Althouse: At the Friday Night Café...

January 26, 2024

At the Friday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

36 comments:

Joe Smith said...: Why did the democrat communists on the J6 committee encrypt and then delete files days before republicans took control of the the committee?

Who planted the pipe bombs at the RNC/DNC?

Two biggest stories in America and the foolish media doesn't want to know.; 1/26/24, 6:34 PM
rcocean said...: Bleak. Desolate. Yet strangely beautiful.

The opening of a Bergman film.; 1/26/24, 7:02 PM
Big Mike said...: Two biggest stories in America and the foolish media doesn't want to know.

@Joe Smith, please consider the possibility that the media aren’t foolish and they do know. They just don’t want us to know.; 1/26/24, 7:32 PM
Mutaman said...: New York Times Pitchbot
@DougJBalloon
·

There is no specific Constitutional prohibition against raping a woman at Bergdorf Goodman. So it’s hard to see what this $83 million judgment is really about.

-Jonathan Turley; 1/26/24, 7:48 PM
Sally327 said...: I'm looking forward to watching "Masters of the Air" on Apple TV+. I'm trying to decide if I should read the book (by Donald Miller) first though.; 1/26/24, 7:52 PM
Mason G said...: Just saw another ad for the "Rocket Money" app (I think that's the name) that says it finds and cancels unwanted subscriptions in order to save you money and I'm wondering... how is it possible you're spending money for stuff you don't know about? Don't people balance their bank/credit card statements these days? Are these the same people who complain about how they can't afford to buy a house? Maybe if they skipped that Starbucks run and took a look at their financial statements now and then...; 1/26/24, 8:12 PM
Narr said...: I always liked the ends of Bergman films more than their beginnings or middles.

It is said that converts are often the most zealous, and in my case that applies to YouTube's musical offerings. For those other fans of classical music here, let me commend the pianist Alexandre Kantorow (Gluck/Sgambati) and the team of Konstantin Krimmel and Daniel Heide (Schubert's Die Schoene Muellerin).

Enjoy.; 1/26/24, 8:22 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Beautiful.; 1/26/24, 8:23 PM
Drago said...: Joe Smith: "Two biggest stories in America and the foolish media doesn't want to know."

The media already knows the answers.

Which is why they aren't talking about it.; 1/26/24, 8:35 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Blogger Joe Smith said...
Why did the democrat communists on the J6 committee encrypt and then delete files days before republicans took control of the the committee?

Who planted the pipe bombs at the RNC/DNC?

Two biggest stories in America and the foolish media doesn't want [YOU] to know.

1/26/24, 6:34 PM

FIFY.

That's why I call them the Mushroom Media Conspiracy. Always keeping their viewers/readers in the dark and feeding them bullsh*t.; 1/26/24, 10:35 PM
Mr. T. said...: Trudeau just got his candadian bacon handed to him for attempting the greatest dictatorial attack on civil rights in his country's history.

The American left meanwhile cries for their own home grown tyranny: "Give us tyranny or give them death!"; 1/26/24, 10:36 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: The ICJ ruling which strongly warns Israel not to commit genocide and requires Israel to report on their efforts to prevent anything resembling genocide, includes the tepid ending statement:

"The Court deems it necessary to emphasize that all parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip are bound by international humanitarian law. It is gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since then by Hamas and other armed groups, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release."

Oh well. I've not seen any media mention of that, (besides Reuters), nor does anyone expect Hamas to abide by any international humanitarian law, they are non-state actors.

We're living in strange times when the justice system seems more like a relic than a living virtue.; 1/26/24, 11:52 PM
gadfly said...: JONATHAN TURLEY's May 9, 2023 comments on jury findings that former President Trump is liable for sexual abuse and defamation charges the verdict in the first lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll jury:

That dog won't hunt. If that's the argument on appeal, then it's going to be a rather quick appeal. There are other issues here that he might appeal. Judge Kaplan was really quite yielding on the demands for a witness testimony. He allowed in a lot of evidence, including the Hollywood access tape and these other witnesses. Obviously, Trump had never been convicted or found guilty, either criminally or civilly in those cases. So there was a lot of evidence here that the defense could say should not have been brought into the case or should have been handled differently. The problem for President Trump is that this is a mix question of law and fact. There are some legal issues here, like the ones I mentioned about allowing in certain types of testimony. But when it comes to factual determinations, the court of appeals tends to be leery of overturning those. Jury decisions are really sort of iron plated because you have to show that they were clearly erroneous. They're not going to be able to show that here with all this testimony. So the only way to really unravel this is to say that the jury heard things that they shouldn't have been allowed to hear because they were too prejudicial. The biggest problem for the president, I think at trial, and it's going to be on appeal, is he decided not to testify. He didn't even appear in the courtroom. That not only triggered inferences, but it likely poisoned the well a bit for these jurors. Jurors don't like it. They don't like it in criminal or civil cases when the key accused party doesn't speak to them.; 1/26/24, 11:55 PM
gadfly said...: The jury in the E. Jean Carroll v. Trump case ruled on Tuesday afternoon [[May 9, 2023] that former President Trump is liable for sexual abuse and defamation charges. While Trump announced ahead of a verdict he planned to appeal the decision, Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley unpacked the case on "The Story" and weighed the "biggest problem" the president faces in an appeal.

The biggest problem for the president, I think at trial, and it's going to be on appeal, is he decided not to testify. He didn't even appear in the courtroom. That not only triggered inferences, but it likely poisoned the well a bit for these jurors. Jurors don't like it.; 1/27/24, 12:35 AM
Mutaman said...: Just read that Trump paid Habba $3.5 million to represent him. 3.5 million to someone who doesn't even know how to introduce a document into evidence???
Nuff said!; 1/27/24, 1:17 AM
Kate said...: @Mason G -- I'm guessing this is geared to the elderly. Dad will click on an ad in the sidebar because he thinks it's a legit article. It's confusing and he ends up agreeing to a service he didn't mean to. Even though he checks his account often, these things get overwhelming. He'd probably like a service that handled all that. In our house my husband is the service, but not everyone has a son-in-law who will delve into internet mistakes.; 1/27/24, 4:08 AM
wendybar said...: THIS is what burns people like me. Lying Corrupt Progressives can do and say whatever they want with absolutely NO CONSEQUENCES at all, but meanwhile, Grandmas taking selfies in the Capitol after getting ushered in by the Capitol police are rotting in the DC gulag. Our country is upside down, and it is getting worse. Progressives have ruined it and will continue to destroy everything American as fast as they can. Bastards.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/outrageous-irs-contractor-who-stole-leaked-trumps-tax/; 1/27/24, 4:17 AM
Enigma said...: @Joe Smith Two biggest stories in America and the foolish media doesn't want to know.

Just guessing here...because the same people were behind the Jeffrey Epstein case? See the film "Eyes Wide Shut."; 1/27/24, 4:49 AM
Humperdink said...: @ Mutaman and the gad. Has your hatred for Trump overwhelmed your judgement and sensibilities? Do you not see the long term danger in using the legal system to attack political rivals? Do you think the left will always be in power? You appear to be afflicted with the Harry Reid syndrome when he eliminated the filibuster rule for judges. He couldn't see past the next election or two. And neither can you!; 1/27/24, 5:07 AM
Howard said...: Trump losing the E Jean Carroll case for big big money was exactly the outcome Donald wanted. He won't have to pay the hole nut, will appeal until forever, and in the mean time, he gets a Billion dollars in effective campaign advertising while he even more solidly cements his base of support.

I wouldn't be surprised if he slamders E Jean again for the same reasons. The turd time is a charm.; 1/27/24, 5:53 AM
Humperdink said...: Daily Wire headline this morning: "Texas National Guard Continues Building Razor Wire Border Barriers, Defies Biden Admin"

Did some one say defiance is in the air? Why, yes they did (me). This is going to be fun to watch.; 1/27/24, 5:54 AM
rehajm said...: We have to make Trump President so they will have to stop prosecuting him…; 1/27/24, 7:01 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Folks might appreciate a great pic of the full-earth taken just 4 days ago – on 2024-01-23 at 20:25:00 UT (Universal Time, a.k.a. GMT). At top is California; at bottom Antarctica (now experiencing months of continuous 24-hour daylight); to the right can be seen Mexico, Central America, and South America. At lower-left New Zealand is visible.

Beautiful, no?

I've slightly dehazed the image for clarity. A map showing the pictured covered area on earth can be seen here.

Courtesy of Nasa's DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) probe – taking 4 megapixel (2048 x 2048) pics of the full-earth (the daylit side) every 2 hours 24/365, from its station near the sun-earth ‘L1’ point, approximately 1 million miles sunward from earth.

epic.gsfc.nasa.gov; 1/27/24, 7:11 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Brought forward from an earlier thread…

rhhardin: Breeding like rabbits, where the Israelis only breed like rabbis.

Ha ha! But, taking it seriously (as I believe it's intended to be), that presents really a false picture of the demographic situation facing Jews in Israel vis-a-vis both Arab Israelis and the Palestinians. Yes, the latter two have high birth-rates. Yes, the average fertility of Jewish women in Israel isn't all that great: 3.10 (as of 2020) – though that's better than a lot of places these days. However, stopping right there elides the massive distinct contribution of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews of Israel – whose (2020) fertility was 6.64! (Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.) Of course, how much this matters depends on the size of the Ultra-Orthodox population of Israel…

As a (2020) piece in the Times of Israel put it: [quoting…]

The study found that the ultra-Orthodox, also known as Haredi, population in Israel numbers around 1.175 million, showing an annual growth rate of 4.2 percent over the past decade, over twice the 1.9% shown by the rest of the Israeli population and over three times that of the rest of the Israeli Jewish population (excluding the Haredi population), 1.2% [!]. At those rates, the community will double in size every 16 years while the rest of the population is expected to double in size every 37 years. The non-Haredi Jewish population is predicted to double every 50 years at current rates.

[/unQuote]

Ergo, in a few decades – naively, demographically speaking – not only will there be plenty of Jews in Israel, but a far higher proportion of them will then be the (ultra-fertile!) Ultra-Orthodox – and so on, into the future it goes. (Ah! demographics, isn't it wonderful… well, sometimes.); 1/27/24, 7:21 AM
Michael McNeil said...: (Brought forward from an earlier thread:)

Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute treaty establishing the International Criminal Court. While the court has self-declared that it has jurisdiction in the question of possible genocide occurring in the Palestinian territories, since Israel is not a signatory and moreover has refused to cooperate in the ICC's investigation, its leverage over Israel in this regard as a practical matter is quite limited. Israel may do some things in response as a matter of PR, but probably only a limited set.; 1/27/24, 7:34 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Thanks Narr!; 1/27/24, 7:39 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: The Navy is having recruitment issues, so it's decided to accept sailors without a high school diploma or GED. All they have to do is score a 50 out of 99 on the Armed Services Qualification Test. So, to meet the demand for sailors, the Navy is enrolling high-grade morons.

Maybe they should deep six the DIE requirements and value their sailors instead of calling them racist White Privileged Deplorables.; 1/27/24, 8:28 AM
Kai Akker said...: --- Two biggest stories in America and the foolish media doesn't want to know.

A chance for Tough-Guy Joe to show us just how tough he is. Don't mess with a Biden. Hope the Texans resupply their bomb shelters quickly.; 1/27/24, 8:52 AM
Kai Akker said...: Oops. Joe Smith was talking J6. I am thinking Rio Grande.; 1/27/24, 8:53 AM
Narr said...: My pleasure, Bumble Bee.

In regard to Mike of Snoqualmie's observation on the Navy recruitment crisis, people of a certain age may recall the experiment in the 1960s called "Operation 100,000" a.k.a. "McNamara's Morons."; 1/27/24, 9:01 AM
Rusty said...: Humperdink said...
"@ Mutaman and the gad."
They aren't bright enough to think that far ahead. As long as their political enemies are being skewered that's good enough for them. You have to realize that the progressives that post here are the very best the progressives have to offer. You won't get an answer to your questions. You'll gat your daily dose of progressive dogma.; 1/27/24, 9:09 AM
Big Mike said...: As seen on Powerline blog’s “This Week in Pictures”:

“95% of all electric cars are still on the road.

The other 5% made it all the way home.”; 1/27/24, 9:15 AM
Kai Akker said...: ---Daily Wire headline this morning: "Texas National Guard Continues Building Razor Wire Border Barriers, Defies Biden Admin"
Did some one say defiance is in the air? [Humperdinck]

It's like something right out of the Continental Congress now. The Biden administration playing the role of King George III and Parliament.; 1/27/24, 9:16 AM
gadfly said...: POLITICO tells us that "The News Business Really Is Cratering."

Yesterday's news has long been unpopular among readers but newspapers really lost their soul for economic reasons.

POLITICO asks just one question: "Are we belatedly learning that the great journalism empires — the Times-Mirror chain, Knight Ridder, Gannett, Scripps-Howard, Tribune, McClatchy, Advance Publications, Hearst, Freedom Communications, and the rest — weren’t journalism empires as much as they were advertising colossuses and that they became doomed when they lost status as the best advertising vehicle?"; 1/27/24, 1:01 PM
rcocean said...: Frankly I don't know why anyone would join the Navy as an enlisted man. Imagine being stuck on board a ship for 3-6 month deployement, saluting Lesbian officers, and eating crummy food.

No thanks. Better to be in the Airforce or the army. at least you can leave the base and hava a beer.; 1/27/24, 6:38 PM
Rusty said...: No Politico. They lost status when they became organs of state propaganda.; 1/28/24, 10:10 AM