Category: People

25th

I don’t see how one can possibly have the discussion about “Is Joe mentally competent enough to run for re-election?” without it immediately turning to “How can he be President now?” The 25th needs to be invoked and we will all have to deal with President Harris. That’s how the system was designed. That’s why she’s there. You don’t “Save Democracy and the Republic” by flouting the rules.

September 11th

(written in 2005)
Man, the weather is gorgeous here right now. There is no finer place on earth than New York City in early September: deep, cloudless sapphire blue skies smile down upon a city basking in warm, radiant sunshine, gently shining with a temperature in the mid-to-upper 70s and virtually no humidity, and there is always a slight breeze out of the west/northwest that bears just the barest hint of a chill; a teasing promise of the Fall to come that is so refreshing after the oppressive, moisture-laden air of July and August. You can always feel the carefree joy in the people when the weather’s like this. Oh sure, Summer is officially over, the kids are back in school and there’re only 113 shopping days left until Christmas, but this weather causes everyone to feel refreshed, to wear a smile, and to be beautiful. It’s a scientific fact: all women are beautiful in New York during the first half of September.
As I was opening up a bottle of wine for dinner tonight (I guess this is how those slanderous rumors began: let me amend that by saying “a bottle of wine to go with dinner) my Bride (who is beautiful on non-September days, as well) summed it up perfectly by remarking “It’s September 11th weather.”
She’s exactly right. It was the most glorious day of the year: not a cloud, bright laughing sunshine that you could just taste and worship in but not so hot as to raise even the slightest hint of a sweat. A dear friend from Brazil was in town, having just flown in from Oregon where he had dropped off his 15 year old son to spend a year in school in America on an exchange program.

I picked him up at his hotel at 7:30 or so and we caught the 7:55 ferry out of Highlands, which is tucked in behind Sandy Hook, bound for Manhattan. Gosh, did I mention it was a glorious day? We sat on the roof of the ferry, laughing and joking on the cell phone with friends in Brazil as we sped along at 35 knots, the breeze rippling across our clothes. As we neared going under the Verrazano Bridge my friend said “That plane is awfully low.”
And so indeed it was, crossing the mouth of the harbor from west to east at a slow, leisurely pace and turning up the East river. But then we saw another jet follow it a few minutes later and I thought, well, if there were two planes then the controllers must be routing them that way because of the wind. One can rationalize anything, at least then. And yes, I’ve seen all the diagrams and maps of how the various experts say the planes flew that day and none of them mention this, but that’s what I saw.

We got to my office on the very end of Maiden Lane around 8:45 or so. I started looking through my emails and the first one I always read was from my friend Sylvia San Pio, who was a coffee broker at Carr Futures. Her husband, John Resta, also worked at Carr. They had gotten married in August of 2000, and man did we have a blast at their wedding. Sylvia was seven months pregnant with their first child, a boy they were going to name Dylan. I would always kid her that she was condemning him to a life of whiskey drinking, and she would laugh and say that at least they’d get some good poetry out of him.

Carr Futures was on the 92nd floor of the North Tower.

Flight 11 hit the 94th floor.

A few minutes after the first plane hit word came out that a plane had crashed into the WTC. That’s all we heard. Since the weather was so perfect we knew it wasn’t an accident; I figured some guy in a Piper Cub had committed suicide, as none of the initial reports said ‘airliner’.
I remember when the Mets (yes, the Mets) won the World Series in 1986. I worked in an office on Lower Broadway at the time, so I got to see the ticker tape parade from our windows. And at that late date, as the computer era was just starting to take hold it was still ticker tape; that, and all those millions of tiny paper dots that that all the multitudinous Telex machines that were in every office had produced. Fine, fine particles of paper cascading slowly down, like the crystalline snow you get on a January day when the temperature is in the low teens.

As I looked out the window on September 11th I saw it snowing again.

Except this time instead of small paper bits it was entire sheets of paper, whole sheets of deals and agreements and lives fluttering about like the first fat flakes on a Fall day.

We turned on the small portable TV in the office and saw pictures of the smoke pouring out of the towers just a few block away. I had tried to call Sylvia but had gotten only a busy signal, which for some reason I took as a positive sign. Then the TV signal went blank, and we got word that a second plane had hit the South Tower. One of the oddities of that day is that the huge TV antenna was on the North Tower, but we only lost the signal when the South Tower was hit.

Anyhow, by this point the phone lines were a mess and the internet had gotten extremely overloaded, piggish and slow; the only way I was able to get any outside information (aside from the radio) was when I could get a line to my sister in Pensacola, who would then tell me what the TV was saying. No one had any idea what was going on. Obviously, there had been multiple hijackings, but whether it was 3 or 30 no one, least of all the media, knew. I truly want unedited transcripts of the broadcasts of, say, CNN and Newsradio88 from 8 am until, oh, 5 pm or so from that day. I think it is a critical piece of our history, to show the evolution from bliss to fear to resolve.

I leaned out my window and looked up Maiden Lane at the two beautiful smoking towers that had always seemed so strong and sure. The paper continued to flutter down.

I called my Bride in her car and got a hold of her on the Garden State Parkway as she was driving to work. I said “Honey, don’t worry; I’m ok”. I could tell by the tone of her “Uh, ok, I’m glad” reply that she had no ideas what was going on (the KC and the Sunshine Band I heard blaring in the background was another clue that I picked up upon). “Turn on the radio,” I said, “Planes have crashed into the World Trade Center.”
I really can’t recall when we started using the word “terrorist” that day, much as I can’t recall a day since when I haven’t used it, but it certainly gained prominence early on in the many reports, many of which were false, that were broadcast during the day of explosions and crashes about the country.
We sat in our office wondering what to do. Obviously no work was possible, as our market was in the WTC and had been evacuated. Thousands of people were milling about in the street below staring mutely at the glorious towers as they burned and belched out thick columns of black smoke and rained paper down upon everyone and everything.

What could we do? What should we do? As we nervously looked at the tall green skyscraper across the street we hadn’t a clue. How would we get home? Hell, would we get home? We had no idea.

And then I heard incredibly high pitched screams of terror from the street. I ran to the open window and looked up the street. I saw people sprinting frantically towards the river, running a desperate race to escape this huge roiling khaki-colored cloud that was bursting down the street between the Federal Reserve Castle and the Chase building. I shouted for everyone in the office to close the windows, and they did so just in time, for immediately the cloud enveloped us in its dark dusty shroud of fear. Where seconds before one could literally have seen for miles one could now not see a foot through a mantle barely illumined by a diffuse gray/green/khaki glow that eliminated all reference points. We were isolated. Alone.

The radio crackled that the South Tower had collapsed. Dear God. And just as the air was clearing it happened again as the North Tower fell. Shock and numbness doesn’t begin to describe how we were or way we felt. We assumed that thousands were dead, and we saw thousands more shuffling about in the street, ash covered and heading ever north and east like so many souls on Judgement Day.

There seemed little point in leaving just then: where would we go? So we waited. Eventually the air cleared and we could see that the ferries were loading people for the trip back to the Highlands, so I grabbed a pack of coffee filters and handed them out to people to use as a mask (my only useful act of the day. Well, that and the many bottles of wine I opened that night at home).

I can’t say I’ve ever been sadder than on that ride home, retracing our happy path of the morning, only this time the brilliant blue sky was marred by an enormous black cloud that headed up and south east out over the harbor.
The usual crowd from the morning was missing many members, lost in the ruins, and they had been replaced by scores of people, many ash-covered from head to toe, all dazed and uncomprehending, who had gotten on the boat simply to get away.

My Brazilian friend ended up staying an extra week until he was able to get a flight back home.

With regard to Sylvia, John and Dylan…

all that was ever recovered were a few of John’s teeth.

RIP Allan McDonald

#hero Courage personified.

McDonald directed the booster rocket project at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol. He was responsible for the two massive rockets, filled with explosive fuel, which lifted space shuttles skyward. He was at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch of the Challenger “…to approve or disapprove a launch if something came up,” he told me in 2016, 30 years after Challenger exploded.

His job was to sign and submit an official form. Sign the form, he believed, and he’d risk the lives of the seven astronauts set to board the spacecraft the next morning. Refuse to sign, and he’d risk his job, his career, and the good life he’d built for his wife and four children.

“And I made the smartest decision I ever made in my lifetime,” McDonald told me. “I refused to sign it. I just thought we were taking risks we shouldn’t be taking.”

Hoppy Burfday To The Bestest Sister EVUH

THS!!!

THS!!!

Happy Birthday THS!!!

Oh Somehow I Don’t Think This Is The First Time

Hillary has written quite a lot of fiction before.

But, hey, at this point what does it matter?

Rush Limbaugh Has Died

What a loss, but I am grateful his suffering is at an end.

I have never once heard even a minute of his radio show, although one of the highlights of our early Swilling was having one of our scoops featured on it (Folks were kind enough to send us the transcripts.). But these past few years – especially during the latter days of the Obama administration, and Hillary Clinton’s run – I came to look forward to his appearances on shows, and read guest columns.

What an intellect. And, oh, how he loved this great country of ours.

And the folks in it. The “you”s, “me”s, and “us”s – all of US regular types.

He told us we weren’t crazy. We WERE seeing what we WERE seeing, and he laid it all out on the table time and again, in clear, concise, take-no-prisoners language that gave voice to the frustration, and resentment felt by a neglected, massive swath of this great land’s hardworking citizens.

He heard, he saw, and he gave such vociferous voice. There was, at last, a true people’s champion speaking. An America first champion.

Rest well, dear sir. God bless you.

ADDENDUM: Here’s the transcript of his speech at the 2009 CPAC. A thing of beauty.

…Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We don’t see victims. We don’t see people we want to exploit. What we see — what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don’t think that person doesn’t have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government. [Applause]

We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you.

We don’t want to tell anybody how to live. That’s up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we’ll try to stop it, but it’s a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that’s been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state. By a failed war on poverty. [Applause]

We love the people of this country. And we want this to be the greatest country it can be, but we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we’re all individuals. We resist the effort to group us. We resist the effort to make us feel that we’re all the same, that we’re no different than anybody else. We’re all different. There are no two things or people in this world who are created in a way that they end up with equal outcomes. That’s up to them. They are created equal, given the chance – -[Applause]

We don’t hate anybody. We don’t — I mean, the racism in this country, if you ask me, I know many people in this audience — let me deal with this head on. You know what the cliche is, a conservative: racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know you were, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year. [Applause]…

All Our Todays Have Blue-Checked Fools

and tweets by idiots

19 Years

Murdered as their life was just beginning.

Happy Birthday, CRUSADER!

Handsome devil graces Texas shoreline with his presence

Hope your day is FABULOUS, defiantly unmasked, and full of cheer!

WE love YOU!!

Kathy Kinsley

I was so very shocked and saddened to get a text message from THS that Kathy Kinsley had died.

She was a long time commenter here, and she’d always keep checking in during those times when we had some gaps in posting, and always with grace and class.

She will be missed, and we are very, very sad.

RIP

Oh Joe Joe Joe

Not sure this was *quite* the phrase you wanted

“No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger, other than self-defense and that rarely ever occurs,” he said. “So we have to just change the culture. Period.”
Then he maybe took it too far, adding, “And keep punching at it and punching at it and punching at it,” making matching punching motions with his fist.

This

This This This this

The big takeaway from Impeachment Theater is that American voters have influence over a much smaller portion of the federal government than they believed. Washington is a feudal bureaucratic empire with a small suggestion box.
Last week American voters were introduced to the idea that the elected President of the United States can be accused of “undermining” foreign policy determined by the permanent bureaucracy, which spends billions of our tax dollars but is not even slightly interested in our input.

Read all of it.

It is 100% correct.

Rest In Peace, Al Haynes

A model of heroism and professionalism, the Captain of United 232 died Sunday.

Read the cockpit transcript, and the story of one he saved.

Happy Birthday

…to THIS guy.

Ebola and I loveses ya like CRAZY, you know.

This Is The Funniest Thing You’ll Read All Week

Thanks to Ace, I will say up front I feel very sorry for this guy’s kids, it’s horrible what he’s put them through, but sweet baby Jeebus I swear it’s impossible to read through this without laughing out loud several times:

“The Most Gullible Man in Cambridge A Harvard Law professor who teaches a class on judgment wouldn’t seem like an obvious mark, would he? “

We’ll Never Meet Again This Side Of Heaven

This Will Never Get Old

What an absolute unprepared idiot he is.

But hey, he has a “boo”.

President Bush Will Be Taking a Piece of Pensacola With Him

It’s a magical place to Naval Aviators.

Godspeed.

#BlueAngels #Pensacola

President George Herbert Walker Bush

…has shuffled off his mortal coil, and undoubtedly gone to Heaven.

This is my favorite portrait of him. Not only because it is so incredibly informal and human, but also because it looks eerily like my Dad. I’ve been lucky enough to meet the artist (Jeffrey Bass), and told him how much this picture affects me every single time I visit it in the National Museum of Naval Aviation.

George Bush was an American hero and national treasure. I hope Barbara doesn’t give him too much grief when he hits the Pearly Gates.

Perspective is Important

…when one chooses to flame throw.

This Is Hilarious

A much needed palliative this week

Shut Up, Wesley: Ceaselessly Annoying Social Justice Warrior and Manchild Wil Wheaton Banned From LEFTWING Social Media Site

read it all!

Sorry, But You’re Not “Polarizing”

You’re “pathetic.” A “parody.” A “joke”

Hillary Clinton, in an interview with a British newspaper this week, appeared to compare herself to wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill while responding to a question about being a polarizing figure.

“I’m sure they said that about Churchill between the wars, didn’t they?” she told The Guardian when asked if she should withdraw from public life to help heal divisions in the U.S., given her reputation.

The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee then immediately claimed she wasn’t actually comparing herself to Churchill, before going on to elaborate on the analogy.

Churchill went into the political wilderness between the two World Wars and during that time was a key voice criticizing then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler. He would go on to become prime minister himself and help lead the Allies to victory in World War II.

The Guardian report notes that Clinton made the Churchill reference “a fraction too quickly for the line to sound spontaneous.”
Clinton continued: “I mean, I’m not comparing myself, but I’m just saying people said that, but he was right about Hitler, and a lot of people in England were wrong. And Churchill was a pain. He kept popping up all the time.”

I love the note from the Grauniad, it’s perfectly true. She has never done anything in her entire life that was spontaneous. Everything she does has been planned to move her up the power chain.

And she will never understand, and certainly never forgive, the peasants for rejecting her

New RNC Ad

Pretty damn good.

A Group of Screamers

…just jumped Elaine Chao and Mitch McConnell. God bless her, she rips back at them.
Dangerous, but don’t we ALL want to.

Someone is going to die, Maxine Waters.

UPDATE:

Cretin think: Of course it’s Elaine Chao’s fault – everything was fine until SHE lost her cool.

“Children RIPPED FROM THEIR MOTHERS’ ARMS!!!!”

Everything is a lie with these people.

And dad would kinda sorta like his daughter back.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘They’re together and safe: Father of Honduran two-year-old who became the face of family separation crisis reveals daughter was never separated from her mother, but the image of her in tears at U.S. border control ‘broke his heart’

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