Althouse

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• A very foggy sunrise...
• Ah! It worked out to an even 10 this time. Enjoy my selection of TikToks, and let me know what you like best.
• "My name is a Confederate monument, so I cross it out when I write it."
• "[T]he early Christians believed that both the bodies that created life and the world that sustained it were proof of the 'continual creative activity of God.'"
• The certified vibesmith shows you how to make your life "hit different."
• "The womb is the only organ in a woman’s body that serves no specific purpose to her life or well-being.... It is truly a sanctuary."
• "Ivana Trump, the first wife of former president Donald Trump, died of 'blunt impact injuries' to her torso..."
• "[W]hen I’m working at my desk, no videoconferencing app is running, my camera is switched off and the lens cover is in place, I don’t see why..."
• "People often say that Sarah Palin anticipated the rise of Donald Trump, but you could say the same of Pat Buchanan or Ross Perot or Herman Cain..."
• "Much has already been said, tweeted and complained about The Washington Post’s tagline, 'Democracy Dies in Darkness'.... It’s harsh, foreboding and alarming."
• "Former President Donald Trump’s pick to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney in the race for Wyoming’s lone House seat holds a commanding 22-point lead with a month until the primary..."
• "Let’s say a family of four is going on a weeklong vacation to Hawaii. One of the adults is taking a good-quality dedicated camera, and everyone else..."

A very foggy sunrise... Posted: 16 Jul 2022 04:54 PM PDT ... is still a sunrise (by the standards of this blog). And (by the standards of this blog) a post with just a photograph and minimal words is an open thread.

Ah! It worked out to an even 10 this time. Enjoy my selection of TikToks, and let me know what you like best. Posted: 16 Jul 2022 04:46 PM PDT 1. She's decided she's going to start gaslighting you. 2. Her problems are not relatable. 3. The Greeter. 4. After that short trip to France. 5. Boy instructs his daddy about the meting out of sweets. 6. The little girl will tell you clearly what she likes. 7. If you ask a 5-year-old boy what he thinks of your dress, you deserve the brutal truth. 8. The Cookie Incident. 9. The Greatest Love. 10. The Donkey Song.

"My name is a Confederate monument, so I cross it out when I write it." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 04:25 PM PDT Writes Baynard Woods (in The Washington Post). [I]n 1860, to take a single year, various Baynards believed that they owned 781 people, while the Woodses — from whom I'm directly descended — claimed possession of 23 more.... Since before Reconstruction, Black Americans have thrown off "slave names," but I had never read or heard about White people addressing our enslaver names.... I quickly realized that, though I could no longer bear my name — which I share with my Trump-supporting father, who died last year — I could not change it either. To change it would only continue the coverup that kept me from recognizing its reality. And any name I chose would probably be just as fraught as my own.... Seeking some way to acknowledge the past embedded in my name without continuing to honor it, I recalled the philosophical strategy of putting a word "under erasure." It was a technique popularized by the French deconstructionist Jacques Derrida, who argued that certain words contain their own negation, which he signified by crossing them out. Such words, he suggested, are unavoidable tools for speaking and thinking, but they are also inadequate. As such, they had to be eliminated while also remaining legible.... I'm aware that such a gesture could be empty and even harmful, especially if followed too fervently. It could serve to make me feel better while adding extra work for someone else trying to figure out how to deal with the practical issues surrounding this idiosyncratic byline. Absurdly, the name isn't crossed out as it sits atop this column.   This publication, for instance, doesn't allow a strike-through command in the byline field. But when I am in control and when it is my choice, as on the cover of my new book, I choose to cross it out as a reminder of the white supremacy we still need to undo. He has a new book — "Inheritance: An Autobiography of Whiteness" — and he's publicizing it via WaPo, even though WaPo won't cross out his name and crossing out his name is his whole point.   The commenters over there are making fun of him.

"[T]he early Christians believed that both the bodies that created life and the world that sustained it were proof of the 'continual creative activity of God.'" Posted: 16 Jul 2022 05:05 PM PDT "Women and nature were aligned, in this view, as the material sources of God's plan. 'The word nature is derived from nascitura, which means "birthing," and nature is imagined and felt to be like a pregnant womb, a matrix, a mother,' [writes historian Barbara Duden]. But, in recent decades, she notes, the natural world has begun to show its irreparable damage. The fetus has been left as a singular totem of life and divinity, to be protected, no matter the costs, even if everything else might fall. The scholar Katie Gentile argues that, in times of cultural crisis and upheaval, the fetus functions as a 'site of projected and displaced anxieties,' a 'fantasy of wholeness in the face of overwhelming anxiety and an inability to have faith in a progressive, better future.' The more degraded actual life becomes on earth, the more fervently conservatives will fight to protect potential life in utero. We are locked into the destruction of the world that birthed all of us; we turn our attention, now, to the worlds—the wombs—we think we can still control." Writes Jia Tolentino, in "Is Abortion Sacred? Abortion is often talked about as a grave act. But bringing a new life into the world can feel like the decision that more clearly risks being a moral mistake" (The New Yorker).

The certified vibesmith shows you how to make your life "hit different." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 09:33 AM PDT @rickygourmet This is a PROVEN technique to help you pull yourself back up from the quicksand we all sink in sometimes. You got this bestie, i believe in you 💖💖💖 #wellness #selfcare #routine #hitdifferent #bobdylan #vibesmith ♬ Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) [2018 Remaster] - Kate Bush

"The womb is the only organ in a woman’s body that serves no specific purpose to her life or well-being.... It is truly a sanctuary." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 07:17 AM PDT Wrote Montana state Rep. Brad Tschida (R), "a former Montana House majority leader who is running for the state Senate," quoted in "GOP lawmaker: Womb has 'no specific purpose' to a woman's 'life or well-being'" (WaPo). If you have a womb, it's not about you. It's just inside your body, but it's the sovereign domain of somebody else — kind of like the Vatican and Italy. Tschida, criticized, defended his position: "I'm not going to apologize for saying that. I think that's exactly what it's there for. It welcomes in a new life and that's what it's there to do, to nurture and sustain that life." Well, there are too many apologies these days. But is he right? "The womb is the only organ in a woman's body that serves no specific purpose to her life or well-being." What about the appendix? In any case, you spend a lot of time and energy on this organ, which — until you're old — reminds you of its existence every time you menstruate. What's that? Oh? You don't menstruate, Brad? Well, then, maybe be a little circumspect explaining our bodies to us. But wait! I was going to stop reading this article in the middle. Democracy almost died in darkness. I looked ahead and was completely surprised to see that Tschida was paraphrasing someone else — quoting a woman: In an email sent Monday to legislators, Tschida referenced an episode of a podcast featuring a professor who supported abortion rights debating with a woman who held antiabortion beliefs. Although Tschida told local media that he did not recall the name of the podcast, the Republican noted how the professor asked his antiabortion guest whether a woman should have to "sacrifice her organs because someone else told her to do so." After thinking on the question, Tschida wrote, the woman expressed her opinion that "the womb is a place set aside for another person who arrives as a result of a choice of a man and a woman to procreate." "That single factor has struck me since I heard that commentary," Tschida wrote. Notice that the antiabortion guest on the unnamed podcast expressed her idea in terms of choice: "the womb is a place set aside for another person who arrives as a result of a choice of a man and a woman to procreate." Someone who favors access to abortion could agree: Yes! The womb is reserved as a place for the person who arrives because the woman has invited it to take up residence. She can also choose to allow the unchosen arrival to continue to occupy the place, but that's her choice.  The "special place" argument works in favor of abortion at least as well as it works against.

"Ivana Trump, the first wife of former president Donald Trump, died of 'blunt impact injuries' to her torso..." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 06:45 AM PDT "... according to a report from the New York City chief medical examiner Friday. The manner of death was classified as an accident, the report added.... Ivana Trump was found unconscious on a staircase in her East 64th Street home near Central Park.... More than one in four Americans older than 65 fall each year, and falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among that age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths from falling occur at a rate of about 64 deaths per 100,000 older adults...." WaPo reports.

"[W]hen I’m working at my desk, no videoconferencing app is running, my camera is switched off and the lens cover is in place, I don’t see why..." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 06:28 AM PDT "... I can't work buck naked if I feel like it and the temperature permits. My wife says that, because we work for the same (very large) company, and thus people who know me know her, at least by association, I owe it to her to follow [the] convention [of wearing a shirt]. She even said that the day I appear shirtless on camera, even by accident, she will quit her job, change her name and file for divorce. I suspect she's not entirely serious, but I also think I'm willing to live with those odds, because there's zero chance of what she's concerned about actually happening."   From a question to the WaPo advice columnist. The columnist takes his side. I don't. He should wear a shirt just because his wife needs it to feel comfortable. And because: Jeffrey Toobin. It only seems like zero until it happens.

"People often say that Sarah Palin anticipated the rise of Donald Trump, but you could say the same of Pat Buchanan or Ross Perot or Herman Cain..." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 06:19 AM PDT "... depending on your focus. Trumpism is perhaps best understood as two things: populist-right mood and populist-right policy. The mood is one of resentment toward predatory or incompetent elites, and the policy (in theory, at least) is one of strength through self-containment — whether regarding immigration or commerce or military deployment. J.D. Vance, running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, represents Trumpism mainly as policy, while Palin represents it mainly as mood. This can make Palin maddeningly hazy on issues that many conservatives and liberals alike care about most.... People often point to personality traits shared by Palin and Trump, such as thin skin and self-absorption... Both have thin skins, but Trump's covers a hearty and insensate core; Palin described being excluded from McCain's funeral as a 'gut punch' and told Fox host Sean Hannity that she could watch Tina Fey's impression of her only with 'the volume all the way down.' Trump enjoys riling the other side, while Palin, despite her flame throwing, seems most eager to please her own side....  Palin's religious faith alarms many of her critics in a way that Trump's religious faith, if that's what you can call it, never did.... [W]hen it comes to self-aggrandizement, her faith also appears to discourage her from Trumpian excesses.... If we can tell a human story of Sarah Palin, maybe people can wish her victory or defeat instead of vengeful triumph or destruction...." rites T.A. Frank in "Sarah Palin Has Long Been Ridiculed. I Wanted to Tell a Different Story. A reconsideration of the narrative that surrounds her as she runs for Congress" (WaPo).

"Much has already been said, tweeted and complained about The Washington Post’s tagline, 'Democracy Dies in Darkness'.... It’s harsh, foreboding and alarming." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 05:38 AM PDT "But it's also true. When people don't know the facts, a government of the people is impossible. So then why do the Post and many other legacy news publishers leave so many Americans in the dark? See, if you want to read a Post article, including this one about how they came up with the tagline back in 2017, you might be blocked by a paywall.... I often refer to people who don't pay for news as 'passive' news consumers.... [T]hey're... consuming the news that comes to them through their daily scrolling of social media feeds, email inboxes and conversations with people they trust.... Passive consumers may have faith that good, accurate news about the world and their own communities will somehow find them. But with few exceptions, they're wrong about that. Increasingly, the fact-based news that's necessary for a pro-democracy citizenry is behind a paywall. On social media, passive consumers are more likely to see propaganda that capitalizes on the ways information is distributed there. Biased algorithms reward salacious and emotionally charged content — often favoring right-leaning messaging that is outright false....With a major political party upholding the Big Lie and sowing mistrust in our incredibly secure elections, we have no more time to waste on out-of-touch debates. News organizations must instead seize the opportunity before us to once again serve as the bulwark of our democracy and get factual information to the people...." Writes Tara McGowan in "Democracy dies behind a paywall/Paywalls bolster news organizations' bottom lines, but leave Americans in the dark. As a public service, let everyone read election stories for free" (Poynter). There are more kinds of passivity — and propaganda — than McGowan acknowledges, and she's — ironically — doing propaganda of her own. But, yeah, paywalls are gumming up the works. In case you're wondering what was in that 2017 WaPo article about its ominous slogan, I crossed the paywall for you: The paper's owner, Amazon.com founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, used the phrase in an interview [in 2016].... Bezos apparently heard the phrase from legendary investigative reporter Bob Woodward....Woodward's source appears to be Judge Damon J. Keith.... [A] small group of Post employees... began meeting last year to develop a slogan. One planning document for the group suggested finding a "positive" variation on the early contender "Democracy Dies in Darkness."... The group brainstormed more than 500 would-be slogans. The choices ranged from the heroic ("Dauntless Defenders of the Truth") to the clunky ("American democracy lives down the street. No one keeps closer watch.") to the Zen-like ("Yes. Know."). The group ultimately ended up where it started — with "Democracy Dies in Darkness." Ha ha. Everything else was worse. But they had 500! It's like that vast array of photos from your family trip to Hawaii. They're all bad!

"Former President Donald Trump’s pick to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney in the race for Wyoming’s lone House seat holds a commanding 22-point lead with a month until the primary..." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 05:15 AM PDT "... a new Casper Star-Tribune poll shows. Natural resources attorney Harriet Hageman leads Cheney 52% to 30%, the poll shows.... In past elections, Cheney has handily beat her primary opponent. And given that Wyoming is one of the nation's most conservative states, the Republican House nominee often coasts to victory in the general election. But the Wyoming Republican Party has turned on Cheney, censuring her soon after Trump's impeachment and voting last fall to no longer recognize her as a member of the GOP...."  The Casper Star Tribune reports.

"Let’s say a family of four is going on a weeklong vacation to Hawaii. One of the adults is taking a good-quality dedicated camera, and everyone else..." Posted: 16 Jul 2022 05:04 AM PDT "... will be snapping away with their smartphones. How many pictures should the family aim to end up with? Consider the possibility that a reasonable number is eight." I'm reading "THE SECRET ART OF THE FAMILY PHOTO/They're the pictures that mean the most to us. What makes them good?" by Michael Johnston (in The New Yorker). You might have to take five hundred pictures in Hawaii to get eight truly good ones—and, even then, getting those eight good ones won't be easy.... Mindless snapping of "the sights" isn't going to hack it. Dozens of images of marine life beneath a glass-bottomed boat won't make up for missing the zip line that was the highlight of your ten-year-old's trip.  The same principle applies when you're not on vacation. It's tempting to take—and keep—many photos of birthday parties, picnics, athletic competitions, and so on. But numerous events can be commemorated with a single picture. It just has to be a good one, and to tell enough of the story.... What is the "story"? I don't think it's the thing that was most exciting to do — including that "zip line that was the highlight of your ten-year-old's trip." Looking back, I would want to see how everyday life felt at a particular time wherever we were in our life. The special occasions matter the least. I look back at the photographs taken of my family when I was a child and I see a ludicrous delusion that we, in the future, would care above all about the opening Christmas presents. It may have felt like the "highlight" of a kid's year at the time, but it's utterly meaningless now.

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