Up before dawn to run some numbers through a spreadsheet, and we can conclusively demonstrate that best radio rhythm and blues of the 1970's is this right here.

There are problems with the mix and the string arrangement, and of course Flack is out of her depth.

But man… Hathaway is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. He could carry an entire Watergate summer of FM radio and you'd be satisfied.

As it happened, there were supporting ventures.

Also, consider installing this fantasia on your smartphone as a wake-up alarm (edit it to start after the opening vocal)… It has the rhythmic and melodic novelty to pull you from your slumber without regret.

It is, in fact, a (multitrack) Exquisite Corpse.

And now, from the Easy Listening for Seniors™ desk, here are two charming melodies heard through evocatively detuned synths.

ICE is snapping up some American citizens:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/opinion/ice-raids.html

Huh. I try to avoid juice because of the sugar content and the more immediate impact of that. The study group looks solid, tho the time frame is rather short.

Drinking large amounts of fruit juice may raise your risk of cancer, according to a big study which has found a link between the regular consumption of all kinds of sugary drinks and the likelihood of developing the disease.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/10/sugar-in-fruit-juice-may-raise-risk-of-cancer-study-finds

Darth-

No. Tam Haspel says chillax, and she can be trusted.

Ah, reinforcing my skepticism of any study. One of Tam's follow up tweets

To see it in all its glory, hop on over to the PREREGISTRATION, which says, basically, we're going to compare EVERY nutrient or food to EVERY health outcome. Seriously, that's what they say.

Not sure if I should *facepalm* or *ROFLMAO*. Should I embrace the power of "and"? and this "study" was accepted by a presumably reputable journal?

Now, this is more like the 21st century I was expecting.

https://twitter.com/techinsider/status/979773501191016448

Well, some wanted Alex Acosta removed, and it appears that's going to happen.

I must be naive, because I don't understand what this is going to accomplish. If the sweetheart deal he got for Epstein is such a controversy (which it is), why did he accept the post in the first place? What is resigning now going to do for anyone?

It's time to link Sad Flower again. It's been four months.

And while looking up the date of that last posting, the Brooks "contempt" column linked by Conan at March 4, 2019 9:00 AM seems less convincing, and for the very reason Conan acknowledges:

> I have a few issues with labelling
> politicians "leaders"

We were talking about this with regard to celebrities yesterday: When a form of contempt ("Racist! He hates trans people!") is so fashionably expressed, it has no moral or socially corrective value.

It would be great if this wretched temperament could be blamed on Hillary ("hate radio") or any other popular figure, because then we could just line them up and strafe… But I just don't buy it. These people aren't leaders: They become famous or powerful by recognizing public sentiment and being the first float in the parade behind. They are followers, always.

The new thing afoot in our culture seems to be a broad presumption in the individual public mind —on both sides of the intellectual demarcation so colorfully manifest in Trump & Brexit— is that 'I deserve to be flattered and/or admired.'

I think the rote incantations from cognitive elites and their fellow-traveling public-sector parasites about education and achievement have become so lifeless and predictable that everyone in the culture wants a piece of the action.

Trump's people, bless their hearts, know perfectly well that this undergirding civic mesmerism is bullshit.

It's the intellectuals and empowered lefties, oh-so-busy affirming social elevation from a tawdry Chief Executive, who can't take the point.

I would again encourage you to listen to this podcast. Start ten minutes in, and listen carefully for the passage including "Trump-sized hole."

Murray spotted the problem twenty-five years ago, and wasn't permitted to be shy about it.

And by "can't take the point," I meant they'll likely earn four more years to think it over.

Also, the "form of contempt" thing shouldn't have been in quotation marks, as the intention was parodic… But I'm guessing we all recognize the vibe of a SJW pretty quickly nowadays.

A commission in Australia charged with investigating mining accidents was forced to disband because it couldn't hire enough women to meet its gender quota. Since then, four fatal mining accidents have occurred, and no accident investigations are taking place.

CD, that's glorious… You laugh or you cry, and tears are ever-more precious.

I'm shocked that the Aussies are having problems filling their women quota in mining oversight. I mean, isn't mining typically done by women?

*checks notes* Oh, I see. The solution is to have some of the biological males come out as trans women.

What makes America great? Its military? No. Its economy? No.

Real Clear Policy says America's greatness lies in its "I know a guy" social capital - the ability and willingness of Americans to reach out and help one another. Our social networks - business and personal - are the keys to our happiness and our social cohesion.

"Ask one Southerner for help, and he coops another friend, and before long you wonder how the Confederacy ever lost." ~ Lisa Birnbach (The Official Preppy Handbook)

Identity politics is driving us apart - and that's tearing us apart.

Alex Acosta has resigned.

In reading various sides of this Acosta-Epstein thing, I'm getting the feeling that too many on the Left think Epstein could have simply been thrown in jail (and should have been), not recognizing that a trial in a free state requires evidence and that sometimes, because of that, a bad deal is the best you can get. We're not a dictatorship in which "enemies of the state" can just be sent to the gulag.

Juries are unpredictable. The Miami Herald reported that 97% of sex crimes trials result in an acquittal due to witnesses being reluctant to testify, lack of physical evidence, lack of corroborating testimony, unreliability of eyewitness testimony etc. As such, Acosta's defenders say the likelihood that Epstein would have gone to jail without Acosta's intervention was slim.

Before the federal prosecutor's intervention, the deal reached by the state prosecutor included no guilty plea, no jail time, no sex offender registration, and no ability for the victims to sue for monetary damages. Whatever its weaknesses, Acosta's deal included all of those.

I still need more information to form a definitive conclusion in the matter, but I'm not taking Chuck Schumer's word for Acosta's guilt; nor, for that matter, would I take Schumer's word that the sky is blue.

We're not a dictatorship in which "enemies of the state" can just be sent to the gulag.

Not yet. Not yet.

This relates back to Crid's "Trump & Brexit" entry. We as a people are still not ruled, but give our consent to be governed. The intellectuals and empowered lefties seem to think they have a Divine Right of Rule.

And in that state, they will send you to the Gulag. But I doubt they'd send Epstein. He knows a guy. No, they'll slag his accusers as being whores, sluts, and "asking for it". And then send them to the Gulag.

Will someone think of the children?

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/on-july-1-nike-ditched-the-betsy-ross-flag-on-july-4-these-african-immigrants-became-citizens-under-it/

With with a pussy-shaped flower as an avatar is angry at an ad portraying a woman with cake frosting on her face

https://twitter.com/SaraBrechGC/status/1148955967683534849

And when you point out her hypocrisy she does the classic semantics play to deflect criticism.

It's pretty. But then again, may pretty things are hazardous to your health.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/11/instagrammers-warned-not-to-swim-in-toxic-siberian-lake-dubbed-novosibirsk-maldives/

I don't even think we "consent to be governed."

We consent to be served.

But I doubt they'd send Epstein [to jail]. He knows a guy. No, they'll slag his accusers as being whores, sluts, and "asking for it". And then send them to the Gulag. ~ I R A Darth Aggie at July 12, 2019 10:30 AM

It's not that he knows a guy, it's what he knows about that guy he knows.

They'll let Epstein go only after they use him to publicly slag their political opponents, the people who did send him to jail that time he got caught. Epstein's usefulness now is as a political cudgel.

After a fair amount of righteous indignation and several resignations, Epstein will be quietly released and exiled to his private island, supplied with young girls and booze, and one day be caught in a riptide and drown.

His obituary will mention the resignations prominently and will say nothing of his former political connections and influence. No one with a political career will show up at his funeral, which will be a small, family affair.

Google:

Be Evil

I'm sure Alexa isn't like this at all.

I don't even think we "consent to be governed." ~ Crid at July 12, 2019 12:16 PM

Sadly, some of us do.

Lately, I get the sinking feeling there are far too many of us demanding to be ruled by a benevolent collectivism.

Don't forget these comments by Jewish Cat in another thread, "...the world is uglier than it has ever been" and "The best way to solve this is with government regulation."

The intellectuals and empowered lefties seem to think they have a Divine Right of Rule. ~ I R A Darth Aggie at July 12, 2019 10:30 AM

Today, The Spectator featured a review of a biography of Louis XIV, whose "divine right of kings" based rulership "taxed France into starvation, misery and revolt."

It might pay to remind people that we've tried all these benevolent divine rule thingies before every one of them resulted in disaster, misery, and violence.

There is no substitute for taking responsibility for your own happiness and your own welfare.

Reminding them doesn't make much difference after a certain age. I have some Russian immigrants who live across the street from me. They hate Stalin with a burning passion but love Putin. If you point out any similarities between the two and they might get violent. They also openly express their distress about how little the US government does to help people here and pine for a more Russian form of governance. To their credit they just barely grasp the issue with that.

> There is no substitute for
> taking responsibility for
> your own happiness and
> your own welfare.

Yes. And I'd like to add something…

> There is no substitute for
> taking responsibility for
> your own happiness and
> your own welfare.

…But I can't. Perfect.

Me being a fogey: Too many seem to read the word 'responsibility' as 'burden' rather than, in context, 'liberation.'

> He knows a guy.

Yeah, but it ain't Pinker.

Sadly, some of us do.

Lately, I get the sinking feeling there are far too many of us demanding to be ruled by a benevolent collectivism.

This fairy tale comes to mind:

The Frogs Who Wished for a King

The Frogs were tired of governing themselves. They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did nothing but sit around croaking in a bored manner and wishing for a government that could entertain them with the pomp and display of royalty, and rule them in a way to make them know they were being ruled. No milk and water government for them, they declared. So they sent a petition to Jupiter asking for a king.

Jupiter saw what simple and foolish creatures they were, but to keep them quiet and make them think they had a king he threw down a huge log, which fell into the water with a great splash. The Frogs hid themselves among the reeds and grasses, thinking the new king to be some fearful giant. But they soon discovered how tame and peaceable King Log was. In a short time the younger Frogs were using him for a diving platform, while the older Frogs made him a meeting place, where they complained loudly to Jupiter about the government.

To teach the Frogs a lesson the ruler of the gods now sent a Crane to be king of Frogland. The Crane proved to be a very different sort of king from old King Log. He gobbled up the poor Frogs right and left and they soon saw what fools they had been. In mournful croaks they begged Jupiter to take away the cruel tyrant before they should all be destroyed.

"How now!" cried Jupiter "Are you not yet content? You have what you asked for and so you have only yourselves to blame for your misfortunes."

Be sure you can better your condition before you seek to change.

And yet---

https://mobile.twitter.com/OrinKerr/status/1149781083379998720

One odd comment on the Epstein thing, this is probably the one thing that has guaranteed to me that Hillary won't be entering the 2020 race.

"guaranteed to me that Hillary won't be entering the 2020"

That, and no one is going to pony up another billion for her third long jump attempt.

You're onto something, but it's hard to know what weight it will carry.

Hillary may well be done in any case. She's ancient, and she's never emotionally connected with voters, even with those women who'd have given their lives to her presidential campaign out of the shallowest sisterhood. Her own political powers were connivance and ruthlessness; her husband's ability to reach people's hearts, diminished as it may be over these decades, must always have seemed to her like the conjuring of a witch doctor. Without her backbone, he was nothing; disregarding his fleshpressing genius, she was doomed. (Remember, even in his cardiac-diminished dotage, he specifically tried to warn her about Wisconsin; she trusted her young haircut databoys instead. And lost the election. Lost, lost, lost.)

But mostly, she's ancient. Liz Warren, a year younger, is ancient too, but she still has an ear for the socialist enthusiasms of our age... Or, having listened to and exploited those energies across the same decades, is much better with today's melodies. When Hillary tried to sing, her tone is always flat, even if she's memorized the socialist chorus.

Listen, all these geriatric cases have to drop away sometime. Biden is all hairplugs and capped teeth and opportunism. Bernie's NooYawk accent is like nails on a blackboard for about a third of the country, no matter how much free money he's offering. Pelosi is scrawny and withered and meen. These people are simply no fun to look at on video: Barry & Mish were, in relative terms, glandular porn stars. Even with Obama's relative disinterest in ideological fundamentals, his is the administration which lefties remember fondly. Even without a child-raping scandal on Bill's rap sheet, Michelle has a better shot at the Oval Office than Hillary.

(Don't tell anyone I said that. Actually, you should forget it as well.)


Occasional-Cortex is young, tawny, twitching and categorically insane... Let's face it, we've all been attracted to girls like that at parties and on vacations and sometimes at the office.

A number of Pelosoid sins might be struck from the ledger if the Speaker were to kneecap the Bronx gamine in a meaningful way. (And then have a stroke before coffee the next morning.)

(That's not a cruel as it sounds. The woman is seventy-nine.)

Silicon bloodbath.

Did not know that, and am now grateful not to have needed to.

Because hey, you should balance the load on the rear axle, right? Makes it easier on your car, right? Right?