Althouse: At the Gray-Green Café...

May 19, 2018

At the Gray-Green Café...

... you can open up and talk about whatever you like.

90 comments:

Michael K said...: Is that plant giving us the finger?; 5/19/18, 12:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: Now that is a ditzy plant. Sealed up until it's time to blossom.; 5/19/18, 12:21 PM
Tank said...: Firearms debates are both contentious and boring at the same time.

You could write all the arguments in advance.; 5/19/18, 12:24 PM
Original Mike said...: I recall (perhaps incorrectly) that Horowitz is preparing three reports. The first was on McCabe's leaking. The second, soon to be released, is on the Hillary email investigation.

What is the third report on? The “Russian investigation”?; 5/19/18, 12:29 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I feel like that plant is about to bend over and say "Feed me Seymour!"; 5/19/18, 12:34 PM
Jersey Fled said...: The third one has to do with the FISA warrants. I suspect it may end up being a little broader than that.; 5/19/18, 12:41 PM
Original Mike said...: Thanks, Jersey.; 5/19/18, 12:45 PM
Hagar said...: "FBI used an informant to investigate Russian contacts; not a spy as Trump claims."

And the difference is?; 5/19/18, 1:03 PM
Molly said...: The WaPo is at pains to make the point that the insider in the Trump campaign was not a plant (a person deliberately sent by the FBI to find information about the TrumpRussian connection), but was an informant -- a person who came up with information and (like any good citizen would) passed that information along to the FBI. An important (and so far unanswered question) is why was Stefan Halper getting money from the Obama Defense Department?; 5/19/18, 1:03 PM
Taylor said...: My murder mystery is up at Amazon.

Whodidit in the Supreme Court?

And there should be free Kindle downloads this week, if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited.

I am hard at work on my next one, Whodidit With a Senator?; 5/19/18, 1:04 PM
Michael K said...: I'm editing my kindle memoir to re-upload it with a bunch of typos fixed.\\ If we are doing book plugs.; 5/19/18, 2:08 PM
tim in vermont said...: I guess the difference between “informant” and “spy” is like the difference between “extreme carelessness” and “gross negligence,” it’s the difference that is required to get somebody off the hook. Not sure why they find it a matter of life and death to keep an “informant’”’s name secret though.; 5/19/18, 2:14 PM
tim in vermont said...: In fact, F.B.I. agents sent an informant to talk to two campaign advisers only after they received evidence that the pair had suspicious contacts linked to Russia during the campaign.

So they didn’t send a spy to snoop around and try to inveigle information, nope, they sent an “informant.” Wow, The New York Times is going full “Humpty Dumpty.” I don’t remember seeing language twisted this much ever. It’s like an insult to the readers, it’s like that scene in 1984 where you have to answer the number of fingers being held up according to the needs of the party. This is why they are killing education and critical thinking, and R/V swallows it down like Jonestown Kool Aide.; 5/19/18, 2:22 PM
tim in vermont said...: Oh yeah, R/V is supposed to be teaching kids how to think, but instead he teaches them what to think, and you know what? I think the kids are beginning to resent it. Based on my frequent contact with millennials.; 5/19/18, 2:24 PM
tim in vermont said...: Informant: Somebody already there who calls the authorities and gives them information.
Investigator: Somebody who asks questions openly, clearly indicating for whom he is working.
Spy: Somebody who infiltrates an organization to gather information while pretending to be something he is not.; 5/19/18, 2:27 PM
Original Mike said...: What do they call someone engaged in entrapment?; 5/19/18, 2:44 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Original Mike said...

"What do they call someone engaged in entrapment."

Apparently, according to the NYT, you call him an informant.; 5/19/18, 2:53 PM
Original Mike said...: A Plant.; 5/19/18, 3:07 PM
Jersey Fled said...: Something important to keep in mind is that even the NYT article concedes that there was no collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign to swing the election.

None.

No one (except maybe Inga) even makes that claim anymore.

Now the the game has changed to protecting the sorry azzes of the Obama administration from the clear implication that they spied on the Republican candidate for President and his campaign, using unfounded pretenses and illegal and unethical methods.

This is Watergate raised to the 10th power.; 5/19/18, 3:11 PM
pacwest said...: So the last two cafe posts have had pictures of plants. I sense a trend. Will the next cafe have a picture of Halper?; 5/19/18, 3:13 PM
Ralph L said...: I had the same reaction as Michael K to the flower. Guess we're easily triggered.

Future campaigns will assume they're being electronically monitored and have moles--at least the Republicans should do so.; 5/19/18, 3:14 PM
StephenFearby said...: @ Molly 1:03 PM

"An important (and so far unanswered question) is why was Stefan Halper getting money from the Obama Defense Department?)

Because payment for Harper's work was handled by a "cut-out" (to avoid disclosing that he was actually working for one or more intelligence agencies).

Harper was likely a contract employee (of the CIA rather than the FBI) tasked with a variety of assignments (recruiting sources, writing reports, etc). But in Russiagate his role apparently was to act (unsuccessfully) as an agent provocateur:

"An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent") is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act. An agent provocateur may be acting out of their own sense of duty or may be employed by the police or other entity to discredit or harm another group (such as a peaceful protest or demonstration) by provoking them to commit a crime, thereby undermining the protest or demonstration as a whole."

"...A political organization or government may use agents provocateurs against political opponents. The provocateurs try to incite the opponent to do counter-productive or ineffective acts to foster public disdain or provide a pretext for aggression against the opponent."

"...The activities of agents provocateur against revolutionaries in Imperial Russia were notorious. Dr. Jacob Zhitomirsky, Yevno Azef, Roman Malinovsky, and Dmitry Bogrov, all members of Okhrana, were notable provocateurs.

In the "Trust Operation" (1921–1926), the Soviet State Political Directorate (OGPU) set up a fake anti-Bolshevik underground organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia". The main success of this operation was luring Boris Savinkov and Sidney Reilly into the Soviet Union, where they were arrested and executed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur

I believe John Brennen was the guy trying to pull the strings on this.

Brennen now stands exposed as lying to Congress about using the Steele Dossier as an intelligence source.

Two Colleagues Contradict Brennan's Denial of Reliance on Dossier

'Former CIA Director John Brennan’s insistence that the salacious and unverified Steele dossier was not part of the official Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election is being contradicted by two top former officials.

Recently retired National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers stated in a classified letter to Congress that the Clinton campaign-funded memos did factor into the ICA. And James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence under President Obama, conceded in a recent CNN interview that the assessment was based on “some of the substantive content of the dossier.” Without elaborating, he maintained that “we were able to corroborate” certain allegations.

These accounts are at odds with Brennan’s May 2017 testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that the Steele dossier was "not in any way used as the basis for the intelligence community's assessment" that Russia interfered in the election to help elect Donald Trump. Brennan has repeated this claim numerous times, including in February on “Meet the Press.”

In a March 5, 2018, letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Adm. Rogers informed the committee that a two-page summary of the dossier — described as “the Christopher Steele information” — was “added” as an “appendix to the ICA draft,” and that consideration of that appendix was “part of the overall ICA review/approval process.”'

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/05/14/2_colleagues_contradict_brennan_on_use_of_dossier.html; 5/19/18, 3:17 PM
Original Mike said...: ”"An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent")”

I think we have a winner.; 5/19/18, 3:34 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 4:13 PM
Michael K said...: It will be interesting to see what happens when the left is no longer able to maintain the Russia fiction.

Will they go away and hide, pretend it is still real? (Inga maybe), or just go nuts like ARM?

Lots of new lefty commenters over at Powerline. There used to be about 12 regulars over there.

Patterico became unreadable but that is even beyond most NeverTrumpers. There is one still at Ricochet who prides himself on his Trump hate but he rarely gets any support anymore. There used to be quite a few Trump haters there.

Ever NR is weakening.; 5/19/18, 4:13 PM
wild chicken said...: No one (except maybe Inga) even makes that claim anymore

To read Twitter, the left is still going on abt how Trump "cheated," got Russian help and will be inducted forthwith. It's just night and day, between right and left, and no one concedes anything.; 5/19/18, 4:18 PM
wild chicken said...: ...Indicted; 5/19/18, 4:19 PM
jb said...: Ann-

Y'all sent us a really one!

https://www.weaselzippers.us/385432-after-santa-fe-shooting-nfl-star-jj-watt-offers-to-pay-for-funerals/; 5/19/18, 4:20 PM
George said...: Australia’s James Cook University fires professor because he dared to fight the university and speak the truth about science and the Great Barrier Reef. https://goo.gl/uHrBbo; 5/19/18, 4:37 PM
Michael McNeil said...: This is Watergate raised to the 10th power.

This is Watergate multiplied by 10 to the 100th power — 10^100 — otherwise known as a ‘googol’.; 5/19/18, 5:45 PM
Ken B said...: Cod-piece.; 5/19/18, 5:47 PM
Molly said...: wild chicken "It's night and day between left and right and no one concedes anything."

I have been thinking the same thing: I don't want to live in an ideological bubble, so I read WaPo comments. First it's amazing how many there are: over 10,000 on their recent "FBI informant in the Trump campaign" article. Second, it's amazing how nearly unanimous the comments are. Third, because the commenters are speaking (within the near unanimity) to fellow true-believers, there is no pressure to actually engage on the issues ("We all know Trump is a lying crook, so let's not get distracted by irrelevant claims that Obama is a lying crook.") Fourth, any attempt to engage on the issues will be met with vitriol.

But I think it is easy for "us" to exist in our own bubble, and I appreciate the "anti-Trump" commenters here who also have to endure some vitriol (though I do usually see the pushback trying to engage with actual arguments). But my impression is that there is a large number of people who believe that Trump is crook and will be removed from office (unless some horrible form of corruption keeps that from happening) and there is large number of people who believe either (a) Trump's problems grow out a horribly corrupt "deep state" or Obama administration investigation infrastructure, and/or (b) Trump is poised to be the greatest President since Lincoln -- reducing the deficit with high growth (through tax and regulation); peace in the middle east; peace in the Korean peninsula; revised trade agreements that are better for the US; immigration policy that helps US workers.

The large number of anti-trumpers can't wrap their heads around the fact that there is a large group of pro-trumpers. The large number of pro-trumpers can't wrap their heads around the fact that there is a large group of anti-trumpers.; 5/19/18, 5:52 PM
Kevin said...: “A Plant.“

Not a good thing to be in the #MeToo era.; 5/19/18, 6:26 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I don't really give a shit about the Royal wedding. I remember when Prince Charles married Diana nearly 40 years ago, and I didn't care about it back then.

I could be totally wrong, though.

To me, Great Britain and Western Europe are committing slow suicide. They oppose nationalism, they ignore Christianity, they oppose capitalism. They want a quasi-socialist secular state, with open borders. Massive abortions, low fertility rates, influx of cheap, foreign labor, often Muslim. They have been so traumatized by World Wars 1 & 2, that they fear standing up for any principle lest it lead to conflict, or worse, war. They have lost their pride. So, they'd rather just fade away. The long leftist good-bye.

So, maybe the British monarchy is the last bastion of social structure that binds the Brits to their once glorious past. Maybe Harry matters. Maybe, it instills a bit of pride in the Brits, however small.

Britain needs its own Donald Trump, as do most of the Western democracies.; 5/19/18, 6:47 PM
Big Mike said...: The large number of pro-trumpers can't wrap their heads around the fact that there is a large group of anti-trumpers.

Sorry, Molly, but that’s simply not true. People such as myself who voted more against Hillary, but who are quite pleased with what we’ve seen so far, are acutely aware that there are large numbers of never-trumpets. Some will eventually come around, if they genuinely care about the US. Many others it is not clear what to do about them. People like Inga, to name names, cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith, nor to abide by any agreements reached for a nanosecond longer than it is expedient to do so. If they cannot be trusted, they can only be suppressed.; 5/19/18, 6:47 PM
n.n said...: If I didn't know better, I would think that plant was flipping me off.; 5/19/18, 6:55 PM
n.n said...: Is that plant giving us the finger?

Yeah, that was my first impression, too.; 5/19/18, 6:56 PM
Hagar said...: I bought a small desktop with Windows 10 on it to tide me over while my workstation is in for repair. After start up at about 8 AM, the thing began a Windows 10 update and warned me not to shut it down or "close" it, whatever that means. It has now stood at "99% complete" for about 6 hours.
Anybody know what is going on?

I googled "Windows 10 update," and it seems it is not unusual for such updates to take a long time, but this is ridiculous, no?; 5/19/18, 7:09 PM
Paco Wové said...: It's Windows, Hagar. That's what Windows does.; 5/19/18, 7:17 PM
Michael K said...: But my impression is that there is a large number of people who believe that Trump is crook and will be removed from office

I'm sure most WaPoo readers and even NY Times readers think so. WaPoo is the house organ for the federal bureaucracy.

The LA Times is the same way but about half the comments there are disagreeing most of the time.

I used to read Huffpo every day to see what the other side thought but the insanity there sent me away.

If I saw Inga or ARM post interesting comments here on other topics besides Trump, I would be more interested in their opinion. There are a couple of left leaning commenters here who do get off the Trump hate and they sometimes make interesting points.

I consider myself to be libertarian and have commented that I am prochoice to 20 weeks. That got me a scolding from Inga who took a moment away from her adoration of Planned Parenthood to do so.

Post interesting comments on non-Trump topics and provide some links as evidence and you will get some interested responses.

I have to go elsewhere to talk about anything but Trump.; 5/19/18, 7:32 PM
Michael K said...: We just had a 300 comment thread, with about 100 by ARM on guns.

That is a waste of electrons.; 5/19/18, 7:34 PM
JackWayne said...: Search the internet for “windows 10 update hung up on 99% complete”.; 5/19/18, 7:39 PM
JackWayne said...: What I like about NeverTrumpers and AntiTrumpers is that they dream of electric impeachments. But every dream ends the same: Pence becomes President. I remember why the Democrats fought so hard for Bill: they didn’t want Gore. I expect the Democrat Senators will discover the same thing about Trump.; 5/19/18, 7:46 PM
Humperdink said...: "Search the internet for “windows 10 update hung up on 99% complete”.

Sorry, I had to chuckle at this.; 5/19/18, 8:05 PM
Humperdink said...: If the progress of Windows Upgrade Assistant is stuck at 99% for more than four hours, here's something you can try. Note: Follow these steps before you restart your PC. Otherwise, the Media folder might not be available.

1) Open File Explorer, type C:\$GetCurrent, and then press Enter.
2)Copy and paste the Media folder to the desktop. If you don't see the folder, select View and make sure the checkbox next to Hidden items is selected.
3)Restart your PC, open File Explorer, type C:\$GetCurrent in the address bar, and then press Enter.
4)Copy and paste the Media folder from the desktop to C:\$GetCurrent.
5)Open the Media folder, and double-click Setup.
6)Follow the instructions to start the upgrade. On the Get important updates screen, select Not right now, and then select Next.
7)Follow the instructions to finish upgrading to Windows 10. After it's done, make sure to install available updates. Select the Start button, and then select Settings > Update & security > Windows Update > Check for updates.; 5/19/18, 8:07 PM
Humperdink said...: ^^^^^ From Microsoft Support; 5/19/18, 8:08 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 8:10 PM
Hagar said...: You may chuckle, but also cry if you do and read the responses coming up - especially if Windows 10 is what you are running too.

Anyway, thanks Jack!; 5/19/18, 8:10 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: I recommend an old article (01/22/18), written by Paul Sperry, published by The New York Post.

Perry reports that much (or most or all?) of the Russia-source information in the Steele dossier was provided by Edward Baumgartner, an employee of Fusion GPS, which was owned by Glenn Simpson.

[quote]

... While Baumgartner was working on the dossier, he was also working for Simpson on another [Prevezon] case ... During that contract, which ran through October 2016, Baumgartner worked closely in Moscow with the Russian lawyer .... Natalia Veselnitskaya.

During the [Prevezon] case, Simpson and Baumgartner also met with her partner, former Russian military intelligence officer Rinat Akhmetshin.

As the Prevezon case was winding down, Simpson said he assigned Baumgartner, who shares his enmity toward Trump, to help dig up dirt on him [Trump]. Baumgartner contributed research targeting the central Trump campaign figures charged in the dossier.

“I remember assigning him to do work in the summer or fall of 2016 on Michael Cohen’s business connections to Russia and Ukraine and his father-in-law’s background in Russia. And so he worked on both. And I think Edward might have also worked on some [Paul] Manafort stuff.” ...

Baumgartner also compiled information on Carter Page, a volunteer Trump adviser. The dossier accuses all three Trump associates of conspiring with Kremlin officials to hack the Clinton campaign and remove US sanctions on Russia.

In the dossier, Baumgartner is likely the unnamed “friend” or “close colleague” of the alleged Russian insider sources, who we’re led to believe “confided” in that “mutual friend” who we’re told, in turn, communicated directly to Steele the unproven rumors about Cohen, Manafort and Page. ....

Simpson says he completely deferred to Steele’s expertise and did not question his findings because of his “sterling reputation.” Simpson has pumped this guy [Steele] up to be the real-life 007 so deep inside the Kremlin, he didn’t have to corroborate his information, yet Steele was so far out of the hunt, his tradecraft so rusty, he apparently had to rely on a Russian translator [Baumgartner] who flacked for Putin to gather his so-called intelligence.

[end quote]

The Intelligence Community took the dossier seriously because Christopher Steele had developed a good reputation as an intelligence officer. However, it seems that Steele was hired largely to put his own reputable name onto work that Baumgartner did for Fusion GPS.

https://nypost.com/2018/01/22/it-looks-like-the-james-bond-behind-the-dossier-let-a-putin-pawn-do-all-the-work/; 5/19/18, 8:11 PM
Humperdink said...: Sorry you didn't get my reason for chuckling. He was suggesting you "search" with a computer that was essentially frozen.; 5/19/18, 8:21 PM
wildswan said...: I think pro-Trumpers are well aware of Never Trumpers since Nevers are on the media 24/7. The question is how many real never Trumpers are still left? Aside from media figures, I mean. How many potential voters are never Trumpers? And it seems clear the numbers are dropping and in fact we are seeing the exact same phenomenon that happened before the election. Hillary was ahead of all Republicans by double digits; Trump was nowhere. Then Hillary began to drop and Trump won the primaries, Trump won the convention. But Hillary was still WAAAAY ahead. Then Trump won the election. The Hillary was WAAAAY ahead of Trump -again. Then Hillary's numbers begin to drop - again. Then Hillary's minions start processing off to jail. For the first time. Then Trump gets an electoral college Grand Slam because the depressed voters who have been being beaten up in California and elsewhere vote for the first time in 20 years and add their numbers to Red State Central. Trump wins the popular vote and all his previous states and then the Dem states have to give their electoral votes to the popular vote winner. Trump even wins DC. Another night of splendor for some as the MSM announces California's electoral votes go to Trump and someone screams "Whose idea was that law anyhow?" and the California delegation party closes in battle like the last scenes in Animal House and conservatives everywhere laugh themselves sick. "How sick did you laugh yourself when Rachel Maddow looked at the board and saw the grand slam?", a question at conservative parties for yeas to come. "And when Trump came out and asked if we'd had enough winning?" A night of tears, a night of chardonnay bottle throwing for the Dems - again.

Oh, I think I know there are anti-Trumpers still around. And I kind of admire the way Inga is still finding dishes to throw at us. But - face it - when your big point has to do with the USPS pension plan and its finances, you are being calm on the Titanic.; 5/19/18, 8:32 PM
Etienne said...: I went through all that Windows shit 6 months ago, and finally went out and bought my wife a new computer. I then put Linux on the old machine.

The problem is, a lot of old computers have legacy features that are no longer supported properly. I went round and round for two days and gave up.

Once we got the new machine, I reloaded all her files and the applications she uses.

P.S. Desktop computers are cheap. I put MySQL on the old machine and threw away the previous machine that was 10 years old.

My wife doesn't like laptops. She wants two screens big enough to dive in...; 5/19/18, 8:34 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: @Mike Sylvester,

"However, it seems that Steele was hired largely to put his own reputable name onto work that Baumgartner did for Fusion GPS."

Reason No. 321 why Comey is such a dishonest weasel. When he met with Trump to advise the President of the "dossier" (subtle blackmail) and Trump asked him to "disprove" it, he gave a disingenuous abstract philosophical dissertation about how one can't prove a negative. Instead, if Comey were honest, he would have advised that said dossier was opposition research prepared by Mr. Steele, and he would have had his best FBI agents (not Strzok) grill Steele on the factual basis and sources to support the "salacious" details contained therein.

Hey, but Carter Page did visit Russia!; 5/19/18, 9:25 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 9:28 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: George Papadopoulos was told by Joseph Mifsud that Russian Intelligence had thousands of Hillary Clinton's e-mails.

Afterwards, Stefan Halper and Alexander Downer engaged Papadopoulos in conversations to prompt Papadopoulos to talk about Russia having those e-mails.

Halper and Downer reported those conversations to the US Intelligence Community.

Who is Joseph Mifsud?

The following two articles provide a lot of information about Mifsud.

https://jonworth.eu/joseph-mifsud-professor-papadopoulos-manafort-revelations/

https://jonworth.eu/joseph-mifsud-even-legitimate-professor/; 5/19/18, 9:29 PM
Original Mike said...: Blogger Humperdink said...”Sorry you didn't get my reason for chuckling. He was suggesting you "search" with a computer that was essentially frozen.”

I’m of the opinion you need 2 computers running the same version of an operating system in order to survive.; 5/19/18, 9:31 PM
ceowens said...: For ARM, Trumpit, Pee Pee et al.,

I attended a Ducks Unlimited gathering last night and won a Mossberg Flex (shotgun, so you don't have to look it up), two knives, a fishing lure case with many lures, an insulated cooler bag, two hats, two camo cups, a water bottle and I prevailed in an auction for a guided day duck hunting for two in the Thousand Island region ($400 value for $100).

Good night.; 5/19/18, 9:32 PM
Original Mike said...: ”Who is Joseph Mifsud?”

This is the next interesting question

And is he really missing?; 5/19/18, 9:36 PM
walter said...: Bay Area Guy said...if Comey were honest, he would have advised that said dossier was opposition research prepared by Mr. Steele, and he would have had his best FBI agents (not Strzok) grill Steele on the factual basis and sources to support the "salacious" details contained therein.
--
Kinda explains why "honorable" Comey ran a/his book up the commercial\flagpole early by most standards.; 5/19/18, 9:54 PM
walter said...: Heh...

John O. BrennanVerified account
@JohnBrennan
Former CIA Director (2013-17). Nonpartisan American who is very concerned about our collective future.; 5/19/18, 9:58 PM
walter said...: Hey John..leave me out of your future, k?; 5/19/18, 10:03 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 10:27 PM
JackWayne said...: I assume that most people have a smart phone. Plus he said he had a tower that was hung up and a laptop as backup. I have 6 devices that can access the internet. 3 are internet only and 3 have data connections. And sometimes I feel like I need more.....; 5/19/18, 10:28 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 10:30 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/18, 10:34 PM
JackWayne said...: Define what you think corruption is. I need a laugh.; 5/19/18, 10:34 PM
langford peel said...: Amazon is worse than the monopolies of the worst of the robber barons that fostered the original anti-trust legislation. Amazon has devastated retail and destroyed countless brick and mortar stores. Millions of American jobs were lost to Amazon's monopolistic practices and flat out greed.

Anything that the Trump administration can do to stop Amazon's growth and set back their monopoly is doing the work of the Angels.

As usual Inga does not have a clue.; 5/19/18, 10:35 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Oh, I think I know there are anti-Trumpers still around. And I kind of admire the way Inga is still finding dishes to throw at us. But - face it - when your big point has to do with the USPS pension plan and its finances, you are being calm on the Titanic.”

The USPS pension plan ( which doesn’t concern Trump) is a side issue. It is Trump’s jealousy and personal animosity toward Jeff Bezos and Trump’s Abuse of Power regarding that issue that is only the tip of the corruption iceberg. There are much bigger points of Trump corruption. If you folks wouldn’t be so mired down by so many conspiracy theories, you just might understand that Trump is indeed his own worst enemy and has a made a bed he now soon will be made to lay in, maybe for the first time in his life he’ll be held responsible for his many wrongdoings. That is, if the rule of law stands.

And Wildswan, I can assure you that there is a sea of never Trumpers and liberals/ Democrats out there.; 5/19/18, 10:36 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Oh so sorry Jack and Langford Peel, I did some editing. So now your comments are out of order, lol.; 5/19/18, 10:38 PM
langford peel said...: They need to break up Amazon in the same way they broke up Ma Bell. Amazon can pick five core businesses. They can do books and movies and producing TV and movies. But they should not be able to sell groceries to drive grocery stores out of business. They should not be able to sell hardware to drive the neighborhood hardware store out of business. That is not to say that these can not be sold on-line. Just let someone else do it. Don't allow a monopoly to use its power to undercut the opposition until it puts them out of business and can jack up the prices.

Break up Amazon. It has too much power. Put American jobs first.; 5/19/18, 10:39 PM
langford peel said...: Jeff Bezos should also be forced to divest his newspaper holdings. He has too much power. He can own the newspaper but not Amazon too. He is the epitome of corruption as he uses the power of the press to protect his monopoly. It is as thought Rockefeller had owned the New York Times.

Of course the liberals don't care. They have a coterie of ultra-liberals like Soros and Bezos who can finance the socialist programs that they favor. Of course they are fools. They think they will be spared. They think the alligators will eat them last. They should think again.; 5/19/18, 10:42 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: What I love is when I need to be somewhere and Windows has decided to load a bunch of updates to install when I turn the laptop off and it takes its own sweet time about it, and tells me that whatever I do, don't actually power down.

Eventually I found there is a special way to shut down without installing the updates in those cases -- if you notice beforehand that it's gonna happen.

Luckily I generally boot in FreeBSD, so I only have to deal with Windows if I need to videoconference.; 5/19/18, 10:45 PM
JackWayne said...: Here, I’ll give you a few:
Congresspeople using their insider information to make millions on the stock market,
Diane Feinstein doling our billions in defense contracts to her husband’s businesses while she was chair of the committee,
Obama taking in nearly a billion in 2008 in campaign contributions after removing credit card location verification,
Lawfare against a half-dozen innocent politicians to win elections,
$28 trillion in debt socongresspeople can but votes with welfare handouts.; 5/19/18, 10:47 PM
Michael K said...: I can assure you that there is a sea of never Trumpers and liberals/ Democrats out there.

Poor Inga. What are you going to do after the "Blue ave" collapses in November ?

Try to think about something else than Trump. It's not good for you.; 5/19/18, 11:15 PM
langford peel said...: The only blue wave Inga is going to see is in the mirror in her octogenarian haircut.; 5/19/18, 11:20 PM
Etienne said...: I was shocked to see little Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the wedding. I mean, I thought they were younger. They grow so fast!

Anyway, I thought the kids were cute. One of the girls was much too young, and she didn't do well, but it was all pretty damned cute.

About the only thing that made me turn the audio off, was the preacher who thought it was a Baptist Sunday service. Ah well, gave me time to pee.

That's all I thought about really, was all those people must have had to pee like a racehorse by the time the Preacher got done.; 5/19/18, 11:31 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I was shocked to see little Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the wedding. I mean, I thought they were younger. They grow so fast!

https://xkcd.com/1995/; 5/20/18, 12:31 AM
chickelit said...: American fascism is when all the little muscle makes sure the Amazon trucks roll on time.; 5/20/18, 1:19 AM
Kevin said...: Sentence of the day: “Liberals perceive more racism and sexism than racial minorities and women say they experience.”; 5/20/18, 4:38 AM
Kevin said...: Most of this thread: “The FBI and CIA we’re spying on the Trump campaign!”

Inga: “USPS retirement plan funding!”; 5/20/18, 4:40 AM
Kevin said...: “It will be interesting to see what happens when the left is no longer able to maintain the Russia fiction.”

Haven’t you figured it out yet? The party of “if you say it enough times it becomes the truth” will never stop saying it.

If we don’t lock people up for the crimes they committed, the narrative over time will become Trump obstructed justice to keep Mueller from finding “the truth”.

There will be no great contrition. People need to do hard time, and Obama’s exact role needs to be determined.

That is what the left is truly trying to prevent with all this “collusion” smokescreen.; 5/20/18, 4:50 AM
Kevin said...: Trump’s final act as President in January 2025 will be to commute the sentences and pardon Brennan and his ilk “for the good of the country”.; 5/20/18, 4:53 AM
Kevin said...: Can we lock in Horowitz now for Time’s Person of the Year?; 5/20/18, 4:56 AM
Saint Croix said...: the preacher who thought it was a Baptist Sunday service.

He's an Episcopalian bishop, you nitwit. And he's awesome.

the only thing that made me turn the audio off

Well, here's the transcript. So put your hands over your eyes!

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, and I quote: “We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.”

There’s power in love. Do not underestimate it. Don’t even over-sentimentalize it. There’s power, power in love. If you don’t believe me, think about a time when you first fell in love. The whole world seemed to center around you and your beloved. There’s power, power in love, not just in its romantic forms, but any form, any shape of love. There’s a certain sense in which when you are loved and you know it, when someone cares for you and you know it, when you love and you show it. It actually feels right. There’s something right about it. There’s a reason for it. It has to do with the source.

We were made by a power of love. Our lives were meant and are meant to be lived in that love. That’s why we are here. Ultimately the source of love is God himself. The source of all of our lives.

There’s an old medieval poem that says: “Where true love is found, God himself is there.” The New Testament says it this way. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; And those who love are born of God and know God. Those who not love does not know God. Why? For God is love.”

There’s power in love. There’s power in love to help and heal when nothing else can. There’s power in love to lift up and liberate when nothing else will. There’s power in love to show us the way to live. … But love is not only about a young couple. The power of love is demonstrated by the fact that we’re all here. Two young people fell in love, and we all showed up. It’s not just for and about a young couple whom we rejoice with. It’s more than that.

Jesus of Nazareth on one occasion was asked by a lawyer to sum up the essence of the teachings of Moses. He went back and reached back to the Hebrew Scriptures to Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then in Matthew’s version, he added, he said, on these two, love of God and love of neighbor, hang all the law, all the prophets, everything that Moses wrote, everything from the holy prophets, everything in the scriptures, everything that God has been trying to tell the world. Love God, love your neighbors, and while you’re at it, love yourself.; 5/20/18, 5:27 AM
Saint Croix said...: Someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in human history: a movement ground on the unconditional love of God for the world and a movement mandating people to live and love.

And in so doing, to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself! I’m talking about the power, real power, power to change the world.

If you don’t believe me, well, there were some old slaves in America’s antebellum South who explained the dynamic power of love and why it has the power to transform. They explained it this way. They sang a spiritual even in the midst of their captivity. It’s one that says there is a balm in Gilead, a healing balm, something that can make things right. There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. One of the stanzas explains why: It says, if you cannot preach like Peter, you cannot pray like Paul, you just tell the love of Jesus, how he died to save us all. That’s the balm in Gilead. This way of love is the way of life. They got it.

He died to save us all. He didn’t die for anything he could get out of it. Jesus did not get an honorary doctorate for dying. He wasn’t getting anything out of it. He gave up his life, he sacrificed his life for the good of others, for the well-being of the world, for us. That’s what love is. Love is not selfish or self-centered. Love can be sacrificial, and in so doing, become redemptive. That way of unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive love changes lives. And it can change this world.

Stop and imagine for a minute. Think and imagine. Think and imagine a world where love is the way.

Imagine our homes and families when love is the way. Imagine our neighborhoods and communities where love is the way. Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. Imagine business and commerce when love is the way. Imagine this tired old world when love is the way. When love is the way — unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive — when love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again. When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream, and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.; 5/20/18, 5:29 AM
Saint Croix said...: When love is the way, poverty would become history. When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, we will lay our swords and shields down by the riverside to study war no more. When love is the way, there’s plenty of room for all of God’s children. When love is the way, we actually treat each other, well, like we are actually family. When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all, and we are brothers and sisters and children of God. Brothers and sisters — that’s a new heaven, a new earth, a new world, a new human family. Let me tell you something. Ol’ Solomon was right in the Old Testament. That’s fire.

French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, great spirits of the 20th century. Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a true mystic. Some of his writings from his scientific background as well as his theological one, some of his writings said, as others have said, that the discovery and harnessing of fire was one of the great technological discoveries of human history. Fire, to a great extent, made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ways of eating, which reduced the spread of disease in its time. Fire made it possible to heat warm environments and thereby marking human migration a possibility even into colder climates. Fire made it possible — there was no Bronze Age without fire, no Iron Age without fire, no Industrial Revolution without fire. … Anybody get here in a car today? An automobile? Nod your heads if you did; I know there were some carriages. Those of us who came in cars, the controlled, harnessed fire made that possible.

I know that the Bible says, and I believe it that Jesus walked on water, but I have to tell you I didn’t walk across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Controlled fire in that plane got me here. Fire makes it possible for us to text, and tweet, and email, and Instagram, and Facebook, and socially be dysfunctional with each other. Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one of the great discoveries in all of human history. He went on to say if humanity ever harnesses the energy of fire again, if humanity ever captured the energies of love, it will be the second time in the history that will have discovered fire.

Dr. King was right. We must discover love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world.

My brother, my sister, God love you, God bless you. And may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.; 5/20/18, 5:31 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Thanks Saint Croix! The Episcopalian Bishop was awesome. The only ones it bothered were pretentious snobs.; 5/20/18, 8:30 AM
Hagar said...: The new computer was still hung on "99% complete" this morning, so I restarted it and then searched for updates. It then got them and installed them through 2018-05 in about 1½ hours, and I was only locked out for the installation time.

I have no other devices, and do not intend to ever get any. This little Windows 10 tower will only be a back-up for when if my workstation with XP (to work my old-old programs) and Windows 7 breaks down again (this time the solid state hard-drive went kaput).
I hate this dead fish keyboard and its peculiar keys and layout!; 5/20/18, 8:39 AM
Hagar said...: A PS2 to USB adapter will solve the keyboard problem - and I had one.; 5/20/18, 2:51 PM
Ken B said...: Informant = modified limited hangout for spy; 5/20/18, 7:22 PM