Road Food

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

Sunday Evening:  I am back, in Rawlins, Wyoming, at the Brickyard Inn, the place where I stayed ten days ago on my trip to Oregon.   I liked the motel, the room, and the price so much that I came back.  470 miles of hard driving today, about a hundred less than yesterday.

There is lots of road construction occurring on Interstate 80.  It wasn't so bad today for those of us going east, but there was one place where traffic heading west was backed up several miles.  Summer is the most popular time for working on the roads, so keep that in mind if you are planning any major road trips.

I had the best burrito of my life today for lunch at a "Maverik" convenience store.  It was a little less than  five dollars, and one made a complete meal, even for a big and wide guy like me.  I have been in several "Maverik" convenience store on this trip and really like their selections of meal and snack items, the reasonable pricing, and the friendly customer service.  My gas this evening at a "Maverik" was $2.99 a gallon, which is the cheapest I have found on this entire trip.  All of the meal items, like that great burrito, are made fresh daily in the individual stores.

I googled "Maverik" tonight and learned that they have 800 locations in 21 states.  I also learned that they are taking over the "Kum and Go" convenience stores in Missouri, and most  of the takeovers were completed in June while I was on the road.  I read some on-line reviews that complained about empty shelves and problems  as the converted stores were getting set up and started, but give 'em some time.  I think it will be well worth the wait.

It's looking like rain tonight in southern Wyoming.  I have not had to drive in any rain this trip - knock wood.  Last year on my first day out of Kansas City heading north, I was almost washed off the road, and during that trip I had to navigate several serious rainstorms.   Alexa did tell me today that it is still raining in southern Missouri.  Maybe I will bring some of this sunshine home to the Ozarks.

Right now my plan is to be in either Nebraska or Colorado tomorrow evening, and back in the Kansas City area Tuesday evening - and home on Wednesday!  There are plenty of road miles still waiting to be driven before this trip is over, but soon . .  . soon I will be back with my sweet little Rosie and mischievous Gypsy!

More Joys Along the Road

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

I left Salem, Oregon, about 6:45 this morning, just after my hotel finally served breakfast..  After paying just over $230 for a one-night stay, I was damned sure going to get the free breakfast!  Drove through the Cascades again, and truly enjoyed that part of the trip.  Bought the first tank of gas for the day in the beautiful little berg os "Sisters," Oregon, and later drove through the much rougher-looking community of "Brothers."  Finally made it into Idaho late in the day.  

The lady running the 76 gas station in Sisters was absolutely charming and extremely courteous.  If you are ever through that way, please stop and tell her Pa Rock sent you.  She won't know my name, but it will probably brighten her day anyway!

I had difficulty finding a place for lunch,  and finally wound up at an A&W near dinner time.  When I first lived on Okinawa in the early 1970's the island had just one American fast food franchise - an A&W,. Before we left two years later there was also a Kentucky Fried Chicken.  During my second stay fifteen years ago, almost of the major franchises were represented on the island.

I pulled one major bonehead move in traffic today - no accidents or injuries - but it may have been caught on camera, so I may be coming back for court at some point.  I blame my stupidity on being tired, which is no excuse at all.  Tomorrow I WILL find a place to stay early in the afternoon.

Tonight (Saturday) I am at a roadside motel just east of Twin Falls, Idaho.  It is a surprisingly nice room, larger than last night's, but without a refrigerator or telephone - and the rent is less than $100!

I wish the United States had a comprehensive passenger rail system - or a tele-transporter system - or airports adequately staffed with air traffic controllers!  Average people pay big taxes, we should have nice things!

The Long Road Home

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Safely back in Salem, Oregon tonight (Friday) and headed home in the morning.  I'm going to follow essentially the same route as I did last week when I was headed toward Oregon.  Tomorrow I will drive back up into the beautiful Cascades and then follow Highway 20 across Oregon and into Idaho.  Even though I feel pressured to get home, I will nevertheless take as many state roads as I can in order to see the real America.  That route goes through the community of Sisters, which is beautiful and very touristy, and also through Brothers, Oregon, which is markedly less attractive.

Our trip to Seattle went well.  Molly ended it last night by taking her son, Judah, back down to the area around the Pike Place Market where they participated in a "ghost" walking tour and exploration of some local paranormal tales and legends.  Willow and I stayed at the hotel and rested.

I don't get to see Willow (age 13) and Judah (age 15) as much as I do my other grandchildren, and this trip I found myself to be both surprised and pleased at how grown up they both have become.  They are extremely nice and well behaved young people - and fun to be around.  It's always hard to leave Oregon knowing that it may be as much as a year before I see either of them - or their parents - again.

Going to Seattle oo Tuesday we rode an older, plain Jane train that was somewhat of a rough ride - but it did have Wi-Fi.   Coming back today we were on a longer, nicer train with much more spacious seating as well as lounge, dining, observation, and sleeper cars.  It ran much smoother than the older and smaller train, but surprisingly had no Wi-Fi.  The lack of Wi-Fi did give me an opportunity- which I took - to work on a piece of writing that I have been plugging away on for years.  I will probably leave it - unfinished. - to Tim, and he can use it as a doorstop.  The manuscript is getting big enough that it could also be used as a nice plant stand.

To bed go I, per chance to dream about the long road home.

Pike Place Market and the Wall of Gum

 

by Pa Rock

Weary Traveler

Thursday:   Our last full day in Seattle.  

Molly, an amazing urban driver, managed to get us close to the waterfront and squeeze our war wagon rental into one of the many small parking lots that punctuate the landscape of downtown Seattle.  From there we walked to the very busy Pike Place Market, a sprawling crafts fair that supposedly connects to a fish market, which we never found - but I did catch a whiff.

(I've been to the famous fish market in New Orleans, and also to a less hectic one on Okinawa, but I guess I will have to save Seattle's for another visit.  I wasn't planning on buying a fish anyway - and once you've smelled one fish market, you've smelled them all!) 

The weather has been remarkably good which is fortunate because most of my traveling wardrobe consists of shorts and tee-shirts.   This morning as I was pulling clothes out on my travel bag in the dark, I came up with a well-worn political shirt that says "Beto for Governor of Texas," so it is almost four years old.  I don't wear it outside of the house when I am home, but it is extremely comfortable and I figured that it would not attract controversy in a place like Seattle. 

The old shirt did lead to one fun conversation while we were in the market.  Molly and the kids had moved on ahead and I was lagging behind looking at some handcrafted glass art. The lady sitting behind the counter was reading a book and seemed to be ignoring me, which I usually prefer.  As I was snooping through her wares, however, she looked up and commented on my shirt.  "Beto for Governor," she said, and added, "He should have won.  I can't understand why people in this county keep electing assholes." Her remark, of course, led into an unkind discussion of Donald John Trump, and I thought about how nice it would e to live among an educated, progressive populace.  

While we were talking, I asked about the "wall of gum," a tourist attraction in a nearby alleyway where patrons of a local club began sticking their gum on the brick walls of buildings bordering the alley thirty years ago.  Now dabs of multi-colored chewing gum are stuck to buildings on both sides of the alley, some of it quite arty, and some so high on the walls that some of the amateur artists must have brought ladders. to do their artistic vandalism and littering.

My new friend gave me directions to the oddball tourist attraction.  She said, "If civilization ever disappears and aliens find that wall, they will be able to recreate us.  (There is the basis for a sci-fi novel in there somewhere!)

We found the alley and began to walk it at the foot of a long hill.  It almost felt like a tunnel of used chewing gum.  For those who forgot their gum, a large gumball machine is located at the base of the hill.  The art itself was amazing.  Lots of it was just random placement of individual pieces of different colored gum, like fields of stars in the night sky.  But there were also many projects where people had placed pieces in order to spell their names or messages.  There were also long strings of gum hanging from window and door sills and resembling icicles.  Some of the artists had used chewed gum to hold up printed posters.  One of my favorites was "I drink my Dr. Pepper warm, f*ck ICE!"

Yeah, brother!

So far today I have walked 8,500 steps, most of it uphill.  All of the hills in Seattle seem to be one-way:  Up!

Back on the train tomorrow.

THE Best All-Around View of Seattle

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

 

Yesterday we ascended Seattle's iconic "Space Needle" where we were able to enjoy a magnificent, 360-degree view of the amazing city and its environs as well as Puget Sound and some of it's many islands.  Seattle is an amazing place and so is the Space Needle, a six-hundred-and -five-foot structure  that has come to symbolize the city  and its strong ties to science and the future.  The observation deck is at the 520-foot level, and a commercial area that includes a revolving glass floor is located one level below that.  We spent an hour or more exploring both levels.

There are lines to get into the Space Needle, lines to ride the elevator up, and lines to ride it down.  The descending elevators pour passengers into a gift shop, of course they do, where there are also lines for anyone wishing to purchase trinkets or clothing related to the Space Needle and Seattle experience.

There are lots of hassles in getting around Seattle, but the views from atop the Space Needle make it worth a visit on even the most rushed itinerary.   Seattle has plenty of transportation alternatives which, I am sure, work well for locals, but for tourists who don't know how to access the many public transport options, driving makes the most sense - except, of course, for the fact that there are steep parking fees absolutely everywhere.  Our mediocre hotel charges $20 a night to park (inside or outside), and the spot we found close to the Space Needle was $11 an hour for a three-hour stay.

But again, it was worth it.  It's the best, all-around view of Seattle.

Today we are headed to the "Pike Place Market" to watch people throw fish.  I'm from Missouri, and  it doesn't tke much to entertain me!

Tomorrow we will get on a train headed back to Oregon.

Black Bunny Express

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Man

I am in Seattle along with my daughter, Molly, and her youngest two children, Judah and Willow,  We rode an AmTrak passenger train from Salem, Oregon, yesterday, through a beautiful stretch of the Pacific Northwest, and about five hours after our departure, we were at the King Street Station in Seattle.  One of the unexpected highlights of the trip was the young black bunny who showed up hopping along the tracks in Salem, undoubtedly to to see us off.  Judah managed to get the rabbit's picture with his phone - the day's first souvenir!

I boarded the train on the steep metal steps taking great care not to fall backward and take out some of the passengers who were in line behind me - and I tumbled forward instead, skinning both knees.  But the pain gave me something to focus on for the next couple of hours.  Second souvenir of the day.

Even though my grandchildren are teenagers (Willow, 13, and Judah, 15), I expected they would be antsy on the train and use some of the five hours moving from car-to-car and exploring.  Neither had been on a train before, or at least not since they were old enough to remember.  But both of the kids were exceptionally fine traveling companions who remained seated the entire trip and watched the world go by.  It seemed to be quite a pleasurable experience for our entire group.  

Once we were off the train, the trip got harder as we had to drag  and lug our luggage, Uber to a car rental agency, and then find our way around Seattle to reach our hotel in what I would term "brisk and heavy" traffic.  Molly, an experienced urban driver, was at the wheel.  (If I had been by myself, I would probably still be walking and trying to find the hotel!)

But, long story wide, we are in the right hotel, in the right city, and preparing to go out and have a wonderful day.

I wish the bunny a good day also!

The Cruel War Is Over - Or Is It?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Don Trump announced yesterday that the 12-day-old Israel-Iran War is over, thanks, undoubtedly, to his own astute military mind and his personal fortitude in sending other people's children into harm's way after campaigning on a promise not to do that very thing.  The day before yesterday three B-2 stealth bombers flew from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to Iran where they each dropped one 30,000 pound, 20-foot-long "bunker-buster" bomb on sites that were thought to house underground fortresses where Iran had been making nuclear weapons.  Trump said in his Truth Social post yesterday that Iran and Israel had agreed to a cease fire.

Great news, great news!  But don't breakout the confetti just yet.  The elderly deal-maker with the long red tie and the bad combover has told a fib or to in his time, and there are more than a few skeptics among us who believe that it is likely he has never told the truth about anything.  All of that, and conflicts in the Middle East reach back generations and are compleex, not likely to be resolved with a bit of social media prattle out of Florida.

Let's hold off on the victory parades and see what the situation looks like a week from now.

Space Needles and Bullet Trains

 

by Pa Rock

Grandfather

Yesterday (Sunday), I spent most of the day with my daughter and her family visiting in their home in Salem, Oregon, and then made a side trip along with Molly and the two kids for lunch with a stop at the local Goodwill where I shopped for a jacket, with no luck.  Big and Fat is not a popular size in this part of the world.   (I left Missouri in the heat of summer but arrived in Oregon in what felt like very early spring, and my wardrobe was out-of-sync with my location.)

The Goodwill store in Salem is exceptionally nice with a good selection of clothing and household. goods.  A few years ago I bought the most comfortable pair of shoes there - and also among of the nicest -  that I have ever owned.

I did find one other pair of shoes yesterday that looked as though they would be very comfortable, but alas, they were about a half-size too small.  Comfortable shoes and a comfortable car are two of my basic needs.

My Oregon granddaughter is not a fan of Donald Tump because she has a justifiable fear that ICE is going to show up and abduct some of her friends.  What kind of sick society have we become when children have to worry about the government kidnapping their friends?

Judah and Willow are out of school for the summer, and tomorrow they and their mother will join me aboard an Amtrak train here in Salem and take a five-hour ride to Seattle where we will spend three days and nights in one of America's most cultural environments.  We have a list of places that we hope to visit (thank you, Cousin Joyce), one of which will definitely be the iconic Space Needle - which has been the symbol of Seattle for 64 years, having opened during the early months of the Kennedy administration in 1961.

The trip to Seattle will be the kids' first ride on a train.  I hope the day comes when they will be able to travel with their grandchildren anywhere in the country on a high-speed rail system.  (I rode on a "bullet" train in Japan more that fifty years ago.  Sooner or later America will catch up to where the Japanese were a half-century ago!)

But don't get too cocky, Japan.  America does have a Space Needle!

Lewis and Clark Ain't Got Nothing On Me!

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

When I left Twin Falls, Idaho, early this morning (yesterday, actually, Friday) I had no intention of going all the way to Salem, Oregon, but when I began feeling road-weary in the afternoon, I could not find a hotel with a vacancy - and necessity pulled me onward.  I reached Salem late in the day after almost six-hundred miles on the road, and quickly found the La Quinta where I usually stay.  (When I realized that I would be going all the way to my destination, I called my daughter and had her reserve a room.)

A major portion of today's drive was on two-lane state highways which made the trip even longer, time-wise.

For the benefit on anyone who might also be planning a trip from West Plains, Missouri, to Salem, Oregon, with a stopover in Roeland Park, Kansas, you should plan on at least five days on the road and a total of 2,228 miles -  more or less - one way.  Also be aware that hotel rooms are about fifty-percent higher than they were last year.  I blame Trump for that.

My two grandkids who are still in Oregon came by the hotel to see me this evening along with their parents.  Judah and Willow are each about six inches taller than when I saw then last year.  They are growing way too fast!

It was cloudy with occasionally sprinkles today in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon, and rainy as I crossed the Cascades, but even with the rain, the scenery on the ocean side of the Cascades was beautiful, lush and green, with pines and spruce that reached to the heavens.   The descent down a very twisty and winding road was breath-taking.  It reminded me of the El Yunque National Rain Forest in Puerto Rico, complete with occasional small waterfalls spilling down the stony cliffs.  The barren hills of eastern Oregon also host a beautiful, winding drive along many roaring creeks and rivers.  I crossed the Snake River in at least four separate locations, so it truly does wend its way through the hills like a fast-moving snake.

Lewis and Clark took quite a bit longer to make essentially the same trip, but they were encumbered with far more baggage.  Pa Rock travels light!

Upon arrival I heard that the US is involved in yet another Middle East war.  The more things change, the more they stay the same, and it truly breaks my heart.

Heartstopper at the Truck Stop

 

by Pa Rock

Driving Fool

Day Four of Roadtrippin':  Friday

I left the Brickyard Motel in Rawlins, Wyoming at around 7:30 this morning and was forty miles down the road when I realized that I had forgotten to fill my gas tank before leaving town.  The gas gage said I had 89 miles worth of gas in the tank, and the next community of any ssize was still 83 miles away.  Going back to Rawlins would have been as iffy as proceeding on, so I elected to keep driving and hope that I made it.  Fortunately, a few miles down the road I came to a truck stop in the middle of nowhere.

I pulled into the pumps and got out of my little car, reaching for my wallet in my back pocket as I emerged.    But. . . you guessed it . .  . the wallet wasn't in my pocket where it belonged.  Oh, hell!  I had made an extra trip back into my room in Rawlins and looked around just to be sure I hadn't missed anything - but maybe I had.  It wasn't in the front passenger seat where I keep my accumulations of road junk and trash, nor was it in the back seat either.  My final option was to root through the luggage and packages in the hatch - and that's where I found it, tucked into the basket in which I carry my many assorted pills.  

The wallet had it all - my bank card, credit card, travel cash, and even my ID and driver's license..  If I hadn't found it I would have been royally screwed!   But fortunately, Allah protects the senile and the decrepit!

Today I drove from Rawlins to Twin Falls, Idaho, a distance of close to 500 miles.  That was too much driving. but I was on interstates most of the day.  I did spend a few hours meandering along a two-lane state road over a long stretch of western Wyoming.  There were many hills, and the elevation was around 6,000 to 8,000 feet most of the day.  I heard it referred to as a "high desert," and it does resemble a desert but without the cacti.  Oregon also had a long stretch of high desert.

This evening there is a windstorm and lots of dust.  I walked to the truck stop next door to my hotel for supper  and had to use one hand to hold my hat on and the other to keep my shorts up.  The man at the counter in the truck stop said these winds are common, and he estimated that the current one was around 35 m.p.h.

I will be into Oregon by lunch time tomorrow and could make to Salem late in the day, but I will probably stay somewhere along the way and arrive fresh on Sunday morning.

And in case you were wondering, my truck stop dinner is a packaged chef's salad.  Breakfast was also at a truck stop, but not nearly as healthy as the dinner selection, and lunch was a sandwich from Subway.  The food options today were exceedingly slim pickings.

Mountain Home, Boise, and then Oregon in the morning.

Sully Is Nine and Mighty Fine!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

My youngest grandchild, Sullivan Macy, is nine years old today.  He lives in the suburbs of Kansas City with his parents, Tim and Erin, and his older sister, Olive.

I was with Sully and his family a few days ago, and I gave him his birthday card early.  It was a funny card focusing on the movie "Beetlejuice," and I told him that I might have to explain the movie reference, but my very bright grandson had seen the film and caught the humor of the card.  (Birthday cards from grandparents are very important because they contain not only humor, but also love and good wishes - and sometimes even money!  (One year I put a check in his card, and Sully told his parents excitedly that Pa Rock had sent him a paycheck!)

"Beetlejuice" isn't the only cult classic movie that my young grandson has seen.  He told me that his favorite movie, one that he has seen multiple times, is "Jaws"!  ("Jaws" turns fifty this year!). 

Tim and Erin take their children to interesting places, and late last month and early this month they spent some time in Hawaii.  One of the things they did there was to take a tour boat out onto the ocean at night and then get into the ocean, beneath special neon lighting, to watch manta rays come to the light and swim beneath them.  And Sully, the boy who likes to watch "Jaws," had a great time in the water watching the manta rays swim beneath him!  

You're a braver man than I am, Sullivan Macy!

Happy birthday, Sully!  I'm sorry I could not be with you on your big day - and I am wishing you all the best from Rawlins, Wyoming.  Have a great day!

Me and the Outlaw Biker

 

by Pa Rock

Driving Fool

Day Three on the long road west took me from Burlington, Colorado, to Rawlins, Wyoming.  I have at least two more days on the road before reaching Salem, Oregon - and likely part of a third day as well - which would put me there on Sunday.  Molly and the kids and I have tickets for Tuesday which will take us to Seattle on the train where we will spend three days and nights exploring one of the most dynamic and progressive cities in America. (Hopefully Trump is too focused on Iran to carry out his war plans on the blue cities for awhile.)

I thought this might be a good spot to comment about hotel accommodations which i have encountered so far.  Yesterday, as I pulled off of I-70 and into Burlington, CO, I stopped at the first clean and safe-looking place I encountered - an older motel, vintage ca. 1960.   It was called the Chaparral Motor Inn.  I was hoping for something under a hundred dolalrs.  (Back when my parents ran a tourist court in the 1950's and 1960's, our single rooms were six dollars a night!)

The motel in Burlington was $130 per night, and after I picked myself up off of the floor, the very nice young desk clerk asked if I would like to see the room.  I could tell by the cars in the lot that it was almost full.  We checked out the room and I was very impressed, so I bowed to the inevitable expense and took it.  I really wanted a shower and a nap!

The desk clerk, who appeared to be one of a four-generation family of South Asian descent who owned the.place, was exceedingly nice.  As I was checking in he noticed that I was from Missouri and asked what part.  Then he told me that he had lived in Joplin for a couple of years and attended Middle School there.  I asked the standard question when encountering someone who had lived  or been in Joplin:  "Were you there during the tornado?"  He told me that he had just missed it.  This morning as I was checking out, the young man's father explained that the family had moved from Joplin to Bulington, Colorado, one day before the tornado hit.  Somebody was living right!

I had a beautiful drive up the northeastern Colorado border to the Nebraska line this morning (Thursday) on a nice two lane highway that was barely traveled.  During the two hours or so that I was on it, I probably saw less than two dozen other vehicles, and there were long stretches where there were no cars or trucks at all.  The scenery was mostly rural farm land, fields and pastures, but there was a stretch of scenic hill country, too.   I drove through three or four small towns, but only encountered one gas station, and it had just a single pump.  I'm sure there were stations somewhere on the side streets, but just not on the road I was traveling - which was the Main Street in each of the towns.  

Finally I came to Julesburg, Colorado, which is an extremely quaint little town within spitting distance of the Nebraska border.  There I found one station, and it had two pumps.  I filled up, went inside to use the facility, and bought a bottle of iced tea - they didn't have a fountain service.  When I walked back to my car there was a wooly biker filling his Harley at the other pump.  We nodded, and as I was starting to get into my car, a siren whooped a couple of times at the other end of the very small town.  

"If that's for me," the biker said, "I was with you all morning."  There was another whoop and then he added, "And if it's for you, we've never met."

I laughed and told him to have a good day, to which he replied "Have a blessed day."  

(I always feel like people are proselytizing when they tell me to have a blessed day, but I didn't make an issue of it with Evel Knieval!)

I got on I-80 headed west in Nebraska and was in the Cornhusker state for a couple of hours.  It's boring, much like Kansas.  Wyoming, on the other hand, is much more scenic almost as soon as you cross the state line.    I was able to see the snow-capped Rockies not long after entering the Cowboy State.

Finding a motel last evening in Rawlins was mch more difficult than it had been in Burlington the evening before.  There were several chain motels in town, but only one looked decent.  When the very nice desk clerk told me that a single room would be $160 with the rewards discount, I told her that I would look around some more.  The other three chain motels that I found all looked sketchy, and none of them had any cars in their lots.  One, in fact, appeared to be deserted.  I also found several old motels that looked as though they were from the middle of the twentieth century, aand thgey also looked too rough for my tastes.   Finally I came to one which looked more respectable, an older motel with 26 units.   When the sweet older woman working the desk said I could have a single room for eighty dollars, I said, almost too eagerly, "I'll take it!"   The room is quiet and exceptionally nice.  There were religious handouts (Christian) in the room and one religious wall poster, but I have chosen to overlook all of that.

If I had walked into the motel office wearing a MAGA cap I could have probably gotten a discount!

More from the road tomorrow!

Crossing Kansas: Windmills and Motor Homes

 

by Pa Rock

Interstate Cruiser

Day two of my trip west took me from Roeland Park, Kansas, to Burlington, Colorado - a straight run along Interstate 70 of over 400 miles.  Eastern Kansas has some trees and scenery, western Kansas is just Kansas, lying flat beside a highway that is very straight and boring - pun intended.  Several big "Trump Country" signs along the way, and I heard the area referenced that way on the radio as well.

I had planned on either driving across Nebraska or South Dakota, but came to I-70 first and decided that since I hadn't gone that way in over forty years, what the hell!  So, I took the first fork in the road just a couple of miles from where I had started out this morning.

My drive took me south of Leavenworth where I was a civilian social worker with the Army during most of 2005, but I didn't turn north to revisit that part of my life - maybe next time.   I also drove just south of Ft. Riley, Home of the Big Red One (1st Infantry Division), where I attended ROTC summer camp in 1969 and served as a Light Truck Platoon Leader with the Army during the last half of 1971.   It was through that short stint at Ft. Riley that I got to be a part of Operation Reforger III and play war games around southern Germany for six weeks.  Great times!

Much of the eastern portion of I-70 in Kansas is a toll road, which i knew from my history in that area, and I saw signs today to that effect.  But I never encountered any toll booths, and forty years ago they had been common.  Later in the day Tim and I were talking on the phone and I asked him what the deal was -  I had been on a toll road but paid no tolls.   He said that changed several months ago.  It is still a toll road, but now they take a picture of your license plate as you fly by and send a bill to your home.  The objective was to eliminate the jobs of the people who worked in the toll booths.   More government workers getting screwed.  (Elon, was that one yof your genetically deficient brain children?)

As soon as I got past Salina, which is about halfway across the state, big windmills that generate electricity began appearing - lots and lots of them.  Trump seems to be seriously opposed to wind and solar energy, but the rest of the country is moving on.  I'm sure he would become a fan if he could just figure out a way for his family to profit from alternative energies - but that sounds like too much serious work.  Crypto and patriotic Bibles are much easier to peddle.

I did see two trucks going east on the interstate which were transporting blades for the big windmills.  They are enormous!   Each truck had a very long extension on its trailer just to carry one blade.

I passed close by Abilene, Kansas, the boyhood home of Dwight Eisenhower and the place where his presidential library is located.  One of Ike's early duty assignments was at Ft. Leavenworth.   I also skirted by Russell, Kansas, the boyhood home of US Senators Bob Dole (R-KS) and Arlen Specter (R-PA).  Today Russell has a population of about 4,400.  It was undoubtedly much smaller when Bob and Arlen were boys there.

There were also many motorhomes out on the Interstate.  I passed a convoy of five almost identical ones, each towing a jeep-type of vehicle - and each of the five had license plates from different states.  Not sure what that was about - a convention of rich old people one supposes.   There were many others along the way as well.  I lost count but had to have passed several dozen.   I looked for Clarence and Ginny, but my car sits too low for me to see the driver and co-pilot.  The Thomases probably go to more interesting places than Kansas.

After several hours of driving in a very straight line across Kansas, I determined that my goal for the day was to make it to the Colorado border.  I did, and Burlington was the first town I encountered, so i dropped anchor and spent the night.  I stayed at the Chaparral Motor Inn, an older refurbished motel that was burprisingly nice

Look for more about my adventures on the road in this space tomorrow.  This morning I am headed due not to western Nebraska and then west into southernWyoming.

(Is it true that Trump's presidential library is going to have a casino, or is that just a scurrilous rumor?  Please don't repeat it if it's just a rumor.)

The Girl with Fangs

 

by Pa Rock

Travelin' Fool

Day One of my big road trip has come and gone.  I left West Plains at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and was in Roeland Park, Kansas, at the home of my youngest son and his family at around 12:30 in the afternoon.  The highlight of the day was getting to see and visit three of my six grandchildren:  Olive and Sully who live with their parents in Roeland Park, and Sebastian who has recently relocated from Oregon to the Kansas City area.  I will be visiting Sebastian's younger brother and sister, Judah and Willow, later this week in Oregon.

The most interesting sight that I saw along the way north yesterday was a young lady who was working the register at a convenience store a few miles south of Kansas City.  She was efficient at her job and courteous, but her appearance was a bit off-putting, at least to this old goat.

The young lady, who looked like she could have been in high school, had some metal on her face which begged to be stared at.  There was a small, very fine chain hanging out of each of her nostrils (about a half-an-inch long) with a tiny medallion swinging at the end of each chain.  I didn't gawk as closely as I wanted,  but I had the sense they were some sort of tiny wind chimes.  

The nose-danglers, however, were not her most striking body enhancements.  She also had a pair of silver fangs (again about half-an-inch long) protruding from beneath her upper lip and extending down and over her lower lip.   There were two silver tacks on the upper lip that looked as though they were probably anchoring the fangs - which I guess makes them body piercings.

Danged kids!  In my day a discreet tattoo hidden beneath a shirtsleeve was scandalous!

I blame Trump.

My other discovery today involved food.  I was at the big Hy-Vee grocery store near where Tim and Erin and their family live to pick up a few items for the road, and when I went to the checkout a very nice lady offered to let me go in front of her since I only had a couple of things.  I declined, but thanked her for her courtesy, and we continued to chat.   As I watched her unload her groceries I noticed she had an item that I had not seen before - a "Cheez-It" brand frozen pizza.  I commented on how good it looked (the picture on the box), and she said she was buying it because it looked like something her seventeen-year-old son would like.  The checkout clerk, who looked like he was someone's seventeen-year-old son, chimed in saying that it was a new item and the store had given away samples last week - and they had been very popular with the customers.  He said it was delicious.

Maybe the stores in West Plains will be carrying "Cheez-It" pizza by the time I get home from my trip out west.  I would enjoy biting into one.  The girl with the fangs would probably have a hard time eating cheesy pizza.

Roadtrippin'

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

It's that time of year again, the merry month of June when Pa Rock packs his comfortable Kia Soul and heads out on the open road.  Last year, at just about this same time, I drove to Oregon by way of Canada - going straight north out of Kansas City to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then left on Canada Highway 1 across the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and on across the more scenic province of Alberta, and even into British Columbia and across the Canadian Rockies before heading south into the Idaho Panhandle - and then east across a slice of Washington before hitting the Portland (Oregon) traffic and going on south into Salem, the capital of Oregon.   Whew!

This year I am scratching Canada from my itinerary and either going across Nebraska or South Dakota as I head west.   Nebraska is a straighter shot to where I'm headed, but South Dakota is far more scenic.  I guess I'll decide when I come to the first fork in the road.  Was it Yogi Berra who said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."?

Today I am headed to the Kansas City area where I have a couple of errands to run, and tomorrow morning I will leave there as the sun is rising.

The only sad note is that I am leaving Rosie at home.   She will be eleven next month (seventy-seven in dog years - the same age as me),  and I think the trip would be too hard on her.  Rosie and I have gotten very close in our dotage, and I will miss her, and I fear that she will miss me and be worried that I am not coming back.

My destination is my daughter's home in Salem where I try to visit each year.  I have business to attend to in Seattle, so Molly and I and her two youngest children, Judah and Willow, will (hopefully) be taking the train from Salem to Seattle, spend three nights there, and then train it back to Salem.  We will be traveling through Portland, Oregon, going and coming.  Portland is a great city with a very politically engaged, progressive populace, and so is Seattle.  Trump is declaring war on Democratic-run cities, and I'm sure both Portland and Seattle are high on his hit list - so we might even get to see some of the ICE-capades during our train excursion.

Blog entries at The Ramble will probably be shorter over the next three weeks or so,  and will likely be more of a travelogue than political venom.  That's a good thing.   I could use a break from all the Trump crap, and I suspect the few who drop by regularly to partake of my witticisms could too.

Enjoy the summer;  it begins Friday - and watch out for me if you're on the road.  (And if you can't find the fork in the road, it's probably because I took it!)

Military Parade was a Flop; Too Bad, So Sad

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I'll admit up front that I didn't watch Trump's much ballyhooed military / birthday parade that was held in Washington, DC, on Saturday.  The event, which Trump himself seems to have engineered, cost somewhere north of $45 million taxpayer dollars and consumed quite a bit of our military's valuable time.  But Donald Trump, in the true spirit of other major world leaders of the past, people like Benito Mussolini and Jospeh Stalin, wanted a damn parade with tanks and rockets, and by God he got one!

News reports and photographic evidence reveal that the troops marching in the parade were likely better trained in their military occupational specialities (MOSs) than they were in precision marching, and that's fine;  it's as it should be.  The loneliness of the military tanks rolling slowly by one at a time was no doubt even more boring to those at the event watching live  than it was to people like me seeing snippets on-line.  

The crowd was thin, with even many Republican politicians actively seeking reasons to be absent.  I saw one photo of Secretary of State Marco Rubio sitting in a folding chair in the front row of the parade route looking as though he was in danger of falling asleep and rolling out in the path of whatever taxpayer-owned, olive drab vehicle happened to be passing.  Little Marco looked like he would much rather be back home in Florida swatting mosquitoes and slamming down Cuba Libres.   Sitting next to him was former Wrestling promoter and current Secretary of Education Linda McMahon who was also looking bored out of her gourd.  If only she had Hulk Hogan or some of her other intellectual peers close by to share her misery.

Perhaps the best critique of the long, long afternoon came from Trump himself who reportedly nodded off during the prolonged agony pageantry.

But the day was not a complete wash.  Pope Leo gave a very well received taped address over the Jumbotron at Rate Field in Chicago and provided inspiration to a packed venue of over 40,000 people.  Rate Field is the home of the Chicago White Sox, the new Pope's favorite professional baseball team.  Chicago also hosted a massive "No Kings" demonstration as a direct rebuttal to the authoritarian policies and practices of the Trump administration, as did over 4 million people in 2,000 or so other "No Kings" protests across the nation.

The Trump team claims 250,000 people were on the ground in Washington, DC, watching his military parade, but that number, as with most things said or generated by Donald Trump, is suspect.

Maybe next year somebody will decide to give the taxpayers a break and take Fearless Leader to McDonald's for his birthday celebration.  He likes it there.

Minnesota Assassin Targeted Democrats

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Another day, and another angry white male goes on a shooting rampage in America.

Vance Luther Boelter, a 57-year-old  former supervisor in the private security industry, is on the run today after shooting four people yesterday morning in a pre-dawn assaults at their homes in the Minneapolis suburbs of Minnesota.  Boelter, who was later described by police as being a "registered Republican" and by his roommate as being "a strong supporter of President Trump," apparently was operating from a list of Democratic politicians and prominent supporters of abortion rights which he had drafted himself.  

His first victims were Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom Boelter shot multiple times at their home in Champlin, Minnesota,  at around 2:00 a.m.    Both of the Hoffmans had to undergo emergency surgeries at an area hospital, and are still alive as of this morning.  The gunman's next stop was at the home of State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where Boelter shot and killed both of those individuals.

After responding to the first shooting, police then went by the Hortman house to check on them, and there they encountered the shooter as he was leaving the residence.  Gunfire ensued and the killer ran back into the house and subsequently managed to escape, leaving his car, which resembled a police vehicle, behind.  (The car even had emergency lights.).  The police found his hit list in the car.

Also found in the car were several AK-style weapons.  The suspect reportedly has a pistol on his person.

Both Senator Hoffman and Rep. Hortman were members of Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party which is essentially the Democratic Party of Minnesota.  Rep. Hortman had recently completed serving five years as the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.  She had been at a dinner with US Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota just hours before the shooting.

Prominent names on the gunman's hit list included Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, US Senator Tina Smith, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and State Attorney General Keith Ellison.  In addition to all being Democrats, Omar and Ellison are both Muslims.   Governor Walz is referring to yesterday's shootings as a "political assassination."

Investigators say Boelter tricked his way into the victims' homes by impersonating a uniformed police officer.

Police describe Vance Boelter as being a white male, 6'1" tall, and weighing 220 lbs.  The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

While those shootings are shocking, it would be hard to say they are completely unexpected in a country as rife with divisiveness and political bitterness as the United States.   When the nation's leader routinely refers to people who oppose him as "nasty," or "socialists" or "communists," and constantly berates and impugns the character of any individuals who are not in lockstep with his hate-riddled agenda, and the right-wing media repeats his inflammatory rhetoric ad nauseam with their own dramatic enhancements, sooner or later bullets will fly.

Yesterday morning they flew in Minnesota.   Today, or tomorrow, or the next day it will be somewhere else.  The hate is ignorant, and armed, and it is winning.   That has to change or freedom and our very civilization will collapse.

The sky really is falling.

Let It Rain!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The midwest has been inundated with rain this spring, far more than usual and much more than we need, but it has been dispersed to the point that flooding hasn't been a big issue.   The grass and weeds, however, are growing at record speed, and people rush to get their yards mowed between the cloudbursts.   Through it all, the water tables are rising and the ponds are filling - which are good things.

It has rained in southern Missouri, where I live, parts of the last two days, and there is a possibility of more today.

Alexa just told me that there is also a possibility of rain today in Washington, DC, our nation's capital and the sight later today of a massive US military parade that will honor the 250th anniversary of the United States Army - an enormously expensive  event that some leaders in our military were apparently not eager to hold.  The person who was eager to see a parade today is Donald John Trump, the President,  a non-veteran who chose not to get involved in the Vietnam War in his youth, but today is making big money as his family invests in business ventures in Vietnam and around the globe.  

Donald John also happens to be turning seventy-nine today, a happy coincidence that allows him to sit on a reviewing stand on the White House lawn and watch proudly as nearly 6,600 troops march by (people wearing the same country's uniform that he chose not to wear in the 1960's), 150 military vehicles (including tanks which have been repainted especially for today's show), and a swarm of military aircraft flying overhead.  

The cost of the parade in DC today is estimated to be at least $45 million with some estimes ranging as high as $90 million.    The social safety net that guarantees food and health care to millions of Ameericans may be in tatters, but the big show in Washington, DC, will go on!

The last big military parade in DC was in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush used on to celebrate the end of the Iraq War.  Republican politicians, it would seem, love the symbolism of military parades, undoubtedly for the power they imply.

And while the Army celebrates its birthday, and others celebrate Trump's birthday, many Americans will be focusing on joining in one of hundreds of protests that are happening across the United States to draw attention to what they see as Trump's use of the United States military for partisan political purposes, and the nation's rapid transformation from one that operates on democratic principles to a country that seems to be reflecting the rule of an autocrat - or even an emerging monarch - something our country forcefully rejected back at the same time it was giving birth to the Continental Army.

There's going to be a lot going on today.

Alexa says the high in Washington,DC today will be 81 degrees F, and the low 66 degrees F - and the skies will be sunny, but with a chance of thunderstorms.

It's definitely time to rejuvenate the concept of democracy - let it rain!

Drag Queens Steal the Show at Kennedy Center

 

by Pa Rock

Theatre Fan

As a part of his rolling spectacle of self-aggrandizement, Donald Trump took charge of one of the major cultural venues in our nation's capital last February when he replaced most of the Kennedy Center's board of directors with people who would do his bidding - and then had that new board appoint him as the CEO of the operation.  As the man in charge, Trump is involving himself in determining the Center's selection of programs and honorees.  Additionally, he also began by throwing some red meat to his base when he announced that the Kennedy Center would not host any drag performances.

With that background in mind, the "stage was set" for theatrical themed protests when Trump and First Lady Melania attended a performance of what is reputedly Trump's favorite musical, "Les Miserables," at the Kennedy Center this past Wednesday night.  Also in attendance  were JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance (whom Trump had appointed as Chairwoman of the Kennedy Board), and controversial HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr (one of the Kennedys) and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.

Not in attendance were several members of the regular cast, including some in starring roles, who chose to not perform for Trump.

Much of the evening's entertainment happened before the curtain even went up.  As the Trumps entered the presidential box, several members of the audience began booing and jeering, and that was followed by some of Trump's supporters in the audience trying to cheer over them.  It was undoubtedly far less than the regal welcome Trump would have preferred.

But the pre-show wasn't over.

Before Don and Mel had even managed to get their seats warm, three very flamboyantly dressed drag queens and one drag king  entered and circled through the auditorium before taking their seats - and while the Trumps had been met with a mixed reception, the drag performers were greeted far more positively with cheers and applause.

("Les Miserables" is a musical stage production based on Victor Hugo's very lengthy novel of the same name.  The focus of the story is a group of very poor and desperate individuals struggling to survive during  the French Revolution when the common people took to the streets (and barricades, and guillotines) and ultimately overthrew the monarchy's authoritarian rule in France.  Trump, a man who has seldom been observed reading, may not have had a complete understanding of the show's message.)

But, pre-show dramatics aside, it was undoubtedly a memorable night at the Kennedy Center, especially for the several understudies who got to do an actual performance - and to perform before a President of the United States, even if it was only Trump.

Walmart Heiress Urges Americans to Protest

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Stop the presses!

One of the Walmart Walton heirs was in the news yesterday for a positive reason.  No, it wasn't a ne'er-do-well grandchild of Sam, nor even one of those descended from his younger brother, Bud.  The Walton who made the news is the widow of John, one of the children and direct inheritors of Walmart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Miss Helen.

Sam and Helen's four children were Rob (Samuel Robson Walton), John, Jim, and Alice.  John, a veteran who served as a medic in Vietnam, was the family adventurer.   He was killed in 2005 in the crash of an ultralight aircraft that he had designed and built.  His widow, Christy, was recognized by Forbes Magazine for several years after that as the richest woman in America, a distinction she no longer holds.   Lukas Walton, her and John's son and only child, is currently recognized as the richest person in Illinois.   Unlike most of the Walton family, Lukas is a donor to Democratic candidates and causes - and his mother, Christy, is apparently also on the left side of the political spectrum.

Yesterday Christy Walton made political waves when she paid for a full-page ad in the New York Times supporting the "No Kings" movement that encouraged Americans to turn out and protest during the Trump military birthday parade on Saturday as a means of rejecting authoritarianism.   Her ad linked to a site listing 1,500 protest locations across the United States.

Many MAGA Walmart shoppers and most of the White House staff were not amused by Christy's betrayal of wealth and status in  America, and a goodly number are calling for a boycott of the world's largest retailer as a punishment for Ms. Walton being so audacious in exercising her First Amendment right to free speech.   How dare she!  Boycott Walmart - that'll learn her!

(Executives with the Walmart Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, were quick to point out that Christy Walton , who owns over 1.9% of the company, is not on the board of directors and has no role in the management of the stores.  And Pa Rock is quick to point out that none of these goobers are going to actually boycott Walmart anyway - because then where would they go to socialize?  Spare me your sanctimony!) 

But, boycott to your heart's content - I double-dog dare you.  Let me know when you reach your one-week mark, and I'll show you my thirty-year pin!

Posers!

Vietnam's Next Invader (Part 2)

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Trump Organization's business invasion of Vietnam, which I described as a 2,000-acre golf resort and club on the Red River just outsside of Hanoi. In the days following that posting, I learned that the Trump family investment is far more extensive and complex than just a golf course for rich travelers and Vietnamese government officials.

First of all, the expanse of prime real estate on the Red River will contain three golf courses, not just one, and undoubtedly all the accommodations, shops, eateries, and services necessary to pamper the elite guests and fleece them of their cash - and certainly the Trump Organization, being a "for-profit" concern, will get a nice piece of everything.

That will be in what we used to refer to as "North" Vietnam, but the Trumps have not neglected the old "South" Vietnam in their quest to monetize the patriarch's influence around the globe.  The major city in the south is Ho Chi Minh City, which was formerly called "Saigon"when it was occupied by first the French and then the US forces.  Today it is a bustling and sprawling urban complex that is home to probably a billion or more motor scooters - all of which are referred to collectively as "Hondas."   

(I saw entire families of five or six members riding piled on a single motor bike on numerous occasions while I was trying to cross the wide and very busy streets, and once I was in a car on a highway in the country when we passed two young men on one of the "Hondas" will a full grown water buffalo strapped across the seat between them.  The men. smiled and waved as we passed, but the water buffalo did not.  It was taking a dump.)

And speaking of dumps,

The Trump family organization also has something special planned for Ho Chi Minh City (which most of the locals and the tourists still refer to as "Saigon").    There they plan on building, you guessed it,  a Trump Tower!

Oh the power, and the glory, and the iron-fisted majesty of it all!  Donald grows his fame and portfolio, and the government of Vietnam purchases influence with an important world leader as well as some stability of the world stage.  It is so much easier and cheaper than war.  

But be vigilant Vietnam.  There is an old American adage that warns "if you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas."  You are about to step into the kennel.   Happy scratching!

Southern Baptists Focus on Other Peoples' Bedrooms

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Southern Baptists, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, are holding their annual convention in Dallas today and tomorrow.  Many of the items that will be presented for action by the delegates appear to be centered on sex and gender.    There will be votes dealing with abortion pills, same-sex marriage, pornography, "willful" childlessness, defunding the church's public policy arm because it hasn't supported bringing criminal charges against women who have abortions, and barring women from leadership positions within the church.

One resolution which will be brought to the floor for a vote says that legislators have "a duty to pass laws that reflect the truth of creation and natural law about marriage, sex, human life, and family."  It also says that legislators should oppose laws that contradict "what God has made plain through nature and scripture."

That leaves a whole bunch of room for cornball state and national legislators to channel the mind of God.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is a Southern Baptist.

It sounds as though the patriarchy is alive and thriving within the Southern Baptist Convention and will be flexing its muscle in Dallas for the next two days.

For those would would like to dialogue with someone who is of the Southern Baptist persuasion, instead of wasting time on the internet, you might try leaning out of your bedroom window and talking to the ones who are there taking notes.   Just don't expect them to be up to speed on matters that might actually be of concern to Christ -  things like feeding the hungry, treating the afflicted, housing the homeless, and opening hearts and homes to migrants and the world's oppressed and dispossessed.  Those things do not interest them nearly as much as that juicy stuff going on in your bedroom!

Missoula, Montana: Rainbow Flag in a Red State

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

On May 13th of this year Republican Governor Greg Gianforte of Montana signed a bill into state law which delineates the types of flags that may be displayed at state buildings, including public schools, and while the bill sounded general in nature, it seemed obvious to some people in Montana that it was primarily aimed at preventing schools and state government agencies from displaying Gay Pride flags.  According to provisions of the new law, the only flags that can be displayed at state government buildings are the US flag, an official flag of the state, other municipality or special district, tribal nations, foreign nations,  as well as certain historical, military, law enforcement, and school or mascot flags.

It would apparently be legal in Montana to display the flag of North Korea at the Department of Motor Vehicles or at a public school, but not a Gay Pride flag.

While Montana may "pride" itself on being a cowboy state, it also has a growing class of individuals who are more open-minded and tolerant of societal shifts than their pioneer grandparents had been, and they are willing, and sometimes eager, to speak up in support of those who are being discriminated against and marginalized.  Missoula, Montana, is one of those places where enlightened Montanans seem to be congregating.

(The four largest employers in the city are the University of Montana, Missoula Public Schools, the major local hospital, and the city's rail system - all enterprises staffed, in large measure, by well-educated individuals.)

Last week the city of Missoula, Montana, took issue with the new state law that limited which flags could be flown at state buildings, and on Monday night the city council passed an ordinance which made the LGBTQ Pride flag an "official" flag of the city of Missoula.

Take that, Governor Gianforte.  You, sir, have been schooled!

Military Shows, Coast-to-Coast

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald John Trump, a man who failed to answer the call of his nation to join its military on multiple occasions when he was a young man,  has now, in his dotage, become an ardent supporter of the United States Armed Forces and will not shy away from deploying the uniformed men and women of the American military (other peoples' children and grandchildren) into any situation where he believes they are needed - even within the borders of the United States.

Trump, who next Saturday will be overseeing a massive military parade in Washington, DC, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Army and Flag Day - and coincidentally his 79th birthday, has become flush with pride for the military in his old age.  Trump wanted a big military parade during his first term, but was thwarted in his efforts by his top generals who were not supportive of the project.  This time around Trump has new generals, and, what some have termed his "vanity" parade, will roll through the streets of Washington, DC, and in the air space above our nation's capital, unimpeded.

Next Saturday is sure to be Trump's most memorable birthday ever.  Yes, the city's largest and busiest airport will be closed and thousands of passengers inconvenienced as they are forced to land and take off elsewhere, and yes, drivers in DC will be inconvenienced for months as work crews rush (?) to repair the damage done to city streets by tanks and large military vehicles and equipment, and yes, estimated costs for the grand show range from $40 million to $90 million - but so what!   The pomp and pageantry, much like that of the May Day parades of the old Soviet Union, will be worth it.  And the money, even if it reaches $100 million, is a mere pittance when measured against our already burgeoning national debt which is in the trillions of dollars.  (Knocking a couple of thousand people off Medicaid would probably pay for the whole thing with enough left over for a presidential weekend of golf!) 

Trump has said that he will be at the parade - you betcha he will - but there is no word yet on whether he will stand and salute the passing troops throughout the show, or instead sit in some ornate golden chair in quiet repose as the parade passes by.

In related news, the Trump administration has nationalized at least a portion of the California National Guard and this morning sent 2,000 of its members into the streets of Los Angeles to quell citizen unrest over local raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  The Department of Defense has also announced that active duty marines at Camp Pendleton are on "high alert" to be ready to join in the effort to quell free speech and public dissent in Los Angeles.  

California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the move to bring National Guard troops into Los Angeles was "purposefully inflammatory" and that it would "escalate tensions."  And regarding the administration's threat to send active duty marines onto the already volatile situation, Newsom tweeted on "X" this morning:

"The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens.   This is deranged behavior."

There is no word yet on whether Trump will personally attend the military show in Los Angeles or not.

Who Was that Masked Man?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Some colleges and universities are restricting the ability of students to wear masks and face coverings during campus protests, but federal law enforcement personnel are under no such mandates.  When ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shows up at your place of employment, mandatory immigration-related court appointment, doctor's office, school, church, or home, they are often carrying big weapons, dressed in full battle-rattle, and masked.

Law enforcement wants the ability to see the faces of protesters and film them for identification purposes, but they do not want the general public to have the same easy access to their own identities.

The standard line that is used to mask the government agents is that it is for their self-protection - to keep their true identities and personal information - such as telephone numbers and home addresses - from being posted on-line.  The reasoning is that if the public knows who they are and how to find them, the agents and their loved ones would be at risk.

Also, wearing masks helps to stem the risk of pesky lawsuits in the unfortunate event that a member of law enforcement overreacts and, say, chokes a person to death with his knee during a routine arrest.

But there is, of course, more to it than that.   Large men coming at you carrying guns and clad in combat clothing and body armor, are scary, but put masks on them and the scene is even more terrifying.  The mask carries the message that the targeted person is about to be removed and nobody will have any idea of who took him, or to where, or even why.  An already marginalized person is about to be erased.

There is something about wearing a mask that gives a person some sense of increased size, dominance, invincibility, invisibility, and anonymity.   They are superheroes (or in some cases, supervillains) out on the streets restoring order and building a world where their type of people can do well.   Their super power is the strength of the state, and it is cloaked in anonymity, much like that of Superman and Batman.

And if there is one thing that a superheroes do not need, it is to come up against someone they are trained to hate who is strengthened by their own cloak of righteousness and anonymity.  Level playing fields are for losers.

Elon and Taco's Big, Beautiful Brawl

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Everyone knew it would end badly sooner or later, but what is happening between former co-presidents Elon Musk and Donald Trump has descended into the crapper much faster and more resoundingly than anyone could have imagined or hoped for.  It is a battle of egos playing out in "tweets" and 'truths" across the bizarre landscape of social media, the place where most Americans now turn for their news and entertainment.

Count me as one who is tuned in for the entertainment.  (Who doesn't love a good snake fight?)  I'm cheering wildly when Elon informs us that the Trump administration won't release the files on pedophile and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein because Trump is mentioned in those files, and I'm loving it when Trump laments, or at least implies, that the world's richest human (and the de facto manager of the US Space Program) may be suffering some mental health issues,  a sad suggestion that might also be read as possible drug issues.

And Tesla stock dropping 14% in a single day!  Why, that's just manna from Heaven!

The knives are out, the blood is flowing, and the corn is popping!  (I've munched enough popcorn in the last two days to stuff a couch - a big one!).  And the pettiness is spreading faster than late-stage cancer.  Yesterday Musk un-followed senior Trump aide Stephen Miller on Musk's social media platform "X," just days after luring Miller's wife out of government service to work for him.  Former top Trump adviser Steve Bannon is claiming Musk is an "illegal alien" and should be deported immediately.  Bannon is calling for an investigation into Musk's reported drug use and his ties to China.  Bannon is also concerned and making noises about Musk's potential to influence elections in the United States.  (Right.  NOW he's concerned!)

Deport Mr. Moneybags.  Rootin', Tootin', Putin will fix him up with a luxury apartment on a very high floor somewhere in downtown Moscow.  Or maybe he could make camp in one of the Kremlin offices.

Trump seems to be threatening Musk's place at the trough of public money, suggesting that the government could stop its many subsidy payments to Elon.  He is even openly speculating about a government takeover of Musk's SpaceX program.

Musk, for his part, is continuing his assault on Trump's Big Beautiful Tax Cut Bill because it doesn't do enough to limit public spending and will result in much higher deficits, which would erase all the wonderful work that Elon claims to have done during his time with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The very public break-up between Elon and Taco is vile.  It's disgusting, and it's playing out in homes across America like some sort of deranged "Real Housewives" season finale.  It would almost be too embarrassing to watch - if it wasn't so much damned fun!  

Roll in that mud, guys.  We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you.  You betcha, we are!

Tattooed SECDEF Pines for a Warrior Culture

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In a stunning display of macho absurdity on an adolescent level,  former Fox News talker and current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, announced this week that  he had ordered the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, to rename the USNS Harvey Milk.   The Harvey Milk is a "replenishment oiler," a ship which refuels other ships at sea.  It was christened for sea duty in 2016 in honor of gay civil rights activist and San Francisco City Commissioner Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States.   The USNS Harvey Milk is part of the "John Lewis" class of replenishment oilers that are bing named for civil rights icons.

Hegseth made the announcement at the start of Gay Pride month.   He said the military would be stripping the USNS Harvey Milk of its name, and issued a memo saying that the renaming was bieng done so that there is "alignment with President and SECDEF (Secretary of Defense) objectives and SECNAV (Secretary o the Navy) priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture."  

Obviously, if that is their reasoning, then the President, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of the Navy all maintain a belief that a gay man cannot represent the warrior culture.  Harvey Milk was a member of the US Navy during the Korean War, and a diving officer who served aboard a submarine.  Donald Trump had bone spurs and neglected five invitations to serve in the Vietnam War - but who's the warrior?.

It was also revealed this week that the names of three new John Lewis replenishment oilers which have yet to be brought on-line are also in danger of having their prospective names changed.  Those ships were to be named after Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall (the first black person to serve on the high court) and Ruth Bader Ginsberg (a justice with a liberal perspective who served on the court for nearly thirty years) - as well as former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

(During Donald Trump's first term in office he was instrumental in stopping the US Treasury from replacing Andrew Jackson's likeness on the twenty-dollar bill with that of Harriet Tubman.)

If a lot of these name-changes sound as though they may be the result of homophobia, racism, and misogyny, others no doubt see it differently.  Many of them view it as a social realignment where white men are simply retaking their 'rightful" place at the head of the line.

But that, too, will change.  Count on it.

Elon Musk: "A Disgusting Abomination"

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In a shocking and very, very sad development, there appears to be an extreme rift developing right in the heart of MAGA Land.  Former Co-President Elon Musk, whose time of employment by the US government came to a quiet and less-than-glorious end last week, took it upon himself to lob a couple of grenades at Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill to take from the poor and give to the rich, with Elon apparently feeling that the bill does not take enough from the poor and will leave too many of them with the means to survive.

Musk, who donated around a quarter-of-a-billion dollars to return Trump to the White House in the 2024 election, was rewarded by a grateful Trump with an appointment to head a new "Department of Government Efficiency," DOGE, whose primary function was to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in government by crippling or eliminating other government agencies.  Musk blew into DC in January making grandiose boasts about soon eliminating one trillion dollars from the Federal budget, a self-imposed goal on which he failed spectacularly. 

Even though actually cutting the size of government proved to be beyond his abilities, Musk and Trump remained tight friends longer than many Washington-watchers predicted they would.    Just a few weeks ago "High Dollar" Donald was outside on the White House lawn hawking Teslas for his buddy Elon.  Beneath that 'buddies for life" facade, however, things were getting strained.  Elon's businesses were suffering under his prolonged inattention and growing public hostility that was rooted in the presence and personality of Elon Musk, and Trump was growing tired of sharing the limelight with Mr. Moneybags.  So last week the marriage of convenience came to an end when Elon quietly took his leave, and Stephen Miller's wife, and departed government service.

But, alas, the exit of the wolrd's richest man was not all that quiet.  As he marched boldly back into the private sector, Musk chose to reemphasize his relevance by attacking Trump's big, beautiful, tax-cuts-for-the-rich bill that is currently making its way through Congress.   In a statement on "X," a social media platform which Musk owns, he said:

"I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore.   This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.  Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong.  You know it."

Musk is angry because the bill would add to the national deficit.  He says it will add $2.5 trillion to the national debt, the Congressional Budget Office says it will add $2.3 trillion to the debt, and cantankerous Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky says the bill will increase the debt by $5 trillion dollars.  Senator Paul also says that he will vote against the bill in the Senate.

Hey Elon, instead of trying to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class and working poor by cuts in healthcare, food stamps, and government services, why not eliminate tax breaks for the country's wealthiest people, the multi-millionaires and billionaires, the people like you who already have more than they will ever be able to spend, no matter how many children they have?

Get the rich off welfare and have them do their fair share - for a change!  That truly would make America a greater nation.

Need Before Greed: Trickle Down, Then Cut Taxes

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Homelessness is fairly pervasive in America whether we choose to see it or not.  Most Americans don't get too distracted or concerned with the homeless because Fox News has told them that those without housing are basically able-bodied men who choose not to work.  Lock them up and the problem will be solved.  It is also easier to ignore homelessness when it stays out of sight and away from our neighborhoods, but when the homeless start getting underfoot, or in our way, or affecting our property values, then something has to be done.

When the homeless do start getting in the way and becoming a public nuisance, the response is often to attack the symptom rather than the underlying cause.  Communities respond with ordinances that essentially make not having a place to stay at night a crime.   Laws are hurriedly passed to remove encampments, prohibit sleeping in public parks, or on beaches, or on the streets - with the apparent aim to drive those without fixed abodes into other communities - move them on down the road - or what is sometimes referred to in the mental health community as "Greyhound Therapy."

Symptoms be gone, problems be gone - though, of course, the problems have just been shuffled elsewhere.  Addressing the actual problem - that of people having no place to live - would involve more expensive and complicated solutions:  building more affordable housing, adding more shelters and food pantries, mandating minimum wages on which people could actually survive, providing safe and affordable childcare for working parents. offering much more comprehensive mental health screenings and services, training police to deal with homeless people in a compassionate and humane manner, and developing a national conscience that really does care about the least among us.

Giving tax cuts to the wealthiest few while so many try to survive on nothing is counterproductive and immoral.   Combine that with shrinking government services to the poor and disadvantaged, and it borders on being criminal.  

Let the billionaires earn those tax cuts by first investing in training, and jobs, and housing, and services to create an America where everyone can afford to go to work and be productive.  We've been waiting over forty years for the tax incentives to the ultra rich to trickle down and lift everyone's boats, and it just has not happened.  Instead of gifting tax cuts to people who don't need or deserve them, let them earn their tax cuts by investing in their fellow human beings and ultimately in America.  

Need before greed.  Trickle down first, and then we can talk tax cuts!