Just a quick question...

I have been following this guys story for several weeks now and I had a thought.

In that story is the line,

"Mr Culleton entered the US in March 2009 as a tourist..."

That is then followed a bit later by the line,

"...he was in the final stage of the process of obtaining a green card when he was picked up by ICE agents."

Which leads me to ask,

If he got here in 2009 with the intention of staying, why didn't he start the process of getting a green card back then?

It takes anywhere from 2 - 10 years to get a one and that means that at the very latest, he would have gotten his legal resident status in 2019.

The reason I ask is because there sure seems to be a lot of people who suddenly realized they were in the country illegally and if they apply for legal status, maybe they won't get grabbed by ICE. And if they do get snatched off the street, they can say, "Hey! I applied for legal status and they just grabbed me off the street for no reason!"

I don't agree with the mass deportations that are going on because not everyone that gets grabbed and bagged is a criminal. Some of them are perfectly good people who would make great citizens.

But dammit, there are a lot of people in this country who are here illegally and it ain't right. It makes those people that went through the process look like fools for working their ass off to become a citizen.

People like my good friend Shahnawaz (I used to call him "my little brown friend" but my boss told me to knock it off) who came to this country from Pakistan and immediately started the process to obtain his US citizenship. It took him about 6 years to do it but we had a big party with lots of American flags when he became a citizen.

Getting back to Mr Culleton, add in the fact that it looks like the only reason he came here in the first place was because he was a wanted criminal in Ireland. We have more than enough illegal alien drug dealers in this country already so he is not the kind of person we should welcome with open arms.

There, I said my peace. I'll go back to shutting up about the whole illegal aliens and ICE thing now.

⧫
The US remains in third place in the medal standings

In curling, the US men have dropped to fifth place in the standings:

While the US women remain in second place:

⧫
Here are some links:

• He was not someone I thought much about but I'll give him credit for always showing up to help others.



• Isn't this the second time in less than a month that some guy with a woman's name has gone on a shooting spree?



• Just another case of crossbow violence.



• How the hell is this guy still alive?



• I'm beginning to think that Devers might be the adult in this whole thing.

Well, I bought a snowblower.

It will be delivered sometime in late February so expect sunny days and no snow at all during March and April.

In the meantime, with my luck being the way it is, I expect it will snow before the new one arrives.

I guess I'll just keep praying to the snowblower gods that The Beast keeps on rolling along.

⧫
I checked the Olympic medal count but I'm not entirely sure it's accurate. According to the talking heads on NBC, the US is in fourth place in the medal standings but the website says otherwise:

Maybe they only update the website at the end of the day.

⧫
I watched a little of the NESN "Spring Training" show today and captured this scene:

It's gonna be a great baseball season.

⧫
Time for an update on the latest addition to our family

She has started rolling over. My son says it was probably just an accident but once that starts, they usually quickly figure out how to do it. And that means she is close to becoming mobile.

That is when the fun will begin for her parents.

She is, of course, the perfect baby.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Damn. He was the perfect "consigliere" to Brando's Godfather but I loved him in Second Hand Lions and as far as I'm concerned, his reply to John Wayne in True Grit was one of the great line deliveries in movie history.



• Only in Florida.



• I realize that this might be considered "unAmerican" but I feel bad for the people of Cuba.



• That's a lot of crabs.

Persistence pays off

It appears that I may have found the snowblower I am looking for.

First thing tomorrow morning I will be running out to the store and looking at the machine to confirm that is indeed the one I want. I will then purchase it, have them assemble it and then deliver it to my house.

Do you know anyone that needs a giant 20+ year old snowblower that runs but needs work?

⧫
Once again it was a sportings kind of day for me.

Curling, golf, "big air" skiing, etc...

I like a sports-filled day.

⧫
And speaking of curling, the men and women are both doing very, very well.

The men are tied with Great Britain in third place:

The women have a solid lock on second place:

I think there is a pretty good chance we will see one or both of them on the medal podium when all is said and done.

⧫
Here are a few links:

• Yea, it might be time...



• Speaking of sportsball players: They should not move on from this guy. They should keep him on the roster.



• Hey, when you gotta go, you need a place to go.



• Some people have way too much free time.

Lunch and golf

Yesterday was lunch with some old friends who I haven't seen in years and then eighteen holes of golf at a golf simulator while consuming adult beverages.

That will explain why I neglected to post yesterday.

Today I am back in my usual space - on my couch watching curling.

⧫
Several days ago, the FAA shutdown the airspace over El Paso Texas with little or no explanation. The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) simply said, "No aircraft are allowed to operate within the airspace" which is quite different than most other NOTAMS, which usually say something like, 'No aircraft may operate with the airspace without permission from ATC/Center/person".

As it turns out, Hotshot Hegseth gave a laser weapon to the Border Patrol and the Border Patrol decided to use it against a child's balloon. That caused the FAA, who had just recently had a major loss of civilian lives due to the Army flying a helicopter into a plane that was landing decided in Washington DC to proclaim that this was a major concern and shut down the airspace. They did this because they felt inconveniencing thousands was better than killing hundreds...

Here is an article about the entire incident that might be behind a paywall so here are some memorable quotes from the article:

"The law, the staff members at the Pentagon explained to him, required extensive coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department, which could slow the testing of the system. Transportation officials could even block the system’s use if they determined that it posed risks to aviation safety."

"Mr. Feinberg felt the Pentagon had the authority to proceed anyway."

"Late Tuesday night, the F.A.A. administrator, Bryan Bedford, was caught off guard that the system was being used without authorization and concerned for public safety, believed he had little choice but to close the airspace for 10 days, according to more than a half-dozen people. It was an extraordinary decision that surprised the flying public and local officials."

"White House officials declined to comment on Friday, and referred to a social media post from Mr. Duffy, published on Wednesday, that said the administration 'acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.' But that narrative was disputed by multiple people familiar with the situation who said the border protection unit ended up shooting down a party balloon, rather than a drone. Military service members were present during the incident, the people said."

"The Pentagon had insisted to the F.A.A. that the lasers would not pose a risk to civilian aircraft, but the F.A.A., unconvinced, had asked for the military’s data and an opportunity to conduct its own tests, according to three people with knowledge of those discussions.

The requests were not satisfied.

In late January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security to allow border protection agents to use the Pentagon’s new anti-drone laser technology."

That, my friends, is the federal government of the United States failing to work with itself. This government not only doesn't give a shit about us, the citizens, they don't even care about themselves.

Oh, and once again, they lied. They said they "acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion" when in reality they acted swiftly to shoot down the "happy birthday" balloon that some kid let go of when he walked out of the house.

⧫
Do you have any idea how hard it is to buy a snowblower during a February that follows a very snowy January?

Let me tell you, it's hard.

I actually had one guy who said, "Nope, we don't have any. And we don't have any idea if we're getting any."

The closest store I could find that actually has snowblowers is down in West Hartford and they won't deliver to me up here in Massachusetts.

I guess I'll just keep praying to the small engine gods that The Beast keeps running or we don't have more snow.

⧫
Here are some links:

• The US is like a guy that beats his wife and then says to her, "Look what you made me do. I love you and would never hurt you but you make me do it!"



• Key line in this story: "The Social Security Administration has instructed employees newly assigned to answering phones to tell callers expressing suicidal thoughts that suicide is 'one option'..."



• Good because they need him.



• Only in Florida.



• Nantucket: Home of the rich and famous...

Still in third place

The US athletes have garnered a few more medals but so have the other nations and they remain in third place.

In curling, the US women beat the Koreans 8-4 and then got beat by the Swedes 9-4 today. They take on the Canadiens tomorrow at 8:00am

The US men got beat by the Swiss 8-3 today. They take on the Canadiens tomorrow morning at 3:00am our time. I will not be watching that match.

I watched a lot of skeleton and speed skating today. Those people are all crazy.

⧫
Here are some links:

• The federal government his de-evolved into a school-yard brawl.



• This does not sound good at all.



• It's only a matter of time before Trump sends in ICE and the troops because Massachusetts has fewer citizens and more immigrants...



• Only in Florida.
  (Must have been a hell of a game)



• If you steal from an elderly dementia patient, you should be taken out back and beaten with a broomstick until you have brain damage.