December 7, 2017

At the Blue Chair Café...

Untitled

... you can talk about whatever you want.

And if you've got some shopping to do, I recommend using this Amazon link.

That photo is from 5 years ago, from the first week of December. I don't take too many photographs at this time of year, which I call Darkmonth. Especially if there is no snow. So I went looking into the past. Zeus looks so much younger then!

88 comments:

Original Mike said...

"...this time of year, which I call Darkmonth."

Consider it Stellarmonth, with majestic Orion high in the south, and Zeus at his heel.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, can we assume you meant to tag your post asking why Taylor Swift was on Time’s cover but not Rose McGowan with a tag for McGowan instead of your tag for George McGovern?

Mike Sylwester said...

Everyone should watch Representative Jim Jordan question FBI Director Chris Wray about Peter Strzok.

Jordan suggests that Strzok used the Steele dossier to concoct the FISA application that enabled the Obama Administration to wiretap the Trump campaign staff.

Wry refuses to answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isK_oHRySGI

CWJ said...

I don't think any animal cradles it's muzzle as comfortably as a dog. Our Sasha does the same. How, when their ancesters made the timeless bargain with humankind, did dogs know that we would eventually invent the upholstered couch and arm chair?

walter said...

Bombshell Report: Political Persecution Of Scott Walker Swept Up High-Level GOP Officials

Hey..as long as nothing like this happens again (cough, cough)

Original Mike said...

Bruce Ohr, the next DOJ official with whom we're about to become acquainted.

320Busdriver said...

Or Aaron Zebley....

The list goes on

MikeD said...

"Looked so much younger then" seems like a phrase for a 60's song. Know they're some close, see Byrds, but none a quick duckduckgo search turned up. Anyway, using the sometimes disputed 7 dog equal 1 human year Zeus is 35 Althouse years older. My canine companion lasted, July '17, just a couple of months shy of her sweet 16 birthday (again, seven to one, 112 years old).

MikeD said...

There're not they're!

Will Cate said...

MikeD --

Bob Dylan, actually, which became a Byrds song: "Ah but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

Will Cate said...

I always like it when Winter Solstice arrives, because after that every day is a little longer than the previous. (for six months anyway.)

Narayanan said...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/363885-judge-in-flynn-cases-recuses-himself

Narayanan said...

What is that about?

Sebastian said...

@Mike: "Everyone should watch Representative Jim Jordan question FBI Director Chris Wray about Peter Strzok. Jordan suggests that Strzok used the Steele dossier to concoct the FISA application that enabled the Obama Administration to wiretap the Trump campaign staff." Yes, this shines a light on the swamp. Looks like Strzok had a hand in all the nasty stuff. If so, at whose behest--McCabe, Comey, Hill, O, or all of the above?

Big Mike said...

Something I hadn't thought about. Apparently some of California's marijuana farms are being consumed by the wild fires out there. Maybe we should rename the fires "Du-u-ude."

walter said...

In the pic,
Note the stuffed animal hiding from Zeus.

MaxedOutMama said...

Strzok stinks, but the raving screaming stamping elephant in the living room is the "Joint Intelligence Assessment" re Russian interference with the election. That can't be pinned to a few rogues in high places. That's all the rogues.

We are in the grips of a major political crisis, and despite the rhetoric, it is the Obama admin that caused it.

Who can have any confidence in these people any more?

MadisonMan said...

Snow tomorrow night, maybe, to brighten things up.

Clyde said...

For anyone who is curious, that May 1967 Life magazine cover picture of Mia Farrow appears in this article about her from 2014: Young Mia Farrow: Rare and Classic Photos of an Actress On the Rise

Clyde said...

Picture #41 of 45: Caption from LIFE: "Mia stares pensively into Lake Geneva. 'Life is not logical,' she says. 'I'm the living proof.'"

buwaya said...

Mia Farrow was way off on the upper right of the hot/crazy chart.

Ken B said...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/12/07/powerful-men-abuse-their-power-little-sisters-poor-can-relate-ashely-mcguire-column/922863001/

Ken B said...

Buwaya,
I usually agree with you but she's nowhere near the top. Now Diana Rigg on the other hand ...

dustbunny said...

I just read Masha Gesson's New Yorker article about Al Franken and metoo# and it seems not just incoherent but unhinged, She is accusing half the country (the half that disagrees with her) of "genuine moral depravity" and "sexual policing". She implies the policing is a misinterpretation of the metoo movement as if such a result is both surprising and unimaginable. It is straight out of bizarro world.

Bad Lieutenant said...


MaxedOutMama said...
Strzok stinks, but the raving screaming stamping elephant in the living room is the "Joint Intelligence Assessment" re Russian interference with the election. That can't be pinned to a few rogues in high places. That's all the rogues.

We are in the grips of a major political crisis, and despite the rhetoric, it is the Obama admin that caused it.

Who can have any confidence in these people any more?
12/7/17, 9:28 PM


Lefties, I appeal to Tooth and Inga and wwww at least, doesn't this concern you? If not on any basis of ideals, at least aren't you scared that someday this could be turned on you?

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ken B said...

Dustbunny
She doubles down on deplorables too. Her half is “morally superior “ to the other half. Like Johnny “Icon” Conyers, or every single media or movie guy who has been exposed, or all the Bill Clinton apologists.

mockturtle said...

I was disappointed that Lindsey Vonn [downhill skier] made the statement that she would not be representing President Trump in the Olympics and would not visit the White House if invited. Piss on her.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Strzok stinks, but the raving screaming stamping elephant in the living room is the "Joint Intelligence Assessment" re Russian interference with the election.

I remember the politicized Iran assessment towards the end of the W. years, clearly designed to make sure he couldn't do anything about Iran's nuke program. Along with the Plame imbroglio this was the first time I realized something was drastically wrong in the CIA.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Clyde said...

mockturtle said...
I was disappointed that Lindsey Vonn [downhill skier] made the statement that she would not be representing President Trump in the Olympics and would not visit the White House if invited. Piss on her.


Yeah, shut up and ski, Suzie Chapstick.

Etienne said...

mockturtle said...I was disappointed that Lindsey Vonn...

She would be representing her fatherland, not her father.

Dumb bitch.

Phil 314 said...

I think the chair is brown.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Original Mike said...

@walter: Thank you for your link to the John Doe article. Incredible.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Phil 3:14 said..."I think the chair is brown."

The other chair.

Bad Lieutenant said...


I remember the politicized Iran assessment towards the end of the W. years, clearly designed to make sure he couldn't do anything about Iran's nuke program. Along with the Plame imbroglio this was the first time I realized something was drastically wrong in the CIA.

I don't think this country can go on without a law that says the president may fire any government employee at will without Civil Service protection, and strip them of all honors and benefits for cause. How the hell is Wray, President Trump's own FBI director, stonewalling Congress on this very matter?

Original Mike said...

"How the hell is Wray, President Trump's own FBI director, stonewalling Congress on this very matter?"

Where the hell is Sessions?

Trumpit said...

Zeus is a black beauty. He may be older now, but surely wiser for wear. Is Black Beauty still read, by children at least, today? It was written by another prolific Ann, Anna Sewell in 1877.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Beauty
The impact of that famous book on animal welfare, and young readers can't be overstated. Here is a bit of the everlasting wisdom in the book:
".... there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham...."
— Black Beauty, Chapter 13, last paragraph.

madAsHell said...

Lefties, I appeal to Tooth and Inga and wwww at least, doesn't this concern you? If not on any basis of ideals, at least aren't you scared that someday this could be turned on you?

You see unintended consequences, they don't!!

madAsHell said...

Diana Rigg

She's still hot. No??

Sunnykm said...

that's a brown chair

narciso said...

Apparently judge cintreras was on the fisa court last year, it doesn't say he was the judge who signed of on the bogus warrant, but what are the odds?

I read Luke hoardings collusion, even though he is with the guardian, he was always well informed and well sourced, this book has no index, no identifiable sourcing.

Original Mike said...

"that's a brown chair"

The other chair!

narciso said...

Not if you saw game of thrones, recently,

Yes Paul pillar the head of counter terror analysis but together the 2007 nie mostly based on one source, Al ashghari who told him what he wanted to hear about the Iranian nuclear program having been legendarily wrong for 30 years, be removes all doubt at the nation interest.

buwaya said...

Re Black Beauty, the book- the answer, in my experience with US schools, is no. Not in most schools.

It falls into quite a typical category - books written at too sophisticated a level of language for kids at that level to find the story compelling. I have seen simplified and illustrated editions of course, but the not the original 19th century thing.

It was written for fairly young children, but the writing is at what modern standards hold to be a high school level.

Those 19th century English children were in a higher category. There are many other examples, including my favorites, such as Nesbit's "Book of Dragons".

Heck, those English used to award Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome" as school prizes. Macaulays poetry was considered light reading. They were specially bound in school prize editions, apparently objects of desire to 10-12 -year old schoolboys.

narciso said...

Now this comes from Barton. German who wee comes mouthpieces at the post back in 2003, when he Mueller and goldsmith pitched a fit over terrorism surveillance at exactly the wrong time (it was the night before the Madrid train bombing) but it is said wray was one of those I. Revolt against reaathirization

So zebley was listed as a partner at wilmer hale and as a former aide to Mueller, in at least two pieces in politico and American thinker, yet his representation of cooper was not noted

narciso said...

Of course my pet theory, us wilmer hale qhivh has ties in many places like say deytsch bank, Clinton foundation, and Atlantic council (all should set off red flags) has ties to a certain principality particularly affected by trump adninstration foreign and even some domestic policies.

Freeman Hunt said...

All Clad three quart triply saute pan is $69 right now. I kid you not.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Dammit narciso, you're hard enough to understand when you're not being oblique. Can you try to please both type and write a little more clearly?

narciso said...

Sorry Gelman of the post deutsch bank (which made that Bloomberg/financial times report ridiculous)

http://americanthinker.com/articles/2017/08/_the_likely_road_ahead_for_the_mueller_investigation.html
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/13/robert-mueller-russia-probe-organization-244789

narciso said...

Contreras and Luke Harding, on the positive side, emmett Sullivan his replacement did secure some justice in Ted Stevens case, and has added judicial watch investigations to a degree.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Thanks narc, you always have that superfly shit, I just prefer to understand it.

narciso said...

I blame automistake. Yes I'm getting this whole hydra inside of shield motif, that the security services (which I would consider justice to be part of) is totally compromised consider Christian Adams piece in pajamas media

Ot, I dont usually recommend books from the end series but I found David downing Berlin station finale masartk station interesting in part he cites Jan valtin and Victor are he as inspiration.

narciso said...

Sorge, the first the night left behind was about Krebs a communist labor activist who described Stalin's demolition of the social democrats opposition and the consequences.

Earnest Prole said...

Zeus looks so much younger then!

Didn't we all.

narciso said...

That assessment was basicAlly a promo piece for rt, along with assorted odds and ends provided by crowdstrike and fireeye whose attribution Stephen McIntyre has demolished.

Ralph L said...

narciso said...
I blame automistake.

No, you're the priestess at Delphi sitting too long over the vapors emanating from deep in the earth.

urbane legend said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
urbane legend said...

Bad Lieutenant, I finally understood your " don't be petit " joke from 2 days ago. That was a good one. I missed it because the neuro docs don't use the term anymore.

Unknown said...

I was looking back at a few Althouse posts, and watched the Casablanca clip again. While watching, it made me think of the times commenters have used a bit of movie dialogue as a comment. Sometimes by itself, sometimes altered to fit a particular name or situation: the quote summons an attitude that makes for great shorthand.

Two of the most popular, to my recollection:

"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."
--Chinatown

"I think of a man. And I take away reason and accountability."
--As Good as It Gets

So I went through and added quotes I have seen used somewhere along the way. Like a reference guide for future comments. You're welcome.

"I'm shocked, shocked!"
--Casablanca

"We don't need no stinking badges!"
-The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre

"Abby... Normal."
-Young Frankenstein

"No, it's pronounced "Fronkensteen."
-Young Frankenstein

"The common clay of the new West. You know... morons."
-Blazing Saddles

"Excuse me while I whip this out."
-Blazing Saddles

"We've got to protect our phony-baloney jobs, gentlemen."
-Blazing Saddles

“So I got that going for me, which is nice.”
-Caddyshack

"There's a lot of, uh, well, badness in the world today. I see it in court today. I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't wanna do it, but felt I owed it to them."
-Caddyshack

"These go to eleven."
-Spinal Tap

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."
Godfather III

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"
-Dr. Strangelove

"I wish I knew how to quit you."
Brokeback Mountain

"My precious."
-The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
The Wizard of Oz

"The Dude abides."
-The Big Lebowski

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate."
-Cool Hand Luke

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."
-The Godfather, Part II

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
-Apocalypse Now

"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
-The Godfather

"There's no crying in baseball!"
-A League of Their Own

"You can't handle the truth!"
-A Few Good Men

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
-The Princess Bride

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."
-Jaws

"I drink your milkshake."
-There Will Be Blood

I purposely left out any Star Wars quotes. Because talking like Yoda is so old and annoying. And Han Shot First.

There are other quotes; feel free to add.

And: one that doesn't get used, but I think deserves to get in the mix:

"The negroes took our dates"
-Animal House

- james james

dustbunny said...

Good list but I never understood why ' I drink your milkshake' is so quoteable" as it doesn't seem to work outside the context of the film. I'd add " I coulda been a contender"

Phil 314 said...

"I'm not dead yet"
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Phil 314 said...

"Show me the money!"
Jerry McGuire

RBE said...

I love Zeus. I am reminded of the 5 out of 6 Labs belonging to my family that have passed away through old age or cancer over the past 4 years. We still have one very perky girl who will turn 13 this spring. We had quite the crew, all blood related...black, yellow and brown. I admit that I am still grieving but enjoy the Zeus pictures and hope he is doing well!

Michael K said...

"It was written for fairly young children, but the writing is at what modern standards hold to be a high school level. "

Look at the California Sixth Grade Reader.

The 1914 California Sixth Grade Reader with classical stories and poems that every high school student studied in that era. The same stories were read in most states, and the American culture of that era was profoundly affected by these stories

Most children did not go to college and many did not graduate from high school at that time. They were probably better educated than Harvard graduates today.

Unknown said...

There was a Dollar Store a few blocks down the Ave. Everything sold for a dollar, pretty much. Sure, there were some items for more than a dollar, but it was still cheap knock-off shit, so the store name was pretty fair overall. Except if you tried to pay with a dollar bill you couldn't get your item until you put out another dime for sales tax. But still: Dollar Store.

In front of the store was a continuous encampment of Street Urchins and Heroin Kids. At times the sidewalk was difficult to pass: bodies sprawled, clusters of kids standing in groups with backs heavy with their belongings, the gauntlet of being asked for spare change or a cigarette or an offer to sell some grass.

A lot of people chose to walk by on the other side of the street. Especially the Asian students; they probably never factored this into their American University Experience. Not on the brochures I imagine. And there was a Bubble Tea place on that other side of the street. Which was convenient for them, really.

The Dollar Store closed about a year ago. The consensus in the bar was two things: an increase in the lease price, and shoplifting. Which are pretty much the two factors that most businesses on the Ave have to deal with.

The items sold in the Dollar Store were typically small in size: easy to be slipped into a duffel bag or bulky coat. And most store workers did not want to confront a street Urchin or Heroin Kid about a suspected theft: there was usually an aura of Street Crazy to them, and an altercation wasn't worth minimum wage.

So items walked out the store, and were sold for spare change a few blocks down. It takes the sales of a lot of dollar trinkets to get your heroin money, so the shoplifting was pretty intense. Then the Dollar Store closed. Which was tough on the people who actually bought things there.

An older guy at the bar on Social Security used to buy his cat's food at the Dollar Store, to feed his beloved cat in the bedroom he rented at a worn-out house. I bought him a blanket once, after finding out he slept in a sleeping bag on his bed and was still cold. Now he had to go to Safeway, where the cat food was a lot more than a dollar.

Plus tax.

- james james

Darrell said...

Good list but I never understood why ' I drink your milkshake' is so quoteable

Because there was a song that said her milkshake brings all the boys into her yard. Jiggling mammaries are always popular--as are thoughts of drinking up same.

Bad Lieutenant said...

JJ, in my experience most of the stuff at the dollar store is not so much a bargain as that it is whatever kind of more or less expensive crap, usually of the lowest quality, portioned down to a size where they can make money selling it for a dollar. I would be surprised if the per pound price was cheaper at your dollar store than at your Safeway.

That said, love your work, wishing you many long happy healthy years of writing for us. You should probably not spend so much time in bars though, it breeds anomie.


Blogger still sucking wind.

Humperdink said...

"Not a hard man to track, leaves dead men wherever he goes" The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976), Bill Clinton (1979 to present)

tim in vermont said...

Lefties, I appeal to Tooth and Inga and wwww at least, doesn't this concern you?

No, because they expect, once their electorate re-engineering project, err.. I mean once they get justice for immigrants they never expect to lose another important election. Their goal is a one-party state. Makes vast corruption so much easier. All of this, what we conservatives call "misuse" of the law, all of this is to further that goal. Why do you think they are willing to shut down the government over protecting non-citizen immigration law breakers?

Unknown said...

"I would be surprised if the per pound price was cheaper at your dollar store than at your Safeway."

Agreed. The Dollar Store was more convenient though for those with limited mobility. Two or three blocks from home, versus ten.

And sometimes the two dollar bag at Safeway was cheaper overall, but then you only had a dollar. Plus sales tax.

- james james

Unknown said...

Anomie makes me think of sea anemones.

- james james

Sydney said...

“I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”-The Princess Bride

Unknown said...

Some very nice additional movie quotes, people!

I love this community Althouse has fostered.

- james james

tim in vermont said...

Here's one:

"I am a reasonable man. We are all reasonable men." - The Godfather at the organized crime summit.

tim in vermont said...

Here's a line that should have been in The Godfather in bold:

"Tell Michael it wasn't personal, it was business. I always liked him"

"This isn't personal either, but it feels personal, doesn't it?

dustbunny said...

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" was perfect. And "that rug really tied the room together" is hilarious but perhaps only in the context of the Coen universe

wwww said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce Hayden said...

"JJ, in my experience most of the stuff at the dollar store is not so much a bargain as that it is whatever kind of more or less expensive crap, usually of the lowest quality, portioned down to a size where they can make money selling it for a dollar. I would be surprised if the per pound price was cheaper at your dollar store than at your Safeway."

We have a dollar store next to the Walmart, a couple blocks away from here in AZ. There are just a lot of things that they have that I buy there because I don't need it the be of decent quality. I have a list though of stuff that I am forbidden to buy there, due to the quality. Slider top baggies entered the list a couple days after Thanksgiving. We had several dozen gallon sized bag around the houses, but she wanted good ones for freezing the meat from the dismembered turkey. But worse, while she was making the turkey in the oven, her son was deep frying wings in the middle of the back yard. Somehow, one of the spatulas they used melted, and dripped onto her finger. Better than a week later, it still hasn't healed. She keeps the melted spatula in this s crystal vase on the center island to remind me that I am somehow responsible for her injury, despite actually being on the plane back from CO at the time, because I apparently bought it at the dollar store. Maybe, but that's her story and she is sticking with it. So cooking stuff is also no on the list of stuff not to buy there.

Still, I continue to use it as my primary goto place to buy a lot of stuff. Most importantly for me are their peanuts. It seems that most of the peanuts on the market have added cornstarch. Heaven knows why, but not good if you are trying to minimize low fiber carbs in your diet. Lost maybe 30 lbs over the last year on a diet of afternoon peanuts and evening salads that are mostly just different types of high fiber beans, plus some meat or fish as garnish. So, when we are in MT, I have to stock up when we go out of town every other weekend. I'm know where the dollar stores are in the four cities we rotate through (Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene, Missoula, and Kalispell). Now, I only have to shop for a week at a time.

I also buy USB cables at Dollar stores. Sure, they wear out faster. But, in my experience, the $10 cables don't last 10x as long as their $1 cables - maybe only 3x or 4x. List goes on: a rubber mallet for closing paint cans; paint trays; thumb tacks for putting up targets; Sharpies; shaving gel, razors; etc. Cheap and disposable is good in a lot of situations. Ok, maybe not for the environment, but for us it is, with much too much stuff. We have a 3 car garage, and I can get one vehicle in now, after some work. My goal over the next month or so is to get a second one in. So disposable is good.

narciso said...

"Shirley you can't be serious" airplane.

Ralph L said...

Narciso would volunteer that one.

added cornstarch. Heaven knows why
It's added to a lot of things to keep them from sticking together. Also packed in airbags.

Original Mike said...

"Doin' right ain't got no end."

The Outlaw Josey Wales


mockturtle said...

"Round up the usual suspects"---Casablanca.

Ralph L said...

"A man's got to know his limitations" Dirty Harry

Ralph L said...

I'll be back

then

Make my day

Bad Lieutenant said...

When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it.

Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade (also available on Gutenberg.ca), The Maltese Falcon

Bad Lieutenant said...

I'm not decrying dollar stores, they provide a useful service, just don't think you're getting a free lunch. If you can't afford a pound of caviar at Petrossian, Costco will be happy to sell you an ounce.