"You've talked about how people have assumed you're African American even though you're white—do you get that a lot?"

"I didn't until I moved to New York. I think it was actually a pickup line once. But even now on some of my Instagram posts, people will ask, 'Are you black or white?'... The more we're open to talking about race, the better. A lot of white people shy away from discussing it, but we need to. I think a lot of us are just ignorant, and sometimes there's no other way to learn than by putting your own foot in your mouth."

Said Michelle Wolf, talking to Oprah.com, last January.

And here's Wolf on "The Daily Show" discussing the subject in the context of Rachel Dolezal (the white woman who controversially presented herself as black):

Of course, we've been talking about Michelle Wolf for the last day, because she was the comedian at the White House Correspondents' Dinner — that corrupt, inappropriate event. Some people are making a fuss that she said "fuck," talked about sex, and was mean to Sarah Huckabee Sanders who was sitting right there.

Here's Chris Cillizza at CNN serving up "5 takeaways on Michelle Wolf's hugely controversial speech at the White House correspondents' dinner." I'm not going to read the whole thing because I presume he leads with his best material and the first "takeway" is very lame:

There are LOTS of way [sic] to go after Sanders. I personally think that she is overly antagonistic to the reporters who cover the White House and misleads on the regular [sic]. But to make fun of Sanders' makeup? ("I think she's very resourceful, like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's lies," said Wolf.) Like, really?

First, the word is "smoky." "Smokey" is the correct spelling only for the name of the U.S. Forest Service mascot, Smokey the Bear. [ADDED: And other proper names, like "Smokey and the Bandit."]

Second, Wolf didn't make fun of the makeup. In the joke, the makeup is not only good. It's perfect. The joke is that ugly things are going on behind the scenes and there's a contrast between that and the perfect exterior.

I would compare that joke to Jesus's denouncement of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-28:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

ADDED: Bear/Wolf... I should have made something out of that. Also, I should made a show of connecting up the subject of the way Michelle Wolf  looks and the way Sarah Huckabee Sanders looks.

AND: Meade read this post and said, "I would have made a show of connecting Sarah Huckleberry Hound and Michelle Dancing With Wolves."

They use women...

they use women to attack and bully women.

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) April 29, 2018

Howdy Donut.

On South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas — April 11th.

"Like many aspects of Japanese society, rental relatives are often explained with reference to the binary of honne and tatemae, or genuine individual feelings and societal expectations."

"Authenticity and consistency aren’t necessarily valued for their own sake, and the concealment of authentic honne behind conventional tatemae is often construed as an act of unselfishness and sociability, rather than of deception or hypocrisy. A case in point: the man who hired fake parents for his wedding because his real ones were dead eventually told his wife. It went fine. She said that she understood that his goal was not to deceive her but to avoid trouble at their wedding. She even thanked him for being so considerate.... In a sense, the idea of a rental partner, parent, or child is perhaps less strange than the idea that childcare and housework should be seen as the manifestations of an unpurchasable romantic love.... I’d started off assuming that the rental schema somehow undercut the idea of unconditional love. Now I found myself wondering whether it was even possible to get unconditional love without paying... A person can do things professionally—for a set time, in exchange for money and recognition—that she can’t do indefinitely for free... I had read about a host-club worker who studied romance novels in order to be able to anticipate and fulfill his clients’ every need, and consequently had no time left for a personal life. 'Women’s ideal romance entails hard work,' he said, 'and that is nearly impossible in the real world.' He said he could never have worked so hard for a real girlfriend."

From "Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry/People who are short on relatives can hire a husband, a mother, a grandson. The resulting relationships can be more real than you’d expect" by Elif Batuman (The New Yorker).

"One night, while working on a film score for the avant-garde artists Tony Conrad and Beverly Grant, [Irv] Teibel found himself on Brighton Beach, recording the sound of the crashing waves."

"He took these tapes home and began listening to them obsessively, as though they were the most irresistible pop song ever written. Teibel eventually left Conrad and Grant’s project, returned to the beach, and recorded hundreds of more hours for himself. He wanted to capture the sound of the 'perfect' ocean. In 1969, Teibel started his own company and began releasing 'Environments,' a series of 'natural sound' recordings. Each side of an LP was devoted to a setting: the 'ultimate' seashore, a warm summer night in the backwoods of eastern Pennsylvania, a Caribbean lagoon, the sound of streams and insects, birds fluttering and chirping at the Bronx Zoo, a Central Park 'be-in.' 'Environments,' which was eventually distributed by Atlantic Records, was a surprise hit. The series dovetailed nicely with the sensibility of the late sixties and seventies...."

Writes Hua Hsu at the New Yorker in "The Magic of 'Environments,' a Set of Sound Recordings That Made Me Pay Attention." He's listening now that you can get the entire series in the form of an app — here, at $2.99. But to actually buy one of these record albums... it didn't seem to make sense "just to listen to crickets." And yet, I have at least 3 "Environments" albums — all purchased in the 1970s. Sometimes you just want some sound texture around you — beautiful, emotive sound that is not music.

"Familiarize yourself with this name: Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep J. St. Brown."

"[H]e’s just been drafted by the Green Bay Packers... To understand his name requires a lesson in his father and his mother’s grand plan to build a sporting family":

John Brown was an elite bodybuilder, and after his career building bulk professionally wound down, he and his wife Miriam — whom he chose for what he calls “selective breeding” — had three sons.

John was an art major at Cal State Fullerton who still works as an artist; one work of one of a gladiator with an eyeball for a head stabbing a tiger hangs upstairs. Since before he had kids he has been determined to pour his creative energy into his offspring: Whether sons or daughters, they would be premier athletes. When he met Miriam at a 1987 fitness trade show in Cologne, Germany, she held a degree in physical therapy and stood 5’ 9”. “You’ve got to fall in love with the right woman,” John says. “I can love a little woman as well as I can a tall one. You’ve got to get the right one that’s thick and strong.”...

Equanimous is the oldest, while Amon-Ra Julian Heru and Osiris Adrian Amen-Ra are also athletes. Osiris currently plays at Stanford while Amon-Ra will play at USC next season. The names of all of the brothers are so they’ll be distinctive — and they certainly are — should they achieve athletic superstardom....

"The tree that President Trump planted with French President Emmanuel Macron is no longer on the South Lawn of the White House, instead there is a patch of discolored grass."

"The sapling, a European Sessile Oak, was a gift during the State visit of the French president and his wife. In making the gift the French president tweeted, 'this Oak Tree, (my gift to @realDonaldTrump) will be a reminder at the White House of these ties that bind us'" (Daily Mail).

Intentional symbolism?

“That spirit" — a "gift" culture — "if spread in the world and widely adopted, would condition how people, as consumers in the marketplace, behave."

"Whereas if all of your self worth and esteem is invested in how much you consume, how many likes you get, or other quantifiable measures, the desire to simply possess things trumps our ability or capability to make moral connections with people around us. There should be room in the world for both systems to flourish. If they did, they would inform one another."

Said Larry Harvey, quoted in the 2014 Atlantic article, "The Wonderful, Weird Economy of Burning Man/Burners spend thousands preparing for the money-free event. But just as the desert community cannot fully escape capitalism, neither can capitalism remain untouched by the 'gift economy.'"

I clicked through to that article from "Larry Harvey, the Man Behind Burning Man, Is Dead at 70" (NYT).

"Alpha dog owners hijacked a public Tribeca pup park nearly a decade ago — installing a lock, charging fees, banning non-member mutts, and enforcing its 22 rules with an iron fist..."

"... yet the city never noticed. Now, the Parks Department is trying to reclaim the dog run for the public, and the snooty pooch privateers are biting back," the NY Post reports.

The Warren Street Dog Park was originally taken hostage by the Dog Owners of Tribeca (DOOT) in 2008 — after the 92-by-43-foot green space opened between Greenwich and West streets... Founders installed a keypad lock on the gate and sent members a secret 4-digit passcode after they paid a $120 annual fee [which was spent on] upkeep, such as pressure-washing the blacktop three times a week, maintenance and repairs, insurance and supplies such as poop bags.....

“Why would I pay for something that should be free?” said Liwah Lai, 60, a longtime neighborhood resident who was walking her maltipoo. “It’s unfair and completely absurd. There are so many dog owners in the area like me who need to use the space.”

It's unfair and absurd to pay a fee for access to a very well-kept dog park? I'd say it would be totally fair and normal if the government had done it. What's not normal is that private individuals took it upon themselves to collect the money and provide the services. But they justify their behavior because the city would not maintain the high standards they want — not just the thrice-weekly power washing and other maintenance, but:

“At public dog runs, people let their dogs run wild and act aggressively,” said member Lenore Sherman, 61, who has a golden retriever named Huck. “Here, owners are held accountable for the behavior of their dog.”

I don't see how legally DOOT can win, but I understand their disappointment with the quality of services NYC can provide.

It's funny, the different kinds of entitlement on display here: people who think they can take over and run publicly-owned property and people who think city services "should be free." Who's worse? There are problems with entitlement to exclusion and entitlement to inclusion.

Kim Jong-Un says he's "not the kind of person who would shoot nuclear weapons to the south, over the Pacific or at the United States."

If we could just get to know him, we'd see he's a good guy:

“I know the Americans are inherently disposed against us, but when they talk with us, they will see that I am not the kind of person who would shoot nuclear weapons to the south, over the Pacific or at the United States,” Mr. Kim told Mr. Moon...

And all he wants, he said, is for us to promise not to invade, and he'll give up his nuclear weapons.

”If we meet often and build trust with the United States and if an end to the war and nonaggression are promised, why would we live in difficulty with nuclear weapons?” Mr. Kim was quoted as saying by South Korean officials....

“I am determined not to repeat the painful history of the Korean War. As the same nation living on the same land, we should never shed blood again,” he told Mr. Moon, according to Mr. Yoon. “I will give you my word that there will never be a use of force.”

Hmm. I hope it works out well. What's this "same nation" concept?

“When I was sitting in the waiting room, I saw two clocks on the wall, one of the Seoul time and the other of the Pyongyang time, and I felt bad about it,” Mr. Kim was quoted as telling Mr. Moon. “Why don’t we reunify our clocks first?”

It sounds like reunification. Here's the Wikipedia article on Korean reunification:

Meanwhile in Washington, Michigan.... Trump rallies the people.

Michelle Wolf at the White House Correspondents' Dinner: "You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you use to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him but I think you love him."

"I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn't sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but he has helped you. He's helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster and now you're profiting off him."



Yes, a lot of her jokes thudded in that crowd and she said "fuck" a few times and got more sexual than most comedians at that event, but the line I quoted — which was almost the last thing she said — was a good one.

Typical reaction shot:



ADDED: Consider the words "You helped create this monster." What is "this monster"? It can't be Trump the man, because the press didn't create (or "help create") the man. The "monster" must be something else — The Myth of Trump, The Power of Trump, The Outsize Public Persona of Trump... or perhaps simply: The President Trump. He couldn't have become President without them. Their love made him strong, and they are responsible for what they have done. It's not enough, then, for them to stand back and act horrified — look! a monster exists. It's their monster. They are Frankenstein.

At the Limbo Cafe...

... it will blow your mind.

"I write this letter at 4 A.M., the dawn of my new existence as an accused sexual predator."

Said Tom Brokaw, quoted in "'My New Life as an Accused Predator': Tom Brokaw Privately Attempts to Discredit his Accuser" (Vanity Fair).

"There are roughly three thousand sheriffs in America, in forty-seven states. Arpaio and Peyman are among the dozens aligned with the 'constitutional sheriffs' movement.'"

"Another is David A. Clarke, Jr., the cowboy-hatted Wisconsin firebrand who considered joining the Department of Homeland Security.... There are even more followers of constitutional policing across America among law enforcement’s rank and file. One group, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, or C.S.P.O.A., claims about five thousand members.  C.S.P.O.A. members believe that the sheriff has the final say on a law’s constitutionality in his county. Every law-enforcement officer has some leeway in choosing which laws to enforce, which is why it’s rare to get a ticket for jaywalking, for example. But, under this philosophy, the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law, is irrelevant. So is the Supreme Court. 'They get up every morning and put their clothes on the same way you and I do,' Finch told me. 'Why do those nine people get to decide what the rest of the country’s going to be like?' To the most dogmatic, there’s only one way to interpret the country’s founding documents: pro-gun, anti-immigrant, anti-regulation, anti-Washington.... When [Richard] Mack launched the C.S.P.O.A., around 2010, he described it as 'the army to set our nation free.'... Mack personally disavows discrimination and infuses his lectures with the language of the civil-rights era. He likes to say, 'We should have never heard of Rosa Parks,' explaining that a constitutional sheriff wouldn’t have arrested her...."

From "The Renegade Sheriffs/A law-enforcement movement that claims to answer only to the Constitution" by Ashley Powers in The New Yorker.

It was the mention of the Sheriff of Malibu (in "The Big Lebowski") in the previous post that reminded me I wanted to blog that article. Remember that scene?



"We got a nice quiet beach community here... Stay out of Malibu, deadbeat! Keep your ugly fucking goldbricking ass out of my beach community!" Malibu is a city, not a county, so that guy is not a sheriff, but — as the screenplay says — the chief of police.

"Jesus was into the whole brevity thing, and the aloof rhetoric he used to deflate the invective and indignant finger-pointing of his enemies bears close resemblance..."

"... to the ways in which The Dude [in The Big Lebowski] shows his default distrust and dislike for authority. When Jesus faced the authorities of his time and place, whether they were religious rulers, political leaders, or civil officials, he refused, even when it cost him, to show deference. Earthly hierarchies held no value in the philosophical system or moral practice of Jesus. The Dude, at no point, humbles himself at the feet of millionaires, law enforcement, or known pornographers. One of the messages of the Gospel is that respect and reverence are qualities given to a person, regardless of that person’s level of income and social status, only after that person has proven herself worthy. Jesus told his followers that what a person puts inside of his mouth does not make him clean or unclean, but only the words that person allows to leave his mouth. He also cherished the gift of one bit from a severely impoverished woman more than a large donation from a boastful tycoon. Jesus asked those around him to look past status and peer into the soul. The Dude, sitting across the table from the Big Lebowski or the Sheriff of Malibu, knows that these men, despite their wealth or legal authority, are vast reservoirs of emptiness. Their treasure chests are hollow, and their shiny suits of gold exist only to conceal the hideous deformities of their character. The Big Lebowski, surrounded by the accoutrements of wealth and walls that adorn photographic tributes to his own vanity, lectures The Dude about his lifestyle, calls him a bum, and boasts about his achievements. The Dude puts on his sunglasses, and says 'fuck it' before walking away. Later in the movie, we find him in another office receiving another cumbersome reprimand. On the opposite side of the desk is the Sheriff of Malibu whose moral compass is so far off that he praises Jackie Treehorn – a known pornographer and extortionist – because 'he draws a lot of water in this town' and insults The Dude, because he 'doesn’t draw shit.' After unleashing his tirade, he asks The Dude if he understands that he is not to return to Malibu. The Dude looks him in the eye and says with deadpan delivery, 'I’m sorry I wasn’t listening.'"

From "Takin' It Easy for Us Sinners: The Dude and Jesus Christ" by David Masciotra.

Meade and I watched "The Big Lebowski" a few days ago, and the first thing Meade said this morning was "The Dude is Jesus."