Althouse: At the Magnolia Diner...

May 9, 2020

At the Magnolia Diner...

... the lunch crowd is rolling in.

224 comments:

1 – 200 of 224 Newer› Newest»

FullMoon said...: Great news from California. Not only has our Governor miraculously determined first virus positive came from hair salon, now he wants to put elderly positives in assisted care facilities.

Worked for Cuomo and New York, right?; 5/9/20, 12:12 PM
madAsHell said...: Joe, you chased after Trump for 2 years like a teenage girl throwing her panties at the latest boy band;

Ted Cruz responding to Joe Scarborough.

Man, I would hate to trade insults with Cruz!!; 5/9/20, 12:12 PM
CStanley said...: I’ve been enjoying your sunrise photos but I e always been a big fan of your flowers. I asked once in the past if I could use some of the. For pastel painting inspiration and you gave permission. I never got around to it but am feeling inspired again so will give it a go.; 5/9/20, 12:34 PM
Two-eyed Jack said...: Sugar Magnolia, blossoms blooming
Heads all empty and I don't care
Saw my baby down by the river
Knew she'd have to come up soon for air; 5/9/20, 12:38 PM
Mark said...: Had a mysterious "something" in January and February.
Tested yesterday for antibodies and the results are in . . .

. . . negative.; 5/9/20, 12:45 PM
stephen cooper said...: Little Richard passed away .... some of the best people I have ever met were Seventh Day Adventists; 5/9/20, 12:53 PM
FullMoon said...: Would make a great movie. Nice little recording of Obama concerned about Flynn being exonerated. Apparently O did not read the DOJ conclusions or the evidence and reasoning behind the conclusions. He just gonna go along with the MSM/Dems.

Incidentally, Obama was pretty darn good with teleprompter but not so great impromptu.Trump the opposite.

Obama Panics – President Obama Gives Political Operatives and Media Talking Points to Protect Him…

The good news is former President Obama is panicked by recent sunlight; the slight possibility of a U.S. DOJ that may soon have him in the cross-hairs; and the more obvious possibility the American people will discover the scale of his corrupt weaponization of intelligence to target his political opposition.

The better news is former President Obama is so heavily concerned about the looming possibilities; rather than relying on intermediary instructions through Media Matters; he is giving political operatives and national media his instructions directly.; 5/9/20, 12:59 PM
narciso said...: good news mark,; 5/9/20, 1:04 PM
Original Mike said...: Blogger Mark said..."Had a mysterious "something" in January and February.
Tested yesterday for antibodies and the results are in . . .

. . . negative."

We're happy for all of you.; 5/9/20, 1:04 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Little Richard was one of Brian's heroes, and he namechecked him in Do You Remember?

Years later, The Beach Boys (not sure if Brian was at the session) recorded with Little Richard on Happy Endings.; 5/9/20, 1:15 PM
walter said...: Fullmoon,
Again , claim is it was a nail salon.; 5/9/20, 1:25 PM
walter said...: No offense, but why would lack of covid antibodies be cause for celebration?; 5/9/20, 1:27 PM
narciso said...: one hasn't been exposed, thought had contacted symptoms,; 5/9/20, 1:33 PM
Inga said...: “No offense, but why would lack of covid antibodies be cause for celebration?”

I agree. Wouldn’t it be better to know one had immunity?; 5/9/20, 1:55 PM
Original Mike said...: It was a joke.; 5/9/20, 1:58 PM
Jersey Fled said...: By the way, are we allowed to sit down and eat in this diner? Or is in a state with a Democrat governor?; 5/9/20, 2:40 PM
Original Mike said...: "By the way, are we allowed to sit down and eat in this diner? Or is in a state with a Democrat governor?"

Dem governor. We're not allowed to be here.

Pull the shades down.; 5/9/20, 2:44 PM
FullMoon said...: Blogger walter said...

Fullmoon,
Again , claim is it was a nail salon.

5/9/20, 1:25 PM

Correction appreciated. Seems most around here are combination.; 5/9/20, 2:50 PM
PJ said...: Magnolia, you sweet thing
You're driving me mad
Got to get back to you, babe
You're the best I ever had; 5/9/20, 2:50 PM
narciso said...: meanwhile

https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1258963824834686977?s=20; 5/9/20, 2:57 PM
narciso said...: and another detail

https://twitter.com/annette_beverly/status/1259163574724853762?s=20; 5/9/20, 2:59 PM
Jon Ericson said...: The goal isn't to defeat our deceived friends and subjugate them to our beliefs. Rather it is for them to celebrate with us having all escaped the bondage of lies. We wish for them to be grateful that we were indomitable in our pursuit of truth—even when it was costly and lonely.

-- Martin Geddes; 5/9/20, 3:04 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Do y'all remember back in February when Mike Bloomberg entered his first debate and Liz Warren rebuked him for calling women "Horse-Faced Lesbians?"

I’d like to talk about who we’re running against—a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” said Warren. “No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Michael Bloomberg.”

That was only Feb 18 - - 3 months ago. Seems like a decade.

Haven't heard much from those 2 lately......; 5/9/20, 3:04 PM
Inga said...: “MADISON, Wis. — More than 70 people who tested positive for the coronavirus since an April 24 rally at the Wisconsin state Capitol indicated they had attended a large gathering, but the state Department of Health Services cant’ say if they were at the rally because it is not tracking specific events.”

https://www.channel3000.com/72-got-covid-19-after-being-at-large-event/; 5/9/20, 3:15 PM
Wince said...: The state health department said there have been 1,986 confirmed cases where onset or diagnosis happened on or after April 26. Of those, 72 people reported attending a large gathering.

Presumably, that means those 72 tested positive between April 25 and sometime last week. A span of no more than two weeks total.

Logically, how many would go to the April 24 rally and then go for a test without first showing symptoms?

Given the incubation periods involved, wouldn't the relevant cohort for drawing the implied inference be: (1) people showing symptoms, (2) tested positive in the second week of May, (3) who had reported attending a large gathering?; 5/9/20, 3:34 PM
Ken B said...: Original Mike: “It was a joke.”
Sure it was O Mike. You weren’t displaying the profound ignorance so characteristic of your comments on covid, you were taunting a man worried about his family's health.

Narcisco: “good news, Mark”. Again, ignorance on display. Oops, I mean *this time* ignorance on display.; 5/9/20, 3:37 PM
Ken B said...: O Mike caught on film! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo; 5/9/20, 3:40 PM
Original Mike said...: Ahh, Ken? What comments on covid? I have made very few.

And the "joke" was on the multitudes of Marks. Nothing more. Sorry you didn't get it.; 5/9/20, 3:45 PM
Drago said...: OM: "And the "joke" was on the multitudes of Marks. Nothing more. Sorry you didn't get it."

Ken B calls the far left "Mark" the "good Mark". The far left "Mark" has no profile.

The actual good Mark is a law type from VA.

Not the far left guy that Ken B likes.; 5/9/20, 3:50 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Magnolia (1999) is available for streaming via Netflix.

The scene with the cop who lost his gun and the girl playing loud music is high quality movie making in my humble estimation.; 5/9/20, 3:54 PM
Ken B said...: Or O Mike, you simply confused virus tests with antibody tests. That's pretty obviously what happened. It’s fun watching you pretend otherwise.; 5/9/20, 4:04 PM
n.n said...: 1,986 confirmed cases where onset or diagnosis happened on or after April 26. Of those, 72 people reported attending a large gathering.

So, despite them being Planned, they were a low risk Choice. What did they do at the "large gathering"? Also the Wuhan virus (formally known as SARS-CoV-2) is only "=" to Covid-19, and the disease will likely not progress in the infected, especially if people are disinfected with HCQ+AZ or similar cocktails while the individual is still viable and before the virus reaches a critical load.; 5/9/20, 4:12 PM
FullMoon said...: The (Wisconsin) state health department said there have been 1,986 confirmed cases where onset or diagnosis happened on or after April 26. Of those, 72 people reported attending a large gathering.

1,914 positives without attending large gathering. Looks like not attending large gatherings tends to be rather dangerous. Validates the New York situation of 66% of new positives are from people strictly following guidelines.; 5/9/20, 4:19 PM
h said...: "President Trump spent a portion of his Saturday focused on a special election in the suburbs of northern Los Angeles County, attacking a decision to add an in-person voting center there. ...The race is between Democratic state assemblywoman Christy Smith and Republican businessman and ex-Navy pilot Mike Garcia. They are seeking to fill a seat left vacant by former congresswoman Katie Hill (D), who resigned in the fall. Whoever wins on Tuesday will hold the California seat through the end of the year. "

What if it turns out that mail-in ballots favor the Trump machine organization? What will November look like?; 5/9/20, 4:22 PM
Original Mike said...: "Or O Mike, you simply confused virus tests with antibody tests."

When? In my joke? You're balmy.; 5/9/20, 4:26 PM
Kai Akker said...: Getting those last chances to drive empty roads. Each weekend, the traffic has picked up. Men with sports cars -- young men, old men, I don't know, very little chance to see the drivers -- have been zooming around like mad, having a great time. Cops didn't seem to be around, or, if they were, they had no interest in stopping anybody. It was like a break from school; no homework, no rules.

Then, as traffic slowly rebuilt, I noticed the drivers weaving more, in order to keep their speed up without getting stuck behind some relative slowpoke. Many of those speeds were well over 90, a few must have been over 100. And the last few weeks, the traffic reports have featured serious accidents. You can see the frustration now, as that pure freedom is unmistakably vanishing. Drivers revving behind a slow-mover, zooming and weaving but not ever breaking entirely free. No wonder there are bad accidents even on the half-empty roads. But I know I will miss this peculiar feature, a sense of relief, including never getting stuck in the multiple merges alongside the King of Prussia Mall.; 5/9/20, 4:30 PM
J. Farmer said...: Throwback movie recommendation, especially for couples:

Defending Your Life with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. It's a romantic comedy that's actually both. Rip Torn and Lee Grant as opposing litigators are terrific, and Michael Gore (Leslie's brother) provides a great score.; 5/9/20, 4:42 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: Newsome claims, without evidence, that the first incidence of community transmission happened in a nail salon.

Funny how the media doesn't write it like that. I guess if you repeat the mantra "facts and science" often enough they just believe you.; 5/9/20, 4:42 PM
stevew said...: Here's a thought: lets have all businesses open, and they do so in a manner that makes sense for them, e.g. social distancing or not, masks or not, limits on the number of patrons. Then the people, you and me, decide which ones to patronize based on our assessment of our personal risk in each particular place. Employees can make the same judgement as it relates to a decision whether to return to work or not. In this scheme, you don't have to go anywhere you judge to be a risk to your health nor if you determine that you are a risk to others.

@Kai Akker: MA reported this past week that while roadway traffic in April was down 50% or so YoY, road fatalities were up.; 5/9/20, 4:51 PM
hstad said...: Blogger FullMoon said...5/9/20, 12:59 PM
"...the American people will discover the scale of his [President Obama's] corrupt weaponization of intelligence to target his political opposition.

I hope you're correct - but have my doubts? The irony is when Pelosi and the Democrats ratcheted up their collective attacks, against President Trump, they found a 'fighter' in response. Given last weeks data releases, the Democrats' miscalculation, will be shown as one of 'History's' biggest political blunders. Any other President would've resigned under such withering attacks. I take my hat of to Trump for sticking to his guns. His business experience (NYC cutthroat R.E. market) served him well.; 5/9/20, 4:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: Magnolia Trees are the best trees in the forest. Just avoid running into the steel ones.; 5/9/20, 4:56 PM
stevew said...: @Farmer: great suggestion, I'd forgotten that one (Albert Brooks!!). Perhaps I can persuade mrs. stevew to watch tonight.

Albert Brooks, "A Star Is Bought" included a track, "Promotional Gimmick", that you could record and edit into a promotional spot from Albert. I was on air (dj) at a rock radio station in Worcester, MA in 1975-1977 and we made a promo using that track. Not sure our audience got it but we thought it was clever and hilarious.; 5/9/20, 4:59 PM
madAsHell said...: His business experience (NYC cutthroat R.E. market) served him well.

He has tremendous instinct for people's character, and motivations.....although I think Sessions was a complete disaster. There must have been something else going on there.; 5/9/20, 5:04 PM
StephenFearby said...: BBC:

Coronavirus: How they tried to curb Spanish flu pandemic in 1918

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52564371

The 1918 cartoon is a hoot.; 5/9/20, 5:11 PM
Mark said...: I'm breaking out tomorrow and driving up to spend the day at Antietam. They can't close an open field.; 5/9/20, 5:21 PM
narciso said...: I found that film a little tedious, but that other one, with William hurt, back when he pretended to be the blow dried anchorman, a predecessor of the brian Williams, and john Roberts we've seen in the press club,; 5/9/20, 5:30 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Kai Akker @4:30 PM: So you live in the shadow (so to speak) of the KOP mall.

Knowing the area, it is easier for me to be a bit more sympathetic to you. OTOH, at least you're on the better side of the Delaware River, so there's that.

Meanwhile, our Governor's "charm switch" seems to be stuck in the "OFF" state:

https://savejersey.com/2020/05/murphy-snaps-unhappy-with-the-guy-in-charge-of-n-j-unemployment-go-to-another-state/

I hope to take him up on that suggestion some day, sans regrets.; 5/9/20, 5:31 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I'm breaking out tomorrow and driving up to spend the day at Antietam. They can't close an open field.

Stuck inside these four walls
Sent inside forever
Never seeing no one nice again; 5/9/20, 5:33 PM
Mark said...: Look Woman --

Sorry, I fail to see the connection.; 5/9/20, 5:38 PM
Mark said...: Governor Coonman has announced something rather remarkable.

He wants to begin reopening Virginia in earnest. His plan for phase one is to reopen "nonessential businesses," including churches and restaurants, at half-capacity, subject to six-foot spacing. Not that bad, really.

Except that localities in certain areas, such as Northern Virginia, can defer the reopening.; 5/9/20, 5:47 PM
Mark said...: Although most of Virginia is scheduled for substantial reopening the end of next week, Arlington has announced that it will not and that the stay-at-home order will continue with businesses locked up. That is, the Arlington government refuses to allow most people to go out and earn a living.

Of course, that people are prohibited by the Arlington regime from earning money has not stopped it from sending out property tax bills yesterday. So what if you aren't allowed by that same regime to earn the money to pay the taxes? Eff you. Pay the bill anyway. Get blood from an effing stone if you have to, but you WILL pay.

And, by the way, be sure to thank the County Board for not raising the tax rate. So what if that means an effective tax hike because of the assessed value has risen. Eff you. Pay it. So what if the value has plummeted since assessments were made. Eff you. Pay the full amount anyway.; 5/9/20, 5:55 PM
h said...: Mark going to Antietam. I hope you're right. I was surprised to hear that shut down the National Arboretum in DC for all visitors. You might extend your trip to West Virginia which is an early opener. Anyway, please report back to us on your trip.; 5/9/20, 5:55 PM
Mark said...: And, of course, when they passed the FY 2021 budget -- in the midst of the COVID emergency and lockdown -- buried in the language was a pay raise for the Arlington County Board.; 5/9/20, 5:58 PM
h said...: Kai Akker: Very insightful comment about traffic density and traffic speed and traffic accidents. My experience is only through radio "weather and traffic" reports, and I've noticed a lot of reports of slow downs and accidents in the DC area. I've also noticed over and over how clear and blue the sky is and I've wondered if that's because the traffic volume is so low.; 5/9/20, 5:59 PM
Mark said...: Antietam Battlefield Visitor Center Closed
As a public health precaution, the visitor center is temporarily closed until further notice. Park grounds, including roads and trails, will remain open. The park is accessible but plan ahead because bathrooms are not available.

https://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm; 5/9/20, 6:00 PM
clint said...: I'm envious. Our magnolia's had a really tough spring. Every time it starts to bloom, we get a wind storm, and then this morning we had snow. I think it's just about given up on 2020.; 5/9/20, 6:08 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: Comment read elsewhere, copied & reposting for shits and giggles...

Another funny thing - so many Democrat candidates for President (most notably Sanders) were frequently pointing to Sweden as the model the US should follow economically when they thought the Swedish government controlled the entire economy and gave free stuff to everyone. But have there been any Democrats suggesting the US (or any Democrat run state) follow Sweden's decision to NOT use government coercion to lock-down the economy in the face of Covid-19? Is Sweden only a model for Democrats when it means more government power?; 5/9/20, 6:13 PM
J. Farmer said...: @narciso:

I found that film a little tedious, but that other one, with William hurt, back when he pretended to be the blow dried anchorman, a predecessor of the brian Williams, and john Roberts we've seen in the press club,

Broadcast News is a good choice but not tonight. It has too much of an edge. Tonight prefers whimsy. Defending Your Life actually makes Meryl Streep likable.

Albert Brooks was longtime friends with the writer and director James L. Brooks. Both are suckers for the theme of weak, flawed men being redeemed by the love of a good woman.; 5/9/20, 6:24 PM
Michael K said...: I found that film a little tedious, but that other one, with William hurt, back when he pretended to be the blow dried anchorman, a predecessor of the brian Williams, and john Roberts we've seen in the press club,

Another good Hurt film is "The Doctor" which goes a little over the top on antics in the OR but is a pretty good description of the life of a surgeon.; 5/9/20, 6:28 PM
Josephbleau said...: “Except that localities in certain areas, such as Northern Virginia, can defer the reopening.“

No surprise, since Northern VA earns its bread from the sweat of the taxpayer’s face. Why would they want to go back to work, the pay is the same.; 5/9/20, 6:46 PM
rehajm said...: Is Sweden only a model for Democrats when it means more government power?

Democrats love to cherry pick polices that are contradictions. Free stuff for all and open borders, for example.

If Democrats actually investigated Sweden they would label Sweden as a racist Nazi country...; 5/9/20, 6:49 PM
StephenFearby said...: NY Post

New York mom with coronavirus saved by medical-student son’s quick thinking

'...Josephine Bruzzese, who is 48 and otherwise healthy, woke up on March 22 with a fever, body aches, dry cough and trouble breathing. She lost the ability to smell or taste. Her family rushed her to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn in Sunset Park.

“She was so short of breath she couldn’t speak” said her 23-year-old son, James.

The hospital diagnosed the mom of four with pneumonia, but with no coronavirus tests available, it sent her home as a suspected COVID-19 case.

Some symptoms improved when Bruzzese, who works in banking, was given the antibiotic azithromycin and the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine — but she still couldn’t breathe.

“We were very worried because she couldn’t stand up without almost passing out from shortness of breath,” her son said. “Her respiratory symptoms were very severe.'

'...[Dr. Richard] Horowitz had an idea. He suggested trying glutathione, an anti-oxidant produced by the liver that has been used to reduce inflammation in those suffering from the tick-borne illness.

“When you get a viral infection with a huge amount of inflammation you don’t have enough glutathione to be able to protect your very sensitive lung tissue,” Horowitz said.

...After one 2,000-milligram dose, the family witnessed a miracle.

“Within an hour my breathing got better. It was amazing. I sat up, I got up,” Josephine Bruzzese recalled. She even started to make her bed. “I went and I took a shower.”

She took the pills for five days and had no relapse, her son said.

James wrote up his mother’s case for a study he and Horowitz coauthored on treating her and another patient, a Manhattan man in his 50s. It was published online in the journal “Respiratory Medicine Case Reports.”

The second patient told The Post he felt better after getting an intravenous infusion of the glutathione.

“Within half hour it helped with the breathing symptoms in particular,” he said.

James said he’s been spreading the word about the promising treatment by posting the study on social media and emailing it to his professors, some of whom are working on the front lines.'

https://nypost.com/2020/05/09/new-york-mom-with-coronavirus-saved-by-medical-student-son/

But the NY Post article omits a lot of pertinent information:

Respiratory Medicine Case Reports
Efficacy of glutathione therapy in relieving dyspnea associated with COVID-19 pneumonia: A report of 2 cases

"The patient is a 48-year-old, G4P4 female with a 15 pack-year smoking history; a history of three consecutive C-sections; psoriasis; and a history of Lyme disease and associated tick-borne infections..."

"...On March 31, reduced, liposomal glutathione was added to her antibiotic regimen along with 50 mg of zinc and 1-g TID of Vitamin C. The patient was given 2000 mg of l-glutathione PO all at once with 2 Alka seltzer gold, along with alpha-lipoic acid 600 mg, and N-acetylcysteine 1200 mg. The patient saw immediate improvement described as “being able to breath better and having more energy” within an hour of use...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213007120301350; 5/9/20, 6:49 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: "No surprise, since Northern VA earns its bread from the sweat of the taxpayer’s face. Why would they want to go back to work, the pay is the same."

Might be good for the taxpayers. If they're not "working", they're not screwing up things as much as they could be.; 5/9/20, 6:52 PM
Kai Akker said...: "Meanwhile, our Governor's "charm switch" seems to be stuck in the "OFF" state"

King Philip is not a kindly ruler?; 5/9/20, 6:57 PM
Narr said...: Mark, first time at Antietam, or a return? It's one of the more interesting battles and battlefields up there, and not as overtaken by development as most.

People are well aware that the E. P. ("Emanstipation Proximation" as one of my ex-colleagues used to have it) was released after Antietam because it would look like a loser's gambit if there wasn't some plausible win to tie it to. What is usually not seen clearly enough is that it was Lee's driving Mac away from Richmond that decided Lincoln on the EP as a necessary war measure.

Lee's quest for a decisive military victory had a decisive political effect instead.

Narr
That's Gallagher's take anyway; 5/9/20, 7:14 PM
Mark said...: Northern VA earns its bread from the sweat of the taxpayer’s face

I do? We do? That's news to several million people here.; 5/9/20, 7:15 PM
Mark said...: Mark, first time at Antietam, or a return?

A return after many, many years.; 5/9/20, 7:16 PM
Lewis said...: Artist: David Bowie

Song: Panic In Detroit

Album: Aladdin Sane

Lyrics

Ah oooh

He looked a lot like Che Guevara, drove a diesel van

Kept his gun in quiet seclusion, such a humble man

The only survivor of the National People's Gang

Panic in Detroit, I asked for an autograph

He wanted to stay home, I wish someone would phone

Panic in Detroit (oh oh oh aahh, oh oh oh aahh)

He laughed at accidental sirens that broke the evening gloom

The police had warned of repercussions

They followed none too soon

A trickle of strangers were all that were left alive

Panic in Detroit, I asked for an autograph

He wanted to stay home, I wish someone would phone

Panic in Detroit (oh oh oh aahh, ah ah ah aahh)

Putting on some clothes I made my way to school

(oh oh oh)

And I found my teacher crouching in his overalls

I screamed and ran to smash my favourite slot machine (oh oh oh)

And jumped the silent cars that slept at traffic lights

Having scored a trillion dollars, made a run back home

Found him slumped across the table. A gun and me alone

I ran to the window. Looked for a plane or two

Panic in Detroit. He'd left me an autograph

"Let me collect dust." I wish someone would phone

Panic in Detroit

Panic in Detroit

Panic in Detroit

Aoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0fmqWS-kI; 5/9/20, 7:25 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Look Woman --

Sorry, I fail to see the connection.

Nothing deep. Just that you are done being Stuck inside these four walls..; 5/9/20, 7:32 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Michael K:

Another good Hurt film is "The Doctor" which goes a little over the top on antics in the OR but is a pretty good description of the life of a surgeon.

I enjoyed that film, too. My mother hated it. She used to be fond of saying, "Surgeons don't have big egos because they're surgeons. They're surgeons because they have big egos. And thank god for big egos." Though she's never admitted it, I long suspected she wanted to pursue a surgical residency but gave it up out of commitment to a young family. Now I wonder if she just didn't have the guts.; 5/9/20, 7:34 PM
Josephbleau said...: “Northern VA earns its bread from the sweat of the taxpayer’s face

I do? We do? That's news to several million people here.”

Spare me your outrage,Loudoun, Fairfax, and Arlington top the 10 richest counties in the US. Government workers, lobbyists, defense contractors, and the infrastructure that they enable.; 5/9/20, 7:38 PM
Mark said...: Oh, yes.; 5/9/20, 7:38 PM
Mark said...: I'm rich?

Again, news to me. I make half the area average. And paid from voluntary contributions.; 5/9/20, 7:40 PM
Mark said...: And spare me your own presumptuous pride and arrogance.; 5/9/20, 7:42 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Mark,
Enjoy Antietam. I have never been to any of the CW battlefields. Funny about the bathrooms being closed; for a man, the bathroom is never really closed...IFYWIMAITYD.

JF,
I really enjoyed that film. It was my first encounter with Albert Brooks. I often think of the scene with the CDs (was it CDs?) on the floor when I drive and think I need to reach for something on the other side of the car.

A wonderful 22-mile run through the EBMUD today with a couple friends. I jokingly told them they were trying to kill me (both are at least 15 years younger). We saw a gopher snake (I stroked his back; he took exception to that), turkeys with their tail feathers spread, and a juvenile buck--still pretty large, with the velvet on his antlers. Also a red-winged blackbird. He was singing--if one could call it that; it sounded like the battery in his smoke detector needed to be replaced. And a dead newt. (She turned me into a newt! [You don't look like a newt.] Well! I got better!); 5/9/20, 7:44 PM
Josephbleau said...: Even in rich places there are those on the bottom I guess. Many people are paid from voluntary contributions to influence future government spending, so those jobs are paid by the taxpayer.; 5/9/20, 7:46 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Mark,

Most people in the DC ring counties make their money from government, in one way or another; I don't think you can argue with that. Still, not all of those make that much money. And not all the work they do is ignoble.

You are a sport, an outlier. Which you would be no matter where you lived. Because you are truly sacrificing--and serving others.; 5/9/20, 7:47 PM
Lewis said...: Oh the slightly occluded moon!; 5/9/20, 7:47 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Josephbleu,

You need to shut up. You have no idea what you are talking about.; 5/9/20, 7:47 PM
Lewis said...: I'm not as bad as you think I am, Anne, not as bad as you think I am - more 'a patsy, a limbo of certain guits'.; 5/9/20, 7:51 PM
Josephbleau said...: I don’t know everything about everyone, if I am being the asshole in this case for whatever reason, I apologize,; 5/9/20, 7:51 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: " The park is accessible but plan ahead because bathrooms are not available."

Lots of places to take a covert whiz at Antietam. I find that battlefield fascinating because it's such an unremarkable place. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of similar landscapes within a dozen miles of my home.; 5/9/20, 7:54 PM
Lewis said...: Hold them in the safe for me - the guilts - I'll collect them later.; 5/9/20, 7:55 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Lockdown Dummies slowly losing the battle as the panic subsides, and they get very testy when that happens.; 5/9/20, 7:59 PM
Lewis said...: Do you mean that? I will if you ask me to - I'm sorry, stumbling in, like an idiot - sorry, sorry, sorry.; 5/9/20, 8:01 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Stumblin In.; 5/9/20, 8:02 PM
Lewis said...: Sorry - I got very paranoid!; 5/9/20, 8:05 PM
bagoh20 said...: Here in Nevada, lots of restaurants opened up today. 50% maximum capacity. I'm surprised and excited. I know we'll all be dead in two weeks, but until then. Lets do this. Get your exposure. Get your your antibodies. Get your life back. Corona isn't going away some magic day by government decree, and there will be others anyway. We live with greater risks everyday and always have. The real risk of life is wasting it. For me, living like a mouse or a cockroach is wasting it.; 5/9/20, 8:11 PM
Narr said...: I've done Antietam maybe six times now, but I'm a serious battlefield nerd (ask my wife) and have been to almost all the big ACW and ARW sites.

The one gap of any note is the Trans-Miss other than Missouri and Northern Arkansas. I've never been to Helena AR and that's only 80 miles away. Talk about resolve--look up that little bloodbath.

Narr
Lewis, I charge rent for OPG; 5/9/20, 8:15 PM
Lewis said...: I stroked his back; he took exception to that- You see, you see ( to quote a film I can't quite remember but knew I love - or hate? Can’t remember!); 5/9/20, 8:15 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Anne:

JF,
I really enjoyed that film. It was my first encounter with Albert Brooks. I often think of the scene with the CDs (was it CDs?) on the floor when I drive and think I need to reach for something on the other side of the car.

My father is a huge Brooks fan, and Lost In America is one of his favorite comedies.

Yes, he was reaching for CD's while listening and singing along to Streisand's rendition of "Something's Coming" from West Side Story. A rye choice. That's what precipitates his "call to adventure," to use monomythic parlance.; 5/9/20, 8:19 PM
Lewis said...: Outside, Anne, the sea, the storm of the sea, as you never heard him before - that great slouching moster and the moon, so clear and bright, as if inviting him, Posieden, to rage - look what happens when he rages - Selene, let him be - he will love you in a different time.; 5/9/20, 8:22 PM
Lewis said...: And it did, Anne, it did!; 5/9/20, 8:27 PM
Mark said...: Then there is the tragedy that is the Fredericksburg battlefield. All 30 feet of it.

I don't know that I would feel comfortable living in one of those houses knowing that who knows how many men died on that very spot, how much blood is seeped into the house's foundations.

For those who haven't been, almost the entire battlefield -- which was a long space of empty ground -- is taken up with a housing subdivision.; 5/9/20, 8:28 PM
Michael K said...: They're surgeons because they have big egos. And thank god for big egos."

Surgeons have big egos, and I did, because we have to take people who are superficially well and make them sick, promising to get them well again. One reason why trauma care is so popular is that the patient arrives maximally sick. You don't have the burden of promising a well person to get them well again. The shift hours are also good.; 5/9/20, 8:28 PM
Lewis said...: I always fantasised about being Like John Berrymen - walk into the sea - I suppose that's why I chose to live here - on the oblivious John Lennon 'principal' 'happiness is a warm gun'.; 5/9/20, 8:31 PM
Michael K said...: how much blood is seeped into the house's foundations.

The guy I did my cardiac surgery residency with used to save the blood from the "pump, " the heart lung machine, which in those days took a lot of blood to prime, and took it home to put on his roses.; 5/9/20, 8:31 PM
Lewis said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdvnOH060Qg

No you hate sorry - but it is the Beatles!; 5/9/20, 8:36 PM
Lewis said...: That's John being viscous, nasty - I still love him; 5/9/20, 8:39 PM
bagoh20 said...: No lock down Sweden:...3,220 deaths,....+45 today,...319 deaths/million

Fascist Dem
lock down Michigan:... 4,526 deaths,...+133 today,...453 deaths/million

My Nevada still had over twice as many flu deaths in 2018. Not even the incredibly packed all day long drunken naked pool parties were shut down. There are probably a number of toddlers with unpronounceable names who would never have been born if they did.; 5/9/20, 8:42 PM
Mark said...: So they are back to showing live sports on the TV. Baseball.

Live from South Korea.; 5/9/20, 8:47 PM
Jon Ericson said...: FBI-chan; 5/9/20, 8:47 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Bagoh20

Did you read what the city of Pittsburgh did? Filled in a skate board park with sand. Someone returned the favor, pouring sand into the revolving door for city hall.

The best take was, "Congratulations, y'all! You have just created Republican voters for life."; 5/9/20, 8:47 PM
Lewis said...: Actually, because he's taking the absolute piss out of Paul by imitating him - Don't you know..."; 5/9/20, 8:48 PM
Howard said...: I just watched Bill Hurt in Gorky Park also starring Lee Marvin and Brian Dennehy. Not bad for 1983 the score was a little overly dramatic they don't do that anymore thank God.

I saw Body Heat back in the day at the El Toro base theater. No actress has ever been as hot as Kathleen Turner was in that movie. I think it was Mickey Rourke's first film. Ted Dansin is pretty good as well.

Altered States was a little freaky and pretty good in the mid eighties when I saw it on vhs but who knows how well it plays now.; 5/9/20, 8:49 PM
Fritz said...: I’ve never understood the fascination with battlefields, it’s just landscape to me. I’d rather go to the beach. Fortunately, ours is open.; 5/9/20, 8:51 PM
Lewis said...: No one understands British irony - that's why my poetry will never be published.; 5/9/20, 8:53 PM
Lewis said...: Dear Prudence, let me see you smile - come out, my lass-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQA59IkCF5I; 5/9/20, 8:55 PM
Lewis said...: More, maybe ( I'm thinking of melody - she looked just like her!) to your liking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6rrTROoZIw; 5/9/20, 9:02 PM
Howard said...: When the kids were little we took them hiking up the top of Kennesaw mountain And over to little Kennesaw were there are some good spots for bouldering. The kids also like to climb on and examine all of the cannons. When we lived in Felton they would have civil War reenactments every year at roaring camp we could hear the musket and cannon fire from our house.

The battlefields and reenactments really brings history to life. When I lived in Georgia I read several books on the civil War or her the war of northern aggression as it is known in Dixie. Our kids were about 5 and 7 at the time and so it was their first exposure to the history of the civil War. Occasional when you get to walk around where it actually happened and you got the touch some of the types of weapons that were used.; 5/9/20, 9:03 PM
Lewis said...: It's Venice, Anne, fucking Venice - how gorgeous how stupid! I've never had the money to get there, never mind stay there - and for you, - me - it;s just around the corner!How cheap is life - as cheap as chips; 5/9/20, 9:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: The original appellations for what we now call the Civil War is either The War of the Southern Rebellion according to the USA history or the War for Southern Independence according to the CSA history. Saying Civil war is a cruel neutrality artifact.; 5/9/20, 9:11 PM
Howard said...: Venice Beach was pretty cool place to hang out in the 70s. The West side of the breakwater was a nude beach. You could surf around the old pylons from POP further to the West. It also had muscle Beach and gold's gym and all of the beautiful girls that attracted and of course Dogtown and Z-Boys which started off the skateboard revolution.

All the crazy eccentric people of Los Angeles lived in Venice... there were dozens and dozens of characters around town and at the beach.; 5/9/20, 9:15 PM
Lewis said...: It's very sad but there you are (I'll be there soon):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzF2XqEiNX8; 5/9/20, 9:16 PM
Lewis said...: I'm not a bad person, Anne, I just panic today, completely - it wouldn't matter if you where a mouse or a radish I'll jump at anything - I'm terrified - because I'm an alcoholic - a bbinge drinker suddenly, II decided not to drink but it hit me, like Appolos arow, I am a moron - quite litteraly.; 5/9/20, 9:25 PM
Howard said...: Tom Waits for no Man. I think he's Robert Cooks (resident commie bastard) favorite singer.; 5/9/20, 9:25 PM
Lewis said...: Appolos - you idiot; 5/9/20, 9:26 PM
bagoh20 said...: Anne-I-Am, Yes, I did read that. I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area, and I loved it.

I'm not the first one to express it, but I'm a bit ashamed that I didn't show more courage in resisting some of the panic theater pressures myself. It's just that frightened people are irrational and dangerous, and far too ready to point the finger.

Bill Whittle recently expressed a similar disappointment with himself after seeing others openly resist and act American. It makes you wonder if you really have the courage to fight tyranny when it comes.; 5/9/20, 9:26 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: and now, for you Saturday Evening Posters...

... "The Perfect Squelch"

to Verizon: "Take down those 5G towers! They'r military weapons!!"
Verizon: Our 5G towers will help you download your conspiracy videos faster!

German Intel Exposes China Asking WHO To Delay Virus Declaration Of Human Transmission
link; 5/9/20, 9:28 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Michael K:

Surgeons have big egos, and I did, because we have to take people who are superficially well and make them sick, promising to get them well again.

That was her position, as well. In a high-pressure, time-sensitive environment, indecisiveness and self-doubt are not attractive qualities. You want someone who can confidently assess a situation, formulate a plan of action, and execute that plan. I imagine emergency medicine is as good a compromise as you can get between the medical and surgical specialties. She's admitted that in the past she used to experience frustration or annoyance at having to, after assessing and stabilizing a trauma patient, hand them over to a surgeon.; 5/9/20, 9:31 PM
Howard said...: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comfort_of_Strangers_(film)

The Comfort of Strangers is a 1990 Italian-British psychological drama film directed by Paul Schrader. The screenplay is by Harold Pinter, adapted from a short novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars Natasha Richardson, Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren.

Colin (Rupert Everett) and Mary (Natasha Richardson) are a British couple vacationing in Venice for the second time. They are not married, but Mary has two children, who have been left at home with her mother. We are shown glimpses of a tall man dressed in white, who seems to be observing them from afar. Late one night, they become lost as they search for a restaurant. As they wander around, they meet Robert (Christopher Walken), the British-Italian owner of a local bar. He is the very elegant-looking man in all white. Over several bottles of wine, he tells them stories about his sadistic father, an Italian diplomat. Robert also talks of the cruel tricks his younger sisters played upon him.

After this late evening, Colin and Mary try to walk back to their hotel through the labyrinthine streets of Venice. However, they lose their way and are forced to sleep in the streets. In the morning, hungover and hungry, they make their way to an outdoor restaurant in the square at St Mark's Basilica. There they see Robert, who realizes his thoughtlessness at not guiding them back to their hotel, and insists they come back to his home and dine there. They discover he and his wife Caroline (Helen Mirren) live in a spacious, Moorish-styled apartment.

The purpose of Colin's and Mary's trip is also to revitalize their relationship, and they decide to marry upon their return to England. However, Robert and Caroline are a very mysterious couple who attract and repulse the other pair. Robert is clearly obsessed with his past. Gradually, he draws them further into his influence much as a spider entraps his prey.; 5/9/20, 9:32 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Bagoh20

Yeah, I get it. I have been insulated from most of it--my company locked us down, so I have no excuse to go anywhere. I guess the only act of defiance I and my friends have made is to continue to meet several times a week for our group runs. In the face of several sometime members threatening to rat us out to the cops (in our group, which is a pretty tight clique, this was enough to get them made permanently persona non grata), we just did it anyway. Our social distancing is weak, and we hug each other and share a beer now and then.

I avoid a mask when I can. And I refuse to bow to the fear-stricken demands of people who suddenly want to use my trails to run with a mask. What nuttery.

Still, you only have to look at what has gone on here, on this site, with the usual assholes labelling me a murderer and all of that happy horseshit, to understand why so many people just don't want to deal with it. What has been the most frightening to me is the cheerful compliance of the collaborators. "Here, Mr. Tinpot Totalitarian, let me help you my turning in my neighbors."; 5/9/20, 9:33 PM
J. Farmer said...: @traditionalguy:

Saying Civil war is a cruel neutrality artifact.

And it's always been a misnomer. A civil war is factional fighting for control over the same territory. The War Between the States was a case of one set of states invading, destroying, and occupying another set of states. The Constitution may not be a suicide pact, but it's a certainly a homicidal pact. It's the roach motel of political arrangements. You can check in, but you can never check out.; 5/9/20, 9:36 PM
Jeff Gee said...: Two fisheyes in two days! I think we should get a new fisheye every time Dylan drops a new song.; 5/9/20, 9:37 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Eloi Musk is pissed

"Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA."; 5/9/20, 9:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Howard:

Altered States was a little freaky and pretty good in the mid eighties when I saw it on vhs but who knows how well it plays now.

I was obsessed with Altered States, the book and the film, when I was younger. William Hurt, for me, is one of those issues of likability. He's a talented actor and has been in a lot of quality work that I like, but there is something about him that I cannot stand and cannot put into words. It's just a visceral distaste.; 5/9/20, 9:40 PM
narciso said...: He was also in kiss of a spider woman, a rather odd art house picture where he played a gay political prisoner in brazil alongside raul julias guerilla.

Now hes hit the big time as a secomd level player in the marvel films, general ross in the four of them including incredible bulk and in the upcoming black widow.; 5/9/20, 9:46 PM
J. Farmer said...: @narciso:

Now hes hit the big time as a secomd level player in the marvel films, general ross in the four of them including incredible bulk and in the upcoming black widow.

That's a well-known trajectory for self-important actors. It's their version of the heartless capitalist/brainless socialist conversion. See John Cuscack and Liam Neeson, for example.; 5/9/20, 9:51 PM
J. Farmer said...: Eloi Musk is pissed

Musk is a techno-futurist wacko. As best I can tell, his single greatest talent is being a money-burning machine that can still successfully convince people to give him money.; 5/9/20, 9:52 PM
narciso said...: Coincidence or enemy action

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8304031/amp/China-flexes-military-muscle-Beijing-exploits-Covid-crisis-assert-control-South-China-Sea.html; 5/9/20, 9:53 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: will "Jogging While Black"

...be the new "Hands Up Don't Shoot" ?; 5/9/20, 9:53 PM
narciso said...: Cusack was amusing as the hipster foil in films like con air, the button man in grosse point blank, of course 2012 was an unintentional riot.; 5/9/20, 9:55 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: JF,

William Hurt plays the nemesis of Billy Bob Thornton in Goliath. His character there, to me, personifies what that visceral dislike that you describe.; 5/9/20, 9:56 PM
Howard said...: I know what you mean J Farmer. There is something off-putting about Bill hurt. Being from California we have a natural aversion to East coast preppy know-it-all pretty boys.

He plays a pretty good evil lawyer in 3rd degree burn makeup in the Billy Bob Thornton vehicle Goliath.; 5/9/20, 9:59 PM
narciso said...: He makes for a good villain then, why was he burned in the series.; 5/9/20, 10:01 PM
Howard said...: I think musk's latest tantrum is the fact that he's out of cash his cash flow is getting slaughtered. To keep making his nut he's having to sell all of his assets under the John Lennon imagine no possessions guise probably fed to him by his freakshow partner. It was probably already planning on moving to Nevada and it's doing the lawsuit with Alameda county as a excuse a cover story he's sheep-dipping himself.; 5/9/20, 10:03 PM
narciso said...: Apparently this vision of tony stark owes as much to musk as hughes in the original; 5/9/20, 10:05 PM
Howard said...: Elon Musk did another Joe Rogan podcast a few days ago to Garner support and sympathy for his plight. Whatever it takes, the guy flies a very fierce path and is absolutely 100% focused on getting what he wants now to achieve his goals ASAP. A real cowboy capitalist; 5/9/20, 10:08 PM
Howard said...: The difference between Musk and Hughes is Howard Hughes would be the first guy to ride on that rocket ship to the space station. Mechanics and pilots are different personalities. Musk as Stark would hire a real man to be iron Man as his proxy in the suit.; 5/9/20, 10:13 PM
narciso said...: I think william gibson popularized the term cold civil war in one of his later no els, which is what were in.; 5/9/20, 10:16 PM
Howard said...: I think the moral of the story is don't try to stand your ground if you're jogging while black in a Trumper neighborhood filled with obese impotent wannabes with guns instead of guts.; 5/9/20, 10:17 PM
Mark said...: Most of the sports reruns that they are showing are of playoff or championship games.

And frankly, many of them are not that great.

If it was me, I would rerun an entire season of a championship year.

It would be great to watch the 1984 Tigers again. It could be with the TV crew of George Kell and Al Kaline or the legendary radio duo of Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey.
https://youtu.be/dBbeg4vAA54
https://youtu.be/eR6-__okGQU; 5/9/20, 10:23 PM
narciso said...: Btw the alatriste series on amazon has segments available on youtube certainly several of them; 5/9/20, 10:24 PM
Narr said...: Get real-- Civil War is war between the citizens and/or regions of the same country. Wars of rebellion and secession aren't in some special category; and given that the American Civil War was Among Between About and Within the States, rebellion and secession are much more arbitrary and limiting than civil war.

Let's try The War for Emancipation!

Narr
It was, for some, so why not?; 5/9/20, 10:28 PM
Mark said...: There is something just so very comfortable listening to Ernie Harwell.

It was a different time, when you could just turn on the radio and listen to the game. The west coast games were always good because you'd listen to them lying there in bed. Or an afternoon game, they were good for having the game on while you were doing something or just sitting there doing nothing.; 5/9/20, 10:31 PM
Narr said...: And now for something completely different (especially if it links)

youtube.com/watch?v=7F5HND4F6Fo

Narr
Amazing; 5/9/20, 10:31 PM
narciso said...: Sublime narr; 5/9/20, 10:33 PM
Mark said...: Watching this Korean game on ESPN.

OF COURSE they are doing their best to make it crappy. Instead of just showing the game with a play-by-play announcer like usual, they have a bunch of nobody people on zoom doing some asinine chatter.

Just show the effing game, will you??? It ain't about you, you AHs. It's about the game.

Do they have to crap all over everything?; 5/9/20, 10:34 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "I avoid a mask when I can. And I refuse to bow to the fear-stricken demands of people who suddenly want to use my trails to run with a mask. What nuttery."

There are some male hysterics around (and some of them post here) but I tend to agree with Misplaced Pants that this craziness is largely driven by suburban women who make me ashamed to be a suburban woman myself.

Instapundit made an interesting point today - he noted that the temperance movement was also basically a movement of late 19th and early 20th century "Karens." Prohibition, championed by the same sort of self-righteous scolds who are turning in their neighbors now, was a disaster that turned millions of Americans into scofflaws and discredited the scolds. From the '30's to the '60's that sort of obnoxious meddling harridan was mocked in popular culture, from Margaret Dumont to Gladys Kravitz. Mockery of these silly, stupid, petty totalitarians is the way to deal with them.; 5/9/20, 10:36 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Howard said...
I think the moral of the story is don't try to stand your ground if you're jogging while black in a Trumper neighborhood filled with obese impotent wannabes with guns instead of guts.

5/9/20, 10:17 PM

More of your usual nonsense, but I try to cut you some slack, Howie, since I am starting to believe you are becoming senile.; 5/9/20, 10:38 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Exiled,

What disturbs me is so many of these women are teaching their kids to be anxious and fearful. Their kids walk around, some as young as 3 or 4, clutching a rag to their faces, while Mom scolds those she considers insufficiently compliant. We are going to have a generation of kids who grow up with the panic mentality of "Danger is Everywhere!"

(Of course it IS; danger really IS everywhere. Somehow, humans have managed to survive and thrive despite that cold reality.); 5/9/20, 10:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Narr:

Get real-- Civil War is war between the citizens and/or regions of the same country.

If the EU had responded to Brexit by launching a military attack against the UK, would that be a civil war?; 5/9/20, 10:41 PM
Big Mike said...: @exiledonmainstreet, Howard starts from the assumption that all Republicans are racist white supremacists (including Tim Scott!). deftly applies circular reasoning, and triumphantly concludes that all Republicans are racists white supremacists (including Tim Scott).; 5/9/20, 10:42 PM
Birkel said...: During all of this Winnie Xi Flu lockdown nonsense...

Have we forgotten that Dianne Feinstein employed a Chinese Spy?

DiFiChiSpy

The corruption is manifest.; 5/9/20, 10:42 PM
Big Mike said...: I'm in the diner for a late snack before going to bed (and to laugh at Howard).; 5/9/20, 10:43 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Big Mike,

What will your snack be? Or are you only speaking metaphorically?; 5/9/20, 10:45 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Blogger J. Farmer said...

@Narr:

Get real-- Civil War is war between the citizens and/or regions of the same country.

If the EU had responded to Brexit by launching a military attack against the UK, would that be a civil war?

It kind of depends on who wins. If the English had won the Irish War Of Independence in the 1920s, preserving the UK, it would have been a civil war.

If the Biafrans had won, it would have been a war of independence and not a Nigerian civil war.; 5/9/20, 10:47 PM
narciso said...: Wait didnt the failure of the irish forces led to their sympathies to germany, robeet fisk wrote a whole book about it.; 5/9/20, 10:51 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Churchy LaFemme:

It kind of depends on who wins.

Good point.; 5/9/20, 10:52 PM
narciso said...: According to michael burleigh oaddy gerry adams father led the german bombers to uk targets; 5/9/20, 10:53 PM
Mark said...: It was such a treat going to see a game at Tiger Stadium. You'd drive over, park at this church a couple of blocks away. Walk in and it had that gritty, broken-in feeling. And smell the beer, peanuts and hot dogs as you took your seat, which some usher would insist on wiping down with a dirty sponge before holding out his hand.

You could get excellent box seats right near the dugout for less than $10, so close that you could taste it all. You could buy at the box office, but I always bought mine by mail -- cut out the ticket form that was in the Free Press and sent it in with a check. Then taking your seats, you sit and watch batting practice and warm-ups before they played "This Week in Baseball" on the scoreboard in centerfield. Of course, this was before they had the HD screens, just a bunch of tiny lights.

The National Anthem, hat held over heart, and then the game. A lazy, hazy day of summer.

Sat in the centerfield upper deck bleacher seats a couple of times. Last time was for a nighttime double header. It was rain delayed and late in the season, so they could not reschedule and had to play. Late enough that they waived the rule about how late you could start a game. We were there until almost 3 in the morning.; 5/9/20, 10:54 PM
Mark said...: Alas, Tiger Stadium is no more.; 5/9/20, 10:56 PM
Narr said...: "If the EU had responded to Brexit by launching a military attack against the UK, would that be a civil war?"

No.

Narr
Why do you ask?; 5/9/20, 10:57 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Mark,
I like that you have such great memories of baseball and an obvious affection for the game. I am a Philistine, I guess; baseball bores me silly. Still, I have terrific memories of my dad taking us to Reds games back when the lineup was Bench, Rose, Morgan, Tony Perez...; 5/9/20, 10:57 PM
Quaestor said...: A civil war is factional fighting for control over the same territory.

This is a rather incomplete definition of a civil war. All wars, either between separate polities or between factions within a single polity, involve conflict over territory, territory being the repository of resources -- natural, agricultural, civil, or commercial which can either expand or ensure the political and/or military power of the contending party in effective control of said territory.

Carl von Clausewitz gave an expanded definition of civil war in his work, Vom Kriege (1832) based on discussions on the subject by Aristotle, Thucydides, and Averroes. By his definition, a civil war is an armed struggle in which intrastate factions contend over political and economic control of the state. Prime examples are the sporadic civil wars of the Roman Republic during the 1st century BC between the Populares (Gracci) and the Optimates (Sulla) and their various successors. A more recent example is the English Civil War between Charles Stuart's Royalist party and the Parliamentarian party, later between the Parliamentarians and various social revolutionary factions.

The American Civil War (that's the conventional term, however inaccurate) is a special case in that a secessionist movement within a political union composed of sovereign states is remarkably uncommon in history prior to 1861. The closest parallel I can recall is the rebellion against the Delian League, 471 BC. As you may recall the Delian League was originally a system of military alliances of Greek city-states against the Persian Empire. However, through her much greater military and economic power, Athens came to dominate the League politically, such that a number of member poleis believed their sovereignty was being fatally eroded by the Athenian hegemon. Things came to a head when Naxos attempted to secede. Athens rallied a few of the more loyal (or corrupted) poleis and invaded Naxos, killing thousands and imprisoning many Naxiot oligarchs for treason. This incident spurred approximately half of the Delian city-states to secede and reunite as the Peloponnesian League under the hegemony of Sparta. (The parallels to the United States in 1861 are striking.) Thucydides, an Athenian veteran of the subsequent cataclysmic war between the remnants of the Delian League and the Spartan alliance, called that struggle "a war like no other". He was well aware of civil wars in Greek history (many of the Homeric stories use civil war as their settings), but the war between the leagues did not fit any model of prior armed struggle Thucydides had knowledge of. Our War Between the States is a war like no other except the Peloponnesian War.; 5/9/20, 10:58 PM
walter said...: Inga said...
There were quite a few bearded beer bellied older protestors there. Prime candidates for the ICU and a brand spanking newly bleached ventilator in about two weeks.
4/24/20, 5:29 PM

WHA stats; 5/9/20, 10:59 PM
narciso said...: Thats an intriguing notion, i thought of the pelopenessian war more like our indochina incursion but with greater consequences the plague that ravaged athens; 5/9/20, 11:01 PM
Mark said...: Pregame with Paul Carey. Then three innings with Ernie, three with Paul, last three with Ernie.

Ernie always had this canny ability to know the fan who caught a hit into the stands.; 5/9/20, 11:02 PM
Mark said...: Baseball is a game, was a game, for a slower more relaxed, laid-back time.; 5/9/20, 11:04 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: One notable proof of Pericles' genius was his management of the Delian League, or Confederacy of Delos, which had been organized in 477 B.C. to protect the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the Aegean from the Persians,7 and which was so named because its member-ship dues, amounting annually to 600 talents, or $750,000, were kept at the shrine of Apollo on the sacred island of Delos. Pericles knew that there are always crooks around who will steal anything they can lay their hands on, so in 454 B.C. he removed the treasury of the Delian League to Athens, where he could keep his eye on it. Pericles found only $3,750,000 in the treasury, when he should have found $35,397,500. I am unable to explain the discrepancy. -- Cuppy; 5/9/20, 11:15 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Quaestor:

Our War Between the States is a war like no other except the Peloponnesian War.

Interestingly, just as I was reading your comment, "remarkably uncommon in history prior to 1861," the Delian League was the first thing that popped in my mind. The idea of hegemon versus empire also has some roots in this conflict.

"Civil war" is certainly an ambiguous phrase. Etymologically it refers to a war between citizens and was used in the context of Ancient Rome. I recall the debates from the mid-oughts over whether or not Iraq's insurgency qualified as a civil war. One problem with the phrase in the American context is that we tend to think of civil wars as being between two discreet sides, when in fact many such wars involved multiple discreet combatants (e.g. Somalia, Russia).

My conception of "civil war" is akin to your description of Clausewitz's. Wars within political borders as opposed to between them.; 5/9/20, 11:18 PM
Mark said...: Susan Oliver on The Invaders.; 5/9/20, 11:21 PM
J. Farmer said...: Thats an intriguing notion, i thought of the pelopenessian war more like our indochina incursion but with greater consequences the plague that ravaged athens

I think the Delian League provides a useful analogue for the US' current security posture. And also why "hegemony" is probably a more accurate term than "empire," though the boundaries between the two can be ambiguous. The problem with this arrangement is that even if the security alliances accomplish their goal (i.e. reduce or eliminate a threat), it will by that time have developed entrenched interests, and a new security threat must be found. This is one of the reasons the US system persistently exaggerates foreign threats.; 5/9/20, 11:25 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: We're considering checking out of the suburban game for a while. I'm just out of patience with these people, by which I mean panicky and hysterical suburban moms. We are lurching our way out of lockdown here in Texas but the problem is with the institutions. I'm getting emails from the summer camps, the Vacation Bible Schools, the art camps, that June stuff is cancelled. July will probably be next. People are talking about how they are so afraid of sEcoND wAvE! and how they don't want to send their kids back to school this fall. (This is uncharitable but I swear these women can't stomach the idea of letting go of the Drama! and Excitement! and Danger!) Our preschool won't even confirm a tentative start date in August. Our church is weeks, probably months, out from having any childrens' programming.

Businesses are slowly opening, because they have to, including things like museums and aquariums. State parks are opening back up. Mr. Pants and I are asking ourselves just WTF are we doing sitting here in our community when our community doesn't seem to want to be a community anymore. He works remotely and it will be some time before has to travel for work. We are genuinely thinking of pulling back from everything, buying an RV and hitting the road. Unschooling or homeschooling, reading, listening to music, seeing this great state of ours, spending lots of downtime together. Not sitting in our house and waiting for the Karen network to decide they can come out from under the bed. I've just lost my taste for making any room for this mentality in my life anymore.; 5/9/20, 11:26 PM
Big Mike said...: Or are you only speaking metaphorically?

Madame, I am entirely a living, breathing metaphor. Before I die I hope to deduce precisely what it is I am a metaphor for.

(I was making a small joke based on the Professor calling this a “diner”. I ordered a steak dinner for two from her favorite local restaurant — open only for takeout under the rules — as an early Mother’s Day present for my lady-love and I am still full.); 5/9/20, 11:26 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Anne-I-Am said...
Exiled,

What disturbs me is so many of these women are teaching their kids to be anxious and fearful. Their kids walk around, some as young as 3 or 4, clutching a rag to their faces, while Mom scolds those she considers insufficiently compliant."

Well, young mothers today are millennials, and although I have a few in my extended family and love them, they have struck me for a long time as oddly fearful for young people - and extremely conformist. That's the Obama generation - fearful of microaggressions, saying or doing anything that could faintly be interpreted as racist or sexist or homophobic or transphobic or offensive to Our Endangered Planet. They are not, as a group, intellectually curious or rebellious in the slightest, which is why they want Big Mommy Government to take care of them. So it's no surprise to me when I see healthy people in their 30's acting like they are frail 80 year olds with COPD. Don't come near me! Wear a mask! You're too close! Now I have to go home and bathe in Lysol!

I can only pray the generation after them has more sense - or that their instinct for rebellion has not been brainwashed out of them. After all, the Boomers spent a lot of time ducking under their desks in the '50's in case the Big One dropped - and yet they went on to engage in many distinctly dangerous and unhealthy activities when they got old enough.; 5/9/20, 11:27 PM
Mark said...: Learned helplessness and paralysis.

All that our elites and many/most of our fellow citizens can do is curl up in a ball under the bed. Don't just do something, stand there. That's their approach. And if anyone else wants to do something, they must be stopped.

And all this from people who otherwise are a bunch of busybodies.; 5/9/20, 11:36 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: oddly fearful for young people

I've been a mom for a long time, and because of our participation in playgroups and such I see the young moms even as I am no longer a young mom. The first I noticed this was when they all got scared of BPA in sippy cups. What? It's a plastic cup! It's not going to hurt your child! Another one is Johnson's baby shampoo. The amber dye causes pediatric cancer. @@ And they're all afraid of "toxins" so they clean ("clean") their houses with that Norwex stuff they all sell to each other + essential oils. They push for product recalls because a single-digit number of babies died in freak accidents in a particular kind of baby gear. They hover over them at the playground as though it matter if a kid skins his knee. It's all very odd. Obviously I don't want any child hurt, ever, but the level of fear my fellow moms have is bewildering to me.; 5/9/20, 11:37 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Well, all, it has been a nice evening chat. Peaceful, with no noisome interjections. I hope that you all have a peaceful and relaxing rest of the evening.; 5/9/20, 11:37 PM
Mark said...: Bonne nuit.; 5/9/20, 11:39 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Yes, there is definitely something about William Hurt that is like biting on tinfoil- it is part of what makes him compelling as an actor. I can't think of a single role I have ever seen where that quality didn't play a large part in the role itself. I just think about the various movies: Body Heat, The Big Chill, Broadcast News, The Accidental Tourist, Altered States, etc.; 5/9/20, 11:42 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Me So ...phonia?

Does the Sound of Noisy Eating Drive You Mad?
Here's Why; 5/9/20, 11:45 PM
Lewis said...: Trump, whatever you say about him and whatever his or our future - he's the man, he's the guy! Everytime you think you've knocked him out, he's back and stronger, learning - a 70 year old man, still learning - thank god, he is still learning - that's what a 'man' is, Anne!; 5/9/20, 11:46 PM
J. Farmer said...: @exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil:

earful of microaggressions, saying or doing anything that could faintly be interpreted as racist or sexist or homophobic or transphobic or offensive to Our Endangered Planet. They are not, as a group, intellectually curious or rebellious in the slightest, which is why they want Big Mommy Government to take care of them.

Allow me to a speak a word of defense for my demographic brethren. I think a lot of the ragging on millenials these days is mostly just another iteration of the "kids these days" mentality. The social justice obsession you refer to is a real thing, but it's not really a feature of millenials but white, relatively affluent liberals. As far as "Big Mommy Government," it wasn't millenials that instituted Social Security in the 1930's. It was millenials who passed the Great Society programs in the 1960's. It wasn't millenials who passed the prescription drug benefit expansion in the 2000's.

Most millenials came of age in the second half of the 90's and first half of the 00's. Their experience of America has been the Lewinsky affair, the 2000 election crisis, 9/11, Iraq, mass immigration, deindustrialization, and the financial collapse that precipitated the Great Recession. While it may be fun to shit on millenials, maybe some of the elites of prior generations have a little something to answer for.; 5/9/20, 11:49 PM
Mark said...: Body Heat is now ages older than original noir was when Body Heat was made.; 5/9/20, 11:51 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/9/20, 11:51 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/9/20, 11:51 PM
Mark said...: One of these times David Vincent is going to shoot someone and they are not going glow and disappear.

Then it will be "oops" time.; 5/9/20, 11:53 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "Body Heat is now ages older than original noir was when Body Heat was made."

True. I often have this same thought when I think about music. When I was a teenager in the 80s, the Elvis Presley era seemed like ancient history. Today, Duran Duran is older music than "Heartbreak Hotel" was in the mid 80s. In summary, I just feel old.; 5/9/20, 11:55 PM
narciso said...: Around the time he was an alien in the x files, which owes some inspiration, chris carter says it was the night stalker but that one didnt feature aliens ar all.; 5/9/20, 11:56 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Pandemic as Symbolic End to Three Decades of Buoyant Globalization

The past is over, and the future’s not what it used to be

https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2020/05/martin-hala-pandemic-as-symbolic-end-to-three-decades-of-buoyant-globalization/; 5/9/20, 11:57 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "The first I noticed this was when they all got scared of BPA in sippy cups. What? It's a plastic cup! It's not going to hurt your child! Another one is Johnson's baby shampoo. The amber dye causes pediatric cancer."

LOL. I think just about every Baby Boomer in the nation, myself included, had their hair washed with Johnson's Baby Shampoo for years and yet not only did most of us not get "pediatric cancer," we're still here in 2020 and are getting told "OK Boomer" by the generation afraid of baby shampoo.

Another thing: the idea that cow's milk is somehow bad or unhealthy, which is something all my millennial relatives now seem to believe, even though we live in America's Dairyland. All because almond milk and oat milk and hemp milk became a thing. I understand that there are people who have lactose intolerance but the millennials I am thinking of do not. I watched them pour milk over their Golden Grahams and Cheerios for years and it did them no harm, but suddenly it's a terrible thing to give kids milk. Some article on Vox said so, I guess.

And when you call them on these silly fears, well, you're just "unscientific."; 5/10/20, 12:05 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: Mis-Pants, I sympathize. We're under a relatively relaxed regime here in AZ, but there are those in the neighborhood who live to spread fear. "Please, Governor, close down the golf courses! Don't you dare allow the restaurants to open!" I try to live a kind-of normal life, including golf, hiking and biking, and shopping when I feel like it. I'm in the Vulnerable Population, but why live in fear every day? Be appropriately cautious, but don't curl up and cry. The Karens aren't ever satisfied. They think everyone who plays in the park with their kids is out to get them. I understand wanting to be done with them.; 5/10/20, 12:06 AM
Mark said...: Happy Days showed only 20 years after the time depicted.

Twenty years ago from now, stormtroopers burst into a home in Miami in order to capture and send a young boy back to the prison state of Cuba. Nearly 20 years ago, 9/11 happened. Both seem like yesterday.

And whereas the cultural difference between the 50s and 70s was huge, not so much between the 00s and now.; 5/10/20, 12:07 AM
Mark said...: What our terrorist elites are doing to this country may still destroy us all.; 5/10/20, 12:12 AM
Mark said...: Don't like that characterization? Think it goes too far?

Well, I think it doesn't go too far enough.

Because that is what they are doing -- inciting terror.

Terrorizing people -- and for the politicians, at least, using terror for a political aim. Which is the same as any other terrorist.; 5/10/20, 12:14 AM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/10/20, 12:15 AM
narciso said...: And they are in league with foreign powers china first among them.; 5/10/20, 12:15 AM
narciso said...: As the der spiegel piece points outn among others; 5/10/20, 12:18 AM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/10/20, 12:19 AM