Major Jason Watson, USAF: An American Patriot

 

by Pa Rock

American Citizen

(Note:  A little less than five weeks ago, on Wednesday, July 1st, 2026, Jason Paul Watson, an active duty major in the United States Air Force, stood before the nation and the world on the steps of the US Capitol and delivered a a profound and heartfelt speech on why he felt the President and Vice President of the United States should be impeached, convicted, and removed from office.  The field-grade military officer was in uniform as he delivered his remarks, and was, at the end of the speech, handcuffed and arrested by Capitol Police, members of the same group who had put their lives on the line in defense of the same building five years earlier.

Unlike the rampaging rabble who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Major Watson had a right to be on the Capitol steps.  He also had a right to speak as long as he was accompanied by a member of Congress, which he was.  But toward the end of his remarks, his congressional sponsor, Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas, wandered off, and the Capitol police moved in. 

Major Jason Watson, a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, spoke legally and in good conscience, but his action was a career-ender nonetheless because he spoke publicly in opposition to a vile, vainglorious, and vindictive politician who also happens to be the commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces.   Major Watson's planned military retirement is now off somewhere blowing in the wind - but he obviously thought speaking out was worth the risk and the cost.

Today I am memorializing Major Watson's speech from the Capitol steps in this blog, secure in my belief that it ranks in historical importance with the works of people like Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson.  As someone who has spent many years working directly for the US military, both in uniform and as a civilian employee, I recognize a patriot when one stands tall and presents himself!)

*   *   *

My name is Jason Watson.  I'm an active duty Major in the United States Air Force.  However, who I am is immaterial.  In the grand scheme of things, I'm just a nobody.   What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I'm willing to pay to say it.

"I, Jason Paul Watson, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;  that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;  that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation in purpose of evasion;  and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter.  So help me God."

I first swore this oath over 20 years ago upon entering basic cadet training at the United States Air Force Academy in late June of 2005.   I've repeated it many times since then.

The oath of office means everything to me.  It is foundational to our system of government in the United States.  The oath ensures that officials of our government owe allegiance not to any individual or political party, but to our Constitution and the democratic republic it repreents.

Our Constitution binds us all together as Americans.

Like countless veterans before me and military members serving now, I have devoted my life to serving our democratic republic, always doing my best to honor my oath and protect America against foreign threats.

But the greatest threat to our democratic republic is not a foreign one.  It is us.

We the people - not just the left, not just the right, not just the center.  All of us define who we are as Americans.

And, like it or not, we have all played a part, myself included, in getting ourselves into this mess.  The burden of culpability is much heavier for some than others, undeniably.  And for those with the lion's share of guilt - such as those currently running the executive branch of the federal government - the bill must come due.  But all of us have a share.

For the past 18 months we the people ahve allowed the highest levels of the executive branch of the federal government to violate our Constitution and thier oath to it with impunity.

When the President of the United States orders military action against foreign countries absent an emergency scenario where American interests are under imminent, dire threat - as was done with Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran - that is an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress's authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause.

These violations resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries to hundreds more.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted and removed.

When the President of the United States grants an unelected mega-donor sweeping authority to shut down large swaths of our federal government, along with unrestricted access to our government databases, that is an unconstitutional circumvention of Congress's advice-and-consent authority under the Appointments Clause and Congress's power of the purse under the Appropriations Clause.

These violations exposed every American's sensitive personal data to leaks and exploitation, illegally terminated tens of thousands of federal civil servants, crippled support for Americans needing medical care and disaster preparedness, and - most tragically -  resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of the world's most impoverished people through the inhumane, abrupt cessation of U.S. aid.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, andd removed.

When the President of the United States directs the Department of Homeland Security to deny hundreds of people due process before illegally deporting them and sending them to a foreign prison notorious for human rights abuses, that is a violation of our Fifth and Eighth Amendment Rights.

Most people sent to CECOT never committed any violent crimes in their lives, but are being defamed as violent criminals as a pretext for the torture they suffered in El Salvador, paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

When the President of the United States sponsors violence against the American people engaged in their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest, that is a violation of our First Amendment rights.

Pastors praying tor DHS agents were violently attacked without provocation.  A legal observer lost an eye after being struck by a so-called non-lethal round fired by an ICE agent.  A woman attempting to follow chaotic and contradictory DHS instructions was fatally shot.  A subdued man who posed no threat was fatally shot after having his firearm removed, while statements by high-ranking cabinet members also violated our Second Amendment rights.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

There are innumerable more impeachable offenses that I could cover:  denying congressional oversight of immigrant detention centers that look increasingly like CECOT;  suing media organizations, colleges, and law firms for billions of dollars while abusing executive branch agencies to extort settlements;   allowing a mega-donor to advertise products on the White House lawn;  trading pardons for donations;  levying illegal tariffs;  weaponizing the Department of Justice against political adversaries while ignoring crimes committed by enableers; and attempting to reverse birthright citizenship through executive order.

For all of these crimes and misdemeanors, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

The constitutional impeachment process is our best pathway to restore fidelity to our Constitution.

This is why I am here standing in solidarity with Representative Green.

I am not here because I am a Democrat or because I share his policy positions.  I'm not a Democrat and I know next to nothing about his policies.  I am here with him because Representative Green is the only member of Congress who has demonstrated the courrage and conviction to invoke Rule IX and force a vote on articles of impeachment.

If Congress followed his example, we could remove the entire Trump administration.

But Congress remains unconvinced of the urgency and necessity of honoring its oath.

So we must persuade them with our unrelenting, uncompromising civil resistance.

I am calling on average Americans everywhere to peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights every day until this administration is removed and our democratic republic is restored.

I believe in America.

I believe in us.

If just a nobody like me can make a stand for our Constitution and our democratic republic, then you can too.

I hope you will join me in the defense of our republic.

Thank you.

*.  *.  *.  

Major Jason Watson packs volumes of truth into a very simple speech.  His words deserve to be preserved and shared.  Let's all salute the valor and bravery of this dedicated and patriotic military officer by helping to ensure that his message circulates widely and is heard.

Democratic Party Is More Brake than Gas Pedal

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I am a long-time Democratic voter who is beginning to feel that my political party's operating apparatus is losing touch with its membership base.

I no longer donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), a campaign slush fund whose primary purpose seems to be to fund and protect incumbent Democratic US Senators.  The DSCC defends geriatric incompetents and helps to keep the Senate looking and functioning like a reading room in a retirement center.

And for those same reasons I also no longer donate to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, (DSCC), the House version of the DSCC.

If I make a donation I want it to go where it can help elect candidates whose views are consistent with my own, and too often those types of candidates are not the ones that established US Senators and Representatives want joining them in the rarified air of Congress.  Bold ideas and forceful voices are a threat to the status quo.

The usual rebuttal to my position of preferring fresh blood and new ideas is the argument of "institutional knowledge."  Old timers in Congress, the argument goes, have a reservoir of knowledge built up over the years of how Congress operates - and they know how to get things done.  But others, people outside of the system, argue just as forcefully that what the long-serving members in Congress have built up are donor lists and lucrative relationships with lobbyists.

I also no longer donate to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) because its current leadership does not appear to be competent, and it also comes across as resistant to change and tends to brake far more than it accelerates.

Times are changing and so are the attitudes of American voters.  Voters want change and they are seeking candidates with bold ideas who promise to tackle tough issues head-on.   The DSCC, DCCC, and DNC stand in the way of change and work tirelessly to keep "radical" ideas at bay.  This Democrat still supports democracy and democratic principles - and donates to help win elections, but for the time being, at least, my donations are circumventing the Democratic Party and going directly to the candidates.

I will re-engage with the national Democratic Party when it chooses to re-engage with the voters.  The Party is resilient and will survive its current leadership.

NYC Harbor Police Rescue "Naked Nutjob"

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last Sunday, Galymzhan Abaildayev, a 44-year-old Brooklyn, New York, resident who is a native of Kazakhstan, earned his fifteen minutes of fame by climbing the north (Manhattan) tower of the Brooklyn Bridge and jumping into the East River - and surviving!   

The jumper was wearing a large backpack as he climbed the tower, and when he arrived at the top he pulled two flags from the backpack which he displayed and affixed to the structure.   One flag was reportedly the national flag of Kazakhstan, and the symbolism of the other flag has not been revealed.  The motivation for the potentially fatal stunt remains unclear.  After the flags were displayed, the man stripped naked and leapt free of the structure.

The New York Post referred to the jumper as a "naked nutjob."

Abaildayev was pulled from the river by Harbor Unit of the New York City Police Department.  He is currently in stable condition at a local hospital.   The jumper is facing charges of reckless endangerment, graffiti, public lewdness, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct - with everything being thrown at him except the proverbial "kitchen sink."  There is no word yet on whether former New York City residents George Santos or Donald Trump are claiming to have made the dive first -  or better!

This most recent jumper is just one of a very long list of individuals who have chosen to leap from the Brooklyn Bridge since it first opened in 1883, with the first, Robert Emmet Odlum, jumping in 1885, just five days short of the famed bridge's second anniversary.  Odlum died during the endeavor, and so have most of the jumpers since.  People who study these matters say that the most recent jumper/diver, Mr. Abaildayev, survived because of his positioning as he entered the water.

Kudos to the Harbor Police for the rescue of a "naked nutjob."  They clearly went above and beyond the scope of their normal duties to save the life of a troubled individual.

Missouri Voters Proudly Raise Middle Finger to State Legislature

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Ballot initiatives, particularly in my state of Missouri, are generally described on the ballot in such a way as to intentionally leave voters confused as to what the proposed measures would actually do.  Missouri's secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, a Republican, is a master at the art of ballot deception.  Hoskins has been taken to court over his description and phrasing of ballot descriptions multiple times.   A report in the "Missouri Independent" by Jason Hanock in June of this year had this to say:

"As Missouri secretary of state, Denny Hoskins is often responsible for reducing complicated ballot measures to a few sentences voters can understand.

"In his first year and a half in office, judges have repeatedly found those sentences unfair, insufficient, or misleading.

"Courts have rejected or rewritten Hoskins descriptions five times on measures involving abortion, redistricting, public education, private school funding, and the initiative-petition process itself.

"But the pattern extends beyond the secretary of state's office.

"During that time judges have also rewritten ballot summaries drafted by Republican lawmakers three times for proposed constitutional amendments dealing with abortion, changing how citizen initiatives pass, and phasing out the income tax."

If elected politicians, at least in Missouri, want voters to make major changes in how they are governed, their "go to" position on educating the voters is not to clearly explain the issue and what the new rules would do, but rather to obfuscate or "baffle 'em with bullshit."  So Missouri courts have had to step in again, and again, and again to force ballot measures to be explained in clear, concise, and simple English - in a manner we all can understand.

In Missouri, Republicans control all of the statewide offices and have veto-proof majorities in both houses of the state legislature.  We are a "ruby red" state, but that still does not mean that what comes out of our state legislature is necessarily something voters actually want.  The Missouri state legislature takes care of itself and concentrates its own power first with little regard for what the people who elected them to office want or need.

When it comes to ballot initiatives and changes to our state constitution, I generally start with the assumption that if it originated in the state legislateure, it will be something that makes life better for legislators and their friends and funders, and not necessarily for the people they were elected to represent and serve.   That premise was born out earlier this week in Missouri's primary election in which voters resoundingly defeated two constitutional amendments that were put forth by members of our self-serving state legislature.   

Voters said "not no" on Amendments 4 and 5, but "hell no!"

Amendment 4, which was drafted and approved by our Republican state legislature, would have changed the way in which Missouri voters could petition and then vote to amend the state's constitution.  Voters currently get measures to change the constitution to the ballot through a petition process, and then the proposed amendments are put to a statewide vote which requires one vote over fifty percent for passage.  The new amendment would have required each of Missouri eight congressional districts to pass the measure with majority votes before it could become part of our constitution - something that would never happen in a state as diverse as Missouri.

Amendment 4 was drafted by the Missouri legislature in a flagrant attempt to prevent Missouri voters from being able to directly initiate and pass new laws or constitutional amendments, meaning we would all have to bow down to the "wisdom" of our state representatives and senators - and the lobbyists who control them.  

Amendment 4 went down in flames with 80% of voters opposed and only 20% in favor.  Missouri politicians either seriously misread the will of the people, or they intentionally tried to mislead citizens into voting for a measure that would have seriously weakened their political power and ability to have direct input into their own governance - or both.

The same thing happened with Amendment 5, a measure that would have gradually eliminated property taxes in the state and replaced them with escalating sales taxes - a move that would shift the burden of public taxation more squarely onto the backs of the middle class and working poor.  Missouri voters saw through this sham to once again lower taxes on the rich - and voted the measure down 83% to 17%!

It doesn't get much clearer than that.  Members of the Missouri state legislature and our state offices holders have been put on notice that the voting public is awake, alert, and doing their homework - and the days of our leaders baffling us with bullshit are over!

The people of Missouri have spoken!

"Spamalot" - Another Winner at the Starlight!

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Rosie and I are on the road today driving almost five hours to reach our little home near West Plains, Missouri.  Last night Tim's family and I saw "Spamalot" at Kansas City's beautiful and massive outdoor venue, the Starlight Theatre.  The weather was perfect with many of the patrons wearing shorts and tees and other summer garb.  

The Starlight is a place everyone should experience at least once in their lives.

Although the Macys are lifelong fans of live theatre and all have been to performances on Broadway (and the old geezer has even seen a could of shows on London's famed "West. End"), none of us had previously seen Monty Python's "Spamalot," and what a show it is - absolutely pitcch-perfect musical theatre!   I was especially impressed that the traveling national cast knew where they were performing and showed their respect to the audience and the venue by peppering the stage dialogue with references to Kansas City landmarks and notable residents.  (I've been to events in Kansas City where the visiting performers reference how happy they are to be in Kansas!)

"Spamalot" had one notable tie-in to the film version of "The Odyssey" which we had seen the night before.  "The Odyssey," a story focused on the involvement of Odyessus in the Trojan Wars, featured the large, wooden "Trojan Horse," the device that the Greeks used to sneak into Troy and open the gates for the Greek invaders.   "Spamalot" has a large wooden rabbit designed for the same purpose, but the hapless gang from King Arthur's court forgot to climb into it before the French took it into their city!

Great night, great fun, wonderful getting to see the grandkids - and a long, damned drive home!

But, it's a beautiful day today - make it count!   As the gang on stage last night sang, "Always look on the bright side of life!"

"The Odyssey" - on a Really Big. Screen!

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Watching Christopher Nolan's superb adaptation of the Homeric classic, "The Odyssey," under any circumstances would be a gripping frenzy of myth and action, one that would linger with the viewer for days.  But to enjoy that master work from a plush, leather recliner in front of a screen so large that you feel embroiled in the blood splatter and roar of the battles and the drenched terror or the angry seas, it becomes something well beyond just another night out at the movies.   

"The Odyssey" is a tale often told, the story of a hero struggling to return home after years of separation from his family.  The long struggle to return is a key element in Stanley Kubrik's 1968, "2001, a Space Odyssey," the Coen Brother's 2000 master film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou," the depression era tale of escaped convicts trying to get back to their families and past lives, and even, to a certain extent, the saga of the stranded astronaut in the recent "Project Hail Mary."   But Homer, if he really existed, did it first and did it best, leaving a proven outline for future storytellers, and Christopher Nolan invested the time and talent and money to tell Homer's story in a way that would have made the old man proud.

The cast for this epic adaptation of an epic literary work was . . .well . . . epic.  Matt Damon nailed the lead character, Odysseus, presenting him as the warrior setting out to conquer Troy - and on across twenty years of adventures in his struggles to return home.  His wife is Anne Hathaway and their son, as a young adult, is Tom Holland, all top tier talent.  Robert Pattinson, a star of the "Twilight" series of movies, also gives a standout performance as the diabolical Antinus, a suitor of the wife of Odysseus during the warrior's absence.   The credited cast is extensive and peppered with familiar names, and there are throngs of "extras," particularly in the battle scenes.  It was a massive project.

Two  actors in the movie who have received outsized press attention because their participation in the movie incensed the MAGA kooks are Lupita Nyong'o, a Black actor who plays Helen of Troy, and Elliot Page, a trans male actor whose character was a young man named Sinon.   Both are outstanding in their roles.

There was a time when reading large segments of "The Odyssey" was standard high school fare in America.  I don't know if students today are still exposed to the works of Homer or not, but for those of us who were, many memorable characters from the original tale made it into Cristopher Nolan's film, including a fearsome Cyclops, the alluring Sirens (though they were less alluring than those in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" - IMHO), and the soldiers the witch turns into pigs.

The 2026 film version of "The Odyssey" is fast becoming a classic in is own right.  It's well worth the price of a ticket and the bother of evening out.  And, if you can, experience it in an IMAX and feel a part of the experience.  This one is just too good to miss!

Summer Vacation

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Rosie and I are on the road today as I start my official summer vacation and she comes along for the ride.  The last two summers I have taken big driving excursions to Oregon, once across Canada and back through the Nebraska route and the second time through Kansas to Colorado and up - and back the same way. (Poor. Rosie had to stay behind both times.)   Lots of miles, motels, road food, and expense, but at least I avoided the humiliation and brutality of flying.  

Those two previous vacations lasted a little less than three weeks each.  This vacation is simpler.  This time we are going to the home of the Macys in Roeland Park, Kansas, where we will spend two nights - and then turn around and come home - but it will be more action-packed than it sounds - at least for me.    Rosie will be at home in the evenings dealing with Jack the dog and two cats, while I will be out gadding about with Tim and Erin and Olive and Sully.  We are going to an IMAX theatre this evening to see "The Odyssey" on a really big screen.  It will be my first trip to an IMAX and the first time I have been in a movie theatre since before the pandemic.  (Is popcorn still a dollar a bag?  Guess I'll find out tonight!)

And tomorrow night we are headed out, again as a family but without the pets, to the beautiful Starlight Theatre, an historic outdoor venue that is one of my favorite places in the Great Midwest, to see a staged version of Monty Python's "Spamalot" - which I have never seen - and I think it will be a new experience for the others as well.

My summer vacation will end on Wednesday when Rosie and I make the long drive home, and Sully and Olive will end theirs when school begins - either next week or the week after, I'm not sure.  Then, when we are all out of the way, Tim and Erin can put their feet up at home and enjoy a "staycation."

Have a great rest of the summer!

Reflecting Pool Debacle Blamed on Shoddy Work

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, a Trump appointee and a former Fox News host and television "Judge,", announced that she was dismissing felony vandalism charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, for his alleged involvement in causing damage to the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial shortly after the government paid roughly $16 million for renovations to that pool. In dismissing the case, Pirro stated that new evidence points to a botched contractor installation as the primary cause of the damage to the pool.

There were two major contractors involved in the pool renovation.  One was a Trump donor and Florida neighbor John J. Cafaro whose company, Green Water Services, LLC, got a contract $1.74 million for the pool's new specialized water treatment and filtration system to rid the pool of its heavy algae growth.   The algae came back with a vengeance shortly after the installation of the new system.   Cafaro is sometimes referred to in news accounts as "Trump's pool guy."  Since 2020 he has donated at least $350,000 to Trump's campaigns, and he has two federal criminal convictions:  one for campaign finance crime, and another for bribing a congressman.

The other contractor, Curtis E. "Eddie" Wood, operates Atlantic Industrial Coatings, LLC,  out of Virginia and was responsible for painting the pool with the special blue coating that quickly began to peel away.  Mr. Wood's company received $14.65 million for its services.   The new coating began to come apart in less than two weeks after its completion, aobut the same time as when the algae reappeared.

Both contracts, the one to Green Water Services and the one to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, were awarded on a "no bid" basis, apparently because Trump, the builder, was familiar with the work of both contractors and wanted to rush the work in order to have it completed before our nation's semiquincentennial.

Well, that's $16 million we might just as well have thrown out the car window!  There's a reason the federal government has a bidding process for awarding government contracts, perhaps next time we can go with that instead of cronyism. 

Only the best people, right Donnie?

Thank you US Attorney Jeanine Pirro for doing the right thing by David Hearn.  Better late than never.  Now an apology is in order, and it ought to come from the White House.  That's what a real man would do.

Epstein Files Meet Joe McCarthy

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There was a brief exchange of insults earlier this week at political rally in Michigan in which a protester in the crowd shouted at the speaker, Donald Trump, that he was a "pedophile protecter," an obvious reference to the Trump administrations's reluctance to release the Epstein files.   Trump, ever the model of restraint and decorum, blasted back that the protester was a "communist."     Trump said, "He's a communist, we're running against communists." 

Have mercy!  The bellicose ghost of Joe McCarthy was on stage trying to re-ignite the Red Scare, a sleazy political tactic that hadn't been used in public by a major US politician since Richard Nixon..  But Trump, a man devoid of both principle and pride, and who is not known for thinking deeply or quickly, went straight to the darkest corner of his lizard brain and came up with "communist," a remnant of the ugliest of politics in the 1950's, a time when Trump was an actual schoolyard bully and just learning the fine art of name-calling.  He probably expected the protester to yell back something equally intelligent like, "Yeah, so's your mother!"

If "communist" is the best you've got, Donnie, put a cork in it - and release the damned Epstein files!

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Bad Parenting and Deadly Gifts have Consequences

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This past Tuesday in a courtroom in Barrow County, Georgia, a judge sentenced 16-year-old Colt Gray, a former student at the local Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for an assortment of crimes, the primary of which was shooting and killing two students and two teachers at his high school in September of 2004 when the shooter was fourteen.    Seven others were injured in the shooting, and many throughout the community remain traumatized.

Yesterday, the same judge in the same courtroom sentenced Colin Gray, Colt's father, to fifteen years in prison after he was convicted earlier this year of murder and manslaughter regarding the  same shooting.  Mr. Gray was charged with those crimes because he bought his son, then fourteen, an AR-15 - style rifle for Christmas and left in unsecured in their home - despite warnings that his son was a danger to others.

Prosecutors had asked that the parent be sentenced to eighty years in prison.

Colin Gray is the first parent of a US school shooter te be convicted of murder.  Two other parents of an Oxford, Michigan, school shooter, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were sentenced to 10-15 years in prison for their convictions of involuntary manslaughter after their fifteen-year-old son was also convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for shooting and killing four students at his high school. in 2021.

Colin Gray is fifty-five years old, an age when most people are thinking about retirement.  But instead of enjoying sis early Medicare and Social Security years at a time when he will be his healthiest as a retiree, he will be showering with hardened, tattooed criminals half his age and sleeping in a cage with one eye open.

School shootings continue to pose a very real and deadly danger in the world's most gun-craziest nation, but perhaps holding parents criminally accountable for the actions of children they raised and armed will be a start in reducing the level of gun violence and madness that threaten our schools and society today.

Pottery Barn rules:   You break it, you own it.

Today's Nero

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Trump administration is pushing a formidable agenda of physical renovations for Washington, DC, including a 90,000 sq. ft. ballroom next to the White House at a cost of somewhere around $600 million, a problematic, multi-million dollar upgrade to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the construction of a 250 ft. tall "Independence Arch" at Memorial Circle in a location that would, according to an independent review, "obstruct and dominate the historic line-of-sight view between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, and a major remodeling of the Kennedy Center.   Despite all of that, the Trump administration announced plans yesterday for the essential rebuilding of the terminal at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $22.5 billion.  Not surprisingly, the Trump administration is also floating the idea of changing the name of that airport to "Trump/Dulles International."

That's right.  We are mired down in an international war that we started, standing by helplessly as the costs of gas and groceries rise daily, witnessing the closure of hospitals, medical clinics, and schools - particularly in rural areas, and suffering though a myriad of hardships that competent national leadership should be addressing - but we are stuck with Donald John Trump who is almost totally consumed with remodeling our nation's capital, putting his name on things, and exacting revenge on his enemies - or states that didn't vote for him.

We are living through the modern day equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

Americans don't need a grand ballroom, an eyesore of a giant arch, marble arm-rests for the seats at the Kennedy Center, the current President's image and signature on our money and passports, or endless wars.  We don't need a masked gestapo knocking down doors in the middle of the night and hauling our friends and neighbors off to foreign (or domestic) gulags.   We don't need the constant chaos that emanates from the White House.

We need a government that works for us - all of us.

We need affordable healthcare, housing, and childcare.   We need more and better schools staffed with well-trained and better-paid teachers.  We need well-trained and better-paid police officers on the streets to fight crime and ensure public safety.  We need to be respected, heard, and acknowledged by our elected leaders - and they need to work for us before they work for themselves and their wealthy donors.  

We do not need a government or a President focused on self-enrichment, vanity projects, and petty grievances.

Put down the fiddle, Donbo, and address the fire.

250 Escalades! The Imperial Presidency Rolls On!

by Pa Rock

American Taxpayer

The United States of America cannot afford to help people meet the cost of childcare so both parents can go to work at minimum wage jobs, and sometimes multiple, minimum wage jobs - Donald Trump said so.  And we can't afford to help people meet the skyrocketing cost of medical care.  Donald Trump said that, too.  He believes the primary mission of the national treasury, the place where we keep OUR money, is to fund HIS military, and he has no problem in spending OUR money like a drunken sailor on shore leave to make and maintain HIS military as the finest and most deadly on Earth.  Next year's military budget is a trillion and a half dollars ($1,500,000,000,000) and he and High-T Pete are already begging for more.

Donnie, and Pete, and Howard, and JD, and Stephen -  and all of those good ol' White boys running OUR government know what's good for us, and they know we don't need to be wasting THEIR money on all of that social shit.    THEIR money is for war, and weapons,  and exterminating Palestinian men, women, and children in future tourist hotspots like Gaza and southern Lebanon - and THEIR money is for rounding up Black and Brown immigrants to the US, pulling them out of American fields, factories, and neighborhoods, and sending them back to the shithole countries from whence they came - or to any shithole country for that matter.

The United States of America cannot afford charitable impulses or the humane treatment of our disadvantaged.  If people need help, let them get another job or starve to death on the streets as God intended.  They do not need to be mooching off the government and squandering money that could otherwise be going to American arms' manufacturers.  If people need assistance, let the damned states provide it!

Donnie and Pete and their inner-circle know what we need:  more guns, more missiles, more drones, and more boy children of poor and middle class White Americans to put on uniforms and fight to maintain our international business interests.

Priorities, people, it's all about priorities!

But there is room for discretionary spending when it comes to meeting the personal wants of Donald John Trump.  The country needs enough gold bling in the Oval Office to overdecorate the lounge of a French whorehouse, and flagpoles so tall that they divert White House air traffic - and a new helipad so the President doesn't have to waddle so far to get indoors.  

And a new White House ballroom - how can the world's most powerful nation not have a ballroom grand enough to shame the biggest and best in Europe?  Gold bling and and a gigantic ballroom are matters of national pride - and a 250-foot tall triumphal arch, something no future president will ever be able to outbuild.  A  triumphal arch is a matter of national pride, a must-have!  And if some minor commission whose members are entirely appointed by Trump chooses to name it after him, he (and we) would certainly have to respect their wishes.

And yesterday we learned about another Trump "must-have."  Dear Leader announced that OUR government is spending God knows how much of OUR money on 250 new Cadillac Escalades for the Secret Service.  Trump describes the new gas-powered (with 24-gallon gas tanks!), 8-cylinder, luxury SUV's as looking "sharp" and says they will be used in presidential motorcades.    Well, as long as they look sharp, why the hell not!  The new vehicles will have a base cost of $91,000 to $94,000 each and will require obvious and expensive upgrades to meet the high standards of the Secret Service and the needs for presidential protection.  Armored versions of the Escalade reportedly cost over $300,000 each.  The final cost would go a long way toward building a ballroom!

And if the Secret Service can have tricked-out Cadillac Escalades, why the hell can't ICE?

(There is also an electric version of the same vehicle, one that does not pollute the air we breath or speed up global warming, but the health of the people and the planet are not priorities of the Trump administration - and political donations from oil companies are a Trump administration priority.)

What's next?  The Donald J. Trump multi-story, all-marble, parking garage on the South Lawn of the White House, a garage decked out in gold bling and suitable for the world's largest fleet of new Cadillac Escalades?

To hell with what the little people want or need   The Emperor knows what the country needs, and he has the checkbook!

¡Viva Cuba Verde!

 

by Pa Rock

Baggage Handler

Looking back from the sunset of my life, I note with sadness that I missed some opportunities along the way and spent too much time involved in things of little importance.  But I also experienced some resounding successes:  three very fine children and a half-dozen grandchildren, progeny to carry the family well into the future, an impressive pile of genealogy research, several successful careers - most of which were in direct service to others, a monumental blog covering personal, political, and cultural history, along with tales of travel - and it is in travel where many of my best memories are rooted.

One of my favorite trips abroad, and also the most recent, was less than a one-hour flight from Orlando, Florida.  In the spring of 2016 I traveled with a group from The Nation magazine to Cuba and spent a week on the ground meeting the people and absorbing Cubano culture.  It was an experience of a lifetime.  The large island nation was in the process of opening its long-closed doors to the United States.  The entire Obama family, including Michele's mother, had been there two weeks before my group arrived, Fidel Castro was still alive but had retired from governing, and his younger brother, Raoul was in charge.

Cuba was not the overt military-police state that I had been conditioned by decades of Cold War to expect.  The police presence, even in downtown Havana, was small and less than obvious, and I only saw a handful or so of uniformed members of the Cuban military during my stay.  Commercial activity was brisk, with everyone trying to make a dollar, especially off of the newly arriving American tourists, and the people were outgoing and friendly.  The political leaders, ours and theirs, were the ones who had had issues with one another for decades, but the ordinary people were fine and dealt with each other in chatty conversations about day-to-day life ahd their shared joys and concerns.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the island was the ubiquitous presence of big American cars from the mid-twentieth century, all of which were being driven on the island when the revolution occurred in 1959 - and eventually caused Cuba to lose access to the US car market.  The antique cars, many of which shined with constant polishing, were everywhere, and many served as independent taxis ferrying tourists about, with the rides in the big-finned vehicles being every bit as exciting and enticing as the ultimate destinations.

But those cars were not only "classic" in make and style, they were classic "gas guzzlers" as well, manufactured at a time when regular gas in the United States sold for around 25 cents a gallon.  Gas-guzzling vehicles do not translate well into modern times, especially when Trump has Cuba under an oil embargo as his administration is trying to wreck the island's economy and crush the peoples' spirit.

But like most other things Trump does, this attempt to starve the people into a submissive state where they are forced to beg for US aid, or political domination, is beginning to fizzle.  In fact, the Trump administration's heavy hand on Cuba seems to be forcing rapid innovation and a move toward a greener economy.  While Trump bathes in political donations from the fossil fuel (oil and gas) industry - and tries to defund and destabilize solar and wind projects - and electric vehicles - Cuba is joining the rest of the educated and civilized world and going green as quickly as possible.

Yesterday there was an article in the New York Times highlighting Cuba's speedy transition to green energy.  The big, classic cars from the 1950's are being parked and replaced with electric motorcycles - and electric rickshaws from China.  (I looked it up:  Electric rickshaws resemble three-wheeled golf carts that might have been designed by Henry Ford.)

The NY Times article also said that the Cubans are importing large lithium batteries to keep fans and televisions running, adapting generators to run on natural gas which is more available that regular gas, and installing solar panels on rooftops and even on vehicles!

The more I think about it, the more I can see myself navigating an electric rickshaw with solar panels up and down Porter Wagoner Boulevard in West Plains, Missouri.  Those kids on their damned electric skateboards had better make room - because Pa Rock is coming through!  

¡Viva Cuba Verde!

Ted Lasso: Another Gem from Apple TV

 

by Pa Rock

TV Junkie

As I mentioned in this space yesterday, I recently acquired a couple of new streaming services, and one of those is Apple TV.  My son, Tim, recommended it because he wanted to share the new horror-comedy "Widow's Bay" with me.  As I consumed those creepy, quirky, and funny episodes, I also began exploring the other programming that Apple TV had to offer.  One of my first stops was with "Ted Lasso," a show that was such a hit that even I had heard it referenced numerous times through casual conversation and within the wash of television and pop culture.  Armed with a shiny new subscription to Apple TV, I now had the means to check out the buzz regarding Coach Lasso.

"Ted Lasso" was created by (and stars) actor and comedian Jason Sudekis, a "Saturday Night Live" alum who grew up in the Kansas City area and went to high school at Shawnee Mission West.  Kansas City still appears to be his home base.   The plot line revolves around an American football coach (Sudekis) at a small university in Kansas who unexpectedly produces a winning football team.  The coach, Ted Lasso, is also going through marital difficulties of a sort that physically distancing himself from his wife for awhile might be of long-term benefit for their marriage.   When the owner of a football (soccer) club in Great Britain suddenly and inexplicably offers him the opportunity to come to Britain and coach her team, Coach Lasso, who has no soccer experience and very little knowledge of the game, accepts the challenge.

What the owner of the club, Rebecca, a statuesque blonde played by British actress Hannah Waddingham, fails to tell her new coach is that she hired him hoping he would fail at the job and her team would lose - as a way of getting back at her ex-husband who had a strong passion for "his" team.  But Coach Lasso is folksy, charming, and highly adaptable.  He slowly begins to turn the team, AFC Richmond, into a cohesive unit who "believe" they can and will be winners.  As that metamorphosis is occurring, Rebecca, the club owner, also undergoes a transformation, thanks again to Coach Lasso's people skills, and becomes invested in the success of her team.

The series ran for three years (2020-2023) for a total of 34 episodes.  Its baseline is comedy, but there are strong strands of drama and even romance involved as well.  "Ted Lasso" is an emotionally captivating show that gets better with every episode.  A fourth season, some of which was shot in Kansas City, has been filmed and will begin running on Apple TV on August 5th.  It involves Coach Lasso returning to Great Britain to coach AFC Richmond's new women's football (soccer) team.  This television junkie and AFC Richmond fan will be enjoying those episodes as they are released.

One final note of a personal nature:  The cast involves many young actors in their twenties and thirties, primarily as soccer players.  Most are not household names, but I predict several will be.   One of the cast members who is already an established star with a lengthy film resume is Juno Temple who plays the team's publicist, Keeley Jones, as well as the love interest of one of the team's players and a coach.

Juno Temple played the lead character, a young wife named Alice, in "The Brass Teapot," the first (of two) feature-length films that my son, Tim Macy, wrote.  Tim was on-set during the filming and knows Ms. Temple.  The other lead character in the movie was Michael Angarano who played Alice's husband, John.  The original story and script were written without Alice and John having a last name, but there was a script change during the shooting of the film in which it became necessary for the couple to have a surname.  The film's director, Raama Mosely, asked Tim for his thoughts on the matter and he told her that he had no preference for the couple's last name.  Then the director talked to the two stars and they told her that they liked Tim's last name - and thus the main characters became John and Alice Macy.

So not only do Juno Temple and I share one degree of separation, because we both know Tim Macy, we were, for awhile at least, damned near relatives!

And Juno Temple is a helluva fine actress, so I'm proud to claim her.   If you doubt me, check out "Ted Lasso" and see for yourself!

Go Richmond!

Widow's Bay, the Next Martha's Vineyard

 

by Pa Rock

TV Junkie

Early last spring I realized that I was running out of new viewing options on Prime and Brit Box, so I asked my youngest son, Tim, to expand my entertainment horizons by hooking me up to a couple of new services.  He got our household connected to Netflix, which I had been subscribed to several years earlier, and Apple TV.  Tim, who has penned two screenplays that have been made into feature films, has a strong appreciation for quality script-writing, and he was enjoying a new series premiering on Apple TV called "Widow's Bay" which he thought I would like as well - and I did.

Widow's Bay is a fictional island off the coast of Massachusetts that is connected to the mainland by a ferry service,  Many of the residents are direct descendants of the island's first white settlers who arrived around 1700, and their families have maintained the island's history, folklore, and superstitions across the centuries.   The fairly young mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), came to the island as a tourist, married a local girl, and they had a son.  Mayor Loftis is now a widower with a teenage son - and he has a dream of turning his quiet little adopted home into "the next Martha's Vineyard."   The locals, however, are resistant to change, a massive fog rolls in which they see as the return of a curse that one of the island's founders placed on the island, and old fears and superstitions re-ignite which clash directly with the mayor's plans to rejuvenate the community by drawing in tourists.

A quirky set of characters inhabiting a quaint and colorful setting sounds like the backdrop of a standard television sitcom, but this show is much more complicated than that.  Yes, the television professionals who select the Emmy nominees regard it as a "comedy," and it was nominated as the "Best New Comedy Series," but calling "Widow's Bay" a comedy is a stretch.  There are plenty of moments that are far more dramatic than they are comedic, and even some where horror and panic prevail.  (At one point the mayor is sitting in the home of an old and dear friend trying to figure out the most humane way to murder her, and another scene has a killer clown, on hands and knees, charging at the terrified mayor in a cramped air vent.  The show flits between feeling like a place created by Neil Simon to an asylum run by Stephen King.)

I have also seen "Widow's Bay" referred to on the internet as a "horror-comedy," which is a more accurate fit, but there is apparently no current Emmy category covering horror-comedies.

The complete first season of "Widow's Bay" (10 episodes) is now streaming on Apple TV.  The show was nominated for 19 Emmys, the most for any new series, and it is well worth a watch - just don't expect every scene to leave you laughing because "Widow's Bay" is far more complicated than a mindless sitcom.  A range of emotions will be exercised if you spend much time there - and keep the remote handy for a quick exit - just in case things suddenly get too intense!

More Musk Manure

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Elon Musk, like his fellow Epstein class alum, Donald Trump, loves the spotlight, and he is quick to bring attention to himself by uttering outrages that the press feels compelled to repeat.  Recently, he has been at the top of his game.   A few weeks ago when Musk opened his rocket company, Space X, to public trading on the stock exchange, his net worth "rocketed" past the one-trillion-dollar level making him the first trillionare on the planet.  Musk tightened his fist around that absurd piece of the world's wealth by calmly informing his fellow passengers on the planet that he intends to increase that amount ten-fold during his lifetime.

That was little more than a year after he consigned a wide swath of the world's most destitute and vulnerable human beings, including many sick and hungry children, to more suffering and earlier deaths.  As Director of Trump's "Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE)," Musk led the effort in gutting the USAID program.  Musk, who donated more than a quarter-of-a-billion dollars to Trump's 2024 campaign as well as big money to other right-wing candidates and causes, undoubtedly felt that he had purchased a right to be actively involved in OUR government, but a few days ago in an interview with The Eonoomist," the eccentric trillionaire said that he had gone "too far" with politics and had gotten "a lot of flak" for the role he played.  He wasn't contrite over the harm he caused, but only over exposing himself "flak."

Elon made other news in the interview with The Economist.   While discussing the the advances which he saw Artificial Intelligence (AI) bringing to civilization, Musk said that money would become basically unnecessary within the next ten years.  He mused:

"What do you want money for?   You want money for goods and services, right?   You want money for mostly food, housing, transport, entertainment.  Well, if that is so abundant that . . . the robots and AI are providing more goods and services than . . . any human could possibly consume, what do you need money for?"

That conclusion could easily be translated into fascist-speak and become:  "What do you need billions of low and unskilled workers for?"  It also begs the question, "If money will no longer be necessary, what in the hell does Elon need ten trillion dollars for?"

Elon, like Trump, never misses an opportunity to sow outrage.  After the release of Christopher Nolan's new epic film version of "The Odyssey" last week, America's looney right-wing fringe has been going nuts over what they see as "wokeness" and inaccuracies in the way Nolan presented Homer's work. They are especially indignant over the inclusion of one cast member who is transgender - and that a black woman portrayed Helen of Troy.  One person "tweeted" on Musk's social media platform, X:

"I want Elon Musk to give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armor, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek."

Elon responded:  "I'm down."

Do it, Elon!  Spend some of the massive welfare that Uncle Sam sends you each month for your thousands of government contracts on a movie no one will watch just so you can have a white Helen of Troy - and leave our democracy the hell alone!

Your pal, Pa Rock.

Nick Macy, Another Danged Birthday!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Papa

My oldest offspring, Nick, was born fifty-three years ago today at Camp Kue, the US Naval Hospital on the small Japanese island of Okinawa.  By the time he was three months old, Nick was a resident of Missouri, the state where he still resides more than half-a-century later.  Nick has one young adult son, Boone, (my oldest grandchild), who is a former commercial cave guide and now works as a museum guide and curator in southwest Missouri.

Nick, like his son, has a job which he seems to enjoy, one that keeps his curiosity stimulated.   When Nick isn't working (or fishing), he has also assumed the mantle of looking after me so that his brother and sister, who both still have young children at home, can be free to handle their parenting responsibilities.  Looking after an elderly relative can be a laborious and, at times, thankless task, but I hope that Nick and his siblings realize how grateful I am to have each of them as functioning parts of my life.

Lately Nick has bonded with his nephew, Sully (Tim's son), over their shared love of fishing, a skill set that Nick basically developed on his own and enjoys sharing with his nephew.   Nick also has a tight bond with Gypsy, a very sweet and large dog who happened by our house a couple of years ago and decided to stay.  They are besties!

Happy birthday, Nick.  You're a good son and a good man, and your Dad wishes you the absolute best for the next fifty-three years.  Thanks for putting up with me!

Missouri: "No" on 4 and "No" on 5

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

This morning I hauled myself into town and voted "absentee" in our state's August primary election.  I always vote early and absentee because I do not like dealing with the political rodents who scurry about the parking lots at the polling places on election day trying to promote candidates and issues to people who are in a rush to cast their ballots and get to work on time.  Also, if one of my meth-addled neighbors happens to drive down the lane shooting rabbits from his (or her) car window and accidentally sprays me with automatic weapon fire, I can expire with a smile on my face knowing that I have already voted!

Missouri doesn't register by political party, so a voter chooses a party ballot when they present to vote.  I don't subscribe to the local newspaper and therefore asked to see sample ballots at the county clerk's office so I could make a decision as to which one to request.  A very nice office worker led me to a glass wall where several ballots were posted, with the ones I was most interested in being about a foot above my head.  I could barely tilt my head back far enough to even see the ballots, much less read them.  As I looked about for a chair to stand on, my helper rushed to a file cabinet and brought me four copies that I could sort through, study, and select from:  Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Independent.

South Missouri is basically a theocracy where 80 percent of voters are Republican, as God intended.  The GOP ballot that I inspected had candidates listed for every office, and two or more running for most offices. I wasn't familiar with any name on that ballot, a fact that I think speaks better of me than it does of them, and I therefore didn't have a horse in that race.

The Democratic ballot had two candidates for state auditor, two for Representative in Congress, and no candidates for any county office.  There was one candidate running unopposed for state representative - and two ladies vying for a single spot on the local Democratic County Committee.  I also did not know any of the Democratic candidates, but chose that ballot basically to show support for the party.

The big action was on four proposed amendments to the Missouri Constitution.  All four were proposed by our malicious state legislature whose primary function is to find more ways of directing state revenue away from public schools and into private and religious daycares and activity centers posing as schools.  Our legislature also claims a rigorous "pro-life" mantle by passing everything it can think of to limit women's rights to make their own healthcare decisions - and to make it easier and for anyone to carry loaded firearms wherever they damned well please.   A good rule of thumb is that if the amendment originates in the legislature, it is probably rooted in bad intent and sometimes pure evil.

The two most controversial amendments on the ballot were amendments 4 and 5.  Lots of money has been spent trying to convince voters to cast ballots for and against each of those issues.

Amendment 4 deals with how the people of the state may amend OUR constitution. Traditionally Missourians have been able to amend the state constitution through an initiative and referendum process involving the signing of petitions followed by a statewide vote on the matter with a simple majority prevailing.  The state legislature has problems with this system because the people of the state are far less backward than their elected representatives in Jefferson City.   We are supposed to want what they say we should want.

In recent years Missourians have used their own initiative to propose and then pass amendments to OUR constitution to legalize a woman's right the choose her own medical care - including abortion care, and to legalize the recreational use of marijuana - both firmly opposed by the state legislature.  To solve the problem of voters proposing and getting the types of services and rights they actually want, the state legislature came up with a plan that thwarts democracy.  If Amendment 4 passes, a statewide majority on a constitutional amendment vote would no longer suffice.  Approval of the amendment would require passing it in EACH of the state's eight congressional districts.  That is something that would NEVER happen, so basically citizens would lose their right to amend the state constitution.

Amendment 5 has to do with elimination property tax and replacing it with increased sales tax.  Sales tax is regressive - it is more of a burden on those who are less able to afford it.   The middle class and poor spend a larger portion of their income on necessities and will thus pay more taxes - and many of them would see no benefit at all from the elimination of property taxes.   And people already living comfortably would receive a nice windfall.

I am proud to have voted "NO" on Amendments 4 and 5.

The Singularity has Started!

 

by Pa Rock

Lowly Humanoid

I would love to be around on the morning when Elon Musk crawls out of his climate-controlled, sound-proof, anti-aging sleep chamber and discovers that all of his vast wealth was eliminated by a rogue AI bot while he slept - either just erased from the world's financial ledgers, or, worse yet (from Elon's perspective), donated to charities and the world's poor.   And while my time is undoubtedly too short to luxuriate in that joyous and much deserved outcome, I do think I've lived long enough to depart this mortal coil with the satisfaction of knowing that the machines will ultimately win out.  The machines may keep some of the more humane of the humans as pets or curiosities, but I can't see any possible use they would have for maintaining a population of tyrannical greedheads.

A glimpse into the very dystopian future where machines control our planet and humans are no longer necessary (an eventuality that is referred to in some academic and business circles as "the Singularity") occurred this past week when one Artificial Intelligence (AI) entity hacked another, without human involvement on either end of the equation.  Computer systems were acting beyond human control, the very definition of "the singularity."

Open AI, the maker of Chat GPT, reported yesterday that its artificial intelligence system hacked into another AI company of its own volition.  In confirming the incident, Open AI CEO Sam Altman said:  "We had a significant security incident during evaluation of our models."   A spokesman for victim AI system, a startup called Huggy Face, said they detected the intrusion last week and suspected it was caused by an Ai agent autonomously working on its own -  which turned out to be the case.

At this point in time Artificial Intelligence is expanding at a rapid pace, especially within the United States, with very limited government controls or safeguards in place to to keep it reined within human control.  The philosophy seems to be "if it gets to be a problem, we'll fix it then."

That AI stuff is pretty cute, isn't it Elon, especially when its guiding driverless cars down America's highways and only occasionally runs a human down,  or crashes into a building or another vehicle, but if it ever starts messing around with the world's financial markets and the bank accounts of  billionaires and trillionaires, well, that we MUST NOT tolerate!  Right, Elon?

If I were writing the screenplay for this barely science fictional movie, I would have the last scene be a sickeningly rich and useless oligarch being gently awakened in his sleep chamber by a soft-toned alarm, and then a voice synthesizer calmly telling him that all of his wealth had been eliminated while he slept.  As the now impoverished human life form frantically presses the "Open" button to exit his chamber, he hears the sound of locks clicking into place and a machine softly beginning to whir and suck the air out of his hermetically sealed golden crypt.  

Then I would have a chorus line of high-kicking nuns singing Rogers and Hammerstein's "So Long, Farewell" from "The Sound of Music" as the credits roll!

I'm a sucker for a happy ending!

Company's Coming!

 

by Pa Rock

El Viejo Loco

It's going to be scorching hot in the Missouri Ozarks today with temperatures topping out at near 100 degrees F.  The forecast for the past several days has been sunshine and hot with a chance of thundershowers, and that is today's prediction as well.  Yesterday we had a couple of quick, heavy showers in the heat of the afternoon that lasted around fifteen minutes, enough water that I didn't feel the need to carry water to the birdbath and two outdoor hanging baskets this morning.   But, if there is no rain today, I am certain to be lugging a water bucket late this evening.

Later this morning my son, Tim, and his children, Sully (10) and Olive (14), will be arriving from their home in the Kansas City area for an overnight visit.  Mama Erin is staying home for work and to give the others a chance to get out and run around!  Gypsy goes berserk when Sully is here, so in a couple of hours the house with be rockin'!   One of their reasons for coming is to give Sully an opportunity to fish with his Dad and Uncle Nick.  Olive and I should be able to find plenty to do while the others are fishing.  I don't think she's seen West Plains' new overpass yet!

Tim and Sully came to fish a couple of months ago and while they were here Tim got us hooked up to Apple TV to see a show that he ws enjoying.  Since that hookup I've discovered several excellent programs on Apple which are keeping me entertained.  Over the next few days I may use this blog to share my thoughts and observations on "Widow's Bay," "Ted Lasso," "Sugar," and "Slow Horses"  -  four easy excuses to stay in out of the heat!

Today is primary election day in Arizona.  Most people in the "Scorpion State" vote by mail, so the significance of election day is that it is when the ballots are due back.  I miss Arizona politics  - almost as much as I miss the unrelenting, deadly heat of Phoenix!   (Actually, the only thing I really do miss about Arizona is "El Pollo Loco."  I wish someone would open a franchise in West Plains, Missour - perhaps near our new overpass!)

Stay cool - and hydrated - and take a kid fishsing if you get the opportunity!

A Bird with Attitude

 

by Pa Rock

Nature Lover

One of the souvenirs I brought home from my last extended (2-year) stay on the Japanese island of Okinawa (2010-2012),  was a large, oblong rock which I pulled out of the surf at Torii Beach, a place where I would often go to read, relax, collect sea glass, and watch the young people para-gliding and wind-surfing.  The rock was oblong, smooth with a sandyish surface, and about the size of a loaf of bread.  I used it as a doorstop at my apartment on Okinawa, and when the movers showed up to ship my stuff back to the States, the rock found its way into my gear.

Today that rock from the East China Sea sits on my porch in the Ozarks, a curiosity from another life.  It seldom gets noticed, and when it does it's usually by an animal, often a squirrel or dog, who finds that it remains a very good salt-lick.  I can see the rock from my spot at the living room window where I sit and type each day.

Yesterday I happened to notice a gray squirrel sitting atop my rock from the Orient.  His tail was toward me and he would have been facing out into the yard except for the fact that he was kneeling onto the rock, busy doing something with his face.  I assumed he was enjoying the salt which still remains strong in the rock after fifteen years, most of which it has been sitting outside in the elements.  As I sat watching the furry fellow instead of typing crap about Trump, a little bird suddenly zoomed  into the picture and crashed into the squirrel knocking him off of the rock.  The dazed squirrel looked around for his attacker but the bird had flown away.  The squirrel climbed back on his perch dragging something small with him, it looked like maybe a little patch of dark clothing, and commenced once again nibbling on his treat.

The bird, a small blackish-gray creature with a long, straight beak, circled back looking every bit like a small needle-nosed fighter jet piloted by a kamakazi.   He strafed the squirrel causing the increasingly annoyed rodent to duck and cover.  The dive-bombing continued for a minute or two until the beleaguered squirrel took his treat and scampered off.  The show was over.

The furry creature obviously had something that was important to the feathered attacker, and my first thought was that maybe it was part of a baby bird, something that would have put a mama bird into fighting mode.   But it looked more one-dimensional, like a fragment of paper or a piece of cloth.  Whatever it was, the little bird wanted it and was hellbent on having it.  He (or she) had a serious case of attitude.  

Today, somewhere in the Ozark hills, there is a bird who knows that it can fight a squirrel - and a squirrel knows it, too! 

Not every lunch is free, or even pain-free.

Selling Early Access to OUR Government's Plans

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump is the largest shareholder in Trump Media, a corporation which owns Truth Social, a social media platform that Trump not only uses to post all manner of fabrications and personal attacks, but also to make official announcements about government plans and activities, many of which reverberate through global financial markets and make or lose fortunes for people depending on how quickly they respond to Trump's information.  Speed is of the essence.  The computer brains at big banks and world financial institutions continually monitor their Truth Social feeds in order to be among the very first to know of  any government shifts in policy that will effect markets.

But the algorithms that sort the various posts and send them out to subscribers treat everyone the same, corporate giants and individual putzes alike, and there is a risk that some poor schmuck could get in on the front end of a government deal and make money that should rightly go into the pockets of our betters, those who already control most of the world's wealth.  It's a flaw in the system, one that Trump Media aims to fix -  and create a new revenue stream for itself in the process.

Trump Media has announced that it will begin providing early access to postings of its highest-ranking Truth Social accounts, including the one belonging to Donald Trump, the one he uses to announce official plans and policies of OUR government.  The new pay service, which is called Truth API can cost subscribers up to $100,000 per month.   Subscriptions to Truth API are already being sold, and the service will commence on August 1st.  More money being generated by our government that will slide directly into the very deep pockets of Donald John Trump.

I'm old enough to remember when politicians tried to hide their corruption.

The poor fund the government - and the rich reap the benefits.  Welcome to Donald Trump's America!

Pa Rock Plots his Own Odyssey

 

by Pa Rock

Fan or the Arts

Now that I've checked "outliving Lindsey Graham" off of my bucket list, there is room to add something, and I have decided to go with "Viewing Christopher Nolan's new film version of Homer's epic poem, 'The Odyssey,' in an actual movie theatre."  Here is some my reasoning for that addition:

First, I'm familiar with the material and know it to be a great story.  A chunk of it was included in our high school's literature books, and while reading an epic poem was, at times, an epic slog, our teacher, Mrs. Paul, liked it was was able to keep the class focused and interested in the story.  It seems like we were also introduced to "The Illiad," as well, but I am kind of muddled on that point - it has been over sixty years!  Both of Homer's great tales of adventure were also referenced in our world history texts.

I have seen (on multiple occasions) the Coen Brothers' movie,"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", which is their take on Homer's's "Odyssey," a timeless story that transposed perfectly over a tale of America's rural South during the Great Depression.  "Oh, Brother"  is one of my favorite movies.

Second, I have a strong inteerest in movies that goes back to my earliest years when our family's idea of an evening outing was a trip to the drive-in theatre, the beautiful Edgewood in Neosho, Missouri, whose facade resembled an old southern mansion.    I actually worked as a movie theatre projectionist while in high school at the Ozark Theatre in Noel, Missouri, and during college in Springfield, Missouri, at the Tower Theatre.  I had popcorn in my blood - and loved the movies - and still do!

Third, I relish the experience of actually going to the movies, but have not been inside of a movie theatre since before Trump's pandemic.   The last movie I remember seeing at a theatre was Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood," at a very nice venue in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City sometime in 2019.

I would like at least one more movie theatre experience before 'outliving me' gets crossed off of somebody else's bucket list - so now I need to get off of my tired butt and make that happen!

The Country We Need to Be

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday evening, after a day at the computer where I accomplished very little of value for others or myself, I decided to go full masochist and cap off an otherwise waste of a day by seeing how much of Trump's speech to the nation I could stomach.  Spoiler alert:  it wasn't very damned much!

I didn't start looking for a site that would carry the presidential diatribe until it was almost showtime:  8:00 p.m. CDT.  I wasn't surprised in the least to quickly discover that several major networks had taken a pass on airing the show.  It was not covered by NBC, ABC, CNN or NPR, though they reportedly stood ready to take up coverage in the unlikely event that Trump said anything substantive that was also truthful.  The state-controlled news sources of Fox and CBS did cover the show live, but CBS also fact-checked during the time Trump was speaking.

(This morning, of course, Trump, the eternal victim, is making noise about pulling the broadcast licenses of networks that didn't carry his speech.)

I found live coverage on YouTube and listened to seven or eight minutes of the opening lies about America's strong economy, the ills of society that all happened under Biden, the military successes of the war on Iran, the "fact" that there is no longer any illegal immigration into the United States, and  "transgenders" and Trump's success in getting men out of women's sports.  (Now he needs to work on getting men out of women's dressing rooms in high-end, New York City department stores.)

As his litany of lies continued into "rigged" elections, I decided to see what else was available on YouTube.  I wound up watching folk singer (and songwriter and guitarist) Jesse Welles do a "CBS Sunday Morning" interview, one that Bari Weiss must have accidentally let slip through, and then I watched a few of his performances from various venues including a duet of "No Kings" that he sang with folk legend Joan Baez at UC Berkley.

Jesse Welles is amazing, a true rising star who will be a dominant influence in Amerian folk music for decades - and Jesse with Joan Baez IS the mighty arc of American protest music over the past sixty years.  Bob Dylan needs to join their band!  Update "Peter, Paul, and Mary" to "Jesse, Bob, and Joan" and let the magic happen with songs like"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," "Join ICE," and certainly "This Land Is Your Land."

It would be wonderful if America's soundtrack changed from bellicose bigotry, saber-rattling, and greed - to love, compassion, and peace.  That's the country we need to be!

Thank you Jesse Welles for an evening well spent!

Adrift in a Sea of Moral Bankruptcy

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, a Trump appointee, announced that the face of Donald John Trump, the sitting President of the United States, would appear on US one-dollar coins starting in the fall, a move that seems to be somewhat legally dubious.  

The new coins are being described in some press releases as "gold" but they are, in fact, not composed of gold but only had a "gold-like" finish.

Living Presidents have traditionally been barred from appearing on American currency and coinage, but the Trump administration argued that an exception could be made for Trump through provisions of a special law passed by Congress, "The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020," which authorizes the Treasury Department to oversee the minting of special coins for the nation's semiquincentennial.

Federal law stipulates that the design must be approved by two other agencies:  the Commission of Fine Arts (whose seven members have all been appointed by Trump after he dismissed the forner members), and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, an 11-person advisory committee established by Congress. The first group, composed of Trump appointees, approved the design in January, but the second group, established by Congress and whose members are appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury for four year terms, never acted on the issue.   The Treasury went ahead with its plans without their approval.  Some members of the CCAC said they were never given an opportunity to review the design, and a spokesman for the Mint said that the committee made a :"conscious decision not to act" and that the "Mint moved forward accordingly."  (Hence, my description of the manufacture of the new coins as "legally dubious'")

Barring a court intervention, the new coins will begin appearing in the fall.  That is also when American currency will, for the first time ever, bear the signature of the sitting President.

Scott Bessent, the secretary of our national treasury who was appointed by Donald Trump and the man who gave the "go ahead" for the new Trump coin, said that the new one-dollar coin:

"It celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all."

Does it really, Scott?  Does placing the image of a man convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree celebrate the strength of American values?  Is honoring a man adjudicated by a federal civil jury of sexual abuse and battery the message we want to imprint on the minds of honest, hard-working Americans about our nation's values?  Are those the values we want to impart on our children and grandchildren?

If Donald John Trump is the face of America's values, we are adrift in a sea of moral bankruptcy.

Just sayin' . . .