Althouse: At the Thursday Night Café...

February 16, 2023

At the Thursday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

51 comments:

Beasts of England said...: The posts and comments have been particularly engaging the last two days. Thank you, Ann.; 2/16/23, 7:25 PM
Chuck said...: I think the correct phrasing here is "Jesus Fucking Christ."

What a thread. I've seen some weird, hinky, crazy, laughable shit about the Fox News Channel and its prime time hosts. This one is the weirdest, hinkiest, craziest, most laughable shit I've ever seen about them.

Twitter thread link, for readability and embedded hyperlinks:

https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1626382493480878080; 2/16/23, 7:39 PM
Saint Croix said...: Was there a post with a Commie teacher? I'm not seeing it.

Maybe I saw that on Twitter instead of here? It was a tweet, I think.; 2/16/23, 7:41 PM
FullMoon said...: Stuck in commuter traffic today. Made me long for the Obama days when so many out of work, freeway driving was pleasurable.; 2/16/23, 7:46 PM
William said...: It caused a stir in Russia, but it's not so well known here. "Dear Comrades" playing on Hulu is a Russian movie.. It's a true story about a demonstration in a small industrial town against rising food prices. The demonstration took place in 1962. It triggered a massacre by government forces. Several dozen and maybe a great deal more students and workers were shot....The story dramatizes a low level apparatchik, a true believer in Stalin, as she searches for her daughter who may have been killed in the demonstration. There's one chilling "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" moment when the mother surveying the wreckage cries out "If only Stalin was alive." ...It's a very good movie and seems to accurately portray how life was lived in the USSR at that time. The privileged few get extra rations of salami, and they think life is good.....The filmmaker quotes some scenes from Eisenstein, but this is no triumphant march on the Winter Palace. The massacre is shown just over the shoulders of some women who are cowering in terror.....The excesses of the USSR unlike those of Nazi Germany have inspired very few good movies. This is one of them. If you get a chance, you should see it. I would rank it up there with "The Lives of Others".; 2/16/23, 8:00 PM
Saint Croix said...: Re-reading my rant about liberals, I was struck by the exceptions, right?

Ann Althouse

Glenn Greenwald

Matt Taibbi

Tulsi Gabbard

Joe Rogan

To me all these people are classic liberals who believe in free speech.

The mainstream media is bleeding out and losing viewers.

It's really bad.

They don't know what the problem is.

The answer is fucking obvious.

Be Liberal!

Be a classic liberal who believes strongly and passionately for free speech and wants ordinary people to be heard.

Ann Althouse is not a pro-lifer. She's not a Republican. She's not ultra-conservative. She's not "Adolf Hitler."

She is an old school liberal who believes in free speech.

We love her because she gives us a platform and allows us to speak. Even if she disagrees with us!

How is it all the elite rich people running our networks and our news media and all the newspapers and the major internet portals don't get the concept of free speech?

How is that fucking Republicans have more respect for free speech than Democrats? You "liberals" ought to be embarrassed as shit.

I was raised by liberals!

I was taught by liberals!

The lessons are ingrained in me. I will not be silenced. I will not shut up.

You dumb fuckers who used to cheer George Carlin are scratching your heads and wondering why the stand-up comics are fearless and not afraid. You have no power over us, you dumb fuckers. We will speak and we will be heard!; 2/16/23, 8:02 PM
Gilbert Pinfold said...: Sidewinder missiles (AIM-9) are targeted to home in on heat sources like jet exhausts. They cost $5000,000 each and up depending on the seeker head, and SloJoe used these to shoot down helium balloons lofted by adolescent hobbyists? Give me a break, man!; 2/16/23, 8:32 PM
Mason G said...: "How is it all the elite rich people running our networks and our news media and all the newspapers and the major internet portals don't get the concept of free speech?"

They get it, alright. The thing is- free speech is kryptonite to crappy ideas. Take a guess what it is, that "all the elite rich people running our networks and our news media and all the newspapers and the major internet portals" are pushing.; 2/16/23, 9:00 PM
Maynard said...: I really wish that Chuck would crawl back under his rock.

You give me the creeps, Dude.; 2/16/23, 9:22 PM
Jake said...: Mad Men was a great television program.; 2/16/23, 9:23 PM
wildswan said...: I assume that a method of accounting for kidnapped Ukrainian children* would be Number One in the list of topics in any peace negotiation between Russia and the Ukraine. To be followed by accounting for deported Ukrainian men and disappeared young Ukrainian women (last seen being dragged off by Russian soldiers who have been issued a general pardon by Putin. Russians can't commit crimes in the Ukraine. Whatever they do is legal.) Then the title deeds to Ukrainian homes in the warmer bits of the Ukraine on the Black Sea shore which the Russians are distributing to Russian administrators - maybe these should be discussed - some compensation for those houses. Perhaps the negotiations would start with a land acknowledgement to the Tatar tribes who were in Crimea before any Slavs.
Or
the our military could just rebuild and restock our ammo and whatnot, let out contracts. Do the Reagan thing.
No Russian really thinks Americans want Russia, we only want Russian oil and gas. Drop the war and sell the oil and gas and be happy.

*"Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Russian Federation Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on February 16, confirming that the Kremlin is directly involved in facilitating the deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families. During an in-person working meeting with Lvova-Belova, Putin stated that the number of applications submitted by Russian citizens for the adoption of children from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts is growing significantly.[5] Lvova-Belova noted that she herself adopted a child from Mariupol and stated that she has particularly been working with Russian families to facilitate the placement of Ukrainian children into Russian homes, highlighting the story of one Moscow Oblast family who took custody of nine children.[6] Lvova-Belova confirmed that Russian regional governors are facilitating adoption efforts"
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-february-16-2023; 2/16/23, 9:30 PM
Mutaman said...: "Mr. Carlson continued, “Our viewers are good people and they believe it,” he added, making clear that he did not.

The messages also show that such doubts extended to the highest levels of the Fox Corporation, with Rupert Murdoch, its chairman, calling Mr. Trump’s voter fraud claims “really crazy stuff.”; 2/16/23, 9:31 PM
effinayright said...: Gilbert Pinfold said...
Sidewinder missiles (AIM-9) are targeted to home in on heat sources like jet exhausts. They cost $5000,000 each and up depending on the seeker head, and SloJoe used these to shoot down helium balloons lofted by adolescent hobbyists? Give me a break, man!
******************
The heat-seeking missile warheads were removed. they were not useful, as we wanted to deflate the balloon and not destroy the payload. That succeeded. I'm not sure what $5000,000 means, but you're obviously not very precise in your comments.

How do you know that big balloon was lofted by hobbyists? Got evidence? Stand and deliver!!; 2/16/23, 9:41 PM
madAsHell said...: I'm thinking about all the AI-bots being shared., and promoted. When do they go full schizophrenic, and start editing yesterday's news?

I'm seeing the closing scene of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451". The elders, and the youngsters memorizing texts to defeat the firemen.; 2/16/23, 9:46 PM
n.n said...: Stuck in commuter traffic today.

The unmasking bump. Meanwhile, PPI leads CPI upward and onward.; 2/16/23, 10:28 PM
Jupiter said...: I have been reading -- well, encountering -- accounts by various gloggers of interactions with AI chat apps, where these computer programs say all sorts of provocative things. Which has me thinking about the negative Turing test. Suppose that a large -- as in Big -- Tech Co had hired you to impersonate a box of silicon chips on the internet to fool some idiot working for the NYT into thinking he was communicating with a computer program, so he'd write an article about it. Would you be able to pull it off? Or would he suddenly realize, somehow, that you could not possibly be a -bot because ... whatever.

What if you jacked him around for about 20 minutes, and started to suspect that he was ... not human? Does it take one to know one? Does it take one to care?; 2/16/23, 11:03 PM
Jupiter said...: If it chuckles, it must be Chuck!; 2/16/23, 11:07 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: “Mom transed her 2-year-old son because he liked to dress up in dresses and makeup”

link to libs of TikTok video

On the bright side, it’s possible the child has survived the vaccines shots and boosters… so far.; 2/17/23, 12:38 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: New King James Version
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” - 1 Corinthians

Hashtag the things lost on the way to the brave new world.

The “new King James Version” is the version post Karin Abdul-Jabbar NBA all time scoring record.

It’s a miracle the flowers are surviving.; 2/17/23, 1:03 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: When they can’t just look away from the pesky excess deaths data, they come up with… blame it on covid and hope nobody correlates the numbers with non-vaccinated young dying of heart attacks while surviving covid.

link to CBS news blame heart attacks on covid segment

A cynic would wonder if there was more to the insistence that everyone, I mean newborns even, has/had, must get vaccinated.; 2/17/23, 1:35 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: As I understand it, grand jurors are not the same as sequestered jurors in a criminal trial. This distinction is important because when I hear in the news that Fulton County GA grand jurors found that witnesses had lied to them under oath, it might be important to look at how the grand jurors came to that conclusion.

The grand jury is looking into possible Georgia 2020 election interference by former president Trump and his campaign.; 2/17/23, 2:00 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I want to amend a comment I made about banning students phones from public school grounds.

If I sounded like I want the ban just so I can be freed and protected from having to watch apparent race mini riots that was not how I intended my comment to be interpreted.

I simply meant to convey the idea that kids don’t go to school to learn how to make viral videos. Thanks.; 2/17/23, 2:43 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You know what? I could’ve said in that post above 👆🏽 ‘Hot mom trans her 2 year old… ‘, but it’s possible that could be interpreted as misogynistic or something. However, the hot mom, truth be told, is not your stereotypical child transitioning mom, you know with rainbow dyed hair and a nose ring or two. Again, sorry if I’m wrong about this but… would this viral tweet be so much of a viral tweet (2.4m views) if the mom was not as hot? My gut says no. Something about one of Rush Limbaugh’s undeniable truths about feminism and this hot mom pouring cold water over that. Again, I don’t know. Maybe I’m down the wrong path of a multilayered rabbit hole.; 2/17/23, 3:19 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The hot mom is culturally appropriating transitioning kids.; 2/17/23, 3:22 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Or… what if transitioning kids is becoming mainstream?; 2/17/23, 3:25 AM
gadfly said...: Saint Croix said...
Re-reading my rant about liberals, I was struck by the exceptions, right?

Ann Althouse
Glenn Greenwald
Matt Taibbi
Tulsi Gabbard
Joe Rogan

To me all these people are classic liberals who believe in free speech.

Classical Liberalism is the umbrella of political thought that favors individual liberty over the power of centralized government. We are talking about libertarianism here and there are no libertarians listed above.; 2/17/23, 3:35 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Miley Cyrus Flowers video is her La la land styled relationship post-mortem.; 2/17/23, 3:38 AM
Humperdink said...: Attention mayors and governors: Have homeless or illegals in your city or state? Fly them to O'Hare airport. Mayor Lightfoot has established shelters in the airport concourses and baggage areas. Lightfoot is no dim bulb. The airport is warm, has restroom facilities and as an added bonus, the vagrants can carry your bags if they choose not to steal them.; 2/17/23, 5:21 AM
Eva Marie said...: William, thanks for the movie recommendation. I don’t have Hulu but I found Dear Comrades on Amazon Prime Video for a rental fee.; 2/17/23, 5:22 AM
Saint Croix said...: People get really emotional about abortion. On both sides. Very emotional. So I want to talk about emotions a little bit.

In Roe v. Wade, Harry Blackmun writes this...

Our task, of course, is to resolve the issue by constitutional measurement, free of emotion...

Human beings have emotions. Love, pride, anger, hatred, ambivalence, fear. We have to repress our emotions in order to do certain tasks.

For instance, I would not want an emotional, crybaby doctor doing brain surgery on me. I wouldn't want him crying, "I love John Kennedy so much! My hands are shaking! I'm so upset!" I'd much rather have a high-functioning sociopath with zero emotions doing something like that.

In fact I would urge anybody who suspects they might be a high-functioning sociopath to please be a surgeon and make sure that you follow the Hippocratic Oath and not just stab people left and right. Sociopaths and maybe-sociopaths and people on the sociopathic spectrum are likely to be the best surgeons (I'm guessing, no idea), because they're so unemotional.

You want Spock doing your brain surgery, but if he decides it's okay to kill people, that's a problem.; 2/17/23, 5:24 AM
Saint Croix said...: I see why surgeons need to be unemotional. But lawyers? Judges? I don't know where Blackmun got that shit.

He's not doing precise brain surgery. I don't give a shit if he's bawling or laughing or angry or whatever. I'm reading his opinion. He has to convince me on the merits. His emotions are irrelevant.

But he's bragging that he and the rest of the elite squad sitting on the Supreme Court are free of emotion. Are you going for A.I. super-computer? Logic is fine but emotions are important to human existence, too.

For instance, it might have helped the Supreme Court if they thought about the emotional response people would have to the termination of babies. Lots of people love babies, even unborn babies. I've heard a rumor that even men love babies. You know, those men who put their hands on their wife's belly and feel a baby kicking. Sure, it's a man's job to feel nothing, thank you for the sexist lesson on jurisprudence, nine men from 1973.

Harry goes on to riff about some of the ideas that are floating around in his non-emotional skull...

We forthwith acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires. One's philosophy, one's experiences, one's exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one's religious training, one's attitudes toward life and family and their values, and the moral standards one establishes and seeks to observe, are all likely to influence and to color one's thinking and conclusions about abortion.

In addition, population growth, pollution, poverty, and racial overtones tend to complicate and not to simplify the problem.

I don't know how many "feelers" they had on the Supreme Court in 1973, but for a bunch of "thinkers" you really fucking screwed the pooch.

I win a lot of hearts and minds in my liberal church by saying, "Christ calls on us to love our children."

That's because love is highly relevant in human reproduction, not something to be talked about as if you are scientists in a lab.

Over the years, reading his hate mail and his love mail, Blackmun became a highly emotional jurist. And he wanted everyone to know that he loved women and he even loved people on death row.

That's fine and good. But he failed to love babies, throughout his jurisprudence. And his lack of regard for human beings is what opened the door to a lot of surgeons using their skills to decapitate or poison unwanted children.; 2/17/23, 5:27 AM
wendybar said...: With all the money they are pouring into the climate change lies, the asshole in chief is rejecting Ohio's request for federal aid in the train derailment that is hurling toxic chemicals around killing animals, fish and probably the people who live there.

Fuck Joe Biden.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2023/02/16/why-is-fema-derailing-efforts-to-assist-east-palestine-ohio-n2619686; 2/17/23, 5:28 AM
wendybar said...: Is Joe Biden trying to kill off the people in East Palenstine Ohio?? WHY isn't he sending in federal aid??

https://therightscoop.com/watch-jd-vance-demonstrate-how-the-waterways-in-east-palestine-are-still-polluted/; 2/17/23, 5:32 AM
wendybar said...: DC_Draino
@DC_Draino
Just in case you were wondering why Biden and Buttigieg are ignoring the toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio

Columbiana County voted 71.7% for Trump in 2020; 2/17/23, 5:34 AM
wendybar said...: Maybe the residents of East Palentine Ohio should put up the Ukraine flag, that way our government will help.; 2/17/23, 5:36 AM
wendybar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/17/23, 5:37 AM
wendybar said...: "At some point, the railroad intentionally vented and ignited all of the train cars containing vinyl chloride. Why? Why burn 155,000 gallons of a toxic chemical if the train cars containing them were not breached? Why “vent and burn” 155,000 gallons of a toxic chemical if the train cars containing it were intact?"

It's almost like this was done purposely, to kill off the people that live there.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/16/making-sense-of-the-ohio-train-derailment/; 2/17/23, 6:07 AM
wendybar said...: "About five members of the press, including reporters from the Daily Caller, Fox News Radio, the New York Post, and Today News Africa, were barred from attending the media event even though there was allegedly plenty of space for reporters."

Because Joe can't lie his way out of it if they were in the briefing. He needed his propaganda channels there, to spew the lies they are making up to lie to the American people. This administration sucks.
Fuck Joe Biden.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/16/white-house-bars-several-reporters-from-biden-briefing-on-chinese-spy-balloon-and-aerial-objects/; 2/17/23, 6:11 AM
wendybar said...: Ian Smith
@iansmithfitness
Five trains derailed, one truck spill, and now a massive 5-acre industrial fire in FL burning massive amounts of plastic. Seven ecological disasters in less than 2 weeks. The ramifications will impact American’s food, water, and health for decades to come. We are under attack.
8:49 AM · Feb 16, 2023; 2/17/23, 6:58 AM
wendybar said...: Not Your Safe Space
@xshitmymomsaysx
The U.S. is being systematically destroyed.

The food supply.
Infrastructure.
The family.
Financial system.
Military.
Religion.
Homogeneity.
Mental health.
Physical health.
Sexuality.

Did I miss anything?; 2/17/23, 7:26 AM
Gilbert Pinfold said...: @effinayright
Caught me misplacing a comma. As for the seeker head being removed, how would you aim the Sidewinder—active or passive radar? Kentucky windage? Lick your thumb, assess the wind, and offset your shot? BTW, would you launch a fighter jet mission to an unidentified and potentially hostile target with an infrared seeker deliberately disarmed? Why didn’t the pilots use the 20mm Vulcan cannon for which they do have an aiming and computer-powered reticle?
And also BTW, SloJoe admittte3d yesterday that they have no idea what they shot down, but it wasn’t from China…; 2/17/23, 8:00 AM
Rusty said...: "How do you know that big balloon was lofted by hobbyists? Got evidence? Stand and deliver!!"
Some sort of Northern Illinois balloon club. Dads and moms and their kids. They put a tracker on the balloon and followed it with an app.; 2/17/23, 8:32 AM
wendybar said...: Don't worry, Buttegieg will make sure the clean up crew doesn't have to many white guys....

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d0febb9ba7f062b88d73f79cc8c4ed6d3cbdcc4fdc576239780c77195716131b.png; 2/17/23, 9:18 AM
wendybar said...: Just another political appointee picked because he sleeps with other guys. Look how great Buttigieg is doing screwing up the country. Picking people based on color and gender preferences have gotten us to where the country is today, and THAT is not a good thing.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/now-we-can-rest-easy-we-have-a-gay-white-house-communications-director/; 2/17/23, 9:40 AM
madAsHell said...: I wanna know how many times my Amazon account can be disabled??

Cuz I have multiple messages from multiple sources saying my account is on hold......again, again.; 2/17/23, 2:54 PM
Saint Croix said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/17/23, 8:08 PM
Saint Croix said...: William, 8:00, thanks for the tip.; 2/17/23, 8:13 PM
Saint Croix said...: Lem at 12:38

thanks for that link

leaves me flabbergasted but at least I wasn't appalled

I was terrified that they were going to drug or operate on that child. It sounds like it was just parent indoctrination, which is weird, but legal.

(Parents have a right to indoctrinate their child however they see fit).

This doesn't rise to the level of child abuse, not even close. But it's still super-interesting as a peek into a malign fad and weird mindset. The lack of thinking is stunning to me. No critical thoughts at all???; 2/17/23, 8:20 PM
farmgirl said...: “”Mr. Carlson continued, “Our viewers are good people and they believe it,” he added, making clear that he did not.””

Who gives a flying f/k if Carlson believes it or not? Groupthink is your gig, bro. Beatdown on those who don’t goose their step.

Embrace free thinking.
Be best…

America 1st.; 2/18/23, 8:42 AM
farmgirl said...: “It’s a miracle the flowers are surviving…”

Wait!! You have flowers??!; 2/18/23, 8:54 AM
Saint Croix said...: might be able to watch Dear Comrade here. Need a library card I think.; 2/18/23, 11:02 PM