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As Hank would say, "There's a tear in my beer...".

Jim

03/09/21 02:01 PM

#9132

That's a good one but it's no match for maybe one of the best c/w lyrics ever:

"First time I've seen him smile in years."

Hats off to Bobby Braddock.

03/09/21 02:27 PM

#9133

Joseph D. McCarthy

An update.

I was originally scheduled for my second dose last week, March 3rd, and as I previously noted they cancelled all appointments at the clinic where I was scheduled.

Friday, the 5th, while my wife was receiving her second innoculation, the phone rang and I answered it. The voice asked if I was me, then told me her name and that she was from the clinic to set a reschedule date for my second dose. I took the first time and date they had available. About two hours ago I received my second innoculation of Pfizer. Only a minor soreness of the arm so far; just slightly above the first dose. And the person administering the dose said YES I could play the piano again. Now where is that sheet music from the piano lessons I had about 60 odd years ago.

Oh, DISCLOSURE, Ididjump the line. My appointment was for 830 A.M. and I received my innoculation at 8:00 A.M. Even with the rain and commuter traffic I arrived early but they said they wouldn't penalize me.

Mark you are corrected. It was the names given to U.S.A. paper money based onthe likeness/portrait on the face of the notes.

$ 1 George Wasington;

$ 2 Thomas Jefferson;

$ 5 Abraham Lincoln;

$ 10 Alexander Hamilton;

$ 20 Andrew Jackson;

$ 50 Ulysses Grant;

$100 Benjamin Franklin;

$500 William McKinley;

$1,000 Grover Cleveland;

$5,000 James Madison; and

$10,000 Salmon Chase.

And Yes Mark, for a very short time, two hours for some, I have had at one time or another every note from a George Washington to a Grover Cleveland. The Cleveland's a bank teller in Pennsylvania informed me that some one just turned in three at the deposit window and was I interested. I quickly called a local Coin shop and inquired if they were interested, when they said yes for a minimum of $1,250.00 I said I would be there shortly. Went down to the teller. Withdrew the mortgage money, $3,000.00, purchased the notes from the bank. Drove to the coin shop, sold them the notes for $3,900.00 (a slight premium) and reeturned to the bank to put the money back into the account. The next day I stopped on my way to work and purchased two dozen donuts for the bank tellers. So yes, I once owned a Cleveland ( $1,000.00 ) note.

Oh when I got home the day of the transactions I informed my wife, who at first was yupset, then happy. And the taxes were small so that i still made out.

03/09/21 02:59 PM

#9134

Mark Schweickart

Joe – I knew it! I just knew you were the old money-bags type of guy!

Mike and Jim – Well of course I too am a sucker for songs about heart-ache and rejection, but when it comes to picking what I think is the all-time saddest song ever, it is not one about man loses woman or vice versa. It is the song by the Australian Eric Bogle about the men sent to Gallipoli in WWI. It is called And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. I was so moved by this that I had to try my hand at doing a cover of this. The lyrics here are slightly different than the original, because I first heard this as a Pogue's song back in the eighties. It was only later that I realized they were doing a cover version, but theirs was the version that made the initial impact on me. (By the way, as you will see, aside from being a woman's name, "Matilda" can also refer to one's backpack when hiking through the Australian outback.)

03/09/21 03:05 PM

#9135

I keep trying to figure out how it is that I never knew how weird Joe is.

03/09/21 03:41 PM

#9136

Frank Ganley

A litghter side of life that effects us all in one case or another. When discussing a subject there one golden rule. Non protest argui Gustum, one can not argue taste. Dave m likes that particular piece of music but the aria from "Madam Butterfly never ceases to draw out enough emotion to make me catch my breath and some tear. Mike m cited" He stopped livung her Today" George Jones biggest hit and he didn't particularly like when he heard it. A bit of inside knowledge as I had a friend in nashville who was a country producer and manager. His to client was "joe diffe". How the country system works is the label you're on and tells you when you have to have a record out by!!!! The artist usually didn't write all the songs on the album and kept a staff of writers and all the do is think up song to get demoed. George came into the office to listen to songs to record. In the session George would just sit there and listen but when he like a song he sucked his teeth. He was talked into this record. So many artists so much different music. I absolutely detest R Kelly but if you don't catch your breath you weren't listening. I love all music but rap, but in my opinion country has the winners for making a phrase and a great example of that is @The Bellamy brother" if I told you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me", Ray Wiley Hubbard said the main problem of irony is a lot of people don't get it.

03/09/21 09:54 PM

#9137

Folks,

One of the things that spending so much time at home during this pandemic has allowed me to do is to review the many thousands of photographs I have taken over the past 45 years or so. Hundreds of those were done in the pre-digital era of film resulting in prints and slides. I spent some time scanning several of those and processing them in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop since colors had faded over the decades.

On my Zenfolio website I have created a new gallery, My All Time Favorites , Volume 1 ( https://mountainmemories.zenfolio.com/p1070138044 ) where 43 images, a mixture of older scanned and newer digital photographs, are posted. They can be viewed as a slideshow or individually and advanced by the arrows. Double click the first picture and then advance with the arrow. (If a price list comes up on the right side of the picture, just click the "X" at the top of that list and that removes it from all the pictures as you advance them.) Along with the titles there is a description of each photo that tells a story. Some of them you may have seen before but others I have never posted online. There are several that I had "brushed off" as not very good but on review, I liked them.

Best viewing would be on a computer, laptop or tablet screen. Cellphones (at least mine) does not show them with the text describing the picture.

In the future after I have perused more of these, I hope to add subsequent volumes. By then I also hope to have photographed more favorites!

Jim

03/10/21 11:11 AM

#9138

Frank mentions Ray Wiley Hubbard. The master. I bow my head when I say his name.

If hearing "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother" doesn't make you want to go out and get drunk with rowdy friends I have no use for you whatsoever.

03/10/21 10:42 PM

#9139

Had to laugh when I ran across that palm tree photo in the midst of all those western landscape shots, Jim.

03/11/21 10:19 AM

#9140

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

This just in................

Scottsdale Ariz.

Bed Bath and Beyond (Bath and Body Works) has just decided to convert their store in a Scottsdale Mall to a new venue for WWF.

The opening night "fight card" is expected to draw a huge crowd pitting two new names in the world of professional groping,,,er, I meant wrestling;

(from New York) - Mighty Mario (better known as "the Gov")

vs.

(from Louisiana - or Kansas - take your pick) - "Lusty Les" (every college girl's dream)

Should be a good one.

(When telling a story that (was) supposed to be funny, one should try to get the names right)

03/11/21 11:37 PM

#9141

Thoughts?

https://www.city-journal.org/the-miseducation-of-americas-elites

03/12/21 12:14 AM

#9142

In an era when people like to throw stones at "lamestream media" I like to point out examples of legitimate journalism at work.

It's a brief run-down of a president's speech accompanied by a critque of its veracity.

This is a feature in the NYTimes that got quite a workout during the previous administration.

You'll notice they didn't discontinue it.

President Biden, in a prime-time address on Thursday night, exaggerated elements of the coronavirus pandemic along with his, and his predecessor’s, response to it. Here’s a fact-check.

WHAT MR. BIDEN SAID

“A year ago we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked, denials for days, weeks, then months.”

This is exaggerated. It is true that President Donald J. Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic for months. But he was not exactly silent and did not fail to respond completely. One year ago, on March 12, 2020, Mr. Trump delivered an address from the Oval Office acknowledging the threat and announced new travel restrictions on much of Europe.

WHAT MR. BIDEN SAID

“As of now, total deaths in America, 527,726. That’s more deaths than in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and 9/11 combined.”

This is exaggerated. According to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a total of 392,393 died in combat in those three wars. Combined with the 2,977 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that figure would be indeed smaller than the coronavirus death toll Mr. Biden cited. It would also be lower than the 529,000 death figure tracked by The New York Times. But factoring in deaths that occurred in service but outside of combat, the toll from the three wars (more than 610,000) would be higher than the current total number of virus-related deaths Mr. Biden cited.

WHAT MR. BIDEN SAID

“Two months ago this country didn’t have nearly enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all or anywhere near all of the American public. But soon we will.”

This is misleading. By the end of last year, the Trump administration had ordered at least 800 million vaccine doses that were expected for delivery by July 31, 2021, the Government Accountability Office reported. That included vaccines undergoing clinical trials as well as those not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. According to Kaiser Health News, that would have been enough to vaccinate 200 million people with authorized vaccines, and more than enough for 400 million once all the vaccines were cleared for use. The current U.S. population is roughly 330 million. And, contrary to Mr. Biden’s suggestions, both administrations deserve credit for the current state of the vaccine supply.

03/12/21 03:39 AM

#9143

MM,

Three simple thoughts: indoctrination, intimidation, brainwashing.

Jim

03/12/21 11:58 AM

#9144

I had a friend pitch a story to a magazine about a fabulous orthopedic surgeon recently. He had a relationship with this doctor both as a journalist and as a patient. He had spent several nights in the emergency room watching this guy spending long nights piecing accident victims together again and wrote a great story about it years ago. (I'll spare you the details but as he recounted it to me I kept thinking of the really complex landscape puzzles my mother used to love putting together. I'd flesh that metaphor out a little bit more but I just now promised you I'd skip the gory details).

Anyway, that was 20 years ago. Years pass. Eventually this same orthopedic surgeon fixed Mike's knee. It was not a simple surgery. There were complications involving very difficult healing issues at a microscopic level: Sometimes bones really have to be coaxed into mending. My friend was scared to death, but being a journalist, did some research of his own, found an experimental drug that can help the healing process, and pitched it to his doc, who said hey, let's give it a shot.

Not sure my buddy would be getting around as well as he is if that approach hadn't worked out as well as it did. So it's now 2021 and he's getting around great and he thinks: Hey, I can do another story about this doctor that will be both personal and enlightening and up to date (apparently there was a recent bidding war waged in our town for lucrative, high-end orthopedic docs).

This was a great story from many angles.

Or could have been. If the doctor had not been white.

That was the only thing that mattered when he pitch a story about him to a magazine put out by the doctor's alma mater about its graduates. The only question the editor asked him was: "Is he a white guy?"

Which he was. So they turned down the story. In fairness I hooked him up with a magazine that commissioned him to do the piece. But still. I could give you several other examples involving both stories that have been turned down and students I know of -- guess you could call them elites, they certainly were intellectually -- who have great grades but can't get into the college of their choice because they are white.

So: Does out culture still need corrective surgery when it comes to the enduring sickness of racism? Should our children be educated accordingly? Hell yes. Do I think it's time to reexamine thanksgiving fairy tales we tell our children like what pals the pilgrims were to the injuns and how sainted the founding fathers all were? Yes. Is it fair to call racism the original sin of this country? Though dangerous if taken to extremes I don't think that is overstating the case unduly as long as it's understood as a rhetorical device, but even that is dangerous if pursued to enthusiastically and clumsily, as happened in a recent and now notorious washington post project).

Again with the questions: are we in danger of just making things worse when we overcorrect the course?

Yes.

Is unthinking, institutionalized political correctness an example of the cure rivalling the evils of the disease? Hell yes.

I have a general notion about how we should all be comporting ourselves to contend with this state of affairs but to be honest, if I tried to get into it here it - if I tried to put it into words - it's not something I've processed enough to be able to approach without just lining up hollow platitudes.

One way or another we have to talk this thing out. Calmly.

The battle against racism was much clearer cut years ago. We are in extremely tricky waters at this point in our evolution as a culture and a country and maybe wiser heads than I could point to precedents and principles we could refer to for guidance. But there's never been a country like ours. We are pioneers still. This frontier is every bit as dangerous as the ones we've faced before.

03/12/21 03:53 PM

#9145

Mike McL.,

Here is a medical fact from which you might be able to construct a metaphor or two:

Ophthalmologists will tell you that there are three parts to our vision: Color vision is genetically controlled and cannot be changed ( although there has been some recent research in optics that may help a little). Visual acuity, contolled by the fovea centralis in the middle of the macula, allows us to focus on details of an object and to "see clearly" (refractive lenses can help correct some problems with VA if the macular structures are not themselves diseased). Field of vision which allows us to see the "big picture" like looking at a vast landscape from a distance.

For really good vision one needs all three.

Jim

03/12/21 06:43 PM

#9146

Jim: Love it. Now I know where that charming old expression came from:

"There are none so blind as those who do not have color vision, field of vision, and visual acuity."

Meanwhile, speaking of field of vision:

"Perseverance rover, fresh off its flawless landing, was on a mission, scouring the surface of Mars for evidence of ancient life, relaying crystal-clear images of an alien world, proving that when it comes to space exploration, no one does it better than the United States.

And 139 million miles away, back on Earth, 38-year-old Chris Prescott was still washing dishes, bathing and cooking with bottled water.

It had been two weeks since an Arctic blast swooped into Texas, knocked out the power grid and busted Prescott’s pipes just as Perseverance was touching down. For many in his impoverished Houston neighborhood — only a short drive from the Johnson Space Center — the water coming out of their taps was as dark and dingy as the Martian landscape.

“People were already struggling,” said Prescott, who gets by on the money he makes doing occasional yard work, having lost his full-time job to the pandemic. “Now this has put them at the bottom of the barrel.”

Compared with its developed-world peers, America has always been a study in contrasts, a paradox of exceptional achievement and jaw-dropping deprivation. Rarely have the disparities been rendered as vividly as in recent weeks and months.

Historic breakthroughs in science, medicine and technology coexist intimately — and uneasily — alongside monumental failures of infrastructure, public health and equitable access to basic human needs.

America can put a rover on Mars, but it can’t keep the lights on and water running in the city that birthed the modern space program. It can develop vaccines, in record time, to combat a world-altering illness, but suffers one of the developed world’s highest death rates due to lack of prevention and care. It spins out endless entertainment to keep millions preoccupied during lockdown — and keep tech shares riding high on Wall Street — but leaves kids disconnected from the access they need to do their schoolwork.

“What kind of state are we living in, what kind of society are we living in when kids have to educate themselves on the curb of a Taco Bell?” said Brian Smoot, a Salinas, Calif., chiropractor who invited neighborhood students to use his WiFi after two girls were photographed outside a nearby location of the fast-food chain last year, their Chromebooks wobbling on their laps as they tried to connect to high-speed Internet.

And this in a city just a short drive from the extraordinary wealth of Silicon Valley, a global symbol of American innovation, where Apple, Facebook and Google have gleaming campuses — with record stock prices to match."

03/13/21 02:02 PM

#9147

And on another front: speaking of cancel culture, namaste, y'all!

"Students will no longer need to bend over backward to (legally) practice yoga in Alabama.
In a 73-to-25 vote Thursday, the state’s House of Representatives passed a bill that will lift a quarter-century ban in public schools that some believe is unique to Alabama. Yoga was forbidden by the Alabama Board of Education in 1993 after opposition by conservative groups over its Hindu roots.
Amid reports of racism and violence against Asian Americans and other minorities, the measure is a positive step, said Nikunj Trivedi, president of the Coalition of Hindus of North America. He said practicing yoga, which many non-Hindus use for health benefits, is cultural appreciation, not cultural appropriation.
“Yes, it has roots in Hinduism, and it’s a Hindu practice, but it’s a gift Hindus have shared with the world,” Trivedi said.
 
However, the Alabama bill, Trivedi said, does not go far enough. Chanting and teaching Sanskrit phrases such as the greeting “namaste,” which means “I bow to you,” remains prohibited."
 

03/13/21 06:44 PM

#9148

John Jackson

Responding to MM’s 3/11 post on the PC excesses at some colleges/universities, I know it’s an article of faith on the right that the MSM does not cover this topic, but over the years I’ve read many articles in the NYT, The Atlantic, New Yorker, etc with similar themes - so many articles that I confess I only skimmed MM’s article because I more or less agree with it.

A recent example of coverage of this topic includes this March 3 NYT article about what appears to be a bogus claim of racial profiling/harassment of a black student by a campus policeman at Smith College: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.html.

I will say that I don’t think the problem described in MM's article is by any means universal, but it is a serious problem at some departments at some institutions, including some that are considered “elite”.

On the topic of the MSM delivering uncomfortable truths, the cover story of The Atlantic this month describes the deplorable extremes that many in the elite class go to ensure their offspring attend only the best elementary and secondary schools so they can score an admission to a top university and have a shot at enjoying life as part of the top 0.1%. The title “Private Schools are Indefensible” is a bit misleading – this article is not remotely about the kind of private school we all attended long ago.

03/14/21 11:16 AM

#9149

I know this is long and I don't have time to clean it up and take out extraneous markings. It's an nytimes story behind a paywall so this it the only way I can share it. But it's just so weird. The building is gorgeous. The story is obviously about a corrupt old family that has assumed control of a cultural treasure. And I figured I have enough Irish classmates who will find it interesting. And tragic. My friend Billy Collins who is a poet with an Irish heritage tells me he has been there for awards & parties and the performance of "The Dead" mentioned in the story, and that when the St Patrick's day parade would go by all the irish cops would tip their hats to the tricolor.

On a Storied Stretch of Fifth Avenue, a Symbol of Irish America Reels

The American Irish Historical Society’s mansion on Central Park has long symbolized the ascent of immigrants in the United States. It’s now on sale The townhouse at 991 Fifth Avenue has been home to the American Irish Historical Society for 80 years. for $52 million, but many are citing mismanagement and asking the attorney general to intervene.

The townhouse at 991 Fifth Avenue has been home to the American Irish Historical Society for 80 years.Credit...Sarah Blesener for The New York Times

By Dan Barry

March 13, 2021

An exquisite Fifth Avenue townhouse of Gilded Age pedigree is on the market for $52 million. It features five stories, a curved terrace and a history that reads like a tragedy of manners, filled with grandeur and pride, pettiness and decay.

Think Wharton; better yet, think Joyce.

As home to the American Irish Historical Society, the mansion has long symbolized the immigrant ascent of Irish America. The Irish tricolor and the American stars and stripes flying from its bowed facade staked claim on rarefied pavement, directly across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

But for nearly a half-century, the building and society have been the fief of an eminent physician named Dr. Kevin M. Cahill, his family and his friends. Those who ventured to reform its nepotistic ways have historically been shown the ornate door.

Now the sudden plan to sell the mansion has exposed the profound problems beneath its mansard roof — including a very public and nearly violent confrontation provoked by its executive director, Dr. Cahill’s son — and elevated what might be dismissed as an internal squabble to international embarrassment.

The Pandemic Needs Its Smokey Bear

“The building on Fifth Avenue is something that stands for all of us,” said Brian McCabe, a former New York City homicide detective and one in a long line of ousted society leaders. “This is about a very small group controlling what is held in trust for the Irish in America and around the world.”

The Irish government, which has given nearly $1 million to the society since 2008, has publicly decried the proposed sale, while dozens of prominent artists and business leaders have joined nearly 30,000 others in petitioning the state attorney general to step in.

Dr. Cahill, 84, did not respond to requests for comment, but a society board member and longtime friend of the doctor, Guy L. Smith IV, dismissed the notion of a Cahill-controlled club. He said the sale would allow the society to preserve its extensive library in some undetermined location, and he played down the significance of the mansion the society has called home for 80 years.

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Image The building, dating to 1901, is an ornate reminder of New York’s Gilded Age.

The building, dating to 1901, is an ornate reminder of New York’s Gilded Age.Credit...Michael Falco for The New York Times

“The building is not historically related to the Irish experience,” he said. “It’s just a nice building on Fifth Avenue.”

The mansion at 991 Fifth Avenue is a confection of its era. Built in 1901 for the widow of a wealthy merchant, it eventually passed hands to a steel magnate who had given New York society the vapors by leaving his wife for a musical-comedy actress. After she left him in turn, he lived alone until his death, upstairs, in 1934.

Several years later, the Irish moved in.

The American Irish Historical Society had been founded in 1897 to ensure that the Irish contribution to the American experience was duly recognized. It held large gatherings and published a journal that occasionally leaned into grandiose boasts.

The purchase of the Fifth Avenue building, noteworthy enough for Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to speak at its dedication in 1940, provided suitable space for its books and centuries-old artifacts, including a first printing of the Bible in the Irish language, from 1685.

As the years passed, the foundational fervor waned; the society became an afterthought. The scholar and politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan once described its underused mansion as a “great tomb.”

Then, in the mid-1970s, a physician stepped up to tend to the patient: Dr. Cahill, a tropical-disease specialist known for his humanitarian work around the world.

Dr. Cahill’s résumé includes treating Pope John Paul II after he was shot in 1981; leading a groundbreaking AIDS symposium in 1983 that countered the prevailing homophobic indifference; and serving as a special adviser to his friend Hugh L. Carey, New York’s governor from 1975 to 1982. To his admirers, the doctor was a health care visionary; to his critics, the embodiment of imperious self-regard.

With Dr. Cahill as president-general, the society’s profile grew. It held an annual gala at which gold medals were awarded to the likes of President Ronald Reagan, the financier Wilbur L. Ross Jr. and Dr. Cahill himself. And every March, the doctor donned a morning coat and joined a select group of guests in watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade from the mansion’s terrace — until the city shortened the route a decade ago.

Image

Dr. Kevin M. Cahill, right, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on St. Patrick’s Day in 2011.

Dr. Kevin M. Cahill, right, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on St. Patrick’s Day in 2011.Credit...Michael Appleton for The New York Times

The society became a Cahill bastion. The doctor’s son Christopher, now 55, was its well-paid executive director, while relatives — including two other sons — and loyalists peppered the board.

Around 2012, Dr. Cahill asked Thomas Dowling, a partner at Goldman Sachs, to serve as president. Mr. Dowling’s parents were neighbors and friends of the Cahills when he grew up on Long Island, and he had made substantial donations to the society, including $250,000 for a multimillion-dollar restoration of the mansion that had a $3 million overrun.

Despite the “great honor,” Mr. Dowling said, he soon realized that the society was managerially dysfunctional, with limited public purpose or financial transparency. The entire enterprise depended on the success of one event: its annual gala.

“After seeing the shenanigans first hand,” Mr. Dowling said, he and the chairman presented a restructuring plan to Dr. Cahill. It called for hiring a business manager and reassigning the executive director — the doctor’s son Christopher.

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“He turned red, got visibly annoyed and said, ‘We’re not going to run it your way, we’re going to run it my way,’” Mr. Dowling recalled.

Mr. Dowling resigned, as did the chairman. A Groundhog Day pattern was emerging.

Before long, another board member well established in the business world — Michael Dowling, the president and chief executive of Northwell Health, the state’s largest health care provider — was advocating similar reforms. So was an independent contractor, Harry C. Barrett, a former president of New York Medical College.

To no avail. Mr. Dowling, no relation to Thomas Dowling, stepped down in disappointment. And Mr. Barrett was abruptly fired, after which he expressed baffled sorrow that his efforts to address the “old ways” were “so utterly defeated.”

Mr. Smith, the society representative, did not deny that a succession of experienced administrators had raised alarms. But he said they had left for failing to raise enough money for the annual dinner — a charge that others vehemently dispute.

“It just didn’t work,” Mr. Smith said. “The society moved on.”

In 2016, the insular society agreed to open the mansion for an Irish Repertory Theater production of “The Dead, 1904.” The play, adapted from the Joyce short story by the Irish poet Paul Muldoon and his wife, the author Jean Hanff Korelitz, placed the audience amid a post-Christmas gathering in Edwardian-era Dublin.

The well-received seven-week production generated $79,000 for the society, showed off its building to celebrities and the well heeled, and fulfilled the goal of promoting Irish culture. Staged again in 2017 and 2018, the play was on the cusp of becoming a holiday tradition.

Image

An immersive play held at the mansion was based on James Joyce’s “The Dead.”

An immersive play held at the mansion was based on James Joyce’s “The Dead.” Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

But in January 2019, during an after-party celebrating the season’s final performance, there was — an incident. An agitated Christopher Cahill rushed down the mansion’s balustraded stairwell and made a beeline for Ciaran O’Reilly, the play’s director and co-founder of the Irish Rep.

“He lunged towards me to hit me,” Mr. O’Reilly said.

“He was yelling, ‘I’m going to kill you, Ciaran!’” recalled Kathleen Begala, the theater company’s chairwoman. When she stepped in front of him, she said, Mr. Cahill threatened her as well, after which he was restrained and escorted to the lobby.

Mr. Cahill did not answer requests for comment. Mr. Smith said the executive director’s behavior had been prompted by his interpretation — a misinterpretation, it turned out — of how long the Irish Rep could linger after the last performance.

“The response from Chris was overly exuberant,” he said.

By this point, the society’s new president, a lawyer named James Normile, and its new chairman, Mr. McCabe, the former detective, had already resurrected the familiar call for urgent reorganization. The society, Mr. McCabe later wrote, “was in disarray,” with a $3 million loan owed to one board member.

Their plan called for hiring a director of business and development. Mr. Cahill would be required to seek counseling and assume the reduced role of director of cultural and archival affairs — a plan he agreed to in a letter.

The Irish government, which had given the society $934,000 over the previous decade, also signed on to what it viewed as a much-needed restructuring plan. It agreed to provide $50,000 for the new business position.

But the plan for reform blew up. Again.

First, an emissary of the Cahill-controlled board notified Mr. Normile that he had been removed as president. (“I almost threw him out of my office,” he said.) After that, Mr. McCabe — whom the society had recently applauded for making the 2018 gala a success — was ousted as chairman. “A series of governance lapses by Mr. Normile and Mr. McCabe,” Mr. Smith explained.

Also terminated: the new business director, David O’Sullivan, who had presented a plan for revenue streams that included opening the building to exhibitions and special events like weddings.

“This never appealed to the Cahills,” he said. “They always wanted to keep the doors locked.”

Mr. Smith said Mr. O’Sullivan had been fired because he had “tanked” the upcoming gala by sharing internal documents that tipped off the would-be honoree to the society’s struggles, after which the businessman declined the honor. Mr. O’Sullivan scoffed at this, saying the strife was already public knowledge.

Taken aback by the turmoil, the Irish government halted payment for the new position, and exercised its contractual right to audit the society’s books. Mr. Smith said the audit merely “had some suggestions of governance”; the Irish consulate in New York, though, said the review had identified “significant issues.”

Meanwhile, Mr. McCabe and Mr. Normile asked the state attorney general’s charity bureau, which oversees nonprofit organizations, to intervene. (Mr. McCabe said this past week that he was in contact with the bureau, and that its inquiry remained open. A spokeswoman for the attorney general declined to say whether the office was investigating the society.)

The fallout continued. The society, now fully returned to Cahill control, notified the Irish Rep that the mansion would not be available for a fourth season of “The Dead, 1904” — even though Mr. O’Sullivan had negotiated a deal that would have increased revenue and exposure for the society.

When asked why the society killed the event, Mr. Smith responded that “it was determined that it would not work for the society.”

In late January, after a year of pandemic-related inactivity, the society put its rare jewel of a mansion on the market for $52 million. “One for the ages,” trumpeted the real estate firm handling the sale. Akin to “acquiring the Holy Grail.”

Image

The sale of the mansion, a treasury of Irish-American historical artifacts, has caused an uproar.

The sale of the mansion, a treasury of Irish-American historical artifacts, has caused an uproar.Credit...Michael Falco for The New York Times

The news horrified the Irish-American community, prompting many to call on the attorney general to halt the sale. Under state law, the sale of property by a nonprofit organization is contingent on the approval of the attorney general or the State Supreme Court.

The Irish parliament’s foreign affairs committee and foreign affairs minister, Simon Coveney, urged the society to reconsider. The building, Mr. Coveney said, is “an iconic emblem of Ireland in New York.”

The society responded to the parliament this past week with a suggestion — that Ireland buy the building.

Meanwhile, various Irish Americans of means are standing in the wings to salvage the building and, by extension, the society. “There is enthusiasm to fix it,” Thomas Dowling said. “But there will be hesitation until the society has sound leadership and sound governance.”

For now, the repository of a culture at 991 Fifth Avenue remains closed. And the Irish and American flags that once bracketed its Gilded Age entryway have been removed

03/15/21 11:55 PM

#9150

Switching gears here;

I have just been watching a number of historical videos about the horrible coal mine mud slide at Aberfan in 1966 - where I mentioned that I had lost 7 cousins. I had no idea the scope of the tragedy. The videos (on You Tube) are pretty gut wrenching.

Before I get off my thoughts of St. David's Day and Wales, I thought we could use something more joyful from Wales. This video is of a Welsh children's choir performaing the Welsh composer, Sir Karl Jenkins version of his "Benedictus" - also done by numerous other performers, including my favorites, "2 Cellos" (Sulik and Hauser) from Croatia.

03/16/21 10:44 PM

#9151

John Jackson

This is hardly traditional (written by Texas songwriter Steve Earle about Sharon Shannon, the accordionist) but on the only trip we took with our kids to Ireland (in 2005) this song was everywhere. Happy St. Patrick’s Day – Sláinte!

03/17/21 11:13 AM

#9152

Janie Albright (Blank)

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! As I may have said before I am named after my father's two grandmothers, Jane Handiboe and Ellen Doyle, who were born in Ireland. So a little wearin' o the green for me today.

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Vaccine Shot After-Effects

A friend had his 2nd dose of the vaccine at the vaccination center, after which he began to have blurred vision on the way home.

When he got home, he called the vaccination center for advice; should he go see a doctor, or be hospitalized.

He was told NOT to go to a doctor or a hospital, but just return to the vaccination center immediately and pick up his glasses.

03/17/21 12:06 PM

#9153

FINALLY!

Have we had enough of this Welsh stuff and a Saint who's name I can barey remember?

It's time to celebrate some real saints - The two Saints John (Wayne and Ford)

A great day for drinking and a first rate fist fight. Is there a good John Ford film without one?

And oh, that Mary Kate Danaher!

(not sure which is the best laugh line in the ffilm; "here is a stick to beat the lovely lady with" - or "three Hail Marys and three Our Fathers"

If there is anyone among you who has never seen the film, shame on you!

(Note: includes two of John Waynes kids and John ford's father - the old man with the beard, beret, and cane - and numerous Ford cousins from around the local area as extras)

03/18/21 11:02 AM

#9154

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-yQ4s6IBec

Well if nobody else is going to bring up my own personal place in Irish history.....

03/18/21 04:18 PM

#9155