KCI Airport Evacuated Yesterday, Flights Disrupted

 

by Pa Rock

Infrequent Flyer

I was in town grocery shopping early yesterday afternoon and not checking my phone every two minutes like sad people do - and by the time I got home I found two emails from my youngest son who lives in the Kansas City area.  He seldom emails, so that had my attention.

Tim's first email informed me that he was at his local airport, Kansas City International (KCI), awaiting a flight to New York for several days of work-related (writing) activity in the Big Apple.  The second email, which had arrived thirty or so minutes later, said that he was still at the airport but no longer inside.  The entire place had been evacuated and he was now with hundreds of other stuck travelers standing outside on the tarmacs.  Eventually, a couple of hours after that I got a third email saying that he was finally airborne and headed to NYC.

During the afternoon I sifted through various internet sites collecting what information was available on the situation at the Kansas City airport.  Good, independent news is a rare commodity these days, but I finally focused of coverage from the Associated Press (AP).  That service reported that the evacuation started around 11:15 in the morning when police canine units began arriving in the airport and people were suddenly informed to evacuate the building immediately.  Airports, and that airport in particular, are zoos on their best days, but throw in a complete evacuation and you undoubtedly have enough drama and comic opera to create a television movie of the week, or maybe a whole series!

During the melee, which lasted around three hours, some flights into KCI were diverted to other airports, the planes that were allowed to land had to remain on the tarmacs with their passengers staying on board, and the people who were trying to leave Kansas City stood around on the tarmacs checking their phones and watching YouTube videos.  Eventually, not long after 2:00 p.m., FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the threat had been "reviewed and deemed not to be credible."  But whether the threat was credible to Kash or not, the airport's multi-level parking garage was shuttered for a couple of additional hours.  Local vehicle traffic was also impacted by the situation at the airport.

As of this morning there still appears to be no news regarding what the actual threat entailed or how it was delivered.  Two obvious possibilities spring to mind, at least to my old gray mind.  One is that the threat was engineered by some disgruntled TSA employee who is pissed because he hasn't been paid in weeks (thanks to our useless GOP  Congress), and the other would be a protest of some sort related to the new war in the Middle East, the one the United States helped to initiate.  Either way, the buck should stop on Trump's desk, but it was Sunday and he was undoubtedly out playing golf in Florida or somewhere exotic on our dime.  Trump's flights are never interrupted.

One other item of note, AP used a file photo for their story - a picture of one of the smaller terminals at the old Kansas City airport, the one that was bulldozed a few years ago to make way for the five-story shopping center with runways.  The airport shops probably didn't sell many eight dollar sodas yesterday!

Flying America's friendly skies has long been a nerve-wracking and humiliating experience.   Now, thanks to the ineptitude of the Trump administration, it looks as though this spring and summer will be much worse that usual.  Also, as the price of oil keeps going through the roof thanks to Trump and Bibi's war on Iran, the price of airline tickets will soar higher than the planes themselves.   This would certainly be a good time to renew the national conversation about upgrading the nation's passenger rail service and incorporating high-speed rail across the country like other modern nation have done.

But while we can afford endless war, we cannot afford nice things for the people who live here and pay the taxes, things likes adequate health care, food security, livable and affordable housing, and a national transportation system that would meet the needs of all Americans.

The Other Epstein (was a Sweathog)

 

by Pa Rock

TV Junkie

Today when the name "Epstein" surfaces in the news it is almost always in a negative story about a self-made billionaire who was a rampaging pedophile and pimp with legions of loyal and extremely rich sycophants who were eager to be in his circle of friends and to join in his sexual depravity with underage girls.  That Epstein,  Jeffrey, was a scumbag of the first water - and so were many of his rich and powerful associates.  Today he is dead, and his friends are cockroaches desperately struggling to stay hidden in darkness.

But for those of us of a certain age, the name "Epstein" evokes an earlier image, one of a high school student of Jewish and Hispanic descent in a popular television series back from the late 1970's.   That was about the same time when the yet-to-be notorious Jeffrey Epstein was a physics teacher at the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan, a highly exclusive private institution.  

The television series that featured the other Epstein was a comedy called "Welcome Back, Kotter," a tale about another teacher in New York City, but at a struggling public high school whose students were much less well connected and wealthy as those Jeffrey Epstein was teaching at Dalton.  Kotter's school was a fictional setting called James Buchanan High School in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York.  It was a rough and tumble, poor urban setting, with the central character, Gabe Kotter (played by comedian Gabe Kaplan), having just returned to his old high school as a teacher.  By teaching the young toughs he found there, the new teacher was, in effect, paying for his own misadventures in high school.

Gabe Kaplan, the star of the television series which ran from 1975 through 1979 (95 episodes), was also a creator of the series and he based the school on the Brooklyn high school which he had actually attended, a move which heightened the realism of the show.

In addition to Kaplan, the show had six other main characters:  Marsha Strassman as Kotter's wife, Julie;  John Sylvester White as Mr. Woodman, the principal;  and four male students who were known collectively in the show as "the Sweathogs" and included Ron Palillo (as Arnold Horshack);  Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (as Freddie 'Boom Boom' Washington);  Robert Hegyes (as Juan Epstein); and John Travolta (as Vinnie Barbarino).  Each of the seven main characters (including Gabe Kaplan) appeared in all 95 episodes of the show except for John Travolta whose star was on the rise by the end of the series - and Travolta only appeared in 82 episodes.

Robert Hegyes who portrayed Juan Epstein, the skinny young kid with the big smile who stood beneath an immense Afro, went on to do a few other bits in television, and had one addtional recurring role of note: he played Detective Manny Esposito on the television crime drama, "Cagney and Lacey" for 41 episodes during the mid-to-late 1980's.

Of the Sweathogs, Robert Hegyes and Ron Palillo (Epstein and Horshack) both passed away in 2012,  and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and John Travolta both survive and are each 72-years-old.  Gabe Kaplan is 80 now and also still living.

Robert Hegyes was the first Epstein to garner my attention, and he was certainly a much better human being than the one on whom the world is currently focused.  Juan Epstein was an authentic and gritty public school kid, both on-screen and in real life, while Jeffrey Epstein, a vain, manicured, and evil predator with roots in the very exclusive world of private schools, was at the other end of the social spectrum.

Juan Epstein made the world a happier place;  Jeffrey Epstein defiled it.

The Storm and the Cruise

 

by Pa Rock

Curmudgeon in Spring

I'm taking a break today from writing about Piggy and his poorly planned war, but will undoubtedly return to that distressing and disgusting topic in a day or so.   That blood-soaked tragedy is just too all-pervasive to be ignored for long.  This posting looks at things closer to home.

First, the weather.  

The forecast for the Missouri Ozarks has been for thunderstorms over the past several days, but those did not occur, at least in my patch of the Ozarks, until last night.  The heavy and steady rains hit sometime around midnight, and they were soon joined by thunder and lightning.  The symphony of sound and flashing light continued through the night, and now, at midmorning, the rain is still continuing but without the sound and the fury.

It was absolutely perfect sleeping weather!  This morning the pond is full and so is the large depression down by the road,  Water everywhere with more every minute.  I haven't been to town yet, but this is flooding weather and the creeks are sure to be beyond their banks.   Seasons change according to calendars devised by politicians, but those of us smart enough to sit out on the porch and observe for awhile know that seasons change on their own and calendars be damned.  This morning has the feel of spring, even without the sun showing itself.  In my worldview, spring arrived last night along with the thurnder, lightning, and rain.

Politicians also determine the time of day, and tonight most of us will set our household clocks ahead one hour and begin to readjust our internal clocks as well.

Humanity operated for eons with neither calendars nor clocks, but now that we have them, we feel compelled to keep adjusting them.  What would Henry David Thoreau have tweeted about Daylight Savings Time?

Yesterday while standing in line at one of my town's Casey's convenience stores, I listened to a woman expound to the lady operating the cash register about the vacation where was preparing to take.   In fact, everyone who was in the line waiting to pay got to hear the details of her upcoming cruise.   And it was an interesting tale, almost heart-warming.

The woman, who appeared to be nearing retirement age, was telling her friend, the cashier, that her son had purchased an all-expense paid cruise for her in the Western Caribbean.  We heard the itinerary:  a couple of stops in Mexico, one in Honduras, and one in Belize, as well as some of the amenities that the ship had to offer.  The core of her story, though, was that she had spent the last twenty-five years taking care of other people, and now somebody (her son) was finally doing something for her.  The lady's story got somewhat emotional, and I fully expected to hear applause as she finished,  There was no applause, but most of the customers were smiling as they paid for their items and left.

The moral of that story is that even while the world is unraveling due to the war machinations of two hoary old criminals, here locally a son has done something exeptionally nice for his mother.  While goodness may not manifest itself across the headlines, it still exists, like the flowers of spring, scattered across our local communities.  

Bon voyage, stranger.  Enjoy your adventure!

Grand Potentates are Expensive

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump has no shame when it comes to coveting our money.  A little over a month ago he and his two oldest sons and the "Trump Organization" filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service and the US Treasury Department for $10 billion over an alleged leak of some of his tax returns, a process routinely performed by Presidential candidates, but not by Trump.  He is suing the government that he heads over releasing documents that he should have released himself.  But Donald Trump is not like other political candidates, he is entitled beyond all  expectations.  Things work differently for him.  He is special.

Here is another example:

Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's personal country club in south Florida, has been in the news this week.  There were stories involving the special "Situation Room" or "War Room" that has been installed by taxpayers on the property to allow top secret discussions to be held where the presidential entourage is ensconced most weekends.  Presumably, with Trump being at Mar-a-Lago when the decision was made to go to war with Iran, there were top level discussions and phone calls that demanded the utmost security.  The need for all of the security upgrades is understandable, even to an old progressive like me, but, as happened with Nixon's estate in San Clemente, once the President leaves office, all of those expensive property enhancements and upgrades remain behind.

So in addition to taxpayer-funded trips to his own country club to play golf most weekends, and taxpayer-funded rooms for his security detail and flunkies, all of which goes into the pockets of the Trump family, we, the American taxpayers, are also footing the bill for permanent improvements to the property.  Sweet!

And, bccause club membership at Mar-a-Lago allows much easier access to the President of the United States, Trump has been able to raise the membership "initiation fee" from $100,000 in 2016, to a reported $1 million currently.  Sweeter yet!

But even with a "War Room," Mar-a-Lago is more-or-less a public and private entity that invites a rich clientele from diverse backgrounds as well as a staff of vendors and servants drawn from the local community.  It's not nearly as sealed off as the White House, and when strategists leave the "War Room," they are immediately in the swim with the 500 rich members of the club and their families, as well as all manner of people from the local personal services and mercantile classes.

Keeping secrets at Mar-a-Lago is no doubt far more complicated and expensive than it would be at a large home on a country estate, or a completely secluded retreat like Camp David, for instance.

But we have to do it because Donald Trump is special - and he happens to own a country club that calls him home almost weekly.

Special rules, lawsuits, free property enhancements, fully-funded golf weekends . . . Grand Potentates do not come cheaply.

US Military: Iran War to Hasten Return of Jesus

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The United States and Israel launched their massive assault on Iran just this past Saturday, less than a week ago, and already that war (and it is a "war") has generated more than one hundred complaints from US servicemen and women that commanders are depicting it as an event that will bring about armageddon and the return to earth of Jesus Christ - presumably so the former Prince of Peace can stand with the aggressors and smite the infidels of Mohammad.

It would be hard to get more Christian Nationalist than that.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group that actively seeks to keep religion a matter of personal choice within the military, reports that since the war began it has received 110 reports from thirty bases and installations and across all branches of US military service stating that commanders are describing the war as some sort of "end of times" scenario in which the fighting will speed up Jesus's return.

The military mission, whatever it is, would seem to include infusing the attacks on Iran with a strong element of religious passion. 

There is a wall between church and state, or at least there used to be, and it was there for a reason.   The number of Americans who identify as some sort of Christian has been on a steady decline over the past several years, slipping from roughly three-quarters of the population to now less than two-thirds, and of those who profess Christianity, specific beliefs vary widely.   It is not the government's role nor the military's to impose religion on the American people, nor to use our nation's wealth and resources in pursuit of a religious belief or goal.

If there is an all-powerful deity sitting on a cloud somewhere patiently waiting to come home, let him make his own damned travel arrangements.  If he is reliant on taxpayer dollars and bloodshed, he should just stay where he is because we have plenty of those gods down here already.

Red Rover, Red Rover

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

We are now in Day 5 of Trump and Bibi Netanyahu's war on Iran, with the US body count standing at six with reports of another five to eighteen having been seriously wounded.  One news report this morning disclosed that the entire Iranian Navy has been sunk and that the US and Israel have complete control of the skies over Iran.  All of that winning, yet we are still being told that the war will drag on for weeks - or longer.

In a world now controlled by social media, those opposed to the war are no longer marginalized to peace protests and marches in major cities or on college campuses, and many isolated protestors have begun to feel quite at home painting their rage across the social media landscape.  I saw a post on Blue Sky a day or two ago that was not only funny, but left me with a sense of nostalgia for my days in elementary school back in the 1950's - and especially the best parts of those days - recess!

The posting on Blue Sky was a barb directed at the Trump family, and Barron Trump, the President's youngest son, in particular.  Barron, a college freshman at New York University who lives at home with his highly protective mother, Melania, will be 19 in a couple of weeks, a prime age for service in the military.  The message read, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Barron right over."  Its purpose was to highlight the historic truth that the children of the rich and powerful rarely fight in our nation's wars.   The rich start wars and profit from them, while the poor do the actual fighting and dodge the bullets.

There have been notable exceptions to that.  One of Sam (Walmart) Walton's sons was a medic in Vietnam, one of Joe Biden's served in the Middle East during the Bush Wars, and two of John McCain's sons served in combat, Jimmy as a Marine in Iraq and Douglas as a Navy pilot.   But for the most part, the rich kids sit safely at home nursing their bone spurs and partying.

Members of Donald Trump's family have never served their country in uniform, that is historical fact.  Barron was singled out in that particular Blue Sky post because of his age - being just perfect for military service - but it is his older siblings who have already taken so much from America, who should be spotlighted for their disinclination to serve.  

But the basics remain:  the rich start wars and profit from them while the poor carry the rucksacks and rifles as they trudge through the rain and mud of time eternal.

There was considerable clamor over the Internet about the suggestion of Barron serving his country in uniform, and the White House felt compelled to quickly point out that at 6' 9", Barron is too tall for military service.   It turns out that all of the branches of service have a height limit of 6' 8".   He could probably still get in if he was insistent and his Daddy used his commander-in-chief authority to bend the rules, but let's not hold our breath waiting on something like that to happen.  (The maximum height requirement is to accommodate existing uniforms, gear, and military equipment which was not designed for potential NBA stars - and it is a more respectable deferment reason than "bone spurs.")

War continues, but I don't know whether Red Rover does or not.    Red Rover was a playground game where a large group of kids divided into two smaller groups and each group formed a line with arms linked and stood facing the other.  Then the kids in one line would should to the other line - "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Billie (or Joe, or Susie) right over.  The kid who was singled out had to run at the opposing line and try to crash his (or her) way through a set of linked arms.  If the runner was successful, he (or she) would take the people whose arms he (or she) had gotten through back to his (or her) original line, but if that person was unsuccessful, he (or she) would stay in the line that he (or she) had failed to penetrate.  At least that's how I think we played it at the Noel School.

Ding ding, ding!  That's the bell.  Recess is over!

Drapes, a New Ballroom, and, Oh Yes, War with Iran

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

More than three full days after taking the United States into war with Iran, something he calls an "operation" because he did not get the constitutionally-mandated war declaration from Congress, our draft-dodger-in-chief is now scurrying around trying to come up with reasons for going to war as well as a list of what he hopes to accomplish through this military misadventure, a.k.a. "objectives."

Generally leaders clearly enunciate reasons and objectives BEFORE pumping lives and treasure into an overseas meat grinder, but our leader is just stumbling along rattling his sabres, patting himself on the back, and discussing White House drapes and his new ballroom - and talking about the war when it flits across his mind.  There is nothing quite as reassuring as having a leader with less than a "laser focus" while he conducts war from a golf cart.

He does know that he is putting his FIFA Peace Prize at risk with this vainglorious production of lethal theatre, doesn't he?

Donald, oh Donald, think how much better off you and our country would be if you had actually served in the military and had some inkling of the horrendous mess into which you are dragging us.  Perhaps then you would have put some thought into our reasons for attacking Iran, as well as a list of things we hoped to achieve through our efforts.  

Reasons and objectives are good, Donald, for everyone.  American taxpayers need some accountability as to how their taxes are being spent, and why.  And the parents of those little girls who were crushed beneath falling slabs of concrete when their school was struck by our missiles over the weekend would undoubtedly like to know why their precious children had to lose their lives - and in such a grotesque, painful, and inhumane manner.  Do you have any empathy, Donald, or even know what it is?

Do you even know what day it is?

War Update: 165 Killed at Girls' Elementary School, 91 Injured

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

At least 165 people, many of them young girls, perished yesterday when their school in Minab, Iran, was struck by missiles fired by the invading US and Israeli forces.      Many of the girls were in the school gymnasium practicing team sports when the missiles struck, and they were crushed to death as the school's concrete roof caved in.  The first people to arrive at the scene reported being overwhelmed by smoke and children screaming.

Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and an advocate for girl's education, had this to say regarding the killing of the Iranian girls at their school:

"They were girls who went to school to learn, with hopes and dreams for their future.   Today their lives were brutally cut short.  Justice and accountability must follow.  All states and parties must uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and safeguard schools."

Children have enough to worry about with school shooters and sexual predators.  They should not be targets of war!

Donald Trump, who took the US into war with Iran without a mandate from Congress - as required by the US Constitution - said he  believes the "Iran operations" are likely to last four to five weeks, but that he is prepared to "go far longer."  Notably, Trump declined to go at all when the Vietnam War was raging.

But back to Iran . . .

News reports indicate that at least four American military personnel have been killed during the invasion of Iran, and at least 18 others have been "seriously wounded."  Kuwait mistakenly shot down three US fighter jets, but all six pilots were able to eject safely.  Israel seems to have a focus on targeting Lebanon.  The fires of war appear to be very hot and spreading.

None of the Trumps have been called up to fight - as per usual.   Praise White Jesus!

Sunday Morning Kansas Style

  

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

Rosie and I are in Roeland Park, Kansas, for a weekend of catching up with some of the grandkids.  We drove up yesterday, a beautiful day to be out.  Today the skies are still clear, at least for now, but it is much chillier than yesterday.  The forecast is for possible wintry weather this evening.

The Macys who live here are all still sleeping, but Rosie and I have been up for a couple of hours.   We have gone to the local Casey's and brought home two bags of breakfast.  Now we are waiting for the family who lives here to wake - and for my 18-year-old grandson who lives on the Missouri side of the line to arrive for a visit.  Later today we have some errands to run, and tomorrow morning, if the roads are clear, we will head home.

Trump has us in a war with Iran, one that seems to be spreading across the Middle East.  From the reports I'm hearing, he can't even articulate a reason for going to war, but is fired up about it anyway.    Three US troops have already reported killed and five wounded.    This is definitely a time where some adult leadership would be of value, but instead we are saddled with reality TV bozos, Fox News personalities, and world class kooks.

Update:  the family members are all up and getting around, the 18-year-old grandson is here and seems to be doing fine, and we are about to head out to Winstead's in KC, MO, for lunch.

More from the road later.

UPDATE:  Early Sunday afternoon:  Sleet, lightning, and thunder.  I blame Trump!

Epstein Files: Released and Investigated Selectively

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Two prominent Brits have been arrested over their involvement with the late sex-trafficker of children, Jeffrey Epstein.   Important people.   The former British Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, and King Charles' younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.   None so far have been arrested in the US apparently other than the pedophile ringleader, Epstein himself (an American), and his partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell, a native of France who was raised in Great Britain.

Important people on both sides of the Atlantic are resigning their positions of prominence out of shame and embarrassment over their revealed associations with the international pedophile, but from a governmental point of view, Epstein's crimes are being taken more seriously by British authorities than those in the United States.

Our Republican Congress and Department of Justice seem to have two gears when it comes to the Epstein crimes:  use the records and scandal for political gain when possible by implicating Democrats, and bury any connections between the scandal and Donald John Trump.

The DOJ actively looked for material in the files related to former President, Bill Clinton, undoubtedly as a way of distracting from the current President's long and close association with Epstein.  Clinton and his wife Hillary, both prominent Democratic politicians, were subpoenaed to appear this week before the House Oversight Committee to testify on their involvement with Epstein, although there was apparently nothing in the files implicating Hillary.  The Clinton's did testify, even though their request to testify in public was denied by the House committee.  Hillary, who had no information about Epstein, did prove to be problematic for the committee with her public complaints about Trump NOT being called to testify, highlighting the hypocrisy of the Congressional committee that is so obvious to most of America.

The Clintons have testified, and the door for Congress to subpoena Presidents has been kicked open.  Now, when the Democrats take over Congress next January, who will they subpoena?

The other big Epstein news this week has been the fact that some news sources, including National Public Radio (NPR), have determined while studying evidence logs of the files, that at least fifty-three pages of investigative notes regarding an accusation against Donald Trump were not included in the document release.  The missing pages reportedly relate to an accusation from a woman who claims Trump forced her into a sexual encounter when she was a child of thirteen.  Her claim was supposedly investigated according to entries in the evidence logs, but the notes from those investigations are missing.  Imagine that!  

Does the US Department of Justice work for Americans - and their children - or is it just there to serve one very self-important individual, the one whose face is on the large banner affixed to the front of their building?  The answer is becoming painfully obvious.

We are talking about horrendous crimes against children, and those children deserve justice.  If British royalty can be held to account, then, damnit, ours should also be held to account!   Sleazebag Americans are no better than sleazebag Brits.  Lock 'em up!

Courageous Cubans Struggle for Survival

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A raging economic and humanitarian crisis is enveloping the island nation of Cuba which lies a mere 90 miles south of the United States.   The people of that small country are suffering from high inflation, low tourism, a lack of foreign currency to buy imports, and a US oil embargo.  Food, gas, and other necessities aren't available, and when they are, they are not affordable.

Two good North American neighbors have stepped in to help fill the breach, though their efforts are still woefully short of meeting the needs of the Cuban people.  Two Mexican naval vessels left Veracruz on Tuesday carrying nearly 1,200 tons of food and aid.  They are expected to reach Cuba tomorrow.  And Canada has announced that it is providing an immediate cash donation of $8 million to the World Food Program and UNICEF for humanitarian food assistance to the island nation of Cuba.

The United States, for its part, is working diligently to make matters worse for the Cubans.  The US had placed an energy embargo of the island, and our country is threatening to raise tariffs on countries that break the US embargo.

The US animosity toward Cuba is rooted in the people's revolution of the 1950's which overthrew the authoritarian government of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959.  Many comfortable and wealthy Cubans who fled the island ahead of Castro's victory settled in the United States, particularly south Florida, where they harbored dreams of one day returning to their homes, regaining the properties that they abandoned. and once again being part of the island's ruling class.  Today those original refugees who are still living almost seventy years later, and their descendants, form a hardcore Republican voting block that has an outsized influence on American politics.  That group, which includes US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is putting pressure on the Trump administration to increase the power of the embargo and squeeze the life out of Cuba.

The Trump administration is open about wanting to topple the socialist government of Cuba, presumably to bring back the casinos and crime that made Havana a playground for rich, hedonistic Americans in the years preceding the Revolution, and in much the same style and grandeur as its plans for glitzy seacoast resorts in Gaza.  Neither plan takes into account the real life struggles of the working classes, the people whose toil and sweat would be commandeered to make those gilded spectacles possible.

Cuba and Gaza both need the basics of survival - things like housing, food, fuel, energy, and health care - not casinos and resorts.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago in this space, the Cubans that I have known personally, and they number in the dozens, are kind, caring and helpful.  How sad that our own country can't promote those Christian values.

Stand strong, Cuba, you are not alone.

Viva Cuba libre!

Going Home to Mountain View

 

by Pa Rock

Aging Scribe

Most of us, through necessity, establish several homes during our lifetimes.   We grow up in one, or sometimes more, strike out on our own to begin eperiencing life, move around for marriage, family and work-related reasons, and then, if fortune smiles, find a place that suits our elder selves in which to retire and live out our remaining days.   Each of the places we inhabit on the rush through life imprints itself on who we ultimately become, and, to an extent, each of those locations maintain places in our psyches as our "homes."

One of those places which feels like "home" to me is Mountain View, Missouri, where my wife and I had our first professional jobs in the field of education.  It was 1977, and times for teachers were (and always are) lean.  We signed teaching contracts for $7,200 per annum and were pleased when the school board found funding over the summer before we began work to increase that salary to a hefty $7,600.

We arrived in town and moved into a large, rented house in July shortly before school started in August with two young children in tow, a boy who was ready to start kindergarten and a girl who was two years younger than her brother.  By the time we left six years later we were the parents of a third child, a boy who was born in the local hospital, and we were living in a small home which we had been able to purchase through help from my parents.  We had made many friends while we were there and the community had made an impact on our lives.  It was imprinted on my mind as one of the "homes" that I experienced in life.

Now, almost fifty years later, I have had several homes, with two being overseas, and each of those still lingers as a part of who I am today.  Most of them I have probably seen for the last time, but I did make a trip early this week to Mountain View where I relived several memories.   I drove past both of the houses that once were our homes, the vacant lot where the old church that we attended once stood, up and down the main drag of Front Street, past the dozens of businesses, many of which are in buildings that had been repurposed since the 1970's and '80's, and most of which were coated with more vibrant colors of paint that they had been back in the day.

One of the parks still had the old railroad caboose on display, but I didn't stop and walk through it as I did with the kids multiple times when they were little.  Another of the parks still had the outdoor amphitheatre with bench seating leading down to a performance stage and a sign advertising "Music in the Park" on Saturday evenings just as it had five decades earlier.

I drove by the elementary school where two of our kids began their education and the hospital where the third was born.  Our family physician, a young man who had just begun his medical practice, had his office in the rear of that building.  Now he is a much revered retired doctor who takes occasional groups of volunteers to do free medical clinics in Haiti.

Today I am living back in the same county after being away decades and residing in a variety of places, but I am in twenty-five miles or so south of Mountain View and seldom manage to get up there.  The last time I remember being there was in 2021 when several family members and I drove through and stopped for gas as we headed out on a drive toward the East Coast.  That was a hurried drive through - this time I was in more of a lingering and remembering mode.  

It felt good to be home one more time.

Three Tales from Pete's Pentagon

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Our nation's highly decorated (tattooed) Secretary of Defense, former Fox News entertainer Pete Hegseth, clearly needs to be spending less time primping in his new Green Room and more time working in his office.  What follows are three noteworthy tales that were generated in his political domain just this week.

Pentagon Tale #1:

Pentagon and White House officials are struggling to come up with a plan for spending an additional $500 billion that Trump wants to give our military in the next fiscal year.  A normal budgeting routine would require a federal agency, such as the Pentagon, to come up with a list of needs and wants along with estimated costs, and then put that in a budget request, but the Trump administraation doesn't do "normal."  There ass-backwards approach has the President picking an arbitrary sum, much larger than they have ever received before, and the having the Pentagon come up with a plan for spending it.    

A half-trillion dollars just handed to the Pentagon without so much as even a simple request.  This, at a time when Americans are losing healthcare by the thousands, safety net programs - like school lunches and food stamps - are being cut willy-nilly, the cost of everything, and especially food, is on a steady rise thanks primarily to Trump's insane tariffs which are being paid by American consumers, and masked gestapo on the government payroll are in the streets threatening the safety and security of Americans.  It certainly sounds like a good time to give the military more money than it knows how to spend!

Pentagon Tale #2:

On the evening of January 29th, 2025, just nine days after the Trump administration came back into power, an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airliner over the Potomac River near Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft.  This year, with that particular air disaster as their focus, the United States Senate unanimousuly passed the "Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act, an air safety measure that would require almost all aircraft to use a technology that would transmit that aircraft's location.  Use of that technology would have prevented the mid-air disaster over the Potomac last January.

The ROTOR air safety bill provided exemptions for classified and high level military missions.

The Pentagon initially supported this important air safety regulation, but changed its mind after the bill went to the House.  The House took it up in a process that required a 2/3 majority in order to pass, and despite support from consumer safety groups and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), it still failed by two votes - with Speaker Johnson's entire leadership team voting against the measure.  Part of the Pentagon's logic in pulling its support from the bill was that it would create "significant unresolved budgetary burdens,"  (See Pentagon Tale #1)

The House is rushing to get an alternative bill to the floor, but it is not as widely supported at the original bill which was backed by families of air crash victims, safety advocates, air traffic controllers, pilots, flight attendants, airports, and regional airlines - but not a super majority in the US House of Representatives and the decision-makers at the Pentagon.

Pentagon Tale #3:

The Pentagon is currently in a feud with Anthropic, an artificial intelligence provider that, until recently, was the only AI model to have access to the Pentagon's classified networks.  Anthropic is apparently a company with a social conscience, something that does not fold well into the current administration's military strategies, both at home and abroad.  

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Last month Anthropic stirred concern in the Pentagon when it began asking questions about how its services had been used in Trump's takeover of Venezuela.  The company apparently has safeguards in place to prevent its AI model from being used to target weapons autonomously or to conduct US domestic surveillance.   Pentagon sources are calling such safeguards "Woke AI."

In summary: 

The Pentagon is about to receive more money than it knows how to spend, it has come out in opposition to commonsense air safety reforms, and it wants an AI system with no guardrails and one which will do the total bidding of whoever happens to be at the keyboard - including domestic surveillance!

Our tax dollars in action!

Mike Huckabee: The Soul of Diplomacy

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and governor of Arkansas, seemed to have fallen in over his head last week in an interview with rightwing podcaster Tucker Carlson.  Carlson asked the ambassador, a Trump appointee, about a biblical verse in which God promised Abraham and his descendants land "from the wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates - the land of the Kinites, Kenizzites,  Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.

The formidable patch of real estate, according to Tucker Carlson, would include (in addition to Israel),  Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and big parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.  

Ambassador Huckabee's initial response was that the Jewish state had a "biblical right" to that land.   He agreed that God had given it to Abraham and his descendants, and added:  "It would be fine if they took it all."

The governments of several Middle Eastern countries (primarily US allies) were not amused at the ambassador's careless remarks, and promptly condemned what he had said.   Huckabee, for his part, began backpedaling.  

Perhaps the preacher/diplomat had misread his scripture.

There was absolutely no point in jeopardizing future Trump/Kushner real estate deals in the region over one man's intrepretation of a Bible verse.

Big Ugly Ballroom Seems to be in Limbo

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

When Donald Trump had the East Wing of the White House torn down during the third week of October last year with no warning, reviews, requests for public comment, or authority to do so, he immediately began releasing statements about the ballroom that he intended to have built to replace it.  A poll immediately after that destruction (conducted by the Washington Post, ABC, and Ipsos) found that Americans disapprove of the project by 56% to 28% - or a two-to-one ratio.  That same poll showed 88% of Democrats and 61% of Independents are opposed to the new structure, while 62% of Republicans support it.

Trump released several plans and cost estimates for this monument to himself, and his latest announced estimates are that it will cost $300 million, seat 1,350, and have a footprint of approximately 90.000 square feet.  He says the costs won't be paid by taxpayers but instead will be covered by donations from his supporters (oligarch billionaires who are purchasing his favor).

On December 12, 2025, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit in Federal Court to prevent construction of Trump's new vanity ballroom until proper legal reviews can be completed.  The President, the National Park Service, and the US Department of the Interior have each been named as defendants in the case.

The Trust is arguing that the new structure will violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and that Congress has not authorized the construction.  A decision in the case is expected soon, and whichever side loses is certain to appeal.

One other development:  To no one's surprise, this month the Commission of Fine Arts, a group whose members have all been appointed by Donald Trump, approved the project.  That still does not get them past the pending federal court case.

It will be interesting to see what position the next Democratic nominee for President takes on the future of the ballroom project:  keep it and use it for big parties, keep it and repurpose the structure for the common good, or just bulldoze the sucker down.

Fools and Lapdogs

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The US Supreme Court issued a ruling on Friday saying that Donald Trump does not have the authority to impose tariffs by personal whim.  Under most circumstances that is a power which the Constitution clearly gives to Congress.   The vote was six to three with the dissenters being Kavanaugh, Alito, and, of course, Clarence Thomas.  Three other conservative justices - Chief Justice Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch - joined with the three liberals - Sotomayer, Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson - to uphold the Constitution's mandate.

Trump, for his part, was quick with the name-calling and labeled the justices who opposed him "lapdogs and fools."  He also said they were "disloyal to our nation" and "very unpatriotic and disloyal to the Constitution."  (Piggy's social development got stuck in the "schoolyard bully" phase when he was ten.)

That ruling would have been a perfect opportunity for Trump to pull himself free of the very unpopular tariffs, but the man who can't accept a loss on anything, chose instead to double down and impose new tariffs - 10% on every nation - under the authority of the Trade Act of 1974,  another shaky basis for a President to be able to impose tariffs that will take at least another year in court to justify or throw out.  The following day he raised that new rate to 15 percent.

So attention Walmart shoppers, Trump is still reaching into your pockets despite the US Supreme Court telling him to leave you the hell alone.

Donald Trump realizes that it is actually us, the American people, who pay his tariffs every time we buy imported goods - and almost all goods seem to be imported these days.  Trump knows we are the ones paying -  he is not that stupid.   Revenue already collected from the Trump tariffs is into the billions of dollars, and Treasury Secretary Bessent says it could reach a trillion dollars by this June.  Most of that is money from American pockets and savings accounts, not those of people from other nations or from the pockets of the oligarchs who own and control most of the planet's resources and commerce.  

The US Supreme Court relieved us of that unfair tax burden - and the very same damned day Donald Trump foisted new tariffs on us from by a different act.  Piggy must be fed.  He plans to take $10 billion from our treasury and put it into his pseudo government agency, the Board of Peace, a slush fund that he, and he alone, will control - for life.  He is also talking about plans for suing OUR government for $10 billion because the Treasury Department released some of his tax records - something other politicians who run for President routinely do.  Piggy must be fed.

Piggy is doing very well for himself.  Whatever became of those $2,000 tariff rebates that he promised us?  Perhaps that money will be used to gold plate his new ballroom.

The US Supreme Court in its Friday ruling failed to address what to do about the tariffs which have already been collected from American consumers.  Some companies are preparing lawsuits in order to reclaim the money that they paid into tariffs (most of which was later incorporated into the price of their goods).  Here are three scenarios of how tariff refunds could play out:

1.  The courts could ultimately rule against the idea of refunding the tariffs, and Piggy would keep would keep his ill-gotten loot.   Or,  

2.  The courts could rule that the tariff money must be refunded, and the money would go back to the entities that actually handed it over to the US government in the first place - and many of those companies have already recouped their tariff money through sales to consumers.  The companies would therefore have a big case of "windfall" profits.   Or,  

3.  The corporate giants and oligarchs who own them could figure out a way to make cheerful refunds to their consumers, the people who actually paid the tariffs.   (Don't hold your breath for option number three.)

Maybe it's us, the American public, who are the "fools and lapdogs" to corporate criminals and sleazebag. politicians.  Just sayin' . . . 

Girls Buried Near Epstein Ranch in New Mexico?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump and his so-called "War" Department under the control of Stephen Miller and the highly decorated (tattooed) Secretary of "War" and former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, are making serious noises about going to war with Iran somethime during the next few days.  Trump's primary purpose for risking American lives, squandering taxpayer money, and destabilizing the geopolitics of the Middle East is to draw attention away from the world furor over the Epstein files.

But no matter what distractions and sideshows Trump pumps into the daily news cycles, the Epstein files simply will not disappear.  Somebody, somewhere is always fanning the flames of discontent and rage over the horrors associated with Trump's long-time friend, Jeffrey Epstein.  

This week the former Prince Andrew of Great Britain was arrested for allegedly sharing secrets of state with Jeffrey Epstein, a crime that could result in life in prison for the 66-year-old second son of Queen Elizabeth.  Andrew is the first senior British royal to be arrested in more than four centuries, and even though he has officially lost the title of "Prince," he remains eighth in line to the British throne.  Andrew's arrest stands in stark contrast to the reluctance (refusal) of the United States government to seriously investigate any prominent Americans associated with Epstein, a fact that is not being ignored by the international press.

The voluminous criminal files on Jeffrey Spstein that the US government has collected over the past two decades on Jeffrey Epstein are under the fierce protection of US Attorney General Pam Bondi, another Fox News personality retread.  Even though Congress passed a bill with near unanimity ordering the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files, and even though Donald Trump (reluctantly) siged that bill into law, the Justice Department has been slow to act and quick to obfuscate. Some believe that Ms Bondi, under the direction of the President and his administration, is deliberately impeding the full implementation of the law.

Now, however, the American public may have another opening for access to the Epstein files.

The state of New Mexico is reopening an old investigation into potential crimes that may have occurred at a property owned by Mr. Epstein outside of Santa Fe called the "Zorro Ranch," and to pursue that investigation, New Mexico is requesting "unredacted" files on Jeffery Epstein from the US Justice Department.  The following is from Reuters News Service this past Wednesday, February 18th:

"New Mexico's Department of Justice said on Wednesday that the state was investigating an allegation, which emerged from documents released by the US Department of Justice, that the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ordered the bodies of two foreign girls buried outside of his remote New Mexico ranch."

Authorities in New Mexico have requested an unredacted copy of the 2019 email in which that allegaation was made, but so far the US Department of Justice is sitting on that request.

The New Mexico legislature has launched a comprehensive investigation into accusations that Epstein sexually abused girls and women at his Zorro Ranch in New Mexico.  Numerous requests for unredacted records will be generated by that investigation.

What does Pam Bondi do as states begin demanding copies of the Epstein files for their own investigations - such as New Mexico is now doing?   Does she continue to stonewall and drag her feet, or does she finally do the right thing and obey both the letter and the spirit of the law?

Pam, you are already under the bus.  Quit biting the tires and do your damned job!

Like Sticking Your Hand in a Weed Eater

 

by Pa Rock

Animal Lover

Yesterday was like spring in the Ozarks.  The temperature was in the seventies, the skies were bright blue, there were breezes and wind gusts, God was in her heaven, and all was right with the world.

I had a doctor's appointment in Mountain Home, Arkansas, fifty miles southwest of my home in southern Missouri.   That appointment gave me an excuse to drive through a beautiful portion of the Ozarks and enjoy the fine day.  

I hadn't been on the road more than fifteen minutes when I came across three chickens, two black hens and a black rooster, scratching for bugs near the road.  That got me to thinking about the various poultry that I have had at The Roost over the years - and about how much I missed having chickens in my own yard hunting bugs and causing endless commotion.   By the time I reached Mountain Home I had reached a firm decision to get back in the chicken game, and this time I would go with Black Australorps because those I had come across by the road were beautiful.

I stopped at the local feed store on my way home to pick up a chick order form.  The last time I bought chicks, five or six years ago, pullet (girl) chicks were around four dollars each, and cockrells (boy) chicks were two dollars - and that was too damned high!   When I picked up the order form yesterday, I was shocked to see that pullet chicks are now six dollars - all varieties, and cockrells are four dollars.  The hatcheries are awfully proud of their babies.  Somehow or other, those outrageous prices are Trump's fault!

But, outrageous prices or not, it is now twenty-four hours later and I am still intent on getting some baby chicks.  I am also going to get a few guinea chicks, but those are normally only available from local individuals at poultry swap meets.   The swap meets are usually on Saturday mornings - and are always an interesting experience.

Yesterday afternoon I took Rosie to the vet.  He saw her two weeks ago over a cough that had me concerned.   He put her on ten days of antibiotics, and after that the cough had become wheezy and more concerning - so we went back yesterday.  He has now put her on two more pills.  She was already on one for a heart murmur.

Rosie does not like going to the vet.  She begins to tremble when we drive onto his parking lot, and her shakes continue throughout each visit.    That's not unusual.  I've noticed that many pets begin being noisy or acting erratic when they are brought into his office.  Yesterday Rosie displayed her anger toward me for taking her to the vet by swapping humans.  She walked to the far end of the bench on which we were sitting, and sat down next to and older woman who was holding a small dog on her lap.  Rosie sat next to the stranger until we were called in.   Everyone in the waiting room thought that was funny, except Pa Rock, of course.

Rosie's vet is one of the kindest and smartest people I know, and very easy to talk to.   He understands that many family pets are not fond of having thermometers stuck up their butts or being jabbed with needles - and he takes their disdain of him in stride.  I told him about Rosie being mad at me and trading humans in the waiting room, and he thought that was hysterical, even though I was still miffed over the betrayal.

Rosie, who is not a fan of pills, had been taking her daily one mixed into a small glob of peanut butter, but lately she has tired of that, so we talked about other ways to administer pills to small pets.    (Today I tried wrapping it in cheese and that worked well.  Maybe when she tires of that I will go back to peanut butter.) The vet did tell me that giving pills to dogs was infinitely easier than giving them to cats - who have sharp teeth - and claws.  He described trying to give pills to a cat as being "like sticking your hand in a weed eater!"

That brought me back to earth - things can always be worse - and I quit my bitchin' - except about the price of chickens!

The United States Should be a Good Neighbor

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I mentioned in this space a few days ago that I took part in an educational tour to Cuba in 2016, arriving just days after the Obama's left,  It was the experience of a lifetime and one I will never forget, and, if given the opportunity, I would jump at the chance to go back for another visit.  I made friends on that tour, which was sponsored by The Nation magazine, not only among the other travelers who were on the same tour, but also among the many ordinary Cubans with whom I interacted during those several days of learning and exploration.

There were plenty of problematic issues endemic to the island to be sure, but it was not the police state that I had been conditioned over decades to expect.  I got out in the evenings and walked the streets of Havana without fear of the locals or the police, and, in fact, I don't think I saw over a half-dozen uniformed police the entire time i was there.  I did see a few uniformed soldiers also, but not many.  For the most part the people were open, friendly, and as curious about me as I was about them.

The food and drinks were good,  and reasonably priced, and there were hundreds of vintage US automobiles from the 1950's cruising the streets and offering taxi services, so it was easy to get around. 

The most significant problem that I encountered was WiFi reception.   Our group stayed at The Capri hotel, one of the two or three nicest in Havana, and even there WiFi was sketchy to non-existent.  One of the "friends" I made on the island was a young man who worked at the hotel who tried in vain one evening for an hour or so to get me connected to the internet.  I did hear that there was a park in Havana where it was possible to snag free WiFi and most of the young people went there.  The guy who was helping me shared that Cubanos were very resourceful because they had to be.

But that was then, and this is now.  

Today there are severe shortages of food and energy on the island, and the United States is responsible for much of the suffering that is occurring there.  The United States has had a a trade embargo on the island nation since 1960, and it has become the longest-lasting trade embargo in effect anyplace on the globe.  For many years US citizens traveling to Cuba had to fly out of Canada or Mexico, but things loosened up considerably under President Obama, and he, his wife, mother-in-law, and two daughters spent several days there int the spring of 2016. When Trump came into office the following year, he quickly bent to the will of the Cuban immigrant community in south Florida and shut down as much travel to the island as he could.  Most of the Cuban immigrants and their descendants are strong Republicans - with dreams of one day returning to Cuba and taking back the family property that they or their families abandoned during the revolution.

The current economic situation and supply shortages are due to the continuing American embargo, the US takeover of Venezuela which severed Cuba's major source of fuel, triple-digit inflation, and shortages of food and medicine.    The Cubans are in a dire situation and in need of humanitarian aid, something which will not be addressed by the US government of Donald Trump or our Cuban-American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

Cuba is no longer a pariah on the world stage and a few countries are beginning to step into the economic breach with assistance and supplies, chief among them is Mexico.  Last week, our neighbor to the south had its navy deliver 814 tons of relief aid to Cuba, clearly not enough to stem the hunger and suffering of the people, but certainly a start toward that goal.  Mexico also sent assistance and aid to California to deal with its wildfires, and they sent support to Texas during that state's disastrous floods of a couple of years ago.

In 2005, following hurricane Katrina, Cuba offered to send a brigade of 1,586 doctors and 36 tons of medical supplies to the US Gulf Coast to assist with relief efforts, but the Bush administration rejected the offer - again due to concern over offending Cuban Republican voters in Florida.

Mexico is a good neighbor.    Cuba has been a good neighbor to much of the Americas.  The United States of America should also be a good neighbor.  

Buddhist Monks Walk for Peace

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Having spent four years of my adult life living in the Orient, I have more than a passing familiarity with Buddhism.  I have visited in family homes and observed small shrines set up within the homes that pay homage to Buddha and his teachings.  I have also been in several Buddhist temples, or places of worship, and observed adherents in quiet contemplation.   I had many friends who were Buddhists, and I always felt at ease and welcome in their presence.

I also had occasional encounters with Buddhist monks, and always found them to be welcoming as well and often quite engaging.  One of my more memorable encounters with a Buddhist monk was at an orphanage which he was helping to run in Vietnam.  The man was carrying a baby on his shoulder and asked me if I would like to hold the infant, which I did.   While I had the baby pressed up against my shoulder, the monk, who was probably ten or fifteen years younger than me, reached over aand patted my belly and made a reference to me looking like Buddha.  It was funny, and I laughed with the wise-ass holy man.

On October 26th of last year a group of nineteen Theravada Buddhist monks set out from Ft. Worth, Texas, on foot for what would become a 108-day "march for peace" as they slowly made their way south, then east, and then north to Washington, DC, around 2,300 road miles.  Peace walks are a cherished tradition of Theravada Buddhism.  Two members were injured along the way when a truck hit one of their escort vehicles on a road near Houston, Texas.  One of the monks had his leg amputated as a result of that accident, but he was able to rejoin the effort in a wheelchair as the group neared Washington, DC, a couple of months later.   They arrived at their destination last week, on February 10th.  The walking monks had averaged just over 21 miles per day.  

While the weather was at times cold, wet, and generally inclement, the monks, dressed in traditional robes, marched on.  Some photos reveal that they wore a variety of footwear including rugged outdoor shoes, sandals, and what appeared to resemble white, vinyl shower shoes.

The walking monks were accompanied by their rescue dog, Aloka.  They made stops to promote their message of peace along the way at churches and government buildings.  The monks were widely followed on social media during their three months on the road.  Their beautiful gesture drew much attention and admiration.  Thousands of American gathered along the way to stand in quiet reverence and show their support for the monks and their message.

Maybe if we all engaged in long walks for peace, we wouldn't have time for anger and being so bitterly divided.  And maybe if Pa Rock spent more time walking, he woujld't look like the Buddha!

Thank you, venerable sirs, for your sacrifice and service to humanity. You are an inspiration to the world.

The Day Our Family Sang Happy Birthday to Jesse Jackson

 

by Pa Rock

Retired Missouri Teacher

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, an icon of the American civil rights movement, passed away at his home in Chicago earlier today from a malady related to Parkinson's Disease,  He had been in poor health for several years and unable to speak during the last few weeks of his life, a tragic circumstance for one of the great orators of his time.  He was 84 at the time of his death.

Jesse Jackson was born to an unwed mother in South Carolina on October 8, 1941, and went on to become a football star at his segregated high school, and a college graduate.   By the time he reached his early twenties he was working as a close aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and was standing just a few feet away from the great man when he was gunned down in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in 1968.  Jackson went on to be a leader in the civil rights and peace movement, and he twice ran for the Democratic nomination or President of the United States in the 1980's.

My family an I crossed paths with Reverend Jackson one time, and it happened to be on October 8, 1981, a Thursday, on the occasion of his 40th birthday.   He was a keynote speaker with the Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) conference in Springfield, Missouri, an event that was held in the same venue and in conjunction with the larger Missouri State Teachers' Association conference.  Schools across the state closed that Thursday and Friday in order for their teachers to attend the big statewide gathering.  

My wife and I were both Missouri teachers at the time with the Mountain View-Brich Tree R-III School District, and we attended that conference with our three small children in tow:  Nick (aged 8), Molly (4), and Tim (2. - barely!).  I think we only stayed for the morning session, to hear Rev. Jackson's speech, and then went out and had some fun - perhaps heading over to the Springfield Zoo, one of our favorite places.

I remember telling the kids to pay attention at the man speaking because someday he might be President.  It will be interesting to see if any of them:  a. read this blog posting, or b. actually do remember hearing Jesse Jackson speak that day.  But we were there - and were part of the several hundred who sang "Happy Birthday" to him that morning long ago.

Jesse Jackson had a good run at life and will long be remembered as a person of peace and action who did much to improve the lives of the masses, and particularly the voiceless and oppressed.  It was an honor and a privilege just to have been in the same room with him - and especially on the day he turned forty!

Rest in peace, Reverend Jackson, and thank you for your seervice to the world.

Minneapolis Nominated for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Nation magazine, founded by abolitionists just after the close of the Civil War in 1865, is this country's oldest, continually published news magazine, and an unapologetic upholder of progressive ideals.   I am a longtime reader and admirer of The Nation magazine, though I am loathe to admit that I have let my subscription lapse - something that I need fix - perhaps today.

But I have done more than just enjoy the in-depth political articles featured in The Nation, I have also participated in their educational and cultural activities.   In December 0f 2009 I went on a Caribbean cruise with The Nation that was jam-packed with lectures by prominent political commentators and observers.  I had the opportunity to meet and visit with such noteworthy individuals as The Nation's editor and publisher, Katrina vanden Heuvel, acclaimed novelist E.L. Doctorow, and former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean.  Seven years later I again traveled with The Nation, that time on an educational tour to Cuba where I had to opportunity to meet and listen to several Cuban political activists and government officials, attend cultural events, tour a tobacco plantation and cigar-making operation, spend a night with a family in a private home in a small town, and walk the streets of Havana, day and night, at my leisure.

So The Nation and I have a history.

That is why I was so very pleased to learn that The Nation magazine has officially nominated the city of Minneapolis, and its humane and courageous citizens, for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.  When their city came under open assault by the federal government in January, the people stayed relatively calm and observant as they protested their city's occupation by masked invaders who operated under the color of government.  They gathered peacefully when the masked ICE agents put their neighbor's safety and freedom at risk, sang, chanted, observed, blew whistles, and recorded (often with videos) the activities of the invaders.  In the end, after two murders by ICE agents, the federal government began the removal of its forces.  Non-violent resistance clearly won day.  Peace was returning.

The restoration of peace and order by citizens adhering to non-violent tactics is exactly what the world's most pre-eminent peace prize should be about.

Kudos to The Nation magazine for recognizing Minneapolis and its citizens for their exceptionally brave, resolute, and peaceful response to the tyranny of the ICE invasion.   They deserve the honor of the Nobel Peace Prize, and The Nation deserves our thanks for helping to shine a light on a proud city and its patriotic and defiant citizenry!

On to Oslo!

My Granddaughter, the Protester

 

by Pa Rock

Extremely Proud Grandpa

Traces of the 1960's still linger.

This past Thursday I received an email from my youngest son, Tim, who lives with his family in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, telling me that he and Erin's oldest child, Olive, age 14, had been involved in a student walkout at her high school the previous day.  Olive and over four hundred of her fellow students left the school during the final hour of classes and marched down the town's main drag, Johnson Drive, protesting the despicable Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that are taking place across the United States.

The numerous videos of the event that have been posted on-line show the mass of young people with their homemade signs and exuberant spirits taking up a lane of the town's main thorofare and the adjacent sidewalks as they marched several blocks.  Local police showed up to help manage the demonstration and the traffic.  The Kansas City Star described the event thusly:

"Hundreds of Shawnee Mission North High School students participated in a student-led walkout on Wednesday afternoon to protest US Immigration Customs Enforcement.  Students walked along Johnson drive for several blocks, holding handmade signs that bore pro-immigration messages and opposition to the federal agency.

"Police officers blocked traffic and cars honked in support of the students as they walked down the busy street.  Several students walked holding Guatemalan, Cuban, and American flags."

There were also student walkouts at several other schools in that area last week.

Some of the clever signs from the Shawnee Mission North demonstration that I saw posted on the Internet included:  "Morons Are Governing America," "No Decent Human has a Heart Made of ICE," "Stop Pretending Your Racism is Patriotism."   

I spoke with Olive on Friday to tell her how very proud I was of her stance in support immigrants and oppressed peoples.  She told me that most of her school had participated, but that a few students chose to remain at the school, as is their right.  She said she saw one anti-protestor, an angry old man who was yelling at the kids, but overall it seemed to have been a very positive experience.

Olive's decrepit old grandfather, himself a former high school principal, knows that not all education happens in the classroom, and in Shawnee Mission this past Wednesday a big dose of it occurred out in the streets.  Several hundred young people now have a deeper understanding of our current political realities, and they have personally experienced the power of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.  Good work, Shawnee Mission!  Thank you for standing up for true American values!

Salute!

RFK, Jr Sticks his Nose on the Crapper

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In the panoply of horrors inflicted on the United States by the Triump administration, a new one was burnt into the American psyche this week when Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr,  told podcaster Theo Von and his listeners that he had no fear of germs and had, in fact, snorted cocaine off of toilet seats.

(If the US Treasury is looking for more iconic Trump administration images to portray on dollar coins for this summer's celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, they might consder Kennedy putting the moves on a commode.  I would invest in a few of those!)

Kennedy, who was a long-term (14-year) heroin addict in his youth, has been in "recovery" since the early 1980's.    A big part of that process  focuses on admitting post failures and being open about them, so kudos to Bobby for owning up to the mistakes of his troubled youth, and I certainly wish him nothing but continued success in his fight to stay clean and sober.

That said, it would still be good if he would step away from his government position and allow trained and qualified individuals to direct our nation's health programs and agencies.   The effects of a parasitic brainworm and years of hard drug abuse have taken their toll on a man who was essentially unqualified for the job anyway.

Measles are serious, and deadly.  Flu is serious, and deadly.  Covid is serious, and deadly.  And so are dozens of other diseases that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been working for years to eradicate or at least keep under control.  

Bobby, as an American you are free to make your own medical decisions and put what you want into your own body,  but your years of bad choices should not be allowed to inform how the rest of us live our lives and treat our own bodies.    Resign, go home, and eat whatever you damned well please - and don't saddle the rest of us with your crackpot ideas and Facebook gibberish.

You are not a qualified medical or science professional, so please quit acting like you are.  Resign!

Federal Judge Knows Which Way the Wind Blows!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I like judges who know which way the wind blows!

Senator Mark Kelly and five members of Congress released a video in November of last year in which they correctly informed members of the United States military that their oaths were to the US Constitution and not to political leaders, and they made it clear that troops do not have to follow illegal orders, and, in deed, should not do so.  Donald Trump and our tattooed and inexperienced Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, did not agree, loudly, and Trump referred to the act of creating the video as "seditious behavior" and called the members of the US House and Senate who took part in it "traitors."

In early January of this year Hegseth announced plans to censure Senator Kelly and potentially reduce his rank (Navy Commander) and his retirement pay.  Senator Kelly, a former combat pilot and astronaut, was not in the mood to tolerate adolescent abuse from a former Fox News weekend host, and instead took the matter to court.

Yesterday a federal judge blocked Pete Hegseth from punishing Senator Mark Kelly.  US District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the Pentagon "trampled" on Senator Kelly's First Amendment rights.  In his comments on the case, Judge Leon quoted American poet and songwriter (and winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature) Bob Dylan with a line from Dylan's 1965 hit,"Subterranean Homesick Blues."  In referencing the Pentagon's trumped-up case against the senator, Judge Leon took note of the true motive of trying to silence free speech, and said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

Trump and Pete Hegseth have clearly lost it, but Dylan never will!

Now, for a walk down memory lane:

Subterranean Homesick Blues

by Bob Dylan   (1965)

Johnny's in the basement, mixin' up the medicine

I'm on the pavement thinkin' about the government

The man in a trench coat, badge out, laid off

Says he's got a bad cough, wants to get it paid off

Look out kid, it's somethin' you did

God knows when, but you're doin' it again

You better duck down the alleyway, looking for a new friend

The man in the coon-skin cap in a pig pen

Wants eleven dollar bills, you only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot, face full of black soot

Talkin' that the heat put plants in the bed, but

The phone's tapped anyway.  Maggie says that many say

They must bust in early May, orders from the DA

Look out kid, don't matter what you did

Walk on your tip-toes, don't try NoDoz

Better stay away from those that carry around a fire hose

Keep a clean nose, watch the plainclothes

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

Oh, get sick, get well, hang around a inkwell

Hang bail, hard to tell if anything is gonna sell

Try hard, get barred, get back, write braille

Get jailed, jump bail, join the Army if you fail 

Look out, kid, you're gonna get hit

By losers, cheaters, six-time users

Hanging 'round the theaters

Girl by the whirlpool's lookin' for a new fool

Don't follow leaders, and watch the parking meters

So sayeth the Nobel laureate.  How's that for "woke," Pete?  Piggy?