6 मार्च 2016
I don't know how you feel about another debate... a Democratic Party debate...
... but feel free to talk about it here, and if you want some real-time blogging, please check out the sublime live-blogging of my live-blogging son John.
You need to know that Bob Dylan told Barbra Streisand: "You are my favorite star."
The NYT article "Bob Dylan’s Secret Archive" mentioned Barbra Streisand:
So don't anyone ever forget that Barbra Streisand is, as she has always told us, the greatest star:
A card from Barbra Streisand postmarked November 1978, for example, thanks Mr. Dylan for sending flowers and playfully suggests that they make a record together; there is no evidence of a response.And that prompted Barbra Streisand to go into her archive and write this to the NYT:
As I remember it, first he sent me flowers and a lovely note, asking me if I would like to sing with him. In return, I sent him the note that’s in his archive, thanking him for the flowers and the invitation.Okay, but the NYT said there was no evidence of a response. Anyway, Streisand claims a response, wiping out the unpleasant impression that one might get flowers and a nice invitation from Bob Dylan and fail to respond. But Streisand ups her prestige to a whole new level by sharing another letter that she got from Bob Dylan:
Years later … when “Yentl” was about to come out … he sent me his latest album, along with the letter I still have. In it, he writes, “There are some songs on this album which I’m sure you would love to do.” He adds, “I’m looking forward to seeing your movie. Maybe you can direct me in one of mine.” And then he goes on to say something that still means so much to me: “You are my favorite star. Your self-determination, wit and temperament and sense of justice have always appealed to me.”There's no claim that she responded to that kind note, and Streisand ends with a statement that she's going "to send a copy of his letter to Bob, so it can be included in his archive, as well as mine."
So don't anyone ever forget that Barbra Streisand is, as she has always told us, the greatest star:
"... the prof asked the one German kid if they had a German dream. He responded, 'We did but no one liked it.'"
I saved the screen at the top of Yik Yak here in Madison last night.
IN THE COMMENTS: HoodlumDoodlum said:
Reddit has a thread with that joke from April 2015... the thread appears to be jokes by teenagers. There are Google hits from May and June 2015, too. Step up ya joke takin' game, WI kids.Thanks. I should have checked. Yik Yak around here is full of jokes. I guess I wanted to believe that scenario took place around here. By the way, I downloaded Yik Yak after I read that it was full of horrible racist and sexist things. I never see that here. I see, in addition to jokes, people who are trying to get up the nerve to talk to somebody they like, concern about doing well in school, and expressions of joy at having seen a dog.
Ronald Reagan was "so smooth, so effective a performer” that “only now, seven years later, are people beginning to question whether there’s anything beneath that smile."
Wrote Donald Trump in "The Art of the Deal," and "Trump launched a political campaign that tore into Reagan’s record, including his willingness to stand up to the Soviet Union," Politico pointed out in an article last fall called "When Donald Trump Hated Ronald Reagan/The GOP front-runner praises the conservative icon now, but in 1987 Trump blasted Reagan and his team":
smooth rough, effective performer and what lies beneath that smile scowl.
Advised by the notorious Roger Stone, a Nixon-era GOP trickster, in 1987 Trump took out full-page ads in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post blasting Reagan and his team. In the text, which was addressed “To the American people,” Trump declared, “There’s nothing wrong with America’s Foreign Defense Policy that a little backbone can’t cure.” The problem was America’s leading role in defending democracy, which had been fulfilled by Republicans and Democrats all the way back to FDR....It's a day to think about the
Goodbye to Nancy Reagan.
The woman who called President Reagan "Ronnie" has passed away. She was 94.
"So let me close with Ronnie's words, not mine..."
Here's the text of Nancy's beautiful speech at the 1996 GOP convention:
"So let me close with Ronnie's words, not mine..."
Here's the text of Nancy's beautiful speech at the 1996 GOP convention:
But Ronnie's spirit, his optimism, his never failing belief in the strength and goodness of America is still very strong.... I can tell you with certainty that he still sees the shining city on the hill, a place of full of hope and promise for us all.
As you all know, I am not the speechmaker in the family, so let me close with Ronnie's words, not mine. In that last speech four years ago, he said, "Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will report that I appeal to your best hopes not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts, and may all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never, never lose your natural, god-given optimism."
Ronnie's optimism, like America's, still shines very brightly. May God bless him, and from both of us, God bless America.
Trump's idea of law: "I want to stay within the law... but we have to increase the law..."
Perhaps George W. Bush and Barack Obama thought about law the same way, but they didn't say it like this:
As expressed in that clip: Law is respected only in the sense that you acknowledge that when the law is in your way, you'll "increase" the law. Most people would say "change the law," so I'm struck by the locution "increase the law." It's sort of like the way Bush would say things like "Make the pie higher"... but less sunny... and far more sinister.
Here's the "Face the Nation" website, where I expect to find the full interview and transcript soon.
When I get the transcript, I will demonstrate something I figured out as I listened to him speaking about torture and going beyond waterboarding. He does not view these practices as enhanced interrogation techniques, focused on dragging needed information out of captives. He sees them as useful for the purpose of frightening the enemy, that is, he embraces terrorism.
ADDED: Here's the transcript for the March 6, 2016 "Face the Nation." The full quote from Trump is:
As expressed in that clip: Law is respected only in the sense that you acknowledge that when the law is in your way, you'll "increase" the law. Most people would say "change the law," so I'm struck by the locution "increase the law." It's sort of like the way Bush would say things like "Make the pie higher"... but less sunny... and far more sinister.
Here's the "Face the Nation" website, where I expect to find the full interview and transcript soon.
When I get the transcript, I will demonstrate something I figured out as I listened to him speaking about torture and going beyond waterboarding. He does not view these practices as enhanced interrogation techniques, focused on dragging needed information out of captives. He sees them as useful for the purpose of frightening the enemy, that is, he embraces terrorism.
ADDED: Here's the transcript for the March 6, 2016 "Face the Nation." The full quote from Trump is:
TRUMP: They're killing our soldiers when they capture them. I mean, they're doing that anyway. Now, if that were the case, in other words, we won't do it and you don't do it. But we're not playing by those rules. They're not -- why, somebody tell ISIS, look, we're going to treat your guys well, would you please do us a favor and treat our guys well? They don't do that. We're not playing by -- we are playing by rules, but they have no rules. It's very hard to win when that's the case.
DICKERSON: Isn't that separates us from the savages, rules?
TRUMP: No, I don't think so. We have to beat the savages.
DICKERSON: And therefore throw all rules out?
TRUMP: We have beat the savages.
DICKERSON: By being savages?
TRUMP: No. We -- well, look, you have to play the game the way they're playing the game. You're not going to win if we are soft, and they are -- they have no rules. Now, I want to stay within the laws. I want to do all of that. But I think we have to increase the laws, because the laws are not working, obviously. All you have to do is take a look what is going on. And they're getting worse. They're chopping, chopping, chopping, and we're worried about water-boarding. I just think it's -- I think our priorities are mixed up.
Mitt Romney on his recent sojourn into the 2016 campaign: "I don't know what impact these things have politically."
Just now on "State of the Union," responding to Gloria Borger's question about that speech he gave recommending that voters vote strategically state by state to produce an open GOP convention.
Borger pushes him: "You could potentially drive his supporters into his arms even more because you're the symbol of the Republican establishment," and his response is: "Well, I've spent my life in business...."
So he's a businessman who doesn't know what impact things have politically....
This was the party's candidate — who lost the election 4 years ago — and he's admitting (or pretending) that he doesn't really do politics. He's a very handsome, polished man, and I voted for him 4 years ago, but give me a break. Either he's lying and conning us now, or he's reminding me of what Trump said about him: "You ran against Obama four years ago. It was a race that should have been an easy win... He made a fool of himself in the second and third debates. I don't know what happened to him.... What the hell did happen? Does anyone know?"
ADDED: Watch Borger's full interview with Romney here.
Borger pushes him: "You could potentially drive his supporters into his arms even more because you're the symbol of the Republican establishment," and his response is: "Well, I've spent my life in business...."
So he's a businessman who doesn't know what impact things have politically....
This was the party's candidate — who lost the election 4 years ago — and he's admitting (or pretending) that he doesn't really do politics. He's a very handsome, polished man, and I voted for him 4 years ago, but give me a break. Either he's lying and conning us now, or he's reminding me of what Trump said about him: "You ran against Obama four years ago. It was a race that should have been an easy win... He made a fool of himself in the second and third debates. I don't know what happened to him.... What the hell did happen? Does anyone know?"
ADDED: Watch Borger's full interview with Romney here.
Trump must be thinking: If I had all the material I've given them...
... I would destroy me.
ADDED: The way Trump speaks, if he were being Anti-Trump, he would totally call himself Hitler.
ADDED: The way Trump speaks, if he were being Anti-Trump, he would totally call himself Hitler.
"They would look at me — I’m a gay man—and they would say, ‘You’re a woman.’ Their sexuality is what gives them gender."
"I would ask, are you gay or heterosexual, and they would say, no, I’m waria, I’m a woman. What they’re most adamant about is that they’re not gay." Said David Brian Esch, who studied the Pondok Pesantren Waria in Indonesia. Pondok pesantran means prayer school, and waria means transgender.
“One fascinating aspect of the pesantren is that it went along without any harassment from hardline groups for years and we all wondered why extremist groups were shutting down churches and ‘gayish’ nightclubs and leaving the pesantren alone,” Esch said.If you're slapping your head over that last line, know that the linked article is in The Daily Beast, in a section — I'm not kidding — called "PROGRESS," and the headline includes the phrase "Indonesia is more progressive when it comes to gender fluidity than the West." There's some mind-crushing obtuseness about the terrible oppression of gay people here:
“God created his creatures and I want to live as I am,” Oki, one of the waria at the pesantran, told Esch on camera. “It is my fate. Sometimes I feel sad because I want to pray at the mosque, but people look and talk about me.... Others have told me that being waria is a sin. I told them that we do not know God’s gender. We do not know if God is a man or a woman or waria.... I pray as a man because I want to face my god as a man. And I learned as a child to pray as a man, with the male dress, the sarong, and when I die I want to be buried as a man, even though I am waria,” Oki said. “I will be asked by God what my original family name is.”
Because this belief is prevalent, many waria say they don’t want gender confirmation surgery....
Transgender people have been acknowledged throughout Islamic history, and the Prophet Muhammad’s wife is even said to have had a mukhannath (effeminate) servant who was only banished from the women’s quarters when the Prophet realized he was attracted to women. Even today in Iran, the Islamic government will pay for gender confirmation surgery for transgender people, making the country second only to Thailand in the number of such surgeries performed. (Homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran, and activists worry that some gay people may be forced into such surgeries to escape that grisly end.)
"Attorneys for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl said Saturday they may seek a deposition from presidential contender Donald Trump..."
"... or call him as a witness at a legal proceeding, saying they fear his comments could affect their client's right to a fair trial."
What Trump said — showing a clumsy feel for the rule of law — was that Bergdahl is a "traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed."
This takes me back to 1970, when the headline read: "President Nixon may have freed Charles Manson-not by an act of executive clemency, but by one of errant stupidity."
What Nixon said was "Here is a man who was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason." Manson's response was: "Here's a man who is accused of hundreds of thousands of murders, accusing me of being accused of eight murders."
Here's David Brinkley reporting it in the soberly black-and-white serioso tones of the past:
What Trump said — showing a clumsy feel for the rule of law — was that Bergdahl is a "traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed."
This takes me back to 1970, when the headline read: "President Nixon may have freed Charles Manson-not by an act of executive clemency, but by one of errant stupidity."
What Nixon said was "Here is a man who was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason." Manson's response was: "Here's a man who is accused of hundreds of thousands of murders, accusing me of being accused of eight murders."
Here's David Brinkley reporting it in the soberly black-and-white serioso tones of the past:
Sunday morning 60s rathole.
I'll spare you the embeds, but I just want you to see this 3-step 60s journey into the eroded canyons of our mind here at Meadhouse:
1. "Just a Little" — Beau Brummels.
2. "We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" — Blues Magoos.
3. "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" — Electric Prunes.
1. "Just a Little" — Beau Brummels.
2. "We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" — Blues Magoos.
3. "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" — Electric Prunes.
"Pull the camera back, and Trump can be viewed as part of a deadly serious wave of authoritarians and xenophobes who have come to power in Russia, Poland, and Hungary..."
"... and who lead such movements as the National Front, in France, and the Independence Party, in the United Kingdom. Vladimir Putin and Trump have expressed mutual admiration. It’s not hard to see why. Putin has obliterated the early shoots of Russian democracy as evidence of weakness and obeisance to the West; his eighty-per-cent popularity rating is built on arousing nationalism and a hatred of minorities (ethnic and sexual), the suppression of dissent, and a bare-chested macho image. Trump says approvingly, 'At least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country.'"
David Remnick states the theory.
David Remnick states the theory.
"After divorce, your ex still has your words in her head. She could change into someone you get along with a lot better."
"Also, you might change. You could become more confident and reconnected to important parts of yourself once you’re no longer locked in the adversarial position-taking that often develops in a bad marriage. That confidence or clarity can translate into being more generous and magnanimous of spirit, more accepting.”
From "You Married Them Once, but What About Twice?" (in the NYT).
From "You Married Them Once, but What About Twice?" (in the NYT).
"I think it's time for Marco to clean the deck. I really do. And I say that respectfully."
"I think Marco Rubio had a very, very bad night. And personally I'd call on him to drop out of the race. I think it's time now that he drop out of the race. I really think so. I think it's probably time.... You got to be able to win. He has not been able to win. And I think that it's time that he drops out,"
Said Donald Trump last night, after he won 2 of the 4 state contests yesterday, the other 2 of which were won by Ted Cruz.
By the way, the expression is "clear the deck," so if Trump said "clean the deck" on purpose, it kind of was disrespectful.
Anyway, Trump says he would "love to take on Ted one-on-one" and: "That would be so much fun. Because Ted can't win New York. He can't win New Jersey. He can't win Pennsylvania. He can't win California. I want Ted one-on-one, OK?"
Said Donald Trump last night, after he won 2 of the 4 state contests yesterday, the other 2 of which were won by Ted Cruz.
By the way, the expression is "clear the deck," so if Trump said "clean the deck" on purpose, it kind of was disrespectful.
Anyway, Trump says he would "love to take on Ted one-on-one" and: "That would be so much fun. Because Ted can't win New York. He can't win New Jersey. He can't win Pennsylvania. He can't win California. I want Ted one-on-one, OK?"
5 मार्च 2016
Caucus results trickling in... and Cruz seems to be exceeding expectations.
Follow the results here.
I'm seeing 5% results coming in from Maine and Kansas, with Cruz around 50% in both places and Trump lagging back.
Nothing yet from Kentucky, another caucus state.
Louisiana is the big state today, and it's a primary.
All 4 of these states have a closed procedure. No cross-over funny business, so it's a very important test of where GOP voters really are. It's maybe Ted's big day.
(Correction made: I thought Nebraska was also a GOP state today, but it's only for Democrats.)
ADDED: A big night for Bernie, winning Kansas and Nebraska. Trump got Kentucky, and Cruz didn't hit 50% in Maine, which would have given him all the delegates. Below 50%, the delegates were distributed proportionall.
AND: Trump seems to be winning big in Louisiana — the closed primary. It hasn't been called yet. I'm seeing 46.4% for Trump with 4% of the vote in. The polls had shown Trump at 43%, so he's overperforming.
MORE: With 80% in, Trump is now slightly underperforming in Louisiana.
I'm seeing 5% results coming in from Maine and Kansas, with Cruz around 50% in both places and Trump lagging back.
Nothing yet from Kentucky, another caucus state.
Louisiana is the big state today, and it's a primary.
All 4 of these states have a closed procedure. No cross-over funny business, so it's a very important test of where GOP voters really are. It's maybe Ted's big day.
(Correction made: I thought Nebraska was also a GOP state today, but it's only for Democrats.)
ADDED: A big night for Bernie, winning Kansas and Nebraska. Trump got Kentucky, and Cruz didn't hit 50% in Maine, which would have given him all the delegates. Below 50%, the delegates were distributed proportionall.
AND: Trump seems to be winning big in Louisiana — the closed primary. It hasn't been called yet. I'm seeing 46.4% for Trump with 4% of the vote in. The polls had shown Trump at 43%, so he's overperforming.
MORE: With 80% in, Trump is now slightly underperforming in Louisiana.
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