Acclaimed Novelist Daniel Woodrell Dies

 

by Pa Rock

West Plains Typist

Nationally acclaimed author Daniel Woodrell passed away at his home in West Plains, Missouri, last Friday, November 28th, at the age of seventy-two.  His wife, Katie Estill-Woodrell reported that his cause of death was pancreatic cancer.  Woodrell had suffered from colon cancer more than a decade ago and defeated that malady.

(Do you know what elevates an author to the rank of "acclaimed"?  When he is eulogized in obituaries in The New York Times, the New York Post, the Washington Post, Variety, and other national publications - that's what!)

Daniel Woodrell was born on March 4, 1953, in Springfield, MO, and had lived in West Plains since the mid-1980's, a place that he and his wife liked and decided to call home.  He grew up in Springfield in southwest Missouri, and moved with his family to Kansas City during his adolescence.  He didn't like life in Kansas City and moved on by joining the Marines at the age of seventeen in 1970.  He was stationed in Guam where he learned about "pacifism" and had his mind opened to a broader world.

Woodrell graduated from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in his late twenties with a bachelor's degree in English, and he went on to attend the famed Iowa Writers Workshop where he earned a master's degree.  He published eight novels, most of which were set in the Missouri Ozarks and the most famous being Winter's Bone which was made into a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence - and garnered the young actress her first Academy Award nomination.  When Woodrell completed the novel Give Us a Kiss in 1996, he coined the term "country noir" to describe it, and that appellation has since been adopted for the genre of writings focused on the hard lives of America's rural impoverished class - a genre in which Daniel Woodrell was very much at home.

By moving to the Missouri Ozarks, Daniel Woodrell was able to enmesh himself in the world about which he was writing.  In an interview with Esquire Magazine in 2013, the author mentioned being "tormented" by his "tweaker neighbors," a not uncommon happenstance in the Ozarks.  When he penned stories of the hard lives in rural southern Missouri, such as the characters depicted in Winter's Bone, Daniel Woodrell knew the personalities, circumstances, and lives of his subjects.

The late celebrity television chef, Anthony Bourdain, called Daniel Woodrell "the best writer in America."  Bourdain brought his television show to West Plains in 2011 to spend time with Woodrell collecting and preparing local foods.  They skinned squirrels for pot pies and spent time on the Current River gigging for suckers.  It was during that expedition that Woodrell fell from the boat and broke his shoulder.

Daniel Woodrell told compelling tales that captured the hard-scrabble life and culture of the contemporary Ozarks, and he was able to that by becoming a part of that community and culture - and experiencing what he wrote about.  I've read several of his novels, and they all ring true.  Woodrell's passing leaves a void in the genre of "country noir" that will be very hard to fill.

Rest in peace, good sir, and thanks for sharing so much of yourself with others while you were here.

Hegseth Underbusses an Admiral

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Every year new words emerge through popular usage and gain entry into our daily vocabulary.  The big on-line dictionaries entertain us toward the end of the year with their selections of the best of the new words.  Last week the Oxford English dictionary announced that "rage bait" was its word of the year. (Rage bait is something posted on-line with the intent of angering others and getting reactions.)   The Cambridge dictionary went with "parasocial," a one-sided relationship where one party feels an intimacy with another party who may not even be aware of the party of the first part - such as between a fan and a celebrity.

Dictionalry.com  chose "67," (pronounced"six-seven") a term signifying vagueness and indecisiveness and used by people to show they are "in the know" or part of an elite group which understands such vague lingo as"67."   Collins dictionary chose "vibe coding," a software development practice that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate, refine, and debug code based on natural language prompts.

Merriam-Webster, a leader in on-line and print dictionaries, has yet to announce their word of the year for 2025, so I decided to speed things along a bit by offering my recommendation.  It is a verb that I saw used on the internet for the first time yesterday, but knew immediately what it meant - and with Trump in the White House it could slip into common usage very quickly.

The word is "underbus," which sounds as though it might be an adjective, perhaps describing a type of road scale for weighing large vehicles, but in the news story I was reading it was clearly used as a verb.

The story where "underbus" was used is still controlling the news cycles two days after it first broke.  It is the one about Trump's "war" on small boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, one he describes as a "war" on narco-terrorists, and an effort on which he is completely focused except when he is pardoning rich and politically-connected narco-terrorists from the same region.

The Trump administration began attacking small boats in the Southern Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in early September of 2025 and quit releasing information on those attacks on November 15th of 2025.  During the time that the administration was being transparent about its "war," they reported 21 strikes on 22 vessels with a dead body count of 83 people.  The claim was continually made by the administration that the boats were transporting drugs, though no evidence to back up that claim was ever presented to the press or the public.

Last week the Washington Post ran a story which said that in an attack on September 2nd, two survivors were seen clinging to debris in the water, and that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike to kill the two survivors.  The administration response since that story came out has gone from Ramboesque braggadocio about the might of the US and its military, to bickering over legal definitions, and finally to serious underbussing.

Donald Trump, who takes quickly takes credit for anything that goes right or is seen to have strong pubic approval, backed away from the killings when the level of concern from members in both parties of Congress began rising and the public started demanding answers.  Trump decided that he had been unaware of the matter and had left it all with his inexperienced and unqualified Secretary of Defense.   Hegseth roared like a lion for a bit, but as the water he was in began to heat, he underbussed the matter to a navy admiral, and said that poor man ultimately gave the order to kill those evil drug smugglers.  As of yet, the admiral apparently has not passed the blame on to his secretary.

A couple of weeks ago a group of six Democratic members of Congress, all military veterans and/or members of the US Intelligence community filmed and released a video reminding members of the military that they are obligated NOT to follow illegal orders.  The video incensed Trump who used it for political purposes as he referred to those mmbers of Congress as "traitors."  There was even talk from Trump and Hegseth about bringing Senator Mark Kelly, one of the group Trump called "the seditious six," back to active duty so that he could be court-martialed for taking part in the video.

And then the Washington Post broke the story about the murder of the two survivors of the attack on their small boat.    It we are legitimately at war, then the act of killing those two fishermen or sailors could rise to the level of a "war crime."  If we are not at war, those two unarmed individuals clinging to floating debris were murdered.  Either way it will make for a nasty stain on somebody's reputation, and maybe even bring some time in the slammer.

The six members of Congress who reminded members of the military of their obligation to uphold the Constitution and not follow illegal orders have been vindicated.  The buck no longer stops on the President's desk - he was off playing golf and had no knowledge of the incident whatsoever.  The Defense Secretary said he had "moved on to another gig" when the act occurred, so he didn't know about it either.  If you are the lowly triggerman in a war crime - just following orders - you are very likely going to own the entire thing when the underbusing reaches you.

Somebody will ultimately pay for this war crime or murder - maybe - and my money is on the admiral's secretary - unless she has an assistant.

Judah, a Sensible Sixteen

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

Today is the sixteenth birthday of my Oregon grandson, Judah.   He was born in Oregon and has lived in the same house all his life, but he does travel.   The family took a nice vacation in California a few years ago, and the entire family - Judah, his parents Scott and Molly, and his siblings Sebastian and Willow - have also been back to see grandparents in Missouri and Oklahoma on several occasions.

When Judah gets interested in a subject, he digs deep to learn as much as he can about it.  He had a strong interest at one time in the HMS Titantic, and during one of the family trips back to the midwest Judah was able to visit the Titantic Museum in Branson.  He also developed an interest in tornadoes and learned a great deal of factual information about Missouri's Joplin tornado .

Judah's mother and sister came to Missouri this year for Thanksgiving, but Judah, who is now focused on weather, elected to stay home with his Dad in Oregon, at least in part because of the weather forecasts in the Midwest.  He did update his mother with weather bulletins while she and Willow were here.

Last summer, while on my annual trip to Oregon, Molly, Willow, Judah, and I rode the train from Salem, Oregon (their hometown), to Seattle, Washington, where we spent three days hitting the tourist stops.  Judah seemed to especcially enjoy the Space Needle, and on the final evening of our trip he and his mother took a walking "ghost tour" of several haunted attractions around Seattle's famed Pike Place Market.  He enjoyed that special activity with his Mom and had lots to say about it when they got back to the hotel.

Judah is a very bright and inquisitive young man.

Enjoy being sixteen, Judah.  It only comes around once, so make it a year you will always remember!

Willow is Fourteen (and a day)!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

My youngest granddaughter, Willow, turned fourteen yesterday, and I feel awful because I let her big day slide right on by.  My flimsy excuse for the oversight is that even though today is only Monday, it still has been a very hard week!  Willow lives with her family in Oregon, and in my defense, I did personally hand her a birthday card and a gift one week ago today when she and her mother were visiting in the Ozarks as part of a special Thanksgiving trip.

Willow will be heading to high school in the fall.  It is near her house and her older brother went to the same high school, all of which should help take the edge off of the experience, and she told me that she is looking forward to the move from middle school, especially the new activities and challenges that high school has to offer.    I know she will make many good friends during the years that she is there.  High school is an exciting time . . . I remember . . . barely!

Happy (late) birthday to you, Willow.   I hope you scored many nice presents.  I also hope you had a good time while you were visiting in Missouri and Kansas.  We sure did enjoy getting to see you and your mother.  Have a wonderful year - and a great time in high school!

Much love on the day after your birthday from Pa Rock, Rosie, Gypsy, and Uncle Nick!

Let's Try "Trickle Up" for a Change

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The United States of America can't afford to help impoverished working Americans, some of whom are holding down two and even three sub-minimum wage jobs, with supplemental food assistance (SNAP), or assist them in meeting skyrocketing health insurance premiums through subsidies, or with rent subsidies, but it can come up with plenty of money to let the billionaire class operate on an almost tax-free basis - with plenty of access to government subsidies.

The sky is the limit for America's billionaire class, while they fight like hell to keep the rest of America shackled in poverty.  That's no way to run a country, or a society, or an economy.  One of the rubs in that approach is that most of the super wealthy make their money through selling goods and services to the masses, and that requires the masses, those on the lower end of the economic ladder, to have the means to make those purchases - a source of income with enough left over from bare survival needs to accommodate shopping.  That can't happen if there is no floor so stop their descent further and further into abject poverty.

I read a review of a new book yesterday that I though summed up this situation well and gave some insight into a compromise between extreme wealth and life in the sewers of civilization - in its title alone.  The book is by Oliver B. Libbly, described as an "entrepreneur, non-profit leader, an a public policy 'thinker.'  Its title is "Strong Floor, No Ceiling:  A New Foundation for the American Dream."  In it the author looks at the current economic situation with the rich inevitably wanting more and more of the economic growth and leaving less and less for those who are already without, many of whom work multiple low-paying jobs to fuel the economic growth that flows into the pockets of the rich.   The rich don't like regulations and anything that puts limits on their growth, and they see taking more from others as a way to keep growing - and that greed cuts into the programs of the social safety net, programs which are intended to provide an economic "floor" for the impoverished.

Libby argues (and again, I have only read reviews and not the actual book) that if there is not going to be limitations on the amount of wealth people can accrue, there should at least be a solid floor beneath the feet of the working classes, enough to ensure survival and an opportunity for growth.

If there is going to be no ceiling, and generally speaking there is not much of one at present, there should at least be a strong floor from which others my ultimately begin to ascend and take advantage of those limitless opportunities.

A strong floor to me sounds like something that guarantees food, healthcare, housing, and education - basics for sustaining life and giving people an opportunity to work and achieve more.  Yes, that will involve some sacrifice on the upper end, and people who have amassed more money than they can ever spend may have to redirect some toward the public good through increased taxes, but in the end they will be helping form a society more capable of feeding the economy and encouraging innovation and growth.

Money will trickle up faster than it has ever trickled down.

Some Cartel Kingpins are Better Connected than Others

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Things are currently a mess in the Southern Caribbean with no signs of getting better.  

The United States has been blowing up "drug boats" from Venezuela and Columbia in the  Caribbean and Eastern Pacific for three months without offering any proof that the boats and humans they are destroying were actually transporting illegal drugs.  According to information obtained from Wikipedia today, as of November 15th, 83 people had been killed in 21 strikes on 22 vessels - 11 in the Caribbean and 11 in the Eastern Pacific.

The two ranking members on the US Senate's Armed Services Committee, GOP Senator Roger Wicker and Democratic Senator Jack Reed, issued a joint statement yesterday saying their committee will be investigating allegations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an order that there be no survivors of a boat bombing in the Caribbean on September 2, 2025, and as a result a second attack was launched that blew apart the two lone survivors of an earlier attack who were still in the water. The terminology "war crime" is being bandied about.

Donald Trump is steadfast in his support of the US attacks on the boats and is now talking openly of moving the Venezuelan drug interdictions to land, something he says will be easier to conduct.  Yesterday he issued an ominous warning that Venezuelan air space should be considered "closed."  Admiral James Stavridis, a military analyst for CNN and a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, told CNN:  "We should read into that strikes are very probably going to occur within the course of this week."

President Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela was indicted by the US Justice Department in 2020 on drug trafficking charges, and in August of this year US Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest.  The US wants Maduro in the United States and behind bars!  What a sanctimonious statement about the evils of drug trafficking that would be.

-------------

But let's place all of that drama on a shelf for a moment and look at the drug politics of another country in the same region.

Juan Hernandez, the former president of Honduras from 2014-2022, was invetigated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), convicted in a US court, and sentenced to 45 years in prison - and fined $8 million - for offenses related to drug trafficking.  The allegation on which he was convicted included conspiring with drug cartels to move more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras and ultimately to the United States.  He was rewarded with millions of dollars in bribes which he used, at least in part, to fuel his political career.  Prosecutors said that Hernandez extradited drug dealers who got in his way to the United States for prosecution, and rewarded those who paid him.

Juan Hernandez learned the hard way that you don't mess with Uncle Sam, and he is currently serving that 45-year prison term.  The official language from the DOJ homepage said Juan Hernandez was convicted of  "conspiring to distribute more than 400 tons of cocaine and related firearms offenses."  That's some serious shit!

But not to worry about poor Juan, because he has some big boy protection - and is getting a full pardon from . . . guess who?  Donald John Trump, that's who!

Earlier this week, Trump, who is openly meddling in today's Honduran presidential election and threatening to cut off US aid to the small nation if his candidate does not win, posted the following:

"I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated harshly and unfairly.  This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, and when Hounduras will be on its way to Great Politicaal and Financial Success.   VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA AS PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON."

Yes, congratulations Juan.  Well played.  

When it comes to the world of drug kingpins, some are obviously better connected than others - or more lavish with the cash.

Old Garbage Mouth

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The last few days have witnessed a serious uptick in hate speech and vitriol coming from the White House, a place where Americans should be able to turn for reassurance and confidence in our lives, lofty ideals and goals to lead us into the future, and reasons to be proud of our nation - a place of great diversity and potential.  Instead, we are harangued with inflammatory rhetoric, racist screeds, misinformation, outright lies, and all manner of divisiveness.  

Over the past week alone, Donald Trump has attacked various female reporters as being "piggy," "ugly," and "stupid," language more suited to a defiant three-year-old in need of better parenting.  Trump gets away with bullying reporters because he flexes the power of government to keep their employers in line.  It is when he chooses political targets who are less dependent on his politiccal largesse that he sometimes gets put in his place.

This week in Trump's three-part Thanksgiving rampage against immigration on Truth Social, Trump lied about immigrants being the root cause of social dysfunction in America, as he often does, and then singled out "the great state of Minnesota" which he said, again falsely, was being "overrun" by "hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia."  Trump went on to call Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a former political opponent, "seriously retarded."   Governor Walz, who comes off as much quicker and sharper than Trump, immediately fired back - not with a lengthy, aimless diatribe, but with a succinct, four-word response:  "Release the MRI results."

Ouch!

When Trump received his second "annual" physical at Bethesda in October, it was touted by his staff as being some sort of normal procedure, though it appeared to have been performed on more of a "hush-hush" basis.  But a couple of weeks later Trump inadvertently revealed that he had had an MRI during the physical, though he was unable to provide any other details because he apparently did not know why he had been given that serious procedure.  Governor Walz made the case, in only four words, that if Trump was so keen on diagnosing the mental health of others, perhaps he should be more open regarding his own possible impairments.

Trump's Thanksgiving message, in which he attacked immigrants and Governor Walz, is far too lengthy to post here in its entirety, but I would like to share the opening and closing sentences, each of which reveal Donald Trump's lack of understanding about the foundations of the Thanksgiving holiday as well as his general level of bile and bitterness.

Trump opened with:

"A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at along with certain other foolish Countries throughout the world for being "Politically Correct," and just plain STUPID when it comes to immigration."

Then, after a couple of hundred more words complaining about immigrants ruining our lives and culture, the son of one immigrant and husband of two others, closed with these holiday warm wishes:

"Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that Americca stands for - you won't be here long!"

That's not the Thanksgiving I was raised to honor and respect.   I can't wait to read his uplifting thoughts at Christmas!

Release the Epstein files!

Release the MRI results!

A Living Room that Sleeps Four

 

by Pa Rock

Happy Homebody

I have wanted a recliner since that day in the spring of 2020 when I fell outside while trying to exit a raised flowerbed backward and broke my right arm just below the shoulder.  The break was in a place that could not be immobilized with a cast, and I was forced to wear a sling for several weeks - a most inconvenient situation, especially when I tried to sleep.  The doctor recommended that I try sleeping in a recliner, but I didn't have one and soldiered on through without acquiring one - probably as penance for being so stupid as to fall in the first place.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Two years later I broke my left arm  just below the shoulder from a fall on a wooden ramp that was covered with a very light coat of frost.  I dealt with a different doctor that time but received the same treatment, a sling, and the same recommendation, sleep on a recliner.  Again, I soldiered on trough the recovery by dealing with a sling and trying to sleep in a bed.  Who wants to shop for a major piece of furniture when your arm is broken an you don't feel good?  Our living room is small, and the furniture was less than ten years old, so I made do with what I had.

Then Gypsy came to live with us.  She was an "older" puppy, old enough to know better, but still young and insecure and wanting to make sure that the new humans in her life really loved her.   During the first year that she was with us, Gypsy did some lasting damage to the couch and loveseat, not enough that my son and I couldn't live with it, but enough that we had to get creative with furniture coverings when company showed up unannounced.

A couple of weeks ago when I learned that my other two children would be here over the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided it was time to take the plunge and do some furniture shopping. - and the perfect time (between broken bones) to peruse the recliner market.  

We began at a large, locally owned store, and my first focus was on recliners.  I thought that I wanted something big, plush, and fully automatic - and tried out several.  Some had massage features, which I did not find to be relaxing.  (It felt like rollers going up and down my spine.). Some where heated, which I did like, and a few even sat on lighted bases. - I guess so you find them in the dark.  

Long story short, I finally gave up and walked to the other end of the store to try some old fashioned recliners.  The very nice lady showed me several, but none of those suited me either.  Finally when she walked across the store yet again to show my son some mattresses, I took a break and sat on a nearby couch that proved to be exceedingly comfortable.   I got up, looked it over, and discovered the comfortable contraption contained two recliners, one on each end, with a regular couch seat between the two.

By the time the saleslady returned I was ready to negotiate over the couch.  There was also a matching set of large armchairs with wooden arms sitting close to the couch that looked good with it.  I sat in one of those and was also please with the comfort.   When I asked about those, the saleslady grinned and said, "You know those recline, too, don't you?"  I did not.   Not only did they recline back by pushing on the wooden arms, they laid almost completely flat - like the two recliners in the sofa.

I bought the whole mess, and now I have a living room that can sleep four fairly comfortably!

Gypsy has a bed on the floor and knows she is no longer welcome on the couch.

Bring on that broken leg - Pa Rock is ready!

Thanksgiving Scatterings

 

by Pa Rock

Homebody

It's a cold and crisp Thanksgiving Day in the Ozarks, currently 30 degrees F and clear skies.   Rosie and I were outside for a walk just before daylight, but we both quickly decided this would be a good day to stay inside, watch the world drive by, do a little typing, and maybe curl up in one of our new recliners and enjoy a parade on television.  I am typing and watching traffic, which is very light, and Rosie is enjoying a quiet nap on the on Gypsy's bed.

I asked Alexa to play holiday music, and her current offering is Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," which I didn't realize was classified as a holiday song.   It is a great song for any season, so I'm not complaiing.

Not only is traffic light today, as it always is onThanksgiving and Christmas, it is also amazingly slow.  I live on a rural road, one that I refer to snobbishly as a "country lane."   Not too many years ago these country lanes were dirt and gravel, which made for dirty cars and homes.  Now most are paved. which solves the dirt and dust issues, but also makes it possible and enticing for all the country yahoos with their big trucks to race from place to place as they fulfill their cop, fireman, and outlaw fantasies.

I used to refer to the country lane in front of my house as the "Indianapolis 500" because many of the people who raced by with a drink in one hand and their phone in the other looked as though they were trying to become airborne.  Fortunately there are no young children on this stretch of the road.  But the traffic situation suddenly improved a couple of months ago when the couple across the road moved and sold their house to a young family, one member of whom is a county deputy and who parks his patrol car by the road.  The average speed on the road was cut by a third they day they arrived!

Pa Rock supports the local police - you betcha he does - unless they are masked and refuse to show ID.

Our Thanksgiving company has come and gone, and the Macy's of West Plains are having a very quiet day at home.  Last night I watched the classic 1978 Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinnati called "Turkey's Away" and better known as "Turkey Drop."  It was Episode 7 of Season 1.  It's still hysterical 47 years later!  "Honest to God, I thought turkeys could fly!"

Today, at some point, I will listen to "Alice's Restaurant."

Tradition!

If your Thanksgiving Day is as exciting as mine and you would like something profound to ponder, here is an actual "fortune" that I got in a fortune cookie in a Chinese takeout meal from a local restaurant earlier this week:

"Customer service is like taking a bath;  you have to keep doing it."

Wow!  Just wow!  

Happy holidays, shop local, and stay out of Walmart!

Forty Years Later

by Pa Rock

Proud Papa 

Our company arrived early Monday afternoon and left early Tuesday.  They came in two waves.  The first was my eighteen-year-old grandson, Sebastian Files, who arrived in his Ford Fusion along with his mother (my daughter) Molly Files and his soon-to-be fourteen-year-old sister, Willow.  The second wave came in about an hour or so later and included my son Tim, his wife, Erin, and their two children, Olive (14) and Sully (9).

Molly and Willow are visiting from Oregon, and the rest are in the Kansas City area.

Sully is becoming quite a skilled fisherman and has now fished in two oceans and numerous ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers.  We went to the river late in the day where he got a line into the water and tried to fish as most of the group stood arround skipping stones across the river and undoubttdly scaring the fish away.  But everyone had fun.

The photo on the left at the top of this page is of my three children at Gramma Aggie's pond at the farm she and her husband, Harris Farmer, owned near Dennard, Arkansas.  I took it about forty years ago while while watching Nick fish in the pond as Tim. on his left, and Molly, on the right, looked on.  

Before we left the house on Monday to go to the river, the kids and their kids were walking around looking at the photos on the walls, and I mentioned to Erin that the picture of them at the pond was my favorite.  Without letting me know, I guess while I was on a walkabout, she arranged and snapped the photo on the right while we were at the river - and then emailed it to me later that evening:  The Macy Children, as adults, 40 years later!

I now have two favorite pictures of the kids.

The grandkids seemed to have had a great time.  Uncle Nick, being a kid himself, stayed busy keeping them entertained.  He helped Olive and Sully engineer a classic practical joke on their Dad and Mom by taping a harmonica to their very nice car's front bumper just before they left to return home yesterday.  I was unaware of the gag until later, but apparently when Tim had to pull over to figure out why the car was making all of that noise, Olive and Sully were rolling with laughter in the backseat!  Tim and Erin both possess that playful nature as well.  

Rosie loved having company.  She has stayed with Tim and Erin and the kids on several occasions and is always excited to see them.   This was Gypsy's introductory visit with the family, and she was beside herself with joy to have other women in the house, and especially children.  Gypsy and Sully bonded very tightly, and she was a sad girl yesterday morning when everyone got in their cars and left.

It was a wonderful visit that really pumped some joy and enthusiasm into our out-of-the-way household.  Thanks for coming guys - and for sharing part of your holidays with Pa Rock, Uncle Nick, Rosie, and Gypsy!

US Military Preps for War with the Scouts

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In its mad rush to reverse every equality gain in our nation's entire history, the Trump administration continues to demonstrate an astounding levels of pettiness and cruelty.  If a measure or program was enacted to give an oppressed group a leg up in society, the Klan in the West Wing bemoans it as something designed to harm those who have had the advantage for generations, labels it as "woke," and works feverishly to cancel it.  Rolling back the racial, gender, and class advancements of the recent past is the real "cancel culture."

Word apparently leaked out this past April that the Pentagon might be on the verge of fomenting some issues with America's century-old scouting program.   Conservatives hadn't gotten over the fact that the Cub Scouts began accepting girl members in 2017, and the Boy Scouts of America opened its ranks to girls in 2019.  And, Boy Scouts began admitting openly gay youth in 2013.  The Trump administration, whose base is averse to social change, saw the scouts as being an easy target in the war on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), concepts promoted by scurrilous "woke" socialists.

Under the pretense of legal authority, the current administration went to war against immigrants, people of color, women, gays, transgendered individuals, universities, public education, and any other groups or institutions they felt might leach power from America's white, male, ruling class - often reeferred to as the "patriarchy."  Anyone or anything that stood in the path of the patriarchy or detracted from its dominance was "woke" and needed to be stamped out.

Word spread through news sources and soccial media yesterday that the Pentagon, under the direction of former weekend Fox News host Pete Hegseth, has prepared a memo to Congress critical of "Scouting for America," formerly known as the "Boy Scouts," which is aimed at ending the military's formal partnership with the Scouts which was established in 1937.  Hegseth reportedly referred to the current scouting program as "genderless," claimed it no longer supports the future of boys, and said that it has abandoned "meritocracy" in favor of in favor of the godless diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.  Equality?  How dare they!

Some Pentagon mouthpiece referred to the current story as being based on a "leaked" document, and said decisions on the policy have not yet been finalized.

Defense Secretary Hegseth has enacted gender-neutral physical standards for military personnel that some see as intended to weed women out of military service, and he has questioned and challenged promotions that he views based on DEI standards.  The thrice-married and highly tattooed 45-year-old Defense Secretary prides himself on being physically fit and he enjoys running working out with the troops.  The macho secretary has also been opelnly critical of members of the military who have weight issues, and he has drawn criticism for having a Pentagon "green room" turned into a make-up studio.  He wants a male military that looks good.

And now he is going after the Boy Scouts.

In the proposed policy the Defense Department will reportedly no longer support the Boy Scout's national jamboree which is held in West Virginia every four years.  Additionally, scouts will no longer be permitted to use military facilities for their exercises or meetings, and Eagle Scouts will no longer receive advanced rank or any preferential treatment when they join the military.  All of that punitive pettiness because the scouts opened their wide and put a crack in the patriarchy.  "Scouting for America" does not tolerate discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation.

For the record, this former Boy Scout supports the philosophy of "Scouting for America" and its acceptance of all youth who want to be members.  They are a part America's future, and the patriarchy is the backbone its dark and ugly past.

Better days are coming, Scouts.  Be prepared!

Company's Coming!

 

by Pa Rock

Holiday Host

If the day goes as planned, this afternoon I will have all three of my children and four of six grandchildren under my roof.  Pa Rock gets a pre-Thanksgiving slot in the holiday rush-around, and he is tickled pink to have it!

My daughter, Molly, has flown in from Oregon with her daughter, Willow, and they will be riding down from the Kansas City area with Tim and Erin and their two, Olive and Sully.   Grandson Sebastian, who moved from Oregon to Kansas City last summer, is driving himself down and bringing his bike so that he will have 'something to do' when he gets here.

Grandson Judah stayed in Oregon with his father, Scott, for the week, and Grandson Boone is in charge of Bluff Dweller's Cave this week while his bosses are away.  Bluff Dwellers, near my hometown of Noel, Missouri, is one of the better known commercial caves in the Ozarks and well worth a visit.  (If you see Boone while you are there, tell him his grandfather sent you!)

I'm not saying we are psyched about the visit, but we did buy new living room furniture for the occasion, and Nick has cleaned house for the past three - days and today he is cooking!  Our guests will only be here one night, so we will undoubtedly be busy - if the rain stays away.  Sebastian will be riding his bike, and Sully wants to go fishing - Uncle Nick's speciality - and the rest of us can get out and explore or just stay at home, sit on the new furniture, and visit!

Rosie and Gypsy are psyched, too!

Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday - I know I will!

MTG Grabs Her Pension on the Way Out the Door

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of my favorite Democratic Socialists, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a politician who has suffered several personal (and near comic) attacks from her colleague in the House, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, commented yesterday of Congresswoman Greene's surprise decision to resign from Congress.  AOC loudly hinted that Greene's decision likely went beyond self-righteous sanctimony and also had to do with the fact that the date Greene announced for her resignation would take effect just after she will become eligible for a government pension.

Marge was initially elected to Congress in November of 2020 and was sworn in on January 3, 2021.  Under the federal retirement system in which she is enrolled, members of Congress are "vested" in the system after five years of service.  "Vested" means that they have qualified to eventually receive a monthly federal retirement check when they reach the age of sixty-two.  The wily congresswoman from Georgia set her resignation date for January 5th, 2026, two days after she reaches that important five-year mark.  

Cool move, Marge.

A retirement for five years of service won't be huge, even based on the bloated salaries of members of Congress, , but at fifty-one, MTG is young by congressional standards and she has plenty of time to milk her fame and bank some more to get her through her golden years.  She also made some very fortunate stock purchases last April, just a day before Trump announced that he was placing a 90-day pause on tariffs, a move that sent stock prices (including the one's Marge had purchased) soaring.

So MTG should be fine in her old age, but that extra check each month for her "retirement" from Congress will be something nice to count on, regardless.

(Note:  Missouri Legislators have to serve three full terms before they can be eligible for a retirement - at two years per term for a state representative, that amounts to six grueling years of seasonal, part-time service.  Oh, the  unfairness and agony of it all!)

Joe Bob and Myrtle Lou work forty years each at their non-union factory jobs and then "retire" on inadequate social security and medicare - and have to keep right on working.  They voted for MTG and people like her, but those people never once voted to make life better for Joe Bob and Myrtle Lou.

Those that have it, keep it - and close the door behind them.

Mamdani In, Greene Out

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The American political landscape was rolling yesterday, somewhere in the neighborhood of "8" on the Richter scale.  It was a tumultuous day, and, as per usual, the nexus of shockwaves was Donald John Trump.   The elderly politician was in his happy place, right at the center of the commotion.  Republicans seemed to take the brunt of the damage, though some might not see it that way, and Trump, being Trump, didn't care who suffered as long as it wasn't him.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani of New York City took the initiative and reached out to Trump, his nemesis of the past several months, by suggesting a meeting.    Trump took the bait and set up a parlay in the Oval Office where he would feel in control. on his own highly gilded home turf.   That meeting took place late yesterday afternoon, first with a private session between the two political leaders, followed by a joint press briefing.

No one knew what to expect when Mamdani and Trump came together face-to-face at the White House, but by the time the press was invited in, it seemed obvious that Mamdani had charmed the pants off of Trump (though Trump was seated behind the Resolute Desk, so there was no actual confirmation of that!).  Mamdani, who in the past has referred to Trump as a "fascist," and Trump, who routinely calls Mamdani a "communist," presented, as one reporter put it, "as just two guys from Queens who were having a conversation."

Trump said of Mamdani, "I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great."  Trump also went so far as to say he does not believe Mamdani is a "jihaist," a popular Republican smear, and he even described the young politician as "a very rational person."

When a reporter who was tying to goad the seemingly political lovebirds into a disagreement asked Mamdani if he still regarded Trump as a fascist, Trump turned, looked up at his guest, and told the mayor-elect that it was okay to say that, he didn't mind.  So Mamdani smiled and agreed with the statement.

There is a brilliant photo of the two politicians circulating on the internet which shows Trump seated at his desk looking up at Mamdani who is standing to his side.  Trump's face reflects total adoration and his grin is so pronounced that it shows teeth which probably haven't been exposed to daylight in years.   The photo could easily be captioned, "Please sir, may I have another."   Expect a poster version to be available by Christmas.

A couple of hours after the Trump-Mamdani lovefest, political hand grenade Marjorie Taylor Greene exploded across the news cycle by announcing that she will be retiring from Congress in January, a full year before her current term is up.  Greene has been needling Trump for months over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and what she sees as his betrayal of MAGA values.  In a ten-minute video announcing her early retirement, Greene cited Trump's recent reference to her as a "traitor" and his refusal to endorse her re-election effort as part of her reason for leaving.   She said she did not want to be seen as a "batttered wife" by staying around while he continued to attack her.

Trump, true to his nature, offered no kind words to his vanquished opponent as she prepared to depart her seat in Congress.  The nearly always vile politician responded by saying that her decision to leave was "great news for the country," and added that he thought the real reason she was leaving was weak poll numbers.  He also described the congresswoman as a "ranting lunatic" who had "gone Far Left."

Trump had given all his love to Zohran Mamdani, and there was none left for Marge.

Da Pope is in da Fridge!

 

by Pa Rock

Fan of da Pope

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker was in Vatican City on Wednesday checking up on Chicago native son, Pope Leo XIV.   Governor Pritzker, ever the gent, dropped in on the Pope bearing a gift.

Pritzker presented Pope Leo with a four-pack of a Chicago-brewed mild ale called "Da Pope," a beverage Pritzker apparently named himself after a Saturday Night Live skit.  The mild ale is made by the "Burning Bush Brewery" of Chicago.

For connoisseurs and beer snobs, "Da Pope" is described thusly:

"The American mild ale appears dark but has a light body with a mix of malty flavors along with notes of caramel, toasted nuts nuts and fruit, and low alcohol content."

It sounds like the perfect beverage to wash down a stadium dog at a White Sox game on a hot summer afternoon!

The Holy Father seemed to appreciate the brewskis and told the visiting governor,  "We'll put these in the fridge."

Coolest.  Pope.  Ever!

And Governor Pritzker ain't too shabby, either!

(I wonder what else is in da Pope's fridge?)

Smokeout! The Maldives Forge a Path Forward

 

by Pa Rock

Ex-Smoker

Today is the "GreatAmerican Smokeout," an annual health-oriented, smoking cessation event that was started by the American Cancer Society in 1977.    It occurs on the third Thursday of each November.

The 1970's was a time when social pressure really began building for the elimination of smoking.  I was a heavy smoker from the late 1960's through the mid-1970's.  During my very stressful time as a young officer in the United States Army (1971-1975), when work days routinely began before daylight and ended well after dark, I would often get into a fourth pack during one of thos long workdays.  I quit in late 1973 or early 1974 when my oldest son was an infant.  A layer of smoke hovering in the house just did not look like it would be good for babies.  (Though the cigarette companies, which were and are evil, would have been loathe to admit that.)

Actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke, who was born in West Plains, Missouri, the community where I now live, one hundred years ago next month, starred in a comedy film in 1971 which helped to pry me free of smoking.  It was called "Cold Turkey."   The popular film was the story of a small town minister (Van Dyke) who encourages his town to take up a challenge issued by a cigarette company.  The company vowed to give a community that could quit smoking for thirty days a reward of $25,000.

The minister got his town to accept the challenge.  ($25, 000 was obviously worth more back then than it is today!)   The members of the town policed each other, and the cigarette company had people on the ground who were also monitoring the situation.   Most of the movie - and its central message - centered on the power of nicotine addiction and the lengths people would go through to satisfy their cravings.  It was funny, but in a truly sad way.

Over the years our government placed health warnings on cigarette packaging, and occasionally made news by strengthening those warnings.  Smokers were ostracized into certain areas in their workplaces where they could smoke.  Businesses gradually became smoke-free, and so did government offices and public transportation, and the social acceptability of smoking diminished considerably.

And now the anti-smoking forces are getting even more aggressive.

This month the Republic of the Maldives, a beautiful 12,000-island nation in the Indian Ocean southwest of India, instituted a law that will ultimately make smoking totally illegal within its borders.  Starting this month, anyone born on or after January 1, 2007, is prohibited from buying or using  tobacco products within the nation's borders - forever!   The Maldives are aggressively pursuing a smoke-free generation.

Ex-smokers are always the worst when it comes to being critical of the habit, and this ex-smoker is no exception.  Give 'em hell, Maldives, lead us into a smoke-free future!

Quiet, Piggy

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I received an email from my favorite cousin a couple of days ago recommending a particular podcast which she had just come across on YouTube.  The host was Joanna Coles, a journalist with The Daily Beast, and her guest was Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist who also happens to be Donald Trump's niece.  As you might suspect, the thrust of the show centered on Mary's professional insights into the actions and behaviors of her uncle - along with other insights into the Trump family historically and in general.  The interview, which lasts about thirty minutes, is mesmerizing.  I located it by googling "Joanna Coles, Mary Trump, podcast."  It is highly recommeded by this tired old typist.

One of my takeaways from watching that interview was the psychologist's recounting of her uncle's lifelong disdain for women.  Over the past week Donald Trump, who has a long history of behaving arrogantly and badly toward the press, exhibited two classic outbursts toward female reporters, one of which was so strongly rooted in misogyny that it should disqualify him from serving in any public office - much less the presidency!

Last Friday evening while flying to Florida for his weekly golf outing at public expense, Trump spoke to reporters during a mid-flight press gaggle.    Catherine Lucey, the White House Correspondent from Bloomberg News, asked a question regarding the release of the Epstein files which Trump responded to in his aimlessly wandering style.  When Lucey attempted a follow-up question she got as far as "If there's nothing incriminating in the files, sir, why not . . . " and at that point Trump interrupted her with "Quiet!  Quiet, piggy."

Most of the White House press pool declined to even mention the derogatory and misogynistic remark in their press coverage for fear that it would lead to the vindictive Trump barring them and their employers from future access to the elderly politician, a tactic Trump has not been shy about using in the past.  Consequently it took the incident several days to gain legs and make its way onto the national stage.  California democratic Governor Gavin Newsom turned the tables on the corpulent Trump and began posting memes that directed the remark back onto Trump - where it seemed to be a far more natural fit.

Yesterday, Trump took a viscous turn at ABC White house Correspondent Mary Bruce during a press briefing that he held in the recently gilded Oval Office along with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  Ms. Bruce managed to get off a couple of quick questions.  The reporter's first question was to Trump.  She asked "Is it appropriate, Mr. President, for your family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while you're President?  Is that a conflict of interest?"

Then the determined reporter pivoted to the Crown Prince.  "And you, your Royal Highness, the US Intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a US journalist.   9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office.  Why should Americans trust you?  And the same to you, Mr. President?"

Right on cue, Trump exploded.  He began by calling ABC "fake news" and "one of the worst in the business."  Then he turned his attention to the murder of the American journalist who was assassinated at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, in October of 2018 and dismembered with a bone saw.  The US CIA, during Trump's first administration, determined that the murder had likely been committed at the direction of the Crown Prince.

In referencing the  American journalist who was murdered and butchered by ther Saudis, Trump said, "A lot of people didn't like the gentleman you're talking about, whether you like him or didn't like him.  Things happen, but he (the Crown Prince) knew nothing about it.  And we can leave it at that."

No pieces of the journalist were even returned to his family for burial.

Is not being liked by people grounds for murder?

Things happen?  (So it's no big deal?)

A few minutes later, the same reporter, Mary Bruce of ABC, managed to get in a quick question about the Epstein files:  "Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files?  Why not just do it now?

Trump, never the diplomat, responded to that by threatening to pull ABC's broadcast license.  In his diatribe he told Mary Bruce that she was "a terrible person and a terrible reporter."

And oink, and oink, and oink.

Quiet, piggy!

More GOP Cruelty to Kids and Old People

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

As a part of it's never-ending quest to ensure that poor people remain unhoused, medically neglected, educationally deprived, clothed in rags, and hungry, the Trump administration has fought tooth-and-nail to deny them access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  When Congress shut certain aspects of the government down by denying it funding early last month, the evil cabal in the White House was almost gleeful, at least for awhile, in laying off certain groups of employees and not paying to fund particular programs.  One that seemed to bring unbridled pleasure to the White House was stopping SNAP payments.

Even though Congress set up an emergency fund within the Department of Agriculture to keep the funding going for a limited time, the agency and the administration chose not to access that money until they were ultimately forced to do so by the courts.  

(Curses, foiled again!)

But then the crises ended, the government reopened, and full-funding resumed, unimpeded.

Well, not quite.

This month's benefits may be going out, but only in drips and drabs and on a state-by-state basis, and the Trump administration is still hell-bent on keeping food from hungry kids and old people.  The administration has brought out two of its most reliable bogeymen - fraud and waste - and decreed that because of rampant fraud and waste in the system, all SNAP beneficiaries will have to re-apply.  

And we all know how much fun it is to deal with government bureaucracies, especially if you have other demands on your time such as trying to hold down three part-time minimum wage jobs just to pay most of the rent.  Do you want to go to work today, or would it be a better use of your time to keep holding in the hope that somebody from the welfare department will finally quit gossiping and pick up their phone?

The rolls will thin, and some of that may be due to the discovery of fraud and waste, things that are present in every government endeavor including things like weapons procurement contracts and ballroom design and construction.   But the rolls will also thin because many applicants living in dire circumstances will just give up and let their kids go hungry.  Toddlers will stay at home, unsupervised, while Mom is downtown flipping burgers and hoping that her boss will look the other way when she tries to slip a few out at the end of her shift to feed her family.

It's a cycle of savage abuse in which an entire nation is complicit.

Shame on us.  Shame the hell on us for sitting idly by and looking the other way while the oligarch class tightens its grip on our government and  forces those further down on the economic ladder into a lifetime of abject poverty as they toil in desperation to support the lifestyles of the rich and infamous.   We are watching the theft or nation's wealth and the dehumanization of a large segment of the population in real time.

MAGA, my ass.

In Praise of Late-Night Comedians

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump, an elderly politician who absolutely delights in heaping abuse on his perceived "enemies" and critics with no regard whatsoever for their feelings, privacy, or safety, is notoriously thin-skinned when it comes to others criticizing or making fun of him.   Using "free speech" against Trump crosses a line that the Grand Master of the Ballroom cannot tolerate.

Trump has a special enmity toward late night comedians, a class of entertainers who have been jabbing and roasting US Presidents at least since the Kennedy administration, and possibly even back into the Eisenhower years.  The nocturnal comics earn a good portion of their bread and butter through humorous digs at our national leaders.  

Most politicians smile and laugh at jokes about themselves rather than snarl and try to bite back.  The public has this thing about pompous windbags who can't take a joke.  But Trump, the king of pompous windbags, has led a life of bullying others to get his way and cannot sit idly be while being laughed at.  He bites back.  Late-night comedians, in particular, stir his rage.

Last July CBS announced the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's late-night show effective next May when his current contract expires.  CBS claimed it was a financial decision, but speculation swirled around  a recent CBS settlement with Trump over a lawsuit he filed regarding how the show "60 Minutes" had edited an interview with Kamala Harris, Trump's opponent in 2024.  There was also talk that Colbert's cancellation might be linked to a pending merger between CBS's parent company, Paramount,  and Skydance Media.  CBS denies those political machinations, but the move to cancel Colbert's show still works out well for Trump, and he boasted after it was announced that he heard two other late-night hosts, Jimmy Kimmell and Jimmy Fallon, would be next.  He called both of those individuals "untalented."

Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show on ABC was "suspended indefinitely" in mid-September following a remark he made regarding the shooting of Charlie Kirk.  It looked as though ABC's parent company, Disney, was intent on not bringing the show back, but a sudden drop in Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions forced the company to rethink the matter, and Kimmel was back on the air a week later.  Donald Trump did not appreciate Disney's change of heart.

Now Trump has turned his late-night guns on NBC's late-night host, Seth Meyers.  Meyers had done a killer impersonation of Trump last Friday evening dealing thei the subject of immigration, and it was so good that Trump immediately began thumb-smashing on his own Truth Social platform. He said:

"NBC's Seth Meyers is suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrom (TDS).  He was viewed last night in an uncontrollable rage, likely due to the fact that his 'show' is a Ratings DISASTER.  Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!"

Trump, a man with no talent himself, is always quick to paint others with that brush.

Then, to put the lean on NBC even harder, Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, retweeted Trump's post  regarding Seth Meyers.  NBC broadcasts under the license and authority of the FCC.  Subtle, huh?

I'm old, so I can remember well a 1962 comedy album that spoofed the Kennedy's called "The First Family."  Comedian Vaughn Meader, who had an uncanny ability to mimic the unique voice of President John F. Kennedy, led the effort in what became a massive recording hit.  Wouldn't it be fun if the current batch of late-night comedians banded together and created an album, or a video, or some such entertainment that poked fun at the Great Orange Primate - and then gave the proceeds to a worthy organization that fights hunger, disease, or economic, social, or racial injustice?  

Trump would have to love that - and I know damned sure would!

Ugly Heart

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday, I blogged about American windbag Donald Trump's social media attack on his onetime political BFF, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.  Greene has been increasingly critical of the MAGA cult leader over the past several months, claiming that Trump has lost sight of his MAGA vision.  She has been extremely irksome to the narcissistic Trump by pushing for release of the Jeffrey Epstein files that are currently being held by the Justice Department.   Candidate Trump last year had also called for release of those files, but as President he has done a one-eighty and now refers to the files on his former close friend as a "Democratic hoax."

Friday night Trump had finally had his fill of his former close political ally, Ms. Greene, and went on one of his social media tirades trashing her and calling the congresswoman a "lunatic' and "whacky."  Trump also said if the right candidate chooses to  primary her, that person would have his "Complete and Unyielding Support."  Divorce final.

Yesterday while the unbowed Marjorie Taylor Greene was still firing back at him on social media, Trump launched an assault against another of his former political allies.  His target this time was Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a man who has earned his way to the top of Trump's "bad list" by sponsoring the discharge petition in Congress that has ultimately forced the impending release of the Epstein files.  (Trump is very focused on keepng those files under wraps.  One has to wonder why.)

Rep. Massie, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, is one of only a very few Republican members of Congress who dare to go against Triump's wishes.  Greene said yesterday in her social media rebuttal to Trump's meme trashing her, that he was using an attack on her to coerce other Republicans into not supporting the release of the Epstein files.   Thomas Massie could certainly make that same argument.

Thomas Massie's wife of thirty-one years and the mother of his four children died unexpectedly in June of 2024.  The representative announced early this month that he had remarried on October 19th of this year to a former staffer of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a woman he has known for ten years.  That marriage occurred 16 months after the first Mrs. Massie passed away.

Donald Trump, a man who has been married three times and divorced twice - and been known to have had affairs during two of those marriages, went after Thomas Massie regarding what Trump described as a "quick" remarriage.  Here is the vindictive hairball that Trump coughed up yesterday:

"Did Thomas Massie, sometimes referred to as Rand Paul, Jr., because of the fact that he always votes against the Republican Party, get married already???  Boy, that was quick!   No wonder the Polls have his at less than an 8% chance of winning the Election.  Anyway, have a great life, Thomas and (?).  His wife will soon find out that she's stuck with a LOSER!"

Nice, huh?  Very presidential.  Such a comfort to know that our great nation is under the control of a thirteen-year-old bully.

Not long after reading about Trump's very personal attack on Thomas Massie, an attack that did not sit well with some members of the MAGA movement, my mind wandered off into the subject of movies.  (Don't ask me why - when you are old stuff like that just happens.)  I thought about four filmss, all titled along a common thread and all favorites of mine.

The first was 1987's Angel Heart,  a noir tale about a NYC detective who travels to the bayou country of Louisiana to search for a young woman in a land steeped in voodoo and the occult.  It stars the hugely underrated Mickey Rourke.  The second movie to bounce across my consciousness was Thunderheart from 1992,  It is the story of an FBI agent who is trying to mask his Native American heritage while working a case bearing a strong resemblance to the actual FBI-Native American confrontation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, a few years earlier.  The movie is not one of Val Kilmer's best known works, but it has always been one of my personal favorites.

Braveheart (1995), is the story of William Wallace, the Scottish commoner who rose to challenge the King of England in a fight for an independent Scotland.  Mel Gibson took on the role of Wallace and make it his own.  Big screen, big acting, big story - and, like oatmeal, it sticks with you.  And finally, Crazy Heart, the story of an alcoholic, washed-up country singer - played by Jeff Bridges - who encounters an unexpected chance at redemption.

Each of those movies was centered on the internal struggles of a strong but flawed man as he sought to regain or fulfill his sense of purpose.  Three were successful in moving forward to some degree, while one was consumed by his demons - and all their stories were gripping and powerful.

And as I quit daydreaming about some of my favorite movies and got back to thinking about Trump's petty and vile attacks on people who were once his friends, the thought crossed my mind as to what a movie based on Donald Trump's life would possibly be called.  I mean, Pinocchio was already taken.  I finally came up with a movie title that I thought would fit his life story perfectly, but I won't repeat it here because that would be ugly.

Have a day - I know I will!

MTG Pokes Bear One Too Many Times

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yes, it seems to be true.  After months of public bickering and sniping back and forth, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and aspiring interior decorator Donald John Trump appear to have split the sheets - and then peed in each other's closets!

Trump went on Truth Social last night and ended the affair with a long and rambling diatribe about Ms. Greene, whom he referred to as "wacky Marjorie" and "a Lunatic."  Trump's post, which was also quite wacky, spent more time lying about his own achievements while in office that it did in actually criticizing Ms. Greene.

Trump used part of his political vomit in an effort to recruit someone to primary Greene next year.  He said, in part:

"I understand that wonderful Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they are too fed up with her an her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support.  She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Repblican hating Anchors.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.  MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

(Note:  The sporadic capitalizations and underlining are all Trump's.  Definitely no "low IQ" there!)

Over the past few months Congresswoman Greene has chosen to poke the bear on several occasions, but up until last night all she got for her efforts were occasional growls.  This week she has called bullshit on Trump's claim that prices on groceries and other goods have come down under his administration.  She has also been needling Trump over his involvement in international affairs, labeling those efforts as being distractions from his "America First" agenda.  

But all of that may be secondary, at least in Trump's unique mind, to the fact that Greene has been a steady voice in calling for the release of the Epstein files and is one of only a handful of Republicans in Congress to have signed the discharge petition to force a vote on that release of records - something Trump vehemently opposes.

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to agree with Trump that Greene's dissatisfaction with MAGA and its Big Kahuna go back to Trump telling Greene not to run for higher office in Georgia, and in particular for the US Senate.  Whatever the exact root of the problem, Hell apparently still hath no fury like a woman scorned!

Marjorie Taylor Greene used her "X" account to reply to Trump's derogatory post directed at her.  The complete text of Ms. Greene's reply follows:

"President Trump just attacked me and lied about me.  I haven't called him at all, but I did send him these text messages today. Apparently that is what sent him over the edge.  The Epstein files.  And of course he's coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next week's vote to release the Epstein files.

"It's astonishing really how hard he's fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.  But really most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream.

"That's what I voted for.  I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him.   But I don't worship or serve Donald Trump.

"I worhip God, Jesus is my savior, and I serve GA14 and the American people.  I remain the same today as I have always been and I will continue to pray this administration will be successful because the American people desperately deserve what they voted for.  For me, I remain America First and America Only!!!!"

Not only has Marjorie Taylor Greene just proven herself to be more focused and eloquent than Trump, and far more concerned with the plight of ordinary people than Trump will ever be, she has also shown clear signs of having both a heart and a soul, things which Trump may possess but never chooses to display.

Could Cheney/Greene be a viable Independent ticket in 2028?  Or AOC/Cheney?  Or possibly even AOC/Greene?

The time may be right to shake things up!

My Happy Place: 28 Barbary Lane

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

I don't have an actual bucket list, but as my time on this never-ending carnival ride around the sun grows shorter, there are things I am rushing to get done.  One of those last-minute goals is to re-read several favorite books, and, as time permits, perhaps watch a few great movies one more time.  Early this week I picked up my old paperback copy of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City," a book I originally read around 35 years ago, and for the past several days I have been lounging in my emotional happy place once again enjoying the author's beautiful writing and wonderful characters.

"Tales of the City" is the title of Volume 1 of a collection of fiction columns which Maupin wrote for the San Francisco Examiner in the 1970's.  The columns consisted of life scenes, character sketches, and the interwoven stories of a group of (primarily) young people living in and around a colorful boarding house at 28 Barbary Lane (a fictional location) during the early 1970's, just after the heyday of the hippie movement in the City by the Bay.  There are six volumes in the highly entertaining series.

Some of the material has been adapted into four television mini-series since 1993, with the most recent addition being by Netflix in 2019.  Many big names appeared in the series over the years, with two major characters, Mrs. Madrigal, the world's most laid-back and agreeable landlady, and Mary Ann Singleton, one of her tenants, being played by Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney, respectively, throughout all four productions.

The interwoven stories are so quirky and entertaining that they prove difficult for some of us to put aside.  I read the entire series in just a few weeks back in the early 1990's, and most of my friends today who are familiar with Maupin's work have read them all.  In this trip back to Barbary Lane I have almost finished the first volume, and the second is on my bedside table waiting to be dusted off and cracked open.

I read every evening before going to sleep, and 28 Barbary Lane is a wonderful departure point for the night train to Slumbertown.  It is my happy place!

Big Win in Kansas for America's Free Press

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

(Note:  I initially blogged about the police raid on a small Kansas newspaper, "The Marion County Record," back on August 14, 2023, with a follow-up on August 17, 2023.  For those who would like more information about this unwarranted police assault on press freedom, those two articles contain quite a bit of good material.)

The local Republican congressman was holding a public forum at a cafe in Marion, Kansas, in the summer of 2023 when the cafe owner decided that she did not want news staff from the county's weekly newspaper, "The Marion County Record," in her restaurant during the public meeting, and she ordered them out.  The congressman's staff was apparently not involved in that decision, and they apologized to the newspaper staff over the incident.

The cafe operator complained publicly and on her Facebook page about the local newspaper.

Sometime later the cafe operator learned that the newspaper had in its possession some negative information about her driving record.  The local editor later said that was true.    He said they had been given the information  by a third party and had chosen not to print it because the newspaper felt that it was being "set up."

Nonetheless, the cafe operator complained to the police that the newspaper possessed information about her which the paper should not have.  

The local police chief was able to obtain warrants charging the paper with "identity theft and computer crimes," and all five members of the town's police force along with two county deputies raided the office and the home of the paper's publisher and editor.  The officers took computers, telephones, and reporting materials.

(Two independent prosecutors later said that no crimes had been committed by the newspaper, and that the warrants  used in the raid relied on "inaccurate information" from an "inadequate investigation."

When the lawmen raided the publisher's home they found it occupied by his 98-year-old mother who ordered them to leave the premises - which was captured on a video recording device inside of the home.  The elderly lady, who had herself run the newspaper in Marion along with her husband for many years and was still a co-owner of the paper, was supported by a walker as she tried in vain to get the police to leave her home.    She died two days later due to what the family believes was stress brought on by the police invasion of he home.

But Eric Meyer, the newspaper's owner, publisher, and editor, was no pushover country bumpkin.  He had worked for the Milwaukee Journal for twenty years and had twenty-six years of experience teaching journalism at the University of Illinois.  He had a clear understanding of the purpose and power of the First Amendment.  Mr. Meyer went to court and brought suit against Marion County.

The police chief was fired and is currently awaiting trial on a charge of interfering with a witness in the case.

This week the Marion County, Kansas, agreed to a $3 million settlement to the newspaper and also issued a formal apology.  It was an expensive lesson in the worth and power of a free press, an expense that will ultimately be borne by the county's taxpayers - and not the over-zealous lawmen who trampled the First Amendment.

America wins when the free press prevails!

Affordability Means Lower Prices, Not Longer Payment Schedules

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Most people are in their thirties or close to it when they sell their souls to the bank for the first time and take out a mortage to buy a home or a business, and then, God love 'em, if they are smart they struggle to pay that sucker off as quickly as possible.  

(Do you want to live in your own home, or the bank's?)   (Do you want to run your own business, or the bank's?)

It doesn't feel like it is completely yours until the bank is out of the equation, and,  in reality, it isn't.

At one time I was a real estate salesman and broker, and I carried a small pocket calculator that could figure amortization schedules, or how much loan interest and principal would be made up by each payment.  I no longer have that handy instrument, nor the ability to figure it in my tired old head, but I know, as each of you likely do, that the early payments are far more interest than they are payments on principal.  I also remember clearly from my time in real estate and also my time as a mortgage-laden homeowner, that the shorter the period of the loan, the higher the house payments - but principal was getting paid more quickly and the sooner a person actually "owned" the home they were working to get paid off.  

I've had several mortages in my time, but never one exceeding fifteen years - and I always had them paid off early.  If I had an extra fifty dollars on the payment day, or even just a twenty, I would apply it to the princiepal knowing that it would knock off time toward the end of the loan.  It was frugality and common sense.  Until that damned thing was paid off, the bank was a partner in my life.

Home and busienss loans could be had for up to thirty years, and tacking on those extra years lowered the amount of the monthly payments - but not as significantly as many young, first-time borrowers think they will.  Overall, the amount of actual cash that leaves your pocket and goes into the bank's pocket is significant.  The greater the length of the loan, the more you actuually wind up paying for your property or business enterprise.  It's just basic math and compound interest.

30-year-loans have been the banking industry standard for home loans.   The most common and maximum length for government guaranteed home loans (FHA, VA, and USDA) is 30-years when offered as a fixed-rate mortgage (one that remains the same over the length of the loan).  It has apparently been thirty years as the maximum since the FDR administration during the Great Depression of the 1930's.

But now that could possibly change.

This week in one of his "whim" postings on TruthSocial,  Donald Trump, who owns that media platform and regularly uses it for official pronouncements and as a way to antagonize the press or certain segments of the public, announced that the government might soon back 50-year mortgages because that would lower house payments and increase "affordability."   His post stirred controversy on the political left and on the political right.  Trump, a man who is well known in bankruptcy court, seemed to lack a basic understanding of how mortgages actually work and impact people.

A young couple buys their first home at age thirty, and if the housing market isn't on fire and they can't sell at a profit within a few years, they wind up stuck in the same "starter" home for fifty long years and finally get it paid off when they are eighty, just about the time their kids are shuffling them off to Shady Pines.

Even the idea of a fifty-year loan is an affront to human dignity and freedom.  Put more government resources into home-building, Donbo, and bring those prices down so that more people can get into the housing market - with fifteen-or-twenty-year mortgages.  

That's waht "affordability" is about - not feeding billionaire bankers for the rest of their lives - and ours!

More housing now!  Increase the supply and bring down the damed costs - of buying and borrowing!