Today's Obit

Dick Butkus, December 9, 1942 - October 5, 2023

I got to see him play one time, in a preseason game in 1971 at Mile High Stadium. He was coming off knee surgery, and I remember thinking he didn't look very sharp. He was only in for a few series that night, and he'd be out of the game in another 2 years.

Butkus was a hero for me, he's one of the main reasons I fell in love with football, and a big reason I've always been kinda partial to the Bears.

Today's Passing

"Pat Robertson passed away..."

Fuck the euphemisms - that fucker is fuckin' dead.

American Christian conservative Pat Robertson died at age 93 at his Virginia home, the Christian Broadcasting Network said in a statement on Thursday.

Robertson founded the network in 1960 and used the flagship program "The 700 Club" for prayer offerings and political commentary. In 1980, the show helped to galvanize support among Christian conservatives for Ronald Reagan's successful campaign for president.

Nicknamed "Pat" by his older brother, he was born Marion Gordon Robertson in Lexington, Virginia, in 1930.

Pat Robertson was a hateful bigot, a full blown hypocrite, and a loud voice of the toxic notion of Christian nationalism.

He blamed 9/11 on gay people - because Pat's God was so angry with them He felt the need to murder thousands of Americans - and he scolded his followers about gambling even though he owned racehorses.

I'm not particularly glad he's dead, but I'm not all broke up about it either. He will not be missed around here.

Today's Obit

Except for a very few momentary flashes, I sucked at Track & Field. I hated running 65 years ago, I hate it now, and there's no reason for me to think I'll change my attitude in the earthly time I have left.

I hate it.

But I went out for Track every year because that was the off-season price you paid if you wanted to make the football team the next fall.

Along with millions of people in 1968, I watched with a bemused passing interest as Dick Fosbury provided some welcome counter programming to the John Carlos -Tommy Smith protests. Not that I was against their demonstrations, it's just that we've always liked believing in the pleasant fantasy of politics not intruding on athletics. (fat fuckin' chance of that)

An awful lot was changing in 1968, and it didn't feel like much of it was changing for the better. But the Summer Games that year kinda reminded us of something important:

When shitty things happen, it can push our thinking into a place where it's easier for more shitty things to happen. But when we change our thinking for the better, then better things can happen.

Anyway, The Foz did something very few people ever get to lay claim to, and I got to see him do it on TV - live from Mexico City.

Dick Fosbury Mar 6, 1947 - Mar 12, 2023 

Today's Obit

The most eloquent obituary ever - Bill Clinton on the death of Ken Starr.

"...his family loved him."

Former President Clinton on Sunday offered a brief reaction to the death of Ken Starr, the independent counsel whose Whitewater investigation ultimately led to Clinton’s impeachment.

“Well, I read the obituary, and I realized that his family loved him, and I think that’s something to be grateful for, and when your life is over, that’s all there is to say,” Clinton said during an appearance on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”

“But I was taught not to talk about the people that I have nothing to say,” he continued.

Starr died on Tuesday at the age of 76 in Houston from surgery complications. He reportedly had been in the hospital for months leading up to his death.

“We are deeply saddened with the loss of our dear and loving father and grandfather, whom we admired for his prodigious work ethic, but who always put his family first,” Starr’s son, Randall Starr, said in the obituary.

Starr in the first Bush administration served as the U.S. solicitor general, arguing dozens of cases before the Supreme Court. He previously served as a federal appeals judge and a senior post in the Justice Department.

But Starr gained fame for leading the Whitewater investigation during Clinton’s presidency.

The investigation began with a probe of the Clintons’ real estate investments but eventually expanded to include the former president’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Lewinsky on Tuesday responded to Starr’s death on Twitter.

“As I’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about Ken Starr bring up complicated feelings… but of more importance, is that I imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him,” Lewinsky wrote shortly after the news of Starr’s death broke.

The Starr Report, which he gave to Congress in September 1998, asserted that Clinton lied to the public and Congress about the relationship. Clinton was later impeached, though was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.

Overheard

RIP Fred Franzia, dead at 79.

Question:

How can you sell wine

cheaper than water?

Answer:

How do you not recognize

they're overcharging for water?

An Obit

Lookin' good in that hat, Gorby,

and you're welcome -

but ya got it on backwards

Gorbachev mourned as rare world leader but some still bitter

BERLIN (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union and for many the man who restored democracy to then-communist-ruled European nations, was saluted Wednesday as a rare leader who changed the world and for a time brought hope for peace among the superpowers.

But the man who died Tuesday at 91 was also reviled by many countrymen who blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union and its diminution as a superpower. The Russian nation that emerged from its Soviet past shrank in size as 15 new nations were created.

The loss of pride and power also eventually led to the rise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has tried for the past quarter-century to restore Russia to its former glory and beyond.

U.S. President Joe Biden praised Gorbachev for being open to democratic changes. Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War.

“After decades of brutal political repression, he embraced democratic reforms. He believed in glasnost and perestroika – openness and restructuring – not as mere slogans, but as the path forward for the people of the Soviet Union after so many years of isolation and deprivation,” Biden said.

Biden added that “these were the acts of a rare leader – one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.”

Although Gorbachev was widely feted abroad, he was a pariah at home. Putin acknowledged that Gorbachev had “a deep impact on the course of world history.”

“He led the country during difficult and dramatic changes, amid large-scale foreign policy, economic and social challenges,” Putin said in a short telegram sending his condolences to Gorbachev’s family.

Gorbachev “realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions to the acute problems,” Putin said.

Reactions from Russian officials and lawmakers were mixed. They applauded Gorbachev for his part in ending the Cold War but censured him for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Oleg Morozov, a member of the main Kremlin party, United Russia, said Gorbachev should have “repented” for mistakes that went against Russia’s interests.

“He was a willing or an unwilling co-author of the unfair world order that our soldiers are now fighting on the battlefield,” Morozov said, in a reference to Russia’s current war in Ukraine.

Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland’s pro-democracy Solidarity movement in the 1980s and the country’s president from 1990-1995, had a more nuanced view of Gorbachev. He said he “admired, even liked him, but did not understand (him).”

“He believed to the last that communism could be reformed, but I, on the contrary, did not believe it was possible,” Walesa told the Wirtualna Polska media.

Walesa added: “He knew that the Soviet Union could not last much longer and he was doing everything he could to prevent the world from bringing Russia to account for communism. And he was successful there.”

World leaders paid tribute to a man some described as a great and brave leader.

In Germany, where Gorbachev is considered one of the fathers of the country’s reunification in 1990 and is popularly referred to as “Gorbi,” former Chancellor Angela Merkel saluted him as “a unique world politician.”

“Gorbachev wrote world history. He exemplified how a single statesman can change the world for the better,” she said, recalling how she had feared that Russian tanks might roll into East Germany, where she lived, as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised Gorbachev for paving the way for his country’s reunification, though he also pointed out that Gorbachev died at a time when many of his achievements have been destroyed.

“We know that he died at a time when not only democracy in Russia has failed — there is no other way to describe the current situation there — but also Russia and Russian President Putin are drawing new trenches in Europe and have started a horrible war against a neighboring country, Ukraine,” Scholz said.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “in a time of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, (Gorbachev’s) tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”

French President Emmanuel Macron described Gorbachev as “a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.”

Others in Europe challenged the positive recollections of Gorbachev.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s top diplomat who is also the son of Vytautas Landsbergis, who led Lithuania’s independence movement in the early 1990s, tweeted that “Lithuanians will not glorify Gorbachev.”

Memories are still fresh in the Baltic country of Jan. 13, 1991, when hundreds of Lithuanians headed to the television tower in Vilnius to oppose Soviet troops deployed to crush the country’s bid to restore its independence. In the clashes that followed, 14 civilians were killed and more than 140 others were injured. Moscow recognized Lithuania’s independence in August that year.

“We will never forget the simple fact that his army murdered civilians to prolong his regime’s occupation of our country. His soldiers fired on our unarmed protesters and crushed them under his tanks. That is how we will remember him,” Landsbergis wrote.

But another Baltic leader, Latvian President Egils Levits, noted that Gorbachev’s policies enabled the eventual independence of the three Baltic countries.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gorbachev “a one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history” and “did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War.”

“The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace,” the U.N. chief said.

Gorbachev’s contemporaries pointed to the end of the Cold War as one of his achievements.

“Mikhail Gorbachev played a critical role in the peaceful end to the Cold War. At home, he was a figure of historical importance, but not in the way he intended,” said Robert M. Gates, who headed the CIA from 1991 to 1993 and later became U.S. defense secretary.

Calling Gorbachev “a brave leader and great statesman,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the last Soviet leader “opened the gates of the Soviet Union for the great wave of Jewish immigration to Israel in the 1990s.”

In Asia, Gorbachev was remembered as a leader with the courage to bring change.

China recognized Gorbachev’s role in healing relations between Moscow and Beijing. Gorbachev had been an inspiration to reformist thinkers in China during the late 1980s, and his visit to Beijing in 1989 marked a watershed in relations between the sides.

“Mr. Gorbachev made positive contributions to the normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union. We mourn his passing and extend our sympathies to his family,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.

However, China’s Communist Party leaders also regard Gorbachev’s liberal approach as a fatal display of weakness and his moves toward peaceful coexistence with the West as a form of surrender.

DT

A sad day in Donkey Town today.

DenPo: (paywall)

Former Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas dies at age 33

Pro Bowl receiver and Super Bowl champion Demaryius Thomas, who played nine seasons for the Broncos, died Thursday, according to police in Roswell, Ga.

The police said Thomas was found deceased in his home. Preliminary information is that his death stems from a medical issue and investigators have no reason to believe foul play was involved.

Thomas, who played for the Broncos from 2010-18, and whose on-field performance was matched only by his popularity among teammates, coaches and fans, was 33 years old.

Jeff Clayton, the athletic director at West Laurens High School in Dexter, Ga., where Thomas attended, said in an email to The Denver Post: “To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.”

The US Sun:

Thomas was found deceased in his home on the evening of Thursday December 9, 2021, the Roswell (Georgia) Police confirmed in a statement to NFL Media.

In a statement on Twitter, the Broncos said: "We are devastated and completely heartbroken.

"Demaryius' humility, warmth, kindness and infectious smile will always be remembered by those who knew him and loved him."

He would have turned 34 on Christmas Day.

Remembering A Good Man Today

1996 was the last time I seriously considered voting Republican. But by then, even Bob Dole was manifesting the negative influence of a right wing that's now so poisonous as to pose an existential threat to American democracy.

Funny how I feel a deeply sad nostalgia just thinking about how I used to be able to respect a Republican.

Tom Daschle in WaPo: (pay wall)

I have always believed that life has no blessing like that of a good friend. To know Bob Dole, who died Sunday at age 98, was to know the truth of that statement.

Bob’s friendship was a blessing that enriched my life beyond measure. His dedication to public service, his determination to keep Washington and Congress places of civility, and his kindness to me and my wife, Linda, made our friendship a blessing as rich as life offers.

When I arrived in the Senate in 1987, Bob was one of the first senators to make me feel welcome. We served together on the Finance and Agriculture committees, and almost from the beginning seemed to have many similar views, especially in agriculture and nutrition.

Obituary: Robert J. Dole, longtime GOP leader who sought presidency 3 times, dies at 98

Bob faced the world — both its cruelties and its kindnesses — with humility, humanity and, of course, humor. I remember my first appearance with Bob after we were both elected leaders of our parties in the Senate in 1995 (our tenures briefly overlapped before he stepped down to run for president in 1996). It was at a reception where he noted that my election was received with great enthusiasm in farm country because for the first time in history, both party leaders in the Senate were from farm states. “Every farmer in America that very week had ordered a new tractor,” he said.

Bob liked to share a story from when he was first elected to Congress and a reporter asked what his agenda would be. He said, “I’m going to sit and watch for a couple of days, and then I’ll stand up for what’s right.”

That’s exactly what he did. He stood up for minorities early in his career when he broke party ranks and supported the landmark Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. He stood up for the elderly and worked with Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (N.Y.) to save Social Security. He stood up for the young and worked with my fellow Democratic South Dakotan Sen. George McGovern on nutrition assistance. He stood up for the disabled and worked with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on the Americans With Disabilities Act. And he stood up for his fellow veterans as chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign.

I know that last accomplishment in particular meant a lot to him. He once even wondered if he could be buried at the memorial. He may not receive his final rest there, but I think of Bob every time I see that monument.

Of course, these are all the things that made Bob Dole great, but, as comedic actor Will Rogers once put it (in one of Bob’s favorite sayings): “It’s great to be great, but it’s greater to be human.”

Most people have heard about the Bob Dole who heroically served and recovered from injury in World War II. But few know the Bob Dole who called up a Florida dentist in 1993 to encourage him after losing his right arm and help find him a specialist for a prosthetic arm.

Or the Bob Dole who took a detour from his 1996 presidential campaign to attend the graduation party of a young girl in Indianapolis who had been partially paralyzed by a car accident.

Or the Bob Dole who waited at airport gates for honor flights to greet veterans with a salute and a thank you.

He touched many people through his small acts of great kindness, including me. He taught me so much when I became majority leader, and the teaching didn’t stop when I left the Senate. When I lost my election in 2004, Bob was one of the first friends to offer me guidance and support. He helped me find a speakers bureau and encouraged me to join him at his law firm. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted, in part because it gave me the opportunity to spend more time with my dear friend.

I can’t help but think of the first time I said farewell to Bob — when he left the Senate in 1996. I remember he quoted a poem by Carl Sandburg in his final speech on the Senate floor: “I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes. I tell you yesterday is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the west. I tell you there is nothing in the world, only an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows.”

Bob didn’t always have an easy life. He faced some hard yesterdays. He endured losses — physical, political and personal. But for all he did lose, Bob never lost himself. He never lost his sense of humor. He never lost his sense of integrity. He never lost his love for his hometown of Russell, Kan., or his love for his wife, Elizabeth. And he never lost his hope for tomorrow.

His life was a testament to Will Rogers’s truth: that the things that make us human — the laughs we share and the burdens we bear — can make us great.

RIP Ned Beatty

Ned Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) delivered what is possibly the greatest movie soliloquy ever.

Network - 1976

Today's Passing

Floyd Little (July 4, 1942 - January 1, 2021)

I grew up watching the Donkeys lose every way imaginable - it's more than reasonable to think the phrase, "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory", was coined specifically with the Denver Broncos in mind.

But then along came Floyd and things began to change.

WaPo:

Floyd Little, a Hall of Fame running back who starred at Syracuse University and later for the Denver Broncos, died Jan. 1 at his home in Henderson, Nev. He was 78.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the death Friday night. The cause was cancer.

Mr. Little was a three-time all-American at Syracuse, where he wore No. 44, like Jim Brown and Ernie Davis before him. From 1964 to 1966, he ran for 2,704 yards and 46 touchdowns.

He was the sixth overall pick in the 1967 AFL-NFL draft and played nine seasons in Denver. He earned the nickname “The Franchise” because his signing was credited with keeping the team from relocating and helped persuade voters to approve funds to upgrade Mile High Stadium, which has since been replaced.

I was at this game in 1969

“I know when I got there, the talk was about the team moving to Chicago or Birmingham,” Mr. Little told the Associated Press in 2009. “So I supposedly saved the franchise. . . . It’s been a part of my name ever since.”

A five-time Pro Bowler, he led the NFL in rushing yards (1,133) in 1971 and in touchdown runs (12) in 1973. He also was one of the game’s best return men, leading the AFL in punt return average as a rookie in 1967.

During his nine-year pro career, the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Mr. Little rushed for 6,323 yards and 43 touchdowns and caught 215 passes for 2,418 yards and nine scores. He had the most all-purpose yards in pro football and ranked second only to O.J. Simpson in rushing yards during the years he was active.

Mr. Little was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, after a three-decade wait. He told the AP that he had given up hope of ever making it into the Hall of Fame.

“I was running out of guys who had seen me play,” he said. “The people that had seen me play were starting to fade off and retire. All these guys were no longer there, so who’s going to talk about Floyd Little? Nobody. I thought I’d just fallen through the cracks, never to be seen or heard from again.”

Floyd Douglas Little was born July 4, 1942, in New Haven, Conn. He was persuaded to attend Syracuse by Ernie Davis, the first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy. Davis, who had worn No. 44 at Syracuse after Brown had the number, died of leukemia in 1963.

When Mr. Little was given No. 44, it cemented a Syracuse tradition of outstanding running backs with that number. (The number was retired in 2005.) In 1965, Mr. Little was the first Syracuse runner to gain 1,000 yards in a season. He finished fifth in the Heisman voting two times.

He graduated from Syracuse in 1967 and received a master’s degree in legal administration from the University of Denver in 1975.

During his long wait for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Mr. Little said he was regularly approached by fans wanting him to settle a bet: Which year did he go into the Hall of Fame?

“And I have to tell them I’m not in the Hall of Fame and I’ve never even been nominated,” he said. On the eve of his selection, he said he’d had a premonition that his time was coming at last.

“It’s the 44th Super Bowl,” he said in 2010. “An African American just became our 44th president. I wore No. 44. I just feel it’s my time.”

When he received the call that he would be enshrined, Mr. Little said, “I was numb.”

After his football career ended in 1975, he had a car dealership in Seattle for 32 years. From 2011 to 2016, he returned to Syracuse as a special assistant to the athletic director.

A few years ago, my kids went in together and got me an autographed ball for Christmas.

Respect forever, Floyd.

Today's Quote

To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together.

- Barry Lopez

January 6, 1945 – December 25, 2020

Barry Holstun Lopez (January 6, 1945 – December 25, 2020) was an American author, essayist, nature writer, and fiction writer whose work is known for its humanitarian and environmental concerns. In a career spanning over 50 years, he visited over 80 countries, and wrote extensively about distant and exotic landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationship between human cultures and nature. He won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for Arctic Dreams (1986) and his Of Wolves and Men (1978) was a National Book Award finalist. He was a contributor to magazines including Harper's Magazine, National Geographic, and The Paris Review.

NPR:

National Book Award winner Barry Lopez was famous for chronicling his travels to remote places and the landscapes he found there. But his writings weren't simply accounts of his journeys — they were reminders of how precious life on earth is, and of our responsibility to care for it. He died on Christmas Day following a years-long battle with prostate cancer, his wife confirmed to NPR. He was 75.

Lopez spent more than 30 years writing his last book, Horizon, and you don't spend that much time on a project without going through periods of self doubt.

When I met him at his home last year, he told me when he was feeling defeated by the work, he'd walk along the nearby McKenzie River.

"Every time I did there was a beaver stick in the water at my feet. And they're of course, they're workers. So I imagined the beaver were saying 'What the hell's wrong with you? You get back in there and do your work.'"

Up in his studio, he had a collection of the sticks, and he showed me how they bore the marks of little teeth. It was a lesson for Lopez. "Everyday I saw the signs of: don't lose faith in yourself," he told me.

This was the world of Barry Lopez — a world where a beaver could teach you the most valuable lessons.

Lopez was born in New York, but his father moved the family to California when he was a child. He would eventually settle in Oregon, where he gained notice for his writing about the natural world. He won the 1986 National Book Award for his nonfiction work Arctic Dreams.

At the time, he told NPR how he approached the seemingly empty Arctic environment.

"I made myself pay attention to places where I thought nothing was going on," he said then. "And then after a while, the landscape materialized in a in a fuller way. Its expression was deeper and broader than I had first imagined that at first glance."

In Lopez's books, a cloudy sky contains "grays of pigeon feathers, of slate and pearls." Packs of hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos move "like swans milling on a city park pond"

Composer John Luther Adams was friend and collaborator of Lopez for nearly four decades He says Lopez's writing serves as a wake-up call.

"He surveys the beauty of the world and at the same time, the cruelty and violence that we humans inflict on the Earth and on one another, and he does it with deep compassion," Adams says

Lopez experienced that cruelty firsthand: As a child he was sexually abused by a family friend. He first wrote about it in 2013, and he later told NPR the experience made him feel afraid and shameful around other people. The animals he encountered in the California wilderness offered something different.

"They didn't say 'oh we know what you went through,'" he said. "I felt accepted by the animate world."

Lopez would spend his life writing about that world — in particular the damage done to it by climate change.

That hit home for Lopez this past September. Much of his property was burned in wildfires that tore through Oregon, partly due to abnormally dry conditions. His wife Debra Gwartney says he lost an archive that stored most of his books, awards, notes and correspondence from the past 50 years, as well as much of the forest around the home.

"He talked a lot about climate change and how it's so easy to think that it's going to happen to other people and not to you," she says. "But it happened to us, it happened to him personally. The fire was a blow he never could recover from."

When I spoke to Lopez last year, he said he always sought to find grace in the middle of devastation.

"It's so difficult to be a human being. There are so many reasons to give up. To retreat into cynicism or despair. I hate to see that and I want to do something that makes people feel safe and loved and capable."

In his last days, Lopez's family brought objects from his home to him in hospice. Among the items: the beaver sticks from his studio.

In Memorium

We lost a coupla heroes yesterday

CT Vivian  (July 30, 1924 – July 17, 2020)

CT Vivian was an American minister, author, and was a close friend and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. Vivian continued to reside in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded the C. T. Vivian Leadership Institute, Inc. He was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

President Barack Obama, speaking at Selma's Brown Chapel on the March, 2007, anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, recognized Vivian in his opening remarks in the words of Martin L. King Jr. as "the greatest preacher to ever live."

August 2013

November 2010

John Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020)

America is a constant work in progress. What gives each new generation purpose is to take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further - to speak out for what's right, to challenge an unjust status quo, and to imagine a better world.

John Lewis - one of the original Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, leader of the march from Selma to Montgomery, Member of Congress representing the people of Georgia for 33 years - not only assumed that responsibility, he made it his life's work. He loved this country so much that he risked his life and his blood so that it might live up to its promise. And through the decades, he not only gave all of himself to the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired generations that followed to try to live up to his example.

Considering his enormous impact on the history of this country, what always struck those who met John was his gentleness and humility. Born into modest means in the heart of the Jim Crow South, he understood that he was just one of a long line of heroes in the struggle for racial justice. Early on, he embraced the principles of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience as the means to bring about real change in this country, understanding that such tactics had the power not only to change laws, but to change hearts and minds as well.

In so many ways, John's life was exceptional. But he never believed that what he did was more than any citizen of this country might do. He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what's right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect. And it's because he saw the best in all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon in that long journey towards a more perfect union.

I first met John when I was in law school, and I told him then that he was one of my heroes. Years later, when I was elected a U.S. Senator, I told him that I stood on his shoulders. When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him on the inauguration stand before I was sworn in and told him I was only there because of the sacrifices he made. And through all those years, he never stopped providing wisdom and encouragement to me and Michelle and our family. We will miss him dearly.

It's fitting that the last time John and I shared a public forum was at a virtual town hall with a gathering of young activists who were helping to lead this summer's demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd's death. Afterwards, I spoke to him privately, and he could not have been prouder of their efforts - of a new generation standing up for freedom and equality, a new generation intent on voting and protecting the right to vote, a new generation running for political office. I told him that all those young people - of every race, from every background and gender and sexual orientation - they were his children. They had learned from his example, even if they didn't know it. They had understood through him what American citizenship requires, even if they had heard of his courage only through history books.

Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did. And thanks to him, we now all have our marching orders - to keep believing in the possibility of remaking this country we love until it lives up to its full promise.

Barack Obama

Elijah Cummings

“He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity, and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem.”

- Maya Cummings

Elijah Eugene Cummings (January 18, 1951 – October 17, 2019) was an American politician and the member of the U.S. House of Representativesfor Maryland's 7th congressional district. The district includes just over half of Baltimore City, most of the majority-black precincts of Baltimore County, as well as most of Howard County. He previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates. He was a member of the Democratic Party and chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Cummings was born on January 18, 1951 in Baltimore, the son of Ruth Elma (née Cochran) and Robert Cummings. His parents were sharecroppers. He was the third child of seven. Cummings graduated with honors from the Baltimore City College high school in 1969.

He later attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he served in the student government as sophomore class president, student government treasurer and later student government president. He became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.

Cummings graduated from law school at the University of Maryland School of Law, receiving his J.D. in 1976, and was admitted to the Maryland Bar later that year. He practiced law for 19 years before first being elected to the House in the 1996 elections.

Cummings received 12 honorary doctoral degrees from universities across America, most recently an honorary doctorate of public service from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2017.

For 14 years, Cummings served in the Maryland House of Delegates. His predecessor, Lena King Lee, raised funds and campaigned for him; years later, Cummings credited her with launching his political career. In the Maryland General Assembly, he served as Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and was the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tempore, the second highest position in the House of Delegates.

Cummings also served on several boards and commissions, both in and out of Baltimore. Those include SEED Schools of Maryland Board of Directors and the University of Maryland Law School Board of Advisors. He served on numerous Maryland boards and commissions including the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel. He was an honorary member of the Baltimore Zoo Board of Trustees.

In addition to his many speaking engagements, he wrote a biweekly column for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.

Cummings underwent surgery to repair his aortic valve in May 2017 and was absent from Capitol Hill for two months. In July 2017, he developed a surgery-related infection but returned to work. On October 17, 2019, Cummings died at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the age of 68 from, his spokeswoman stated, "complications concerning longstanding health challenges".

Small Town Livin'

BREAKING NEWS - C'Ville Weekly:

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing this morning of Meteor the Yak, who died after being hit by a car on Route 29, according to a post by the Nelson County Farm Bureau. 

Meteor captured our hearts after escaping while en route to meet his demise at an abattoir. 

After kicking out the doors of his trailer at a traffic light and wandering away, the 300-pound black yak was spotted outside the NCFB on September 11, and also made an appearance at a bed and breakfast. 

His bid for survival inspired creative headlines ("Yak on the lam") but more importantly he became a symbol of hope. 

Stories cropped up in the Washington Post, USA Today, and other national outlets, and Meteor became an object of obsession for some. 

We all love the story of the lone survivor, the rebel, the underdog. Meteor was all of those rolled into one. 

We were hoping Meteor would roam free and live to become part of our local folklore. Alas, we must settle for an ephemeral feel-good story (albeit one with a sad ending), and confirmation that one animal can bring out the best in human nature, which includes a fundamental love of all living things.

Lost Another One

Frank Robinson, baseballer, badass, decent human being. 

Thomas Boswell, WaPo:

For several days, the death of Frank Robinson had been expected. Editors called reporters to prepare appreciations. But Frank, no respecter of deadlines or demise, didn’t depart on schedule. Some of us who covered him for years enjoyed the thought of Death trying to cope with Frank.

Robinson was the proudest, orneriest, most competitive man in baseball from his arrival in 1956 — as a rookie who hit 38 homers at age 20 — until 2006, when, in his 16th year as a manager, his old fierce eyes still made his Nats players seem tame.

“You know you can’t beat me,” the Grim Reaper says. Frank, silent, just glares and digs in. Robinson didn’t just crowd the plate; he crowded life.

On Thursday, Robinson died at 83. Many will recall his Triple Crown season leading the Baltimore Orioles to a World Series title in 1966. Others will find the most lasting value in his dignified barrier-breaking work as the first African American manager in 1975 with Cleveland and then as manager of the year back with the Orioles in 1989.

- and -

“I’ve always enjoyed working with young people, reaching them and talking baseball. It’s a pleasure to watch someone get better and better until he’s a bona fide big leaguer,” he said. “All a teacher wants is for them to listen and try.”

- and -

For me, (Bill) Russell and Frank Robinson were the next step after Jackie Robinson. Because he had laid the groundwork, they didn’t have to turn the other cheek. They could be their entire selves — or close to it. Remembering what social progress looked like then is a reminder of why it’s worth battling to keep and extend now.

Frank Robinson always had the severe comportment, the hard eye for enemies, the basic sense of right and wrong of a pioneer. He walked into a room, and others stood up straighter, heads higher. Now, we bow our heads in respect.

Wikipedia:

Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams from 1956 to 1976, and became the only player to be named the Most Valuable Player of both the National League and American League. He was named the NL MVP with the Cincinnati Reds in 1961 after leading the team to the pennant with a .323 batting average, and won the AL MVP in 1966 in his first season with the Baltimore Orioles after winning the Triple Crown. Robinson helped lead the Orioles to World Series titles in 1966 and 1970. A 14-time All-Star, Robinson's 586 career home runs ranked fourth in major league history at the time of his retirement, and he ranked sixth in total bases (5,373) and tenth in runs scored (1,829). Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1982.

In 1975, Robinson became the first black manager in major league history. He managed the Cleveland Indians during the last two years of his playing career, compiling a 186–189 record. He went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. For most of the last two decades of his life, Robinson served in various executive positions for Major League Baseball, concluding as honorary President of the American League.

Today's Tweet

That one time Hugh Hefner put a dick on the cover of Playboy. pic.twitter.com/JeVxbcaqb7

— Sam Kalidi (@samkalidi) September 28, 2017

There was always a Plus/Minus thing going on with Hefner.

There's a solid truth about Playboy's exploitation of women and the hyper-pimping of an arbitrary "standard of beauty" that continues to fuck with way too many people's heads.

There's also a very real thing where The Playboy Foundation contributed to some important social progress:

Comedian Dick Gregory revealed in an interview that Hefner provided $25,000 toward a reward that Gregory later credited with helping break one of the civil-rights movement’s most notorious cases: the murder of three young civil-rights workers in Meridian, Mississippi.

Hefner was also an avid supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and would go on to serve as a significant funder of the Rainbow PUSH coalition helmed by King acolyte Jesse Jackson. (Hefner donated to a number of progressive and legal causes throughout his life, including funding America’s very first rape kit, via his charitable foundation.)

So I'm not minimizing or equalizing. I'm trying to see as much of the whole thing as possible.

Muhammad Ali

Dead yesterday at 74

Once upon a time, there was a Meat Market type bar in southeast Denver called The Sports Page, and the gimmick was that they showed old movies of sporting events on a coupla big projection screens. My all-time fave was this fight between Ali and Cleveland Williams.  The first time I saw it, I was so mesmerized that I just sat there swilling beer and watching - I got drunk enough to fall asleep in my car out in the parking lot afterwards.

Here's what I posted on his birthday this year

And We Lose Another One

(Apocryphal or not): Someone asked Eric Clapton what it felt like to be the greatest guitar player in the world, and he answered, "I don't know - ask Prince".

Clapton played on the original track (White Album), but couldn't make it to the George tribute - so Prince stood in for him.

Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)

Voter Outreach

Never give up. Never surrender. 

Who's Foolin' Who?

So Paul Kantner died yesterday, and I went to YouTube to listen to Crown of Creation (which I hadn't heard in quite a while), and holy crap - Star Track comes on and I'm thinking that sounds really familiar, and holy crap again, I start singing Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In - and it fits almost perfectly.

Everything recycles.  Everything is derived from something else.  So when something comes along that seems really new, try to understand how rare and exceptional it has to be to make us forget where it came from.

Star Track --Jefferson Airplane

Just Dropped In (cover) --Kenny Rogers & The First Edition