Althouse: At the Deep Snow Café...

December 11, 2022

At the Deep Snow Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

(The photo is by Meade.)

30 comments:

cf said...: i am in prayersong into the evening, Brazil -- are newsfeeds avoiding? -- it may become a well-armed war of the cartels against the people plus army, there would be blood. and if not, oh lord, perhaps worse, to knuckle under.

may liberty reign; 12/11/22, 6:10 PM
tastid212 said...: The big fun would be if Trump “stays in the race” long enough to get Biden to commit and freeze other Dem candidates out of the money race. Then Trump, recognizing reality, withdraws. [this is thought experiment obv. also assumes a DeSantis-Noem teM has been quietly securing pledges] What would happen?

Nice photo, Meade. Sort of expecting the 10th Mountain Division to ski out of the gaps, guns blazing.; 12/11/22, 6:16 PM
FullMoon said...: Lying Russian Viktor Bout:

Recently freed from jail in the US, the "merchant of death" Viktor Bout tells Maria Butina how horrified he was to learn in America that there are 72 genders

"Not just gay people and normal people, but 72!"

Including puppies in the administration and military, probably no more than 30.; 12/11/22, 6:19 PM
Lurker21 said...: Norman Mailer, American tells you a lot about who Mailer was. The filmmakers talked to 3 or 4 of Mailer's 6 wives, and there are clips of Charlie Rose talking to Mailer's longtime lover who considered herself the 7th wife (in parallel with some of the others, not in series), so it's about as intimate a video portrait as we are likely to get. But it doesn't tell us why the generation that isn't already acquainted with him ought to read his works or care about him today.

I also have Town Bloody Hall, a documentary on Mailer's 1971 confrontation with prominent feminists. It's certainly worth watching to see how much things have changed and how much they remain the same. Included on the Criterion disk is an entire episode of Dick Cavett's show with Mailer, Gore Vidal, and Janet Flanner as guests. I'm torn between nostalgia for the day could have serious writers on to talk about serious subjects and the cynical suspicion that neither the writers nor what they were talking about were all that serious, and that Cavett may just have been the thinking man's Steve Colbert.

Mailer and Vidal weren't wrong about everything. Vidal's cynicism about politics and politicians and Mailer's technophobia are as relevant today as they were in their own day and borne out by what we see around us, but they seem to have spent their time excoriating an America that was on its way out in their day and is long vanished by now.; 12/11/22, 6:33 PM
FullMoon said...: Well, don't I feel foolish now, spoke too soon...

https://www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_72_other_genders/article.htm; 12/11/22, 6:35 PM
Narr said...: I love the artist's use of negative space.

But seriously, a lovely moment.; 12/11/22, 6:55 PM
Lucien said...: Taking the recently divulged internal Twitter communications in a charitable light, they often speak of proceeding with caution under conditions of uncertainty.
But this raises the question of what one’s default for caution is: does caution mean, when in doubt, suppress, or when in doubt, disseminate?

We can see that the default position of the former Twitter management was biased toward suppressing information — because they knew you couldn’t handle the truth the way they could.; 12/11/22, 7:00 PM
Joe Smith said...: How deep is your snow?

I really mean to learn...; 12/11/22, 7:15 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: From lush varying of Wisconsin green to stark - all in the space of a few hours. Nice camera work. Or would that be phone handling? All the same in 2022.; 12/11/22, 7:36 PM
Gusty Winds said...: If the liberal elite are this pissed off Musk bought twitter and is exposing their lies, how pissed do you think they'd be if he bought Epstein's island and airplane and searched for DNA?; 12/11/22, 7:41 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: That picture would make a great album cover, If we still had them.; 12/11/22, 7:53 PM
wildswan said...: Great pic. I want to take one like that but where I am there is a lacework of boughs and twigs in every direction. Maybe someday up by Lake Michigan, I'll get it.; 12/11/22, 7:55 PM
Original Mike said...: The assertion that it is was "Trump's" FBI and DHS that met with Twitter is obvious misdirection, but the inclusion of John Ratcliffe's ODNI meeting with Twitter made me raise my eyebrows. Ratcliffe explained today it was to inform Twitter that, as far as the Intelligence Community was concerned, Hunter's laptop was not Russian disinformation.

"No one in the U.S. intelligence community had authorization to claim the Hunter Biden laptop story was part of a Russian disinformation plot, a top official from the Trump administration said on Sunday."

"In an interview in which he discussed “The Twitter Files,” former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe insisted there was only one reason why a member of his office would be in contact with Twitter in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election as described in the messages."; 12/11/22, 8:05 PM
Curious George said...: So weird. In Milwaukee we only got 2-3" of very wet snow on Friday. Temps started to rise and steady melt since then. I shoveled my drive and sidewalks, but it's pretty much all gone. I always hit the sidewalks because I feel for the dog walkers but mostly for the dogs. But snow emergency, lol not even close. Maybe in Atlanta or DC, but sad for Wisconsin. Even in Madison.; 12/11/22, 8:18 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Althouse went “deep” almost two years ago to the day, in her podcast “Slightly salty deepbite”.

I mean it was a home run.; 12/11/22, 8:19 PM
Political Junkie said...: Deep Snow Cafe > Deep State

or maybe

Deep Snow Cafe = Deep State; 12/11/22, 8:39 PM
wildswan said...: Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsH2J8bMZBE&list=RDUsH2J8bMZBE&index=2; 12/11/22, 9:09 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Joe Smith,

ISWYDT.; 12/11/22, 10:53 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "Taking the recently divulged internal Twitter communications in a charitable light, they often speak of proceeding with caution under conditions of uncertainty."

Lucien, one would literally have to have no spine to bend over backwards enough to view any of that charitably. They saw an opportunity to do what they always wanted to do, but was afraid would get them fired for doing so. One can see in the progression from the earliest of the e-mail conversations that their upper management increasingly gave them the green light to proceed, and that the federal government increasingly gave them the cover they needed to further each time. I eagerly await the COVID material- that is where the government really took over the direction of the censorship, and were it truly exploded in scope and depth, though I am sure it was all couched in terms of "this is what you should do" terms for "plausible" deniability.; 12/11/22, 10:58 PM
Big Mike said...: Oberlin College was finally forced to pay the Gibson family, owners of Gibson’s bakery. Only $36 million; needed another zer

There’s contemptible. There’s despicable. And then there’s woke university administrators.; 12/12/22, 3:26 AM
Owen said...: Nice pic. But is there something funny going on with the trees at the edge of the frame? Maybe optical distortion, stretching and bending them a bit? It adds to the eeriness.

As for Oberlin finally coughing up the Gibson’s Bakery award: done with an ill grace that IMHO confirms the jury’s decision to smack them hard with punitives. Their conduct throughout this sorry business has added new depth to the meaning of “contumacious.” If I were a trustee or alum of Oberlin I would be demanding a thorough housecleaning; but I guess Woke is deeply rooted now.; 12/12/22, 4:29 AM
wendybar said...: "The FBI has imploded. It has all but become a Third World retrieval and investigatory service for the Democratic Party. Its last four directors either have lied, misled, or pleaded amnesia while under oath."
"We are approaching an historic 50 million residents who were not born in the United States, and of various legal and illegal statuses. In a sane world, we might survive the challenge—if newcomers had all come legally, learned the customs and language of their desired new home, were audited and queued by some logical meritocratic process, and were quickly assimilated and integrated by a confident host population that assumed any who wished to live in America surely desired help in becoming an American and felt gratitude to their hosts.

Instead, there is only chaos—and it is by design."

https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/11/our-parasitic-generation/; 12/12/22, 6:40 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: A Nice Compilation here... https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2022/12/we-dont-have-free-press.html; 12/12/22, 8:02 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Philadelphia Man Charged With Postal Crimes Was Also Found With Stolen Mail-In Ballots

"Authorities say a Philadelphia man found with about 15 mail-in ballots that had been stolen from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes faces numerous postal-related charges.

Zachkey James, 27, was charged with impersonation of a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Mail Carrier, unlawful possession of three USPS arrow keys, mail theft, and possession of stolen mail, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a statement.

The arrow key is a universal master key that opens USPS mail boxes and the master door panel for clusters of mail boxes such as those found in apartments.

A July 2022 indictment alleges that while pretending to be a USPS mail carrier, James stole undelivered mail from a collection box near the Kingsessing Post Office in Philadelphia.

In October 2022, while again allegedly pretending to be a mail carrier, James is accused of stealing undelivered mail from a collection box near the East Germantown Post Office in Philadelphia. And in November 2022, James possessed three arrow keys and approximately 15 mail-in ballots that had been taken from USPS collection boxes, the indictment said.

...

Across the internet there are multiple examples of arrow key thefts—so called because they are imprinted with an arrow.

Over the summer at least 13 arrow keys were stolen during assaults on letter carriers in the Washington D.C. area, according to news reports.

“In recent months, there has been a rise in crimes involving the mail, including mail theft, check washing and robberies of postal carriers,” Romero said in a Twitter video. “Make no mistake, mail theft is a serious federal offense. If you steal mail, you are going to prison.”

John Walker, assistant inspector in charge for the Philadelphia Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, spoke in the same video and advised mail consumers to notice the last pickup time posted on every blue collection box. If consumers are there after that time, they should consider holding their items until the following day.

Customers can also mail their items inside any post office."

But sure, mail-in voting is just hunky-dory, perfectly secure, nothing to see here.; 12/12/22, 8:06 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: VDH... Truly a national treasure. Thanks to wendybar for posting.; 12/12/22, 8:08 AM
MadTownGuy said...: AOC Under Investigation by House Ethics Committee

"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is under investigation for ethics violations, the House Ethics Committee announced on Dec. 7.

The brief announcement said only that “the Acting Chairwoman and Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics have jointly decided to extend the matter regarding Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics on June 23, 2022.” (pdf)

It gave no explanation about the reason for the investigation.

Still, there are indications that give some clues as to possible reasons for the case: specifically, Ocasio-Cortez’s attendance of the Met Gala in September 2021.

At the gala, an annual event attended by the wealthy and well-connected, Ocasio-Cortez made splashes when she wore a designer dress that read “Tax the Rich.” The statement was instantly mocked by conservatives, who noted that the Met Gala costs tens of thousands of dollars to attend—a figure well out of reach for everyday Americans.

Following the event, Thomas Jones, founder of the conservative-leaning American Accountability Foundation (AAF) argued in an ethics complaint that he believes Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described socialist who represents areas of Queens and the Bronx, broke House rules by accepting the gift (pdf).

“The American Accountability Foundation is writing today to request that you immediately open an investigation of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) for accepting an impermissible gift to attend the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala (the Met Gala),” Jones’s statement said.

He requested an investigation into whether Ocasio-Cortez’s attendance at the pricey event, or the high-end designer dress she wore, constituted a violation of the House’s complicated Gift Rule.

“Specifically,” Jones wrote, “we believe Representative Ocasio-Cortez has violated clause 5 of Rule XXV of the Rules of the House of Representatives (commonly known as the Gift Rule) by accepting admission to the Met Gala, an event whose per seat costs is reported to range from $35,000 to $50,000, without having a permissible exemption to allow the acceptance of the lavish gift.

“If Representative Occasion-Cortez has used campaign funds to pay for this ticket, she has also violated FEC prohibitions on campaign funds being used for entertainment purposes,” Jones added.

“Without prompt investigation and enforcement of Congressional Rules, the American people are likely to lose faith in the ability of Congress to police its members,” he wrote."; 12/12/22, 8:10 AM
MadTownGuy said...: FBI Reveals It Has More Information on Deceased DNC Staffer Seth Rich

"The FBI not only has possession of a laptop computer owned by slain Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich, but a report detailing forensic imaging of what’s being described as Rich’s work computer, the bureau revealed in a new filing.

The FBI’s records office located the report while searching for the work computer, Michael Seidel, chief of the office, said in a sworn declaration filed with a federal court in Texas on Dec. 9.

He described the document as “a three (3) page forensic report detailing the actions performed by an outside entity to image the work laptop.”

The report was among four documents that had never been disclosed by the FBI in relation to Rich’s case.

Journalist Sy Hersh said in 2017 that he was told by a source about an FBI report on Seth Rich. He said, according to the source, that Seth Rich’s computer showed the DNC staffer had relayed DNC documents to WikiLeaks, a pro-transparency group. Hersh made the disclosure in a phone call with Ed Butowsky, an investor who has later retracted claims about Rich being a WikiLeaks source.

New Records
The new records were found after the records office contacted an unnamed FBI special agent during its search for Rich’s work computer, according to FBI Records Chief Seidel.

The other records are a letter from a third-party that accompanied the work computer and two FBI chain of custody forms.

None of the records were indexed to Rich inside of the bureau’s central records system and neither the forensic report nor the custody forms mention Rich’s name, according to the FBI. They were also not included in an electronic file created for Rich’s case.

Bureau officials had previously claimed in sworn statements that the FBI had searched for records on Rich but did not locate any.

The FBI has also already said it has images from a second computer owned by Rich, which the bureau described as Rich’s personal laptop. A federal judge in September ordered the bureau to hand the images over to Huddleston, finding that the bureau improperly withheld them.

The FBI has repeatedly sought, and obtained, delays to the production order and has still not produced the images.

The bureau had not explained whether it ever took possession of Rich’s personal laptop. A Department of Justice lawyer said at one point that the bureau was “working on getting the files from Seth Rich’s personal laptop into a format to be reviewed.” Seidel said in the new declaration that the FBI “does not have, nor has it ever had, physical possession of the actual personal laptop.”

The work laptop was conveyed to the FBI from a non-governmental third party, the FBI has said.

The bureau is fighting against the release of both the images of Rich’s personal laptop and work laptop, which it says is being held in an FBI evidence room.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, Seidel asserted that the computer “is not an actual record” but is “physical object/evidence” that is not subject to the law.

The law states that every U.S. agency shall make available “agency records.” But factors used to determine whether a record meets the definition shows that the computer is not, Seidel said. One factor is the extent to which personnel at the agency have read or relied upon the document, and the FBI has “found no indication” that the FBI relied on the content of the work computer, he added.

Ty Clevenger, the lawyer representing Huddleston, told The Epoch Times that he didn’t see a distinction between the physical work computer and the images from both computers. He said he would urge the judge to order the release of information from both computers."; 12/12/22, 8:19 AM
wendybar said...: BUMBLE BEE said...
VDH... Truly a national treasure. Thanks to wendybar for posting.

12/12/22, 8:08 AM

He really is. I look forward to his articles every day he posts them.; 12/12/22, 9:54 AM
ALP said...: Wonderful photo - I thought it was rendered in ink when I first laid eyes on it.; 12/12/22, 10:18 AM
Jaq said...: I have been watching the "Snow Westerns" on Criterion Channel. That channel is the best, IMHO.; 12/12/22, 11:45 AM