Reviews

"Bannon" Means "White" in Gaelic; (But You Guessed That)

2/2/2017

(I can write this, since I carry an Irish passport, courtesy of my grandmother, along with my beloved American passport)

Stephen K. Bannon runs our country, pushing the buttons of the distracted oaf who is technically the president.

Trump shows what is under his personal rock when he refers to Jon Stewart as “Jonathan Leibowitz” (the comedian’s original name) after a TV gig.

Guess Trump forgets he was passing as Swedish as long as he could, neglecting his family origins as Drumpf.

Behind him is Bannon, pulling the strings, telling him how to keep Muslims out of the country.

I looked it up.
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Bannon
Bannon means “white” or “fair” – in the complexion sense, you may be sure.

As an Irish passport holder, I can say, some of Trump’s closest advisors are named Flynn and Kelly and Bannon.

It was not that long ago that “real” Americans considered people from Ireland the unwashed, the others, the threat.

The Flynns and Kellys and Bannons were not considered good enough to haul trash or dig graves for “real” Americans, who had, of course, killed and dislodged as many original Americans as they could.

There is reasonable debate about how many Irish ever encountered signs that said NINA -- No Irish Need Apply. Butongoing research proves it was there, in some windows, some newspapers, many hearts.

The Irish persevered, and a descendent of Fitzgeralds and Kennedys became president.

Now another president talks about a “ban” of Muslims, a registry of Muslims. He backtracks, but we know.

In a dangerous world, the U.S. was already vetting people from dicey parts of the world. But with his tiny attention span, the new president tries to stop legal residents of the U.S. from coming home. Doctors. Scholars. Husbands. Wives.

He is unashamed. He knows no history. Knows only fragments of things that flutter in front of his eyes. Knows only what Bannon tells him.

It’s easy to spot the sneer on Bannon’s face. We want this guy advising our shallow president?

From a great article: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/01/the-teen-who-exposed-a-professor-s-myth.html

Joshua Rubin

2/2/2017 01:23:42 pm

Nice piece. A short memory is very helpful if you want to deny others the very freedoms that benefited your own and made your success possible. I'll see your Irish passport and raise you my genetic birthright to emigrate to Israel, which allows me to complain about Kushner. Bringing a son-in-law into the family business is a fine Jewish tradition, but Kushner is not holding his end up. First, a Holocaust rememberance without Jews and now trump calling to abolish the wall between church and state? that wall, envisioned by our deist, unitarian and quaker founding fathers, has been very important in making th US perhaps the most consistently stable and safe place for Jews to settle in the entire history of our diapora. So, is jared silent on all this, or simply disregarded? . .

George

2/2/2017 01:48:49 pm

Josh: my 47 percent Jewish DNA gets me another card: i totally agree. Jared is ambitious. Wants to be like Donald. (Sad) no trace of him. Maybe Bannon has something on him. Jared has replaced Cantor as the designated "Putz."

Brian Savin

2/2/2017 02:12:06 pm

Faith and begorrah, George! Some of the biggest anti-Semites have been Jews. And similarly down the line of ethnics. Et tu, Buarchaill?

By the way, the NYT announced 3 million readers today. That achieves about half the circulation of their principal competitor, the people standing on grocery store check out lines reading the National Enquirer. What makes them competitors? Both have virtually nothing on their front page but Trump, Trump, Trump screaming headlines! Enough!

We got a Quaker trying to beat an Irishman this Sunday. Now that's a Super Bowl!

Joshua Rubin

2/2/2017 03:16:57 pm

In that csse, gotta go with the Quaker, even though a Quaker playing football seems somewhat oxymoronic. Nice piece today in NYT on Penn Charter school.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/sports/football/2017-super-bowl-matt-ryan-william-penn-school.html?_r=0

bruce

2/6/2017 10:54:58 am

hmmm. wasn't nixon a quaker?

Brian Savi

2/2/2017 06:38:24 pm

Actually, Josh, their both Irishmen! I just thought I'd make it interesting by throwing religion in! I'm making wings and my wife chili. A great secular holiday!!

Brian Savin

2/2/2017 06:42:43 pm

Every time I do any typo on they're I get "their" iPhones haunt me!! I remember George writing about that kind of thing!

George Vecsey

2/2/2017 06:56:41 pm

Brian, we ought to make a list of errors the iPhone makes on our behalf. Fortunately, mine tries to correct or give me fail-safe pause....but you think you have typed it right, and it whizzes into the ozone wrong.
GV

Michael Andre

2/4/2017 05:54:14 am

Looking though apartment listings in London in 1967 I was surprised to see one annotated "No Irish!"

George Vecsey

2/4/2017 08:20:33 am

I can imagine. Our earliest visits to London, 70s, lots of inspections at museums, theatres. Yet renovation in neighborhoods like Paddington and South Kensington seemed to have Irish workmen (later, Polish)
GV

Brian Savin

2/4/2017 09:04:57 am

While visiting one of our kids in college years ago I got to talking with a German professor and somehow we began trading politically oriented ethnic jokes circulating in various countries. He said an interesting thing: The reason ethnic jokes are so funny is that there is a grain of truth that rings in the good ones! In my view, absent the humor, you're left with only bigotry.

bruce

2/6/2017 11:00:56 am

george,

i've told you a bit about my family background up here the true north strong and free.people born in the past several generations in ireland, england, italy, germany, romania, india, cameroon and a japanese wife

i envy your irish passport. my great grandfather was the one who came here from the olde werld about 130 years ago.

my paternal grandmother was a ww1 bride from england that my half irish grandfather met while on leave in london. however, when i looked into getting a british passport, i couldn't get one. this was probably 30 years ago.

bruce

Brian Savin

2/6/2017 11:05:52 am

Yesterday's Super Bowl was the greatest comeback I ever watched unfold in that sport. Breathtaking particularly because in an age of empty hyperbole I actually saw meaning in the word "greatness"!

bruce

2/7/2017 11:40:26 am

it was a great comeback helped by atlanta's--and i said so to the person i was watching the game with--inexplicable decision not to run the ball for three plays to get a basic chip shot for a field goal later in the game. i thought a sack might put them back or a fumble/interception would make them lose possession. didn't think about a penalty being added into the equation tho.

also, some people might say the wild card comeback by buffalo over houston would be a match for nfl comebacks....

Alan Rubin link

2/7/2017 12:18:07 pm

Bruce. I agree with you assessment that Atlanta's lost field goal opportunity was a turning point in the game. We do not know what was happening on the field and whether NE was beginning to change the dynamics on the line, but the three additional points would have put additional pressure on NE during their forth quarter recovery.

I do not follow football and normally watch games when with family. This one was worth watching.

I think that the overtime rule is worse than soccer's hated shootout. Sudden death on the first possession does not seem right. There should be one or twp five minutes extra periods.

Soccer's shootout goes for a minimum of five rounds unless one team does falls behind after three or four rounds.

I'm a native Manhattanite now retired to the Berkshires in western MA. My one football constant is to always root against the Patriots. This is based upon my families knowledge of and experiences with the Kraft family.

Alan Rubin link

2/6/2017 11:49:25 am

It pains me to see Bannon linked with anything from Irish history and tradition. His evilness stands on its own and should not be associated with others.

It is interesting to have a dialog with George and his learned followers, but action is needed. It takes approximately 10 seconds to call the number below and leave the message.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security is taking calls about Bannon's appointment to the NSC.

You can call: 202-224-4751 and leave the following brief message (it took me 10 seconds).

"Hi my name is ______. I am an American citizen of (zip code) and I am opposed to Bannon on the National Security Council."

Also, join https://www.indivisibleguide.com/web/ as a way to counter Trump’s push to undermine our democracy.

My father was 12 when he immigrated with his family in 1921. My grandfather and great grandfather had run a regional government tannery. Their families lived well having servants and horses.

This all came to a violent halt when my grandfather was shot in the back on the front steps of his home by Cossacks because he was Jewish.

My mother-in-law emigrated from Belarus in 1917 at age 16. Her family was also fleeing persecution.

She came from a large family and her income as a seamstress was a significant source of family income. At age 13, she would walk miles to a gentile family with a sowing machine on her back. She would stay each week sowing and mending for the family and return home on weekends.

The family hid her in a closet under a pile of clothes during a pogrom. They came looking for the Jewish girl and searched the house, but could not find her.

The family dressed my mother-in-law in peasant clothes, bundled her in blankets, took her home by sleigh and said that it would not besafe for her to return. That is when her family made plans to leave.

In the worst of times there are good and caring people. In what should be the best of times, there are the Bannons.

It is important to make your voice heard.

Brian Savin

2/6/2017 12:34:17 pm

Alan, this is George's blog, not ours, and in my view trolling the group for support for personal political views is highly inappropriate.

George Vecsey

2/7/2017 02:27:50 pm

Brian (and Alan, et al) I am fine with your comments. I think once or twice I have proposed cutting something that was personal, but I don't think this is. It's a public forum...and the hardy little band of regulars is well-informed and opinionated in many directions.
I don't mind spouting my own opinions here, five years into retirement, but I stop short of demonstrations or calling in to govt or political offices, in long respect for NYT rules, just as I do not vote for any awards (Hall of Fame, etc.)
Onward. GV

George Vecsey

2/7/2017 02:31:48 pm

Alan, I would not chime in on most backgrounds, but with clear ties to England and Ireland (and maternal Irish-Belgian relatives who were war heroes) I feel comfortable pointing out that I would expect Irish =Americans to have some respect for the bad stuff they faced. Bannon is a white supremacist -- when I saw his name in Gaelic, (via Google Translate) -- I felt the need to point out that he is one of those pull-up-the-ladder-Jack types that I despise. Not hard to despise that mug. GV

bruce

2/7/2017 12:45:35 pm

alan,

i was a sports reporter for a number of years in a previous life i've seen enough sports to last a lifetime....played a lot too.

i don't watch the nfl much anymore. haven't for years.if i do, it's background noise while i'm reading.

made an exception for this game.

i read a number of years ago that the time the ball was actually in PLAY in an nfl game was 12-15 minutes. i timed a half after reading it.

seven minutes.

worse now because all the commercials and challenges have made the games even longer.

if you're retired i assume you're old enough to remember the good old days when this went on.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/aug/08/theknowledge.sport

i enjoy the skill of soccer, but the diving is so prevalent, i can barely stand it. has to be copious amounts of blood or a bone sticking out for me to believe it.

have you seen the recent video of the french soccer coach who had a paper airplane glance off his head? delayed reaction and then behaved as if he'd been hit by a rock.had to helped off. the same link showed the washington nhl coach barry trotz get hit in mid forehead by a puck fired over the boards. he shook his head, felt it, looked at his hand and continued with a large goose egg rising.....

i believe the nhl should not play OT in the regular season. a tie can be a good result. however, i believe they should decide playoff games all night if they have to. nba too.

bruce

Alan Rubin link

2/7/2017 05:44:06 pm

Bruce

Yes, I am old enough to remember most of what you posted. I particularly enjoyed the Lucky Tossers link. I even remember when the Rovers were the best NY hockey team in the mid-1940’s.

I’m not sure of the date, but many years ago the weather in the UK was so bad that all of the matches were cancelled. The bookies decided that it was easier to determine each game’s winner by a coin flip than to return all the bets.

A segment further down in the article was devoted to Bob Wilson. I’ve been reading UK books on goalkeepers and I recently finished his autobiography.

He did play his entire career with Arsenal and remained as their keeper coach for an additional 28 years.

He played for the Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1961-63 and was transferred to Arsenal as an amateur, where he quickly signed a professional contract. He also played for the Scottish national team.

All goalkeepers must be fearless, but Bob Wilson took it to the extreme. Although all coaching wisdom emphasizes that goalkeepers approach the attacker on an angle from the side letting the hands lead them to the ball to keep the head out of harm’s way.

Bob was known for going in head first. He was very successful, but had the injuries to show for it. I cringed just reading him tell about it.

I also recall the video of the French soccer coach getting hit. Flopping is a blemish on the game, but refs are calling it more frequently.

A study of action times for five major sports listed hockey at the top and football at the bottom, listed in minutes: hockey 60, soccer 57.7, basketball 48, baseball 18 and football 11. Although low action games can be exciting and high actions ones dull, baseball and football games can be sleepers where you might doze at the wrong time.

I also agree that there is no sin in a tie. Professional soccer does not have shoot outs during season play. Hockey should avoid OT play.

In the old days before today’s heavy schedules and the demands of travel, major soccer games were continued the next day. It could have been a new game or a continuation of the original.

I have had this discussion before with George, but I feel that soccer’s substitution rules should be loosened a bit. I realize that it took many years to go from zero to three, but the increasing number of games and travel, the players are often playing hurt or below par.

I am not sure if I prefer allowing a limited number of players to renter or to increase the number of substitutions. Why should a team play short-handed while determining if a key player can remain in the game. This could result in aggravating an injury.

It would also give playing time to younger players that would help their development..

Why should a team play a man short if there is an injury after their third substitution?

Tradition is an important aspect of every sport, but players are a large investment and should be protected as much as possible.

bruce

2/7/2017 06:00:05 pm

alan,

i've thought for years they should loosen the substitute rule.

don't recall soccer games being finished the next day.

i got into soccer when i saw the 1966 world cup.

the netherlands were my team. i was disappointed they didn't win a world cup with those 70s teams. also, when they decided to goon it up against spain in the 2010 world cup final.

the 1962 grey cup game--the cfl championship--was called the fog bowl. it was played in toronto with the hamilton ticats playing the winnipeg blue bombers right beside lake ontario.. you have a good idea why it was called the fog bowl. the game was halted 5-6 minutes into the fourth quarter and completed the next day.

bruce

bruce

2/7/2017 02:47:24 pm

george,

from our correspondence, i thought you were trying to keep busy and trying to ignore who your next fearless leader was going to be.....

i must've been mistaken. yer purty riled up. good you've got the blog.

how far back do we go with the genetic thing?

i told you i did the national genographic dna thing 10-11 years ago, i think. i'm a mixed bag. share same dna as 20% of modern day jews, 10% of present day morocco, 10 or 20% with present day southern italians and spaniards. also, east africa around somalia or ethiopia or eritrea. most recend is irish and english with a whole mixed bad thru my first wife, son in law, daughter in law, granddaughter.....and a japanese wife tho just stepsons and four step granddaughters in nihon.....

after saying all that, i think most of us feel canadian/american etc from wherever we grow up. that's how we look at the world tho that could be (as was in my case) tempered by my education, reading, travelling and living in japan off and on for 19 years.

bruce

Hansen Alexander

2/12/2017 08:44:35 pm

Yes, George

Only a wannabee George Wallace could so brazenly put a white supremacist in such a high Government position and basically say, "And what are you going to do about it?"

Apparently, however, like most Irish Americans, this Bannon has a computer in his brain for politics. And is apparently convincing the Fuhrer of Fifth Avenue that he can keep what's left of the Republican Old Guard in the tent by using Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal as his messenger boy, and assuring the small business types and closed corporation presidents that, at bottom, the Fuhrer is really a level headed businessman with all reasonable options on the table, and his daily tantrums are merely "crass."

Being mostly Irish American myself, I'm not sure Bannon is counting the prospective votes that accurately, as I doubt the 2020 election is going to come down to rustbelt rednecks, or as they were known as in the Civil War, Copperheads. And while he and others may have convinced some Democrats that the party has a white, unemployed problem, these voters turned on the race card beginning with Reagan and became Republicans. Racism tends to breed in ignorance and these workers were probably racists in the days when they voted Democratic because of strong unions.

It is confidence that breeds noisy anarchy and the anarchists-racists have been given that by the Fuhrer's stolen election. But give the American people credit, they did not sit on their hands lie the Germans and Italians did. They have been opposing the Fuhrer and marching against him, and organizing, every day. The ACLU obtained 150,000 new members and record setting contributions the weekend of the Women's March on Washington. And thus far, the Fuhrer's main contribution to history, besides his unique gutter rhetoric, has been to reignite the long dormant women's movement.

bruce

2/12/2017 09:02:14 pm

hansen,

hmmm. americans did sit on their hands tho while hitler was rampaging thru europe. actually didn't declare war on germany until after pearl harbor when the germans declared war on the usa. the usa didn't get to europe in force until late 1942 more than three years after the war started and well after the soviets too. americans' view of ww2 often gobsmacks non americans. finally, i think trump is an absolute disaster--and will continue to be. however, standing up against trump is certainly not the same nor as easy as standing up to the REAL fuhrer after he came to power.

bruce

Hansen Alexander

2/12/2017 08:22:13 pm

Well George,

Phrases like "Office Temp President" and delightful soccer description make for a fun column. A lot of nice phrasing in that piece, my friend, a lot of nice phrasing. What in life could be more pleasing?

Yours,
Hansen

Hansen Alexander

2/13/2017 09:53:20 am

Bruce,
I'm referring to the Germans and Italians in the beginning. Yes, Willy Brandt and others risked their lives in the German underground later, as did many Italians. Yet the opposition wasn't there when the transition was made from democracy to dictatorship in both nations. We are not letting it happen here. At least under comparatively benign economic conditions as of 2017. It could get worse in the future; we will then see if we can keep this democratic system.

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"Bannon" Means "White" in Gaelic; (But You Guessed That)

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