want lettuce? It's no trouble really. What about cheese? American or swiss? Do you want the cheese to go on top? Or would you rather have it under the chicken? And on and on and on and on.

Amazing how they can turn such simple acts into a "thing"

I don't even want this chicken sandwich. I only agreed to it so they would quit bugging me about making me something to eat. Sigh.; 7/22/19, 12:46 PM
Fen said...: Are you sure you're fine with just that bottled water? Because we have coke and diet coke. Or pepsi if you prefer. I can make you some coffee too, no trouble. Normal or decaf?

(and if you bite on the cola... another 10 mins on the what type of glass you would like it in, followed by another 12 decisions to make about what kind of ice, how many ice cubes, would you prefer the cola poured over the ice or should I just drop the ice in?)

So this bottle of water is the safest course to take.

Please someone just shoot me now.; 7/22/19, 12:52 PM
J. Farmer said...: First world problems; 7/22/19, 12:59 PM
tcrosse said...: Shoulda gone to Chick-fil-a.; 7/22/19, 1:00 PM
'TreHammer said...: What am I missing here?; 7/22/19, 1:02 PM
Nonapod said...: didn't want to go 11 rounds over whether I wanted dill pickle, sliced or cubed? 3 or 4 onions? would you prefer it toasted? If so, light medium or burnt? We can put the lettuce on the side if you want, just remember to put it back on the fridge in THIS particular bin, not the other bin. Oh are you sure you don't want lettuce? It's no trouble really. What about cheese? American or swiss? Do you want the cheese to go on top? Or would you rather have it under the chicken? And on and on and on and on.

If someone's hosting a meal for a somewhat impromptu family get-together, the best solution is to have people serve themselves. You put out the fixings for a sandwiches and sides or whatever and let people put together their own meal buffet style. It's really much more efficient and keeps keeps people happy.; 7/22/19, 1:07 PM
Fen said...: oh and one more thing - sorry to interrupt your reading again - I know you said you never drink cola but just in case you change your mind, I brought in a case from the garage. Now, there isn't enough room in the fridge for all the Cola You Don't Drink, so I'm putting 2 or 3 in to get them cold. Just remember to swap in one of the warm ones from the case if you take a cold one from the fridge. I put the case over here by the trash can. Here, get up a minute so I can walk you over to the where I put the case of Cola You'll Never Drink, just in case you change your mind and want a cold cola.

And are you sure you don't want something else on that chicken sandwich? Maybe some ketchup or mustard or mayo? Tell you what, I'll just put all three out here in case you change your mind. And I found some Provolone Cheese because you said you didn't want the American or Swiss. Would you like some Provolone Cheese to go with that sandwich?

AAAAAAGGGH!; 7/22/19, 1:09 PM
Fen said...: "If someone's hosting a meal for a somewhat impromptu family get-together"

Ah. Normal people. That must be nice.

Can I get you a cola? :); 7/22/19, 1:10 PM
narayanan said...: Fen said...

I'm in Dallas for a family funeral. Amazing how everyone falls back into the annoying habits of childhood.

I'm sitting here eating a plain chicken sandwich.

Because I didn't want to go 11 rounds over whether I wanted dill pickle, sliced or cubed? 3 or 4 onions? would you prefer it toasted? If so, light medium or burnt? We can put the lettuce on the side if you want, just remember to put it back on the fridge in THIS particular bin, not the other bin. Oh are you sure you don't want lettuce? It's no trouble really. What about cheese? American or swiss? Do you want the cheese to go on top? Or would you rather have it under the chicken? And on and on and on and on.

Amazing how they can turn such simple acts into a "thing"

I don't even want this chicken sandwich. I only agreed to it so they would quit bugging me about making me something to eat. Sigh.

7/22/19, 12:46 PM
Blogger Fen said...

Are you sure you're fine with just that bottled water? Because we have coke and diet coke. Or pepsi if you prefer. I can make you some coffee too, no trouble. Normal or decaf?

(and if you bite on the cola... another 10 mins on the what type of glass you would like it in, followed by another 12 decisions to make about what kind of ice, how many ice cubes, would you prefer the cola poured over the ice or should I just drop the ice in?)

So this bottle of water is the safest course to take.

Please someone just shoot me now.
--------------------

THIS would make a great eulogy?! ACT; 7/22/19, 1:11 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Ugly? That's so beauti-floranormative. Every flower should be proud of her stamen.; 7/22/19, 1:11 PM
Fen said...: "First world problems"

Drip drip drip.

I'm maintaining discipline, playing my role of eldest son to comfort my mother, but

Drip drip drip...; 7/22/19, 1:12 PM
Howard said...: All flowers are beautiful.; 7/22/19, 1:12 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Fen

like that scene from 5 Easy Pieces?; 7/22/19, 1:15 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: https://www.bing.com/search?q=5+easy+pieces+diner+scene&qs=AS&pq=5+easy+pieces+diner&sc=2-19&cvid=3F4D9FCF42D74A1F88564A20A6EC34A7&FORM=QBLH&sp=1; 7/22/19, 1:21 PM
tim maguire said...: Here's one for the annals of quality jurisprudence. Court in Canada redraws a couple's will because it didn't like their motivations for how they divided their estate.; 7/22/19, 1:21 PM
Fen said...: "like that scene from 5 Easy Pieces?"

YES! I googled it. Nice to know I'm not alone in this.

But his/my next scene is at the Overlook Hotel, typewriter:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.; 7/22/19, 1:23 PM
stevew said...: What’s ugly about it?

I’d put Fen’s travails in the annoyance category and am totally sympathetic. They ask what you want given the available options and then pick an argument over your choices.

Hang in there, it will be over soon.; 7/22/19, 1:28 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Fen

hang in there. Duty calls, but R&R is up ahead, sir; 7/22/19, 1:29 PM
tim maguire said...: Fen, sorry about your father (grandparent? uncle/aunt?). Think of it as a mitzvah. Some people need to keep busy or they'll go nuts. You've done your bit to keep someone from breaking down.; 7/22/19, 1:30 PM
Fen said...: Thanks guys. I just needed to vent.; 7/22/19, 1:32 PM
StephenFearby said...: OK there are two major news stories breaking today, one of considerably more importance than the other.

First comes from the internet tabloid of record, the Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Weiner moves back in with Huma Abedin as he's spotted in a tank top and shorts using a trolley to roll in designer garment bags, a hockey stick and suitcases into his family home after prison stint for sexting 15-year-old girl

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7272985/Anthony-Weiner-moves-Huma-Abedin.html

Second one is a bomb dropped by Paul Sperry only a couple of days before the Left Party's televised Mueller interview.

"Sources tell RealClearInvestigations that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon file a report with evidence indicating that Comey was misleading the president. Even as he repeatedly assured Trump that he was not a target, the former director was secretly trying to build a conspiracy case against the president, while at times acting as an investigative agent.

Two U.S. officials briefed on the inspector general’s investigation of possible FBI misconduct said Comey was essentially “running a covert operation against” the president, starting with a private “defensive briefing” he gave Trump just weeks before his inauguration. They said Horowitz has examined high-level FBI text messages and other communications indicating Comey was actually conducting a “counterintelligence assessment” of Trump during that January 2017 meeting in New York.

In addition to adding notes of his meetings and phone calls with Trump to the official FBI case file, Comey had an agent inside the White House who reported back to FBI headquarters about Trump and his aides, according to other officials familiar with the matter..."

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/07/22/comey_under_scrutiny_for_own_inquiry_and_misleading_trump_119584.html

The "Waiting for Godot" report is now supposed to be coming out in September.

Too far away. But this apparently well-sourced leak about a very important part of the report comes out now, just before the public gets a quaff of Mueller Time on Wednesday.

I'd say the timing is not coincidental.; 7/22/19, 1:39 PM
Clyde said...: "Warren warns of upcoming economic downturn"

Well, if she's elected president, you'd better believe it! Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!; 7/22/19, 1:40 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Fen,

They actually sound like lovely people. I'd appreciate their solicitousness in your shoes. But that's just me.; 7/22/19, 1:45 PM
Fen said...: Something interesting did happen though. Yesterday, after the viewing, the crowd of mostly elderly folk fled back to their hotel rooms. But I didn't think the widower should be left alone after sending his wife (my aunt) off, so I drove him back to his house and sat with him a few hours and talked about life.

He's a immigrant from the Eastern Bloc, got out just as the communists took over. I wanted to be kind to him because my deceased father always made an extra effort to make him feel welcome in the family. And he has some very interesting stories about the communists, first hand accounts of how you had to be careful because every 10th person was an informant, of how political officers in a company had more power than the CEOs. Stuff we all already know for the textbooks, but hearing his firsthand accounts really brought all that to life.

And then there was this moment - like when Clark Kent took his glasses off - when his masked slipped(?) and I was looking at a complete stranger. I haven't seem him in 10 years, but still, I could suddenly see this "jolly immigrant" as a station chief behind some CIA desk, or a Henriech who had moved to Brazil to "raise pigs"

There's a good clip from the mentalist that portrays that moment. It felt good that he trusted me enough to stop playing the fool and show me he was always one of the smartest people in the room.; 7/22/19, 1:48 PM
Fen said...: Hello, I can see you.; 7/22/19, 1:52 PM
Narr said...: Fen, I sympathize with the incessant wellness-checks! (I bet they're careful about separating the waste too.)

Mencken wrote to the effect that it was well at such times to turn to professionals such as morticians and clergy, who do this stuff every day.

Narr
Is a little HLM OK once in a while?; 7/22/19, 1:53 PM
Fernandinande said...: Every flower should be proud of her stamen.

It amuses to imagine that flowers are thinking, "Hey, check out my genitals! Look at 'em!"; 7/22/19, 1:54 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: At the next Dem "debate", I'd like to see Harris go full ghetto and call Biden a "tired, old white man with a small little dick"

That would be good for tv ratings.; 7/22/19, 1:55 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Unknown to Fen, it is his funeral they are hosting.; 7/22/19, 1:57 PM
chuck said...: Send that hermaphrodite daylily back to East Asia.; 7/22/19, 1:58 PM
Drago said...: Howard: "All flowers are beautiful."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwC0QCWhIX0

"They are all perfect"; 7/22/19, 2:02 PM
nob490 said...: Fen -- Sounds like you are visiting my in-laws. Well-meaning people who overthink everything. Their well-meaning-ness can be exhausting.

"What will you have?"
"Just a diet coke."
"He doesn't like diet Coke, get him a Pepsi."
"Coke is fine, really."
"Go get the Pepsi!"
"No, really..."

Condolences for the deceased.; 7/22/19, 2:07 PM
Fen said...: "I'd appreciate their solicitousness in your shoes. But that's just me."

Well that was me, every day, every time I looked in the fridge, till about the age of 10.

Then one day you realize, if you want to be left alone in peace, the answer to "do you want a tomato" is "no thank you", else you will spend 30 mins on the entire food pyramid, a decision tree that involves everything from how you want it cut to everything that could possibly be served alongside it.

Ever had that conversation with someone who just doesn't get that you are trying to get out the door? It's like that, for Eternity. Maybe I need to be forgiven for something to get out of this :); 7/22/19, 2:10 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Yancey Ward said...
Unknown to Fen, it is his funeral they are hosting.

Did you see "Sixth Sense" too ?; 7/22/19, 2:11 PM
Fen said...: "No, really..."

Exactly. You get it.

"Condolences for the deceased."

Thank you. And everyone else too. It's not me, I'm fine. I'm just here to support Mother because she will look after everyone but herself. And being able to commiserate with you guys here has recharged my Patience. Thanks!; 7/22/19, 2:13 PM
Professional lady said...: As a hostess it can be irritating when you ask a guest if they want coffee after dinner. Usually the response is "Are you having some?" or "Only if So and So is having a cup" or "Only if someone else is having some" or "It's too much trouble for you!" Please, please, please, just tell me if you want a cup of coffee or not! I wouldn't ask if I wasn't willing to make it. Just answer the question!!!!!; 7/22/19, 2:18 PM
Fen said...: Oh, the Aunt was a character. Remember Bewitched? The older sister Serena? That's how I remember her.; 7/22/19, 2:19 PM
stevew said...: You know who else is predicting an economic downturn? Friggin’ everyone, that’s who. Economies ebb and flow, always have and always will.

Can Beth tell us when and how severe? I didn’t think so.; 7/22/19, 2:20 PM
Beasts of England said...: 'Then one day you realize, if you want to be left alone in peace, the answer to "do you want a tomato" is "no thank you", else you will spend 30 mins on the entire food pyramid, a decision tree that involves everything from how you want it cut to everything that could possibly be served alongside it.'

Thanks for sharing that, Fen. I won't add any personal details, but I feel you pain...; 7/22/19, 2:21 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: When people are persistent in such situations as Fen discusses, I find it easiest to just say something uncomfortable and awkward.

People tend to find a reason to excuse themselves when you answer the 'Want a Coke?' question with "I'd like to drink whatever twelve-year-old girls like to drink, please. I desperately want to feel pretty."

Like that.

I am Laslo.; 7/22/19, 2:24 PM
Beasts of England said...: 'Warren warns of upcoming economic downturn'

We're in the second year of growth in a nominal five to seven year cycle. Our economic condition will be a major factor in the 2024 races, but any current predictions of doom are negative wishcasting from the left.; 7/22/19, 2:26 PM
narciso said...: A rare interesting basilisk oiece:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-tech-oligarchs-are-going-to-destroy-democracy-unless-we-stop-them?source=facebook&via=desktop&fbclid=IwAR1pzgKRHutSGEeVaS7FVQRJXhJxh5Ry1KbzZze4tZbmVDZn3XP1Th4eP_4; 7/22/19, 2:30 PM
Ralph L said...: It's a day lily. I'm guessing she doesn't like the crinkled, contrasting edges and faded colors, because those are what displease me.; 7/22/19, 2:33 PM
Fen said...: "Thanks for sharing that, Fen. I won't add any personal details, but I feel you pain.."

It's probably my own fault. I've always been a loner, distant and lost in my own thoughts. I've never understood how people can sit and talk for hours and never really say anything. I've tried and it feels plastic and fake.

So this all is probably just their way of trying to engage with me on some level.; 7/22/19, 2:34 PM
Beasts of England said...: 'I've always been a loner, distant and lost in my own thoughts. I've never understood how people can sit and talk for hours and never really say anything.'

It's like reading my biography. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not... 😂; 7/22/19, 2:39 PM
walter said...: Believe the woman; 7/22/19, 2:44 PM
Fen said...: It's like reading my biography. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not

Would you like some dessert? You haven't touched your plain chicken sandwich. We've got some chocolate cake. Or lemon ice box pie. And there's some apple pie leftover from yesterday? I can go out to the freezer and bring in sherbert? Are you sure? What about cookies? There's choc chip and peanut butter? To go with the sherbert ice cream?

:)

Or how about another cola?; 7/22/19, 2:45 PM
Beasts of England said...: lol, Fen!! 👊🏼; 7/22/19, 2:45 PM
traditionalguy said...: I love the flower. Elegant structure and my favorite colors.; 7/22/19, 2:53 PM
narciso said...: The puppet master speaks:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-should-unify-behind-aoc-not-pelosi-11563738915?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR2LfTyHbpaq5WAPoO_PiMF_bp8KVTgRoS-R38c6TuS2oBX76JljcDciJv4; 7/22/19, 2:54 PM
Jaq said...: 'Warren warns of upcoming economic downturn’

Warren prays for economic downturn, I think she meant.; 7/22/19, 2:55 PM
Nice said...: You used the word "depth" as an antonym for "profoundly" in your Bill Clinton post.

I've been trying to translate the word "depth" from English to French, and there's no such word (depth) in French. It's simply "profondeur". Even when you are talking purely measurement, depth-perception, or the exact depth of a swimming pool, in French the word used is still "profondeur".

No depth in French. How sad.; 7/22/19, 2:59 PM
Ralph L said...: My grandmother, aunt (uncle's widow), and brother in law all died on July 14 (different years), as did my former job's first and most lovable office cat, Pancake, so named because he sniffed every vehicle that drove in.

We didn't hear about my aunt's death until too late to get to the elaborate funeral because my blood aunt's dementia was just starting and she forgot to call us. The weird thing is my cousin called the single day not a holiday that our side of the family was together in one room. My brother & family live 700 miles from the rest of us.

The aunt's teenage granddaughter sang at the funeral, which my grandmother thought heartless when it happened at her friend's in the 70's.; 7/22/19, 3:00 PM
narciso said...: Really now:

https://mobile.twitter.com/IrishTimesWorld/status/1151551414251823104; 7/22/19, 3:01 PM
narciso said...: The rest of the story:

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/pence-air-force-two-heroin-bust-1425823; 7/22/19, 3:09 PM
Jaq said...: A Brazilian immigrant living in Canada was forced to close up her small business after refusing to wax the male genitals of transgender LGBT activist Jessica Yaniv, formerly known as Jonathan Yaniv. Citing discrimination based on gender identity, - DailyWire; 7/22/19, 3:12 PM
Francisco D said...: You know who else is predicting an economic downturn? Friggin’ everyone, that’s who. Economies ebb and flow, always have and always will.

Absolutely correct, Steve.

The trick is to figure out when. Since I lack a crystal ball and important political connections, I am stuck riding the tiger.; 7/22/19, 3:17 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: @Fen "It's probably my own fault. I've always been a loner, distant and lost in my own thoughts. I've never understood how people can sit and talk for hours and never really say anything. I've tried and it feels plastic and fake. So this all is probably just their way of trying to engage with me on some level." Bingo.

You really could express your feelings out loud, and not lose control. Or at least make a choice, have a preference!; 7/22/19, 3:18 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: I'll stay on topic:

“I know I’m ugly. I went to a freak show, they let me in for nothing.”

"I’m ugly, I’m tellin’ ya. My proctologist, he stuck his finger in my mouth.”

“I mean ugly. When I was born, after the doctor cut the cord, he hung himself.”

"I knew a girl so ugly that she was known as a two-bagger. That’s when you put a bag over your head in case the bag over her head breaks."

"I knew a girl so ugly, they use her in prisons to cure sex offenders."

"I knew a girl so ugly, I took her to the top of the Empire State building and planes started to attack her."

"I was so ugly, my mother used to feed me with a slingshot!"

"When I was born the doctor took one look at my face, turned me over and said, 'Look, twins!'"

--Rodney Dangerfield; 7/22/19, 3:24 PM
Fen said...: Some 50,000 New Yorkers still without power

"Thousands were without power in parts of Brooklyn on Monday morning as New York dealt with another blackout and intense summer weather.

Con Edison said that about half of the 33,000 customers in Brooklyn saw power restored Monday morning. Scattered outages kept more than 50,000 customers in the dark throughout parts of the city and Westchester County late Sunday."; 7/22/19, 3:34 PM
Fen said...: Fen slips the plain chicken sandwich into an old newspaper, carries both out to car to sneak away to El Fenix.

Damn I've missed Texas. Maryland doesn't understand the concept of Picante Sauce.; 7/22/19, 3:40 PM
AllenS said...: Fen, man up, even Crooked Hillary carries hot sauce --

LINK TEXT

Yah, sure.; 7/22/19, 3:52 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: OMG - that flower is an effete little Becky.; 7/22/19, 4:02 PM
Achilles said...: R.J. Chatt said...
@Fen "It's probably my own fault. I've always been a loner, distant and lost in my own thoughts. I've never understood how people can sit and talk for hours and never really say anything. I've tried and it feels plastic and fake. So this all is probably just their way of trying to engage with me on some level."

Bingo.

You really could express your feelings out loud, and not lose control. Or at least make a choice, have a preference!

This is silly and a total misunderstanding of human social interaction.

People do not want to know what you want. They want you to be like them and do what they are doing.

Telling someone you want to be alone never works out. it is like telling someone you don't want to drink at a party. I have been "allergic" to alcohol all my life. I never say "I don't drink" anymore.

When people ask for specifics I tell them it makes me lose control of myself, throw up, and gives me headaches. I am allergic to it.; 7/22/19, 4:02 PM
madAsHell said...: Well-meaning people who overthink everything.

We may be related!!

It's even better when you mix in two shots of fear-of-missing-out, and hearing aids.

Imagine how this conversation ripples across the room. "Particularly nice weather!"

"Did he say tickle my ass with a feather?"

"Why did he say tickle my ass with a feather?"

.....and then my brother-in-law jumps-in like Leroy Jenkins. "No! No! You've got it all wrong! He likes to do it in leather!!"

Of course, any change in impedance will cause the ripple to reflect, and the advice pours forth from my father-in-law. "Sometimes it is best to put baby oil between you butt cheeks before you pull up your leather thong!"

Enjoy the weather!!; 7/22/19, 4:03 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Warren warns of upcoming economic downturn"

Talking Fauxhauntis news: WaPo confirms: As lawyer, Elizabeth Warren worked to limit Dow Chemical’s liability to breast implant victims.

Warren’s legal work for Dow Chemical, first exposed by Legal Insurrection during the 2012 Senate campaign, was not to help the women, as Warren claims: “Warren’s expertise was used by a company fighting in court to limit its liability and payments to the women.”; 7/22/19, 4:10 PM
wildswan said...: Hang in Fen,

Sometimes the most effective route off a decision tree's branches is a jump through hyperspace back to basics, i.e., respond to "Lettuce or tomato?" with "How did you make this delicious chicken?"; 7/22/19, 4:11 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Fen - there's no escaping.... The family.; 7/22/19, 4:12 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Some 50,000 New Yorkers still without power”

And, of course, His Honor, the mayor, is off running for President.

But the big point for me is how fragile the urban environment that the left so desperately force us into, actually is. Here, you can just hook up a generator to the propane tank, or even better, drive a UPS/generator hybrid system with the household propane. With a decent sized propane tank, you can go better than a month this way. We have venison in the front yard, beef and pork down by the river, and enough firewood close nearby to last decades. Plus a hydro dam 1/4 mile away.; 7/22/19, 4:19 PM
Murph said...: Fen sounds like the classic introvert.

His plaint reminded me of the most well-known quote of Jean-Paul Sartre: L'enfer, c'est les autres.

"Hell is other people."; 7/22/19, 4:23 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: have flowers become the new Rats?

https://img09.deviantart.net/959a/i/2017/132/2/f/flower_rats___elara_by_rattlebrain-db8ywze.jpg; 7/22/19, 4:33 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Ezra Cohen Watnick-- who's this dude??

- An adviser to Jeff Sessions -
- Was brought into the NSC by gen. Michael Flynn
- Served in intelligence locations such as Miami/Haiti as a GS-13
- Was one of the first to identify reports that the Trump campaign was being surveilled
- Really broke open the abuse of the "unmasking" requests that have been centered around FISA abuse & Samantha Power
- Schumer stated during his hiring at Justice that "Cohen-Watnick must not come near the Mueller Special Counsel"
- He is the man McCMaster couldn't fire; 7/22/19, 4:35 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: how much is a brazillion ?

A transgender Canadian named Jessica Yaniv is accusing over a dozen women of discrimination for refusing to wax her genitalia.

https://humanevents.com/2019/07/21/state-enforced-sexual-assault/; 7/22/19, 4:44 PM
narciso said...: that's why they tried to pull his clearances, if memory served he ended up at oracle for a spell, laura rozen who flacks for every anti American outfit was naturally vicious toward him,; 7/22/19, 4:44 PM
madAsHell said...: I recently had both an endoscopy, and a colonoscopy performed at the same time. They said they could save money if they used the same tube twice.

But my discount really isn't the point......the anesthesiologist put me under using Propinol. Remember Michael Jackson, and his milk. The same.

The anesthesiologist was trying to manage my anxiety, and carefully explaining everything going into the tube. She said she would tell me when the Propinol was applied. She may have told me, but I was brain dead before I could process the information.

Upon waking up, I assumed that I'd suffered a stroke. Remember that Star Trek episode where Kirk was the only one on the Enterprise. Yeah....that's it.

On the other hand, I guess I do have voices in my head......cuz it was damn lonely in here for several minutes.

Conclusion. Michael Jackson was suicidal. The Doctor should have seen it.; 7/22/19, 4:50 PM
Michael K said...: “Some 50,000 New Yorkers still without power”

And, of course, His Honor, the mayor, is off running for President.

There is a term for that. It's called "The Bloomberg Rule." If your mayor is running for president or giving speeches on global warming, you are in real trouble.; 7/22/19, 4:52 PM
narciso said...: propophol, which the Russians use for crowd control. you think it might be a touch too strong?; 7/22/19, 4:53 PM
narciso said...: well this will cause some more agita

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/07/21/bizarre-status-of-flynn-partner-trial-fara-prosecution-in-tenuous-disposition/

is anything they have vouched for turned out to be true,; 7/22/19, 5:07 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: a few more tidbits re:Seth Rich/ Butowsky

https://fullspectrumdominoes.wordpress.com/2019/07/22/the-butowsky-bombshell/; 7/22/19, 5:36 PM
mockturtle said...: Fen begs: Please someone just shoot me now.

I'd be happy to accommodate you if you weren't quite so far away. [I'm not that good a shot ;-)]

You were spoiled as a child, right? Over-indulged by Mommy? There are worse things than someone trying to please you.

BTW, the remarks about your uncle: My friend and colleague, Yuri, a Jewish immigrant physicist from Russia, would relate similar stories. And when I asked him why people didn't rise up against the government he said it's because there is no one whom you can trust--not even in your own family. We're almost there, am I right? Something 'racist' you may have said when you were twelve can get you before a tribunal.; 7/22/19, 5:37 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: why are 'Epstein elites' often involved with children's charities?

because they 'love' children so much?; 7/22/19, 5:40 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "When people are persistent in such situations as Fen discusses, I find it easiest to just say something uncomfortable and awkward."

"Do you have any porn I could read," might work well.; 7/22/19, 6:14 PM
buwaya said...: ". I've always been a loner, distant and lost in my own thoughts. I've never understood how people can sit and talk for hours and never really say anything. I've tried and it feels plastic and fake. "

Conversely, I live to yak.; 7/22/19, 6:15 PM
Seeing Red said...: why are 'Epstein elites' often involved with children's charities?

because they 'love' children so much?

Because that’s where the children are.; 7/22/19, 6:24 PM
Kevin said...: Court in Canada redraws a couple's will because it didn't like their motivations for how they divided their estate.

What Roberts hath wrought...; 7/22/19, 6:27 PM
Nichevo said...: Fen, I think it's grooming behavior. People feel bad and know everyone else feels bad and want to pet each other. Mass hugs might be simpler.

Not sure what responses might be helpful - assuming you wanted a plain chicken sandwich, I guess you got what you wanted. If you didn't care, but wanted to get through the encounter and also "pet," you might flatter by saying "I'll have what you're having."; 7/22/19, 6:31 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Fen, You'd like my family.

"There's some food in the fridge. Grab a plate and take what you like."; 7/22/19, 6:44 PM
Seeing Red said...: Via Insty:

KURT SCHLICHTER: The Democrats’ 2020 Campaign Theme Is ‘You Americans Are Terrible.’

The Democrats’ 2020 theme is that you are terrible and the party’s slogan will be “Americans suck, vote for us.” The precise candidate who will employ it is not important because they all embrace the notion that punishing the essential moral failure of you and me and every other Normal American is the key goal of the Donkey Party. That goes equally for the Handsey Old Prospector, the Socialist Squaw, Crusty the Commie, Spartacus Sharpton, Starchild, the Furry, Not Ms. Willie Brown, the Unfabulous Gay Guy, and the many Unfabulous Ungay Guys.

They all agree that you are terrible because you don’t know your place, which is behind a rock pushing it endlessly uphill for the benefit of people who hate you....; 7/22/19, 6:47 PM
narciso said...: Yes they are all triffids:

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/454185-how-mueller-deputy-andrew-weissmanns-offer-to-an-oligarch-could-boomerang; 7/22/19, 6:53 PM
Beasts of England said...: The Schlichter article was on point. He really knows how to distill a concept down to its roots and churn out a synopsis filled with red meat. What's the opposite of 'Ahoy!'?; 7/22/19, 7:04 PM
mockturtle said...: Per narciso: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/454185-how-mueller-deputy-andrew-weissmanns-offer-to-an-oligarch-could-boomerang

The Dems are going to rue the day [if they haven't already] they ever started this 'collusion' nonsense. This ball of yarn is unravelling so fast we can barely keep up with it. This, along with the Seth Rich story, is far worse than anything Watergate turned up. Are we hearing anything more than crickets from the MSM?; 7/22/19, 7:08 PM
rehajm said...: Has anyone seen Starbucks Howard? Did the DNC goons get to him?; 7/22/19, 7:17 PM
Fen said...: redrum redrum REDRUM; 7/22/19, 7:23 PM
Howard said...: It's sad paranoid loner night at Althouse. You guys really to fiber up.; 7/22/19, 7:28 PM
D&D said...: "Ezra Cohen Watnick-- who's this dude??"

Sometimes, when I get really nervous about the current state of things....the leftist insanity.....I chant "Ezra Cohen Watnick".; 7/22/19, 7:30 PM
narciso said...: Like beetlejuice.; 7/22/19, 7:32 PM
chuck said...: @mockturtle Thanks for the links.; 7/22/19, 7:36 PM
mockturtle said...: Narciso posted them first, chuck. He's our resident investigator. ;-); 7/22/19, 7:48 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: Seeing Red said:

"They all agree that you are terrible because you don’t know your place, which is behind a rock pushing it endlessly uphill for the benefit of people who hate you...."

Donald Trump is successful because he doesn't pander to the 40% of Americans who will never vote for him. All Trump needs to do in 2020 is remind taxpaying Americans who is paying for the free stuff being promised to the Democrat identity groups. ...Sisyphus' revenge.; 7/22/19, 8:01 PM
narciso said...: I found the last through techno fogs feed, he tracks down stories the times bigfoots or covers with a pillow.; 7/22/19, 8:02 PM
narciso said...: No one put xi ping in a corner:
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3019590/china-hit-indonesia-japan-eu-south-korea-stainless-steel?fbclid=IwAR3v_P4oi_vY-NKGT5NG5HpztRhWHbqmcMkth_caiR4ZF8_LI_Oosy5CM2g; 7/22/19, 8:19 PM
stephen cooper said...: narciso well seriously if you are a male Chinaman shouldn't you be more concerned with making sure that the next generation does not have an absurdly sad ratio of too many men, unwanted by the women of your own land, to the women who survived their vicious STUPID AND COLDHEARTED decades of aborting little female babies at double or triple the rate of male babies

SAD AND SELFISH

that is what Chinamen should be excited and upset about not little movements of this ship or that ship on some oceanic place where trillions and trillions of gallons of sea water do what they do while little ships pass each other in the night; 7/22/19, 8:34 PM
mockturtle said...: https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3019590/china-hit-indonesia-japan-eu-south-korea-stainless-steel?fbclid=IwAR3v_P4oi_vY-NKGT5NG5HpztRhWHbqmcMkth_caiR4ZF8_LI_Oosy5CM2g

And yet Trump gets roundly excoriated for suggesting even modest tariffs on Chinese products.; 7/22/19, 8:45 PM
Seeing Red said...: Via Insty: Dr. Drew Pinsky said Friday that Los Angeles faces an imminent outbreak of bubonic plague because of the growth of the homeless population and the failure of state and local authorities to deal with rodent problems.; 7/22/19, 8:47 PM
narciso said...: They made a tragic mistake for two generations, they are starting to correct their error now, they must consume more Iranian and Sudanese oil just to keep their machinery running; 7/22/19, 8:51 PM
stephen cooper said...: on the other hand it is nice to be born in China
nicer to be born in Thailand or Mongolia or Bali-Hai, of course ....
but like you said they may leave behind (the Chinese) in the near future the tragic mistakes of recent years
let us hope so!
ABORTION causes so much harm, just think of all those Chinese men who think that women might like them and who have no idea that they are going to be alone all their lives because their parents aborted the women who should have been born and who would have been their wives if only their parents had not aborted all those women because they wanted sons to take care of them and were too selfish to understand what they were doing; 7/22/19, 8:57 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Erdogan dead? 3 arab news outlets say so?

3http://www.alraeesnews.com/31819

https://news-sinaa.com/mix/5482467/

https://palsawa.com/post/216261/; 7/22/19, 9:08 PM
narciso said...: Hes still pining for the minarets

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDSteinberg/status/1153387147220738049; 7/22/19, 9:10 PM
stephen cooper said...: John Cleese is running a parody account wherein he pretends to be a greatly deranged Trump hater
it is weird
I mean why does he care so much, one way or the other?
Was not the love of Sybil, and the good-hearted friendship with Polly, enough to cleanse him of his ambitions and dreams of politix?; 7/22/19, 9:28 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Fight For $15 ?? Ha !! Terrorize For $20 !!!!

Far-Left Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls for a $20 minimum wage

https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/22/rashida-tlaib-minimum-wage/; 7/22/19, 9:32 PM
narciso said...: Hes trying to excuse how his lifes work, undermined traditional belief in institutions, now the streets are unsafe even for him, those who grew up in London dint recognize their own country, and criticism of this state of affairs can lead to deplatforming or worse.; 7/22/19, 9:34 PM
stephen cooper said...: One guy, Eric Eddison, wrote fantasy novels and heart-felt tributes to his friends who died in the field of valor during WWI
another Eddison wrote books about daylilies

hemerocallis

seriously that is one beautiful flower
the day lily
henerocallis; 7/22/19, 9:36 PM
walter said...: Seeing Red said...Via Insty: Dr. Drew Pinsky said Friday that Los Angeles faces an imminent outbreak of bubonic plague because of the growth of the homeless population and the failure of state and local authorities to deal with rodent problems.
--
RATS!; 7/22/19, 9:38 PM
Beasts of England said...: $20? Pikers. I'm calling for a $25 minimum wage!!; 7/22/19, 9:39 PM
mockturtle said...: Erdogan dead? 3 arab news outlets say so?

I'll believe it when I read it in Al Jazeera.; 7/22/19, 9:40 PM
Narr said...: $50 minimum! Do I hear 50? 50? Yes, 55 in the back! 55! Do I hear $60?

Narr
Politics is easy!; 7/22/19, 10:04 PM
pacwest said...: "Erdogan dead? 3 arab news outlets say so?"

Economically, for sure. 4% contraction in the last 2 quarters due to Trump tarriffs. His party losing badly in recent elections doesn't help.

TRUMP IS CAUSING HEART ATTACKS! He must be stopped!; 7/22/19, 10:13 PM
pacwest said...: I just read Barr's letter to Mueller about following DOJ rules and guidelines at his testimony on Wednesday. Barr doesn't fuck around does he.; 7/22/19, 10:26 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: When is Mueller gonna indict Don Jr for the Trump Tower meeting?

I thought that was a slam dunk.

Perhaps, I've been misinformed.....; 7/22/19, 10:34 PM
narciso said...: If you light the votive Mueller candles it will all be clear.; 7/22/19, 10:36 PM
walter said...: But pacwest,
They've been rehearsing this so hard..; 7/22/19, 10:43 PM
Birkel said...: I mentioned The Plague issue a week or more ago.
One story I was ahead of.
That leaves the score narciso 175,839 and me 1.; 7/22/19, 10:45 PM
StephenFearby said...: "Erdogan dead? 3 arab news outlets say so?"

Insha'allah.

This came out about 3 hours ago:

"Reports are circulating on social media that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has died, following a heart attack.

It is believed that the ‘news’ of Erdogan ’s death originated from Alraees News.

The report stated that doctors were reportedly fighting to save his life.

Other media site, Arab Turb quoted a Presidential source saying that the rumours of his death are just ‘unfounded’."

https://greekcitytimes.com/2019/07/23/rumor-spreading-on-social-media-turkish-president-erdogan-died/?amp; 7/22/19, 10:46 PM
Birkel said...: I guess Erdogan found his bus stop, finally.; 7/22/19, 10:47 PM
narciso said...: I would tend to doubt
https://mobile.twitter.com/thomasjoscelyn/status/1153476574236291074; 7/22/19, 11:02 PM
mockturtle said...: I would tend to doubt
https://mobile.twitter.com/thomasjoscelyn/status/1153476574236291074

Pakistan has never been trustworthy. They only pretend to be an ally because of the billions of dollars we've given them over the years presumably to keep them from using their nukes.; 7/22/19, 11:14 PM
narciso said...: I think the problem goes further back as with the kingdom we came to rhr conclusion If one side was firmly backed by the siviets like India we had to support the other, this led to military strongmen like yahya Khan liat Khan and zia Ul haq; 7/22/19, 11:28 PM
mockturtle said...: I don't recall the Soviets backing India. Was this under Indira Gandhi?; 7/22/19, 11:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Fen,

I am sorry for your loss. The best advice about grieving I have heard is that even though there is now a hole in your life you should look for what grows back in that space. It has happened to me. I hope it can happen to you.

And about family members who don't get it. In my case it was one of my grandmothers. My cousins and I are all baby boomers so it was many years ago that we were children. My grandmother would start sharing her observations about how people ought to behave and you could not get a word in edgewise, as the saying goes. We cousins worked out a mutual aid pact that we would take turns being the one to hear the nonstop stream of advice. My grandmother did not seem to mind that one kid would show up and the other would disappear. We did it for years.; 7/22/19, 11:38 PM
Ty said...: Fen said:

"I don't even want this chicken sandwich."

On the bright side, at least one person there had a worse day.; 7/23/19, 12:01 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "When is Mueller gonna indict Don Jr for the Trump Tower meeting?

I thought that was a slam dunk.

Perhaps, I've been misinformed....."

Ah, you have been listening to Al JazInga News.; 7/23/19, 12:03 AM
narciso said...: What is the purpose of this piece:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-01/ultra-rich-hide-their-hermes-in-asia-s-city-of-stealth-wealth?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Q2-2019_Bloomberg_Retargeting_Evergreen-Traffic_All-Users_Phase1-3-Countries&utm_term=Retargeting_Traffic_WCA_Power-Readers_Male-Female_18-65_Facebook&utm_content=Content_Article_Ultra-Wealthy-Hide-Hermes_V1&fbclid=IwAR1EQOsqoOs2C1IV-bkird0atVQDsMCGzdFxLoO-KG9E6TVuVN9gqLRSseo; 7/23/19, 12:07 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "I don't recall the Soviets backing India. Was this under Indira Gandhi?"

India and Russian/Soviet Union have long had strong ties despite India not being Communist. Even today, India is probably the largest buyer of Russian military equipment.; 7/23/19, 12:07 AM
Yancey Ward said...: It appears that Mueller is warning the Democrats to not expect much on Wednesday. Mueller even went so far as to request a DoJ letter outlining that the report will have to speak for itself- that he, Mueller, can't add anything that isn't already in there.

I think it 50/50 whether or not the Democrats go forward. They may well cancel hearing and blame Barr.; 7/23/19, 12:11 AM
purplepenquin said...: She made artificial flowers
Artificial flowers
Flowers for ladies of fashion to wear
She made artificial flowers
Artificial flowers
Made out of Annie's despair

--Bobby Darin
https://youtu.be/iYBmVVuMIa0; 7/23/19, 12:18 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/23/19, 12:41 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: isnt it a crime to fabricate a race hate hoax?; 7/23/19, 1:01 AM
Clyde said...: Far-Left Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls for a $20 minimum wage

We're supposed to take economic advice from someone who is not smart enough to spell her last nmae correctly?; 7/23/19, 1:21 AM
Clyde said...: Yancey Ward said...
... Even today, India is probably the largest buyer of Russian military equipment.

Indians: Smart enough to be your tech support, not smart enough to buy good equipment (especially aircraft)!; 7/23/19, 1:23 AM
dustbunny said...: Saying all flowers are beautiful opens to the argument on Beauty that all aesthetes used to relish. Depends on one’s definition of beauty of course but then and now eventually finds itself embroiled in the political. Brown flowers vs white flowers.; 7/23/19, 4:22 AM
dustbunny said...: I don’t remember the details but the color mauve (the color of Althouse’s ugly flower) was central to the obsession with beauty by the Aesthetic movement.. It was associated with homosexuality through Oscar Wilde. The period of the 1880s was known as the Mauve Decade.; 7/23/19, 4:40 AM
dustbunny said...: Just looked it up, it was the 1890’s. Althouse posted a fin de siecle flower; 7/23/19, 4:44 AM
stevew said...: "Again, by all means his opponents can, if they so wish, ridicule, caricature, and blast Trump and hope he fails. But after trying for nearly three years to destroy the president and prematurely remove him by any means necessary before a scheduled election, please do not appeal to the better angels of our nature—while deploring the new “unpresidential” behavior of Donald J. Trump for lashing out at those who sought to reduce him to a common criminal, pervert, traitor, dunce, and Satanic figure." - Victor Davis Hanson

My local rag, a lesser subsidiary of the NYT, says today that a majority of Americans think Trump's tweet was racist. They don't mention who they actually asked nor publish the actual question.

Civility bullshit.; 7/23/19, 5:29 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: another shadenfreudelicious mash-up video

"the scandal that will take down Trump" RE: Stormella J Daniels/SDNY

https://twitter.com/i/status/1153273487059849223; 7/23/19, 6:16 AM
Jaq said...: LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Hedison, who starred in the original sci-fi classic “The Fly” and appeared in two James Bond films, has died. He was 92.

...

Hedison played scientist Andre Delambre who turned into an insect in the 1958 film “The Fly.” He played CIA agent Felix Leiter in Bond films “To Live and Let Die” and “License to Kill.”; 7/23/19, 6:27 AM
iowan2 said...: I just read Barr's letter to Mueller about following DOJ rules and guidelines at his testimony on Wednesday. Barr doesn't fuck around does he.

That seals the deal. Barr is guilty of obstruction of justice. Managing and directing your subordinates is obstruction of justice... IANAL, but I learned that in the Mueller report.; 7/23/19, 6:28 AM
Jaq said...: Just for the cartoon.

https://motls.blogspot.com/2019/07/feminists-at-nyt-wapo-spit-at.html; 7/23/19, 6:30 AM
Temujin said...: Far-Left Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls for a $20 minimum wage

Which begs the question I've always had: What's with the phrase "living wage". Who sets that standard? And who declared that earning a "living wage" is a right, no matter what you do, what you produce, or what value the market places on what you do or produce?

Democrats. So from the start I've always asked: Why $15/hour. Why not just go for $40,000. As a right. Just state it up front. Why bullshit around with $10, $15, Liveable Wage, $20? Just say what you're getting at and be done with it:

They want everyone to get a big check from the Government just for being...born. So I guess in the world of Democrats, if you survive your mom's right to abort you, you deserve to get paid just for showing up.

When Tlaib is called a communist, the press and Dems go breathless. But she is. And so much more.; 7/23/19, 6:37 AM
Jaq said...: “Which begs the question I've always had: What's with the phrase "living wage". Who sets that standard? “

Raises the question!

“To each according to his needs;” (as determined by us)
“from each, according to his abilities.” <<--The hard part is getting the talented to work hard when they could sweep streets and daydream for the same money. Instead, you get the people who want power over other people being the only ones with motivation to work.

Give me a society ruled by the lust for money over a society ruled by the lust for power any day.; 7/23/19, 6:49 AM
Jaq said...: Bernie Sanders:

“A job will be guaranteed to all! ... But not mandatory...”

OK, he just said the first part, I am just extrapolating from Democrat positions on minimum income for the second.; 7/23/19, 6:56 AM
buwaya said...: Hmmm.

Fens problem is quite foreign to us.

In our childhood, and at any time since, for a family gathering, always an international affair, food and drink came via our cook/majordoma, now 60 years in our service, aided by the household staff. My sister inherited the old house and its household. We all contribute to its maintenance, as somewhere in this world there must be a gracious home.

And so it was, and has been, for all our childhood contemporaries, in most cases down to this day. It was and still is very much an "Upstairs, downstairs" society, adjusting for cultures of course. It is more, and less, than class separating upstairs from downstairs.

So all menu, beverage and service questions are settled in advance by a quick conference between our majordoma and my mother, two old ladies of immense experience, and what our retainers set on the table is unquestioned and there are no quibbles.; 7/23/19, 6:57 AM
MadisonMan said...: Far-Left Rep. Rashida Tlaib calls for a $20 minimum wage

I wonder what she pays her interns.; 7/23/19, 7:10 AM
Seeing Red said...: India and Russian/Soviet Union have long had strong ties despite India not being Communist. Even today, India is probably the largest buyer of Russian military equipment.

It was when I was a kid.

India called itself a non-aligned nation.

That’s what our papers called it, too.

It’s interesting now. They plan to have the entire country electrified by January and they scrubbed their space mission last week.; 7/23/19, 7:24 AM
Seeing Red said...: So Tlaib’s been Listening to her bud, the economist.

Ignore the recent research.; 7/23/19, 7:29 AM
Gahrie said...: It’s interesting now. They plan to have the entire country electrified by January and they scrubbed their space mission last week.

There are 1 billion cell phones in use in India, and they launched their space mission to the Moon successfully yesterday. India has a very successful and very efficient space agency.; 7/23/19, 7:31 AM
Maillard Reactionary said...: I note with sadness the passing of Christopher Kraft, former NASA Flight Director, at 95.

His was a peculiarly American greatness.

RIP and godspeed, Flight.; 7/23/19, 7:33 AM
alanc709 said...: Anyone been able to confirm or refute the reporting that Erdogan has died of a heart attack?; 7/23/19, 8:16 AM
J. Farmer said...: @buwaya:

Did you ever read My Family's Slave in The Atlantic? If so, what did you think about it?; 7/23/19, 8:18 AM
J. Farmer said...: @alanc709:

Anyone been able to confirm or refute the reporting that Erdogan has died of a heart attack?

"It is believed that the rumors were started after Kurds entered the Hebrew language Wikipedia gave a date to the death of Erdogan, distributed a false rumor via social media. An investigation revealed that Erdogan is on vacation."

-Death of Erdogan was much exaggerated; 7/23/19, 8:22 AM
buwaya said...: Farmer,
Re "My Family's Slave" -
It is an extreme case of a common custom. This is the clan system at work.
In that case it was the charity-exploitation of a poor relation, which is also normal.
It is on the one hand a way for a clan to take care of its poor and unlucky.
On the other hand ...
Its one reason for the increased complexity of the upstairs-downstairs relationship over there - the residents of Downton Abbey don't have to take into account that their parlor maid is a second cousin.
Thankfully, being foreign we do not have this problem.; 7/23/19, 8:41 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Give me a society ruled by the lust for money over a society ruled by the lust for power any day."

They become the same thing in time. Those whose money lust leads them to acquire wealth, acquire also the power that comes from wealth, and as those with wealth never stop lusting for more of it, they exercise their power to facilitate the acquisition of more wealth...which brings more power, etc.; 7/23/19, 9:39 AM
Robert Cook said...: “Which begs the question I've always had: What's with the phrase 'living wage.' Who sets that standard? “

Asked, and answered.; 7/23/19, 9:43 AM
Robert Cook said...: By they way, you used the phrase "begs the question" incorrectly. What you mean is "raises the question," not the same thing at all as "begs the question."; 7/23/19, 9:44 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Hedison played scientist Andre Delambre who turned into an insect in the 1958 film 'The Fly.' He played CIA agent Felix Leiter in Bond films 'To Live and Let Die' and 'License to Kill.'”

He also starred in the television program VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.

Leiter was played by Jack Lord in "Dr. No."; 7/23/19, 9:49 AM
Narr said...: I grew up at the tail end of Jim Crow (50s-60s), when most middle-class white families had a maid--a black woman who came out one day a week to clean and wash. Not everyone had a maid, but those who did on my street ranged from the most racist to the least.

These ladies generally got 'car fare' for the bus, $20-25 a day(?), and carry-home privileges (hand-me down clothes usually).

Even my ma the widow F. could afford one, and we had Gussie, who was more of a family retainer--she had been employed by my father's parents, both at their beauty shop and the house, for many years--than a hired stranger. Gussie had seven kids of her own, with her husband (they were Catholic) who had what was considered a plum job as a driver for the prestige department store. When he drank too much and got abusive, Gussie would come to our house and stay a few days; when my father was dying in the hospital in 1962 she moved in and took care of things for about a month.

Gussie was a bit older than my parents, and eventually was able to quit work and move in with a successful daughter in Chicago. When I was old enough to drive, I would pick her up and take her home--to the cleanest, most squared-away little white frame house I ever was in. She died about 1995; my mother would talk to her on the phone once in a while and once we had her and her daughter out for dinner and to catch up when they were back in town.

It was an unfair and exploitative system, but people are people.

Narr
Raised by women-- black and white, native and immigrant; 7/23/19, 10:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Cook: By they way, you used the phrase "begs the question" incorrectly. What you mean is "raises the question," not the same thing at all as "begs the question."

Pedantic old farts from commie to reactionary approve of this corrective POI.; 7/23/19, 10:41 AM
mockturtle said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/23/19, 10:58 AM
mockturtle said...: Cookie asserts: They become the same thing in time. Those whose money lust leads them to acquire wealth, acquire also the power that comes from wealth, and as those with wealth never stop lusting for more of it, they exercise their power to facilitate the acquisition of more wealth...which brings more power, etc.

True to a large extent but the order in which it happens differs in Capitalist vs. Communist countries. In a Communist country, the power must come first, then the money. A Capitalist makes the money through profitable enterprise but the Communist must obtain the power in order to extract the money from the populace.; 7/23/19, 11:01 AM
J. Farmer said...: @buwaya:

Its one reason for the increased complexity of the upstairs-downstairs relationship over there - the residents of Downton Abbey don't have to take into account that their parlor maid is a second cousin.

Regardless of relations, why couldn't the woman simply quit? As far as I know, the house staff of the Edwardian era still had the ability to quit their employment and seek an an alternative life. With all due respect, you have a fantastic ability to write a lot and say nothing at all.; 7/23/19, 11:32 AM
Fen said...: Fens problem is quite foreign to us. In our childhood, and at any time since, for a family gathering, always an international affair

Oh I think I see the confusion. This tedious decision tree process I've described was not necessarily part of the funeral - that's why I'm back home, but the annoyance is not related to the funeral itself.

This tedious decision tree process occurred every single day I was growing up in this house, every time food was served, and every time I expressed I was hungry. Not just for family events.

So all menu, beverage and service questions are settled in advance by a quick conference between our majordoma and my mother, two old ladies of immense experience, and what our retainers set on the table is unquestioned and there are no quibbles.

Now imagine that conference happening every day, every night, every time you set foot in the kitchen. That's the annoyance I am getting to relive at home again, at least for the next few days.; 7/23/19, 11:54 AM
mockturtle said...: Children should not be given too many choices. In fact, zero choices might be best.; 7/23/19, 11:57 AM
mockturtle said...: I was allowed to pick out the wallpaper for my room but had to live with that choice until I moved out.; 7/23/19, 11:59 AM
mockturtle said...: Farmer asserts: As far as I know, the house staff of the Edwardian era still had the ability to quit their employment and seek an an alternative life.

Alternate life? Service in another household, perhaps, which would require good references.

BTW, you're skating in very thin ice calling out buways, who will easily drink your milkshake.; 7/23/19, 12:04 PM
Fen said...: For example, I am at this very moment being harassed over the grated Parmesan cheese I have sprinkled on the Lasagna we are having for lunch: would I like some more?

No thank you.

If you would like some more, you should feel free to use as much as you want, because we have another full shaker of parmesan cheese.

Thank you, but I'm good. I do not want any more parmesan cheese on my lasagna, this is perfect.

Well if you change your mind, just be sure to use up this shaker first before you open the new one.

Thank you. If I change my mind I will do that.

Would you like more lasagna?

No thank you, that was good. That filled me up. I am no longer hungry.

How about some ice cream instead? We have vanilla.

No thank you, I am no longer hungry.

We also have some of that cake from yesterday.

......

(I often exaggerate to make a point, but the above conversation is almost exact)

Drip drip drip

I am now waiting for them to leave the room so I can get a cup of coffee in peace; 7/23/19, 12:09 PM
Fen said...: Would you like another serving of Lasagna?

Because if you say yes, we are going to have the whole Parmesan cheese discussion all over again.; 7/23/19, 12:19 PM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

BTW, you're skating in very thin ice calling out buways, who will easily drink your milkshake.

Luckily, I'll easily not give a shit.; 7/23/19, 12:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Fen:

Because if you say yes, we are going to have the whole Parmesan cheese discussion all over again.

Blah blah blah...stop being a whiny little girl already.; 7/23/19, 12:41 PM
mockturtle said...: Luckily, I'll easily not give a shit.

Fair enough, Farmer! :-); 7/23/19, 12:50 PM
dustbunny said...: Odd that no one is commenting on the frilly mauve orchid so redolent of decadence and decay.; 7/23/19, 12:51 PM
mockturtle said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/23/19, 1:00 PM
mockturtle said...: BTW, at least until very recently, the Brits have clung with dogged tenacity to their class system. The object was not to 'better oneself' and rise to a higher social caste but to remain staunchly in the class to which one was born. Any behavior that spoke otherwise was to evoke obloquy from one's own class.; 7/23/19, 1:02 PM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

People often forget that when Michael Young coined the phrase "meritocracy" in his satirical novel The Rise of the Meritocracy, he was describing a dystopian future (based on the then novel tripartite system). At least in a class-based society you can blame your failure on the circumstances of your birth. In a meritocratic society, you can pretty much only blame your failure on your own inadequacy. In a capitalist society, the least able will be be pushed down and made to toil for low wages and even less respect. That's not a healthy for a society.; 7/23/19, 1:25 PM
Narr said...: Tell people they're in a Meritocracy (as if such a thing could actually exist) and the ones who succeed will tend to think of themselves as better in every way than those who do not.

THAT is not healthy for a society either--it's basically our situation today, when the most meritorious (ah-hh-mm ivy-covered lawyers I'm looking at you) winners think it their purview to correct the bad political choices of the rabble.

Narr
Up against the wall!; 7/23/19, 1:48 PM
mockturtle said...: At least in a class-based society you can blame your failure on the circumstances of your birth.

Farmer: We both know that there are plenty in the US now who blame their failure on the circumstances of their birth. And demand reparations.; 7/23/19, 2:02 PM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

Farmer: We both know that there are plenty in the US now who blame their failure on the circumstances of their birth. And demand reparations.

And we've lived in a meritocratic society for several decades. Has that quelled the call for reparations? If anything, it has made them louder. In a meritocratic society, blacks cannot hope to achieve on an equal footing with other races.; 7/23/19, 2:04 PM
mockturtle said...: What do you suggest?; 7/23/19, 2:06 PM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

What do you suggest?

Beats the hell out of me. Diagnosing a problem does not mean that I know how to solve it. But my preference at this point would be very strict immigration policy to keep out competition from abroad coupled with some form of universal basic income. If we want our society to be successful, people will need to be able to get a job and successfully raise their families with some form of dignity.; 7/23/19, 2:42 PM
mockturtle said...: One major problem, as I see it, is that the family needs two incomes today just to get by. This was brought about by women entering the workplace in huge numbers and the economy adjusted itself accordingly. And even a guaranteed minimum income won't assure decent housing in an area where average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2K/month, as in Seattle. There are plenty of homeless people who work but are forced to live in their cars.; 7/23/19, 2:50 PM
J. Farmer said...: @mockturtle:

See Elizabeth Warren's The Two-Income Trap.

There are plenty of homeless people who work but are forced to live in their cars.

I'm not sure how plentiful those numbers are. But I am open to being persuaded.

But, as I said, I don't have *the answers.* I say what I think the problem is and what I think will help mitigate those problems. The old Republican idea of "let the free market handle it" is not tenable. From a free market perspective, it's perfectly rational to close up shop and have your production done by cheap foreign labor. It's great for the company's bottom line. But it also ends up leaving devastated communities, opioid addiction, and lots of people on SSI in its wake. The government will need to intervene at some level. I don't know what combination of higher minimum wage, more subsidized healthcare, and universal basic income will do the job. But I am not a priori opposed to such efforts.; 7/23/19, 2:55 PM
mockturtle said...: I'm not sure how plentiful those numbers are. But I am open to being persuaded.

Can't tell you the numbers but they have their own online forums. One gal lives in a Prius. They use Planet Fitness for showering and changing. In the West, it's probably more common than in other areas, partly because of the ridiculous housing costs. Living in my RV for five or six months of the year I meet a lot of people who live in their cars. Many, if not most, of them have jobs.; 7/23/19, 3:05 PM
mockturtle said...: While I haven't read Warren's The Two Income Trap, my daughter recommended it. Both she and my other daughter and their husbands are in this bind.; 7/23/19, 3:09 PM
Fen said...: Farmer: "Blah blah blah...stop being a whiny little girl already."

Wrong again Farmer. Whiny little girls are the types to take mean little cheap shots because they are nursing some petty grudge from a month ago. As you have just done.

But thank you for taking that extra effort to show us what your true character is.

Truth always outs.; 7/23/19, 5:26 PM
Fen said...: And your immigration position is juvenile. You don't think states like Venezuela are in our national interest. Until 100 million refugees from South and Central America are swarming over the border wall.

You can't comprehend that we have to reform their civilization before they destroy ours. And, like the Middle East, that requires American intervention in countries you've never heard of.

Because, like your foreign policy, you get your immigration policy off the back of a cereal box. So simple, so shallow. You're no different then David Hogg thinking he has a solution to gun violence that no one has ever considered before...

You want to get pissy about something, get pissy about that.; 7/23/19, 5:39 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Fen:

But thank you for taking that extra effort to show us what your true character is.

Oh, get over yourself. I have no grudge against you, petty or otherwise. If anyone had this blog had posted a dozen times kvetching about being doted on, I'd tell them to shut up and grow a pair as well.

Until 100 million refugees from South and Central America are swarming over the border wall.

You're right. I'm not afraid of fantasies. And the population of Venezuela is about 30 million, so I have no idea where you're getting 100 million from.

And, like the Middle East, that requires American intervention in countries you've never heard of.

I can identity every country on the map and their capitals. And I can even get along with my mother, you fuckwit.

Because, like your foreign policy, you get your immigration policy off the back of a cereal box. So simple, so shallow.

Right. The Immigration Act of 1924 is right off the back of a cereal box. No way we could ever do anything like that.

You want to get pissy about something, get pissy about that.

No I continue to get pissy about being lectured by nitwits.; 7/23/19, 5:58 PM
mockturtle said...: The gauntlet has been thrown. Duel at sunrise?; 7/23/19, 8:34 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Re: the "ugly flower": I'm redecorating my office just now, or at any rate doing as much as I can with a pair of broken arms (long story, best summarized as "Ugh!"), and there's a hook in the ceiling that is going to get a hanging basket with something growing in it. (I can't reach up to water anything, though -- I've worked out something involving a swiveling pulley, a thinnish rope, and a cleat screwed into a leg of my desk ... ) Have a basket picked out on Amazon -- coir matting over a wire frame, a foot in diameter. Now what to put in it?

I had pretty much settled on hellebore, a.k.a. "Lenten rose," until your Ugly Flower sent me off on a different train of thought. I grew up in upstate NY, and we had a couple of acres of pretty dense woods. Most of it was, of course, poison ivy at ground level, but there were shade-loving wildflowers, including jack-in-the-pulpit and ... trillium. Your flower isn't a trillium, but the three-corneredness led me there. So now it's going to be one white trillium, surrounded by hepatica and dwarf crested iris. Cool, nyet? Of course nothing will come near to blooming until next March or so, but I like working these things out.; 7/25/19, 12:05 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Sorry to hear about your broken arms! Flowers do seem to help!; 7/27/19, 7:01 AM