As to RG and his "sources:" Quite some time ago he assured all of us repeatedly that James Comey was the white hat guy who was going to make all our 4D dreams come true. RG is a good guy who means well. His sources suck.

Thank you for this, TM. Like all of us I have been thinking a lot about our great good friend "daddy" over the past few days. I know I already miss him terribly. I had the pleasure of meeting Robert at the Sturbridge JOM met-up at Jane's place. I think I was a little concerned that he would be a blowhard and dominate things--as anybody who has met him knows, I couldn't have been more wrong. In person he was the same engaging and relentlessly upbeat guy we all know from this blog, with a unique gift for actually listening to and being interested in what others have to say. I suppose that is one of the things that made him such a splendid storyteller. I imagine that his fellow Fedex pilots clamored to have him as a co-pilot on those long flights, when he could fill the hours with fascinating accounts of ancient Sumeria, Indian pro cricket cheerleaders, civil war generals, Alaskan moose adventures and the voyages of The Beagle. It occurs to me that although this is a political blog and we all know where daddy stood on things, very few of his comments were political--his infectious fascination with the world and with the people he met shines through. I am truly sorry I never got to do a pub-crawl with him. Although I did share some of his unpronounceable single malt with him at Jane's, I never got the impression that he was a heavy or hard drinker--it seems to me that bars were places to meet and talk with interesting people, and a pint of beer or a nip of whiskey was the means to that end. Despite his one great character flaw of being a Tar Heel fan, I will remember him always as a true friend. I will cherish forever his optimism, humor and genuine good cheer. Godspeed, Old Friend.

Sales of Confederate flags and MAGA hats must be booming in Crown Heights. Right?

Mad Jack asks that I pass along his heartfelt condolences to daddy's family and all of his good friends here.

RIP old friend.

ThinkProgress published a blog post titled “Why Immigration Is the Hole in Bernie Sanders’ Progressive Agenda.” The senator, it argued, was supporting “the idea that immigrants coming to the U.S. are taking jobs and hurting the economy, a theory that has been proven incorrect.” The idea that this "theory" could possibly be proven incorrect is one of the many problems with the "science" of economics (or maybe just the practice of "journalism") today. Either immigrants are getting jobs (and therefore taking jobs) or they are not (and therefore they are burdening our social support system). It is possible (and seems likely in the current Trump economy) that at times there are enough new job opportunities being created by the economy and filled by immigrants to create a net benefit to the overall economy, but unless everybody who has a job is in no danger of losing it or not getting a raise or not getting the better job that they would like to have, the "theory" is pretty much a statement of an obvious truth.

I would like to compliment DaveinMA on his "repurposing" of the Crafty Beaver hardware outfit as a moniker for the subject of TM's current post.

That Kirsten Powers "apology" was singularly "lacking in grace. And why the hell bring black teenagers into it? There weren't any black teenagers involved (The behavior of the black "adults" is another issue, I suppose). Is there some recent instance of the entire national media, powerful public figures, and Hollywood condemning and vilifying black teenagers for being insufficiently polite to a strange old man behaving strangely?

I don't know if this answers your question, Pin. But it seems to be related. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYbogp1Ha0

Can anyone point me to the last time--hell, to any time--a Democrat was subjected to "hard hitting questions" on "60 Minutes?" They have as much credibility as WaPo. Did they ask McCabe the Big Question that should have been obvious to anyone following the McCabe odyssey--pro, con, or indifferent: "What was the 'insurance policy' that Page and Strzok discussed in your office?" If not (and I suspect not, at least on the air) they have no business calling themselves "journalists."

Gillebrand seems a little classier than Kamala. Damning with very faint praise, indeed.

The idea that whatever it is that Roger Stone is supposed to have done is somehow illegal or even improper in a supposedly free political system, in a country with a First Amendment making freedom of speech the paramount value, is absolutely absurd. And the fact that he hasn't been charged with "collusion," but is having his life destroyed by being charged with allegedly lying about communications which are not illegal, is a travesty. And MSNBC and CNN, companies which exist because of the First Amendment, ought to be screaming 24/7 about the travesty instead of cheerleading repression. They should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. If they had any capacity for shame, which they don't.

"Nothing to be alarmed about, Lovie dear, but the accountants say we have to move to Switzerland. But only on paper. Since we haven't been to our place in Zurich for a while it works out nicely."

As they say, Clarice, "read the whole thing." Howie seldom disappoints. He understands Alinsky-Ridicule is a very powerful weapon. https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/02/09/howie-carr-aoc-aint-a-ok/

Apparently the grownup Dems have figured out that Ed Markey is the smart one in the Markey/Ocasio-Cortez "Green New Deal" team. That the grownup Dems seem to be correct in their assessment is not comforting. I have raised guppies smarter than Ed Markey. Some vintage Howie Carr: "Her co-sponsor on this preposterous attempt to plunge the economy back into the Stone Age is Sen. Ed Markey, “Mr. Frosty,” whose last job in the Dreaded Private Sector was driving an ice-cream truck in Malden in 1968. Of Mr. Frosty, Silber’s pal Billy Bulger used to say, “To a battle of wits, he comes unarmed.”" Needless to say, nothing has changed when it comes to Mr. Frosty – or AOC."

Henry--"bearded Cruz universe." HAH!

On the subject of the thread: Section 15 of the Constitution of The State of Connecticut ("The Constitution State") reads, in its entirety, as follows: "Every citizen has the right to keep and bear arms in defense of himself and the state." No ambiguity. No "militia" language. And yet...

Or 3 points...

OK, 6 points.

Anybody predict in September that the Patriots would win the Super Bowl by holding the Rams to 3 points?

Mom2--My heartfelt condolences to you and your family.

What the hell, MM?--it's far from clear that those are the same pants (which were regrettably somewhat popular back in the day) . A photo of somebody wearing plaid pants at another time proves absolutely nothing, and seems like an unfair basis to drag the other guy into this.

Northam is looking for the guys in the photo. And OJ is still looking for the real killer.

I don’t think there is anything morally wrong with Northam using shoe polish to make himself look like Michael Jackson in the 80’s. After all, Michael worked pretty hard to make himself look like Ralph Northam.

OK--that is one wild and crazy neighborhood: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/roger-stone-arrest-witnessed-by-chad-ochocinco-johnson-in-fort-lauderdale-11060667