There is a song about smiles that make us happy and others that make us blue. Judy Garland helped popularize the song. The third line of this song written in 1917 and sung by Judy is: “There are smiles that steal away the teardrops.” Writing about the news today “There is news that steal away our calmness.”
Here’s some of the news that may interest you as you ponder the good deeds you almost did last week.
The Massachusetts State Police have won the Golden Padlock award given yearly by the Investigative Reporters and Editors. The chair of the committee handing out the reward stated: “The Massachusetts State Police has distinguished itself as an agency unwavering in its willingness to ensure citizens are protected from the truth.”
As you may be aware Boston is going to sponsor the “Grand Prix of Boston, clearing the way for the city to host five annual IndyCar road races on the South Boston waterfront.” The article in Boston Magazine about the event is interesting in the way it lays out the people who will be in line to benefit from this event. It seems the same players involved in the Grand Prix are also behind the “I believe in Boston 2024” sign push for the Olympics. These events bear watching
I was at a dinner last Sunday night. One of the people there had just come back from Bolzano, Italy. He said he wanted to weep when he saw how modern the public transportation is in Europe when he compares it to what we have in Boston. I had the same feeling coming back from Barcelona. Perhaps rather than thinking of 2024 we should see what we can do now to better our lives.
You know how I say the law is what the judges say it is. The Supreme Court upheld 6 – 3 the State Department rule that the passport of a child born in Jerusalem shall give that city as the place of birth rather than what his parents requested which was Israel. This policy in effect since Truman was president was established so that the US remains neutral in the fight between the Jews and Arabs over Jerusalem.
Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority in letting the president control this matter against the will of Congress that: “Jerusalem’s political standing has long been, and remains, one of the most sensitive issues in American foreign policy, . . .” Kennedy and the others in the majority did not want to stir up a hornets nest; no use making more enemies than we have to.
What bothered me about the court’s decision was the dissent by Chief Justice Roberts suggesting that concern about the reaction of the Arabs to the United States putting Jerusalem into Israel “is essentially to subject a duly enacted statute to an international heckler’s veto.”
If the chief justice of the Supreme Court is so politically insensitive to the problems our country faces in the Middle East that he considers the Arabs nothing more than mere hecklers then we really do have problems in our country.
The Patriot’s are doing their best not to be named the New England Gangsters after the Brandon Spikes incident. What ever happened to “the Patriot’s Way.
The “Naut Guilty” incident’s recent news has shades of Chappaquiddick lapping up against it.
Edwin Alemany was convicted of first degree murder for the July 2013 murder of Amy Lord — the type of murder that really deserves the death penalty. His record shows the futility of sentences to the misnamed Houses of Correction. Repeat felons belong in Walpole. Some people are just bad and have to be locked up for as long as possible to protect the Amy Lords of the world.
Hi Matt,
Any thoughts on the Dannemora Duo?
This guy Richard Matt seems to be on the same sociopathic level as our erstwhile villain James. I love the story how Mexico slipped him back to the US as un-negotiated for extraditee on the plane with a Cartel trafficker, because he was a problem prisoner and an attempted escapee in Mexico.
Rather:
My initial thought was how could guys use an electric saw to cut through metal without everyone in the prison know they were doing it. It also reminded me how Whitey conned the woman psychiatrist in Texas which caused his move to Florida when I see that woman who assisted apparently fell in love with them and planned to flee along with them after they murdered her husband.
I haven’t given any thought to comparing Matt with Whitey since I have not read much about him. What surprises me is they are still on the loose. The cops figure they are still in the area because their helper backed out at the last minute but I have to figure for them to survive this long they had to have gotten out of there somehow. What is interesting is that they were so well thought of in the prison that they were allowed to wear civilian clothes. So when they got outside and hit the highway they were not wearing stripes that would warn a driver not to pick them up if they were hitch hiking. I’d have to guess when they hit daylight outside the walls an saw their ride was not there they found another way to get a ride which may have been hitch hiking. If that happened the person who picked them up is probably no longer among the living. That’s one thing that the cops should be checking is to see if anyone who was driving through that area has disappeared.
From what I read they had about a seven hour lead time before they would have been detected; that would have given them time to get to New York City or Boston. With a friend or two in one of those places they could last for months without raising suspicion. But were I they I may have wanted to head north into Canada over one of those back roads. I have to believe they are no longer in that area but there are some state parks up there they could be hiding in but they don’t appear to be the type that could live out in the wild so I’d guess they are in a big city in the states or Montreal.
“He said he wanted to weep when he saw how modern the public transportation is in Europe when he compares it to what we have in Boston.”
You can also weep at the European taxation level on gasoline/petrol that supports that transportation network. Think of how much U.S. taxpayer funds were spent in the Middle East in the past few decades and apply those funds instead to the U.S. transportation network and you too could take a faster train to more places. Think of how much U.S. taxpayer funds went to NATO in proportion to the member states of Europe.
Ed:
Absolutely right. You make a compelling point. While Europe settled into spending money on its infrastructure we spent our money on defending Europe. Just like we see today in the Middle East, everyone is sitting back waiting for us to come to the rescue because they know we seem to like to go off to fight other people. In Europe a recent poll said the majority of people believe if Russia attacks the Baltic states that NATO should not do anything. The reason is that NATO is really an empty shell – it is not NATO it is the US and our money that keeps the peace. You might not remember SEATO but that bankrupt group set up by the US got us into Vietnam and the members of it did little to assist us.
Good comment. You got me thinking not so much how we have become the suckers in all these international dealings but rather how absurd it is that we think it is our obligation to police the world.
Conceptualize that the primary purpose of NATO is to provide France, and to a lesser extent the BeNeLux countries and Italy with a sense of more security, then you can better understand “European” thinking on NATO. NATO member countries such as Poland and Germany are considered sacrificial buffers once you adopt that way of thinking. What made sense after the collapse of the Soviet Union no longer makes sense with the recent aggression of Russia to neighboring and nearby states – some formerly affiliated states and others such as Sweden. People remember what happened in Finland and Poland in 1939 and 1940.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/land/vehicles/2015/04/18/germany-to-buy-back-tanks-amid-russia-threat/25879281/
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21604586-russia-stokes-fresh-debate-among-nordics-about-nato-membership-what-price-neutrality
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/world/europe/us-poised-to-put-heavy-weaponry-in-east-europe.html?_r=0
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/art6.html
Ed:
Thanks. I thought NATO also had included what we called West Germany under its umbrella but right not I am not too sure of that. You are right that the situation has changed drastically over the past year or so. Thanks for the references.
* insistent … whitecaps … ‘ lapping up against it. ” 🙂 …. Ayyyyupppp ‘ as Flying Pond might say.
…. has ‘ ripples ‘ or ” sea caps’ or ‘ briny weeds ‘ of Chappaquidick. ” lapping up against it. ” Otherwise, you mix good inspired metaphor that … ” I very much like.” 🙂 …. Right up there with … ” The fantasy pole of experience ” from a previous post. Ain’t it fun.