Top Brass from Around the World Score a Free Trip Home

 

by Pa Rock

Taxpayer

The US Department of Defense which now calls itself by its former name, the War Department, has spent millions and millions of our dollars this week to fly several hundred generals and admirals into the Washington, DC, area for what seems to be a pep rally led by former Fox weekend host and current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the ever-rambling Donald Trump..  The meeting is being held at a Marine Corps military base in Quantico, Virginia, thirty-five miles from the nation's capital.

The visiting military leaders had to be flown in from around the globe, fed, housed (and generals don't sleep in barracks!), and chauffeured during their brief trip back to the United States, a considerable expense and undoubtedly a logistical nightmare that left hundreds of other people having to step away from their regular duties in order to make the sudden and mysterious meeting happen.

The meeting is in progress and this blog post is being typed.

The highly tattooed Defense Secretary, Mr. Hegseth, told attendees that he was issuing new directives on physical fitness and grooming standards, and he said that he wants to return to "the highest male standard" for combat positions.  Both he and Trump, who spoke after Hegseth, seemed to repeatedly attack the nebulous concept of "wokeness," and Hegseth specifically targeted the "insane fallacy" that "diversity is our strength."

Trump, who missed the opportunity to serve in the Vietnam War due to "bonespurs," threatened to fire top brass "on the spot" who disagreed with him.

Hegseth commented specifically on issues of shaving and weight.  He seems to prefer his servicemen lean, mean, and clean shaven, including top leaders, and he particularly disparaged service members who are "fat."

Trump went so far as to declare that he was going to get rid of ugly ships.

Trump, who again managed to incorporate the subject of the pending Nobel Peace Prize, something he openly lusts after, into his remarks, also bragged about changing the name of the "Department of Defense" back to its original name of  "War Department," and he prattled on about "Defense" being a woke name.

 

So far there have been no reports of any major new policies or programs or wars being announced, or of any discussions that would warrant the expense and danger of bringing so many military leaders home for a meeting - other than the change of the department's name from "defense" to "war," something neither Hegseth nor Trump have the power to actually do, and that has already been in the news for several weeks anyway.  But just showing all of those military bigwigs who can pull their strings and make them dance into town like puppets may have been the point of the entire exercise.  If they were not "awoke" to that reality before, surely they are now.

Our tax dollars in action!

American Healthcare Heads into the Crapper

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I'm old, and one of the few benefits of being old is that I have the opportunity to visit with several doctors on a regular basis.   I like to take advantage of those visits by not only discussing my various aches and pains, but also the state of the world with people who are well educated.  I was chatting with one of my favorite medical doctors a couple of weeks ago and asked him, very casually, what the next pandemic was going to be like.

The doctor, an extremely bright and competent individual, did not try to sugar coat his response.  "Rock," he said, "It's going to be bad."  Then we talked about the vaccine mess in America and the government moves away from preventive care.  As he lamented the craziness coming out of the Department of Health and Human Services, the man with the stethoscope looked as though he might cry.

America's medical providers are caught in an impossible position with insurance companies on one side limiting the medical procedures they can use and the medicines they can prescribe, and quack politicians on the other setting national health standards and practices based on Facebook posts from kooks.

Last Friday the President of the United States, a man who has no medical or scientific training whatsoever, posted this medical gem on social media:

"Pregnant Women,  DON'T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, DON'T GIVE TYLENOL TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON, BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED), TAKE CHICKEN P SHOT SEPARATELY, TAKE HEPATITIS B SHOT AT 12 YEARS OLD, OR OLDER, AND, IMPORTANTLY, TAKE VACCINE IN 5 SEPARATE MEDICAL VISITS!  President DJT

All of that sage medical advice from a man who is uniquely unqualified to give it - while he and his pocket GOP Congress work tirelessly to take Medicaid and Affordable Care Act medical coverage away from millions of Americans who desperately need that assistance.

The word "shameful" doesn't even begin to describe the ignorance and evil that our nation is witnessing in the vengeful attack on our nation's working poor, and especially the unrelenting assaults on our healthcare - both in cost and quality.

Seek medical advice and treatment from legitimate (licensed and board certified) medical doctors - and tell your Members of Congress and US Senators to leave Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act the hell alone!

Portland, Oregon: One of the Best Cities in America!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

If there is a friendlier, more welcoming, and safer major American city than Portland, Oregon, I have yet to encounter it.  The city is easy to access, easy to traverse, and easy to enjoy.  There are trams (light rail) and buses waiting at the International Airport ready to whisk visitors to hotel accomodations, shopping sites, Pioneer Square, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (with many hands-on activities for children), a world class zoo, theatre venues featuring national entertainers, sports aplenty, and my personal favorite - Powell's Books, an emporium of new and used books and related matter which is multi-storied and covers an entire city block.

I visit family in Salem, Oregon once or twice a year, and I always try to plan at least one day and night in Portland.

Donald Trump began openly disparaging Portland during his first term in office when he turned the national spotlight on the city during public protests over a far-right rally in th city in 2019, and a prolonged series of street demonstrations following killing of George Floyd by a member of the Minneapolis Police Department the following year.  Trump sent federal agents from the Deparment of Homeland Security into Portland without the consent or approval of the governor of Oregon or Portland's mayor, and those agents used crowd control munitions on the protestors, things like rubber bullets, tear gazs, and impact projectiles, all of which aggravated an already bad situation and prolonged the protests.  There were also incidents of federal agents in unmarked vans detaining and arresting people.  Sound familiar?

Fast forward to the present when Trump is again trying to incite violence in Democratic-led American cities as an excuse to bring in federal agents and troops, and it is no surprise that Portland, which hosted major civil unrest during Trump's first term, much of it goaded on by the Trump administration itself, is back in Trump's crosshairs for another incursion.

This month there have been some non-violent and relatively quiet protest gatherings outside of at least one ICE detention center in Portland, something which the hyperbolic Trump spins as "left-sing violence," and Trump is  using that along with five-year-old video footage from the Portland riots of 2020 which right-wing media is mislabeling and running as "current" news coverage, to again target the City of Roses.  

Trump says he is ordering federal troops into "war ravaged" Portland and that they will be authorized to use "full force" if necessary to bring the city under control.  Some see the maneuvers by the administration as an effort to "incite" rather than bring order to the populace - to bring about a citizen revolt so that the government can institute an authoritarian crackdown on the dissent.

The goal is to goad the good people of Portland into an overreaction so the the national government can roll in and quash it - and set an example for the rest of us to learn from.

This was the statement of Portland Mayor. Kevin Wilson regarding the Trump administration's planned incursion into Portland:

"President Trump has directed 'all necessary Troops' to Portland, Oregon.  The number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and in any other American city.   Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the President will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it.  Imagine if the federal government sent hundreds of engineers, or teachers, or outreach workers to Portland, instead of a short, expensive, and fruitless show of force."

United States Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon posted this on social media in response to the current threat against his state's largest city by the Trump administration:

"My message to Donald Trump is this:  We don't need you here.  Stay the hell out of our city."

There is no on-going mass violence in Portland, Oregon, and the federal government is operating far outside of its constitutional authority by going in and trying to destabilize Portland or any other American city.

If it's some good, old-fashioned excitement you crave, Mr. Trump, release the Epstein files!

Big Beautiful Tariffs are Playing Hell with US Soybean Growers

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Soybeans have long been an important export crop for US farmers, and my state, Missouri, ranks 7th nationwide in soybean production and 6th in the number of farms which produce the important export crop.  But this year has been a tough one for soybean producers in the United States, and a major portion of their troubles can be traced directly and quickly back to Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs.  Not only are those arbitrary tariffs raising the price of imports that farmers need, things like fertilizer, machinery parts, and farm equipment, they have also spurred other countries to issue counter tariffs which raise the price of US crops that are sent abroad - and thus hurt US sales.

A huge part of the overall problem for US soybean growers it that the Chinese market for their product has essentially closed.  Last year the Chinese bought a whopping $12.6 billion in US soybeans, but sales this year have been $0.00.  Not a single US soybean has been sold to China since May.  Trump has succeeded in his promise to make America great again - South America!  Brazil and Argentina are selling soybeans to China hand over fist, while North American soybeans sit in warehouses and farmers pray for higher prices..

The fact is that Chinese agricultural importers won't (and can't afford to) buy US soybeans.  When Trump imposed a 34% import tariff on China last April, the government of China fired back with a 25% tariff on US soybeans.  Meanwhile Missouri'ss six GOP members of congress, whose districts include almost all of the farmland in the state, continue to cheer on Trump's big, beautiful spending bill and his tariff program - a program that Congress should be running but chose instead to abdicate to the whims and petty grievances of Donald Trump.

And the soybean growers suffer.  They can sell their crops for literally less than it cost to grow them, which doesn't sound like a smart business practice, or they can store them in warehouses and hope for a miracle, which also sounds like a crapshoot.  But the farmers aren't the only ones who are losing out due to the tariffs.  All manner of people involved in growing, harvesting, trading, marketing, transporting, and shipping the crop as well as others on the periphery of the enterprise suffer from the diminished trade.  

The soybean situation in the United States today is a  big, bad mess,  and it was all avoidable.

Are we winning yet, Donald?

Trust Doctors for Medical Advice - Not Quack Politicians

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There are undoubtedly few sources of medical information and advice that are less reliable than Donald John Trump, a man whose propensity to lie and just make stuff up on the spur of the moment is legendary.  Trump is not bashful in the least when it comes to sharing his thoughts on medicine, and spouting them as if they are based in science and fact.  

The most relevant "fact" is that Donald Trump has no medical education or training whatsoever.  Never forget that he was the President who "suggested" out loud that the government should look into to injecting disinfectants into patients as a possible cure for COVID, and he also promoted the use of an anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, to fight COVID, which studies later showed was actually linked to higher death rates from COVID.  

That was from the last pandemic.  With Trump's equally medically unqualified Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, destabilizing America's vaccine program, the next pandemic could be much more frightening and dangerous than the first one Trump oversaw.

Now Trump and Kennedy have not only turned their attention to vaccines, but Kennedy is also leading Trump into the weeds of quackery with his fringe theories of the rise in cases and causes of autism.  Last Monday Trump announced at the White House that the US Food and Drug Administration is going to be notifying doctors that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy 'can be' associated with "a very increased risk of autism" - despite years of evidence that it is safe.

What has been proven to be unsafe both for mothers as well as the fetuses they are carrying is the prolonged exposure to a high fever, something that is often best treated during pregnancy by Tylenol.  Real studies have shown that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is the only safe  over-the-counter treatment for pain or fever for pregnant people.  Trump told America's women to "tough it out" if they could.

Trump said that autism does not exist in Amish communities or on the island nation of Cuba.  Both of those statements are untrue.

Trump also used his time before the microphone on Monday to promote the breaking up of childhood vaccination schedules into more sessions, and the delaying of Hepatitis B shots for newborn infants - a reversal of years of standard medical practice, again without studies supporting the need for those changes.  In his defense of those changes he said (with no foundation in science or medicine whatsoever):  "Too much liquid, too many different things are going into that baby."  

Trump made no mention of the vaccine regimen that his own children underwent, nor whether their mothers used Tylenol during their pregnancies or not.

During Trump's presentation, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy stood behind him puffed up and looking like an old used car salesman who had just off-loaded the biggest lemon on his lot, which he had.

When it comes to medical advice, trust your doctor - not quack politicians!

Escalator-gate

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump, an elderly man with a history of weight issues, seems to get most of his exercise from driving his golf cart around the various courses which he plays almost every weekend.  He does exit his cart occasionally to swing at a ball, but for the most part he just rides and enjoys the fresh air, sunshine, and hordes of lackeys following in his wake, many of whom are on foot.  At least they are getting some real exercise.

If Trump, the celebrity, ever had to wait outside for his limo to arrive (hardly likely), someone had best have a wide chair and a beach umbrella at the ready!

There was an incident at the United Nations yesterday which put Trump's physical stamina to the test in a very public setting.    Just as he and Melania stepped aboard the "up" escalator, it stopped.  While the American leader stood before the rest of the world looking befuddled, Melania, who was born and grew up in Central Europe, instinctively knew how to handle the situation.  She lifted her foot and began climbing the stairs.  After. she gained a few steps of distance on her husband, he began to follow - clearly unhappy that he has been reduced to climbing stairs like a mere mortal.

Rumors circulated in the right-wing press that the incident was sabotage and UN staffers were heard beforehand laughing about how funny it would be if the escalator stopped and Trump had to exert himself and walk to the next floor.  But UN staff reviewed the situation and declared the stoppage of the machinery had likely been the result of Trump's videographer, who was preceding the First Couple on the escalator,  turning to film down at his subjects and inadvertently stepping a safety switch that stopped the ride.

Trump, perhaps the single greatest victim in the history of the entire world, was furious, and then later when his teleprompter at the UN also went on the fritz, he decided he had been targeted for abuse and declared that investigations and firings should follow.  Later presidential mouthpiece Karoline Leavitt angrily echoed the same sentiments before the press corps.

(It remains unclear why Trump was upset about the teleprompter because he never follows script anyway.)

Park the golf cart, Don.  Walk those eighteen holes, and when you are indoors take the stairs.  Get your steps in - every day - like millions of us other elderly people do - and maybe then you will be able to keep up with Melania - and enjoy better health in the process!

It's either that or Ivermectin.

Kimmel Reigns Victorious!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of my favorite relatives who lives in the Kansas City area told me a few days ago that he and his family had cancelled their "Disney Plus" subscription in response to ABC's taking Jimmy Kimmel off the air because conservative politicians (including the President of the United States) and organizations, including two very large aggregates of affiliates, had pressured them to do so.  (Disney owns ABC.). The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had even spoken publicly about going after the ABC's broadcasting license if they failed to "fix" their problem (ie, to pull Kimmel off the air.)

I thought my relative's protest was a very clever way to make a point, get into Disney's pocket, and save a few dollars in the process.  Unfortunately, I am not a subscriber to Disney Plus or Hulu (also owned by Disney), and could not join in that particular form of protest in support of the First Amendment.  But God Speed to those who could!

The next day I heard radio mouthpiece Howard Stern say that he, too, had cancelled his Disney Plus.

Later in the day I read news stories stating that more than 400 actors and people involved in the entertainment industry had signed an ACLU letter of protest to Disney regarding the company's attack on free speech.  Some of the 400 were reported to have been Disney legends - and the naiton's talent pool is an essential element in almost every aspect of Disney's corporate enterprise.  Whoops!

I also read some articles about the burgeoning numbers of social media posts and tweets condemning Disney and encouraging people to boycott the company.

Taken in its entirety, it sounded as though capitalism might be biting Disney in the butt.

And then, of course, the Disney Corporation, which owns ABC, backed down on Monday and announced that Kimmel would be returning to the air Tuesday night - which he did.  Donald Trump angrilly responded that he was now considering a civil lawsuit against the network and he believes he might get a bigger settlement than the last time he sued the same network.  (Trump's main grievance seems to b that ABC told him that they had "fired" Jimmy Kimmel - that, and he doesn't think Kimmel is funny.

Stuff some cash in the old man's pocket, ABC, and he'll shut up - just like he did before.   Every principle in Trump's quiver has a monetary value and can be had, temporarily, if the payout is right.

But that's all corporate dealing and double-dealing.  As far as real people go, Kimmel reigns victorious, and the forces of greed, censorship, and darkness just sucked a big one!

Welcome back, Jimmy!

American Left

 

by Bob Randall

Guest Blogger

(Editor's Note:  Today "Pa Rock's Ramble" is featuring the fourth and final entry in Ranger Bob's current series of essays on American politics.  This time he is focused on the left end of the political spectrum.  Many thanks to my good friend for taking the time and putting forth the effort to share his views in this forum.  Responses to what he has to day, positive or otherwise, are welcome and encouraged.  Ranger Bob, you are appreciated! - Pa Rock)

What’s the opposite of MAGA?  Put a name to it.  I’m kind of stuck.  Partly because there’s not much of a coalition to try to describe.  I asked my buddy, Arthur Issac (A.I.) and he seemed to ramble.  Jon Stewart of the Daily Show came up with a name but he’s a comedian and honestly, it was pretty dumb and not really descriptive.  I found the question on Quora and on Reddit.  I didn’t find any satisfactory answers. One answer was an attempt at an insult.  Another answer was a complete fumble not worth trying to describe.

If the Left had a leader, it would be much clearer as that person would be acting as the gravity for ideas and we could describe it.  Think of the Left as the asteroid belt. It has a total mass that is big enough to form a planet but not tightly coalesced enough to produce the gravity needed to attract all of the dust and space stuff in its orbital path. It remains the fragmented pieces of the planet it could be. I think that's a good analogue to the American Left.  I like the “asteroid belt of politics” (ABOP).  Nothing has enough gravity to attract the flotsam around it.  ABOP is the acronym I choose.

Not all Republicans are MAGA.  Not all Democrats are ABOP.   MAGA is the ultra-right.   ABOP is the ultra-left.  So, I put them on opposite ends of the political spectrum.  How far apart are they?  I think the political horseshoe where the radicals occupy both ends of a horseshoe-shaped spectrum is appropriate here.  They are closer together than they think.  I think the far right is flirting with fascism.  I think the far left is flirting with their own version of ABOP authoritarianism.  While I generally think of communism as the opposite of fascism, that won’t fit here.  C and F are both forms of government.  The ABOP end of the horseshoe is more anarchic than governmental.  More anger than substance.  I expect disagreement with that assessment.  

DJT likes to call it the Lunatic Left.  I agree with that although I don’t use those words.   There are a lot of lunatics at both ends of the spectrum.  The Lunatic Left and the Lunatic Right could hold hands across the horseshoe divide .

I follow a couple of blogs that have some things in common.  If you were to boil their respective efforts down to syrups, they would taste the same.  But they have no respect for each other.  When talking about each other, one of them uses a lot of ad hominem attacks and improper accusations.  The comments on that blog can get pretty nasty.  The other blog uses more reason and there is an effort by commenters to do the same. One tends to attract ABOP folk.  They’re right and they know it and they can prove it by calling the other people names.

ABOP is a target.  I’m watching the news right now and Stephen Miller, of White House infamy, is vowing to use the Justice Department to go after domestic terrorism.  He’s talking about ABOP people.  Wow!   If he knew about my term for the far left, Miller would have said we’re going after ABOP.

Steve Bannon just called Charlie Kirk a modern-day Christian martyr.  MAGA is trying to link Kirk’s murderer with ABOP.   When Jimmy Kimmel said as much in mirror image, he was removed from the broadcast schedule.  I guess one end of the horseshoe has more gravitational pull than the other.

Some final thoughts about ABOP:

ABOP lives in cancel culture.  You can’t pretend to be for free speech while you cancel others.  I know, MAGA cancels, too, but this is about ABOP.   No what-aboutism allowed.

ABOP lives in Trans Activism.  Most of the US will live and let live.  Find a middle ground and take the wins you can get because you’ll lose if you tell me I’m only a man because I say so.

ABOP took Affirmative Action and turned it into Reverse Discrimination.  Find a compromise.

ABOP said “Defund the police” in a knee jerk reaction, and now it is Republican currency.

ABOP confronts Jewish students on campus as though they were single-handedly responsible for all Middle East problems. In doing so, they have handed DJT the currency of antisemitism.

If ABOP continues I expect it to give the Republicans enough currency to swing the 11% of swing voters to win the next presidential election and may even allow them to keep the House and Senate next year. My math formula is MAGA + Swing = 51% of the vote.

My advice for the clump of rock, dust, and ice that finally accumulates enough flotsam and jetsam to lead:  be picky.  Don't try to accumulate every ABOP idea.  Pick the ones that will get you elected.  My advicce for the rest of you:  don’t marry into the ABOP family.

Tim Macy, Another Year Older

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Papa

My youngest off-spring, Tim Macy, is forty-six years old today.  He was born on a beautiful Sunday morning in Mountain View, Missouri, about twenty miles from where I currently live.  September 23rd of 1979 was the first day of fall, and I remember it as feeling like fall, a beautiful change of season, and a wonderful addition to our family - all happening at once!

Tim and his family currently live in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, a long and boring drive from south-central Missouri, but one Rosie and I try to make as often as we can.  Their house is Rosie's second home.   She has stayed with the Kansas' Macys numerous times while I have been on trips out of the area, and Tim's family, especially his wonderful wife, Erin, always manages to spoil my little companion while I am away.  Rosie loves it there!

Tim and Erin are two of the hardest working people I know, and their children, Olive (13) and Sully (9), put the buzz in busy!

My youngest is a successful screenwriter (something I have mentioned in this space way too many times!) who has had two of his works make into feature-length films that have run on multiple national streaming services.   During his days as a graduate student at the University of Kansas while pursuing a Masters in Fine Arts, several of Tim's plays were produced on the university stages, and one was a finalist in a national competition and was produced at the Kennedy Center In Washington, DC.

Tim's writing has given me many good excuses for travel over the years.  Not only was I at the Kennedy Center to watch his play, "The Attack of the Asians," a few years after that I was sitting proudly in the second row when his first movie, "The Brass Teapot," premiered at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival in Canada.  I was also in Indianapolis several years later when his second movie, "Lost Child" (which was filmed in and around West Plains, MO) premiered at the Heartland Film Festival.  Last year I travelled to Chicago and New York City to see his work performed on stage in those two vibrant, bustling, and exceedingly safe cities - and next spring I hope to make it to the beautiful Maine coast to see more of Tim's work performed on stage.

Does it sound like Pa Rock is shamelessly proud?  Well, it should, because I am!

Happy birthday, Tim, I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Gene Pitney and George Jones

by Pa Rock

Music Fan 

Gene Pitney did not shoot the fictional old west bad man, Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), but he did sing about the man who did (Jimmy Stewart . . . er . . . uh . . . John Wayne).  Pitney, a pop singer from the 1950's and 1960's with a strong and unique tenor voice sang several songs that resonated across the pop music charts both in the United States and Great Britain.  A few of his best remembered hits include "A Town without Pity," "24  Hours from Tulsa," "Only Love Can Break a Heart," and "Hello, Mary Lou" which he wrote for Ricky Nelson.

Having come of age in the 50's and 60's, I have an appreciation for the music of that era with  pop music (it was called 'rock and roll' back then) being my strong suit.   As life pulled me along the road to oblivion, I gradually began being comfortable with country music, too.

Yesterday, as I was sitting in front of the living room window typing away at the computer as I do every damned day of the week, I had a sudden urge to listen to some music, and Gene Pitney's name jumped into my head.  With Gene I would basically be hearing songs that I knew by heart and would not be distracted by trying to follow the lyrics.  I asked Alexa to play some Gene, and she graciously complied.

And for awhile I typed away with "Town Without Pity" and "24 Hours from Tulsa" tripping mindlessly in the background, but then I suddenly realized that my afternoon soundtrack had morphed into honkey-tonk music, a duet by a couple of well-matched, male, country voices.  (Sometimes Alexa will change artists when she gets bored, but it is usually to someone who is very similar to the one to whom I had been listening.)  Oh well, I thought, Alexa must have a blip in her algorithm, but I'm sure it will pass - and it did.  The next song was a Gene Pitney standard from my miserably mundane youth.

But after another song or two, we were back in the honkey-tonk.  Did Alexa have gas?  "Alexa," I asked, growing concerned,"who's singing that?" 

"George Jones," she informed me, "and Gene Pitney."

As the afternoon played out she coughed up several more numbers by the same pair of singers, and by the time I shut down the computer in the late afternoon, I had become a fan of the country duo.  They sound really good together.   This morning I asked Alexa to play Gene Pitney and George Jones, and an hour later she is still pumping them out.  They have an extensive catalogue of music.

Pa Rock may be too old to ever appreciate "Rap," but he has quickly learned to enjoy Gene and George!

Never stop learning - or being open to new experiences.

American Fascism

by Bob Randall

Guest Blogger

(Editor's Note:   This is the third in the current series of guest postings by good friend, Ranger Bob.  It deals with fascism in America and imparts useful knowledge both as to what the word means and how it is used and misused.  As always, Bob strives to deliver a balanced view on the topic.  His final entry in this series is entitled "American Left," and it will run in this space in a couple of days.  Thanks again to the Ranger for sharing his time and thoughts with us. - Pa Rock)

I hear a lot of complaining from the far right that they are being called fascists. They're probably right about that. I know I've certainly thought it and I guess I've said it out loud, too. The word is freely thrown around by leftists as a slur. It's almost gotten to the point where you can't even consider whether it's true or not because it is discarded as trash talk. It is name calling. That’s a shame because the word can be perfectly good if used as a description of behavior. 

Even before this trend. I  had given some thought to what fascism is and whether we are on the edge of sliding into it. My buddy who goes by the initials A.I. says, “Fascism is a far-right, ultranationalist political ideology characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, suppression of opposition, militarism, and the subordination of individual interests to the state or nation.”  That's a quickie definition.  I was surprised that it said nothing about scapegoating to blame others.   So I asked the question in a different way and got this clarification from another guy with the same initials,: “Fascism blames society's complex problems on a specific group, using propaganda to demonize and dehumanize them.”  If you put those two definitions together, it matches my understanding of the word in question.

I don't think everybody who's on the right or maybe I should say who is a supporter of MAGA is a fascist. They're supporting fascist ideas. They just never give it any thought that the outcome will be a form of fascism. I have a buddy out in Colorado whose initials are not A.I. who is strongly right wing. I think he has a red cap. He probably supports what's getting done. For instance, the border is more secure. He doesn’t care how it happens and whether someone gets hurt because of it, like being a refugee who has to go back to a violent country.  He probably likes it when money already earmarked and even distributed is clawed back by the administration. It’s not the President’s job to claw back money designated by law to go for a certain purpose just because he doesn’t like something. It doesn’t matter to my Colorado buddy. He just likes the idea of saving money almost as much as he likes the idea of tweaking someone he doesn’t like because of their politics. Those things by themselves don't make us a fascist Nation. 

What about the president firing people from commissions that are supposed to be independent of politics? We should be able to count on the Supreme Court to slap that stuff down. That hope doesn't seem to be working. Instead they give him the legal cover to violate any law he wants to as long as it’s part of his presidential responsibility. Tariffs are clearly and constitutionally the responsibility of Congress. They should be screaming to high heaven that the president has exceeded his authority. They're not. The Justice Department is supposed to be politically independent. Now there's nothing in the Constitution that says that, but it seems to be a clear article of a republic that their job is not retribution. It is not their responsibility to make sure the President’s agenda is followed. It is their responsibility to make sure the law is followed. 

I don’t need to go into too much more detail in order to show that we're drifting into authoritarianism. I could but it seems to me that if someone supports what's going on there's nothing I could say to push their opinion over the line. I’ll leave it here as I think I’ve covered enough to pronounce it clearly authoritarianism. Let me be fair here by saying that the left does not support political ideologies that are not squarely in agreement with their own either.  So we’re plowing headlong into the authoritarian  portion of fascism. Let’s talk about a twist that I don’t see as terribly important. It’s not exactly a centralized authoritarianism as a lot of decisions have ostensibly been given to the states. Abortion is an example. However, many of the states are in the hip pockets of DJT so it functions in a centralized manner.

Are we nationalistic?  Well I think some of us are. I stand for the national anthem but I don’t feel the need to tell someone else that they have to. The ones who scare me the most are the Christian Nationalists. They strike me as “Jihadists Light”.  Most Christians aren’t radical about nationalism but they will go along with the trend because they don’t give any thought to the result. Either that or they’re afraid their skygod will be judgmental. The Helpfulprofessor whose last name seems to be .com, describes nationalism this way, “It’s generally believed that nationalism is a bad thing because it leads to discrimination and prejudice, whereas patriotism is positive because it represents love of nation without the sense of superiority that nationalists have.” When do we drift into ultra-nationalism? Its difference may be only in the eye of the beholder. So I guess I’m patriotic, not nationalistic. I have to admit that my pride is not as strong now as it has been in the past. 

So let's see, let’s visit militarism. My MAGA buddy in Colorado probably is jubilant that crime has gone down some more in Washington DC and probably LA.  He just doesn't give any thought to the idea about a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, using the military to enforce civilian law.  To my  knowledge the Marines only protected Federal buildings in LA. Nationalizing the National Guard makes them federal troops, too. Just like the Marines they didn't enforce state and local laws, they just picked up trash and asked each other why they were there. So maybe that's not necessarily illegal but it dances right up to the edge of being illegal. It puts us in the position of getting used to having troops on our streets. We're clearly at a point where it won't seem so out of line in the near future for the military to occupy and exert control over cities that the authoritarians don’t like.  It’s a small step from going over that edge. Last week, the US Navy destroyed a boat full of people and whatever was in the boat at the president’s direction. It is not the navy’s job to blow up a boat that was not engaged in warfare against us. It is not our way of enforcing the law. At most, they could have boarded the vessel and turned it over to the Coast Guard for processing and prosecution. I’m convinced it was DJT’s way of intimidating Venezuela which  he doesn’t like. And in Brazil: A.I. (I wonder if his name is Albert) says, “On September 10, 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt threatened Brazil with "military might" if the country followed through with the expected conviction of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Three days later, on September 13, Bolsonaro was convicted of attempting a coup.” Does the military like the idea of presidents being convicted of an attempted coup? The older military leaders who might see a coup as wrong have been replaced with others and I don’t know what they think about it. It’s for sure that DJT doesn’t like the idea of presidents being convicted of an attempted coup so we threatened military might against Brazil.

Subordination of individual rights and interests seems to be in the form of subordination to the rights and interests of the president and whichever of his cronies pledge their loyalty to him. Just today I read that the Supreme Court has given the OK for ICE to use race as a reason to make a traffic stop. Don't brown people have the individual right to be brown? Don’t wear a sombrero while you’re driving to a costume party. It works the other way, too. You may have your rights taken away from you if you’re going against the flow, but you may have extra benefits if you go with that flow. That round table tech boss ass kissing event that took place not long ago will yield positive benefits for the ass kissers at someone else’s detriment. I’m not quite ready to leave the ass kissers alone. One of the unlisted descriptions of Fascism is that it’s not against capitalism. Not so much free capitalism because capitalists aren’t free to operate without kissing the ring of the boss. That’s one of the big differences between Fascism and Communism and that’s probably the reason the far right doesn’t really object to Fascism, they just don’t want to be called Fascists. They deny that the description fits.

Blame Game: Rounding up legal residents, even citizens, who look wrong; threatening to remove Afghan folk who helped us during our 20+ year war over there; sending refugees to some country in central Africa, all of that is just wrong. Blaming violence on the lunatic Left is what-aboutism. There are some loons over there and some are violent but that’s another post. So I now have two important questions: did I use those semi-colons correctly, and do I need to go on?

Take another look at the definition of fascism and answer the question for yourself.  “Fascism is a far-right, ultranationalist political ideology characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, suppression of opposition, militarism, and the subordination of individual interests to the state or nation.” “Fascism blames society's complex problems on a specific group, using propaganda to demonize and dehumanize them.” Are we headed towards the American version of fascism? Is it our destiny? Is it an existential threat to democracy? Maybe. Probably.

Old-Timey Desserts

 

by Pa Rock

Pie Guy and Cake Aficionado

I was perusing a website yesterday that specializes publishing historical tidbits and trivia when I came across an article recounting some once popular American desserts which are seldom enjoyed today.  Being a history major in college as well as old - and hungry - I decided to have a quick read and see if I would be inspired to the point of premature salivation.

Seven desserts from the past were highlighted in the article, three of which were new to me, and four of which I was familiar.  (When it comes to desserts, to tend to lean toward being overly familiar!). The ones that I had never experienced were "Jumbles," sometimes called "Jumballs" which are a type of butter cookie formed into a knot before baking (a Middle Eastern treat that vaguely resembles pretzels), "Carrot Pudding," (I'm a big fan of "Carrot Cake"),  and an intriguing dessert called "Tomato Soup Cake," the recipe for which was the first dessert recipe ever printed on a tomato soup can.

It was, however, the other four, the ones with which  I was familiar, that really pulled my age chain and made me feel old.    One was "Fruitcake".   Really!   Who among us hasn't nibbled  at a rum-soaked fruitcake for several weeks into the New Year?  I order one for myself every holiday season from a local monastery, and usually a few for friends as well.  I used to send my kids one, but they all told me PLEASE not to!

And there were three pies on the list that have also already made my acquaintance.   One was "Mincemeat" which is still a holiday staple in many homes.  There is a restaurant here in West Plains where patrons can order pies for the hoidays, and mincemeat is on their short list.  I used to order "Peanut Butter Pie" there until my son developed an interest im making those himself - and Nick's peanut butter pies are delicious!

Another former old standard pie to appear in yesterday's article was "Shoofly Pie."   I can remember my mother making the molasses-based pie once when I was younger just to show my sister and I was it was.  It reminded me of the filling of a modern pecan pie without the pecans.  I can remember that I liked it, but it may have been hard to make because I think she only did it the one time.  When it came to pies, and my mom was a great pie chef.   Her two standards were "coconut cream," my dad's favorite, and "lemon meringue," which was at the top of my request list.

(My mother also made the most wonderful "spice cake," and oh how I would love to taste it again - just one more time!)

The remaining dessert in the article was "Vinegar Pie," and I saved it for last because there is a story attached to my familiarity with it.  When I was principal of a large, rural junior high and high school complex in the 1980's, our high school home economics teacher taught a pie-baking unit to her students every year, and she always capped that training by inviting faculty members and the principal to her classroom to sample the pies.  Every guest got two or three slices of different varieties.  The teacher had asked me what my favorite was and I told her "lemon," and of the selections which the students placed on my plate, one was lemon, or at least I thought it was, and it was delicious.  It wasn't until after the pies were consumed and the tables cleared that tne instructor, Mrs. Darlene Godsey, told me that my "lemon" pie had ben an old depression era standard called "vinegar" pie, and it was made from apple cider vinegar instead of lemons.  It was wonderful, and I absolutely could not tell the difference!

At least one of the many pounds that I carry around today is the direct result of the pies that Mrs. Godsey's students made!  My mother's spice cake probably accounts for two or three more of the pounds hanging over my belt.

This is old and well worn, but it's true, and it's important:  LIFE IS SHORT,  START WITH DESSERT!

My Ideology Can't Hear Yours

 

by Bob Randall

Guest Blogger

(Editor's Note:  This is the second in a series of posts recently submitted by good friend, Ranger Bob.  In it he discusses his frustrations with the ideological extremes of current American politics.  You can expect a couple more of Ranger Bob's opinion pieces to run in this space within the next few days, and they are always much appreciated by this tired old typist - Pa Rock)

Close to home:  I was on the phone with my cousin.  I mentioned that I had had covid a few months before.  I added that I suspected that my covid vaccination had helped prevent a more serious reaction. He told me that if I had been taking Ivermectin like he does, I wouldn't have gotten covid at all.  I was brutal in my response.  I knew his politics and his tendency towards conspiracy theories.  If he was going to talk about such nonsense, I had nothing more to say to him.  We didn't talk about Ivermectin anymore.  We haven't talked much since then either.  I actually like my cousin but we can't carry on a conversation.

I was watching a comedian in a "Man on the Street" interview.  He was at a conservative street demonstration and asked a woman who had a few Trumpy sayings stitched to her jacket what she thought about politics. She didn't answer the question.  Instead she asked her interviewer if he believed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.  She added something like this:  "cause if you don't, I don't have any reason to talk to you."  We are polarized.  We're so polarized that the enemies aren't just in the other political party, the middle of a party is at odds with the extremes of the same party.  Neither side will even talk to the moderates of their own party or independents on certain issues.

  

I was reading a blog post about a controversial subject.  The poster claimed that his opponents (people with whom he has a lot in common) were promoting debunked data.  He also used adjectives that were testy and made ad hominem attacks.  It was a subject that I try to keep up on and I was familiar with the work of the person he was attacking, so he needed evidence to convince me. As evidence of that debunking, he referred to a paper that disagreed with his opponent. I began a search for the debunking and found it.  I found that that debunking has been debunked by a third unbiased party. I read them both but admit it was highly technical and am not in a position to debunk any of it to a high level of certainty.  He made an argument that appealed to his own and his readers' confirmation bias. The comments section was filled with name calling and labeling.  For the most part, his detractors don''t read his blog so they weren't offended. They were probably too busy on another blog calling the others names.

Quick examples from both directions:

Universities deplatform speakers if they get too much push-back from a few angry student groups. Trump defunds universities that disagree with his agenda (and for spite).

Two freshmen congressmen disrupted a legislative session and led a noisy demonstration inside the legislative chamber.  Agree with them or not; that's out of line.

During a campaign speech, a politician encouraged his followers to rough up some demonstrators.

A senator at a town hall meeting says, "Well, we are all going to die"; then makes light of it by comparing dying with the tooth fairy.

Who cares?  I do.  I'm sick of it.

It is purity politics.  You have to agree completely with whomever you're talking to or you're the enemy.  On one side, the Republican leadership controls its politicians by threatening to primary them. That silences the moderates or old repubs. On the Democratic side, the far left pushes hard for some social justice issues and will respond to moderates of their own party by name calling, inaccurate adjectives, and accusations of alignment with the far right.  There's no conversation going on.  

Purity politics does not make a big tent political party.  It's a fairly solid 40% of the American electorate who support Trump.  All the Democrats have to do is piss off 11% of the remaining electorate to lose again.  All the Republicans have to do is not piss off the 11% of the electorate and they could win again.  It's more about the voters who vote against a party, rather than voters who vote for a party.  How much nose holding do we have when we cast our ballots? 

A recent Emerson College poll revealed that Trump would still win if the vote were held today, but by a smaller margin (this poll did not account for the Electoral College). Many of those who said they would change their vote, said they would vote for a 3rd party or just not vote. Well, that sounds bad for both parties. 

Honestly, I would like to have another choice. I don't necessarily need a third party, I need a third person in the voting mix in the general election. I don't think the multi-party system as in a parliamentary government is a good answer.  However, the primary system we have now gives us two radicals every time. I like the idea of the ranked choice system, but Missouri has already killed that option. It was done by hook and by crook by hiding it in a constitutional amendment. Sorry, I got a little distracted. That's for another post.

Frustrated in the USA.

Divided We Fall

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Congresswoman (and under-appreciated great thinker) Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is back to bellowing about the need for a national divorce.  In a tweet yesterday, or perhaps the day before, Greene points her ever-judgmental finger at a nebulous "they" whom she seems to believe killed a popular conservative media personality at an outdoor speaking event at a college in Utah.  She then decries the "millions on the left" whom she says celebrated the event.  Trump also blames that tragic shooting on "radical leftists," even though a clean-cut young Mormon man who grew up in a gun-drenched, religious, Republican household has stepped forward and admitted to the crime.

MTG, like Trump, never lets facts get in the way.   Here is the meat of her post:

"They assassinated our nice guy who actually talked to them peacefully debating ideas.  Then millions on the left celebrated and made clear they want us all dead.   To be honest, I want a peaceful national divorce.  Our country is too far gone and too far divided, and it's no longer safe for any of us."

Your pronouns wreak of divisiveness, congresswoman - they and them, our and us.  You speak like the spouse who has already mentally checked-out of the marriage.  Your hyperbole of "millions on the left" is such an extreme exaggeration that it undermines your message.

We did the "national divorce" thing over a century and a half ago.  It brought the entire nation to the brink of ruin, and the catastrophic damage inflicted by Americans on Americans took decades to repair. Hatred born of that time still festers today and is nurtured in some of the highest offices in the land.  Divorce didn't work then, and today with so many blue dots in red states and red dots in blue states, a divorce would be a house-by-house, block-by-block catastrophe.  

You are a member of Congress, a power player in the government, and you are in a position to actually do something positive toward fixing the problem you so aptly describe.   Get serious and reach across the aisle.  Grab a pen and a notebook, invite a Democratic congressperson to lunch, and start coming up with some baby steps in the long march to national sanity.

United we could stand for another 250 years - divided we will surely fall  - all of us.

What is Progressive? What is Liberal, Moderate, Conservative, Radical

 

by Bob Randall

Guest Blogger

(Editor' Note:  Good friend, Ranger Bob, is back with another opinion piece for The Ramble.  Bob has been absent - and sorely missed - from this blog for awhile, but yesterday he submitted four essays for publication.   They will run over the next few days.  Today's posting is in response to a piece that I wrote a few weeks back which offered support for Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City.  Bob had replied that Democratic candidates would be wise not to back Mamdani because he would be seen as a radical and drag them down.  In an email back to Bob I noted that Obama had also been seen as a radical and cited some things that he accomplished in his administration.   This piece is a response to that statement.  I believe that we both remain steadfast in our earlier views, but true friendship prevails over political differences.  It's always a treat to be able to share my friend's words of wisdom. - Pa Rock)

I'm to the left of Ted Cruz. If you're reading this on Pa Rock's Ramble (and you are) you have to be left of Ted Cruz, too. I'm to the right of Bernie Sanders. I could be liberal or conservative with those choices. Is a Democrat liberal and a Republican conservative? As a general rule of thumb, yes. If a Democrat supports climate change but generally backs police, is that person a moderate? What if someone owns a firearm or two but supports background checks, gun training, and limited magazines? What if a Republican supports trans-rights including marriage, job protection, housing rights, pronoun preferences, but just doesn't accept that sex is a continuum? So who gets to decide where you are on the political spectrum? The answer is that everybody does that and none of their opinions matter except mine.

Remember, we're not talking about looking back at history as a whole, we're looking back at issues in their respective timelines. Obama Care was not marketed as social medicine by Obama during the 2008 campaign. It's only by looking back from 2025 that one can say that Obama Care was progressive. A quick ask of AI came up with this response: "The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, is generally considered to be a product of liberal policy goals but is arguably not fully progressive in its scope or approach to healthcare reform." Good ol' AI.

During the 2008 campaign, Obama did not propose a Medicare-for-all type of system. According to Commonwealth Fund, Obama's plan "... would encourage the continuing participation of employers in the health insurance system, expand eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and create a new insurance market "exchange"—with consumer protections, choice of public and private health plans, and income-based premium subsidies—that would largely replace the individual market." None of that sounds like socialized medicine and was controversial primarily to big money interests, not so much the voters. The ACA was not an issue during the election. Remember that we're talking about electability. Not Mamdani's electability, but Democrat victories across the board. 
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2008/oct/2008-presidential-candidates-health-reform-proposals-choices

Gay Marriage: NBC News 
"Since stepping on to the national stage in 2004 when he ran for the Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama has shifted his views on whether same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. “My feelings about this are constantly evolving,” Obama said about same-sex marriage in December of 2010.  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/evolution-obamas-stance-gay-marriage-flna763350  Looking back from 2025, Obama wasn't a progressive on that subject, now, was he?

A visit to Cuba? Yes, he did that but not until March of 2016. He had already been elected to his second term, actually it was nearly over. He wasn't elected despite his controversial visit, he was elected prior to that visit. The Cold War ended in 1991, 25ish years before B.O. had a chance to smoke a Cuban cigar. The general public didn't care.

I don't see a clear comparison between Obama and Mamdani. I'll take it a step further. Mamdani is starting off with a very radical progressive agenda. Obama never reached that level of radicality. 

Mamdani will not be the next Obama. He will drag the Dems down.

Evergreen School Shooting Victims Remain Hospitalized

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last Wednesday was another blood-soaked day in the United States of America.   At 12:23 p.m. a prominent rightwing social media influencer was gunned down during an outdoor speaking event at a university in Utah, and exactly one minute later,  at Evergreen High School in the Denver (Colorado) metropolitan area,  a shooting occurred which gravely wounded two students.

In both cases the shooters were young white males whom authorities describe as having been "radicalized."

The shooter in Utah was a 22-year-old man who grew up in a conservative religious family that had a strong affinity toward guns.  He was apparently well-trained in the use of firearms and managed to strike his target in the throat at around two hundred yards with a single shot from a bolt-action rifle.  The state's governor is describing him as having been radicalized, though specifics on how and by whom have not been released - and have only been speculated upon.

The shooter in Colorado was a 16-year-old boy whose social media posts contained white supremacist content and anti-semitic views, some containing photos of people in Nazi uniforms.   He also seemed to have had a fascination with mass shootings.  The Colorado shooter used a revolver which he reloaded multiple times as he was firing randomly both outside and inside of the high school during the lunch hour.  He managed to hit one student outside and one inside.  Both are in serious condition and remain hospitalized six days later.  The young shooter then shot himself and died later that day at a local hospital.

The political shooting in Utah brought a firestorm of outrage from the highest offices in the land along with quick retribution toward anyone who posted or expressed views in any manner that was not effusive in praise of the victim.  Sunday night there was a prayer vigil for the political influencer at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and funeral services are expected to be at the professional football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, next Sunday.

Political shootings in America are too common and have been since the 1960's.  Late this past June a lone gunman in Minnesota entered the homes of two legislators, killing one legislator and her husband and seriously wounding the other legislator and his wife.  Two months later there was a shooting at a Catholic School nearby to where the political shootings had occurred, and two students were killed in that shooting.

School shootings are insanely common in America.

A school shooting database for grades K-12 maintained by researcher David Riedman shows 2,981 school shooting incidents since 1966, with 855 deaths from those shootings.

Those victims are also deserving of a prayer vigil in some venue of national prominence with national leaders in attendance.

Just saying . . .

Burlison's Hellfire Bouncer

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Eric Burlison, the Republican congressman from southwest Missouri (the Branson quadrant), made news this week and secured his fifteen minutes of fame when he released a video of what he says is a Hellfire missile fired from a US MQ-9 Reaper drone at an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) off the coast of Yemen last October 30th.  In the video the powerful missile appears to hit the UFO and then bounce off, leaving the mystery craft free to continue on its course.

Congressman Burlison said that he received the video anonymously and that it arrived as a "dead drop," with no identifying information.  On Tuesday morning he played the mysterious video to the House Oversight and Government Reform Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, and that subcommittee, on which Congressman Burlison serves, chose to release it to the public.

The esteemed members of the HOGRTFDFS include Republicans Anna Paulina Luna (the Chair), Nancy Mace, Tim Burchett, Lauren Boebert, Eric Burlison, Elijah Crane, and Brandon Gill.  The Democratic members include:  Raja Kirshnamoorthi, Summer L. Lee, Dave Min, and Jasmine Crockett.

The United States government has yet to confirm the authenticity of the video.

Is the video real - and has a genuine US government secret actually been exposed, or even declassified?  Does it show what the task force seems to think that it shows?  Is the UFO an interstellar transport or travel device of some sort created and operated by an alien life force, or is it a secret project of our military - or some other nation's military?  

We may never know the details of this particular incident, America, but we do know this:  THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!

Resurrecting the "Red Scare"

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Even though we suffer under a blanket of greed, corruption, ignorance, and racism, there are a few holes in the fabric where the sun shines through.  When Donald Trump, the nation's preeminent spreader of bull manure, encounters one of bright spots of hope and humanity, he immediately tries to plug it with his standard vitriol and name-calling.  One of Trump's favorite "go to" lines, especially for people who seem focused on making the lives of others better, is to call them "communist."

For those of us of a certain age, that line harkens back to the "Red Scare" of the 1950's which was fomented by conservative - and primarily Republican - politicians, with Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin and Senator Richard Nixon of California being perhaps the two best known and sleaziest provocateurs of the era.  It worked for Nixon, and Trump sees no point in messing with success.

Trump called his opponent, Kamala Harris, a "communist" and a "Marxist" during the 2024 presidential campaign, a throwback to the Nixonian style of campaigning, and he also referred to her as "Comrade Kamala" on some of the few occasions when he actually showed the lady the courtesy of pronouncing her name correctly.  Harris proposed "radical" measures to lessen poverty and wealth inequality - things like expanded tax credits for working and middle class families, as well an an increase in corporate taxes.  Trump and his corporate overlords wanted to rain down fire on talk aimed at getting into their pockets.

Kamala also wanted to reduce drug costs, expand Medicare, build more affordable housing and assist people in being able to purchase their first home, legalize abortion rights, expand gun control, and provide pathways to citizenship for immigrants with a work history in this country.  Sound ideas even with Trump bellowing "Communist!" in the background.

Trump has used that old-time political smear on Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who both identify as "Democratic Socialists" and who both promote a political agenda which would move toward equalizing opportunity for people living in the United States.  America's arch-enemy of the 1950's, the Soviet Union (USSR:  Union of Soviet Socialit Republics) even had the word "socialist" in its official name, so sliding the political label "Democratic Socialist" over to the "communist" column was so easy even Trump could do it.  The proposals of Bernie and AOC are focused on making the lives of ordinary people better, something which is not a concern of the privileged hogs at America's trough - and which often works against their greedy self-interests,

Now Trump is involving himself in the race for mayor of New York City and is trying to engineer a defeat of the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, a naturalized American citizen (at the age of seven) who, like Bernie and AOC, also self-identifies as a "Democratic Socialist."   Trump, of course, true to his nature, quickly smeared  the young candidate as a "communist."  Trump is so invested in defeating Mamdani that his administration has reportedly been trying to eliminate two of the three opponents running against him in the November general election by attempting to lure them out of the race with job offers to work in his administration - in the hope that the last remaining opponent, former governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, might be able to defeat Mamdani in a  one-on-one race.

Some of Zohran Mamdani's "radical" proposals that earned him a "communist" badge from Trump include freezing rents, building more affordable housing, city-owned grocery stores, making bus transportation free throughout the city, and no-cost childcare.  He would pay for those "radical" innovations by increasing taxes on corporations and the richest individuals (the one-percent ) - many of whom are in Trump's base - and who have been feeding at the government trough for generations.

Trump is now talking about the possibility of de-naturalizing Zohran Mamdani (revoking his citizenship).  Of course, as noted in this space a few days ago, he is also fantasizing out loud about revoking the citizenship of entertainer Rosie O'Donnell, a person who was born in the United States to parents who were also born in the United States.  If he could pull off that stunt, we would all be subject to the whims of whatever strongman was in power - and shipped off to a prison is South Sudan at the literal wave of a Big Mac.

Three years ago the state of New Mexico, one of the most economically challenged states in the union, began a program of "free childcare" for families in the state whose total income was at or less than four times the official poverty level.  The program, which was financed through an oil and gas windfall to the state, has been hugely successful, allowing more parents to work or pursue an education, and it has reportedly put as much as $12,000 annually back into the pockets of the program's beneficiaries.

This past Monday New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, announced that the free childcare program would be expanded to all families in the state beginning this November.  New Mexico will also be enhancing training for childcare providers, and expanding the availability of childcare centers through low interest loans.  When it comes to actually caring for young children, the people of New Mexico are showing the rest of the nation the way forward.

It's only a matter of time until Donald Trump notices what is going on in the "Land of Enchantment" and offers up his opinion.  It's likely to just be one word.

Ivy League Students Shoot Bear, Bring It Back to Dorm for Processing

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Cornell University of Ithaca, New York, is  one of America's eight "Ivy League" schools where intellectually and financially gifted students go to prepare for their future leadership positions in society.  Cornell is located in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York, a green portion of the state where there is a black bear population large enough to to warrant an annual hunting season.  Any bear may be shot during the season - except for cubs - by persons who purchase a state license to do so.  The current season began one week ago today on September 6th.

That same day, last Saturday, two undergraduate male students at Cornell procured licenses to shoot a bear, grabbed their rifles, and headed out into the woods to play Davy Crockett for a day.

Cornell, which has no official school mascot, does have a long association with bears in their athletic program.  In 1915 a bear cub named "Touchdown" was brought onto the football field, probably to highlight the team's courage and fearsomeness, and live bears were used off-and-on at games for the next few decades until one caused a bit of a fuss when he escaped, and another was the subject of an attempted kidnapping by Harvard.   Today a human in a bear costume wearing a red Cornell team shirt , also named "Touchdown," makes appearances at games - but the school still does not claim him as an "official" mascot.

The fact that a bear is not the school mascot was probably a godsend this week after it was discovered that the two young men who went bear hunting had been successful and killed a 120-pound bear which news reports indicate was probably an adolescent.  Instead of field-dressing their trophy out in the open where they had shot it, the hunters decided to bring the bear corpse back to their dorm and skin and butcher the young bear in the dorm's community kitchen.   As they worked at disassembling the animal, they bagged chunks of fresh meat and stored it in a freezer in the kitchen.

But there's a spoilsport in every dorm, and someone quickly complained about their dorm kitchen being turned into an animal chop shop, and a police report was filed.  A conservation agent showed up to check the bear-hunting licenses, which were in order, and the University called in its lawyers to sift through the student conduct regulations and learned that the school had no rules governing the processing of bears in campus facilities - so no school rules had ben broken.

No laws broken, no school rules transgressed, and no harm done (except to the poor bear and his grieving mother) - just America's children of privilege behaving shamelessly as they simulate sexual climax by killing innocnt animals and creating an endless supply of social media memes.

The kitchen has been closed for cleaning.