Althouse: At the Yellow Café...

June 3, 2020

At the Yellow Café...

... you can talk all night.

69 comments:

historyDoc said...: Looks to me like politicians throughout the country feel that its OK to travel in large groups to your local polling place to vote by this fall. No need for mail in vote. Even OK to loot and ransack on your way to the local poll.; 6/3/20, 9:04 PM
Mark said...: Washington Post headline. It just keeps going lower and lower in spewing its utter malicious hatred, contempt and enmity for everything --

The dystopian Lincoln Memorial photo raises a grim question: Will they protect us, or will they shoot us?
The chilling image speaks to how the military must think about the optics of its behavior.
(showing a photo of soldiers); 6/3/20, 9:04 PM
Mark said...: Another NSS moment as expressed in a WP headline --

The next big problem: Businesses can’t or won’t pay rent. It’s setting off a dangerous chain reaction.
Many shops and restaurants say they'll go out of business if they are forced to pay rent now. But landlords face bankruptcy without rents and municipalities need commercial property tax payments.; 6/3/20, 9:06 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: Autopsy report of George Floyd is out. https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/public-safety/documents/Autopsy_2020-3700_Floyd.pdf

Interesting to note that according to the toxicology screening on his blood he had Fentanyl in his system at a concentration of 11 ng/mL. I don't know what the lethal dosage range would look like in a tox screening.; 6/3/20, 9:10 PM
Mark said...: Two WP headlines contradicting each other while demonstrating the need for overwhelming police presence to keep the peace --

Police keep using force against peaceful protesters, prompting criticism about tactics and training

Protesters’ breach of fences near White House prompted Secret Service to move Trump to bunker on Friday

Peaceful people do not breach the secured areas of the democratically-elected president of the nation.

And do not think that the MSM's complete revulsion over law enforcement will not go unnoticed.; 6/3/20, 9:12 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Trained one of 'em self-identified.

Interesting.

Makes me hate me and love Jews.

Lot a talent all 'round.; 6/3/20, 9:16 PM
Mark said...: After elements of the mob sought to shake down the security fence that was erected at the edge of Lafayette Part last night, it looks like the federal protection force has extended the perimeter of the White House up 16th Street all the way to I Street.; 6/3/20, 9:17 PM
Mark said...: Pope Francis says what the baffled Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory is unable to say --

We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form. At the same time, we have to recognize that violence is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost. Let us pray for reconciliation and peace.

https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/1268105142320001024; 6/3/20, 9:20 PM
wildswan said...: There's protesters by day and there's a different group, rioters, by night. The rioters are led by Antifa whose goal is anarchy. Big city mayors stand the police down before the rioters and anarchy ensues. These same big city mayors, all Democrats, belong to the party that has controlled most of the big cities for most of the last sixty years. Mistreatment of members of the black community, "systemic racism", is on those big city mayors and their party, the Democratic party. A focused discussion of the grievances of the black community would have exposed the relationship between the Democrats and the legitimate grievances of the black community. Instead the mayors have encouraged looting by standing down the police and enabling Antifa. Thus they imply that the black community is in a state of anarchy due to general sins of all Americans. Thus they avoid a reckoning between the Democratic party and their most faithful voters.

I think we all know that whatever goes wrong in America hits the black community hardest. In America a rising economy was struck down by covid and in America the Democratic party is prolonging this damage by restoring normal conditions as slowly as they can. The black community in the Democrat-run big cities is the hardest hit. Similarly, in America education is absolutely necessary for prosperity and in the big cities 40% of the 18 year-old young men of the black community are failing each year graduate from high school. Moreover for those who do stay the education they are getting in the public schools is, more and more, a worthless knockoff, a thing that looks like an education but that rips and crumbles in the strains and rains of the real world. Real education is available through charter schools, vouchers, school choice, and home schooling. All of these the The Democrats oppose and cripple as far as they can within their big city jurisdictions. Again it is the children of the black community that are hardest hit.

I call the crisis "failed liberalism", others call it "systemic racism." Whatever we call it it is worst in the big cities mainly run by Democrats for the last sixty years or more; and it hits the black community hardest. Anarchy and looting are what the big city mayors are now proscribing as the best medicine for their own failed policies, the best way to hide their own ruinous failures is to create a heap of bigger ruins, visibly on fire. But failed liberalism hiding itself in anarchy and looting isn't what the black community wants, it's just what they get in return for their loyalty.

How many times can a man turn his head/Pretending he just doesn't see?; 6/3/20, 9:21 PM
Mark said...: I see that Barack Obama has also spoken about the riots. And in showing his respect for George Floyd, he couldn't be bothered to put on a tie.; 6/3/20, 9:23 PM
Ken said...: https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/06/looting-protest-punishment-care-and-feeding.html

I don't know what to think about this. I reacted very strongly emotionally, but in several different ways. Would love to read Althouse's take.; 6/3/20, 9:24 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Cotton-pickin' NY Times

NYT Rebuked for Tom Cotton Op-Ed Calling for US Military to Use 'Overwhelming Show of Force' Against Protests

---

...any hope for Esper?; 6/3/20, 9:24 PM
Big Mike said...: That's not goldenrod, is it? My eyes are watering just looking at the picture.; 6/3/20, 9:25 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Prediction: If Biden is still the nominee in September/October, there will be no debates. They must go through the remaining primaries - other wise the Sanders folks will claim some sort of "we are next in line". Dems gotta make a decision fast amongst their various back-up plans:

1. After the upcoming primaries, dump Biden (medical) and insert their best hope and at this point, Gen. Matthis is probably their best hope.

2. Get through the convention, select the woman=of-color for Veep that will have the best chance of actually bringing in some votes (or, at least, not LOSE votes). Refuse to debate because. . . .whatever. Would love to see this because ridiculous Presidential debates will finally get the death they deserve.

3. Get through the convention, select a "qualified" woman for Veep, claim medical withdrawal, Veep will now debate Trump. Best hope is probably Warren (she can debate competently though not sensibly - kinda like Trump Lite)

I don't believe I can watch any of it.; 6/3/20, 9:29 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: "The dystopian Lincoln Memorial photo raises a grim question: Will they protect us, or will they shoot us?"

If you have to ask, you might want to think about what it you're doing that presents them with that choice.

Just sayin'.; 6/3/20, 9:45 PM
MayBee said...: So weird that Floyd had Covid. I feel like 2020 is a big trick.; 6/3/20, 9:48 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Kathryn51 said...
"Get through the convention, select a "qualified" woman for Veep, claim medical withdrawal, Veep will now debate Trump. Best hope is probably Warren (she can debate competently though not sensibly - kinda like Trump Lite)"

No, they won't pick Warren. They really have to pick a black woman now.; 6/3/20, 9:48 PM
John henry said...: In the 60s one of the black panther leaders SAS asked if there was any position for women In the black panther movement. Or perhaps it SAS "white women".

He famously replied "Prone"

I was reminded of this reading about the Black Lives Matter leader:

Karen.

A viral video circulating on social media shows a young man purporting to be a Black Lives Matter member commanding a white woman to drop to her knees and apologize for her so-called white privilege to “show solidarity for the situation.

H/t Ace

Not bad. But once the woman is in this position, it's a minor next step to the guy unzipping his pants and telling the woman that she really needs to prove she is serious about showing solidarity...

John Henry; 6/3/20, 9:49 PM
chuck said...: I don't know what the lethal dosage range would look like in a tox screening.

Apparently it is hard to be precise post-mortem, but 11ng/ml is in the range.; 6/3/20, 9:50 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: "Officer, I "reviewed but did not read" the posted speed limit."

...but if I knew then what I know now, I would have not gone that fast.; 6/3/20, 9:50 PM
Michael K said...: 1. After the upcoming primaries, dump Biden (medical) and insert their best hope and at this point, Gen. Matthis is probably their best hope.

Best explanation of him I've seen today. I was wondering if McChrystal would be the traitor.; 6/3/20, 9:56 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: did Ellison get a little overzealous charging Chauvin?
Now harder to convict?
So did he do it for appeasement, or to further the chaos/unrest?

Dont be Raciss! Come to Chinatown during the outbreak!
@MarkLevineNYC
"Let's be clear about something: if there is a spike in coronavirus cases in the next two weeks, don't blame the protesters.
Blame racism."
(Levine, not Levin)

Pentagon ‘Advisor’ Who Resigned Over Trump Lafayette Park Walk Donated Nearly $10,000 to Democrats Including Biden and Obama; 6/3/20, 10:04 PM
PJ said...: at this point, Gen. Matthis is probably their best hope.

Mad Dog 2020!; 6/3/20, 10:08 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

NYT Rebuked for Tom Cotton Op-Ed Calling for US Military to Use 'Overwhelming Show of Force' Against Protests

Note that in that headline, the "Against Protests" part is not in quotes. Know why? Because Cotton did not say to use the force against the protests. He was very clear to distinguish between the protestors and the rioters. He only called for the show of force against the clearly illegal acts.

The linked article lied about that, through and through. Most of the commenters there repeated, or at least based their comment, on the same lie.; 6/3/20, 10:15 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: They asked me how I knew
If my report was true
I of course had lied
Something here inside cannot be denied
They said "someday you'll find all you Libs are blind"
When your pants are on fire,
You must realize, smoke gets in your eyes

After Falsely Claiming Tear Gas Use, Media Now Trying To Pretend Tear Gas And Pepper Spray Are Identical
'Public display' doesn't sound as nefarious as 'photo op.' 'Partially violent' doesn't sound as sympathetic as 'peaceful.' And 'irritant' doesn't pack the powerful punch of 'tear gas.'

https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/03/after-falsely-claiming-tear-gas-use-media-now-trying-to-pretend-tear-gas-and-pepper-spray-are-identical/#.Xtfox0Ipyy4.twitter; 6/3/20, 10:33 PM
doctrev said...: Mark said...

But landlords face bankruptcy without rents and municipalities need commercial property tax payments.

6/3/20, 9:06 PM

Oh boo hoo hoo, the poor fucking landlords. If Trump wanted to absolutely crush this election and force the Dems on the back foot with their bankster masters, he'd force ALL landlords to forgive at least one month's rent during 2020. Unconstitutional, but then the governors did keep the economy in lockdown for three months! Watch the Dems twist in the wind as they frantically try to block legislation mandating it. The looters are probably not going to face trained military (damn), but AG Barr's focus on Antifa and their supporters is going to crush all future attempts to pull something like this.

Mattis as the Dem presidential candidate has a lot of advantages, but the biggest disadvantage is "why the hell were you in the Trump cabinet for three years if you hated the guy this much?" Like all Republican imports, Mattis being called in to save the ticket will detonate its popularity with BernieBros and others who hate militarism in general.

Btw, Pontifex is probably the most baller name on Twitter, so it's little surprise to me that Pope Benedict was the first to claim it. And not Pope Francis.; 6/3/20, 10:43 PM
Scott Patton said...: Pontificatus... "violence is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost."
Yes, "self-defeating", like that's the big problem.; 6/3/20, 10:45 PM
Scott Patton said...: "Big Mike said...
That's not goldenrod, is it? My eyes are watering just looking at the picture."

Ha - picture make me sneeze; 6/3/20, 10:47 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: We know who's responsible for those pallets of bricks; 6/3/20, 10:52 PM
Francisco D said...: I see that Barack Obama has also spoken about the riots. And in showing his respect for George Floyd, he couldn't be bothered to put on a tie.

He is too good for us. He blessed us with his presence, but we were insufficiently in awe of his magnificence...

... due to racism, undoubtedly.; 6/3/20, 10:52 PM
Francisco D said...: As a Chicago Bears fan, I thought Vic Fangio was a tremendous Defensive Coordinator. He left the Bears to be the head coach of the Denver Broncos.

Vic recently stated that he sees no racism in the NFL. Good for him.

He has since been forced to apologize.; 6/3/20, 11:03 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: What is the daily recommended dosage of fentanyl? How can we be sure we’re getting enough?; 6/3/20, 11:23 PM
madAsHell said...: So....ummmm...When did "Black Lives Matter" become a trope....yard sign again?; 6/3/20, 11:27 PM
Butkus51 said...: So everyone is woke now. Corporations, employees of those corporations, every black, hispanic, asian, muslim, canadian, theyre all woke. College students are woke. HS students are woke. Everybody is woke. And I'm tired.; 6/3/20, 11:39 PM
PubliusFlavius said...: "Anything you practice you'll get good at....
..including BS"

https://twitter.com/Real_Talk_News/status/1268294980247879682; 6/4/20, 12:20 AM
StephenFearby said...: If you have an interest in UK politics, based in his last two articles, this guy is worth a read. Here are two snippets from his recent American foray:

Brended O'Neill, Editor of Spiked :

I did not kill George Floyd
The attempt to hold all whites responsible for the death of Floyd shows what a dead-end woke politics is.

"There’s a new sin. Forget gluttony. Forget sloth. The great moral error today is whiteness. To be white is to be fallen. Whiteness has become a kind of original sin, an inherited moral defect one must atone for throughout one’s life. In the wake of the brutal execution of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, this almost religious treatment of whiteness as an existential flaw has gone uber-mainstream.

Listen to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Yesterday he called on ‘white Christians’ to ‘repent of our own prejudices’. Repent, ye sinners! Or if you prefer your leaders to be secular, how about the high priestess of middle-class decency, Nigella Lawson, who instructs her fellow white people to ‘acknowledge [that] systematic racism exists’ and that we are ‘complicit in it’. That brutal killing in Minneapolis – it’s your doing, white people.

Or read Time, [formerly]the most mainstream magazine in existence. ‘White people’, says one of its contributors, ‘have inherited this house of white supremacy, built by their forebears and willed to them’. Inherited. The sins of the father shall be visited upon the son. The Time writer says white racism is a spectrum, stretching from those white people who tell a black woman ‘how pretty our hair looks when we wear it straight’ to ‘the more extreme end of the spectrum… cops literally suffocating black people like George Floyd as they beg for their lives’."

"...Anti-whiteness comes from the top. It is most pronounced among privileged whites. It has nothing in common with the noble struggles for racial equality in the past. Rather, it expresses the nihilism and fatalism of the contemporary liberal elites and intellectual classes. It is self-loathing disguised as radicalism. It is not the friend, by any stretch of the imagination, of black people or white people. On the contrary, it condemns both to an interminable status quo in which the former must perform the role of perennial victim and the latter must engage in penitence, publicly and noisily, forever. Elite fatalism sees no way out of inequality or injustice, precisely because it has reimagined these things as ‘traits’, as the Chicago Tribune puts it, of racial behaviour. All it can envisage is a technocratic system of racial management in which black victims are encouraged to speak and weep and whites are encouraged to listen and repent. Like a forever truth and reconciliation commission."

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/06/03/i-did-not-kill-george-floyd/; 6/4/20, 1:26 AM
Jaq said...: I watched the movie Cromwell with Richard Harris (included with Prime) last night, and if anybody is wondering where the source material from Shrek cam from, that’s the movie. Shrek is Cromwell, reluctant warrior and eventually king, and Lord Farquad is the Earl of Manchester, who was awarded land by the Charles I and kicked the peasants off of it, lust like the fairy tale people in Shrek. Period costumes check out too. Obviously the history is pretty mixed up, but Shrek is a story and tracks the Cromwell movie pretty well for the first 20 minutes.; 6/4/20, 4:48 AM
Jaq said...: Warren was there in the crowd with the looters and burners, so yeah, I am sure those pictures will win her a lot of votes.; 6/4/20, 4:49 AM
Howard said...: Another traitor to the cause you people hate.

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/869255813/former-defense-secretary-mattis-issues-stunning-rebuke-of-trump; 6/4/20, 4:51 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Trump can do anything. He got the lefties wrappin their arms around Mattis. Thats power!; 6/4/20, 5:35 AM
Rusty said...: Looks like wild mustard?; 6/4/20, 5:39 AM
h said...: I got an email from the Kennedy Center (for the Arts, in DC), saying that they were going to turn off the lights for 9 minutes in solidarity with those who have lost their lives as a result of racial violence and bigotry. But the email warns, "Dimming the lights is a symbol, not the solution." Well, it's hard to argue with that.

But I'm beginning to see that all anyone is asked to do is symbolic -- wear a color, carry a sign, light a candle, pass a resolution, attend an event, have an "honest conversation". And none of it ever makes any difference. Even electing Obama can be viewed as largely symbolic and ineffectual, as regarding race relations. I understand that these symbolic actions can redound to the benefit of a small cadre of leaders, but isn't there a chance that many people will begin to see empty symbols for what they really are, and just scoff and continued appeals to take symbolic actions?; 6/4/20, 5:41 AM
Kevin said...: The Democrats, party of 90% of black America, really needs to replace their nominee.

And there isn’t a single black person they could consider.; 6/4/20, 5:50 AM
MOFD said...: That's a nice stand of Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), an early-blooming native perennial. I've got a bunch of it in my pollinator gardens. It provides nectar for bees, and Black Swallowtail caterpillars feed on the leaves.; 6/4/20, 6:06 AM
Rick.T. said...: Hmmmm. Tough one without a close up. Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) is my final answer.; 6/4/20, 6:09 AM
Rosa Marie Yoder said...: It's too early for goldenrod in Wisconsin. Maybe Garden Yellow Rocket?; 6/4/20, 6:10 AM
MOFD said...: Also, goldenrod (Solidago sp.) does not cause allergies or eye watering, because it does not spread its pollen in the wind. Another great native perennial that is blooms later and provides sustenance for native bees and butterflies.; 6/4/20, 6:11 AM
Browndog said...: The rioters are led by Antifa whose goal is anarchy.

To be clear, the goal of Antifa is communism. The goal of communism is the destruction of capitalism.; 6/4/20, 6:18 AM
Paco Wové said...: Wildswan@9:21 PM — well put.; 6/4/20, 7:03 AM
Kai Akker said...: Horse-racing has been in a new golden era for the last six, seven years. After 40 years without a Triple Crown winner, there have been two in American Pharaoh and Justify, and an extremely close call with California Chrome(2014) just before them.

For my money, the two most remarkable horses during that period did not win any of the Triple Crown races: Gun Runner and Arrogate. After running fourth in the Derby, Gun Runner's sustained excellence over an 18-month period was breathtaking to watch, even more so than it was rewarding to cash tickets on him.

Arrogate had fewer races but they were spectacular ones. Breaking a 25-year-old track record at Saratoga; beating California Chrome with an unrelenting gain down the stretch of the Breeders Cup Classic; and then an amazing recovery from a bad start in Dubai to pass Gun Runner in the stretch there -- those were great moments in sport.

This week, Arrogate had to be put down after collapsing in his stall and being unable to arise for several days. This shocking news is yet another reminder that nothing is guaranteed. As a sire, he was just getting started. Here is an article in which his trainer compares him to Secretariat, and it contains video of the Dubai race that still astounds racing fans to watch. Absolutely fantastic race and a great video.

https://www.horseracingnation.com/news/Baffert_I_wouldve_thrown_Arrogate_against_Secretariat_123; 6/4/20, 7:41 AM
Francisco D said...: I wonder how commenters "know" that the criminal George Floyd was a victim of racism and oppression. Can they read minds?

It seems to me that George Floyd is a victim of his own stupidity, augmented by poor Minneapolis police practices.; 6/4/20, 8:10 AM
Fernandinande said...: The dystopian Lincoln Memorial photo raises a grim question

Dopey article: "a memorial that symbolizes the hope of reconciliation, that has drawn to its steps Marian Anderson to sing for a mixed-race crowd"

Since Lincoln didn't think white and black people could or should live together in the same society, how and why does his memorial symbolize the opposite of what he thought?

Fentanyl in his system at a concentration of 11 ng/mL.

That's within the range of fatal fentanyl overdoses, but the median for death is around 20 ng/mL.

The people who called the police on him described him as noticeably stoned or "out of it" (I forget the exact words).

Wildswan@9:21 PM — well put.

Not really. Wilswan's rant was just another example of blaming others for the problems blacks create for themselves.

An easy example is incarceration rates: absolute rates for all races are highest in conservative states, but the ratio of B/W incarceration is highest in liberal states, where every race's absolute rate is lower....because (on average) you have to do worse crimes in to get incarcerated in a liberal state than in a conservative state.

For example, Minnesota, home of all this nonsense: 4th lowest incarceration rate in the country, 2nd highest B/W incarceration ratio ("disparity").

Griffe Du Lion explained this in POLITICS, IMPRISONMENT AND RACE, and showed the statistical trends (lower incarceration = higher "disparity") that you can check in the previous link.; 6/4/20, 8:11 AM
Fernandinande said...: Here's an example of why incarceration "disparities" are highest in states where it's harder to get incarcerated:

James Q. Wilson: "Black men commit murders at a rate about eight times greater than that for white men. This disparity is not new; it has existed for well over a century."

and

"The differences in the racial rates for property crimes, though smaller than those for violent offenses, are still substantial. The estimated rate at which black men commit burglary is three times higher than it is for white men; for rape, it is five times higher."

IOW, if you have to kill someone to end up in prison, the B/W incarceration ratio would be around 8; if you only have to burglarize a house, it'd be closer to 3.; 6/4/20, 8:28 AM
Nichevo said...: chuck said...
I don't know what the lethal dosage range would look like in a tox screening.

Apparently it is hard to be precise post-mortem, but 11ng/ml is in the range.

6/3/20, 9:50 PM

In the Baker report it says unconsciousness comes around 34ng/ml. Curiously no alcohol was detected, though it was said he appeared intoxicated. I guess that could have been the fentanyl (do people take that consciously to get high, or is it strictly an adulterant of heroin?), morphine (metabolite of heroin? Shouldn't that be codeine? Where did the morphine come from? Is morphine addiction a thing anymore, and does that supply get cut with fentanyl?), meth, or pot.

So stupid. How do you even prove the accused crime? I gave you a queer $20? Damn, go arrest the ATM that gave it to me. I'm as mad as you are. Why did he fight?

I'm quite sympathetic to Floyd, even if he was not an angel and brought troubles on himself. But a mouse in a glue trap will die, I'm told, not of poison in the glue nor of starvation, but will just give itself a heart attack struggling to get free. Be a man, not a mouse.

I'm perfectly willing to grant, or rather, I'm open to having it proved, that misfeasance or malfeasance on the part of the officers led to Floyd's death. But I would like to know how to solve the problem of arrestees who struggle/resist and won't give in until they kill themselves get killed or die. Garner happened a couple years ago, I think the law against loosies is questionable and he was also stupid to fight. But you can't just be letting people go. What magic tech will solve this? I guess the one thing we can't do is to ask people not to commit crimes. Or submit to the justice system when they do.

This is not to let the cops off for this. They got him in handcuffs without the whole fighting knee drama. If he went along peacefully, took the cuffs, then they laughed at him and said something like "haha, n-word, today is the day you die," then you could imagine him struggling.

WHAT HAPPENED?; 6/4/20, 8:38 AM
RobinGoodfellow said...: “ Blogger Ken said...
https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/06/looting-protest-punishment-care-and-feeding.html

I don't know what to think about this. I reacted very strongly emotionally, but in several different ways. Would love to read Althouse's take.”

It is incumbent on the parent to teach the child right from wrong. Stealing is wrong. How the parents do that is up to them, but they should address it. They should try to find out the truth. If he bought them online there should be emails, electronic payments—in short, there eill be an information trail. With no proof, the parents should assume the shoes were stolen.

Stealing is bad in and of itself. During a riot it could be deadly. The store owner might have feared for his life and opened fire.

Kids do stupid things. The parents need to do their best to lead them down the right path. If they don’t want to talk to the store owner, that is understandable, but they should do something.; 6/4/20, 2:14 PM
Lewis said...: I know I'm stupid - but when you collapse, I collapse (a correlation, not causative) - a kind of superstition. I want you to be healthy, strong, good, like you have always been. Otherwise...-; 6/5/20, 1:51 AM
Lewis said...: So, you got rid off my poetry (a hundred other stupid comments you allow - you sat on them - don't forget - I watched) and allow idiots! Well, good luck to you.; 6/5/20, 8:28 AM
Lewis said...: Martina.

I – that am rudely stamp'd, and want loves majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph -
I – that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That Dogs bark at me as I halt by them -
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.

W. Shakespeare Richard III, vs 16-27.; 6/5/20, 8:31 AM
Lewis said...: I'm on fb - watch me ramble, rumble; 6/5/20, 8:39 AM
Lewis said...: 1

Something strange. The chipped value of buildings
That are always odd because they're historical.
A vague memory of my grandmother saying ' Hello'
And her 'permanent' counsel house being taken away
As soon as she died. Or my mother,
Seeing faces In the stonework of an obscure yard

And me having to rescue her and no gratitude
And I didn't expect it. Madness is it's own reward.
For once bowing to the inevitable and bleedingly obvious.

Just like buildings that bow at your command:
Are somewhat obvious, chipped and broken.; 6/5/20, 8:41 AM
Lewis said...: 2

Happiness is like a very good morning.
Waking up in laundered sheets, knowing the birds
Sing in those pretty trees you saw yesterday,
Knowing a cooked breakfast is on the table
And, no matter what you've done (within reason!)
They'll still smile and say "Hi" and what a fool.
After breakfast and if it's not raining,
You'll walk into the garden and laugh at the sky.

3

The sun shines on even the terribly ugly.
The violence perfectly real. The shabby Inns
I have collected. Walking the other side of a sea wall
I am protected from a bay that is tame and beautiful.; 6/5/20, 8:42 AM
Lewis said...: 4

Broken, the if smile and tomorrow you will know
Who loves you – no one. Everyone smiles in Morecambe.
To die a kind of 'get-in'. Like smiling at the bottom
Of our world. You cannot smile upwards, can you?

4

Eyeless in Gaza, I squint and grasp blindly
For this mornings coffee. The noise and rumble.
A newspaper boy running past. My French friend
Comes in to tell me his office is packing up and going back
To Paris. How cowardly. And I’ve been here before.
In Alexandria, for instance.; 6/5/20, 8:42 AM
Lewis said...: 5

I broke my smile waiting for yesterday.
Martina, you think it easy, making this sun shine?
Were as thunder and clouds come every day.
Everything I can do except hold your hand.

6

It was easy to be at the edge of the world,
See the sun slide in with the blue and gold tip of a wing
Like the Angels that must have visited me in my prison
Of heretofore – a former Morecambe whose Streets were called
Clarendon, Westminster, Balmoral and this was the "West End"
A different exile. All exiles are equal. But that one bullied forward
And this, self imposed. The cries are equally as barren and threatening.
The hope equally as meaningless. I got out last time by a kind of
Alacrity, a jumping into the barrel which others began to roll.
This time, there are no others. The same barren hope, though.; 6/5/20, 8:43 AM
Lewis said...: 7

London was so vast you could meander
Through it's soul and it wouldn't know:
Going up to the Contemporary Poets Library
And coming down with a big red book and no-one knowing
What you had – until, you were so drunk, you talked
To the girl in the peep show, studying law, and
She quoted you Pound. So, ashamed and knowing
No drink would help you, your feet twisted and turned
Back to the ugliness of Catford and Lewisham.
This was the way, the Tao which you disrupted, my love.
For a moment, for a couple of months, but not for ever.

8

The nights are coming in and close, like a black storm:
To stand high and old and curl up and fall – like paper burning:
The words that had meant so much, the honesty – and the lies.
Guilt shredded through the afternoon and, in the evening, just rest,
Exhaustion, overwhelmed by everything that is wrong.; 6/5/20, 8:43 AM
Lewis said...: 9

The violence outside is always a beating postponed:
The gimp mask just falls away from your face
And you wear the usual garb and just walk out into the sunlight:
Blinding and bleaching and a judgment you can't take
You have begun to smile at the alleged children
That other people have. Tomorrow, but today,
You will gather those judgments and cans and bottles and yourself,
As if you were trash. How to live? The kind of joke I began with.
Asking questions. Who are you?

10

How does hope get us there?
No cars run on hope - is it carbon free? -
My boiler buggers on hope and if I ask my feet
Their twisted but somewhat sensible way is
"Out of the door!" and as quick as is legal.
Hope is a bully.; 6/5/20, 8:44 AM
Lewis said...: 11

Happiness is what happiness does. It seems to appear
In other people. They smile a lot and have children.
A smile is a grimace like the grave. I wish to see
Certain smiles, I've hunted them out. I have an APB on smiles.
We should not appear in the same room, because my 'appearance'
Embarrasses you. Peering into the dark corners of my room
You assume this is me. Well it is. The coach is waiting for you
And our sadness, too. After you have gone, will I not follow?

12

The assumptions we have followed are rather strange?
Just to assume you are good, a man, just and beautiful,
As you did assume, must make you pretty ridiculous,
A laughing stock, a freak. To assume anything means
To assume to much. To assume everything or nothing.; 6/5/20, 8:44 AM
Lewis said...: 13

I walk down my street and my courage fails,
Has failed. It isn't that the key in my hand
Will no longer work – the police and the other
Officious guardians of our fate will have
'Permission' to slot in the key and turn the key
And open that garden of butterfly's and June days
But also muddy winters and alone London -
But I am now excluded and know that,
Whatever I do, as a human being, is suspicious.
So cowardly, I divert to the local pub and smoke
My death giving fag outside.

14

Everything said forgets it's bonne chance
Of an accident that broke my screen as I was
Driving through the dead skirts of Paris:
Where the car must turn but doesn't to the heart of
Those streets smiling and forgetting.; 6/5/20, 8:45 AM
Lewis said...: Broken
Beneath that bridge and our youth on its hands and knees
Or back there, the half green lawn, and where jokes
Where a plenty and didn't need to be remembered.

I thought, something strange, like hope might brew
As when – I bought a house, I sawed the wood,
And the place disappeared beneath me.
15

To go home is a good choice – to ignore
What is obvious: The woman you love distressed
And, obviously, needing your help. You smile
In the corners of your couch and cry sometimes
Very hot, sentimental tears. Hatred in your own room
Feels better than hatred in theirs. An illusion
Only oblivion will cover. 'Like snow, like ice.'; 6/5/20, 8:46 AM
Lewis said...: 16

The minimal that is required is to love.
But only one without love could make such a statement,
Be conscious of such a requirement. Innocent of heart
But dead. I am Lazarus come back to tell you all
Or Jonah, spewed upon a beach, refusing still
Those words that came from God. Or being
In the belly of the whale, drumming his indigestion,
With the oil cans, the plastic bags, the half eaten fish,
The etc detritus of being human, I, inhuman,
Wallow in this strange, submarine defeat.
I like it down here. Hows it up there?

17

Everything you thought was wrong was wrong.
Your awkward smile that misremembered me,
Your false laugh at remembering. Kicking the frost
From our feet and fearing to look at each other
We boiled with a kind of love. Soured in a bag
The homeless that asked us to look at them.
It's not pretty, poverty. It's not pretty, your smile.

Lewis Deane 2014.; 6/5/20, 8:47 AM