Loose Cannon

 

(Editor's note:  Ranger Bob is back with another take on our modern political world.  This time he explains the origins of the term "loose cannon," knowledge he gained through years of work with our National Park Service, and applies that very dangerous reality from years past to the current President of the United States.  Thanks for joining us again and sharing your valuable insights, Ranger Bob! ~ Pa Rock)

Loose Cannon

by Bob Randall

The cannons of the USS Constitution were loaded from the muzzle.  When the guns were to be fired, they were run out through ports so that the muzzle protruded outside of the ship's hull.  The guns were so heavy at nearly 6,500 pounds that the crews used block and tackle rigs to run them forward.  It was not good to stand behind a cannon because, once fired, the recoil of the blast violently pushed the cannon and its carriage back inside the ship.  Then it could be reloaded.  There was also a block and tackle at the breech end to run it back inside if needed.  The gun carriages that supported the tubes were on wheels that didn't swivel.  Under normal circumstances, they only went forward and backward.  They could be slid sideways a little for aiming purposes, if needed.  It was controlled chaos.  If, for whatever reason, the cannon was free from its tethers, it became a loose cannon.  On a pitching deck, it was very chaotic and difficult to impossible to control.  Unchecked, it could destroy anything in its way.   

If ever there was a loose cannon, it's Donald Trump.  He seems to be on a pitching deck of his own making.   MAGA likes that because they either want to see something new built in place of the destruction, they want to clear away the debris for a permanently blank canvas, or they just like jabbing people they don't like in the eye.  They aren't clear on the specifics.  They are useful idiots.  Donald himself is clearing the way for seaside resorts.  He wants access to energy and precious mineral reserves to be exploited by his brand or his friends who will be beholden to him.   Since NATO is not showing proper deference, its dissolution is necessary, probably along with the UN which will be replaced entirely by the Board of Peace and the Shield of America.   He needs to make money because there is never enough, just as he needs to continue his reign which is scheduled to expire in about three years.

The illegal war that's going on which he started isn't really a problem because he will simply declare victory at some point and expect adulation from everyone.  If you don't give him that, you will be the villain in his next Truth post.   If you are in journalism, he will either have a rich patron buy out your parent company or have the head of the FCC threaten your license to broadcast.

But the war is a problem beyond that.  We have not won, and depending on your perspective, we are not winning.  It is not our kind of war where one side surrenders.  The Iranian regime survives.  Many of the people who could rise up and rebel (presumably on our side) are dead.  Donald's timing was a little slow.  The regime is winning because it controls the flow of oil for much of the world, and that affects the price we pay.  That puts pressure on Donald's plans.   He has to survive the midterm elections, so the Iranian regime will just survive and be a thorn in his paw.  Wait.  It's not just a problem for Donald, it's a problem for all of us.

There are things about the war of which, in theory, I approve.   I would welcome regime change, hopefully replaced by a democracy or at least not a theocracy.  Iran is the primary bad boy of the Middle East (Israel is not the subject here,).   I would welcome capture of enriched uranium and destruction of Iran's ability to continue their nuclear program.  Most of their missiles have been spent and I would welcome the prevention of their replacement, drones included here.  I could go on.  There are good things that could come from this war, however, I don't have much encouragement that these things will happen.   Stopping now would be a disaster.  If we just mow the Iranian lawn, it will grow back with more weeds.  Russia and China are watching, and if we show a lack of political will or military might, they will be encouraged.  We will be exposed as a paper tiger.  We shouldn't  keep going, but we can't quit.  Thanks, Donald.  (Bob says sarcastically.)

Worse than any of the above is the precedent that the president can start a war without the approval of Congress.   Well, I guess that problem is within the limits of argument,   Supporters say that he used the War Powers Act to protect us against imminent attack.  That is untrue,  but how blatant does a lie have to be before everyone agrees that it is a lie.   He notified some members of Congress after it started, so that is barely within the procedure, I guess.  So, he has 90 days to play war without congressional approval.  If he wants to continue, will he have the political juice to get approval?   Well, I don't know.  In my opinion, the bigger problem is the precedent that allows the president to start any war, anywhere, anytime.  Where's Congress?  I think the other questions are minor compared to this:  Will America turn back to its traditional Democratic values or accelerate toward authoritarianism?

Governor Sarah has Difficulty Dining Out

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

An evolutionary age ago in American politics, in June of 2018 during the early stages of Trump's first presidential term and back before he was totally insane and out of control, his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was having dinner at the Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, approximately 200 miles from Washington, DC.  When Trump's official mouthpiece and her husband entered the small farm-to-table restaurant  along with six or so other people in their group, she was quickly spotted by the chef who was not happy with the prospect of having to cook for Donald Trump's mouthpiece.

The chef telephoned the restaurant's co-owner to complain about the situation, and she quickly arrived on the scene.  The co-owner told Sanders that her restaurant upheld standards such as "honesty, and compassion, and cooperation," and she asked the press secretary to leave, which she and her husband immediately did.  The other guests in their party, who were already enjoying appetizers, were invited to stay, but they also left.  The appetizers were comped by the management.

I remember laughing about that incident after it made national news, but that was my bad.  Just because Donald Trump is a loudmouthed blowhard who routinely enjoys humiliating people, that does not give us reason to be like him, and in fact, we should always strive to be better than Trump.  Who wants to spend their lives being stuck in the bottom of the humanity barrel?

So now, almost eight full years later, I have a chance to redeem myself over that outburst of bad character back in the day.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former presidential press secretary, is now back in her home state of Arkansas where she is serving in her first term as Governor, as a Republican, of course.  Sarah has not only upped her political status, but she is also eating better as well.  She has moved from greasy fried chicken to  the more ladylike and genteel croissants.  On March 13th the governor and two other "moms"  arrived at Little Rock's "The Croissanterie" restaurant for lunch, along with the governor's state highway patrol security detail.  Some staff and customers were not pleased at having to share their space with the extremist, right-wing governor, and complained to management.  The end result was that the governor and her party were hustled along and everyone's feathers were ruffled.

The restaurant's owners described the incident thusly:

"When Governor Sanders arrived unannounced, staff served her and her party without interruption.

As her security presence became more visible in the dining room, some employees and guests expressed discomfort.  After the party completed their meal, a member of the security detail was quietly asked to help conclude the visit in line with our standard 90-minute table policy.  

The request was not immediately received, and the party remained for an additional period of time before departing without incident once communication was established.

We want to be clear:  there was no disruption in the restaurant.  Claims that an employee made an inappropriate gesture are incorrect - it was a customer and the situation has been addressed.

This was not a decision made lightly.  We chose to prioritize the comfort of our staff and guests while continuing to provide service respectfully and without escalation."

In her recounting of the events, the governor was a tad more snappish:

"Last week I was having lunch at a restaurant with two other moms when the owner approached a member of the State Police Executive Protection Detail and said my presence made their employees feel threatened and told us to leave.  Arkansans are known for their warm hospitality, and while that restaurant certainly doesn't meet that standard, my administration will continue to focus on lifting Arkansans up, not tearing others down with discrimination and hate."

People, use some common sense and display a modicum of courtesy if your meal is disrupted by the appearance of a disgusting politician.  Instead of trying to control that person's meal, control your own.  Stand up, perhaps in a chair, and ask, in a loud and clear voice, for a to-go box, and then take your meal out to a nice park - or eat in your car.

And Sarah, don't let the snobs get you down.  Invest in a nice lunchbox and pack a lunch at home.  Many, many Arkansans do that every day.  If you try to eat in a place specializing in croissants, you are just begging be set upon by people who pretend they have never eaten fried chicken with their hands or enjoyed a tasty fried baloney sandwich.  Stay in your lane, our lane, it serves a better class of people.

We are in a Real Deal, Ugly-Assed War!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yup, there it is folks.   The "excursion" that our Blowhard-in-Chief said we won on day one, is now in its fourth week with no sign of ending anytime soon, and we continue to dig in deeper.   There were already approximately 50,000 US troops situated around the Middle East when Triump and Netanyahu started their mad assault on Iran, with many of them today functioning as targets for Iranian missiles and drones.  Next the Trump administration announced that a couple of thousand Marines were being sent from Okinawa, presumaby to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz so the planet can get its oil supply replenished and the oil companies and Middle Eastern governments can continue to suck in their profits.   That was followed days later by a second announcement that 2,500 more Marines were being shipped in from California - bringing that total to five or six thousand young marines who should have boots on the ground by mid-April.

This morning the Trump administration, which has more leaks than the Titanic, is smugly and unofficially reporting that between 1,000 and 4,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg are packing their rucksacks in preparation for an imminent deployment into the "excursion."  

We are at war, folks.  A real deal, ugly-assed war that is being planned and led by crooked real estate developers, profiteers, grifters, and washed-up former Fox News personalities.   What the hell could possible go wrong?  Those of us of a certain age remember Lyndon Johnson's rapid expansion of a small "exxpeditionary" force in Vietnam back in the 1960's to a meat grinder with more that half-a-million US troops on the ground and ultimate US deaths that numbered over 50,000.   Donald John Trump may have been too busy on the golf course to know much about that war, but millions of Americans and their families remember the horrors of war, vividly.  Walter Cronkite brought the mud and blood of Vietnam into our living rooms each evening and gave us daily body counts.

Now we are back in another one.  The hornet's nest has been kicked, and it will be the hornets who decide when it is over and at what cost.

The Passing of American Patriot Robert Mueller

 

by Pa Rock

Proud American

(Today's posting is somewhat dated, but I didn't want to let the moment slip completely by without giving it some attention in this space - so better late than never.)

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller died at the age of 81 last Friday.    Mueller was a Princeton graduate when he volunteered to serve as a Marine in the Vietnam War where he was wounded and received a Bronze Star (with Valor) and a Purple Heart for his service.  He later was an attorney and career government prosecutor who was appointed head of the FBI  by President George W. Bush in 2001 and had been in office exactly one week when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred.  Mueller served as the FBI director for a full ten-year term and was then asked by President Obama to remain in the post two additional years.  He finally retired after twelve full years of heading the nation's premier law enforcement agency.

Mueller also served as the Special Counsel who was charged with investigating the ties between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential election, as well as events leading to Trump's firing of the next FBI Director James Comey.  Mueller was appointed to lead the investigation by a member of Trump's own Justice Department, and he was a registered Republican, but his appointment and investigation nevertheless enraged Trump, the world's most victimized individual, and he always harbored an anger against Mueller, even though the results of his investigation were obfuscated by Attorney General William Barr and blunted by political machinations in Congress - and wound up being more of an embarrassment to Trump that an actual political liability.

But, long story short, Trump nurtured his grudge and anger at Mueller for the next several years, and when the decorated American war veteran and patriot died last Friday, our extremely petty President, and chronic evader of the Vietnam war draft, Donald John Trump, had this to say:

"Robert Mueller just died.  Good, I'm glad he's dead.  He can no longer hurt innocent people!  President DONALD J. TRURMP"

Those who tout Donald Trump as the ultimate Christian need to do some serious soul-searching.  Decent people don't speak that way about good people who have done so much for so many.  The man they openly worship is disturbed, vile, and disgusting.

Poor, poor Piggy.

Death and Mayhem at LaGuardia

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last week I saw photos of a wide line of people, many with small children and luggage in tow, standing immobile at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport waiting to board flights out of the "Big Easy."  The article with the photo said that the line extended through the main doors and outside into the airport parking garage.  Yesterday evening I saw a similar photo with an identical story on the internet about LaGuardia Airport in New York.

LaGuardia, the nation's 20th busiest airport which serves as a major pipeline for air traffic into and out of New York City, is closed this morning and nobody is going anywhere through its many concourses and gates because very early this morning, well before daylight, an incoming passenger jet from Montreal collided with a firetruck that was crossing the runway on which the big jet was landing.   The crash was severe.  The jet's cockpit was destroyed and the pilot and co-pilot were both killed, two policemen who were riding on the firetruck were seriously injured, and dozens of passengers on the plane were taken to local hospitals with injures, some of them very serious.

The long lines of pissed-off air-travelers and this morning's deadly accident are all the result of the current funding stand-off by officials of our government in Washington, DC.  TSA workers and Air Traffic Controllers have missed their last two paychecks, and many have either quit to take other jobs or are burning up sick leave in order to get by driving for Uber or picking up second jobs and part-time work.

The boondoggle, as this former air passenger understands it, revolves around the government's current refusal to  fund the portion of the Department of Homeland Security which in turn funds TSA and the Air Traffic Controllers.   The other part of DHS, the one that controls Trump's notorious paramilitary ICE forces, has been more than fully funded.   

Democrats in the Senate are refusing to vote for more DHS funding until the masks come off of the ICE goons and the agency begins mandating the use of "judicial" warrants - those issued by actual judges, and not by ICE itself.  Republican senators are declining to make any basic changes in the program.  The Republicans have a majority in the Senate and could pass the legislation that the President is demanding if they would change the Senate rules, which they could do by themselves, and drop the Senate filibuster rule which requires a 60-vote majority on most legislation.  The filibuster gives power to the minority party to block legisaltion, and Republicans know, rightly, that one day they will again be in the minority and need the filibuster.

Trump, for his part, is vowing not to sign any legislation until Congress passes his "Save America" bill, a measure with no connection to Homeland Security funding that will make it more difficult for minorities and married women to vote.

It's a mess and there is plenty of blame to spread into all corners of government.   As of today there does not seem to be much in the way of serious movement to resolve the political impasse.  Trump says he will send ICE agents (who have no training in airport security or airport technical knowledge) into the nations's airports beginning today to help out - so there is that hazard to look out for as well.

Add to all of that swirling mass of airport confusion, both inside of the terminals and parking garages as well as out on the runways, the fact that Trump's unnecessary war in the Middle East is causing the price of jet fuel (and regular gas for autos) to skyrocket, and this might be a very good year to remain home for the summer and enjoy a "stay-cation."

Either that, or take the train.

Maybe if Presidents had to fly commercial, the government would put more care, thought, and money into America's airports and transportation systems.  Just sayin' . . .

My Perfect Day

 

by Pa Rock

Old Fart with a Cane

My sister, Abigail, and her daughter, Tiffany, drove out yesterday from northwest Arkansas to visit, and we spent a very nice day together,  Gail and I chat over the phone when we can, but it had been just over a year since we had last seen each other in person, and it had been several years since I had seen Tiffy.

We met in town for breakfast, and then they came out to the house where we sat and talked for a couple of hours while the guests became acquainted with Rosie and Gypsy.  Both of our girls love company!  Later we drove into town, saw a few of the sights, and wound up at a flea market and yard sale where none of us bought anything.  Last night after a brief respite, we had dinner at a nice local restaurant.

It was a very pleasant day, both the weather and the company, and one I truly appreciated.  I have an upcoming birthday, and the ladies each presented me with a card before leaving last night.  Then, during the night, Tiffy emailed a video that she had found on Facebook of the old Noel School (Noel, Missouri) where I graduated from high school in 1966 and where I was serving as the school's principal (by that time it was a K-8), nineteen years later when the vidoe was made.   I have watched about half of it this morning and will finish viewing it later to day, but what I have seen so far is an emotionally overwhelming experience..

Nicest birthday gift ever!  Love you, Tiff!

The film that Tiffany sent was made by a local citizen for viewing at our first-ever all-Noel School Reunion which was held in the spring of 1985.  After that there were two more reunions at the old school, and then it was bulldozed by a newer, unconnected, and uncaring county school administration, and a newer, plainer, and far more sterile facility was erected in its place.

But the video that Tiffy sent, which I had last seen on the day of the reunion in 1985, brought back a ton of memories.  It included an interview with a much younger me at the time.   (Age 37 - I will be 78 tomorrow, but that is the me I hope my kids will be able to remember - and I know that I need to do some serious work to make that happen.)

My guests were spending the night at a motel here in West Plains and then going on to do some other visiting on their way home today.  They dropped me at my house after dark, and as I was standing on the porch waving them goodbye, the phone in my pocket began ringing.  It was my good friend Carla (Turnbough) Brown of St. Louis.  Carla and I had been close friends in college in Springfield, Missouri - Southwest Missouri State - in the 1960's.  I answered her call just as Gail and Tiffy drove off into the night, and I sat down in a chair on the porch to enjoy the conversation.

Carla and I don't visit as often as we should.  In 2009 we traveled to New York City together and had fun exploring the Big Apple with a group of college students from Kansas, and two years ago we made a similar trip to New York in connection with some theatre work that my son, Tim, was doing there.   Currently we manage a phone conversation every few months.

My friend in the St. Louis area called to tell me about the passing of our former college president, news which I had already heard.  The our conversation drifted into problems associated with aging (she is about a year younger than me), and dealing with adult children.  We talked for over half an hour, and much of what she shared was like a bolt of lightening across my withering brain.  Our talk was my second best birthday gift of the season.

Over the past few years I have had some friction with each of my three adult children and, of late, quite a bit with one in particular.  My friend in St. Louis has had similar experiences.  She told me about a podcast that she had recently come across in which Michelle Obama and her brother talked about difficulties with aging parents - and they described it in terms of the parents, realizing they are slowly dying, are grieving the end of their lives and struggling with giving control of their lives over to others.  Boom!  That was me!  That was Rocky Macy at this exact point in his life.  Puzzle pieces of confusion began falling into place.  It was a Eureka moment!

But Carla, who missed her calling and should have been a social worker, wasn't done there.  After the psychoanalysis and diagnosis, she told me about things she was learning from her amazing physical therapist.  We are both in the process of learning to walk with a cane, and, silly me, I didn't realize that there were right and wrong ways of doing it.  I thought you just picked up a cane and began hobbling along, but Carla's physical therapist is showing her how to use it properly for safety and to physically benefit from the experience.  She was able to pass quite a bit of good information along to me over the phone, and now I am going research the matter on YouTube and see what else I can learn.  I'm inspired and think this cane business could actually improve my quality of life.

Those wonderful visits yesterday and the video of the young me at the Noel School all rolled together and made a perfect day.  There won't be many more birthdays, and I'm at peace with that, but this one is shaping up to be a dandy!

Have a wonderful day.  I'm going to - it will be my second in a row!

Trump Dreams of his Name in Neon Across Havana

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Cuba, an island nation of approximately ten million people which lies just 90 miles south of the southern tip of the United States (Key West, Florida), is suffering economic collapse primarily a a result of an energy embargo imposed by its pious Christian neighbor nation to the north.  The island's energy grid is collapsing and food and medical supplies are rapidly being depleted.  People are sick, and hungry, and scared.

Donald Trump, who represents us in matters of international import, says he believes he will "have the honor of taking over Cuba."   One of Trump's fantasies is that he believes it could be a "friendly" takeover, but he goes on to bellow that it might not be friendly, and given Cuba's current weakened strength, he can basically do anything he wants with the island.

Greenland didn't work out for Donald John, and his war in Iraq is a soul-and-money-sucking quagmire that is spreading the flames of war across the entire Middle East - a total disaster, so he needs to find an easier way to spread his magnificence.  Why not Cuba?

When Castro and his rebel forces ousted Cuban dictator Batista on New Year' Day in 1959, it marked far more than just a  new year for the island that had once been a playground for America's rich and famous.  On that day, January 1, 1959, people stormed the hotels and casinos of Havana and began hauling roulette wheels, poker tables, craps tables, and all manner of gambling paraphernalia into the streets and set it ablaze  It was a new day!

Now Trump is envisioning another new day.  He lusts to bring back the old Havana - luxury hotels, casino's, and undoubtedly golf courses as well.  Havana will become every bit as glittery and glamorous as the new Gaza.  Trump knows people, and he knows what they need - more luxury establishments with his family's name on them.  The Cuban people can once again enjoy sub-minimum wage jobs of cleaning rooms and serving drinks.  Everybody wins - well at leasst the rich - they always win.

Maybe the casinos will have slot machines that take only the new Trump, gold-plated, US dollars!

An aid ship is headed to Cuba from Mexico and should arrive on Monday, and two more are set to sail from the Mexican port of Isla Mujeres next week.  Other countries and organizations are also beginning to muster aid shipments.    Godspeed to them all and to everyone involved in that great humanitarian effort!

I've been to Cuba and walked among its people.  They are good, solid, hard-working individuals who do not deserve to have Trump inflict himself and his gold-plated, superficial values upon them - and we don't deserve that either!

Looking for Balance

(Editor's note:  Ranger Bob is back with a politically-oriented post in which he appeals for moderation and balance in American politics and especially in the next presidential election cycle.  His points are clear and logical, as they always are, and the list of candidates whom he says he could support would also have my support in the 2028 general election.  But until such time as the Democrats and Republicans choose their official nominees, and while I continue to love Ranger Bob like a brother, Pa Rock is staying off-balance and his heart belongs to AOC!  As always, please read and ponder the very sound advice that my good friend has to offer.   Bob and I both welcome your feedback. - Pa Rock)

Looking for Balance

by Bob Randall

I'm probably going to find it difficult to vote for a president at the next presidential election.  I generally don't vote for presidents anyway.   My vote is really a vote against the other canadidates.  Over the years, I have voted against more Democrats than Republicans.  Side note:  that will disappoint Pa Rock but we will still be friends.  January 6 sealed forever the fact that I will never vote Republican again . . . never, ever again.   January 6 is now a noun that describes more than a date. If I have to add a year to that date, you don't get it and should stop reading now.

All that aside, I agree with Repubs on some of the issues, however, I agree with almost none of the tactics that Trump has used.  For instance, I'm glad the other NATO nations are taking a serious look at their defenses and are paying a larger share.  I believe, however, that DJT's tactics have weakened the organization's cohesion.  I don't know if this is his intention or just the result of his narcissism.  He may seriously weaken both NATO and the UN in favor of the Board of Peace.  It started out as the UN's Board of Peace for the management of Palestine, but now it is Donald Trump's BofP.  He controls the money and its membership, as well as the leadership.  It's like a mafia organization and he's the Don, pun intended.

I wrote most of this before the IranGate war started.  This is added:  I'm also glad that the Ayatollah is dead.  However, the way it was done highlights our drift away from Constitutional requirements that hold our republic together.  BTW, I can make a long list of names whose absence would benefit mankind.  I welcome news of their obituarries.

That said, in my opinion, the far left uses tactics to swing the issues to the other extreme, but it's not for power.  It's for ideology.  Their tactics are also motivated by anger, tribalism, and the feeling of superiority.  On the PBS Newshour just before Thanksgiving, Jonathan Capehart and his debater responded to a question about how to keep the peace at the holiday dinner table.  The debater offered that we should listen to what other people have to say, try and understand them, and realize that politics is not what defines us.  I was impressed by that.  Then Jonathan said that they (conservatives at the table) need to listen to him, not the other way around.  His tone of voice was angry.  I was disappointed.

I'll mention a few tactics used by the left that smear the entire Democratic Party.  How about name-calling, deplatforming speakers, disregarding data that doesn't support a social justice agenda, doxing opponents, etc.   Not everyone who has a different opinion about the trans movement is a transphobe, but you can't tell that by the name-calling.  Calling someone a name does not win a debate.  Speakers of different opinions should debate, either face to face, by follow-up lectures, or with editorials.  Neither name-calling nor shouting is debate.  Peaceful demonstrations are acceptable, but they are not debate and they are not acceptable if the aim is to prevent someone else from speaking.  Confronting a Jewish American student on campus without their consent is not a peaceful demonstration.  Reactionary demands do not make an argument.  Defund the police is reactionary.  I agree that more policing should include social workers and that would likely change the budget requirements of policing.  That's different from defunding.  I realize that's not on the Democratic Party's platform,  but chanting it stains the entire left of center agenda and gives Trump talking points.  Trump already uses a broad paint brush, and the far left is giving him the paint.  Do you think it doesn't matter?  A new poll shows that 30% of Demcorats have a negative view of their party.  Does that sound like an acceptable number to you?  Not to me when I consider that in 2025 a Gallup poll showed that 45% of American adults are political independents.  Do Democraats want to win elections, or do they just like feeling superior?

Do I hear you saying,  "But what about . . . "   Nope.  Don't respond to me with whataboutism.   It is a logical fallacy response, not a valid argument.  As far as I'm concerned, the sins of the Republicans are stated, implied, or assumed in this post.  I've already given up on the Repubs.  Recounting more of their sins here only excuses the mistakes of the Dems.   If you just have to list them, that's okay, but it's not the subject here.  Write your own post.  No hostility intended, just keeping on point.

So what would I like from a presidential candidate?  I'll list generalities, even though the Devil is always in the details.  The following is neither comprehensive nor in order of importance:

• Committment to the separation of powers outlined in our Constitution.
• Cancellation of Donald Trump's executive orders and a thoughtful use of future EO's.
• Recognition and commitment to the independence of certain agencies such as the Federal Reserve and the Justice Department, including Inspectors General.
• Along that line, commitment to fighting political corruption.
• Renewal of a commitment to fighting climate change.
• A renewed commitment to the separation of church and state;
• A reasonable balance of equal opportunity with skills and ability. The words that DEI stand for are honorable, but the implementation of them as currently used applauds the reverse discrimination for hirees and cancelation of anyone who doesn't sing its praise loudly.
• A reasonable balance of trans rights.  Penis's do not belong in women's prisons.  Women who call a domestic abuse hotline should not have to talk to a transwoman.  My transgender grandchild married a cisgender spouse.  I'm glad they're happy.  Their marriage does not interfere with anyone else's rights.  That's an example of balance of rights. 
• A commitment to leading the world, not dividing it up with Russia and China.
• An honest commitment to a comprehensive immigration policy.
• A commitment to freedom of speech.  (I can't believe I have to write that.)
• Etc., etc,. etc.

I took a political science course in college.  I hated it.  The class focused on power politics.  That's the only thing I remember about it.  I never dreamed I would see such power politics.  It is now in plain sight.  If Trump succeeds in nationalizing elections, our constitutional federal representative government will be gone.  It will have been replaced by the American version of fascism.  Nobody voted for that.

Maybe my acceptable candidate doesn't exist.  Actually, more than one probably does exist.  It is doubtful that any of them can win the nomination of their party.  Our electoral system may just doom our democracy.   A two-party system with closed primaries has given us extreme ideologues.   Recently Missouri amended its constitution to eliminate any possibility for ranked-choice elections.  Much of the rest of the country seems to be leaning the same way.  The two sides don't want a triangle or some other polygon.  Individuals could lose their seats and parties could lose their power.  Where's the balance?  It's not there.   Do I think the next president will give up that power for balance?  Nah.

So who can I trust?   I think I can trust Jamie Raskin, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzingeer, Mark Kelly, maybe more if I take some time to think of them, maybe Andy Beshear,  In order, I've named a liberal, a conservative, a Repub centerist, and two Dem centerists.   Of this list, the only one who has a chance of getting the nomination and maybe winning is Mark Kelly.   Maybe Andy beshear.  If either gets the nomination, I'll vote for him.  If neither get it, I'm going to write in Pa Rock's name.  It won't matter because Missouri will cast its electoral votes for the Republican.  

P.S.  Other possible acceptable but long-shot candidates are Mayor Pete, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro.  Rats!  I can't find the crying emoji!

Pa Rock's Drive-Thru Dining Guide

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

I am at a time of life when I need to be eating better, but that's not happening.  More and more often I find myself in line at the drive-thru window of a fast food eatery, and then parked somewhere out of the way a few minutes later consuming a meal and maybe a political podcast while I'm at it.  It's not ideal, and not even something I enjoy - just the reality of my current situation.

But I try to learn from my life experiences no matter how unfortunate they may be, and being an old codger, I tend to share my insights on life and modern times with others, whether they want me to or not.  So today. I am talking fast-food sandwiches, and primarily speciality sandwiches that the places sell for only limited periods of time.

Hardee's, an eating establishment of which I first became familiar more than fifty year ago while living in Virginia, has long had a burger on its menu that I particularly like.  The "Frisco Burger" features "a 100% Angus beef patty with crispy cherrywood smoked bacon, melted Swiss cheese. fresh tomatoes, and mayonnaise served on toasted sourdough bread."   The company has undoubtedly refined their creation to its current state over years of trial and error, and the current product is very good.  It's a big burger, but relatively easy to hold and consume.

A few weeks ago I received some Hardee's coupons in the mail and they included discounts for two new speciality sandwiches, both based on the succerssful "Frisco Burger."   One was a "Breakfast Frisco" which I did not even try based on the picture on the coupon which showed one of its ingredients to be a layer of their breakfast potato rounds.  I'm sorry, but processed potatoes do not belong in any sandwich.

The other new burger I did try because the picture on the coupon made it look yummy - and it sounded yummy.  But, the "Pulled-Pork Frisco" was a big disappointment.  What my mouth was watering for was some sort of delicious, juicy pulled pork sandwich on toasted sourdough, but what I got was more or less a standard "Frisco Burger" but  with a thin layer of pulled pork spread over a rather tasteless burger patty.  Big disappointment.

Wendy's, on the other hand, has a specialty fish sandwich, apparently only through Lent, that is so good I have gone back for the same order on multiple occasions.  Wendy's "Panko Wild Alaska" centers around a nice-sized serving of fish that is actually flaky - and so good!  It has a modest amount of tartar sauce and salad fixings also, but not so much that they cause the fish to slide out of the bun and into your lap.

And for you early risers, I am also a fan of McDoanld's "Sausage-Egg McMuffin" and Sonic's "Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich."

That's the way I eat and the way I roll.  It's actually rather disgusting, I know that, but it could be so much worse.  I could be dining on roadkill and snorting drugs off of toilet seats, or maybe slamming down "Diet Cokes" and "Big Mac's" all day!

At least I have a car to eat in and gas to make it through the drive-thru - for the time being!

End the war!

Release the Epstein files!

Being an Obnoxious Blowhard Doesn't Win Wars

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Today I could write about how I wasted an entire afternoon yesterday on the phone with two insurance companies and made two trips to a local pharmacy in an hours'-long effort that netted me a savings of just over four dollars - but I won't write about that because I am tired of listening to myself bitch, and other people have plenty to be pissed off about in their own lives without wallowing in my misfortunes.

So I am going another direction, with a focus on internet humor.  I came across three "memes"yesterday on Blue Sky. which I thought were hilarious.  None are my personal intellectual property, and I honestly do not know who the original creators were.

The first internet funny involves the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) which is sometimes referred to as the World Cup Soccer Association.  The good folks at FIFA, as you no doubt recall, made news for sucking up to Nobel Peace Prize loser Donald Trump by giving him their new FIFA Peace Prize Award.  Such an honor!

Yesterday someone posted a Blue Sky meme which claimed FIFA has given an award for the best documentary film of 2025 to . . . . . "Melania!"   And while the award is almost certainly fictitious, if it were offered, Melania, a Trump by marriage, would no doubt rush down the red carpet to accept it, especially if it came with a cash component.

The other two memes that caught my attention dealt with Trump and Netanyahu's war on Iran.  Trump rushed us into war apparently feeling that he was some sort of Generalissimo Grande after the quick military intervention into Venezuela.  He dragged us into Iran without consulting any of our allies, except Israel, the country that engineered the maneuver, along with hawkish exuberance from US Senator Lindsey Graham.  Neither Trump nor Graham have family members who will be called up to serve in the war that the two old men engineered along with fellow septuagenarian Bibi Netanyahu in Israel.

Trump never told America why we were going to war with Iran, at least not in a clear and coherent manner, and he never told us what our goals in the war were and how we would know when and if we had won.    In fact, he said our victory would be very decisive and that it would end quickly.   That was more than three weeks ago.  I thought the following meme summed up Trump's take on the war extremely well:

Week 1:  We won!

Week 2:  We're winning!

Week 3:  Send help!

 Donald Trump prosecuted a war without consulting our allies, seemingly based primarily on his "instincts."  Before it started he also expended countless amounts of energy criticizing and ridiculing countries that had been our strongest allies since the years preceding World War II, with tariffs, threats of tariffs, and threats to seize territory such as his noise about trying to take Greenland from our NATO ally Denmark.  Trump's closeness with Russian dictator Putin was, in fact, seen as a threat to the sovereignty of Ukraine and to the very existence of NATO itself.   Today Russia is aiding Iran in the new war, and Trump is still carrying water for Putin by lifting oil sanctions that had been in place against Russia.

When Trump committed American blood and treasure to aid Israel in a preemptive strike against Iran, he seemed to think it would be an easy in-and-out process like Venezuela had been, but Iran is not Venezuela.  One of Iran's first acts of retaliaton was to strike the many US targets and forces scattered throughout the Middle East, thus involving several more countries in the conflict, and now Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz which controls a good portion (20%) of the world's oil traffic.  The whole world knew those two things would happen.  Everyone knew except Trump, and neither Netanyahu nor Lindsey Graham bothered to tell him.

Now Trump is in a snit because he has invited other nations to come an help escort oil tankers through the Strain of Hormuz, something our own country has yet to do, and no other countries have accepted his invitation to get involved.  Trump is whining about our NATO partners and again making noises about withdrawing the United States from that important alliance, something that would make Putin and Russia very happy, BUT NATO is a defensive alliance which is supposed to spring into action when a member nation is threatened or attacked.  Its purpose is not to help member nations prosecute wars that they started.

So Trump still says we are winning the war in Iran, but his schedule for getting out seems to be slipping badly.  Iran was not supposed to be fighting back - didn't they know that?

Here is the third humorous meme from Blue Sky which sums up Trump's predicament of being stuck in his own war rather well:

"When you kick a hornet's nest, it's the hornets who decide when it's over."

Successfully conducting a war takes intelligence and cunning and a willingness to stay the course and fight it out.  Donald Trump has none of those qualities.

Being an obnoxious blowhard doesn't strengthen alliances, and it doesn't win wars.

Pentagon Pizza Index and Gay Bar Traffic

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

When governments, like the notorious Trump administration, try to operate in darkness, it's up to the press to be vigilant and shine a light on what is happening in our nation's illusive and closed-off corridors of power.  The Pentagon, under the control of former Fox News entertainer, Pete Heggseth, in particular, is averse to sharing anything that does not tell the story Pete wants told in exactly the manner that he wants it told.  Pete recently decreed that members of the Pentagon press corps sign an agreement to only report stories about the military that are expressly approved by his office.  Most respectable news gathering organizations declined and surrendered their Pentagon press credentials, Fox News included.

But good reporters are a wily sort, and stories from deep inside the bowels of the Pentagon, the world's second largest office building, continue to gush forth like water spurting from fountains along the Las Vegas Strip.  As I was collecting information for yesterday's post about the Pentagon's spending orgasm on high-value speciality food items and other luxuries at the close of FY25, a spree that ate up over $93 billion during the month of September 2025 alone, I came across a related story that explained how some savvy reporters in the Washington, DC, area were being alerted to sudden activity at the Pentagon.

The first story involved something called the Pentagon Pizza Index and was based on a principle that would have been obvious to most junior high students.  On nights when there were spikes in deliveries of pizza to the Pentagon by area pizzerias, big things were about to happen.  Even though the Pentagon denies the "Index" claiming no actual correlation between pizza orders and big military events - and the availability of many food sources within the Pentagon itself, anecedotal information seems to indicate otherwise.  On the night of January 15, 1991, just prior to the start of the first Gulf War - Operation Desert Storm, 101 pizzas were delivered to the Pentagon.  Months earlier, on August 1, 1990, the night before the invasion of Kuwait, the CIA brought in 21 pizzas.  Those figures were provided by the owner of a large chain of Domino's Pizza franchises in the Washinton, DC, area.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Wolf Blitzer later advised:  "Bottom line for journalists:  Always monitor the pizzas."

(Apparently now is is not difficult to surveil businesses digitally with a feature called "Popular Times" on Google Maps that shows live customer traffic - and Pentagon Pete has no control over that piece of free enterprise - yet.)

But "more activity" at certain commercial enterprisess isn't the only conceivable indicator that something big is about the happen with our nation's military, there is also an inverse indicator where businesses serve as bellweathers because they are experiencing less activity.  The gay publication, Queerty, reported that observers  at an iconic gay club near the Pentagon noted correlations in quiet nights at the club and subsequent military activities in the Middle East.  Observers also appear to be tracking activity at a gay club near the White House which has shown the same correlation.

Pete Hegseth may be lord and master of the Pentagon, but when  it comes to ferreting out information, most good journalists know there is more than one way to skin a possum, especially in the digital age!  

Shopping with Other People's Money

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The US federal government runs its financial books on what is called a "fiscal year" basis for budgeting and accounting purposes.  The federal fiscal year begins each year on October 1st and runs twelve months through September 30th.  As an example:  fiscal year 2026 (FY26) began October 1, 2025 and will end on September 30, 2026.  Toward the end of each fiscal year federal government agencies go into what is called "use it or lose it" mode where they rush to spend all of their budgeted money before the end of the fiscal year out of a fear that if they don't use it, their need for funds will be perceived as less in future budgets - and cut.

Last week a government watchdog group called "Open the Books" issued a report that revealed the the US Defense Department went on a wild "use it or lose it" spending spree early last September and managed to use $93.4 billion by the end of the month - most of which seems to have gone not for missiles and munitions, but rather was spent on obscenely expensive luxury items, little of which seems likely to make its way down to the level of the troops who carry the weapons and defend our country in uniform.

Fox News, a media outlet traditionally friendly to the Trump administration, was not amused at this latest revelation about Pentagon spending and chose to refer to it as "Lobstergate."  Members of Congress are vowing to investigate - as they damned well should!

At a time when basic government services are being cut across the board, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on the record supporting the activities of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which lead the way in many of those cuts, that same government official (tattooed Pete) thought it was acceptable to go on a frenzied spending orgy in September to use up the $93 billion remaining in the Defense Department budget.  US military veterans were losing heath care providers, access to care, and even housing, but Pete stepped into his new green room, powdered his tats, and emerged to go shopping.

Some of the Pentagon's "use it or lose it" purchases for the month of September included:

• $6.9 million for lobster tails;
• $2 million for Alaskan king crab;
• $15.1 million for ribeye steak;
• $140,000 for doughnuts;
• $124,000 for ice cream machines;
• $12,540 for fruit basket stands;   and,
• $98,329 for a Steinway and Sons Grand Piano (for an Air Force residence).

In addition to that September orgasm of spending, from March to June of 2025 the Pentagon spent over $7.4 million monthly for lobster tails.  No one in my part of the woods lives that well.  Hell, my community doesn't even have a Red Lobster!

(This pissed-off taxpayer wants to see the recipient of that pie-annie - and Pete Hegseth - jailed, or fired,  or both!)

It goes without saying that $93.4 billion would have bought a helluva lot of healthcare, or filled hundreds of food pantries, or put thousands of homeless veterans in warm and secure housing, or gotten the base pay of America's teachers up closer to a living wage.

Trump has proposed a record-breaking $1.5 trillion for the FY27 Defense Department Budget.  That's $1,500,000,000,000!  A big portion of Trump's outrageous spending will be tacked onto the national debt where it will accumulate interest and be passed on to our grandchildren and their grandchildren to worry about.   And - bureaucrats like Pentagon Pete will ensure that every damned penny of that budget gets spent - they love to shop with other people's money!

What a shame the oligarchs, billionaires, an Epstein class don't pay taxes!

People, this is why we can't have nice things!

A Weather Mess Meets a Government Mess

 

by Pa Rock

Observer

Today's weather forecast for the Ozarks seems to be offering the proverbial "something for everyone."   As I type this it is 9:30 a.m. CST.  The temperature is currently 62 degrees at my little home in West Plains, Missouri, with a high of 64 degrees expected soon and a low of 22 degrees predicted for this evening.   The sky is overcast and there is a slight breeze.  Our area is under a high wind advisory from 10:00 a.m. today until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

The forecast calls for rain today with a chance of severe thunderstorms this afternoon as well as the possibility of "isolated" tornadoes - and snow tonight!  The high tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 30's, with highs near 80 degrees by Thursday and Friday!

How's that for a weather mess!

There was a news article this week stating that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), had let its tornado-tracking contract expire, and as of early last week it had still not been renewed.   FEMA is under the operational control of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the screw-ups who are totally focused on finding and arresting immigrants of color.   Hey, Buttwipes, we're in tornado season now!   It would be nice to know where they are headed.  Surely Trump can give up one weekend of golf in order to fund tornado trackers!  Or maybe the Pentagon could forgo a lobster brunch in the Flag Officers' Mess once a month or so.

FEMA currently has a balance of $9.6 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund, an amount which sounds like a lot but is considerably less than the $11.3 billion that the United States spent on the first six days of its War on Iran.   FEMA's overlord agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is also in a financial squeeze due to Congress's  current DHS funding freeze -  a freeze which hits everything except Immigration and Custom's Enforcement (ICE).  Nice.

How's that for a government mess!

But hey, priorities - right?   I have a basement and don't live in a mobile home, so I should be alright - but some of my friends are not as fortunate.

Pete Pines for Patriotic Press to Push Pentagon Propaganda

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Pete Hegseth, the United States highly decorated (tattooed) and totally unqualified Secretary of Defense, came to his current political position from a background in journalism (of sorts) as a news contributor and weekend co-host of Fox and Friends on Fox News.    His specialty there was stories related to the military and veterans, with a big focus on opposing "woke" initiatives in the military - all of which brought Pete to Donald Trump's attention, and the rest is (an unfortunate) history.

Since assuming civilian control of our nation's military early last year, Pentagon Pete has fought a running battle with the same American press of which he was once a part.  Last September he issued a 21-page edict mandating that members of thee Pentagon press corps not publish or gather any military information not explicitly authorized for release.   Journalists were forbidden from developing their own stories, and instead were limited to whatever pablum the Pentagon chose to feed them.  They had to sign a pledge to follow Pete's rules.  Those who refused to sign Pete's pledge lost access to the Pentagon.  Most major news organizations refused to sign the pledge, including Hegseth's former employer, Fox News, and a new Pentagon press emerged from right-wing, on-line "journalists" who had no problems following the new rules.  A 1st Amendment lawsuit on the matter from the New York Times is currently working its way through the courts.

But Pete is worried about more that just what the press says about him, his department, and the military, he is also worried about appearances - and especially his own personal appearance.  The Pentagon had a "green room" where officials went to primp before going before press cameeras even before Pete became the Big Kahuna there, but that room was not up to Pete's primping standards, and not long after assuming his new job Pete had the existing Pentagon "green room" updated to a full-fledged make-up studio with a director's chair, new lighting, and a full mirror.  The cost has been reported in the news as "several thousand dollars" -  a mere pittance when your annual budget is over a trillion dollars.

So, Pete had rid himself of problem journalists, and he had a new, Hollywood-worthy make-up studio to insure that he looked great on television, on-line, and in news publications.  He had the news under control, or at least he thought he did until earlier this week when some photos of Pete that he regarded as "unflattering" showed up in the press.    The vainglorious Defense Secretary responded by quickly denying press photographers access to Pentagon press briefings.  That'll learn 'em!

Pentagon Pete has worked for over a year to strengthen his stranglehold over America's once-free press, but he still has not completely squelched it.  Today there was a story in the press having to do with Pentagon Pete's unhappiness over some of the more accurate, yet unflattering, reportage of the War on Iran.  He responded with complaints that the press needed to be more "patriotic" and not focus on US mistakes or failures.

Pete, the press, like the military, has a mission - and the mission of the press is to report the truth, not to carry water for American politicians like yourself and Donald Trump.   This taxpayer wants to know how his money is being spent and the true impact it is having on people's lives and futures - and this human being wants to know that his country is behaving honorably.  A free and unfettered press is what provides me with that information.

It Could Have Been Adult Diapers

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Instead of pissing on subordinates to mark the most servile members of the pack, Donald Trump is buying them shoes like the ones he wears.   When Trump came back into the Oval Office last year, he was suffering ankle issues and looking for comfortable footwear that wouldn't detract from his stately, businessman image.    He eventually came across a shoe brand and style that suited him perfectly:  an Oxford style dress shoe by Florsheim which sold for a modest $145 a pair.  Trump was so pleased with his footwear discovery that he decided to award each of the men in his inner circle a pair of their own.

Donald Trump has some rich dudes in his inner circle.   Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is a billionaire, as are some of the government agency heads and other prominent individuals appointed by Trump like NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.   Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are second tier rich guys in Trump World with individual wealth somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and then there's the relatively impoverished Secretary of State Marco Rubio whose wealth tallies only about a million-and-a-half dollars.    None of the people in that group, except possibly for Rubio, were likely to have had Florsheims in their closets - but some of them do now.

Recently Trump decided that since he is so pleased with his new Florsheim dress shoes, others would be, too.  He began guessing the shoe sizes of the male sycopants who were closest to him and ordering them shoes like his.   The shoes were being delivered to the White House and gifted on the premises.  Some recipients reportedly took their old shoes off while in the Oval Office and put the new shoes on.

One female staffer remarked to The Wall Street Journal, "All the boys have them."   Another elaborated to the same reporter, "It's hysterical because everybody's afraid not to wear them."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a pair that were too big, but wears them anyway.  A photo posted prominently on-line shows about a half-inch gap between the back of his heel and the shoe leather.  Unfortunately for the diminutive Floridian with the the big shoes, Ringling Brothers has ceased operation.

The cult marches on - in new shoes!

Count your blessings, boys.  It could have been adult diapers!

It's Time to End the Excursion and the Corruption

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, a reporter who grew tired of the constraints that his corporate overlords were placing on the dissemination of news in America and struck out on his own to provide a non-corporate-filtered presentation of top news stories, published a list of the eighteen countries which have been directly impacted so far by Trump and Netanyahu's war on Iran.  His list and commentary show the impact of what Trump refers to as an "excursion" is having on the world, and Klippenstein makes the point that it is beginning to resemble a world war - perhaps World War 3.

What follows is Ken Klippenstien's atlas of the current situation involving the war with Iran:

1. Azerbaijan:  Iranian drones struck the country's international airport and neighboring infrastructure, injuring four civilians.
2. Bahrain:   Iran and its proxies hit a hotel and residential buildings in Manama with drones and missiles.   Some were intercepted by US Naval forces.
3. Cyprus:  Hezbollah-linked drones struck an RAF (British) air base, damaging runways.  Klippstein notes that the United Kigdom (Brits) responded, though curiously he did not place that country on his list.
4. Greece:  deployed frigates and fighter jets to defend the airbase on Cyprus that Hezbollah attacked, and it is also hosting US forces on the Greek portion of Cyprus.
5. Iran:  A central belligerent in the war.  It has been steadily attacked since February 28th, and has launched attacks on several other countries.
6. Iraq:  Iranian missiles and drones have hit US positions in the Kurdish portion of the country.  Iran-aligned militias have attempted to  storm the US Embassy Green Zone in Baghdad.
7. Israel:  A central belligerant in the war.  It has launched numerous attacks on Iran as well as Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
8. Jordan:  Iranian missiles and drones have struck US radar bases in Jordan.  Jordan defense forces have intercepted some of the in-coming missiles and drones.
9. Kuwait:  Iranian missiles and drones have hit fuel tanks at the country's international airport.  Kuwait is also where the first six US deaths occurred at a makeshift base..
10. Lebanon:  Hezbollah fighters based in Lebanon have fired rockets, missiles, and drones into Lebanon, and Israel has responded with airstrikes nationwide and a ground incursion in the southern part of the country.
11. Oman:  Iran has stuck a port with missiles and drones as well as a shadow tanker in the Gulf of Oman.
12. Qatar:   Iranian drones struck major Liquid Natural Gas facilities in Qatar, stopping production.  Qatari jets have intercepted Iranian aircraft.
13. Saudi Arabia:  the country's defense forces intercepted Iranian missiles and drones that were targeting the Riyadh diploatic quarter.
14. Sri Lanka:  A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri-Lanka in the Indian Ocean killing 87.
15. Syria:  Israel has conducted airstrikes on Iranian and militia assets in Syria, such as fuel supplies headed to Lebanon.
16. Turkey:  Turkey has tried to block its airspace from Iranian missiles and drones.  It sent fighter jets to Cyprus to try to contain Hezbollah activity there.  Turkey is employing diplomacy to try and deescalate the conflict.
17. United Arab Emirates:  Dubai has been hit with Iranian missiles and drones, with damage to hotels and data centers.
18. United States:  A central belligerent in the war that has targeted and bombed Iranian assets both in-country and at sea, with one high-profile bombing of a girls' elementary school where 175 people, mostly children, were  killed.  Seven US troops have been reported as killed and another 140 wounded it he first thirteen days of the "excursion."

Add to that mix the fact that Cyprus and Greece are both members of the European Union, and the United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey, and the United States are mmbers of NATO, and the potential for expansion widens dramatically.

Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu, and their good friend Lindsey Graham have suckered us into something far more serious than a weekend war game.    The war they have created is very real, very deadly, and very expensive.  Accoring to figures released by the Pentagon to Congress, the first six days alone cast the United States $11.3 billion.

$11,300.000.000!  In six damn days!  

It is already impacting people on the remote country lane where I live.  The gas at my loal station is up more than 40 cents a gallon since the start of the war - that's real money!   Every US dollar that is spent to kill people on the other side of the world is a dollar that won't be spent here to lower the cost of health care, food, housing, energy, or repair our crumbling infrastructure, or clean our environment, or secure our borders.

Real lives, real money, and real opportunities are all being squandered because a dottering old man in a golf cart fancies himself to be a modern day Julius Caesar - while his two oldest sons invest in a company to build and sell drones to the US government.

It's time to end the excursion and the corruption.

Auto-Correct, the Kitty Mafia, and Mr. Kitten

 

by Pa Rock

Struggling Typist

Ranger Bob and I had a (mostly) off-line discussion this past Sunday afternoon regarding something I had said in a blog about the old television show, "Welcome Back, Kotter."    Bob thought that a line I had used was out of place and was probably the result of "auto-correct" trying to be helpful.    It turned out "auto-correct"was not involved, the original words were mine, and I was just trying to sound smarter than I actually am.

At about that same time my son, Tim, was stranded out on a tarmac at the Kansas City International Airport (KCI) during an emergency evacuation of the building.  Tim sent an email telling me of his situation, and he mentioned that the delay in his flight had given him time to catch up on my blog.  He also commented on the posting about "Welcome Back, Kotter."  Tim said that he thought he had read somewhere that the actor who played the high school teacher, Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) is now a professional poker player.  But in Tim's email, "auto-correct" did not like "Mr. Kotter" and decided to change it to "Mr. Kitten."

The following day (Monday) I wrote a posting about all of the commotion that had occurred the day before at KCI, and positied a couple of personal theories as to what might have caused a police canine unit response and the evacuation of the airport.  Late that evening my friend Rose, who lives in Kansas City, emailed saying that Kansas City television stations were saying the evacuation was likely the result of a "swatting" incident by a radical group calling itself the "Kitty Mafia."

That worried me for a bit, especially because I had received an email referring to a "Mr. Kitten" during the evacuation, but so far Stephen Miller hasn't shown up at the door to seize my laptop and ship me off to El Salvador.  I couldn't find anything on-line regarding the "Kitty Mafia" except a couple of Kansas City stories which suggsted that group might have been tied to a bomb alert at the KCI airport.  There was, however, information on a tax-exempt cat rescue organization in Las Vegas, Nevada, that calls itself the "Kitty Mafia."    Homeland Security storming a cat rescue - or a cat house:  either would probably make a great YouTube video!

Now back to "auto-correct."  Here is one of my favorite jokes:

  

A minister, a priest, and a rabbit walk into a bar, and the bartender comes over and says, "Hey Rabbit, what'll you have?"  The startled rabbit replies, "Don't ask me, I'm only here because of auto-correct!"

That's probably why I'm here, too!

Russia is Aiding Iran; Ukraine is Helping Us

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of the many bald-faced lies that Donald Trump told while he was running for President in 2024 was that he could end the Russia-Ukraine War within 24 hours of becoming President.  It turned out that his only plan was to knock the US supports out from under President Zelenskyy in Ukraine and force him to surrender to Russia on Russia's terms, something the heroic Zelenskyy and the Unranian people would not do.  

Trump began his second term in office by showing absolute contempt for President Zelenskyy.   Who can forget the horrible show that Trump and Vice President Vance put on as they demeaned Zelensky at the White House in front of the press corps, the meeting where they criticized how he dressed and disparaged him for not saying "thank you" enough?  That was the day it became clear that Trump was envisioning a new world order with Russia and the United States as the super powers and Europe being consigned somewhere in the peanut gallery.

When Zelenskyy failed to capitulate to Trump's plan for Ukraine to surrender, Trump extended his 24-hour boast to 100 days.  That deadline has come and gone as well.  Now, in fact, more than fifteen months has passed since Donald Trump slithered back into office, and Ukraine still stands strong, alongside much of Europe, in its quest to remain free of Russian domination - and Trump's tilt toward Russia remains unmistakable.  

But Trump has been active on several international fronts - Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, and potentially Cuba - and he should be developing some sense of which countries have traditionally been allies to the United States, and why - and Russia has clearly never made that list despite Trump's ovbvious man-crush on Putin.

This week, during our current military foray into Iran (along with Israel), a conflict that Trump says will only last a few weeks, it was revealed that Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence on US military targets.  Russia is giving Iran information about the location and movements of American troops, ships, and aircraft.   That Russian assistance to Iran jeopardizes American safety and lives - and Trump's war plans.

Ukraine, on the other hand, the country that the Trump administration has spent more than a year trying to coax into surrendering to Russia, has come down on our side in the War on Iran.  It has offered to send drone specialists and interceptor technologies to counter the Iranian made Shahed Drones.

Russia is still our enemy - and Ukraine is our ally.   Wake up and smell the borscht, Donald!

Slava Ukraini!

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!