Nelson Mandela died today. I heard him speak in Boston one time…must’ve been around 1990. He was a great man, and everyone who heard him speak that day loved the way he pronounced “Massachusetts.” Rest in peace. Update: President Obama is scheduled to make a statement in a couple of minutes (5:20). You can watch …
RIP
Open Thread: Progress, If We Can Keep It
Tom Foley, Democratic House Speaker between 1989 and 1994, died last week. The New Republic took to its wayback machine to pull up what’s probably the best-remembered story about Rep. Foley — Lee Atwater sending out an official RNC memo comparing Foley to Barney Frank (“Tom Foley, Out of the Liberal Closet”): … Atwater said, …
Open Thread: Progress, If We Can Keep ItPost + Comments (38)
Deportees
From the NYTimes: … On Jan. 28, 1948, a plane chartered by federal immigration officials left Oakland, Calif., carrying two pilots, a flight attendant, an immigration guard and 28 Mexican farmworkers. Some were in the United States legally as part of the federal Braceros guest-worker program; others had crossed the border without documents. All 28 …
RIP, Artie Donovan, One of a Kind
This is really sad: Art Donovan played pro football for 12 years. The rest of his life, he spent telling everyone about it. Donovan, 89, who died Sunday of a respiratory ailment at Stella Maris Hospice, played and talked a great game. He was a Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Baltimore Colts and …
RIP, Jerry
He’d have been 71 today. Bon Jovi is still touring. Fuck me. And here is one for the expat Yinzers: So funny. So true. And if you are like me, you’re negotiating all this with hands that are still greasy from an egg and sardine or a hot gabagool and cheese or hot Italian from …
RIP, Helen Thomas
Dead at the age of 92.
Mute, Indifferent, Glorious Nature
Yesterday proves that it is ever-dangerous to utter the line that should never be said: “Musn’t grumble. Could be worse.” I’ve lived long enough — which means I’ve experienced my share of loss as well as joy — to know that words are easily misaimed at such times. But I have noticed that there are …