User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
“My Old Man”
Fathers and sons often have “interesting” relationships, Steve Goodman does a good job of conveying his.
Jack
30 thoughts on ““My Old Man””
Jack, thanks for treating us with this great teaser for tomorrow’s Father’s Day celebrations.
At least I hope you meant it for today since the magic secret word “sunday” or “serendipity” wasn’t part of the title. my apologies if you didn’t.
speaking of one’s father, this comment last thread from renee was so much like the advice my own old man used to model:
bId… I live in a small rural town in NH… and it’s mostly conservative. When anyone says anything political to me about loving republicans, I just smile and say “I disagree with that point of view”. If they persist, I’ll usually add… “isn’t it great that we live in a democracy where we both get to choose.” That usually shuts them up. What I have found is that as long as you’re friendly and respectful, you’ll be fine. One thing about small towns… most people help each other out no matter the political stripe.
180 degrees from those thoughts, here’s maher from last night:
This Father’s Day, if you really want to give your father something he’ll treasure forever, give him permission to be a dad like dads used to be.
thinking about and commiserating with our trail friend renee, click here for kimmel‘s
Tonight was game #4 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks, President Biden was in Italy for the G7 Summit where he spent time with the Pope, today was a bigly day in the MAGA-verse as Trump celebrated his 78th birthday, Trump was on Capitol Hill yesterday where he got a fawning reception from some ass-kissing parasites, in honor of his birthday we bring you our top 78 Trump nicknames of all-time, Eric Trump tries to prove his love for Daddy, and we found a Celtics fan in the 4th quarter of a finals game at TD Garden and tested every ounce of his patience.
Dads. By the time my dad got around to having the talk – when I was headed off to college – his advice was “I don’t want you bringing some girl home pregnant.” That was it. He left the details up to me.
So Ivy, you came to the ‘ham 20 years after I left it. The bedroom communities south of Red Mountain had exploded by then and they certainly haven’t slowed down a bit.
Jack……..yep.
Sometimes I think about him and then figure things like, “If there IS a heaven, he’s really gonna give me hell when I get there.”
But then I think, no……no heaven…..we had all we’re ever gonna have right here; and then the rest is silence.
Pogo, that is certainly true and we were surely part of that migration. The influx of “yankees” like us is playing a part in changing the culture. How long it will take is anyone’s guess but it’s happening.
In the meantime, we adopt the local accent and go along to get along. And do our best to be good citizens, paying taxes, voting our conscience, and serving jury duty, wherever we happen to reside. Become part of the solution instead of the problem.
I have this book on order from a friend’s recommendation on my just-now-completed trip. There is still a Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham (and Alabama at large) and we can each still join it.
In her search for truth and beauty in Birmingham, Armstrong draws on the powers of place and storytelling to dig into the cracks, complicating easy narratives of civil rights progress. Among the discoveries she finds in America’s racial mirror is a nation that has failed to recognize itself in the horrific images from Birmingham’s past and to acknowledge the continuing inequalities that make up the Civil Right’s Movement’s unfinished business. Learning from Birmingham reminds us that stories of civil rights, structural oppression, privilege, abuse, race and gender bias, and inequity are difficult and complicated, but their telling, especially from multiple stakeholder perspectives, is absolutely necessary.
“The decision could make it harder for the National Labor Relations Board to temporarily halt what it views as unfair labor practices, including dismissing workers involved with organizing efforts. The NLRB is a federal agency charged with protecting workers’ rights.”
I may have to read Ms. Buckner’s book. See whether my recollection of the racial shit sow of those days comports with her retrospective of it.
Renee, you jinxed them.
Yeah Corey… I guess I did. Rick got all upset at them. Me… I just calmly accepted it. We have a good friend that has season tickets… he gets to see another game.
Union rights and civil rights were intertwined which was why both were so violently opposed, as recounted in this Pulitzer Prize winning book written by a friend of a friend.
“The Year of Birmingham,” 1963, was a cataclysmic turning point in America’s long civil rights struggle. Child demonstrators faced down police dogs and fire hoses in huge nonviolent marches against segregation. Ku Klux Klansmen retaliated by bombing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four young black girls. Diane McWhorter, daughter of a prominent Birmingham family, weaves together police and FBI records, archival documents, interviews with black activists and Klansmen, and personal memories into an extraordinary narrative of the personalities and events that brought about America’s second emancipation.
Pat
It works, I was thinking about it for Sunday but it is better today. I’m a little ambivalent toward Fathers day. It maybe something to do with my father dying when I was 20, he came home drunk, raised hell with everybody, passed out on the kitchen floor and sometime during the night died of a heart attack. It was a bit rough on everybody but I wasn’t there. I had left home 3 years earlier.
There is lots of good music out there, I’ll find something with better memories.
Jack
Taking a line out of Donald Trump’s playbook, Joe Biden offered his rival a tongue-in-cheek birthday greeting on X on Friday, saying: “Happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take it from one old guy to another: Age is just a number.”
The president then coupled his thoughts with a caustic video sarcastically touting “78 of Trump’s historic … ‘accomplishments” before a Biden re-election campaign spokesperson added: “On behalf of America, our early gift for your 79th: making sure you are never president again.”
[continues]
A cause close to my heart.
“As the board of trustees met on the campus of Alabama A&M in Huntsville on Friday, a small group of residents held a rally 100 miles to the south in Birmingham. The residents gathered to show their support for A&M’s plans to buy the campus of Birmingham-Southern College, which closed last month after years of financial distress.”
At his Detroit rally Trump just now forgot the name of the doctor who gave him the cognitive test he brags about passing. “Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson?” It’s Jackson.
Bring back the two dollar mortgage! Trump: “The monthly cost of a typical mortgage has doubled and tripled even. We had it at $2.”
Maggers are not voting for a President. They are voting for a Mascot.
Details Schmetails. Who needs ‘em.
Sitting out back watching sprinklers with Longs Peak and the setting sun as the backdrop. Can’t think of a more peaceful Saturday evening.
Bink, Frampton Comes Alive is one of Mrs. P’a all time favorite albums. And even at his age he still blows the roof roof off. Saw him open for Heart in Boston a few years ago. Terrific show.
Jack, thanks for treating us with this great teaser for tomorrow’s Father’s Day celebrations.
At least I hope you meant it for today since the magic secret word “sunday” or “serendipity” wasn’t part of the title. my apologies if you didn’t.
speaking of one’s father, this comment last thread from renee was so much like the advice my own old man used to model:
180 degrees from those thoughts, here’s maher from last night:
This Father’s Day, if you really want to give your father something he’ll treasure forever, give him permission to be a dad like dads used to be.
thinking about and commiserating with our trail friend renee, click here for kimmel‘s
Tonight was game #4 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks, President Biden was in Italy for the G7 Summit where he spent time with the Pope, today was a bigly day in the MAGA-verse as Trump celebrated his 78th birthday, Trump was on Capitol Hill yesterday where he got a fawning reception from some ass-kissing parasites, in honor of his birthday we bring you our top 78 Trump nicknames of all-time, Eric Trump tries to prove his love for Daddy, and we found a Celtics fan in the 4th quarter of a finals game at TD Garden and tested every ounce of his patience.
Dads. By the time my dad got around to having the talk – when I was headed off to college – his advice was “I don’t want you bringing some girl home pregnant.” That was it. He left the details up to me.
So Ivy, you came to the ‘ham 20 years after I left it. The bedroom communities south of Red Mountain had exploded by then and they certainly haven’t slowed down a bit.
Jack……..yep.
Sometimes I think about him and then figure things like, “If there IS a heaven, he’s really gonna give me hell when I get there.”
But then I think, no……no heaven…..we had all we’re ever gonna have right here; and then the rest is silence.
Pogo, that is certainly true and we were surely part of that migration. The influx of “yankees” like us is playing a part in changing the culture. How long it will take is anyone’s guess but it’s happening.
In the meantime, we adopt the local accent and go along to get along. And do our best to be good citizens, paying taxes, voting our conscience, and serving jury duty, wherever we happen to reside. Become part of the solution instead of the problem.
I have this book on order from a friend’s recommendation on my just-now-completed trip. There is still a Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham (and Alabama at large) and we can each still join it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0817361065?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/13/politics/starbucks-supreme-court-union/index.html
“The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Starbucks in a labor dispute over seven employees who were fired after they attempted to unionize one of the coffee chain’s stores in Memphis.”
“The decision could make it harder for the National Labor Relations Board to temporarily halt what it views as unfair labor practices, including dismissing workers involved with organizing efforts. The NLRB is a federal agency charged with protecting workers’ rights.”
I may have to read Ms. Buckner’s book. See whether my recollection of the racial shit sow of those days comports with her retrospective of it.
Renee, you jinxed them.
Yeah Corey… I guess I did. Rick got all upset at them. Me… I just calmly accepted it. We have a good friend that has season tickets… he gets to see another game.
Union rights and civil rights were intertwined which was why both were so violently opposed, as recounted in this Pulitzer Prize winning book written by a friend of a friend.
https://www.amazon.com/Carry-Home-Birmingham-Climactic-Revolution/dp/1476709513
Pat
It works, I was thinking about it for Sunday but it is better today. I’m a little ambivalent toward Fathers day. It maybe something to do with my father dying when I was 20, he came home drunk, raised hell with everybody, passed out on the kitchen floor and sometime during the night died of a heart attack. It was a bit rough on everybody but I wasn’t there. I had left home 3 years earlier.
There is lots of good music out there, I’ll find something with better memories.
Jack
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/15/politics/trump-biden-cnn-debate-rules/index.html
“Biden and Trump campaigns agreed to mic muting, podiums among rules for upcoming CNN debate”
My old man is better than your old grifter.
There’s a heaven for irresponsible fathers, except it has a different name…
here’s a nice, maudlin father’s day tune
Jack,
❤️
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/15/biden-wishes-trump-happy-birthday
A cause close to my heart.
“As the board of trustees met on the campus of Alabama A&M in Huntsville on Friday, a small group of residents held a rally 100 miles to the south in Birmingham. The residents gathered to show their support for A&M’s plans to buy the campus of Birmingham-Southern College, which closed last month after years of financial distress.”
https://www.al.com/news/2024/06/alabama-am-board-silent-on-offer-to-buy-birmingham-southern-as-residents-rally-in-support.html?e=87003e1eb754f9d40574ce526134d300&lctg=622f6bce642ba020b90c1251&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter_birmingham_today%202024-06-15&utm_term=Newsletter_birmingham_today
At his Detroit rally Trump just now forgot the name of the doctor who gave him the cognitive test he brags about passing. “Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson?” It’s Jackson.
Bring back the two dollar mortgage! Trump: “The monthly cost of a typical mortgage has doubled and tripled even. We had it at $2.”
Maggers are not voting for a President. They are voting for a Mascot.
Details Schmetails. Who needs ‘em.
Sitting out back watching sprinklers with Longs Peak and the setting sun as the backdrop. Can’t think of a more peaceful Saturday evening.
Bink, Frampton Comes Alive is one of Mrs. P’a all time favorite albums. And even at his age he still blows the roof roof off. Saw him open for Heart in Boston a few years ago. Terrific show.
👍
New Zealand geopolitics podcast, highly rated:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/211-the-mike-hosking-breakfast-24837692/
NEW THREAD by Jack