April 29, 2020

At the Springtime Café...

P1190078

... you can talk all night.

277 comments:

1 – 200 of 277   Newer›   Newest»
Temujin said...

Beautiful. Nothing like the hue of spring green.

Mark said...

Interesting find in the Official MSM Stylebook:

Write conclusion first, consistent with the pre-determined narrative. Then and only then should journalists write the surrounding story, shaping the facts to fit the narrative. For example, if covid antibody tests show that the number of people infected with disease is 15-30 times higher than the confirmed tests, write the conclusion first that the disease is more deadly and then obfuscate the data and facts in a non sequitur way in writing the main story.

Mark said...

Again and again, in addition to seeing these people driving by in their cars with masks covering their faces, I keep coming across people of all types in enclosed high-interaction areas wearing their mask only over their mouths, leaving their noses exposed, or wearing them down around their chin, leaving both noses and mouths exposed.

Mark said...

Earlier, the Washington Post reported that close to half of all the Maryland deaths have come from nursing homes.

Francisco D said...

That is a terrific photo. I fondly remember Midwest Spring when we saw green again after months of bitter cold and dirty gray.

Here in southern AZ, we have green all year round. Now we are getting orange, purple, yellow and white flowers. It's a pleasant surprise from a guy who used to go up to Door County in October to see colors.

Francisco D said...

Blogger Mark said... I keep coming across people of all types in enclosed high-interaction areas wearing their mask only over their mouths, leaving their noses exposed, or wearing them down around their chin, leaving both noses and mouths exposed.


The Chuck Schumer look - very attractive and really smart!

That is the guy with putative 1600 SAT scores.

Mark said...

I now wear a mask whenever I go out (to anyplace beyond a quick trip to the trash dumpster) as a compromise I'll go along with if that is the cost of being allowed to leave home confinement. When I go inside an establishment, I will pull it up around both nose and mouth. But when I am outside with no one around, I will pull it down around my neck. This chin masking I don't get at all.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

“In the midst was there the tree of life,
which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month:
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Mark said...

President goes golfing. THE OUTRAGE! HOW COULD HE! SELFISH ASSHOLE.

Oh, wait. It was President Obama who went golfing in violation of the stay-at-home order?

Never mind.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I’ve been asked to serve on the transition team at my church. God help us all!

JMW Turner said...

I was reading on another site that our children, the dreaded Millennials, are now out demographing the fading Boomers, meaning, in layman's terms, we're now dropping like flies. The poor, obese, druggies, smokers, exiting first. These entitled, indoctrinated kids may get a crack at electing more AOC,Bernie Sanders type politicians sooner than expected before we are too senile to care. Oh well, ce la vie!

Mark said...

Re: the New Jerusalem --

Twelve sons/tribes of Israel.
Twelve Apostles.
Twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Mark said...

Speaking of --

May the Holy Spirit be with you and guide you, Pants.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I mean, we’re going to be talking about, tell me an actual hard fact benchmark for doing X, Y or Z, not someone’s vague feelings.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Thank you Mark. I can see God is saying it’s time to quit griping and do adult work here. Now he needs to equip me.

Mark said...

We've been doing a conference call each day for work where, in addition to work, we do a daily scriptural reading followed by a reflection on the text. I'm up tomorrow. My reading is John 21:15-19, where Jesus three times asks Simon, son of John, "Do you love me?"

Of course, in our impoverished English, we have only one word for "love." In this instance, as shown in the original Greek text, Jesus (almost certainly speaking Aramaic) referred to two different types of love -- sacrificial agape love, which he asked about the first two times, and friendship/brotherly filial love, which Peter used all three times in response and Jesus used the third time, coming down to Peter's level.

Mark said...

Do what you can Pants, as much as you can.

Then ask God for help to do the rest.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

US v. Flynn Unsealed documents

https://t.co/tO0FuhVps3?amp=1 (developing)

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Big Mike said...

Interesting fact I came across. Felicity Huffman confessed to paying a ringer to take the SAT for her daughter. She served eleven days in jail, performed 250 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine. Her daughter took the SATs on her own, and was accepted into Carnegie Mellon University’s drama department. CMU is scarcely a shabby school, so Felicity Huffman could have saved the $15,000 she paid the ringer, $30,000 fine, 11 days in jail, and community service, if her goal was just to get her daughter into a good school.

There’s a lesson there, if one wants to look.

320Busdriver said...

Oh boy..those handwritten FBI notes are something. Some people have some splainin to do.

Some people who post here all the time.

Mark said...

It's the Lee Meriwether episode. Not my favorite.

320Busdriver said...


Blogger Mark said...
President goes golfing. THE OUTRAGE! HOW COULD HE! SELFISH ASSHOLE.

Oh, wait. It was President Obama who went golfing in violation of the stay-at-home order?

All while a message from none other than Moochelle is pushed out to area phones telling people to “obey the rules”

Ohhhh Kay

MadisonMan said...

I am for you Mark.

J. Farmer said...

Huffman certainly came off better in the whole mess than Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli. She at least seem genuinely morally conflicted by what she was doing. Also, Loughlin and Giannulli spent $500k to get their daughter in the University of Southern California. I mean, go Trojans, but five hundred grand?

Rory said...

"Not my favorite."

Coming up, Cozi TV has the Frasier episode where we're introduced to the previously unsuspected Greek branch of the Crane family.

Mark said...

“What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute or get him fired?”

320Busdriver said...

Don’t know whats worse. FBI is trying to frame a war hero. Or that these top level feds are so effing stupid as to memorialize their misdeeds.
Crimes if you will.

Original Mike said...

"I am for you Mark"

Don't let him touch you!

Original Mike said...

Though it is not clear which "Mark" he is for.

J. Farmer said...

I never followed the Russia hoax machinations but never liked the idea of Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. His book The Field of Fight was a muddled and confused mess, and the fact that he chose Michael Ledeen as a co-author did not speak highly of his judgment.

Mark said...

Starbuck tries to take down a hostage situation and when the bullets start flying, Apollo thinks that's a good time to stand up when everyone else has flattened themselves on the floor.

Iman said...

I never followed the Russia hoax machinations but never liked the idea of Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. His book The Field of Fight was a muddled and confused mess, and the fact that he chose Michael Ledeen as a co-author did not speak highly of his judgment.

Yes, a man who gave over 30 years of his life defending the U.S. is not to be trusted and obviously the big story here.

"What’s urgent? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?

If we’re seen as playing games, the WH will be furious. Protect our institution by not playing games."

https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/29/explosive-new-flynn-documents-show-fbi-goal-was-to-get-him-fired/

Iman said...

Fairness would dictate 6AM takedowns and frog-marching of wrongdoers, TV cameras rolling. After all, that’s the way things are done.

Corksoakers...

paminwi said...

Flynn was set up.
He knows too much about what happened in the Obama administration.
They needed to make him look like a liar and a fraud.
Thank goodness for Sydney Powell. I call her a pit bull in the most affectionate way.

Drago said...

Iman: "Yes, a man who gave over 30 years of his life defending the U.S. is not to be trusted and obviously the big story here."

Farmer spends quite a bit of time explaining why the dems/deep state actions for the last decade are ho hum and par for the course and in the tradition of opposing political party's back and forths.

Charlie Currie said...

"Big Mike said...
Interesting fact I came across. Felicity Huffman confessed to paying a ringer to take the SAT for her daughter. She served eleven days in jail, performed 250 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine. Her daughter took the SATs on her own, and was accepted into Carnegie Mellon University’s drama department. CMU is scarcely a shabby school, so Felicity Huffman could have saved the $15,000 she paid the ringer, $30,000 fine, 11 days in jail, and community service, if her goal was just to get her daughter into a good school.

There’s a lesson there, if one wants to look."

Do you really believe her sat - high or low - had any bearing on her admission?

Drago said...

320Busdriver: "Don’t know whats worse. FBI is trying to frame a war hero. Or that these top level feds are so effing stupid as to memorialize their misdeeds.
Crimes if you will."

Just 2 days ago Inga asserted that Flynn being set up was a crazy conspiracy theory.

J. Farmer said...

@Iman:

Yes, a man who gave over 30 years of his life defending the U.S. is not to be trusted and obviously the big story here.

Didn't say anything about it being "the big story," and the arguments made in a book are not made correct because the writer had a career in the military.

William50 said...

Jesus (almost certainly speaking Aramaic)...

Jesus spoke Hebrew.

Known Unknown said...

Gestapo out citing moms for having their kids play at another house.

On, Wisconsin!

Mark said...

I will say that I like not having to get up early and rushing to shower, get dressed, then commute nearly an hour to go 12 miles to get to work.

J. Farmer said...

@Drago:

Farmer spends quite a bit of time explaining why the dems/deep state actions for the last decade are ho hum and par for the course and in the tradition of opposing political party's back and forths.

Compared to what they have done for the last many decades, they certainly are "ho hum."

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

kudos to Sydney Powell for her tenacious efforts

Explosive New Flynn Documents Show FBI Goal Was To ‘Get Him Fired’

https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/29/explosive-new-flynn-documents-show-fbi-goal-was-to-get-him-fired/

career federal law enforcement officials discussing among themselves how to invent a pretext for getting a key official in the incoming Presidential administration fired from his job.

hopefully just the beginning of a D5 avalanche

Mark said...

Jesus spoke Hebrew in the synagogue and in singing the Psalms and other religious functions. He spoke the language of the people in daily conversations, which was Aramaic.

narciso said...

the consequence was a more globalist figure replaced him, general McMaster, who had pioneered the counter insurgency strategy at tall a far, general Flynn had developed doubts about it's implementation, since he had written the footprint for Afghanistan,

J. Farmer said...

Jesus spoke Hebrew.

It's Netanyahu vs Francis all over again.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Republican on Republican violence is an increasing problem in our modern world.

Known Unknown said...

Carnegie Mellon is my alma mater.

Iman said...

Brain-dead lefties and failed Blue States are a curse on this nation...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Neither deaths nor cases are showing much sign of declining. This was somewhat predictable, although, like everything else so far, I didn't actually predict it.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

oh boy. DARPA "to the rescue"

Pentagon agency DARPA working on cloning antibodies to fight COVID-19
https://t.co/6e5eXcFg8X?amp=1

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

With The Great Global Awakening to ARM's Beloved and Heroic Peoples Republic Of China ChiComs threats, corruption and lies, one is always curious as to what the next set of ChiCom PR lies Beijing Boy ARM will be pushing.

I have to imagine that the Aussies anger over ChiCom threats against Australia if they dare to push for investigations into how the ChiCom Wuhan Lab/WHO Bat Flu was transmitted across the globe was something ARM wasnt expecting.

And this is on the heels of the French, Brits, Dutch, Danes, Italians and others rejecting the purposely defective gear the ChiComs sent them.

All on top of the African nations being up in arms over the treatment of their citizens in China.

Its like a living nightmare for ARM.

And now, all the most recent hoaxes pushed by ARM on Althouse blog for several weeks have already collapsed (my favorite being the ChiCom-directed Trump Owes ChiCom Banks Money hoax).

And its only Wednesday!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

check this claim on twitter.

"5 weeks, 19 interviews, and 142 questions for
@JoeBiden with no mention of sexual assault claim."

Biden campaign is probably stipulating access for an interview as long as there are no questions about the sexual assault claim.

We have a corrupt media.

Drago said...

Its gotten so bad for the dems they have returned to making up more Fake News regarding Trump Campaign insiders.

Thats always a "tell"....

stephen cooper said...

Conan once said something really stupid about what it means to be happy.
Had me or you been born in the same universe as Conan, would he have said such a thing? Well....
Maybe not. He was a tough guy, but he lived in a little universe, and did not face many of the enemies he would have otherwise. He was lucky that way? no, not really ..... I would have been gentle in victory ..... unlike him, the poor little pulp fiction phantasm ......
Happiness is this - those moments where a mother treats her children as if they were the most precious things in the world (they are), those moments where a father does everything he can to let the mother enjoy such moments. A mother or a father, in such moments, does not know if she or he is in heaven or on earth.
For ugly people who cannot easily find a beloved spouse (trust me, there are many many such people in this world) or who could have found an attractive spouse if they wanted to, with a big enough wallet, but who never had a desire to do so with people who, even in bought intimacy, would eventually have found them unattractive, tedious, and unlovable, in this world (not saying there are such people, but maybe there are - have a little compassion, my friends, for everyone who is trying to be happy and good) :well, I am an expert on conversations with the unloved and I have said this again and again IRL and I am saying in tonight online ------- happiness is a little more complicated for such people, but just as important, and eventually even more powerful as an emotion, as a reward, as THE TRUTH. Even such people eventually realize how to do what we have to do in order to be happy in such a way that we do not know if we are in heaven or on earth. As long as you have life in your heart, you can make others happy.

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

BTW, did you hear the latest?

There are apparently reports the ARM's Beloved and Heroic ChiComs were attempting to market remdesivir as early as January.

Well well well.

Wouldn't that be quite the little wrinkle in the coordinated ChiCom/Dem/LLR-lefty Sham-peachment III effort?

Ken B said...

ARM
The denialists are high-fiving some imaginary end of the epidemic, while 2390 died yesterday, per Worldometer. It’s a mass delusion on the Right.

Inga said...

There is nothing more amusing than to see Drago in high dudgeon with no one to argue with.

Inga said...

Iowa hospitals are scrambling trying to get into high gear with the increasing cases coming in.

Lewis said...

Freedom is terror - to be free is to be terrified - death is the marching order - if you didn't know that why were you born - if you find it difficult, get a religion!

Drago said...

Inga: "There is nothing more amusing than to see Drago in high dudgeon with no one to argue with."

LOL

Inga accidently steps in it.

Correct Inga. There is no longer any argument that your 4+ years of lying have come to an end.

Not even Ken B can help you with that now.

Lewis said...

The contempt I feel for people is probably beneath me - but there cowardice provokes me - I spit on all viruses, both real surreal.

Known Unknown said...

""I think all hospitals across Iowa are knowing that the inevitable thing is that a lot of patients will end up starting walking through our door," says Joanne Roepke-Bode, the hospital's public relations manager."

A quote from the PR manager of one Iowa hospital about what might happen. Armageddon!

C'mon Inga. Try harder to find bad news.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Ken B said...
The denialists are high-fiving some imaginary end of the epidemic, while 2390 died yesterday, per Worldometer.


Yes, it is going to be harder to defeat than I thought. Where I live we are seeing declines and I had thought that this would be more generally true, but declines here are being balanced by increases elsewhere. I genuinely have no idea how this is going to play out. If it spreads widely into poorer states it will be a train wreck. Not sure that this is likely, but certainly more likely now than it was a week ago.

Lewis said...

and

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

Lori Loughlin's daughter, from the pictures I've seen, was preternaturally beautiful. Even posed among beautiful people, she stands out. I understand that she was some kind of Instagram influencer and made huge amounts of money.....It seems to me that if Lori Loughlin had played her cards right, she could have gotten USc to pay enormous amounts of money for her permission to allow her daughter to go there....I feel that in the fullness of time Lori Loughlin's daughter will flourish and thrive, but, in the short term, she lost the big bucks she was getting as an influencer....I wonder when beautiful women with seven figure incomes will question the need for a college degree.

Drago said...

Did anyone else notice how quickly Ch-anuck Ken B abandoned his laughably indefensible assertion that the economic shut down actually helped us avoid an economic collapse? (Yes, he literally argued that).

I'll give Ken B this: unlike his fellow lefties, he quickly recognizes an untenable position when he sees it.

stephen cooper said...

Love is freedom, love is the power to see other people happier than they were just a moment before.

Surely you have heard of exponential growth?

That is what love is gifted with, exponential growth.

stevew said...

Number of cases in my state was up today. Number of tests was also up today. Percentage of positive cases from those tested remained steady at <20%. Spike in deaths today, as expected. Hospitalizations are down. All is proceeding as predicted. Time to reopen.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

William said...
It seems to me that if Lori Loughlin had played her cards right, she could have gotten USc to pay enormous amounts of money for her permission to allow her daughter to go there


Why? She is an air-head. How does that help a university, even one as problematic as USC?

Drago said...

BTW, has anybody else been surprised to see democrat elected officials across the nation ordering police in to break up Christian Easter services and Jewish funerals and lobbing threats against them while all the while dems in MN are alowing the muslims to meet without interference everywhere and even allowing the muslim call to prayer to ring out across the city in MN?

We are definitely reaching new milestones in the growing open alliance between the dems and islamic supremacists.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

This is just Gross!

Gahrie said...

Jesus (almost certainly speaking Aramaic)...

Jesus spoke Hebrew.


Does anybody else miss Gene Scott? I am a deist, so I don't believe in the Bible, or Christianity. However I used to spend hours watching this man read and analyze the Bible. He would translate from Aramaic to Latin to English, giving his interpretation of the original meaning of Bible passages.

Lewis said...

Of course, I'd never do that , spit that is, I'm a good person, good, good, good, good, etc

Bay Area Guy said...

Let's talk about the New York Times finally talking about Slow Joe Biden:

Democratic Frustration Mounts as Biden Remains Silent on Sexual Assault Allegation

No mention of the shame, anger and humiliation felt by the VICTIM, from being frontally groped in her privates by a powerful Senator, but, alas, we will take from the Times what we can get.

Money Quote:

As two more women have come forward to corroborate part of Ms. Reade’s allegation, the Biden campaign is facing attacks from the right and increasing pressure from the left to address the issue. And liberal activists find themselves in a tense standoff with a candidate they want to support but who they say has made little attempt to show leadership on an issue that resonates deeply with their party’s base.

“It’s difficult for survivors to see that a woman who has more corroborating sources than most survivors have in similar situations is being tossed aside and actively being weaponized by cynical political actors,” said Shaunna Thomas, a founder of UltraViolet, a women’s rights advocacy group that is involved in the effort to push the campaign. “It would be an incredible moment of leadership for Joe Biden to show up.”


Republicans seize!

Gahrie said...

Why? She is an air-head. How does that help a university, even one as problematic as USC?

Her daughter is a YouTube influencer with a wide reach among 12-20 year old people. Any mention/clips of USC are free advertising to their precise market.

Kathryn51 said...

Inga said...
Iowa hospitals are scrambling trying to get into high gear with the increasing cases coming in.

Really? According to IHME model (updated 4/28), IOWA needs 74 ICU beds and has 247. Huge surplus. Peak date est: May 2nd. Total deaths so far: 118; projection on 8/4: 330

Methinks the "scrambling" is in someone's heads in an effort to fight re-opening.

Birkel said...

So the documentary evidence of FBI corruption is revealing.
Imagine a world in which Leftist Collectivists admit the truth.
Can they see the lawbreaking of the Obama Administration?
Is that world possible?

Drago said...

Its also interesting the entire dem party will shortly be drowning in a "is unwanted digital penetration in a public place rape-rape, rape, or just good old fashioned democrat candidate hi-jinks" discussion.

Should be fun.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Listen to Scumbag Comey Brag About It

(scroll up a bit if req'd)

Drago said...

Birkel: "So the documentary evidence of FBI corruption is revealing."

According to Inga, the documentary evidence provided by the FBI doesnt even exist.

Thats why she called it a conspiracy theory just the other day.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Gahrie said...
Her daughter is a YouTube influencer with a wide reach among 12-20 year old people.


I would not anticipate much overlap between the students influenced by YouTube influencers and the students getting more than 1500 on their SAT score.

USC currently has an acceptance rate of 11%. It's not like they are looking for customers, just better ones.

Lewis said...

Beyond reason am I good, beyond mortal reason, at least - I do sea God, like in my coffee and my cieling - I, the only guy in the world who actually read the bible - the song of solamans, your tits are like a bunch of grapes - I never worked that out, conceptualy - it just seemed absurd - Jeremiah - woe for you and your city - f#ck off, go plague some other city! But I did love it, as a 16 year old, before Marx and Nietzsche!

stephen cooper said...

Lewis, there are lots of people who would love to talk to you IRL, head down to the Salvation Army and hand out some soup, or get a job monitoring monkeys .... such jobs exist, and the monkeys, while they do not need monitoring, like to play along

Lewis said...

And Gibbon - Oh the decline and fall

Lewis said...

Stephen Cooper, your very funny, but not funny enough

stephen cooper said...

Lewis, that was, from my point of view, a pretty good compliment.

I cried tears of joys when I discovered a free colorized version of Men in Black on YOUTUBE

Yancey Ward said...

Just read the transcripts of the e-mails and notes that Emmett Sullivan unsealed in the Michael Flynn case. It was a conspiracy to set Flynn up- no doubt about it now. Bill Priestap's notes are the most damning because he was the only person in the cabal outlined in the materials who had doubts about what they were about to do the day before the January 24th interview with Flynn. Let me set this up:

(1) They decided to target Flynn, and they chose the Logan Act violation based on Flynn's call with Kisylak. Now, the Logan Act has never been used successfully in a prosecution, and was meant to bar private citizens from conducting foreign policy. Flynn, as the incoming national security advisor is not a private citizen any longer and was allowed to talk to and discuss foreign policy with foreign leaders and their staff in preparation for after the inaugural. Every incoming administration does this- literally every single one- it would be metophorical criminal negligence to not do so.

(2) The FBI had the transcript of the call. They literally knew what Kisylak and Flynn talked about. If they really believed (and I will come back to this below) the call itself was illegal, then all they had to do was get Flynn to admit that he made the call- they could even see if, first, he lied about even talking to Kisylak, and then they could show him the transcript to force Flynn to admit that he had, indeed, had the conversation. However, the key point is that with the transcript, they already had proof that Flynn talked to Kisylak- if Flynn violated the Logan Act, they had him dead to rights already, and in the interview, all they needed to nail it shut tight was to get Flynn to admit to the phone call.

(3) In the e-mails and in the Priestap notes, you can clearly see that Strzok, Page, McCabe, and surely their direct superiors like Comey were trying to convince themselves to not show the transcript to Flynn. Indeed, they create ridiculous arguments for not following standard procedure when trying to get a criminal to admit to their crime- in this case violating the Logan Act by talking to Kisylak about the policies favored by the incoming administration. After seeming to agree with strategy of not showing Flynn the transcript, Priestap, the day before the interview was conducted, began to have second thoughts about the strategy of only going for perjury trap- he literally asks Strzok etal. what the actual goal was, to get an admission of a violation of the Logan Act, or to try to get him to lie about making the phone call?

(4) In the interview, they never showed the transcript to Flynn. Flynn, when asked, admitted to the phone call and he answered questions about the call.

With that setup, it is clear from the e-mails and the notes that Strzok, Priestap, and the rest of the small group planning this never actually believed Flynn violated the Logan Act- they knew the law bullshit, and they knew that even if it wasn't, Flynn had every right to discuss foreign policy as the incoming NSA. The entire interview had only one goal, to find a lie to charge Flynn with. How do we know this- because he was never threatened with a Logan Act violation at any point- even Robert Mueller's team didn't threaten that. What this means is that Flynn's statements in the interview, even if he knowingly lied (which I don't actually grant), are immaterial. The government's own actions make it clear that Flynn didn't violate the Logan Act, and it is reasonable to infer the people investigating this knew it before the interview- it is the only way to make sense of the unsealed e-mails and handwritten notes.

The judge will dismiss the case, I think because of the lack of material lies.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

At the Springtime Cafe...

It's Schpringtime
For Whitmer
And De Blasio!
It's Winter
For...

Gospace said...

This new evidence that just appeared in the Flynn case as reported by Techno Fog is truly damning to the FBI. I'm seriously surprised this particular not wasn't destroyed- that's how damning it is. Just sitting in an evidence box and found by Barr's sleuths? I don't think so.

IMHO, looks like it was saved by someone to use as their own personal "Get Out of Jail Free Card". And they just played it.

Be honest now. Do you think anyone would look at that note and think, "Gee, it's really important for the record and future historians that we document and save this evidence that proves we framed a general."? It's handwritten. No computer records. An electronic search couldn't find it. Into the shredder- it's gone, forever. No evidence anyone at the FBI committed a crime. Yet, here it is, perfectly preserved, legible (for certain degrees of legible), and very clear in it's meaning.

I wonder who played it.

An alternative explanation is there was a White Hat in the officer, waiting for the sheriff to ride in and clean up the town and he's providing help for the sheriff.

fleg9bo said...

Does anybody else miss Gene Scott?

Wasn't he the guy who wore two pair of eyeglasses at the same time?

Lewis said...

'Men in Black' - why, stephen - just watch adverts - why not?

Bay Area Guy said...

Good assessment, Yancey Ward.

The Logan Act is a tell. It was passed in 1799. You know how times it's been used as a basic for criminal prosecution? Precisely 2 times, the last in 1852, both times failed:

Only two indictments have ever been handed down under the Logan Act. The first occurred in 1803 when a grand jury indicted Francis Flournoy, a Kentucky farmer, who had written an article in the Frankfort Guardian of Freedom under the pen name of "A Western American." In the article, Flournoy advocated a separate nation in the western part of the United States that would ally with France. The United States Attorney for Kentucky, an Adams appointee and brother-in-law of Chief Justice John Marshall, went no further than procuring the indictment of Flournoy, and there was no further prosecution of the Kentucky farmer. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory later that year appeared to cause the separatism issue to become moot, and the case was abandoned.[2][10]

In 1852, Jonas Phillips Levy became the second and, to date the last, person to be indicted under the Logan Act.


Any prosecutor who even mentions the Logan Act is a fucking deceitful bastard and should be disbarred.

Yancey Ward said...

Priestap knew what they were doing was wrong and unethical, but he didn't have the courage to make an actual stand. The group wanted to charge Flynn with a crime, but they knew they didn't have one unless they could catch Flynn in a knowing lie. It is also clear that Strzok and Pientka thought they had failed to catch Flynn in a lie- McCabe admitted this in public testimony before Congress. However, that 302 wasn't officially filed until 3 weeks later, when it is supposed to filed within a day or two of the interview. That three week delay was almost certainly used to fiddle with the notes and the Qs and As. It is hard to come up with another explanation for the delay and the original story that the agents didn't think Flynn lied.

Lewis said...

Your talking about the original tv thing?/ Sorry, I didn't understand

Shouting Thomas said...

I would not anticipate much overlap between the students influenced by YouTube influencers and the students getting more than 1500 on their SAT score.

USC currently has an acceptance rate of 11%. It's not like they are looking for customers, just better ones.


Jesus, but the stupid flows off of you in torrents, ARM.

Have you bothered to look at the kind of money young people are making on YouTube? I can name at least 5 whose programming my grandkids watch who’ve become multimillionaires in the past 3 or 4 years.

USC is currently in the midst of an enormous scandal for selling places in its classes and faking athletic resumes for students who have none.

Add in the quota shit, and you’ve really got a mess.

Do you ever pull your head out of your ass?

Big Mike said...

Do you really believe her sat - high or low - had any bearing on her admission?

If her SAT score was too hideously low then I don't think she would have been accepted, no. If she was a recruited athlete then her SAT wouldn't matter much, but I can't imagine that the drama department would come to admissions office and say "she's the daughter of a Golden Globe winner, we have to have her for our theatrical productions!"

Or have you fallen for the standard "if the band needs an oboe player" speech from the Dean of Admissions at a few too many universities?

Yancey Ward said...

"IMHO, looks like it was saved by someone to use as their own personal "Get Out of Jail Free Card". And they just played it."

I absolutely agree with this assessment, and it is obvious that this material was saved by Bill Priestap himself. As far as I can tell, the only handwritten notes are from Priestap- the rest are system e-mails that are harder to accidentally toss into the Potomac.

Gahrie said...

If her SAT score was too hideously low

I got into USC after applying in March of my senior year (1983) with a 2.5 GPA and an 1180 SAT score.

stephen cooper said...

Three Stooges Men in Black was colorized in 2004, but I am not very internet savvy did not realize until April 2020 that the whole thing is free on the internet.

It is even funnier in color than it was in black and white

Lewis said...

Of course, before I read any of that it was Tolkien , which I read severn times before my guilt set in - then, shakespear, , Marlowe, Ben Johnson, anyone who could answer my call

Kathryn51 said...

Yancey Ward said. .. .
With that setup, it is clear from the e-mails and the notes that Strzok, Priestap, and the rest of the small group planning this never actually believed Flynn violated the Logan Act- they knew the law bullshit, and they knew that even if it wasn't,

The "Logan Act violation" was a creation of the sanctimonious snake Sally Yates. In a list of the 3 politicians I loathe (HIllary, Nancy and Yates), it's a toss-up between Sally and Hillary. Nancy has nothing on them.

I want to know if Sally Yates was in that meeting - from what I see, the notes don't list the meeting attendees (or they are redacted).

Shouting Thomas said...

Without direct knowledge of USC, I think I can say this with some confidence about their student body:

- They have a huge body of imported Chinese students paying full price
- A very large percentage of their entering classes are unqualified quota babies
- That probably leaves 30 to 50% of their incoming slots for qualified, non-quota U.S. citizens

Tuition and room and board at USC for in-state residents is $60,000 per year. That means potentially taking on a 1/4 million in debt.

And you think YouTube entrepreneurs aren’t smart? They go into biz for the cost of a couple of cameras and backgrounds.

Ever heard of Bill Gates?

Big Mike said...

and the fact that he chose Michael Ledeen as a co-author did not speak highly of his judgment,

OTOH, Farmer, he didn't choose you so there's hope for him yet!

Lewis said...

Which was tragic and dreadful - as Martina realised, very quickly - I drove her mad.

Jon Ericson said...

As paraphrased by Dave Hayes:

If the chain of command, which includes high ranking employees in the DOJ, FBI, CIA (foreign and domestic) are found guilty of the crimes of treason, sedition and subversive activities, [specific charges of which are still classified] in the cases; USA vs. Clapper, USA vs. Comey, USA vs. Brennan, etc [6 defendants in all] regarding FISA abuse, can the argument be made that the chain of command in the Hillary email investigation and the DNC hack investigation was filled with corrupt people?

Original Mike said...

Blogger paminwi said..."Flynn was set up.
He knows too much about what happened in the Obama administration."


My jaw dropped yesterday when I learned that Eric Holder was a partner at Covington and Burling.

But I don't want to be Inga. Did he have real influence in the firm?

(I apologize if this was discussed upthread. I virtually always read the comments first, but not this time.)

narciso said...

Which he represented purdue pharmaceuticals before the west virginia supreme court in 2006, his firm represented 17 yemeni terrorists.

Kathryn51 said...

Gospace said...

IMHO, looks like it was saved by someone to use as their own personal "Get Out of Jail Free Card". And they just played it.

If only we could be a fly on the wall of Lisa, Peter and Pientko (sp?). If they took notes, they were either destroyed long ago OR (as I would always do), they were carefully written to Only Document The Narrative I Wanted.

I want to know exactly WHO was in that meeting.

narciso said...

You would think that ledeen speaking well of hussein mussawi would commend him. He opposed the communists in the italian govt and the brigatte rossi outside.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

covington was supposedly the go-to firm for FARA issues
but Flynn knew Holder was there-- Why did he hire them?
Did he proceed knowing they would set him up, so he could
get at them later?
How much legal malpractice hot water is Covinton in?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Lisa "Gingivus Maximus" Page has a nice entry where she uses the phrase

"casually slip it in"

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

schnoob

narciso said...

Bolton was in that firm so was chris cooper and natch michael chertoff.

effinayright said...

J. Farmer said...
I never followed the Russia hoax machinations but never liked the idea of Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser. His book The Field of Fight was a muddled and confused mess, and the fact that he chose Michael Ledeen as a co-author did not speak highly of his judgment.
*******************

Thus Spake J. Farmer!

Well, All RIGHT then!

Original Mike said...

"How much legal malpractice hot water is Covinton in?"

For three years I've read that Flynn was of modest means, and he had to plea because he was out of money.

I think those days are past.

William said...

I think Lori Loughlin's daughter would lend cachet to the campus. If athletes can get scholarships for their physical prowess, why not grant scholarships to women of exceptional beauty and well connected showbiz parents. If accepted by the Drama or Film Dept at USC, I'm sure her fellow students could more profitably network with her than with the average 1500 SAT student....I only put my sarcasm level here at about 20%.

Original Mike said...

"but Flynn knew Holder was there-- Why did he hire them?"

We don't know Flynn knew. But regardless; how much influence did Holder have at the firm?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yancey- great analysis

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If Biden wins - all those criminals get their power back.

I don't care how much anyone hates Trump. Buck up and learn to love this nation more.
The left are corrupt.

Jon Ericson said...

William, I am a fan of your precision-calibrated sarcasm tool.

The Godfather said...

This is a serious question to anyone who knows the answer:

Does anyone really know what language Jesus was speaking when he said the various things scripture says he said? The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, which was the (if you'll pardon the expression) lingua franca in the eastern Roman Empire at the time. I understand that by that time, in fact long before the time of Jesus, most Jews no longer spoke or read Hebrew, which is why the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians call the "Old Testament") were translated into Greek (the Septuagint) by Jewish scholars in Egypt. When I was growing up, my Jewish friends went to Hebrew School so they could recite scripture in Hebrew for their Bar Mitzvahs (no Bat Mitzvahs in those dark days). Perhaps First Century Jews could recite passages from scripture in Hebrew, just as Roman Catholics of my generation could recite parts of the Mass in Latin, but I don't think that made either the Jews or Catholics of my childhood bi-lingual. I assume that when (for example) Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan, he spoke to the people in a language they would understand. Does anybody here know what language that was likely to be?

William said...

I read that the head of Britain's intelligence agency believed that Henry Wilson, the PM, was a Russian agent. The FBI did more to sabotage Trump than that man did to subvert Wilson.....The Hoover FBI had a dim view of anarchists, Communists, Black Panthers et al. The left believed that the mind set there caused the FBI to unfairly target and prosecute these people. The Comey FBI, or anyway the coterie that investigated Trump, had a dim view of Trump. They might even have believed that he was crazy or in collusion with Putin. Can someone on the left not admit that if the FBI mindset of a different era resulted in unfair condemnation of patriots like Alger Hiss and Lillian Hellman, then the mindset of Comey's FBI may have resulted in unfair investigations of Trump and his team members.

narciso said...

Probably aramaic then, since it was the local dialect.

narciso said...

Harold wilson, he succeeded high gaitskell who was a staunch opponent of the communists, under odd circumstamces, golitsyn who worked in shmersh suggested that his work on a trade mission tp the soviet union suggested his sympathies

effinayright said...

Does anyone really know what language Jesus was speaking when he said the various things scripture says he said?
********

I believe the consensus is that he spoke Aramaic.

"It is generally agreed by historians that Jesus and his disciples primarily spoke Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean dialect distinguishable from that of Jerusalem." ---wikipedia.

https://www.history.com/news/jesus-spoke-language

narciso said...

Now adays most of the bureau and mi 6 are largely left leaning among their leadership ranks

narciso said...

Steele for instance was leftwing at cambridge, and his experiences in russia didnt improve his outlook

Ken B said...

Aramaic.

narciso said...

He was burned among 150 others by richard tomlinson a gruntled ex sas mi6 operative

Original Mike said...

"It's handwritten. No computer records. An electronic search couldn't find it. Into the shredder- it's gone, forever. No evidence anyone at the FBI committed a crime. Yet, here it is…"

Yeah, how 'bout that?

Lewis Wetzel said...


Blogger Shouting Thomas said...
. . .
Do you ever pull your head out of your ass?

He calls himself "A Reasonable Man," not "A Man With His Head Outside His Ass."

J. Farmer said...

Thus Spake J. Farmer!

Well, All RIGHT then


OTOH, Farmer, he didn't choose you so there's hope for him yet!

I guess there's supposed to be a point to comments like this, but it escapes me. Are we supposed to just not have opinions about public people? Are presidential staffing decisions beyond reproach?

J. Farmer said...

Perhaps First Century Jews could recite passages from scripture in Hebrew, just as Roman Catholics of my generation could recite parts of the Mass in Latin, but I don't think that made either the Jews or Catholics of my childhood bi-lingual.

Rabbinic Judaism doesn't begin until after the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70AD. Before that, the most important part of Judaism was probably animal sacrifices.

narciso said...

He was an italian literature professor if memory serves he wrote his thesis on d'annuzio

narciso said...



How did they miss this:

https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/04/ap-ignores-84-covid-19-deaths.html?m=1

Mark said...

The Dominion War begins.

narciso said...

He received info from italian foreigm intrlligence (which is the right side of the agency atarting in the mid 70s) domestic intelligence was more leftwing

Birkel said...

Smug is confused that people read Smug and don't like its Smugness.

narciso said...

Sid vicious who never heard a soviet narrative he couldnt parrot staged a witchhunt a decade later aftet ledeen had left the state department

Andrew said...

@Yancey,
I join those thanking you for the Flynn summary and analysis. I've been too busy lately to spend as much time as I'd like digging into it. I appreciate someone else doing the leg work.

Frankly, I get too infuriated when I think about all this, to the point where it's not healthy for me. These are evil people who should spend the rest of their lives in jail. I wish we still executed people for treason. What I'd really like to know is the motive. It just seems too extreme, unless Flynn really had some knowledge that was dangerous. Why would they go to so much trouble, and take such a risk? Why so much hatred of a decent man? There must be a lot more to this story.

narciso said...

He wanted to upset the applecart he could see past cooked intelligence served up the obama administration that served islamist goals, he was one of the first to actively campaign for trump because he knew the stakes involved for that they tried to bankrupt him tarnish his name.

J. Farmer said...

Smug is confused that people read Smug and don't like its Smugness.

As opposed to all of the other opinionating that goes on here, which is just full of circumspection and self-doubt.

stephen cooper said...

"feeling" guilty is often just self-indulgence, it is easier than making amends .... imagine you are a young mother, loved by your husband and with healthy children, and there is a moment when you remember you made fun, in 10th grade, of that poor girl with the pizza-face acne - she later died, in her early 20s, after years of despair from endometriosis and loneliness, and you have no idea if she knew that you felt bad for mocking her pizza face --- and imagine you happen to be thinking about this, at a moment when your child wakes from a nap, before you realize the child has woken up, and has seen the expression on your face you have when you think about how cruel you were to that poor young woman ---- do you indulge yourself in front of your child, WHO WANTS YOU TO BE HAPPY because after all if you are not happy for that creature nobody else will be able to convince that poor creature that the world was a good place, that moment _ AND THE WORLD WAS A GOOD PLACE< the young woman with the pizza face acne either did not think about you or forgave you, and would have wanted you to smile, in that moment, because ON EARTH we only have a finite number of moments, and if you are a young mother, there are an even smaller number of moments where you have the choice to smile and be happy as your child wakes from a nap, wanting to see your face, or to indulge in guilt.

Trust me, you will have many many chances to make up for the bad things you did, at other moments ----- moments when your sorrow will not make another creature unhappy. I can count to billions, I can count to trillions, remembering the past, and so can you. I have made dogs and cats laugh, trust me, and many other creatures too, phantasmic pulp stars included ----- but we are all finite, amirite........

narciso said...

Is that enough, now james woolsey who also worked for turkey, cooked up the story flymn wanted to render the turkish cleric who was trotsky to erdogans stalin.

narciso said...

Does that give you an inkling,

Birkel said...

Back to the Logan Act nonsense: The Logan Act is a dead letter. Everybody knows that.

But here come Leftist Collectivists to demand compliance with unconstitutional laws passed in 1799 before the Court even established judicial review. And on this one rule this one time they pretend the law is the law is the law. No deviations because it was written in a law book. Sure, I mean Free Mumia and all. He only killed a couple cops, say a lot of Lefties. But enforce that unconstitutional law this one time. But not against John Kerry. Or Teddy Kennedy.

It's not hypocrisy, of course. It's something much dumber.

Who?
Whom?

J. Farmer said...

Why is Muhammed Gülen living here?

Ken B said...

Farmer
Your mother wears army boots.

😉

J. Farmer said...

Back to the Logan Act nonsense: The Logan Act is a dead letter. Everybody knows that.

Absolutely agree. Whenever you hear someone invoke the Logan Act, you can usually be sure they're full of shit.

narciso said...

He created the machinery that made it possible for erdogan to take over turkey, like trotskys red army

Birkel said...

I cannot help you.
When I state the obvious you should not give it thought.
Pass it by.
Probably has cooties.

Doesn't make it less true.

narciso said...

The ostensible reason was to purge the grey wolves thats ergonokon 1

n.n said...

ap-ignores-84-covid-19-deaths

To paraphrase WaPo: The truth is aborted at the twilight fringe.

Mark said...

I don't think that made either the Jews or Catholics of my childhood bi-lingual.

Many of the Jews of the time were probably tri-lingual to some extent. Aramaic, their daily language; Hebrew, which they studied and used in reading from the Torah and Prophets and maybe religious instruction; and the natives of Israel probably knew a smattering of Greek, with the Jews of the Diaspora being fluent in Greek and probably knowing only a bit of Aramaic. Some of them might have known a tiny bit of Latin as a necessary matter in order to understand and converse with their Roman occupiers. Paul might have been conversant in all four.

J. Farmer said...

Your mother wears army boots.

I thought it was combat boots. Six of one, half-dozen of another I suppose.

narciso said...

They had been 400 years seluecid and then roman occupation.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

We don't know Flynn knew. But regardless; how much influence did Holder have at the firm?

Who knows but Covington & Burling just got caught hidding thousands of pages of Flynn's file from Flynn's new lawyer.

The Judge just gave C&B until Monday to certify under oath they have turned over Flynn's entire file to him.

Mark said...

There is that scene in The Passion of the Christ where Pilate is questioning Jesus in Aramaic and Jesus answers in fluent Latin and Pilate has this look of surprise on his face.

I would not be surprised if that artistic license didn't have some truth in it. And I wouldn't be surprised, even considering the mystery of the human-divine dynamic existing in Jesus, that until that day, Jesus knew very little Latin, but then being not only human with human limitations, is also divine and all-knowing, Jesus then tapped into that and was instantly fluent in Latin.

narciso said...

By not standing by general flynn threw chum in the water, and put himself in the crosshairs of the muellerwixky.

Narr said...

I love Willie Wordsy!

" 'Twas in truth an hour
Of universal ferment; mildest men
Were agitated; and commotions, strife
Of passions and opinion, filled the walls
Of peaceful houses with unquiet sounds.
The soil of common life was, at that time,
Too hot to tread upon. Oft said I then,
And not then only, "What a mockery this
Of history, the past and that to come!
Now do I feel how all men are deceived,
Reading of nations and their works, in faith,
Faith given to vanity and emptiness:
Oh! laughter for the page that would reflect
To future times the face of what now is!"

Narr
The more things change . . .

Lewis said...

I'm completely f#cked - -it's not a question of 'if' or 'when' - more precisely 'why' - the hideousness of myself, the great ugliness of my being being unimportant - why? - be cause I am desperately unhappy I am alone - a Judas to all my feelings can I sleep, now?

Bay Area Guy said...

Rasmussen Poll: 51% say reopen with modest restrictions/38% say stay closed.

Tide has shifted.

Florida reopening Mon.

Napa, CA hair salon -- reopening.

Georgia nail salon - reopening. (Scaredy cat NYT edition).

Let them work!

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Some of them might have known a tiny bit of Latin as a necessary matter in order to understand and converse with their Roman occupiers.

Mark said...

That matter of Jesus being fully human, which means being subject to human limitations, including knowledge, and Jesus being fully divine, which means being omniscient, is indeed a mystery, that is, beyond our full comprehension.

So, for example -- Could Jesus be surprised at something? If you told a joke, would he laugh (which would imply that he did not already know the punchline)?

If he was always in divine mode, then that would be a bit of a cheat, wouldn't it be? Then he would not fully experience the human experience, which was part of the whole point of God becoming man, to share all of our limitations.

Lewis said...

Anne, people write rubbish, don't they - there was I absolutely prettified of your judgement! Standing as stone!

Mark said...

Not looking at the link yet, Churchy, but I'm guessing its a scene from The Life of Brian.

Mark said...

Which is also another good way to respond to this covid alarmism --

"Always look on the bright side of life (whistle, whistle, whistle)"

narciso said...

He was divine in his nature but he would not call upon powers except to demostrate signs. For example when he was in the desert for 40 days he could have broken fast but he chose not to.

Mark said...

HA.

I knew it.

J. Farmer said...

Jesus then tapped into that and was instantly fluent in Latin.

Once you accept this possibility, then there is simply no point in trying to put Jesus in any kind of historical or contextual understanding. Even if we accept the accuracy of the Gospels, I don't see who could've been present at the meeting with Pilate to provide the information on what happened.

narciso said...

Why you think jesus couldnt have told the story before pentecost.

Narr said...

I don't want to speculate about what Jesus spoke (Aramaic is what I always read) but Nietzsche famously quipped that "God spoke bad Greek!"

And I'm having trouble typing or we could talk more about the Logan Act, and my own favorite, the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1843.

Narr
I made that up. Good night.

stephen cooper said...

Lewis you remind me of me, God looked on me more than once, as a disappointed older brother looks on a younger brother who was not tough enough or cool enough, but God was great at creating things and was the FIRST CREATOR but God appreciates the fact that I WAS HAPPY even in a small corner of his creation, THAT I, who could never compare to a first creator, nevertheless often made his beloved dogs and cats laugh .... It is important to be a creator but it is also important to make creation a little better, EVEN THE CREATOR HIMSELF has acknowledged that, has said "THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST AND THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST" was he talking about me, who prides myself on having made not only cats and dogs laugh but even small bats, large crows, and even once in a while a cockroach or two or two hundred (true that) ????? I DON"T KNOW ..... but the woman with the acne problem remembered with me with fondness, years later, because she had not believed in God and did not believe God cared but she knew I cared (she was actually kind of hot, would have looked great in a lace bra and lace panties, and I TOLD HER THAT DID YOU TELL HER THAT?)

of course you didn't. I cared, and I told her.

Pleasanton, 1974, I remember.

Mark said...

There could very well have been -- and likely was -- a few guards present at the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate. It would not be surprising if they later converted and relayed what happened, if Jesus did not tell about it himself later. In any event, it was not until after Pentecost, after receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit, that the somewhat slow-to-get-it Apostles finally gained all sorts of understanding and sharp memory.

Lewis said...

Because you're a bit like my mum, but her better 'self', if that were possible - intelligent, beautiful, smart - what I believe a woman should be, can be, is. My despair,sometimes, takes me to the back alley and shoots me in the head, wending, winding ways - the only thing important is people like you - real people.

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

As the Flynn case unravels, like all prog ventures of the past four years, here's Techno Fog:

"How they planned to get Flynn removed:

1) Get Flynn “to admit to breaking the Logan Act”; or

2) Catch Flynn in a lie.

Their end goal was a referral to the DOJ - not to investigate Flynn's contacts with the Russians."

The tell in the unsealed documents is what they don't say: as they plan to entrap Flynn, none of the FBI thugs expresses any concern about the Russians. In the whole Russia fiasco, even the Russians, and the invocation of "Russians," were merely tools.

J. Farmer said...

Why you think jesus couldnt have told the story before pentecost.

I simply mean as an historical matter. I have no opinion on the theology. For what it's worth, from an historical perspective, I think the Jesus as a Jewish apocalyptic is probably the most likely explanation, with Christianity primarily being created by Paul.

Mark said...

Does Mark Cuban really have that big of a head and that small of a body? Or is it just the way he looks on the video phone?

buwaya said...

Feeling guilty, or expressing regret, etc. is so much BS.

The proper way through is pain, physical pain. Pain teaches on an animal level. Thats why in Catholic practice mortification of the flesh was at one time almost universal among the clergy, and in some places very common among the laity too.

This could be private, or public, if some good public purpose could be helped by it, such as that of Henry IV at Canossa. Crawling up the cathedral steps on your knees is a striking public display of humility and submission, and I can testify that it can be extremely painful, if there are a lot of steps.

Medieval men seem to have known a lot about human nature that has been lost in modern times. They were empirical sorts, and are despised in these times when one must first have a clever theory.

Lewis said...

You know I hate women with an absolute rigor of hate - not even thinking, a reflex, I throw up at the site of 'them'! Every woman I despise because she despises me. But it's not that, only, it's Martina, truly, the only woman I loved.

J. Farmer said...

Does Mark Cuban really have that big of a head and that small of a body? Or is it just the way he looks on the video phone?

Probably a little of both. Apparently selling a worthless company to Yahoo at the height of the dot com bubble makes you a business genius.

buwaya said...

Henry IV's penance was to stand for days in the snow, just to be clear.
Not crawling up steps.

stephen cooper said...

would have liked to meet your mom, in Pleasanton, in 1974

J. Farmer said...

The proper way through is pain, physical pain. Pain teaches on an animal level.

Completely disagree. I hate the notion that pain and suffering is somehow ennobling.

Mark said...

The proper way through is pain, physical pain. Pain teaches on an animal level. Thats why in Catholic practice mortification of the flesh was at one time almost universal among the clergy, and in some places very common among the laity too.

A better understanding of redemptive suffering is, I submit, a better approach.

Lewis said...

 Tramp.

Forgotten towers
Broken in my presence.
Or I’m a tramp
Exhausted in travelling,
Beaten by brooms.

Just as I was saying
“Yes, I realise...”
She kicked me from the stair,
Emptied me like a bucket
On the street,
Spilling to the cat flaps,
Simultaneous purr on each door,
Preaching like Jesus
“I’ll heal no one!"

Mark said...

Pain and suffering in life are unavoidable. Carrying a cross is unavoidable. You don't need to go creating it intentionally.

The question is how you receive it and seek to give it some meaning.

Lewis said...

Autumn.

Below the cry of a bat
Foots shadow on frozen faces:

Wan luxuries,
Chilled notes of dawn.

Lewis said...

In reference to Dante, of course

narciso said...

Monty python mocks the gospel, and 30 some years later the uk is an unsafe untaught wilderness where domestic and foreign predator roam

J. Farmer said...

Pain and suffering in life are unavoidable.

True. That’s the starting pointing of Buddhism.

Lewis said...

The Street I.

Corners catching
A broken moon:
That and the tumble
Of drunken feet,
Splash of voices.

Thirst among the lamps pools,
Cry from the slashed mouth,
Flutter of lids and the street
Like the stamped pieces
Of a fractured vision.

Original Mike said...

"In the whole Russia fiasco, even the Russians, and the invocation of "Russians," were merely tools."

Well, but Crossfire Hurricane, the Steele Dossier, and all that had been going on for months. I don't think railroading Flynn and "Trump colluded with Russia" were related.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger J. Farmer said...
Why you think jesus couldnt have told the story before pentecost.
I simply mean as an historical matter. I have no opinion on the theology. For what it's worth, from an historical perspective, I think the Jesus as a Jewish apocalyptic is probably the most likely explanation, with Christianity primarily being created by Paul.

But you stop at the more important question. Why would Paul create Christianity?
Paul's letters survive. Paul is a historical figure to a greater extent than Christ. Paul lost social status and wealth when he became a champion of Christianity. He was imprisoned and killed because of his Christianity.

Mark said...

Certainly we must do whatever we can to reduce suffering: to avoid as far as possible the suffering of the innocent; to soothe pain; to give assistance in overcoming mental suffering. These are obligations both in justice and in love, and they are included among the fundamental requirements of the Christian life and every truly human life. Great progress has been made in the battle against physical pain; yet the sufferings of the innocent and mental suffering have, if anything, increased in recent decades. Indeed, we must do all we can to overcome suffering, but to banish it from the world altogether is not in our power. This is simply because we are unable to shake off our finitude and because none of us is capable of eliminating the power of evil, of sin which, as we plainly see, is a constant source of suffering. . . .

We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. . . .

Christ descended into “Hell” and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light. Suffering and torment is still terrible and well-nigh unbearable. Yet the star of hope has risen—the anchor of the heart reaches the very throne of God.

-- Spe Salvi, 36-37 (Saved by Hope), Pope Benedict XVI

«Oldest ‹Older   1 – 200 of 277   Newer› Newest»