Dog Gone

 

by Pa Rock

Animal Lover

The house that my oldest son and I share was home to the two of us and two dogs for several years.  My little Rosie has been a permanent resident almost as long as I have lived here ( I had been here just under six months when she arrived), and when Nick joined me here a few years later he brought along his senior citizen Boston bulldog, Riley.  Rosie and Riley learned not only to tolerate each other, but they gradually formed a strong bond of friendship and Riley, the big dog, became very protective of little Rosie.  Riley passed away from old age a couple of years ago, and we have been a one-dog family since then.

Gypsy (Nick named her) showed up a little less than two weeks ago and was quick to insert herself into our domestic situation.   She was a young (about a year old), beautiful, lean and powerful, white dog with black spots and a bulldog face that evoked memories of Riley.  I assumed she was some variation of a pit bull.  Pit bulls have a reputation for being aggressive, but Gypsy was gentle and playful, and she was very curious about Rosie, the house, and the farm.

It was obvious that Gypsy had been very well cared for, and Nick did the proper thing of trying to find her owners through Facebook, but to no avail.  A friend suggested that her owners may have moved and inadvertently or intentionally left her behind, so that sort of became the assumption that led to us gradually sharing our situation with her.    Gypsy presented as playful and curious, and she was completely housebroken.  A rare find.

Yesterday began as an exceptionally good day.  Rosie had finally accepted that she was once again sharing her house and space with another canine, and Gypsy napped, and played, and spent much of the day exploring our large yard.  My son was at work, and the two dogs and I enjoyed our time together.

But when Nick got home in the early afternoon I sensed something was wrong.   Gypsy went to join him at the truck, and as he walked to the house he started talking to her and calling her "Marley."  Nick said he had been contacted over Facebook by Marley's owners who had almost given up trying to find her but had spotted his message and her photo earlier in the day.  She was a family pet who had wandered off and gotten lost.  Her owners would be out to claim her later in the day.

Marley was one-quarter American bulldog and three-quarter red-nosed (red-snout) bulldog, and there were children in the family who missed her very much.

The young couple, obviously working people who drove a good car and were decently dressed, showed up at around five in the evening - after work.  Rosie and I went outside to observe the reunion and to make sure in our own minds that things were on the up-and-up, which they were.  Marley was obviously ecstatic that her people had found her, and she bounced form one to the other (the kids were not there) standing on her hind legs and hugging them with her front legs and paws.

Rosie and I waved from the house as the happy threesome drove off.  We were happy for our friend, but in a very melancholy sort of way.

Have a wonderful life, Marley - and don't forget us.  We love you, too.

(Post Script:  It turns out Marley disappeared from her home on December 7th and had been gone for 23 days when her people finally located her.  That's almost enough time to qualify for a Disney movie!)

One, Two, and the Ruskie Flew

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I used this space last August, the day after Putin critic Yevgeny Prigozhin fell to earth and died when the private plane in which he was a passenger mysteriously came apart in the sky, to discuss the fact that political opponents and critics of Russian President Vlad Putin seem to routinely die before their time.   Well, Prigozhin's death really wasn't that mysterious.  Two months earlier Prigozhin, who had been the leader of the Wagner Group, a mercenary army employed by Russia to carry out much of Putin's war against Ukraine, had scared the yellow water out of Vlad when he turned his mercenary forces toward Moscow.   Prigozhin backed off a day later, but the damage to Putin's image had been done, and Vlad has never been known for being the forgiving sort.    An aviation "accident" in August ended Prigozhin's military influence in Russia - permanently. 

Putin seems to be a fan of permanent solutions.

In that August blog post I noted that for awhile critics of Vladimir Putin were being eliminated through "mysterious" - there's that world again - poisonings, but some victims were surviving those nefarious attempts on their lives, and soon the poisonings subsided and Putin critics and political opponents started falling out of high-rise windows instead, resulting in the death of the "jumpers"  or clumsy oafs at a rate of just under 100 percent.  (At one point when three doctors who were out of favor with the Kremlin jumped or fell from an upper story of their hospital, one survived.  Perhaps he landed on the other two.)

But, all-in-all, a fall from a high window seemed to be far more effective in eliminating pesky political opposition than poison.

Now, as the year ends, another Russian politician has bitten the dust, or more like the hard-packed frozen tundra, after a fall from another high window.  Vladimir Egorov, age 46, a Russian lawmaker and political ally of Putin, fell thirty feet from the third floor of his home in Tobolsk in western Siberia and was found dead in the courtyard.  Police are investigating - carefully, no doubt.

(Today's takeaway:  If your travels take you to Russia, request hotel rooms on the ground floor - at least until there is a change in the country's leadership.)

Nikki, Nikki, Nikki!

 

(Note:  Today's Ramble features another posting from my old friend, Ranger Bob.  The ranger, who seldom gets downright political, uses this space today to take on GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley over her recent decision, when asked about the causes of the American Civil War, to overlook the big kahuna in that bloody tragedy - slavery.   Bob's well-researched accounting provides a much needed counter-balance to Haley's misreading of history, and, as usual, his insights are spot-on.  - Pa Rock)

Nikki, Nikki, Nikki!

by Bob Randall

"Well, don't come at me with an easy question," said Nikki Haley when asked a question Wednesday night at a New Hampshire town hall.  The question was, "What was the cause of the American Civil War?"  Actually, it had an easy, one word answer:  Slavery.   Nikki didn't say that.  It was so inconvenient to answer truthfully because the base of the MAGA Party really believes her answer, while her more moderate wing of said party, want to hear about government intrusion.  They all want to hear how the government was trying to take away their rights, influence their economy, tell them what they couldn't do to other, lesser people.   They want to take pride in their Southern Heritage, something that the former governor of South Carolina must understand.  

However, Southern Heritage doesn't run very deep in New Hampshire.

South Carolina played a special role in Civil War history.  It wasn't the most fought-over ground.  No, that was Virginia.  It wasn't the second most fought-over ground.  That would be Tennessee.  Maybe, more importantly, it was the first fought-over ground.   Fort Sumter, a fort at the mouth of Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, absorbed the first cannon fire of the Civil War.   South Carolina has another dubious distinction that a former governor should understand.   It was the first state to declare its secession from the United States.   Nikki should have known that South Carolina's Declaration of Secession, while it blathers on and on about states' rights, clarifies in several places that it was the right to hold slaves that they really cared about.   An example:  "they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery;  they have permitted open establishment among them of societies whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other states.  They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes;  and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books, and pictures of servile insurrection."

Nikki, Nikki, Nikki, the answer should have been slavery.

At least Mississippi didn't blather on and on.  In the second sentence of their secession document they come right out and say it:  "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material interest of the world."  The Vice President of the Confederate States of America, Alexander Stephens, made it clear in the "Cornerstone Speech," that slavery was the cornerstone of the Confederacy.

While it's possible to make an argument that General Beauregard thought that he was defending South Carolina from the United States, it doesn't seem possible to me that one can make an argument that Nikki Haley doesn't understand that the single "States' Right" that she defended in her New Hampshire town hall, is the right to hold other human beings in bondage.  I believe she does understand that, and her answer says more about her party than it does about her.

Nikki, Nikki, Nikki!

Bezos is about to Reach Deeper into Our Pockets

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Things are apparently getting tight around the Jeff Bezos' household.  Not only is the billionaire greed head languishing in third place on the Forbes Magazine list of the world's richest people, but his lovely ex-wife, MacKenzie, his once-trusted partner who helped build Amazon.com into the world's biggest internet retailer, is now out tossing large sums of money from her divorce settlement to lefty social causes with wild abandon.  And The Washington Post, a major newspaper that Bezos bought in order to be a constant thorn in the side of Donald Trump, is bleeding cash so fast that hundreds of employees are being laid off in an effort to staunch the flow.

Times must be exceedingly hard for the 59-year-old billionaire whose net worth is just an embarrassing $168.2 billion.

But not to worry because Jeffie has a plan.  Beginning on January 29th of 2024 he will start peddling crappy products, not-to-be-missed special deals, and hot offers over Amazon Prime, a streaming service which is already overpriced and has traditionally been advertisement-free.  Discerning viewers, such as those of us who have gotten used to programming without ads and enjoy the concept, may maintain our ad-free content for a mere $2.99 per month.  

That almost sounds like a protection racket.  "Fork over three bucks a month, buddy, and we'll keep dem pesky adverts outta yer shows."

In addition to mass layoffs at The Washington Post, a significant rise in the cost of ad-free Amazon Prime, and just coming off of the best Christmas sales' season ever, Jeff Bezos is also preparing to move home - to South Florida, the place where benevolence goes to die - in order to be closer to his parents.  To his credit, Bezos is apparently getting his own place on "billionaire's row," and not moving into his parents' basement.

(On the credit side of the Bezos ledger, I will give him this:  Bezos and the number one individual on the Forbes' list, Leon Elon Musk, are both into space exploration and both seem to get a testosterone rush from showing off their big rockets.  The difference between the two, however, is this:  Jeff Bezos actually had the cahones to climb aboard one of his and ride into space.  Musk, on the other hand, is content to just tweet about his launch-pad ejaculations.  Yippee-ti-yi-yay, Leon Elon!)

As long as anyone, anywhere has money in their pockets, Jeff Bezos will have his hand in there too, rooting around for the last penny.  You can bet the house trailer on that!

Wealth Tax Now!

MAY THEY ROT IN HELL and Other Holiday Thoughts

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I keep a running tally of how many people stop by to read this blog each day, and one thing that I have learned through that effort is that any time I use the word "Trump" in the title, readership drops.  Even though the word "Trump" does not appear in today's headline, it is still so painfully obvious from the title where I am going with the piece, that good people who don't have the stomach for Trump at Christmas are sure to skip it.

But I persist in typing anyway because Trump's Christmas Day post on social media was so alarming and revealing of his deteriorating mental health, that it must be shared through every means possible.

Donald John used a lengthy post on Truth Social at 2:38 in the afternoon on Christmas Day to excoriate people whom he feels are his enemies and to also wish others a "Merry Christmas."  Trump likes to emphasize "Christmas" because he wants people to know about his strong Christian values and belief system, and to understand that he is inherently better than anyone who uses the word "holiday" instead of Christmas.  He is so adamant in the use of the word "Christmas" that it almost sounds like political opportunism.

Here is a portion of Trump's Christmas Day tirade that was reposted on Twitter.  It should tell any sentient being more than they are probably equipped to handle about the deeply disturbed person who wrote it.

"Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden's ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out of control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the SWAMP (unprecedented!), to help him with his poorly executed WITCH HUNT against "TRUMP" and MAGA."   Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and "sick" as the THUGS we have inside our Country who with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA, MAY THEY ROT IN HELL.  AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!   Donald Trump Truth Social 0238 PM EST 12/25/23"

What a butt load of excrement!

Here is a test of character that can be employed quickly with results that go right to the heart of the matter.  Would you permit someone whose thoughts were as scattered and vicious as that to babysit your children or grandchildren, even in an emergency situation?  Voting for someone like that is, in effect, giving them responsibility and control over the health, safety, and future of all of our children and grandchildren.

A person with that level of instability certainly should not be around impressionable children - or our nuclear codes!

Waffle House Robbed by Fake Employee

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In the run up to the holidays at least one savvy shopper in Georgia came up with a unique way to fund her Christmas.  Two weeks ago today an obviously experienced waitress put on her uniform and reported to work at the local Waffle House near Riverdale, Georgia.  The only problem was that she was not an employee of that particular Waffle House.    The woman stepped into the busy establishment wearing the correct uniform and began slinging hash with the rest of the underpaid and overworked staff - and no one questioned her because everyone was busy.

The waitress worked for two hours without drawing any undue attention to herself before taking one hundred and thirty dollars from the register and leaving prior to the end of her shift.  She was caught on camera removing the cash, but the theft was not noticed by management until the next morning.

Police are searching for the desperado through Facebook.  They surmise that based on her uniform and the fact that she was skilled in the Waffle House serving routines, that she either is or has been an employee of Waffle House at some other location.

One hundred and thirty dollars plus tips certainly wouldn't buy much of a Christmas in today's world, but it probably helped.   The waitress put herself and possibly even family members at great risk for a paltry amount of money that might cover the cost of a decent Christmas meal.  How sad it is that she felt compelled to make that choice.

(Of course, since it was Riverdale, she might have been high on jingle-jangle!)

In America it is only the bosses of a company who may loot it with impunity.   All others are bound by the restraints of law - and accepted standards of ethical and moral behavior.

Our Hearts are in Bethlehem

 

by Pa Rock

Resident of the Planet

Last night in his traditional Christmas Eve message from Vatican City, Pope Francis looked at the state of the world through the lens of war.  The Pontiff, dressed in a white robe and standing at the foot of one of St. Peter's grand columns, told the 6,500 gathered congregants  - and the world through modern technology - that "the clash of arms even today . . . prevents Jesus from finding room in the world."   Then he added "Our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war."

Bethlehem, the home of the Nativity, is a city in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, and while it has not endured the degree of devastation that  is befalling the other Palestinian territory of Gaza, it is suffering nonetheless.  This year Palestinian Christian leaders in the West Bank cancelled their traditional festivities related to Christmas to show solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.  Instead of Bethlehem's traditional Nativity scene of the Baby Jesus swaddled in a manger, this year Mary is holding the infant and standing next to Joseph on a pile of rubble and surrounded by concertina wire.

The Pope also said:  "We are close to our brothers and sisters suffering from war.    We think of Palestine, Israel, Ukraine.  We also think of those who suffer from misery, hunger, slavery.  May the God who took a human heart for himself infuse humanity into the hearts of men."

The Pope's Christmas Eve address was a great speech emboldened with the stark imagery of war as it drops onto the lives of real people.  But for the Pope's words to be impactful, they must rise above the constant wall of noise being generated by politicians and arms merchants as they constantly strive to keep the world angry and divided.

War is an ugly business that feeds the wealthy and elects the unworthy.  It is seldom about resolving anything.

Pope Francis is elderly and frail, and he often has to be pushed about in a wheelchair - but he still has a remarkably clear vision of the world.  The Pope is a man of peace, and peace sells bumper stickers.  War, on the other hand, sells combat boots, uniforms, weapons, munitions, delivery systems, vehicles, aircraft, coffins - and all manner of things that create billionaires and prop up world economies.

Talk hard, Your Holiness, because you are wailing into a very strong wind.

And yes, our hearts should be in Bethlehem and every other place in the world where humanity is at risk of being abandoned for the benefit of those who are already dripping in privilege.  Their quest for wealth and power and status comes at a serious cost to the rest of us.

So this is Christmas, 2023.

Mass Starvation in the Holy Land at Christmas

 

by Pa Rock

The United Nations and other agencies released a report this past Thursday stating that at least 570,000 people in Gaza, more than a quarter of the territory's population, are starving.   The victims, mostly Palestinians and many of them children, are starving and dying because aid trucks are being denied entry into the war-torn area.

On Friday, the day after the release of that devastating report, the UN Security Council voted and passed a resolution calling for urgent steps to immediately allow "safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access (to Gaza) and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."  The United States and Russia abstained from that vote.

Things are catastrophic in Gaza, and in the other Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territory, the West Bank, the situation in not much better.  Palestinian leaders of the Christian denominations in the West Bank have made a unanimous decision to cancel this year's public Christmas celebrations.  The West Bank is home to Bethlehem, the scene of the Nativity.  This year instead of being displayed in a manger, a swaddled likeness of the baby Jesus, can be seen lying in a pile of rubble.

Three major world religions - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - claim significant historical ties to the region of the Middle East commonly referred to as "the Holy Land," yet none of the three seem to possess the moral strength or desire to step up and help avert a humanitarian disaster.

That is both shameful and contemptible, and so are nations that don't have the guts to support even a mundane request for aid to be allowed to reach a devastated people.

Christmas this year does not feel very Christian.

Police Search for LGBTQ Book in Middle School

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Parents in the western Massachusetts community of Great Barrington can rest easy knowing that their adolescent children are being protected from reading material deemed inappropriate by Karen the Crank who lives down the street and stays up to her eyebrows in everybody else's business.  A little over two weeks ago word apparently reached Karen that there was a copy of a book that she disapproved of in a classroom at the local middle school, and she took the sensible approach to the matter by calling the police.  The police, in turn, did their duty and went to the school to search for the book that had Karen so upset.

On December 8th, late in the school day, a plainclothes policeman entered a classroom at the W.E.B. Dubois Middle School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and began searching for a copy of the book, "Gender Queer:  A Memoir," by Maia Kobabe.  That book has been "banned" in some communities and schools due to complaints from individuals who are uncomfortable with the content, but news articles (at least the ones I was able to  find) did not state that it had been barred in Great Barrington.   The book which caused the excitement was not found in the classroom that was searched.

The local chief of police later apologized for the search of the classroom, and the police department along with the local district attorney determined (belatedly) that the matter should be referred to the school district rather than handled as a police matter.

In his apology, the police chief said that his department's actions were not intended to "disenfranchise anyone or influence school curriculum."  The school district superintendent also issued an apology, apparently for the school's cooperation with the search, and said that his school was "committed to supporting all students, particularly vulnerable populations."

The matter will be taken up with the local school committee next month, which sounds like where it should have been handled in the first place.

This deplorable incident in Great Barrington is what public education will look like after control of the schools is completely ceded to the Karens and other malcontents of the world who are committed to the ultimate demise of education for all - and to the rise of ignorance, bigotry, and hatred.

America has done better, and it needs to do better again.

Pa Rock's 2023 Holiday Newsletter

Pa Rock's 2023 Holiday Newsletter

by Rocky Macy

(The last (and perhaps only) time I wrote a lengthy holiday update was in 2011, an effort which I recently reposted in the blog.  2011 was a very good year, and I believe that 2023 has also been a positive one for this old codger, so I have seated myself at the computer and will see where the effort takes me.)  

*  *. * 

The West Plains Macys are all staying busy and doing well – and would love to hear from our old friends!  This is what the past year had to offer out our way:
 
January was fairly uneventful until early on the morning of the 30^th when I fell on some black ice and managed to break my left arm just below the shoulder.  Three years earlier I had fallen and broken my right arm just below the shoulder, so I knew the routine:  a ride to the emergency room in an ambulance and a ride home in an Uber, dealing with an orthopedist, and several weeks of physical therapy.  Neither break could be cast, so each time I had to deal with a sling.  The right arm healed fairly well, but the left roved to be more problematic.   Nevertheless, I survived and am still typing with two hands.
 
My son, Tim, came to West Plains three days after the fall and took me to my first orthopedic appointment and then drove Rosie and I back to his home in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City where we spent most of the month of February.  Tim’s wife, Erin, who works out of the home, also took on the added responsibility of waiting on Rosie and I hand-and-foot and catering to our needs.  One big highlight of that trip was being there for Tim and Erin’s Super Bowl party on February 12^th when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles – and then rushing out in the yard and watching the fireworks going off in the surrounding neighborhoods.  Kansas City was fired up!  
 
The highlight for March was another trip to Kansas City, this time driving myself, where I spent my 75^th birthday with Tim and Erin and their family and then attended a sold-out performance of “Hamilton” with my granddaughter, Olive, at the Music Hall in Kansas City.  We had front row seating in the balcony, and Olive, who was eleven at the time, still talks about it and listens to the soundtrack.  It was a very special birthday indeed!
 
I was back in Kansas City in April to attend a concert by John Mellencamp.  The Indiana native, who was just a kid of seventy-one at that time, rocked the house for two full hours with the soundtrack of my young adulthood, along with quite a bit of new stuff.  The place was packed, and everyone in the entire theatre, young and old alike, knew the words to “Jack and Diane!”
 
My oldest grandchild, Boone, graduated from college in May with a teaching degree, and though I was headed that way and really wanted to be there, an unfortunate event interceded and caused me to miss it.  It was a sad day for me, but a great day for Boone, and I know that he is going to make our family proud.  Boone turned twenty-four this year.
 
Serious medical problems became evident during the spring when I developed breathing issues and suspected an underlying heart condition.  I had had major heart surgery in Phoenix in 2013, and it is common for things to start heading south again after about a decade.  An appointment with my cardiologist in early June led to an almost immediate appointment for a “heart cath” procedure which resulted in two stents and a night in the hospital. One more stent was planned for several weeks later after I had had time to complete two summer trips which were already in the works.
 
One of those trips (and a definite highlight of the year) occurred later in June when the Spotlight Theatre Company of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina, did a production of “The Shine from Dead Man’s Bottom,” a hillbilly comedy that I had written more than thirty years ago.   (The same group had performed another of my plays, a drama called “Crimes in Desolation,” two years earlier at the theatre on the airbase.  They did this year’s production at a very nice theatre downtown, and I could not have been more pleased with the result.   The acting was impeccable, the set superb, and the sound – often a problem in large theatres – was flawless.  I attended two rehearsals and both performances and could not have been more pleased.  Thanks again, Director Janelle Donovan and the Spotlight Players, you guys are the best!
 
My second summer trip happened in mid-July when my sister, Abigail, and I traveled (separately) to Kansas City and spent a night with Tim and Erin – and Olive and Sully – and then flew to Oregon where we spent several days visiting my daughter, Molly, her husband, Scott, and their three children:  Sebastian, Judah, and Willow.  We saw quite a lot of their city, Salem (Oregon’s capital), and even drove to the coast for a day.  It was a lot of fun.  On the way back we spent a night in Portland where I was able to check a big item off my bucket list by visiting “Powell’s Books,” a multi-level bookstore and iconic Portland landmark that covers an entire city block!
 
Near the end of July, I checked into the hospital in Mountain Home, Arkansas, for that third stent which turned out to be two.  So I am up to four – but feeling much better!
 
Not much happened in August.  I hung around the house in the air-conditioning and spent too much time at the computer.   My broken arm from January, a couple of months of physical rehab, major trips both east and west, as well as the heart issues and four stents pretty well pulled me off of the lawnmower, my primary entertainment over the past nine summers, and my son, Nick, stepped up and took over the mowing – a huge help!  I still got up at the crack of dawn each morning to let Uncle Guinea out of the chicken coop and to feed the neighbor’s cat who thinks he belongs to me at breakfast time.   Rosie and I did make a trip to Kansas City at the end of the month where Tim installed an Amazon Echo in my little Kia – and now we are three on those long road trips to the Kansas City area and back:  me, Rosie, and Alexa!  (It’s great to have a support group!)
 
September saw me starting cardiac rehab at the hospital here in West Plains.  I was assigned 36 sessions – and the clinic is only open three days a week and never on holidays like Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s.   I do twenty-five minutes on the treadmill and twenty-five minutes on a recumbent stepper.  I wear my pedometer watch during the workouts, so I always manage to complete my 10,000 steps – and then some – on days when I am in cardiac rehab.  It has been an enjoyable experience and a good opportunity to meet some area residents that I would never have encountered otherwise.  Today (December 22^nd) I will be completing session thirty-four of thirty-six, and I will do the final two next Wednesday and Friday – just prior to the New Year.

My father's best friend in the Army during World War II was a fellow named Joe Spake from Memphis, Tennessee.  Joe and his family came to Missouri to visit our family when my sister and I were small, and the Macys made at least one tricot Memphis to see them.  But Joe died young and the remaining Spakes and Macys lost contact - until I accidentally heard Joe's musician son, Jim Spake, on the radio one day a dozen years or so ago while I was living and working on Okinawa.  Since then I have had contact with all three of Joe's grown children, and in September Joe's daughter, Carrie, and her husband (also named Joe), stopped by the house for a brief visit.  It was a very nice reunion, one that I know would have pleased our fathers very much.
 
Rosie and I (and Alexa) made another trip to Kansas City at the end of October, the highlight of which was seeing my granddaughter, Olive, act and sing in an exceptionally good production of “James and the Giant Peach, Jr” based on the work of Roald Dahl.   Olive, who is twelve, has been involved with a very good theatre group for a couple of years, and acting seems to be where her heart is at – and she is exceptionally talented.  Her cousin, and my other granddaughter, Willow Files (also 12-years-old) is a talented performer, as well, and she seems to have a knack for comedy.  Both girls play musical instruments, too.
 
The big highlight from November was a day trip that my college roommate from the sixties, Ranger Bob Randall, and I made to my hometown of Noel, Missouri, where we searched in vain for a time capsule that I buried around 1964.  It was cold and rainy, and at one point I was down on my hands and knees digging when I discovered that I could not get back up, but Bob stepped up and somehow got me upright.  I’m sure if anyone saw us, they were probably thinking, “Look at those old coots.  I wonder who let them out of The Home!”  
 
The Kansas City Macys and I went to see the KC Rep’s wonderful annual stage production of “A Christmas Carol” in December.  We have been taking Olive to see the play since she was five and Sully has been old enough to attend the past couple of years.  Both kids seem really engrossed by the performances, and Olive now gives running commentary on things that she notices about the acting.  
 
There was sad news this month when “Uncle,” my pet guinea who followed me around the farm like a faithful dog for three years, was killed late one night by a predator while roosting on the rafters of his coop. Over the years Uncle had become an enjoyable companion, and I miss him every day.  But life constantly evolves in a farm setting, and a few days ago a dog stopped by and now refuses to leave.  She is a beautiful, young adult pit bull who acts like she is here to stay.  She appears to have been very well cared for.   Nick has been trying to find her previous family through Facebook, but so far has had no luck in his search.  He is calling her “Gypsy,” and I suspect that she believes she is home – but what the heck, it’s almost Christmas!   Welcome to your new home, Gypsy – there’s always room at the inn!
 
May your holiday season be the absolute best ever, filled with joy and laughter, and in the New Year may the world finally heed the advice of John Lennon and “give peace a chance!”  
 
Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
 
With love,
 
Pa Rock. (and Nick, Rosie, and Gypsy)

The Time Trump Told the Truth

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

While Donald John Trump is known for dishonest dealings and a lifetime of lying, the odds are that every so often he is bound to slip up and make a true statement.  He is like the proverbial blind squirrel who is destined to occasionally stumble upon an acorn.   Trump blathers on so much that sometimes a string of words which represent a true fact will unintentionally slip across his lips.

I strongly suspect that Trump told the truth this week when he was clumsily defending himself from his own words - the various bags of garbage that he spoke which parroted Adolf Hitler - things like referring to certain elements of American society which oppose his oppression of humanity as "vermin," and saying that immigrants are "poisoning" the blood of America.  (Two of Trump's three wives have been immigrants.)   Donald Trump's Hitleresque remarks were so odious that even a few members of the Republican Party took him to task over his ignorant utterances.  Some suggested that the remarks had been taken from Hitler's guidebook to his own insanity, "Mein Kampf."

Normally Donald Trump would have just sat back and enjoyed the hubbub, secure in his belief that all publicity is good publicity, but for some reason the comparison to Hitler got to him and Trump felt compelled to lash out with a statement that he had never even read "Mein Kampf."  That is undoubtedly true.  Hitler's autobiographical manifesto is a not a simple read and it lacks cartoon illustrations.  It is not the type of tome that someone with a sixth-grade vocabulary (at best) would be apt to pick up and attempt to read, especially if they had the attention span of a gnat.

So, regrettably, I think Donald Trump broke stride and communicated a truth, something that is about as rare as him actually reading anything.  That's not to say that Trump is dumb, because clearly he knows what he is about and understands how to manipulate people, but Trump got his "education" by absorbing the thoughts of others in his milieu, and from his own family's values - not from reading books.   The rantings of his klansman (or at least klan-associating) father were more impactful on Donald's emerging worldview than anything he ever tried to read.

Trump said he has never read "Mein Kampf," and I believe him.  In fact, I believe that he has never read much of anything.

A Dog and a Cardinal Come to Call

 

by Pa Rock

Devout Birdwatcher

I was late in putting the bird feeders out this year, after deliberately stalling for several weeks while waiting for a combination of decent weather and personal ambition to strike jointly, but that came about this past Sunday.  Actually, a stray dog do helped to move the effort along as well.

The day - Sunday - began with the arrival of a young adult female dog who appears to be mostly pitbull.  I was typing at the front window about ten in the morning when I observed her loping across the road from my neighbor's property, and on across my yard.  I didn't think much of it other than the fact that I hoped she would not get hit by one of the many hopheads who enjoy racing up and down our otherwise quiet country lane.  

An hour or so later I took Rosie out the back door for her morning constitutional, and as I was supervising her in the privacy of our back yard, the large pitfall came bounding out of nowhere and jumped on me, pushing me back with her large paws and almost knocking me over.  Little Rosie, of course, was terrified.  Our guest bounced around, much like Pooh's friend, Tigger, and tried to get a good whiff of Rosie so that she could figure out just what sort of creature she was.

I took Rosie back in the house, and then went back outside to try and get some sense and measure of the new arrival.  That's when I decided that, since I was already keyed up, it would be a good time to work with the bird feeders - and my new friend followed along as I retrieved the feeders from their storage location, and filled and hung them.  When I finally went inside, the energetic visitor, raced off to meet the rest of the neighborhood.

The dog is white with large black spots and a square, bulldog, black face.  Her body resembles that f a full grown lab.  The next time Rosie and I went out that day, she was again bouncing and pouncing along with enthusiasm when she landed on my frightened little friend.  Rosie wasn't hurt, but she definitely wanted back in the house.  We have suffered along like that since Sunday while my son has been trying unsuccessfully to find the dog's owner. Sometimes Spot is here and sometimes she isn't.  This morning when I tried to take Rosie outside before daylight we found our nemesis on the back porch sleeping against the door.   I'm afraid she ultimately may be headed for the pound.

But, back to the birds.

The feeders went up on Sunday, and they had no visitors either that day or the next - which is what usually happens after they first go up.  I fill them with a mixture (of my own mixing) of sunflower seeds and hen scratch - both of which have gone through the financial roof this year.  (Fifty pounds of sunflower seeds is more than $27.00 at the local feed store, and hen scratch is now above $11.00 for fifty pounds!). But, hang the expense - and I feed on!

Yesterday, Tuesday, the first winter guest at the feeder showed up, a big beautiful male cardinal who stood tall next to globe feeder looking like a true prince of the Catholic Church.  In fact, my mind immediately careened back to my old buddy, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law who was merely Bishop Law, the head of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese forty years ago when I knew him.  (I once spent a long, boring evening in Willow Springs, Missouri, listening to Bishop Law prattle on about the duties and responsibilities of parish council members - a role that the priest in Mountain View, Missouri, had thrust upon me for failure to attend mass regularly.  The last time I saw Bishop Law was in 1984 - I think - as he was getting into the backseat of his limo after a visit to the Catholic Church in my hometown of Noel, Missouri.  Shortly after that the Pope in Rome elevated him to the position of Archbishop of the Boston Diocese, and a year after that he was made a Cardinal, one of the princes of the church.

Cardinal Law had every intention of gaining one more promotion and becoming the first Pope from the United States, but those plans were foiled as he became enmeshed in the sprawling Catholic Church child sexual abuse scandal and finally admitted that yes, he had shuffled pedophile priests from parish to parish in an attempt to hide their criminal sexual maltreatment of children.   Law was removed from Boston and spent the next few years in the church bureaucracy in Vatican City - and in the coffee shops of Rome  - until he was ultimately forced into retirement.  

Cardinal Bernard Law died six years ago today in Rome, and I am fairly certain that he has come back as a red-feathered bird who is sponging off of my generosity.  That is a staggeringly significant (and well-earned) fall from grace for a man who once aspired to be the absolute monarch of the world's billion-plus Catholics.

(Note:  I am no longer a practicing Catholic or anything else for that matter, but I still worry about all creatures, great and small, who seek warmth, food, and safety as winter approaches - including refugees and especially children.)

Winter arrives tomorrow.  Stay warm and safe, and be kind - and if anyone would like to have a very friendly dog, please let me know!

Clarence Thomas, On the Beg

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Justice Clarence Thomas of the US Supreme Court has undoubtedly had better years than the one which is currently drawing to a close.  During 2023 the extreme right-wing jurist has been the focus of a steady stream of news stories involving favors and gifts provided to Thomas and his political operative wife, Ginni, by several ultra-wealthy sugar daddies, many of which went unreported on the couple's taxes.  The stories of Clarence and Ginni living high on the generosity of others became so prevalent over the past few months that Chief Justice John Roberts eventually felt compelled to nudge his colleagues on the Court into drafting and approving a fairly toothless code of ethics to make it seem as though they were at least trying to behave like honest individuals.

There has been a steady drumbeat of stories in the press over recent months regarding questionable gifts to Clarence Thomas and his family.   Tales of forgiven loans, luxury vacations, flights aboard private jets, trips on private yachts, free seats at sporting events, gifts of tuition for Thomas's grandnephew to attend posh private schools, as well as a free renovation and remodeling of Thomas's mother's house have splashed across numerous news cycles and left many Americans wondering just how Clarence and Ginni were repaying the kindness of their savagely-wealthy benefactors.

This week a story emerged in the national press which provided some history and context to the accounts of the wonderful gifts and loans that have found their way to the exceedingly fortunate Thomas family.  The story originated with ProPublica, an organization which describes itself as "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest."  ProPublica has been responsible for unearthing many of the stories regarding gifts to Clarence and Ginni from wealthy benefactors.

Now ProPublica seems to have excavated the root of the Thomas family's never-ending Christmas celebration, or as Lucy Van Pelt might put it, their perpetual "gift-getting season!"   According to an investigation by that organization, Justice Thomas was staying at a five-star resort at Sea Island, Georgia, in January of 2000 where he was giving a speech at a conservative "thought" weekend called "Awakening," which also featured golf, shooting lessons, aroma therapy, and panel discussions.  (Thomas's trip to the political retreat and his accommodations were paid for by the organization sponsoring the event, something that he did not declare on his taxes.)

While at that retreat in Georgia, Clarence Thomas was deeply in debt.  He and Ginni had recently purchased a nice home on five acres in Virginia for over half-a-million dollars with only around eight thousand dollars of their own money as a down payment, and he had also bought a $267,000 motor home on money borrowed from a friend.   In addition to that crippling debt load, the Thomases were dealing with the educational expenses of Clarence's young grandnephew.

On the flight back from Georgia, Clarence Thomas had the very good fortune to sit next to Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns of Florida.  During the flight Justice Thomas apparently lobbied Stearns for a raise in the pay of Supreme Court justices as well as for lifting the ban on justices giving speeches for pay.  Congressman Stearns came away from the encounter feeling that Justice Thomas was suffering financially to the point that he might be considering resigning from the Count.

Congressman Stearns told others of his concerns, and the heavens opened - showering down their financial blessings on the fortunate Clarence and Ginni.  The gifts came in torrents!

And there is no quid pro quo, of course there isn't.  It's just a case of people with means looking out for their less fortunate friends

Being on the beg does not always lead to being in the bag - even if it does sometimes lead to that assumption.

And as for the neglected taxes, New York City hotelier Leona Helmsley said it best as she talked about her and her rich friends:  "We don't pay taxes.   Only the little people pay taxes."

Jason Smith's Sanctimony Smells like Baloney!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

My sanctimonious congressman, Jason Smith of rural southeast Missouri, is out with his weekly newsletter, a  right-wing screed against all things Biden which the congressman's office posts late every Sunday evening.  Smith, the current chairman of the once-important House Ways and Means Committee, usually dedicates about a third to a half of his weekly diatribe to highlighting things that he has said on Fox News during the preceding week, and then discussing selected votes which he has taken during that same time period in terms that his constituents would find most appealing or enraging.

Smith's committee is one of several whose chief focus seems to have become the mad pursuit of any morsel that would weaken President Biden and, by comparison, make Trump look less criminal than he actually is.  This week Jason was railing against the fact that the House has been unable to pull Hunter Biden, the President's son, in to testify as a part of one of the House's many fishing expeditions.  But Smith, a lawyer, had to be careful in how he presented that story.

Hunter Biden has been subpoenaed to testify before a congressional committee, that is true, but what Smith and many other Republicans are trying to gloss over its the fact that Hunter Biden has volunteered to testify, but he wants to do so publicly, in a way that will not allow GOP House members, committee chairmen, and Fox News personalities to "interpret" what he said before the actual words that he speaks are released to the public.  Smith, and others like him, want to tell the American people how Hunter Biden acted and what he said, when we could be sitting in front of our televisions or computers and seeing it live for ourselves.  

Isn't the American public smart enough to watch a person testify live and then make up their own minds on whether he is being truthful or not, Jason?  Do we really need you to translate for us?

Jason Smith was opposed to the idea of Hunter Biden testifying out in the open, and he whined in this week's newsletter that the congressional subpoena was "not up for negotiation," which is politician-speak for "there's no way in hell we're going to be asking our questions out in the open and letting the public see how little we actually have in the way of evidence."  A fishing expedition must be held in private in case the desperate fishermen pull in something that would embarrass them.

So, certain Republicans in Congress are roaring that Hunter Biden must honor his subpoena and come to the Hill and testify - in closed hearings, and Hunter is saying that he will come and testify, but only before God and the whole world.  

And sanctimonious Jason Smith is saying that testifying before God and the whole world is not good enough.

Somebody is trying to bamboozle the American public, and it doesn't appear to be Hunter Biden!

Your sanctimony smells like baloney, Jason!

Good Golly, It's Molly's Birthday!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Papa

As unbelievable as it seems (at least to me), my daughter, Molly Files, is turning forty-seven today.  Molly lives with her husband, Scott, and their three children - Sebastian, Judah, and Willow - in Oregon, and she is one of the busiest people that I know.  

This birthday marks the point where Molly has spent almost an equal measure of time living in this millennium as she did in the last.  I knew her best during the first half of her life when she was growing and learning about the world, but it has been during the second half where she has found her place in the world - moving out on her own and living away from family, finding the right person to marry, having children and organizing a functioning family, and finally building a life in the great American Northwest.

I know from my occasional visits to the Files' home that they are a bustling family who are always on the go.  A year from now the kids will all be teenagers, and they keep both parents busy rushing to and from school activities, lessons of various sorts, games and events, and all of the myriad of things that young people can come up with to make their lives fun and interesting.  It's a hectic life, but it seems to suit the Files family well.

Molly, have a wonderful birthday and eat some cake and ice cream for your old Dad.  I'm thinking of you and wishing you the best birthday ever!

Next President to be Elected by 18% of Voters

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last week the Washington Post, one of our nation's leading newspapers, came out with a special report on "the modern trajectory of the electoral college" which illustrates that presidential elections in the United States are becoming untethered from democracy.  

As we all are becoming painfully aware, American voters do not elect the president, slates of electors from each state do.  In most instances the candidate who wins a majority of votes in a state receives all of that state's electoral votes when the electoral college meets in Washington the next month - December - to cast their votes for President.  Congress then "counts" the electoral college votes in January - and we all should remember the anarchy that ensued when the Congress tried to "count" the votes on January 6th, 2021!

That all boils down to a political reality of presidential candidates concentrating on winning individual states rather than winning a majority of the voters.  In two of the past six elections, candidates have won the electoral college vote without winning the majority of the overall vote.  Democracy was thwarted because of the electoral college provision that is embedded in our Constitution.

Among other findings, the Washington Post report said that between 1952 and 1980, presidential candidates actively campaigned for votes in twenty-six states where they targeted a total of 3 in 4 American voters.  But by the presidential election of 2020 the number of states targeted for actual campaigning was only ten (plus two congressional districts*), and only 1 in 4 American voters were targeted.    The report further stated that Florida may not be contested in 2024 (it will just be ceded to the Republicans), and the number of American voters who will have an actual say in electing the president will shrink to 18%, or less than 1 in 5.

That's pitiful, and it is certainly something other than democracy.

The report in the Washington Post also highlighted the fact that the types of legislation pursued by parties is more reflective of the concerns of people in battleground states than it is of the desires of the overall population and the needs of the country.

(*Note:  Normally electoral votes are assigned by each state on a winner-take-all basis, but Nebraska and Maine have a more complex system where the overall winner of the state gets two electoral votes - one per each US Senator - and each congressional district in the state gets one electoral vote.)

Currently Democrats look to be in a position to win 17 states and the District of Columbia next year in the presidential contest for a total of 211 electoral votes, and Republicans are relatively safe in 24 states and one congressional district for a total of 218 electoral votes.  It takes 270 electoral college votes to win the election.

The presidential battlegrounds for 2024 will account for 109 electoral votes.  The battlegrounds will be:

Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin - plus the 2nd congressional district of Nebraska and the 2nd congressional district of Maine.

So let's all be nice to the voters in those states because they will be choosing our next President.

Every vote should be equally important.

IT'S TIME TO END THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!

Abortion Politics Get Ugly in Missouri

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

Two Republican state legislators from extreme southwest Missouri, one a state senator and the other a state representative, have just shined a very bright light on an ultimate objective of the anti-abortion movement in America.  The two, State Senator Mike Moon of Ash Grove and State Representative Bob Titus of Billings, pre-filed bills in the state legislature on December 1st which would allow for criminal charges to be brought against anyone who gets an abortion or provides abortion care in the state.  The two bills are both called the "Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act."

Missouri is already one of fourteen states with total bans on abortion in almost all circumstances, but strong efforts are underway to get a measure on next year's ballot that would return some form of abortion rights to women of the state.    Polls show that a majority of people in Missouri want women to have access to abortion services.

The bills introduced by Moon and Titus could lead to women who have abortions being charged with homicide, and that is clearly a bridge too far for many in the state and nation, including quite a few Republicans as well of members of groups on both sides of the abortion issue.  National politicians like the President and Vice-President of the United States condemned the measure, and even Missouri's Republican governor, Mike Parson, said that the bill sends a "bad message."

Quite a stink ensured after word about the bills made it into the national press, and Rep. Titus, a retired insurance broker and father of ten, ultimately chose to withdraw his bill late this past Tuesday evening.

Clearly, however, the struggle to ensure that women have control over their own bodies and their own health care decisions remains far from over.  While this latest assault on the rights of women appears to have been more noise than substance, it is nevertheless a clear indicator of where the anti-abortion movement ultimately wants to go.

Women's health care decisions should be made by the women involved and their doctors - and not by religious zealots and old, starchy white, male politicians with 19th century views on the roles of women in society.

Pay attention, Republicans, because the voters are about to bring you an important message!

Ditto, Bonehead, Ditto!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This story is all over the internet this morning, and it so perfectly encapsulates contemporary politics in America that it merits preservation in this forum as well.

Yesterday the Dow Jones hit its highest point ever and the S&P 500 got within striking distance of its highest point, so the stock market had a very good day, one of its best days ever.  The stock market rose on news that the Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates again this year, and the Fed chairman also went out on a limb and said that the agency that ultimately controls the amount of cash flowing into the economy would very likely cut interest rates up to three times next year.

Woo hoo!   The recession may not be over, but it is certainly waning.  Investors were giddy happy and blasted the top out of the Dow Jones which closed at 37,090.24.

(The stock market is just one indicator of the nation's economic well-being, and many argue that it has little or no concurrent impact with the things that bring the economy home to people who roll-up their sleeves and work for a living - things like the price of groceries, gas, housing, education, and medical care.  BUT, a rising stock market is a clear indicator that the investors who provide much of the money to grow and expand the economy think that things are looking up.)

The stock market rose during the Trump years in the White House, and Trump was always eager to take full credit for that good indicator of a healthy economy.  And he also used the big stock market numbers to pound his political enemies and what he saw as partisan efforts to  control his erratic actions and policies.

Yesterday, the same day that the Dow hit its highest point ever, the US House of Representatives also voted along straight party lines to open a formal impeachment investigation into President Biden.  The  GOP House has, for months, been trying to come up with grounds to bring impeachment charges against Biden in order to give him some political baggage to detract from Trump's multitude of current legal troubles, but has so far failed to come up with evidence of any crimes on Biden's part.  Republicans in the House are currently trying to link him to legal difficulties attached to business dealings of his son.

Meanwhile, some social media archaeologists were digging through old tweets and came up with this gem which had been posted by Donald Trump on April 23, 2019:

"You mean the Stock Market hit an all-time high today and they're actually talking about impeachment?   Will I ever be given credit for anything by the Fake News Media or Radical Liberal Dems?  NO COLLUSION!"

I'm sure that somewhere this morning Joe Biden is laughing and saying, "Ditto, Bonehead, ditto!"

All Aboard for Europa!

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

When you are seventy-five, as I am, and regardless of your general overall health, you begin to sense that the curtain is slowly drawing closed on your final act.  Each spin around the sun leaves you older, not younger,  and you know that somewhere not too far down the pike is a termination date with your name on it.

My life has seen its fair share of ups and downs, but overall I feel that my time on the planet has been of a generally positive nature.  I'm proud of my children and their children, and I've put some effort into collecting and preserving the history of many of their ancestors.   I have had multiple careers, none of which generated much in the way of income and all of which were focused on making the lives of others better.  

And, through a combination of careful planning and occasional good luck I have been able to get out and see much of the world and even managed to live overseas for two extended periods of time.  My only major travel regret is that I never made it across the equator to see the Southern Cross, but I am confident that one of my grandchildren will one day do that in my memory.

Up until yesterday I figured that my traveling days were just about over, but then, while typing the daily blog and listening to NPR for background noise, I happened to hear a mention of NASA's Message in a Bottle program, and I was drawn into some research.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be launching an exploratory probe to Jupiter in October of next year, and it will have a primary mission of recording data on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.  The space voyage will take about five-and-a-half years with the vessel, dubbed the "Europa Clipper," expected to enter Jupiter's orbit in April of 2030.   The spacecraft, as it orbits Jupiter, will be focused on Europa and will make fifty fly-bys of the icy moon trying to determine what lies below the frozen surface.  Scientists believe, based on the earlier mission to Jupiter by the "Galileo," it is likely a vast saltwater ocean roughly two times the size of all of the oceans on Earth.  If that is the case, the ocean of Europa could possibly have the ingredients for life - or perhaps life itself.  The "Europa Clipper," which will be equipped with an array of scientific measuring devices, will come within sixteen miles of the surface of Europa at one point in its series of fly-bys.

The aspect of the trip that the NPR report touched on yesterday was that the spacecraft to Europa will also be carrying a message from Earth, a poem by US Poet Laureate Ada Limon entitled "In Praise of Mystery:  A Poem for Europa."  The poem will be stenciled onto a metal plate and attached onto the outside of the spacecraft. Also on that plate will be a microchip the size of a dime  which will hold the names of people from Earth who wanted their names included in the project.  They will be stenciled onto the microchip in print that is approximately 1/1,000 the width of a human hair.

NASA decided to let any resident of Earth who wanted their names to be flown to Europa to be able to participate.  They put a sign-up link on the internet and invited people to get involved.  As of mid-November over 700,000 people had submitted their names, and the sign-up period is open until midnight on December 31st, so many more names will go along on the space odyssey.

Yesterday, after hearing the story on NPR, I googled "NASA Message in a Bottle" and was on the sign-up page within seconds - and within a few more seconds I had successfully submitted my name for the space ride.  I'M GOING TO EUROPA!  Well, my name is, anyway.  As this will undoubtedly be my last big trip anywhere, I would love to have some friends and family - and especially grandkids - join me for this long, leisurely cruise into deep space as we try to glimpse the edge of tomorrow.

All aboard!

Texas Woman Forced to Flee State for Medical Care

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A thirty-one-year-old Texas mother of two small children who wants to have more children recently learned that the 20-week fetus she is carrying has trisomy 18, a rare chromosomal disorder that is likely to cause her baby to be stillborn or to die shortly after birth.  The condition also places the mother's health at risk and could keep her from ever being able to become pregnant again.  She and her spouse made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy.  Texas, however, has a near-total abortion ban with the only exception being endangerment to the life of the mother.

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a request for a restraining order on the woman's behalf arguing that her life and future fertility were at great risk, and on Thursday of last week the state district judge concurred and ruled that the woman could have an abortion in the state of Texas.

But controversial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, was not happy with that decision which had been handed down by a female judge, and he asked the Texas Supreme Court to quickly weigh-in on the matter.  Paxton warned medical providers that they could be at risk of arrest for helping in what he deemed to be an unnecessary abortion.  On Friday the Texas Supreme Court put a temporary pause on the lower court's order which had allowed the abortion.

On Monday (yesterday), following the Texas Supreme Court's interference the previous Friday, the woman's attorneys announced that she had left the state in order to get medical treatment elsewhere, and that same evening the Texas Supreme Court ruled against the request for an abortion and ordered the lower court to vacate its ruling.

The Texas Supreme Court has nine members, all of whom are elected and all of whom are Republicans.    It includes six males and three females.  One of the males campaigned for his seat on the court by boasting of his multiple arrests for protesting abortion rights.

Clearly, residing in Texas might not be the best choice for women who value the right to make their own health care decisions.  The state appears to be one more ugly chapter in "The Handmaid's Tale."

X Marks the Spot Where a Great Company Died

 

by Pa Rock

Former Tweeter

I joined Twitter in June of 2009 and was active on the site, sometimes very active, for more than thirteen years.  During the time that I was with Twitter I posted thousands upon thousands of tweets, cultivated a respectable following, re-connected with many old friends that I hadn't heard from in years, made new friends, and generally had a very good time discussing a wide assortment of issues with people across the country and the globe.  

One of the more productive ways that I used my association with Twitter was to promote this blog.  I set an arbitrary floor of fifty visitors to the blog per day, and as soon as soon as I finished typing the daily entry each morning, I would post a tweet about it with a link on Twitter.  Sometimes I would have fifty readers almost immediately, but on days when things were slow and the hits weren't happening, I would simply go back on Twitter again and re-plug the daily blog post until I reached my goal of fifty.  I always managed to get there.

Things began to change at Twitter last year and I had the sense that the company was on the verge of a drastic and unhealthy change.  The world's richest human (at that time), Elon Musk, announced in April of 2022 that he had been buying up shares of Twitter and was now the company's largest stockholder with over 9% of the company's shares firmly in his possession.  Musk announced his intent to buy the company.   The proposed purchase of Twitter by Musk sputtered and stalled several times over the next few months, with it looking as though Musk might be trying to exit the purchase agreement of $44 billion for one on the world's most popular social media companies, but threats of court action and lots of noise from both the buyer and the sellers somehow managed to keep the deal together, and Elon Musk became the official owner of Twitter on October 27, 2022.

Not being a fan of world domination by the filthy rich, I quit using the platform that day.  It was a costly decision for my ego because my blog readership plummeted and never recovered.  My new "floor" is ten readers per day, and sometimes even getting there is a struggle.  Twenty readers is a really good day.  But still I type.

My sense was that the self-absorbed and petulant billionaire would eventually destroy the character of his new vanity property, and sadly that destructive process quickly started to happen - almost at warp speed.  Musk began to imprint his own personality on the company.  On November 4th, just eight days after his purchase of Twitter, Musk began mass layoffs at the company by cutting roughly half of its 7,500 employees, a number that many said made it impossible to supervise the content that was being posted on the site.

Less than a week after that he announced that the company would begin selling it's blue check verification system that it had been using free-of-charge to identify actual celebrities and other noteworthy individuals as being who they claimed to be.  From now on anyone could "purchase" a blue check for just eight dollars a month.   Not surprisingly, Twitter was then immediately swamped with people who were happy to pay eight dollars in order to pose as celebrities.  Plenty of fake accounts ensued, and Twitter had to quickly regroup and add another layer of verification to its process.

But all of that hullabaloo wasn't enough for the new Sultan of Twitter.  He had said that he would create a board to look at reinstating some of the better known accounts that had been closed over inappropriate content by the previous management at Twitter.  But in mid-November Musk had another thought on the matter and dropped a surprise (and quick) poll on Twitter asking if the account of Donald Trump should be reinstated, and the poll, by a small majority, said that it should.  So Trump was invited back, and the flood gates were officially open.  

Over the ensuing months other controversial characters have been allowed back on the site.   Just this past week Elon Musk welcomed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones - the crank who said repeatedly that the massacre of little children at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, never happened and was a hoax concocted by the US government.  (A jury in Connecticut disagreed, and in October of this year ordered Jones to pay $965 million to families of eight of the dead children.)

But Elon didn't have any personal issues with Alex Jones, who had been barred from Twitter five years earlier, and he is now back on X where he can spread his swill ad nauseam and with wild abandon. 

In July of this year Elon Musk renamed Twitter, and the company is now officially known as "X."    (The Twitter bluebird was probably happy to be set free of the sprawling mess that his once happy nest had become!)

But the biggest blow to the company came in mid-November of this year when Elon Musk inexplicably endorsed an anti-semitic post on X, a completely unnecessary act of hubris that immediately began driving advertisers from X and quickly got into Musk's pocket.   Disney, Apple, IBM, and Lionsgate all stopped advertising on X, which should have at least given Musk pause to consider his rash act.   Instead, however,   the aggressive billionaire was infuriated to the point that he publicly said the advertisers who had pulled out of his company could "go f---" themselves.  Later Musk suggested that advertisers were trying to "blackmail" him and that they would wind up killing X.   Musk also openly recommended that the Disney board fire Bob Iger, the company's CEO, but it seems unlikely that the Disney board will be overly attentive to personnel recommendations from Elon Musk.

In all practical reality, Twitter is gone and its replacement, X, appears to be circling the drain.  That's truly a shame, and Elon Musk owns the whole damned mess!

And it couldn't have landed on a nicer guy!

Biden on the Beg

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

I received a donation appeal in the mail this week from the "Biden Victory Fund."  In it was a a postcard featuring a nice photo of Joe and Kamala as well as personal messages from each.  Joe had to reach out and touch me through the US Mail because I routinely block emails from politicians over the age of seventy.

Joe wanted money, and according to the material in the mailing, he would be satisfied with as little as $15 from me, an old gray retiree whose income is as fixed as it can possibly get.  But, in reality, Joe Biden and the national Democrats wanted something more than my money.  Yes, they would be happy to take my fifteen dollars, or even just one dollar, but it was my active support that they were really after, and when a person sends money to a candidate in any amount, they are also signaling their support for that candidate.  Perhaps they will purchase a yard sign, or a bumper sticker for their little Korean cars, or give the candidate a boost on social media.

True, support for either party isn't really much an issue where I live.  The Democrats have written Missouri off of their list of winnable states in 2024, and the Republicans have placed it securely on their list of sure-fire winners.   Neither party will waste its valuable resources in the state where I live.   The electoral college kink in the Constitution guarantees that all of the campaign attention and money will befocused  on a handful of battleground states whose voters will decide who the next President will be.  The voters in battleground states cast votes that are infinitely more important than mine.

Why bother ro campaign in places like Missouri?  Hell, the state legislature even cancelled the state's official presidential primaries.  Nobody gives a rip what some, pissed-off, self-important hillbilly down in the beaujacks thinks about national politics because he and his state just do not matter.  (But if we could cajole him into putting fifteen dollars into a pastage-paid envelope and sending it to our campaign, that would be great.  We could spend it in Pennyslvania!  Or Wisconsin!  Or even North Carolina!  Places where it could actually make a difference1)

Well, here's why the national campaigns, and especially the Democratic campaign, should not ignore red states like Missouri.  Our candidates on the down ballot, everyone running for office below the presidential level, would benefit from the attention that a visit from a presidential campaign would generate.  Missouri has a US Senate race next year where the leading Democratic candidate has an actual outside chance of defeating a Republican incumbent.  I've already sent money to that Democrat, and will again.  I will also send my scarce dollars out to a few candidates in other states where I sense that they could make a difference.

And Joe, I've written a check for you as well, but I have decided to hold onto it and instead personally deliver my contribution into one of the collection buckets at the first rally that you or Kamala hold in Missouri.   It will make me feel a little better about supporting the campaign of an octogenarian, and it will save your postage.

And yes, Joe, I will cast my vote for the Democratic presidential nominee next November, even if that politician is almost six years older than me.  You know I will.  Your entire strategy for winning, in fact, seems to revolve around the idea Democrats will flock to you on Election Day because Trump is insane.

I'm not sure that "vote for me because I am the lesser of two evils" is the bold leap into the future that our country needs right now, nor do I necessarily believe that it will be enough to win the election.  But what do I know, I live in Missouri and my opinion carries about as much weight as my vote!

End the electoral college and bring real democracy to the United States!  Every vote should have equal impact!

An American in Asia

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

(Editor's Note:  Two days ago in this space I posted Ranger Bob's poetic remembrance of the Christmas  of 1953 in his small Missouri hometown.  It is one of the best things to grace this space in a long while, and if you haven't read it, please do so - now!

And speaking of remembering:

My wonderful Aunt Mary, whom I have written about many times, passed away in her beloved San Diego, California, in November of 2022 (the city that had been her home since the early days of World War II), and this past year her daughters, Janet and Linda, spent large amounts of time sorting through their mother's things and finding homes for much of what Aunt Mary saved during her lifetime.  Janet sent some of that treasure my way, primarily correspondence that Mary had set aside from myself as well as photos and things that she knew I would like to have.  

One of the things Janet forwarded was a holiday letter that I sent out from Okinawa, Japan, in early December of 2011 after I had been living and working on that small island for over a year.  As I reread that newsy letter, I realized that I had undoubtedly used it in this blog previously - and I had on December 8th, 2011 - and now on December 9th, 2023, I am taking a walk down memory lane and reposting it.  

The following is the only holiday letter that I ever remember writing, but perhaps reposting it here today will inspire me to write one for 2023 as well.  My love to Aunt Mary for her love and thoughtfulness  in saving it - and to Janet and Linda for getting it back to me.   

Please enjoy a visit to my life in 2011.)

Holiday Greetings from Japan

As hard as it is to imagine, another year is on the verge of slipping away.  2011 has been an eventful and satisfying time in my life.  The most important happenings this year have been the births of my granddaughters, Olive Noel Macy on October 12^th in Overland Park, Kansas, and Willow Midnight Seraphina Files on November 30^th in Stayton, Oregon.   Olive and Willow are both bright-eyed and healthy – really sweet additions to our family!

My friend, Valerie, arrived on island to work at Kadena in January.  She stayed at my apartment for a month or so while getting settled and finding a place of her own.   In February I made my second trip to Seoul, Korea – this time for training, but I was able to get out and explore Seoul some more.  It is unbelievably huge and modern.

March brought us the earthquake and tsunami that rocked northern Japan.  Although we did not get any physical repercussions down in Okinawa, that event stirred environmental and political issues that impact us to the present.  Tim and Erin were supposed to come for a visit in April – and also go to Tokyo, but they postponed their trip due to the radiation alerts in the Tokyo area.

Three friends and I spent Memorial Day weekend on Yoron, a small Japanese island that is about 10 miles beyond the northernmost point of Okinawa.  We stayed in a nice hotel and did a lot of exploring and bike-riding, and also weathered a powerful typhoon while we were there.  In September another group and I went to Tokashima, a small island in the Kerama’s that is close to Okinawa, for the Labor Day weekend.  That was also fun, and we didn’t have a typhoon to deal with.

Later in September I made my first trip back to the States since arriving on Okinawa in July of 2010.  I was there three weeks, got to see all of my kids and grandkids as well as my sister, Gail, and all of her kids and grandkids – and a few old friends, to boot!   One of the highlights was being able to be at the hospital when little Olive was born.

A couple of friends and I went to Guam for Thanksgiving week.  It is a small island also, about half the size of Okinawa, and we were able to see most of it in four days.  Christmas Day a friend and I will be leaving for a week in Vietnam, and we will return on New Years’ Day.  We will travel from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Da Nang, and on up to Hanoi.  It should be very interesting.

So 2011 has been a year of travels and babies!  I have made it my mission while out here in the Pacific to have a good time and try to see as much as possible, and I think that I am being fairly successful in that effort.  I should be moving back to the States (probably Phoenix) this July and will hopefully see all of you in the weeks and months that follow.

You can see pictures of my travels on the Internet at:   www.okinawanodyssey.blogspot.com

My best to each of you for a joyous and happy 2012!