Hizzoner, the Mayor of New York!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

At least four major American cities are entering the New Year of 2026 in full victory mode.  Yesterday the Trump administration announced that it was ending its attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon.  The major political retreat comes after the US Supreme Court last week in a six to three vote rebuked Trump's efforts to send troops into Chicago, something Trump had been intent on doing despite protests from the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois.

The mayors of Los Angeles, California, and Portland, Oregon had also been protesting the presence of National Guard troops in their cities, as had the governors of those states.

Trump announced his surrender yesterday evening on social media in his trademark petty manner:

"We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland despite the fact CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact."

Troops had been deployed in Los Angeles earlier in the year, but had only been "staged" in Chicago and Portland where they were performing very limited duties.  Trump's crime estimates for all three of those cities seem to have not been based in actual, measurable fact.

Trump continued his social media screed with this threat:

"We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again - ONLY a question of time!"

Oink, oink, and more oink!

(Pa Rock thinks he will have tacos for lunch today, yes, he does!)

The other big city victory moment came in New York City last night at midnight.  Just after the New Year's ball dropped in Times Square, 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as the city's first Muslim and Democratic Socialist mayor in the historic subway station located beneath City Hall in Manhattan.   His oath of office was administered by New York Attorney General Leticia James, an official the Trump administration has been unsuccessfully trying to indict for months as part of its personal retribution agenda.  Mayor Mamdani was sworn into office on a Quaran, the Muslim holy book.  

The beautiful Old City Hall Station was chosen for the initial swearing-in as a nod to Mayor Mamdani's push for more accessible public transit.   That symbolic ceremony was a private affair with limited attendance.  

Later today the new mayor will be above ground where he will be officially sworn into office in a large public event held on the steps of City Hall.  That ceremony and swearing-in will be conducted by Mamdani's good friends and fellow Democratic Socialists, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City.

Several blocks of street parties are also planned for downtown Manhattan after the mayor's formal inauguration.

Then Mayor Mamdani will roll up his sleeves and get to work!

"Doctors Without Borders" and "CARE" Banned from Gaza

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In yet another affront to the lives and dignity of the basically shelterless and starving Palestinians in Gaza, Israel announced yesterday that it had suspended more than two dozen humanitarian organizations from entering Gaza.  The list includes "Doctors without Borders," the winner of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize, and "CARE."

People are dying in Gaza every day, almost all are Palestinians, and many of them are women and children.  They scurry through the rubble of what was once their homes and neighborhoods seeking scraps of food, clothing, and shelter from the winds of winter.  It's a brutal life, one that the Palestinian people did not bring upon themselves, and one from which there appears no escape other than death.

Last February, less than three weeks after starting his new term in office, Donald Trump talked of turning Gaza, which butts up against the Mediterranean Sea, into the "Riveria of the Middle East" and resettling the Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.  Some speculate that may have figured into what continues to look like an effort by Israel to raze Gaza into the ground and totally annihilate the Palestinian population.

Israel says that banning the aid groups from Gaza is their way of keeping Hamas and other militant groups from penetrating those organizations, but others point out that at least some of the groups, "Doctors without Borders" and "CARE" for instance, are well established charitable organizations that have been successfully addressing crises around the world for decades.

I will admit to taking the banishment of "Doctors without Borders" and "CARE" from Gaza very seriously - and personally.  I am not a major charitable donor, but I give what I can.  My first experience with charitable giving occurred many years ago in sixth grade when our teacher collected one dollar from each student in her class to send to "CARE."  (I'm sure she donated out of her own pocket to cover the donation for some in the class.). We received postcards from the organization telling us where where our dollars had gone - to which countries - and then used those postcards for a geography lesson that was very personal and meaningful.  Growing up, I continued sending occasional dollars to "CARE" because I knew they were good folks who actually were helping people in need around the globe.  

Twenty-one years ago this week after the awful tidal wave and tsunami killed thousands in Sumatra and the Indian Ocean, I sent $50 to "Doctors without Borders" to help in relief efforts.  I also determined to send a monthly contribution to the group to keep a helping hand in their efforts.  I sent them $15 a month. for many years, and a couple of years ago. I increased that to $25 a month.  Not much, I know, but I felt good about doing something.

"Doctors without Borders" and "CARE" are essential components in building a healthy, safe, and secure future for people who have been forced to live in the wreckage of war due to circumstances well beyond their control.

Today I will donate an additional $100 to Doctors without Borders" and $100 to "CARE" as well.   I credit the savage cruelty of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for nudging me into making those gifts.

Gaza does not need a glittering tourist mecca of hotels and casinos along the shores of the Mediterranean.   It needs homes, and hospitals, and schools, and clean water, and roads, and a business and cultural infrastructure to house and nurture the least among us.

If your God tells you that it's fine for children to scurry through the debris of endless war challenging rats for survival, it's time to upgrade to a a better God.

The tragedy and inhumanity in. Gaza must end!

Lobster for the Holidays!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

While our nation's massive new secret police force, the Masked Marauders of ICE, has been busy - and relentless - in its terrifying pursuit of hotel maids and gardeners, real crime still runs rampant across the country.  This week it was reported that $400,000 in live lobsters had been stolen during transport from a cold storage facility in Massachusetts while enroute to Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota.

The theft was apparently pulled off when the company from Indiana that was hired to transport the lobsters was scammed into hiring an owner-operator (independent trucker) who was not an honest broker.  The company which hired the fraudster said they were victimized through scam emails and burner phones into thinking they were hiring a legitimate carrier and instead wound up with a guy who took off with their cargo.

Somewhere there was an abundance of fresh lobster for holiday celebrations this year!

While the situation was serious and does merit public attention and scorn, it did make for some pun fun in the press.  One news article talked about the need to "seas the day," while another declared the FBI was circling the crime scene like sharks.  (In reality the FBI was more likely focused on providing security to FBI Director Kash Patel's young girlfriend, or arranging transportation for her and her friends - but that is a whole other blog posting,). 

Another news story about the heist led with "Someone's going to need a ton of melted butter," and USA Today headlined the brazen theft as "FBI hopes to claw back $400K worth of frozen lobster meat."  (Note:  Some news reports listed the cargo as being "live," while others, such as USA Today described it as frozen "meat."). 

Puns aside, stolen cargo is a serious business in the United States of America.  The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and other industry sources state that the theft of cargo in the US costs American businesses between $15 billion and $35 billion annually.  The costs of crime, like the expenses associated with tariffs, are ultimately born by company employees through the loss of such things as salary increases and bonuses, and, of course, by American consumers through increased prices.

But hey, somebody had some bargain lobster for the holidays, and I never begrudge anyone a good meal!

November Can't Come Soon Enough

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

My congressman, Republican Jason Smith of southeast Missouri, sent out his weekly email newsletter this morning.   He led with what seemed to be an assurance that happy days are here again.  Smith, an energetic Trump bootlicker, gushered us into the New Year with claims that "many families will start seeing relief immediately that shows up where it matters most:  their paychecks and their tax returns."

Maybe some of that massive tax cut for billionaires that Jason and his Republican buddies in Congress passed last year on orders from Donald Trump will reach down into some of the households in Missouri's 8th congressional district.  Maybe.  But will it be anywhere nearly enough to offset the skyrocketing prices of groceries - or to meet the rising costs of healthcare?  And will it make up for healthcare premium benefits that Jason and the Republicans took away from Americans with that same tax cut bill?

Get thee to a grocery store, Jason!   Or visit the ER of a struggling rural hospital (and there are still quite a few in your district - though some are closing).  Watch the choices real people are forced to make as they struggle for survival.  Feel their pain - and then bloviate about how great things are!

Jason Smith is no ordinary congressman.  He is, as he reminds constituents ad nauseum in his weekly email newsletter, the mighty Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the primary tax-writing committee in Congress.  This year's "big, beautiful" tax cut that he is so proud of, comes in large part through the work of his committee.  Jason wants us to understand that, and to remember in November that he helped to put a few extra dollars in our pockets.  But let's remember it in January, too, while we're grocery shopping or trying to find a few bargains at the Dollar Store.  That's where that pittance of a savings on taxes will go.  And God help those who suffer an unexpected illness or a serious injury in the New Year, because the price of healthcare is headed for the stratosphere, almost literally on an Elon Musk rocket!

If Jason Smith ever held a town hall we could ask him about those expenses in life that he regularly forgets to mention in his newsletter.   But with Jason's strong preference for one-way communication, he fails to hear or appreciate the cumulative concern and pain of his constituents.  Maybe he will hear us in November.

Congressman Smith seems to be, at heart, a good old boy, a likable guy, somewhat on the order of Gomer Pyle but without the charisma, and he probably would make an exceptional neighbor.   But as someone entrusted with writing our nation's tax laws, he seems far more focused on taking care of the oligarchs than he is in meeting the needs of his neighbors back home.

When we elect a Democratic majority Congress next November, Jason Smith will lose his pedestal as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.   That will provide him with an opportunity to become reacquainted with his roots and readjust his priorities.  It will be good for him, and it will definitely be good for the rest of us!

November can't come soon enough!

Just Getting Smarter, or Evolving?

 

by Pa Rock

"C" Student of Nature

Years ago when I was working a few evenings a week as an "adjunct" instructor for a community college, one of the classes I occasionally taught was "Introduction to Psychology," something for which my background as a public school teacher had prepared me well..  

(Adjunct instructors are brought in from the community to teach courses on a part-time basis.  They are paid reasonably well, but receive no benefits such as a retirement plan or health insurance, which make them a bargain for overpaid college administrators to seek out and use to fill as many teaching position on campus as is humanly possible.)

Most of my classes were filled with retirees who just came back to take a class for something to do on a Tuesday evening, and the psychology class was no exception.  My task was to explain human behavior to a class of students, almost all of whom had life experiences which far exceeded my own.  One evening during a discussion period, I brought up a question which had been addressed in our text.  The question was "Do animals think?", and the response from the class bordered on being explosive.   It was a resounding "Yes!"  Everyone had pet stories to share, most of which showed the pets to be smarter than their humans.

I have family members who are currently vacationing in Thailand.  They are staying in what appears to be a very modern apartment that is located in a jungle setting.  I had heard that they have to sleep under mosquito netting, and one morning they awoke to find animal scat (excrement) on the floor of their kitchen where some creature had broken in the night before looking for food.  Very primitive!  Last night I received a video that was taken from a camera they had set up in front of the main door to their quarters.  In that candid video, two very energetic monkeys try unsuccessfully and multiple times to yank the door open so they can go inside and forage for food.

Were those monkeys "thinking," or was that just instinctual behavior, something they have been biologically programmed to do?   That had been a major thrust of our discussion that night in the psychology class.

On one of the warm winter days this week I drove to town, and during that short trip there were two instances of squirrels running across the road in front of my approaching car.  Both were successful in their efforts, but their rapid runs across the road set me to thinking about the squirrels of my youth.

Sixty years ago when I was learning to drive, when a squirrel ran across the road in front of a vehicle, he would invariably get about three-quarters of the way, and then turn and run back in the direction from which he had started - usually getting run over in the process.  But now, a mere five dozen years later, they know better and just keep on running - meeting with much less road slaughter.

Something has happened, but what?  Have the squirrels just had more time to observe the relatively new, and increasingly more common, vehicular traffic, and learned from their observations, or have they biologically evolved, perhaps as a consequence of the dumb ones getting killed of by cars and the most mentally and physically fit surviving to breed future generations of smarter squirrels.

My training was in the social sciences and I honestly don't know the answer to the question that I have posed.  Perhaps if some retired park ranger reading this has an opinion on the subject, he would enlighten us.

On a related note, the number of dead armadillos along the Ozarks' roadways seems to be decreasing also.  Some of that may be due to whatever phenomenon is saving the squirrels, but I also suspect that humans are changing as well and know that bouncing an armored armadillo beneath a modern lightweight car can do devastating amounts of damage.

And don't even get me started on deer!

Oh well, just a quick note.  The number of roadkill deer in my hood would indicate that deer are neither getting any smarter nor evolving, but there seem to be an inordinate amount of Joe Bobs around here who take some pride and bragging rights with regard to the number of deer they have hit with their big trucks.  While deer may not be getting any smarter, Joe Bobs are clearly devolving.

That's all!

About the Ramble

 

by Pa Rock

Shameless Typist

"Pa Rock's Ramble" premiered in this space on November 4th, 2007, less than two months after "The Big Bang Theory" first aired on television - and while George W. Bush was still working for Dick Cheney at the White House.   With only a very few rare exceptions during the first few months of its publication, the blog has run on a daily basis ever since - even Sundays and holidays - and occasionally had multiple posting on a single day.   (Today's posting is number 6,815.)

I used to promote "The Ramble" on "Twitter" and had a daily readership of around fifty people a day, not a lot, but enough to keep me typing.  After "Twitter" went over to the Dark Side, I didn't promote it anywhere for awhile, and the number of daily views dropped a level of insignificance, but then I discovered the good people at "Bluesky," and after I began promoting my work there, the numbers rose again.   Because I seem to have a few new "Bluesky" readers every day, I thought this might be a good time to write about this blog itself, and offer some insight as to its makeup and content.

But instead of trying to summarize and evaluate my own work, I decided to turn the effort over to an impartial reader:  "ChatGPT," an idea originally suggested to me by my son, Tim, a real writer.  I posted the following query on that Artificial Intelligence site:

"Please provide a brief description/summary in five hundred words or less about the blog, "Pa Rock's Ramble."

Moments later I had the following reply:  

Pa Rock's Ramble is a personal blog written by Rocky "Pa Rock" Macy, a retired world-traveler and writer living on a small farm in the Ozarks of Missouri.  The blog serves as a wide-ranging digital journal where he shares reflections, commentary, and stories drawn from his life experiences, memories, family, and opinions on current events.

The content is eclectic and deeply personal.  Pa Rock describes the blog as a "cocktail of old writing scraps, special memories, and current personal opinion," and invites readers to comment, criticize, or remark as they wish.  It is dedicated to his grandchildren, whom he refers to as "golden portals to the future," and reflects his desire to leave behind a legacy of thoughts and experiences that might be meaningful or interesting to future generations.

Much of the writing blends personal anecdotes with social and political commentary.  Posts range from stories about life - such as celebrations of a granddaughter's birthday - to analytical takes on national politics and global issues.   Pa Rock's voice is candid and often outspoken, presenting his perspectives on topics like government policies, international affairs, and cultural trends.  His style can be humorous, reflective, critical, and sometimes deeply opinionated, revealing both his personal values and life philosophy.

Beyond opinion pieces, the blog also functions as an archive of Pa Rock's various writings, including short fiction, poetry, family history research, and reflection on his many travels.  His background - as an Army officer, educator, social worker, and world traveler - provides a rich background for many posts.  He recounts adventures from different parts of the world, offering readers glimpses into moments like hitchhiking in Moscow or celebrating New Years in Hanoi.

Over the years, the blog has become a substantial collection of entries, with Pa Rock noting the effort he puts into writing regularly and even contemplating future projects such as family history books and possibly serialized fiction.  He often writes not just for himself, but with an eye toward preserving stories for his descendants and perhaps a broader audience interested in a thoughtful, experienced perspective on life.

In summary, Pa Rock's Ramble is a rich blend of memoir, commentary, and reflection - a blog where a seasoned writer captures the broad sweep of his life and times in a way that is both personal and engaging.  It is a less narrowly themed blog and more a digital diary and cultural commentary platform shaped by Pa Rock's lively voice and life journey.

Okay.  That's it.  I'm fluffed!

Peace President Goes to War on Christmas Day

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald John Trump, a man accustomed to getting what he wants, has nevertheless run up against a brick wall when trying to intimidate the Nobel committee into giving him the Nobel Peace Prize.  The man who was going to end Russia's war on Ukraine on "day one" and failed miserably in that endeavor, now touts a list of wars that he has supposedly resolved, some of which he says he stopped before they even started, and others of which are questionable or false on their face.   But still the Nobel committee shows him no respect.

Of course while the political showman waddles around touting his imaginary peace deals, he also stays busy creating unrest, instability, and violence in the world.  He has kept places like Greenland, Panama, and Canada on edge with hints and even threats of annexation, interfered in the democratic processes of other countries (Honduras, as an example), roiled economies and international politics with tariffs, some of which seem to be based on pure whimsy, and destroyed the USAID programs which did much to bring about and ensure stability in a world fraught with war, famine, and disease.

Trump has also been more than just a destabilizing force in the world, he took direct military action by attacking Syria in April, and having the US Air Force and Navy attack three nuclear facilities in Iran in June.  For the last four months he has had US forces attacking small boats off the northern coast of South America claiming that they were transporting drugs while never providing evidence to back up those claims, and now he has amassed a "great armada" off the coast of Venezuela and is seizing oil tankers as they try to transport Venezuelan oil abroad. He is also threatening a land war with Venezuela - all of which seems directed at overthrowing the country's political leader.

And yesterday, Christmas Day, our Peace President ordered air strikes on ISIS targets in northwest Nigeria, ostensibly to defend Christians in the area from persecutions.  Bombs away!  Merry Christmas!

And still he doesn't have that damned peace prize, the big one, the Nobel Peace Prize, the one that really counts for something.   That would be BIG!  Bigger even than putting his name on the Kennedy Center or wasting taxpayer dollars on new battleships that the Navy can't afford and doesn't need or want just so that he can put his name on them.  Almost as big as putting his own image on a new US dollar coin!

If Piggy doesn't get his prize soon, he may just have to bomb Oslo!

(War is fun when you're playing it with other people's children, ones who can't afford to get a "bone spurs" diagnosis!)

A Foggy Christmas

 

by Pa Rock

Overstuffed Elf

Christmas morning in the Missouri Ozarks and the weather outside is foggy, with a temperature of 55 degrees.  It is supposed to reach 74 degrees by this afternoon.  But climate change, like affordability, is a hoax!  (I just hope Santa's sleigh didn't get stuck in the mud!)

Somebody in Arkansas woke up to quite a Christmas surprise this morning - the Powerball grand prize that was a little north of $1.8 billion, or roughly what Elon Musk makes in a week.  Arkansas has a law on the books that lets the big winner remain anonymous for three years before being revealed.  That gives them time to move and hide the money.

It wasn''t me that won, but last Saturday I did have an Arkansas Powerball ticket in that drawing.  I also had one from Missouri and one from Kansas - a total wipeout!  But for Monday's drawing I had one from Kansas and one from Missouri - and won four dollars on the Kansas ticket - breaking even for the two tickets from the two states.

Last night I had one Missouri Powerball ticket, but have not checked it yet.  Hold on a minute while I check it now . . . okay, I'm back . . . it wasn't a winner, but I did hit one of the white ball numbers - #59.  (I only buy Powerball tickets when the prize goes over one billion - and then only one ticket per drawing unless I happen to be in multiple states, and then I buy one per state.  That's my system, and it has never hit a big winner - at least for me.)

But enough with the avarice and greed.  Hopefully last night's jackpot won't wreck the lives of whoever won, and they will be able to put the money to good use.

I received a new set of headphones for Christmas, ones that fit my big head better, and I will definitely put those to good use!

Whoever imagined that Christmas would be a good day for a barbecue in the Ozarks!

Enjoy the holiday!

Narcissism and Mental Health

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a recognized mental health condition.   People with the disorder often exhibit a heightened sense of self-importance, a desire to be admired, and a lack of empathy for others.  They expect special treatment, seek constant praise, believe they deserve special privileges, and exploit others without regard for their needs or feelings.

While narcissists are the type of people others generally try to avoid in social situations, if they possess money or power, they can command attention, an ability which feeds into their mental health disorder.

A raging narcissist might soothe his inner demons by placing his name on buildings, or golf courses, or battleships.   He might place his image on things like coins, or gild his home and work space as though it was some royal splendor from ages past.  He might try to increase his self-importance by seizing things which do not belong to him.  He would very likely take great care in his personal appearance and go to extremes to appear younger and more virile than he actually is.

A narcissist is not a person who would be expected to rush out and help a friend in need.  He might profess interest or friendship, but only while it was of direct benefit to himself and his own interests.  He would not make a good confidant, baby sitter, or neighbor - and he should certainly not be trusted with power, responsibility, or money.

The primary and consuming interest of a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder is himself.   Once others are aware of that and internalize it, the commotion and distractions caused by the narcissist can be seen for what they truly are:  symptoms of a mental health disorder.

Putting a narcissist in charge exacerbates his mental health condition and can have negative impacts on those must operate and survive under his leadership.  

People suffering from mental health disorders need mental health treatment, not unchecked power. 

Just sayin . . . 

Pa Rock's 2025 Holiday Newsletter

Deck the Halls, Jingle those Bells,

Stuff the Turkey, and Spike that Egg Nog!

Christmas greetings from the Macys of West Plains, Missouri.  This holiday season finds us relatively healthy and happy.  My little dog, Rosie, is eleven now, which makes her seventy-seven in dog years, the same age as I am in human years, so we both can appreciate each other's occasional aches, pains, and infirmities.  My oldest son, Nick, lives with us and is a major help around the house and property, and his dog, Gypsy, rounds out the household.  Gypsy wandered into our lives last year, like a true gypsy, and is easily the happiest and most pleasant member of our little family.

We are hunkered down for the winter and only suffered one catastrophe so far with the furnace being down for nearly two weeks, but it was repaired late yesterday just as the warming trend began to kick in - and we survived just fine pulling space heaters around from room to room.  Sadly, there are many people in the world whose troubles outweigh ours, and we are very thankful for our conveniences and modest luxuries.

2024 had been a year of travel for me with a long drive across southern Canada to Oregon, and other travels to Chicago (by train), New York City, and Salt Lake City, but 2025 proved to be much more restrained.  I did drive to Oregon again this year, but this time took the much less scenic route across Kansas and up into the northwest.

While I was in Salem, Oregon, visiting my daughter Molly and her family, she and I and two of her children, Willow and Judah, took the train from Salem to Seattle, Washington, where we spent three days experiencing, among other things, the iconic Space Needle and Seattle's extremely unique "Gum Wall," an ever changing work of urban art that began more than thirty years ago when a club with its entrance in an alley would not allow patrons in who were chewing gum, so they began placing their gum on the brick walls along the alley.  Today there is a block or so of alley whose walls are covered in colorful chewed chewing gum - as high as the tourists can reach.

Forgive me, friends, for I have strayed.  The Christmas season has little to do with chewed chewing gum.  That's what happens when you get old - the mind wanders!

Molly and two of her kids, Sebastian and Willow, came to visit us over Thanksgiving along with my son, Tim, his wife, Erin, and their children, Olive and Sully.  That was fun!  We went to the river where most of the group skipped stones while Nick and Sully enjoyed some time together fishing.  Sully and Gypsy bonded well and became fast friends.

While I didn't put in much time traveling this year, we did invest in furniture and now have two new chairs and a couch in the living room which all recline, new mattresses, and I have a new office chair which is so comfortable.   "Comfort," in fact, is Pa Rock's word of the year for 2025!

(Did you know that the terminology for office chairs has changed?   My beautiful, fully padded, swiveling office chair on wheels. exactly like the ones business professionals have been using for decades, is now called a "gaming chair."  (I guess they might be exciting for racing downhill, like in a "soap box" derby - but crappy for hide-and seek!)

Other highlights this year included a SREAVES (my mother's family) reunion in Newton County, Missouri, in March which was planned and carried out by my sister, Abigail.  That was fun reconnecting with cousins that I hadn't seen in years.  I had cataract surgery in Springfield, MO, in May, which was uneventful but gave me an opportunity to spend some time with Ranger Bob and his wife, Sandy - and to have a very nice meal at their home!  Other than those highlights, Rosie and I took a couple of weekend trips to visit Tim and his family in Roeland Park, Kansas, and I went to several dozen doctor's appointments in exotic locales like West Plains, MO, Mountain Home, AR, and Springfield, MO.

That's what old people do - visit doctors and stand in line at the pharmacy!

Come see us in West Plains if you get the chance.  That would give me something to write about next year!

Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!

Pa Rock and Rosie - and Nick and Gypsy

End of an Era at the KC Rep

 

by Pa Rock

Theatre Aficionado

Yesterday afternoon the Kansas Macy's and Pa Rock enjoyed our holiday tradition of attending a stage production of "A Christmas Carol" at the KC Rep Theatre on the campus of the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC).    We have been attending for a decade, and I leave the theatre each December saying the most recent production was the best one yet - and this year was certainly no exception.  It was indeed the best one yet.

The KC Rep has produced "A Christmas Carol" for the past forty-four years, so attending is a tradition for many families in this area.  It usually runs nightly along with afternoon performances on the weekends from mid November through just before Christmas.  Some families have been attending across three generations.  

This year is witnessing the end of an era because the very fine actor who plays Ebenezer Scroogs - Gary Neal Johnson - is in his final season of playing the lead.  Mr. Johnson has been a member of the cast for all of the forty-four years that the play has been performed, and he has played Scrooge for the past twenty-five seasons.  Many members of the large cast have also been sa part of the production for multiple years, and for those who are regulars in the audience, going to the annual performances feels like reconnecting with old friends.

This complex production is something that should not be missed, especially for avid fans of live theatre and the work of Charles Dickens.   A revolving stage allows the characters and carolers to move steadily across the stage, and they occasionally roam into the audience.  The effect is that the people watching get a heightened sense that they are part of foggy Victorian London.  The production is very much a total theatre experience.

I'm sure we will do it again next year and meet the new Scrooge!

Happy holidays!

McDonald's Milk: A Sucky Operation

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

Rosie and I are both currently seventy-seven years of age, and both painfully aware that we are getting too old for road trips.   Comfort is a prime consideration, and long hours crammed in a car are definitely hard on tired old bodies.   Closely related to that is the necessity of eating and making comfort stops.   Any stop extends te total time on the road.  Comfort stops can't be helped, but time can be saved by packing meals or using drive-thru lanes and fast food joints.

So on the road, Rosie and I eat way too much junk food when we would rather be home eating healthier.

Today got off to an ugly start due to an encounter with road food.  We are spending a couple of days with my son and his family in the Kansas City area, and this morning, being the first ones up, my little dog and I decided to go into town and get a bag of breakfast sandwiches for the family to have as they began waking up and coming downstairs.  There are several options close by, and this time I chose the local McDonalds.  The service was friendly, the order correct, and we took our bag of breakfast and headed home.

I always order a carton of white milk with breakfast on the road to coat my stomach before I consume a greasy sausage or bacon burger, and, up until today, the milk had come in a small, round, plastic bottle with a screw top lid.   But that didn't happen this morning   I received  the milk in a rectangular carton that had a very small circle of foil hear the top with the words "insert straw here."  The foil circle was significantly smaller than the diameter of the only straw that I received - the one for my other drink, an unsweet iced tea.

Oh bother!

When we got back to Tim and Erin's, I worked at getting the small carton of milk open.  I couldn't get the top of the carton to unfold and open up, and if I had succeeded milk, would have undoubtedly gone everywhere.  The thought occurred to me that the carton was probably designed for one of those hard little straws that used to come with fruit juice boxes, but they had not included one of those with my order.   I dug through the kitchen drawers looking for some sort of sharp knife, but never found the knife drawer.  (Maybe they hide the knives when I visit!)   Finally, however, I did locate the perfect instrument for the job - a corkscrew!

I inserted the tip of the corkscrew into the tiny foil circle, gave it a turn or two, and wall-ah!  Soon I was standing at the sink with the milk carton held above my upturned mouth, squirting a small stream of delicious milk across my parched tongue and down my thirsty throat.  It was almost like drinking straight from the cow - and we've all been there before, right?

McDonalds, and all you other roadside grease pits, if something works, leave it the hell alone!  Go back to those convenient, easy-to-open, round plastic bottles,  When I'm roaring down the road at a hundred-and-fourteen-miles-an-hour, I need something that I can open with one hand and my teeth.  I don't have the luxury of being able to slow down to eighty in order to dig through the glovebox looking for my Swiss Army knife!

Safety first, Ronald, safety first!

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

 

by Pa Rock

American Voter

Donald Trump is not an "employee" of the United States in the true sense of the word.   His team manages the country according to his dictates, prejudices, and whims, but the majority of his "leadership" comes from late-night rants on social media and general shit-posting.    Trump, who weaves in and out of coherence, makes an annual salary of $400,000 plus $50,000 for office expenses, which is very low by corporate standards, though more than he can actually justify - and Trump says he donates all of that $400,000 back to the government.

But $400,000 is just chump change in American politics.  The real money comes from political donors - rich individuals, corporations, and foreign royalty and governments.   Filthy rich South African Elon Musk famously poured around $250 million (that's a quarter of a billion dollars) into the Trump campaign in 2024, and New York banking heir, Timothy Mellon, kicked in $200 million.

Miriam Adelson, the widow of gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson, gave $106 million to Trump's 2024 campaign, and according to Trump (not a reliable source), she has promised to up that figure to $250 million if he runs for a third term in 2028 - something he is constitutionally prohibited from doing, but according to legal beagle Alan Dershowitz, might just be able to do anyway.  (Dershowitz has paid a social price for licking Trump's boots, and claims that his friends and neighbors on Martha's Vineyard no longer invite him to parties and other social events.  Boo-effing-hoo!). 

So if Alan Dershowitz can get Trump on the ballot, and our social and financial betters like Adelson, Mellon, and Musk, can finance a campaign far better than a public effort, and if the new plane from the Qatari royal family has been retrofitted at taxpayer expense to where it is worthy of a Trump campaign, maybe the citizens of the United States can spend four more years watching Trump doze at meetings, hurl insults at dead people, and prance around his new ballroom like slumlord royalty.  

It would be a very sad state of affairs for America and our democracy, but it could happen.   If it does, he won't be working for us.  He has never worked for us - he works for them, the donor class, the oligarchs.  They have the best access to the American presidency and the American treasury that money can buy.

As the late Molly Ivins so eloquently put it:  "You got to dance with them what brung you."  The people who bought the presidency for Donald Trump own him - they brought him to the dance - and the rest of us just pay the bills and clean up the mess when they all go home.

Happy holidays.

The Annual Holiday Road Trip

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Rosie and I are on the road today heading to Roeland Park, Kansas, in the Kansas City suburbs to spend three nights with my son, Tim, and his family.   Sunday afternoon we will be in the audience at the KC Rep (at the University of Missouri at Kansas City - UMKC) for their annual production of "A Christmas Carol."  We have been attending these annual performances since Olive was four - and she is fourteen now.  The stage show did not happen in 2020 due to the pandemic, but we have been at every other performance - usually center stage, somewhere in the first two rows.

The KC Rep does a wonderful job with "A Christmas Carol," and each year there are always a few changes in the production to keep it fresh.

This will be my third big out-of-town trip this week.  Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment in Springfield - 100 miles from West Plains, at the eye clinic - and hit the Costco while I was in the "Queen City of the Ozarks."  Yesterday I drove to the far end of Mountain Home, Arkansas (55 miles from West Plains), for another doctor's appointment, one that was very painful.  Hint:  the appointment was with a uruologist!   I did see a double rainbow while in Mountain Home, but have no idea whether that portends something special or not.  There are no doctors waiting for me in Kansas City today, but our drive - one way - is 270 miles.

It's a good time to be on the road because the furnace still has not been fixed.  I like road trips, the driving and listening to music help to take my mind off of the vulgarities  spewing out of our nation's capital.   Sooner or later I will write about Piggy wanting his name on the Kennedy Center, but it will take several more days before I can calm myself enough to tackle that affront to civilization and the arts.

So, for this weekend at least, I will be enjoying Christmas in Merry Old Victorian London.  Ebenezer Scrooge had his issues, but he looks like a choir boy compared to our Felon-in-Chief!

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come needs to drop by 1600 Pennsylvania late some evening put on a personalized show for Piggy.  Or maybe they could hold it at the Kennedy Center!

 

Another Macy Spelling Phenom!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

My youngest grandson, Sullivan Macy, lives in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City with his parents, Tim and Erin, and his older sister, Olive.  He is nine years old and in the fourth grade.   Late yesterday morning Sully's father sent me the following email:

"We just got back from the Crestview Spelling Bee.  Sully did so good considering he was the youngest one up there.   They started with about 20 spellers and he made it to the final two.  He squared off with a sixth grader who eventually got him, but there was a long battle where they both kept missing really hard words.   But he spelled a lot of tough ones.  The crowd oohed with surprise as he spelled "fabulous" and "democracy" correctly.

"I was so proud of him."

I'm proud of Sully, too - and told him so yesterday evening over the phone.

The Macy family produces great spellers.  I was in a classroom spelling bee when I was in second grade.  Two other students and I made it halfway through the third grade spelling book before I was finally eliminated.  One of the best surprises I had as a child, also around the time I was in second grade, was when my mother brought home a dictionary.  I was fascinated with the new book and laid on the living room floor scanning and consuming it page-by-page to come up with new words to conquer.  The biggest word that I encountered in that new Webster's dictionary was "spondylotherapeutics," a non-standard medical term dealing with spinal conditions.  Seventy years later I still remember that big word and how to spell it!

Sully's older cousin, Boone Macy, Uncle Nick's son, went to a large rural K-8 school near West Plains, MO, called "Junction Hill" where he was, I think, the classroom champ in the local spelling bee each of the nine the nine years he attended.  Boone, who is now twenty-six, was a spelling machine!  Now he is a guide in a commercial cave where he has to deal with "s-t-a-l-a-c-t-i-t-e-s", "s-t-a-l-a-g-m-i-t-e-s", and 

"b-a-t-s"!

And Sully's dad, of course, is a successful screenwriter, a heck of an editor, and a fairly decent speller!

Congratulations, Sully, and thank you for carrying on a proud family tradition!

Happy Birthday, Molly Files

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Papa

My daughter, Molly Files, was born forty-nine years ago today at what was then the almost new Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri.   She grew up in a variety of small towns in the Midwest and moved to Arizona as a young adult where she lived on her own for several years, eventually marrying and having her first child there.  She and her young family migrated to Salem, Oregon, eighteen years ago where they still reside.  Today she is a very active parent of three teenagers

Molly was born with little red curls, which my mother loved, but today her hair is long and black.  It's funny how some people age!

Due to the distance between where we live, Molly and I only get to see each other once or twice a year.  I drove to Oregon in June of this year to visit Molly and her family - and had a very nice time, and then a few weeks ago I received an email telling me that she would be back in Missouri for Thanksgiving - and she and two of her kids came to West Plains to spend a day of their all-too-brief trip.   That was a very nice surprise!

Molly, I hope you are having a great day and have been able to do something really special for yourself.  I think about you every day and will see you in the spring.

Happy 49th birthday!

Tales from the Ice Maiden

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump is a man who tries to control every news cycle with his never-ending carnival of outrages, but over the past few days he has been caught up in a couple of outrages that he cannot control.  First Trump brought down a buttload of righteous indignation upon himself for his tactless and bizarre remarks on social media following the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, remarks which seemed to indicate that the Hollywood director had been murdered over his political differences with Trump.  The Reiners had been killed by their son, a family tragedy,  and Trump's desperate attempt to insert himself into the story was a repulsive example of his unbridled narcissism.  

In a follow-up a day later to his highly disturbing post about the deaths of the Reiners, Trump got even uglier by saying that Rob Reiner was "very bad for our country."   Many Republican officials expressed concern and even indignation over Trump's callous and very troubling reaction to the double murder.

The public controversy over Donald Trump's disrespect toward the Reiner family was still at a full boil when a second story broke that also escaped Trump's control.  His White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, a woman he refers to as "the Ice Maiden," and who seemingly controls much of the traffic  and paperwork that makes its way into the Oval Office, and who is notoriously press-shy, had somehow been convinced to sit for a long series of interviews with Chris Whipple, a reporter for Vanity Fair magazine.    Whipple's article, based on eleven interviews that he conducted with Ms. Wiles, ran this week, and it had a shock impact on national political players of all stripes.

Apparently, the Ice Maiden became relaxed during the series of conversations and let her guard down.  While she is not yet claiming that portions of what she said were off the record, she is asserting that some of her views and statements were taken out of context, and that she had never been apprised that the conversations were being recorded.   They were more like unguarded, friendly chats.

One would think that a person whose primary function is keeping sleazeball politicians and conniving billionaires away from the President of the United States, would have shown more caution around a journalist whose job is ferreting through other people's lives looking for things of interest.  

But Susie talked, boy howdy did she talk!  Part One of Whipple's article was posted on the internet yesterday.  In it, the White House Chief of Staff gives her unvarnished opinions on several characters who are central to Trump's second term in the Whtie House, including the President himself.

Ms. Wiles, whose father was former professional football player and sports broadcaster Pat Summerall, an alcoholic, talked about alcoholics and their "big personalities," and she described Trump, who does not drink alcohol, as someone who has "an alcoholic's personality," and that he governs with the mindset that "there's nothing he can't do.   Nothing, zero, nothing."  He has, according to Wiles, a "big personality."

She described Vice President JD Vance as having been a conspiracy theorist for more than a decade - to which Vance replied yesterday that he only believes in conspiracies that are true.  Her remarks about Attorney General Pam Bondi generally portrayed the government lawyer as a lightweight with competency issues.  She even went after former Trump buddy and billionaire Elon Musk, citing his goofball eccentricities like sleeping on the floor in the Executive Office Building in a sleeping bag, even during the daytime.   She noted Musk was "an avowed ketamine user," and referred to him as "an odd, odd, duck."

The published article in Vanity Fair was unsettling to the Trump world, but for now they are circling the wagons and waiting to see which direction Trump explodes.

All in all, this was not a good couple of days for Piggy.   The news is so much better (for him) when he controls it.  Tonight he is going on television to address the nation.  Perhaps he will give Rob and Michele Reiner another good trashing and try to escape the Tales of the Ice Maiden - and then he might "weave" off into the Epstein or affordability hoaxes. 

Pass the ketamine.

Three Presidents Eulogize Rob and Michele Reiner

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Famed Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were knifed to death in their Los Angeles home Sunday evening, and their 32-year-old son has been arrested for the bloody murders.  Donald Trump, who was not a fan of Rob Reiner, could have issued a generic statement of condolence or he could have remained quiet.   But Trump, who lacks the ability or dignity to remain quiet when he smells an opportunity to troll, stormed onto social media and banged out one of his most reprehensible and disgusting postings ever.  With Trump, the objective is always to make things about himself while tearing down others, and he did that in spades!

Here is what the President of the United States had to say about two murders and a family tragedy in Los Angeles:

"A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood.  Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once a very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.  He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps as never before.  May Rob and Michele rest in peace."

Quiet, Piggy.  It wasn't about you.

Here is how another United States President eulogized Reiner in a social media post.  Barack and Michelle Obama were scheduled to meet with the Reiners in the evening on the same day they were murdered.  Barack Obama had this to say about the tragedy that enveloped the Reiner family:  

"Michelle and I are heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michele.  Rob's achievements in film and television gave us some of our most beloved stories on screen.  But beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people - and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action.   Together he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose.   They will be remembered for the values they championed and the countless people they inspired.  We send our deepest condolences to all who loved them."

That's how you do it, Piggy.

And finally, this from Bill Clinton, another President of the United States:

"Hillary and I are heartbroken by the tragic deaths of our friends Rob and Michele Reiner.  They inspired and uplifted millions through their work in film and television.  And they were good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better through their active citizenship in defense of inclusive democraccy, setting an example for us all to follow.  Hillary and I will always be grateful for their friendship, unfailing kindness, and support."

Are you getting the full picture, Piggy?   Any old hog can wallow around in a gilded sty and believe himself to be loved and important, but it takes a person with empathy and respect for others to be presidential and successfully carry the weight and responsibility of the office.    The presidency is about building people up, not tearing them down, and it is about making life better and providing opportunities for all - not just your family and rich cronies.

Piggy, give the hate speech a rest.  It diminishes you, bigly.

Ozark Cold

 

by Pa Rock

Icicle Man

It's not Arctic cold, or Antarctic cold where the penguins splash in the sea regardless of the temperature, or Siberian cold, Greenlandic cold, or even Great Plains cold, but Ozarks cold is damned cold nonetheless.  Yesterday morning it was ten degrees outside just at daylight when Rosie and I go for our walk, and this morning it was fourteen degrees..  (This morning I whistled the tune to "We're Having a Heat Wave" as we walked and shivered our way up and down the driveway.)

I grew up in the Ozarks, so I can handle this cold crap, even at the brittle age of seventy-seven, and I know that it will get worse before the winter is over.   I can handle that, too.  But this year it's different.  This year our damned furnace went out!  This year we are staying warm by dragging a couple of space heaters around the house trying to keep the pipes - and humans and dogs - from freezing.

On the plus side out little house is well insulated and the doors and windows fit tight, so there are no drafts.

Rosie and I would take off and go to Hot Springs or someplace civilized for a couple of days, but I have three doctors' appointments this week, all very necessary, so we are stuck at home.

It's supposed to start warming up today.   But, this is only mid-December, and the weather forecast in the Ozarks can change hourly.

The furnace man, who is very conscientious and a good guy, has been out twice, but has now had to order a part which we await.  Worst case scenario is that won't work and I will be buying a new furnace - Merry Christmas - but at least we will be warm!

Rosie's nose is cold, as it should be, which means she is well, and I'm still bitching which indicates that I am fine, too.   We're staying warm, and hope that you are as well!

The Tenant from Hell

 

by Pa Rock 

Citizen Journalist

The White House, the primary residence of Presidents of the United States and the office complex for their top officials, is commonly referred to as "the Peoples' House" because it belongs to the people of the United States of America and not to the building's temporary tenant.  Modifications have been made to our house over the past two centuries, yet those changes have not been done willy-nilly at the demand of the tenants, they occur after a thoughtful process that is accomplished by several of our fellow stakeholders in the property.

Last month the Trump administration quietly orchestrated the demolition of the East Wing of the White House without any official authority to do so, and most of the structure was in rubble before the American public, the owners of the property, were made aware of its destruction.  Trump has said that he was going to erect a ballroom capable of accommodating 1,000 guests in the area next to the East Wing and that the new ballroom would not actually have physical contact with the Wing.  He lied, of course.  Not long after that statement was made, the entire East Wing was bulldozed to the ground.

Part One of Trump's dastardly plan was achieved.   With the East Wing gone, he could proceed with Part Two, the construction of the actual ballroom, but again, with no input from anyone other than Trump and his family and cronies.  His nod to the public was that he would fund the project entirely through donations, presumably from his oligarch, billionaire buddies - all of whom benefit from doing business with the US government.  (The American public did not need a say in the matter because they were not paying for this monstrous addition to their home, he and his rich pals were footing the bill.)

All of that, of course, is not the way things are supposed to work.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded non-profit organization designated by Congress to protect historic sites.  The National Trust should have been consulted before a third of the White House complex was intentionally destroyed, and now they are suing to block the Trump administration from constructing its vanity ballroom until the Trust has time to evaluate and act on the matter.

The National Trust filed a lawsuit this past Friday in the US District Court for DC asking the the project be stopped by the Court until a standard federal review for building projects could be completed and public comment on the proposed changes have been sought and collected.   In other words, if you want to modify the People's House, first you go through a review process and then the public is given an opportunity to have its say on modifications to Our House.

In its legal complaint the Trust states that plans for the project were not filed with the National Capital Planning Commission as required by federal law and that it failed to get an environmental assessment or impact statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, and that construction was not authorized by Congress.  

Trump is a builder.  He knew there was a process to go through before tearing down one structure and replacing it with another, there always is.  He simply chose to ignore the process and bull his way through without any official approval.  

The complaint filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation states - in part:

"No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever. - not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else.   And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public an opportunity to weigh in."

The lawsuit is asking that all work on the project cease immediately until all necessary reviews have been completed and all approvals have been acquired.

For anyone who is blissfully unaware of the havoc that a bad renter can cause, please consider watching the film "Pacific Heights" (1990), a deeply disturbing look the hell that a pair of idealistic young landlords (Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith) unleash upon themselves when they rent their dream home to absolute worst renter imaginable (Michael Keaton).

The White House does not belong to Donald John Trump.  It is ours.  He is a tenant on a four-year lease, and right now he is clearly the tenant from Hell - and he makes Michael Keaton look like a lightweight!

Impeach and evict!

Dick Van Dyke was born a Century Ago Today in West Plains, MO!

 

by Pa Rock

West Plains Resident 

Entertainment legend Dick Van Dyke turns one hundred years old today, undoubtedly celebrating in the company of family and friends at his home in the foothills of Los Angeles, California.    But the actor and comedian (and singer and dancer) was not always a resident of the Hollywood scene.  He was born in the small, very rural burg of West Plains, Missouri, and his family relocated soon after to their hometown of Danville, Illinois, where Dick and his also famous younger brother, Jerry, grew up.  

Van Dyke joined the US Armed Forces in 1944 during his senior year in high school.   He hoped to become a pilot but was instead assigned to Special Services where he served as a singer and dancer entertaining troops overseas and in the continental United States.  It was during his military service that the young soldier was once again reunited with the Missouri Ozarks.  Van Dyke spent part of his enlistment at Camp Crowder (the largest inland military base in America at the time) near Neosho, Missouri, less than two hundred miles from his birthplace in West Plains.  Van Dyke's time at Camp Crowder was mentioned several times and even depicted on occasion on his hit television series, "The Dick Van Dyke Show," in the 1960's.

Dick Van Dyke was a struggling actor when he landed the lead in the 1960 Broadway production of "Bye Bye Birdie," a role for which he won a Tony Award.   He took a week off from that Broadway hit to audition for a new televison show that Carl Reiner was producing, and landed the leading role.  "The Dick Van Dyke Show" premiered on CBS in 1961, and the young actor was soon a household name.   He won three Prime Time Emmy Awards from his work on that show.    The versatile entertainer even won a Grammy Award in 1965 for Best Children's Album.  Some of Van Dyke's better known movies include "Mary Poppins," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," and "Bye Bye Birdie."

Dick Van Dyke was still working in 2023 when he appeared in four episodes of the daytime television drama, "Days of Our Lives," and his voice was featured in an episode of "The Simpsons" that same year.  

The circumstances of Dick Van Dyke's birth are an interesting commentary on the social mores of life in the United States a century ago.  The entertainer reportedly said on "The Tonight Show" twenty years or so ago that  his mother, who was pregnant with him and unwed, was sent from her home in Danville, Illinois, to stay with relatives in West Plains until the baby was born.  The common version of the story in West Plains is that his father was a salesman who was working in West Palins at the time of his son's birth, and the family returned to Danville soon after the arrival of the baby.

There is a story on the front page of today's West Plains Quill which was informed by Dick's sister-in-law, Shirley, Jerry Van Dyke's widow.  According to Shirley Van Dyke's account Hazel McCord, a young stenographer, met Loren "Cookie" Van Dyke, a saxophonist and dancer at a lawn party where he was performing in Danville, Illinois.  They were married in Danville in June of 1925 and immediately hit the road in his vehicle headed for California where the groom hoped to become famous as a Hollywood star.  They made it as far as West Plains, MO, where, according to Dick, they must have run out of gas.   Hazel had been "in the family way" when they married, and after the baby was born in West Plains, the young family packed up and went back to Danville.

Whatever the circumstances, it is certainly an honor to know that someone as famous and influential as Dick Van Dyke drew his first breath right here in the hills and vales of West Plains and the beautiful Missouri Ozarks.

Happy birthday, sir!  May they keep getting better and better!

Indiana Stands Strong!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

After suffering an array of threats against themselves and their families, their property, and the well-being of their state, members of the strongly Republican dominated state senate in Indiana yesterday stood strong and gave the Trump administration a one-finger salute as that body turned down the new congressional maps that had been ordered by the White House.  In the end the vote wasn't even close.  The Indiana State Senate voted the measure down 31-19.

Not only did members suffer threats of violence and harm from random nut jobs, they also received an aggressive amount of political pressure from individuals and organizations outside of their state, with Donald Trump and JD Vance being two of the more prominent bullies.  In the hours before the vote was taken a posting on social media by the right-wing "Heritage Action" subtly reminded Indiana state senators and voters what was at stake:

"President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders:  "If the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state.   

Roads will not be paved.  Guard bases will close.   Major projects will stop.  These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame."

The Trump administration has apparently not yet taken ownership of those sentiments, but should those punitive acts begin occurring, their genesis will certainly not be shrouded in mystery.

The new maps in Indiana would have stripped the Indianapolis area of its representation in Congress by attaching parts of the city to surrounding rural districts, and the two Democratic congressmen from Indianapolis would have likely lost their seats.   One of those two Democratic seats also belongs to the state's only Black representative in Congress.

The Trump administration put pressure on several states to redraw their congressional maps in an effort to keep GOP control of the US House nexxt year.  Trump ordered the Missouri legislature to redraw its congressional maps to eliminate the Democratic seat covering most of Kansas City, and the Missouri State Legislature  quickly complied.  (Missouri citizens are fiercely fighting back against Trump's interference in their state's politics - and it will likely be overturned by a vote of the people.)   But Indiana showed far more determination and resolve to maintain their state's sovereignty than Trump's bootlickers in the Missouri Legislature were able to do.

Nobody likes bullies, and Indiana had the cajones to stand up to the biggest, meanest, and nastiest bully of them all!

Salute, Hoosiers!  Well done!

Fishing, Lies, and Penance

by Bob Randall

(Editor's Note:  I hadn't heard from Ranger Bob for awhile and was starting to grow concerned, when I received an email from him earlier this week letting me know things were fine - he had just been away fishing. Bob went on to describe his fishing weekend with friends in his typical humorous fashion.  I asked if I could share the email here for others to enjoy, and Bob agreed.  For those of us who can't visit one of Missouri's beautiful state parks this fall, we can live vicariously through Ranger Bob!  Thanks for sharing, old friend. - Pa Rock)

On the Montauk State Park fishing trip of December 5,6, and 7, four of us had a great time.  On Saturday morning I returned to the location I had successfully fished the previous afternoon below the rearing raceways.   If you're familiar with the area, it is downstream of the old historic mill.  Fishing a soft hackle fly in the stream between the river and the rearing area outflow, I used the same method of swinging a soft hackle which might have mimicked any of the common aquatic insects in their emerging stages.  I have listened to a professional fly fishing class which cost me nearly $150 (what the heck, it's my birthday present to myself), about swinging nymphs.   He swore that most fish are caught within 15 seconds of the swing, and when your fly reaches the end of the swing (I call it the dangle) it's time to recast to a quartering downstream position.  I never caught any fish on the swing.  I caught all of those on Friday afternoon on the "dangle."  Sometimes I had to let it sit at the end of the swing for a minute or so and then all of a sudden: bam!  A strike.  The nice thing about a "dangle" strike is that you let the fish set the hook itself.   You can lollygag, watch birds, other fishermen, water conditions, or even daydream and let the fish set the hook for you.

Back to Saturday morning.  Using the "dangle" technique, I caught a fish right off.  Another cast, recast, and then I caught a lunker that put up such a fight that it broke my fly rod! .........................

As I wrote that previous sentence, I could hear my dad's voice from when I was about ten years old., telling me not to lie.  I recall that he looked at me sternly and said, "Don't lie.  I don't like liars."  So in obedience to Dad, I admit that I did not catch a lunker that broke my rod.  I caught a tree.

Any seasoned fly fisher will tell you that when you get hung up, you should pull the line with your hand, not by trying to rip it away with your fly rod.  I knew better.  I gave a swift and strong sideways jerk with my rod, trying to get the fly free.  My rod snapped.   At nearly a $300 value, my pride and joy of fly fishing was destroyed;

Oh, the feeling of shame!  I experienced anguish, disgust, embarrassment, mortification, and self-blame.  It morphed into rage.  I said some very bad words.  I finally got my line free, but not so much the fly.   The fly still ornaments the tree limb in a gloating display of taunting evil.  I hate that fly!  I hate that tree even more!

What's a guy to do?  I had not brought a spare rod because I was trying to save space.  I could maybe rent a rod from the park store.  Wait.  My fishing buddy is a hard core angler and he knows not to leave home without a spare rod.  He is so good he even had a spare spare.   Two spare rods!  I eventually got back to fishing and caught seven more that afternoon.  I missed at least three hours of life's precious moments of fly fishing.

As penance for my indiscretions, I offer the following advice to any reader who is fool enough to care:

1. Never try to rip a fly loose from a snag with your rod.  Grab the line with your hand and pull straight back until it becomes free or the weakest part of the leader breaks.
2. Never go fishing without a spare outfit.
3. If you don't have a spare outfit, find a fishing buddy who always brings a spare.
4. Telling a lie about the size of a fish you actually caught or got away is different from telling a lie about how you broke your fly rod.  A really good fish story transcends honesty.  (Failing to admit that you fell in the river is a lie of omission.   That's another story.)
5. If it crosses your mind that I should stop fishing, bite your tongue, and don't speak to me again.
6. Life is better when you fish.
7. Finally, I offer you a mathematical formula for successful fly fishing:  fewer trees = more fish.
8. Finally, part II:  Keep your lines tight, mend your line when necessary, adjust the line for a proper drift, read the water before you cast, don't walk behind a fly angler when he or she is casting, catch and release requires you to return a live, healthy fish to the water.  KEEP THEIR GILLS WET!
9. Finally, part III:  It is better to fish before you die than to die before you fish.
10. Finally, final:  I step down from my soapbox a wiser, more equanimous man.

Missouri to Enact Gerrymander in Spite of Citizens' Initiative

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter (of the pissed-off variety!)

The GOP dominated Missouri Legislature pushed through a gerrymander of the state's congressional districts in September at the command of Donald Trump.  The elderly entertainer's White House staff told him that with some devious juggling of congressional district lines in Missouri, one more Democratic seat in Congress could be eliminated and gifted to the Republicans.  The fact that particular seat was held by a black man only served to make the change even more appealing to Trump and company.

The GOP Missouri Legislature rushed to do Trump's bidding and eliminated Kansas City's voice in the next Congress.

Several court challenges were filed, and there was also a citizen's movement organized to fight the injustice through an initiative (petition drive) to stop the new gerrymander law from going into effect.    It will take about 110,000 valid signatures of Missouri voters to place the question on the ballot in 2026, and yesterday a group called "People Not Politicians" turned in 691 boxes of signed petitions to put the measure on the ballot and let the voters decide if they want the gerrymander or not.  The petitions contain about 305,000 signatures, enough to make it very likely there will be plenty which are valid.

The Secretary of State for Missouri, a Republican named Denny Hoskins, is now in charge of going through the petitions and verifying the signatures.  Once he is done, if there are the number of valid signatures required, Hoskins will put the matter before Missouri voters.

In the past when petitions were submitted that would change or stop a law from going into effect, the law was put on hold until after the signatures were counted and the follow-up election - if there was one -  was held.  Hoskins, however, said that on advice of his own attorney and the state's attorney general, another Republican, he would not halt the implementation of the gerrymander and that it would go into effect tomorrow.

That high-handed maneuver by the state's Republican Party will be heading to court as well.

I live in Missouri, I vote in Missouri (every election), and I understand the basics of Missouri politics.  The Republican Party in my state resists democracy.  They are still smarting over voters lifting the GOP's abortion ban in the state a couple of years ago - and before that voter's rejecting the "right to work" legislation passed by the state legislature.  The Republican Party in Missouri is even trying to change the "initiative" process in Missouri to ensure that voters are never again able to change the will of the GOP legislature.

The Kansas City and St. Louis urban areas - and Boone County where the University of Missouri is located - are the state's three Democratic strongholds, and Republicans are constantly on the lookout for ways to manage those areas and control their voting power.  The latest affront to democracy in the "show me" state (the gerrymander) not only deprives Kansas City of a congressman who will be attuned to the voters' needs of a major American city, it also strikes a strong racist chord by denying the state and Congress itself of fairer representation for a racial minority.

And racism is a big part of the gerrymander movement, both nationally and in Missouri.

The Game Changer

 

by Pa Rock

Decrepit Typist

Being old, I have many aches and pains and medical conditions to occupy my time and conversation.  Of late, the top of that list has been "balance issues."  I have had two falls over the past five years that have each resulted in a broken arm, and four or five other falls that should have had serious consequences but instead just resulted in pain, discomfort, and an increased fear of falling.  Aging has also made my bones more brittle and my joints more resistant to movement.  When I sit for several minutes and then stand, I sound like an adolescent kid banging on his first drum set!

I had a hard fall on the driveway a couple of weeks ago which should have broken some bones but fortunately did not.  I used Ibuprofen to stave off the first round of pain, but after that just let nature run its course.  A week after the fall I was barely able to walk, but kept hobbling on because, being retired or not, there are still things that need to get done.

My Dad was stubborn and pig-headed, too.  Sixteen years ago he was an eighty-five year old landlord out delivering Christmas gifts to his renters on Christmas Eve when he slipped on a frost-covered porch, took a hard hit to the head, and still managed to drive himself home and function for the rest of the day.  Dad was in Missouri, and I called him that evening from my home in Arizona like I did late every afternoon.  He told me about the fall, said he was alright, but going to bed early.  He called an ambulance later that night and died in the hospital before daylight on Christmas morning - from old age and the effects of a fall.

I have not done the research, but nevertheless I would venture to guess that we generally tend to reflect our parents lives in our own, and that we can expect to live roughly the same length of time as they did, though maybe a little longer due to improvements in medicines and medical care, and that we are likely to expire from the same causes as our parents.

Hence my concern with fallling - that and the fact that balance is becoming more and more of an issue.  

The outlook has been gloomy - but today things seem brighter, and it is because of the new mattress that I mentioned in this blog yesterday.     I had ordered new mattersses for my son and I prior to Thanksgiving, and they both arrived yesterday.  Last night I slept better than I had in a very long time, and I awoke ready to be active and get things done.   Most of my aches and pains were gone and I even felt more secure in my balance.  Nick said his sleep had been better as well.

Today the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I have twice the mobility that I had yesterday.

If life is giving you signals that the race is about over, consider getting a new mattress.  It might be a game changer!