February 26, 2020

At the Gray-Blue Café....

February 26, 2020 sunrise

... you can talk all night.

87 comments:

Birkel said...

Althouse,
Thanks for all you do keeping this site going.
I appreciate your efforts and the results.

Yancey Ward said...

I see Sanders is even further ahead this evening in the betting markets.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Ditto, Birkel.

David Begley said...

Nine year old comes out as gay at Mayor Pete event.

http://pjmedia.com/election/what-was-buttigieg-thinking-encouraging-a-young-boy-to-come-out-as-gay-at-his-campaign-even/

Yancey Ward said...

Well, when I was 9 years old, I though my classmate Tawnya Mullins was the prettiest girl in the world.

FullMoon said...

Biden at CNN townhall is asked what will he do if Trump loses but refuses to leave, claiming fake results.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Not so fast YW. The Hill had a new poll showing Biden leading in SC.

Biden 35
Steyer 17
Sanders 13
Warren and Buttgig at 8
Karen 4

The poll sounds like total DNC rigged bullshit but who knows. Maybe they can get the votes to match.

FullMoon said...

Well, when I was 9 years old, I though my classmate Tawnya Mullins was the prettiest girl in the world.

Wrong. It was my classmate at Paul Revere, Donna Lucero.

FullMoon said...

So anyway. Was talking to a new dog owner about vacuuming dog hair and remembered having a sticky roller thing that had a long handle and was washable and reusable. Did a search out of curiosity and find it priced between twelve and twenty something dollars. Then , find a chinese manufacturer who makes them. Cost? .032. But ya gotta buy 5000. Not sure about shipping cost.

Quite a mark-up. Oh, fifteen inch square microfiber cleaning/polishing, one cent each. cloth

rehajm said...

Clyburn's a king maker and he endorsed Joe. They are playing the tape repeatedly here in SC, even the news teasers at commercial.

rehajm said...

Dishwashing gloves work great at getting pet hair off of upholstery.

Howard said...

So what. This kid Jerry was known to everyone as gay by the second grade. Flamboyant, limp wristed, couldn't play any sports, played jump rope and giggled with the girls. Nobody picked on him as far as I know.

Ken B said...

Saw two movies
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Not quite shit, but shit adjacent. I want the 3 hours back.
Ford vs Ferrari. Excellent. It’s my kind of movie: it’s about people who care about something.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I'm with Howard on this. Everyone knew who the gay kids were by first or second grade.

Ken B said...

Howard
Does it occur to you that sexualizing kids is not a good thing? Your comment is about second graders. What is that, 7 years old?
And you wonder why anyone might be concerned.
I guess it’s like jazz, if you have to ask you'll never understand.

Howard said...

In SoCal, we had dozens of the prettiest girls in every grade. Half of the girls in my high school class were pretty to hot. I went to elementary and Junior High school with Karen Price, January 1980 Playboy playmate of the month. She was a pretty, nerdy girl, not in the top ten percent.

Howard said...

Ken, I started playing doctor with neighbor girls when I was 3.

Jersey Fled said...

At 9 years old, I didn't even know what gay was.

J. Farmer said...

Just in case you thought our federal legislature wasn’t prepared to tackle the most pressing issues...

House Passes Anti-Lynching Bill After 120 Years of Failure

Howard said...

Don't get me started on the girls in Santa Barbara in the late 70's. Dolfin shorts & Tank tops.

rhhardin said...

So, what are your plans for tonight? Are you staying back late to do some tongue-and-groove work?

- Carpenter lady asks carpenter Jack Irish (2016)

J. Farmer said...

At 9 years old, I didn't even know what gay was.

Nor I. I’m always somewhat perplexed when I hear gay people say things like, “I’ve known since I was 5 years old.”

Howard said...

Rock Hudson and Jim Neighbors got married when I was 8 and everyone knew it.

Howard said...

It's a spectrum and Jerry was florescent pink.

Howard said...

You look like a Butch John, J Farmer.

J. Farmer said...

Rock Hudson and Jim Neighbors got married when I was 8 and everyone knew it.

I wonder who wins the award for Most Obvious Closet Case in History. Liberace? Paul Lynde?

Howard said...

The transparent closet for those two

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

At the Gray-Blue Cafe

...let's not have a civil war

***

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?"
Isaiah 58:6

Hoping to resume among Easter greetings this April 12

Ken B said...

Howard
Three years who are curious about each other is quite unlike adults interested in small children sexually. Which was after all the topic, small kids encouraged by adults and former mayors to be seen as sexual.
I cannot help you with jazz either.

TickTock said...

Howard,

Santa Barbara girls in the late sixties. Same thing. Wish I could go back.

Ken B said...

Farmer
Quentin Crisp has to be a contender.

Mark said...

So we were talking about actors who played the most characters on Star Trek.

I just discovered that Ted Cassidy played at least three. Apparently, he played the Gorn in addition to Ruk and the voice of the Fesarius.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

My sister had a friend named Dennis when she was about 6 or 7. Dennis liked coming over to play with Barbies and bake cookies in her Eaz-E Bake oven. To absolutely nobody's surprise, he ended up being gay.

But did he know that he was gay at age 7? Or did he just know he liked hanging out with girls and doing girl stuff more than he liked playing baseball?

Camille Paglia has said that when gays say they "always" knew they were gay, what they are remembering is they knew they were different.

Of course, nowadays, Dennis would be told he is really a girl and needs to transition and take hormone blockers.

J. Farmer said...

@Ken B:

Farmer
Quentin Crisp has to be a contender


I don’t really think you could label Crisp a “closet case.”

Mark said...

Dollar store, FullMoon? They gotta have 'em.

J. Farmer said...

@exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil:

Camille Paglia has said that when gays say they "always" knew they were gay, what they are remembering is they knew they were different.

I was thinking of that quote when I first commented here. I remember reading it the first time and thinking that it was an astute point. Clearly, like within homosexuality itself, there is a general spectrum on which these things fall. There are rather effeminate boys who prefer to be around girls and do traditionally feminine activities. Then there are the boys who are often labeled as "sensitive" who are not necessarily outward feminine but tend towards introspection, art, literature, etc. And then on the other end you have the sort of hypermasculine guys. The kind of guys that Jack Donovan talks about in Androphilia. Clearly, the more outside the masculine spectrum you are as a child, the more your sense of difference will be obvious to yourself. That probably explains why the kind of gays who say they knew they were gay when they were 5 tend to be of the more flamboyant variety.

Ken B said...

Farmer
Okay, fair enough. Ask me in 1970 I’d have picked Tony Randall, so I’m not the best judge.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


"I wonder who wins the award for Most Obvious Closet Case in History. Liberace? Paul Lynde?"

Paul Lynde was gay? I'm genuinely shocked. I always figured he was just extremely sarcastic.

Ken B said...

Farmer and exiled
Yes, the Paglia quote is quite on point.
And it shows why Bill ROT is full of shit. I was whatFarmer describes as the sensitive type, and was also extremely precocious. And I liked Paul Lynne! Turned out I was straight, but I wouldn’t have known what that was until puberty.

Rory said...

From my youth there were Billy de Wolfe, Charles Nelson Reilly, Alan Sues, Paul Lynde, and Rip Taylor, all way out there and all hilarious.

effinayright said...

FullMoon said...
Well, when I was 9 years old, I though my classmate Tawnya Mullins was the prettiest girl in the world.

Wrong. It was my classmate at Paul Revere, Donna Lucero.

************
No no no. It was my classmate Jeannie Keyser, in Sacramento, California.

Oh wait, there was also Zoe Labrie, in Dover NH, and the Wells twins and Claudette Bergeron...


(I think the Everly Brothers did a song about Claudette)

J. Farmer said...

@The Cracker Emcee Refulgent:

Paul Lynde was gay? I'm genuinely shocked. I always figured he was just extremely sarcastic.

Oh my goodness. Oh you’re an animal!

Favorite Lynde one-liner: “This place smells like pussy...I think.”

Also, Gilbert Gottfried’s Paul Lynde impression is insanely hilarious.

Kai Akker said...

3-month Treasury bill: 1.48%
5-year Treasury note: 1.13%
10-year Treasury note: 1.31%

But you want yield, the 30-year Treasury bond: 1.79%

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Ken B said...
Farmer
Okay, fair enough. Ask me in 1970 I’d have picked Tony Randall, so I’m not the best judge."

Randall wasn't, but Felix Unger - definitely!

FullMoon said...

Just in case you thought our federal legislature wasn’t prepared to tackle the most pressing issues...

House Passes Anti-Lynching Bill After 120 Years of Failure


Inspired by Jussie Smollet, at great personal sacrifice...credit where credit is due..

narciso said...





thats curious

wild chicken said...

Kat, the Fed's not doing QE anymore is it?

wild chicken said...

I mean Kai

FullMoon said...

Speaker Pelosi Says She Would be Comfortable With Fidel Sanders at Top of 2020 Ticket…

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Felix Unger was gay as played by Randall, but not as played Lemmon.

Narr said...

Blue and Gray, the colors of my alma mater, though the gray is often replaced by white or silver nowadays.

When and where I grew up, WWII was still the big story, and in history books about big-name Nazis, Hermann Goering was often described as 'flamboyant'-- and most of us figured out what that was supposed to mean.

By the time I graduated from Overgrown Normal College University in 1976, it was becoming bad form to link Nazism with what was still considered a perversion, so that line of critique no longer worked (not that it made much sense historically and empirically in the first place).

Narr
I can remember my 6th grade dreamgirl (PB), and my 12th grade one (KH), but none in between

Rory said...

Felix Unger (Randall) was a heterosexual player who happened to be a neurotic nut. The cooking, the opera, even the cleanliness - he used all that stuff to seduce women.

brylun said...

Appeals Court Rules Trump Administration Can Withhold Money From Sanctuary Cities

brylun said...

Two Republicans and one conservative Dem appointed by Carter.

narciso said...

This last bond film is going to be the logest one, and probably most tedious.

Big Mike said...

Several months ago I got an Email out of the blue from the girl I had a crush on all through elementary school. She wrote that she has several great grandchildren, while my wife and I await our first grandchild. I hope life has been good to her.

bgates said...

Let's play Name that Commenter!

1. this one, is as obvious as, Durrani's hostility towards Sharif,

2. Not all THE Commenters; have the writing style of a Serial Killer but some DO

3. Some people write standard English. One comes close except for an aversion to periods he must have picked up from Larry King....Not that there's anything wrong with ellipses....There are times when they make sense....And those times always occur at least twice per comment....Sometimes more.

4. It should be clear to anyone who has examined the data with a clear and dispassionate mind, as I have, that the Trump presidency has been very good for the five richest Republicans in America, while it has reduced entire states to desolate hellscapes in which small bands of meth addicts vie with packs of hyenas for supremacy.

5. Well that's what I heard from Vox and Colbert too so it's obviously right, but good luck getting any of the Trump cult to admit it.

6. Althouse, this tired gag should really be beneath the standards of what you allow to appear on your page. These are the most offensive impressions since Trump stopped talking about disabled people. What's more, I know this cocksucker is going to drag me into it even though I haven't said a word on this thread, and he'll probably insinuate I'm a "socialist" just because I made the perfectly reasonable observation that there are plenty of circumstances under which I'd prefer Bernie Sanders as president to Trump.

7. LOL LLR [15 more comments in same vein]

8. I don't engage or even notice the back and forth in other comments but I do have my quirk
ALLCAPSDEMOGRAPHICDATA

9. Mine is similar.
Name
How could you tell this was a postscript if I didn't insist on writing my name first?

10. The last time I saw something that sucked as much as this bit, I ended up never returning the video.
I am funnier.

narciso said...

Hey bgates how have been, why hyenas not jackals or those wolf like creatures in riddick?

n.n said...

Appeals Court Rules Trump Administration Can Withhold Money From Sanctuary Cities

The People and our Posterity. Civil rights mean something. Combined with emigration reform, and curbing social justice adventures, to mitigate progress at both ends of the bridge and throughout, no native left behind... Baby steps.

Bay Area Guy said...

You old geezers are dreaming of Santa Barabara girls from the 60s & 70s? Heck, we visited UCSB in 2020, with my teenage son who wants to go there next year, and the gals are still hot!

eddie willers said...

Favorite Paul Lynde Hollywood Squares answer:

Peter: "Paul. True or false. The continent of Africa is moving towards Europe".

Paul: "True. And the Cadillac dealers in Switzerland are ecstatic!"

narciso said...


How about that:

how about that

Churchy LaFemme: said...

We never had any idea bout Paul Lynde. He was just that funny "Uncle Arthur", "Hooded Claw" and Hollywood Squares guy.

Same for Charles Nelson Reilly: How's *that* for at topper?

narciso said...





whose side

Ken B said...

This is a stunning performance of an English part-song by Thomas Ravenscroft. The recording is by the Pro Cantione Antiqua, a small all male group.

https://youtu.be/QeRmf7IVY88

Jimmy said...

Ha. Santa Barbara, how gauche. Carpinteria girls were much hotter, and less stuck up. Lived there in early 70's. California beach towns from OC up to half moon were so nice back then.affordable rents, good food. None of the new age lefties to fuck things up. Surfing, cheeseburgers, and lots of fun. good times.

Jimmy said...

and as far as being in the closet,Liberace was definitely way out, all the time. I lived in Palm Springs in 60's, and we would see him in his Bentley, or Rolls-Royce cruising, usually with a couple of filipino boys with him. a few of the macho hollywood types back then would let their hair down when in town. The local paper, Desert Sun, made a point of not noticing the antics of the stars then. No paparazzi then.

Quaestor said...

Ford vs Ferrari. Excellent. It’s my kind of movie: it’s about people who care about something.

Overall, an excellent effort. It is heartening when Hollywood shows it can still do its old magic if the loons and creeps are kept locked in their cells.

One minor complaint, however. The film brings out the GT40 Mark II far too early.

There's an honest to Murgatroyd documentary available on Netflix, The 24 Hour War, with interviews of and retrospectives from the real people who carried off one of the most spectacular coups in the history of sport.

Quaestor said...

Just in case you thought our federal legislature wasn’t prepared to tackle the most pressing issues...

I'm shocked at Farmer's facetiousness. Since 2007 150 million people have been lynched. It's well past time for reasonable rope control.

Silly Calabrese said...

'there is a general spectrum on which these things fall. There are rather effeminate boys who prefer to be around girls and do traditionally feminine activities. Then there are the boys who are often labeled as "sensitive" who are not necessarily outward feminine but tend towards introspection, art, literature, etc.' I am one of the latter. Despite not being gay, I always had what turned out to be gay friends. Was also deemed gay by many girls, although I didn't realise that that was what they were thinking, in my extreme naivety and lack of perception. Still managed to get married in the end, which is nice. I did always wish I was one of those straightforward 'pickup trucks and guns' type of men though, because they seemed to have far fewer things to agonise over, and had much more success with the ladies.

J. Farmer said...

@Jim:

and as far as being in the closet,Liberace was definitely way out, all the time.

We may be operating under different definitions of being in the closet. I do not doubt that Liberace lived as gay man and has sexual encounters with men. He nonetheless denied his homosexuality publicly his entire life and went after publications that even insinuated he was gay. For what it’s worth, Liberace seemed like a rather pathetic figure whose personal life was littered with used up and tossed aside boytoys.

J. Farmer said...

@Silly Calabrese:

Despite not being gay, I always had what turned out to be gay friends. Was also deemed gay by many girls, although I didn't realise that that was what they were thinking, in my extreme naivety and lack of perception.

My best friend is the same way. We’ve known each other since we were 8. He later met another friend when he was about 12 and then another when we were in high school together. We were his three closest friends, and we all ended up coming out.

Big Mike said...

@Bay Area Guy, as he got ready to graduate from high school my son was going through a phase where an entire continent between him and his parents was barely far enough, and he chose UCSB over closer schools that also offered him space in their freshman class. If your boy plans to major in the right subject, look into their College for Creative Studies. It includes chemistry, math, and physics, as well as the fine arts.

tim in vermont said...

"Despite not being gay, I always had what turned out to be gay friends. Was also deemed gay by many girls, although I didn't realise that that was what they were thinking,”

#MeToo

I think now that I was more “respectful” of women than they actually wanted me to be.

tim in vermont said...

"bgates said...
Let's play Name that Commenter!”

That was funny. Here is one for you: Every time I read a comment that starts out (eaglebeak) I feel like I am going to shit ambergris in a couple of weeks.

Quaestor said...

I feel like I am going to shit ambergris in a couple of weeks.

Thou damned whale!

tim in vermont said...

The thing about “Narr” is that if you have every spent any time in Australia, you can’t hear it as anything by the word “No.” So it seems like every postscript is preceded by an exaggerated “No.” Every time I read it I think of a certain girl at her desk, dressed kind of sexy, filing her nails while she is on the phone talking to her friend about some guy named “Wally” <<- another subtle joke!

tim in vermont said...

"After 45 years of an increase of productivity and technology, the average American worker is not making a nickel more than he or she did 45 years ago.”

45 years ago I was watching a black and white TV that was so expensive that it would be taken to a repair shop if it broke, and anti-lock brakes and air bags were just a gleam in some engineer’s eyes. Lee Iacoca was resisting headrests in cars. Maybe what Bernie really meant was that he hasn’t taken in a new piece of information in 45 years.

Big Mike said...

Ford vs Ferrari. Excellent. It’s my kind of movie: it’s about people who care about something.

Great movie, but I have quibbles. The movie seems to imply that Ford started racing at Le Mans in 1966 and won right away. In fact there were 3 Ford GT40 Mark I cars at Le Mans in 1964. None finished. Ford turned the program over to Carroll Shelby in 1965 and they sent five or six GT40s to Le Mans, some technically owned and raced by private teams like the one owned by the heir to the Johnnie Walker whiskey fortune. All were out by ten hours.

The science of aerodynamics as applied to race cars was still new in the 1960s, but they got it pretty close to right with the GT40 Mark II, which won Le Mans 1-2-3 in 1966, as depicted.

Other quibbles. By the mid-1960s Carroll Shelby was pretty weather-beaten in the face, and he looked nothing like pretty boy Matt Damon. Also, and quite notably, Shelby’s hair was very curly. And the movie depicts Ken Miles as dying in a GT40 Mark IV, but he really died in a Ford J-car, one of the ugliest sports cars ever built. There is at least one drivable J-car still around, and IMAO they should have tried to arrange to put it onscreen. Also Miles died when he was thrown from his crashed J-car. In those days drivers feared burning to death trapped in a crashed car, and deliberately did not use seat belts. The movie seems to imply that he died in the burning wreck.

For all of that still one of the best movies I saw in 2019.

Footnote: 1965 was the last time Ferrari ever won Le Mans, after dominating the race prior to Ford.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Narc gil will arm inga cuck drags ??? Nar las.

Fernandinande said...

Those 'Ford' GT40s cars were British cars with American engines:
"The Mk I, Mk II, and Mk III variants were designed and built in England based upon the British Lola Mk6. Only the Mk IV model was designed and built in the United States."

We've been watching 'Monk', a series about the struggles of a guy who descends into debilitating mental illness after his wife is murdered. It's pretty funny.

Kai Akker said...


Kat, the Fed's not doing QE anymore is it?

The Fed IS still QE-ing, Wild Chicken. They started to shrink their balance sheet by letting bonds mature without buying any new ones, and then they got worried the market didn't care for that. Or the economy downshifted for a quarter and the Fed lost their nerve.

So they are still buying in bonds to match what is maturing -- keeping their balance sheet of credit assets over $4-trillion level. Meanwhile, the overnight repo market tightened up weirdly last fall and the Fed has been pumping liquidity into that in large amounts. They just announced recently that they've fixed the problem. Having fixed the unknown problem, they plan to reduce that liquidity pumping in Q2. That liquidity injection coincided almost perfectly with the last euphoric rush into stocks, until just the other day.

Yields keep falling because investors want safety from the potential havoc of the coronavirus so they are shifting more into bonds, I assume. The earnings assumptions behind stock prices are under question for the same reason.

Kai Akker said...

Maybe that's an unclear answer, since QEs are the Fed's way of putting more credit into the hands of banks and investors, and caused the Fed to grow its balance sheet. Their current stance -- aside from the repo liquidity addition! -- is neutral. They are not officially QEing and act shocked when analysts say they are. Anyway, the point is, they are still in the bond market buying. They just aren't buying any more than what is maturing.

Kai Akker said...

The Fed also trades the VIX. They have mentioned a "short volatility" position in the past. The VIX is a measure of stock market volatility and a supercharged way to bet on market direction. Stock prices do take some of their cue from the VIX index. So to the extent that the Fed has been short the VIX, they are trying to push stock prices up (inverse relationship).

Why is the Fed doing this? They went rogue years ago. How could it be a long-term benefit to rig our capital markets? Is this not slicing open the goose that lays the golden eggs?

Ken B said...

Big Mike
No. Ford loses big in the first time, and that’s in the movie. Remember the scene with the red folder and Henry asking Shelby why he shouldn’t fire everyone?

Ken B said...

Quaestor
24 war looks interesting.
I read Baime's book Go Like Hell years ago. Recommended.

Narr said...

Funny, bgates. I recognized myself right away! I miss a lot of latenight by posting right before bed.

Narr
Old habits are hard to break, even when you want to, which I don't