At one point during a marathon, sometimes tense, online council meeting that stretched from a Tuesday evening to early Wednesday, a man’s voice was heard uttering an expletive right after a Madison resident’s name was read so she could speak during public comment at about 2:45 a.m. Video of the person who said the profanity did not pop up in the Zoom meeting when the word was spoken.
The "expletive" some people hear is "cunt," but it's not clear that's what the man was saying. It could just as well be "Come on," with the "on" not discernible, but if you're told you're about to hear "cunt," you'll probably hear it. So maybe the word was said, and maybe the voice was that of Ald. Paul Skidmore, 9th District. Ald. Rebecca Kemble, 18th District, thinks it was him, and 13 other council members have signed a letter saying it was him and the word said was "cunt."They got City Attorney Michael Haas to respond with a 7-page memo:
The council, he said, has the ability to: authorize an investigation, consider a resolution to possibly reprimand or censure a member, consider imposing a fine, or conduct a public hearing to determine whether a member should be removed from office.Hey, I'll be your "outside third party," and I'll do it instantaneously and for free. Here:
“If the Council determines that an investigation is warranted, I recommend that it initiate a fact-finding investigation or engage an outside third party to conduct a fact-finding investigation and then determine whether further action is warranted,” he said. “In my opinion, the City Attorney’s Office or other city staff should not be involved in such an investigation. An investigation conducted by a third party removes those potential conflicts and allows our office the ability to provide legal advice to the council, should it be needed or requested.”
Somebody might have muttered "cunt." You've already expressed your outrage. You've already accused a man who denies it. Now, get on with trying to do something that makes this city better instead of wasting your time on symbolism. Show some respect for the money that's been entrusted to you. If you "engage an outside third party to conduct a fact-finding investigation and then determine whether further action is warranted," we taxpayers should sign up for public comment and mutter obscenities at you.
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99 comments:
Mommy, Mommy he called me a bad name!!!!
Angry Althouse is my favorite Althouse.
Cunt is not necessarily a negative judgment.
It sounds like something a Madison City Council would spend money on- lots of money.
By the way, I do hear "cunt". I am guessing the speaker knows what he is talking about in this case.
Does the investigation hinge on whether or not the woman is or is not a 'cunt'?
Does the censure hinge on whether or not the woman is or is not a 'cunt'?
Look on the bright side: if the Madison city council spends a lot of time on this they have less time to really eff up the important stuff. (Full disclosure: I'm not aware of anything important that the cunts on the city council have actually done.)
"Gentlemen, we're all cunts." - Sexy Beast
Wow, get out the smelling salts.
Compare that to that filthy-mouthed city councilwoman in Denver.
Does laughing really really hard count as an abdominal workout?
Because I'm getting ripped here.
Pass the popcorn.
-XC
PS - I really really miss certain commentators right now. I could do with some ponytail swish 'bout now.
Bravo!
Democrat city councils spend money on b.s. rather than concentrate on any real problems, e.g. k-12 education?
Suppose she had called him a prick.
Let's say he said it. So what? The local participant didn't seem to be bothered by the comment. The Mayor didn't seem to skip a beat. What's the harm?
That said, in what universe could it be proven he said what they say he said. It sounded as likely to be someone clearing their throat. The article author is right though, if you're prompted to hear cunt, you hear cunt. It's like Yanny and Laurel.
Dear Ann:
This is what you get when you elect Democrats.
XOXO
Fled
Post formatting issue...?
Article: did not pop up in the Zoom meeting when the word was spoken.
Not in article: The "expletive" some people hear is "cunt,"
At any rate, Cunt Lives Matter.
When each of us fails to be self-governors the controllers among us pipe up and say we need more laws. And there are lots and lots of would-be controllers out there. Lets refer two of the more notable. Democrats and Muslims.
There is nothing - repeat, nothing - that is exempt from criticism. And even out right ridicule. That includes their "prophet," their "holy" books, their silly/cruel practices, and them.
Respecting speech is a principle target of Muslims, leftists, all are would-be controllers.
Carlin's 7 words might not be particularly dignified, especially during a meeting of an official body of some of our actual controllers, but such is the idea of freedom. Now combine that very good idea with a little self-control and we have a workable program.
Are we sure the guy who muttered the obscenity was incorrect? I’d imagine there is a cunt or two on the Madison City Council. I mean….come on… That’s what needs to be investigated.
Now, get on with trying to do something that makes this city better instead of wasting your time on symbolism.
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, symbolize.
It's tiresome, isn't it, when elected officials do the easy symbolic BS stuff instead of their damn jobs?
Althouse dunks all over the City Council and City Attorney.
Nicely done!
Sad to say but my experience with various city council critters--both in my hometown, and in my practice as a lawyer, shows that most of them have an instinct for the capillary rather than the jugular.
Still what in the heck is the City Council (in any city) doing going until 0245 in the morning. At some point patience is worn thin ---or the need for a pee break--becomes overpowering and listening to one more citizen is just too much. There's a reason that a lot of public bodies limit comments to 5 minutes per person. I've seen that overcome when there are multiple people who want to speak on the same topic.
A city the size of Madison has a council of at least 14 members? Glad I’m not a taxpayer for that reason alone.
Was Mike Haas one of your students? If not, you really schooled him today!
When someone wants to speak at 3am in an unending meeting, the phrase most likely to be uttered is, "Come on." Come on, I want to get outta here. Come on, stop already. Come on, man!
I'd say Madisonians, for the most part, are already revolting.
So, silence is violence, and words are violence.
But riots are mostly peaceful.
Just updating my Newspeak Dictionary. Did I miss anything?
That all seems perfectly reasonable. The Council should proceed with this action. After all, all other problems and issues with the city have been solved. There is calm and tranquility everywhere and no rioting, looting, or arson. There is NOTHING left to do or fix and they have to keep their phony baloney jobs!
Madison has been a basket case of Progressive grifters for decades and THIS is where you draw the line?
This is not the America that stormed the beaches at Normandy.
You never said taxpayers should revolt over city officials' wholesale failure to deal with the riots and their attack on the police, but now they should revolt over this?!?
...a man’s voice was heard uttering an expletive right after a Madison resident’s name was read so she could speak during public comment at about 2:45 a.m. Video of the person who said the profanity did not pop up in the Zoom meeting when the word was spoken.
BREAKING: We now have the Zoom pop-up!
If there's one thing the trans movement has taught us, it's that a cunt is in the eye of the beholder.
I think Professor Althouse has perfectly articulated the correct response.
You can't piss off the gynocracy without punitive repercussions
Obviously, City Attorney Michael Hass already has a third party in mind for this assignment. That this third party is related by blood, marriage, or sexual history to Mr. Haas is not to be noticed.
Raw, Raw, Raw, that's the spirit we like here at More Science High!
The real outrage is a City commission with TWENTY Alderpersons.
But, all they have is symbolism.
Haven't you heard? "Speech is violence!"
God, I love this place.
Some might say this is a bunch of cunts stirring up a shit show. I know I would.
At least I'm not paying for it. What can the scalpel of cruel neutrality reveal?
I don't run with a particularly foul-mouthed circle, but we aren't prudes either and pepper our language with certain well-chosen spicy bits as needed for humor and emphasis.
I only seem to run into 'cunt' when people are accusing other people of using it.
Or on feminist protest signs.
I'm so enjoying watching Madison residents get exactly what they voted for.
It's also fun to watch Wisconsin residents get exactly what they voted for when they elected Tony Evers.
"At one point during a marathon, sometimes tense, online council meeting that stretched from a Tuesday evening to early Wednesday,…"
I clicked through to find out the topic of the "sometimes tense" council meeting. Seems newsworthy, right? A good reporter would include that, right? Silly me.
Thank god it wasn't "black cunt".
Still what in the heck is the City Council (in any city) doing going until 0245 in the morning. At some point patience is worn thin ---or the need for a pee break--becomes overpowering and listening to one more citizen is just too much.
Dear heavens, it's Madison, Wisconsin! Just think of all the Progressive virtue signaling going on at a council meeting there, even without outside agitation going on!
Blogger mockturtle said..."I'd say Madisonians, for the most part, are already revolting."
Hey! Who you callin' revolting?
It’s great working with lots of Brits, cunts all around
I'd expect they'd be singing a different tune if one of the Madison taxpayers had called a member of the City Council a "cunt", though.
Love it!!!
I think revolts may be likely in Madison and elsewhere, but I'm not sure it should hinge on something like this. We have city leaders letting convicts out of jail to prevent the spread of corona. Many of these convicts are committing further crimes while participating in protests of policing efforts. Police are being defunded by the city leaders and crime is only increasing. At the same time, good citizens are following guidelines by city leaders to social distance, avoid large gathering with friends and family, and otherwise giving up rights under the guise of an emergency that no longer isn't.
Government censoring speech because they find it offensive is only the next layer of straw.
Now, get on with trying to do something that makes this city better
Forget it Jake, it's Madison.
He should have said, "Why do you all assume I was talking to X? If you must know, I was talking to my wife who just happens to have asked me what my favorite thing in the whole wide world is."
So much for fee speech.
Sometimes you've got to call a spade a spade, and a cunt a cunt.
Maybe she is one...isn't the truth a valid defense for slander?
Come on!
If Madison throws away money on this, we taxpayers should revolt.
The city already considers its taxpayers to be revolting!
The mind-boggling thing is the 2:45 AM.
I mean, WTF?
The mind-boggling thing is the 2:45 AM.
I mean, WTF?
Nothing good happens after midnight. Particularly in meetings.
This sounds like another effect of on-line meetings. I can't see an actual meeting in council running to 2:45 AM (has one?), but with everyone at home things just drag on forever.
Ditto what Charlie said in the 2nd comment of this post.
"Angry Althouse is my favorite Althouse."
Maybe everybody should just chill out by taking a walk around to look at all the lovely public art works on plywood that have sprung up over the last couple of months.
Curious George said...
Thank god it wasn't "black cunt".
Urban Dictionary needs a new definition for "blunt."
Will the man sitting next to the man sitting next to the man who called the piccolo player a motherfucker please stand up?
If he’s proven guilty wash his mouth out with Lifebouy soap.
In order to avoid the taint of political animus, we must appoint a third party to investigate these assholes.
Ann, why are you focusing on the trivial issue of where the money comes from?
The money for this investigation will NOT come from taxpayers. It will come from the same place that reparations funding, free college, Medicare for All, and basic income for life comes from.
Name-calling a female government official is a horrific crime, just like having the wrong opinions about diversity, or refusing to say Breonna Taylor's name on demand.
Looks like Alderman Skidmore has new nickname.
It's all good, though. Cunt Skidmore has a great ring to it.
Sounds like a famous college football coach from back in the leather helmet days.
Blogger Temujin said...
This is not the America that stormed the beaches at Normandy.
"America" didn't storm the beaches of Normandy or Iwo Jima, a relatively few grunts in the army and marine corps did. You seem to imply that our current crop of Iraq and Afghanistan active duty and vets are chopped liver by comparison.
Why do you hate our military?
Yes that goddamn son-of-bitch bastard of a fucking prick councilman called someone an *expletive deleted*. We need a $150,000 study to determine how to deal with this breech of decorum.
Honestly, all these people are liberal/leftist. They can't get through 5 minutes without saying fuck, ass, or shit. And we're supposed to believe they're OUTRAGED at the potty mouth. LOL!
>>If he’s proven guilty wash his mouth out with Lifebouy soap.
Wouldn't vinegar and water be more appropriate?
Thank god it wasn't "black cunt".
9/17/20, 11:52 AM
Thank God it wasn't 'Wet A** P*ssy'
When I was four years old I swore at my mother and she promptly grabbed a bar of Dial soap and jammed it into my mouth and washed my mouth out with it. I was FOUR YEARS OLD and I remember this incident vividly. I don't remember what I said to her but I remember screaming and crying as she worked the soap around in my mouth. I never swore at her again. So ... her method worked.
She was Irish. Needs no other explanation.
If the meeting had been all men it would have ended an hour after it began. You know I'm right.
Truth is an absolute defense.
The case of the black hole... whore h/t NAACP. Or the phantom loogie.
Someone should do a study and tally up just how much time is actually spent " trying to do something that makes this city better".
Imagine doing that for the US Congress in 2020. It's got to be a percentage in the single digits.
""America" didn't storm the beaches of Normandy or Iwo Jima, a relatively few grunts in the army and marine corps did."
Very good, Howard. Now do slavery, racism, and police brutality.
Thank you BUMBLE BEE. I needed that memory.
You, revolt?
Laughable.
This is what the hard left does best.
Inquisitions. Howard is getting excited.
I hear “front hole”.
Maybe the guy who said it is British. Secretly of course, but now we know.
"Hey, Alderman Skidmore! How are you?"
"Call me Cunt. All my friends call me Cunt. Ever since the Big Cunt Kerfuffle back 2020."
How about "mewling quim?" Would that have been OK?
This is what the hard left does best. Inquisitions
Also, witch hunts, warlock trials, protests, redistributive change, diversity dogma, and, of course, wicked solutions.
bagoh2o:
Great line and analogy
What's the difference between the Madison City Council and Cirque de Soleil?
The Cirque de Soleil is a cunning display of stunts.
I paid Madison property taxes on my share of an inherited property for a year. I just recently cashed out and I now "subscribe" to Althouse for a paltry $17.76/mo. You all should too.
/virtue signaling
Many decades ago, when I was in law school, I had a summer job working in the State court system, and the guy who "mentored" me was an old Irish-American pol. One day he was driving me to my next assignment, and he described my soon-to-be boss as a "prick". And then he corrected himself. "He's not a prick, because a prick is a part of a man, and he's no part of a man!" Could the same principle apply to this story?
“If he’s proven guilty wash his mouth out with Lifebouy soap”
———————
Sure. But then you’ve got a disability claim for blindness from soap poisoning.
Why are Blue enclaves cesspools of vulgar misogyny?
"How about "mewling quim?" Would that have been OK?"
I saw Mewling Quim open for Bowie in '77 at the Fillmore...
Ginger Beer asks: Why are Blue enclaves cesspools of vulgar misogyny?\
For the same reason they are fetid swamps of racism. The left is always guilty of those faults they pretend to decry.
Would it have been acceptable if he had said "feckless cunt"? Seems to me that was once considered acceptable.
Feckless council.
A friend at college would, once in a while, mutter, "Go fuck yourself" as a greeting to professors he did not like. Only once was the student asked what he said, and with wide-eyed innocence, he replied, "I said, good morning." The professor looked a little askance, but the incident went no further. But I think his muttering may have become a teensy bit more sotto voce.
As to a public comment at 2:45am, the city government brought that foolishness on themselves. One can spend all night hearing people complain. Or one can schedule public comment hours during daylight hours.
Q : can one be a cunt without cervix?
We should just use “Karen” as it covers all the bases.
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