Obama: ‘It Is Cruel’


By Barack Obama (Facebook)

Immigration can be a controversial topic. We all want safe, secure borders and a dynamic economy, and people of goodwill can have legitimate disagreements about how to fix our immigration system so that everybody plays by the rules.

But that’s not what the action that the White House took today is about. This is about young people who grew up in America – kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.

Over the years, politicians of both parties have worked together to write legislation that would have told these young people – our young people – that if your parents brought you here as a child, if you’ve been here a certain number of years, and if you’re willing to go to college or serve in our military, then you’ll get a chance to stay and earn your citizenship. And for years while I was President, I asked Congress to send me such a bill.

That bill never came. And because it made no sense to expel talented, driven, patriotic young people from the only country they know solely because of the actions of their parents, my administration acted to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people, so that they could continue to contribute to our communities and our country. We did so based on the well-established legal principle of prosecutorial discretion, deployed by Democratic and Republican presidents alike, because our immigration enforcement agencies have limited resources, and it makes sense to focus those resources on those who come illegally to this country to do us harm. Deportations of criminals went up. Some 800,000 young people stepped forward, met rigorous requirements, and went through background checks. And America grew stronger as a result.

But today, that shadow has been cast over some of our best and brightest young people once again. To target these young people is wrong – because they have done nothing wrong. It is self-defeating – because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?

Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question. Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us.

They are that pitcher on our kid’s softball team, that first responder who helps out his community after a disaster, that cadet in ROTC who wants nothing more than to wear the uniform of the country that gave him a chance. Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone’s taxes, or raise anybody’s wages.

It is precisely because this action is contrary to our spirit, and to common sense, that business leaders, faith leaders, economists, and Americans of all political stripes called on the administration not to do what it did today. And now that the White House has shifted its responsibility for these young people to Congress, it’s up to Members of Congress to protect these young people and our future. I’m heartened by those who’ve suggested that they should. And I join my voice with the majority of Americans who hope they step up and do it with a sense of moral urgency that matches the urgency these young people feel.

Ultimately, this is about basic decency. This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people – and who we want to be.

What makes us American is not a question of what we look like, or where our names come from, or the way we pray. What makes us American is our fidelity to a set of ideals – that all of us are created equal; that all of us deserve the chance to make of our lives what we will; that all of us share an obligation to stand up, speak out, and secure our most cherished values for the next generation. That’s how America has traveled this far. That’s how, if we keep at it, we will ultimately reach that more perfect union.

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Author: craigcrawford

Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.

88 thoughts on “Obama: ‘It Is Cruel’”

  1. Ultimately, this is about basic decency.

    [Barak Obama]

    last night, kgc asked: “Why does PG hate Obama so much?  It is pathological.”

    and granny answered:

    “KGC: My thoughts too. He doesn’t care who he hurts as long as he thinks it takes something away from President Obama.” 

    yes, ultimately it is about decency.  decency is defined as behavior that conforms to accepted standards of morality or respectability and is nowhere to be found in today’s white house.  the twit  is truly indecent.

     

  2. he is trying to erase all traces of the 1st potus of color.  even the overhaul of the white house building itself seems to be an attempt to remove whatever memory is left.   so he will tromp on anybody and everything to change history.

  3. last time senate voted, didn’t they pass the dream act by 68 yeas but the house diddled around and didn’t bring it up?  will that vetoproof vote still be there in the senate and this time will paul ryan have painted himself too much in a corner that he has to let it come up for a vote?  the beauty is that this time there is legislation ready and there are a majority willing.  they conceivably could pass it out within a week.  will they?

    kudos to Lindsey graham and dick durbin

    Hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration would scale back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said they hoped to pass the latest version of the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who come to the U.S. as children, by the end of the month.

    As part of its decision, the White House charged Congress with finding a solution for the DACA program, which has granted work permits and temporary relief from deportation to nearly 800,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. It has six months to pass legislation before the government stops granting DACA authorizations in March 2018.

    Durbin has introduced various versions of the DREAM Act in the past 16 years, the Washington Post reported earlier this summer, but none of them have ever made it through both chambers of Congress. The senators reintroduced the latest version of the legislation in July.  [video and story at pbs continues]

  4. excerpt from  npr re Irma this 7:35 a.m.

    “I am at a complete and utter loss for words looking at Irma’s appearance on satellite imagery,” NHC scientist Taylor Trogdon said Tuesday night, reacting to images of the storm’s tight and powerful spiral.

    Irma is expected to remain a major hurricane for at least five days, including when it makes a predicted landfall on Florida and the U.S. mainland this weekend.

    With maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, Irma is a Category 5 — the most serious type of major hurricane on the Saffir-Sampson wind scale.

    Describing the kind of destruction a Category 5 storm can cause, the National Hurricane Center says, “A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse.” The agency adds, “Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”

  5. “cruel” is an understatement

    abc news:

    Talking points distributed by the Trump administration on Tuesday urge Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to “prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States” — even as President Donald Trump and the White House are pushing Congress for a legislative solution to immigration reform.

    The missive comes in a document obtained by ABC News that was provided to members of Congress in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s decision that it will be ending DACA — the policy that protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

    “The Department of Homeland Security urges DACA recipients to use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States — including proactively seeking travel documentation — or to apply for other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible,” the document reads.

    Two congressional sources and one administration official confirmed the authenticity of the document, titled “Talking Points — DACA Rescission.”

    One senior U.S. official familiar with the document said the administration stands by that point as written.

    “Once DACA expires, they are in this country illegally,” this official said. “And once that expires, we expect them to no longer remain in our country illegally.”

    […continues….]

  6.  

    blueINdallas mentioned the third rail last night. Secretary Clinton & her book. I venture her words, uh, will be remembered.

     

  7. Targeting:

    “The Department of Homeland Security urges DACA recipients to use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States — including proactively seeking travel documentation — or to apply for other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible,” the document reads.”

    Estimates are that there are 11-15 million undocumented immigrants in the US.  Remember when SFB was going to go after the bad hombres?  Well, so much for that BS – now DHS wants to go after the subgroup that presents the LEAST threat to the US.

    I would personally like to thank Bernie, Jill, Gary and all the so-called Democrats who either left the party or just voted as a protest vote, and yes Robby as well for forgetting that the rust belt can swing elections, for helping insure that SFB would become POTUS.

  8. A beautiful morning glory with a smoky full moon.  While the hurricanes rage on the southeast coast, the fires rage on the west coast.  Herein the Mesilla Valley, the drought has lifted and Rio Grande has been running all summer.   For the first time in years, there is a humidity cloud over the river.   The aquifers are being replenished.

    trump is the anti-obama.

    pence is the white shadow president.

    panetta is running the remodeled oval office

     

  9. Hard to say what’s worse, the ridiculous promises Trump made in the campaign, or that he is actually trying to keep them.

  10. Mrs. Clinton may not be fem prez, but she sure can sell books.  Plus she has created a mini-industry for writers who write best selling books about her.

    I hope sanders gets to be prez, then he can pardon jane.  sanders originally ran as the anti-obama with his stance on TPP and gun control.   He was a showboater and trump copied that populist shtick.   His stance on many issues were against Obama.    Then he poisoned the well with the dishonesty toxins about clintons and it was all over for the dems.   Obama was gracious enough to give bern a perp walk at the WH.   If bern is the dem nominee?  I will vote dem.  I am now a party human and vote my party, not personality or putie’s choice.

  11. Of course ending DACA is a travesty.  So now what….  Congress…  DO YOUR EFFING JOB!

    What a clown show…

    I don’t want to see Hillary or Bernie run again… time for new blood!

  12. I hope trump ends-up like obamacare, imploded.

    The guy stole the election and never had a majority mandate, only putie’s plan.  Now he is isolated in the WH under generals lockdown.   His first visit to trump tower released a insane tirade of who trump really is…his dark heart exposed and he may not be a nazi, but he is a nazi-lover and lifetime racist.

  13. sure would be nice to see other big companies follow Microsoft’s lead:

    Microsoft’s Chief Legal Officer said the company “will pay for legal counsel for Dreamer employees in any deportation case and file a brief in the company’s name.”

  14. The end of DACA here at the border?  Causing a lot of anxiety and immigration lawyers are working overtime.  The shame of DACA is that the young Americans gave their personal information over to the feds and now peanut sessions, the little man over at justice, is threatening them cause he can find them easily.  Deportation squad, here we come follow the gps map of dreamers.

    Meanwhile, how sweet is this?  Corporations stepping-in to fill-in repug void created by the ever-draining trump.


  15. from a demunderground blogger:
    If Irma hits Mar-a-lago wouldn’t that be funny.


    Coincidence or is it a sign?

    Not that I want the hurricane to hit US at all.
    Just wondering if Pat Robinson or Fox News will mention it.

    Quick funny story. I was stuck at camp with some religious and Trump supporters early this weekend. The topic of Irma came up and one of them mention it was a sign from God and he is not happy with the US. I blurred out “yeah, god is not happy that we elected Trump.” They dismissed it quickly. I said that if Irma hit Marlo Largo then you know it is true. We laugh and they said okay. Funny that when I told this joke, early projections had the hurricane missing the US or possible skimming the Carolinas. Also projecting a hurricane to hit 1 specific spot is extremely low anyways. Not that I want the hurricane to hit US, but it would be nice to rub it in their faces.

    funny, been thinking the same thing myself about where’s pat robinson when you really need him to snark at with stuff like:   “yeah, god is not happy that we elected Trump.”  neither is mother nature.  

  16. patd…I believe Mother Nature is after trump.   I know if she met him in a dark and secluded alley?  She would blow him away.

  17. now this on top of all the rest!

    in today’s the guardian: Hackers attacking US and European energy firms could sabotage power grids

    Cybersecurity firm Symantec says ‘Dragonfly’ group has been investigating and penetrating energy facilities in US, Turkey and Switzerland

    A hacking campaign is targeting the energy sector in Europe and the US to potentially sabotage national power grids, a cybersecurity firm has warned.

    The group, dubbed “Dragonfly” by researchers at Symantec, has been in operation since at least 2011 but went dark in 2014 after it was first exposed, secretly placing backdoors in the industrial control systems of power plants across the US and Europe.

    Now, Symantec reports, the group has resumed operations, apparently working since late 2015 to investigate and penetrate energy facilities in at least three countries: the US, Turkey and Switzerland.

    “The Dragonfly group appears to be interested in both learning how energy facilities operate and also gaining access to operational systems themselves, to the extent that the group now potentially has the ability to sabotage or gain control of these systems should it decide to do so,” the cybersecurity firm warns.

    [….continues…]

  18. with war abrewing, storms acoming, fires ablazing and gov’t in disarray might as well stick our heads in the sand and enjoy a delicious put down as the English only can from across the pond at bbc culture page:

    How Americanisms are killing the English language


    A book released this year claims that Americanisms will have completely absorbed the English language by 2120. Hephzibah Anderson takes a look.

  19. I think PG is a loser and he knows it.  He hates Obama because Obama is cool and Trump is a hot mess made tolerable with money.

  20. jimmy kimmel nailed it:

    “Our president woke up and asked his staff, ‘Now that this hurricane is over, what’s something horrible I can do to distract people from the Russia investigation?…. Someone said, ‘You know, there are 800,000 innocent kids you could deport for no good reason,’ and he said ‘done and done.’”

    more from the show

    https://youtu.be/A-pOdIjZUlg

    Kimmel monologue 9/5/17: Trump Did Away with DACA Because Obama Ordered it

     

     

  21. There just aren’t words to express how despicable trump is. He only targets those who are least able to fight back. I hope his hell is worse than anything we could imagine.

  22. The tax cheeto does not stand alone – he is the evolution of the years of hate coming from the goopers who, by the way, are stupid to stick with them since he planning on launching is own party

  23. Well, we just completed our hurricane prep list, refined many times across the last 60 years of weathering storms. Bring it on.

  24. star tribune: Trump Jr. to speak privately Thursday to Senate staff

    […]
    As for Donald Trump Jr., some Democratic senators said they planned to attend his session though tradition dictates that senators cannot ask questions at such interviews conducted by committee staff.

    Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said they would be there. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., was considering it.
    “I go in with an open mind,” Durbin said. “I want to hear his answers to questions — there are plenty of questions — about the involvement of the Trump corporation as well as the Trump campaign with the Russians and other foreigners, and I just want to hear what Mr. Trump has to say.”
    Durbin said he would be “shocked” if questions weren’t asked about whether the elder Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting.
    “The critical part of his testimony will be following the financial dealing,” Blumenthal said. He said he also wants to find out what Trump Jr. may know about potential obstruction of justice, adding there may have been conversations between the two about the firing of FBI Director James Comey and other matters.
    Blumenthal and Coons said the private interview is no substitute for a public hearing, which the committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has promised will happen.
    [….story also includes info on house committee subpoena (shades of Ollie north) brouhaha…]

  25. go get ’em back Dems, they’re waiting for you:

    HUFFPOST — Very few Americans outright regret their votes in last year’s election. But such regrets, new data reveals, are highest among voters who may now make up the most tenuous part of the base that swept Donald Trump into office: those who supported Barack Obama in 2012.

  26. I would not take any advice from this guy  from today’s ny times

    Dr. Bell said his group does not consider climate change in developing its forecasts.

    Instead, he said, they consider longer-term cycles of hurricane activity based on a naturally occurring climate pattern called the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, which affects ocean surface temperatures over 25 to 40 years.

    “We’ve been in an active era since 1995,” Dr. Bell said, as ocean temperatures have been generally higher. But from 1971 to 1994, he said, temperatures were generally lower, and hurricane seasons were quieter.

  27. CC

    I guess it’s true if you work for the Feds you aren’t allowed to say climate change or global warming.

    Mr C has a friend who is a decent human being but so cynical about politics that he views government and politicians all of them in a bad light.   He’s from central California but used to spend a lot of time in the area but we found out from another friend that he voted for Trump and now is too embarrassed to come around.

    I wish he would come because I’d like to hear what he thought was going to happen.

     

  28. wapo:

    John McCain is not your typical brain cancer patient.

    It has been 48 days since the Republican senator from Arizona announced his diagnosis and 18 days since he completed his first round of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

    Now, far from shrinking from public life, McCain is back on Capitol Hill with the rest of the Senate, ready to manage the floor debate over a defense authorization bill and begin the work of an extraordinarily busy and consequential month in Washington.

    [….]

    The NDAA will be McCain’s primary legislative focus this month. But his presence will also be helpful as Republican leaders gather support for crucial votes, such as raising the debt ceiling, funding the government and perhaps responding to Trump’s suspension of protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, which McCain called “unacceptable” on Tuesday.

  29. All praise and glory to our Publix on Sand Lake Road. Just got back from our final supply run and despite an overwhelming crowd of panicky customers they had full stocks of everything, gigantic stacks of water flats throughout the store (Half Price!) and not a single empty aisle, restocking as fast as supplies dwindled, every counter open with baggers plus employees to help empty your cart. That’s how you keep customers. Really was amazing.

  30. Personally, I do not believe that God uses weather as a cudgel.  But someone might want to ask Pat Robertson why the big hits on Texas and Florida.  And if I lived in Wisconsin,Pa, or Michigan I would be examining my home owners insurance

  31. In solidarity with Trailmixers preparing for disaster Mr. Cracker is rolling extra joints

  32. Apparently Limpballs is telling people not to worry and likely to fizzle because climate change doesn’t exist.  One of his very less funny “jokes”.  Anyone who listens to him, I’ll just consider Darwin helping to delete the deplorable herd.

     

  33. Patd

    It is embarrassing to be the citizen of a country where some of our more racist and/or idiotic pols think a brain drain is a good thing.  I’m sure there are other places who would like to take advantage of their education and work ethic.

  34. Craig: Thanks for posting President Obama’s article. America used to be decent and highly regarded throughout most of the world, but sadly, not now. There is no decency in our current administration.

    PS-You have the best grocery store I’ve ever heard of! If 2 snowflakes are predicted here our stores run out of everything in a day 🙁

    Pat: As always, Amen and thanks to everything you say and share!

     

  35. hmm, twittums  losing his security binkie portends more instability.  also looks like trumpsters are knifing Kelly in the back…these leaks seem to be part of the slow slicing lingchi on the good general by that gang.

    from Bloomberg:

    President Donald Trump’s allies are worried that the most damaging of the many recent departures from his White House may be that of Keith Schiller, a little-known former bodyguard who’s one of the president’s closest confidants outside his family.

    Schiller is leaving the White House soon to return to the private security business, according to three people familiar with his plans, for a job that will pay far more than his $165,000 government salary. His title, director of Oval Office operations, hardly begins to describe his importance to Trump, who is “crushed” by his planned departure, according to one person close to the president.

    Multiple people interviewed described Schiller as an emotional anchor for the president in a White House often marked by turmoil. Schiller has worked for Trump for nearly two decades, and within the West Wing he serves as the president’s protector, gate-keeper and wing man, according to people close to Schiller and Trump. Most of the people requested anonymity to candidly discuss relationships between the president and his aides.

    “He’s a confidant and friend,” said Stuart Jolly, a former national field director for Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump “trusts Keith, and Keith trusts him. Trust is a really big deal at that level.”

    Schiller has also acted as Trump’s hatchet-man. It was Schiller who told James Comey that the president had decided to fire him as FBI director. Two weeks ago, after Trump was angered by preparations for a rally in Phoenix, Schiller delivered the message to another longtime aide, George Gigicos, that Trump no longer wanted him to organize such events, according to three people familiar with the matter.

    Schiller declined to comment.

    [….]

    Schiller has told friends that working under Kelly is very different, and that he doesn’t like the job as much. He has said he believes that Kelly doesn’t like Trump personally and is serving as chief of staff predominantly out of a sense of duty to country, according to three people familiar with his views. That has been deeply demoralizing for Schiller, who is accustomed to Trump being surrounded by devoted employees, two people said

    Schiller lost his privilege to walk into the Oval Office at any time when Kelly took over. And he now views his job as somewhat redundant, people close to him said. The president has Secret Service to protect him, valets to fetch what he needs, aides to dial his phone — people to handle every facet of Oval Office operations.

    Two people close to Trump said they worry that Schiller’s departure will leave the president and the West Wing off-balance, given the deep relationship the two men share.
    […]
    On many days, Schiller is the first and last aide Trump sees. During the campaign, Schiller heard nearly every conversation and phone call as he sat in cars by Trump’s side, traveling between rallies, former campaign aides said.

    Schiller served in the Navy and as a New York City police officer before becoming a part-time body guard for Trump in 1999. He was named head of security for the Trump Organization in 2004. He knows most employees at the company and shares his opinion of all staffers, inside and outside the White House, with the president.

    Discontent among Trump friends and allies outside the White House has grown as Kelly has sought to streamline and professionalize the Oval Office. The new chief of staff has imposed new protocols for getting face time or ideas in front of the president — cutting off a cadre of trusted regulars whose advice and conversation Trump relished.

  36. During the campaign, Schiller heard nearly every conversation and phone call as he sat in cars by Trump’s side, traveling between rallies, former campaign aides said.     [from above Bloomberg piece]

    think mr. Mueller might be interested? possibly sending invitation for “tea and sympathy” soon?

     

  37. pogo, legal question:  do you think schiller’s previous trump co. non-disclosure contract or his white house special  employment of confidentiality be able to keep him from testifying if Mueller subpoenas him?

  38. what they don’t say is what happens to all those paperless lawyer offices, court clerk online functions, legal e-filings and records, etc if the grids are down for lengthy period.  back to the old quill pen and parchment?

    aba journal: Florida state courts to close Friday for Hurricane Irma; some federal courts, law schools also close

    The Florida Supreme Court has issued an order closing all Florida state courts on Friday and extending time limits through Monday.

    The order (PDF) notes that Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency and ordered the closing of all state offices on Friday due to the approach of Hurricane Irma. The Category 5 hurricane is expected to reach Florida and the Southeastern United States by this weekend and early next week, according to the Washington Post.

    Besides extending time limits through Monday, the order also authorizes additional extensions due to the hurricane on a case-by-case basis. Chief judges can also file reports with the supreme court outlining additional court closures and requesting additional time extensions.

    Florida state courts in Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, had already closed Wednesday, and courts in a dozen other counties were planning Thursday closings, according to this information page. The Fourth District Court of Appeal was also closing on Thursday and canceling oral arguments for the week of Sept. 11.

    Several federal courts were also closing. The federal court in Puerto Rico closed on Tuesday, according to the Pacer website. The federal courts website for the Southern District of Florida also announced court closings in Key West on Wednesday, and in the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and St. Lucie beginning Thursday.

    The Florida Bar was also posting hurricane updates, including a list of Florida law school closings. They included the law schools at Barry University, Florida International University, Stetson University, Ave Maria, the University of Miami, St. Thomas University, Nova Southeastern University and Florida A&M University College of Law. Other law schools said they were monitoring developments or had not posted closing notices.

  39. hurray!!!

    star tribune
    NEW YORK — Fifteen states and the District of Columbia sued Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s plan to end a program protecting young immigrants from deportation — an act Washington state’s attorney general called part of a “dark time for our country.”

    The lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn asked a judge to conclude that the president’s action involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, is unconstitutional.

    It called the move “a culmination of President Trump’s oft-stated commitments … to punish and disparage people with Mexican roots.”

    Rescinding DACA will also injure state-run colleges and universities, upset workplaces and damage companies and economies that include immigrants covered under the program, the lawsuit says.
    “The consequence of the president’s animus-driven decision is that approximately 800,000 persons who have availed themselves of the program will ultimately lose its protections” and be exposed to deportation, the lawsuit says.
    [….]
    Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

    California, one of the most solid Democratic states, was noticeably absent.
    California Attorney General Xavier Becerra plans to file a separate lawsuit because a quarter of DACA recipients are California residents, his spokeswoman Bethany Lesser said.
    Becerra’s office has not said when the lawsuit will be filed or whether it will include different legal arguments.

    […continues…]

  40. Asian and African as well as American Dacanese must be part of the class. Cruz should certainly be sympathetic to the cause.

  41. Anyone know whereabouts of Irma? I’ve been traveling and am out of any loops to which I may have hitherto been connected.

    Came here first……really want to avoid looking at a television set.

  42. Sturg, she’s ripping up the Caribbean and about 70 miles from Puerto Rico, aiming for Cuba by Friday, on to Florida this weekend. Beware, some of the models showing possible northward path off FL east coast with landfall in South Carolina. Might better switch on the TeeVee. And her hurricane force winds extend 50 miles from the eye, so don’t need a direct hit to frighten the animals.

  43. our area retention ponds almost completely pumped down now. That’s one of the things so many Houston neighborhoods apparently forgot to do.

  44. Yep….caught the latest model…..forecast: They don’t know…..I’m so pissed off, I could have just stayed in the fucking Catskills…….

    Except for the cat. That fat bastard wouldn’t stand a chance.

  45. Kroger in Columbia was swamped this afternoon. People were clearly stocking-up for the storm. I bought pizza for supper tonite and a bunch of (frozen) veggies. When our power goes out, if I stay, I have a serious generator that runs on both natural gas and propane that will handle my needs.

  46. My past ten days? It’s going to make one very weird comment when I get a round tuit.

    And now, it begins to look as if my last ten days are but prelude to my NEXT ten days………I am SO pissed……

  47. Sturg…   sorry you are pissed.  The pictures of you walking your daughter down the aisle that were posted on FB were wonderful.  Your daughter is beautiful!

    whatever you decide to do…  please take care.

  48. Sturg, an emergency declaration has been made for the State–no gouging and Nat’l Guard have been activated. As it looks now, it may plow through the bottom corner of the state up through my area. Or, just as easily, absolutely denude the entire coastline. I’ve got a full tank of gas in Rosey; absent stalled traffic,  that’s enough to get me 400 miles.

  49. Flate…. If there was anyone around these parts I’d not worry about in an emergency that’d be you….. 🙂

    Semper Paratus

  50. I can almost hear old Julius C. muttering that to himself as he issued forth to the senate…..lol

    best laid plans ganging aft agley and all that……

  51. Reb Ren  so happy you saw it, I havent put up anything yet while on this Nantucket sleigh ride……

    The actual 6-7 hours of the wedding were pure bliss….the days preceding and the denouement were arduous. Happy arduous, but arduous none-the-less……except today after returning from a job well done and being unable to find key to truck……that was total suck arduous.

  52. Googled many videos of drilling out ignition cylinders so they would work with a screwdriver and was just about to go full caveman on the ignition switch when I finally inadvertently, it almost seems, stumbled across the Safe Place for the key.  How-to-waste-a-day Department under K.

  53. patd, re: schiller, no.  Not unless he likes to think about things in jail.

    sturge, she’s visiting the Virgin Islands, moving on to Puerto Rico.

  54. Sturge, ever wonder how uglyish old farts end up with good looking kids?  I attribute my kid’s looks to his mother.  What about you?

  55. Pogo……I’m not sure cause in my Yute I was one handsome, but stupid individual……I think she got the genes of my forbears, and her ma’s four bears and come out looking pretty good……the great thing, however, was the ability to learn………my fam has always had that and the mother fam did quite well overall as well……

    I figure, God bless us one and all

    All we are is another brick in the wall.

  56. But, ok…..her face is a curious admixture of my face, my mother’s face and her own mother’s face and HER mother’s face…… There is no ” Who she looks like”
    Strange

  57. When I was in Coast Guard boot camp, in 68, the Hebron bros, out of New Orleans, nicknamed me “Thumder” cause they swore I looked like Robert Mitchum. But then, several years later I was told in a bar that I was a dead ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald……so ya see ya gotta toss all that shit up in the aire and try not to look like, hideous.

  58. Pog…..when it comes to being an ugly old fart, I had to work at it……but, ever relentless, I prevailed…….

  59. Good kids….. Got married on their own properties in an event put on by the bride, a Forbes Magazine event planner…….how ya gonna beats dat?

    And they utilized about 80% local Catskills services……..

  60. And the fuckin’ band………the band……..city boys, I reckon……..but oh, Christ, could those guys play…..3 horns, 8 pieces……holy crap……

  61. Jace will probably love this tweet I just saw.

    MY SISTER TEACHES CELLO SHE REPORTS THAT HER NEW STUDENTS CALL SHARPS “HASHTAGS” CONCERTO IN F HASHTAG

  62. Sturge, in my yout’ I thought I wasn’t too bad either. If the women I dated are any indication I musta been ok. But my kid…one good looking boy.

  63. Ms KGC………the ability to think was paramount………I took a developmental psyc course in college and got a lot of info about the first year, the first three, and the first seven, and made a feeble attrmmptto apply.

    Worth it’s weight in gold…….

  64. I like to imagine Littlle Albert somewhere outt west laying over the top strand of a 3-strand barbed-wire fence puking his guts out.

    Must be a film noir kind of thing.

  65. craig, just posted for review a very simple one.  also sent it to the “craig at…” email address.

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