The Tale of Two Juniors (and their dads Patriarca and Trump)

52 thoughts on “The Tale of Two Juniors (and their dads Patriarca and Trump)”

1. I forgot to add

   https://www.facebook.com/FlyingPond/

2. Flying Pond Vienna Maine
   Home to Elbows Wychulis and Eaton Mountain

   and now for Richard Dolan

   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yIHS9bBQuZU

3. McCain is a good guy. One of my old road dogs, Little Stevie T, was having a tough time in La Tuna. He wrote a letter to McCain. The Senator got on the horn to the BOP and had Stevie transferred to a different joint. All praise to John McCain.

4. On meeting John McCain.

   A number of years ago my wife, who works at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, called me and said that a famous photographer was having an opening on The Mall and that I should put on a clean shirt and come down after work and rub elbows with the stars. I had been to a number of these private events and it is kind of fun to walk up to Jamie Lee Curtis or Tommy Franks or Leon Panetta and say, “T’sup?”

   This was David Hume Kennerly’s opening and the place was packed with dignitaries. I got bored pretty quickly but on the wall was a great picture of Joe Frazier landing, of all things, a right cross to Ali’s cheek. I remember it well because of the look on Frazier’s face. One totally lacking concern, and through the ropes the closed eyes of Ali taking a solid shot. I knew all about the boxing reform bills that had been pushed from opposite side by John McCain and Senator Reid and always wondered why the two old battlers couldn’t come to an agreement on a bill. All of a sudden my wife is walking towards me with John McCain in tow saying, “Here is my husband Bob. He wants to ask you an important question.” And she left.

   To say McCain was guarded would be an understatement. I mean, how many a-holes has he had to deal with in his time? Obsequious douchebags that want to pander to a guy like him. (I’m an a-hole but I don’t pander) So he says, “Hi young man. How are you?” stiff as a board. I said, “I’m fine Senator. How you doin’?” Pleasantries were done and I said, “I’m a life long boxing fan and I know you are. My question is about you and Reid and why you two old boxers can’t come to terms with boxing reform. Kids and older guys are dying and even worse. Wilfredo Benitez is in diapers in his mothers house and they say he can’t even talk any more. Something has to be done.”

   It was like watching an iceberg melt into a pool of warm water. He grabbed my arm, looked around and hustled me to a private corner. Then he gave me his sad story about his jousts with Senator Reid. He became such a fellow. It was the passion and his willingness to share it with a stranger that struck me. Like me, I am sure he would rather have been some place else, but he had found a person with similar passion and he dropped the guard completely. For fifteen minutes we were two guys in a bar or on a street corner talking boxing. No pretention, no barriers. He was a really cool dude. I mentioned that the picture of Frazier landing a right was unexpected because of him being profiled as a one armed fighter with only a left hook. He said he had noticed that too and wondered if the negative had been reversed, but the word Everlast on the gloves and trunks was not backwards.

   Someone in the crowd spotted him and yelled, “There you are!” and they weren’t looking at me. He shook my hand with both of his, gave me a hopeful salutation about the prospects of boxing reform and said, “Good to talk, Bob. Back to my public.”

5. Wallahi! Wrong thread. My bad.

   Wallahi! Where’s the Trumpist gaggle? Attention, erstwhile patriots! Glorious Leader is circling the toilet bowl. He needs your help. Come to his defense. Reach in there, and, grab him. He doesn’t know how to swim. I can hear him gurgling. Don’t let him go down that deep dark hole, alone.

6. Was prepared to be richly served prose that satisfies my appetite for authentic prose . He , Crumley , is setting the board abundantly, Abe. By the time his wanton neighbor was drying the postman’s uniform after hosing them both down , and they were meanwhile commiserating about vicious wives and ex-wives over peppermint schnapps and hot chocolate, I was sensible of the hypnotic trigger he pulls right on the front porch of his narrative . The rest is … Dreamspace . He can really write !

7. Dunno, Abe , Got DANCING BEAR and a few pages in our hero is having a disgruntled mailman break a clipboard over his head because our hero is reluctant to sign for a piece of certified mail. I am all for the willing suspension of disbelief , but I have to believe that actions are at least somewhat credible by the characters involved. He has a snappy way through certain sentences . This is enough to grant him leniency for the time . Will keep you posted .

8. Matt

   I think we found someone to walk your dogs, eh?

   http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gambino-enforcer-abandons-life-crime-save-animals-article-1.3331258

9. Sunday afternoon sun is embracing the top of John Brown mountain
   as I look across my garden from the side of Eaton mountain.
   The radio is blastng live from the North Atlantic Blues Festival where
   Zydeco accordionist Duane Dopsie has me jitterbuggin to the tune
   restoring my faith in humanity and to the best it offers.

   My significant other and I usually attend the two day event live in Rockland Maine.
   It is Maine’s answer to the Bayreuth Wagner Fesival.

   As Jack Powers would say :

   ” I saw the best musicians of my generation
   strumming with madness
   dragging themselves through the Arnold Schoenberg dawn
   looking for a negro fix”

   http://www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com

10. * weekly cable show …. CCTV .

11. Small World ! Would not want to paint it , but it is a small World . I knew Jack well and spent much time with him on Mechanic St. , an alley terminating in his charming pied a terre ( he’d get a chuckle out of that ) down next to Julio and Bruno’s LA DOLCE VITA restaurant on Hanover . I gave Jack great winter gloves which he came back to base without because he gave them to a homeless guy . I accompanied Jack on many city hikes and remember his intensity as the lean Wolf loped with feral ferocity in his gait as he went to complete an assignation with a former lover , a woman who had broken his heart and now hinted years later at a possible rekindling. It never happened of course. The Old Wollf was in his early seventies then and could outpace anyone much younger . He was also a serious horndog ! I loved Jack . He punched me in the jaw once . I just pinned him down . He knew he had fucked up . He had a very serviceable right hook btw.

    I miss the guy and conclude with this anecdote . Jack liked me and honored me with his affection . I offer two anecdotes then : We were at the OUT OF THE BLUE GALLERY in Cambridge which hosted his STONE SOUP POETRY gatherings . Jack , who liked a bit of the hair of the dog time to time , walked out with the owner Tom’s briefcase which was identical to his own . The guy was a Channel 2 producer and had much … vital stuff … in his satchel. Jack and I walked back to the North End and were sitting on the couch when the phone rang . I answered . It was a very serious Tom informing me of this … switch . I immediately turned to Jack and said ” Jesus Christ Jack , you took his goddamn briefcase instead of your own .” It turned out that Tom was right outside the back door with his great white malamute dog , Bear as he made the call . I let him in . Jack was mortified . Tried to lam it off on me . I shot that down quick . After Tom left Jack’s room mate Jim who once spent eight months after his divorce without stepping foot outside his van , driving place to place , lots of McDonald’s takeout , came out from his room . We started kidding Jack about his trickster briefcase switch . We laughed our butts off about his antic attempt to evade responsibility . ” We are not sure how well you would hold up under questioning , Henry ! ” I said . But Jack , an Orchard Park guy , always could keep a secret .

    The other anecdote : Jack and I were in the studio at Cambridge Community TV . He had a weekly radio show there . He had an American Indian activist there . Jack was in a highly intoxicated state of poetic inebriation . He started moaning and groaning in the middle of the interview and went into a paroxysm … I had seen it many times before … of Jack Powers … Agony of The Cross . I looked on . I was used to Jack . The activist was in a bit of a kerfluffle , but I must say he handled it all with great and elegant compassion . He said , ” Right now Jack is experiencing the pain and the suffering of the American Indian that I have been describing .” AND HE WAS !

    I Love you Jack .

12. Don’t thank me thank Matt

    Jack Powers was a friend and originally from Roxbury.
    His last place of residence was a basement apartment
    behind the Post Office on Hanover street.
    When I was teaching at UMass in Amherst he helped
    me bring Lawerence Ferlinghetti to speak at the school.

    He was close to achieving sainthood until he discovered
    his Dylan Thomas gene.

    http://timothygager.blogspot.com/2010/10/jack-powers-obituary-from-boston-globe.html

13. see

    http://vachss.com/dedications.html

    The Life-Style Violent Juvenile
    To Richard Soney Allen, the best face-to-face professional in the field of juvenile violence I have ever known, and to the residents and staff of Andros II (1972).

    also see

    ASU criminologists examine lives of 1950s-era gang members
    September 12, 2012 by Paul Atkinson
    ASU criminologists examine lives of 1950s-era gang members
    Jackson Square, Roxbury, Mass., in the late 1950s. Credit: Boston Public Library
    Rick Moule arrives early to his office in the ASU University Center Building in downtown Phoenix. A doctoral student in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Moule sits in front of his computer and begins reading handwritten notes jotted down by social workers more than 50 years ago.

    The notes, on hundreds of pages of faded ledger paper, detail the criminal offenses, arrests and convictions of gang members from the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury. Moule is transcribing the notes, building a database that will be analyzed as part of a groundbreaking research project by ASU criminologists.
    “There is a lot of front end work to a project like this,” said Moule. “It sets the foundation for the research we are conducting.”
    The research project, “Revisiting Roxbury: Crime, Gang Membership and the Life Course,” was recently awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Scott Decker, director of the ASU School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, applied for the grant with assistant professor Jacob Young and associate professor Gary Sweeten.
    “We’re really excited to have National Science Foundation funding,” said Decker. “An NSF award is regarded as one of the most competitive and prestigious research grants in the U.S.”
    The study will use data collected from the first nationally funded gang outreach program, conducted in the mid-1950s. Led by noted cultural anthropologist Walter Miller, a team of social workers tracked the day-to-day experiences of 481 young men and women involved in seven gangs in the Roxbury neighborhood located a few miles south of Fenway Park. The program was the outgrowth of a community effort to combat a growing juvenile crime problem and lasted three years. The goal was to redirect gang members into more constructive activities.
    But results from the gang outreach project were never published. And a book written by Miller on the Roxbury gangs, “City Gangs,” remained in manuscript form after a disagreement with a publisher over its page length. When Miller passed away in 2004, a colleague sought out a proper home for his materials. Scott Decker, a leading gang researcher, was selected to receive the 11 boxes of documents. They contained Miller’s notes and manuscript, almost 80,000 contact cards used by social workers to document the daily lives of gang members, hundreds of newspaper clippings, and the faded ledger sheets used by Moule.

    The materials arrived at ASU in 2006. Decker had a team of doctoral students inventory and sort the boxes. He also had Miller’s manuscript, more than 900 typed pages and 100 mostly handwritten tables, reproduced from the light weight onion paper used by Miller into a digital document. The 948-page book, “City Gangs,” was published online in 2011.
    In the forward to the book, Decker wrote that the book “is more than an interesting historical curiosity; it is a study of gangs and urban culture whose findings and insights remain instructive today.”
    But publishing Miller’s book was just the beginning for Decker
    He and two professors in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice proposed a follow-up study using the treasure trove of data collected by Miller’s team in the 1950s. The new research project would involve collecting and analyzing criminal records of the 481 individuals involved in the original gang study. Follow-up interviews with a sample of 50 to 60 former gang members would be conducted to better understand how joining and leaving a gang influenced later life course behaviors including marriage, college, careers and crime.
    And the contact cards produced by Roxbury social workers would be analyzed to determine how the social networks of gang members contributed to their actions.
    “A social worker followed them around and recorded events that occurred,” said Jacob Young, an assistant professor in the ASU School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “So, if they went to the movie, ‘this was who was there, this is kind of what happened.'”
    Young says the contact cards detailed when fights and other events occurred, and helped Miller and his team track the interactions gang members had with institutions over the life of the gang outreach program. Young will use new developments in statistical analysis to help explain the role social networks played in the lives of the one-time gang members.
    “So what you can do is link people through these cards and create a network of people’s affiliations,” Young said. “The goal is to look at how those networks have changed over those three years and see if people’s affiliations help explain why some have left the gang, why it was easier for some to get out of these situations, and why some people may have been stuck in gangs.
    Interviews with a sample group of former gang members who are now in their early 70s will be conducted by Decker, who recently traveled to Boston to review yearbooks and school records. Decker says the sample includes a number of people who have spent considerable time in prison, as well as police officers, a practicing physician, and a mathematics professor.
    “For me, one of the things that makes the project so distinctive is that we’re going to go back and interview approximately 50 to 60 men and women who were involved in gangs in the 1950s and get in their own words their own story – what it meant to be a gang member and how they moved beyond or progressed from the gang membership.”
    Finding out what happened to those involved in the original gang study falls on Gary Sweeten, who is collecting school records, marriage records, employment records and criminal records.
    “My big job with these data is to construct data sets, construct our longitudinal data set,” said Sweeten. “And so I’ll be doing that kind of quantitative analysis if we can track down marriage records and all this information that we need.”
    For Sweeten, the chance to work on the Roxbury research project is special. One of his mentors at the University of Maryland, John Laub, co-authored a landmark study tracing the criminal life course of hundreds of Boston men from their years as juvenile delinquents in the 1940s to their senior years a half century later.
    “To have the opportunity to work on that type of project to track down old gang members that are also from Boston, that’s a great opportunity,” Sweeten said. “So, I’m excited to build these data sets and get to work analyzing the data.”
    Sweeten notes the new study contains something that Laub and his colleague Robert Sampson didn’t have in their data set: variation. Laub and Sampson examined data from white males. The Roxbury gang outreach program included individuals from one African-American male gang, one African-American female gang, and one female white gang.
    “So that’s exciting to have variation in demographics,” Sweeten said.
    One of the things that researchers want to find out is the role of agency or making good decisions despite considerable odds that were against the one-time gang members.
    “Too much of criminology I think depicts individuals like a leaf in the wind – they are blown one way or the other and they don’t have much to say about it,” Decker said. “There is emerging work that underscores the role of agency. And we hope by having their story to lay against the official records – whether it’s their criminal records, school records, military records, family, marriage – that we’ll be able to better hone in on the role of agency.”
    Decker expects results from the new study will be published in a couple years. Findings from the original study of Roxbury gangs can be found at gangresearch.asu.edu. The website also features the latest gang research from the ASU School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

    1. Wow. This is great. Thank you so much. I can’t wait to start going through all the information. Having come from Roxbury originally along with my constant return trips there after my parents fled to Milton, I have become interested in much of the community history.

14. Matt, as I understand it, your wife is from Ukraine (per what you previously posted).

    You might be interested in this 8 minute video clip. Mike Caputo’s wife is from Ukraine. A California congresswoman – Spier – ended up accusing Caputo’s wife of —— something, and Caputo and his family got death threats.

    All as a result of “investigating Trump.”

    Caputo had been sent by the Clinton administration to work on re-electing Yeltsin.

15. Andrew Puopolo’s father is a medical doctor.
    His Uncle was a ex con who ran for state rep from the North End in the early 70’s.
    His campaign slogan was Legalize Puopolo
    The uncle had a rap partner named Flopiano who worked for Angioulo et al
    giving permanent out of body experiences to new age gangsters.

    Richie Allen ,as I mentioned in other posts, was co leader of the 500 member strong
    inter racial Boston juvenile gang called The Majestics during the 1950’s.
    Unlike the black juvnile gang Band of Angels.

    There were two times in recent memory when I felt fear going into battle.
    One was confronting Larry Zannino and the other was dealing with
    Richie Allen.
    Note I did not mention the election of Donald Trump out of respect for this forum
    it being a psychological soup kitchen for the political
    down and out.

    Simply put Richie Allen was brutalized as a child. Andrew Vachss saw
    this when Allen worked for him at DYS.

    attorney Vachss has since dedicated his life to end child abuse in all
    forms. He saw the connection between child abuse and criminal behaviour.

    For more info watch the 1st episode of HBO True Detective and look at the
    pile of books laying on the floor of the apt of the Detective.

    The title is Sex Crimes and the author is former assistant DA Alice Vachss
    who is the wife of Andrew Vachss and she worked with Richie Allen
    at the Andros DYS facility.

    google aces children criminal behaviour

    A shout out to Bill C you got my respect.
    I hope to have my documentary of Maine artist Robert Shetterly
    finished soon. Visit his website Americans Who Tell the Truth

    I am using the music of Watermelon Slim, Dave Mallett and John
    Adams.

    Mallett composed the Garden Song
    listen to King Bee by Slim
    I am using music from his CD Up Close and Personal
    John Adams is a Harvard trained composer.
    I am using an excerpt from his piece Shaker Loops

    from a never writer to ever readers newes

    quote from Cyril Connolly

    1. Dave Mallett. Wow. I haven’t heard him in a long time. I use to go to Passim at least once a week for a decade or more. Dave was great when he played there.

       A good friend, one that Matt knows well, use to give me all his books to read when he was done with them. I remember him telling me about Andrew Vachss and his interests when he gave me his novels.

       Great stuff, folks. I love this blog.

    2. “I hope to have my documentary of Maine artist Robert Shetterly
       finished soon. Visit his website Americans Who Tell the Truth”

       And THANKS for that one. Great!

    3. I can’t find any information on Richie Allen or The Majestics. Any advice on where to look? Thanks.

16. On a personal note: I used to play the piano: Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, all the light classical stuff, the preludes, nocturnes, sonatas, concertos, suites. Moonlight Sonata (3 movements) Warsaw Concerto, Finlandia!
    My greatest accomplishment was committing to memory the 36 pages of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. I played it a thousand times.
    Also played all the great songs from America’s songbook: 1920s, Broadway, Rock&Roll, etc. Remember PBS’s “The Infinite Variety of Music.”?
    2. You know, it’s funny how some people think. An unknown impressario named Goldstone writes a letter in which he says Russia backs Trump, and that’s supposed to be conclusive evidence of something. If Anna Fedorova’s mother Tatiana wrote that the Ukrainian government backed Hillary, what would that prove?

17. Andrew Puopolo … Died 1976 … That was a busy year . His murder was a major deal in that busy year . RIP .

18. Andrew Puopolo … Had a hooker lift his wallet in the zone and was stabbed to death trying to get it back . Probably about ‘ 73 . His family was connected . Soares , then , was knifed in Walpole and died about two years after . Your narrative is well written and interesting , not surprising , though you lionize a guy , Allen , who was a real cretin for setting upon this kid and participating in his slaughter . You are rather breezy in your recollection of Andrew Puopolo’s murder .

19. Sometime in the early 60’s I found myself checking out the 3rd piano concerto
    of Rachminioff from the Copley Square Boston Public Library.
    It was performed by Emil Gilels.
    I was working as a short order cook at the Armenian restaurant called Zaras
    located on the corner of West Newton and St Botolph street in the Back Bay.
    It was the first classical music record I had ever listened to and caused such a stir in me that I was soon checking armloads of classical records out of the BPL and searching for a stereo system that was capable of imprinting my cellular DNA.

    This led me to leave my job at the armenian restaurant with it’s shish kabob subs,
    lamejune,baklava and endless side orders of pilaf. I found myself arriving at
    the doorstep of Acoustic Research on Thorndike st in East Cambridge next to Lechmere.

    I was soon working on the assembly line mass producing AR turntables which
    I soon purchased with my employee discount.
    one day during lunch break I took a exploratory trip through the maze of companies
    housed in the block long ancient brick factory building.

    I saw the sign William Dowd Harpsichord Maker , peeked inside and found
    myself asking if there were any openings.
    I was told no by the owner after he gave me an impromptu musical test.
    Sadly I returned to AR and continued my daily mindless routine of assembling
    turntables for audiophile consumption. After all my current life ambition
    was to own a pair of AR 3’s to go with my AR turntable powered by my 100 watt amplifier to listen to Thus Sprach Zarathustra with the volume knob set to 10.

    And no the composer was not Deodato but Richard Strauss.

    I kept returning to William Dowd during my lunch breaks and was soon
    rewarded with a job.
    My job duties included stringing each instrument, assembling
    jacks, and assembling keyboards.
    My collegues included Walter Burr who would leave Dowd to set up his own shop;
    Don Angle who went on to a career performing jazz on harpsichord while
    working for Dowd in the Cambridge and Paris shops.

    The worlds best harpsichord performers would often visit the shop and
    perform Bach, Telemann or Scarlatti for hours on end before purchasing or
    renting a instrument for recital.

    By this time I had rented an apartment behind Symphony Hall and
    took in a roomate Harry Forbes who was a student at Berklee School
    of Music.
    Harry was a Jazz guitarist from Edmonton Canada getting his degree in
    performance and composition. He would often bring other Berklee students
    back to the apartment and jam.

    Some of these students included bass player Miroslav Vitous who would
    go on to play with Weather Report and Ernie Watts who went on to play
    saxophone in the Tonight Show band.

    Harry would graduate Berklee and return to Toronto Canada where he wrote
    electronic music for the CBC.
    His son Zach is a drummer with a band in Canada called Dirty Radio.

    In the late 70’s I found myself playing bass in the Chicken Shit Methane band

    thank you Emil Gilels thank you Rachminioff

    the back story Richie Sonny Allen worked for me at Libra Inc
    a community based correctional center in Harvard Square.
    He was an exact clone of Mike Tyson.
    Richie became umanageable so we moved him over to work for
    Andrew Vachss at the secure treatment facilty Andros at DYS.
    Andy dedicates his book Violent Juvenile Lifestyle Offender
    to Richie who would die of aids.
    Richie Allen was also arrested with his half brother Soares in the stabbing death
    of the Harvard football player Puopolo in the combat zone.During the 70’s or early 80’s.

    Richie had a fist fight with Barboza the animal and acquitted himself quite well.

20. Bajko in HP was a good rink . My Uncle George McDonald ran Southie Youth Hockey for many years , and Charlestown was always a bridge too far in ways that instinct governed .

21. OK , Abe , got a good used @ 1.99 Amazon . Just finishing Langston Hughes’ memoir THE BIG SEA . Crumley is on deck . I will let you know what I think of DANCING BEAR . The title immediately brought to memory a quote by Flaubert I memorized long ago , ” Words are like drums upon which we beat out tunes for Bears to dance to while all the while we long to move the Stars to pity.” As to Charlestown as a place for the protagonist to hail from ? Well , nothing against Bunker Hill , but just never chose to deal with Charlestown coming up . Southie was different . I wear many different hats . One I like in particular . It has a capital B on it .

    1. When I was a rink rat Charlestown was the only rink I got nervous about before the drive over. Southie was fine and in Hyde Park we played some MDC cops that had a special joy when playing us longhairs. We knew the score and it didn’t make much difference, knowing that you could hit back and not get arrested. But Charlestown had a special kind of mood that was like sitting in the dentist’s waiting room knowing that he never used novocaine. It never really turned out that badly, but the aura kept your head up more than in other places.

22. Abe, From all reliable witnesses , you still have your Mojo in the Dojo ! We soldier on . That’s what we do Abe . You know that . As for King Donald , he is really starting to like this President thing . All powers to him . Alright, you’ve stimulated my curiosity yet again . I feel the urge to get my Rachmaninoff ! Gotta see what the Amazon is offering .

    1. I would recommend James Crumley’s book Dancing Bear. It is a private eye story based in Missoula, Montana. His main character is Milo and as you read you will want him to be from Southie. Maybe even Charlestown. The book does start off a bit slow but just hang on. Your hat will be blown off.

       Crumley died in 2008 and was quite the man. He taught at UTEP and summered in Missoula. I know a few people that attended his readings and all they could come up with is, “Wow!”

23. Same old ” Shit the bed ” snarking on, sniggling, niggling, giggling and wiggling around election result on this blog . It is starting to bore the crap out of one . The moderator has at ( sic ) a premise that the fils Trump and the fils Patriarca are insipid scions of powerful fathers and then finagles this ” Matty Logic ” around into the usual anti-Trump screed . I’ve had rachmaninoff of vanity blogging, Millennial whining and descriptions of the usual a-holes inside the asteroid belt . This blog had punch … Once ! Now it is too cute for words , to use a good old Boston expression .

    1. ” I’ve had rachmaninoff of vanity blogging… ”

       Too cute, you say?

       1. Stung ya ? … Get over it , Abe . I listen for a ” Voice .” If it is losing signal because of too much white noise , or otherwise , then I make adjustments . No one is a d-bag if they disagree. Perhaps just not acute enough .

          1. I’m just in a rotten mood. I dove for a baseball Sunday and landed knee first. Its a mess and I’m too old for this crap. I use to bounce. I just stuck in like a giant Jew lawn dart this time. The divot looked like someone dropped a cannon ball from a hundred feet up. Been to the hospital three times since. Nothing broken but I am purple from groin to ankle. Broke a big vein. Oh, well. I’m still voting for you in the next presidential election. We need a monarchy.

24. FYI: https://spectator.org/dick-morris-bill-clinton-meddled-in-russian-election-for-yeltsin/
    When Bill Clinton interfered in a Russian election and the consequences.

    1. A Russian election, not an American one.

       1. It’s OK for Obama to interfere in the Brexit vote and Bill Clinton to interfere in Russian elections, but not OK for a foreign government to favor an American candidate?
          1.Was it OK for Ukraine to favor Hillary?
          2. Was it OK for John McCain to send an aide to England to pick up the Russian Dossier from the British Spy Steele?
          3. If the Russians favored Trump, why did Russian generals and Russian spies beholden to the Kremlin contribute to the Russian Dossier?
          4. Do you understand the intent of the Russian Dossier was to destroy Trump?

          1. No it is not OK for a foreign government to interfere with our elections, regardless of what we do in other countries’ foreign affairs. Your deflection makes no sense.

             1. Evidence please.
             2. Yes. He did not utilize the foreign government of the UK to meddle in the US election. He used a British person to dig up political opposition information. He did not enlist the aid of a foreign government to collude and win an election.
             3. Easy–Russian is corrupt kleptocracy/oligarchy….$$ talks.
             4. No, I thought the Steele Dossier was a form of flattery. Of course it was, the only problem with your analogy to what Trump Jr., Kushner, and Managort did is that those three went to that meeting under the belief this woman was sent BY THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN ORDER TO HELP HIM WIN THE ELECTION, THE EXACT THING TRUMP AND HIS CAMPAIGN ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR!

             This is like standing in the mirror with your hair on fire and telling yourself everything is fine.

25. We are forgetting all the good Trump has done. Close to defeating ISIS in Syria and IRAQ. Mosul taken. Raqqa on verge. Solid job growth, renegotiating treaties, pipelines open, industries open, “33,000 mining jobs created”, strong stock market, etc, etc, etc,
    We are forgetting all of the Clinton and Podesta ties to Russia, including the Clinton’s DNC paying the Ukrainians to get dirt on the Trump campaign.
    Remember when Hillary was Secretary of State and Bill Clinton was getting paid $500,000 per wack for one hour speeches to banks in Moscow?
    Remember Hillary’s campaign colluded with foreign operatives to compose the phony Russian Dossier?
    We could go on with the Clinton-Russian-connections.
    (2) I was listening over the weekend to Anna Fedorova play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto Number 2. What art, literature, science and genius the Russians have contributed to Western Civilization. Instead of bringing Russia closer, the neocons and Dems spew venom attempting to isolate it.
    (3) Today, paranoids see sinister motives in the most innocuous of Trump’s dealings, while ignoring the utter corruption of the Clinton Crime family and DNC.
    Remember, Donna Brazzile stole the debate questions and gave them to Hillary? Anyone want to defend Hillary’s ethics?
    (4) Trump’s not obsessed with Hillary: Hillary is obsessed with her loss (she’s blamed 48 separate identities for her loss)—she’s a delusional leader of “the resistance.” She lacks the dignity and grace to go quietly and gently into the background. She wails and squeals, like many Dems have since the big upset.
    (5) Trump’s not perfect, but he’s 1000 times better than the Clintons.
    (6) At least Trump Jr. shared his emails; Hillary destroyed 33,000; “lost” a dozen blackberrys, sim-cards etc, destroyed many hard drives (bleached) etc, etc,
    (7) Why disparage someone who is rich? Donald Jr, like Jared Kushner, and JFK, were born into wealthy families, but all worked hard, studied hard, and became accomplished, self-possessed professionals. Donald Jr. is especially well spoken and like Jared appears to be a strong family man of deep convictions. Admirable young Americans, I’d say.

    1. “(2) I was listening over the weekend to Anna Fedorova play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto Number 2. What art, literature, science and genius the Russians have contributed to Western Civilization.”

       An excellent piece of work, but her transcriptions of Chopin have brought me back to listening to him. So many people that have taken on Chopin have shit the bed. Fedorova is probably as good as Brendel at Chopin, and that is saying a lot. I think he was even her tutor for a while. Anyway, she is from Ukraine, not Russia. But I am sure you were referring to Rachmaninoff.

       Your point is well taken. The Russians are a great people and the fact that whenever I meet people from there I have a wonderful time and share life with them. I feel good when I meet people from Turkey and Iran and Israel. Korea and Japan and China. Its too bad that men in suits that have become the leaders of so many countries can’t see beyond whatever it is they are seeing and try to really make peace, like the peace I find so easy to achieve when I meet people from evil nations. I think it might be time to let only six year olds to vote.

       1. Detente, peaceful co-existence, the paths forward.
          Casting stones, beating war drums, the roads to ruin.
          Let’s make a new world whilst listening to Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

          1. I agree 100%. With all of its beautiful little melodies popping up throughout the score, it could be a fine inspiration to détente. Like Beethoven’s 6th, it surrounds one with pleasant comfort and warmth.

    2. The comparisons to the Steele Dossier is the new talking point from the Trump Squad. Yes, the Steele Dossier was gathered using information from Russian individuals. However, the Steele Dossier was not drafted as part of a collective effort to aid the Clinton campaign. You are glossing over Goldstone’s smoking gun quote in the email, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” It is right there in black and white for all to see and you still deny it happened. Alternative Facts indeed.

       1. Collective effort by the Russian govt.*

26. Bill Clinton gets a 500G speaking fee from a Russian bank while his spouse is Sec. of State. Not a bribe, not a payoff. HRC finagles $140 million from the uranium deal from the Russians through the Canadians for her foundation. Not a bribe, not a payoff. But someone connected to Trump just talks to a Russian and some great crime is committed? Preposterous. The deep state ( media, bureaucracy, academia and the Dem party) always trot out some nonsense about Russia to deflect attention from Trump’s accomplishments. Trump gives a masterful speech in Poland. He triumphs at the G 20.. The economy adds 220,000 jobs. He may bring peace to Syria. The oil sheiks may get out of the terrorism business Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. Much has been accomplished.

    1. The Clinton Uranium deal is Fake News and has been debunked. Trump has nothing to do with the collapse of ISIS, he simply continued Obama’s strategy of arm, train, assist with SOF, and bomb/shell. Trump has done nothing of substance to effect the economy. This is Obama’s economy until Trump can put down his Android and get some legislation passed (thank God he can’t). If you think weakened environmental and consumer protection laws are good for anyone but the corporate elite, you support the bloodsuckers that hide away their tax dollars while we pay upwards of 35% of our income. Obama is a great man, Trump is a fool who can’t fight his way out of a paper bag.

27. Maybe Trump will let go of Hillary when the adoring lügenpresse and the delusional wing of the Democrat party gives up thinking they did not lose last November.

    1. Let’s see how the Breitbots and Hannity try to spin this first of many smoking guns that were bound to leak out. “Another nothinburger” I keep hearing. Let’s try and list all of the Russian contacts from memory:
       1. Kushner setting up secret back channels.
       2. Manaforts name on secret black ledger of former Ukrainian Putin puppet.
       3. Roger Stone admitting he has backchannels to Wikileaks.
       4. Roger Stone admitting he had contact with Guccifer 2.0…one of the alleged Russian hackers.
       5. Jeff Sessions lying about and failing to disclose meetings with Russian officials.
       6. Jared Kushner failing to disclose meetings with Russian officials.
       7. Carter Page being used a tool by the Russian govt.
       8. Can’t forget about Michael Flynn his ties to the Russians and the Turkish government.
       9. Also can’t forget about Peter W. Smith who was working with Flynn to obtain HRC’s emails.
       10. TRUMP FIRED COMEY FOR THE “RUSSIA THING”!!!!

       I’m sure there is more that I am forgetting. How can Trump supporters sit with a straight face and think that there is nothing to this scandal? Attempt to defend Trump’s (through his surrogates) actions without saying Fake News or HRC and Obama are guilty of __________.

       1. As a great presidential candidate once said, “Picky, picky, picky…..”

          It goes both way, this fake news BS, but it is really one of the best, this mess, for news comparisons. Mika and Joe will do a whole hour on one point and Fox will dismiss the whole thing by saying, “What laws were broken? None!” Sounds a lot like “What difference does it make?”

          I always enjoyed watching the sharks of Boston politics tear each other apart but this living inside The Beltway down here is much, much better. And I have met many of the players and got to talk to them. You never know who you are going to run into at Gilbert’s or The McLean Family Restaurant or McLean Hardware. As the Millennial D-bags say, “How fun!”

          1. I’m what you would consider a millennial….(born between 85 and 2000) and I’ve never said that phrase in my life. It is pretty insulting how the Baby Boomers who destroyed the foundation of the middle class continue to pile on the “millennial” generation. In my opinion, there is no such thing as different generations, the only generations are those who are all alive at the same time.

             1. Point taken, sir. I will refer to those that say that phrase as simply D-bags.

28. * have accepted media fabrications …

29. Interesting points . The Old Man , as was called , was a tough guy . He also had a cadre of tough guys , not coke heads and glorified pimps , enforcing his will . He came up in a different time. He was sanctioned by a more highly organized command structure . Junior is a very decent guy . Having Raymond as a dad must have been something. You have a accepted media fabrications about Junior as … Inutile . He is not . He did his time . He is Raymond’s son .

30. Matt, FWIW I did not receive an email from you this morning notifying me of this post.

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