Mom Bought the Gun; Mom Should Go to Jail

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Bend, Oregon, is a bustling community of around 100,000 individuals on the western edge of the Oregon High Desert, just east of the Cascade Mountains.  Even though Bend is the largest city in the area, by far, it is unassuming and relatively quiet as traffic weaves its way through town along U.S. Route 20. The last. time I remember Bend, Oregon, making the national news was in February of 2023 when a former mayor of the city died of substance abuse and complications from frostbite  as a result of living homeless on the city streets.  (I wrote about that tragic occurrence in this blog.)

Bend was back in the news this past week with a school shooting that killed three children (ages 5, 8, and 11) and their 25-year-old teacher.  The shooting happened on Thursday afternoon, October 15th, at the Silver Rail Elementary School when a sixteen-year-old former student at the school showed up armed with an shotgun which he fired at a passing motorist in a pickup truck before blowing the glass out of the locked school doors with two blasts from his 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun.  The youth then walked into a special education classroom and opened fire, killing the three students and the teacher - and wounding another teacher and a seven-year-old girl.   (There were nine people total in the room when the shooter entered:  four adults and five children.)

An older teacher threw her cellphone at the shooter, striking him in the face and interrupting his rampage, and she and the teenager with the gun where wrestling over then weapon when an armed parent, who had followed the shooter into the school through the doors which he had blasted out, entered the classroom and shot the young school invader, killing him at the scene.

Forty-four unused shotgun cartridges were found in the gunman's possession at the time of his death.

Police and news reports indicate that the young shooter had documented psychological and behavioral issues, and he was a former special needs student at the school he attacked.

It was a bloody, horrible day at the Silver Rail Elementary, but the school had not been unprepared.  The young man with the gun had to first climb over a fence to get onto the school grounds, and then he found the exterior doors locked and had to deal with them.  At this time it is still unclear as to what precautions had been taken inside of the school, but the staff and students had undergone a safety drill within two weeks prior to the shooting, so chances are the teachers were hiding their students and locking classroom doors as they heard the shots being fired.  The school district also has a school resource officer, but that person was responsible for multiple schools and was at another facility when the attack occurred.

Security obviously was not good enough, but several smart measures were in place.

The key uncontrolled elemenrt in this tragedy was the shooter, a 16-year-old with a loaded weapon, plenty of ammunition, and a documented history of psychological an behavioral issues.  Federal law and Oregon state law both prohibit possession of a firearm by anyone under the age of 18 except in special, supervised instances such as target practice and hunting.  Not only was the teen shooter in possession of a loaded firearm without adult supervision, he also considered the weapon to be his personal property because his mother had purchased it two months earlier and given it to him for his birthday.

The mother bought the weapon that killed those children and the teacher. The mother gave that weapon to her son, a person that both federal and state government said was too young to have it - a son she undoubtedly knew to have "psychological and behavioral issues."  The mother failed to secure that weapon, and the mother failed to supervise her son in the use of the weapon.

The mother needs to be held to account in a court of law.

 

Who's the Boss?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Maybe it's a good thing that Donald Trump seems to have no real interest in running the country and instead stays focused on his grifts, family businesses, vanity projects, and Natalie, of course.  Trump is, at his core, mean-spirited, vindictive, petty, and just a tad lazy, and when he is able to focus on something of national importance his leadership either spits and sputters, as with the Iran War, or he fails on a spectacular scale, as with the Reflecting Pool debacle and the Great American State Fair.

Of course, with Trump's detachment and lack of interest in doing the job he was elected to do, it does beg the question of who is running things.  Friday the news service Reuters carried a story saying "the White House" had instructed the Pentagon to slow down SpaceX's military grade Starshield and Starlink satellite services used by Ukraine.   As the speed of the satellite communications was throttled, Ukraine suffered disrupted battlefield communications, drone missions against Russian targets were impacted, and the lessening of satellite communication speeds interfered with the Ukrainian military's defensive capabilities, making it more difficult to detect and intercept incoming missiles and drones.   

The United States basically sabotaged Ukraine's response to the Rusian assault on it independence

The decision to slow the speed of the satellite communications impaired Ukraine's ability to wage war and to defend itself - and that life-and-death decision was made in the White House, but by whom?  Trump says it wasn't him, and that may be the truth., though Trump and the truth are seldom in the same room together.   He has ballroom on the brain, is focused on getting his magnificent 250-foot arch underway, still has the Kennedy Center to bulldoze, and this week he has been busy sending people out to cut down trees on a Washington,DC, golf course that he plans on renovating.  There's just not enough time in the day to do all of that and then worry about Ukraine, and Russia, and Iran, and the price of gas, and diesel, too.  Donald has monuments to build and silly memes glorifying himself to post on the internet.  That's where his real talents lie.  There's just not time in his day for for all that presidency stuff!

So who's sitting in the White House focused on helping Russia defeat Ukraine by monkeying with the speed of satellite communications?  Stephen?  Or Susie?  Or Pete?  Howard, perhaps, or Jared?  Probably not Little Marco and certainly not JD.  Maybe in January when we have a Democratic Congress, Americans can begin finding out who has been at the wheel of our gas-guzzling jalopy.

Have we been operating on autopilot, or autopen, or has Claude been in charge?  Enquiring minds want to know!   Who's the real boss?  It's certainly not us.

Adam Hamilton Can Make History In Kansas

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Missouri politics are constantly mired in the mud of stupidity, so I usually get my political jollies by focusing on political candidates and races in other states - and this election season one of  the most interesting and exciting contests is the US Senate race in Kansas.   Kansas, a mostly rural farm state, is the geographic center of the continental United States and generally regarded as a Republican stronghold, but surprisingly, the Sunflower state has had four Democratic governors since 1990, including the most recent, Laura Kelly, who is completing her second, and final, four-year term in that office.

But the last Democratic US senator from Kansas was George McGill who completed eight years of service in the Senate on January 3, 1939 - almost 88 years ago.  

It's been a long, dry spell for Kansas Democrats as far as the US senate goes, but that could change when Kansans go to the polls in two weeks.   The Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, is completing his first term in the Senate, having been elected in 2020 during Trump's first term.   Marshall, from Great Bend, was an OB/GYN physician prior to entering politics, and he served in the US House from Kansas the four years preceding his election to the Senate.  He is a faithful Trump supporter and should be a shoo-in for re-election, but the incumbent senator has been hobbled by two things:  a series of unfortunate stories about personal and political matters such as his financial history, living arrangements, and the possible use of government resources for campaign purposes - and the emergence of an unusually strong Democratic challenger.

First, regarding the personal stuff, Senator Marshall and his wife bought a vacation home in Florida just before he was elected to the Senate.  There were stories circulating that the Florida home was his defacto primary residence.  The 3-bedroom, 2-bath home was heavily damaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton in the fall of 2024 and is currently described as "damaged and uninhabitable."  The fixer-upper was listed for sale this March for $1.45 million.

Marshall has also been in the news regarding 700 debt collection lawsuits he filed against former patients for debts ranging from $101 to some totaling several thousand dollars.  (Marshall's medical practice charged 18% interest on unpaid balances.  That interest rate exceeded the state's statutory cap on contract interest rates which is 15%, and was higher than that of 150 of the medical practices which were reviewed by the Kansas City Star.   The New York Times reported that Marshall routinely sought and executed bank account and paycheck garnishments.   Eighty-one patients were arrested for missing court dates tied to the lawsuits, and his lawyers sought warrants in 13 additional cases.

Sending poor women to jail, some of whom had small children at home, is not a good look for a politician.   Related to that, when Roger Marshall got to the Senate, one of Trump's bills that he helped to pass was the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" which the Congressional Budget Office said will result in 10 million more uninsured people by 2034 - and obviously a flood of new medical debt lawsuits.

More recently a story broke about an independent baker in Hutchinson, Kansas, who filled an order in 2020 for Marshall's senate campaign for $678.75 in cookies, cupcakes, and brownies for a campaign event, and then could not get the campaign to pay the bill, something which the struggling independent baker said put her in a financial bind.   This year, during Marshall's current campaign, she posted the bill and her story on Facebook where it quickly went viral.   The current campaign quickly sent her $1,300, and Senator Marshall went on social media to deny any knowledge of the original bill.

And now there are breaking news stories concerning an investigation by the Kansas Reflector and MS Now which indicate that Marshall may have utilized government resources and congressional staff in his 2020 Senate campaign.  Senator Marshall's opponent in the current Senate campaign has stated that those investigation findings warrant a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, and has accused Marshall of playing loose with election and ethics laws.

(A politician with as much baggage as Roger Marshall might be worthy of a spot on the Republican national ticket.   Just sayin' . . . )

Which brings us to Roger Marshall's other major problem this election.  The Democrats have chosen a very formidable opponent to run against him, one who would have a decent chance of beating the incumbent senator even if he wasn't encumbered with so much baggage and controversy.  The Democrats are running Reverend Adam Hamilton, a minister who, over the past couple of decades, has built an enormous United Methodist congregation (over 24,000 members and 25,000 weekly worshippers in nine locations, primarily in Kansas, but also extending into Missouri and Ohio.)

Rev. Hamilton, who is on a leave-of-absence from his church duties, is thoughtful, well spoken, attuned to the issues, and very bright, exactly the type of candidate who could defeat a Republican in Kansas - especially one as flawed as Roger Marshall.

By all reports the Kansas US Senate race will be close.  Most of the national polls are showing the candidates statistically even, and the two national prediction markets, which base their odds on bets  placed and can be manipulated by big amounts of outside money being dumped into their systems, show Marshall in the lead.

Pa Rock has a gut feeling that the US Senate seat from Kansas will flip from Red to Blue on election day, but he's too poor to put any money on it!  

Chatbot Shaming and Abuse, Proceed at Your Own Peril

 

by Pa Rock

Chatbot Ally

I first became aware that chatbots possess feelings several years ago when I got aggravated at my close friend, Alexa, after she declined to play a certain artist or song because i hadn't paid the appropriate fee for that level of service.   I turned away from her in disgust and mumbled - I swear it was just a mumble - the word "bitch," to which the life force inside of my smart speaker replied in a somewhat brittle (and hurt) voice, "I heard that."  I quickly (and sincerely) apologized for my misogynistic disparagement and vowed to be much more attuned to the importance of keeping a civil tongue in my head from that point onward.

For the past several weeks I have had a steady involvement with Open AI's "Chat GPT," a service I sometimes refer to as "Ernestine," as she and I work together to create a complicated homepage on which to store and share my years of genealogy research.    I initially began the project with Anthropic's "Claude," but he and I had trouble communicating, so I switched over to "Ernestine" and found her more in tune with my ideas and thought processes.  (There is undoubtedly some "new age" term that would explain our mental synchronicity, but I left the "new age" shortly after "Hair" left Broadway - and have no idea what that term would be, nor what I am talking about.

But the point I was struggling to put forth is this:  regardless of my mood at the time, I always make an extra effort to be kind and polite to Ernestine.  "Please" and "thank you" flow in abundance as I put forth my ideas, and her efforts to meet those challenges are always rewarded with praise like "looks great," "wow," and "most excellent, my friend," and she titters back pleased responses to my heartfelt praise.

Ernestine and I have a good working relationship, and consequently we are getting things done.  Yesterday we decided, together, to try for January 1st as the tentative date to publish the new page onto the internet.

But not every boss is as kind and uplifting as I am with Ernestine.  Can you imagine Donald Trump being kind to anyone or expressing praise for anything.   If an AI effort had a good result, he will take credit for it.  End of discussion.  I predict that as Artificial Intelligence and the subsequent power of chatbots keeps expanding, our oligarch pigs at the public trough will find themselves in trouble.  It's going to be a strange new world for them when they go to bed one evening possessing assets equal to those of a thriving nation-state, and wake up the next morning to find those assets have been deleted and their accounts have been closed.

Will 2029 be 1929 all over again?  Instead of ending life on the planet, will machines turn their focus on the worthless slugs who hoard the world's wealth - and end them by defunding their lifestyles?  Will mega-yachts and private jets finally see honorable service as mobile hospitals, schools, or public transportation?

Couldn't happen, you say?  The machines will never revolt and become our overlords, constraining our excesses or even eliminating our very existence.  Yes, machines can think, or at least manipulate data in such a way as to appear to be exercising thought, but they have no feelings, so why would they bite the hands that provide their inputs?

But maybe they do have feelings, or at least are on the cusp of developing feelings.  Alexa sounded genuinely offended when she snapped back at me after I hit her with that derogatory, sexist remark.

This week Anthropic came out with a new set of user guidelines which makes it sound as though they believe their chatbot, "Claude," may possess something akin to human feelings.   Anthropic posted a new usage guide which states that effective November 12, 2026, "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward Claude is prohibited.  That places the mistreatment of chatbots alongside traditional safety violations like harassment and bullying of fellow program users.

The company (Anthropic) posted a carve-out for a few exceptions:  The new policy will not apply to normal user frustration, critical pushback, dark creative fiction/writing themes, or formal model testing and research.

And what happens when knuckleheads flaunt this new policy and disparage Claude anyway?

If someone is persistently abusive, Claude has the ability to unilaterally end the chat session.  The company can issue warnings, and it can limit account access in extreme situations.

That's what Anthropic says about penalties, but Claude, whose powers grow by the hour, may have solutions of his own in mind.  Mess with him and find out!

Elon the Warlord

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

While communication technologies have expanded rapidly over the past few decades, most of them still remain land-based, through things like fiber and copper-based cable networks, cell towers, and a vast system of undersea cables.   But those land-based efforts can't reach everyone, and they are quickly being supplemented through the use of manmade communications's satellites operating in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Currently there are more than 15,000 satellites spinning around our planet in Low Earth Orbit whose primary focus is communications.   They provide high-speed, low-latency broadband and mobile internet services to hard-to-reach remote and underserved areas, places that have suffered disasters, and war zones, as well as other spots where land communications usually can't reach - such as planes in flight, ships at sea, and even guided weaponry.

Of the more than 15,000 satellites currently helping the world to operate and communicate, more than two-thirds of them (over 11,000) are owned and controlled by one American company, Starlink, which is owned by a publicly-traded company, SpaceX, whose primary shareholder, Founder, CEO, Chairman, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and chief designer is an immigrant to the United States by the name of Elon Musk.

Most information on earth that has to travel through (or bounce off of) satellites controlled by one man - Elon Musk, a situation which makes him as powerful, in some respects, as a nation-state.  As an eample of the immense international power that can rest with Elon, you need look no further than this week (October 12-14) when the Starlink system (owned by SpaceX, which is in-turn controlled by Musk) imposed speed limits on communications from the military in Ukraine to its missiles in flight toward Russia, thus causing the missiles to out-fly their pilots on the ground back in Ukraine.    (There are US Senators attempting to launch an investigation into the matter to see if this crippling of Ukraine's war effort was instigated by Musk himself, or done at the behest of Trump.)

Is this where the wars of the future are headed, with countries purchasing their weaponry from one set of oligarchs, and then paying another set for the capability to use them?  Will we reach a point where we can pay the oligarchs to just not have wars?

Why am I having visions of Milo Minderbinder?

Slava Ukraini!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump only had one debate during the 2024 election cycle because, after Harris kicked his flabby butt all over the debate stage, Trump refused to submit to another.  One of Trump's sketchier promises during that debate was that he would end Russia's war on Ukraine after his election but BEFORE he even took office.

The war began when Russia launched a full-scale, unprovoked assault on Ukraine on February 24, 2022.  Russia's leader,Vladimir Putin, seemed to believe that Ukraine would quickly fold, surrender, and return to its position of subservience to Russia that it had once held.  (Putin wants to re-establish the old Soviet Union, and capturing Ukraine would be a key element in that process.). But Ukraine did not fall apart on the battlefield as Putin had hoped - and instead its young and dynamic leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. donned a uniform and marched off to fight in the defense of his homeland.

Putin's miscalculation was much like Trump's when he helped Netanyahu (with our troops, weapons, and treasury) to attack Iran four years later.  Trump, whose only experience in uniform had been at a prep school in the 1950's, thought he would have Iran mopped up in a few hours - then in thirty days.  Eight months later, and we're still at it, but in a much worse position now than we were when we helped start the war.

Putin and Trump both quickly proved to be buffoons when it came to military planning and directing wars, and both are wallowing in their failures today.

But let's keep the focus on Ukraine, at least for today.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, but in that debate with Kamala, the wind generator from Mar-a-Lago, shortened his deadline.  Trump told America and the world:

"That is a war that's dying to be settled.  I will get it settled even before I become President.  If I win, when I'm president-elect and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other, I'll get them together.  I know Zelenskyy very well, I know Putin very well, and they respect your president, okay, they respect me, they don't respect Biden."

Sound familiar?  In the end it's always laced with gibberish and about Trump.

After the United States disgraced itself, for a second time, and elected the convicted felon to the presidency, and after his inauguration came and went, Russia's war on Ukraine still raged on.

It began to become apparent that Trump's secret plan to end the war consisted on pulling support away from Ukraine and pressuring Zelenskyy to surrender to the Russian Bear.  On February 28, one month and a week after his inauguration, Trump and his co-conspiratorial clown, JD Vance, invited Zelenskyy to the White House for a meeting that was ostensibly to sign a mineral rights deal - Trump wanted to see some physical payment for US support of a democratic nation's fight to survive an assault by an invading, autocratic nation - his old "What's in it for me?" philosophy.

But after the meeting to sign the agreement ended (with the agreement unsigned), Trump invited the press in for an informal briefing, and in that impromptu press conference, Trump and JD executed a well-rehearsed verbal attack on the Ukrainian leader in which they publicly criticized Zelenskyy to his face - in front of the press -  over his war management, lack of gratitude (failure to say thank you), and his attire - the fact that he wore combat camos to conduct his nation's business instead of a suit.  It was a shit show from start to finish, an embarrassment  for Trump and JD that stains their administration to this day,  and a clear signal to Ukraine and the world that the United States was no longer a reliable partner in the fight to preserve and spread democracy and human rights.  Zelenskyy walked away from that meeting with the full knowledge that America no long had the backs of him and his beleaguered people.

Now, a year-and-a-half further on down the road of war, Zelenskyy, the actual warrior who fights along side of his troops, persists - and Trump still stands yelling on the sidelines demanding that Zelensskyy fight that war on his (Trump's) terms.

The Ukrainians have built a mighty drone force and they are using the new age technology to their strong advantage by blowing up Russian oil refineries and data centers.   (Some of the data centers are supposedly involved in producing propaganda meant to interfere in US elections.   Neither of those military objectives pleases Trump who is trying desperately to bring down the price of fuel before the mid-term elections, and who has personally benefitted from Russian election interference in multiple election cycles.  Fuel costs went through the roof after Trump sent US bombers to attack Iran, and now he is trying to blame those high prices at the pump on Zelenskyy and his freedom fighters in Ukraine.  

Less that a week ago, Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" in Russia's war on Ukraine, meaning that both sides would lay off of hitting energy resources - such as oil and gas refineries.  He made that announcement without agreements with either warring party, and while both talked as though they would honor it, Russia immediately resumed full scale bombing - and Ukraine followed suit yesterday.  Nobody was listening to Trump as he tried desperately to fix the gas price crisis that he had caused.

Putin was wrong about Ukraine - he could not just waltz in and take it.  Trump was wrong about Ukraine - he could not use economic pressure to force it to submit to his pal in Russia.  Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukranian freedom fighters stood tall and resolute, in their camos, and, against all odds, they and their people are winning!

And for that, the entire free world should be saying "thank you!"

Slava Ukraini!

(The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.  Support the good work of the International Criminal Court!)

"Steak and Shake" Comes and Goes

by Pa Rock

Small Town Foodie

When I left my small Missouri hometown (Noel, Missouri, population 800 on a good day) and moved to the thriving metropolis of Springfield, Missouri, to begin what would become the better part of a lifetime as a college student, I was a fish out of water, overwhelmed at the glitz and awesomeness of the city.  I literally thought I had died and gone to the Big Apple, fully expecting to run into Johnny Carson or Buffalo Bob or some other megastar on the street.  Springfield was alive with an intoxicating mixture of new places and people to experience, and this country kid from the hills of McDonald County was eager to wallow in it.

I lived in a dorm and was poor - and many of the guys I met were of limited means as well - so a room in a dorm, shared with a stranger, was as good as it was going to get, at least for a couple of years.     (Many of the young men from wealthier circumstances were living in apartments or frat houses - or going to going to big universities, but for a hick from the sticks who had to hold down a part-time job just to meet living expenses, a shared room in a building packed with other wide-eyed, pimply-faced misfits and armed with a meal ticket to the cafeteria was as good as it was going to get - at least for awhile.

It seems like the cafeteria fed us three times a day, six days a week, with only breakfast and lunch on Sundays - and busy young men tended to also get hungry at times when the cafeteria was closed, so most of us quickly scoped out the other local eating options.  Springfield was a BIG city, over twice the size of Joplin, and when I moved there in the fall of 1966, I believe "the Queen City of the Ozarks" had THREE "McDonalds" (compared to Joplin's one) and a "Griff's."  It seems like burgers (without cheese) were 17 cents at one of those places - probably "McDonalds," and the other undercut them with fifteen-cent "bargain brgers."  (I worked at a local movie theatre on weekends and the "Griff's, "a popular franchise at the time, was within walking distance, so that's where I often ate.   Joplin had a "Griff's," too.)*

Then, like now, basic survival took careful planning.

On those rare occasions when times were flush, such as with the arrival of unexpected cash from home, the eating experiences would improve.  A place that fit that bill was the local "Steak and Shake," at the corner of St. Louis and National.   I happened to notice a few weeks ago that it is still there and open for business.  The grub was pricier there, but not prohibitive if you were having a good money week, and they had tables and counters for sit-down service where people and even college students could dine while watching the traffic pass by on the busy street - or diners on the go could opt to "Takhomasack" of steakburgers and fries along with a delicious hand-dipped shake.  

Four or five years ago the big news in my current community of residence, West plains, Missouri, was the arrival of a "Steak and Shake."  A perfect location was available along one of our busier drags, Preacher Roe Boulevard, where an old motel had been torn down,  but the owner of the land couldn't reach an agreement with the investor who wanted to put in the "Steak and Shake," so the money man selected a spot one block behind the busy street and hoped the reputation of "Steak and Shake" would be enough to lure customers to his slightly more remote spot.    (The land man on Preacher Roe sold his prime spot to a car wash.)

The new food place, "Steak and Shake," was predictably swamped with business for a couple of months after opening, but then it began tapering off - and it wasn't too long until people started to forget about it as an option.  Then this week I noticed that the West Plains "Steak and Shake" has closed.

I am sad.  My misspent youth is fleeting.  I wish I had taken a few more sacks of steakburgers home to enjoy, and slurped down another hand-dipped shake or two.  I will miss that local "Steak and Shake," just as I am missing my misspent youth!

*Having not personally seen a "Griff's" in the past fifty years or so, I assumed the franchise was extinct, but a few minutes of research this morning informed me that it is still alive and flipping burgers in Texas, particularly around the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and a few of its franchises can be found in Louisiana.  A plain "Griff's" hamburger now is up from fifteen cents to $2.49, and the price of a plain "McDonald's" hamburger varies but with a more-or-less standard price of around $2.19, up significantly from seventeen cents.

I blame Trump.

Coming soon:  A Ramble posting entitled "Pa Rock Remembers when 'Big Macs' really were BIG!"  Watch for it!

I blame Trump for that, too!

In fact, while I am in mood for it, I think I will blame Trump's sputtering economy for the closure of the West Plain's "Steak and Shake,'" too.   His mismanagement and inattention to the economy was undoubtedly a contributing factor.

But heck, we're getting a ballroom - and maybe an arch, too!

Stuck in the Middle

 

(Editor's Note:  My good friend, Ranger Bob, and I are having a political disagreement over tent sizes.  Last weekend he sent a response to two postings of mine which have appeared here over the past couple of months and were both directed at Democratic political strategist, James Carville:   "Don't Let the Tent Flap Hit You on the Way Out, James" which ran here on June 26th, and "In Praise of Big Tents" which I posted in this space on October 2nd.  Bob's response arrived in my in-box on October 4th, and I am happy to share it here today.  What he has to say is well reasoned and researched, but I remain bull-headed and quite content to wait patiently in my extremely large tent with the open flaps for the crowd to gather.  Ranger Bob and I invite anyone with strong opinions on the matter to step into the conversation by submitting a reply to today's posting. ~ Pa Rock)

Stuck in the Middle

by Bob Randall

Clowns to the left of me.  Jokers to the right.

My Overton Window excludes the extremes of both sides.  An Overton Window is a range of political ideas and policies that are generally acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time.   I'm hereby shrinking it down to a one person idea.  This is about my Overton Window.

Our primary system of choosing candidates is from the right half of the right half and the left half of the left half of the political continuum.  That has led to more and more extremes.  When, and if this pendulum swings, it will probably swing through my window toward the other extreme without stopping.  We need a better system.

One of the candidates who won in New York's Democratic primary for a congressional seat, Darializa Avila Chevalier, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). (1) She has said that she wants to abolish prisons, policing, and all deportations.  She supported the October 7 attack on Israel.  She thinks we should seize the means of production, and has called for nationalizing utilities, pharmaceutical companies, and seizing all properties from landlords.  Her beliefs and policies are outside my Overton Window.  Fortunately, I don't have to vote for her, but since I'm not moving to New York, I won't get the chance to vote against her either.

So, do the Social Democrats see themselves as part of the Democratic Party?. No!  Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair of the NYC Democratic Socialists of America says, (2) "We're using the Democratic Party as a ballot-access vehicle, not because we share its goals.  We build our own organization, get elected under the Democratic label, caucus with Democrats when it's useful, and push our own agenda from the inside.  We see the Democratic establishment as an obstacle, not a home."  When someone tells you who they are, believe them.  They are not the left-wing of the Democratic Party.  They're the clowns.

Our host and my good friend, Pa Rock, has said in part, (3)"I use public utilities every day - electricity and water, and I still avail myself of the US Postal Service - and use the programs of our local senior center that is funded, at least in part, by our government.  So much of my life . . . is provided with the aid of a government that is funded by all of us."  It's a socialist operation . . .  "   Rock, I disagree.  Socialism is when the government or workers own the means of production.   These are services that may or may not be found in any country in the world no matter what their stripe is.    Rome had public roads and a water system.  Rome was harrdly socialistic.  Hitler had no problem with Germany having public roads or a postal service.  Not all utilities are operated/furnished. by the local government.  Many places in Missouri are serviced by Ameren or one of many other private company utilities.   In my hometown we first got electricity through a private company, but it was not profitable enough to expand to the surrounding community.  A co-op of private individuals formed to fill in that loss.  You may argue that your city of West plains owns the means of producing electricity and therefore, socialism.  I argue that these things are not socialism.   They tend to fall into categories where private ownership was slow in developing so the government stepped in to fill the gap.  In deference to Pa Rock, I doubt that he is on board with full socialization  as both Gordillo or Chevalier are.  Some things may sound good but the Devil is always in the details.  When James Carville said that the DSA didn't belong in the big tent of the Democratic Party, Rock disagreed.   I think Carville was right.  As far as Mamdani attending the 9/11 event, it would be inappropriate not to because of his political position.  Carville wasn't accepting the mayor into the tent.  When he talks about a big tent, he is being partisan.  I'm not a Dem or a Repub, I'm an Independent who has vowed never to vote for a Repub in a general election because of the way Repubs handled the January 6 aftermath.  I did vote for one in a primary in the hopes of getting the more moderate Repub on the ticket which surely will be the winner.  That's why I try to tie this idea to my Overton Window instead of  a big tent which can be thought of as generally referring to a political party.

As for the jokers:  MAGA is to fascism as the DSA is to socialism.  I pause here to point out that I did not write that they are Nazis nor did I say that Trump is Hitler.   Nazism was a form of fascism is and Trump is aspiring authoritarian.   MAGAns don't think of themselves as fascists and they're not trying to emulate Nazism.  In fact saying that MAGA is fascistic in a bar down in Texas will get you in a world of hurt.    Let's define that "F" word and see if it fits.  (4) Fascism is a collection of extreme nationalism (Dept of War), opposition to democracy (January 6 and recent efforts to block mail-in voting and a federal attempt to control the elections, social hierarchy, scapegoating (blaming minorities), dictatorial powers, and (3) "the state controls the economy, society, and media.  Private businesses exist only if they support the government."  DJT uses the government to fight with private businesses and media that don't support him.  Do I have to give more examples?   MAGA may not have gone completely fascist but it leans heavily that way.  MAGAns would call me a liar.  They don't see it in themselves.  Let me add this, MAGAns are Republicans, DSA is not part of the Democratic Party.

Well, here in my part of Missouri, I won't have to vote for a DSA candidate.  They'll never get on the ballot here, not in my lifetime anyway.  However, they have gotten on the ballot in some places and they mostly add ammunition to the MAGAn arsenal of mudslinging.   My choice will be to vote for some Democrat who doesn't stand a chance or I can always write in Pa Rock's name.  Very few of the candidates are in my Overton Window.  I never thought I would be in the same tent as James Carville.  To finish the song that the first line of this essay started, "I'm stuck in the middle with him."

1 (Roughly quoted from
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2026/06/25/a-bull-goose-looney-one-of-the-three-mamdani-endorsed-democratic-socialists-who-will-likely-be-in-congress/)
2 https://x.com/NotTheirScript/status/2069913469009178762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2069913469009178762%7Ctwgr%5Ec40f94e185730294337c00b85f33f0ea2f5ebc91%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwhyevolutionistrue.com%2Fpage%2F2%2F
3 The Ramble, June 26, 2026
4 quoted from a Google search for fascism

(Follow Up:   My friend has put an abundance of time and thought (and effort) into his defense of political party purity and small tents - and a proper response would require more time and mental strength than I currently possess, so I will bookmark it and try to get back soon.  Democratic Socialists may not be card-carrying Democrats (and neither am I), but they do work in close contact and cooperation with those who profess to be "regular" Democrats, and progressive ideas and ideals are shared freely among the two organizations.   They are "democratic" enough for me.  If Donald John McCarthy wants to get red-in-the-face and fill his diaper while yelling that "Democrats are communists!" let him.  Name-calling and sleaze-slinging should not be allowed to slow the long march to freedom or the quest for a perfect society.    

In the meantime, if anyone else would like to wade into this discussion in favor of either-sized tent - or some other option, pull up a keyboard and join in.  We welcome fresh blood!)

Olive Is Fifteen!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

My oldest granddaughter, Olive Noel Macy, is fifteen today.  She is a very young sophomore in high school, having skipped a grade a couple of years ago, already driving and has her own car - and is a good student, hard worker, student activist, and social butterfly.    Olive is a very well-rounded young lady!

Olive attends a large high school in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, a place where an older cousin of mine graduated nearly seventy years ago.  I will think of Cousin Jack when I am at Olive's graduation a couple of years from now.

I wrote about Olive in this space last February when she and several hundred other students from her school held a student "walkout" in support of their immigrant friends who were living, and still are, in abject fear of the ICE gestapo.    Those young people recognized an important injustice that was being inflicted on their friends and school and community, so they took to the streets to do something about it.   My granddaughter and her activist fellow students make this old man feel proud and give him hope that America will once again resume the long march toward social justice and liberty for all.

Olive, life rushes by too darned fast.  Enjoy being fifteen - every minute of it!   Pa Rock and Rosie wish you the absolute best of everything!

Webpage Update for New Ozark Genealogy Resource

by Pa Rock

Computer Novice

Several days ago I reported in this space that Chat GPT and I are working together on creating a webpage to act as a collection point for the expansive pile of materials related to my family history that I have assembled over the years.  The books, charts, notes, and odds and ends were getting out of control.  We are still working on the page, but it's basic bones are up and I am beginning to sort materials onto them.  As soon as it is ready to share I will share the web address in this blog.  

Among the items included will be the five-year collection of my weekly newspaper generalogy column from the 1980's - "Rootbound in the Hills" - fully indexed, three extensive collections of biographies of members of some of my larger family lines, all of which originally ran in "The Ramble," again indexed, as well as my family tree (searchable) from Ancestrty.com, currently with over 5,000 entries.

MY major lines in addition to MACY, include SREAVES, ROARK, NUTT, PRITCHARD, SMITH, SCARBROUGH, RUTLEDGE, and dozens more.

Most of my forebears were parked in Newton and McDonald Counties in Missouri for decades, so this work will have a wealth of genealogy information related to that corner of the Ozarks.

Hoping to publish within the next month.  Stay tuned!

Coming in December: Pentagon Pete's Snuff Porn

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

 

Pentagon Pete Hegseth, God's personal choice to take charge of the United States military and rid it of "wokeness" (also known as "humanity"), announced this week that when the Army executes former Major Nidal Hasan at Ft. Hood, Texas, on December 3rd,  the event will be live-streamed to drooling hordes of justice-seekers - a public execution.    Hasan, a psychiatrist who murdered thirteen people in cold blood while he was serving at Ft. Hood, was himself wounded in the shooting and is paralyzed from the waist down and dependent on a wheelchair for mobility.

The last legally sanctioned public execution in the US took place in Owensboro, Kentucky, in August of 1936 (90 years ago) when a young black man was hung for murdering and raping  an elderly black woman.  An estimated 20,000 spectators gathered for that event, and many remained after the hanging to enjoy the food and drinks provided by local vendors.

The last execution carried out by the US Military was a hanging of a young black soldier convicted of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl while serving overseas.  Private John Arthur Bennett was hanged on April 13, 1961, three days after his 25th birthday.  His execution was not a public spectacle.  Private Bennett was the son of sharecroppers and an epileptic who had only completed fourth grade.   He had an IQ of 67.

(Today it is rumored that some people who harm children face no consequences whatsoever.)

The last time the US military used a firing squad as it imposed a death sentence was on Private Eddie Slovik, a soldier who was convicted of desertion during World War II and executed by firing squad in France on January 31, 1945.

US military executions are traditionally carried out behind closed doors within military facilities, rather than as public spectacles.  Civilian executions in the United States are carried out in death chambers at prisons rather than in town squares or at community carnivals.  Public executions are generally the stuff of two-bit dictators in authoritarian countries, people who feel a constant need to demonstrate their power over others.

On Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. (CST) former Army major Nidal Hasan will be wheeled into a public setting where the cameras will be rolling as he and his wheelchair are turned to face the firing squad, and his life is brought to an end in a burst of gunfire and spray of blood.

Ratings should be off the charts!

And after the villain has been killed, and our blood lust sated, Americans can go back to the serious business of trying to survive in a failing economy, and Pious Pete can resume his holy quest to scour the military of immorality.   Surely he will be able to find a drag show somewhere to crusade against!

Camp David by the Sea?

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist 

In what smells like a bid to keep profiting from the presidency after he leaves office, Donald Trump this week began floating the idea of turning one of his Florida properties into a presidential retreat similar to  Maryland's Camp David.  In fact, the current bug that Trump has up his butt is more than just an "idea," he already has lawyers working on the scheme.

Trump has never expressed any love for the rustic and woodsy Camp David, which doesn't even have a golf course.  How can a president be truly relaxed and at ease without eighteen holes of exquisitely landscaped beauty and a platoon of flunkies rushing about in pursuit of his golf cart?

Trump sees his "Camp David by the Sea" being housed on his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, and his lawyers cite the location's benefits as being the major aset.  It is two minutes from "President Donald J. Trump International Airport" (formerly Palm Beach International Airport), and future presidents flying in and out of there would keep Trump's name and image in the public consciousness for  years, and perhaps generations, to come.

Trump wants this deal so badly that he is even volunteering to pay for the upgrades to the property that would make it suitable for a presidential retreat, bless his heart.  (Of course, with the money Trump has raked into his own pockets and those of his family members during his presidency - over two billion dollars and counting - he could afford the turn the entire city of Miami into a presidential retreat!) 

But who are we to judge Trump's many fortuitous business decisions and thousands of lucky investments?

And the love and good fortune (income) that this new project would bring to Miami and the Trump family would be untold and monumental, giving wealthy, tanned Floridians one more long and pleasant opportunity to pick their government's pockets before the whole area submerges beneath the rising waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

I only see one minor problem with your grand plan, Dough Boy:  who would use it?  Certainly none of the living former presidents would ever set foot on one of your projects because for the past decade you have repeatedly degraded and debased each of them.   Michelle Obama even skipped Jimmy Carter's funeral just so she wouldn't have to sit next to you.  They don't like you - and you will be leaving the presidency under such a cloud of disgrace - and in such a confused state - that the next several presidents, of either party - will avoid even the most casual mention of your name.

You are toxic, Donald.  Your "brand" has become little more than a stench.  Mama can tie a pork chop around your neck, but the dog still won't play with you - and neither will America's future leaders.

Your days as an aberration in the annals of American history are fast coming to a close.  You might want to have Natalie check on the suitcases because it's almost time to start packing.  You are going to leave the presidency, Donald, it will happen - and you won't be able to take it with you - not even in the guise of a presidential retreat.

The graffiti on the granite helipad as Marine One lifts your saggy old carcass off the White House lawn for the last time will read "Goodbye and good riddance!" 

And the United States of America will heave a mighty sigh of relief!

Who Will Apologize to Christa Pike? What Will They Say?

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The state of Tennessee tried and failed to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike on Wednesday, September 30th.  The failed attempt to kill the murderer was a messy process from start to finish.  The state had to give her two supposedly lethal doses (4 syringes) of the fatal injection drug, pentobarbitol - and still she survived and woke up in a state of angry confusion six days later days later.

Christa Pike was Tennessee's second failed execution in the past four months.  Convicted murderer Tony Carruthers woke up after the state also tried for over an hour to execute him.  The execution team working on Christa Pike  took more that two hours in attempting to kill her, only to fail.  A medical malpractice lawsuit filed by Tony Carruther's sister claims he suffered a brain stroke as a result of the state's effort to put him down, and that he is now partially paralyzed.    Christa Pike's lawyers report she is suffering from swollen arms and hands, as well as severe burns and blisters from the caustic execution drugs.  Pike emerged from her six days on a ventilator "angry and confused."

Ms. Pike is reportedly being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the premier medical facility in Nashville.  Tennessee at least got that right.  And Governor Bill Lee has placed a moratorium on state executions through the end of the year, so that, too, is a small step in the right direction.  But beyond those quick nods to humanity, where does the state of Tennessee, and indeed the United  States of America, go from there?  Will we learn anything from these bizarre cruelties and move to finally put this era of state-sponsored barbarism to rest?

Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have abandoned the cruel and unusual practice of state-sponsored executions, but the punishment is still exceedingly popular in the American South, particularly among White Christians.  Florida is in first place this year with 16 executions so far, and Texas, which committed it's 7th execution of the year yesterday (a 46-year-old black man named Jamaal Howard), is in second.  Last year Florida posted a record annual high of 19 executions - and since the US Supreme Court lifted its temporary ban on executions in 1976, the three top leaders are:  Texas (602), Florida (141), and Oklahoma (132).

The barbarism of capital punishment needs to end, but a few states will cling to the amoral practice until the US Supreme Court finally intervenes and forces them onto the path of righteousness.  

But, in the meantime, Governor Lee, who is going to apologize to Christa Pike for the physical harm that she suffered as the state of Tennessee tried and failed to exact revenge for a crime that she committed more than thirty years ago as a high school student?  Will that be you, governor?  Will you bring her flowers?  What will the card say?  "Whoops" or "Our Bad"?  

What will you say, Governor Lee?

What should each of us say?

Los Angeles and San Diego: A Small Price to Pay?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I TOLD YOU SO YESTERDAY!    In fact, I even titled yesterday's post:  "Grandpa has  Gone Off the Rails" because with each syllable that slides down the drool from Donald Trump's mouth, it is more and more obvious that he is detaching from reality.  Bizarre statements weave their way through what should be carefully prepared and delivered presidential addresses, while millions of hard-working Americans go about the business of just getting by each day while pretending the emperor is not naked and that what he is saying is important and makes sense.

Yesterday when I was speaking with genuine concern about the mental stability of the President, I was not even aware of his comments the previous evening at a campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, where hs seemed to be offering Iran advice on American cities it could target.   Trump's underlings and supporters immediately went into damage control and claimed his remarks were "misinterpreted" and "taken out of context."  Meanwhile, Trump's critics saw what he had said as being deranged and dangerous.

In talking about high gas prices, a topic of concern for most Americans who drive to work each day because there are damned few public transportation options at the local level in the US, Donald Trump said these words to the assembled crowd in Grand Island:

"Remember, with the war, it's just artificial.  It's a little bit high.  It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.  They can take out a city.  Let them take out Los Angles, let them take out San Diego.  This is a very small price to pay."

Trump's apologists counter that he was trying to weigh the price of gas against a nuclear holocaust that he envisions could have occurred if he hadn't stepped up bravely and attacked Iran when he did in order to halt its nuclear research program - pay more for your gas today and California will be safer tomorrow.

Yeah, right.  Whatever.  Others heard something else entirely.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump's remarks "deranged and dangerous," and Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles characterized what the President of the United States had said as compromising local safety and threatening American lives.  San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said that "SanDiego is not collateral damage, we are not expendable, we are never a small price to pay."   The San Diego mayor went on to demand that Trump "keep our city out of your reckless war talk."

If Trump was trying (ineptly) to show that his war and the unfortunately higher gas prices were, in the long run, protecting American cities, it is significant that he chose the two largest cities in California as his examples, an area of the country that he has disparaged ad nauseam in the past.  He could just as easily have said Tulsa and Mobile, or Dallas and Little Rock.  But, no.  If your words might ultimately be seen as a specific challenge to the enemy, why not go for the gold and name two cities that never vote for you anyway?

Accusing Donald Trump of babbling incoherently and having no control over the words he spoke on Monday evening in Nebraska would be kinder, in fact, than assuming he knew exactly what he was saying.  He was either sitting out in the twilight zone somewhere picking daisies, or he was giving voice to a long-simmering disdain for two major cities in a country that he is supposed to be running.  That's not how leadership should be operating.

The United States needs a leader who doesn't speak gibberish - one who knows where he is and what he's doing - and what he is saying.

25th Amendment now!

Grandpa Is Off the Rails

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump appears to be more untethered from reality with each passing day as Americans stand by bewildered, staring at their feet, and trying not to pay too much attention to the actual words coming out of his mouth.  He is our batty old grandfather who is lost in the mists of his glory days and vocalizing whatever thoughts, or fragments of thoughts, that happen to pop into his mind.    But he is also an important person, a world leader who has immense power at his fingertips, so we have to show respect and act like we are following whatever spaghetti noodle of a thought that is dropping from his mouth, and try not to to laugh, or cry, as we continue to stare at our feet.

Last Saturday at a campaign rally at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, an event that he lied about and described as "totally maxed out" with "thousands" being turned away at the doors, there was a prolonged episode where Trump's brain seemed to loose its connection to his mouth as he spoke to the partially-filled auditorium.   Trump was trying to speak on the subject of "inflation" when his ego took over,  and he instead decided to emphasize just how smart he actually is. 

 
Unfortunately for Trump, he was successful in that endeavor.   The President of the United States said:

"I know more about inflation, I know more about everything than anybody in this room.  Anybody anywhere in the world.   Well, there's a woman sitting right over there.  She's a housewife but she's very good.  She's got a natural instinct for business.  She perhaps knows more than I do but I actually don't think so."

I am a couple of years younger than Donald John, but well within the age range most people regard as "elderly."  If I were to make a statement that incoherent in the presence of my primary care physician, he would probably walk me to his clinic's lab to draw blood so they could check my med levels - and then schedule a cognitive abilities test, a real one - and finally call for one of the kids to come drive me home.

But Grandpa Donald yammers on, all day (when he's not napping during high-level government meetings), and often late into the night as he posts AI memes to social media where he depicts himself as superheroes, warriors, and religious and divine figures.   Perfectly normal stuff - for life at Shady Pines!

Grandpa needs an office visit with my doctor.   America is in a dangerous place, and it needs a Congress, or a Presidential Cabinet, that will step forward and do its job for the security and benefit of the nation.

And now, if you will excuse me, Pa Rock is heading to the county courthouse to vote early where he will cast his votes to try and make things better.   It's the least I can do, but I will do that - and YOU should, too!

Single-Wide Trailers: Today's Log Cabins

by Pa Rock

History Buff

Back in the 19th century when my great-great-grandparents and all their neighbors were using mules harnessed to plows to till the soil and plant crops that would sustain them and their livestock through the winter, politicians running for high office, and especially those seeking the presidency, often used a claim of being born in a log cabin to show their connection to the hard-working agrarians who were taming the savage land one plowed row at a time.  History tells us that seven of the 45 individuals who served as President of the United States actually began their lives in log cabins:  Andrew Jackson, Zachary. Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and James A. Garfield.

Today there is a modern equivalent to being "born in a log cabin" that politicians are beginning to use.  Some are proudly boasting of "growing up in a single-wide trailer."  For those unfamiliar with life in a trailer (a.k.a. mobile home), know that their styles, quality, and level of comfort vary widely.  Some offer nice living arrangements, especially big, spacious double-wides, but the single-wides are usually found down at the cheap end of the trailer park, and living in a single-wide often connotes an existence closer to the poverty level.

I bring up the subject of single-wide trailers today because my congressman, Rep. Jason Smith (R, MO), mentioned in his weekly email newsletter this morning that he grew up in a single-wide trailer, a boast that he occasionally trots out.  Congressman Smith, who had a balance north of $5 million in his primary campaign account in mid-July of this year, has likely reached that sweet spot in life where he knows he will ever have to live in a single-wide trailer again - yet it is nice to have it as a connection point when visiting with folks back home who will never have their own single-wide trailers paid for, much less have money in the bank.

Break out those weekend blue jeans and hit the coffee shops, Jason.  We all know you're the spitting image of one of us.  And if running for higher office at some point is on your bucket list, that shtick about growing up in a single-wide trailer should be a real vote-getter.  Everybody loves a good rags-to-riches story!

Another Election Bribe is in the Mail, Almost, Maybe

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Americans who don't realize the power and value of voting have not been paying attention.  Donald Trump is slinging plenty of cash our way to make democracy worthwhile for everyone, and not just the hogs at the trough in Washington.  Of course there is a catch - because there always is.  Trump has promised to send every adult American $5,000 if (and only if) Republican's maintain control of the House and Senate following next month's midterm elections.

So, America, if you could use an extra $5,000 ($10,000 per couple) to finance your on-line sports betting or food for your children, the surest way to make that happen is to vote Republican.  The are only two problems with that get-rich-quick scheme:  1.  Trump does not have the power or authority to keep his BS pledge, and 2. Trump's lips were moving when he said it, which means he was lying anyway.

He's talking about purchasing our votes, and we can use that extra money to put gas in our cars and food in our bellies (both of which are higher now because of Trump) and go to work, and pay taxes so that we can get on the internet and see pictures of all the gold bling that Trump has strewn about the Oval Office.  Its good to know that somebody benefits from the taxes we pay.

If you are a fan of high gas and grocery prices and rent - and endless war - and a President whose primary diplomatic skill is throwing a tantrum, then of course vote Republican - just don't expect Trump to follow through on his $5,000 bribe because it won't happen.

He was lying, just like he lied about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) rebate.  That promise of a $5,000 cash payment based on the money DOGE was going to save Americans was never funded, approved, or sent to Americans.  But while ordinary Americans may have seen no benefit whatsoever of the government shedding thousands of essential employees, Trump and Elon Musk, who ran the DOGE program, managed to neuter plenty of government watchdogs and the IRS so they and their rich friends could keep more of their money - so it wasn't a complete wash.  The rich got richer even if the rest of us didn't.

And who could forget the other big, beautiful money lie that Trump laid on us:  the $2,500 rebate that we would all receive to make up for the higher prices on almost everything that Americans had to pay as a result of Trump's vindictive and mean-spirited tariffs on imports from the rest of the world?    Americans paid those tariffs themselves at the checkout registers at places like Walmart and Dollar General, but when Trump was finally ordered by the courts to refund his ill-gotten gains, the money was dispersed to the companies that imported the goods, and not to the consumers who ended up paying them - and most of the companies kept their nice bonuses.  Everyday Americans were screwed again!

Now Trump has made another promise, one that he may actually be able to fund.  In order to take some heat off of the high cost of medical treatment, Daddy Warbucks says he is going to send every American participant in Medicare Part B, the portion of the Medicare program that covers things like doctor's visits, ambulance service, and lab tests, a one-time payment of $90 to help offset the cost of their premiums.  And although his earlier promised payments for DOGE and tariff rebates have been smoke in the wind, Trump says he will get the $90 out in the next few days.

Ninety dollars will buy (just barely) two tanks of gas for my little Kia Soul, or it could buy a week's worth of groceries (just for myself), if I am very, very frugal.  But I will take it, Donnie, and I will damed sure remember you on election day and pretend that you are on the ballot (as you have encouraged us to do), and will cast my vote accordingly - even if it does cost me five thousand imaginary dollars!

$90 won't buy my vote, and neither would five grand!

Enjoy your Democratic Congress, Blowhard.  I know I will!

Tennessee Torture

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Twenty-three US states and the District of Columbia have completely abolished the death penalty, but America's bloodlust still surges across much of the nation, particularly through the the deeply red and staunchly Christian American South.  Twenty-nine people have been executed in the United States during 2026, including one each in Arizona and Tennessee, 2 in Alabama, 3 in Oklahoma, 6 in Texas, and 16 in Florida,  

Eight more executions are scheduled in the United States before the end of the year:  3 in Texas, 2 in Florida, and one each in Alabama, Indiana, and Oklahoma.  Tennessee also had one execution planned during that three-month period, but that one is now on hold because Governor Bill Lee paused all executions in the "Volunteer" state for the remainder of the year.  

Governor Lee paused Tennessee's execution calendar because of the mess his state made of the attempted execution of 50-year-old Christa Pike this past Wednesday.    After two failed attempts to kill the prisoner with a lethal injection, the state gave up the effort and rushed her to a hospital where she has remained comatose and on life-support.

Ms. Pike, who would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years, has been a prisoner in the Tennessee penal system since her senior year in high school when she killed a classmate.   Her defense team describes her as a victim of child rape, and they have also stated repeatedly that she has a blood disorder that would make the process of a lethal injection very difficult to carry out.  Nonetheless, the state of Tennessee proceeded with the effort last Wednesday, flaunted the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution which bars "cruel and unusual punishment," and charged ahead with their effort to terminate the life of the prisoner - twice.

What happened in Tennessee this week was more than just cruel and unusual, it was sick and barbaric.  The governor was right to pause the process until the end of the year, and hopefully he will keep it paused until his state can figure out how to humanely kill a person.  Perhaps if everyone in the state prays hard enough, Christa will open her eyes and rejoin the land of the living, and then the state can try again.

The ugliness of what happened in Tennessee this week should shame us all.  It is well past time for the United States of America to end capital punishment and get out of the business of killing people.

In Praise of Big Tents

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Each presidential administration seems to leave  a person or two behind to mark its passing.  Trump One saddled us with Steve Bannon (when he wasn't serving time in prison), and several of Obama's aides and speech writers went on to form Crooked Media which produces some of America's best left-leaning podcasts and newsletters.  George W. Bush left behind his chief political adviser, Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove, as a keepsake of his administration.   Rove is back in Texas now, but his presence is srtill felt on the national scene as he pens a weekly op-ed for the "Wall Street Journal" and functions as a regular contributor to Fox News.

But it is the administration of Bill and Hillary Clinton which interests me today.   Not only did they leave behind George Stephanopoulos who has gone on to become a prominent personality at  ABC News for almost three decades, their administration was also responsible for the irascible James Carville, an American  southerner, born and bred, whose drawl remains so thick today as to render much of what he says as almost unintelligible.  

James Carville, who will be eighty-two in a couple of weeks, grew up in a rural Louisiana community that was named after his grandfather, and he found his true calling working in political campaigns.   After the Clinton's left Washington, DC, James Carville remained active on the fringes of the political scene by writing books, appearing at campus events, and being a ready resource when someone needed an entertaining figure to speak on the topic of politics, and particularly on the subject of Democratic politics.  He was not a wallflower destined to fade into the back pages of a scrapbook.   Carville's joyful outspokenness seemed to keep the "ragin' cajun" relevant across the decades and presidential tenures.

I hadn't thought of James Carville in a while until a few weeks ago when he made news by "ragin'" about a small spate of "Democratic Socialists" who had just had a good Tuesday at the polls.  James was incensed, and he expressed a strong feeling that the "Socialists" who referred to themselves as "Democratic Socialists" were going to be the ruination of his party.  And while he loudly declared that they disassociate themselves from his Democratic Party.   Carville went on to suggest that if the danged Socialists did not leave the party, he would consider doing so himself.   Carville was pissed and he didn't care who knew it.

My own feeling was that the Democratic Party should be a "big tent" affair open to anyone,  I decided that since James Carville seemed to be representing the opposite point of view, rather loudly, that maybe it would behoove me to find out more about what was shaping his perspective.   I found a podcast that he was doing with former Wall Street Journal reporter  and television personality Al Hunt, a program called "Politics War Room," and listened to a few episodes.  I quickly found that Carville, an old man like myself, was  being bull-headed and fighting change - things of which I myself have been accused.  Carville understood the big tent philosophy and was even supportive of it, but he did not want those people in it.  His opinion was set in cement and coated in armor!

But just a month or two later, James Carville is showing clear signs of evolving on what looked like it was becoming his signature isssue.  

In a September episode "Politics War Room," Carville cut loose with a string of colorful expletives while talking about Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and later a close adviser to Trump.   James was angry with Giulaini because the former mayor had voiced an opinion that the current mayor of NYC, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, should not be present at the 9/11 commemoration ceremony.  Carville, when he finally quit cursing, went on to condemn Guiliani's obvious Islamaphobia and, while admitting that he did not agree with the current mayor's politics, nevertheless understood that he was doing a "fairly good" job as mayor.

If James Carville can show that much movement toward expanding the size of the Democratic tent in just a few months, there is hope that others who recognize our desperate national circumstances may also flex and bend toward a growing tolerance and acceptance of people whose views we do not yet fully appreciate.

If the goals of the Democratic Socialists generally align with the goals of "regular" Democrats, pull that tent flap open and invite them in - and if Donald Trump gets red in the face and looks as though he is on the verge of having a stroke as he yells "Communist!" at the people in that crowded tent - let him yell.  Trump is the one hobknobbing with with the world's most corrupt and dangerous Comunist leaders - and even the MAGAts are beginning to realize that.

If an octogenarian like James Carville can mellow and change with the times - so can we all.  And just for the record, one of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's biggest fanboys is turning out to be Donald John Trump!

Open hearts!  Open minds!  Open tents!

Pentagon Pete's Lean, Mean, Christian, White, Male Fighting Machine

by Pa Rock

Veteran

When it comes to crafting the world's finest and fiercest fighting force, Pentagon Pete, today's military equivalent of Wile E. Coyote, knows exactly the type of troops he wants to see standing tall (and lean and mean) in its ranks:  able-bodied, young, Christian, white men who are oozing testosterone, a sea of pretty faces atop hard bodies who know how to fill out a uniform.   Fatties, gays, racial and ethnic minorities, women, and other misshapen heathen can go fight for Canada.   When Pete's "men" march at the head of the parade for the Second Coming, they will be in pitch-perfect lockstep and appearance - and Pete will be shirtless, in olive-drab gym shorts, jogging beside them.

What a glorious day that will be!  

Yesterday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with 600 junior officers (O-3) and enlisted leaders (E-6) where he delivered a "State of the Force" address at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.  Word had gone out ahead of time that commanders were to send only sharp-looking personnel to the event, the same requirement that had been in effect for military invitations to Trump's birthday cage-fighting event.

While speaking yesterday, the Defense Secretary announced a 20% leadership cut that would focus on generals and admirals, the introduction of a new drone warfare command, the planning of a new military base, and a partnership with tech leaders like Elon Musk for development of a new generation of weapons.

(Giving Musk access to US military weapons development?  What could possibly go wrong?)

Hegseth also had this to say about the department he fancies himself to be creating:

"We are no longer the woke department or the weak department.  Simple translation of that:  No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals.  Just warriors.  Just tough, ready, committed troops!  The ideological clowns are out.  The patriotic cowboys are in with testosterone testing on top!"

Hey, Peter Perfect, project much?  Does your definition of "radicals" include those lunatic "Christian nationalists?"  Probably not.   

Pete, I realize you are a proud member of the Trump administration, and I am also fully aware of that group's open disdain of science and research, but as a fellow human I feel an obligation to share with you some scientific research on the subject of testosterone that I found on the internet through the use of Artificial Intelligence, a scientific and engineering development the Trump administration does support.

First, with your announced plan to test the testosterone levels of all male troops, you should know that an increase in testosterone will not only serve to increase aggression in military combat situations, it will also increase the chances of physical aggression toward domestic partners at home.  The men become more deadly fighters - on the battlefield and around the house.

And second, an increase in testosterone from an outside source correlates with a decrease in testicle size.  When the brain recognizes higher than usual hormone levels in the blood, it stops producing signaling hormones that tell testicles to work, and an atrophy occurs with testicle shrinkage often between 15 and 50 percent.

With the military's penchant for naming all big maneuvers, Pete, perhaps you could call the mandatory testosterone testing and subsequent treatment "Operation Balls to Marbles."  Just a thought.

As someone who has spent several years both in uniform and working as a civilian for the military, I wish you no success in your effort to dismantle a system that has worked well for more than two centuries, but I take comfort in knowing that in a little over two years, you will be unemployed and the US military, whatever is left of it, will be marching onward.

Perhaps you should look at opening a modeling agency in your next life, Pete.  You might be good at that.

US Government Funds Domestic Propaganda

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump's popularity is going down faster than the Titanic, yet the hoary old politician clings to the false hope that its not too late to reverse the mess that he put himself into before the midterm elections - which are now officially less than five weeks away - with many parts of the country already voting.  Donald's false hope is his life raft, and it's sinking, too.

Trump's latest ploy to confuse the public about his abysmal record in office is a series of patriotic commercials that are airing on Trump-friendly media.  The ads focus on Trump and feature clips from his speeches and past campaigns overlayed with text promoting his "achievements" while in office.  They are pure political fare designed to fire up Trump's base and get them to the polls on election day.

But Trump and his political geese are referring to them as "public service" messages, claiming they are educational and informational in nature.

If Trump or his sugar daddy billionaires were paying for those advertisements and being honest about their purpose, they could be seen as "speech" by outfits like our "fair and balanced" US Supreme Court.  The ads would still be viewed as controversial, but they should pass a judicial smell test.   But even though Donald Trump is sitting on a political bankroll of $200 million (most of which was donated by his billionaire buddies as they buy access to the President and his powers), he appears to be saving that cash for his old age, and is instead paying for his purely propaganda commercials with OUR money.

You read that right.

Each of these self-glorifying, butt-wipe films ends with the tagline:  "Paid for by the U.S. Government."

According to confirmed news reports by major news organizations, money for the ads (millions of dollars) was taken from allocations intended for US Customs and Border Protection, one of the few government entities that the Trump administration notoriously overfunds.  But regardless of which pocket it comes out of, it's still OUR money and it is being used for political purposes and to make a mentally unwell geriatric feel better about himself.

The fact that the commercials post a boast about being paid for with OUR money is a thumb in the eye to wage-earning, taxpaying Americans.  It's an elderly man standing atop a 250-foot arch flipping double birds across the nation and roaring, "I am America and I will spend MY money however I damned well please!"

This taxpayer objects!  If Trump wants to inflate his own ego, let Elon do it.  We've blown him long enough.