I voted peppermint but could have said spearmint as well. I prefer Wrigley’s old-school Doublemint, the kind with sugar in it. It is harder and harder to find.
Also, this is one of the best pieces you’ve ever written. Comparable to helping your dad vote. Thank you.
Sorry about that — I was having trouble with the “reauthorizing code.”
Doublemint was my father’s favorite, especially after he stopped smoking. When packs were 5 sticks, he went through at least one pack a day. (They later released a jumbo pack, but it didn’t fit well in his work pants, so he kept with the 5-sticks pack.)
I spent my career working with refugees and immigrants with the UN. One of my last projects was being part of the team that set up a new procedure whereby El Salvadorans who were being persecuted in their country. Persecution was usually by one of the various gangs who had de facto control over parts of the country, and the government would not or could not protect them. I will spare you some of the experience these people described to prove their persecution claim. This new "in-country" process stumbled along during the Obama administration mostly because DHS just didn't like it (although DOS and the WH did.) We resettled people to Canada, Australia too when the US dragged its feet. I retired early in the first Trump administration, and at the time Stephen Miller and his gang were busy putting knives through all things refugee and immigration - including the US participation in this program.
The El Salvadoran program was resurrected during the Biden years, and expanded to some other Central American countries. In US FY 2024 - over a thousand Salvadorans were legally resettled by the US. Of course Stephen Müller and his henchman, decided to stop all things to help refugees in the first hundred days - deciding instead persecution in the US, and starving them to death abroad, is more fun than helping the persecuted.
This is all to say, that the idea that it is difficult to bring someone back from El Salvador to the US is ludicrous. Thousands have been brought here. Everything is in place that this could happen in a day. Mr. Garcia (the NJ husband illegally disappeared by ICE) could simply be granted parole status by the US, and be home the next day. FWIW - the US embassy compound in downtown El Salvador is the size of Central Park - and was not so long ago, the third largest US embassy in the world. So there are plenty of resources both for migration issues and for influencing the government - the latter something which the US historically has never been shy about doing.
But this all makes one huge assumption - that anyone in this clown show administration cares, or even knows US immigration law. And I know that answer, unfortunately.
I suspect they know that already. They are just trying to climb out of the septic tank they have created for themselves. There will be books written about why this Supreme Court made an attempt to destroy democracy.
I think it’d be easier, and appropriate, for the Trump shit stick question to simply insert the stick (I’m thinking rough hewn pine, replete with splinters) about 4 feet up sphincter puss’s ass.
The American dream was not created by primeval pilgrims, pretend patriots, or pandering politicians. It was built by people like your grandfather, who helped ensure that the tired, the poor, the wretched refuse of God's teeming shore, could stay here and help build the country we have today. Thank you to him, and let's keep defending those with the least rights so those with the lion's share cannot alter the tuning of this country to a blank white screen.
I have asked both of my Senators (Ds) to introduce a bill forbidding the transfer of any federal money to El Salvador and inplementing sanctions on the country and President until Kilmar Abrego Garcia is returned unharmed to the US. Make the Rs take a stand on this one, for which they will long be remembered.
The so-called government doesn't have a (legal) leg to stand on. Abrego Garcia is in the constructive custody of the United States. There is no "foreign policy" about it. El Salvador didn't ask that he be returned. His removal and incarceration is part of a business deal, not a treaty or some other agreement as far as we know. He may be under Salvadoran authority while in prison but he is not in that country's legal custody. Wrongly deported immigrants --- and even properly removed ones --- have regularly been returned when their cases remain to be fully adjudicated.
“I am a foreigner; my people didn’t get here until about 1710. They got here, and now I am asked to close the doors to the people who came over on a later ship.”
I rarely chew gum because my dentist was putting her daughter through Stanford when she (the dentist) convinced me that most of my back teeth needed to be covered in crowns or they would all soon break and I would have to get more pricey dental implants (this happened each time my dental insurance had paid her what I owed from the previous visit and when, coincidentally, Stanford tuition was due). Gum sticks to my crowns like crap to a bear's fur when he isn't a Charmin-advertisement bear. But I chew gum when my breath smells of garlic or onions and I chew Cinnamon if I can find it with actual sugar in it. Otherwise, I'll take whatever flavor they have without artificial sweetener in it - artificial sweetener gives me a terrible headache, so I end up with smell onion breath AND a headache, if they don't have sugary cinnamon.
I was radicalized by the time I was five. My folks were some of the Okies that left the Dust Bowl and headed towards California. They got here and life was very much what was described in "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. We were called Okies and I didn't like the name. It was a lot like "A Boy Named Sue". And I fought a lot though I was small and scrappy. I learned that being first and fast were essential in physical battles and never lost one of those fights. I finally got a little respect from my 4 years older than me brother when he watched me as a second grader send an 8th grader home crying to his mother. I was crying too because I beat the hell out of my Donald Duck lunchbox and thermos. They were never the same and they never got replaced which was what I was crying about. I would reckon that I was a little psychopath at the time but I eventually outgrew it. That might be part of why I think these right-wing assholes need to be deported.
I'm concerned that if he shits on a stick he might poke his eye out. And my preference in gum is the niccotine variety, having traded smoking for another nasty habit about 30 years ago. They now make it in cinnamon!
And "Jinky" is not Russian for Gene or anything else. If your grandad was trying to Russianize your name it would be Evgeniy, or Zhenya for short. Zhenushka if you were being little and cute, and Zhenka if he was mad at you. From now on I may refer to you as Zhenya Weingarten.
I voted peppermint but could have said spearmint as well. I prefer Wrigley’s old-school Doublemint, the kind with sugar in it. It is harder and harder to find.
Also, this is one of the best pieces you’ve ever written. Comparable to helping your dad vote. Thank you.
489782
Sorry about that — I was having trouble with the “reauthorizing code.”
Doublemint was my father’s favorite, especially after he stopped smoking. When packs were 5 sticks, he went through at least one pack a day. (They later released a jumbo pack, but it didn’t fit well in his work pants, so he kept with the 5-sticks pack.)
Mmmmm—yes, Doublemint.
I spent my career working with refugees and immigrants with the UN. One of my last projects was being part of the team that set up a new procedure whereby El Salvadorans who were being persecuted in their country. Persecution was usually by one of the various gangs who had de facto control over parts of the country, and the government would not or could not protect them. I will spare you some of the experience these people described to prove their persecution claim. This new "in-country" process stumbled along during the Obama administration mostly because DHS just didn't like it (although DOS and the WH did.) We resettled people to Canada, Australia too when the US dragged its feet. I retired early in the first Trump administration, and at the time Stephen Miller and his gang were busy putting knives through all things refugee and immigration - including the US participation in this program.
The El Salvadoran program was resurrected during the Biden years, and expanded to some other Central American countries. In US FY 2024 - over a thousand Salvadorans were legally resettled by the US. Of course Stephen Müller and his henchman, decided to stop all things to help refugees in the first hundred days - deciding instead persecution in the US, and starving them to death abroad, is more fun than helping the persecuted.
This is all to say, that the idea that it is difficult to bring someone back from El Salvador to the US is ludicrous. Thousands have been brought here. Everything is in place that this could happen in a day. Mr. Garcia (the NJ husband illegally disappeared by ICE) could simply be granted parole status by the US, and be home the next day. FWIW - the US embassy compound in downtown El Salvador is the size of Central Park - and was not so long ago, the third largest US embassy in the world. So there are plenty of resources both for migration issues and for influencing the government - the latter something which the US historically has never been shy about doing.
But this all makes one huge assumption - that anyone in this clown show administration cares, or even knows US immigration law. And I know that answer, unfortunately.
Amazing info, and thanks for all you've done. The person[s] who need to know, and probably do, are Roberts and the rest of the Supremes.
I suspect they know that already. They are just trying to climb out of the septic tank they have created for themselves. There will be books written about why this Supreme Court made an attempt to destroy democracy.
I think it’d be easier, and appropriate, for the Trump shit stick question to simply insert the stick (I’m thinking rough hewn pine, replete with splinters) about 4 feet up sphincter puss’s ass.
Your reaction was similar to mine, which was to answer “yes, but from the inside”.
The American dream was not created by primeval pilgrims, pretend patriots, or pandering politicians. It was built by people like your grandfather, who helped ensure that the tired, the poor, the wretched refuse of God's teeming shore, could stay here and help build the country we have today. Thank you to him, and let's keep defending those with the least rights so those with the lion's share cannot alter the tuning of this country to a blank white screen.
Fantastic bit of history. Proud of your grandfather!
I have asked both of my Senators (Ds) to introduce a bill forbidding the transfer of any federal money to El Salvador and inplementing sanctions on the country and President until Kilmar Abrego Garcia is returned unharmed to the US. Make the Rs take a stand on this one, for which they will long be remembered.
You look like your Grandma, but with a moustache
Exactly what I was going to say. Must be the name.
Wait! Can I agree?
So there is a Planet of the Leslies. I assume you come in peace.
And in alphabetical order!
The so-called government doesn't have a (legal) leg to stand on. Abrego Garcia is in the constructive custody of the United States. There is no "foreign policy" about it. El Salvador didn't ask that he be returned. His removal and incarceration is part of a business deal, not a treaty or some other agreement as far as we know. He may be under Salvadoran authority while in prison but he is not in that country's legal custody. Wrongly deported immigrants --- and even properly removed ones --- have regularly been returned when their cases remain to be fully adjudicated.
“I am a foreigner; my people didn’t get here until about 1710. They got here, and now I am asked to close the doors to the people who came over on a later ship.”
--- Clarence Darrow
I rarely chew gum because my dentist was putting her daughter through Stanford when she (the dentist) convinced me that most of my back teeth needed to be covered in crowns or they would all soon break and I would have to get more pricey dental implants (this happened each time my dental insurance had paid her what I owed from the previous visit and when, coincidentally, Stanford tuition was due). Gum sticks to my crowns like crap to a bear's fur when he isn't a Charmin-advertisement bear. But I chew gum when my breath smells of garlic or onions and I chew Cinnamon if I can find it with actual sugar in it. Otherwise, I'll take whatever flavor they have without artificial sweetener in it - artificial sweetener gives me a terrible headache, so I end up with smell onion breath AND a headache, if they don't have sugary cinnamon.
I was radicalized by the time I was five. My folks were some of the Okies that left the Dust Bowl and headed towards California. They got here and life was very much what was described in "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. We were called Okies and I didn't like the name. It was a lot like "A Boy Named Sue". And I fought a lot though I was small and scrappy. I learned that being first and fast were essential in physical battles and never lost one of those fights. I finally got a little respect from my 4 years older than me brother when he watched me as a second grader send an 8th grader home crying to his mother. I was crying too because I beat the hell out of my Donald Duck lunchbox and thermos. They were never the same and they never got replaced which was what I was crying about. I would reckon that I was a little psychopath at the time but I eventually outgrew it. That might be part of why I think these right-wing assholes need to be deported.
I'm concerned that if he shits on a stick he might poke his eye out. And my preference in gum is the niccotine variety, having traded smoking for another nasty habit about 30 years ago. They now make it in cinnamon!
Thanks, Gene. A wonderful tribute to your grandfather! And perfectly timed as well.
Grandpa would be proud of you, Gene. You stick with your principles even when they’re unpopular. Please keep it up!
That's what SHE said.
When we would ask my grandmother what was for dinner she would say " Cackie fe vi a funem" which is Yiddish for shit on a stick.
And "Jinky" is not Russian for Gene or anything else. If your grandad was trying to Russianize your name it would be Evgeniy, or Zhenya for short. Zhenushka if you were being little and cute, and Zhenka if he was mad at you. From now on I may refer to you as Zhenya Weingarten.
I can believe a little kid would hear Zhenka as Jinky.