Althouse

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• "Underlying this insurrection were the actions of folks who were challenging the voices of people of color."
• One thing and one thing only...
• "He will obsessively listen to one song while working."
• "This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me. I mean 'armed,' when you hear 'armed,' don’t you think of firearms?"
• Why are there no great new hairstyles anymore?
• What exactly is Joe Rogan's problem with Mayor De Blasio's "Open Culture" program?
• At the Monday Night Cafe...
• Glenn Greenwald was just reading on smart-liberal media Twitter that wokeness is just a request for niceness.
• "Biden and the Fed Leave 1970s Inflation Fears Behind/Administration and Fed officials argue that workers not getting enough stimulus help is a larger concern than potential spikes in consumer prices."

"Underlying this insurrection were the actions of folks who were challenging the voices of people of color." Posted: 16 Feb 2021 08:21 AM PST "If you look at whose votes were being challenged, these came from largely urban areas. The votes of people of color were being challenged." Said said Janette McCarthy Louard, deputy general counsel of the N.A.A.C.P. , quoted in "N.A.A.C.P. Sues Trump and Giuliani Over Election Fight and Jan. 6 Riot/The civil rights group brought the suit on behalf of Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, with other Democrats in Congress expected to join as plaintiffs"  (NYT). The lawsuit contends that Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 statute that includes protections against violent conspiracies that interfered with Congress's constitutional duties; the suit also names the Proud Boys, the far-right nationalist group, and the Oath Keepers militia group. The legal action accuses Mr. Trump, Mr. Giuliani and the two groups of conspiring to incite a violent riot at the Capitol, with the goal of preventing Congress from certifying the election.

One thing and one thing only... Posted: 16 Feb 2021 08:15 AM PST Let's be clear. The refusal by Republicans to hold Trump accountable for committing the worst violation of the Constitution by a President in our Nation's history is about one thing and one thing only: White Supremacy. — Rob Reiner (@robreiner) February 16, 2021 ADDED: I wonder where Rob thinks he is in the "regime of whiteness": ALSO: 10 minutes after I published this post, 5 commenters had already independently addressed Reiner as "Meathead." AND: Is there any hope that Reiner is doing humor? He is more or less considered a comedian, but I don't think he would tell this joke. The self-seriousness of an erstwhile comedian is a gristly matter.

"He will obsessively listen to one song while working." Posted: 16 Feb 2021 07:07 AM PST "He wrote one of his first plays to Leadbelly's 'Ol' Riley.' He listened to Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' and 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' while writing 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,' and John Lennon's 'Mother' while writing the play 'Jumpers.'... [Tom Stoppard thinks] that art arises from difficulty and talent. 'Skill without imagination,' one of his characters says, 'is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.'... His idea of a good death, he's said, would be to have a bookshelf fall on him, killing him instantly, while reading." From "'Tom Stoppard' Tells of an Enormous Life Spent in Constant Motion," a book review in the NYT. We've all had the experience of listening to one song obsessively over and over, but under what circumstance? Probably not while trying to get some serious mental work done! We're talking about songs — with words — over and over. Imagine writing a play while Bob sings "Subterranean Homesick Blues" over and over. So annoying! Maybe it helps to set up a big obstacle, to cram out 90% of what would otherwise crowd into your head.  When have you played one song over and over and why? When I was a teenager, I'd play one song over and over because it was a new song — a missive from the outside world — that I felt I needed to completely internalize. For example, "All You Need Is Love." As an adult, it was an old song that expressed an emotion I was experiencing and benefited from having the company and support. You could say that was an externalizing of what I was feeling. For example, "Fool to Cry." But I really never want to hear someone else's words when I am trying to write.  As for the "idea of a good death," would you like a song to be playing? Unless you're in one of those death-bed positions where you can manage the audio, it's likely to be an inappropriate song, perhaps something ironic about how full of life you are, like "I Will Survive."

"This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me. I mean 'armed,' when you hear 'armed,' don’t you think of firearms?" Posted: 16 Feb 2021 04:57 AM PST "Here's the questions I would have liked to ask. How many firearms were confiscated? How many shots were fired? I'm only aware of one and I'll defend that law enforcement officer for taking that shot. It was a tragedy, OK? But I think there was only one."  Said Senator Ron Johnson on the radio yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Why are there no great new hairstyles anymore? Posted: 16 Feb 2021 04:31 AM PST I'm reading, "The 11 Biggest Haircut Trends of 2021/The mullet is making a comeback" (Allure).  My heart is in the 1960s, where there were all sorts of exciting new hairstyles — bouffant bubbles, Sassoon geometry, Twiggy, Afros, all that hippie stuff. Later decades had less to offer. For years, I've been exasperated by the persistence of a style that was known in the 1950s as "bedroom hair." It's long and rather bendy and uncombed. When will it end? Why can't something inventively new blow it away? That was my thought process that led me to the Allure article. Excerpt: "We've been seeing mullets everywhere lately. The modern-day version of the cut that defined the '80s is a little more chill, though...."  Click through to see the photographs. You'll see women who are beautiful despite their haircuts. What a mistake to think you could look like them by getting their haircut. I'd like to see photos of a haircut that makes an ordinary looking woman striking.

What exactly is Joe Rogan's problem with Mayor De Blasio's "Open Culture" program? Posted: 16 Feb 2021 04:09 AM PST How the fuck is this a real thing. https://t.co/xi4DYlnrP2 — Joe Rogan (@joerogan) February 16, 2021 Is Rogan mocking the style of dance or is he fretting about the transmission of covid-19 outdoors? Or is it something else — De Blasio paying attention to the arts when he could be tending to health and economics (even though the arts are a core component of NYC's economy)? Is it that when people are suffering and deprived of the normal components of ordinary life, ballet is never the answer? ADDED: Whatever Rogan might have in mind, I want to step back and consider a larger topic: Is art superfluous, a frill that you get to after the basics are satisfied? I think human beings produce and want to experience art even when they are deprived and suffering. There's a difference, however, between the art of the suffering people and art staged by the government to entertain the public.  The source and the nature of the art is different. Is it an expression of suffering or is it an amusement intended to distract people and keep them from demanding too much from the government?  The ballet in that video does not express any real feeling about our current predicament. It's more: We have dancers who can't perform in the usual theater setting that you probably can't afford anyway, so lucky you, they're willing to bestow their talents on you out here in the streets. ALSO: I'm thinking about those Jules Feiffer dancers....

At the Monday Night Cafe... Posted: 15 Feb 2021 04:52 PM PST  ... you can talk about whatever you want.

Glenn Greenwald was just reading on smart-liberal media Twitter that wokeness is just a request for niceness. Posted: 15 Feb 2021 03:49 PM PST He doesn't link to that wokeness = niceness stuff, so I can't comment on the accuracy of that characterization, but this other thing — this diagram for parents of schoolkids — is really horrific: I was just reading on smart-liberal media Twitter earlier today that "wokeness" signifies nothing more than asking people to please just be nice and considerate. Who could possibly be opposed to that? https://t.co/eDSj2ZRMqn — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 15, 2021

"Biden and the Fed Leave 1970s Inflation Fears Behind/Administration and Fed officials argue that workers not getting enough stimulus help is a larger concern than potential spikes in consumer prices." Posted: 15 Feb 2021 03:37 PM PST Headline at the NYT. Excerpt:  No one better embodies the sudden break from decades of worry over inflation — in Washington and elite circles of economics — than Janet L. Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair and current Treasury secretary....   "I have spent many years studying inflation and worrying about inflation," Ms. Yellen told CNN earlier this month. "But we face a huge economic challenge here and tremendous suffering in the country. We have got to address that. That's the biggest risk."  [Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H.] Powell used a speech last week to push back on the idea that the economy was at risk of overheating. He said that prices could show a brief pop in the coming months...  "That's really not going to mean very much," Mr. Powell said, noting that inflation has trended lower for decades. "Inflation dynamics will evolve, but it's hard to make the case why they would evolve very suddenly, in this current situation."

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