September 17, 2017

I resisted blogging the kid-mows-the-White-House-lawn photo op, but this...

... makes the cut for me:



Now, there are 2 sides, and it's a delicious fight.

88 comments:

rcocean said...

Occupational safety?

Greenhouse is just upset he's not an illegal alien.

Then he'd love it.

Bob Ellison said...

Is ">>" the Tweet equivalent of "=="?

Or is this guy trying to point, with text? It used to be simple. You did "->" or "<-".

n.n said...

It's a green lawn. The labor and payment are both voluntary (unlike Obamacare). The occupational hazards are minimal. Has Greenhouse ever done yard work? Worked a day in his life? Helped his parents, grandparents, neighbors, perhaps with an allowance? The key is to reconcile (i.e. antithesis of pro-choice doctrine) the different imperatives.

RoseAnne said...

Yes, equipment can be dangerous - for any age. I am from farm country. You don't START kids on heavy equipment. You work your way up to it along with monitoring them for safety awareness. The ones you have to worry about are the twenty somethings who were never shown the right way to use the equipment and any age that has had too much alcohol.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

White left say:
Teaching young white boys work ethic is wrong. White boy should be safely ensconced inside helicopter family with nothing to do but safe space, play date, video game, or soft sofa D-crap TV for indoctrination into the idiocracy.

etbass said...

What a fool.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Either he is typical liberal scold or he is pitching his services to make some OPED freelance money by writing about workplace injuries.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

child labor.

OMG! mowing a law is soooooo cruel and hard.

rcocean said...

I was mowing the lawn when I was 12. Most kids in the neighborhood started before then. Its hard to hurt yourself, unless you're stupid or put your hand under the mower - while its running.

Gahrie said...

Somebody needs to slap some sense into Greenhouse.

Bob Ellison said...

I dunno, with only 140 characters, that double-greater-than sign seems like excess. But maybe a single wouldn't send the signal. Twitter is a bitch.

Ann Althouse said...

If you shouldn't let volunteers take positions that paid labor should have, the NYT should shut down its internship program.

Fernandinande said...

Wealthy privileged white children working for free drives down the wages of hardworking immigrants.

AllenS said...

Sorry, snowflake, but a lot of us were mowing the lawn at 10.

Ann Althouse said...

"Its hard to hurt yourself, unless you're stupid or put your hand under the mower - while its running."

Meade cautions me about walking near a power mower that is in use because it's very easy for a rock to get shot out of it. But that's not the mower hurting himself.

todd galle said...

This is an absurd complaint. Frank is a genius marketer if not mower, he couldn't buy this level of advertisement nationally if he'd been successful in the business for 20 years. I put myself through a decent private college by cutting grass in the 80s so I would have the liberty of studying what I wanted, rather than what my parents were willing to pay for. It worked out for the best, I have a job in public history, and my parents banked the tuition they didn't have to shell out. If the story keeps the story going, Frank could have multiple mowing crews going by the time he's 18.

rehajm said...

- Critic guy is a douchebag. Lighten up and/or stop exploiting kids for political gain. You are just as guilty as The White House in this regard.

- Since this is a place all about being persnickety about language: the kid is notlabor but rather a small business operator or at least an enterprising young man. Nobody here is being exploited.

- I loved mowing the lawn when I was a kid his age. I was less enamored with running the chain saw but it was better than the maul. I drew the line at being around a tractor and a naked power take-off.

Ann Althouse said...

"I dunno, with only 140 characters, that double-greater-than sign seems like excess. But maybe a single wouldn't send the signal. Twitter is a bitch."

It would use 3 characters to make an arrow like this

-->

So the >> arrow frees up millions of characters every day on Twitter.

Ann Althouse said...

->

Does that look more like an arrow than >> ?

David Begley said...

The NYT is clueless.

Ken B said...

Even worse is the signal it sends on white supremacy and patriarchy. This child should be practicing his grovelling apologies, not strutting around with a deadly weapon.

Bob Ellison said...

"->" looks more like an arrow than ">>", but you're right that "-->" looks even more like an arrow, or maybe a spear. If you want to present a bazooka in text, first use a fixed-space font (like Courier), and go with "=====>".

The real challenge is how to present a burp or a fart in text.

cronus titan said...

THe NYT hatred is so deep that it cannot let one trivial story showing Trump in a positive way go without launching an attack. Sad!

Any day now, the MSM will dox this kid and his family to send a Sicilian message. See, e.g. Pickle.

Fernandinande said...

The White House lawn is Eurocentric and silences diverse voices.

Curious George said...

"Meade cautions me about walking near a power mower that is in use because it's very easy for a rock to get shot out of it. But that's not the mower hurting himself."

Meh. In any event, we are talking about the operator. Almost all mowers have a flap in the rear that prevents objects from exiting toward the operator.

Narayanan said...

The child got to visit Oval Office for his reward. Trump should make mowing the lawn into price for all future admissions to Oval Office.

Darrell said...

I started at 10, too. But I was trained on a succession of power tool from the time I was 5. My Dad was a genuine tool&die maker.

Hagar said...

I never saw a power mower until I came to the U.S., so that was not an option. My first job was to deliver the local newspaper when I was about 12-13, I think. From there, I spent the summer vacations transporting ice cream for the local ice cream king to his sales outlets with a threewheel bike, working for my cousin constructing an electric powerline, etc., partnered with an older neighbor kid on a deal with a local contractor to strip concrete wallforms from a 3-story building while the contractor's firm was on vacation (good money, we had 3 weeks to do the job and we did it in less than one - not following OSHA rules, there not being any such agency as OSHA in Norway at the time), and working for another contractor running errands, stripping forms and pulling nails from lumber to be re-used, etc.
This was not about "teaching me anything," but so that I could have money to buy soccer shoes, "pop" drinks, etc., in the summer and skis and boots for the winter, besides keeping me busy and out of trouble.
American child protection rules are ridiculous and primarily for virtue signaling for busy-body adults, and not for the kids at all.

Virgil Hilts said...

I read that tweet / responses last night. When you put out a tweet like this that gets fewer than 300 likes while the responses ridiculing you and calling you pathetic are getting thousands of likes, you just might want to take a step back and maybe argue (ala Weiner) that your twitter account has been hacked.

Hagar said...

Never saw a reel mower either. Back then, people who had lawns mowed them with scythes. Now there is an item you really can hurt yourself or your siblings with!

Amexpat said...

I have to assume that tweet was made in humorous vain.

I saw the video and the kid didn't do a very good job. His rows weren't neat - there were thin strips of grass left unmowed. Trump praised him effusively, but would surely have fired him if he were on the payroll.

tcrosse said...

So the >> arrow frees up millions of characters every day on Twitter.

In this case a single colon would have done the job.

Riley said...

Photos show Frank wearing gloves, ear plugs, and safety goggles. The heartless Trump Grounds Crew is apparently being faulted for lack of a pair of long pants to protect against thrown rocks.

n.n said...

it's very easy for a rock to get shot out of it

Vehicles, too. The physical trauma caused by a particle accelerator, albeit a short path, are enhanced without a windshield target to absorb the the force and edges of its impact.

Meade said...

"Meade cautions me about walking near a power mower that is in use because it's very easy for a rock to get shot out of it. But that's not the mower hurting himself."

It's the most common lawn mower injury — projectile from machine hitting bystander. The 10 year-old needs to be safety trained: Rule 1. Cut the engine if a person or pet comes within 100 ft.

Also, Trump needs to be safety trained to stay away from 10 year-olds operating dangerous equipment. Rule 1. Be sure the kid has been thoroughly safety trained before strolling out into the work zone.

n.n said...

the kid didn't do a very good job.

First, it's his first day on the job. He has, I believe, 90 days to make the adjustment. Also, there is the anxiety of the stage. I'm surprised he didn't abort and or cannibalized the diverse flowers at the lawn's edge.

Narayanan said...

The kid was not allowed to finish ... He might have made a second pass to clean up.

n.n said...

My neighbor has trained his daughter to operate heavy equipment (e.g. tractor). Sexist, progressive, or both? Do skills, competence, and judgment matter?

Meade said...

"Do skills, competence, and judgment matter?"

Those are the only things that matter.

Mark said...

So, does this Greenhouse guy go around to volunteer the mow the lawns of the senior citizens in his neighborhood, or to shovel snow from their walks, or does he make them do it themselves? And does he get all pissy if some six-year-old is selling cups of watery lemonade from their little wagon?

Darrell said...

The kid did it properly. Those spaces that at first appear uncut,, are the result of overlapping your passes. You don't run your wheels in the track of the previous pass. That WILL leave uncut grass.

Meade said...

"(good money, we had 3 weeks to do the job and we did it in less than one - not following OSHA rules, there not being any such agency as OSHA in Norway at the time)"

I think a good argument could be made that Norway is the most advanced civilization on the planet. The rest of the world would do well to try to be more like Norway.

Gahrie said...

"Do skills, competence, and judgment matter?"

Those are the only things that matter.


Don't forget boobs. Boobs matter.

Meade said...

"some six-year-old is selling cups of watery lemonade"

Buyer beware. 2 words: Rotaviral enteritis. Speaking of "watery."

Chris N said...

Surely there's a DREAMer out there willing to do the job?

A Syrian child-refugee, perhaps?

Hagar said...

You develop the skill, competence, and judgment to swing a hammer by swinging a hammer.

Hagar said...

The rest of the world would do well to try to be more like Norway.

That was the Norway that was. Since WWII, Norway - like evrybody else - have worked hard at becoming like the Americans.

Chris N said...

Come on, Greenhouse.

You didn't even recognize the Patriarchal 'passing of the lawnmower' ceremony going on right before your eyes.

Neo-liberal bourgeois hack.

Darrell said...

Greenhouse was hoping the mower would explode.
You know he was.

n.n said...

You develop the skill, competence, and judgment...

I learned to swing the hammer at my father's side; to cook at my mother's side; to strive with their sincere, if not always empathetic, interest; with intact thumbs, without skin grafts, in a world-class educational, recreational, and socialization regime.

MayBee said...

It would be great if Barron Trump started mowing the White House lawn every Saturday.

Tommy Duncan said...

=}}}}}}}}>----------------------------->>>

Etienne said...

Organized labor has provided no great memories for America.

Darrell said...

NBC would have poured a little liquid nitrogen on the blade, just to show what a buffoon Trump is.

MacMacConnell said...

If a lawn has lots of rocks in it, can it be called a lawn and how short is a lawn being cut to hit a small rock? ;-)
I saw this kid cutting the WH lawn with a push mower, does anyone think that government grounds keepers cut that lawn with a push mower? Maybe the edges. So screw the criticisms of the kids lack of perfection. I'm just happy for this kid. There was a time in this country everyone would be happy for this kid regardless of party.

Matt Sablan said...

What did these folks say about kids harvesting from the White House garden a few years ago?

Darrell said...

The Left be cray-cray.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, it's not two sides now. It's just another instance of Resist! We've seen a judge rule that Trump's EO on immigration from seven specific countries would be constitutional except it's from Donald Trump so it's unconstitutional. Yeah, sure.

Thought experiment: suppose Hillary had won. Kid mowing Hillary's White House lawn: how cute! Kid mowing Donald's White House lawn: terrible violation of occupational safety laws!

AllenS said...

Look out! Tommy Duncan is shooting real arrows!

etbass said...

Meade, have you watched "Lilyhammer?"

David said...

Why does the White House even have a lawn? Think of all the water and chemicals needed to maintain it.

It was not always a lawn (from Wikipedia):

When the White House was first occupied in 1800 the site of the South Lawn was an open meadow gradually descending to a large marsh, the Tiber Creek, and Potomac River beyond.[1] Thomas Jefferson completed grading of the South Lawn, building up mounds on either side of a central lawn. Jefferson, working with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe located a triumphal arch as a main entry point to the grounds, just southeast of the White House.[2] Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's 1793 plan of the city of Washington, indicates a setting of terraced formal gardens descending to Tiber Creek. Later in 1850, landscape designer Andrew Jackson Davis attempted to soften the geometry of the L'Enfant plan, incorporating a semicircular southern boundary and meandering paths.[3] Andrew Jackson Davis's changes included enlarging the South Lawn, creating a large circular lawn he termed the "Parade or President's Park" and bordered by densely planted shrubs and trees.[4] During the administration of Ulysses S. Grant the marsh to the south was drained, and the South Lawn received additional grading and 8 to 10 feet of fill to make the descent to the Potomac more gradual.[5]

There is a photo of sheep grazing in the South Lawn during the Wilson administration. The lawn was open to the public until WW II.

I think the grazing sheep are the best part. Nice metaphor.

tcrosse said...

Thought experiment: suppose Hillary had won. Kid mowing Hillary's White House lawn: how cute!

It would have been a girl, in order to Empower little girls everywhere.

JaimeRoberto said...

Doesn't this kid know he should be cutting the heads off statues and not grass?

FullMoon said...

From Reddit


"Liberals think 11-year-olds are too young to volunteer to mow a lawn, but are mature enough to undergo sex-change treatment."

MacMacConnell said...

Woodrow Wilson's drivers ed teacher once asked him, "Do you know how to make a correct u-turn". Woodrow replied, "No, but I know how to make their eyes bug out".

In DC it was rumored at the time that the sheep would lovingly follow Woodrow around the WH lawn Ba-ing, "Woooooodrooow".

MathMom said...

From Wiki:

He graduated from Wesleyan University, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and the New York University School of Law. He lives in New York City.


A small amount of time Binging has not unearthed where Steven Greenhouse was born and raised, but if his education and current residence are a clue, the man may have never had the experience of being where a lawn is individually owned. He has probably seen grass growing, but I suspect it was always tended by "staff", not by a kid wanting to earn a few bucks.

These people think they understand the world better than we do, and they certainly believe they know how it should be run. Gaia help us.

MathMom said...

When I was a kid, a family friend lost some of the toes on one foot to his power mower. He was barefoot, mowing a lawn with a ditch out front. He mowed down the edge of the ditch and backed up. He stumbled on something and fell backward while still holding onto the mower, which pulled the mower onto his foot.

Dad took us over with him to visit the guy. From this, we learned: Wear sturdy shoes when mowing, and always turn the mower, don't back up with it. Even now, if I pull the mower back a bit, I remember this lesson, and turn it around instead of saving a few seconds, and perhaps losing my toes.

Also, now, mowers have a safety switch which shuts the mower off when you let go of the handle. The family friend's toes would have been spared if this safety feature had been invented then.

Michael K said...

I don't think NYC has any lawns except Central Park.

I had a paper route (weekly) when I was in 4th grade. Worked up from that.

The first time I hit my thumb with a hammer, I was five. You remember those events.

I am so sick of leftist city dwellers who never held a job, any job, telling us what is right or wrong.

One big reason why kids don't learn how to hold a job is illegals taking all the menial jobs kids used to do.

tcrosse said...

One big reason why kids don't learn how to hold a job is illegals taking all the menial jobs kids used to do.

I don't know how it is in Arizona, but here in Vegas our landscaping guy has developed staffing problems lately.

Yancey Ward said...

You literally couldn't have parodied the Left with a comment. Either Greenhouse is a genius satirist, or a fool.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I have a photo of Donald Trump eating salad WITH THE DINNER FORK!!! but I'm holding it to spring in the last days of the 2020 election cycle.

Ralph L said...

Jackie's Rose Garden has only a few rose bushes in the borders, but during press events it's full of pricks.

Jim at said...

No. There aren't two sides to this issue.

There is one side who thinks it's cool an 11-year-old kid got to mow the White House lawn.

And then there are the fucking idiots.
They are not a side. They are idiots.

Jim at said...

"I have to assume that tweet was made in humorous vain."

Not a chance.
Read the follow-up tweets.
He doubled- and tripled-down on stupid, with a healthy serving of arrogance.

He's an idiot.

Howard said...

The Dems are falling all over themselves to elevate Trump.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I am so sick of leftist city dwellers who never held a job, any job, telling us what is right or wrong.

I am so sick of right-wing wackos who never had to live in a society with other people telling us what is right or wrong.

wildswan said...

Lawn grass did not exist in America before the settlers so the grass itself is colonial aggression. And grass is quite aggressive in itself - e.g., "I am the grass. I cover all." Couldn't be clearer. But the grass is being cut - so not sure of the symbolism. Anyhow, Trump could score points by insisting that all Federal buildings get rid of that invading grass and let the swamp, sorry, wetland, let the wetland in. Then, as you approached a Federal building you'd up to your knees in alligators and ceaselessly stung by mosquitoes so that art would mimic reality.

stlcdr said...

>> is "massively greater than";
-> is "leads to".

stlcdr said...

Oh, and who didn't see this coming from the whining left? Which maybe is an assumption, is more than likely.

Heywood Rice said...

I am so sick of leftist city dwellers who never held a job, any job, telling us what is right or wrong.

I am so sick of right-wing wackos who never had to live in a society with other people telling us what is right or wrong.


Sickness is health.

RMc said...

Now, there are 2 sides, and it's a typically idiotic fight.

Fixed.

KatieFish said...

By "delicious" do you mean asinine ?

Kelly said...

My husband was in Iraq and a neighbor kid mowed my lawn for me. He was about eleven if I recall right. I paid him very well especially since his father had been laid off and the only work he found was out of town. I have a very big yard and he even bagged the grass for me. The kid was able to buy his very own laptop by the end of the summer. I missed him when he moved.

RichardJohnson said...

My first mowed a lawn when I was 10. I mowed ~400 square feet of flat terrain with nothing to edge- one time. When I was 11, my father paid me to mow an elderly neighbor's lawn every week or two. When I was 12, I started mowing our lawn. I got paid a dollar for the back and a dollar for the front. Big lawn out in the country with lots of hills and lots of trees and flower gardens to edge. It took me five hours to mow the whole thing.

When I was in high school, we were visiting grandparents out in the Midwest. A car with two elderly female cousins drove up. After my grandparents introduced me to them, my grandfather told everyone that I had to mow the lawn. Which I did. No problem. I found out later that as these cousins were insufferable bores, my grandfather was doing me a favor.

mockturtle said...

My brother and I had to mow our lawns with a non-power mower. Our lawns consisted of several terraced levels with rock walls so it was work. We also had to haul heavy rocks and other menial labor. We didn't like it but it didn't hurt us.

Michael K said...

Ritmo and antiphone are forming a left wing troll cooperative.

Good luck, dopes.

SeanF said...

MathMom, I don't understand how a safety switch which turns the mower off "when you let go of the handle" would've helped someone who was "still holding on to the mower."

Known Unknown said...

"The rest of the world would do well to try to be more like Norway."

Collaborate with Nazis?