The Awful Grace of God

[On this date 50 years ago RFK died of gunshot wounds sustained the previous evening.]

For as a people, we as a people, are strong enough, we are brave enough to be told the truth of where we stand. This country needs honesty and candor in its political life and from the President of the United States. But I don’t want to run for the Presidency  – I don’t want America to make the critical choice of direction and leadership this year without confronting the truth. I don’t want to win support of votes by hiding the American condition in false hopes or illusions. I want us to find out the promise of the future, what we can accomplish here in the United States, what this country does stand for and what is expected of us in the years ahead. And I also want us to know and examine where we’ve gone wrong. And I want all of us, young and old, to have a chance to build a better country and change the direction of the United States of America.

– Robert F. Kennedy, University of Kansas (March 18,1968)

***********

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion towards one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.

– Robert F. Kennedy, Indianapolis, Indiana (April 4, 1968)

More Posts by SJWNY

Share

98 thoughts on “The Awful Grace of God”

  1. sjwny, wonder if he (or the writer of the speech if not he) meant it to read the “awe-full” grace of god…..  being the good catholic and all.

  2. Debra Haaland has won the Democratic nomination for New Mexico’s 1st congressional district, and if she is victorious in November, she will become the first Native American congresswoman.
     
    Haaland, the former leader of the New Mexico Democratic Party, finished ahead of former prosecutor Damon Martinez and former law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez. Haaland will go up against former Republican state lawmaker Janice Arnold-Jones and Libertarian Lloyd Princeton in the general election. Catherine Garcia
     

  5. Oh, look, today is another American anniversary for the Trumpistani fascists to exploit.  Vomit now, or later?  The daily question.

  6. Senator Kennedy was quoting his favorite poet, Aeschylus, concerning the awful grace of God. Jacqueline Kennedy had introduced her brother in law to the works of the famed Greek poet.

    I thought it was apropos concerning the subject matter of the loss of one so promising & the emptiness of never knowing what might have been. 1968 devolved from bad into worse, ultimately resulting in a fractured Democratic Party & the election of a man who caused a crisis in government ( sounds familiar -?) Robert Kennedy was no saint, no knight in shining armor but he was a man who had the maturity & wisdom to evolve both personally & as a politician. Could such a rare butterfly emerge from a chrysalis today? Time will tell but I fear it will be a long wait. No one in our current generation has this moral fiber & our government, our country suffers as such.

  7. Henry “Fonzi” Winkler was omitted from the CA voter rolls.  Now that it’s happened to someone with a high profile…

    Ayyy, sit on it.

  8. Emails: Pruitt used EPA aide to inquire about Chick-fil-A business opportunity  https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/05/politics/scott-pruitt-chick-fil-a-job-wife/index.html

    Pruitt must get Employee of the Month every month in Trump-world.

    How much money does Scott Pruitt owe the American people?  It’s like he’s just “officing” at the EPA for all of his side hustles.

    Is anyone trying to get the conniving rat fired?  Make sure to garnish all future wages until he pays it all back.  ~Right~

  9. Could an introspective intellectual with a conscience be able to make it to the primaries, let alone general election, in this day & age of low information immediate gratification citizens? Aeschylus … who, what, where, huh? Imagine raising the bar higher & doing it with no apologies. These are the representatives we need in our government, people who demand accountability. Come out, come out, wherever you are. I at least will support you … I am not afraid … challenge us.

     

  10. sj – Do we need to look for another Kennedy (Joe III) to be that person?

    Actually, I think that Elizabeth Warren fighting for the 99% is a good example.  Times have changed and the divide between most Americans & the 1% is larger.

    I just read an article that said economists can’t figure out why wages aren’t increasing with such a tight job market.  If they could get us to work for free, they would.

    When it comes down to money, common decency has to be legislated.

  11. One thing the economists missed, is that rising heath insurance (let’s not call it “care” anymore) eats up some of what employers might actually give as increased wages.

    Employers hate paying workers, though.  A former exec bragged about how little they pay folks in Mexico in comparison to those laid off in manufacturing here.

     

  13. blueINdallas,

    I do not see any current Kennedy holding a candle to the golden generation, though the female descendants have shown themselves to be more intelligent & intuitive than the male descendants. This isn’t a dynasty thing. It’s a search for multi faceted political life forms, people who have the capacity to exist within both darkness & light, learn, evolve, accept responsibility, demand the same from us.

    Elizabeth Warren has a true north but not the inner light to attract a great cross section.

  14. To this day I refer to 1968 as the year America died.  Even the 4 part CNN series didn’t capture all the “Before 1968 After 1968” feel of the country.  I suppose it was the deaths of MLK and RFK so close together.  I do know that the death of Bobby actually felt worse to me than the loss of JFK.  To this day, that night in California where I was living at the time, voting in that election which was my first presidential primary (you had to be over 21 then), that evening so filled with hope followed by that tragedy can still bring tears to my eyes.

     

  15. jack, in the dawg’s case it’s not “never having to say you’re sorry” but seems like media demands of him “you must constantly say your sorry with every breath you take and maybe even afterward”
    here he is with Stephen Colbert last night with another go at it as reported by wapo:

    “I noticed you did not enjoy that entire interview,” Colbert said. “I want you to enjoy this one, but I do want to ask you something: Would you like a do-over on that answer? Do you understand why some people thought it was a tone-deaf response?”
     
    Clinton explained he was frustrated because he thought it came across as though he had not apologized; he said he had done so in public statements. But, he conceded, after watching the interview, “I was mad at me — not for the first time.”
    After the crowd laughed, Clinton continued: “Here is what I want to say: It wasn’t my finest hour.”
     
    He went on to characterize the Lewinsky episode, which led to his impeachment by the House but acquittal by the Senate, as a “very painful thing that happened 20 years ago.”
     
    “And I apologized to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family and the American people,” Clinton said. “I mean it then; I mean it now. I have had to live with the consequences every day since. I still believe this #MeToo movement is long overdue, necessary and should be supported.”
    […]
    Clinton said he grew angered by Melvin’s “flat-out assertion that I had never apologized.” In fact, Melvin asked Clinton if he had ever apologized privately to Lewinsky.

    “I should have remembered that man is young enough to be my son,” Clinton said at the TimesTalks event of Melvin, who is 39.

    “I messed up, and I own that, and no mistake by anybody else — including that young man aggressively saying I didn’t apologize — can justify the fact that I got mad when I should have been saying, ‘I’ve got a chance to tell a whole new generation that the journey I’ve been on the past 20 years is one the country has to take, and that #MeToo is demanding we take it, and the sooner the better.’ And that’s what I think,” Clinton said.

     

  16. meanwhile in this century,

    from ny mag: Risk of Being Mueller’s Boss Scares Off Top Justice Department Candidates

     
    There’s an open position at the Justice Department that’s high profile, has a lot of potential for advancement, and could even offer an opportunity to change the course of U.S. history. The Trump administration can’t seem to fill it, probably because the president has made it clear there’s a good risk of becoming the next target of his ire.
     
    As President Trump continues to denigrate Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Twitter, and his allies in Congress lay the groundwork for him to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the number-three position at Justice Department has been vacant since Rachel Brand stepped down in February. The official reason given for her departure was that she could not pass up the top legal position at Walmart, but NBC News reported that she told friends she felt “overwhelmed and unsupported” in the job, and feared she would be asked to oversee the Russia investigation.
     
    The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration has put filling the associate attorney general position on the back burner after several candidates expressed similar concerns. Since Sessions has recused himself, if Rosenstein were to do the same oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe would fall to the associate AG. In a Saturday Night Massacre situation, the number-three official could easily wind up as acting attorney general.
    […continues…]

  17. sj… great post!  No… there are no Bobby Kennedys that I see yet… hoping a Bobbie shows up.

    jamie… already read time enough for love.  My favorite… stranger in a strange land.

    jack… I found the book at a community church yard sale.  Bought it because it was Heinlein… had no idea it was about revolution.

  18. patd,

    I honestly don’t understand your comment of forgetting charges against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not being snarky – please don’t take it wrong – just confused.

    Spiro Agnew fits right into today, an example of why we mourn the loss of competent challenging politicians to take lowlifes like him on. If this is what you meant, I addressed it in the line about how 1968 devolved into the election of a man who created a crisis in government: Agnew is part of that detritus.

     

     

     

  19. Jamie44,

    Thank you for your touching remembrance. Puts loss in perspective when it is personalized.

    Katherine Graham Cracker … you must have much to say about this. Looking forward to hearing from you.

     

     

  21. I so remember going to bed that night elated about RFK’s California win (I turned off the TV right after his “Let’s go to Chicago and let’s win there” — the moment in the second picture above). Woke up to discover what had happened, couldn’t go to school that day. Traumatic stuff for a 12-year-old, still feel it.

  22. If i may ameliorate your inevitable heartbreak, sj, never forget that on an internet forum, such as this, you’re talking at people, not with them.

    That said, if i understood what type of  ‘remembrance’ for which you were looking, i’d participate, but since i don’t, i will express my philosophical divergence with your adorably idealistic yearnings:

    When they go low, going high gets you burned, as has been demonstrated.  Naive idealism is hitching a yoke to all of our necks, collectively, but hey, the economy is good (if you’re rich).

  23. SJ

    Lovely post.  I was home in Canton, Ohio.  I had more or less spent the second semester of my last year in college working for Gene McCarthy.   My view of Bobby Kennedy is not one of admiration.    The murder of Kennedy was shocking and the outpouring of support was stunning.   I heard someone remark about the synchronicity of  SFB attacking the NFL and the NFL players who had stood with Kennedy.   We don’t know how he would have turned out we do know as a campaigner he stood with the poorest and the least able and brought attention to their plight.
    ps
    I agree with Jamie 1968 was a horrible year – fires, murders, riots and no progress.

  24. Bill Clinton is sorry he screwed up the initial interview but of course had to assign blame to others– the original interviewer

  25. the guardian:
    A Cambridge Analytica director apparently visited Julian Assange in February last year and told friends it was to discuss what happened during the US election, the Guardian has learned.
     
    Brittany Kaiser, a director at the firm until earlier this year, also claimed to have channelled cryptocurrency payments and donations to WikiLeaks. This information has been passed to congressional and parliamentary inquiries in the UK and US.
     
    Cambridge Analytica and WikiLeaks are already subjects of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but the revelations open up fresh questions about the precise nature of the organisations’ relationship.
    There was no known connection until October last year, when it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had “reached out” to Assange in July 2016 and offered to help him index and distribute the 33,000 emails that had been stolen from Hillary Clinton.
     

     
    Assange issued a statement saying that he had turned down the Cambridge Analytica offer. Alexander Nix, the company’s chief executive, told Westminster MPs the same in February, during an appearance at the Commons digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee. Nix said he found a contact for WikiLeaks’ speaking agency on the internet and sent Assange an email.
    But visitor logs from the Ecuador embassy obtained by the Guardian and Focus Ecuador appear to show that Brittany Kaiser, a senior executive at Cambridge Analytica until earlier this year, visited Assange on 17 February 2017. Information passed to the DCMS committee in the UK and the Senate judiciary committee in the US states that the meeting was “a retrospective to discuss the US election”.
    Kaiser is also alleged to have said that she had funnelled money to WikiLeaks in the form of cryptocurrency. She called the organisation her “favourite charity”. The reports passed to investigators say that money was given to her by third parties in the form of “gifts and payments”.
     
    Nix is due to appear before the DCMS committee for the second time at 3pm on Wednesday, where he is expected to be pressed on Cambridge Analytica’s relationship with WikiLeaks.
     
    At his first appearance, Nix told the committee: “We have no relationship with WikiLeaks. We have never spoken to anyone at WikiLeaks. We have never done any business with WikiLeaks. We have no relationship with them, period.”
    […continues…]

  26. By 1968 KumCho and I had returned to Korea (Mar 67) having switched from the Army to the Air Force. We had achieved our goal of adopting two orphans from a loving orphanage and transitioning them into family life.

    In Jan ’68 the Pueblo Crisis enveloped all our attention. We had an instantaneous massive buildup of arms, manpower to the extent that we even took forces from Vietnam. We were much, much closer to war with the North than any time since.

    The only candidate I recall being mentioned by name was the man from Alabama who shall remain nameless. One of the older NCOs in our group had gone to school with his brother. I discouraged political talk in the workplace as it was divisive and meaningless so far as our contract to serve was concerned. Our sources of news were not especially good because of the times and technology.

    I’m sure KumCho and I filed absentee ballots from Ohio.

  27. I’m grateful the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal is back in the news, as it exposes the amoral hypocrisy of the GOP,  who crucified a Democratic philanderer, but beatify a Republican one.  Contemporary conservative Christians claim God while licking the asshole of a golden calf*, in the hope that some leaf will flake off on them.

     

    *note to SCOTUS: not a member of any collective rights commissions, lest the above post and its vitriolic disdain for American organized religion influences any decisions.

  28. Master, no matter how often and how roundly and soundly I lick, all the leafs are a fetid brown. Please, Master, tell me why

  29. Good point Bink although the pointless goopers and their christian enablers won’t get it.

  30. has the dis-invite and cancellation tweet been sent yet?

    cnn:
    On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s White House will host its first iftar, the sundown meal that breaks fasts during the holy month of Ramadan. For some American Muslims, it’s also time to break out the horror-movie memes.
    White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “30 to 40” people had been invited to the iftar, though Trump administration officials haven’t yet released a guest list or divulged many details about the event.
    At least one thing seems clear: Many American Muslims are skeptical, if not scornful, about breaking bread with Trump, citing the President’s rhetoric and actions towards Muslims and other religious and racial minorities.
    “We do not need an iftar dinner,” said Imam Yahya Hendi, the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University. “Rather, we need to get the respect we highly deserve. Do not feed us and stab us.”
    […]
    The Council on American-Islamic Relations plans to hold “NOT Trump’s Iftar” event outside the White House as the main event is taking place inside.
    […continues…]

     

  31. the twit will probably have choral group sing “onward Christian soldiers” at his little iftar

  32. mike, she meant to say “cheesiness”

    the hill:
    Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) poked fun at Kellyanne Conway after the White House counselor accidentally said President Trump was the “commander of cheese” instead of “commander in chief.”
    “Was not a mistake on @KellyannePolls part. It’s Biblical,” Huckabee tweeted on Wednesday.
    “‘Blessed are the Cheesemakers.’ It’s why evangelicals are supportive of @realDonaldTRump and you would know that if you knew the Bible AND Monty Python!”
     
    […continues…]

  33. When Slanders Suckabee speaks notice how her mouth doesn’t match what is coming out of it.  Her lips are all twisted up and she is speaking out of the side of her mouth.  I have never seen such a literal representation.

  34. Really, I don’t see Lewinsky as a victim unless you make it a victim of the very right wing use of the events & Linda Tripp.  She was an adult.  She had already had one affair with a married man.  She made the original offer (who shows their thong to their boss unsolicited and he wasn’t even her direct superior)  There has to be some sort of “time served” limit for Bill.  That Trump was still dragging out women to sit in front of Hillary during the debates was purely disgusting, since she had nothing to do with the sins of her husband.  Bill was a lech and a dog.  He paid a price for that behavior.  His wife forgave him and they repaired the marriage.  Enough already.

     

  35. This year there have been a couple of books about Kennedy one by Chris Mathews and other by Lawrence ODonnell both praise Kennedy for lots of things.  And it is always sad when someone is murdered.  But we cannot give the victim a future no matter how much we may have wanted it.

    Bobby Kennedy’s past was not only the 1968 primary.

  37. Just when i thought that I was outta talking, reading and hearing anything about politics. The two party system keeps dragging me back to it……Im not Ahnuld…i dont wanna “be-back”!

    Actually.  Like ive always said…it a one party system…the ratchet system.  There is so much to blame both sides of the same coin for the making of Donald Trump.

    I have been out of all things that concern politics for a long time…..its much quitter in my ol cabeza this way.  But two things have brought me back……..this inhumane treatment of forced separation of children from their parents….and to prove how the dis and the rs are really one and the same…..they both, just scammed the whole entire country again.  Together the Ds and the Rs just  recently repealed vital protections of the Dodd-Frank Act, The are setting the table for another financial crises..

    I was finally over the fact that i lost my home, my business, my 401k…my whole life and had to start all over again….lost a good contractor friend, he committed suicide..for the same  things…..

    the new law allows  control of $250 billion before we have to perform under anything that the Dodd-Fra

    “250 billion is a small bank, and the protections that now are not in place for banks with less than 250 billion in capital, they were stress tests to make sure that this bank and everyone who was holding their money in it or had their mortgage with them could survive a financial crash. And now they don’t have to go through that testing, so if you have your money in one of these banks that are 250 billion or less or you have your mortgage or your car loan, if that bank tanks, they have no idea whether or not they’re going to remain solvent, whether or not they’re going to be able to do whatever you need them to do, whether or not your money is still in that account because they were able to convince almost every Republican and 50 Democrats total, 33 in the House, 17 in the Senate, that, you know what? I only have 249 billion. I’m really tiny. I don’t have much money.”

    Yes America is very sick and dying…im not so proud of being a U S Marine these days…scratch that…im still fkn proud just not so proud of our government…..

    Why are  we not pushing with every breath that we take for finance reform of how we elect our officials….from dog catcher to potus….Term limits….not  b/cause some one is too old to do their job….but after they get too much power….they get corrupted on a very big way…..they all do, every single one of them…regardless of party affiliations…….OK end of rant….thnaks for still being here….Happy 13th to all trail mixers……and that means all of your…..PAST and present…..

    Did scan a few recent threads…..Sturg, gracias por la bud…..Xr, thanks for thinking about your pizza bud…hope that all of you are healthy and happy.

    I sold my motor home last year…decided that it was to big and not versatile.  I am now in the middle of doing a self build one on a long freight-liner sprinter van that i will use for moving business and a motor home….I have installed the bathroom, kitchen and all in a very simple way that i can take it all out pretty quick…rent myself (driver) and trk for moving people from home to home, or apartment to apartment.  They supply the muscle…and i supply the rest….no paper work nada….even getting back at the government just a little makes me smile a little.

    Later going to the forest preserves to do my ti chi and ride my bike a little….maybe take a light lunch and stay all day with the critters that know how to share mother nature……

     

  39. It’s not just Lewinsky.  It’s Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broadrick…

    It’s not just Bill’s inept response (he talks pretty when he needs to)…but his whining about not coming out of it unscathed because of his legal bills.   He still hadn’t taken responsibility for his actions.   He’s sorry he got caught.  He’s sorry he had deal with pissed-off people.  He’s sorry it cost him money.

    He’s not sorry for  not having the decency to honor his wedding vows.  He’s not sorry for getting what he could get from someone who worked for him (younger or not, there is a power dynamic there & he exploited it).

    Also, it seems that trotting out info about Monica Lewinsky’s previous affair is what often happens to victims.    What in the F does her history have to do what happened in the WH?

    She was old enough to know better, but he was not only old enough, but in a position of power & he made a bad choice for which he still hasn’t really accepted responsibility.

  40. solar, welcome home. missed you.  seems like Rachel shares your rage at the inhumanity of separating babies and toddlers from their refuge seeking parents.

    Rachel Maddow explains why military bases are now among the considerations for handling the overflow of immigrant children seized from their families by the Trump administration.

  43. Solar,
    Sounds like your coping better than our government (as you have pointed out).

    One market that may be available for your business (if you’re close to a military installation) is military moving from temporary housing off-base to on-base government quarters. Same with people moving off-base if they buy a local residence.
    Years ago I asked a long-haul mover where he got his packers and box handlers. He said he got them from beside the road. The ones he had on our job were first-class. He offered that they agreed to his rules re drugs, smoking and alcohol. They were grateful to get some earned cash into their pockets.

    Happy to be here when you’re around

  45. BiD

    None of which had anything at all to do with Hillary Clinton.  If you don’t count Monica’s previous affair then you can’t really count the actions of Hillary’s husband, particularly in light of all the GOP dogs doing exactly the same thing with Trump being among the worst.

     

  46. craig, state noted D-day too….

    cnn:

    State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Tuesday cited the D-Day invasion during an answer about the current state of US-German relations.

    “We have a very strong relationship with the government of Germany,” Nauert said. “Looking back in the history books, today is the 71st anniversary of the speech that announced the Marshall Plan. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government of Germany.”
    Nauert’s comment came during a press briefing Tuesday after she was asked about controversial remarks by the US ambassadors to Germany and Israel.
     
    […continues…]

  48. Jamie- Poor comparison.  Apples & oranges.

    He’s a predator. I brought up the other women because everyone focuses on Monica when there are other women who did not, apparently, give consent.

    crackers is right.  He needs to go away.  He won’t ever help a Dem get into office with all of his baggage in the current #metoo environment.

     

  49. ’68 was a mixed year for me.  Started out wrecking my car – which I had gotten about a month before.

    I was pretty neutral at that time about King and Kennedy – having been reared in the Heart of Dixie by a mother I called a benign racist – generally racist against what she saw as blacks moving into a white world but personally respectful of the black women who worked for her from time to time doing laundry and cleaning (aside from Eddie mentioned below the only black people I actually knew until I went to college) – and a father who never really said much about race or politics.  I was shocked by the assasinations of King and Kennedy.I worked for my uncle that summer and got to know Eddie Lawson – a 55 year or so old black man- completely illiterate but smart and surprising in many ways.  He worked as a laborer for my uncle’s construction company and repaired televisions in the evening – the latter impressed me greatly since he couldn’t read an instruction manual. but apparently was fine with schematics.  My uncle – my mom’s brother – was a die hard Baptist from  a conservative Southern Baptist upbringing in Opelika, then Birmingham, and a Shriner, and he showed great respect for Eddie.  That taught me more than I knew at the time and probably was my first step toward racial acceptance. We did have track meets against a couple of predominantly black high schools and there was one kid from Phillips High who we called Lightning who was kind of my personal nemesis in the 440 – we swapped winning in double meets but couldn’t compete with the fast guys at the city level.  Nice kid but saying we knew each other outside that context wouldn’t be honest.

    What I really remember about 1968 was the war – that was when I became acutely aware of it.  Seems that was when network television coverage of it became common on the evening news during and after the Tet Offensive, although it could have been late in the year before.

    So I’d say 1968 was a mixed year for me.

  50. Thank You for all the comments & very glad to see Solar back.

    Bink, you have such passion & fire. Write a Post on any topic. Make it a weekly habit.

    *****

    So …. Justin Trudeau & Donald Trump had a testy phone call …. Trump brought up the burning of the White House during the War of 1812 …. oooh, a little unexpected depth. Me-ow.

     

  51. Hi Solar

    Welcome home.  Did you want a horse in the Belmont this Saturday?
    Flatus – Gronkowski
    XR – Justify
    Sturgeone – Vino Rosso
    Pat D – Justify
    Jamie – Tenfold

  52. BiD

    Well I wouldn’t believe Broaddrick about the time of day, but that is another subject.  The others are believable if somewhat distorted by the far right, Tripp interference and being on the GOP payroll off and on for the past 20 years.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_sexual_misconduct_allegations#Paula_Jones

    I don’t care whether Bill is on the trail for anybody about anything.  I do care that the sins of the husband have been visited on the wife to the extent that it deprived the nation of a good president and saddled us with the current White House monster.

     

  53. Perhaps we would not yet know about bill and Monica, had ken starr not installed an illegal wiretap on Linda Tripp’s phone, expressly for the purpose of secretly ensnaring Lewinski.  The State of Maryland should have issued a warrant for starr’s arrest. Lewinsky’s lawyers should have sued him for every penny he would ever make.

  55. RR

    If you like Stranger in a Strange Land then you might enjoy one of Heinlein’s most fanciful stories with a load of truly unusual people and characters:  Glory Road 

     

  56. sjwny, Trudeau being  predominantly of Scottish and French Canadian descent (according to wiki)  might have been doubly offended by the “joke” (aka stupidity) 

    business insider:
    President Donald Trump referenced the War of 1812 in an attempt to needle Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a recent conversation focused on tariffs, CNN reported Wednesday.
    CNN reported that, during a call with Trudeau, Trump referenced the burning of the White House during the War of 1812 after Trudeau asked about new US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
    The Trump administration used national security grounds as justification for the tariffs, invoking a little used provision of a trade law from 1962. CNN reported that after Trudeau objected to the national security rationale, Trump replied: “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?”
    The White House was in fact burned down in August 1814 in response to a US attack on York, Ontario, in 1813. But the troops that carried out the attack were technically British, since Canada was still a colony of the United Kingdom until the country gained independence in 1867.
     

  57. what have we become when our children need to be issued bullet proof shields to go to school?

    This a graduation gift no one saw coming until recent tragedies opened up the need!  The Unequal SafeShield™ is a bullet, stab and frag resistant ballistic grade backpack insert that may save lives.  SafeShield works if hit from both directions

  58. Solar, (welcome back around – stick your nose in the tent from time to time), XR, carnitas are on me.

    God almighty, turning on the Clinton hate again.  Jesus H.   Jamie, may I associate myself with your remarks?  I knew I could.

    Oh, and Jamie, you can put me on Bravazo – I kinda like the name – but if I’z a bettin’ man I’m bettin’ on Justify (and will be tickled pink if there’s a triple crown winner this year).

  60. https://www.buffalorising.com/2008/05/hoisington-becomes-a-hero-again/

    Let me introduce you to my friend Job ….

    When York, Ontario was burned in 1813, the Brits (including many Canadians) crossed the Niagara River, marching down what is now Porter Avenue to burn the village of Buffalo in revenge. The route the British took is just feet from where my home stands today.

    A brave Buffalonian named Job Hoisington stood his ground: he did not flee while unfortunately many of the other Americans did. His body was found feet from where my house is. Let me note this was the end of December, it was very cold, very snowy & this area was at that time used as cow pastures for the inhabitants who lived closer to what is now downtown Buffalo. Today there is a marker in his memory which I can see out of my window. Every time I pass it I always give Job a nod. It’s the least I can do for someone who willingly gave his life in defense of his country. I consider him a friend.

  61. Jamie, put me on Bravazo with the Pogo…..i have some new Lawyer jocks to tell him….il be riding alone after i tell him a cpl of them……errr make  that jokes… tanks.

  62. Hi Solarman!

    I’d love to see Justify win the crown.. but then… I’d love to see Gronkowski win too.  So split me in half and I’ll ride both.

  64. Solar,  no way, man – I ain’t giving up the noble steed because of lawyer jokes – hell, I hate lawyers.

  65. CC, facebook owns instagram, if you’re trying to boycott zuckerberg enterprises- not that he or they would notice, with almost total global market saturation.

    Don’t mistake anger and disdain for passion and fire, SJ, but thanks for the benefit of the doubt.  I’ll never contribute a main post, despite occasional requests for such- you gotta scroll down for my sparkle.

     

  67. It’s not Canada’s fault the White House burned. That vandalism was done by the British conservatives.

  70. 1968 was a terrible year for many reasons.  Vietnam was on everybody’s mind. It was a daily conversation, even off the university campus.  You could not miss the body count on the 6pm national news programs.  For you youngsters, back then we had three national channels and a few UHF public television channels and a few local channels.

    The murder of King followed by Kennedy was devastating for many of us.  The city riots which had been occurring since Watts were a back drop to the civil rights fight that was going on.  Many of us could not process the events.  Too many horrible things, too fast.  Conspiracy theories were all over the place.  The days after Bobbie was killed were in the same dream state like that followed his brother John F. assassination.  All these years later I still remember standing in a dorm room when the news was shouted to us.

  71. Book of the Month:

    RABBLE IN ARMS, by Kenneth Roberts, followed by the assistant book of the month: NORTHWEST PASSAGE, By Kenneth Roberts

    or maybe it’s vice-versal

  73. Besides….. In Northwest Passage Roberts reveals the perfect recipe for hot buttered rum.

  75. And a different recipe for head cheese.
    Take one Abenaki warrior . . . .

  76. TV on mute!  911 calls are NOT news.  We know scared folks are calling for help.  Maybe (maybe) it belongs on a crime show for those who like to ingest violence.    It is not news.  MSM fails, again.

  77. Fenimore Cooper started all that crap……..he should have been pilloried, according to Mark Twain…..

  78. I’m a naki, he’s a naki, she’s a naki, they’re a naki, wouldn’t you like to be a naki too?

  80. Chubby is from Cheraw, SC……..Dizzy Gillespie was from up there somewhere, and Eartha Kitt……musts been something in the water upstate…….

  81. And me old dad was a kid working in the sawmill with Joe Louis and his brother…….weird world.

    Somewhere around Lafeyette, Ala…….

    He was Joe Louis Barrow back then.

  83. My dad said all the boss men called him, “Jou Louis”‘

    He and his brother were very strong and could lift heavy shit……a necessary thing now and then at a sawmill….

  84. My dad as a grown-up got to go to Vegas a time or two as representing the electric co-op and got to visit a few times with Joe at the casino door…..he said joe would take a break and they’d go sit at a table for a bit and talk Alabama…..

  86. Alas and slack I was sweet on a little girl that year and stayed home.

    i coulda met a contender……

  88. Flatus – Gronkowski
    XR – Justify
    Sturgeone – Vino Rosso
    Pat D – Justify
    Jamie – Tenfold
    Solar – Bravazo
    KGC – Vino Rosso
    RR – Heads on Justify Tail on Gronkowski
    Craig – Assume Fearless Leader is sticking with Justify
     

  89. When Joe Louis Made the Nazis Go Mad
    The German announcer’s arrogance melted into incoherence as Schmeling hit the mat.
     

    Max Schmeling, left, against the ropes in the historic match with Joe Louis in 1938.
    Max Schmeling, left, against the ropes in the historic match with Joe Louis in 1938. Photo: Corbis

  90. Mick  pay-for-play Mulvaney.   What swamp did Trumpsky drain to find these horror shows?

  92. Sturge.

    Mrs jacks father loved to talk about the year he was in the Army and toured with Joe Louis doing boxing shows. Then he went to the pacific and did stuff he never talked about. Stuff he tried to forget for the next 65 years.

    Jack

  94. Jack,  guy who lived 3 doors down from my childhood home was a photographer for the Army in the Philippines. He had stacks of photos that were very … disturbing.

  97. If we are going to discuss boxing, then it is one of my favorite Mark Knofler story songs:  Song for Sonny Liston

     

  98. Jamie, ??

    Btw if you aren’t watching, Sam Bee is killing it.

    And that’s a great selection from Mark K.

Comments are closed.