Althouse

by Unknown on Friday 14 November 2014

Althouse


"What counts as 'censorship' on a platform like Twitter?"

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 09:01 AM PST

"Magazines and blogs are typically free to reject articles—and, for that matter, to delete offensive reader comments—without being accused of censorship."

That statement — by The New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh in "Censoring Twitter" — gets a big huh? from me. You get accused of censorship all the time when you delete comments on a blog. I lob such accusations myself. Even if "blogs are typically free" to delete what the commenters post, everyone is also free to make accusations about the nature of the deletions and to use the word "censorship" if they want.

Perhaps Sanneh means to say that it's not "censorship" and that he defines the word "censorship" to refer only to the acts of government because we only have a constitutional free-speech right against what the government does. I don't accept that limitation of the word. But I do delete comments sometimes, according to my standards. I own up to censorship, and I defend my standards.

But I do understand something Sanneh might be trying to say, something I agree with: Blogs are different from websites like Twitter and Facebook which are larger frameworks designed to accommodate the individual expression of others. My blog is on Google's Blogger, and if Google tried to control what I could say it would be quite different from my deleting comments that cross whatever line I've decided to defend.

Hillary's Mook Mafia and its Most High Grown Ass Reverend Marlon D. "Please believe and obey the beard."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 08:37 AM PST

At ABC News: "Read the Secret Emails of the Men Who May Run Hillary Clinton's Campaign.
[Emails] include rallying cries to, in [Robby] Mook's words, "smite Republicans mafia-style," and, to quote [Marlon] Marshall, "punish those voters."... The existence of a "Mook Mafia" of friends and loyalists who extend through Mook's previous campaign work has long been known....

In the more substantive messages, though, Marshall emerges as the more aggressive of the duo.... "F U Republicans. Mafia till I die," he wrote.... "First, the mafia never separates, it just continues to grow and expand and move into other states in order to destroy Republicans," [Marshall] wrote. "A special thanks to none other than the namesake himself, Deacon Robby Mook. Without him, there would be no mafia and I for sure know I would not have learned as much as I have in this business and have this opportunity."...

"It's true: Marlon Marshall is leaving our fold. Today is the day the grownassman [sic] grows up and leaves for America's Second City. I know this prodical [sic] son will return to the mafia manger soon enough to smite Republicans mafia-style," Mook wrote. "If you can't be here in person, join me in spirit by sending your words of love and encouragement to the Most High Grown Ass Reverend Marlon D as he embarks on his pilgrimage. Please believe and obey the beard."

"And you think it's possible for the State to navigate between not enough minority members in the district and too many minority members in the district without taking race into account."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 08:38 AM PST

Said Chief Justice John Roberts at the oral argument Wednesday in Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama. (I'm quoting from the transcript, but here's a news article summarizing things.)

The lawyer for the appellants, Eric Schnapper, fought for coherence (and it really is hard to be coherent in the difficult-to-navigate area of law that is redistricting). He brought up a case (Easley) that said "that the fact that race was a factor in drawing a district doesn't trigger strict scrutiny" but that there should be strict scrutiny if "race was the predominant, overriding purpose."

Roberts came back: "So... they have to navigate between too many and too few, but without race being the predominant consideration."

Viral video of men taking advantage of a woman...

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 07:43 AM PST

... was made by taking advantage of men.

The woman was not befuddled — did you know the original meaning of "befuddled" is drunk? — but the men were befuddled — in the sense of confused. They were (apparently) invited to participate in a little film project, playing a role, not anticipating that it would be presented as documenting street harassment, in the manner of that woman-walking-for-10-hours viral video.

I blogged that walking-for-10-hours thing, but passed on that follow-on drunk-girl fakery. I knew it was fakery, because the acting was bad. It's not easy to act drunk. Here's some classic advice from an actor: "You don't play drunk—you try to act sober. People don't act drunk, people are drunk, and they try to act sober." Great advice, if you can figure out how to follow it. More here:
Only bad actors slur their words, stumble over the furniture and gasp after each swallow of fake hard stuff. Real-life drunks try to disguise their condition — and the best pretend-drunks follow suit.

Everyone has a different take on "playing drunk," says top Dallas theater director René Moreno. "Pacing your drunk acting is key. First drink equals feeling relaxed. Second drink equals mild euphoria. Third drink, hilarity ensues. Fourth, paranoia prevails. Fifth, sixth or more, anything from plain old meanness to self-hatred to weepy-weepy to suicidal. You want your actor to bring as much of his or her own experience to the work but not actually be drunk onstage, though I have had that experience. Yikes."

Trying hard not to seem wobbly is one of the secrets to looking plastered, say actors and directors. Former Dallas actress Julie Osburn studied with the great Uta Hagen, who originated the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. "Acting technique 101 is to consider the alcohol tolerance level of the character," Osburn says. "Martha's alcohol tolerance was higher than God's. To perform Martha, the slur might come in her last three lines, but never neglecting her consonants. Drunk acting means paying attention to the consonants."
You might be able to reverse-engineer that for the real-life goal of seeming sober when you really are drunk.  If you try to appear sober, that's what will out you as drunk. This makes me think of the old Yoda quote: "Do. Or do not. There is no try." Be drunk. Or be sober. There is no try.

"Whenever I'm in the shorts, I feel a real onus to be as deadly serious as I can possibly be, because you can't put those on and act silly."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 07:03 AM PST

"If you put those on and act silly, it's a joke on a joke on a joke. It's just an over-decorated cake. So, for better or for worse, whenever you see my performance on the show, that's me doing my most serious acting. In my mind, I'm like Cary Grant in that thing."

From "10 Things Thomas Lennon Wants You to Know About Lt. Dangle's Reno 911! Shorts."

Lennon is speaking of his state of mind, not opining on how he thought he looked, but it does make me wonder if Cary Grant wore shorts. Yes:



But that's consistent with my long-term exception for sports where the traditional attire is shorts.

Architect of the Universe.

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 06:24 AM PST

With all this blabber about Jonathan Gruber as the "Architect of Obamacare," we got to talking about the "architect" metaphor and the idea of God as the "Architect of the Universe."



I got that image from Wikipedia, where there is an entry for "Great Architect of the Universe." Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote: "God, Who is the first principle of all things, may be compared to things created as the architect is to things designed (ut artifex ad artificiata)."And John Calvin repeatedly calls God "the Architect of the Universe." The Masons use the initials "G.A.O.T.U., meaning the Great Architect of the Universe."And the term appears in Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, and Gnosticism.

I'm calling this to your attention not only because it's interesting on its own, but because it helps us think about the arrogance that oozes from the designation "architect." Gruber is an academic, whose work was useful in whatever way it was, either because he designed plausibly workable structures or because he mobilized the reputation of M.I.T. to be exploited to lull and soothe us. Calling him an "architect" is part of the propaganda. It's a powerful word, and when we become aware of its association with God, we may wake up to the magnitude of the flimflammery.

"After attempting twice to physically take Gonzalez down but failing to do so because of the size disparity between the two..."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:24 AM PST

"... the officer then attempted to draw her baton but accidentally grabbed her flashlight instead.... The officer threw down her flashlight, drew her firearm, and continued to give Gonzalez commands that he ignored."

From the report on how that White House fence jumper got past security.

"They asked us to delay the moment of silence to wait until the mayor got there."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:27 AM PST

Said Miriam Estrella, who lost 5 memebers of her family in the the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 and stood ready to ring a bell at a precise moment — 9:16 a.m. — the time of the crash 13 years ago.
"They kept telling us, 'Wait, he's coming. He's coming,' and I said, no, we're not waiting. We're not going to wait for him for a moment of silence. It happened at a certain time. That's the time that we have to toll the bells," Estrella said....
The mayor, Bill De Blasio, only made it worse by offering an explanation: "I was just not feeling well this morning. I had a very rough night. I woke up sluggish, and I should have gotten myself moving quicker... just woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep and I felt really sluggish and off-kilter this morning."

He's an idiot not to see that calling in sick was the best option. Having missed that opportunity, an abject apology was the only decent option. He thinks people will have sympathy over his struggles with a "rough night." 260 people died in a plane crash!

"You will find on the record for all time your filthy, dirty, evil companions, male and females giving expression with you to your hidious [sic] abnormalities."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 04:53 AM PST

"It is all there on the record, your sexual orgies. Listen to yourself you filthy, abnormal animal. You are on the record. You have been on the record – all your adulterous acts, your sexual orgies extending far into the past. This one is but a tiny sample. You will understand this. Yes, from your various evil playmates on the east coast to [name redacted] and others on the west coast and outside the country, you are on the record. King you are done.... King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is.... There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation."

King = Martin Luther King, Jr.

The text is a letter written in 1964 by an unspecified FBI official.
Even now, looking at a full copy of the letter, it's tough to puzzle out just what the bureau wanted King to do. The largest unredacted section focuses on King's sex life, recounting in graphic language what the bureau believed it knew. Another uncovered portion of the note praises "older leaders" like the N.A.A.C.P. executive director Roy Wilkins, urging King to step aside and let other men lead the civil rights movement. And some maintain that they simply meant to push King out, not induce suicide.

"I have never seen a president in exactly the position Mr. Obama is, which is essentially alone."

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 04:40 AM PST

Writes Peggy Noonan in "The Loneliest President Since Nixon/Facing adversity, Obama has no idea how to respond."
He's got no one with him now. The Republicans don't like him, for reasons both usual and particular: They have had no good experiences with him. The Democrats don't like him, for their own reasons plus the election loss.... No one at [his post-election lunch with congressional leaders] looked at him with colder, beadier eyes than outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who clearly doesn't like him at all. The press doesn't especially like the president; in conversation they evince no residual warmth. This week at the Beijing summit there was no sign the leaders of the world had any particular regard for him....

The last time we saw a president so alone it was Richard Nixon, at the end of his presidency, when the Democrats had turned on him, the press hated him, and the Republicans were fleeing.... But Nixon had one advantage Obama does not: the high regard of the world's leaders, who found his downfall tragic (such ruin over such a trifling matter) and befuddling (he didn't keep political prisoners chained up in dungeons, as they did. Why such a fuss?).

The Nancy Pelosi possibilities: lying, suffering from serious memory loss, or a facade whose power is exercised by unelected others.

Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:50 AM PST

"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that, not only did Jonathan Gruber not play a significant role in drafting Obamacare, but that she doesn't even 'know who he is'":



You have to watch the video. There's a moment at 0:13 to 0:15 where her lips move and no sound emerges that is quite strange, revealing (perhaps) that she's frightened to find herself in the middle of this statement as if she's lost in a mental maze and wondering where's the exit. At 0:21, we see her 5 years ago, in happier times. She does seem unforthcoming there too, and it's quite possible that she had no idea who Jonathan Gruber was even when she was dropping his name as if it proved that the economics of Obamacare had been carefully worked out.

ADDED: A sign of the times: Lefty website FireDogLake attacks: "Trying to pretend Gruber had no part in crafting Obamacare or that you have never heard of him despite considerable evidence to the contrary does sound like someone who is relying on a lack of transparency and the stupidity of the American voter – doesn't it?"

"Come January, fifteen University of Pennsylvania creative-writing students and I will sit silently in a room with nothing more than our devices and a Wi-Fi connection..."

Posted: 13 Nov 2014 06:06 PM PST

"... for three hours a week, in a course called 'Wasting Time on the Internet,'" writes Kenneth Goldsmith.
Although we'll all be in the same room, our communication will happen exclusively through chat rooms and listservs, or over social media. Distraction and split attention will be mandatory. So will aimless drifting and intuitive surfing. The students will be encouraged to get lost on the Web, disappearing for three hours in a Situationist-inspired dérive, drowsily emerging from the digital haze only when class is over. We will enter a collective dreamspace, an experience out of which the students will be expected to render works of literature....

Nothing is off limits: if it is on the Internet, it is fair play. Students watching three hours of porn can use it as the basis for compelling erotica; they can troll nefarious right-wing sites, scraping hate-filled language for spy thrillers; they can render celebrity Twitter feeds into epic Dadaist poetry; they can recast Facebook feeds as novellas; or they can simply hand in their browser history at the end of a session and present it as a memoir....

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