https://twitter.com/McKayMSmith/status/1091816145198505986
From NewsChannel5:
MARLOW, Ok. (WIBW) — A World War II veteran from Marlow, Oklahoma is turning 93 on April 17th and his family is trying to get cards sent to him for his birthday as a surprise.
Daughter Liz Anderson tells CBS affiliate WIBW her dad Recil Troxel loves getting any kind of mail, and is obsessed with checking the mailbox.
“He sits here in his chair looking out the window every day,” Anderson said. “When the mail is here, he’s like the mail is here, we better go get the mail.”
But, it’s not very often Troxel finds something in there for him.
While Troxel’s birthday is in April, his family wanted to start his celebration early so he can get enjoyment from one of his favorite things.
The WWII veteran is currently undergoing cancer treatment, and his family just wants to make him happy.
If you’d like to send him a card, you can mail it to:
2684 North Highway 81
Marlow, Oklahoma 73055
So let’s get those pens out, get some cards, a postage stamp or two, and make someone’s day a wee bit brighter!
Open thread.
zhena gogolia
I’m in. (I’m also just like him. I still get excited about the mail even though I know it will all be desperate requests for money from Democrats and animals.)
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: I’ve lined up several of the general officers I’ve worked with, for, or, in the case of one, supervised/taught, asking if they’d send greetings on official stationary, known as Star Notes.
West of the Rockies
Mail has changed so much. Other than Christmas cards (scant few), I haven’t received a personal letter in years. I fondly recall sending and receiving love letters and such (with sealing wax, textured paper, etc.). Everything now is electronic: emojis, gif’s, etc.
Don’t get me started on the wonders of a transistor radio late at night… Hey, I’m getting Portland and Denver clear as a bell! Is that a Padres broadcast I’m hearing?
West of the Rockies
@Adam L Silverman:
You’re a good egg, Adam.
patrick II
I was just watching Antique Road show where a guy who brought in his picture of dogs playing poker was disappointed to find it wasn’t worth much.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@West of the Rockies:
I have a emergency shortwave radio that I bought at least 3-4 years ago. When I first started listening, there were many stations on, usually from Central and South America that I picked up; they spoke spanish anyway. I also heard the occasional evangelical broadcast. I tried listening again a year ago, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tune into any; it was just static. I know for several years shortwave broadcasters have been shutting down. I guess that’s the case now for Central and South American ones now as well, sadly.
Adam L Silverman
@West of the Rockies: I’m overly hard boiled, but thanks for the kind words!
guachi
Anyone know what branch of service he is in? The article doesn’t mention it.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@West of the Rockies:
Would you say he’s a good Eggman?
Mohagan
@zhena gogolia: Ditto!
Mike in NC
I’d be happy to write. My dad was a WW2 vet and passed away in 2003.
Mary G
You are a mensch, Adam. I put my birthday card stash in such a great place to store it that I can’t find it, but I still have postcards, flag stickers and stamps left over from the election, so I made one for him.
Adam L Silverman
@guachi: Army. I’ve been in touch with the law professor who tweeted it. He served as a combat engineer in Guam and the Philippines.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Given I let my beard grow out, I’m closer to the walrus.
mad citizen
I love the transistor radio–have a couple Sony ones I bought on amazon. Unfortunately it’s almost all sports talk, right wing radio, or the weird conspiracy theory stuff late at night–which is sometimes the best thing going.
I was thinking the other day, someone should do an app where you can tune either internet radio stations or podcasts as if they were terristial radio stations, complete with static. I’m not a fan of the iheart app, don’t like having apps tracking me on my phone.
I’m in for a postcard or something to this WWII vet–thanks for sharing!
Adam L Silverman
@guachi:
Martin
Had to reread the headline 3 time before I stopped seeing “Get your pênis out!”
Seriously, that would not be a good deed to anyone.
sukabi
@Martin: lol
Adam L Silverman
@Martin:
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s not the reference I was going for, but alright. Didn’t you play video games in the 90s?
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: are you or one of the other fine frontpagers working up a post on this
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: The guy fought in the Pacific, I don’t want to scare him.
chopper
of course, this guy’s smile is gonna turn upside down once he starts getting letters from infowars guys claiming he’s a ‘crisis actor’ and that WWII was made up by the gubbermint.
dexwood
I received an actual, goddamn, U.S. Mail approved letter from an old friend today. What a fucking novelty, I thought. Rare enough these days to be cool. Sending this gentleman a card is easy enough to do.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wanna know how many of those (if any) are NY state crimes.
(Ali Velshi covering this now, subbing for The Rachel Maddow)
sukabi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: are they rolling this in as well?
Adding the lobbyist referred to is a Russian that was with the now indicted russian lawyer lady at the trump tower meeting.
mad citizen
I see there are such things as internet radios–came across a new model from Grace Digital on amazon. Will have to resist spending $200 on it, though.
Brickley Paiste
I would like to see his yearbooks before sending letters to him …
Jay
@chopper:
Naw, the InfoWars crowd is fine with WWII in the Pacific, other than Roosevelt Benghazi’s,
It’s fighting against the white, Ayrian Nazi’s they arnt cool with,
Because economic anxiety.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No. I do not play video games. Unless the backgammon app on my iPad counts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sukabi: they are not, probably tomorrow… or Wednesday
so much smoke you can’t even see the fire….
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: Yes, I’m personally taking the arrest warrants over to the Federal magistrates and then hand walking them to the FBI’s SWAT team.//
A Ghost To Most
Tick tock, motherfuckers.
Sweeping subpoena issued for T inaugural committee finances.
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: ? pick a finger✌
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: The Green Hell!
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: The lobbyist is an SVR officer. That’s Russian foreign intelligence.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
lots going on today…
think Kellyanne is having trouble getting The Beast to rehearse tomorrow’s script?
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: This little piggy went to market…
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: seems like that would kind of be the ballgame with regards to colluding with a foreign hostile government.
Zinsky
Let’s go together and buy the old buzzard a half ounce of some high grade Peruvian flake cocaine and let him go out of this world at 110 mph with a wicked smile on his face!
sukabi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: They’re booking their flights to Moscow.
sukabi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: friday is going to be LIT.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jared and Don Jr. are in trouble!
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: He claims he’s a retired Soviet intelligence officer. This is technically true. There are no former chekists.
Adam L Silverman
@Zinsky: Let’s put that idea on the back burner for now. Perhaps a card with a picture of a dog doing something funny on it?
A Ghost To Most
Let’s try this again
Federal prosecutors issue sweeping subpoena for documents from Trump inaugural committee, a sign of a deepening criminal probe
Ken
@Zinsky: Are you talking about the WWII vet or someone in the Trump administration?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman: or, Abbe Lowell just reached out to whomever he’s dealing with in Mueller’s office to say “We’d like to make some amendments to our proffer letter…”
(I can’t let go of that dream)
Gravenstone
Wanted to bring this up since it fell in one of the multiple pre-game threads last night. Here is a post from Czanne offering info about her late niece’s visitation and a GoFundMe for the family, for those so inclined.
zhena gogolia
@Ken:
Haha, my thoughts exactly.
Rhubarb
What a lovely idea. I’m in, as are my son and my cousin
NotMax
@mad citizen
Firefox add-on you might find of interest. Link to a version for Chrome is on the same page.
Never used it myself but have no complaints with the Download Manager add-on from the same developer.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Goo goo g’joob
Adam L Silverman
Oopsie!
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
That is such a beautiful thing to do, Adam. Thank you for reaching out to the officers, and for sharing Recil Troxel’s story and address with the Jackaltariat. It so happens that I just stocked up on “thinking of you” cards, so I’ll be sure two or three of them go to Mr Troxel. Sending him a completely unironic “bless his heart.” He sounds like a sweetie, and I love the way he waits eagerly for the mail each day!
Ken
Going to be interesting to see how Trump claims the inauguration committee was a bunch of people who got some coffee once, but he didn’t really know any of them.
A Ghost To Most
“Tour of Duty” by Jason Isbell is playing. Now. How appropriate. Perhaps I’ll tell Recil about my FIL, a B-24 pilot and the best man I ever knew, and his brother, who didn’t make it off the beach at Normandy.
Mike in NC
@A Ghost To Most: But it was the biggest, best inaugural in the history of inaugurals! Only the finest stable geniuses were invited, and yet the crowd was yuuuuuge.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
His wiki suggests more that he’s a “ratfucker” for hire, than a Russian agent. He seems to have pimped his services out to “journalists” in exchane for quid pro quo’s, on news issues concerning Kazakistan,
Which was a place one of great importance in the neo-con’s Great Game at one time.
So now we know what so called “journalists” are referring to with “unnamed sources”.
Jackie
Adam, thank you for this! My family lost our 99 1/2 yr old Dad, Granpa, Great-Granpa a yr ago this month. He, too, was a WWII vet. I sent the link to my son and daughter. They, and the Grandkiddos (and me) will happily send him Happy Birthday cards!♥️
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: She seems nice.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: My pleasure. I’ve also given the law professor that put this on blast via his twitter feed a heads up.
Adam L Silverman
@Ken: Going to be fun watching Trump claim he never actually had an inauguration.
Gravenstone
@Adam L Silverman: Well, he viewed it more as a coronation, so one could argue the point I suppose.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gravenstone: It had the biggest crowds ever, whatever it was.
PPCLI
@Adam L Silverman: So long as she doesn’t have to interact with any Muslims as UN ambassador it should be OK.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Penetration at all levels to establish influence.
joel hanes
done.
Adam L Silverman
@Jackie: Thanks! And, just in case I missed it at the time, my sincerest condolences.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Once a Foxbot, always a Foxbot.
NotMax
Adam (and Betty) –
Should you ever be planning on a rock garden…
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I already was aware of that.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
Maybe, maybe just a amoral sociopathic Russian American willing to use or be used as long as there was money in it, who understood that to get along in DC you also had to suck up to the DC Press Whores.
His “case load” sometimes worked against Putin and his buddies interests.
We are seeing a lot of sociopaths being exposed, from London to DC.
Btw, Digby has a post up on Needy Amin pissing off Iraq again.
Ken
@NotMax: “Gee, Professor, I’m sure glad this post as your research assistant opened up so suddenly. What are we doing today?”
“See that bull alligator over there? We need to know the weight of the rocks in its gut. Here’s a hose and a sieve, I’ll be in my office.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I know a couple here in the ATL who are both originally from Oklahoma. Most likely I’ll see them in a day or two and will encourage them to send a cheerful message to their fellow Sooner.
Speaking of which, I do hope our friend Soonergrunt sees this and chooses to respond.
Zeeecube
@Adam L Silverman: Only the best people…
Kattails
@Adam L Silverman: A true friend believes that you are a Good Egg even when they know you are Slightly Cracked. I will get onto this and sic my beloved sister on it as well, she puts me to shame in the handwritten correspondence department. Birthday cards to everyone and they always arrive ON TIME dammit. Thank you notes, note-y notes. She’s the best.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: He’s former Soviet Intelligence. You know as well as I that you can retire, but you’re never really a former Soviet or Russian intelligence officer.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Apparently he claims the US owns the bases we built in Iraq in perpetuity. I expect the Iraqis will start shelling the bases any time now.
Adam L Silverman
Oh joy!
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
In unison, millions of Americans make a madcap reach for the remote. Who said bipartisanship is dead?
;)
mad citizen
@NotMax: Thank you for the suggestion!
OT, but watching Neil Young and Crazy Horse streaming from Winnipeg on his archives website ($20/year) tonight. Nils Lofgren back with the Horse.
They opened with Rockin’ in the Free World and Neil followed the “need a man of the people” line with “need a woman of the people” x4 or 5 times. Sounds like maybe he’s a Kamala Harris supporter (“For the People”); speaking of which, by Kamala bumper stickers arrived today.
Mary G
LOL:
Socratic Me
That’s my home town! Don’t recognize the name, though (which is odd in a town of only 4400.m). Better check the yearbook. There is definitely a non-zero chance of blackface (and absolutely zero chance of black faces, as there was racist violence and threats of violence into the 80s).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman: I liked this one
not that it will move the starry-eyed adolescents of far too many ages who still hear the old fool’s bellowing, deluded sanctimony as the Pied Piper’s tune, but I really hope the reason we’re not hearing a lot about Tad Devine is that he’s spilling all the tea from that campaign. I don’t think either Wilmer or his clown of a wife were complicit, but if the term “useful idiot” didn’t already exist….
Adam L Silverman
@Ken: One of my aikido students at UF was studying alligators for his graduate degree. This included going into the field and getting sperm samples.
Mary G
HOOCOODANODE:
Adam L Silverman
@Zeeecube: Only…
Steve in the ATL
@Zinsky:
That’s just rude and disrespectful.
Don’t you think a man his age is more traditional and prefers Colombian blow?
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
You can retire, just as long as you are never useful in “retirement”.
Know a guy who’s former GRU. He’s not a lobbiest. He runs a faller/buncher out of Merritt.
But as a lobbiest in DC, the Russians are going to show up the moment you are useful, and it’s not just your pension at stake if you say no.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Subscription to Playgator an out of pocket expense.
;)
mad citizen
@Mary G: I agree, but this is just another Monday in the Trump era. Our stockpiles of outrage are almost depleted.
Mary G
Somebody needs to find a new hobby, because politically, this guy is tone deaf:
Remember RMoney’s “income inequality should only be discussed in quiet rooms?”
JaySinWA
@mad citizen: There are several curators of internet/terrestrial radio stations. As to finding one that isn’t going to track you, good luck with that, including the custom hardware ones.
Jay
@Mary G:
al-Quida “linked”, LMFAO,
Two years ago a BBC reporter tagged the Saudi/UAE use of al-Quida in the Arabian Pennisula groups as merc’s.
A Ghost To Most
@Steve in the ATL: I thought his kick was adder-all.
Jay
@Mary G:
LGM covers Krugman covering his polling, 4% approve, 40% disapprove, 56% who the fuck is Schultz?
Meanwhile, 70% approve of a 70% tax on incomes over $11million.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
I used to get excited about the mail, but now, with e-mail and on-line banking and billing, I rarely get anything but junk mail. I check my mailbox once or twice a week, and it’s mostly an exercise in keeping it unclogged.
A Ghost To Most
@Socratic Me: I have been reliably informed that that kind of thing didn’t happen in the 80s. My memories must be flawed.
A Ghost To Most
@mad citizen: Works for me. Neil Young is a kindred spirit, and I like Harris.
mad citizen
@JaySinWA: Thanks, I accept tracking on my computers, but I try to keep my cellphone as clean as possible. I like WWOZ New Orleans.
chopper
@Mary G:
i think they should be referred to as “money-americans”.
debbie
He’ll never be able to read my handwriting, but I’ll get a card tomorrow to send to him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jay: and Warren’s wealth tax is even more popular
I have questions about how it would be implemented– fraud among appraisers and hidden wealth would be rampant, diamonds, as Warren herself said on O’Donnell’s show a while back, would be easy to hide–, and how it would survive a challenge to the Roberts court, but this seems to be an idea that ‘unites Americans’, Mr Schultz.
sukabi
@Mary G: someone’s suffering from rich man’s guilt.
West of the Rockies
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I’ve always been interested in ham radio stuff, numbers stations, and the arcane avenues of radio.
Ken
@Adam L Silverman: Did the aikido come in handy?
West of the Rockies
@Adam L Silverman:
What a croc(k)!
Duane
@?BillinGlendaleCA: All this time I thought it was koo-kooka-choo! The things I learn here. I’m determined to use this new found knowledge for good.
ruemara
This is, as the kids say, heckin’ sweet. I’ll do it.
Amir Khalid
@Duane:
Isn’t that Simon & Garfunkel?
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Back in the ‘80’s there was a great heist in Vancouver. They broke into a storage facility on a long weekend, went through all the lockers, and skipped with the valuables. They got “busted” at the airport, for overweight luggage. So overweight security opened it up to find it all stuffed full of gold, jewels, bearer bonds and cash.
90% of the loot and contents of the storage lockers, ( art, antiques, etc) went unclaimed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jay: am I to assume there is a wealth tax in Canada?
Adam L Silverman
@Ken: I do not know.
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yup, it’s an Estate Tax.
But the Storage Facility was more about not reporting for incomes tax purposes.
Yutsano
@Jay: Art and antiques smells like money laundering to me. But YMMV.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: The walrus was Paul.
Jay
@Yutsano:
Art and antiques were what the burglars left behind, as being not as portable.
The thing is, estates have to be valued, but art and antiques in a storage unit can be quietly transferred with out declaring a value.
An Emily Carr in the living room vs. storage locker.
While art and antiques are often used in money laundering, it takes place by underselling or over buying, not stashing away.
There’s still a big mystery about a couple pieces of the unclaimed art, as their last known provenance was as Nazi loot. They sit in the basement of the VAG awaiting claimants.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay:
The real owners may have died in the camps a long, long time ago.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s known that they did, but searches for living relatives went no where.
The VAG can’t donate them, as under Canadian law covering “war loot”, their “rightfull” owners are still out there some where.
The other mystery is how they wound up in a storage locker in Vancouver when they were last known to be in the basement of a Town Hall in Dusseldorf.
The break in was only discovered when the thieves were “caught” at YVR, and in the follow up investigation it was discovered that 60% of the rental units had no names, owners or money trails attached.
So now you need two pieces of id to open a storage locker.
That year, the Police Auction was epic.
frosty
@West of the Rockies: I got a ham license in high school but never got on the air. Renewed it and bought a tranceiver for Y2K, didn’t use it much. I was in Bolivia about the same time and took a shortwave receiver. Here’s what I figured out:
1 you have to get a signal
2 you have to get a clear enough signal to understand
3 the signal has to be in a language you understand
4 you have to be interested in the message
It was surprising to me, but NPR, which I dislike, would have been perfect over shortwave if I had no better signal.
Jay
@frosty:
Dad had a Hallcrafter’s Reciever from the 1950’s. We rigged an antenna and would lie awake listening to Russian Naval traffic late at night.
donnah
Even though he won’t celebrate his birthday until April, I picked up a card and mailed it today. I’d never remember to send it later!
TMinSJ
I mailed a Valentine’s Day card today – mix it up a little.
Paul W
I’ll send it tomorrow. I’m a Vietnam nam vet who by a weird stroke of coincidence has the same birthday