Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People are complicated. Love is not.

T R E 4 5 O N

Second rate reporter says what?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

This fight is for everything.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

No Justins, No Peace

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You are here: Home / Immigration / A Handful Of Quick DACA-Related Thoughts

A Handful Of Quick DACA-Related Thoughts

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Others here have said what needs to be said about the Coward Trump and his DACA debacle.  I sign on to all of it.  Here’s my PGO addition:

1: To reinforce a point Charles Pierce made today: DACA folks are Americans. Full stop. They may not be citizens, but they are us; members of our society, our community.  They are not strangers.

Any attempt to frame them as aliens, or criminals — or as developmentally delayed moral agents who need (as John’s former elementary school teacher put it) being taught right from wrong — is both wrong and vile.

2: Task one is whatever we can do to “help” our Republican friends in Congress to fix the steaming pile of rodent droppings the leader of their party just dumped in their punchbowl

Task two, of course, is to teach every national Republican, no matter what goodness may reside in their hearts, bless their hearts, the lessons California GOPsters learned post Prop. 187.

To me that means that the first priority for any political action centers on voting.  I’m going to call my local town Democratic committee first, and see what I can do there to register folks.  Given that my town votes 2-1 D every election, with good turnout, I’m hoping they’re making the same connections they do every election with Ds who need help in New Hampshire.  If I get no joy there, I’ll contact folks directly in neighboring states.

After registration, it’s voter education and then turnout.  That’s it.  The unintended consequence of Trump’s reign of misrule is that a lot more people have become aware that politics does in fact matter where each of us live.  It’s incumbent on all of us to make sure that realization doesn’t go to waste.

Last: again, this isn’t an issue in my home town of Brookline, MA — but this is why we need Democrats running in every office, down to assistant dog catcher.  Neighbors seeking votes mobilize voters as no one else can; if we have people doing so for every office, that’s a big part of the battle right there.  So I’ll be doing what I can to tell those up the food chain in the party that we gotta do what the Republicans, to their tactical credit, have long understood to be vital.

That’s it.  My motto going forward: Get (Stay) Mad. Get (More Than) Even.

Over to y’all.

Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus,  1601.

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Thank you Tom.

    I’ve had it with these xenophobic fucks. THEY are the ones who need to leave this country, not the DREAMers.

    And, yes, GET OUT THE VOTE. Oregon offers leadership on how to do this.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    Or, to quote some guy on Facebook,

    Ultimately, this is about basic decency. This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people – and who we want to be.

    What makes us American is not a question of what we look like, or where our names come from, or the way we pray. What makes us American is our fidelity to a set of ideals – that all of us are created equal; that all of us deserve the chance to make of our lives what we will; that all of us share an obligation to stand up, speak out, and secure our most cherished values for the next generation. That’s how America has traveled this far. That’s how, if we keep at it, we will ultimately reach that more perfect union.

  4. 4.

    Ruviana

    I went and took a google around and I’m thinking you meant California Proposition 187, which pretty much wrecked Pete Wilson’s governorship and contributed to an array of changes in California’s voting patterns.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    Saw a clip on Twitter earlier from MSNBC featuring Kris Kobach trying to claim that many young folks in DACA status have criminal records, which is a straight-up lie. The MSNBC host pushed back, but my guess is Kobach won’t be challenged when he repeats that and other lies on Fox News. What a disgusting spectacle it all is. I truly hate these people.

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    Task one is whatever we can do to “help” our Republican friends in Congress to fix the steaming pile of rodent droppings the leader of their party just dumped in their punchbowl

    By forcing them to drink it all down. To the bitter dregs.

    But aside from making them own this debacle for all time, there really isn’t anything Democrats can do in Congress while in the minority.

    Fuck ZEGs and Turtle for making it so.

  8. 8.

    chris

    running in every office, down to assistant dog catcher.

    This line could have been lifted from an editorial I read in Playboy of all places. Back in the mid 1980s. They were talking, of course, about the Republicans and the Moral Majority, et al. and how they needed to be fought at every level down to dogcatcher. I hope people hear it this time.

  11. 11.

    gene108

    Task two, of course, is to teach every national Republican, no matter what goodness may reside in their hearts, bless their hearts, the lessons California GOPsters learned post Prop. 187.

    Only real hope is flipping Florida and Texas into the next California.

    I don’t see this having a ripple effect in Appalchia, for example or the Rust Belt.

  12. 12.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    I keep hearing on MSNBC how September is impossibly full of complex and contentious issues for Congress to tackle… budget, debt ceiling, hurricane relief…

    Now Trump drops this turd in the punch bowl.

    Dammit, Bobby 3-Sticks, please hurry!

  13. 13.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Exactly. Getting out our voters and registering new ones is the def the way to go. Fuck the asshole GOP.

    I can’t believe LA voted for Prop 187 in 1994. Times sure have changed.

  14. 14.

    Hoodie

    Agree on all points except did you mean Prop 187? Unless the GOP gets its act together and passes some sort of dream act, this could be a watershed event, especially if they double down and further restrict legal immigration. The DACA withdrawal is pure racism, and undermines any rationalization that this is about border security. Remains to be seen whether Ryan is smart enough to see that and will allow DACA legislation to come to a vote without a majority of GOP votes being required.

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I feel like you’re completely missing what Tom’s trying to say with that sentence.

    Possibly. I initially read it as trying to salvage something to help the DACA recipients by working with the Republicans in Congress to actually fix things. Was that too optimistic a view?

  16. 16.

    gene108

    @TenguPhule:

    Fuck ZEGs and Turtle for making it so.

    Blame should rest with Boehner. The Senate passed immigration reform. Boehner let it die in the House. This would be a none issue, if Boehner let it come up for a vote. A overwhelming majority of Dems would’ve voted for it along with enough Reps for it to pass.

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    @Hoodie:

    Remains to be seen whether Ryan is smart enough to see that and will allow DACA legislation to come to a vote without a majority of GOP votes being required.

    Magic 8 ball says: “Sadly no.”

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    @gene108:

    The Senate passed immigration reform. Boehner let it die in the House.

    Ah, thanks for reminding me.

    So many pounds of cure in our future.

  20. 20.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Betty Cracker: Kobach is horrible. Maybe his tutelage is the underlying reason why Trump seems to be stuck seeing all immigration from Hispanophone countries in terms of the Mariel boatlift, where dissidents, refugees, and criminals get all lumped together in the goop that, for now, sloshes around in some of his skull.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    Trump nominates Oklahoma politician and climate skeptic to run NASA

    Trump recently announced his pick for NASA administrator: Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), a former pilot whose goals for our solar system include installing humans on the moon and cleaning up space junk. He also has expressed skepticism about human-caused climate change.

    Bridenstine has advocated strengthening ties between NASA and the commercial spaceflight industry. He unveiled the American Space Renaissance Act in April 2016 — a sweeping measure so broad that, The Post reported, even Bridenstine was doubtful it would pass, and it has stalled in Congress. The act would have, among other things, updated the Defense Department’s satellite fleet and put a government agency in charge of space debris. It narrowed what Bridenstine called NASA’s “jack-of-all-trades” approach, setting the agency on course for the moon, Mars and little else.

    Everything Trump touches turns to shit. Everything.

  23. 23.

    Hoodie

    @gene108: Which is why DACA was not executive overreach. Congress left Obama with an untenable enforcement situation where he would clearly have to violate basic human rights by sending people to countries they have very little or no connection to. Trump is now saying he’s willing to violate human rights in order to make a political point. It’s the act of a monster who does not understand the responsibilities of the presidency.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    Nikki Haley needs to choke on a barrel of salted dicks.

    Haley, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute, laid out a detailed argument for why Trump would be on safe ground if he decides not to certify that Iran is in compliance with the accord limiting its nuclear activity when the decision comes to his desk again next month. Haley is not advocating he decertify Iran’s compliance, she said, but her one-hour presentation clearly laid out grounds for defending such an action.

    But Haley made clear that if Trump does decertify Iran’s compliance, that doesn’t mean the end of the Iran deal. Rather, it would simply kick the ball into Congress’s court.

    “If the president does not certify Iranian compliance, the Corker-Cardin law also tells us what happens next. What happens next is significantly in Congress’s hands,” Haley said. “This is critically important, and almost completely overlooked. If the President chooses not to certify Iranian compliance, that does not mean the United States is withdrawing from the [deal].”

    She was referring to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which Congress passed after the Obama administration and the other P5+1 countries agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. The law sets the requirement that Trump certify Iran’s compliance every 90 days. If Trump does not certify Iran’s compliance, the law provides for an expedited process whereby Congress could reimpose the sanctions lifted under the agreement — or do nothing at all.

    Haley’s remarks represent the highest-level acknowledgment that the Trump administration might choose to declare the deal broken, while leaving the sanctions issue and the future of the agreement for Congress to deal with.

    Its the fucking yellowcake scam all over again.

  29. 29.

    lamh36

    who is this John Podhertz guy on MSNBC talking about we should “blame Obama’ equally …oh “Weekly Standard” editor..explains a lot

    So the GOP talking point is Obama did something “unconstitutional” so now Congress will do what they HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO in decades…smh

  30. 30.

    japa21

    I haven’t been able to read much from earlier so much of what I am about to say has probably already been said, and probably better, by others.

    Tom’s comment about Trump being a coward is so, so true. Just like he has been unable to fire anyone in person, he can’t even tell all the folks in DACA that they are fired, he has Attorney Racist Sessions do it.

    Trump is also a coward because he doesn’t want to be blamed for this happening, so he punts to Congress. There is no way there are the Republican votes out there to get DACA enshrined in law. The only way would be to do that with considerable funding for the wall, which would cause the Dems to rebel.

    Trump is figuring then that he can blame either the GOP in Congress or the Dems and he would be seen as clean and blameless.

    First of all, the GOP controls both the House and the Senate so the Dems could not be blamed (well, they could try but it won’t work). Secondly, this will always be put at the feet of Trump.

    Listening to radio (local discussion show) and they are talking about how Trump was forced to do this because of the court cases, working on the assumption DACA would be tossed out by the courts. Not sure that is the case as the President does have broad powers to prioritize things such as deportations.

  33. 33.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:
    I mean, I want to return to the Moon and go to Mars as much as the next guy; space is humanity’s future after all. But I’m sure Trump’s pick will fuck it up along with eliminating good climate research. NASA’s glory days are long past and the Space Race ended decades ago. Perhaps if the Soviet N1F-L3M had flown successfully in 1974 and not been canceled, maybe there would have eventually been an American lunar base. Maybe Mars eventually, though less likely.

  35. 35.

    FlipYrWhig

    @SatanicPanic: He’s probably seething about how they criticize him so he’s trying to say, “Oh yeah, well, YOU try it, and maybe then I’ll get to criticize YOU and you can see how THAT feels, shithead!” Suits his general level of maturity.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @japa21:

    No, it is Trump being a coward all over again.

    The Republican Chickenhawks are going to use it to start the war drums thumping. And there are an awful lot of them in Congress at the moment.

  40. 40.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @TenguPhule: the Europeans won’t play with us on this. We’re on our own. Hell, they didn’t even send us anything for Harvey except to let us use their satellite tracking stuff for the hurricane. During Katrina a bunch of them offered help. Nobody wants to play with the toddler who won’t play well with the other kids.

  42. 42.

    jl

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: In retrospect, CA Prop 187 galvanized minority voters and non-bigot whites to turn against the GOP. I’m not sure things will play out on a national level as they did in CA.

    One, in CA, the GOP stuck (and most of the nutcase winger GOPers who can get party support for state level office still stick) to a hard line stand in favor of xenophobia and bigotry, and were willing to splash it all over TV and media interviews. Many more big-corporate reactionary GOPers understand their donors are against repeal, and that might dull the effect of those in the pay of racists donors who will bankroll toxic media.

    Second, importance of immigrants, documented or not, to economy is much clearer to the vast majority of California voting population than probably for US as a whole. In CA most ordinary voters have close business and/or personal relationships with immigrants, documented or otherwise. And this is doubly so for most agricultural areas. Probably some places in far North forests, little Oklahoma around Bakersfield and some isolated places in LAC and OC are exceptions.

    But, if DACA is repealed in 6 months, and ICE is given go ahead to enforce Trump’s decision, there will be a lot of tragic headline news that shocks the conscience of most voters, and I think most whites, even half-hearted bigots. So some analogy to CA might hold.

  45. 45.

    TenguPhule

    @jl:

    there will be a lot of tragic headline news that shocks the conscience of most voters, and I think most whites, even half-hearted bigots.

    Unfortunately, Trump already came up with a preventive solution for that.

    “Fakenews”, where everything that doesn’t agree with their bubble of the world is by definition, a lie.

    So no, it will not persuade the deplorables.

  46. 46.

    Marcopolo

    @gene108: That was the case in 2013. Or you could go back to 2010 when the D House passed immigration reform and it then failed in the Senate due to six D senators voting no (Baucus, Pryor, Landreu, Manchin, Tester, and guy from NE whose name eludes me). They were worried about 2012 and 4 were no longer in the Senate in 2013. Wonder if either Tester or Manchin regret that vote.

    But that is the past, let’s focus our anger and energy on the current situation. I have called my senators (1D 1R) and rep–hope everyone else has as well. And I will be joining a protest tonight and hope all of us do join any local protests. I’ve already worked on one state house race (we lost by about 3% but increased D turnout 15% from November.

    Keep fighting everyone. I do think it is the only way to stay sane in the face of what is happening each and every day.

  47. 47.

    efgoldman

    this isn’t an issue in my home town of Brookline, MA

    I thought you lived in Watertown. Is Brookline where you grew up (as I did, years ago)

  48. 48.

    geg6

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    Well, that would be Obama and Holder. But I’ll take Arnold as an ally on this. PA is the worst gerrymandered state in the nation. Democrats often win statewide but the district gerrymandering makes it impossible for us to get a statehouse majority.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @lamh36:

    So the GOP talking point is Obama did something “unconstitutional” so now Congress will do what they HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO in decades…smh

    It’s dumb isn’t it? It’s been going on for decades. Congress won’t do anything so the President acts and a group of Principled Conservatives complain. It wasn’t even that long ago, either. Bush tried immigration reform and it failed because the GOP decided to run on racism that year (note! BEFORE Trump!) so actually we should blame Bush for Obama’s action.

    We can play this game forever. Democrats will eventually do immigration reform, just like Democrats eventually did health care, and Republicans will say they could have done it better. Immediately after Democrats reform immigration Paul Ryan will put out his 3 page immigration plan.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    And of course Maggie Haberman on Tapper’s show.. talking about how her sources say Chump was very conflicted bout DACA…

    And the other two guest and even Tapper saying…yeah, if you believe that, sure, but if he is conflicted, then why not leave it? Nope, Chump is a coward…

  54. 54.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Was there a reason why the DACA issue was acted on today? I am wondering if it was done today to distract fron some really bad Russian news coming up. The pee tape for a start. Or is it a distraction from the craptacular tax reform package they’re working on??

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    @lamh36: Paul Begala wasn’t having it…and was like bullshit…he’s a coward…if he was conflicted he could ya know..leave it be UNTIL Congress did something

    Hell even the Black “young Republican” guy said, this was disgraceful, and if Chump was conflicted, then he didn’t HAVE to do anything..

  58. 58.

    SatanicPanic

    @TenguPhule: How do you look at Donald Trump’s approval rating, which steadily has been dropping, and conclude that he’s influencing new people?

  59. 59.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @geg6:
    Yes, I’m hoping this gets some traction.

    The gerrymandering obviously disproportionately benefits Republicans, but another nasty side effect is the polarization it brings. I understand that some people are so simpleminded that they reflexively view politics as nothing more than a team sport where they have to root, root, root for the home team against all odds. These people can’t be changed – the only thing that can be done to minimize the damage they are causing the country is to curb their influence.

  60. 60.

    Brachiator

    @FlipYrWhig:

    .Maybe his tutelage is the underlying reason why Trump seems to be stuck seeing all immigration from Hispanophone countries in terms of the Mariel boatlift ..

    This is too complex, too sophisticated for Trump. He probably thinks that Hispanophone is a hot line to Taco Bell.

  61. 61.

    jl

    @Mai.naem.mobile: Trump has been making noises about an announcement today for the last week. I suspect that a couple of weeks ago, some of his aides started yelling at him nonstop that time is running out and he has do something, anything, to get the stench off his hands when the shit hits the fan.

    There are state lawsuits rumbling along towards a corrupt majority in SCOTUS that may well find a way to dump all of DACA by one vote. And Congress, run by cynical incompetent swindlers who can’t even wipe their own ass, is so jammed with stuff that has to get done, it would be a problem for competent leadership. The GOP sent the last quarter competent leader they had packing, and I think he is now touring the country in a camper, enjoying his smokes and jugs of merlot at sunset.

  62. 62.

    Timurid

    @lamh36:

    He’s my leading pick for “NeverTrump Republican most likely to come home to Daddy after one scary headline,” although Seth Mandel is closing fast on the outside…

  63. 63.

    lgerard

    Has there been any President in our history to demonstrate less leadership then trump?

    North Korea is China’s problem
    His beautiful healthcare plan is Congress’s problem
    His miraculous plan to defeat Isis IS “The General’s” problem

    Where are all the easy solutions he promised?

  64. 64.

    efgoldman

    @lgerard:

    Where are all the easy solutions he promised?

    Who knew presidenting could be so complicated? I mean, the black guy made it look SO easy.

  65. 65.

    jl

    So far, the Harvey visit and DACA repeal promises haven’t gotten Trump back to 40 percent in Gallup tracking poll. We’ll see how well his base responds to the announcement itself (as opposed to last week’s teasers) today. My guess is not much. I wonder if they are all that happy with Trump’s approach. Maybe they are getting tired of pretending that Trump has any kind of plan at all for anyone, even them.

    Sessions had to lard up his statement today with a bunch of bald face lies about the economic harm DACA kids have done to the country. They know most people, even most whites, won’t swallow the sad incompetent cowardly BS behind this latest Trump stunt, and most voters won’f swallow the straight racist xenophobic red meat the KKK and fascists have to persuade themselves that they are getting.

  67. 67.

    Peale

    @Kay: They will keep redefining what counts as Amnesty until it pertains to people who came here legally obtaining citizenship. Eventually, they will go after the children of immigrants born in the US and their citizenship status, which should not be questioned. But they will, because they perceive those “anchor babies” are unfair grossly undermining the rule of law. People in their 20s and 30s having babies is considered suspicious and ought to be investigated, don’t you think? But that’s next. Birthright citizenship is going to be “amnesty.” Anything to avoid ever having to appeal to Latino and Asian voters, which would be demeaning for them.

  69. 69.

    Peale

    @Betty Cracker: Well technically, they are Mexican and Salvadoran and alive, so of course, criminal. Remember, Kobach was behind those local ordinances where renters needed permission from the police before they could move in. Because renting in the Midwest where housing is so cheap anyway ought to be a reason to investigate someone. How can they afford these luxury accommodations at $125 per week when they make less than minimum wage? They must be supplementing their incomes with drug sales to white school children. Wake up Libs!

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Kay: Well, just remember that Obama was the first black president, GWB was a crummy liberal, and before that, Bill Clinton was the first black president and was married to Hillary. The immigration mess isn’t the GOP’s fault. Those guys did it!

  71. 71.

    PPCLI

    @TenguPhule:
    As far as I know, the Republicans in the House still hold to the “Hastert Rule” AKA “Convicted Pedophile Rule”. I doubt that Ryan would dare alienate the crazies in his caucus by being the one to break it.

  73. 73.

    PPCLI

    @TenguPhule: it’s hard to imagine the American sanctions having much effect if every other country in the agreement says that Iran *is* complying so they will keep trading with Iran, keep banking channels open, etc.

  74. 74.

    Tom Levenson

    @efgoldman: My dad grew up in Brookline (a few blocks from where I now live). I was born at Alta Bates Hospital and grew up in Berkeley CA. We moved from Watertown a while back.

  75. 75.

    Tazj

    @lamh36:He was conflicted? So what, who cares? Completely irrelevant to the discussion. You’ll have to live in terror of being deported but we want you to know the president “felt conflicted.” Maybe he thought it over, but he made the wrong decision as usual, and made Sessions announce it.

    I’m glad there was push back from almost everyone, including Todd, on the panel. He could have defended DACA in court and encouraged Congress to do immigration reform, he didn’t have to do this.

  76. 76.

    efgoldman

    @Tom Levenson:

    My dad grew up in Brookline (a few blocks from where I now live)

    I think I’m around your Dad’s age; BHS 1963.
    We lived on St Paul Street, near the corner of Longwood (last time I looked it was a $600k condo) and in one of the courtyards on Washington Street between Greenough and Park.

  77. 77.

    KithKanan

    the lessons California GOPsters learned post Prop. 187

    Tom, trust me when I say California GOPsters haven’t learned any lessons. What changed was everyone else in the state (latinos in particular) learning the true nature of California GOPsters.

  78. 78.

    Roger Moore

    I think the “Prop 187 killed the Republicans in California” trope is a great example of post hoc propter. It’s true that they’ve done worse and worse since then, but it wasn’t some watershed event as it’s often presented. In fact, the Republicans had been doing worse in state elections for some time. 1992 was something of a watershed, since Bill Clinton was the first Democrat to win California since 1964, and Pete Wilson’s old Senate seat went to Dianne Feinstein. Wilson was rightly afraid of losing in 1994 and created Prop 187 to drive Republican turnout, and it succeeded. It obviously didn’t help them in the long term, but it’s not at all clear that it was to blame for their long-term problems. They had, after all, been doing worse in elections for a while. Wilson wouldn’t have felt the need for it if the Republicans hadn’t been in decline already.

  79. 79.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lgerard:

    North Korea is China’s problem
    His beautiful healthcare plan is Congress’s problem
    His miraculous plan to defeat Isis IS “The General’s” problem

    Remember his convention speech? “Only I can do it! Only I can fix it!”

    It is to laugh.

  80. 80.

    Tom Levenson

    @efgoldman: You’re not close to that old. Dad was Boston Latin class of 1937 (I think.) Graduated from Harvard in June ’41. Took a summer intensive class in Chinese as a preparation for going to graduate school in Chinese history. Started that in September. Jan. or Feb. ’42, he continued his education within the United States Navy (which taught him Japanese before carrying him all the way across the Pacific). Resumed his education in 1946. My son, now, that’s a different story; BHS right now.

  81. 81.

    Tom Levenson

    @Roger Moore: Because of your twitter thread I modified my draft line above slightly; now it’s “post” — a neutral statement about timing, and not the lesson 187 taught them…

  82. 82.

    efgoldman

    @Tom Levenson:

    You’re not close to that old. Dad was Boston Latin class of 1937 (I think.) Graduated from Harvard in June ’41.

    So your dad . and mine (Boston Latin ’33, Harvard ’37, actually graduated ’38) were close in age. Did your dad come from the West End?

  83. 83.

    Tom Levenson

    @efgoldman: His parents were the children of the immigrant generation. My grandpa really pushed the American dream stuff, for his siblings as well as his kids, and the family made it from Chelsea to Brookline by the time my dad was born (1920). He was raised just off Kent St., a few blocks north of Longwood, in a then pretty ordinary house that I and all my sibs together could not afford today. Don’t think the family ever had a stop in the West End (it’s possible some great uncles/aunts may have been there).

  84. 84.

    Tom Levenson

    @efgoldman: PS: My grandpa and one of my great-uncles were two of the three partners who founded the Coolidge Corner Theater, which gives me joy every time I go see a movie there.

  85. 85.

    Marcopolo

    @Mai.naem.mobile: there was a group of 10 R state attorney generals who had threatened to file suit against DACA (on the grounds the President doesn’t have the authority to do what Obama did). The deadline on their filing threat was today. And for the record, the TN AG withdrew from the group a couple days ago so it was 9.

  86. 86.

    TenguPhule

    @SatanicPanic:

    How do you look at Donald Trump’s approval rating, which steadily has been dropping, and conclude that he’s influencing new people?

    He’s not influencing new people. He’s influencing the same Jill-suckers, Bernie-Bros, “But her emails!” and all the other trash that didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton. However personally unpopular he gets, the narrative he’s established has found fertile ground in the asshole portion of our population. To the point that actual Nazi shit is being dismissed as “I know he’s bad but he’s not *that* bad.”

    I’ve been seeing it more and more among those I will charitably call stupid fuckheads.

  88. 88.

    efgoldman

    @Tom Levenson:

    My grandpa and one of my great-uncles were two of the three partners who founded the Coolidge Corner Theater

    Well, then, thanks to your family for years of entertainment other than your writing. I’m glad it survived.
    I often went to the Capitol on Comm Ave near Harvard for Saturday matinees. Long gone. As i got older I went to the bar that was there (the HiHat??) for 15 cent drafts. College boys will drink any thing

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