... you can talk about whatever you want.
The actual sunrise time today was 6:14. Photo taken at 6:16.
April 16, 2020
At the Sunrise Café...
... you can talk about whatever you want.
The actual sunrise time today was 6:14. Photo taken at 6:16.
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299 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 299 of 299IngaChucketal,
Ellen? DeGeneres? Naw. She is really a very nice person. She would have a nervous breakdown playing Hilary.
I like robert downey jr both in marvel and the sherlock holmes not really acting, denzel is very good but i think frank lucas plus alonzo were very detrimental because they were so well done.
Full Moon and BAG,
AND I have a crush on Doron.
Homeland was excellent for the first few seasons.
I can't help it. I'm drawn this way.
Anne-I-Am said...Goopy Gwyneth can't play Hilary. She is too soft and feminine. Glenn Close could play the old Hilary. Young one? Do we have a blond dyke-ish actress who is unsympathetic and laughs like a hyena?
Maddow? Her HS photos show she's a natural blonde.
The only Gosling movies I have seen are "Murder By Numbers", "Fracture", and "Place Beyond the Pines". Always meant to watch the Blade Runner sequal, but have never gotten around to it.
she's nasty, yo. Dont kid yourself!
Did anyone watch the first episode of Hulu's Mrs. America, where Cate Blanchett depicts Phyllis Schlafly during her anti-ERA crusade? Reviews have been good, but I've noticed some expected backlash, though admittedly not as much as I thought. Buzzfeed: "Hollywood Casts A Very Flattering Light On Right-Wing White Women." WaPo: "Mrs. America' Tells the Story of the Women's Movement from the Dark Side of the Force" Vanity Fair: "Mrs. America Tells the Villain's Story"
plus-- 'roided-up-- as in 'roid rage-- like Fredo Cuomo!
Yes then it went pearshaped i didnt minds carries bipolarity because she was still right regardless.
When you realize that it was Yosemite Sam who played Jessica Rabbit, the question of best actor of all time gets simple.
Yeah, special effects guy should have got the oscar. Way better than Walter Goggins as tranny in Sons of Malarky
Anarchy..
chickelit: "Ischia looks like a bigger version of Capri"
Egads! Bite your tongue!! (that would be an "Ischian" response to that statement)
But you're right. Capri is close by off the coast of Sorrento, which is also amazing.
That was a pretty severe hatchet job, of course they have rose byrne as steinem, what do they comsider vicious.
Theres one timothy oliphant raylan hasnt been in many films the diehard and gone in 60 seconds are the exception.
@Chickelit
yes-- get him with the over-reaction--
that's the stupid game they've been playing any way so far--
Early Travel ban?---xenophobic hysteria!!
Med team takes time tracking (the V-Word)--- He thinks its a hoax!!!
If he says 'up', they scream 'down!!', and vice versa
I do love Cate Blanchett.
Have no interest in seeing the MSM do a hit job on Phyllis Schlafly. The ERA was a Trojan Horse. God. I halfway wish women had never gotten the franchise. They vote on sentiment. Worst idea ever.
Ellen? Nasty? Well, I will take your word for it. Her standup is so clean. And it makes me laugh.
Rachel Maddow? A blond. Hunh. Well there you go. She is almost TOO masculine to be Hilary. Damn, that creature is just ... creepy.
Timothy Oliphant. He is sometimes so HOT and sometimes so .... droopy. Justified is a great series. Not just because of TO. Walter Goggins? Fabulous. Great soundtrack. I am almost ready to watch that again.
Added comment from last night's discussion about deaths from COVID. Here is the US data using 7 day moving average:
04/03/20 19.3%
04/04/20 18.9%
04/05/20 15.7%
04/06/20 14.1%
04/07/20 15.0%
04/08/20 12.6%
04/09/20 10.2%
04/10/20 10.3%
04/11/20 7.0%
04/12/20 6.6%
04/13/20 5.6%
04/14/20 4.7%
04/15/20 6.1%
04/16/20 4.2%
Not exponential.
Robert Duval.
Yes some might say walton stole the show from oliphant. Oddly it hasnt gone into syndication,
Robert Duval. Yes. A great one.
Damn. All of these men I would gladly have eat crackers in my bed. (Snort.)
What can a girl do but dream.
Speaking of nolan he has one film still scheduled to release on time in july, some thought dunkirk was a dissapointment.
@Anne:
Ellen? Nasty? Well, I will take your word for it. Her standup is so clean. And it makes me laugh.
Oddly enough, Google has been pushing stories and YouTube videos at me regarding Ellen really being a horrible person. I have no idea why, since I don't watch her show. I did use to watch her old sitcom from the 90's, though. I remember all the controversy when she came out. Was it really a big shocker to people that Ellen was a dyke?
Robert Duvall was really great in an underappreciated Ron Howard film called The Paper, which starred Michael Keaton. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look.
full body pillow and some ground-up saltines and yer good!
Drago said...But you're right. Capri is close by off the coast of Sorrento, which is also amazing.
Read up on the history of Friedrich Krupp and Capri. He was shamed ivy the press around the turn of the 20th century for trysts with young boys and he committed suicide. His elder daughter Bertha inherited the Krupp firm and she married a dope who did both Kaiser Wilhelm's and Hitler's bidding -- arming both to the teeth. Truly a consequential event.
"by" not 'ivy". mea culpa
I don't understand why I need to know the sexual proclivities of people on Youtube doing things other than anything that has to do with sex. I just don't give a shit about them personally. I don't want to know whom they fuck, what their favorite color is, what they like to eat, anything. Just stop.
lots of 'nasty Ellen' entries on the web
arent a portion of comedians like that in real life?
"I AM LITERALLY WATCHING FAUDA AS WE SPEAK!!!!!! LOVE IT. Was thinking maybe I should learn Hebrew. Why not?"
Anne-I-am and I have good synchronicity.
Be afraid, you leftist, atheist, fuzzy thinking do-gooders!
J Farmer,
You know, I seem to recall that Ellen was caught at some sort of sporting event with W. It set the Left on its ear; how dare a lesbian consort with such a cretin as George W Bush. That is probably why she is being smeared. God, the left is nasty. They are just scum.
I never watch TV, so I didn't know who Ellen was or what her TV show was, and then there was this hoopla about her being gay, and I thought, So What? I am really fucking tired of hearing about what people like to do in bed. Is there anything more boring than all of these people obsessing over themselves?
Bay Area Guy,
We are ready to take on NoCal, at any rate!!!
Anne-I-Am, when Justified was in its first run, I referred to Timothy Oliphant as "my TV boyfriend." (sigh) My husband just rolled his eyes.
But yes, Justified is worth a re-watch. The best episodes featured both TO and Goggins, who is freakin' brilliant. That said, I am not in the least interested in his new sitcom, The Unicorn. I don't do sitcoms since "Must-See TV" ended a zillion years ago... with the exception of The Office, which I simultaneously winced through and enjoyed.
TV is so weird. My oldest recommended Kingdom, Korean zombie series. Far superior to both GoT and Walking Dead -- on Netflix. Gorgeous production, interesting scripts. But I've no interest in seeing *anything* on a broadcast network these days.
re: Ancient Greek and Hebrew: I studied Ancient Greek and some Modern Greek. Easy to transition. Some new words, simpler grammar - cases and endings. Katharevousa is an amalgam of both which leans primarily on the Ancient. Don't know about Hebrew.
Joan,
Didn't know he had a new sitcom. Did like The Santa Clarita Diet. It was so campy, and I could see how much fun TO and Drew Barrymore were having. And a funny take on the Zombie thing.
Walking Dead got old for me after two seasons. Same story, over and over, with no end game. Loved GOT until the last two seasons. Will check out Kingdom, though not a big fan of zombies.
Nonetheless, am prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse, should it come.
therea this turkish offering available primarily in soanish you sometimes dont need the sub titles
Random thought of the evening:
What's Pete Butigieg been doing the past 2 months?
You kind of wished the zombies would wrap it up already.
BlackjohnX said...I studied Ancient Greek and some Modern Greek. Easy to transition.
Does it matter in which directIon? I'm studying modern Greek. Once I get comfortable with that, I might turn back in time.
I had planned to go to Rhodes in July, but those hopes were dashed. My fantasy was to hang out on beaches, speaking Greek, Italian, German, French, and English with whomever chanced by.
Was there anything more absurd than the last campaign season, like they say fiction has to make sense.
Bay Area Guy said...
Random thought of the evening:
What's Pete Butigieg been doing the past 2 months?
Bending south?
I do wish the zombies would just move to the end game. But I guess intelligence is not a feature of creatures whose brains are rotted.
Pete? I really, really dislike that guy. What a sanctimonious prick. And so proud of himself for being a clean-cut gay. Barf. Ready to manipulate all those stoopid white women. About the second time he started his lecture about what makes a real Christian, I was ready to throat punch him. Not a very Christian sentiment, I will admit.
Why can't gay guys be a little less like pussies?
Maybe because of erdogans end goal, but turkish soaps seem to take more care with the scripts the cinematography and the a ting
They spent so much money on these losers skippy (its like he was adopted by a kennedy) the fake indian, heck you couldnt right fiction like this its too unbelievable.
Well this was more enjoyable on balance, some have to dial up the noise to the signal.
I was not able to get into GOT. My friends loved it, my wifey loved, the short fellow got all sort of rave reviews, various women were in a state of undress, various men fought and got killed, but I just couldn't get it.
Maybe, I will try again.
"Rome" on HBO by John Milius was a favorite.
"Curb" with that argumentative little nebbish Larry David is always a laugh riot.
Rome was good.
I forgive you for GOT. Chacun a son gout. (Now where's the harpy to accuse me of being fake-smart?)
That was a milius product, i should have guessed.
Yes thrones was the definjtion of nasty brutish and short.
GoT was always over-rated IMO. I read the books because I (mistakenly) thought the last one published was the end of the series... as I read the last pages I was filled with a sense of dread and then when I actually finished I wanted to throw the book (quite hefty) across the room. GRRM had a few good ideas and then failed to develop them properly. If ever anyone needed a strong editor... yeah. Even more than Stephen King.
Walking Dead -- I think I lasted 3 seasons, but the repetition and the lack of hope and the general incompetence and the venality of the surviving humans disgusted me. Plus, Rick was a complete moron and yet everyone continued to follow him as if he was the Messiah. Yuck. I continue to be surprised that it's still on, but I guess it still gets good ratings?
There's a lot of writing out there about how bleak movies & TV were back in the 70s, and then in the 80s became more optimistic. It's a very simplistic analysis. Now, we've got incredibly bleak and horrific TV but bombastic super-hero movies flooding the theaters. What does that say about us now? Not much beyond Marvel & DC figured out how to milk their existing intellectual property for some decent returns at the box office.
And don't even mention what happened to Star Wars...or Star Trek, for that matter.
Now wasn't this more fun than endless chasing of tails around the Chinese Lung AIDS? We talk and talk and talk about the same stuff. Untill it changes, nothing will change.
Although I do note that the really unhappy party to this nation-wide shutdfown is The Cat. At first, Himself was delighted to have the Staff at home. Now His Lordship is officially over it. I found Him hiding in the pantry this afternoon after my run. He has begun to lecture me about the need for humans to be out of the house for at least 8 hours a day.
@Anne:
You know, I seem to recall that Ellen was caught at some sort of sporting event with W
Yeah, a Dallas Packers game. She also got backlash for defending Kevin Hart during the Oscars hosting nonsense. For what it's worth, Michelle Obama has also taken flak for having a friendship with George W. Bush. Oddly, friendships with Obama, who murdered a 16-year-old kid and destroyed Libya, hasn't engendered any kind of backlash.
Is there anything more boring than all of these people obsessing over themselves?
For a certain subset of people, their identity affiliation and attachment to a cause become the sine qua non of their lives. Sometimes I wonder if it is a result of identity confusion. Some of the most rabid anti-racist activists are of mixed-race heritage.
Rome was everything GoT wished it could be, but wasn't. Kevin McKidd never played a better role than Vorenus, and Ray Stephens just disappeared, in spite of being cast as one of Thor's buddies in at least two MCU movies. Love the two of them together, though, and the way their character arcs diverged and intersected repeatedly. Fabulous, in every sense of the word.
Damn, it sucks being late to a cafe. There's already a thousand comments after the subject I wanted to post about. Anyway, this is an Anthony Hopkins story for Anne-I-Am:
Back when they were filming Fracture (I presume you saw it), they filmed the opening sequence of the film in the hangar where my boss parked his airplane. The scene where Hopkins inspects the recovered airplane crash parts and then drives out of the hangar in a sports car. In between takes, he would take his breaks in our office loft in the hangar. Unfortunately, I missed him that day but the other guy I flew with got to sit and chat with him. A very nice man according to him. Missed him by that much!
Much better, cats have their allotment of oatience,
You kind of wished the zombies would wrap it up already.
Zombie apocalypse stories always seem to be on the same theme. Social order breaks down and the humans are just as dangerous as the zombies because it's turned into an every man for himself, dog-eat-dog existence. The notion that humans are always on the verge of reverting to selfish, animalistic primitives is I think way overblown. Humans have a huge capacity for cooperative behavior, and crises often result in more pro-social behavior instead of less.
"What's Pete Butigieg been doing the past 2 months?"
Moisturizing.
Anne-I-Am wrote: He has begun to lecture me about the need for humans to be out of the house for at least 8 hours a day.
That's me -- even in direct sun for an hour or so.
They were rather pedestrian characters, rick who was previously on the action drama strike back was kind of bland as a protagonist.
J. Farmer... exactly. So far, Kingdom is a nice departure from typical zombie fare, with excellent production values. (An argument could be made for watching it for the hats alone.) I've just started but my oldest (a widely-read "old soul" if ever there was one) has watched both seasons and assures me that it holds up. I trust him.
New York Daily News
@NYDailyNews
· 6h
Land O’Lakes is removing the Native American woman who has appeared on its containers of butter and margarine since 1928.
--
Warren was tired of the endless comparisons.
I was noticing in milius entry he tried to adapt the mailer book harlots ghost, it was everything the good shepherd was not. Probably only a miniseries would have done it justice.
Thats so staggeringly stupid, i havent the words.
Walter,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Whew.
J Farmer,
I think humans have tremendous capacity to cooperate until they get really, really hungry. AND have kids to feed.
Heyboom,
Nice miss on the 6 degrees of separation. Woody Allen filmed a movie, can't remember which one, right outside my window in Chelsea, when I was at General Seminary.
J Farmer,
I don't understand the identity affiliation thing. Maybe cause I don't have one. Just boring boring boring old white lady of no particular background. But! Get me started on running. Then I probably get nauseating. Heh.
OK All! Another excellent evening in AA's salon. Going to bed. Have had migraines the past two days. Why is it that when nothing is going on, so much seems to happen?
Well narciso,
"State Rep. Ruth Buffalo called the image racist, telling The Grand Forks Herald it goes 'hand-in-hand with human and sex trafficking… by depicting Native women as sex objects.'"
walter said...Land O’Lakes is removing the Native American woman who has appeared on its containers of butter and margarine since 1928.
Is Leinenkugel brewing doing the same?
There are entirely too many stupid people in the world.
Like i said, staggeringly stupid, i guess i should sign off too after that
Anne-I-Am said...There are entirely too many stupid people in the world.
It's Minnesota stupid.
Minnesota is so stupid, that they would import coronavirus in order to stay relevant.
There's talk about changing it to Leinenkegels.
@Anne:
I don't understand the identity affiliation thing. Maybe cause I don't have one. Just boring boring boring old white lady of no particular background. But! Get me started on running. Then I probably get nauseating. Heh.
You do have one. You're white, which makes you either suspect or downright villainous. Polite white people thinking we should be colorblind or live in a post-racial society are living in a fantasy world. Group differences can't be ignored when they are politically consequential.
My first ever girlfriend texted me out of nowhere. She is still very succesful and stuff. On a bunch of school boards of directors, maybe a private jet, deffinately a boat that she was (home) schooling her kids on.
My ex-wife was like pulling a lawnmower engine cord after the divorce, just to relay impetus so she would finish her PhD in England.
I feel complete.
Was wondering wich letter to borrow from the LGBTQiA movement and stay put.
My adventure years are over. I am sad.
I have to become one with society.
Kinda miss plumbing work at the moment.
I am sad again.
I need ice scream !
- N is for Nerd ?
One way to rough out which group you are in is to list all the "big" shows and series you don't watch, especially ones you've never seen.
Here's a few on my never watched list:
Survivor
Law and Order
Breaking Bad
Walking Dead
There are also the ones that some use to declare membership in the cool club:
Justified
Game of Thrones
The Americans
I watched those but only because I liked them. My brother, younger, is a terrific source of shows and series recommendations that I eventually get hooked on. He recommended Justified. Loved every episode. Currently watching Hunters and Witcher. Mrs. stevew and I have always enjoyed NCIS. Shrug, don't hate me.
Didn't Kathleen Turner already play Hillary in John Water's Serial Mom?
“But the foolish children will have to learn some day that, rebels though they be and riotous from nature, they are too weak to maintain the spirit of mutiny for any length of time.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from The Grand Inquisitor
I'd be remiss to not note that -- when talking of great actors -- I DID get a nomination for Best Actor for one of my shorts.
As far as getting the award: I wuz robbed.
I am Laslo.
"It's hard to beat Bugs Bunny."
Daffy Duck displayed greater range than Bugs Bunny, as Daffy assumed the Bugs role when Porky Pig took on the comic role.
Elizabeth Warren suspends her belief of all women to endorse Joe Biden.
A complaint such as Tara Reade said she made would at a Senate bureau would be like a stone thrown in a pond. I would be surprised if there is not evidence of ripples somewhere.
On network tv the blacklist was always interesting this last season has gotten alittle side tracked.
Technically speaking, I'm up, but I can't think of any better use of my time than going back to bed. Another day of quarantine.
this would have been turned down as a blacklist script
WSJ: "Jobless-Claims Tsunami Tops 22 Million for a Single Month"
Who knew we had so many "marginal businesses"? Good thing we're cleaning house.
Plus by current estimates we're saving about 10,940,000 lives, so really every two unemployed persons can take credit for one life saved. They should feel inspired.
@William, I hear that. Speaking for myself, I'm still working and doing it from home is effective. I think I'm doing more. Mrs. stevew is faring more like you. Upon arising today she was surprised to hear that it is Friday. I dared not ask her which day she thought it was.
A late addition to the discussion of what makes a great actor:
I have always been intrigued by the actors who turn in many unconvincing performances and a small number of excellent ones.
It isn't that they get better, or worse, with time. The varying quality of the scripts matters, of course, but I don't think it fully explains the phenomenon. Do they have a natural affinity for some roles which don't require them to "act"?
Example: Tom Cruise. I found a lot of his work cringe-inducing, but in Rain Man he was believable and interesting.
Another thought: a great actor can make a strong impression in a bit part.
Gray Hat
“Yes, you are right. What was the Russian collusion (on the Dems' part) hiding? And how deep in this was Obama?"
“Pretty easy to answer really. We already have the reports from the FISA court which shows systematic abuse of the FISA 702 system (illegal queries by FBI/DOJ-NSD personnel) from at least 2012.”
It wasn’t the FBI/DOJ-NSD people who were the problem, but rather the contractors they gave free rein to use the system. Their access was very illegal. In the six months ending when Adm Rogers discovered the volume of illegal accesses of his (NSA) databases using the FBI’s FISA 702 interface, there were five digits (10,000-99,999) of accesses, and 85% were by contractors. They were mostly illegal, though apparently there wasn’t enough documentation to actually determine the justification utilized. Still, that equates to somewhere between 8500 and 85,000 illegal NSA database searches by contractors who had no documented national security justification for making these searches. The FISC noted that there was no reason to believe that that number was unrepresentative of other six month periods.
What they were accessing, with no apparent limitations, in those NSA databases were everyone’s cell phone, credit card, bank, immigration, TSA, criminal, etc records. We also know that they were almost assuredly tracking people, since the FISC opinion notes that different date ranges were used for the same search terms. And we are pretty sure that the contractors were doing political opposition research for the Democrats, and some of this information was laundered through the Steele Dossier. In particular, the only realistically plausible source for getting which Michael Cohen was in Prague wrong was through accessing immigration databases using the name as the search term. That means that it is almost a certainty that someone queried the NSA databases using the FBI’s 702 interface, and searched immigration records for “Michael Cohen”, meaning Trump’s lawyer, and got information back for another person with the same name, and that mistake then was propagated by Steele, who was supposed to have gotten his information from the Russians, and not NSA databases.
Keep in mind that these database searches are all 4th Amdt violations, unless they can formally justified for counterterrorism or counterintelligence purposes against a foreign power. They are searches without a warrant of the private records of US Persons (mostly US citizens) under color of law. There was little attempt to legally justify them.
Rounding things out, apparently Mary Jacoby, wife of Glen Simpson, and the other principal in Fusion GPS, had a meeting in the White House the day after Adm Rogers announced his discovery of mass illegal use of the FBI’s 702 interface to the NSA databases by contractors. We still don’t know who those contractors are. They were listed in the FISC opinion, but that is still redacted. But with the Cohen in Prague mistake in the Steele Dossier, it is likely that one of them was Fusion GPS. IT is also likely that the illegal contractor access was for the purpose of opposition research against Obama and the Dems’ political enemies.
Obama was balls deep, his minions still are but...
https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/fbi-collected-improper-cell-phone-pictures-while-spying
Reported to higher-ups, then smothered.
"We still don’t know who those contractors are. They were listed in the FISC opinion, but that is still redacted."
Can we tell from the redactions how many there were? A lot or just a few?
Let me put my previous post in perspective. When the police want cell phone, bank, credit card, etc information, they need to get a warrant, signed by a judge. Ditto for the FBI’s Criminal Division. A lot of the warrant granting is now automated, as well as can be, but a judge is still in the loop.
During the orchestration of the 9/11/01 attacks, DOJ Clinton political appointee, Jamie Gorlich (who would go on to further ignominy with Fannie May) put up a wall between the national security and criminal sides of the FBI. As a probable result, the FBI failed to prevent the attacks, despite having many of the pieces in its possession. The different parts of the FBI were just prevented by their management from putting the pieces together. Goerlich, BTW, put up her “wall” supposedly in fear of just what was done by the FBI in their Crossfire Hurricane investigation of Trump. That investigation bounced back and forth between bogus Russian Collusion (Counterintelligence) and Logan Act (and FARA) violations (Criminal), whichever was more convenient at the time.
One thing that was done by the PATRIOT Act after 9/11+was to make sharing information between both sides of the FBI legal, and, indeed, by 2016, the same FBI agents could be, and were working against Trump with the same Counterintelligence Division people (Strzok, etc) alternating hats, as needed.
But shortly after that Title VII was added to FISA to allow the NSA to build a huge repository (databases) of data that could potentially be used by the Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Divisions at the FBI TO prevent the next 9/11. We know it to contain pretty much everything that they could make an argument would be useful in these two endeavors. This includes cell phone, bank, credit card, etc on the private side, and ICE, TSA, etc records on the government side. They are mostly the records of US Persons (a FISA term that includes citizens and legally resident aliens) who have full 4th Amdt rights against the government doing unwarranted searches of their private information held by the government. The information in that massive NSA repository would normally require a warrant issued by a federal judge for the FBI to access. But there is an existent circumstance exception to the 4th Amdt, and Congress attempted to use that to give the FBI more immediate and convenient access, but with a lot of safeguards in place. First, and foremost, these database accesses had to have valid, articulated, counterintelligence or counterterrorism justifications provided. Secondly, the results had to be “Minimized”, which meant that any time that specific people are tied to particular pieces of personal information, the need for that person to see the information must be documented, and no one without a true need to know could see the information.
Things were in decent shape when GWB (43) left office. But in Obama’s first term, his people started to carve away the protections in place, tweaking them around the edges, time and again. The person whose name is on much of it is that of DAG Sally Yates, though it stinks, to me, of Lawfare Group. The FISC (FISA Court) was supposed to approve of any changes made to the procedures. Sometimes they were presented to them as just routine housekeeping. And sometimes the Obama DOJ didn’t bother getting approval. By the time Adm Rogers discovered the misuse of the FBI’s 702 interface to the NSA databases, the abuse had become massive. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of 4th Amdt violations of US Persons, likely mostly Republicans, through allowing contractors unfettered access to those databases. It looks very much like the Obama Administration allowed Dem contractors and operatives to utilize this important national security tool to do opposition research on their political enemies.
"there were five digits (10,000-99,999) of accesses,"
Redacting the number is bullshit. What's that protecting (besides someones ass)?
Epithalamium
(For Oliver and Barbara)
The rails of fate which run assuredly on
You think mechanical until, rusty turns
Of metal, they suddenly end, the grass
Stands tall, the flowers are indifferent
And what’s left of a forest creeps up:
But, no, you’re not alone, the main station
Ushered you to a seat and a stranger
Who became a friend. And now, as the driver
Has nothing to do and cannot turn back,
Beneath all your discomfort, you find
You’re holding her hand. A miracle!
Was it you who unconsciously fumbled for safety,
Unsure of direction and afraid of derailment
(yet you knew you would end here, were happy
And loved it) or was it an accident of grace,
Perhaps that bit of sunlight deifying
An ugly day, suddenly some word (which you later
Realise you misunderstood) made the Other not so far
Or you were just thinking of your mother?
Never mind how or why, it became
And now lasting for ever – and who knows whether
She be that especially designed one or is it
Only the forced meeting that makes us dear,
That all of us (not being lunatic or bad)
Could love all of us of which marriage is a token?
Such questions we leave to philosophers,
Analysts and other buffoons – for us the effort
And the pleasure of a good deed done, of a
Love and a fidelity that makes us happy,
Of that constant light we can steer by,
Turn to and call a home. And if scoffers
Insolently shout that fidelity and all good things
Are dead, that childhood is hell, that mother
Is always beating us and daddy always
Turning away, that the one you love always
Loves another and will leave you for him and that,
Anyway, life ‘ain’t perfect’, it would be silly
To disturb them by a reply. A happy smile,
Maybe, and, long after one has stopped listening,
The thought recurring of the love and the marriage,
Wholesome, good, that’s Barbara and Oliver.
Helena Bonham Carter
Another aspect of Obama Administration FISA abuse involves unmasking. As noted above, both Title I and Title VII, require Minimization. That is supposed to mean that the only people who should be able to see data tied to a particular person have articulated and documented a legally acceptable (counterintelligence or counterterrorism) justification why that identity is required. Until then, all they have is an identifier (such as “US Person 1”) tied to some data, conversation, etc. Tying the data or conversation is called “unmasking”, and is supposed to require justification, and then strict limitations on its dissemination.
Another mostly forgotten aspect of the Obama FISA abuse was that DAG York allowed unminimized FISA information to be placed in Obama’s PDBs (Presidential Daily Briefings), and then the list of those getting PDBs to be extended to the political side of the White House. Along with that, there was a rash of FISA unmaskings, much of it done using the credentials of Obama’s UN Ambassador - who legally shouldn’t have had that power, since she was an intelligence consumer, not an intelligence creator. Indeed, it is questionable whether anyone in the a White House, from Obama on down, should have been able to request the unmasking of anyone’s identity. This was clever - the theory was that Obama had a Need To Know. But it was illegal, since such broad dissemination was in nonsense, the Minimization required by FISA.
Another pretty gross FISA Minimization abuse was the conversation between NSA Flynn and the Russian ambassador. The conversation was no doubt picked up by a standing Title I FISA warrant in the Russian Ambassador. That sort of thing is what FISA was mostly used for before 9/11/01. But since there was nothing discussed that legitimately involved counterintelligence or counterterrorism, the conversation should never have been unmasked in the first place. And if it had been, Strzok, McCabe, etc, had no need to know, so should never seen the transcript of the unmasked conversation. And using it to set up Gen Flynn for the process crime of supposedly lying to the FBI, was so far outside of Constitutional Minimization requirements, that that alone probably violated his 4th Amdt rights. Remember how this discussion started - Minimization is part of how FISA information can be utilized for counterintelligence and counterterrorism uses against foreign powers without violating the 4th Amdt, under the existent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement of the 4th Amdt. That means that any dissemination of such information outside such limited usages is an unconstitutional violation of the 4th Amdt. That includes using it in A perjury trap for Flynn, as well as putting it in PDBs so that Ben Rhodes could see it.
Oh good, we're here. I have to come back to study the FISA posts--thanks Bruce and others for keeping up!
My father served in the Med late in WWII and put photos in his scrapbook of R&R on and near Capri. That's CAP-ri, y'all. It was Emperor Tiberius's very special playground.
Actors: Cruise doesn't hit the Rock Hudson mark for me--he's too obviously a small, pretty man. That he plays the roles he does may be a credit to his acting and athletic skills, but I haven't seen even most of movies so don't feel strongly about it.
Maybe we can talk about One-Hit Wonders. Tom Hulce as Mozart. Then what? The guy who played Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five? Where'd he go?
Narr
I define "Hit" liberally
Bruce, thanks for the excellent summation of just how weaponized (towards US persons) intelligence has become, which was of course the big fear after 9/11. It speaks volumes how the Left, the one-time guardians of liberty, are the guilty ones here.
Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of 4th Amdt violations of US Persons, likely mostly Republicans, through allowing contractors unfettered access to those databases. It looks very much like the Obama Administration allowed Dem contractors and operatives to utilize this important national security tool to do opposition research on their political enemies.
Hillary's FBI files to the White House was the tip of the spear that should have indicated that this was coming with the next Democrat in the White House. Bill's troubles with Monica was probably also an incentive to snoop.
but in Rain Man he was believable and interesting.
He was also good in Collateral. I'd forgotten how long ago that was made.
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