From Longtime Reader Brad:
You tell of your Grandfather on a yearly basis… his quiet determination to live his life, support and protect his family, etc.
Perhaps you recall columnist John Kass from The Trib — he’s indie now — he bailed earlier this year immediately after lefty vulture “capitalists” bought The Trib.
I give you this …
I always liked to read John Kass back when I lived in Daley City, and this ranks up there with his best. Wonderful, and humbling.
Thanks, Brad.
At some point, you’d think that scumbags choirboys in Texas would get the hint that their little undocumented wealth redistribution plans may be a little more complicated here than they would be, say, in San Francisco or Portland. But no:
And:
Texas man chased down carjacker who dragged woman to her death
The story of the second one, while tragic, is noteworthy because without Our Hero, the cops would probably still be looking for the goblin. Instead, he faces the needle because there was a witness to the killing, and under Texas law he goes straight to the head of the line.
And it’s getting more difficult in other states, too:
An
allegedhome intruder attacked an armed homeowner in Atlanta, Georgia, Monday afternoon and was shot and killed.
He was inside the guy’s house, where he assumed room temperature after being ventilated. There’s no “alleged” about it.
KWCH reports that the incident occurred about 7 p.m., and the suspect allegedly started by pounding on a door at a neighbor’s house.
The suspect then focused on a second home, where the armed homeowner called the police and asked them to come quickly because he did not want to have to shoot the man. But the suspect allegedly kept attacking.
The homeowner said, “[He] threw 2 bricks through my window and tried to crawl through in my window and told me he was going to kill me and kinds of other things. So, unfortunately, I had to shoot him.”
Nothing unfortunate about it, old son; the son of a bitch sounds like he needed killing. Sadly, he’s only “critical”, but we can hope. Anyway, for all these heroes:
…and Picture Of The Year:
I was truly saddened to read of the death of Ted Dexter at the age of 86. Very few Americans would know who he is, but allow me to make the introduction.
Over ten years, “Lord Ted” Dexter played cricket for England for 62 international Test matches, of which he was captain of the team for 30. He scored thousands of runs, took dozens of wickets as a bowler, and after retiring from cricket went on as a team selector and chairman of the Marylebone Cricket Club (Lord’s). Throughout his life, he was unfailingly helpful to young cricketers, always polite and ready with some good advice.
For most men, that would be enough.
He was also a scratch golfer, a pilot (who flew from the UK to Australia, and back), rode a motorcycle and once ran for Parliament.
He failed at the last — one of his few failures — but that leads me to tell a personal story about the man.
By running for Parliament in 1964, Ted missed the start of the England tour of South Africa, but he was back in the side in time for the Test at at the Wanderers cricket ground in Johannesburg, where an excited young boy of eight (that would be me) happened to be sitting in the stands with his dad one row back from the field, right at the point where Ted was fielding.
Of course, “Lord Ted” didn’t just stand there in the field; he turned and bantered with the crowd, who responded delightedly. He had a bright red stain on his white cricket trousers where he’d been polishing the cricket ball, and one wag in the crowd yelled, “What happened to your pants?” Ted laughed and said, “It’s hot out here.”
Whereupon the same guy said, “Would you like a cold one, Uncle Ted?” and Dexter laughed and said, “Next over.”
When he came back to field in his earlier position, he walked right over to the boundary fence and said, “Where’s that cold one?” Of course, someone popped a can of Castle Lager and handed it to him — whereupon Ted put his head back and drained the thing in one giant swallow, to tumultuous applause. Needless to say, every time he came back to the boundary he was offered a fresh beer, but after one more he said, “Thanks, but I still have to bat later,” to much good-natured ribbing. (“Maybe tomorrow, Ted; you’re not going to get us all out today!”)
Oh, and to finish Ted Dexter’s story: he was married to the same woman for over sixty years. Nowadays, that’s considered quite a feat; to a man like him, it would be quite unremarkable.
He was one of my boyhood heroes, and still is today.
R.I.P. Ted Dexter, OBE.
i know I said there would be no math, but you have to look at these. Sue Radford:
Now to be honest, she hasn’t looked like this for (probably) 27 years — because she’s been pretty much pregnant most of that time (maybe with a couple months off for good behavior, here and there). Here’s the family’s chronological listing:
Chris 32, Sophie 27, Chloe 25, Jack 24, Daniel 22, Luke 20, Millie 19, Katie 18, James 17, Ellie 16, Aimee 15, Josh 13, Max 12, Tillie 11, Oscar 9, Casper 8, Hallie 6, Phoebe 4, Archie 3, Bonnie 2, and Heidie, 1.
And apparently they have taken not one penny of government support, ever. As the title of this post suggests…
Afterthought: I know what you’re thinking. Don’t go there. If her hubby is satisfied, then that’s all we need to know.
Normandy beaches, June 6, 1944.
We will remember them.