Lying Photographs

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There was a time, somewhere in the middle of the last century, when a photograph could generally be relied upon to tell a truthful story, but today with photoshopping software and artificial intelligence programs, a person viewing a photograph should almost begin with the assumption that it has been altered in some way, perhaps to change the narrative of the story the photo is attempting to convey, or  to make a change to someone's appearance out of vanity or spite.   A politician whose picture is snapped leaving church on Sunday morning might show up on a social media post thirty minutes later as several pounds heavier with less hair and stepping out of a seedy motel room.

As one example, this week Mike Braun, the GOP candidate for governor of Indiana, released a television campaign ad which featured a photo of his Democratic opponent, Jennifer McCormick, standing in front of a small group of well dressed, nice looking individuals who were all holding signs   that said "No Gas Stoves."    In original photo the signs had all been McCormick campaign posters with no mention of gas stoves.

The wily GOP candidate, or his wily campaign staff, had placed an appropriate disclaimer in small lettering on their commercial that read:  "Paid for by Mike Braun for Indiana.  Approved by Mike Braun.  Elements of this media have been digitally altered or artificially generated."  But, when the ad was initially sent out to television stations, it arrived without that disclaimer - and it was intentionally and grossly misleading even with the disclaimer.

Jennifer McCormick, the Democrat running for governor of Indiana, had this to say on X (Twitter):

"Yes, I've seen the ad.  No, I don't care what type of stove you use.  I am focusing on real issues like women's reproductive freedoms, education and good paying jobs.  My opponent is apparently focused on stoves."

Ouch!

Altering the actual photo such as what the Braun campaign did is one way to tell a false narrative with a photograph, another is actually photographing something which is not true.  That is the approach that was used by Derrick Anderson, a Republican congressional candidate in Virginia, who "borrowed" the wife and three young daughters of a friend to appear with him in a campaign photo that was posted to the National Republican Campaign Committee's website and also appeared in a campaign video on YouTube.   The photo, which is widely available across the internet, was described by one national news source as something that "could be mistaken for a family holiday card."

Anderson, an anti-abortion candidate who is a former Army Green Beret, is currently engaged but has no children.  However, someone coming across the photo of him with his friend's wife and children might come away with the wrong impression as to his family status.  The photo wasn't altered, but the reality was.

This week there have also been photos highlighted in social media which show Donald Trump on the golf course appearing to be heavier than he actually is, pictures of a far more lean and fit Trump than he actually is, and an altered photo of Trump running mate JD Vance posted on X (Twitter) by Republican Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia which  showed Vance with a trimmer body and a chiseled jaw that, as one tweeter observed, "could puncture a hole in the hood of a Pontiac Firebird!"

The lesson here is to view and evaluate photographs as critically as you would public statements  because both could be lies.  What you hear and see may be someone else's interpretation or arrangement of reality, or it may just be blatant falsehood.  If something seems to lack the ring of truth, get out and do some basic research before repeating it as fact.

Or repeat the lie and luxuriate in the swill of ignorance.

Or delete.

The Last of the Blue-Light Specials

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The once ubiquitous K-Mart chain had a massive presence in the US with over two thousand locations, but a couple of decades ago it began falling on hard times as the concept of chainstore retailing was taken over by more aggressive retail giants like Walmart and Target.  K-Mart was on a downward spiral when it tried to right itself in 2005 by merging with Sears, another massive retailer that had fallen on hard economic times.  Both stores began downsizing and rapidly disappearing.  This week it was announced that the last full-service K-Mart store in the continental United States will shutter it's doors later this month.  That store is located in Bridgehampton, New York, on Long Island.

When the store in New York closes on October 20th, the company's US footprint will be reduced to a small store in Miami, Florida, as well as a few in the US Virgin Islands and one on the US island territory of Guam.  

I was not a regular K-Mart shopper.  There was one in Joplin, about fifty miles from my home, when I was growing up, and I visited that store on a few occasions, but I remember the now defunct Katz City better - and, of course, Walmart.  It seems like K-Mart was on the way out for a big part of my life.

My father, who spent much of his life running his own appliance store, understood retailing and knew that K-Mart was on its last legs about fifteen years ago when he asked me to take him to the last remaining K-Mart in northwest Arkansas so that he could purchase a particular brand of blue jeans that he liked.  It took a while to find the lone store in the rabbit warren of businesses in the Bentonville-Rogers metroplex, but we finally located it and my dad, who was in his eighties, came out of the store with a stack of folded jeans.  He didn't want to risk running out after that last store closed for good.

There was also a K-Mart not too far from where I lived in the Phoenix area a decade ago, and as far as I know it was the last one in the fourth-largest urban sprawl in the United States.  I went in there a couple of times looking unsuccessfully for items that I was also unable to find elsewhere, and on those few occasions I found the parking lot and store basically empty of shoppers, and the store in short supply of merchandise to sell.   It was obvious that the end was nigh.

I have been to the K-Mart store on Guam twice, and both times found it to be bustling with business.  Of course, at those times (2011 and 2012) the island territory had no Walmart.  Perhaps it still doesn't.  Guam, whose perimeter can be easily driven at island speed, roughly 30 mph, in two hours, also has a Ross's and a Macy's.

But times change and businesses, like people, come and go.

You had a good run-on the mainland US, K-Mart.  Thanks for teaching us about flash sales and blue-light specials, and the transient nature of consumerism.   You will be missed by a few, for a while.  I guess that is about all any of us can expect.

The Successor to P.T. Barnum

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

With the US Presidential election just over a month away and people in some states already voting, one would think that the two major party candidates for President of the United States would be laser-focused on world events and critical issues facing the future of our country and the planet.  One would think that, but one would be wrong.   Yes, Kamala Harris is sharing her visions of a better and brighter future, and delivering plans for getting there.  She is conducting a traditional political campaign.  

Donald Trump's campaign has a traditional structure, even though the elderly felon maintains a markedly lighter schedule than the more dynamic Ms. Harris.  Trump's messaging, however, differs from Harris's in that while hers is clear and direct, his is steeped in incoherence and he routinely drifts into strange ramblings about weird things like fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter or sharks and batteries.    Recently Trump has spent an inordinate amount of time repeating a lie about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating cats and dogs, and accusing his opponent of lying about having a part-time job at a McDonald's while she was in college forty years ago.   The economy, global strife, health care, education, housing, and the welfare of the nation are not things that capture Donald Trump's interest.

Not only is Donald Trump wasting what should be valuable campaign time trying to entertain his supporters with his stream-of-consciousness musings, he is also using his prominent political perch to promote an oddball collection of merchandise for his own financial benefit.  In the middle of a very close and contentious presidential campaign, Donald Trump, the Republican nominee as well as a former President of the United States, is hawking souvenir memorabilia of questionable value.

The grift is on - by a person who claims to be a billionaire.  That same person also happens to have had four bankruptcies and a conviction for financial fraud.

In the good old days before Trump was President, he and some partners had a degree-mill scam going called "Trump University," a supposed school of higher learning that taught the fundamentals of real estate for a tuition fee - and then sent each paid-up "graduate" a diploma.  When the business opened in 2005 Trump told reporters that he "hoped to create a legacy as an educator by imparting lots of knowledge" through his program.  He didn't.   The company folded in 2010, and a subsequent class-action lawsuit resulted in the business having to fork over $25 million to former students as well as money to the state of New York.

Recently Donald Trump has been involved in a spate of businesses which have the appearance of being dodgy.  I have already commented in this space on "Trump Trading Cards" which I referred to as "imaginary" trading cards because they are mostly digital and have no physical presence.  Trump is out with another set of these highly profitable (for him) cards.  They feature pictures of him in various guises and sell for $99 each.  If a person buys fifteen of the digital (imaginary) cards, they get one physical (real) card that comes with a supposed very small piece of the suit that Trump wore on the night he debated President Biden last June - something he says others refer to as his "knock-out" suit.  Trump said that five random physical cards will also be personally autographed by him.  (So, for a mere $1,500 a lucky buyer would get one actual card, a small rectangle of a suit material, and the possibility of a Trump autograph!)  There is a far more expensive option that apparently leads to an invitation to an actual dinner at Mar-a-lago.  (Of course, it could wind up being a pile of Big Macs!)

Last month Trump announced the sale of Trump commerative coins at just $100 each, and Trump "Victory" cologne with the signature scent of strength and success encased in a gold bottle for a mere $119.00.  Last February he began peddling Trump "Never Surrender" golden sneakers at the bargain price of $399 per pair, and the next month he endorsed, for a fee, the "God Bless the USA Bible," priced at only $59.99!  Now he is promoting Trump watches, some of which sell for as much as $100,000, and his family is entering into a cryptocurrency sales business which Trump has already promoted.

When it comes to business acumen and ethical standards, Donald Trump is more aligned with PT Barnum than he is with Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

But, as Barnum used to say, "there's a sucker born every minute," and as Pa Rock says now, "most of them appear to be Trump supporters."

We live in undignified times.

A Two-Percenter Says "Get Those Shots!"

 

by Pa Rock

Health Nut

The lady with whom I will be traveling to New York City later this month telephoned yesterday afternoon, and during our conversation she related that she was on her way to Costco for the latest COVID vaccination and her annual flu shot.  She suggested that I should get mine, too, before our trip. I replied, with only a slight bit of smugness, that I had gotten both shots two weeks ago.

I enquired about the inoculations while on a visit to my local pharmacy,  The lady at the register said that both vaccines were available in their store, both could be taken on the same visit,  and that if I would fill out a couple of very simple forms we could have the entire process completed in less that twenty minutes.  After the paperwork was finished and the shots administered, I asked if my Primary Care Physician would be notified so that his staff could update my health records.  She assured me that he would, and she also told me that the shot records - which had seemed sort of helter-skelter with my previous pharmacy - would also be entered into a database that was accessible to all of my health care providers.

(That database is probably something else that Project 2025 will quickly eliminate.  Freedumb!)

The very next morning after getting those vaccinations, I heard on the radio that only 2% of eligible Americans had gotten the the latest round of COVID shots so far.   (They had been on the market for about three weeks.)  That news report also stated that public interest in the vaccines is waning and that it is now estimated that only about 25% of the eligible population would get this round of COVID vaccinations.

Vaccines save lives, regardless of what Fox News and Facebook and some crackpot politicians want us to believe - and protecting ourselves with vaccines has the added humanitarian impact of also helping to protect others.

We do not want to go through another pandemic, or at least this two-percenters doesn't.  Once in a lifetime was plenty for me!

Get those shots!   Keep yourself safe and the rest of us, too!

FREE COVID TESTS

Four free COVID tests are now available for every US household.  They can be ordered online at:  COVIDTests.gov  

Jimmy Carter Reaches the Century Mark

 

by Pa Rock

Witness to History

James Earl Carter, Jr, a man known to the world as Jimmy Carter, today becomes the first former US President to reach one hundred years of age - and he is still pursuing another goal.  Carter has told family members that he wants to live long enough to vote for Kamala Harris for President.

Carter has been in hospice care since February of 2023.

Jimmy Carter was born at the Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia, where his mother (remember Miss Lillian?) worked as a registered nurse, and he thus became the first US President to ever be born in a hospital.  Today he still lives in the house in Plains where he and his late wife, Rosalynn, shared their lives for decades.  

The future 39th US President began his education in the public schools of Plains, Georgia, and went on to graduate from the US Naval Academy in 1946,  While serving as an officer in the Navy, Carter was selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover for training in a unique nuclear submarine program.  

On December 12, 1952, there was an explosion at a nuclear reactor located at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada.   The blast released radioactive materials into the atmosphere and millions of gallons of radioactive water into the reactor's basement.  There were no reported injuries, but the Canadians needed help in disassembling the reactor's damaged core to prevent the facility from melting down. The United States responded to the request for assistance by sending in 28-year-old naval officer Jimmy Carter who was able to perform the task and prevent a catastrophe.

Carter resigned from the Navy the following year, 1953, after the death of his father, and returned to Plains where he took over the family's peanut business.  From there he eventually worked his way into Democratic politics and served as a Georgia state senator from 1963-1967, governor of Georgia from 1971-1975, and President of the United States 1977-1981. Carter won the White House by defeating the unelected incumbent, Gerald Ford, in the 1976 presidential election, and lost the office to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.  Carter and Gerald Ford went on to become close personal friends after they had both left office.

Highlights of Jimmy Carter's one-term presidency include organizing and overseeing the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, the negotiating and signing of the Panama Canal Treaties, and the establishment of the US Department of Energy and the US Department of Education.  His term as President was fatally hobbled by the Iran Hostage Crisis in which Iran seize 53 American diplomats and citizens on November 4, 1979 and held them captive for 444 days until Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President on January 20, 1981.

But it was after his presidency that Jimmy and Rosalynn became internationally recognized and beloved for their humanitarian work.  The Carters, through the Carter Center in Atlanta as well as through their own physical efforts and travels, helped to combat disease, hunger, and the abuses of totalitarian governments around the globe, and they also spent thousands of hours sawing boards, hammering nails, and painting houses for America's neediest citizens through Habitat for Humanity.   Jimmy and Rosalynn set a very high bar for what former residents of the White House could do for the betterment of mankind.  They were a power couple, and their power was love - for each other and for the rest of us, as well.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were married more than seventy-seven years, another presidential record.  They raised four children, and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren now number twenty-two.  Their legacy is inspiring by every measure!

Happy, happy birthday, Mr. President.  May your day be filled with peace, and love, and joy!

(Personal Note:  I had the privilege of seeing Jimmy Carter once.  It was at the Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, on Friday the 13th of 2009, where he was busy signing copies of his new book and occasionally looking up and smiling at his fans and admirers who were lined up out the door and several blocks down the street.  By that time he had been out of office almost thirty years and his reputation as an international champion of human rights was iron-clad and set in cement. Me and several hundred others stood patiently in the hot Arizona sun for a brief glimpse of the man who was literally a saint among us.)