Musk Is Already Turning Twitter into a Free-for-All Hellscape

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, currently credited with being the world's richest human, finalized the purchase of Twitter this past week with a promise to the platform's advertisers that he would not let the social media site become a "free-for-all" hellscape.  That was what he said, but his actions quickly betrayed his words.

Yesterday Twitter's new owner posted a reply to a tweet by Hillary Clinton in which he indicated there might be more to the story of the assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, than had previously been reported.  Musk then linked his tweet to an article pushing an unfounded conspiracy theory alleging that Pelosi'a attacker had been a gay prostitute who was in the employ of the victim.  Musk left the posting up long enough to attract the attention of the MAGA crowd and then pulled it down.

San Francisco Police have confirmed that Mr. Pelosi and his forty-two year-old attacker DID NOT know each other prior to the assault.  The police have also acknowledged that the attacker entered the home looking for Nancy Pelosi, and that in addition to the hammer, he also brought along zip ties.  

Elon Musk owned Twitter less than twenty-four hours, and he was already using his new toy to stoke partisan political fires with the potential of violence by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories.  That sounds like the early stages of 'forming a free-for-all hellscape' to this tired old typist!

I, for one, am thinking very seriously about packing up and moving on.  

Another Gun Threat to Missouri Students

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Citizen Journalist

It has been a week of duck-and-cover for students in Missouri schools.    This past Monday a 19-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15 assault weapon and plenty of ammunition forced his way into a St. Louis high school where he killed a student and a teacher and injured seven others.  That was followed by another incident on Friday when a lone gunman, also armed with an AR-15,  as well as a handgun and plenty of ammunition, was arrested near the small town of Annapolis in Iron County (southeast of St. Louis) when he threatened to shoot a school bus that was transporting children home from school.

According to news reports the driver of the school bus noticed an armed individual wearing camouflage clothing standing near a place where he normally drops off children.   The driver was concerned enough that he chose to drive by the bus stop without stopping.  The local police department and the county sheriff's office were notified, and the police chief arrived on scene first and arrested the man with the guns.  Witnesses said that he had threatened to shoot the bus.

The potential shooter was arrested and charged with "several" felonies, although the specifics of the charges have yet to be released to the public.    It is also not currently known how many children were on the school bus at the time of the incident.

One thing is clear, however:  quick thinking by the school bus driver and quick action by law enforcement may have averted a second school tragedy in Missouri in less than a week.

Gun laws in Missouri languish somewhere between weak and non-existent. Anyone aged nineteen or older can legally carry a gun - openly or concealed - without a permit or training, and the state recognizes concealed weapons permits that were issued by other states.   In 2021, the GOP controlled state legislature of Missouri passed, and GOP Governor Parson signed, one of those spurious state laws that claim to override any federal mandate that they interpret as being in opposition to the Second Amendment.  That law, which is titled the "Second Amendment Protection Act" mandates that "all federal acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, and regulations, whether past, present, or future, that infringe on the people's right to keep and bear ams as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (and Article 1, Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution) must be invalid in this state."

But in its rush to protect the rights of citizens to own guns, the state government of Missouri has been notoriously lax in passing legislation that would protect the rights of individuals to live their lives without being shot.  The state has no "red flag" laws which would give police authority to temporarily remove weapons from a person who has been determined to be mentally unfit to possess them.

Legal challenges to the Second Amendment Protection Act are being brought by the police departments of St. Louis and Kansas City, and the matter of a state trying to usurp federal authority will ultimately be decided in the courts.  But for today, at this moment in time, the state of Missouri is mired in gun lunacy and our children remain highly vulnerable targets of well-armed, unstable people.

The "show-me" state is showing the world it values guns more than children.

Shame on us!

Jerry Lee Lewis Flies Away!

 

by Pa Rock

Music Fan

American rocker and piano-pounder Jerry Lee Lewis passed away yesterday at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi.  He was eighty-seven.  Lewis, who was among the first set of artists inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.   In addition to those two musical genres, he was also known for performing gospel music, including a rocking version of  Albert Brumley's "I'll Fly Away."

Jerry Lee Lewis grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, playing along the banks of the Mississippi River with his two equally boisterous cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart.  All three were talented piano players and performers.  Mickey Gilley passed away earlier this year, and I posted a remembrance of him in this blog on May 9, 2022, which was titled "Mickey Gilley has Left the Stage."  Reverend Swaggart lives on.

Jerry Lee Lewis was a controversial character.  As a young man of twenty-three his career was sidetracked and almost wrecked when a London journalist discovered that Lewis was married to his 13-year-old cousin.  Some sources say the girl was actually twelve when they were first married.  Years later a television documentary suggested that his stage nickname of "The Killer" might be well deserved when it implied that he could have had some involvement in the death of his fifth wife (of seven).  Also, in 1976 at his 41st birthday celebration, Lewis accidentally shot his bass player, Norman Owens, in the chest.  Owens survived the shooting.

Fifty years or so ago I had the good fortune to see Jerry Lee Lewis at a live show at the Shrine Mosque win Springfield, Missouri, where he shared the program with Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton. It was an amazing show, and Jerry Lee did everything that could possibly be done with a piano on stage short of setting it on fire!  Then, in 2008, during this blog's first year of existence, my youngest son suggested that I might write about that show in this space.  On August 26, 2008, I met that challenge with a posting entitled "Great Balls of Fire."  The following was taken from that essay:

"Jerry Lee Lewis (and Cousin Mickey, too, for that matter) can do anything with a piano.   That night he pounded out several songs and then ended the show with his signature number, Great Balls of Fire.  Our group was standing watching Jerry get crazy at the piano, and he was standing also.   The music was raging by the time he kicked the piano bench off of the stage and into the audience.  And then he was pounding the keyboard with his butt, and then he was back to leaning over the ivories and attacking them with both hands - never missing a note or a beat - and then . . . and then we all gasped in amazement as 'the Killer' lunged into the final few bars of the song with both hands and a foot beating Great Balls of Fire  out of a piano that was probably just as shocked as we were!"

What a showman!

Eric Schmitt Tweets his True Self

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I always wonder when really odd tweets start popping up in the evenings if liquor might not be playing a part in the tweeter's colorful bursts of outrage.

Missouri's GOP Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is now wholly focused on getting elected to fill retiring Ol' Roy Blunt's seat in the US Senate, has posted a couple of evening tweets lately which feel, to this tired old typist at least, as though they have crossed a line.  Just recently, for example, at 8:06 p.m. on October 11th,  2022, Schmitt offended many people, Jews and non-Jews alike, when he posted this tweet which promoted the idea of a concert by two "entertainers" who have both expressed antisemitic views:

"America needs a @kanyewest and @KidRock tour.  Let's go!"

That resulted in more blowback than Schmitt was obviously expecting, and he deleted the tweet the next day in the cool morning light of reason.

It has now been revealed that the family of the 19-year-old school shooter in St. Louis tried to have the police remove a weapon (an AR-15), from their son prior to the shooting, and the police refused to do so because they felt he was legally entitled to own the weapon - and Missouri has no "red flag" laws which would have given law enforcement latitude to honor the family's request.     It was also revealed yesterday that the young man had been turned down in an effort to buy an AR-15 by a licensed gun dealer after he failed an FBI background check, and he had instead purchased the murder weapon from an unlicensed dealer.    After all of that became public knowledge, this gem of a tweet, again penned by Eric Schmitt, resurfaced.  Schmitt's tweet was posted four months before the shooting, but it nevertheless gives us clear insight into the mind of our current state attorney general with regard to "red flag" laws - laws which would have very likely saved the life of a student and a teacher at a St. Louis high school and prevented injury to seven others.

On June 12, 2022, at 9:30 p.m., Attorney General Eric Schmitt of Missouri tweeted:

"Red flag laws are just a green light for gun confiscation.  No way."

What a sad position for someone to take who has such an enormous responsibility for public safety in Missouri!  Shouldn't the lives of our citizens, and especially our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, have more weight that a pocketful of NRA campaign cash?

Two things need to happen:

1.  Missouri needs to enact and enforce responsible gun ownership legislation;  and,

2.  Eric Schmitt and opportunistic politicians like him who feed off of public fears and insecurities need to be retired from office.

We have tried the option of just doing nothing - over, and over, and over - and it doesn't work, much like many of our political leaders.  If we care about our children and grandchildren, things must change!

The polls are now open for early voting in Missouri.

Herschel Walker, a GOP Model Parent

 

by Pa Rock 

Citizen Journalist

Herschel Walker, a former football player who is now the GOP nominee for US Senator from Georgia, has been trying to swat away an allegation by a former girlfriend that he forced her to have an abortion in 2009 and even paid for the procedure.  Now a second woman has come forward also alleging that Walker pressured her into having an abortion in 1993.

Walker, the football player turned politician, had initially shared with the press that he had one child, 23-year-old Christian  whom Walker fathered with his first wife, but the Senate candidate has now acknowledged that he is the parent of three others, sons ages ten and thirteen, and an adult daughter.  Christian, a conservative social media contributor and former cheerleading champion, was initially supportive of his father's political efforts, but has become increasingly critical of his famous parent now that more details of his of the candidate's personal life are becoming known.  Here is one sample of Christian cutting loose on his Dad:

“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.”

Herschel Walker brought this unwelcome attention on himself in large part due to he very vocal opposition to abortion.  He also claims to be the product of a home with an absent father, and Walker has spoken out against absent fathers - but the mother of Walker's ten-year-old son had to go through a lengthy court process to get a declaration of paternity and financial support for their son.  So Herschel Walker's hypocrisy runs deep.

And that hypocrisy also runs deep with elected officials in the Republican Party who, while clutching their pearls and thumping their Bibles, have been rushing to Georgia to campaign for "pro-life" candidate Herschel Walker as he tries to take a senate seat from a popular and well respected Baptist minister.  

Herschel Walker, absent father and alleged multiple abortion funder, appears to be a GOP model parent for the ages!

Oz Wants Local Political Leaders Involved in Women's Health Care Decisions

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Dr.  Mehmet Oz, a former television pitchman for dubious "medical" treatments who was recorded earlier this year saying that any abortion at any stage of pregnancy was "still murder"  (per Yahoo News), has been bobbing and weaving on the issue since then as he tries to balance his rhetoric on the issue in a way that will appeal to moderates - or at least not offend them.    But last night in a televised debate with his opponent for an open Pennsylvania US senate seat, Oz stepped into the issue big time when he said that states should decide the issue of abortion with input from, among others, local politicians.   The television personality said this:

"I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting democracy that's always allowed our nation to thrive, putting the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves."

Actually, Mehmet, the states wouldn't be deciding for themselves, they would be deciding for women.   Using input derived from local politicians who are not the people actually affected by the legislation takes influence away from those who are directly affected:  women and their physicians.  Local politicians, or any politicians at all, for that matter, have no place in medical discussions and decisions between patients and their trained and licensed medical providers.  

Just as trained and licensed medical providers have no business advertising or selling quack cures to a gullible public.

Bloody Monday at a Missouri School

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Despite the school building being totally locked down and seven security guards on duty inside, a young gunman still managed to gain entry to the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis yesterday morning around 9:00 a.m.    The shooter, 19-year-old Orlando Harris, was a recent graduate of the school.   He entered the building with what news sources are describing as a "long gun" and  twelve 30-round ammunition magazines and opened fire.  Two people, a 16-year-old girl and a 61-year-old female teacher were killed, and seven students were injured.

Central Visual and Performing Arts High School is part of the St. Louis (Missouri) School District.  The building itself is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River.

Reports indicate that security personnel inside of the school were able to immediately get the school into drill mode with classroom doors locked, lights out, and teachers and students hiding in the darker corners of their room out of view of the shooter.  Security also immediately notified local police who arrived within minutes.

One teacher at the school reported hearing shots and then the shooter yelling "You all are going to fucking die!"  That teacher, whose classroom was on the third floor, said that the shooter shot out window in the door to his classroom, but was unable to get into the room.  The young man with the gun did gain entry into the classroom of another teacher, Jean Kuczka, and the 61-year-old veteran teacher got between him and her students and was shot and killed as she sought to protect the young people in her care.

The armed gunman was shot on the third floor by members of the responding St. Louis Police Department.  He died later in a local hospital.

A 16-year-old girl told the press that at one point she was face-to-face with the shooter looking him in the eyes, but as he tried to shoot her his gun apparently jammed and she was able to run away.

The name of the student who died in the assault is currently being withheld.

St. Louis Public Schools kept all of their schools in lockdown mode yesterday, and all evening events, including sports, were cancelled.

"National Education Week" magazine reports that the yesterday's shooting at the St. Louis high school was the fortieth school shooting in the United States this year in which there were casualties.  Unfortunately it is also another in an endless string of school shootings in which no substantive action will be undertaken to address the root cause of the problem:  easy access to guns.

Next week, or the week after, there will be another deadly school shooting in the United States of America and more young people and their teachers will die, or be wounded, or suffer deep and lasting psychological trauma because of politicians who are too greedy and weak to protect them.  

Most of the world chooses not to live this way, but in the United States our children are expendable.

Shame on us!

Arizona: No Mules, but Plenty of Jackasses

 

by Pa Rock

Fan of Democracy

Over the course of my lifetime I have been a registered voter in five different states - I think - and of those various states, Arizona was by far the easiest and most convenient one for voting.   (Kentucky was the absolute worst!)   The clerks at the DMV in Arizona routinely ask all patrons if they are registered to vote, and, if they are not, the visitors are given the opportunity  to register right on the spot.  Easy, peasy.  Then the newly registered voters are asked if they would like to receive a mail-in ballot, and if they answer "yes," mail-in ballots begin routinely arriving several weeks before every election.

The Arizona mail-in ballots, as I remember them, come with a postage-paid envelope for an easy mail return.   Or, for those of us who do not trust the post office, there are also drop boxes at various points where voters can return their ballots, and voters may also fill out the ballots in the comfort of their own homes and then take them to their regular polling places on Election Day.  For a state known for its contrariness, I considered the voting routine in Arizona to be quite enlightened.  It was designed to maximize citizen involvement in their democracy.

Of course, not everyone likes an election process that encourages voting.

After Arizona narrowly voted for Biden in the 2020 election, Trump claimed - with zero evidence - that he had been cheated out of victory by rigged elections in several states including Arizona.  A massive and expensive recount only showed that he had lost Arizona by even more votes than originally thought - but still the tantrum rages.  Now an election-denier and Trump supporter is running for governor of the state, and she is already saying that anything other than a victory for her will have been caused by cheating.

Last year a right-wing propaganda documentary film was released which claimed that voting drop-boxes were stuffed with phony votes for Biden by "mules," or people who were paid to carry multiple fraudulent ballots to those boxes.  Not surprisingly, there was no evidence to back up those spurious claims.  So this year the anti-democracy forces are out watching the only two drop boxes in Maricopa County which are located outside on the street.

But those vigilante guardians of the boxes, who are visibly armed and masked with the license plates on their vehicles covered, are doing more than just watching.  There have been claims that they are verbally harassing voters, filming them - and their license plates, and generally intimidating people who are trying to cast a ballot in the way that is most convenient to them.  The Arizona Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs, who is herself a candidate for governor, has referred complaints about the vigilantes to the state attorney general and to the US Department of Justice.

The Arizona vigilantes are not concerned with democracy or fairness.    Their focus is on winning, and once they control the levers of government they will be able to be far more effective in limiting who gets to vote.

There are no mules interfering with Arizona elections, that is just standard MAGA crap, but there is no shortage of jackasses who are trying to keep people from exercising their constitutional right to vote!

News from the Q's

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A decade ago Lara Logan was a respected journalist who had risen through the ranks at CBS from war correspondent to a correspondent for the "60 Minutes" news program, and ultimately to the network's Chief of Foreign Affairs.  Logan left CBS in 2013 after an in-house fact-check of her reporting on Benghazi revealed significant errors.  Since her departure from CBS, Logan has rebranded herself as a conservative pundit, and has been an on-air personality for Fox News.  Fox quit using Logan last year after she compared CDC Director Dr. Anthony Fauci to Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor in World War II who performed medical experiments on prisoners in the German concentration camps.

Since leaving Fox, Logan seems to have become more steeped in the Q-Anon style of conspiracy theories. She has, for example, linked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "satanic occult" practices and has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and echoed Russian talking points regarding its invasion of Ukraine.   Another Logan claim was that Charles Darwin was employed by the Jewish Rothschild banking family to create his theory of evolution.

And while those departures from reality might seem alarming, particularly when they are uttered by someone who was once a respected journalist in the mainstream media, this past week Lara Logan went even further into the realm of horror fantasy.  In a appearance of the Eric Bolling program on Newsmax, a reliably conservative outlet, Lara Logan went off of the reality rails.

She began by elucidating on the mind of God, and the further she went with her thoughts, the stranger they got:

"God believes in sovereignty and national identity and the sanctity of family, and all the things that we've lived with from the beginning of time.   And he knows that the open border is Satan's way of taking control of the world through all of these people who are his stooges and servants.  And they may think they're going to become gods.   That's what they tell us . . . you know, the ones who want us eating insects, cockroaches, and that while they dine on the blood of children?  Those are the people, right?  They're not going to win.  They're not going to win."

(Notably she did not mention Hillary Clinton's alleged pedophile ring that meets in the basement of some New Jersey pizza parlor - but that was probably just an oversight!)

Newsmax announced that it "condemns in the strongest terms the reprehensible statements made by Lara Logan" and has "no plans to interview her again."

Out at CBS,  out at Fox, and now out at Newsmax.  About the only job opportunities left on this downward spiral would be White House Communications Director or Press Secretary in a second Trump administration, and hopefully those will not be options!

Hey Lara, when you find yourself deep in a hole, sometimes the best option is to quit digging.

Meeting the Neighbors

 

by Pa Rock

Recluse

Back when I was growing up in Ward and June Cleaver's America, a person knew their neighbors.  If you were new to the neighborhood most of the neighbors would stop by and get acquainted, perhaps with a casserole, or a cake, or a six-pack of beer.  And neighbors would also visit in each other's homes for card games, or to watch television, or just to enjoy some general conversation.

But those days have gone the way of cars with fins and metal bumpers.  Now we are more apt to keep to ourselves and engage with the neighbors only when we have to - usually as the result of some sort of problem.  Today, of course, we face a far lower standard of living than the country was experiencing in the post-war 1950's, and lots of families have only one parent in the household - and that person works multiple jobs, or, if there are two parents in the home, both are likely to be working.  Family time, itself, suffers, and there is certainly no spare time to get out and socialize with the neighbors.

During the eight years that I have lived here at The Roost, I have met fewer than ten of my neighbors, including a couple only once, and one "neighbor" who lives more than two miles on down the road.  I'm not proud of that, it's just the way things have played out.  I met one of those neighbors when she came to the door looking for her lost dog, another when he boldly came to the door during inclement weather and asked for a ride to town.  One came up and introduced himself after I spotted him bush-hogging a corner of my land to provide a clearer view along the roadway - and now he bush-hogs it all for me twice a year and helps out with other special projects when I ask.  Yet another of those neighbors turned out to be my dentist.

But I still have never met most of the people who roar past my house multiple times every day.  We wave, because you do that in the country, but we don't stop and visit.

But even with my serious lack of neighborhood socializing, over the past twenty-four hours I have managed to meet two more neighbors.  I guess when it rains, it really does pour.

Yesterday afternoon as I was headed home after running a brief errand to town, I noticed a young man walking along the side of the road going in the same direction as me.  He appeared to be somewhere in his thirties, dressed casual, and wearing a tee-shirt that said "Volunteer."   Although the shirt did not say what he had been volunteering to do, I have had a great deal of experience with volunteers over the years and have generally found them to be good people.  

As the fellow was preparing to turn off of the paved roadway and step into the woods in search of a shortcut - not a good option - I pulled up and asked if he needed a ride.  He did, and seemed grateful for the opportunity.  It turns out that he lived about a mile beyond my place, and I drove him home.  We had a pleasant chat and became acquainted along the way.

This morning as Rosie and I were completing our walking regimen in the backyard, I stepped out onto the driveway and saw a pickup pull onto the drive and stop.  I could see that the driver was getting out of his truck, but he was far enough away that I could not tell if he was someone I knew or not.  We shouted greetings across the yard and I walked toward the truck.   As I got closer I saw that he was about the age of the fellow whom I had given a ride to yesterday, but instead of wearing a "Volunteer" shirt, this guy was wearing a shirt that identified him as a member of the city's fire department.

The man at the truck appeared rather sheepish as he told me that he had just hit my mailbox.  We walked over to examine the mailbox, and sure enough it was dinged pretty badly and lying on the ground.   Part of the post that held it up had also been knocked down.  The fellow offered to pay to have it replaced, but I told him that I would be happy just to have it put back up.  He took the box to his house (about a half-mile past mine) and knocked the dings out, and less than an hour later he had the mailbox back on its repaired post.   He thanked me for being nice about the whole affair, and I thanked him for being so honest and fixing the damage.  Then we talked about ourselves for a few minutes and got to know each other.  It was a good-neighbor bonding moment!

Now when an emergency arises, I have two more neighbors that I can call on for help - and I didn't even have to whip up a casserole!

The Suicide Club

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

Although 19th century Scottish author and poet Robert Louis Stevenson is widely regarded as a children's author with his classics like Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verse, he was also the author of the more adult-themed novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well of a host of short stories which are geared toward adults.

Many years ago I came across an old (1902) copy of a collection of stories by Stevenson entitled The New Arabian Nights, and like the original Arabian Nights, Stevenson's collection included several tales which interlocked with one another.  The first three stories were:  "Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts," "Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk," and "The Adventures of the Hansom Cabs" - and those stories were included under the heading "The Suicide Club."

All three tales in in trilogy of stories included the same two main characters, Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his faithful servant, Colonel Geraldine, who held the position of "Master of the Horse" with the Prince.   In addition to being the primary servant to Prince Florizel, Colonel Geraldine was also the Prince's chief confidant and sidekick.  One of their pleasures was to disguise themselves and go seeking adventures among the common folk of London.

One night as they were frequenting a few seedier clubs incognito, the pair encountered a strange young man who entered the club they were in followed by two hired servants carrying trays of cream tarts.  The young man circled through the club offering a free cream tart to each person he encountered. Some accepted his gift, while others wanted no part of whatever game he was playing or one of his tarts.

When he fellow finally got to the disguised Prince and his Master of the Horse, he offered them a cream tart, but before accepting the Prince asked a few questions and learned that the fellow  was giving away as many as he could, but whenever a tart was rejected, the young man would consume that one himself.  As their search for an adventure had been a bust so far, the Prince and Geraldine each took a tart which they ate, and then the Prince proposed that the young man should join them for dinner and further discussion.  The fellow said that he would after he finished with the tarts.   He took his wares to two more clubs, and the Prince and Geraldine followed along to observe his antics.

When the strange business with the cream tarts had ended, the young man threw his empty purse into the street and declared that he spent all of his money on the tarts and had only forty pounds left - for which he had a serious purpose.  After dinner - and dessert - and plenty of conversation, the Prince learned that the fellow had recently fallen in love, but that he could not marry the young woman because he had foolishly squandered the bulk of his intheitance before he met her - and now his intention was to end his life.  But he lacked the courage to kill himself, so he was using his final forty dollars to join a "suicide club" where within a couple of weeks - depending on his luck - a fellow member would dispatch him into the great beyond.

Prince Florizel, recognizing a real adventure when he encountered one, quickly spun a tale for the young man telling him that he and and his friend (Colonel Geraldine) were also facing serious financial difficulties and would like to learn more about the suicide club.  After some discussion, the young man told them to go and get their affairs in order and to meet him at a particular address later in the evening.

An hour or so later the Prince, Colonel Geraldine, and the young man who had been distributing cream tarts, were all sitting in an elegant home smoking cigars, enjoying libations, and preparing to take part in a game of chance which could transform any of them into a corpse or a murderer.

And what followed definitely was not a tale for children!

Pence Blows Some Political Smoke

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One way to "resolve" our nation's deep split over the issue of abortion would be to enshrine the right to abortion access in the US Constitution through an amendment, or, conversely, to deny the right to abortion in the Constitution, also through an amendment.  But even a constitutional amendment - one way or the other - would not be an absolute guarantee.  Our nation outlawed the production and consumption of most alcohol with "prohibition" which was brought about by the 18th Amendment, but when that proved to be an unwieldily disaster that fostered a steep rise in organized crime, the 18th was repealed by the 21st Amendment.

But, the question of permanence aside, both pro-and-anti-abortion forces seem intent on solidifying their positions either through some sort of national legislation or a constitutional amendment.

One route to amending the US Constitution is for Congress to pass a "proposed" amendment in both chambers of Congress - the House and the Senate - by a two-thirds vote, and then submit that proposed amendment to the state legislatures for ratification - a process that would take the approval of three-quarters of the state legislatures - or 38 of the fifty.*

Former Vice President Mike Pence seemed to be threatening the use of that procedure when he issued the following "tweet" this past Tuesday evening:

"I’ve got news for President Biden. Come January 22nd, we will have Pro-Life majorities in the House and Senate and we’ll be taking the cause of the right to Life to every state house in America!"

There is a possibility that Republicans could control both the US House and Senate as a result of next month's election, but, as of now, it can't be regarded as a foregone conclusion.  What is not a possibility, however, is that either party would capture a two-thirds majority in either chamber.   

Clearly Mr. Pence, a presidential wannabe without a measurable or even a definable constituency, is just blowing smoke and hoping it ignites into a political fire.

But that ain't a-gonna happen, Mikey.  Americans don't like Bible-thumping hypocrites telling them what they can and cannot do.  They learned that lesson with prohibition.  If abortion impacts the upcoming election - and I, for one, think that it will - the impact will be one which you do not like.

(*The other route to amending the Constitution is for two-thirds of the state legislatures (34) to call for a constitutional convention - but that would open a can of worms that neither party could be assured of controlling and could result in many other changes to our nation's governing document.)

Radioactive Contamination in Missouri Elementary School

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last night the Hazelwood School District of St. Louis County voted to temporarily close its Jane Elementary School campus after a new report found significant levels of radioactive contamination in the school's library, kitchen, classrooms, fields, and playgrounds.  Even dust samples taken inside of the school were found to be contaminated.

The radioactivity is believed to be related to nuclear waste which was dumped near Coldwater Creek as a result of atomic weapons production during World War II.  Coldwater Creek is close the the school and flows into the Missouri River.

Last summer the US Army Corps of Engineers, which has been cleaning up the site for many years, released a report - as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request - which indicated there was radiation near the creek at levels lower than those reported this week by the Boston Chemical Data Corporation.  The Corps did no testing within 300 feet of the school.

At this point it remains unclear who commissioned the radiation testing by Boston Chemical Data Corporation.  The company took its samples in August, and in the report just released stated that levels of isotope lead-210, polonium, radium, and other toxins were "far in excess" of what the company had expected to find.  The report also said that inhaling or ingesting these radioactive materials can cause significant injury.  

The school district has stated that children enrolled in the school will begin remote education via computers next week and should be transferred to other schools by the end of November.  

Clearly a number of health, safety, and environmental concerns have been raised - concerns which need the immediate attention of local, state, and national leaders.  Hesitation and procrastination are no longer options!

Jack Comes Calling

 

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Fall

I have been told on multiple occasions by a varied assortment of individuals that I "don't know jack."  That, of course, is a hurtful lie.  I know several Jacks, and one of them paid me a visit early this morning, just before daylight, tiptoeing around the yard and brushing each of the plants with their first real touch of winter.

I speak of course of Mr. Jack Frost, that heartless fellow who officially brings an end to the greenery and blooms of spring and summer.   Jack reached out and touched all of the beautiful potted plants that I worked so hard to maintain all summer and who survived the awful drought through my constant attentions - and now, as the sunlight touches those same plants with the first rays of the day, I am watching them die in real time.

Alexa has been saying for the past several days that there would be a frost in the early morning hours of Tuesday, and she was right.  It wasn't a hard frost, but still it was a frost and it has killed the begonias, coleuses, marigolds, and even the sweet potatoes.  The roses, however, still look good, so maybe it will take more than a light frost to put them to sleep for the winter - and the young trees - oak, fig, and dogwood - also appear to be fine - so far.

But the plants in the containers are kaput.  Sometime later this week they will all be carted out of sight, and the hanging planters will be replaced with bird feeders.

Life goes on at The Roost, in one form or another, year after year - and each year I promise myself that I will take it easier and do less in the following year, but I never do.  One of these days Jack is going to reach out ant touch me, too.

Away Off Shore

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

Nathaniel Philbrick was a freelance journalist when he and his family relocated to Nantucket in the fall of 1986.   His wife had been employed as an attorney on the island, and Philbrick's role in the new situation became that of a stay-at-home dad.    The journalist soon began immersing himself in the island's rich history by both exploring the island's records and by taking his children and visiting the varied sites where all of that history occurred.    He used his researching skills to write articles about Nantucket's past for scholarly journals, and was eventually asked by a publisher on the island to write a book about Nantucket's history up through the nineteenth century.

Away Off Shore is that book.  Since the publication of that effort in the early 1990's, Nathaniel Philbrick has gone on to publish several very well received books regarding various aspects of the American saga, including In the Heart of the Sea which was made into a movie, and Mayflower which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Nathaniel Philbrick's "Nantucket" book is surprisingly easy to read for an historical account.  He doesn't interrupt the flow of his writing with tedious footnotes, but instead reserves all of his comments and references regarding source material to a lengthy section of "notes" which follows the main body of the text.  The notes are arranged by chapters which makes it easy for the reader to quickly zero-in on subjects that he or she wishes to know more about.

Away Off Shore is subtitled Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890 - with 1602 representing the year that the island was first spotted by a European explorer and 1890 being roughly the end of the whaling era on Nantucket.

Philbrick recounts the island's history through a series of brief biographies about various island residents across that span of time, but first he dedicates a couple of chapters to discussing Nantucket's history before the Europeans arrived when it was already occupied by a well established Native American population which had no concept of land ownership.  But with Bartholomew Gosnold's "discovery" of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in 1602, all of that began to change.

A New England merchant (who had been born in England) by the name of Thomas Mayhew was awarded control of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket as a "proprietary colony" in 1641, and Mayhew had made himself "Governor" of the colony.  In 1659 he was approached by a group of individuals from the area around Salisbury, Massachusetts, who wanted to buy Nantucket.  One of those people was Mayhew's cousin, Thomas Macy.  The group of nine men were able to purchase Nantucket from Governor Mayhew for thirty dollars and two beaver hats.  The sale took place on July 2, 1659, and the group planned to begin settlement on the island the following spring.  Most of the group were Baptists and their primary motivation to leave the mainland was to get away from the increasingly intolerant Puritans who ran the government.

That fall, however, Thomas Macy's difficulties with the Puritans heated up when someone accused him of giving shelter to a group of Quakers during a storm.  Macy paid a fine but still did not trust that the Puritans would let the matter rest, and in October he made a decision to immediately uproot his family and move to their new island home.  Macy, age 51, who had already lived in Massachusetts for a quarter of a century, and his wife and five children, along with James Coffin (age 19), Edward Starbuck (age 55),  Isaac Coleman (age 12), and a pilot by the name of Daggett whom they acquired in Martha's Vineyard - all got into a small boat and sailed for their new home on Nantucket, arriving just as winter was about to set in.   It is likely they spent that winter sheltering in dugouts and benefiting from the kindness of the native population.

And from there on the story progresses through the social, religious, and economic growth of Nantucket as captured through the stories of some of its more pivotal citizens.  Chapter 3 tells the story of the one of the original European purchasers of the island, Thomas Macy - the first to bring his family to live on the island.  Chapter 4 is dedicated to Tristram Coffin, also an original purchaser and a man who controlled some other shares of relatives who lived off of the island - making Tristram a first among equals.  Chapter 8 details the life of Mary (Mrs. Nathaniel) Starbuck who was Tristram Coffin's youngest daughter.  Mary ran a company store for whalers, and was regarded as one of the most influential people on the island.  When representatives of the Quaker religion wanted to expand their influence onto Nantucket, they did it through carefully cultivating Mary Starbuck, and she was ultimately responsible for making Quakerism the dominant religion on the island during the 18th century.

I mention those three in particular - Macy, Coffin, and Mary Starbuck -  because they are all direct-line ancestors of mine - and of all of my Sreaves cousins.  (Ironically, I descend from the Nantucket Macy's on my mother's side of the family.)   I heartily recommend this book to anyone with Nantucket roots - and there are literally thousands upon thousands of us.  I have read several books about Nantucket, but this one gives the best feel for what it would have been like to have actually been there as this history was occurring.

Nathaniel Phibrick did such a good job of illuminating so many things about Nantucket in this book.  In it I learned why the early residents tended to produce such thorough family genealogies - they did it because the island's small population led to many very complicated family relationships - knots - and through thorough genealogies they could keep better track of their relationships to each other.  I also learned why some of my Nantucket ancestors relocated to North Carolina - they "swarmed" with other relatives in a mass movement much like groups of related mainlanders would do in wagon trains.   I also learned why some of that group, my relatives included, later moved on to Indiana - because they could not abide the casual acceptance of slavery in North Carolina.

Away Off Shore presents as an even-handed telling of Nantucket's history, and gives a very realistic portrayal of a small sandbar away off shore in the Atlantic that was technically a part of Massachusetts and the United States, but during its heyday was the whaling capital of the world.  Within a century of Thomas Macy and his family scrambling ashore and digging a dugout in a hillside for shelter, Nantucket had sailing vessels chasing whales around the globe - and independent wives at home managing families and running businesses while their husbands and sons were at sea for years at a time.

It's an amazing story, and Nathaniel Philbrick tells it very well!

Missouri Political Signage

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

I took a three-hundred-and-fifty mile road trip through southern and central Missouri yesterday - Highway 63 from West Plains to Jefferson City and then Highway 50 to California, Missouri - and home again.  It was a long and exhausting day on the road with a very nice break midway to visit with my good friend, Millie, and to see her wonderful farm outside of California.   (Millie has two giant Great Pyrenees dogs and a herd of small goats, all of which terrorized poor Rosie, but she is home now and once again the absolute center of my attention!)

When I am on the road I like to make mental notes of things of interest me, and political signage is something that always catches my attention.  With a little over three weeks left until the general election, political signs, like the autumn foliage, ought to be approaching their zenith.  My first observation from over seven hours on the road yesterday was that I saw absolutely no political bumper stickers.  I guess bumper stickers are becoming passé, and that's just sad.

But there were plenty of yard signs.

Two of the more interesting ones that I noticed were large signs promoting Trump.  One had been cut in half to eliminate Pence's name, and the other still had the complete sign border, but "Pence" had been cut out.   Poor Mike appears to be unloved and unwanted in rural Missouri - and if a Republican can't make it here, can he reasonably hope to make it anywhere?

There were quite a few signs, both large and small, for people running for state representative and state senator, and almost all of those were Republican.  The only congressional signs that I noted were three or four large one's promoting our incumbent Republican congressman, Jason Smith.   Jason has a campaign war chest that runs well into seven figures, and he has thousands of signs, but this year he is facing a no-name challenger who is barely campaigning - and Jason apparently does not feel the need to put his signs through any unnecessary wear and tear.    He's keeping most of them safe in his bunker for when he really does need them.

But it was the US Senate race in Missouri that really had my attention yesterday.  The Democratic candidate is Trudy Busch Valentine, a registered nurse and a scion of the Busch beer family - and the Republican's are running the state's attorney general, Eric Schmitt.   Trudy has been crisscrossing the state in a campaign bus, pressing the flesh, and listening and responding to voters.   She calls her constant campaigning the "Nobody's Senator but Yours" tour.  Schmitt, on the other hand, wants voters to see his rightwing connections.  He had his photo taken with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this week, and brought Ted Cruz to Missouri to generate some media coverage.  Eric doesn't seem to be comfortable attempting to converse with average people.

Trudy and Eric each have large and small yard signs on display.  Trudy's are blue with white lettering and Eric's are red with white lettering.  From a moving vehicle the small signs for both candidates are hard to read, but Trudy has her first name in bolder lettering than the rest of the words on her small signs, and it stands out.  A passing motorist can see one of Trudy's small signs and know who it is promoting.  Eric's small signs, however, are useless on a busy road.

I know there must be studies on this, but white lettering on a blue background is easier to read from a moving vehicle than white lettering on a red background - at least for this observer.

Yesterday I saw fourteen signs for Trudy Busch Valentine along Missouri roadways, and only five for Schmitt.  Most of Trudy's were the large signs, so they were easy to read, and most were in strategic locations such as near intersections where people are more apt to be slowing down and paying attention.  Trudy's sign people did an exceptionally good job between Vienna and Freeburg.  

Four of Eric's signs were small and practically impossible to read.  The one large sign that I saw for Schmitt was in front of the GOP headquarters on the main drag in Rolla, and there were large signs for several other Republican candidates there as well, which increased the visual clutter and made it hard to focus on any particular one.

IMHO, both candidates could have had more effective yard signage by using only two large words - their first name, and beneath that the word "Senate."  It would be seen by the eye and registered by the brain - regardless of how fast the car was going.  

Signs, of course are just a small part of a campaign strategy.   Schmitt won his party's crowded primary election with less than fifty-percent of the vote mainly due to a strong push from the Koch-funded American's for Prosperity which sent out multiple slick campaign materials via the US mail in the days just preceding the election.  Those will start arriving again within the next few days.  Trudy will continue speaking to small and moderately-sized groups and listening to individuals, and Eric will keep reminding people that he loves to lick Trump's golf shoes and that Trudy is the "heiress Valentine."

Substance from one, noise from the other.

And a handful of signs scattered up and down the roadway.

Pay attention Missouri!

California or Bust!

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

Rosie and I are on the road to the California, Missouri, area today where we plan to visit my very good friend, Millie.  Millie and I were in the same graduate social work group at the University of Missouri in Columbia in the late 1990's and for much of that time we were housemates, sharing the basement of a friend's very nice home.  Nearly twenty-five years have slipped by since then.  Tempus fugit!

A lot has happened in our lives since those carefree days in Columbia.  Millie has gone on to great professional heights as an important city official in two major US cities, and I have worked as an administrator with the Missouri Children's Division and as a civilian social work counselor with the military.   Millie is still working, and in her "spare" time raises goats and chickens on a small farm of her own - and I mow.

We both share a love of Great Pyrenees dogs, and I am anxious to meet her new one.  Rosie probably does not share my enthusiasm about cavorting and playing with a giant white dog!

Anyway, in an hour or so we will load the car - I am taking my stash of egg cartons and an incubator to my friend - and head out to the area around California, Missouri.  It's a three-hour drive, and we hope to be home again by late this afternoon.

But for now, it's California or bust!

Choctaw Bingo

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In the version of "Choctaw Bingo" that Alexa seems to prefer, singer/songwriter James McMurtry introduces his song to a live audience with   "Alright . . . we'll start this next set with a song about the north Texas southern Oklahoma crystal methamphetamine industry . . . " and then launches into nearly a nine-minute version of life in America's meth belt.

McMurtry's tale is about a family preparing for a road trip to southern Oklahoma where they will join in a family reunion at Uncle Slayton's, an older relative who lives out in the woods with his Asian bride.  Slayton is an old time moonshiner who has changed with the times and now cooks meth because the shine doesn't sell as well as it used to.  In order to make the trip to the reunion as painless for the parents as possible, the kids will be sedated with cherry coke and vodka - or Benadryl.

The song describes several family members who will be at the reunion, each with memorable eccentricities, yet each also sadly stereotypical of denizens of the meth culture.  The cast includes "Cousin Roscoe," Slayton's oldest son who was raised by his mother in East St. Louis and is headed to the reunion in his "semi-truck" until he is waylaid by a traffic accident in Muskogee;  "Bob and Mae"- Bob is a small town football coach who purchases a cache of guns and ammo on the way to the reunion;  and, "Ruth-Anne and Lynn," a pair of sisters  from Baxter Springs, Kansas, who are second cousins to the singer and to whom he is sexually attracted.

As McMurtry populates his musical narrative with characters who seem readily recognizable, even with their quirks, he also gives a rolling tour of the sights along the way to the reunion, including two of the more iconic vistas on the Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44 as it crosses Oklahoma), including the McDonald's which sits on the turnpike overpass near Vinita, and the large neon smoke rings at the "Indian Smoke Shop."

The song, "Choctaw Bingo," gives the dominant society a hard look into an American counter-culture that is on the rise.

James McMurtry is a formidable guitar-playing country singer, but it s his songwriting ability that sets him apart from many other recording and performing artists.   McMurtry has a unique ability to capture the essence of characters and their environment, and he knows how to weave them into a realistic narrative, writing skills that were undoubtedly nurtured and enhanced by his English professor mother and his Pulitzer Prize-winning, novelist father.

The son has done them proud.

Two Children Wounded in Florida Road Rage Shootout

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The National Rifle Association (NRA) tells us - relentlessly - that we need guns for self-protection, to keep ourselves safe from all of the other people that the NRA has also encouraged to buy guns.   It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The more people that have guns, the more people that need guns.  Guns in America have become an addiction - and an aphrodisiac.  We want to be armed  because guns make us feel safe, and powerful.

This past Saturday evening there was an incident on the highways of Florida in which the driver of a large pickup truck got into a high-speed disagreement with the driver of an SUV.   Five people were in the pickup truck and three were in the SUV.  Shouting ensued from one vehicle to the other, followed by at least one obscene hand gesture, and then a water bottle was thrown from one vehicle into the other, and finally shots were fired.  

The driver of the SUV apparently fired a shot into the pickup, and a five-year-old girl was wounded in the thigh.  Then the pickup chased the SUV and began returning fire and a fourteen-year-old girl in the SUV was shot in the back and suffered a collapsed lung.

Eventually the drivers spotted a deputy along the highway and pulled over.  The manly men got out of their vehicles, began fighting, and the deputy broke up the altercation.    Then the deputy noticed that there was a wounded child in each vehicle.  Ambulances were called, the drivers/shooters were arrested and each charged with attempted murder  (and have since bonded out), and the local sheriff gushed that "at least nobody was killed."

Nobody was killed, but two children endured a Saturday night that they will remember with horror for the rest of their lives - a five-year-old girl who may have long-term or permanent mobility issues, and a fourteen-year-old girl who will always have the memory of a bullet ripping through her torso.

Thank God - and the NRA - that there were plenty of guns around to protect them from obscene hand gestures and a flying water bottle!

Olive Is Eleven

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

Granddaughter Olive Noel Macy is eleven-years-old today, a fact that leaves her grandfather feeling about as ancient as a full-grown California Redwood!

Olive lives with her little brother Sully and her parents in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City, very near where she was born.  She is in fifth grade and enjoys school - where she does very well academically and has many friends.  I know that Olive excels in math and reading, and, like her daddy, she has seldom encountered a word that she can't immediately spell.

My Kansas granddaugher has a strong interest in the performing arts.  She has been in two youth plays already this year and I enjoyed both thoroughly.  Later this month she will be in a third, a production of "Tarzan" - and Pa Rock will be in the audience cheering her on again.  But Olive's interest in the arts goes beyond the stage.  She is also a fine young musician who plays the piano, ukulele, guitar, and is learning to play the violin.

And in her "spare" time Olive plays a mean game of chess!

My granddaughter, as you can see, is one very talented and busy eleven-year-old, and Pa Rock is very proud of her!

Happy birthday, Olive!   May this year be your best ever!

The Roost Is Still A'Bloom

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Autumn

The Ozarks are now several weeks into autumn, the season when everything, creatures and plants, begin to hunker down for the winter.   A few leaves have fallen but most remain on their branches soaking up the ever more slanting rays of the sun as the days turn cooler and shorten.  They will be vibrant with fall colors in a couple of weeks and then begin falling en masse. The grass has basically quit growing for the season, but I will give it one more good mowing when the leaves are down.  My neighbors tediously rake, and burn, and blow their leaves about, but I much prefer the simplicity and good environmental practice of mulching mine with the mower.

All of the flowers that I put out last spring are still blooming, thanks in no small part to the hundreds of gallons of water that I carried to them throughout our very dry summer - and thanks also to the fact that we have yet to have our first frost of the season.  When Jack finally shows, the flowers will die overnight and I will remove them the next day.  My flower-and-gnome-circus out in front of the house will be replaced that day with a bird-feeder-and-gnome-circus.

I planted five roses this past spring, and had amazing results.  This has been my best rose-growing season ever.   Early in the spring I purchased two standard red rose plants at Costco and planted them next to the deck in the backyard.  But those "standard" roses turned out to be climbers, and though they had no trellis this year, they each produced canes that were taller than I am - and had beautiful red flowers all season long.

A few weeks later I purchased three hybrid roses from a local supplier and paid more than twice per plant over what I had given for the Costco roses - but I was in a mood and wanted to plant some roses, so the cost be damned.  Those three roses - a "Frida Kahlo" and a "Fun in the Sun" and an "Arctic Blue" struggled through an awful drought this summer as well as an infestation of Japanese beetles, but they survived and thrived.  Today they are three of the healthiest plants at The Roost, and their almost constant blooms are the envy of the neighborhood.   I guess you really do get what you pay for.

But in just a couple of weeks all of those wonderful blooms of summer - along with the leaves on the trees - will be gone.

And then I will mulch all of that dead vegetation and hunker down by the fire to await the rebirth of the spring!

City Worker Secretly Lowers Fluoride Levels in Water Supply

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Adding fluoride to drinking water has been an accepted dental preventative practice in many American communities going back to the 1940's.  It is a procedure that has a proven track record of lowering the rate of cavities - particularly in children

Today communities are generally responsible for deciding if their water supplies will be fluoridated or not,  and if they are,  then the amount of fluoride that will be added - usually based on recommendations from government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control.  The CDC has stated that when recommended levels of fluoridation are followed, the rate of cavities or tooth decay decreases by about twenty-five percent.    

Setting water treatment standards is a community responsibility that is overseen by state governments.

That is the way is was supposed to be operating in the state of Vermont where roughly half of the inhabitants live in areas where the water is fluoridated - primarily in the more urban areas.  One of those communities is Richmond, a city of about 4,100 individuals.     People in Richmond thought their water was being fluoridated at a certain level.   However, the residents were surprised to learn last month that the fluoride levels in their water supply had been arbitrarily cut four years earlier by the city's water and wastewater superintendent on his own volition without input or direction from the city government.

Many were shocked, and many were angry.

One local mother told the city council that she had been surprised to learn that her children had cavities.  She has asked her dentist about adding a fluoride treatment at home, and he had assured her that the city had an adequate level of treatment in the local water supply.  The dentist was operating under the false assumption that the city was following its own established guidelines - but a rogue employee had gone off the range and was doing things his way.

The employee said that he had been worried about fluoride coming from China - and much of it does - and he had been reading material on-line about fluoride that concerned him.  The CDC has responded that fluoride coming from China is carefully inspected before it is allowed anywhere near local water systems.

But there is a cultural element in our country that does not trust science, or government, and especially not the CDC.  The government may say one thing, but if Facebook or social media promotes a conspiracy that runs counter to the government claim, well . . . Facebook MUST be right!

Community standards are set through citizen input to community bodies which are made up of officials elected to office by those communities.  Someone who is unhappy with a community standard has avenues available in which to educate others and work to change the standard, but an arbitrary and capricious decision by a hired functionary is not the proper way of making a change to the way a community operates.

Yes, many residents of Richmond, Vermont, were shocked and angry when the truth was ultimately revealed - and they all had a right to their anger.  That is not the way a representative democracy is intended to operate.

Putin's Prize Bridge Is Bombed

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Bridges can often be vital infrastructure in war, critical links necessary to transport troops, equipment, and supplies between strategic locations and across difficult geographical terrain.  I first realized the importance that bridges could play in warfare when I watched the movie, "Bridge Over the River Kwai," back in the 1950's. Today, although I don't remember much about that film, I can still conjure up images of the Japanese troop train slowly unraveling off of the exploding bridge and falling into the ravine below - and, of course, I can still whistle the theme song for the movie!

"Bridge Over the River Kwai" was a largely fictional account of an operation by Allied forces in Burma (Thailand) during World War II, but it still came to mind yesterday when there was an attack on a major bridge in Europe, a truck-bombing that was more than likely a response to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a previous attack on Ukraine, back in February and March of 2014, Russian Special Forces rushed in and seized the Crimea region, a largely ethnic Russian portion of Ukraine.  Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed that he was "reunifying" a land that was already essentially Russian with Russia itself.  Much of the world imposed economic sanctions against the Russian government, but the stolen territory has remained under Russian occupation and control since 2014.

After the seizure and quick annexation of Crimea, Putin immediately set out to physically connect his stolen territory with Russia by building a bridge to connect the two land masses across a small stretch of the Black Sea.  The project, which became known as the "Kerch Strait Bridge" was completed and opened to the public in 2018.  Putin, himself, presided at the Grand Opening which connected Russia and Crimea by a four-lane highway as well as a train-rail system.  The new structure is twelve miles long - the longest bridge in Europe.

The Kerch Strait Bridge is the primary way that Russia keeps its troops in southern Ukraine supplied with troop provisions and military equipment.

Yesterday a truck exploded on that bridge stopping traffic for hours and throwing thick smoke and flames into the air for much of that time.   The bridge was partially reopened late in the day.  Part of it had collapsed as a result of the bombing, so it will be weeks before the important war transport artery is back to full capacity.  

It was not a postcard sight, nor was it an image that would strengthen Russian troop morale.  While the Ukrainian government did not take credit for the truck bombing, they also did not seem distressed that it had happened - and many Ukrainians reacted in a celebratory manner.  Russia's reaction was to intensify shelling in southern Ukraine.

But regardless of who ordered and carried out the bombing, it was a significant loss for Putin and Russia, both in physical sense as well as in prestige.  As the Russian war on Ukraine drags on, the great Russian bear appears to be slowly and steadily losing his strength and his teeth!

Rocky Three-Screens

 

by Pa Rock

Multi-Screener

Rosie and I stepped out of the house at about 6:30 this morning for our daily morning walk.  Actually Rosie was going out to do her business, and, in addition to walking, I was also focused on feeding the cat and the guinea.    Rosie returned to the house about 7:00 a.m. and I stayed out to add some more steps to my daily quest for at least ten thousand.  

(After my two simple "chores," I walk out around the pond to see if anything is new there, look into the various out buildings, and then make several zigzag trips up and down the driveway - with the zigzags serving to increase the number of steps.  A highway patrolman pulled in and chatted with me one morning as I was doing that, and after silently deciding that I wasn't some drunk and that I actually lived at that residence, he went on his way!)

When I returned to the house at 7:23 a.m.  I sat down at the table just inside of the kitchen door and checked all of my screens.  I learned that I had gone from just over five hundred steps when I left the house to just over four thousand by my return.  The day had just begun and already I had completed over 40% of my daily goal.  I also learned that my blood sugar had gone up from 96 at 6:04 a.m. to 107 at 7:23 a.m.  (I'm not sure why that happened - it should have gone down with exercise - but both numbers were good.)  And, I knew that no one had tried to contact me by phone or text during the time that I had been outside.

I knew all of that for three reasons:  I was wearing a pedometer on my wrist to count steps, I have a new portable glucose reader that stays with me - usually in my pocket - and reads my blood glucose levels from a thing that I have stuck in the back of my arm, and I have a lanyard with my phone hanging around my neck.

When my grandfather would go for his morning "walk," he would take along items of a more utilitarian nature - things like a shovel, or hoe, or milk bucket - and rely on his own gumption and energy to stay focused and healthy.  Back in Granddad's day a wristwatch, if you were lucky enough to own one, only told the time of day, there was no such thing as wifi, batteries were generally used only with flashlights or cars, and a telephone - again, if you were lucky enough to own one - was a big instrument hooked to a wire and stayed inside of your home - and it didn't take pictures!

But Rocky Three-Screens can't even go to the car without first checking to see that he is completely connected and on-line.  And when he gets to his car . . . well, that's a whole other set of technology.

I'm not sure that I am smart enough to even be here.  Fortunately I still have a few basic skills that have stuck with me over the years.  I can back out of the driveway without looking at the screen attached to the car's back-up camera, and I live in a rural enough area that I can still find my way home without GPS.

But I know people who can't!

Presidential Pot Pardons

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday President Joe Biden moved decisively to drag the federal government into the 21st century by announcing that he intends to pardon everyone who has been convicted of simple marijuana possession by the federal government and by the District of Columbia.    Biden's bold move will expunge convictions from the records of around 6,500 individuals, thus removing barriers to employment and even voting in some states.

The President does not have the power to change the actual law - The Controlled Substances Act - which delineates which drugs are illegal in this country and classifies them according to a hierarchical "schedule."    But the administration can change marijuana's status within the law through a formal rule-making process with the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.  Biden said that he is directing those two departments to begin the process of "rescheduling" or downgrading the US legal classification of marijuana.  "Pot" or "weed," as it is often referred to in the vernacular, is currently classified as a "Schedule 1" drug of the Controlled Substances Act, putting it on a legal par with heroin and LSD - and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are the leaders of the US overdose epidemic.

Removing  marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act would take legislation by Congress.  The House has passed bills in the last two sessions of Congress that would do just that, but the Senate has yet to act on the measure.  Legislation to legalize marijuana would take sixty votes in the Senate, and many Republicans and even a few Democrats currently oppose doing that.

But yesterday the nation witnessed significant progress toward the eventual full legalization of marijuana. Pardons are being issued and federal convictions for possession are being expunged - and the federal government is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug than it was previously considered to be.

Another social barrier is crumbling.

Dahmer Disappoints

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I doubt that anyone would sit down to watch a ten-part docudrama dealing with a cannibal serial killer and expect to be "entertained,"  but a reasonable expectation would be for the viewer to be swept up in a compelling tale of sadistic cruelty as the dark heart of an evil man was laid open for close examination.  A show that requires ten hours of my time should pull me into the story and be engrossing.

Ryan Murphy's Netflix production of "Dahmer - Monster:  The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" reminds us twice in the title that it is the "Dahmer" story, an American true-crime drama that is already basically well known to most of the country.  The show focuses on the horrible crimes - murder, necrophilia and cannibalism - committed by a young white man living in an economically depressed neighborhood of Milwaukee in the late twentieth century.  Over a thirteen-year period the perpetrator, Jeffrey Dahmer, murdered seventeen young men, slept with some of their corpses, cut up their bodies, and cooked and ate some of their body parts.  The material is there for an "engrossing" tale, one that would "compel" us to sit and watch, even if the material is truly disgusting and repulsive.    

But the Netflix version of "Dahmer" somehow misses the mark, and after viewing all ten episodes I came away feeling that I was no more enlightened on the subject of the "monster" criminal than I would have been if I had just read his Wikipedia entry.    

The story as presented on Netflix just did not reach out and engage me in the way that I thought it should.   As the credits rolled at the end of Episode Ten I did not feel that I had any deeper insight into the villain or his victims than I did prior to watching the series.  Perhaps the material was too well known and there was little room for new insights.  Or maybe it was a general lack of direction brought about by the six writers and five directors scattered among the ten episodes.  Or maybe it was too much reliance on the details of the story and an understatement of the environment in which it occurred.  (Could we have been given a better feel of the time and the place and the milieu in which Jeff Dahmer operated?)

The history that "Dahmer" was based on is horrendous and scary, yet the overall feel of the series was not scary - just repulsive.  Everything seemed subdued, even the rage of the families, and the racism and cronyism of the police felt like it had been dialed down for the production.  The film had a hard edge, but that edge was not sharp.

"Dahmer" was not the "engrossing" or "compelling" series that I was hoping to experience.   It was, in fact, a ten-hour disappointment.

The Coal Miner's Daughter Has Gone On

by Pa Rock

Country Music Fan 

Terms like "great," "legend," and "superstar" tend to be bandied about with annoying regularity to describe country music entertainers, but there have been a few who are truly deserving of that level of recognition - and one of those is Loretta Lynn.   The country music "legend," Loretta Lynn, died yesterday at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.  She was ninety.

Loretta Lynn was born Loretta Webb in 1932 in (in a cabin on a hill) in Butcher Holler, Kentucky.  She wrote about her childhood of growing up in impoverished but loving circumstances in her 1976 autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter," and also had a country music hit record with the same title and general accounting of her early life.  The movie version of "Coal Miner's Daughter" came out in 1980 with Sissy Spacek playing Loretta - a role for which Spacek won the Academy Award Oscar for Best Actress.

Country and rock singer Crystal Gayle was Loretta Lynn's younger sister.

Loretta Webb married Oliver "Mooney" Lynn in 1948 and gave birth to the first of their six children that same year.  Mooney died in 1996 and Loretta never remarried.  She outlived her two oldest children.

Loretta Lynn began recording in the early 1960's including many songs that she wrote herself.  She was best known for writing about issues facing modern women and families including birth control, raising children, and unfaithful spouses.  She recorded a dozen duets with Conway Twitty, and went on to record with many other country artists including Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette on their album "Honkey Tonk Angels."  

Rock musician Jack White produced Lynn's 2004 album, "Van Lear Rose," and performed a duet with Loretta of her song, "Portland, Oregon" on that album.  White eulogized Lynn yesterday as "the greatest female singer-songwriter of the twentieth century."  He also referred to the country star as a "genius" and as a "mother figure."  

As someone who grew up seventy miles from Branson, I have had the opportunity to see many country "greats, legends, and superstars" in my time, but somehow I was never fortunate enough to attend a Loretta Lynn performance.  That was definitely my loss!

The Coal Miner's Daughter has gone on, but she has left the world a better place in her wake.

Elvis Is Alive!

  

(Editor's Note:    In today's posting Ranger Bob recalls an interesting one-sided conversation that he recently overheard at the barber shop, and he uses it to reflect on the nature and proliferation of conspiracy theories.)

Elvis Is Alive!

by Bob Randall

I heard this at the barbershop this week. The guy who was having his hair cut in the chair next to mine said so. He started talking about it as soon as the Barber asked him, "what's new with you?"  He didn't stop talking about Elvis until he was walking out the door. It must be true.

He was more of an agnostic than a true believer. He commented that there was no way to know if that was true. He said that it was his wife who was absolutely convinced that Elvis was still alive. He talked about many other people who also believed it. Priscilla Presley several years back answered a reporter's question about what Elvis would be doing now if he were alive. She said that he would be a preacher. There's a guy down in Arkansas named Preacher Bob who's the right height, the right age, has the right voice (or at least he is good at mimicking), he has a little scar on his cheek where Elvis had his scar from chicken pox, he has the same gap in his teeth as Elvis, and he tells people that he is not who they think he is. I'm not sure what that means but I'm guessing that this guy’s wife thinks it means that he's not really Preacher Bob, he is really Elvis. It could mean the opposite, but the lack of clarity surely helps his image and the haul when they pass the collection plate. Elvis apparently made a cameo appearance in the movie "Home Alone", and there are photos of him getting on a helicopter a few hours after his death. The sweat on Elvis’ body as he lay in his casket really adds to this body of proof.

This has some similarities to many of the conspiracy theories that are currently prevalent. People use their bias to make choices. They search for ideas that will confirm what they want to believe, and they discard evidence to the contrary. This is a logical fallacy called confirmation bias. They use other logical fallacies in their arguments and thought processes such as the straw man fallacy, the false equivalence, ad hominem attacks, circular arguments, and others. Heck, you can even convince some people that there is a pizza parlor in New York City that has a basement where Hillary Clinton holds children as sex slaves or something like that. 

Now I would be embarrassed to even tell people that my wife believs this. I can't imagine why the guy kept going on and on, but I was having fun silently ridiculing both of them in my mind. I’m fairly sure that I heard the barber sigh when the customer finally walked out the door.  I, for one, am less agnostic and more atheist about this. I don't think Elvis was ever alive. Well, what do I know?