Althouse: "Make Love Great Again."

February 21, 2023

"Make Love Great Again."

Photographed yesterday in the East Village.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

45 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Great Love requires a Man who acts like a Man and a Woman who acts like a woman committed to one another for life.; 2/21/23, 9:13 PM
Daniel12 said...: Hi Ann, I read this piece in the Nation that goes in some depth on how the New York Times covered homosexuality in the city, including reference to the article you posted a few days ago. I can't speak for it's truth. But I think it shows the risks of going back and reading a Times article with a context free perspective.

You wrote: "But I wouldn't be surprised if the article writer was himself gay, thought the psychoanalysts were full of it, and intended to get out the message that gay men can have a good and satisfying life if they move to New York City."

The Nation article suggests that the idea for the piece came from Abe Rosenthal, not a journalist (but provides no citation). Either way, certainly the piece was edited, by people who edited a whole bunch of other inflammatory articles. What if it wasn't an invitation to gay men, but an invitation to the Mayor and police to crackdown on the good and satisfying life of gay people in Manhattan?; 2/21/23, 9:45 PM
320Busdriver said...: @NYT
“The Mask Mandates Did Nothing

Will Any Lessons Be Learned”

Doubtful….and so it goes; 2/21/23, 9:57 PM
Saint Croix said...: Woo!

Orgasms! Big ones.

Best sex I ever had.; 2/21/23, 10:05 PM
Saint Croix said...: One time, a black girl was cutting my hair, and the subject turned to politics.

When you're in a barbershop in the south, people have fun conversations. You'll talk about anything!

(When I was in my 20's I asked my white barber, "You know how to cut black people's hair?" He was like, of course!)

Anyway, she was a black girl, and the other barber was a black girl, and there was me. I can't remember if there was another customer in the other chair or not. But I definitely remember two black barbers, and one of them was cutting my hair.

For some damn reason, we got to talking about First Ladies. And I said, "I don't like Trump much, I signed the never-Trump pledge, that damn Marco Rubio got me to sign the never-Trump pledge, and once he was president I spent a year or two worried that the IRS was going to audit my ass. My damn name was floating around on a Never-Trump pledge. Holy shit. Not happy about that."

And she's cutting my hair and going, "Uh-huh, uh-huh."

"And nothing happened!" I said. "I don't think Donald Trump gave a shit at all. Didn't even look into it. Either that or Marco Rubio protected all the signers of the Never Trump pledge, and burned it or something. You know, Senator Rubio, looking out for us. But after a while I kind of had the feeling that Trump didn't really give a shit if I voted for him or not. It was like he didn't care, was the vibe I got. Anyway, I still don't like him. But I'll tell you something, his wife is the hottest First Lady we've ever had. She is hot. She is beautiful. I love her. Way prettier than Barbara Bush. You remember Barbara Bush?"

I can't remember what she said to that. Not much, we didn't talk much about Barbara Bush.

"People say Jackie Kennedy was pretty. She's all right. Not really my type. I like Mrs. Trump the best."

Sometimes I got a fast brain, sometimes I got a slow one. And it occurred to me, while I was raving about the sexiness of Mrs. Trump, that hot vixen in the White House, maybe I should say something about Michelle Obama, the first African-American princess and First Lady. And so I brought her up, too.

"Michelle Obama, she's hot. She's pretty. She's up there. Definitely prettier than Barbara Bush. Or Lyndon Johnson's wife, she was ugly. I didn't like her."

It was basically a pretty sexist conversation with me and my black barber. I figured as long as I said nice things about Michelle Obama, I could say all kinds of shit about white First Ladies. Anyway, I made clear to the room that, in my opinion, Mrs. Trump was the hottest first lady the USA has ever seen.

Not once did it occur to me that she had scissors in her hands and the scissors are right by my neck, and if I made some comment she didn't like she would stab me in the neck.

In the movies, if this was a feminist horror movie or some damn thing, she would be outraged and stabbing me, the Evil White Man.

"Die, white pig, die!"

If this was a Spike Lee Joint, I would be bleeding out at the neck when I said that Mrs. Trump was the prettiest First Lady in the history of the USA. But in real life, the likelihood that your barber is going to flip out and stab you in the neck because you said some shit is pretty much nil.; 2/21/23, 10:32 PM
effinayright said...: Picking up on that stupid peice where an artist claims she owns the right to depict history:

If the mural is in a classroom it is obviously there to bully white students and professors during every second of their courses.

NONE of those people owned slaves or were themselves slaves.

The closest analogy I can come up with is the unconstitutional "Corruption of the Blood", and meaning:

..the effect of an attainder which bars a person from inheriting, retaining, or transmitting any estate, rank, or title (because a relative or ancestor was convicted of a crime)

It's only an analogy, but the effect is the same, to tar ALL white people with sins that SOME of their ancestors committed, and demand that they have lesser rights and atone with money, money, money.

It's really no different from Catholics condemning "the perfidious Jews" for "killing Christ 2,000 years ago.

My law school, GWU, has fallen into this nonsense, and yet they try to hit me up for money every month or so.

Fuck'em.; 2/21/23, 10:44 PM
Big Mike said...: Write about whatever you want

I want to write about the town of East Palestine, Ohio. Specifically:

1) The derailment occurred because a wheel bearing on one of the train cars seized, causing the wheel and axle to fail. This is called a “hot box” in railroad parlance, and there are sensors alongside the train tracks to detect hit boxes well before catastrophic wheel failure. The railroad unions claim — and apparently they have the facts to back it up — that Norfolk Southern had cut back on the staff to monitor the hot box sensors. If true, then Norfolk Southern needs to be hit hard enough in the wallet for cleanup and remediation costs, and punitive damages, that they learn what “downside risk” means.

2) The derailment would have been a huge problem even if none of the cars had contained hazardous chemicals. The presence of so many cars filled with hazardous chemicals among the derailed cars turned it into a catastrophe for the town’s residents. Yet the train was treated by Norfolk Southern as a non-hazardous materials train. Why? I mean it’s obvious why Norfolk Southern would do that if the regs permit it — trains with hazardous materials are limited in speed, have to travel safer (but presumably longer) routes, and follow requirements for notifying authorities, and all that costs money. But why don’t the FRA regulations say that the presence of a single car containing hazardous materials makes it a hazardous materials train? Now that he’s been shamed into going to East Palestine, will Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg address this point?

3) Why fid the US EPA leave water testing to the Ohio EPA, when you consider that contamination in the Ohio River will impact communities that draw their water from the Ohio in southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and all along the northern border of Kentucky. I get why J. D. Vance is on the scene and asking tough questions; the people of East Palestine are his people, as well as his constituents. And he brought fellow senator Sherrod Brown with him. Where are the senators from Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky? Will the US EPA continue to monitor the water pollution after the contaminants drift into the Mississippi?

4) I was amazed that FEMA initially told the residents of East Palestine not to expect any help from them. Now that Donald Trump has announced he is going to East Palestine I see that FEMA has been shamed into changing its tune. Those people need food, shelter, and drinkable water, and they needed it 17 days ago.

5) So far the only three politicians who have gone to East Palestine are Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and the two senators mentioned above, with Donald Trump supposedly planning to visit soon. As noted above, Trump’s announcement seems to have shamed Pete Buttigieg into coming to East Palestine and shamed FEMA into doing its job. Guy’s not even in office and he can make lazy federal bureaucrats at least try to look busy. I’m impressed!; 2/21/23, 10:55 PM
walter said...: MeadeHouse re WI SCOTUS race?; 2/21/23, 11:55 PM
SteveWe said...: Nice camera. Great contrast, color, and detail. Exposure is is spot on.; 2/22/23, 12:17 AM
Tank said...: When was love not great?; 2/22/23, 2:27 AM
Kate said...: Vivek is in.; 2/22/23, 2:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "What if it wasn't an invitation to gay men, but an invitation to the Mayor and police to crackdown on the good and satisfying life of gay people in Manhattan?"

It's clear that you didn't read that article. It's full of material antagonistic to the use of police this way, INCLUDING quotes from the Commission of Police!

No one who actually read the article would ask that question. You're just being argumentative.

I carefully read every word of that article twice! I know what is in it and what I wrote is informed.; 2/22/23, 4:06 AM
Humperdink said...: Can anyone guess what Diane Feinstein (CA), John Fetterman (PA) and Joe Biden (USA) have in common? Other than being democrats.; 2/22/23, 5:12 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Hey!
Be careful where you breathe in NYC...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11776717/What-NYCs-dog-poop-ridden-streets-mean-health.html; 2/22/23, 5:28 AM
Humperdink said...: Pete Buttigieg: "Look, I was mayor of my hometown (South Bend) for eight years. We dealt with a lot of disasters, natural and human."

Care to name one or two? (Losses to Southern Cal in football don't count); 2/22/23, 5:46 AM
Iman said...: “Vivek is in”

Great news, Kate! My wife and I were watching him on Tucker’s show, and right at the outset I said “I wish he’d run for office here in California”… and a couple minutes later he announced his plans to run for POTUS. We had a good laugh.; 2/22/23, 6:23 AM
wendybar said...: "One might think that senile Joe is just saying the quiet part out loud by directly telling us that our dollars are being sent overseas to pay for a corrupt government pension system and to support its vast welfare system." https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/02/social_security_is_broke_but_american_taxpayers_just_gave_ukrainian_pensioners_a_doubledigit_raise.html; 2/22/23, 6:27 AM
Jaq said...: I was today years old when I learned that the reason that Putin withdrew Russia from the START treaty was because noted asthma sufferer, Joe "Five Deferments" Biden, had blocked entry, under the sanctions, to Russian inspectors, so basically the US abrogated the START treaty without telling us.; 2/22/23, 6:31 AM
wendybar said...: Now do Christine Blasey Ford.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/kavanaugh-accuser-admits-lying-faces-criminal-charges; 2/22/23, 6:35 AM
Tina Trent said...: Love must not be great enough again in the East Village to prevent the owner of that building to install multiple industrial locks on the door next to the mural.

Is this property destruction, or do the store owners themselves put up the murals, or have they just given up trying to prevent vandalism?

The whole place looks discordant and filthy and depressing. But maybe that's just my aesthetic. Unless it is vandalism.

Then it looks like a dying place full of exploited and oppressed small businesspeople.; 2/22/23, 6:53 AM
Humperdink said...: Allegheny county (Pittsburgh, Pa) has had 5 policemen shot so far this year. And it's only February. The war on the men in blue continues.

https://triblive.com/local/morning-roundup-duquesne-police-officer-shot/; 2/22/23, 6:54 AM
Saint Croix said...: I write murder mysteries for fun.

My first one was Whodidit in the Supreme Court?. Somebody left a dead baby on the dais in the Supreme Court building. Who did it? And why?

So that was a fun murder mystery with a political subtext about abortion.

My second one was Whodidit With a Senator? Somebody murdered a Republican Senator who had multiple counts of sex harassment against him.

That was another fun one, with a political subtext. Brought the FBI and the CIA into that one. (My cop is DC Homicide, and he doesn't give a shit for the Feds).

I got an idea for a third one, wanted to pitch it to the board.

Whodidit With a Redskin?

A football player is murdered, and our hero cop Saxon has to solve it. So it will be another fun murder mystery, and the subtext in this one will be race, identity politics, Whiteness, etc.

What do y'all think? Should I pursue this one or is it a bad idea? Any and all opinions are welcome.; 2/22/23, 7:05 AM
Saint Croix said...: Vivek! I never heard of this guy before. I appreciate the heads up, hillbillies.

Going to check out his two books.

I like his youth and the color of his skin!; 2/22/23, 7:09 AM
Saint Croix said...: I hope everybody had a fun Mardi Gras by the way!

Today is Ash Wednesday. You Christians get some ashes on your forehead and freak people out!; 2/22/23, 7:17 AM
Saint Croix said...: I dedicate this song to the best rabbi in the world, JC.; 2/22/23, 7:39 AM
Rusty said...: Big Mike.
FEMA isn't there to help the people of Palestine Ohio. FEMA is there to provide jobs to reliably Democrat voters.
Ya wanna make love great again? Vote Republican so you at least you can afford to go on a date.; 2/22/23, 7:49 AM
Jaq said...: This is Joe Biden's war. When the coup happened in 2014 as he was Obama's "point man" for Ukraine, he remarked that he spent more time on the phone talking to Ukraine than he did talking to his wife. He plans to make major bank on the business deals his son arranged for him in Ukraine, when he imagines that he will win the war, and then will the foreign aid packages roll in by the tens of billions, and the oligarchs who are denounced as "collaborators" have their holdings divvied up.

This happened a lot after the American Revolution. Tories had their properties seized and auctioned off to political insiders, who had money, and knew when and where the auctions happened, and what was for sale. Vast fortunes were "made" I this way. Nothing is really new in history. We should be aware of what we are fighting for before American kids get too involved in this war.; 2/22/23, 7:52 AM
Jaq said...: Now noted asthma sufferer, Joe "Five Deferments" Biden, is calling Russia's withdrawal from the START treaty, which Biden had already refused to honor, "a big mistake." This is what the neocons do, they force the opponent's hand on something, and then bark that the opponent is acting aggressively. Maybe he did expect Russia to allow US inspectors on their strategic sites while Russian inspectors were banned from our own, but I doubt it.

Biden is using Goebbels's playbook. He is going to the well too often though, and what he is doing is becoming obvious.

We are blundering headlong into nuclear war. Trump abrogated the mid-range missile treaty, which created a huge threat to Russia, which they claim to have countered with some horrific nuclear torpedoes that can destroy port cites like LA, NYC, DC, etc, it's just getting worse and worse, because the neocons imagine that the US can "win" a nuclear war with a quick decapitation strike, and rule over the wreck of a world that that war will leave.; 2/22/23, 8:04 AM
Daniel12 said...: "It's clear that you didn't read that article. It's full of material antagonistic to the use of police this way, INCLUDING quotes from the Commission of Police!"

That quote was directly referencing the shutdown of two bars the police regularly raided, that the liquor authority commissioner called "notorious congregating points for homosexuals and degenerates". It says as much (literally, as much) about what the police will crack down on as what they won't.

"No one who actually read the article would ask that question. You're just being argumentative."

But you're the one who took the contrarian position -- that this article widely understood as part of series of attacks on gay people in the Times is actually supportive. That's a pretty argumentative take that demands a lot of evidence. I won't say EVERYONE who read the article disagrees with you, but plenty do including contemporaneously.

"I carefully read every word of that article twice! I know what is in it and what I wrote is informed."

This gets to my larger point. I just don't think you can justify your position solely with a context free read of the article 60 years later. Not even close.; 2/22/23, 8:25 AM
Humperdink said...: "In 2023, pensions for Ukrainians will be raised again. As early as this March, the government will index pensions by 20%. All categories specified in the law ‘On mandatory state pension insurance’ will be subject to indexation,” Shmyhal said. (That would be Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal)

Sweet. Their economy must be booming or maybe they have a sugar daddy somewhere ... sarc.

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-economy/3671450-government-to-raise-pensions-by-20-in-march-pm-shmyhal.html; 2/22/23, 9:16 AM
wendybar said...: The Clintons sure do have a lot of people who will protect them, no matter what, don't they?? Suicide?? Did he tie himself to a tree with a cord around his neck, and THEN shoot himself?? What a joke justice is in America today.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11759771/Mystery-Bill-Clinton-advisor-dead-gunshot-wound-no-gun.html; 2/22/23, 9:17 AM
Robert Cook said...: "But I'll tell you something, his wife is the hottest First Lady we've ever had. She is hot. She is beautiful."

I don't see it. She has a severe, glowering look that fashion magazines want us to see as beautiful but which conveys no warmth or personality, no appeal at all.; 2/22/23, 9:23 AM
Iman said...: “I don't see it. She has a severe, glowering look that fashion magazines want us to see as beautiful but which conveys no warmth or personality, no appeal at all.”

Some do prefer the “defensive tackle” look of a Michelle 0bama.; 2/22/23, 10:21 AM
MadTownGuy said...: From my morning email - touted by the NYT as Joe Biden's "greatest successes" so far:

"Good morning. As Biden’s economic team turns over, we look at its successes and failures over the first two years."

[His failures, in brief:
- Inflation
- The "care economy" - that is, fundjng for "universal pre-K, paid family leave and an expansion of elder care."]

"Three successes
The Covid recovery. Deese named “a strong and equitable economic recovery” as Biden’s top economic accomplishment. The unemployment rate is at the lowest level since 1969, and wage increases have been larger for lower-income workers than higher earners. Black unemployment often takes more than four years to recover from a recession, Deese said. This time, it took two years.

The stimulus plan deserves criticism for aggravating inflation, but it also (sic) some credit for the vigorous recovery.

I give the NYT credit for at least recognizing the connection to inflation, but I think they overstate the benefit.

Investment. Biden can’t claim any one victory as large as Obamacare, but the scope of his legislation is impressive. It includes bills to reduce medical costs; rebuild bridges, highways and other infrastructure; and expand broadband internet service, public transportation and the nation’s semiconductor sector.

“In terms of magnitude, you have to go back to the ’50s and early ’60s to find a similar approach,” Deese said, referring to infrastructure. He is particularly hopeful, he said, that those investments will spark investments by private companies. Already, Intel and Micron are planning semiconductor factories in response.

...in response to the need for better, more powerful semiconductors, unrelated to the less-than-vigorous recovery.

Climate. Close readers may have noticed that the above list of investments left off one category: clean energy. I think it is important enough to highlight. Given the extreme costs and dangers of climate change, Biden’s investments to accelerate the transition away from greenhouse gases may end up being the most important part of his economic legacy."

Moving to all electric autos/trucks, which we know is coming, while the power grids are already overstressed and will be even more stressed if electric utilities are pressed to get off fossil fuels and on board with solar and wind. Outlawing gas stoves and heating - more of the same.; 2/22/23, 10:25 AM
planetgeo said...: I want to take a shot at your red balloon rising photo, "Make Love Great Again!" Not what I personally think, but what the image captures. Of some note, I first saw this having been awakened around 4am by a lightning storm crackling and thunder rumbling in the distance.

The red balloon rising is an early warning. There's a storm coming. And she's letting him know. Or thinks she is, but he's oblivious. Goofing around with a bunny, unaware he's covering up the end of LOVE. She's faceless. Doesn't want to show what she really wants. No, needs. But the disarrayed, angular "Make/Love/Great/Again!" message ends with an exclamation point. This isn't a request. It's a silent cry.

And perhaps more than anything, what gives this away is the prim black dress. The years of dots and dashes literally embroider her message all over it like a Broadway marquee. Why couldn't he read it? Any woman can decode that dress.

She wants a man who's a code-talker.; 2/22/23, 10:32 AM
Saint Croix said...: I don't see it. She has a severe, glowering look that fashion magazines want us to see as beautiful but which conveys no warmth or personality, no appeal at all.

Hitchcock would see it! I sense a volcano of passion.

Might be wrong.

Let me put it this way -- she will wear whatever she wants to wear, and no damn man is going to dress her!

This is a smart woman who speaks multiple languages. And she knows her husband has a temper.

Passionate love affair!

Ice on the outside, volcano on the inside.

Maybe. I don't know, just a guess.; 2/22/23, 11:24 AM
Humperdink said...: Oopsy, some aide put another banana peel on the steps to Air Force One today.; 2/22/23, 11:41 AM
Saint Croix said...: 41,000 Hours of January 6 Tapes Reveal AOC Died 13,941 Times; 2/22/23, 11:55 AM
Jaq said...: "I don't see it."

They rule us by constantly yammering at us with absurdities to try to break down our faculties for independent thought.; 2/22/23, 12:01 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Passionate love affair!"

Much more likely a dispassionate and carefully crafted legal "merger," as it were.; 2/22/23, 3:30 PM
Robert Cook said...: "We are blundering headlong into nuclear war."

Yes, it does appear that we are. Not that we haven't been stumbling on that path since 1945. After all these years, we are perilously near to our destination.; 2/22/23, 3:42 PM
Saint Croix said...: Much more likely a dispassionate and carefully crafted legal "merger," as it were.

Cookie!

Who is this "dispassionate and careful" person who "crafted" this "legal merger"?; 2/22/23, 5:20 PM
n.n said...: Make love not abortion.; 2/23/23, 1:57 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Who is this 'dispassionate and careful' person who 'crafted' this 'legal merger?'"

I suspect Melania was behind it all.; 2/23/23, 2:35 PM
Saint Croix said...: She's the brains?!

Oh my goodness.

That just makes her hotter in my book.

Melania is running the show!; 2/23/23, 4:08 PM