Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 7,783 Comments »

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50 Comments / 7783 Comments

  1. Sebastien,Ted,EdgarG et al In our neighborhood we have, what you call,
    Once a year a sociable ball,
    What a time, there’s everything you wish
    Ev’ry one is dressed from soup to fish;
    You take Rifky, she looks pretty nifty,
    Don’t you mind to bring the lunch, it only costs you fifty;
    There’ll be wine and ev’ry thing that’s fine
    At the yiddish sociable ball.
    CHORUS:
    At the ball, at the ball, at the yiddisher ball,/
    There’ll only be class, or there’ll be nothing at all,
    And when that orchestra plays/ Yiddish kazotskys and Bombershays,
    At the ball, at the ball, and the yiddisher ball

    We’ll make monkey doodles ’round the hall,
    Out upon the floor I’ll be Jakey on the spot,
    Doing the kosher turkey trot,
    At that first class yiddisher sociable,
    (Remember, fifty cents admits the ladies and the gents)
    At that first class yiddisher sociable ball.

    VERSE 2:
    I have tickets here I don’t want to keep,
    Say you’ll come, I’ll give you them cheap;
    I’ll sing there if you will surely come,
    I’ll knock them from the seats singing Chill-i-bom-bom;
    A theatre won’t be half so good
    Don’t stay away treat yourself just like you should,
    Once a year, you know, you should appear
    At the yiddish sociable bal

  2. @CAPTAIN NEMO’S VIOLA PLAYER-

    If one can be a part of a string quartette playing with “gusto” 20,000 leagues under the sea, a little “attack” (more like a correction) should mean nothing.

    I comment only on incorrect items and devious ambiguities. preferring fact to the vagaries of a self-appointed court jester. All that is needed is a multi-pointed hat with bells for the self-styled “master”…Of course, I ignore much.

    When one thinks of grasshoppers, the Hope-Crosby movie “Road To Zanzibar” comes to mind; In it was mentioned “candied grasshoppers” which were being scoffed by Hope-before he choked.

  3. @CAPTAIN NEMO’S VIOLA PLAYER-

    If one can imagine a string quartette playing with “gusto” (Ah Bisto) 20,000 leagues under the sea, a little “attack” (more like a correction) should mean nothing.

    I comment only on incorrect nonsense and ambiguities. preferring fact to the vagaries of a self-appointed court jester. All that is needed is a multi-pointed hat with bells.

  4. Hochul signs bill to protect New Yorkers with medical debt

    https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/state-news/hochul-signs-bill-to-protect-new-yorkers-with-medical-debt/

    See this is the kind of thing that made me vote for her. While I agree with the Republicans on many issues like crime, immigration, critical race theory, gender insanity, weaponization of the FBI, she is against BDS as was Cuomo so Israel wasn’t an issue, fact is, none of these other issues affect me personally.

  5. @Grasshopper the feelin’ is entirely mutual. You like attacking the articles I post with silly knitpicking I notice.Expect ridicule.

  6. Irrelevant historical data are often interesting, as is the story of the Prince Imperial to history buffs. . But Irrelevant maybe, beginning with Marx’s trite item, trying to make something out of “nothing”. History is replete with attempts to co-join two different, vaguely symbolic incidents.. A form of deliberately arranged wishful thinking of really no interest to most-or all..

    As famous Irish comedian Jimmy O’Dea once remarked to someone applying hair oil, ..”Ya may as well smell like somptin’ even if ya look like nuttin’

  7. //Irrelevant historical trivia. The point I explicitly made was that Marx’s quip applies in the case of ” can socialism be built in one country” morphing into “can capitalism be built in one country” and a hundred years later, the left and the right exchanging positions in some respects. Now the MAGA right is railing about imperialism.

  8. Irrelevant historical trivia. The point I explicitly made was that Marx’s quip applies in the case of ” can socialism be built in one country” morphing into “can capitalism be built in one country” and a hundred years later, the left and the right exchanging positions in some respects. Now the MAGA right is railing about imperialism.

  9. All irrelevant historical trivia about an unimportant figure – flowing from my observation that Marx’s quip applied 70 years before in the case of “Can socialism be built in one country?” debated by the left which became “Can capitalism be built in one country” debated by the right a century later. 😀

  10. 18th of Brumaire was the date Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the republic and seized absolute power. The book title is an ironic reference to the nephew doing the same thing, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.

  11. @Edgar

    He died on foot

    So he didn’t even fall from the height of a horse? LOL…this kind of makes the quip even humorous. I do recall reading about the event in reports on other contemporaneous personalities and the significance his death represented.

  12. @PELONI-

    I did not comment on your professor’s quip, because I recalled a contemporary drawing of him fighting valiantly on foot. So I checked in an account by Rhys Jones. The whole matter was a compendium of errors and fumbles, which I won’t go into as they are well known.

    He died on foot, never got onto his horse, was very inadequately escorted, and so on. It effectively ended the dynastic claims of the House of Bonaparte.

    It was mainly his own, impetuous fault.

  13. @PELONI-

    Well Bismark’s brain was always working overtime, and he took advantage of the French “elan” and the belief that a Napoleon, (regardless of any real military success) was a military genius. The reverberations of past French glory and hegemony over all Europe still lingered.

    Too bad, the French paid a massive price and a worse penalty.
    Poor Bazaine. He KNEW the army was not prepared, but was blamed for it’s eventual massive defeats and his own surrender at Metz.

  14. @Edgar

    LOUIS NAPOLEON’S death really injured the aspirations of the House of Bonaparte, although they still exist.

    Hadn’t thought of the great lost hope of the Bonaparte family in some time. I had a mentor in college who was greatly involved in researching the Bonaparte family history. I recall him musingly mentioning that the “Prince Imperial” had proven his worth by outdoing his father’s failure, seeing that his father’s fall was from the height of his throne and required the manipulations of Bismark and the actions of the German army, while poor Louis only fell from the height of his horse and it took only the point of a couple of spears to achieve it.

  15. I am not getting into any dispute over a Karl Marx book phrase.. As far as I’m concerned, he can “drop dead”.

    Napoleon 3rd was the president, from the 1848 revolution to 1852 when he became Emperor. He was known as Louis Napoleon BONAPARTE. .There was NO Brumaire during his lifetime or ever after..

    A little known fact is that when younger, and living with his family in Italy he and his elder brother became members of a secret Italian revolutionary ,group and were chased by the police. His elder brother died during one of their escapades. (his grand-uncle was Cardinal Fesch, living in Rome).

    “LOUIS NAPOLEON was the Prince Imperial, son of Napoleon 3ed, born in the late 1859s died 1879.

  16. Musk is offering general amnesty to all suspended accounts beginning next week, “provided that they have not broken any laws or engaged in egregious spam”. This means that the child trafficking accounts which he has recently purged from twitter, after having owned it for a couple of weeks, will not be allowed back.

    I have not been a very strong proponent of Musk for a variety of reasons, but his actions here are quite important. The Leftist echo chamber is about to be met with a thunderous conservative challenge, and the result should be quite revealing to many.

  17. When was he known as Louis Napoleon?

    Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852

    When was the book written?

    The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon is an essay written by Karl Marx between December 1851 and March 1852, and originally published in 1852 in Die Revolution, a German monthly magazine published in New York City and established by Joseph Weydemeyer. Wikipedia
    Originally published: 1852

    “Written: December 1851 – March 1852;”

    https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/

  18. To anyone who relies on WIKI for info. Napoleon 3rd (according to Wiki, and correct) was Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.. for 4 years as President was known as LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE…and etc..

    The subject of this nonsense is “LOUIS NAPOLEON”, and being the SON of Nap 3 was the only genuine “Prince Imperial”. Born sometime in the late 1850s, he was a very young man in his early 20s when he was killed,
    .He was unmarried and left no direct heirs.
    Being an enthusiastic sabre wielder, he became separated from the British detachment, and, surrounded by Zulu spearsmen, was killed. The reports stated that there were about 4 dead Zulus at his feet when his body was recovered during a belated rescue rush..

    It was then that Plon Plon, although never formally acknowledged by most of the Family, filled the unexpected vacuum, became the de facto Head of the House, and was a Prince Bonaparte. but never “The Prince Imperial”.

    LOUIS NAPOLEON’S death really injured the aspirations of the House of Bonaparte, although they still exist.

    In fact one, one of the American Bonapartes, with suitably bronzed “outdoor” features, was regularly seen on the back pages of magazines advertising a brand of cigarette the name of which escapes me. I believe he died of lung cancer.

  19. @Honeybee We’ve been around this bend before, you may recall. Blue Bunny is made in Iowa . Blue Bell is made in Texas.

  20. Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was the last monarch to rule over France.

    Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 19–20 April 1808. His father was Louis Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made Louis the king of Holland from 1806 until 1810. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the only daughter of Napoleon’s wife Joséphine by her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais.

    As empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile.[1] Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen. They had a difficult relationship and only lived together for brief periods. Their first son Napoléon Charles Bonaparte died in 1807 and—though separated and parents of a healthy second son, Napoléon-Louis Bonaparte, they decided to have a third child. They resumed their marriage for a brief time in Toulouse starting from the 12 August 1807 and Louis was born prematurely, (at least) three weeks short of nine months. His mother was known to have lovers and Louis Napoleon’s enemies, including Victor Hugo, spread the gossip that he was the child of a different man, but most historians agree today that he was the legitimate son of Louis Bonaparte.[2][3][4].

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III

  21. LOUIS NAPOLEON, was known as “The Prince Imperial, and was killed in the british Zulu Wars in 1879, I seem to recollect. He was the son of Napoleon 3rd and a “super-numary” attached to British Forces.

    I’m writing all this from memory -which is not exactly a perfect source, but I was always particularly interested in the Bonaparte family and have well over 100 books on them alone.

    The only one I really thought was “gross” was “Plon-Plon”, (Prince Napoleon), a son of Jerome Bonaparte, who unofficially succeeded the Prince Imperial as head of the Bonaparte Family and claimant to the throne. ..

  22. In the “18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon” Marx wrote that historical events tend to appear twice, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.

    In the teens and twenties of the last century, First Lenin then Stalin and Trotsky argued over the question,

    “Can socialism be built in one country?”

    So, it’s a century later, and the burning issue of the day is globalism versus economic and cultural nationalism but this time the question they are arguing over is:

    “Can capitalism be built in one country? ” 😀

  23. In the “18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon” Marx wrote that historical events tend to appear twice, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.

    In the teens and 20s of the last century, First Lenin then Stalin and Trotsky argued over the question,

    “Can socialism be built in one country?”

    So, it’s a century later, and the burning issue of the day is globalism versus economic annd cultural nationalism but this time the question they are arguing over is:

    “Can capitalism be built in one country? ” 😀

  24. Cotton sides with Biden on granting immunity to Saudi crown prince
    Cotton said granting sovereign immunity ‘is in keeping with the practice and custom’

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cotton-sides-with-biden-granting-immunity-saudi-crown-prince

    So foreign countries and heads of state are bound by US law?

    What imperialistic Chutzpah, especially when the courts wouldn’t allow terror victims families to sue the Palestinian Authority which isn’t even a state! And lets not even talk about China and Iran!

    Remember when the EU or the UK, I forget, made noises about arresting Tzippi Livni?

  25. FYI

    No calm for Guangzhou residents in the eye of China’s Covid-19 storm

    “People living in the city say they are increasingly worried about a Shanghai-style lockdown as cases soar in crowded migrant district
    “Some are stockpiling food and others report they have been left waiting for official contact after receiving red health codes”
    Published: 7:44pm, 18 Nov, 2022
    https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3200169/no-calm-guangzhou-residents-eye-chinas-covid-19-storm?module=lead_hero_story&pgtype=homepage

  26. @Michael
    I was going to point out the ironic similarity here, but the post was already too long, so I am glad you recognized and shared it. I do believe comparing Bibi to McCarthy is an insulting comparison to make, but the political game is quite similar as you noted.

  27. HI, Peloni.

    the problem lies in the reality that they succeeded in achieving too close of a majority. They will need every Rep to support the leadership or have to rely upon the Dems for crossover votes.

    The irony in what you said, is that the US House of Representatives now resembles the knesset.

  28. @Edgar

    But McCarthy is being touted as a RINO in disguise…So it seems like fake news.

    No, it isn’t fake news. The three Mc’s (McCarthy, McConnell and McDaniels) are the RINO control of the Republican party as they are the main sources thru which Republican money is raised and distributed to the Rep member election campaigns, or not. Their combined control of the major Republican money sources is why their Rep members keep voting them into their respective leadership offices despite the fact that these leaders consistently fail to achieve meaningful goals which the base want. These RINOs don’t want to change Washington, they don’t want to end corporate control of the party, they don’t want to end the endless wars or any of the other MAGA agenda’s. They fought Trump for the entire 4yrs he was in office and celebrated, supported the insurrection of Nov 3, certified the election fraud and supplanted it with the myth of a Jan 6 insurrection despite the fact that it was nothing more than a staged distraction and coverup for the RINO-Dem Uniparty to seize and solidify the power of the US against the people they were suppose to be representing.

    Things are, however, changing with this recent election. The three Mc’s chose to undermine MAGA candidates, both in the primaries and the general election, hoping to gain control of the House and Senate with a slim majority. With the support of the Dem election thefts they achieved their goal, but the problem lies in the reality that they succeeded in achieving too close of a majority. They will need every Rep to support the leadership or have to rely upon the Dems for crossover votes. Consequently, McCarthy is rumored to have given MTG a promise of a chairmanship, with subpoena power to investigate Pelosi, Covid, Jan 6, etc in exchange for her coming to support him in maintaining the Speakership. Conversely, if the MAGA reps press their advantage too hard, there is a very real possibility that Liz Cheney could be named speaker by the Dems and RINO House members joining in a super majority to support Cheney against the MAGA members.

    Right now, McCarthy has survived a leadership challenge by Rep. Biggs with 188-31 margin, but in winning thi challenge, he demonstrated that he does not have the 218 votes needed to win the Speakership without gaining almost all of Big’s 31 supporters or face the ignominious possibility of needing some Dem support to obtain the Speakership. In fact, it is being reported that McCarthy is seeking, without much success, moderate Dems to caucus with the Reps and support him for Speaker, telling them to name their price, so that he can gain some wiggle room against the MAGA reps.

    Oddly enough, it does appear that we are back to the unenviable position which was encountered in 2016, when Trump won the nomination but faced the possibility of a RINO insurrection which could have handed the 2016 election to Clinton. The result of the compromises struck was to have Pence and a gaggle of his RINO allies in the White House, all of whom undermined Trump and aided in the insurrection after the election rather than during it. It also allowed the Rep leadership, RINO in nature and intent, to prey upon the fundraising from MAGA supporters and maintain a firm control on what campaigns are successfully funded run to success and which are not funded and left to quietly be overwhelmed by fraud, primary fights and defeat.

    In any event, the MAGA reps in the House are facing a very similar scenario as did Trump in 2016 as to whether they should ally with McCarthy or block him, and so far the MAGA members not aligned entirely aligned in how they will respond. MTG is supporting McCarthy after gaining the strong MAGA agenda she wanted, but Gaetz is still threatening to hold out against McCarthy and likely has the votes to block McCarthy in the Jan election for Speaker. So the challenge for McCarthy to become Speaker is for McCarthy to get Gaets to publicly back down, or for McCarthy to find a few Dems who will offset Gaets’ sliver group of MAGA holdouts while he is still supporting the agreement with MGT, or for McCarthy to find a great many Dems who will replace all the MAGA members. Of course, this latter scenario would more likely result in Cheney being chosen to displace McCarthy as the House Uniparty RINO of choice.

    Of course, if MAGA were to be cast aside while the Dems and RINOs come together to support Cheney, it would clarify a great deal of the ambiguous nature of the Uniparty hiding amid the Rep and Dem parties, but in removing the mask, it would give the Uniparty the overwhelming super-majority they need to completely transform the US which they have so far been unable to achieve while the RINOs are still collecting MAGA donations. It is very much a three member dance routine, but the Austrian waltz requires the cooperation between MAGA and RINO members, or alternatively between the RINO and Dems. It is something we will have to watch play out over the coming 6weeks, but most likely MAGA will come to back McCarthy, and Gaets will have to wait for his moment of retribution on another day.

  29. Not exactly chit-chat, but I just saw that the Repubs had won the House.
    But McCarthy is being touted as a RINO in disguise. This surprises me as his list of “things to do” is very pro Right Wing and definitely Anti-Left Wing.

    So it seems like fake news.

  30. Israelis are always inventing stuff. How about a sugar-free (for me) and sodium free (for my mother) ice cream, huh?

  31. “Despite the Ben & Jerry’s board’s claim that their product in Israel was now “uniquely” the responsibility of Blue & White, Unilever on Tuesday assured ice cream eaters in Israel and the West Bank that they need not fear any change in quality. “The ownership of the brand is different, but the Ben & Jerry’s product is no different to what’s been enjoyed in Israel for many years,” the company said in a statement.”

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/11/16/ben-jerrys-board-denounces-ice-cream-sold-under-ben-jerrys-name-in-occupied-territories/

    Yuk. Glad the antisemites lost but, though I’ve never tried the stuff, I’ve read that, despite B&J’s “all-natural” image, the sugar content is through the roof. .Diabetes anyone? 😀

  32. “IDF suspends soldier who cursed Breaking the Silence activist in Hebron
    Nov 16, 2022

    The IDF has suspended from operational activity a soldier who cursed an activist from the Breaking the Silence organization in Hebron.
    @
    The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said, “The behavior of the soldier, as seen in a video of the incident, is inappropriate and contrary to what is expected of an IDF soldier. The issue is being investigated and will be dealt with severely. The soldier is suspended from operational activity until the end of the investigation.”

    – Arutz Sheva

    I agree, Outrageous loss of decorum, Should of just tasered him/her/it.

    Dispassionately. And with civility. As befits a civil conflict.

  33. @Honeybee I saw the movie when it came out. If you want to watch it, Google: She’s the one 1996 watch and 11 sites that either let you rent it for $3.99 or watch it free with a premium subscription come up, including, Prime Video, Hulu, Youtube movies, Apple TV, and Starz.

    I just find it memorable for that one bit.

    I have a fairly encyclopedic memory of old movies though lately I prefer mostly Korean Dramas.