Althouse at the airport — a 10-point list.

1. A slow internet connection is like being stupid, but only if you are stupid enough to keep trying to use the internet when it’s going slow.

2. The internet connection here at McCarran Airport is slow, but I had the wit to open a document in Word and start typing this list, so I am at least that unstupid.

3. I got flagged for a pat-down search and had to wait to enter the air-poof booth until a female patter-downer arrived. I was most concerned about my bag, from which I was separated. My money, my cards, my laptop, my iPhone, my iPad, my keys, my glasses, my boarding passes.

4. I expressed concern and was told “There are more security cameras here than at the White House,” but all that meant to me was that they’d have pictures of the person who swiped my bag.

5. But I had to wait and wait for the female patter. A bulky, slow-moving couple blocked my sightline to my bag, and I considered telling the immense bald-headed TSA agent who’d called for the female that he should just go ahead and pat me down himself, because I’d rather have some strange man feel me up than lose eye contact with my bag of money, devices, and papers.

6. The female whom I’m presumed to prefer arrives and asks me if I have any special sensitivities and what’s the use of saying you’re damned right I do?

7. She says she’ll have to touch my “fancy skirt,” which — what? — is that supposed to relax me or compliment me or amuse me? It sounds like something a criminal would say before roughing you up. She grimly and lightly performed the task.

8. The thought I am never flying again formed at #3, but I resist saying it out loud. How boring and useless the information/threat would be to the security lady.

9. I mellow a bit after it’s over, then get annoyed again as I realize I don’t know what chemicals and radiation and seeing-you-naked technology was inflicted upon me in that booth.

10. Now, I’m at the gate, very early, drinking black coffee and typing a list.

"Hillary Clinton Pokes Fun at Email Scandal During Wing Ding Dinner in Iowa."

That headline bothers me for 5 reasons.

1. It seems to celebrate Hillary's wit, as if it's quite a triumph to take a serious problem and just treat it as a joke.

2. I think you can only "poke fun at" a person. You can't poke a scandal. Poking is something you do to rouse or rile an entity capable of reacting. A person. (Animals are capable of reacting to a poke, but not the metaphorical poke called "fun." I know the animals are laughing at us, but they are not laughing at our jokes.)

3. Who could be poked fun at over the email scandal? Hillary herself? She didn't do that, of course. Her target was Republicans. It's all "politics," and "here’s what I won’t do: I won’t get down in the mud with" the Republicans. "I won’t play politics with national security." So there is something that can be called poking. She's poking Republicans. But she's not poking fun at them. Those remarks don't seem to be trying to be humorous. They're just predictable, transparent blame-shifting and a refusal to respond to the scandal with any substance.

4. Wing Ding Dinner. Don't like that. Not at first sight. It sounds like it's trying to project the concept of fun, but you know it's not fun.

5. Wing Ding. I had to look it up. It's one word, yes? Yes. The (unlinkable) OED says: "U.S. slang. A fit or spasm, esp. as simulated by a drug addict... Also in weakened sense, a furious outburst."

1933   Amer. Speech 8 ii. 28/1   When an addict who..cannot obtain dope..becomes desperate, he may throw a wing-ding (feign a highly realistic fit in public) in the hope that the doctor..will administer narcotics to quiet him; professional wing-dingers are addicts who make a practice of obtaining their narcotics in this manner.

Okay, finally I like something. Well, that Iowa event was a political fundraiser, so it's fair to say that the addicts were putting on a show to get their narcotic.

(The second meaning of "wingding" is "A wild party; a celebration or social gathering." I'm just adding that so you won't think you have to explain it to me.)

"For someone who is dying, the past can be too complicated to contemplate and the future is jarringly unknown."

"Focusing on the present, Zen Hospice Project believes, is where the potential for living most meaningfully — even while dying — exists."

Walk through the front door of the Guest House, as the project’s rambling Victorian home is known, and smell the strong coffee brewing or the homemade chocolate cookies cooling in the kitchen. The cookies aren’t just a nicety. According to Dr. B.J. Miller, the organization’s executive director, piquing the senses is a key strategy to dying well. “No future necessary when you’re in the moment,” he says.

Another death-panelistic article in The New York Times, this one's called "Zen and the Art of Dying Well."

This place sounds exactly like the place that freaked out Frank Gallagher on "Shameless." What episode was that? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

"Once, a long time ago, a rock star was a free-spirited, convention-flouting artist/rebel/hero/Dionysian fertility god..."

"Now, 60 years, give or take, since the phrase came into existence, 'rgreat name) iock star' has made a complete about-face. In its new incarnation, it is more likely to refer to a programmer, salesperson, social-media strategist, business-to-business telemarketer, recruiter, management consultant or celebrity pastry chef than to a person in a band."

So writes Carina Chocano (n a NYT piece titled "How ‘Rock Star’ Became a Business Buzzword."

I don't know how old Chocano is, but I've been around for the entire 60-plus-or-minus years of rock and roll and I can assure you that the term "rock star" never had the golden significance she imagines. The Byrds satirized the idea in 1967:

So you want to be a rock'n'roll star
Then listen now to what I say
Just get an electric guitar
And take some time and learn how to play
And when your hair's combed right and your pants fit tight
It's gonna be all right

Then it's time to go downtown
Where the agent men won't let you down
Sell your soul to the company
Who are waiting there to sell plastic ware
And in a week or two if you make the charts
The girls will tear you apart

What you pay for your riches and fame
Was it all a strange game
You're a little insane
The money that came and the public acclaim
Don't forget what you are
You're a rock'n'roll star

And don't get me started on The Mothers of Invention, "Live at the Fillmore East 1971."

"A Birmingham, Alabama, police detective who was pistol-whipped unconscious said Friday that he hesitated to use force because he didn't want to be accused of needlessly killing an unarmed man."

"'A lot of officers are being too cautious because of what's going on in the media,' said the officer, who asked to remain anonymous for the safety of his family. "I hesitated because I didn't want to be in the media like I am right now.'"

"Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control."

"One of the great truths taught by Buddhism (and Stoicism, Hinduism, and many other traditions) is that you can never achieve happiness by making the world conform to your desires. But you can master your desires and habits of thought. This, of course, is the goal of cognitive behavioral therapy. With this in mind, here are some steps that might help reverse the tide of bad thinking on campus."

The most interesting paragraph to me in an article in The Atlantic that's getting a lot of attention, "The Coddling of the American Mind" (subtitle: "In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like. Here’s why that’s disastrous for education—and mental health."), by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.

If you've already been reading and thinking about this article, I wonder if you noticed the Buddhism-Stoicism-Hinduism angle and the "cognitive behavioral therapy." This isn't the usual stuff of American free speech and political debate. It's strangely aligned with the "coddling" that's supposed to be bad, because it circles around inner peace, not getting shaken up and challenged and activated. 

John Kerry in Cuba, raising the flag at the reopening American embassy.

The NYT reports:

Mr. Kerry said at the embassy that while “Cuba’s future is for Cubans to decide” and the choice of how they would be governed was solely their responsibility, the United States “remained convinced that the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas, and practice their faith; where the commitment to economic and social justice is realized more fully; where institutions are answerable to those they serve; and where civil society is independent and allowed to flourish.”

"Oftentimes when I was sleeping with one of the top women in the world I would say to myself, thinking about me as a boy from Queens, ‘Can you believe what I am getting?'"

#23 on a list of 99 things Trump has said.

ADDED: Men who are using money to trade up sexually are getting women who are interested in that kind of exchange. They can say they are getting "top women" for their money, and the woman can say she's getting a "top man," and it's an even exchange. These people are welcome to each other, and I don't begrudge them whatever happiness they acquire in the deal, but if they want to enter into the realm of public bragging and seek my admiration for the wonderful deal they've made, it's a big, big fail, because it depends on regarding the bragger as having gotten the better side of the bargain and that's a perception that bursts the bubble of happiness, portraying the braggart's partner as the loser, the chump, and not a "top woman" at all (or "top man," if it's the woman who chooses to claim to have won).

Finally, a Sunday talk-show host objects to Donald Trump's phone-in method of half-avoiding the press.

Chris Wallace: "The idea you would do a phoner with a presidential candidate where they have all the control and you have none, where you can’t see them and they may have talking points in from of them... we are not a call in radio show, we are a Sunday talk show and he is a presidential candidate, you do an interview on camera."

My theory on the phone-ins has been it's too hard for Trump to get his hair into viewable condition. These shows are on in the morning and his alternative approach — that ugly "Make America Great Again" hat — is unacceptable.

By the way, wouldn't it be something if, in the end, Scott Walker is the GOP candidate, Joe Biden the Democrat, and Trump runs independently? You could compare the 3 men in their 3 radically different reactions to baldness. Biden, famous for the surgical strike: plugs. Trump, even more famous for the extravagant combover. And Walker, just letting people see that he's going bald.

"Hillary will be totally blackmail-able if elected."

Argues Instapundit's unnamed source (said to be "a journalist"):

1. It’s safe to say that there were things on that server which could cause Hillary tremendous harm politically – which is why she destroyed the evidence that would have been exculpatory if you believed her explanation. In my mind, it’s also why she used a private server to begin with....

4. Hillary Clinton, as both a future Presidential candidate and a sitting Sec. of State would have been one of the Top 100 intelligence targets in the world and probably one of the top 10.

5. It’s thus certain that the Chinese and Russians would each have had a team focused on accessing her communications....

Read the whole thing. My reaction: Once you're actually President, you can use your I-am-the-President tools. What's anyone going to do about it? Impeach you? That's been-there-done-that for Hillary. She could welcome the opportunity to survive a second impeachment crisis in her family. Bring it on!

Why is this journalist unnamed? Is he ashamed of his theory or just not impressive enough for his name to work in promotion of it?

ADDED: Instapundit asks why I'm assuming it's a "he," but he's assuming my use of the male pronoun signifies that I think it's a "he." In fact, I follow the tradition of using "he" when it could be either sex.

Las Vegas in the pouring rain.

It was the heaviest rain of the year, a crazy desert downpour. We were downtown on Fremont Street — the "Fremont Street Experience" — a great vantage point on the rain.







The "naked" man in picture #1 was later observed directing traffic at the intersection by The Golden Nugget where the storm had knocked out the stoplight.

Why Al Gore is an impossible, horrible alternative to Hillary.

Buzzfeed has this, by Andrew Kaczynski: "Al Gore Insiders 'Figuring Out If There’s A Path For Him To Run."

But in recent days, “they’re getting the old gang together,” a senior Democrat told BuzzFeed News. “They’re figuring out if there’s a path financially and politically,” the Democrat said. “It feels more real than it has in the past months.”...

A member of Gore’s inner circle asked to be quoted “pouring lukewarm water” — not, note, cold water — on the chatter. “This is people talking to people, some of whom may or may not have talked to him,” the Gore adviser said....

Gore has had other focuses in recent years. In particular, Gore and a business partner are suing Al Jazeera, which purchased Current TV from him, over $65 million dollars held in escrow during the deal; Gore and his associate contend the money belongs to him. The Qatar-based network acquired Current in early 2013 in a deal reportedly worth $500 million.

We're supposed to figure that mess out in public? Just the fact that he's embroiled in a lawsuit with Al Jazeera seems toxic.

The former vice president has taken a step back from the climate change advocacy groups he helped to found, focusing instead on his business ventures and being a public climate change expert, if not the active lobbyist he once was. 

Imagine this hashed out in the space of a presidential campaign — how the man pushed a cause and then turned it into obscene personal profit. How would that work with the Democrats' economic justice issues?

But Kaczynski doesn't mention what I think makes Gore impossible: women. The Democrats depend on "war on women" and gender justice themes. There's so much invested in the ineffable feeling that this is the party for women. Al Gore lost his wife Tipper — why? And there's that awful accusation of a sexual assault on a masseuse — was that ever resolved? How could Al Gore possibly get into proper women-friendly condition to suddenly throw himself onto the presidential stage?

ADDED: Isn't it obvious? They're going to have to play the Elizabeth card.

Nevada landscape.

All pictures taken yesterday, outside of Las Vegas, on the way to the Valley of Fire. The Valley of Fire is more dramatic than these roadside pics, and I'm saving them for later. I'm in Las Vegas for family reasons, but I'm seeing a few things, including not just the scenic landscape but some Vegas-y shows. You might be interested to know that I saw Murray the Celebrity Magician and the impersonator Gordie Brown.

"Is Hillary Clinton Really in Danger of Losing the Primary?"

Inquires Nate Cohn.

"They called me back to testify on the IRS ‘scandal,’ and I too[k] the 5th again because they had been so evil and dishonest in my lawyer’s dealings with them."

Said Lois Lerner, in email.

Blaming the victim: Witnesses say Geno Smith "deserved" the sucker punch that broke his jaw.

Because he "was up in (Enemkpali’s) face and pointed/touched his face."

“That’ll get a man hit every time, especially one that hasn’t earned respect,” a source said.

Ridiculous. You don't get away with socking a guy in the face just because he made you mad and you don't respect him. That's a far cry from self defense.

Smith may well be a nonangel, but that's hardly the issue here.