Ben and Me Fifty Years Later

 

by Pa Rock

Student of History (and Literature)

At the time of our nation's"Bicentennial," the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1976, I was a 28-year-old young adult who had already begun checking many of life's important boxes.  I had graduated from high school (check), completed a four-year college degree (check), served in the US military (check), married (check), and started a family with one child who was almost three and a second who would arrive five months later (check).

Having completed four years with the US Army just over a year earlier and learning, the hard way, that a BA degree in history was essentially worthless, I was back in college at the time of the. Bicentennial seeking a teaching certificate, with a high school classroom being the most logical place to put all of that history knowledge to work in a job that would actually pay the bills.  

The nearest college wads fifty miles from where we were living, and my wife and I would often find ourselves wandering around campus waiting on the other to finish classes.  Not wanting to "waste" my time on campus when there was so much left to learn, I would fill holes in my schedule by taking elective courses, something that would count as a credit for the BS in Education that I was pursuing or some which migh be helpful in raising young children.   One of the "minors" of my initial degree (the one in history) had been English, and I was particularly  drawn to literature classes.  By the time I finished the requirements for the education degree, I was certified to teach not only history (and social sciences), but also English (including literature) as well.  Surely to Pete I could find a teaching job somewhere with thaat background!

Two of the elective classes that I took during that stint in college as I worked to complete my second degree were "Children's Literature" and "Adolescent Literature."  The professor of one of those classes - I don't remember which - had a monstrously long-term assignment for his students to read a great number of children's bookss - it seems like the number was 100 or more - and then to write brief reports of just a couple of paragraaphs on each.

On July 4, 1976, while watching my two-year-old son and a neighbor girl play outside in a kiddie pool, I worked diligently on that assignment by reading the entire novel, "Ben and Me" by Robert Lawson.  I'm not sure why I remember that, but I do.   A few days ago I decided that it might be fun to repeat that same activity for out nation's 250th anniversary - so I did!  Neither my fifty-two-year-old son nor any of the lovely sTRUMPettes living on our country lane wanted to splash around in a kiddie pool while I read, so I conducted the activity on my own.   It was the first time I had tackled that material in fifty years, and again, as with the first time, I enjoyed the tail tale of Amos the Mouse and his doddering and inept friend, Benjamin Franklin.

(I learned a few years after that initial reading that Ben Franklin and I were relatives, 1st cousins, ten times removed - Ben's maternal grandparents (Peter and Mary (Morrill) Folger of Nantucket were my 10th great grandparents on my mother's side of the family.)

The late Robert Lawson, the man credited with writing and illustrating this fine, and very short (116 pages) novel, admits in the forward to the book that it was actually written by a mouse named Amos who lived and traveled in Ben Franklin's fur hat.  In the 1930's remodelers had come across the tiny manuscript  in a small room (18 inches by 18 inches) beneath the hearthstone of an older house in Philadelphia.  Mr. Lawson said that he had the manuscript carefully authenticated - the age of the ink and paper, and the fact that the writing was actual mouse script, and then decided that it merited publication.  Unfortunately, the publishing company did its work in such a way as to make it look as though the actual creative effort was that of Mr. Lawson instead of Amos, the rightful author.

I was familiar with the work before reading it in 1976.  Disney had turned the material into a two-reel cartoon feature in 1953, and it played on the Sunday night Disney television program.

The book highlights Amos and the role he played in several important phases of Dr. Franklin's life, including supplying Ben with some of the wording for the original text of the Declaration of Independence which Amos obtained from Red, the radical mouse who traveled in Thomas Jefferson's saddle bag and who had done much of the original writing of the Declaration himself - something I did not know until Amos shared it in his book.  Amos also recalled the inventor phase of Franklin's life and what went into the creation of the Franklin Stove as well as his interest in lightening and electricity, something which almost resulted in poor Amos getting fried during a particularly harsh storm in which he was riding in a special viewing compartment beneath Ben's kite.  Amos also traveled with his human friend to France after America's War for Independence where he (Amos, not Ben) was instrumental in helping to foment the French Revolution.

Amos led quite the life, and Benjamin Franklin was fortunate to have had him around as a friend. close advisor, and biographer.  Amos witnessed so much of our nation's early history from his peephole in the front of Ben Franklin's fur hat, and he had the courage and tenacity to preserve it for us enjoy and learn from centuries later.

Right now my plan is to read "Ben and Me" again of July 4th, 2076, our nation's "Tricentennial," but in the unlikely event I don't happen to be around, I challenge at least one of my children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren to read it for me!

The challenge has been issued.  Don't disappoint Pa Rock - or I'll send a mouse to deal with you!

Sebastian at Nineteen

by Pa Rock

Proud  Grandpa

My second oldest grandchild, Sebastian Files, is celebrating his nineteenth birthday today.   He is a native of Arizona, but grew up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest (Oregon) with his parents, Scott and Molly, and two younger siblings, Judah and Willow.   Last year, after graduating from high school, Sebastian left the family nest and relocated to the Kansas City area where he now lives and works.

One of Sebastian's primary strengths, at least from this old codger's perspective, is his ability to hold a job, not necessarily a common trait among young people.  He had a job in the fast food industry in Oregon while he was in high school which he maintained until he moved out of state, and he has worked at a grocery store, sometimes in a managerial capacity, in the Kansas City area since arriving there last year.  When I discuss his work with Sebastian, he always responds in positive terms - again, a trait which is not universal among young people - or old ones either!  My grandson seems to have figured out that having a positive attitude will make the work day a better experience and help maintain long-term employment.

Another strength of my 19-year-old grandson is that he is one of the most safety-conscious drivers with whom I have ever ridden.  He has a nice car and seems intent on keeping it that way.

Like many young people, Sebastian is also focused on his toys, but his major interests and purchases are of the fitness variety.   He has high quality and expensive bicycles and a kayak - all of which get plenty of use and help to keep him healthy and in good shape.

I'm proud of my grandson and wish him fair skies and a continuing smooth ride into adulthood as he sets out to conquer the world.  Have a great year and a wonderful life, Sebastian!

America 250 and Other Stuff

 

by Pa Rock

Semiquincentennialian

Happy semiquincentennial everyone!  The celebration of our nation's 250th birthday got off with a bang last night in my neighborhood as the dogs and I hovered inside the house listening to what sounded like a combat scene from "Saving Private Ryan."   Rosie and Gypsy were scared of the gunfire they were certain was occurring just outside the walls of our fortress, and Pa Rock was fearful his drunken neighbors would set the woods on fire with their firecracker bravado..  It was truly a night to remember!

Billionaire entertainer Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs football star Travis Kelce will remember last night for a more personal reason.  They were married yesterday evening at Madison Square Garden in New York City (by comedian Adam Sandler!) and (presumably) spent their first night together as husband and wife.

(Okay, I am now officially in "Ramble" mode!)

I saw a clip from singer, songwriter, and social activist Dolly Parton on social media yesterday where she acknowledged and thanked Taylor and Travis for their $2 million donation to her "Imagination Library," an early childhood literacy program that mails free, high quality, age-appropriate books every month  to children from the time they are born until they turn five-years-old.  Dolly gushed with gratitude as she acknowledged and thanked the happy couple.  (Hey folks, Dolly's program is open to everyone, regardless of income level.)

Taylor and Travis made $26 million in charitable donations yesterday to more that twenty causes across the country.  Recipients included organization working with children, such as the one run by Dolly, food banks, and animal rescue operations.  One of their donations was to Children's Hospital in Kansas City - where Travis plays professional football for the Kansas City Chiefs and the couple reportedly own a home.  (As a former child protection worker with the state of Missouri, I have had many interactions with Children's Hospital of Kansas City.  It is a top flight organization that will put the donation to good use for the direct benefit of children.)

Elon, what have you done for anyone lately - or ever?

In other news, ICE reportedly arrested 10,000 immigrants during a five-day period at the end of June.  Clearly America's underbelly survives and still poses a deadly threat to our immigrant friends, work colleagues, and neighbors.

The thought occurs to me that I have personally been riding the planet for almost a third of our nation's history.  Oh, the things that I've seen - most of which I've already blogged about here!

I was here (well, actually in Noel, Missouri) for our nation's "Bicentennial,"  or 200th birthday party in 1976, - a 28-year-old father of a 2-year-old son who would turn three within three weeks, with a second child on the way.  I marked the day by doing something I had never done before, or since, and remember well the thrill of accomplishment that followed.  Today I am going to repeat that endeavor, and I will likely write about it in this space on Monday.

So have a rockin' Fourth - and if you happen to be in Washington, DC, avoid the National Mall and its overheated MAGA cultists like the plague - and DO NOT pee in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool no matter how much it looks and smells like an Okinawan benjo ditch!   (If you do, masked ICE goons or bored National Guard Reservists will likely arrest you for sex crimes and you'll finish off the holiday weekend picking cotton in South Sudan!)

Enjoy your day - and do something memorable so that you can blog about it in fifty years!  Happy Fourth of July!

In Praise of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama

 

by Pa Rock

Patriotic American

(Note:  Today's blog posting was intended to be focused on the ways Trump has actively sought to control and spoil our nation's celebration of its Semiquincentennial, but I got distracted early on and meandered into a forest of presidential trivia.  Suffice it to say that I strongly dislike the way Donald Trump has co-opted this holiday and celebration and used it to glorify himself.   As to the meandering, I guess that's why this blog is called "The Ramble."  Happy Fourth! ~ Pa Rock)

Tomorrow marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of our nation's Declaration of Independence.  The day's formal title is the "Semiquincentennial."  Tomorrow also marks the 200th anniversary of the deaths of two of the more prominent signers of that historic document:  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.  John Adams went on to become the new nation's second President, when running in 1796 as a "Federalist" he defeated Jefferson (who was running as a Democratic Republican).  Jefferson, who placed second in the electoral college vote, became Vice President in the Adams' administration, and four years later, in 1800, Jefferson defeated Adams in the Presidential election in the electoral college.

(In an unanticipated constitutional quirk, Jefferson tied with his own Vice-Presidential running mate, Aaron Burr, in 1800, and after Burr decided that, yes, he, too, would like to be President, the matter had to be settled by a vote in the House of Representatives - which Jefferson won.)

Adams and Jefferson did not get along well during the years they both served in George Washington's administration and later during their own years as President.  Adams promoted the concept of a strong federal (central) government, and Jefferson, a southern slaveholder like Washington, thought primary power should reside in the states.  That political divide still exists in the nation today, though the adherents to each view have taken several different labels over the past 250 years.  Today people who favor a dominant federal government tend to call themselves "Democrats," and those pushing for more power at the state level are often "Republicans."  (From the Civil War until the 1960's, those labels were basically reversed with Democrats favoring states' rights, and Republicans, the party of Lincoln, backing a strong federal government.)

The two early leaders who died 200 years ago tomorrow, Adams and Jefferson, patched up their animosity toward one another after leaving office and moving home.  During their final years they became quill pals and enjoyed a close relationship through written correspondence.  Both obviously worked at "hanging on" until the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, and as John Adams passed away at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts at around five in the afternoon on July 4th, 1826, his final words were "Thomas Jefferson survives."   But John Adams was wrong.  Jefferson had passed away at Monticello, his estate in Virginia, just after noon on that same day, and word of his demise hadn't had time to reach Adams.

Two elderly politicians, poles apart in their political philosophies, yet inextricably bound in their hopes and aspirations for the new nation which they helped to found and build.  

Those of us of a certain age can remember our nation's 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was known as the "Bicentennial."  The United States had a different vibe in 1976 compared to the noise it makes today.   Then, like now, there was a Republican in the White House, but Gerald Ford was a different species of individual than the one who lives there now.  He was a dedicated family man with a personable wife and four teenage children residing with him in the White House.  Ford was known (perhaps unfairly) for being awkward, clumsy, and often ineffectual as a leader, but he got America through the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and the (basically forced) resignation of his predecessor in the White House, Richard Nixon.  People liked Gerald Ford and they felt he had the nation's best interest at heart.  

Gerald Ford certainly had political differences with Jimmy Carter, the Democrat who defeated him in 1976 and was the next President, but interestingly, after the two men left office they became close friends, much like the closeness that developed between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

More recently the Republican George W. Bush and his wife Laura, and the Democratic couple who followed them into the White House (back when it was still intact), Barack and Michelle Obama, are also becoming close, climbing over those pesky party lines to form friendships.

Donald Trump, who doesn't play well with others, takes great pleasure in publicly berating his presidential predecessors, due, no doubt, to his own massive insecurities - and the former Presidents, in a more dignified manner, tend to ignore him as much as they can.   Civility still has a place in modern society, just not at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Donald, I doubt that you have any Former President buddies after you leave office.  They fly commercial and are basically nice people - so you would have little in common with any of them.  

Oh, and shame on you, Donald, for making the Semiquincentennial all about you.  Gerald Ford had the good sense not to interfere with the Bicentennial, and it was exceptional.  But Ford, of course, was presidential and a good-hearted human being.

Number 7,000 Slides by Unheralded

 

by Pa Rock

Relentless Scribe

A major milestone for Pa Rock's Ramble went unnoticed on Tuesday, the day before yesterday, when this exhausted old typist pounded out the daily edition of this ball-and-cbain that I call a blog.  That entry, the one about Texas forcing public school students to read passages from the Bible, was entry number 7,000 in this pile of writing.

The Ramble was first published on Sunday evening, November 4, 2007, from the apartment where I was living at the time in Goodyear, Arizona.   I was bored and decided it would be a good opportunity to learn something new - so I sat down at the computer and taught myself to blog.

That initial offering was a clever (IMHO) political piece titled "Obama '08," in which I promoted my advocacy for a young and energetic US Senator from Illinois by the name of Barack Obama to be elected President in 2008 - and that joyous event occurred exactly one year later on Tuesday, November 4, 2008!

I like to think I put Obama over the top.  I like to think a lot of things.  Many days I write about whatever I happen to be thinking.

Over the years as I struggled to come up material for The Ramble that would interest others, the subject matter for my essays has grown to enompass not only politics, but also personal writings (stories, poems, family histories, and sometimes even old college assignments), personal travel experiences, stories about my kids and grandkids, tales of family pets and farm livestock, and all manner of curiosities which I felt deserved to be archived and saved for future generations to enjoy.  I have also shared this forum with a few old friends over the years for them to air their personal tales and frustrations.

There were a few days in the initial year of The Ramble when I failed to post anything, but by the time the second year rolled abound my OCD had taken a firm grip and an entry was appearing every day - and some days there have been multiple entries.  (The only exception occurred a few years ago when some senior bastard from Google pulled one posting that had run several years earlier due to a reader complaint - and the corporate bureaucrat then threatened to shut me down - but I'm still here, and he probably is, too - but somewhere an arc is slowly bending.)

If any of my descendants ever wonder what Pa Rock was really like, my life is on full display in mind-numbing detail at Pa Rock's Ramble.  Stop by again - any time.  If I'm still upright and riding the planet, I'll still be typing!

Obama, '28!

Profiteering from the Presidency

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The act of "profiteering"generally refers to trying to make a quick buck or excessive profits by taking unfair advantage of a shortage of goods or an emergency situation.  When Donald John returned to the White House for his final term a year ago last January, he probably saw the limited number of days that he would be able to sit on his political perch and snatch and grab based on his power and position in American government as an emergency.   And while Donald John has done little that will benefit ordinary citizens during this term, he has managed to stuff his pockets with more than a billion dollars.  

In a financial disclosure report filed with the US Office of Government Ethics last week that covers the first year of his second term,  Trump reported the sale of tokens related to the family's crypto business at between $500 million and $590 million for the year, and meme coins and digital trading cards generating around $635 million.   (That's over a billion dollars with just tho two revenue sources, and there were plenty more.  (Trump watches, anyone?  Or golden sneakers?  Or cologne and perfume? Or country clubs and golf courses!)

Trump says he doesn't take a paycheck from the government.  That may be, but he is doing quite well financially by virtue of his position in the American political system nonetheless.  Donald John is getting his while the getting is good!

Trump's financial report to the US Office of Government Ethics was 927 pages in length.  The one filed by Joe Biden during his last year in office was 11 pages, and Obama's final financial disclosure as President was only eight.  The one JD Vance filed was 17 pages.  Thirty-nine years down the road when he's the age Trump is now, it will probably be longer.

The presidency needs to be about governing and making the lives of ordinary Americans better.  Its function should not be to generate personal wealth.  It is a leadership post, not aa profit-center.

Texas Students: Thou Shalt Read Thy Bibles

 

by Pa Rock

Retired Educator

This week the Texas State Board of Education mandated a required reading list for students in grades K-12 of the state's public schools, a list which includes specific passages and stories from the King James version of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.  The forced proselytization will be in effect across the entire state and impact over 5.5 million young people by the start of the 2030-2031 school year.

According in information available on-line, the biblical instruction will include:  picture book versions of stories such as "David and Goliath" and "Daniel and the Lion's Den" in the early elementary grades, New Testament passages about Jesus in 4th grade, excerpts from the sermons of Jesus in middle school, and specific Bible verses mandated to pair with classic literary works for high school students.  

Yesterday three well dressed, exceedingly polite young men came to my door to discuss Christianity through the lens of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I neglected to ask them, but I am sure those well mannered lads would like to see their Holy text, "The Book of Mormon"  (aka "Another Testament of Jesus Christ") included in the Texas state required reading list as well.  "The Book of Mormon" has some tales which would surely benefit the children of the Lone Star State.

And the Quran, the Muslim holy book, also has stories that roll off the tongue like the finest European literature and capture the most vivid parts of the Islamic culture and history. 

There are undoubtedly many Morman and Muslim children in the public schools of Texas who would like to share their religious history with their classmates.  And the Bagavad-Gita, the holy book of the Hare Krishnas.  A young lady with a tambourine handed me a copy at an airport once and it made my travel experience just fly by!

Texas knows that sloshing some religion into the curriculum of their public schools can be a very uplifting and moral experience that will save their students from a life of sin and debauchery.  Just ask the state's attorney general.   But they also understand that it has to be the right flavor of religion - and material that will not interfere with the football program.

Yee-haw!

Coolest Mayor Ever!

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

On January 1st, 2025, one full year before he was sworn in as the Mayor of New York City, mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani showed up the the annual "Polar Bear Swim" at Coney Island and went for a dip in the Atlantic Ocean wearing a business suit.  His swim was a real crowd pleaser, something that highlighted him as a man of the people, a person who was willing to suffer personal discomfort for the benefit of his city.

Last Saturday Mayor Mamdani went for another swim, this time at a public pool in the Harlem section of Manhattan - and he again jumped in wearing a black business suit and tie.  It was the annual opening day of the city's pools, and Mamdani splashed around in the water with dozens of others, kids and adults, like seals at a birthday party.  A great time was had by all, especially Hizzoner, the Mayor of New York!

The mayor quipped on social media later in the day regarding his formal attire at the pool party.  "Well," he noted with a straight face, "the invitation said to bring a suit."

Zohran Mamdani is obviously having a great time in his role as mayor of our nation's largest city, and the residents of his city are experiencing a great time under his leadership.  Saturday's swim came on the heels of an announcement by the mayor that he had convinced the city's Rent Guidelines Board to freeze rents at 0% for one and two-year leases on approximately one million units. The new freeze will run from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 - and it fulfills one of the new mayor's major campaign promises.  Now more people will be able to stay in their homes without fear of having their rents jacked up by greedy landlords and soulless rental  companies.

But that's not all.  Good news seems to be emanating from the Big Apple almost on a daily basis.   Fox News spent the entirety of 2025 warning the nation that crime would increase drastically under Mamdani, and the opposite quickly proved to be true.  Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as Mayor of New York City on January 1st, 2026, and since that date crime in the city's five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island) has dropped more than 10 percent.  Murders ard down over 20 percent (102 for the first five months this year compared to 129 at the same time last year), and that is an all-time low for the first five months of any year - with the previous record being 113 in 1014 and 2017.  Crime rates are also down in the city's subways and public housing projects.

Obviously there are many factors at play with a decrease in crime, but one overarching factor is likely to be the the pride and enthusiasm being generated by the city's new and very aggressive young mayor - a man who says what he intends to do - and then does it!

Zohran Mamdani, coolest mayor ever - whether he's in the pool or not!

Sully's New Fishing Buddy

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

Sully, my 10-year-old jet-setter grandson, had barely unpacked from his birthday fishing trip to Colorado when his parents hustled the family off for another short getaway - this time to St. Petersburg on the Gulf Coast of Florida.   It was one more opportunity for my laser-focused-on-fishing grandson to hone his skills with a rod and reel - this time in the beautiful Gulf of MEXICO.   Sully's older sister, Olive, snapped the following photo of her brother and his new friend fishing beneath a pier.  The friend was undoubtedly on the lookout for any small catch that the young fisherman from Kansas tried to throw back.

Pa Rock hopes they both had a good day fishing!

Sullivan Macy dips a line in the Gulf of Mexico

June 2026

Vance Minimizes Watergate

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

US Vice President JD Vance seems to finally have settled on a political role model in life and is beginning to transition out of the enormous and wobbly shadow of Donald Trump and into that of former President Richard M. Nixon.  Trump, who doesn't seem to have ever been much of an actual fan of Vance, has, of late, begun to demean his Vice President in public settings and say things that might lead an honorable person resign,  but neither Vance nor his mentor, billionaire Peter Thiel, would ever consider entertaining that option..

Trump's primary sustained insult toward Vance has been to openly suggest that he is considering others to endorse as his successor in the presidency, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has become the person Trump most often brings up as an alternative to a Vance candidacy.   In their brilliant new compendium of the first year of the second Trump presidency, a book titled "Regime Change," New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan recount an incident in which Trump asked media mogul Rupert Murdoch at a private dinner last October (in front of Vance and Rubio) to rate the two men against each other - undoubtedly an awkward situation for everyone in the room - except for Trump who has no feelings.

Murdoch responded (with both Vance and Rubio sitting in the room listening) by calling Rubio "brilliant? and saying that Vance had "the potential to be great."  Ouch.

Some of Trump's problem with Vance seems to be rooted in the fact that JD was never as enthusiastic about Trump's war on Iran as Trump felt he should have been.  Now that the war effort has stalled and is falling apart, and the US is in full withdrawal mode, Trump has made JD Vance the face of the surrender that Trump is trying to pass off as some ssort of victory.  Vance didn't like the war effort, and now Trump wants him to own its failure.

But Vance's situation is even more complicated than all of that.  In the midst of everything else, he is on tour trying to sell his new book, "Communion:  Finding My Way Back to Faith," in preparation for a presidential run that will begin eearly next year - and perhaps against Rubio in the Republican primaries.  Vance, a poor public speaker, has already had several embarrassing encounters with the press while promoting himself and his book, including one with the ladies of "The View" who almost ate him alive, and each day of the book tour seems to bring more headlines, often some that may play against the potential presidential candidate's long-term interestss.

This past Thursday at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, Vance took the opportunity to compare himself to Richard Nixon, saying:

"Young senator, vice president, writes some best-selling books, is hated by the media."

A rather good summation, I thought, until he dropped a nugget that choked the horse - and chose to minimize the Watergate scandal, the story that eventually forced Richard Nixon to become the first, and so far "only," person to ever resign the office of President of the United States.   Vance said that if the same story (of the Watergate burglary and the President lying to the nation in an effort to cover up his administration's participation in it), came to light today, it would disappear after one 12-hour news cycle.

And you know what?  I think he's right.  We have become so jaded to presidential corruption happening right out in the open during the Trump years that Americans have lost the ability to be shocked and shamed.  With the Trump administration, corruption is what they do, it's their way of life.  It's a rare day when one presidential scandal manages to consume a full news cycle before it is overrun by another.

Only one scandal has managed to survive throughout the Trump years, and that is the one where our government is lying about and hiding the Epstein files.  That damned thing just WILL NOT go away - will it Donald?  

If JD is right, and again, I think he is, about the public's inability to maintain an interest in a major scandal - and his assertion that today, in these modern times, public interest in Watergate would have faded after just twelve hours, imagine how unbelievably huge the Epstein saga would have been if it had played out fifty years earlier.  Hundreds would have been jailed, thousands of careers ruined, multiple governments brought down, billionaires arrested, and even the House of Windsor might have fallen.

We are no longer shocked by the rich and powerful behaving badly, squandering our natural resources and buying "toys" like mega-yachts and private jets while children go to bed hungry every night - but there is still one moral barrier standing whose breach we will not tolerate - and that is child rape.

If Watergate would have been little more than the equivalent of a pimple on the ass of society today, the Epstein saga would have been a quadruple limb amputation back in 1972.

Thank you, JD Vance, for helping to show us how god-awful the Epstein mess truly is.  Maybe Trump will assign you the task of cleaning up that one, too.

Don't Let the Tent Flap Hit You on the Way Out, James

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Democratic Party loudmouth, James Carvville, who likes to be known as the "Ragin' Cajun," got himself in the news this week by spewing another buttload of his elitist crap on a podcast.  The former adviser to Bill Clinton became famous more than thirty years ago for sticking a small, handwritten sign in an office window that reminded us what the 1992 presidential election was really about.  Carville's famous message:  "It's the economy, stupid!"

The man's instincts were good.  He could see the future and smelled blood in the water, and his man, Bill Clinton, went on to defeat incumbent President George H.W. Bush that November.   

But today James Carville is older, 81, and he has that cranky old man thing going on.   The danged kids better get the hell off his yard!  While James undoubtedly still has a large, steaming pile of political knowledge under his chrome dome, even he should be able to sense that the times they are a changin'  and his hard-forged worldview no longer overlaps perfectly with political reality.

James Carville is currently cranked over the fact that a Democratic Socialist Mayor of New York City endorsed three candidates for Congress  in last week's state Democratic primary, and all three won, with two defeating incumbent Democrats who were backed by the state's political machine.  Two of the candidates also identified as "Democratic Socialist."

Dag nabbit, James ain't having none of the democracy stuff that don't go his way!  Instead of cheering on the new and dynamic next generation of political leaders, James Carville thinks his party and country would be better served if the Democratic Party had itself a "schism," or split into two pieces with HIS people, the real Democrats, remaining Democrats, and the Socialist Democrats going to a different tent and forming their own party apparatus.  He suggests the "Democrats" negotiate the terms of a schism with the Democratic Socialists in the party.   I suggest he take a chill pill and go fishing.

Carville noted that the Democratic Party had always been known as a coalition, a "Big Tent" party, but added:  "There's just some shit I can't be in the same tent with."  So he wants the new blood, the young people who are actually winning, to leave HIS tent.  Barring that, James says he's out.

Well, James, I'm an old man, less than three years younger than you, and it's MY tent, too.    I like the youthful enthusiasm, energy, new ideas.  It's time for you and me to stand aside and give them room to organize and lead.  I'm damned glad to see the young folks doing their work in OUR tent because without their energy and focus on the future, our party will simply decay, like our bodies, and become just so much dust in the wind.

James, if you are too calcified to change with the times, then by all means go someplace and do what you need to do, but don't expect me to tag along in your quest to keep the world from changing.  We both know that a "socialist" is not a "communist," so quit trying to parrot Donald Trump and accept the fact that much of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, Great Society, and New Testament were socialist endeavors, and that they each helped to make America a more tolerant, caring, stronger, and better nation.

I like social security and I'm glad I have that socialist benefit.  I like Medicare, federally insured bank deposits, publicly funded roads, hospitals, and schools.  I use public utilities every day - electricity and water, and I still avail myself of the US Postal Service - and use the programs of the local senior center that is funded, at least in part, but our government.  So much of my life, and yours, James, is provided with the aid of a government that is funded by all of us - it's a socialist operation and young people from Democratic and Republican households are recognizing that there is nothing wrong or immoral about people taking care of each other under the auspices of government.

I like seeing OUR money spent on meeting the needs of people, and I don't like seeing it spent on supporting genocide or wars that defy commonsense or explanation - or grand ballrooms!

And James, I also like seeing young winners pump new life into OUR Big Tent!  I like that a helluva lot!

Elderly Man Gets Early Access to Weight-Loss Drug

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company has reportedly developed a new weight-loss drug that is so effective in burning body fat that people are already clamoring for it - even though the drug is still in clinical trials and not available to the general public.  (I say "general public" because in a socially stratified society such as ours, money and position buy special access to everything from amusement park rides to Presidential pardons.  People are always buying their way to the front of the line.)

The weight-loss wonder drug is called Retatrutide and commonly referred to on social media as "Reta."  It is already the subject of a fast-growing black market trade, some of which is counterfeit and even dangerous.

On June 23rd (last Tuesday) the internet site, STAT News, ran a story about a 79-year-old male who had been granted "compassionate access" to Reta in April of 2026, years before it was likely to be available to the general public.   The reporter from STAT, Lizzy Lawrence, said that the elderly man had applied for the "compassionate use" designation through a program offered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an organization that is part of the executive branch of the federal government - and ultimately under the control of the President of the United States.

Ms. Lawrence speculated that the person who received the special permission was possibly Donald Trump - who used that same process during his first term to gain early accesss to a COVID drug.   STAT and several news organizations made inquiries with the White House as to whether it was Trump who had been given the "compassionate use" designation for early access to Reta, but their requests for information were swatted away with suggestions that they take their questions to other government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Finally, after it became apparent that the story wasn't going to quickly disappear, White House spokesman Kush Desai went on Twitter and denied the secret patient was Trump, and then, in typical White House fashion, attacked the original reporter, referring to her as a "gossip columnist."

Reporter Lizzy Lawrence said she based her speculation on three factors:

    1.  High-level personnel were used to process the request whereas normally lower level employees would have handled the request.

    2.  When Eli Lilly offered this drug for the "compassionate use" program, they provided very little    information - and it was offered on a "single patient" basis when obesity is a common medical issue.

    3.  Trump had used the same process to gain early access to a drug during COVID.

The patient's medical justification for being allowed to take the drug before FDA approval was that he had the following conditions:

    1.  Refractory obesity.

    2.  Obstructive sleep apnea.

    3.  Pulmonary hypertension  (high blood pressure in the lungs).

In the event that the reclusive elderly patient turns out to have been Trump, the justification given for his use of Reta is some of the most revealing medical information that has been released on him to date.

Here are a couple of additional factors related to Donald Trump's obesity which are worth noting in this space.    In January of this year Trump told a reporter for the New York Times that he has never taken GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy, though he admitted he "probably should."  And in their new book, Regime Change (out yesterday - and Pa Rock already has his copy!),  New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan describe Trump's bedroom in the White House thusly:    

"A nighttime snacker, the President would frequently leave an array of empty potato chip bags, Starbucks wrappers, and ice cream cartons in the trash, or on the floor." 

The old man is eating ice cream in bed and then throwing his trash on the floor!   It's gonna take more than a wonder drug to trim that pork chop!

Algae Qaeda Is Winning

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One week ago today I posted a piece in this space ridiculing Trump's failed attempt to refurbish the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.  At that time Trump's recently renovated pool, which had been pointed "American Flag" blue, had succumbed to an invasion of algae, as had been predicted by people who study actual science, and was once again as green as the grass at his Bedminster golf club.   Trump's big spenders in the White House had inflated the cost of renovation from just over a million dollars to just over fourteen million dollars - and then awarded a no-bid contract to a sketchy crony of Trump's with a criminal history.and two federal convictions.  Birds of a feather - and all that jazz.

During the intervening week since that first Reflecting Pool posting in this blog, the condition of the pool has worsened, Trump has been making deranged claims of vandalism to the pool - without, of course, any evidence to back up those spurious assertions, the National Guard had been called in and armed Guard troops in uniform have been posted around the pool where they stand in the hot sun, evenly spaced,  and wonder how their military careers could have sunk to this level, and a half-dozen or so people have been rounded up and arrested for either looking at the water in the pool or actually sitcking their hands in to see first-hand what all the fuss is about.  Trump, who is not a judge nor even a lawyer, is roaring about giving those "vandals" prison terms of ten years each.  Today the Department of the Interior is erecting a fence around the Reflecting Pool, making the entire scene even more unsightly.   

Trump has gone into full-fascist, mad-king mode.   His National Guard contingent is being referred to derisively in social media as "Sealant Team 6," and noted as fighting "Algae Qaeda."

The thick blue seal that was painted onto the bottom of the pool and was supposed to last for years appears to be disintegrating.  Trump has said that someone has ruined it by pouring chemicals into the water, though the pool is monitored by video cameras 24/7.  He has also said that someone cut a  250-foot gash in the thick seal on the bottom of the pool, and he later increased that blarney to a 300-foot-gash, and most recently to a 350-foot gash - though there is no evidence that any gash exists.

Trump, the stable genius who selected the no-bid contractor, now says the pool will be drained so the algae can be removed for a second time and the pool scraped and repainted, also for a second time.

The man who freed and pardoned every single cretin and criminal who busted their way into the Capitol on January 6th, attacked and injured police officers, destroyed property, and smeared shit on the floors and walls of that historic building - that man, Donald J. Trump, is threatening arrests and prison time for people whose only "crime" was sticking their hand into the Reflection Pool to see for themselves what a chronic liar has been railing about.

It is time to quit dealing with Donald Trump by looking the other way.  He grows more erratic and dangerous by the day - and he needs our full attention now.

Obama Center Beckons

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

My sun is setting, I know that, and with each passing day the shadow of my accomplishments in life lengthen less and less while the steps that I have yet to trod and which lie before me also diminish.  I have an informal bucket list of things I would still like to accomplish, "informal" meaning it's in my head and not written on parchment somewhere, and almost all of those goals involve either writing and having my many projects completed, saved, and easy to access for my kids and their kids - or travel, places I would still like to visit.  A couple of my travel destinations are to exotic locales that I am unlikely reach at this stage of my life, but one is in the midwestern United States and very doable -  the Obama Center in Chicago - and I have every intention of making that one happen.

Barack Obama and his family opened the Center last week, to the VIPs on Thursday along with massive media coverage, and then to the general public on Friday, Juneteenth.  Public tickets to visit the center are already sold out through November 30, 2026, and tickets for beyond the end of November will not go on sale until July 8th.  Just gaining admission to the center will be a challenge that will likely exceed the degree of difficulty in getting from West Plains, Missouri, to Chicago.

I did ride past the Obama Center two years ago just before the Democratic Convention plopped down in the same city.   My niece was providing a tour of Chicago and we drove by the structure which at that time looked to be about half-finished.  It was obvious from our drive-by that the completed structure was going to be massive and architecturally unique.  

The Obama Center is a stunning monument to an equally stunning presidency.

I was able to watch many of the speeches on Thursday as the Center opened for the VIP crowd.  It was a very inspiring day.  Four Presidential couples were there:  Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe and Jill Biden, George and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.  The camaraderie between the four couples (three Democratic and one Republican) was inspiring, showing America that we can heal and get past the deep partisanship ushered in by the Trump circus.  The cross-party friendship, particularly between the Obamas and the Bushes, brings to mind the friendship between the Republican Fords and the Democratic Carters after they were each out of the White House.  

The Trumps had not been invited.  With the abuse that Donald Trump has heaped on the former Presidents and their families, neglecting to invite him was totally understandable.   The day had a special vibe, one that Trump's presence would have significantly altered or killed.  

It's not realistic to spend everyday being the neighborhood dick and then expect to get invited to the block parties.

But I digress.

Pa Rock can't wait to visit the Obama Center.  Maybe he'll send Trump a postcard from there and show the old criminal what he's missing!

The Dietary Wisdom of RFK, Jr

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

For those who plan to stumble through Washington, DC, this summer to see the sights during our nation's Semiquincentennial now that Trump has spent piles of our money getting everything gilded, painted, or just dolled-up with his name emblazoned n it, here are a few things to check if you suspect you may have spotted a Cabinet secretary or other Trumpian star.

First notice gender and skin color.   Members of Trump's inner circle and Cabinet are more likely to be male and white than in any other recent presidential administration.  So far during his current administration Trump has replaced three cabinet members and his Director of National Security, all women, with (at least on a temporary"acting" basis) all white men, which most of his cabinet members and closest advisers were to begin with.

Second, take a gander at their shoes.  Trump wears  $145 Florsheim Cap Toe Oxfords, and he is so proud of that choice that he has given the same style of shoes to many of the males with whom he works closest.  A dead giveaway that some guy is in Trump's inner circle is if he is wearing the Florsheims and they don't fit properly.   The boss didn't ask about sizes before ordering the surprise gifts - apparently thinking he had a "gift" for guessing the right size - and when the lucky lackeys unwrapped their surprise shoes in his office, they instinctively knew to put them on and carry their old ones out.  Some were too tight to walk in while others flopped around like beach shoes, but wear them they did.

And now a third way to discern Trump's main sycophants from mere mortals seems to be arising.  If you are too close for comfort, and it happens to be meal time, check their plates to see what they are eating, or if no food is around but you are still within germ-jumping distance, try to catch a whiff of their breath.  If your prey is eating sauerkraut or kim chi, or smell like they have been, they may well be people who regularly crowd around the enormous oval table in the under-sized cabinet room to watch Donald sleep.

RFK, Jr, the nation's Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and all-around health nut, has created his own version of something generally referred to as a "sour meal plan" or a "sauerkraut diet."  The plan focuses on fermented vegetables, like sauerkraut and kim chi, along with grass-fed beef, as well as breads and waffles made from sourdough.  Yummy!   Kennedy, who reportedly carries his own supply of sauerkraut around with him and has a penchant for roadkill, says that he has lost 20 pounds and 40% of his visceral fat from the diet. He is so happy with the results that he is promoting it among the other Trump stooges.    So far Vice President JD Vance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and former US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have joined the fad.

So, if you have a figure like me or Donald Trump and an adventurous spirit, you might want to give the sour meal plan a try.    Sauerkraut on a sourdough waffle for breakfast would probably kill the urge to eat breakfast and the next several meals.  Or, another option would be to seek the advice of a legitimate medical professional, such as your personal physician, for competent advice on a diet plan.

I can't help feeling that people who take medical and dietary advice from the current US Secretary of Health and Human Services are destined to go the way of the dinosuar, dodo bird, and passenger pigeon.  Darwin understood how these things work.

  

Guest Nobody Wanted

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump flew to the G-7 Summit of the leaders of the world's major economies on Monday of this past week, shortly after:   his name had been pulled off the Kennedy Center, it became apparent to the world that he had resoundingly lost his ill-conceived war on Iraq, his birthday cage-fighting event had desecrated the White House lawn and made the US look even more foolish to the world, and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool had sprung a new crop of algae and turned green again.  Perhaps he thought he would get more respect in Europe, but that proved not to be the case.  

While Trump was in Europe, he stopped off at the Palace of Versailles near Paris and signed the surrender document supposedly ending the war with Iran, an agreement that seemed to only net one of Trump's stated goals when he and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel initiated the ill-conceived war that destabilized the Middle East and global trade - particularly the world's oil markets.  

The only thing Trump appears to have secured with the war and its abrupt end was a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz so that oil shipments through the Strait could resume, and that "concession" on Iran's part was more of a purchase than it was a spoil of war.  In return for reopening the Strait the US promised to unfreeze Iranian assets held by US banks and cough-up a $300 billion fund for Iran to use to rebuild its infrastructure.

Per Iran's understanding of the agreement, Israel was to quit bombing southern Lebanon in its never-ending search for Hezbollah (or any other) terrorists, but suprisingly to no one except perhaps to Trump, Netanyahu says the new agreement has nothing to do with him, and Israel's aggression in Lebanon has continued.  Iran says it has again closed the Strait of Hormuz, and US Vice-President JD Vance insists that it is still open.  (I know who I believe.)

Long story short, Trump's only shred of victory for the week, his bribe to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, appears to be in the crapper.

But that's all just backstory to what I really wanted to write about today:  Trump's abject humiliation at the G-7.  There are several revealing photos floating around on social media showing the participants standing and chatting, always in one or two small groups with Trump standing by himself, reminiscent of an unpopular child being shunned at a birthday party.  Trump appeared to be familiar with the situation.

He was operating in France, a foreign country where he didn't have control of the room or the media.  But as soon as Trump got safely back in the US he began trying to change those images.  He told a bizarre story on more than one occasion that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was frantic to have her picture taken with him, but Trump, being the most important person there, or anyhwere else for that matter, resisted her entreaties.   Meloni says Trump "fabricated' the story, and their feud has escalated on-line.

As the feud between the leaders of the United States and Italy grew, Italy's second-rankoing government official called off his scheduled visit to the US, and the Italian newspaper "Libero" ran a headline on its front page stating "Trump E Un Coglione."  "Coglione" translates roughly to "idiot," "moron," or "asshole."  

'Nuff said.

By the time Trump arrived back in the US on Thursday, his crews still had their tarps up covering the front of the Kennedy Center, the agreement to end the war on Iran is in chaos, the "claw" of the White House lawn was coming down, but complete restoration of the lawn will not be quick, and the new special paint on the bottom of the reflecting pool was beginning to peel - and the algae is still there!  

Why, it's almost as if he never left!

Sully Turns Ten in Steamboat Springs

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

My youngest grandchild, Sullivan Charles Macy, reaches double digits today as he celebrates his 10th birthday in beautiful Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Sully is in the Rockies to attend a family reunion with his father and mother, Tim and Erin, and his older sister, Olive.  Roman, his good friend from back home in Kansas, is also on the trip to help Sully celebrate big number TEN!

The boys have been hiking and exploring Steamboat Springs and the Yampa Valley since arriving in Colorado two days ago, and they are also planning on learning the basics of fly-fishing while they are there.  My grandson, as reported in this space on other occasions, is quite the fisherman!  Sully is also into basketball and plays on a team that his Dad coaches, and though old Pa Rock has yet to be able to attend a single one of Sully's games, he has heard numerous reports of how talented his grandson is on the court.  Sully, my goal is to make it to at least one of your games before this season ends!

Travel is food for the soul, and Sully's soul must be full to the brim because Tim and Erin have taken their children on some wonderful trips.  I know they have been to Oregon on multiple occasions as well as South Padre Island in Texas, the Gulf Coast, the coast of Maine, New York City, and even Hawaii.  I hope that Sully is able to make those same types of travel adventures available to his children because travel is such an important component of growth and education.  The further you go, the more able you are to see and understand the entirety of the world and how your little piece of it fits in to the bigger picture.

Happy birthday, Sully!  We wish you and Roman and your entire family the best vacation ever!  With love from Pa Rock, Uncle Nick, Rosie, and especially Gypsy who wishes she was out there running through those mountains with you!  Enjoy being ten!

Juneteenth, a Significant American Holiday

 

by Pa Rock

Patriot

On this date, June 19th in 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform America's last enslaved population that the Civil War was over, the South had lost, and they were free at last.  The anniversary of that joyous event quickly became an unofficial holiday in many Black homes and communities that was known as "Juneteenth."  In 2021 Congress passed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday, and President Biden proudly signed it into law.

The mail won't run today and US government offices will be closed.  Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia where the nation's capital is located have also recognized Juneteenth as an official state holiday and their offices will be closed as well.

I am proud to note that my redneck state of Missouri somehow managed to officially recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.  Perhaps anarchists dumped LSD into Jefferson City's water reservoirs (an old movie reference to 1968's "Wild in the Streets," one of Pa Rock's all-time favorites!).

If Donald Trump had been President when Congress passed the legislation making Juneteenth a holiday, the mail would still be running today.  Trump, whose father was arrested in New York City in 1927 for "refusing to disperse" during a KKK rally,  has twice moved to minimize the importance of the holiday since returning to office in 2025.  He declined to issue a presidential proclamation on Juneteenth of last year recognizing the holiday and instead whined  on social media that the United States observed "too many" non-working holidays that are "costing our country."  (Like thee UFC  Cage Fight Night on the White House lawn for his birthday?  That one certainly cost plenty.   Another big waste of taxpayer money was Trump's dud of a military parade for his birthday last year.  Spare us your cost-saving, racist-tinged sanctimony, Donbo!)) 

In December Trump's US Department of the Interior removed both Black holidays - Martin Luther King, Jr, Day and Juneteenth, from the National Park Service's list of fee-free days, a petty move designed to minimize the importance of a significant segment of the American population.  (There is currently a move afoot in Congress to make both of those national holidays admission-free at our national parks - by law - something a less-enfeebled President would likely support.)

Happy Juneteenth!  Let's all take time to celebrate the end of the ugliest chapter of American history and do everything we can to stamp out the resurgence of bigotry currently infecting the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Let's be better than our leaders.  That's a very low bar.

Members of Congress Advised to Call Members of Congress

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Members of Congress are hard-working sons-o-guns, you betcha they are!  The US House of Representatives, for example, is in session a whopping 145 to 160 days a year.  That means that in a busy year, one where they have to show up to work 160 days, the poor sods only have 195 days off!   It's a hard life, but in a functioning representative democracy, somebody has to do it.

Most Americans have travelled by air at one time or another, and many have spent unplanned hours sitting in airports, or worse yet, on runways, due to flight delays.  But we put up with it because we are little more than cattle being shipped from one market to another, and we want to fly on planes that have had all necessary maintenance and are in good repair.

We make sacrifices for safety, and a sense of fairness prevails with the knowledge that even our betters, those sitting in First Class, are being as inconvenienced as much we are.

Everyone was inconvenienced on a Delta flight from Reagan Airport from Washington, DC, to Detroit last Thursday afternoon when their flight, and all others in the Washington,DC metro area, was grounded for an hour so that members of the United States Air Force could practice their formation flying for Sunday night's UFC fights at the White House, a spectacle planned by the President of the United States as part of his birthday celebration.

Passengers on that particular Delta flight included five of the 435 members of the US House of Representatives:  Debbie Dingle (D, MI), Rashida Tlaib (D, MI), Shri Thanedar (D, MI), Lisa McClain (R, MI), and Bob Latta (R, OH).

One of the plane's pilots who seemed to be a tad annoyed at the hour delay due to the rehearsal for a Trump vanity project,  took to the plane's public speaker system and told his frustrated, captive passengers, that if they were unhappy with the situation, they should call their representatives in Congress!

Ouch!

American Currency Green

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

By anyone's perspective, except perhaps his own, this past week has been a roaring disaster for our nation's man-child President.  One of Trump's primary birthday gifts to himself was to  make an unsubstantiated claim that his and Netanyahu's war on Iran is over and that a Memo of Understanding has been agreed to.  But even though Trump made that boast on Sunday, his birthday, the details of the MOU have yet to be disclosed.  The more reliable international news sources indicate that the hidden details include nothing relative to Trump's stated goals when he took us into war, and that the only thing of substance likely to emerge in the foreseeable future is a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to allow petrol products to reach world markets.

The Strait was open when the US and Israel attacked Iran, and Iran quickly closed it.  Current speculation in the news is that the Strait will be reopened - something that cannot be accomplished quickly - primarily due to a large bribe being paid to Iran by the US government.  (That's one way to "win" a war.)

Sorry, Donald John, but that just does not have the feel of a smashing victory - at least for our country.

Trump has also been styimied of late on construction of his big, grand ballroom at the White house.  There are still lawsuits blocking his plans, and the whole matter appears to be eventually headed to the US Supreme Court.

This week a Federal court finally succeeded in getting Trump's name pulled off of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, an act that stung Trump so badly that he had the removal crews hide behind a tarp while they excised his name from the structure.  As of this morning those tarps are still up, hiding the evidence that Trump lost his vanity battle.

Trump did manage to pull off his UFC fight on the White House grounds Sunday evening, a tawdry display of middle-aged kick-boxers rubbing elbows with over-aged US politicians amid the glowing backdrop of neon signage and Bud Light ads.  It was undoubtedly Trump's personal high water mark for the week, but the event resonated poorly with the American public.  A Reuters-Ipsos poll out this morning shows that only 16% of Americans felt activity was an appropriate use of the presidential grounds.  At least seven government agencies were involved in putting on the event and making it secure, leaving American taxpayers footing a big portion of the event that was supposedly all going to be covered by the company promoting the fight card, a company in which Donald Trump owns shares,  To further muddy the ethical waters, prize money for the fighters was paid in crypto currency by the Trump family's crypto company.

But my favorite Trump rebuke of the week came from Mother Nature.   Trump, who wants to remake our nation's capital in his own image while keeping the country's focus off the Epstein files, decided in April that the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial needed to be cleaned, repaired, and repainted.  He criticized the pool because it was green with algae, and he wanted it to be bright blue for his July 4th festivities.  The Trump administration gave out $14.2 million in no-bid contracts to have the work done and it was completed around two weeks ago.  He made a loud point of declaring that he had the pool painted "American Flag" blue.

(Trump's original announced estimate for the total project was $1.5 million.  No bid contracts were used because the work was done on an "emergency" basis.)

Critics of Trump's plan, people who had gone to school and studied science back when that was a thing, said that painting the bottom of the Reflecting Pool dark blue would cause the water to heat (from the sun) and the algae to quickly regrow. One week after the paint job and other work was completed, the algae was back in full force and the pool is once again green - what some ag are calling "Amrerican Currency" green.

The money paid to the paint contractor, over $13 million (no-bid) was said to be enough to ensure a 20% profit margin for his company - when most government contracts allow for a 6% to 12% profit margin.  One of the "improvements" was a "nanobubbler" filtration system that was supposed to keep the algae from coming back.

Yesterday our government poured large quantities of hydrogen peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in an effort to kill the new growth of algae.  It is unclear at this point what that is going to cost us.

But hey, when you're spending other people's money, who gives a crap?  Right, Donbo?

Jason Smith has Another Birthday

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

Today is birthday #46 for my GOP Congressman Jason Smith (MO 08) who represents the residents of south central and southeast Missouri - or at least the ones who watch Fox News programming where Jason maintains a near-constant presence.   Jason won a special election to Congress in June of 2013 and has been snugly ensconced there for more than thirteen years.  With Mr. Smith's free quality government health care and good Missouri genes, he could likely expect to stay in his securely red seat at the government trough for another fifty years.

Jason has politicked hard in the US House of Representatives and has been rewarded with the chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means tax writing committee, a position once held by the late Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills.  Jason is very proud of this fine achievement and never fails to mention it multiple times in each edition of his weekly email newsletter.  

This week Jason also sent out a large four-page, multi-colored paper newsletter on the public dime to many of his constituents.  The all caps headline across the top of page one reads "SMITH PASSES LARGEST TAX CUT IN AMERICAN HISTORY."  There is no word yet as to whether he sprained his arm while patting himself on the back or not.  Most people in rural Missouri tend to be a little more subdued in their bragging.

The quality newsletter featured a photo of Jason at a meeting sitting between House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance - along with a shot of the back of Donald Trump's head - as well as three - count 'em, THREE - photos of the rural Missouri congressman with Melania Trump!

Jason is tight with the Trumps, yes siree, buddy, he is, yet somehow he didn't seem to make it onto the by-invitation-only list for the UFC match on our White House lawn last Sunday night (what some social media commentators are referring to as "Donald Trump's Big Gay Pride Event").

One thing I strongly admire about my congressman is his reluctance to "get comfortable" in Washington, DC.  Rep. Smith, a lifelong bachelor, made it clear early on that would never happen.  He is one of several congressmen who sleep in their offices when Congress is in session.  (Roughly 150 nights per year.). It's a bargain - the "rent" is free and the IRS does not regard it as a work perk for which ordinary humans would have to pay income tax.  So Jason is very lucky when ti comes to rent and tax breaks!   (It's reassuring to know that the man responsible for writing tax law can himself benefit from those laws, isn't it?)  Jason has said on multiple occasions that the reason he sleeps in his office is to keep from getting "too comfortable" in Washington, DC, but after more that 13 years one can assume that he has adapted well to his office couch and sleeps the sleep of the just and righteous.

Happy birthday, Jason.  May your next forty-six be as personally rewarding as your first forty-six have been!

A Mighty Wind

 

by Pa Rock

Man of the Earth ~

For several days the Ozarks have been blanketed in dreary clouds and rain, but that seems to finally be yesterday's news. Today the sun is out and the skies are bright blue and cloudless.  The soaked earth finally has a chance to dry.  We received LOTS of rain.   The local creeks are up beyond their banks, but I have not heard any reports of dangerous flooding or people being trapped and cutoff by the rising waters.

I am not a fan of maple trees because they split so easily and produce roots above ground that interfere with mowing, but regardless of my personal tree preferences, there are numerous maple trees on this acreage that I refer to as a "farm," with two large maples behind the house on the other side of the driveway where I park the car.  Saturday afternoon during a particularly heavy downpour, a big wind roared down from the hills and across the yard fracturing one of the largest limbs in one of those mighty twin maples.  The limb broke at the tree trunk and fell across the driveway and onto the deck.  It did not separate completely from the tree, which left it as a bridge across the driveway that I was able to back my car under and get it to a safer location.  Amazingly, there was no damage to the house or the car

The deck was covered in a profusion of wet, leafy branches and inaccessible for a day until my son and a friend turned the whole mess into firewood on Sunday.

I've never conducted a tree census here on the farm, but there are fifty or sixty trees on the ten acres, with many of the pines, oaks, and hickories being massive.  There are six pines more than forty feet in height which would take out the house if any one fell just right, so we tend to take wind and rain very seriously.  Our little house has a dry and secure basement which is where we head when the mighty winds come roaring in.

Sooner or later nature will win, so it's best to have a plan and a place to go - and stay prepared.

White Trash Birthday Bash at White House, Don't Forget Your Rubbers!

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Today Donald Trump, the oldest person ever elected President of the United States, is observing his 80th birthday.  Last year he celebrated his 79th with a massive military parade across the governmental heart of Washington, DC, a "Flag Day" parade that was a dud by any reasonable person's standards, an event so agonizingly lackluster and boring that Trump himself, the birthday boy, fell asleep while watching it pass by.  

This year Trump's people and a fight promoting company of which Trump is a stockholder have set up a 90-foot-tall arched steel truss system called "the Claw" on the South Lawn of the White House.  "The Claw" is an LED-lit dome and lighting rig designed to frame the Washington Monument and the Executive Mansion during tonight's celebratory event - an evening of cage-match fighting, something that uppity Kennedy Center has yet to ever host.

(Yes, and "Kennedy Center" is the correct appellation.  Trump's name was removed from the structure yesterday!)

There are some classy before-and-after shots of the South Lawn circulating on the internet that are well worth a look-see.   The 'before' shots show a majestic, well-maintained green lawn with a circular fountain as the centerpiece, but the earth is barren and brown in the 'after' shots with the big, ugly dome dwarfing the White House.    The once-beautiful lawn now has the overall look of a ragged midwestern carnival setting-up in a fallow field.  There has never been a more potent image of Trump despoiling America than the way the South Lawn of the White House appears at present.  The desecration is stunning!

Tonight's event beneath the massive steel "Claw" in the backyard of the White House is a seven-bout fight card.  The venue will seat 4,300 in the open air.  While the show is being billed as a part of the official celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it will not be open to the general public and attendance will be by invitation only - but most of those who are invited will have free tickets.  However, the few "special" guests invited to sit in the "special" lawn seating will be paying up to $1.5 million each to park their butts in front of the unwashed masses.  (Money aways buys privilege in Donald Trump's America.)

Tonight's birthday fiasco has an estimated cost north of $60 million to cover construction of the temporary octagon arena, security costs, and payroll for the hundreds of event workers.  Those costs will be paid by TKO Group Holdings, the owner of UFC.  (Trump is a shareholder in TKO.). Fighter bonuses are being backed by the Trump family crypto business, World Liberty Financial.

The weather forecast for tonight in Washington, DC, is:

"Partly to mostly cloudy with a lingering chance of a thunderstorm or two, particularly in the early evening, followed by the temperatures dropping to the mid-to-upper 60s.   It will remain quite humid, and any evening storms could bring localized gusty winds and heavy downpours."

(And "humid" conditions in a tidal basin area that was formerly a swamp could bring mosquitoes the size of drones.  Just sayin'.)

For the fortunate 4,300 who were invited to tonight's big event on our White House lawn,  you might want to pack a poncho, and don't forget your rubbers!  (And thunderstorms could produce lightning, so leave those tin-foil hats at home!)

Happy birthday, Piggy!  May your party be everything you deserve.

Scumbag Trillionaire

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A million dollars was a lot of money back in the 1950's, such a formidable sum that there was a popular television show built around the premise of a very rich guy who would send his manservant out each week to deliver a million dollar check to random individuals - a million on which the taxes had already been paid.  The recipients never knew who their mysterious benefactor was, and the weekly shows followed the lives of the newly rich individuals as they figured out what to do with their money.  It was a tour de force of self-discovery in which ordinary individuals sometimes were able to improve their lives, but at other times brought about their own moral and economic collapse - a big lesson in "be careful what you wish for."  The program was called "The Millionaire."

But my point (I think) is that time, seventy years ago, a million dollars was an almost unfathomable pile of money.   A millionaire in the 1950's was a rare bird indeed.  Today, according to Google's AI chatbot "Gemini," there are between 23.8 and 25.5 million millionaires in the United States alone.   More than 40 percent of the world's millionaires reside in the United States.   Another way of looking at that is one in fourteen to nineteen people in the United States currently are millionaires.  (If they all paid their taxes honestly we would know EXACTLY what that number is.)

The Forbes World's Billionaire List reports that the United States currently has 989 billionaires.  (A billionaire is a person who has a minimum of one million dollars times one thousand.). For those with an interest in where the world's wealth is gravitating, Forbes has a site on the internet called:  "Forbes Real-Time Billionaires Ranking."

Yesterday new ground was broken in the race to see who ultimately will control the world's wealth and the lives of its humans.   US immigrant Elon Musk opened his company, SpaceX, to public trading and quickly became the world's first trillionaire.  (A trillion dollars is represented by a one followed by twelve zeroes.  It could also be visualized as one million piles of one million dollars each.)  Musk, who will be 55 on June 28th, has said that he envisions himself being worth ten trillion dollars during his lifetime.

According to the Forbes "Real-Time " list, this morning Elon is worth $1.1 trillion, with Google billionaire Larry Page languishing far behind in second place at a paltry $294.1 billion.

A positive aspect of individual human beings controlling that much of the world's wealth is they are magnanimous individuals who appreciate the advantages that have come their way - and are focused on sharing their good fortune with those less fortunate than themselves.

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, and certainly nothing that would ever cross the mind of Elon Musk.  Musk showed the world who he was in early 2025 when he ran the cruelty-based Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for Donald Trump and led in the elimination of government programs that impacted the health, safety, and economic security of people around the globe.  Musk was responsible for the hollowing-out of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) which provided critical assistance to the world's inhabitants, fellow human beings whose very lives depended on aid (often food and medicine) from America.  Musk referred to the sixty-year-old operation as a "criminal organization" and noted on social media:

"We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.  Could have gone to some great parties.  Did that instead."

That's who Elon Musk is.  His weekend at the wood chipper caused a marked increase in death and suffering among the world's poorest people, many of them children.

Musk has also used his social media platform, X, to foment nationalist movements against immigration, to promote anti-labor movements, and to attack altruism (such as the charitable efforts of billionaire MacKenzie Scott whom he accused of "destroying Western civilization" through her donations to charities focused on women, minorities, and marginalized communities.  Musk, who grew up white in South Africa during the heyday of apartheid, seems to have a fixation with regard to preserving the dominance of "Western" civilization.

Elon Musk also had at least an email connection with convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein,  A recently released 2012 email from Musk to Epstein read:  "What day/night will be the best party on your island?"  Elon says his emails with Epstein have been misinterpreted.

Elon Musk is complex individual, and those few examples just scratch the surface of the type of individual he truly is.  But, saint or sinner, whether he uses his money for the common good or just piles it up and sits on it, a million dollars a million times over is an obscene amount of the world's total wealth and should not be controlled by just one individual.

Tax the rich.  Let them use their wealth to benefit their fellow travelers on Planet Earth, whether they want to or not.  Paying their fair share for the ride is the absolute least they should do.