No more Roof

I have decided to close comments on the two Charleston threads.  Comments have become too divisive for my taste.  We will not publish Roof's supposed manifesto.  I doubt that he wrote it.  He doesn't seem up to that.  pl

Comments

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

Thank God! I saw the post title and thought you lost your roof to a downed tree or wind burst. My son just called to tell us he made it home. He lives out by Landmark Mall.

[blue]

Cheerz for the photo Colonel. Looks like a tight crew. Keep it tidy. Regards.

[LeaNder]

If I went a bit too far towards Tyler, I would be pleased if he would accept my excuses.

Strictly his Breitbart et al links may help me to understand more general underlying processes in what I--for loss of a better term--would like to call "the American mind". More precisely in this case we could be witnessing a very, very heated angle of confrontations on "many layers". (I refer to a recent comment by Babak Makkadinejad in this context).

Concerning Valissa's supportive link to Alexander Cockburn, yes I pondered about the money used on staff and other related expenses in the NGO field myself. I worked for some. But strictly if they are serious about their issues and aims, it may occasionally make a lot of sense to e.g. sponsor scholarship or in fact hire them. ... Just as it may make sense to give your institution a strong financial basis enabling it to stay. The numbers sure sound rather startling. For whatever reason I am rarely jealous, especially concerning money. And not because I have much, for the record.

Thus I sure would like to see what may have triggered his article and what tax (?) knowledge he bases his arguments on.

[turcopolier]

blue

The beasts are part of the household of a college classmate who is a farmer in western Kentucky. He probably just suggested to them that they stand there, a Francis of Assisi type. pl

[rjj]

can't stop laughing. it's SO eloquent.

[Johnny Reims]

Nature heals the soul, if you give it a chance.

Looking forward to more extraordinary reports from P. Bahzad and CP.

[turcopolier]

TTG

It was a frog strangler here. Twilight of the gods kind of stuff. Power went out, generator came on. Took all night for Comcast to get things working due to some massive hit on them. The EMP screwed the settings on just about everything and all had to be re-booted. We have a back up battery set up to protect the electronics. That was fried. Dogs all terrified. pl

[Medicine Man]

You know you've had a bad storm when, for one night, your animals all convert to Astaru.

[LeaNder]

I am more of a dog person, and just asked a cat person around me: Do you think this photo could be staged?

The first thing, he said looking at the pictured: Ahh, Erna. Which was the name of one of his two cats, she got lost probably trying to catch pigeons never to return. At least he was thought that's how it happened. Occasionally she put one of her more victorious attempts in this context in front of his bed. Didn't he after all feed her too? At an earlier time he had earlier traced her into the flat of an elder lady downstairs where she sat on top of a cupboard apparently not too pleased by the elder female lover of hers, who was pleased the Gods sent her Erna. She had ended on her balcony apparently trying to catch a pigeon slightly higher up.

When asked, if he thought the photo could be staged. He answered: No way, the cat would have cocked a snoot at the photographer had he attempted to place here anywhere and that's about it.

But yes, if they grow up together such images may in fact happen occasionally, all you have to do is get a camera fast enough.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

How did the Office of Personnel Management handle the storm? Hopefully better than their handling of outsourced contracts. From the department of "You Can't Make This S**t Up:"
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-agency-plundered-by-chinese-hackers-made-one-of-the-dumbest-security-moves-possible-2015-6

[Carl O.]

Best thing I've seen all day!

Wish my dog and cat would do that!

[Bobo]

PL

Not now, later on I would like to see a post/discussion on the Confederate Flag. The history and reverence are quite understandable but the how/why it has been co- opted for so many other reasons is worth discussion.

[Charles Dekle]

Col Lang,
I am glad that you weathered the storm. We are in a high rise condo and had a good view of it coming in. Our part of town escaped the electrical complications although there were a couple of close strikes. I think that one might have hit close to the Masonic Temple. Quite a show.
Regards,

[turcopolier]

Charles Dekle

The Masonic Temple is one block from my house. pl

[turcopolier]

Bobo

I will examine my conscience about this. (Catholic Thing) The farmer in western Kentucky was born and raised in Yonkers, NY. He flies the 3rd National Flag of the CS in his front yard along with the US flag. He says that The Congress legislated that this was the flag and he will fly it until The Congress repeals the law. pl

[turcopolier]

LeAnder

I thought you Germans were good with animals. We have had several cats who were quite biddable. Maybe the talent for eliciting that behavior is an animal thing or a VMI thing. Maybe that is the same thing. pl

[Johnny Reims]

Col. Lang
In your discernment, you may want to see how Georgia handled this issue several years ago.

There is an important State report that was done, worth considering, but as only one of many factors, of course. You will be familiar with the nuances, but I find it worthwhile that a Deep South state grappled with this and memorialized it as well.

Here’s link:
http://www.senate.ga.gov/sro/Documents/StudyCommRpts/00StateFlag.pdf

You can find a decent synopsis here.
http://tinyurl.com/p9c3rhy

For what it is worth, I like the new Georgia state flag but that’s just me.

Also what it is worth, the last few days, I keep being reminded of something you wrote (at least I think it was you) that Shelby Foote said/wrote: ““They” stole our flag” or something like that. Prophetic, to say the least. But true Southerners have known that for years.

Also, just to try to keep everyone honest, there is that famous photo from Copley square where someone is trying to spear a black guy with a US flag and flag pole during the de-segregation fights in Boston, which were more vicious than what occurred in Atlanta. (note: I really like Boston these days, more than then).

With that I am going to tip my hat and wait for the reappearance of Patrick Bahzad and CP. Honestly, I am really only a one issue person - US foreign policy.

Well...not exactly. I was really interested in reading or at least reviewing the encyclical that was released last Thursday but was interrupted.

[turcopolier]

Johnny Reims

You are a native son of the South. You should write the piece. pl

[confusedponderer]

Cats can be reasoned with, if not, then they can at least be persuaded, which takes some time, patience and practice.

Some are just hopless, but those usually have had bad experiences. You know them on sight. Those are rather rare in my rather extensive experience which still didn't extent to gutter cats.

My grandmas cat was outright mean, she is said to have scratched everyone coming into her field of, well, scratching. Well, anyone but my late grandfather, and after his death, my grandma. They were the only ones she allowed to touch her. She sorted her catch by size on the doormat.

My own cat is now entering his 18th year, and he is, sadly, terminally ill, but so far withpout pain or defects, so we give him a good time.

When we got him, he was rotten screwed, cantankerous and suddenly and unpredictably aggressive. It took us, me and my sister primarily, three or so years to get him straight. But there he is and he is mellow as, well, shall we say old bourbon. There still is some bite and fight left, but he reciprocates and charmes.

[confusedponderer]

Putin was visiting the vatican lately, and the US ambassador to the Holy See had nothing better to do but to say that the Pope should bring up the topic of territorial integrity.

Yeah, point scored!

Two, three things:

One, ambassadors, also American ones, are not in the business of telling the Vatican and the Catholic Church what to talk about when the Pope receives heads of state even if domestically the rule is to stay on message no matter how dumb that message or inappropriate the time and place.

Secondly, it isn't as if territorial integrity has ever meant that much to the US in the places they wanted intervene in - Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria come to mind - naturally, it is something different altogether when one can bear Russia over the head with it. That old pot-kettle-black-business ...

Thirdly, it is notable that the Vatican has taken a demonstrably nuanced line with regard to the Syria conflict, obviously in pursuit of the interests of the region's ancient and threatened Christian minorities - a concern the US administration in their pursuit of regime change and Freedom™ doesn't share judging by their actions.

If not for the Vatican, the US would in their incomparable consistency in idiocy (to wit: If half a century of sanctions hasn't achieved regime change, ten more years, regime-change-twitter and more sanctions sure will!) still be on the warpath with Cuba, and they would like it that way.

The normalisation with Cuba they owe to the Vatican's common sense and efforts as intermediaries. But hey, the US and the lobbies interested in perpetuating the non-relations with Cuba can still kill that domestically if they try their worst.

[turcopolier]

CP

We had several feral cats while living in the ME. We did our best to befriend them but they never believed. Long ago we lived the Del Monte Forest at Pebble Beach CA. The Greenland ran all around among the houses and was full of deer and raccoons. A troop of the raccoons adopted us and would come to the door at night waiting to be fed. Our miniature schnauzer, Frodo, loved them and would wait for them at the sliding patio door and then raise hell until we cam to feed them. He got out once. I expected them to kill him, but the raccoons sniffed him and then acted like he was a raccoon. Several of them tried to come back into the house with him. I guess they knew he was their "penetration agent." pl

[confusedponderer]

"frog strangler"? You got to explain that one to me :)

[turcopolier]

CP

Southern Speech: enough rain in a short amount of time to drown amphibians. pl

[turcopolier]

CP
Another favorite Southernism is "whistle pig" meaning "woodchuck" or "groundhog." pl

[turcopolier]

CP

An old Southern huntsman once said to me "Fust you hate the whistle pigs, then you hate the gun, then you hate yurse'f, then you stop." pl