September 27, 2017

5 Views of a Kiosk in James Madison Park.

Today, on the southern shore of Lake Mendota, not far from the monument that got graffiti swastikas recently, I encountered a kiosk with a bunch of stapled-on signs that caught my attention.

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(Feel free to use the comments as an open thread... and to use The Althouse Amazon Portal.)

45 comments:

Mike Sylwester said...

Yesterday Consortium News published an article by Robert Parry titled "The Rise of the New McCarthyism". Excerpts follows:

... the United States has entered an era of a New McCarthyism that blames nearly every political problem on Russia ...

A Washington Post editorial on Tuesday shifted the blame for the anemic victory of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the surprising strength of the far-right Alternative for Germany from Merkel’s austerity policies, which have caused hardship for much of the working class, or from her open door for Mideast refugees, which has destabilized some working-class neighborhoods, to – you guessed it – Russia!

The evidence, as usual, is vague and self-interested, but sure to be swallowed by many Democrats and liberals, who hate Russia because they blame it for Trump ....

The Post cited the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which has been pushing much of the hysteria about alleged Russian activities on the Internet. The Atlantic Council essentially is NATO’s think tank and is financed with money from the U.S. government, Gulf oil states, military contractors, global financial institutions and many other sources which stand to gain directly or indirectly from the expanding U.S. military budget and NATO interventions. ...

Putin has become the great bĂȘte noire, since he has frustrated a variety of neocon schemes. He helped head off a major U.S. military strike against Syria in 2013; he aided President Obama in achieving the Iran nuclear agreement in 2014-15; Putin opposed and – to a degree – frustrated the neocon-supported coup in Ukraine in 2014; and he ultimately supplied the air power that defeated neocon-backed “rebel” forces in Syria in 2015-17.

So, the Post and the neocons want Putin gone – and they have used gauzy allegations about “Russian meddling” in the U.S. and other elections as the new propaganda theme to justify destabilizing Russia with economic sanctions and, if possible, engineering another “regime change” project in Moscow. None of this is even secret. ...

Instead of Democrats and Chancellor Merkel looking in the mirror and seeing the real reasons why many white working-class voters are turning toward “populist” and “extremist” alternatives, they can simply blame Putin and continue a crackdown on Internet-based dissent as the work of “Russian operatives.”

As Democrats, liberals and even some progressives join in this Russia-gate hysteria – driven by their hatred of Donald Trump and his supposedly “fascistic” tendencies – they might want to consider whom they’ve climbed into bed with and what these neocons have in mind for the future. ...

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/26/the-rise-of-the-new-mccarthyism/

Tommy Duncan said...

I wonder if Roger Goodell wishes the NFL had enforced the provisions of the players contract regarding the national anthem the first time Kaepernick took a knee.

Political correctness is not without a price.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Shorter leftwing fascist: "Pay for all my stuff, now."

Mr. Majestyk said...

If the NFL players protested during the National Anthem by burning the American flag, would we have to accept that too as ""just a protest aagainst police brutality" and not a deliberate act of disrespect to the United States of America and everything it stnads for?

jwl said...

Is kiosk Madison's version of Spearkers' Corner or do people put political signs up everywhere in Wisconsin?

MadisonMan said...

I wonder exactly how hard the Police are looking for the Vandals for that incident next to the Synagogue. I'm guessing not very hard, given that we all pretty much know who did it.

sykes.1 said...

It is possible we have entered the breakup phase of the American union. Surely, the NFL protests indicate that the American Flag and Anthem Are solely the property of Whites, and Negroes and other minorities have no ownership rights or other interests in them. Moreover, American is now synonomous with White.

This is entirely the doing of Progressives, who have imposed identitarian politics on all of us.

Multiethnic and multicultural empires like the US are held together by brute force. Think Saddam Hussein, Tsarist Russia, etc. If the Us survives as a unitary state, it will only be as a dictatorship. Trump's election. might not be our last, but there won't be many more.

Luke Lea said...

Madison owned slaves didn't he? Off with his head!

mccullough said...

Like that kiosks filled with stapled flyers are still around. Reminds me of my college days. I'm guessing that there aren't many people who follow these lone pamphleteers on social media.

gspencer said...

The Single Payer guy obviously had the day off.

Narayanan said...

How was the German Turkish voters split across political spectrum?

William said...

There's a poster offering free foot care to the homeless. That's pretty noble. The homeless aren't all that great about hygiene, and my guess is that they're non too conscientious about clipping their toe nails. How would you like to bathe the feet of a homeless man and then dig out his ingrown and overgrown toe nails. The Pope only bathes the feet of select Catholics, and even then they're probably pre-vetted for fungal infections and ripe smells. These unnamed podiatrists are truly holier than the Pope, and they have my genuine, snark free respect and admiration.

Henry said...

Typography wars.

Meade said...

"Madison owned slaves didn't he?"

We try not to think about that.

Etienne said...

Mrs Obama said “Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice...”

What does that mean to her "your own voice?"

Jon Jorgenson suggests a different meaning:

Finding your voice means finding a wrong to make right.
Finding your voice means creating something out of nothing.
Finding your voice means acting on the impulse deep within saying, “Go ahead, speak up.”
The world will be better because you did.


Mrs Obama seems to be divisive in her ridicule of those women who voted for a man. She has hostility to women who don't hear "her voice".

"what does this mean for us as women?” She asks.

What did it mean for women when any man got elected? Why should Trump ruffle her feathers now. She should have spoke-up when Jimmy Carter got elected. I mean, he was lusting after women, and "she said nothing." (to paraphrase Mark Kleiman).

Narayanan said...

Should we make distinction between inherited and went shopping for slaves? Eventually freed vs resold?

AlbertAnonymous said...

Sorry. That picture reminded me of an incident at my grad school (way back in the day). Very liberal school and student body. Building had classes on two floors. Everyone took stairs between classes. At the landing, where the stairs turned, people would post flyers for this that or the other thing, event, speaker, etc. After awhile the students noticed the tape that held the flyers was peeling the paint off the walls. So they "petitioned" (I kid you not) the admin to put up a bulletin board, so the flyers could be tacked in and not rip paint off the wall. And the school put up a bulletin board.

Within a year, there was a petition to take down the bulletin board because the disabled students (not sure there actually were any, but whatever, progress) couldn't see the flyers and so it somehow discriminated against them. Naturally the admin took down the bulletin board.

Within a year the flyers, still being posted in the stairwell without any less frequency, were pulling the paint off the walls again.

SMH...

tcrosse said...

Mrs Obama said “Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice...”

Does this include the women who voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries ?

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

The left likes their dictators, abortionists, [class] diversity, and financial monopolies, too. Why so anti-democratic?

wildswan said...

Imagine Hillary Clinton meeting with Althouse and telling her "I am your voice." Maybe Hillary could be a guest blogger.

bgates said...

Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice

I heard Sarah Palin talking about that, and they doesn't agree. Of course as far as Michelle Obama is concerned I suppose they isn't a real woman, since they is a conservative.


exhelodrvr1 said...

Madison the slave owner? Fill in the park with concrete!!

wildswan said...

Had a thought about the Great Kneel-In. NFL football on TV makes the money that allows relative money losers like the news to continue. But NFL TV is starting to lose viewers and money due to players disrespecting the vets, the flag and the national anthem. The players are doing this because they have absorbed and believed the TV news narrative on blacks and the police which has made the black players feel that this is not their country or flag. Moreover, TV news has made the players think that no one disagrees with the media narrative so that they can insult vets and the flag and no one will care. So they insult their audience. So the audience turns off the TV. So there's no money for the news shows. So the fake news purveyors lose their jobs due to their own fake news. Karma is a b----

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

"You're abhorrent"

There really is something wrong with Trump.

Karen of Texas said...

William, Google can be your friend. While perhaps not the homeless per se, this year prison inmates. Last year refugees in a refugee camp. Before that, people from other religious faiths.

You might want to try again.

Roughcoat said...

"Madison owned slaves didn't he?"

We try not to think about that.


Do, or do not. There is no try.

Known Unknown said...

Just pretend the city is named after Dolly and her precious cakes.

cacimbo said...

NPR still has not reported on-air that Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Real life factual events - buried. Any rumor about Trump/Russia - 24/7 on-air coverage. Why have Republicans not cut funding to this Democrat party fake news infomercial??

Wince said...

Tommy Duncan said...
I wonder if Roger Goodell wishes the NFL had enforced the provisions of the players contract regarding the national anthem the first time Kaepernick took a knee. Political correctness is not without a price.

My take:

Having coughed-up a monetary settlement, maybe the NFL owners thought they were helping to buy media silence on the CTE front?

But what was their "exit strategy" from the kneeling protest motif?

How soon would the owners get the players to declare okay, NOW everything is all hunky-dory on the SJW?

Didn't they know the answer always is "never"?

When would it ever be okay for rich players especially to declare such a thing?

Those players would be protested by BLM worse than Pelosi on immigration.

If you ask me, the NFL owners and players really didn't think this one through.

Trump, ultimately, was doing them all a favor when he ripped the band-aid off this one!

Wince said...

The NFL owners will very soon try to move the protests off the field.

Only question is will the NFL try to malign Trump for it.

Goodell has already proven himself stupid enough, but I doubt it.

All the NFL owners will be in on this decision, and Goodell likely out of a job.

I don't follow sports at all, but all this seems obvious to me.

Wince said...

Most politicians, like the owners, would cede this battle field in the culture war, hoping it would go unnoticed.

Trump is showing strong savvy in his choice of when and how to defend of the principles being threatened in the broader culture war.

Ray - SoCal said...

I hope the NFL goes back to what it did before they got a bunch of military money, of players on the field had to stand for the anthem, but you could stay in the locker Coker room if you wanted.

NFL deserved what they got, and looks like they expected Hillary to win and hired executives accordingly. Now they have Trump, and are like deer in the headlights.

JackWayne said...

Hefner dead.

Wince said...

Jack Wayne should have put the Hefner announcement on the Fonda/Redford thread.

Big Mike said...

North Korea is not the enemy? Wait up, sonny. If they send an ICBM with a nuclear payload over to Seattle, how will you get updates for your operating system?

eddie willers said...

Hefner dead.

I'll cry when it's Barbi Benton.

David Baker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Humperdink said...

What happens to all staples?

Jon Ericson said...

Rust away in a landfill or...?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Humperdink said...

What happens to all staples?

I haven't a clue. I'm always struck by the people who think they do have a clue... I think anyone who suggests that they have the answer is motivated by the need to invent answers, because we have no such answers."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Did the Obama years make you homeless?

Caligula said...

"Why have Republicans not cut funding to this Democrat party fake news infomercial [NPR] ??"

This would be a waste of political capital and likely would produce inintended consequences.

NPR's wealth lies in its large number of broadcast licenses and facilities, not in its annual subsidy. NPR got where it is with a good deal of government support, yet at this point only the subsidy (and not the licenses and facilities) could be withdrawn.

The likely consequence of removing the public subsidy would be that NPR would skew even further left. The savings to the taxpayer would be minuscule, and NPR would easily make up the shortfall.

In short, removing public funding of The Smug Network (tm) is not an effective way to fight the culture wars; attempting it would make you look pathetic, and success would remove the only lever remaining to moderate NPR's reflexive leftism.

Narayanan said...

Not just NPR ... Do away with statist patronage/support for press and art.

Narayanan said...

NPR will soon dig it's holes in the culture wars.