Isn't It Arconic... don't you think?

The American-based company that produced the combustible cladding that was used to line the high-rise in London where so many immigrants lost their lives is not sold for high-rise use in our own country.

Shares of US-based aluminum company fall after report it supplied flammable panels to Grenfell Tower

Six emails sent to and by an Arconic manager raised questions about why the company supplied the combustible panels despite a public warning that they posed a risk.

Arconic, formerly called Alcoa, says it's not up to the company to decide what's compliant with local building regulations.

Trump Wins in a Blow for Democracy!

Turns out, the American people are free to elect leaders who want to craft legislation, and issue executive orders, to protect our borders and potentially prevent some of the massacres we are now seeing in Europe, which is feeling the pain of unassimilated entries into the next generation...

If we taxpayers can build an Iron Dome to protect Israel, we definitely can build a wall and up our tracking measures to know who is coming into our country, and staying, and who is immigrating legally under the rules of law.

Good day for American justice.
Long time in coming, but Truth and Justice indeed win out in the end. Come in the front door under the rules, or with a special invite, future Americans! There'll be a welcome there for you...
-----------------------
ADDED:
Turns out legally, the tweets and campaign-trail talk mean nothing in interpreting intent:

"In addition, the Fourth Circuit erred by focusing on the President’s campaign-trail comments to conclude that §2(c)—religiously neutral on its face—nonetheless has a principally religious purpose."

As an attorney, I could have told you that.
And of course, I did.

It will be fun to see the pretty talking heads -- male and female -- with no legal degrees and nothing but outraged indignation talking about the Rule of Law in the coming days. I hope they wear their magic pink hats and shout slogans back at the 9 - 0 judicial ruling too!

Sunday Funnies.

Some guy named Bill...

and his brother, Brian Doyle, met our baby in Adrian, Michigan this weekend, where family members were celebrating the Golden Jubilees of their Adrian Dominican sisters...

Fun photo!

"That's the Fact... Jack!" *
------------------------

* I liked Groundhog Day... but I loved Stripes!


ADDED: Brian was in the movie too, and at Bill's suggestion, is reprising his mayoral scene above. (I'm so glad our baby is of good temperament and plays along! "Who you callin' Puxatawney?)

.

Another Saturday Morning...

Doubling down on the NYT gold-star picks!
On Gail Collins' column this morning, I currently own two of the eight stars...  (Chosen, no doubt, to represent the contrary view; I have no illusions of ever garnering the popular top slot.  I just don't conform my thinking that way, never did.)

Make it a great weekend,
working on whatever it is
you personally take pride in!

A Chain is only as Strong as its Weakest Link.

A Sunday morning is only truly Blissful
when the last neighbor is cool enough
to turn off their A/C unit...


--------------

#QuiteQuietIndeed
#CoolSummerComing
#MakeItAGoodOne
#HappyFathersDay!

Saturday!

One of the best words in the dictionary...
How to define it?

Cosby Trial Ends. Nobody Won.

They won't try him again.  There is little the law can do to him now...
It's a sad ending, to a fabulous career for the funnyman, who brought his family into America's living rooms in the 1980s, after bringing his "real" family into our homes via his comedy records* and cartoons.

Bill Cosby's "aw shucks" personality did more to persuade America to elect a black man as prsident decades later than anyone acknowledges.  Those "Ebony and Ivory" moments broke stereotypes and were funny for their common household humor.

If we can separate the artist from the man, the philanthropist and social groundbreaker from the heinous alleged criminal who preyed on others, then we can appreciate how Bill Cosby was successful in shaping our American landscape and our shared family values.

He opened doors, and we walked through them.
--------------

*DadIsGreat!GivesUsChocolateCake!
#ForMyBrotherRussellWithLove

"Ramble On!"

London's horrific fire and the faces of the dead will be a game-changer in our global conversations about immigration and inequality.

Just as the societal fabric was ripped away in Hurricane Katrina, exposing how other people live and die alongside the rest of us, so too have the lives lost in the Grenfell fire made a permanent impact on our minds.

We won't easily look away from this one in addressing immigration and housing policies, and how we want to live alongside each other in the 21st century. 
-----------------------------
ADDED: 
God Have Mercy on their Souls.

“The biggest question is, why would anyone go there?” she asked. “What kind of tour company takes people to North Korea?”

Neighbors and fellow Americans wonder aloud as the Warmbier family celebrates the return of their son.

For much of the 17 months that Mr. Warmbier was in North Korean custody, his parents maintained a public silence. A family friend, Michael Forsythe, said officials in the Obama administration had urged the Warmbiers “to kind of keep quiet, to not rustle feathers because you could interfere and make things worse.”

But eventually, Mr. Forsythe said, the couple concluded that their silence had done little or nothing. Last month, they spoke out on the Fox News program Fox & Friends, amid rising tensions between the United States and North Korea over the North’s nuclear weapons program.

“Nothing Otto may or may not have done in North Korea rises to this level of punishment,” the father, Fred, said then. He added that he wanted his son to be “included in any dialogue or diplomacy with North Korea.”
...
Speaking to a packed news conference at the local high school, the father, Fred Warmbier, also praised the administration of President Trump for working to free his son, and made clear his displeasure with the administration of former President Barack Obama, whose officials had advised the family to stay quiet so as not to antagonize the North Koreans.

“The result speak for themselves,” Mr. Warmbier said.

Dennis Rodman to the Rescue? *

Otto Warmbier, American Held in North Korea, Has Been Released

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN

Held prisoner for 18 months, Mr. Warmbier, 23, was serving a 15-year sentence for trying to steal a propaganda poster.

-------------------------------

* He's like a latter-day Jesse Jackson or Jimmy Carter...

James Comey...

He's no Saint Thomas Becket.
And his 15 minutes are... up!

Now, can Washington return to the business of governing instead of putting on their summer season of dramatic plays?  It's not an attractive cast, and Comey won't keep our attention spinning his yarns.

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow...
Hopefully we get a competent character heading the FBI and our other intelligence agencies;  Trump is right to clean house.  If you can't see that after yesterday's show, you're not accomplished at giving performance reviews...

This is the Closest Thing to a Watergate Hearing...

that the Boomers and their offspring Millennials
are ever going to experience together.  "Yeah!
Fight the power, man!"  Fists in the air...

It's a sad substitute for justice -- I'm sure hoping
the FBI investigation is getting to the bottom
of that Golden Showers report, because that's
what's on the mind of most Americans:
what the Russians did that we just can't prove!!!


Relax.  Summer is soon here, the drama will
consume itself, and Washington will get back
to work.  Slowly, if you're watching, the president
is advancing his ideas...  Who wants to bet that
the Supreme Court upholds the Travel Ban?
It's legal, by the Rule of Law.


America has been here before...
We've always overcome these excitable types.
Today is no different. Nothing new under the sun.

"I ♥ New York"

"Hold On Loosely..."

but don't let go...

You see it all around you:
Good lovin' gone bad.

And usually it's too late

 when you ... realize what you had!

Well my mind goes back to a girl 

I knew some years ago...

 (who told me)

Just hold on loosely:

but don't let go.
If you cling to tightly,

you're gonna lose control...

Your baby needs someone to believe in,

and a whole lot of space to breathe in...

 ~ .38 special.

Make it a great late Spring weekend, all!