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Home » On the delights of Delecto

On the delights of Delecto

The New Neo Posted on by

You probably have already heard that Romney has had a sock puppet identity on Twitter for which his username is “Pierre Delecto.”

I have to say that I’m fascinated by the chose of moniker. First, there’s “delecto” from the Latin for ” delight, charm, please.” And Pierre, of course, is the French variant of Peter but which originally meant “rock” or “stone” in French.

And then there’s the possibility of a pun on the Latin phrase “in pari delicto,” which is a legal term meaning “two persons or entities who are equally at fault,” where the court decides not to rule in favor of either of them.

For most people, though, it might conjure up another Latin phrase, “in flagrante delicto.” You all know that one, I bet: “in the very act of committing a misdeed : red-handed; in the midst of sexual activity.”

And now I’ll just tiptoe quietly away…

Comments

On the delights of Delecto — 68 Comments

  1. Romney is such a disappointment to me. This latest revelation is just sad, to me. Consider the fact that with Trump, he doesn’t hide who he is and doesn’t need to employ sock puppets to prop up his self confidence.

    Romney: what a joke.

  2. Self chosen monikers can say a lot about how a person wishes to be seen. They’re little vanities. What does Carlos Danger tell you?

  6. Hey, I was a Mormon mission in Japan and I only had three converts. But I don’t use secret Twitter accounts with dumb names.

  7. The fact that McCain and this guy were the previous two Republican presidential nominees pretty much explains why Republican voters weren’t interested in any of the establishment candidates and chose Trump instead.

    Incredibly disingenuous nominees. Awful.

  8. Michael Towns–Quite a few years ago I read that, at that time, there was only one misguided person in Japan who had converted to Judaism, so three converts is doing pretty good.

  10. Funny, how in reaction to Trump all sorts of people are stepping out from behind what I would assume were very carefully designed Personas, to reveal what their true personalities, values, and agendas actually are.

  11. Self chosen monikers can say a lot about how a person wishes to be seen. They’re little vanities. What does Carlos Danger tell you?

    Nonapod:Or Nonapod, for that matter… Not that I’m judging, though I am curious.

    I chose huxley because Uncle Aldous was a favorite writer and intellectual. Also, simple, snappy and mostly not taken.

    I usually spend an hour or two each day in a cafe across from a state university. I people-watch and I’m often struck: Given all the options people have for presenting themselves, why do they choose those clothes, those accessories, those tattoos, and those logos?

    Of course, I’m not above this. I choose my outfits too.

    Everyone in this room is wearing a uniform and don’t kid yourselves.

    –Frank Zappa

  14. I’m a man but sometimes I post under a woman’s name because women are so underrepresented in the Blog world. BTW did you love the Downton Abbey movie as much as I did. The clothes! Dressing for dinner! Royalty! The dancing!

  15. Romney is a disappointment, Michael K, but he evidently still thinks highly of his charming, pleasing Peter.

  16. George Eliot:

    I never got into Downton Abbey, although I watched a couple of times. I bonded with the original Upstairs Downstairs long ago and couldn’t make the transition.

  17. Oh, yeah, but what I was going to say is, Texas Instruments reported poorly today and the markets were shocked, after-hours. Stock dropped like a displeasing rock. A little OT (but maybe it will become T in the days ahead).

  18. OT: Romney advisor Cofer Black sat on the same Burisma board as Hunter Biden.

    Mittens may be implicated in the same kind of corrupt shenanigans as Sleepy Joe.

    My guess is Mittens will come out against *any* investigation into Ukraine, period.

  19. So silly. I don’t know if, like Kurt Schlichter, I want my 2012 vote back. He would have been a better president than Obama, anyhow.

    Speaking as a non-Mormon: I don’t think Romney’s behavior has anything to do with being Mormon. It has to do with being Romney.

  20. Kate, do you object to what he did? Peter sent very few texts, as I understand it. A pseudonym seems like a necessity for a man in his prominent position.

  21. I’d say Mitt was just a chip off the old block, but George Romney was probably a better man….

  22. Kai Akker, no, I don’t particularly object to Romney’s secret Twitter ego. He had very few followers, and doesn’t seem to have affected anything in the larger sense. He had some fun and vented. My wanting my vote back, or not, has to do with his spineless behavior as a Senator, not this silly Twitter account.

  23. It’s not like he used a private email server for government business to avoid FOIA and corruption investigations.

  24. I have an oversimplified theory or perhaps axiom, that a citizen should never lend his or her support to a second generation politician.

    G.W. Bush is maybe the best counterexample I can think of. I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Bush then or now, but we could have done so much worse.

    My rep. in the House replaced a long time incumbent and both are/were second gens. The previous guy was the most useless seat warmer who no doubt found a way to line his pockets while holding office.

    I recall that one of the many problems that Newt Gingrich encountered as speaker was one Rep. Susan Molinari. She was a fourth gen. politician. Now she is a lobbyist(?) stooge for Google/Alphabet corp.

  26. Mentus…I don’t think the fact that a Romney aide was dabbling in the same murky pool that Hunter Biden was in is OT…I reckon it’s all part of the “Lie down with dogs, you’re gonna get up with fleas.”

    Romney is one of those faux conservatives who desperately wants to be seen as a “good guy” by those who wish him dead. Yep…he’ll try to fight off any Ukraine investigation that isn’t already pre-decided against Orange Man Bad.

  27. Thanks Neo for that name and phrase analysis. I caught the “in flagrante” one, but the “in pari delicto” maybe makes more sense. It is Romney’s dual self. Of course it also says that he and his dual are at fault of something, but maybe that’s just his religious training seeing all of us as sinners.

    Hey Michael Towns. You did 200% better than the amazing Mitt Romney. Way to go!

  28. your missing all the fun!!!!!!!

    White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told CNN: “Takes a lot conviction and bravery to write a whole book anonymously.”

    does she know what the words mean?

    meanwhile… to write of what goes on in the white house while being a part of it, and all that… is spying… publishing it anonymously under cover of some reveal is still spying…

    these people are much more dangerous..

    Far more significant than the media and political world trying to guess the identity of the author of the op-ed was Trump’s demand that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions order a law enforcement investigation to find out.

    cause letting someone spy in the whitehouse and publish hearsay?
    if they think this is ok… oh, the damage they are doing may be irreparable.

    no one of any decency will ever want to run for president
    you will get the worst of the worst from now on…
    till it changes into something else.

    then the world is in big danger

    Whether the book or its author will end up playing a role in the Trump impeachment inquiry is unclear. The Trump presidency currently faces an existential threat from another anonymous whistleblower, albeit one who went through more established protocols by filing an official complaint, and a source close to the book tells CNN that its publication “is an unprecedented act during a president’s term and was not decided on lightly.” The source said that the author’s “closest historic equivalent may be Deep Throat. As such the book should be of interest to ongoing investigations.”

    ah… back to the forever 1960s and 70s.

    the game is over..
    regardless…
    its just how long…

  29. Why are there so many Jews and Mormons on this blog?

    And using aliases online to avoid internet monitoring is a good thing. Every survivalist should be doing that, if they cannot go entirely off grid. So what is the problem with Romney doing it?

    Have you all looked at some of your online aliases being used here?

  30. I have an oversimplified theory or perhaps axiom, that a citizen should never lend his or her support to a second generation politician.

    TommyJay: Sounds good to me.

    California would have been spared Jerry Brown, son of Gov. Pat Brown, who actually built big water infrastructure and expanded the California university system.

  32. huxley,

    Gov. Moonbeam fits the mold to the extent that he apparently had no ambition in life other than to stand on his father’s shoulders. On the other hand, we Californians are just now discovering all the abysmal legislation that Brown had vetoed, that his atrocious successor is now signing on through. Brown’s branch of government seems to have been downright moderate and positive compared to the legislative branch, then and now.

  33. TommyJay: Well, Jerry Brown did have an affair with Linda Ronstadt while she was in her peak waif-on-roller-skates form and burning up the pop charts.

    That’s got to count for something.

  34. I’ve had multiple blogs and multiple web names, but decided if I wanted to be serious, I wanted to use my name. And not write stuff that I can’t accept being known as the author of. (I like Tigger, and related, like TiggerToo)

    Most others here, including our host, think more discretion is better. I’m a bit protected in Slovakia, but it’s clear it can be a problem anywhere. I did censor myself some, not publicly being as anti-PC as I feel, so as to be safer at work. Just in case. Tho none have ever said they read anything I wrote as a comment or on my own blog.

    Having a fake ID on twitter, or a blog, would be fine. Say things you really think are true, but don’t want to have to argue about them with real people you know and might have lunch with. BUT, using that ID to promote your real identity, like Pierre saying how great Mitt is, that is a sock puppet no-no.

    I don’t even have the interest to find this piece of info out, I’m so done with Mitt. He was right about Russia, he would have made a better president than Obama, but he was not enough of a fighter. Now he’s fighting, on the side of elites against icky Trump. And the icky deplorable Trump voters.

    And basking in the glow of publicity that so easily attends those high ranking Reps who are willing to criticize a Rep president, or other leading Reps. Better that he take over from maverick McCain, rather than Graham — I still have hopes of him further stiffening his spine.

  35. Often when I hear or read about Gov. Jerry Brown, I think of the Kennedys.
    Which Kennedys?
    The Dead Kennedys.
    I’m Gov. Jerry Brown. My aura smiles and never frowns…
    knock knocking on your front door.
    It’s the suede denim secret police!
    We have come for your uncool niece.
    Jello Biafra — not his birth name, but pretty cool. California uber alles.
    I also liked their Holiday in Cambodia.

    Bay area 80s new wave / punk.

  36. Tom Grey: Firesign Theater’s first album, “Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him,” had a routine about a bold new future in which police cars prowl the streets looking for old people who aren’t hip, arrest them and “return them for regrooving.”

    [Police pull up to an older woman on the sidewalk.]
    Policeman 1: Where’s your mini-skirt?
    Woman: [frightened] I forgot it.
    Policeman 1: Cool it lady. Don’t get uptight.
    Policeman 2: Come over here into the light so we can check your body paint….

    –Firesign Theater, “Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him” @ 17:00
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I2PjLna4C0

    More than a few people in the counterculture saw the counterculture’s potential for fascism.

  38. I can’t resist. Another bit on “Electrician” a couple minutes later:

    Newscaster: And now, direct from the Paisley House on Capitol Hill, man, we take you to the Gathering of the Tribes, which is already in session…

    [A gavel raps several times.]

    Senator: [in a really ripe Kennedy accent] Now, let me sock it to you, baby. It’s clear from these underground films shot in your bedroom by the Free Food and Drug Administration that you have been doling out unauthorized bread and water to a chick who had lost her Free Food card.

    Accused: But, Senator, like she was starving.

    Senator: [with steely authority] Young man, that’s her trip.

    [Applause]

    Senator: Take him away for regrooving.

    @ 19:40
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I2PjLna4C0

    The Firesign Theater was a creative, group mind, miracle on par with the Beatles and just as likely to be equaled.

  39. I can remember hearing Firesign Theater on the radio and laughing, but I never sought their work out.

    Meanwhile, when I first started occasionally commenting on the internet, I soon discovered that I really didn’t want to be “flamed” under my own name.

  40. Just for the record… my name really is the name I use here. I think that entering a public form without using your real name is sort of cowardly. If you are afraid to have your opinions associated with your true persona, perhaps you should reconsider what you really believe in. Or, perhaps that false persona isn’t worth hiding behind.

  41. Roy N,

    Becareful what you wish for. Y is occasionally spot on. On line you are vulnerable. As a lifetime NRA member I am a natural target for the fascist mob, a matter of public record… red flag laws duncha know. I carry when I want to, without a permit which is a matter of public record. No thanks, I have no criminal record, an upstanding citizen (in a free country) and have no wish to be targeted which is what happens far too often, as greater than once.

    You often post comments here, therefore you are an enemy of the State. Bottom line, they want you dead. Listen to their words. They mean exactly what they say. They want the full force of the feds to knock swat style to kick in your door simply because you might have firearms.

    They don’t care about what should be the rule of law. Got a cat? They’ll stomp if to death. Got a dog, they’ll shoot if for barking. Have children or grandchildren that get in the way of their invasion? They kill them too without hesitation.

    Waco, Ruby Ridge… have you learned nothing?

  42. I think that entering a public form without using your real name is sort of cowardly.

    I am a high school teacher. I really want to avoid my students finding out what I talk about on-line. Not because I won’t defend it, but because I want to teach my subject, and defending what I say on-line will derail lessons. (They attempt already, but fortunately they don’t know my politics.)

    Far from cowardly, it allows me to say what I think. Which I could not do under my real name online (my real name is quite distinctive).

    I will, and do, defend any of my positions in person. But without an (obvious) pseudonym I could not operate online.

  43. Romney served his LDS mission in France in the aftermath of an LDS-level scandal during which nine young missionaries serving there had been excommunicated for having come to believe in polygamy as a divine principle. The story is told in a 1988 article in the Mormon journal Dialogue. Perhaps Mitt envisions himself as having been a young Peter-Pierre-Rock who remained solid against such temptation. On the other hand, Pierre Delecto does sound like a wannabe Inspector Clouseau.

  44. In Ender’s Game, his older brother and sister both had pseudo-names on “the Nets”, so as to avoid the accusation of being too young.
    There are good reasons, like being a teacher, for hiding your true identity.
    And being a conservative in the tech industry, might well also be a reason.

    Discretion, discretion; while it’s for discretion, it’s fine. It enables you to be honest. A couple econ blogs I go by Tom G — what if my hetero- (un-?) orthodox views get used against me?

    It’s a sad, very sad reality today that the college-fueled demonization of Reps and Christians has ended Free Speech.

    Recall the Soviet era joke in commie countries:
    We, too, have free speech. Then they put you in jail.
    What is important is freedom AFTER speech.

    With the PC-bullies, now suffering so often from Dem Derangement Syndrome, folk in the USA need to worry about their freedom after speech, their car security with certain bumper stickers, their jobs if they espouse certain political ideas. Mitt, like all conservatives, or any who have any conservative policies, certainly has reasons to be anonymous.

    I actually haven’t seen any tweets by Mitt’s sock puppet, and I read that it’s now private, but haven’t tested it.

    But the name’s meaning … rock delight? Peter in the sack? I don’t care, yet I’m amused, and bemused, tho not at all charmed.

  46. I admire those who post under their real names. But I don’t think one size fits all.
    _______________________________________________________

    The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym “Publius” to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. The collection was commonly known as The Federalist until the name The Federalist Papers emerged in the 20th century.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers
    ______________________________________________________

    Call me a traditionalist.

  48. Let the mockery begin!

    Well, actually, its already well under way and, as I see it, this self chosen Albatross of a monicker is going to “dog” Romney forever, and it’s increasing weight is going to hamper him, and slowly drag him down.

  49. I’m absolutely certain that Romney will overcome.

    (Though it may have to occur in the next incarnation.)

  50. It’s a jolly bit of Groucho-like low humor to have Senator Mitt Romney posing himself as a self-approving-while-sockpuppeted Biggus Dickus, even if merely in the imaginations of desultory passersby!

    A cock-of-the-walk, indeed? Ah no: less schlong . . . more schlemiel.

  52. This is a bit more important

    “Any person who, by his advertisement, ridicules or holds up to contempt any person or class of persons, on account of the creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality or race of such person or class of persons, shall be guilty of a class D misdemeanor,” the statute states.

    University of Connecticut Police arrested Monday two men who were allegedly seen in a viral video reciting a racial slur.

    The incident occurred on Oct. 11 in the parking lot of an off-campus apartment complex. In the video, there are three men walking through the lot.

    An individual took the video from the window of an apartment building, according to local media reports.

    “there’s no First Amendment exception for speech that insults based on race or religion”

    The video prompted the UConn NAACP chapter to pen a letter to the editor of the campus newspaper, The Daily Campus, calling on officials “to fully investigate this incident and apply the proper justice.” Following those calls, the university confirmed to Campus Reform Monday that two of the three men allegedly seen in the video were arrested under a Connecticut state statute that makes it a crime to “ridicule” certain persons.

    want to guess which groups its ok to slur now..

    we are THAT MUCH closer
    invest in ovens.. and cremetoria

  54. The source said that the author’s “closest historic equivalent may be Deep Throat.

    That is ironic as Mark Felt, the real “Deep Throat,” was #2 at the FBI and got his revenge for being passed over for #1 by overthrowing the government.

    I have always posted under my real name and that has resulted in several nasty leftists seeking personal information to use in comments attacking me for my opinions. Since I am retired and old it has had not significant effect other than their own pleasure at attacking one who disagrees.

    For example, in 2004, I finally ended my practice of reading leftist blogs and commenting. The last straw was disagreeing with the regulars at Washington Monthly’s blog that single payer was the answer to health care reform. As it happens, I practiced Medicine for 30 years and, after an early retirement due to back injury, I went back to school at Dartmouth (a center of health policy research) and got a Master’s Degree. I had been interested in health policy for years.

    My disagreement on the role of single payer was enough to result in lots of nasty personal attacks, not attacks on policy ideas, and then deleting my comments, then by banning me. That was 2004 and deplatforming opponents was already a popular tactic of the left.

    I can certainly understand why someone still working would desire anonymity.

  55. It seems to me that ridicule is a very powerful weapon, especially if you are dealing with a memorable “meme”–a term, idea, or image that resonates, a meme that makes an imprint, that will stick in, and get a lot of traction in the public’s consciousness.

    It seems to me that, when Romney admitted to his alter ego of “Pierre Delecto” Romney started the journey from being seen as a sober man–a Mormon Elder–to start being seen as a figure of ridicule, as just another Beltway buffoon.

  56. “Pierre Delecto” is such an absurdity, that the first thing that popped into my mind was Patricia Neal in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” trying to avoid Gort’s terrible laser beam of death by reciting, “Gort! Klaatu Barada Nikto!”

    I clearly heard her instead plead, “Gort! Klaatu Pierre Delecto!”

  57. If president trump ere the one got caught doing something similar mitt would probably claim it’s an impeachable offense

  58. huxley on October 22, 2019 at 3:29 pm said: Nonapod:Or Nonapod, for that matter… Not that I’m judging, though I am curious.

    I like cephalopods and speculative evolution, so imaging a creature with 9 tentacles seemed interesting yet ambiguous. I’ve been using “Nonapod” as an internet handle since at least 2004.

  59. Nonapod: I had the obscene thought of an Octopus Delecto — so to speak. Glad to have that …er … straightened out.

    I love octopus stories.

    Some years ago I read about an octopus in the Santa Monica aquarium that was fooling around with the recycling unit in its tank and inadvertently disassembled the recycler. Two hundred gallons of water spilled out onto the floor. The octopus was OK, but …

    Bad octopus!

    I give the octopus another 50-60 million years to evolve and learn to do differential equations.

  60. I have always posted under my real name and that has resulted in several nasty leftists seeking personal information to use in comments attacking me for my opinions. …
    My disagreement on the role of single payer was enough to result in lots of nasty personal attacks, not attacks on policy ideas, and then deleting my comments, then by banning me. That was 2004 and deplatforming opponents was already a popular tactic of the left.”

    Right. Why hand them ammunition?

    In the pre-Heller decision days, when the right as a matter of “settled law” was supposedly up for grabs, there were plenty of highly emotional types who were dedicated to making you emotional as well if they could manage no better.

    If they cannot beat your argument they figure they will use whatever rhetorical means – invective, provocation, childish ridicule of anything – in order to get an advantage; or at least discomfit you.

    If you continue to respond in a careful logic machine-like manner, it only drives them more insane. And yes, when I was posting comments in a couple of fora under a longer version of this tag, which resembled my own name to a greater degree, I saw certain persons openly asking others to try and find out who I was and where I lived. Yeah, me, JoeNobody.

    This led to some interesting exchanges, especially with one fellow who had found through a third party what my name was (it really was no task as only a couple letters were missing) and began making coy noises about this or that.

    I had to set some detective relatives to getting me the information I needed, and then began addressing him by his full name. Whereupon he disappeared.

    In a later situation over Obamacare, a somewhat similar situation erupted, and one member of a hostile Frick and Frack pair became insistent that he was going to look me up, and was trying to publicly rally the troops to assist him in this.

    I got annoyed and offered him a meeting if that was what he wanted, and his fantasy that he was arguing with a weak old man faded, while his partner in insult began shouting warnings to him and saying that we should just all get along.

    Had the little bugger shown up on my front porch, I would have broomed him off without so much as a word.

    And all this was the result of nothing more than a couple of message board debates.

    Imagine what a public figure puts up with: namely, crazies who are willing to provoke their own deaths in order to try and injure or wreck your reputation while doing so.

  61. huxley: I shared your view of Firesign, too. Past tense because I haven’t listened to them for decades and am not sure if I’d still think they were as great as I did back then. I remember thinking they had invented a new art form with Bozos. In my experience Firesign fans tend to be like Python fans: start quoting favorite bits, to the confusion of those who don’t know them. “He broke the president!” I still find myself saying “Aw, man, he’s so boorrring” whenever a politician starts talking.

    Neo: I rewatched all of the original Upstairs Downstairs a decade or so ago. Not sure how much is nostalgia but I thought it held up pretty well. Did you see the attempted revival, about the time Downton started? I thought it was pretty good, better than Downton, but Downton ran away with that contest.

  62. Mac: Like rock’n’roll, Firesign Theater never forgets.

    Their albums were a tad uneven after the first golden four, but I can listen to “The Giant Rat of Sumatra,” “Everything You Know is Wrong,” and “Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death” pretty much anytime.

    For the uninitiated, Firesign intentionally created their albums to be listened to 40 or more times. The explored the limits of the studio as thoroughly as any rock band and packed an amazing number of jokes, cross-references and cultural allusions into each album. Those who discount Firesign as drug humor have no idea what they are missing.

    I doubt we’ll see Firesign’s like again. Comedy is almost entirely solo based on stand-up acts. Firesign was a group effort intended to produce audio movies. No one has attempted anything as ambitious in comedy since.

    Sadly Peter Bergman and Phil Austin are no longer with us, but David Ossman and Philip Proctor are still alive and active.

  63. “audio movies”–yes, exactly. They were to old-time radio drama as Sgt. Pepper was to Elvis’s Sun recordings. And right, it was not drug humor, although it was probably drug-influenced (ya think?!?). I remember hearing people compare them to Cheech & Chong, but they weren’t the same thing at all.

    I’ll have to dig those LPs out of the closet and give them a new listen.

  64. They were to old-time radio drama as Sgt. Pepper was to Elvis’s Sun recordings

    Mac: Quite right!

    Later in the seventies Firesign dropped most drug humor. “The Tale of the Giant Rat Sumatra” was their Sherlock Holmes parody and remained entirely within the Holmes world, aside from stretching things with bizarre and/or bawdy humor plus sly references to Holmes’ coke habit.
    ________________________________________________________

    “The road to opportunity is paved with Californians.” — Firesign Theater

  65. Huxley:

    If you love octopus stories, you’ve probably heard of the boy and girl octupi who got married and walked down the aisle arm in arm in arm in arm in arm in arm. . .

  67. Perhaps the coconut ended there because a European swallow attempted migration but his air speed velocity when laden was insufficient.

  68. You would think that “delightful Peter” would realize that he would become the subject of ribald humor.

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