Althouse: At the Tuesday Café...

September 8, 2020

At the Tuesday Café...

... you can write about whatever you like.

47 comments:

David Begley said...: I had to turn on the heat here in Omaha! 40’s and with wind and rain.; 9/8/20, 8:32 PM
stevew said...: Those are not summer colors.

We nearly hit 80 degrees today. More like 77. Air is dry. Mid 50's overnight. I, for one, am delighted by the change, not missing the heat in the least.

Good progress on the house build. Thinking of engaging discussion of the purchase of a shore side rental property. The numbers can work. Mrs. stevew has yet to weigh in. If I had to guess I'd say she's favorably disposed, though only marginally so.

Anyone that says Trump doesn't have a sense of humor clearly does not know, nor have they observed, the man.; 9/8/20, 8:36 PM
Mark said...: Well into season two of Fringe. Saw the episode with Samantha Mulder earlier this evening.

She was not the Destroyer of Worlds in that episode. But now we see when worlds collide.; 9/8/20, 8:53 PM
rhhardin said...: Trump to reporters who interviewed Biden: "Those questions were meant for a child."

Trump nails it.; 9/8/20, 8:59 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I think it was about 50 degrees. First time I did the run in long sleeves since probably April.; 9/8/20, 9:00 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I think it was about 50 degrees. First time I did the run in long sleeves since probably April.; 9/8/20, 9:21 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Why we can't have a few days between inferno & too cool, I don't know.; 9/8/20, 9:21 PM
Mark said...: Olivia never looked lovelier than in that scene where she sees that Peter is from the other side.; 9/8/20, 9:28 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: It's snowing here. snowing. yesterday is was 90+; 9/8/20, 9:36 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: In the mid 80's in north-east Florida. Our nice weather starts in October.; 9/8/20, 9:40 PM
Sprezzatura said...: 50 Fahrenheit converts to 10.

Sorry, my inner nerd came out.

Shocking, I know.

Anywho, I’m an expert re walking on eggshells re not being an asshole who knows too much. In real life.

BTW, I bought another car today. Is it evil to use superior knowledge to massively underpay for an asset/capital? Anywho, the seller was shocked when I paid way more than was asked. I’ll sleep well. He’ll probably lose everything gambling online or hiring hookers. I dunno.; 9/8/20, 9:40 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: compare and contrast: Biden, Trump's campaign (h/t brian cates)

"A lid from Biden land today",

via ⁦@jazmineulloa
⁩ In Wilmington.
9:24 AM · Sep 8, 2020

A "lid":
That is when, as a courtesy to the media covering the campaign, the campaign’s staff lets the reporters know there is no further campaign events scheduled for today.
When they do it first thing in the morning, it means reporters can go home, nothing will happen.

-----
Massive Crowd Gathers For ‘MAGA Rally’ in Winston-Salem, NC https://breaking911.com/live-trump-holds-maga-rally-in-winston-salem-nc/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhbUqV6X0AA5IMr?format=jpg&name=large

Scavino vid; 9/8/20, 9:43 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/8/20, 9:45 PM
gadfly said...: Ho hum! Here we go again. In 2016,Trump declared that he would spend $100 million on his own campaign but reported numbers came in at $65 million. This did not include reimbursements paid to Trump Companies by the government for substantially marked-up rents, private jet services and events conducted at Trump properties.

Of course,there were uncounted $millions of hidden emoluments benefits paid by the RNC, state governments and foreign governments for use of Trump services and facilities. These violations began on the first day of the Trump presidency and they will continue for every day that the serving president directly owns his businesses. Trump even goes so far as to charge the taxpayer for his trips to his golf courses and Mar-A-Lago which includes his substantial security staff and often cabinet members. Who can forget the required stay that Mike Pence was required to make on his way to Europe at the remote Trump resort in Doonbeg, Ireland and the ordering of miltary flight crews to stop at tiny Prestwick Airport in order to pay to stay overnight at Trump Turnberry in Scotland.

Also worrisome is the sloppy accounting for the $107 million in donations to finance the rather plain Trump Inauguration. Supposedly, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was paid $26 million for inauguration event services when in fact she personally received only $480,000. It is now coming up on four years with no accounting and we likely will see no action on the part of the Trump Justice Department to pursue an investigation.

Latest in money scandle comes yesterday's reveal in the New York Times that the RNC has paid $500,000 to Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller, whose cell phone was the alternate number used to secretly call Donald Trump to discuss improper subjects. Schiller obviously knows illegal stuff that needs to remain secret because Schiller was supposedly hired only to arrange security for the Charlotte convention that never happened.

The RNC also paid Trump's private impeachment lawyers, Jay Sekulow, and attorney Jane Raskin at least $225,000 each. Every place you turn, the emoluments clause is being routinely broken - even when impeachment is involved.; 9/8/20, 9:54 PM
Mark said...: "Knowledge cannot be pursued without morality. . . . Some things are not ours to tamper with. Some things are God's."

The central quote of the whole Fringe series.

It's when Walter went over to the dark side.; 9/8/20, 10:03 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: "Whether He Said It or Not, It Is Believable to a Lot of People"

--Dan Rather on Atlantic’s Trump Story

Oh, so then report it as fact?

oh Danny boy, perfecting the art of "fake but accurate"; 9/8/20, 10:17 PM
Vonnegan said...: I noticed your "that's the way it goes" for the first time recently, and it made me think of this excellent Gillian Welch song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiS37_EULj8

You could use the line "that's the way that it ends, but there was a time when you and I were friends" with banned commenters, if you wanted to.; 9/8/20, 10:19 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/8/20, 10:26 PM
wildswan said...: Reading about polls again. Thinking that the polls say Trump's voters are holding steady and the polls say that Trump's support is up among blacks and Latinos over the last election and, adding it all together, the national polls say that Trump's support is just about where it was in the last election at this time. Guess they had Hidin' Joe do the math. Or, no, it was Kamala LaComma. You can see by the way Kamala whirls about reversing herself, with only a nervous laugh marking the moment where she deep-sixes a former lover, I mean a former position, I mean a former police, no, I mean a former policy, yes, I mean policy. Ok. Above the place where she deeps-sixes a policy or principal, I mean principle, there is only an high pitched giggle, showing that that Kamala can do the math, as we say.; 9/8/20, 10:28 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Trump: live music concert
Biden: over-produced studio 'B'-side oldie that skips

...and what's with CGI-Joe's "Trump calls to defund the police"??; 9/8/20, 10:30 PM
Owen said...: You stole that picture from the Group of Seven. Tom Thomson, I think.; 9/8/20, 10:57 PM
Ken B said...: Very cool here, north of Toronto.

Kamala is proud of him for resisting arrest. Think how different the country would be if young men simply did not resist arrest. Think how many of those who did would still be alive. But Harris is proud of him.; 9/9/20, 12:15 AM
riiya819 said...: I, for one, am delighted by the change, not missing the heat in the least.

City Of Dreams Casino
Sexy Baccarat; 9/9/20, 1:37 AM
gadfly said...: Bill Clinton's lawyers were obviously not nearly as smart as Billy Barr, else they would have sought the protection of the Justice Department in shutting down the Monica Lewinski investigation citing the Westfall Act which declares that:

Upon certification by the Attorney General that the defendant employee was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the claim arose . . . any civil action . . . commenced upon such claim in a State court shall be removed without bond at any time before trial by the Attorney General to the district court of the United States.

It is astonishing to claim that calling someone a liar is within Trump's scope of employment.

But "Betty Jean" Carroll of Huntertown, IN is no dummy because she too, like Monica, has a semen-contaminated outfit soiled by DJT and she has a brand new SCOTUS ruling in "Trump vs Vance" that may allow the rape claim to be reviewed. US District Courts don't always do what Billy Barr wants them to do as happened in the latest Mike Flynn fiasco.; 9/9/20, 1:46 AM
tim maguire said...: I haven’t run in sleeves yet, but I did have gloves on last Friday. My hands are the first things to get cold.; 9/9/20, 5:19 AM
Rosa Marie Yoder said...: Fall rains and much cooler temperatures have descended upon central Michigan. As much as I hated doing it, I turned on the furnace to get the damp chill out of the air... and had nothing that I wanted to bake. It will rain often this week, so it is time to get back to quilt making.; 9/9/20, 6:04 AM
Mr. Forward said...: What if the sun comes up, doesn’t see Ann and then sinks back down again? Quick, where did we put that rooster?; 9/9/20, 6:10 AM
stephen cooper said...: Thanks for the reminders about Fringe, and that wonderful central love story.

Of the shows I have watched enough of to care about the final episode, that was the best final episode.; 9/9/20, 6:16 AM
Anonymous said...: The white people who write books like White Fragility, or read books like White Fragility, are the very epitome of white privilege. You're participating in self-hatred. And not just self-hatred, but hatred of white strangers who look like you, who share your pigment through an accident of birth.

Maybe you hate God. God is the one who painted you white.

You don't realize you have this self-hatred, because in your white privilege way, you think only black people can hate themselves. Apparently you can afford to hate yourself. You're white and you're privileged, after all.

Of course you could give your money away. That would take care of the privilege. I can tell you that white homeless people aren't sitting around reading White Fragility.

If you were an honest person, you would write a book about white homeless people, and call that damn thing White Fragility. But then people might call you a klansman for feeling sorry for white homeless people. What does their white skin have to do with their homelessness?

Yes, exactly. It's irrelevant. So shut up about it, honky.

Do you not realize that white people are individual human beings, created by God? That means they can hate themselves, and they can be victimized, and they can be homeless. Any bad thing that can happen to a black person, can also happen to a white person.

Your racial theories and racial explanations are stupid and damaging. Racism is the name for it, actually. Stop it, just stop it. Refuse to play. Let's abandon the whole shoddy world of racial division.

The next time some census-taker wants you to participate in racial division, just say, "No thanks, not answering that one." Or you can boggle their little minds by saying, "I'm a Christian. That's my race. I like humanity."; 9/9/20, 6:33 AM
tim in vermont said...: The front page of Insty right now is kind of funny. It almost looks like if you took NY and NJ, who both had early responses to the virus pretty much identical to that of Sweden, out of the equation, the deaths per million in the United States would be nowhere near that of Sweden.

One thing seems certain on this whole thing, everybody wants to have it both ways or to take single facts isolated from their context to “prove” stuff.; 9/9/20, 6:34 AM
rehajm said...: Donald Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

...Fox News reports. If any of the leftie papers mention it at all it is to slander the nominator, Norway's most anti-immigration parliamentarian who is reported to be a crank. Not sure what crank is Norwegian...; 9/9/20, 6:38 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Of course,there were uncounted $millions of hidden emoluments”

That’s it? That’s what you got? You don’t care a hang about Biden’s influence peddling with his boy as bag man, which brought in millions of dollars in profits, but an innkeeper making money keeping his inn? That’s “emoluments.” As if nobody would have stayed at those properties unless Trump was president. Do you have evidence that he jacked up the rates? That would be *something* at least.

Hillery collected hundreds of millions of dollars from Putin cronies and no mention of “emoluments” was ever made. So my suggestion is that you get to work *counting* those 'emoluments’ that are over and above what Trump would have collected on those properties anyway, without being president.

This is why people around here consider you a joke, gadfly.; 9/9/20, 6:41 AM
Kai Akker said...: City of Dreams Casino

Damfool I clicked on the come-on. Thought it would be "Trump Ne Plus Ultra Ultimate" Casino. With sexy baccarat women. Ghislaine would be hovering in the background with that half-smile on her lips. You know the one.

But noooooo! Just the usual Gharbahge.; 9/9/20, 6:50 AM
tim in vermont said...: "It's snowing here. snowing. yesterday is was 90+”

I lived in Colorado for a while, and had a job that had me driving from Pueblo to Cheyenne and frequently to Aspen and Vail. The only month that I didn’t experience an actual snowfall at least once was July.; 9/9/20, 6:57 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Anywho, I’m an expert re walking on eggshells re not being an asshole who knows too much. In real life.”

It’s very generous of you to refrain from using that superior knowledge to refute so many of the points made here. Instead you graciously just tell us what to think without burdening us with reasoned arguments we likely couldn’t handle.; 9/9/20, 7:00 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Anywho, I’m an expert re walking on eggshells re not being an asshole who knows too much. In real life.”

It’s very generous of you to refrain from using that superior knowledge to refute so many of the points made here. Instead you graciously just tell us what to think without burdening us with reasoned arguments we likely couldn’t handle.; 9/9/20, 7:00 AM
tim in vermont said...: You know, I don’t mind the all night calls of the mud hens, the sandhill cranes can bleat out their assembly cries in the morning, and whatever it is that they are croaking so musically and loudly about in the evening. The blue jays can caw and cry incessantly, the fish crows can do their “oh oh” call while cavorting in the palms, none of that bothers me, but when that sharp shinned hawk continuously shrieks and screes circling and crying out, it makes me want to head to the backyard with a .410 and shut him up.; 9/9/20, 7:06 AM
rehajm said...: Last month, a Department of Education-funded organization hosted a conference on "abolishing the United States."

I'm surprised only that there's not even a Republican back bencher left to complain about using taxpayer money to do it...; 9/9/20, 7:23 AM
jaydub said...: Gadfly is on fire today! Emolument and semen stained dress gambits have never been tried before. Absolute bombshell! The walls are definitely closing in! Gadfly is sure this will make impeachment during Trump's second term a sure thing....

Oh, wait. Never mind.; 9/9/20, 7:24 AM
iowan2 said...: Gadfly, the rational posters here are news junkies and know whats happening out and about in the world.
But you need to explain exactly what you are trying to illustrate with your post. A bit of legal sounding pleading text you have in italics. Great! You forgot to give any context. Evan our esteemed host would find it impossible to render any analysis lacking context for the legal sounding snippet you thing means something.; 9/9/20, 7:40 AM
Jersey Fled said...: White Tulip (Fringe season 2, episode 18) might be the greatest thing I've ever seen on TV. You are in for a treat.; 9/9/20, 7:48 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Is it OK to simply skip over Gadfly's nonsense and stop wasting my time reading the first sentence?; 9/9/20, 7:56 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Trump will be disqualified for the Nobel Prize under the Obama rule.

Trump actually accomplished something.; 9/9/20, 8:02 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: I find it humorous that some of the same people can complain about emoluments one day, then the next about Trump spending a lot of his own money getting elected. Meanwhile, the Clintons, AlGore, the Bidens, Obama’s, use their time in “public service” to get filthy rich. And that is somehow noble? Who did they sell themselves to, and for what, for that money? How much of the Obama Administration’s closeness to the Chinese is due to the money they gave Hunter Biden? Or how about our uranium that Crooked Hillary sold the Russians?

Why is Trump having fund raising problems? As usual, it is because the Democrats have found a new way to cheat. Back in 2016, it was a new type of bundling. Someone would contribute a large amount of money to a bundling fund. The contribution would be split up and sent to up to 43 state parties, fro whence it was immediately returned to the DNC, and fro there to Crooked Hillary and her campaign. That allowed individuals to contribute over $100k to her, and over $200k for couples. The legal problem was that these 46 entities had to operate independently for it to be legal. They weren’t and didn’t. One person would control bank accounts for all of the entities at a single bank, and just shuffle it around. Which ultimately made them all legal surrogates for Clinton’s campaign, and all of these super donors as felons for participating in this scheme. But don’t worry. The FEC has been unable to hear the case, because it lacks a quorum, because FEC Commissioners are appointed as pairs (1 R+1 D), and Chuckie Scheamer has refused to name a Dem replacement, which eans that the commission is down two members.

This year’s big fundraising scam seems to revolve around BLM and ActBlue. Contributing to BLM links directly to the ActBlue web site, where contributions are immediately routed to the DNC and the Biden campaign. Blatantly illegal aliens, of course, but so was Clinton’s scheme in 2016. The cover this time are the riots, and all of the poor black felons being killed by (very often POC) cops. Actually the number of blacks killed by the cops is very low every year, and almost nonexistent if you ignore acting those stupidly pursuant to legitimate arrests and those committing death-by-cop. Everyone has to be down for the cause right now, and that means funding BLM, which means funding the DNC and the Biden/Harris campaign.

But there is a new twist this year. A number of big companies are supporting BLM financially, and thus ActBlue, the DNC and Biden/Harris. They are treating it as advertising, since being seen as woke to the plight of blacks supposedly being mass murdered by the police in this country is essential for business. Making things worse, the Chinese are facing an existential crisis with Trump. Their economy is crashing due esp to his Wuhan Coronavirus (And Hong Kong) sanctions. It is only going to get worse, with the revelation that they have been harvesting organs fro their Muslim dissidents, and even from Christians. They have a huge newly enfranchised middle class that is facing a large downsizing and downscaling, along with food shortages from several different causes. They would love to slip several billion dollars to Biden and the DNC, because their best hope of survival is the replace Trump, but that would trigger sirens and flashing lights. Instead, they appear to be twisting the arms of businesses, like the NBA, that want to do business with them to be woke, which means contributing to BLM, and thus ActBlue, etc. The amazing thing is that they managed to raise only $345 million or so in August this way.

Is it legal? Of course not. But to the winner go the spoils, and in the case of a Democrat winning the Presidency, that means control over the DOJ. Killing all of the investigations into Crooked Hillary, including her illegal campaign fundraising, was supposed to have been at the top of the list when she became President.; 9/9/20, 8:15 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “I lived in Colorado for a while, and had a job that had me driving from Pueblo to Cheyenne and frequently to Aspen and Vail. The only month that I didn’t experience an actual snowfall at least once was July.”

Live in CO long enough and you will experience snowfall even in July, in the high mountains, probably reaching down as low as I-70 as it transistor Eisenhower Tunnel and Vail Pass.

My next brother is still ski racing as he nears the end of his 60s, and he and a couple of his racing buddies have this thing about being on their skis every month of the year. July is usually not a big problem. They can usually find snow in CO that doesn’t require a lot of hiking. In really good years, A Basin is open up through the 4th of July. The biggest problem most years is August, and sometimes September. They sometimes have to drive to WY, and even MT on really rare circumstances. This year, August took a bit of a hike, but not a lot of turns as result. September is looking to be really easy this year. He may be able to get those turns within a couple miles of his house in the foothills.

Got an email Monday from Keystone Ski Area that they are opening Nov 6. Traditionally, that seems a week or so late. That means though that Copper Mountain May be hosting racing teams as early as the beginning of October, and Loveland Basin (where that brother has trained the last 5 or so years) May open by mid month. He spent several decades training at Copper Mountain but they make so much money in October renting lane space to the top national ski teams around the world, that their local racers were often left out. Several years recently, they have shared Loveland Valley with the French Women’s team, which was always fun. Almost 20 years ago, I really learned to ski shaped skis by following in the tracks of some of the Japanese women over at Copper in preseason skiing. The Japanese women are typically not the fastest, but often seem to have some of the best technique.

I do miss skiing. Not really too old - our father skied until he was almost 80 and if he doesn’t hurt himself (his goal is to say he did 70 mph at 70 in a downhill) I expect that brother to break 80 on skis. It’s been 6-7 years now since I last skied. He now owns the place our father owned for almost a half century in Summit County CO, so it is no longer as simple as just peeking out at the weather and popping up to Keystone or Copper Mountain if there is blue sky. I am no longer in shape for it, and appear no longer to be able to tolerate the altitude. Well, at least the altitude of skiing in Summit County CO, where the lowest ski area base is about 10k. I started skiing at 10, and was racing by 15. I appear to have even lettered in ski racing in college (though I think that was mostly due to having my brother on the team too). Over a half century of skiing at least once a year, and several years, over a hundred days.; 9/9/20, 9:03 AM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: The collective left will make everything illegal - just not for them.
the nazi left would love to shove us all in jails and ovens. because even our thoughts are illegal.; 9/9/20, 9:27 AM
Kai Akker said...: "I bought another car today. Is it evil to use superior knowledge to massively underpay for an asset/capital? Anywho, the seller was shocked when I paid way more than was asked." --antideSS

Rut roh.....; 9/9/20, 1:33 PM